Stage names:

Nakamura Sen'ya I
Kiriyama Masanosuke

Line number: SHODAI (I)

Poetry name: Shakuyu (?)

Existence: ???

Connection:

Father-in-law: Takeshima Kôzaemon I

Master: Nakamura Shichisaburô I

Disciple: Nakamura Genzaemon I (the adoptive father of Nakamura Utaemon I's master Nakamura Genjûrô)

Career:

???~1691: born in Kamigata. He starts his career during the Enkyô era and performs in Kyôto as a wakaonnagata. His first stage name is Kiriyama Masanosuke

1691: he settles in Edo.

1696: he decides to change the writing of his last name:

You need a Japanese Language Kit installed within your system in order to be able to read the characters

1699: Masanosuke goes back to Kyôto.

11th lunar month of 1699: he becomes disciple of Nakamura Shichisaburô I and receives the name of Nakamura Sen'ya I. He also gets married around the same time with the daughter of Takeshima Kôzaemon I.

1st lunar month of 1701: Sen'ya goes to Ôsaka and plays the role of Sano Utaemon's sister Harima no Osan in the drama "Kashû Dômyôji Kaichô", which is produced by Iwai Hanshirô II; the role of Utaemon is played by Murayama Jûheiji I.

2nd lunar month of 1704: Sen'ya's rank in the Ôsaka hyôbanki, wakaonnagata section, is jô-jô (superior - superior) [visual].

1st lunar month of 1706: Sen'ya goes to Kyôto to perform at Hayagumo Chôdayû's theater.

11th lunar month of 1706: Sen'ya plays at Hayagumo Chôdayû's theater the role of the spirit of a pine tree in the kaomise drama "Sukeroku Shinjû Kamiko Sugata"; his stage partners are Fukuda Dan'emon and Yamatoyama Jinzaemon I.

3rd lunar month of 1707: Sen'ya's rank in the Kyôto hyôbanki, wakaonnagata section, is jô-jô-kichi (superior - superior - excellent) [visual].

Fall 1716: Sen'ya goes to Edo.

11th lunar month of 1716: Sen'ya plays at the Nakamuraza in the kaomise drama "Mitsudomoe Katoku Biraki", which celebrates the shûmei of Arashi Kiyosaburô II.

1st lunar month of 1717: Sen'ya's rank in the Edo hyôbanki, wakaonnagata section, jô-jô-(hanshiro)kichi (superior - superior - almost excellent).

5th lunar month of 1717: Chikamatsu Monzaemon's masterpiece "Kokusen'ya Gassen" is produced simultaneously in the 3 Edo Kabuki theaters. This is the first Kabuki adaptation of a puppet theater play in Edo. It is produced at the Nakamuraza under the title "Kokusen'ya Takarabune"; Sen'ya plays the role of Kinshôjo [casting].

11th lunar month of 1717: Sen'ya plays at the Nakamuraza the role of the female uekiya Teishu in the kaomise drama "Hachinoki Hônen Mitsugimono".

1718 ~ 1728: Sen'ya performs in a travelling troupe.

2nd lunar month of 1728: Sen'ya appears for the last time on the stage of a major licensed theater, playing the role of Onabe in the drama "Man'yô no Hana Nishiki no Akebono", which is produced by Kanazawa Hikogorô in Kyôto. Nobody knows what has happened to this actor afterwards.

Comments:

"Nakamura Sen'ya at first was an insignificant onnagata in Edo, but he went to Ôsaka, where he scored a great success in a courtesan play and remained there many years, returning to Edo after an absence of eighteen years. The criticisms of the day complained that he had grown fat, but was still a true onnagata in spirit and gesture. When Nakamura Sen'ya returned from Ôsaka, he started the custom for a Kyôto or Ôsaka actor performing in Edo to give gifts to minor actors and theatre employees. He presented a good many kimono dyed in a certain colour which became all the rage, and was called Sen'ya dye." (Zoë Kincaid in "Kabuki, the Popular Stage of Japan")

Nakamura Sen'ya I in the drama "Mitsudomoe Katoku Biraki", which was staged in the 11th lunar month of 1716 at the Nakamuraza (print made by Torii Kiyomasu I)

Print made by Torii Kiyomasu in 1714

The Nakamura Sen'ya line of actors