Stage names:

Sugiyama Kanzaemon III
Sugiyama Heihachi
Yamashita Bunzaemon
Yamashita Itsuki
Yamashita Itsuki

Line number: SANDAIME (III)

Poetry name: Senshi

Existence: ???

Connection:

Master: Yamashita Kyôemon I

Adoptive father: Sugiyama Kanzaemon I

Career:

1686 ~ 1697: disciple of Yamashita Hanzaemon I, he starts his career in Kyôto as a wakashugata, performing under the name of Yamashita Itsuki. His next stage name is Yamashita Bunzaemon.

1697: he is adopted by Sugiyama Kanzaemon I and receives the name of Sugiyama Heihachi.

11th lunar month of 1706: Heihachi plays in Ôsaka the role of Sukeroku in the drama "Kyô Sukeroku Shinjû", which is produced by Kataoka Nizaemon I for the nadai Ôsaka Kuzaemon; his stage partners are Asao Jûjirô I (the courtesan Agemaki), Arashi Sanjûrô I (Nenbutsudera no Oshô), Yoshizawa Ayame I (Yaoya Otsuji) and Kataoka Nizaemon I (Yaoya Kozaemon).

3rd lunar month of 1707: Heihachi's rank in the Ôsaka hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, is jô-jô (superior - superior) [visual]. He shares the same rank with Yamashita Matashirô I, Otowa Jirosaburô I and Takioka Hikoemon.

3rd lunar month of 1709: Heihachi's rank in the Ôsaka hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, is jô-jô-(shiro)kichi (superior - superior - (white) excellent) [visual].

11th lunar month of 1709: Heihachi plays the role of Nora no Kakusuke in the kaomise drama "Onna Gosho Bunko", which is produced in Ôsaka by Shinozuka Shômatsu I.

3rd lunar month of 1710: Heihachi's rank in the Ôsaka hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, is back to jô-jô (superior - superior) [visual].

Fall 1711: Heihachi goes to Kyôto.

11th lunar month of 1711: Heihachi plays in Kyôto at Hayagumo Chôdayû's theater in the kaomise drama "Tsurukame no Aimuko".

3rd lunar month of 1712: Heihachi's rank in the Kyôto hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, is jô-jô-(shiro)kichi (superior - superior - (white) excellent) [visual].

Fall 1712: Heihachi goes back to Ôsaka.

11th lunar month of 1712: Heihachi plays in Ôsaka the role of Imagawa Nakaaki in the kaomise drama "Onna Imagawa Seishi no Jôjô", which is produced by Shinozuka Shômatsu.

1st lunar month of 1713: Heihachi's rank in the Ôsaka hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, is jô-jô-(shiro)kichi (superior - superior - (white) excellent) [visual]. He shares the same rank with Arashi Sanjûrô I, Takeshima Kôjûrô, Kaneko Kichizaemon, Sakurayama Shirosaburô I and Onogawa Ugenji.

11th lunar month of 1713: Heihachi plays in Ôsaka in the kaomise drama "Ôminato Kogane no Izumi", which is produced by Yamamoto Hikogorô.

11th lunar month of 1714: Heihachi plays the role of Mantarô in the kaomise drama "Yonedawara Mangoku no Minato", which is produced by Shinozuka Shômatsu II for the nadai Ôsaka Tazaemon.

1st lunar month of 1715: Heihachi's rank in the Ôsaka hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, is jô-jô-(hanshiro)kichi (superior - superior - (half-white) excellent) [visual]. He shares the same rank with Arashi Sanjûrô I and Takeshima Kôjûrô.

2nd lunar month of 1716: Heihachi becomes zamoto and coproduces with Nakamura Gentarô the kaomise drama "Chôja Mannengura" in Ôsaka.

11th lunar month of 1718: Sugiyama Heihachi takes the name of Sugiyama Kanzaemon III at the Ônishi no Shibai, playing the role of Suehiro Kanamenosuke in the kaomise drama "Suehiro Chôja Bandaigura".

1st lunar month of 1719: Kanzaemon's rank in the Ôsaka hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, is jô-jô-(shiro)kichi (superior - superior - (white) excellent) [visual]. He shares the same rank with Tamiya Shirogorô, Takenaka Tôzaburô, Yamamura Kazaemon and Murayama Heijûrô II.

11th lunar month of 1720: Kanzaemon plays at the Kado no Shibai the role of Miyoshi Jinroku [illustration] in the kaomise drama "Hana Yakata Chibikizuru", which is produced by Kirinoya Gonjûrô I.

1st lunar month of 1721: Kanzaemon's rank in the Ôsaka hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, is jô-jô-(hanshiro)kichi (superior - superior - (half-white) excellent) [visual]. He shares the same rank with Kaneko Kichizaemon.

11th lunar month of 1721: Kanzaemon performs at the Higashi no Shibai (Ôsaka) in the kaomise drama "Tenryû Chiryû Kogane no Suzunari", which is produced by Arashi San'emon III.

1st lunar month of 1722: Kanzaemon's rank in the Ôsaka hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, falls to jô-jô-(shiro)kichi (superior - superior - (white) excellent).

11th lunar month of 1722: Kanzaemon plays at the Ônishi no Shibai the role of the karô Ikumozaki Okuzaemon in the kaomise drama "Genji Moyô Ichimai Gushi", which is produced by Yamatoyama Jinzaemon II (who celebrates his shûmei).

11th lunar month of 1723: Kanzaemon plays the role of Wadaemon in the kaomise "Kogane no Hanagata", which is produced by the zamoto Arashi San'emon III at the Kado no Shibai and celebrates the arrival in Ôsaka of the Edo star Ôtani Hiroji I.

1st lunar month of 1724: Kanzaemon's rank in the Ôsaka hyôbanki, tachiyaku section, is back to jô-jô-(hanshiro)kichi (superior - superior - almost excellent). Premiere at the Kado no Shibai of "Edoe Ukiyo Soga", an Edo-flavored new year drama; Kanzaemon plays the roles of the Soga brothers' mother and Kokusen'ya's mother [casting].

11th lunar month of 1734: Kanzaemon plays at the Ônishi no Shibai the role of Sakuma Hyôgo in the kaomise drama "Asahi no Matsu Kogane no Shinbashira", which is produced by Nakamura Jûzô I.

2nd lunar month of 1735: Kanzaemon plays in the same theater the role of Masakihara Genjibê in the new year drama "Keisei Yatsu Hanagata". this is his last-recorded stage performance. We don't know what happens to him afterwards for he disappears from the records.

Comments:

Sugiyama Kanzaemon III was a popular and talented Kamigata tachiyaku actor, who achieved fame for himself from the end of the 1710s to the middle of the 1730s. He was an outstanding yatsushigata, a perfect irootoko in keiseikai or shinjûmono.

Sugiyama Kanzaemon III (left) and Sodeshima Genji (right) playing the roles of the karô Izumosaki Okuzaemon and Okuzaemon's wife Otatsu in the kaomise drama "Genji Moyô Ichimai Gushi", which was staged in the 11th lunar month of 1722 at the Ônishi no Shibai

Prints & Illustrations

The Sugiyama Kanzaemon line of actors