Stage names:

Ogino Yaegiri I

Other name:

Hagino Yaegiri

Line number: SHODAI (I)

Existence: ??? ~ 1736 (?)

Connections:

Master: Ogino Chôdayû I

Disciples: Ogino Izaburô I, Ogino Yaegiri II, Ogino Toyoriki, Ogino Umenosuke (?)

Career:

??? ~ 1692: he starts his career in Kyôto at an unknown date, as a disciple of the actor Ogino Chôdayû I, who gives him the name of Ogino Yaegiri.

11th lunar month of 1692: Yaegiri achieves a great success in Edo at the Nakamuraza by performing in the drama "Hôben Shinoda Zuma".

Fall 1701: Yaegiri goes back to Kamigata.

1st lunar month of 1703: Yaegiri plays the role of the courtesan Miyoshino in Chikamatsu Monzaemon's drama "Keisei Mitsu no Kuruma", which is produced in Kyôto by Yamatoya Tôkichi for the nadai Hayagumo Chôdayû.

1st lunar month of 1705: Yaegiri plays the role of Junrei in the new year drama "Keisei Hachisu no Ito", which is staged in Kyôto at Kameya Kumenojô's theater.

Fall 1705: the actors Miogi Naniwa and Ogino Yaegiri go together to Edo.

11th lunar month of 1705: Yaegiri plays at the Yamamuraza in the kaomise drama "Kawachi Gayoi".

3rd lunar month of 1707: Yaegiri plays at the Yamamuraza the role of Princess Chûjô in the drama "Keisei Mikaeri Honzon".

Fall 1707: Yaegiri goes back to Ôsaka.

11th lunar month of 1707: Yaegiri plays in Ôsaka the role of Princess Komatsu in the kaomise drama "Onna Daimyô Ire Kozan".

11th lunar month of 1709: Yaegiri becomes zamoto and produces in Ôsaka the drama "Maiôgi Masaki no Kazura".

11th lunar month of 1711: Yaegiri coproduces with Miyazaki Denkichi in Ôsaka the drama "Futabashira Aioi Chôja".

11th lunar month of 1712: Yaegiri plays the role of Waka no Mae in the drama "Onna Imagawa Seishi no Jôjô", which is produced by Shinozuka Shômatsu I in Ôsaka.

11th lunar month of 1713: Yaegiri coproduces with Arashi San'emon III in Ôsaka the kaomise drama "Onna Fude Yôbunshô"; he plays the role of Osome.

1st lunar month of 1715: Yaegiri produces in Ôsaka the kaomise drama "(Jingô Kôgô Sankan Taiji) Ashiwakebune"; he plays the role of a tôfu maker's daughter. He falls ill and has to rest for a few months.

1st lunar month of 1716: Yaegiri is back on stage and plays the role of Komachi in the drama "Ôkazari Monomi Guruma", which is produced in Ôsaka by Sawamura Chôjûrô I.

12th lunar month of 1716: Yaegiri coproduces with Arashi Daizaburô I in Ôsaka the kaomise drama "Chô Hanagata Sangoku no Mukoiri"; he plays the role of Omaki.

Spring 1719: Yaegiri plays in Kyôto in the drama "Kamakura Sandaiki".

11th lunar month of 1719: Yaegiri plays the role of Oshige in the drama "Yamato Ôji On'yô o Izumi", which is produced in Kyôto by Sawamura Chôjûrô I.

Spring 1721: Yaegiri becomes zamoto and produces in Kyôto the drama "Bankoku Kin no Fukujusô"; he plays the role of the courtesan Takahashi.

11th lunar month of 1721: Yaegiri produces at Hoteiya Umenojô's theater the kaomise drama "Banshiki Kogane no Miyako".

11th lunar month of 1722: Yaegiri produces at Hoteiya Umenojô's theater the kaomise drama "Aioi Ôshimadai".

7th lunar month of 1723: first Kabuki adaptation in Kyôto of the puppet theater drama "Ôtô-no-Miya Asahi no Yoroi"; Yaegiri plays the roles of Murakami Hikoshirô and Nagai's wife Hanazono [more details].

11th lunar month of 1723: Yaegiri produces in Kyôto the kaomise drama "Tatsu Goyomi Daishô Wagô no Tsurugi"; he plays the role of the courtesan Kokonoe.

Spring 1727: tour in Ise.

11th lunar month of 1727: Yaegiri plays in Ôsaka in the kaomise drama "Watamashi Yatsumune Gura", which is produced by Sawamura Otoemon I.

1728: tour in Ise, in the Owari province and in the city of Nara.

1730: second short stay in Edo; Yaegiri plays for a few months at the Moritaza.

Fall 1730: Yaegiri goes back to Kamigata.

11th lunar month of 1730: Yaegiri plays in Kyôto the role of Kasane in Sawamura Bunji's kaomise drama "Inari Yakata Manpô no Kura", which is produced by Arashi Koroku I at Hayagumo Chôdayû's theater.

1732: tour in Ise and in the Owari province; Yaegiri performs in Nagoya at the Tachibana no Shibai.

2nd lunar month of 1733: Yaegiri goes back to Kyôto and produces the drama "Shimoyo no Hotaru".

12th lunar month of 1735: Yaegiri plays 2 roles in the drama "Onna Tokimasa Gunpô Hinagata", which is produced in Kyôto by Yamamoto Kyôzô. This is the last recorded performance of Yaegiri in a major theater.

1736: tour in Nagoya. Most likely he dies the same year.

Comments:

Ogino Yaegiri I was one of the best wakaonnagata actors of the first third of the eighteenth century. He was popular in both Edo and Kamigata major theaters, excelling in courtesan roles in sewamono dramas. The playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon had a great esteem for him and gave his name to one of the most famous roles he created: the courtesan Oginoya Yaegiri in his puppet theater drama "Komochi Yamanba".

"Ogino Yaegiri, whose favourite rôles were those of heroines who have died with their lovers-double suicide, or shinjû, a popular theme of the Doll theatre plays. Just as Sawamura Chôjûrô was the representative actor of this later period of Genroku, so Ogino Yaegiri was the leading tateonnagata."
(Zoë Kincaid in "Kabuki, the Popular Stage of Japan")

"Thus, "when being entertained by a Kabuki boy actor, one must be careful never to ask his age". The actors Ihara wrote about in the second (Kabuki) half of "Nanshoku Ôkagami" (Great Mirror of Male Love) were almost all historical people whose existence and characteristics can be verified from independent sources, including Tamamura Kichiya in the story (Bamboo Clappers Strike the Hateful Number) he introduced with the warning about asking wakashû their ages (in it an unnamed wakashû is unwillingly revealed to be thirty-eight). "The most extreme example was that of a kaegema called Hagino Yaegiri. By reason of his profound love for a man, he never wished to know a woman, and even after the age of sixty he never changed his wakashû dress. Nor did his partner forget this kaegema, and he always slept with him until they were very old". This rather excessive example is to be found in a book entitled "Fumoto no Iro" (Colour at the Foot of a Mountain), which appeared in 1769."
(Stephen O. Murray in "Homosexualities", University of Chicago Press 2000)

Ogino Yaegiri I playing the role of Miyako no Niki in Sawamura Bunji's kaomise drama "Asahi no Ichikura Eigô Seki", which was staged in the 11th lunar month of 1731 in Kyôto at Hayagumo Chôdayû's theater

Print made by Torii Kiyomasu in 1730

Print made by Torii Kiyomasu (1730s)

The Ogino Yaegiri line of actors