Kanai Sansho

Japanese: 金井三笑 - かない・さんしょう

Year of death: June 16, 1797 (July 10, 1797)
Year of birth: 1731 (Kyoho 16)
A kabuki and kyogen writer in the mid-Edo period. He was known by the pseudonym Yoho-tei and was a successive assistant at the Edo Nakamuraza, commonly known as Kanai Hankuro, and the owner of a teahouse called Kanai Tsutsuya. He gained the trust of Ichikawa Danjūrō II, and took the name Sansho after Danjūrō's haiku name Sansho, and at the young age of 22, he rose to become the shomoto (manager) of the Nakamuraza. In November 1754 (the 4th year of the Horeki era), when the 4th Danjūrō took on the name Kanai Sansho, he became a kyogen writer under the name Kanai Sansho, and established a large troupe called "Ichikawa Sore" centered around the Danjūrō family, but parted ways with Danjūrō over the issue of succession to the Nakamuraza. He moved to the neighboring Ichimuraza, and became the backer of the first Onoe Kikugoro, who was a member of the Osaka-kudari, against the Danjūrō of Edo Nebu, and became a relative of the Ichimuraza, competing with the large troupe of the Nakamuraza, and wrote Tokiwazu pieces such as "Mogumoito Azusageru." He selected unknown newcomers such as Onoe Matsusuke, and also invited Bando Mitsugoro I, Otani Tomoemon I, and Segawa Kikunojō III from a second-class theater called Hama-shibai in Osaka, and succeeded in making them popular actors in Edo. He later returned to the Nakamuraza twice, but each time he was forced to relinquish his position due to problems with succession as the head of the theater. Meanwhile, when the three major theaters in Edo were forced to cede their performance rights to temporary theaters due to huge debts, he organized his protégés, including Sawamura Sojuro III, and formed an independent group. Due to his tense daily life, he was called "a man who does not laugh," and it is said that after finishing the reading, he would put his hand on the hilt of his sword and glare at the actors before closing the performance. His style of acting was called "three laughing styles," and was strongly influenced by Osaka Gidayu Kyogen, and was characterized by the development of the plot using props skillfully, and was perfected by his disciple Tsuruya Nanboku IV. Only one act of "Ureshiku Soga" has been handed down in script form to the present day, and other works include Bungo-bushi Joruri and Nagauta lyrics such as Tomimoto's "Shijuhachite Koi-dokoro Yaku". <References> Kawatake Shigetoshi, "Research on Kabuki Authors", Furuido Hideo, "Sanshoufu to Sakurada Kazejo and Ge" ("Kinsei Bungei/Research and Criticism", October/November 1976 issue)

(Hideo Furuido)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：寛政9.6.16(1797.7.10)
生年：享保16(1731)
江戸中期の歌舞伎狂言作者。別号与鳳亭,江戸中村座代々の手代で通称を金井半九郎といい,金井筒屋という芝居茶屋の主人。2代目市川団十郎の信頼を得て,団十郎の俳名三升にちなんで三笑と号し,22歳の若さで中村座の帳元(支配人)に出世。宝暦4(1754)年11月,4代目団十郎襲名に際し,金井三笑の名前で狂言作者となり,団十郎一門を中心とする「市川揃え」と呼ばれる大一座を実現することになるが,中村座の後継問題で団十郎と決別。隣接する市村座に移り,江戸根生の団十郎に対して,大坂下りの初代尾上菊五郎の後ろ盾となり,市村座の親類格となって中村座の大一座に対抗,常磐津の「蛛蜘糸梓弦」などを書いた。無名の新人尾上松助らを抜擢,また大坂の浜芝居と呼ばれる二級の芝居から初代坂東三津五郎,初代大谷友右衛門,3代目瀬川菊之丞を呼んで江戸の人気役者とすることに成功。その後2度中村座に復帰するが,そのたびに座元後継問題で失脚。その一方で,江戸の大芝居三座が莫大な借財のために仮芝居に興行権を譲らなければならなくなるなかで,3代目沢村宗十郎ら子飼いの役者たちを組織し,独立したグループを形成する。緊迫した日常から「笑わず屋」と呼ばれ,本読をおえたあとで,刀の柄に手をかけ役者をにらみ,作品を納めたと伝えられる。その作風は「三笑風」と呼ばれ,大坂の義太夫狂言の影響を強く受け,小道具などを巧みに使った筋の展開を特色とし,門下の4代目鶴屋南北によって大成された。台本の形で今日に伝わるのは「うれしく存曾我」の1幕のみで,他に富本の「四十八手恋所訳」など豊後節浄瑠璃,長唄の作詞がある。<参考文献>河竹繁俊『歌舞伎作者の研究』,古井戸秀夫「三笑風と桜田風上・下」(『近世文芸/研究と評論』1976年10・11月号)

(古井戸秀夫)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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