Kitensai Shoichi

Japanese: 帰天斎正一 - きてんさい・しょういち

Year of death: Unknown (Year of death unknown)
Year of birth: Tempo 14.9 (1843)
A magician of the Meiji period. His real name was Hasai Kumetaro. He started out as a storyteller under the third generation of Hayashiya Shozomon, and was called Hayashiya Shoraku. Later, he became independent as a magician, calling himself Kitensai Shoichi. He said that he went to Paris in the early Meiji period to learn Western magic and returned to Japan in 1874. He started performing at vaudeville halls around 1876, and gained popularity for his Western magic tricks, such as handkerchief burning and Western-style beheading, which were rare at the time. In 1899, he was given the honor of being shown to the Emperor at the Imperial Academy. His later years are unknown, but he is thought to have retired in the 1890s and handed over his name to the second generation in Osaka, and it is said that he was doing fortune-telling on the banks of Nagano's Zenkoji Temple around 1917 and 1918. <References> Yamamoto Keiichi, "Kitensai Shoichi, the Founder of Western Magic" (Magic Research, No. 51)

(Yamamoto Susumu)

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

Japanese:

没年：没年不詳(没年不詳)
生年：天保14.9(1843)
明治期の奇術師。本名波済粂太郎。初め3代目林家正蔵門の噺家で林家正楽。のち奇術師として独立,帰天斎正一を名乗った。本人の口上では明治初年パリへ渡り西洋奇術を習得して明治7(1874)年に帰国したという。9年ごろから寄席へ出て,当時としては珍しいハンカチ焼き捨て,洋術首切りなどの西洋奇術で人気をとり,22年には宮中御学問所において天覧の栄を賜った。晩年が不明だが,明治30年代には大阪の2代目に名前を譲って引退したものと思われ,大正6,7(1917,18)年ごろは長野善光寺のほとりで易占をしていたともいう。<参考文献>山本慶一「西洋手品の開祖・帰天斎正一」(『奇術研究』51号)

(山本進)

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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