Iwai Hanshirō VI (六代目岩井半四郎) (actor 1799 – 1836)

Alternate names: Baiga (poetry name)
Shūka (poetry name)
Iwai Hisajirō I (初代岩井久次郎)
Iwai Kumesaburō II (二代目岩井粂三郎)

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Biography:

This actor held this name from 11/1832 to 4/1836. His great-grandfather was Sawamura Sōjūrō II (1713-70). Both of his grandfathers were famous actors: Iwai Hanshirō IV (1747-1800) and Sawamura Sōjūrō III (1753-1801). His father was Iwai Hanshirō V (1776-1847) and his brother was Iwai Hanshirō VII (1804-45).

Hanshirō VI was born in 1799 and died on the 8th day of the 4th lunar month of 1836.

Iwai Hanshirō VI was a talented wakaonnagata, who achieved fame for himself in Edo during the first half of the nineteenth century. His popularity was high (as high as the one of Segawa Kikunojō V in the 1820s) but he unfortunately died too young, before reaching the peak of his career. As far as art is concerned, he followed the same path as his father Iwai Tojaku or his grandfather Iwai Hanshirō IV but he did not create his own.

This actor's poetry name was Baiga.

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"Yamatoya Baiga (1799-1836)... was the eldest son of Iwai Hanshirō V... and took the Hanshirō VI in 1832. Like his father, he was a famous onnagata female impersonator)."

Quoted from: Kunisada's World by Sebastian Izzard, p. 142.