Matsumoto Kōshirō V (五代目松本幸四郎: 11/1801 to 5/1838) (actor 1764 – 1838)

Kinkō (poetry name - 錦江)
Kinkō (poetry name - 錦紅)
Kinshō (poetry name - 金升)
Kinshō (poetry name - 錦升)
Ichikawa Komazō III (市川高麗蔵: 11/1772 to 10/1801)
Ichikawa Sumizō I (初代市川寿美蔵: 11/1769 to 10/1772)

Links

Kabuki21

Biography:

"As the actor Matsumoto Kõshirõ V (1764-1838) once said, "If you have a good producer and good actors, even a nitwit can put on a show." [The choice of bold type is ours.]

Quoted from: "Edo Kabuki: The Actor's World" by Samuel L. Leiter in Impressions 2010, p. 118.

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Kōshirō held this name from 11/1801 to 5/1838. His father was Matsumoto Kōshirō IV (1737-1802). His sons were Matsumoto Kōshirō VI (1812-49) and Ichikawa Sumizō II (dates unknown). There are as yet no prints in the Lyon Collection showing Kōshirō IV.

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"Matsumoto Kōshirō V was one of the kabuki giants, a senryō yakusha, during the Bunka, Bunsei and Tenpō eras. In his 20's he was a tachiyaku actor excelling in nimaime roles like Soga Jūrō Sukenari in sogamono dramas. He started to perform jitsuaku roles from the 11th lunar month of 1798 and quickly became one of the best actors for villain roles, especially in Tsuruya Namboku IV's kizewamono. He had a considerable influence on actors like Onoe Kikugorō III or Ichikawa Danjūrō VII. The kata he deviced for some of the most famous roles in kabuki history, like Gonta ("Sushiya") or Nikki Danjō* ("Meiboku Sendai Hagi") are still used nowadays.

"The fifth Kōshirō had a very large nose and his eyes were close together, two facial defects the print artists were fond of depicting, so that this Edo actor is easily picked out in the pictures illustrating the theatre of this time." (Zoë Kincaid in "Kabuki, the Popular Stage of Japan")

Matsumoto Kōshirō V's best roles: Nikki Danjō ("Meiboku Sendai Hagi"), Kō no Moronō ("Kanadehon Chūshingura"), Igami no Gonta ("Yoshitsune Sembon Zakura"), Tateba no Taheiji/Saeda Daigakunosuke ("Ehon Gappō-ga-Tsuji"), Matsuōmaru ("Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami"), Iwafuji ("Kagamiyama Kokyō no Nishikie"), Ikyū ("Sukeroku"), Akechi Mitsuhide ("Badarai no Mitsuhide"), Kudō Saemon Suketsune (sogamono) and Banzui Chōbei."

This information is quoted directly from Kabuki21.

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