Namiki Shōzō I (並木正三) (1730–1773) was a prominent Japanese playwright who produced roughly 100 works for ''

bunraku is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre, founded in Osaka in the beginning of the 17th century, which is still performed in the modern day. Three kinds of performers take part in a performance: the or (puppeteers), the (chanters) ...

'' (puppet theater) and for ''

kabuki is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes ...

''. Shōzō is also credited with inventing the revolving stage (回り舞台, ''mawaributai''), one of many tricks of stagecraft used extensively in ''kabuki'', and with popularizing the use of trapdoors (セリ上げ, ''seriage''). Shōzō left ''bunraku'' in 1751; adapting plays from ''bunraku'' to ''kabuki'' was a very common practice, and it is likely that many of Shōzō's kabuki plays began as puppet productions. His roughly one hundred plays were mostly '' jidai-mono'' (時代物, historical plays), and include ''Keisei ama no hagoromo'' (The Feathery Garment from Heaven, 1753), ''Sanjikkoku yobune no hajimari'' (The Beginning of the Heavy Cargo Ships on the Yodo River, 1758), and ''Sanzen-sekai yarikuri ōrai'' (Kin'emon the Notorious Pirate, 1772).

References

*Takaya, Ted T. (1985). "Namiki Shōzō." Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.

References

See also