Namiki Sōsuke

Who was Namiki Sōsuke?

Namiki Sōsuke, also known as Namiki Senryū, was a prominent Japanese playwright who wrote for both kabuki and bunraku. Nearly forty of his bunraku plays were composed for jōruri, a particular form of musical narrative. He is primarily associated with the Takemoto-za and Toyotake-za, the principal bunraku theaters in Osaka.

Collaborating with a number of other playwrights, including Takeda Izumo I and Miyoshi Shōraku, Namiki Sōsuke created some of the most famous traditional Japanese plays. Among them are Natsumatsuri naniwa kagami, Sugawara denju tenarai kagami, Yoshitsune no senbonzakura, and Kanadehon chūshingura. Namiki died while writing Ichinotani futaba gunki, but it was completed by some of his collaborators.