Tōsha Meishō

Who is Tōsha Meishō?

Tōsha Meishō is a Japanese hayashi musician, one of a long line of Tōsha school musicians specializing in providing musical accompaniment in the kabuki theatre.

Born in 1941, he began studying under his father, Tōsha Shūhō, from around the age of six. In 1958, he took on the name Tōsha Suihō, and made his first appearance onstage five years later, in a June production of "Ō-Edo Shuten-dōji" at the Kabuki-za.

Meishō has been granted a number of awards, including the Osaka Prefecture Citizens' Arts Award in 1978, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs' Special Award for the Promotion of Creative Arts in 1979 and 1982; in the latter year he also won the Kyoto Rookie Award. Four years later, he won the Agency for Creative Affairs' Arts Festival Award for Excellency for his performance "Flute of Four Seasons".

He officially succeeded to the name Tōsha Meishō in 1989, becoming the second in the lineage to hold that name. A number of his relatives are also active musicians in kabuki hayashi or other traditional forms.