OTA GAKÔ (太 田雅光)
aka Ota Masamitsu

1935

                   
Nakamura Baigyoku III (中村梅玉) as Masaoka (政岡)

Play: Meiboku Sendai Hagi (伽羅先代萩)
Performance Place: Osaka Kabuki-za, Osaka
Performance Date: 02/01/35
Print Date: 1950 or later
Series: Meifu Miyage Geki no Omokage
(冥府苞苴劇容彩)  (#28)
Medium: ?
Image courtesy of the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum

Note: It is unclear if this is a woodblock print, a watercolor
drawing, or a hand-colored keyblock print for an
unpublished design.  Baigyoku III died on March 18, 1948
at age 74.  There is no record of Baigyoku III having
performed the role of Masaoka in Tokyo.  He did, however,
reprise the role at the Osaka Kabuki-za in May 1943, but
the print more closely resembles a photograph from the
February 1935 production
.

              
Soganoya Gorô (曽我廻家五郎) as Kamematsu (亀松)

Play: Sanjyûroku Kaishyô no Uchi  (三十六快笑の内):
 Hazakura (葉桜; 葉櫻)
Performance Place: Shinjuku Daiichi Gekijô
Performance Date: 10/09/35
Print Date: 1950 or later
Series: Meifu Miyage Geki no Omokage
(冥府苞苴劇容彩)  (#29)
Medium: ?
Image courtesy of the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum

Note: It is unclear if this is a woodblock print, a watercolor
drawing, or a hand-colored keyblock print for an
unpublished design.  Gorô died on November 1, 1948 at
age 72.  This print may reflect some other performance
but October 1935 is the only performance in Tokyo that I
could find.  There was a play called "Hazakura" that
played at the Kabuki-za in April 1935 but it does not
appear to have been written or performed by Gorô. 
Given the closeness in dates, one wonders if Gorô's
comedy might have been a spoof of the play that
played at the Kabuki-za. The last performance of
Hazakura that I could find before Gorô's death was at
the Misono-za in Kyoto in May 1945.