(b Osaka, ?1651; d Osaka, Sept 1714). Japanese singer. He was the originator of a dramatic or narrative vocal style known as gidayū or gidayū-bushi, performed to the accompaniment of a large shamisen (a futozao); the style was indispensable to puppet plays (bunraku) and some of the kabuki repertories. He studied with Shimizu Rihei and made his début in 1677, adopting the name Ridayū. In 1673–84 he sang at the Uji-za (Uji theatre) in Kyoto and in 1684 he founded his own theatre, the Takemoto-za, in Osaka, where he introduced his new singing style under the name of Gidayū. He and his singing soon gained popularity and fame, thanks partly to his collaboration with the playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon, who wrote for him such plays as Shusse Kagekiyo (‘Kagekiyo’s Success’, 1685) and Sonezaki shinjū (‘Double suicide at Sonezaki’, 1703). His artistic accomplishments earned him the prestigious name of Chikugonojō in 1701.
See also Japan, §VI, 2(i).
MASAKATA KANAZAWA