FOUNDER HANAYAGI JUSUKE I  (初代宗家家元花柳壽輔）

Born in 1821 (4th Year of Bunsei era) as eldest son to a toys trader in Tokyo and was given away for adoption to a business man in Yoshiwara (Asakusa)  by the name of Tsuruma Kichigoro at the age of 4.  Due to the  influence of the place they lived in, his adopted father Kichigoro had great liking for performing arts and sent him to become the disciple of Nishikawa Senzo IV at the age of 6.  Upon acceptance into the Nishikawa school, he was given the stage name Nishikawa Yoshimatsu.  In 1828, Ichikawa Danjuro VII noticed his extraordinary talents and accepted him into kabuki acting and Yoshimastu was named Ichikawa Koikichi.  He started to train very hard to become a great kabuki actor and was aiming to appear in grand and prestigious stage performances.  He planned to go to Osaka for further training to achieve higher standards.  Unfortunately his adopted father Kichigoro passed away in 1839 and he realized that it would not be possible to bring along his adopted mother to Osaka for his training and also did not want to leave her alone.  Thus he abandoned the idea of becoming an actor.  He then returned to Nishikawa Senzo IV and took on the name Nishikawa Yoshijiro and decided to succeed as nihonbuyo dancer and master.

The following year in 1840, Ichikawa Danjuro VII succeeded to a new stage name as Ichikawa Ebizo V.  Yoshijiro was made assistant to Nishikawa Senzo IV to choreograph “Kanjincho” for the first stage appearance of Danjuro VII as Ichikawa Ebizo V.  It is said that the first part of “Kanjincho” (Ennen no Mai) was choreographed by Yoshijiro.   At just an age of 20 and as a new comer, Yoshijiro’s exceptional choreography captured the attention of many and subsequently Ichikawa Ebizo V started recommending Yoshijiro to many top level Kabuki actors as choreographer which led Yoshijiro to become a very popular and successful choreographer.

Yoshijiro continued to work under Nishikawa Senzo IV and assisted him in major productions which lead to many to believe that Yoshijiro will one day become the Grand Master and Head of Nishikawa school.  However, in 1845 after the sudden death of Nishikawa Senzo IV, a succession dispute arose between Yoshijiro and Nishikawa Minosuke who was another disciple of Senzo IV which lead Yoshijiro to leave Nishikawa school.  After he left the school, it is said that he went back to his hometown of Yoshiwara and started teaching nihonbuyo to Geisha in the area and there are also information recorded that he continued to do Kabuki choreography until August 1847 under the name Nishikawa Yoshijiro. 

During the time Yoshijiro was actively teaching nihonbuyo to Geishas of Yoshiwara, the head of pleasure quarters Tamaya Sansaburo who supported Yoshijiro suggested to him to start afresh and change his surname to Hanayagi taking after the pseudonym of his quarters’ name 「花柳園清喜」.  In April 1848, on the Nakamura Kabuki Theatre roll of actors name list the name HANAYAGI YOSHIJIRO appeared for the first time.  This is said to be the beginning of Hanayagi-ryu.  Gradually, Yoshijiro extended his activity in choreography and created a recognition for himself under the name Hanayagi Yoshijiro.  Especially, Ichimura Hanemon XII and Nakamura Utaemon IV were impressed with Yoshijiro and the proprietor of Ichimura-za theatre employed Yoshijiro as the resident choreographer of the theatre.

In 1849, when Ichikawa Danjuro VII returned to Tokyo, he gave Yoshijiro as a gift the first character of his pseudonym 「壽海老人」and from Sept 1849, Yoshijiro changed his name to Hanayagi Jusuke (花柳壽助) .  With the support of highly influential sponsors, Hanayagi Jusuke became choreographer of all the three kabuki theaters at that time.  In 1860, he changed the last character of his name and from then on written as 花柳壽輔 retaining the pronounciation as Hanayagi Jusuke.  The reason for this change is unknown.

Hanayagi Jusuke became very famous choreographer and eventually not only he took care of the choreography of a complete production all by himself, but also went on to take charge of the direction of music of the production as well.  The early days of Meiji era were the golden days of Hanayagi Jusuke I and he carried on creating many masterpieces. 

In 1873 Jusuke’s first son Hanayagi Yoshijiro II, passed away at the age of 29 due to illness.  Although Jusuke was depressed by the lost, he continued to create many dances catering to the taste of the contemporary audience.

After the Meiji Restoration, Jusuke had a fall out with Ichikiwa Danjuro IX who was at that time the top kabuki actor.  Due to the disagreements between them, Danjuro IX went over to Fujima Kanemon II and gradually the influence Hanayagi-ryu had went over to Fujima-ryu.  In 1892, Jusuke’s wife passed away and following year 1893 a long time accomplice of Jusuke also passed away which made him totally depressed and he lost all interest in his choreography activity and at the same time age was catching up on Jusuke.

In 1893, Jusuke re-married and had a second son from his second wife - Hanayagi Yoshisaburo (later to become Hanayagi Jusuke II).  Jusuke doted on his son which gave him new life and encouragement and he started to get back to choreographing again. In 1897, he became the exclusive choreographer for Ichikawa Sadanji I of Meiji-za.  Unfortunately due to age, he could not continue for long.  His last choreography was in 1901 for Ichikawa Ennosuke I for the dance “tsuri onna”.  By this time, Hanayagi ryu had weakened considerably.  Soon Jusuke became bed-ridden due to sickness and passed away on 28 Jan 1903.  At the time of his death, Yoshisaburo was only 10 years old and Hanayagi ryu was left under the care of Hanayagi Tokutaro till Yoshisaburo is ready to take over..