Background
Rihe Shimizu was born in Settsu Province, Osaka Prefecture in 1700.
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Rihe Shimizu
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Career
Rihe Shimizu was the proprietor of Tokuya, a restaurant in Osaka.
He loved music and learned to sing joruri under Harima Inoue, a professional singer. After Harima died, he appeared at Harima's theater and was acclaimed as Ima-Harima (second Harima).
He later became a Buddhist priest and called himself Bansai. Among his pupils was a farmer named Gorobe who first called himself Ridayii Shimizu and later became known as Gidayu Takemoto, under which name he is remembered to this day as a great joruri dramatist.
Rihe never became a tayu, or professional singer, but contributed much to joruri music by transferring the art of Harima to Gidayu.
