Kyogen writer. Born in Tokyo, the son of a merchant family. He became a pupil of Nanboku Tsuruya V in 1835, and Tate-sakusha (main writer) in 1843, succeeding to the name of Shinshichi Kawatake II. He wrote many Kizewa Kyogen (bare domestic plays) such as "Shinobuno Sota" (1854) for Kodanji Ichikawa IV, a Kabuki actor who was popular in the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate. After the Meiji Restoration, he offered Katsureki-mono (Living history plays) and Zangirimono (cropped-hair plays) to Danjuro Ichikawa IX and Kikugoro Onoe V. Although he announced his retirement in 1881, he continued to write under the name Mokuami. Kawatake left about 360 life works.