Ichikawa Danjuro XII

Born as the eldest son of the star of the Showa Era (1926-1989), Ichikawa Danjuro XI, he gained popularity as one of the “Sannosuke Trio” while assuming the name of Ichikawa Shinnosuke, along with then Onoe Kikunosuke and Onoe Tatsunosuke. In 1969, he took on the stage name of Ichikawa Ebizo X. Along with Bando Tamasaburo, he lived his glory days as one half of the “Ebizo Tama Combi”. And then after performing as Ichikawa Danjuro XII for three months at the Kabukiza Theatre in 1985, he churned out stellar performances one after another over the span of three years, across the nation and even in the US.

His affinity with Komatsu City began from his performance of Kanjincho at the Kanjincho Komatsu 800 Year Festival, staged in the year 1987, exactly 800 years after the original legend took place. Since then, he revisited Komatsu time and again over a course of 20 years, interacting with citizens, holding workshops for junior high school students at which he gave demonstration performances, and mentoring children participating in the Japan Children’s Kabuki Festival. He is the very benefactor that has bolstered the City of Kabuki Komatsu, even permitting our children performing Kanjincho to assume the title of “18 Best Kabuki Plays”.

He also supervised the construction design of KOMATSU URARA Theater, performing as Benkei for URARA’s opening performance in 2004. His autograph remains displayed in the lobby, along with that of Bando Mitsugoro X and Nakamura Shibajaku (currently Nakamura Jakuemon V) who played the other two protagonists of Togashi and Yoshitsune respectively. You can view a clip of his father and son performance of Kanjincho (with his son, Ichikawa Ebizo XI) at the Kanjincho Museum.