THE LIVING LANGUAGE OF KABUKI
An entrance to kabuki, opened with Ichikawa Danjūrō XIII.
Learn. Watch. Pass it on.
Four hundred years of wisdom, translated into words for today — and handed on to the world for the next hundred.
400 years behind us.
The next 100 ahead.
No prior knowledge required. A five-minute read can change your next visit to the theatre.
The Ichikawa Sōke
Kabuki has many families, each inheriting its own art and its own names. Among them, Naritaya — the Ichikawa Danjūrō family — has long been called the Ichikawa Sōke. Why?
From the Edo of the Genroku era, where aragoto was born, to a Reiwa connected to the world. Follow what the Ichikawa Sōke has carried, generation beside age.
Upcoming performances and events in date order. Anything not yet confirmed is clearly marked.
AUG 21 – AUG 30
2026
Six cities: Kanazawa, Komatsu, Tokyo, Matsuyama, Kōchi, Osaka
A summer tour in which the art is handed from parent to child. Danjūrō, Botan, and Shinnosuke travel to six cities, from Kanazawa to Osaka — kabuki's idea of succession, made visible on one family's stage.
SEP 4 – SEP 5
2026
Venice, Italy
The film "SHUMEI" screens at the Venice International Film Festival. Shumei — the succession of a great stage name — steps in front of a global audience: a landmark moment in kabuki's journey beyond Japan.
※ Whether Danjūrō himself will attend or appear on stage in Venice is still being confirmed with official sources.
SEP 15
2026
Yamanashi — Highland Resort
Ahead of its nationwide release, the film "SHUMEI" has a special advance screening at Highland Resort in Yamanashi, accompanied by a premium talk session.
SEP 20
2026
Kiso, Nagano
"Forests and artistry, handed on to the future." ABMORI, a project that joins nature and culture in one act of inheritance, takes place in Kiso, Nagano.
SEP 25
2026
Nationwide (Japan)
The film "SHUMEI" opens in cinemas across Japan. What does it mean to inherit a name? Where does tradition end and the individual begin? The questions at the heart of kabuki, on the big screen.
To inherit a name is not to trace the past. It is to open the next chapter of kabuki, each in their own colour.
One name, handed on. A film that carries shūmei — the act of succession at the heart of kabuki — to the cinema screen. No spoilers here: only doors to walk through before you watch.
Three doors in
From plays, from words, from film — articles by the D-13 editorial team, keeping fact and interpretation clearly apart.
Kanjinchō is the story of a fugitive lord, his loyal retainer Benkei, and a barrier keeper who sees through their disguise — and lets them pass anyway. You do not need to know the full plot. Three doorways — Benkei's lie, Togashi's silence, and the leaping exit called tobi-roppō — are enough to enjoy it fully, even on your first visit.
Three Japanese words unlock the film SHUMEI: shūmei (name succession), myōseki (a hereditary stage name), and Naritaya (the 'house name' of the Ichikawa Danjūrō line). Five minutes with these three ideas, and what happens on screen will carry a completely different weight.
As a system, shūmei is simple to define: an actor takes over a predecessor's name and performs under it. But a hereditary name carries generations of artistry, signature roles and audience memory. This article thinks through the question — keeping verifiable fact and editorial interpretation clearly separate.
Aragoto — literally 'wild business' — is the bravura acting style born in Edo kabuki. Bold kumadori face paint, exaggerated costumes, thunderous mie poses: its wildness is not violence but a refined aesthetic of power that drives evil away. Credited to the first Ichikawa Danjūrō, it remains the core of the Ichikawa Sōke's art today.
The Minamiza stands at the foot of Shijō Bridge in Kyoto, closest of all theatres to the riverbank where kabuki is said to have been born. Access, tickets, dress code, what to do at the interval — this guide gathers everything first-timers wonder about, ahead of the Ichikawa Danjūrō Special Performances in October 2026.
A great kabuki line stays in the ear even before you grasp every word. 'Shiganē koi no nasake ga ada' — the opening of Yosaburō's famous speech in Yowa Nasake Ukina no Yokogushi — is the classic example. Let its seven-five rhythm be your doorway into Edo chic, and into this play.
Each conversation is kept in three forms — video, voice, and article — and every video and audio piece carries a full transcript.
Watch
Voice from D-13
Theme: A one-to-two-minute frame for words recorded in the dressing room before a performance — what passes through his mind as curtain time approaches. Recording will follow the performance schedule; a full transcript will accompany publication.
A full transcript will be published together with the video.
Theme: A frame for short recordings made while travelling — thoughts that surface on the road, discoveries in each town, kept in his own voice on the spot. Following our 'record when we can' principle, five spare minutes in transit become the studio.
A full transcript will be published together with the video.
Why photograph an empty theatre?
What does a day leave behind in an oshiguma?
Editorial note
An oshiguma is a print of an actor's kumadori make-up, pressed onto cloth or paper after a performance — a single trace that only that day's body, in that day's role, could leave. A photograph of an empty theatre reads, to our editors, like a record of the stillness before the curtain opens. His own answers to these questions will be published after they are recorded and confirmed.
This space is reserved for Danjūrō's own words, published only after recording and his confirmation.
Fukuoka Solo Exhibition — Archive
Records and artwork commentary are being prepared for publication.
Forests and artistry, festivals and stages — the cultural projects D-13 pursues together with its companions.
ABMORI — FOREST & ART
Handing on forests and art alike.
ONE EMOTION. ONE POSE. ONE STORY.
In seven seconds, emotion crosses borders.
WORLD TRADITIONS IN DIALOGUE
Traditions meeting traditions, anew.
※ This project is at the concept stage. Timing and content are not yet confirmed.
FUTURE BON ODORI
From watching to dancing together.
※ Not a confirmed event. The whole roadmap, including years, is a concept awaiting formal approval.
KATARIBE — STORYTELLERS
Fans not as consumers, but as carriers of culture.
※ At the concept stage. Content and timing are undecided.
Articles and films, translated for the world.
Kabuki has
no border.
