Harimaya

The Kabuki Encyclopedia's entry on the Nakamura house (Karoku–Kichiemon line) records that the family was Osaka-born down to Nakamura Karoku III, and that Karoku I was a pupil of Nakamura Utaemon III. Nakamura Kichiemon I, son of Karoku III, was a leading actor of the Taishō and Shōwa eras, excelling especially in jidaimono (history plays); his younger brother was Nakamura Tokizō III.

The house art is the Shūzan Jisshu. 'Shūzan' was the haiku name of Kichiemon I; the Kabuki Play Guide describes the set as a house art gathering his specialities and notes that, though called 'ten', only six plays were ever fixed. The crest is ageha-chō.

According to Kabuki-bito, at the Shūzan-sai September Grand Kabuki at the Shinbashi Enbujō in September 2010, the house name of Nakamura Karoku, Nakamura Kashō (now Matagorō) and others changed from Yorozuya to Harimaya. The same article quotes Nakamura Kichiemon as saying that the founder of Harimaya was Nakamura Karoku I.

According to the Kabuki Actor Directory, Nakamura Karoku V took his name at the Kabukiza in June 1981, and Nakamura Matagorō III and Nakamura Kashō IV at the Shinbashi Enbujō in September 2011. The present status of the name Nakamura Kichiemon is not stated in the sources gathered, so this site does not assert it; of the origin of the house name Harimaya, nothing beyond Karoku I being its founder has been confirmed.