Kinokuniya

According to the Kabuki Actor Directory, Sawamura Sōjūrō VII (1875–1949) spent his childhood in Kumagaya, was adopted by Sukedakaya Takasuke IV and made his stage debut in 1881. He took the name Sawamura Tosshō III in 1893 and became Sōjūrō VII at the Kabukiza in September 1908. The Directory records that he excelled in young-women's roles and in wagoto, with a repertoire represented by the Kōga Jisshu.

Sawamura Sōjūrō IX (1933–2001), eldest son of the eighth holder, took the name Sawamura Tosshō V in 1953 and became Sōjūrō IX in September 1976. The Directory records that from 1989 he ran a society for reviving classical kabuki under the Sōjūrō name, and that he joined the kabuki tours to the United States in 1990 and 1996.

Sawamura Tōjūrō II, second son of Sōjūrō VIII, made his stage debut in January 1957 as Sawamura Kiyoshirō and took his name in September 1976 at the Kabukiza as Shinobu in Shiraishibanashi. Sawamura Sōnosuke III became a household apprentice of Sawamura Sōjūrō in September 1981 and took his name in September 1999. Sawamura Kiyoshirō II was adopted as an artistic heir by Tōjūrō and took the name in December 2024 (Kabuki Actor Directory).

The present status of the name Sawamura Sōjūrō is not stated in the sources gathered, so this site does not assert it; nor is the origin of the house name written here until a primary source confirms it. The Directory writes the yagō with the simplified character for 'koku', and this site follows that spelling.