NARITAYA — YAGŌ
Naritaya
Naritaya is the yagō (house name) of the Ichikawa Danjūrō family. Its house art is the aragoto style of Edo kabuki, and it carries the Kabuki Jūhachiban, the eighteen plays chosen by Danjūrō VII. The family is also called the Ichikawa Sōke; its current head is Ichikawa Danjūrō XIII (Hakuen).
The name goes back to Ichikawa Danjūrō I, who prayed at Naritasan Shinshōji for a son and, in thanks, performed 'Tsuwamono Kongen Soga' with that son at the Nakamura-za in 1697. From that joint performance, Naritasan records, the Ichikawa family began using the house name Naritaya.
The house art is aragoto — the bold, exaggerated style said to have been created by Danjūrō I, handed down with kumadori make-up, the mie pose and the nirami glare. The crest is the mimasu.
The Kabuki Jūhachiban — eighteen plays chosen by Danjūrō VII in the Tenpō era — is the repertoire this house is known for; Danjūrō IX added the Shin Kabuki Jūhachiban. Other houses do not have the same kind of system; each house's art has its own name and history.
The current head, Ichikawa Danjūrō XIII (Hakuen), took the name at the Kabukiza in November 2022. His son Ichikawa Shinnosuke VIII made his stage debut in the same production, and his daughter Ichikawa Botan IV carries the house's dance name.
Crest — Mimasu: The house crest: three nested measuring boxes, large, medium and small.
House arts and repertoire
A 'selected repertoire' and a 'house art' are different things. Their names and origins differ from house to house; no single system is shared by all.
Kabuki Jūhachiban
Eighteen plays said to have been chosen by Ichikawa Danjūrō VII in the Tenpō era (1830s), handed down as the house art of the Ichikawa Sōke.
Kanjinchō — The Subscription Scroll / Shibaraku — Just a Moment! / Sukeroku, Flower of Edo (Sukeroku Yukari no Edo Zakura) / Uirō-uri — The Medicine Peddler / Narukami — The Thunder God / Fuwa — The Scabbard Clash / Fudō — The Immovable Deity / Uwanari — Wife against Wife / Zōhiki — The Elephant Tug-of-War / Oshimodoshi — Pushing Back the Spirit / Ya no Ne — The Arrowhead / Kan'u — The Hero Guan Yu / Kagekiyo — Breaking the Prison / Nanatsumen — The Seven Masks / Kenuki — The Tweezers / Gedatsu — Deliverance / Jayanagi — The Snake Willow / Kamahige — The Sickle Shave
See the listShin Kabuki Jūhachiban
A group of plays established by Ichikawa Danjūrō IX. Sources give the count as thirty-two or forty; even the Naritaya official site leaves the list open.
See the listAragoto
The performance style said to have been created by Danjūrō I. Not a codified list but a house art carried on as forms and roles from generation to generation.
See the listHereditary names of this house
- Author
- KABUKI Universe Editorial Team
- Supervision
- Ichikawa Danjūrō
- Published
- Sep 12, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 12, 2026