三升

Mimasu is the fixed crest of the Ichikawa Sōke, known by the house name Naritaya. It depicts three measuring boxes—large, medium, and small—nested one inside another and seen from directly above; the design known generally as mitsu-ireko-masu is written "mimasu" in the Naritaya tradition.

Its origin is told in several ways—most famously, that it commemorates three masu presented to Danjūrō I at his stage debut. Because masu sounds like the word for "to increase," the box had long been an auspicious emblem of prosperity, and the crest is also playfully glossed as mimasu, "we shall watch the stage."

Nowhere does the mimasu loom larger than in Shibaraku, one of the Kabuki Jūhachiban. The hero's persimmon-colored robe bears the crest dyed out in white, on sleeves said to be nearly the size of a tatami mat, held square by bamboo slats within. It is a singular case of a crest becoming the very design of a costume.

The mimasu has served as a name as well as a crest: Sanshō, written with the same characters, was among the haimyō of Danjūrō V, and the actor honoured as the tenth Danjūrō bore the name Ichikawa Sanshō V in his lifetime, guarding the Sōke, and is said to have received the name Danjūrō only after his death. Crest and name have echoed each other through the family's history.

As a sign standing for the Ichikawa Sōke itself, the mimasu appears on stage costumes, celebratory curtains, and personal effects alike. Down to the present Danjūrō XIII, wherever the Naritaya stage is found, so is this crest—a single mark carrying the whole history of the family and its art.