Thirteen Danjūrō.Thirteen ages.

Genroku cities and townspeople's culture

Large cities took shape in Edo and the Kamigata region, and a new wave ran through literature, fine art, craft and music. Kabuki, the Japan Arts Council notes, developed greatly on that same current.

Wagoto and the onnagata art take shape in Kamigata

In the same Genroku years, Sakata Tōjūrō I won acclaim in Kyoto and Osaka for the naturalistic acting of wagoto, and Yoshizawa Ayame I is credited with establishing the art of the onnagata.

Puppet-theatre plays cross into kabuki

Puppet theatre flourished under writers such as Chikamatsu Monzaemon, and kabuki began staging its tightly built plots. The distinction between jidaimono and sewamono also dates from this time.

From a popular puppet show to aragoto

On Kinpira Rokujō-gayoi, taken as the founding of aragoto, the Naritaya official site records that he is said to have drawn his idea from the Kinpira puppet ballads then popular in Edo.

Prayer to the Fudō of Narita, and the house name Naritaya

The Naritaya official site describes the bond as close enough that he is said to have prayed to the Fudō of Narita and thereby been granted the son who became Danjūrō II, and states that the house name derives from this. Successions in the line are still marked by a procession at Naritasan Shinshōji.

The move to Kamigata, and entry into haikai

At the end of 1693 he travelled to Kyoto with his parents, wife and children, but — as the Naritaya official site records — his style did not suit Kyoto taste and he was poorly received. He stayed about a year, and used the journey to enter the school of the poet Shiinomoto Saimaro, taking the name Saigyū.

Puppet-theatre plays cross into kabuki

The Japan Arts Council records that Chikamatsu Monzaemon won a following with works such as Sonezaki Shinjū, drawn from the affections of the townspeople of his own day, and that Kokusen'ya Kassen was carried into kabuki to great acclaim, leading the way for staging puppet plays there. The distinction between jidaimono and sewamono also dates from this time.

The Ejima–Ikushima affair, and the three theatres of Edo

The Naritaya 'Danjūrō Encyclopaedia' records that Edo's licensed large theatres were fixed at four — the Nakamuraza, Yamamuraza, Ichimuraza and Moritaza — until the Ejima–Ikushima affair of 1714 brought down the Yamamuraza, leaving three. When one could not operate, the Miyakoza, Kiriza and Kawarasakiza stood in as reserve houses.

The theatre, one of three places where a thousand ryō moved

The Naritaya 'Danjūrō Encyclopaedia' names three places in Edo where a thousand ryō was said to change hands in a day: the Nihonbashi fish market in the morning, the three great theatres at midday, and the Yoshiwara quarter at night — a saying that marks the place the theatre held in the city's economy.

Caught up in the Ejima–Ikushima affair

The Naritaya official site records that in 1714, at twenty-seven, he was drawn into the Ejima–Ikushima affair but escaped with a light penalty, while his benefactor Ikushima Shingorō was banished to a distant island. Its encyclopaedia relates that one cause was a gift bearing the Konoe family's secondary crest, the gyōyō-botan, which he had received from Ejima, and that a magistrate's quick thinking let it be explained away as a crest used by the Ichikawa house. The Yamamuraza, where he had premièred Sukeroku the year before, was destroyed by the same affair.

Becoming a thousand-ryō actor

The Naritaya official site records that in 1721, at thirty-four, he was paid a salary of a thousand ryō and so became a senryō yakusha — a thousand-ryō actor. In an age when the theatre formed part of the city's economy, an actor's worth was now named in the same terms.

Kamigata wagoto flows into Edo aragoto

The Naritaya official site records that his patron Ikushima Shingorō was a master of Edo wagoto who had inherited the art of Nakamura Shichisaburō I, and that his guidance gave Danjūrō II his wide range. In an age the Japan Arts Council describes as setting Edo aragoto against Kamigata wagoto, he brought the two together in one body.

The kaomise, an annual institution

The Japan Arts Council explains that in Edo kabuki actors signed with a playhouse for a year, and that the run of the eleventh month, when those contracts began, was called the kaomise — the year's most important occasion, at which the troupe's line-up was presented. Shibaraku itself grew out of the customs of that event.

Puppet plays continue crossing into kabuki

The Japan Arts Council records that many of Chikamatsu Monzaemon's works were carried into kabuki and became important pieces there, leading the way for the practice as a whole. By the middle of the eighteenth century, when puppet theatre reached its height, its hits would be moved across one after another.

Shosagoto takes shape as an onnagata art

The Japan Arts Council records that kabuki's dance side, present from its beginnings, advanced with the vogue for song and shamisen, and that the dance plays called shosagoto or furigoto took shape — accompanied by nagauta, and at first as an art of the onnagata.

Three names move at a single kaomise

The Naritaya official site records that at the run of the eleventh month of 1735, Danjūrō II became Ebizō, Masugorō became Danjūrō III, and Matsumoto Shichizō became Matsumoto Kōshirō II. It was this Shichizō who, after a twelve-year interval, would become Danjūrō IV.

To Kamigata with his foster father

In 1741, the Naritaya official site records, he travelled to Osaka with his foster father Ebizō but fell ill at once and returned to Edo. Ebizō premièred Kumedera Danjō in Kenuki there and won recognition for his jitsugoto in the Kamigata region — and it was during that stay that word reached him of his son's death. It is one ending to an age in which actors moved between Kamigata and Edo.

Three gidayū masterpieces enter kabuki

The Japan Arts Council records that as puppet theatre reached its height in the mid-eighteenth century, its hits were moved into kabuki one after another — Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami, Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura and Kanadehon Chūshingura above all, revived so often that they came to be called the three masterpieces of the gidayū repertoire. They still make up a large share of the kabuki repertoire today.

The première of Kyōganoko Musume Dōjōji

The Japan Arts Council explains that the Dōjōji plays, staged since the Genroku years, were gathered to their summation in Kyōganoko Musume Dōjōji, first performed by Nakamura Tomijūrō I in 1753 — a great work of onnagata dance carried by a single performer for close to an hour. It came the year before his own succession.

The staging of Shibaraku settles at the kaomise

The Japan Arts Council explains that it was customary to build into the varied plays of the kaomise a scene in which a figure of blazing justice enters on the cry of 'shibaraku' and saves people about to be killed by a villain; played again and again, the scene grew more refined until its staging was fixed. Only from the Meiji era was it performed as the separate piece Shibaraku.

Taking the Kōshirō name at the run where Danjūrō moved

The Naritaya official site records that at the run of the eleventh month of 1735, at which Danjūrō II became Ebizō and Masugorō became Danjūrō III, Matsumoto Shichizō also took the name Matsumoto Kōshirō II, at twenty-five. It coincided with his turn from women's roles to male leads, and the road that would carry him to the Danjūrō name began there.

Taking the vacant name by adoption

The Naritaya official site records that in the eleventh month of 1754, longing for a name vacant twelve years, he became the adopted son of Ebizō — Danjūrō II — and took the name as the fourth, at forty-four. Seen from the other side, Danjūrō II, having lost his third, took in a forty-four-year-old son at sixty-seven.

Passing the name to his son, and going back to the old one

The Naritaya official site records that in 1770, at sixty, he had his own son, Matsumoto Kōshirō III, take the name Danjūrō V, while he himself returned for a time to his former name of Kōshirō. He went on performing after handing the name over, first staging Kamahige in 1774.

Shaving his head, and the boss of Kiba

The Naritaya official site records that in 1776, at sixty-six, he abruptly shaved his head on the closing day of a run at the Ichimuraza and retired, taking the name Zuinen, withdrawing to his house at Fukagawa Kiba and keeping company with chivalrous commoners and fellow haikai poets. Its encyclopaedia relates that his obliging nature and his retreat to Kiba earned him the affectionate name of the boss of Kiba.

Edo kabuki comes into flower

Of the years from An'ei (1772–81) and Tenmei (1781–89) into Kansei (1789–1801), the Naritaya official site writes that Edo kabuki was in full flower, and that it was an age in which an actor's ability as a performer was highly prized.

Gidayū plays take over much of the repertoire

The Japan Arts Council records that as the puppet theatre reached its height in the mid-eighteenth century, its hits were carried across into kabuki one after another. Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami, Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura and Kanadehon Chūshingura were revived again and again, until they were spoken of as the three masterpieces of the gidayū repertoire.

Dance pieces develop, with jōruri accompaniment

The Japan Arts Council records that jōruri styles such as tokiwazu and tomimoto were taken into kabuki's accompaniment; because these were narrative arts by origin, the dance pieces built on them carried strong dramatic weight. Such pieces came to be performed by tachiyaku as well as onnagata, and Tsumoru Koi Yuki no Sekinoto was first staged in the latter half of the eighteenth century.

Counted among the three faces of Edo

The Naritaya official site records that some two hundred years ago the phrase 'the three faces of Edo' spread through the streets, naming as the popular stars of the day Danjūrō V, the sumo champion Tanikaze and the Yoshiwara courtesan Kasen — the theatre, the wrestling ring and the pleasure quarter, each with its representative figure.

His friendship with the writer Utei Enba

The Naritaya official site records that he was sworn as a brother to Utei Enba, known as the compiler of the Kabuki Nendaiki. Its dictionary adds that Enba's house in Honjo Aioichō carried the mimasu crest on everything from roof to furniture, that he styled himself Danshūrō in echo of the actor's name, and that the two wrote comic fiction together.

Handing on the name, and becoming Ebizō

In the eleventh month of 1791, at fifty-one, he had his son take the name Danjūrō VI and renamed himself Ebizō — but written with a character meaning a small fry rather than the fine lobster of the usual spelling. The Naritaya official site explains the humility in it, and quotes his kōjō: his elders were masters, the ornamental lobsters of Edo; he was small fry.

Retirement at the Hogoan, and a death mid-verse

After retiring in the eleventh month of 1796 he withdrew to the Hogoan at Honjo Ushijima, took the name Naritaya Shichizaemon, and entered a life of elegant retreat among men of letters, the Naritaya official site records. He died on 30 October 1806, at sixty-six, in the middle of a verse gathering that had begun the day before.

The last of Edo kabuki's flowering

The Naritaya official site describes the span from An'ei and Tenmei into Kansei (1789–1801) as the full flowering of Edo kabuki, an age in which an actor was judged on the strength of his acting. The eight years in which he bore the name fall at the end of it.

Actor prints, and Sharaku

The Naritaya official site identifies the model for Sharaku's Takemura Sadanoshin as Danjūrō V, after he had passed the name to his son and become Ebizō. The years in which the sixth bore the name were the years in which actor prints were a major commodity for Edo's publishers.

Dance pieces reach the tachiyaku

The Japan Arts Council records that jōruri styles such as tokiwazu and tomimoto entered the accompaniment, producing dance pieces of strong dramatic weight, and that such pieces came to be performed by tachiyaku as well as onnagata.

Taking the name at the Ichimuraza kaomise

In the eleventh month of 1791, at fourteen, he took the name Danjūrō VI at the Ichimuraza kaomise. On the same occasion his father became Ebizō, and the Naritaya official site records that the kōjō delivered then was so celebrated that audiences came for it.

His father's retirement, and a young head of house

The Naritaya official site records that when Danjūrō V retired in 1796, expectations of the nineteen-year-old Danjūrō grew heavier still, and his responsibilities with them.

From the triumph of Sukeroku to a death two months later

The Naritaya official site records that in the third month of 1799 he played Sukeroku, an art of his house, for the first time and scored a great hit; that the following month a cold kept him from the bill; and that he never returned, leaving the verse 'how can this be — the iris-blade of the mimasu crest, broken'. He died on the thirteenth day of the fifth month of that year, at twenty-two.

A pleasure-seeking Edo, and new arts

Population concentrated further in Edo and shogunal control weakened. New literature, fine art, craft and music appeared one after another, and accessible arts such as kōdan storytelling and rakugo flourished, the Japan Arts Council records.

The work of Tsuruya Namboku IV

He established kizewamono, unsparing portraits of people living at the bottom of society, and created ghost plays rich in keren stage trickery. Techniques such as naimaze, braiding several familiar story-worlds together, gave him great freedom.

Print advances, and runs tied to publishing

With advances in printing such as multi-colour woodblock, theatre runs increasingly worked hand in hand with publications, the Japan Arts Council records — the period in which actor prints and playbills spread well beyond the theatre itself.

Punishment and banishment under the Tenpō Reforms

Under the Tenpō Reforms against luxury he was summoned to the South Magistrate's office on 6 April 1842, placed in handcuffs and remanded to his landlord, and on 22 June sentenced to banishment from the ten-ri circuit of Edo, as the Naritaya official site records. The Japan Arts Council likewise notes that Ichikawa Ebizō V was punished for extravagance and driven out of Edo.

Taking shelter at Naritasan Shinshōji

Banished, he renamed himself Naritaya Shichizaemon, left Edo on 25 June and lodged at Enmei-in of Naritasan Shinshōji, the Naritaya official site records — the temple behind the family's house name becoming his actual refuge.

Touring in Kamigata

He then settled in Osaka and appeared in theatres in Kyoto, Ōtsu and Kuwana. On those bills, the Naritaya official site records, he used names including Ichikawa Ebizō, Ichikawa Hakuen, Hataya Jūzō and Naritaya Shichizaemon.

Pardon, and the return to Edo

A general pardon on 26 December 1849 lifted the banishment; a letter on 16 January 1850 ordered his immediate return, and he reached Edo on 29 February, the Naritaya official site records.

The Tenpō Reforms, and the policing of amusement

The Cultural Digital Library records that the Tenpō Reforms of 1841–43 aimed at shoring up the shogunal order, and that as part of this luxury was policed exhaustively — costly ornaments and food, novels and colour prints all restricted as extravagance. Popular amusements such as the theatre and the variety halls were heavily curtailed.

The three Edo theatres move to Saruwaka-machi

The Cultural Digital Library records that moderates blocked the hardliners' plan to abolish kabuki, and that a fire gave the occasion for the settlement reached instead: the playhouses were moved from central Edo out to Asakusa, then still on the city's edge. The removals were completed between 1841 and 1843, and a new theatre town named Saruwaka-machi came into being.

The kaomise fades as the variety halls thrive

Of Edo kabuki in these years the Cultural Digital Library records that the eleventh-month kaomise, once praised as the flower of Edo, went into decline: the actors' change-over shifted to the first month and the festival air went out of the openings. Meanwhile the variety halls and sideshows grew busier as easy entertainment, and their material began to feed kabuki in turn.

His father's banishment, and a daily walk to the Fudō

The Naritaya official site records that he was known for filial devotion: during his father's banishment he abstained each morning and walked daily to the Kuramae shrine of the Narita Fudō to pray for his father's safety and pardon. He is said to have been commended for it by the city magistrate and given ten kanmon in coin — a point at which the reforms that squeezed kabuki and the devotions of the house intersect.

Drawing the audience back to Saruwaka-machi

The Naritaya official site records that when the three Edo theatres were forcibly removed to Saruwaka-machi in Asakusa, away from the centre, attendance fell at first — but that before long the crowds returned in greater numbers than before, and that the driving force behind this was, in large part, his popularity.

When a popularity itself goes on sale

The Naritaya official site relates that water from the rain-barrel he used for the mizuiri scene in Sukeroku was rumoured to confer beauty if used to mix one's face powder, and sold briskly at a bu the flask; and that there was a legend of ladies of the great houses keeping his expectorate, labelled as such, in brocade amulet pouches worn against the skin. The site presents both as rumour and legend, and they are recorded here on the same footing.

The journey to Osaka, and his death

In the sixth month of 1854 he left Edo to visit his father, then in Osaka, joining him mid-run in Nagoya and appearing on stage there. On 28 July the two made their ceremonial boat entry to the Dōtonbori theatre. On the morning of 6 August, the opening day in Osaka, he took his own life at an inn in Shimanouchi Gozenchō, at thirty-two. The Naritaya official site states that the cause is unknown.

The Theatre Reform Society is founded

Founded in 1886 around Suematsu Kenchō, son-in-law of Itō Hirobumi, to sweep away what it saw as the old vices of the theatre. Shibusawa Eiichi was among its members. The Naritaya official site records fierce proposals — abolishing the hanamichi and the chobo narration, introducing actresses — and that the society faded within two or three years.

The death of Kawatake Mokuami

The playwright who spanned Edo and Meiji died in 1893. The Japan Arts Council describes him as a rare figure who took up the demands of the new age while continuing to write sewamono that held the vanished face of Edo.

The stirrings of shin-kabuki

Partly through the reform movement, literary figures such as Tsubouchi Shōyō found it easier to engage with kabuki. From the later Meiji years into early Shōwa, plays written by authors outside the kabuki world began to be staged.

A foster father's violent death, at the turn into Meiji

In the ninth month of 1868 his foster father Kawarasaki Gonnosuke was killed by robbers. To carry out his foster father's wish to restore the Kawarasakiza, he took the name Kawarasaki Gonnosuke VII the following third month and became head of the troupe at the Ichimuraza, the Naritaya official site records.

The Shintomiza and the theatre reform movement

At the Shintomiza — rebuilt, after relocation and fire, as a modern large-scale theatre — he boldly altered established acting and staging and pressed forward with realist katsurekimono, throwing himself into the reform movement. The Naritaya official site records that ordinary audiences long attached to Edo kabuki reacted with resistance and disapproval.

The imperial performance

The Japan Arts Council records that in April 1887 the Meiji Emperor attended a performance at the residence of Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru. The Naritaya official site adds that the Emperor, Empress and Empress Dowager were present at a temporary stage at the Azabu residence, that Danjūrō IX performed Kanjinchō among other pieces, that the occasion did much to raise the social standing of actors, and that it was the first Japanese stage lit by electric light.

The return to classical kabuki

With katsureki failing to win support, from around 1894 he again performed classical kabuki extensively, the Naritaya official site records. The Japan Arts Council likewise notes that by the end of the nineteenth century he was giving the inherited Edo repertoire in a more refined form, setting standards for later generations.

The vogue for shin-kabuki, and revivals

The Japan Arts Council records that from the late Meiji era into early Shōwa, plays written by authors outside kabuki came to be staged, and that Ichikawa Sadanji II performed them energetically. Sadanji also revived pieces long unperformed, among them the Jūhachiban play Narukami.

The golden age of Tokyo kabuki

The Japan Arts Council records that a company of outstanding actors — Nakamura Utaemon V, Onoe Baikō VI, Matsumoto Kōshirō VII, Ichimura Uzaemon XV, Onoe Kikugorō VI, Nakamura Kichiemon I — gave the period the name of Tokyo kabuki's golden age, while in Kamigata, Nakamura Ganjirō I was called the face of Osaka.

Theatres burned, and plays banned under occupation

The Japan Arts Council records that the Second World War burned down almost all of kabuki's theatres and took many of its people. When performance finally resumed under the occupation, many plays — Kanadehon Chūshingura among them — were for a time banned as endorsing militarism and the old status order.

The Kabukiza rebuilt

The Japan Arts Council records that the Kabukiza was rebuilt in 1951 and that, helped by the wide response to a staging of Genji Monogatari, kabuki began to recover. He died five years later.

To the stage by way of Nakamura Ganjirō I

The Naritaya official site records that in 1910, after the death of Danjūrō IX, he suddenly resolved to act and sought out the Kamigata actor Nakamura Ganjirō I on tour. The Japan Arts Council describes Ganjirō in those same years as the actor who perfected a modern wagoto and was called the face of Osaka.

Filling the gap as head of the house

The Naritaya official site records that through an unprecedented interval with no Danjūrō he performed the offices the head house owed, and revived one buried Jūhachiban play after another — years in which the absence of the name was answered by the staging of the family art.

The name of the tenth, conferred after death

The Naritaya official site records that he died on 1 February 1956 at seventy-three, and that on the day of the funeral his successor Ebizō — later Danjūrō XI — conferred the name of Danjūrō X upon the deceased. The site's Danjūrō Encyclopaedia phrases it as being given the name posthumously. This was not a succession taken in life.

Black-and-white television reaches the home

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications white paper records that black-and-white television spread rapidly through Japanese homes during the 1950s and 60s, reaching ninety per cent of households by 1964. Average daily viewing across the population rose from fifty-six minutes in 1960 to two hours fifty-two minutes by 1965.

The first designation of the Traditional Kabuki Preservation Society

The Kabuki Actor Directory records that the first designation of members of the Traditional Kabuki Preservation Society took place in April 1965 — part of a period in which the transmission of the classics was being given institutional support.

The National Theatre opens

The Japan Arts Council records that in 1966 the National Theatre opened, dedicated to preserving and promoting the traditional performing arts, and began staging classical kabuki on a stage built with kabuki's own machinery. This was the year after his death.

Wartime consolation performances

The Naritaya official site records that the Pacific War began in 1941 and that he took part in consolation performances and the like — the year after he had become Ichikawa Ebizō IX.

Genji Monogatari at the rebuilt Kabukiza

The Japan Arts Council records that the Kabukiza was rebuilt in 1951 and that kabuki began to recover, helped by the wide response to a staging of Genji Monogatari. The Naritaya official site records that in March of that year he played Hikaru Genji in Funahashi Seiichi's version at the Kabukiza to great acclaim. He was on the stage that became the emblem of the recovery.

A Danjūrō after fifty-nine years, and the kabuki boom

The Naritaya official site records that in April 1962 he took the name Danjūrō XI at the Kabukiza, and that an Ichikawa Danjūrō came into being after a gap of fifty-nine years since the death of the ninth. The Japan Arts Council records that the succession run drew such crowds that it amounted to a kabuki boom.

Three brothers side by side at the kōjō

The Naritaya Danjūrō Encyclopaedia relates that at the Kabukiza in March 1965, at a memorial run for Kōshirō VII, the three brothers appeared together in plain formal dress for the kōjō address, to much comment — and that the eleventh, thought to be a halting speaker, delivered his with humour and fluency enough to startle his younger brothers. It was the year he died.

Kabuki enters UNESCO's intangible heritage

The Japan Arts Council records that in 2005 kabuki was proclaimed by UNESCO a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, and in 2008 was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Kabukiza rebuilt again

Shochiku's history of the Kabukiza records that the fourth Kabukiza, reopened in 1951, closed for rebuilding after the April 2010 programme; the fifth was completed in February 2013, its opening ceremony held in March and the theatre reopened in April. He died in the same month the new building was completed.

Kabuki beyond its own theatres

The Japan Arts Council records that collaborations with contemporary playwrights and directors, new works based on manga and anime, and performances outside kabuki's dedicated theatres have all become active.

The European tour of autumn 1989

The Naritaya official site records a European tour in September 1989 taking in Brussels, East Berlin, Dresden and Vienna. No source has been found linking the itinerary to what followed in Europe from November of that year, so the fact is recorded without further comment.

Kanjinchō at the Paris Opéra

The Naritaya official site records the Shochiku Grand Kabuki at the Paris Opéra, Palais Garnier, in March 2007. The Kabuki Actor Directory relates that the Kanjinchō there fulfilled his wish to play Benkei and Togashi opposite his son Ebizō. That year he was made a Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Elected to the Japan Art Academy

The Naritaya official site records that he was elected to the Japan Art Academy in 2012. He had earlier become a director of the Traditional Kabuki Preservation Society in 1999 and a member of the Council for Cultural Affairs in 2001, taking on the institutional side of transmitting the classics as well.

His last performance

Shochiku's Kabuki Bito records that his last performance was on 17 December 2012 at the Minamiza in Kyoto, in the annual kaomise run — Kajiwara Heizō in Kajiwara Heizō Homare no Ishikiri and Musashibō Benkei in Funa Benkei. The same announcement states that he died at 9.59 pm on 3 February 2013 at a hospital in Tokyo, aged sixty-six.

The first National Theatre closes for redevelopment

The Japan Arts Council states that, nearly sixty years after opening and with the building badly aged, the National Theatre closed at the end of October 2023 together with the National Engei Hall and the Traditional Performing Arts Information Centre. Its own productions have since been staged at other venues.

The Osaka Shochikuza closes

Shochiku's Kabuki Bito notes that the Osaka Shochikuza has been closed since 27 May 2026 — part of a period in which the venues for performance are themselves in flux.

Kabuki beyond its own theatres

The Japan Arts Council records that collaborations with contemporary playwrights and directors, new works based on manga and anime, and performances outside kabuki's dedicated theatres have all become active.

Appearing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic opening ceremony

The Naritaya official site records that he took part in the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in July 2021 — before the succession, as Ichikawa Ebizō.

The Kabukiza special performance marking the succession

Shochiku's Kabuki Bito reports that with the Kabukiza special performance of 31 October to 1 November 2022, Ichikawa Ebizō became Ichikawa Danjūrō XIII, Hakuen, and Horikoshi Kangen became Ichikawa Shinnosuke VIII. A succession tour lasting some two years began from there.

The first real-time stream from the Kabukiza

Shochiku's Kabuki Bito announced that on 7 November 2022, the opening day of the succession run, the evening programme's Shumei Hirō Kōjō would be streamed live on Kabuki On Demand — described as a first attempt at real-time streaming from the Kabukiza.

Kanjinchō at the Paris Opéra

The Kabuki Actor Directory relates that at the first-ever kabuki performance at the Paris Opéra in 2007 he shared the role of Benkei in Kanjinchō with his father, the late Danjūrō XII; after debating the final exit with him, he treated the aisle of the auditorium as a hanamichi and performed the roppō stride along it.