Ichikawa Danjūrō XII

Eldest son of the eleventh

The Naritaya official site records that he was born in August 1946, eldest son of Ichikawa Ebizō IX — later Danjūrō XI. The Kabuki Actor Directory gives the date as 6 August. In October 1953 he made his debut at the Kabukiza as the child Sanbōshi in Daitokuji, under the name Ichikawa Natsuo.

Losing his support at nineteen

The Kabuki Actor Directory records that at the time of his father's succession in 1962 all was set fair for the Naritaya house — and that when he died only three years later, the nineteen-year-old Shinnosuke was left alone to weather the hard currents of the kabuki world.

The Jūhachiban as the art of the house

The Kabuki Actor Directory records his own words: that in the Kabuki Jūhachiban, the art of his house, he wished to yield to no one, and would study with all his strength to that end.

As head of the Ichikawa house

The Naritaya Danjūrō Encyclopaedia records that the Ichikawa school of dance, which counts the seventh as its effective founder, was set on its footing by the ninth, passed to his eldest daughter Suisen II, and later came under his own headship.

A succession run of three months

The Naritaya official site records that he took the name Danjūrō XII across a three-month succession run at the Kabukiza from April to June 1985. The Kabuki Actor Directory gives the plays as Benkei in Kanjinchō and the title role in Sukeroku, among others.

Taking kabuki abroad

The Naritaya official site lists tours to the United States in 1982 and 1985, Australia in 1988, Europe in 1989, Paris in 2004, the Paris Opéra in 2007 and Monaco in 2009, among others. In 2007 he was made a Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

New work on neglected plays

The Cultural Digital Library records that the Jūhachiban play Uirōuri was revived as an independent piece in 1922, and revived again by Danjūrō XII in 1980. The Kabuki Actor Directory notes that at the National Theatre he brought fresh invention to Zōhiki.

Kurodani, written between absences

The Kabuki Actor Directory records that he collapsed with leukaemia during his son's succession run as Ebizō XI in May 2004; that while under treatment he wrote Kurodani, imagining what became of Kumagai after he takes holy orders at the close of Kumagai Jinya; and that he staged it as a dance-drama after leaving hospital, under the pen name Mimasuya Hakuji. He also published an account of his illness under his own name.

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.