Stage names:

Nakamura Baigyoku II
Nakamura Fukusuke III
Mimasu Tanin V
Nakamura Tamazô
Fujioka Kikutarô

Real name: Sasaki Norikazu

Guild: Takasagoya

Line number: NIDAIME (II)

Poetry name: Sanjaku

Existence: 28 December 1841 ~ 8 June 1921

Connections:

Masters: Nakamura Tamashichi I, Fujioka Sengiku

Adopted father: Mimasu Daigorô V

Adopted son: Nakamura Baigyoku III

Disciples: Nakamura Tamashichi II, Nakamura Fukuen

Career:

1848: he starts his career as a disciple of the onnagata Fujioka Sengiku and receives the name of Fujioka Kikutarô.

1850: he becomes disciple of the actor Nakamura Tamashichi I, who gives him the name of Nakamura Tamazô.

1865: Mimasu Daigorô V, who has lost his only son, adopts Tamazô and gives him the name of Mimasu Tanin V.

March 1868: Mimasu Tanin V takes the name of Nakamura Fukusuke III (Takasagoya guild). An adopted son of Nakamura Shikan IV, belonging to the Narikomaya guild, takes the same name and the same line number in Edo at the same time. This unusual situation is validated by the kabuki world and the two Fukusuke lines will coexist from the third to the fifth generations.

October 1873: premiere at the Chikugo no Shibai of Katsu Genzô II's drama "Kimi-wa-Fune Nami no Uwajima"; Fukusuke plays the roles of Yanbe Seibei and the yakko Dôsuke [casting].

June 1898: the play "Rôben Sugi no Yurai", which was originally written for the puppet theater and staged for the first time in February 1887 in Ôsaka, is adapted to Kabuki for the first time and staged at the Minamiza; Fukusuke plays the role of Rôben's mother Nagisa-no-Kata [more details].

October 1907: Nakamura Fukusuke III takes the name of Nakamura Baigyoku II in Ôsaka at the Kadoza, playing the roles of Sakuramaru and Chiyo in the classic "Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami". Baigyoku was a haimyô used by the great star Nakamura Utaemon III.

June 1921: Baigyoku appears on stage for the last time, in Kôbe at the Chûô Gekijô.

Comments:

Nakamura Baigyoku II was a kaneru yakusha, excelling in both jidaimono and sewamono. He played a lot with the Kamigata stars Jitsukawa Enjaku I and Nakamura Ganjirô I.

Nakamura Baigyoku II playing the role of the warrior Kumagai Jirô Naozane in the drama "Gempei Sakigake Tsutsuji", commonly called "Ôgiya Kumagai" (Kôbe 1915)

The Mimasu Tanin line of actors

The Nakamura Fukusuke line of actors

The Nakamura Baigyoku line of actors