Stage names:
Ichikawa Danjûrô XI
Ichikawa Ebizô IX
Ichikawa Komazô IX
Matsumoto Kintarô I
Matsumoto Kotarô
Guild: Naritaya
Line number: JÛICHIDAIME (XI)
Existence: 1909 ~ 10 November 1965
Connections:
Father: Matsumoto Kôshirô VII
Adopted father: Ichikawa Sanshô V (Danjûrô X)
Brothers: Matsumoto Kôshirô VIII, Onoe Shôroku II
Son: Ichikawa Danjûrô XII
Grandson: Ichikawa Ebizô XI
Career:
1913: first stage appearance under the name of Matsumoto Kotarô.
1915: Matsumoto Kotarô takes the name of Matsumoto Kintarô I.
September 1923: the family house in Tôkyô is destoyed by a powerful earthquake called Kantô Daijishin. Matsumoto Kôshirô VII and his sons goes to Kamigata. Kintarô has the chance to meet and learn the art with the great actor Nakamura Ganjirô I.
April 1929: Matsumoto Kintarô takes the name of Ichikawa Komazô IX.
1936 ~ 1939: Komazô joins the Kabuki troupe sponsored by the Tôhô Company, without his father's. His stage partners are Nakamura Moshio IV, Bandô Minosuke VI and Ichikawa Sumizô VI. After 3 years spent at the Tôhô, Komazô goes back to the Shôchiku.
1940: Komazô is adopted by Ichikawa Sanshô V.
May 1940: Ichikawa Komazô IX takes the name of Ichikawa Ebizô IX at the Kabukiza, playing the role of role of a moxa peddlar, in reality Soga Gorô Tokimune in disguise, in the drama "Uirô Uri", which is revived for this occasion.
1943: Ebizô joins the Imperial Army but, victim of the typhus fever, he is quickly demobilized.
1946: important year for Ebizô, who plays for the first time the role of Sukeroku in the drama "Sukeroku Yukari no Edo Zakura".
October 1948: Ebizô plays at the Mitsukoshi Gekijô the role of Sasaki Moritsuna in the drama "Ômi Genji Senjin Yakata".
January 1949: his father Matsumoto Kôshirô VII dies.
October 1952: premiere at the Kabukiza of Osaragi Jirô's drama "Wakaki Hi no Nobunaga"; Ebizô plays the role of Nobunaga [casting].
January 1954: the duet Ichikawa Ebizô - Onoe Baikô VII plays for the first time in the drama "Yuki no Yûbe Iriya no Azemichi", which is staged at the the Shimbashi Embujô. Onoe Baikô VII plays the role of the courtesan Michitose and Ebizô the role of Kataoka Naojirô.
February 1956: his adopted father Ichikawa Sanshô V dies.
September 1961: Ebizô plays at the Kabukiza the role of Iwafuji in the drama "Kagamiyama Kokyô no Nishikie". The roles of Onoe and Ohatsu are performed by Nakamura Utaemon VI and Onoe Baikô VII.
April 1962: Ichikawa Ebizô IX takes the prestigious name of Ichikawa Danjûrô XI; his late adopted father Ichikawa Sanshô V posthumously receives the name of Ichikawa Danjûrô X.
Comments:
Ichikawa Danjûrô XI was a talented tachiyaku and nimaime of the Shôwa era. He unfortunately died only 3 years after the most important postwar shûmei, which gave him the most prestigious name of the Kabuki world.
Ichikawa Danjûrô XI portraying Sukeroku in a print made by Ôta Masamitsu
Print made by Ôta Masamitsu in 1950
The Ichikawa Komazô line of actors
The Ichikawa Ebizô line of actors
The Ichikawa Danjûrô line of actors