Born in Edo in 1804. His father was the actor Ichikawa Omezô I and his elder brother was Ichikawa Monnosuke III. He started his career as a child-actor performing under the names of Ichikawa Denzô II and Ichikawa Okuma. He was adopted in 1819 by the widow of Tokiwazu Mojidayû III, the head of the Tokiwazu school, and took the musician name of Tokiwazu Komojidayû I. For a while, he was both a musician and an actor performing under the name of Nakamura Denshichi VIII. He formally took the name of Ichikawa Monnosuke IV in November 1825 and kept it up to his death but appeared on stage for his shûmei as a musican, no more as an actor. He became the head of the Tokiwazu school in January 1837, when he finally took the name of Tokiwazu Mojidayû IV. He took the name of Tokiwazu Bungonodaijô I in October 1851 and died the 8th August 1862.