Stage names:

Arashi Rikaku IV
Arashi Kakô
Arashi Kakuzô IV
Onoe Baikaku
Arashi Toyomaru

Real name: Ôe Kakuzô

Guild: Teshimaya

Line number: YODAIME (IV)

Poetry name: Kakô

Existence: 24 December 1853 ~ 24 November 1918

Connections:

Masters : Arashi Rikaku II, Onoe Shôroku

Adopted son: Arashi Rikaku V

Career:

December 1853: born in Ôsaka in the district of Matsuyachô. His father is a Bunraku puppeteer.

1859: he starts his career as a disciple of the Kabuki actor Arashi Rikaku II, who gives him the name of Arashi Toyomaru.

1870: he becomes disciple of Onoe Shôroku and takes the name of Onoe Baikaku.

1874: Baikaku leaves Onoe Shôroku and goes back to the Arashi clan, taking the name of Arashi Kakuzô IV.

1883: Arashi Kakuzô IV takes the name of Arashi Kakô (Kakô is his haimyô).

1887: Arashi Kakô takes the name of Arashi Rikaku IV.

March 1896: Rikaku plays at the Bentenza (Ôsaka) the role of Onoe in the drama "Kagamiyama Kokyô no Nishikie". His stage partners are Arashi Sangorô VI (Ohatsu) and Arashi Kitsusaburô IV (Iwafuji).

November 1909: revival of Chikamatsu Monzaemon's drama "Onna Goroshi Abura no Jigoku", in Ôsaka at the Asahiza, which is based on a new script written by Watanabe Katei; Rikaku plays the role of Osawa [casting].

January 1910: Chikamatsu Monzaemon's drama "Onna Goroshi Abura no Jigoku" is staged for the first time in Kyôto, at the Minamiza; Rikaku plays the role of Osawa [casting].

May 1910: Chikamatsu Monzaemon's drama "Onna Goroshi Abura no Jigoku" is staged for the first time in Tôkyô, at the Shintomiza; Rikaku plays the role of Osawa [casting].

Comments:

Arashi Rikaku IV spent all his career in Kamigata and was a mainstay at the Bentenza (Ôsaka). He was able to perform a broad range of roles, as katakiyaku, tachiyaku, nimaime (in his youth) or oyajigata (in his latter years). His popularity was high up to the beginning of the nineties (of the 19th) but started to slowly but surely decrease afterwards. For some Kabuki experts, he was somehow the Onoe Matsusuke IV of Ôsaka.

Arashi Rikaku IV playing the role of Kiichi Hôgen in the "Kikubatake" scene of the drama "Kiichi Hôgen Sanryaku no Maki"

The Arashi Rikaku line of actors