Stage names:

Ichimura Yoshigorô II
Ichimura Kakitsu VIII
Ichimura Matasaburô II
Kataoka Yoshinao

Real name: Ichimura Yoshinao

Other name: Ichimura Kakitsu XVI

Guild: Tachibanaya

Line number: NIDAIME (II)

Birthday: 18 January 1918

Connections:

Great-great-grandfather: Nakamura Karoku I

Great-grandfather: Kataoka Nizaemon VIII

Grand-father: Kataoka Nizaemon X

Father: Kataoka Nizaemon XII

Adopted father: Ichimura Uzaemon XV

Brothers: Kataoka Gadô V, Kataoka Roen VI

Son: Ichimura Kakitsu IX

Career:

December 1922: he makes his first appearance on stage, in Ôsaka at the Temma Yachiyoza, receiving the name of Kataoka Yoshinao and playing the role of Santa in the drama "Mikkazuki Jirokichi".

December 1940: he is adopted by Ichimura Uzaemon XV.

January 1941: Kataoka Yoshinao takes the name of Ichimura Matasaburô II at the Kabukiza, playing the role of Ushiwakamaru in the drama "Kuramayama no Danmari".

May 1945: his adopted father Ichimura Uzaemon XV dies.

February 1946: Ichimura Kakitsu VII and Ichimura Matasaburô II take at the Tôkyô Gekijô the respective names of Ichimura Uzaemon XVI and Ichimura Kakitsu VIII; the new Kakitsu plays the role of Hachiman no Saburô in the drama "Kotobuki Soga no Taimen".

March 1946: his father Kataoka Nizaemon XII is assassinated by a robber in his Ôsaka home.

October 1967: Ichimura Kakitsu VIII and his son Ichimura Hisashi take at the Kabukiza the respective names of Ichimura Yoshigorô II and Ichimura Kakitsu IX; the new Yoshigorô plays the roles of Narihira and a young house wife in "Narihira Azuma Kagami" and "Shiki".

Comments:

Ichimura Yoshigorô II is a retired actor who spent his career as a supporting tachiyaku. He was also a talented photographer and has published a book of his Kabuki photographs.

There are two ways to "count" the Ichimura Kakitsu line of actor and, as a consequence, you may find Ichimura Kakitsu VIII referenced in some documents as the sixteenth of the line.

There was no Ichimura Yoshigorô I but the famous Edo actor Bandô Hikosaburô III held the name of Ichimura Kichigorô I at the beginning of his career ("Yoshi" and "Kichi" are 2 different readings for the same ideogram).

The mon of Ichimura Yoshigorô II