ICHIKAWA EN'Ô II

Stage names:

Ichikawa En'ô II
Ichikawa Ennosuke III
Ichikawa Danko III

Real name: Kinoshi Masahiko

Guild: Omodakaya

Line number: NIDAIME (II)

Existence: 9 December 1939 ~ 13 September 2023

Connections:

Great-grandfather: Ichikawa Danshirô II (Ichikawa Ennosuke I)

Grandfather: Ichikawa En'ô I (Ichikawa Ennosuke II)

Father: Ichikawa Danshirô III

Brother: Ichikawa Danshirô IV

Son: Ichikawa Chûsha IX

Grandson: Ichikawa Danko V

Nephew: Ichikawa Ennosuke IV

Career:

January 1947: he made his first appearance on stage, in Tôkyô at the Tôkyô Gekijô, where he received the name of Ichikawa Danko III and performed in the dance "Ninin Sanbasô".

April 1960: premiere at the Kabukiza of Hagiwara Yukio's dance-drama "Onizoroi Momijigari"; Danko played the role of a female retainer, in reality a female demon [casting].

May 1963: big name-taking ceremony for the Omodakaya guild; Ichikawa Ennosuke II, Ichikawa Danko III and Ichikawa Kamejirô I respectively took the names of Ichikawa En'ô I, Ichikawa Ennosuke III and Ichikawa Danko IV^[1]. The new Ennosuke celebrated his shûmei by performing in the dance-drama "Kurozuka", the jidaimono "Kamakura Sandaiki" and the michiyuki "Yoshinoyama".

January 1964: revival at the Nissay Theatre of Tsuruya Nanboku IV's spectacular drama "Kin no Zai Sarushima Dairi"; Ennosuke played the roles of the musume Okiyo (in reality Princess Kiyo), Fujiwara no Tadabumi, the shirabyôshi Hanako (in reality the ghost of Princess Kiyo) and the kyôgenshi Masuroku (in reality the ghost of Tadabumi) [casting].

July 1966: first program for the Shunjûkai; revival at the Tôyoko Hall of the drama "Taiheiki Chûshin Kôshaku".

April 1968: Ennosuke performed for the first time a chûnori exit for the role of the fox Genkurô at the end of the "Shi-no-Kiri" scene of the classic "Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura", which was staged at the National Theatre.

May 1968: revival at the National Theatre of "Ura Omote Sendai Hagi"; Ennosuke played the role of Arajishi Otokonosuke [casting].

November 1969: premiere at the National Theatre of Mishima Yukio's drama "Chinsetsu Yumihari-zuki"; Ennosuke played the role of Takama Tarô Motoakira [more details].

April 1976: revival at the Meijiza of Katsu Genzô III's drama "Ogasawara Sôdô"; Ennosuke played the roles of Okada Ryôsuke, the yakko Kikuhei (in reality the fox of Mt. Myôjin) and Ogasawara Tôtômi-no-Kami [casting].

April 1977: revival at the Meijiza of Katsu Genzô II's drama "Kimi-wa-Fune Nami no Uwajima"; Ennosuke played the roles of Date Tôtômi-no-Kami, Yanbe Seibê, the yakko Dôsuke and Takino [casting].

May 1977: revival at the Minamiza of Katsu Genzô III's drama "Ogasawara Sôdô"; Ennosuke played the roles of Inugami Hyôbu, Okada Ryôsuke and the yakko Kikuhei (in reality the fox of Mt. Myôjin) [casting].

July 1977: revival at the Kabukiza of Katsu Genzô III's drama "Ogasawara Sôdô"; Ennosuke played the roles of Inugami Hyôbu, Okada Ryôsuke and the yakko Kikuhei (in reality the fox of Mt. Myôjin) [casting].

April 1979: revival at the Meijiza of Tsuruya Nanboku IV long-forgotten play "Haji Momiji Ase no Kaomise" (commonly called "Date no Jûyaku", in English 'the Ten Roles of Date'), whose plot and characters belonged to the "Meiboku Sendai Hagi" and "Kasane" worlds. The play was produced by Ennosuke, who played the ten roles with many hayagawari [casting].

July 1980: revival at the Kabukiza of the never-performed 5th act of "Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura"; Ennosuke played the role of Satô Shirobyôe Tadanobu [more details].

April 1981: premiere at the Meijiza of the dance "Taikô Sanbasô", which was staged within Nagawa Shôsuke's drama "Sennari Hisago Mashira no Kaomise"; Ennosuke played the role of Toyotomi Hideyoshi performing the sanbasô's dance.

July 1981: revival at the Kabukiza of Tsuruya Nanboku IV's drama "Hitori Tabi Gojûsan Tsugi"; Ennosuke played the roles of Yurugi Daigaku, the umakata Sankichi (in reality Tanba Yohachirô), Omatsu, Osan (in reality the spirit of the Cat Demon), the hinin Edobei, the ghost of Omatsu, Nippon Daemon (in reality Tanba Yohachirô), the decchi Chôkichi, Shinanoya Ohan, the courtesan Yukino, Okinu, Benten Kozô Kikunosuke, Dote no Dôtetsu, Oshige, the tobi boss Masakichi, the thunder, a ferryman, Kimon no Kihê and Dote no Oroku [casting].

April 1984: revival at the Meijiza of Tsuruya Nanboku IV's 1813 kaomise drama "Gohiiki Tsunagi Uma"; Ennosuke played the roles of Sôma Tarô Yoshikado, the wakashu Kohata Tomoenosuke (in reality the spirit of the tsuchi-gumo), the zatô Kayû (in reality Yoshikado), the sakanaya Ebizako-no-Jû (in reality Watanabe Genji Tsuna) and the priest Chichû (in reality the spirit of the tsuchi-gumo) [more details].

April 1987: Ennosuke produced the revival at the Meijiza of the play "Jûni Hitoe Komachi Zakura", which included the famous Tokiwazu-based dance-drama "Tsumoru Koi Yuki no seki no To" [more details].

January 1995: Ennosuke took part in the 14th Kabuki performances at the Asakusa Kôkaidô to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Shôchiku Company [more details].

29 June 1998: the Ôsaka District Court slapped an injunction on an unnamed 51-year-old female fan who had been stalking him for the previous six years. She was prohibited from approaching within 200 meters of him, banned from the theaters at which he performed and ordered to pay YEN 500,000 in compensation (text courtesy of Jean Wilson) [more details].

19 April 2000: Ennosuke performed his 5,000th flying stunt, called chûnori, on stage at the Shinbashi Enbujô, playing the role of Guan Yu in the Super-Kabuki drama "Shin Sangokushi" (New Three Kingdoms).

October 2003: revival at the National Theatre with the Omodakaya guild of Nagawa Kamesuke I's drama "Hade Kurabe Ise Monogatari"; Ennosuke played the roles of Ki no Aritsune and Natora's ghost [casting].

November 2003: Ennosuke suddenly fell ill (first symptoms of a cerebral infarction) while performing in Fukuoka. He had to rest and could not take part in the December kaomise program in Kyôto.

February 2004: Ennosuke was back on stage, playing the role of Ichijô Ôkura Naganari in the "Ichijô Ôkura Monogatari" act of the drama "Kiichi Hôgen Sanryaku no Maki", which was the core of the program of an Omodakaya Japan tour. Because of some minor health problems in his lever, Ennosuke decided to rest longer after this tour and stopped acting up to the end of 2004.

June 2012: Ichikawa Ennosuke III and his nephew Ichikawa Kamejirô II respectively took the names of Ichikawa En'ô II and Ichikawa Ennosuke IV at the Shinbashi Enbujô, performing in a special program which celebrated the hatsubutai of both Ichikawa Chûsha IX and Ichikawa Danko V and commemorated the 49th anniversary (50th memorial service) of late Ichikawa En'ô I and Ichikawa Danshirô III [more details].

July 2012: Ichikawa En'ô II celebrated his second month of shûmei at the Shinbashi Enbujô, playing the role of Mashiba Hisayoshi in "Sanmon" [more details].

March 2013: Ichikawa En'ô II, Ichikawa Ennosuke IV and Ichikawa Chûsha IX celebrate their shûmei in Nagoya at the Misonoza; En'ô played the role of Mashiba Hisayoshi in "Sanmon" [more details].

June 2013: Ichikawa En'ô II, Ichikawa Ennosuke IV and Ichikawa Chûsha IX celebrate their shûmei in Fukuoka at the Hakataza. En'ô was too frail to appear on stage everyday; he performed the 2nd of June the role of Mashiba Hisayoshi in "Sanmon" and makes a short stage appearance, in a wheelchair, for the curtain call at the end of the evening program the 24th of June [more details].

December 2013: Ichikawa En'ô II, Ichikawa Ennosuke IV and Ichikawa Chûsha IX celebrate their shûmei in Kyôto at the Minamiza [more details]. This was also En'ô's last appearance on stage.

13 September 2023: En'ô died in Tôkyô.

Comments:

Ichikawa En'ô II was one of the most popular contemporary Kabuki actors. As a dynamic and innovative zagashira, he started a big revolution against the conservatism of Kabuki. More action, more stage tricks (keren), amazing costums and gigantic stage fights, everything was written in big letters in the Kabuki deviced by this charismatic actor. He revived chûnori in an effort to bring back the joy and vigor that Kabuki had during the Edo period. Although it was once scolded by high-brow critics as being a circus-like trick, chûnori has obtained enormous support from contemporary audiences. About 8 million people have seen him perform it in various dramas (as of April 2000). His philosophy of acting was based on the 3 S's: Supîdo ('Speed'), Sutôri ('Story') and Supekutakuru ('Spectacle').

Ichikawa En'ô II created his own genre of theatre, called Sûpâ Kabuki in Japanese ("Super Kabuki" in English). It kept many features of Kabuki, combined with the use of modern language and top-of-the-art stage effects.

Ichikawa En'ô II was also famous for the revivals of many long-forgotten plays like the amazing "Date no Jûyaku" (the ten roles of Date), written by Tsuruya Nanboku IV for Ichikawa Danjûrô VII and performed only in the 7th lunar month of 1815. Tobe Ginsaku rewrote the script in 1979 and he played the famous ten roles in April 1979 at the Meijiza.

It was tradition for En'ô and the Omodakaya guild to be the top of the bill at the Kabukiza for two specaculars shows every July from 1971 to 2003.

[1] The supporting actors Ichikawa Shun'en I and Ichikawa Masutarô also took the names of Ichikawa Matsuo III and Ichikawa Dan'en II.

The Ichikawa Danko line of actors

The Ichikawa Ennosuke line of actors

The Ichikawa En'ô line of actors