KATAOKA MATSUNOSUKE

FOUR GENERATIONS

Kataoka Matsunosuke I
Kataoka Matsunosuke I

Dates of birth and death unknown. Disciple of Kataoka Gadô II ? His name was recorded in the 1841 Kamigata hyôbanki.

Kataoka Matsunosuke II

The actor Kataoka Gatô II held the name of Kataoka Matsunosuke II from 1851 to the 3rd lunar month of 1856.

Kataoka Matsunosuke 2.3
Kataoka Matsunosuke

The day of his birth and his previous stage names were not recorded. He was the disciple of Kataoka Gatô II and held the name of Kataoka Matsunosuke from 1864 to 1888. He died the 9th of June 1888.

Kataoka Matsunosuke III
Kataoka Matsunosuke III

| Onoe Tamimaru II

Born the 5th of the 6th lunar month of 1868. Disciple of Onoe Tamizô II, he received the name of Onoe Tamimaru II and made his debut on stage in 1888. He became a disciple of Kataoka Gatô III and took the name of Kataoka Matsunosuke III in 1901. He led his own troupe, the Matsunosuke Ichiza, which was specialized in gishigeki and toured all over Japan up to the beginning of the 1930s. As a consequence, Matsunosuke's nickname was Chûshinguraya, a direct reference to the story of the 47 faithful retainers ("Chûshingura"). He died the 11th of August 1933.

Honmyô	Haimyô	Yagô
Nishizawa Hanjirô	Shinshô, Manji (?)	Midoriya, Otowaya

Kataoka Matsunosuke IV

The actor Kataoka Matsunosuke IV is the current holder of the name since June 1978.

Kataoka Matsunosuke IV
Courtesy of DANGO JIRÛ HYPER
This image was part of an amazing 2010 web project, which was entitled Kabuki Bijin Tokei (The Kabuki Beautiful People Clock), a special countdown with original pictures of Kabuki actors, one picture per day up to the closing of the Kabukiza (video on youtube)
Kataoka Matsunosuke IV was Number 84 in this countdown (online the 6th of February 2010, 84 days to go before the closing of Tôkyô's most famous theater)