Stage names:

Ichikawa Sadanji II
Ichikawa Enshô II
Ichikawa Koyone I
Ichikawa Botan

Real name: Takahashi Eijirô

Nickname: Daitôryô (president)

Guild: Takashimaya

Line number: NIDAIME (II)

Poetry names: Kyôka, Enshô, Shôen

Existence: 19 October 1880 ~ 23 February 1940

Connections:

Father: Ichikawa Sadanji I

Adopted son: Ichikawa Shôen

Disciples: Ichikawa Arajirô II, Ichikawa Sashô II, Ichikawa Kudanji III, Ichikawa Tsutanosuke II, Ichikawa Sabunji II, Ichikawa Sakizô, Ichikawa Shôhaku, Ichikawa Tsutamaru

Career:

April 1884: first stage appearance; he received the name of Ichikawa Botan.

July 1890: premiere at the Shintomiza of "Kiyomasa Seichûroku", a revised version of Kawatake Shinshichi III's 1875 drama "Minori no Aki Seishô Denki". It was part of a special 2-day gala program starring Ichikawa Danjûrô IX; Botan played the role of Toyotomi Hideyori [more details].

July 1896: Ichikawa Botan took the name of Ichikawa Koyone I.

September 1900: Ichikawa Koyone I took the name of Ichikawa Enshô II.

7 August 1904: his father Ichikawa Sadanji I died.

July 1905: Enshô played at the Meijiza the role of Danshichi Kurobê in the drama "Natsu Matsuri Naniwa Kagami"; the roles of Issun Tokubê and Tsuribune Sabu were played by Ichikawa Kodanji V and Ichikawa Arajirô I.

September 1906: Ichikawa Enshô II took the name of Ichikawa Sadanji II. He inherited from his father the management of the Meijiza ... and its heavy debt. He could not manage it well and quickly got rid of it to join the Shôchiku Company.

December 1906 ~ August 1907: Sadanji traveled in Europe to study theatre and dance abroad. He met in Paris the famous actresses Sarah Bernhardt and Gabrielle Réjane and became student in London at the Theatre school run by Herbert Beerbohm Tree (his elocution teacher told him that he had absolutely no chance to become an actor!). He went back to Japan through the USA.

September 1909: revival at the Meijiza of the drama "Kenuki", a long-forgotten play belonging to the Kabuki Jûhachiban; Sadanji played the role of Kumedera Danjô [casting].

November 1909: foundation with Osanai Kaoru of the Jiyû Gekijô study group (the "Free Theatre"). The first program, the premiere in Japan of Henrick Ibsen's "John Gabriel Borkman", was staged at the Yûrakuza.

May 1910: revival at the Meijiza of the drama "Narukami", a long-forgotten play belonging to the Kabuki Jûhachiban; Sadanji played the role of the wicked priest Narukami [casting].

May 1911: premiere at the Meijiza of the Okamoto Kidô's drama "Shuzenji Monogatari"; Sadanji played the role of the mask-carver Yashaô [casting].

October 1911: premiere at the Meijiza of the Okamoto Kidô's drama "Minowa no Shinjû"; Sadanji played the role of Fujieda Geki [casting].

January 1912: revival at the Meijiza of the drama "Fudô", which belonged to the Kabuki Jûhachiban; Sadanji played the role of Fudô Myôô [more details].

October 1913: revival at the Kabukiza of the drama "Zôhiki", which belonged to the Kabuki Jûhachiban; Sadanji played the role of Ôtomo Kachimaru [more details].

January 1914: revival at the Hongôza of the drama "Gedatsu", a long-forgotten play belonging to the Kabuki Jûhachiban; Sadanji played the role of Akushichibyôe Kagekiyo [more details].

October 1914: premiere at the Shintomiza of Okamoto Kidô's drama "Sasaki Takatsuna"; Sadanji played the role of Sasaki Takatsuna.

October 1914: premiere at the Meijiza of Okamoto Kidô's drama "Soga Monogatari"; Sadanji played the role of Kyô no Kojirô [casting].

September 1915: premiere at the Hongôza of Okamoto Kidô's drama "Toribeyama Shinjû"; Sadanji played the role of Kikuchi Hankurô [casting].

February 1916: premiere at the Hongôza of Okamoto Kidô's drama "Banchô Sarayashiki"; Sadanji played the role of Lord Aoyama Harima [casting].

August 1917: the play "Natsu Matsuri Naniwa Kagami" was produced at the Kabukiza for the first time; Sadanji played the role of Issun Tokubê [casting].

September 1918: premiere at the Meijiza of Okamoto Kidô's drama "Onoe Idahachi"; Sadanji played the role of Harada Idahachi [casting].

September 1919: ninth and final program for the Jiyû Gekijô, which was staged at the Imperial Theater. It was the premiere in Japan of Eugène Brieux's "La Foi".

September 1922: revival at the Meijiza of Tsuruya Nanboku IV's drama "Nazo no Obi Chotto Tokubê"; Sadanji played the role of Ôshima Danshichi [more details].

February 1925: Katsu Hyôzô I's drama "Kachi Zumô Ukina no Hanabure", commonly called "Shirafuji Genta", was revived at the Hongôza, under the supervision of the writer Nagai Kafû; Sadanji played the role of Gonsuke [casting].

January 1926: Sadanji played at the Kabukiza the role of the wicked priest Narukami in the drama "Narukami"; the role of Princess Taema was played by Ichikawa Shôchô II.

July 1926: premiere at the Kabukiza of Okamoto Kidô's drama "Gonza to Sukejû"; Sadanji played the role of Sukejû [casting].

May 1927: premiere at the Hongôza of Okamoto Kidô's drama "Shinjuku Yawa"; Sadanji played the role of Saitô Jingozaemon [more details].

Summer 1928: Sadanji organized the first tour of a Kabuki troupe outside Japan. The destination was the USSR and the troupe performed in Moscow and Leningrad [more details].

November 1929: revival at the Kabukiza of the drama "Kan U", which belonged to the Kabuki Jûhachiban; Sadanji played the role of Akushichibyôe Kagekiyo, later the Chinese general Kan U [casting].

April 1932: premiere at the Kabukiza of Mayama Seika's drama "Yoritomo no Shi"; Sadanji played the role of Minamoto no Yoriie [casting]. Premiere at the Kabukiza of Mayama Seika's ninjômono drama "Edoe Ryôgoku Hakkei" (commonly called "Arakawa no Sakichi"); Sadanji played the role of the rônin Narikawa Gôemon [casting].

October 1933: premiere at the Tôkyô Gekijô of Yoshida Genjirô's drama "Nijô-jô no Kiyomasa"; Sadanji played the role of Tokugawa Ieyasu [more details].

February 1934: premiere at the Kabukiza of "Ôishi Saigo no Ichinichi", the tenth and last play of Mayama Seika's cycle "Genroku Chûshingura"; Sadanji played the role of Ôishi Kuranosuke [casting].

January 1935: premiere at the Tôkyô Gekijô of Uno Nobuo's drama "Fubuki Tôge"; Sadanji played the role of Naokichi [casting]. Sadanji also produced "Edo-jô no Ninjô" and "Daini no Shisha", the first and second plays of Mayama Seika's cycle "Genroku Chûshingura" at the Tôkyô Gekijô. He played the role of Asano Naganori in the former drama and the role of Ôishi Kuranosuke in the latter drama [more details].

April 1935: premiere at the Tôkyô Gekijô of "Saigo no Daihyôjô", the third play of Mayama Seika's cycle "Genroku Chûshingura"; Sadanji played the role of Ôishi Kuranosuke [casting].

1936: Sadanji planned to revive the Jiyû Gekijô but it did not materialize it.

April 1938: Sadanji produced at the Meijiza "Kira Yashiki Uramon" and the first act of "Sengoku Yashiki" [casting], the seventh and ninth plays of Mayama Seika's cycle "Genroku Chûshingura"; Sadanji played the role of Yoshida Chûzaemon in "Sengoku Yashiki".

May 1938: premiere at the Tôkyô Gekijô of Mayama Seika's drama "Katsu Awa no Chichi"; Sadanji played the role of Katsu Kokichi [more details].

November 1938: premiere at the Kabukiza of "Nanbuzaka no Yuki Wakare", the sixth play of Mayama Seika's cycle "Genroku Chûshingura"; Sadanji played the role of Ôishi Kuranosuke [casting]. He also played the role of Togashi in the dance-drama "Kanjinchô"; the roles of Benkei and Yoshitsune were played by Matsumoto Kôshirô VII and Ichimura Uzaemon XV.

December 1938: Sadanji played at the Minamiza the role of Togashi in the dance-drama "Kanjinchô"; the roles of Benkei and Yoshitsune were played by Matsumoto Kôshirô VII and Ichimura Uzaemon XV.

February 1939: Sadanji produced at the Tôkyô Gekijô the second act of "Sengoku Yashiki", the ninth play of Mayama Seika's cycle "Genroku Chûshingura"; he played the role of Ôishi Kuranosuke [casting].

April 1939: Sadanji produced at the Kabukiza "Fushimi Shumokumachi", the fourth play of Mayama Seika's cycle "Genroku Chûshingura"; Sadanji played the role of Ôishi Kuranosuke [casting].

January 1940: premiere at the Tôkyô Gekijô of "Ohama Goten Tsunatoyo-kyô", the fifth play of Mayama Seika's cycle "Genroku Chûshingura"; Sadanji played the role of Tokugawa Tsunatoyo [casting].

23 February 1940: Sadanji died.

Comments:

Ichikawa Sadanji II was one of the most popular actors in Japan in the first half of the twentieth century. He was an open-minded reformist, working hard to promote new plays, and an adept of revivals of long-forgotten classical dramas. His close collaborations with Okamoto Kidô, Osanai Kaoru and Mayama Seika were very fruitful and many Shinkabuki dramas, which they created together, were still in the current Kabuki repertoire. Ichikawa Sadanji II gathered them in a special collection of ten plays called Kyôka Gikyoku Jûshu, which included "Toribeyama Shinjû", "Banchô Sarayashiki" and "Shuzenji Monogatari".

Ichikawa Sadanji II playing the role of the wicked priest Narukami of the eponymous drama "Narukami" (print made by Natori Shunsen)

Prints & Illustrations

The Ichikawa Koyone line of actors

The Ichikawa Sadanji line of actors