Stage names:

Bandô Shûchô V
Bandô Keizô II

Real name: Hike Kazuo

Guild: Yamatoya

Line number: GODAIME (V)

Birthday: 24 March 1948

Connections:

Great-grandfather: Bandô Shûchô II

Grandfather: Bandô Shûchô III

Father: Ichikawa Komazô X

Career:

April 1955: he makes his first appearance on stage at the Kabukiza, where he receives the name of Bandô Keizô II.

September 1987: Bandô Keizô II takes the name of Bandô Shûchô V at the Kabukiza, playing the roles of Sakuramaru and Ariwara no Yukihira in the plays "Kurumabiki" and "Rampei Monogurui".

April 1988: Shûchô celebrates his shûmei at the Ôsaka Shinkabukiza, playing the role of Shûrinosuke and the daimyô in the drama "Domo Mata" and the dance "Bô Shibari"; this is also the 30th anniversary of the Ôsaka Shinkabukiza.

March 2009: Kabuki adaptation by the famous stage director Ninagawa Yukio of Shakespeare’s "Twelfth Night", which is titled "Ninagawa Jûniya", from the 24th to the 28th of March 2009 in London (UK) at the Barbican Theater; Shûchô plays the role of Banta (Valentine) [more details]. The same play is staged with the same casting in June 2009 at the Shimbashi Embujô and in July 2009 at the Shôchikuza.

Comments:

Bandô Shûchô V is an outstanding supporting actor endowed with a powerful voice. He was trained as an onnagata at the beginning of his career but shifted later to tachiyaku roles.

The mon of Bandô Shûchô V