Stage names:

Onoe Eizaburô VII
Onoe Ushinosuke III

Guild: Otowaya

Line number: SHICHIDAIME (VII)

Existence: 1899 ~ 7 May 1926

Connections:

Great-great-grandfather: Onoe Kikugorô III

Grandfather: Onoe Asajirô

Father: Onoe Baikô VI

Brother: Onoe Taijirô

Son: Onoe Eizaburô VIII

Career:

April 1908: first stage appearance at the Tôkyôza, where he received the name of Onoe Ushinosuke III, playing a kamuro role in the drama "Go Taiheiki Shiraishi Banashi".

January 1910: Ushinosuke played at the Kabukiza the role of Tarokichi in the "Sanemori Monogatari" scene of the drama "Genpei Nunobiki no Taki".

March 1918: Ushinosuke played at the Suehiroza (Nagoya) the role of the courtesan Azuma in the "Sumôba" scene of the drama "Futatsu Chôchô Kuruwa Nikki".

June 1920: Onoe Ushinosuke III took the name of Onoe Eizaburô VII at the Imperial Theater, playing the role of Princesse Yuki in the drama "Gion Sairei Shinkôki"; his stage partners were Matsumoto Kôshirô VII (Daizen) and Ichimura Uzaemon XV (Tôkichi).

March 1921: Eizaburô played at the Suehiroza (Nagoya) the role of Ojô Kichisa in Kawatake Shinshichi II's drama "Sannin Kichisa"; his stage partners were Onoe Kôzô II (Oshô Kichisa) and Kawarasaki Chôjûrô IV (Obô Kichisa).

May 1922: Eizaburô played at the Ichimuraza the role of Princess Takiyasha in the dance-drama "Masakado"; the role of Mitsukuni was played by Ichikawa Omezô IV.

November 1922: creation of the Tôeikai, a Kabuki dance study group led by Eizaburô and Ichikawa Omezô IV. The first program was staged at the Ichimuraza at the end of the month and was made up of one old dance and 2 new creations.

March 1923: second dance program of the Tôeikai, staged at the Imperial Theater.

April 1924: Eizaburô played at the Kôbe Shôchiku Gekijô the role of Princess Takiyasha in the drama "Masakado"; the role of Mitsukuni was played by Ichimura Takematsu IV.

May 1924: Eizaburô played at the Ichimuraza the role of Osato in the "Sushiya" scene of the classic "Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura".

December 1924: Eizaburô played at the Hôrakuza the role of Ohisa in the drama "Ninjô Banashi Bunshichi Mottoi"; his stage partners were Onoe Kikugorô VI (Chôbê) and Ichikawa Kigan V (Okane).

February 1925: Eizaburô played at the Ichimuraza the role of Princess Yuki in the drama "Gion Sairei Shinkôki"; his stage partners were Bandô Hikosaburô VI (Daizen) and Ôtani Tomoemon VI (Tôkichi).

May 1925: Eizaburô played at the Shinbashi Enbujô the role of Hasue in the drama "Tengajaya-mura".

November 1925: Eizaburô played at the Imperial Theater the role of Wakaba-no-Naishi in the "Sushiya" scene of the classic "Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura".

7 May 1926: Eizaburô died in Kanazawa.

Comments:

Onoe Eizaburô VII was a promising onnagata actor, who could have been Onoe Baikô VII and the stage partner of Onoe Kikugorô VI, but he met with a tragic and early end.

"Something of the close relation between father and son in Kabuki was shown in a kôjô given at the Imperial Theatre in connection with the succession to a new name by the son of Onoe Baikô, the chief actor of this theatre. Baikô's son, who is being carefully trained in the art of the onnagata, became Eizaburô, the seventh, denoting a certain state of progress in the attainment of the Onoe stage standards. The kôjô on this occasion was performed with more than customary dignity, seven stars of the Onoe family, including Onoe Kikugorô, the sixth, attending, and each saying a few words of congratulation, strewing flowers, as it were, in the pathway of the young actor. Similar to the solicitude of a mother in her care and consideration given the début of a daughter into society was that of Baikô for the son who is to follow in his footsteps and inherit the traditions of his art. As is the custom upon the occasion of a change of name and consequent advancement in rank, a play was given in which Eizaburô took an important rôle, and although he was very young and immature, still in his teens, he had the responsibility of acting in a character, given to perfection by his father, that of Yukihime, or the Snow-Princess, the beautiful young heroine who is made a prisoner in Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion of Kyôto. She is at last bound with ropes and tied to a cherry tree. Then the doll-stage, from which the play was taken, asserted itself. Eizaburô became a marionette, and was moved by two doll-handlers, who were none other than his father and another member of the Onoe family. Yukihime, true to the doll-actors, went through a complicated pantomime to the accompaniment of minstrel and shamisen player, descriptive postures that revealed her determination to escape. Drawing the outline of a rat in the fallen petals about her feet by means of her big toe, the real rodents appear by magic, or rather on the ends of pliant black rods held by two property men on each side of her; using their teeth upon the rope, Yukihime is soon free. Onoe Matsusuke, the veteran member of this family, was the announcer, following the custom of the Doll theatre; the young actor, Morita Kan'ya, the thirteenth, became rhythm marker, stamping his feet to emphasise the changing beats, while Onoe Baikô and Onoe Kôzô were the doll-handlers, who stood behind the erstwhile marionette and moved it according to the requirements of the play. Dressed in the black costumes of the doll-stage the handlers came to the front of the stage before the piece began, lifted the face flaps of their black hoods and introduced themselves to the audience in their new disguise, then assumed again the black obscurity, and the strange but highly fascinating movements of Yukihime began." (Zoë Kincaid in "Kabuki, the Popular Stage of Japan")

Onoe Eizaburô VII playing the role of Okaru in the drama "Kanadehon Chûshingura" (print made by Natori Shunsen in 1926)

The Onoe Ushinosuke line of actors

The Onoe Eizaburô line of actors