Unknown actor

Unknown actor

Born the 15th of August 1885 in Tôkyô in the district of Nihonbashi. He started his career as a disciple of Ichikawa Komazô VIII and he received the name of Ichikawa Momokichi in September 1896 when he made his debut on stage. He became nadai and celebrated the event in June 1907 at the Kabukiza, where he took the name of Ichikawa Komasaburô and played the roles of Anzai Yasaburô and Gengo in the drama "Jûnitoki Kaikei Soga" ^[1]. He took the name of Matsumoto Komasaburô III in November 1911 at the Imperial Theater, where his master Matsumoto Kôshirô VII celebrated his shûmei by taking a prestigious name which had not been held since 11th lunar month of 1846; the new Komasaburô played the roles of the warrior Yôga Hansuke and a takeda yakko in the drama "Yoshitsune Koshigoejô". He died in 1924. This tachiyaku actor was a supporting actor in ôshibai but a leading actor in koshibai. He was a mainstay at the Sakaeza ^[2], the Ryûseiza ^[3], the Miyatoza or the Kôen Gekijô ^[4]. His best roles were Matsuômaru in "Terakoya", Nozarashi Gosuke in the eponymous drama and Sasaki Moritsuna ^[5] in "Moritsuna Jin'ya". He also performed in several B&W silent movies, all of them being Kabuki dramas turned into movies: "Awa no Naruto" (1913), "Akegarasu Yume no Awayuki" (1913), "Hyakunenme Chôbê" (1913), "Momijigari" (1914) and "Seki no To" (1914).