Introduction of Actors

Born on February 15, 1940 as the second son of Kabuki actor Ichikawa Ichizo, he made his stage debut at the age of six. He succeeded his father, the head of a popular kabuki troupe, and ran the troupe, touring the country.

In 1970, he married the eldest daughter of Danshiro I. The following year, he assumed the name Ichikawa Danshiro. In 1988, he dissolved the troupe. Although he retired from the stage, his first encounter with children’s kabuki was when Komatsu City asked him to choreograph a Hikiyama Kabuki performance. He also worked as a choreographer for children’s kabuki in Nagahama and Maibara.

In Hakodate, he trained and directed the Hakodate Children’s Kabuki. In the 20 years since its establishment, it has performed throughout Japan. In recognition of these achievements, he received the Hakuho Award in 1995 and the Hakodate City Cultural Award in 2005. He strives to make his choreography and direction easy to understand and enjoyable, and many fans look forward to seeing his version of Danshiro’s plays.

Born in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Started out as a Japanese dance performer, and has worked in ningyo joruri (puppet theater) and kabuki takemoto throughout Japan.

He has collaborated not only with the classics, but also with other fields such as contemporary theater and Western music.

In addition to performing on stage, he teaches traditional performing arts courses and workshops, and also gives performances and hands-on classes for preschoolers and children at nursery schools and elementary schools.

At the age of 13, in his first year of junior high school, he was introduced to the shamisen and learned gidayu and shamisen under the guidance of Gashuku Toyosawa.
He has been a member of San-yaku training school since high school and has performed in Hikiyama Kabuki plays in Yonehara City and Tarui City in the past.　
Since then, he has been active in a wide range of activities.