Ichikawa Danjūrō I
| Ichikawa Danjūro I 初代市川団十郎 |
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Ichikawa Danjūrō I in the role of Soga Gorō, in a print by Torii Kiyomasu. This is likely one of the most famous early ukiyo-e actor prints.
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| Born | 1660 Edo, Japan |
| Died | 19 February 1704 Edo, Japan |
| Other names | Ichikawa Ebizō I, Saigyū, Mimasu Hyōgo, Naritaya |
Ichikawa Danjūrō I (初代 市川 段十郎? Shodai Ichikawa Danjūrō, 1660–1704) was an early kabuki actor in Japan. He remains today one of the most famous of all kabuki actors and is considered one of the most influential. His many influences include the pioneering of the aragoto style of acting which came to be largely associated with Edo kabuki and with Danjūrō and his successors in the Ichikawa Danjūrō line.
Like many actors, Danjūrō also dabbled in playwriting, which he did under the haimyō (poetry name) Mimasuya Hyōgo. "Mimasu" (三升) is the name for the mon of the Ichikawa family; many actors in the Danjūrō line have since used "Mimasu" or "Sansho", an alternate reading of the same characters, as their haimyō.
As the originator of the most celebrated and prestigious stage name in kabuki, there have been a great many descendants of Danjūrō I in the kabuki world, some of them quite famous and accomplished themselves. Danjūrō's father, Horikoshi Juzō, was not involved in the theatre, but was an otokodate, something of a street ruffian, but nevertheless a man very much a part of Edo popular urban culture; though not in the theatre himself, he may have been a patron of various types of performances, as well as of the closely related sex industry.
The sons of Danjūrō I were known as Ichikawa Danjūrō II and Ichikawa Sen'ya. The fourth Danjūrō was his grandson; the fifth his great-grandson. His great-great-grandsons, as well as their sons and grandsons were kabuki actors of the Ichikawa family as well. Danjūrō I also had a great many disciples.
A devout follower of Fudō Myōō, one of Japan's Thirteen Buddhas, Danjūrō was the first to perform as Fudō onstage, and founded the actors' guild Naritaya, named after the Fudō temple Narita Fudōson.
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