was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

performer. In 1945, he became the senior living kabuki actor in Japan.Scott, Adolphe C. (1999).

Biography

Kichiemon construed his career in terms of "lifelong study" (''gei'') of that which cannot be seen in an actor's performance. Nakamura Kichiemon is a formal kabuki stage name. The actor first appeared using the name in 1897; and he continued to use this name until his death.Leiter, Samuel. (2006). He was the maternal grandfather of

Nakamura Kichiemon II was a Japanese actor, kabuki performer and costume designer. He was a so-called Living National Treasures of Japan, Living National Treasure. Nakamura Kichiemon was a formal kabuki stage name. The actor's grandfather first appeared using the ...

.母方の祖父 (maternal grandfather)
In the conservative Kabuki world, stage names are passed from father to son in formal system which converts the kabuki stage name into a mark of accomplishment. In choosing to be known by the same stage name as his grandfather, the living kabuki performer honors his family relationships and tradition. In a long career, he acted in many kabuki plays, including the role of Matsuō-maru in the July 1951 production of ''Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami''.

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Nakamura Kichiemon I,

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

encompasses roughly 10+ works in 20+ publications in 2 languages and 80+ library holdings. WorldCat Identities 中村吉右衛門 1886-1954
* 1946 — "''Kabuki geki no susumu beki michi''" ("The way kabuki drama must advance"). ''Tögeki,'' Tokyo Gekijö program. May 7, 1946 * 1951 —
OCLC 33707206
* 1956 —
OCLC 033708328

Honors

Japan Art Academy is the highest-ranking official artistic organization in Japan. It is established as an extraordinary organ of the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs (文化庁, Bunkacho) in the thirty-first article of the law establishing the Ministry of Ed ...

Order of Culture The is a Japanese order, established on February 11, 1937. The order has one class only, and may be awarded to men and women for contributions to Japan's art, literature, science, technology, or anything related to culture in general; recipien ...

, 1951

Gallery

File:Kichiemon Nakamura I as Takebe Genzō.jpg, Nakamura Kichiemon I Takebe Genzō, in ''Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami,'' March 1943. File:Kichiemon Nakamura I as Matsuō-maru.jpg, Nakamura Kichiemon I as Matsuō-maru, in ''Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami'', July 1951.

Notes

References

* Leiter, Samuel L. (2006)
''Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre.''
Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press.
OCLC 238637010
* __________. ( 2002)
''A Kabuki Reader: History and Performance.''
;
OCLC 182632867
* Scott, Adolphe Clarence. (1955)
''The Kabuki Theatre of Japan.''
London: Allen & Unwin
OCLC 622644114

External links

(in Japanese) * Find-A-Grave
Kichiemon Nakamura, Aoyama Cemetery, Tokyo
* Art Institute of Chicago
"Portrait of Nakamura Kichiemon" (1947)
by Junichiro Sekino, 1914–1988 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nakamura, Kichiemon 01 1886 births 1954 deaths Japanese male actors Kabuki actors People from Tokyo Male actors from Tokyo