(born May 18, 1983) is a Japanese

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 ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

, TV, and

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

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 ...

. He was born , the second son of famed Kabuki performer,

Nakamura Kanzaburō XVIII , was a Japanese actor active in kabuki, other forms of live theatre, television and commercials. Kanzaburō was a versatile actor whose credits include farce, period pieces and Shin Kabuki. Lineage Kanzaburō was the eighteenth in the line ...

. Unlike many kabuki actors, who specialize in a single type of role, Shichinosuke plays both male ('' tachiyaku'') and female (''

onnagata (also ) are male actors who play female roles in kabuki theatre. History The modern all-male kabuki was originally known as ("male kabuki") to distinguish it from earlier forms. In the early 17th century, shortly after the emergence of the g ...

'') parts.

Name and Lineage

Nakamura, often represented as "Shichinosuke Nakamura" in reference to his American film career, is a member of the kabuki guild Nakamura-ya, and currently performs kabuki along with his brother

Nakamura Kantarō II Nakamura may refer to: Places *Nakamura, Kōchi, a former city in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan *Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, a ward in Nagoya city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan People *Nakamura (surname), a list of people with the surname Other uses *Nakamura s ...

. His family can trace their lineage back, within the kabuki world, at least seven generations, to

Onoe Kikugorō III (1784-16 May 1849) was a Japanese kabuki actor, the first and among the most famous ''kaneru yakusha'', a type of actor who performs a wide variety of roles. This is in contrast to the vast majority of kabuki actors, who specialize in only playin ...

and

Ichimura Uzaemon XI (1791-11 July 1820) was a ''zamoto'' (theatre owner-manager) of the Ichimura-za kabuki theatre in Edo, Japan. Like many ''zamoto'', he was raised in a kabuki family and trained to be an actor, but rarely actually appeared on stage. Names and l ...

, who performed in the early 19th century. As is the case with the names of all kabuki actors, "Nakamura Shichinosuke" is a ''

yagō , literally meaning "house name", is a term applied in traditional Japanese culture to names passed down within a guild, studio, or other circumstance other than blood relations. The term is synonymous with and . The term most often refers to the ...

'' or stage name.

Life and career

In September 1986 he made his first appearance on stage at the

Kabuki-za in Ginza is the principal theater in Tokyo for the traditional ''kabuki'' drama form. History The Kabuki-za was originally opened by a Meiji era journalist, Fukuchi Gen'ichirō. Fukuchi wrote kabuki dramas in which Ichikawa Danjūrō IX and ot ...

, taking the name Nakamura Shichinosuke the following year. Within a few years he was described as "one of the 21st Century's most promising young Kabuki Actors". He has performed Kabuki in numerous international theaters, often alongside his father and brother, as part of the

Heisei Nakamura-za The is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Emeritus Akihito from 8 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the day after the death of the Emperor Hirohito ...

. He also performs annually in

Asakusa Kabuki is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known as the location of the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as the . History The ...

at the Asakusa Kōkaidō, a production aimed at attracting the younger generation and encouraging in them an interest in kabuki. In 1994, Shichinosuke performed in the modern play "Sukapan". He has also appeared in such

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

(Japan Broadcasting Corporation) TV drama series as ''

Takeda Shingen , of Kai Province, was a pre-eminent ''daimyō'' in feudal Japan. Known as the "Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyō with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period. Shingen was a warlord of great ...

'' (a dramatization of Shingen's life), and ''Genroku Ryoran''. Nakamura graduated from high school in March 2002 and the following year he played the role of

Emperor Meiji , also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...

Edward Zwick Edward M. Zwick (born October 8, 1952) is an American filmmaker and producer of film and television. He has worked primarily in the comedy drama and historical drama, epic historical film genres, including ''About Last Night (1986 film), About L ...

's movie ''

The Last Samurai ''The Last Samurai'' is a 2003 epic period action drama film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan and Marshall Herskovitz from a story devised by Logan. The film stars Ken Watanabe in the t ...

''. ''The Last Samurai'' marks his film debut. In 2004 he appeared in the film version of

Wataya Risa is a female Japanese novelist from Kyoto. Her short novel ''Keritai senaka'' won the Akutagawa Prize and has sold more than a million copies. Wataya has also won the Bungei Prize and the Kenzaburo Oe Prize. Her work has been translated into Ge ...

's novel ''Insutooru'', and in 2005, he played an

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

recovering

drug addict Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use o ...

in the absurdly comical film ''

Mayonaka no Yaji-san Kita-san is a 2005 Japanese film directed by Kudo Kankuro. The film stars several well-known and highly respected Japanese actors. The story follows two Edo-era gay men, Yaji Robei (Yaji) and Kita Hachi (Kita), on a pilgrimage to Ise Shrine. It is loo ...

'', based on a

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

. Nakamura was arrested in January 2005 in Tokyo's Bunkyō-ku for punching a police officer after a taxi driver claimed he did not pay his fare while intoxicated in what could be the first arrest of a kabuki actor since the arrest of Ichikawa Gonjūrō for a murder charge in 1871. The subsequent controversy after the arrest barred Nakamura from participating in the celebration of his father's ''

shūmei ''Shūmei'' (, "name succession") are grand naming ceremonies held in kabuki theatre. Most often, a number of actors will participate in a single ceremony, taking on new stage-names. These stagenames, most often those of the actor's father, gran ...

'' (naming ceremony) in March 2005.

Filmography

;Film * ''

'' (2003) -

* ''Install'' (2004) - Kouichi * ''

'' (2005) - Kitahachi * ''Shinema kabuki: Renjishi'' (2008) * ''

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya The Tale of the Princess Kaguya may refer to: *'' The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter'', a 9th or 10th century Japanese story * ''The Tale of the Princess Kaguya'' (film), a 2013 film based on the story {{DEFAULTSORT:Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Th ...

'' (2013) - Mikado (voice) ;Television * ''

'' (1988) - young

Takeda Yoshinobu was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period. Born Takeda Tarō (武田太郎), he was the son of Takeda Shingen, by Shingen's wife, . He came of age in 1550, and took the formal name of Yoshinobu, receiving the "yoshi" from the 13th Ashikag ...

* '' Idaten'' (2019) - Sanyūtei Enshō VI * ''Nakamura Nakazo: Shusse no Kizahashi'' (2021) * ''Taiga Drama ga Umareta Hi'' (2023) -

Keiji Sada is the stage name for a Japanese cinema actor active from the late-1940s to the early 1960s. His real name was Kanichi Nakai. He won the award for best actor at the 7th Blue Ribbon Awards for and . He was the father of the actor Kiichi Nakai an ...

Notes

References

Nakamura Shichinosuke II at Kabuki21.com
* ''Kabuki techō: Kabuki Official Data Book 2008''. Nihon Haiyū Kyōkai (Japan Actors' Association). 2008: Tokyo. p155.

External links