R.I.P. Nakamura Kanzaburo

[Reza]

Nakamura Kanzaburo: Actor who boosted the popularity of Kabuki



Friday, 21 December 2012


Nakamura Kanzaburo, who died on 5 December at the age of 57 of acute
respiratory distress syndrome, was a Kabuki actor who helped boost
the popularity of the traditional Japanese art form. One of Japan's
most famous contemporary kabuki actors, Kanzaburo also acted in film,
television and stage dramas.

Kanzaburo, whose real name was Noriaki Namino, was born in Tokyo on
30 May 1955, the first son of Nakamura Kanzaburo XVII. He was the
18th in the line of Nakamura Kanzaburo and could trace his ancestry
within the Nakamuraya kabuki guild back to his great-great-great
grandfathers, if not further. Both his grandfathers were kabuki
actors, as were their fathers.

He made his debut in 1959 at the age of three, and went on to win
fame both as a tachiyaku, or male actor, and an onnagata, or female
impersonator. As both actor and director, he strove to attract
younger audiences to kabuki plays. To this end he staged performances
in 1994 at a theatre in Tokyo's Shibuya district, an area popular
with the city's young people, and also founded the Heisei Nakamuraza
theatre company in 2000.

At Theatre Cocoon in Shibuya the dramas were topical, created with a
young audience in mind, and set to modern music. The Heisei
Nakamuraza troupe, meanwhile, a 100-strong all-male company, has been
celebrated for productions that respect the rich heritage of kabuki
while pulsating with an energy and humour that recall the form's
early days in the 17th century.

In July, Kanzaburo underwent successful surgery for oesophageal
cancer but later caught pneumonia.