Danjūrō IX and the Actress Question

Abstract

Ads the nineteenth century drew to a close, the Naritaya house esperately needed an heir. The greatest actor of his generation and he head of the family line, Ichikawa DanjürO IX, had turned fifty in 1888 and still did not know who would succeed him. His only son had died at birth, although he later had two daughters. Defenders of the all-male kabuki tradition could only agree with the novelist Nagai Kafu that the situation was dire for the kabuki world.

It’s a black day for an actor family when no one is left but women who know nothing about the world—the way it was with the house of Naritaya. Its a pity to think of such an illustrious family of artists gone to ruin.

—Nagai Kafu (1879–1959), Udekurabe¹