Biography | UK Amsterdam Tour | Kabuki | Gallery | Ukiyo-e

Ichikawa Ebizo XI

	Biography
	Ebizo Ichikawa XI (1977- ) is the latest member of the Ichikawa kabuki acting dynasty to tread the boards and is currently kabuki’s brightest young star. Aged just 28, Ebizo is the eldest son and heir apparent of Danjuro Ichikawa XII, the current holder of the most famous and prestigious hereditary name in the kabuki world. The Ichikawa family line stretches back to Danjuro I, the proudest and highest paid actor in the city of Edo (the former name for Tokyo) in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Since that time the Ichikawa family have acted as both a symbol of kabuki as a whole and as a kind of guardian deity, preserving performance traditions while at the same time pushing the art to new heights.
	Kabuki is an exacting discipline, and young actors begin their training in dance, movement and music almost as soon as they can walk. Ebizo made his first appearance on stage aged just five years old. His official debut as a professional actor came in 1985, when he was just seven. Kabuki actors take different stage names over the course of their careers, moving through a ranked hierarchy of names. Ebizo was thus first known to kabuki audiences under the name Shinnosuke Ichikawa VII, and it was under this name that he served his apprenticeship. In 2004 he marked the end of this apprenticeship by taking the take name Ebizo XI in a series of spectacular gala performances that showcased his abilities as the rightful heir to his family’s art. For over a year, Ebizo presented roles in the signature Ichikawa aragoto (‘wild style’) acting style in each of Japan’s major cities. He rounded out these performances with a run in Paris last October, where French audiences were wildly enthusiastic.
	In spite of its centuries of history, kabuki remains a popular, commercial theatre in Japan, enjoyed by hundreds of thousands each year. In order to maintain its popularity kabuki has always had to balance between the opposing poles of tradition and innovation. Each new generation must wrest the art away from their fathers, attracting new audiences and convincing veteran theatregoers with the strength of their performances. Blessed with film star looks and a strikingly dynamic stage presence, Ebizo is phenomenally popular with Japan’s youth and has been responsible for a revival of interest in kabuki. As well as his appearances on the traditional kabuki stage, Ebizo has also starred in several popular historical dramas and in TV commercials where he encapsulates a new vision of tradition that resonates with the 21^st century.
	Recent kabuki performances in the West have tended to emphasize the mature talent of kabuki’s old guard. But now audiences can get a chance to see the future of kabuki as embodied by its brightest, most dynamic new star. His performances in London and Amsterdam this spring will showcase Ebizo’s breadth and flexibility. In contrast to his father, who excels in the traditional powerful Ichikawa male hero roles, Ebizo is equally alluring in both male and female roles. He can summon all the force and bombast necessary for the Ichikawa family’s traditional aragoto roles, while at the same time playing delicately attractive female parts. Audiences in London and Amsterdam will get a chance to see him in both modes, as he plays the contrasting roles of the sweet and innocent Wisteria Maiden and the devastatingly handsome, cruelly calculating samurai Yoemon.
	See the eternal energy and power of kabuki being reborn anew.
	Alan Cummings 2006