Ichikawa Ennosuke III

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Ichikawa Ennosuke III 三代目市川猿之助

Birth name	Masahiko Kinoshi^[1]
Born	9 December 1939 Tokyo, Japan
Other name(s)	Ichikawa Danko III, Omodakaya

Ichikawa Ennosuke III (三代目市川猿之助)(b. 9 December 1939) is a Japanese Kabuki actor, famous for his love of keren (stage tricks). He is considered the king of chūnori; he has flown out over the audience, held aloft on strings, over 5000 times.

Ennosuke made his stage debut at the age of eight, at the Tōkyō Gekijō, as Ichikawa Danko III. He would formally take the name Ennosuke in 1963, at the age of 24. He is the brother of Ichikawa Danshirō IV; their father is Danshirō III. Their great-grandfather and grandfather, respectively, were the first and second to be called Ichikawa Ennosuke.

Ennosuke is known as a great proponent of dramatic costumes, flamboyant theater signage, and stage tricks (keren), which are looked down upon by many kabuki connoisseurs as "playing to the gallery" and as distracting from the true dramatic art. Nevertheless, among those who enjoy keren, Ennosuke is quite well-regarded. He performed chūnori for the first time in 1968, as the fox in Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura, and for the five thousandth time in 2000, as Guan Yu. He has revived a number of old plays, including Date no Jūyaku (The Ten Roles of Date), in which he played ten roles in one performance, through the use of a number of methods of hayagawari (costume quick-change).

In November 2003, Ennosuke suffered from symptoms of a stroke, and did not perform for most of the following year. However, today he is still actively performing.

[edit] Notes and Reference

^ While the stage names of all kabuki actors have retained traditional order (Surname-Givenname) on Wikipedia, birth names of those born after the Meiji Restoration are in Western order (Givenname-Surname).