Ichikawa Ennosuke III

Who is Ichikawa Ennosuke III?

Ichikawa Ennosuke III is a Japanese Kabuki actor, famous for his love of keren. 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, 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, in which he played ten roles in one performance, through the use of a number of methods of hayagawari.