Buckets of Good Wishes Year after Year: The Inherited Glory of the Ichikawa Clan

The name Ichikawa Danjuro is currently held by the twelfth generation member of a distinguished family of kabuki actors founded by Danjuro I, who invented the bravura aragoto acting style that became the family specialty. The talent and creativity of the actors who have held this famous name for more than three hundred years is so admired that it is a major news event when an actor is granted the right to change his name to Danjuro. This print by Kunisada celebrates eight generations of the Danjuro line. He depicts earlier actors in appropriately archaic artistic styles. The title provides only the poetry name Sanjo, which was used by all these actors, because of a government ban in 1842 that inhibited the publication of actor prints and the specification of their names for several years. The eight Danjuro generations and their roles are shown here from right to left: I (1660-1704) as Kumakura Gongoro, II (1689-1758) as Kumedera Danjo, III (1721-1742) as Agemaki no Sukeroku, IV (1712-1778) as the outcast Keikiyo, V (1741-1806) as Yanone no Goro, VI (1778-1799) as Nagasaki Jiro, VII (1791-1859) as Fuwa Banzaemon, and VIII (1823-1854) as Shinotsuka Iganokami.