Ichikawa Ebizo XI (Ichikawa Shinnosuke VII)

This pic is from the site Zakzak:

Pics of the newest CM for Yamaki. To watch this CM

More of "Kasane": Ebizo as Yoemon (left), Ichikawa Kamejiro as Kasane (right). From

Well, I've promissed a while ago I would post some articles on Ebizo. I've found these really good ones from some of most important jornals of UK. These are the links:

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre/features/article360270.ece From "The Independent"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/05/20/btkabuki20.xml From "Daily Telegraph"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2101-2194220.html From "Sunday Times"
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1777362,00.html#article_continue From "The Guardian"
http://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/features/1424.html From the website "Time Out"

There's also a great site about Ebizo, apparently done by the company which is bringing Ebizo to UK and Amsterdam:
http://www.ebizokabuki.com

Hi

Ifve been reading this thread with great interest over the past few days and felt compelled to make my first ever post.

I was fortunate enough to see Ebizo Ichikawa perform last Saturday at Sadlerfs Wells in London. It was a completely novel experience for me as Ifve never seen Kabuki performed before.

The first part of the show was a solo performance by Ebizo as the Wisteria Maiden in Fuji Musume. This is an onnagata (female) dance role with a gloriously colourful backdrop of lilac wisteria blossom.

After an interval came the next short play/act: Kasane. This time the onnagata role of Kasane was played by Kamejiro Ichikawa II. Ebizo played the samurai role. His character is not noble at all: he comes across as vain and a little comical at first, later his deceitful and cruel nature becomes very apparent.

I donft understand Japanese at all but this didnft matter too much as there isnft that much dialogue (which is spoken in the peculiar Kabuki style) as these two pieces are more dance orientated, with a great deal of accompaniment from the musicians, who sit at the side of the stage.

My friend and I were fortunate enough to have very good seats (4 rows from the front and near the left hand side). Sadlerfs Wells is a fairly small theatre so this was ideal as I was very close to the hanamichi (the walkway used by Kabuki actors at the side of the stage).

In Kasane, both characters made their entrance via the hanamichi and performed for a short time right next to our seats – they were only about six feet away!!!

The whole experience was completely amazing and I would have loved to go back a second time but unfortunately we were only in London for the weekend and the play ends on 11 June :-(

Athene Noctua wrote:Hi

Ifve been reading this thread with great interest over the past few days and felt compelled to make my first ever post.

I was fortunate enough to see Ebizo Ichikawa perform last Saturday at Sadlerfs Wells in London. It was a completely novel experience for me as Ifve never seen Kabuki performed before.

The first part of the show was a solo performance by Ebizo as the Wisteria Maiden in Fuji Musume. This is an onnagata (female) dance role with a gloriously colourful backdrop of lilac wisteria blossom.

After an interval came the next short play/act: Kasane. This time the onnagata role of Kasane was played by Kamejiro Ichikawa II. Ebizo played the samurai role. His character is not noble at all: he comes across as vain and a little comical at first, later his deceitful and cruel nature becomes very apparent.

I donft understand Japanese at all but this didnft matter too much as there isnft that much dialogue (which is spoken in the peculiar Kabuki style) as these two pieces are more dance orientated, with a great deal of accompaniment from the musicians, who sit at the side of the stage.

My friend and I were fortunate enough to have very good seats (4 rows from the front and near the left hand side). Sadlerfs Wells is a fairly small theatre so this was ideal as I was very close to the hanamichi (the walkway used by Kabuki actors at the side of the stage).

In Kasane, both characters made their entrance via the hanamichi and performed for a short time right next to our seats – they were only about six feet away!!!

The whole experience was completely amazing and I would have loved to go back a second time but unfortunately we were only in London for the weekend and the play ends on 11 June :-(

Hi Athene !!!!!!
Welcome to the boards, hope you have enjoyed this thread !!!!!
Thanks a lot for your post about Ebizo's performances in London, it's a great review !!!! I'm really glad to know you have enjoyed this experience of watching Kabuki for the first time !!!! I'll hope one day I'll have the luck to watch a Kabuki performance !!!! I must admit I'm a bit jealous, because I think I won't have the chance to watch a Ebizo's performance here in Brazil ... :puppydog: :puppydog: :puppydog:
Thanks once again and my best regards to you !!!! :woot: :woot:

Hi Betsy

Ifm so glad you started this thread, though I have to warn you that Ifm definitely more of a lurker on these boards as Ifm far too lazy to make regular posts!

I canft seem to find much English language info elsewhere on Ebizo and I love all the Kabuki-related images you have scanned – those magazines just arenft available here so itfs all greatly appreciated.

Any info on upcoming plays in which Ebizo is performing is also much appreciated. You mentioned in an earlier post that he and his father will be performing in Paris in 2007 so I have requested a brochure from the Opera de Paris for the 2007 season. Fingers crossed that I can persuade a friend to go with mec

I really hope you have the opportunity to see him perform one day. My knowledge of geography isnft great but you must live roughly halfway between Japan and France. If you are able to go sometime, a vacation to either of those countries would be wonderful.
:D :D :D

I haven't posted for quite a while. Betsy-san, ogenki desu ka? I was busy trying to arrange my messy schedule :nut:

Thanks a million for the articles, though I haven't been able to check out all of them. But one I have, that is www.ebizokabuki.com but I found nothing but images, has this site not been fully developed yet? I was hoping to find more :puppydog: :puppydog:

I have a japanese penfriend who apparently doesn't like Ebi-sama. She said she doesn't like him for playing with girls, having a kid outside marriage and refusing to marry the girl with whom he has a baby. I hope those are just rumors? :puppydog:

And a warm welcome to Athene to this thread. Yoroshiku, Athene san! Just as Betsy-san thinks, you were very lucky to see Ebi-sama perform. I am so jealous!! Well, I hope you'll enjoy this thread as much as we do Athene!

Haven't been around Jdorama.com much lately, just wanted to say hello to Betsy-chan, Akakage-chan, and MD-chan.




Cheers, :drink:
PCM

Thanks for the welcome, etoile :D

I think what your pen friend in Japan says may be true. I recently read an English newspaper interview that mentions Ebizo had a baby daughter with a pop singer back in 2003. This doesnft seem to have affected his popularity too much though.

Because of his family background I suppose Ebizo has to give a lot of thought to whom he eventually marries. Hefs the latest in a very distinguished long line of actors and he carries the responsibility for continuing that line.

I imagine that there will be pressure on him to settle down and stop the playboy lifestyle before too longc

Athene Noctua wrote:Hi Betsy

Ifm so glad you started this thread, though I have to warn you that Ifm definitely more of a lurker on these boards as Ifm far too lazy to make regular posts!

Hi again, Athene !!!!

That's OK, I just hope you'll honour us with your visit sometimes !!!! :mrgreen:

I canft seem to find much English language info elsewhere on Ebizo and I love all the Kabuki-related images you have scanned – those magazines just arenft available here so itfs all greatly appreciated.

Yeah, it's hard indeed to find info about Ebizo in English. That's why I started this thread. I wanted to make the life of non-japanese fans of Ebizo easier, chasing all the info about him in English and in Japanese through the web. And buying and scanning all the magazines articles and photobooks of him. I'm really glad you like !!!! And there's much more to come.

Any info on upcoming plays in which Ebizo is performing is also much appreciated. You mentioned in an earlier post that he and his father will be performing in Paris in 2007 so I have requested a brochure from the Opera de Paris for the 2007 season. Fingers crossed that I can persuade a friend to go with mec

In fact, they'll perform on Opera Garnier de Paris in April 2007. Oh, I wish I could be there to watch ... :puppydog: But I really hope you'll can persuade you friend to go with you, because, believe me, it'll be an even more amazing experience: they'll play "Kanjincho" in Paris, one of the most popular and beautifull plays of Kabuki.

I really hope you have the opportunity to see him perform one day. My knowledge of geography isnft great but you must live roughly halfway between Japan and France. If you are able to go sometime, a vacation to either of those countries would be wonderful.
:D :D :D

Thanks, I really hope I'll have the opportunity to watch a Kabuki play one day. I'm just trying to have a chance to make a trip to Japan to make this dream come true. And I would love to visit both Japan and France as well. Well, I would love to visit UK too. Unfortunately, I hadn't had the oppotunity yet ... :puppydog: :puppydog:

etoile wrote:I haven't posted for quite a while. Betsy-san, ogenki desu ka? I was busy trying to arrange my messy schedule :nut:

Hi etoile !!!! Okaerinasai !!!! I was concerned about you !!!! Thank God you're fine !!!!! I'm fine, thanks !!!! :mrgreen:

Thanks a million for the articles, though I haven't been able to check out all of them. But one I have, that is www.ebizokabuki.com but I found nothing but images, has this site not been fully developed yet? I was hoping to find more :puppydog: :puppydog:

You're welcome !!!!! Hummm, I think you didn't like that site much because there isn't anything new about Ebizo there, anything that we old fans didn't know already ... But there's a good introduction to the people who didn't know him before the performances in London and Amsterdam on that site.

I have a japanese penfriend who apparently doesn't like Ebi-sama. She said she doesn't like him for playing with girls, having a kid outside marriage and refusing to marry the girl with whom he has a baby. I hope those are just rumors? :puppydog:

Well, sorry to say, but those aren't just rumors, they're facts ... BTW, we have talked about those facts a while ago here (hanbok asked me here about that ...). But, honestly, I don't give a damn about his personal life. I love him because he's a splendid actor.
I never told you about it here, but at the time I was watching "Musashi", three years ago, when I started to search on the net for info about Ebizo, the first article I've found was about his "illegitimate" child. I must admit I was shocked when I've read that, but right after I thought: "Oh, we don't know each other, I have no chances to marry him, so why should I care about it ??? The only thing that interests me is the fact he's one of the most amazing actors I've seen in my whole life, and that's the reason I love him".
I'm not saying his attitude was right, I'm just saying that I'm more interested on Ebizo (the actor) than on Horikoshi Takatoshi (the person). Obviously, I read absolutely anything about him, but the news about his performances afect me more than the ones about his love life. I left to himself and the people who live with him any judgement of what he does in his personal life.

And a warm welcome to Athene to this thread. Yoroshiku, Athene san! Just as Betsy-san thinks, you were very lucky to see Ebi-sama perform. I am so jealous!! Well, I hope you'll enjoy this thread as much as we do Athene!

Yeah, Athene is really lucky !!!!! :victory:

pcmodem wrote:Haven't been around Jdorama.com much lately, just wanted to say hello to Betsy-chan, Akakage-chan, and MD-chan.




Cheers, :drink:
PCM

PC !!!!!! Oh boy, I miss you, good to see you're here !!!!!!! :hug: :hug: :hug:
BTW, where's Aka-chan ???? I haven't seen her much here lately (well, even the racer-boy left us here alone ... :puppydog: :puppydog: )

Athene Noctua wrote:Thanks for the welcome, etoile :D

I think what your pen friend in Japan says may be true. I recently read an English newspaper interview that mentions Ebizo had a baby daughter with a pop singer back in 2003. This doesnft seem to have affected his popularity too much though.

Because of his family background I suppose Ebizo has to give a lot of thought to whom he eventually marries. Hefs the latest in a very distinguished long line of actors and he carries the responsibility for continuing that line.

I imagine that there will be pressure on him to settle down and stop the playboy lifestyle before too longc

Yeah, you're absolutely right, though his father said a while ago Ebizo is free to marry whoever he wants to. But, hummm, I'm not sure about that ...
BTW, I think the pressure on him to marry and have a baby boy to continue the Ichikawa Danjuro dynasty will start when he'll turn 30 ... And he'll absolutely have to abandone his "playboy lifestyle".

Well, with a star quality and good looks like that, I can ignore his playboy lifestyle :hehe: :hehe: :hehe: And I love him for his acting :inlove: :inlove: :inlove: I can't wait for his upcoming movie. I hope it will come on DVD as when hunting for Musashi, I nearly lost hope as I found out that Musashi had never come on DVD...

You must see Ebizo in Musashi, Athene! He has no thick make up in there :D and he plays really well :applaud: :applaud: :applaud:

Etoile, I would really love to see Musashi, having heard good reports on this thread. If it's ever available on DVD with English subtitles, someone please let me know...

And Betsy, if he really does have to think about settling down when he's 30 that gives you 2 years to arrange a trip to Japan... and then who knows !!! :dancing:

etoile wrote:Well, with a star quality and good looks like that, I can ignore his playboy lifestyle :hehe: :hehe: :hehe: And I love him for his acting :inlove: :inlove: :inlove: I can't wait for his upcoming movie. I hope it will come on DVD as when hunting for Musashi, I nearly lost hope as I found out that Musashi had never come on DVD...

You must see Ebizo in Musashi, Athene! He has no thick make up in there :D and he plays really well :applaud: :applaud: :applaud:

Great Etoile !!!!!! I agree !!!!! :applaud: :applaud: :applaud:
Don't worry, I'll let you know when his movie will be released. :victory: :mrgreen:

Athene Noctua wrote:Etoile, I would really love to see Musashi, having heard good reports on this thread. If it's ever available on DVD with English subtitles, someone please let me know...

I could send you a copy, but I taped the series directly from NHK, so my copy has no subtitles.
Etoile, do you know how Athene can get a subtitled copy of "Musashi" ????

And Betsy, if he really does have to think about settling down when he's 30 that gives you 2 years to arrange a trip to Japan... and then who knows !!! :dancing:

Well, 2 years... Let me see ... Oh, I have to start to lose some weight and learn to speak japanese well now ... :doh: :beaten: :hehe: :hehe: :hehe:
Ebizo, honey, wait for me, I'm coming ... :naughty: :beaten: :hehe: :hehe: :hehe: :rofl:

Betsy Hayashi wrote:

Well, 2 years... Let me see ... Oh, I have to start to lose some weight and learn to speak japanese well now ... :doh: :beaten: :hehe: :hehe: :hehe:
Ebizo, honey, wait for me, I'm coming ... :naughty: :beaten: :hehe: :hehe: :hehe: :rofl:

You speak English but no nihongo!? :beatyou:

Hee hee, just kidding :hug:

My nihongo is pretty rusty too. Japanese school was a long time ago. :doh:

That reminds me, need to upload some more pics of Japan from my trip in early May.



Cheers,
PCM

pcmodem wrote:

You speak English but no nihongo!? :beatyou:

Hee hee, just kidding :hug:

My nihongo is pretty rusty too. Japanese school was a long time ago. :doh:

That reminds me, need to upload some more pics of Japan from my trip in early May.



Cheers,
PCM

I understand nihongo a bit, but I don't speak well ... :doh: :doh: :sweat: At least not well enough to talk to him ... :sweat: :sweat:
Shame on me .... :puppydog: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh:

Oh yeah, I would love to see more pics of your trip !!!!! :mrgreen: