(1791-11 July 1820) was a ''

zamoto A ''zamoto'' (座元) is a manager of a kabuki theatre. Historically, the zamoto owned the theatre and was responsible for obtaining performance rights from the ''shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during m ...

'' (theatre owner-manager) of the

Ichimura-za The was a major kabuki theatre in the Japanese capital of Edo (later, Tokyo), for much of the Edo period, and into the 20th century. It was first opened in 1634 and was run by members of the Ichimura family for much of the following nearly thre ...

kabuki is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes ...

theatre in

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Like many ''zamoto'', he was raised in a kabuki family and trained to be an actor, but rarely actually appeared on stage.

Names and lineage

Given the name Ichimura Manjirō I upon his adoption by Ichimura Uzaemon X, he became the eleventh in the line of Ichimura Uzaemon upon the death of his adopted father. Uzaemon used "Kakitsu" as his '' haimyō'' (poetry pen-name). His brother Bandō Kamezō I and son

Ichimura Takenojō V Ichimura (written: lit. "one village", lit. "market village" or ) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese speed skater *, Japanese politician *, Japanese actor and singer *, Japanese alpi ...

were active actors on the stage, as were many of his grandsons, great-grandsons, and further descendants to whom he also passed on the position of ''zamoto''. The current actors Nakamura Kantarō II, Nakamura Shichinosuke II, and Bandō Kamesaburō V are his great-great-great-great-grandsons.

Life and career

He was born in Edo in 1791, the son of Fukuchi Mohei IV, a publisher and secondary manager of the Ichimura-za. At the age of two, he was adopted by Ichimura Uzaemon X in the same year that the theatre went bankrupt and closed, passing its license to the

Kiri-za The was a major kabuki theatre in the Japanese capital of Edo (later, Tokyo), for much of the Edo period, and into the 20th century. It was first opened in 1634 and was run by members of the Ichimura family for much of the following nearly thre ...

. The Ichimura-za reopened in 1798, and Uzaemon X died the following year. Manjirō, as he was then known, took on the name Uzaemon XI in 1800, officially becoming ''zamoto'' at the age of nine, though the actual administrative matters were handled by Fukuchi Zenbei, the owner of a ''shibai jaya'' (a teahouse within the theatre). Uzaemon was only head of the Ichimura-za for fifteen years. During this short time, the theatre saw many productions, and hosted actors as famous as

Matsumoto Kōshirō V Matsumoto (松本 or 松元, "base of the pine tree") may refer to: Places * Matsumoto, Nagano (松本市), a city ** Matsumoto Airport, an airport southwest of Matsumoto, Nagano * Matsumoto, Kagoshima (松元町), a former town now part of the c ...

and

Iwai Hanshirō V was a Japanese kabuki performer, known both for his own work and for his place in the lineage of a family of kabuki actors in Edo during the Edo period. He was the son of Iwai Hanshirō IV.Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric ''et al.'' (2005). Iwai H ...

. However, the theatre was also destroyed by fire three times over this period. Uzaemon struggled with the debts incurred by his predecessors, and the costs of repeatedly rebuilding the theatre; the Ichimura-za declared bankruptcy in 1815, transferring its license to the Kiri-za once again. The license was then passed to the

Miyako-za was one of the three main ''kabuki'' theatres of Edo alongside the Morita-za and Ichimura-za. History It was founded in 1624 by Nakamura Kanzaburō 1st. The Nakamura-za relocated to the new capital Tokyo in 1868 and reopened under Nakamura Ka ...

when the Kiri-za went bankrupt in 1817, and again to the Tamagawa-za when the Miyako-za went bankrupt in turn the following year. Uzaemon died in Edo in 1820, at the age of 29.

References

Ichimura Uzaemon XI at Kabuki21.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ichimura Uzaemon 11 Zamoto Businesspeople from Tokyo 1791 births 1820 deaths Kabuki