Ichikawa Danjuro Advised to Move Abroad on Fortune-Telling Show

“The program suggested Southeast Asia as a possible relocation destination, but considering the future of the children and the kabuki world, Paris, France, seems more likely. Danjuro successfully performed at the Paris Opera House with his father, the twelfth generation Ichikawa Danjuro, in 2007, and was appointed as a French public relations ambassador in 2009. There is already a foundation for accepting Japanese traditional performing arts there. If Danjuro moves to Paris with Reika-chan and Kangen-kun (11), it would be safer there,” says a kabuki magazine editor.

However, even if Danjuro truly decides to move overseas, it is unlikely that the kabuki world would easily accept this decision.

“Since the COVID-19 pandemic and the ‘family suicide’ incident involving Ichikawa Ennosuke in May 2023, attendance at the Kabukiza has continued to decline, and customer numbers have not returned. While the July Grand Kabuki was sold out every day due to Danjuro’s participation, the tickets for the August Cool Kabuki (August 4–25) still have many seats available.

The successors to Danjuro are said to be the three sons of the eighth generation Nakamura Shikan (the fourth generation Nakamura Hashinosuke, the third generation Nakamura Fukunosuke, and the fourth generation Nakamura Utanosuke), but their drawing power is nowhere near Danjuro’s. Even if Danjuro were to move abroad for a short period of two or three years, it is said that the kabuki world would be over without Danjuro. The crisis situation remains that dire. We hope this is just a rumor,” says the kabuki insider.

What is Danjuro’s true intention?

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