Nakamura Utaemon VI

Utaemon VI in costume, preparing to play a female kabuki role (onnagata), 1951.

Nakamura Utaemon VI (中村歌右衛門 (6代目)^?, January 20, 1917 — March 31, 2001) was a Japanese kabuki performer and an artistic director of the Kabuki-za in Tokyo.^[1] He was a prominent member of a family of kabuki actors from the Keihanshin region.^[2]

Nakamura Utaemon was a stage name with significant cultural and historical connotations.^[3] The name Utaemon indicates personal status as an actor. Such a title can only be assumed after the death of a previous holder, under restrictive succession conventions.^[4]

Utaemon VI was the son of Nakamura Utaemon V.^[5] The actor's name was Fujio Kawamura when he was born in the sixth generation of a line of famous Kabuki actors.^[1] In the conservative Kabuki world, stage names are passed from father to son in formal system which converts the kabuki stage name into a mark of accomplishment.^[4] The name Utaemon VI was formally proclaimed in a 1951 ceremony at the Kabuki theater in Tokyo.^[6]

Lineage of Utaemon stage names

• Nakamura Utaemon I (1714–1791) ^[7]
• Nakamura Utaemon II (1752–1798) ^[8]
• Nakamura Utaemon III (1778–1838) ^[2]
• Nakamura Utaemon IV (1798–1852) ^[2]
• Nakamura Utaemon V (1865–1940) ^[9]
• Nakamura Utaemon VI (1917–2001)

In a long career, he acted in many kabuki plays; but he was best known for his oyama roles.^[1]

Living National Treasure

In 1968, the government of Japan designated him a Living National Treasure, which was a title acknowledging him as a "bearer of important intangible cultural assets."^[1]

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Nakamura Utaemon VI, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 6 works in 6 publications in 2 languages and 9 library holdings^[10]

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

• 2006 —  - (伽羅先代萩: 三幕五場, Meiboku sendai hagi: sanmaku goba^?) 10-ISBN 4835615980/13-ISBN 9784835615981; OCLC 70233503
• 1993 —  - (鏡山旧錦絵: 通し狂言四幕六場, Kagamiyama kokyō no nishikie: tōshi kyōgen yonmaku rokuba^?) OCLC 054923943
• 1989 —  - (番町皿屋敷: 一幕二場, Banchō sarayashiki: hitomaku niba^?) OCLC 029849646
• 1984 —  - (大経師昔暦: おさん茂兵衛二幕三場, Daikyōji mukashigoyomi: osan mohee nimaku sanba^?) OCLC 054925804

Honors

• Japan Art Academy, 1963 ^[11]
• Order of Culture, 1979 ^[1]
• Praemium Imperiale, 1995 ^[12]
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1996 ^[1]

See also

• List of people on stamps of Japan
• Shūmei

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Strom, Stephanie. Nakamura Utaemon VI, 84, International Star of Kabuki", New York Times. April 4, 2001.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric et al. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia, p. 691. at Google Books
3. ^ Kurkup, James. "Nakamura Utaemon VI," The Independent (London). April 6, 2001.
4. ^ ^{a b} Scott, Adolphe C. (1999). The Kabuki Theatre of Japan, p. 159. at Google Books
5. ^ While the stage names of all kabuki actors have retained traditional order (Surname-Givenname) on Wikipedia, birth names of those born after the Meiji Restoration are in Western order (Givenname-Surname).
6. ^ Trumbull, Robert. "Kabuki Theatre Elevates Actor In Traditional Japanese Rites," New York Times. April 12, 1960.
7. ^ Leiter, Samuel L. (2006). Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre, pp. 263-264. at Google Books
8. ^ Leiter, Samuel L. (2002). A Kabuki Reader: History and Performance, p. 78 at Google Books
9. ^ Utaemon Nakamura", New York Times. September 11, 1940.
10. ^ WorldCat Identities: 中村歌右衛門 6世 1917-2001; 中村歌右衛門 1917- .
11. ^ Leiter, p. 264. at Google Books
12. ^ "Lloyd Webber Wins Prize," New York Times. June 16, 1995.

References

• Brandon, James R. "Myth and Reality: A Story of Kabuki during American Censorship, 1945-1949," Asian Theatre Journal, Volume 23, Number 1, Spring 2006, pp. 1–110.
• Leiter, Samuel L. (2006). Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. 10-ISBN 0810855275; 13-ISBN 9780810855274; OCLC 238637010
• __________. ( 2002). A Kabuki Reader: History and Performance. 10-ISBN 0765607042/13-ISBN 9780765607041; 10-ISBN 0765607050/13-ISBN 9780765607058; OCLC 182632867
• Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 10-ISBN 0-674-01753-6; 13-ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 48943301
• Scott, Adolphe Clarence. (1955). The Kabuki Theatre of Japan. London: Allen & Unwin. OCLC 622644114
• Takeshi Kaneko. "A Man with the Brilliance of a Flower; Nakamura Utaemon VI," Yomiuri Shimbun. Spring 2009.

External links

• Waseda University, Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum; Permanent exhibit, Nakamura Utaemon VI
• Online digitized photograph: "Nakamura Utaemon VI meets Rin-Tin-Tin" — Los Angeles, California, July 2, 1960
• Online digitized photograph: Yukio Mishima with Nakamura Utaemon VI, 1954
• World Digial Library: Nakamura Utaemon no Katō Masakiyo, woodblock print c. 1818-1830
• Find-A-Grave: Utaemon Nakamura, Aoyama Cemetery, Tokyo
• Japan Art Academy

Persondata
Name	Nakamura, Utaemon VI
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1917
Place of birth
Date of death	2001
Place of death