The Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo has been presenting special programs through May and June to celebrate the shumei (succession) of Onoe Tatsunosuke (real name Arashi Fujima), 27, to the stage name of Onoe Shoroku IV. He has inherited the name from his eminent grandfather, Onoe Shoroku II, who died in 1989 at age 76.
Born in 1913, Shoroku II was the third son of Matsumoto Koshiro VII (d. 1949), a disciple of Ichikawa Danjuro IX and one of the most influential kabuki actors during the first half of the 20th century. After making his stage debut at age 5 as Matsumoto Yutaka, he was trained first by his father Koshiro, then sent, at 15, to Onoe Kikugoro VI, a dominant figure in the kabuki world at the time.
In 1935, at 22, he assumed the stage name of Onoe Shoroku II, reviving the name of Shoroku which had last been used in 1809. After the death of Kikugoro in 1949, Onoe Shoroku II became one of the foremost tachiyaku (male leads) and, with Kikugoro's adopted son Onoe Baiko, ran the troupe established by his late mentor.
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