- Original name:
- Nirehara Shin’ichi
- Adoptive name:
- Morita Shin’ichi
- Born:
- April 25, 1950, Tokyo, Japan (age 76)
Bandō Tamasaburō V
-
Who is Bandō Tamasaburō V?
Bandō Tamasaburō V, born Nirehara Shin'ichi, is a Japanese Kabuki actor renowned as an onnagata, a male performer of female roles. He began studying performance arts at a young age to recover from polio. Adopted at age six by Kabuki actor Morita Kan'ya XIV, he debuted as Bandō Kinoji in 1957 and inherited his current stage name in 1964, becoming the fifth to bear it.
Tamasaburō later achieved international recognition in film and non-Kabuki drama. After his adoptive father's death, he expanded his repertoire, acting in shimpa productions and Shakespearean roles. He starred in Andrzej Wajda’s Nastasja and directed films like Yume no onna. He has also collaborated with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma and Mikhail Baryshnikov.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What is Kabuki theater?
Kabuki is a traditional Japanese drama with singing and dancing performed in a highly stylized manner. Kabuki incorporates music, mime, dance, and spectacular staging and costuming and has remained a major theatrical form in Japan for four centuries. The actors pass down Kabuki traditions from one generation to the next with only slight alterations.
Bandō Tamasaburō V (born in 1950) is a Japanese Kabuki actor known as an onnagata, a man who plays female roles. He gained international acclaim in film and non-Kabuki forms of drama.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What makes Bandō Tamasaburō V famous in Kabuki?
Bandō Tamasaburō V is a celebrated figure in Kabuki, renowned as an onnagata, a male actor specializing in female roles. His fame extends beyond Kabuki; he has received international recognition in film and various dramatic forms, which is somewhat atypical for Kabuki actors.
Tamasaburō's journey began at a young age, studying performance arts as rehabilitation from polio. Adopted into the family of Kabuki actor Morita Kan'ya XIV, he debuted on stage in 1957 and inherited the esteemed name Bandō Tamasaburō in 1964. After his adoptive father's death, he broadened his artistic scope, acting in shimpa productions and Shakespearean roles, and starring in films such as Andrzej Wajda’s Nastasja.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What is an onnagata, and how is Bandō Tamasaburō V connected to this role?
An onnagata is a male Kabuki actor specializing in female roles; this dates back to the 17th century when women were banned from performing. Bandō Tamasaburō V (born Nirehara Shin'ichi, 1950) is a Japanese Kabuki actor renowned for his onnagata roles. He began studying performance arts at a young age and made his stage debut in 1957. In 1964, he inherited the name Bandō Tamasaburō, becoming the fifth actor to hold it. Later in his career, he gained international recognition in film and non-Kabuki drama.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did Bandō Tamasaburō V become a leading Kabuki actor?
Bandō Tamasaburō V gained prominence as a leading Kabuki actor through a combination of early training, adoption into a Kabuki family, and talent. Born Nirehara Shin'ichi, he began studying performance arts at a young age to recover from polio.
At age six, he was adopted by Kabuki actor Morita Kan'ya XIV, who sought a successor. In 1957, he debuted as Bandō Kinoji in The Temple School. He inherited the name Bandō Tamasaburō in 1964, becoming the fifth to hold it. His adoptive father and he performed together in 1965 in The Treasury of the Loyal Retainers. Tamasaburō won the role of Princess Shiranui in 1969 in Mishima Yukio’s Kabuki play, The Moon like a Drawn Bow.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What has Bandō Tamasaburō V contributed to Japanese arts outside of Kabuki?
Bandō Tamasaburō V, a Kabuki actor renowned as an onnagata, has made significant contributions to Japanese arts outside of Kabuki. After his adoptive father's death, who had previously forbidden outside performances, Tamasaburō expanded his career to other genres.
He acted in shimpa productions and Shakespearean plays, and gained international recognition in film, starring in Andrzej Wajda’s Nastasja. In the early 1990s, Bandō directed films, including Yume no onna, which was screened at the Berlinale film festival in 1993. Additionally, he directed and starred in a Chinese kunqu theatre production, Mudanting, at the Shanghai International Arts Festival in 2009.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Bandō Tamasaburō V (born April 25, 1950, Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese Kabuki actor who made a name for himself as an onnagata, a man who plays female roles (in Kabuki all roles are traditionally played by men). Somewhat atypically of the Kabuki world, he later gained international acclaim in film and non-Kabuki forms of drama as well.
Although Nirehara Shin’ichi was not born into a performing family, he began studying performance arts at a young age as a form of rehabilitation from polio. At age six he was adopted into the family of Kabuki actor Morita Kan’ya XIV, who had no sons of his own and was looking for a successor. He made his stage debut under the name Bandō Kinoji in 1957, playing the role of Kotarō in the drama Terakoya (“The Temple School”). In 1964 he inherited the prestigious stage name Bandō Tamasaburō, becoming the fifth actor to perform under that moniker. The following year his adoptive father and he performed together as mother and daughter in an adaptation of Chūshingura (“The Treasury of the Loyal Retainers”). In 1969 Tamasaburō won the role of Princess Shiranui in Mishima Yukio’s new Kabuki play Chinsetsu yumiharizuki (“The Moon like a Drawn Bow”). Other notable roles from that period included Princess Taema in Narukami (1970; “The Thunder God”) and Princess Nowake in Sumidagawa gonichi no omokage (1971; “Memories of the Sumida River”).
His adoptive father forbade Tamasaburō to perform outside Kabuki, but after Kan’ya’s death in 1975, Tamasaburō began to make a name for himself in other genres. He acted in shimpa (“new school”) productions such as Keiko ōgi (1975; “The Practice Fan”) and dabbled in Shakespeare, appearing as Lady Macbeth and Desdemona. In the late 1970s he also began acting in films, and he went on to star in Polish director Andrzej Wajda’s Nastasja (1994), in which he played both a male and a female role. In the early 1990s he began directing films, and his 1992 effort Yume no onna (“Dream Woman”) was screened at the 1993 Berlinale film festival.
In addition to his wide range of non-Kabuki projects, Tamasaburō continued to perform Kabuki throughout his career, both in Japan and abroad. In 1996 he collaborated with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, performing Kabuki dance to the music of J.S. Bach, and in 1998 he danced alongside Mikhail Baryshnikov. He also brought his Kabuki sensibility to traditional Chinese kunqu theatre, directing and starring in a production of Mudanting (“The Peony Pavilion”) at the Shanghai International Arts Festival in 2009. The opera was widely praised, and it played in Tokyo the following year. During his lengthy career, Tamasaburō was honoured with many awards, including the prestigious Kyoto Prize (2011) for his contributions to the arts and the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperiale (2019) for theatre/film.