Uzaemon XVII, Ichimura

▪ 2002

Bandô Mamoru 

      Japanese actor (b. 1916, Tokyo, Japan—d. July 8, 2001, Tokyo), was one of the greatest tachiyaku (male-role) actors in Japan's traditional kabuki theatre. Ichimura was the nephew of Kikugoro Onoe VI, one of the foremost interpreters of kabuki plays. After debuting at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo at the age of five, Ichimura went on to star in numerous dramas, one of the most memorable of which was an elaborately staged performance of the play Shibaraku (“Wait!”) during the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. In 1990 the Japanese government designated him a Living National Treasure.

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