Teruyuki Kagawa

Teruyuki Kagawa (香川照之, Kagawa Teruyuki, born December 7, 1965) is a Japanese actor, kabuki actor (as Ichikawa Chūsha IX (九代目市川中車, Kyūdaime Ichikawa Chūsha)), and boxing commentator.

Lineage

Born into a renowned Tokyo Kabuki acting family (known as Omodakaya or Kagawa family), Teruyuki is the eighth Kabuki actor to assume the name Ichikawa Chūsha, being known as Ichikawa Chusha IX (九代目市川中車)

His great-great-grandfather, Ichikawa Danshirō II (二代目市川段四郎) was a prominent Japanese kabuki actor and dancer who was the founder of the Omodakaya acting house and also the first kabuki actor from this acting house to bear the name Ichikawa Ennosuke, being known as Ichikawa Ennosuke I (初代市川猿之助).

His great-grandfather, Ichikawa En'ō I (初代市川猿翁) was one of the most important Kabuki actors and dancers of the Showa era, being responsible for creating numerous dance-dramas for the Kabuki theater, in addition to being the founder of Shunjūza, a well-known study group focused on Kabuki theater. He was the second Kabuki actor to bear the name Ichikawa Ennosuke, being known for most of his career as Ichikawa Ennosuke II (二代目市川猿之助).

His great-great-uncle, Ichikawa Chūsha VIII (八代目市川中車) was a tachiyaku actor whose career spanned from the end of the Meiji era to the middle of the Showa era and who, unlike the rest of his family, was a member of the Tachibanaya acting house and not the Omodokaya acting house.

His grandfather, Ichikawa Danshirō III (三代目市川段四郎) was an actor and Kabuki dancer known for his dancing skills, although he did not achieve the same level of fame as his father (Ennosuke II/En'ō I) or grandson (Ennosuke III/En'ō II).

His father, Ichikawa Ennosuke III (三代目市川猿之助) or Ichikawa En'ō II (二代目市川猿翁), was one of the most celebrated and revolutionary Kabuki actors and dancers of the Showa era and the early Heisei era, as he was the creator of a new genre of Kabuki theater, known as Super Kabuki, in addition to being famous for perfecting several techniques that had been sidelined in more recent eras of Kabuki theater, known as keren and for having flown over the audience more than any other Kabuki actor (which earned him the nickname "The King of Chunori").

Biography

Born in 1965, his parents are kabuki actor Ichikawa Ennosuke III and cinema actress Yuko Hama. His grandmother is film actress Sanae Takasugi.

In the Kabuki world, it is common for the son of an actor to follow in his father's footsteps from a very early age, but his parents divorced in 1968 and his mother was given custody. After that, he totally lost contact with his father, and his mother refused to give him any training in the Kabuki art and he grew believing that it was "something that must not be watched". However he tried several times to meet his biological father. When he was 20, he went to one of his performances and asked if he could see him, stating that he was Ennosuke's son, but when his father's assistants reported to him the situation he refused, stating that he didn't have any son.

He graduated in social psychology at the University of Tokyo and decided to start a career in cinema.

Sexual harassment

On August 24, 2022, a Japanese media outlet reported that Kagawa had forcibly touched a woman in July, 2019. Kagawa admitted to the sexual misconduct through his agency, Lotus Roots, on August 25, 2022.

Career

He has twice been nominated for the Best Supporting Actor award at the Japanese Academy Awards, once for Warau Iemon and once for Kita no zeronen. He won the award for best supporting actor at the 33rd Japan Academy Prize for Mt. Tsurugidake.

Reconciliation with his father

His first son Masaaki, born in 2004, showed interest in becoming a Kabuki actor. As a result, Teruyuki tried again to meet with his aged father and succeeded.

At the same time, he decided to start his own career in Kabuki at 46, an age which is extremely unusual for an actor. The only other time someone was initiated into the Kabuki world as a fully grown adult was in 1910, when Ichikawa Danjuro IX's adopted and then son-in-law Ichikawa Sansho V decided to start his career at age 28 after his adoptive father's death.

In June 2012, it was announced at their father and cousin's Shūmei that he and his son would take the names of Ichikawa Chusha IX and Ichikawa Danko V.