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Associated Press

Handing down a name over the generations is a central part of the Japanese traditional theatre art of kabuki, and that ceremony gets celebrated at theatres and special events every few years.
Now, the ritual is taking place with the eighth Kikugoro, who is having that honour passed down from his 83-year-old father, the seventh Kikugoro, who in turn got that name from his father.
“Taking on the name is about taking on the spirit and responsibility that’s created and getting passed down over generations by those who came before us,” the younger Kikugoro, 48-year-old Kazuyasu Terajima, says.
“The job of the kabuki actor is to carry on and develop in the present what we have inherited from our predecessors and make sure it gets passed on to those who come after us.”

Another famous family name in kabuki is Danjuro, whose name succession for the 13th Danjuro happened in 2022.
Kabuki, dating back to the 1600s, is still very much alive in modern-day Japan. The hit film Kokuho, nominated at this year’s Oscars for best make-up and hairstyling, is proof of kabuki’s continuing popularity: it became the highest-grossing live-action film in Japan in the country’s filmmaking history.
Kabuki showcases gut-wrenching stories about brave samurai who assume a hidden identity to avenge an injustice, or beautiful maidens who turn into serpents, combining live music, dance and song with stylised acting – with all the roles played by men, wearing colourful costumes and thick make-up.
The kabuki actors specialising in women roles are called onnagata, while others like Kikugoro play both men and women.
What often strikes Westerners about kabuki is the utter abandonment of any attempt to portray reality or how people might behave naturally. The actors strike dramatic poses called mie in the middle of their lines to drive home the idea of courage or flight from pursuit. Experts refer to that moment as conveying a picture, an instance often accentuated by the rhythmical clatter of two pieces of wood, which are like claves.
The actors’ lines are often delivered in singsong poetry. The live music is an integral part of the play in setting the scene, with thunderous giant drums evoking thunder or, when played more softly, gently falling snow. Tinkling bells might portray floating butterflies.

The action takes place on spectacular revolving sets, with features such as cherry trees showering pink paper petals. Productions may have elements of acrobatics, such as an actor playing a fox who dances with joy while suspended by wires from the ceiling.
One of the fun aspects of kabuki is the costume and character changes that happen right on stage before the audience, transforming a human character into a demon, for instance – sometimes with the help of stagehands cloaked in anonymous black costuming called kurogo.
Yet the parallels with Shakespearean theatre are stark. One popular play, The Love Suicides at Sonezaki, is about young lovers who choose to die together, a Romeo and Juliet for kabuki.
The parallels are coincidental. Chikamatsu Monzaemon, who wrote the piece for Japan’s Bunraku puppet theatre, lived during Japan’s 18th century isolationist Tokugawa period and is believed to have never read Shakespeare, who had penned the similar love story more than a century before Chikamatsu.
For Terajima, the new Kikugoro, it is a role he was born into like his predecessors. He has trained from childhood, but stresses he has no qualms or hesitation about having been destined from birth to be Kikugoro.
“I totally adored and admired my predecessors,” he said at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Tokyo last month.
“First of all, I am filled with gratitude to our predecessors who created great works that continue to be loved by generations that came after. So I am grateful to be born into the family of such ancestors.”
Terajima was sitting next to his 12-year-old son Kazufumi, who in turn will take on the name Terajima had before, Kikunosuke. This is the name for the younger actor in that family, handed down over generations like the Kikugoro name.

Kikunosuke loves being a kabuki actor, although like a normal child, he also likes video games and the Japanese rock band Mrs Green Apple.
It is hard work, which involves running every morning, watching his diet and going to bed early.
“It’s not only hard physically. It’s also pretty hard mentally, and I sometimes took it out on my parents,” he says with a smile, carrying himself with a controlled professional pose way beyond his age.
The name-succession ritual, called shumei, which began for the father and son last year in various performances throughout Japan, continues through this year.
James R Brandon, an American who devoted his scholarship to kabuki, describes it as centred on a type of code, “a theatre in which the art of acting is central, and in which playwright and actor cooperate to achieve the unique style of performance found only in kabuki”.
In Japanese tradition, there is always the right way to do something, known as kata, which turns into the model for the future generation who choose to pursue the art, according to Brandon.
Although some worry about the survival of kabuki, the new Kikugoro believes in the art form’s kata and that nothing needs to change, as its core spirit remains as relevant as ever.
“By using kata, what we want to truly communicate the most in the tradition of kabuki is human compassion, that spirit of caring for others,” he says.


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World of performing arts

(From right) Kabuki actors Kikugoro Onoe VII, his son Kikugoro Onoe VIII and grandson Kikunosuke Onoe. Photo: AP

Kikugoro Onoe VIII (centre), then known as Kikunosuke Onoe, performs during the opening ceremony of the Osaka Expo on April 12, 2025. Photo: AP

Kabuki performers take part in the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup at Tokyo Stadium in September 2019. Photo: AP

Kikunosuke Onoe (left) Kikugoro Onoe VIII attend a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Tokyo, Japan, in March 2026. Photo: AP

Dancers perform Andonis Foniadakis’ Strangelove, part of Hong Kong Ballet’s “Glam Rock” programme at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, in April 2026. Photo: Conrad Dy-Liacco

Dancers perform Martlet, a new work inspired by the music of Beyond. Photo: Tony Luk

Luis Cabrera (left) and Teng Ronger in a scene from Martlet. Photo: Tony Luk

Basil James shows off his impressive mastery of tap dance in Trey McIntyre’s Mercury Half-Life. Photo: Conrad Dy-Liacco

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IU as Seong Hui-ju, a cosmetics firm boss who falls for a modern-day prince, in a still from Perfect Crown. The alternative-history love story has all the trappings of a classic Korean drama but is let down by unrelatable characters. Photo: Disney+

Byeon Woo-seok in a still from Perfect Crown. Photo: Disney+

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Beef director and screenwriter Lee Sung-Jin at the season two premiere at The Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, on April 8, 2026. Photo: EPA

Beef director Lee Sung-jin (left) and star Charles Melton at the season two premiere in Los Angeles, on April 8, 2026. Photo: EPA

Youn Yuh-jung in a still from Beef season two. Photo: Netflix

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Cecilia Cheung at the 23rd Hong Kong Film Awards in 2004. The actress’ personal life garnered a lot of attention in the 2000s, with tabloids covering scandals and her high-profile romantic life. Photo: SCMP

Cheung in 1999. Photo: Oliver Tsang

Cheung speaks after receiving the award for best new performer, as veteran actors Liza Wang and Danny Lee look on, at the 19th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2000. Photo: Martin Chan

Cheung and Nicholas Tse in 2001. Photo: Reuters

Cheung in a still from Lost in Time (2003), for which she won best actress at the 23rd Hong Kong Film Awards. Photo: China Star Entertainment Group

Cheung and Tse at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2011, the year they filed for divorce. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Cheung and Stephen Chow in a still from King of Comedy (1999). Her feature-film debut remains one of her most memorable roles. Photo: The Star Overseas

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Lifestyle

Arts

Entertainment

In the traditional Japanese art form, which featured in the Oscar-nominated Kokuho, names and skills are passed down through generations


In the traditional Japanese art form, which featured in the Oscar-nominated Kokuho, names and skills are passed down through generations.


How Japan’s kabuki theatre legacies are kept in the family

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}In the traditional Japanese art form, which featured in the Oscar-nominated Kokuho, names and skills are passed down through generations

In the traditional Japanese art form, which featured in the Oscar-nominated Kokuho, names and skills are passed down through generations