As one of the families of Kabuki actors, the Ichikawa family presides at the top of Japan’s Kabuki world, with a roughly 350-year history since the Edo period. The first actor bearing Danjūrō’s @ebizoichikawa.ebizoichikawa name appeared in the historical sources in 1680. Recently, the name Ichikawa Danjūrō has been revived for the first time in nine years, and I produced a curtain to celebrate Ichikawa Ebizō’s succession of the name Ichikawa Danjūrō XIII, Hakuen, as well as the first performance of Ichikawa Shinnosuke VIII in the "November Kichirei Kaomise Grand Kabuki Theater” program. The unveiling was held on November 1 at the Kabuki-za Theater in Ginza, Tokyo. The creation of this celebratory curtain started with a request from film director Takashi Miike, who was making a documentary film about the generational change surrounding Ichikawa Danjūrō, Hakuen: He asked for my involvement in order to illustrate the 18 famous performances of the Ichikawa family as an animation in my style within the film. Director Miike drew the initial sketches and I brushed up the compositions. I became acquainted with Ichikawa Danjūrō, Hakuen through this project, and I have since been in constant admiration of his outpouring talent. I am deeply grateful to the heavens that the name succession event, after the two-year delay due to the pandemic, has now finally been held without an incident. Photo: @rkrkrk