Nakamura Utaemon VI (中村歌右衛門 (6代目), January 20, 1917 — March 31, 2001) was a Japanese kabuki performer and an artistic director of the Kabuki-za in Tokyo.[1] He was a prominent member of a family of kabuki actors from the Keihanshin region.[2]
Nakamura Utaemon was a stage name with significant cultural and historical connotations.[3] The name Utaemon indicates personal status as an actor. Such a title can only be assumed after the death of a previous holder, under restrictive succession conventions.[4]
He was considered the greatest onnagata of the post-War period,[5] and was heralded as a "a divine messenger given to kabuki from heaven" during his naming ceremony.[6]
Utaemon VI was the son of Nakamura Utaemon V.[7] The actor's name was Fujio Kawamura when he was born in the sixth generation of a line of famous Kabuki actors.[1] In the conservative Kabuki world, stage names are passed from father to son in formal system which converts the kabuki stage name into a mark of accomplishment.[4] The name Utaemon VI was formally proclaimed in a 1951 ceremony at the Kabuki theater in Tokyo.[8]
In 1968, the government of Japan designated him a Living National Treasure, which was a title acknowledging him as a "bearer of important intangible cultural assets."[1] He was the youngest person in history to be recognised a such.[6]
In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Nakamura Utaemon VI, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 6 works in 6 publications in 2 languages and 9 library holdings[13]
^Baigyoku IV was designated a Living National Treasure in 2022 and is currently one of six Kabuki actors who are Living National Treasures (the other five actors are: Bandō Tamasaburō V (which is also currently the only one of the six current Living National Treasures that is an onnagata), Kataoka Nizaemon XV, Nakamura Karoku V, Nakamura Tōzō VI and Onoe Kikugorō VII.
^While the stage names of all kabuki actors have retained traditional order (Surname-Givenname) on Wikipedia, birth names of those born after the Meiji Restoration are in Western order (Givenname-Surname).
