Onoe Shoroku II

Born into a prominent family of Kabuki actors, Shōroku II was the youngest of three sons of legendary Kabuki actor Matsumoto Kōshirō VII, considered one of the most celebrated tachiyaku (i.e., an actor who plays male roles) of the Meiji period until the mid-1940s.^[1]

His older brothers were also renowned Kabuki actors and like Shōroku II, also focused solely on tachiyaku roles, Ichikawa Danjūrō XI and Matsumoto Hakuō I (formerly known as Matsumoto Kōshirō VIII).^[1]

In addition to being an outstanding Kabuki actor, Shōroku II was known for his skills as a Nihon-buyō dancer and much of his dancing skills were due to the fact that he was the grandson of Fujima Kan'emon II, a well-known Japanese dance master who was a specialist in Nihon-buyō.^[1]

By marriage, he was the brother-in-law of the famous onnagata actor Nakamura Jakuemon IV, considered one of Kabuki's greatest onnagata and who was married to Shōroku II's sister, Akiko Aoki^[b].

His debut as a Kabuki actor was in October 1918, when Shōroku II (then 5 years old) debuted on the stage of the Imperial Theater in Tokyo under the stage name Matsumoto Yutaka and playing the secondary role of Ishiwakamaru in the play "Shusse Kagekiyo".^[1]

During his life he was designated a Living National Treasure of Japan and one of the country's four official leading actors.

Film

• Banana (1960)

Television

• Hana no Shōgai (1963) – Ii Naosuke
• Mominoki wa Nokotta (1970) – Date Masamune
• Katsu Kaishū (1974) – Katsu Kokichi
• Kusa Moeru (1979) – Emperor Go-Shirakawa

• 1972 – Living National Treasure
• 1984 – Person of Cultural Merit
• 1987 – Order of Culture^[2]

• Dunning, Jennifer (July 15, 1985). STAGE: AT THE METROPOLITAN, GRAND KABUKI'S 'SAKURA-HIME' New York Times