page_title: Ichikawa Raizō VIII
section_title: Adoption by Ichikawa Jūkai III (June 1949 – June 1951)
hierarchical_section_title: Ichikawa Raizō VIII / Biography / Adoption by Ichikawa Jūkai III (June 1949 – June 1951)
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 八代目市川雷蔵と三代目市川壽海との養子縁組が成立した日の記念写真 English: Raizō Ichikawa VIII (1931–69), on the day he was adopted by Jukai Ichikawa III.
context_page_description: Ichikawa Raizō VIII was a Japanese film and kabuki actor. His birth name was Akio Kamezaki, and his name was legally changed several times, first to Yoshio Takeuchi, and later to Yoshiya Ōta, separate from his performing name.
  Six months after his birth in Kyoto he became the adopted son of Ichikawa Kudanji III. He made his kabuki acting debut at the age of 15 under the name Ichikawa Enzō. In 1951 he was adopted by Ichikawa Jūkai III and was renamed as Ichikawa Raizō VIII. In 1954 he began a career as a film actor. He received breakout acclaim for his performance in Enjō and received several awards for the performance including the Blue Ribbon Award and the Kinema Junpo Award, both for the category of Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. Among his fans he was referred to lovingly as "Rai-sama." In June 1968 he was diagnosed with and underwent surgery for rectal cancer, but it metastasized to his liver and he died the following year.
  Ichikawa Raizō appeared mostly in period dramas. He is best known for the Sleepy Eyes of Death series, Ninja series and Nakano Spy School series. Raizō worked many times with director Kenji Misumi.
context_section_description: In 1949, in the same period that Raizō was establishing the Tsukushikai, a kabuki theater director named Tetsuji Takechi was scouting for young, talented kabuki performers to join his traditionalist troupe, Tetsuji Kabuki. The members of the Tsukushikai participated in this troupe and thus made the acquaintance of Tetsuji. Tetsuji thought very highly of Raizō's acting talents, but realized that so long as he remained known as Kudanji's son he would never be able to truly shine in the world of kabuki and his talent would be wasted. To that end Tetsuji formed a plan to have Raizō take the name of Nakamura Jakuemon (中村 雀右衛門), which had been unused for a quarter century, but Nakamura Jakuemon III – who was no longer performing, but still alive – was dissatisfied with Raizō's thus-far inability to gain real recognition and refused to allow the name's use.
  After that, it is known that Tetsuji intended to apprentice Raizō under the childless Ichikawa Jukai III (三代目 市川 壽海, Sandaime Ichikawa Jukai). In December 1950, Ichikawa Jukai III attended a meeting of the Tsukushikai in an observational capacity. He was highly impressed by Raizō's performance as Minamoto no Yoriie in the play Shuzenji Monogatari. Jukai had been the son of a kimono-maker and thus had had no connection to the world of kabuki through his lineage, but despite this, through great effort on his part, Jukai had become quite renowned in the Kansai kabuki scene during and after the Second World War. By the time he met Raizō in 1950, Jukai had become the president of the Kansai Kabuki Actors Guild, a position of great influence. Furthermore, the name "Jukai" had been bestowed upon Ichikawa Jukai III by both of the actors who had used it before: Ichikawa Danjūrō VII and Ichikawa Danjūrō IX; and he had even been granted usage of the "Naritaya" (成田屋) and "Kotobuki Ebi" (壽 海老) yagō and kamon traditionally used by the head of the Ichikawa line. With the help of some mutual friends, Tetsuji was successful in his efforts and Jukai agreed to officially adopt Raizō. At this point Jukai wished to give Raizō the name Ichikawa Shinzō (市川 新蔵), a name with deep roots in the Ichikawa house stretching back to the 1600s, but the chief cabinet secretary of the Ichikawa house, Ichikawa En'ō II, viciously fought against this wish, stating "We can't bestow a name with such deep family ties to some unknown performer from an unknown line." After long negotiations they finally settled on the name "Ichikawa Raizō." The adoption was finalized in April 1951, and the ceremony for the succession of the "Ichikawa Raizo" name was carried out in June of the same year. According to the film director Kazuo Ikehiro, around this time rumors began to circulate that Ichikawa Jukai III was actually Raizō's biological father.
  Upon his second adoption Raizō's legal name was changed again as well, to Yoshiya Ōta. This name was chosen by Raizō himself, as he was weary of being judged by his current family name. According to Akinari Suzuki, the studio president of Daiei Kyoto Studio, Raizō often advised those around him to consider changing their names, and it's said that some 20 to 30 people related to the film studio did so upon Raizō's recommendation. In fact,  Masako Nagata, the woman Raizō would eventually marry, was originally named Kyōko, and changed her given name after Raizō suggested she do so.
caption: Commemorative photo of Ichikawa Raizō VIII on the day of his adoption by Ichikawa Jukai III in April, 1951
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