Nakamura Baijaku (中村梅雀)
Baijaku NAKAMURA is a Kabuki theater actor and a bassist.
Described below is the Baijaku NAKAMURA with the yago (stage family name) Narikomaya. There was also a Baijaku NAKAMURA who belonged to the lineage of Baigyoku NAKAMURA in Osaka.
Baijaku NAKAMURA the First
It was the offstage name of Kanemon NAKAMURA (the Second).
Baijaku NAKAMURA the Second
Detailed in this section.
Baijaku NAKAMURA the Second (December 12, 1955 -) is a Japanese actor. His real name is Shinichi MITSUI. His blood-type is AB-positive. He graduated from Tokyo Metropolitan Ogikubo High School and the Drama Course at Toho Gakuen College of Drama and Music. Although he is from a line of Kabuki actors, he actively appears in TV dramas and period dramas. After his first divorce, he got remarried to 25-year-old Hisako SEGAWA, who was an actress at Zenshinza (the Zenshinza Company), on September 21, 2006.
The details of his family-relations as a Kabuki actor are as follows:
Great-grandfather: Kanemon NAKAMURA (the Second).
Grandfather: Kanemon NAKAMURA (the Third) (a Kabuki actor, the founding member of the Zenshinza theater company, and the director general of Zenshinza)
Father: Umenosuke NAKAMURA (the Fourth) (an active Kabuki actor and the representative of the Zenshinza theater company)
His stage family name is Narikomaya. His first stage appearance was in 1965. He learned about the world of Kabuki and theater at Zenshinza.
His first stage name was 'Manabu NAKAMURA.'
He subsequently assumed the name 'Baijaku,' which was the name his great-grandfather adopted. His last stage appearance with Zenshinza was the touring performance of "Otose (Kaoru FUNAYAMA)" on October 5, 2007. He is currently active as an independent actor.
Key Roles
Shogun
His portrayal of Ieshige TOKUGAWA (a speech-impaired individual) for the NHK period drama "The Eighth Shogun Yoshimune" is considered legendary. In 2006, he played Hidetada TOKUGAWA in an NHK period drama entitled "Komyo ga Tsuji" (Crossroads of the Achievement). In both of the TV dramas mentioned above, he played the son of Toshiyuki NISHIDA's character (in "The Eighth Shogun Yoshimune," Nishida played the father Yoshimune TOKUGAWA and Baijaku played the first son Ieshige; in "Komyogatsuji," Nishida played the father Ieyasu TOKUGAWA and Baijaku played the third son Hidetada). The two actors also performed alongside each other in the film "Tsuribaka nisshi" (Free and Easy) but roles were reversed, Baijaku playing the boss and Nishida playing his subordinate Hamasaki.
He played the role of Hidetada TOKUGAWA twice. He played the role in "Sanada Taiheiki" (TV drama) and in "Komyogatsuji." In "Sanada Taiheiki," he acted alongside his real father Umenosuke NAKAMURA as Ieyasu.
Detective
Shinano no Colombo (Colombo in Shinano) produced by Television Tokyo (he played the main character Detective Iwao TAKEMURA.
Hideko HARA played his wife.)
TV Asahi's Saturday Wide Theater production "Onsen wakaokami no satsujin suiri" (Murder mystery of a young proprietress of an onsen inn) (he played Detective Yusaku NAKAGAWA, the husband of Chizuru AZUMA.)
Businessman
Secretarial office manager Kusamori in Shochiku's "Tsuribaka nisshi" series and in "Hana no Oedo no Tsuribaka nisshi" (Free and Easy – Edo Period Story).
Musical Activities
Due to the influence of his mother who was a pianist, he has been interested in jazz ever since he was a young boy. He plays bass guitar in a jazz band he formed with Masaki MATSUBARA and Hiromi YASUDA. He also composes songs. In addition to releasing a CD with a major record company, he performs live in his local town of Kichijoji. When he was playing the bass guitar in a music store, Kankuro KUDO, who was passing by, saw him by chance. Kankuro wrote the lyrics of a song based on this episode with Baijaku called 'Tokyo Medley' (on the album "Yome to Rokku" [My Wife and Rock]) performed by Group Tamashii. He is also known as a collector of guitars with a focus on bass guitars.
CD: Masaki MATSUBARA with Tsuyoshi KON sittin' in "The Guitar Bros" (Victor Entertainment VICL-69096)
Played bass on the seventh song 'Sand Storm'
Composed the eighth song 'SOYOGI' and played bass on it
When he was young, he asked his father to buy him an electric bass guitar, but his father dismissed the idea by saying that the bass has nothing to do with Kabuki. He then made an electric shamisen (a three-stringed Japanese banjo) by modifying a shamisen.
According to his friend, it was 'amazing that he actually made it, but it wasn't really a cool-looking instrument.'