Nakamura Jakuemon IV
(20 August 192022 February 2012)  was a Japanese kabuki actor most known for onnagata performance. Biography
Born in Tokyo, Japan on August 20, 1920, he was the son of popular Kabuki actor Ōtani Tomoemon VI  (1886-1943), a well-known Tachiyaku actor (i.e. he only played male roles) and who died during the 1943 Tottori earthquake while on tour in Shimane Prefecture, when the kabuki theater where he was to perform collapsed on top of him. In 1991 the Japanese government designated him as a Living National Treasure. His two sons are also Kabuki actors: his eldest son, Ōtani Tomoemon VIII (Real Name: Tomoyuki Aoki, Nihongo: 青木智之, Aoki Tomoyuki) inherited the name and acting style of his grandfather, Ōtani Tomoemon VI (unlike his father and younger brother, Tomoemon VIII became a Tachiyaku just as his grandfather Tomoemon VI) while his youngest son, Nakamura Jakuemon V (Real Name: Sadayuki Aoki, Nihongo: 青木貞之, Aoki Sadayuki) inherited the name and acting style of Jakuemon IV himself (becoming one of the main Onnagata of the current era). Filmography
1954 The Woman in the Rumor (Uwasa no Onna) as Dr. Matoba

Further reading
Beautiful boys/outlaw bodies: devising Kabuki female-likeness, 2005, By Katherine Mezur
Nakamura Jakuemon IV: The Art of Onnagata Acting, 2005, by Rei Sasaguchi

References

Notes

External links
 (Japanese)
biography

Kabuki actors
1920 births
2012 deaths
Deaths from pneumonia in Japan
Cross-gender male actors
Living National Treasures of Japan
Male actors from Tokyo