Kataoka Nizaemon X

Kataoka Nizaemon X lived through one of the most disorienting stretches in Japanese history — the Meiji era, when samurai culture was dissolving overnight and Western suits were suddenly everywhere. And right in the middle of all that upheaval, this man kept stepping onto the kabuki stage in full costume, three-stringed shamisen ringing out, as if to say: this matters, this stays. There's something genuinely stubborn and admirable about that. He died at 44, still in his prime, which means he never got to coast or slow down — every performance he ever gave was while the world was still on fire around him. The Nizaemon name lives on through later generations, but this particular holder of it helped anchor the tradition during its most precarious moment, and I find that quietly moving.

Kataoka Nizaemon X (April 14, 1851 – April 16, 1895) was a Japanese kabuki actor who carried one of the art form's most prestigious hereditary stage names through the turbulent Meiji era. He lived and performed at a time when Japan was undergoing sweeping westernization, yet he remained a practitioner of the classical kabuki tradition until his death. He died at the age of forty-four, still active on the stage. The Kataoka Nizaemon lineage has continued after him, and he is recognized as one of its foundational holders during a pivotal period in Japanese theatrical history.

Name (English)

Kataoka Nizaemon X

Name (Japanese)

十代目 片岡仁左衛門

Reading

かたおか にざえもん

Born

April 14, 1851 – April 16, 1895

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aries / Boar (I)

Origin

Japan

Occupation

Kabuki actor

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%89%87%E5%B2%A1%E4%BB%81%E5%B7%A6%E8%A1%9B%E9%96%80%20(10%E4%BB%A3%E7%9B%AE)

Tags

• Kabuki actor

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.