Yorozuya Kinnosuke

I met Kinnosuke Yorozuya through his name, which is a strange way to meet an actor. Born Kin'ichi Ogawa in Tokyo in 1932, son of the kabuki actor Nakamura Tokizo III, he became the first person ever to carry the stage name Nakamura Kinnosuke. That alone is a career. What gets me is 1971, when he took his family's guild name, Yorozuya, as his surname. In a tradition where names are inherited and lent rather than invented, that reads to me like a declaration of independence: I am not standing under the sign, I am carrying it. He crossed into film and television too, and took the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actor in 1964. He died in 1997 at sixty-four. Many actors grow into a name. Almost nobody rebuilds one.

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Name (English)

Yorozuya Kinnosuke

Name (Japanese)

萬屋錦之介

Reading

よろずや きんのすけ

Born

November 20, 1932 – March 10, 1997

Origin

Tokyo, Japan

Occupation

actor / kabuki actor

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Scorpio / Monkey

Active years

1936 - 1997

Awards & achievements

• 1964 Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Actor
• Golden Arrow Award

Spouse

淡路恵子、有馬稲子

Works summary

Appearances

191 (1954–1996)

By year

1954: 18, 1955: 13, 1956: 15, 1957: 12, 1958: 13, 1959: 11, 1960: 9, 1961: 7, 1962: 8, 1963: 6, 1964: 4, 1965: 5, 1966: 7, 1968: 2, 1969: 6, 1970: 3, 1971: 3, 1972: 1, 1973: 2, 1974: 1, 1975: 1, 1977: 1, 1978: 4, 1979: 3, 1980: 2, 1981: 5, 1982: 4, 1984: 2, 1985: 1, 1986: 1, 1987: 3, 1989: 1, 1990: 2, 1991: 2, 1992: 1, 1993: 1, 1994: 2, 1995: 1, 1996: 2

Debut work

1954年2月10日 ひよどり草紙 / 制作：新芸術プロ

Filmography / notable works

• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorozuya%20Kinnosuke
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%90%AC%E5%B1%8B%E9%8C%A6%E4%B9%8B%E4%BB%8B
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2604461

Tags

• Tokyo
• actor
• kabuki actor

Last updated

September 18, 2026

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Works and profile fields sourced from Wikipedia reflect content as of 2026-08-26. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.