名跡

A myōseki is a distinguished name inherited from one's predecessors. In kabuki a name is less a personal alias than a family treasure, holding signature roles, a style of acting, and the memories of audiences; authority and tradition accumulate as the same name is assumed generation after generation.

Succeeding to a myōseki is called shūmei. For the greatest names, an actor customarily passes through several names in sequence before finally reaching the family's foremost name.

Nor is the myōseki culture kabuki's alone: rakugo storytelling, noh, and bunraku all hand down hereditary names, and sumo has its toshiyori myōseki, the elder names tied to a stablemaster's standing. Among them all, kabuki's successions are held to be the most spectacular in scale and public attention.

Ichikawa Danjūrō is counted among the greatest myōseki of Edo kabuki. The customary path today runs from Shinnosuke through Ebizō to Danjūrō, and in 2022 the thirteenth holder assumed the name as Ichikawa Danjūrō XIII Hakuen.