Onoe Shōroku II

Onoe Shōroku II, (born March 28, 1913, Tokyo, Japan—died June 25, 1989, Tokyo) was a Japanese kabuki actor, one of the foremost interpreters of the classical kabuki plays, who specialized in female roles (all kabuki players are male).

Yutaka Fujima made his debut at the age of five as Ushiwakamaru at the Teikoku Theatre in the kabuki drama Shusse Kagekiyo, about the 12th-century hero Taira no Kagekiyo. After starring in Neiboku sendai hagi (“The Disputed Succession”), he adopted the dynastic name of his teacher, Kikugorō Onoe VI. He later performed in such kabuki productions as Yoshitsune Sembonzakura (“The Thousand Cherry Trees”), Tsuchigumo (“Earth Spider”), and the comedy Kanchincho (“The Faithful Retainer”). He also assumed nonkabuki roles in the plays of Jean-Paul Sartre and William Shakespeare. In 1972 he was officially recognized for his contributions to Japanese culture, and in 1987 he was awarded the Order of Culture.