Hichisaburo’s manner on the stage was similar to Tojuro’s, yet the stars of Kyoto appeared to tower above him. As a lover he was very popular, and delighted in mixing Yedo slang with his stage lines, and knew how to reach his audiences. It is said of him that he was good in pathetic rôles and “could bring tears to the eyes of a demon”. Moreover, he was a good dancer, which was probably due to the fact that he was entirely familiar with the Nō stage. Some years younger than Danjuro, he married the daughter of the second Nakamura Kansaburo, and probably took the name of Nakamura from this family. Like most of the actors of this early period he wrote his own plays, the most successful of which was _Asamagatake_, or Mount Asama. Although Hichisaburo was a Yedo actor, he spent much of his time in Kyoto and Osaka. The most prominent actor who imitated Hichisaburo was Ikushima Shingoro. Hichisaburo was taken ill on the stage while playing Juro, one of the brothers in the Soga revenge, his favourite rôle. After Danjuro and Hichisaburo, the most distinguished actor of this time was Nakamura Denkuro, who died in 1716. He was of more aristocratic theatre lineage than the two prominent Yedo actors above, for he was no less a personage than the grandson of Saruwaka Kansaburo. The first Kansaburo had three sons: the first was the child of a concubine and did not inherit; the second son, who accompanied Kansaburo to Kyoto and danced before the Emperor, succeeded as second of the line, taking the name Akashi, which he was given at the time of this performance in Kyoto. He left his name to his younger brother, who became the third head of the family. The son by the concubine was blessed with two sons, and one of them was no other than Nakamura Denkuro, who exercised considerable influence upon Yedo Kabuki, establishing traditions that have been handed down to modern times. Denkuro’s father, perhaps because of his illegitimacy, never appeared as an actor, but was engaged as an accountant of the Nakamura-za all his life. Nevertheless, it was his son who inherited the theatre genius that might have been expected to appear in the first Kansaburo’s legitimate offspring. The rôle of Asahina, an historical character, at the Nakamura-za made Nakamura Denkuro famous, and the manner in which he painted his face with broad red lines and the style, colour, and design of his costume have served as a model for all succeeding actors who have essayed this popular rôle. Asahina was a bold warrior of the time when Yoritomo ruled by the sword in Kamakura. Denkuro used Asahina’s crest to decorate his stage costume, a crane in a circle, and it has always been preserved, Asahina not being considered by audiences or actors as the real thing unless faithful to all the details of Denkuro’s grotesque creation.