As he had been brought up the son of a samurai, he knew the Nō stage, and in all pieces influenced by the classic drama he was at home. In contrast to Danjuro he spoke in the language of everyday life. Danjuro delivered his lines as much as possible removed from the speech of ordinary mortals and their affairs. Sojuro did not care for the elaborate make-up that was so thoroughly characteristic of the first two Ichikawas and the members of their family who were to come after. Sojuro greatly depreciated Danjuro’s impossibilities. For instance, Danjuro lifted up a house with both hands as a symbol of strength, which brought forth criticism from Sojuro, whose faith in the real was so great that he never ventured to stray on the unknown highways and byways of the unreal. There is a description of a stage costume he wore, one that has served as a model which is still faithfully preserved; it was of white satin and bore large designs of crows and storks. With this he wore a purple head-covering. Such was the taste and elegance of this Horeki age. Although much of it has vanished, yet traces still cling to modern Kabuki—something to marvel at, especially when it is considered that all this accumulation of theatre treasure-trove is as unknown to London, Paris, and New York to-day as it was during Sojuro’s triumphant career upon the Yedo stage. So nearly equal were the second Ichikawa Danjuro and the first Sawamura Sojuro that there was great difficulty in deciding which was foremost. Danjuro was pure Yedo; therefore, no matter how nearly mated they were, he always held a slightly higher position than Sojuro. In rank they were equal, and close competitors in winning the favour of playgoers, and yet off the stage it is good to know they were warm friends. Sojuro was most accomplished. He composed short poems, was an adept in the tea ceremony, was familiar with the Nō stage, and wrote plays. With these two stage celebrities, there were at this time Otani Hirotsugi, a genius in shosagoto, or the music-posture pieces of Kabuki, and there was Bando Hikosaburo, a fine actor, whose name has been inherited by an actor of the modern Tokyo stage. In addition, there was a capable actor of the Ichikawa school called Ichikawa Danzo, some years senior to the second Danjuro, who occupied a special position. And there was the eighth Ichimura Uzaemon, an actor as well as the proprietor of the Ichimura-za. The fifth, sixth, and seventh Uzaemons died young, one after another, and were more concerned with the management of their theatre than with stage appearances. But the eighth Ichimura Uzaemon distinguished himself in both capacities.