The most representative actor during Kwansei (1789–1800) on the stages of Osaka and Kyoto was Nakamura Utayemon, an actor of the same name and line being at present the senior of the Tokyo stage. This first Utayemon was the son of a physician, who had led a life of dissipation and finally took to the stage. He kept steadfastly to one specialty, that of katakiyaku, or villain rôles. When he played in Yedo he was well received, but on a visit to Osaka, he said something on the stage which offended his audience, and they returned the compliment by giving him the cold shoulder for some time. The famous bad characters of the doll-dramas he made his own, particularly the heavy villain Iruka, the formidable tyrant in _Imoseyama_, and the evil-doing but loyal Gonta of _Sembonzakura_, two characters that modern audiences are never tired of seeing portrayed. When he was 68 he gave his name to a follower; at 75 he played his best villains, and died three years later. Although a pupil succeeded as second, his own son became Utayemon, the third, and was an actor of great prominence. Some years junior to the first Utayemon was Asao Tamejuro, who was a famous onnagata of the Kyoto and Osaka stages. He was a small man, possessed a light, bright style, and appeared best in plays depicting everyday life rather than those dealing with the unreal. In Yedo also there were two bright and particular stars at this time. They were Nakamura Nakazo and Matsumoto Koshiro. The career of Nakamura Nakazo is one of the most varied of all the actors. He was possessed of many theatre gifts, but he had inherited a samurai temperament and exercised his genius just when social conditions had begun to dampen the enthusiasm of the people for the theatre. Nakamura Nakazo was the son of a ronin called Saito, and was born in Fukugawa ward of Yedo. Left an orphan when young, he must have had no relatives to care for him, but by chance O-Shun, a dancing mistress, saw the boy, and adopted him at the age of five. She went to pay her respects at a temple, and a ferryman plying across the Sumida River gave the boy to her. His only sponsor was the keeper of a sake shop, so far had fallen the child from his rightful position in society as the son of a samurai.