Career
Kanzaburō was a versatile actor whose credits include farce, period pieces, and Shin Kabuki. Kanzaburō was the eighteenth in the line of Nakamura Kanzaburō, his father the seventeenth. Kanzaburō actually traced his ancestry within the Nakamuraya kabuki guild back to his great-great-great grandfathers, if not further.
Kanzaburō was the younger brother of film actress Kuriko Namino.
Both perform kabuki, and in other venues. He made his debut under the name Nakamura Kankurō V in April 1959 in the role of Momotaro.
His kabuki credits under that name include roles in Kagami-jishi, Kamiyui Shinza and Yotsuya Kaidan. In addition to performing at the Kabuki-za and other kabuki venues, Kankurō helped establish the Heisei Nakamura-za, a temporary kabuki stage erected for only one set of performances, in a variety of locations.
He erected it, and performed on it, in Asakusa (Tokyo), Osaka, and, in 2004, on a United States tour, performing in Boston, New York, and Washington District of Columbia. The Heisei Nakamura-za performed again in New York and Washington in 2007.