ABOUT HANAYAGI JUSUKE II （２世宗家家元花柳壽輔）

Born as the second son of the founder of Hanayagi ryu, Hanayagi Jusuke I on 3rd Oct 1893, was named as Hanayagi Yoshisaburo. Jusuke I was 73 years old when Yoshisaburo was born.

He could have been named Yoshijiro, a name belonging to the family, but at this time this name was held by Jusuke I’s adopted son Hanayagi Yoshijiro III after the eldest son Hanayagi Yoshijiro II passed away in 1873 at the age of 29 due to illness. 

He carried out activities from the Taisho to Meiji era of Japan.

When Jusuke I passed away, Yoshisaburo was only 10 years old.  Hanayagi-ryu was put under the care of one of Jusuke I’s disciples Hanayagi Tokutaro while Yoshisaburo was sent to Onoue Kikugoro VI to learn and become kabuki actor.  He performed under the name Onoue Kikutaro for the next 15 years attaining a name for himself.

In 1819, he left Onoue ryu to return to Hanayagi-ryu and take over as the 2nd Iemoto succeeding to the name Hanayagi Jusuke II.  Jusuke II married Sadako, second daughter of the famous novelist Kinjosai Tenzan. Tenzan’s eldest son, who eventually became Hanayagi Juraku II, had two sons, both famous dancers of Hanayagi-ryu; Hanayagi Kinnosuke II and Hanayagi Gaku. Tenzan’s youngest daughter, Kiyoko became the wife of Kataoka Nizaemon XIII, father of Kataoka Nizaemon XV (Takao), Kataoka Hidetaro II and Kataoka Gado V. In 1924, Jusuke II formed the Hanayagi-ryu Buyo Kenkyu Kai, an organization to research and preserve classical art forms and to explore fresh and innovative techniques to give a new dimension to Japanese classical dance. 

He has to his credit training extraordinary talents like Hanayagi Juraku II, Hanayagi Yoshijiro V, Hanayagi Shuutaku, Hanayagi Toshinami and Hanayagi Sumi.

Hanayagi Jusuke II was awarded the Living National Treasure award in 1960.  In 1963, he handed over the leadership of Hanayagi ryu to his daughter Hanayagi Wakaba and changed his name to Hanayagi Juou.

Hanayagi Jusuke II passed away on 22 Jan 1970.

ABOUT HANAYAGI JUSUKE III （3世宗家家元花柳壽輔）

Born in January 1935 as the oldest daughter of Hanayagi Jusuke II on 10 Jan 1935 and received her birth name Hanayagi Wakaba.  She made her debut at the age of 5 under the strict tutelage of her father.

At the age of 6, she was the first to learn the dance “Kikuzukushi” a dance choreographed under the Hanayagi ryu.  As the training under her father became stricter than necessary, after “kikuzukushi” she was put under the tutelage of Hanayagi Shotaro.  From then she started learning the dance “Hane no hage” from Shotaro but inevitably she had to stop learning buyo as the World War II became more intense and everyone was evacuated out of Tokyo.

After the war she returned to Tokyo and entered Aoyama school and graduated from Aoyama Senior High School and entered Aoyama Women’s Junior College in the Department of Japanese Literature.  She preferred to continue her higher education in the university.  However, being the only daughter of Hanayagi Jusuke II, she acknowledged the fact that she has to succeed her father in running the dance school and decided to abandon the plan for further academic studies.  She resumed her buyo lessons under Hanayagi Shotaro once again.  In fact, she embarked on a strict and vigorous training to become the successor of Jusuke II immediately after graduating from Junior College.  However, Jusuke II was opposed to the idea that only someone in the blood relation shall succeed as the head of Hanayagi ryu and also he felt that the heavy responsibility of being the head of school might be too much for his daughter to handle and thus started to look for an appropriate person with the capability of becoming the next head within the Hanayagi ryu, but finally decided that Wakaba had more than the required capability to take on that role. 

In Jan 1963, Wakaba took over as the 3rd Head of Hanayagi ryu and assumed the name Hanayagi Jusuke III while her father Hanayagi Jusuke II assumed the name Hanayagi Juou.  2 seniors - Hanayagi Juraku II and Hanayagi Yoshijiro V, were appointed as guardians to assist Jusuke III to run the school.

Upon becoming the head of Hanayagi ryu, Jusuke III concentragted her efforts in re-organizing Hanayagi ryu which has extended and spread all over Japan.  Inheriting the Hanayagi Buyo Kenkyu Kai from her father, she went on to create many new dance pieces. 

Later, Jusuke III concentrated her efforts in outreach to preschool and elementary school students with a campaign titled “Nihon no Kodomoni, Nihon no Kimono de, Nihon no Odori o”or literally, “ Japanese dances for Japanese children, with Japanese kimono” meant to perpetuate the rich kimono and dance culture among the younger generation. Jusuke III and a group of natori visited kindergartens and elementary schools throughout the country to perform and make presentations in the art of Nagauta, dance and kimono free of charge.  She also choreographed dances to nursery rhymes and children songs to create buyo interest within the younger generation.

In 1969, she became the Director of Nihonbuyo Association. In 1999, Jusuke III formed the Chuo-ku Koten Geino no Kai – the Classic Arts Association of the Chuo Ward in joint with the Nihonbashi Gekijo Theater and became the President of the Association. Chuo-ku Koten Geino no Kai is a non-profit organization which holds classical dance and music performances for children living in the Chuo Ward in Tokyo.

In 2002, Hanayagi schools throughout Japan held numerous Tsuizen Buyo Kai to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Jusuke I and the 33rd anniversary of the death of Jusuke II.  Jusuke III also held special performances in 11 cities, introducing new dances and performing notable dances choreographed by Jusuke I and Jusuke II.  She was also instrumental in registering 27 dances choreographed by Jusuke II with the government’s Department of Culture as national assets.

Hanayagi Jusuke III passed away on 23 May 2007.

ABOUT HANAYAGI JUSUKE IV （4世宗家家元花柳壽輔）

Born on 22 Mar 1931 in Tokyo, Chuo-ku.  He was the son of Hanayagi Yoshijiro IV (Hanayagi Houdo) who was the adopted son of Hanayagi Tsuru and Tsuru was the adopted daughter of Hanayagi Jusuke I.

He started his journey into the world of performing arts in 1953 under the name Hanayagi Hiroshi appearing in television dramas and Toho Kabuki theatre.  He also worked as choreographer for the Takarazuka Opera Troupe.

In 1967, he succeeded to the name Hanayagi Yoshijiro V and appointed as one of the guardians to Hanayagi Jusuke III to assist her to run Hanayagi ryu. 

He graduated from the Department of Literature of  Waseda University and taught at Tokyo Geijutsu University for many years..  He is one of the Permanent Directors of the Nihonbuyo Association.  He is the Vice President of All Japan Nihonbuyo Alliance.

In 1958, he received the Ministry of Education Arts Festival Honorary Award.  In 1985, he received the International Emmy Award for Excellence. In 1989, he received the prestigious Regione Umbria Prize in Italy for choreography and in 1999 he received the Buyo Performing Arts award for his choreography of more than 300 dances.  In 2001, he received the Japan Academy of Arts award.   In 2006, he was conferred the Medal of the Order of the Sacred Treasure,Gold Rays with Rosette from the Emporer of Japan and in 2011 he became a member of the Japan Academy of Arts.

In Feb 2007, performed together with Hanayagi Jusuke III in the National Theatre for the Nihonbuyo Association’s performance.  The final dance appearance of Hanayagi Jusuke III before her death in May 2007.  They danced together “Ame no Shiki”.

On 27 June 2007, in a performance in Kabuki-za, he handed over the name “Yoshijiro” to his grandson Hanayagi Sosuke who become Hanayagi Yoshijiro VI and he succeeded to the name Hanayagi Kanou I.

On 28 Jun 2007, just 1 day after assuming the name Hanayagi Kanou, during his speach as chief mourner for Hanayagi Jusuke III’s funeral service, he announced his succession as the head of Hanayagi ryu succeeding to the name Hanayagi Jusuke IV.

In the years 2008 and 2009, to commemorate his becoming Hanayagi Jusuke IV, and to observe the death anniversary of Hanayagi Jusuke III he held Buyo performances in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka.

On 31st Mar 2011, to commemorate his 80th birthday and in conjunction with supporting the survivors of the Great Eastern Earthquake of 11 Mar 2011, he held a charity performance at the Tokyo National Forum theatre.