Ichikawa Jukai III was an outstanding tachiyaku actor, excelling in nimaime roles. From the end of the Meiji era to the first decade of the Shôwa era, he was an active member of the troupe led by Ichikawa Sadanji II, which was involved in the creations of many Shinkabuki dramas, written by playwrights like Mayama Seika or Okamoto Kidô. After the death of Ichikawa Sadanji II, he worked a lot with Ichikawa Ennosuke II for the creation of new plays. Then, he went to Ôsaka in 1943 and made a very successful duo with his stage partner Bandô Jusaburô III, which was nicknamed Futatsu Kotobuki, "The Two Kotobuki", because both actors had the ideogram Kotobuki (the meaning of this word is "congratulations" and another of its reading is Ju) in their first name. He was born in Tôkyô but spent enough time in the Kamigata Kabuki world to be labeled as a Kamigata actor. He became a great fukeyaku in his latter years.

Ichikawa Jukai III's best roles: Kataoka Naojirô ("Naozamurai"/"Kumo ni Magou Ueno no Hatsuhana"), Sasaki Moritsuna ("Moritsuna Jin'ya"), Hankurô ("Toribeyama Shinjû"), Kimura Shigenari ("Kiri Hitoha"), Tokugawa Tsunatoyo ("Ohama Goten"), Ki no Aritsune ("Hade Kurabe Ise Monogatari") and Minamoto no Yoriie ("Yoritomo no Shi").

Jukai was a haimyô used by both Ichikawa Danjûrô VII (Ichikawa Jukai I) and Ichikawa Danjûrô IX (Ichikawa Jukai II). Ichikawa Jukai III is in fact the first actor to really hold this name. (kabuki21.com/) Edit Biography