Kabuki actor Ebizo returns to stage for 1st time since bar brawl
Kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizo returned to the stage in Tokyo on Saturday, following a period of refraining from performances due to his involvement last November in a bar brawl in which he sustained severe injuries.
Ebizo, 33, along with his father, Ichikawa Danjuro, appeared in one of a series of Kabuki shows that got under way Saturday, making a comeback in front of a sellout crowd after his last performance in Kyoto in late September.
"I love Ebizo-san's glare," said Kimiko Kumagai, a 36-year-old woman from Gunma Prefecture who came to see the performance, referring to the actor's trademark cross-eyed "nirami" glare. "I was worried because I heard he sustained eye injuries. I would be happy if I can see his glare again."
The Tokyo District Court sentenced a man to 16 months in prison in March for assaulting and injuring Ebizo in the Nov. 25 brawl in Tokyo. The court, however, said the actor's head-butting of a former bike gang leader with whom he and the defendant had been drinking triggered the attack.
In the face of the scandal, Kabuki performance organizer Shochiku Co. canceled all of Ebizo's stage appearances for an indefinite period of time.
sourcE: BB