Tokubetsu Buyo Koen

'The Brad Pitt of kabuki," swooned The Daily Telegraph; "the kabuki kid," meanwhile, is how The Guardian dubbed him. But it's not just the English press getting hot under the collar for dashing tachiyaku (male lead) Ichikawa Ebizo, whose circle of fans in Japan extends beyond the usually narrow confines of the kabuki world due to his roles in television period dramas.

Ebizo (right) was destined for stardom from the moment he was born into one of kabuki's most illustrious families 30 years ago. His father is famed actor Ichikawa Danjuro XII, and the Ichikawa line of kabuki actors has been dazzling audiences here for 300 years, all the way back to the time of Danjuro I.