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代目 and 世

4 Apr 2014
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I'm reading an article on kabuki and noh . It seems there's some trick about actors' names and titles. Either that or i lack understanding of 代 and 世.
...しかも素直らしい役者である祖父(十七代目中村勘三郎)父(五代目中村勘九郎)が身近にいる環境で育ったこと... Normally i would expect 祖父 to be n代 and 父 to be n+1代
Then later in the text, regarding a family of noh actors: その当主・56世梅若六郎さん(53歳)にとって...Normally i would expect n世 after the name of a monarch, like アレクサンドル2世. While i accept usage of n世 in names of noh actors or even commoners, it sounds unlikely that 世梅若六郎さん is the 56th 六郎 in 梅若家. Does this 世 mean he's 56th known descendant of 梅若 lineage, not just 六郎? Or again are there some peculiarities regarding noh actors' titles?
Probably i simply misunderstand both 代 and 世 regardless of the context. Can anyone give some insight please?
 
五代目中村勘九郎 succeeded to 十八代目中村勘三郎 later. Kabuki names are not always succeeded from father to his son, though.
梅若六郎 is 56th. All the successive heads of Umewake family use this name.
 
五代目中村勘九郎 succeeded to 十八代目中村勘三郎 later.
Do you mean 五代目中村勘九郎 became (assumed the name) 十八代目中村勘三郎 after 十七代目中村勘三郎 had passed away?
梅若六郎 is 56th. All the successive heads of Umewake family use this name.
Does that mean that if the current head of Umewake family passes away, the successor assumes the name 六郎?
 
The name is succeeded not after the last user of the name passed away, but when the promoters, sponsors and/or his master(often the last user of the name) think appropriate, whether the last user is dead or alive. (The last/current user needs to succeed to another name previously or at the same time as the new/next user succeeds to it if he is alive, of course.) As you might know, these names are stage names, and not their real names registered in koseki in almost all cases. For instance, the real name of 五代目中村勘九郎/十八代目中村勘三郎 and 56世梅若六郎 are 波野哲明 and 梅若善政, respectively.

The following article would be helpful.
名跡 - Wikipedia
 
Thank you Toritoribe! I actually had heard about hereditary stage names before reading the article. But now after looking through the wikipedia entry you kindly provided, i will have no more doubts understanding lineage connections in artists' families. And yes, i can now say without hesitation that 梅若善政 is indeed 56th successive 梅若六郎, although it still appears to be an extraordinary example, hence: "同名に付けられる序数は当代までで56世に及び、これは日本の世襲称号としては類を見ない数である"
The funny thing is i'm now taking a glance into 出世魚 - Wikipedia which is related in a way.
 
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