Ichikawa Kumehachi

Ichikawa Kumehachi (市川 九女八) was a Japanese actress. In 1858, she became the first actress in the kabuki theatre since the ban on female actors in 1629, and thus the acting profession was reintroduced for women in Japan. She was followed as a pioneer actress by Kawakami Sadayakko (1872–1946), who in 1903 became the first Japanese actress within modern Western drama.