Shizuo Yamakawa (born 1933) is a Japanese announcer, performing arts critic, and essayist from Shizuoka Prefecture. After graduating from Kokugakuin University, he joined NHK in 1956 and became widely known as a host of programs including the annual “NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen,” “Hiru no Present,” and broadcasts devoted to traditional Japanese music. A lifelong devotee of Kabuki, he also participated as an omuko, one of the knowledgeable spectators who call out actors’ stage names from the upper gallery, while documenting the performers, repertory, and audience culture of Kabuki and Bunraku. His representative work, “Omuko no Hitobito: Kabukiza Sankai Ninjo Banashi,” received the Kodansha Essay Award and recounts his encounters with celebrated Showa-era actors and master callers while explaining the history and practiced timing behind Kabuki’s distinctive audience calls.
