study the performances of Yorozuya Kinnosuke in jidaigeki produced by Toei. Raizō made his film debut on August 25, 1954 in The Great White Tiger Platoon (Hana no Byakkotai). While Raizō had been held back in the world of kabuki by the circumstances of his parentage, he was treated with great respect in the world of film, as the son of Ichikawa Jukai III, president of the Kanto Kabuki Guild. Daiei's management intended to position Raizō as a successor to the popular Kazuo Hasegawa, and gave Raizō the starring role in his fifth and sixth films, The Young Swordsman (Shiode Kushima Binan Kenpō), released December 22, 1954, and The Second Son (Jinanbō Garasu), released January 29, 1955. In 1955, two years after his film debut, Raizō received great attention for his portrayal of Taira no Kiyomori in director Kenji Mizoguchi's Shin Heike Monogatari, released on September 21 of that year. Tokuzō Tanaka, director of 16 of Raizō's films, stated that at first it seemed as though it would be difficult to make Raizō into a great success, but that impression changed instantly with Shin Heike Monogatari. Kazuo Ikehiro, who directed another 16 of Raizō's films, said that until that point it had seemed that Raizō was simply imitating Kazuo Hasegawa, but bit by bit his innate acting talent had begun to shine through. The film critic Tadao Sato wrote that until now Raizō had "portrayed only handsome young samurai and yakuza, as though following in the footsteps of Kazuo Hasegawa" but that now he "has come to be a distinguished actor worthy of high praise, giving fresh performances in elegant dramas, rather than only performing in chanbara – samurai films with an action focus. In the wake of Shin Heike Monogatari, Raizō performed in over 10 films released in the period of a single year. He worked tirelessly, giving up holidays and weekends to continue filming. Raizō had weak legs, and would often become faint when standing or walking. Masayoshi Tsuchida, then head of Daiei's planning department, said that it must have been an incredible adventure to play "Kiyomori, the youth who pierced the heavens" for the physically frail Raizō. Raizō was self-conscious about the weakness of his legs and joined the sumo club at Doshisha University in an attempt to train and strengthen them, but it was no use. Whenever photos were taken of Raizō, the photography staff took