Ichikawa Kumehachi (市川 九女八, 1846–1913) was a Japanese actress.
[1] Ichikawa studied as a kyōgen actress.
[2] In 1858, she made her debut and became the first actress in kabuki theatre since the ban on female actors in 1629, and thus acting as a profession was reintroduced for women in Japan.
[2] Ichikawa was followed as a pioneer actress by Kawakami Sadayakko (1872–1946), who in 1903 became the first Japanese actress within modern Western drama.
Her successor was Ichikawa Kumehachi II.