Onoe was initially an actor with an itinerant kabuki troupe. In his autobiography, he claimed that he had made his stage debut as early as 1880, in a performance given by the Tamizo Onoe company.
Onoe began his career as an actor with a nomadic kabuki theater group. According to his autobiography, he first took the stage at the age of 18, performing with the Tamizo Onoe troupe in 1880.