He was born in September 1943 in Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto City as the sixth generation eldest son of Ikusaburo IMAI, the fifth generation of the Imai occupational branch family, the Kongo school of Noh that goes back to the Edo period.
江戸時代より続く能楽金剛流職分今井家5代目今井幾三郎の長男6代目として1943年９月京都市下京区に生まれる