Kabuki-za

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Kabuki-za (歌舞伎座, Kabuki-za^?) in Ginza is the principal theater in Tokyo for the traditional kabuki drama form. It opened in 1889, and is one of the city's finest extant examples of Meiji-era construction using Western materials in traditional Japanese architectural styles.

The building was destroyed in a fire in 1921, and was uncompleted when the 1923 Kanto earthquake struck. It was rebuilt in a baroque Japanese revivalist style, meant to evoke the Japanese castles of the 16th century; The theater was again destroyed in the Allied bombing during World War II. It was rebuilt once again, as a reconstruction of the 1924 structure, and today remains one of Tokyo's more dramatic and traditional buildings.

Performances are held nearly every day at Kabuki-za, and tickets are sold for individual acts as well as for the play in its entirety.

[edit] External links

• Kabuki-za Official Site (in Japanese)
• Kabuki21.com - site lists major actors and plays performed over the theater's 100+ year history.