Kabuki-za

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Kabuki-za 歌舞伎座
Kabuki-za, Tokyo's premier kabuki theater
Address	東京都中央区銀座四丁目12番15号 Ginza 4-12-15, Chūō-ku
City	Tokyo
Country	Japan
Designation	Registered Tangible Cultural Property
Owned by	Kabuki-za Theatrical Corporation
Capacity	2,017
Type	Kabuki theater
Opened	21 November 1889
Rebuilt	1924, Shinichirō Okata 1951, Isoya Yoshida
www.kabuki-za.co.jp/
	Coordinates: 35°40′10″N 139°46′05″E / 35.66953, 139.76800

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Kabuki-za (歌舞伎座, Kabuki-za^?) (TYO: 9661) 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 originally constructed as the Tokyo residence of Kumamoto (Hosokawa) clan.^[1]

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. The tickets sold for individual acts are sold as a 'taster' for the Japanese visitor who wants to find out if they are interested in watching further acts and maybe to watch a full day of Kabuki.

Kabuki is a kind of Japanese pantomime with music and dance based along the same lines as a Geisha performance in Kyoto. The short individual act is entertaining with bright colours of performers, traditional music of shamisen and a geisha performance as part of the act.

The theatre set in the middle of the Ginza shopping district and is a prominent building of stature within the area. A traveller who wants to experience Japanese culture and history should at least dedicate an afternoon to see a performance.

The dances are intricate and have a beautiful flow of movement accompanied by the music of the shamisen players and singers.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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