Ginza Ginza ( ; ) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, Tokyo, Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo ...

is the principal theater in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

for the traditional ''

kabuki is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes ...

'' drama form.

History

The Kabuki-za was originally opened by a Meiji era journalist,

Fukuchi Gen'ichirō was a Japanese critic and author, also known under the pseudonym . Biography Fukuchi Gen'ichirō was born in Nagasaki, Japan. He traveled Europe as a translator, and in 1874, became a main writer for the ''Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun The ( ...

. Fukuchi wrote kabuki dramas in which

Ichikawa Danjūrō IX was one of the most successful and famous Kabuki actors of the Meiji period (1868–1912). Ninth in the line of actors to hold the name Ichikawa Danjūrō, he is depicted in countless ''ukiyo-e'' actor prints ('' yakusha-e''), and is widely ...

and others starred; upon Danjūrō's death in 1903, Fukuchi retired from the management of the theater. The theater is now run by the

Shochiku is a Japanese entertainment company. Founded in 1895, it initially managed '' kabuki'' theaters in Kyoto; in 1914, it also acquired ownership of the Kabuki-za theater in Tokyo. In 1920, Shochiku entered the film production industry and establis ...

Corporation which took over in 1914. The original Kabuki-za was a wooden structure, built in 1889 on land which had been either the Tokyo residence of the

Hosokawa clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group or Japanese clan, clan. The clan descends from the Seiwa Genji, a branch of the Minamoto clan, and ultimately from Emperor Seiwa, through the Ashikaga clan. It produced many prominent officials in the Ashikaga ...

Kumamoto is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a populat ...

, or that of

Matsudaira clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan. It originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture). During the Sengoku period, the chieftain of the main line of the ...

of Izu. The building was destroyed on 30 October 1921, by an electrical fire. The reconstruction, which commenced in 1922, was designed to "be fireproof, yet carry traditional

Japanese architectural styles Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

", while using Western building materials and lighting equipment. Reconstruction had not been completed when it again burned down during the

1923 Great Kantō earthquake The 1923 Great Kantō earthquake (, or ) was a major earthquake that struck the Kantō Plain on the main Japanese island of Honshu at 11:58:32 JST (02:58:32 UTC) on Saturday, 1 September 1923. It had an approximate magnitude of 8.0 on the mom ...

. Rebuilding was finally completed in 1924. The theater was destroyed once again by Allied bombing during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was restored in 1950 preserving the style of the 1924 reconstruction, and was until recently one of Tokyo's more dramatic and traditional buildings. The 1950 structure was demolished in the spring of 2010, and rebuilt over the ensuing three years. Reasons cited for the reconstruction include concerns over the building's ability to survive earthquakes, as well as accessibility issues. A series of farewell performances, entitled were held from January through April 2010, after which kabuki performances took place at the nearby

Shinbashi Enbujō The is a theatre in the Ginza neighborhood of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major kabuki venue, though other types of performances take place there as well. History The theatre was originally built in 1925 to provide a venue for the ''Azuma Odori'' geis ...

and elsewhere until the opening of the new theatre complex, which took place on 28 March 2013.

Architecture

Kabuki-za Tower Level 5 Roof garden 2019

The style in 1924 was in a baroque Japanese revivalist style, meant to evoke the architectural details of

Japanese castle are fortresses constructed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries and came into their best-known form in the 16th century. Castles in Japan were built to guard important or strategic sites, such a ...

s, as well as temples of pre-

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

. This style was kept after the post-war reconstruction and again after the 2013 reconstruction. Inside, with the latest reconstruction the theatre was outfitted with four new front curtains called ''doncho''. These are by renowned Japanese artists in the

Nihonga ''Nihonga'' () is a Japanese style of painting that typically uses mineral pigments, and occasionally ink, together with other organic pigments on silk or paper. The term was coined during the Meiji period (1868–1912) to differentiate it from ...

style and reflect the different seasons.

Performances

Performances are exclusively run by

, in which the Kabuki-za Theatrical Corporation is the largest shareholder. They are nearly every day, and tickets are sold for individual acts as well as for each play in its entirety. As is the case for most kabuki venues, programs are organized monthly: each month there is a given set of plays and dances that make up the afternoon performance, and a different set comprising the evening show. These are repeated on a nearly daily schedule for three to four weeks, with the new month bringing a new program. Image:Kabukiza_Theater_Tokyo_1907-1911.jpg, Postcard depicting the original structure (1889-1911) Image:eka1022.jpg, Postcard depicting the theatre as rebuilt in 1911 (1911-1921) Image:eka1005.jpg, Postcard depicting the pre-war reconstructed theatre (1924-1945) Image:Kabuki-za Theatre 2010 0430.JPG, Photo of the post-war reconstructed theatre (1950-2010) Image:Kabuki-za Tokyo theatre interior.jpg, Theatre interior (2017)

References

External links

Kabuki-za official website

Kabuki21.com
- site lists major actors and plays performed over the theater's 100+ year history. {{Authority control 1889 establishments in Japan Buildings and structures in Chūō, Tokyo Ginza Kabuki theatres Theatres in Tokyo Theatres completed in 1889