is the primary
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 ...
theatre in
Kyoto
Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
,
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. It was founded in 1610 as . The current building, with a 1,086 seat capacity, was built in 1929.
History
The Minami-za is one of the earliest of the seven officially-licensed kabuki theatres built in the early
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 ...
(1615–1623) in the
Shijo Kawara area in Kyoto; the theatre pre-dates those of Tokyo and Osaka.
The current Minami-za theatre was built in 1929 in the architectural style of the
Momoyama period, with a gabled roof and a traditional turret marking the official approval of the government. In 1991, after the end of the
Shōwa period
Shōwa most commonly refers to:
* Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa
** Shōwa era (昭和), the era of Hirohito from 1926 to 1989
* Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufactu ...
, the interior was drastically refurbished and modern stage mechanism was installed.
In 1996, the Minami-za was registered as a
Japanese Tangible Cultural Property in respects to its historical architectural value in connection to the city of Kyoto.
Theatre mechanism
The Minami-za features a number of stagecraft mechanisms unique to kabuki, such as the (runway) and the (trap-door mechanism at the end of the ). The theatre also features a (revolving stage); all of the theatre's mechanisms were invented in playhouses during the Edo period.
["Experience the Stage of Minamiza" Kabuki Museum Minamiza. 〒605-0075 京都府京都市東山区四条通大和大路西入中之町198. April 15, 2013.]
References
External links
Official site
Kabuki theatres
Buildings and structures in Kyoto
Tourist attractions in Kyoto
Registered Monuments of Japan
{{Japan-theat-struct-stub