The is a

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

in the city of

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

, central

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 originally constructed in 1800s and presents ''

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 ...

'' and Western stage plays.

History

The tradition of ''kabuki'' in Nagoya goes back to the

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 ...

. With the opening of Japan to the West in the

Meiji era The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feu ...

, the Japanese wooden structure was replaced with a permanent building that was constructed out of brick and mortar in the Western Renaissance style in 1895. This structure was enlargened by the 1920s with a pillared porch added to the front. The old theatre was destroyed during the

bombing of Nagoya in World War II The by the United States Army Air Forces took place as part of the air raids on Japan during the closing months of the Pacific War in 1945. History The first strategic bombing attack on Nagoya was on April 18, 1942, as part of the Doolittl ...

. The new structure was constructed in the 1970s. A number of curtains, called ''doncho'', were designed for the theatre. The artist

Kataoka Tamako (5 January 1905 in Sapporo – 16 January 2008) was a Japanese ''Nihonga'' painter. She is known for her series of Mount Fuji and other mountains, painted in bold colours such as red. Biography Tamako Kataoka was born in Sapporo, Japan in 190 ...

designed one of the curtains called "Flowers at Mount Fuji" (富士に献花), which was sponsored by

Matsuzakaya (Tokyo Stock Exchange, TYO: 8235, delisted) is a major Japanese Depato, department store chain operated by Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores, a subsidiary of J. Front Retailing. When the chain was an independent company, , it had its headq ...

. Downstairs there are a number of restaurants open for customers during the break. The last performance was given in March 2013 following the ''

shūmei ''Shūmei'' (, "name succession") are grand naming ceremonies held in kabuki theatre. Most often, a number of actors will participate in a single ceremony, taking on new stage names. These stage names, most often those of the actor's father, gr ...

'' name-taking ceremony (襲名) of

Ichikawa En'ō II , better known by the stage name , was a Japanese kabuki actor, famous for his love of ''keren (kabuki), keren'' (stage tricks). He was considered the king of ''chūnori''; he flew out over the audience, held aloft on strings, over 5000 times. ...

Ichikawa Ennosuke IV , better known by the stage name , is a Japanese kabuki, film, and television actor and stage director. Early life and career Ichikawa Ennosuke IV was born on 26 November 1975, in Tokyo, Japan, into a family with deep connections to the kabu ...

and Ichikawa Chūsha IX. The building was rebuilt and opened again in 2018. Performances were held at the

Chunichi Theatre was a venue for the performing arts in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a po ...

during the interim. The new building is decorated on the outside with white metal stripes that evoke the traditional ''namako'' wall pattern, which was the hallmark of the entrance of the previous Misono-za building. The design comes from the office of the renowned architect

Kuma Kengo is a Japanese architect and emeritus professor in the Department of Architecture (Graduate School of Engineering) at the University of Tokyo. Frequently compared to contemporaries Shigeru Ban and Kazuyo Sejima, Kuma is also noted for his prolific ...

References

External links

Homepage of Misono-za
Buildings and structures in Japan destroyed during World War II Kabuki theatres Theatres in Nagoya Sakae, Nagoya Kengo Kuma buildings {{Japan-theat-struct-stub

History

See also

References

External links