Kabukiza TheatreKabukiza Theatre
February Program at the Kabukiza Theatre
Daily: Feb 02 (Fri) - Feb 26 (Mon), 2024
Matinee:11:00 AM
Evening Show: 4:30 PM
*No performances on the 13th (Tue) and 20th (Tue).
*Reserved seats for the Matinee are sold out on the 9th (Fri). (Single Act Seats will still be available.)
[Important Notice]
●Precautionary Measures at the Kabukiza Theatre
(Updated)Notification of the absence and cast replacement of Nakamura Kantarō for the Evening show February performances(Feb 9)
On sale: from Jan 14 (Sun), 2024 10:00 AM(JST)
Box Seat: 20,000 /First Class Seat: 18,000 /Second Class Seat: 14,000 /Upper Tier A: 6,000 /Upper Tier B: 4,000
Unit: Japanese Yen (tax included)
*Children over the age of 4 must purchase tickets to enter.
*Tea will not be offered at the Box Seats.
Kabukiza Theatre (at TOKYO) Theatre Information
- Single Act Tickets
- *Online Single Act Tickets will go on sale from the day before the performance date at 12:00PM (noon).
*Tickets for dates shown as "Sold Out" or for other preferred seating areas, may still be available from the promoter, Shochiku Co., Ltd. Please confirm the availability by phone or stop by the Box Office.
*Simplified English Audio Guide available (1,000 yen, cash only; brief description and synopsis only).
*Free English flyer/Sold program (Detailed English synopses are found at the end of the Japanese program) available.
This month's performances are named the 'Saruwaka Festival.' The festival was first held to commemorate the founding of the Saruwakaza Theatre (later the Nakamuraza) by Saruwaka (Nakamura) Kanzaburō I and the staging of the first kabuki performance in Edo (the old name for Tokyo).
This year, it also commemorates the 13th anniversary of the death of Nakamura Kanzaburō XVIII who performed many successful roles and continued to delight and fascinate his many fans. This month, his first son Kankurō, his second son Shichinosuke and other actors related to him perform plays and dances associated with him to recall the great actor.
SHINPAN UTAZAIMON
Nozakimura
['Nozaki Village' from 'A New Ballad to the Gods'']
CAST :
- Omitsu, Kyūsaku's daughter
- Nakamura Tsurumatsu
- Hisamatsu, an apprentice of the Aburaya pawnshop
- Nakamura Shichinosuke
- Osome, daughter of the Aburaya pawnshop
- Nakamura Kotarō
- Kyūsaku, a farmer
- Bandō Yajūrō
- Otsune, Osome's mother
- Nakamura Tōzō
STORY :
Osome, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, falls in love with Hisamatsu, a shop apprentice. Hisamatsu has been sent away to his home in the country and Omitsu, a simple country girl to whom he is betrothed, has happily awaited the day when she can be united with Hisamatsu as husband and wife. But on the day they marry Osome comes to see Hisamatsu, and seeing the strength of the love between the two, Omitsu unites them by sacrificing her own happiness and becoming a nun.
Intermission: 35 minutes
TSURI ONNA
['Fishing for Wives']
CAST :
- Tarōkaja
- Nakamura Shidō
- A master
- Nakamura Mantarō
- A beautiful princess
- Bandō Shingo
- An ugly woman
- Nakamura Shikan
STORY :
This is a dance drama based on a classical Kyōgen farce. A master longs for a wife and is told by the gods in a dream to go fishing for one. When he does so, he is united with a beautiful princess. His servant Tarōkaja wants a wife as well, but when he goes fishing, he gets stuck with a very surprising companion. This woman is played by an actor who specialises in male roles here playing a rare, humorous, female role.
Intermission: 20 minutes
KAGOTSURUBE SATO NO EIZAME
['The Courtesan Yatsuhashi and Sano Jirozaemon']
CAST :
- Sano Jirozaemon
- Nakamura Kankurō
- Yatsuhashi, a courtesan of the Hyōgoya
- Nakamura Shichinosuke
- Kokonoe, a courtesan of the Hyōgoya
- Nakamura Kotarō
- Jiroku, Jirozaemon's servant
- Nakamura Hashinosuke
- Tanbē, a silk merchant
- Kataoka Kamezō
- Tsurigane Gonpachi
- Onoe Shōroku
- Okitsu, proprietress of the Tachibanaya
- Nakamura Tokizō
- Chōbē, proprietor of the Tachibanaya
- Nakamura Karoku
- Shigeyama Einojō
- Kataoka Nizaemon
STORY :
One of the most sensational kabuki plays of the Meiji Period (1868-1912), this is the story of a humble, pockmarked merchant from the country named Jirozaemon. He is wealthy, but because of the way he looks, he has never thought it would be possible to have a woman. He and his servant go sightseeing in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters and get a chance to look at the top courtesan Yatsuhashi, who smiles at him and makes Jirozaemon fall in love. However, the pleasure quarters are full of intrigue, and on the eve of the day that Jirozaemon is to buy up Yatsuhashi's contract, her true love Einojō forces her to reject and humiliate Jirozaemon in the middle of the celebratory banquet. Jirozaemon seems to forgive her, but returns with the sword 'Kagotsurube' to exact his revenge.
SARUWAKA EDO NO HATSUYAGURA
['Saruwakaza, the First Kabuki Theatre in Edo']
CAST :
- Saruwaka
- Nakamura Kantarō
- Izumo no Okuni
- Nakamura Shichinosuke
- Itakura Katsushige, the magistrate
- Nakamura Shidō
- Hananojō, a young Kabuki actor
- Bandō Kamezō
- Yukinojō, a young Kabuki actor
- Nakamura Mantarō
- Tsukinojō, a young Kabuki actor
- Nakamura Tanenosuke
- Nijinosuke, a young Kabuki actor
- Nakamura Kotarō
- Hoshijirō, a young Kabuki actor
- Nakamura Hashinosuke
- Kiriya, a young Kabuki actor
- Nakamura Tsurumatsu
- Fukutomiya Manbē
- Nakamura Shikan
- Fuku, Manbē's wife
- Nakamura Fukusuke
STORY :
On its journey to Edo (the old name for Tokyo) the troupe led by Izumo no Okuni and Saruwaka which is popular in Kyoto encounters the lumber merchant Manbē. He is on his way to present an offering to the shogunate family, but he is held up by ruffians. Saruwaka summons the young actors of his troupe and takes the lead in having them carry Manbē's offering. The magistrate gives Saruwaka an estate at Nakabashi in Edo as a reward, permits him to perform plays there and orders Manbē to build a theatre. Saruwaka rejoices at this and in return he performs a dance.
Intermission: 20 minutes
YOSHITSUNE SENBON ZAKURA
Sushiya
['The Sushi Shop' from 'Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees']
CAST :
- Igami no Gonta
- Nakamura Shikan
- Yasuke, in reality, Taira no Koremori
- Nakamura Tokizō
- Osato, Yazaemon's daughter
- Nakamura Baishi
- Wakaba no Naishi
- Bandō Shingo
- Kajiwara Heizō Kagetoki
- Nakamura Matagorō
- Yazaemon, owner of the sushi shop
- Nakamura Karoku
STORY :
Defeated by the Genji clan, the Heike clan commander Koremori is now disguised as an apprentice at a sushi shop named Yasuke and lives with the sushi shop owner Yazaemon. Yazaemon owes Koremori's father a debt of gratitude. One day, Yazaemon's son Gonta, a local bully, comes home, and soon after Koremori's wife and child who are searching for Koremori also appear miraculously at the sushi shop. Gonta hands over Koremori's severed head together with Koremori's family to the enemy Genji as bounty. Yazaemon stabs his own son Gonta in anger. Before he dies, however, Gonta reveals that Koremori's head was a substitute and that he sacrificed his own family to save the real Koremori and his wife and child.
Intermission: 35 minutes
RENJISHI
['Parent and Child Lion Dance']
CAST :
- The actor Ukon, later, the spirit of the parent lion
- Nakamura Kankurō
- The actor Sakon, later, the spirit of the lion cub
- Nakamura Chōzaburō
- Rennen, a priest of the Nichiren Sect
- Nakamura Hashinosuke
- Hennen, a priest of the Pure Land Sect
- Nakamura Kashō
STORY :
This is a dance adapted from a tale featuring the legendary 'shishi', a mythical lion-like beast. It is based on the belief that a 'shishi' will push its cubs over a steep cliff as a test of their strength, only nurturing those cubs strong enough to climb up by themselves. Two entertainers dance the tale of the legendary 'shishi' that live at the foot of a holy Buddhist mountain. The dance portrays a parent 'shishi' forcing its cub to undergo harsh training in order to grow up strong. In the finale, the 'shishi' themselves appear and perform their dance with the wild shaking of their long manes.