Minamiza TheatreMinamiza Theatre
December Program at the Minamiza Theatre
Daily: Dec 01 (Sun) - Dec 22 (Sun), 2024
Matinee:10:30 AM
Evening Show: 4:00 PM
*No performances on the 10th (Tue) and 16th (Mon).
*Reserved seats for Matinee are sold out on the 21st (Sat).
Time Schedule
On sale: from Nov 09 (Sat), 2024 10:00 AM(JST)
First Class Seat: 25,000 /Second Class Seat A: 12,000 / Second Class Seat B: 10,000 / Third Class Seat: 8,000 / Fourth Class Seat: 6,000
Unit: Japanese Yen (tax included)
*Special Seat: 27,000 (Not available online. Click here for details.)
*Children over the age of 4 must purchase tickets to enter.
Minamiza Theatre (at KYOTO) Theatre Information
- About "Try Kabuki Ticket"
*Simplified English Audio Guide available. Click here for details.
*Free English flyer available.
[The Festive Kaomise Production, Grand Kabuki – An Annual Event in Kyoto Starring Actors from East and West]
The 'Kaomise' ('face-showing') production which has been staged annually since the Edo period (1603-1868) is an all-star line-up and a
big event for December in Kyoto.
In the Matinee, a brand-new kabuki production based on an opera by Puccini, a domestic play portraying troubles with money and a dagger, a dance on the subject of Ōtsu-e paintings which were popular in the Edo period, as well as a heartwarming story of a loving couple who are known as 'lovebirds' will be performed.
The Evening Show starts with a popular Shin Kabuki play, the highlight of which is the meeting and discussion between two impressive men. Then you can enjoy a dance drama based on a classic ghost story, followed by a masterpiece of the domestic play genre by Kawatake Mokuami, one of Japan’s most distinguished playwrights, as well as a gorgeous dance featuring Kakubē lion dancers performing in the streets.
*Performance time is subject to change
CHŌCHŌ FUJIN
['Madame Butterfly']
CAST :
- Ochō
- Nakamura Kazutarō
- Yamamori Torizō
- Nakamura Kinnosuke
- Okoma, Proprietress of the Kagetsurō
- Nakamura Ganjirō
STORY :
Ochō is waiting for her American husband Pinkerton to return after he went back to his home country, but she hears no news of him for three years. The businessman Yamamori Torizō makes advances to her, asking her to be his legal wife, but she turns him down. As Torizō tries to take her back home by force, Okoma of the Kagetsurō mediates between them bringing a letter from Pinkerton, which says that he took a new wife in his home country and wants to take care of his child whom Ochō bore him. Though Okoma understands Ochō's feelings, Okoma warns her that her son will suffer hardship if he stays in Japan. After worrying what she should do, she finally accepts Okoma's advice and ... Please look forward to this new kabuki production adapted from a familiar opera.
SANNIN KICHISA TOMOE NO SHIRANAMI
['Three Thieves Named Kichisa']
CAST :
- Ojō Kichisa
- Kataoka Takatarō
- Obō Kichisa
- Nakamura Hayato
- Oshō Kichisa
- Nakamura Kinnosuke
STORY :
A woman follows after a streetwalker and robs her of her money. The woman is actually a man in disguise. A masterless samurai also appears and they begin to fight over the money. Soon, a priest also arrives on the scene and mediates between the other two. This priest is actually the disreputable head of a rundown temple. The three eventually realize that they are all thieves who happen to share the same name 'Kichisa', and so they become sworn brothers. Today we can still savor the somewhat decadent atmosphere in the piece that is typical of the late 19th century, and with its famous poetic speeches that sound so melodic, the play is all the more beautiful.
ŌTSU-E DŌJŌJI
['The Dance of Ōtsu-e Characters']
CAST :
- Wisteria Maiden
Falconer
Blind Masseur
Boatman
Demon
Kataoka Ainosuke- Benkei
- Nakamura Takanosuke
- Dog
- Nakamura Toranosuke
- 'Arrow-head' Gorō
- Bandō Minosuke
STORY :
With lyrics by Kawatake Mokuami, this is a five-part 'transformation piece' that is based on the famous dance 'Kyōkanoko Musume Dōjōji'. A special service for a new temple bell is to be held today, so Gehō, who is one of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune, is about to hold a drinking party. The Wisteria Maiden appears and wishes to see the new temple bell. In exchange, Gehō requests that she dance. She begins to perform straight away, but a falconer, a blind masseur and a chic boatman then appear in turn. As the Wisteria Maiden appears once more, her dance causes the temple bell to fall down and she disappears beneath it. Benkei dashes towards the bell and prays fervently, causing a demon to materialize, after which 'Arrow-head' Gorō enters to force back the demon.
JĪSAN BĀSAN
['The Old Couple']
CAST :
- Minobe Iori
- Ichikawa Chūsha
- Miyashige Kyūemon
- Nakamura Mantarō
- Kiku, Kyūya's wife
- Nakamura Kazutarō
- Miyashige Kyūya
- Nakamura Toranosuke
- Shimojima Jin'emon
- Bandō Minosuke
- Run, Iori's wife
- Nakamura Senjaku
STORY :
Based on a short story by Mori Ōgai, this modern play by Uno Nobuo shows the deep love of the couple, Iori and Run. The young samurai Iori travels to Kyoto with his lord, leaving Run, his beloved wife, behind. There, he attacks another man in a fight over a sword and is put under house arrest, which separates him from his wife. 37 years later, he returns to his home as an old man. There he meets an elderly woman. This turns out to be Run who has also aged. They do not recognize each other until the woman sees Iori's peculiar habit of putting his hand to his nose, the one thing that has not changed.
*Performance time is subject to change
GENROKU CHŪSHINGURA
Sengoku Yashiki
['At the Mansion of Lord Sengoku' from 'The Loyal 47 Rōnin of the Genroku Era']
CAST :
- Ōishi Kuranosuke
- Kataoka Nizaemon
- Yoshida Chūzaemon
- Nakamura Ganjirō
- Horibe Yasubē
- Ichikawa Chūsha
- Isogai Jūrōzaemon
- Nakamura Hayato
- Ōishi Chikara
- Nakamura Takanosuke
- Ōtaka Gengo
- Nakamura Kikaku
- Hazama Jūjirō
- Kataoka Shinnosuke
- Sengoku Hōki no kami
- Nakamura Baigyoku
STORY :
"Kanadehon Chūshingura", also known as "the Treasury of the 47 Loyal Retainers", is one of the most popular plays in Kabuki and is based on a true incident that took place in the Genroku period. Between 1934 and 1941, the modern playwright Mayama Seika painstakingly reworked this theme into the 20th century masterpiece, "Genroku Chūshingura", a vast cycle of ten plays focusing on a more historically accurate telling of this revenge classic with different incidents and different characters. The particular play being presented this month shows the retainers after they have succeeded in avenging their lord's death and now await their judgment. Lord Sengoku is an official of the shogunate, but he is anxious to discuss the philosophy and justification for the attack with the leader of the retainers, Kuranosuke, before the men are sent to various lords’ mansions to be kept in custody until the shogunate decides how they will be punished.
IROMOYŌ CHOTTO KARIMAME
Kasane
['Kasane and Yoemon']
CAST :
- Kasane, a lady-in-waiting
- Nakamura Manju
- Yoemon, a farmer, in reality, Kubota Kingorō
- Kataoka Ainosuke
STORY :
Yoemon is fleeing to the countryside, but Kasane, the woman he abandoned, refuses to let him go. She catches up with him at a lonely river bank. A skull stabbed with a scythe mysteriously appears floating on the river and Kasane is possessed by its spirit, actually the spirit of her dead father, and her face suddenly becomes disfigured. She pours out her feelings of jealousy and resentment until finally Yoemon kills Kasane, but even after her death he cannot escape her vengeful spirit.
SOGA MOYŌ TATESHI NO GOSHOZOME
Gosho no Gorozō
['The Gallant's Kimono Dyed with the Soga Design']
CAST :
- Gosho no Gorozō
- Nakamura Hayato
- Hoshikage Doemon
- Bandō Minosuke
- Satsuki, a courtesan
- Nakamura Kazutarō
- Omatsu, proprietress of the Kabutoya
- Kataoka Takatarō
STORY :
This is a 'sewamono', a play portraying in a realistic way the lives of people in the Edo Period. This play is set in the Gojōzaka pleasure quarter at its time of greatest splendor. Rival gangs dressed in the height of fashion exchange stately speeches before fighting, speaking lines in the elaborate poetic cadences of Kawatake Mokuami, the last great playwright of classical kabuki. Gorozō is the handsome leader of a gang, but his lover, the top courtesan Satsuki pretends to reject him to save his life. Tragedy strikes when Gorozō is driven to revenge...
ECHIGO JISHI
['The Lion from Echigo']
CAST :
- Kakubē, a lion dancer
- Nakamura Ganjirō
- Kakubē, a lion dancer
- Nakamura Mantarō
- Kakubē, a lion dancer
- Nakamura Takanosuke
STORY :
This is a dance portraying a street performance by itinerant entertainers from Echigo Province (present day Niigata prefecture) who would wear ‘shishi’ lion masks, wear drums on their stomachs and do tumbling acts. First, the entertainers dance with a lion mask on, then perform to a seafaring melody and at last demonstrate how one bleaches cloth by swinging two pieces of cloth above their heads to look like waves.