Osaka Shochikuza TheatreOsaka Shochikuza Theatre
January Program at the Osaka Shochikuza Theatre
Daily: Jan 07 (Wed) - Jan 25 (Sun), 2026
Matinee:11:00 AM
Evening Show: 4:00 PM
*No performances on the 16th (Fri).
Sponsorship : Executive Committee of Osaka Prefecture, Osaka City and Osaka Culture and Arts Project
Time Schedule
On sale: from Nov 16 (Sun), 2025 10:00 AM(JST)
First Class: 16,000 / Second Class: 9,000 /
Third Class: 5,000
*Children over the age of 4 must purchase tickets to enter.
Unit: Japanese Yen (tax included)
Osaka Shochikuza Theatre (at OSAKA) Theatre Information
- 【🔗How to buy tickets】Shochiku Multilingual Online Ticket serves as a ticket agency, meaning you can only purchase tickets allocated to it. This service becomes unavailable two days before the performance date, at which point a "Sold Out" message will appear. However, tickets may still be available from the promoter, Shochiku Co., Ltd. for dates that are shown as "sold out". To check availability and other preferred seating areas, please call +81(0)3 6745-0888 or visit the box office.
About "Try Kabuki Ticket"
*Simplified English Audio Guide available in limited numbers
*Free English Flyer available.
In the matinee, audiences can enjoy the dynamic ‘aragoto’ acting style in a scene from SUGAWARA DENJU TENARAI KAGAMI, one of the three great classics of the repertoire, a splendid Gidayū play set at the cherry-blossom-filled Golden Pavilion, and a lively ‘sewamono’ domestic play inspired by Kamigata rakugo. The evening program features a dreamlike dance drama with NARUKAMI performed as an ‘onnagata’, a moving scene from CHŪSHINGURA revealing hidden emotions, and the dance MUSUME DŌJŌJI, presented in full through to the ‘Oshimodoshi’ finale.
SUGAWARA DENJU TENARAI KAGAMI
Kurumabiki
['Pulling the Carriage Apart' from 'Sugawara's Secrets of Calligraphy']
CAST :
- Matsuōmaru
- Nakamura Tanenosuke
- Umeōmaru
- Nakamura Utanosuke
- Sakuramaru
- Kamimura Kichitarō
- Fujiwara no Shihei
- Ichikawa En’ya
STORY :
Umeōmaru and his triplet brother, Sakuramaru, try to get revenge on Fujiwara no Shihei who falsely accused Umeōmaru's lord, Kan Shōjō of treason. However, they are confronted by their other brother, Matsuōmaru, who is one of Shihei's retainers. The energetic performance of Umeōmaru is a showcase for the bombastic 'aragoto' style of acting.
GION SAIREI SHINKŌKI
Kinkakuji
['The Golden Pavilion' from 'The Gion Festival Chronicle of Faith']
CAST :
- Matsunaga Daizen
- Nakamura Ganjirō
- Konoshita Tōkichi, later, Mashiba Hisayoshi
- Kataoka Ainosuke
- Yukihime
- Nakamura Kazutarō
- Kanōnosuke Naonobu
- Kamimura Kichiya
- Sogō Gunpei, in reality, Satō Masakiyo
- Nakamura Kikaku
- Keijuin, the shogun's mother
- Kataoka Takatarō
STORY :
This is a 'jidaimono', a history play portraying the life of warriors in the 16th century. Matsunaga Daizen has defeated the shogun and has set up base at the Golden Pavilion. The beautiful Yukihime is being held prisoner there by Daizen. The brilliant strategist Hisayoshi, disguised as a disgruntled retainer named Tōkichi, pretends to enter Daizen's employ to try to sabotage his plans from within. In a famous highlight of the play, Yukihime is bound to a cherry tree, but when she draws a mouse in the tree's petals the mouse miraculously comes to life and chews the ropes that bind her. The role of Yukihime is considered to be one of the most difficult 'princess' roles in kabuki.
RAKUDA
['Rakuda: Party with a Corpse']
CAST :
- Kyūroku, a waste paper collector
- Ichikawa Chūsha
- Kumagorō, a reckless ruffian
- Kataoka Ainosuke
- Osai, Kōbē’s wife
- Ichikawa En’ya
- Rakuda no Unosuke
- Nakamura Kikaku
- Kōbē, the landlord
- Nakamura Ganjirō
STORY :
This is a popular dramatization of a 'rakugo' comic story. A petty gang boss named Rakuda has died after eating blowfish. Kumagorō, one of his gang members, finds him and hopes to bury him, but has no money. When he tries to get the neighbors to contribute, everyone is overjoyed that such a nuisance is dead, but they won't contribute a cent towards his burial. Finally, Kumagorō pulls in a passing waste paper collector named Kyūroku and forces him to carry around Rakuda's body and threaten to make it dance if the neighbors won't pay up. They get a great sum of money and start drinking together. But as he drinks, the hapless Kyūroku becomes surprisingly aggressive.
ONNA NARUKAMI
['The Priestess Narukami']
CAST :
- Priestess Narukami
- Kataoka Takatarō
- Sakuma Genba Morimasa
- Ichikawa Chūsha
- Kumono Taemanosuke
- Nakamura Ganjirō
STORY :
This is a parody of NARUKAMI [The Thunder God], one of the oldest plays in the kabuki repertory, but in this version the leading character is played by an 'onnagata' female role specialist. To place a curse on her father's killer Oda Nobunaga, the priestess Narukami imprisons the rain gods in a pool beneath a waterfall, causing a severe drought. A handsome young man named Kumo no Taemanosuke appears who happens to resemble her former fiancé. Having been seduced by his story, she is convinced that he is her former lover and she exchanges cups with him in token of marriage-vows. However, in reality, he is a spy sent by Nobunaga to break her power. When she realizes that she has been betrayed, she flies into a rage and fights against Sakuma Genba Morimasa who comes to arrest her.
KANADEHON CHŪSHINGURA
Gion Ichirikijaya
['The Ichiriki Teahouse in Gion' from 'The Treasury of Loyal Retainers']
CAST :
- Ōboshi Yuranosuke
- Kataoka Ainosuke
- Okaru, a courtesan
- Nakamura Kazutarō
- Teraoka Heiemon
- Nakamura Tanenosuke
- Ōboshi Rikiya
- Nakamura Utanosuke
- Sagisaka Bannai
- Ichikawa En’ya
- Ono Kudayū
- Ichikawa Chūsha
STORY :
'Chūshingura' is one of the most popular plays in the repertoire. It is based on an historical incident in which forty-seven masterless samurai avenged the death of their lord, Asano Takumi no kami (in this play, called En'ya Hangan) by killing his enemy. Yuranosuke spends his days and nights in the Pleasure Quarters of Kyōto in an effort to make their lord's enemy believe he has given up any thought of a vendetta. One night, he notices Okaru, a courtesan at the Ichiriki Teahouse, reading a secret letter that was sent to Yuranosuke, and which indicates his true intentions, so he thinks he must kill her. However, she is related to the En'ya household....
KYŌKANOKO MUSUME DŌJŌJI
['The Maiden at Dōjōji Temple']
CAST :
- Hanako, a shirabyōshi dancer
- Nakamura Kazutarō
- Priest
- Nakamura Utanosuke
- Priest
- Kamimura Kichitarō
- Ōdate Samagorō
- Nakamura Ganjirō
STORY :
This dance is a masterpiece for 'onnagata', female role specialists. It is spring and the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. A 'shirabyōshi' dancer who calls herself Hanako visits Dōjōji Temple where a ceremony is to be held to celebrate the installation of a new temple bell. She performs various dances in order to be permitted to see the bell. However, in reality she is the spirit of Kiyohime, a maiden who once transformed into a serpent out of bitter resentment. Kiyohime had fallen in love with a priest, but shocked at her advances, he ran away to this temple and hid himself under the temple bell. Pursuing him all the way here, Kiyohime turned into a fiery serpent and burnt both the bell and the priest beneath. Now her spirit has returned to destroy the new bell.