Osaka Shochikuza TheatreOsaka Shochikuza Theatre
July Program at the Osaka Shochikuza Theatre
Daily: Jul 05 (Sat) - Jul 24 (Thu), 2025
Matinee:11:00 AM
Evening Show: 4:30 PM
*No performances on the 10th (Thu) and 17th (Thu).
Time Schedule
On sale: from Jun 07 (Sat), 2025 10:00 AM(JST)
Osaka Shochikuza Theatre (at OSAKA) Theatre Information
- About "Try Kabuki Ticket"
*Simplified Audio Guide available to rent.
The "Shūmei Hirō KŌJŌ" is a formal ceremonial greeting by the actors.The English audio guide provides a summary and background, rather than a direct translation.
A Kabuki program celebrating the Name Succession of Onoe Kikugorō VIII and Onoe Kikunosuke VI will be seen in July at the Osaka Shochikuza Theatre, following the one at the Kabukiza Theatre.
In the Matinee, you will see a play portraying a young woman's heartrending romance, which is followed by two light-hearted dances: one depicting a young girl who plays with a shuttlecock and the other depicting a street performer in the Edo period. The Matinee ends with a popular domestic play by the famous playwright Kawatake Mokuami.
In the Evening Show, please enjoy a profound masterpiece of the history play genre adapted from the 'Tale of the Heike,' which is followed by stage announcement in which actors celebrate the name succession, and finally a dance drama based on the legend of the slaying of the Earth Spider.
SHINPAN UTAZAIMON
Nozakimura
['Nozaki Village' from 'A New Ballad to the Gods']
CAST :
- Omitsu, Kyūsaku's daughter
- Nakamura Kazutarō
- Hisamatsu, an apprentice of the Aburaya
- Nakamura Hayato
- Osome, daughter of the Aburaya pawnshop
- Nakamura Senjaku
- Kyūsaku, a farmer
- Nakamura Ganjirō
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 resolves to sacrifice her own happiness and become a nun.
HANE NO KAMURO / UKARE BŌZU
['Courtesan's Maid with a Shuttlecock' / 'The Merry Priest']
CAST :
- A Courtesan’s Maid
- Onoe Kikunosuke, changing his name from Onoe Ushinosuke
- A begging priest
- Onoe Kikugorō VIII, changing his name from Onoe Kikunosuke
HANE NO KAMURO
UKARE BŌZU
STORY :
'Courtesan's Maid with a Shuttlecock' is a dance portraying a young maid apprenticed to a courtesan who plays with a shuttlecock in front of a brothel in the Yoshiwara Pleasure Quarters. The highlight is the actor’s technique of enacting an innocent girl, helped by making the stage set including a lattice and decorative pine tree intentionally big so that the girl seems small.
'The Merry Priest' is adapted from 'The Begging Priest', the accompanying music of which was changed from the original Tokiwazu to Kiyomoto. A begging priest is a street performer who receives money by entertaining crowds with humorous dances during the Edo period. He tells his life story in the form of a ballad and dances lightly enacting different roles and putting on a mask with the character 'evil.'
TSUYU KOSODE MUKASHI HACHIJŌ
Kamiyui Shinza
['Shinza, the barber']
CAST :
- Shinza, the barber
- Onoe Kikugorō VIII, changing his name from Onoe Kikunosuke
- Yatagorō Genshichi
- Nakamura Kinnosuke
- Otsune, Osome's mother
- Kataoka Takatarō
- Chūshichi, a sales clerk
- Nakamura Mantarō
- Okuma
- Nakamura Yonekichi
- Zenpachi, a cart driver
- Kataoka Kamezō
- Kagaya Tōbē
- Kawarasaki Gonjūrō
- Okaku, Chōbē's wife
- Ichimura Manjirō
- Chōbē, the landlord
- Bandō Yajūrō
STORY :
Shinza is a barber who goes from door to door. However, he kidnaps Okuma, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy household, and even resists the efforts of Yatagorō Genshichi, the most prestigious strongman in town, to get her release. Then Shinza's landlord Chōbē visits Shinza's place to settle the matter. Chōbē has negotiated with the family and they have agreed to pay thirty gold coins for Okuma's return. Shinza is delighted and sends Okuma home. Shinza asks about the money but Chōbē tricks him out of half the money in a hilarious exchange. However, Genshichi cannot let the insult to his reputation go unpunished. The play ends as the two fight it out, presumably a fight to the death.
Ichinotani Futaba Gunki
KUMAGAI JIN'YA
['Kumagai's Battle Camp' from 'The Chronicles of the Battle of Ichinotani']
CAST :
- Kumagai Naozane
- Kataoka Nizaemon (Program A), Nakamura Kinnosuke (Program B)
- Sagami, Naozane's wife
- Kataoka Takatarō
- Lady Fuji
- Nakamura Kazutarō
- Tsutsumi no Gunji
- Nakamura Hayato (Program A),
Onoe Kikuichirō (Program B) - Minamoto no Yoshitsune
- Nakamura Kinnosuke (Program A), Nakamura Hayato (Program B)
- Byakugō no Midaroku, in reality, Yahēbyōe Munekiyo
- Nakamura Karoku
STORY :
This is a play based on episodes from the Battle of Ichinotani, one of the climactic struggles between the Heike and Genji clans in the 12th century. At this battle, the Genji warrior Naozane attacks Taira no Atsumori. When Naozane returns to his battle camp, he finds his wife, Sagami, and Atsumori's mother, Lady Fuji. He tells them how he killed Atsumori and he shows the severed head of Atsumori to his lord Minamoto no Yoshitsune. However, in reality, the head is that of Naozane's own son. Yoshitsune suggested to Naozane indirectly that he sacrifice his son as a substitute for Atsumori, the son of the former Emperor. After doing so, and feeling the transience of human existence, Naozane rejects the life of a warrior to become a Buddhist priest.
Shūmei Hirō KŌJŌ
['Stage Announcement Commemorating the Name Succession']
CAST :
Onoe Kikugorō VIII, changing his name from Onoe Kikunosuke;
Onoe Kikunosuke, changing his name from Onoe Ushinosuke.
Plus other top-ranking actors who are present
STORY :
The "Kojo" (口上) is not a play or dance. It is a special stage announcement related to the actors' name succession (shūmei).
The actors will appear as themselves to make a stage announcement to commemorate the name succession.
TSUCHIGUMO
['The Earth Spider']
CAST :
- Priest Chichū from the temple on Mt. Hiei, in reality, the spirit of the spider
- Onoe Kikugorō VIII, changing his name from Onoe Kikunosuke
- Kochō, a maid
- Onoe Kikunosuke, changing his name from Onoe Ushinosuke
- Hirai Yasumasa
- Bandō Yajūrō
- Minamoto no Raikō
- Nakamura Tokizō
- Watanabe no Tsuna
- Kataoka Kamezō
- Sakata no Kintoki
- Nakamura Mantarō
- Usui no Sadamitsu
- Nakamura Hayato
- Urabe Suetake
- Onoe Kikuichirō
- Sakaki, a shrine maiden
- Nakamura Kazutarō
- Tōnai, a soldier
- Bandō Hikosaburō
- Jirō, a soldier
- Nakamura Senjaku
- Tarō, a soldier
- Nakamura Ganjirō
STORY :
This dance drama was adapted from a play in the classical Nō repertoire. In legend, the samurai lord Minamoto no Raikō is famous for destroying demons. In this work, Raikō is ill in bed. Distinguished priests visit him to pray for his recovery but they do no good. Then, another priest appears mysteriously at night also claiming to pray for his health. However, suspicious of the strange shadow the priest casts, Raikō cuts at him with his heirloom sword named 'Hizamaru'. The priest turns out to be the spirit of the Great Earth Spider that has the ambition to rule the country. In the end, the spider's plan to kill Raikō is thwarted and it is defeated by his retainers in an exciting fight.