For the foreign travelers who are not satisfied with the bus tour in Tokyo.

Kabuki-za, Kabuki Theater

Kabuki-za or Kabuki Theater (June 2009)

Kabuki is one of the representing traditional stage arts in Japan.
You can see the Kabuki stage every day at Ginza, famous shopping district in Tokyo.
This is the center of Ginza.





Kabuki-za is situated only 5 minutes from the center of Ginza.
The building is old Japanese style.
It was originally built in 1923 but lost during World War.
It was reconstructed in 1951, but it gets old,
so it will be reconstructed again from 2010 and it will take 3 years to finish.





You can see the program in front of the theater building by the title and the paintiings.
You can buy the matinee ticket or evening ticket. Each consists of 3 or 4 programs and lasts more than 4 hours.
The price is varied from 2,500 to 15,000 Yen.

If you want to see only one stage, you can buy 'Makumiseki' ticket which costs less than 1,000 Yen.
But I recommend to see 2 or 3 programs because some program is like a play and some program is mainly dancing.
So, you will know different types of stage if you see 2 or 3 programs.
And if you buy 'Makumiseki', you cannot go to the restaurants and shops which sell souvenirs of Kabuki-za.





By the way, Kabuki nowadays is not often seen by Japanese people.
So even for Japanese people, they need some assistance to understand the stage.
The theater prepares the audio guide system to appreciate the stage better.
And of course, you can hear it in English.
So you don't have to worry even if you don't know anything about Kabuki.

You can borrow audio guide in front of the building.
(For 'Makumiseki', you can borrow it inside.)





Now, let's go inside !
It has 1866 seats on four floors. The structure is unique with the vertical path called Hanamichi.
Please visit my website explaining more about Kabuki.
http://www.ltij.net/kabuki.html





The main feature in June 2009 was the debut stage of Kintaro Matsumoto.
'Renjishi (3 lions)' was played by him with his father and grandfather who are both leading Kabuki actors.
Following photos are from guidebook.





Between the programs, you can go to restaurants or souvenir shops.
You can find traditional Japanese crafts.
You will also see sweets which are made on the spots.





I hope you will enjoy Kabuki !