I like opera, classical music and theater arts and thought that I would try to see live versions of their Japanese counterparts while I was in Japan. Although I have seen performances on video a recording cannot compare to the impact of a live performance in a good venue. One of the traditional Japanese arts that I particularly wanted to see was kabuki.

When I was researching kabuki online before I came to Japan I came across the Tokyo Kabuki Guide website run by Kazui Yabe. She provides a service which includes a pre show lecture about Kabuki in general and about the performance that you will see. She also purchases the tickets for you. I selected the date and the time and Kazui-san did everything else for me. We had exchanged a few e-mails about details and had agreed to meet before the evening show in Ginza.

We met in front of the SMBC Bank and walked from there to a small restaurant where we had matcha and Japanese sweets. Kazui-san had emailed me an English synopsis of the play beforehand so I already somewhat familiar with the play. Besides myself there was a couple from Austrualia attending the performance. While we drank our tea Kazui-san gave us a background lecture about Kabuki. It included handouts listing the cast of the play, which characters they would play, the makeup that they would wear and their family tree. I learned that being a kabuki actor is a heredity position handed down from father to son. All performers are male and some specialize in female roles. The makeup is quite formalized and is indicative of the personality of the character. If you are interested in seeing kabuki in Tokyo I would highly recommend Kazui-san’s service to you.

After the tea and lecture Kazui-san walked us to the Shinbashi Enbujyo Theater. We had our pictures taken together outside the theatre and then we parted ways. We also bought bento lunches outside the theatre to eat at our seats during the intermission. I later received an email form Kazui-san with a copy of the photos and a nice letter from her was delivered to my hotel 2 days later.

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My seat was in the mezzanine 2 rows back on the right side of the house. This is quite a good location from which to see everything on the main stage and also on the runway on the left side of the house where performers enter and exit from the back of the house.

The show that I had chosen was in 2 parts, a kabuki play, an intermission and then a kabuki dance.

The play being performed was Toki wa Ima Kikiyo no Hata Age or Mitsuhide’s Rebellion.

Mitsuhide’s Rebellion, a play in 2 acts was written by  Tsuruya Nanboku and is based on actual events that happened in 1582. It tells the first part of the story of how Akechi Mitsuhide betrayed his lord Oda Nobunaga and ruled Japan in his place for only 13 days before being in turn defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The names used in the play are slightly different that real life as at the time that the play was written using actual names in a play was forbidden.

The play focuses on the events leading up to the rebellion. It starts with Mitsuhide as Nobunaga’s loyal lieutenant. Through a series of unfortunate events Mitsuhide falls from favour and is beaten and repeatedly humiliated by Nobunaga who comes across as arrogant, unreasonable and paranoid. At the conclusion of Act I Mitsuhide is relieved of his post and sent home under house arrest. This is the last straw and you can see as he leaves that Mitsuhide can take no more.

Act II takes place at Mistuhide’s house. Messengers arrive from Nobunaga and interrupt a family gathering. Mitsuhide is prepared to die and writes his death poem while the messengers wait. The poem begins with the words “Toki was Ima” (Now is the Time) which is where the play’s title comes from. Mitsuhide then grabs a famous sword from one of the messengers and kills them both with it. This is quite ironic as Mitsuhide had desired the sword and Nobunaga had instead given it to the messenger to slight Mitsuhide. The play ends with Mitsuhide leaving to lead his troops to victory.

The telling of the events in this play is quite sympathetic toward Mitsuhide. I found it easy to sympathize with his plight.

Kabuki like opera is quite stylized and I would have had a hard time understanding some of what happened without Kazui-san’s explanation. The venue was very good acoustically and although no PA system was used I had no trouble hearing the voices of the actors. The music for the play was quite sparse and was performed by musicians hidden behind part of the backdrop for the play. The staging changed with each scene and was apparently quickly rebuilt by hand while the curtain was down. Even the curtains were opened and closed by hand. I had chosen not to get an English audio guide as I felt that it would detract from the performance. I understood very little of the Japanese that was spoken although the emotional content was quite clear. There are also Japanese audio guides available as the Japanese spoken in the play is quite archaic.

The intermission was 40 minutes and most people ate their bentos at their seat. I had bought one but was not yet hungry so I just took a few photos.

The second half of the program was the kabuki dance Kyokanoko Musume Dojoji (The Maiden at Dojoji Temple). This is the most famous of all kabuki dances and is the pinnacle of the art of an actor who specializes in female roles. From the program guide “A beautiful young woman dances under cherry blossoms at a dedication ceremony for a temple bell. She dances the many aspects of a woman in love, but is actually the spirit of a serpent, driven to destroy the bell out of jealousy.”

All of the musicians except for a drummer and sound effects person were present on the stage and were part of the performance. I’m pretty sure that most of the musicians were also actors. In all there were over 30 people on stage. The dancing was quite amazing and the costumes were elaborate. The dancer sometimes wore one costume on top of another and could do an almost instantaneous costume change with the help from a couple of assistants dressed in black who you were not supposed to notice. I enjoyed all aspects of the performance including some displays of musical virtuosity.

The performance lasted from 4 PM until 7:40 PM. I didn’t get on the train home until about 8 PM but it was packed.