The was one of the major

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

theatres in

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

(modern-day

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

) during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

and into the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

. Not being one of the four theatres formally licensed by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

, the theatre was largely inactive for long stretches of time, operating only when the

Morita-za {{Infobox Theatre , name = Morita-za森田座 , image = Stele of Morita-za site 02.jpg , caption = Stele of Saruwaka-machi Morita-za in Asakusa , address = , city = Edo , country = {{flagicon, Japa ...

, facing financial difficulties or physical destruction of its theatre building, temporarily lent its license to the Kawarazaki-za. It was established in 1656 and was managed by members of the Kawarazaki family of actors until 1875.

History

The Kawarazaki-za was opened in 1656 by Kawarazaki Gonnosuke I. In 1670, the shogunate issued licenses to four theatres in the city, forbidding the others, including the Kawarazaki-za, from operating. The Kawarazaki-za was, therefore, largely inactive until 1735, when it obtained the license from the bankrupt Morita-za, losing it once more in 1744. The theatre then reacquired the Morita-za's license from 1790 to 1797, producing a number of plays including ''

Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura ''Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura'' (義経千本桜), or ''Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees'', is a Japanese play, one of the three most popular and famous in the Kabuki repertoire. Originally written in 1747 for the jōruri puppet theater by ...

'' in 1794. The fourth period of operation, from 1800 to 1808, saw performances by the Morita family of actors from the Morita-za. '' Natsu Matsuri Naniwa Kagami'' was performed for the first time at the Kawarazaki-za in 1802, featuring a number of actors of the Ichikawa family. The theatre continued to hold the Morita-za license for much of the 19th century, on and off. A great number of plays premiered at the Kawarazaki-za during this period; one of the most famous was ''

Kanjinchō ''Kanjinchō'' (勧進帳, ''The Subscription List'') is a kabuki dance-drama by Namiki Gohei III, based on the Noh play ''Ataka''. It is one of the most popular plays in the modern kabuki repertory. Belonging to the repertories of the Naritaya ...

'', featuring the character of

Benkei , popularly known as simply Benkei, was a Japanese warrior monk (''sōhei'') who lived in the latter years of the Heian Period (794–1185) .html" ;"title="/sup>">/sup>. Benkei led a varied life, first becoming a monk, then a mountain ascetic, ...

, which premiered in March 1840. The theatre was destroyed in the

1855 Ansei Edo earthquake The , was the third Ansei Great Earthquake, which occurred during the late-Edo period. It occurred after the 1854 Nankai earthquake, which took place about a year prior. The earthquake occurred at 22:00 local time on 11 November. It had an epi ...

, and was not reopened until 1874. In a ''

shūmei ''Shūmei'' (, "name succession") are grand naming ceremonies held in kabuki theatre. Most often, a number of actors will participate in a single ceremony, taking on new stage-names. These stagenames, most often those of the actor's father, gran ...

'' (naming ceremony) held at the theatre at that time, actor Kawarazaki Sanshō took on the prestigious name

Ichikawa Danjūrō IX was one of the most successful and famous Kabuki actors of the Meiji period (1868–1912). Ninth in the line of actors to hold the name Ichikawa Danjūrō, he is depicted in countless ''ukiyo-e'' actor prints (''yakusha-e''), and is widely cr ...

, which had not been held for twenty years. The following year, however, the theatre was sold to a group of investors from outside the kabuki families; it was renamed the Shinbori-za and went bankrupt and closed two years later, in 1877.

''Zamoto'' (head of the theatre)

* Kawarazaki Gonnosuke I (1656–1690)These dates reflect not the birth and death of the actor, but rather the years during which he served as ''zamoto'', or head of the theatre. * Kawarazaki Gonnosuke II (1691–1735) * Kawarazaki Gonnosuke III (1735–1744) * Kawarazaki Gonnosuke IV (1790–1796) * Kawarazaki Gonnosuke V (1796–1830) * Kawarazaki Gonnosuke VI (1830–1855) * Kawarazaki Gonnosuke VIII (1874–1875)

Reference and Notes

Kawarazaki-za at Kabuki21.com
{{coord missing, Japan Former kabuki theatres 1656 establishments in Japan Buildings and structures completed in 1656 1877 disestablishments