Review: Ehon Gappō ga Tsuji

 

Evening performance of the Grand April Kabuki at the Kabukiza Theatre, Tōkyō: 2 April – 26 April 2018.

Ehon Gappō ga Tsuji (’The Revenge of Gappō at the Crossroads’) is a ‘kizewamono’ (gangster play) which premiered in the 5^th lunar month of 1810 at the Ichimuraza Theatre in Edo (modern day Tōkyō). Dramatised by Tsuruya Namboku IV from a popular novel this rarely performed full length play (toshi kyōgen) was last staged in April 2012 at the National Theatre in Tōkyō with, as in this performance, the 74 year old veteran

Review: Spring and New Year Kabuki in Tōkyō – Part One Shinbashi Enbujo and the Kabukiza

Plays in Review: Futago Sumidagawa, Genpei Nunobiki no Taki – Yoshikata Saigo, Shikorobiki, Shōgun Edo wo Saru, Otsu-e Dōjōji, Igagoe Dochu Sugoroku – Numazu, Matsuura no Taiko

This year, 2017, to mark the New Year and Spring in Tōkyō seven Kabuki shows were scheduled during January. Matinee and evening performances at the Shinbashi Enbujo, the Kabukiza and the Asakusa Kōkaidō Public Hall, and a Tōshi Kyōgen, full length play, at the National Theatre of Japan.

There were two Tōshi Kyōgen included in the New Year/Spring

2nd Installment From Okamoto Kido’s Talks On Meiji Era Theatre – Under The Lamp

Part 14:  The scene at the opening of the new Kabukiza!

Kabuza Gossip – ‘Heart Warming Historical Tales of Kōmon’ (Zokusetsu Bidan Kōmon Ki) — Scholar, Amateur Kabuki Dramatist and Journalist Fukuchi Ōchi — The Appearance of Kabukiza Banzuke advertising posters – ‘The Fire Brigade Fight’ (Megumi no Kenka).

After the Great Earthquake disaster (of 1923) the appearance of the Kabukiza theatre building was once again anticipated. Also a large part of the

A Kabuki Oshiguma (Face Pressing): A Relic From The Past

Three celebrated Kabuki actors imortalised on a silk artefact!

Kabuki (classical all-male dance-drama) enthusiast and collector Trevor Skingle shares his discovery and the facinating history of a Japanese scroll he bought from an art dealer in the Netherlands that survived the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. His research has enabled him to identify the three Kabuki actors from the 1920’s who’s faces are imprinted onto the silk cloth and the artist who crafted a simple but elegant scroll