171 yose (vaudeville theaters) in Tokyo Prefecture are listed in the in the "Kodan Joruri Rakugo Joseki Chart," published in 1879, and 185 yose are listed in the “Directory of Members of Tokyo Performing Arts Halls” published in 1926. These yose were broadly classified into "iromono-seki" (mainly rakugo), "koshaku-ba" (mainly kodan), “gidayu-seki”, and “naniwabushi-seki”, and most were "joseki," which gave stages every night and day and were at the center of daily entertainment for the general public.

“Kihara-dana," which the main character visits in Natsume Soseki's novel "Sanshiro," and "Fukinuki-tei," which appears in Mori Ogai 's novel "The Wild Geese," are also among these types of yose. Unfortunately, after the Great Kanto Earthquake, the number of such establishments declined drastically due to the depression of the early Showa period and the prosperity of movie theaters, in addition to the painful effects of the earthquake, and only a few of them remained until after World War II.

In this exhibition, we will pick up the names of these forgotten yose from the collection of the National Theatre of Japan, including the posters and leaflets of these yose, and display them together with scenes of yose depicted in paintings to relive the golden age of yose in the Meiji and Taisho eras.

Dates

April 1 (Fri)－July 24 (Sun), 2022

Hours

10：00－17：00

Closed

4/21・22・25-27, 5/23-26・30・31, 6/21・23・24・27-30, 7/1・21・22, 2022

Venue

National Engei Hall・Exhibition room

Admission

Free

Visitor restriction

Up to 8 people