Kabuki performance "Kiku Ichiza Reiwa no Adauchi "

National Theatre (Large Theatre)
January 2020 Kabuki Performance

Performance Date
January 3 (Fri.) -27 (Mon.)

Performance Time
12:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. <except 10 (Fri.) and 17 (Fri.)>
4:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. <10 (Fri.) and 17 (Fri.)>
*End times are estimates and could vary.

Cast
Onoe Kikugoro
Nakamura Tokizo
Onoe Shoroku
Onoe Kikunosuke
Bando Hikosaburo
Bando Kamezo
Nakamura Baishi
Nakamura Mantaro
Ichimura Takematsu
Onoe Ukon
Ichimura Hikaru
Onoe Sakon
Ichimura Kitsutaro
Kataoka Kamezo
Kawarasaki Gonjuro
Bando Shucho
Ichimura Manjiro
Ichikawa Danzo
Bando Rakuzen
and others

Tickets(Tax included)
Adult:
Superior Grade = 12,800yen （Student:9,000yen）
1st Grade A = 10,000yen （Student:7,000yen）
1st Grade B = 6,500yen （Student:4,600yen）
2nd Grade A = 5,000yen （Student:3,500yen）
2nd Grade B = 2,800yen （Student:2,000yen）
3rd Grade = 1,800yen （Student:1,300yen）

Seating Plan

*Audio guide: Available for rent in English and Japanese. Click here for details.
*Subtitles: No subtitles available.
*English synopsis is available.It is included in the paid Japanese program.

Booking Opens
available from Dec.6, 2019

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Box Office
+81-3-3230-3000 (10:00AM - 6:00PM) in Japanese and English
Internet Reservations : https://ticket.ntj.jac.go.jp/top_e.htm
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Counter Sales
available from Dec.7, 2019
(Business Hours: 10:00AM – 6:00PM )

in Japanese

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New Year’s Kabuki performance is the Key of the year!
(by Petr Holý, Adjunct Researcher,
The Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University)
  The very first show at the National Theatre (Tokyo) celebrating the upcoming new year of the Reiwa era, which began in May 2019, is the performance originally written by famous Japanese dramatist Tsuruya Nanboku IV, which premiered Edo in 1825.
  The original piece by Nanboku IV was arranged into a new shape using several typical drama-writing techniques, especially for kabuki theatre. One of them, the so-called naimaze, literally means the combining of two or more entirely different but very well known sekai (a dramatic world with its well-defined set of characters), while adding new incidents or plot twists. This is especially true of Nanboku’s plays depicting the social underclass. They were actually often the combination of several sekais and are still very popular among theatre-goers.
  This January's kabuki production is titled “Kiku-ichiza Reiwa no Adauchi,” which means that the famous vendetta (adauchi) is staged by kabuki theatre's top stars and leading actors Onoe Kikugorō VII and their troupe. This permeation of the names of the real actors into the title of the play is very often a phenomenon in kabuki theatre. This play also benefits from the sekai of “Gonpachi-Komurasaki plays” about the lovers, samurai retainer Shirai Gonpachi and his mistress Komurasaki (whose grave site known as Hiyokuzuka, double grave of lovers, you can still visit at Tokyo’s Meguro site). Originally, Gonpachi's arguments over the purchase of Komurasaki and a man named Banzuiin Chōbei helped to settle the matter. This scene is well-known as “Suzugamori,” which combines two historically unconnected stories – Gonpachi and Komurasaki on one side and Banzuiin Chōbei’s on the other side.
  Last but not least, there is one more surprising element used in the play. It is a character whose name is Sasano Gonza, known from the famous puppet play by dramatist Chikamatsu Monzaemon “Gonza the Spearman,”He is a vassal of Ōe no Hiromoto, the regent of the Kamakura shogunate, and – stunningly – in the surprising relationship with the Gonpachi. They are both searching for “In’yō no han” - a lost treasure handed down through generations in the clan. Furthemore, Gonpachi is mistaken for a woman and he claimes to be courtesan whose name is Komurasaki!
  Thus, using the changes of famous plots and their characters as they please, Nanboku IV together with current playwrights entice theatre-goers into the magic, bizzare and fancy world of kabuki theatre to celebrate the beginning of a new and prosperous year.