Tokyo - Kabuki-za Theatre

Kabuki is traditional Japanese theatre. It is well worth going to see this medieval, highly skilled and often burlesque theatrical form even if you do not understand one word of what is said. The greatest Kabuki theatre is in Ginza. Performances are given throughout the year.

Inside the theatre the scene resembles some enormous family get-together; many of the 2,500 spectators bring something to eat, although there are some restaurants around the great auditorium, because the performances last for hours.

The spectators stay just as long as they wish - or as long as they bear to sit - and it is not considered rude to come at any time or to go away when you feel like it.

The word "Kabuki" means roughly "song and dance". In magnificent sets and splendid, valuable costumes the actors perform every sort of emotion with total expression. The stage is often transformed into a cauldron of unbridled passions. After seeing the passers-by on Tokyo streets who bow pleasantly and also seem so restrained, visitors can hardly imagine what explosive forces lie hidden beneath the polite masks. The public shares every emotion, weeping, laughing and applauding its heroes thunderously. Shouts of encouragement are forever ringing out. In times gone by the Kabuki theatre served for the up and coming middle classes as a sort of newspaper and gossip-sheet. Scandals and murders were enacted here in epic grandeur. The actors often performed even without a script, with the result that the plot often departed considerably from the reality that had been envisaged. Even nowadays the women's roles are all played by men. Kabuki has nothing in common with the bourgeois culture of European theatre.

In 1645, women were prohibited from performing in the theatres. However, it was reputedly a priestess who made Kabuki popular by her comic improvisation.