KOTOHIRA, Kagawa -- Japan's oldest existing playhouse built in the Edo period (1603-1867) in this town in the western part of the country still stages annual spring Kabuki shows.

The bartizan with palisade fences protruding from the outer wall gives it a distinctly theaterlike appearance. Inside the former Konpira Grand Theater, huge lanterns with family crests of actors hang from the ceiling, immediately drawing visitors' attention. In front of the all-cypress stage equipped with a revolving mechanism are rows of arena seats, and along the walls are box seats. The proximity of the stage to the audience makes it seem as though one can feel the actors' breath.

The former Konpira Grand Theater, also known as Kanamaruza, was built in Kotohira, Kagawa Prefecture, in 1835, and is the oldest existing theater in Japan. Around the mid-Edo period, when worship of the Konpira god was spreading, pilgrims from all over the country gathered at the foot of Mount Zozu, where the current Kotohira-gu shrine is located, and a temporary theater was set up about three times a year. Responding to calls for a permanent theater, one was constructed in the town, where star actors from Edo (present-day Tokyo), Kyoto and its surrounding region performed passionately. After becoming Kanamaruza in 1900, it was also used as a movie theater, but it was closed around 1965.

The theater was designated as an important cultural property in 1970, and from 1972, it was relocated to its current location over about four years. The annual spring event "Shikoku Konpira Kabuki Performance" had been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic but was revived in April 2024, bringing back the bustle of the theater.

(Japanese original by Takeshi Nishimura, Osaka Photo and Video Department)

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The Japanese version of this article was originally published on Dec. 22, 2024.

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