Day 5 - Kabuki-za (Ginza)

4th February, 2003 - Time to get cultural! Leaving Yasukuni-jinja we jumped on a train and went into Ginza. Another big day. This time we thought we'd visit the Kabuki-za... I guess the main Kabuki theatre in Tokyo. Kabuki is an old form of theatre that used to be exclusively played by men (including the women's roles). Not dissimilar to the Shakespearean times in England.

Kabuki is theatre for the mainstream - at least in olden times. It recounts many historical stories - and is quite dynamic. Unfortunately we heeded the requirement of not taking any photo's/video's inside (even though we later saw many Japanese doing this). Kabuki plays are generally long, however, if you go here you can catch a single act (there's like a short-term stay area near the back of the theatre which you can get tickets for about 1000yen.

The show we saw was mixture of history/action. Lots of swordplay, quite a bit of humour and did I mention the revolving stage? Very interesting! Well worth a visit if you are around Ginza and need a break from all the expensive shopping. Don't be surprised however if during the performance, people from the audience cry out... it's part of the tradition, like ritualised heckling I guess. Omoshiroii!