Perspectives

Kanji highlights kabuki's fiery history

The Japanese word used to describe the final day of a show or sumo tournament includes the kanji character for autumn, the right side of which means "fire." But when talking about the final day of a kabuki show, the symbol for "fire" is replaced for one meaning "turtle."

Avoidance of the "fire" symbol apparently comes from the fact that in the Edo period, when it was common for fires to break out at theaters, people wanted to avoid any reference to flames. Conversely, the variant character that used the symbol for "turtle" had an auspicious ring to it.

Looking back at the history of kabuki theaters, it's no wonder people wanted to avoid seeing a character meaning "fire." During a 23-year period spanning the Genroku and Kyoho eras in Japan, around the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the Nakamura-za and Ichimura-za theaters in Tokyo's Nihonbashi burned down a combined nine times -- roughly once every 2 1/2 years on average. During the mid-Edo period, fires broke out roughly once every six years on average, a figure that makes one wonder how the performances managed to continue.

In 1889 the Kabuki-za, the main theater in Tokyo for kabuki performances, was built. However, the structure did not have a long lifespan; 22 years later it underwent major reconstruction. Another 10 years after this, the second incarnation of the theater burned down in a fire caused by an electricity short circuit. An earthquake hampered reconstruction efforts before the third Kabuki-za building appeared. Misfortune followed another 20 years later, when the theater was heavily damaged in bombing during World War II. A fourth Kabuki-za theater was built and remains standing today.

Now plans are under way to demolish the current Kabuki-za, and build a new theater and 29-story building on the premises, scheduled to open in 2013. Kabuki fans sorry to see the current theater go have flocked to farewell performances, the last of which will be held on Wednesday. A closing ceremony will be held Friday, bringing the curtains down on 60 decades of performances -- the longest span for a kabuki theater by far.

In the theater one can feel the aura of the great performances that have been staged there since the Showa era. The fifth incarnation of the theater will apparently have a facade built in the traditional Momoyama style of architecture, which will no doubt produce within many visitors fond memories of the brilliance and warmth that existed inside the old theater. It seems that the absorption of such memories into a new structure -- a process that goes back to the Edo period -- is kabuki's destiny.

When the current Kabuki-za theater opened, the late novelist and playwright Mantaro Kubota (1889-1963) wrote the following haiku highlighting the theater's history:

"Tokyo no / Mattadanaka no / Kasumi kana" (A haze, right in the middle of Tokyo).

The spring haze that has wrapped itself around performances of famous kabuki actors and the lively cheers from the audience are sure to maintain a strong presence in the minds of Kabuki-za's visitors. ("Yoroku," a front-page column in the Mainichi Shimbun)

Click here for the original Japanese story