This month, the kabuki masterpiece "Yoshitsune Senbonzakura (Yoshitsune and One Thousand Cherry Trees)," adapted from the 1747 bunraku play written by Takeda Izumo, Mamiki Senryu and Miyoshi Shoraku, is being staged at two theaters in Tokyo: the National Theater of Japan in Hanzomon and the Nakamuraza Theater in Asakusa.
Complex of plot but full of exciting highlights, the play is presented in its entirety (toshi) at the National Theater (Part I runs 11 a.m.-3:55 p.m. and Part II 4:30 p.m-9:25 p.m.). At the Nakamuraza, the stories of the three striking characters, Tomomori, Gonta and Tadanobu are staged independently, each program running for 2 1/2 hours.
The Nakamuraza is an enormous canvas structure built by the Sumida River in Asakusa in November 2000, simulating the original Nakamuraza Theater in Edo where "Yoshitsune Senbonzakura" was first performed as a kabuki play in 1748. With the capacity to seat 800 people, the Nakamuraza's interior is laid out to give the atmosphere of an 18th-century kabuki theater.