Kabukiza Theater, the landmark in Tokyo's Ginza district and the center of a Japanese traditional performing art, reopened in a new building last Tuesday with a dance of celebration performed by designated "living national treasure" Sakata Tojuro. Other kabuki actors joined him to present the first of the kokera otoshi series of performances to mark the grand opening of a reconstructed theater.
The series will run until next March. It is hoped that the opening of the new Kabukiza Theater will serve as a stimulus for producing new popular kabuki stars who will strengthen and reinvigorate the kabuki tradition.
The original Kabukiza, a Western-style building, opened in 1889 at the initiative of Genichiro Fukuchi (1841-1906), a journalist, playwright and theater reformer who viewed it as a base for a reform movement in Japanese theater. In 1911, it was remodeled with Japanese decor stressed. An electrical problem caused a fire that destroyed it in 1921.