Selections from the NDL Collection
Nakamuraza Naigai no Zu (in Sanshibai no Zu)
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| Title: |
Nakamuraza Naigai no Zu (in Sanshibai no Zu)
Inside and Outside of the Nakamuraza (Pictures of Three Theaters) |
| Author: |
Utagawa Toyokuni, 3rd (1786-1864) |
| Imprint: |
1817 |
Description: |
Six large size colored block prints |
| NDL call no.: |
Ki-Betsu-2-6-2-4 |
Contents:
Kabuki is a Japanese traditional performing art with its origins in
the Edo period.
Kabuki plays feature historical events, love, murder, vendetta and
the like with music and dance. Although in the early years, both men and
women acted in Kabuki plays, soon the Tokugawa Shogunate forbade woman
to appear on the stage on the ground of immorality. Since then all roles
have been played by men.
The Nakamuraza is a famous Kabuki theater in the Edo period (1603-1867).
Since 1714, the number of officially licensed Kabuki theaters in Edo
(now Tokyo) was limited to three: Nakamuraza, Ichimuraza and Moritaza.
The Nakamuraza was located in Sakaicho in downtown Edo.
"Nakamuraza naigai no zu" is composed of six pictures. 1, 2,
3 show the interior of the Nakamuraza theater, and 4, 5, 6 are the façade.
On the stage, actors are playing "Soga no Taimen (The confrontation of
the Soga Brothers and Kudo Suketsune)"
  
  
Click on the
number to go to the large picture, or click here
for the whole composition.
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Balconies and the Hanamichi. The Hanamichi is a narrow runway extending
through the audience at right angles to the right of the stage. Actors
use it to enter and exit to and from the main stage, and it serves as a
secondary stage. From the "Hanamichi" the Soga Brothers confront Kudo Suketsune
on the main stage. Kudo is the man who killed their father.
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Main stage. The two characters on the poster upper left read "House Full"
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The balconies and the pit.
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Crowd.
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Yagura (small tower) erected on the roof indicates the special status
of the officially approved three theaters. A curtain patterned with gingko
leaves, emblem of the Nakamuraza, surrounds the Yagura.
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Kido Geisha, the men wearing red hoods on the stand, call people
into the theater imitating the voices of popular actors.
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