Kinoshita Kabuki presents a rare full-length, 6 hour “Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan”

Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan/ Kinoshita Kabuki
Ordinary people in Edo town, a scene from “Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan” by Tsuruya Nanboku IV/ (c) Aki Tanaka

YUICHI KINOSHITA founded his Kinoshita Kabuki theatre company in 2006, since when he has invited many young, cutting-edge directors such as Kunio Sugihara, Junnosuke Tada and Konosuke Itoi to stage their 21st-century takes on traditional Kabuki and Noh stories for today’s audiences.

Now, to commemorate the company’s 10th anniversary, 31-year-old Kinoshita is presenting a rare, unabridged production of the three-act play “Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan” (“Ghost Story of Yotsuya on the Tokaido”), which his company premiered at the prestigious Festival/Tokyo in 2013.

Written in 1825 by Tsuruya Nanboku IV, the kabuki play is usually staged in a shortened version focusing on the famous ghost story of Oiwa and Tamiya Iemon, but in this six-hour production Kinoshita and director Kunio Sugihara aim to stage it anew as a tragedy affecting ordinary people in old Edo (present-day Tokyo).
“Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan” runs May 26–31 at Owl Spot in Tokyo, a 2-minute walk from Higashi-Ikebukuro Station on the Yurakucho subway line.

For details, call 03-5391-0516 or visit http://kinoshita-kabuki.org.