I had a business trip to Tokyo, so I thought – as long as I’m going all the way there, why not stop by the Kabukiza too? But it turned out to be a dark day. Still (I’m stubborn, and I don’t give up easily, ha), I’d already come this far, so I held a little one-person photo session in front of a completely empty Kabukiza. No play this time – but still, today was a great day after all.
What’s a “Dark Day”?
A dark day is a dark day. The end… okay, that’s not much help, so –
The Kabukiza runs a different program every month. Between the senshuraku (the final day of one month’s run) and the shonichi (the opening day of the next), there are a few days with no performances at all. Only a handful of days, really.
On this particular day, January’s program – Kotobuki Hatsuharu Okabuki – had just finished, and February’s Saruwakasai Nigatsu Okabuki hadn’t started yet. I’d landed right in the in-between. It’s the kind of day most people would walk straight past, but that’s exactly when you get to enjoy a completely empty Kabukiza.
In Front of an Empty Kabukiza
Deserted, basically. Even the basement shops had lost their usual buzz – open for business, but with that “we’re getting ready for the next thing” sort of air.
The clearest sign of that getting-ready mood was the ekanban, the large painted billboards out front. They were already in February mode. senshuraku was January 25, so the switch must have happened quickly. That dry efficiency… honestly, I kind of like it.
The part that excited me most was the “Opening Today” banner. It was only January 29, though opening day was February 1. I started imagining the practical excuse: put it up early, draw a boundary with the chain, and call it not-quite-on-display yet. That businesslike alibi made me laugh. Completely my own imagination, of course.
On the billboard, I spotted Kantaro’s name. February’s Saruwakasai centered on the real father-and-son pairing of Nakamura Kankuro and his son Nakamura Kantaro. I still picture Kantaro as a child actor, so seeing him stepping into a grown-up role – I’m already looking forward to it.
The Time I Threw Out My Hoo
Actually, I had one more errand in the basement. If you’re a member of the Shochiku Kabukikai (Shochiku’s official kabuki fan club), their monthly magazine, Hōō, gets delivered to your home each month – and I’d gone and thrown out last month’s issue by mistake. Unbelievable; what was I thinking. It’s such a thin little booklet that I tucked it in among some other papers and then completely lost track of it.
It’s also sold at the shop, so I had a peek around the basement – but of course they’d already switched to this month’s issue. The billboards, the magazine, everything had already moved on to next month. It’s still January, you know… they really don’t mess around (ha). Right, I’ve made my peace with it.
Wrapping Up
No play this time, but I got to spend a quiet day taking in a Kabukiza you can only see on a dark day. The space from one run’s last day to the next one’s first – turns out that’s not bad at all.
An empty Kabukiza, all to myself. A day like this is pretty good too.
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