Sunday I was lucky enough to tag along with Leslie and two Japanese women to go to Tokyo to see Kabuki. I rode to Leslie`s house early. I had to leave by 8:45. My body was sad to wake up so early. A student from Leslie's adult class picked us up in her car. We drove for about an hour to a train station in a different prefecture. We parked in this tiny lot and across from us was a Hummer! I have no idea how anyone could drive a Hummer through some of the streets in Japan. We took the train for another hour to Ginza, which is a fashionable part of Tokyo. There we met the Japanese student`s friend who knows a lot about Kabuki. We were a little late and had missed the time to get tickets, so we ate first. They took us a block away to this tiny sushi shop. It was empty except for us and the chef. We sat at the counter. The sushi was so fresh and delicious. I was happily full when we left. It also seemed very cheap. For four pieces of eel it was only 700 yen (less than 7 dollars).
Afterwards we walked back to the theater and stood in line to get seats in the cheap fourth floor. Kabuki is meant to be an all day event. A show runs for 5 or 6 hours. It`s also really expensive. Luckily, they have created a way for those who can`t spare the time or the money to experience Kabuki. The fourth floor seats (way, way up there) are for only one act at a time. So we bought tickets for the fourth act and left when that act was done even though the play wasn't. It was much cheaper, only 800 yen (instead of 150 dollars) and only an hour.
This is the official description of what I saw:
SOGA MOYO TATESHI NO GOSHOZOME (Gosho no Gorozo)
A portrait of the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters at the height of its splendor. Rival gangs dressed in the height of fashion exchange stately speeches before fighting in the elaborate poetic cadences of Kawatake Mokuami, the last great playwright of kabuki. Gorozo is the handsome leader of a gang, but his lover, the top courtesan Satsuki pretends to reject him to save his life. Tragedy strikes when Gorozo is driven to revenge. Starring Nizaemon as Gorozo, Sadanji as his rival in love, Fukusuke as Gorozo’s lover, the courtesan Satsuki and Takataro as Oshu, a courtesan who is tragically killed.
The costumes were beautiful and so was the way they spoke. I have no idea what they were saying, but the cadence was musical. I could have rented a device with English dubbing, but decided not to because I wanted to focus on the costumes, sounds, and experience of being in a theater. They even had dubbed versions for native speakers. Kabuki Japanese is old, old Japanese. It would be like listening to a play in English older than Chaucer's. It's practically another language.
After the play, we took pictures in front of the theater. It is the most famous one in all of Japan and very old. After that we walked to a nearby temple. It was different because it wasn't done in that Japanese style. It was more Indian looking.
It was such fun to spend the day in Tokyo with people who live there, and could show us some of the cool restaurants and cultural highlights of the area.
