
Kabuki-za
Grand kabuki playhouse with palace-style roofs fused to a modern glass tower, rebuilt after repeated fires and war damage.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Kabuki-za in Tokyo follows the playhouse founded in 1889 by journalist Fukuchi Gen'ichiro and named for the kabuki art form itself, through rebuilds after a 1921 fire, the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake, and 1945 wartime bombing. It traces how star performer Ichikawa Danjuro IX shaped its early years and how the theater was reborn in 1950, then again in 2013 under architect Kengo Kuma. Look up at where the old palace-style roofline meets the modern glass tower behind it.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo Arena
Purpose-built sumo arena with an eleven-thousand-seat dohyo, rebuilt on the site of a hall destroyed by fire, quake and war.
Shimokitazawa
Warren of narrow, car-free lanes packed with vintage shops, jazz bars and hundred-seat theaters.
Sensō-ji Five-Storied Pagoda
Rebuilt Buddhist pagoda whose topmost story enshrines relic ashes of the Buddha, off-limits to the public.
Sensō-ji
Ancient Buddhist temple complex behind a giant red lantern gate, rebuilt after repeated fires and wartime bombing.
St. Mary's Cathedral, Tokyo
Cross-shaped modernist cathedral of eight curved concrete walls sheathed in stainless steel, lit by a skylight running its length.
Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum
Faithfully rebuilt Queen Anne-style red-brick office block turned museum of nineteenth-century European art.