was one of the three main kabuki theatres of Edo alongside the Morita-za and Ichimura-za.[ Japanese Aesthetics and Culture: A Reader – Page 205 Nancy G. Hume – 1995 "While the Nakamura-za in Edo provides a detailed illustration of the physical design of a theater ... no two were identical. Theaters were, moreover, periodically rebuilt, for fires frequently ravaged Edo."]
History
It was founded in 1624 by Nakamura Kanzaburō 1st. The Nakamura-za relocated to the new capital
Tokyo in 1868 and reopened under Nakamura Kanzaburō I's last direct descendant Nakamura Kanzaburo XIII (1828–1895) as
zamoto.
[ Kabuki Plays on Stage: Restoration and Reform, 1872–1905 – Page 3 James R. Brandon, Samuel L. Leiter – 2003 "dwindled to the point that the Nakamura-za was dark for fifty-eight days and the Ichimura-za for thirty-eight. That autumn, in a display of political awareness, the Morita-za and the Nakamura-za joined forces to stage the prophetically titled Dedication of Loyalty to the Eastern Capital (Azuma no Miyako Chushin Yurai), with "eastern capital" being ...Tokyo" "In Tokyo the three licensed theatres continued without change"] It was later also called the
Miyako-za (都座).
A real-size replica of the Nakamura-za is located at the Edo-Tokyo Museum.
External links
