Material Immaterial: The New Work of Kengo Kuma by Kengo Kuma

Author:Kengo Kuma [Kuma, Kengo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781568988740
Google: kRjWTPBB-VwC
Published: 2009-11-04T05:46:15+00:00

JUGETSUDO KABUKI-ZA

During the Edo period, there were four theatres in Tokyo, for the performance of kabuki: Nakamuraza, Shimuraza, Moritaza and Yamamuraza. The ruling shogunate were wary of the art form, however, and imposed various restrictions, including limiting the width of the theatres to 5.5 m (nearly 18 ft). In 1889, the writer and critic Fukuchi Ōchi, along with the actor Ichikawa Danjūrō IX, decided that the new, modern Japan must create a theatre tradition that would amaze Western visitors, and therefore needed a new performing space, exclusively for kabuki, to rival the Opéra in Paris. The first kabuki-za was built, and came to be loved not only as a symbol of Japanese tradition and theatre, but also as the cultural heart of the districts of Ginza and Tsukiji.

After it was destroyed by fire in 1921, the theatre was rebuilt, but burned down again during the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923. It was rebuilt in 1925, but this third version, too, was destroyed – this time by American air raids during the Second World War. The US occupation, led by General MacArthur, had initially considered banning kabuki altogether, but it was allowed to continue, thanks to MacArthur’s aide-de-camp, Faubion Bowers, who ensured that a fourth kabuki-za was built in 1950.

When it was decided that this building needed updating to make it earthquake-resistant, we were commissioned to design a fifth version of the building. The exterior essentially follows the form of its predecessor, but we extended the eaves to augment the shadows, and exaggerated the design of the karahafu (a kind of undulating gable roof, unique to Japan), at the centre of the façade. The karahafu originally appeared in the third incarnation of the building, and was replicated in many of the public bathhouses built after the earthquake. Today, upon seeing a karahafu, most Japanese will either think of public baths or the kabuki-za. Until the Second World War, there were no baths in private homes, and public bathhouses formed a key part of everyday life, serving as a place for interaction and communication. Even today, there are over 500 public bathhouses remaining in Tokyo, giving one a taste of what life was like during the Edo period.

We also created a twenty-nine-storey tower behind the Jugetsudo Kabuki-za. For the front side of the tower, facing the theatre, we did away with conventional windows and instead created a three-dimensional façade with many shadows, drawing inspiration from the nejiri renji kōshi (narrowly spaced lattices with twisted bars) often observed in temples and shrines. The interior is designed in a vivid shade of scarlet known as ‘kabuki-za red’, and a muted, dull gold.

The foyer boasts a hand-embroidered carpet created for the fourth kabuki-za in 1950, with a pattern featuring the Chinese phoenix, a sacred bird and the symbol of the building. The design is taken from the Phoenix Hall at Byōdō-in Temple in Uji, Kyoto, which appears on the ten-yen coin. The carpet is made by Oriental Carpet, a small Yamagata-based company, set up in

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