[Akita Kosaka Town] Guided tour of the playhouse Korakukan

National Important Cultural Property "Korakukan" A national important cultural property that was born in 1910 as a welfare facility for the Kosaka Mine. The exterior is modern Western style, and the interior is pure Japanese style, featuring a rare Japanese-Western style with a traditional Kabuki hut.

Graffiti on the dressing room wall A dressing room is a room where actors make up and change clothes. Many old graffiti of actors have been left on the walls of the dressing room and the front wall since the Meiji era. You can still see graffiti by Mikijiro Hira, Tatsuya Nakadai, Eijiro Tono, Yusuke Takita, etc. when you were young.

Dressing room There are 2 large rooms on the 1st floor and 5 private rooms on the 2nd floor. The graffiti of the actor who stepped on the stage of Korakukan is left as it is on the wall and door.

Cut hole (soft-shelled turtle) A device that raises an actor in Hanamichi's seventy-three (Shichi-san). It is an eco-friendly elevator operated by two people using a rope and a wooden pulley. I use it in regular plays almost every day.

Rotating stage The rotating stage with a diameter of 9.73m is one of the largest in Japan. The stage of Korakukan is almost a rotating stage. It has been used in regular performances almost every day for more than 100 years. The circular part in the center of the stage is turned in the abyss (under the floor of the stage) by a "potter's wheel" mechanism by four people.

ceiling The ceiling in the building is Western-style board, and the tulip-shaped lamps are still from the Meiji era. At the time of its foundation (Meiji 43), when there was no electricity in Tohoku, the Kosaka Mine had the second hydroelectric power plant in Japan, so it was a playhouse with a very rare electric lamp at that time.

The other side of the pier The second-floor pier is called the "opposite pier". The last part, "Omukai," was a seat for people with excellent appreciation to call the actor's name.

Honhanamichi We have adopted the style of a playhouse from the Edo period, which is equipped with a "soft-shelled turtle" in a place where important performances are performed as an extension of the stage.