Uchikoza

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Researched and written by Hinato

Uchikozawooden theatrekabukiUchikoTaisho

Photo: Reggaeman / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) · original

What Uchikoza looked like originally and what it looks like now are two different stories — both worth knowing before you arrive.

Uchikoza was built in 1916 by eighteen local businessmen who had made money from wax and wanted somewhere to watch kabuki. It is a two-storey wooden playhouse with a revolving stage, a trap lift, sunken box seating on tatami and a hanamichi walkway through the audience — the full Edo apparatus, put up in the Taisho period by a town that could afford it.

It was nearly demolished in 1982, restored instead, and it still works: touring kabuki, bunraku, rakugo and local performances run through the year. When nothing is on you can walk in for ¥400 and go anywhere — onto the stage, under it to see the hand-turned revolve, up into the boxes. Very few historic theatres let you do that. It is five minutes from the preserved wax-merchant street.

What to know before you go

When to go

Year-round

Opening hours

Viewing during opening hours when no performance is scheduled

Closed: Confirm the performance schedule before travelling

Time to allow

45–60 minutes

Fee

¥400 for viewing | Performances ticketed separately

How to reach it

Directions

2102 Uchiko, Uchiko, Kita District. About a short walk from JR Uchiko Station on the Yosan Line. Admission ¥400 for viewing when no performance is scheduled, which allows access to the stage, the understage machinery and the seating. Performances run through the year and are ticketed separately — confirm the schedule before travelling.

Historical notes & tips

**Go under the stage.** The revolve and the trap lift are hand-operated and the space beneath is open to visitors on a viewing ticket. That is the best ¥400 in Ehime. **Check whether a performance is on.** Viewing access is only available when the theatre is not in use. If something is scheduled you either buy a ticket for it or come back. **Stand on the hanamichi.** The walkway through the audience is walkable on a viewing ticket, which almost no other historic theatre permits. **It was nearly demolished.** The 1982 decision to restore rather than clear it is why the building exists, and it started the whole preservation movement in Uchiko. **Combine with the wax street.** Yokaichi-Gokoku, the preserved district, is a few minutes away and is where the money that built this came from.

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