季節柄、客席には浴衣姿のお客様もちらほら見かけました。 歌舞伎座に浴衣で出かけて良いものか？ というのは、納涼歌舞伎がスタートした四半世紀も前から論じられ、賛否が分かれるところです。 歌舞伎座での観劇に厳格なドレスコードがあるわけではありませんが、もちろん、ご近所の盆踊りや夏祭りとは違います。洋服で出かけるにしても、Tシャツや湯上がり着ではなく、ワンピースやスーツで、いつもより少しお洒落をしていらっしゃる方が多いハレの場です。 
写真は、「銀座いせよし」さんで見せていただいた、絹紅梅の浴衣地。 最低限でも素足に下駄ではなく、足袋に草履を合わせたいもの。こうした絹紅梅や綿絽などの浴衣を、半襟のついた襦袢に重ねてきちんと着付けるなら許容範囲のうちでしょうか。 楽しい夏芝居、涼しくさっぱりと、他のお客様からも心地よく思われる装いで出かけたいですね。
Bettyokoジュエリージャーナリストとして活躍する傍ら、歌舞伎、文楽、バレエをはじめ観劇ライフを満喫中のBettyと、米国・ヒューストンでの生活経験を生かし、日本文化を海外に伝える活動をしているYokoによるユニット。
https://www.instagram.com/bettyoko.kbk/ Go to the Theatre in kimonos vol.11
August Kabuki at the Kabukiza Theatre in the third part
"SATO NO UWASA YAMANAYA URAZATO"(The Story about courtesan Urazato) I saw the third program of August Kabuki at the Kabukiza Theatre. Kabukiza Theatre usually has two programs (the matinee and the evening show) daily, but it has three programs in August every year. The third one starts playing from 6 PM, so it is not so difficult for office workers to get the seat in time even on weekdays. The first play was TSUCHIGUMO(The Earth Spider) that has two memorable things. One is the last stage for Nakamura Hashinosuke with this Kabuki actor's name, and he will be the successor of the name of Nakamura Shikan in this coming October. The other is the debut on the stage of Namino Noriyuki, younger son of Nakamura Kankuro. The next play was SATO NO UWASA YAMANAYA URAZATO", the new Kabuki work adopted the new Rakugo (traditional comic storytelling) premiered by Shofukutei Tsurube. Shofukutei Tsurube attended the press interview held prior the Kabuki play release with the Kabuki actors, Nakamura Kankuro and Nakamura Shichinosuke. When Kankuro went to see the Tsurube's Rakugo show, he started imaging the scenery of this story in details as the Kabuki play in just two minutes. After the show, Kankuro rushed to Tsurube's dressing room to tell him that he would like to make it into a Kabuki play. Tsurube said that in Rakugo, he describes all the roles in the story in words and lets the audience use their imagination to visualize the story. On the other hand, in Kabuki, the audiences see the real actor's playing in the actual sets. They will enjoy the different taste of this story from the Rakugo. Kabuki has many works adopting the Rakugo (ex. KAIDAN BOTAN DORO, RAKUDA etc.) and Rakugo has many works adopting the Kabuki, KANADEHON CHUSHINGURA. They have deep connection for long time. It's interesting if this new Kabuki play will be another start of the relationship between Kabuki and Rakugo. This is the humanitarian story in Yoshiwara Edo (old Tokyo). The main character are a straitlaced country samurai, Sakai Sojuro (played by Nakamura Kankuro) and a beautiful high-ranked courtesan of Yoshiwara, Urazato (played by Nakamura Shichinosuke). This play shows Shichinosuke's gorgeous costumes, the quickly changing scenes by machinery stage sets such as the large revolving stage and the trap door making an actor onto the stage. The audiences can enjoy just watching them. It is the perfectly enjoyable performance for the summer. The cherry blossoms season is usually picked up for the stoty in Yoshiwara, but it is new that the season is summer for this type of situation. Also it is funny point of this play that there are no characters from Edo, in spite of the story of Yoshiwara Edo, because of the play based Rakugo premiered by Shofukutei Tsurube who comes from Kansai (the west part of Japan). I saw some audiences in yukata (a type of summer kimono) this month. Is it alright to go to the Kabukiza Theatre in yukata? Since the August Kabuki started 25 years ago, we haven't been able to answer this question. There are no strict dress codes for the Kabukiza Theatre, but it is quite different occation from bon-odori (Japanese summer folk dance) or summer festival in neighbors. If you go to this theatre, you will see the people more in one-piece dress or a set of suits than in T-shirts or casual wear. It is the special place. This picture is Kinukobai (silk material for yukata), which is taken at the Kimono shop "Iseyoshi" in Ginza Tokyo. We recommend you to put on tabi (socks for kimono) and zori (sandal for kimono) instead of the geta (sandal for yukata) on the barefoot. Please layer your yukata on the juban (undergarment) with han-eri (decorative collar) , and it will be more suitable for the theatre. When we go see the summer fun Kabuki play, we would like to dress up in fresh cool look and make the others feel refreshed.
The unit of Betty and YokoBetty; jewelry journalist, enjoys watching stages of Kabuki, Bunraku, Balllet, and so on. Yoko; lived in the U.S.A for 10 years. Loves to introduce Japanese culture to abroad.
https://www.instagram.com/bettyoko.kbk/ 
