Minamiza Theater — Attraction in Kyoto

The birthplace of Kabuki—what an honor to be in a place with such a rich and long history. The actors were so gifted, inspired, and hard-working. The live music was spectacular. I was so excited for this but also left very disappointed, and can echo the same criticism as the other low star reviews. Often I read low reviews and conclude that it is a “user problem” and not the fault of the place but this time they are completely accurate. We also came to learn about Kabuki, I think it is so strange that they would create a show for beginners, that is so superficial and brief, but then it only caters to Japanese speakers??? Maybe there should be a disclaimer that this is simply not for tourists. I would respect that more. The 1000¥($7.00ish) English audio guide was nonexistent, as others have mentioned: the voice translates almost nothing of what the players speak. In fact, the audio guide started a few minutes after the show had begun. During the intermission I went to complain and the person in charge showed me the papers of script showing the Japanese to English translation side by side, so I am either to believe that the translator just read a small portion of the script and skipped parts, or that the players improvised and added pages and pages of personal commentary to a skeleton script, that the interpreter was unable or unwilling to translate. I would never expect an interpreter to translate 1:1, but in this case there were long minutes of silence from the audio guide while the actors rambled on in Japanese and the audience laughed at jokes that we were left out of. How depressing and embarrassing. The only thing more infuriating was that the person in charge gaslit me when I complained, saying that nobody else had said anything. When I walked away, immediately some european lady that had overheard me shared that she was equally upset, but when I encouraged her to speak up she said it was “only 1000¥” … so, yeah. I think any amount of money paid for a translation should yield a translation. This could have been included in the total price of the ticket with a disclaimer that it will be very very basic for you to barely follow along. Right when I was complaining and even suggested I deserved my money back (the man acted so offended that I said this), an English lady walked up to us and asked if she could get the audio guide for the second half, and the man in charge told her in front of me that it wasn’t worth it! After treating me like I was unreasonable 🤣🤣🤣 THEN- the second half was completely without dialogue (except for the chanting in the music) and our audio guide was explaining everything that we were seeing 🤯 so we got a secret explanation that nobody else got??!?!! I was grateful for that but so very baffled, and after the unpleasant exchanges, it was hard to enjoy the rest of the show, which was so good 😭 One last thing about the audio guide which is important: The sound quality had lots of static, which made it hard to listen to the musical part. So I even missed some of the “secret explanations” because I chose to appreciate the music fully and turn it off at times. 🤷‍♀️ Womp womp.

Temperature was comfortable but maybe could be 1 or 2º lower. The seats were fairly comfortable but super tight. Like an airplane, very close together in all directions. Again, the actors and the musicians were fabulous. The lady at the ticket office was so kind and helpful and polite, and also the staff at the entrance. The bathroom was fantastic with bidets and super clean.

No photos allowed during the performance, also disappointing but more understandable than at some of the other places in Japan where this has also...

Minamiza Theatre was founded in the 1600s and is considered to be one of the places of kabuki’s birthplace. Having that in mind, it might be surprising to see an advertisement of NARUTO hanging just above the main entrance. But of course it’s not here without a reason; in the current repertoire we can find the KABUKI adaptation of the manga itself.

The unique fusion of popculture and tradition will entertain fans of each, both or even neither. The adaptation is a shortened version of the story known from manga, introducing main characters and covering the most important events. There will be probably no surprises for Naruto fans when it comes to the plot, but the way it’s executed is absolutely amazing. Original manga costumes are redesigned to look more traditional (but they’re still very in character!). Same goes for makeup, hairstyles and even music. The scenery looks great as well and it changes very often. Adding the ‚special effects’ and engineering, it’s almost like a scene is alive itself! Actors are obviously highly skilled; not only in traditional techniques such as mie, but they’re also great acrobats. Production is 4h long but it was so engaging and action-packed that I found myself surprised when it came to an end.

Visiting such a beautiful and stepped in history building was already an experience itself, but watching a show here was definetely a highlight of my time in japan. i would highly recommend it to everyone, you won’t be...

NARUTO’ is a battle action story which describes the growth of the adolescent Ninja, Naruto Uzumaki, known as one of Japan’s best manga series, it is loved by people both at home in Japan and abroad. Therefore, it has many cool actions and fighting scenes in the show. It is the most crazy play i've seen in my life. When I was young, I used to watch Naruto on TV every night during dinner time with my brother. Since this memory has been saved in my childhood. It was a wonderful experience for me to see such a traditional kabiki show with the anime I like. 10/10