BENTENZA - TAKEDA NO SHIBAI
   
Names Bentenza
Takeda no Shibai
City Ôsaka
History

1662: Takeda Ômi (?~1704) opens the Takeda no Shibai in the Dôtonbori district of Ôsaka; this is a mechanized puppets theater at the beginning.

11th lunar month of 1759: first Kabuki adaptation of Chikamatsu Hanji's 1759 puppet theater drama "Hidakagawa Iriai Zakura", in Ôsaka at the Takeda no Shibai.

7th lunar month of 1768: premiere at the Takeda no Shibai of Namiki Shôzô I's drama "Yadonashi Danshichi Shigure no Karakasa", which is staged with the following casting:

Roles Actors
Danshichi Mohê Takeda Uhachi
Iwai-buro Jisuke Takeda Isematsu
The courtesan Otomi Nakamura Matsuyo
Arashi Sangorô Takeda Tazô
Sawamura Kunitarô Nakamura Kichimatsu
Heizaemon Nakayama Takizô
Takaichi Kazuemon Takeda Jirôichi
Manriki Ichiemon Takeda Tokizô
Osoyo Sanogawa Tomimatsu
Daimonjiya Jihê (commonly called Sakai no Daiji), the servant Kahei Takeda Manroku

12 April 1876: a fire breaks out in the room of the actor Nakamura Kanpachi and destroys the Takeda no Shibai.

May 1876: the theater is quickly rebuilt and renamed Bentenza.

13 March 1945: the Bentenza is destroyed during the bombing of Ôsaka. This theater is no more rebuilt in the post-war years.

The Bentenza in December 1902
 
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