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