Kanamaru-za Kabuki Theater
旧金毘羅大芝居（金丸座）
Built in 1835, Japan's oldest surviving kabuki theater. Visitors can see the stage machinery and the underground “naraku,” and formal performances are held in spring.
Kanamaru-za is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property that preserves the wooden theater structure of the Edo period: masu-gata box seating, the hanamichi runway, a manually turned revolving stage, and underground naraku mechanisms. Visitors can go inside during the day to see behind the stage and the underground passages. Every April the “Shikoku Kotohira Kabuki Grand Theatre” takes place, featuring leading kabuki actors, and tickets sell out quickly. Admission is about ¥500, and hours are 9:00–17:00. It sits beside the approach to Kotohira-gū, about a 15-minute walk from JR Kotohira Station, so you can visit before or after worship.
Opening hours
09:00–17:00 (closed to visitors during performances)
Nearby sights
- Kotohira-gu Shrine
- Zentsu-ji Temple
- Marugame Castle
- Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art (MIMOCA)
- Takaya Shrine (Torii in the Sky)
- Chichibugahama Beach
- Great Seto Bridge
- Ritsurin Garden