Kabuki

It is amazing how much you can experience on a special day when the hours do not fly by as usual but for once time seems enough for something else. My last day in Japan was such an exceptional day

Back in Tokyo, a quick refreshing bath and I was on the road again. My pilgrimage to Enoshima had been remarkable but another highlight was still to come, a performance of the Kabukiza theatre, on of the oldest and most traditional Japanese art forms.
When I located the theatre in the Ginza district a few days ago and learnt that this landmark of Tokyo's cultural life is under threat to be pulled down in order to give way to yet another high-flying commercial site I was determined to see a play.
A whole performance seldom lasts more than 3 hours and you can go and see just one act if you wait at the box-office for tickets during the interval.
A Kabuki play is usually about historical events or moral conflicts in love relationships. As the flyer handed out to me at the box office gave the gist of the act, I did not rent an English headphone but listened to the strange sound of the old fashioned language spoken with a monotonous voice and accompanied by traditional instruments. The choreography of the movements of the all-male cast adds to the drama of the play. Although I did not understand a single word I watched the whole act spellbound by the glamour, excitement and general extraordinariness.
Was I not lucky to find the true essence of Japan at the end of my visit?