Hitoyama Rural Kabuki

Hitoyama Kabuki traces its origins to 1686, when a small stage was built to celebrate the completion of Kaeruga ike pond and pray for protection of the harvest. Since then, performances have been offered continuously to the nearby Hachiman Shrine, where the theater stands. The current stage was built in 1900, replacing a structure destroyed by a typhoon four years earlier. It has all the features of a traditional kabuki house: a hanamichi runway, revolving stage, trap lifts, the naraku pit below, the budodana grapevine trellis, dressing rooms, and the head actor's private room. It is a well-preserved example of a Shikoku stage and one of the lesser-visited theater structures in the region.