おもしろ体験博物館
江戸民具街道が紹介する足柄地域の情報
Japanese Folk Art Museum
Regional Informaiton by Edo Mingu Kaido

Home ＞地域情報(Local area information)  ＞相模人形(Sagami puppet theatre)

相模人形芝居 下中座
Sagami Ningyo Shibai "Shimonaka-za Theatre"

Sagami Ningyo Shibai and Shimonaka-za Theatre

  Sagami Ningyo Shibai can be translated as Sagami Province Puppet Theatre. During the Edo and Meiji Periods, there were puppet theatres, in which a puppet was manipulated by three persons, in at least 15 areas along Sagami River in Atsugi and Sakwa River in Odawara and the Koshu road in Tsukui-makino in current Kanagawa Prefecture.
During 1951 through 1953, a research was conducted by the prefectural cultural property committee which revealed that Shimonaka-za in Odawara City, Hayashi-za and Hase-za in Atsugi City had traces, in their styles of puppet manipulation and the structure of puppets, of Tokyo Nigyo Joruri that had disappeared long ago.
Thereby the three theatrical companies were designated as intangible folk cultural property of Kanagawa Prefecture in 1953 and national important intangible folk cultural property by Japanese government in 1980. Two other theatrical companies such as Sakitori-za in Hiratsuka City and Ashigara-za in Minami-ashigara City, once disappeared during the Second World War but revived after the war, also gained the title of prefectural intangible folk cultural property. Currently these five theatres organize Sagami Ningyo Shibai union and hold Sagami puppet theatre festival every year, continuing their profound studies.

The map of Kanagawa Prefecture:
Sakawa River on the left and Sagami River in the center.
Shimonaka is located at “下中”.

History of Shimonaka-za Theatre

 Shimonaka-za has nearly 300 years of history, even though the name was officially given in 1953. Oral tradition says that a puppet theatre in this region was initiated 290-300 years ago by puppeteers from Kyoto area who stayed there for some time. The oldest puppet head was believed to have been made in 1751 through 1789.
At the end of the Meiji Period (around 1910), one of puppeteers from Tokyo named Isashi Nishikawa, later called Izaemon, settled down in Odake, which brought the prosperity to the puppet theatre. Izaemon eagerly gave lessons not only to Shimonaka-za but to other theatrical companies such as Hase-za, Hayashi-za, and Sakitori-za. At that time, Shimonaka-za was familiarly called “the puppet theatre of Odake” and beloved by the local people; however, due to drastic changes in the society by rapid economic growth after the Second World War, new generations lost their interest in the traditional puppet show.
Facing a verge of disappearance of the theatre, Shimonaka-za had successor training programs with cooperation extended by Odawara City; though in 1985, Shimonaka-za for lack of members had to ask Sakitori-za for support to continue their public performances.

Izaemon Nishikawa

New Steps Shimonaka-za Theatre is taking

 In 1991, Shomonaka-za Sagami Nigyo School was established for the sake of successor training and 17 members were newly joined in the theatre. Sagami Nigyo Club was organized at Ninomiya High School in the neighboring town in 1980 and students participated in national competitions 5 times and had an overseas performance in Beijing. They have exchanges with Shimonaka-za and currently 11 members out of 33 of Shimonaka-za are the ex-club members. In 2002, Tachibana Junior High School in Odawara City founded Sagami Ningyo Club and a special story about the folklore “Kintaro from Mt. Ashigara” was written for students to play, which propelled the completion of a new story titled “the birth of Kintaro” to be performed by Shomonaka-za in 2014. (*KIntarao is also known as Sakata-no-kinotoki, one of the big four warriors who served for Minamonoto-no-yorimitsiu in the 10th Century, who exterminated Shutendoji, a mythical oni leader lived in Mt. Ooe near Kyoto.) In the same year, Shimonaka-za Club was established at Shimonaka Elementary School in Odawara City. Shimonaka-za members give support to children while practicing twice a month on weekends and holding public performances 15 times per year.

A scene of practice by Shimonaka-za members

Photo left: a practice scene of Shimonaka-za Club of Shimonaka Elementrary School in the summer of 2013
Photo middle: a public performance by Sagami Ningyo Club of Tachibana Junior High School in 2011
Photo right: members of Sagami Ningyo Club of Ninomiya High School at a national high school cultural festival held at Toyama in 2012

相模人形芝居「下中座」ホームページ Webpage of Shimonaka-za

おもしろ体験博物館江戸民具街道
神奈川県足柄上群中井町久所４１８
0465-81-5339
Japanese Folk Art Museum "Edo Mingu Kaido"
Address: 418 Kuzo, Nakai-machi, Ashigara-kamigun, Kanagawa-ken, Japan
Tel: 0465-81-5339