On September 6, the Kan’ei Gyoko 400th Anniversary Commemorative Noh Performance will be held at the Kongo Noh Theatre.
At the heart of the program is “Kan’ei Gyoko,” a new Noh work created especially for this occasion. Emperor Go-Mizunoo will be portrayed by Tatsushige Kongo, Wakasoke (heir to the head family) of the Kongo school, while Tokugawa Iemitsu will be portrayed by Kiemon Hayashi XIV of the Kyoto Kanze Hayashi family. Together, they will create a single performance that transcends the boundaries of their respective Noh schools.
The program will also feature “Shojo Midare” (“Midare”), a work that was performed during the original Kan’ei Gyoko. Kongo and Hayashi will both take the role of shite (principal performer) on the same stage.
For this performance, two special seating options with a range of exclusive benefits are available: Center Front Seats (¥200,000) and Front Seats (¥70,000). These seats offer not only special benefits designed to provide a deeper experience of the performance, but also carry another important significance.
By choosing one of these seats, guests will help support the Kan’ei Gyoko 400th Anniversary Festival itself as a cultural initiative.
Passing the Culture of Four Centuries Ago from Our Time, Four Centuries Later, into the Future
The Kan’ei Gyoko 400th Anniversary Festival is not a one-day event. Taking the Kan’ei Gyoko as its starting point, it is a cultural initiative that reexamines Noh, the tea ceremony, waka poetry, crafts, and the many other cultural traditions that flourished in Kyoto during the early Edo period, with the aim of passing their value on to future generations.
Creating a new Noh work and reenacting the Imperial procession are not simply exercises in nostalgia. We, living today, receive the cultural traditions that have been passed down over the past four centuries and, in turn, carry them forward into the next hundred years and beyond. A portion of the proceeds from the ¥200,000 and ¥70,000 tickets will provide vital support for this project and its efforts to preserve and pass on these cultural traditions.
To experience the performance, and to support the future of culture.
These special seats bring those two purposes together.
Experiencing the Kan’ei Gyoko of Four Centuries Ago, Not Simply Watching It
The ¥200,000 Center Front Seats not only offer a view of the stage from the front-center section close to the stage, but also include a range of special benefits designed to provide a deeper experience of the 400th Anniversary Festival. One of the most significant of these is the opportunity to participate in the Kan’ei Gyoko Procession Reenactment on December 6.
Applications for general participation in the procession have already closed, and participants are being selected by lottery due to the large number of applications received. However, purchasers of a ¥200,000 seat will receive, as a special benefit, the opportunity for one person to participate in the procession reenactment.
Four centuries ago, Emperor Go-Mizunoo made his Imperial Visit from the Gosho (Kyoto Imperial Palace) to Nijo Castle. This benefit offers the opportunity to become part of the procession reenacting that historic event. After watching the new Noh work “Kan’ei Gyoko” on September 6, participants can step into that world themselves on December 6. It is a special opportunity to take part not only as a spectator, but as one of the people helping to bring the 400th Anniversary Festival to life.
In place of participating in the procession, purchasers may choose an invitation for up to two people to special viewing seats for the procession reenactment.
On the day of the Noh performance, guests will also be invited onto the Noh stage after the performance for a commemorative photograph with Kongo and Hayashi.
The ¥200,000 seats also include a special commemorative fan created exclusively for this occasion. The fan features a bamboo motif, chosen for its particular historical significance. During the Kan’ei Gyoko in 1626, a waka poetry gathering was held at Nijo Castle, with Karasuma Mitsuhiro serving as koshi (the official who recited the poems aloud). Taking “Bamboo, Pledging Long Years” as the poetic theme, Emperor Go-Mizunoo, Tokugawa Hidetada, and Tokugawa Iemitsu each composed a waka poem.
The theme expressed a wish for an enduring age of peace, standing straight and strong like bamboo.
That aspiration, entrusted to waka poetry four centuries ago, has now been revived in the design of a contemporary fan by Tadahiro Konoe of the Konoe family, foremost of the Five Regent Houses, who serves as Cultural Supervisor for the Kan’ei Gyoko 400th Anniversary Festival. Kongo, who portrays Emperor Go-Mizunoo in the new Noh work “Kan’ei Gyoko,” has brushed the character “寛” (Kan), while Hayashi, who portrays Tokugawa Iemitsu, has brushed the character “永” (Ei). Accompanied by the handwritten signatures of both performers, the fan is a special commemorative item available only for this performance.
We hope that, together with your memories of the performance, this fan will serve as a lasting reminder of the spirit of the Kan’ei Gyoko 400th Anniversary Festival.
Becoming Part of the Legacy: Carrying Culture into the Future
The ¥70,000 Front Seats are likewise more than simply seats from which to enjoy the performance at close range. Purchasing one of these seats is itself a way of supporting the ideals of the Kan’ei Gyoko 400th Anniversary Festival and contributing to efforts to carry culture into the future.
Culture does not survive simply because we wish to preserve it.
There are those who create the stage, those who perform, those who research and communicate its significance, and those who support these endeavors. It is through the accumulated efforts of all these people that the culture of four centuries ago has been passed down to us today.
Seen from the future, this 400th Anniversary Festival will likewise be one moment within that long continuum of cultural transmission.
We hope that you will not only experience the new Noh work “Kan’ei Gyoko” up close, but also take part in this project as one of those helping to pass culture on to the next era.
That is the aspiration behind both the ¥200,000 and ¥70,000 seats.
Carrying the aspirations of four centuries into the next hundred years.
The new Noh work “Kan’ei Gyoko,” created for this occasion, also embodies the hope that “this work will be performed once again at the 500th anniversary a hundred years from now.”
What we are creating today may still endure a century from now.
Seen in this light, the Kan’ei Gyoko 400th Anniversary Festival is not merely an occasion to commemorate the past. It is also a starting point for carrying culture into the future.
From the culture passed down over four centuries, through Kyoto four centuries later, and onward into the future.
We hope you will join us on September 6 to witness and support this performance as part of that continuing legacy.
Kan’ei Gyoko 400th Anniversary Commemorative Noh Performance
Date & Time: Sunday, September 6, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. (Doors scheduled to open at 1:30 p.m.)
Venue: Kongo Noh Theatre (Karasuma-dori, north of Nakadachiuri, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto)
