Kyoto Kagetsu Theater (京都花月劇場)
Kyoto Kagetsu Theater was a theater belonging to Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd. It was also a movie theater. It served as an entertainment hall, too. It was located in Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto City, which is commonly known as Shinkyogoku. At present, a commercial building run by Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd. called 'Passagio' stands there.
History
1936: Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd. bought a playhouse, Nakaza Theater, constructed Kyoto Kagetsu Theater on the spot and opened it. This entertainment hall centered on manzai (a comic dialog).
1946: Turned into a movie theater which specialized in foreign films. However, as there were dressing rooms left in the building, live performances by singers were also regularly held. Later, it became a first-run theater of Toei Company, Ltd.
June 1, 1962: Again turned into an entertainment hall and various forms of entertainment as well as plays by Yoshimoto Shin Kigeki (Yoshimoto New Comedy Troupe) were held and broadcast live from there.
March 31, 1987: Closed because of aging facilities and the company's policy to merge the entertainment performances with those of Nanba Grand Kagetsu.
About the Theater
The seating capacity was just shy of 1,000 people.
From July 11 to 20, the annual 'Yoiyama yose' (the eve of the main festival of comic chat) took place.
A comic duo called Downtown also appeared on stage when young. Masatoshi HAMADA (of Downtown) once said that he had slept in the dressing rooms of this theater a few times, and there was a time he felt someone's presence but there was no one in sight. Other entertainers often mentioned that they also experienced psychical phenomena in the dressing rooms, while the land in which the theater stood was surrounded by temples and was said to have been a cemetery before.