Shibaijaya - Shibaijaya

A kabuki theater institution that existed from the Edo period through the early Showa period. Edo-period theaters had no additional facilities other than seats, and no rest areas or dining areas during intermission. Therefore, theater teahouses provided a variety of services so that high-class customers could enjoy a day's worth of theater. Teahouses would reserve box seats, take care of meals, store guests' belongings, and even serve as a venue for drinking parties with favorite actors after the show. Teahouses were two-story buildings, and were required to have curtains and lanterns hung from the eaves so that the inside of the room could be seen from the street outside.

During the early Kabuki era, hanging teahouses were built in vacant lots around theaters, but as they grew in size, the ranks of large and small teahouses were created. In Edo, during the Meiwa period (1764-1772), Nakamuraza had 16 large teahouses and 15 small teahouses, Ichimuraza had 10 large teahouses and 15 small teahouses, and Moritaza had 7 large teahouses, which was the height of its prosperity. In Osaka, the number of teahouses in Dotonbori had increased so much that the shogunate forced them to leave, and in 1692 (Genroku 5) approved 12 more, and five years later 46 more were officially recognized, for a total of 58 teahouses. These were the so-called "Iroha teahouses," and the number was not necessarily set at 48, as the number increased further towards the end of the Edo period and they came to be called "mae-chaya." After the Meiji period, there were 11 teahouses at both the Kabukiza and Meijiza theaters, which opened in the 1880s, and about 20 teahouses in front of them in Osaka remained, but all of them disappeared between the end of the Taisho period and the early Showa period.

[Yukio Hattori]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸時代から昭和初期に至るまで存在した歌舞伎(かぶき)観劇機関。江戸時代の劇場は座席のほかに付属設備がなく、幕間(まくあい)の休憩所も食堂もなかった。そこで、上等客が1日の芝居見物を楽しむことができるようにと、さまざまなサービスをしたのが芝居茶屋である。茶屋は桟敷(さじき)席の予約、食事の世話をはじめ、持ち物を預かり、さらに観劇後は贔屓(ひいき)俳優を招いてする酒宴の席にもなった。茶屋は2階建てで、軒に暖簾(のれん)・提灯(ちょうちん)をかけ、表の通りから座敷の内部が見通せるようにすることを義務づけられていた。

　掛け茶屋が初期歌舞伎の時代に劇場周辺の空き地につくられたのに始まるが、しだいに規模が大きくなり、大茶屋・小茶屋の等級も生じた。江戸では明和(めいわ)年間（1764～72）中村座に大茶屋16軒、小茶屋15軒、市村座に大茶屋10軒、小茶屋15軒、森田座に大茶屋7軒があって隆盛を極めた。大坂では、道頓堀(どうとんぼり)に非常に数が増えたのを、幕府が退去させ、改めて1692年（元禄5）12軒を許可、その5年後に46軒を追加公認したため、あわせて58軒の茶屋があった。これがいわゆる「いろは茶屋」で、かならずしも48軒と定まっていたわけではなく、幕末にはさらに増加し、「前茶屋」とよばれるようになった。明治以後は、明治20年代に開場した歌舞伎座・明治座ともに11軒の茶屋があり、大阪の前茶屋も20軒ほど残っていたが、いずれも大正末から昭和初期にかけて消滅した。

［服部幸雄］

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