Originally Posted by ksandness
If you want to see kabuki (all-male theatre dating from the 18th century), that's considerably easier. The Kabuki-za is right near the Ginza, and they sell one-act tickets for foreigners, complete with rented headsets that narrate the action in English. (An entire play goes on for hours and hours, and if you're not into Japanese theatre, one act is plenty for enjoying the action and the costumes.)
For someone who for whom 'geisha' and 'kabuki' are indistiguishable blurred concepts, I wonder if Nihon Buyo (the often overlooked discipline that forms part of the Big Three of Japanese Theatre along with 'Kabuki' and 'Noh' - there's also Bunraku Puppet Theatre - rent out Takeshi Kitano's film 'Dolls' to get a taste) is what the OP is
really after.
Lots of links to informative articles here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buyo
There is more of a link between Nihon Buyo and Geisha/esp Maiko than there is with Kabuki (or rather Nihon Buyo IS the link between Geisha and Kabuki).
If you do see Memoirs of a Geisha, realise that the hairdo's (from the 1960s) and the make up (
This is what an apprentice Geisha really looks like ) are as genuine as the dancing (?????)
You're better of renting:
Kenji Mizoguchi "A Geisha" ^
or even Kinji Fukasaku "The Geisha House" (1999)
And
Kon Ichikawa "An Actors revenge" ^ - for a look at Kabuki
I'd also recommend Yasujiro Ozu "Floating Weeds" (either version) for a look at how it
used to be for travelling actors ^ ^