Dotonbori Toei

One of the oldest playhouses ever built in the world is the Naka No Shibai, which means “the central stage” in Japanese. It was built by Shioya Kuroemon and opened its doors in 1652, and was a very popular house for a variety of early notable Japanese performers, including one of its earliest, Anegawa Shinshiro I, in November 1742.

Throughout its first 250 years in operation, the Naka No Shibai suffered several fire incidents. Parts of the auditorium were heavily damaged on September 2, 1813 when a fire broke out in a Japanese tea house near the theater. In 1876, the whole theater suffered destruction from a fire forcing a quick rebuild and was reopened that same year, and in 1884, the theater was destroyed by a fire again which occurred a few days before the first stage appearance of a new troupe led by Nakamura Ganjiro I. The theater was immediately rebuilt again and this time it was equipped with modern electric installations.

In 1908, the Shochiku chain took over as the management of the theater and began screening movies in 1911. They rebuilt the theater in 1920 and it was renamed the Nakaza. In November 1927, actor Nakamura Jakuemon III collapsed and died on stage while playing the role of Princess Michitose in the live stage drama “Honzo Shimoyashiki”.

On March 13, 1945, the Nakaza was completely destroyed by explosions led by American B29 bombers owned by the US Army during the Great Osaka Air Raid of 1945. The Nakaza was immediately relocated before reopening in January 1948, while the former site of the Nakaza was bought by Toei who rebuilt the theater as a twin-screen Toei theater.

The Osaka Toei Theater and the Toei Underground Theater opened its doors on March 28, 1955 as the first Toei theaters in Osaka. The Toei Underground Theater was renamed the Osaka Toei Palace on May 3, 1965. Both auditoriums were renovated on July 14, 1979 and was renamed the Dotonbori Toei and Dotonbori Toei Palace Theater.

Unfortunately due to the deterioration of the building and the opening of the nearby Namba Parks Cinema jointing managed by both Toei and Shochiku in the Namba Parks multipurpose commercial facility, the 660-seat Dotonbori Toei and 285-seat Dotonbori Toei Palace theaters closed for the final time on April 20, 2007.

Get Movie Tickets & Showtimes

Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.