Korakukan
licensed photograph掬茶 / CC BY-SA 4.0

North Akita · KosakaNo.566★★Open in map →

Korakukan

— Kosaka's Meiji-era playhouse

cultureOff the trail — and worth it

A wooden playhouse of 1910 in the old Kosaka mine town, still in use. Behind the white clapboard front sit tatami boxes, a hanamichi walkway and a revolving stage that crew members turn by hand from the pit below.

  1. FromAkita Station
  2. ~1 h 25 min by rail, then busJR Ou Line, then bus
  3. Get off atOdate Station (JR Ou Line / Hanawa Line)
  4. From there
  5. Korakukan
Directions ↗

The sweet spot

Kosaka lost its railway, and no train reaches the town today. That single fact holds the visitor numbers down far more than any lack of interest. The theatre is a designated Important Cultural Property standing in plain sight on the main street, but getting to it means a bus from Odate and a look at the timetable first.

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Korakukan naraku掬茶 / CC BY-SA 4.0
  1. Meiji Hyakunen-dorithe mine-town street lined with acacias, listed among Japan's hundred scent landscapes
  2. The Korakukan frontpainted clapboard in a Western manner, turning to Japanese board siding around the sides
  3. The auditoriumtatami sajiki boxes and the hanamichi walkway cutting through the seating to the stage
  4. The narakuthe pit under the stage where crew turn the revolving floor by hand
  5. Kosaka Mine Officea three-storey wooden building in Renaissance dress, with a spiral stair running to the top floor

How to actually get there

  1. Akita Station → Odate Station (JR Ou Line, about 1 hour 25 minutes).
  2. Odate Station → Shuhoku bus toward Kosaka, off at Korakukan-mae. Check the departure board first; services are spaced out.
  3. Korakukan: see the hall, and on non-performance days join the staff-led walk through the dressing rooms and backstage.
  4. Walk Meiji Hyakunen-dori to the Kosaka Mine Office, then return to Odate on the same bus route.
JR Ou Line from Akita to Odate, then a Kosaka bus
Akita Station →(JR Ou Line, about 1 hour 25 minutes)→ Odate Station. From the station front, Shuhoku Bus runs toward Kosaka; get off at Korakukan-mae. Departures are spaced out through the day, so read the board before you leave the platform, and note the time of the bus you intend to catch back.
Return via Odate Station
Take the Kosaka bus back to Odate Station and pick up the JR Ou Line for Akita. Evening service thins on both legs, and the last bus out of Kosaka leaves well before the last train. Fix that departure first and build the visit around it.
Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Korakukan stands in Kosaka Kozan, the company district built around the Kosaka Mine in northern Akita. It is a wooden building of two storeys with a partial basement. The front is dressed in painted clapboard in a Western manner, while the flanks keep Japanese board siding and the roof is laid in copper. Inside, the plan is that of a traditional playhouse: tatami sajiki boxes on the floor, a main hanamichi running out through the seating, and a temporary second hanamichi that can be added when a piece calls for it. The revolving stage has no motor. Crew working in the naraku, the pit beneath the boards, push it around by hand.

How to enjoy it

Time the visit around the stage rather than the clock: the resident company plays on published dates, and on days without a performance the staff take visitors backstage, through the dressing rooms toward the machinery. The tour can be booked ahead and is worth arranging, because the guide is what turns a wooden box into a working theatre. Come in early summer and the acacias along Meiji Hyakunen-dori are in flower, which is why the street carries a place on the national scent list.

Background & history

The hall was completed in August 1910, built in the district that grew around the Kosaka Mine. Live theatre has continued here rather than stopping at preservation. The building was designated a National Important Cultural Property on 23 May 2002, and the same designation covers the Kosaka Mine Office of 1905, which stands along the same street. Together the two show what a mining company put up for the people who worked for it.

Before you go

Cash
Fares on the rural bus are paid on board and IC card acceptance is not guaranteed, so carry coins and small notes. Admission and performance ticket rates for Korakukan and the Kosaka Mine Office are posted at each entrance and on the operator's site.
Before you go
Korakukan is open through the year and closes only over the New Year period, though it shuts earlier in the winter months. The Kosaka Mine Office keeps a winter break, listed by the operator as roughly mid-November to mid-April, so a snow-season trip may be the theatre alone. This is deep snow country, and the Hanawa Line has been suspended in sections during record snowfalls.
Another way
From Morioka, JR Hanawa Line trains run through toward Odate. Get off at Towada-minami Station, the nearest station to Kosaka, and take the bus from there to the Korakukan-mae stop, about 25 minutes.
After you get off
Odate Station is the transfer point, not the destination. The theatre lies well outside walking range, and the Shuhoku bus toward Kosaka is the practical link; the Korakukan-mae stop puts you at the building.