Hyogo · TakarazukaNo.1157★★Open in map →
Takarazuka Grand Theater
The home theatre of the Takarazuka Revue, Japan's all-female musical company. It stands at the end of a flowered promenade a short walk from the station, and its museum floors and official shop can be visited without a performance ticket.
- FromOsaka Station
- ~40 minJR rapid, several per hour
- Get off atTakarazuka Station (JR Takarazuka Line and Hankyu lines)
- On foot
- Takarazuka Grand Theater
The sweet spot
This is not a hidden place. It is one of the best-known theatres in Japan, and tickets for a popular troupe are hard to come by. What is less known is how much of the complex is open anyway. The promenade, the riverside plaza, the official shop and the museum floors all work without a seat in the auditorium.
Where it is
30 more notes in Hyogo · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Hana no Michi promenadea raised garden walkway of trees, seasonal flowers and bronze revue figures, running from the station to the theatre
- Riverside frontagethe orange-tiled, southern-European roofline of the complex on the bank of the Muko River
- Takarazuka Revue Hall of Fametwo museum floors of portraits, stage costumes and props, entered on a separate admission ticket
- Quatre Reves shopthe company's own shop by the entrance hall, stocked with photographs and programmes of the current run
- Osamu Tezuka Manga Museumthe city museum across the promenade, for the cartoonist who grew up in this town
How to actually get there
- Osaka Station → Takarazuka Station (JR Takarazuka Line rapid, about 25-30 min).
- Takarazuka Station → Hana no Michi promenade (cross the station plaza and join the raised walkway).
- Hana no Michi → Takarazuka Grand Theater plaza (walk about 10 min; the Hall of Fame entrance is inside the main building).
- JR Takarazuka Line rapid, direct from Osaka Station
- Osaka Station →(JR Takarazuka Line, the Fukuchiyama Line, rapid service)→ Takarazuka Station, about 25-30 minutes, then roughly a 10 minute walk to the theatre. Rapid and local trains run through the day, so there is no timetable to plan around.
- Return from Takarazuka Station
- Walk back along the promenade to Takarazuka Station and take the JR line toward Osaka, or the Hankyu Takarazuka Line toward Osaka-Umeda. Both run frequently into the evening, but the last departures are before midnight — check the platform display if you stay for an evening performance.
About the place
The Takarazuka Revue is an all-female company: men's roles and women's roles are both played by women. Its performers are divided into five troupes — Flower, Moon, Snow, Star and Cosmos — with a separate senior group, and the troupes take the Grand Theater in turn across the year. The stage is built for the form. There is a grand staircase for the finale, a revolving stage, a hanamichi walkway out into the audience, and the ginkyo, a curved apron bridge that runs in front of the orchestra pit. To stand on it, a performer must first graduate from the Takarazuka Music School beside the theatre.
How to enjoy it
Walk in from the station along the promenade rather than being dropped at the door — the approach is part of the visit, and it is at its best in spring when the cherry trees are out. The museum floors open in the morning and close around the final curtain, and their hours shift depending on whether the day has one performance or two. The theatre's rest day normally falls on Monday, so check the company's calendar before fixing a date.
Background & history
The company started in 1914, when the railway that had just reached this hot-spring town turned a disused indoor pool into a stage and put a troupe of girl singers on it. The audience outgrew that room, and a purpose-built Grand Theater opened in 1924. The hall standing today replaced it in 1993 on the same riverside ground. The smaller Bow Hall attached to it, opened in 1978, is where newer performers are given their first leading parts.
Before you go
- Cash
- The promenade and the riverside plaza are free. The museum floors inside the theatre are entered on their own admission ticket, bought at the door and separate from a performance ticket. Both station operators take IC cards and cash.
- Before you go
- The theatre takes a regular rest day, usually Monday, and the museum floors close with it. The promenade is open at any hour but has no cover, and the cherry trees that line it are bare outside spring.
- Another way
- From Osaka-Umeda, the Hankyu Takarazuka Line express runs direct to Takarazuka Station in about 35 minutes. From Kobe-Sannomiya, take the Hankyu Kobe Line to Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi and change to the Imazu Line.
- After you get off
- At Takarazuka Station, follow the signs for Hana no Michi and walk south-east along the raised promenade; it ends at the theatre plaza in roughly 10 minutes.