The fertile plains of the Kikuchi River basin have been known for its rice production.
Rice ,produced in this plains, was transported via the Kikuchi River to Osaka, Japan’s largest center of rice trading in the Edo period, while influencing the rice market of the entire country.
Water transportation using the Kikuchi River developed as a commercial artery.
Yamaga, located in this river’s basin, therefore flourished as a trading center of various products including rice.
Back then, there were many rice-related shops, such as sake breweries and rice malt shops, in Yamaga along Buzen Way(the main street running from Kumamoto to Kokura via Yamaga).
Yamaga still has many old buildings along the street, retaining the atmosphere of that time.
菊池川流域の米処，山鹿のまちなみです。
菊池川流域に広がる肥沃な平野は，古くから米処として知られており，ここから大阪まで運搬された米は米相場を左右したと言われています。
菊池川流域の山鹿は，菊池川水運の物流拠点としても栄え，豊前街道には当時，造り酒屋や麹屋が建ち並び大いに栄え，今もその面影をとどめています。
Yachiyo-za Playhouse was established by a merchant from Yamaga in 1910.
It has various facilities unique to kabuki playhouse in the Edo period, such as box seats, hanamachi (a long, raised stage that runs through the audience from the back of the theater to the stage) and suppon ( a hole that rises and falls under the hanamichi, which is used for appearance/ exit of unreal roles such as ghosts).
Presenting kabuki plays, concerts and various other programs,the playhouse attracted huge audiences.
In the 1970′s, however, it began being used less, and became run down with a leaking roof.
Later, a citizen’s movement to preserve the playhouse became active, and it was designated as a national important cultural asset in 1988, after its roof was repaired with money from public donations.
In 1996, large-scale repair work on the playhouse started, and was completed in 2001.
With new reproductions of the original chandeliers and ceiling advertisement paintings, the playhouse looks like what it was in 1923, when it was in its prime.
八千代座は明治43年(1910年）に山鹿の商人達によって建設された，枡席，すっぽん，花道などの設備を有する江戸時代の歌舞伎小屋の様式を今に伝える芝居小屋です。
昭和40年代後半から使われなくなり，著しく老朽化が進みましたが，平成8年（1996年）から平成の大修理に着手し，平成13年（2001年）に復元作業が完了，大正12年当時の華やかな姿に蘇りました。
（ 熊本県観光案内板を参照 ）
Yamaga-City, Kumamoto-Prefecture, Japan
July 2014, Olympus OM-D E-M1
熊本県山鹿市
2014年7月撮影，Olympus OM-D E-M1
