Rokumeikan (play)

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Rokumeikan is a four-act period drama by Japanese writer Yukio Mishima. It was written for the Bungakuza theater group to mark its 20th anniversary. The first performance ran from November 27 to December 9, 1956, at the Daiichi Seimei Hall, with Haruko Sugimura as Asako and Nobuo Nakamura as Kageyama. The play was published in the December 1956 issue of Bungakukai. It became very popular and toured across Japan. Many people consider it Mishima’s most successful play, and it has been revived several times. An English translation by Hiroaki Sato appeared in 2002.

The play has been adapted into other media: a film directed by Kon Ichikawa released in 1986, and a television version in 2008. An opera based on the play by Shin’ichirō Ikebe premiered at the New National Theatre Tokyo in 2010.

Plot: On November 3, 1886, Emperor’s birthday, a ball is held at Rokumeikan (the Deer Cry Hall) in Tokyo. Many foreign dignitaries attend, but anti-government extremists plan to crash the party.