こけら落とし

Kokera-otoshi is the first production held in a newly built or renovated theatre. Kokera are the thin wood shavings left by carpentry; because the final act of construction was to sweep such shavings from the roof, the first event after completion is said to have come to bear the name.

Today the word extends beyond theatres to the opening events of concert halls, stadiums, and other new venues. The festive sense of art entering a new vessel for the first time makes it one of the most celebratory words theatre culture has given the Japanese language.

The character for kokera hides a morsel of trivia: though nearly identical to the character for kaki, the persimmon, kokera is held to be a different character altogether, its right-hand element written with a single vertical stroke running unbroken from top to bottom. The pair is notoriously hard to tell apart—a perennial talking point whenever newspapers and broadcasters must print the word.

In present-day usage: "The new arena's kokera-otoshi was a concert by a popular singer"; "We went to the kokera-otoshi performance at the newly renovated civic hall." The idea of consecrating a finished vessel with art has carried the word far beyond the theatre.

Kokera-otoshi marks the turning points in the life of theatres. Since the Edo period playhouses have burned and risen again, and each reopening has passed the art into a new vessel; the Ichikawa Sōke's stages have walked alongside those renewed theatres throughout.