滝本 匠 
June 6, 2022 Ryukyu Shimpo
By Kengo Fujimura
Okinawa’s oldest theater, the beloved “Shuri Gekijo” playhouse in Naha, is finally shutting down after 70 years in operation. The theater has been on a hiatus since the theater director, Masanori Kinjo, passed away in April, but with the deterioration of the facilities and the lack of someone to take over, the theater will close down for good. On June 5, the “Shuri Gekijo Friends’ Association” and the “Shuri Theater Commission” held a tour of the theater. Over 80 people joined the tour to mourn the theater’s final curtain close.
The Shuri Gekijo opened in September, 1950. The theater was beloved as a community facility, hosting Okinawan plays, ballet performances, and movies, and even hosted the opening ceremony for the University of the Ryukyus, which had a campus in Shuri.
In the 70’s the popularity of movies began to decline, and the theater shifted to showing adult movies, however in May of last year the theater reopened as a theater showing classic movies.
In the tour of the theater, the participants saw the wood stove used by the actors who stayed the night at the theater while performing, and the khaki curtains that many believed were made from U.S. military surplus materials.
One twelve-year-old child that joined the tour said, “I think the building could be recreated and preserved in digital VR. It was a valuable experience to see this building that was used as a playhouse.”
(English translation by T&CT and Sam Grieb)
