SAN MATEO — On the first Sunday of each month, the San Mateo Kabuki Kai watches kabuki videos at the Japanese Community Center, 415 S. Claremont St. in San Mateo.

This month’s gathering, scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 4, at 1:30 p.m., will feature “Kenuki” (The Tweezers). This play was one the “Kabuki Juhachi Ban,” 18 special kabuki plays selected by the famous kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro VII (Ichikawa Ebizo V), which designated the dramas as the best examples of the kabuki theater.

In the play, Kumedera Danjo, a retainer of Bunya Toyohide, comes to the mansion of Ono Hirumichi to check on stalled wedding plans of his master to Hirumichi’s daughter, Nishiki-no-Mae, who was rumored to be suffering from a bizarre illness.

He instead discovers a sinister plot by Yatsurugi Genba, who wants to marry his son to Hirumichi’s daughter.

The part of Kumedera Danjo is played by Ichikawa Danjuro; Sakuramachi Chujo is played by Ichikawa Ebizo; Yatsurugi Genba is played by Ichikawa Danzo; and the part of Hata no Minbu is played by Kawarasaki Gonjuro.

For more information, call Mika Bourbonnais (in Japanese) at (650) 341-6849 or Yoko Anderson (in English) at (650) 341-5872.

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