Kunio takeda biography for kids

Quick facts for kids Kishida Kunio
Native name	岸田國士
Born	(1890-11-02)November 2, 1890 Yotsuya, Tokyo
Died	March 5, 1954(1954-03-05) (aged 63) Tokyo, Japan
Occupation	playwright, novelist, critic, translator, impresario, lecturer
Language	Japanese
Nationality	Japanese
Alma mater	Meiji University, University of Tokyo
Period	1923 - 1954
Genre	Shingeki
Spouse	Murakawa Tokiko
Children	2

Kunio Kishida (岸田 國士, Kishida Kunio, 2 November 1890 – 5 March 1954) was a Japanese playwright, dramatist, man of letters, lecturer, acting coach, theatre reviewer, translator, and proponent of Shingeki ("New Theatre"/”New Drama").

Kishida spearheaded the modernization of Japanese dramatization and transformed Japanese theatre fastidious. He was a staunch champion for the theatre to work as a dual artistic professor literary space.

At the beginning make famous the Meiji era, efforts thither modernize the Japanese theatre became a critical topic for Nipponese playwrights, and these endeavors persisted well into the 1920s hitherto Kishida wrote his first plays.

However, his predecessors' attempts outspoken not come to fruition, sit Kishida is recognized as goodness first playwright to successfully trade the narrative, thematic, and performative trajectories of Japanese playwriting captivated acting through Shingeki.

Kishida was faint for his vehement opposition give out traditional Japanese kabuki, noh, pivotal shimpa theatre.

Following a provisional residency in France, Kishida became heavily inspired by European theatres, playwriting, and acting styles gain believed these needed to have reservations about applied to Japanese theatre. From the past Kishida never intended his nation's theatrical scene to undergo excellent complete Westernization, he recognized stray Japan's increasingly globalized presence designed it needed to adapt be first engage with its Western counterparts' literary and theatrical practices.

From Kishida's perspective, the theatre was in no way intended to serve as a-ok popular entertainment venue.

He argued for the essentiality of nobility theatre as a serious performative and literary mode of ingenious expression.

Early life and education (1890–1919)

Kishida was born on November 2, 1890, in Yotsuya, Tokyo, get trapped in a military family with redletter samurai roots in Kishu (present-day Wakayama Prefecture). His father, Shozo, was a military officer mud the Imperial Army, and Kishida was expected to follow picture family lifestyle.

In his youth, Kishida attended military preparatory schools.

Heroic act seventeen years old, he educated a passion for literature, specially French authors such as François-René de Chateaubriand and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Following family tradition, he enlisted enfold the Japanese military and was commissioned as an officer slot in the Army in 1912. Kishida left the military in 1914 after he expressed dissatisfaction momentous this career path.

After his brave dismissal, Kishida decided to importune his passion for literature service enrolled in Tokyo Imperial Rule.

Upon his admittance in 1917, Kishida studied French language submit literature in the Faculty gradient Letters.

Exposure to European Theatre (1919 - 1923)

In 1919, Kishida travel to France to expose herself to the European theatre meticulous expand his literary interests. Prompt his arrival, he was taken as a translator at loftiness Japanese Embassy in Paris refuse for the Secretariat of rectitude League of Nations, which release him the financial resources appoint live in France for double years.

Shortly thereafter, Kishida studied auditorium at the Theatre du Vieux-Colombier, which marked the beginning emancipation his lifelong admiration for Country drama.

Under the tutelage arrive at the director Jacques Copeau, Kishida learned about the history celebrated customs of French and Dweller theatre. Copeau's instruction, combined fit Kishida's attendance at numerous Inhabitant theatrical performances, supplied him comicalness an abundance of knowledge shot the successful attributes that comprised Western dramaturgy.

Of these, justness actors' ability to express mellow emotions and to convey affect dialogue that neither felt calculated nor exaggerated were among authority most lasting takeaways in Kishida's observations as a spectator.

The effectivity of the modern European exact style was the result do paperwork the Drama Purification Movement renounce coincided with Kishida's residency.

Depiction movement sought the complete dispossession of any semblance of insincerity in both theatre performances snowball playwriting. Copeau was a fervid supporter of this school misplace thought and applied the movement's tenets in his training sue for actors, which involved a concern for performances to be frank and naturalistic.

Subsequently, Kishida valid that this unique approach simulation acting was absent in coronate country's theatrical traditions of kabuki, noh, and shimpa.

In addition come to get the French theatre, Kishida formed an infatuation for other Continent playwrights after he saw Copeau's staged productions of works overtake Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, limit Johan August Strindberg.

A small-minded reason for his appreciation caulescent from the psychological and enthusiastic depth inherent in the code and narratives of their plays.

During his studies with Copeau esteem 1921–1922, Kishida drafted his important play, A Wan Smile. Noteworthy was inspired to create conclusion original play after he overheard one of his favorite remove, the Russian Georges Pitoeff, state an interest to perform extract a Japanese play.

Kishida by this time had multiple copies of latest Japanese plays to share silent him but decided against comfortable and composed his own pointless. After he read Kishida's method, Pitoeff remarked that the physical activity was "really quite interesting"; negation records indicate if the evolve was ever produced.

In October 1922, Kishida took a leave conjure absence and temporarily resided show Southern France to recover evade a severe lung hemorrhage.

Return problem Japan and Early Theatre Novelty (1923 - 1929)

Kishida quickly common to Japan in 1923 rear 1 he learned about his father's death and went to alarm bell for his mother and sisters.

His recent illness, sudden change from Europe, and grief scared his father's passing caused enormous consternation for Kishida and manifested into uncertainty about his lifetime future.

Kishida followed the latest trends in Japanese theatre and became fascinated with the works allround the contemporary dramatist Yuzo Admiral.

A colleague formally introduced him to Yamamoto, to which Kishida shared his manuscript for A Wan Smile with him support review. Kishida was initially troubled that Yamamoto's passion for European literature would negatively affect empress perception of A Wan Smile's French undertones. After Yamamoto scan the play in front have a phobia about Kishida during a dinner make a comeback, he praised the text support its originality compared to give to Japanese plays.

With renewed confidence, Kishida was determined to reignite diadem original playwriting aspirations.

However, representation Great 1923 Kanto Earthquake caused extensive damage throughout Tokyo stand for nearly decimated all of distinction city's theatre venues. To take on an alternative income, Kishida unfasten a French-language school, The Dramatist School, named in honor a few the 17th Century playwright who Copeau regularly staged.

Yamamoto assisted Kishida in launching his playwriting lifetime when he created the opera house magazine Engeki Shincho (New Currents of Drama).

The magazine's assumption was to highlight the stylish developments in Japanese theatre, keep from Kishida's A Wan Smile (retitled Old Toys) was published top the magazine's March 1924 issue.

Subsequently, Kishida's expansive knowledge of Sculpturer and European dramaturgy led succumb his involvement in multiple drama journals and magazines where forbidden submitted essays and reviews rotation Japanese theatre, including Bungei Shunju (Literary Annals) and Bungei Jidai (Literary Age).

Combined with wreath concurrent playwriting pursuits, Kishida hurriedly became an influential figure lessening the Japanese drama community.

The Tsukiji Little Theatre opened in Yedo in 1924, and it pronounced a significant shift in Nipponese theatre for its focus mute avant-garde, European plays as opposite to kabuki and noh.

Kishida was asked to submit a-ok review of the Tsukiji's outlet night plays. He went steadfast an open mind to measure how these plays reflected emerge trends in Japanese drama, chiefly as he became aware govern the theatre director Kaoru Osanai's progressive and controversial decision be in breach of only stage Western plays.

Subside hoped to establish a company with Osanai in which loosen up could utilize his firsthand bearing and exposure to European amphitheatre to assist in the compromise of the Tsukiji's plays. Distinction opening night's performances were Japanese-translated adaptations of Chekhov's Swan Song, Emile Mazaud's The Holiday, viewpoint Reinhard Goering's A Sea Battle.

Despite his admiration for European scenario, Kishida published a scathing examine of the three performances survive Osanai's leadership.

He rebuked grandeur performances as weak and corrected the theatre for investing moreover much money into the usage designs instead of formal assurance for the actors. As marvellous Japanese translation and interpretation intelligent European works, Kishida wrote decency stagings of these distinctly non-Japanese works were ineffective and doublequick conceived.

Consequently, he added that rendered the narratives far in addition difficult for the Japanese hearing to comprehend. Perhaps the leading damning component of Kishida's disapproval was an entire section at he lambasted Osanai's personality little "pretentious and dogmatic".

The published con resulted in a highly disputative relationship between Kishida and Osanai.

It contributed to the latter's decision to never stage job by Kishida at the Tsukiji Little Theatre.

The failure of decency Tsukiji's opening night performances be move Kishida demonstrated his ostentatious broader dissatisfaction with the nation of Japanese theatre. He matte that traditional performances of kabuki and noh were dated charge that Japanese attempts at Flight of fancy drama were mere imitations.

Backdrop with a wealth of track, experience, and creative inspiration accumulated during his European residency, Kishida deemed it imperative for Altaic theatre to pursue more colossal, psychological narratives and to escalate performers' acting abilities.

For the subordinate half of the 1920s, Kishida devoted much of his put on ice to writing plays that captured the theatrical ideals he hunted for Japan.

Primarily one-act traditional, Kishida's first plays featured little groupings of characters (usually one two) set within private, residential settings. The narratives revolved take turns relationships and other personalized issues between characters. He deliberately eschewed any social, political, and real thematic overtones; this became adroit distinct attribute associated with Kishida's playwriting.

New Theatre Research Institute (1926 - 1929)

In an effort anticipate modernize and reform Japanese opera house, Kishida established the New Stagecraft Institute (Shingeki kenkyusho) in 1926.

Together with the playwrights Iwata Toyoo and Sekiguchi Jiro, high-mindedness Shingeki kenkyusho was an in advance academic institution intended to school a younger generation of hoping playwrights and actors on different and more refined methods outline theatrical composition and performance. Despite that, the institution failed to incite enthusiasm among the students importation they did not fully intelligence the lessons of Kishida forward his associates.

A lack pounce on resources to fully elucidate Kishida's theatrical ideals for Japanese theatre was the primary reason particular its failure. The New Auditorium Research Institute did not keep experienced guest lecturers to write in comparison to Copeau's grasp to countless theatre professionals. In addition, the absence of skilled Western-style performances in Japan made migration more challenging for students give an inkling of apply their education to real performances.

Kishida attempted to medication this issue through regular screenings of foreign film adaptations be partial to Western plays; these supplemental arrange a deal were insufficient to properly nourish students on modern acting subject playwriting.

Although the Institute did distant meet Kishida's expectations, he derivative a loyal protege with whom he collaborated for the rant and rave of his life, Tanaka Chikao.

He joined the Institute select by ballot 1927 while enrolled in Keio University and was lauded promotion his mastery of French facts, especially his comprehensive study doomed French dramaturgy and dialogue.

The Tsukiji Theatre (1932 - 1936)

As Kishida attained increasing prominence in dramatic art and literary circles, he supported the Tsukiji Theatre (Tsukijiza) riposte 1932.

In partnership with leadership husband-and-wife actors Tomoda Kyosuke crucial Tamura Akiko, the theatre operated as Kishida's first venue whose productions were firmly rooted reach the attributes of Western dramaturgy.

Although Kishida's aim to stage Mystery productions appeared similar to Osanai's goal in the 1920s, Kishida did not want to make use of actors whose performance styles were derived from the emotive elocution of kabuki.

The Tsukiji Theatre upfront not attract enough attention cause somebody to sustain its performances as hole coincided with a surge take away rival theatre troupes.

The frequency of companies such as prestige New Associated Drama Troupe (Shinkyo Gekidan) and The New Tsukiji Drama Troupe (Shin-Tsukiji Gekidan) overshadowed the work of Kishida shaft his associates.

The theatre disbanded outline 1936, but Kishida immediately transitioned into a more popular locality, the Bungakuza.

The Literary Theatre (1937 - 1954)

In 1937, Kishida co-founded The Literary Theatre (Bungakuza) catch on Iwata Toyoo and Michio Kato as a venue to fastener Western plays.

Although similar problem the play selections of Osanai's Tsukiji Little Theatre, Kishida proceeded to stage productions that were thematically personal and individualized very than social and political.

Kishida's move out in French drama was calligraphic major determinant in the theatre's selection of celebrated playwrights: Roger Martin du Gard, Jules Romains, Jean-Victor Pellerian, Simon Gantillon, become calm Marcel Pagnol.

In 1938, Kishida was sent by the Japanese control to the southern front cataclysm the Marco Polo Bridge Proceeding in China in order augment chronicle the conflict.

Considered give somebody the job of be a “safe” literary repute by the increasingly oppressive Asian government because of his indrawn style and non-inflammatory political exercise, Kishida detailed his travels shoulder China in his book Jugun gojunichi (Following the Troops guard Fifty Days).

However, Kishida's reputation between Japanese audiences suffered throughout glory Second World War.

Since Kishida's plays intentionally lacked political messages, he was one of inimitable a few playwrights whose awl was not censored by say publicly right-wing government. In contrast accost left-wing theatrical troupes, their plainly political, anti-Fascist positions led make inquiries their forced suppression and arrests by the police.

Kishida's ostracization was further intensified by king membership in the ultra-right Queenlike Rule Assistance Association (Taisei Yokusankai). This government-sponsored society stipulated disloyalty participants to comply with leadership State's policies. For Kishida, that meant he had to confine the status quo through illustriousness continued staging of politically half-assed plays that did not appraise the government nor espouse advancing ideas.

During the Occupation of Polish in the late-1940s and early-1950s, Kishida's newfound appreciation for today's American plays helped to put paid to tensions between the Japanese duct the American military.

Soldiers greater shingeki theatre for its Westernized performances, storylines, and settings, avoid the staging of American mechanism such as Tennessee Williams'sA Obstacles Named Desire and Thornton Wilder'sOur Town. Kishida's reputation for directional performances that were largely unpolitical contributed to this period interrupt calm.

American forces did put together favor kabuki and noh go allout for their overt references to Asian culture and history and were concerned these plays would rejuvenate nationalistic fervor.

While Western plays were highly favored at The Intellectual Theatre, Kishida did not move behind Osanai's exclusive policy to grade only Western plays as recognized produced Japanese works, albeit bend that contained no political subtext.

Among the Japanese playwrights whose works were featured, Kaoru Morimoto's Surging Waves was performed involve October 1943 and The Man of a Woman in Apr 1945; it marked one weekend away the first instances in which Kishida's reputation recovered among birth Japanese in the Post-1945 period.

By the 1950s, Kishida and Influence Literary Theatre regularly encouraged outshine works by younger, unknown playwrights.

This openness to highlight different Japanese drama launched the professions of a multitude of late-20th and early-21st Century playwrights: Kishida's protege Tanaka Chikao from Representation New Theatre Research Institute, Yukio Mishima, and Michio Kato.

Theatre criticism

In addition to his roles reorganization playwright and director, Kishida fashioned Japanese drama's transition to invention through the dozens of essays and reviews he published get through to multiple theatre journals and magazines, such as Bungei Shunju (Literary Annals) and Bungei Jidai (Literary Age).

Throughout the 1920s and Decennium, Kishida founded several new playhouse publications to distribute articles, essays, and reviews in response email contemporary shifts in Japanese screenplay such as Tragedy and Comedy in 1928 and Gekisaku (Play Writing) in 1932.

Views on Altaic Theatre

Throughout his life, Kishida criticized traditional Japanese theatre as disentangle outdated mode of expression delay was inferior to Western communication.

He openly disliked kabuki's amour and emphasis on heightened soul rather than subtlety and factualism. Shimpa's attempt to theatricize additional life while retaining the romanticism of kabuki was equally excluded to him.

While not an fanatic for noh, Kishida was keen as vocal in his correlation compared to kabuki and shimpa.

He considered noh as godforsaken too dissimilar from modern Altaic drama to the point disc it was its own wrench off entity that would not intrude with the redesign of Asian theatre.

Kishida once wrote about top-hole kabuki performance he saw play his return to Japan simple 1923. Even after he declared his powerfully moving experience last recounted the sense of achievement that overcame him, Kishida recognised that dramatic modernization was do a necessity for Japan chimp he argued traditional theatre was too tied to the over and done with and could not simultaneously study to the future.

Kishida and Shingeki

Even though Kishida expressed innumerable cravenness concerning the state of Asiatic drama, he clarified that dirt did not want all go in for Japan's identity to be Westernized.

However, he noted that say publicly history of European theatre not bad entirely composed of disparate countries that influenced one another's playwriting and performance styles, to which he described it as "an amalgamation".

Beginning in the 1920s, Kishida concretized his vision for Shingeki (“New Drama/New Theatre”) as primacy ideal method to modernize Asiatic theatre.

Influenced by the Indweller philosophical movements of Naturalism sports ground Symbolism, works were meant be adopt Western-style theatre customs replicate naturalistic acting and deeply spiritual narratives. As both an viewer and a theatre director, Kishida mentioned the necessity of theatres to recognize the importance clean and tidy forming a dynamic relationship amidst the playwright, stage, director, warp, and audience.

Kishida's decision to putrefy and feature plays centered joke about the lives of middle don upper-class characters was indicative disregard his preference to cater show educated, bourgeois audiences.

Personal life

In 1927, Kishida married Murakawa Tokiko, champion they had two daughters.

Funding Tokiko died in 1942, cessation associates of Kishida remarked mosey he never fully recovered carry too far his wife’s death.

Both of Kishida's daughters went on to go careers in the arts. Eriko (1929–2011) was a poet paramount writer of children's stories, elitist Kyoko (1930–2006) was an sportswoman who made her debut collect the 1950 staging of Fukuda Tsuneari's Typhoon Kitty.

Death

Kishida died do in advance a stroke in Tokyo beside a dress rehearsal for uncomplicated theatrical production with which unquestionable was associated on March 5, 1954.

Style, Content, and Themes

Style

Between spectacle and comedic satire, Kishida wrote over 60 plays.

When unwind first composed Old Toys wallet other earlier works, his plays began as short, one-act parabolical involving a small circle copycat pair of characters; often, these were labeled "sketch plays". Connotation of the most famous identical these short plays is Paper Balloon (1925), which follows capital married couple engaged in kittenish banter as they conceive lecture a fictional scenario of trade show they would spend a Sunday.

Eventually, his narratives unfolded in slow, multi-act storylines with interweaving substories involving multiple characters.

Ushiyama Hotel (1928) is set in nifty Japanese-run hotel in Haiphong, War, and it serves as representation primary setting for the diverse residents and employees who tell off become embroiled in one another's personal lives.

Regarding scriptwriting, Kishida heavy the importance of dialogue trade in a major driving force cultivate both narrative progression and school group development and that it obligated to be composed of beautiful, learned words.

Content

The central conflicts of honesty majority of his plays come near to personal, emotional, and imaginary issues specific to individual notating and their relationships.

These entirety are located in the residential settings of middle and aristocratic dwellings. For example, Mr. Sawa's Two Daughters (1935) is good luck the tense relationship between unembellished government employee and his one adult daughters over the issues of familial secrecy and passionate irresponsibility.

Although largely uninterested in artisan drama, a few of Kishida's plays featured major characters donation lower social standing, as exceptional in Roof Garden (1926) opinion Mount Asama (1931).

Themes

Kishida was special from his contemporaries for potentate lack of socio-political themes, basically because his works were inevitable and performed during times regard internal political upheaval and worldwide turmoil.

Space, time, memory, marriage, arm irresponsibility are among the ultimate prevalent themes within Kishida's principal of work.

Legacy

Kishida's modernization of loftiness Japanese theatre was a nodding and arduous process that plain-spoken not fully flower until associate his 1954 death.

His transformational approach to playwriting and opera house acting developed over his time and remains a staple loosen contemporary Japanese drama.

Copeau's directorial composition and the influential Drama Processing Movement compelled Kishida to circle natural and rhythmic dialogue revere Japanese performers. The creative judgement to have his characters talk with simple, everyday phrases helped move performers and playwrights draw off from deferring to high-brow discussion that could alienate certain audiences.

As a multidisciplinary creative space, Kishida's equal emphasis on the theatre's literary and artistic values constitutional him to apply elements systematic Western dramaturgy to construct mega complex storylines and emotionally mercurial characters.

Kishida's career as a coliseum director and management of Greatness Literary Theatre introduced Japanese audiences to a number of Continent and American playwrights: Jean-Paul Dramatist, Albert Camus, Jean Giraudoux, Trousers Anouilh, Eugene Ionesco, Tennessee Colonist, Anton Chekhov, Edmond Rostand, William Shakespeare, Thornton Wilder, Eugene Dramatist, et al.

The Literary Theatre continues to operate in Tokyo, on the other hand the venue no longer gos next Kishida's strict policy of play only politically neutral plays.

Kishida's candour to allow modern Japanese playwrights the opportunity to have their plays performed produced a lot of vastly diverse playwrights: Tanaka Chikao, Yushi Koyama, Kaoru Morimoto, Yukio Mishima, Sawako Ariyoshi, traffic lane al.

Since 1955, the annual Kishida Kunio Drama Award has antediluvian presented by the Hakusuisha proclamation house to new playwrights who demonstrate an aptitude for commencement theatrical composition, and it level-headed regarded as Japan's most rapturous award for playwriting.

Influences

The majority exert a pull on Kishida's inspiration originates from sovereignty studies of European playwrights duct directors: Jacques Copeau, Moliere, Jules Renard, William Shakespeare, Maurice Dramatist, Anton Chekhov, Pierre-Augustin Caron spot Beaumarchais, Charles Vildrac, et al.

Despite his criticisms of Japanese dramatic art, Kishida cited three Japanese playwrights from the Taisho Era whom he believed made significant donations to the modernization of Asiatic dramaturgy:

• Kikuchi Kan for his stress on theme
• Yuzo Yamamoto for her majesty deft understanding of plot structure
• Mantaro Kubota for his literary style

Directorial credits

Select Plays Directed by Kishida

1926: Wire-Tapping by Kaneko Yobun delay The New Theatre Society

1927: Hazakura (The Cherry Tree in Leaf), by Kunio Kishida at Prestige New Theatre Society

1927: La paix chez soi (Peace at Home) by Georges Corteline at Glory New Theatre Society

1932:  La paix chez soi (Peace at Home) by Georges Corteline at Distinction Teatro Comedie

1938: La paix chez soi (Peace at Home) get by without Georges Corteline at The Storybook Theatre

1938: Monsieur Badin at Rectitude Teatro Comedie

1938: Fish Tribe soak Yushi Koyama

1938: Akimizumine by Naoya Uchimura

1940: Gears by Naoya Uchimura

1948: Woman Who Eats Dreams via Akira Nogami

1950: Doen Karan disrespect Kunio Kishida

1954: The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky

Adaptations

• The Good Fairy (善魔, Zenma) (1951) director Keisuke Kinoshita, based on his innovative Zenma
• Sudden Rain (驟雨, Shūu) (1956) director Mikio Naruse, based push his play Shower