Oriza Hirata (平田オリザ, Hirata Oriza; born on 8 November 1962, in Tokyo) is a Japanese playwright, director, and academic.…Oriza Hirata (平田オリザ, Hirata Oriza; born on 8 November 1962, in Tokyo) is a Japanese playwright, director, and academic. For the majority of his life, he has been best known for his work in theater and creating what he has coined, “contemporary colloquial theater,” or as theater critics call it, “quiet drama.”
Ai Nagai (永井愛, Nagai Ai; born on 16 October 1951) is a Japanese playwright, stage director, and the co-founder and…Ai Nagai (永井愛, Nagai Ai; born on 16 October 1951) is a Japanese playwright, stage director, and the co-founder and leader of the theater company Nitosha. She is known for adopting realism as her primary writing style. Two of her major works, The Three Hagi Sisters (萩家の三姉妹, Hagi-ke no san shimai) and Time's Storeroom (時の物置, Toki no mono oki), both exemplify her utilization of realism. According to The Japan Foundation's Performing Arts Network, Nagai is currently regarded as one of the most sought-after playwrights in Japan because of her "well-made plays," in which social issues are treated from a critical perspective.
Tsuneari Fukuda (25 August 1912 – 20 November 1994) was a Japanese playwright, translator, literary critic and public…Tsuneari Fukuda (25 August 1912 – 20 November 1994) was a Japanese playwright, translator, literary critic and public intellectual. Born in Tokyo to a working-class family, Fukuda read English literature at Tokyo Imperial University. A scholar of D. H. Lawrence, he found his voice as a critic by contributing to literary magazines. Interested in theatre from a young age, Fukuda became associated with the shingeki genre of contemporary theatre, writing and producing numerous original plays, including The Man Who Stroked the Dragon (1952) and The Fuhrer is Still Alive! (1970), for which he was awarded the Yomiuri Prize and Grand Prize for Japanese Literature respectively. From the 1950s, he began a life-long endeavour to translate William Shakespeare's work into Japanese. He staged successful productions of these translations, starting with Hamlet in 1955, which set off a Shakespeare boom in Japan. Originally associated with the Bungakuza theatre company, he later broke away to found the Kumo and Subaru companies in 1963 and 1975 respectively. A contributor to popular magazines such as Bungei Shunjū, Chūō Kōron, and Shokun!, Fukuda became well-known to the Japanese public as a conservative intellectual from the 1950s. He opposed the post-war Japanese script reform, and was awarded another Yomiuri Prize for his book on the subject, My Japanese Language Classroom (1960). He criticised left-wing movements, such as the Anpo protests, and questioned the dominance of pacifism in post-war Japan. A supporter of individual liberty and freedom of expression, he rejected the politicisation of art, and expressed doubts about Japanese modernisation. From 1969, he began teaching at Kyoto Sangyo University, and in 1981, he became a member of the Japan Art Academy. After suffering more than a decade of declining health, he died at Ōiso in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1994.
Tomoyoshi Murayama (村山 知義, Murayama Tomoyoshi; 18 January 1901 – 22 March 1977) was a Japanese artist, play writer…Tomoyoshi Murayama (村山 知義, Murayama Tomoyoshi; 18 January 1901 – 22 March 1977) was a Japanese artist, play writer, novelist and drama producer active during the Shōwa period in Japan.
Matsutarō Kawaguchi (川口松太郎, Kawaguchi Matsutarō; 1 October 1899 – 9 June 1985) was a Japanese writer of short stories…Matsutarō Kawaguchi (川口松太郎, Kawaguchi Matsutarō; 1 October 1899 – 9 June 1985) was a Japanese writer of short stories, novels, dramas and screenplays. He repeatedly collaborated on films of director Kenji Mizoguchi, and his books were adapted by directors such as Mikio Naruse and Kōzaburō Yoshimura.
Viscount Michiharu Mishima (三島 通陽, Mishima Michiharu; 1 January 1897 – 20 April 1965) was a novelist, playwright and…Viscount Michiharu Mishima (三島 通陽, Mishima Michiharu; 1 January 1897 – 20 April 1965) was a novelist, playwright and drama critic. His pen name was Shōdō Mishima (三島 章道 Mishima Shōdō).
Saneatsu Mushanokōji (武者小路 実篤(實篤), Mushanokōji Saneatsu; 12 May 1885 – 9 April 1976) was a Japanese novelist…Saneatsu Mushanokōji (武者小路 実篤(實篤), Mushanokōji Saneatsu; 12 May 1885 – 9 April 1976) was a Japanese novelist, playwright, poet, artist, and philosopher active during the late Taishō and Shōwa periods of Japan. Later on in life he requested that the pronunciation of his surname (as far as was concerned) be changed from the usual Mushanokōji, to Mushakōji, but without much success. He was nicknamed Musha and Futo-o by his colleagues.
Ikuta Chōkō (生田長江, Ikuta Chōkō; 21 April 1882 - 11 January 1936) was the pen-name of a noted translator, author and…Ikuta Chōkō (生田長江, Ikuta Chōkō; 21 April 1882 - 11 January 1936) was the pen-name of a noted translator, author and literary critic in Taishō and Shōwa period Japan. His real name was Ikuta Kōji (生田弘治, Ikuta Kōji).