Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I analyze drama composed for peasants in early Showa, focusing on the relationship between the theory put forth by Nakamura Seiko and others and the agricultural policy of the same era. The features and limitations of peasant drama as an educational tool are discussed.

Paper long abstract:

Spanning the late Taishō and Shōwa eras, the Peasant Literature Research Society (subsequently known as the Peasant Literature Society) was established by people like Inuta Shigeru, Nakamura Seiko, and Yoshie Takamatsu, as they created a Peasant Literature Movement around the society's journal, Farmers. The movement promoted 'amateur' peasant theatre, where scripts were written by farmers and for farmers, and where farmers acted out farmer characters before a farmer audience. It was argued that such activities served to 'educate' the farmers. Foreign plays from Ireland and elsewhere were staged at such peasant theatres, too.

The Wakaba Group (Ukiha County, Fukuoka Prefecture) garnered attention as illustrative of the Peasant Literature Movement. Under the leadership of Nakamura Seiko, this group came to stage both plays selected for their peasant character and original plays written by the peasants themselves. Yet, before being 'discovered' by Nakamura and the other members of the Peasant Literature Society and receiving 'education' about the concept of 'peasant literature', the Wakaba Group had never seen itself as acting out 'farmers'. Rather, they had been striving for the standard of contemporary highly artistic theatre, taking inspiration from the Tsukiji Little Theatre. Nonetheless, having been identified as a prime example of peasant theatre, the Group came to devote itself wholly to the acting out of 'farmers'. With time, the repertoire of peasant plays grew, additional theatres were established around the country, and the journal Farmers published stories about successful peasant theatres. The aim of this presentation is to elucidate how making members of peasant theatres act out 'farmer' roles was essential in the creation of the category 'farmer' and the dissemination of the Peasant Literature Movement's ideology.