Paper short abstract:

The play "Kaizin Bessou" written in 1913 was adapted to a musical play in a 2001 performance based on a video game. This presentation states how the play was adapted into a popular culture performance and elucidates the influences of age, forms, and background on both works.

Paper long abstract:

Izumi Kyoka is the novelist and playwright who had written about specters and ghosts in his works. I focus on his play written in 1913, "Kaizin Bessou" (the Imperial Villa of the Sea God) and its transformation in the performance based on the video game of same name "Sakura Taisen Kayou Show" (Revue Show of Sakura Wars).

"Kaizin Bessou" is the story about a woman who gets married to the prince of the undersea world as a sacrifice. This form is commonly found in Japanese folk tales. But Izumi Kyoka expressed the discrepancy between the value of the woman and the prince and incorporated into this typical form the theme of living together with a person having different values. However, in 1913, this work was hardly noticed. It was brought on the stage for the first time in 1955. Since then, it has been performed only a few times.

Fortunately, since the 2000s, "Kaizin Bessou" has been regaining attention. One of the triggers is that it was performed in "Sakura Taisen Kayou Show" in 2001. Today, in Japan, the performances based on animations, comics, and video games are widely performed. "Sakura Taisen Kayou Show" is one of the earlier examples. "Sakura Taisen" is the video game where young women, belonging to a revue group like Takarazuka revue, ride robots and fight evil in a dangerous Tokyo. But the part of fighting was omitted in the musical play, it only described the usual life of the revue group and their acting.

And "Kaizin Bessou" was selected to become as a play within a play and adapted to a musical. At that time, a song was added to the last part. The song shows the process of how the woman and the prince can understand each other and decide to live together. The conclusion they reach is the same as the one of the original play but the way of understanding is different thanks to this song.

I will reveal the influences of age, forms, and background on both works, considering how "Kaizin Bessou" was transformed into a popular culture performance.