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Paper short abstract:

Shingeki was a tool in learning to become modern in the beginning of the 20th century, during the occupation it was regarded as an efficient instrument in spreading democratic ideals. How did shingeki and translated drama adapt to the stricter political control in more authoritarian times?

Paper long abstract:

While the new theater movement (shingeki), relying heavily on translated drama was a tool in learning to become modern in the beginning of the 20th century, during the occupation it was regarded as an efficient instrument in spreading democratic ideals. This paper asks the question what role shingeki, with special focus on translated drama, was allowed to play when the political climate shifted from liberal to more restrictive during the interwar period.

The beginning of the 20th century witnessed the import en masse of Western literature, in the mid-1920s the Tsukiji Little Theatre opted for a repertoire consisting of only translated drama the first years of its existence. “Modern girls” cruised the streets of Ginza imitating the latest fashion from Paris and New York. Matsui Sumako became a star after performing in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House in 1911. The authorities reacted to this questioning of traditional gender roles and the year after, in 1912, Sudermann’s Heimat, also with Matsui Sumako in the leading role, was banned.

What was the reason for censorship? If liberal ideas were deemed not worthy of promoting, what topics could result in warnings, deletions or publishers’ use of fuseji to hide objectionable words? If the censors still based their decisions in line with the tradition of kanzen chôaku (encouraging virtue and chastising vice), at a time when literature and drama were departing from didactic themes, and adhering more to “arts for arts’s sake,” how did theaters still manage to stage translated drama to such an extent?

The point of departure for this investigation of censorship and extralegal methods of controlling publication will be the staging of foreign drama at the Tsukiji Theatre 1924-1926 with foremost attention given to dramas depicting the battle between the sexes and the possible conflict these could cause in relation to traditional values concerning gender.