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Junji Kinoshita (木下 順二) was the foremost playwright of modern drama in postwar Japan. He was also a translator and scholar of Shakespeare's plays. Kinoshita’s achievements were not limited in Japan. He helped to promote theatrical exchanges between Japan and the People’s Republic of China, and he traveled broadly in Europe and Asia. In addition to his international work, Kinoshita joined various societies of people who studied folktales and the Japanese language.

Early Life
Kinoshita was born in Tokyo as the son of government official Kinoshita Yahachiro and his wife, Sassa Mie. Kinoshita attended school in the city until 1925 when his parents moved back to his father's hometown of Kumamoto to retire. Kinoshita had been in fourth grade at the time. Although Kinoshita was teased very much by other students because of his Tokyo dialect at the new school, this experience in his childhood made him think deeply about the Japanese language and become more aware of the complexities of spoken language. He attended Kumamoto Prefectural Middle School and later went on to Kumamoto Fifth High School, where he received a degree equivalent to that of a western university. In 1936, Kinoshita returned to Tokyo to attend the Imperial University of Tokyo where he studied English literature. He earned a degree in Elizabethan theater in the early 1940s, but majoring in English literature was not encouraged in Japan at the time since the society was greatly influenced by militarism. His early plays, on the theme of some folktales, were created at that time. He graduated with a Masters Degree from University of Tokyo in 1939 and continued in school. He studied the history of the Elizabethan Theater

Style and Main Works
Kinoshita's professional career started at the end of the war when Yamamoto Yasue used to perform as a leading actress. Although he wrote more than forty plays in his lifetime, the subjects of his works vary. Many of his plays are based on Japanese folk tales, but he also created works set in contemporary Japan that deal with social issues. The drama of Kinoshita does not deal with elements of fantasy or poetry, but rather allows the audience to think deeply about death, guilt, and judgment.

His better-known works that have been translated into English include Twilight Crane (夕鶴, Yūzuru), 1949; Wind and Waves (風浪, Fūrō), 1947; Between God and Man (神と人とのあいだ, Kami to hito to no aida), 1972; and A Japanese Called Otto (オットーと呼ばれる日本人、Ottō to yobareru nihonjin), 1962, Kinoshita's rendering of the Sorge spy ring incident on the eve of World War Two.

In 1951, composer Ikuma Dan used Kinoshita's Twilight Crane as the libretto for his opera Yūzuru.

Shingeki (新劇)
Kinoshita belongs to shingeki (新劇). Shingeki history right after World War II not only consisted of some large companies like Haiyū-za (俳優座) and Bungaku-za (文学座), but also consisted of smaller groups of passionate theatre people. One small groups was called Budō no Kai (ぶどうの会), which was formed in 1947 by Yamamoto Yasue, with the help of some of her colleagues. The group’s name became both a symbol of Greek tragedy and something that their young audiences could relate to. Their activities soon moved from radio to theatre. In January of 1950, Yuzuru (Twilight Crane), which was written by Kinoshita, premiered. The play was produced frequently during the postwar period.

Shakespeare
Kinoshita is well known as a translator of English literature, especially for his contributions to translations of Shakespeare after World War II. Kinoshita tells in his writing that the beginning of his interest in Shakespeare was absolutely when he heard Thomas Lyell's recitation of Shakespeare. Lyell was a teacher of English at Waseda University in Tokyo. Following June 1949, Kinoshita enthusiastically attended Lyell’s lectures for two or three years. Kinoshita believed that this opportunity gave him, as a foreigner, some sense of enjoying the strengths and weaknesses of the intonation. He was fully impressed by the declaration Shakespeare created. In 1955, Kinoshita went abroad for the first time since the war and saw many of Shakespeare’s plays performed in England. Being so immersed in Shakespeare's work made Kinoshita realize that Japanese actors and actresses were lacking in oratory skills. When Kinoshita translated Shakespeare, he put the most importance on, in his words, “the energy" of Shakespeare's language. Though what he meant by “the energy” is unclear, Kinoshita seemed to believe that Shakespeare’s language conveyed more just meaning in live performance. Kinoshita emphasized that Shakespearean speeches were supposed to be spoken by performers. However, when Kinoshita saw a production of a Shakespeare play in Japan after returning from England, he got the impression that Japanese performers’ performances did not deliver the greatness of Shakespeare’s speeches to their audience. On one hand, Kinoshita hoped Japanese actors would brush up on their oratory skills. On the other hand, as a playwright, he had kept thinking about how to translate Shakespeare's works without losing Shakespeare’s artistic declamation. He believed that playwrights can contribute to the improvement of a performance by creating a text that is the most suitable for each performer’s vocal abilities. He believed it is not only a case of translating Shakespeare's works, but that it was necessary for him to write the words that would enhance the performances on stage.

Folk tales (民話,minwa)
During the war, Kinoshita read lots of folk tales that were collected by Yanagita Kunio, and these folk tales inspired him creatively. He wrote drafts of plays that are based on folk tales in this period. Kinoshita spoke about how to make the best use of folktales in his writings based on Japanese folktales. He said that people often say that folktales are living now and will have to be passed down to future generations for them to continue, but it is needless to say that this does not mean folktales should be the same as they used to be long ago, or that we are supposed to keep them as they were before As the transportation developed and the print media became widespread following modernization, folktales gradually came to lose some of what made their way of storytelling and their form unique. For example, folktales use to be told by elders to children, but now there has been a decrease in the number of such elderly people who could become storytellers both in the cities and in the countryside. This means the original form of the folktale is slowly disappearing. On the other hand, Kinoshita said that, even though folktales are not being passed down to the next generations through old storytellers because of social changes, they still play an important role in the mental development of children. In the case that children are not interested in respectable readings or if it is hard for them to make a habit of reading more sophisticated books, Kinoshita felt that folktales could capture their attention and could be a bridge for children develop reading habits. However, he also mentions that the imaginative elements or development of folktales are often considered unscientific and irrational things by today's children. Therefore,

Associations
Another remarkable Shakespeare translator of the time, Fukuda Tsuneari, was two years Kinoshita's senior and equally as well-known. He also studied English literature at University of Tokyo. Although Kinoshita and Fukuda discussed literature, drama, society and politics, they never agreed with each others' writing, and had very different ideas of how to translate Shakespeare into Japanese. The main difference between them was in their political stances. Kinoshita had socialist-leanings, though he was never dogmatic like many socialists in Japan those days. Fukuda was politically conservative.

Theatre Productions

 * 1946: Hikoichi-banashi (A Story of Hikoichi)
 * 1947: Hata no oto (The Sound of the Loom)
 * 1947: Sannen-ne Tarō (Taro Who Slept for Three Years)
 * 1947: Sammyaku (The Magic Hearing Cap), premiered in 1947.
 * 1948: Yuzuru (Twilight Crane)
 * 1949: Yamanami (Over the Mountain Range), premiered at Mitsukoshi Theatre, Tokyo, Japan
 * 1950: Kurai hibana (Dark Spark)
 * 1952: Kaeru shōten (The Ascension of a Frog), premiered at Mitsukoshi Theatre, Tokyo, Japan
 * 1953: Furo (Turbulent Waves), premiered at First Insurance Hall, Tokyo, Japan
 * 1957: Onnyoro Seisuiki (The Rise and Fall of Onnyoro), premiered at Chiyoda Public Hall, Tokyo, Japan
 * 1960: Onnyoro Seisuiki (The Rise and Fall of Onnyoro), revived as Kabuki play at Shinbashi Enbujo Theatre, Tokyo, Japan
 * 1962: Ottō to yobareru Nihonjin (A Japanese Called Otto), premiered at Sankei Hall, Osaka, Japan
 * 1963: Okinawa, premiered at Sabo Hall, Tokyo, Japan
 * 1964: Fuyu no Jidai (In the Age of Winter), premiered at Toyoko Hall, Tokyo, Japan
 * 1967: Shiroi yoru no utage (Banquet in the White Night), premiered at Sabo Hall, Tokyo, Japan
 * 1970: Shinpan (The Judgment) premiered at Meitetsu Hall, Nagoya, Japan
 * 1987: Natsu Nanpō no Romansu (Summer: A Romance on the South Sea) premiered at Season Theatre, Tokyo Japan
 * 1978: Shigosen no matsuri ('The Meridian Rite''), premiered a National Theatre, Tokyo Japan

Plays Published in English

 * Kami to hito to no aida [comprises Shinpan and Natsu Nanpo no Romansu ] (published as Between God and Man: A Judgment on War Crimes; A Play in Two Parts), trans.  Eric J. Gangloff, University of Washington Press, 1979.
 * Yuzuru (published as Twilight Crane), trans. A. C. Scott in Playbook: Five Plays for a New Theatre, New Directions, 1956
 * Omon Tota: A Folktale Play, translated by George Marshall Murphy, University Microfilms, 1979.
 * Ottō to yobareru nihonjin (published as A Japanese Called Otto), trans. Lawrence Rogers in Patriots and Traitors: Sorge and Ozaki, MerwinAsia, 2010.