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A play by Kubo Sakae in two parts and seven acts. The first part (four acts) was announced in the Shincho magazine in December 1937, and the second part (three acts) in July of the following year, and published by Shinchosha in the same month. It premiered in June 1938 at the Tsukiji Little Theatre by the Shinkyo Theater Company, directed by Kubo. Although it was after the dissolution of the proletarian theater movement, it was performed at a time when the theater movement itself still had great energy, and as the last play before the war, which sought to "establish a head-on relationship with the Japanese" (Noma Hiroshi), it had a great impact on audiences and was highly praised by many.

Initially conceived as centering on a charcoal-burning family in the Tokachi region, the play grew into a major work featuring over 50 people after repeated field surveys. Set against the backdrop of the turbulent period of modern Japanese history from 1930 to 1937, the play portrays the struggle for survival of farmers and charcoal-burners, centering on Amemiya, a scientist researching flax production and fertilizer in Tokachi, and reveals the contradictions faced by fertilizer companies and agricultural cooperatives, while also secretly including the author's own personal suffering (separation from his wife and children). Aiming to "unify scientific theory and poetic imagery," which is Kubo's unique theory, the play is a lyrical expression of a heavy theme that incorporates "the joy of creating and the curse of living."

[Rie Inoue]

"Kubo Sakae Complete Works 3" (1961, Sanichi Shobo)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

久保栄(くぼさかえ)の戯曲。2部7幕。1937年（昭和12）12月に第1部（4幕）、翌年7月に第2部（3幕）が『新潮』に発表され、同月新潮社より刊行。38年6月新協劇団が築地(つきじ)小劇場で久保演出により初演。プロレタリア演劇運動解体後ではあったが、演劇運動そのものがまだ大きなエネルギーをもっていた時代に上演され、「日本人と真正面から関係を結ぼう」（野間宏(のまひろし)）とした戦前最後の戯曲で、観客に与えた衝撃は大きく、多くの人に絶賛された。

　初め十勝(とかち)地方の炭焼き一家を中心に構想されたが、たび重なる実地踏査を経て、50余名が登場する大作となった。1930～37年までの日本現代史の激動期を背景に、十勝の亜麻(あま)生産と肥料を研究する科学者雨宮を主軸に、農民や炭焼きたちの生きるための闘いを描き、肥料会社や農業組合の抱える矛盾を明らかにし、他方で作者の個的な苦悩（妻子との別離）をもひそかに書き込んでいる。久保独自の理論である「科学理論と詩的形象の統一」を目ざして、「つくる喜びと生きる呪(のろ)い」を込めた重い主題を詩情豊かに表現した戯曲である。

［井上理恵］

『『久保栄全集3』（1961・三一書房）』

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