Junji Kinoshita

Playwright. Born on August 2, 1914 in Hongo, Tokyo. Spent his time in Kumamoto from the 4th grade of elementary school to the old Fifth High School. Graduated from the Department of English Literature at Tokyo Imperial University in 1939 (Showa 14) and went on to graduate school. During World War II, he wrote plays based on Japanese folk tales, and in 1946 (Showa 21) after the war, he released "Waiting for the 22nd Night" and "Hikoichi Banashi" without adding any new material. After that, he released a series of "folk tale plays" including new works "Akai Jinbaori" and "Sannen Netaro" (both 1947), and an adapted version of "Yuzuru" (1949), and won the Mainichi Theater Award for "Yuzuru." It was an attempt to popularize new drama. On the other hand, he released "Fuurou" (1947), which depicts a group of young people during the Meiji Restoration. Since then, he has published serious plays in a different vein from the folk tale plays, such as "Mountain Range" (1949), "Dark Sparks" (1950), "Frog Ascension" (1951), and "Okinawa" (1961), and has been active as a leading postwar playwright in the realist vein. He has continued to make statements and attempts based on his awareness of the need to develop modern Japanese as a language rooted in the lives of the people, and to establish the dialogue and stage language of plays as a condensed version of that language. One culmination of these efforts is the critical work "Japanese for Drama" (1982). Intertwined with this inclination, he has also pondered on the nature of drama, which is different from poetry and novels, and published several collections of essays with titles using the word "drama." A comprehensive introductory book on these topics is "What is 'dramatic'?" (1995). He also worked for a long time on Shakespeare, who embodied these two points of being "popular and dramatic," and one of the fruits of this work was the eight-volume edition of "Shakespeare" (1988-89), a revised translation of 15 of Shakespeare's tragedies and comedies. In parallel with these theatrical endeavors, he also made conscientious and progressive social statements and actions, such as participating in the 1955 Asian Nations Conference and the World Peace Conference. Other works include "The Japanese Called Otto" (1962), modelled on Ozaki Hidemi's involvement in the Sorge Incident; the two-part work "Between God and Man" (1970), which explored the issue of Japanese war crimes; "The Meridian Festival" (1978), based on "The Tale of the Heike"; "The Master" (1991), which was based on the Polish TV drama "The Master" by Zysław Skowronski and sounded a warning about the lack of a sense of crisis that fails to confront the situation of the times; and the novels "Infinite Tracks" (1965) and "Hongo" (1983).

[Shoji Sobue]

"Kinoshita Junji Collected Works," 8 volumes (1961-71, Miraisha)" ▽ "Kinoshita Junji Essay Collection," 11 volumes (1972-84, Miraisha)" ▽ "Kinoshita Junji Collected Works," 16 volumes (1988-89, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "Humanity, History, Fate - Kinoshita Junji Dialogues" (1989, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "Those Bygone Days by Kinoshita Junji (1992, Kodansha)" ▽ "Living and Creating by Kinoshita Junji (1994, Jinbun Shoin)" ▽ "Kinoshita Junji What is 'Dramatic'?" (1995, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "Kinoshita Junji On the Japanese Language (1997, Labor Junposha)" ▽ "Kinoshita Junji Selected Plays," 4 volumes (Iwanami Bunko)" ▽ "On Kinoshita Junji" by Yasuharu Miyagishi (1995, Iwanami Shoten) " "The World of Kinoshita Junji" by Ken Shindo (1998, Toho Publishing)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

劇作家。大正3年8月2日東京・本郷に生まれる。小学4年から旧制第五高等学校にかけては熊本で過ごす。1939年（昭和14）東京帝国大学英文科卒業、大学院に進む。第二次世界大戦中、日本の民話を素材にした戯曲を書き、戦後の46年（昭和21）に『二十二夜待ち』『彦市(ひこいち)ばなし』を加筆せず発表。以後、新作の『赤い陣羽織』『三年寝太郎』（ともに1947）、改作の『夕鶴(ゆうづる)』（1949）など、一連の「民話劇」を発表し、『夕鶴』により毎日演劇賞を受けた。新劇の大衆化の試みであった。他方、明治維新期の青年群像を描いた『風浪(ふうろう)』（1947）を発表。以後、民話劇とは別系統の本格的な戯曲『山脈(やまなみ)』（1949）、『暗い火花』（1950）、『蛙(かえる)昇天』（1951）、『沖縄』（1961）などを発表し、リアリズムの流れにたつ戦後の劇作家の第一人者として活躍。近代の日本語を国民の生活に根ざしたことばとして発展させ、その凝縮したものとしての戯曲の台詞(せりふ)、舞台のことばを確立させるという問題意識からの発言、試みを続けてきた。その一つの集大成が、評論的な作品『戯曲の日本語』（1982）である。またこの志向と交錯して、詩・小説とは異なる戯曲（ドラマ）とは何かをめぐって思索をめぐらし、「ドラマ」ということばを使ったタイトルの評論集を数冊刊行してきたが、その総括的な入門書として『“劇的”とは』（1995）がある。また、この「民衆的で劇的な」という2点を体現したシェークスピアとの取り組みも長期にわたり、その結実の一つはシェークスピアの悲劇・喜劇15編を改訳した八巻本『シェイクスピア』（1988～89）である。こういう演劇的な試みと平行し、1955年のアジア諸国会議や世界平和大会への参加など、良心的、進歩的な社会発言と行動もみせてきた。ほかに、ゾルゲ事件の尾崎秀実(ほつみ)をモデルにした『オットーと呼ばれる日本人』（1962）、日本人の戦争犯罪の問題を追求した二部作『神と人とのあいだ』（1970）、『平家物語』を踏まえた『子午線の祀(まつ)り』（1978）、ポーランドのジスワフ・スコブロンスキのテレビドラマ『巨匠』を踏まえて、時代状況と向き合わない危機意識の薄さに警鐘を発した『巨匠』（1991）、小説『無限軌道』（1965）、『本郷』（1983）などがある。

［祖父江昭二］

『『木下順二作品集』全8巻（1961～71・未来社）』▽『『木下順二評論集』全11巻（1972～84・未来社）』▽『『木下順二集』全16巻（1988～89・岩波書店）』▽『『人間・歴史・運命――木下順二対話集』（1989・岩波書店）』▽『木下順二著『あの過ぎ去った日々』（1992・講談社）』▽『木下順二著『生きることと創ることと』（1994・人文書院）』▽『木下順二著『“劇的”とは』（1995・岩波書店）』▽『木下順二著『日本語について』（1997・労働旬報社）』▽『『木下順二戯曲選』全4巻（岩波文庫）』▽『宮岸泰治著『木下順二論』（1995・岩波書店）』▽『新藤謙著『木下順二の世界』（1998・東方出版）』

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