Sakae Kubo

Playwright and director. Born in Sapporo on December 28, 1900. His father ran the Nopporo Brick Factory and later became chairman of the Sapporo Chamber of Commerce and Industry. At the age of three, he was adopted by his father's younger brother and moved to Tokyo. Later, his adoptive family fell into poverty and he was reinstated to his birth family. In 1917 (Taisho 6), he entered the First Higher School. Around this time, he began submitting works to "Hototogisu" and "Mizugame." In 1918, he won the Toson Shimazaki Toson Tokoku Prize, and his first novel, "The Story of the Three Woodcutters," was published in "Chuo Bungaku." While he was a student of German Literature at Tokyo Imperial University, his translation of "Hose" was performed at the Tsukiji Little Theatre, and after graduating in 1926, he joined the theatre's literary club. He translated Expressionist plays, and after the Tsukiji split, he formed the Shintsukiji Theater Company with Hijikata Yoshi and others, but left the company soon after. He founded the magazines Theater District and Theater Culture. In 1930 (Showa 5), ​​he published the play New Theory of the Battle of Koxinga (later renamed New Theory of the Koxinga), and set out as a playwright. He also joined Plot, and founded Proletarian Theater. After Plot was dissolved in 1934, until his arrest in the New Theater Incident in 1940, he was active in many areas, introducing German proletarian theater, translating plays, writing plays, and directing. He produced and directed plays based on precise theories, such as "China Hunan Province" (1932), "The Blood Letter from Goryokaku" and "The Thieves of Yoshino" (both 1933), the masterpiece "Volcanic Ash Land" (1937-38), and translations of "The Weaver", "The Bandits" and "Faust". These plays, along with his direction of "Before Dawn" and "Father Returns", were highly praised by the Shinkyo Theater Company. After World War II, he formed the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre with Takizawa Osamu and others (1945), but the company was dissolved after the performance of his first postwar play, "Apple Orchard Diary" (1947), which depicted war responsibility. After that, he devoted himself to writing the full-length novel "Noborigama" (Part 1, 1951), which was inspired by his birthplace, but his depression worsened and he was unable to complete the novel before hanging himself while hospitalized for treatment on March 15, 1958. After his death, issues 1-10 of "Kubo Sakae Research" (1959-69) were published, and the manuscript and other items are on display at the Sapporo City Museum.

[Rie Inoue]

"The Complete Works of Kubo Sakae, 12 volumes (1961-63, Sanichi Shobo)" ▽ "Murakami Ichiro, Kubo Sakae Theory (1959, Kobundo)" ▽ "Sawada Seiichi, People of the White Land (1979, Sososha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

劇作家、演出家。明治33年12月28日札幌に生まれる。父は野幌煉瓦(のっぽろれんが)工場を経営、のち札幌商工会議所会頭。3歳で父の弟の養子となり上京。のち養家が没落し生家へ復籍。1917年（大正6）第一高等学校入学。このころから『ホトトギス』『水甕(みずがめ)』に投稿。18年、島崎藤村(とうそん)選透谷(とうこく)賞に当選、『中央文学』に処女小説『三人の木樵(やまご)の話』が載る。東京帝国大学独文科在学中に築地(つきじ)小劇場で彼の翻訳による『ホーゼ』が上演され、26年卒業後同劇場文芸部に入る。表現主義戯曲の翻訳などにあたり、築地分裂後は土方与志(ひじかたよし)らと新築地劇団を結成するがまもなく退団。『劇場街』『劇場文化』を創刊。30年（昭和5）、戯曲『新説国姓爺合戦(こくせんやかっせん)』（のち『国姓爺新説』と改題）を発表し劇作家として出航、またプロットに加盟、『プロレタリア演劇』の創刊にあたる。34年のプロット解散を経て40年の新劇人事件で検挙されるまでの間、ドイツのプロレタリア演劇の紹介や戯曲の翻訳、創作、演出と多面的に活躍する。緻密(ちみつ)な理論に基づく戯曲『中国湖南省』（1932）、『五稜郭血書(ごりょうかくけっしょ)』『吉野の盗賊』（ともに1933）、大作『火山灰地』（1937～38）や、翻訳『織工(おりこ)』『群盗』『ファウスト』を発表、演出した。新協劇団でのそれらの上演は、『夜明け前』や『父帰る』の演出などとともに絶賛された。第二次世界大戦後、滝沢修(おさむ)らと東京芸術劇場を結成（1945）するが、戦争責任を描いた戦後第一作の『林檎(りんご)園日記』（1947）上演後に解体。以後、生家に材を得た長編小説『のぼり窯(がま)』（第1部・1951）執筆にすべてをかけるが、うつ病が悪化し完成をみずに入院加療中の昭和33年3月15日縊死(いし)した。死後『久保栄研究』1～10号（1959～69）が刊行され、札幌市資料館に原稿その他が展示されている。

［井上理恵］

『『久保栄全集』全12巻（1961～63・三一書房）』▽『村上一郎著『久保栄論』（1959・弘文堂）』▽『沢田誠一著『白い土地の人々』（1979・構想社）』

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