Tsukiji Little Theatre

Name of theater and theater company. Founded in June 1924 (Taisho 13). The small theater, a hastily constructed barracks with a capacity of 468 people and adopting a Gothic-Romanesque style, was located where the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation is now located in Tsukiji 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo. The stage facilities, which included a cupella horizon, were the ideal space for performing modern realist plays at the time, and the construction funds were provided by Count Hijikata Yoshi. It was the first permanent theater in the history of shingeki, and it took the small theater format because all modern theater movements in various countries did so, but it can also be said to have provided an answer to the debate that was popular at the time about whether to go for large theaters or small theaters. At the time, new theater was in a period of decline, and the founding of the Tsukiji Little Theater served to once again absorb intellectuals into the new theater. On the other hand, however, many literary figures who relied on the magazine Engeki Shincho took an anti-Tsukiji stance after Hijikata's mentor, Osanai Kaoru, who had joined the theater company as a member, decided that for the time being he would only stage translated plays. This led to the animosity between the two parties continuing until the theater company was disbanded.

At the time of its founding, the group consisted of six people: Oyamauchi, Hijikata, actors Tomoda Kyosuke, Shiomi Hiroshi, Wada Sei, who was in charge of effects and lighting, and Asari Tsuruo, who was in charge of management. The acting department included Azumaya Saburo and Aoyama Sugisaku, and trainees Senda Koreya, Maruyama Sadao, Tamura Akiko, and Yamamoto Yasue. Aoyama eventually took on directing as well, but it was at the Tsukiji Little Theater that the concept of directing and the job of directing were established, and it was also at the Tsukiji Little Theater that stage departments such as lighting and effects became independent. In other words, it can be said that they systematized the new theater system, and together with the fact that actors and directors from Tsukiji have supported new theater for a long time, they became the mother of today's new theater. However, even if we take into consideration the tagline "theatrical laboratory," it is undeniable that the repertoire lacked consistency, as shown by the fact that the first performance featured the expressionist play Goering's "Naval Battle" alongside Mazo's "Day Off" and Chekhov's "Swan Song." In addition, despite the motto of "theater for the people," the theater was monopolized by some intellectuals and students. Following Oyamauchi's sudden death in December 1928 (Showa 3), 90 translated plays and 27 original plays were performed until the theater split into the Shintsukiji Theater Company led by Hijikata and others in March of the following year due to ideological confusion, and the Theater Company Tsukiji Little Theater led by Aoyama and others who remained. The theater itself became a base for left-wing theater in the early Showa period, but was renamed the New National Theater in November 1940 as the war regime deepened, and was burned down in an air raid in March 1945.

[Yoshio Ozasa]

"The Coming and Going of New Dramas by Haruki Mizushina (1973, Davidsha)" ▽ "Tsukiji Little Theater by Yukio Sugai (1974, Miraisha)" ▽ "History of Japanese Drama: Taisho and Early Showa Periods by Yoshio Ozasa (1986, Hakusuisha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

劇場および劇団名。1924年（大正13）6月に設立。ゴシック・ロマネスク様式を採用した定員468の急造バラックの小劇場は、現在の東京都中央区築地二丁目の東日本電信電話（株）のある所にあった。クッペル・ホリゾントをもつ舞台設備は、当時としては近代リアリズム戯曲を上演するのに最適の空間で、建築資金は伯爵土方与志(ひじかたよし)が提供した。新劇史上初の新劇常設劇場で、小劇場形式をとったのは、各国の近代演劇運動がすべてそうだったことによるが、当時盛んだった大劇場主義か小劇場主義かという議論に、一つの答えを示したものともいえる。おりから新劇は凋落(ちょうらく)期で、築地小劇場の創立は、ふたたび知識人を新劇に吸収する役目をしたが、一方では、同人として参加した土方の師小山内薫(おさないかおる)が当面翻訳劇しか上演しないといったことから、『演劇新潮』という雑誌に拠(よ)っていた多くの文学者が反築地の姿勢をとり、両者の反目は劇団解散時まで続いた。

　創立時の同人は小山内、土方のほかに、俳優の友田恭助(きょうすけ)、汐見(しおみ)洋、効果・照明担当の和田精、経営の浅利鶴雄の6人で、演技部に東屋(あずまや)三郎、青山杉作、研究生として千田是也(これや)、丸山定夫、田村秋子、山本安英(やすえ)らがいた。青山はやがて演出をも受け持つが、演出という概念やその仕事が確立したのは築地小劇場によってであり、照明や効果といった舞台の部門が独立したのも築地小劇場からである。つまり新劇としてのシステムを系統だてたといってよく、築地出身の俳優や演出家が長く新劇を支えてきたということとあわせて、今日の新劇の母胎になった。ただし、第1回公演にマゾーの『休みの日』やチェーホフの『白鳥の歌』とともに表現派戯曲のゲーリングの『海戦』が上演されたというごとく、「演劇の実験室」とのうたい文句を配慮しても、レパートリーに一貫性を欠いたことは否定しがたく、また「民衆のための演劇」というモットーにもかかわらず、一部知識人や学生に劇場が占有された。1928年（昭和3）12月の小山内の急死を経て、翌年3月には思想的な混乱もあり土方らの新築地劇団と、残留の青山らによる劇団築地小劇場に分裂するまで、翻訳劇90、創作劇27編が上演された。なお劇場自体は、昭和初期に左翼演劇の拠点になったが、戦争体制の深化した40年11月に国民新劇場と改称、45年3月の空襲によって焼失した。

［大笹吉雄］

『水品春樹著『新劇去来』（1973・ダヴィッド社）』▽『菅井幸雄著『築地小劇場』（1974・未来社）』▽『大笹吉雄著『日本演劇史　大正・昭和初期篇』（1986・白水社）』

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