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{{Short description|Japanese playwright (1912–1946)}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2015}}
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| name = Kaoru Morimoto
{{Infobox writer
| image =
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| name = Kaoru Morimoto
| imagesize =
| image = Kaoru Morimoto.jpg
| caption =
| pseudonym =
| imagesize =
| birth_date = 1912
| caption =
| pseudonym =
| birth_place = [[Osaka]], [[Japan]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1912|6|4|df=y}}
| death_date = June 4, 1946
| death_place = [[Japan]]
| birth_place = [[Osaka]], Japan
| death_date = {{death date and age|1946|10|6|1912|6|4|df=y}}
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| occupation = Playwright,<br />actor, director, translator
| death_place = Japan
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| occupation = Playwright, screenwriter
| nationality = Japanese
| nationality = Japanese
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| alma_mater = [[Kyoto University]]
| ethnicity =
| citizenship =
| period =
| genre =
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| alma_mater = [[Kyoto University]]
| period =
| spouse =
| genre =
| children =
| spouse =
| children =
| website =
}}
}}
{{Nihongo|'''Kaoru Morimoto'''|森本薫|Morimoto Kaoru|4 June 1912 – 6 October 1946}} was a Japanese playwright, screenwriter and translator.<ref name="Kotobank">{{cite web|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%A3%AE%E6%9C%AC%E8%96%AB-142935 |title=森本薫 |website=Kotobank |language=ja |access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref><ref name="Bungakuza">{{cite web|url=http://www.bungakuza.com/about_us/michi/morimoto.html |title=森本 薫 ［1912－1946］ |website=Bungakuza |language=ja |access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref> He is famous for his critically acclaimed play ''[[A Woman's Life]]'' (''Onna no isshō''),<ref name="Kotobank" /> which became one of the most often performed plays in [[post-war]] Japan.<ref name="Zheng">{{cite book|title=Modern Japanese Theatre and Performance |last=Zheng |first=Guohe |chapter=Reflections of and on the Times: Morimoto Kaoru's A Woman's Life |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2006}}</ref>


==Biography==
{{Nihongo|'''Kaoru Morimoto'''|森本 薫|Morimoto Kaoru|1912 – 1946)}} was a Japanese playwright, director, translator, and actor. He is famous for his critically acclaimed play, [[A woman's life|''A Woman's Life'']] (''Onna no isshō''), one of [[Japan|Japan's]] most frequently staged plays post [[World War II|World War II.]] Morimoto's work was most popular during the post-war period but his plays are still read and performed today. He was born in [[Osaka]], [[Japan]] in 1912 and later moved to [[Kyoto]] where he received a degree in [[English literature]] from [[Kyoto University]] in 1937. Morimoto died in 1946 after a long battle with [[tuberculosis]]. <ref name="Historical Dictionary">Miller, Scott J. "Morimoto Kaoru." Historical Dictionary of Modern Japanese Literature and Theater. Illustrated ed. Vol. 33. N.p.: Scarecrow, 2009. 78. Print.</ref>
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Morimoto was born in [[Osaka]], Japan, on 4 June 1912 and later moved to [[Kyoto]], where he received a degree in [[English literature]] from [[Kyoto University]] in 1937.<ref name="Kotobank" /> He published his first plays while still at university.<ref name="Kotobank" /> During this time, he was a disciple of [[Kunio Kishida]],<ref name="Kotobank" /> one of the most prominent Japanese playwrights of the 20th century, as well as the main founder of [[Bungakuza]] theatre group.<ref name="Columbia Anthology">Rimer, Thomas J., Mitsuya Mori, and Cody M. Poulton. "A Woman's Life." The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Drama. Trans. Ghuohe Zheng. N.p.: Columbia UP, 2014. 182+. Reader.eblib.com. University of Washington Library. Web. May 5, 2015.</ref> ''Migotona onna'' (1934), one of Morimoto's earliest plays, was published in the magazine ''Gekisaku'' ("Playwright"), edited by Kishida.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Asian Theatre: A-N |last=Leiter |first=Samuel L. |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=2007 |page=434 |isbn=9780313335303}}</ref> In 1941, Morimoto joined the Bungakuza.<ref name="Bungakuza" />


Morimoto's most famous play, ''A Woman's Life'' (1945), about a young woman who takes over the family's successful trading business that conducts trade with China, was written under the commission of the Japanese military authorities to justify Japan's expansionist policy against China.<ref name="Zheng" /> It was first performed in April 1945 in Tokyo where it was well received.<ref name="Zheng" /> After the end of [[World War II]], Morimoto was convinced by a friend to revise the play to be compatible with the changed political atmosphere, making rewrites in particular in the opening and ending.<ref name="Zheng" /> The revised version was published in book form on 15 October 1946, nine days after Morimoto's death from [[pulmonary tuberculosis|tuberculosis]], which he had been battling with for a long time.<ref name="Bungakuza" /><ref name="Zheng" /> The play's staged versions, performed in Japan, China and Russia, saw additional changes made to Morimoto's text after his death.<ref name="Zheng" />
== Personal Life ==
=== School and Early Life ===


Morimoto's plays were also adapted for film, in some cases with screenplay written by Morimoto himself. In addition, he wrote original scenarios for the screen.<ref>{{cite web|title=森本薫 |url=http://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/person.aspx?person_id=110024 |website=Kinenote |language=ja |access-date=22 August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=森本薫 |url=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/person/p0200220.htm |website=Japanese Movie Database |language=ja |access-date=22 August 2023}}</ref> ''[[Fallen Blossoms]]'' (1938), based on his play and directed by [[Tamizō Ishida]], another Bungakuza affiliate, is nowadays seen as one of the outstanding Japanese films of the 1930s.<ref name="Burch">{{cite book|last1=Burch |first1=Noel |title=To the Distant Observer: Form and Meaning in the Japanese Cinema |date=1979 |publisher=University of California Press |pages=202–205 |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cjs/aaq5060.0001.001/--to-the-distant-observer-form-and-meaning-in-the-japanese?view=toc}}</ref><ref name="Jacoby">{{cite book |last=Jacoby |first=Alexander |date=2008 |title=A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day |location=Berkeley |publisher=Stone Bridge Press |isbn=978-1-933330-53-2 |pages=77–78}}</ref>
⚫
It was before [[World War II]] began that Morimoto began his playwriting career. During this time, he was a disciple of [[Kunio Kishida]], one of the most prominent Japanese playwrights of the 20th century, as well as the main founder of [[Bungakuza]].<ref name="Columbia Anthology">Rimer, Thomas J., Mitsuya Mori, and Cody M. Poulton. "A Woman's Life." The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Drama. Trans. Ghuohe Zheng. N.p.: Columbia UP, 2014. 182+. Reader.eblib.com. University of Washington Library. Web. 5 May 2015.</ref>Morimoto was in high school when he first contracted [[tuberculosis]]. He managed to mostly recover but the [[disease]] would continue to adversely affect his health in the future, eventually taking his life in 1946. Morimoto studied [[English Literature|English literature]] and graduated from [[Kyoto University]] in 1937.<ref name="Historical Dictionary"/>


⚫
''Dotō'' (1944), based on the story of Japanese scientist [[Kitasato Shibasaburō]], was performed by the New National Theatre in Tokyo as a part of their 1999–2000 season.<ref>{{cite book|last=Minamoto |first=Goro |chapter=Japan |title=World of Theatre 2003 Edition: An Account of the World's Theatre Seasons 1999–2000, 2000–2001 and 2001–2002 |editor1-first=Ian |editor1-last=Herbert |editor2-first=Nicole |editor2-last=Leclercq |year=2003 |publisher=Routledge |page=196 |isbn=9780415306218}}</ref>
=== Marriage and Affair ===


⚫
==Major works==
Despite being married, Kaoru Morimoto was suspected of having an affair with his colleague [[Haruko Sugimura]]. Their relationship most likely lasted until Morimoto's death in 1946.<ref> [[森本薫|Kaoru Morimoto's Japanese Wikipedia Article]]
* 1934: ''Wagaya'' (わが家, lit. "My home"), one act
* 1934: ''Ikka fū'' (一家風, lit. "Family style"), one act
* 1934: ''Migotona onna'' (みごとな女, lit. "A magnificent woman"), one act
* 1935: ''Hanabanashiki ichizoku'' (華々しき一族, lit. "Hanabanashiki clan"), three acts
* 1936: ''Ishō'' (衣装, lit. "Clothing"), one act
* 1941: ''Chin fujin'', (陳夫人, lit. "Madam Chen"), adaptation of a work by Soichi Shoji, with [[Sumie Tanaka]]
* 1944: ''Ōgi'' (扇, lit. "Fan"), one act
* 1944: ''Dotō'' (怒濤, lit. "Raging waves"), five acts
⚫
* 1945: ''[[A Woman's Life]]'', five acts


=== Death ===
==Film adaptations==
* 1938: ''[[Fallen Blossoms]]''
During [[World War II]], Morimoto relapsed from the pulmonary [[tuberculosis]] he first contracted while in high school. He died on June 4th of 1946 at the age of thirty-four.<ref name="Historical Dictionary"/>
* 1939: ''Mukashi no uta'' (also screenplay)
* 1944: ''Gekiryu'' (also screenplay)
* 1946: ''Ai no senkusha''
* 1953: ''Aijin''
* 1962: ''Life of a Woman''


⚫
==References==
{{Reflist}}


⚫
{{Authority control}}
== Career ==
=== A Woman's Life ===
{{Main|A woman's life|''A Woman's Life''}}
Kaoru Morimoto is known today for his famous play [[A woman's life|''A Woman's Life'']], about a young girl named Kei who grows up in [Japan]] during the early twentieth century and takes over a successful family trading business that does trade with [[China]]. The play was commissioned by the Japanese military as a piece of nationalist [[propaganda]] [[A woman's life|''A Woman's Life'']] was hugely popular in [[Japan]] after the [[World War II|war]], and was even translated into [[Chinese Language|Chinese]] and [[Russian Language|Russian]] to be performed overseas. After the war and right before his death in 1946, Morimoto rewrote the first and last scenes of the play to ensure the story would remain relevant in the new political landscape of [[Japan]] post-war.<ref name="Columbia Anthology"/>


=== Involvement in Bungakuza ===

In December of 1940, Morimoto joined the [[Bungakuza]], also known as the, "Literature Theatre Company," a Japanese theatre group that worked to publish and perform literature in a time when most theatre groups had been banned as the result of extreme government [[censorship]]. Morimoto joined just a few months after the Japanese government began harshly cracking down on [[Theatre|theatre.]] He was brought to the group by Iwata Toyoo, one of the company's founders. Soon after joining, Morimoto was recognized as one of [[Bungakuza|Bungakuza's]] most talented members and he quickly assumed positions in leadership. He prided himself on his ability to produce literature regardless of the current political atmosphere. [[''A Woman's Life'']] was a major source of revenue for the company after the [[World War II|war]], saving the group from financial hardship on more than one occasion. The group had performed the play over 250 times by the mid [[1950s|1950's]]. Many account [[Bungakuza|Bungakuza's]] success during a time of strict [[censorship]] to Morimoto and [[''A Woman's Life]].'' <ref name="Powell"/>

=== Other works ===
''At the Damn'', a [[one-act play]] by Morimoto, was written while he was still in high school. It is cited as being Morimoto's first original literary work. <ref name="Historical Dictionary"/> Morimoto also wrote many plays while under the tutelage of [[Kunio Kishida]]. ''A Splendid Woman'' (Migoto na onna), another of Morimoto's earliest plays, was published in a magazine edited by [[Kunio Kishida|Kishida]] titled, ''Gekisaku'' (Playwright). The play was published in 1934 while Morimoto was still attending [[Kyoto University]].

⚫
''Doto (The Angry Waves),'' based on the story of Japanese scientist [[Kitasato Shibasaburō]], was performed by the New National Theatre in Tokyo as a part of their 1999-2000 season.<ref>Minamoto, Goro. "Japan." World of Theatre 2003 Edition: An Account of the World's Theatre Seasons 1999-2000, 2000-2001 and 2001-2002. Ed. Ian Herbert and Nicole Leclercq. 2003 ed. N.p.: Routledge, 2003. 196. Print.</ref>

=== Death ===

During [[World War II]], Morimoto relapsed from the pulmonary [[tuberculosis]] he first contracted while in high school. He died on June 4th of 1946 at the age of thirty-four.<ref name="Historical Dictionary"/>

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== Major Works ==
*At the Damn: One-act (1934)
*Family-Style: One-act (1934)
*Home: One-act (1934)
*Beautiful Woman: One-act (1934)
*Hanabanashiki Clan: Three acts (1935)
*Costume: One-act (1936)
*Mrs. Chen: Tanaka Sumie joint adaptation of the original (1941)
*Fan: One-act (1944)
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*A Woman's Life: Five acts (1945)


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== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External Links ==
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=u02K3u4HxykC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false] Historical Dictionary of Modern Japanese Literature and Theater, Google Books
*[https://books.google.com/books/about/Japan_s_Modern_Theatre.html?id=jrJqVBYvgv8C&hl=en] Japan's Modern Theatre: A Century of Change and Continuity, Google Books

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{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morimoto, Kaoru}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morimoto, Kaoru}}
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:1946 deaths]]
[[Category:1946 deaths]]
[[Category:Kyoto University alumni]]
[[Category:Kyoto University alumni]]
[[Category:Japanese dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century Japanese dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century deaths from tuberculosis]]
[[Category:Tuberculosis deaths in Japan]]

Latest revision as of 21:22, 4 May 2024

Kaoru Morimoto
Born(1912-06-04)4 June 1912
Osaka, Japan
Died6 October 1946(1946-10-06) (aged 34)
Japan
OccupationPlaywright, screenwriter
NationalityJapanese
Alma materKyoto University

Kaoru Morimoto (森本薫, Morimoto Kaoru, 4 June 1912 – 6 October 1946) was a Japanese playwright, screenwriter and translator.[1][2] He is famous for his critically acclaimed play A Woman's Life (Onna no isshō),[1] which became one of the most often performed plays in post-war Japan.[3]

Biography

[edit]

Morimoto was born in Osaka, Japan, on 4 June 1912 and later moved to Kyoto, where he received a degree in English literature from Kyoto University in 1937.[1] He published his first plays while still at university.[1] During this time, he was a disciple of Kunio Kishida,[1] one of the most prominent Japanese playwrights of the 20th century, as well as the main founder of Bungakuza theatre group.[4] Migotona onna (1934), one of Morimoto's earliest plays, was published in the magazine Gekisaku ("Playwright"), edited by Kishida.[5] In 1941, Morimoto joined the Bungakuza.[2]

Morimoto's most famous play, A Woman's Life (1945), about a young woman who takes over the family's successful trading business that conducts trade with China, was written under the commission of the Japanese military authorities to justify Japan's expansionist policy against China.[3] It was first performed in April 1945 in Tokyo where it was well received.[3] After the end of World War II, Morimoto was convinced by a friend to revise the play to be compatible with the changed political atmosphere, making rewrites in particular in the opening and ending.[3] The revised version was published in book form on 15 October 1946, nine days after Morimoto's death from tuberculosis, which he had been battling with for a long time.[2][3] The play's staged versions, performed in Japan, China and Russia, saw additional changes made to Morimoto's text after his death.[3]

Morimoto's plays were also adapted for film, in some cases with screenplay written by Morimoto himself. In addition, he wrote original scenarios for the screen.[6][7] Fallen Blossoms (1938), based on his play and directed by Tamizō Ishida, another Bungakuza affiliate, is nowadays seen as one of the outstanding Japanese films of the 1930s.[8][9]

Dotō (1944), based on the story of Japanese scientist Kitasato Shibasaburō, was performed by the New National Theatre in Tokyo as a part of their 1999–2000 season.[10]

Major works

[edit]
  • 1934: Wagaya (わが家, lit. "My home"), one act
  • 1934: Ikka fū (一家風, lit. "Family style"), one act
  • 1934: Migotona onna (みごとな女, lit. "A magnificent woman"), one act
  • 1935: Hanabanashiki ichizoku (華々しき一族, lit. "Hanabanashiki clan"), three acts
  • 1936: Ishō (衣装, lit. "Clothing"), one act
  • 1941: Chin fujin, (陳夫人, lit. "Madam Chen"), adaptation of a work by Soichi Shoji, with Sumie Tanaka
  • 1944: Ōgi (扇, lit. "Fan"), one act
  • 1944: Dotō (怒濤, lit. "Raging waves"), five acts
  • 1945: A Woman's Life, five acts

Film adaptations

[edit]
  • 1938: Fallen Blossoms
  • 1939: Mukashi no uta (also screenplay)
  • 1944: Gekiryu (also screenplay)
  • 1946: Ai no senkusha
  • 1953: Aijin
  • 1962: Life of a Woman

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e "森本薫". Kotobank (in Japanese). Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "森本 薫 ［1912－1946］". Bungakuza (in Japanese). Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Zheng, Guohe (2006). "Reflections of and on the Times: Morimoto Kaoru's A Woman's Life". Modern Japanese Theatre and Performance. Lexington Books.
  4. ^ Rimer, Thomas J., Mitsuya Mori, and Cody M. Poulton. "A Woman's Life." The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Drama. Trans. Ghuohe Zheng. N.p.: Columbia UP, 2014. 182+. Reader.eblib.com. University of Washington Library. Web. May 5, 2015.
  5. ^ Leiter, Samuel L. (2007). Encyclopedia of Asian Theatre: A-N. Greenwood Press. p. 434. ISBN 9780313335303.
  6. ^ "森本薫". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  7. ^ "森本薫". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  8. ^ Burch, Noel (1979). To the Distant Observer: Form and Meaning in the Japanese Cinema. University of California Press. pp. 202–205.
  9. ^ Jacoby, Alexander (2008). A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. pp. 77–78. ISBN 978-1-933330-53-2.
  10. ^ Minamoto, Goro (2003). "Japan". In Herbert, Ian; Leclercq, Nicole (eds.). World of Theatre 2003 Edition: An Account of the World's Theatre Seasons 1999–2000, 2000–2001 and 2001–2002. Routledge. p. 196. ISBN 9780415306218.
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