Shingeki - Knowledge

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on June 15, 1960, resulting in 80 members being injured. Although discontent had been building throughout the 1950s, the radicalizing experience of the Anpo Protests helped convince many younger Shingeki members to break away and found their own theater troupes, where they could experiment with much

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into Japanese, and taught theater and literature as a Waseda professor. Most recognize him as the founder of theatre research in Japan. According to historians, he explored mediums other than theatre. He wanted to modernize literature in general, however, he focused on the novel and drama. Tsubouchi

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and traditional Japanese theatre, he had an agitation towards the work they were producing because it was resistant to change. Osanai announced he would not produce any Japanese works for two years, frustrated with the lack of quality as stated before, and that only translations of Western works

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theatre. They also saw Western drama being produced in Japan as a way to promote Western thoughts and ideals. They attempted to promote Shingeki as a medium for propaganda and reforming Japanese theatre to make it more Western. However, they failed to see that Shingeki was more than just a pale

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was founded in the early postwar, it had only twelve members: eleven actors and one director. But by the year 1960, however, it had ballooned into a company of 119 members: fifty-one actors, thirteen directors and assistant directors, sixteen administrative staff, and thirty-nine apprentices.

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student federation, were extremely disappointed that the Shingeki Association enforced strict conformity to the passive and ineffectual protest policies of the Japan Communist Party, even after right-wing counter-protester brutally attacked the Shingeki members during a protest march at the

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were key figures in Shingeki political theatre. Unlike Osanai, these companies focused on Japanese scripts creating a space for Japanese plays that was not available before. The government did catch wind of the leftist plays and began arresting artists and oppressing leftist companies.

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Shingeki theater developed in the early 20th century in response to the perceived “irrationality” of these earlier forms of Western-style theater that had been popularized during the late 19th century, as well as to “premodern” or “feudal” forms of traditional Japanese theater such as

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in 1868 had led to the introduction of Western drama, singing, and acting onto the Japanese stage, as well as bringing the conventions of realism. In the late 19th century, and early 20th century, there were attempts to "modernize" Japanese theatre. Japanese artists experimented with

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in 1921, a work that has been called "the first landmark film in Japanese history". In later decades, shingeki provided the cinema both a training ground for new actors, as well as a supply of skilled performers trained in realistic acting.

349:("People’s Theater") movement and played a crucial role in helping shingeki survive in lean years in the early postwar period by buying up blocks of tickets and mobilizing members of JCP-linked labor unions to attend Shingeki productions. 279:

Between 1928 through 1932, Shingeki began to get more political than before. Various leftist intellectuals attempted to fight their political battle for socialism all while rallying around Shingeki theatre companies. Playwrights such as

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Despite the departure of some younger members to found the Angura movement, Shingeki did not disappear or go into any dramatic decline. In fact, with wages rising due to high economic growth during the period of Japan's

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modernism and formalist realism of Shingeki to stage anarchic "underground" productions in tents, on street corners, and in small spaces that explored themes of primitivism, sexuality, and embodied physicality.

313:(or SCAP) and Shingeki theatre artists have a long history of interaction during the occupied of Japan that often led to confusion and cultural misunderstandings. The SCAP saw Shingeki as a replacement for 156:. Shingeki companies thus sought to present Western-style theatrical productions in modern, Western-style theaters with less stylized and more “realistic” situations, dialogues, costumes, and set design. 330:

for audiences which was well received. But the disbandment of the Shingeki companies during the war had nearly extinguished the movement, which essentially had to start over, almost from scratch.

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to drive ticket sales. Today, many of the major Shingeki theater companies continue to exist, although the "shingeki" name itself has been dropped from their self-descriptions.

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Shingeki gradually rose to popularity again after the war, but at first it was a struggle. Veteran Shingeki performers banded together in December 1945 and produced

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should be replaced, but that it should be reformed. He studied western pieces as a means to reforming Japanese drama and literature. His plays include

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In the early postwar years, many Shingeki performers reacted to their wartime repression by embracing leftism, and some members even joined the

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Eventually, the postwar Shingeki movement grew to have hundreds of independent troupes. Among the best known (and longest lived) are:

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to buy up blocks of tickets and fill seats. This meant that their productions tended to be more conservatively leftist and

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The origin of Shingeki is linked to various movements and theatre companies. Scholars associate its origin with the

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Over the course of the 1940s and 1950s, the Shingeki movement gradually recovered its strength. For example, when

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Jortner, David. "SCAP's 'Problem Child:' American Aesthetics, the Shingeki Stage, and the Occupation of Japan."

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Sorgenfrei, Carol Fisher. "A Fabulous Fake: Folklore and the Search for National Identity in Kinoshita Junji's

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of the 1910s, when intellectual reformers attempted to modernize Japanese film. Shingeki directors such as

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theatre. He produced and directed plays that were considered landmarks in the new theatre, however, the

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Visions of Japanese Modernity: Articulations of Cinema, Nation, and Spectatorship, 1895-1925

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During the war, almost all Shingeki troupes were disbanded by the authorities, except for

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would be put on the stage. The troupe produced many Western plays, including; Chekov's

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In 1960, virtually the entire Shingeki community was mobilized to take part in the

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Hironori, Terasaki, and Gotō Yukihiro. "Trends in the Japanese Theatrical World."

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Scholars link two historical figures to the development of Shingeki. The first is

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were the only types of theatre that was around before the birth of Shingeki.

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Rising From the Flames: The Rebirth of Theater in Occupied Japan, 1945-1952

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However, well into the 1960s, Shingeki companies remained dependent on the

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to appeal to the sensibilities of the left-leaning labor unionists in the

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more radical forms of avant-garde theater. This was the genesis of the "

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The Japanese Theatre: From Shamanistic Ritual to Contemporary Pluralism

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in 1924 where he attempted to combine aspects of Western theatre with

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Rising From the Flames: The Rebirth of Theatre in Occupied Japan

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Shingeki was an important influence on cinema, first during the

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was a leading form of theatre in Japan that was based on modern

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