Tsubouchi Shōyō

Who was Tsubouchi Shōyō?

Tsubouchi Shōyō was a Japanese author, critic, playwright, translator, editor, educator, and professor at Waseda University. He was born Tsubouchi Yūzō, in Gifu prefecture. He also used the pen name Haru no Yaoboro.

His book of criticism, Shōsetsu Shinzui, helped free novels and dramas from the low opinion that the Japanese had of such literature. Tsubouchi's writings on realism in literature influenced Masaoka Shiki's ideas about realism in haiku. Tsubouchi's novel, Tōsei Shosei Kishitsu, was one of the earliest modern novels in Japan.

His Kabuki play Kiri Hitoha was influenced by his studies of both the famous Kabuki and Jōruri dramatist Chikamatsu Monzaemon and William Shakespeare. The play, in turn, influenced modern Kabuki. He also did a complete translation of the plays of Shakespeare, written in the old-fashion language of Kabuki.

His modern play, Shinkyoku Urashima, incorporating traditional dance and music, was a popular and critical success. The play was a retelling of a familiar Japanese folk-tale with a Rip Van Winkle-like protagonist, Urashima Tarō.