Editing Tsubouchi Shōyō

{{Short description|Japanese author, critic, playwright, translator, editor, educator, and professor (1859–1935)}}
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{{family name hatnote|Tsubouchi|lang=Japanese}}
[[File:Shoyo Tsubouchi cropped.jpg|thumb|Tsubouchi Shōyō]]
{{nihongo|'''Tsubouchi Shōyō'''{{efn|{{IPA|ja|tsɯ.boꜜ.ɯ.tɕi, tsɯ.boꜜ.ɯ.tɕi̥ <nowiki>|</nowiki> ɕoꜜː.joː, tsɯ.bo.ɯ.tɕi̥ ɕoꜜː.joː, tsɯ.boꜜ.ɯ.tɕi̥ (<nowiki>|</nowiki>) ɕoː.joː}}<ref>{{cite book|script-title=ja:新明解日本語アクセント辞典|edition=2nd|editor-last=Kindaichi|editor-first=Haruhiko|editor-link=Haruhiko Kindaichi|editor-last2=Akinaga|editor-first2=Kazue|publisher=[[Sanseidō]]|date=10 March 2025|lang=ja}}</ref>}}|坪内 逍遥||May 22, 1859 – February 28, 1935}} was a [[Japanese author]], [[critic]], [[playwright]], [[translator]], [[editing|editor]], [[educator]], and [[professor]] at [[Waseda University]]. He has been referred to as a seminal figure in Japanese drama.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Foley|first=Kathy|date=2016|title=Review of MODERN ASIAN THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE 1900–2000, Kevin J. Wetmore Jr.; THE METHUEN DRAMA ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN ASIAN PLAYS, Siyuan Liu, Kevin J. Wetmore Jr.|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24737166|journal=Asian Theatre Journal|volume=33|issue=1|pages=217–220|doi=10.1353/atj.2016.0011 |jstor=24737166 |s2cid=164011855 |issn=0742-5457|url-access=subscription}} "Wetmore deals cleanly with Japanese theatre as part of the modernization project [...] Wetmore notes some of the new attempts within the ''kabuki'' frame then takes us through the work of seminal figures like Osanai Kaoru, Tsbouchi Shōyo, and so on.</ref>

== Biography ==
He was born ''Tsubouchi Yūzō'' (坪内 雄蔵), in [[Gifu Prefecture|Gifu prefecture]].  He also used the [[pen name]] ''Harunoya Oboro'' (春のや おぼろ).

His book of criticism, ''Shōsetsu Shinzui'' (The Essence of the Novel), 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 Katagi'' (Portraits of Contemporary Students), was one of the earliest modern novels in Japan.

His [[Kabuki]] play ''Kiri Hitoha'' (''A Paulownia Leaf'') was influenced by his studies of both the famous Kabuki and [[Jōruri (music)|Jōruri]] (puppet theater) 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 [[Folklore|folk-tale]] with a [[Rip Van Winkle]]-like protagonist, [[Urashima Tarō]].

Besides Shakespeare, he also translated a number of other works from English into Japanese, including [[Sir Walter Scott]]'s ''The Bride of Lammermoor'' and [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton|Bulwer-Lytton]]'s novel ''Rienzi, the Last of the Roman Tribunes''.

Tsubouchi founded and edited the periodical ''Waseda Bungaku'' (Waseda Literature), which published from 1891 to 1898. Tsubouchi is also noted for the long running ronsō (literary dispute) that he carried on with [[Mori Ōgai]].
[[File:Tsubouchi Shyoyo 02.jpg|thumb|Bust of Tsubouchi Shōyō at the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, which was named in his honour]]
The [[Waseda University Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum]] was named in his honour and houses a large collection of his works. A bronze bust of him was also placed there.

==Works==
===Criticism===
*''Shōsetsu Shinzui'' (The Essence of the Novel) (1885)

===Novel===
*''Tōsei Shosei Katagi'' (Portraits of Contemporary Students) (1885)
*''Saikun'' (1889)

===Kabuki plays===
*''Kiri Hitoha'' (A Paulownia Leaf) written 1894-5, and performed in 1904
*''Maki no Kata'' (1896)
*''Hototogisu Kojō no Rakugetsu'' (The Sinking Moon over the Lonely Castle Where the Cuckoo Cries) (1897)

===Modern dramas===
*''Shinkyoku Urashima'' (The New Urashima) (1904)
*''En no Gyōja'' (En the Ascetic) (1916)

==See also==
{{Wikisource|ja:作者:坪内逍遥|Tsubouchi Shōyō (''Japanese'')}}
*[[Futabatei Shimei]]
*[[Japanese literature]]
*[[Hagiwara Hiromichi]]—works
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commonscat|Tsubouchi Shōyō}}
*[http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/293.html?c=0 Tsubouchi, Shoyo] at [[National Diet Library]], [[Japan]]
* [http://www.aozora.gr.jp/index_pages/person141.html#sakuhin_list_1 e-texts of Shoyo's works] at [[Aozora Bunko]]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsubouchi, Shoyo}}
[[Category:People from Gifu Prefecture]]
[[Category:1859 births]]
[[Category:1935 deaths]]
[[Category:Japanese writers]]
[[Category:Translators of William Shakespeare]]
[[Category:Writers from Gifu Prefecture]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Waseda University]]