Japanese Plays From the Early Twentieth Century

Featuring:

Paper Balloon

Kunio Kishida is one of the important playwrights who largely contributed to modern Japanese theatre. Paper Balloon is Kishida’s most popular play concerning a young couple who have been married just one year.

Rashomon

Ryunosuke Akutagawa was one of the first pre-war Japanese writers to achieve a wide foreign readership, because of his technical virtuosity. His arresting psychological novella Rashomon, gained international recognition and eventually become a hugely successful film by Kurosawa.

The Wild Pear

Playwright Kenji Miyazawa was only 37 at the time of his death, though his literary works received enormous attention after his life. The Wild Pear is a quiet and gentle story of life under water.