The National Theatre contest and the play of national policy in Japan under WWII

Abstract

Kokumin Engeki which means the National Theater was a popular concept with journalism, the academy, and the goverment, in Japan under WWII. We associate Kokumin Engeki with Japanese wartime nationalism and fascism. The government promoted the Kokumin Engeki contest from 1941 to 1944, but it is the strangest thing that the some plays of national policy were rejected or defeated. As a matter of fact, the state powers and academic authorities didn't have the distinct concept of Kokumin Engeki. This thesis is about the confusion of the Kokumin Engeki contest as seen in the participating plays of FURUKAWA ROPPA's company and his diary.