This study aims at revealing the complex status of perception in Modern Japan through the historical examinations of Kinodorama and Kineorama.

Early Kinodorama was a performance which was an inconsistent juxtaposition of the cinematic attractions and the narratively constructed play. In later Kinodorama, cinema incorporated in a performance came to have a narrative structure and came to be foregrounded. Though later Kinodorama became the focus of criticism by both modern play (shingeki) and pure film movements (jun-eigageki-undou), it was characteristically fascinating and had a high popularity.

Kineorama was a mixture of cinema and diorama intended to reinforce attraction and reality which was insufficient in early cinema. It had also a unique mixture of unsubstantial illusion of cinema and substantiality of miniatures.

What is important about Kinodorama and Kineorama was their ambiguous form of perception produced by the mixture of cinema and performances preceding cinema. Through the examination of their complexity and attraction, we can clarify the complicated and diverse relationships between modernity and perception. Moreover, this study will be an opportunity for reconsidering current cinema and theatres and trying to find a new form of expression.

This paper analyzes the unique film personae of HASEGAWA Kazuo and FURUKAWA Roppa just before and during the Pacific War in order to demonstrate how these actors’ performances were deeply influenced by the wartime conditions.

HASEGAWA was a handsome actor, and appeared in many jidaigeki melodramas, while FURUKAWA was a popular comedian and was especially known for his work in musical comedies. However, though their characters were totally opposite, their combination was very popular. They appeared together as a team in five movies from 1941 to 1944: Hasegawa-Rappa no Yemitsu to Hikoza (1941, MAKINO Masahiro); Otoko no Hanamichi (1941, MAKINO); Onna Keizu (1942, MAKINO); Zoku Onna Keizu (1942, MAKINO); and Shibai Do (1944, NARUSE Mikio).

By examining their pairing in the context of the war, I will show how the dynamics between HASEGAWA and FURUKAWA’s characters changed from a Pre-Oedipal homosexual relation to Oedipal homosocial relation under the greater and greater oppression of the militaristic nationalism of Japan.