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was the
Account
of Akita's life
at the Nakamura Theatre website
on the anthologies of 1921
of the Akita Ujaku Museum in Kuroishi
Website
of the Akita Ujaku Boys' Theatre in Tokyo
''Teatoro''
magazine
of Akita * {{DEFAULTSORT:Akita Ujaku 1883 births 1962 deaths Japanese Esperantists People from Kuroishi, Aomori Writers from Aomori Prefecture 20th-century Japanese dramatists and playwrights
was the pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
of (30 January 1883 – 12 May 1962), a Japanese author and Esperantist. He is best known for his plays, books, and short stories for children.
Biography
Born in Kuroishi,Aomori Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, ...
, he studied English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
at Waseda University and became interested in socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
. In 1913 he learnt Esperanto from Vasili Eroshenko
Vasili Yakovlevich Eroshenko (russian: Василий Яковлевич Ерошенко uk, Василь Якович Єрошенко) (12 January 1890 – 23 December 1952) was a blind writer, translator, esperantist, linguist, traveler, ...
, as a result of a chance meeting, and soon became a leader of the proletarian Esperanto movement, and a member of the "La Semanto" group in 1921. He visited the USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
in 1927 for the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
. In January 1931 he helped found the national organization, '' Japana Prolet-Esperantista Unio'' (JPEU), with about 150 members, and with Akita as president. He translated Eroshenko's writings into Japanese, and wrote a textbook on Esperanto.
The rise of militarism in Japan led to difficulties for Akita; in the autumn of 1933 he was detained for several weeks, and forced to write a long statement about his activities. Nevertheless, he continued to work, founding a magazine the next year, '' Teatoro'' (named after the Esperanto word for theatre), which still exists. He joined the New Cooperative Theatre (''Shinkyō Gekidan'') but its activities were limited because it was no longer safe to stage plays with political themes. The JPEU was shut down by the police.
After the war he established a performing arts school and was active in other organizations, such as the New Japan Literary Society (''Shin Nihon Bungakukai'') and established the Japan Militant Atheists' Alliance (''Nihon Sentokteki Mushinronsha Domei'').''A Blueprint for Buddhist Revolution: The Radical Buddhism of Seno'o Giro (1889-1961) and the Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism'' By James Mark Shields. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 2012. Page 339. He died in 1962. A museum in his hometown was opened in 1979.
Selected works
In Japanese
*''Higashi no Kodomo'' ("Children in the East", anthology, 1921) *''Taiyô to Hanazono'' ("The Sun and the Flower Garden", anthology, 1921) *''Mohan Esuperanto-Dokusyu: Memlernanto de Esperanto'' ("Esperanto by Self-Study", withOsaka Kenji
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2 ...
, textbook, 1927)
*''Ujaku jiden'' ("Autobiography", 1953)
Translated into Esperanto
*''Tri dramoj'' ("Three plays" translated in 1927 by Haĵime Ŝuzui, Kaname Susuki) ** ''Fonto de sudroj'' (" Shudras' Fountain") ** ''Danco de skeletoj'' ("Skeleton Dance") ** ''Nokto ĉe landolimoj.'' ("Night at the Frontiers") *''Tiuj, kiuj ĉirkaŭas la ĉerkon'' ("Those who gather round the coffin" translated c. 1925 by Junko Sibata)Notes
External links
Account
of Akita's life
at the Nakamura Theatre website
on the anthologies of 1921
of the Akita Ujaku Museum in Kuroishi
Website
of the Akita Ujaku Boys' Theatre in Tokyo
''Teatoro''
magazine
of Akita * {{DEFAULTSORT:Akita Ujaku 1883 births 1962 deaths Japanese Esperantists People from Kuroishi, Aomori Writers from Aomori Prefecture 20th-century Japanese dramatists and playwrights