/lit/ - Literature

>>1744789
I actually skipped Shimizu in favor of the lady after her, since she actually relates to the original topic of the thread.

Hasegawa Shigure (picture related) was another female writer in the Meiji period. Her father was a kabuki connoisseur, and often took her to performances when she was a kid. However, her mother wasn't too keen on Shigure's literary tendencies, and forbade her from school after 6th grade. Despite this, she often stole away to the university student that boarded with them's room and read from his library. She was married off at age 19 to a wealthy family, and suddenly was free to read whatever she wanted. Until, that is, her husband got cut off financially from his family for being a douche. After living in poverty with him for a few years, she divorced and concentrated on her writing. She then re-married, to another writer 11 years her junior.

Her play, "Hanomaru", was the first ever play written by a Japanese woman to be performed in Japan. That's not the one included in the anthology though; the included play is "Wavering Traces." Hasegawa was known for her innovations in kabuki theatre - offstage sound and changes in lighting especially. Anyway, this kabuki play was amazing. Creepy little kids singing lullabies, a traveling monk telling of an evil spirit, the grim determination of the swordsmith; it was all very eerie and tragic. Definitely one I would want to see performed.

And that's probably all I'm going to do for the night. (not that anyone is reading this!)