Chapter 27 - Japanese Ibsens

Summary

This chapter traces the history of the critical reception of Ibsen in Japan which started in the Meiji period (1868–1912). It discusses Ibsen’s breakthrough in the late nineteenth century, Ôgai Mori’s novelistic reinterpretation of Ibsen’s individualism through a Confucian lens, Ibsen-inspired female characters in Sôseki Natsume’s novels, and gives an overview of the development of Ibsen’s position in Japanese theatre up to the present. The chapter also takes up a variety of modern Ibsen performance with Japanese twists, from a Noh-inspired Doll’s House and a female Dr Stockman, to the ever-popular Hedda Gabler whose problematization of the ‘calculated’ marriage strikes a chord with contemporary audiences. The chapter ends with some reflections on the evolving quality of translations, from ad hoc experimental translations via English and German in the Meiji period, to the present situation in which the reader can choose among a selection of skilful translations from the original Norwegian.