34 - Shimamura Hō getsu (1871-1918): Pioneer of Shingeki (Western-style Theatre) in Japan

Summary

EARLY YEARS

SHIMAMURA TAKITARŌ (HŌGETSU) was the eldest of four children. His parents were Sasayama Ippei and Chise. He was born in an isolated, impoverished village called Kuza (not pronounced as Kusa) in Shimane prefecture where his father was the manager of the ironworks. When their furnace was severely damaged by the 1872 Hamada earthquake, he had a new one built not far away from the old one. However, his father went bankrupt in 1876, when he was only five years old. The Sasayamas frequently moved house, but never far from where Hōgetsu was born. His father also changed jobs, running a sake shop, working for the village office, producing wax, selling everyday goods at the iron mines and ironworks, and polishing rice at a mill, but none of these jobs lasted long. When Hōgetsu was ten years old, he entered Kuza's local primary school. He was by far the most intelligent among its pupils, but because of his father's bankruptcy and heavy drinking habit, the frequent visits of creditors, and the incessant quarrels between his parents he grew up to be a gloomy, melancholic, and quiet boy.

The Sasayamas were too poor to send him to higher schools and he had to find a job. He was first an apprentice in the dispensary of a hospital in a larger town where he was allowed to attend school whenever he had any free time. He left the hospital after only one year and found another job as an office boy in the law court. Unlike the hospital dispensary, the law court closed at the fixed time in the evening, so the new job allowed him to attend private schools in the evening. In 1886 a new thirty-two-year old public prosecutor named Shimamura Bunk^- was posted to the law court. He had no male heir and discovering that Ho^- getsu came from an impoverished family, but had intellectual ability and ambition, he proposed to adopt H^- getsu and fund him through university. H^- getsu jumped at this offer, as otherwise he could not continue his studies, obtain a good post and escape from the poverty that had been haunting him. However, Bunk^-'s offer to adopt their eldest son infuriated H^-getsu's parents and despite repeated pleas, his father would not consent to the adoption of his son.