19 Facts About Kan Kikuchi

Hiroshi Kikuchi, known as Kan Kikuchi, was a Japanese author and publisher.

Kan Kikuchi established the publishing company Bungeishunju, the monthly magazine of the same name, the Japan Writer's Association and both the Akutagawa and Naoki Prize for popular literature.

Kan Kikuchi came to prominence for the plays "Madame Pearl" and "Father Returns", but his ample support for the Imperial Japanese war effort led to his marginalization in the postwar period.

Kan Kikuchi was the head of Daiei Motion Picture Company.

Kan Kikuchi was known to have been an avid player of mahjong.

Kikuchi Kan saw the language barrier and inaccuracy of translation as part of the central cause for this.

In 1924, shortly after Kaoru Osanai opened Tsukiji Little Theatre, Kikuchi Kan was the most celebrated playwright in Japan.

Kan Kikuchi was widely claimed as "a playwright who transformed Irish plays into a Japanese context," including John Millington Synge's Deirdre of the Sorrows.

When studying at the University of Kyoto, Kikuchi Kan had a great interest in modern drama, particularly Irish modern drama.

In 1925, Kan Kikuchi published a book with Shuji Yamamoto, Eikoku Airan Kindaigeki Seizui.

This, in turn, resulted in Kikuchi Kan creating his style of writing in Japanese drama.

Kikuchi Kan believes the nature of modern theatre is to shed light upon the wrongs of modern society and liberate Japan from those customs.

Elements of drama Kikuchi Kan considered to be the most effective are the one-act play and the use of a minimal number of characters.

Kan Kikuchi remained pure in body, mind, and soul like a pearl while she gradually rose in power over men.

Kikuchi Kan dedicated the Akutagawa Prize to Ryunosuke Akutagawa after his death in 1927.

In 1938, the Kikuchi Kan Prize was created by Kikuchi Kan himself that recognizes authors' achievements.

However, unlike the Naoki and Akutagawa Prizes, the Kikuchi Kan Prize is given to senior authors over age 45.

Kan Kikuchi was later affiliated with the Nihon bungaku hokokukai, a subordinate of the Cabinet Intelligence Bureau.

Kan Kikuchi's published writings encompass 512 works in 683 publications in 7 languages and 2,341 library holdings.