Background
Hisashi Inoue was born in Kawanishi, Yamagata Prefecture on November 16, 1934. Hisashi lost his father, who was a pharmacist when he was 5 years old. In childhood, he suffered from child abuse at the hands of his stepfather.
1973
Tokyo, Japan
Writer Hisashi Inoue is seen on a train on October 15, 1973, in Tokyo, Japan.
1987
Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan
Writer Hisashi Inoue prepares to send books to his home town on February 21, 1987, in Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan.
7-1 Kioicho, Chiyoda City, Tokyo 102-8554, Japan
Hisashi graduated from the French department of Tokyo's Sophia University.
Photo of Hisashi Inoue
Photo of Hisashi Inoue
Photo of Hisashi Inoue
Photo of Hisashi Inoue
(Tokyo Seven Roses' is set in Japan during the waning mont...)
Tokyo Seven Roses' is set in Japan during the waning months of WWII and the beginning of the Occupation. It is written as a diary kept from April 1945 to April 1946 by Shinsuke Yamanaka, a fifty-three-year-old fan-maker living in Nezu, part of Tokyo's shitamachi (old town) district. After the war, Shinsuke learns by chance that the Occupation forces are plotting a nefarious scheme: in order to cut Japan off from its dreadful past, they intend to see that the language is written henceforth using the alphabet. To fight off this unheard-of threat to the integrity of Japanese culture, seven beautiful women - the Seven Roses - take a stand.
https://www.amazon.com/Tokyo-Seven-Roses-Hisashi-Inoue-ebook/dp/B06Y2DN5HW/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?dchild=1&keywords=Hisashi+Inoue+Kirikirijin&qid=1598442958&s=books&sr=1-2-fkmr0
1999
(Tokyo Seven Roses' is set in Japan during the waning mont...)
Tokyo Seven Roses' is set in Japan during the waning months of WWII and the beginning of the Occupation. It is written as a diary kept from April 1945 to April 1946 by Shinsuke Yamanaka, a fifty-three-year-old fan-maker living in Nezu, part of Tokyo's shitamachi (old-town) district. After the war, Shinsuke learns by chance that the Occupation forces are plotting a nefarious scheme: in order to cut Japan off from its dreadful past, they intend to see that the language is written henceforth using the alphabet. To fight off this unheard-of threat to the integrity of Japanese culture, seven beautiful women - the Seven Roses - take a stand.
https://www.amazon.com/Tokyo-Seven-Roses-Hisashi-Inoue-ebook/dp/B06Y2FWJP7/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=Hisashi+Inoue&qid=1598442503&rnid=2941120011&s=books&sr=1-5
1999
(This collection of nine short stories written by Inoue Hi...)
This collection of nine short stories written by Inoue Hisashi (1934-2010) evokes the mysterious and uncanny tone of traditional folktales from rural Tohoku, Japan, while reflecting the playful approach of this major satirist of modern Japanese literature.
https://www.amazon.com/New-Tales-Tono-Inoue-Hisashi/dp/1937385310/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Hisashi+Inoue&qid=1598442503&rnid=2941120011&s=books&sr=1-2
2013
Hisashi Inoue was born in Kawanishi, Yamagata Prefecture on November 16, 1934. Hisashi lost his father, who was a pharmacist when he was 5 years old. In childhood, he suffered from child abuse at the hands of his stepfather.
His mother subsequently sent Hisashi off to a Lasallian orphanage in Sendai. It was run by the Catholic order. He graduated from the French department of Tokyo's Sophia University. He raised more money for his studies by working at a sanatorium in Kamaishi.
Inoue began his literary career before graduation as a stage manager and sometime scriptwriter for the Furansu-za (France theater) in Tokyo's downtown Asakusa district. He wrote a semi-fictional account of his life during this period in the novel "The Fortunes of Father Mockinpott."
Already writing and producing his own plays at the time of his graduation, he paid the bills with scripts, beginning with the Radio play 'X-Man.' His daily children's television show Hyokkori Hōtanjima was a puppet Robinsonade in which a volcanic eruption sets an entire community adrift. Running for five years and over 1200 episodes, now largely lost, the series became notorious for smuggling adult Satire into the childish humor.
In 1969 he wrote his first stage play "Nihonjin no Heso" for Theatre Echo. He gained literary recognition for his satirical comic plays in the tradition of the Edo period.
In 1984 he established a library in his hometown, with a seed donation of 100,000 books. He also founded his own theater organization in 1984 in Tokyo dedicated to his work called Komatsuza, which remains at the forefront of the art world with works reveling in humor and language, revealing Inoue's extensive knowledge of and deep affection for the Japanese language. It is regarded as one of the giants of the postwar Japanese Theatre.
In 1988, Inoue finished a comic trilogy: "Kirameku seiza," "Yami ni Saku Hana," "Yuki ya Kon Kon," depicting the lives of ordinary people in the Shōwa period.
Inoue served as a director of the National Institute of Japanese Literature.
He is the author of novels, including "Bun to Fun" (1970), "Tegusari shinju", a parody on the classical theme of double suicide, was published in 1970, "Kirikirijin" (1981), "The Fortunes of Father Mockinpott," and "Moto no Mokuami."
Aside from Inoue's long and distinguished career as a novelist and playwright in non-of matters, he also contributed to several Anime serials as a writer and lyricist. He wrote the theme songs for the animated versions of 'Himitsu no Akko-chan' (1969), 'The Moomins' (1969), the film 'Andersen Monogatari' (1968).
(This collection of nine short stories written by Inoue Hi...)
2013(Tokyo Seven Roses' is set in Japan during the waning mont...)
1999(Tokyo Seven Roses' is set in Japan during the waning mont...)
1999Inoue was a member of the Roman Catholic church.
Hisashi supported the Constitution of Japan by establishing a political group "Article 9" with Kenzaburo Oe in 2004.
Inoue used his talents at wordplay to challenge falsehoods and authority figures who abuse their positions of power. He felt that these individuals, if continually empowered and unchallenged, pose a serious threat. Cohn explained. "Inoue sees Japan as beset with countless problems stemming from unscrupulous and abusive behavior by people in positions of illegitimate authority, who regularly attempt to advance their interests or buttress their positions by cloaking them in the illegitimate authority of words. ... By treating people like language and language like people, and defamiliarizing the relations between words in the ordered structure of the Japanese language, he seeks to undermine established patterns of relations between members of Japanese society."
The primary theme of Inoue's works for the theater is the plight of the weak in their struggle to keep their head above water in a heartless, often ruthless, society. He ran big themes through the lives of little people.
Hisashi Inoue was an outspoken pacifist.
Quotations: "Now, the Japanese language has many wonderful features, but we should bear in mind when using it, its shortcomings. Japanese people should state their opinions clearly. They must set things straight by taking personal responsibility for the war."
From 2003 to 2007 Inoue was the president of the Japan P.E.N. Club. He was also director of the Japan Association of Playwrights.
Unfortunately, the family's frequent relocations had affected Hisashi's language development due to the unique dialects that he had to adapt to during the multiple relocations. This ultimately led to a stuttering problem and feelings of inferiority. Aided by Canadian priests, he attempted to overcome his stuttering problem by immersing himself in the French language. However, once arriving at Sophia University in Tokyo, he found his French Canadian accent was as disreputable as his native Tohoku accent had been. He regressed into more stuttering and a period of depression.
Hisashi hated air travel and so made few trips overseas. But he was fascinated by the city of Bologna in Italy, which he visited in 2004.
Quotes from others about the person
"Hisashi was, deep down, a radical - but a radical with a popular sensibility. This was something that was not well understood by Japanese critics at the time, who regarded him as a writer concentrating on comic interactions and wordplay. Now that theater here has become more socially conscious - and even on occasion political - Hisashi can, without risk of contradiction, be accorded his rightful role as the father of postwar theater in Japan." - Roger Pulvers
Hisashi Inoue had three daughters by his first wife Yoshiko Nishidate. His second wife Lily gave him a son.