Background
Kido Okamoto was born in Tokyo, he was the son of Okamoto Keinosuke, was a samurai who, after the Meiji Restoration left the service of the Tokugawa Shogunate and went to work for the British Legation as an interpreter.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0824831004/?tag=2022091-20
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4336032335/?tag=2022091-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S8LVONK/?tag=2022091-20
Kido Okamoto was born in Tokyo, he was the son of Okamoto Keinosuke, was a samurai who, after the Meiji Restoration left the service of the Tokugawa Shogunate and went to work for the British Legation as an interpreter.
Kido learnt Tokiwazu from the daughter of a local hairdresser and Nagauta by listening to his older sister’s lessons. He learnt Chinese poetry from his father and English from his uncle, and students at the British Legation. He attended and graduated from Tokyo First Junior High School.
He went to work for Chuo Shimbun spending 24 years as a newspaper reporter, including a period in Manchuria. He bought the contract of and married a Yoshiwara Geisha from the Uwajima feudal domain called Kojima Sakae. Success eluded him until in 1911, his popular play "The Mask maker's Story" (Shuzenji Monogatari) premiered at the Meijiza. In 1916 his Shin (new) Kabuki play "Story of a Broken Dish at Bancho" (Bancho Sarayashiki) was staged at the Hongoza Theatre. Between 1917 and 1937 "The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi" (Hanshichi Torimonocho) was serialised. His series on the theatre of the Meiji period, a valuable resource, the first half of which was serialised in the Monthly Kabuki Review Magazine in the late 1920s, early 1930s as "Stories of the Past" (Sugi ni shi Monogatari), then again as a series in 1935 and finally in full as "On the Theatre of the Meiji Period - Under the Lamp" (Meiji Gekidan Ranpu no Moto ni te) by Iwanami Shoten in 1993.
In 1918 he visited the USA and Europe. His home and library in Kojimachi were destroyed in the Great earthquake of 1923. He was taken in by his disciple Nukata Roppuku from where he moved to Azabu in Minato City (Minato ku). The following year he moved to Hyakuni cho a street in north Shinjuku (Shinjuku ku).
From 1935 his articles were occasionally published in Sande Mainichi (Every Sunday). His last novel was the controversial Tiger (Tora) published in 1937 about two brothers running a freak show which is in trouble who hit the jackpot when they get a Tiger cub. He continued to publish plays in the "Stage" magazine ("Butai") from 1930 until 1938.
In 1939 he died of pneumonia and is buried with his wife in Aoyama cemetery (Aoyama Reien) in Minami Aoyama.
After his death one of his students and adoptive heir, his son Okamoto Kyoichi (1909 -2010), founded the Okamoto Kido Journal which printed much of Kido’s work. Kido’s grandson Okamoto Shuichi is the current President.
The Okamoto Kido Literary Prize, The Okamoto Kido Award, was established but was only awarded twice between 1943 and 1944 during the period leading up to the end of the Second World War.
