The Chinese Reception of Togennite by Mushanokouji Saneatsu ：Focusing on Aying’s Adaptation Tokagen, and Its Performance

Abstract

Togennite by Mushanokouji Saneatsu is a short three-act play that was first performed in September 1923.Only one year later in November 1924, the play was translated into Chinese by Tianhan and later performed by Shanghai Shinyou Xueshe’s Aimeidi Troupe in 1927 and 1930, and by the Nanguo Troupe in 1931. In addition, in 1938 Aying, a renowned modern Chinese critic and playwright, rewrote the play based on Tianhan’s translation, and entitled the resulting text Tokagen, and put it on stage with the Shanghai Dazhong Troupe in 1940.This paper focuses on Aying’s adaptation and makes a detailed comparison of Tokagen with the original Togennite in order to examine the ways in which it was rewritten. Moreover, in relation to why it was rewritten in precisely this way it discusses the reception and transformation of Togennite in China in connection with the social views and activities of the author A Ying, while considering the wartime historical background of the latter half of the 1930s. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of the status of A Ying’s adaptation Tokagen and Saneatsu’s Togennite in China.