74 pp. leftist theatrical works from a noted Japanese author, activist, and Esperantist, here presented in an Esperanto translation, not illustrated. 16mo (5 3/4 x 4 1/8 inches). Original wrappers, cover printed with a modernist black-and-white composition. Some foxing to cover, mild browning, very light wear to spine, overall very good. Tokyo: Japana Esperanto-Instituto, 1927.

Ujaku Akita (1883-1962) was the pseudonym of Tokuzo Akia, a Japanese author, leftist, and Esperantist best known for his plays, books, and children's stories. He studied literature at Waseda University where he first became interested in socialism, and in 1913 learned Esperanto from Vasili Eroshenko. Soon after, he became a leader of the proletarian Esperanto movement, and in 1927 he visited the USSR for the 10th anniversary celebration of the revolution. In 1931, he co-founded Japana Prolet-Esperantista Unio (JPEU) and later started the theatrical magazine Teatoro (named for the Esperanto word for "theater"). He joined the New Cooperative Theatre (Shinkyo Gekidan) but its activities were limited because they could no longer perform political plays, and the JPEU was shut down by the police shortly thereafter.

Akita's theatrical works were also influenced by the radical, avant-garde Mavo movement of the 1920s. Founded in 1923, Mavo re-instituted the Japanese Association of Futurist Artists, the anarchistic artist group who displayed an outdoor exhibit in Ueno Park in Tokyo in protest of conservatism in the Japanese art world. Artists of the Mavo group sought to disrupt or blur the boundaries between art and daily life, and combined performance art with social justice. The 2010 book "The Beggar's Art: Scripting Modernity in Japanese Drama, 1900-1930" by M. Cody Poulton describes The Skeletons' Dance as "one of the finest examples of politically engaged drama in this period". Poulton goes on to write that Akita's play "addresses a specific historical moment, presenting a startling indictment of the persecution and massacre of innocent Korean residents in the days following the Great Earthquake of 1923." A massive earthquake struck Japan on September 1, 1923, and in the immediate aftermath, when newspaper offices were reduced to rubble and news couldn't be circulated in normal fashion, rumors started to circulate wildly that Koreans in Japan were poisoning wells or planning attacks on compromised cities. In response, the Japanese police and armed vigilantes killed ethnic Koreans or anyone they suspected of being Korean. Estimates put the death toll between 6,000 and 10,000.

Incredibly scarce; as of August 2025, OCLC locates only a single copy of this Esperato translation of Akita's works in a North American library.

Book ID: 53529

Price: $950.00