なよたけ

About

A five-act verse play that reimagines the origins of the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, tracing the encounter between the mysterious maiden Nayotake, who emerges from a stalk of bamboo, and the young scholar Isonokami no Fumimaro. Written by Kato Michio during the darkest years of the war and inspired by Giraudoux's Ondine, the work follows Fumimaro's awakening as a poet, caught between the demands of politics and the pull of art. Winner of the first Minakami Takitaro Prize, it remains a cornerstone of modern Japanese drama and a lyrical meditation on love, loss, and the birth of poetic consciousness.

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