Five minutes' walk from Palaceside Building, the Chiyoda Ward Library in Kudan-minami (9th floor of the ward office) is hosting a mini-exhibition, "Tanizaki Junichiro and Film," through Saturday, December 22＝photo top is the flyer.
Many of writer Tanizaki Junichiro's works became films, but that he produced four himself is known only to insiders. This exhibition focuses on that.
Seeking to revolutionize Japanese cinema, then little more than filmed kabuki and shinpa, Taishō Eiga (Taikatsu) was founded in 1920 (Taishō 9); production ceased in 1925 and the company dissolved in 1927. Tanizaki joined.
The four works are Amateur Club, Katsushika Sunako, The Night of the Doll Festival, and Lust of the Serpent. Sadly no film survives, but stills and scripts remain in fragments—see Film and Tanizaki (Chiba Nobuo, Seibundō, out of print). According to that book: ① Amateur Club—Tanizaki wrote an original story; Thomas Kurihara (Kurihara Yoshizō, 1885–1926), back from America, directed a slapstick comedy with Keaton-like gags＝photo bottom is an August 1920 commemorative shot from Amateur Club; Tanizaki is fourth from the right in the front row, lead Hayama Michiko third ② Katsushika Sunako—Tanizaki adapted Izumi Kyōka's original, richly shading Kyōka's world; praised as a forerunner of the "aesthetics of Japanese film" later completed by Mizoguchi Kenji ③ The Night of the Doll Festival—Tanizaki's original; his daughter Ayako (then six) played three-year-old heroine Aiko, who in a dream crosses beautiful mountains with dolls on Doll Festival night—a fantasy ④ Lust of the Serpent—based on Ueda Akinari's (1734–1776) Tales of Moonlight and Rain; a giant serpent transforms into a beautiful woman who clings to the hero—a slightly frightening tale.
One theory on why Tanizaki threw himself into film: he wanted to put his wife Chiyo's younger sister Hayama Michiko on screen. Later Chiyo's divorce from Tanizaki and marriage to writer friend Satō Haruo became famous as the "Odawara Incident"; Michiko is said to be the model for Tanizaki's Quicksand and starred in Amateur Club—though she never ended up with Tanizaki.
Once you start on Tanizaki there is no end, but this library show, in cooperation with Otsuma Women's University, traces the film world of his era through rare holdings at the university. On display are books related to the French Arsène Lupin series that was filmed and caused a craze in Japan (reproductions shown except November 17–26 for material protection).
As a related event, Associate Professor Jōden Tomoyuki of Otsuma Women's University will lecture on Wednesday, November 21, 6:30–8:00 p.m. at the Chiyoda Civic Hall on the ward office first floor: "Tanizaki and Film's Strange Connection—Centering on 'A Portrait of Shunkin.'" Free admission; no reservation; first come, first served.
