Hitaro "Sessue" Hayakawa

[David Lewis]

----Original Message Follows----
From: "Jim Beaver" <JUMBLEJIM at prodigy.net>
Reply-To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: Re: Hitaro"Sessue" Hayakawa
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 11:42:09 -0800

David Lewis wrote:
"A friend of mine asked for confirmation that
Hitaro"Sessue" Hayakawa is of noble origin.
Would anybody have references to suggest on this?
He found it mentionned in Katz'  Film Encyclopaedia,
but would like other sources, and if possible have more details on his
life."

Actually, Katz says Hayakawa was "descended from a long aristocratic
line."
"Aristocratic" is an ambivalent enough term to make me wonder whether
Katz
really means nobility or simply from the wealthy upper class.

Jim Beaver

You might be right.
I found a article on him on the website of his hometown Chikura-machi
$B at iARD.!'(B
http://www.awa.or.jp/home/chikuramachi/
were the first paragraph says:
$B#1#8#8#6G/!JL@<##1#9G/!K(B6$B7n#1#0F|!$<71:B<$NLV85$NKv$C;R$H$7$F at 8$^$l!"(B
$BK\L>$rAa at n6bB at O:$H$$$$!$IT<+M3$J$$2HDm$G$N$S$N$S0i$A!$(B
$BB<$NCg4V$?$A$N4V$G$O%,%-Bg>-E*B8:_$G#
$C$?$h$&$@!#(B
Well, $BLV85(B is a person who rents boats and equipment to fishermen,
and from this little information, it would seem more probable that his
father
was from the merchant rather than from the samurai class.
Still, one has to keep in mind that is is Meiji, and that the society
doesn't have the rigidity it had during Edo, i.e. one cannot conclude
much about the history of his family from his father's occupation.

I have two questions with regard to his name.
1. His real first name is $B6bB at O:(B, with Kintarou the most probable
reading.
Still, my friend got the name Hitarou somewhere.
Can the kanji for metal be read Hi and his name be read Hitarou?
2. His stage name is $B at c='(B, with Sesshuu given as the normal reading.
Is Sessue due to a mistaken romanization or to a dialectal
pronunciation?

Btw, this Chikura-machi site listed a few references on Hayakawa:

$B;29M;qNA!J7I>NN,!K(B
$B!&(B $B!X@;NS$N2&(B $BAa at n at c='!Y(B $BLn>e1QG7!J<R2q;WA[<R!K(B
$B!&(B $B!XIp<T=$9T@$3&$r$f$/!Y(B $BAa at n at c='!J<B6HG7F|K\<R!K(B
$B!&(B $B!X1G2h%9%?!<Aa at n at c='!'AO at .4|%O%j%&%C%I$HF|K\?M!Y(B $B5\HxBgJe(B
$B!&(B $B!XEl5~9q:]1G2h:WF|Js#n#o!%(B3 $B#1#9#9#6!Y(B $B5\HxBgJe(B
$B!&(B $B!X$U$k$5$H$N;W$$=P(B $B<L??=8(B $BD+0P!Y(B $B at DLZ2ECKJT!J9q=q4)9T2q!K(B
$B!&(B $B!X at iARD.;K!Y(B

--
David Lionel Lewis      david.lionel.lewis at sympatico.ca

http://www3.sympatico.ca/david.lionel.lewis
Asian Montreal Asiatique:  http://homes.arealcity.com/AsianMTL/
Cine-Asie
http://www.global-vision.ca/cineasie/index.html
Y2K$B$NCn!#2?$@$C$Z$J!"$3$j$c!<!)(B