[KineJapan] KineJapan Digest, Vol 83, Issue 5

Mon Apr 7 09:19:42 EDT 2025

Thanks,Anne! I was aware of other works using the title Jinzo Ningen from Japanese Perspectives on Kazuo Ishiguro.However, I had not heard of this story by HIRABAYASHI Hatsunosuke. I’m reading yourtranslation right now ... there is one apparent parallel… Čapek’s robots were “humanoids”,if you will, and not mechanical . .. 

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Japanese Perspectives on Kazuo Ishiguro

This collection of essays offers new perspectives from Japan on Nobel Prize–winning author Kazuo Ishiguro. It an...
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[And I lovethe passage about Doctor Muraki  and the  “Kamakura Laboratory”!!! Brings back very fondmemories of my brief 3 month I.T. consulting gig in Tokyo in the 90s when Itook a train ride to see the Great Buddha. But anyway… ] 

Can you tellme who was responsible for the translation in that link you provided? Myresearch shows that both Zentatro Suzuki and Uga Itsuo translated R.U.R. If it was by Zentatro Suzuki, my interest is doubly piqued since itseems that his translation was used for the staging of the play. (If so, I’lllaboriously feed that link page-by-page thru my AI translator… I’ve unfortunatelyforgotten the dozen or so Japanese words that I knew ☹ ) 

Let mereview where I am at with my overall research (if interested): It was at the atTsukiji Little Theater in 1924. I have strong reason to believe that it wasproduced by Hijikata Yoshi under, yes, the title "Jinzō Ningen".   SendaKoreya – who later acted in several of Ishirō Honda’s movies – acted in theplay. I’m in the process of trying to ascertain more via a number of inquiries.

Last but notleast, I would love to read your essay. Thanks so much. 

Stay well, Steve

    On Sunday, April 6, 2025 at 10:51:43 PM EDT, kinejapan-request at mailman.yale.edu <kinejapan-request at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:   

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Today's Topics:

  1. Re: "Jinzo Ningen" as a film circa 1925? (Steven A Joyce)
  2. Re: "Jinzo Ningen" as a film circa 1925? (Anne McKnight)

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Message: 1
Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2025 20:23:44 +0000 (UTC)
From: Steven A Joyce <steveajoyce at aol.com>
To: Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>,
    "Zahlten, Alexander" <azahlten at fas.harvard.edu>
Subject: Re: [KineJapan] "Jinzo Ningen" as a film circa 1925?
Message-ID: <789145405.1322400.1743971024059 at mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

 Thanks, Alex. 

I should have put that the film was planned in the mid-1920s. (oops. Careless of me!) and, yes, it's interesting that that title Jinz?Ningen was used quite a bit back then. As I understand it, even one of the 1st translations of ?apek's R.U.R. went by that name...
    On Sunday, April 6, 2025 at 04:16:28 PM EDT, Zahlten, Alexander <azahlten at fas.harvard.edu> wrote:  

Hi Steve,

 ?

I don?t have any knowledge of an upcoming Jinz?Ningen film?but the first translation of R.U.R. into Japanese in 1923 was apparently?indeedtitled Jinz?Ningen. It is also the title of a very interesting manga series from 1929, written by Tagawa Suih? (who later create the series around Norakuro).

 ?

All best,

Alex

 ?

From:KineJapan <kinejapan-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Steven A Joyce via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>
Date: Sunday, April 6, 2025 at 11:53
To: kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>
Cc: Steven A Joyce <steveajoyce at aol.com>
Subject: [KineJapan] "Jinzo Ningen" as a film circa 1925?

Hello,

 ?

Does anyone know more about plans to make a film with the titleJinzo Ningen?

>From what little I can gather on the internet, the plans were aborted.

 ?

I'm especially interested to know if it was going to be a direct interpretation of Karel ?apek's R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). (I can't help but imagine that it would have been indirectly influenced by ?apek).

 ?

Any details whatsoever would be appreciated. Full disclosure: I'm writing a book on the worldwide performances of R.U.R. I will gladly give acknowledgement for assistance.

 ?

Best,

Steve Joyce

 ?

 ?

 ?

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Message: 2
Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2025 19:51:19 -0700
From: Anne McKnight <annekmcknight at gmail.com>
To: Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [KineJapan] "Jinzo Ningen" as a film circa 1925?
Message-ID: <73CFDC1B-3976-4FFE-B75B-E1136EC788C3 at gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

HI Steve, and all~

I?m not sure about a film titled Jinz? ningen, but I thought I might mention that the first ?robot story? in fiction with that name was written by HIRABAYASHI Hatsunosuke and published in 1928 in the magazine Shin seinen, which is known for a lot of translations of genre fiction, including SciFi and ero-guro-nonsense. I actually translated the story into English a few years ago. I didn?t write a critical introduction, but Hirabayashi is a major film critic/writer/women?s rights advocate you can read about (and whom I think some other members of this list might be in the process of translating?). It is worth noting that the ?artificial human? in question in the story turns out to be a chemical solution, not what we would call a robot with obvious links to Rossum-style robots; the story is a rip-roaring melodrama not really recognizable from the plot of RUR. It truly is, literally, an artificial human. 

The National Diet Library shows <https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/en/books/R100000002-I000000590799> a translation of Capek in Taisho 12, or 1923. So, the info was out there?and linked to Capek. Though the translation was from English, and kind of wild. I can send you a kind of potted history of the ?Ginzo ningen? term I wrote in an essay called "Future-Oriented Blackness in Sho?wa Robot Culture?1924 to 1963,? if you like. In 1925, I am not sure if it?s possible to say anything definitive about RUR?s relation to that film, due to the wildness of translation and the expansive understanding of what it is to be ?artificial,? at least by Hirabayashi> it might be a literal transposition, or something else entirely. I would be really interested in any further puzzle pieces you turn up, regarding the status of all the words--?artificial,? ?human? and ?artificial human?...

If you?re interested, you can read Hirabayashi?s story in Japanese here <https://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000221/files/2411_22551.html>, and English here <https://eeeditorial.gumroad.com/l/manmadebaby?_gl=1*1av3a4g*_ga*Nzk1NDg0NDc0LjE3NDM5OTMxMzY.*_ga_6LJN6D94N6*MTc0Mzk5MzEzNS4xLjEuMTc0Mzk5MzE4Ni4wLjAuMA> or here <https://www.amazon.com/Man-made-Baby-Vintage-Japanese-SF-ebook/dp/B00GWNS3N0>. 

Hope that helps, or at least is an interesting rabbit-hole, with some useful rabbit-work?

Anne

> On Apr 6, 2025, at 8:53?AM, Steven A Joyce via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> Does anyone know more about plans to make a film with the title Jinzo Ningen?
> From what little I can gather on the internet, the plans were aborted.
> 
> I'm especially interested to know if it was going to be a direct interpretation of Karel ?apek's R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). (I can't help but imagine that it would have been indirectly influenced by ?apek).
> 
> Any details whatsoever would be appreciated. Full disclosure: I'm writing a book on the worldwide performances of R.U.R. I will gladly give acknowledgement for assistance.
> 
> Best,
> Steve Joyce
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> KineJapan mailing list
> KineJapan at mailman.yale.edu
> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/kinejapan

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