Japanese Literary Awards

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Ren Saito

さいとう れん

Saito Ren

Profile

Gender
Male
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese

Career

Occupations
playwright, screenwriter
Affiliations
On Theatre Jiyu Gekijo (On Theatre Free Theatre)

Awards

Kishida Kunio Drama Award (24th)
1980
Work: Shanghai Vance King
Organization: Kishida Kunio Drama Award Committee
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Shanghai Vance King

1979 music drama 118 pages

A music drama set in early Showa-era Shanghai following a clarinet player and his circle of jazz musicians and performers. The work combines live musical performance scenes with dramatic narrative to show how the onset of war destroys the freedom and dreams of the characters.

jazzwar and losspopular entertainmentdreams and ruinShowa-era urban life
Adaptations
  • [film] Shanghai Vance King / 深作欣二 (1984)
  • [film] Shanghai Vance King / 串田和美 (1988)

Bibliography

  • Shanghai Vance King (play). Eriritsu Shobo, 1980
  • Twilight Vaudeville – Selected Plays by Ren Saito (Vol.3). Eriritsu Shobo, 1980
  • Showa's Vance Kings: Jazz, Ports, Dissipation. Music Magazine, 1983

Adaptations

  • Film adaptation (1984, dir. Kinji Fukasaku)
  • Film adaptation (1988, dir. Kazumi Kushida)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
experimental integration of live music into theatrical formcontemporary drama style driven by dialogueblend of realism and reminiscence emphasizing period atmosphere
Recurring Motifs
jazz and nightclubsnocturnal urban scenesdreams and ruinloss of everyday life due to wardrugs and decadence

Legacy

Shanghai Vance King became Ren Saito's signature work, notable for long-running stage performances and critical acclaim. Its two film adaptations (1984, 1988) broadened its influence beyond theatre, impacting small-theatre musicals in Japan and stage portrayals of the interwar period.

Archives

  • National Film Archive of Japan (materials for 1984 film)

In Popular Culture

  • Broadened public recognition through 1984 and 1988 film adaptations

Quotes

  • Told with a live band, the loves and dreams of dawn-era jazzmen — that city had too many dreams that made people unhappy...
    Source: stage poster / liner notes (1979)

Trivia

  • The "Vance" in the title is derived from a Japanese abbreviation of 'advance borrowing'.
  • One model for the protagonist was Koichi Okawa, a prewar musician active in Shanghai.
  • Stage premiere occurred in 1979; the play was published in the magazine 'Shingeki' in March 1980.
  • The play recorded a notably long run for a small-theatre production.