Born the eldest son of the Sasayama family in a mountain village of Naka district, Iwami Province (now Hamada, Shimane). His real name was Takitarō. His family had become poor after his father's business failed, and from boyhood he had to study while working. Even so, he loved reading and had a strong desire to learn.
While working at the court in Hamada and elsewhere, his talent was recognized by the prosecutor Shimamura Bunkō, who supported him, and he was adopted into the Shimamura family. Through this tie the way to study in Tokyo opened for him. Together with the pen name Hōgetsu he later adopted, Shimamura became his name for life.
He entered Tokyo Senmon Gakkō (now Waseda University) and studied literature, philosophy and aesthetics under Tsubouchi Shōyō and Ōnishi Hajime. From Shōyō in particular he inherited a strong zeal to bring Western literature and theater into Japan, and he would later lead a new theater movement together with Shōyō.
After graduating, he became a writer for the magazine Waseda Bungaku founded by Shōyō and wrote one critical essay after another on literature and aesthetics. His sharp criticism drew attention, and he also began lecturing at his alma mater. From around this time he became known by the name Hōgetsu.
Sent by Waseda, he studied at Oxford in England and in Berlin in Germany. While abroad he frequented theaters and saw firsthand how modern plays such as Ibsen's stirred people's hearts. This experience strengthened his belief that Japan, too, needed a new theater.
He returned home and became a professor at Waseda University, and the next year relaunched Waseda Bungaku and became its central figure. He wrote criticism strongly supporting naturalist literature, which depicts people and society as they are, praised works by Shimazaki Tōson, Tayama Katai and others, and was called the standard-bearer of naturalist literature.
With Tsubouchi Shōyō he founded the Bungei Kyōkai (Literary Arts Society) and began a new theater (shingeki) movement to introduce Western drama to Japan. Later the society set up a drama school to train actors, among whom was Matsui Sumako, who would become one of Japan's leading actresses.
The Bungei Kyōkai staged Ibsen's A Doll's House with Hōgetsu as director. Sumako's performance as the heroine Nora caused a sensation, and the figure of Nora, trying to choose her own way of life, stirred debate across society about how women should live.
His love affair with Sumako became a scandal, and Hōgetsu parted from his teacher Shōyō and left the Bungei Kyōkai. Though he was harshly criticized for falling in love while he had a wife and children, he formed the theater company Geijutsuza with Sumako and chose the path of bringing new theater to many people.
He staged Resurrection, a play based on Tolstoy's novel, and "Katyusha's Song," sung by Sumako in the play (lyrics by Hōgetsu and Sōma Gyofū, music by Nakayama Shinpei), became a nationwide hit. The record also sold well, and it became the moment when modern theater won wide popularity.
The Geijutsuza toured with Resurrection and other plays throughout Japan and to Korea, Manchuria, Taiwan and elsewhere, drawing large audiences. In Ushigome in Tokyo he built the Geijutsu Club, a study center that doubled as a theater. He tried to value both art and performances that many people could enjoy.
He caught the Spanish flu then raging around the world and died at the Geijutsu Club in Tokyo. Sumako, who had nursed him, sank into deep grief and early the next year passed away as if to follow him. Hōgetsu's passion lives on in the history of Japanese modern theater.
Tsubouchi ShōyōShimazaki TōsonTayama KataiMatsui SumakoNakayama Shinpei
Nagaoka HantarōMinakata KumagusuNishida KitarōHonda KōtarōSakai ToshihikoIzumi KyōkaMinobe TatsukichiSuzuki Umetarō
People of the Taishō period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.