CAPEK, Karel & Suzuki Zentaro. - [R.U.R Robotto].

Tokyo, Kinseido 1924 (Taishi 13). 18x12cm publisher's illustrated wrapper; title page with Simonson's poster design for the New York production in red and black, photo frontispiece. A nice copy. ¶ The introduction of 'robot' to the Japanese language and they've gone mad with it ever since. It isn't, however, the first published Japanese translation or adaptation of Capek's play: in 1923 that appeared titled Jinzo Ningen - artificial human - by Uga Itsuo. He seems to have been a haiku and theatre enthusiast who was working for a Japanese company in New York when the Theater Guild did their production. He has pretty much vanished from history except as a translator of RUR. And he deserves it, discarding what might be the most evocative word of our times. I presumed Suzuki, a writer of greater consequence, produced his version as a reaction but it seems more a matter of zeitgeist. Suzuki went on a cultural world tour in 1920 and came back armed with Capek, Molnar, Eugene O'Neill, and who knows what other stage weapons. He wrote a long article on the play in 1923 and this translation predates the first production of Uga's version. It seems neither of them knew of the other's work.Worldcat finds no copies of this outside Japan.

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