A retired Japanese professor and expert on Anglo-Irish drama is returning about 100 photos and mementos to the Abbey Theatre collected from her time in Ireland in the late 1960s, writes David McNeil in Tokyo.
Prof Marie Kai of the prestigious Waseda University in Tokyo picked up the memorabilia dating from the 1920s to 1960s while she was a student in UCD. They include a copy of a masked play by Yeats, probably an original from the 1920s.
Yeats borrowed ideas from Noh drama, according to the professor. "He was fascinated with the poetic elements of plays and that's why he turned to Noh, in which the climax is expressed not through the face but through dance," she said.
Prof Kai grew to love Irish literature while studying Yeats at Waseda and became one of Japan's foremost translators of Irish plays and literature. Two generations of her students have been introduced to Irish drama and her translated plays have been performed in hundreds of Japan's theatres.
The Abbey is delighted with the gift, which includes two copies of Prof Kai's translations of Synge. Ms Mairéad Delaney, archivist of the National Theatre Archives, said the collection of 100 photographs had been lovingly cared for.
"We are extremely honoured that in this our centenary year, she is making such a generous donation."
The professor studied Irish when she was in Dublin and met Éamon de Valera in 1969. "I had been studying about Ireland for 10 years at that stage and almost every book mentioned the name de Valera, so he was for me a kind mythological figure. When I finally stood before him I was really moved."
Of the Abbey's problems, she said: "I am so emotionally connected to it and owe it so much, so personally I am sad. But I also hope they keep the theatre where it is. It is such an important historical monument and so very connected to Irish independent and culture."