page_title: Kan Kikuchi
section_title: Father Returns
hierarchical_section_title: Kan Kikuchi / Early career / Father Returns
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 『父帰る』（作者：菊池寛）の銅像 - 菊池寛通り（日本国香川県高松市）
context_page_description: Hiroshi Kikuchi, known by his pen name Kan Kikuchi, was a Japanese author born in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. He established the publishing company Bungeishunjū, the monthly magazine of the same name, the Japan Writer's Association and both the Akutagawa and Naoki Prize for popular literature. He came to prominence for the plays "Madame Pearl" and "Father Returns", but his ample support for the Imperial Japanese war effort led to his marginalization in the postwar period. He was also the head of Daiei Motion Picture Company. He is known to have been an avid player of Mahjong.
context_section_description: One of his most famous works, Chichi Kaeru (Father Returns), is a one-act play that mainly portrays the struggles of a father-son relationship. Father Returns opened in 1920, after being published in the journal New Tides of Thought in 1917. The story revolves around a conflict between a father and son. The eldest son, Ken'ichirō, despises his father, Sōtarō, for his cruel treatment of the family and for deserting them. As the play progresses, the audience learns that Ken'ichirō's hatred towards his father fueled his determination of surpassing his father by providing better support for his family in his absence. After Sōtarō returns one night, the family welcomes him but Ken'ichirō's confrontation with him ultimately drives Sōtarō to leave. The play concludes with Ken'ichirō's sudden change of heart towards Sōtarō and accepting him into the family. After Shinjirō, a younger brother, goes to bring Sōtarō back, the curtain closes before Sōtarō is found. The ending drove Takeda and Ennosuke to alter it to avoid ambiguity, but was changed back to the original to preserve the main message of the play.
caption: Father Returns statue
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