Ihara Toshio (伊原敏郎)
Toshio IHARA (May 24, 1870 - July 26, 1941) was a dramatic critic and playwright. He was born in Matsue City. He is also known as Seiseien IHARA because his pen name was Seiseien.
He joined Niroku Shinpo in 1893 to write stage reviews under the name of Seiseien after he quitted Daiichi High School (the first old-education-system high school). He became acquainted with Shoyo TSUBOUCHI and joined 'Miyako Shinbun' (Miyako Newspaper) in 1896. In 1900, he issued a new magazine "Kabuki" with Takeji MIKI. He received the Asahi Shinbun Cultural Award in 1933 for his trilogy, "History of Japanese theatre", "History of Modern Japanese theatre", and "History of the theatre in the Meiji Period". He also wrote a drama, "Okuni from Izumo Province" as well as serial stories in newspapers.