Emerging from a sake-brewing family in Tomioka, Gunma, he attended Tomioka Middle School and entered Meiji University’s commerce department, where he joined a left-wing social-science society before studying proletarian drama at the Tsukiji Little Theatre in 1931. Adopting the stage name Katsuji Honjō, he debuted with the Tokyo Left-wing Theatre and quickly became a leading figure in the New Tsuki…
