From left: Faubion Bowers, 3-year-old Matsumoto Hakuo II in his first Kabuki performance, and his father, Matsumoto Hakuo I, in 1946. (Provided by Matsumoto Hakuo II)

A Japanese language book used by an American who is said to have helped revive Kabuki from censorship in the aftermath of World War II has been discovered.

The reader of Faubion Bowers (1917-1999) is kept by drama commentator Tetsuro Nakamura, who is expected to donate it to the Tsubouchi Memorial Theater Museum in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward by the end of November to mark the 20th anniversary of Bowers’ death.

“The historic material shows how hard Bowers worked to learn the Japanese language,” said Nakamura, 76, who was friendly with Bowers.

Bowers was studying Japanese at a language and culture school in the Japanese capital between 1940 and 1941 when he came across Kabuki.

Following the end of World War II, Bowers came to Japan again with Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

As part of its occupation policy, the MacArthur-led General Headquarters of the Allied Powers prohibited Kabuki works characterized by 13 factors, such as revenge, feudalism and militarism, from being performed.

The rules were presented to Kabuki organizers, and such works as “Kanadehon Chushingura” (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers), “Kanjincho” (The Donation List), “Kumagai Jinya” (Kumagai's Camp) and “Kinkakuji” (The Golden Pavilion) were included in the do-not-perform list.

After Bowers started serving as an inspector at the headquarters’ Civil Censorship Detachment, he got involved in the process to lift the ban on Kabuki.

According to the 100-year records of Kabuki organizer Shochiku Co., the restrictions on the traditional drama performance were abolished by late 1947.

Even after returning to his home country, Bowers continued to promote Kabuki, such as offering an audio guide at a Kabuki event in the United States.

The recently found reader was initially owned by Japanese literature researcher Anthony Hood Chambers, and presented to Nakamura in 2016.

A signature believed to have been written by Bowers is in the book. The material also shows the Japanese words meaning “hair like lacquer,” as well as “I have something to talk over” beside the line that includes the Japanese for “said.”

Matsumoto Hakuo II, 77, whose grandfather, Nakamura Kichiemon I, was close to Bowers, looked back on the days when Bowers was alive.

“Immediately before his death, my grandfather performed ‘Kumagai Jinya’ in appreciation for Bowers,” Matsumoto said. “When I was a small child, Bowers brought me to a theater by jeep.”

Nobuyuki Onuma, 73, a former senior official of the noted Kabukiza Theater, described Bowers as a person who “well understands the spirits of dramas.”

“He knew many traditional expressions in Japanese,” Onuma said.