一九三○年代隨著日本軍國主義興起，以及中日戰爭的爆發，台灣殖民地政府積極推行皇民化運動，傳統戲曲與祭典活動被嚴格禁止，只有新劇、改良劇披著皇民化劇的外衣得以存在。為因應戰時戲劇政策以及皇民化目標，在台日本戲劇家地位逐漸重要。 對當時的新劇運動人士而言，戲劇的變革，相對思想管制微不足道，甚至是理所當然。因為一部台灣新劇演出史，日本經驗早已成為台灣戲劇傳統的一部分。全台灣都市、鄉鎮一百多個戲院提供五十個新劇團巡迴演出，多數農漁村毫無娛樂可言，而多數劇團演員未受過教育，不能說國語（日語），卻要演出國語（日語）劇，其中一大半的劇團又由歌仔戲團改頭換面。 農村大眾缺乏娛樂，而職業演員教育程度不足，演出水準不高的情形下，為了健全娛樂，通曉日語的各行各業、年輕人組成含有「素人演劇」性質的青年劇運動應運而生，在各地巡迴展開，被視為戰時新興文化力量。然而，這些青年劇的演出內容如何，演員訓練以及舞台排演，能否落實，有無戲劇專家指導，卻是一大問題，甚至有可能被批評為阻撓食糧生產、紊亂風紀。前述戲劇政策要推動並不容易，尤其皇民化運動期間，從日本本土到殖民地，軍國主義凌駕一切，戲劇淪為戰爭工具，舞台不過是模擬戰場。 戰時的台灣仍然到處演新劇，但與戰前最大不同，在於以前的新劇運動人士反對傳統戲劇與祭典，傳統戲劇與祭典並未被禁，更未消失，戰時「禁鼓樂」，只演新劇，戲劇生態已完全改變。打著皇民化劇的劇團，空有新劇的形式，而缺乏新劇內容與精神。 當時參與台灣戲劇活動的日本人，關懷台灣，同情被殖民者，也是站在日本立場，希望提升台灣戲劇水準，使它能在日本帝國扮演重要角色。他們期盼的台灣戲劇，是能以國語演出，符合日本精神的新戲劇。 松居桃樓（1910-1994）是當年少數具有劇場實務經驗，又有戲劇專著的在台日本人戲劇家之一。他實際負責台灣演劇協會，與戰時的台灣戲劇界有最直接的接觸，從他身上，或許可觀察出當時戲劇人在激烈戰火底下所能扮演的角色。然而，有關他的生平事蹟卻隱晦不彰，研究戲劇史的學者都對他極為陌生。 以「結果論」檢視，由日本人戲劇家主導的戰時台灣戲劇活動，其劇場能量軟弱無比。其中有現實的因素，也有歷史的嘲弄，使得這場由日本官方主導，疾風暴雨似的戲劇運動，短短幾年之間煙消霧散。本論文就是藉由松居桃樓的研究，探討戰時台灣戲劇生態，以及在台日本人戲劇家所扮演的戲劇角色。

In the 1930s, with the rise of militarism in Japan and the outbreak of the war between China and Japan, traditional Taiwanese drama and rituals were strictly prohibited under the Taiwanese colonial government's Japanization (Kominga) movement. During this time, the government only permitted Xinju (new drama) and reformed drama within Japanization context. Thus, on the basis of the drama policy and the goal of Japanization during wartime, the role of Japanese intellectuals and dramatists became significant after the war burst out. For people involved in Xinju movement, the revolution of drama was of little importance in comparison to thought control. They even took such changes for granted because Japanization had become a part in the history of Taiwanese Xinju. At the time, Japanese dramatists in Taiwan had to face a poor theatre environment and inadequate structure of performance. There were only more than a hundred theatres for fifty Xinju troupes to perform in, in addition to the fact that most Taiwanese villages still lacked entertainment in their daily life. Also, most troupes were transformed from Taiwan traditional opera so that most actors were uneducated, could not speak Japanese, but had to perform in the official language--Japanese. Due to the impoverished condition, young generation from all walks of life with spoken Japanese abilities started to organize youth drama groups to improve the quality of entertainment. Though they hadn't been trained professionally, they were seen as a fresh cultural force in the wartime and quickly flourished throughout Taiwan. However, practical problems, such as creating the script, training of actors, stage rehearsal and lack of instruction from professional dramatists needed to be solved. Under the Japanization movement, as militarism was pervading through Japan and its colonies, drama was but a tool for war advocacy and was easily criticized as nonproductive and disruptive to the society. The difference between Xinju before the war and during the war was that traditional drama and ritual were prohibited by the colonial government prior to the war. Due to the absence of traditional elements, Xinju kept the form but lost the context and spirit under the Japanization movement. In other words, the look of drama had totally changed. The new drama that the Japanese involved in Taiwan drama activity looked for was played in Japanese and of Japanese spirit. These Japanese in Taiwan took compassion on the colonized and expected to improve the level of Taiwan drama to achieve an important status in the Japanese empire. Matsui Toru (1910-1994) was one of a few Japanese dramatists at that time with practical theatre experience and drama publication. He actively led the Taiwan Drama Association which directly influenced the public Taiwan theatre sector. From the example of Matsui, we could probably observe the role of theatre workers during the wartime. However, little of his life and history is available for drama history scholars to study. It may be asserted that Taiwan drama movement led by Japanese dramatists was never a strong force; nor did it leave much to the theatre. Due to practical and historical reasons, the stormy drama movement led by the Japanese official government soon fell apart in only a few short years. In this paper, I would like to research the influence of Matsui Toru and discuss the aspects of Taiwan theatre during the war, as a way of understanding the role of Japanese dramatists in Taiwan.