The Psychiatrist Irabu series (精神科医・伊良部シリーズ) is a series of short stories by the Japanese writer Hideo Okuda that features the fictional psychiatrist Dr. Ichirō Irabu (伊良部 一郎, Irabu Ichirō). The stories were originally published in the literary magazine All Yomimono from August 2000 to January 2006 and later collected in three tankōbon: In the Pool (イン・ザ・プール, In za Pūru), Kūchū Buranko (空中ブランコ, "Flying trapeze") and Chōchō Senkyo (町長選挙, "Mayoral election"). Of these, Kūchū Buranko is particularly acclaimed, having won Okuda the 131st Naoki Prize (given for a book published in the first half of 2004). However, as of January 2011, only In the Pool has been published in English, though the other collections have been published in other languages, including German and French. Works in other media based on the stories include a feature film, television drama, stage play and animated television series.
Premise Ichiro Irabu (伊良部 一郎) is a psychiatrist of the Irabu General Hospital. He is pale-skinned, overweight and is overzealous in administering injections to patients. An unreasonable and rather immature person, he ignores Yamashita's plights while challenging him to mid-air trapeze flying due to his self-proclaimed "light-weightedness" in the story "Kūchū Buranko". During his student days, he frequently misunderstood his lectures. Treated as a general nuisance at the School of Medicine, he entered pediatrics soon after graduation. However, due to claims of tantrums and quarrels with child patients, he switched to psychiatry instead. Doubts remain about his actual grades.
Stories and characters
Kūchū Buranko "Kūchū Buranko" (空中ブランコ, "Flying Trapeze"; January, 2003 All Yomimono) Kōhei Yamashita (山下 公平, Yamashita Kōhei) is a member of a circus troupe of seven years and is the leader of a flying trapeze team. Both of his parents are also members. After suffering repeated failures on the trapeze act, he visits a psychiatrist on his wife's and fellow members' advice. Because of his failure during an act, he believes his partner is harassing him. He has been played by Masato Sakai in the television drama, Kenji Sakamoto in the stage play and Toshiyuki Morikawa in the animated series. "Harinezumi" (ハリネズミ, "Hedgehog"; July, 2003 All Yomimono) Seiji Ino (猪野 誠司, Ino Seiji) is an underboss of the yakuza "Kioi family" from Shibuya. He suffers from such serious trypanophobia that he cannot use chopsticks and must instead use a spoon at meals. He takes a psychiatric test on his common-law wife's advice. Gifu no Zura (義父のヅラ; "The wig of the father-in-law") (the first publishing "All Yomimono", October, 2003 issue) Tatsuro Ikeyama (池山 達郎) is a university lecturer and is a doctor of neurology working in a university-affiliated hospital. His father-in-law is Dean of the School of Medicine, which could potentially aid in his future employment prospects. He was also classmate of Irabu's during their college days. He has a type of neurosis that compels him to force any place of tidiness into disarray. This disorder is so strong that, with just one glance at his father-in-law's wig, Ikeyama becomes agonized by the impulse of wanting to strip it off his head. Originally published in the All Yomimono with the title Kyōju no Zura (教授のヅラ; "The wig of the professor"). Hot Corner (ホットコーナー; "Third base") (the first publishing "All Yomimono", April, 2003 issue) Shinichi Bando (坂東 真一) is a pro-baseball player and a ten-year veteran third baseman. He suffered from yips and leaves his first team by pretending to have an injured right shoulder. "Joryū Sakka" (女流作家, "Chick Lit Writer"; January, 2004 All Yomimono) Aiko Hoshiyama (星山 愛子) is a popular novelist known for her stories, which "express the subtleties of the hearts of today's urban men and women." While working on her newest story, she becomes ill at ease with writing new material. After relapsing into a continuous state of compulsive vomiting from which she had previously been cured, she consults psychiatry.
Adaptations
Film In the Pool (イン・ザ・プール; stylized as IN THE POOL) is a 2005 feature film directed by Satoshi Miki, based on three of the stories by Hideo Okuda collected in the book of the same name, which stars Suzuki Matsuo as Irabu, Joe Odagiri as Tetsuya Taguchi and Seiichi Tanabe as Kazuo Ōmori. It was released in cinemas in Japan on May 14, 2005.
Television drama Kūchū Buranko (空中ブランコ) is a 2005 one-off television drama based primarily on the story of the same name by Hideo Okuda, which stars Hiroshi Abe as Irabu. It was produced by Fuji Television and broadcast by them on May 27, 2005.
Cast Ichiro Irabu (Hiroshi Abe) Mayumi (Yumiko Shaku) Kohei Yamashita (Masato Sakai) Hiromi Yasukawa (Hitomi Satō) Seiji Ino (Kenichi Endō) Elly (Sachiko Kokubu) Uchida (Seiji Iinuma) Yoshimatsu (Yutaka Matsushige) Staff Planning: Akihiro Arai, Kenichiro Yasuhara (Fuji Television) Script: Hiroshi Hashimoto Producer: Shizuo Sekiguchi, Fumi Hashimoto (Kyodo Television) Direction: Masanori Murakami (Kyodo Television) Production: Fuji Television, Kyodo Television
Play Kūchū Buranko (空中ブランコ) is a 2008 play by Yutaka Kuramochi based on the story of the same name by Hideo Okuda. The original production by theatre company Atelier Duncan was directed by Masahiko Kawahara and ran for 21 performances from April 20 to May 5, 2008 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, then toured for the remainder of the month starting in Kōchi, Kōchi on the 8th and ending in Kamisu, Ibaraki on the 29th. The original cast included Hiroyuki Miyasako as Dr. Irabu, Eriko Satō as Mayumi, Kenji Sakamoto as Kōhei Yamashita, Yumiko Takahashi and Takashika Kobayashi, with supporting roles performed by, among others, the male idols Takashi Nagayama as Haruki, Ryūji Kamiyama and Ire Shiozaki and members of the G-Rockets acro troupe. It was produced with Dentsu and sponsored by Dentsu and TV Asahi. A video recording was made, which premiered on July 11, 2008 on the television station WOWOW and has since been rebroadcast several times and released on DVD-Video on October 24, 2008.
Anime
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