Some of the first scripts for a TV drama developed by late writer Kuniko Mukoda have been discovered, a freelance editor said Monday.
The scripts were for four stories from the detective series "Daiyaru 110" ("Dial 110") that were aired on Nippon TV between 1959 and 1961 and by affiliated stations between 1957 and 1964.
Multiple script writers were known to have been involved in the series titled after the police emergency telephone number, but the content of Mukoda's scripts for the four episodes was forgotten.
Her scripts, kept by a stage director, will be included in the sixth volume of a collection of Mukoda episode scripts to be published Wednesday, said Kayo Utonuma, the editor who found them and was involved in editing the collection.
"Her angles of looking at criminals were sharp but warm," Utonuma said. "Ms. Mukoda's writing style, known for depicting the person as a whole, was already there from the beginning."
The four scripts are titled "Wakemae" ("Share"), "Mambiki Butai" ("Shoplifting Troop"), "Yokuno Kawa" ("Greed"), and "Shimi" ("Stain"), co-written with others. Her credit appears on the front page of the script books.
The popular series, which ran seven years, featured several well-known actors, including Tatsuo Matsumura and Jo Shishido.
Mukoda, a well-known screenwriter and novelist who focused on the daily lives of ordinary people, was killed in 1981 in an aircraft accident in Taiwan. She was 51.
Other notable works by Mukoda include "Ashura no Gotoku" and "A Un." She won the Naoki Prize, one of Japan's top literary awards, in 1980 for her short stories, including "The Name of the Flower."