''The Love Suicides at Amijima'' (''Shinjū Ten no Amijima'' or ''Shinjūten no Amijima'' 心中天網島) is a domestic play (''

sewamono ''Sewamono'' (世話物) is a genre of contemporary setting plays in Japanese traditional theatre. The term applies to both bunraku and kabuki. The genre is in contrast to "period setting plays" or jidaimono. Though the distinction between "histo ...

'') by

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese playwright

Chikamatsu Monzaemon was a Japanese dramatist of jōruri, the form of puppet theater that later came to be known as bunraku, and the live-actor drama, kabuki. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' has written that he is "widely regarded as the greatest Japanese dramatis ...

. Originally written for the ''

bunraku (also known as ) is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre, founded in Osaka in the beginning of the 17th century, which is still performed in the modern day. Three kinds of performers take part in a performance: the or (puppeteers ...

'' puppet theatre, it was adapted into

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance- drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought ...

shortly after its premiere on 3 January 1721. It is widely regarded as one of his greatest domestic plays and was hailed by

Donald Keene Donald Lawrence Keene (June 18, 1922 – February 24, 2019) was an American-born Japanese scholar, historian, teacher, writer and translator of Japanese literature. Keene was University Professor emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japane ...

as “Chikamatsu’s masterpiece”.

Adaptations

The Japanese new wave filmmaker Masahiro Shinoda directed a stylized adaptation of the story as '' Double Suicide'' in 1969. Milwaukee, WI-based Dale Gutzman (book, lyrics) and Todd Wellman (score) debuted the musical adaption ''AmijimA'' in 2007. Listen to th
WUWM interview
with the creative team. The Australian National University's Za Kabuki performed a version of the play in 2005, directed by Mr. Shun Ikeda.

References

* pg 170–208 of '' Four Major Plays of Chikamatsu'' * Chikamatsu Monzaemon, ''The Love Suicides at Amijima'', in Haruo Shirane, ed., ''Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600–1900'' (Columbia University Press, 2002), pp. 313–47. .

External links

The Love Suicide at Amijima: A Study of a Japanese Domestic Tragedy by Chikamatsu Monzaemon
of manuscript at

Waseda University Library The collections of Waseda University Library (早稲田大学図書館; ''Waseda Daigaku Toshokan'') form one of the largest libraries in Japan. Established in 1882, they currently hold some 5.6 million volumes and 46,000 serials. History The W ...

Kabuki plays Bunraku plays 1721 plays Edo-period works Japanese plays adapted into films Buddhist plays {{1720s-play-stub

Adaptations

References

Further reading

External links