The Love Suicides at Amijima

The Love Suicides at Amijima (Shinjū Ten no Amijima or Shinjūten no Amijima 心中天の網島) is a domestic play (sewamono) by Japanese playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon. Originally written for the bunraku puppet theatre, it was adapted into kabuki shortly after its premiere on 3 January 1721. It is widely regarded as one of his greatest domestic plays^[1][2] and was hailed by Donald Keene as “Chikamatsu’s masterpiece”.^[3]

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.

The Australian National University's Za Kabuki performed a version of the play in 2005, directed by Mr. Shun Ikeda.

References

1. Shirane, Haruo (2002-07-10). Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600-1900. Columbia University Press. p. 313. ISBN 9780231507431.
2. Nichols, Robert (2010-10-18). Masterpieces of Chikamatsu: The Japanese Shakespeare. Routledge. p. 42. ISBN 9781136913426.
3. Keene, Donald (1999). World Within Walls: Japanese Literature of the Pre-modern Era, 1600-1867. Columbia University Press. p. 258. ISBN 9780231114677.

• 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. ISBN 0-231-14415-6.

Further reading

• Major Plays of Chikamatsu, translated and introduced by Donald Keene (NY: Columbia University Press. 1961/1990), pp. 387–425.

External links

• The Love Suicide at Amijima: A Study of a Japanese Domestic Tragedy by Chikamatsu Monzaemon
• Scan of manuscript at Waseda University Library