First great love suicide drama

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First great love suicide drama

Bunraku: May 1703, Osaka
Kabuki: April 1719, Edo

This is one of the most popular pieces by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, Japan’s greatest playwright. The play, written initially for the puppet theater, premiered amazingly just a month after the actual love suicide that inspired it. The instant success of this work rescued the Takemoto-za Theater in Osaka from the brink of bankruptcy and prompted a wave of other love suicide plays. Chikamatsu had been known primarily as a writer of heroic history tales when he composed Sonezaki, which became his first major work dealing with the life of commoners. He subsequently wrote a number of masterpieces of this type.
The initial run of the Kabuki adaptation was not well received and was discontinued after a few performances. Its fame did not come until centuries later, in August 1953, in a revised version by Uno Nobuo in Tokyo. He and actor Senjaku II (now Sakata Tojuro IV) offered a new take on the heroine Ohatsu that won wide acclaim, winning a new place for the piece in the Kabuki canon. Ohatsu became a signature role for Tojuro IV, who was named a National Living Treasure in 2004. He performed the role for 61 years until his final performance at Tokyo’s Kabukiza in April 2014.

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［from left］Ohatsu（Sakata Tojuro）、Tokubei（Nakamura Kanjaku）　April 2014　Kabukiza Theatre