The Love Suicides at Amijima is a puppet play written by Chikamatsu, it is about two lovers that engage in a forbidden love affair which causes them to struggle with it's impact on their relationships. In the beginning of the play, we find Jihei, a paper merchant, in love with a prostitute named Koharu that is under contract to the Kawachi House, a brothel. Their love affair has been found out by Jihei's family and his business and social standing are at risk for it. Even though they stand to lose so much after being found out, they are resistant to let their love subside, ultimately, they choose a lovers suicide. Chikamatsu's purpose for writing this play was to underscore the importance of honor above all else, even life.
Chikamatsu's plays centered around contemporary-life which was not particularly popular in literature at that time. He focuses on a class that struggles with money and status, always looking to obtain an aristocratic one. In Love Suicides at Amijima, honor and obligation is a constant theme echoed in the words of many characters. Magoemon, Jahei's brother, speaks at length to Jahei about the shadow that his actions and love affair have cast upon their family, "here I am, Magoemon the Miller, known far and wide for my paragon of a brother" (MONZAEMON 56). This dialogue that we hear from Magoemon is not to understand his brother's circumstance, but to persuade him to turn away from his forbidden love to honor his wife's parents, which are also his Aunt and Uncle despite his feelings. He speaks again about how his Aunt has repeatedly defended him to his Uncle, "What an ingrate, not to appreciate how she's defended you to your shame!" (MONZAEMON 56). When the time to commit their last act as lovers comes, Koharu is still haunted by the sting of contempt by Jahei's wife, "She will despise me as a one-night prostitute, a false woman with no sense of decency." (MONZAEMON 70). In the end, the lovers cut their hair separating themselves from their previous lives to become nun and priest, marrying their souls forever.
In conclusion, the narrator glorifies the suicide, claiming that "all who hear the tale of the Love Suicides at Amijima are moved to tears." (MONZAEMON 72). Chikamatsu was born to a prosperous samurai family according to Encylopedia.org, I believe it was this familial status that caused him to have his tremendous sense of honor that, he believed, overtook even death. He went on to write twenty-four more plays that dealt with the strife of contemporary-life, but most mimicked incidents in his life time, highlighting tragedy amongst the common class (MONZAEMON 47). The author's goal was to point out that duty is above all else and to perpetuate the belief in complete redemption in the afterlife.
Chikamatsu's plays centered around contemporary-life which was not particularly popular in literature at that time. He focuses on a class that struggles with money and status, always looking to obtain an aristocratic one. In Love Suicides at Amijima, honor and obligation is a constant theme echoed in the words of many characters. Magoemon, Jahei's brother, speaks at length to Jahei about the shadow that his actions and love affair have cast upon their family, "here I am, Magoemon the Miller, known far and wide for my paragon of a brother" (MONZAEMON 56). This dialogue that we hear from Magoemon is not to understand his brother's circumstance, but to persuade him to turn away from his forbidden love to honor his wife's parents, which are also his Aunt and Uncle despite his feelings. He speaks again about how his Aunt has repeatedly defended him to his Uncle, "What an ingrate, not to appreciate how she's defended you to your shame!" (MONZAEMON 56). When the time to commit their last act as lovers comes, Koharu is still haunted by the sting of contempt by Jahei's wife, "She will despise me as a one-night prostitute, a false woman with no sense of decency." (MONZAEMON 70). In the end, the lovers cut their hair separating themselves from their previous lives to become nun and priest, marrying their souls forever.
In conclusion, the narrator glorifies the suicide, claiming that "all who hear the tale of the Love Suicides at Amijima are moved to tears." (MONZAEMON 72). Chikamatsu was born to a prosperous samurai family according to Encylopedia.org, I believe it was this familial status that caused him to have his tremendous sense of honor that, he believed, overtook even death. He went on to write twenty-four more plays that dealt with the strife of contemporary-life, but most mimicked incidents in his life time, highlighting tragedy amongst the common class (MONZAEMON 47). The author's goal was to point out that duty is above all else and to perpetuate the belief in complete redemption in the afterlife.
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