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 and was hailed by Donald Keene 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.
The Australian National University's Za Kabuki performed a version of the play in 2005, directed by Mr. Shun Ikeda.
Tomoka Takahashi (director), a Japanese Korean artist performed an adapted version with an original score in 2026, composed by Alicia Erlandson at The New School College of Performing Arts.
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. .
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