The Love Suicides at Sonezaki (2/2)Chikamatsu Monzaemon's representative "tragedy"

Sewamono stories are often based on real events that occurred in towns, and "Sonezaki Shinju" was actually based on a real incident. That incident was the double suicide of a man and a woman that took place in the forest of Tsuyunoten Shrine (Sonezaki, Kita-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture) on April 7, 1703 (Genroku 16).

According to the Shinju Daikan, a collection of stories about double suicides published in 1704, the man was a clerk at Hiranoya Chuemon, a soy sauce wholesaler in Uchihonmachi (Kita Ward, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture), and was the son of the owner's elder brother. He was named Tokubei, 25 years old. The woman was Ohatsu, 21, a prostitute from Tenmaya in Dojima Shinchi (Kita Ward and Fukushima Ward, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture).

Ohatsu was born in Kyoto and was a popular prostitute in the Shimabara red-light district, but later moved to Dojima Shinchi and fell in love with Tokubei. Then, Hiranoya Chuemon arranged for Tokubei to marry his wife's 18-year-old niece and send her to work at a shop in Edo. Ohatsu also received an offer to buy her freedom from a customer in Bungo. As a result, the two, despairing of their future, committed suicide together.

On April 15th, eight days after the double suicide incident, a Kabuki dramatization of the story was performed, and one month later, Chikamatsu Monzaemon's puppet theater, "The Love Suicides at Sonezakizaki," was performed. This speed at which the incident unfolded clearly shows the level of public interest in it.

The impact of the Sonezaki suicides

"Sonezaki Shinju" dealt with a highly publicized case, and because the content was familiar to ordinary people, it became a hugely popular play. As a result of the performance, the Takemotoza was able to repay the large amount of debt it had incurred.

On the other hand, "The Love Suicides at Sonezaki" also had a social impact in that the number of double suicides increased. Love suicides became popular from Osaka to Kyoto, and spread to Edo. In the midst of this, Chikamatsu Monzaemon dramatized a double suicide that took place on October 14, 1720 (5th year of the Kyoho era) at Daichoji Temple in Amijima, Osaka (Miyakojima-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture), and premiered "The Love Suicides at Ten no Amijima" on December 6. This work was also a huge hit, and the number of double suicides increased again...

Tokugawa Yoshimune, the eighth shogun of the Edo shogunate, took these trends seriously and in 1722 (the 7th year of the Kyoho era) banned kyogen and illustrated stories about double suicides, forbade the burial of the bodies so that the couple could not rest in peace, and established laws that stated that if one of the partners survived, he or she would be treated as a criminal.

The following year, in 1723, in addition to the ban on stories about double suicides, the act of double suicide itself was banned, and the bodies of those who committed double suicide were to be stripped naked and exposed to the public, and not allowed to be buried, but left to decay. If the man survived, he was sentenced to death, and if the woman was in a master-servant relationship with the man, she was sentenced to death, otherwise she was innocent. If both survived, they were exposed to the public for three days and then demoted to the status of hinin (discriminated low-class people).

The Sonezaki Shinju "Resurrected" in the Showa Era

Although "The Love Suicides at Sonezaki" created a huge boom, after it was performed a number of times, it was never performed again in the complete version based on the original work by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, although there were adaptations and sequels by others. This continued even after the shogunate's crackdown relaxed, and the reason for this is unclear.

Chikamatsu's "The Love Suicides at Sonezaki" was "revived" through Kabuki. In 1953, the 300th anniversary of Chikamatsu's birth, playwright Uno Nobuo adapted the play based on the Joruri script. The opening scene of the Kannon pilgrimage was cut, and a scene in which Kuheiji's evil deeds are revealed, which was not in the original work, was added. It premiered at Tokyo's Shinbashi Enbujo Theater in August, and has since been performed many times as the "Uno version."

This was followed by a puppet theatre performance at the Bunraku-za Theatre in Osaka in January 1955. However, as the original score had been lost, the piece was recomposed, the Kannon-meguri ritual was omitted, and the double suicide portion was significantly cut.

The reason why the Kannon-mawari is not treated well seems to be that the content lists the 33 Kannon-mawari temples, so it has a strong religious overtone, and it is difficult to incorporate into modern Kabuki and Bunraku productions. However, research has been done from various angles to find that the Ohatsu Kannon-mawari has various intentions, and it is true that it is an important part.

For this reason, there are now many puppet theatre productions that faithfully adapt the original work, such as "Sugimoto Bunraku: Sonezaki Shinju Attached Kannon Meguri," which have been highly praised both in Japan and overseas, and can now be enjoyed in a form close to that of the Edo period. There are many different versions of this work, so if you are interested, why not go and see it on stage at least once?