The Love Suicides at Amijima

The Love Suicides at Amijima (Shinjū Ten no Amijima or Shinjūten no Amijima 心中天網島) is a domestic play (sewamono) by Japanese playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon. Originally written for the jōruri puppet theatre, it was adapted into kabuki shortly after its premiere. The play is one of Chikamatsu's more famous plays.

It was first performed 3 January 1721. Like The Love Suicides at Sonezaki it is supposedly based on a real love-suicide, but no original event has ever been identified, even after examinations of newspapers around 13 November 1720 (the date tradition holds the real love-suicide happened). Takano Masami has suggested that Chikamatsu based his play on the 1706 play The Love Suicides at Umeda by a rival playwright, Ki no Kaion.

The work concerns two lovers who cannot be together because of social and political situations, and are so blinded by love that they commit the gravest act, suicide. The play deals with turbulent and intense emotions. "Neither kind advice nor reason can gain the ear of one possessed by the god of Death. . ." yet, it also has the humor that is always greatly appreciated in plays. The Love Suicides at Amijima can go from darkly brooding to light fanfare in an instant. Chikamatsu uses very coarse humor and song to entertain the audience. "Jihei is worthless as wastepaper, Which is not good enough, Even to blow the nose with. Namida! Namida! Namida!"

It is a typical three-act play. Chikamatsu emphasizes the insanity of the amorous pair, Jihei and Koharu. He does so by making many of the supporting characters overtly rational and commonly berating the mental capacity of the lovers, which is another way of comic relief.

The play, both beautiful and tragic, ends with Jihei ending Koharu’s life by his sword. Soon after Jihei takes his own life by hanging himself from a nearby tree and then found strung by the rope he had hanged himself with in the nearby river. One of the well-remembered lines in the play is one of the last few words shared by the lovers: “Let us leave no trace of tears upon our dead faces.”

The Love Suicides at Amijima is perhaps more tragic because the main characters' lives are already quite bad to begin with. They are both poor and indebted to others. People in Japan could probably easily relate to the issues that plagued the protagonist. Jihei needed to focus his energy on something other than his meager life and weak family bonds, so he places himself within the outskirts of town.

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