Love Suicides At Amijima Analysis

In the work, Souvenirs of Naniwa, Chikamatsu details various principles that he believes, are what makes art entertaining and worthwhile. He believes that for art to truly connect with the audience, the feelings and emotions of the character should occur progressively and naturally as the play goes on. He states that this is done by the conflicts that arise from giri and ninjo, duty/reason and feelings as well as uso and jitsu, the real and the unreal. The artistic value and the emotions derived from the art cannot truly reach the audience if everything is given out or easily seen on the surface level as it needs to reach my deeper to evoke reactions from viewers. These traits can be seen within his two works based on lover’s suicide, Amijima and Sonezaki. Within the play, Love Suicides at Amijima these conflicts are most explicitly seen when looking at the Jihei and the major female …show more content…
In this setting Tokubei’s uncle wishes to have him married to his wife’s niece as a reward for his applaudable work ethic and character, however, Tokubei wishes to decline as he loves Ohatsu. However, Tokubei’s mother had already accepted the dowry and thus, could not disagree to the marriage unless he returns the money lest he allow him and his uncle have dishonor fall upon them. This piece having been based on the events of an actual love suicide is firmly anchored into the real or jitsu as Chikamatsu follows the flow of events to how they happened to the actual couple. However, he inserts aspects of the uso by inserting things that weren’t present such as the character of Kuheiji that helps instigate the conflict that Tokubei faces. These conflicts are ones faced in everyday social and economic urban living, allowing the audience to easily relate to and sympathize with the characters of Tokubei and