This is a selection of the best plays of Chikamatsu, one of the greatest Japanese dramatists. Master of the marionette and popular dramas, he had, until the publication of this book, remained unknown to western readers owing to the difficulty of translating the work into English.
This is a selection of the best plays of Chikamatsu, one of the greatest Japanese dramatists. Master of the marionette and popular dramas, he had, until the publication of this book, remained unknown to western readers owing to the difficulty of translating the work into English. The introduction provides a comprehensive survey of the history of Japanese drama which will assist the reader in better understanding the plays.
1. Literature and the Populace in Old Japan 2. The Origin of the Japanese Drama and Its Varieties 3. The Yokyoku or No Plays 4. The Kyogen, or Comic Interludes 5. The Kabuki Plays, or Plays of the Popular Theatre 6. The Joruri or Puppet Play 7. Life and Works of Chikamatsu; Shinju-mono or Plays Treating Love Suicide and Causes of Love Suicide 8. Characteristics of Chikamatsu 9. Chikamatsu's Contemporaries and the Subsequent History of the Puppet Play 10. Present Condition of Puppetry - Two Types of Puppet 11. The Regular Theatre of New Japan The Almanac of Love (Koi Hakke Hashiragoyomi). Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem-Cards (Kaoyo Utagaruta). The Courier for Hades (Meido no Hikyaku). The Love Suicide at Amijim (Shinju Tn-no-Amijima). The Adventures of the Hakata Damsel (Hakata Kojoro Namimakura). The Tethered Steed (Kwan-Hasshu Tsunagi-Uma).