Contrary to our usual association of puppetry with simple children's stories and fairy tales, the art of bunraku puppetry developed in connection to stories of great tragedy and psychological complexity. Some of the most popular plays within the repertoires belonged to the shinju mono (double suicide play) sub-genre. In a feudal Japanese society in which it was extremely difficult for young people to form relationships across social rank and political alliance, there were many "Romeo and Juliet" stories of young lovers ending their lives in despair at their thwarted romance. Love Suicides at Amijima (1720), Chikamatsu's most famous shinju mono plays, was based on just such a real event in 18th century Japan. Theatre, and especially puppet theatre, provided an opportunity for Japanese audiences to experience and grieve over these issues, which might be too scandalous and controversial to discuss directly.
Chikamatsu's play for bunraku puppets remains in the repertoire at the National Bunraku Theatre. It was also adapted into a very popular version for the live kabuki theatre. Lastly, as you can see in the clip below, the story has found its way into Japanese avant-garde film. This trailer (with English subtitles) is for an avant-garde Japanese movie, "Double Suicide" (1969), directed by Masahiro Shinoda, and adapted from Chikamatsu's puppet script. About halfway through this clip, the director interpolates some images of puppets used in the bunraku version, invoking a tension between the sensuality of the live actors' bodies and the uncanny mythic life of their puppet models. This kind of layering of meaning makes for a rich textual and performance tradition.
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