One of the Four Great Plays of Chikamatsu Monzaemon, the Shinju Ten no Amijima is a sewamono; a type of play whose plot involves common people enduring social and emotional pressures. A true masterpiece and a delight for all the readers, the play captures the human emotions onto paper as if they were real. Other human acts such as debauchery, doubt and fickleness are also vividly expressed by the author himself. The play begins using a third party narrative. “The ocean cannot be emptied using only a small shijimi shell,” (Chikamatsu, Miyamori and Nichols, 1). Chikamatsu compares the pleasure quarters of Osaka to an ocean because during that period, prostitution is a popular business. In the late 16th up until the beginning of the 17th century, many families were forced to sell their amiable daughters into tea-houses to train to become a Geisha or a high ranking Oiran. Brothels are establishments created only for fulfilling sexual passions. Likewise, Chikamatsu still believes that although tea-houses are just for entertainment purposes; it can also be a place for finding true love. Hence, love is being compared to a shijimi shell. However, love is only a small useless, emotion for the brothel owners; so small that it cannot save women from prostitution due to poverty. The play also tackles the social inequality prevalent during Chikamatsu’s time. People belonging to the lower class status do not have any surnames at all whilst nobles and middle class families have surnames. Usually, a person’s work or line of business becomes his surname; for example, Jihei’s surname “Kamiya” means “paper dealer”. Aside from this, the play also illustrates the status of women during the period.
Kamiya Jihei was already a married man. He had two children with his wife, O-san who is also his niece. O-san loved Jihei so much that she refused to sign an agreement letter stating her divorce from Jihei. Although she was betrayed by her polyamorous husband, she never failed to fulfill her role as a good wife, businesswoman and as the mother of their children. As depicted in the Second Act, the passage states: “Jihei’s home and paper shop is situated along the crowded street near the Tenjin Shrine. Although the master had obviously abandoned his business duties, the paper shop still stands and retained its prosperous appearance. A lovely credit to the work done by his wife who constantly busies herself dealing with customers and household management.” (Chikamatsu, Miyamori and Nichols, 17). O-san’s character is truly remarkable and symbolic because very few women can ever do that especially in Feudal Japan. Women were literally stripped off their rights and most of them rely heavily on their husbands for a living. Compared to the traditional Japanese housewife, O-san is a modern woman living in a severely old-fashioned world whose society is plagued by society illness. A very good thing about O-san is that she is wise and she can multitask because she managed to save their family business whilst her husband is harboring thoughts about Koharu. She is also wise and emotionally sensitive especially in the Second Act, when she notices her husband crying in his sleep. Raising Jihei until they can look on each other’s eyes, she asked her husband about forcing himself on vowing not to meet and forget Koharu. Although Jihei is passionate and loyal to his words and to his Koharu; however, he is not with his wife. Compared to Koharu, O-san is such a sad character. Throughout the novel, Jihei’s interactions with his lawfully wedded wife are almost few. Most of the time, he spent it with Koharu as implied in the novel. Jihei courted and visited Koharu every night in the brothel for two years. As O-san had said in the novel, Jihei is a cold and heartless man who cannot even bear a single second to be with her.
Marrying a prostitute is considered a taboo in Feudal Japan. However, many prominent personalities of the Japanese history had been recorded being married to their lovers. One such example is Katsura Kogoro, one of the men who pioneered the Meiji Restoration in Japan in the late 18th century. During the Bakumatsu, he and his Geisha companion Ikumatsu were forced into hiding against the Shogun. After the war, he married Ikumatsu and made her his wife. The same thing can be applied to Jihei and Koharu’s case. It is indeed against the society, especially for the high ranking and middle class people to marry someone who is lower than their station. Most of the time, these marriages were placed under public scrutiny, which is why Jihei chose to die with Koharu and wished for the two of them to meet in the afterlife. Women especially the Geishas are treated lowly by the society because they had no dowry. Most of these girls came from poor families. According to Koharu, her family is very poor and her mother might die soon like a dog in the slums; a sufficient evidence of why marrying a geisha is considered unsuitable for men of noble birth. Considering Jihei’s impulsive and passionate nature, he failed to notice their differences because he focused more on their love without even realizing the result of their decisions. Jihei already had his own family, and yet he still maintains a close and passionate relationship with Koharu. In contrast with his relationship with his own wife, O-san, Jihei is deeply affectionate of Koharu. For Tahei, Jihei is a man worthless as a paper. His infatuation with her made him neglect his own business and even his own family. To add more insult to injury, Tahei mockingly imitates a Buddhist monk praying by repeatedly saying, “Namaida” after telling Koharu that Jihei is as worthless as a paper; so worthless that he is not good to blow the nose with.
On the other hand, Koharu’s character is depicted as a ficklish, but affectionate young woman in her teens. Compared to O-san who is more reliable and trustworthy, Koharu is much more of an actress. At first, she tried escaping her death at Jihei’s hands by asking her samurai companion to visit her continuously so that Jihei will lose the chance of killing her. Unfortunately, Jihei heard all of the conversation and tried to kill Koharu using his sword. An interesting twist was then revealed when she realized that the samurai companion was Jihei’s brother, Koya Magoemon, a flour miller. Despite her treachery, Jihei still loved Koharu and eventually the two couple ran off to escape the society and their adversaries. Under the moonlight, they swore and exchanged vows of their undying love to each other before Jihei slits Koharu’s neck using his sword. After killing his lover, he hanged himself on a tree. No additional information was revealed about what happened to Jihei’s children and wife. Chikamatsu’s sardonic and accurate portrayal of the lives of the chonin (townspeople) became a driving force for the government to ban the play on to the stage. According to the official records of the Japanese government, the play is so bold and daring. It influences all the young lovers, especially men belonging to higher ranks to become young rakes. Thus, they abandon their families in search for fleeting pleasure that will eventually result into tragedy. (Chikamatsu and Shively, 43). Traditional Japanese society prohibit having such licentious affairs with prostitutes because of their nature of work and social standing. Although Jihei and Koharu may have a chance of living together as a married couple, their relationship will be put into public scrutiny because Jihei is a married man. Of course, ancient Japanese society values marriage as much as social standing. Men are allowed to have mistresses as long as they can support the ballooning needs of his family. Moreover, he can only have a physical affair with his mistress, for the sake of pleasuring the flesh. Geishas and Oirans are prostitutes who earn their living by pleasuring and accompanying men. In a way similar to harlots in English Regency, their sole existence is to satisfy physical needs of the men. However, they are not permitted to have an emotional or romantic bond with their customers because they belong to the common people. The Mary Ruth Case in Japan opened the world’s eyes on the status of prostitution in Japan, wherein women who work in brothels are considered the same level as animals (DeBecker, 26). Likewise, the suicide served the couple as their escape to the reality of the world. Jihei knew that the society could never accept his relationship with a nineteen-year-old courtesan. Suicide became their tool to fulfill their heart’s desires to live together for eternity.
Works Cited
Chikamatsu, Monzaemon, Monzaemon Chikamatsu, and Donald H Shively. The Love Suicide at Amijima (Shinjū Ten No Amijima), A Study of Japanese Domestic Tragedy by Chikamatsu Monzaemon. Donald H. Shively. Cambridge: Mass., Harvard University press, 1953. Print.
Chikamatsu, Monzaemon, Robert Nichols, and Asatarō Miyamori. Masterpieces of Chikamatsu. London: Routledge, 2010. Print.
De Becker, J. E. The Nightless City of the Geisha. London: Kegan Paul, 2002. Print.
