A Review of the Major Plays of Chikamatsu essays

A Review of the Major Plays of Chikamatsu essays Chikamatsu Monzaemon was born in Echizen, Japan in 1653 with the name of "Sugimore Nobumori" and was to become perhaps the greatest dramatist in the history of the Japanese theater. Most of his early history is unknown. His father, a samurai, gave up his feudal responsibilities in the late 1660s and moved the family to Kyoto. As a teenager Chikamatsu may have been introduced to the theater while serving in a nobleman's house. He probably met an actor of joruri or Puppet Theater. Chikamatsu is often compared to Shakespeare. Although there are many differences in their writings, like Shakespeare, Chikamatsu has become known as a great playwright of the distant past. A major difference in their writings is that Shakespeares dramas revolve around nobles and important people in his society. Chikamatsu writes about the common people of his era and recent history. The author, Donald Keene, says that another big difference in their writing is that Chikamatsu mainly wrote for the puppet theater. The fantastic feats that his characters carry out are more believable when acted out by puppets rather than live actors like Shakespeares. The special demands of this theater obliged Chikamatsu to conceive his plays in a manner which sometimes weakens their literary value: spectacular scenes of mayhem or superhuman feats may be intensely exciting when seen in a puppet performance, but when read as one reads a Western play they often seem absurdly exaggerated. (1) Author of 110 joruri and 30 kabuki plays, he profoundly influenced the development of the modern Japanese theater. His works combine comedy and tragedy, poetry and prose, and scenes of combat, torture, and suicide. Most of Chikamatsu's domestic tragedies are based on actual events. In 1705, Chikamatsu moved to Osaka where he became a writer for Takemoto Gidayu's puppet theatre. He remained in Osaka until his death in 1725. Chikamatsu wrote most of hi...