The Love Suicides at Sonezaki: a play through voice and puppets

Tokubei works for a soy-sauce wholesaler, while Ohatsu is a courtesan at Tenmaya. Kuheiji, whom Tokubei trusted as a friend, cheats him of money and humiliates him in public. Tokubei goes to Ohatsu believing that death will vindicate him; the play ultimately leads the pair towards the woods at Sonezaki. These are the characters’ tragic choices within an adapted drama, not a record of every detail of the contemporary incident.

At Tenmaya, Ohatsu conceals Tokubei beneath the veranda. Speaking as though to herself, she asks whether he is resolved to die; he presses her ankle to his throat in reply. Public speech and concealed response happen at once, making voice, gesture and position jointly carry the scene. The later michiyuki, or journey scene, uses narration and music to follow their final departure.

The tayu narrates and gives voice to characters, with shamisen accompaniment; puppets supply visible action. In modern bunraku, a principal puppet is generally operated by three people, responsible for the head and right hand, the left hand, and the feet. A present-day performance of a play first staged in 1703 therefore also contains later theatrical practices and choices.

An incident becomes a play

Chikamatsu adapted an incident from April 1703, and the play became a success at Osaka’s Takemoto-za about a month later. Its merchants, courtesans and financial disputes placed contemporary urban life on the puppet stage as sewa-jōruri, or domestic drama. Numerous adaptations followed.

Restrictions and adaptations

The popularity of love-suicide plays also brought official restrictions in the 1720s. Subsequent works sometimes rescued couples who had intended to die. This changing theatrical environment matters when comparing a historical text with later performance.

Postwar revivals

The original work did not remain in uninterrupted production. Nobuo Uno’s adaptation reached kabuki in 1953. Bunraku revived it with adaptation and newly composed music in 1955, and a 1990 production attempted the original wording. Date, theatrical form and adaptation help identify the version being watched.