Chikamatsu Monzaemon Μεγάλοι Ιάπωνες Δραματουργοί

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Παρωνύμιο του Sugimori Nobumori.
Κυότο 1653 - Οσάκα 1724/5.
Ένας από τους μεγαλύτερους Ιάπωνες δραματουργούς.
Έγραψε για το θέατρο μαριονέτας (μπουνράκου) πάνω από 100 έργα ιστορικά (Οι μάχες του πειρατή Κόξιγκα) ή οικογενειακές τραγωδίες,πολλές από τις οποίες βασίζονταν σε πραγματικά γεγονότα (Διπλή αυτοκτονία από έρωτα στο Σονεζάκι).
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chikamatsu_Monzaemon
Major works :
Α.Jōruri
The Soga Successors or "The Soga Heir" (Yotsugi Soga) (1683)
Kagekiyo Victorious (Shusse kagekiyo 出世景清) (1685)
The Love Suicides at Sonezaki (Sonezaki no shinjū 曾根崎心中) (1703)
The Night Song of Yosaku from Tamba (Tamba Yosaku machiyo no komurobushi 丹波与作待夜のこむろぶし)
The Courier for Hell (Meido no hikyaku 冥途の飛脚) (1711)
The Battles of Coxinga (Kokusen'ya kassen 国性爺合戦) (1715)
The Uprooted Pine (Nebiki no Kadomatsu) (1718)
The Love Suicides at Amijima (Shinjūten no Amijima 心中天網島) (1720)
The Woman-Killer and the Hell of Oil (Onnagoroshi abura no jigoku 女殺油地獄) (1721)
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Β.Kabuki
The Courtesan on Buddha Plain[1] (Keisei hotoke no hara けいせい仏の原) (1699)
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Γ.Critical work
Naniwa miyage (1738; written by a friend & preserves a number of statements by Chikamatsu on the art of the puppet theater)
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Quotes
"Art is something that lies in the slender margin between the real and the unreal." -Naniwa miyage[1]
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http://www.hull.ac.uk/music/News_Events/Drama/Chikamatsu_Project.html
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http://www.washburn.edu/reference/bridge24/Chickamatsu.html
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Source : http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc62.html
Born in Echizen, Japan in 1653 with the name of "Sugimore Nobumori", Chikamatsu Monzaemon was to become perhaps the greatest dramatist in the history of the Japanese theatre. Born into a Samurai family, Chikamatsu's father went ronin, abandoning his feudal duties sometime between 1664 and 1670, and moving his family to Kyoto where they became attached to the local court aristocracy. This is most likely where Chikamatsu first became involved with the theatre.
Chikamatsu is said to have written over one hundred plays, most of which were written for the bunraku or puppet theatre. Legend has it that he wrote one of his plays in a single night. His works combine comedy and tragedy, poetry and prose, and present scenes of combat, torture, and suicide on stage.
Most of Chikamatsu's domestic tragedies are based an actual events. His Sonezaki shinju or The Love Suicides at Sonezaki, for example, was based on reports of an actual double suicide. In this play, an apprentice clerk and his lover, a prostitute in the pleasure quarters, finding no other way to be together, decide to commit a double suicide so that they can at least be united in death.
Chikamatsu's most famous play, the Kikusenya Kassen or Battles of the Kikusenya, tells the story of a Tarter king's invasion of China after his demand for the Ming emperor's favorite concubine as the price of friendship is denied. A traitorous Chinese minister gives the signal for the invasion by stabbing out his own eye with a dagger, but a Chinese general, Go Sankei, miraculously defeats the huge Tarter army with a handful of soldiers. Unfortunately, the emperor's enemies have cut off his head during the battle and captured his concubine. Go Sankei rescues the concubine who is pregnant with the emperor's child, but when she is later hit by a bullet, he is forced to perform a Caesarean section in full view of the audience to save the imperial heir. He then sacrifices his own child in front of the Tarters in order to convince them that emperor's son is dead.
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. Although he is generally considered the Shakespeare of Japanese theatre, Chikamatsu's work is rarely performed, mainly because of the declining popularity of bunraku. Fortunately, several of his plays have been adapted for use in Kabuki theatre and on film.
Find more articles on Chikamatsu Monzaemon
Chikamatsu's Plays Biographies/Studies
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