Major Plays of Chikamatsu

Major Plays of Chikamatsu gives Western readers a fascinating look at seventeenth-century Japanese culture. Like other playwrights before him, Chikamatsu created characters who are members of a society driven by its mores. However, unlike those of other playwrights of the period, Chikamatsu's characters have multidimensional personalities and unconventional voices, making his art more realistic and complex. Includes The Love Suicides at Sonezaki (Sonezaki Shinjū), The Drum of the Waves of Horikawa (Horikawa Nami no Tsuzumi), Yosaku from Tamba (Tamba Yosaku), The Love Suicides in the Womens Temple (Shinjū Mannensō), The Courier for Hell (Meido no Hikyaku), Gonza the Lancer (Yari no Gonza), The Uprooted Pine (Nebiki no Kadomatsu), The Girl from Hakata or Love at Sea (Hakata Kojorō Namimakura), The Love Suicides at Amijima (Shinjū Ten no Amijima), The Battles of Coxinga (Kokusenya Kassen), The Woman-Killer and the Hell of Oil (Onnagoroshi Abura Jigoku)