—Mazidul Ahmed
While transitioning from our previous narrative (The Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl) to The Love Suicides at Amijima, I assumed this might be a more distinguishable read because of the disparities between the cultures. However, this play doesn’t fall too far from the themes we’ve been accustomed to from The Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. We are introduced to a new hierarchy system, and an overarching line of rule within the Edo period. Clearly, prostitutes are nowhere to be found in the list, and this isn’t the first time the “profession” has been heavily looked down upon. Prostitutes are treated like they do not have a place in society, but people continue to use their services. Similarly, we saw a great exploitive usage of slaves in Incidents (to a much larger and harsher degree), and people continued to resist any attempts for blacks to receive independence and freedom. This shows that people may seek certain services from individuals, but still feel they do not need any respect or identity. Chikamatsu is able to present these ideas of fragile mentality in the play through a character named Tahei. Tahei says, “You may not want to hear me, but the clink of my gold coins will make you listen!” He believes that Koharu doesn’t need to love him or even like him in order for him to get what he wants. Thus, he believes her to be a “whore” who could care less for love when she needs money. It isn’t typical for a prostitute to fall in love, but it is quite strange that she loves a man who is married. However, i do believe Koharu does not truly love Jihei because she does not fully commit to the whole suicide plan, and even tries to avoid him with his brother. This whole charade may have actually been for Koharu’s self justification as a person in society. While she is identified as an outcast by society as a whole, maybe Koharu believed that love will allow her to attain some image as someone who has an identity in society. On another note, I found it difficult to imagine that this play was projected to be coordinated and performed by puppets. Due to a variety of heavy topics including prostitution and suicide portrayed, I couldn’t imagine a correlation to puppets because I always tend to associate puppets with more kid-friendly concepts. This was mainly because of my pre-existing perceptions of puppetry that I formed from my childhood, watching shows such as Sesame Street. Watching the puppet show in action, transformed my perspective on the hidden influences behind puppetry. The play is orchestrated to captivate the audience through emotion. The use of an extremely talented chanter, who was able to fluctuate and effectively convey dialogue to the audience allowed for a much more distinctive storytelling.
