Sonezaki-sinjyu

First staged at Takemoto-za theater in May of Genroku 16 (1703). Different from jidai-mono (historical drama) that describes persons and events in history, the genre which focuses on ordinary people is called sewa-mono (contemporary life drama). In this drama, Chikamatsu praised the love and suicide of a shop assistant called Tokube and a prostitute called Ohatsu, which deviated from social value standard, as a good example of love and redemption. This drama was so highly reputed that it saved the management crisis of Takemoto-za theater and even became the chance for Chikamatsu to work as a playwright attached to the theater. Furthermore, the bunraku drama Sonezaki Shinju staged in nowadays is a version revived in 1955 which had cut off the last piece of writing mentioned above as well as the beginning part “Kanon meguri” showed in the illustration, and the main part of the drama was also changed.