Monzaemon Chikamatsu

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Monzaemon Chikamatsu

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Monzaemon Chikamatsu , 1653-1725, the first professional Japanese dramatist. Chikamatsu wrote primarily for the puppet stage in the Tokugawa shogunate. His literary work is divided into historical romances ( jidaimono ) and domestic tragedies of love and duty ( sewamono ). Author of 110 joruri [puppet plays] and 30 kabuki plays, he profoundly influenced the development of the modern Japanese theater. Among his best-known works are the Kokusenya-kassen [Battles of Coxinga], a historical drama concerned with the conquests of a famous Chinese warlord, and the domestic tragedy Shinju Ten no Amijima [the Love Suicides at Amijima].

Bibliography: See Major Plays of Chikamatsu (tr. by D. Keene, 1961); D. Keene, Bunraku, The Art of the Japanese Puppet Theatre (1965); C. A. Gerstle, Circles of Fantasy: Convention in the Plays of Chikamatsu (1984).

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Chikamatsu Monzaemon

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions | 1997 | | © The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions 1997, originally published by Oxford University Press 1997. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653–1724). Playwright for the Kabuki theatre and puppet theatre (Jap., ningyō jōruri or bunraku), generally regarded as Japan's greatest dramatist. The plays are deeply imbued with the teachings of both Confucianism and Buddhism. Most of Chikamatsu's characters are also followers of Pure Land Buddhism.

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JOHN BOWKER. "Chikamatsu Monzaemon." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN BOWKER. "Chikamatsu Monzaemon." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (November 11, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-ChikamatsuMonzaemon.html

JOHN BOWKER. "Chikamatsu Monzaemon." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved November 11, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-ChikamatsuMonzaemon.html

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The plays are the thing: the people of the idyllic harbor town Nagato in Yamaguchi-ken are proudly preserving the legacy of the great playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon, who may or may not have been bore in the town exactly 350 years ago.(Cultural Creators)
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Newspaper article from: International Herald Tribune; 8/25/2005; ; 417 words ; ...domestic tragedy by the renowned Japanese dramatist Monzaemon Chikamatsu (1653-1725). Shively's translation, originally...ordinary people rather than on samurai or noblemen, Chikamatsu's play was a seminal example of the populist literary...
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Magazine article from: The Village Voice; 11/11/1997; ; 700+ words ; ...Antony and Cleopatra By William Shakespeare Brooklyn Academy of Music (closed) The Love Suicides at Amijima By Monzaemon Chikamatsu Miller Theatre (closed) Maybe people still kill themselves for love but, let's face it, we think of love...
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Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 4/3/1987; ; 700+ words ; ...University's Wechsler Theater. The story of a young couple's suicide pact written by noted Japanese playwright Monzaemon Chikamatsu, the story was first performed nearly 300 years ago. It's free, but reservations are a must. The film is...
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Newspaper article from: Scotland on Sunday; 5/25/2003; 662 words ; ...another complete change of pace and style. Taking its inspiration from the 17th century Bunraku theatre plays of Monzaemon Chikamatsu, Dolls opens with a prolonged sequence of exquisitely detailed, wooden puppet dolls telling the author's story...
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