Four Japanese Melodramas

FAIN: FA-53364-07

Michael Clifford Brownstein
University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN 46556-4635)

My project is a book-length study of four sewamono (contemporary-life plays) that Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725) wrote for the Joruri (puppet) theater. The book will consist of two introductory chapters (Part I), one essay on each play (Part II) and translations of the four plays (Part III). The titles of the plays are: SATSUMA UTA (Song of Satsuma, 1704), GOJUNENKI UTA NEMBUTSU (Prayers for Seijuro on the Fiftieth Anniversary, 1709), IMAMIYA SHINJU (Love Suicides at IMAMIYA SHRINE, 1711), and DAIKYOJI MUKASHI GOYOMI (The Almanac Maker, 1715).