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Events in the year 1725 in Japan .
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| See also: | Other events of 1725 History of Japan • Timeline • Years | ||||
Events in the year 1725 in Japan .
Asahito, posthumously honored as Emperor Higashiyama, was the 113th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Higashiyama's reign spanned the years from 1687 through to his abdication in 1709 corresponding to the Genroku era. The previous hundred years of peace and seclusion in Japan had created relative economic stability. The arts flourished, including theater and architecture.
Chikamatsu Monzaemon was a Japanese dramatist of jōruri, the form of puppet theater that later came to be known as bunraku, and the live-actor drama, kabuki. The Encyclopædia Britannica has written that he is "widely regarded as the greatest Japanese dramatist". His most famous plays deal with double-suicides of honor bound lovers. Of his puppet plays, around 70 are jidaimono (時代物) and 24 are sewamono (世話物). The domestic plays are today considered the core of his artistic achievement, particularly works such as The Courier for Hell (1711) and The Love Suicides at Amijima (1721). His histories are viewed less positively, though The Battles of Coxinga (1715) remains praised.
Donald Lawrence Keene was an American-born Japanese scholar, historian, teacher, writer and translator of Japanese literature. Keene was University Professor emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for over fifty years. Soon after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, he retired from Columbia, moved to Japan permanently, and acquired citizenship under the name Kīn Donarudo. This was also his poetic pen name and occasional nickname, spelled in the ateji form 鬼怒鳴門.
Genroku (元禄) was a Japanese era name after Jōkyō and before Hōei. The Genroku period spanned the years from September 1688 to March 1704. The reigning emperor was Emperor Higashiyama (東山天皇).
The Love Suicides at Amijima is a domestic play (sewamono) by Japanese playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon. Originally written for the bunraku puppet theatre, it was adapted into kabuki shortly after its premiere on 3 January 1721. It is widely regarded as one of his greatest domestic plays and was hailed by Donald Keene as “Chikamatsu’s masterpiece”.
The Love Suicides at Sonezaki is a jōruri play by the Japanese playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon. The double suicides that occurred on May 22, 1703 inspired Chikamatsu to write this play and thus The Love Suicides at Sonezaki made its debut performance on June 20, 1703. Chikamatsu added new scenes in the 1717 revival including the villain's punishment. The Love Suicides at Sonezaki's reception was popular and helped springboard Chikamatsu's future success as a playwright. In the first year alone since the play's premiere, no less than seventeen couples committed double suicide. In fact, the bakufu banned Chikamatsu's shinjū plays in 1722 because of their content's popularity. The Love Suicides at Sonezaki was Chikamatsu's first "domestic tragedy" or "domestic play" (sewamono) and his first love-suicide play (shinjūmono). Until this play, the common topic for jōruri was jidaimono or "history plays" while kabuki performances showed domestic plays. The Love Suicides at Sonezaki separates into three scenes, staged over a day and a night. The two central characters are an orphaned oil clerk named Tokubei and Ohatsu, the courtesan he loves. There is a beginning scene that shows Ohatsu going on a pilgrimage that performances and translations often leave out. This play also includes a religious aspect involving Confucianism and Buddhism.
Four Major Plays of Chikamatsu is a collection of four major dramas by the famous Japanese playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon. The four plays were first translated by Donald Keene in 1961, and have appeared in various collections and books over the years; Four Major Plays contains a Preface, an Introduction, and two appendices in addition, and is published by Columbia University Press.
The Crucified Lovers, also titled A Story from Chikamatsu, is a 1954 Japanese drama film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. It was adapted from Monzaemon Chikamatsu's 1715 bunraku play Daikyōji mukashi goyomi.
Jōkyō (貞享) was a Japanese era name after Tenna and before Genroku. This period spanned the years from February 1684 through September 1688. The reigning emperors were Reigen-tennō (霊元天皇) and Higashiyama-tennō (東山天皇).
Takemoto Gidayū was a jōruri chanter and the creator of a style of chanted narration for Japan's puppet theatre which has been used ever since. The name "gidayū" has since become the term for all jōruri chanters. He was a close colleague of the famous playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon, and founder and manager of the Takemoto-za puppet theatre.
Sakata Tōjūrō I was an early kabuki actor of the Genroku period in Japan. He was a pioneer of the wagoto style, and of Kamigata kabuki more generally. His influence persists in the lineage of actors who have taken up his artistic mantle.
The Oil-Hell Murder is a 1992 Japanese film directed by Hideo Gosha. It was Japan's submission to the 65th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee.
Jigen-ji (慈眼寺), also known as Nozaki Kannon (野崎観音), is a temple located at the foot of Mt. Iimori, in Daitō, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is famous for the 11-faced statue of Kanzeon Bosatsu, or Kannon, that it enshrines.
Donald Howard Shively was an American academic, historian, Japanologist, author and professor emeritus of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley. He was a leader of Japan studies in the United States.
Michiyuki is the term for a journey scene in Japanese theatre, which shows the characters dancing or conversing while travelling.
A dōka is an ethical Japanese waka with a lesson. Well-versed poems of dōka contain the central dogma, appealing to Japanese people and easy to memorize.
Events in the year 1653 in Japan.
Takeda Izumo II (1691–1756) was a Japanese playwright. The successor to Chikamatsu Monzaemon at the Takemoto Theater, he wrote the three most celebrated period plays in the bunraku repertoire: Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy (1746), Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees (1747), and The Treasury of Loyal Retainers (1748). Leonard Pronko writes that although Chikamatsu's writing "possesses superior literary qualities, Izumo's has an undeniable variety, richness, and theatricality."
