• A look back: 杉本文楽「曽根崎心中」(Sugimoto Bunraku “Sonezaki Shinju”) ,

The huge popularity of Sonezaki Shinju (Love Suicide at Sonezaki) among Japanese Bunraku fans is in fact a recent phenomenon. It was a massive hit in its debut in 1703, famously rescuing its theater from bankruptcy, but fell out of favor for many years following a ban by concerned authorities on shows thought to glorify double suicides. A sensational revival of the Kabuki adaptation in 1953 that presented the lead female in a stronger light led to newfound interest in the Bunraku original, which was revived to great success in 1955. Its fame since has never waned.

With the Sugimoto Bunraku production of Sonezaki Shinju (Love Suicide at Sonezaki) soon to open in New York, I looked back and realized that I had never printed my review of the original production from August 2011 in Yokohama. So here it is below. (Also, here’s a look at Sugimoto’s production of another Bunraku classic in 2017.)

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An interpretation of the Bunraku classic by Sugimoto Hiroshi, the internationally known photographer and artist. The show went back to Chikamatsu’s original text of 1703, evidently the first time the show has been done without cuts and changes in some 300 years. One notable difference from modern productions was the inclusion of the opening scene, which shows Ohatsu doing a pilgrimage of Osaka temples. It’s pretty boring on its own terms but does establish the strength of her religious faith, which throws a different light on her decision to commit suicide at the end, i.e., she is not dying out of despair but of a belief in the transformative power of love to bring her to a new life. That’s an interesting interpretation that makes this worth doing, and as a literary device is effective. As drama, though, it sags. Sugimoto did his best with projections of the temples featured in sequence as Ohatsu makes her rounds. (He reportedly traveled to all of the 33 temples mentioned to get photos of each.) But I see why the scene is normally dropped.

Other scenes were directed with the full bodies of the puppeteers in view, which was presumably how Chikamatsu himself (who still used a single puppeteer for each puppet) would have seen it. The work also included video, unusual sets and some striking lighting effects, like a shaft of light shining out from the back in the pilgrimage and michiyuki death scenes. There was a video in that last scene of a forest that was highly effective, making me wish there had been more of that. In another memorable tableau, the excellent chanters and musicians, which included some big names in the Bunraku world, were shown in isolated rectangular shafts of life, reminding me of some of the light exhibits at the Naoshima modern art island.

The big problem with all of this was the hall, which was way too big for a puppet show, even with puppets as big as those used here. I was sitting in the very back row, which didn’t help, but generally, despite the videos and lighting and large sets, the show was swallowed up by the space. Anyone seeing this for the first time might wonder what all the fuss about Bunraku is about. That would be a shame since, while this is hardly a definitive production, it was very much worthwhile. If Sugimoto tries another show, he would be wise to choose a more puppet-friendly theater. Hopefully he’ll feel free to try even more innovative use of lighting, video and other techniques.