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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page essay that analyzes the sexual and religious ideas in the Japanese seventeenth century plays of Chikamatsu. Then, the writer compares these ideals to Hindu, Jewish, Roman Catholic and American perspectives. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khchjppl.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
Because of this fact, Chikamatsus plays offer both an intimate and detailed look at Japanese culture during the seventeenth century. The sexual and religious ideals expressed in the plays are
extremely different from those of Western cultures. Translator Donald Keene points out in his introduction that the "greatest obstacle to the enjoyment of Chikamatsu by a Western reader is
undoubtedly his morality" (33). In the plays, tension arises from the conflict between giri (obligation) and ninjo (human feelings)(Keene 33). The meanings of giri can vary according to the situation.
It can refer to obligations owed to members of ones family, or to fellow townspeople, or to ones class, or society in general. Ninjo represents the human feelings that serve
to offer balance to the austere ideal of giri. For example, in The Love Suicides at Amijima, Koharu feels obligated by her giri to Osan, as a fellow woman,
to give up her lover, Osans husband. Likewise, Osan feels a similar giri to Koharu, and urges her husband to ransom Koharu from prostitution even though she knows it will
contribute to her own unhappiness. Osan confesses to her husband Jihei that Koharu broke with him due to a letter that she wrote to her, appealing to her sense of
giri. Osan says, "I could see that you were drifting towards suicide. I felt so unhappy that I wrote a letter, begging her as one woman to another to break
with you" (Chikamatsu 192). Over and over again in the plays, one encounters circumstances where conflicts in obligations lead to suicides rather than face dishonor or even emotions that are
considered too intense to bear. Furthermore, as this situation suggests, that is, Osan asking her husband to ransom Koharu from prostitution, there is a different orientation in the plays
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