Double Suicide of Sonezaki

The year is 1703 and the place is Osaka. Tokubei works for his uncle. His uncle keeps a soy sauce shop. The young man has no money of his own. Ohatsu works in a pleasure house. The two of them love each other. Two things stand in the way. One is money and the other is the order of their society. Tokubei trusts a merchant. The merchant gives him a note of debt. When the day comes he refuses to pay. He says he never wrote the note at all. He accuses the young man of trying to cheat him and sets his men on him. Tokubei is left without money and without standing. From there the road narrows for both of them. The story comes from a play by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, written in 1703 after real events. Meiko Kaji took several awards for the part. Ryudo Uzaki also appears in the hundred and twelve minute film, a Japanese production Yasuzō Masumura finished in 1978.