Shinjū

Shinjū (心中) means "double suicide" in Japanese, as in "Shinjū ten no Amijima" (Double Suicide at Amijima), written by the seventeenth-century tragedist Chikamatsu Monzaemon for the puppet theatre ("bunraku" and/or "joruri" theatre). Double suicides are the simultaneous suicides of two lovers whose "ninjo," "personal feelings", or love for one another are at odds with "giri," "social conventions" or familial obligations. Double suicides were, and still areFact|date=June 2007, rather common in Japan throughout history and double suicide is an important theme of the puppet theatre repertory. The tragic denouement is usually known from the audience and is preceded by a "michiyuki," a small poetical journey, where lovers evoke the happier moments of their lives and their attempts at loving each other.

The film maker Masahiro Shinoda adapted "Shinjū ten no Amijima" (1969) as a film, released under the title: "Double Suicide" in English, in an astounding and modernist adaptation, including a stunning score by Toru Takemitsu.Fact|date=June 2007

In the preface he wrote for Donald Keene's book "Bunraku," the writer Jun'ichirō Tanizaki complained about the too-long endings of all the double suicide plays, since it is a known denouement. In his novel "Some Prefer Nettles," he parodies the notion of "shinjū" and makes it a social and sensual double suicide with no clear ending.Fact|date=June 2007

"Shinjū" (1994) is also the title of the first novel by American writer Laura Joh Rowland, a mystery set in 1694 Genroku-era Japan. The main character, a yoriki (a lower-ranking police officer) named Sano Ichirō, investigates a double murder disguised as a lovers' suicide.Fact|date=June 2007