One of the main pillars of the program lineup of The New National Theatre, Tokyo (NNTT), is the performance of operas by Japanese composers. The NNTT has produced eight such works, from Takeru, performed to commemorate the grand opening of the theatre, to Narukami and Shunkan. Each of these works has aroused the interest of the audience and became the talk of the town for its subject, music performance, and stage direction. Osan---from Shinju Ten no Amijima was composed by Kubo Mayako, who has been highly praised in Europe for the successful performance of the opera Rashomon, which she wrote at the request of the Opernhaus Buhnen Graz in Austria and the organizers of the Steirischer Herbst (Styrian Autumn) Festival, and other accomplishments. Osan is a romantic tragedy based on Chikamatsu Monzaemon's play Shinju Ten no Amijima, which stems from eroticism and reason. Inspired by the conflicts of love in Chikamatsu's play and early capitalism against which the play was written, Kubo sets Osan in modern Japan and depicts the life of Osan---a woman who has led her business to success and is at the peak of her prosperity---with focus on the conflicting emotions of love and the pangs of conscience she goes through.

There is no end to the stimulation my imagination receives from original drama by Chikamatsu. This testifies that the original drama is rich in content. Why did Osan intend to rescue Jiheh and Koharu without thinking of herself? Why was Jiheh unable to make a decision to choose between his wife and Koharu? Was Osan simply a good wife and wise mother? Answers are varied. I want to write about the absurdity of love based on humanism derived from Chikamatsu rather than his Shinju Ten no Amijima.