Publisher's Synopsis
The Lovers Miura-ya Komurasaki and Shirai Gonpachi is a tragic Japanese love story, taken from real life and dramatized were a staple of stage and print; the darkly romantic combination of desire and death was hugely popular in the eighteenth century in Japan.
Hirai Gompachi was Japanese warrior of the Tottori fief in western Japan who fled to Edo after committing a murder. He was apprehended and sentenced to death in 1679. His distraught lover, the courtesan Komurasaki, committed suicide at his grave. In its day, people who were sympathetic to Gonpachi and Komurasake's tale were so moved that they built a hiyokuzuka ("lovers' tomb") in their memory. To further commemorate their story Japanese temple priests carved a picture of the Hiyoku, (a legendary lovebird that exists only when it has found its mate), on the tomb.How much of this Japanese story is fact, and how much is fiction is anyone's guess. Clearly there are many questions that challenge its historical validity. However, this tale has inspired numerous theatrical productions and artwork.
