Double Suicide

1969

Awazu worked as Art Director and advertisement designer on the film “Double Suicide,” directed by Masahiro Shinoda. The film is based on the 1721 play The Love Suicides at Amijima by Monzaemon Chikamatsu and is set in the Edo period. Awazu explored the duality of pre-modern and modern Japan, as well as the contrast between the common state of mind and the physical condition.

Instead of focusing on the hairstyles and clothing, or even the customs portrayed, Awazu thought that the “sentiment and the way people thought were more important.” Awazu stated that “Within the Japanese soul, there is a world that is like air, something that isn’t clear, like a mist—Japanese speak more from feelings.” The stylized sets, costumes, and props of “Double Suicide” simultaneously conveyed a classical theatricality with contemporaneous modernity.