Show BURY ME WITH MY I LOVER 17 IS HER ER I REQUEST I But Widow of Dead Pro Pro- I festor Rejects Plea I By Ii H. H. H Kinyon Staff in Tokio Jap Japan n. n TORIO TOKIO Japan March 13 greatest love loye tragedy of mo modern lern times destined to stand in song and legend among the romances of ancient Nip Nip- pon has just been consummated here B By a 8 controversy which has rocked the nation and even affected political parties of the realm It has been decided dE de- that the ashes of Sumako Matsui Matsui Mat Mat- sui great Japanese actress and the Sarah Bernhardt Bernhar t of tile the Island kingdom kingdom king king- dom will rest In the burial plot of her lover Professor following following fol- fol lowing whose death she abe committed su suicide I At the same time widow declares that her own bod body I when she dies shall not rest beside her husbands husband's but In another burial plot In death as In life she relinquishes re- re the wife's classic rights to the tragedienne whom her husband loved The nation is split into two fac- fac Ono One faction declares that the I actress actress' ashes should have been permuted per per- muted to rest not only In the same samo i plot but In the same grave with those of while the other argues that In permitting even tile the compromise compromise com com- I promise plan the widow has struck a ablow blow at morality I Sumako Matsui was at the height of her career No actress in the history i of Japan has had her tragIc power Ever Increasing crowds were being moved to tears at her interpretation Interpret of the great role of Carmen which she was playing at I theatre In the wee weeks Its before her suicide I She took her own life two I Ito to the day after the death Of her her I lover lo The act was performed with the ceremony fervor and attention to I beauty characteristic of the medieval medieval traditions of the SamuraI WEARS RICH COSTUME I She hanged herself In a rich crim- crim crimi i son scarf at tile the Actresses Actresses' club timing the act for exactly 5 I o'clock In the the morning hour at which had died She wore 1 her costume for Carmen She had I made up for foi the part wIth unusual care saying to her friends I must die beautifully In three le letters written to her brother and two friends she made the request that her ashes be burled buried In grave It was this re- re q est that started the famous controversy con con- It was In the role of Maslova heroine of Tolstoi's grim tragedy of Resurrection that Matsui first rose roseto roseto to fame Tn In that role she placed herself herself her her- self according to both Japanese and European critics upon the plane of Duse Rachael Siddons and Reiane She acted their roles and with ch successive trIumph her fame rw She was but 33 years old w in 1 at the height of her career she he ended her life Professor was a teacher at university He had studied the dramatic art at the school of Professor Japans Japan's greatest dramatic critic I It was here that he met Sumako then a student who was already already al- al ready beginning to show the fire depth and emotional power that later overwhelmed the theatregoing public BECOME LOVERS The two became lovers from the I start hIatt a wife and children and occupied a a. highly respectable respectable re- re position No secret was made of their relations Professor died of an an Illness Immediately the actress actress' associates associates as- as marked a change In hEr arrogant arrogant arro- arro gant and Impetuous character She spoke of her great loneliness frequently fre- fre said that death was to be preferred to a loveless life and scorned the cowardIce of those who lived to old age because they were afraid to die Out of the fortune she was rapIdly amassing she bestowed yen upon the family and widow of for theIr support Rumors of her approaching suicide I were spread around The theatre was I I nightly jammed to the doors Into i death scene she he threw such I passion that her audiences stood aghast Finally just two months after aft aft- fter ft- ft I I er her lovers lover's dEath she carefully set I the stage and enacted her fInal trag- trag ed her lIer funeral was a great public publio occasion I I Then the storm of controversy broke The association of which she idle had been head Insisted that her request be carried out In full even to the erection of a lovers mound over grave They had strong popular support Students and teachers of unIversity led the opposItion They urged the widow to withhold consent on moral grounds ALL TAKE SIDES Hardly a newspaper In Japan tailed failed to take one olle side or tile the other OratOrs Orators Ora- Ora tors put themselves on record At a meeting of the political part party par par- t ty now In power the business of statesmanship was suspended and the members hotly the dIscussed Issue for several hours At length the matter was referred to Professor head of tIle the dramatic school who WilO had the re pec of both the dramatic professIon and the university men He came forward with the compromise whereby Sumako Suma- Suma ko ashes should lie In Shima- Shima murns murn's burial plot but not In his grave I and the demand of the actress actress' assocIation asso- asso elation for the tho lovers mound or was withdrawn uras ura's widow was at last 1111 inI in- in I to accEpt this compromIse In 1 L doing so however she made the PUb PUb- I i I 1 t I s h I II I I II i I 1 I 5 I Wm I e 1 I II i I 4 7 17 I I II I i I i I I I I I Sumako Matsui greatest actress in Japans Japan's history whose suicide and plea i or burial in lovers lover's grave le have aroused bitter moral controversy I lie request that when she died she should be burled buried elsewhere At the burial ceremony before e a crowd which Included Japans Japan's leading statesmEn financiers and educators the hOly sutras of Buddha was recited with Hindu music Funeral addresses were made A sensation w was s caused when a policeman In uniform mounted the stand and lauded the actress actress' triumphs tri tri- In educating the Japanese public pub pub- lie lic to a higher standard of art TypIcal of the newspaper comment comment Is the following extract from the Asahi Asahi Asa Asa- hi which foreigners generally consider the leader of vernacular journalism Under the caption Social Morals this paper said Sumako was a peerless actress may be pItied but her dying wish was was' unmoral In the extreme It must have arisen from mental disorder at the j time of her death lien Her surviVIng friends and relatives In trying to put I her wish Into execution are disloyal I to the morals of society and untrue to the dead I |