A_Review_of_the_Major_Plays_of_Chikamatsu

A Review of the Major Plays of Chikamatsu Summary of the Introduction Chikamatsu Monzaemon was born in Echizen, Japan in 1653 with the name of "Sugimore Nobumori" and was to become perhaps the greatest dramatist in the history of the Japanese theater. Most of his early history is unknown. His father, a samurai, gave up his feudal responsibilities in the late 1660s and moved the family to Kyoto. As a teenager Chikamatsu may have been introduced to the theater while serving in a nobleman's house. He probably met an actor of joruri or Puppet Theater. Chikamatsu is often compared to Shakespeare. Although there are many differences in their writings, like Shakespeare, Chikamatsu has become known as a great playwright of the distant past. A major difference in their writings is that Shakespeare’s dramas revolve around nobles and important people in his society. Chikamatsu writes about the common people of his era and recent history. The author, Donald Keene, says that another big difference in their writing is that Chikamatsu mainly wrote for the puppet theater. The fantastic feats that his characters carry out are more believable when acted out by puppets rather than live actors like Shakespeare’s. “The special tokubei, jihei, plays, koharu, ohatsu, love, chikamatsu, magoemon, gonza, theater, puppet, osan, kuheiji, people, another, about, play, japanese, history, wrote, tea, tahei, suicide, sonezaki, one, great, after, writing, two, tells, suicides, story, stories, says, problems, out, osaka, osai, money, left, kabuki, joruri, himself, death, because, back, amijima, written, uncle, society