Chikamatsu Dramatizes the Ronin

March 1, 1703

The puppet playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon produced an early dramatization of the Forty-Seven Ronin on the Osaka stage. Forbidden to portray recent samurai events, he set it in a safer century. Audiences saw through the disguise and wept. Japanese popular theater had discovered its greatest single story, and one of its greatest playwrights.