Chikamatsu Monzaemon

Timeline

1. 1653–1683Kyoto · KinkiBorn Sugimori Nobumori, of the samurai class of the Yoshie domain in Echizen, his grandfather had served as the domain lord's physician. After his father's generation lost samurai status and moved to Kyoto, Chikamatsu entered service at the imperial court and came into contact with court waka poetry. From his mid-twenties he wrote libretti for Uji Kaga no Jō, Kyoto's leading jōruri chanter; the 1683 staging of Yotsugi Soga is the earliest verifiable work by Chikamatsu.
2. 1684–1702Osaka · KinkiIn 1684 Takemoto Gidayū opened the Takemoto-za in Osaka; the following year Chikamatsu wrote Shussei Kagekiyo for him, and Gidayū-bushi became the byword for later jōruri chanting. In the 1690s he mainly wrote kabuki scripts for Sakata Tōjūrō, becoming Japan's earliest professional playwright who never appeared on stage, separating actors' physical performance from Gidayū's chanting.
3. 1703–1725Osaka, Dōtonbori · OsakaIn 1703 he wrote Sonezaki Shinjū based on a real Osaka incident, inaugurating sewamono centered on the conflict between townspeople's love and obligation, and rescuing the Takemoto-za's finances. He thereafter devoted himself to puppet theater; the historical play Kokusen'ya Kassen (1715) caused a sensation, and Shinjū Ten no Amijima (1721) and others turned the pleasure quarters and merchant ethics into urban tragedy. He died on January 6, 1725.