Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724), Japan's foremost playwright, was born Sugimori Nobumori, the second son of a samurai of the feudal lord of Yoshie in Echizen (now Fukui Prefecture). Because he could not inherit his father's samurai status, Nobumori resolved to be a playwright, and took the pen name by which we now know him.
Nobumori's family moved to Kyoto when he was in his late teens, and there he studied Chinese and Japanese literature and mingled in aristocratic circles, soon getting to know Uji Kaganojo (1635-1711), a renowned master of joruri (dramatic narration). He also met Takemoto Gidayu (1651-1714), another prominent joruri master, for whom he wrote a jidaimono (historical play) in 1685 entitled "Shusse Kagekiyo (Kagekiyo Rising to Greatness)." The two worked together, on and off, till Gidayu's death.
From 1695-1705, Chikamatsu wrote only kabuki scripts for Sakata Tojuro (1647-1709), but as Tojuro's influence waned the playwright returned to bunraku. "Sonezaki Shinju (Love Suicide at Sonezaki)," a 1703 drama again written for Gidayu, was such a success that Chikamatsu was appointed chief scriptwriter of the Takemoto-za Theater in Osaka run by Gidayu.
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