The term shin kabuki, literally "new kabuki," describes a genre of plays created from the early Meiji Era (1868-1912) through World War II by prominent playwrights such as Shoyo Tsubouchi (1859-1935), Kido Okamoto (1872-1939) and Seika Mayama (1878-1948). Until the preceding Edo Period (1603-1868), classic kabuki plays had been produced by in-house scriptwriters affiliated to major kabuki theaters. However, the 1893 death of Kawatake Mokuami, the last of those writers, marked the end of that centuries-old system.

Mokuami was amazingly prolific, crafting 360 plays, both realistic and historical, during his time with kabuki theaters such as Shintomiza (where he wrote for the actors Ichikawa Danjuro IX, Onoe Kikugoro V and Ichikawa Sadanji I). In fact, the scope of Mokuami's oeuvre was so comprehensive that he in effect exhausted all the themes possible for kabuki at the time, leaving no space for any other aspiring writers.

In contrast to Mokuami, those who followed him into the kabuki world did so through personal relationships with actors rather than official affiliations with theaters. Influenced both by the Western theater that was introduced to the country in the 19th century, and also by a nationwide movement to reform traditional theater, they wrote shin kabuki plays that -- while using traditional kabuki dramaturgy -- attempted to capture modern ways of thinking and introduce characters reflecting the modern spirit.