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Japan: The Japanese dramatist Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725)

Japan: The Japanese dramatist Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725)

Chikamatsu Monzaemon (Japanese: 近松門左衛門; real name Sugimori Nobumori, 杉森信盛, 1653 – 6 January 1725) was a Japanese dramatist of jōruri, the form of puppet theater that later came to be known as bunraku, and the live-actor drama, kabuki.

The Encyclopædia Britannica writes that he is 'widely regarded as the greatest Japanese dramatist'. His most notable plays deal with double-suicides of honor bound lovers. Okakura Kakuzo describes him as 'Japan's Shakespeare' in his classic 'The Book of Tea'

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