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314 The improbabilities are not quite so startling, the personages are several degrees nearer to ordinary humanity, and their sentiments are somewhat less unnatural and less stilted in their expression. The poetical element is, perhaps, thinner, but that, to the European reader at least, is a doubtful disadvantage.

Idzumo died in 1756. He was followed as playwright for the Takemoto theatre by Chikamatsu Hanni, who did his best to attract audiences by startling novelties and spectacular effect. He reduced the share given to poetical narrative, and depended more on dialogue. But in his hands the Jōruri declined sensibly. The public got tired of it, the Takemoto Za went into bankruptcy, and after the end of the century this kind of drama became practically extinct.