Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/17



HERE are three great periods in the history of Japanese literature: the Nara Period (710–784), the Heian Period (800–1186), and the Yedo Period (1603–1867); and as the Mannyō Shū, an anthology, and the Genji Monogatari, a romance, are respectively the representative masterpieces of the first two periods, so the jōruri or epical dramas are the representative productions of the Yedo Period.

The following tales are condensed and adapted from famous epical dramas by Chikamatsu Monzayemon, the "Shakespeare of Japan," Ki-no-Kaion, Chikamatsu Hanji, and five other great writers. With the exception of The Love of Komachi the Poetess, these dramas are very long, and exceedingly intricate in plot, so that in most cases, one or two acts only of each piece, which are of permanent interest, are chanted or performed. The present author has done his best