Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/45

Rh this time the custom originated of two or three, sometimes five or six authors collaborating in writing the same drama. Ippū's best work, the Hōjō Tokiyori Ki, though it was an adaptation from Monzayemon's the Hyakunin Jōrō, was so warmly received that it was considered as good as the Kokusenya Kassen.

Namiki Sōsuké (1694–1750), the greatest writer next to Kaion for the Toyotaké Za, wrote more than twenty pieces in collaboration with three or four authors. Among his best works are the Nasuno Yoichi Saikai no Suzuri, the Karukaya Dōshin Tsukushi no Iyezuto, and the Ichinotani Futaba Gunki, the last of which is reproduced in the present volume as "The Battle of Ichi-no-tani." Sōsuké wrote the first three acts of this long and intricate drama, and died without completing it. Asada Itchō, and four other pupils of his, wrote the sequel, which consists of two long acts. The drama is very popular as an excellent illustration of bushidō, or the moral principles regulating the actions of the Japanese knighthood.

The playwright for the Takemoto Za, who succeeded Monzayemon, was Takéda Izumo (