Born in Echizen, Japan in 1653 with the name of "Sugimore Nobumori", Chikamatsu Monzaemon was to become perhaps the greatest dramatist in the history of the Japanese theater.  Born into a Samurai family, Chikamatsu's father went ronin, abandoning his feudal duties sometime between 1664 and 1670, and moving his family to Kyoto where they became attached to the local court aristocracy. This is most likely where Chikamatsu first became involved with the theater.

Chikamatsu is said to have written over one hundred plays, most of which were written for the bunraku (puppet) theater. His works combine comedy and tragedy, poetry and prose, and present scenes of combat, torture, and suicide on stage.  Most of Chikamatsu's domestic tragedies are based an actual events. His Sonezaki shinju (The Love Suicides at Sonezaki), for example, was based on reports of an actual double suicide. In this play, an apprentice clerk and his lover, a prostitute in the pleasure quarters, finding no other way to be together, decide to commit a double suicide so that they can at least be united in death.  Chikamatsu's most famous play, the Kikusenya Kassen or Battles of the Kikusenya, tells the story of a Tarter king's invasion of China after his demand for the Ming emperor's favorite concubine as the price of friendship is denied. A traitorous Chinese minister gives the signal for the invasion by stabbing out his own eye with a dagger, but a Chinese general, Go Sankei, miraculously defeats the huge Tarter army with a handful of soldiers. Unfortunately, the emperor's enemies have cut off his head during the battle and captured his concubine. Go Sankei rescues the concubine who is pregnant with the emperor's child, but when she is later hit by a bullet, he is forced to perform a Caesarean section in full view of the audience to save the imperial heir. He then sacrifices his own child in front of the Tarters in order to convince them that emperor's son is dead.

In 1705, Chikamatsu moved to Osaka where he became a writer for Takemoto Gidayu's puppet theater. He remained in Osaka until his death in 1725. Although he is generally considered the Shakespeare of Japanese theater, Chikamatsu's work is rarely performed, mainly because of the declining popularity of bunraku. Fortunately, several of his plays have been adapted for use in Kabuki theater and on film.