Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653 6 January 1725) was a Japanese dramatist of ji ruri, the form of puppet theater that later came to be known as bunraku, and the live-actor drama, kabuki. The Encyclopedia 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'.