Towards the end of his career, Heibei’s plays were not successful, and he was advised to write better ones. According to the _Kokon Yakusha Taizen_, or Account of Ancient and Modern Actors, Heibei is said to have replied to the criticism levelled at him by saying that it was not right to compose uninteresting plays, at the same time it would be the greatest good fortune for the theatre proprietor if there were always good plays. But before the audience grew tired of good plays, the grass would grow in the Dotombori canal (which waterway the Osaka theatres all faced in these old days as they do at present). Heibei must have been confronted by the same problems that beset the modern playwriter all over the world. More is known of Kaneko Kichizaemon than of Tominaga Heibei, although they were both pupils of Kaneko Rokuyemon. Perhaps it is because Kichizaemon wrote later than Heibei, beginning in the middle of Genroku, in Kyoto. He was an actor, and ranked as a dokegata, or comic specialty, and was criticised adversely because he made his own part prominent in the plays he wrote. The most significant fact in relation to Kichizaemon is that he collaborated with Chikamatsu Monzaemon in writing for the most outstanding actor of Kyoto during Genroku, Sakata Tojuro. They first began this collaboration in 1699, at the Miyako-Mandayu-za in Kyoto, and it lasted for ten years, when Kichizaemon continued to write for Tojuro’s successor, Yamashita Kyozaemon, and Chikamatsu threw in his lot with the marionettes, leaving for Osaka, where he produced pieces in rapid succession for the Doll-theatre. His plays written for the doll-actors were the first real contribution to Japanese literature that a playwright had made. Kaneko Kichizaemon wrote two volumes called _Jijinshu_, or Collection of the Year’s Dust, little stories about actors in which he played Boswell to Tojuro’s Johnson, recording this famous actor’s words and advice and handing down a vivid impression of the man. It is to be regretted that he has not treated us to similar glimpses of his co-worker, Chikamatsu, but the latter had not then distinguished himself, and it can easily be understood how Kichizaemon worshipped the great actor for whom he wrote, and put down his sayings about the theatre and his art as though they were oracles. There is one passage in _Jijinshu_ which shows Chikamatsu Monzaemon and Kaneko Kichizaemon at work. We read: “One day Chikamatsu and the author collected the actors in the gakuya, or dressing-room, and told them about the play. Those who had received good parts praised it, but those who had rôles not to their liking did not say anything. Those who could not decide whether the play was good or bad looked at the faces of the other actors and sided with the majority. And those who were ignorant and did not understand good plays, became cross and scolded the servants, and left the gakuya or dressing-room without saying good-bye.