Much of their writings is trivial in the light of the present, but, on the other hand, they reveal intimate glimpses of the theatre and actors that would be delightful to a lover of modern Kabuki, if the task of separating the wheat from the chaff in this formidable array of scribblings was not so difficult. Following the example of Ihara Saikaku and Hojo Danshin, other literary men devoted themselves to chronicling the events of the theatre, and they wrote copiously, giving minute descriptions of the gestures and elocution of the actors. Books of criticism were called hyobanki (lit., account of reputation), and these became the monopoly of the Yedo publisher, Hachimonjiya. The first of these books appeared in 1656; the series continued until just before the Restoration, the publishing house lasting for 211 years. Hachimonjiya Yisho, the head of the firm, was a writer about theatre matters as well as a publisher, and his partner in the business, Ejimaya Kiseki, also wrote books relating to the theatre. The partners quarrelled and separated for some years, each issuing his own publications, but afterwards they forgot their differences and once more collaborated. Their successors carried on the work of issuing the hyobanki, which were the only books descriptive of the theatre. They reached hundreds of volumes, and are an encyclopaedia of Kabuki. While the theatres of Kyoto and Osaka changed hands frequently and went by various names, four historic Yedo playhouses were started in this formative period with which generations of actors were to be long associated. They were the Nakamura-za, Ichimura-za, Morita-za, and the Kawarasaki-za. The descendants of the owners of these theatres had the exclusive right to give performances and to be theatre proprietors. The actors were their retainers. As a result there came into existence in Yedo different theatre clans, with the establishment of an hereditary caste in theatre circles. Saruwaka Kansaburo had founded the first Yedo theatre in 1624, calling it the Saruwaka-za, but his cousin, the third Kansaburo, changed the name to Nakamura-za, a playhouse in which appeared many of the most talented actors that adorned the Yedo stage. The Ichimura-za was originally the Murayama-za, founded by a brother of the Kyoto manager, Murayama Matabei, who endured so many privations while waiting patiently for the governor to give permission for the long-closed theatre to reopen in Kyoto. The Yedo Murayama adopted several sons to succeed him as head of the theatre, but they had no business ability, and the theatre was finally purchased by Ichimura Uzaemon in 1666, a name long recorded in the annals of the theatre and borne at present by the popular actor of the Kabuki-za in Tokyo, Ichimura Uzaemon, the thirteenth.