is a form of traditional Japanese narrative music in which a sings to the accompaniment of a . accompanies , traditional Japanese puppet theater. As a form of storytelling, emphasizes the lyrics and narration rather than the music itself. According to

Asai Ryōi was a Japanese writer in the early Edo period. A Shin Buddhist priest who was at one time head of a Kyoto temple, he is held to be one of the finest writers of Kanazōshi. Kanazōshi was a form of popular literature that was written with littl ...

, the first performer to have ever employed the during his storytelling, instead of the , was chanter Sawazumi. The story he narrated was , one of the many existing versions of the , which tells the tale of the tragic love between

Minamoto no Yoshitsune was a military commander of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. During the Genpei War, he led a series of battles which toppled the Ise-Heishi branch of the Taira clan, helping his half-brother Yoritomo conso ...

and Jōruri-hime. Following this event, every tale sung to the accompaniment of a became emblematic of the style.

See also