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In May of 1703 a pair of lovers committed suicide in the woodlands outside of Osaka. Stirred by the true story, Chikamatsu, widely regarded as one of the greatest Japanese dramatists in history, wrote what is perhaps his greatest domestic tragedy shortly thereafter. The simple beauty of the story proved so successful it motivated a multitude of copycat suicides and the play was banned for a period of time by the government. Adapted from Chikamatsu's story and inspired in design and direction by Japanese animation and manga this moving piece of puppetry mixes a multitude of puppets, live music, original animation, live actors as well as a forest of bamboo and a river of blood.