The play revolves around actual historical figures of the Genpei War, including Minamoto no Yoshitsune and his retainer Benkei.
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Even though many of the viewers may have been samurai, the Edo period in which these plays were largely composed and performed was a period of peace, and so the notion of fierce battles and heroic sacrifices was still something of a romanticized escape for these samurai, just as historical dramas are for us today.
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But the historically false conceit that certain Taira clan generals survived and remain in hiding is central to the plot, and the kitsune (fox-spirit) character Genkurō is of course also invented.