The famous art of Kabuki could not of reached its success without the foundations laid by Chikamatsu Menzaemon, Okuni, and Ichikawa Danjuro. Chikamatsu (1653-1724) was born into the samurai class, but downgraded to become a playwright. Before switching over to bunraku, he wrote plays for Kabuki. His plays revolved around conflicts that had to do with people dealing with sentiment/loyalty and self indulgence. His plays became very famous and some of them he wrote in one night. His plays also includes a lot of dance. Okuni was a shinto priestess who appeared in Kyoto in 1603. She was an extremely skilled dancer and started Kabuki performances for commoners. She formed a dance group of women that performed Kabuki theatre and later they got banned for their sexual appeal. Okuni’s performances were highly regarded and drew large crowds. Ichikawa Danjuro is famous for his own style of acting called aragato. Aragato style is rooted in the worship of aragami, the wild gods. His style of acting included using exaggerated red and black makeup and costumes. Ichikawa would play the parts of heroes in his plays himself. The success of Kabuki would not have happened without the creativity of these people.