At the climactic moment when an innocent prince and princess are about to be executed by a gang of villains, a thunderous voice suddenly shouts out “Just a minute!” An extravagantly dressed hero appears, wreaks havoc amongst the villains, and uses his superhuman strength to save them. During the Edo period, this simple scenario was repeated annually as an integral part of the ceremonial kaomise performances of the eleventh month that marked the start of the theatrical year. The script used today was created in 1895 for a performance by Danjuro IX. In this script the aristocratic villain is named Kiyohara Takehira, while the hero is called Kamakura Gongoro Kagemasa.