Nodaban, Nezumi Kozo

A component of Shochiku Company's campaign to make great contemporary kabuki productions more widely available, Nezumi Kozo is based on the story of a real-life bandit from the Edo period (19th century). After his execution, a legend grew that he had been a kind of Robin Hood, sharing his ill-gotten gains with the poor and needy, and in 1857, Nezumi Kozo became the subject of a kabuki play. (Shochiku)