Unlike , which generally focused upon the samurai class, focused primarily upon commoners, namely townspeople and peasants. Often referred to as "domestic plays" in English, generally related to themes of family drama and romance. Some of the most famous are the love suicide plays, adapted from works by the playwright Chikamatsu; these center on romantic couples who cannot be together in life due to various circumstances and who therefore decide to be together in death instead. Many if not most contain significant elements of this theme of societal pressures and limitations.