The group was originally designed by screenwriter Mitani Kōki, a young writer who at that time had aspirations of becoming a comedian. Although he starred in a number of the troupe's plays, he was primarily the resident playwright (座付作家). The main three actors were Nishimura Masahiko (who went on to win a number of Japanese Academy Awards and the Blue Ribbon award), Aijima Kazuyuki and Kajiwara Zen. All of the primary actors being about the same age, the existence of the group proved to be a milestone in the then-developing Japanese theatre field of Sho-Gekijo, or 'Little Theatre.' "Sho-Gekijo" mainly focused on making theatre accessible to the proletariat as opposed to a then-popular philosophical art which arguably required a degree of education to appreciate.