[a] Originally written in 1747 for the jōruri puppet theater by Takeda Izumo II, Miyoshi Shōraku and Namiki Senryū I, it was adapted to kabuki the following year.

Yoshitsune travels with his mistress Shizuka and loyal retainer Benkei in search of three Taira generals who escaped justice at the end of the war, and who he believes may pose a threat to the shogunate.

The fullest standard version of any play is called tōshi kyōgen, which in the case of Yoshitsune consists of nine of the full fifteen scenes.

The philosophy of jo-ha-kyū is employed throughout, as actions, scenes, acts, and the play as a whole begin slow (jo), then get faster (ha), and end quickly (kyu).

The play opens at the Imperial Palace, where Yoshitsune and his faithful retainer, the warrior monk Benkei meet with Fujiwara no Tomokata [ja], a court minister.

Tomokata also presents Yoshitsune with a drum, called "Hatsune", supposedly used several hundred years earlier by the Emperor Kanmu, and thus a precious, rare, and powerful object.

A guard enters and informs the group of an impending attack upon the mansion by forces belonging to Yoritomo, and Benkei immediately leaps to face them, but is held back by Shizuka.

This situation resolved, Kawagoe announces that he will call off the attack on Yoshitsune's mansion, but before he is able to do so, the impetuous Benkei has already leapt into action and killed one of the shogunal commanders.

The second scene takes place at the Tokaiya, a home near Daimotsu Bay where the commoner merchant Ginpei runs a shipping business, living with his wife Oryū and daughter Oyasu.

While talking to Oryū, Benkei steps over the sleeping Oyasu as he makes his way from the room; just at that moment, accompanied by dramatic drumming, he feels a pain in his leg.

She replies that their only boat is already promised to their other guests, and a small scuffle occurs between the two as the warrior accuses the woman of harboring Taira fugitives and seeks to enter the room where Yoshitsune and his retainers remain.

Just then, the merchant Ginpei makes his first entrance, carrying an anchor over his shoulder, a strong symbolic reference to his true identity as the fugitive general Taira no Tomomori.

[d] Tomomori declares to the audience the story of faking his own death at Dan-no-ura and escaping with the young Emperor Antoku and his wet nurse Tsubone, living for the last several years as Ginpei, his daughter Oyasu and wife Oryū.

The battle is not seen on stage, but reflected through narration, the reactions of Tsubone, as she watches from the shore, and the report of Sagami Gorō, the shogunal officer who is revealed to have actually been in Tomomori's service.

Tsubone kills herself, seeing that she cannot serve Tomomori any longer, and the general, recognizing the futility of his schemes, his failure to slay his enemies, and the doom wrought upon his entire clan by the evil actions of his father Taira no Kiyomori, throws himself into the sea, tied to an anchor.

Act Three opens as Wakaba no Naishi, her retainer Kokingo and son Rokudai pause at a tea shop along their journey to find her husband, Taira no Koremori.

Gonta explains to his mother that he is leaving for good, to turn himself around and make something of his life, but asks for some money, claiming that he was robbed on the road on his way there.

As Osato and Yasuke (Koremori) lie on their wedding bed, preparing to consummate their relationship, he confesses to her not his true identity, but that he has a wife and child in another province, and asks that she release him from his pledge to marry her.

He brings the men inside, and reaches for the sushi tub with Kokingo's head in it, but is stopped by his wife, who is thinking of the money she stole from him to give to Gonta.

Yazaemon offers to accompany Rokudai and Naishi, and Osato stays with her mother, loyally maintaining the home and the shop in her father's absence.

Placing the drum atop Yoshitsune's armor, granted Tadanobu in the second act, the two dance, their gestures and motions mimicking the actions of the narration.

After a very brief scene showing the pair's arrival, attention is shifted to Kawatsura Hōgen, head of the temple, who discusses with his fellow monks what stance they should take towards Yoshitsune.

The monks interpret their master's words to mean that he is already harboring Yoshitsune, and that he intended to throw them off and prevent their interference; they decide to find and attack the warrior that night.

The drum was made hundreds of years earlier from the skins of his parents, powerful kitsune whose magic was employed to bring rain.

A costume quick-change transforms Tadanobu into his kitsune form, who explains that though he has lived a very long time and gained magical powers, he has been unable to ever care for his parents.

Originally this would have been done through a particular style of dance called kitsune roppo (fox six-steps) along the hanamichi (the pathway that cuts through the audience from stage to the rear of the theatre).

However, more recently it has become the practice, encouraged by Ichikawa Ennosuke III who often plays the fox Genkurō to exit by flying out over the audience, in a technique known as chūnori (riding the sky).

They seek to fight, but their hearts are calmed by the fox's magic, and Noritsune announces that he shall once again become Yokawa no Kakuhan, a loyal servant to the Emperor.

As is quite standard for Japanese traditional dramas, the final act is short, swift, and serves to wrap up any major loose plot threads.

Finally, Noritsune pins his opponent to the ground, but a second Tadanobu rushes in and stabs the Taira general, the body below him disappearing and leaving only a suit of armor.