Taki no Shiraito (White Threads of the Waterfall) was an adaptation of Izumi Kyoka's novel, Giketsu Kyôketsu (Loyal Blood, Valiant Blood). Kawakami Otojirô adapted it for the Shinpa stage less than a year after its serial publication in the Asahi Shinbun newspaper in November 1894. It was the first of Kyôka's novels to be adapted for Shinpa, and was a great successs. Kawakami initially adapted it without any credit to Kyôka (a common problem at the time). As Cody Poulton notes, the story is a "tightly paced and dramatic tale of the love of an entertainer for a young law student, Murakoshi Kin'ya. The heroine (her stage name, Taki no Shiraito, provided the title of the play based on the book) supports the impecunious student through law school by sending him a regular allowance, proceeds from her conjuring acts with water. After some three years, she secures an advance from a wealthy patron that she plans to send Kin'ya as a last installment for his tuition fee. But that night, a Chinese knife-thrower steals the money from her. In despair, Shiraito breaks into her patron's house to recover her losses, and in the panic and confusion murders the man. As luck would have it, Kin'ya's first legal appointment is as prosecuting attorney in the trial for the patron's murder. Shiraito makes a dramatic courtroom confession to the crime, and is sentenced to death. Kin'ya, knowing that she killed for his sake, commits suicide." (Poulton, pp. 31-32)

The play was revived frequently; this image is of the Shinpa onnagata Hanayagi Shôtarô in a 1933 performance. Hanayagi was the most famous Shinpa onnagata, and was especially well known for his portrayals of Kyôka heroines. Starting in the late 1970s Bandô Tamasaburo, the Kabuki onnagata, began reviving Kyôka's Shinpa plays.