There were in the old days many dances, mostly religious in their origin, which certainly aided in the formation of the histrionic art in Japan. In 1564, O-Kuni, a priestess of Izumo, went from town to town where she danced to collect funds for the repair of the great shrine in that province. When she arrived at Kyoto, her dancing so pleased the shogun before whom she performed, that he at once gave orders for repairing the shrine out of the public fund. O-Kuni remained in the capital, where her art was widely admired. In the shogun’s household there was a retainer named Nagoya Sanzayemon, who wrote simple dramatic pieces for her. He afterwards married her; but when this reached the shogun’s ears, he was dismissed from his service. Sanzayemon joined O-Kuni, and they played together in the theatre; and their example was largely followed. Dramatic performances flourished in Kyoto, though the actor’s profession was not yet recognised. Early in the seventeenth century, actresses were on account of their loose character prohibited on the stage, and later a similar ban was put on actors; but these prohibitions appear to have had only a temporary effect. O-Kuni and her immediate successors performed in open air or in booths; but in 1624, the first theatre in Japan was built in Yedo by Saruwaka Kanzaburo. It was frequently burnt down, or else demolished by the authorities, and rebuilt on new sites; but it has not been reconstructed since its destruction by fire three years ago. From 1624 to 1868, this theatre was invariably owned by Saruwaka Kanzaburo, as that was the hereditary name of its thirteen successive proprietors. Within thirty-five years of the first opening of Saruwaka’s theatre, two others were built and owned on the same principle of heredity. In 1877, the latest-built of these was reconstructed in a semi-European style; and on account of the frequency of fires in Tokyo, all theatres that have been recently erected or rebuilt are constructed in a similar style, and surrounded by tall brick walls. There are
