JAPAN
stringed instrument (the Wa-kin)[1] and of a flute, perhaps accompanied by a drum. Even the spirits of the dead were supposed to be moved by song and dance. When a man died, his corpse was placed in a building specially erected for the purpose. There it lay for ten days, while the relatives and friends of the deceased assembled and venerated his spirit, making music and dancing. This ceremony of farewell seems to have been originally prompted by a hope of recalling the departed, but it soon lost that character and became a mere token of respect. Ancient Japan was largely indebted to Korea for developments of musical instruments. On the death of the Emperor Ingyo (453 a. d.), the Korean Court sent eighty musicians robed in black, who marched in procession from the landing-place to the Yamato palace, playing and singing a dirge as they went.
The oldest organised form of amusement seems to have been the Ka-gaki, or poetical picnic. Parties of men and women met at appointed places, either in town or country, and composed couplets, delivering them with accompaniment of music or dancing. This kind of pastime had its practical uses: it brought lovers together and soon became a recognised preface to marriage. Among amusements confined to men, cock-fighting and hunting were most affected. Large tracts of the country being still unreclaimed, deer
- ↑ See Appendix, note 9.
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