Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-07-10
A JAPANESE TROUPE.
A MANAGER RELATES HIS EXPERT
ENCE WITH THE MEMBERS.

1iNSS '''e ''1' ~'hS'
Learning the Japanese Language-Japs
Fond Of the Bath-Taking Liking to
Lager Beer Saying Prayers - Street
Performance in Japan.
at was the first troupe of Japanese that
had ever played throughout the United
States and Canada, and was IA big nov
city 1t was made up uf eighteen Japs-
eleven men, three women and four child
rem They could not talk n word of Eng
lish, and Us | had to live right with them
was obliged to pick up their language as
best could. did it through pantomime,
picking up an object or doing Il thing
and then getting the proper words for
them from the Japs. had a little in
dcxed book. and used to put the words
and expressions that | learned in it,
writing them as they sounded to me, with
the definition In few months after
, Joined them | was quite a Jap myself.
! The language is easily learned, and re
scmblcs Spanish very much. | dressed
| like the .Iaps. and allowed my hair to
grow long. Here's an old photograph OF
me aS appeared with little KOtzko in my
| kimona. | looked like the real article,
didn't r.
whats the kimOna|'
Its the loose, flowing robe that the
Japs wear, folding it across the breast In
summer it is n light garment, and in win
ter it is heavily padded and very warm.
Some of these kimonas are beautifully
embroidered Under this kimona they
wear the baggy pants or mamuShka,
| fastened at the waist by belt, called the
| 'Obe'
II 4 "CHEAP JOHN" SUIT.
"But the Japs soon wanted American
| clothes, and they got them, too. TOyO-
kichi, one of the party, went out on his
own hook one day. and came back with a
very queer hand-me-down suit on, over a
thin undcrshirt, and his pants tucked in a
! pair of very stogy cowhide boots. Oh,
! hut he looked funny when he walked into
| the hotel in this rig. The Cheap John
clothier had taken advantage of him and
charged him four prices, so that | had TO
90 around and get part of the money back.
The japanese are the most cleanly
! people that have ever seen" proceeded
| Mr.. Hildreth Il had TO he careful to Sc
cure bath rooms at every hotel we visited,
and if there were no bath rooms | was ex-
pected to make rates with some bath
house in the town. Why, on the sleeping
cars they were up at daylight scrubbing
| themselves all over, and as soon as they
reached the hotel they were at it again.
They use on their hair peculiar pcmade
/ that glistens and shines on their jetty
! locks. The women use more of this than
the men. Occasionally the men use a
| great deal of it. though, i'll combng their
f I,f, 70 StfF knot the a their
heads. They all insisted upon two baths
per week regularly, besides their sponge
baths daily. and they used To have the
water SO hot that neither you nor | could
stand it. Almost the first English they
picked up was the expression Gimme
/ wasser,' which they used on going into
every hotel"
/ Did your .Iaps tackle kindly TO Ameri-
can intOXiCants''
/ YES, but they were never under the in
huence. They liked beer, and it seemed
| to have no effect upon them. Every
night after a performance the troupe
would gather in the hotel and have beer
and lunch Some of them liked other
drinks, however, and had TO have them
| One old man and his wife wanted gin
and another Jap tackled sherry. had to
|
have played if | didn't When | first
went with them they would not eat the
hotel food and had to arrange to have
one of the women of the party 90 into the
| hotel kitchen and cook for the Japs. They
| used to eat eggs, rice and meat stews.
PARTICULARLY FOND OF PIE.
after time, though, they went
through the regular bills Of fare from
ir,,la rlH-
stuck on that great American institution
Die. Then they always said their
prayers morning and night, and just be
fore they went on the stage To do their act
they PRAYED to their God TO help them
In praying they invariably turned their
backs upon any one present, stood erect
rubbed their hands softly together, and
muttered their petition in a sing-sOng
tone They were all interested i'll the
habits and customs of the Americans, and
when they saw any strange thing they
studied it over until they learned il.
MY chums in the company We're two
boys, Kotzko and Yousanmatz. The lat
ter was the boy who did the ladder act,
and KOtZkO used TO be balanced on long
bamboo pole with Otoyon, little girl.
These two boys wouldn't live without me,
so always got a dOuble-bedded room and
bunked with them. At first they wouldn't
sleep in an American bed, and always car
ried their mats for the floor, with pillows
of wood. made bowl-shaped for the head
and rounded so that they would move
with the head The members of the
troupe all came from Yokohama and Ma
gaSaki. They were not Of the street-per
forming class in Japan, but Of the middle
class, like those in the village An old
man. YOnOuSan, who was totally blind,
used to do the iron jaw act by lifting tubs
full Of great stones with his teeth. He
was however, street performer, but
later performed in legitimate places of
amusement like the others. He used TO
stand on the street corners in the Japanese
towns. and after n man had collected a
crowd by drumming japanese banjo he
would do the egg trick, swallow n needle
and thread and bring the needle out
threaded, and other featS of magic, while
the boy. kOtZko. would do tumbling.
Then they would collect the cana, or
money, the usual Offering being a large,
oval coin called a tempo. Ii had a square
hole in the center, and the collector would
string them on a wire When the trio
collected a certain amount they would lie
idle and not go to work again until all the
money was gone ''-Chicago Herald Inter
view.