Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1890-03-12
THEATERs IN JAPAN. !

"a $500. r-
Tobacco Served to the Audience a. An
Antid0te to tho Play.
From IAN Artists Letters from ia.
pan" written and pictured by John La
Fargo, in the Century, we quote as fol.
lows: THE doctor took us on Sunday
afternoon to his club-whose name, I
think, means the perfume of the maple
Ito see and to listen to some Japanese
plays which are given in the club thea
ter for the purpose. We went there in
the afternoon, passing by the Shiba tenn
pies, and our kurumas were drawn up at
one end Of the buildings. There every
thing was Japanese, though 1 hear
stories of the other club and it's ultra.
European ways-brandies-and- sodas, sim
gle eyeglasses, etc. However that may
be, on this side we were in Japan with
out mistake. We sat on the steps and
had our shoes taken of, according to the
Japanese fashion, so as not to injure
mats, and we could hear during the
operation long wailings, high notes,
and the piercing sound of flutes
and stringed instruments; the curiously
sad rhythm mingled with background
of high, distinct defamation. We
walked in, with careful attention to
make no noise, forgetting that in our
stocking feet we could have made none
had wefwished, and we found the doc
tors place reserved for him and us, and
marked with his name, writ large. Other
low boxes, with sides no higher than
our elbows as we sat on the mats, divid-
ed the sloping floor down to the stage.
The stage was pretty little building
projecting into the great hall from its
long side. 1t had its own roof, and con-
nected with large gallery or bridge,
along which the actors moved as they
came on or disappeared, in manner
new to us, but which gave q certain
natural sequence and made beginning
and an end-a dramatic introduction
and conclnsion-and added greatly to
the picture when the magnificent
dresses of stiff brocade dragged slowly
along to the cadence of the music. y
"A quiet, sleepy appreciation lowered
over the scene; even the devotees near
us, many of them older people and be-
longing to the old regime, showing their
approval or disapproval with restrained
criticism. I could see without turning
my head the expression of the face of
my neighbor, former daimio, a man
of position; face of Japanese transla-
ton of the universal well-known aristo-
cratic type-immovable, fatigued, with
the dropping under lip. Behind him sat
former reta;ners, suppose-deferential
lnsinuating remarks and judgments to
which he assented with inimitable
brevity. Still, thought that l could
distinguish, when he showed that the
youthful amateurs-for most of the
actors were non-professional-did not
come up to proper standard, that his
memory went back to long experience
of good acting. And so catching are
impressions of crowd that l myself
after time believed that recognized,
more or less distinctly, the tyro
and the master, even though I only
vaguely understood what it was all
about. For need not tell you that the
libretto would have been still more diff
ficult for me than the pantomime before
me; and very often it was but panto-
mime: the actor making gestures to the
accompaniment of music, or the decla-
nation of the chor@gus, who told the
poetic story. Occasionally these move
ments amounted to dance, that is to
| say, to rhythmic hence
called the No dance-to which emphasis
was given by rising or falling on either
foot, and bringing down the sole with a
sudden blow.
\ I'VE had tobacco to cheer US,
On our arrival the noiseless servants
had brought to US the inevitable little
tray containing the fre-box with hot
charcoal and the little cylinder fol
ashes, and tea and little sugary balls:
and then, besides, Notwithstanding the
high-toned repose of the audience, there
was enough to watch.''