The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1901-11-10

~ NE has long ago ceased from
surprise at any new evidence
of the artistic greatness of the
small brown folk on the other
+ side of the Pacific who serve
US. silent, courteous. yet inwardly dis
daipful. in our kitchens here. Ernest +.
Fenollosa. whose brilliant and sympe-
thetic lectures on the art and ethics of
the Orient have been lately delightirg
San Francisco audiences. Is the last ORR
entalist to add to our yet scant knowl-
edge of this great little people. II hardly
surprises to know, in face of the wonders
of japanese art that are daily being re-
vealed to US. that in Japan exists to-day
living lyric drama that approximates in
startlingly close fashion to that OF an
cient Greece, both I'm its origin and deveI-
opment. What Is surprising is that this
vastly significant fact should have here.
tofore remained unnoted by any OF the
Orientalists. With the exception OF n
short talk some time ago at Columbia
University by Mr.. Fenollosa himself and
a single chapter on the mo (the clas-
steal drama) IN book on Japan by e.
ward Austin. the subject has so far mex
plioably been ignored by students of the
Far East 1t 10 perhaps as well, for 1t Is
not easy to imagine another so profound
ly intimate knowledge and sympathy as
that of Mr.. Fenoilosa being brought to
of knowledge. 10y the way. that is vitality
necessary TO us as n people in our future
diplomatic relations with our Nippone5e
neighbors. and particularly to California
be ii said.
The subject of the Japanese classical
drama is one of which Mr.. Fenollosa Il
peculiarly well qualified to speak. He had
the advantage of studying it's technique
md hiSfn for x1vffh he Iao6 d.
ing actor of the NO" Umewaka Mlnoru
who also restored the classical drama aft
err It's threatened extinction In the HIS
toric upheaval of 1868.
Like the Greek drama, the mo" had its
origin in a religious ,dance-the dance of
the Shinto gods-though the Japanese
classical drama dates back only some 4Jl
years. Also, as In the Greek drama,
masks are used, some 300 masks being re-
quired for the 200 plays to which the orig
inal 500 lyric dramas have been siftcd
down. The masks are symbolic of the
motif. so to speak, of the character.
and in the hands of a good actor seem
actually to change expression with each
passing emotion.
Different masks may be used during
the progress of the play, as when the
mask of jealous woman, of a dull,
bricky red in one act. with short horns
a fearful jaundiced yellow, with long
horns and long sharp fangs. There
is chorus. too. that though Il
does not dance, yet performs the same
explanatory part that the Greek chorus
performed. emphasizing. defining, fore.
shadowing the dramatic Significance Of
the moment, all in a musical chant that
Is most like the old Sanscrit chants of any
of the world songs that are known to
us. 1t is also an exuuisitely picturesque
adjunct. the costumes being a magnificent
mass of lovely color and inspired harmony
Of line.
At first purely religious festival per-
formed by the priests, stories of ancient
chivalries. like our own Arthurian cycle.
began afterward to appear. Gods, at
first the only leading men, In the PLAYS.
began to give way to mortals, and to-day
a composite cast of gods and men takes
part In the perfected drama. Three jap
anese Shakespeares, or Sophocles-as one
likes to put ft-are responsible for the
whole two hundred plays that form the
classical repertoire. and 1t Is most inter-
esting to note that many of the actors
now taking part N these dramas are
lineal descendants OF those old play
wrights. 1t Is Of piece with that glori-
Gus madness for art that Is the last thing
one thinks Of IN connection with present.
day occidental drama that the humblest