The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-05-08

ample, Danjuro, the Joseph Jefferson
of Japan, used to collect five dollars
for every good looking hat that was
thrown to him. This hat throwing is
seen at Spanish bull fights, but there
the matador makes no charge. He
merely selects one hat from the lot
rests it on his head for an instant,
then throws it aside and proceeds with
his work.
The Japanese stars of the old school
also made fixed charge for the privil-
eye of visiting them in their dres-
sing-room. Those who paid the price
were presented with an autograph,
some little gift, or If the actor was
especially impressed with his visitor,
he might delay the performance long
enough to serve tea.
The Japanese stage manager of the
old school left nothing to the imagina-
ton or memory of the spectators. For
instance, take a scene from one OF the
hoary and time honored classics Of
Nippon. An old man is making love to
young girl. He is too old and de-
crepit to make an acceptable suitor;
but the girl knows that he has great
influence with her father. Therefore,
while she desires to repulse him, she
must do so cautiously. All of this has
been brought out in the foregoing acts.
But when the actual love making scene
is reached the play is as hard to fol-
low as a three ringed circus. The old
man is pouring out his plea of passion
to the girl, the orchestra is playing an
accompaniment for his lines, and in
the wings two old men chanting an
explanation of why she doesn't give the
old codger his walking papers on the
instant.
That peculiar Oriental stoicism which
keeps men and women from showing
any emotion of either Joy or sorrow
operates only when personal fortunes
are concerned, and not when others are
involved. The man who would hear the
burdens of Job without changing his
face, is ready to weep at the slightest
misfortune which befalls another. while
a woman whose immobile countenance
would not betray her enjoyment Of the
sweets of heaven, will laugh like a
child at some other persons happiness.
So it is that a japanese theater audi
ence is an instrument upon which even
the mediocre actor may play at will.
It is as responsive as an organ, and
rarely produces a discord. One may
enter Toxic theater and find a thou
sand men and women splitting their
sides with laughter, and two minutes
later every man and woman in the au-
dience will be Frustrated on the mats,
weeping as if their hearts would break.
The japanese actor never has the
handicap of an unsympathetic audi
ence.
The professional story teller ranks
next to the actor as an entertainer in
Japan. He gives his performance in
rooms smaller than the theater, and
although his long winded yarns deal
with many topics, they cost his hearers
but a few coppers. An idea of what
appeals to the Japanese sense Of humor
may be obtained from the following
tale by famous Toxic storytelier. He
said there was once an old miser who
had a great deal of money, a fondness
for good things to eat, and a wonder
full imagination. He lived over res
taurant which had the reputation of
serving he finest cells in the city, cells
and rice being the great Japanese deli
cacy. AS the epicures assembled each
day in the eating house the appetizing
odor of frying cells filled the rooms
above. The imagination of the miser
was so potent that when the savory
smell filled his nostrils, he could sit
down to his meal of plain food with the
tl,a 81
the restaurant found this out, he forth
with presented a bill. Whereupon the
stingy tenant produced his money bag,
jingled the coins in it, then returned
it to his pocket. When asked to ex-
plain, he replied: You have charged
me for the smell of your eels and
have paid you with the sound of my
money"
The most popular storyteller in Japan
at present is a man known to his au-
diences as Ishii, but his real name is
Black. He is the son of an English
man who started the first newspapers
in Japan. His knowledge of the vary
ing dialects is so perfect, his dress so
accurate, and his manner so natural
that few of his hearers suspect that
he is a foreigner.
The japanese people are so found of
the theater that it can be made a trem-
endous educating influence if the move
ment to modernize it succeeds. If the
old classical plays, dealing with the
dry dust of ancient history, can be
done away with, and modern subjects
treated in their stead, much useful
present-day information may be quick
ly impaired to the masses. During the
recent boycott on American goods in
China, one of the most effective ways
of reaching the people with the propa-
ganda was through the medium of the
actors and storytellers. Now it is said
that through the same channel even
the coolies on the border of far-off
Thibet have heard about the coming
of the American fleet to the Pacific.
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