Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-03-02
ADOPTING OUR METHODS.
Japanese Theaters Taking Up Work
Of the West.

Toxic Letter TO New York Times.
The school OF acting that has just been
opened In the Sakuragawa-cho here by
the "Duse OF the East" Sada Yakko.
wife OF the japanese theater reformer,
Otajoro Kawakami. has so far only f1f-
teen girls. ranging In age from sixteen TO
twenty-five years. All the would-be
actresses are from the cultivated classes.
one. indeed. being the daughter of an Of
fetal. The opening of this school is tho
latest proof of the growing tolerance in
Japan Of western ideas, especially as re
CARDS the theater. 1t was about tho year
1880 when Okuni, singer of the lower
classes. performed before the Shotgun n
song In pantoulime, that women were pro
hibited from the stage and the theaters,
ard males took the parts OF the Gentler
sex The theater became so immoral that
II was finally entirely banned. And il
was not until the appearance Of Danjuro.
aided by the Italian actor Martina. that
In" educated and ariStoCratc Japanese
again became Interested in the actor
Once the ice was broken. even notabilittes
I'm Japan did not close their doors to the
professional"
1t was left for the Merchant-actor-eSii-
tor Kawakani and his wife TO legitina
tlZe the appearance of the female together
with the male on the stage Since the edict
of the shotgun in the seventeenth century
Sad' lakko was not the first woman to
appear ON the stage; she was. however.
the first {" appear with males. To saba
iakko and her husband is also due tn
reorganization of the Japanese theater.
for they declared war on the old regime
and called for "A free theater in which
were to he realistically produced the lat
est western productions.
When kawakami married saba Yakko
he decided To modernize his native the
alter For this purpose the couple toured
en-, l.
London embarked for Japan. There a
large following of friends tried to per-
suade tho pair to organize a company.
Sada fakko. however, declared that she
could not play in the Japanese fashion,
because European WAYS were so different
Finally Baron kaneko persuaded the aC-
tresS To try to please her countryTnen.
After this hardly any trouble was expert
enced In tho undermining Of the native
theatcr. Norma Wanna" and ''Othello
We're PLAYED in European costumes, and
kawakams "Soshi Shibar' (young the
ater> has since been drawing full houses
Nevertheless. some have remained true
to the old theater, although the number
is steadily growing smaller. especially
since the organization Of the "Teikoku-
Gckilo- kabuShiki-k aisha. or theatcr as
perSonageS The two largest theaters in
japan. the kabuki. in Toxic. and kawa-
kami's house in Osaka. have been re-
built after the European style. The for
mer. which is very large and beautiful
building. has a special box for the en-
peror, and others for distinguished ma
tive and foreign guests.
Although in the old native thcater the
noted actors Baiko. Sikwan, kikugaro
and others continue to reign in their fe-
male roles. sill the academcal Japanese
OF the new era will he sure soon to dedt-
cate stately number of female stars
and thus bring the "old timers to recog-
nize tho modern ways and applaud their
"old-tirne'' native artists in modern male
costume