The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-09-12

WITS. NOSTlO, 1OTuTl Cn21tTeSS.
is generally a long story. written large
~ in a .crics oc seven and five syllable
PHRASES. a kind Of blank verse. But
in substance and use the ioruri is a
drama.
II has a well marked movement e
plo; from the opcuirc scene nm To
the catastrophe. It ahourds I'm dra-
matte situations and many Of tn,
scenes are obviously designed with a
view to spCctaculnr effect. +, was orig
inallv written for the uyatsuri shibai
,r morinnef,o theatre Inn, aff,rvard
its use v,s also adopted far no. euu,or
theatres.
It's large narrative c,amcn, and oftsp
a art Of tho dialogue are of IN. poe,l,
char,r,,r inc, desrr,hoI Thasc rar,s
arc chnptod hy a chorus :, tho h.,y,i.
full music of the samisen, a three
s,rlngcd guitar. which Is the most
completely developed Of japanese in
strumcnts. The chorus also declaims
the speechcs If the puppet ac,lrs. In
the case of the theatre proper the
actors carry on the greater part of the
dialogue. and act and dance 10 the
ltL4flllNL II me IdllA1lAt lIIl III Z
similar manner To the puppc,s.
Though the joruri is beautiful poet
nv. vet IL is written in simple and
easy qua quite Ineligible even
IN children and the uneduCatcd The
| epical drama is e%mphatically a lltera-
ture for the masses.
Before we now proceed 20 glance at
, brief history of the cpical dramas
Il IS rather interesting t. observe
that. As most historians OF the drama
assert, the drama OF any nation flour
Isles in the tim of greatest national
vitality. As the drama lourishCd in
Greece after Salamls and IN England
after the Armada. So in .Iapan the
drama nourished in the beginning ur
the eighteenth century. when natl nal
prosperity attained its highest point
under the T kugawa regime.
pr,t,lr, 3, ,bo l~ogirnirr ~ tho
.tv,o,rtb century tho rrofassi,n of
chanting ar reci,inr stories or NOM.
lar histories IN n,hlic com me into exist
ar,e Tb..o rocf,,ls v,rc acc,u-
uariod ,v ,ors M a ,,ldsd finn IN mark
Ia, ar D., piv, emnb,sis Toword tho
clns. -, ,ba s,mo century ia mis- ar
c,nr,cir,,,, w,s added tho music az
tho somisan short,v from
I oocboo Tbis i-unrovsmon, gave a
s,trun,s IN IN nrnfossion which no
- &c o,l NC ron,,,ar
d., ,h,, ,i,,a v,s wri,t,p n story
or,f,,.d "t,ruri Iurid,nsosbi M tb.
"S,nrr -, IaJy I,ruri" T,bis stony
,ro,ts 80 ,bcl nyc affair he, w,cn Lady
rnrIri \ dc,i,ious ~narsorore and the
,,nnus hero ynsrir.une Though u
is simrIo in Mot rho story embodies
tho r~udimerts II a drama. and had ,
wide circulation among the story
rec!ters. Henceforth any composition
used hv the professional r~eciters came
10 be called joruri. and the reciter,
Themselves joruri katari or iururi
chanters; and this is the origin Of the
name of ioruri which is now apple
Ia the epicaI drama.
In the beginning Of the seventeenth
century a noted sam!scn player ot
Kyoto named Chozahuro. in commune
ton with a skilful puppct Snowman
.riginatel the art of operating mar
ionettes, to the accompaniment al
ioruri recitation and the guitar music
This m~ariolcttc theatre rapidly grew
in general favor, 50 much that th'
/ Emperor Go-Nozci was pleased Il
summon the troupe To- his palace e
inspect their performances.
Toward the middle Of the same cen
fury there was in ledo, the prcsen'
Tokyo, a great jorUri chant"r NAMED
Joun. His bold and energetic mannei
of recitation was well suited I" IN
martial spirit then prevalent lie n"
/. only commanded large audiences bu
daimios and other nopIemch gave h'l
+. their patronage. Thus Joun II M
pupils enjoyed great popularity FOR
number of years.
/, Several years after the death o
/, Ioun a great joruri chanter name
Takcmoto Gidlyu made his appearance
Z in Osaka, the greatest centre of com