The Drama; its history, literature and influence on civilization . eenth cen-tury, and they were at first purely religious perform-ances, intended to propitiate the chief deities of theShinto religion. Later a manager of one of the Notheatres, named Kwan-ami Kiyotsugu, attracted thenotice of the ruling Shogun, who took him into his im-mediate service, and from this time the No were underthe special patronage of the Shoguns. In the Yedoperiod the Shoguns gave great attention to No perform-ances, and even to-day there are remains of their formerpopularity. Eepresentations are still given at Toki
The Drama; its history, literature and influence on civilization . eenth cen-tury, and they were at first purely religious perform-ances, intended to propitiate the chief deities of theShinto religion. Later a manager of one of the Notheatres, named Kwan-ami Kiyotsugu, attracted thenotice of the ruling Shogun, who took him into his im-mediate service, and from this time the No were underthe special patronage of the Shoguns. In the Yedoperiod the Shoguns gave great attention to No perform-ances, and even to-day there are remains of their formerpopularity. Eepresentations are still given at Tokio,Kioto and other places by the descendants or successorsof the old managers who founded the art five centuriesago. They are attended by small but select audiences THE SUN-GODDESS AND THE KAGURAAfter an original painting by A. Russell The gods in iJic dry bed of ine rrjcr ofheaven—thc^. Milky Utij—cuk^ caused llic ^TerribleFemale of I leaven^ to array her se I J in a fantasticalmanner^ and standing on an inverted Inb, to perform jethe mimic THE JAPANESE NO THEATRE. 59 composed almost entirely of ex-daimios or military-nobles and their former retainers. i^Iat of tfjE Wa JBramag, As dramas the No have little value. There is noaction to speak of, and dramatic propriety and effect arehardly thought of. The plot is usually somewhat asfollows: A priest appears on the scene. He announces hisname and- informs the audience that he is setting out onhis travels. Presently he arrives at a temple, a battle-field, or other celebrated spot, when a ghost or deityappears, who relates to him the local legend. An ex-change of edifying sentiments follows, and the super-natural personage finally reveals his identity. The wholepiece rarely occupies more than six or seven pages ofprint, and requires less than an hour to perform. The number of the dramatis personse varies from twoor three to five or six, and to these must be added thechorus and a few musicians. The chorus has va
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksub, booksubjectitaliandrama
