Studio: international art (18.1900)

Japanese Religious Plays

entrusting them with the jewel, the staff, and the
other symbols. As soon as they are well posed as
living statuary he brings the farmer to admire them,
and, pretending that the other three are at the
opposite end of the field, sends the extemporised
gods by a short cut to anticipate the buyer's arrival.
He, however, though duly impressed, desires to see
the first three again, and then again the second
three, until the impersonators, tired with running
backwards and forwards, forget what pose and what
emblem to assume, entirely destroying all illusion
by their ridiculous perplexity. The farmer dis-
covers the trick and administers a sound drubbing
to the fraudulent artist, while the Jizo make their
escape. The humour of this naturally depends on
the " business " of the performers, since no pretence
is made to literary merit in the dialogue, which is
couched in colloquial Japanese of the same period
as the lyrical dramas themselves—that is, from the
fourteenth to the sixteenth century.

The most important (if not the most interesting)
item in the programme was a little historic play in
two scenes, entitled Tuna Benkei, or Benkei at Sea.
No figure in Japanese annals is so popular as Ben-
kei, the Devil Youth (Oniwakd), credited with
eight feet of stature, unless it be Yoshitsune, the
valiant boy who vanquished the giant in single
combat on Gojo Bridge in Kyoto, and thus ac-
quired a loyal and invincible henchman. The
numberless adventures in which Benkei by strength
or cunning ensures the success of Yoshitsune have
been utilised again and again by painters and play-
wrights. Unfortunately, the fruits of victory are
always snatched from Yoshitsune's grasp by the
jealous despotism of his elder brother, Yoritomo,
the terrible chief of the Minamoto faction. When
the play opens, he is discovered with a handful of
faithful followers at Omono-no-ura, whither he has
fled to escape the machinations of his brother, but
further progress is delayed by the arrival of Shizuka,
a beautiful Geisha^ who entreats permission to bid
him farewell. Benkei refuses to allow this, and
asserts that his master wishes her to return at once
to Kamakura, the capital, without an audience.
But the girl will not believe that her lover has sent
so harsh a message, and insists on dancing once
more before him. Shizuka's dance is very elabo-
rate and beautiful, though a little tedious for the
European who has not been trained to appreciate
the symbolic import of woven measure and waving
arm. Yoshitsune, deeply moved, gives her a sakc-
cup, as a sign that she may carouse with him for the
last time ; but Benkei, sternly insensible to dalliance,
bids her withdraw, and gives orders to set sail.
162

Once more the performers take their places in a
primitive piece of framework representing a boat,
while the resources of orchestra and helmsman are
taxed to their utmost in the endeavour to simulate
a storm. The fife screams, the drums thunder, the
steersman stamps his foot, and, suddenly, out of
the furious tempest rise grim spectres, with black,
fleecy hair, gilt horns, and blood-stained halberds.
These are the ghosts of the Taira clan, slaughtered
by the Minamoto in a great sea-fight at Dan-no-ura,
two years before—a battle which might be termed
the Bosworth Field of the great civil war which
devastated Japan in the latter half of the twelfth
century. Yoshitsune, with youthful heat (he is
always a boy in the N5 dramas), lunges at the
phantoms and shouts his war-cry, but Benkei (who
adds the functions of a priest to his other accom-
plishments) strikes down his sword, and, producing
a rosary, hurls a volley of exorcising prayers at the
discomfited ghosts. As always, the play ends in
David's deliverance from . danger by the resource-
fulness of Goliath.

Tsuchigumo, the Earth-Spider, the last piece per-
formed, is founded on a curious legend, whose only
merit is that it affords excuse for a fantastic stage-
picture. It seems that a band of robbers, who
lived in caves and were known by the nickname of
Earth-Spiders, were routed from their lairs and ex-
terminated by Kintaro, servant of Yoremitsu, whose
valour was much enhanced in popular estimation
by the flattering rumour that the defeated pests
were not men at all, but a race of enormous demon-
insects. Accordingly, the climax of Tsuchigumo
is a stirring encounter between Imperial Guards
armed with swords and spears, and masked mon-
sters, who entangle their weapons and baffle their
aim in a cloud of long gauzy filaments, resembling
the threads of a spider's web. The piece is pure
pantomime, owing even less than usual to music,
incident, or poetic style. The Oivl Priest, the last
of the Kiogen, calls for no description.

From the foregoing record of a typical day with
the religious plays of Tokyo, excellently illustrated
by Mr. Kogyo, the reader can form some idea of
the place they occupy in Japanese life. Equally
removed from the simple Kagura, danced by Shinto
priestesses, and the elaborate series of loosely con-
nected scenes of which popular plays consist, they
appeal neither to naive peasants nor excitement-
loving shopkeepers. For the educated patriot they
enshrine memories of all that is most heroic and
most venerable in the Middle Age, whose beliefs
and customs, manners of speech and dress, are
thus piously handed down. On artistic grounds