the nobles of the Court, from which fact her dance was called
Otoko-mai, or the man's dance. Her name is only worth mentioning on
account of the respect in which her memory is held by actors.

It was not until the year A.D. 1624 that a man named Saruwaka
Kanzaburô, at the command of the Shogun, opened the first theatre in
Yedo in the Nakabashi, or Middle Bridge Street, where it remained
until eight years later, when it was removed to the Ningiyô, or Doll
Street. The company of this theatre was formed by two families named
Miako and Ichimura, who did not long enjoy their monopoly, for in the
year 1644 we find a third family, that of Yamamura, setting up a rival
theatre in the Kobiki, or Sawyer Street.

In the year 1651, the Asiatic prejudice in favour of keeping persons
of one calling in one place exhibited itself by the removal of the
playhouses to their present site, and the street was called the
Saruwaka Street, after Saruwaka Kanzaburô, the founder of the drama in
Yedo.

Theatrical performances go on from six in the morning until six in the
evening. Just as the day is about to dawn in the east, the sound of
the drum is heard, and the dance Sambasô is danced as a prelude, and
after this follow the dances of the famous actors of old; these are
called the extra performances (_waki kiyôgen_).

The dance of Nakamura represents the demon Shudendôji, an ogre who was
destroyed by the hero Yorimitsu according to the following legend:--At
the beginning of the eleventh century, when Ichijô the Second was
Emperor, lived the hero Yorimitsu. Now it came to pass that in those
days the people of Kiôto were sorely troubled by an evil spirit, which