youth up had honoured his parents, and whose heart know no guile: if
his friends were in need, he ministered to their wants; he grudged no
pains to teach his fellow-men; his good-will and charity were beyond
praise; under the blue sky and bright day he never did a shameful
deed. His merits were as those of the sages of old; but because he
lacked the cunning of a fox or badger he received no patronage from
the wealthy, and, remaining poor to the day of his death, never had an
opportunity of making his worth known. Alas! alas!"

The drama is exclusively the amusement of the middle and lower
classes. Etiquette, sternest of tyrants, forbids the Japanese of high
rank to be seen at any public exhibition, wrestling-matches alone
excepted. Actors are, however, occasionally engaged to play in private
for the edification of my lord and his ladies; and there is a kind of
classical opera, called Nô, which is performed on stages specially
built for the purpose in the palaces of the principal nobles. These
Nô represent the entertainments by which the Sun Goddess was lured out
of the cave in which she had hidden, a fable said to be based upon an
eclipse. In the reign of the Emperor Yômei (A.D. 586-593), Hada
Kawakatsu, a man born in Japan, but of Chinese extraction, was
commanded by the Emperor to arrange an entertainment for the
propitiation of the gods and the prosperity of the country. Kawakatsu
wrote thirty-three plays, introducing fragments of Japanese poetry
with accompaniments of musical instruments. Two performers, named
Takéta and Hattori, having especially distinguished themselves in
these entertainments, were ordered to prepare other similar plays, and
their productions remain to the present day. The pious intention of
the Nô being to pray for the prosperity of the country, they are held
in the highest esteem by the nobles of the Court, the Daimios, and the
military class: in old days they alone performed in these plays, but