CERTAIN NOBLE PLAYS OF JAPAN:

FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS OF ERNEST FENOLLOSA,

CHOSEN AND FINISHED BY EZRA POUND,

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS







INTRODUCTION


I

In the series of books I edit for my sister I confine myself to those
that have I believe some special value to Ireland, now or in the future.
I have asked Mr. Pound for these beautiful plays because I think they
will help me to explain a certain possibility of the Irish dramatic
movement. I am writing these words with my imagination stirred by a visit
to the studio of Mr. Dulac, the distinguished illustrator of the Arabian
Nights. I saw there the mask and head-dress to be worn in a play of mine
by the player who will speak the part of Cuchulain, and who wearing
this noble half-Greek half-Asiatic face will appear perhaps like an image
seen in revery by some Orphic worshipper. I hope to have attained the
distance from life which can make credible strange events, elaborate