making and preserving records. Memorial stones are among the most striking
sights on the highways and in the towns, villages, and temple yards, in
honor of some noted scholar, ruler, or benefactor. Few people are more
thoroughly informed as to their own history. Every city, town, and village
has its annals. Family records are faithfully copied from generation to
generation. Almost every province has its encyclopaedic history, and every
high-road its itineraries and guide-books, in which famous places and
events are noted. In the large cities professional story-tellers and
readers gain a lucrative livelihood by narrating both legendary and
classical history, and the theatre is often the most faithful mirror of
actual history. There are hundreds of child's histories in Japan. Many of
the standard works are profusely illustrated, are models of style and
eloquence, and parents delight to instruct their children in the national
laws and traditions.

5. THE DRAMA.--The theatre is a favorite amusement, especially among the
lower classes; the pieces represented are of a popular character and
written in colloquial language, and generally founded on national history
and tradition, or on the lives and adventures of the heroes and gods; and
the scene is always laid in Japan. The play begins in the morning and
lasts all day, spectators bringing their food with them. No classical
dramatic author is known.

Poetry has always been a favorite study with the Japanese. The most
ancient poetical fragment, called a "Collection of Myriad Leaves," dates
from the eighth century. The collection of "One Hundred Persons" is much
later, and contains many poems written by the emperors themselves. The
Japanese possess no great epic or didactic poems, although some of their
lyrics are happy examples of quaint modes of thought and expression. It is
difficult to translate them into a foreign tongue.