Japanese Plays and Playfellows

I do not pretend to compete in the crowded field of Japanese sociology with those who have lived more than six months or less than six weeks in the country. My own stay was limited to half a year. I had, of course, studied the language with native teachers and devoured the records of foreign travellers. I concluded that theatrical matters had been less fully described than any other: to them, accordingly, I devoted most attention. But there were other themes on which I had been insufficiently informed. Impersonal essays are, therefore, supplemented by personal reminiscences, for which I claim indulgence. If the first now seem to me too short, the second may seem to others too long. Yet I have tried only to select incidents and characteristics which differ strikingly from Western ways.

Austere critics will assuredly resent the excess of incense burned in these pages in honour of the musumé. But, whether she and they like it or not, she continues to summarise in her dainty little person much of her country’s magic: its picturesqueness, its kindness, its politeness. On certain symptoms of anti-foreign feeling I have dwelt at some length, because the obvious witchery of Japan so often results in the suppression of unpleasant testimony by those whose own souvenirs are pleasantness itself. There is certainly no reason why the Japanese should exhibit more altruism to other nations than is exhibited in the reverse case. The apprehensions expressed by such an admirer of the race as Mr. A. B. Mitford, in a recent letter to the Times as to the expediency of giving them too free a hand in the solution of the Chinese problem, however unwelcome to advocates of an Anglo-Japanese alliance, deserve to be well weighed. Neither pro-Japanese tourist nor anti-Japanese resident can refuse admiration to the courage and cleverness of those Happy Islanders, whose foreign policy is better left to impartial pens for judgment. A partial spectator, I can only render appreciative thanks for what I have seen and loved.

I desire to acknowledge indebtedness to Mr. B. H. Chamberlain and Mr. G. W. Aston for much information as to lore and literature; to the anonymous author of a pamphlet entitled “Notes on the History of the Yoshiwara of Yedo”; to Mr. Fenollosa, Mr. Fukuchi, Mr. Fukai, Mr. K. Hirata, and Mr. Isoh Yamagata for opportunities and courtesies; to the editors of the Hansei Zasshi, The Sketch, and The Studio for permission to make use of material contributed to their columns.

WESTENDE-LES-BAINS.