the descriptions of the chorus or of the actors took their place.  The dialogue and choruses are given in a nasal recitative, accompanied by the mouth-organ, flute, drum, and other classical instruments, and are utterly unintelligible.  The ancient poetry is full of puns and plays upon words, and it was with no little difficulty that, with the assistance of a man of letters, I prepared beforehand the arguments of the different pieces.

The first play was entitled Hachiman of the Bow.  Hachiman is the name under which the Emperor Ojin (A.C. 270-312) was deified as the God of War.  He is specially worshipped on account of his miraculous birth; his mother, the Empress Jingo, having, by the virtue of a magic stone which she wore at her girdle, borne him in her womb for three years, during which she made war upon and conquered the Coreans.  The time of the plot is laid in the reign of the Emperor Uda the Second (A.D. 1275-1289).  In the second month of the year pilgrims are flocking to the temple of Hachiman at Mount Otoko, between Osaka and Kioto.  All this is explained by the chorus.  A worshipper steps forth, sent by the Emperor, and delivers a congratulatory oration upon the peace and prosperity of the land.  The chorus follows in the same strain:  they sing the praises of Hachiman and of the reigning Emperor.  An old man enters, bearing something which appears to be a bow in a brocade bag.  On being asked who he is, the old man answers that he is an aged servant of the shrine, and that he wishes to present his mulberry-wood bow to the Emperor; being too humble to draw near to his Majesty he has waited for this festival, hoping that an opportunity might present itself.  He explains that with this bow, and with certain arrows made of the Artemisia, the heavenly gods pacified the world.  On being asked to show his bow, he refuses; it is a mystic protector of the country, which in old days was overshadowed by the mulberry-tree.  The peace which prevails in the land is likened to a calm at sea.  The Emperor is the ship, and his subjects the water.  The old man dwells upon the ancient worship of Hachiman, and relates how his mother, the Empress Jingo, sacrificed to the gods before invading Corea, and how the present prosperity of the country is to be attributed to the acceptance of those sacrifices.  After having revealed himself as the god Hachiman in disguise, the old man disappears.  The worshipper, awe-struck, declares that he must return to Kioto and tell the Emperor what he has seen.  The chorus announces that sweet music and fragrant perfumes issue from the mountain, and the piece ends with felicitations upon the visible favour of the gods, and especially of Hachiman.

The second piece was Tsunemasa.  Tsunemasa was a hero of the twelfth century, who died in the civil wars; he was famous for his skill in playing on the biwa, a sort of four-stringed lute.