Japan and the Japanese

274 JAPAN. A. D. 16901692.
eubjects of the play, such as fountains, bridges, gates, houses, gar
dens, trees, mountains, animals, and the like, are also represented,
some as big as the life, and all in general contrived so as to be
removed at pleasure, like the scenes of our European plays.*
" The actors are commonly girls, taken out of the courtesans'
houses, and boys from those streets at whose expense the solem-
nity is performed. They are all magnificently clad, in variously
colored silken gowns, suitable to the characters they are to present ;
and it must be owned that, generally speaking, they act their part
with an assurance and becoming dexterity, not to be exceeded, nay,
scarce to be paralleled, by the best European actors.
" The streets which bear the expense make their appearance in
the following order : First of all is carried a rich canopy, or else an
umbrella, made of silk, being the palladium of the street. Over it,
in the middle, is placed a shield, whereupon is writ, in large char-
acters, the name of the street. Next to the canopy follow the
musicians, masked, and in proper liveries. The music is both vocal
and instrumental. The instruments are chiefly flutes of different
sorts, and small drums; now and then a large drum, cymbals and
bells, are brought in among the rest. The instrumental music is so
poor and lamentable, that it seems much easier to satisfy their
gods than to please a musical ear. Nor is the vocal part much
preferable to the instrumental, for although they keep time toler-
ably, and sing according to some notes, yet they do it in so very
slow a manner that the music seems to be rather calculated to
regulate their action, and the motions of their body in their ballets
and dunces, wherein they are very ingenious and dexterous, and
little inferior to our European dancers, excepting only that they
seem to want a little more action and swiftness in their feet.
" The musicians are followed by the necessary machines and the
whole apparatus for the ensuing representations, the largest being
carried by laboring people, the lesser as benches, staffs, flowers,
and the like by the children of the inhabitants, neatly clad.
Next follow the actors themselves, and after them all the inhab-
itant of the street in a body, in their holiday clothes and garments
* On the whole, and from the play-bills presently given, the performance
mmid seem to be a good deal like that of Pyramus and Thisbe, in the Midsummer
Night's Dream.