THE REAL GEISHA.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 17, Issue 61, 4 August 1903, Page 7

THE REAL GEISHA.

THE DANCING GIRLS OP JAPAN. Uji San and her sister geishas are so celebiated that the popular impression is that all the danciog in Japan is done by young girls who are trained for the profession and hired for the occasion. Nothing could be farther from the real truth. Men, women, and children dance daily, m hononr of some mysterious £MI or goddess of mythological times; on the anniveisary of the birth or death of a deified heio; in the streets, at the theatres, before the temples in celebration <;f one or other of their frequently recurring matsuris.

There was a great vaiiety of dances of immemorial antiquity, accompanied by singing and chanting, which was celebrated in the temple courts or on temporary atagas erected for the purpose on certain festival occasions. The sacred dances executed by the virgins and priestesses of the Shinto temples, and the Dance of Souls, which takes place on the third evening of the festival, when all the spirit? of the departed are supposed to revisit their old haunts, belong to this class, as well as a variety of priests' dances which may bo seen at the theaties. Here the actors, dresaed as priests, peifoim a rosary dunco and then go through curious and ludicrous evolutions on their knees, and finish the entertainment by marching up to a great bell and repeating their prayers. The No dance, which is partly lyric, is a

SURVIVAL OF THE PANTOMIME festival dance of the Shinto temples, and up to the seventeenth century was a dance of the people for the people. From that period, however, it became the chief amusement of the Shoguns and the nobility, and princes and nobles often took part in the performances when they were entertaining those of higher rank than themselves. An occasional representation has been made Bince the rtetoration by families who have handed down the art from father to boo, for hundreds of years, but the taste for pastime of this sort is dying out among the modem Japanese. The buildings for the No dance aie temporary ones, half dancing stage and half theatre. There is a scaffolding built in the form of a hollow square, three sides of which are i oofed over and divided ioto the boxes of the grandstand, while the front side contains the stage, to the right of which is the imperial box, draped with purple curtains stamped with the white chrysanthemum the national lymbol. The period of the dance play, as it might be called, occupies from four to six hours, ou three successive days, and to attend an entire performance is a tiial indeed, for the chief end and aim of each actor is to make himself as statuesque and wooden ae possible, while he recites his lines in nasal tones that would put even the primitive Ameiican to blush. There is no attempt at scenic effect, but the costumes are magnificent and treasuied in the family as its most piecious possessions.

THE CHANTED POEMS are written in classic language, and only the very learned are able to follow the play, and even they do so with book in hand. Tie bare argument of the play, howeTer, is better known to the commonest coolie oftentimes than bia alphabet, for the most ignorant Japanese is well rersed in the legends and history of his country, but the ancient idiom is beyond him. The beet representations of the No may be Been at the Koyokwan Clnb House, Tokio, but, like all other things tha are dene for the purpose of amusing foreigners, they lack the spontaneity and thai m of the original production. The Kagura as performed by the young priestesses at the Wakamlya shrine, Nara, is a most curious and interesting spectacle, with many points of picturtsqueuess. On an open veranda, facing low wooden Beats arranged for the pilgiims who journey thither annually, and the curious foreigner who wishes to Bee as much as possible of the old time customs and costumes which are being rapidly swept away by the introduction of foreign fashions, a group of young girls, daughleis of piiestß dedicated to the culling, arrango themselves preparatory to dancing. The ages of tho little priestesses range from nine to twelve years, and they are diessed alike, in

THE NATIVE COSTUME formerly worn by ladies at court The lower garment of blight cardinal red is very similar to the divided skills now worn; the upper put of the body ia cltthed in a white kimono, with Bquare Bleeves: the opening at the throat is filial in with loobc folds of red and white crepe, Over this is worn a white gauze kimono painted with the wistaria crest of the Kasuga temple. The front is shot t, leaving the icd underskiitin Bight, while the back breadths fall to the floor in a moderate tiain.

, The faces of thelitlle creatures are covered thickly wtih white paint, laid on in Vandykes, thopoints touching the hair en the forehead and neck. Their lips are heavily rouged in the centre, which make the mouths look small and the lips very pouting; their eyebrows are shaved and a pencilled dot is placed above each one, midway between it and the hair. So motionless are their lips and bo expressionless their countenances that at tiist one thinks they are mere masks. The music is furnished by the priests, who put on over their ordinary dress ceremonial gowns which reach to their heels. On their heads they Bet queer-shaped high, black hats. They sit on the soft white mats and pound the temple dramß sad blow 'a

DISCORDANT NOISE FROM PIPES that would have driven Pan mad with torture, while the priestesses move languidly through the solemn figuieß of the dance. These dainty creatures begin with a light, Bwift walk within a circle, then they advance, letieat, move from one side of their Bmall stage to the other, slowly raise their fans and gentlv shake the rattle, which is large enough for a baby giant, and with few changes of posture repeat from the beginning. It is a commercial transaction entirely, and for a second payment they will dance a second time. When they have finished they slowly drop on their heels and bend forward until their foreheads touch the white mats.

To the foreigners' this dance is simply a curious cußtom connected with the temple observances of an old and most interesting people, a charming translation of legend and fctory into the language of living grace and the poetry of a young girl's soft expression ; but the Shinto follower finds in it the acme of pleasure, and a most sacred rite ; it is the goal toward which he has beat his Bteps for months, and he enjoys it with unalloyed pleasure. A modification of the primitive religious dance is shown in the Joruri, which requires the services of a chorus to chant the story while the actors, maskpd and dressed in rich brocade, fail into pictmosque attitudes suggested by the incidents of the narrative. The Miko-kagura or sacred mirror dunce is still seen in the various great Shinto shrines, although the same figures are not repeated in any two.