Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/252

 the slow sweep of the ebbing tide, the graceful searches for sea treasures, and, finally, the inward roll of the returning sea, chanting as they move:—

Differing little from the Saibara were the Azuma-mai, or dances of the eastern provinces; the Fuzoku-uta, or genre chants; the Royei, or lays of delight, and the Imayo, or songs of life. The two last had their origin in the intoning of the Sutras by Buddhist priests, and many of them deal with religious subjects. But the vast majority are purely secular. If one introduces a sinner lamenting that heaven has rejected him, another shows a lover perplexed about the path to the object of his affections. The irony of fate decided that these particular dances should be the ones chosen by the Shirabiyoshi in the twelfth century. These Shirabiyoshi were the prototypes of the modern Geisha (professional danseuses). Their name—white measure-markers—was derived from the fact that they originally appeared in snow-white robes, carrying a white-sheathed sword, and wearing a man's head-dress. They were not the first females who made dancing a business. In the middle of the ninth century