Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 3.djvu/46

Rh that used for the Kagura, one of the modifications being the addition of a bridge with a steeply arched roadway on which the acrobats commenced their feats as they emerged from the orchestra-room. Danced upon this stage the Buddhist versions of the Den-gaku assumed a stateliness and a splendour not previously imagined. But they did not obtain more than temporary patronage at the Imperial Court. Perhaps the favour with which they were viewed by the military rulers in Kamakura tended to discredit them in Kyōtō, but concerning that conjecture alone is possible. At all events, the Den-gaku was put aside in the Imperial capital, and the Saru-gaku (monkey mime) was adopted in its place.

The traditional origin of this curiously named dance has already been described, and the various theories about the derivation of the name have been noted. Whatever be truth as to those points, it is certain that up to the time now under consideration, namely, the middle of the fourteenth century, the Saru-gaku was simply a comic dance, and that its character then underwent a complete change. The Buddhist monks took it up, just as they had taken up the Den-gaku, and not only converted it into an instrument for propagating religious truths, but also employed it as a means of obtaining funds for charitable purposes. It is to be observed that at this time the Buddhist priesthood had virtually