Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 3.djvu/89

Rh dances throughout the whole of the seventh month (modern August) in the capital and its vicinity. At first these were confined to the higher classes, brilliancy and richness of costume being an essential. But by degrees the circle widened, and in the days when Oda Nobunaga, the Taikō, and Tokugawa Iyeyasu were engaged in restoring peace and order, autumn dances began to be organised by the mercantile, manufacturing, and agricultural orders, aristocrats taking the place of spectators. These and other popular dances will be referred to in a future chapter.

Wrestling was a favourite exercise of the Japanese samurai from the earliest time. When first heard of historically, two decades before the commencement of the Christian era, it presents itself simply as the art of applying one's strength to the best advantage for the destruction of an enemy. There were no rules, no restrictions, no vetoes; only devices. Kicking, striking, gripping anywhere and anyhow; attacking the most vital parts of the body—all were permissible. A man sought only to kill his adversary, and if, after throwing him, he could break bones or ribs by stamping, or kicking, or pounding with the knees, success was complete. The earliest historical wrestler served his opponent in that manner. One of the Emperor Suinin's ( 29–70 ) Palace guards, Tayema no Kehaya, or Tayema the quick-kicker," had such thews