Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/146

 dwellings. Altogether the theatre and its votaries were regarded as greatly injurious to morality. Iyenari attempted (1799) to put an end to every kind of public entertainment within the precincts of a temple or shrine in connection with religious festivals. But the spirit of the people resented such a restriction and it failed to produce any effect. When, however, in the first half of the nineteenth century, the organisers of these entertainments began to employ actors for the purpose of giving theatrical performances at religious fêtes, public opinion supported the authorities in peremptorily vetoing anything of the kind (1842), and in ordering that all persons engaged in such performances should be arrested and severely punished. It appears to have been thought that the attitude of the theatre was fatal to good morals. The yose did not present itself in such an objectionable light. This was a species of music hall where performances were given by singers of jōruri or naga-uta, by experts in the Biwa recitative and by raconteurs. The yose had none of the decorative features of an Occidental music hall. It was a building of the very plainest and least attractive description, generally situated in some narrow alley or by-street, and frequented by people who thought much of the penny paid for admission and were content to take a seat on the floor side by side with the labourer or the mechanic "out for the evening." But the owners of yose by and by conceived the idea of introducing troupes of