Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/132

 shrine and in the Shōgun's court, and thus they took to dancing on the sward of a common which may be seen to-day by any one visiting Kyōtō and making his way to Kitano Shiba-wara (the Kitano moor). The name given to the scene of their performance and still used in the sense of "theatre"—shibai, or the sward (shiba) seat (i) —perpetuates its rustic beginnings. O-Kuni's dance before the Shōgun had been the immemorial Ama-no-iwa-to, the mythological deities inviting the Sun Goddess to emerge from her cave. What modifications she introduced for popular purposes it is impossible now to determine. The main fact is that she and her husband converted the mimetic dance from a religious rite or an aristocratic pastime into a bread-earning profession, and thus laid the foundation of the theatre. History is accurate enough to tell something about O-Kuni's favourite costume—a wide-brimmed lacquer hat, a red rain-coat, a string of beads about her neck,—and also that she often took the role of a man, assigning the female part to her husband, while one Densuke acted as buffoon. They had an immense success, and found many imitators, but always among the lowest elements of the population. The Kyōtō filles de joie seem to have thought this kind of enterprise especially suited to their station and capacities. At the initiative of the still remembered Sadoshima Masakichi, they erected a stage