Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/133

 in the dry bed of the river, and thus received the name "river-bed folk" (kawara-mono), an epithet significant of the contempt in which their profession was held. Sadoshima and her troupe, now including a number of performers of both sexes, made their way to Yedo at the beginning of the seventeenth century. But if they had any hope of improving their status by this change of location, events disappointed them. Within the crowded precincts of the "eastern capital" not even a river-bed offered space for their purpose, and they were obliged to betake themselves to the degraded quarter,—a suburb which had just sprung up on a site previously overgrown with reeds, the notorious Yoshiwara (reed-moor) of modern times. Thus the reputation of the new enterprise sank still lower, and, by and by, the conduct of the danseuses—whose number had now grown to nearly a hundred and fifty—being deemed injurious to public morals, the law stepped in and interdicted their performance. This happened in the year 1643. It was an event of great moment to the development of the histrionic art in Japan, for from that time actresses were never permitted to perform in company with actors, and it became necessary that the female roles should be taken by men. Apparently such a veto should have proved a serious obstacle, but in truth its effect was small. From the days of Genzaemon, a skilled musician and dancer who went from Kyoto to Yedo in the middle of the seven-