Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/146

 Ichikawa Danjuro and Onoye Kikugoro, the princes of the stage at present, would long ago have earned a world-wide reputation had their lot been cast in any Western country. There cannot be any second opinion about their capacities, or about their title to rank with the great tragedians of the world. But in their own country, though their names are household words, the taint of their profession clings to them still. Men speak of them as a ballet-dancer of extra-ordinary agility or a banjo-player of eminent skill would be spoken of in Europe or America,—renowned exponents of a renownless art.

The observances of the twelfth month, the "last child" (otogo) of the year, remain to be noticed. Its opening day brings once more upon the scene the perennial rice dumpling, now eaten by all that go down to the sea in ships, a charm against perils of wave and flood. The part played by this particular comestible in Japanese religious rites and ceremonies doubtless excites the reader's curiosity. It is the sacred bread of the nation, but it owes its exalted character to nothing more mysterious than its circular shape, a type of the mirror used to entice the wayward Sun Goddess from her cave in the days of the beginning of all things. In the cities these quaint customs are gradually fading from public sight, but some of them are preserved from oblivion by the motives that they furnish to artists. Probably no collection of Japanese objects of virtu is without three