Page:Japanese plays and playfellows (1901).djvu/102

76 Czar for indoctrinating docile peasants than the Yedo drama was of service to the Shōgun.

One of the most admired examples of unscrupulous virtue is Nakamitsu, applauded in 1898 as in 1598, for the same hero holds the stage for centuries. This is the story of Nakamitsu. His feudal lord, Manju, had confided a reprobate son, named Bijomaru, to his care, in the hope that a samurai's control would prove more efficacious than a priest's; but, as Bijomaru continued to "indulge in all sorts of wild sports, sometimes going so far as to kill innocent common people," Nakamitsu was ordered to put him to death. Instead of doing so, he beheaded his own son, Kojumaru, and took the head to his master, who, believing in his fidelity, refused to inspect it. Years afterwards, when Bijomaru has become an irreproachable priest, he is restored to his father, who forgives Nakamitsu for disobeying him and rewards his self-sacrifice with the gift of an adopted son and an extensive tract of land. Now, the moral of this story to us appears atrocious, that a father may murder his son to oblige his general, but a little reflection will show that the Jewish legend of the interrupted sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, though similar, is less heroic. For Nakamitsu's act was voluntary, and his son, eager to be sacrificed on the altar of duty, welcomed death, while Manju had not demanded such cruel fidelity.

A typical instance of the teaching and technique of popular plays is furnished by "Ichi-no-tani Futaba-gunki" ("The Tale of the Sapling of Ichi-no-tani"), produced with exceptional splendour and a first-rate cast both Danjuro and Kikugoro, leading Japanese actors, were included at the chief Tōkyō theatre in the autumn of 1898. The incident, more or less