Page:Japanese plays and playfellows (1901).djvu/85



the sacred opera of Tōkyō and the comic opera of London the difference is so stupendous, that one shudders to reflect on the unfortunate fact that English playgoers, until quite lately, derived most of their ideas about Japan from "The Mikado" of Mr. W. S. Gilbert and "The Geisha" of Mr. Owen Hall. In 1885 so little was known about Japanese customs and characteristics, that the Bab Balladist ran no risk of insulting the intelligence of his auditors when he introduced his puppets with the words:

There was no one to tell him that his "gentlemen of Japan" were not Japanese at all, but Chinamen without pigtails. The very names—Pish-Tush, Nanki-Poo, Pitti-Sing were redolent of China, while Pooh-Bah, with his insatiable appetite for bribes, was a typical mandarin. However, the author had picked up a real war-song, tune and all ("Miyasama, miyasama"), and the Three Little Maids from School giggled very prettily in their novel costumes.