Page:Sketches of Tokyo Life (1895).djvu/19

Rh sale of tea and confectionery are no inconsiderable items in the hall-proprietor’s income. Though the evening performance opens at about half-past six or seven, it is not until an hour later that the hall begins to fill. Meanwhile, a supernumerary, a story-teller in his novitiate, is seated on the dais and tells a story, with which he manages to amuse the indulgent audience more by his buffoonery than by the hackneyed jests which he scatters broadcast. After this lever de rideau, more skilled story-tellers appear in succession until, when five or six have each had his turn, there is an interval of some ten minutes at nine or half-past. Then comes the pièce de résistance of the evening, when the star of the troupe takes his seat on the dais, though sometimes he is preceded by another. The performance concludes at ten o’clock or a little later. On the dais there is a cushion for the story-teller, with a brazier and a kettle in winter on his right, and a lighted candle before him on either side. Every story-teller, to break the ice upon his appearance on the dais, invariably snuffs the candles and sips a cup of hot water with the object, apparently, of prolonging the suspense of his audience. Some have peculiar habits, most of them purposely acquired, which are obtrusively exhibited to excite the laughter of their patrons, such as sneezing, rubbing one’s nose, making grimaces, etc.

All this is not high class; but it is not for refinement that one turns to the story-tellers’ hall. The theatre is open in Japan for the better part of a day and is, moreover, an expensive amusement. The great mass of the people who live by daily toil cannot naturally afford to visit a play-house except at rare intervals, and it is to these, the busy and slender-pursed, that the story-tellers’ hall appeals. Artisans and small-tradesmen, with their families, and students seek at the hall a relaxation from the hard day’s work; and as they are after all no unimportant sections of the city population, the influence of these halls on Tokyo life cannot be overlooked. Newspapers are, it is true,