Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/54

24 recently been established, became popular and some of the actors were obliged to play women's rôles. This unnatural art of the onna-gata (oyama), or "actors in women's rôles," gradually developed, until we hear of great onna-gata in different eras. Some famous onna-gata took great pains, even in their daily lives, to train themselves for women's rôles. They usually wore women's garments and used women's instruments and articles. They even spoke and behaved like women. The law prohibiting actresses was in force, in most parts of the country, until the middle of the nineteenth century. This is the reason why there have been few actresses until quite recent years. Since a few years ago, many educated girls have taken to the profession. But these actresses are generally considered to be much inferior to the onna-gata of the old school.

By the time Monzayaeon and Kaion were flourishing, kabuki theatres throve in Ōsaka, Yedo, and Kyōto. But they could not compete with the marionette theatres, because both the performers and the dramas were still in nonage. At first, the pieces produced in these theatres were the compositions of the ignorant actors, but