Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/58

26 middle of the nineteenth century, they were at last able to drive the marionette theatres almost out of existence.

The theatres proper of the present day are of two classes, i. e., the kabuki theatres and the theatres of the new school. In the older style theatres, the epical dramas, old kyaku-hon, and kyaku-hon adapted from the epical dramas are used. In the modern theatres new kyaku-hon by native authors, and translations from European dramatists such as Shakespeare, Ibsen, Maeterlinck, Shaw, and Wilde are used. These new kyaku-hon are quite commonplace and unpopular, while the translations are very popular among the younger generation. But it is still the performances of the epical dramas in the old school theatres which appeal most strongly to the imagination of the nation at large.

Another important thing about the epical drama is its extensive use merely for chanting purposes. In yosé or variety-halls, of which there are in Tokyo at least one hundred and fifty, one or two gidayū chanters are numbered among their nightly performers. There are also about ten halls devoted to chantresses. The institution of chantresses