Page:The Awakening of Japan, by Okakura Kakuzō; 1905.djvu/67

 vocations and amusements, but they were forbidden to trespass on what belonged to the higher orders. They were not allowed to wear family crests, or even to bear surnames. They could have their theater, with its line of dangiuros (actors), but might not indulge in the no-music of the samurai, or the classic dance of the Kioto nobility.

As a precaution against an uprising, all the commoners were disarmed. An immense body of secret police was employed to watch their movements, and any breath of discontent met with severe punishment. Silent fear haunted them, for all the walls seemed to have grown ears. Theirs it was to work and obey, and not to question. However rich or accomplished, commoners born must die commoners. Hemmed in by