entrances to the stage had probably some device to denote
them. What they possessed in the way of properties it is more than
useless to speculate, as, whatever could be said, could only be
conjectural. In dressing their parts propriety in costume, and in
adhering to the habits of the Indian Drama, seems to have been observed
with some show of consistency.

The Chinese Drama also arose from the Hindoo developing itself as time
rolled on from Pantomimes and ballets. A very ancient Pantomime is said
to have been symbolical of the conquest of China by Wou Wang. Others
were on subjects of the Harvest, War, and Peace; whilst many were only
of an obscure nature. With the rise and progress of the native drama
about five hundred years before Christ Pantomimes fell into disrepute.

It is interesting to note that one of the penal codes of the Celestial
Empire was, that those who wrote plays with vicious, or immoral
tendencies, should stay in "purgatory" as long as their plays were
performed. This precept was all right in theory, but in practice it was
more honoured in the breach than in the observance, as amongst the whole
of the Celestial dramatic writers only one in about ten thousand seems
to have conformed to this rule.

The dramatic writers of China duly observed the question of rank and
priority, and just as much as the native Hindoo writers observed that of
the various phases of caste.

Plays were divided into acts and scenes, and occasionally were prefixed
by a prologue. Performances took sometimes a single day, and favourite
plays oftentimes longer.

The Japanese type of drama seems to have originally evolved itself from
that of the Chinese, though its singing, dancing, historical, and
Pantomimical displays are, of course, purely native.

A native of Japan, though of Chinese descent, Hadu Kawatsa, at the
close of the 6th century (A.D.) gave dramatic entertainments in Japan.
The Japanese claim for the Pantomimical dance Sambaso as a preventative
of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; and this dance, it is said, that
within recent years, is used as a prelude to dramatic entertainments.

Isono Zenji is thought to have been the originator of the Japanese
Drama, but her performances were more those of the _Mima_--dancing and
posturing.

In the seventeenth century Saruwaka Kanzaburo introduced the drama
proper into Japan by the erection, in 1624, of a theatre, and nearly
fifty years later than the first permanent theat