Concerning the Place the _No_ takes in Japan to-day
In Japan to-day there still lingers much of the old aristocratic scorn of the common theatre, but the theatres which are dedicated to the performance of the _No_ have no such stigma attached to them. Indeed, these performances are almost entirely supported by the gentle and aristocratic classes. The interest of intellectual men in these plays is not even satisfied with on-looking, and many of the leading men of the day in Tokio--lawyers, university professors, statesmen and aristocrats--study the chants and songs and give private recitals of them. A few even undertake the arduous training necessary to act a complete part, including the "dancing," and then the gentlemen are proud to appear with distinguished professionals. The only comparable enthusiasm in our country is that of the Shakespeare societies; but even to act, and act well, a part in a Shakespeare play requires an amount of application trivial in comparison with that necessary completely to master a rôle in one of the _No_. For in "singing" the _utai_ not only is every minute inflection of the voice prescribed and regulated according to the severest rules, but every movement of the body, every step and movement even of the toes or little fingers in the "dance" that accompanies it, is most strictly governed by an iron tradition, and the secret of some of the parts is only in the hands of a few masters.
Mr. Sansom quotes, in an unsympathetic spirit, the opinion of Mr. Tanaka Shohei, but as this opinion represents in substance that of a number of the leading Japanese who interest themselves in the subject, I think it may very well be given as an expression of current opinion of the _No_: "From every point of view it is one of the pre-eminent arts of the world. It is the flower of the Yamato stock. Every art reflects the spirit of a given people at a given time, and, remembering this, we must hold it remarkable that the affections of our people should be retained by an art which arose six hundred years ago. In the West there is no art with such a pedigree. This shows that the _No_ represents the national spirit, and is complete in every respect."
A Japanese professor, writing to me, says, "A _No_ drama is always very simple in its plot, and it is chiefly its peculiar poetical construction and ring which appeal so much to our emotion and give the charm it possesses." Another opinion is quoted by Mr. Osman Edwards: "The words (of the _No_) are gorgeous, splendid and even magnificent as are the costumes."