son, which takes possession of her, and answers questions through
her mouth. The prophecies which the Ichiko utters during her trance
are held in high esteem by the superstitious and vulgar.

Hard by Asakusa is the theatre street. The theatres are called
_Shiba-i_,[35] "turf places," from the fact that the first theatrical
performances were held on a turf plot. The origin of the drama in
Japan, as elsewhere, was religious. In the reign of the Emperor Heijo
(A.D. 805), there was a sudden volcanic depression of the earth close
by a pond called Sarusawa, or the Monkey's Marsh, at Nara, in the
province of Yamato, and a poisonous smoke issuing from the cavity
struck down with sickness all those who came within its baneful
influence; so the people brought quantities of firewood, which they
burnt in order that the poisonous vapour might be dispelled. The fire,
being the male influence, would assimilate with and act as an antidote
upon the mephitic smoke, which was a female influence.[36] Besides
this, as a further charm to exorcise the portent, the dance called
Sambaso, which is still performed as a prelude to theatrical
exhibitions by an actor dressed up as a venerable old man, emblematic
of long life and felicity, was danced on a plot of turf in front of
the Temple Kofukuji. By these means the smoke was dispelled, and the
drama was originated. The story is to be found in the _Zoku Nihon Ki_,
or supplementary history of Japan.

[Footnote 35: In Dr. Hepburn's Dictionary of the Japanese language,
the Chinese characters given for the word _Shiba-i_ are _chi chang_
(_keih chang_, Morrison's Dictionary), "theatrical arena." The
characters which are usually written, and which are etymologically
correct, are _chih chue_ (_che keu_, Morrison), "the place of plants or
turf plot."]

[Footnote 36: This refers to the Chinese doctrine of the Yang and Yin,
the male and female influences pervading all creation.]

Three centuries later, during the reign of the Emperor Toba (A.D.
1108), there lived a woman called Iso no Zenji, who is looked upon as
the mother of the Japanese drama. Her performances, however, seem only
to have consisted in dancing or posturing dressed up in the costume of
the nobles of the Court, from which fact her dance was called
Otoko-mai, or the man's dance. Her name is only worth mentioning on
account of the respect in which her memory is held by actors.

It was not until the year A.D. 1624 that a man named Saruwaka