deliberation, he
decided that I was to have the run of his theatre and ten actors for the
afternoon, charging three dollars and a half for the whole concern. This
seemed to me to be fairly reasonable; I did not know of any London
theatre that I could have hired for three dollars and a half, or even as
many pounds, and then the company consisted of ten actors who were all
artists, all loving their work as only true artists can. To be sure, it
was a suburban theatre, and the acting was not of the finest; probably
also there was a great deal of exaggeration in the poses; but still it
lent itself to decorative work, and answered my purpose to perfection.
They did not act, but merely posed to form a series of pictures, and
some of the expressions of the actors were extraordinarily grotesque,
just like a Japanese picture-book. But what struck me most of all was
the absolute autocracy of the little manager, or whatever he called
himself--the Czar of Russia or General Booth was not in it with him for
power! He threw his actors about on the stage just as an artist would
fling pigment on to a canvas; and his violent whisking of a bit of
vermilion and apple-green in against a wave was too dexterous and
masterly for anything, and called forth my unfeigned admiration.

[Illustration: THE STREET WITH THE GALLERY]

The greatest living actor at the present moment in Japan is Danjuro--in
fact, I should say that he is one of the greatest actors in the whole
world; and in order to give a true insight into the many beauties of the
Japanese drama, it seems to me that I cannot do better than describe a
day that I once spent with this great master.

I was taken to see him by Fukuchi, Japan's most eminent dramatist and
the greatest of living writers. We were shown into a small room with
spotless mats to await Danjuro's arrival, and my attention was at once
attracted towards an exquisite kakemono that hung on the wall, which was
the only decoration the room possessed. It was a picture, a masterpiece,
that seemed to suggest one of the early Italian masters; it impressed me
tremendously, and I told Fukuchi so. "Ah, I am glad!" he exclaimed, "for
Danjuro, the great master, when I told him you were coming and that you
were a painter, asked me many questions about you. He took much pains to
discover the quality of art that appealed to you, and the side of Nature
that you liked the best. He also wished to know your favourite flower,
and which kind