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taiko (drum). It plays, not between the acts to entertain the spectators, but, like the Greek chorus, during the scene, to direct and explain the drama. Pantomime is an important element in the play and exceedingly expressive. The pantomimic actions are guided by the orchestra and the singers of the chants that furnish necessary explanations. Japanese plays are mostly historical, though some depict life and manners. It is quite interesting to note that in 1903 an adapted translation of "Othello" was put on the Japanese stage with marked success.

The Nō "dances," as they are sometimes called, were at first "purely religious performances, intended to propitiate the chief deities of the Shintō religion, and were acted exclusively in connection with their shrines." But they were afterwards secularized and popularized, as lyric dramas. They are comparatively brief, and occupy only about an hour in performing. They are now given chiefly as special entertainments in high society or court circles to extraordinary guests.^[1]

Music, especially in connection with dancing, furnishes another common means of amusement. The chief instruments of the old style are the koto, a kind of lyre; the samisen, already described; the kokyū, a sort of fiddle; lutes, flutes, fifes, drums, etc.; while the violin, organ, and piano are coming into general