THE DRAMA IN RELATION TO TRUTH 365 



The history of the drama shows that dramatic art has been 

 a means used to depict events in the religious and historic 

 development of nations. The stage may serve as a reflector 

 for the customs and manners of the times. It is a chronicle 

 of action. A writer regards the stage as an "agency of civili- 

 zation," and indeed it may not inappropriately be called the 

 school-house of the world. 



The drama has also been a favorable mode of popular di- 

 version and instruction, by strongly appealing to the emo- 

 tions as well as to the finer faculties of human perception. 

 Numerous are the play-writers of the past who dwell upon 

 the records of deeds of heroism and conquest, and who, by 

 recitals of the horrors of bloodshed and crime in the name of 

 patriotism, have more often pictured the greed of gain. 



The drama of Greece was intimately blended with the re- 

 ligious and patriotic sentiments of the nation. No less were 

 these sentiments present in the No plays of Japan. The origin 

 of the drama in Japan is attributed, early in eleven hundred, 

 to Iso- no-Zenji, called the " mother of the Japanese drama," 

 although these so-called dramatic performances were, doubt- 

 less, exhibitions of dancing. True dramatic representations 

 may be said to have begun at a later date. Learning in those 

 days was in the hands of men and women who composed the 

 court circles; women were prominent as writers, and many 

 beautiful fragments of their literary skill have come down to 

 us. Originally the nobles took part in the performances of 

 the No plays. The imperial theatre was attached to the court, 

 and the ladies of the household attended. The brocaded cos- 

 tumes of the actors, even to the present day, are historical 

 monuments of the past, and keep alive the traditions of those 

 ideal heroes so dear to the Japanese patriot. Likewise in China, 

 the drama, theoretically, was elevated in tone, and the penal 

 code threatened those who misused their talents with pun- 

 ishment in purgatory after death. Among the masterpieces 

 of Chinese dramatic art, is one, "The Sorrows of Han," which 

 appeals to patriotism. 



Along the gamut of dramatic writings might be cited nu- 

 merous plays written especially with the purpose of noting 



