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 
