eighty singers out of a chaos of disagreeable, nasal voices, producing too a respectable orchestra of forty executants and two hundred and fifty pupils who possess a considerable amount of theoretical knowledge. First some of the Imperial Princesses, now also the Empress herself and the Crown Princess have taken the matter up, and the pupils of the academy, aided by foreign amateurs, occasionally give concerts at which over a thousand persons attend. It is to be presumed that most do so out of curiosity, and some bring infants who accompany the performance with their squalls. Still a beginning has been made, and we know that sometimes a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. May this happen here before another century elapses, and then may all the samisens, kotos, and other native instruments of music be turned into firewood to warm the poor, when if at no previous period of their existence they will subserve a purpose indisputably useful!
Books recommended. The Music and Musical Instruments of Japan, by F. T. Piggott (an expansion, beautifully illustrated, of his paper in the "Asiatic Transactions "mentioned below).—On the Musical Scales of Various Nations, by A. J. Ellis, F. R. S., printed in the "Journal of the Society of Arts" for the 27th March. 1885.—Some Japanese Musical Intervals, by Rev. Dr. Veeder, in Vol. VII. Part II. of the "Asiatic Transactions." Various papers by F. T. Piggott, Dr. F. DuBois, and Dr. C. G. Knott, in Vol. XIX. Part II. of the "Asiatic Transactions."—Einige Notizen ūber die Japanische Musik, by Dr. Müller, in Vol. I. of the "German Asiatic Transactions," and R. Dittrich's excellent paper in Part 58 of the same.—For specimens of Japanese music transcribed into the European musical notation, and with the words of the songs in Roman letters, see a small book published in 1888 by the Tōkyō Academy of Music, and entitled Collection of Japanese Koto Music. The most delicate-minded need not fear having their morals tainted by strumming through this little volume, as the editors make a point of telling us in their preface that in this edition of the old Koto music, "for those words and tunes occurring therein, which are liable to offend the public feelings on account of their vulgarity and meanness, pure and elegant ones have been substituted, thus preventing their baneful effects upon the social character." At the same time, the few entirely new compositions of their own, which the compilers have ventured to add, have all "been prepared with a care not to injure that virtue which is inherent in our old Koto music." Historical accuracy is thus as perfectly safe guarded as taste and morals.
Mythology. See History.
Names. The Japanese have more than one kind of surname, more than one kind of Christian (or should we say heathen?)
