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the Kyoto studio it was JidaPgeki or historical plays that were exclusively produced. The tradition, still observed to-day, of dividing labour, as it were, between these two big movie centres originated in this way: contemporary films for Tokyo and historical ones for Kyoto.
The one characteristic feature of the screen of those days was its close relation to the stage, or rather it was in immediate subordination to the latter. As in almost all European countries, once the cinema had passed the stage when it was cheered as a technical novelty or unique show, it came to depend upon the stage for attracting popular favour. The part that the cinema was to play was simply to re-present the stage; the cinema was useful when it functioned well in its reproductory faculty. Further¬ more, it was the so-called “canned” plays that the screen was commissioned to present to the audience, exact reproductions, by camera process, of plays as they were per¬ formed on the stage. One remembers in this connection that some of the earliest films were short sketches of the Kabuki stage. For a long time since the first days of its develop¬ ment, the Japanese cinema was not able to break the spell of the stage, and, in a certain sense, it retains this characteristic even to-day. At any rate, all the screen stars of those early days were temporarily hired from the stage. There was no such thing as scenario and, consequently, there was no difference in acting whether before the audience or in front of the camera. Moreover, instead of the actors’ own voices, one heard an interpreter or a group of interpreters sitting beside the screen and reciting the dialogue with a great deal of dramatic elocution. The natural result was that the people accepted the movietheatre as a cheaper substitute for the play-theatre, and it is needless to add that the audience consisted mainly of children and uneducated adults.
II. The Development (1915-1923)
The Great War now makes its appearance. The second chapter begins. The War brought about a great revolution in all Japanese industries, and the film industry was no exception. The war-time prosperity that favoured Japanese capitalism enlivened in¬ vestments in the motion picture industry on the one hand, and, on the other, lifted the standard of living of the people. As will be stated fully later, several new companies for movie production came into being, and the people’s demand for culture and recrea¬ tion naturally called for more and better motion pictures. By the early twenties the popularity of the screen completely overshadowed that of the traditional forms of amuse¬ ment such as the stage, yose (story-teller’s hall) and tent-show. The screen, thus, had become the most fundamental form of amusement in the life of the people.
Another significant aftermath of the War was the temporary depression of European movies and the sudden ascendency of American screen art which came to bear great influence upon Japan’s new art. The Japanese cinema which had depended upon