shiba-i

Updated: May 27, 2025

Hard by Asakusa is the theatre street. The theatres are called Shiba-i, "turf places," from the fact that the first theatrical performances were held on a turf plot. The origin of the drama in Japan, as elsewhere, was religious. The fire, being the male influence, would assimilate with and act as an antidote upon the mephitic smoke, which was a female influence.

Baron Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford Redesdale - Tales of Old Japan