During the Genroku period, which produced so many actors of note, the most representative of whom were Sakata Tojuro, of Kyoto, and Ichikawa Danjuro, the first, of Yedo, the art of the onnagata underwent a great change. Emphasis had been laid on the ability to dance and on good looks, but as greater stress was put on the ability to act, the art of the onnagata made rapid advancement. The senior among the Genroku onnagata was Ogino Sawanojo, who died in 1704. He played heroines to Danjuro’s heroes, and was long associated with the first Ichikawa. He wore an obi of unusual width, and it became the fashion among the ladies of the capital. Tiring of the stage, he gave it up and opened an incense shop, but the attraction of the theatre was too great, and he returned. Always closely associated with Danjuro, he died the same year in which the founder of Japan’s most famous line of actors was murdered in his dressing-room. _Amayo Sanbai Kigen_, or Three Cups of Sake on a Rainy Night, a book of criticism, praises Ogino highly: “Even the gods and Buddha would be struck with the actions of this man. He is most realistic in pathetic scenes. As a lady of high rank, or a wife of the lower classes, he leaves nothing to be desired.” [Illustration: Three onnagata of Asia: In the centre Mei Ran-fan of the Peking Stage, to the left Nakamura Utayemon, the leading onnagata of Japan, and on the right Nakamura Fukusuke, the son of Utayemon and one of the most fascinating impersonators of women in Tokyo.] The first onnagata in Kyoto during Genroku was Yoshizawa Ayame, who died in 1729. He was brought up by a widowed mother leading a precarious existence on Dotombori, the theatre street of Osaka. At first he was a page in the household of a daimyo, and later went on the stage. In the characters he played, he was not restricted to certain types of fair women as had been the case with his predecessors, but was most versatile, acting equally well heroines of the gay quarters, women of bad character, and ladies of high degree. The playwright, Fukuoka Yagoshiro, collected Ayame’s ideas about the art of the onnagata, and made them into a book called _Ayame Gusa_, or the Sayings of Ayame. In this Ayame declared that an onnagata should have the heart of an onnagata even in the gakuya, or green-room. When partaking of bento (eatables served in a box) and sushi (cooked rice rolled into dainty morsels and stuffed with vegetables or fish after the manner of a sandwich), he should take care not to be seen eating. If his manners were masculine, and he ate and drank in the same manner as a tateyaku, his acting would not be successful. An onnagata, Ayame declared, should hide the fact of his being married, and if he were asked about his wife he should blush. Even if he had many children he must be like a child himself.