At this time there were actors who worked as understudies and were not regularly employed, and when not on the stage earned money by their immoralities. They did not accept compensation from the theatre, but appeared for the sake of exhibiting their personal charms and provided their own costumes. Until 1830 these good-looking young men were to be found in private tea-houses in connection with the theatre, and from their ranks came some of the famous onnagata. This is the other side of the theatre, but accounts in large measure for the deep social prejudice that existed against the Kabuki yakusha, a prejudice that is by no means entirely removed at the present day, although the standing of the actors has been elevated and their position in one of Japan’s most characteristic institutions is fully recognised. Sons born in a leading actor’s family were given a thorough stage training, making their first bow to the audience while still infants in arms, but less fortunate children had great difficulty in winning a place on the stage. Yakusha who succeeded without family, and who relied only upon their talents, often received their early stage apprenticeship as members of travelling companies, or were seen in kodomo shibai, or children’s theatre companies. There were, also, temporary theatres set up in compounds of shrines, called miya shibai, or shrine theatres, and those along the river, called hama shibai, or shore theatres. The ability of many a popular actor was very often first discovered in such surroundings. It was difficult for the outsider to break through the yakusha caste. The family system of preserving the line was as strong among the yakusha as it was from the Shogun and aristocracy down to artists, artisans, tea ceremony and flower arrangement teachers and musicians. And if there was no direct descendant to inherit the family name an heir was adopted. This forms one of the most interesting characteristics of the yakusha, for the son not only succeeded to the family name, but carried on the traditions of his father’s stage art with an unswerving fidelity, preserving the inheritance of the past, but also attempting to enhance the reputation of the family, and in turn passing on the capital and accumulated interest to the next successor. The inclination of the yakusha towards Buddhism was very strong. _Kabuki Koto Hajime_, or Beginnings of Kabuki, says with regard to this characteristic: “Those who played tragic rôles wanted to borrow the power of _Hokkekyo_ (Buddhist Scripture of the Lotus of the Good Law), and especially were faithful to the Nichiren sect (founded by Nichiren, the stormy petrel of Japanese Buddhism, seven hundred years ago). They had to have some religion to forget the terrible characters they played, as they might be haunted by them when they went home.”