At every street-comer in Japanese towns minstrels of the improvisators class may be encountered, who chant extempore ballads of inordinate length, accompanying themselves on guitars of different shapes and sizes, every one of which has its own special title and "method." In the Yoshiwara (District of Delights) at Tokio, Mr. Mitford counted nearly four hundred tea- houses, in which the well-to-do inhabitants of that city gave their formal dinner-parties and "receptions." Music is a leading feature of these entertainments, and the establishments in question, despite their large number, are all well supplied with executants. So general, indeed, is the demand for music at public places of refreshment in Japan, that even the humblest inns and cabarets are provided with Geshias (female minstrels), who welcome the traveller on his arrival, and amuse him during his repasts with performances upon the Shamiseng, a three-stringed guitar, the body of which is made of mulberry-wood covered with catskin.