Roof tile

During the Song Dynasty in China, these were entertainment venues for the common people located in a corner of a city's downtown, with theater, songs, shadow puppets, lectures, magic tricks, sumo, geisha houses, bars, restaurants, and food stalls. The most famous was Lin'an (Hangzhou), the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, where there were more than 20 of them inside and outside the city. During the Tang and Northern Song Dynasties, such entertainment was also held in markets, avenues, and temple grounds, and was also found in the mansions of nobles, but it developed along with the prosperity of cities, and became the catalyst for the creation of genres of popular literature such as novels, zaju, inpon, and kyoku, which emerged around the Song, Jin, and Yuan dynasties.

[Yoshinobu Shiba]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国の宋(そう)代に都市の繁華街の一角で、演劇、歌謡、影絵、講釈、手品、相撲、芸者屋、酒場、料理屋、屋台などが密集した庶民の娯楽場。有名なのは南宋の都の臨安(りんあん)（杭州(こうしゅう)）で、城の内外に20余りあった。唐や北宋でも市場や大道、寺院境内で行われ、貴人の邸宅でもこうした娯楽はあったが、都市の隆盛にあわせて発達し、宋・金(きん)・元(げん)ごろから台頭した小説、雑劇、院本(いんぽん)、曲(きょく)など庶民文芸のジャンルを生み出すきっかけとなった。

［斯波義信］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例