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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7936-8.txt b/7936-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..54118c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/7936-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2698 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Peeps at Many Lands: Japan, by John Finnemore + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: Peeps at Many Lands: Japan + +Author: John Finnemore + +Posting Date: September 18, 2014 [EBook #7936] +Release Date: April, 2005 +First Posted: June 2, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEEPS AT MANY LANDS: JAPAN *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Bill Flis and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art: THE TORII OF THE TEMPLE] + + + + +[Frontispiece: OUTSIDE A TEA-HOUSE] + + + + + PEEPS AT MANY LANDS + + JAPAN + + BY + + JOHN FINNEMORE + + + WITH TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR + + BY + + ELLA DU CANE + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN + + II. BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN + + III. BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN (_continued_) + + IV. THE JAPANESE BOY + + V. THE JAPANESE GIRL + + VI. IN THE HOUSE + + VII. IN THE HOUSE (_continued_) + + VIII. A JAPANESE DAY + + IX. A JAPANESE DAY (_continued_) + + X. JAPANESE GAMES + + XI. THE FEAST OF DOLLS AND THE FEAST OF FLAGS + + XII. A FARTHING'S WORTH OF FUN + + XIII. KITE-FLYING + + XIV. FAIRY STORIES + + XV. TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES + + XVI. TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES (_continued_) + + XVII. THE RICKSHAW-MAN + +XVIII. IN THE COUNTRY + + XIX. IN THE COUNTRY (_continued_) + + XX. THE POLICEMAN AND THE SOLDIER + + XXI. TWO GREAT FESTIVALS + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +BY ELLA DU CANE + + +OUTSIDE A TEA-HOUSE + +_Sketch-Map of Japan_ + +THE LITTLE NURSE + +THE WRITING LESSON + +GOING TO THE TEMPLE + +A JAPANESE HOUSE + +OFFERING TEA TO A GUEST + +FIGHTING TOPS + +THE TOY SHOP + +A BUDDHIST SHRINE + +PEACH TREES IN BLOSSOM + +THE FEAST OF FLAGS + +THE TORII OF THE TEMPLE + + + + +[Illustration: SKETCH-MAP OF JAPAN] + + + + +[Illustration: THE LITTLE NURSE] + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN + + +Far away from our land, on the other side of the world, lies a group of +islands which form the kingdom of Japan. The word "Japan" means the "Land +of the Rising Sun," and it is certainly a good name for a country of the +Far East, the land of sunrise. + +The flag of Japan, too, is painted with a rising sun which sheds its beams +on every hand, and this flag is now for ever famous, so great and wonderful +have been the victories in which it has been borne triumphant over Russian +arms. + +In some ways the Japanese are fond of comparing themselves with their +English friends and allies. They point out that Japan is a cluster of +islands off the coast of Asia, as Britain is a cluster of islands off the +coast of Europe. They have proved themselves, like the English, brave and +clever on the sea, while their troops have fought as nobly as British +soldiers on the land. They are fond of calling themselves the "English of +the East," and say that their land is the "Britain of the Pacific." + +The rise of Japan in becoming one of the Great Powers of the world has been +very sudden and wonderful. Fifty years ago Japan lay hidden from the world; +she forbade strangers to visit the country, and very little was known of +her people and her customs. + +Her navy then consisted of a few wooden junks; to-day she has a fleet of +splendid ironclads, handled by men who know their duties as well as English +seamen. Her army consisted of troops armed with two swords and carrying +bows and arrows; to-day her troops are the admiration of the world, armed +with the most modern weapons, and, as foes, to be dreaded by the most +powerful nations. + +Fifty years ago Japan was in the purely feudal stage. Her great native +Princes were called Daimios. Each had a strong castle and a private army +of his own. There were ceaseless feuds between these Princes and constant +fighting between their armies of samurai, as their followers were called. +Japan was like England at the time of our War of the Roses: family quarrels +were fought out in pitched battle. All that has now gone. The Daimios have +become private gentlemen; the armies of samurai have been disbanded, and +Japan is ruled and managed just like a European country, with judges, and +policemen, and law-courts, after the model of Western lands. + +When the Japanese decided to come out and take their place among the great +nations of the world, they did not adopt any half-measures; they simply +came out once and for all. They threw themselves into the stream of modern +inventions and movements with a will. They have built railways and set up +telegraph and telephone lines. They have erected banks and warehouses, +mills and factories. They have built bridges and improved roads. They have +law-courts and a Parliament, to which the members are elected by the +people, and newspapers flourish everywhere. + +Japan is a very beautiful country. It is full of fine mountains, with +rivers leaping down the steep slopes and dashing over the rocks in snowy +waterfalls. At the foot of the hills are rich plains and valleys, well +watered by the streams which rush down from the hills. But the mountains +are so many and the plains are so few that only a small part of the land +can be used for growing crops, and this makes Japan poor. Its climate is +not unlike ours in Great Britain, but the summer is hotter, and the winter +is in some parts very cold. Many of the mountains are volcanoes. Some of +these are still active, and earthquakes often take place. Sometimes these +earthquakes do terrible harm. The great earthquake of 1871 killed 10,000 +people, injured 20,000, and destroyed 130,000 houses. + +The highest mountain of Japan also is the most beautiful, and it is greatly +beloved by the Japanese, who regard it as a sacred height. Its name is +Fujisan, or Fusi-Yama, and it stands near the sea and the capital city +of Tokyo. It is of most beautiful shape, an almost perfect cone, and it +springs nearly 13,000 feet into the air. From the sea it forms a most +superb and majestic sight. Long before a glimpse can be caught of the shore +and the city, the traveller sees the lofty peak, crowned with a glittering +crest of snow, rising in lonely majesty, with no hint of the land on which +it rests. The Japanese have a great love of natural beauty, and they adore +Fujisan. Their artists are never tired of painting it, and pictures of it +are to be found in the most distant parts of the land. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN + + +In no country in the world do children have a happier childhood than in +Japan. Their parents are devoted to them, and the children are always good. +This seems a great deal to say, but it is quite true. Japanese boys and +girls behave as quietly and with as much composure as grown-up men and +women. From the first moment that it can understand anything, a Japanese +baby is taught to control its feelings. If it is in pain or sad, it is not +to cry or to pull an ugly face; that would not be nice for other people to +hear or see. If it is very merry or happy, it is not to laugh too loudly or +to make too much noise; that would be vulgar. So the Japanese boy or girl +grows up very quiet, very gentle, and very polite, with a smile for +everything and everybody. + +While they are little they have plenty of play and fun when they are not in +school. In both towns and villages the streets are the playground, and here +they play ball, or battledore and shuttlecock, or fly kites. + +Almost every little girl has a baby brother or sister strapped on her back, +for babies are never carried in the arms in Japan except by the nurses of +very wealthy people. The baby is fastened on its mother's or its sister's +shoulders by a shawl, and that serves it for both cot and cradle. The +little girl does not lose a single scrap of her play because of the baby. +She runs here and there, striking with her battledore, or racing after her +friends, and the baby swings to and fro on her shoulders, its little head +wobbling from side to side as if it were going to tumble off. But it is +perfectly content, and either watches the game with its sharp little black +eyes, or goes calmly off to sleep. + +In the form of their dress both boys and girls appear alike, and, more than +that, they are dressed exactly like their parents. There is no child's +dress in Japan. The garments are smaller, to fit the small wearers--that is +all. + +The main article of dress is a loose gown, called a kimono. Under the outer +kimono is an inner kimono, and the garments are girt about the body with a +large sash, called an obi. The obi is the pride of a Japanese girl's heart. +If her parents are rich, it will be of shining costly silk or rich brocade +or cloth of gold; if her parents are poor, they will make an effort to get +her one as handsome as their means will allow. Next to her obi, she prides +herself on the ornaments which decorate her black hair--fine hairpins, +with heads of tortoiseshell or coral or lacquer, and hair-combs, all most +beautifully carved. + +A boy's obi is more for practical use, and is not of such splendour as +his sister's. When he is very small, his clothes are of yellow, while his +sister's are of red. At the age of five he puts on the hakama, and then he +is a very proud boy. The hakama is a kind of trousers made of silk, and is +worn by men instead of an under-kimono. At five years old a boy is taken +to the temple to thank the gods who have protected him thus far; and as he +struts along, and hears with joy his hakama rustling its stiff new silk +beneath his kimono, he feels himself a man indeed, and that his babyhood of +yesterday is left far behind. + +Upon the feet are worn the tabi--thick white socks, which may be called +foot-gloves, for there are separate divisions for the toes. + +These serve both as stockings outside the house and slippers inside, for no +boots are worn in a Japanese house. When a Japanese walks out, he slips his +feet into high wooden clogs, and when he comes home he kicks off the clogs +at the door, and enters his home in tabi alone. The reason for this we +shall hear later on. In Japanese clothes there are no pockets. Whatever +they need to carry with them is tucked into the sash or into the sleeves of +the kimono. The latter are often very long, and afford ample room for the +odds and ends one usually carries in the pocket. + +But fine kimonos and rich obis are for the wealthy Japanese; the poor +cannot afford them, and dress very simply. The coolie--the Japanese working +man--goes almost naked in the warm weather, wearing only a pair of short +cotton trousers, until he catches sight of a policeman, when he slips on +his blue cotton coat, for the police have orders to see that he dresses +himself properly. His wife wears a cotton kimono, and the pair of them can +dress themselves handsomely--for coolies--from head to foot for a sum of 45 +sen, which, taking the sen at a halfpenny, amounts to 1 S. 10-1/2d. in our +money. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN (_continued_) + + +When Japanese boys and girls go to school, they make very low bows to their +teacher and draw in the breath with a buzzing sound. This is a sign of deep +respect, and the teacher returns their politeness by making low bows to +them. Then the children sit down and begin to learn their lessons. + +Their books are very odd-looking affairs to us. Not only are they printed +in very large characters, but they seem quite upside down. To find the +first page you turn to the end of the book, and you read it backwards +to the front page. Again, you do not read from left to right, as in our +fashion, but from right to left. Nor is this all: for the lines do not run +across the page, but up and down. Altogether, a Japanese book is at first +a very puzzling affair. When the writing lesson comes, the children have +no pens; they use brushes instead. They dip their brushes in the ink, and +paint the words one under the other, beginning at the top right-hand corner +and finishing at the bottom left-hand corner. If they have an address to +write on an envelope, they turn that upside down and begin with the name +of the country and finish with the name of the person--England, London, +Kensington Gardens, Brown John Mr. + +[Illustration: THE WRITING LESSON] + +But Japanese children have quite as many things to learn at home as at +school. At school they learn arithmetic, geography, history, and so on, +just as children do in England, but their manners and their conduct towards +other people are carefully drilled into them by their parents. The art of +behaving yourself towards others is by no means an easy thing to learn +in Japan. It is not merely a matter of good-feeling, gentleness, and +politeness, as we understand it, but there is a whole complicated system +of behaviour: how many bows to make, and how they should be made. There +are different forms of salutation to superiors, equals, and inferiors. +Different ranks of life have their own ways of performing certain actions, +and it is said that a girl's rank may easily be known merely by the way +in which she hands a cup of tea to a guest. From the earliest years the +children are trained in these observances, and they never make a mistake. + +The Japanese baby is taught how to walk, how to bow, how to kneel and +touch the floor with its forehead in the presence of a superior, and how +to get up again; and all is done in the most graceful manner and without +disturbing a single fold in its kimono. + +A child is taught very carefully how to wait on people, how to enter the +room, how to carry a tray or bowl at the right height, and, above all, how +to offer a cup or plate in the most dainty and correct style. One writer +speaks of going into a Japanese shop to buy some articles he wanted. The +master, the mistress, the children, all bent down before him. There was +a two-year-old baby boy asleep on his sister's back, and he, too, was +awakened and called upon to pay his respects to the foreign gentleman. He +woke without a start or a cry, understood at once what was required of him, +was set on his feet, and then proceeded to make his bows and to touch the +ground with his little forehead, just as exactly as his elder relatives. +This done, he was restored once more to the shawl, and was asleep again in +a moment. + +The art of arranging flowers and ornaments is another important branch of a +girl's home education. Everything in a Japanese room is carefully arranged +so that it shall be in harmony with its surroundings. The arrangement of +a bunch of flowers in a fine porcelain jar is a matter of much thought +and care. Children are trained how to arrange blossoms and boughs so that +the most beautiful effect may be gained, and in many Japanese houses may +be found books which contain rules and diagrams intended to help them in +gaining this power of skilful arrangement. This feeling for taste and +beauty is common to all Japanese, even the poorest. A well-known artist +says: "Perhaps, however, one of the most curious experiences I had of the +native artistic instinct of Japan occurred in this way: I had got a number +of fan-holders, and was busying myself one afternoon arranging them upon +the walls. My little Japanese servant-boy was in the room, and as I went +on with my work I caught an expression on his face from time to time which +showed me that he was not overpleased with my performance. After a while, +as this dissatisfied expression seemed to deepen, I asked him what the +matter was. Then he frankly confessed that he did not like the way in which +I was arranging my fan-holders. 'Why did you not tell me so at once?' I +asked. 'You are an artist from England,' he replied, 'and it was not for +me to speak.' However, I persuaded him to arrange the fan-holders himself +after his own taste, and I must say that I received a remarkable lesson. +The task took him about two hours--placing, arranging, adjusting; and when +he had finished, the result was simply beautiful. That wall was a perfect +picture: every fan-holder seemed to be exactly in its right place, and it +looked as if the alteration of a single one would affect and disintegrate +the whole scheme. I accepted the lesson with due humility, and remained +more than ever convinced that the Japanese are what they have justly +claimed to be--an essentially artistic people, instinct with living art." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE JAPANESE BOY + + +A Japanese boy is the monarch of the household. Japan is thoroughly Eastern +in the position which it gives to women. The boy, and afterwards the man, +holds absolute rule over sister or wife. It is true that the upper classes +in Japan are beginning to take a wider view of such matters. Women of +wealthy families are well educated, wear Western dress, and copy Western +manners. They sit at table with their husbands, enter a room or a carriage +before them, and are treated as English women are treated by English men. +But in the middle and lower classes the old state of affairs still remains: +the woman is a servant pure and simple. It is said that even among the +greatest families the old customs are still observed in private. The great +lady who is treated in her Western dress just as her Western sister is +treated takes pride in waiting on her husband when they return to kimono +and obi, just as her grandmother did. + +The importance of the male in Japan arises from the religious customs of +the country. The chief of the latter is ancestor-worship. The ancestors +of a family form its household gods; but only the male ancestors are +worshipped: no offerings are ever laid on the shelf of the household gods +before an ancestress. Property, too, passes chiefly in the male line, and +every Japanese father is eager to have a son who shall continue the worship +of his ancestors, and to whom his property may descend. + +Thus, the birth of a son is received with great joy in a Japanese +household; though, on the other hand, we must not think that a girl is +ill-treated, or even destroyed, as sometimes happens in China. Not at +all; she is loved and petted just as much as her brother, but she is +not regarded as so important to the family line. + +At the age of three the Japanese boy is taken to the temple to give thanks +to the gods. Again, at the age of five, he goes to the temple, once more to +return thanks. Now he is wearing the hakama, the manly garment, and begins +to feel himself quite a man. From this age onwards the Japanese boy among +the wealthier classes is kept busily at work in school until he is ready to +go to the University, but among the poorer classes he often begins to work +for his living. + +The clever work executed by most tiny children is a matter of wonder and +surprise to all European travellers. Little boys are found binding books, +making paper lanterns and painting them, making porcelain cups, winding +grass ropes which are hung along the house-fronts for the first week of the +year to prevent evil spirits from entering, weaving mats to spread over the +floors, and at a hundred other occupations. It is very amusing to watch +the practice of the little boys who are going to be dentists. In Japan the +dentist of the people fetches out an aching tooth with thumb and finger, +and will pluck it out as surely as any tool can do the work, so his pupils +learn their trade by trying to pull nails out of a board. They begin with +tin-tacks, and go on until they can, with thumb and finger, pluck out a +nail firmly driven into the wood. + +Luckily for them, they often get a holiday. The Japanese have many +festivals, when parents and children drop their work to go to some famous +garden or temple for a day's pleasure. Then there is the great boys' +festival, the Feast of Flags, held on the fifth day of the fifth month. Of +this festival we shall speak again. + +Every Japanese boy is taught that he owes the strictest duty to his parents +and to his Emperor. These duties come before all others in Japanese eyes. +Whatever else he may neglect, he never forgets these obligations. From +infancy he is familiar with stories in which children are represented as +doing the most extraordinary things and undergoing the greatest hardships +in order to serve their parents. There is one famous old book called +"Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Virtue." It gives instances of the doings +of good sons, and is very popular in every Japanese household. + +Professor Chamberlain, the great authority on Japan, quotes some of these +instances, and they seem to us rather absurd. He says: "One of the paragons +had a cruel stepmother who was very fond of fish. Never grumbling at her +harsh treatment of him, he lay down naked on the frozen surface of the +lake. The warmth of his body melted a hole in the ice, at which two carp +came up to breathe. These he caught and set before his stepmother. Another +paragon, though of tender years and having a delicate skin, insisted on +sleeping uncovered at night, in order that the mosquitoes should fasten on +him alone, and allow his parents to slumber undisturbed. + +"A third, who was very poor, determined to bury his own child alive in +order to have more food wherewith to support his aged mother, but was +rewarded by Heaven with the discovery of a vessel filled with gold, off +which the whole family lived happily ever after. But the drollest of all +is the story of Roraishi. This paragon, though seventy years old, used to +dress in baby's clothes and sprawl about upon the floor. His object was to +delude his parents, who were really over ninety years of age, into the idea +that they could not be so very old, after all, seeing that they still had +such a childlike son." + +His duty to his Emperor the Japanese takes very seriously, for it includes +his duty to his country. He considers that his life belongs to his country, +and he is not only willing, but proud, to give it in her defence. This was +seen to the full in the late war with Russia. Time and again a Japanese +regiment was ordered to go to certain death. Not a man questioned the +order, not a man dreamed for an instant of disobedience. Forward went the +line, until every man had been smitten down, and the last brave throat had +shouted its last shrill "Banzai!" This was the result of teaching every boy +in Japan that the most glorious thing that can happen to him is to die for +his Emperor and his native land. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE JAPANESE GIRL + + +The word "obedience" has a large part in the life of a Japanese boy; it +is the whole life of a Japanese girl. From her babyhood she is taught the +duty of obeying some one or other among her relations. There is an old book +studied in every Japanese household and learned by heart by every Japanese +girl, called "Onra-Dai-Gaku"--that is, the "Greater Learning for Women." It +is a code of morals for girls and women, and it starts by saying that every +woman owes three obediences: first, while unmarried, to her father; second, +when married, to her husband and the elders of his family; third, when a +widow, to her son. + +Up to the age of three the Japanese girl baby has her head shaved in +various fancy patterns, but after three years old the hair is allowed to +grow to its natural length. Up to the age of seven she wears a narrow obi +of soft silk, the sash of infancy; but at seven years old she puts on the +stiff wide obi, tied with a huge bow, and her dress from that moment is +womanly in every detail. She is now a musume, or moosme, the Japanese girl, +one of the merriest, brightest little creatures in the world. She is never +big, for when at her full height she will be about four feet eight inches +tall, and a Japanese woman of five feet high is a giantess. + +[Illustration: GOING TO THE TEMPLE] + +This is her time to wear gay, bright colours, for as a married woman she +must dress very soberly. A party of moosmes tripping along to a feast or a +fair looks like a bed of brilliant flowers set in motion. They wear kimonos +of rich silks and bright shades, kimonos of vermilion and gold, of pink, +of blue, of white, decorated with lovely designs of apple-blossom, of silk +crape in luminous greens and golden browns, every shade of the rainbow +being employed, but all in harmony and perfect taste. If a shower comes on +and they tuck up their gaily-coloured and embroidered kimonos, they look +like a bed of poppies, for each shows a glowing scarlet under-kimono, or +petticoat. + +Not only is this the time for the Japanese girl to be gaily dressed, but it +is her time to visit fairs and temples, and to enjoy the gaieties which may +fall in her way: for when she marries, the gates which lead to the ways of +pleasure are closed against her for a long time. The duties of a Japanese +wife keep her strictly at home, until the golden day dawns when her son +marries and she has a daughter-in-law upon whom she may thrust all the +cares of the household. Then once more she can go to temples and theatres, +fairs and festivals, while another drudges in her stead. + +Marriage is early in Japan. A girl marries at sixteen or seventeen, and to +be unmarried at twenty is accounted a great misfortune. At marriage she +completely severs herself from her own relations, and joins her husband's +household. This is shown in a very striking fashion by the bride wearing +a white kimono, the colour of mourning; and more, when she has left her +father's house, fires of purification are lighted, just as if a dead body +had been borne to the grave. This is to signify that henceforward the bride +is dead to her old home, and her whole life must now be spent in the +service of her husband and his relations. + +The wedding rites are very simple. There is no public function, as in +England, and no religious ceremony; the chief feature is that the bride +and bridegroom drink three times in turn from three cups, each cup having +two spouts. These cups are filled with saké, the national strong drink of +Japan, a kind of beer made from rice. This drinking is supposed to typify +that henceforth they will share each other's joys and sorrows, and this +sipping of saké constitutes the marriage ceremony. + +The young wife now must bid farewell to her fine clothes and her +merry-making. She wears garments of a soft dove colour, or greys or fawns, +quiet shades, but often of great charm. She has now to rise first in the +morning, to open the shutters which have closed the house for the night, +for this is a duty she may not leave to the servants. If her husband's +father and mother dwell in the same house, she must consider it an honour +to supply all their wants, and she is expected to become a perfect slave +to her mother-in-law. It is not uncommon for a meek little wife, who has +obeyed every one, to become a perfect tyrant as a mother-in-law, ordering +her son's wife right and left, and making the younger woman's life a sheer +misery. The mother-in-law has escaped from the land of bondage. It is no +longer her duty to rise at dawn and open the house; she can lie in bed, and +be waited upon by the young wife; she is free to go here and there, and she +does not let her chances slip; she begins once more to thoroughly enjoy +life. + +It may be doubted, however, whether these conditions will hold their own +against the flood of Western customs and Western views which has begun to +flow into Japan. At present the deeply-seated ideas which rule home-life +are but little shaken in the main, but it is very likely that the modern +Japanese girl will revolt against this spending of the best years of her +life as an upper and unpaid servant to her husband's friends and relations. +But at the present moment, for great sections of Japanese society, the old +ways still stand, and stand firmly. + +It was formerly the custom for a woman to make herself as ugly as possible +when she was married. This was to show that she wished to draw no attention +from anyone outside her own home. As a rule she blackened her teeth, which +gave her a hideous appearance when she smiled. This custom is now dying +out, though plenty of women with blackened teeth are still to be seen. + +Should a Japanese wife become a widow, she is expected to show her grief +by her desolate appearance. She shaves her head, and wears garments of the +most mournful look. It has been said that a Japanese girl has the look of a +bird of Paradise, the Japanese wife of a dove, and the Japanese widow of a +crow. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN THE HOUSE + + +A Japanese house is one of the simplest buildings in the world. Its main +features are the roof of tiles or thatch, and the posts which support the +latter. By day the walls are of oiled paper; by night they are formed of +wooden shutters, neither very thick nor very strong. As a rule, the house +is of but one story, and its flimsiness comes from two reasons, both very +good ones. + +The first is that Japan is a home of earthquakes, and when an earthquake +starts to rock the land and topple the houses about the peoples' ears, then +a tall, strong house of stone or brick would be both dangerous in its fall +and very expensive to put up again. The second is that Japan is a land of +fires. The people are very careless. They use cheap lamps and still cheaper +petroleum. A lamp explodes or gets knocked over; the oiled paper walls +burst into a blaze; the blaze spreads right and left, and sweeps away a +few streets, or a suburb of a city, or a whole village. The Jap takes this +very calmly. He gets a few posts, puts the same tiles up again for a roof, +or makes a new thatch, and, with a few paper screens and shutters, there +stands his house again. + +A house among the poorer sort of Japanese consists of one large room in the +daytime. At night it is formed into as many bedrooms as its owner requires. +Along the floor, which is raised about a foot from the ground, and along +the roof run a number of grooves, lengthways and crossways. Frames covered +with paper, called shoji, slide along these grooves and form the wall +between chamber and chamber. The front of the house is, as a rule, open to +the street, but if the owners wish for privacy they slide a paper screen +into position. At night wooden shutters, called amado, cover the screens. +Each shutter is held in place by the next, and the last shutter is fastened +by a wooden bolt. + +The Japanese are very fond of fresh air and sunshine. Unless the day is too +wet or stormy, the front of the house always stands open. If the sun is +too strong a curtain is hung across for shade, and very often this curtain +bears a huge white symbol representing his name, just as an Englishman puts +his name on a brass plate on his front-door. The furniture in these houses +is very simple. The floor is covered with thick mats, which serve for +chairs and bed, as people both sit and sleep on them. For table a low stool +suffices, and for a young couple to set up housekeeping in Japan is a very +simple matter. As Mrs. Bishop, the well-known writer, remarks: + +"Among the strong reasons for deprecating the adoption of foreign houses, +furniture, and modes of living by the Japanese, is that the expense +of living would be so largely, increased as to render early marriages +impossible. At present the requirements of a young couple in the poorer +classes are: a bare matted room (capable or not of division), two wooden +pillows, a few cotton futons (quilts), and a sliding panel, behind which +to conceal them in the daytime, a wooden rice bucket and ladle, a wooden +wash-bowl, an iron kettle, a hibachi (warming and cooking stove), a tray +or two, a teapot or two, two lacquer rice-bowls, a dinner box, a few china +cups, a few towels, a bamboo switch for sweeping, a tabako-bon (apparatus +for tobacco-smoking), an iron pot, and a few shelves let into a recess, all +of which can be purchased for something under £2." + +These young people would, however, have everything quite comfortable about +them, and housekeeping can be set up at a still lower figure, if necessary. +Excellent authorities say, and give particulars to prove, that a coolie +household may be established in full running order for 5-1/2 yen--that is, +somewhere about a sovereign. + +In better-class houses the same simplicity prevails, though the building +may be of costly materials, with posts and ceilings of ebony inlaid with +gold, and floors of rare polished woods. The screens (shoji) still separate +the rooms; the shutters (amado) enclose it at night. There are neither +doors nor passages. When you wish to pass from one room to the next you +slide back one of the shoji, and shut it after you. So you go from room +to room until you reach the one of which you are in search. The shoji are +often beautifully painted, and in each room is hung a kakemono (a wall +picture, a painting finely executed on a strip of silk). A favourite +subject is a branch of blossoming cherry, and this, painted upon white +silk, gives an effect of wonderful freshness and beauty. + +There is no chimney, for a Japanese house knows nothing of a fireplace. The +simple cooking is done over a stove burning charcoal, the fumes of which +wander through the house and disperse through the hundred openings afforded +by the loosely-fitting paper walls. To keep warm in cold weather the +Japanese hug to themselves and hang over smaller stoves, called hibachi, +metal vessels containing a handful of smouldering charcoal. + +In the rooms there are neither tables nor chairs. The floor is covered +with most beautiful mats, as white as snow and as soft as a cushion, for +they are often a couple of inches thick. They are woven of fine straw, +and on these the Japanese sit, with their feet tucked away under them. +At dinner-time small, low tables are brought in, and when the meal is +finished, the tables are taken away again. Chairs are never used, and the +Japanese who wishes to follow Western ways has to practise carefully how to +sit on a chair, just as we should have to practise how to sit on our feet +as he does at home. + +When bedtime comes, there is no change of room. The sitting-room by day +becomes the bedroom by night. A couple of wooden pillows and some quilts +are fetched from a cupboard; the quilts are spread on the floor, the +pillows are placed in position, and the bed is ready. The pillows would +strike us as most uncomfortable affairs. They are mere wooden neckrests, +and European travellers who have tried them declare that it is like trying +to go to sleep with your head hanging over a wooden door-scraper. + +As they both sit and sleep on their matting-covered floors, we now see why +the Japanese never wear any boots or clogs in the house. To do so would +make their beautiful and spotless mats dirty; so all shoes are left at +the door, and they walk about the house in the tabi, the thick glove-like +socks. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +IN THE HOUSE (_continued_) + + +Even supposing that a well-to-do Japanese has a good deal of native +furniture--such as beautifully painted screens, handsome vases, tables of +ebony inlaid with gold or with fancy woods, and so forth--yet he does not +keep them in the house. He stores them away in a special building, and +a servant runs and fetches whatever may be wanted. When the article has +served its purpose, it is taken back again. + +This building is called a godown. It is built of cement, is painted black, +and bears the owner's monogram in a huge white design. It is considered +to be fireproof, though it is not always so, and is meant to preserve the +family treasures in case of one of the frequent fires. It may be stored +with a great variety of furniture and ornaments, but very few see the light +at one time. + +[Illustration: A JAPANESE HOUSE] + +The Japanese does not fill his house with all the decorations he may own, +and live with them constantly. If he has a number of beautiful porcelain +jars and vases, he has one out at one time, another at another. A certain +vase goes with a certain screen, and every time a change is made, the +daughters of the house receive new lessons in the art of placing the +articles and decking them with flowers and boughs of blossom in order to +gain the most beautiful effect. If a visitor be present in the house, the +guest-chamber will be decorated afresh every day, each design showing some +new and unexpected beauty in screen, or flower-decked vase, or painted +kakemono. There is one vase which is always carefully supplied with +freshly-cut boughs or flowers. This is the vase which stands before the +tokonoma. The tokonoma is a very quaint feature of a Japanese house. It +means a place in which to lay a bed, and, in theory, is a guest-chamber in +which to lodge the Mikado, the Japanese Emperor. So loyal are the Japanese +that every house is supposed to contain a room ready for the Emperor in +case he should stay at the door and need a night's lodging. The Emperor, +of course, never comes, and so the tokonoma is no more than a name. + +Usually it is a recess a few feet long and a few inches wide, and over it +hangs the finest kakemono that the house can afford, and in front of it is +a vase whose flowers are arranged in a traditional form which has a certain +allegorical meaning. + +At night a Japanese room is lighted by a candle fixed in a large square +paper lantern, the latter placed on a lacquer stand. The light is very +dim, and many are now replacing it with ordinary European lamps. Unluckily +they buy the very commonest and cheapest of these, and so in consequence +accidents and fires are numerous. + +Among the coolies of Japan, the people who fill the back streets of the +large towns with long rows of tiny houses, the process of "moving house" +is absolutely literal. They do not merely carry off their furniture--that +would be simple enough--but they swing up the house too, carry it off, set +their furniture in it again, and resume their contented family life. It is +not at all an uncommon thing to meet a pair thus engaged in shifting their +abode. The man is marching along with a building of lath and paper, not +much bigger than a bathing-machine, swung on his shoulders, while his wife +trudges behind him with two or three big bundles tied up in blue cloth. He +carries the house, and she the furniture. Within a few hours they will be +comfortably settled in the new street to which their needs or their fancies +call them. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A JAPANESE DAY + + +The first person astir in a Japanese household is the mistress of the +house. She rises from the quilts on the floor which form her bed and puts +out the lamp, which has been burning all night. No Japanese sleeps without +an andon, a tall paper lamp, in which a dim light burns. Next she unlocks +the amado, the wooden shutters, and calls the servants. + +Now the breakfast-table must be set out. In one way this is very simple, +for there is no cloth to spread, for tablecloths are unknown, and when +enough rice has been boiled and enough tea has been made, the breakfast +is ready. But there is one point upon which she must be very careful. The +lacquer rice-bowls and the chopsticks must be set in their proper order, +according to the importance of each person in the family. The slightest +mistake in arranging the position at a meal of any member of the family +or of a guest under the roof would be a matter of the deepest disgrace. +Etiquette is the tyrant of Japan. A slip in the manner of serving the food +is a thousand times more important in Japanese eyes than the quality of the +food itself. A hostess might serve burned rice and the most shocking tea, +but if it were handed round in correct form, there would be nothing more to +be said; but to serve a twice-honourable guest before a thrice-honourable +guest--ah! that would be truly dreadful, a blot never to be wiped off the +family escutcheon. + +After breakfast the master of the house will go about his business. If the +day is fine the wife has his straw sandals ready for him; if it is wet +she gets his high wooden clogs and his umbrella of oiled paper. Then she +and the servants escort him to the door and speed his departure with many +low bows, rubbing their knees together--the latter is a sign of deep +respect--and calling good wishes after him. + +It may seem odd to us that the servants should accompany their mistress on +such an errand, but the servants in Japan are not like other servants: they +are as much a part of the family as the children of the house. Domestic +service in Japan is a most honourable calling, and ranks far higher than +trade. A domestic servant who married a tradesman would be considered as +going down a step in the social scale. In Japan trade has been left until +lately to the lower classes of the population, and tradespeople have ranked +with coolies and labourers. + +This importance of domestic servants arises from two reasons: First, the +old custom which compels the mistress of the house, even if she be of +the highest rank, to serve her husband and children herself, and also to +wait on her parents-in-law, has the effect of raising domestic service to a +high and honourable level. Second, many Japanese servants are of good birth +and excellent family. Only a generation ago their fathers were samurai, +followers of some great Prince, a Daimio, and members of his clan. In the +feudal days of Japan, so recently past, the position of the samurai was +exactly the same as the clansmen of a Highland chief, say at the time of +the "Forty-Five." + +The Daimio, the Japanese chief, had a great estate and vast revenues, +counted in measures of rice; one Daimio had as much as 1,000,000 koku +of rice, the koku being a weight of about 132 pounds. But out of these +revenues he had to maintain his clan, his samurai, the members of his +private army. The samurai clansmen were the exact counterparts of +Highlanders. The poorest considered himself a gentleman and a member of +his chief's family; he held trade and handicrafts in the utmost disdain: +he lived only for war and the defence of his lord. But he regarded service +in his lord's household as a high honour, and thus all service was made +honourable. When the feudal system came to an end, when the Daimios retired +into private life, and the samurai were disbanded, then the latter and +their families found that they must work for their own support, and great +numbers entered domestic service. + +Boys and girls who are meant for servants have to go through a course of +training in etiquette, quite apart from the training they receive in their +duties. This training is intended to maintain the proper distance between +employer and servant, while, in a sense, allowing them to be perfectly +familiar. The Japanese servant bows low and kneels to her mistress, +and addresses her always in the tone of voice used by an inferior to a +superior, yet she will join in a conversation between her mistress and +a caller, and laugh with the rest at any joke which is made. + +It sounds difficult to believe that servants do not become too forward +under such conditions, but they never do. Their perfect taste and good +breeding forbid that they should pass over a certain line where familiarity +would go too far. The position of a servant in Japan is shown by the fact +that, though her master or mistress will speak to her as a servant, yet a +caller or guest must always use the tone of equality and address her as san +(miss). In the absence of the mistress, servants are expected to entertain +any callers, and they do this with the perfection of gentle manners and +exquisite politeness. A lady writer says: + +"I remember once being very much at sea when I was taken to pay a call on +a Japanese lady of the well-to-do class. Not being able to speak a word +of the language, I was unable to follow the conversation which took place +between the charming little lady who greeted us at the inner shutters and +my friend. She was dressed in the soft grey kimono and obi of a middle-aged +woman, and her exquisite manner and gentleness made me feel as heavy as my +boots, which I had not been allowed to take off, sounded on the delicate +floor-matting compared to her soft white foot-gloves. + +"My friend addressed her as san, and seemed to speak to her just as a +guest would to her hostess. We had tea on the floor, and my friend chatted +pleasantly for some time with the little grey figure, when suddenly the +sound of wheels on the gravel outside caught my ears, and the next instant +there was the scuffling of many feet along the polished wooden passage +which led to the front door, and the eager cry of 'O kaeri! O kaeri!' +(honourable return). Our hostess for the time rose from her knees, smiled, +and begged us to excuse her honourable rudeness. When she had hurried off +to join in the cry of welcome, my friend said, 'Oh, I am glad she has +come!' + +"'Who has come ?' I asked. + +"'The lady we came to see,' she said. + +"'Then, who was the charming little lady who poured out tea for us?' I +asked. My friend smiled. + +"'Oh, that was only the housemaid.'" + +A man dealing with the same point remarks: "It is very important that a +Japanese upper servant should have good manners, for he is expected to have +sufficient knowledge of etiquette to entertain his master's guests if his +master is out. After rubbing his knees together and hissing and kowtowing +(bowing low), he will invite you to take a seat on the floor, or, more +correctly speaking, on your heels, with a flat cushion between your knees +and the floor to make the ordeal a little less painful. He will then offer +you five cups of tea (it is the number of cups that signifies, not the +number of callers), and dropping on his own heels with ease and grace, +enter into an affable conversation, humble to a degree, but perfectly +familiar, until his master arrives to relieve him. Even after his master +has arrived he may stay in the room, and is quite likely to cut into the +conversation, and dead certain to laugh at the smallest apology for a +joke!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A JAPANESE DAY (_continued_) + + +But we must return to our Japanese housewife, who has at present only shown +her husband out politely to his business. Now she sees that all the paper +screens are removed, so that the whole house becomes, as it were, one great +room, and thus is thoroughly aired. The beds are rolled up and put away +in cupboards, and the woodwork is carefully rubbed down and polished. +Perhaps the flowers in the vases are faded, and it is a long and elaborate +performance to rearrange the beautiful sprays and the blossoms brought in +from the garden. + +Cooking is not by any means so important a matter in her household life +as it is in that of her Western sister. If her rice-box is well filled, +her tea-caddy well stored, her pickle-jar and store of vegetables in good +order, she has little more to think about. "Rice is the staple food of +Japan, and is eaten at every meal by rich or poor, taking the place of our +bread. It is of particularly fine quality, and at meals is brought in small +bright-looking tubs kept for this exclusive purpose and scrupulously clean; +it is then helped to each individual in small quantities, and steaming hot. +The humblest meal is served with nicety, and with the rice various tasty +condiments, such as pickles, salted fish, and numerous other dainty little +appetizers, are eaten. To moisten the meal, tea without sugar is taken. A +hibachi, or charcoal basin, generally occupies the central position, round +which the meal is enjoyed, and on the fire of which the teapot is always +kept easily boiling." + +[Illustration: OFFERING TEA TO A GUEST] + +When the Japanese housekeeper goes to market, she turns her attention, +after the rice merchant's, to the fish and vegetable stalls. At the +fish-stall nothing that comes out of the sea is overlooked. She buys not +only fish, but seaweed, which is a common article of diet. It is eaten +raw; it is also boiled, pickled, or fried; it is often made into soup. +Sea-slugs, cuttle-fish, and other creatures which we consider the mere +offal of the sea, are eagerly devoured by the Japanese. + +At the vegetable-stall there will be a great variety of things for +sale--beans, peas, potatoes, maize, buckwheat, carrots, lettuce, turnips, +squash, musk- and water-melons, cucumbers, spinach, garlic, onions, leeks, +chillies, capucams (the produce of the egg-plant), and a score of other +things, including yellow chrysanthemum blossoms and the roots and seeds of +the lotus. The Japanese eat almost everything that grows, for they delight +in dock and ferns, in wild ginger and bamboo shoots, and consider the last +a great tit-bit. + +But to Europeans the Japanese vegetables seem very tasteless, and the chief +of them all is very much disliked by Westerners. This is the famous daikon, +the mighty Japanese radish, beloved among the poorer classes in its native +land and abhorred by foreigners. It grows to an immense size, being often +seen a yard long and as thick as a man's arm. When fresh it is harmless +enough, but the Japanese love to pickle it, and Mrs. Bishop remarks: + +"It is slightly dried and then pickled in brine, with rice bran. It is very +porous, and absorbs a good deal of the pickle in the three months in which +it lies in it, and then has a smell so awful that it is difficult to remain +in a house in which it is being eaten. It is the worst smell I know of +except that of a skunk!" + +The pickle-seller's stall must not be forgotten, for the Japanese flavour +their rather tasteless food with a wonderful variety of pickles and sauces. +The great sauce is soy, made from fermented wheat and beans with salt and +vinegar, and at times saké is added to it to heighten its flavour. This +sauce is served with many articles of food, and fish are often cooked in +it. + +When the Japanese housekeeper reaches home again she finds that her +servants have finished their simple duties. Englishwomen always wonder what +there is in a Japanese house for servants to do. There are no fires to lay, +no furniture to polish and clean, no carpets to sweep, and no linen to wash +and mend; so Japanese servants spend much time chatting to each other, or +sewing new kimonos together, or playing chess. As a rule, there are many +more servants than are necessary to do the work. This is because servants +are very cheap. There are always plenty of girls who are ready to fill the +lower places if they can obtain food and clothes for their services, and +the upper servants only receive small sums, sometimes as low as six or +eight shillings a month. + +If a servant wishes to leave her employment, she never gives direct notice +to her mistress. That would be the height of rudeness. Instead she begs +permission to visit her home, or a sick relation, or some one who needs +her assistance. Upon the day that she should return a long and elaborate +apology for her non-arrival is sent, saying that, most unhappily, she +cannot be spared from her home or her post of duty. It is then understood +that she has left. + +In a similar fashion, no mistress tells a servant that she will not suit. A +polite explanation that it will be inconvenient to accept her services at +the moment is sent through a third party. + +In the evening the whole family, servants included, gather in the main room +of the house. The master and mistress sit near the hibachi (the stove) +and the andon (the big paper lantern); the maids glide in and sit at a +respectful distance with their sewing, if they have any. There may be +conversation, or the master may read aloud from a book of historical +romances or fairy stories; but the servants may laugh and chat as freely +over joke or story as anyone. + +When bed-time arrives the quilts come out of the cupboards, and are spread +with due care that no one sleeps with the head to the north, for that is +the position in which the dead are laid out, and so is a very unlucky +one for the living. Then the little wooden neck-rests, which they use as +pillows, are set in their places, and every one goes to bed. The Japanese +day is over. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +JAPANESE GAMES + + +The children of Japan have many games, and some of these games are shared +with them by their fathers and mothers--yes, and by their grandfathers and +grandmothers too, for an old man will fly a kite as eagerly as his tiny +grandson. The girls play battledore and shuttlecock and bounce balls, and +the boys spin tops and make them fight. A top-fight is arranged thus: One +boy takes his top, made of hard wood with an iron ring round it, winds it +up with string, and throws it on the ground; while it is spinning merrily, +another boy throws his top in such a way that it spins against the first +top and knocks it over. So cleverly are the attacking tops thrown that the +first top is often knocked to a distance of several feet. Other games are +playing at war with toy weapons, hunting grasshoppers, which are kept in +tiny cages of bamboo, and hunting fireflies. The last pastime is followed +by Japanese of all ages, and the glittering flies are pursued by night, and +struck down by a light fan. + +Wherever there is a stream of water, the boys set up toy water-wheels, and +these water-wheels drive little mills and machines, which the boys have +made for themselves in the cleverest fashion. + +Here is a group whose heads are very close together. Let us peep over their +shoulders, and see what it is they watch so quietly and earnestly. Ah! this +is a favourite trick. A small boy is setting a team of half a dozen beetles +to draw a load of rice up a smooth, sloping board. He has made a tiny cart +of paper, and filled it with rice. The traces of the cart are made of fine +threads of silk, and he fastens the threads of silk to the backs of the +beetles with gum. + +Now he has his strange team in motion, and the beetles are marching up the +board, dragging their load. The tiny faces in the ring of watchers are +filled with deep but motionless interest. Not one dreams of stretching +out a finger. There is no need to say, "Don't touch!" No one would dream +of touching--that would be very rude. Japanese children manage their own +games, without any appeal to their elders. It is not often that a dispute +arises, but, should that happen, the question is settled at once by the +word of an elder child. The decision is obeyed without a murmur, and the +game goes on. + +Another game of which children are fond is that of painting sand-pictures +on the roadside. A group of children will compete in drawing a sand-picture +in the shortest time. Each has four bags of coloured sand--black, red, +yellow, and blue--and a bag of white. The white sand is first thrown down +in the form of a square; then a handful of black sand is taken, and allowed +to run through the fingers to form a quaint outline of a man, or bird, or +animal, upon the white ground. Next, the design is finished with the other +colours, and very often a most striking effect is obtained by these child +artists. "But the most extraordinary and most fascinating thing of all is +to watch the performance of a master in sand-pictures. So dexterous and +masterly is he that he will dip his hand first into a bag of blue sand +and then into one of yellow, allowing the separate streams to trickle out +unmixed, and then, with a slight tremble of the hand, these streams will +be quickly converted into one thin stream of bright green, relapsing again +into the streams of blue and yellow at a moment's notice." + +There are many indoor games, and a very great favourite is the game of +alphabet cards. This is played with a number of cards, some of which +contain a proverb and some a picture illustrating each proverb. The +children sit in a ring, and the cards are dealt to them. One of the +children is the reader, and when he calls out a proverb the one who has the +picture corresponding to the proverb answers at once and gives up the card. +The first one to be rid of his cards is the winner, and the one who holds +the last card is the loser. If a boy is the loser, he has a dab of ink or +of paint smudged on his face; if it is a girl, she has a wisp of straw +put in her hair. The game is so called because each proverb begins with a +letter of the Japanese alphabet. + +Japanese children have many holidays and festivals, and they enjoy +themselves very much on these joyous occasions. With their beautiful +dresses of silk shining in the sun, a crowd of them looks like a great +bed of flowers. Mr. Menpes speaks of a merry-making which he saw: "It +was a festival for girls under ten, and there were hundreds of children, +all with their kimonos tucked up, showing their scarlet petticoats, and +looking for all the world like a mass of poppies.... Two rows or armies of +these girls were placed several yards distant from each other in this long +emerald-green field, and in the space between them stood two servants, each +holding a long bamboo pole, and suspending from its top a flat, shallow +drum, covered with tissue-paper. + +"Presently two young men teachers appeared on the scene, carrying two +baskets of small many-coloured balls, which they threw down on the grass +between the children and the drums. Then a signal was given, and all the +girls started running down the field at full tilt towards one another, +pouncing on the balls as they ran, and throwing them with all their force +up at the paper drums. + +"After a time, when a perfect shower of balls had passed through the tissue +drums, quite demolishing them, a shower of coloured papers, miniature +lanterns, paper umbrellas, and flags came slowly fluttering down among +the children on to their jet-black bobbing heads and into their eager +outstretched hands. Never have I seen anything more beautiful than these +gay, brightly-clad little people, packed closely together like a cluster +of flowers in the brilliant sparkling sunshine, with their pretty upturned +faces watching the softly falling rain of coloured toys." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE FEAST OF DOLLS AND THE FEAST OF FLAGS + + +On the third day of the third month there is great excitement in every +Japanese household which numbers a girl among its domestic treasures: for +the Feast of Dolls has come, the great festival for dolls. On this day the +most beautiful dolls and dolls' houses are fetched from the godown, where +the family furniture is kept, and are on exhibition for a short time, set +out on shelves covered with scarlet cloth. + +[Illustration: FIGHTING TOPS] + +These dolls are the O-Hina, the honourable dolls. They are kept with the +greatest care, and in some families there are dolls which are centuries +old. As each doll is dressed exactly in the costume of its age, and is +furnished with belongings which represent in miniature the furniture of +that age, such a collection has great historic value, and is used to teach +the children how their ancestors looked and lived. + +There are common dolls for the little girls to play with every day, but +these elaborate ones, the honourable dolls, are stored with the greatest +care. Many of them are very costly. The doll is not only beautifully made +and dressed, but its house is furnished with the most exact imitations of +every article of furniture and of every utensil. In wealthy families this +toy furniture is made of the rarest gold lacquer, or of solid silver, +or of beautiful porcelain. Not a single article, either of state or of +usefulness, is missing, and it is the delight of a Japanese girl at the +Feast of Dolls to use the tiny utensils of her toy kitchen to prepare an +elaborate feast of real food which is set before her honourable dolls. + +The beginning of a collection of such dolls is made as soon as a girl is +born. Every girl-child is presented with a pair of these dolls, and as time +goes on she gathers all the articles which go with them. These dolls are +always her own. When she marries she takes them to her new home. + +When the O-Hina Matsuri, the Feast of Dolls, draws near, the Japanese shops +begin to be full of the little images used at that time. The poorer are of +painted earthenware; the finer are of wood, with clothes of the richest +materials. These images, together with tiny bowls, and pots, and stoves, +and trays, are used to set off and decorate the surroundings of the Feast +of Dolls. They vary very greatly in price. The coolie household may have +a set-out which cost a few pence. The O-Hina of a great noble's house +will often be worth a fortune, having hundreds of beautifully carved and +dressed images to represent the Emperor and Empress and every official of +the Japanese Court, with every article used for State functions, and every +piece of furniture needed to deck a royal palace. Other sets of O-Hina +represent great personages in Japanese history, perhaps a great Daimio and +his followers, each figure dressed with strict historical accuracy, and +provided with every feature proper to its rank and period. + +The great festival for boys comes at the Feast of Flags. This is held on +the fifth day of the fifth month. Every one knows when the Feast of Flags +is near, for before every house where there are boys a tall post of bamboo +is set up. Swinging from the top of each post is the figure of a huge carp, +made of brightly coloured paper. If a boy has been born in the house during +the year the carp is made bigger still. The body of the fish is hollow, and +when the wind blows into it, it wriggles its fins and tail just like a fish +swimming strongly. The Japanese choose the carp because they say it has the +power of ascending streams swiftly against the current and of leaping over +waterfalls. It is thus supposed to typify a young man breasting the stream +of life, and thrusting his way through difficulties to success. + +As the boys' day draws near, the shops become full of toys for them. There +are images bought for boys as well as for their sisters; but boys' images +are those of soldiers, heroes, generals, famous old warriors, wrestlers, +and so forth. The old Japanese were a war-like nation, and the toys +provided for their sons at the Feast of Flags were helmets, flags, swords, +bows and arrows, coats of mail, spears, and the like. The Feast of Flags +itself is held on the day sacred to Hachima, the Japanese God of War, and +the favourite game on that day is a mimic battle. + +The boys divide themselves into two parties, called Heike and Genji. These +names represent two great old rival clans of the feudal days. Every Heike +carries a red flag on his back, every Genji a white one. Each combatant +also wears a helmet, consisting of a kind of earthenware pot. The combat +is joined, and the small warriors hack at each other with bamboo swords. A +well-directed blow will dash to pieces the earthenware pot, and the wearer +is then compelled to own defeat. That side wins which breaks most pots on +its opponents' heads, or captures most flags. + +This display of weapons, with blowing of horns and trumpets, serves another +purpose also; for on the fifth day of the fifth month the Japanese believe +that Oni, an evil-disposed god, comes down from the heavens to devour +boys, or to bring great harm to them. But he fears sharp swords, so the +long swordshaped blades of the sweet flag are gathered from the edges of +rivers and the sides of swampy rice-fields, and used as decorations. As +a Japanese writer says: "Oni fears the sword-blade of the sweet flag, so +that its leaves are everywhere. They are upon the festal table; they hang +in festoons about the house, and all along the eaves. Boys wear them tied +around their heads, with the white scraped fragrant roots projecting like +two horns from their foreheads. So, and with the noise of bamboo horns, +they frighten away the ogre god. For he fears horned men, and he dares not +enter a house where so many swords hang from the eaves." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A FARTHING'S WORTH OF FUN + + +How would you like to go to a fair with a farthing, a whole farthing, to +spend as you pleased? I think I can see some of you turning your noses up, +and looking very scornful. "A farthing, indeed!" you say. "Pray, of what +use is a farthing? I wouldn't mind going to a fair with a shilling, or even +sixpence, but what could anyone do with a farthing?" Well, in Japan you +could do a great deal. We must remember that Japan is a country of tiny +wages; many of its workers do not receive more than sixpence a day, and a +man who gets a shilling is well off. Tiny earnings mean tiny spendings, and +things are arranged on a scale to meet very slender purses. + +We will now see what sort of time O Hara San, Miss Blossom, and her +brother, Taro San, Master Eldest Son, had at the fair one fine day in +Nagasaki. In the morning they sprang up from their quilts full of excited +pleasure, for they had been looking forward to this fair for some time. But +they did not romp and chatter and show their excitement as English children +would do. Their black eyes shone a little more brightly than usual, and +that was all. + +When they had whipped their rice into their mouths with their little +chopsticks, they started for the fair, which was to be held in the grounds +of a great temple. Of course, they were dressed in their best clothes. Both +had new kimonos, and O Hara San had a very fine obi, which her parents had +bought for her by denying themselves many little luxuries. Their father and +grandmother went with them, but their mother stayed at home with the baby. +Their father wore a newly-washed kimono, but his chief glory was an old +bowler hat which a European gentleman had given to him. It had been much +too large for him, but he had neatly taken it in, and now wore it with +great pride. When they reached the fair they gave themselves up to its +delights with all their hearts. There was so much to do and so much to see. +Almost at once O Hara San and Taro were beguiled by a sweetmeat stall. + +Each had five rin, and five rin make one farthing, or rather less, but we +will call it a farthing for the sake of round figures. One rin apiece was +spent here. The stall was in two divisions: one stocked with delicious +little bottles of sugar-water, the other with pieces of candy, tinted +bright blue and red and green. Miss Blossom went in for a bottle of +sugar-water, and her brother for candies. But first he demanded of the +candy-seller that he should be allowed to try his luck at the disc. This +was a disc having an arrow which could be whirled round, and if the arrow +paused opposite a lucky spot an extra piece of candy was added to the +purchase. To Taro's great joy, he made a lucky hit, and won the extra piece +of candy; he felt that the fair had begun very well for him. + +While they drank sugar-water and munched candy, they wandered along looking +at the booths, where all sorts of wonders were to be seen--booths full of +conjurers, acrobats, dancers, of women who could stretch their necks to +the length of their arms, or thrust their lips up to cover their eyebrows, +and a hundred other curious tricks. The price of admission was one rin +each to children, and finally they chose the conjurer's booth, and saw him +spout fire from his mouth, swallow a long sword, and finally exhibit a +sea-serpent, which appeared to be made of seal-skins tacked together. + +When they left the show they came all at once on one of the great delights +of a Japanese fair. It was the man with the cooking-stove, round whom +children always throng as flies gather about honey. For the fifth part of +a farthing you may have the use of his cooking-stove, you may have a piece +of dough, or you may have batter with a cup, a spoon, and a dash of soy +sauce. You may then abandon yourself to the delights of making a cake for +yourself, baking it for yourself, and then eating it yourself, and if you +spend a couple of hours over the operation the man will not grumble. As +this arrangement combines both the pleasure of making a cake and playing +with fire, it is very popular, and we cannot wonder that Taro took a turn, +though Miss Blossom did not. She felt herself rather too big to join the +swarm of happy urchins round the stove. + +While Taro was baking his cake she spent her third rin on a peep-show, +where a juggler made little figures of paper and pasteboard dance and +perform all kinds of antics. Then they went on again. Each bought one rin's +worth of sugared beans, a very favourite sweet-meat; and these they ate +while they waited for their father and grandmother to join them at the +door of a certain theatre where they had agreed to meet. Into this theatre +was pouring a stream of people, old and young, men, women, children, and +babies, for a great historical play was to be performed, and it would +shortly begin. Soon their elders turned up, and their father took their +last rin to make up the payment which would admit them. + +In they went, and took possession of their place. The floor of the theatre +was divided by little partitions, about a foot or so high, into a vast +number of tiny squares, like open egg-boxes. In one of these little boxes +our friends squatted down on the floor, and the grandmother began to unpack +the bundle which she had been carrying. This bundle contained a number of +cooking-vessels and an ample supply of rice, for here they meant to stay +for some hours to see the play, to eat and drink, and enjoy themselves +generally. + +The father filled his pipe, lighted it at the hibachi, and began to smoke, +as hundreds more were doing all round them. Each box contained a family, +and each family had brought its cooking-pots, its food, and its drink; and +hawkers of food, of pipes, of tobacco, of saké, and of a score of other +things, rambled up and down selling their wares. + +[Illustration: THE TOY SHOP] + +When the play began every one paid close attention, for it was a great +historical play, and the Japanese go to the theatre and take their children +there in order to learn history. There are represented the old wars, the +old feuds, the struggle of Daimio against Daimio--in short, the history of +old Japan. When an actor gave pleasure, the audience flung their hats on +the stage. These were collected by an attendant, and kept until the owners +redeemed them by giving a present. For six hours O Hara San and Taro sat +in their little box, laughing, shouting, eating, and drinking, while the +play went on. Then it was over, for it was only a short play, at a cheap +theatre. "Ah!" said their father, "when I was a boy we had real plays. We +used to rise early and be in the theatre by six o'clock in the morning. +There we would stay enjoying ourselves until eleven at night. But now the +decree of the Government is that no play shall last more than nine hours. +It is too little!" + +The children quite agreed with him as they helped their grandmother to +gather the pots and pans and dishes which were scattered about their box. +Then each took the wooden ticket which would secure the shoes which they +had left outside with the attendants, and went slowly from the theatre. +When they had obtained their shoes and put them on, Miss Blossom and Master +Eldest Son strolled slowly homewards through the fair. They had not another +rin to spend--their farthing's worth of fun was over. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +KITE-FLYING + + +About a fortnight after the fair, on a fine windy afternoon, there was a +holiday, and Taro, with his father and his younger brother Ito, turned +out to fly kites. Some of their neighbours were already at work flying +kites from the roofs of the houses or from windows, but our friends wanted +more room than that, and went up to a piece of higher ground behind their +street. Here they joined a crowd of kite-flyers. Every one was out to-day +with his kite, old and young, men of sixty, with yellow, wrinkled faces, +down to toddlers of three, who clutched their strings and flew their little +kites with as much gravity and staidness as their grandfathers. Before long +O Hara San came up with the baby on her back, and he had a bit of string +in his tiny fist and a scrap of a kite not much bigger than a man's hand +floating a few yards above his head. + +But Taro was a proud boy this afternoon. He was about to fly his first big +fighting kite. It was made of tough, strong paper, stretched on a bamboo +frame five feet square, a kite taller than his own father. The day before +Taro had pounded a piece of glass up fine and mixed it with glue. The +mixture had been rubbed on the string of his kite for about thirty feet +near the kite-end and left to dry. Now, if he could only get this string +to cut sharply across the string of another kite, the latter cord would be +severed, and he could proudly claim the vanquished kite as his own. + +Kites of every colour and shape hovered in the air above the wide open +space. There were square kites of red, yellow, green, blue, every colour +of the rainbow; many were decorated with gaily-painted figures of gods, +heroes, warriors, and dragons. There were kites in the shape of fish, +hawks, eagles, and butterflies. Some had hummers, made of whalebone, which +hummed musically in the wind as they rose; and as for fighting kites, they +were abroad in squads and battalions. In one place the fight was between +single kites; in another a score of men with blue kites met a score with +red kites and the kites fluttered, darted, swooped, dived this way, that +way, and every way, as they were skilfully moved by the strings pulled from +below. Now and again one of them was seen to fall helplessly away and drift +down the wind; its string had been cut by some victorious rival, and it had +been put out of the battle. + +Taro had his kite high up in the air very soon; it flew splendidly, and for +some time he was very busy in trying it and learning its ways, for every +kite has its own tricks of moving in the air. Then suddenly he saw a great +brown eagle sailing towards it. He looked up and saw that a boy named +Kanaya was directing the eagle kite towards his own, and that it was a +challenge to a fight. Taro accepted at once, and the combat was joined. + +Kanaya brought his eagle swiftly over Taro's big square kite, brightly +painted in bars of many colours, but Taro let out string and escaped. Then +he swung his kite up into the wind and made it swoop on the eagle. But +Kanaya was already winding his string swiftly in and had raised his kite +out of reach of the swoop. And so they went on for more than an hour, +pursuing, escaping, feinting, dodging, until at last the eagle caught +a favourable slant of wind and darted down so swiftly that Taro could +not escape. The strings crossed, and the upper began to chafe the lower +savagely. + +Taro tried to work his kite away, but in vain. The eagle string was strong +and sharp. At the next moment Taro felt a horrid slackness of his string; +no more could he feel the strong, splendid pull of his big kite. There it +was, going, falling headlong to the ground. Kanaya had won. Nothing now +remained to Taro but to take his beating like a Japanese and a gentleman. +With a cheerful smile he made three low bows to his conqueror. Kanaya, with +the utmost gravity, returned the bows before he ran away to secure the kite +he had won. + +Now, there had been a very interested and attentive observer of this battle +in Ito, Taro's younger brother. Ito never said a word or moved a muscle +of his little brown face when he saw his brother defeated and the big kite +seized in triumph by Kanaya. But his black eyes gleamed a little more +brightly in their narrow slits as he let out more string and waited for +Kanaya to begin to fly again. + +Ito had succeeded to the possession of Taro's old kite. It was less than +two feet square, but it flew well, and Ito had also anointed his string +with the mixture of pounded glass and glue, and was ready for combat Within +ten minutes Kanaya was flying once more, and now he had Taro's kite high in +the air. He had put away his own big brown eagle, and was flying the kite +he had just won. He had scarcely got it well up when a smaller square kite +came darting down upon it from a great height. Ito had entered the lists, +and a fresh battle began. + +It was even longer and stubborner than the first, for Ito's kite, being +much smaller, had much less power in the air; but Ito made up for this by +showing the greatest skill in the handling of his kite, and quite a crowd +gathered to see the struggle, watching every movement in perfect silence +and with the deepest gravity. Suddenly Ito pounced. He caught a favourable +gust of wind, and swung his line across Kanaya's with the greatest +dexterity. Saw-saw went the line, and at the next moment the great kite +went tumbling down the wind, and Kanaya and Ito exchanged the regulation +bows. Then the latter looked at his brother without a word, and Taro ran +to seize his beloved kite again. + +"It is yours now, Ito," said the elder brother, when he came back. + +"Oh no," said Ito; "we will each keep our own. I am glad I got it back from +Kanaya." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +FAIRY STORIES + + +When Taro and Ito went home that night with their kites, they were glad to +sit down and rest, for they had been running about until they were quite +tired. When they had eaten their suppers of rice from their little brown +bowls of lacquer, they begged their grandmother to tell them a story, and +she told them the famous old story of Momotaro, beloved of every child in +Japan. And this is what she told them: Once upon a time an old man and an +old woman lived near a river at the foot of a mountain. Every day the old +man went to the mountain to cut wood and carry it home, while the old woman +went to the river to wash clothes. Now, the old woman was very unhappy +because she had no children; it seemed to her that if she only had a son +or a daughter she would be the most fortunate old woman in the world. + +Well, one day she was washing the clothes in the river, when she saw +something floating down the stream towards her. It proved to be a great +pear, and she seized it and carried it home. As she carried it she heard a +sound like the cry of a child. She looked right and left, up and down, but +no child was to be seen. She heard the cry again, and now she fancied that +it came from the big pear. So she cut the pear open at once, and, to her +great surprise and delight, she found that there was a fine baby sitting in +the middle of it. She took the child and brought it up, and because he was +born in a pear she called him Momotaro. + +Momotaro grew up a strong, fine boy, and when he was seventeen years old +he started out to seek his fortune. He had made up his mind to attack an +island where lived a very dreadful ogre. The old woman gave him plenty of +food to eat on the way--corn and rice wrapped in a bamboo-leaf, and many +other things--and away he went. He had not gone far when he met a wasp. + +"Give me a share of your food, Momotaro," said the wasp, "and I will go +with you and help you to overcome the ogre." + +"With all my heart," said Momotaro, and he shared his food at once with the +wasp. + +Soon he met a crab, and the same agreement was made with the crab, and then +with a chestnut, and last of all with a millstone. + +So now the five companions journeyed on together towards the island of the +ogre. When the island was reached they crept up to the house of the ogre, +and found that he was not in his room. So they soon made a plan to take +advantage of his absence. The chestnut laid itself down in the ash of a +charcoal fire which had been burning on the hearth, the crab hid himself in +a washing-pan nearly full of water, the wasp settled in a dusky corner, the +millstone climbed on to the roof, and Momotaro hid himself outside. + +Before long the ogre came back, and he went to the fire to warm his hands. +The chestnut at once cracked in the hot ashes, and threw burning cinders +over the ogre's hands. The ogre at once ran to the washing-pan, and thrust +his hands into it to cool them. The crab caught his fingers and pinched +them till the ogre roared with pain. Snatching his hands out of the pan, +the ogre leapt into the dusky corner as a safe place; but the wasp met him +and stung him dreadfully. In great fright and misery the ogre tried to run +out of the room, but down came the millstone with a crash on his head and +killed him at once. So, without any trouble to himself, and by the help of +the faithful friends which his kindness had made for him, Momotaro gained +possession of the ogre's wealth, and his fortune was made. + +Then the grandmother told them of Jizo, the patron saint of travellers and +children, the helper of all who are in trouble. + +Everywhere by the roadside in Japan is found the figure of Jizo. Sometimes +a figure of noble height, carved in stone or in the living rock, sometimes +no more than a rough carving in wood, he is represented as a priest with +kindly face, holding a traveller's staff in his right hand and a globe in +his left. He stands upon a lotus-flower, and about his feet there lies a +pile of pebbles, to which pile each wayfarer adds a fresh pebble. + +And the old grandmother bade the children never pass a figure of Jizo +without paying it the tribute of a pebble, for this reason: Every little +child who dies, she said, has to pass over So-dzu-kawa, the river of the +underworld. Now, on the banks of this river there lives a wicked old hag +who catches little children as they try to cross, steals their clothes from +them, and sets them to work to help her in her endless task of piling up +the stones on the shore of the stream. Jizo helps these poor children, and +every one who throws a pebble at the foot of this shrine also takes a share +in lightening the labour of some little one down below. + +Another favourite story is that of Urashima, the fisher-boy. Urashima was a +handsome fisher-boy, who lived near the Sea of Japan, and every day he went +out in his boat to catch fish in order to help his parents. But one day +Urashima did not return. His mother watched long, but there was no sign of +her son's boat coming back to the shore. Day after day passed, and Urashima +was mourned as dead. But he was not dead. Out on the sea he had met the +Sea-God's daughter, and she had carried him off to a green, sunny land +where it was always summer. There they lived for some time in great love +and happiness. When it appeared to Urashima that several weeks had passed +in this pleasant land, he begged permission of the Princess to return home +and see his parents. + +"They will be sorrowing for me," he said. "They will fear that I am lost, +and drowned at sea." At last she allowed him to go, and she gave him a +casket, but told him to keep it closed. + +"As long as you keep it closed," she said, "I shall always be with you, but +if you open it you will lose both me and this sunny summer land for ever." + +Urashima took the casket, promised to keep it closed, and returned home. +But his native village had vanished. There was no sign of any dwelling +upon the shore, and not far away there was a town which he had never seen +before. In truth, every week that he had spent with the Princess had been +a hundred years on earth, and his home and native village had passed away +centuries ago, and the place where they had stood had been forgotten. In +his despair, he forgot the words of the Princess, and opened the forbidden +box. A faint blue mist floated out and spread over the sea, and a wonderful +change took place at once in Urashima. From a handsome youth he turned to a +feeble and decrepit old man, and then he fell upon the shore and lay there +dead. In the box the Princess had shut up all the hours of their happy +life, and when they had once escaped he became as other mortals, and old +age and death came upon him at a bound. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES + + +Tea-houses and temples run together very easily in the Japanese mind, for +wherever you find a temple there you also find a tea-house. But tea-houses +are not confined to the neighbourhood of temples: they are everywhere. The +tea-house is the house of public entertainment in Japan, and varies from +the tiny cabin with straw roof, a building which is filled by half a dozen +coolies drinking their tea, to large and beautiful structures, with floors +and ceilings of polished woods, splendid mats, and tables of ebony and +gold. + +The tea-house does not sell tea alone. It will lodge you and find you +dinners and suppers, and is in country places the Japanese hotel. If +tea-houses sold tea and nothing else it is certain that European travellers +would be in a very bad way, for there is one point they are all agreed +upon, and that is that the tea, as a rule, is quite unpalatable to a +Western taste. However, it does not matter in the least whether you +drink it or not as long as you pay your money, and the last is no great +tax--about three halfpence. + +[Illustration: A BUDDHIST SHRINE] + +When a traveller steps into a tea-house the girl attendants, the moosmes, +gay in their scarlet petticoats, kneel before him, and, if it is an +out-of-the-way place, where the old fashions are kept up, place their +foreheads on the matting. Then away they run to fetch the tea. Japanese +servants always run when they wish to show respect; to walk would look +careless and disrespectful in their eyes. The tea arrives in a small pot +on a lacquer tray, with five tiny teacups without handles round the pot. +There is no milk or sugar, and the tea is usually a straw-coloured, bitter +liquid, very unpleasant to a European taste. But if a cup be raised to the +lips and set down, and three sen--a sen is about a halfpenny--laid on the +tray, all goes well, and every one is satisfied. + +This bringing of tea to a visitor is universal in Japan. It is not only +done in a tea-house, where one would expect it, but on every occasion. A +friendly call at a private house produces the teacups like magic, and when +a customer enters a good shop, business matters are undreamed of until many +little cups of tea have been produced; and if the customer has many things +to buy and stays a long time, tea is steadily brought forward in relays. +If you don't care for your tea plain, you may have it flavoured with +salted cherry blossoms, but that is not considered an improvement by the +Westerner, who longs for sugar and milk. If you wish to stay for the night +at a tea-house, a room is made for you by sliding some paper screens into +the wall and ceiling grooves, and a couple of quilts are laid on the floor +to form a bed. That is the whole provision made in the way of furniture if +you are off the beaten track of tourists: the rest you must provide for +yourself. + +In the cities the tea-houses of the grander sort are the scenes of splendid +entertainments. When a Japanese wishes to give a dinner to his friends +he does not ask them to his house; he invites them to a banquet at some +famous tea-house. There he provides not only the delicacies which make up +a Japanese dinner, but hires dancing girls, called geisha, to amuse the +company by their dancing and singing. + +A foreigner who is asked to one of these Japanese dinners finds everything +very strange and not a little difficult. At the doors of the tea-house his +boots are taken off, and he marches across the matting, to do his best to +sit on his heels for a few hours. This gives him the cramp, and soon he is +reduced to sitting with his back against the wall and his legs stretched +out before him. He can manage in this way pretty fairly. + +There may be a table before him, or there may not. If there is a table, it +will be a tiny affair about a foot high. There will be no tablecloth, no +glasses, no knives and forks, no spoons, and no napkin. He will be expected +to deal with his food with a pair of chopsticks. When these are set +before him, he will see that the two round slips of wood are still joined +together. This is to show that they have never been used before. He breaks +them apart, and wonders how he is going to get his food into his mouth with +two pencils of wood. + +The feast begins with tea served by moosmes, who kneel before each +guest. Each wears her most beautiful dress, and is girded with a huge +and brilliant sash. After the tea they bring in pretty little white cakes +made of bean flour and sugar, and flavoured with honey. The next course is +contained in a batch of little dishes, two or three of which are placed +before each guest. These contain minced dried fish, sea slugs floating in +an evil-smelling sauce, and boiled lotus-seeds. To wash down these dainties +a porcelain bottle of saké, rice-beer, is provided. + +The unhappy foreigner tastes one dish after the other, finds each one worse +than the last, and concludes to wait till the next course. This is composed +of a very great dainty, raw, live fish, which one dips in sauce before +devouring. Then comes rice, and the chopsticks of the Japanese feasters go +to work in marvellous fashion. With their strips of wood or ivory they whip +the rice grain into their mouths with wonderful speed and dexterity, but +our unlucky foreigner gets one grain into his mouth in five minutes, and is +reduced to beg for a spoon. + +The next course is of fish soup and boiled fish, and potatoes appear with +the fish; but, alas! the fish is most oddly flavoured and the potatoes are +sweet; they have been beaten up with sugar into a sort of stiff syrup. Next +comes seaweed soup and the coarse evil-smelling daikon radish, served with +various pickles and sauces. + +Among the other oddments is a dish of nice-looking plums. Our foreigner +seizes one and pops it in his mouth. He would be only too glad to pop it +out again if he could, for the plum has been soaked in brine, and tastes +like a very salty form of pickle. As he experiments here and there among +the wilderness of little lacquer bowls which come forth relay upon relay, +he feels inclined to paraphrase the cry of the Ancient Mariner, and murmur: +"Victuals, victuals everywhere, and not a scrap to eat!" + +When at length the dinner has run its course the geisha, in their beautiful +robes of silk and brocade and their splendid sashes, come in to sing and +dance. Europeans are soon tired of both performances. The geisha, with +her face whitened with powder, and her lips painted a bright red, and her +elaborately-dressed hair full of ornaments, sits down to a sort of guitar +called a samisen and sings, but her song has no music in it. It is a kind +of long-drawn wail, very monotonous and tuneless to European ears. The +dancing is a kind of acting in dumb show, and consists of a number of +postures, while the movements of the fan take a large share in conveying +the dancer's meaning. + +When our foreigner starts home from this long and rather fatiguing +entertainment, he finds that he has by no means finished with his dinner. +On his way to his carriage he will be waylaid by the little moosmes who +have waited upon him, and their arms will be filled with flat white wooden +boxes. These contain the food that was offered to him and left uneaten, and +Japanese etiquette demands that he shall take home with him his share of +the scraps of the banquet. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES (_continued_) + + +The Japanese are very fond of their temples, and visit them constantly. +They do this not only to pray to their gods, but to enjoy themselves as +well, for the temple grounds are the scene of great fairs and festivals. +If you visit a temple on the day of some great function, you will find its +steps outside packed with rows upon rows of clogs and umbrellas, placed +there by the worshippers inside. You enter, and find the latter seated +on the floor, and if the service is not going on at the moment they are +smoking and chatting together, and the children are crawling about in the +crowd. + +When the service is over the worshippers disperse to find a cool spot +in the temple grounds to eat their simple meal. In front of the temple +stands a wooden arch, called a torii. Sometimes the temple is approached +through a whole avenue of them of various sizes. The building is of wood, +sometimes small, sometimes very large, and is usually surrounded by booths +and tea-houses. At many of the booths may be purchased the figures of the +more popular gods. Everywhere may be seen the fat figures of the Seven +Gods of Wealth, the deities most beloved in every Japanese household. Then +there are the God and Goddess of Rice, who protect the crops, and who are +attended by the figures of foxes quaintly carved in wood or moulded in +white plaster. The Goddess of Mercy, with her many hands to help and save, +is also a favourite idol. + +At another spot you find peep-shows, stalls at which hairpins, paints, and +powder-boxes, and a thousand other trifles, are sold; archery galleries, +where you may fire twenty arrows at a target for a halfpenny; booths, where +acrobats, conjurers, and jugglers are performing, and tea-houses without +number, where the faithful are sipping their tea or saké and puffing at +their tiny pipes. + +The young girls are fond of purchasing sacred beans and peas and rice at a +stall set up under the eaves of the temple. With these they feed the temple +pigeons, who come swooping down from the great wooden roof, or the sacred +white pony with the blue eyes which belongs to the holy place. On the steps +sit rows of licensed beggars, who will pray for those who will present them +with the tenth part of a farthing. But prayers may also be bought from the +priests, prayers written upon a scrap of paper, which scrap is afterwards +fastened to the bars of the grating in front of the figure of a god. A +favourite god will have many thousand scraps of paper fluttering before it +at one time. + +Many of the temple gardens are of very great beauty and interest. There +can be seen many of the marvels of Japanese gardening--tiny dwarf trees, +hundreds of years old, and yet only a few inches high, or tall shrubberies +cut and trained to represent a great junk in full sail, or the figure of a +god or hero. + +At certain times of the year when the temple orchards are in blossom, great +throngs visit them simply to enjoy the delicate beauty of the scene. The +plum-blossom appears in February, and the cherry-blossom in April or May. +Later in the year the purple iris is followed by the golden chrysanthemum. +High and low, all crowd to see the beauty of a vast sweep of lovely +blossom. A poor Japanese thinks nothing of walking a hundred miles or more +to see some famous orchard or garden in its full flowering splendour. + +From his earliest years this love of natural beauty has been a part of his +education. As a child he has taken many a trip with his father and mother +to admire the acres of plum or cherry blossom in a park or temple-garden; +as a man he lays his work aside and goes to see the same spectacle with +redoubled delight. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE RICKSHAW-MAN + + + "For his heart is in Japan, with its junks and Fujisan, + And its tea-houses and temples, and the smiling rickshaw-man." + + +We have heard of Fujisan, the famous mountain; we have talked of tea-houses +and temples; and now we must say something about the rickshaw-man or boy, +a very important person indeed in Japan. He is not important because of +riches or rank, for, as a rule, he is very poor and of the coolie order; he +is important because he is so useful. He is at one and the same time the +cabman and the cab-horse of Japan. He waits in the street with his little +carriage, and when you jump in he takes hold of the shafts himself and +trots away with you at a good speed. + +The jin-ri-ki-sha, to give it its full name, means man-power carriage, and +is like a big mail-cart or perambulator. There is a hood of oiled paper to +pull up for wet weather, a cushion to sit on, a box for parcels under the +seat, two tall slight wheels, and a pair of shafts. If the rickshaw-boy is +well-to-do in his business, his carriage is gaily lacquered and painted +with bright designs, and however poor he may be, there will be some attempt +at decoration. + +At night every rickshaw is furnished with a pretty paper lantern, circular +in form, about eighteen inches long, and painted in gay designs. These look +quite charming as they bob here and there through the dusk, their owners +racing along with a fare. The rickshaw is as modern as the bicycle. The +first one was made less than forty years ago, but they sprang into favour +at once, and their popularity grew by leaps and bounds. The fact is that +the rickshaw fits Japan as a round peg fits a round hole. In the first +place, it opened a new and money-making industry to many thousands of men +who had little to do. There were vast numbers of strong, active young +fellows who leapt forward at once to use their strength and endurance in +this novel and profitable fashion. Then, the vehicle was suited to Japanese +conditions, both in town and country. + +In town the streets are so narrow and busy that horse traffic would be +dangerous. In fact, in many places a horse is so rare a sight that when one +trots along a street a man runs ahead, blowing a horn to warn people to +clear out of the way. But the rickshaw-boy dodges through the traffic with +his little light carriage, and runs over no one. + +Then, in the country the roads are often very narrow, and sometimes very +bad--mere tracks between fields of rice. Here the rickshaw is of great +service, owing to its light weight and the little room it requires. + +As a rule, the rickshaw is drawn by one man and holds one passenger; but +it has often to contain two Japanese, for the pair of them will fit snugly +into the space required for one Englishman. If the traveller wishes to go +fast, he has two human horses harnessed to his light chariot. Both run in +front till a hill is reached, when one drops back to push behind. + +Wherever you arrive in Japan, whether by steamer or by train, you will find +long rows of rickshaw-boys waiting to be hired. They are all called boys, +whatever their age may be. Until a possible passenger comes in sight, the +queer little men, many of them under five feet in height, stand beside +their rickshaws, smoking their tiny little brass pipes with bowls about +half as big as a thimble. Their clothes are very simple. They wear a very +tight pair of short blue drawers and a blue tunic, upon the back of which +a huge white crest is painted, the distinguishing mark of each boy. An +enormous white hat the size and shape of a huge basin is worn on the head; +but if the day becomes very hot the hat is taken off, and a wisp of cloth +bound round the forehead to prevent sweat from running into the eyes. As +for sunstroke, the rickshaw-boy has no fear of that. + +When you step into sight, a score dart forward, dragging their rickshaws +after them with one hand and holding the other up to draw your attention, +and shouting, "Riksha! Riksha! Riksha!" You choose one, and step in. +The human steed springs between the shafts, raises them and tilts you +backwards, and then darts off, as if eager to show you his strength and +speed, and prove to you what a good choice you have made. + +Away bounds the little man, and soon you are bowling along a narrow street +where a passage seems impossible, so full is it of boys and girls, men +and women, shops and stalls. There may be a side-walk, but then, the +shopkeepers have taken that to spread out their wares, or the stallkeepers +have set up their little booths there. So the people who want to go along +the street, and the boys and girls who want to play in it, are all driven +to the middle of the way. + +Here and there your rickshaw dodges, working its way through the crowd. +Now the man pauses a second lest he should run full-tilt over a group +of gaily-dressed little girls, each with a baby on her back, playing +at ball in the road. Half a dozen others are busy with battledores and +shuttlecocks, and the gaily-painted toys drop into your carriage, and +you are expected to toss them out again to the mites, who will bow very +deeply and with the profoundest gravity in return for your politeness; then +something flutters over your head, and you see that two boys and an old man +are sitting on the roof of a house about as high as a tool-shed, trying to +get their kites up. And you say to yourself that it is lucky that there +are no horses, for the quietest beast that ever lifted a hoof would bolt +here and charge through the whirl and uproar and the rain of dropping +shuttlecocks and bouncing balls. + +Another fine thing about rickshaw-riding is that no one can call it +expensive. While the boy goes, you pay him about sevenpence an hour; while +he waits you pay him rather less than twopence-halfpenny an hour, and you +can have his services for a whole day for about half a crown. But some of +them will try to cheat you in places where foreigners are often met with, +and will put a whole twopence an hour on the regular price. + +This is very sad, and causes the rickshaw-boy to be looked upon as a +tradesman; he is not allowed the honour of being regarded as a servant and +the member of an honourable profession--one who puts his master's interests +before his own. But, as a rule, the foreigner who employs the same +rickshaw-boy comes to look upon him as a guide, philosopher, and friend. He +will tell you where to go and what to do; he knows all the sights, and can +tell you all about them. If you go shopping, he will come in and see that +you don't get cheated any more than you are bound to be. If you go on an +expedition, he will find out the best tea-house to stay at, he will cook +for you, wait on you, brush your clothes, put up the paper screens to form +your bedroom, take them down again, see that the bill is reasonable, pay +it, and fee the servants--in short, he will manage everything, and you have +only to admire what you have gone to see. + +Wherever you stop on a jaunt, whether it is some famous temple or some +lovely park, there is sure to be a coolie's tea-house handy, and he takes +the opportunity of refreshing himself. He dives into the well under the +seat and fetches out his lacquer box full of rice. He whips the rice into +his mouth with chopsticks, and washes it down with the yellow, bitter +Japanese tea. Then he sits and smokes his tiny pipe until you are ready to +go on. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IN THE COUNTRY + + +The Japanese farmer is one of the steadiest workers in the world; he tills +his patch of land, day in, day out, with untiring industry. He works seven +days a week, for he knows nothing of the Sabbath, and only takes a day +off for a fair or a festival when his land is in perfect order and he is +waiting for the crop. + +Almost the whole of the land is turned over with the spade, and weeds are +kept down until the whole country looks like a neatly-kept garden. Many +crops are grown, but the chief of them all is rice, and when the rice crop +fails, then vast numbers of people in Japan feel the pinch of famine. + +In order to grow rice much water is needed, so the fields are flooded from +a river or canal near at hand, and the plants are set in the soft mud. This +work is carried out by men or women who wade in slush above their knees, +and it is a very dirty and toilsome task. The women tuck their kimonos up, +and the men cast theirs aside altogether. After planting, this work in deep +slush and clinging mud must be repeated three times in order to clear away +the water-weeds which grow thickly around the young rice-plants. + +[Illustration: PEACH TREES IN BLOSSOM] + +When the rice is nearly ripe the water is drawn off and the fields are +dried. The fields are of all sizes and shapes, from a patch of a few square +yards up to an acre, and the latter would be considered large. There +are no hedges or fences to divide off field from field, for the land is +too valuable to permit of such being grown; but the boundaries are well +understood, and each farmer knows his own patch. + +Another important crop is the plants which are grown for making paper. +Paper has a great place in the industries of Japan. It is used everywhere +and for almost everything. A Japanese lives in a house largely built of +paper, drinks from a paper cup, reads by a paper lantern, writes, of +course, on paper, and wraps up his parcels in it, ties up the parcels with +paper string, uses a paper pocket-handkerchief, wears a paper cloak and +paper shoes and paper hat, holds up a paper umbrella against the sun and +the rain, and employs it for a great number of other purposes. He makes +more than sixty kinds of paper, and each kind has its own specified use. He +can make it so tough that it is almost impossible to tear it, and he can +make it waterproof, so that the fiercest rain cannot pass through it. + +If your path leads you along the bank of a river you will often see a +fisherman at work. He has many ways of catching his prey. He uses a line +and hook and the net. In a large stream or pool he may be seen at work with +the throwing-net, a clever device. + +This net is made in the form of a circle twelve or fourteen feet across, +and round the edge of the net heavy sinkers of lead are fastened. The +fisherman folds this net over his arm, and then tosses into the water a +ball of boiled rice and barley. The fish gather to eat this bait, and then +he throws the net in such a way that it falls quite flat upon the water. +The leads sink at once to the bottom, and the net covers the feeding fish +in the shape of a dome. A strong cord is fastened to the top of the net, +and he begins to haul it up. The leads are drawn together by their own +weight, and close the bottom of the net, and the fish are imprisoned. + +Sometimes he uses bow and arrows. This he does after putting into the water +certain fruit and herbs which are very bitter. The juice of these herbs +affects the water and drives the fish to the surface, where they leap about +in pain. The fisherman shoots them with an arrow to which a cord is +attached, and draws them ashore. + +As night falls after a hot day, the people and children of the village +near at hand will come down to the water-side on a fire-fly hunt. The tiny +gleaming creatures now flash along the surface of river and lake, like a +myriad of fairy lanterns flitting through the dusk. They are caught and +imprisoned in little silken cages. At the bottom of the cage there is a +very small mound of earth in which a millet seed has been planted and has +sprung up to the height of an inch or more, and beside the little plant +there is a tiny bowl of water. Here the firefly will live for several days, +to the delight of the children. + +Not far from the river is the village, with a brook running down the middle +of its street. This brook serves many purposes. The women kneel beside it +with sleeves and kimonos tucked up, washing clothes and vegetables, or +dipping buckets in it to get water for baths. There is a loud rattle of +wooden hammers at various points, for the stream turns a number of small +water-wheels, and these work big wooden hammers which pound up the rice +placed in a big stump of a tree hollowed out for a mortar. As you stroll +along the village street you see what every one is doing, for the fronts +of the houses are all open, and you can see into every corner of each +dwelling. + +Behind the houses tall bamboos shoot up, and the bamboo is welcome, for it +is a tree of many uses. Its wood serves for the framework of houses, and +its leaves are often used as thatch. It will make a dish, a box, a plate, a +bowl, an oar, a channel for conveying water and a vessel for carrying it, a +fishing-rod, a flower-vase, a pipe-stem, a barrel-hoop, a fan, an umbrella, +and fifty other things, while young bamboo shoots are eaten and considered +a great delicacy. + +On fine summer evenings, when the work of the day is over, the villagers +gather in the court of the village temple for the odori, the open-air +dance. The court is decked with big beautiful paper lanterns, but there is +a special one called toro (a light in a basket). The toro is often two feet +square by five feet high. On one side of it is the name of the god in whose +temple court the dance is being held, while the other is reserved for some +short poem, written by one of the youths of the village. There is keen +competition among them for the honour of writing the poem chosen to be +inscribed on the toro, and two of these tiny poems run thus: + + "I looked upon the cherry that blooms by the fence, down by the woodman's + cottage, + And wondered if an untimely snow had fallen upon it." + + "Into the evening dew that rolls upon the green blade of the tall-grown + grass in Mushashi Meadow + The summer moon comes stealthily and takes up her dwelling." + +The young men and maidens dance in a ring, circling round one who stands in +the midst, from whom they take both the time and music of the many dances +performed at the odori. The dancers are always young and unmarried. The +older people sit on the steps of the temple and watch the merry frolic with +a smile. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +IN THE COUNTRY (_continued_) + + +On a wet day in the country the people thatch themselves to keep off the +rain. The favourite waterproof of the coolie is a huge cloak made of rice +straw, the long ends sticking out. With this and his great umbrella hat he +keeps comfortably dry. Those who do not wear a big hat carry a large oiled +paper umbrella, which shelters them well. + +There is plenty of wet weather in Japan, particularly in the summer, and +then travelling is not very pleasant. The good roads become muddy and soft, +and the bad roads become sheer quagmires, in which the coolie pulling the +rickshaw is continually losing his straw sandals. These sandals, called +waraji, mark out the tracks in every direction, for they soon wear out, and +are cast off to litter the wayside in their hundreds. They are quickly and +cheaply replaced, however, for almost every roadside house sells them, and +a pair may be bought for a sen--something less than a halfpenny. + +Not only do the men wear straw shoes, but horses are shod in them also, +and a very poor and clumsy arrangement it is. The shoes are thick, and are +tied on the horse's feet with straw cords. They wear out so fast that a +bunch has to be kept hanging to the saddle for use on the way, and in every +village a fresh stock has to be secured, at the cost of a penny per set of +four. + +The foreign visitor who travels through country places in Japan has to +submit to being stared at, but nothing more. The people are so interested +in a person who looks so different from themselves that they are never +tired of watching him and his ways. But otherwise their unfailing +politeness remains. They do not crowd upon him, or, if they should come a +little too near, they are soon warned off. An English artist, Mr. Alfred +Parsons, was once sketching in Japan, and the crowd, anxious to see his +work, came a little too near his elbow. He says: "The keeper of a little +tea-shop hard by, where I took my lunch, noticed that I was worried by the +people standing so close to me, and when I arrived next morning I found +that he had put up a fence round the place where I worked. It was only a +few slender bamboo sticks, with a thin string twisted from one to another, +but not a soul attempted to come inside it. They are such an obedient and +docile race that a little string stretched across a road is quite enough to +close the thoroughfare." + +A familiar figure along the Japanese highways and byways is that of the +pilgrim going to see some famous shrine, or, most often of all, marching +towards Fujisan, the sacred mountain. The Fuji pilgrim may be known by his +garb. He is dressed in white, with white kimono, white socks and gaiters, +and straw sandals. He wears a great basin-shaped white hat, and has a rush +mat over his shoulders to temper the heat of the sun or shed the rain. +Round his neck hangs a string of beads and a bell, which tinkles without +ceasing as he goes. He carries a little bundle of spare sandals and a staff +with an ornament of paper about its end. + +His pilgrimage costs him very little. His food is of the simplest, and he +gets a bed at a tea-house for a halfpenny, or he lodges with a villager +who offers him hospitality. To entertain his guest the villager will fetch +his best furniture from the village godown, for in the country one of +these storehouses suffices for a whole hamlet. They are made very large and +strong, with many thick coats of mud and plaster on a wooden frame, and +with a door of iron or of bronze; then, when the fire, which is sure to +come at some time or other, sweeps over the hamlet and leaves it a layer of +smoking ashes around the big godown, there are the village treasures still +unharmed, and ready to adorn the houses which will spring up again as if by +magic. + +When bedtime comes, the amado, the wooden shutters, are drawn around the +house and securely fastened; for a Japanese dwelling, so open by day, is +shut up as tightly as a sealed box by night. Now all is quiet save for +the village watchman, whose duty it is to guard against fire and thieves. +He marches up and down, beating two pieces of wood together--clop-clop, +clop-clop--as he walks. This is to give assurance that he is not asleep +himself, but watching over the slumbers of his neighbours, and to let the +thieves know that he is looking out for them. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE POLICEMAN AND THE SOLDIER + + +The Japanese policeman is, first and foremost, a gentleman. He is a +samurai, a man of good family, and therefore deeply respected by the mass +of the people. He is often a small man for a Japanese, but though his +height may run from four feet ten to five feet nothing, he is a man of much +authority. When the samurai were disbanded, there were very few occupations +to which they could turn. They disdained agriculture and trade, but numbers +of them became servants, printers, and policemen. This seems an odd mixture +of tasks, but there are sound reasons for it. + +Many samurai became servants because service is an honourable profession in +Japan; many became printers because the samurai were an educated class, and +the only people fitted to deal with the very complicated Japanese alphabet; +and many became policemen because it was a post for which their fighting +instinct and their habit of authority well fitted them. Their authority +over the people is absolute and unquestioning; and, again, there are sound +reasons for this. + +[Illustration: THE FEAST OF FLAGS] + +Forty years ago the Japanese people could have been divided very sharply +into two classes, the ruling and the ruled. The ruling class was formed +of the great Princes and the samurai, their followers, about 2,000,000 +people in all. The remaining 38,000,000 of the population were the common +people, the ruled. Now, in the old days when a Daimio left his castle for +a journey, he was borne in a kago, a closed carriage, and was attended +by a guard of his samurai. If a common person met the procession, he was +expected either to retire quickly from the path or fling himself humbly on +his face until the carriage had gone by; if he did not, the samurai whipped +out their long swords and slew him in short order, and not a single word +was said about it. This way of dealing with those who did not belong to the +two-sworded class made the people very respectful to the samurai, and that +respect is now transferred to the police. + +The Japanese policeman is also to be respected for his skill in wrestling, +and, small as he is, the tallest and most powerful foreigner is quite +helpless in his hands. He is thoroughly trained in the art of Japanese +wrestling--the jiu-jitsu of which we hear so much nowadays. In this system +a trained wrestler can seize his opponent in such a manner that the other +man is quite at his mercy, or with a slight impetus he can fling the other +about as he pleases. One writer speaks of seeing a very small Japanese +policeman arrest a huge, riotous Russian sailor, a man much more than six +feet high. It seemed a contest between a giant and a child. The sailor made +rush after rush at his tiny opponent, but the policeman stepped nimbly +aside, waiting for the right moment to grip his man. At last it came. +The sailor made a furious lunge, and the policeman seized him by the +wrist. To the astonishment of the onlooker, the sailor flew right over the +policeman's head, and fell all in a heap more than a dozen feet away. When +he picked himself up, confused and half stunned, the policeman tied a bit +of string to his belt and led him away in triumph to the station. + +The policeman never has any trouble with his own people; they obey at once +and without question. If a crowd gathers and becomes a nuisance to anyone, +it melts as soon as one of the little men in uniform comes along and gives +the order to disperse. He may sometimes be seen lecturing a coolie or +rickshaw-boy for some misdeed or other. The culprit, his big hat held +between his hands, ducks respectfully at every second word, and looks all +humility and obedience. + +Being an educated man, he has much sympathy with art and artists, and is +delighted to help a foreigner who is painting scenes in Japan. Mr. Mortimer +Menpes says: "Altogether I found the policeman the most delightful person +in the world. When I was painting a shop, if a passer-by chanced to look in +at a window, he would see at a glance exactly what I wanted; and I would +find that that figure would remain there, looking in at the shop, as still +as a statue, until I had finished my painting; the policeman meanwhile +strutting up and down the street, delighted to be of help to an artist, +looking everywhere but at my work, and directing the entire traffic down +another street." + +Of the Japanese soldier there is no need for us to say much here, since +the world has so lately been ringing with his praises. The endurance, the +obedience, the courage of the Japanese soldier and sailor have been shown +in marvellous fashion during the great war with Russia, and Japan has fully +proved herself to be one of the greatest of the naval and military Powers +of the world. + +The Japanese soldier is the result of the family life in Japan. From his +infancy he is taught that he has two supreme duties: one of obedience +to his parents, the other of service to his country. This unhesitating, +unquestioning habit of obedience, a habit which becomes second nature to +him, is of immense value to him as a soldier. He is a disciplined man +before he enters the ranks, and he transfers at once to his officers the +obedience which he has hitherto shown towards the elders of his family. + +His second great duty of service to his country also leads him onward +towards becoming the perfect soldier. He not only looks upon his life as a +thing to be readily risked or given for his Emperor and for Japan, but he +strives to make himself a thoroughly capable servant of his land. No detail +of his duty is too small for him to overlook, for he fears lest the lack +of that detail should prevent him from putting forth his full strength on +the day of trial. He cleans a button as carefully as he lays a big gun, +and this readiness for any duty, great or small, was a large factor in the +wonderful victory of Japan over Russia. + +In battle he questions no order. During the late war many Japanese +regiments knew that they were being sent to certain death, in order that +they might open a way for their comrades. They never flinched. Shouting +their "Banzai!"--their Japanese hurrah--the dogged little men rushed +forward upon batteries spouting flame and shell, or upon ramparts lined +with rifles, and gave their lives freely for Dai Nippon, Great Japan, the +country of their birth. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +TWO GREAT FESTIVALS + + +There are two great Japanese festivals of which we have not yet spoken, but +which are of the first importance. One is the New Year Festival, the other +is the Bon Matsuri, the Feast of the Dead, in the summer. The New Year +Festival is the great Japanese holiday of the year. No one does any work +for several days, and all devote themselves to making merry. Although this +festival comes in the middle of winter, every street looks like an arbour, +decorated as it is with arches of greenery before each house. On either +side of each door is a pine-tree and bamboo stems. These signify a hardy +old age, and they are joined by a grass rope which runs from house to +house along the street. This rope is supposed to prevent evil spirits from +entering the houses, and so it ensures the occupants a lucky year. Japanese +flags are entwined amid the decorations, and green feathery branches and +ferns are set about, until the street looks like a forest. + +Japanese people are so polite to each other that even the beggars in the +streets bow to each other in the most ceremonious fashion, but at this +festival the bowing is redoubled. There is a special form of greeting for +this occasion, and not a bow is to be missed when two acquaintances meet. + +There is much feasting and a great exchange of presents. The Japanese are +always making presents to each other, and there is a prescribed way for +every rank of life to make presents to every other rank, and for the manner +in which the presents are to be received. A present may always be known by +the little gold or red or white paper kite fastened to the paper string +which ties up the parcel. + +Every one enters into the fun of the time, from the highest to the lowest. +They call upon each other; they march in great processions; they visit +the gayest and liveliest of fairs; they feast; they drink tea and saké +almost without ceasing. The fairs look most striking and picturesque after +darkness has fallen. Then the streets and the long rows of white booths +made of newly-sawn wood and gaily decorated, are lighted up by innumerable +lanterns of every colour that paper can be painted, and of every size, from +six inches high to six feet. The crowd wear their gayest kimonos, and the +moosmes are brilliant in flowered or striped silks and splendid sashes, and +the air is full of the rattle of the shuffling clogs and the tinkling +samisen played in almost every booth. + +At times the crowd opens to let some procession pass through. Now it is the +dragon-dancers, the dragon's head being a huge and terrifying affair made +of coloured pasteboard, and carried on a pole draped with a long garment +which hides the dancer. In front march two men with drum and fife to herald +the dragon's approach. Next comes a batch of coolies dragging a car upon +which a swarm of masqueraders present some traditional pageant, and next a +number of boys perform an old dance with much spirit and shouting. On New +Year's Eve a very curious market is held. It is a custom in Japan for every +one to pay all that he owes to his Japanese creditors before the New Year +dawns. If he does not do so, he loses his credit. So on the last day of +the Old Year the Japanese who is behind in his payments looks among his +belongings for something to sell, and carries it to the market in order +that he may gain a few sen to settle with his creditor. + +In the great city of Tokyo this fair is visited by every traveller. For +a space of two miles the stalls stretch along in double rows, lighted by +lanterns of oil flares, and here may be seen every imaginable thing which +is to be found in poorer Japanese households. As each Japanese arrives with +his worldly possessions in a couple of square boxes swinging one at each +end of a bamboo pole slung across his shoulder, he takes possession of a +little stall or a patch of pavement and sets out his poor wares. + +He has brought mats, or cushions, or shabby kimonos, or clogs, or socks, or +little ornaments and vessels in porcelain or silver or bronze. Sometimes he +brings really beautiful things, the last precious possessions of a family +which has come down in the world--a fine piece of embroidery, a priceless +bit of lacquer, bronze and silver charms, little boxes of ivory, temples +and pagodas and bell-towers in miniature, tiny but perfect in every detail +and of the most exquisite workmanship. Everything comes to market on this +night of the year. + +The Feast of the Dead takes place in the hot summer weather, and is +celebrated in different ways in various parts of Japan. Everywhere +the children, in their finest clothes, march through the streets in +processions, carrying fans and banners and lanterns, and chanting as +they march; but most great cities have their own form of celebration. + +At Nagasaki the tombs of all those who have died during the past year +are illuminated with large bright lanterns on the first night of the +celebrations. On the second and third nights all tombs are illuminated, +and the burial-grounds are one glorious blaze of many-coloured lights. The +avenues leading to the burial-grounds are turned into fair-grounds, with +decorations and booths, stalls and tea-houses, each illuminated by many +brilliant lanterns. Fires are lighted on the hills, rockets shoot up on +every hand, and vast crowds of people gather in the cemeteries to feast and +make merry and drink saké in honour of their ancestors, whose spirits they +suppose to surround them and be present at the festival. At the end of the +feast a very striking scene takes place: the preparations for the departure +of the dead. + +"But on the third vigil, suddenly, at about two o'clock in the morning, +long processions of bright lanterns are seen to descend from the heights +and group themselves on the shores of the bay, while the mountains +gradually return to obscurity and silence. It is fated that the dead +should embark and disappear before twilight. The living have plaited them +thousands of little ships of straw, each provisioned with some fruit and a +few pieces of money. The frail vessels are charged with all the coloured +lanterns which were used for the illumination of the cemeteries; the small +sails of matting are spread to the wind, and the morning breeze scatters +them round the bay, where they are not long in taking fire. It is thus that +the entire flotilla is consumed, tracing in all directions large trails of +fire. The dead depart rapidly. Soon the last ship has foundered, the last +light is extinguished, and the last soul has taken its departure again from +earth." + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Peeps at Many Lands: Japan, by John Finnemore + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEEPS AT MANY LANDS: JAPAN *** + +***** This file should be named 7936-8.txt or 7936-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/9/3/7936/ + +Produced by David Starner, Bill Flis and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: Peeps at Many Lands: Japan + +Author: John Finnemore + +Posting Date: September 18, 2014 [EBook #7936] +Release Date: April, 2005 +First Posted: June 2, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEEPS AT MANY LANDS: JAPAN *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Bill Flis and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br> +<br> + +<a name="cover"></a> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="THE TORII OF THE TEMPLE"> +<p class="ctr">THE TORII OF THE TEMPLE</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<a name="front"></a> +<img src="images/front.jpg" alt="OUTSIDE A TEA-HOUSE"> +<p class="ctr">OUTSIDE A TEA-HOUSE</p> +<p class="ctr"> </p> + +<br> +<br> + +<h2>PEEPS AT MANY LANDS</h2> + +<h1>JAPAN</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>JOHN FINNEMORE</h2> + +<h3>WITH TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR</h3> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>ELLA DU CANE</h2> + +<br> +<br> + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> + +<p class="ctr"> +CHAPTER +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#i">I. THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#ii">II. BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#iii">III. BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN (<i>continued</i>)</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#iv">IV. THE JAPANESE BOY</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#v">V. THE JAPANESE GIRL</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#vi">VI. IN THE HOUSE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#vii">VII. IN THE HOUSE (<i>continued</i>)</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#viii">VIII. A JAPANESE DAY</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#ix">IX. A JAPANESE DAY (<i>continued</i>)</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#x">X. JAPANESE GAMES</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xi">XI. THE FEAST OF DOLLS AND THE FEAST OF FLAGS</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xii">XII. A FARTHING'S WORTH OF FUN</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xiii">XIII. KITE-FLYING</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xiv">XIV. FAIRY STORIES</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xv">XV. TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xvi">XVI. TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES (<i>continued</i>)</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xvii">XVII. THE RICKSHAW-MAN</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xviii">XVIII. IN THE COUNTRY</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xix">XIX. IN THE COUNTRY (<i>continued</i>)</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xx">XX. THE POLICEMAN AND THE SOLDIER</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xxi">XXI. TWO GREAT FESTIVALS</a> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h3>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> + +<p class="ctr"> +BY ELLA DU CANE +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#front">OUTSIDE A TEA-HOUSE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#map_small"><i>Sketch-Map of Japan</i></a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#nurse">THE LITTLE NURSE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#writing">THE WRITING LESSON</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#temple">GOING TO THE TEMPLE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#house">A JAPANESE HOUSE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#tea">OFFERING TEA TO A GUEST</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#tops">FIGHTING TOPS</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#toy_shop">THE TOY SHOP</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#shrine">A BUDDHIST SHRINE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#peach">PEACH TREES IN BLOSSOM</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#flags">THE FEAST OF FLAGS</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#cover">THE TORII OF THE TEMPLE</a> +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="map_small"></a> +<img src="images/map_small.png" alt="SKETCH-MAP OF JAPAN"> +<p class="ctr">SKETCH-MAP OF JAPAN</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="nurse"></a> +<img src="images/nurse.jpg" alt="THE LITTLE NURSE"> +<p class="ctr">THE LITTLE NURSE</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h2><a name="i">CHAPTER I</a></h2> + +<h3>THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN</h3> + +<p> +Far away from our land, on the other side of the world, lies a group of +islands which form the kingdom of Japan. The word "Japan" means the "Land +of the Rising Sun," and it is certainly a good name for a country of the +Far East, the land of sunrise. +</p> + +<p> +The flag of Japan, too, is painted with a rising sun which sheds its beams +on every hand, and this flag is now for ever famous, so great and wonderful +have been the victories in which it has been borne triumphant over Russian +arms. +</p> + +<p> +In some ways the Japanese are fond of comparing themselves with their +English friends and allies. They point out that Japan is a cluster of +islands off the coast of Asia, as Britain is a cluster of islands off the +coast of Europe. They have proved themselves, like the English, brave and +clever on the sea, while their troops have fought as nobly as British +soldiers on the land. They are fond of calling themselves the "English of +the East," and say that their land is the "Britain of the Pacific." +</p> + +<p> +The rise of Japan in becoming one of the Great Powers of the world has been +very sudden and wonderful. Fifty years ago Japan lay hidden from the world; +she forbade strangers to visit the country, and very little was known of +her people and her customs. +</p> + +<p> +Her navy then consisted of a few wooden junks; to-day she has a fleet of +splendid ironclads, handled by men who know their duties as well as English +seamen. Her army consisted of troops armed with two swords and carrying +bows and arrows; to-day her troops are the admiration of the world, armed +with the most modern weapons, and, as foes, to be dreaded by the most +powerful nations. +</p> + +<p> +Fifty years ago Japan was in the purely feudal stage. Her great native +Princes were called Daimios. Each had a strong castle and a private army +of his own. There were ceaseless feuds between these Princes and constant +fighting between their armies of samurai, as their followers were called. +Japan was like England at the time of our War of the Roses: family quarrels +were fought out in pitched battle. All that has now gone. The Daimios have +become private gentlemen; the armies of samurai have been disbanded, and +Japan is ruled and managed just like a European country, with judges, and +policemen, and law-courts, after the model of Western lands. +</p> + +<p> +When the Japanese decided to come out and take their place among the great +nations of the world, they did not adopt any half-measures; they simply +came out once and for all. They threw themselves into the stream of modern +inventions and movements with a will. They have built railways and set up +telegraph and telephone lines. They have erected banks and warehouses, +mills and factories. They have built bridges and improved roads. They have +law-courts and a Parliament, to which the members are elected by the +people, and newspapers flourish everywhere. +</p> + +<p> +Japan is a very beautiful country. It is full of fine mountains, with +rivers leaping down the steep slopes and dashing over the rocks in snowy +waterfalls. At the foot of the hills are rich plains and valleys, well +watered by the streams which rush down from the hills. But the mountains +are so many and the plains are so few that only a small part of the land +can be used for growing crops, and this makes Japan poor. Its climate is +not unlike ours in Great Britain, but the summer is hotter, and the winter +is in some parts very cold. Many of the mountains are volcanoes. Some of +these are still active, and earthquakes often take place. Sometimes these +earthquakes do terrible harm. The great earthquake of 1871 killed 10,000 +people, injured 20,000, and destroyed 130,000 houses. +</p> + +<p> +The highest mountain of Japan also is the most beautiful, and it is greatly +beloved by the Japanese, who regard it as a sacred height. Its name is +Fujisan, or Fusi-Yama, and it stands near the sea and the capital city +of Tokyo. It is of most beautiful shape, an almost perfect cone, and it +springs nearly 13,000 feet into the air. From the sea it forms a most +superb and majestic sight. Long before a glimpse can be caught of the shore +and the city, the traveller sees the lofty peak, crowned with a glittering +crest of snow, rising in lonely majesty, with no hint of the land on which +it rests. The Japanese have a great love of natural beauty, and they adore +Fujisan. Their artists are never tired of painting it, and pictures of it +are to be found in the most distant parts of the land. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="ii">CHAPTER II</a></h2> + +<h3>BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN</h3> + +<p> +In no country in the world do children have a happier childhood than in +Japan. Their parents are devoted to them, and the children are always good. +This seems a great deal to say, but it is quite true. Japanese boys and +girls behave as quietly and with as much composure as grown-up men and +women. From the first moment that it can understand anything, a Japanese +baby is taught to control its feelings. If it is in pain or sad, it is not +to cry or to pull an ugly face; that would not be nice for other people to +hear or see. If it is very merry or happy, it is not to laugh too loudly or +to make too much noise; that would be vulgar. So the Japanese boy or girl +grows up very quiet, very gentle, and very polite, with a smile for +everything and everybody. +</p> + +<p> +While they are little they have plenty of play and fun when they are not in +school. In both towns and villages the streets are the playground, and here +they play ball, or battledore and shuttlecock, or fly kites. +</p> + +<p> +Almost every little girl has a baby brother or sister strapped on her back, +for babies are never carried in the arms in Japan except by the nurses of +very wealthy people. The baby is fastened on its mother's or its sister's +shoulders by a shawl, and that serves it for both cot and cradle. The +little girl does not lose a single scrap of her play because of the baby. +She runs here and there, striking with her battledore, or racing after her +friends, and the baby swings to and fro on her shoulders, its little head +wobbling from side to side as if it were going to tumble off. But it is +perfectly content, and either watches the game with its sharp little black +eyes, or goes calmly off to sleep. +</p> + +<p> +In the form of their dress both boys and girls appear alike, and, more than +that, they are dressed exactly like their parents. There is no child's +dress in Japan. The garments are smaller, to fit the small wearers--that is +all. +</p> + +<p> +The main article of dress is a loose gown, called a kimono. Under the outer +kimono is an inner kimono, and the garments are girt about the body with a +large sash, called an obi. The obi is the pride of a Japanese girl's heart. +If her parents are rich, it will be of shining costly silk or rich brocade +or cloth of gold; if her parents are poor, they will make an effort to get +her one as handsome as their means will allow. Next to her obi, she prides +herself on the ornaments which decorate her black hair--fine hairpins, +with heads of tortoiseshell or coral or lacquer, and hair-combs, all most +beautifully carved. +</p> + +<p> +A boy's obi is more for practical use, and is not of such splendour as +his sister's. When he is very small, his clothes are of yellow, while his +sister's are of red. At the age of five he puts on the hakama, and then he +is a very proud boy. The hakama is a kind of trousers made of silk, and is +worn by men instead of an under-kimono. At five years old a boy is taken +to the temple to thank the gods who have protected him thus far; and as he +struts along, and hears with joy his hakama rustling its stiff new silk +beneath his kimono, he feels himself a man indeed, and that his babyhood of +yesterday is left far behind. +</p> + +<p> +Upon the feet are worn the tabi--thick white socks, which may be called +foot-gloves, for there are separate divisions for the toes. +</p> + +<p> +These serve both as stockings outside the house and slippers inside, for no +boots are worn in a Japanese house. When a Japanese walks out, he slips his +feet into high wooden clogs, and when he comes home he kicks off the clogs +at the door, and enters his home in tabi alone. The reason for this we +shall hear later on. In Japanese clothes there are no pockets. Whatever +they need to carry with them is tucked into the sash or into the sleeves of +the kimono. The latter are often very long, and afford ample room for the +odds and ends one usually carries in the pocket. +</p> + +<p> +But fine kimonos and rich obis are for the wealthy Japanese; the poor +cannot afford them, and dress very simply. The coolie--the Japanese working +man--goes almost naked in the warm weather, wearing only a pair of short +cotton trousers, until he catches sight of a policeman, when he slips on +his blue cotton coat, for the police have orders to see that he dresses +himself properly. His wife wears a cotton kimono, and the pair of them can +dress themselves handsomely--for coolies--from head to foot for a sum of 45 +sen, which, taking the sen at a halfpenny, amounts to 1 S. 10-1/2d. in our +money. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="iii">CHAPTER III</a></h2> + +<h3>BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN (<i>continued</i>)</h3> + +<p> +When Japanese boys and girls go to school, they make very low bows to their +teacher and draw in the breath with a buzzing sound. This is a sign of deep +respect, and the teacher returns their politeness by making low bows to +them. Then the children sit down and begin to learn their lessons. +</p> + +<p> +Their books are very odd-looking affairs to us. Not only are they printed +in very large characters, but they seem quite upside down. To find the +first page you turn to the end of the book, and you read it backwards +to the front page. Again, you do not read from left to right, as in our +fashion, but from right to left. Nor is this all: for the lines do not run +across the page, but up and down. Altogether, a Japanese book is at first +a very puzzling affair. When the writing lesson comes, the children have +no pens; they use brushes instead. They dip their brushes in the ink, and +paint the words one under the other, beginning at the top right-hand corner +and finishing at the bottom left-hand corner. If they have an address to +write on an envelope, they turn that upside down and begin with the name +of the country and finish with the name of the person--England, London, +Kensington Gardens, Brown John Mr. +</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<a name="writing"></a> +<img src="images/writing.jpg" alt="THE WRITING LESSON"> +<p class="ctr">THE WRITING LESSON</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<p> +But Japanese children have quite as many things to learn at home as at +school. At school they learn arithmetic, geography, history, and so on, +just as children do in England, but their manners and their conduct towards +other people are carefully drilled into them by their parents. The art of +behaving yourself towards others is by no means an easy thing to learn +in Japan. It is not merely a matter of good-feeling, gentleness, and +politeness, as we understand it, but there is a whole complicated system +of behaviour: how many bows to make, and how they should be made. There +are different forms of salutation to superiors, equals, and inferiors. +Different ranks of life have their own ways of performing certain actions, +and it is said that a girl's rank may easily be known merely by the way +in which she hands a cup of tea to a guest. From the earliest years the +children are trained in these observances, and they never make a mistake. +</p> + +<p> +The Japanese baby is taught how to walk, how to bow, how to kneel and +touch the floor with its forehead in the presence of a superior, and how +to get up again; and all is done in the most graceful manner and without +disturbing a single fold in its kimono. +</p> + +<p> +A child is taught very carefully how to wait on people, how to enter the +room, how to carry a tray or bowl at the right height, and, above all, how +to offer a cup or plate in the most dainty and correct style. One writer +speaks of going into a Japanese shop to buy some articles he wanted. The +master, the mistress, the children, all bent down before him. There was +a two-year-old baby boy asleep on his sister's back, and he, too, was +awakened and called upon to pay his respects to the foreign gentleman. He +woke without a start or a cry, understood at once what was required of him, +was set on his feet, and then proceeded to make his bows and to touch the +ground with his little forehead, just as exactly as his elder relatives. +This done, he was restored once more to the shawl, and was asleep again in +a moment. +</p> + +<p> +The art of arranging flowers and ornaments is another important branch of a +girl's home education. Everything in a Japanese room is carefully arranged +so that it shall be in harmony with its surroundings. The arrangement of +a bunch of flowers in a fine porcelain jar is a matter of much thought +and care. Children are trained how to arrange blossoms and boughs so that +the most beautiful effect may be gained, and in many Japanese houses may +be found books which contain rules and diagrams intended to help them in +gaining this power of skilful arrangement. This feeling for taste and +beauty is common to all Japanese, even the poorest. A well-known artist +says: "Perhaps, however, one of the most curious experiences I had of the +native artistic instinct of Japan occurred in this way: I had got a number +of fan-holders, and was busying myself one afternoon arranging them upon +the walls. My little Japanese servant-boy was in the room, and as I went +on with my work I caught an expression on his face from time to time which +showed me that he was not overpleased with my performance. After a while, +as this dissatisfied expression seemed to deepen, I asked him what the +matter was. Then he frankly confessed that he did not like the way in which +I was arranging my fan-holders. 'Why did you not tell me so at once?' I +asked. 'You are an artist from England,' he replied, 'and it was not for +me to speak.' However, I persuaded him to arrange the fan-holders himself +after his own taste, and I must say that I received a remarkable lesson. +The task took him about two hours--placing, arranging, adjusting; and when +he had finished, the result was simply beautiful. That wall was a perfect +picture: every fan-holder seemed to be exactly in its right place, and it +looked as if the alteration of a single one would affect and disintegrate +the whole scheme. I accepted the lesson with due humility, and remained +more than ever convinced that the Japanese are what they have justly +claimed to be--an essentially artistic people, instinct with living art." +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="iv">CHAPTER IV</a></h2> + +<h3>THE JAPANESE BOY</h3> + +<p> +A Japanese boy is the monarch of the household. Japan is thoroughly Eastern +in the position which it gives to women. The boy, and afterwards the man, +holds absolute rule over sister or wife. It is true that the upper classes +in Japan are beginning to take a wider view of such matters. Women of +wealthy families are well educated, wear Western dress, and copy Western +manners. They sit at table with their husbands, enter a room or a carriage +before them, and are treated as English women are treated by English men. +But in the middle and lower classes the old state of affairs still remains: +the woman is a servant pure and simple. It is said that even among the +greatest families the old customs are still observed in private. The great +lady who is treated in her Western dress just as her Western sister is +treated takes pride in waiting on her husband when they return to kimono +and obi, just as her grandmother did. +</p> + +<p> +The importance of the male in Japan arises from the religious customs of +the country. The chief of the latter is ancestor-worship. The ancestors +of a family form its household gods; but only the male ancestors are +worshipped: no offerings are ever laid on the shelf of the household gods +before an ancestress. Property, too, passes chiefly in the male line, and +every Japanese father is eager to have a son who shall continue the worship +of his ancestors, and to whom his property may descend. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, the birth of a son is received with great joy in a Japanese +household; though, on the other hand, we must not think that a girl is +ill-treated, or even destroyed, as sometimes happens in China. Not at +all; she is loved and petted just as much as her brother, but she is +not regarded as so important to the family line. +</p> + +<p> +At the age of three the Japanese boy is taken to the temple to give thanks +to the gods. Again, at the age of five, he goes to the temple, once more to +return thanks. Now he is wearing the hakama, the manly garment, and begins +to feel himself quite a man. From this age onwards the Japanese boy among +the wealthier classes is kept busily at work in school until he is ready to +go to the University, but among the poorer classes he often begins to work +for his living. +</p> + +<p> +The clever work executed by most tiny children is a matter of wonder and +surprise to all European travellers. Little boys are found binding books, +making paper lanterns and painting them, making porcelain cups, winding +grass ropes which are hung along the house-fronts for the first week of the +year to prevent evil spirits from entering, weaving mats to spread over the +floors, and at a hundred other occupations. It is very amusing to watch +the practice of the little boys who are going to be dentists. In Japan the +dentist of the people fetches out an aching tooth with thumb and finger, +and will pluck it out as surely as any tool can do the work, so his pupils +learn their trade by trying to pull nails out of a board. They begin with +tin-tacks, and go on until they can, with thumb and finger, pluck out a +nail firmly driven into the wood. +</p> + +<p> +Luckily for them, they often get a holiday. The Japanese have many +festivals, when parents and children drop their work to go to some famous +garden or temple for a day's pleasure. Then there is the great boys' +festival, the Feast of Flags, held on the fifth day of the fifth month. Of +this festival we shall speak again. +</p> + +<p> +Every Japanese boy is taught that he owes the strictest duty to his parents +and to his Emperor. These duties come before all others in Japanese eyes. +Whatever else he may neglect, he never forgets these obligations. From +infancy he is familiar with stories in which children are represented as +doing the most extraordinary things and undergoing the greatest hardships +in order to serve their parents. There is one famous old book called +"Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Virtue." It gives instances of the doings +of good sons, and is very popular in every Japanese household. +</p> + +<p> +Professor Chamberlain, the great authority on Japan, quotes some of these +instances, and they seem to us rather absurd. He says: "One of the paragons +had a cruel stepmother who was very fond of fish. Never grumbling at her +harsh treatment of him, he lay down naked on the frozen surface of the +lake. The warmth of his body melted a hole in the ice, at which two carp +came up to breathe. These he caught and set before his stepmother. Another +paragon, though of tender years and having a delicate skin, insisted on +sleeping uncovered at night, in order that the mosquitoes should fasten on +him alone, and allow his parents to slumber undisturbed. +</p> + +<p> +"A third, who was very poor, determined to bury his own child alive in +order to have more food wherewith to support his aged mother, but was +rewarded by Heaven with the discovery of a vessel filled with gold, off +which the whole family lived happily ever after. But the drollest of all +is the story of Roraishi. This paragon, though seventy years old, used to +dress in baby's clothes and sprawl about upon the floor. His object was to +delude his parents, who were really over ninety years of age, into the idea +that they could not be so very old, after all, seeing that they still had +such a childlike son." +</p> + +<p> +His duty to his Emperor the Japanese takes very seriously, for it includes +his duty to his country. He considers that his life belongs to his country, +and he is not only willing, but proud, to give it in her defence. This was +seen to the full in the late war with Russia. Time and again a Japanese +regiment was ordered to go to certain death. Not a man questioned the +order, not a man dreamed for an instant of disobedience. Forward went the +line, until every man had been smitten down, and the last brave throat had +shouted its last shrill "Banzai!" This was the result of teaching every boy +in Japan that the most glorious thing that can happen to him is to die for +his Emperor and his native land. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="v">CHAPTER V</a></h2> + +<h3>THE JAPANESE GIRL</h3> + +<p> +The word "obedience" has a large part in the life of a Japanese boy; it +is the whole life of a Japanese girl. From her babyhood she is taught the +duty of obeying some one or other among her relations. There is an old book +studied in every Japanese household and learned by heart by every Japanese +girl, called "Onra-Dai-Gaku"--that is, the "Greater Learning for Women." It +is a code of morals for girls and women, and it starts by saying that every +woman owes three obediences: first, while unmarried, to her father; second, +when married, to her husband and the elders of his family; third, when a +widow, to her son. +</p> + +<p> +Up to the age of three the Japanese girl baby has her head shaved in +various fancy patterns, but after three years old the hair is allowed to +grow to its natural length. Up to the age of seven she wears a narrow obi +of soft silk, the sash of infancy; but at seven years old she puts on the +stiff wide obi, tied with a huge bow, and her dress from that moment is +womanly in every detail. She is now a musume, or moosme, the Japanese girl, +one of the merriest, brightest little creatures in the world. She is never +big, for when at her full height she will be about four feet eight inches +tall, and a Japanese woman of five feet high is a giantess. +</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<a name="temple"></a> +<img src="images/temple.jpg" alt="GOING TO THE TEMPLE"> +<p class="ctr">GOING TO THE TEMPLE</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<p> +This is her time to wear gay, bright colours, for as a married woman she +must dress very soberly. A party of moosmes tripping along to a feast or a +fair looks like a bed of brilliant flowers set in motion. They wear kimonos +of rich silks and bright shades, kimonos of vermilion and gold, of pink, +of blue, of white, decorated with lovely designs of apple-blossom, of silk +crape in luminous greens and golden browns, every shade of the rainbow +being employed, but all in harmony and perfect taste. If a shower comes on +and they tuck up their gaily-coloured and embroidered kimonos, they look +like a bed of poppies, for each shows a glowing scarlet under-kimono, or +petticoat. +</p> + +<p> +Not only is this the time for the Japanese girl to be gaily dressed, but it +is her time to visit fairs and temples, and to enjoy the gaieties which may +fall in her way: for when she marries, the gates which lead to the ways of +pleasure are closed against her for a long time. The duties of a Japanese +wife keep her strictly at home, until the golden day dawns when her son +marries and she has a daughter-in-law upon whom she may thrust all the +cares of the household. Then once more she can go to temples and theatres, +fairs and festivals, while another drudges in her stead. +</p> + +<p> +Marriage is early in Japan. A girl marries at sixteen or seventeen, and to +be unmarried at twenty is accounted a great misfortune. At marriage she +completely severs herself from her own relations, and joins her husband's +household. This is shown in a very striking fashion by the bride wearing +a white kimono, the colour of mourning; and more, when she has left her +father's house, fires of purification are lighted, just as if a dead body +had been borne to the grave. This is to signify that henceforward the bride +is dead to her old home, and her whole life must now be spent in the +service of her husband and his relations. +</p> + +<p> +The wedding rites are very simple. There is no public function, as in +England, and no religious ceremony; the chief feature is that the bride +and bridegroom drink three times in turn from three cups, each cup having +two spouts. These cups are filled with saké, the national strong drink of +Japan, a kind of beer made from rice. This drinking is supposed to typify +that henceforth they will share each other's joys and sorrows, and this +sipping of saké constitutes the marriage ceremony. +</p> + +<p> +The young wife now must bid farewell to her fine clothes and her +merry-making. She wears garments of a soft dove colour, or greys or fawns, +quiet shades, but often of great charm. She has now to rise first in the +morning, to open the shutters which have closed the house for the night, +for this is a duty she may not leave to the servants. If her husband's +father and mother dwell in the same house, she must consider it an honour +to supply all their wants, and she is expected to become a perfect slave +to her mother-in-law. It is not uncommon for a meek little wife, who has +obeyed every one, to become a perfect tyrant as a mother-in-law, ordering +her son's wife right and left, and making the younger woman's life a sheer +misery. The mother-in-law has escaped from the land of bondage. It is no +longer her duty to rise at dawn and open the house; she can lie in bed, and +be waited upon by the young wife; she is free to go here and there, and she +does not let her chances slip; she begins once more to thoroughly enjoy +life. +</p> + +<p> +It may be doubted, however, whether these conditions will hold their own +against the flood of Western customs and Western views which has begun to +flow into Japan. At present the deeply-seated ideas which rule home-life +are but little shaken in the main, but it is very likely that the modern +Japanese girl will revolt against this spending of the best years of her +life as an upper and unpaid servant to her husband's friends and relations. +But at the present moment, for great sections of Japanese society, the old +ways still stand, and stand firmly. +</p> + +<p> +It was formerly the custom for a woman to make herself as ugly as possible +when she was married. This was to show that she wished to draw no attention +from anyone outside her own home. As a rule she blackened her teeth, which +gave her a hideous appearance when she smiled. This custom is now dying +out, though plenty of women with blackened teeth are still to be seen. +</p> + +<p> +Should a Japanese wife become a widow, she is expected to show her grief +by her desolate appearance. She shaves her head, and wears garments of the +most mournful look. It has been said that a Japanese girl has the look of a +bird of Paradise, the Japanese wife of a dove, and the Japanese widow of a +crow. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="vi">CHAPTER VI</a></h2> + +<h3>IN THE HOUSE</h3> + +<p> +A Japanese house is one of the simplest buildings in the world. Its main +features are the roof of tiles or thatch, and the posts which support the +latter. By day the walls are of oiled paper; by night they are formed of +wooden shutters, neither very thick nor very strong. As a rule, the house +is of but one story, and its flimsiness comes from two reasons, both very +good ones. +</p> + +<p> +The first is that Japan is a home of earthquakes, and when an earthquake +starts to rock the land and topple the houses about the peoples' ears, then +a tall, strong house of stone or brick would be both dangerous in its fall +and very expensive to put up again. The second is that Japan is a land of +fires. The people are very careless. They use cheap lamps and still cheaper +petroleum. A lamp explodes or gets knocked over; the oiled paper walls +burst into a blaze; the blaze spreads right and left, and sweeps away a +few streets, or a suburb of a city, or a whole village. The Jap takes this +very calmly. He gets a few posts, puts the same tiles up again for a roof, +or makes a new thatch, and, with a few paper screens and shutters, there +stands his house again. +</p> + +<p> +A house among the poorer sort of Japanese consists of one large room in the +daytime. At night it is formed into as many bedrooms as its owner requires. +Along the floor, which is raised about a foot from the ground, and along +the roof run a number of grooves, lengthways and crossways. Frames covered +with paper, called shoji, slide along these grooves and form the wall +between chamber and chamber. The front of the house is, as a rule, open to +the street, but if the owners wish for privacy they slide a paper screen +into position. At night wooden shutters, called amado, cover the screens. +Each shutter is held in place by the next, and the last shutter is fastened +by a wooden bolt. +</p> + +<p> +The Japanese are very fond of fresh air and sunshine. Unless the day is too +wet or stormy, the front of the house always stands open. If the sun is +too strong a curtain is hung across for shade, and very often this curtain +bears a huge white symbol representing his name, just as an Englishman puts +his name on a brass plate on his front-door. The furniture in these houses +is very simple. The floor is covered with thick mats, which serve for +chairs and bed, as people both sit and sleep on them. For table a low stool +suffices, and for a young couple to set up housekeeping in Japan is a very +simple matter. As Mrs. Bishop, the well-known writer, remarks: +</p> + +<p> +"Among the strong reasons for deprecating the adoption of foreign houses, +furniture, and modes of living by the Japanese, is that the expense +of living would be so largely, increased as to render early marriages +impossible. At present the requirements of a young couple in the poorer +classes are: a bare matted room (capable or not of division), two wooden +pillows, a few cotton futons (quilts), and a sliding panel, behind which +to conceal them in the daytime, a wooden rice bucket and ladle, a wooden +wash-bowl, an iron kettle, a hibachi (warming and cooking stove), a tray +or two, a teapot or two, two lacquer rice-bowls, a dinner box, a few china +cups, a few towels, a bamboo switch for sweeping, a tabako-bon (apparatus +for tobacco-smoking), an iron pot, and a few shelves let into a recess, all +of which can be purchased for something under £2." +</p> + +<p> +These young people would, however, have everything quite comfortable about +them, and housekeeping can be set up at a still lower figure, if necessary. +Excellent authorities say, and give particulars to prove, that a coolie +household may be established in full running order for 5-1/2 yen--that is, +somewhere about a sovereign. +</p> + +<p> +In better-class houses the same simplicity prevails, though the building +may be of costly materials, with posts and ceilings of ebony inlaid with +gold, and floors of rare polished woods. The screens (shoji) still separate +the rooms; the shutters (amado) enclose it at night. There are neither +doors nor passages. When you wish to pass from one room to the next you +slide back one of the shoji, and shut it after you. So you go from room +to room until you reach the one of which you are in search. The shoji are +often beautifully painted, and in each room is hung a kakemono (a wall +picture, a painting finely executed on a strip of silk). A favourite +subject is a branch of blossoming cherry, and this, painted upon white +silk, gives an effect of wonderful freshness and beauty. +</p> + +<p> +There is no chimney, for a Japanese house knows nothing of a fireplace. The +simple cooking is done over a stove burning charcoal, the fumes of which +wander through the house and disperse through the hundred openings afforded +by the loosely-fitting paper walls. To keep warm in cold weather the +Japanese hug to themselves and hang over smaller stoves, called hibachi, +metal vessels containing a handful of smouldering charcoal. +</p> + +<p> +In the rooms there are neither tables nor chairs. The floor is covered +with most beautiful mats, as white as snow and as soft as a cushion, for +they are often a couple of inches thick. They are woven of fine straw, +and on these the Japanese sit, with their feet tucked away under them. +At dinner-time small, low tables are brought in, and when the meal is +finished, the tables are taken away again. Chairs are never used, and the +Japanese who wishes to follow Western ways has to practise carefully how to +sit on a chair, just as we should have to practise how to sit on our feet +as he does at home. +</p> + +<p> +When bedtime comes, there is no change of room. The sitting-room by day +becomes the bedroom by night. A couple of wooden pillows and some quilts +are fetched from a cupboard; the quilts are spread on the floor, the +pillows are placed in position, and the bed is ready. The pillows would +strike us as most uncomfortable affairs. They are mere wooden neckrests, +and European travellers who have tried them declare that it is like trying +to go to sleep with your head hanging over a wooden door-scraper. +</p> + +<p> +As they both sit and sleep on their matting-covered floors, we now see why +the Japanese never wear any boots or clogs in the house. To do so would +make their beautiful and spotless mats dirty; so all shoes are left at +the door, and they walk about the house in the tabi, the thick glove-like +socks. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="vii">CHAPTER VII</a></h2> + +<h3>IN THE HOUSE (<i>continued</i>)</h3> + +<p> +Even supposing that a well-to-do Japanese has a good deal of native +furniture--such as beautifully painted screens, handsome vases, tables of +ebony inlaid with gold or with fancy woods, and so forth--yet he does not +keep them in the house. He stores them away in a special building, and +a servant runs and fetches whatever may be wanted. When the article has +served its purpose, it is taken back again. +</p> + +<p> +This building is called a godown. It is built of cement, is painted black, +and bears the owner's monogram in a huge white design. It is considered +to be fireproof, though it is not always so, and is meant to preserve the +family treasures in case of one of the frequent fires. It may be stored +with a great variety of furniture and ornaments, but very few see the light +at one time. +</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<a name="house"></a> +<img src="images/house.jpg" alt="A JAPANESE HOUSE"> +<p class="ctr">A JAPANESE HOUSE</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<p> +The Japanese does not fill his house with all the decorations he may own, +and live with them constantly. If he has a number of beautiful porcelain +jars and vases, he has one out at one time, another at another. A certain +vase goes with a certain screen, and every time a change is made, the +daughters of the house receive new lessons in the art of placing the +articles and decking them with flowers and boughs of blossom in order to +gain the most beautiful effect. If a visitor be present in the house, the +guest-chamber will be decorated afresh every day, each design showing some +new and unexpected beauty in screen, or flower-decked vase, or painted +kakemono. There is one vase which is always carefully supplied with +freshly-cut boughs or flowers. This is the vase which stands before the +tokonoma. The tokonoma is a very quaint feature of a Japanese house. It +means a place in which to lay a bed, and, in theory, is a guest-chamber in +which to lodge the Mikado, the Japanese Emperor. So loyal are the Japanese +that every house is supposed to contain a room ready for the Emperor in +case he should stay at the door and need a night's lodging. The Emperor, +of course, never comes, and so the tokonoma is no more than a name. +</p> + +<p> +Usually it is a recess a few feet long and a few inches wide, and over it +hangs the finest kakemono that the house can afford, and in front of it is +a vase whose flowers are arranged in a traditional form which has a certain +allegorical meaning. +</p> + +<p> +At night a Japanese room is lighted by a candle fixed in a large square +paper lantern, the latter placed on a lacquer stand. The light is very +dim, and many are now replacing it with ordinary European lamps. Unluckily +they buy the very commonest and cheapest of these, and so in consequence +accidents and fires are numerous. +</p> + +<p> +Among the coolies of Japan, the people who fill the back streets of the +large towns with long rows of tiny houses, the process of "moving house" +is absolutely literal. They do not merely carry off their furniture--that +would be simple enough--but they swing up the house too, carry it off, set +their furniture in it again, and resume their contented family life. It is +not at all an uncommon thing to meet a pair thus engaged in shifting their +abode. The man is marching along with a building of lath and paper, not +much bigger than a bathing-machine, swung on his shoulders, while his wife +trudges behind him with two or three big bundles tied up in blue cloth. He +carries the house, and she the furniture. Within a few hours they will be +comfortably settled in the new street to which their needs or their fancies +call them. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="viii">CHAPTER VIII</a></h2> + +<h3>A JAPANESE DAY</h3> + +<p> +The first person astir in a Japanese household is the mistress of the +house. She rises from the quilts on the floor which form her bed and puts +out the lamp, which has been burning all night. No Japanese sleeps without +an andon, a tall paper lamp, in which a dim light burns. Next she unlocks +the amado, the wooden shutters, and calls the servants. +</p> + +<p> +Now the breakfast-table must be set out. In one way this is very simple, +for there is no cloth to spread, for tablecloths are unknown, and when +enough rice has been boiled and enough tea has been made, the breakfast +is ready. But there is one point upon which she must be very careful. The +lacquer rice-bowls and the chopsticks must be set in their proper order, +according to the importance of each person in the family. The slightest +mistake in arranging the position at a meal of any member of the family +or of a guest under the roof would be a matter of the deepest disgrace. +Etiquette is the tyrant of Japan. A slip in the manner of serving the food +is a thousand times more important in Japanese eyes than the quality of the +food itself. A hostess might serve burned rice and the most shocking tea, +but if it were handed round in correct form, there would be nothing more to +be said; but to serve a twice-honourable guest before a thrice-honourable +guest--ah! that would be truly dreadful, a blot never to be wiped off the +family escutcheon. +</p> + +<p> +After breakfast the master of the house will go about his business. If the +day is fine the wife has his straw sandals ready for him; if it is wet +she gets his high wooden clogs and his umbrella of oiled paper. Then she +and the servants escort him to the door and speed his departure with many +low bows, rubbing their knees together--the latter is a sign of deep +respect--and calling good wishes after him. +</p> + +<p> +It may seem odd to us that the servants should accompany their mistress on +such an errand, but the servants in Japan are not like other servants: they +are as much a part of the family as the children of the house. Domestic +service in Japan is a most honourable calling, and ranks far higher than +trade. A domestic servant who married a tradesman would be considered as +going down a step in the social scale. In Japan trade has been left until +lately to the lower classes of the population, and tradespeople have ranked +with coolies and labourers. +</p> + +<p> +This importance of domestic servants arises from two reasons: First, the +old custom which compels the mistress of the house, even if she be of +the highest rank, to serve her husband and children herself, and also to +wait on her parents-in-law, has the effect of raising domestic service to a +high and honourable level. Second, many Japanese servants are of good birth +and excellent family. Only a generation ago their fathers were samurai, +followers of some great Prince, a Daimio, and members of his clan. In the +feudal days of Japan, so recently past, the position of the samurai was +exactly the same as the clansmen of a Highland chief, say at the time of +the "Forty-Five." +</p> + +<p> +The Daimio, the Japanese chief, had a great estate and vast revenues, +counted in measures of rice; one Daimio had as much as 1,000,000 koku +of rice, the koku being a weight of about 132 pounds. But out of these +revenues he had to maintain his clan, his samurai, the members of his +private army. The samurai clansmen were the exact counterparts of +Highlanders. The poorest considered himself a gentleman and a member of +his chief's family; he held trade and handicrafts in the utmost disdain: +he lived only for war and the defence of his lord. But he regarded service +in his lord's household as a high honour, and thus all service was made +honourable. When the feudal system came to an end, when the Daimios retired +into private life, and the samurai were disbanded, then the latter and +their families found that they must work for their own support, and great +numbers entered domestic service. +</p> + +<p> +Boys and girls who are meant for servants have to go through a course of +training in etiquette, quite apart from the training they receive in their +duties. This training is intended to maintain the proper distance between +employer and servant, while, in a sense, allowing them to be perfectly +familiar. The Japanese servant bows low and kneels to her mistress, +and addresses her always in the tone of voice used by an inferior to a +superior, yet she will join in a conversation between her mistress and +a caller, and laugh with the rest at any joke which is made. +</p> + +<p> +It sounds difficult to believe that servants do not become too forward +under such conditions, but they never do. Their perfect taste and good +breeding forbid that they should pass over a certain line where familiarity +would go too far. The position of a servant in Japan is shown by the fact +that, though her master or mistress will speak to her as a servant, yet a +caller or guest must always use the tone of equality and address her as san +(miss). In the absence of the mistress, servants are expected to entertain +any callers, and they do this with the perfection of gentle manners and +exquisite politeness. A lady writer says: +</p> + +<p> +"I remember once being very much at sea when I was taken to pay a call on +a Japanese lady of the well-to-do class. Not being able to speak a word +of the language, I was unable to follow the conversation which took place +between the charming little lady who greeted us at the inner shutters and +my friend. She was dressed in the soft grey kimono and obi of a middle-aged +woman, and her exquisite manner and gentleness made me feel as heavy as my +boots, which I had not been allowed to take off, sounded on the delicate +floor-matting compared to her soft white foot-gloves. +</p> + +<p> +"My friend addressed her as san, and seemed to speak to her just as a +guest would to her hostess. We had tea on the floor, and my friend chatted +pleasantly for some time with the little grey figure, when suddenly the +sound of wheels on the gravel outside caught my ears, and the next instant +there was the scuffling of many feet along the polished wooden passage +which led to the front door, and the eager cry of 'O kaeri! O kaeri!' +(honourable return). Our hostess for the time rose from her knees, smiled, +and begged us to excuse her honourable rudeness. When she had hurried off +to join in the cry of welcome, my friend said, 'Oh, I am glad she has +come!' +</p> + +<p> +"'Who has come ?' I asked. +</p> + +<p> +"'The lady we came to see,' she said. +</p> + +<p> +"'Then, who was the charming little lady who poured out tea for us?' I +asked. My friend smiled. +</p> + +<p> +"'Oh, that was only the housemaid.'" +</p> + +<p> +A man dealing with the same point remarks: "It is very important that a +Japanese upper servant should have good manners, for he is expected to have +sufficient knowledge of etiquette to entertain his master's guests if his +master is out. After rubbing his knees together and hissing and kowtowing +(bowing low), he will invite you to take a seat on the floor, or, more +correctly speaking, on your heels, with a flat cushion between your knees +and the floor to make the ordeal a little less painful. He will then offer +you five cups of tea (it is the number of cups that signifies, not the +number of callers), and dropping on his own heels with ease and grace, +enter into an affable conversation, humble to a degree, but perfectly +familiar, until his master arrives to relieve him. Even after his master +has arrived he may stay in the room, and is quite likely to cut into the +conversation, and dead certain to laugh at the smallest apology for a +joke!" +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="ix">CHAPTER IX</a></h2> + +<h3>A JAPANESE DAY (<i>continued</i>)</h3> + +<p> +But we must return to our Japanese housewife, who has at present only shown +her husband out politely to his business. Now she sees that all the paper +screens are removed, so that the whole house becomes, as it were, one great +room, and thus is thoroughly aired. The beds are rolled up and put away +in cupboards, and the woodwork is carefully rubbed down and polished. +Perhaps the flowers in the vases are faded, and it is a long and elaborate +performance to rearrange the beautiful sprays and the blossoms brought in +from the garden. +</p> + +<p> +Cooking is not by any means so important a matter in her household life +as it is in that of her Western sister. If her rice-box is well filled, +her tea-caddy well stored, her pickle-jar and store of vegetables in good +order, she has little more to think about. "Rice is the staple food of +Japan, and is eaten at every meal by rich or poor, taking the place of our +bread. It is of particularly fine quality, and at meals is brought in small +bright-looking tubs kept for this exclusive purpose and scrupulously clean; +it is then helped to each individual in small quantities, and steaming hot. +The humblest meal is served with nicety, and with the rice various tasty +condiments, such as pickles, salted fish, and numerous other dainty little +appetizers, are eaten. To moisten the meal, tea without sugar is taken. A +hibachi, or charcoal basin, generally occupies the central position, round +which the meal is enjoyed, and on the fire of which the teapot is always +kept easily boiling." +</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<a name="tea"></a> +<img src="images/tea.jpg" alt="OFFERING TEA TO A GUEST"> +<p class="ctr">OFFERING TEA TO A GUEST</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<p> +When the Japanese housekeeper goes to market, she turns her attention, +after the rice merchant's, to the fish and vegetable stalls. At the +fish-stall nothing that comes out of the sea is overlooked. She buys not +only fish, but seaweed, which is a common article of diet. It is eaten +raw; it is also boiled, pickled, or fried; it is often made into soup. +Sea-slugs, cuttle-fish, and other creatures which we consider the mere +offal of the sea, are eagerly devoured by the Japanese. +</p> + +<p> +At the vegetable-stall there will be a great variety of things for +sale--beans, peas, potatoes, maize, buckwheat, carrots, lettuce, turnips, +squash, musk- and water-melons, cucumbers, spinach, garlic, onions, leeks, +chillies, capucams (the produce of the egg-plant), and a score of other +things, including yellow chrysanthemum blossoms and the roots and seeds of +the lotus. The Japanese eat almost everything that grows, for they delight +in dock and ferns, in wild ginger and bamboo shoots, and consider the last +a great tit-bit. +</p> + +<p> +But to Europeans the Japanese vegetables seem very tasteless, and the chief +of them all is very much disliked by Westerners. This is the famous daikon, +the mighty Japanese radish, beloved among the poorer classes in its native +land and abhorred by foreigners. It grows to an immense size, being often +seen a yard long and as thick as a man's arm. When fresh it is harmless +enough, but the Japanese love to pickle it, and Mrs. Bishop remarks: +</p> + +<p> +"It is slightly dried and then pickled in brine, with rice bran. It is very +porous, and absorbs a good deal of the pickle in the three months in which +it lies in it, and then has a smell so awful that it is difficult to remain +in a house in which it is being eaten. It is the worst smell I know of +except that of a skunk!" +</p> + +<p> +The pickle-seller's stall must not be forgotten, for the Japanese flavour +their rather tasteless food with a wonderful variety of pickles and sauces. +The great sauce is soy, made from fermented wheat and beans with salt and +vinegar, and at times saké is added to it to heighten its flavour. This +sauce is served with many articles of food, and fish are often cooked in +it. +</p> + +<p> +When the Japanese housekeeper reaches home again she finds that her +servants have finished their simple duties. Englishwomen always wonder what +there is in a Japanese house for servants to do. There are no fires to lay, +no furniture to polish and clean, no carpets to sweep, and no linen to wash +and mend; so Japanese servants spend much time chatting to each other, or +sewing new kimonos together, or playing chess. As a rule, there are many +more servants than are necessary to do the work. This is because servants +are very cheap. There are always plenty of girls who are ready to fill the +lower places if they can obtain food and clothes for their services, and +the upper servants only receive small sums, sometimes as low as six or +eight shillings a month. +</p> + +<p> +If a servant wishes to leave her employment, she never gives direct notice +to her mistress. That would be the height of rudeness. Instead she begs +permission to visit her home, or a sick relation, or some one who needs +her assistance. Upon the day that she should return a long and elaborate +apology for her non-arrival is sent, saying that, most unhappily, she +cannot be spared from her home or her post of duty. It is then understood +that she has left. +</p> + +<p> +In a similar fashion, no mistress tells a servant that she will not suit. A +polite explanation that it will be inconvenient to accept her services at +the moment is sent through a third party. +</p> + +<p> +In the evening the whole family, servants included, gather in the main room +of the house. The master and mistress sit near the hibachi (the stove) +and the andon (the big paper lantern); the maids glide in and sit at a +respectful distance with their sewing, if they have any. There may be +conversation, or the master may read aloud from a book of historical +romances or fairy stories; but the servants may laugh and chat as freely +over joke or story as anyone. +</p> + +<p> +When bed-time arrives the quilts come out of the cupboards, and are spread +with due care that no one sleeps with the head to the north, for that is +the position in which the dead are laid out, and so is a very unlucky +one for the living. Then the little wooden neck-rests, which they use as +pillows, are set in their places, and every one goes to bed. The Japanese +day is over. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="x">CHAPTER X</a></h2> + +<h3>JAPANESE GAMES</h3> + +<p> +The children of Japan have many games, and some of these games are shared +with them by their fathers and mothers--yes, and by their grandfathers and +grandmothers too, for an old man will fly a kite as eagerly as his tiny +grandson. The girls play battledore and shuttlecock and bounce balls, and +the boys spin tops and make them fight. A top-fight is arranged thus: One +boy takes his top, made of hard wood with an iron ring round it, winds it +up with string, and throws it on the ground; while it is spinning merrily, +another boy throws his top in such a way that it spins against the first +top and knocks it over. So cleverly are the attacking tops thrown that the +first top is often knocked to a distance of several feet. Other games are +playing at war with toy weapons, hunting grasshoppers, which are kept in +tiny cages of bamboo, and hunting fireflies. The last pastime is followed +by Japanese of all ages, and the glittering flies are pursued by night, and +struck down by a light fan. +</p> + +<p> +Wherever there is a stream of water, the boys set up toy water-wheels, and +these water-wheels drive little mills and machines, which the boys have +made for themselves in the cleverest fashion. +</p> + +<p> +Here is a group whose heads are very close together. Let us peep over their +shoulders, and see what it is they watch so quietly and earnestly. Ah! this +is a favourite trick. A small boy is setting a team of half a dozen beetles +to draw a load of rice up a smooth, sloping board. He has made a tiny cart +of paper, and filled it with rice. The traces of the cart are made of fine +threads of silk, and he fastens the threads of silk to the backs of the +beetles with gum. +</p> + +<p> +Now he has his strange team in motion, and the beetles are marching up the +board, dragging their load. The tiny faces in the ring of watchers are +filled with deep but motionless interest. Not one dreams of stretching +out a finger. There is no need to say, "Don't touch!" No one would dream +of touching--that would be very rude. Japanese children manage their own +games, without any appeal to their elders. It is not often that a dispute +arises, but, should that happen, the question is settled at once by the +word of an elder child. The decision is obeyed without a murmur, and the +game goes on. +</p> + +<p> +Another game of which children are fond is that of painting sand-pictures +on the roadside. A group of children will compete in drawing a sand-picture +in the shortest time. Each has four bags of coloured sand--black, red, +yellow, and blue--and a bag of white. The white sand is first thrown down +in the form of a square; then a handful of black sand is taken, and allowed +to run through the fingers to form a quaint outline of a man, or bird, or +animal, upon the white ground. Next, the design is finished with the other +colours, and very often a most striking effect is obtained by these child +artists. "But the most extraordinary and most fascinating thing of all is +to watch the performance of a master in sand-pictures. So dexterous and +masterly is he that he will dip his hand first into a bag of blue sand +and then into one of yellow, allowing the separate streams to trickle out +unmixed, and then, with a slight tremble of the hand, these streams will +be quickly converted into one thin stream of bright green, relapsing again +into the streams of blue and yellow at a moment's notice." +</p> + +<p> +There are many indoor games, and a very great favourite is the game of +alphabet cards. This is played with a number of cards, some of which +contain a proverb and some a picture illustrating each proverb. The +children sit in a ring, and the cards are dealt to them. One of the +children is the reader, and when he calls out a proverb the one who has the +picture corresponding to the proverb answers at once and gives up the card. +The first one to be rid of his cards is the winner, and the one who holds +the last card is the loser. If a boy is the loser, he has a dab of ink or +of paint smudged on his face; if it is a girl, she has a wisp of straw +put in her hair. The game is so called because each proverb begins with a +letter of the Japanese alphabet. +</p> + +<p> +Japanese children have many holidays and festivals, and they enjoy +themselves very much on these joyous occasions. With their beautiful +dresses of silk shining in the sun, a crowd of them looks like a great +bed of flowers. Mr. Menpes speaks of a merry-making which he saw: "It +was a festival for girls under ten, and there were hundreds of children, +all with their kimonos tucked up, showing their scarlet petticoats, and +looking for all the world like a mass of poppies.... Two rows or armies of +these girls were placed several yards distant from each other in this long +emerald-green field, and in the space between them stood two servants, each +holding a long bamboo pole, and suspending from its top a flat, shallow +drum, covered with tissue-paper. +</p> + +<p> +"Presently two young men teachers appeared on the scene, carrying two +baskets of small many-coloured balls, which they threw down on the grass +between the children and the drums. Then a signal was given, and all the +girls started running down the field at full tilt towards one another, +pouncing on the balls as they ran, and throwing them with all their force +up at the paper drums. +</p> + +<p> +"After a time, when a perfect shower of balls had passed through the tissue +drums, quite demolishing them, a shower of coloured papers, miniature +lanterns, paper umbrellas, and flags came slowly fluttering down among +the children on to their jet-black bobbing heads and into their eager +outstretched hands. Never have I seen anything more beautiful than these +gay, brightly-clad little people, packed closely together like a cluster +of flowers in the brilliant sparkling sunshine, with their pretty upturned +faces watching the softly falling rain of coloured toys." +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xi">CHAPTER XI</a></h2> + +<h3>THE FEAST OF DOLLS AND THE FEAST OF FLAGS</h3> + +<p> +On the third day of the third month there is great excitement in every +Japanese household which numbers a girl among its domestic treasures: for +the Feast of Dolls has come, the great festival for dolls. On this day the +most beautiful dolls and dolls' houses are fetched from the godown, where +the family furniture is kept, and are on exhibition for a short time, set +out on shelves covered with scarlet cloth. +</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<a name="tops"></a> +<img src="images/tops.jpg" alt="FIGHTING TOPS"> +<p class="ctr">FIGHTING TOPS</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<p> +These dolls are the O-Hina, the honourable dolls. They are kept with the +greatest care, and in some families there are dolls which are centuries +old. As each doll is dressed exactly in the costume of its age, and is +furnished with belongings which represent in miniature the furniture of +that age, such a collection has great historic value, and is used to teach +the children how their ancestors looked and lived. +</p> + +<p> +There are common dolls for the little girls to play with every day, but +these elaborate ones, the honourable dolls, are stored with the greatest +care. Many of them are very costly. The doll is not only beautifully made +and dressed, but its house is furnished with the most exact imitations of +every article of furniture and of every utensil. In wealthy families this +toy furniture is made of the rarest gold lacquer, or of solid silver, +or of beautiful porcelain. Not a single article, either of state or of +usefulness, is missing, and it is the delight of a Japanese girl at the +Feast of Dolls to use the tiny utensils of her toy kitchen to prepare an +elaborate feast of real food which is set before her honourable dolls. +</p> + +<p> +The beginning of a collection of such dolls is made as soon as a girl is +born. Every girl-child is presented with a pair of these dolls, and as time +goes on she gathers all the articles which go with them. These dolls are +always her own. When she marries she takes them to her new home. +</p> + +<p> +When the O-Hina Matsuri, the Feast of Dolls, draws near, the Japanese shops +begin to be full of the little images used at that time. The poorer are of +painted earthenware; the finer are of wood, with clothes of the richest +materials. These images, together with tiny bowls, and pots, and stoves, +and trays, are used to set off and decorate the surroundings of the Feast +of Dolls. They vary very greatly in price. The coolie household may have +a set-out which cost a few pence. The O-Hina of a great noble's house +will often be worth a fortune, having hundreds of beautifully carved and +dressed images to represent the Emperor and Empress and every official of +the Japanese Court, with every article used for State functions, and every +piece of furniture needed to deck a royal palace. Other sets of O-Hina +represent great personages in Japanese history, perhaps a great Daimio and +his followers, each figure dressed with strict historical accuracy, and +provided with every feature proper to its rank and period. +</p> + +<p> +The great festival for boys comes at the Feast of Flags. This is held on +the fifth day of the fifth month. Every one knows when the Feast of Flags +is near, for before every house where there are boys a tall post of bamboo +is set up. Swinging from the top of each post is the figure of a huge carp, +made of brightly coloured paper. If a boy has been born in the house during +the year the carp is made bigger still. The body of the fish is hollow, and +when the wind blows into it, it wriggles its fins and tail just like a fish +swimming strongly. The Japanese choose the carp because they say it has the +power of ascending streams swiftly against the current and of leaping over +waterfalls. It is thus supposed to typify a young man breasting the stream +of life, and thrusting his way through difficulties to success. +</p> + +<p> +As the boys' day draws near, the shops become full of toys for them. There +are images bought for boys as well as for their sisters; but boys' images +are those of soldiers, heroes, generals, famous old warriors, wrestlers, +and so forth. The old Japanese were a war-like nation, and the toys +provided for their sons at the Feast of Flags were helmets, flags, swords, +bows and arrows, coats of mail, spears, and the like. The Feast of Flags +itself is held on the day sacred to Hachima, the Japanese God of War, and +the favourite game on that day is a mimic battle. +</p> + +<p> +The boys divide themselves into two parties, called Heike and Genji. These +names represent two great old rival clans of the feudal days. Every Heike +carries a red flag on his back, every Genji a white one. Each combatant +also wears a helmet, consisting of a kind of earthenware pot. The combat +is joined, and the small warriors hack at each other with bamboo swords. A +well-directed blow will dash to pieces the earthenware pot, and the wearer +is then compelled to own defeat. That side wins which breaks most pots on +its opponents' heads, or captures most flags. +</p> + +<p> +This display of weapons, with blowing of horns and trumpets, serves another +purpose also; for on the fifth day of the fifth month the Japanese believe +that Oni, an evil-disposed god, comes down from the heavens to devour +boys, or to bring great harm to them. But he fears sharp swords, so the +long swordshaped blades of the sweet flag are gathered from the edges of +rivers and the sides of swampy rice-fields, and used as decorations. As +a Japanese writer says: "Oni fears the sword-blade of the sweet flag, so +that its leaves are everywhere. They are upon the festal table; they hang +in festoons about the house, and all along the eaves. Boys wear them tied +around their heads, with the white scraped fragrant roots projecting like +two horns from their foreheads. So, and with the noise of bamboo horns, +they frighten away the ogre god. For he fears horned men, and he dares not +enter a house where so many swords hang from the eaves." +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xii">CHAPTER XII</a></h2> + +<h3>A FARTHING'S WORTH OF FUN</h3> + +<p> +How would you like to go to a fair with a farthing, a whole farthing, to +spend as you pleased? I think I can see some of you turning your noses up, +and looking very scornful. "A farthing, indeed!" you say. "Pray, of what +use is a farthing? I wouldn't mind going to a fair with a shilling, or even +sixpence, but what could anyone do with a farthing?" Well, in Japan you +could do a great deal. We must remember that Japan is a country of tiny +wages; many of its workers do not receive more than sixpence a day, and a +man who gets a shilling is well off. Tiny earnings mean tiny spendings, and +things are arranged on a scale to meet very slender purses. +</p> + +<p> +We will now see what sort of time O Hara San, Miss Blossom, and her +brother, Taro San, Master Eldest Son, had at the fair one fine day in +Nagasaki. In the morning they sprang up from their quilts full of excited +pleasure, for they had been looking forward to this fair for some time. But +they did not romp and chatter and show their excitement as English children +would do. Their black eyes shone a little more brightly than usual, and +that was all. +</p> + +<p> +When they had whipped their rice into their mouths with their little +chopsticks, they started for the fair, which was to be held in the grounds +of a great temple. Of course, they were dressed in their best clothes. Both +had new kimonos, and O Hara San had a very fine obi, which her parents had +bought for her by denying themselves many little luxuries. Their father and +grandmother went with them, but their mother stayed at home with the baby. +Their father wore a newly-washed kimono, but his chief glory was an old +bowler hat which a European gentleman had given to him. It had been much +too large for him, but he had neatly taken it in, and now wore it with +great pride. When they reached the fair they gave themselves up to its +delights with all their hearts. There was so much to do and so much to see. +Almost at once O Hara San and Taro were beguiled by a sweetmeat stall. +</p> + +<p> +Each had five rin, and five rin make one farthing, or rather less, but we +will call it a farthing for the sake of round figures. One rin apiece was +spent here. The stall was in two divisions: one stocked with delicious +little bottles of sugar-water, the other with pieces of candy, tinted +bright blue and red and green. Miss Blossom went in for a bottle of +sugar-water, and her brother for candies. But first he demanded of the +candy-seller that he should be allowed to try his luck at the disc. This +was a disc having an arrow which could be whirled round, and if the arrow +paused opposite a lucky spot an extra piece of candy was added to the +purchase. To Taro's great joy, he made a lucky hit, and won the extra piece +of candy; he felt that the fair had begun very well for him. +</p> + +<p> +While they drank sugar-water and munched candy, they wandered along looking +at the booths, where all sorts of wonders were to be seen--booths full of +conjurers, acrobats, dancers, of women who could stretch their necks to +the length of their arms, or thrust their lips up to cover their eyebrows, +and a hundred other curious tricks. The price of admission was one rin +each to children, and finally they chose the conjurer's booth, and saw him +spout fire from his mouth, swallow a long sword, and finally exhibit a +sea-serpent, which appeared to be made of seal-skins tacked together. +</p> + +<p> +When they left the show they came all at once on one of the great delights +of a Japanese fair. It was the man with the cooking-stove, round whom +children always throng as flies gather about honey. For the fifth part of +a farthing you may have the use of his cooking-stove, you may have a piece +of dough, or you may have batter with a cup, a spoon, and a dash of soy +sauce. You may then abandon yourself to the delights of making a cake for +yourself, baking it for yourself, and then eating it yourself, and if you +spend a couple of hours over the operation the man will not grumble. As +this arrangement combines both the pleasure of making a cake and playing +with fire, it is very popular, and we cannot wonder that Taro took a turn, +though Miss Blossom did not. She felt herself rather too big to join the +swarm of happy urchins round the stove. +</p> + +<p> +While Taro was baking his cake she spent her third rin on a peep-show, +where a juggler made little figures of paper and pasteboard dance and +perform all kinds of antics. Then they went on again. Each bought one rin's +worth of sugared beans, a very favourite sweet-meat; and these they ate +while they waited for their father and grandmother to join them at the +door of a certain theatre where they had agreed to meet. Into this theatre +was pouring a stream of people, old and young, men, women, children, and +babies, for a great historical play was to be performed, and it would +shortly begin. Soon their elders turned up, and their father took their +last rin to make up the payment which would admit them. +</p> + +<p> +In they went, and took possession of their place. The floor of the theatre +was divided by little partitions, about a foot or so high, into a vast +number of tiny squares, like open egg-boxes. In one of these little boxes +our friends squatted down on the floor, and the grandmother began to unpack +the bundle which she had been carrying. This bundle contained a number of +cooking-vessels and an ample supply of rice, for here they meant to stay +for some hours to see the play, to eat and drink, and enjoy themselves +generally. +</p> + +<p> +The father filled his pipe, lighted it at the hibachi, and began to smoke, +as hundreds more were doing all round them. Each box contained a family, +and each family had brought its cooking-pots, its food, and its drink; and +hawkers of food, of pipes, of tobacco, of saké, and of a score of other +things, rambled up and down selling their wares. +</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<a name="toy_shop"></a> +<img src="images/toy_shop.jpg" alt="THE TOY SHOP"> +<p class="ctr">THE TOY SHOP</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<p> +When the play began every one paid close attention, for it was a great +historical play, and the Japanese go to the theatre and take their children +there in order to learn history. There are represented the old wars, the +old feuds, the struggle of Daimio against Daimio--in short, the history of +old Japan. When an actor gave pleasure, the audience flung their hats on +the stage. These were collected by an attendant, and kept until the owners +redeemed them by giving a present. For six hours O Hara San and Taro sat +in their little box, laughing, shouting, eating, and drinking, while the +play went on. Then it was over, for it was only a short play, at a cheap +theatre. "Ah!" said their father, "when I was a boy we had real plays. We +used to rise early and be in the theatre by six o'clock in the morning. +There we would stay enjoying ourselves until eleven at night. But now the +decree of the Government is that no play shall last more than nine hours. +It is too little!" +</p> + +<p> +The children quite agreed with him as they helped their grandmother to +gather the pots and pans and dishes which were scattered about their box. +Then each took the wooden ticket which would secure the shoes which they +had left outside with the attendants, and went slowly from the theatre. +When they had obtained their shoes and put them on, Miss Blossom and Master +Eldest Son strolled slowly homewards through the fair. They had not another +rin to spend--their farthing's worth of fun was over. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xiii">CHAPTER XIII</a></h2> + +<h3>KITE-FLYING</h3> + +<p> +About a fortnight after the fair, on a fine windy afternoon, there was a +holiday, and Taro, with his father and his younger brother Ito, turned +out to fly kites. Some of their neighbours were already at work flying +kites from the roofs of the houses or from windows, but our friends wanted +more room than that, and went up to a piece of higher ground behind their +street. Here they joined a crowd of kite-flyers. Every one was out to-day +with his kite, old and young, men of sixty, with yellow, wrinkled faces, +down to toddlers of three, who clutched their strings and flew their little +kites with as much gravity and staidness as their grandfathers. Before long +O Hara San came up with the baby on her back, and he had a bit of string +in his tiny fist and a scrap of a kite not much bigger than a man's hand +floating a few yards above his head. +</p> + +<p> +But Taro was a proud boy this afternoon. He was about to fly his first big +fighting kite. It was made of tough, strong paper, stretched on a bamboo +frame five feet square, a kite taller than his own father. The day before +Taro had pounded a piece of glass up fine and mixed it with glue. The +mixture had been rubbed on the string of his kite for about thirty feet +near the kite-end and left to dry. Now, if he could only get this string +to cut sharply across the string of another kite, the latter cord would be +severed, and he could proudly claim the vanquished kite as his own. +</p> + +<p> +Kites of every colour and shape hovered in the air above the wide open +space. There were square kites of red, yellow, green, blue, every colour +of the rainbow; many were decorated with gaily-painted figures of gods, +heroes, warriors, and dragons. There were kites in the shape of fish, +hawks, eagles, and butterflies. Some had hummers, made of whalebone, which +hummed musically in the wind as they rose; and as for fighting kites, they +were abroad in squads and battalions. In one place the fight was between +single kites; in another a score of men with blue kites met a score with +red kites and the kites fluttered, darted, swooped, dived this way, that +way, and every way, as they were skilfully moved by the strings pulled from +below. Now and again one of them was seen to fall helplessly away and drift +down the wind; its string had been cut by some victorious rival, and it had +been put out of the battle. +</p> + +<p> +Taro had his kite high up in the air very soon; it flew splendidly, and for +some time he was very busy in trying it and learning its ways, for every +kite has its own tricks of moving in the air. Then suddenly he saw a great +brown eagle sailing towards it. He looked up and saw that a boy named +Kanaya was directing the eagle kite towards his own, and that it was a +challenge to a fight. Taro accepted at once, and the combat was joined. +</p> + +<p> +Kanaya brought his eagle swiftly over Taro's big square kite, brightly +painted in bars of many colours, but Taro let out string and escaped. Then +he swung his kite up into the wind and made it swoop on the eagle. But +Kanaya was already winding his string swiftly in and had raised his kite +out of reach of the swoop. And so they went on for more than an hour, +pursuing, escaping, feinting, dodging, until at last the eagle caught +a favourable slant of wind and darted down so swiftly that Taro could +not escape. The strings crossed, and the upper began to chafe the lower +savagely. +</p> + +<p> +Taro tried to work his kite away, but in vain. The eagle string was strong +and sharp. At the next moment Taro felt a horrid slackness of his string; +no more could he feel the strong, splendid pull of his big kite. There it +was, going, falling headlong to the ground. Kanaya had won. Nothing now +remained to Taro but to take his beating like a Japanese and a gentleman. +With a cheerful smile he made three low bows to his conqueror. Kanaya, with +the utmost gravity, returned the bows before he ran away to secure the kite +he had won. +</p> + +<p> +Now, there had been a very interested and attentive observer of this battle +in Ito, Taro's younger brother. Ito never said a word or moved a muscle +of his little brown face when he saw his brother defeated and the big kite +seized in triumph by Kanaya. But his black eyes gleamed a little more +brightly in their narrow slits as he let out more string and waited for +Kanaya to begin to fly again. +</p> + +<p> +Ito had succeeded to the possession of Taro's old kite. It was less than +two feet square, but it flew well, and Ito had also anointed his string +with the mixture of pounded glass and glue, and was ready for combat Within +ten minutes Kanaya was flying once more, and now he had Taro's kite high in +the air. He had put away his own big brown eagle, and was flying the kite +he had just won. He had scarcely got it well up when a smaller square kite +came darting down upon it from a great height. Ito had entered the lists, +and a fresh battle began. +</p> + +<p> +It was even longer and stubborner than the first, for Ito's kite, being +much smaller, had much less power in the air; but Ito made up for this by +showing the greatest skill in the handling of his kite, and quite a crowd +gathered to see the struggle, watching every movement in perfect silence +and with the deepest gravity. Suddenly Ito pounced. He caught a favourable +gust of wind, and swung his line across Kanaya's with the greatest +dexterity. Saw-saw went the line, and at the next moment the great kite +went tumbling down the wind, and Kanaya and Ito exchanged the regulation +bows. Then the latter looked at his brother without a word, and Taro ran +to seize his beloved kite again. +</p> + +<p> +"It is yours now, Ito," said the elder brother, when he came back. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh no," said Ito; "we will each keep our own. I am glad I got it back from +Kanaya." +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xiv">CHAPTER XIV</a></h2> + +<h3>FAIRY STORIES</h3> + +<p> +When Taro and Ito went home that night with their kites, they were glad to +sit down and rest, for they had been running about until they were quite +tired. When they had eaten their suppers of rice from their little brown +bowls of lacquer, they begged their grandmother to tell them a story, and +she told them the famous old story of Momotaro, beloved of every child in +Japan. And this is what she told them: Once upon a time an old man and an +old woman lived near a river at the foot of a mountain. Every day the old +man went to the mountain to cut wood and carry it home, while the old woman +went to the river to wash clothes. Now, the old woman was very unhappy +because she had no children; it seemed to her that if she only had a son +or a daughter she would be the most fortunate old woman in the world. +</p> + +<p> +Well, one day she was washing the clothes in the river, when she saw +something floating down the stream towards her. It proved to be a great +pear, and she seized it and carried it home. As she carried it she heard a +sound like the cry of a child. She looked right and left, up and down, but +no child was to be seen. She heard the cry again, and now she fancied that +it came from the big pear. So she cut the pear open at once, and, to her +great surprise and delight, she found that there was a fine baby sitting in +the middle of it. She took the child and brought it up, and because he was +born in a pear she called him Momotaro. +</p> + +<p> +Momotaro grew up a strong, fine boy, and when he was seventeen years old +he started out to seek his fortune. He had made up his mind to attack an +island where lived a very dreadful ogre. The old woman gave him plenty of +food to eat on the way--corn and rice wrapped in a bamboo-leaf, and many +other things--and away he went. He had not gone far when he met a wasp. +</p> + +<p> +"Give me a share of your food, Momotaro," said the wasp, "and I will go +with you and help you to overcome the ogre." +</p> + +<p> +"With all my heart," said Momotaro, and he shared his food at once with the +wasp. +</p> + +<p> +Soon he met a crab, and the same agreement was made with the crab, and then +with a chestnut, and last of all with a millstone. +</p> + +<p> +So now the five companions journeyed on together towards the island of the +ogre. When the island was reached they crept up to the house of the ogre, +and found that he was not in his room. So they soon made a plan to take +advantage of his absence. The chestnut laid itself down in the ash of a +charcoal fire which had been burning on the hearth, the crab hid himself in +a washing-pan nearly full of water, the wasp settled in a dusky corner, the +millstone climbed on to the roof, and Momotaro hid himself outside. +</p> + +<p> +Before long the ogre came back, and he went to the fire to warm his hands. +The chestnut at once cracked in the hot ashes, and threw burning cinders +over the ogre's hands. The ogre at once ran to the washing-pan, and thrust +his hands into it to cool them. The crab caught his fingers and pinched +them till the ogre roared with pain. Snatching his hands out of the pan, +the ogre leapt into the dusky corner as a safe place; but the wasp met him +and stung him dreadfully. In great fright and misery the ogre tried to run +out of the room, but down came the millstone with a crash on his head and +killed him at once. So, without any trouble to himself, and by the help of +the faithful friends which his kindness had made for him, Momotaro gained +possession of the ogre's wealth, and his fortune was made. +</p> + +<p> +Then the grandmother told them of Jizo, the patron saint of travellers and +children, the helper of all who are in trouble. +</p> + +<p> +Everywhere by the roadside in Japan is found the figure of Jizo. Sometimes +a figure of noble height, carved in stone or in the living rock, sometimes +no more than a rough carving in wood, he is represented as a priest with +kindly face, holding a traveller's staff in his right hand and a globe in +his left. He stands upon a lotus-flower, and about his feet there lies a +pile of pebbles, to which pile each wayfarer adds a fresh pebble. +</p> + +<p> +And the old grandmother bade the children never pass a figure of Jizo +without paying it the tribute of a pebble, for this reason: Every little +child who dies, she said, has to pass over So-dzu-kawa, the river of the +underworld. Now, on the banks of this river there lives a wicked old hag +who catches little children as they try to cross, steals their clothes from +them, and sets them to work to help her in her endless task of piling up +the stones on the shore of the stream. Jizo helps these poor children, and +every one who throws a pebble at the foot of this shrine also takes a share +in lightening the labour of some little one down below. +</p> + +<p> +Another favourite story is that of Urashima, the fisher-boy. Urashima was a +handsome fisher-boy, who lived near the Sea of Japan, and every day he went +out in his boat to catch fish in order to help his parents. But one day +Urashima did not return. His mother watched long, but there was no sign of +her son's boat coming back to the shore. Day after day passed, and Urashima +was mourned as dead. But he was not dead. Out on the sea he had met the +Sea-God's daughter, and she had carried him off to a green, sunny land +where it was always summer. There they lived for some time in great love +and happiness. When it appeared to Urashima that several weeks had passed +in this pleasant land, he begged permission of the Princess to return home +and see his parents. +</p> + +<p> +"They will be sorrowing for me," he said. "They will fear that I am lost, +and drowned at sea." At last she allowed him to go, and she gave him a +casket, but told him to keep it closed. +</p> + +<p> +"As long as you keep it closed," she said, "I shall always be with you, but +if you open it you will lose both me and this sunny summer land for ever." +</p> + +<p> +Urashima took the casket, promised to keep it closed, and returned home. +But his native village had vanished. There was no sign of any dwelling +upon the shore, and not far away there was a town which he had never seen +before. In truth, every week that he had spent with the Princess had been +a hundred years on earth, and his home and native village had passed away +centuries ago, and the place where they had stood had been forgotten. In +his despair, he forgot the words of the Princess, and opened the forbidden +box. A faint blue mist floated out and spread over the sea, and a wonderful +change took place at once in Urashima. From a handsome youth he turned to a +feeble and decrepit old man, and then he fell upon the shore and lay there +dead. In the box the Princess had shut up all the hours of their happy +life, and when they had once escaped he became as other mortals, and old +age and death came upon him at a bound. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xv">CHAPTER XV</a></h2> + +<h3>TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES</h3> + +<p> +Tea-houses and temples run together very easily in the Japanese mind, for +wherever you find a temple there you also find a tea-house. But tea-houses +are not confined to the neighbourhood of temples: they are everywhere. The +tea-house is the house of public entertainment in Japan, and varies from +the tiny cabin with straw roof, a building which is filled by half a dozen +coolies drinking their tea, to large and beautiful structures, with floors +and ceilings of polished woods, splendid mats, and tables of ebony and +gold. +</p> + +<p> +The tea-house does not sell tea alone. It will lodge you and find you +dinners and suppers, and is in country places the Japanese hotel. If +tea-houses sold tea and nothing else it is certain that European travellers +would be in a very bad way, for there is one point they are all agreed +upon, and that is that the tea, as a rule, is quite unpalatable to a +Western taste. However, it does not matter in the least whether you +drink it or not as long as you pay your money, and the last is no great +tax--about three halfpence. +</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<a name="shrine"></a> +<img src="images/shrine.jpg" alt="A BUDDHIST SHRINE"> +<p class="ctr">A BUDDHIST SHRINE</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<p> +When a traveller steps into a tea-house the girl attendants, the moosmes, +gay in their scarlet petticoats, kneel before him, and, if it is an +out-of-the-way place, where the old fashions are kept up, place their +foreheads on the matting. Then away they run to fetch the tea. Japanese +servants always run when they wish to show respect; to walk would look +careless and disrespectful in their eyes. The tea arrives in a small pot +on a lacquer tray, with five tiny teacups without handles round the pot. +There is no milk or sugar, and the tea is usually a straw-coloured, bitter +liquid, very unpleasant to a European taste. But if a cup be raised to the +lips and set down, and three sen--a sen is about a halfpenny--laid on the +tray, all goes well, and every one is satisfied. + +This bringing of tea to a visitor is universal in Japan. It is not only +done in a tea-house, where one would expect it, but on every occasion. A +friendly call at a private house produces the teacups like magic, and when +a customer enters a good shop, business matters are undreamed of until many +little cups of tea have been produced; and if the customer has many things +to buy and stays a long time, tea is steadily brought forward in relays. +If you don't care for your tea plain, you may have it flavoured with +salted cherry blossoms, but that is not considered an improvement by the +Westerner, who longs for sugar and milk. If you wish to stay for the night +at a tea-house, a room is made for you by sliding some paper screens into +the wall and ceiling grooves, and a couple of quilts are laid on the floor +to form a bed. That is the whole provision made in the way of furniture if +you are off the beaten track of tourists: the rest you must provide for +yourself. +</p> + +<p> +In the cities the tea-houses of the grander sort are the scenes of splendid +entertainments. When a Japanese wishes to give a dinner to his friends +he does not ask them to his house; he invites them to a banquet at some +famous tea-house. There he provides not only the delicacies which make up +a Japanese dinner, but hires dancing girls, called geisha, to amuse the +company by their dancing and singing. +</p> + +<p> +A foreigner who is asked to one of these Japanese dinners finds everything +very strange and not a little difficult. At the doors of the tea-house his +boots are taken off, and he marches across the matting, to do his best to +sit on his heels for a few hours. This gives him the cramp, and soon he is +reduced to sitting with his back against the wall and his legs stretched +out before him. He can manage in this way pretty fairly. +</p> + +<p> +There may be a table before him, or there may not. If there is a table, it +will be a tiny affair about a foot high. There will be no tablecloth, no +glasses, no knives and forks, no spoons, and no napkin. He will be expected +to deal with his food with a pair of chopsticks. When these are set +before him, he will see that the two round slips of wood are still joined +together. This is to show that they have never been used before. He breaks +them apart, and wonders how he is going to get his food into his mouth with +two pencils of wood. +</p> + +<p> +The feast begins with tea served by moosmes, who kneel before each +guest. Each wears her most beautiful dress, and is girded with a huge +and brilliant sash. After the tea they bring in pretty little white cakes +made of bean flour and sugar, and flavoured with honey. The next course is +contained in a batch of little dishes, two or three of which are placed +before each guest. These contain minced dried fish, sea slugs floating in +an evil-smelling sauce, and boiled lotus-seeds. To wash down these dainties +a porcelain bottle of saké, rice-beer, is provided. +</p> + +<p> +The unhappy foreigner tastes one dish after the other, finds each one worse +than the last, and concludes to wait till the next course. This is composed +of a very great dainty, raw, live fish, which one dips in sauce before +devouring. Then comes rice, and the chopsticks of the Japanese feasters go +to work in marvellous fashion. With their strips of wood or ivory they whip +the rice grain into their mouths with wonderful speed and dexterity, but +our unlucky foreigner gets one grain into his mouth in five minutes, and is +reduced to beg for a spoon. +</p> + +<p> +The next course is of fish soup and boiled fish, and potatoes appear with +the fish; but, alas! the fish is most oddly flavoured and the potatoes are +sweet; they have been beaten up with sugar into a sort of stiff syrup. Next +comes seaweed soup and the coarse evil-smelling daikon radish, served with +various pickles and sauces. +</p> + +<p> +Among the other oddments is a dish of nice-looking plums. Our foreigner +seizes one and pops it in his mouth. He would be only too glad to pop it +out again if he could, for the plum has been soaked in brine, and tastes +like a very salty form of pickle. As he experiments here and there among +the wilderness of little lacquer bowls which come forth relay upon relay, +he feels inclined to paraphrase the cry of the Ancient Mariner, and murmur: +"Victuals, victuals everywhere, and not a scrap to eat!" + +When at length the dinner has run its course the geisha, in their beautiful +robes of silk and brocade and their splendid sashes, come in to sing and +dance. Europeans are soon tired of both performances. The geisha, with +her face whitened with powder, and her lips painted a bright red, and her +elaborately-dressed hair full of ornaments, sits down to a sort of guitar +called a samisen and sings, but her song has no music in it. It is a kind +of long-drawn wail, very monotonous and tuneless to European ears. The +dancing is a kind of acting in dumb show, and consists of a number of +postures, while the movements of the fan take a large share in conveying +the dancer's meaning. +</p> + +<p> +When our foreigner starts home from this long and rather fatiguing +entertainment, he finds that he has by no means finished with his dinner. +On his way to his carriage he will be waylaid by the little moosmes who +have waited upon him, and their arms will be filled with flat white wooden +boxes. These contain the food that was offered to him and left uneaten, and +Japanese etiquette demands that he shall take home with him his share of +the scraps of the banquet. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xvi">CHAPTER XVI</a></h2> + +<h3>TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES (<i>continued</i>)</h3> + +<p> +The Japanese are very fond of their temples, and visit them constantly. +They do this not only to pray to their gods, but to enjoy themselves as +well, for the temple grounds are the scene of great fairs and festivals. +If you visit a temple on the day of some great function, you will find its +steps outside packed with rows upon rows of clogs and umbrellas, placed +there by the worshippers inside. You enter, and find the latter seated +on the floor, and if the service is not going on at the moment they are +smoking and chatting together, and the children are crawling about in the +crowd. +</p> + +<p> +When the service is over the worshippers disperse to find a cool spot +in the temple grounds to eat their simple meal. In front of the temple +stands a wooden arch, called a torii. Sometimes the temple is approached +through a whole avenue of them of various sizes. The building is of wood, +sometimes small, sometimes very large, and is usually surrounded by booths +and tea-houses. At many of the booths may be purchased the figures of the +more popular gods. Everywhere may be seen the fat figures of the Seven +Gods of Wealth, the deities most beloved in every Japanese household. Then +there are the God and Goddess of Rice, who protect the crops, and who are +attended by the figures of foxes quaintly carved in wood or moulded in +white plaster. The Goddess of Mercy, with her many hands to help and save, +is also a favourite idol. +</p> + +<p> +At another spot you find peep-shows, stalls at which hairpins, paints, and +powder-boxes, and a thousand other trifles, are sold; archery galleries, +where you may fire twenty arrows at a target for a halfpenny; booths, where +acrobats, conjurers, and jugglers are performing, and tea-houses without +number, where the faithful are sipping their tea or saké and puffing at +their tiny pipes. +</p> + +<p> +The young girls are fond of purchasing sacred beans and peas and rice at a +stall set up under the eaves of the temple. With these they feed the temple +pigeons, who come swooping down from the great wooden roof, or the sacred +white pony with the blue eyes which belongs to the holy place. On the steps +sit rows of licensed beggars, who will pray for those who will present them +with the tenth part of a farthing. But prayers may also be bought from the +priests, prayers written upon a scrap of paper, which scrap is afterwards +fastened to the bars of the grating in front of the figure of a god. A +favourite god will have many thousand scraps of paper fluttering before it +at one time. +</p> + +<p> +Many of the temple gardens are of very great beauty and interest. There +can be seen many of the marvels of Japanese gardening--tiny dwarf trees, +hundreds of years old, and yet only a few inches high, or tall shrubberies +cut and trained to represent a great junk in full sail, or the figure of a +god or hero. +</p> + +<p> +At certain times of the year when the temple orchards are in blossom, great +throngs visit them simply to enjoy the delicate beauty of the scene. The +plum-blossom appears in February, and the cherry-blossom in April or May. +Later in the year the purple iris is followed by the golden chrysanthemum. +High and low, all crowd to see the beauty of a vast sweep of lovely +blossom. A poor Japanese thinks nothing of walking a hundred miles or more +to see some famous orchard or garden in its full flowering splendour. +</p> + +<p> +From his earliest years this love of natural beauty has been a part of his +education. As a child he has taken many a trip with his father and mother +to admire the acres of plum or cherry blossom in a park or temple-garden; +as a man he lays his work aside and goes to see the same spectacle with +redoubled delight. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xvii">CHAPTER XVII</a></h2> + +<h3>THE RICKSHAW-MAN</h3> + +<p class="ind"> + "For his heart is in Japan, with its junks and Fujisan,<br> + And its tea-houses and temples, and the smiling rickshaw-man." +</p> + +<p> +We have heard of Fujisan, the famous mountain; we have talked of tea-houses +and temples; and now we must say something about the rickshaw-man or boy, +a very important person indeed in Japan. He is not important because of +riches or rank, for, as a rule, he is very poor and of the coolie order; he +is important because he is so useful. He is at one and the same time the +cabman and the cab-horse of Japan. He waits in the street with his little +carriage, and when you jump in he takes hold of the shafts himself and +trots away with you at a good speed. +</p> + +<p> +The jin-ri-ki-sha, to give it its full name, means man-power carriage, and +is like a big mail-cart or perambulator. There is a hood of oiled paper to +pull up for wet weather, a cushion to sit on, a box for parcels under the +seat, two tall slight wheels, and a pair of shafts. If the rickshaw-boy is +well-to-do in his business, his carriage is gaily lacquered and painted +with bright designs, and however poor he may be, there will be some attempt +at decoration. +</p> + +<p> +At night every rickshaw is furnished with a pretty paper lantern, circular +in form, about eighteen inches long, and painted in gay designs. These look +quite charming as they bob here and there through the dusk, their owners +racing along with a fare. The rickshaw is as modern as the bicycle. The +first one was made less than forty years ago, but they sprang into favour +at once, and their popularity grew by leaps and bounds. The fact is that +the rickshaw fits Japan as a round peg fits a round hole. In the first +place, it opened a new and money-making industry to many thousands of men +who had little to do. There were vast numbers of strong, active young +fellows who leapt forward at once to use their strength and endurance in +this novel and profitable fashion. Then, the vehicle was suited to Japanese +conditions, both in town and country. +</p> + +<p> +In town the streets are so narrow and busy that horse traffic would be +dangerous. In fact, in many places a horse is so rare a sight that when one +trots along a street a man runs ahead, blowing a horn to warn people to +clear out of the way. But the rickshaw-boy dodges through the traffic with +his little light carriage, and runs over no one. +</p> + +<p> +Then, in the country the roads are often very narrow, and sometimes very +bad--mere tracks between fields of rice. Here the rickshaw is of great +service, owing to its light weight and the little room it requires. +</p> + +<p> +As a rule, the rickshaw is drawn by one man and holds one passenger; but +it has often to contain two Japanese, for the pair of them will fit snugly +into the space required for one Englishman. If the traveller wishes to go +fast, he has two human horses harnessed to his light chariot. Both run in +front till a hill is reached, when one drops back to push behind. +</p> + +<p> +Wherever you arrive in Japan, whether by steamer or by train, you will find +long rows of rickshaw-boys waiting to be hired. They are all called boys, +whatever their age may be. Until a possible passenger comes in sight, the +queer little men, many of them under five feet in height, stand beside +their rickshaws, smoking their tiny little brass pipes with bowls about +half as big as a thimble. Their clothes are very simple. They wear a very +tight pair of short blue drawers and a blue tunic, upon the back of which +a huge white crest is painted, the distinguishing mark of each boy. An +enormous white hat the size and shape of a huge basin is worn on the head; +but if the day becomes very hot the hat is taken off, and a wisp of cloth +bound round the forehead to prevent sweat from running into the eyes. As +for sunstroke, the rickshaw-boy has no fear of that. +</p> + +<p> +When you step into sight, a score dart forward, dragging their rickshaws +after them with one hand and holding the other up to draw your attention, +and shouting, "Riksha! Riksha! Riksha!" You choose one, and step in. +The human steed springs between the shafts, raises them and tilts you +backwards, and then darts off, as if eager to show you his strength and +speed, and prove to you what a good choice you have made. +</p> + +<p> +Away bounds the little man, and soon you are bowling along a narrow street +where a passage seems impossible, so full is it of boys and girls, men +and women, shops and stalls. There may be a side-walk, but then, the +shopkeepers have taken that to spread out their wares, or the stallkeepers +have set up their little booths there. So the people who want to go along +the street, and the boys and girls who want to play in it, are all driven +to the middle of the way. +</p> + +<p> +Here and there your rickshaw dodges, working its way through the crowd. +Now the man pauses a second lest he should run full-tilt over a group +of gaily-dressed little girls, each with a baby on her back, playing +at ball in the road. Half a dozen others are busy with battledores and +shuttlecocks, and the gaily-painted toys drop into your carriage, and +you are expected to toss them out again to the mites, who will bow very +deeply and with the profoundest gravity in return for your politeness; then +something flutters over your head, and you see that two boys and an old man +are sitting on the roof of a house about as high as a tool-shed, trying to +get their kites up. And you say to yourself that it is lucky that there +are no horses, for the quietest beast that ever lifted a hoof would bolt +here and charge through the whirl and uproar and the rain of dropping +shuttlecocks and bouncing balls. +</p> + +<p> +Another fine thing about rickshaw-riding is that no one can call it +expensive. While the boy goes, you pay him about sevenpence an hour; while +he waits you pay him rather less than twopence-halfpenny an hour, and you +can have his services for a whole day for about half a crown. But some of +them will try to cheat you in places where foreigners are often met with, +and will put a whole twopence an hour on the regular price. +</p> + +<p> +This is very sad, and causes the rickshaw-boy to be looked upon as a +tradesman; he is not allowed the honour of being regarded as a servant and +the member of an honourable profession--one who puts his master's interests +before his own. But, as a rule, the foreigner who employs the same +rickshaw-boy comes to look upon him as a guide, philosopher, and friend. He +will tell you where to go and what to do; he knows all the sights, and can +tell you all about them. If you go shopping, he will come in and see that +you don't get cheated any more than you are bound to be. If you go on an +expedition, he will find out the best tea-house to stay at, he will cook +for you, wait on you, brush your clothes, put up the paper screens to form +your bedroom, take them down again, see that the bill is reasonable, pay +it, and fee the servants--in short, he will manage everything, and you have +only to admire what you have gone to see. +</p> + +<p> +Wherever you stop on a jaunt, whether it is some famous temple or some +lovely park, there is sure to be a coolie's tea-house handy, and he takes +the opportunity of refreshing himself. He dives into the well under the +seat and fetches out his lacquer box full of rice. He whips the rice into +his mouth with chopsticks, and washes it down with the yellow, bitter +Japanese tea. Then he sits and smokes his tiny pipe until you are ready to +go on. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xviii">CHAPTER XVIII</a></h2> + +<h3>IN THE COUNTRY</h3> + +<p> +The Japanese farmer is one of the steadiest workers in the world; he tills +his patch of land, day in, day out, with untiring industry. He works seven +days a week, for he knows nothing of the Sabbath, and only takes a day +off for a fair or a festival when his land is in perfect order and he is +waiting for the crop. +</p> + +<p> +Almost the whole of the land is turned over with the spade, and weeds are +kept down until the whole country looks like a neatly-kept garden. Many +crops are grown, but the chief of them all is rice, and when the rice crop +fails, then vast numbers of people in Japan feel the pinch of famine. +</p> + +<p> +In order to grow rice much water is needed, so the fields are flooded from +a river or canal near at hand, and the plants are set in the soft mud. This +work is carried out by men or women who wade in slush above their knees, +and it is a very dirty and toilsome task. The women tuck their kimonos up, +and the men cast theirs aside altogether. After planting, this work in deep +slush and clinging mud must be repeated three times in order to clear away +the water-weeds which grow thickly around the young rice-plants. +</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<a name="peach"></a> +<img src="images/peach.jpg" alt="PEACH TREES IN BLOSSOM"> +<p class="ctr">PEACH TREES IN BLOSSOM</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<p> +When the rice is nearly ripe the water is drawn off and the fields are +dried. The fields are of all sizes and shapes, from a patch of a few square +yards up to an acre, and the latter would be considered large. There +are no hedges or fences to divide off field from field, for the land is +too valuable to permit of such being grown; but the boundaries are well +understood, and each farmer knows his own patch. +</p> + +<p> +Another important crop is the plants which are grown for making paper. +Paper has a great place in the industries of Japan. It is used everywhere +and for almost everything. A Japanese lives in a house largely built of +paper, drinks from a paper cup, reads by a paper lantern, writes, of +course, on paper, and wraps up his parcels in it, ties up the parcels with +paper string, uses a paper pocket-handkerchief, wears a paper cloak and +paper shoes and paper hat, holds up a paper umbrella against the sun and +the rain, and employs it for a great number of other purposes. He makes +more than sixty kinds of paper, and each kind has its own specified use. He +can make it so tough that it is almost impossible to tear it, and he can +make it waterproof, so that the fiercest rain cannot pass through it. +</p> + +<p> +If your path leads you along the bank of a river you will often see a +fisherman at work. He has many ways of catching his prey. He uses a line +and hook and the net. In a large stream or pool he may be seen at work with +the throwing-net, a clever device. +</p> + +<p> +This net is made in the form of a circle twelve or fourteen feet across, +and round the edge of the net heavy sinkers of lead are fastened. The +fisherman folds this net over his arm, and then tosses into the water a +ball of boiled rice and barley. The fish gather to eat this bait, and then +he throws the net in such a way that it falls quite flat upon the water. +The leads sink at once to the bottom, and the net covers the feeding fish +in the shape of a dome. A strong cord is fastened to the top of the net, +and he begins to haul it up. The leads are drawn together by their own +weight, and close the bottom of the net, and the fish are imprisoned. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes he uses bow and arrows. This he does after putting into the water +certain fruit and herbs which are very bitter. The juice of these herbs +affects the water and drives the fish to the surface, where they leap about +in pain. The fisherman shoots them with an arrow to which a cord is +attached, and draws them ashore. +</p> + +<p> +As night falls after a hot day, the people and children of the village +near at hand will come down to the water-side on a fire-fly hunt. The tiny +gleaming creatures now flash along the surface of river and lake, like a +myriad of fairy lanterns flitting through the dusk. They are caught and +imprisoned in little silken cages. At the bottom of the cage there is a +very small mound of earth in which a millet seed has been planted and has +sprung up to the height of an inch or more, and beside the little plant +there is a tiny bowl of water. Here the firefly will live for several days, +to the delight of the children. +</p> + +<p> +Not far from the river is the village, with a brook running down the middle +of its street. This brook serves many purposes. The women kneel beside it +with sleeves and kimonos tucked up, washing clothes and vegetables, or +dipping buckets in it to get water for baths. There is a loud rattle of +wooden hammers at various points, for the stream turns a number of small +water-wheels, and these work big wooden hammers which pound up the rice +placed in a big stump of a tree hollowed out for a mortar. As you stroll +along the village street you see what every one is doing, for the fronts +of the houses are all open, and you can see into every corner of each +dwelling. +</p> + +<p> +Behind the houses tall bamboos shoot up, and the bamboo is welcome, for it +is a tree of many uses. Its wood serves for the framework of houses, and +its leaves are often used as thatch. It will make a dish, a box, a plate, a +bowl, an oar, a channel for conveying water and a vessel for carrying it, a +fishing-rod, a flower-vase, a pipe-stem, a barrel-hoop, a fan, an umbrella, +and fifty other things, while young bamboo shoots are eaten and considered +a great delicacy. +</p> + +<p> +On fine summer evenings, when the work of the day is over, the villagers +gather in the court of the village temple for the odori, the open-air +dance. The court is decked with big beautiful paper lanterns, but there is +a special one called toro (a light in a basket). The toro is often two feet +square by five feet high. On one side of it is the name of the god in whose +temple court the dance is being held, while the other is reserved for some +short poem, written by one of the youths of the village. There is keen +competition among them for the honour of writing the poem chosen to be +inscribed on the toro, and two of these tiny poems run thus: +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + "I looked upon the cherry that blooms by the fence, down by the woodman's<br> + cottage,<br> + And wondered if an untimely snow had fallen upon it." +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + "Into the evening dew that rolls upon the green blade of the tall-grown<br> + grass in Mushashi Meadow<br> + The summer moon comes stealthily and takes up her dwelling." +</p> + +<p> +The young men and maidens dance in a ring, circling round one who stands in +the midst, from whom they take both the time and music of the many dances +performed at the odori. The dancers are always young and unmarried. The +older people sit on the steps of the temple and watch the merry frolic with +a smile. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xix">CHAPTER XIX</a></h2> + +<h3>IN THE COUNTRY (<i>continued</i>)</h3> + +<p> +On a wet day in the country the people thatch themselves to keep off the +rain. The favourite waterproof of the coolie is a huge cloak made of rice +straw, the long ends sticking out. With this and his great umbrella hat he +keeps comfortably dry. Those who do not wear a big hat carry a large oiled +paper umbrella, which shelters them well. +</p> + +<p> +There is plenty of wet weather in Japan, particularly in the summer, and +then travelling is not very pleasant. The good roads become muddy and soft, +and the bad roads become sheer quagmires, in which the coolie pulling the +rickshaw is continually losing his straw sandals. These sandals, called +waraji, mark out the tracks in every direction, for they soon wear out, and +are cast off to litter the wayside in their hundreds. They are quickly and +cheaply replaced, however, for almost every roadside house sells them, and +a pair may be bought for a sen--something less than a halfpenny. +</p> + +<p> +Not only do the men wear straw shoes, but horses are shod in them also, +and a very poor and clumsy arrangement it is. The shoes are thick, and are +tied on the horse's feet with straw cords. They wear out so fast that a +bunch has to be kept hanging to the saddle for use on the way, and in every +village a fresh stock has to be secured, at the cost of a penny per set of +four. +</p> + +<p> +The foreign visitor who travels through country places in Japan has to +submit to being stared at, but nothing more. The people are so interested +in a person who looks so different from themselves that they are never +tired of watching him and his ways. But otherwise their unfailing +politeness remains. They do not crowd upon him, or, if they should come a +little too near, they are soon warned off. An English artist, Mr. Alfred +Parsons, was once sketching in Japan, and the crowd, anxious to see his +work, came a little too near his elbow. He says: "The keeper of a little +tea-shop hard by, where I took my lunch, noticed that I was worried by the +people standing so close to me, and when I arrived next morning I found +that he had put up a fence round the place where I worked. It was only a +few slender bamboo sticks, with a thin string twisted from one to another, +but not a soul attempted to come inside it. They are such an obedient and +docile race that a little string stretched across a road is quite enough to +close the thoroughfare." +</p> + +<p> +A familiar figure along the Japanese highways and byways is that of the +pilgrim going to see some famous shrine, or, most often of all, marching +towards Fujisan, the sacred mountain. The Fuji pilgrim may be known by his +garb. He is dressed in white, with white kimono, white socks and gaiters, +and straw sandals. He wears a great basin-shaped white hat, and has a rush +mat over his shoulders to temper the heat of the sun or shed the rain. +Round his neck hangs a string of beads and a bell, which tinkles without +ceasing as he goes. He carries a little bundle of spare sandals and a staff +with an ornament of paper about its end. +</p> + +<p> +His pilgrimage costs him very little. His food is of the simplest, and he +gets a bed at a tea-house for a halfpenny, or he lodges with a villager +who offers him hospitality. To entertain his guest the villager will fetch +his best furniture from the village godown, for in the country one of +these storehouses suffices for a whole hamlet. They are made very large and +strong, with many thick coats of mud and plaster on a wooden frame, and +with a door of iron or of bronze; then, when the fire, which is sure to +come at some time or other, sweeps over the hamlet and leaves it a layer of +smoking ashes around the big godown, there are the village treasures still +unharmed, and ready to adorn the houses which will spring up again as if by +magic. +</p> + +<p> +When bedtime comes, the amado, the wooden shutters, are drawn around the +house and securely fastened; for a Japanese dwelling, so open by day, is +shut up as tightly as a sealed box by night. Now all is quiet save for +the village watchman, whose duty it is to guard against fire and thieves. +He marches up and down, beating two pieces of wood together--clop-clop, +clop-clop--as he walks. This is to give assurance that he is not asleep +himself, but watching over the slumbers of his neighbours, and to let the +thieves know that he is looking out for them. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xx">CHAPTER XX</a></h2> + +<h3>THE POLICEMAN AND THE SOLDIER</h3> + +<p> +The Japanese policeman is, first and foremost, a gentleman. He is a +samurai, a man of good family, and therefore deeply respected by the mass +of the people. He is often a small man for a Japanese, but though his +height may run from four feet ten to five feet nothing, he is a man of much +authority. When the samurai were disbanded, there were very few occupations +to which they could turn. They disdained agriculture and trade, but numbers +of them became servants, printers, and policemen. This seems an odd mixture +of tasks, but there are sound reasons for it. +</p> + +<p> +Many samurai became servants because service is an honourable profession in +Japan; many became printers because the samurai were an educated class, and +the only people fitted to deal with the very complicated Japanese alphabet; +and many became policemen because it was a post for which their fighting +instinct and their habit of authority well fitted them. Their authority +over the people is absolute and unquestioning; and, again, there are sound +reasons for this. +</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<a name="flags"></a> +<img src="images/flags.jpg" alt="THE FEAST OF FLAGS"> +<p class="ctr">THE FEAST OF FLAGS</p> + +<br> +<br> + +<p> +Forty years ago the Japanese people could have been divided very sharply +into two classes, the ruling and the ruled. The ruling class was formed +of the great Princes and the samurai, their followers, about 2,000,000 +people in all. The remaining 38,000,000 of the population were the common +people, the ruled. Now, in the old days when a Daimio left his castle for +a journey, he was borne in a kago, a closed carriage, and was attended +by a guard of his samurai. If a common person met the procession, he was +expected either to retire quickly from the path or fling himself humbly on +his face until the carriage had gone by; if he did not, the samurai whipped +out their long swords and slew him in short order, and not a single word +was said about it. This way of dealing with those who did not belong to the +two-sworded class made the people very respectful to the samurai, and that +respect is now transferred to the police. +</p> + +<p> +The Japanese policeman is also to be respected for his skill in wrestling, +and, small as he is, the tallest and most powerful foreigner is quite +helpless in his hands. He is thoroughly trained in the art of Japanese +wrestling--the jiu-jitsu of which we hear so much nowadays. In this system +a trained wrestler can seize his opponent in such a manner that the other +man is quite at his mercy, or with a slight impetus he can fling the other +about as he pleases. One writer speaks of seeing a very small Japanese +policeman arrest a huge, riotous Russian sailor, a man much more than six +feet high. It seemed a contest between a giant and a child. The sailor made +rush after rush at his tiny opponent, but the policeman stepped nimbly +aside, waiting for the right moment to grip his man. At last it came. +The sailor made a furious lunge, and the policeman seized him by the +wrist. To the astonishment of the onlooker, the sailor flew right over the +policeman's head, and fell all in a heap more than a dozen feet away. When +he picked himself up, confused and half stunned, the policeman tied a bit +of string to his belt and led him away in triumph to the station. +</p> + +<p> +The policeman never has any trouble with his own people; they obey at once +and without question. If a crowd gathers and becomes a nuisance to anyone, +it melts as soon as one of the little men in uniform comes along and gives +the order to disperse. He may sometimes be seen lecturing a coolie or +rickshaw-boy for some misdeed or other. The culprit, his big hat held +between his hands, ducks respectfully at every second word, and looks all +humility and obedience. +</p> + +<p> +Being an educated man, he has much sympathy with art and artists, and is +delighted to help a foreigner who is painting scenes in Japan. Mr. Mortimer +Menpes says: "Altogether I found the policeman the most delightful person +in the world. When I was painting a shop, if a passer-by chanced to look in +at a window, he would see at a glance exactly what I wanted; and I would +find that that figure would remain there, looking in at the shop, as still +as a statue, until I had finished my painting; the policeman meanwhile +strutting up and down the street, delighted to be of help to an artist, +looking everywhere but at my work, and directing the entire traffic down +another street." +</p> + +<p> +Of the Japanese soldier there is no need for us to say much here, since +the world has so lately been ringing with his praises. The endurance, the +obedience, the courage of the Japanese soldier and sailor have been shown +in marvellous fashion during the great war with Russia, and Japan has fully +proved herself to be one of the greatest of the naval and military Powers +of the world. +</p> + +<p> +The Japanese soldier is the result of the family life in Japan. From his +infancy he is taught that he has two supreme duties: one of obedience +to his parents, the other of service to his country. This unhesitating, +unquestioning habit of obedience, a habit which becomes second nature to +him, is of immense value to him as a soldier. He is a disciplined man +before he enters the ranks, and he transfers at once to his officers the +obedience which he has hitherto shown towards the elders of his family. +</p> + +<p> +His second great duty of service to his country also leads him onward +towards becoming the perfect soldier. He not only looks upon his life as a +thing to be readily risked or given for his Emperor and for Japan, but he +strives to make himself a thoroughly capable servant of his land. No detail +of his duty is too small for him to overlook, for he fears lest the lack +of that detail should prevent him from putting forth his full strength on +the day of trial. He cleans a button as carefully as he lays a big gun, +and this readiness for any duty, great or small, was a large factor in the +wonderful victory of Japan over Russia. +</p> + +<p> +In battle he questions no order. During the late war many Japanese +regiments knew that they were being sent to certain death, in order that +they might open a way for their comrades. They never flinched. Shouting +their "Banzai!"--their Japanese hurrah--the dogged little men rushed +forward upon batteries spouting flame and shell, or upon ramparts lined +with rifles, and gave their lives freely for Dai Nippon, Great Japan, the +country of their birth. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xxi">CHAPTER XXI</a></h2> + +<h3>TWO GREAT FESTIVALS</h3> + +<p> +There are two great Japanese festivals of which we have not yet spoken, but +which are of the first importance. One is the New Year Festival, the other +is the Bon Matsuri, the Feast of the Dead, in the summer. The New Year +Festival is the great Japanese holiday of the year. No one does any work +for several days, and all devote themselves to making merry. Although this +festival comes in the middle of winter, every street looks like an arbour, +decorated as it is with arches of greenery before each house. On either +side of each door is a pine-tree and bamboo stems. These signify a hardy +old age, and they are joined by a grass rope which runs from house to +house along the street. This rope is supposed to prevent evil spirits from +entering the houses, and so it ensures the occupants a lucky year. Japanese +flags are entwined amid the decorations, and green feathery branches and +ferns are set about, until the street looks like a forest. +</p> + +<p> +Japanese people are so polite to each other that even the beggars in the +streets bow to each other in the most ceremonious fashion, but at this +festival the bowing is redoubled. There is a special form of greeting for +this occasion, and not a bow is to be missed when two acquaintances meet. +</p> + +<p> +There is much feasting and a great exchange of presents. The Japanese are +always making presents to each other, and there is a prescribed way for +every rank of life to make presents to every other rank, and for the manner +in which the presents are to be received. A present may always be known by +the little gold or red or white paper kite fastened to the paper string +which ties up the parcel. +</p> + +<p> +Every one enters into the fun of the time, from the highest to the lowest. +They call upon each other; they march in great processions; they visit +the gayest and liveliest of fairs; they feast; they drink tea and saké +almost without ceasing. The fairs look most striking and picturesque after +darkness has fallen. Then the streets and the long rows of white booths +made of newly-sawn wood and gaily decorated, are lighted up by innumerable +lanterns of every colour that paper can be painted, and of every size, from +six inches high to six feet. The crowd wear their gayest kimonos, and the +moosmes are brilliant in flowered or striped silks and splendid sashes, and +the air is full of the rattle of the shuffling clogs and the tinkling +samisen played in almost every booth. +</p> + +<p> +At times the crowd opens to let some procession pass through. Now it is the +dragon-dancers, the dragon's head being a huge and terrifying affair made +of coloured pasteboard, and carried on a pole draped with a long garment +which hides the dancer. In front march two men with drum and fife to herald +the dragon's approach. Next comes a batch of coolies dragging a car upon +which a swarm of masqueraders present some traditional pageant, and next a +number of boys perform an old dance with much spirit and shouting. On New +Year's Eve a very curious market is held. It is a custom in Japan for every +one to pay all that he owes to his Japanese creditors before the New Year +dawns. If he does not do so, he loses his credit. So on the last day of +the Old Year the Japanese who is behind in his payments looks among his +belongings for something to sell, and carries it to the market in order +that he may gain a few sen to settle with his creditor. +</p> + +<p> +In the great city of Tokyo this fair is visited by every traveller. For +a space of two miles the stalls stretch along in double rows, lighted by +lanterns of oil flares, and here may be seen every imaginable thing which +is to be found in poorer Japanese households. As each Japanese arrives with +his worldly possessions in a couple of square boxes swinging one at each +end of a bamboo pole slung across his shoulder, he takes possession of a +little stall or a patch of pavement and sets out his poor wares. +</p> + +<p> +He has brought mats, or cushions, or shabby kimonos, or clogs, or socks, or +little ornaments and vessels in porcelain or silver or bronze. Sometimes he +brings really beautiful things, the last precious possessions of a family +which has come down in the world--a fine piece of embroidery, a priceless +bit of lacquer, bronze and silver charms, little boxes of ivory, temples +and pagodas and bell-towers in miniature, tiny but perfect in every detail +and of the most exquisite workmanship. Everything comes to market on this +night of the year. +</p> + +<p> +The Feast of the Dead takes place in the hot summer weather, and is +celebrated in different ways in various parts of Japan. Everywhere +the children, in their finest clothes, march through the streets in +processions, carrying fans and banners and lanterns, and chanting as +they march; but most great cities have their own form of celebration. +</p> + +<p> +At Nagasaki the tombs of all those who have died during the past year +are illuminated with large bright lanterns on the first night of the +celebrations. On the second and third nights all tombs are illuminated, +and the burial-grounds are one glorious blaze of many-coloured lights. The +avenues leading to the burial-grounds are turned into fair-grounds, with +decorations and booths, stalls and tea-houses, each illuminated by many +brilliant lanterns. Fires are lighted on the hills, rockets shoot up on +every hand, and vast crowds of people gather in the cemeteries to feast and +make merry and drink saké in honour of their ancestors, whose spirits they +suppose to surround them and be present at the festival. At the end of the +feast a very striking scene takes place: the preparations for the departure +of the dead. +</p> + +<p> +"But on the third vigil, suddenly, at about two o'clock in the morning, +long processions of bright lanterns are seen to descend from the heights +and group themselves on the shores of the bay, while the mountains +gradually return to obscurity and silence. It is fated that the dead +should embark and disappear before twilight. The living have plaited them +thousands of little ships of straw, each provisioned with some fruit and a +few pieces of money. The frail vessels are charged with all the coloured +lanterns which were used for the illumination of the cemeteries; the small +sails of matting are spread to the wind, and the morning breeze scatters +them round the bay, where they are not long in taking fire. It is thus that +the entire flotilla is consumed, tracing in all directions large trails of +fire. The dead depart rapidly. Soon the last ship has foundered, the last +light is extinguished, and the last soul has taken its departure again from +earth." +</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Peeps at Many Lands: Japan, by John Finnemore + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEEPS AT MANY LANDS: JAPAN *** + +***** This file should be named 7936-h.htm or 7936-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/9/3/7936/ + +Produced by David Starner, Bill Flis and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: Peeps at Many Lands: Japan + +Author: John Finnemore + +Posting Date: September 18, 2014 [EBook #7936] +Release Date: April, 2005 +First Posted: June 2, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEEPS AT MANY LANDS: JAPAN *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Bill Flis and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art: THE TORII OF THE TEMPLE] + + + + +[Frontispiece: OUTSIDE A TEA-HOUSE] + + + + + PEEPS AT MANY LANDS + + JAPAN + + BY + + JOHN FINNEMORE + + + WITH TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR + + BY + + ELLA DU CANE + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN + + II. BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN + + III. BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN (_continued_) + + IV. THE JAPANESE BOY + + V. THE JAPANESE GIRL + + VI. IN THE HOUSE + + VII. IN THE HOUSE (_continued_) + + VIII. A JAPANESE DAY + + IX. A JAPANESE DAY (_continued_) + + X. JAPANESE GAMES + + XI. THE FEAST OF DOLLS AND THE FEAST OF FLAGS + + XII. A FARTHING'S WORTH OF FUN + + XIII. KITE-FLYING + + XIV. FAIRY STORIES + + XV. TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES + + XVI. TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES (_continued_) + + XVII. THE RICKSHAW-MAN + +XVIII. IN THE COUNTRY + + XIX. IN THE COUNTRY (_continued_) + + XX. THE POLICEMAN AND THE SOLDIER + + XXI. TWO GREAT FESTIVALS + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +BY ELLA DU CANE + + +OUTSIDE A TEA-HOUSE + +_Sketch-Map of Japan_ + +THE LITTLE NURSE + +THE WRITING LESSON + +GOING TO THE TEMPLE + +A JAPANESE HOUSE + +OFFERING TEA TO A GUEST + +FIGHTING TOPS + +THE TOY SHOP + +A BUDDHIST SHRINE + +PEACH TREES IN BLOSSOM + +THE FEAST OF FLAGS + +THE TORII OF THE TEMPLE + + + + +[Illustration: SKETCH-MAP OF JAPAN] + + + + +[Illustration: THE LITTLE NURSE] + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN + + +Far away from our land, on the other side of the world, lies a group of +islands which form the kingdom of Japan. The word "Japan" means the "Land +of the Rising Sun," and it is certainly a good name for a country of the +Far East, the land of sunrise. + +The flag of Japan, too, is painted with a rising sun which sheds its beams +on every hand, and this flag is now for ever famous, so great and wonderful +have been the victories in which it has been borne triumphant over Russian +arms. + +In some ways the Japanese are fond of comparing themselves with their +English friends and allies. They point out that Japan is a cluster of +islands off the coast of Asia, as Britain is a cluster of islands off the +coast of Europe. They have proved themselves, like the English, brave and +clever on the sea, while their troops have fought as nobly as British +soldiers on the land. They are fond of calling themselves the "English of +the East," and say that their land is the "Britain of the Pacific." + +The rise of Japan in becoming one of the Great Powers of the world has been +very sudden and wonderful. Fifty years ago Japan lay hidden from the world; +she forbade strangers to visit the country, and very little was known of +her people and her customs. + +Her navy then consisted of a few wooden junks; to-day she has a fleet of +splendid ironclads, handled by men who know their duties as well as English +seamen. Her army consisted of troops armed with two swords and carrying +bows and arrows; to-day her troops are the admiration of the world, armed +with the most modern weapons, and, as foes, to be dreaded by the most +powerful nations. + +Fifty years ago Japan was in the purely feudal stage. Her great native +Princes were called Daimios. Each had a strong castle and a private army +of his own. There were ceaseless feuds between these Princes and constant +fighting between their armies of samurai, as their followers were called. +Japan was like England at the time of our War of the Roses: family quarrels +were fought out in pitched battle. All that has now gone. The Daimios have +become private gentlemen; the armies of samurai have been disbanded, and +Japan is ruled and managed just like a European country, with judges, and +policemen, and law-courts, after the model of Western lands. + +When the Japanese decided to come out and take their place among the great +nations of the world, they did not adopt any half-measures; they simply +came out once and for all. They threw themselves into the stream of modern +inventions and movements with a will. They have built railways and set up +telegraph and telephone lines. They have erected banks and warehouses, +mills and factories. They have built bridges and improved roads. They have +law-courts and a Parliament, to which the members are elected by the +people, and newspapers flourish everywhere. + +Japan is a very beautiful country. It is full of fine mountains, with +rivers leaping down the steep slopes and dashing over the rocks in snowy +waterfalls. At the foot of the hills are rich plains and valleys, well +watered by the streams which rush down from the hills. But the mountains +are so many and the plains are so few that only a small part of the land +can be used for growing crops, and this makes Japan poor. Its climate is +not unlike ours in Great Britain, but the summer is hotter, and the winter +is in some parts very cold. Many of the mountains are volcanoes. Some of +these are still active, and earthquakes often take place. Sometimes these +earthquakes do terrible harm. The great earthquake of 1871 killed 10,000 +people, injured 20,000, and destroyed 130,000 houses. + +The highest mountain of Japan also is the most beautiful, and it is greatly +beloved by the Japanese, who regard it as a sacred height. Its name is +Fujisan, or Fusi-Yama, and it stands near the sea and the capital city +of Tokyo. It is of most beautiful shape, an almost perfect cone, and it +springs nearly 13,000 feet into the air. From the sea it forms a most +superb and majestic sight. Long before a glimpse can be caught of the shore +and the city, the traveller sees the lofty peak, crowned with a glittering +crest of snow, rising in lonely majesty, with no hint of the land on which +it rests. The Japanese have a great love of natural beauty, and they adore +Fujisan. Their artists are never tired of painting it, and pictures of it +are to be found in the most distant parts of the land. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN + + +In no country in the world do children have a happier childhood than in +Japan. Their parents are devoted to them, and the children are always good. +This seems a great deal to say, but it is quite true. Japanese boys and +girls behave as quietly and with as much composure as grown-up men and +women. From the first moment that it can understand anything, a Japanese +baby is taught to control its feelings. If it is in pain or sad, it is not +to cry or to pull an ugly face; that would not be nice for other people to +hear or see. If it is very merry or happy, it is not to laugh too loudly or +to make too much noise; that would be vulgar. So the Japanese boy or girl +grows up very quiet, very gentle, and very polite, with a smile for +everything and everybody. + +While they are little they have plenty of play and fun when they are not in +school. In both towns and villages the streets are the playground, and here +they play ball, or battledore and shuttlecock, or fly kites. + +Almost every little girl has a baby brother or sister strapped on her back, +for babies are never carried in the arms in Japan except by the nurses of +very wealthy people. The baby is fastened on its mother's or its sister's +shoulders by a shawl, and that serves it for both cot and cradle. The +little girl does not lose a single scrap of her play because of the baby. +She runs here and there, striking with her battledore, or racing after her +friends, and the baby swings to and fro on her shoulders, its little head +wobbling from side to side as if it were going to tumble off. But it is +perfectly content, and either watches the game with its sharp little black +eyes, or goes calmly off to sleep. + +In the form of their dress both boys and girls appear alike, and, more than +that, they are dressed exactly like their parents. There is no child's +dress in Japan. The garments are smaller, to fit the small wearers--that is +all. + +The main article of dress is a loose gown, called a kimono. Under the outer +kimono is an inner kimono, and the garments are girt about the body with a +large sash, called an obi. The obi is the pride of a Japanese girl's heart. +If her parents are rich, it will be of shining costly silk or rich brocade +or cloth of gold; if her parents are poor, they will make an effort to get +her one as handsome as their means will allow. Next to her obi, she prides +herself on the ornaments which decorate her black hair--fine hairpins, +with heads of tortoiseshell or coral or lacquer, and hair-combs, all most +beautifully carved. + +A boy's obi is more for practical use, and is not of such splendour as +his sister's. When he is very small, his clothes are of yellow, while his +sister's are of red. At the age of five he puts on the hakama, and then he +is a very proud boy. The hakama is a kind of trousers made of silk, and is +worn by men instead of an under-kimono. At five years old a boy is taken +to the temple to thank the gods who have protected him thus far; and as he +struts along, and hears with joy his hakama rustling its stiff new silk +beneath his kimono, he feels himself a man indeed, and that his babyhood of +yesterday is left far behind. + +Upon the feet are worn the tabi--thick white socks, which may be called +foot-gloves, for there are separate divisions for the toes. + +These serve both as stockings outside the house and slippers inside, for no +boots are worn in a Japanese house. When a Japanese walks out, he slips his +feet into high wooden clogs, and when he comes home he kicks off the clogs +at the door, and enters his home in tabi alone. The reason for this we +shall hear later on. In Japanese clothes there are no pockets. Whatever +they need to carry with them is tucked into the sash or into the sleeves of +the kimono. The latter are often very long, and afford ample room for the +odds and ends one usually carries in the pocket. + +But fine kimonos and rich obis are for the wealthy Japanese; the poor +cannot afford them, and dress very simply. The coolie--the Japanese working +man--goes almost naked in the warm weather, wearing only a pair of short +cotton trousers, until he catches sight of a policeman, when he slips on +his blue cotton coat, for the police have orders to see that he dresses +himself properly. His wife wears a cotton kimono, and the pair of them can +dress themselves handsomely--for coolies--from head to foot for a sum of 45 +sen, which, taking the sen at a halfpenny, amounts to 1 S. 10-1/2d. in our +money. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN (_continued_) + + +When Japanese boys and girls go to school, they make very low bows to their +teacher and draw in the breath with a buzzing sound. This is a sign of deep +respect, and the teacher returns their politeness by making low bows to +them. Then the children sit down and begin to learn their lessons. + +Their books are very odd-looking affairs to us. Not only are they printed +in very large characters, but they seem quite upside down. To find the +first page you turn to the end of the book, and you read it backwards +to the front page. Again, you do not read from left to right, as in our +fashion, but from right to left. Nor is this all: for the lines do not run +across the page, but up and down. Altogether, a Japanese book is at first +a very puzzling affair. When the writing lesson comes, the children have +no pens; they use brushes instead. They dip their brushes in the ink, and +paint the words one under the other, beginning at the top right-hand corner +and finishing at the bottom left-hand corner. If they have an address to +write on an envelope, they turn that upside down and begin with the name +of the country and finish with the name of the person--England, London, +Kensington Gardens, Brown John Mr. + +[Illustration: THE WRITING LESSON] + +But Japanese children have quite as many things to learn at home as at +school. At school they learn arithmetic, geography, history, and so on, +just as children do in England, but their manners and their conduct towards +other people are carefully drilled into them by their parents. The art of +behaving yourself towards others is by no means an easy thing to learn +in Japan. It is not merely a matter of good-feeling, gentleness, and +politeness, as we understand it, but there is a whole complicated system +of behaviour: how many bows to make, and how they should be made. There +are different forms of salutation to superiors, equals, and inferiors. +Different ranks of life have their own ways of performing certain actions, +and it is said that a girl's rank may easily be known merely by the way +in which she hands a cup of tea to a guest. From the earliest years the +children are trained in these observances, and they never make a mistake. + +The Japanese baby is taught how to walk, how to bow, how to kneel and +touch the floor with its forehead in the presence of a superior, and how +to get up again; and all is done in the most graceful manner and without +disturbing a single fold in its kimono. + +A child is taught very carefully how to wait on people, how to enter the +room, how to carry a tray or bowl at the right height, and, above all, how +to offer a cup or plate in the most dainty and correct style. One writer +speaks of going into a Japanese shop to buy some articles he wanted. The +master, the mistress, the children, all bent down before him. There was +a two-year-old baby boy asleep on his sister's back, and he, too, was +awakened and called upon to pay his respects to the foreign gentleman. He +woke without a start or a cry, understood at once what was required of him, +was set on his feet, and then proceeded to make his bows and to touch the +ground with his little forehead, just as exactly as his elder relatives. +This done, he was restored once more to the shawl, and was asleep again in +a moment. + +The art of arranging flowers and ornaments is another important branch of a +girl's home education. Everything in a Japanese room is carefully arranged +so that it shall be in harmony with its surroundings. The arrangement of +a bunch of flowers in a fine porcelain jar is a matter of much thought +and care. Children are trained how to arrange blossoms and boughs so that +the most beautiful effect may be gained, and in many Japanese houses may +be found books which contain rules and diagrams intended to help them in +gaining this power of skilful arrangement. This feeling for taste and +beauty is common to all Japanese, even the poorest. A well-known artist +says: "Perhaps, however, one of the most curious experiences I had of the +native artistic instinct of Japan occurred in this way: I had got a number +of fan-holders, and was busying myself one afternoon arranging them upon +the walls. My little Japanese servant-boy was in the room, and as I went +on with my work I caught an expression on his face from time to time which +showed me that he was not overpleased with my performance. After a while, +as this dissatisfied expression seemed to deepen, I asked him what the +matter was. Then he frankly confessed that he did not like the way in which +I was arranging my fan-holders. 'Why did you not tell me so at once?' I +asked. 'You are an artist from England,' he replied, 'and it was not for +me to speak.' However, I persuaded him to arrange the fan-holders himself +after his own taste, and I must say that I received a remarkable lesson. +The task took him about two hours--placing, arranging, adjusting; and when +he had finished, the result was simply beautiful. That wall was a perfect +picture: every fan-holder seemed to be exactly in its right place, and it +looked as if the alteration of a single one would affect and disintegrate +the whole scheme. I accepted the lesson with due humility, and remained +more than ever convinced that the Japanese are what they have justly +claimed to be--an essentially artistic people, instinct with living art." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE JAPANESE BOY + + +A Japanese boy is the monarch of the household. Japan is thoroughly Eastern +in the position which it gives to women. The boy, and afterwards the man, +holds absolute rule over sister or wife. It is true that the upper classes +in Japan are beginning to take a wider view of such matters. Women of +wealthy families are well educated, wear Western dress, and copy Western +manners. They sit at table with their husbands, enter a room or a carriage +before them, and are treated as English women are treated by English men. +But in the middle and lower classes the old state of affairs still remains: +the woman is a servant pure and simple. It is said that even among the +greatest families the old customs are still observed in private. The great +lady who is treated in her Western dress just as her Western sister is +treated takes pride in waiting on her husband when they return to kimono +and obi, just as her grandmother did. + +The importance of the male in Japan arises from the religious customs of +the country. The chief of the latter is ancestor-worship. The ancestors +of a family form its household gods; but only the male ancestors are +worshipped: no offerings are ever laid on the shelf of the household gods +before an ancestress. Property, too, passes chiefly in the male line, and +every Japanese father is eager to have a son who shall continue the worship +of his ancestors, and to whom his property may descend. + +Thus, the birth of a son is received with great joy in a Japanese +household; though, on the other hand, we must not think that a girl is +ill-treated, or even destroyed, as sometimes happens in China. Not at +all; she is loved and petted just as much as her brother, but she is +not regarded as so important to the family line. + +At the age of three the Japanese boy is taken to the temple to give thanks +to the gods. Again, at the age of five, he goes to the temple, once more to +return thanks. Now he is wearing the hakama, the manly garment, and begins +to feel himself quite a man. From this age onwards the Japanese boy among +the wealthier classes is kept busily at work in school until he is ready to +go to the University, but among the poorer classes he often begins to work +for his living. + +The clever work executed by most tiny children is a matter of wonder and +surprise to all European travellers. Little boys are found binding books, +making paper lanterns and painting them, making porcelain cups, winding +grass ropes which are hung along the house-fronts for the first week of the +year to prevent evil spirits from entering, weaving mats to spread over the +floors, and at a hundred other occupations. It is very amusing to watch +the practice of the little boys who are going to be dentists. In Japan the +dentist of the people fetches out an aching tooth with thumb and finger, +and will pluck it out as surely as any tool can do the work, so his pupils +learn their trade by trying to pull nails out of a board. They begin with +tin-tacks, and go on until they can, with thumb and finger, pluck out a +nail firmly driven into the wood. + +Luckily for them, they often get a holiday. The Japanese have many +festivals, when parents and children drop their work to go to some famous +garden or temple for a day's pleasure. Then there is the great boys' +festival, the Feast of Flags, held on the fifth day of the fifth month. Of +this festival we shall speak again. + +Every Japanese boy is taught that he owes the strictest duty to his parents +and to his Emperor. These duties come before all others in Japanese eyes. +Whatever else he may neglect, he never forgets these obligations. From +infancy he is familiar with stories in which children are represented as +doing the most extraordinary things and undergoing the greatest hardships +in order to serve their parents. There is one famous old book called +"Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Virtue." It gives instances of the doings +of good sons, and is very popular in every Japanese household. + +Professor Chamberlain, the great authority on Japan, quotes some of these +instances, and they seem to us rather absurd. He says: "One of the paragons +had a cruel stepmother who was very fond of fish. Never grumbling at her +harsh treatment of him, he lay down naked on the frozen surface of the +lake. The warmth of his body melted a hole in the ice, at which two carp +came up to breathe. These he caught and set before his stepmother. Another +paragon, though of tender years and having a delicate skin, insisted on +sleeping uncovered at night, in order that the mosquitoes should fasten on +him alone, and allow his parents to slumber undisturbed. + +"A third, who was very poor, determined to bury his own child alive in +order to have more food wherewith to support his aged mother, but was +rewarded by Heaven with the discovery of a vessel filled with gold, off +which the whole family lived happily ever after. But the drollest of all +is the story of Roraishi. This paragon, though seventy years old, used to +dress in baby's clothes and sprawl about upon the floor. His object was to +delude his parents, who were really over ninety years of age, into the idea +that they could not be so very old, after all, seeing that they still had +such a childlike son." + +His duty to his Emperor the Japanese takes very seriously, for it includes +his duty to his country. He considers that his life belongs to his country, +and he is not only willing, but proud, to give it in her defence. This was +seen to the full in the late war with Russia. Time and again a Japanese +regiment was ordered to go to certain death. Not a man questioned the +order, not a man dreamed for an instant of disobedience. Forward went the +line, until every man had been smitten down, and the last brave throat had +shouted its last shrill "Banzai!" This was the result of teaching every boy +in Japan that the most glorious thing that can happen to him is to die for +his Emperor and his native land. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE JAPANESE GIRL + + +The word "obedience" has a large part in the life of a Japanese boy; it +is the whole life of a Japanese girl. From her babyhood she is taught the +duty of obeying some one or other among her relations. There is an old book +studied in every Japanese household and learned by heart by every Japanese +girl, called "Onra-Dai-Gaku"--that is, the "Greater Learning for Women." It +is a code of morals for girls and women, and it starts by saying that every +woman owes three obediences: first, while unmarried, to her father; second, +when married, to her husband and the elders of his family; third, when a +widow, to her son. + +Up to the age of three the Japanese girl baby has her head shaved in +various fancy patterns, but after three years old the hair is allowed to +grow to its natural length. Up to the age of seven she wears a narrow obi +of soft silk, the sash of infancy; but at seven years old she puts on the +stiff wide obi, tied with a huge bow, and her dress from that moment is +womanly in every detail. She is now a musume, or moosme, the Japanese girl, +one of the merriest, brightest little creatures in the world. She is never +big, for when at her full height she will be about four feet eight inches +tall, and a Japanese woman of five feet high is a giantess. + +[Illustration: GOING TO THE TEMPLE] + +This is her time to wear gay, bright colours, for as a married woman she +must dress very soberly. A party of moosmes tripping along to a feast or a +fair looks like a bed of brilliant flowers set in motion. They wear kimonos +of rich silks and bright shades, kimonos of vermilion and gold, of pink, +of blue, of white, decorated with lovely designs of apple-blossom, of silk +crape in luminous greens and golden browns, every shade of the rainbow +being employed, but all in harmony and perfect taste. If a shower comes on +and they tuck up their gaily-coloured and embroidered kimonos, they look +like a bed of poppies, for each shows a glowing scarlet under-kimono, or +petticoat. + +Not only is this the time for the Japanese girl to be gaily dressed, but it +is her time to visit fairs and temples, and to enjoy the gaieties which may +fall in her way: for when she marries, the gates which lead to the ways of +pleasure are closed against her for a long time. The duties of a Japanese +wife keep her strictly at home, until the golden day dawns when her son +marries and she has a daughter-in-law upon whom she may thrust all the +cares of the household. Then once more she can go to temples and theatres, +fairs and festivals, while another drudges in her stead. + +Marriage is early in Japan. A girl marries at sixteen or seventeen, and to +be unmarried at twenty is accounted a great misfortune. At marriage she +completely severs herself from her own relations, and joins her husband's +household. This is shown in a very striking fashion by the bride wearing +a white kimono, the colour of mourning; and more, when she has left her +father's house, fires of purification are lighted, just as if a dead body +had been borne to the grave. This is to signify that henceforward the bride +is dead to her old home, and her whole life must now be spent in the +service of her husband and his relations. + +The wedding rites are very simple. There is no public function, as in +England, and no religious ceremony; the chief feature is that the bride +and bridegroom drink three times in turn from three cups, each cup having +two spouts. These cups are filled with sake, the national strong drink of +Japan, a kind of beer made from rice. This drinking is supposed to typify +that henceforth they will share each other's joys and sorrows, and this +sipping of sake constitutes the marriage ceremony. + +The young wife now must bid farewell to her fine clothes and her +merry-making. She wears garments of a soft dove colour, or greys or fawns, +quiet shades, but often of great charm. She has now to rise first in the +morning, to open the shutters which have closed the house for the night, +for this is a duty she may not leave to the servants. If her husband's +father and mother dwell in the same house, she must consider it an honour +to supply all their wants, and she is expected to become a perfect slave +to her mother-in-law. It is not uncommon for a meek little wife, who has +obeyed every one, to become a perfect tyrant as a mother-in-law, ordering +her son's wife right and left, and making the younger woman's life a sheer +misery. The mother-in-law has escaped from the land of bondage. It is no +longer her duty to rise at dawn and open the house; she can lie in bed, and +be waited upon by the young wife; she is free to go here and there, and she +does not let her chances slip; she begins once more to thoroughly enjoy +life. + +It may be doubted, however, whether these conditions will hold their own +against the flood of Western customs and Western views which has begun to +flow into Japan. At present the deeply-seated ideas which rule home-life +are but little shaken in the main, but it is very likely that the modern +Japanese girl will revolt against this spending of the best years of her +life as an upper and unpaid servant to her husband's friends and relations. +But at the present moment, for great sections of Japanese society, the old +ways still stand, and stand firmly. + +It was formerly the custom for a woman to make herself as ugly as possible +when she was married. This was to show that she wished to draw no attention +from anyone outside her own home. As a rule she blackened her teeth, which +gave her a hideous appearance when she smiled. This custom is now dying +out, though plenty of women with blackened teeth are still to be seen. + +Should a Japanese wife become a widow, she is expected to show her grief +by her desolate appearance. She shaves her head, and wears garments of the +most mournful look. It has been said that a Japanese girl has the look of a +bird of Paradise, the Japanese wife of a dove, and the Japanese widow of a +crow. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN THE HOUSE + + +A Japanese house is one of the simplest buildings in the world. Its main +features are the roof of tiles or thatch, and the posts which support the +latter. By day the walls are of oiled paper; by night they are formed of +wooden shutters, neither very thick nor very strong. As a rule, the house +is of but one story, and its flimsiness comes from two reasons, both very +good ones. + +The first is that Japan is a home of earthquakes, and when an earthquake +starts to rock the land and topple the houses about the peoples' ears, then +a tall, strong house of stone or brick would be both dangerous in its fall +and very expensive to put up again. The second is that Japan is a land of +fires. The people are very careless. They use cheap lamps and still cheaper +petroleum. A lamp explodes or gets knocked over; the oiled paper walls +burst into a blaze; the blaze spreads right and left, and sweeps away a +few streets, or a suburb of a city, or a whole village. The Jap takes this +very calmly. He gets a few posts, puts the same tiles up again for a roof, +or makes a new thatch, and, with a few paper screens and shutters, there +stands his house again. + +A house among the poorer sort of Japanese consists of one large room in the +daytime. At night it is formed into as many bedrooms as its owner requires. +Along the floor, which is raised about a foot from the ground, and along +the roof run a number of grooves, lengthways and crossways. Frames covered +with paper, called shoji, slide along these grooves and form the wall +between chamber and chamber. The front of the house is, as a rule, open to +the street, but if the owners wish for privacy they slide a paper screen +into position. At night wooden shutters, called amado, cover the screens. +Each shutter is held in place by the next, and the last shutter is fastened +by a wooden bolt. + +The Japanese are very fond of fresh air and sunshine. Unless the day is too +wet or stormy, the front of the house always stands open. If the sun is +too strong a curtain is hung across for shade, and very often this curtain +bears a huge white symbol representing his name, just as an Englishman puts +his name on a brass plate on his front-door. The furniture in these houses +is very simple. The floor is covered with thick mats, which serve for +chairs and bed, as people both sit and sleep on them. For table a low stool +suffices, and for a young couple to set up housekeeping in Japan is a very +simple matter. As Mrs. Bishop, the well-known writer, remarks: + +"Among the strong reasons for deprecating the adoption of foreign houses, +furniture, and modes of living by the Japanese, is that the expense +of living would be so largely, increased as to render early marriages +impossible. At present the requirements of a young couple in the poorer +classes are: a bare matted room (capable or not of division), two wooden +pillows, a few cotton futons (quilts), and a sliding panel, behind which +to conceal them in the daytime, a wooden rice bucket and ladle, a wooden +wash-bowl, an iron kettle, a hibachi (warming and cooking stove), a tray +or two, a teapot or two, two lacquer rice-bowls, a dinner box, a few china +cups, a few towels, a bamboo switch for sweeping, a tabako-bon (apparatus +for tobacco-smoking), an iron pot, and a few shelves let into a recess, all +of which can be purchased for something under L2." + +These young people would, however, have everything quite comfortable about +them, and housekeeping can be set up at a still lower figure, if necessary. +Excellent authorities say, and give particulars to prove, that a coolie +household may be established in full running order for 5-1/2 yen--that is, +somewhere about a sovereign. + +In better-class houses the same simplicity prevails, though the building +may be of costly materials, with posts and ceilings of ebony inlaid with +gold, and floors of rare polished woods. The screens (shoji) still separate +the rooms; the shutters (amado) enclose it at night. There are neither +doors nor passages. When you wish to pass from one room to the next you +slide back one of the shoji, and shut it after you. So you go from room +to room until you reach the one of which you are in search. The shoji are +often beautifully painted, and in each room is hung a kakemono (a wall +picture, a painting finely executed on a strip of silk). A favourite +subject is a branch of blossoming cherry, and this, painted upon white +silk, gives an effect of wonderful freshness and beauty. + +There is no chimney, for a Japanese house knows nothing of a fireplace. The +simple cooking is done over a stove burning charcoal, the fumes of which +wander through the house and disperse through the hundred openings afforded +by the loosely-fitting paper walls. To keep warm in cold weather the +Japanese hug to themselves and hang over smaller stoves, called hibachi, +metal vessels containing a handful of smouldering charcoal. + +In the rooms there are neither tables nor chairs. The floor is covered +with most beautiful mats, as white as snow and as soft as a cushion, for +they are often a couple of inches thick. They are woven of fine straw, +and on these the Japanese sit, with their feet tucked away under them. +At dinner-time small, low tables are brought in, and when the meal is +finished, the tables are taken away again. Chairs are never used, and the +Japanese who wishes to follow Western ways has to practise carefully how to +sit on a chair, just as we should have to practise how to sit on our feet +as he does at home. + +When bedtime comes, there is no change of room. The sitting-room by day +becomes the bedroom by night. A couple of wooden pillows and some quilts +are fetched from a cupboard; the quilts are spread on the floor, the +pillows are placed in position, and the bed is ready. The pillows would +strike us as most uncomfortable affairs. They are mere wooden neckrests, +and European travellers who have tried them declare that it is like trying +to go to sleep with your head hanging over a wooden door-scraper. + +As they both sit and sleep on their matting-covered floors, we now see why +the Japanese never wear any boots or clogs in the house. To do so would +make their beautiful and spotless mats dirty; so all shoes are left at +the door, and they walk about the house in the tabi, the thick glove-like +socks. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +IN THE HOUSE (_continued_) + + +Even supposing that a well-to-do Japanese has a good deal of native +furniture--such as beautifully painted screens, handsome vases, tables of +ebony inlaid with gold or with fancy woods, and so forth--yet he does not +keep them in the house. He stores them away in a special building, and +a servant runs and fetches whatever may be wanted. When the article has +served its purpose, it is taken back again. + +This building is called a godown. It is built of cement, is painted black, +and bears the owner's monogram in a huge white design. It is considered +to be fireproof, though it is not always so, and is meant to preserve the +family treasures in case of one of the frequent fires. It may be stored +with a great variety of furniture and ornaments, but very few see the light +at one time. + +[Illustration: A JAPANESE HOUSE] + +The Japanese does not fill his house with all the decorations he may own, +and live with them constantly. If he has a number of beautiful porcelain +jars and vases, he has one out at one time, another at another. A certain +vase goes with a certain screen, and every time a change is made, the +daughters of the house receive new lessons in the art of placing the +articles and decking them with flowers and boughs of blossom in order to +gain the most beautiful effect. If a visitor be present in the house, the +guest-chamber will be decorated afresh every day, each design showing some +new and unexpected beauty in screen, or flower-decked vase, or painted +kakemono. There is one vase which is always carefully supplied with +freshly-cut boughs or flowers. This is the vase which stands before the +tokonoma. The tokonoma is a very quaint feature of a Japanese house. It +means a place in which to lay a bed, and, in theory, is a guest-chamber in +which to lodge the Mikado, the Japanese Emperor. So loyal are the Japanese +that every house is supposed to contain a room ready for the Emperor in +case he should stay at the door and need a night's lodging. The Emperor, +of course, never comes, and so the tokonoma is no more than a name. + +Usually it is a recess a few feet long and a few inches wide, and over it +hangs the finest kakemono that the house can afford, and in front of it is +a vase whose flowers are arranged in a traditional form which has a certain +allegorical meaning. + +At night a Japanese room is lighted by a candle fixed in a large square +paper lantern, the latter placed on a lacquer stand. The light is very +dim, and many are now replacing it with ordinary European lamps. Unluckily +they buy the very commonest and cheapest of these, and so in consequence +accidents and fires are numerous. + +Among the coolies of Japan, the people who fill the back streets of the +large towns with long rows of tiny houses, the process of "moving house" +is absolutely literal. They do not merely carry off their furniture--that +would be simple enough--but they swing up the house too, carry it off, set +their furniture in it again, and resume their contented family life. It is +not at all an uncommon thing to meet a pair thus engaged in shifting their +abode. The man is marching along with a building of lath and paper, not +much bigger than a bathing-machine, swung on his shoulders, while his wife +trudges behind him with two or three big bundles tied up in blue cloth. He +carries the house, and she the furniture. Within a few hours they will be +comfortably settled in the new street to which their needs or their fancies +call them. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A JAPANESE DAY + + +The first person astir in a Japanese household is the mistress of the +house. She rises from the quilts on the floor which form her bed and puts +out the lamp, which has been burning all night. No Japanese sleeps without +an andon, a tall paper lamp, in which a dim light burns. Next she unlocks +the amado, the wooden shutters, and calls the servants. + +Now the breakfast-table must be set out. In one way this is very simple, +for there is no cloth to spread, for tablecloths are unknown, and when +enough rice has been boiled and enough tea has been made, the breakfast +is ready. But there is one point upon which she must be very careful. The +lacquer rice-bowls and the chopsticks must be set in their proper order, +according to the importance of each person in the family. The slightest +mistake in arranging the position at a meal of any member of the family +or of a guest under the roof would be a matter of the deepest disgrace. +Etiquette is the tyrant of Japan. A slip in the manner of serving the food +is a thousand times more important in Japanese eyes than the quality of the +food itself. A hostess might serve burned rice and the most shocking tea, +but if it were handed round in correct form, there would be nothing more to +be said; but to serve a twice-honourable guest before a thrice-honourable +guest--ah! that would be truly dreadful, a blot never to be wiped off the +family escutcheon. + +After breakfast the master of the house will go about his business. If the +day is fine the wife has his straw sandals ready for him; if it is wet +she gets his high wooden clogs and his umbrella of oiled paper. Then she +and the servants escort him to the door and speed his departure with many +low bows, rubbing their knees together--the latter is a sign of deep +respect--and calling good wishes after him. + +It may seem odd to us that the servants should accompany their mistress on +such an errand, but the servants in Japan are not like other servants: they +are as much a part of the family as the children of the house. Domestic +service in Japan is a most honourable calling, and ranks far higher than +trade. A domestic servant who married a tradesman would be considered as +going down a step in the social scale. In Japan trade has been left until +lately to the lower classes of the population, and tradespeople have ranked +with coolies and labourers. + +This importance of domestic servants arises from two reasons: First, the +old custom which compels the mistress of the house, even if she be of +the highest rank, to serve her husband and children herself, and also to +wait on her parents-in-law, has the effect of raising domestic service to a +high and honourable level. Second, many Japanese servants are of good birth +and excellent family. Only a generation ago their fathers were samurai, +followers of some great Prince, a Daimio, and members of his clan. In the +feudal days of Japan, so recently past, the position of the samurai was +exactly the same as the clansmen of a Highland chief, say at the time of +the "Forty-Five." + +The Daimio, the Japanese chief, had a great estate and vast revenues, +counted in measures of rice; one Daimio had as much as 1,000,000 koku +of rice, the koku being a weight of about 132 pounds. But out of these +revenues he had to maintain his clan, his samurai, the members of his +private army. The samurai clansmen were the exact counterparts of +Highlanders. The poorest considered himself a gentleman and a member of +his chief's family; he held trade and handicrafts in the utmost disdain: +he lived only for war and the defence of his lord. But he regarded service +in his lord's household as a high honour, and thus all service was made +honourable. When the feudal system came to an end, when the Daimios retired +into private life, and the samurai were disbanded, then the latter and +their families found that they must work for their own support, and great +numbers entered domestic service. + +Boys and girls who are meant for servants have to go through a course of +training in etiquette, quite apart from the training they receive in their +duties. This training is intended to maintain the proper distance between +employer and servant, while, in a sense, allowing them to be perfectly +familiar. The Japanese servant bows low and kneels to her mistress, +and addresses her always in the tone of voice used by an inferior to a +superior, yet she will join in a conversation between her mistress and +a caller, and laugh with the rest at any joke which is made. + +It sounds difficult to believe that servants do not become too forward +under such conditions, but they never do. Their perfect taste and good +breeding forbid that they should pass over a certain line where familiarity +would go too far. The position of a servant in Japan is shown by the fact +that, though her master or mistress will speak to her as a servant, yet a +caller or guest must always use the tone of equality and address her as san +(miss). In the absence of the mistress, servants are expected to entertain +any callers, and they do this with the perfection of gentle manners and +exquisite politeness. A lady writer says: + +"I remember once being very much at sea when I was taken to pay a call on +a Japanese lady of the well-to-do class. Not being able to speak a word +of the language, I was unable to follow the conversation which took place +between the charming little lady who greeted us at the inner shutters and +my friend. She was dressed in the soft grey kimono and obi of a middle-aged +woman, and her exquisite manner and gentleness made me feel as heavy as my +boots, which I had not been allowed to take off, sounded on the delicate +floor-matting compared to her soft white foot-gloves. + +"My friend addressed her as san, and seemed to speak to her just as a +guest would to her hostess. We had tea on the floor, and my friend chatted +pleasantly for some time with the little grey figure, when suddenly the +sound of wheels on the gravel outside caught my ears, and the next instant +there was the scuffling of many feet along the polished wooden passage +which led to the front door, and the eager cry of 'O kaeri! O kaeri!' +(honourable return). Our hostess for the time rose from her knees, smiled, +and begged us to excuse her honourable rudeness. When she had hurried off +to join in the cry of welcome, my friend said, 'Oh, I am glad she has +come!' + +"'Who has come ?' I asked. + +"'The lady we came to see,' she said. + +"'Then, who was the charming little lady who poured out tea for us?' I +asked. My friend smiled. + +"'Oh, that was only the housemaid.'" + +A man dealing with the same point remarks: "It is very important that a +Japanese upper servant should have good manners, for he is expected to have +sufficient knowledge of etiquette to entertain his master's guests if his +master is out. After rubbing his knees together and hissing and kowtowing +(bowing low), he will invite you to take a seat on the floor, or, more +correctly speaking, on your heels, with a flat cushion between your knees +and the floor to make the ordeal a little less painful. He will then offer +you five cups of tea (it is the number of cups that signifies, not the +number of callers), and dropping on his own heels with ease and grace, +enter into an affable conversation, humble to a degree, but perfectly +familiar, until his master arrives to relieve him. Even after his master +has arrived he may stay in the room, and is quite likely to cut into the +conversation, and dead certain to laugh at the smallest apology for a +joke!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A JAPANESE DAY (_continued_) + + +But we must return to our Japanese housewife, who has at present only shown +her husband out politely to his business. Now she sees that all the paper +screens are removed, so that the whole house becomes, as it were, one great +room, and thus is thoroughly aired. The beds are rolled up and put away +in cupboards, and the woodwork is carefully rubbed down and polished. +Perhaps the flowers in the vases are faded, and it is a long and elaborate +performance to rearrange the beautiful sprays and the blossoms brought in +from the garden. + +Cooking is not by any means so important a matter in her household life +as it is in that of her Western sister. If her rice-box is well filled, +her tea-caddy well stored, her pickle-jar and store of vegetables in good +order, she has little more to think about. "Rice is the staple food of +Japan, and is eaten at every meal by rich or poor, taking the place of our +bread. It is of particularly fine quality, and at meals is brought in small +bright-looking tubs kept for this exclusive purpose and scrupulously clean; +it is then helped to each individual in small quantities, and steaming hot. +The humblest meal is served with nicety, and with the rice various tasty +condiments, such as pickles, salted fish, and numerous other dainty little +appetizers, are eaten. To moisten the meal, tea without sugar is taken. A +hibachi, or charcoal basin, generally occupies the central position, round +which the meal is enjoyed, and on the fire of which the teapot is always +kept easily boiling." + +[Illustration: OFFERING TEA TO A GUEST] + +When the Japanese housekeeper goes to market, she turns her attention, +after the rice merchant's, to the fish and vegetable stalls. At the +fish-stall nothing that comes out of the sea is overlooked. She buys not +only fish, but seaweed, which is a common article of diet. It is eaten +raw; it is also boiled, pickled, or fried; it is often made into soup. +Sea-slugs, cuttle-fish, and other creatures which we consider the mere +offal of the sea, are eagerly devoured by the Japanese. + +At the vegetable-stall there will be a great variety of things for +sale--beans, peas, potatoes, maize, buckwheat, carrots, lettuce, turnips, +squash, musk- and water-melons, cucumbers, spinach, garlic, onions, leeks, +chillies, capucams (the produce of the egg-plant), and a score of other +things, including yellow chrysanthemum blossoms and the roots and seeds of +the lotus. The Japanese eat almost everything that grows, for they delight +in dock and ferns, in wild ginger and bamboo shoots, and consider the last +a great tit-bit. + +But to Europeans the Japanese vegetables seem very tasteless, and the chief +of them all is very much disliked by Westerners. This is the famous daikon, +the mighty Japanese radish, beloved among the poorer classes in its native +land and abhorred by foreigners. It grows to an immense size, being often +seen a yard long and as thick as a man's arm. When fresh it is harmless +enough, but the Japanese love to pickle it, and Mrs. Bishop remarks: + +"It is slightly dried and then pickled in brine, with rice bran. It is very +porous, and absorbs a good deal of the pickle in the three months in which +it lies in it, and then has a smell so awful that it is difficult to remain +in a house in which it is being eaten. It is the worst smell I know of +except that of a skunk!" + +The pickle-seller's stall must not be forgotten, for the Japanese flavour +their rather tasteless food with a wonderful variety of pickles and sauces. +The great sauce is soy, made from fermented wheat and beans with salt and +vinegar, and at times sake is added to it to heighten its flavour. This +sauce is served with many articles of food, and fish are often cooked in +it. + +When the Japanese housekeeper reaches home again she finds that her +servants have finished their simple duties. Englishwomen always wonder what +there is in a Japanese house for servants to do. There are no fires to lay, +no furniture to polish and clean, no carpets to sweep, and no linen to wash +and mend; so Japanese servants spend much time chatting to each other, or +sewing new kimonos together, or playing chess. As a rule, there are many +more servants than are necessary to do the work. This is because servants +are very cheap. There are always plenty of girls who are ready to fill the +lower places if they can obtain food and clothes for their services, and +the upper servants only receive small sums, sometimes as low as six or +eight shillings a month. + +If a servant wishes to leave her employment, she never gives direct notice +to her mistress. That would be the height of rudeness. Instead she begs +permission to visit her home, or a sick relation, or some one who needs +her assistance. Upon the day that she should return a long and elaborate +apology for her non-arrival is sent, saying that, most unhappily, she +cannot be spared from her home or her post of duty. It is then understood +that she has left. + +In a similar fashion, no mistress tells a servant that she will not suit. A +polite explanation that it will be inconvenient to accept her services at +the moment is sent through a third party. + +In the evening the whole family, servants included, gather in the main room +of the house. The master and mistress sit near the hibachi (the stove) +and the andon (the big paper lantern); the maids glide in and sit at a +respectful distance with their sewing, if they have any. There may be +conversation, or the master may read aloud from a book of historical +romances or fairy stories; but the servants may laugh and chat as freely +over joke or story as anyone. + +When bed-time arrives the quilts come out of the cupboards, and are spread +with due care that no one sleeps with the head to the north, for that is +the position in which the dead are laid out, and so is a very unlucky +one for the living. Then the little wooden neck-rests, which they use as +pillows, are set in their places, and every one goes to bed. The Japanese +day is over. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +JAPANESE GAMES + + +The children of Japan have many games, and some of these games are shared +with them by their fathers and mothers--yes, and by their grandfathers and +grandmothers too, for an old man will fly a kite as eagerly as his tiny +grandson. The girls play battledore and shuttlecock and bounce balls, and +the boys spin tops and make them fight. A top-fight is arranged thus: One +boy takes his top, made of hard wood with an iron ring round it, winds it +up with string, and throws it on the ground; while it is spinning merrily, +another boy throws his top in such a way that it spins against the first +top and knocks it over. So cleverly are the attacking tops thrown that the +first top is often knocked to a distance of several feet. Other games are +playing at war with toy weapons, hunting grasshoppers, which are kept in +tiny cages of bamboo, and hunting fireflies. The last pastime is followed +by Japanese of all ages, and the glittering flies are pursued by night, and +struck down by a light fan. + +Wherever there is a stream of water, the boys set up toy water-wheels, and +these water-wheels drive little mills and machines, which the boys have +made for themselves in the cleverest fashion. + +Here is a group whose heads are very close together. Let us peep over their +shoulders, and see what it is they watch so quietly and earnestly. Ah! this +is a favourite trick. A small boy is setting a team of half a dozen beetles +to draw a load of rice up a smooth, sloping board. He has made a tiny cart +of paper, and filled it with rice. The traces of the cart are made of fine +threads of silk, and he fastens the threads of silk to the backs of the +beetles with gum. + +Now he has his strange team in motion, and the beetles are marching up the +board, dragging their load. The tiny faces in the ring of watchers are +filled with deep but motionless interest. Not one dreams of stretching +out a finger. There is no need to say, "Don't touch!" No one would dream +of touching--that would be very rude. Japanese children manage their own +games, without any appeal to their elders. It is not often that a dispute +arises, but, should that happen, the question is settled at once by the +word of an elder child. The decision is obeyed without a murmur, and the +game goes on. + +Another game of which children are fond is that of painting sand-pictures +on the roadside. A group of children will compete in drawing a sand-picture +in the shortest time. Each has four bags of coloured sand--black, red, +yellow, and blue--and a bag of white. The white sand is first thrown down +in the form of a square; then a handful of black sand is taken, and allowed +to run through the fingers to form a quaint outline of a man, or bird, or +animal, upon the white ground. Next, the design is finished with the other +colours, and very often a most striking effect is obtained by these child +artists. "But the most extraordinary and most fascinating thing of all is +to watch the performance of a master in sand-pictures. So dexterous and +masterly is he that he will dip his hand first into a bag of blue sand +and then into one of yellow, allowing the separate streams to trickle out +unmixed, and then, with a slight tremble of the hand, these streams will +be quickly converted into one thin stream of bright green, relapsing again +into the streams of blue and yellow at a moment's notice." + +There are many indoor games, and a very great favourite is the game of +alphabet cards. This is played with a number of cards, some of which +contain a proverb and some a picture illustrating each proverb. The +children sit in a ring, and the cards are dealt to them. One of the +children is the reader, and when he calls out a proverb the one who has the +picture corresponding to the proverb answers at once and gives up the card. +The first one to be rid of his cards is the winner, and the one who holds +the last card is the loser. If a boy is the loser, he has a dab of ink or +of paint smudged on his face; if it is a girl, she has a wisp of straw +put in her hair. The game is so called because each proverb begins with a +letter of the Japanese alphabet. + +Japanese children have many holidays and festivals, and they enjoy +themselves very much on these joyous occasions. With their beautiful +dresses of silk shining in the sun, a crowd of them looks like a great +bed of flowers. Mr. Menpes speaks of a merry-making which he saw: "It +was a festival for girls under ten, and there were hundreds of children, +all with their kimonos tucked up, showing their scarlet petticoats, and +looking for all the world like a mass of poppies.... Two rows or armies of +these girls were placed several yards distant from each other in this long +emerald-green field, and in the space between them stood two servants, each +holding a long bamboo pole, and suspending from its top a flat, shallow +drum, covered with tissue-paper. + +"Presently two young men teachers appeared on the scene, carrying two +baskets of small many-coloured balls, which they threw down on the grass +between the children and the drums. Then a signal was given, and all the +girls started running down the field at full tilt towards one another, +pouncing on the balls as they ran, and throwing them with all their force +up at the paper drums. + +"After a time, when a perfect shower of balls had passed through the tissue +drums, quite demolishing them, a shower of coloured papers, miniature +lanterns, paper umbrellas, and flags came slowly fluttering down among +the children on to their jet-black bobbing heads and into their eager +outstretched hands. Never have I seen anything more beautiful than these +gay, brightly-clad little people, packed closely together like a cluster +of flowers in the brilliant sparkling sunshine, with their pretty upturned +faces watching the softly falling rain of coloured toys." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE FEAST OF DOLLS AND THE FEAST OF FLAGS + + +On the third day of the third month there is great excitement in every +Japanese household which numbers a girl among its domestic treasures: for +the Feast of Dolls has come, the great festival for dolls. On this day the +most beautiful dolls and dolls' houses are fetched from the godown, where +the family furniture is kept, and are on exhibition for a short time, set +out on shelves covered with scarlet cloth. + +[Illustration: FIGHTING TOPS] + +These dolls are the O-Hina, the honourable dolls. They are kept with the +greatest care, and in some families there are dolls which are centuries +old. As each doll is dressed exactly in the costume of its age, and is +furnished with belongings which represent in miniature the furniture of +that age, such a collection has great historic value, and is used to teach +the children how their ancestors looked and lived. + +There are common dolls for the little girls to play with every day, but +these elaborate ones, the honourable dolls, are stored with the greatest +care. Many of them are very costly. The doll is not only beautifully made +and dressed, but its house is furnished with the most exact imitations of +every article of furniture and of every utensil. In wealthy families this +toy furniture is made of the rarest gold lacquer, or of solid silver, +or of beautiful porcelain. Not a single article, either of state or of +usefulness, is missing, and it is the delight of a Japanese girl at the +Feast of Dolls to use the tiny utensils of her toy kitchen to prepare an +elaborate feast of real food which is set before her honourable dolls. + +The beginning of a collection of such dolls is made as soon as a girl is +born. Every girl-child is presented with a pair of these dolls, and as time +goes on she gathers all the articles which go with them. These dolls are +always her own. When she marries she takes them to her new home. + +When the O-Hina Matsuri, the Feast of Dolls, draws near, the Japanese shops +begin to be full of the little images used at that time. The poorer are of +painted earthenware; the finer are of wood, with clothes of the richest +materials. These images, together with tiny bowls, and pots, and stoves, +and trays, are used to set off and decorate the surroundings of the Feast +of Dolls. They vary very greatly in price. The coolie household may have +a set-out which cost a few pence. The O-Hina of a great noble's house +will often be worth a fortune, having hundreds of beautifully carved and +dressed images to represent the Emperor and Empress and every official of +the Japanese Court, with every article used for State functions, and every +piece of furniture needed to deck a royal palace. Other sets of O-Hina +represent great personages in Japanese history, perhaps a great Daimio and +his followers, each figure dressed with strict historical accuracy, and +provided with every feature proper to its rank and period. + +The great festival for boys comes at the Feast of Flags. This is held on +the fifth day of the fifth month. Every one knows when the Feast of Flags +is near, for before every house where there are boys a tall post of bamboo +is set up. Swinging from the top of each post is the figure of a huge carp, +made of brightly coloured paper. If a boy has been born in the house during +the year the carp is made bigger still. The body of the fish is hollow, and +when the wind blows into it, it wriggles its fins and tail just like a fish +swimming strongly. The Japanese choose the carp because they say it has the +power of ascending streams swiftly against the current and of leaping over +waterfalls. It is thus supposed to typify a young man breasting the stream +of life, and thrusting his way through difficulties to success. + +As the boys' day draws near, the shops become full of toys for them. There +are images bought for boys as well as for their sisters; but boys' images +are those of soldiers, heroes, generals, famous old warriors, wrestlers, +and so forth. The old Japanese were a war-like nation, and the toys +provided for their sons at the Feast of Flags were helmets, flags, swords, +bows and arrows, coats of mail, spears, and the like. The Feast of Flags +itself is held on the day sacred to Hachima, the Japanese God of War, and +the favourite game on that day is a mimic battle. + +The boys divide themselves into two parties, called Heike and Genji. These +names represent two great old rival clans of the feudal days. Every Heike +carries a red flag on his back, every Genji a white one. Each combatant +also wears a helmet, consisting of a kind of earthenware pot. The combat +is joined, and the small warriors hack at each other with bamboo swords. A +well-directed blow will dash to pieces the earthenware pot, and the wearer +is then compelled to own defeat. That side wins which breaks most pots on +its opponents' heads, or captures most flags. + +This display of weapons, with blowing of horns and trumpets, serves another +purpose also; for on the fifth day of the fifth month the Japanese believe +that Oni, an evil-disposed god, comes down from the heavens to devour +boys, or to bring great harm to them. But he fears sharp swords, so the +long swordshaped blades of the sweet flag are gathered from the edges of +rivers and the sides of swampy rice-fields, and used as decorations. As +a Japanese writer says: "Oni fears the sword-blade of the sweet flag, so +that its leaves are everywhere. They are upon the festal table; they hang +in festoons about the house, and all along the eaves. Boys wear them tied +around their heads, with the white scraped fragrant roots projecting like +two horns from their foreheads. So, and with the noise of bamboo horns, +they frighten away the ogre god. For he fears horned men, and he dares not +enter a house where so many swords hang from the eaves." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A FARTHING'S WORTH OF FUN + + +How would you like to go to a fair with a farthing, a whole farthing, to +spend as you pleased? I think I can see some of you turning your noses up, +and looking very scornful. "A farthing, indeed!" you say. "Pray, of what +use is a farthing? I wouldn't mind going to a fair with a shilling, or even +sixpence, but what could anyone do with a farthing?" Well, in Japan you +could do a great deal. We must remember that Japan is a country of tiny +wages; many of its workers do not receive more than sixpence a day, and a +man who gets a shilling is well off. Tiny earnings mean tiny spendings, and +things are arranged on a scale to meet very slender purses. + +We will now see what sort of time O Hara San, Miss Blossom, and her +brother, Taro San, Master Eldest Son, had at the fair one fine day in +Nagasaki. In the morning they sprang up from their quilts full of excited +pleasure, for they had been looking forward to this fair for some time. But +they did not romp and chatter and show their excitement as English children +would do. Their black eyes shone a little more brightly than usual, and +that was all. + +When they had whipped their rice into their mouths with their little +chopsticks, they started for the fair, which was to be held in the grounds +of a great temple. Of course, they were dressed in their best clothes. Both +had new kimonos, and O Hara San had a very fine obi, which her parents had +bought for her by denying themselves many little luxuries. Their father and +grandmother went with them, but their mother stayed at home with the baby. +Their father wore a newly-washed kimono, but his chief glory was an old +bowler hat which a European gentleman had given to him. It had been much +too large for him, but he had neatly taken it in, and now wore it with +great pride. When they reached the fair they gave themselves up to its +delights with all their hearts. There was so much to do and so much to see. +Almost at once O Hara San and Taro were beguiled by a sweetmeat stall. + +Each had five rin, and five rin make one farthing, or rather less, but we +will call it a farthing for the sake of round figures. One rin apiece was +spent here. The stall was in two divisions: one stocked with delicious +little bottles of sugar-water, the other with pieces of candy, tinted +bright blue and red and green. Miss Blossom went in for a bottle of +sugar-water, and her brother for candies. But first he demanded of the +candy-seller that he should be allowed to try his luck at the disc. This +was a disc having an arrow which could be whirled round, and if the arrow +paused opposite a lucky spot an extra piece of candy was added to the +purchase. To Taro's great joy, he made a lucky hit, and won the extra piece +of candy; he felt that the fair had begun very well for him. + +While they drank sugar-water and munched candy, they wandered along looking +at the booths, where all sorts of wonders were to be seen--booths full of +conjurers, acrobats, dancers, of women who could stretch their necks to +the length of their arms, or thrust their lips up to cover their eyebrows, +and a hundred other curious tricks. The price of admission was one rin +each to children, and finally they chose the conjurer's booth, and saw him +spout fire from his mouth, swallow a long sword, and finally exhibit a +sea-serpent, which appeared to be made of seal-skins tacked together. + +When they left the show they came all at once on one of the great delights +of a Japanese fair. It was the man with the cooking-stove, round whom +children always throng as flies gather about honey. For the fifth part of +a farthing you may have the use of his cooking-stove, you may have a piece +of dough, or you may have batter with a cup, a spoon, and a dash of soy +sauce. You may then abandon yourself to the delights of making a cake for +yourself, baking it for yourself, and then eating it yourself, and if you +spend a couple of hours over the operation the man will not grumble. As +this arrangement combines both the pleasure of making a cake and playing +with fire, it is very popular, and we cannot wonder that Taro took a turn, +though Miss Blossom did not. She felt herself rather too big to join the +swarm of happy urchins round the stove. + +While Taro was baking his cake she spent her third rin on a peep-show, +where a juggler made little figures of paper and pasteboard dance and +perform all kinds of antics. Then they went on again. Each bought one rin's +worth of sugared beans, a very favourite sweet-meat; and these they ate +while they waited for their father and grandmother to join them at the +door of a certain theatre where they had agreed to meet. Into this theatre +was pouring a stream of people, old and young, men, women, children, and +babies, for a great historical play was to be performed, and it would +shortly begin. Soon their elders turned up, and their father took their +last rin to make up the payment which would admit them. + +In they went, and took possession of their place. The floor of the theatre +was divided by little partitions, about a foot or so high, into a vast +number of tiny squares, like open egg-boxes. In one of these little boxes +our friends squatted down on the floor, and the grandmother began to unpack +the bundle which she had been carrying. This bundle contained a number of +cooking-vessels and an ample supply of rice, for here they meant to stay +for some hours to see the play, to eat and drink, and enjoy themselves +generally. + +The father filled his pipe, lighted it at the hibachi, and began to smoke, +as hundreds more were doing all round them. Each box contained a family, +and each family had brought its cooking-pots, its food, and its drink; and +hawkers of food, of pipes, of tobacco, of sake, and of a score of other +things, rambled up and down selling their wares. + +[Illustration: THE TOY SHOP] + +When the play began every one paid close attention, for it was a great +historical play, and the Japanese go to the theatre and take their children +there in order to learn history. There are represented the old wars, the +old feuds, the struggle of Daimio against Daimio--in short, the history of +old Japan. When an actor gave pleasure, the audience flung their hats on +the stage. These were collected by an attendant, and kept until the owners +redeemed them by giving a present. For six hours O Hara San and Taro sat +in their little box, laughing, shouting, eating, and drinking, while the +play went on. Then it was over, for it was only a short play, at a cheap +theatre. "Ah!" said their father, "when I was a boy we had real plays. We +used to rise early and be in the theatre by six o'clock in the morning. +There we would stay enjoying ourselves until eleven at night. But now the +decree of the Government is that no play shall last more than nine hours. +It is too little!" + +The children quite agreed with him as they helped their grandmother to +gather the pots and pans and dishes which were scattered about their box. +Then each took the wooden ticket which would secure the shoes which they +had left outside with the attendants, and went slowly from the theatre. +When they had obtained their shoes and put them on, Miss Blossom and Master +Eldest Son strolled slowly homewards through the fair. They had not another +rin to spend--their farthing's worth of fun was over. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +KITE-FLYING + + +About a fortnight after the fair, on a fine windy afternoon, there was a +holiday, and Taro, with his father and his younger brother Ito, turned +out to fly kites. Some of their neighbours were already at work flying +kites from the roofs of the houses or from windows, but our friends wanted +more room than that, and went up to a piece of higher ground behind their +street. Here they joined a crowd of kite-flyers. Every one was out to-day +with his kite, old and young, men of sixty, with yellow, wrinkled faces, +down to toddlers of three, who clutched their strings and flew their little +kites with as much gravity and staidness as their grandfathers. Before long +O Hara San came up with the baby on her back, and he had a bit of string +in his tiny fist and a scrap of a kite not much bigger than a man's hand +floating a few yards above his head. + +But Taro was a proud boy this afternoon. He was about to fly his first big +fighting kite. It was made of tough, strong paper, stretched on a bamboo +frame five feet square, a kite taller than his own father. The day before +Taro had pounded a piece of glass up fine and mixed it with glue. The +mixture had been rubbed on the string of his kite for about thirty feet +near the kite-end and left to dry. Now, if he could only get this string +to cut sharply across the string of another kite, the latter cord would be +severed, and he could proudly claim the vanquished kite as his own. + +Kites of every colour and shape hovered in the air above the wide open +space. There were square kites of red, yellow, green, blue, every colour +of the rainbow; many were decorated with gaily-painted figures of gods, +heroes, warriors, and dragons. There were kites in the shape of fish, +hawks, eagles, and butterflies. Some had hummers, made of whalebone, which +hummed musically in the wind as they rose; and as for fighting kites, they +were abroad in squads and battalions. In one place the fight was between +single kites; in another a score of men with blue kites met a score with +red kites and the kites fluttered, darted, swooped, dived this way, that +way, and every way, as they were skilfully moved by the strings pulled from +below. Now and again one of them was seen to fall helplessly away and drift +down the wind; its string had been cut by some victorious rival, and it had +been put out of the battle. + +Taro had his kite high up in the air very soon; it flew splendidly, and for +some time he was very busy in trying it and learning its ways, for every +kite has its own tricks of moving in the air. Then suddenly he saw a great +brown eagle sailing towards it. He looked up and saw that a boy named +Kanaya was directing the eagle kite towards his own, and that it was a +challenge to a fight. Taro accepted at once, and the combat was joined. + +Kanaya brought his eagle swiftly over Taro's big square kite, brightly +painted in bars of many colours, but Taro let out string and escaped. Then +he swung his kite up into the wind and made it swoop on the eagle. But +Kanaya was already winding his string swiftly in and had raised his kite +out of reach of the swoop. And so they went on for more than an hour, +pursuing, escaping, feinting, dodging, until at last the eagle caught +a favourable slant of wind and darted down so swiftly that Taro could +not escape. The strings crossed, and the upper began to chafe the lower +savagely. + +Taro tried to work his kite away, but in vain. The eagle string was strong +and sharp. At the next moment Taro felt a horrid slackness of his string; +no more could he feel the strong, splendid pull of his big kite. There it +was, going, falling headlong to the ground. Kanaya had won. Nothing now +remained to Taro but to take his beating like a Japanese and a gentleman. +With a cheerful smile he made three low bows to his conqueror. Kanaya, with +the utmost gravity, returned the bows before he ran away to secure the kite +he had won. + +Now, there had been a very interested and attentive observer of this battle +in Ito, Taro's younger brother. Ito never said a word or moved a muscle +of his little brown face when he saw his brother defeated and the big kite +seized in triumph by Kanaya. But his black eyes gleamed a little more +brightly in their narrow slits as he let out more string and waited for +Kanaya to begin to fly again. + +Ito had succeeded to the possession of Taro's old kite. It was less than +two feet square, but it flew well, and Ito had also anointed his string +with the mixture of pounded glass and glue, and was ready for combat Within +ten minutes Kanaya was flying once more, and now he had Taro's kite high in +the air. He had put away his own big brown eagle, and was flying the kite +he had just won. He had scarcely got it well up when a smaller square kite +came darting down upon it from a great height. Ito had entered the lists, +and a fresh battle began. + +It was even longer and stubborner than the first, for Ito's kite, being +much smaller, had much less power in the air; but Ito made up for this by +showing the greatest skill in the handling of his kite, and quite a crowd +gathered to see the struggle, watching every movement in perfect silence +and with the deepest gravity. Suddenly Ito pounced. He caught a favourable +gust of wind, and swung his line across Kanaya's with the greatest +dexterity. Saw-saw went the line, and at the next moment the great kite +went tumbling down the wind, and Kanaya and Ito exchanged the regulation +bows. Then the latter looked at his brother without a word, and Taro ran +to seize his beloved kite again. + +"It is yours now, Ito," said the elder brother, when he came back. + +"Oh no," said Ito; "we will each keep our own. I am glad I got it back from +Kanaya." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +FAIRY STORIES + + +When Taro and Ito went home that night with their kites, they were glad to +sit down and rest, for they had been running about until they were quite +tired. When they had eaten their suppers of rice from their little brown +bowls of lacquer, they begged their grandmother to tell them a story, and +she told them the famous old story of Momotaro, beloved of every child in +Japan. And this is what she told them: Once upon a time an old man and an +old woman lived near a river at the foot of a mountain. Every day the old +man went to the mountain to cut wood and carry it home, while the old woman +went to the river to wash clothes. Now, the old woman was very unhappy +because she had no children; it seemed to her that if she only had a son +or a daughter she would be the most fortunate old woman in the world. + +Well, one day she was washing the clothes in the river, when she saw +something floating down the stream towards her. It proved to be a great +pear, and she seized it and carried it home. As she carried it she heard a +sound like the cry of a child. She looked right and left, up and down, but +no child was to be seen. She heard the cry again, and now she fancied that +it came from the big pear. So she cut the pear open at once, and, to her +great surprise and delight, she found that there was a fine baby sitting in +the middle of it. She took the child and brought it up, and because he was +born in a pear she called him Momotaro. + +Momotaro grew up a strong, fine boy, and when he was seventeen years old +he started out to seek his fortune. He had made up his mind to attack an +island where lived a very dreadful ogre. The old woman gave him plenty of +food to eat on the way--corn and rice wrapped in a bamboo-leaf, and many +other things--and away he went. He had not gone far when he met a wasp. + +"Give me a share of your food, Momotaro," said the wasp, "and I will go +with you and help you to overcome the ogre." + +"With all my heart," said Momotaro, and he shared his food at once with the +wasp. + +Soon he met a crab, and the same agreement was made with the crab, and then +with a chestnut, and last of all with a millstone. + +So now the five companions journeyed on together towards the island of the +ogre. When the island was reached they crept up to the house of the ogre, +and found that he was not in his room. So they soon made a plan to take +advantage of his absence. The chestnut laid itself down in the ash of a +charcoal fire which had been burning on the hearth, the crab hid himself in +a washing-pan nearly full of water, the wasp settled in a dusky corner, the +millstone climbed on to the roof, and Momotaro hid himself outside. + +Before long the ogre came back, and he went to the fire to warm his hands. +The chestnut at once cracked in the hot ashes, and threw burning cinders +over the ogre's hands. The ogre at once ran to the washing-pan, and thrust +his hands into it to cool them. The crab caught his fingers and pinched +them till the ogre roared with pain. Snatching his hands out of the pan, +the ogre leapt into the dusky corner as a safe place; but the wasp met him +and stung him dreadfully. In great fright and misery the ogre tried to run +out of the room, but down came the millstone with a crash on his head and +killed him at once. So, without any trouble to himself, and by the help of +the faithful friends which his kindness had made for him, Momotaro gained +possession of the ogre's wealth, and his fortune was made. + +Then the grandmother told them of Jizo, the patron saint of travellers and +children, the helper of all who are in trouble. + +Everywhere by the roadside in Japan is found the figure of Jizo. Sometimes +a figure of noble height, carved in stone or in the living rock, sometimes +no more than a rough carving in wood, he is represented as a priest with +kindly face, holding a traveller's staff in his right hand and a globe in +his left. He stands upon a lotus-flower, and about his feet there lies a +pile of pebbles, to which pile each wayfarer adds a fresh pebble. + +And the old grandmother bade the children never pass a figure of Jizo +without paying it the tribute of a pebble, for this reason: Every little +child who dies, she said, has to pass over So-dzu-kawa, the river of the +underworld. Now, on the banks of this river there lives a wicked old hag +who catches little children as they try to cross, steals their clothes from +them, and sets them to work to help her in her endless task of piling up +the stones on the shore of the stream. Jizo helps these poor children, and +every one who throws a pebble at the foot of this shrine also takes a share +in lightening the labour of some little one down below. + +Another favourite story is that of Urashima, the fisher-boy. Urashima was a +handsome fisher-boy, who lived near the Sea of Japan, and every day he went +out in his boat to catch fish in order to help his parents. But one day +Urashima did not return. His mother watched long, but there was no sign of +her son's boat coming back to the shore. Day after day passed, and Urashima +was mourned as dead. But he was not dead. Out on the sea he had met the +Sea-God's daughter, and she had carried him off to a green, sunny land +where it was always summer. There they lived for some time in great love +and happiness. When it appeared to Urashima that several weeks had passed +in this pleasant land, he begged permission of the Princess to return home +and see his parents. + +"They will be sorrowing for me," he said. "They will fear that I am lost, +and drowned at sea." At last she allowed him to go, and she gave him a +casket, but told him to keep it closed. + +"As long as you keep it closed," she said, "I shall always be with you, but +if you open it you will lose both me and this sunny summer land for ever." + +Urashima took the casket, promised to keep it closed, and returned home. +But his native village had vanished. There was no sign of any dwelling +upon the shore, and not far away there was a town which he had never seen +before. In truth, every week that he had spent with the Princess had been +a hundred years on earth, and his home and native village had passed away +centuries ago, and the place where they had stood had been forgotten. In +his despair, he forgot the words of the Princess, and opened the forbidden +box. A faint blue mist floated out and spread over the sea, and a wonderful +change took place at once in Urashima. From a handsome youth he turned to a +feeble and decrepit old man, and then he fell upon the shore and lay there +dead. In the box the Princess had shut up all the hours of their happy +life, and when they had once escaped he became as other mortals, and old +age and death came upon him at a bound. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES + + +Tea-houses and temples run together very easily in the Japanese mind, for +wherever you find a temple there you also find a tea-house. But tea-houses +are not confined to the neighbourhood of temples: they are everywhere. The +tea-house is the house of public entertainment in Japan, and varies from +the tiny cabin with straw roof, a building which is filled by half a dozen +coolies drinking their tea, to large and beautiful structures, with floors +and ceilings of polished woods, splendid mats, and tables of ebony and +gold. + +The tea-house does not sell tea alone. It will lodge you and find you +dinners and suppers, and is in country places the Japanese hotel. If +tea-houses sold tea and nothing else it is certain that European travellers +would be in a very bad way, for there is one point they are all agreed +upon, and that is that the tea, as a rule, is quite unpalatable to a +Western taste. However, it does not matter in the least whether you +drink it or not as long as you pay your money, and the last is no great +tax--about three halfpence. + +[Illustration: A BUDDHIST SHRINE] + +When a traveller steps into a tea-house the girl attendants, the moosmes, +gay in their scarlet petticoats, kneel before him, and, if it is an +out-of-the-way place, where the old fashions are kept up, place their +foreheads on the matting. Then away they run to fetch the tea. Japanese +servants always run when they wish to show respect; to walk would look +careless and disrespectful in their eyes. The tea arrives in a small pot +on a lacquer tray, with five tiny teacups without handles round the pot. +There is no milk or sugar, and the tea is usually a straw-coloured, bitter +liquid, very unpleasant to a European taste. But if a cup be raised to the +lips and set down, and three sen--a sen is about a halfpenny--laid on the +tray, all goes well, and every one is satisfied. + +This bringing of tea to a visitor is universal in Japan. It is not only +done in a tea-house, where one would expect it, but on every occasion. A +friendly call at a private house produces the teacups like magic, and when +a customer enters a good shop, business matters are undreamed of until many +little cups of tea have been produced; and if the customer has many things +to buy and stays a long time, tea is steadily brought forward in relays. +If you don't care for your tea plain, you may have it flavoured with +salted cherry blossoms, but that is not considered an improvement by the +Westerner, who longs for sugar and milk. If you wish to stay for the night +at a tea-house, a room is made for you by sliding some paper screens into +the wall and ceiling grooves, and a couple of quilts are laid on the floor +to form a bed. That is the whole provision made in the way of furniture if +you are off the beaten track of tourists: the rest you must provide for +yourself. + +In the cities the tea-houses of the grander sort are the scenes of splendid +entertainments. When a Japanese wishes to give a dinner to his friends +he does not ask them to his house; he invites them to a banquet at some +famous tea-house. There he provides not only the delicacies which make up +a Japanese dinner, but hires dancing girls, called geisha, to amuse the +company by their dancing and singing. + +A foreigner who is asked to one of these Japanese dinners finds everything +very strange and not a little difficult. At the doors of the tea-house his +boots are taken off, and he marches across the matting, to do his best to +sit on his heels for a few hours. This gives him the cramp, and soon he is +reduced to sitting with his back against the wall and his legs stretched +out before him. He can manage in this way pretty fairly. + +There may be a table before him, or there may not. If there is a table, it +will be a tiny affair about a foot high. There will be no tablecloth, no +glasses, no knives and forks, no spoons, and no napkin. He will be expected +to deal with his food with a pair of chopsticks. When these are set +before him, he will see that the two round slips of wood are still joined +together. This is to show that they have never been used before. He breaks +them apart, and wonders how he is going to get his food into his mouth with +two pencils of wood. + +The feast begins with tea served by moosmes, who kneel before each +guest. Each wears her most beautiful dress, and is girded with a huge +and brilliant sash. After the tea they bring in pretty little white cakes +made of bean flour and sugar, and flavoured with honey. The next course is +contained in a batch of little dishes, two or three of which are placed +before each guest. These contain minced dried fish, sea slugs floating in +an evil-smelling sauce, and boiled lotus-seeds. To wash down these dainties +a porcelain bottle of sake, rice-beer, is provided. + +The unhappy foreigner tastes one dish after the other, finds each one worse +than the last, and concludes to wait till the next course. This is composed +of a very great dainty, raw, live fish, which one dips in sauce before +devouring. Then comes rice, and the chopsticks of the Japanese feasters go +to work in marvellous fashion. With their strips of wood or ivory they whip +the rice grain into their mouths with wonderful speed and dexterity, but +our unlucky foreigner gets one grain into his mouth in five minutes, and is +reduced to beg for a spoon. + +The next course is of fish soup and boiled fish, and potatoes appear with +the fish; but, alas! the fish is most oddly flavoured and the potatoes are +sweet; they have been beaten up with sugar into a sort of stiff syrup. Next +comes seaweed soup and the coarse evil-smelling daikon radish, served with +various pickles and sauces. + +Among the other oddments is a dish of nice-looking plums. Our foreigner +seizes one and pops it in his mouth. He would be only too glad to pop it +out again if he could, for the plum has been soaked in brine, and tastes +like a very salty form of pickle. As he experiments here and there among +the wilderness of little lacquer bowls which come forth relay upon relay, +he feels inclined to paraphrase the cry of the Ancient Mariner, and murmur: +"Victuals, victuals everywhere, and not a scrap to eat!" + +When at length the dinner has run its course the geisha, in their beautiful +robes of silk and brocade and their splendid sashes, come in to sing and +dance. Europeans are soon tired of both performances. The geisha, with +her face whitened with powder, and her lips painted a bright red, and her +elaborately-dressed hair full of ornaments, sits down to a sort of guitar +called a samisen and sings, but her song has no music in it. It is a kind +of long-drawn wail, very monotonous and tuneless to European ears. The +dancing is a kind of acting in dumb show, and consists of a number of +postures, while the movements of the fan take a large share in conveying +the dancer's meaning. + +When our foreigner starts home from this long and rather fatiguing +entertainment, he finds that he has by no means finished with his dinner. +On his way to his carriage he will be waylaid by the little moosmes who +have waited upon him, and their arms will be filled with flat white wooden +boxes. These contain the food that was offered to him and left uneaten, and +Japanese etiquette demands that he shall take home with him his share of +the scraps of the banquet. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES (_continued_) + + +The Japanese are very fond of their temples, and visit them constantly. +They do this not only to pray to their gods, but to enjoy themselves as +well, for the temple grounds are the scene of great fairs and festivals. +If you visit a temple on the day of some great function, you will find its +steps outside packed with rows upon rows of clogs and umbrellas, placed +there by the worshippers inside. You enter, and find the latter seated +on the floor, and if the service is not going on at the moment they are +smoking and chatting together, and the children are crawling about in the +crowd. + +When the service is over the worshippers disperse to find a cool spot +in the temple grounds to eat their simple meal. In front of the temple +stands a wooden arch, called a torii. Sometimes the temple is approached +through a whole avenue of them of various sizes. The building is of wood, +sometimes small, sometimes very large, and is usually surrounded by booths +and tea-houses. At many of the booths may be purchased the figures of the +more popular gods. Everywhere may be seen the fat figures of the Seven +Gods of Wealth, the deities most beloved in every Japanese household. Then +there are the God and Goddess of Rice, who protect the crops, and who are +attended by the figures of foxes quaintly carved in wood or moulded in +white plaster. The Goddess of Mercy, with her many hands to help and save, +is also a favourite idol. + +At another spot you find peep-shows, stalls at which hairpins, paints, and +powder-boxes, and a thousand other trifles, are sold; archery galleries, +where you may fire twenty arrows at a target for a halfpenny; booths, where +acrobats, conjurers, and jugglers are performing, and tea-houses without +number, where the faithful are sipping their tea or sake and puffing at +their tiny pipes. + +The young girls are fond of purchasing sacred beans and peas and rice at a +stall set up under the eaves of the temple. With these they feed the temple +pigeons, who come swooping down from the great wooden roof, or the sacred +white pony with the blue eyes which belongs to the holy place. On the steps +sit rows of licensed beggars, who will pray for those who will present them +with the tenth part of a farthing. But prayers may also be bought from the +priests, prayers written upon a scrap of paper, which scrap is afterwards +fastened to the bars of the grating in front of the figure of a god. A +favourite god will have many thousand scraps of paper fluttering before it +at one time. + +Many of the temple gardens are of very great beauty and interest. There +can be seen many of the marvels of Japanese gardening--tiny dwarf trees, +hundreds of years old, and yet only a few inches high, or tall shrubberies +cut and trained to represent a great junk in full sail, or the figure of a +god or hero. + +At certain times of the year when the temple orchards are in blossom, great +throngs visit them simply to enjoy the delicate beauty of the scene. The +plum-blossom appears in February, and the cherry-blossom in April or May. +Later in the year the purple iris is followed by the golden chrysanthemum. +High and low, all crowd to see the beauty of a vast sweep of lovely +blossom. A poor Japanese thinks nothing of walking a hundred miles or more +to see some famous orchard or garden in its full flowering splendour. + +From his earliest years this love of natural beauty has been a part of his +education. As a child he has taken many a trip with his father and mother +to admire the acres of plum or cherry blossom in a park or temple-garden; +as a man he lays his work aside and goes to see the same spectacle with +redoubled delight. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE RICKSHAW-MAN + + + "For his heart is in Japan, with its junks and Fujisan, + And its tea-houses and temples, and the smiling rickshaw-man." + + +We have heard of Fujisan, the famous mountain; we have talked of tea-houses +and temples; and now we must say something about the rickshaw-man or boy, +a very important person indeed in Japan. He is not important because of +riches or rank, for, as a rule, he is very poor and of the coolie order; he +is important because he is so useful. He is at one and the same time the +cabman and the cab-horse of Japan. He waits in the street with his little +carriage, and when you jump in he takes hold of the shafts himself and +trots away with you at a good speed. + +The jin-ri-ki-sha, to give it its full name, means man-power carriage, and +is like a big mail-cart or perambulator. There is a hood of oiled paper to +pull up for wet weather, a cushion to sit on, a box for parcels under the +seat, two tall slight wheels, and a pair of shafts. If the rickshaw-boy is +well-to-do in his business, his carriage is gaily lacquered and painted +with bright designs, and however poor he may be, there will be some attempt +at decoration. + +At night every rickshaw is furnished with a pretty paper lantern, circular +in form, about eighteen inches long, and painted in gay designs. These look +quite charming as they bob here and there through the dusk, their owners +racing along with a fare. The rickshaw is as modern as the bicycle. The +first one was made less than forty years ago, but they sprang into favour +at once, and their popularity grew by leaps and bounds. The fact is that +the rickshaw fits Japan as a round peg fits a round hole. In the first +place, it opened a new and money-making industry to many thousands of men +who had little to do. There were vast numbers of strong, active young +fellows who leapt forward at once to use their strength and endurance in +this novel and profitable fashion. Then, the vehicle was suited to Japanese +conditions, both in town and country. + +In town the streets are so narrow and busy that horse traffic would be +dangerous. In fact, in many places a horse is so rare a sight that when one +trots along a street a man runs ahead, blowing a horn to warn people to +clear out of the way. But the rickshaw-boy dodges through the traffic with +his little light carriage, and runs over no one. + +Then, in the country the roads are often very narrow, and sometimes very +bad--mere tracks between fields of rice. Here the rickshaw is of great +service, owing to its light weight and the little room it requires. + +As a rule, the rickshaw is drawn by one man and holds one passenger; but +it has often to contain two Japanese, for the pair of them will fit snugly +into the space required for one Englishman. If the traveller wishes to go +fast, he has two human horses harnessed to his light chariot. Both run in +front till a hill is reached, when one drops back to push behind. + +Wherever you arrive in Japan, whether by steamer or by train, you will find +long rows of rickshaw-boys waiting to be hired. They are all called boys, +whatever their age may be. Until a possible passenger comes in sight, the +queer little men, many of them under five feet in height, stand beside +their rickshaws, smoking their tiny little brass pipes with bowls about +half as big as a thimble. Their clothes are very simple. They wear a very +tight pair of short blue drawers and a blue tunic, upon the back of which +a huge white crest is painted, the distinguishing mark of each boy. An +enormous white hat the size and shape of a huge basin is worn on the head; +but if the day becomes very hot the hat is taken off, and a wisp of cloth +bound round the forehead to prevent sweat from running into the eyes. As +for sunstroke, the rickshaw-boy has no fear of that. + +When you step into sight, a score dart forward, dragging their rickshaws +after them with one hand and holding the other up to draw your attention, +and shouting, "Riksha! Riksha! Riksha!" You choose one, and step in. +The human steed springs between the shafts, raises them and tilts you +backwards, and then darts off, as if eager to show you his strength and +speed, and prove to you what a good choice you have made. + +Away bounds the little man, and soon you are bowling along a narrow street +where a passage seems impossible, so full is it of boys and girls, men +and women, shops and stalls. There may be a side-walk, but then, the +shopkeepers have taken that to spread out their wares, or the stallkeepers +have set up their little booths there. So the people who want to go along +the street, and the boys and girls who want to play in it, are all driven +to the middle of the way. + +Here and there your rickshaw dodges, working its way through the crowd. +Now the man pauses a second lest he should run full-tilt over a group +of gaily-dressed little girls, each with a baby on her back, playing +at ball in the road. Half a dozen others are busy with battledores and +shuttlecocks, and the gaily-painted toys drop into your carriage, and +you are expected to toss them out again to the mites, who will bow very +deeply and with the profoundest gravity in return for your politeness; then +something flutters over your head, and you see that two boys and an old man +are sitting on the roof of a house about as high as a tool-shed, trying to +get their kites up. And you say to yourself that it is lucky that there +are no horses, for the quietest beast that ever lifted a hoof would bolt +here and charge through the whirl and uproar and the rain of dropping +shuttlecocks and bouncing balls. + +Another fine thing about rickshaw-riding is that no one can call it +expensive. While the boy goes, you pay him about sevenpence an hour; while +he waits you pay him rather less than twopence-halfpenny an hour, and you +can have his services for a whole day for about half a crown. But some of +them will try to cheat you in places where foreigners are often met with, +and will put a whole twopence an hour on the regular price. + +This is very sad, and causes the rickshaw-boy to be looked upon as a +tradesman; he is not allowed the honour of being regarded as a servant and +the member of an honourable profession--one who puts his master's interests +before his own. But, as a rule, the foreigner who employs the same +rickshaw-boy comes to look upon him as a guide, philosopher, and friend. He +will tell you where to go and what to do; he knows all the sights, and can +tell you all about them. If you go shopping, he will come in and see that +you don't get cheated any more than you are bound to be. If you go on an +expedition, he will find out the best tea-house to stay at, he will cook +for you, wait on you, brush your clothes, put up the paper screens to form +your bedroom, take them down again, see that the bill is reasonable, pay +it, and fee the servants--in short, he will manage everything, and you have +only to admire what you have gone to see. + +Wherever you stop on a jaunt, whether it is some famous temple or some +lovely park, there is sure to be a coolie's tea-house handy, and he takes +the opportunity of refreshing himself. He dives into the well under the +seat and fetches out his lacquer box full of rice. He whips the rice into +his mouth with chopsticks, and washes it down with the yellow, bitter +Japanese tea. Then he sits and smokes his tiny pipe until you are ready to +go on. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IN THE COUNTRY + + +The Japanese farmer is one of the steadiest workers in the world; he tills +his patch of land, day in, day out, with untiring industry. He works seven +days a week, for he knows nothing of the Sabbath, and only takes a day +off for a fair or a festival when his land is in perfect order and he is +waiting for the crop. + +Almost the whole of the land is turned over with the spade, and weeds are +kept down until the whole country looks like a neatly-kept garden. Many +crops are grown, but the chief of them all is rice, and when the rice crop +fails, then vast numbers of people in Japan feel the pinch of famine. + +In order to grow rice much water is needed, so the fields are flooded from +a river or canal near at hand, and the plants are set in the soft mud. This +work is carried out by men or women who wade in slush above their knees, +and it is a very dirty and toilsome task. The women tuck their kimonos up, +and the men cast theirs aside altogether. After planting, this work in deep +slush and clinging mud must be repeated three times in order to clear away +the water-weeds which grow thickly around the young rice-plants. + +[Illustration: PEACH TREES IN BLOSSOM] + +When the rice is nearly ripe the water is drawn off and the fields are +dried. The fields are of all sizes and shapes, from a patch of a few square +yards up to an acre, and the latter would be considered large. There +are no hedges or fences to divide off field from field, for the land is +too valuable to permit of such being grown; but the boundaries are well +understood, and each farmer knows his own patch. + +Another important crop is the plants which are grown for making paper. +Paper has a great place in the industries of Japan. It is used everywhere +and for almost everything. A Japanese lives in a house largely built of +paper, drinks from a paper cup, reads by a paper lantern, writes, of +course, on paper, and wraps up his parcels in it, ties up the parcels with +paper string, uses a paper pocket-handkerchief, wears a paper cloak and +paper shoes and paper hat, holds up a paper umbrella against the sun and +the rain, and employs it for a great number of other purposes. He makes +more than sixty kinds of paper, and each kind has its own specified use. He +can make it so tough that it is almost impossible to tear it, and he can +make it waterproof, so that the fiercest rain cannot pass through it. + +If your path leads you along the bank of a river you will often see a +fisherman at work. He has many ways of catching his prey. He uses a line +and hook and the net. In a large stream or pool he may be seen at work with +the throwing-net, a clever device. + +This net is made in the form of a circle twelve or fourteen feet across, +and round the edge of the net heavy sinkers of lead are fastened. The +fisherman folds this net over his arm, and then tosses into the water a +ball of boiled rice and barley. The fish gather to eat this bait, and then +he throws the net in such a way that it falls quite flat upon the water. +The leads sink at once to the bottom, and the net covers the feeding fish +in the shape of a dome. A strong cord is fastened to the top of the net, +and he begins to haul it up. The leads are drawn together by their own +weight, and close the bottom of the net, and the fish are imprisoned. + +Sometimes he uses bow and arrows. This he does after putting into the water +certain fruit and herbs which are very bitter. The juice of these herbs +affects the water and drives the fish to the surface, where they leap about +in pain. The fisherman shoots them with an arrow to which a cord is +attached, and draws them ashore. + +As night falls after a hot day, the people and children of the village +near at hand will come down to the water-side on a fire-fly hunt. The tiny +gleaming creatures now flash along the surface of river and lake, like a +myriad of fairy lanterns flitting through the dusk. They are caught and +imprisoned in little silken cages. At the bottom of the cage there is a +very small mound of earth in which a millet seed has been planted and has +sprung up to the height of an inch or more, and beside the little plant +there is a tiny bowl of water. Here the firefly will live for several days, +to the delight of the children. + +Not far from the river is the village, with a brook running down the middle +of its street. This brook serves many purposes. The women kneel beside it +with sleeves and kimonos tucked up, washing clothes and vegetables, or +dipping buckets in it to get water for baths. There is a loud rattle of +wooden hammers at various points, for the stream turns a number of small +water-wheels, and these work big wooden hammers which pound up the rice +placed in a big stump of a tree hollowed out for a mortar. As you stroll +along the village street you see what every one is doing, for the fronts +of the houses are all open, and you can see into every corner of each +dwelling. + +Behind the houses tall bamboos shoot up, and the bamboo is welcome, for it +is a tree of many uses. Its wood serves for the framework of houses, and +its leaves are often used as thatch. It will make a dish, a box, a plate, a +bowl, an oar, a channel for conveying water and a vessel for carrying it, a +fishing-rod, a flower-vase, a pipe-stem, a barrel-hoop, a fan, an umbrella, +and fifty other things, while young bamboo shoots are eaten and considered +a great delicacy. + +On fine summer evenings, when the work of the day is over, the villagers +gather in the court of the village temple for the odori, the open-air +dance. The court is decked with big beautiful paper lanterns, but there is +a special one called toro (a light in a basket). The toro is often two feet +square by five feet high. On one side of it is the name of the god in whose +temple court the dance is being held, while the other is reserved for some +short poem, written by one of the youths of the village. There is keen +competition among them for the honour of writing the poem chosen to be +inscribed on the toro, and two of these tiny poems run thus: + + "I looked upon the cherry that blooms by the fence, down by the woodman's + cottage, + And wondered if an untimely snow had fallen upon it." + + "Into the evening dew that rolls upon the green blade of the tall-grown + grass in Mushashi Meadow + The summer moon comes stealthily and takes up her dwelling." + +The young men and maidens dance in a ring, circling round one who stands in +the midst, from whom they take both the time and music of the many dances +performed at the odori. The dancers are always young and unmarried. The +older people sit on the steps of the temple and watch the merry frolic with +a smile. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +IN THE COUNTRY (_continued_) + + +On a wet day in the country the people thatch themselves to keep off the +rain. The favourite waterproof of the coolie is a huge cloak made of rice +straw, the long ends sticking out. With this and his great umbrella hat he +keeps comfortably dry. Those who do not wear a big hat carry a large oiled +paper umbrella, which shelters them well. + +There is plenty of wet weather in Japan, particularly in the summer, and +then travelling is not very pleasant. The good roads become muddy and soft, +and the bad roads become sheer quagmires, in which the coolie pulling the +rickshaw is continually losing his straw sandals. These sandals, called +waraji, mark out the tracks in every direction, for they soon wear out, and +are cast off to litter the wayside in their hundreds. They are quickly and +cheaply replaced, however, for almost every roadside house sells them, and +a pair may be bought for a sen--something less than a halfpenny. + +Not only do the men wear straw shoes, but horses are shod in them also, +and a very poor and clumsy arrangement it is. The shoes are thick, and are +tied on the horse's feet with straw cords. They wear out so fast that a +bunch has to be kept hanging to the saddle for use on the way, and in every +village a fresh stock has to be secured, at the cost of a penny per set of +four. + +The foreign visitor who travels through country places in Japan has to +submit to being stared at, but nothing more. The people are so interested +in a person who looks so different from themselves that they are never +tired of watching him and his ways. But otherwise their unfailing +politeness remains. They do not crowd upon him, or, if they should come a +little too near, they are soon warned off. An English artist, Mr. Alfred +Parsons, was once sketching in Japan, and the crowd, anxious to see his +work, came a little too near his elbow. He says: "The keeper of a little +tea-shop hard by, where I took my lunch, noticed that I was worried by the +people standing so close to me, and when I arrived next morning I found +that he had put up a fence round the place where I worked. It was only a +few slender bamboo sticks, with a thin string twisted from one to another, +but not a soul attempted to come inside it. They are such an obedient and +docile race that a little string stretched across a road is quite enough to +close the thoroughfare." + +A familiar figure along the Japanese highways and byways is that of the +pilgrim going to see some famous shrine, or, most often of all, marching +towards Fujisan, the sacred mountain. The Fuji pilgrim may be known by his +garb. He is dressed in white, with white kimono, white socks and gaiters, +and straw sandals. He wears a great basin-shaped white hat, and has a rush +mat over his shoulders to temper the heat of the sun or shed the rain. +Round his neck hangs a string of beads and a bell, which tinkles without +ceasing as he goes. He carries a little bundle of spare sandals and a staff +with an ornament of paper about its end. + +His pilgrimage costs him very little. His food is of the simplest, and he +gets a bed at a tea-house for a halfpenny, or he lodges with a villager +who offers him hospitality. To entertain his guest the villager will fetch +his best furniture from the village godown, for in the country one of +these storehouses suffices for a whole hamlet. They are made very large and +strong, with many thick coats of mud and plaster on a wooden frame, and +with a door of iron or of bronze; then, when the fire, which is sure to +come at some time or other, sweeps over the hamlet and leaves it a layer of +smoking ashes around the big godown, there are the village treasures still +unharmed, and ready to adorn the houses which will spring up again as if by +magic. + +When bedtime comes, the amado, the wooden shutters, are drawn around the +house and securely fastened; for a Japanese dwelling, so open by day, is +shut up as tightly as a sealed box by night. Now all is quiet save for +the village watchman, whose duty it is to guard against fire and thieves. +He marches up and down, beating two pieces of wood together--clop-clop, +clop-clop--as he walks. This is to give assurance that he is not asleep +himself, but watching over the slumbers of his neighbours, and to let the +thieves know that he is looking out for them. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE POLICEMAN AND THE SOLDIER + + +The Japanese policeman is, first and foremost, a gentleman. He is a +samurai, a man of good family, and therefore deeply respected by the mass +of the people. He is often a small man for a Japanese, but though his +height may run from four feet ten to five feet nothing, he is a man of much +authority. When the samurai were disbanded, there were very few occupations +to which they could turn. They disdained agriculture and trade, but numbers +of them became servants, printers, and policemen. This seems an odd mixture +of tasks, but there are sound reasons for it. + +Many samurai became servants because service is an honourable profession in +Japan; many became printers because the samurai were an educated class, and +the only people fitted to deal with the very complicated Japanese alphabet; +and many became policemen because it was a post for which their fighting +instinct and their habit of authority well fitted them. Their authority +over the people is absolute and unquestioning; and, again, there are sound +reasons for this. + +[Illustration: THE FEAST OF FLAGS] + +Forty years ago the Japanese people could have been divided very sharply +into two classes, the ruling and the ruled. The ruling class was formed +of the great Princes and the samurai, their followers, about 2,000,000 +people in all. The remaining 38,000,000 of the population were the common +people, the ruled. Now, in the old days when a Daimio left his castle for +a journey, he was borne in a kago, a closed carriage, and was attended +by a guard of his samurai. If a common person met the procession, he was +expected either to retire quickly from the path or fling himself humbly on +his face until the carriage had gone by; if he did not, the samurai whipped +out their long swords and slew him in short order, and not a single word +was said about it. This way of dealing with those who did not belong to the +two-sworded class made the people very respectful to the samurai, and that +respect is now transferred to the police. + +The Japanese policeman is also to be respected for his skill in wrestling, +and, small as he is, the tallest and most powerful foreigner is quite +helpless in his hands. He is thoroughly trained in the art of Japanese +wrestling--the jiu-jitsu of which we hear so much nowadays. In this system +a trained wrestler can seize his opponent in such a manner that the other +man is quite at his mercy, or with a slight impetus he can fling the other +about as he pleases. One writer speaks of seeing a very small Japanese +policeman arrest a huge, riotous Russian sailor, a man much more than six +feet high. It seemed a contest between a giant and a child. The sailor made +rush after rush at his tiny opponent, but the policeman stepped nimbly +aside, waiting for the right moment to grip his man. At last it came. +The sailor made a furious lunge, and the policeman seized him by the +wrist. To the astonishment of the onlooker, the sailor flew right over the +policeman's head, and fell all in a heap more than a dozen feet away. When +he picked himself up, confused and half stunned, the policeman tied a bit +of string to his belt and led him away in triumph to the station. + +The policeman never has any trouble with his own people; they obey at once +and without question. If a crowd gathers and becomes a nuisance to anyone, +it melts as soon as one of the little men in uniform comes along and gives +the order to disperse. He may sometimes be seen lecturing a coolie or +rickshaw-boy for some misdeed or other. The culprit, his big hat held +between his hands, ducks respectfully at every second word, and looks all +humility and obedience. + +Being an educated man, he has much sympathy with art and artists, and is +delighted to help a foreigner who is painting scenes in Japan. Mr. Mortimer +Menpes says: "Altogether I found the policeman the most delightful person +in the world. When I was painting a shop, if a passer-by chanced to look in +at a window, he would see at a glance exactly what I wanted; and I would +find that that figure would remain there, looking in at the shop, as still +as a statue, until I had finished my painting; the policeman meanwhile +strutting up and down the street, delighted to be of help to an artist, +looking everywhere but at my work, and directing the entire traffic down +another street." + +Of the Japanese soldier there is no need for us to say much here, since +the world has so lately been ringing with his praises. The endurance, the +obedience, the courage of the Japanese soldier and sailor have been shown +in marvellous fashion during the great war with Russia, and Japan has fully +proved herself to be one of the greatest of the naval and military Powers +of the world. + +The Japanese soldier is the result of the family life in Japan. From his +infancy he is taught that he has two supreme duties: one of obedience +to his parents, the other of service to his country. This unhesitating, +unquestioning habit of obedience, a habit which becomes second nature to +him, is of immense value to him as a soldier. He is a disciplined man +before he enters the ranks, and he transfers at once to his officers the +obedience which he has hitherto shown towards the elders of his family. + +His second great duty of service to his country also leads him onward +towards becoming the perfect soldier. He not only looks upon his life as a +thing to be readily risked or given for his Emperor and for Japan, but he +strives to make himself a thoroughly capable servant of his land. No detail +of his duty is too small for him to overlook, for he fears lest the lack +of that detail should prevent him from putting forth his full strength on +the day of trial. He cleans a button as carefully as he lays a big gun, +and this readiness for any duty, great or small, was a large factor in the +wonderful victory of Japan over Russia. + +In battle he questions no order. During the late war many Japanese +regiments knew that they were being sent to certain death, in order that +they might open a way for their comrades. They never flinched. Shouting +their "Banzai!"--their Japanese hurrah--the dogged little men rushed +forward upon batteries spouting flame and shell, or upon ramparts lined +with rifles, and gave their lives freely for Dai Nippon, Great Japan, the +country of their birth. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +TWO GREAT FESTIVALS + + +There are two great Japanese festivals of which we have not yet spoken, but +which are of the first importance. One is the New Year Festival, the other +is the Bon Matsuri, the Feast of the Dead, in the summer. The New Year +Festival is the great Japanese holiday of the year. No one does any work +for several days, and all devote themselves to making merry. Although this +festival comes in the middle of winter, every street looks like an arbour, +decorated as it is with arches of greenery before each house. On either +side of each door is a pine-tree and bamboo stems. These signify a hardy +old age, and they are joined by a grass rope which runs from house to +house along the street. This rope is supposed to prevent evil spirits from +entering the houses, and so it ensures the occupants a lucky year. Japanese +flags are entwined amid the decorations, and green feathery branches and +ferns are set about, until the street looks like a forest. + +Japanese people are so polite to each other that even the beggars in the +streets bow to each other in the most ceremonious fashion, but at this +festival the bowing is redoubled. There is a special form of greeting for +this occasion, and not a bow is to be missed when two acquaintances meet. + +There is much feasting and a great exchange of presents. The Japanese are +always making presents to each other, and there is a prescribed way for +every rank of life to make presents to every other rank, and for the manner +in which the presents are to be received. A present may always be known by +the little gold or red or white paper kite fastened to the paper string +which ties up the parcel. + +Every one enters into the fun of the time, from the highest to the lowest. +They call upon each other; they march in great processions; they visit +the gayest and liveliest of fairs; they feast; they drink tea and sake +almost without ceasing. The fairs look most striking and picturesque after +darkness has fallen. Then the streets and the long rows of white booths +made of newly-sawn wood and gaily decorated, are lighted up by innumerable +lanterns of every colour that paper can be painted, and of every size, from +six inches high to six feet. The crowd wear their gayest kimonos, and the +moosmes are brilliant in flowered or striped silks and splendid sashes, and +the air is full of the rattle of the shuffling clogs and the tinkling +samisen played in almost every booth. + +At times the crowd opens to let some procession pass through. Now it is the +dragon-dancers, the dragon's head being a huge and terrifying affair made +of coloured pasteboard, and carried on a pole draped with a long garment +which hides the dancer. In front march two men with drum and fife to herald +the dragon's approach. Next comes a batch of coolies dragging a car upon +which a swarm of masqueraders present some traditional pageant, and next a +number of boys perform an old dance with much spirit and shouting. On New +Year's Eve a very curious market is held. It is a custom in Japan for every +one to pay all that he owes to his Japanese creditors before the New Year +dawns. If he does not do so, he loses his credit. So on the last day of +the Old Year the Japanese who is behind in his payments looks among his +belongings for something to sell, and carries it to the market in order +that he may gain a few sen to settle with his creditor. + +In the great city of Tokyo this fair is visited by every traveller. For +a space of two miles the stalls stretch along in double rows, lighted by +lanterns of oil flares, and here may be seen every imaginable thing which +is to be found in poorer Japanese households. As each Japanese arrives with +his worldly possessions in a couple of square boxes swinging one at each +end of a bamboo pole slung across his shoulder, he takes possession of a +little stall or a patch of pavement and sets out his poor wares. + +He has brought mats, or cushions, or shabby kimonos, or clogs, or socks, or +little ornaments and vessels in porcelain or silver or bronze. Sometimes he +brings really beautiful things, the last precious possessions of a family +which has come down in the world--a fine piece of embroidery, a priceless +bit of lacquer, bronze and silver charms, little boxes of ivory, temples +and pagodas and bell-towers in miniature, tiny but perfect in every detail +and of the most exquisite workmanship. Everything comes to market on this +night of the year. + +The Feast of the Dead takes place in the hot summer weather, and is +celebrated in different ways in various parts of Japan. Everywhere +the children, in their finest clothes, march through the streets in +processions, carrying fans and banners and lanterns, and chanting as +they march; but most great cities have their own form of celebration. + +At Nagasaki the tombs of all those who have died during the past year +are illuminated with large bright lanterns on the first night of the +celebrations. On the second and third nights all tombs are illuminated, +and the burial-grounds are one glorious blaze of many-coloured lights. The +avenues leading to the burial-grounds are turned into fair-grounds, with +decorations and booths, stalls and tea-houses, each illuminated by many +brilliant lanterns. Fires are lighted on the hills, rockets shoot up on +every hand, and vast crowds of people gather in the cemeteries to feast and +make merry and drink sake in honour of their ancestors, whose spirits they +suppose to surround them and be present at the festival. At the end of the +feast a very striking scene takes place: the preparations for the departure +of the dead. + +"But on the third vigil, suddenly, at about two o'clock in the morning, +long processions of bright lanterns are seen to descend from the heights +and group themselves on the shores of the bay, while the mountains +gradually return to obscurity and silence. It is fated that the dead +should embark and disappear before twilight. The living have plaited them +thousands of little ships of straw, each provisioned with some fruit and a +few pieces of money. The frail vessels are charged with all the coloured +lanterns which were used for the illumination of the cemeteries; the small +sails of matting are spread to the wind, and the morning breeze scatters +them round the bay, where they are not long in taking fire. It is thus that +the entire flotilla is consumed, tracing in all directions large trails of +fire. The dead depart rapidly. Soon the last ship has foundered, the last +light is extinguished, and the last soul has taken its departure again from +earth." + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Peeps at Many Lands: Japan, by John Finnemore + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEEPS AT MANY LANDS: JAPAN *** + +***** This file should be named 7936.txt or 7936.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/9/3/7936/ + +Produced by David Starner, Bill Flis and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Peeps at Many Lands: Japan + +Author: John Finnemore + +Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7936] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 2, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEEPS AT MANY LANDS: JAPAN *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Bill Flis +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + PEEPS AT MANY LANDS + + JAPAN + + BY + + JOHN FINNEMORE + + + WITH TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR + + BY + + ELLA DU CANE + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN + + II. BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN + + III. BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN (_continued_) + + IV. THE JAPANESE BOY + + V. THE JAPANESE GIRL + + VI. IN THE HOUSE + + VII. IN THE HOUSE (_continued_) + + VIII. A JAPANESE DAY + + IX. A JAPANESE DAY (_continued_) + + X. JAPANESE GAMES + + XI. THE FEAST OF DOLLS AND THE FEAST OF FLAGS + + XII. A FARTHING'S WORTH OF FUN + + XIII. KITE-FLYING + + XIV. FAIRY STORIES + + XV. TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES + + XVI. TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES (_continued_) + + XVII. THE RICKSHAW-MAN + +XVIII. IN THE COUNTRY + + XIX. IN THE COUNTRY (_continued_) + + XX. THE POLICEMAN AND THE SOLDIER + + XXI. TWO GREAT FESTIVALS + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +BY ELLA DU CANE + + +OUTSIDE A TEA-HOUSE + +_Sketch-Map of Japan_ + +THE LITTLE NURSE + +THE WRITING LESSON + +GOING TO THE TEMPLE + +A JAPANESE HOUSE + +OFFERING TEA TO A GUEST + +FIGHTING TOPS + +THE TOY SHOP + +A BUDDHIST SHRINE + +PEACH TREES IN BLOSSOM + +THE FEAST OF FLAGS + +THE TORII OF THE TEMPLE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN + + +Far away from our land, on the other side of the world, lies a group of +islands which form the kingdom of Japan. The word "Japan" means the "Land +of the Rising Sun," and it is certainly a good name for a country of the +Far East, the land of sunrise. + +The flag of Japan, too, is painted with a rising sun which sheds its beams +on every hand, and this flag is now for ever famous, so great and wonderful +have been the victories in which it has been borne triumphant over Russian +arms. + +In some ways the Japanese are fond of comparing themselves with their +English friends and allies. They point out that Japan is a cluster of +islands off the coast of Asia, as Britain is a cluster of islands off the +coast of Europe. They have proved themselves, like the English, brave and +clever on the sea, while their troops have fought as nobly as British +soldiers on the land. They are fond of calling themselves the "English of +the East," and say that their land is the "Britain of the Pacific." + +The rise of Japan in becoming one of the Great Powers of the world has been +very sudden and wonderful. Fifty years ago Japan lay hidden from the world; +she forbade strangers to visit the country, and very little was known of +her people and her customs. + +Her navy then consisted of a few wooden junks; to-day she has a fleet of +splendid ironclads, handled by men who know their duties as well as English +seamen. Her army consisted of troops armed with two swords and carrying +bows and arrows; to-day her troops are the admiration of the world, armed +with the most modern weapons, and, as foes, to be dreaded by the most +powerful nations. + +Fifty years ago Japan was in the purely feudal stage. Her great native +Princes were called Daimios. Each had a strong castle and a private army +of his own. There were ceaseless feuds between these Princes and constant +fighting between their armies of samurai, as their followers were called. +Japan was like England at the time of our War of the Roses: family quarrels +were fought out in pitched battle. All that has now gone. The Daimios have +become private gentlemen; the armies of samurai have been disbanded, and +Japan is ruled and managed just like a European country, with judges, and +policemen, and law-courts, after the model of Western lands. + +When the Japanese decided to come out and take their place among the great +nations of the world, they did not adopt any half-measures; they simply +came out once and for all. They threw themselves into the stream of modern +inventions and movements with a will. They have built railways and set up +telegraph and telephone lines. They have erected banks and warehouses, +mills and factories. They have built bridges and improved roads. They have +law-courts and a Parliament, to which the members are elected by the +people, and newspapers flourish everywhere. + +Japan is a very beautiful country. It is full of fine mountains, with +rivers leaping down the steep slopes and dashing over the rocks in snowy +waterfalls. At the foot of the hills are rich plains and valleys, well +watered by the streams which rush down from the hills. But the mountains +are so many and the plains are so few that only a small part of the land +can be used for growing crops, and this makes Japan poor. Its climate is +not unlike ours in Great Britain, but the summer is hotter, and the winter +is in some parts very cold. Many of the mountains are volcanoes. Some of +these are still active, and earthquakes often take place. Sometimes these +earthquakes do terrible harm. The great earthquake of 1871 killed 10,000 +people, injured 20,000, and destroyed 130,000 houses. + +The highest mountain of Japan also is the most beautiful, and it is greatly +beloved by the Japanese, who regard it as a sacred height. Its name is +Fujisan, or Fusi-Yama, and it stands near the sea and the capital city +of Tokyo. It is of most beautiful shape, an almost perfect cone, and it +springs nearly 13,000 feet into the air. From the sea it forms a most +superb and majestic sight. Long before a glimpse can be caught of the shore +and the city, the traveller sees the lofty peak, crowned with a glittering +crest of snow, rising in lonely majesty, with no hint of the land on which +it rests. The Japanese have a great love of natural beauty, and they adore +Fujisan. Their artists are never tired of painting it, and pictures of it +are to be found in the most distant parts of the land. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN + + +In no country in the world do children have a happier childhood than in +Japan. Their parents are devoted to them, and the children are always good. +This seems a great deal to say, but it is quite true. Japanese boys and +girls behave as quietly and with as much composure as grown-up men and +women. From the first moment that it can understand anything, a Japanese +baby is taught to control its feelings. If it is in pain or sad, it is not +to cry or to pull an ugly face; that would not be nice for other people to +hear or see. If it is very merry or happy, it is not to laugh too loudly or +to make too much noise; that would be vulgar. So the Japanese boy or girl +grows up very quiet, very gentle, and very polite, with a smile for +everything and everybody. + +While they are little they have plenty of play and fun when they are not in +school. In both towns and villages the streets are the playground, and here +they play ball, or battledore and shuttlecock, or fly kites. + +Almost every little girl has a baby brother or sister strapped on her back, +for babies are never carried in the arms in Japan except by the nurses of +very wealthy people. The baby is fastened on its mother's or its sister's +shoulders by a shawl, and that serves it for both cot and cradle. The +little girl does not lose a single scrap of her play because of the baby. +She runs here and there, striking with her battledore, or racing after her +friends, and the baby swings to and fro on her shoulders, its little head +wobbling from side to side as if it were going to tumble off. But it is +perfectly content, and either watches the game with its sharp little black +eyes, or goes calmly off to sleep. + +In the form of their dress both boys and girls appear alike, and, more than +that, they are dressed exactly like their parents. There is no child's +dress in Japan. The garments are smaller, to fit the small wearers--that is +all. + +The main article of dress is a loose gown, called a kimono. Under the outer +kimono is an inner kimono, and the garments are girt about the body with a +large sash, called an obi. The obi is the pride of a Japanese girl's heart. +If her parents are rich, it will be of shining costly silk or rich brocade +or cloth of gold; if her parents are poor, they will make an effort to get +her one as handsome as their means will allow. Next to her obi, she prides +herself on the ornaments which decorate her black hair--fine hairpins, +with heads of tortoiseshell or coral or lacquer, and hair-combs, all most +beautifully carved. + +A boy's obi is more for practical use, and is not of such splendour as +his sister's. When he is very small, his clothes are of yellow, while his +sister's are of red. At the age of five he puts on the hakama, and then he +is a very proud boy. The hakama is a kind of trousers made of silk, and is +worn by men instead of an under-kimono. At five years old a boy is taken +to the temple to thank the gods who have protected him thus far; and as he +struts along, and hears with joy his hakama rustling its stiff new silk +beneath his kimono, he feels himself a man indeed, and that his babyhood of +yesterday is left far behind. + +Upon the feet are worn the tabi--thick white socks, which may be called +foot-gloves, for there are separate divisions for the toes. + +These serve both as stockings outside the house and slippers inside, for no +boots are worn in a Japanese house. When a Japanese walks out, he slips his +feet into high wooden clogs, and when he comes home he kicks off the clogs +at the door, and enters his home in tabi alone. The reason for this we +shall hear later on. In Japanese clothes there are no pockets. Whatever +they need to carry with them is tucked into the sash or into the sleeves of +the kimono. The latter are often very long, and afford ample room for the +odds and ends one usually carries in the pocket. + +But fine kimonos and rich obis are for the wealthy Japanese; the poor +cannot afford them, and dress very simply. The coolie--the Japanese working +man--goes almost naked in the warm weather, wearing only a pair of short +cotton trousers, until he catches sight of a policeman, when he slips on +his blue cotton coat, for the police have orders to see that he dresses +himself properly. His wife wears a cotton kimono, and the pair of them can +dress themselves handsomely--for coolies--from head to foot for a sum of 45 +sen, which, taking the sen at a halfpenny, amounts to 1 S. 10-1/2d. in our +money. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN (_continued_) + + +When Japanese boys and girls go to school, they make very low bows to their +teacher and draw in the breath with a buzzing sound. This is a sign of deep +respect, and the teacher returns their politeness by making low bows to +them. Then the children sit down and begin to learn their lessons. + +Their books are very odd-looking affairs to us. Not only are they printed +in very large characters, but they seem quite upside down. To find the +first page you turn to the end of the book, and you read it backwards +to the front page. Again, you do not read from left to right, as in our +fashion, but from right to left. Nor is this all: for the lines do not run +across the page, but up and down. Altogether, a Japanese book is at first +a very puzzling affair. When the writing lesson comes, the children have +no pens; they use brushes instead. They dip their brushes in the ink, and +paint the words one under the other, beginning at the top right-hand corner +and finishing at the bottom left-hand corner. If they have an address to +write on an envelope, they turn that upside down and begin with the name +of the country and finish with the name of the person--England, London, +Kensington Gardens, Brown John Mr. + +But Japanese children have quite as many things to learn at home as at +school. At school they learn arithmetic, geography, history, and so on, +just as children do in England, but their manners and their conduct towards +other people are carefully drilled into them by their parents. The art of +behaving yourself towards others is by no means an easy thing to learn +in Japan. It is not merely a matter of good-feeling, gentleness, and +politeness, as we understand it, but there is a whole complicated system +of behaviour: how many bows to make, and how they should be made. There +are different forms of salutation to superiors, equals, and inferiors. +Different ranks of life have their own ways of performing certain actions, +and it is said that a girl's rank may easily be known merely by the way +in which she hands a cup of tea to a guest. From the earliest years the +children are trained in these observances, and they never make a mistake. + +The Japanese baby is taught how to walk, how to bow, how to kneel and +touch the floor with its forehead in the presence of a superior, and how +to get up again; and all is done in the most graceful manner and without +disturbing a single fold in its kimono. + +A child is taught very carefully how to wait on people, how to enter the +room, how to carry a tray or bowl at the right height, and, above all, how +to offer a cup or plate in the most dainty and correct style. One writer +speaks of going into a Japanese shop to buy some articles he wanted. The +master, the mistress, the children, all bent down before him. There was +a two-year-old baby boy asleep on his sister's back, and he, too, was +awakened and called upon to pay his respects to the foreign gentleman. He +woke without a start or a cry, understood at once what was required of him, +was set on his feet, and then proceeded to make his bows and to touch the +ground with his little forehead, just as exactly as his elder relatives. +This done, he was restored once more to the shawl, and was asleep again in +a moment. + +The art of arranging flowers and ornaments is another important branch of a +girl's home education. Everything in a Japanese room is carefully arranged +so that it shall be in harmony with its surroundings. The arrangement of +a bunch of flowers in a fine porcelain jar is a matter of much thought +and care. Children are trained how to arrange blossoms and boughs so that +the most beautiful effect may be gained, and in many Japanese houses may +be found books which contain rules and diagrams intended to help them in +gaining this power of skilful arrangement. This feeling for taste and +beauty is common to all Japanese, even the poorest. A well-known artist +says: "Perhaps, however, one of the most curious experiences I had of the +native artistic instinct of Japan occurred in this way: I had got a number +of fan-holders, and was busying myself one afternoon arranging them upon +the walls. My little Japanese servant-boy was in the room, and as I went +on with my work I caught an expression on his face from time to time which +showed me that he was not overpleased with my performance. After a while, +as this dissatisfied expression seemed to deepen, I asked him what the +matter was. Then he frankly confessed that he did not like the way in which +I was arranging my fan-holders. 'Why did you not tell me so at once?' I +asked. 'You are an artist from England,' he replied, 'and it was not for +me to speak.' However, I persuaded him to arrange the fan-holders himself +after his own taste, and I must say that I received a remarkable lesson. +The task took him about two hours--placing, arranging, adjusting; and when +he had finished, the result was simply beautiful. That wall was a perfect +picture: every fan-holder seemed to be exactly in its right place, and it +looked as if the alteration of a single one would affect and disintegrate +the whole scheme. I accepted the lesson with due humility, and remained +more than ever convinced that the Japanese are what they have justly +claimed to be--an essentially artistic people, instinct with living art." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE JAPANESE BOY + + +A Japanese boy is the monarch of the household. Japan is thoroughly Eastern +in the position which it gives to women. The boy, and afterwards the man, +holds absolute rule over sister or wife. It is true that the upper classes +in Japan are beginning to take a wider view of such matters. Women of +wealthy families are well educated, wear Western dress, and copy Western +manners. They sit at table with their husbands, enter a room or a carriage +before them, and are treated as English women are treated by English men. +But in the middle and lower classes the old state of affairs still remains: +the woman is a servant pure and simple. It is said that even among the +greatest families the old customs are still observed in private. The great +lady who is treated in her Western dress just as her Western sister is +treated takes pride in waiting on her husband when they return to kimono +and obi, just as her grandmother did. + +The importance of the male in Japan arises from the religious customs of +the country. The chief of the latter is ancestor-worship. The ancestors +of a family form its household gods; but only the male ancestors are +worshipped: no offerings are ever laid on the shelf of the household gods +before an ancestress. Property, too, passes chiefly in the male line, and +every Japanese father is eager to have a son who shall continue the worship +of his ancestors, and to whom his property may descend. + +Thus, the birth of a son is received with great joy in a Japanese +household; though, on the other hand, we must not think that a girl is +ill-treated, or even destroyed, as sometimes happens in China. Not at +all; she is loved and petted just as much as her brother, but she is +not regarded as so important to the family line. + +At the age of three the Japanese boy is taken to the temple to give thanks +to the gods. Again, at the age of five, he goes to the temple, once more to +return thanks. Now he is wearing the hakama, the manly garment, and begins +to feel himself quite a man. From this age onwards the Japanese boy among +the wealthier classes is kept busily at work in school until he is ready to +go to the University, but among the poorer classes he often begins to work +for his living. + +The clever work executed by most tiny children is a matter of wonder and +surprise to all European travellers. Little boys are found binding books, +making paper lanterns and painting them, making porcelain cups, winding +grass ropes which are hung along the house-fronts for the first week of the +year to prevent evil spirits from entering, weaving mats to spread over the +floors, and at a hundred other occupations. It is very amusing to watch +the practice of the little boys who are going to be dentists. In Japan the +dentist of the people fetches out an aching tooth with thumb and finger, +and will pluck it out as surely as any tool can do the work, so his pupils +learn their trade by trying to pull nails out of a board. They begin with +tin-tacks, and go on until they can, with thumb and finger, pluck out a +nail firmly driven into the wood. + +Luckily for them, they often get a holiday. The Japanese have many +festivals, when parents and children drop their work to go to some famous +garden or temple for a day's pleasure. Then there is the great boys' +festival, the Feast of Flags, held on the fifth day of the fifth month. Of +this festival we shall speak again. + +Every Japanese boy is taught that he owes the strictest duty to his parents +and to his Emperor. These duties come before all others in Japanese eyes. +Whatever else he may neglect, he never forgets these obligations. From +infancy he is familiar with stories in which children are represented as +doing the most extraordinary things and undergoing the greatest hardships +in order to serve their parents. There is one famous old book called +"Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Virtue." It gives instances of the doings +of good sons, and is very popular in every Japanese household. + +Professor Chamberlain, the great authority on Japan, quotes some of these +instances, and they seem to us rather absurd. He says: "One of the paragons +had a cruel stepmother who was very fond of fish. Never grumbling at her +harsh treatment of him, he lay down naked on the frozen surface of the +lake. The warmth of his body melted a hole in the ice, at which two carp +came up to breathe. These he caught and set before his stepmother. Another +paragon, though of tender years and having a delicate skin, insisted on +sleeping uncovered at night, in order that the mosquitoes should fasten on +him alone, and allow his parents to slumber undisturbed. + +"A third, who was very poor, determined to bury his own child alive in +order to have more food wherewith to support his aged mother, but was +rewarded by Heaven with the discovery of a vessel filled with gold, off +which the whole family lived happily ever after. But the drollest of all +is the story of Roraishi. This paragon, though seventy years old, used to +dress in baby's clothes and sprawl about upon the floor. His object was to +delude his parents, who were really over ninety years of age, into the idea +that they could not be so very old, after all, seeing that they still had +such a childlike son." + +His duty to his Emperor the Japanese takes very seriously, for it includes +his duty to his country. He considers that his life belongs to his country, +and he is not only willing, but proud, to give it in her defence. This was +seen to the full in the late war with Russia. Time and again a Japanese +regiment was ordered to go to certain death. Not a man questioned the +order, not a man dreamed for an instant of disobedience. Forward went the +line, until every man had been smitten down, and the last brave throat had +shouted its last shrill "Banzai!" This was the result of teaching every boy +in Japan that the most glorious thing that can happen to him is to die for +his Emperor and his native land. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE JAPANESE GIRL + + +The word "obedience" has a large part in the life of a Japanese boy; it +is the whole life of a Japanese girl. From her babyhood she is taught the +duty of obeying some one or other among her relations. There is an old book +studied in every Japanese household and learned by heart by every Japanese +girl, called "Onra-Dai-Gaku"--that is, the "Greater Learning for Women." It +is a code of morals for girls and women, and it starts by saying that every +woman owes three obediences: first, while unmarried, to her father; second, +when married, to her husband and the elders of his family; third, when a +widow, to her son. + +Up to the age of three the Japanese girl baby has her head shaved in +various fancy patterns, but after three years old the hair is allowed to +grow to its natural length. Up to the age of seven she wears a narrow obi +of soft silk, the sash of infancy; but at seven years old she puts on the +stiff wide obi, tied with a huge bow, and her dress from that moment is +womanly in every detail. She is now a musume, or moosme, the Japanese girl, +one of the merriest, brightest little creatures in the world. She is never +big, for when at her full height she will be about four feet eight inches +tall, and a Japanese woman of five feet high is a giantess. + +This is her time to wear gay, bright colours, for as a married woman she +must dress very soberly. A party of moosmes tripping along to a feast or a +fair looks like a bed of brilliant flowers set in motion. They wear kimonos +of rich silks and bright shades, kimonos of vermilion and gold, of pink, +of blue, of white, decorated with lovely designs of apple-blossom, of silk +crape in luminous greens and golden browns, every shade of the rainbow +being employed, but all in harmony and perfect taste. If a shower comes on +and they tuck up their gaily-coloured and embroidered kimonos, they look +like a bed of poppies, for each shows a glowing scarlet under-kimono, or +petticoat. + +Not only is this the time for the Japanese girl to be gaily dressed, but it +is her time to visit fairs and temples, and to enjoy the gaieties which may +fall in her way: for when she marries, the gates which lead to the ways of +pleasure are closed against her for a long time. The duties of a Japanese +wife keep her strictly at home, until the golden day dawns when her son +marries and she has a daughter-in-law upon whom she may thrust all the +cares of the household. Then once more she can go to temples and theatres, +fairs and festivals, while another drudges in her stead. + +Marriage is early in Japan. A girl marries at sixteen or seventeen, and to +be unmarried at twenty is accounted a great misfortune. At marriage she +completely severs herself from her own relations, and joins her husband's +household. This is shown in a very striking fashion by the bride wearing +a white kimono, the colour of mourning; and more, when she has left her +father's house, fires of purification are lighted, just as if a dead body +had been borne to the grave. This is to signify that henceforward the bride +is dead to her old home, and her whole life must now be spent in the +service of her husband and his relations. + +The wedding rites are very simple. There is no public function, as in +England, and no religious ceremony; the chief feature is that the bride +and bridegroom drink three times in turn from three cups, each cup having +two spouts. These cups are filled with sake, the national strong drink of +Japan, a kind of beer made from rice. This drinking is supposed to typify +that henceforth they will share each other's joys and sorrows, and this +sipping of sake constitutes the marriage ceremony. + +The young wife now must bid farewell to her fine clothes and her +merry-making. She wears garments of a soft dove colour, or greys or fawns, +quiet shades, but often of great charm. She has now to rise first in the +morning, to open the shutters which have closed the house for the night, +for this is a duty she may not leave to the servants. If her husband's +father and mother dwell in the same house, she must consider it an honour +to supply all their wants, and she is expected to become a perfect slave +to her mother-in-law. It is not uncommon for a meek little wife, who has +obeyed every one, to become a perfect tyrant as a mother-in-law, ordering +her son's wife right and left, and making the younger woman's life a sheer +misery. The mother-in-law has escaped from the land of bondage. It is no +longer her duty to rise at dawn and open the house; she can lie in bed, and +be waited upon by the young wife; she is free to go here and there, and she +does not let her chances slip; she begins once more to thoroughly enjoy +life. + +It may be doubted, however, whether these conditions will hold their own +against the flood of Western customs and Western views which has begun to +flow into Japan. At present the deeply-seated ideas which rule home-life +are but little shaken in the main, but it is very likely that the modern +Japanese girl will revolt against this spending of the best years of her +life as an upper and unpaid servant to her husband's friends and relations. +But at the present moment, for great sections of Japanese society, the old +ways still stand, and stand firmly. + +It was formerly the custom for a woman to make herself as ugly as possible +when she was married. This was to show that she wished to draw no attention +from anyone outside her own home. As a rule she blackened her teeth, which +gave her a hideous appearance when she smiled. This custom is now dying +out, though plenty of women with blackened teeth are still to be seen. + +Should a Japanese wife become a widow, she is expected to show her grief +by her desolate appearance. She shaves her head, and wears garments of the +most mournful look. It has been said that a Japanese girl has the look of a +bird of Paradise, the Japanese wife of a dove, and the Japanese widow of a +crow. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN THE HOUSE + + +A Japanese house is one of the simplest buildings in the world. Its main +features are the roof of tiles or thatch, and the posts which support the +latter. By day the walls are of oiled paper; by night they are formed of +wooden shutters, neither very thick nor very strong. As a rule, the house +is of but one story, and its flimsiness comes from two reasons, both very +good ones. + +The first is that Japan is a home of earthquakes, and when an earthquake +starts to rock the land and topple the houses about the peoples' ears, then +a tall, strong house of stone or brick would be both dangerous in its fall +and very expensive to put up again. The second is that Japan is a land of +fires. The people are very careless. They use cheap lamps and still cheaper +petroleum. A lamp explodes or gets knocked over; the oiled paper walls +burst into a blaze; the blaze spreads right and left, and sweeps away a +few streets, or a suburb of a city, or a whole village. The Jap takes this +very calmly. He gets a few posts, puts the same tiles up again for a roof, +or makes a new thatch, and, with a few paper screens and shutters, there +stands his house again. + +A house among the poorer sort of Japanese consists of one large room in the +daytime. At night it is formed into as many bedrooms as its owner requires. +Along the floor, which is raised about a foot from the ground, and along +the roof run a number of grooves, lengthways and crossways. Frames covered +with paper, called shoji, slide along these grooves and form the wall +between chamber and chamber. The front of the house is, as a rule, open to +the street, but if the owners wish for privacy they slide a paper screen +into position. At night wooden shutters, called amado, cover the screens. +Each shutter is held in place by the next, and the last shutter is fastened +by a wooden bolt. + +The Japanese are very fond of fresh air and sunshine. Unless the day is too +wet or stormy, the front of the house always stands open. If the sun is +too strong a curtain is hung across for shade, and very often this curtain +bears a huge white symbol representing his name, just as an Englishman puts +his name on a brass plate on his front-door. The furniture in these houses +is very simple. The floor is covered with thick mats, which serve for +chairs and bed, as people both sit and sleep on them. For table a low stool +suffices, and for a young couple to set up housekeeping in Japan is a very +simple matter. As Mrs. Bishop, the well-known writer, remarks: + +"Among the strong reasons for deprecating the adoption of foreign houses, +furniture, and modes of living by the Japanese, is that the expense +of living would be so largely, increased as to render early marriages +impossible. At present the requirements of a young couple in the poorer +classes are: a bare matted room (capable or not of division), two wooden +pillows, a few cotton futons (quilts), and a sliding panel, behind which +to conceal them in the daytime, a wooden rice bucket and ladle, a wooden +wash-bowl, an iron kettle, a hibachi (warming and cooking stove), a tray +or two, a teapot or two, two lacquer rice-bowls, a dinner box, a few china +cups, a few towels, a bamboo switch for sweeping, a tabako-bon (apparatus +for tobacco-smoking), an iron pot, and a few shelves let into a recess, all +of which can be purchased for something under L2." + +These young people would, however, have everything quite comfortable about +them, and housekeeping can be set up at a still lower figure, if necessary. +Excellent authorities say, and give particulars to prove, that a coolie +household may be established in full running order for 5-1/2 yen--that is, +somewhere about a sovereign. + +In better-class houses the same simplicity prevails, though the building +may be of costly materials, with posts and ceilings of ebony inlaid with +gold, and floors of rare polished woods. The screens (shoji) still separate +the rooms; the shutters (amado) enclose it at night. There are neither +doors nor passages. When you wish to pass from one room to the next you +slide back one of the shoji, and shut it after you. So you go from room +to room until you reach the one of which you are in search. The shoji are +often beautifully painted, and in each room is hung a kakemono (a wall +picture, a painting finely executed on a strip of silk). A favourite +subject is a branch of blossoming cherry, and this, painted upon white +silk, gives an effect of wonderful freshness and beauty. + +There is no chimney, for a Japanese house knows nothing of a fireplace. The +simple cooking is done over a stove burning charcoal, the fumes of which +wander through the house and disperse through the hundred openings afforded +by the loosely-fitting paper walls. To keep warm in cold weather the +Japanese hug to themselves and hang over smaller stoves, called hibachi, +metal vessels containing a handful of smouldering charcoal. + +In the rooms there are neither tables nor chairs. The floor is covered +with most beautiful mats, as white as snow and as soft as a cushion, for +they are often a couple of inches thick. They are woven of fine straw, +and on these the Japanese sit, with their feet tucked away under them. +At dinner-time small, low tables are brought in, and when the meal is +finished, the tables are taken away again. Chairs are never used, and the +Japanese who wishes to follow Western ways has to practise carefully how to +sit on a chair, just as we should have to practise how to sit on our feet +as he does at home. + +When bedtime comes, there is no change of room. The sitting-room by day +becomes the bedroom by night. A couple of wooden pillows and some quilts +are fetched from a cupboard; the quilts are spread on the floor, the +pillows are placed in position, and the bed is ready. The pillows would +strike us as most uncomfortable affairs. They are mere wooden neckrests, +and European travellers who have tried them declare that it is like trying +to go to sleep with your head hanging over a wooden door-scraper. + +As they both sit and sleep on their matting-covered floors, we now see why +the Japanese never wear any boots or clogs in the house. To do so would +make their beautiful and spotless mats dirty; so all shoes are left at +the door, and they walk about the house in the tabi, the thick glove-like +socks. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +IN THE HOUSE (_continued_) + + +Even supposing that a well-to-do Japanese has a good deal of native +furniture--such as beautifully painted screens, handsome vases, tables of +ebony inlaid with gold or with fancy woods, and so forth--yet he does not +keep them in the house. He stores them away in a special building, and +a servant runs and fetches whatever may be wanted. When the article has +served its purpose, it is taken back again. + +This building is called a godown. It is built of cement, is painted black, +and bears the owner's monogram in a huge white design. It is considered +to be fireproof, though it is not always so, and is meant to preserve the +family treasures in case of one of the frequent fires. It may be stored +with a great variety of furniture and ornaments, but very few see the light +at one time. + +The Japanese does not fill his house with all the decorations he may own, +and live with them constantly. If he has a number of beautiful porcelain +jars and vases, he has one out at one time, another at another. A certain +vase goes with a certain screen, and every time a change is made, the +daughters of the house receive new lessons in the art of placing the +articles and decking them with flowers and boughs of blossom in order to +gain the most beautiful effect. If a visitor be present in the house, the +guest-chamber will be decorated afresh every day, each design showing some +new and unexpected beauty in screen, or flower-decked vase, or painted +kakemono. There is one vase which is always carefully supplied with +freshly-cut boughs or flowers. This is the vase which stands before the +tokonoma. The tokonoma is a very quaint feature of a Japanese house. It +means a place in which to lay a bed, and, in theory, is a guest-chamber in +which to lodge the Mikado, the Japanese Emperor. So loyal are the Japanese +that every house is supposed to contain a room ready for the Emperor in +case he should stay at the door and need a night's lodging. The Emperor, +of course, never comes, and so the tokonoma is no more than a name. + +Usually it is a recess a few feet long and a few inches wide, and over it +hangs the finest kakemono that the house can afford, and in front of it is +a vase whose flowers are arranged in a traditional form which has a certain +allegorical meaning. + +At night a Japanese room is lighted by a candle fixed in a large square +paper lantern, the latter placed on a lacquer stand. The light is very +dim, and many are now replacing it with ordinary European lamps. Unluckily +they buy the very commonest and cheapest of these, and so in consequence +accidents and fires are numerous. + +Among the coolies of Japan, the people who fill the back streets of the +large towns with long rows of tiny houses, the process of "moving house" +is absolutely literal. They do not merely carry off their furniture--that +would be simple enough--but they swing up the house too, carry it off, set +their furniture in it again, and resume their contented family life. It is +not at all an uncommon thing to meet a pair thus engaged in shifting their +abode. The man is marching along with a building of lath and paper, not +much bigger than a bathing-machine, swung on his shoulders, while his wife +trudges behind him with two or three big bundles tied up in blue cloth. He +carries the house, and she the furniture. Within a few hours they will be +comfortably settled in the new street to which their needs or their fancies +call them. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A JAPANESE DAY + + +The first person astir in a Japanese household is the mistress of the +house. She rises from the quilts on the floor which form her bed and puts +out the lamp, which has been burning all night. No Japanese sleeps without +an andon, a tall paper lamp, in which a dim light burns. Next she unlocks +the amado, the wooden shutters, and calls the servants. + +Now the breakfast-table must be set out. In one way this is very simple, +for there is no cloth to spread, for tablecloths are unknown, and when +enough rice has been boiled and enough tea has been made, the breakfast +is ready. But there is one point upon which she must be very careful. The +lacquer rice-bowls and the chopsticks must be set in their proper order, +according to the importance of each person in the family. The slightest +mistake in arranging the position at a meal of any member of the family +or of a guest under the roof would be a matter of the deepest disgrace. +Etiquette is the tyrant of Japan. A slip in the manner of serving the food +is a thousand times more important in Japanese eyes than the quality of the +food itself. A hostess might serve burned rice and the most shocking tea, +but if it were handed round in correct form, there would be nothing more to +be said; but to serve a twice-honourable guest before a thrice-honourable +guest--ah! that would be truly dreadful, a blot never to be wiped off the +family escutcheon. + +After breakfast the master of the house will go about his business. If the +day is fine the wife has his straw sandals ready for him; if it is wet +she gets his high wooden clogs and his umbrella of oiled paper. Then she +and the servants escort him to the door and speed his departure with many +low bows, rubbing their knees together--the latter is a sign of deep +respect--and calling good wishes after him. + +It may seem odd to us that the servants should accompany their mistress on +such an errand, but the servants in Japan are not like other servants: they +are as much a part of the family as the children of the house. Domestic +service in Japan is a most honourable calling, and ranks far higher than +trade. A domestic servant who married a tradesman would be considered as +going down a step in the social scale. In Japan trade has been left until +lately to the lower classes of the population, and tradespeople have ranked +with coolies and labourers. + +This importance of domestic servants arises from two reasons: First, the +old custom which compels the mistress of the house, even if she be of +the highest rank, to serve her husband and children herself, and also to +wait on her parents-in-law, has the effect of raising domestic service to a +high and honourable level. Second, many Japanese servants are of good birth +and excellent family. Only a generation ago their fathers were samurai, +followers of some great Prince, a Daimio, and members of his clan. In the +feudal days of Japan, so recently past, the position of the samurai was +exactly the same as the clansmen of a Highland chief, say at the time of +the "Forty-Five." + +The Daimio, the Japanese chief, had a great estate and vast revenues, +counted in measures of rice; one Daimio had as much as 1,000,000 koku +of rice, the koku being a weight of about 132 pounds. But out of these +revenues he had to maintain his clan, his samurai, the members of his +private army. The samurai clansmen were the exact counterparts of +Highlanders. The poorest considered himself a gentleman and a member of +his chief's family; he held trade and handicrafts in the utmost disdain: +he lived only for war and the defence of his lord. But he regarded service +in his lord's household as a high honour, and thus all service was made +honourable. When the feudal system came to an end, when the Daimios retired +into private life, and the samurai were disbanded, then the latter and +their families found that they must work for their own support, and great +numbers entered domestic service. + +Boys and girls who are meant for servants have to go through a course of +training in etiquette, quite apart from the training they receive in their +duties. This training is intended to maintain the proper distance between +employer and servant, while, in a sense, allowing them to be perfectly +familiar. The Japanese servant bows low and kneels to her mistress, +and addresses her always in the tone of voice used by an inferior to a +superior, yet she will join in a conversation between her mistress and +a caller, and laugh with the rest at any joke which is made. + +It sounds difficult to believe that servants do not become too forward +under such conditions, but they never do. Their perfect taste and good +breeding forbid that they should pass over a certain line where familiarity +would go too far. The position of a servant in Japan is shown by the fact +that, though her master or mistress will speak to her as a servant, yet a +caller or guest must always use the tone of equality and address her as san +(miss). In the absence of the mistress, servants are expected to entertain +any callers, and they do this with the perfection of gentle manners and +exquisite politeness. A lady writer says: + +"I remember once being very much at sea when I was taken to pay a call on +a Japanese lady of the well-to-do class. Not being able to speak a word +of the language, I was unable to follow the conversation which took place +between the charming little lady who greeted us at the inner shutters and +my friend. She was dressed in the soft grey kimono and obi of a middle-aged +woman, and her exquisite manner and gentleness made me feel as heavy as my +boots, which I had not been allowed to take off, sounded on the delicate +floor-matting compared to her soft white foot-gloves. + +"My friend addressed her as san, and seemed to speak to her just as a +guest would to her hostess. We had tea on the floor, and my friend chatted +pleasantly for some time with the little grey figure, when suddenly the +sound of wheels on the gravel outside caught my ears, and the next instant +there was the scuffling of many feet along the polished wooden passage +which led to the front door, and the eager cry of 'O kaeri! O kaeri!' +(honourable return). Our hostess for the time rose from her knees, smiled, +and begged us to excuse her honourable rudeness. When she had hurried off +to join in the cry of welcome, my friend said, 'Oh, I am glad she has +come!' + +"'Who has come ?' I asked. + +"'The lady we came to see,' she said. + +"'Then, who was the charming little lady who poured out tea for us?' I +asked. My friend smiled. + +"'Oh, that was only the housemaid.'" + +A man dealing with the same point remarks: "It is very important that a +Japanese upper servant should have good manners, for he is expected to have +sufficient knowledge of etiquette to entertain his master's guests if his +master is out. After rubbing his knees together and hissing and kowtowing +(bowing low), he will invite you to take a seat on the floor, or, more +correctly speaking, on your heels, with a flat cushion between your knees +and the floor to make the ordeal a little less painful. He will then offer +you five cups of tea (it is the number of cups that signifies, not the +number of callers), and dropping on his own heels with ease and grace, +enter into an affable conversation, humble to a degree, but perfectly +familiar, until his master arrives to relieve him. Even after his master +has arrived he may stay in the room, and is quite likely to cut into the +conversation, and dead certain to laugh at the smallest apology for a +joke!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A JAPANESE DAY (_continued_) + + +But we must return to our Japanese housewife, who has at present only shown +her husband out politely to his business. Now she sees that all the paper +screens are removed, so that the whole house becomes, as it were, one great +room, and thus is thoroughly aired. The beds are rolled up and put away +in cupboards, and the woodwork is carefully rubbed down and polished. +Perhaps the flowers in the vases are faded, and it is a long and elaborate +performance to rearrange the beautiful sprays and the blossoms brought in +from the garden. + +Cooking is not by any means so important a matter in her household life +as it is in that of her Western sister. If her rice-box is well filled, +her tea-caddy well stored, her pickle-jar and store of vegetables in good +order, she has little more to think about. "Rice is the staple food of +Japan, and is eaten at every meal by rich or poor, taking the place of our +bread. It is of particularly fine quality, and at meals is brought in small +bright-looking tubs kept for this exclusive purpose and scrupulously clean; +it is then helped to each individual in small quantities, and steaming hot. +The humblest meal is served with nicety, and with the rice various tasty +condiments, such as pickles, salted fish, and numerous other dainty little +appetizers, are eaten. To moisten the meal, tea without sugar is taken. A +hibachi, or charcoal basin, generally occupies the central position, round +which the meal is enjoyed, and on the fire of which the teapot is always +kept easily boiling." + +When the Japanese housekeeper goes to market, she turns her attention, +after the rice merchant's, to the fish and vegetable stalls. At the +fish-stall nothing that comes out of the sea is overlooked. She buys not +only fish, but seaweed, which is a common article of diet. It is eaten +raw; it is also boiled, pickled, or fried; it is often made into soup. +Sea-slugs, cuttle-fish, and other creatures which we consider the mere +offal of the sea, are eagerly devoured by the Japanese. + +At the vegetable-stall there will be a great variety of things for +sale--beans, peas, potatoes, maize, buckwheat, carrots, lettuce, turnips, +squash, musk- and water-melons, cucumbers, spinach, garlic, onions, leeks, +chillies, capucams (the produce of the egg-plant), and a score of other +things, including yellow chrysanthemum blossoms and the roots and seeds of +the lotus. The Japanese eat almost everything that grows, for they delight +in dock and ferns, in wild ginger and bamboo shoots, and consider the last +a great tit-bit. + +But to Europeans the Japanese vegetables seem very tasteless, and the chief +of them all is very much disliked by Westerners. This is the famous daikon, +the mighty Japanese radish, beloved among the poorer classes in its native +land and abhorred by foreigners. It grows to an immense size, being often +seen a yard long and as thick as a man's arm. When fresh it is harmless +enough, but the Japanese love to pickle it, and Mrs. Bishop remarks: + +"It is slightly dried and then pickled in brine, with rice bran. It is very +porous, and absorbs a good deal of the pickle in the three months in which +it lies in it, and then has a smell so awful that it is difficult to remain +in a house in which it is being eaten. It is the worst smell I know of +except that of a skunk!" + +The pickle-seller's stall must not be forgotten, for the Japanese flavour +their rather tasteless food with a wonderful variety of pickles and sauces. +The great sauce is soy, made from fermented wheat and beans with salt and +vinegar, and at times sake is added to it to heighten its flavour. This +sauce is served with many articles of food, and fish are often cooked in +it. + +When the Japanese housekeeper reaches home again she finds that her +servants have finished their simple duties. Englishwomen always wonder what +there is in a Japanese house for servants to do. There are no fires to lay, +no furniture to polish and clean, no carpets to sweep, and no linen to wash +and mend; so Japanese servants spend much time chatting to each other, or +sewing new kimonos together, or playing chess. As a rule, there are many +more servants than are necessary to do the work. This is because servants +are very cheap. There are always plenty of girls who are ready to fill the +lower places if they can obtain food and clothes for their services, and +the upper servants only receive small sums, sometimes as low as six or +eight shillings a month. + +If a servant wishes to leave her employment, she never gives direct notice +to her mistress. That would be the height of rudeness. Instead she begs +permission to visit her home, or a sick relation, or some one who needs +her assistance. Upon the day that she should return a long and elaborate +apology for her non-arrival is sent, saying that, most unhappily, she +cannot be spared from her home or her post of duty. It is then understood +that she has left. + +In a similar fashion, no mistress tells a servant that she will not suit. A +polite explanation that it will be inconvenient to accept her services at +the moment is sent through a third party. + +In the evening the whole family, servants included, gather in the main room +of the house. The master and mistress sit near the hibachi (the stove) +and the andon (the big paper lantern); the maids glide in and sit at a +respectful distance with their sewing, if they have any. There may be +conversation, or the master may read aloud from a book of historical +romances or fairy stories; but the servants may laugh and chat as freely +over joke or story as anyone. + +When bed-time arrives the quilts come out of the cupboards, and are spread +with due care that no one sleeps with the head to the north, for that is +the position in which the dead are laid out, and so is a very unlucky +one for the living. Then the little wooden neck-rests, which they use as +pillows, are set in their places, and every one goes to bed. The Japanese +day is over. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +JAPANESE GAMES + + +The children of Japan have many games, and some of these games are shared +with them by their fathers and mothers--yes, and by their grandfathers and +grandmothers too, for an old man will fly a kite as eagerly as his tiny +grandson. The girls play battledore and shuttlecock and bounce balls, and +the boys spin tops and make them fight. A top-fight is arranged thus: One +boy takes his top, made of hard wood with an iron ring round it, winds it +up with string, and throws it on the ground; while it is spinning merrily, +another boy throws his top in such a way that it spins against the first +top and knocks it over. So cleverly are the attacking tops thrown that the +first top is often knocked to a distance of several feet. Other games are +playing at war with toy weapons, hunting grasshoppers, which are kept in +tiny cages of bamboo, and hunting fireflies. The last pastime is followed +by Japanese of all ages, and the glittering flies are pursued by night, and +struck down by a light fan. + +Wherever there is a stream of water, the boys set up toy water-wheels, and +these water-wheels drive little mills and machines, which the boys have +made for themselves in the cleverest fashion. + +Here is a group whose heads are very close together. Let us peep over their +shoulders, and see what it is they watch so quietly and earnestly. Ah! this +is a favourite trick. A small boy is setting a team of half a dozen beetles +to draw a load of rice up a smooth, sloping board. He has made a tiny cart +of paper, and filled it with rice. The traces of the cart are made of fine +threads of silk, and he fastens the threads of silk to the backs of the +beetles with gum. + +Now he has his strange team in motion, and the beetles are marching up the +board, dragging their load. The tiny faces in the ring of watchers are +filled with deep but motionless interest. Not one dreams of stretching +out a finger. There is no need to say, "Don't touch!" No one would dream +of touching--that would be very rude. Japanese children manage their own +games, without any appeal to their elders. It is not often that a dispute +arises, but, should that happen, the question is settled at once by the +word of an elder child. The decision is obeyed without a murmur, and the +game goes on. + +Another game of which children are fond is that of painting sand-pictures +on the roadside. A group of children will compete in drawing a sand-picture +in the shortest time. Each has four bags of coloured sand--black, red, +yellow, and blue--and a bag of white. The white sand is first thrown down +in the form of a square; then a handful of black sand is taken, and allowed +to run through the fingers to form a quaint outline of a man, or bird, or +animal, upon the white ground. Next, the design is finished with the other +colours, and very often a most striking effect is obtained by these child +artists. "But the most extraordinary and most fascinating thing of all is +to watch the performance of a master in sand-pictures. So dexterous and +masterly is he that he will dip his hand first into a bag of blue sand +and then into one of yellow, allowing the separate streams to trickle out +unmixed, and then, with a slight tremble of the hand, these streams will +be quickly converted into one thin stream of bright green, relapsing again +into the streams of blue and yellow at a moment's notice." + +There are many indoor games, and a very great favourite is the game of +alphabet cards. This is played with a number of cards, some of which +contain a proverb and some a picture illustrating each proverb. The +children sit in a ring, and the cards are dealt to them. One of the +children is the reader, and when he calls out a proverb the one who has the +picture corresponding to the proverb answers at once and gives up the card. +The first one to be rid of his cards is the winner, and the one who holds +the last card is the loser. If a boy is the loser, he has a dab of ink or +of paint smudged on his face; if it is a girl, she has a wisp of straw +put in her hair. The game is so called because each proverb begins with a +letter of the Japanese alphabet. + +Japanese children have many holidays and festivals, and they enjoy +themselves very much on these joyous occasions. With their beautiful +dresses of silk shining in the sun, a crowd of them looks like a great +bed of flowers. Mr. Menpes speaks of a merry-making which he saw: "It +was a festival for girls under ten, and there were hundreds of children, +all with their kimonos tucked up, showing their scarlet petticoats, and +looking for all the world like a mass of poppies.... Two rows or armies of +these girls were placed several yards distant from each other in this long +emerald-green field, and in the space between them stood two servants, each +holding a long bamboo pole, and suspending from its top a flat, shallow +drum, covered with tissue-paper. + +"Presently two young men teachers appeared on the scene, carrying two +baskets of small many-coloured balls, which they threw down on the grass +between the children and the drums. Then a signal was given, and all the +girls started running down the field at full tilt towards one another, +pouncing on the balls as they ran, and throwing them with all their force +up at the paper drums. + +"After a time, when a perfect shower of balls had passed through the tissue +drums, quite demolishing them, a shower of coloured papers, miniature +lanterns, paper umbrellas, and flags came slowly fluttering down among +the children on to their jet-black bobbing heads and into their eager +outstretched hands. Never have I seen anything more beautiful than these +gay, brightly-clad little people, packed closely together like a cluster +of flowers in the brilliant sparkling sunshine, with their pretty upturned +faces watching the softly falling rain of coloured toys." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE FEAST OF DOLLS AND THE FEAST OF FLAGS + + +On the third day of the third month there is great excitement in every +Japanese household which numbers a girl among its domestic treasures: for +the Feast of Dolls has come, the great festival for dolls. On this day the +most beautiful dolls and dolls' houses are fetched from the godown, where +the family furniture is kept, and are on exhibition for a short time, set +out on shelves covered with scarlet cloth. + +These dolls are the O-Hina, the honourable dolls. They are kept with the +greatest care, and in some families there are dolls which are centuries +old. As each doll is dressed exactly in the costume of its age, and is +furnished with belongings which represent in miniature the furniture of +that age, such a collection has great historic value, and is used to teach +the children how their ancestors looked and lived. + +There are common dolls for the little girls to play with every day, but +these elaborate ones, the honourable dolls, are stored with the greatest +care. Many of them are very costly. The doll is not only beautifully made +and dressed, but its house is furnished with the most exact imitations of +every article of furniture and of every utensil. In wealthy families this +toy furniture is made of the rarest gold lacquer, or of solid silver, +or of beautiful porcelain. Not a single article, either of state or of +usefulness, is missing, and it is the delight of a Japanese girl at the +Feast of Dolls to use the tiny utensils of her toy kitchen to prepare an +elaborate feast of real food which is set before her honourable dolls. + +The beginning of a collection of such dolls is made as soon as a girl is +born. Every girl-child is presented with a pair of these dolls, and as time +goes on she gathers all the articles which go with them. These dolls are +always her own. When she marries she takes them to her new home. + +When the O-Hina Matsuri, the Feast of Dolls, draws near, the Japanese shops +begin to be full of the little images used at that time. The poorer are of +painted earthenware; the finer are of wood, with clothes of the richest +materials. These images, together with tiny bowls, and pots, and stoves, +and trays, are used to set off and decorate the surroundings of the Feast +of Dolls. They vary very greatly in price. The coolie household may have +a set-out which cost a few pence. The O-Hina of a great noble's house +will often be worth a fortune, having hundreds of beautifully carved and +dressed images to represent the Emperor and Empress and every official of +the Japanese Court, with every article used for State functions, and every +piece of furniture needed to deck a royal palace. Other sets of O-Hina +represent great personages in Japanese history, perhaps a great Daimio and +his followers, each figure dressed with strict historical accuracy, and +provided with every feature proper to its rank and period. + +The great festival for boys comes at the Feast of Flags. This is held on +the fifth day of the fifth month. Every one knows when the Feast of Flags +is near, for before every house where there are boys a tall post of bamboo +is set up. Swinging from the top of each post is the figure of a huge carp, +made of brightly coloured paper. If a boy has been born in the house during +the year the carp is made bigger still. The body of the fish is hollow, and +when the wind blows into it, it wriggles its fins and tail just like a fish +swimming strongly. The Japanese choose the carp because they say it has the +power of ascending streams swiftly against the current and of leaping over +waterfalls. It is thus supposed to typify a young man breasting the stream +of life, and thrusting his way through difficulties to success. + +As the boys' day draws near, the shops become full of toys for them. There +are images bought for boys as well as for their sisters; but boys' images +are those of soldiers, heroes, generals, famous old warriors, wrestlers, +and so forth. The old Japanese were a war-like nation, and the toys +provided for their sons at the Feast of Flags were helmets, flags, swords, +bows and arrows, coats of mail, spears, and the like. The Feast of Flags +itself is held on the day sacred to Hachima, the Japanese God of War, and +the favourite game on that day is a mimic battle. + +The boys divide themselves into two parties, called Heike and Genji. These +names represent two great old rival clans of the feudal days. Every Heike +carries a red flag on his back, every Genji a white one. Each combatant +also wears a helmet, consisting of a kind of earthenware pot. The combat +is joined, and the small warriors hack at each other with bamboo swords. A +well-directed blow will dash to pieces the earthenware pot, and the wearer +is then compelled to own defeat. That side wins which breaks most pots on +its opponents' heads, or captures most flags. + +This display of weapons, with blowing of horns and trumpets, serves another +purpose also; for on the fifth day of the fifth month the Japanese believe +that Oni, an evil-disposed god, comes down from the heavens to devour +boys, or to bring great harm to them. But he fears sharp swords, so the +long swordshaped blades of the sweet flag are gathered from the edges of +rivers and the sides of swampy rice-fields, and used as decorations. As +a Japanese writer says: "Oni fears the sword-blade of the sweet flag, so +that its leaves are everywhere. They are upon the festal table; they hang +in festoons about the house, and all along the eaves. Boys wear them tied +around their heads, with the white scraped fragrant roots projecting like +two horns from their foreheads. So, and with the noise of bamboo horns, +they frighten away the ogre god. For he fears horned men, and he dares not +enter a house where so many swords hang from the eaves." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A FARTHING'S WORTH OF FUN + + +How would you like to go to a fair with a farthing, a whole farthing, to +spend as you pleased? I think I can see some of you turning your noses up, +and looking very scornful. "A farthing, indeed!" you say. "Pray, of what +use is a farthing? I wouldn't mind going to a fair with a shilling, or even +sixpence, but what could anyone do with a farthing?" Well, in Japan you +could do a great deal. We must remember that Japan is a country of tiny +wages; many of its workers do not receive more than sixpence a day, and a +man who gets a shilling is well off. Tiny earnings mean tiny spendings, and +things are arranged on a scale to meet very slender purses. + +We will now see what sort of time O Hara San, Miss Blossom, and her +brother, Taro San, Master Eldest Son, had at the fair one fine day in +Nagasaki. In the morning they sprang up from their quilts full of excited +pleasure, for they had been looking forward to this fair for some time. But +they did not romp and chatter and show their excitement as English children +would do. Their black eyes shone a little more brightly than usual, and +that was all. + +When they had whipped their rice into their mouths with their little +chopsticks, they started for the fair, which was to be held in the grounds +of a great temple. Of course, they were dressed in their best clothes. Both +had new kimonos, and O Hara San had a very fine obi, which her parents had +bought for her by denying themselves many little luxuries. Their father and +grandmother went with them, but their mother stayed at home with the baby. +Their father wore a newly-washed kimono, but his chief glory was an old +bowler hat which a European gentleman had given to him. It had been much +too large for him, but he had neatly taken it in, and now wore it with +great pride. When they reached the fair they gave themselves up to its +delights with all their hearts. There was so much to do and so much to see. +Almost at once O Hara San and Taro were beguiled by a sweetmeat stall. + +Each had five rin, and five rin make one farthing, or rather less, but we +will call it a farthing for the sake of round figures. One rin apiece was +spent here. The stall was in two divisions: one stocked with delicious +little bottles of sugar-water, the other with pieces of candy, tinted +bright blue and red and green. Miss Blossom went in for a bottle of +sugar-water, and her brother for candies. But first he demanded of the +candy-seller that he should be allowed to try his luck at the disc. This +was a disc having an arrow which could be whirled round, and if the arrow +paused opposite a lucky spot an extra piece of candy was added to the +purchase. To Taro's great joy, he made a lucky hit, and won the extra piece +of candy; he felt that the fair had begun very well for him. + +While they drank sugar-water and munched candy, they wandered along looking +at the booths, where all sorts of wonders were to be seen--booths full of +conjurers, acrobats, dancers, of women who could stretch their necks to +the length of their arms, or thrust their lips up to cover their eyebrows, +and a hundred other curious tricks. The price of admission was one rin +each to children, and finally they chose the conjurer's booth, and saw him +spout fire from his mouth, swallow a long sword, and finally exhibit a +sea-serpent, which appeared to be made of seal-skins tacked together. + +When they left the show they came all at once on one of the great delights +of a Japanese fair. It was the man with the cooking-stove, round whom +children always throng as flies gather about honey. For the fifth part of +a farthing you may have the use of his cooking-stove, you may have a piece +of dough, or you may have batter with a cup, a spoon, and a dash of soy +sauce. You may then abandon yourself to the delights of making a cake for +yourself, baking it for yourself, and then eating it yourself, and if you +spend a couple of hours over the operation the man will not grumble. As +this arrangement combines both the pleasure of making a cake and playing +with fire, it is very popular, and we cannot wonder that Taro took a turn, +though Miss Blossom did not. She felt herself rather too big to join the +swarm of happy urchins round the stove. + +While Taro was baking his cake she spent her third rin on a peep-show, +where a juggler made little figures of paper and pasteboard dance and +perform all kinds of antics. Then they went on again. Each bought one rin's +worth of sugared beans, a very favourite sweet-meat; and these they ate +while they waited for their father and grandmother to join them at the +door of a certain theatre where they had agreed to meet. Into this theatre +was pouring a stream of people, old and young, men, women, children, and +babies, for a great historical play was to be performed, and it would +shortly begin. Soon their elders turned up, and their father took their +last rin to make up the payment which would admit them. + +In they went, and took possession of their place. The floor of the theatre +was divided by little partitions, about a foot or so high, into a vast +number of tiny squares, like open egg-boxes. In one of these little boxes +our friends squatted down on the floor, and the grandmother began to unpack +the bundle which she had been carrying. This bundle contained a number of +cooking-vessels and an ample supply of rice, for here they meant to stay +for some hours to see the play, to eat and drink, and enjoy themselves +generally. + +The father filled his pipe, lighted it at the hibachi, and began to smoke, +as hundreds more were doing all round them. Each box contained a family, +and each family had brought its cooking-pots, its food, and its drink; and +hawkers of food, of pipes, of tobacco, of sake, and of a score of other +things, rambled up and down selling their wares. + +When the play began every one paid close attention, for it was a great +historical play, and the Japanese go to the theatre and take their children +there in order to learn history. There are represented the old wars, the +old feuds, the struggle of Daimio against Daimio--in short, the history of +old Japan. When an actor gave pleasure, the audience flung their hats on +the stage. These were collected by an attendant, and kept until the owners +redeemed them by giving a present. For six hours O Hara San and Taro sat +in their little box, laughing, shouting, eating, and drinking, while the +play went on. Then it was over, for it was only a short play, at a cheap +theatre. "Ah!" said their father, "when I was a boy we had real plays. We +used to rise early and be in the theatre by six o'clock in the morning. +There we would stay enjoying ourselves until eleven at night. But now the +decree of the Government is that no play shall last more than nine hours. +It is too little!" + +The children quite agreed with him as they helped their grandmother to +gather the pots and pans and dishes which were scattered about their box. +Then each took the wooden ticket which would secure the shoes which they +had left outside with the attendants, and went slowly from the theatre. +When they had obtained their shoes and put them on, Miss Blossom and Master +Eldest Son strolled slowly homewards through the fair. They had not another +rin to spend--their farthing's worth of fun was over. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +KITE-FLYING + + +About a fortnight after the fair, on a fine windy afternoon, there was a +holiday, and Taro, with his father and his younger brother Ito, turned +out to fly kites. Some of their neighbours were already at work flying +kites from the roofs of the houses or from windows, but our friends wanted +more room than that, and went up to a piece of higher ground behind their +street. Here they joined a crowd of kite-flyers. Every one was out to-day +with his kite, old and young, men of sixty, with yellow, wrinkled faces, +down to toddlers of three, who clutched their strings and flew their little +kites with as much gravity and staidness as their grandfathers. Before long +O Hara San came up with the baby on her back, and he had a bit of string +in his tiny fist and a scrap of a kite not much bigger than a man's hand +floating a few yards above his head. + +But Taro was a proud boy this afternoon. He was about to fly his first big +fighting kite. It was made of tough, strong paper, stretched on a bamboo +frame five feet square, a kite taller than his own father. The day before +Taro had pounded a piece of glass up fine and mixed it with glue. The +mixture had been rubbed on the string of his kite for about thirty feet +near the kite-end and left to dry. Now, if he could only get this string +to cut sharply across the string of another kite, the latter cord would be +severed, and he could proudly claim the vanquished kite as his own. + +Kites of every colour and shape hovered in the air above the wide open +space. There were square kites of red, yellow, green, blue, every colour +of the rainbow; many were decorated with gaily-painted figures of gods, +heroes, warriors, and dragons. There were kites in the shape of fish, +hawks, eagles, and butterflies. Some had hummers, made of whalebone, which +hummed musically in the wind as they rose; and as for fighting kites, they +were abroad in squads and battalions. In one place the fight was between +single kites; in another a score of men with blue kites met a score with +red kites and the kites fluttered, darted, swooped, dived this way, that +way, and every way, as they were skilfully moved by the strings pulled from +below. Now and again one of them was seen to fall helplessly away and drift +down the wind; its string had been cut by some victorious rival, and it had +been put out of the battle. + +Taro had his kite high up in the air very soon; it flew splendidly, and for +some time he was very busy in trying it and learning its ways, for every +kite has its own tricks of moving in the air. Then suddenly he saw a great +brown eagle sailing towards it. He looked up and saw that a boy named +Kanaya was directing the eagle kite towards his own, and that it was a +challenge to a fight. Taro accepted at once, and the combat was joined. + +Kanaya brought his eagle swiftly over Taro's big square kite, brightly +painted in bars of many colours, but Taro let out string and escaped. Then +he swung his kite up into the wind and made it swoop on the eagle. But +Kanaya was already winding his string swiftly in and had raised his kite +out of reach of the swoop. And so they went on for more than an hour, +pursuing, escaping, feinting, dodging, until at last the eagle caught +a favourable slant of wind and darted down so swiftly that Taro could +not escape. The strings crossed, and the upper began to chafe the lower +savagely. + +Taro tried to work his kite away, but in vain. The eagle string was strong +and sharp. At the next moment Taro felt a horrid slackness of his string; +no more could he feel the strong, splendid pull of his big kite. There it +was, going, falling headlong to the ground. Kanaya had won. Nothing now +remained to Taro but to take his beating like a Japanese and a gentleman. +With a cheerful smile he made three low bows to his conqueror. Kanaya, with +the utmost gravity, returned the bows before he ran away to secure the kite +he had won. + +Now, there had been a very interested and attentive observer of this battle +in Ito, Taro's younger brother. Ito never said a word or moved a muscle +of his little brown face when he saw his brother defeated and the big kite +seized in triumph by Kanaya. But his black eyes gleamed a little more +brightly in their narrow slits as he let out more string and waited for +Kanaya to begin to fly again. + +Ito had succeeded to the possession of Taro's old kite. It was less than +two feet square, but it flew well, and Ito had also anointed his string +with the mixture of pounded glass and glue, and was ready for combat Within +ten minutes Kanaya was flying once more, and now he had Taro's kite high in +the air. He had put away his own big brown eagle, and was flying the kite +he had just won. He had scarcely got it well up when a smaller square kite +came darting down upon it from a great height. Ito had entered the lists, +and a fresh battle began. + +It was even longer and stubborner than the first, for Ito's kite, being +much smaller, had much less power in the air; but Ito made up for this by +showing the greatest skill in the handling of his kite, and quite a crowd +gathered to see the struggle, watching every movement in perfect silence +and with the deepest gravity. Suddenly Ito pounced. He caught a favourable +gust of wind, and swung his line across Kanaya's with the greatest +dexterity. Saw-saw went the line, and at the next moment the great kite +went tumbling down the wind, and Kanaya and Ito exchanged the regulation +bows. Then the latter looked at his brother without a word, and Taro ran +to seize his beloved kite again. + +"It is yours now, Ito," said the elder brother, when he came back. + +"Oh no," said Ito; "we will each keep our own. I am glad I got it back from +Kanaya." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +FAIRY STORIES + + +When Taro and Ito went home that night with their kites, they were glad to +sit down and rest, for they had been running about until they were quite +tired. When they had eaten their suppers of rice from their little brown +bowls of lacquer, they begged their grandmother to tell them a story, and +she told them the famous old story of Momotaro, beloved of every child in +Japan. And this is what she told them: Once upon a time an old man and an +old woman lived near a river at the foot of a mountain. Every day the old +man went to the mountain to cut wood and carry it home, while the old woman +went to the river to wash clothes. Now, the old woman was very unhappy +because she had no children; it seemed to her that if she only had a son +or a daughter she would be the most fortunate old woman in the world. + +Well, one day she was washing the clothes in the river, when she saw +something floating down the stream towards her. It proved to be a great +pear, and she seized it and carried it home. As she carried it she heard a +sound like the cry of a child. She looked right and left, up and down, but +no child was to be seen. She heard the cry again, and now she fancied that +it came from the big pear. So she cut the pear open at once, and, to her +great surprise and delight, she found that there was a fine baby sitting in +the middle of it. She took the child and brought it up, and because he was +born in a pear she called him Momotaro. + +Momotaro grew up a strong, fine boy, and when he was seventeen years old +he started out to seek his fortune. He had made up his mind to attack an +island where lived a very dreadful ogre. The old woman gave him plenty of +food to eat on the way--corn and rice wrapped in a bamboo-leaf, and many +other things--and away he went. He had not gone far when he met a wasp. + +"Give me a share of your food, Momotaro," said the wasp, "and I will go +with you and help you to overcome the ogre." + +"With all my heart," said Momotaro, and he shared his food at once with the +wasp. + +Soon he met a crab, and the same agreement was made with the crab, and then +with a chestnut, and last of all with a millstone. + +So now the five companions journeyed on together towards the island of the +ogre. When the island was reached they crept up to the house of the ogre, +and found that he was not in his room. So they soon made a plan to take +advantage of his absence. The chestnut laid itself down in the ash of a +charcoal fire which had been burning on the hearth, the crab hid himself in +a washing-pan nearly full of water, the wasp settled in a dusky corner, the +millstone climbed on to the roof, and Momotaro hid himself outside. + +Before long the ogre came back, and he went to the fire to warm his hands. +The chestnut at once cracked in the hot ashes, and threw burning cinders +over the ogre's hands. The ogre at once ran to the washing-pan, and thrust +his hands into it to cool them. The crab caught his fingers and pinched +them till the ogre roared with pain. Snatching his hands out of the pan, +the ogre leapt into the dusky corner as a safe place; but the wasp met him +and stung him dreadfully. In great fright and misery the ogre tried to run +out of the room, but down came the millstone with a crash on his head and +killed him at once. So, without any trouble to himself, and by the help of +the faithful friends which his kindness had made for him, Momotaro gained +possession of the ogre's wealth, and his fortune was made. + +Then the grandmother told them of Jizo, the patron saint of travellers and +children, the helper of all who are in trouble. + +Everywhere by the roadside in Japan is found the figure of Jizo. Sometimes +a figure of noble height, carved in stone or in the living rock, sometimes +no more than a rough carving in wood, he is represented as a priest with +kindly face, holding a traveller's staff in his right hand and a globe in +his left. He stands upon a lotus-flower, and about his feet there lies a +pile of pebbles, to which pile each wayfarer adds a fresh pebble. + +And the old grandmother bade the children never pass a figure of Jizo +without paying it the tribute of a pebble, for this reason: Every little +child who dies, she said, has to pass over So-dzu-kawa, the river of the +underworld. Now, on the banks of this river there lives a wicked old hag +who catches little children as they try to cross, steals their clothes from +them, and sets them to work to help her in her endless task of piling up +the stones on the shore of the stream. Jizo helps these poor children, and +every one who throws a pebble at the foot of this shrine also takes a share +in lightening the labour of some little one down below. + +Another favourite story is that of Urashima, the fisher-boy. Urashima was a +handsome fisher-boy, who lived near the Sea of Japan, and every day he went +out in his boat to catch fish in order to help his parents. But one day +Urashima did not return. His mother watched long, but there was no sign of +her son's boat coming back to the shore. Day after day passed, and Urashima +was mourned as dead. But he was not dead. Out on the sea he had met the +Sea-God's daughter, and she had carried him off to a green, sunny land +where it was always summer. There they lived for some time in great love +and happiness. When it appeared to Urashima that several weeks had passed +in this pleasant land, he begged permission of the Princess to return home +and see his parents. + +"They will be sorrowing for me," he said. "They will fear that I am lost, +and drowned at sea." At last she allowed him to go, and she gave him a +casket, but told him to keep it closed. + +"As long as you keep it closed," she said, "I shall always be with you, but +if you open it you will lose both me and this sunny summer land for ever." + +Urashima took the casket, promised to keep it closed, and returned home. +But his native village had vanished. There was no sign of any dwelling +upon the shore, and not far away there was a town which he had never seen +before. In truth, every week that he had spent with the Princess had been +a hundred years on earth, and his home and native village had passed away +centuries ago, and the place where they had stood had been forgotten. In +his despair, he forgot the words of the Princess, and opened the forbidden +box. A faint blue mist floated out and spread over the sea, and a wonderful +change took place at once in Urashima. From a handsome youth he turned to a +feeble and decrepit old man, and then he fell upon the shore and lay there +dead. In the box the Princess had shut up all the hours of their happy +life, and when they had once escaped he became as other mortals, and old +age and death came upon him at a bound. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES + + +Tea-houses and temples run together very easily in the Japanese mind, for +wherever you find a temple there you also find a tea-house. But tea-houses +are not confined to the neighbourhood of temples: they are everywhere. The +tea-house is the house of public entertainment in Japan, and varies from +the tiny cabin with straw roof, a building which is filled by half a dozen +coolies drinking their tea, to large and beautiful structures, with floors +and ceilings of polished woods, splendid mats, and tables of ebony and +gold. + +The tea-house does not sell tea alone. It will lodge you and find you +dinners and suppers, and is in country places the Japanese hotel. If +tea-houses sold tea and nothing else it is certain that European travellers +would be in a very bad way, for there is one point they are all agreed +upon, and that is that the tea, as a rule, is quite unpalatable to a +Western taste. However, it does not matter in the least whether you +drink it or not as long as you pay your money, and the last is no great +tax--about three halfpence. + +When a traveller steps into a tea-house the girl attendants, the moosmes, +gay in their scarlet petticoats, kneel before him, and, if it is an +out-of-the-way place, where the old fashions are kept up, place their +foreheads on the matting. Then away they run to fetch the tea. Japanese +servants always run when they wish to show respect; to walk would look +careless and disrespectful in their eyes. The tea arrives in a small pot +on a lacquer tray, with five tiny teacups without handles round the pot. +There is no milk or sugar, and the tea is usually a straw-coloured, bitter +liquid, very unpleasant to a European taste. But if a cup be raised to the +lips and set down, and three sen--a sen is about a halfpenny--laid on the +tray, all goes well, and every one is satisfied. + +This bringing of tea to a visitor is universal in Japan. It is not only +done in a tea-house, where one would expect it, but on every occasion. A +friendly call at a private house produces the teacups like magic, and when +a customer enters a good shop, business matters are undreamed of until many +little cups of tea have been produced; and if the customer has many things +to buy and stays a long time, tea is steadily brought forward in relays. +If you don't care for your tea plain, you may have it flavoured with +salted cherry blossoms, but that is not considered an improvement by the +Westerner, who longs for sugar and milk. If you wish to stay for the night +at a tea-house, a room is made for you by sliding some paper screens into +the wall and ceiling grooves, and a couple of quilts are laid on the floor +to form a bed. That is the whole provision made in the way of furniture if +you are off the beaten track of tourists: the rest you must provide for +yourself. + +In the cities the tea-houses of the grander sort are the scenes of splendid +entertainments. When a Japanese wishes to give a dinner to his friends +he does not ask them to his house; he invites them to a banquet at some +famous tea-house. There he provides not only the delicacies which make up +a Japanese dinner, but hires dancing girls, called geisha, to amuse the +company by their dancing and singing. + +A foreigner who is asked to one of these Japanese dinners finds everything +very strange and not a little difficult. At the doors of the tea-house his +boots are taken off, and he marches across the matting, to do his best to +sit on his heels for a few hours. This gives him the cramp, and soon he is +reduced to sitting with his back against the wall and his legs stretched +out before him. He can manage in this way pretty fairly. + +There may be a table before him, or there may not. If there is a table, it +will be a tiny affair about a foot high. There will be no tablecloth, no +glasses, no knives and forks, no spoons, and no napkin. He will be expected +to deal with his food with a pair of chopsticks. When these are set +before him, he will see that the two round slips of wood are still joined +together. This is to show that they have never been used before. He breaks +them apart, and wonders how he is going to get his food into his mouth with +two pencils of wood. + +The feast begins with tea served by moosmes, who kneel before each +guest. Each wears her most beautiful dress, and is girded with a huge +and brilliant sash. After the tea they bring in pretty little white cakes +made of bean flour and sugar, and flavoured with honey. The next course is +contained in a batch of little dishes, two or three of which are placed +before each guest. These contain minced dried fish, sea slugs floating in +an evil-smelling sauce, and boiled lotus-seeds. To wash down these dainties +a porcelain bottle of sake, rice-beer, is provided. + +The unhappy foreigner tastes one dish after the other, finds each one worse +than the last, and concludes to wait till the next course. This is composed +of a very great dainty, raw, live fish, which one dips in sauce before +devouring. Then comes rice, and the chopsticks of the Japanese feasters go +to work in marvellous fashion. With their strips of wood or ivory they whip +the rice grain into their mouths with wonderful speed and dexterity, but +our unlucky foreigner gets one grain into his mouth in five minutes, and is +reduced to beg for a spoon. + +The next course is of fish soup and boiled fish, and potatoes appear with +the fish; but, alas! the fish is most oddly flavoured and the potatoes are +sweet; they have been beaten up with sugar into a sort of stiff syrup. Next +comes seaweed soup and the coarse evil-smelling daikon radish, served with +various pickles and sauces. + +Among the other oddments is a dish of nice-looking plums. Our foreigner +seizes one and pops it in his mouth. He would be only too glad to pop it +out again if he could, for the plum has been soaked in brine, and tastes +like a very salty form of pickle. As he experiments here and there among +the wilderness of little lacquer bowls which come forth relay upon relay, +he feels inclined to paraphrase the cry of the Ancient Mariner, and murmur: +"Victuals, victuals everywhere, and not a scrap to eat!" + +When at length the dinner has run its course the geisha, in their beautiful +robes of silk and brocade and their splendid sashes, come in to sing and +dance. Europeans are soon tired of both performances. The geisha, with +her face whitened with powder, and her lips painted a bright red, and her +elaborately-dressed hair full of ornaments, sits down to a sort of guitar +called a samisen and sings, but her song has no music in it. It is a kind +of long-drawn wail, very monotonous and tuneless to European ears. The +dancing is a kind of acting in dumb show, and consists of a number of +postures, while the movements of the fan take a large share in conveying +the dancer's meaning. + +When our foreigner starts home from this long and rather fatiguing +entertainment, he finds that he has by no means finished with his dinner. +On his way to his carriage he will be waylaid by the little moosmes who +have waited upon him, and their arms will be filled with flat white wooden +boxes. These contain the food that was offered to him and left uneaten, and +Japanese etiquette demands that he shall take home with him his share of +the scraps of the banquet. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES (_continued_) + + +The Japanese are very fond of their temples, and visit them constantly. +They do this not only to pray to their gods, but to enjoy themselves as +well, for the temple grounds are the scene of great fairs and festivals. +If you visit a temple on the day of some great function, you will find its +steps outside packed with rows upon rows of clogs and umbrellas, placed +there by the worshippers inside. You enter, and find the latter seated +on the floor, and if the service is not going on at the moment they are +smoking and chatting together, and the children are crawling about in the +crowd. + +When the service is over the worshippers disperse to find a cool spot +in the temple grounds to eat their simple meal. In front of the temple +stands a wooden arch, called a torii. Sometimes the temple is approached +through a whole avenue of them of various sizes. The building is of wood, +sometimes small, sometimes very large, and is usually surrounded by booths +and tea-houses. At many of the booths may be purchased the figures of the +more popular gods. Everywhere may be seen the fat figures of the Seven +Gods of Wealth, the deities most beloved in every Japanese household. Then +there are the God and Goddess of Rice, who protect the crops, and who are +attended by the figures of foxes quaintly carved in wood or moulded in +white plaster. The Goddess of Mercy, with her many hands to help and save, +is also a favourite idol. + +At another spot you find peep-shows, stalls at which hairpins, paints, and +powder-boxes, and a thousand other trifles, are sold; archery galleries, +where you may fire twenty arrows at a target for a halfpenny; booths, where +acrobats, conjurers, and jugglers are performing, and tea-houses without +number, where the faithful are sipping their tea or sake and puffing at +their tiny pipes. + +The young girls are fond of purchasing sacred beans and peas and rice at a +stall set up under the eaves of the temple. With these they feed the temple +pigeons, who come swooping down from the great wooden roof, or the sacred +white pony with the blue eyes which belongs to the holy place. On the steps +sit rows of licensed beggars, who will pray for those who will present them +with the tenth part of a farthing. But prayers may also be bought from the +priests, prayers written upon a scrap of paper, which scrap is afterwards +fastened to the bars of the grating in front of the figure of a god. A +favourite god will have many thousand scraps of paper fluttering before it +at one time. + +Many of the temple gardens are of very great beauty and interest. There +can be seen many of the marvels of Japanese gardening--tiny dwarf trees, +hundreds of years old, and yet only a few inches high, or tall shrubberies +cut and trained to represent a great junk in full sail, or the figure of a +god or hero. + +At certain times of the year when the temple orchards are in blossom, great +throngs visit them simply to enjoy the delicate beauty of the scene. The +plum-blossom appears in February, and the cherry-blossom in April or May. +Later in the year the purple iris is followed by the golden chrysanthemum. +High and low, all crowd to see the beauty of a vast sweep of lovely +blossom. A poor Japanese thinks nothing of walking a hundred miles or more +to see some famous orchard or garden in its full flowering splendour. + +From his earliest years this love of natural beauty has been a part of his +education. As a child he has taken many a trip with his father and mother +to admire the acres of plum or cherry blossom in a park or temple-garden; +as a man he lays his work aside and goes to see the same spectacle with +redoubled delight. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE RICKSHAW-MAN + + + "For his heart is in Japan, with its junks and Fujisan, + And its tea-houses and temples, and the smiling rickshaw-man." + + +We have heard of Fujisan, the famous mountain; we have talked of tea-houses +and temples; and now we must say something about the rickshaw-man or boy, +a very important person indeed in Japan. He is not important because of +riches or rank, for, as a rule, he is very poor and of the coolie order; he +is important because he is so useful. He is at one and the same time the +cabman and the cab-horse of Japan. He waits in the street with his little +carriage, and when you jump in he takes hold of the shafts himself and +trots away with you at a good speed. + +The jin-ri-ki-sha, to give it its full name, means man-power carriage, and +is like a big mail-cart or perambulator. There is a hood of oiled paper to +pull up for wet weather, a cushion to sit on, a box for parcels under the +seat, two tall slight wheels, and a pair of shafts. If the rickshaw-boy is +well-to-do in his business, his carriage is gaily lacquered and painted +with bright designs, and however poor he may be, there will be some attempt +at decoration. + +At night every rickshaw is furnished with a pretty paper lantern, circular +in form, about eighteen inches long, and painted in gay designs. These look +quite charming as they bob here and there through the dusk, their owners +racing along with a fare. The rickshaw is as modern as the bicycle. The +first one was made less than forty years ago, but they sprang into favour +at once, and their popularity grew by leaps and bounds. The fact is that +the rickshaw fits Japan as a round peg fits a round hole. In the first +place, it opened a new and money-making industry to many thousands of men +who had little to do. There were vast numbers of strong, active young +fellows who leapt forward at once to use their strength and endurance in +this novel and profitable fashion. Then, the vehicle was suited to Japanese +conditions, both in town and country. + +In town the streets are so narrow and busy that horse traffic would be +dangerous. In fact, in many places a horse is so rare a sight that when one +trots along a street a man runs ahead, blowing a horn to warn people to +clear out of the way. But the rickshaw-boy dodges through the traffic with +his little light carriage, and runs over no one. + +Then, in the country the roads are often very narrow, and sometimes very +bad--mere tracks between fields of rice. Here the rickshaw is of great +service, owing to its light weight and the little room it requires. + +As a rule, the rickshaw is drawn by one man and holds one passenger; but +it has often to contain two Japanese, for the pair of them will fit snugly +into the space required for one Englishman. If the traveller wishes to go +fast, he has two human horses harnessed to his light chariot. Both run in +front till a hill is reached, when one drops back to push behind. + +Wherever you arrive in Japan, whether by steamer or by train, you will find +long rows of rickshaw-boys waiting to be hired. They are all called boys, +whatever their age may be. Until a possible passenger comes in sight, the +queer little men, many of them under five feet in height, stand beside +their rickshaws, smoking their tiny little brass pipes with bowls about +half as big as a thimble. Their clothes are very simple. They wear a very +tight pair of short blue drawers and a blue tunic, upon the back of which +a huge white crest is painted, the distinguishing mark of each boy. An +enormous white hat the size and shape of a huge basin is worn on the head; +but if the day becomes very hot the hat is taken off, and a wisp of cloth +bound round the forehead to prevent sweat from running into the eyes. As +for sunstroke, the rickshaw-boy has no fear of that. + +When you step into sight, a score dart forward, dragging their rickshaws +after them with one hand and holding the other up to draw your attention, +and shouting, "Riksha! Riksha! Riksha!" You choose one, and step in. +The human steed springs between the shafts, raises them and tilts you +backwards, and then darts off, as if eager to show you his strength and +speed, and prove to you what a good choice you have made. + +Away bounds the little man, and soon you are bowling along a narrow street +where a passage seems impossible, so full is it of boys and girls, men +and women, shops and stalls. There may be a side-walk, but then, the +shopkeepers have taken that to spread out their wares, or the stallkeepers +have set up their little booths there. So the people who want to go along +the street, and the boys and girls who want to play in it, are all driven +to the middle of the way. + +Here and there your rickshaw dodges, working its way through the crowd. +Now the man pauses a second lest he should run full-tilt over a group +of gaily-dressed little girls, each with a baby on her back, playing +at ball in the road. Half a dozen others are busy with battledores and +shuttlecocks, and the gaily-painted toys drop into your carriage, and +you are expected to toss them out again to the mites, who will bow very +deeply and with the profoundest gravity in return for your politeness; then +something flutters over your head, and you see that two boys and an old man +are sitting on the roof of a house about as high as a tool-shed, trying to +get their kites up. And you say to yourself that it is lucky that there +are no horses, for the quietest beast that ever lifted a hoof would bolt +here and charge through the whirl and uproar and the rain of dropping +shuttlecocks and bouncing balls. + +Another fine thing about rickshaw-riding is that no one can call it +expensive. While the boy goes, you pay him about sevenpence an hour; while +he waits you pay him rather less than twopence-halfpenny an hour, and you +can have his services for a whole day for about half a crown. But some of +them will try to cheat you in places where foreigners are often met with, +and will put a whole twopence an hour on the regular price. + +This is very sad, and causes the rickshaw-boy to be looked upon as a +tradesman; he is not allowed the honour of being regarded as a servant and +the member of an honourable profession--one who puts his master's interests +before his own. But, as a rule, the foreigner who employs the same +rickshaw-boy comes to look upon him as a guide, philosopher, and friend. He +will tell you where to go and what to do; he knows all the sights, and can +tell you all about them. If you go shopping, he will come in and see that +you don't get cheated any more than you are bound to be. If you go on an +expedition, he will find out the best tea-house to stay at, he will cook +for you, wait on you, brush your clothes, put up the paper screens to form +your bedroom, take them down again, see that the bill is reasonable, pay +it, and fee the servants--in short, he will manage everything, and you have +only to admire what you have gone to see. + +Wherever you stop on a jaunt, whether it is some famous temple or some +lovely park, there is sure to be a coolie's tea-house handy, and he takes +the opportunity of refreshing himself. He dives into the well under the +seat and fetches out his lacquer box full of rice. He whips the rice into +his mouth with chopsticks, and washes it down with the yellow, bitter +Japanese tea. Then he sits and smokes his tiny pipe until you are ready to +go on. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IN THE COUNTRY + + +The Japanese farmer is one of the steadiest workers in the world; he tills +his patch of land, day in, day out, with untiring industry. He works seven +days a week, for he knows nothing of the Sabbath, and only takes a day +off for a fair or a festival when his land is in perfect order and he is +waiting for the crop. + +Almost the whole of the land is turned over with the spade, and weeds are +kept down until the whole country looks like a neatly-kept garden. Many +crops are grown, but the chief of them all is rice, and when the rice crop +fails, then vast numbers of people in Japan feel the pinch of famine. + +In order to grow rice much water is needed, so the fields are flooded from +a river or canal near at hand, and the plants are set in the soft mud. This +work is carried out by men or women who wade in slush above their knees, +and it is a very dirty and toilsome task. The women tuck their kimonos up, +and the men cast theirs aside altogether. After planting, this work in deep +slush and clinging mud must be repeated three times in order to clear away +the water-weeds which grow thickly around the young rice-plants. + +When the rice is nearly ripe the water is drawn off and the fields are +dried. The fields are of all sizes and shapes, from a patch of a few square +yards up to an acre, and the latter would be considered large. There +are no hedges or fences to divide off field from field, for the land is +too valuable to permit of such being grown; but the boundaries are well +understood, and each farmer knows his own patch. + +Another important crop is the plants which are grown for making paper. +Paper has a great place in the industries of Japan. It is used everywhere +and for almost everything. A Japanese lives in a house largely built of +paper, drinks from a paper cup, reads by a paper lantern, writes, of +course, on paper, and wraps up his parcels in it, ties up the parcels with +paper string, uses a paper pocket-handkerchief, wears a paper cloak and +paper shoes and paper hat, holds up a paper umbrella against the sun and +the rain, and employs it for a great number of other purposes. He makes +more than sixty kinds of paper, and each kind has its own specified use. He +can make it so tough that it is almost impossible to tear it, and he can +make it waterproof, so that the fiercest rain cannot pass through it. + +If your path leads you along the bank of a river you will often see a +fisherman at work. He has many ways of catching his prey. He uses a line +and hook and the net. In a large stream or pool he may be seen at work with +the throwing-net, a clever device. + +This net is made in the form of a circle twelve or fourteen feet across, +and round the edge of the net heavy sinkers of lead are fastened. The +fisherman folds this net over his arm, and then tosses into the water a +ball of boiled rice and barley. The fish gather to eat this bait, and then +he throws the net in such a way that it falls quite flat upon the water. +The leads sink at once to the bottom, and the net covers the feeding fish +in the shape of a dome. A strong cord is fastened to the top of the net, +and he begins to haul it up. The leads are drawn together by their own +weight, and close the bottom of the net, and the fish are imprisoned. + +Sometimes he uses bow and arrows. This he does after putting into the water +certain fruit and herbs which are very bitter. The juice of these herbs +affects the water and drives the fish to the surface, where they leap about +in pain. The fisherman shoots them with an arrow to which a cord is +attached, and draws them ashore. + +As night falls after a hot day, the people and children of the village +near at hand will come down to the water-side on a fire-fly hunt. The tiny +gleaming creatures now flash along the surface of river and lake, like a +myriad of fairy lanterns flitting through the dusk. They are caught and +imprisoned in little silken cages. At the bottom of the cage there is a +very small mound of earth in which a millet seed has been planted and has +sprung up to the height of an inch or more, and beside the little plant +there is a tiny bowl of water. Here the firefly will live for several days, +to the delight of the children. + +Not far from the river is the village, with a brook running down the middle +of its street. This brook serves many purposes. The women kneel beside it +with sleeves and kimonos tucked up, washing clothes and vegetables, or +dipping buckets in it to get water for baths. There is a loud rattle of +wooden hammers at various points, for the stream turns a number of small +water-wheels, and these work big wooden hammers which pound up the rice +placed in a big stump of a tree hollowed out for a mortar. As you stroll +along the village street you see what every one is doing, for the fronts +of the houses are all open, and you can see into every corner of each +dwelling. + +Behind the houses tall bamboos shoot up, and the bamboo is welcome, for it +is a tree of many uses. Its wood serves for the framework of houses, and +its leaves are often used as thatch. It will make a dish, a box, a plate, a +bowl, an oar, a channel for conveying water and a vessel for carrying it, a +fishing-rod, a flower-vase, a pipe-stem, a barrel-hoop, a fan, an umbrella, +and fifty other things, while young bamboo shoots are eaten and considered +a great delicacy. + +On fine summer evenings, when the work of the day is over, the villagers +gather in the court of the village temple for the odori, the open-air +dance. The court is decked with big beautiful paper lanterns, but there is +a special one called toro (a light in a basket). The toro is often two feet +square by five feet high. On one side of it is the name of the god in whose +temple court the dance is being held, while the other is reserved for some +short poem, written by one of the youths of the village. There is keen +competition among them for the honour of writing the poem chosen to be +inscribed on the toro, and two of these tiny poems run thus: + + "I looked upon the cherry that blooms by the fence, down by the woodman's + cottage, + And wondered if an untimely snow had fallen upon it." + + "Into the evening dew that rolls upon the green blade of the tall-grown + grass in Mushashi Meadow + The summer moon comes stealthily and takes up her dwelling." + +The young men and maidens dance in a ring, circling round one who stands in +the midst, from whom they take both the time and music of the many dances +performed at the odori. The dancers are always young and unmarried. The +older people sit on the steps of the temple and watch the merry frolic with +a smile. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +IN THE COUNTRY (_continued_) + + +On a wet day in the country the people thatch themselves to keep off the +rain. The favourite waterproof of the coolie is a huge cloak made of rice +straw, the long ends sticking out. With this and his great umbrella hat he +keeps comfortably dry. Those who do not wear a big hat carry a large oiled +paper umbrella, which shelters them well. + +There is plenty of wet weather in Japan, particularly in the summer, and +then travelling is not very pleasant. The good roads become muddy and soft, +and the bad roads become sheer quagmires, in which the coolie pulling the +rickshaw is continually losing his straw sandals. These sandals, called +waraji, mark out the tracks in every direction, for they soon wear out, and +are cast off to litter the wayside in their hundreds. They are quickly and +cheaply replaced, however, for almost every roadside house sells them, and +a pair may be bought for a sen--something less than a halfpenny. + +Not only do the men wear straw shoes, but horses are shod in them also, +and a very poor and clumsy arrangement it is. The shoes are thick, and are +tied on the horse's feet with straw cords. They wear out so fast that a +bunch has to be kept hanging to the saddle for use on the way, and in every +village a fresh stock has to be secured, at the cost of a penny per set of +four. + +The foreign visitor who travels through country places in Japan has to +submit to being stared at, but nothing more. The people are so interested +in a person who looks so different from themselves that they are never +tired of watching him and his ways. But otherwise their unfailing +politeness remains. They do not crowd upon him, or, if they should come a +little too near, they are soon warned off. An English artist, Mr. Alfred +Parsons, was once sketching in Japan, and the crowd, anxious to see his +work, came a little too near his elbow. He says: "The keeper of a little +tea-shop hard by, where I took my lunch, noticed that I was worried by the +people standing so close to me, and when I arrived next morning I found +that he had put up a fence round the place where I worked. It was only a +few slender bamboo sticks, with a thin string twisted from one to another, +but not a soul attempted to come inside it. They are such an obedient and +docile race that a little string stretched across a road is quite enough to +close the thoroughfare." + +A familiar figure along the Japanese highways and byways is that of the +pilgrim going to see some famous shrine, or, most often of all, marching +towards Fujisan, the sacred mountain. The Fuji pilgrim may be known by his +garb. He is dressed in white, with white kimono, white socks and gaiters, +and straw sandals. He wears a great basin-shaped white hat, and has a rush +mat over his shoulders to temper the heat of the sun or shed the rain. +Round his neck hangs a string of beads and a bell, which tinkles without +ceasing as he goes. He carries a little bundle of spare sandals and a staff +with an ornament of paper about its end. + +His pilgrimage costs him very little. His food is of the simplest, and he +gets a bed at a tea-house for a halfpenny, or he lodges with a villager +who offers him hospitality. To entertain his guest the villager will fetch +his best furniture from the village godown, for in the country one of +these storehouses suffices for a whole hamlet. They are made very large and +strong, with many thick coats of mud and plaster on a wooden frame, and +with a door of iron or of bronze; then, when the fire, which is sure to +come at some time or other, sweeps over the hamlet and leaves it a layer of +smoking ashes around the big godown, there are the village treasures still +unharmed, and ready to adorn the houses which will spring up again as if by +magic. + +When bedtime comes, the amado, the wooden shutters, are drawn around the +house and securely fastened; for a Japanese dwelling, so open by day, is +shut up as tightly as a sealed box by night. Now all is quiet save for +the village watchman, whose duty it is to guard against fire and thieves. +He marches up and down, beating two pieces of wood together--clop-clop, +clop-clop--as he walks. This is to give assurance that he is not asleep +himself, but watching over the slumbers of his neighbours, and to let the +thieves know that he is looking out for them. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE POLICEMAN AND THE SOLDIER + + +The Japanese policeman is, first and foremost, a gentleman. He is a +samurai, a man of good family, and therefore deeply respected by the mass +of the people. He is often a small man for a Japanese, but though his +height may run from four feet ten to five feet nothing, he is a man of much +authority. When the samurai were disbanded, there were very few occupations +to which they could turn. They disdained agriculture and trade, but numbers +of them became servants, printers, and policemen. This seems an odd mixture +of tasks, but there are sound reasons for it. + +Many samurai became servants because service is an honourable profession in +Japan; many became printers because the samurai were an educated class, and +the only people fitted to deal with the very complicated Japanese alphabet; +and many became policemen because it was a post for which their fighting +instinct and their habit of authority well fitted them. Their authority +over the people is absolute and unquestioning; and, again, there are sound +reasons for this. + +Forty years ago the Japanese people could have been divided very sharply +into two classes, the ruling and the ruled. The ruling class was formed +of the great Princes and the samurai, their followers, about 2,000,000 +people in all. The remaining 38,000,000 of the population were the common +people, the ruled. Now, in the old days when a Daimio left his castle for +a journey, he was borne in a kago, a closed carriage, and was attended +by a guard of his samurai. If a common person met the procession, he was +expected either to retire quickly from the path or fling himself humbly on +his face until the carriage had gone by; if he did not, the samurai whipped +out their long swords and slew him in short order, and not a single word +was said about it. This way of dealing with those who did not belong to the +two-sworded class made the people very respectful to the samurai, and that +respect is now transferred to the police. + +The Japanese policeman is also to be respected for his skill in wrestling, +and, small as he is, the tallest and most powerful foreigner is quite +helpless in his hands. He is thoroughly trained in the art of Japanese +wrestling--the jiu-jitsu of which we hear so much nowadays. In this system +a trained wrestler can seize his opponent in such a manner that the other +man is quite at his mercy, or with a slight impetus he can fling the other +about as he pleases. One writer speaks of seeing a very small Japanese +policeman arrest a huge, riotous Russian sailor, a man much more than six +feet high. It seemed a contest between a giant and a child. The sailor made +rush after rush at his tiny opponent, but the policeman stepped nimbly +aside, waiting for the right moment to grip his man. At last it came. +The sailor made a furious lunge, and the policeman seized him by the +wrist. To the astonishment of the onlooker, the sailor flew right over the +policeman's head, and fell all in a heap more than a dozen feet away. When +he picked himself up, confused and half stunned, the policeman tied a bit +of string to his belt and led him away in triumph to the station. + +The policeman never has any trouble with his own people; they obey at once +and without question. If a crowd gathers and becomes a nuisance to anyone, +it melts as soon as one of the little men in uniform comes along and gives +the order to disperse. He may sometimes be seen lecturing a coolie or +rickshaw-boy for some misdeed or other. The culprit, his big hat held +between his hands, ducks respectfully at every second word, and looks all +humility and obedience. + +Being an educated man, he has much sympathy with art and artists, and is +delighted to help a foreigner who is painting scenes in Japan. Mr. Mortimer +Menpes says: "Altogether I found the policeman the most delightful person +in the world. When I was painting a shop, if a passer-by chanced to look in +at a window, he would see at a glance exactly what I wanted; and I would +find that that figure would remain there, looking in at the shop, as still +as a statue, until I had finished my painting; the policeman meanwhile +strutting up and down the street, delighted to be of help to an artist, +looking everywhere but at my work, and directing the entire traffic down +another street." + +Of the Japanese soldier there is no need for us to say much here, since +the world has so lately been ringing with his praises. The endurance, the +obedience, the courage of the Japanese soldier and sailor have been shown +in marvellous fashion during the great war with Russia, and Japan has fully +proved herself to be one of the greatest of the naval and military Powers +of the world. + +The Japanese soldier is the result of the family life in Japan. From his +infancy he is taught that he has two supreme duties: one of obedience +to his parents, the other of service to his country. This unhesitating, +unquestioning habit of obedience, a habit which becomes second nature to +him, is of immense value to him as a soldier. He is a disciplined man +before he enters the ranks, and he transfers at once to his officers the +obedience which he has hitherto shown towards the elders of his family. + +His second great duty of service to his country also leads him onward +towards becoming the perfect soldier. He not only looks upon his life as a +thing to be readily risked or given for his Emperor and for Japan, but he +strives to make himself a thoroughly capable servant of his land. No detail +of his duty is too small for him to overlook, for he fears lest the lack +of that detail should prevent him from putting forth his full strength on +the day of trial. He cleans a button as carefully as he lays a big gun, +and this readiness for any duty, great or small, was a large factor in the +wonderful victory of Japan over Russia. + +In battle he questions no order. During the late war many Japanese +regiments knew that they were being sent to certain death, in order that +they might open a way for their comrades. They never flinched. Shouting +their "Banzai!"--their Japanese hurrah--the dogged little men rushed +forward upon batteries spouting flame and shell, or upon ramparts lined +with rifles, and gave their lives freely for Dai Nippon, Great Japan, the +country of their birth. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +TWO GREAT FESTIVALS + + +There are two great Japanese festivals of which we have not yet spoken, but +which are of the first importance. One is the New Year Festival, the other +is the Bon Matsuri, the Feast of the Dead, in the summer. The New Year +Festival is the great Japanese holiday of the year. No one does any work +for several days, and all devote themselves to making merry. Although this +festival comes in the middle of winter, every street looks like an arbour, +decorated as it is with arches of greenery before each house. On either +side of each door is a pine-tree and bamboo stems. These signify a hardy +old age, and they are joined by a grass rope which runs from house to +house along the street. This rope is supposed to prevent evil spirits from +entering the houses, and so it ensures the occupants a lucky year. Japanese +flags are entwined amid the decorations, and green feathery branches and +ferns are set about, until the street looks like a forest. + +Japanese people are so polite to each other that even the beggars in the +streets bow to each other in the most ceremonious fashion, but at this +festival the bowing is redoubled. There is a special form of greeting for +this occasion, and not a bow is to be missed when two acquaintances meet. + +There is much feasting and a great exchange of presents. The Japanese are +always making presents to each other, and there is a prescribed way for +every rank of life to make presents to every other rank, and for the manner +in which the presents are to be received. A present may always be known by +the little gold or red or white paper kite fastened to the paper string +which ties up the parcel. + +Every one enters into the fun of the time, from the highest to the lowest. +They call upon each other; they march in great processions; they visit +the gayest and liveliest of fairs; they feast; they drink tea and sake +almost without ceasing. The fairs look most striking and picturesque after +darkness has fallen. Then the streets and the long rows of white booths +made of newly-sawn wood and gaily decorated, are lighted up by innumerable +lanterns of every colour that paper can be painted, and of every size, from +six inches high to six feet. The crowd wear their gayest kimonos, and the +moosmes are brilliant in flowered or striped silks and splendid sashes, and +the air is full of the rattle of the shuffling clogs and the tinkling +samisen played in almost every booth. + +At times the crowd opens to let some procession pass through. Now it is the +dragon-dancers, the dragon's head being a huge and terrifying affair made +of coloured pasteboard, and carried on a pole draped with a long garment +which hides the dancer. In front march two men with drum and fife to herald +the dragon's approach. Next comes a batch of coolies dragging a car upon +which a swarm of masqueraders present some traditional pageant, and next a +number of boys perform an old dance with much spirit and shouting. On New +Year's Eve a very curious market is held. It is a custom in Japan for every +one to pay all that he owes to his Japanese creditors before the New Year +dawns. If he does not do so, he loses his credit. So on the last day of +the Old Year the Japanese who is behind in his payments looks among his +belongings for something to sell, and carries it to the market in order +that he may gain a few sen to settle with his creditor. + +In the great city of Tokyo this fair is visited by every traveller. For +a space of two miles the stalls stretch along in double rows, lighted by +lanterns of oil flares, and here may be seen every imaginable thing which +is to be found in poorer Japanese households. As each Japanese arrives with +his worldly possessions in a couple of square boxes swinging one at each +end of a bamboo pole slung across his shoulder, he takes possession of a +little stall or a patch of pavement and sets out his poor wares. + +He has brought mats, or cushions, or shabby kimonos, or clogs, or socks, or +little ornaments and vessels in porcelain or silver or bronze. Sometimes he +brings really beautiful things, the last precious possessions of a family +which has come down in the world--a fine piece of embroidery, a priceless +bit of lacquer, bronze and silver charms, little boxes of ivory, temples +and pagodas and bell-towers in miniature, tiny but perfect in every detail +and of the most exquisite workmanship. Everything comes to market on this +night of the year. + +The Feast of the Dead takes place in the hot summer weather, and is +celebrated in different ways in various parts of Japan. Everywhere +the children, in their finest clothes, march through the streets in +processions, carrying fans and banners and lanterns, and chanting as +they march; but most great cities have their own form of celebration. + +At Nagasaki the tombs of all those who have died during the past year +are illuminated with large bright lanterns on the first night of the +celebrations. On the second and third nights all tombs are illuminated, +and the burial-grounds are one glorious blaze of many-coloured lights. The +avenues leading to the burial-grounds are turned into fair-grounds, with +decorations and booths, stalls and tea-houses, each illuminated by many +brilliant lanterns. Fires are lighted on the hills, rockets shoot up on +every hand, and vast crowds of people gather in the cemeteries to feast and +make merry and drink sake in honour of their ancestors, whose spirits they +suppose to surround them and be present at the festival. At the end of the +feast a very striking scene takes place: the preparations for the departure +of the dead. + +"But on the third vigil, suddenly, at about two o'clock in the morning, +long processions of bright lanterns are seen to descend from the heights +and group themselves on the shores of the bay, while the mountains +gradually return to obscurity and silence. It is fated that the dead +should embark and disappear before twilight. The living have plaited them +thousands of little ships of straw, each provisioned with some fruit and a +few pieces of money. The frail vessels are charged with all the coloured +lanterns which were used for the illumination of the cemeteries; the small +sails of matting are spread to the wind, and the morning breeze scatters +them round the bay, where they are not long in taking fire. It is thus that +the entire flotilla is consumed, tracing in all directions large trails of +fire. The dead depart rapidly. Soon the last ship has foundered, the last +light is extinguished, and the last soul has taken its departure again from +earth." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Peeps at Many Lands: Japan, by John Finnemore + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEEPS AT MANY LANDS: JAPAN *** + +This file should be named 7japn10.txt or 7japn10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7japn11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7japn10a.txt + +Produced by David Starner, Bill Flis +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Peeps at Many Lands: Japan + +Author: John Finnemore + +Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7936] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 2, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEEPS AT MANY LANDS: JAPAN *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Bill Flis +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + PEEPS AT MANY LANDS + + JAPAN + + BY + + JOHN FINNEMORE + + + WITH TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR + + BY + + ELLA DU CANE + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN + + II. BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN + + III. BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN (_continued_) + + IV. THE JAPANESE BOY + + V. THE JAPANESE GIRL + + VI. IN THE HOUSE + + VII. IN THE HOUSE (_continued_) + + VIII. A JAPANESE DAY + + IX. A JAPANESE DAY (_continued_) + + X. JAPANESE GAMES + + XI. THE FEAST OF DOLLS AND THE FEAST OF FLAGS + + XII. A FARTHING'S WORTH OF FUN + + XIII. KITE-FLYING + + XIV. FAIRY STORIES + + XV. TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES + + XVI. TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES (_continued_) + + XVII. THE RICKSHAW-MAN + +XVIII. IN THE COUNTRY + + XIX. IN THE COUNTRY (_continued_) + + XX. THE POLICEMAN AND THE SOLDIER + + XXI. TWO GREAT FESTIVALS + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +BY ELLA DU CANE + + +OUTSIDE A TEA-HOUSE + +_Sketch-Map of Japan_ + +THE LITTLE NURSE + +THE WRITING LESSON + +GOING TO THE TEMPLE + +A JAPANESE HOUSE + +OFFERING TEA TO A GUEST + +FIGHTING TOPS + +THE TOY SHOP + +A BUDDHIST SHRINE + +PEACH TREES IN BLOSSOM + +THE FEAST OF FLAGS + +THE TORII OF THE TEMPLE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN + + +Far away from our land, on the other side of the world, lies a group of +islands which form the kingdom of Japan. The word "Japan" means the "Land +of the Rising Sun," and it is certainly a good name for a country of the +Far East, the land of sunrise. + +The flag of Japan, too, is painted with a rising sun which sheds its beams +on every hand, and this flag is now for ever famous, so great and wonderful +have been the victories in which it has been borne triumphant over Russian +arms. + +In some ways the Japanese are fond of comparing themselves with their +English friends and allies. They point out that Japan is a cluster of +islands off the coast of Asia, as Britain is a cluster of islands off the +coast of Europe. They have proved themselves, like the English, brave and +clever on the sea, while their troops have fought as nobly as British +soldiers on the land. They are fond of calling themselves the "English of +the East," and say that their land is the "Britain of the Pacific." + +The rise of Japan in becoming one of the Great Powers of the world has been +very sudden and wonderful. Fifty years ago Japan lay hidden from the world; +she forbade strangers to visit the country, and very little was known of +her people and her customs. + +Her navy then consisted of a few wooden junks; to-day she has a fleet of +splendid ironclads, handled by men who know their duties as well as English +seamen. Her army consisted of troops armed with two swords and carrying +bows and arrows; to-day her troops are the admiration of the world, armed +with the most modern weapons, and, as foes, to be dreaded by the most +powerful nations. + +Fifty years ago Japan was in the purely feudal stage. Her great native +Princes were called Daimios. Each had a strong castle and a private army +of his own. There were ceaseless feuds between these Princes and constant +fighting between their armies of samurai, as their followers were called. +Japan was like England at the time of our War of the Roses: family quarrels +were fought out in pitched battle. All that has now gone. The Daimios have +become private gentlemen; the armies of samurai have been disbanded, and +Japan is ruled and managed just like a European country, with judges, and +policemen, and law-courts, after the model of Western lands. + +When the Japanese decided to come out and take their place among the great +nations of the world, they did not adopt any half-measures; they simply +came out once and for all. They threw themselves into the stream of modern +inventions and movements with a will. They have built railways and set up +telegraph and telephone lines. They have erected banks and warehouses, +mills and factories. They have built bridges and improved roads. They have +law-courts and a Parliament, to which the members are elected by the +people, and newspapers flourish everywhere. + +Japan is a very beautiful country. It is full of fine mountains, with +rivers leaping down the steep slopes and dashing over the rocks in snowy +waterfalls. At the foot of the hills are rich plains and valleys, well +watered by the streams which rush down from the hills. But the mountains +are so many and the plains are so few that only a small part of the land +can be used for growing crops, and this makes Japan poor. Its climate is +not unlike ours in Great Britain, but the summer is hotter, and the winter +is in some parts very cold. Many of the mountains are volcanoes. Some of +these are still active, and earthquakes often take place. Sometimes these +earthquakes do terrible harm. The great earthquake of 1871 killed 10,000 +people, injured 20,000, and destroyed 130,000 houses. + +The highest mountain of Japan also is the most beautiful, and it is greatly +beloved by the Japanese, who regard it as a sacred height. Its name is +Fujisan, or Fusi-Yama, and it stands near the sea and the capital city +of Tokyo. It is of most beautiful shape, an almost perfect cone, and it +springs nearly 13,000 feet into the air. From the sea it forms a most +superb and majestic sight. Long before a glimpse can be caught of the shore +and the city, the traveller sees the lofty peak, crowned with a glittering +crest of snow, rising in lonely majesty, with no hint of the land on which +it rests. The Japanese have a great love of natural beauty, and they adore +Fujisan. Their artists are never tired of painting it, and pictures of it +are to be found in the most distant parts of the land. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN + + +In no country in the world do children have a happier childhood than in +Japan. Their parents are devoted to them, and the children are always good. +This seems a great deal to say, but it is quite true. Japanese boys and +girls behave as quietly and with as much composure as grown-up men and +women. From the first moment that it can understand anything, a Japanese +baby is taught to control its feelings. If it is in pain or sad, it is not +to cry or to pull an ugly face; that would not be nice for other people to +hear or see. If it is very merry or happy, it is not to laugh too loudly or +to make too much noise; that would be vulgar. So the Japanese boy or girl +grows up very quiet, very gentle, and very polite, with a smile for +everything and everybody. + +While they are little they have plenty of play and fun when they are not in +school. In both towns and villages the streets are the playground, and here +they play ball, or battledore and shuttlecock, or fly kites. + +Almost every little girl has a baby brother or sister strapped on her back, +for babies are never carried in the arms in Japan except by the nurses of +very wealthy people. The baby is fastened on its mother's or its sister's +shoulders by a shawl, and that serves it for both cot and cradle. The +little girl does not lose a single scrap of her play because of the baby. +She runs here and there, striking with her battledore, or racing after her +friends, and the baby swings to and fro on her shoulders, its little head +wobbling from side to side as if it were going to tumble off. But it is +perfectly content, and either watches the game with its sharp little black +eyes, or goes calmly off to sleep. + +In the form of their dress both boys and girls appear alike, and, more than +that, they are dressed exactly like their parents. There is no child's +dress in Japan. The garments are smaller, to fit the small wearers--that is +all. + +The main article of dress is a loose gown, called a kimono. Under the outer +kimono is an inner kimono, and the garments are girt about the body with a +large sash, called an obi. The obi is the pride of a Japanese girl's heart. +If her parents are rich, it will be of shining costly silk or rich brocade +or cloth of gold; if her parents are poor, they will make an effort to get +her one as handsome as their means will allow. Next to her obi, she prides +herself on the ornaments which decorate her black hair--fine hairpins, +with heads of tortoiseshell or coral or lacquer, and hair-combs, all most +beautifully carved. + +A boy's obi is more for practical use, and is not of such splendour as +his sister's. When he is very small, his clothes are of yellow, while his +sister's are of red. At the age of five he puts on the hakama, and then he +is a very proud boy. The hakama is a kind of trousers made of silk, and is +worn by men instead of an under-kimono. At five years old a boy is taken +to the temple to thank the gods who have protected him thus far; and as he +struts along, and hears with joy his hakama rustling its stiff new silk +beneath his kimono, he feels himself a man indeed, and that his babyhood of +yesterday is left far behind. + +Upon the feet are worn the tabi--thick white socks, which may be called +foot-gloves, for there are separate divisions for the toes. + +These serve both as stockings outside the house and slippers inside, for no +boots are worn in a Japanese house. When a Japanese walks out, he slips his +feet into high wooden clogs, and when he comes home he kicks off the clogs +at the door, and enters his home in tabi alone. The reason for this we +shall hear later on. In Japanese clothes there are no pockets. Whatever +they need to carry with them is tucked into the sash or into the sleeves of +the kimono. The latter are often very long, and afford ample room for the +odds and ends one usually carries in the pocket. + +But fine kimonos and rich obis are for the wealthy Japanese; the poor +cannot afford them, and dress very simply. The coolie--the Japanese working +man--goes almost naked in the warm weather, wearing only a pair of short +cotton trousers, until he catches sight of a policeman, when he slips on +his blue cotton coat, for the police have orders to see that he dresses +himself properly. His wife wears a cotton kimono, and the pair of them can +dress themselves handsomely--for coolies--from head to foot for a sum of 45 +sen, which, taking the sen at a halfpenny, amounts to 1 S. 10-1/2d. in our +money. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN (_continued_) + + +When Japanese boys and girls go to school, they make very low bows to their +teacher and draw in the breath with a buzzing sound. This is a sign of deep +respect, and the teacher returns their politeness by making low bows to +them. Then the children sit down and begin to learn their lessons. + +Their books are very odd-looking affairs to us. Not only are they printed +in very large characters, but they seem quite upside down. To find the +first page you turn to the end of the book, and you read it backwards +to the front page. Again, you do not read from left to right, as in our +fashion, but from right to left. Nor is this all: for the lines do not run +across the page, but up and down. Altogether, a Japanese book is at first +a very puzzling affair. When the writing lesson comes, the children have +no pens; they use brushes instead. They dip their brushes in the ink, and +paint the words one under the other, beginning at the top right-hand corner +and finishing at the bottom left-hand corner. If they have an address to +write on an envelope, they turn that upside down and begin with the name +of the country and finish with the name of the person--England, London, +Kensington Gardens, Brown John Mr. + +But Japanese children have quite as many things to learn at home as at +school. At school they learn arithmetic, geography, history, and so on, +just as children do in England, but their manners and their conduct towards +other people are carefully drilled into them by their parents. The art of +behaving yourself towards others is by no means an easy thing to learn +in Japan. It is not merely a matter of good-feeling, gentleness, and +politeness, as we understand it, but there is a whole complicated system +of behaviour: how many bows to make, and how they should be made. There +are different forms of salutation to superiors, equals, and inferiors. +Different ranks of life have their own ways of performing certain actions, +and it is said that a girl's rank may easily be known merely by the way +in which she hands a cup of tea to a guest. From the earliest years the +children are trained in these observances, and they never make a mistake. + +The Japanese baby is taught how to walk, how to bow, how to kneel and +touch the floor with its forehead in the presence of a superior, and how +to get up again; and all is done in the most graceful manner and without +disturbing a single fold in its kimono. + +A child is taught very carefully how to wait on people, how to enter the +room, how to carry a tray or bowl at the right height, and, above all, how +to offer a cup or plate in the most dainty and correct style. One writer +speaks of going into a Japanese shop to buy some articles he wanted. The +master, the mistress, the children, all bent down before him. There was +a two-year-old baby boy asleep on his sister's back, and he, too, was +awakened and called upon to pay his respects to the foreign gentleman. He +woke without a start or a cry, understood at once what was required of him, +was set on his feet, and then proceeded to make his bows and to touch the +ground with his little forehead, just as exactly as his elder relatives. +This done, he was restored once more to the shawl, and was asleep again in +a moment. + +The art of arranging flowers and ornaments is another important branch of a +girl's home education. Everything in a Japanese room is carefully arranged +so that it shall be in harmony with its surroundings. The arrangement of +a bunch of flowers in a fine porcelain jar is a matter of much thought +and care. Children are trained how to arrange blossoms and boughs so that +the most beautiful effect may be gained, and in many Japanese houses may +be found books which contain rules and diagrams intended to help them in +gaining this power of skilful arrangement. This feeling for taste and +beauty is common to all Japanese, even the poorest. A well-known artist +says: "Perhaps, however, one of the most curious experiences I had of the +native artistic instinct of Japan occurred in this way: I had got a number +of fan-holders, and was busying myself one afternoon arranging them upon +the walls. My little Japanese servant-boy was in the room, and as I went +on with my work I caught an expression on his face from time to time which +showed me that he was not overpleased with my performance. After a while, +as this dissatisfied expression seemed to deepen, I asked him what the +matter was. Then he frankly confessed that he did not like the way in which +I was arranging my fan-holders. 'Why did you not tell me so at once?' I +asked. 'You are an artist from England,' he replied, 'and it was not for +me to speak.' However, I persuaded him to arrange the fan-holders himself +after his own taste, and I must say that I received a remarkable lesson. +The task took him about two hours--placing, arranging, adjusting; and when +he had finished, the result was simply beautiful. That wall was a perfect +picture: every fan-holder seemed to be exactly in its right place, and it +looked as if the alteration of a single one would affect and disintegrate +the whole scheme. I accepted the lesson with due humility, and remained +more than ever convinced that the Japanese are what they have justly +claimed to be--an essentially artistic people, instinct with living art." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE JAPANESE BOY + + +A Japanese boy is the monarch of the household. Japan is thoroughly Eastern +in the position which it gives to women. The boy, and afterwards the man, +holds absolute rule over sister or wife. It is true that the upper classes +in Japan are beginning to take a wider view of such matters. Women of +wealthy families are well educated, wear Western dress, and copy Western +manners. They sit at table with their husbands, enter a room or a carriage +before them, and are treated as English women are treated by English men. +But in the middle and lower classes the old state of affairs still remains: +the woman is a servant pure and simple. It is said that even among the +greatest families the old customs are still observed in private. The great +lady who is treated in her Western dress just as her Western sister is +treated takes pride in waiting on her husband when they return to kimono +and obi, just as her grandmother did. + +The importance of the male in Japan arises from the religious customs of +the country. The chief of the latter is ancestor-worship. The ancestors +of a family form its household gods; but only the male ancestors are +worshipped: no offerings are ever laid on the shelf of the household gods +before an ancestress. Property, too, passes chiefly in the male line, and +every Japanese father is eager to have a son who shall continue the worship +of his ancestors, and to whom his property may descend. + +Thus, the birth of a son is received with great joy in a Japanese +household; though, on the other hand, we must not think that a girl is +ill-treated, or even destroyed, as sometimes happens in China. Not at +all; she is loved and petted just as much as her brother, but she is +not regarded as so important to the family line. + +At the age of three the Japanese boy is taken to the temple to give thanks +to the gods. Again, at the age of five, he goes to the temple, once more to +return thanks. Now he is wearing the hakama, the manly garment, and begins +to feel himself quite a man. From this age onwards the Japanese boy among +the wealthier classes is kept busily at work in school until he is ready to +go to the University, but among the poorer classes he often begins to work +for his living. + +The clever work executed by most tiny children is a matter of wonder and +surprise to all European travellers. Little boys are found binding books, +making paper lanterns and painting them, making porcelain cups, winding +grass ropes which are hung along the house-fronts for the first week of the +year to prevent evil spirits from entering, weaving mats to spread over the +floors, and at a hundred other occupations. It is very amusing to watch +the practice of the little boys who are going to be dentists. In Japan the +dentist of the people fetches out an aching tooth with thumb and finger, +and will pluck it out as surely as any tool can do the work, so his pupils +learn their trade by trying to pull nails out of a board. They begin with +tin-tacks, and go on until they can, with thumb and finger, pluck out a +nail firmly driven into the wood. + +Luckily for them, they often get a holiday. The Japanese have many +festivals, when parents and children drop their work to go to some famous +garden or temple for a day's pleasure. Then there is the great boys' +festival, the Feast of Flags, held on the fifth day of the fifth month. Of +this festival we shall speak again. + +Every Japanese boy is taught that he owes the strictest duty to his parents +and to his Emperor. These duties come before all others in Japanese eyes. +Whatever else he may neglect, he never forgets these obligations. From +infancy he is familiar with stories in which children are represented as +doing the most extraordinary things and undergoing the greatest hardships +in order to serve their parents. There is one famous old book called +"Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Virtue." It gives instances of the doings +of good sons, and is very popular in every Japanese household. + +Professor Chamberlain, the great authority on Japan, quotes some of these +instances, and they seem to us rather absurd. He says: "One of the paragons +had a cruel stepmother who was very fond of fish. Never grumbling at her +harsh treatment of him, he lay down naked on the frozen surface of the +lake. The warmth of his body melted a hole in the ice, at which two carp +came up to breathe. These he caught and set before his stepmother. Another +paragon, though of tender years and having a delicate skin, insisted on +sleeping uncovered at night, in order that the mosquitoes should fasten on +him alone, and allow his parents to slumber undisturbed. + +"A third, who was very poor, determined to bury his own child alive in +order to have more food wherewith to support his aged mother, but was +rewarded by Heaven with the discovery of a vessel filled with gold, off +which the whole family lived happily ever after. But the drollest of all +is the story of Roraishi. This paragon, though seventy years old, used to +dress in baby's clothes and sprawl about upon the floor. His object was to +delude his parents, who were really over ninety years of age, into the idea +that they could not be so very old, after all, seeing that they still had +such a childlike son." + +His duty to his Emperor the Japanese takes very seriously, for it includes +his duty to his country. He considers that his life belongs to his country, +and he is not only willing, but proud, to give it in her defence. This was +seen to the full in the late war with Russia. Time and again a Japanese +regiment was ordered to go to certain death. Not a man questioned the +order, not a man dreamed for an instant of disobedience. Forward went the +line, until every man had been smitten down, and the last brave throat had +shouted its last shrill "Banzai!" This was the result of teaching every boy +in Japan that the most glorious thing that can happen to him is to die for +his Emperor and his native land. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE JAPANESE GIRL + + +The word "obedience" has a large part in the life of a Japanese boy; it +is the whole life of a Japanese girl. From her babyhood she is taught the +duty of obeying some one or other among her relations. There is an old book +studied in every Japanese household and learned by heart by every Japanese +girl, called "Onra-Dai-Gaku"--that is, the "Greater Learning for Women." It +is a code of morals for girls and women, and it starts by saying that every +woman owes three obediences: first, while unmarried, to her father; second, +when married, to her husband and the elders of his family; third, when a +widow, to her son. + +Up to the age of three the Japanese girl baby has her head shaved in +various fancy patterns, but after three years old the hair is allowed to +grow to its natural length. Up to the age of seven she wears a narrow obi +of soft silk, the sash of infancy; but at seven years old she puts on the +stiff wide obi, tied with a huge bow, and her dress from that moment is +womanly in every detail. She is now a musume, or moosme, the Japanese girl, +one of the merriest, brightest little creatures in the world. She is never +big, for when at her full height she will be about four feet eight inches +tall, and a Japanese woman of five feet high is a giantess. + +This is her time to wear gay, bright colours, for as a married woman she +must dress very soberly. A party of moosmes tripping along to a feast or a +fair looks like a bed of brilliant flowers set in motion. They wear kimonos +of rich silks and bright shades, kimonos of vermilion and gold, of pink, +of blue, of white, decorated with lovely designs of apple-blossom, of silk +crape in luminous greens and golden browns, every shade of the rainbow +being employed, but all in harmony and perfect taste. If a shower comes on +and they tuck up their gaily-coloured and embroidered kimonos, they look +like a bed of poppies, for each shows a glowing scarlet under-kimono, or +petticoat. + +Not only is this the time for the Japanese girl to be gaily dressed, but it +is her time to visit fairs and temples, and to enjoy the gaieties which may +fall in her way: for when she marries, the gates which lead to the ways of +pleasure are closed against her for a long time. The duties of a Japanese +wife keep her strictly at home, until the golden day dawns when her son +marries and she has a daughter-in-law upon whom she may thrust all the +cares of the household. Then once more she can go to temples and theatres, +fairs and festivals, while another drudges in her stead. + +Marriage is early in Japan. A girl marries at sixteen or seventeen, and to +be unmarried at twenty is accounted a great misfortune. At marriage she +completely severs herself from her own relations, and joins her husband's +household. This is shown in a very striking fashion by the bride wearing +a white kimono, the colour of mourning; and more, when she has left her +father's house, fires of purification are lighted, just as if a dead body +had been borne to the grave. This is to signify that henceforward the bride +is dead to her old home, and her whole life must now be spent in the +service of her husband and his relations. + +The wedding rites are very simple. There is no public function, as in +England, and no religious ceremony; the chief feature is that the bride +and bridegroom drink three times in turn from three cups, each cup having +two spouts. These cups are filled with saké, the national strong drink of +Japan, a kind of beer made from rice. This drinking is supposed to typify +that henceforth they will share each other's joys and sorrows, and this +sipping of saké constitutes the marriage ceremony. + +The young wife now must bid farewell to her fine clothes and her +merry-making. She wears garments of a soft dove colour, or greys or fawns, +quiet shades, but often of great charm. She has now to rise first in the +morning, to open the shutters which have closed the house for the night, +for this is a duty she may not leave to the servants. If her husband's +father and mother dwell in the same house, she must consider it an honour +to supply all their wants, and she is expected to become a perfect slave +to her mother-in-law. It is not uncommon for a meek little wife, who has +obeyed every one, to become a perfect tyrant as a mother-in-law, ordering +her son's wife right and left, and making the younger woman's life a sheer +misery. The mother-in-law has escaped from the land of bondage. It is no +longer her duty to rise at dawn and open the house; she can lie in bed, and +be waited upon by the young wife; she is free to go here and there, and she +does not let her chances slip; she begins once more to thoroughly enjoy +life. + +It may be doubted, however, whether these conditions will hold their own +against the flood of Western customs and Western views which has begun to +flow into Japan. At present the deeply-seated ideas which rule home-life +are but little shaken in the main, but it is very likely that the modern +Japanese girl will revolt against this spending of the best years of her +life as an upper and unpaid servant to her husband's friends and relations. +But at the present moment, for great sections of Japanese society, the old +ways still stand, and stand firmly. + +It was formerly the custom for a woman to make herself as ugly as possible +when she was married. This was to show that she wished to draw no attention +from anyone outside her own home. As a rule she blackened her teeth, which +gave her a hideous appearance when she smiled. This custom is now dying +out, though plenty of women with blackened teeth are still to be seen. + +Should a Japanese wife become a widow, she is expected to show her grief +by her desolate appearance. She shaves her head, and wears garments of the +most mournful look. It has been said that a Japanese girl has the look of a +bird of Paradise, the Japanese wife of a dove, and the Japanese widow of a +crow. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN THE HOUSE + + +A Japanese house is one of the simplest buildings in the world. Its main +features are the roof of tiles or thatch, and the posts which support the +latter. By day the walls are of oiled paper; by night they are formed of +wooden shutters, neither very thick nor very strong. As a rule, the house +is of but one story, and its flimsiness comes from two reasons, both very +good ones. + +The first is that Japan is a home of earthquakes, and when an earthquake +starts to rock the land and topple the houses about the peoples' ears, then +a tall, strong house of stone or brick would be both dangerous in its fall +and very expensive to put up again. The second is that Japan is a land of +fires. The people are very careless. They use cheap lamps and still cheaper +petroleum. A lamp explodes or gets knocked over; the oiled paper walls +burst into a blaze; the blaze spreads right and left, and sweeps away a +few streets, or a suburb of a city, or a whole village. The Jap takes this +very calmly. He gets a few posts, puts the same tiles up again for a roof, +or makes a new thatch, and, with a few paper screens and shutters, there +stands his house again. + +A house among the poorer sort of Japanese consists of one large room in the +daytime. At night it is formed into as many bedrooms as its owner requires. +Along the floor, which is raised about a foot from the ground, and along +the roof run a number of grooves, lengthways and crossways. Frames covered +with paper, called shoji, slide along these grooves and form the wall +between chamber and chamber. The front of the house is, as a rule, open to +the street, but if the owners wish for privacy they slide a paper screen +into position. At night wooden shutters, called amado, cover the screens. +Each shutter is held in place by the next, and the last shutter is fastened +by a wooden bolt. + +The Japanese are very fond of fresh air and sunshine. Unless the day is too +wet or stormy, the front of the house always stands open. If the sun is +too strong a curtain is hung across for shade, and very often this curtain +bears a huge white symbol representing his name, just as an Englishman puts +his name on a brass plate on his front-door. The furniture in these houses +is very simple. The floor is covered with thick mats, which serve for +chairs and bed, as people both sit and sleep on them. For table a low stool +suffices, and for a young couple to set up housekeeping in Japan is a very +simple matter. As Mrs. Bishop, the well-known writer, remarks: + +"Among the strong reasons for deprecating the adoption of foreign houses, +furniture, and modes of living by the Japanese, is that the expense +of living would be so largely, increased as to render early marriages +impossible. At present the requirements of a young couple in the poorer +classes are: a bare matted room (capable or not of division), two wooden +pillows, a few cotton futons (quilts), and a sliding panel, behind which +to conceal them in the daytime, a wooden rice bucket and ladle, a wooden +wash-bowl, an iron kettle, a hibachi (warming and cooking stove), a tray +or two, a teapot or two, two lacquer rice-bowls, a dinner box, a few china +cups, a few towels, a bamboo switch for sweeping, a tabako-bon (apparatus +for tobacco-smoking), an iron pot, and a few shelves let into a recess, all +of which can be purchased for something under £2." + +These young people would, however, have everything quite comfortable about +them, and housekeeping can be set up at a still lower figure, if necessary. +Excellent authorities say, and give particulars to prove, that a coolie +household may be established in full running order for 5-1/2 yen--that is, +somewhere about a sovereign. + +In better-class houses the same simplicity prevails, though the building +may be of costly materials, with posts and ceilings of ebony inlaid with +gold, and floors of rare polished woods. The screens (shoji) still separate +the rooms; the shutters (amado) enclose it at night. There are neither +doors nor passages. When you wish to pass from one room to the next you +slide back one of the shoji, and shut it after you. So you go from room +to room until you reach the one of which you are in search. The shoji are +often beautifully painted, and in each room is hung a kakemono (a wall +picture, a painting finely executed on a strip of silk). A favourite +subject is a branch of blossoming cherry, and this, painted upon white +silk, gives an effect of wonderful freshness and beauty. + +There is no chimney, for a Japanese house knows nothing of a fireplace. The +simple cooking is done over a stove burning charcoal, the fumes of which +wander through the house and disperse through the hundred openings afforded +by the loosely-fitting paper walls. To keep warm in cold weather the +Japanese hug to themselves and hang over smaller stoves, called hibachi, +metal vessels containing a handful of smouldering charcoal. + +In the rooms there are neither tables nor chairs. The floor is covered +with most beautiful mats, as white as snow and as soft as a cushion, for +they are often a couple of inches thick. They are woven of fine straw, +and on these the Japanese sit, with their feet tucked away under them. +At dinner-time small, low tables are brought in, and when the meal is +finished, the tables are taken away again. Chairs are never used, and the +Japanese who wishes to follow Western ways has to practise carefully how to +sit on a chair, just as we should have to practise how to sit on our feet +as he does at home. + +When bedtime comes, there is no change of room. The sitting-room by day +becomes the bedroom by night. A couple of wooden pillows and some quilts +are fetched from a cupboard; the quilts are spread on the floor, the +pillows are placed in position, and the bed is ready. The pillows would +strike us as most uncomfortable affairs. They are mere wooden neckrests, +and European travellers who have tried them declare that it is like trying +to go to sleep with your head hanging over a wooden door-scraper. + +As they both sit and sleep on their matting-covered floors, we now see why +the Japanese never wear any boots or clogs in the house. To do so would +make their beautiful and spotless mats dirty; so all shoes are left at +the door, and they walk about the house in the tabi, the thick glove-like +socks. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +IN THE HOUSE (_continued_) + + +Even supposing that a well-to-do Japanese has a good deal of native +furniture--such as beautifully painted screens, handsome vases, tables of +ebony inlaid with gold or with fancy woods, and so forth--yet he does not +keep them in the house. He stores them away in a special building, and +a servant runs and fetches whatever may be wanted. When the article has +served its purpose, it is taken back again. + +This building is called a godown. It is built of cement, is painted black, +and bears the owner's monogram in a huge white design. It is considered +to be fireproof, though it is not always so, and is meant to preserve the +family treasures in case of one of the frequent fires. It may be stored +with a great variety of furniture and ornaments, but very few see the light +at one time. + +The Japanese does not fill his house with all the decorations he may own, +and live with them constantly. If he has a number of beautiful porcelain +jars and vases, he has one out at one time, another at another. A certain +vase goes with a certain screen, and every time a change is made, the +daughters of the house receive new lessons in the art of placing the +articles and decking them with flowers and boughs of blossom in order to +gain the most beautiful effect. If a visitor be present in the house, the +guest-chamber will be decorated afresh every day, each design showing some +new and unexpected beauty in screen, or flower-decked vase, or painted +kakemono. There is one vase which is always carefully supplied with +freshly-cut boughs or flowers. This is the vase which stands before the +tokonoma. The tokonoma is a very quaint feature of a Japanese house. It +means a place in which to lay a bed, and, in theory, is a guest-chamber in +which to lodge the Mikado, the Japanese Emperor. So loyal are the Japanese +that every house is supposed to contain a room ready for the Emperor in +case he should stay at the door and need a night's lodging. The Emperor, +of course, never comes, and so the tokonoma is no more than a name. + +Usually it is a recess a few feet long and a few inches wide, and over it +hangs the finest kakemono that the house can afford, and in front of it is +a vase whose flowers are arranged in a traditional form which has a certain +allegorical meaning. + +At night a Japanese room is lighted by a candle fixed in a large square +paper lantern, the latter placed on a lacquer stand. The light is very +dim, and many are now replacing it with ordinary European lamps. Unluckily +they buy the very commonest and cheapest of these, and so in consequence +accidents and fires are numerous. + +Among the coolies of Japan, the people who fill the back streets of the +large towns with long rows of tiny houses, the process of "moving house" +is absolutely literal. They do not merely carry off their furniture--that +would be simple enough--but they swing up the house too, carry it off, set +their furniture in it again, and resume their contented family life. It is +not at all an uncommon thing to meet a pair thus engaged in shifting their +abode. The man is marching along with a building of lath and paper, not +much bigger than a bathing-machine, swung on his shoulders, while his wife +trudges behind him with two or three big bundles tied up in blue cloth. He +carries the house, and she the furniture. Within a few hours they will be +comfortably settled in the new street to which their needs or their fancies +call them. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A JAPANESE DAY + + +The first person astir in a Japanese household is the mistress of the +house. She rises from the quilts on the floor which form her bed and puts +out the lamp, which has been burning all night. No Japanese sleeps without +an andon, a tall paper lamp, in which a dim light burns. Next she unlocks +the amado, the wooden shutters, and calls the servants. + +Now the breakfast-table must be set out. In one way this is very simple, +for there is no cloth to spread, for tablecloths are unknown, and when +enough rice has been boiled and enough tea has been made, the breakfast +is ready. But there is one point upon which she must be very careful. The +lacquer rice-bowls and the chopsticks must be set in their proper order, +according to the importance of each person in the family. The slightest +mistake in arranging the position at a meal of any member of the family +or of a guest under the roof would be a matter of the deepest disgrace. +Etiquette is the tyrant of Japan. A slip in the manner of serving the food +is a thousand times more important in Japanese eyes than the quality of the +food itself. A hostess might serve burned rice and the most shocking tea, +but if it were handed round in correct form, there would be nothing more to +be said; but to serve a twice-honourable guest before a thrice-honourable +guest--ah! that would be truly dreadful, a blot never to be wiped off the +family escutcheon. + +After breakfast the master of the house will go about his business. If the +day is fine the wife has his straw sandals ready for him; if it is wet +she gets his high wooden clogs and his umbrella of oiled paper. Then she +and the servants escort him to the door and speed his departure with many +low bows, rubbing their knees together--the latter is a sign of deep +respect--and calling good wishes after him. + +It may seem odd to us that the servants should accompany their mistress on +such an errand, but the servants in Japan are not like other servants: they +are as much a part of the family as the children of the house. Domestic +service in Japan is a most honourable calling, and ranks far higher than +trade. A domestic servant who married a tradesman would be considered as +going down a step in the social scale. In Japan trade has been left until +lately to the lower classes of the population, and tradespeople have ranked +with coolies and labourers. + +This importance of domestic servants arises from two reasons: First, the +old custom which compels the mistress of the house, even if she be of +the highest rank, to serve her husband and children herself, and also to +wait on her parents-in-law, has the effect of raising domestic service to a +high and honourable level. Second, many Japanese servants are of good birth +and excellent family. Only a generation ago their fathers were samurai, +followers of some great Prince, a Daimio, and members of his clan. In the +feudal days of Japan, so recently past, the position of the samurai was +exactly the same as the clansmen of a Highland chief, say at the time of +the "Forty-Five." + +The Daimio, the Japanese chief, had a great estate and vast revenues, +counted in measures of rice; one Daimio had as much as 1,000,000 koku +of rice, the koku being a weight of about 132 pounds. But out of these +revenues he had to maintain his clan, his samurai, the members of his +private army. The samurai clansmen were the exact counterparts of +Highlanders. The poorest considered himself a gentleman and a member of +his chief's family; he held trade and handicrafts in the utmost disdain: +he lived only for war and the defence of his lord. But he regarded service +in his lord's household as a high honour, and thus all service was made +honourable. When the feudal system came to an end, when the Daimios retired +into private life, and the samurai were disbanded, then the latter and +their families found that they must work for their own support, and great +numbers entered domestic service. + +Boys and girls who are meant for servants have to go through a course of +training in etiquette, quite apart from the training they receive in their +duties. This training is intended to maintain the proper distance between +employer and servant, while, in a sense, allowing them to be perfectly +familiar. The Japanese servant bows low and kneels to her mistress, +and addresses her always in the tone of voice used by an inferior to a +superior, yet she will join in a conversation between her mistress and +a caller, and laugh with the rest at any joke which is made. + +It sounds difficult to believe that servants do not become too forward +under such conditions, but they never do. Their perfect taste and good +breeding forbid that they should pass over a certain line where familiarity +would go too far. The position of a servant in Japan is shown by the fact +that, though her master or mistress will speak to her as a servant, yet a +caller or guest must always use the tone of equality and address her as san +(miss). In the absence of the mistress, servants are expected to entertain +any callers, and they do this with the perfection of gentle manners and +exquisite politeness. A lady writer says: + +"I remember once being very much at sea when I was taken to pay a call on +a Japanese lady of the well-to-do class. Not being able to speak a word +of the language, I was unable to follow the conversation which took place +between the charming little lady who greeted us at the inner shutters and +my friend. She was dressed in the soft grey kimono and obi of a middle-aged +woman, and her exquisite manner and gentleness made me feel as heavy as my +boots, which I had not been allowed to take off, sounded on the delicate +floor-matting compared to her soft white foot-gloves. + +"My friend addressed her as san, and seemed to speak to her just as a +guest would to her hostess. We had tea on the floor, and my friend chatted +pleasantly for some time with the little grey figure, when suddenly the +sound of wheels on the gravel outside caught my ears, and the next instant +there was the scuffling of many feet along the polished wooden passage +which led to the front door, and the eager cry of 'O kaeri! O kaeri!' +(honourable return). Our hostess for the time rose from her knees, smiled, +and begged us to excuse her honourable rudeness. When she had hurried off +to join in the cry of welcome, my friend said, 'Oh, I am glad she has +come!' + +"'Who has come ?' I asked. + +"'The lady we came to see,' she said. + +"'Then, who was the charming little lady who poured out tea for us?' I +asked. My friend smiled. + +"'Oh, that was only the housemaid.'" + +A man dealing with the same point remarks: "It is very important that a +Japanese upper servant should have good manners, for he is expected to have +sufficient knowledge of etiquette to entertain his master's guests if his +master is out. After rubbing his knees together and hissing and kowtowing +(bowing low), he will invite you to take a seat on the floor, or, more +correctly speaking, on your heels, with a flat cushion between your knees +and the floor to make the ordeal a little less painful. He will then offer +you five cups of tea (it is the number of cups that signifies, not the +number of callers), and dropping on his own heels with ease and grace, +enter into an affable conversation, humble to a degree, but perfectly +familiar, until his master arrives to relieve him. Even after his master +has arrived he may stay in the room, and is quite likely to cut into the +conversation, and dead certain to laugh at the smallest apology for a +joke!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A JAPANESE DAY (_continued_) + + +But we must return to our Japanese housewife, who has at present only shown +her husband out politely to his business. Now she sees that all the paper +screens are removed, so that the whole house becomes, as it were, one great +room, and thus is thoroughly aired. The beds are rolled up and put away +in cupboards, and the woodwork is carefully rubbed down and polished. +Perhaps the flowers in the vases are faded, and it is a long and elaborate +performance to rearrange the beautiful sprays and the blossoms brought in +from the garden. + +Cooking is not by any means so important a matter in her household life +as it is in that of her Western sister. If her rice-box is well filled, +her tea-caddy well stored, her pickle-jar and store of vegetables in good +order, she has little more to think about. "Rice is the staple food of +Japan, and is eaten at every meal by rich or poor, taking the place of our +bread. It is of particularly fine quality, and at meals is brought in small +bright-looking tubs kept for this exclusive purpose and scrupulously clean; +it is then helped to each individual in small quantities, and steaming hot. +The humblest meal is served with nicety, and with the rice various tasty +condiments, such as pickles, salted fish, and numerous other dainty little +appetizers, are eaten. To moisten the meal, tea without sugar is taken. A +hibachi, or charcoal basin, generally occupies the central position, round +which the meal is enjoyed, and on the fire of which the teapot is always +kept easily boiling." + +When the Japanese housekeeper goes to market, she turns her attention, +after the rice merchant's, to the fish and vegetable stalls. At the +fish-stall nothing that comes out of the sea is overlooked. She buys not +only fish, but seaweed, which is a common article of diet. It is eaten +raw; it is also boiled, pickled, or fried; it is often made into soup. +Sea-slugs, cuttle-fish, and other creatures which we consider the mere +offal of the sea, are eagerly devoured by the Japanese. + +At the vegetable-stall there will be a great variety of things for +sale--beans, peas, potatoes, maize, buckwheat, carrots, lettuce, turnips, +squash, musk- and water-melons, cucumbers, spinach, garlic, onions, leeks, +chillies, capucams (the produce of the egg-plant), and a score of other +things, including yellow chrysanthemum blossoms and the roots and seeds of +the lotus. The Japanese eat almost everything that grows, for they delight +in dock and ferns, in wild ginger and bamboo shoots, and consider the last +a great tit-bit. + +But to Europeans the Japanese vegetables seem very tasteless, and the chief +of them all is very much disliked by Westerners. This is the famous daikon, +the mighty Japanese radish, beloved among the poorer classes in its native +land and abhorred by foreigners. It grows to an immense size, being often +seen a yard long and as thick as a man's arm. When fresh it is harmless +enough, but the Japanese love to pickle it, and Mrs. Bishop remarks: + +"It is slightly dried and then pickled in brine, with rice bran. It is very +porous, and absorbs a good deal of the pickle in the three months in which +it lies in it, and then has a smell so awful that it is difficult to remain +in a house in which it is being eaten. It is the worst smell I know of +except that of a skunk!" + +The pickle-seller's stall must not be forgotten, for the Japanese flavour +their rather tasteless food with a wonderful variety of pickles and sauces. +The great sauce is soy, made from fermented wheat and beans with salt and +vinegar, and at times saké is added to it to heighten its flavour. This +sauce is served with many articles of food, and fish are often cooked in +it. + +When the Japanese housekeeper reaches home again she finds that her +servants have finished their simple duties. Englishwomen always wonder what +there is in a Japanese house for servants to do. There are no fires to lay, +no furniture to polish and clean, no carpets to sweep, and no linen to wash +and mend; so Japanese servants spend much time chatting to each other, or +sewing new kimonos together, or playing chess. As a rule, there are many +more servants than are necessary to do the work. This is because servants +are very cheap. There are always plenty of girls who are ready to fill the +lower places if they can obtain food and clothes for their services, and +the upper servants only receive small sums, sometimes as low as six or +eight shillings a month. + +If a servant wishes to leave her employment, she never gives direct notice +to her mistress. That would be the height of rudeness. Instead she begs +permission to visit her home, or a sick relation, or some one who needs +her assistance. Upon the day that she should return a long and elaborate +apology for her non-arrival is sent, saying that, most unhappily, she +cannot be spared from her home or her post of duty. It is then understood +that she has left. + +In a similar fashion, no mistress tells a servant that she will not suit. A +polite explanation that it will be inconvenient to accept her services at +the moment is sent through a third party. + +In the evening the whole family, servants included, gather in the main room +of the house. The master and mistress sit near the hibachi (the stove) +and the andon (the big paper lantern); the maids glide in and sit at a +respectful distance with their sewing, if they have any. There may be +conversation, or the master may read aloud from a book of historical +romances or fairy stories; but the servants may laugh and chat as freely +over joke or story as anyone. + +When bed-time arrives the quilts come out of the cupboards, and are spread +with due care that no one sleeps with the head to the north, for that is +the position in which the dead are laid out, and so is a very unlucky +one for the living. Then the little wooden neck-rests, which they use as +pillows, are set in their places, and every one goes to bed. The Japanese +day is over. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +JAPANESE GAMES + + +The children of Japan have many games, and some of these games are shared +with them by their fathers and mothers--yes, and by their grandfathers and +grandmothers too, for an old man will fly a kite as eagerly as his tiny +grandson. The girls play battledore and shuttlecock and bounce balls, and +the boys spin tops and make them fight. A top-fight is arranged thus: One +boy takes his top, made of hard wood with an iron ring round it, winds it +up with string, and throws it on the ground; while it is spinning merrily, +another boy throws his top in such a way that it spins against the first +top and knocks it over. So cleverly are the attacking tops thrown that the +first top is often knocked to a distance of several feet. Other games are +playing at war with toy weapons, hunting grasshoppers, which are kept in +tiny cages of bamboo, and hunting fireflies. The last pastime is followed +by Japanese of all ages, and the glittering flies are pursued by night, and +struck down by a light fan. + +Wherever there is a stream of water, the boys set up toy water-wheels, and +these water-wheels drive little mills and machines, which the boys have +made for themselves in the cleverest fashion. + +Here is a group whose heads are very close together. Let us peep over their +shoulders, and see what it is they watch so quietly and earnestly. Ah! this +is a favourite trick. A small boy is setting a team of half a dozen beetles +to draw a load of rice up a smooth, sloping board. He has made a tiny cart +of paper, and filled it with rice. The traces of the cart are made of fine +threads of silk, and he fastens the threads of silk to the backs of the +beetles with gum. + +Now he has his strange team in motion, and the beetles are marching up the +board, dragging their load. The tiny faces in the ring of watchers are +filled with deep but motionless interest. Not one dreams of stretching +out a finger. There is no need to say, "Don't touch!" No one would dream +of touching--that would be very rude. Japanese children manage their own +games, without any appeal to their elders. It is not often that a dispute +arises, but, should that happen, the question is settled at once by the +word of an elder child. The decision is obeyed without a murmur, and the +game goes on. + +Another game of which children are fond is that of painting sand-pictures +on the roadside. A group of children will compete in drawing a sand-picture +in the shortest time. Each has four bags of coloured sand--black, red, +yellow, and blue--and a bag of white. The white sand is first thrown down +in the form of a square; then a handful of black sand is taken, and allowed +to run through the fingers to form a quaint outline of a man, or bird, or +animal, upon the white ground. Next, the design is finished with the other +colours, and very often a most striking effect is obtained by these child +artists. "But the most extraordinary and most fascinating thing of all is +to watch the performance of a master in sand-pictures. So dexterous and +masterly is he that he will dip his hand first into a bag of blue sand +and then into one of yellow, allowing the separate streams to trickle out +unmixed, and then, with a slight tremble of the hand, these streams will +be quickly converted into one thin stream of bright green, relapsing again +into the streams of blue and yellow at a moment's notice." + +There are many indoor games, and a very great favourite is the game of +alphabet cards. This is played with a number of cards, some of which +contain a proverb and some a picture illustrating each proverb. The +children sit in a ring, and the cards are dealt to them. One of the +children is the reader, and when he calls out a proverb the one who has the +picture corresponding to the proverb answers at once and gives up the card. +The first one to be rid of his cards is the winner, and the one who holds +the last card is the loser. If a boy is the loser, he has a dab of ink or +of paint smudged on his face; if it is a girl, she has a wisp of straw +put in her hair. The game is so called because each proverb begins with a +letter of the Japanese alphabet. + +Japanese children have many holidays and festivals, and they enjoy +themselves very much on these joyous occasions. With their beautiful +dresses of silk shining in the sun, a crowd of them looks like a great +bed of flowers. Mr. Menpes speaks of a merry-making which he saw: "It +was a festival for girls under ten, and there were hundreds of children, +all with their kimonos tucked up, showing their scarlet petticoats, and +looking for all the world like a mass of poppies.... Two rows or armies of +these girls were placed several yards distant from each other in this long +emerald-green field, and in the space between them stood two servants, each +holding a long bamboo pole, and suspending from its top a flat, shallow +drum, covered with tissue-paper. + +"Presently two young men teachers appeared on the scene, carrying two +baskets of small many-coloured balls, which they threw down on the grass +between the children and the drums. Then a signal was given, and all the +girls started running down the field at full tilt towards one another, +pouncing on the balls as they ran, and throwing them with all their force +up at the paper drums. + +"After a time, when a perfect shower of balls had passed through the tissue +drums, quite demolishing them, a shower of coloured papers, miniature +lanterns, paper umbrellas, and flags came slowly fluttering down among +the children on to their jet-black bobbing heads and into their eager +outstretched hands. Never have I seen anything more beautiful than these +gay, brightly-clad little people, packed closely together like a cluster +of flowers in the brilliant sparkling sunshine, with their pretty upturned +faces watching the softly falling rain of coloured toys." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE FEAST OF DOLLS AND THE FEAST OF FLAGS + + +On the third day of the third month there is great excitement in every +Japanese household which numbers a girl among its domestic treasures: for +the Feast of Dolls has come, the great festival for dolls. On this day the +most beautiful dolls and dolls' houses are fetched from the godown, where +the family furniture is kept, and are on exhibition for a short time, set +out on shelves covered with scarlet cloth. + +These dolls are the O-Hina, the honourable dolls. They are kept with the +greatest care, and in some families there are dolls which are centuries +old. As each doll is dressed exactly in the costume of its age, and is +furnished with belongings which represent in miniature the furniture of +that age, such a collection has great historic value, and is used to teach +the children how their ancestors looked and lived. + +There are common dolls for the little girls to play with every day, but +these elaborate ones, the honourable dolls, are stored with the greatest +care. Many of them are very costly. The doll is not only beautifully made +and dressed, but its house is furnished with the most exact imitations of +every article of furniture and of every utensil. In wealthy families this +toy furniture is made of the rarest gold lacquer, or of solid silver, +or of beautiful porcelain. Not a single article, either of state or of +usefulness, is missing, and it is the delight of a Japanese girl at the +Feast of Dolls to use the tiny utensils of her toy kitchen to prepare an +elaborate feast of real food which is set before her honourable dolls. + +The beginning of a collection of such dolls is made as soon as a girl is +born. Every girl-child is presented with a pair of these dolls, and as time +goes on she gathers all the articles which go with them. These dolls are +always her own. When she marries she takes them to her new home. + +When the O-Hina Matsuri, the Feast of Dolls, draws near, the Japanese shops +begin to be full of the little images used at that time. The poorer are of +painted earthenware; the finer are of wood, with clothes of the richest +materials. These images, together with tiny bowls, and pots, and stoves, +and trays, are used to set off and decorate the surroundings of the Feast +of Dolls. They vary very greatly in price. The coolie household may have +a set-out which cost a few pence. The O-Hina of a great noble's house +will often be worth a fortune, having hundreds of beautifully carved and +dressed images to represent the Emperor and Empress and every official of +the Japanese Court, with every article used for State functions, and every +piece of furniture needed to deck a royal palace. Other sets of O-Hina +represent great personages in Japanese history, perhaps a great Daimio and +his followers, each figure dressed with strict historical accuracy, and +provided with every feature proper to its rank and period. + +The great festival for boys comes at the Feast of Flags. This is held on +the fifth day of the fifth month. Every one knows when the Feast of Flags +is near, for before every house where there are boys a tall post of bamboo +is set up. Swinging from the top of each post is the figure of a huge carp, +made of brightly coloured paper. If a boy has been born in the house during +the year the carp is made bigger still. The body of the fish is hollow, and +when the wind blows into it, it wriggles its fins and tail just like a fish +swimming strongly. The Japanese choose the carp because they say it has the +power of ascending streams swiftly against the current and of leaping over +waterfalls. It is thus supposed to typify a young man breasting the stream +of life, and thrusting his way through difficulties to success. + +As the boys' day draws near, the shops become full of toys for them. There +are images bought for boys as well as for their sisters; but boys' images +are those of soldiers, heroes, generals, famous old warriors, wrestlers, +and so forth. The old Japanese were a war-like nation, and the toys +provided for their sons at the Feast of Flags were helmets, flags, swords, +bows and arrows, coats of mail, spears, and the like. The Feast of Flags +itself is held on the day sacred to Hachima, the Japanese God of War, and +the favourite game on that day is a mimic battle. + +The boys divide themselves into two parties, called Heike and Genji. These +names represent two great old rival clans of the feudal days. Every Heike +carries a red flag on his back, every Genji a white one. Each combatant +also wears a helmet, consisting of a kind of earthenware pot. The combat +is joined, and the small warriors hack at each other with bamboo swords. A +well-directed blow will dash to pieces the earthenware pot, and the wearer +is then compelled to own defeat. That side wins which breaks most pots on +its opponents' heads, or captures most flags. + +This display of weapons, with blowing of horns and trumpets, serves another +purpose also; for on the fifth day of the fifth month the Japanese believe +that Oni, an evil-disposed god, comes down from the heavens to devour +boys, or to bring great harm to them. But he fears sharp swords, so the +long swordshaped blades of the sweet flag are gathered from the edges of +rivers and the sides of swampy rice-fields, and used as decorations. As +a Japanese writer says: "Oni fears the sword-blade of the sweet flag, so +that its leaves are everywhere. They are upon the festal table; they hang +in festoons about the house, and all along the eaves. Boys wear them tied +around their heads, with the white scraped fragrant roots projecting like +two horns from their foreheads. So, and with the noise of bamboo horns, +they frighten away the ogre god. For he fears horned men, and he dares not +enter a house where so many swords hang from the eaves." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A FARTHING'S WORTH OF FUN + + +How would you like to go to a fair with a farthing, a whole farthing, to +spend as you pleased? I think I can see some of you turning your noses up, +and looking very scornful. "A farthing, indeed!" you say. "Pray, of what +use is a farthing? I wouldn't mind going to a fair with a shilling, or even +sixpence, but what could anyone do with a farthing?" Well, in Japan you +could do a great deal. We must remember that Japan is a country of tiny +wages; many of its workers do not receive more than sixpence a day, and a +man who gets a shilling is well off. Tiny earnings mean tiny spendings, and +things are arranged on a scale to meet very slender purses. + +We will now see what sort of time O Hara San, Miss Blossom, and her +brother, Taro San, Master Eldest Son, had at the fair one fine day in +Nagasaki. In the morning they sprang up from their quilts full of excited +pleasure, for they had been looking forward to this fair for some time. But +they did not romp and chatter and show their excitement as English children +would do. Their black eyes shone a little more brightly than usual, and +that was all. + +When they had whipped their rice into their mouths with their little +chopsticks, they started for the fair, which was to be held in the grounds +of a great temple. Of course, they were dressed in their best clothes. Both +had new kimonos, and O Hara San had a very fine obi, which her parents had +bought for her by denying themselves many little luxuries. Their father and +grandmother went with them, but their mother stayed at home with the baby. +Their father wore a newly-washed kimono, but his chief glory was an old +bowler hat which a European gentleman had given to him. It had been much +too large for him, but he had neatly taken it in, and now wore it with +great pride. When they reached the fair they gave themselves up to its +delights with all their hearts. There was so much to do and so much to see. +Almost at once O Hara San and Taro were beguiled by a sweetmeat stall. + +Each had five rin, and five rin make one farthing, or rather less, but we +will call it a farthing for the sake of round figures. One rin apiece was +spent here. The stall was in two divisions: one stocked with delicious +little bottles of sugar-water, the other with pieces of candy, tinted +bright blue and red and green. Miss Blossom went in for a bottle of +sugar-water, and her brother for candies. But first he demanded of the +candy-seller that he should be allowed to try his luck at the disc. This +was a disc having an arrow which could be whirled round, and if the arrow +paused opposite a lucky spot an extra piece of candy was added to the +purchase. To Taro's great joy, he made a lucky hit, and won the extra piece +of candy; he felt that the fair had begun very well for him. + +While they drank sugar-water and munched candy, they wandered along looking +at the booths, where all sorts of wonders were to be seen--booths full of +conjurers, acrobats, dancers, of women who could stretch their necks to +the length of their arms, or thrust their lips up to cover their eyebrows, +and a hundred other curious tricks. The price of admission was one rin +each to children, and finally they chose the conjurer's booth, and saw him +spout fire from his mouth, swallow a long sword, and finally exhibit a +sea-serpent, which appeared to be made of seal-skins tacked together. + +When they left the show they came all at once on one of the great delights +of a Japanese fair. It was the man with the cooking-stove, round whom +children always throng as flies gather about honey. For the fifth part of +a farthing you may have the use of his cooking-stove, you may have a piece +of dough, or you may have batter with a cup, a spoon, and a dash of soy +sauce. You may then abandon yourself to the delights of making a cake for +yourself, baking it for yourself, and then eating it yourself, and if you +spend a couple of hours over the operation the man will not grumble. As +this arrangement combines both the pleasure of making a cake and playing +with fire, it is very popular, and we cannot wonder that Taro took a turn, +though Miss Blossom did not. She felt herself rather too big to join the +swarm of happy urchins round the stove. + +While Taro was baking his cake she spent her third rin on a peep-show, +where a juggler made little figures of paper and pasteboard dance and +perform all kinds of antics. Then they went on again. Each bought one rin's +worth of sugared beans, a very favourite sweet-meat; and these they ate +while they waited for their father and grandmother to join them at the +door of a certain theatre where they had agreed to meet. Into this theatre +was pouring a stream of people, old and young, men, women, children, and +babies, for a great historical play was to be performed, and it would +shortly begin. Soon their elders turned up, and their father took their +last rin to make up the payment which would admit them. + +In they went, and took possession of their place. The floor of the theatre +was divided by little partitions, about a foot or so high, into a vast +number of tiny squares, like open egg-boxes. In one of these little boxes +our friends squatted down on the floor, and the grandmother began to unpack +the bundle which she had been carrying. This bundle contained a number of +cooking-vessels and an ample supply of rice, for here they meant to stay +for some hours to see the play, to eat and drink, and enjoy themselves +generally. + +The father filled his pipe, lighted it at the hibachi, and began to smoke, +as hundreds more were doing all round them. Each box contained a family, +and each family had brought its cooking-pots, its food, and its drink; and +hawkers of food, of pipes, of tobacco, of saké, and of a score of other +things, rambled up and down selling their wares. + +When the play began every one paid close attention, for it was a great +historical play, and the Japanese go to the theatre and take their children +there in order to learn history. There are represented the old wars, the +old feuds, the struggle of Daimio against Daimio--in short, the history of +old Japan. When an actor gave pleasure, the audience flung their hats on +the stage. These were collected by an attendant, and kept until the owners +redeemed them by giving a present. For six hours O Hara San and Taro sat +in their little box, laughing, shouting, eating, and drinking, while the +play went on. Then it was over, for it was only a short play, at a cheap +theatre. "Ah!" said their father, "when I was a boy we had real plays. We +used to rise early and be in the theatre by six o'clock in the morning. +There we would stay enjoying ourselves until eleven at night. But now the +decree of the Government is that no play shall last more than nine hours. +It is too little!" + +The children quite agreed with him as they helped their grandmother to +gather the pots and pans and dishes which were scattered about their box. +Then each took the wooden ticket which would secure the shoes which they +had left outside with the attendants, and went slowly from the theatre. +When they had obtained their shoes and put them on, Miss Blossom and Master +Eldest Son strolled slowly homewards through the fair. They had not another +rin to spend--their farthing's worth of fun was over. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +KITE-FLYING + + +About a fortnight after the fair, on a fine windy afternoon, there was a +holiday, and Taro, with his father and his younger brother Ito, turned +out to fly kites. Some of their neighbours were already at work flying +kites from the roofs of the houses or from windows, but our friends wanted +more room than that, and went up to a piece of higher ground behind their +street. Here they joined a crowd of kite-flyers. Every one was out to-day +with his kite, old and young, men of sixty, with yellow, wrinkled faces, +down to toddlers of three, who clutched their strings and flew their little +kites with as much gravity and staidness as their grandfathers. Before long +O Hara San came up with the baby on her back, and he had a bit of string +in his tiny fist and a scrap of a kite not much bigger than a man's hand +floating a few yards above his head. + +But Taro was a proud boy this afternoon. He was about to fly his first big +fighting kite. It was made of tough, strong paper, stretched on a bamboo +frame five feet square, a kite taller than his own father. The day before +Taro had pounded a piece of glass up fine and mixed it with glue. The +mixture had been rubbed on the string of his kite for about thirty feet +near the kite-end and left to dry. Now, if he could only get this string +to cut sharply across the string of another kite, the latter cord would be +severed, and he could proudly claim the vanquished kite as his own. + +Kites of every colour and shape hovered in the air above the wide open +space. There were square kites of red, yellow, green, blue, every colour +of the rainbow; many were decorated with gaily-painted figures of gods, +heroes, warriors, and dragons. There were kites in the shape of fish, +hawks, eagles, and butterflies. Some had hummers, made of whalebone, which +hummed musically in the wind as they rose; and as for fighting kites, they +were abroad in squads and battalions. In one place the fight was between +single kites; in another a score of men with blue kites met a score with +red kites and the kites fluttered, darted, swooped, dived this way, that +way, and every way, as they were skilfully moved by the strings pulled from +below. Now and again one of them was seen to fall helplessly away and drift +down the wind; its string had been cut by some victorious rival, and it had +been put out of the battle. + +Taro had his kite high up in the air very soon; it flew splendidly, and for +some time he was very busy in trying it and learning its ways, for every +kite has its own tricks of moving in the air. Then suddenly he saw a great +brown eagle sailing towards it. He looked up and saw that a boy named +Kanaya was directing the eagle kite towards his own, and that it was a +challenge to a fight. Taro accepted at once, and the combat was joined. + +Kanaya brought his eagle swiftly over Taro's big square kite, brightly +painted in bars of many colours, but Taro let out string and escaped. Then +he swung his kite up into the wind and made it swoop on the eagle. But +Kanaya was already winding his string swiftly in and had raised his kite +out of reach of the swoop. And so they went on for more than an hour, +pursuing, escaping, feinting, dodging, until at last the eagle caught +a favourable slant of wind and darted down so swiftly that Taro could +not escape. The strings crossed, and the upper began to chafe the lower +savagely. + +Taro tried to work his kite away, but in vain. The eagle string was strong +and sharp. At the next moment Taro felt a horrid slackness of his string; +no more could he feel the strong, splendid pull of his big kite. There it +was, going, falling headlong to the ground. Kanaya had won. Nothing now +remained to Taro but to take his beating like a Japanese and a gentleman. +With a cheerful smile he made three low bows to his conqueror. Kanaya, with +the utmost gravity, returned the bows before he ran away to secure the kite +he had won. + +Now, there had been a very interested and attentive observer of this battle +in Ito, Taro's younger brother. Ito never said a word or moved a muscle +of his little brown face when he saw his brother defeated and the big kite +seized in triumph by Kanaya. But his black eyes gleamed a little more +brightly in their narrow slits as he let out more string and waited for +Kanaya to begin to fly again. + +Ito had succeeded to the possession of Taro's old kite. It was less than +two feet square, but it flew well, and Ito had also anointed his string +with the mixture of pounded glass and glue, and was ready for combat Within +ten minutes Kanaya was flying once more, and now he had Taro's kite high in +the air. He had put away his own big brown eagle, and was flying the kite +he had just won. He had scarcely got it well up when a smaller square kite +came darting down upon it from a great height. Ito had entered the lists, +and a fresh battle began. + +It was even longer and stubborner than the first, for Ito's kite, being +much smaller, had much less power in the air; but Ito made up for this by +showing the greatest skill in the handling of his kite, and quite a crowd +gathered to see the struggle, watching every movement in perfect silence +and with the deepest gravity. Suddenly Ito pounced. He caught a favourable +gust of wind, and swung his line across Kanaya's with the greatest +dexterity. Saw-saw went the line, and at the next moment the great kite +went tumbling down the wind, and Kanaya and Ito exchanged the regulation +bows. Then the latter looked at his brother without a word, and Taro ran +to seize his beloved kite again. + +"It is yours now, Ito," said the elder brother, when he came back. + +"Oh no," said Ito; "we will each keep our own. I am glad I got it back from +Kanaya." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +FAIRY STORIES + + +When Taro and Ito went home that night with their kites, they were glad to +sit down and rest, for they had been running about until they were quite +tired. When they had eaten their suppers of rice from their little brown +bowls of lacquer, they begged their grandmother to tell them a story, and +she told them the famous old story of Momotaro, beloved of every child in +Japan. And this is what she told them: Once upon a time an old man and an +old woman lived near a river at the foot of a mountain. Every day the old +man went to the mountain to cut wood and carry it home, while the old woman +went to the river to wash clothes. Now, the old woman was very unhappy +because she had no children; it seemed to her that if she only had a son +or a daughter she would be the most fortunate old woman in the world. + +Well, one day she was washing the clothes in the river, when she saw +something floating down the stream towards her. It proved to be a great +pear, and she seized it and carried it home. As she carried it she heard a +sound like the cry of a child. She looked right and left, up and down, but +no child was to be seen. She heard the cry again, and now she fancied that +it came from the big pear. So she cut the pear open at once, and, to her +great surprise and delight, she found that there was a fine baby sitting in +the middle of it. She took the child and brought it up, and because he was +born in a pear she called him Momotaro. + +Momotaro grew up a strong, fine boy, and when he was seventeen years old +he started out to seek his fortune. He had made up his mind to attack an +island where lived a very dreadful ogre. The old woman gave him plenty of +food to eat on the way--corn and rice wrapped in a bamboo-leaf, and many +other things--and away he went. He had not gone far when he met a wasp. + +"Give me a share of your food, Momotaro," said the wasp, "and I will go +with you and help you to overcome the ogre." + +"With all my heart," said Momotaro, and he shared his food at once with the +wasp. + +Soon he met a crab, and the same agreement was made with the crab, and then +with a chestnut, and last of all with a millstone. + +So now the five companions journeyed on together towards the island of the +ogre. When the island was reached they crept up to the house of the ogre, +and found that he was not in his room. So they soon made a plan to take +advantage of his absence. The chestnut laid itself down in the ash of a +charcoal fire which had been burning on the hearth, the crab hid himself in +a washing-pan nearly full of water, the wasp settled in a dusky corner, the +millstone climbed on to the roof, and Momotaro hid himself outside. + +Before long the ogre came back, and he went to the fire to warm his hands. +The chestnut at once cracked in the hot ashes, and threw burning cinders +over the ogre's hands. The ogre at once ran to the washing-pan, and thrust +his hands into it to cool them. The crab caught his fingers and pinched +them till the ogre roared with pain. Snatching his hands out of the pan, +the ogre leapt into the dusky corner as a safe place; but the wasp met him +and stung him dreadfully. In great fright and misery the ogre tried to run +out of the room, but down came the millstone with a crash on his head and +killed him at once. So, without any trouble to himself, and by the help of +the faithful friends which his kindness had made for him, Momotaro gained +possession of the ogre's wealth, and his fortune was made. + +Then the grandmother told them of Jizo, the patron saint of travellers and +children, the helper of all who are in trouble. + +Everywhere by the roadside in Japan is found the figure of Jizo. Sometimes +a figure of noble height, carved in stone or in the living rock, sometimes +no more than a rough carving in wood, he is represented as a priest with +kindly face, holding a traveller's staff in his right hand and a globe in +his left. He stands upon a lotus-flower, and about his feet there lies a +pile of pebbles, to which pile each wayfarer adds a fresh pebble. + +And the old grandmother bade the children never pass a figure of Jizo +without paying it the tribute of a pebble, for this reason: Every little +child who dies, she said, has to pass over So-dzu-kawa, the river of the +underworld. Now, on the banks of this river there lives a wicked old hag +who catches little children as they try to cross, steals their clothes from +them, and sets them to work to help her in her endless task of piling up +the stones on the shore of the stream. Jizo helps these poor children, and +every one who throws a pebble at the foot of this shrine also takes a share +in lightening the labour of some little one down below. + +Another favourite story is that of Urashima, the fisher-boy. Urashima was a +handsome fisher-boy, who lived near the Sea of Japan, and every day he went +out in his boat to catch fish in order to help his parents. But one day +Urashima did not return. His mother watched long, but there was no sign of +her son's boat coming back to the shore. Day after day passed, and Urashima +was mourned as dead. But he was not dead. Out on the sea he had met the +Sea-God's daughter, and she had carried him off to a green, sunny land +where it was always summer. There they lived for some time in great love +and happiness. When it appeared to Urashima that several weeks had passed +in this pleasant land, he begged permission of the Princess to return home +and see his parents. + +"They will be sorrowing for me," he said. "They will fear that I am lost, +and drowned at sea." At last she allowed him to go, and she gave him a +casket, but told him to keep it closed. + +"As long as you keep it closed," she said, "I shall always be with you, but +if you open it you will lose both me and this sunny summer land for ever." + +Urashima took the casket, promised to keep it closed, and returned home. +But his native village had vanished. There was no sign of any dwelling +upon the shore, and not far away there was a town which he had never seen +before. In truth, every week that he had spent with the Princess had been +a hundred years on earth, and his home and native village had passed away +centuries ago, and the place where they had stood had been forgotten. In +his despair, he forgot the words of the Princess, and opened the forbidden +box. A faint blue mist floated out and spread over the sea, and a wonderful +change took place at once in Urashima. From a handsome youth he turned to a +feeble and decrepit old man, and then he fell upon the shore and lay there +dead. In the box the Princess had shut up all the hours of their happy +life, and when they had once escaped he became as other mortals, and old +age and death came upon him at a bound. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES + + +Tea-houses and temples run together very easily in the Japanese mind, for +wherever you find a temple there you also find a tea-house. But tea-houses +are not confined to the neighbourhood of temples: they are everywhere. The +tea-house is the house of public entertainment in Japan, and varies from +the tiny cabin with straw roof, a building which is filled by half a dozen +coolies drinking their tea, to large and beautiful structures, with floors +and ceilings of polished woods, splendid mats, and tables of ebony and +gold. + +The tea-house does not sell tea alone. It will lodge you and find you +dinners and suppers, and is in country places the Japanese hotel. If +tea-houses sold tea and nothing else it is certain that European travellers +would be in a very bad way, for there is one point they are all agreed +upon, and that is that the tea, as a rule, is quite unpalatable to a +Western taste. However, it does not matter in the least whether you +drink it or not as long as you pay your money, and the last is no great +tax--about three halfpence. + +When a traveller steps into a tea-house the girl attendants, the moosmes, +gay in their scarlet petticoats, kneel before him, and, if it is an +out-of-the-way place, where the old fashions are kept up, place their +foreheads on the matting. Then away they run to fetch the tea. Japanese +servants always run when they wish to show respect; to walk would look +careless and disrespectful in their eyes. The tea arrives in a small pot +on a lacquer tray, with five tiny teacups without handles round the pot. +There is no milk or sugar, and the tea is usually a straw-coloured, bitter +liquid, very unpleasant to a European taste. But if a cup be raised to the +lips and set down, and three sen--a sen is about a halfpenny--laid on the +tray, all goes well, and every one is satisfied. + +This bringing of tea to a visitor is universal in Japan. It is not only +done in a tea-house, where one would expect it, but on every occasion. A +friendly call at a private house produces the teacups like magic, and when +a customer enters a good shop, business matters are undreamed of until many +little cups of tea have been produced; and if the customer has many things +to buy and stays a long time, tea is steadily brought forward in relays. +If you don't care for your tea plain, you may have it flavoured with +salted cherry blossoms, but that is not considered an improvement by the +Westerner, who longs for sugar and milk. If you wish to stay for the night +at a tea-house, a room is made for you by sliding some paper screens into +the wall and ceiling grooves, and a couple of quilts are laid on the floor +to form a bed. That is the whole provision made in the way of furniture if +you are off the beaten track of tourists: the rest you must provide for +yourself. + +In the cities the tea-houses of the grander sort are the scenes of splendid +entertainments. When a Japanese wishes to give a dinner to his friends +he does not ask them to his house; he invites them to a banquet at some +famous tea-house. There he provides not only the delicacies which make up +a Japanese dinner, but hires dancing girls, called geisha, to amuse the +company by their dancing and singing. + +A foreigner who is asked to one of these Japanese dinners finds everything +very strange and not a little difficult. At the doors of the tea-house his +boots are taken off, and he marches across the matting, to do his best to +sit on his heels for a few hours. This gives him the cramp, and soon he is +reduced to sitting with his back against the wall and his legs stretched +out before him. He can manage in this way pretty fairly. + +There may be a table before him, or there may not. If there is a table, it +will be a tiny affair about a foot high. There will be no tablecloth, no +glasses, no knives and forks, no spoons, and no napkin. He will be expected +to deal with his food with a pair of chopsticks. When these are set +before him, he will see that the two round slips of wood are still joined +together. This is to show that they have never been used before. He breaks +them apart, and wonders how he is going to get his food into his mouth with +two pencils of wood. + +The feast begins with tea served by moosmes, who kneel before each +guest. Each wears her most beautiful dress, and is girded with a huge +and brilliant sash. After the tea they bring in pretty little white cakes +made of bean flour and sugar, and flavoured with honey. The next course is +contained in a batch of little dishes, two or three of which are placed +before each guest. These contain minced dried fish, sea slugs floating in +an evil-smelling sauce, and boiled lotus-seeds. To wash down these dainties +a porcelain bottle of saké, rice-beer, is provided. + +The unhappy foreigner tastes one dish after the other, finds each one worse +than the last, and concludes to wait till the next course. This is composed +of a very great dainty, raw, live fish, which one dips in sauce before +devouring. Then comes rice, and the chopsticks of the Japanese feasters go +to work in marvellous fashion. With their strips of wood or ivory they whip +the rice grain into their mouths with wonderful speed and dexterity, but +our unlucky foreigner gets one grain into his mouth in five minutes, and is +reduced to beg for a spoon. + +The next course is of fish soup and boiled fish, and potatoes appear with +the fish; but, alas! the fish is most oddly flavoured and the potatoes are +sweet; they have been beaten up with sugar into a sort of stiff syrup. Next +comes seaweed soup and the coarse evil-smelling daikon radish, served with +various pickles and sauces. + +Among the other oddments is a dish of nice-looking plums. Our foreigner +seizes one and pops it in his mouth. He would be only too glad to pop it +out again if he could, for the plum has been soaked in brine, and tastes +like a very salty form of pickle. As he experiments here and there among +the wilderness of little lacquer bowls which come forth relay upon relay, +he feels inclined to paraphrase the cry of the Ancient Mariner, and murmur: +"Victuals, victuals everywhere, and not a scrap to eat!" + +When at length the dinner has run its course the geisha, in their beautiful +robes of silk and brocade and their splendid sashes, come in to sing and +dance. Europeans are soon tired of both performances. The geisha, with +her face whitened with powder, and her lips painted a bright red, and her +elaborately-dressed hair full of ornaments, sits down to a sort of guitar +called a samisen and sings, but her song has no music in it. It is a kind +of long-drawn wail, very monotonous and tuneless to European ears. The +dancing is a kind of acting in dumb show, and consists of a number of +postures, while the movements of the fan take a large share in conveying +the dancer's meaning. + +When our foreigner starts home from this long and rather fatiguing +entertainment, he finds that he has by no means finished with his dinner. +On his way to his carriage he will be waylaid by the little moosmes who +have waited upon him, and their arms will be filled with flat white wooden +boxes. These contain the food that was offered to him and left uneaten, and +Japanese etiquette demands that he shall take home with him his share of +the scraps of the banquet. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES (_continued_) + + +The Japanese are very fond of their temples, and visit them constantly. +They do this not only to pray to their gods, but to enjoy themselves as +well, for the temple grounds are the scene of great fairs and festivals. +If you visit a temple on the day of some great function, you will find its +steps outside packed with rows upon rows of clogs and umbrellas, placed +there by the worshippers inside. You enter, and find the latter seated +on the floor, and if the service is not going on at the moment they are +smoking and chatting together, and the children are crawling about in the +crowd. + +When the service is over the worshippers disperse to find a cool spot +in the temple grounds to eat their simple meal. In front of the temple +stands a wooden arch, called a torii. Sometimes the temple is approached +through a whole avenue of them of various sizes. The building is of wood, +sometimes small, sometimes very large, and is usually surrounded by booths +and tea-houses. At many of the booths may be purchased the figures of the +more popular gods. Everywhere may be seen the fat figures of the Seven +Gods of Wealth, the deities most beloved in every Japanese household. Then +there are the God and Goddess of Rice, who protect the crops, and who are +attended by the figures of foxes quaintly carved in wood or moulded in +white plaster. The Goddess of Mercy, with her many hands to help and save, +is also a favourite idol. + +At another spot you find peep-shows, stalls at which hairpins, paints, and +powder-boxes, and a thousand other trifles, are sold; archery galleries, +where you may fire twenty arrows at a target for a halfpenny; booths, where +acrobats, conjurers, and jugglers are performing, and tea-houses without +number, where the faithful are sipping their tea or saké and puffing at +their tiny pipes. + +The young girls are fond of purchasing sacred beans and peas and rice at a +stall set up under the eaves of the temple. With these they feed the temple +pigeons, who come swooping down from the great wooden roof, or the sacred +white pony with the blue eyes which belongs to the holy place. On the steps +sit rows of licensed beggars, who will pray for those who will present them +with the tenth part of a farthing. But prayers may also be bought from the +priests, prayers written upon a scrap of paper, which scrap is afterwards +fastened to the bars of the grating in front of the figure of a god. A +favourite god will have many thousand scraps of paper fluttering before it +at one time. + +Many of the temple gardens are of very great beauty and interest. There +can be seen many of the marvels of Japanese gardening--tiny dwarf trees, +hundreds of years old, and yet only a few inches high, or tall shrubberies +cut and trained to represent a great junk in full sail, or the figure of a +god or hero. + +At certain times of the year when the temple orchards are in blossom, great +throngs visit them simply to enjoy the delicate beauty of the scene. The +plum-blossom appears in February, and the cherry-blossom in April or May. +Later in the year the purple iris is followed by the golden chrysanthemum. +High and low, all crowd to see the beauty of a vast sweep of lovely +blossom. A poor Japanese thinks nothing of walking a hundred miles or more +to see some famous orchard or garden in its full flowering splendour. + +From his earliest years this love of natural beauty has been a part of his +education. As a child he has taken many a trip with his father and mother +to admire the acres of plum or cherry blossom in a park or temple-garden; +as a man he lays his work aside and goes to see the same spectacle with +redoubled delight. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE RICKSHAW-MAN + + + "For his heart is in Japan, with its junks and Fujisan, + And its tea-houses and temples, and the smiling rickshaw-man." + + +We have heard of Fujisan, the famous mountain; we have talked of tea-houses +and temples; and now we must say something about the rickshaw-man or boy, +a very important person indeed in Japan. He is not important because of +riches or rank, for, as a rule, he is very poor and of the coolie order; he +is important because he is so useful. He is at one and the same time the +cabman and the cab-horse of Japan. He waits in the street with his little +carriage, and when you jump in he takes hold of the shafts himself and +trots away with you at a good speed. + +The jin-ri-ki-sha, to give it its full name, means man-power carriage, and +is like a big mail-cart or perambulator. There is a hood of oiled paper to +pull up for wet weather, a cushion to sit on, a box for parcels under the +seat, two tall slight wheels, and a pair of shafts. If the rickshaw-boy is +well-to-do in his business, his carriage is gaily lacquered and painted +with bright designs, and however poor he may be, there will be some attempt +at decoration. + +At night every rickshaw is furnished with a pretty paper lantern, circular +in form, about eighteen inches long, and painted in gay designs. These look +quite charming as they bob here and there through the dusk, their owners +racing along with a fare. The rickshaw is as modern as the bicycle. The +first one was made less than forty years ago, but they sprang into favour +at once, and their popularity grew by leaps and bounds. The fact is that +the rickshaw fits Japan as a round peg fits a round hole. In the first +place, it opened a new and money-making industry to many thousands of men +who had little to do. There were vast numbers of strong, active young +fellows who leapt forward at once to use their strength and endurance in +this novel and profitable fashion. Then, the vehicle was suited to Japanese +conditions, both in town and country. + +In town the streets are so narrow and busy that horse traffic would be +dangerous. In fact, in many places a horse is so rare a sight that when one +trots along a street a man runs ahead, blowing a horn to warn people to +clear out of the way. But the rickshaw-boy dodges through the traffic with +his little light carriage, and runs over no one. + +Then, in the country the roads are often very narrow, and sometimes very +bad--mere tracks between fields of rice. Here the rickshaw is of great +service, owing to its light weight and the little room it requires. + +As a rule, the rickshaw is drawn by one man and holds one passenger; but +it has often to contain two Japanese, for the pair of them will fit snugly +into the space required for one Englishman. If the traveller wishes to go +fast, he has two human horses harnessed to his light chariot. Both run in +front till a hill is reached, when one drops back to push behind. + +Wherever you arrive in Japan, whether by steamer or by train, you will find +long rows of rickshaw-boys waiting to be hired. They are all called boys, +whatever their age may be. Until a possible passenger comes in sight, the +queer little men, many of them under five feet in height, stand beside +their rickshaws, smoking their tiny little brass pipes with bowls about +half as big as a thimble. Their clothes are very simple. They wear a very +tight pair of short blue drawers and a blue tunic, upon the back of which +a huge white crest is painted, the distinguishing mark of each boy. An +enormous white hat the size and shape of a huge basin is worn on the head; +but if the day becomes very hot the hat is taken off, and a wisp of cloth +bound round the forehead to prevent sweat from running into the eyes. As +for sunstroke, the rickshaw-boy has no fear of that. + +When you step into sight, a score dart forward, dragging their rickshaws +after them with one hand and holding the other up to draw your attention, +and shouting, "Riksha! Riksha! Riksha!" You choose one, and step in. +The human steed springs between the shafts, raises them and tilts you +backwards, and then darts off, as if eager to show you his strength and +speed, and prove to you what a good choice you have made. + +Away bounds the little man, and soon you are bowling along a narrow street +where a passage seems impossible, so full is it of boys and girls, men +and women, shops and stalls. There may be a side-walk, but then, the +shopkeepers have taken that to spread out their wares, or the stallkeepers +have set up their little booths there. So the people who want to go along +the street, and the boys and girls who want to play in it, are all driven +to the middle of the way. + +Here and there your rickshaw dodges, working its way through the crowd. +Now the man pauses a second lest he should run full-tilt over a group +of gaily-dressed little girls, each with a baby on her back, playing +at ball in the road. Half a dozen others are busy with battledores and +shuttlecocks, and the gaily-painted toys drop into your carriage, and +you are expected to toss them out again to the mites, who will bow very +deeply and with the profoundest gravity in return for your politeness; then +something flutters over your head, and you see that two boys and an old man +are sitting on the roof of a house about as high as a tool-shed, trying to +get their kites up. And you say to yourself that it is lucky that there +are no horses, for the quietest beast that ever lifted a hoof would bolt +here and charge through the whirl and uproar and the rain of dropping +shuttlecocks and bouncing balls. + +Another fine thing about rickshaw-riding is that no one can call it +expensive. While the boy goes, you pay him about sevenpence an hour; while +he waits you pay him rather less than twopence-halfpenny an hour, and you +can have his services for a whole day for about half a crown. But some of +them will try to cheat you in places where foreigners are often met with, +and will put a whole twopence an hour on the regular price. + +This is very sad, and causes the rickshaw-boy to be looked upon as a +tradesman; he is not allowed the honour of being regarded as a servant and +the member of an honourable profession--one who puts his master's interests +before his own. But, as a rule, the foreigner who employs the same +rickshaw-boy comes to look upon him as a guide, philosopher, and friend. He +will tell you where to go and what to do; he knows all the sights, and can +tell you all about them. If you go shopping, he will come in and see that +you don't get cheated any more than you are bound to be. If you go on an +expedition, he will find out the best tea-house to stay at, he will cook +for you, wait on you, brush your clothes, put up the paper screens to form +your bedroom, take them down again, see that the bill is reasonable, pay +it, and fee the servants--in short, he will manage everything, and you have +only to admire what you have gone to see. + +Wherever you stop on a jaunt, whether it is some famous temple or some +lovely park, there is sure to be a coolie's tea-house handy, and he takes +the opportunity of refreshing himself. He dives into the well under the +seat and fetches out his lacquer box full of rice. He whips the rice into +his mouth with chopsticks, and washes it down with the yellow, bitter +Japanese tea. Then he sits and smokes his tiny pipe until you are ready to +go on. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IN THE COUNTRY + + +The Japanese farmer is one of the steadiest workers in the world; he tills +his patch of land, day in, day out, with untiring industry. He works seven +days a week, for he knows nothing of the Sabbath, and only takes a day +off for a fair or a festival when his land is in perfect order and he is +waiting for the crop. + +Almost the whole of the land is turned over with the spade, and weeds are +kept down until the whole country looks like a neatly-kept garden. Many +crops are grown, but the chief of them all is rice, and when the rice crop +fails, then vast numbers of people in Japan feel the pinch of famine. + +In order to grow rice much water is needed, so the fields are flooded from +a river or canal near at hand, and the plants are set in the soft mud. This +work is carried out by men or women who wade in slush above their knees, +and it is a very dirty and toilsome task. The women tuck their kimonos up, +and the men cast theirs aside altogether. After planting, this work in deep +slush and clinging mud must be repeated three times in order to clear away +the water-weeds which grow thickly around the young rice-plants. + +When the rice is nearly ripe the water is drawn off and the fields are +dried. The fields are of all sizes and shapes, from a patch of a few square +yards up to an acre, and the latter would be considered large. There +are no hedges or fences to divide off field from field, for the land is +too valuable to permit of such being grown; but the boundaries are well +understood, and each farmer knows his own patch. + +Another important crop is the plants which are grown for making paper. +Paper has a great place in the industries of Japan. It is used everywhere +and for almost everything. A Japanese lives in a house largely built of +paper, drinks from a paper cup, reads by a paper lantern, writes, of +course, on paper, and wraps up his parcels in it, ties up the parcels with +paper string, uses a paper pocket-handkerchief, wears a paper cloak and +paper shoes and paper hat, holds up a paper umbrella against the sun and +the rain, and employs it for a great number of other purposes. He makes +more than sixty kinds of paper, and each kind has its own specified use. He +can make it so tough that it is almost impossible to tear it, and he can +make it waterproof, so that the fiercest rain cannot pass through it. + +If your path leads you along the bank of a river you will often see a +fisherman at work. He has many ways of catching his prey. He uses a line +and hook and the net. In a large stream or pool he may be seen at work with +the throwing-net, a clever device. + +This net is made in the form of a circle twelve or fourteen feet across, +and round the edge of the net heavy sinkers of lead are fastened. The +fisherman folds this net over his arm, and then tosses into the water a +ball of boiled rice and barley. The fish gather to eat this bait, and then +he throws the net in such a way that it falls quite flat upon the water. +The leads sink at once to the bottom, and the net covers the feeding fish +in the shape of a dome. A strong cord is fastened to the top of the net, +and he begins to haul it up. The leads are drawn together by their own +weight, and close the bottom of the net, and the fish are imprisoned. + +Sometimes he uses bow and arrows. This he does after putting into the water +certain fruit and herbs which are very bitter. The juice of these herbs +affects the water and drives the fish to the surface, where they leap about +in pain. The fisherman shoots them with an arrow to which a cord is +attached, and draws them ashore. + +As night falls after a hot day, the people and children of the village +near at hand will come down to the water-side on a fire-fly hunt. The tiny +gleaming creatures now flash along the surface of river and lake, like a +myriad of fairy lanterns flitting through the dusk. They are caught and +imprisoned in little silken cages. At the bottom of the cage there is a +very small mound of earth in which a millet seed has been planted and has +sprung up to the height of an inch or more, and beside the little plant +there is a tiny bowl of water. Here the firefly will live for several days, +to the delight of the children. + +Not far from the river is the village, with a brook running down the middle +of its street. This brook serves many purposes. The women kneel beside it +with sleeves and kimonos tucked up, washing clothes and vegetables, or +dipping buckets in it to get water for baths. There is a loud rattle of +wooden hammers at various points, for the stream turns a number of small +water-wheels, and these work big wooden hammers which pound up the rice +placed in a big stump of a tree hollowed out for a mortar. As you stroll +along the village street you see what every one is doing, for the fronts +of the houses are all open, and you can see into every corner of each +dwelling. + +Behind the houses tall bamboos shoot up, and the bamboo is welcome, for it +is a tree of many uses. Its wood serves for the framework of houses, and +its leaves are often used as thatch. It will make a dish, a box, a plate, a +bowl, an oar, a channel for conveying water and a vessel for carrying it, a +fishing-rod, a flower-vase, a pipe-stem, a barrel-hoop, a fan, an umbrella, +and fifty other things, while young bamboo shoots are eaten and considered +a great delicacy. + +On fine summer evenings, when the work of the day is over, the villagers +gather in the court of the village temple for the odori, the open-air +dance. The court is decked with big beautiful paper lanterns, but there is +a special one called toro (a light in a basket). The toro is often two feet +square by five feet high. On one side of it is the name of the god in whose +temple court the dance is being held, while the other is reserved for some +short poem, written by one of the youths of the village. There is keen +competition among them for the honour of writing the poem chosen to be +inscribed on the toro, and two of these tiny poems run thus: + + "I looked upon the cherry that blooms by the fence, down by the woodman's + cottage, + And wondered if an untimely snow had fallen upon it." + + "Into the evening dew that rolls upon the green blade of the tall-grown + grass in Mushashi Meadow + The summer moon comes stealthily and takes up her dwelling." + +The young men and maidens dance in a ring, circling round one who stands in +the midst, from whom they take both the time and music of the many dances +performed at the odori. The dancers are always young and unmarried. The +older people sit on the steps of the temple and watch the merry frolic with +a smile. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +IN THE COUNTRY (_continued_) + + +On a wet day in the country the people thatch themselves to keep off the +rain. The favourite waterproof of the coolie is a huge cloak made of rice +straw, the long ends sticking out. With this and his great umbrella hat he +keeps comfortably dry. Those who do not wear a big hat carry a large oiled +paper umbrella, which shelters them well. + +There is plenty of wet weather in Japan, particularly in the summer, and +then travelling is not very pleasant. The good roads become muddy and soft, +and the bad roads become sheer quagmires, in which the coolie pulling the +rickshaw is continually losing his straw sandals. These sandals, called +waraji, mark out the tracks in every direction, for they soon wear out, and +are cast off to litter the wayside in their hundreds. They are quickly and +cheaply replaced, however, for almost every roadside house sells them, and +a pair may be bought for a sen--something less than a halfpenny. + +Not only do the men wear straw shoes, but horses are shod in them also, +and a very poor and clumsy arrangement it is. The shoes are thick, and are +tied on the horse's feet with straw cords. They wear out so fast that a +bunch has to be kept hanging to the saddle for use on the way, and in every +village a fresh stock has to be secured, at the cost of a penny per set of +four. + +The foreign visitor who travels through country places in Japan has to +submit to being stared at, but nothing more. The people are so interested +in a person who looks so different from themselves that they are never +tired of watching him and his ways. But otherwise their unfailing +politeness remains. They do not crowd upon him, or, if they should come a +little too near, they are soon warned off. An English artist, Mr. Alfred +Parsons, was once sketching in Japan, and the crowd, anxious to see his +work, came a little too near his elbow. He says: "The keeper of a little +tea-shop hard by, where I took my lunch, noticed that I was worried by the +people standing so close to me, and when I arrived next morning I found +that he had put up a fence round the place where I worked. It was only a +few slender bamboo sticks, with a thin string twisted from one to another, +but not a soul attempted to come inside it. They are such an obedient and +docile race that a little string stretched across a road is quite enough to +close the thoroughfare." + +A familiar figure along the Japanese highways and byways is that of the +pilgrim going to see some famous shrine, or, most often of all, marching +towards Fujisan, the sacred mountain. The Fuji pilgrim may be known by his +garb. He is dressed in white, with white kimono, white socks and gaiters, +and straw sandals. He wears a great basin-shaped white hat, and has a rush +mat over his shoulders to temper the heat of the sun or shed the rain. +Round his neck hangs a string of beads and a bell, which tinkles without +ceasing as he goes. He carries a little bundle of spare sandals and a staff +with an ornament of paper about its end. + +His pilgrimage costs him very little. His food is of the simplest, and he +gets a bed at a tea-house for a halfpenny, or he lodges with a villager +who offers him hospitality. To entertain his guest the villager will fetch +his best furniture from the village godown, for in the country one of +these storehouses suffices for a whole hamlet. They are made very large and +strong, with many thick coats of mud and plaster on a wooden frame, and +with a door of iron or of bronze; then, when the fire, which is sure to +come at some time or other, sweeps over the hamlet and leaves it a layer of +smoking ashes around the big godown, there are the village treasures still +unharmed, and ready to adorn the houses which will spring up again as if by +magic. + +When bedtime comes, the amado, the wooden shutters, are drawn around the +house and securely fastened; for a Japanese dwelling, so open by day, is +shut up as tightly as a sealed box by night. Now all is quiet save for +the village watchman, whose duty it is to guard against fire and thieves. +He marches up and down, beating two pieces of wood together--clop-clop, +clop-clop--as he walks. This is to give assurance that he is not asleep +himself, but watching over the slumbers of his neighbours, and to let the +thieves know that he is looking out for them. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE POLICEMAN AND THE SOLDIER + + +The Japanese policeman is, first and foremost, a gentleman. He is a +samurai, a man of good family, and therefore deeply respected by the mass +of the people. He is often a small man for a Japanese, but though his +height may run from four feet ten to five feet nothing, he is a man of much +authority. When the samurai were disbanded, there were very few occupations +to which they could turn. They disdained agriculture and trade, but numbers +of them became servants, printers, and policemen. This seems an odd mixture +of tasks, but there are sound reasons for it. + +Many samurai became servants because service is an honourable profession in +Japan; many became printers because the samurai were an educated class, and +the only people fitted to deal with the very complicated Japanese alphabet; +and many became policemen because it was a post for which their fighting +instinct and their habit of authority well fitted them. Their authority +over the people is absolute and unquestioning; and, again, there are sound +reasons for this. + +Forty years ago the Japanese people could have been divided very sharply +into two classes, the ruling and the ruled. The ruling class was formed +of the great Princes and the samurai, their followers, about 2,000,000 +people in all. The remaining 38,000,000 of the population were the common +people, the ruled. Now, in the old days when a Daimio left his castle for +a journey, he was borne in a kago, a closed carriage, and was attended +by a guard of his samurai. If a common person met the procession, he was +expected either to retire quickly from the path or fling himself humbly on +his face until the carriage had gone by; if he did not, the samurai whipped +out their long swords and slew him in short order, and not a single word +was said about it. This way of dealing with those who did not belong to the +two-sworded class made the people very respectful to the samurai, and that +respect is now transferred to the police. + +The Japanese policeman is also to be respected for his skill in wrestling, +and, small as he is, the tallest and most powerful foreigner is quite +helpless in his hands. He is thoroughly trained in the art of Japanese +wrestling--the jiu-jitsu of which we hear so much nowadays. In this system +a trained wrestler can seize his opponent in such a manner that the other +man is quite at his mercy, or with a slight impetus he can fling the other +about as he pleases. One writer speaks of seeing a very small Japanese +policeman arrest a huge, riotous Russian sailor, a man much more than six +feet high. It seemed a contest between a giant and a child. The sailor made +rush after rush at his tiny opponent, but the policeman stepped nimbly +aside, waiting for the right moment to grip his man. At last it came. +The sailor made a furious lunge, and the policeman seized him by the +wrist. To the astonishment of the onlooker, the sailor flew right over the +policeman's head, and fell all in a heap more than a dozen feet away. When +he picked himself up, confused and half stunned, the policeman tied a bit +of string to his belt and led him away in triumph to the station. + +The policeman never has any trouble with his own people; they obey at once +and without question. If a crowd gathers and becomes a nuisance to anyone, +it melts as soon as one of the little men in uniform comes along and gives +the order to disperse. He may sometimes be seen lecturing a coolie or +rickshaw-boy for some misdeed or other. The culprit, his big hat held +between his hands, ducks respectfully at every second word, and looks all +humility and obedience. + +Being an educated man, he has much sympathy with art and artists, and is +delighted to help a foreigner who is painting scenes in Japan. Mr. Mortimer +Menpes says: "Altogether I found the policeman the most delightful person +in the world. When I was painting a shop, if a passer-by chanced to look in +at a window, he would see at a glance exactly what I wanted; and I would +find that that figure would remain there, looking in at the shop, as still +as a statue, until I had finished my painting; the policeman meanwhile +strutting up and down the street, delighted to be of help to an artist, +looking everywhere but at my work, and directing the entire traffic down +another street." + +Of the Japanese soldier there is no need for us to say much here, since +the world has so lately been ringing with his praises. The endurance, the +obedience, the courage of the Japanese soldier and sailor have been shown +in marvellous fashion during the great war with Russia, and Japan has fully +proved herself to be one of the greatest of the naval and military Powers +of the world. + +The Japanese soldier is the result of the family life in Japan. From his +infancy he is taught that he has two supreme duties: one of obedience +to his parents, the other of service to his country. This unhesitating, +unquestioning habit of obedience, a habit which becomes second nature to +him, is of immense value to him as a soldier. He is a disciplined man +before he enters the ranks, and he transfers at once to his officers the +obedience which he has hitherto shown towards the elders of his family. + +His second great duty of service to his country also leads him onward +towards becoming the perfect soldier. He not only looks upon his life as a +thing to be readily risked or given for his Emperor and for Japan, but he +strives to make himself a thoroughly capable servant of his land. No detail +of his duty is too small for him to overlook, for he fears lest the lack +of that detail should prevent him from putting forth his full strength on +the day of trial. He cleans a button as carefully as he lays a big gun, +and this readiness for any duty, great or small, was a large factor in the +wonderful victory of Japan over Russia. + +In battle he questions no order. During the late war many Japanese +regiments knew that they were being sent to certain death, in order that +they might open a way for their comrades. They never flinched. Shouting +their "Banzai!"--their Japanese hurrah--the dogged little men rushed +forward upon batteries spouting flame and shell, or upon ramparts lined +with rifles, and gave their lives freely for Dai Nippon, Great Japan, the +country of their birth. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +TWO GREAT FESTIVALS + + +There are two great Japanese festivals of which we have not yet spoken, but +which are of the first importance. One is the New Year Festival, the other +is the Bon Matsuri, the Feast of the Dead, in the summer. The New Year +Festival is the great Japanese holiday of the year. No one does any work +for several days, and all devote themselves to making merry. Although this +festival comes in the middle of winter, every street looks like an arbour, +decorated as it is with arches of greenery before each house. On either +side of each door is a pine-tree and bamboo stems. These signify a hardy +old age, and they are joined by a grass rope which runs from house to +house along the street. This rope is supposed to prevent evil spirits from +entering the houses, and so it ensures the occupants a lucky year. Japanese +flags are entwined amid the decorations, and green feathery branches and +ferns are set about, until the street looks like a forest. + +Japanese people are so polite to each other that even the beggars in the +streets bow to each other in the most ceremonious fashion, but at this +festival the bowing is redoubled. There is a special form of greeting for +this occasion, and not a bow is to be missed when two acquaintances meet. + +There is much feasting and a great exchange of presents. The Japanese are +always making presents to each other, and there is a prescribed way for +every rank of life to make presents to every other rank, and for the manner +in which the presents are to be received. A present may always be known by +the little gold or red or white paper kite fastened to the paper string +which ties up the parcel. + +Every one enters into the fun of the time, from the highest to the lowest. +They call upon each other; they march in great processions; they visit +the gayest and liveliest of fairs; they feast; they drink tea and saké +almost without ceasing. The fairs look most striking and picturesque after +darkness has fallen. Then the streets and the long rows of white booths +made of newly-sawn wood and gaily decorated, are lighted up by innumerable +lanterns of every colour that paper can be painted, and of every size, from +six inches high to six feet. The crowd wear their gayest kimonos, and the +moosmes are brilliant in flowered or striped silks and splendid sashes, and +the air is full of the rattle of the shuffling clogs and the tinkling +samisen played in almost every booth. + +At times the crowd opens to let some procession pass through. Now it is the +dragon-dancers, the dragon's head being a huge and terrifying affair made +of coloured pasteboard, and carried on a pole draped with a long garment +which hides the dancer. In front march two men with drum and fife to herald +the dragon's approach. Next comes a batch of coolies dragging a car upon +which a swarm of masqueraders present some traditional pageant, and next a +number of boys perform an old dance with much spirit and shouting. On New +Year's Eve a very curious market is held. It is a custom in Japan for every +one to pay all that he owes to his Japanese creditors before the New Year +dawns. If he does not do so, he loses his credit. So on the last day of +the Old Year the Japanese who is behind in his payments looks among his +belongings for something to sell, and carries it to the market in order +that he may gain a few sen to settle with his creditor. + +In the great city of Tokyo this fair is visited by every traveller. For +a space of two miles the stalls stretch along in double rows, lighted by +lanterns of oil flares, and here may be seen every imaginable thing which +is to be found in poorer Japanese households. As each Japanese arrives with +his worldly possessions in a couple of square boxes swinging one at each +end of a bamboo pole slung across his shoulder, he takes possession of a +little stall or a patch of pavement and sets out his poor wares. + +He has brought mats, or cushions, or shabby kimonos, or clogs, or socks, or +little ornaments and vessels in porcelain or silver or bronze. Sometimes he +brings really beautiful things, the last precious possessions of a family +which has come down in the world--a fine piece of embroidery, a priceless +bit of lacquer, bronze and silver charms, little boxes of ivory, temples +and pagodas and bell-towers in miniature, tiny but perfect in every detail +and of the most exquisite workmanship. Everything comes to market on this +night of the year. + +The Feast of the Dead takes place in the hot summer weather, and is +celebrated in different ways in various parts of Japan. Everywhere +the children, in their finest clothes, march through the streets in +processions, carrying fans and banners and lanterns, and chanting as +they march; but most great cities have their own form of celebration. + +At Nagasaki the tombs of all those who have died during the past year +are illuminated with large bright lanterns on the first night of the +celebrations. On the second and third nights all tombs are illuminated, +and the burial-grounds are one glorious blaze of many-coloured lights. The +avenues leading to the burial-grounds are turned into fair-grounds, with +decorations and booths, stalls and tea-houses, each illuminated by many +brilliant lanterns. Fires are lighted on the hills, rockets shoot up on +every hand, and vast crowds of people gather in the cemeteries to feast and +make merry and drink saké in honour of their ancestors, whose spirits they +suppose to surround them and be present at the festival. At the end of the +feast a very striking scene takes place: the preparations for the departure +of the dead. + +"But on the third vigil, suddenly, at about two o'clock in the morning, +long processions of bright lanterns are seen to descend from the heights +and group themselves on the shores of the bay, while the mountains +gradually return to obscurity and silence. It is fated that the dead +should embark and disappear before twilight. The living have plaited them +thousands of little ships of straw, each provisioned with some fruit and a +few pieces of money. The frail vessels are charged with all the coloured +lanterns which were used for the illumination of the cemeteries; the small +sails of matting are spread to the wind, and the morning breeze scatters +them round the bay, where they are not long in taking fire. It is thus that +the entire flotilla is consumed, tracing in all directions large trails of +fire. The dead depart rapidly. Soon the last ship has foundered, the last +light is extinguished, and the last soul has taken its departure again from +earth." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Peeps at Many Lands: Japan, by John Finnemore + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEEPS AT MANY LANDS: JAPAN *** + +This file should be named 8japn10.txt or 8japn10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8japn11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8japn10a.txt + +Produced by David Starner, Bill Flis +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* diff --git a/old/8japn10.zip b/old/8japn10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cae74cb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/8japn10.zip diff --git a/old/8japn10h.htm b/old/8japn10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0daa6a1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/8japn10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3153 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Peeps at Many Lands: Japan, by John Finnemore</title> +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- +body {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; background-color: white} +img {border: 0;} +h1,h2,h3 {text-align: center;} +.ind {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} +hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} +.ctr {text-align: center;} +--> +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Peeps at Many Lands: Japan, by John Finnemore + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Peeps at Many Lands: Japan + +Author: John Finnemore + +Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7936] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 2, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEEPS AT MANY LANDS: JAPAN *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Bill Flis +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p class="ind"> + + +<h2>PEEPS AT MANY LANDS</h2> + +<h1>JAPAN</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>JOHN FINNEMORE</h2> + +<h3>WITH TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR</h3> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>ELLA DU CANE</h2> + +<br> +<br> + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> + +<p class="ctr"> +CHAPTER +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#i">I. THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#ii">II. BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#iii">III. BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN (<i>continued</i>)</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#iv">IV. THE JAPANESE BOY</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#v">V. THE JAPANESE GIRL</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#vi">VI. IN THE HOUSE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#vii">VII. IN THE HOUSE (<i>continued</i>)</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#viii">VIII. A JAPANESE DAY</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#ix">IX. A JAPANESE DAY (<i>continued</i>)</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#x">X. JAPANESE GAMES</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xi">XI. THE FEAST OF DOLLS AND THE FEAST OF FLAGS</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xii">XII. A FARTHING'S WORTH OF FUN</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xiii">XIII. KITE-FLYING</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xiv">XIV. FAIRY STORIES</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xv">XV. TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xvi">XVI. TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES (<i>continued</i>)</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xvii">XVII. THE RICKSHAW-MAN</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xviii">XVIII. IN THE COUNTRY</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xix">XIX. IN THE COUNTRY (<i>continued</i>)</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xx">XX. THE POLICEMAN AND THE SOLDIER</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="#xxi">XXI. TWO GREAT FESTIVALS</a> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h3>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> + +<p class="ctr"> +BY ELLA DU CANE +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="front.htm">OUTSIDE A TEA-HOUSE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="map_small.htm"><i>Sketch-Map of Japan</i></a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="nurse.htm">THE LITTLE NURSE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="writing.htm">THE WRITING LESSON</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="temple.htm">GOING TO THE TEMPLE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="house.htm">A JAPANESE HOUSE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="tea.htm">OFFERING TEA TO A GUEST</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="tops.htm">FIGHTING TOPS</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="toy_shop.htm">THE TOY SHOP</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="shrine.htm">A BUDDHIST SHRINE</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="peach.htm">PEACH TREES IN BLOSSOM</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="flags.htm">THE FEAST OF FLAGS</a> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="cover.htm">THE TORII OF THE TEMPLE</a> +</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + + +<h2><a name="i">CHAPTER I</a></h2> + +<h3>THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN</h3> + +<p> +Far away from our land, on the other side of the world, lies a group of +islands which form the kingdom of Japan. The word "Japan" means the "Land +of the Rising Sun," and it is certainly a good name for a country of the +Far East, the land of sunrise. +</p> + +<p> +The flag of Japan, too, is painted with a rising sun which sheds its beams +on every hand, and this flag is now for ever famous, so great and wonderful +have been the victories in which it has been borne triumphant over Russian +arms. +</p> + +<p> +In some ways the Japanese are fond of comparing themselves with their +English friends and allies. They point out that Japan is a cluster of +islands off the coast of Asia, as Britain is a cluster of islands off the +coast of Europe. They have proved themselves, like the English, brave and +clever on the sea, while their troops have fought as nobly as British +soldiers on the land. They are fond of calling themselves the "English of +the East," and say that their land is the "Britain of the Pacific." +</p> + +<p> +The rise of Japan in becoming one of the Great Powers of the world has been +very sudden and wonderful. Fifty years ago Japan lay hidden from the world; +she forbade strangers to visit the country, and very little was known of +her people and her customs. +</p> + +<p> +Her navy then consisted of a few wooden junks; to-day she has a fleet of +splendid ironclads, handled by men who know their duties as well as English +seamen. Her army consisted of troops armed with two swords and carrying +bows and arrows; to-day her troops are the admiration of the world, armed +with the most modern weapons, and, as foes, to be dreaded by the most +powerful nations. +</p> + +<p> +Fifty years ago Japan was in the purely feudal stage. Her great native +Princes were called Daimios. Each had a strong castle and a private army +of his own. There were ceaseless feuds between these Princes and constant +fighting between their armies of samurai, as their followers were called. +Japan was like England at the time of our War of the Roses: family quarrels +were fought out in pitched battle. All that has now gone. The Daimios have +become private gentlemen; the armies of samurai have been disbanded, and +Japan is ruled and managed just like a European country, with judges, and +policemen, and law-courts, after the model of Western lands. +</p> + +<p> +When the Japanese decided to come out and take their place among the great +nations of the world, they did not adopt any half-measures; they simply +came out once and for all. They threw themselves into the stream of modern +inventions and movements with a will. They have built railways and set up +telegraph and telephone lines. They have erected banks and warehouses, +mills and factories. They have built bridges and improved roads. They have +law-courts and a Parliament, to which the members are elected by the +people, and newspapers flourish everywhere. +</p> + +<p> +Japan is a very beautiful country. It is full of fine mountains, with +rivers leaping down the steep slopes and dashing over the rocks in snowy +waterfalls. At the foot of the hills are rich plains and valleys, well +watered by the streams which rush down from the hills. But the mountains +are so many and the plains are so few that only a small part of the land +can be used for growing crops, and this makes Japan poor. Its climate is +not unlike ours in Great Britain, but the summer is hotter, and the winter +is in some parts very cold. Many of the mountains are volcanoes. Some of +these are still active, and earthquakes often take place. Sometimes these +earthquakes do terrible harm. The great earthquake of 1871 killed 10,000 +people, injured 20,000, and destroyed 130,000 houses. +</p> + +<p> +The highest mountain of Japan also is the most beautiful, and it is greatly +beloved by the Japanese, who regard it as a sacred height. Its name is +Fujisan, or Fusi-Yama, and it stands near the sea and the capital city +of Tokyo. It is of most beautiful shape, an almost perfect cone, and it +springs nearly 13,000 feet into the air. From the sea it forms a most +superb and majestic sight. Long before a glimpse can be caught of the shore +and the city, the traveller sees the lofty peak, crowned with a glittering +crest of snow, rising in lonely majesty, with no hint of the land on which +it rests. The Japanese have a great love of natural beauty, and they adore +Fujisan. Their artists are never tired of painting it, and pictures of it +are to be found in the most distant parts of the land. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="ii">CHAPTER II</a></h2> + +<h3>BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN</h3> + +<p> +In no country in the world do children have a happier childhood than in +Japan. Their parents are devoted to them, and the children are always good. +This seems a great deal to say, but it is quite true. Japanese boys and +girls behave as quietly and with as much composure as grown-up men and +women. From the first moment that it can understand anything, a Japanese +baby is taught to control its feelings. If it is in pain or sad, it is not +to cry or to pull an ugly face; that would not be nice for other people to +hear or see. If it is very merry or happy, it is not to laugh too loudly or +to make too much noise; that would be vulgar. So the Japanese boy or girl +grows up very quiet, very gentle, and very polite, with a smile for +everything and everybody. +</p> + +<p> +While they are little they have plenty of play and fun when they are not in +school. In both towns and villages the streets are the playground, and here +they play ball, or battledore and shuttlecock, or fly kites. +</p> + +<p> +Almost every little girl has a baby brother or sister strapped on her back, +for babies are never carried in the arms in Japan except by the nurses of +very wealthy people. The baby is fastened on its mother's or its sister's +shoulders by a shawl, and that serves it for both cot and cradle. The +little girl does not lose a single scrap of her play because of the baby. +She runs here and there, striking with her battledore, or racing after her +friends, and the baby swings to and fro on her shoulders, its little head +wobbling from side to side as if it were going to tumble off. But it is +perfectly content, and either watches the game with its sharp little black +eyes, or goes calmly off to sleep. +</p> + +<p> +In the form of their dress both boys and girls appear alike, and, more than +that, they are dressed exactly like their parents. There is no child's +dress in Japan. The garments are smaller, to fit the small wearers--that is +all. +</p> + +<p> +The main article of dress is a loose gown, called a kimono. Under the outer +kimono is an inner kimono, and the garments are girt about the body with a +large sash, called an obi. The obi is the pride of a Japanese girl's heart. +If her parents are rich, it will be of shining costly silk or rich brocade +or cloth of gold; if her parents are poor, they will make an effort to get +her one as handsome as their means will allow. Next to her obi, she prides +herself on the ornaments which decorate her black hair--fine hairpins, +with heads of tortoiseshell or coral or lacquer, and hair-combs, all most +beautifully carved. +</p> + +<p> +A boy's obi is more for practical use, and is not of such splendour as +his sister's. When he is very small, his clothes are of yellow, while his +sister's are of red. At the age of five he puts on the hakama, and then he +is a very proud boy. The hakama is a kind of trousers made of silk, and is +worn by men instead of an under-kimono. At five years old a boy is taken +to the temple to thank the gods who have protected him thus far; and as he +struts along, and hears with joy his hakama rustling its stiff new silk +beneath his kimono, he feels himself a man indeed, and that his babyhood of +yesterday is left far behind. +</p> + +<p> +Upon the feet are worn the tabi--thick white socks, which may be called +foot-gloves, for there are separate divisions for the toes. +</p> + +<p> +These serve both as stockings outside the house and slippers inside, for no +boots are worn in a Japanese house. When a Japanese walks out, he slips his +feet into high wooden clogs, and when he comes home he kicks off the clogs +at the door, and enters his home in tabi alone. The reason for this we +shall hear later on. In Japanese clothes there are no pockets. Whatever +they need to carry with them is tucked into the sash or into the sleeves of +the kimono. The latter are often very long, and afford ample room for the +odds and ends one usually carries in the pocket. +</p> + +<p> +But fine kimonos and rich obis are for the wealthy Japanese; the poor +cannot afford them, and dress very simply. The coolie--the Japanese working +man--goes almost naked in the warm weather, wearing only a pair of short +cotton trousers, until he catches sight of a policeman, when he slips on +his blue cotton coat, for the police have orders to see that he dresses +himself properly. His wife wears a cotton kimono, and the pair of them can +dress themselves handsomely--for coolies--from head to foot for a sum of 45 +sen, which, taking the sen at a halfpenny, amounts to 1 S. 10-1/2d. in our +money. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="iii">CHAPTER III</a></h2> + +<h3>BOYS AND GIRLS IN JAPAN (<i>continued</i>)</h3> + +<p> +When Japanese boys and girls go to school, they make very low bows to their +teacher and draw in the breath with a buzzing sound. This is a sign of deep +respect, and the teacher returns their politeness by making low bows to +them. Then the children sit down and begin to learn their lessons. +</p> + +<p> +Their books are very odd-looking affairs to us. Not only are they printed +in very large characters, but they seem quite upside down. To find the +first page you turn to the end of the book, and you read it backwards +to the front page. Again, you do not read from left to right, as in our +fashion, but from right to left. Nor is this all: for the lines do not run +across the page, but up and down. Altogether, a Japanese book is at first +a very puzzling affair. When the writing lesson comes, the children have +no pens; they use brushes instead. They dip their brushes in the ink, and +paint the words one under the other, beginning at the top right-hand corner +and finishing at the bottom left-hand corner. If they have an address to +write on an envelope, they turn that upside down and begin with the name +of the country and finish with the name of the person--England, London, +Kensington Gardens, Brown John Mr. +</p> + +<p> +But Japanese children have quite as many things to learn at home as at +school. At school they learn arithmetic, geography, history, and so on, +just as children do in England, but their manners and their conduct towards +other people are carefully drilled into them by their parents. The art of +behaving yourself towards others is by no means an easy thing to learn +in Japan. It is not merely a matter of good-feeling, gentleness, and +politeness, as we understand it, but there is a whole complicated system +of behaviour: how many bows to make, and how they should be made. There +are different forms of salutation to superiors, equals, and inferiors. +Different ranks of life have their own ways of performing certain actions, +and it is said that a girl's rank may easily be known merely by the way +in which she hands a cup of tea to a guest. From the earliest years the +children are trained in these observances, and they never make a mistake. +</p> + +<p> +The Japanese baby is taught how to walk, how to bow, how to kneel and +touch the floor with its forehead in the presence of a superior, and how +to get up again; and all is done in the most graceful manner and without +disturbing a single fold in its kimono. +</p> + +<p> +A child is taught very carefully how to wait on people, how to enter the +room, how to carry a tray or bowl at the right height, and, above all, how +to offer a cup or plate in the most dainty and correct style. One writer +speaks of going into a Japanese shop to buy some articles he wanted. The +master, the mistress, the children, all bent down before him. There was +a two-year-old baby boy asleep on his sister's back, and he, too, was +awakened and called upon to pay his respects to the foreign gentleman. He +woke without a start or a cry, understood at once what was required of him, +was set on his feet, and then proceeded to make his bows and to touch the +ground with his little forehead, just as exactly as his elder relatives. +This done, he was restored once more to the shawl, and was asleep again in +a moment. +</p> + +<p> +The art of arranging flowers and ornaments is another important branch of a +girl's home education. Everything in a Japanese room is carefully arranged +so that it shall be in harmony with its surroundings. The arrangement of +a bunch of flowers in a fine porcelain jar is a matter of much thought +and care. Children are trained how to arrange blossoms and boughs so that +the most beautiful effect may be gained, and in many Japanese houses may +be found books which contain rules and diagrams intended to help them in +gaining this power of skilful arrangement. This feeling for taste and +beauty is common to all Japanese, even the poorest. A well-known artist +says: "Perhaps, however, one of the most curious experiences I had of the +native artistic instinct of Japan occurred in this way: I had got a number +of fan-holders, and was busying myself one afternoon arranging them upon +the walls. My little Japanese servant-boy was in the room, and as I went +on with my work I caught an expression on his face from time to time which +showed me that he was not overpleased with my performance. After a while, +as this dissatisfied expression seemed to deepen, I asked him what the +matter was. Then he frankly confessed that he did not like the way in which +I was arranging my fan-holders. 'Why did you not tell me so at once?' I +asked. 'You are an artist from England,' he replied, 'and it was not for +me to speak.' However, I persuaded him to arrange the fan-holders himself +after his own taste, and I must say that I received a remarkable lesson. +The task took him about two hours--placing, arranging, adjusting; and when +he had finished, the result was simply beautiful. That wall was a perfect +picture: every fan-holder seemed to be exactly in its right place, and it +looked as if the alteration of a single one would affect and disintegrate +the whole scheme. I accepted the lesson with due humility, and remained +more than ever convinced that the Japanese are what they have justly +claimed to be--an essentially artistic people, instinct with living art." +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="iv">CHAPTER IV</a></h2> + +<h3>THE JAPANESE BOY</h3> + +<p> +A Japanese boy is the monarch of the household. Japan is thoroughly Eastern +in the position which it gives to women. The boy, and afterwards the man, +holds absolute rule over sister or wife. It is true that the upper classes +in Japan are beginning to take a wider view of such matters. Women of +wealthy families are well educated, wear Western dress, and copy Western +manners. They sit at table with their husbands, enter a room or a carriage +before them, and are treated as English women are treated by English men. +But in the middle and lower classes the old state of affairs still remains: +the woman is a servant pure and simple. It is said that even among the +greatest families the old customs are still observed in private. The great +lady who is treated in her Western dress just as her Western sister is +treated takes pride in waiting on her husband when they return to kimono +and obi, just as her grandmother did. +</p> + +<p> +The importance of the male in Japan arises from the religious customs of +the country. The chief of the latter is ancestor-worship. The ancestors +of a family form its household gods; but only the male ancestors are +worshipped: no offerings are ever laid on the shelf of the household gods +before an ancestress. Property, too, passes chiefly in the male line, and +every Japanese father is eager to have a son who shall continue the worship +of his ancestors, and to whom his property may descend. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, the birth of a son is received with great joy in a Japanese +household; though, on the other hand, we must not think that a girl is +ill-treated, or even destroyed, as sometimes happens in China. Not at +all; she is loved and petted just as much as her brother, but she is +not regarded as so important to the family line. +</p> + +<p> +At the age of three the Japanese boy is taken to the temple to give thanks +to the gods. Again, at the age of five, he goes to the temple, once more to +return thanks. Now he is wearing the hakama, the manly garment, and begins +to feel himself quite a man. From this age onwards the Japanese boy among +the wealthier classes is kept busily at work in school until he is ready to +go to the University, but among the poorer classes he often begins to work +for his living. +</p> + +<p> +The clever work executed by most tiny children is a matter of wonder and +surprise to all European travellers. Little boys are found binding books, +making paper lanterns and painting them, making porcelain cups, winding +grass ropes which are hung along the house-fronts for the first week of the +year to prevent evil spirits from entering, weaving mats to spread over the +floors, and at a hundred other occupations. It is very amusing to watch +the practice of the little boys who are going to be dentists. In Japan the +dentist of the people fetches out an aching tooth with thumb and finger, +and will pluck it out as surely as any tool can do the work, so his pupils +learn their trade by trying to pull nails out of a board. They begin with +tin-tacks, and go on until they can, with thumb and finger, pluck out a +nail firmly driven into the wood. +</p> + +<p> +Luckily for them, they often get a holiday. The Japanese have many +festivals, when parents and children drop their work to go to some famous +garden or temple for a day's pleasure. Then there is the great boys' +festival, the Feast of Flags, held on the fifth day of the fifth month. Of +this festival we shall speak again. +</p> + +<p> +Every Japanese boy is taught that he owes the strictest duty to his parents +and to his Emperor. These duties come before all others in Japanese eyes. +Whatever else he may neglect, he never forgets these obligations. From +infancy he is familiar with stories in which children are represented as +doing the most extraordinary things and undergoing the greatest hardships +in order to serve their parents. There is one famous old book called +"Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Virtue." It gives instances of the doings +of good sons, and is very popular in every Japanese household. +</p> + +<p> +Professor Chamberlain, the great authority on Japan, quotes some of these +instances, and they seem to us rather absurd. He says: "One of the paragons +had a cruel stepmother who was very fond of fish. Never grumbling at her +harsh treatment of him, he lay down naked on the frozen surface of the +lake. The warmth of his body melted a hole in the ice, at which two carp +came up to breathe. These he caught and set before his stepmother. Another +paragon, though of tender years and having a delicate skin, insisted on +sleeping uncovered at night, in order that the mosquitoes should fasten on +him alone, and allow his parents to slumber undisturbed. +</p> + +<p> +"A third, who was very poor, determined to bury his own child alive in +order to have more food wherewith to support his aged mother, but was +rewarded by Heaven with the discovery of a vessel filled with gold, off +which the whole family lived happily ever after. But the drollest of all +is the story of Roraishi. This paragon, though seventy years old, used to +dress in baby's clothes and sprawl about upon the floor. His object was to +delude his parents, who were really over ninety years of age, into the idea +that they could not be so very old, after all, seeing that they still had +such a childlike son." +</p> + +<p> +His duty to his Emperor the Japanese takes very seriously, for it includes +his duty to his country. He considers that his life belongs to his country, +and he is not only willing, but proud, to give it in her defence. This was +seen to the full in the late war with Russia. Time and again a Japanese +regiment was ordered to go to certain death. Not a man questioned the +order, not a man dreamed for an instant of disobedience. Forward went the +line, until every man had been smitten down, and the last brave throat had +shouted its last shrill "Banzai!" This was the result of teaching every boy +in Japan that the most glorious thing that can happen to him is to die for +his Emperor and his native land. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="v">CHAPTER V</a></h2> + +<h3>THE JAPANESE GIRL</h3> + +<p> +The word "obedience" has a large part in the life of a Japanese boy; it +is the whole life of a Japanese girl. From her babyhood she is taught the +duty of obeying some one or other among her relations. There is an old book +studied in every Japanese household and learned by heart by every Japanese +girl, called "Onra-Dai-Gaku"--that is, the "Greater Learning for Women." It +is a code of morals for girls and women, and it starts by saying that every +woman owes three obediences: first, while unmarried, to her father; second, +when married, to her husband and the elders of his family; third, when a +widow, to her son. +</p> + +<p> +Up to the age of three the Japanese girl baby has her head shaved in +various fancy patterns, but after three years old the hair is allowed to +grow to its natural length. Up to the age of seven she wears a narrow obi +of soft silk, the sash of infancy; but at seven years old she puts on the +stiff wide obi, tied with a huge bow, and her dress from that moment is +womanly in every detail. She is now a musume, or moosme, the Japanese girl, +one of the merriest, brightest little creatures in the world. She is never +big, for when at her full height she will be about four feet eight inches +tall, and a Japanese woman of five feet high is a giantess. +</p> + +<p> +This is her time to wear gay, bright colours, for as a married woman she +must dress very soberly. A party of moosmes tripping along to a feast or a +fair looks like a bed of brilliant flowers set in motion. They wear kimonos +of rich silks and bright shades, kimonos of vermilion and gold, of pink, +of blue, of white, decorated with lovely designs of apple-blossom, of silk +crape in luminous greens and golden browns, every shade of the rainbow +being employed, but all in harmony and perfect taste. If a shower comes on +and they tuck up their gaily-coloured and embroidered kimonos, they look +like a bed of poppies, for each shows a glowing scarlet under-kimono, or +petticoat. +</p> + +<p> +Not only is this the time for the Japanese girl to be gaily dressed, but it +is her time to visit fairs and temples, and to enjoy the gaieties which may +fall in her way: for when she marries, the gates which lead to the ways of +pleasure are closed against her for a long time. The duties of a Japanese +wife keep her strictly at home, until the golden day dawns when her son +marries and she has a daughter-in-law upon whom she may thrust all the +cares of the household. Then once more she can go to temples and theatres, +fairs and festivals, while another drudges in her stead. +</p> + +<p> +Marriage is early in Japan. A girl marries at sixteen or seventeen, and to +be unmarried at twenty is accounted a great misfortune. At marriage she +completely severs herself from her own relations, and joins her husband's +household. This is shown in a very striking fashion by the bride wearing +a white kimono, the colour of mourning; and more, when she has left her +father's house, fires of purification are lighted, just as if a dead body +had been borne to the grave. This is to signify that henceforward the bride +is dead to her old home, and her whole life must now be spent in the +service of her husband and his relations. +</p> + +<p> +The wedding rites are very simple. There is no public function, as in +England, and no religious ceremony; the chief feature is that the bride +and bridegroom drink three times in turn from three cups, each cup having +two spouts. These cups are filled with saké, the national strong drink of +Japan, a kind of beer made from rice. This drinking is supposed to typify +that henceforth they will share each other's joys and sorrows, and this +sipping of saké constitutes the marriage ceremony. +</p> + +<p> +The young wife now must bid farewell to her fine clothes and her +merry-making. She wears garments of a soft dove colour, or greys or fawns, +quiet shades, but often of great charm. She has now to rise first in the +morning, to open the shutters which have closed the house for the night, +for this is a duty she may not leave to the servants. If her husband's +father and mother dwell in the same house, she must consider it an honour +to supply all their wants, and she is expected to become a perfect slave +to her mother-in-law. It is not uncommon for a meek little wife, who has +obeyed every one, to become a perfect tyrant as a mother-in-law, ordering +her son's wife right and left, and making the younger woman's life a sheer +misery. The mother-in-law has escaped from the land of bondage. It is no +longer her duty to rise at dawn and open the house; she can lie in bed, and +be waited upon by the young wife; she is free to go here and there, and she +does not let her chances slip; she begins once more to thoroughly enjoy +life. +</p> + +<p> +It may be doubted, however, whether these conditions will hold their own +against the flood of Western customs and Western views which has begun to +flow into Japan. At present the deeply-seated ideas which rule home-life +are but little shaken in the main, but it is very likely that the modern +Japanese girl will revolt against this spending of the best years of her +life as an upper and unpaid servant to her husband's friends and relations. +But at the present moment, for great sections of Japanese society, the old +ways still stand, and stand firmly. +</p> + +<p> +It was formerly the custom for a woman to make herself as ugly as possible +when she was married. This was to show that she wished to draw no attention +from anyone outside her own home. As a rule she blackened her teeth, which +gave her a hideous appearance when she smiled. This custom is now dying +out, though plenty of women with blackened teeth are still to be seen. +</p> + +<p> +Should a Japanese wife become a widow, she is expected to show her grief +by her desolate appearance. She shaves her head, and wears garments of the +most mournful look. It has been said that a Japanese girl has the look of a +bird of Paradise, the Japanese wife of a dove, and the Japanese widow of a +crow. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="vi">CHAPTER VI</a></h2> + +<h3>IN THE HOUSE</h3> + +<p> +A Japanese house is one of the simplest buildings in the world. Its main +features are the roof of tiles or thatch, and the posts which support the +latter. By day the walls are of oiled paper; by night they are formed of +wooden shutters, neither very thick nor very strong. As a rule, the house +is of but one story, and its flimsiness comes from two reasons, both very +good ones. +</p> + +<p> +The first is that Japan is a home of earthquakes, and when an earthquake +starts to rock the land and topple the houses about the peoples' ears, then +a tall, strong house of stone or brick would be both dangerous in its fall +and very expensive to put up again. The second is that Japan is a land of +fires. The people are very careless. They use cheap lamps and still cheaper +petroleum. A lamp explodes or gets knocked over; the oiled paper walls +burst into a blaze; the blaze spreads right and left, and sweeps away a +few streets, or a suburb of a city, or a whole village. The Jap takes this +very calmly. He gets a few posts, puts the same tiles up again for a roof, +or makes a new thatch, and, with a few paper screens and shutters, there +stands his house again. +</p> + +<p> +A house among the poorer sort of Japanese consists of one large room in the +daytime. At night it is formed into as many bedrooms as its owner requires. +Along the floor, which is raised about a foot from the ground, and along +the roof run a number of grooves, lengthways and crossways. Frames covered +with paper, called shoji, slide along these grooves and form the wall +between chamber and chamber. The front of the house is, as a rule, open to +the street, but if the owners wish for privacy they slide a paper screen +into position. At night wooden shutters, called amado, cover the screens. +Each shutter is held in place by the next, and the last shutter is fastened +by a wooden bolt. +</p> + +<p> +The Japanese are very fond of fresh air and sunshine. Unless the day is too +wet or stormy, the front of the house always stands open. If the sun is +too strong a curtain is hung across for shade, and very often this curtain +bears a huge white symbol representing his name, just as an Englishman puts +his name on a brass plate on his front-door. The furniture in these houses +is very simple. The floor is covered with thick mats, which serve for +chairs and bed, as people both sit and sleep on them. For table a low stool +suffices, and for a young couple to set up housekeeping in Japan is a very +simple matter. As Mrs. Bishop, the well-known writer, remarks: +</p> + +<p> +"Among the strong reasons for deprecating the adoption of foreign houses, +furniture, and modes of living by the Japanese, is that the expense +of living would be so largely, increased as to render early marriages +impossible. At present the requirements of a young couple in the poorer +classes are: a bare matted room (capable or not of division), two wooden +pillows, a few cotton futons (quilts), and a sliding panel, behind which +to conceal them in the daytime, a wooden rice bucket and ladle, a wooden +wash-bowl, an iron kettle, a hibachi (warming and cooking stove), a tray +or two, a teapot or two, two lacquer rice-bowls, a dinner box, a few china +cups, a few towels, a bamboo switch for sweeping, a tabako-bon (apparatus +for tobacco-smoking), an iron pot, and a few shelves let into a recess, all +of which can be purchased for something under £2." +</p> + +<p> +These young people would, however, have everything quite comfortable about +them, and housekeeping can be set up at a still lower figure, if necessary. +Excellent authorities say, and give particulars to prove, that a coolie +household may be established in full running order for 5-1/2 yen--that is, +somewhere about a sovereign. +</p> + +<p> +In better-class houses the same simplicity prevails, though the building +may be of costly materials, with posts and ceilings of ebony inlaid with +gold, and floors of rare polished woods. The screens (shoji) still separate +the rooms; the shutters (amado) enclose it at night. There are neither +doors nor passages. When you wish to pass from one room to the next you +slide back one of the shoji, and shut it after you. So you go from room +to room until you reach the one of which you are in search. The shoji are +often beautifully painted, and in each room is hung a kakemono (a wall +picture, a painting finely executed on a strip of silk). A favourite +subject is a branch of blossoming cherry, and this, painted upon white +silk, gives an effect of wonderful freshness and beauty. +</p> + +<p> +There is no chimney, for a Japanese house knows nothing of a fireplace. The +simple cooking is done over a stove burning charcoal, the fumes of which +wander through the house and disperse through the hundred openings afforded +by the loosely-fitting paper walls. To keep warm in cold weather the +Japanese hug to themselves and hang over smaller stoves, called hibachi, +metal vessels containing a handful of smouldering charcoal. +</p> + +<p> +In the rooms there are neither tables nor chairs. The floor is covered +with most beautiful mats, as white as snow and as soft as a cushion, for +they are often a couple of inches thick. They are woven of fine straw, +and on these the Japanese sit, with their feet tucked away under them. +At dinner-time small, low tables are brought in, and when the meal is +finished, the tables are taken away again. Chairs are never used, and the +Japanese who wishes to follow Western ways has to practise carefully how to +sit on a chair, just as we should have to practise how to sit on our feet +as he does at home. +</p> + +<p> +When bedtime comes, there is no change of room. The sitting-room by day +becomes the bedroom by night. A couple of wooden pillows and some quilts +are fetched from a cupboard; the quilts are spread on the floor, the +pillows are placed in position, and the bed is ready. The pillows would +strike us as most uncomfortable affairs. They are mere wooden neckrests, +and European travellers who have tried them declare that it is like trying +to go to sleep with your head hanging over a wooden door-scraper. +</p> + +<p> +As they both sit and sleep on their matting-covered floors, we now see why +the Japanese never wear any boots or clogs in the house. To do so would +make their beautiful and spotless mats dirty; so all shoes are left at +the door, and they walk about the house in the tabi, the thick glove-like +socks. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="vii">CHAPTER VII</a></h2> + +<h3>IN THE HOUSE (<i>continued</i>)</h3> + +<p> +Even supposing that a well-to-do Japanese has a good deal of native +furniture--such as beautifully painted screens, handsome vases, tables of +ebony inlaid with gold or with fancy woods, and so forth--yet he does not +keep them in the house. He stores them away in a special building, and +a servant runs and fetches whatever may be wanted. When the article has +served its purpose, it is taken back again. +</p> + +<p> +This building is called a godown. It is built of cement, is painted black, +and bears the owner's monogram in a huge white design. It is considered +to be fireproof, though it is not always so, and is meant to preserve the +family treasures in case of one of the frequent fires. It may be stored +with a great variety of furniture and ornaments, but very few see the light +at one time. +</p> + +<p> +The Japanese does not fill his house with all the decorations he may own, +and live with them constantly. If he has a number of beautiful porcelain +jars and vases, he has one out at one time, another at another. A certain +vase goes with a certain screen, and every time a change is made, the +daughters of the house receive new lessons in the art of placing the +articles and decking them with flowers and boughs of blossom in order to +gain the most beautiful effect. If a visitor be present in the house, the +guest-chamber will be decorated afresh every day, each design showing some +new and unexpected beauty in screen, or flower-decked vase, or painted +kakemono. There is one vase which is always carefully supplied with +freshly-cut boughs or flowers. This is the vase which stands before the +tokonoma. The tokonoma is a very quaint feature of a Japanese house. It +means a place in which to lay a bed, and, in theory, is a guest-chamber in +which to lodge the Mikado, the Japanese Emperor. So loyal are the Japanese +that every house is supposed to contain a room ready for the Emperor in +case he should stay at the door and need a night's lodging. The Emperor, +of course, never comes, and so the tokonoma is no more than a name. +</p> + +<p> +Usually it is a recess a few feet long and a few inches wide, and over it +hangs the finest kakemono that the house can afford, and in front of it is +a vase whose flowers are arranged in a traditional form which has a certain +allegorical meaning. +</p> + +<p> +At night a Japanese room is lighted by a candle fixed in a large square +paper lantern, the latter placed on a lacquer stand. The light is very +dim, and many are now replacing it with ordinary European lamps. Unluckily +they buy the very commonest and cheapest of these, and so in consequence +accidents and fires are numerous. +</p> + +<p> +Among the coolies of Japan, the people who fill the back streets of the +large towns with long rows of tiny houses, the process of "moving house" +is absolutely literal. They do not merely carry off their furniture--that +would be simple enough--but they swing up the house too, carry it off, set +their furniture in it again, and resume their contented family life. It is +not at all an uncommon thing to meet a pair thus engaged in shifting their +abode. The man is marching along with a building of lath and paper, not +much bigger than a bathing-machine, swung on his shoulders, while his wife +trudges behind him with two or three big bundles tied up in blue cloth. He +carries the house, and she the furniture. Within a few hours they will be +comfortably settled in the new street to which their needs or their fancies +call them. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="viii">CHAPTER VIII</a></h2> + +<h3>A JAPANESE DAY</h3> + +<p> +The first person astir in a Japanese household is the mistress of the +house. She rises from the quilts on the floor which form her bed and puts +out the lamp, which has been burning all night. No Japanese sleeps without +an andon, a tall paper lamp, in which a dim light burns. Next she unlocks +the amado, the wooden shutters, and calls the servants. +</p> + +<p> +Now the breakfast-table must be set out. In one way this is very simple, +for there is no cloth to spread, for tablecloths are unknown, and when +enough rice has been boiled and enough tea has been made, the breakfast +is ready. But there is one point upon which she must be very careful. The +lacquer rice-bowls and the chopsticks must be set in their proper order, +according to the importance of each person in the family. The slightest +mistake in arranging the position at a meal of any member of the family +or of a guest under the roof would be a matter of the deepest disgrace. +Etiquette is the tyrant of Japan. A slip in the manner of serving the food +is a thousand times more important in Japanese eyes than the quality of the +food itself. A hostess might serve burned rice and the most shocking tea, +but if it were handed round in correct form, there would be nothing more to +be said; but to serve a twice-honourable guest before a thrice-honourable +guest--ah! that would be truly dreadful, a blot never to be wiped off the +family escutcheon. +</p> + +<p> +After breakfast the master of the house will go about his business. If the +day is fine the wife has his straw sandals ready for him; if it is wet +she gets his high wooden clogs and his umbrella of oiled paper. Then she +and the servants escort him to the door and speed his departure with many +low bows, rubbing their knees together--the latter is a sign of deep +respect--and calling good wishes after him. +</p> + +<p> +It may seem odd to us that the servants should accompany their mistress on +such an errand, but the servants in Japan are not like other servants: they +are as much a part of the family as the children of the house. Domestic +service in Japan is a most honourable calling, and ranks far higher than +trade. A domestic servant who married a tradesman would be considered as +going down a step in the social scale. In Japan trade has been left until +lately to the lower classes of the population, and tradespeople have ranked +with coolies and labourers. +</p> + +<p> +This importance of domestic servants arises from two reasons: First, the +old custom which compels the mistress of the house, even if she be of +the highest rank, to serve her husband and children herself, and also to +wait on her parents-in-law, has the effect of raising domestic service to a +high and honourable level. Second, many Japanese servants are of good birth +and excellent family. Only a generation ago their fathers were samurai, +followers of some great Prince, a Daimio, and members of his clan. In the +feudal days of Japan, so recently past, the position of the samurai was +exactly the same as the clansmen of a Highland chief, say at the time of +the "Forty-Five." +</p> + +<p> +The Daimio, the Japanese chief, had a great estate and vast revenues, +counted in measures of rice; one Daimio had as much as 1,000,000 koku +of rice, the koku being a weight of about 132 pounds. But out of these +revenues he had to maintain his clan, his samurai, the members of his +private army. The samurai clansmen were the exact counterparts of +Highlanders. The poorest considered himself a gentleman and a member of +his chief's family; he held trade and handicrafts in the utmost disdain: +he lived only for war and the defence of his lord. But he regarded service +in his lord's household as a high honour, and thus all service was made +honourable. When the feudal system came to an end, when the Daimios retired +into private life, and the samurai were disbanded, then the latter and +their families found that they must work for their own support, and great +numbers entered domestic service. +</p> + +<p> +Boys and girls who are meant for servants have to go through a course of +training in etiquette, quite apart from the training they receive in their +duties. This training is intended to maintain the proper distance between +employer and servant, while, in a sense, allowing them to be perfectly +familiar. The Japanese servant bows low and kneels to her mistress, +and addresses her always in the tone of voice used by an inferior to a +superior, yet she will join in a conversation between her mistress and +a caller, and laugh with the rest at any joke which is made. +</p> + +<p> +It sounds difficult to believe that servants do not become too forward +under such conditions, but they never do. Their perfect taste and good +breeding forbid that they should pass over a certain line where familiarity +would go too far. The position of a servant in Japan is shown by the fact +that, though her master or mistress will speak to her as a servant, yet a +caller or guest must always use the tone of equality and address her as san +(miss). In the absence of the mistress, servants are expected to entertain +any callers, and they do this with the perfection of gentle manners and +exquisite politeness. A lady writer says: +</p> + +<p> +"I remember once being very much at sea when I was taken to pay a call on +a Japanese lady of the well-to-do class. Not being able to speak a word +of the language, I was unable to follow the conversation which took place +between the charming little lady who greeted us at the inner shutters and +my friend. She was dressed in the soft grey kimono and obi of a middle-aged +woman, and her exquisite manner and gentleness made me feel as heavy as my +boots, which I had not been allowed to take off, sounded on the delicate +floor-matting compared to her soft white foot-gloves. +</p> + +<p> +"My friend addressed her as san, and seemed to speak to her just as a +guest would to her hostess. We had tea on the floor, and my friend chatted +pleasantly for some time with the little grey figure, when suddenly the +sound of wheels on the gravel outside caught my ears, and the next instant +there was the scuffling of many feet along the polished wooden passage +which led to the front door, and the eager cry of 'O kaeri! O kaeri!' +(honourable return). Our hostess for the time rose from her knees, smiled, +and begged us to excuse her honourable rudeness. When she had hurried off +to join in the cry of welcome, my friend said, 'Oh, I am glad she has +come!' +</p> + +<p> +"'Who has come ?' I asked. +</p> + +<p> +"'The lady we came to see,' she said. +</p> + +<p> +"'Then, who was the charming little lady who poured out tea for us?' I +asked. My friend smiled. +</p> + +<p> +"'Oh, that was only the housemaid.'" +</p> + +<p> +A man dealing with the same point remarks: "It is very important that a +Japanese upper servant should have good manners, for he is expected to have +sufficient knowledge of etiquette to entertain his master's guests if his +master is out. After rubbing his knees together and hissing and kowtowing +(bowing low), he will invite you to take a seat on the floor, or, more +correctly speaking, on your heels, with a flat cushion between your knees +and the floor to make the ordeal a little less painful. He will then offer +you five cups of tea (it is the number of cups that signifies, not the +number of callers), and dropping on his own heels with ease and grace, +enter into an affable conversation, humble to a degree, but perfectly +familiar, until his master arrives to relieve him. Even after his master +has arrived he may stay in the room, and is quite likely to cut into the +conversation, and dead certain to laugh at the smallest apology for a +joke!" +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="ix">CHAPTER IX</a></h2> + +<h3>A JAPANESE DAY (<i>continued</i>)</h3> + +<p> +But we must return to our Japanese housewife, who has at present only shown +her husband out politely to his business. Now she sees that all the paper +screens are removed, so that the whole house becomes, as it were, one great +room, and thus is thoroughly aired. The beds are rolled up and put away +in cupboards, and the woodwork is carefully rubbed down and polished. +Perhaps the flowers in the vases are faded, and it is a long and elaborate +performance to rearrange the beautiful sprays and the blossoms brought in +from the garden. +</p> + +<p> +Cooking is not by any means so important a matter in her household life +as it is in that of her Western sister. If her rice-box is well filled, +her tea-caddy well stored, her pickle-jar and store of vegetables in good +order, she has little more to think about. "Rice is the staple food of +Japan, and is eaten at every meal by rich or poor, taking the place of our +bread. It is of particularly fine quality, and at meals is brought in small +bright-looking tubs kept for this exclusive purpose and scrupulously clean; +it is then helped to each individual in small quantities, and steaming hot. +The humblest meal is served with nicety, and with the rice various tasty +condiments, such as pickles, salted fish, and numerous other dainty little +appetizers, are eaten. To moisten the meal, tea without sugar is taken. A +hibachi, or charcoal basin, generally occupies the central position, round +which the meal is enjoyed, and on the fire of which the teapot is always +kept easily boiling." +</p> + +<p> +When the Japanese housekeeper goes to market, she turns her attention, +after the rice merchant's, to the fish and vegetable stalls. At the +fish-stall nothing that comes out of the sea is overlooked. She buys not +only fish, but seaweed, which is a common article of diet. It is eaten +raw; it is also boiled, pickled, or fried; it is often made into soup. +Sea-slugs, cuttle-fish, and other creatures which we consider the mere +offal of the sea, are eagerly devoured by the Japanese. +</p> + +<p> +At the vegetable-stall there will be a great variety of things for +sale--beans, peas, potatoes, maize, buckwheat, carrots, lettuce, turnips, +squash, musk- and water-melons, cucumbers, spinach, garlic, onions, leeks, +chillies, capucams (the produce of the egg-plant), and a score of other +things, including yellow chrysanthemum blossoms and the roots and seeds of +the lotus. The Japanese eat almost everything that grows, for they delight +in dock and ferns, in wild ginger and bamboo shoots, and consider the last +a great tit-bit. +</p> + +<p> +But to Europeans the Japanese vegetables seem very tasteless, and the chief +of them all is very much disliked by Westerners. This is the famous daikon, +the mighty Japanese radish, beloved among the poorer classes in its native +land and abhorred by foreigners. It grows to an immense size, being often +seen a yard long and as thick as a man's arm. When fresh it is harmless +enough, but the Japanese love to pickle it, and Mrs. Bishop remarks: +</p> + +<p> +"It is slightly dried and then pickled in brine, with rice bran. It is very +porous, and absorbs a good deal of the pickle in the three months in which +it lies in it, and then has a smell so awful that it is difficult to remain +in a house in which it is being eaten. It is the worst smell I know of +except that of a skunk!" +</p> + +<p> +The pickle-seller's stall must not be forgotten, for the Japanese flavour +their rather tasteless food with a wonderful variety of pickles and sauces. +The great sauce is soy, made from fermented wheat and beans with salt and +vinegar, and at times saké is added to it to heighten its flavour. This +sauce is served with many articles of food, and fish are often cooked in +it. +</p> + +<p> +When the Japanese housekeeper reaches home again she finds that her +servants have finished their simple duties. Englishwomen always wonder what +there is in a Japanese house for servants to do. There are no fires to lay, +no furniture to polish and clean, no carpets to sweep, and no linen to wash +and mend; so Japanese servants spend much time chatting to each other, or +sewing new kimonos together, or playing chess. As a rule, there are many +more servants than are necessary to do the work. This is because servants +are very cheap. There are always plenty of girls who are ready to fill the +lower places if they can obtain food and clothes for their services, and +the upper servants only receive small sums, sometimes as low as six or +eight shillings a month. +</p> + +<p> +If a servant wishes to leave her employment, she never gives direct notice +to her mistress. That would be the height of rudeness. Instead she begs +permission to visit her home, or a sick relation, or some one who needs +her assistance. Upon the day that she should return a long and elaborate +apology for her non-arrival is sent, saying that, most unhappily, she +cannot be spared from her home or her post of duty. It is then understood +that she has left. +</p> + +<p> +In a similar fashion, no mistress tells a servant that she will not suit. A +polite explanation that it will be inconvenient to accept her services at +the moment is sent through a third party. +</p> + +<p> +In the evening the whole family, servants included, gather in the main room +of the house. The master and mistress sit near the hibachi (the stove) +and the andon (the big paper lantern); the maids glide in and sit at a +respectful distance with their sewing, if they have any. There may be +conversation, or the master may read aloud from a book of historical +romances or fairy stories; but the servants may laugh and chat as freely +over joke or story as anyone. +</p> + +<p> +When bed-time arrives the quilts come out of the cupboards, and are spread +with due care that no one sleeps with the head to the north, for that is +the position in which the dead are laid out, and so is a very unlucky +one for the living. Then the little wooden neck-rests, which they use as +pillows, are set in their places, and every one goes to bed. The Japanese +day is over. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="x">CHAPTER X</a></h2> + +<h3>JAPANESE GAMES</h3> + +<p> +The children of Japan have many games, and some of these games are shared +with them by their fathers and mothers--yes, and by their grandfathers and +grandmothers too, for an old man will fly a kite as eagerly as his tiny +grandson. The girls play battledore and shuttlecock and bounce balls, and +the boys spin tops and make them fight. A top-fight is arranged thus: One +boy takes his top, made of hard wood with an iron ring round it, winds it +up with string, and throws it on the ground; while it is spinning merrily, +another boy throws his top in such a way that it spins against the first +top and knocks it over. So cleverly are the attacking tops thrown that the +first top is often knocked to a distance of several feet. Other games are +playing at war with toy weapons, hunting grasshoppers, which are kept in +tiny cages of bamboo, and hunting fireflies. The last pastime is followed +by Japanese of all ages, and the glittering flies are pursued by night, and +struck down by a light fan. +</p> + +<p> +Wherever there is a stream of water, the boys set up toy water-wheels, and +these water-wheels drive little mills and machines, which the boys have +made for themselves in the cleverest fashion. +</p> + +<p> +Here is a group whose heads are very close together. Let us peep over their +shoulders, and see what it is they watch so quietly and earnestly. Ah! this +is a favourite trick. A small boy is setting a team of half a dozen beetles +to draw a load of rice up a smooth, sloping board. He has made a tiny cart +of paper, and filled it with rice. The traces of the cart are made of fine +threads of silk, and he fastens the threads of silk to the backs of the +beetles with gum. +</p> + +<p> +Now he has his strange team in motion, and the beetles are marching up the +board, dragging their load. The tiny faces in the ring of watchers are +filled with deep but motionless interest. Not one dreams of stretching +out a finger. There is no need to say, "Don't touch!" No one would dream +of touching--that would be very rude. Japanese children manage their own +games, without any appeal to their elders. It is not often that a dispute +arises, but, should that happen, the question is settled at once by the +word of an elder child. The decision is obeyed without a murmur, and the +game goes on. +</p> + +<p> +Another game of which children are fond is that of painting sand-pictures +on the roadside. A group of children will compete in drawing a sand-picture +in the shortest time. Each has four bags of coloured sand--black, red, +yellow, and blue--and a bag of white. The white sand is first thrown down +in the form of a square; then a handful of black sand is taken, and allowed +to run through the fingers to form a quaint outline of a man, or bird, or +animal, upon the white ground. Next, the design is finished with the other +colours, and very often a most striking effect is obtained by these child +artists. "But the most extraordinary and most fascinating thing of all is +to watch the performance of a master in sand-pictures. So dexterous and +masterly is he that he will dip his hand first into a bag of blue sand +and then into one of yellow, allowing the separate streams to trickle out +unmixed, and then, with a slight tremble of the hand, these streams will +be quickly converted into one thin stream of bright green, relapsing again +into the streams of blue and yellow at a moment's notice." +</p> + +<p> +There are many indoor games, and a very great favourite is the game of +alphabet cards. This is played with a number of cards, some of which +contain a proverb and some a picture illustrating each proverb. The +children sit in a ring, and the cards are dealt to them. One of the +children is the reader, and when he calls out a proverb the one who has the +picture corresponding to the proverb answers at once and gives up the card. +The first one to be rid of his cards is the winner, and the one who holds +the last card is the loser. If a boy is the loser, he has a dab of ink or +of paint smudged on his face; if it is a girl, she has a wisp of straw +put in her hair. The game is so called because each proverb begins with a +letter of the Japanese alphabet. +</p> + +<p> +Japanese children have many holidays and festivals, and they enjoy +themselves very much on these joyous occasions. With their beautiful +dresses of silk shining in the sun, a crowd of them looks like a great +bed of flowers. Mr. Menpes speaks of a merry-making which he saw: "It +was a festival for girls under ten, and there were hundreds of children, +all with their kimonos tucked up, showing their scarlet petticoats, and +looking for all the world like a mass of poppies.... Two rows or armies of +these girls were placed several yards distant from each other in this long +emerald-green field, and in the space between them stood two servants, each +holding a long bamboo pole, and suspending from its top a flat, shallow +drum, covered with tissue-paper. +</p> + +<p> +"Presently two young men teachers appeared on the scene, carrying two +baskets of small many-coloured balls, which they threw down on the grass +between the children and the drums. Then a signal was given, and all the +girls started running down the field at full tilt towards one another, +pouncing on the balls as they ran, and throwing them with all their force +up at the paper drums. +</p> + +<p> +"After a time, when a perfect shower of balls had passed through the tissue +drums, quite demolishing them, a shower of coloured papers, miniature +lanterns, paper umbrellas, and flags came slowly fluttering down among +the children on to their jet-black bobbing heads and into their eager +outstretched hands. Never have I seen anything more beautiful than these +gay, brightly-clad little people, packed closely together like a cluster +of flowers in the brilliant sparkling sunshine, with their pretty upturned +faces watching the softly falling rain of coloured toys." +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xi">CHAPTER XI</a></h2> + +<h3>THE FEAST OF DOLLS AND THE FEAST OF FLAGS</h3> + +<p> +On the third day of the third month there is great excitement in every +Japanese household which numbers a girl among its domestic treasures: for +the Feast of Dolls has come, the great festival for dolls. On this day the +most beautiful dolls and dolls' houses are fetched from the godown, where +the family furniture is kept, and are on exhibition for a short time, set +out on shelves covered with scarlet cloth. +</p> + +<p> +These dolls are the O-Hina, the honourable dolls. They are kept with the +greatest care, and in some families there are dolls which are centuries +old. As each doll is dressed exactly in the costume of its age, and is +furnished with belongings which represent in miniature the furniture of +that age, such a collection has great historic value, and is used to teach +the children how their ancestors looked and lived. +</p> + +<p> +There are common dolls for the little girls to play with every day, but +these elaborate ones, the honourable dolls, are stored with the greatest +care. Many of them are very costly. The doll is not only beautifully made +and dressed, but its house is furnished with the most exact imitations of +every article of furniture and of every utensil. In wealthy families this +toy furniture is made of the rarest gold lacquer, or of solid silver, +or of beautiful porcelain. Not a single article, either of state or of +usefulness, is missing, and it is the delight of a Japanese girl at the +Feast of Dolls to use the tiny utensils of her toy kitchen to prepare an +elaborate feast of real food which is set before her honourable dolls. +</p> + +<p> +The beginning of a collection of such dolls is made as soon as a girl is +born. Every girl-child is presented with a pair of these dolls, and as time +goes on she gathers all the articles which go with them. These dolls are +always her own. When she marries she takes them to her new home. +</p> + +<p> +When the O-Hina Matsuri, the Feast of Dolls, draws near, the Japanese shops +begin to be full of the little images used at that time. The poorer are of +painted earthenware; the finer are of wood, with clothes of the richest +materials. These images, together with tiny bowls, and pots, and stoves, +and trays, are used to set off and decorate the surroundings of the Feast +of Dolls. They vary very greatly in price. The coolie household may have +a set-out which cost a few pence. The O-Hina of a great noble's house +will often be worth a fortune, having hundreds of beautifully carved and +dressed images to represent the Emperor and Empress and every official of +the Japanese Court, with every article used for State functions, and every +piece of furniture needed to deck a royal palace. Other sets of O-Hina +represent great personages in Japanese history, perhaps a great Daimio and +his followers, each figure dressed with strict historical accuracy, and +provided with every feature proper to its rank and period. +</p> + +<p> +The great festival for boys comes at the Feast of Flags. This is held on +the fifth day of the fifth month. Every one knows when the Feast of Flags +is near, for before every house where there are boys a tall post of bamboo +is set up. Swinging from the top of each post is the figure of a huge carp, +made of brightly coloured paper. If a boy has been born in the house during +the year the carp is made bigger still. The body of the fish is hollow, and +when the wind blows into it, it wriggles its fins and tail just like a fish +swimming strongly. The Japanese choose the carp because they say it has the +power of ascending streams swiftly against the current and of leaping over +waterfalls. It is thus supposed to typify a young man breasting the stream +of life, and thrusting his way through difficulties to success. +</p> + +<p> +As the boys' day draws near, the shops become full of toys for them. There +are images bought for boys as well as for their sisters; but boys' images +are those of soldiers, heroes, generals, famous old warriors, wrestlers, +and so forth. The old Japanese were a war-like nation, and the toys +provided for their sons at the Feast of Flags were helmets, flags, swords, +bows and arrows, coats of mail, spears, and the like. The Feast of Flags +itself is held on the day sacred to Hachima, the Japanese God of War, and +the favourite game on that day is a mimic battle. +</p> + +<p> +The boys divide themselves into two parties, called Heike and Genji. These +names represent two great old rival clans of the feudal days. Every Heike +carries a red flag on his back, every Genji a white one. Each combatant +also wears a helmet, consisting of a kind of earthenware pot. The combat +is joined, and the small warriors hack at each other with bamboo swords. A +well-directed blow will dash to pieces the earthenware pot, and the wearer +is then compelled to own defeat. That side wins which breaks most pots on +its opponents' heads, or captures most flags. +</p> + +<p> +This display of weapons, with blowing of horns and trumpets, serves another +purpose also; for on the fifth day of the fifth month the Japanese believe +that Oni, an evil-disposed god, comes down from the heavens to devour +boys, or to bring great harm to them. But he fears sharp swords, so the +long swordshaped blades of the sweet flag are gathered from the edges of +rivers and the sides of swampy rice-fields, and used as decorations. As +a Japanese writer says: "Oni fears the sword-blade of the sweet flag, so +that its leaves are everywhere. They are upon the festal table; they hang +in festoons about the house, and all along the eaves. Boys wear them tied +around their heads, with the white scraped fragrant roots projecting like +two horns from their foreheads. So, and with the noise of bamboo horns, +they frighten away the ogre god. For he fears horned men, and he dares not +enter a house where so many swords hang from the eaves." +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xii">CHAPTER XII</a></h2> + +<h3>A FARTHING'S WORTH OF FUN</h3> + +<p> +How would you like to go to a fair with a farthing, a whole farthing, to +spend as you pleased? I think I can see some of you turning your noses up, +and looking very scornful. "A farthing, indeed!" you say. "Pray, of what +use is a farthing? I wouldn't mind going to a fair with a shilling, or even +sixpence, but what could anyone do with a farthing?" Well, in Japan you +could do a great deal. We must remember that Japan is a country of tiny +wages; many of its workers do not receive more than sixpence a day, and a +man who gets a shilling is well off. Tiny earnings mean tiny spendings, and +things are arranged on a scale to meet very slender purses. +</p> + +<p> +We will now see what sort of time O Hara San, Miss Blossom, and her +brother, Taro San, Master Eldest Son, had at the fair one fine day in +Nagasaki. In the morning they sprang up from their quilts full of excited +pleasure, for they had been looking forward to this fair for some time. But +they did not romp and chatter and show their excitement as English children +would do. Their black eyes shone a little more brightly than usual, and +that was all. +</p> + +<p> +When they had whipped their rice into their mouths with their little +chopsticks, they started for the fair, which was to be held in the grounds +of a great temple. Of course, they were dressed in their best clothes. Both +had new kimonos, and O Hara San had a very fine obi, which her parents had +bought for her by denying themselves many little luxuries. Their father and +grandmother went with them, but their mother stayed at home with the baby. +Their father wore a newly-washed kimono, but his chief glory was an old +bowler hat which a European gentleman had given to him. It had been much +too large for him, but he had neatly taken it in, and now wore it with +great pride. When they reached the fair they gave themselves up to its +delights with all their hearts. There was so much to do and so much to see. +Almost at once O Hara San and Taro were beguiled by a sweetmeat stall. +</p> + +<p> +Each had five rin, and five rin make one farthing, or rather less, but we +will call it a farthing for the sake of round figures. One rin apiece was +spent here. The stall was in two divisions: one stocked with delicious +little bottles of sugar-water, the other with pieces of candy, tinted +bright blue and red and green. Miss Blossom went in for a bottle of +sugar-water, and her brother for candies. But first he demanded of the +candy-seller that he should be allowed to try his luck at the disc. This +was a disc having an arrow which could be whirled round, and if the arrow +paused opposite a lucky spot an extra piece of candy was added to the +purchase. To Taro's great joy, he made a lucky hit, and won the extra piece +of candy; he felt that the fair had begun very well for him. +</p> + +<p> +While they drank sugar-water and munched candy, they wandered along looking +at the booths, where all sorts of wonders were to be seen--booths full of +conjurers, acrobats, dancers, of women who could stretch their necks to +the length of their arms, or thrust their lips up to cover their eyebrows, +and a hundred other curious tricks. The price of admission was one rin +each to children, and finally they chose the conjurer's booth, and saw him +spout fire from his mouth, swallow a long sword, and finally exhibit a +sea-serpent, which appeared to be made of seal-skins tacked together. +</p> + +<p> +When they left the show they came all at once on one of the great delights +of a Japanese fair. It was the man with the cooking-stove, round whom +children always throng as flies gather about honey. For the fifth part of +a farthing you may have the use of his cooking-stove, you may have a piece +of dough, or you may have batter with a cup, a spoon, and a dash of soy +sauce. You may then abandon yourself to the delights of making a cake for +yourself, baking it for yourself, and then eating it yourself, and if you +spend a couple of hours over the operation the man will not grumble. As +this arrangement combines both the pleasure of making a cake and playing +with fire, it is very popular, and we cannot wonder that Taro took a turn, +though Miss Blossom did not. She felt herself rather too big to join the +swarm of happy urchins round the stove. +</p> + +<p> +While Taro was baking his cake she spent her third rin on a peep-show, +where a juggler made little figures of paper and pasteboard dance and +perform all kinds of antics. Then they went on again. Each bought one rin's +worth of sugared beans, a very favourite sweet-meat; and these they ate +while they waited for their father and grandmother to join them at the +door of a certain theatre where they had agreed to meet. Into this theatre +was pouring a stream of people, old and young, men, women, children, and +babies, for a great historical play was to be performed, and it would +shortly begin. Soon their elders turned up, and their father took their +last rin to make up the payment which would admit them. +</p> + +<p> +In they went, and took possession of their place. The floor of the theatre +was divided by little partitions, about a foot or so high, into a vast +number of tiny squares, like open egg-boxes. In one of these little boxes +our friends squatted down on the floor, and the grandmother began to unpack +the bundle which she had been carrying. This bundle contained a number of +cooking-vessels and an ample supply of rice, for here they meant to stay +for some hours to see the play, to eat and drink, and enjoy themselves +generally. +</p> + +<p> +The father filled his pipe, lighted it at the hibachi, and began to smoke, +as hundreds more were doing all round them. Each box contained a family, +and each family had brought its cooking-pots, its food, and its drink; and +hawkers of food, of pipes, of tobacco, of saké, and of a score of other +things, rambled up and down selling their wares. +</p> + +<p> +When the play began every one paid close attention, for it was a great +historical play, and the Japanese go to the theatre and take their children +there in order to learn history. There are represented the old wars, the +old feuds, the struggle of Daimio against Daimio--in short, the history of +old Japan. When an actor gave pleasure, the audience flung their hats on +the stage. These were collected by an attendant, and kept until the owners +redeemed them by giving a present. For six hours O Hara San and Taro sat +in their little box, laughing, shouting, eating, and drinking, while the +play went on. Then it was over, for it was only a short play, at a cheap +theatre. "Ah!" said their father, "when I was a boy we had real plays. We +used to rise early and be in the theatre by six o'clock in the morning. +There we would stay enjoying ourselves until eleven at night. But now the +decree of the Government is that no play shall last more than nine hours. +It is too little!" +</p> + +<p> +The children quite agreed with him as they helped their grandmother to +gather the pots and pans and dishes which were scattered about their box. +Then each took the wooden ticket which would secure the shoes which they +had left outside with the attendants, and went slowly from the theatre. +When they had obtained their shoes and put them on, Miss Blossom and Master +Eldest Son strolled slowly homewards through the fair. They had not another +rin to spend--their farthing's worth of fun was over. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xiii">CHAPTER XIII</a></h2> + +<h3>KITE-FLYING</h3> + +<p> +About a fortnight after the fair, on a fine windy afternoon, there was a +holiday, and Taro, with his father and his younger brother Ito, turned +out to fly kites. Some of their neighbours were already at work flying +kites from the roofs of the houses or from windows, but our friends wanted +more room than that, and went up to a piece of higher ground behind their +street. Here they joined a crowd of kite-flyers. Every one was out to-day +with his kite, old and young, men of sixty, with yellow, wrinkled faces, +down to toddlers of three, who clutched their strings and flew their little +kites with as much gravity and staidness as their grandfathers. Before long +O Hara San came up with the baby on her back, and he had a bit of string +in his tiny fist and a scrap of a kite not much bigger than a man's hand +floating a few yards above his head. +</p> + +<p> +But Taro was a proud boy this afternoon. He was about to fly his first big +fighting kite. It was made of tough, strong paper, stretched on a bamboo +frame five feet square, a kite taller than his own father. The day before +Taro had pounded a piece of glass up fine and mixed it with glue. The +mixture had been rubbed on the string of his kite for about thirty feet +near the kite-end and left to dry. Now, if he could only get this string +to cut sharply across the string of another kite, the latter cord would be +severed, and he could proudly claim the vanquished kite as his own. +</p> + +<p> +Kites of every colour and shape hovered in the air above the wide open +space. There were square kites of red, yellow, green, blue, every colour +of the rainbow; many were decorated with gaily-painted figures of gods, +heroes, warriors, and dragons. There were kites in the shape of fish, +hawks, eagles, and butterflies. Some had hummers, made of whalebone, which +hummed musically in the wind as they rose; and as for fighting kites, they +were abroad in squads and battalions. In one place the fight was between +single kites; in another a score of men with blue kites met a score with +red kites and the kites fluttered, darted, swooped, dived this way, that +way, and every way, as they were skilfully moved by the strings pulled from +below. Now and again one of them was seen to fall helplessly away and drift +down the wind; its string had been cut by some victorious rival, and it had +been put out of the battle. +</p> + +<p> +Taro had his kite high up in the air very soon; it flew splendidly, and for +some time he was very busy in trying it and learning its ways, for every +kite has its own tricks of moving in the air. Then suddenly he saw a great +brown eagle sailing towards it. He looked up and saw that a boy named +Kanaya was directing the eagle kite towards his own, and that it was a +challenge to a fight. Taro accepted at once, and the combat was joined. +</p> + +<p> +Kanaya brought his eagle swiftly over Taro's big square kite, brightly +painted in bars of many colours, but Taro let out string and escaped. Then +he swung his kite up into the wind and made it swoop on the eagle. But +Kanaya was already winding his string swiftly in and had raised his kite +out of reach of the swoop. And so they went on for more than an hour, +pursuing, escaping, feinting, dodging, until at last the eagle caught +a favourable slant of wind and darted down so swiftly that Taro could +not escape. The strings crossed, and the upper began to chafe the lower +savagely. +</p> + +<p> +Taro tried to work his kite away, but in vain. The eagle string was strong +and sharp. At the next moment Taro felt a horrid slackness of his string; +no more could he feel the strong, splendid pull of his big kite. There it +was, going, falling headlong to the ground. Kanaya had won. Nothing now +remained to Taro but to take his beating like a Japanese and a gentleman. +With a cheerful smile he made three low bows to his conqueror. Kanaya, with +the utmost gravity, returned the bows before he ran away to secure the kite +he had won. +</p> + +<p> +Now, there had been a very interested and attentive observer of this battle +in Ito, Taro's younger brother. Ito never said a word or moved a muscle +of his little brown face when he saw his brother defeated and the big kite +seized in triumph by Kanaya. But his black eyes gleamed a little more +brightly in their narrow slits as he let out more string and waited for +Kanaya to begin to fly again. +</p> + +<p> +Ito had succeeded to the possession of Taro's old kite. It was less than +two feet square, but it flew well, and Ito had also anointed his string +with the mixture of pounded glass and glue, and was ready for combat Within +ten minutes Kanaya was flying once more, and now he had Taro's kite high in +the air. He had put away his own big brown eagle, and was flying the kite +he had just won. He had scarcely got it well up when a smaller square kite +came darting down upon it from a great height. Ito had entered the lists, +and a fresh battle began. +</p> + +<p> +It was even longer and stubborner than the first, for Ito's kite, being +much smaller, had much less power in the air; but Ito made up for this by +showing the greatest skill in the handling of his kite, and quite a crowd +gathered to see the struggle, watching every movement in perfect silence +and with the deepest gravity. Suddenly Ito pounced. He caught a favourable +gust of wind, and swung his line across Kanaya's with the greatest +dexterity. Saw-saw went the line, and at the next moment the great kite +went tumbling down the wind, and Kanaya and Ito exchanged the regulation +bows. Then the latter looked at his brother without a word, and Taro ran +to seize his beloved kite again. +</p> + +<p> +"It is yours now, Ito," said the elder brother, when he came back. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh no," said Ito; "we will each keep our own. I am glad I got it back from +Kanaya." +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xiv">CHAPTER XIV</a></h2> + +<h3>FAIRY STORIES</h3> + +<p> +When Taro and Ito went home that night with their kites, they were glad to +sit down and rest, for they had been running about until they were quite +tired. When they had eaten their suppers of rice from their little brown +bowls of lacquer, they begged their grandmother to tell them a story, and +she told them the famous old story of Momotaro, beloved of every child in +Japan. And this is what she told them: Once upon a time an old man and an +old woman lived near a river at the foot of a mountain. Every day the old +man went to the mountain to cut wood and carry it home, while the old woman +went to the river to wash clothes. Now, the old woman was very unhappy +because she had no children; it seemed to her that if she only had a son +or a daughter she would be the most fortunate old woman in the world. +</p> + +<p> +Well, one day she was washing the clothes in the river, when she saw +something floating down the stream towards her. It proved to be a great +pear, and she seized it and carried it home. As she carried it she heard a +sound like the cry of a child. She looked right and left, up and down, but +no child was to be seen. She heard the cry again, and now she fancied that +it came from the big pear. So she cut the pear open at once, and, to her +great surprise and delight, she found that there was a fine baby sitting in +the middle of it. She took the child and brought it up, and because he was +born in a pear she called him Momotaro. +</p> + +<p> +Momotaro grew up a strong, fine boy, and when he was seventeen years old +he started out to seek his fortune. He had made up his mind to attack an +island where lived a very dreadful ogre. The old woman gave him plenty of +food to eat on the way--corn and rice wrapped in a bamboo-leaf, and many +other things--and away he went. He had not gone far when he met a wasp. +</p> + +<p> +"Give me a share of your food, Momotaro," said the wasp, "and I will go +with you and help you to overcome the ogre." +</p> + +<p> +"With all my heart," said Momotaro, and he shared his food at once with the +wasp. +</p> + +<p> +Soon he met a crab, and the same agreement was made with the crab, and then +with a chestnut, and last of all with a millstone. +</p> + +<p> +So now the five companions journeyed on together towards the island of the +ogre. When the island was reached they crept up to the house of the ogre, +and found that he was not in his room. So they soon made a plan to take +advantage of his absence. The chestnut laid itself down in the ash of a +charcoal fire which had been burning on the hearth, the crab hid himself in +a washing-pan nearly full of water, the wasp settled in a dusky corner, the +millstone climbed on to the roof, and Momotaro hid himself outside. +</p> + +<p> +Before long the ogre came back, and he went to the fire to warm his hands. +The chestnut at once cracked in the hot ashes, and threw burning cinders +over the ogre's hands. The ogre at once ran to the washing-pan, and thrust +his hands into it to cool them. The crab caught his fingers and pinched +them till the ogre roared with pain. Snatching his hands out of the pan, +the ogre leapt into the dusky corner as a safe place; but the wasp met him +and stung him dreadfully. In great fright and misery the ogre tried to run +out of the room, but down came the millstone with a crash on his head and +killed him at once. So, without any trouble to himself, and by the help of +the faithful friends which his kindness had made for him, Momotaro gained +possession of the ogre's wealth, and his fortune was made. +</p> + +<p> +Then the grandmother told them of Jizo, the patron saint of travellers and +children, the helper of all who are in trouble. +</p> + +<p> +Everywhere by the roadside in Japan is found the figure of Jizo. Sometimes +a figure of noble height, carved in stone or in the living rock, sometimes +no more than a rough carving in wood, he is represented as a priest with +kindly face, holding a traveller's staff in his right hand and a globe in +his left. He stands upon a lotus-flower, and about his feet there lies a +pile of pebbles, to which pile each wayfarer adds a fresh pebble. +</p> + +<p> +And the old grandmother bade the children never pass a figure of Jizo +without paying it the tribute of a pebble, for this reason: Every little +child who dies, she said, has to pass over So-dzu-kawa, the river of the +underworld. Now, on the banks of this river there lives a wicked old hag +who catches little children as they try to cross, steals their clothes from +them, and sets them to work to help her in her endless task of piling up +the stones on the shore of the stream. Jizo helps these poor children, and +every one who throws a pebble at the foot of this shrine also takes a share +in lightening the labour of some little one down below. +</p> + +<p> +Another favourite story is that of Urashima, the fisher-boy. Urashima was a +handsome fisher-boy, who lived near the Sea of Japan, and every day he went +out in his boat to catch fish in order to help his parents. But one day +Urashima did not return. His mother watched long, but there was no sign of +her son's boat coming back to the shore. Day after day passed, and Urashima +was mourned as dead. But he was not dead. Out on the sea he had met the +Sea-God's daughter, and she had carried him off to a green, sunny land +where it was always summer. There they lived for some time in great love +and happiness. When it appeared to Urashima that several weeks had passed +in this pleasant land, he begged permission of the Princess to return home +and see his parents. +</p> + +<p> +"They will be sorrowing for me," he said. "They will fear that I am lost, +and drowned at sea." At last she allowed him to go, and she gave him a +casket, but told him to keep it closed. +</p> + +<p> +"As long as you keep it closed," she said, "I shall always be with you, but +if you open it you will lose both me and this sunny summer land for ever." +</p> + +<p> +Urashima took the casket, promised to keep it closed, and returned home. +But his native village had vanished. There was no sign of any dwelling +upon the shore, and not far away there was a town which he had never seen +before. In truth, every week that he had spent with the Princess had been +a hundred years on earth, and his home and native village had passed away +centuries ago, and the place where they had stood had been forgotten. In +his despair, he forgot the words of the Princess, and opened the forbidden +box. A faint blue mist floated out and spread over the sea, and a wonderful +change took place at once in Urashima. From a handsome youth he turned to a +feeble and decrepit old man, and then he fell upon the shore and lay there +dead. In the box the Princess had shut up all the hours of their happy +life, and when they had once escaped he became as other mortals, and old +age and death came upon him at a bound. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xv">CHAPTER XV</a></h2> + +<h3>TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES</h3> + +<p> +Tea-houses and temples run together very easily in the Japanese mind, for +wherever you find a temple there you also find a tea-house. But tea-houses +are not confined to the neighbourhood of temples: they are everywhere. The +tea-house is the house of public entertainment in Japan, and varies from +the tiny cabin with straw roof, a building which is filled by half a dozen +coolies drinking their tea, to large and beautiful structures, with floors +and ceilings of polished woods, splendid mats, and tables of ebony and +gold. +</p> + +<p> +The tea-house does not sell tea alone. It will lodge you and find you +dinners and suppers, and is in country places the Japanese hotel. If +tea-houses sold tea and nothing else it is certain that European travellers +would be in a very bad way, for there is one point they are all agreed +upon, and that is that the tea, as a rule, is quite unpalatable to a +Western taste. However, it does not matter in the least whether you +drink it or not as long as you pay your money, and the last is no great +tax--about three halfpence. +</p> + +<p> +When a traveller steps into a tea-house the girl attendants, the moosmes, +gay in their scarlet petticoats, kneel before him, and, if it is an +out-of-the-way place, where the old fashions are kept up, place their +foreheads on the matting. Then away they run to fetch the tea. Japanese +servants always run when they wish to show respect; to walk would look +careless and disrespectful in their eyes. The tea arrives in a small pot +on a lacquer tray, with five tiny teacups without handles round the pot. +There is no milk or sugar, and the tea is usually a straw-coloured, bitter +liquid, very unpleasant to a European taste. But if a cup be raised to the +lips and set down, and three sen--a sen is about a halfpenny--laid on the +tray, all goes well, and every one is satisfied. + +This bringing of tea to a visitor is universal in Japan. It is not only +done in a tea-house, where one would expect it, but on every occasion. A +friendly call at a private house produces the teacups like magic, and when +a customer enters a good shop, business matters are undreamed of until many +little cups of tea have been produced; and if the customer has many things +to buy and stays a long time, tea is steadily brought forward in relays. +If you don't care for your tea plain, you may have it flavoured with +salted cherry blossoms, but that is not considered an improvement by the +Westerner, who longs for sugar and milk. If you wish to stay for the night +at a tea-house, a room is made for you by sliding some paper screens into +the wall and ceiling grooves, and a couple of quilts are laid on the floor +to form a bed. That is the whole provision made in the way of furniture if +you are off the beaten track of tourists: the rest you must provide for +yourself. +</p> + +<p> +In the cities the tea-houses of the grander sort are the scenes of splendid +entertainments. When a Japanese wishes to give a dinner to his friends +he does not ask them to his house; he invites them to a banquet at some +famous tea-house. There he provides not only the delicacies which make up +a Japanese dinner, but hires dancing girls, called geisha, to amuse the +company by their dancing and singing. +</p> + +<p> +A foreigner who is asked to one of these Japanese dinners finds everything +very strange and not a little difficult. At the doors of the tea-house his +boots are taken off, and he marches across the matting, to do his best to +sit on his heels for a few hours. This gives him the cramp, and soon he is +reduced to sitting with his back against the wall and his legs stretched +out before him. He can manage in this way pretty fairly. +</p> + +<p> +There may be a table before him, or there may not. If there is a table, it +will be a tiny affair about a foot high. There will be no tablecloth, no +glasses, no knives and forks, no spoons, and no napkin. He will be expected +to deal with his food with a pair of chopsticks. When these are set +before him, he will see that the two round slips of wood are still joined +together. This is to show that they have never been used before. He breaks +them apart, and wonders how he is going to get his food into his mouth with +two pencils of wood. +</p> + +<p> +The feast begins with tea served by moosmes, who kneel before each +guest. Each wears her most beautiful dress, and is girded with a huge +and brilliant sash. After the tea they bring in pretty little white cakes +made of bean flour and sugar, and flavoured with honey. The next course is +contained in a batch of little dishes, two or three of which are placed +before each guest. These contain minced dried fish, sea slugs floating in +an evil-smelling sauce, and boiled lotus-seeds. To wash down these dainties +a porcelain bottle of saké, rice-beer, is provided. +</p> + +<p> +The unhappy foreigner tastes one dish after the other, finds each one worse +than the last, and concludes to wait till the next course. This is composed +of a very great dainty, raw, live fish, which one dips in sauce before +devouring. Then comes rice, and the chopsticks of the Japanese feasters go +to work in marvellous fashion. With their strips of wood or ivory they whip +the rice grain into their mouths with wonderful speed and dexterity, but +our unlucky foreigner gets one grain into his mouth in five minutes, and is +reduced to beg for a spoon. +</p> + +<p> +The next course is of fish soup and boiled fish, and potatoes appear with +the fish; but, alas! the fish is most oddly flavoured and the potatoes are +sweet; they have been beaten up with sugar into a sort of stiff syrup. Next +comes seaweed soup and the coarse evil-smelling daikon radish, served with +various pickles and sauces. +</p> + +<p> +Among the other oddments is a dish of nice-looking plums. Our foreigner +seizes one and pops it in his mouth. He would be only too glad to pop it +out again if he could, for the plum has been soaked in brine, and tastes +like a very salty form of pickle. As he experiments here and there among +the wilderness of little lacquer bowls which come forth relay upon relay, +he feels inclined to paraphrase the cry of the Ancient Mariner, and murmur: +"Victuals, victuals everywhere, and not a scrap to eat!" + +When at length the dinner has run its course the geisha, in their beautiful +robes of silk and brocade and their splendid sashes, come in to sing and +dance. Europeans are soon tired of both performances. The geisha, with +her face whitened with powder, and her lips painted a bright red, and her +elaborately-dressed hair full of ornaments, sits down to a sort of guitar +called a samisen and sings, but her song has no music in it. It is a kind +of long-drawn wail, very monotonous and tuneless to European ears. The +dancing is a kind of acting in dumb show, and consists of a number of +postures, while the movements of the fan take a large share in conveying +the dancer's meaning. +</p> + +<p> +When our foreigner starts home from this long and rather fatiguing +entertainment, he finds that he has by no means finished with his dinner. +On his way to his carriage he will be waylaid by the little moosmes who +have waited upon him, and their arms will be filled with flat white wooden +boxes. These contain the food that was offered to him and left uneaten, and +Japanese etiquette demands that he shall take home with him his share of +the scraps of the banquet. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xvi">CHAPTER XVI</a></h2> + +<h3>TEA-HOUSES AND TEMPLES (<i>continued</i>)</h3> + +<p> +The Japanese are very fond of their temples, and visit them constantly. +They do this not only to pray to their gods, but to enjoy themselves as +well, for the temple grounds are the scene of great fairs and festivals. +If you visit a temple on the day of some great function, you will find its +steps outside packed with rows upon rows of clogs and umbrellas, placed +there by the worshippers inside. You enter, and find the latter seated +on the floor, and if the service is not going on at the moment they are +smoking and chatting together, and the children are crawling about in the +crowd. +</p> + +<p> +When the service is over the worshippers disperse to find a cool spot +in the temple grounds to eat their simple meal. In front of the temple +stands a wooden arch, called a torii. Sometimes the temple is approached +through a whole avenue of them of various sizes. The building is of wood, +sometimes small, sometimes very large, and is usually surrounded by booths +and tea-houses. At many of the booths may be purchased the figures of the +more popular gods. Everywhere may be seen the fat figures of the Seven +Gods of Wealth, the deities most beloved in every Japanese household. Then +there are the God and Goddess of Rice, who protect the crops, and who are +attended by the figures of foxes quaintly carved in wood or moulded in +white plaster. The Goddess of Mercy, with her many hands to help and save, +is also a favourite idol. +</p> + +<p> +At another spot you find peep-shows, stalls at which hairpins, paints, and +powder-boxes, and a thousand other trifles, are sold; archery galleries, +where you may fire twenty arrows at a target for a halfpenny; booths, where +acrobats, conjurers, and jugglers are performing, and tea-houses without +number, where the faithful are sipping their tea or saké and puffing at +their tiny pipes. +</p> + +<p> +The young girls are fond of purchasing sacred beans and peas and rice at a +stall set up under the eaves of the temple. With these they feed the temple +pigeons, who come swooping down from the great wooden roof, or the sacred +white pony with the blue eyes which belongs to the holy place. On the steps +sit rows of licensed beggars, who will pray for those who will present them +with the tenth part of a farthing. But prayers may also be bought from the +priests, prayers written upon a scrap of paper, which scrap is afterwards +fastened to the bars of the grating in front of the figure of a god. A +favourite god will have many thousand scraps of paper fluttering before it +at one time. +</p> + +<p> +Many of the temple gardens are of very great beauty and interest. There +can be seen many of the marvels of Japanese gardening--tiny dwarf trees, +hundreds of years old, and yet only a few inches high, or tall shrubberies +cut and trained to represent a great junk in full sail, or the figure of a +god or hero. +</p> + +<p> +At certain times of the year when the temple orchards are in blossom, great +throngs visit them simply to enjoy the delicate beauty of the scene. The +plum-blossom appears in February, and the cherry-blossom in April or May. +Later in the year the purple iris is followed by the golden chrysanthemum. +High and low, all crowd to see the beauty of a vast sweep of lovely +blossom. A poor Japanese thinks nothing of walking a hundred miles or more +to see some famous orchard or garden in its full flowering splendour. +</p> + +<p> +From his earliest years this love of natural beauty has been a part of his +education. As a child he has taken many a trip with his father and mother +to admire the acres of plum or cherry blossom in a park or temple-garden; +as a man he lays his work aside and goes to see the same spectacle with +redoubled delight. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xvii">CHAPTER XVII</a></h2> + +<h3>THE RICKSHAW-MAN</h3> + +<p class="ind"> + "For his heart is in Japan, with its junks and Fujisan,<br> + And its tea-houses and temples, and the smiling rickshaw-man." +</p> + +<p> +We have heard of Fujisan, the famous mountain; we have talked of tea-houses +and temples; and now we must say something about the rickshaw-man or boy, +a very important person indeed in Japan. He is not important because of +riches or rank, for, as a rule, he is very poor and of the coolie order; he +is important because he is so useful. He is at one and the same time the +cabman and the cab-horse of Japan. He waits in the street with his little +carriage, and when you jump in he takes hold of the shafts himself and +trots away with you at a good speed. +</p> + +<p> +The jin-ri-ki-sha, to give it its full name, means man-power carriage, and +is like a big mail-cart or perambulator. There is a hood of oiled paper to +pull up for wet weather, a cushion to sit on, a box for parcels under the +seat, two tall slight wheels, and a pair of shafts. If the rickshaw-boy is +well-to-do in his business, his carriage is gaily lacquered and painted +with bright designs, and however poor he may be, there will be some attempt +at decoration. +</p> + +<p> +At night every rickshaw is furnished with a pretty paper lantern, circular +in form, about eighteen inches long, and painted in gay designs. These look +quite charming as they bob here and there through the dusk, their owners +racing along with a fare. The rickshaw is as modern as the bicycle. The +first one was made less than forty years ago, but they sprang into favour +at once, and their popularity grew by leaps and bounds. The fact is that +the rickshaw fits Japan as a round peg fits a round hole. In the first +place, it opened a new and money-making industry to many thousands of men +who had little to do. There were vast numbers of strong, active young +fellows who leapt forward at once to use their strength and endurance in +this novel and profitable fashion. Then, the vehicle was suited to Japanese +conditions, both in town and country. +</p> + +<p> +In town the streets are so narrow and busy that horse traffic would be +dangerous. In fact, in many places a horse is so rare a sight that when one +trots along a street a man runs ahead, blowing a horn to warn people to +clear out of the way. But the rickshaw-boy dodges through the traffic with +his little light carriage, and runs over no one. +</p> + +<p> +Then, in the country the roads are often very narrow, and sometimes very +bad--mere tracks between fields of rice. Here the rickshaw is of great +service, owing to its light weight and the little room it requires. +</p> + +<p> +As a rule, the rickshaw is drawn by one man and holds one passenger; but +it has often to contain two Japanese, for the pair of them will fit snugly +into the space required for one Englishman. If the traveller wishes to go +fast, he has two human horses harnessed to his light chariot. Both run in +front till a hill is reached, when one drops back to push behind. +</p> + +<p> +Wherever you arrive in Japan, whether by steamer or by train, you will find +long rows of rickshaw-boys waiting to be hired. They are all called boys, +whatever their age may be. Until a possible passenger comes in sight, the +queer little men, many of them under five feet in height, stand beside +their rickshaws, smoking their tiny little brass pipes with bowls about +half as big as a thimble. Their clothes are very simple. They wear a very +tight pair of short blue drawers and a blue tunic, upon the back of which +a huge white crest is painted, the distinguishing mark of each boy. An +enormous white hat the size and shape of a huge basin is worn on the head; +but if the day becomes very hot the hat is taken off, and a wisp of cloth +bound round the forehead to prevent sweat from running into the eyes. As +for sunstroke, the rickshaw-boy has no fear of that. +</p> + +<p> +When you step into sight, a score dart forward, dragging their rickshaws +after them with one hand and holding the other up to draw your attention, +and shouting, "Riksha! Riksha! Riksha!" You choose one, and step in. +The human steed springs between the shafts, raises them and tilts you +backwards, and then darts off, as if eager to show you his strength and +speed, and prove to you what a good choice you have made. +</p> + +<p> +Away bounds the little man, and soon you are bowling along a narrow street +where a passage seems impossible, so full is it of boys and girls, men +and women, shops and stalls. There may be a side-walk, but then, the +shopkeepers have taken that to spread out their wares, or the stallkeepers +have set up their little booths there. So the people who want to go along +the street, and the boys and girls who want to play in it, are all driven +to the middle of the way. +</p> + +<p> +Here and there your rickshaw dodges, working its way through the crowd. +Now the man pauses a second lest he should run full-tilt over a group +of gaily-dressed little girls, each with a baby on her back, playing +at ball in the road. Half a dozen others are busy with battledores and +shuttlecocks, and the gaily-painted toys drop into your carriage, and +you are expected to toss them out again to the mites, who will bow very +deeply and with the profoundest gravity in return for your politeness; then +something flutters over your head, and you see that two boys and an old man +are sitting on the roof of a house about as high as a tool-shed, trying to +get their kites up. And you say to yourself that it is lucky that there +are no horses, for the quietest beast that ever lifted a hoof would bolt +here and charge through the whirl and uproar and the rain of dropping +shuttlecocks and bouncing balls. +</p> + +<p> +Another fine thing about rickshaw-riding is that no one can call it +expensive. While the boy goes, you pay him about sevenpence an hour; while +he waits you pay him rather less than twopence-halfpenny an hour, and you +can have his services for a whole day for about half a crown. But some of +them will try to cheat you in places where foreigners are often met with, +and will put a whole twopence an hour on the regular price. +</p> + +<p> +This is very sad, and causes the rickshaw-boy to be looked upon as a +tradesman; he is not allowed the honour of being regarded as a servant and +the member of an honourable profession--one who puts his master's interests +before his own. But, as a rule, the foreigner who employs the same +rickshaw-boy comes to look upon him as a guide, philosopher, and friend. He +will tell you where to go and what to do; he knows all the sights, and can +tell you all about them. If you go shopping, he will come in and see that +you don't get cheated any more than you are bound to be. If you go on an +expedition, he will find out the best tea-house to stay at, he will cook +for you, wait on you, brush your clothes, put up the paper screens to form +your bedroom, take them down again, see that the bill is reasonable, pay +it, and fee the servants--in short, he will manage everything, and you have +only to admire what you have gone to see. +</p> + +<p> +Wherever you stop on a jaunt, whether it is some famous temple or some +lovely park, there is sure to be a coolie's tea-house handy, and he takes +the opportunity of refreshing himself. He dives into the well under the +seat and fetches out his lacquer box full of rice. He whips the rice into +his mouth with chopsticks, and washes it down with the yellow, bitter +Japanese tea. Then he sits and smokes his tiny pipe until you are ready to +go on. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xviii">CHAPTER XVIII</a></h2> + +<h3>IN THE COUNTRY</h3> + +<p> +The Japanese farmer is one of the steadiest workers in the world; he tills +his patch of land, day in, day out, with untiring industry. He works seven +days a week, for he knows nothing of the Sabbath, and only takes a day +off for a fair or a festival when his land is in perfect order and he is +waiting for the crop. +</p> + +<p> +Almost the whole of the land is turned over with the spade, and weeds are +kept down until the whole country looks like a neatly-kept garden. Many +crops are grown, but the chief of them all is rice, and when the rice crop +fails, then vast numbers of people in Japan feel the pinch of famine. +</p> + +<p> +In order to grow rice much water is needed, so the fields are flooded from +a river or canal near at hand, and the plants are set in the soft mud. This +work is carried out by men or women who wade in slush above their knees, +and it is a very dirty and toilsome task. The women tuck their kimonos up, +and the men cast theirs aside altogether. After planting, this work in deep +slush and clinging mud must be repeated three times in order to clear away +the water-weeds which grow thickly around the young rice-plants. +</p> + +<p> +When the rice is nearly ripe the water is drawn off and the fields are +dried. The fields are of all sizes and shapes, from a patch of a few square +yards up to an acre, and the latter would be considered large. There +are no hedges or fences to divide off field from field, for the land is +too valuable to permit of such being grown; but the boundaries are well +understood, and each farmer knows his own patch. +</p> + +<p> +Another important crop is the plants which are grown for making paper. +Paper has a great place in the industries of Japan. It is used everywhere +and for almost everything. A Japanese lives in a house largely built of +paper, drinks from a paper cup, reads by a paper lantern, writes, of +course, on paper, and wraps up his parcels in it, ties up the parcels with +paper string, uses a paper pocket-handkerchief, wears a paper cloak and +paper shoes and paper hat, holds up a paper umbrella against the sun and +the rain, and employs it for a great number of other purposes. He makes +more than sixty kinds of paper, and each kind has its own specified use. He +can make it so tough that it is almost impossible to tear it, and he can +make it waterproof, so that the fiercest rain cannot pass through it. +</p> + +<p> +If your path leads you along the bank of a river you will often see a +fisherman at work. He has many ways of catching his prey. He uses a line +and hook and the net. In a large stream or pool he may be seen at work with +the throwing-net, a clever device. +</p> + +<p> +This net is made in the form of a circle twelve or fourteen feet across, +and round the edge of the net heavy sinkers of lead are fastened. The +fisherman folds this net over his arm, and then tosses into the water a +ball of boiled rice and barley. The fish gather to eat this bait, and then +he throws the net in such a way that it falls quite flat upon the water. +The leads sink at once to the bottom, and the net covers the feeding fish +in the shape of a dome. A strong cord is fastened to the top of the net, +and he begins to haul it up. The leads are drawn together by their own +weight, and close the bottom of the net, and the fish are imprisoned. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes he uses bow and arrows. This he does after putting into the water +certain fruit and herbs which are very bitter. The juice of these herbs +affects the water and drives the fish to the surface, where they leap about +in pain. The fisherman shoots them with an arrow to which a cord is +attached, and draws them ashore. +</p> + +<p> +As night falls after a hot day, the people and children of the village +near at hand will come down to the water-side on a fire-fly hunt. The tiny +gleaming creatures now flash along the surface of river and lake, like a +myriad of fairy lanterns flitting through the dusk. They are caught and +imprisoned in little silken cages. At the bottom of the cage there is a +very small mound of earth in which a millet seed has been planted and has +sprung up to the height of an inch or more, and beside the little plant +there is a tiny bowl of water. Here the firefly will live for several days, +to the delight of the children. +</p> + +<p> +Not far from the river is the village, with a brook running down the middle +of its street. This brook serves many purposes. The women kneel beside it +with sleeves and kimonos tucked up, washing clothes and vegetables, or +dipping buckets in it to get water for baths. There is a loud rattle of +wooden hammers at various points, for the stream turns a number of small +water-wheels, and these work big wooden hammers which pound up the rice +placed in a big stump of a tree hollowed out for a mortar. As you stroll +along the village street you see what every one is doing, for the fronts +of the houses are all open, and you can see into every corner of each +dwelling. +</p> + +<p> +Behind the houses tall bamboos shoot up, and the bamboo is welcome, for it +is a tree of many uses. Its wood serves for the framework of houses, and +its leaves are often used as thatch. It will make a dish, a box, a plate, a +bowl, an oar, a channel for conveying water and a vessel for carrying it, a +fishing-rod, a flower-vase, a pipe-stem, a barrel-hoop, a fan, an umbrella, +and fifty other things, while young bamboo shoots are eaten and considered +a great delicacy. +</p> + +<p> +On fine summer evenings, when the work of the day is over, the villagers +gather in the court of the village temple for the odori, the open-air +dance. The court is decked with big beautiful paper lanterns, but there is +a special one called toro (a light in a basket). The toro is often two feet +square by five feet high. On one side of it is the name of the god in whose +temple court the dance is being held, while the other is reserved for some +short poem, written by one of the youths of the village. There is keen +competition among them for the honour of writing the poem chosen to be +inscribed on the toro, and two of these tiny poems run thus: +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + "I looked upon the cherry that blooms by the fence, down by the woodman's<br> + cottage,<br> + And wondered if an untimely snow had fallen upon it." +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + "Into the evening dew that rolls upon the green blade of the tall-grown<br> + grass in Mushashi Meadow<br> + The summer moon comes stealthily and takes up her dwelling." +</p> + +<p> +The young men and maidens dance in a ring, circling round one who stands in +the midst, from whom they take both the time and music of the many dances +performed at the odori. The dancers are always young and unmarried. The +older people sit on the steps of the temple and watch the merry frolic with +a smile. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xix">CHAPTER XIX</a></h2> + +<h3>IN THE COUNTRY (<i>continued</i>)</h3> + +<p> +On a wet day in the country the people thatch themselves to keep off the +rain. The favourite waterproof of the coolie is a huge cloak made of rice +straw, the long ends sticking out. With this and his great umbrella hat he +keeps comfortably dry. Those who do not wear a big hat carry a large oiled +paper umbrella, which shelters them well. +</p> + +<p> +There is plenty of wet weather in Japan, particularly in the summer, and +then travelling is not very pleasant. The good roads become muddy and soft, +and the bad roads become sheer quagmires, in which the coolie pulling the +rickshaw is continually losing his straw sandals. These sandals, called +waraji, mark out the tracks in every direction, for they soon wear out, and +are cast off to litter the wayside in their hundreds. They are quickly and +cheaply replaced, however, for almost every roadside house sells them, and +a pair may be bought for a sen--something less than a halfpenny. +</p> + +<p> +Not only do the men wear straw shoes, but horses are shod in them also, +and a very poor and clumsy arrangement it is. The shoes are thick, and are +tied on the horse's feet with straw cords. They wear out so fast that a +bunch has to be kept hanging to the saddle for use on the way, and in every +village a fresh stock has to be secured, at the cost of a penny per set of +four. +</p> + +<p> +The foreign visitor who travels through country places in Japan has to +submit to being stared at, but nothing more. The people are so interested +in a person who looks so different from themselves that they are never +tired of watching him and his ways. But otherwise their unfailing +politeness remains. They do not crowd upon him, or, if they should come a +little too near, they are soon warned off. An English artist, Mr. Alfred +Parsons, was once sketching in Japan, and the crowd, anxious to see his +work, came a little too near his elbow. He says: "The keeper of a little +tea-shop hard by, where I took my lunch, noticed that I was worried by the +people standing so close to me, and when I arrived next morning I found +that he had put up a fence round the place where I worked. It was only a +few slender bamboo sticks, with a thin string twisted from one to another, +but not a soul attempted to come inside it. They are such an obedient and +docile race that a little string stretched across a road is quite enough to +close the thoroughfare." +</p> + +<p> +A familiar figure along the Japanese highways and byways is that of the +pilgrim going to see some famous shrine, or, most often of all, marching +towards Fujisan, the sacred mountain. The Fuji pilgrim may be known by his +garb. He is dressed in white, with white kimono, white socks and gaiters, +and straw sandals. He wears a great basin-shaped white hat, and has a rush +mat over his shoulders to temper the heat of the sun or shed the rain. +Round his neck hangs a string of beads and a bell, which tinkles without +ceasing as he goes. He carries a little bundle of spare sandals and a staff +with an ornament of paper about its end. +</p> + +<p> +His pilgrimage costs him very little. His food is of the simplest, and he +gets a bed at a tea-house for a halfpenny, or he lodges with a villager +who offers him hospitality. To entertain his guest the villager will fetch +his best furniture from the village godown, for in the country one of +these storehouses suffices for a whole hamlet. They are made very large and +strong, with many thick coats of mud and plaster on a wooden frame, and +with a door of iron or of bronze; then, when the fire, which is sure to +come at some time or other, sweeps over the hamlet and leaves it a layer of +smoking ashes around the big godown, there are the village treasures still +unharmed, and ready to adorn the houses which will spring up again as if by +magic. +</p> + +<p> +When bedtime comes, the amado, the wooden shutters, are drawn around the +house and securely fastened; for a Japanese dwelling, so open by day, is +shut up as tightly as a sealed box by night. Now all is quiet save for +the village watchman, whose duty it is to guard against fire and thieves. +He marches up and down, beating two pieces of wood together--clop-clop, +clop-clop--as he walks. This is to give assurance that he is not asleep +himself, but watching over the slumbers of his neighbours, and to let the +thieves know that he is looking out for them. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xx">CHAPTER XX</a></h2> + +<h3>THE POLICEMAN AND THE SOLDIER</h3> + +<p> +The Japanese policeman is, first and foremost, a gentleman. He is a +samurai, a man of good family, and therefore deeply respected by the mass +of the people. He is often a small man for a Japanese, but though his +height may run from four feet ten to five feet nothing, he is a man of much +authority. When the samurai were disbanded, there were very few occupations +to which they could turn. They disdained agriculture and trade, but numbers +of them became servants, printers, and policemen. This seems an odd mixture +of tasks, but there are sound reasons for it. +</p> + +<p> +Many samurai became servants because service is an honourable profession in +Japan; many became printers because the samurai were an educated class, and +the only people fitted to deal with the very complicated Japanese alphabet; +and many became policemen because it was a post for which their fighting +instinct and their habit of authority well fitted them. Their authority +over the people is absolute and unquestioning; and, again, there are sound +reasons for this. +</p> + +<p> +Forty years ago the Japanese people could have been divided very sharply +into two classes, the ruling and the ruled. The ruling class was formed +of the great Princes and the samurai, their followers, about 2,000,000 +people in all. The remaining 38,000,000 of the population were the common +people, the ruled. Now, in the old days when a Daimio left his castle for +a journey, he was borne in a kago, a closed carriage, and was attended +by a guard of his samurai. If a common person met the procession, he was +expected either to retire quickly from the path or fling himself humbly on +his face until the carriage had gone by; if he did not, the samurai whipped +out their long swords and slew him in short order, and not a single word +was said about it. This way of dealing with those who did not belong to the +two-sworded class made the people very respectful to the samurai, and that +respect is now transferred to the police. +</p> + +<p> +The Japanese policeman is also to be respected for his skill in wrestling, +and, small as he is, the tallest and most powerful foreigner is quite +helpless in his hands. He is thoroughly trained in the art of Japanese +wrestling--the jiu-jitsu of which we hear so much nowadays. In this system +a trained wrestler can seize his opponent in such a manner that the other +man is quite at his mercy, or with a slight impetus he can fling the other +about as he pleases. One writer speaks of seeing a very small Japanese +policeman arrest a huge, riotous Russian sailor, a man much more than six +feet high. It seemed a contest between a giant and a child. The sailor made +rush after rush at his tiny opponent, but the policeman stepped nimbly +aside, waiting for the right moment to grip his man. At last it came. +The sailor made a furious lunge, and the policeman seized him by the +wrist. To the astonishment of the onlooker, the sailor flew right over the +policeman's head, and fell all in a heap more than a dozen feet away. When +he picked himself up, confused and half stunned, the policeman tied a bit +of string to his belt and led him away in triumph to the station. +</p> + +<p> +The policeman never has any trouble with his own people; they obey at once +and without question. If a crowd gathers and becomes a nuisance to anyone, +it melts as soon as one of the little men in uniform comes along and gives +the order to disperse. He may sometimes be seen lecturing a coolie or +rickshaw-boy for some misdeed or other. The culprit, his big hat held +between his hands, ducks respectfully at every second word, and looks all +humility and obedience. +</p> + +<p> +Being an educated man, he has much sympathy with art and artists, and is +delighted to help a foreigner who is painting scenes in Japan. Mr. Mortimer +Menpes says: "Altogether I found the policeman the most delightful person +in the world. When I was painting a shop, if a passer-by chanced to look in +at a window, he would see at a glance exactly what I wanted; and I would +find that that figure would remain there, looking in at the shop, as still +as a statue, until I had finished my painting; the policeman meanwhile +strutting up and down the street, delighted to be of help to an artist, +looking everywhere but at my work, and directing the entire traffic down +another street." +</p> + +<p> +Of the Japanese soldier there is no need for us to say much here, since +the world has so lately been ringing with his praises. The endurance, the +obedience, the courage of the Japanese soldier and sailor have been shown +in marvellous fashion during the great war with Russia, and Japan has fully +proved herself to be one of the greatest of the naval and military Powers +of the world. +</p> + +<p> +The Japanese soldier is the result of the family life in Japan. From his +infancy he is taught that he has two supreme duties: one of obedience +to his parents, the other of service to his country. This unhesitating, +unquestioning habit of obedience, a habit which becomes second nature to +him, is of immense value to him as a soldier. He is a disciplined man +before he enters the ranks, and he transfers at once to his officers the +obedience which he has hitherto shown towards the elders of his family. +</p> + +<p> +His second great duty of service to his country also leads him onward +towards becoming the perfect soldier. He not only looks upon his life as a +thing to be readily risked or given for his Emperor and for Japan, but he +strives to make himself a thoroughly capable servant of his land. No detail +of his duty is too small for him to overlook, for he fears lest the lack +of that detail should prevent him from putting forth his full strength on +the day of trial. He cleans a button as carefully as he lays a big gun, +and this readiness for any duty, great or small, was a large factor in the +wonderful victory of Japan over Russia. +</p> + +<p> +In battle he questions no order. During the late war many Japanese +regiments knew that they were being sent to certain death, in order that +they might open a way for their comrades. They never flinched. Shouting +their "Banzai!"--their Japanese hurrah--the dogged little men rushed +forward upon batteries spouting flame and shell, or upon ramparts lined +with rifles, and gave their lives freely for Dai Nippon, Great Japan, the +country of their birth. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><a name="xxi">CHAPTER XXI</a></h2> + +<h3>TWO GREAT FESTIVALS</h3> + +<p> +There are two great Japanese festivals of which we have not yet spoken, but +which are of the first importance. One is the New Year Festival, the other +is the Bon Matsuri, the Feast of the Dead, in the summer. The New Year +Festival is the great Japanese holiday of the year. No one does any work +for several days, and all devote themselves to making merry. Although this +festival comes in the middle of winter, every street looks like an arbour, +decorated as it is with arches of greenery before each house. On either +side of each door is a pine-tree and bamboo stems. These signify a hardy +old age, and they are joined by a grass rope which runs from house to +house along the street. This rope is supposed to prevent evil spirits from +entering the houses, and so it ensures the occupants a lucky year. Japanese +flags are entwined amid the decorations, and green feathery branches and +ferns are set about, until the street looks like a forest. +</p> + +<p> +Japanese people are so polite to each other that even the beggars in the +streets bow to each other in the most ceremonious fashion, but at this +festival the bowing is redoubled. There is a special form of greeting for +this occasion, and not a bow is to be missed when two acquaintances meet. +</p> + +<p> +There is much feasting and a great exchange of presents. The Japanese are +always making presents to each other, and there is a prescribed way for +every rank of life to make presents to every other rank, and for the manner +in which the presents are to be received. A present may always be known by +the little gold or red or white paper kite fastened to the paper string +which ties up the parcel. +</p> + +<p> +Every one enters into the fun of the time, from the highest to the lowest. +They call upon each other; they march in great processions; they visit +the gayest and liveliest of fairs; they feast; they drink tea and saké +almost without ceasing. The fairs look most striking and picturesque after +darkness has fallen. Then the streets and the long rows of white booths +made of newly-sawn wood and gaily decorated, are lighted up by innumerable +lanterns of every colour that paper can be painted, and of every size, from +six inches high to six feet. The crowd wear their gayest kimonos, and the +moosmes are brilliant in flowered or striped silks and splendid sashes, and +the air is full of the rattle of the shuffling clogs and the tinkling +samisen played in almost every booth. +</p> + +<p> +At times the crowd opens to let some procession pass through. Now it is the +dragon-dancers, the dragon's head being a huge and terrifying affair made +of coloured pasteboard, and carried on a pole draped with a long garment +which hides the dancer. In front march two men with drum and fife to herald +the dragon's approach. Next comes a batch of coolies dragging a car upon +which a swarm of masqueraders present some traditional pageant, and next a +number of boys perform an old dance with much spirit and shouting. On New +Year's Eve a very curious market is held. It is a custom in Japan for every +one to pay all that he owes to his Japanese creditors before the New Year +dawns. If he does not do so, he loses his credit. So on the last day of +the Old Year the Japanese who is behind in his payments looks among his +belongings for something to sell, and carries it to the market in order +that he may gain a few sen to settle with his creditor. +</p> + +<p> +In the great city of Tokyo this fair is visited by every traveller. For +a space of two miles the stalls stretch along in double rows, lighted by +lanterns of oil flares, and here may be seen every imaginable thing which +is to be found in poorer Japanese households. As each Japanese arrives with +his worldly possessions in a couple of square boxes swinging one at each +end of a bamboo pole slung across his shoulder, he takes possession of a +little stall or a patch of pavement and sets out his poor wares. +</p> + +<p> +He has brought mats, or cushions, or shabby kimonos, or clogs, or socks, or +little ornaments and vessels in porcelain or silver or bronze. Sometimes he +brings really beautiful things, the last precious possessions of a family +which has come down in the world--a fine piece of embroidery, a priceless +bit of lacquer, bronze and silver charms, little boxes of ivory, temples +and pagodas and bell-towers in miniature, tiny but perfect in every detail +and of the most exquisite workmanship. Everything comes to market on this +night of the year. +</p> + +<p> +The Feast of the Dead takes place in the hot summer weather, and is +celebrated in different ways in various parts of Japan. Everywhere +the children, in their finest clothes, march through the streets in +processions, carrying fans and banners and lanterns, and chanting as +they march; but most great cities have their own form of celebration. +</p> + +<p> +At Nagasaki the tombs of all those who have died during the past year +are illuminated with large bright lanterns on the first night of the +celebrations. On the second and third nights all tombs are illuminated, +and the burial-grounds are one glorious blaze of many-coloured lights. The +avenues leading to the burial-grounds are turned into fair-grounds, with +decorations and booths, stalls and tea-houses, each illuminated by many +brilliant lanterns. Fires are lighted on the hills, rockets shoot up on +every hand, and vast crowds of people gather in the cemeteries to feast and +make merry and drink saké in honour of their ancestors, whose spirits they +suppose to surround them and be present at the festival. At the end of the +feast a very striking scene takes place: the preparations for the departure +of the dead. +</p> + +<p> +"But on the third vigil, suddenly, at about two o'clock in the morning, +long processions of bright lanterns are seen to descend from the heights +and group themselves on the shores of the bay, while the mountains +gradually return to obscurity and silence. It is fated that the dead +should embark and disappear before twilight. The living have plaited them +thousands of little ships of straw, each provisioned with some fruit and a +few pieces of money. The frail vessels are charged with all the coloured +lanterns which were used for the illumination of the cemeteries; the small +sails of matting are spread to the wind, and the morning breeze scatters +them round the bay, where they are not long in taking fire. It is thus that +the entire flotilla is consumed, tracing in all directions large trails of +fire. The dead depart rapidly. Soon the last ship has foundered, the last +light is extinguished, and the last soul has taken its departure again from +earth." +</p> + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Peeps at Many Lands: Japan, by John Finnemore + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEEPS AT MANY LANDS: JAPAN *** + +This file should be named 8japn10h.htm or 8japn10h.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8japn11h.htm +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8japn10ah.htm + +Produced by David Starner, Bill Flis +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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