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diff --git a/old/7glm210.txt b/old/7glm210.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8b0994 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/7glm210.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10465 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan, by Lafcadio Hearn +#7 in our series by Lafcadio Hearn + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. 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: Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan + +Author: Lafcadio Hearn + +Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8133] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 17, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GLIMPSES OF AN UNFAMILIAR JAPAN *** + + + + +Produced by John Orford + + + + +Glimpses of Unfamilar Japan +Second Series +by Lafcadio Hearn + +CONTENTS + +1 IN A JAPANESE GARDEN + +2 THE HOUSEHOLD SHRINE + +3 OF WOMEN'S HAIR + +4 FROM THE DIARY OF AN ENGLISH TEACHER + +5 TWO STRANGE FESTIVALS + +6 BY THE JAPANESE SEA + +7 OF A DANCING-GIRL + +8 FROM HOKI TO OKI + +9 OF SOULS + +10 OF GHOSTS AND GOBLINS + +11 THE JAPANESE SMILE + +12 SAYONARA! + + + +Chapter One +In a Japanese Garden + +1 +MY little two-story house by the Ohashigawa, although dainty as a bird- +cage, proved much too small for comfort at the approach of the hot +season--the rooms being scarcely higher than steamship cabins, and so +narrow that an ordinary mosquito-net could not be suspended in them. I +was sorry to lose the beautiful lake view, but I found it necessary to +remove to the northern quarter of the city, into a very quiet Street +behind the mouldering castle. My new home is a katchiu-yashiki, the +ancient residence of some samurai of high rank. It is shut off from the +street, or rather roadway, skirting the castle moat by a long, high wall +coped with tiles. One ascends to the gateway, which is almost as large +as that of a temple court, by a low broad flight of stone steps; and +projecting from the wall, to the right of the gate, is a look-out +window, heavily barred, like a big wooden cage. Thence, in feudal days, +armed retainers kept keen watch on all who passed by--invisible watch, +for the bars are set so closely that a face behind them cannot be seen +from the roadway. Inside the gate the approach to the dwelling is also +walled in on both sides, so that the visitor, unless privileged, could +see before him only the house entrance, always closed with white shoji. +Like all samurai homes, the residence itself is but one story high, but +there are fourteen rooms within, and these are lofty, spacious, and +beautiful. There is, alas, no lake view nor any charming prospect. Part +of the O-Shiroyama, with the castle on its summit, half concealed by a +park of pines, may be seen above the coping of the front wall, but only +a part; and scarcely a hundred yards behind the house rise densely +wooded heights, cutting off not only the horizon, but a large slice of +the sky as well. For this immurement, however, there exists fair +compensation in the shape of a very pretty garden, or rather a series of +garden spaces, which surround the dwelling on three sides. Broad +verandas overlook these, and from a certain veranda angle I can enjoy +the sight of two gardens at once. Screens of bamboos and woven rushes, +with wide gateless openings in their midst, mark the boundaries of the +three divisions of the pleasure-grounds. But these structures are not +intended to serve as true fences; they are ornamental, and only indicate +where one style of landscape gardening ends and another begins. + +2 + +Now a few words upon Japanese gardens in general. + +After having learned--merely by seeing, for the practical knowledge of +the art requires years of study and experience, besides a natural, +instinctive sense of beauty--something about the Japanese manner of +arranging flowers, one can thereafter consider European ideas of floral +decoration only as vulgarities. This observation is not the result of +any hasty enthusiasm, but a conviction settled by long residence in the +interior. I have come to understand the unspeakable loveliness of a +solitary spray of blossoms arranged as only a Japanese expert knows how +to arrange it--not by simply poking the spray into a vase, but by +perhaps one whole hour's labour of trimming and posing and daintiest +manipulation--and therefore I cannot think now of what we Occidentals +call a 'bouquet' as anything but a vulgar murdering of flowers, an +outrage upon the colour-sense, a brutality, an abomination. Somewhat in +the same way, and for similar reasons, after having learned what an old +Japanese garden is, I can remember our costliest gardens at home only as +ignorant displays of what wealth can accomplish in the creation of +incongruities that violate nature. + +Now a Japanese garden is not a flower garden; neither is it made for the +purpose of cultivating plants. In nine cases out of ten there is nothing +in it resembling a flower-bed. Some gardens may contain scarcely a sprig +of green; some have nothing green at all, and consist entirely of rocks +and pebbles and sand, although these are exceptional. [1] As a rule, a +Japanese garden is a landscape garden, yet its existence does not depend +upon any fixed allowances of space. It may cover one acre or many acres. +It may also be only ten feet square. It may, in extreme cases, be much +less; for a certain kind of Japanese garden can be contrived small +enough to put in a tokonoma. Such a garden, in a vessel no larger than a +fruit-dish, is called koniwa or toko-niwa, and may occasionally be seen +in the tokonoma of humble little dwellings so closely squeezed between +other structures as to possess no ground in which to cultivate an +outdoor garden. (I say 'an outdoor garden,' because there are indoor +gardens, both upstairs and downstairs, in some large Japanese houses.) +The toko-niwa is usually made in some curious bowl, or shallow carved +box or quaintly shaped vessel impossible to describe by any English +word. Therein are created minuscule hills with minuscule houses upon +them, and microscopic ponds and rivulets spanned by tiny humped bridges; +and queer wee plants do duty for trees, and curiously formed pebbles +stand for rocks, and there are tiny toro perhaps a tiny torii as well-- +in short, a charming and living model of a Japanese landscape. + +Another fact of prime importance to remember is that, in order to +comprehend the beauty of a Japanese garden, it is necessary to +understand--or at least to learn to understand--the beauty of stones. +Not of stones quarried by the hand of man, but of stones shaped by +nature only. Until you can feel, and keenly feel, that stones have +character, that stones have tones and values, the whole artistic meaning +of a Japanese garden cannot be revealed to you. In the foreigner, +however aesthetic he may be, this feeling needs to be cultivated by +study. It is inborn in the Japanese; the soul of the race comprehends +Nature infinitely better than we do, at least in her visible forms. But +although, being an Occidental, the true sense of the beauty of stones +can be reached by you only through long familiarity with the Japanese +use and choice of them, the characters of the lessons to be acquired +exist everywhere about you, if your life be in the interior. You cannot +walk through a street without observing tasks and problems in the +aesthetics of stones for you to master. At the approaches to temples, by +the side of roads, before holy groves, and in all parks and pleasure- +grounds, as well as in all cemeteries, you will notice large, irregular, +flat slabs of natural rock--mostly from the river-beds and water-worn-- +sculptured with ideographs, but unhewn. These have been set up as votive +tablets, as commemorative monuments, as tombstones, and are much more +costly than the ordinary cut-stone columns and haka chiselled with the +figures of divinities in relief. Again, you will see before most of the +shrines, nay, even in the grounds of nearly all large homesteads, great +irregular blocks of granite or other hard rock, worn by the action of +torrents, and converted into water-basins (chodzubachi) by cutting a +circular hollow in the top. Such are but common examples of the +utilisation of stones even in the poorest villages; and if you have any +natural artistic sentiment, you cannot fail to discover, sooner or +later, how much more beautiful are these natural forms than any shapes +from the hand of the stone-cutter. It is probable, too, that you will +become so habituated at last to the sight of inscriptions cut upon rock +surfaces, especially if you travel much through the country, that you +will often find yourself involuntarily looking for texts or other +chisellings where there are none, and could not possibly be, as if +ideographs belonged by natural law to rock formation. And stones will +begin, perhaps, to assume for you a certain individual or physiognomical +aspect--to suggest moods and sensations, as they do to the Japanese. +Indeed, Japan is particularly a land of suggestive shapes in stone, as +high volcanic lands are apt to be; and such shapes doubtless addressed +themselves to the imagination of the race at a time long prior to the +date of that archaic text which tells of demons in Izumo 'who made +rocks, and the roots of trees, and leaves, and the foam of the green +waters to speak. + +As might be expected in a country where the suggestiveness of natural +forms is thus recognised, there are in Japan many curious beliefs and +superstitions concerning stones. In almost every province there are +famous stones supposed to be sacred or haunted, or to possess miraculous +powers, such as the Women's Stone at the temple of Hachiman at Kamakura, +and the Sessho-seki, or Death Stone of Nasu, and the Wealth-giving Stone +at Enoshima, to which pilgrims pay reverence. There are even legends of +stones having manifested sensibility, like the tradition of the Nodding +Stones which bowed down before the monk Daita when he preached unto them +the word of Buddha; or the ancient story from the Kojiki, that the +Emperor O-Jin, being augustly intoxicated, 'smote with his august staff +a great stone in the middle of the Ohosaka road, whereupon the stone ran +away!' [2] + +Now stones are valued for their beauty; and large stones selected for +their shape may have an aesthetic worth of hundreds of dollars. And +large stones form the skeleton, or framework, in the design of old +Japanese gardens. Not only is every stone chosen with a view to its +particular expressiveness of form, but every stone in the garden or +about the premises has its separate and individual name, indicating its +purpose or its decorative duty. But I can tell you only a little, a very +little, of the folk-lore of a Japanese garden; and if you want to know +more about stones and their names, and about the philosophy of gardens, +read the unique essay of Mr. Conder on the Art of Landscape Gardening in +Japan, [3] and his beautiful book on the Japanese Art of Floral +Decoration; and also the brief but charming chapter on Gardens, in +Morse's Japanese Homes. [4] + +3 + +No effort to create an impossible or purely ideal landscape is made in +the Japanese garden. Its artistic purpose is to copy faithfully the +attractions of a veritable landscape, and to convey the real impression +that a real landscape communicates. It is therefore at once a picture +and a poem; perhaps even more a poem than a picture. For as nature's +scenery, in its varying aspects, affects us with sensations of joy or of +solemnity, of grimness or of sweetness, of force or of peace, so must +the true reflection of it in the labour of the landscape gardener create +not merely an impression of beauty, but a mood in the soul. The grand +old landscape gardeners, those Buddhist monks who first introduced the +art into Japan, and subsequently developed it into an almost occult +science, carried their theory yet farther than this. They held it +possible to express moral lessons in the design of a garden, and +abstract ideas, such as Chastity, Faith, Piety, Content, Calm, and +Connubial Bliss. Therefore were gardens contrived according to the +character of the owner, whether poet, warrior, philosopher, or priest. +In those ancient gardens (the art, alas, is passing away under the +withering influence of the utterly commonplace Western taste) there were +expressed both a mood of nature and some rare Oriental conception of a +mood of man. + +I do not know what human sentiment the principal division of my garden +was intended to reflect; and there is none to tell me. Those by whom it +was made passed away long generations ago, in the eternal transmigration +of souls. But as a poem of nature it requires no interpreter. It +occupies the front portion of the grounds, facing south; and it also +extends west to the verge of the northern division of the garden, from +which it is partly separated by a curious screen-fence structure. There +are large rocks in it, heavily mossed; and divers fantastic basins of +stone for holding water; and stone lamps green with years; and a +shachihoko, such as one sees at the peaked angles of castle roofs--a +great stone fish, an idealised porpoise, with its nose in the ground and +its tail in the air. [5] There are miniature hills, with old trees upon +them; and there are long slopes of green, shadowed by flowering shrubs, +like river banks; and there are green knolls like islets. All these +verdant elevations rise from spaces of pale yellow sand, smooth as a +surface of silk and miming the curves and meanderings of a river course. +These sanded spaces are not to be trodden upon; they are much too +beautiful for that. The least speck of dirt would mar their effect; and +it requires the trained skill of an experienced native gardener--a +delightful old man he is--to keep them in perfect form. But they are +traversed in various directions by lines of flat unhewn rock slabs, +placed at slightly irregular distances from one another, exactly like +stepping-stones across a brook. The whole effect is that of the shores +of a still stream in some lovely, lonesome, drowsy place. + +There is nothing to break the illusion, so secluded the garden is. High +walls and fences shut out streets and contiguous things; and the shrubs +and the trees, heightening and thickening toward the boundaries, conceal +from view even the roofs of the neighbouring katchiu-yashiki. Softly +beautiful are the tremulous shadows of leaves on the sunned sand; and +the scent of flowers comes thinly sweet with every waft of tepid air; +and there is a humming of bees. + +4 + +By Buddhism all existences are divided into Hijo things without desire, +such as stones and trees; and Ujo things having desire, such as men and +animals. This division does not, so far as I know, find expression in +the written philosophy of gardens; but it is a convenient one. The folk- +lore of my little domain relates both to the inanimate and the animate. +In natural order, the Hijo may be considered first, beginning with a +singular shrub near the entrance of the yashiki, and close to the gate +of the first garden. + +Within the front gateway of almost every old samurai house, and usually +near the entrance of the dwelling itself, there is to be seen a small +tree with large and peculiar leaves. The name of this tree in Izumo is +tegashiwa, and there is one beside my door. What the scientific name of +it is I do not know; nor am I quite sure of the etymology of the +Japanese name. However, there is a word tegashi, meaning a bond for the +hands; and the shape of the leaves of the tegashiwa somewhat resembles +the shape of a hand. + +Now, in old days, when the samurai retainer was obliged to leave his +home in order to accompany his daimyo to Yedo, it was customary, just +before his departure, to set before him a baked tai [6] served up on a +tegashiwa leaf. After this farewell repast the leaf upon which the tai +had been served was hung up above the door as a charm to bring the +departed knight safely back again. This pretty superstition about the +leaves of the tegashiwa had its origin not only in their shape but in +their movement. Stirred by a wind they seemed to beckon--not indeed +after our Occidental manner, but in the way that a Japanese signs to his +friend to come, by gently waving his hand up and down with the palm +towards the ground. + +Another shrub to be found in most Japanese gardens is the nanten, [7] +about which a very curious belief exists. If you have an evil dream, a +dream which bodes ill luck, you should whisper it to the nanten early in +the morning, and then it will never come true. [8] There are two +varieties of this graceful plant: one which bears red berries, and one +which bears white. The latter is rare. Both kinds grow in my garden. The +common variety is placed close to the veranda (perhaps for the +convenience of dreamers); the other occupies a little flower-bed in the +middle of the garden, together with a small citron-tree. This most +dainty citron-tree is called 'Buddha's fingers,' [9] because of the +wonderful shape of its fragrant fruits. Near it stands a kind of laurel, +with lanciform leaves glossy as bronze; it is called by the Japanese +yuzuri-ha, [10] and is almost as common in the gardens of old samurai +homes as the tegashiwa itself. It is held to be a tree of good omen, +because no one of its old leaves ever falls off before a new one, +growing behind it, has well developed. For thus the yuzuri-ha symbolises +hope that the father will not pass away before his son has become a +vigorous man, well able to succeed him as the head of the family. +Therefore, on every New Year's Day, the leaves of the yuzuriha, mingled +with fronds of fern, are attached to the shimenawa which is then +suspended before every Izumo home. + +5 + +The trees, like the shrubs, have their curious poetry and legends. Like +the stones, each tree has its special landscape name according to its +position and purpose in the composition. Just as rocks and stones form +the skeleton of the ground-plan of a garden, so pines form the framework +of its foliage design. They give body to the whole. In this garden there +are five pines,--not pines tormented into fantasticalities, but pines +made wondrously picturesque by long and tireless care and judicious +trimming. The object of the gardener has been to develop to the utmost +possible degree their natural tendency to rugged line and massings of +foliage--that spiny sombre-green foliage which Japanese art is never +weary of imitating in metal inlay or golden lacquer. The pine is a +symbolic tree in this land of symbolism. Ever green, it is at once the +emblem of unflinching purpose and of vigorous old age; and its needle- +shaped leaves are credited with the power of driving demons away. + +There are two sakuranoki, [11] Japanese cherry-trees--those trees whose +blossoms, as Professor Chamberlain so justly observes, are 'beyond +comparison more lovely than anything Europe has to show.' Many varieties +are cultivated and loved; those in my garden bear blossoms of the most +ethereal pink, a flushed white. When, in spring, the trees flower, it is +as though fleeciest masses of cloud faintly tinged by sunset had floated +down from the highest sky to fold themselves about the branches. This +comparison is no poetical exaggeration; neither is it original: it is an +ancient Japanese description of the most marvellous floral exhibition +which nature is capable of making. The reader who has never seen a +cherry-tree blossoming in Japan cannot possibly imagine the delight of +the spectacle. There are no green leaves; these come later: there is +only one glorious burst of blossoms, veiling every twig and bough in +their delicate mist; and the soil beneath each tree is covered deep out +of sight by fallen petals as by a drift of pink snow. + +But these are cultivated cherry-trees. There are others which put forth +their leaves before their blossoms, such as the yamazakura, or mountain +cherry. [12] This, too, however, has its poetry of beauty and of +symbolism. Sang the great Shinto writer and poet, Motowori: + +Shikishima no +Yamato-gokoro wo +Hito-towaba, +Asa-hi ni niou +Yamazakura bana. [13] + +Whether cultivated or uncultivated, the Japanese cherry-trees are +emblems. Those planted in old samurai gardens were not cherished for +their loveliness alone. Their spotless blossoms were regarded as +symbolising that delicacy of sentiment and blamelessness of life +belonging to high courtesy and true knightliness. 'As the cherry flower +is first among flowers,' says an old proverb, 'so should the warrior be +first among men'. + +Shadowing the western end of this garden, and projecting its smooth dark +limbs above the awning of the veranda, is a superb umenoki, Japanese +plum-tree, very old, and originally planted here, no doubt, as in other +gardens, for the sake of the sight of its blossoming. The flowering of +the umenoki, [14] in the earliest spring, is scarcely less astonishing +than that of the cherry-tree, which does not bloom for a full month +later; and the blossoming of both is celebrated by popular holidays. Nor +are these, although the most famed, the only flowers thus loved. The +wistaria, the convolvulus, the peony, each in its season, form displays +of efflorescence lovely enough to draw whole populations out of the +cities into the country to see them.. In Izumo, the blossoming of the +peony is especially marvellous. The most famous place for this spectacle +is the little island of Daikonshima, in the grand Naka-umi lagoon, about +an hour's sail from Matsue. In May the whole island flames crimson with +peonies; and even the boys and girls of the public schools are given a +holiday, in order that they may enjoy the sight. + +Though the plum flower is certainly a rival in beauty of the sakura-no- +hana, the Japanese compare woman's beauty--physical beauty--to the +cherry flower, never to the plum flower. But womanly virtue and +sweetness, on the other hand, are compared to the ume-no-hana, never to +the cherry blossom. It is a great mistake to affirm, as some writers +have done, that the Japanese never think of comparing a woman to trees +and flowers. For grace, a maiden is likened to a slender willow; [15] +for youthful charm, to the cherry-tree in flower; for sweetness of +heart, to the blossoming plum-tree. Nay, the old Japanese poets have +compared woman to all beautiful things. They have even sought similes +from flowers for her various poses, for her movements, as in the verse, + +Tateba skakuyaku; [16] +Suwareba botan; +Aruku sugatawa +Himeyuri [17] no hana. [18] + +Why, even the names of the humblest country girls are often those of +beautiful trees or flowers prefixed by the honorific O: [19] O-Matsu +(Pine), O-Take (Bamboo), O-Ume (Plum), O-Hana (Blossom), O-ine (Ear-of- +Young-Rice), not to speak of the professional flower-names of dancing- +girls and of joro. It has been argued with considerable force that the +origin of certain tree-names borne by girls must be sought in the folk- +conception of the tree as an emblem of longevity, or happiness, or good +fortune, rather than in any popular idea of the beauty of the tree in +itself. But however this may be, proverb, poem, song, and popular speech +to-day yield ample proof that the Japanese comparisons of women to trees +and flowers are in no-wise inferior to our own in aesthetic sentiment. + +6 + +That trees, at least Japanese trees, have souls, cannot seem an +unnatural fancy to one who has seen the blossoming of the umenoki and +the sakuranoki. This is a popular belief in Izumo and elsewhere. It is +not in accord with Buddhist philosophy, and yet in a certain sense it +strikes one as being much closer to cosmic truth than the old Western +orthodox notion of trees as 'things created for the use of man.' +Furthermore, there exist several odd superstitions about particular +trees, not unlike certain West Indian beliefs which have had a good +influence in checking the destruction of valuable timber. Japan, like +the tropical world, has its goblin trees. Of these, the enoki (Celtis +Willdenowiana) and the yanagi (drooping willow) are deemed especially +ghostly, and are rarely now to be found in old Japanese gardens. Both +are believed to have the power of haunting. 'Enoki ga bakeru,' the izumo +saying is. You will find in a Japanese dictionary the word 'bakeru' +translated by such terms as 'to be transformed,' 'to be metamorphosed,' +'to be changed,' etc.; but the belief about these trees is very +singular, and cannot be explained by any such rendering of the verb +'bakeru.' The tree itself does not change form or place, but a spectre +called Ki-no o-bake disengages itself from the tree and walks about in +various guises.' [20] Most often the shape assumed by the phantom is +that of a beautiful woman. The tree spectre seldom speaks, and seldom +ventures to go very far away from its tree. If approached, it +immediately shrinks back into the trunk or the foliage. It is said that +if either an old yanagi or a young enoki be cut blood will flow from the +gash. When such trees are very young it is not believed that they have +supernatural habits, but they become more dangerous the older they grow. + +There is a rather pretty legend--recalling the old Greek dream of +dryads--about a willow-tree which grew in the garden of a samurai of +Kyoto. Owing to its weird reputation, the tenant of the homestead +desired to cut it down; but another samurai dissuaded him, saying: +'Rather sell it to me, that I may plant it in my garden. That tree has a +soul; it were cruel to destroy its life.' Thus purchased and +transplanted, the yanagi flourished well in its new home, and its +spirit, out of gratitude, took the form of a beautiful woman, and became +the wife of the samurai who had befriended it. A charming boy was the +result of this union. A few years later, the daimyo to whom the ground +belonged gave orders that the tree should be cut down. Then the wife +wept bitterly, and for the first time revealed to her husband the whole +story. 'And now,' she added, 'I know that I must die; but our child will +live, and you will always love him. This thought is my only solace.' +Vainly the astonished and terrified husband sought to retain her. +Bidding him farewell for ever, she vanished into the tree. Needless to +say that the samurai did everything in his power to persuade the daimyo +to forgo his purpose. The prince wanted the tree for the reparation of a +great Buddhist temple, the San-jiu-san-gen-do. [21]' The tree was +felled, but, having fallen, it suddenly became so heavy that three +hundred men could not move it. Then the child, taking a branch in his +little hand, said, 'Come,' and the tree followed him, gliding along the +ground to the court of the temple. + +Although said to be a bakemono-ki, the enoki sometimes receives highest +religious honours; for the spirit of the god Kojin, to whom old dolls +are dedicated, is supposed to dwell within certain very ancient enoki +trees, and before these are placed shrines whereat people make prayers. + +7 + +The second garden, on the north side, is my favourite, It contains no +large growths. It is paved with blue pebbles, and its centre is occupied +by a pondlet--a miniature lake fringed with rare plants, and containing +a tiny island, with tiny mountains and dwarf peach-trees and pines and +azaleas, some of which are perhaps more than a century old, though +scarcely more than a foot high. Nevertheless, this work, seen as it was +intended to be seen, does not appear to the eye in miniature at all. +From a certain angle of the guest-room looking out upon it, the +appearance is that of a real lake shore with a real island beyond it, a +stone's throw away. So cunning the art of the ancient gardener who +contrived all this, and who has been sleeping for a hundred years under +the cedars of Gesshoji, that the illusion can be detected only from the +zashiki by the presence of an ishidoro or stone lamp, upon the island. +The size of the ishidoro betrays the false perspective, and I do not +think it was placed there when the garden was made. + +Here and there at the edge of the pond, and almost level with the water, +are placed large flat stones, on which one may either stand or squat, to +watch the lacustrine population or to tend the water-plants. There are +beautiful water-lilies, whose bright green leaf-disks float oilily upon +the surface (Nuphar Japonica), and many lotus plants of two kinds, those +which bear pink and those which bear pure white flowers. There are iris +plants growing along the bank, whose blossoms are prismatic violet, and +there are various ornamental grasses and ferns and mosses. But the pond +is essentially a lotus pond; the lotus plants make its greatest charm. +It is a delight to watch every phase of their marvellous growth, from +the first unrolling of the leaf to the fall of the last flower. On rainy +days, especially, the lotus plants are worth observing. Their great cup- +shaped leaves, swaying high above the pond, catch the rain and hold it a +while; but always after the water in the leaf reaches a certain level +the stem bends, and empties the leaf with a loud plash, and then +straightens again. Rain-water upon a lotus-leaf is a favourite subject +with Japanese metal-workers, and metalwork only can reproduce the +effect, for the motion and colour of water moving upon the green +oleaginous surface are exactly those of quicksilver. + +8 + +The third garden, which is very large, extends beyond the inclosure +containing the lotus pond to the foot of the wooded hills which form the +northern and north-eastern boundary of this old samurai quarter. +Formerly all this broad level space was occupied by a bamboo grove; but +it is now little more than a waste of grasses and wild flowers. In the +north-east corner there is a magnificent well, from which ice-cold water +is brought into the house through a most ingenious little aqueduct of +bamboo pipes; and in the north-western end, veiled by tall weeds, there +stands a very small stone shrine of Inari with two proportionately small +stone foxes sitting before it. Shrine and images are chipped and broken, +and thickly patched with dark green moss. But on the east side of the +house one little square of soil belonging to this large division of the +garden is still cultivated. It is devoted entirely to chrysanthemum +plants, which are shielded from heavy rain and strong sun by slanting +frames of light wood fashioned, like shoji with panes of white paper, +and supported like awnings upon thin posts of bamboo. I can venture to +add nothing to what has already been written about these marvellous +products of Japanese floriculture considered in themselves; but there is +a little story relating to chrysanthemums which I may presume to tell. + +There is one place in Japan where it is thought unlucky to cultivate +chrysanthemums, for reasons which shall presently appear; and that place +is in the pretty little city of Himeji, in the province of Harima. +Himeji contains the ruins of a great castle of thirty turrets; and a +daimyo used to dwell therein whose revenue was one hundred and fifty-six +thousand koku of rice. Now, in the house of one of that daimyo's chief +retainers there was a maid-servant, of good family, whose name was O- +Kiku; and the name 'Kiku' signifies a chrysanthemum flower. Many +precious things were intrusted to her charge, and among others ten +costly dishes of gold. One of these was suddenly missed, and could not +be found; and the girl, being responsible therefor, and knowing not how +otherwise to prove her innocence, drowned herself in a well. But ever +thereafter her ghost, returning nightly, could be heard counting the +dishes slowly, with sobs: + + Ichi-mai, Yo-mai, Shichi-mai, + Ni-mai, Go-mai, Hachi-mai, + San-mai, Roku-mai, Ku-mai-- + +Then would be heard a despairing cry and a loud burst of weeping; and +again the girl's voice counting the dishes plaintively: 'One--two-- +three--four--five--six--seven--eight--nine--' + +Her spirit passed into the body of a strange little insect, whose head +faintly resembles that of a ghost with long dishevelled hair; and it is +called O-Kiku-mushi, or 'the fly of O-Kiku'; and it is found, they say, +nowhere save in Himeji. A famous play was written about O-Kiku, which is +still acted in all the popular theatres, entitled Banshu-O-Kiku-no-Sara- +yashiki; or, The Manor of the Dish of O-Kiku of Banshu. + +Some declare that Banshu is only the corruption of the name of an +ancient quarter of Tokyo (Yedo), where the story should have been laid. +But the people of Himeji say that part of their city now called Go-Ken- +Yashiki is identical with the site of the ancient manor. What is +certainly true is that to cultivate chrysanthemum flowers in the part of +Himeji called Go-KenYashiki is deemed unlucky, because the name of O- +Kiku signifies 'Chrysanthemum.' Therefore, nobody, I am told, ever +cultivates chrysanthemums there. + +9 + +Now of the ujo or things having desire, which inhabit these gardens. + +There are four species of frogs: three that dwell in the lotus pond, and +one that lives in the trees. The tree frog is a very pretty little +creature, exquisitely green; it has a shrill cry, almost like the note +of a semi; and it is called amagaeru, or 'the rain frog,' because, like +its kindred in other countries, its croaking is an omen of rain. The +pond frogs are called babagaeru, shinagaeru, and Tono-san-gaeru. Of +these, the first-named variety is the largest and the ugliest: its +colour is very disagreeable, and its full name ('babagaeru' being a +decent abbreviation) is quite as offensive as its hue. The shinagaeru, +or 'striped frog,' is not handsome, except by comparison with the +previously mentioned creature. But the Tono-san-gaeru, so called after a +famed daimyo who left behind him a memory of great splendour is +beautiful: its colour is a fine bronze-red. + +Besides these varieties of frogs there lives in the garden a huge +uncouth goggle-eyed thing which, although called here hikigaeru, I take +to be a toad. 'Hikigaeru' is the term ordinarily used for a bullfrog. +This creature enters the house almost daily to be fed, and seems to have +no fear even of strangers. My people consider it a luck-bringing +visitor; and it is credited with the power of drawing all the mosquitoes +out of a room into its mouth by simply sucking its breath in. Much as it +is cherished by gardeners and others, there is a legend about a goblin +toad of old times, which, by thus sucking in its breath, drew into its +mouth, not insects, but men. + +The pond is inhabited also by many small fish; imori, or newts, with +bright red bellies; and multitudes of little water-beetles, called +maimaimushi, which pass their whole time in gyrating upon the surface of +the water so rapidly that it is almost impossible to distinguish their +shape clearly. A man who runs about aimlessly to and fro, under the +influence of excitement, is compared to a maimaimushi. And there are +some beautiful snails, with yellow stripes on their shells. Japanese +children have a charm-song which is supposed to have power to make the +snail put out its horns: + +Daidaimushi, [22] daidaimushi, tsuno chitto dashare! Ame haze fuku kara +tsuno chitto dashare! [23] + +The playground of the children of the better classes has always been the +family garden, as that of the children of the poor is the temple court. +It is in the garden that the little ones first learn something of the +wonderful life of plants and the marvels of the insect world; and there, +also, they are first taught those pretty legends and songs about birds +and flowers which form so charming a part of Japanese folk-lore. As the +home training of the child is left mostly to the mother, lessons of +kindness to animals are early inculcated; and the results are strongly +marked in after life It is true, Japanese children are not entirely free +from that unconscious tendency to cruelty characteristic of children in +all countries, as a survival of primitive instincts. But in this regard +the great moral difference between the sexes is strongly marked from the +earliest years. The tenderness of the woman-soul appears even in the +child. Little Japanese girls who play with insects or small animals +rarely hurt them, and generally set them free after they have afforded a +reasonable amount of amusement. Little boys are not nearly so good, when +out of sight of parents or guardians. But if seen doing anything cruel, +a child is made to feel ashamed of the act, and hears the Buddhist +warning, 'Thy future birth will be unhappy, if thou dost cruel things.' + +Somewhere among the rocks in the pond lives a small tortoise--left in +the garden, probably, by the previous tenants of the house. It is very +pretty, but manages to remain invisible for weeks at a time. In popular +mythology, the tortoise is the servant of the divinity Kompira; [24] and +if a pious fisherman finds a tortoise, he writes upon his back +characters signifying 'Servant of the Deity Kompira,' and then gives it +a drink of sake and sets it free. It is supposed to be very fond of +sake. + +Some say that the land tortoise, or 'stone tortoise,' only, is the +servant of Kompira, and the sea tortoise, or turtle, the servant of the +Dragon Empire beneath the sea. The turtle is said to have the power to +create, with its breath, a cloud, a fog, or a magnificent palace. It +figures in the beautiful old folk-tale of Urashima. [25] All tortoises +are supposed to live for a thousand years, wherefore one of the most +frequent symbols of longevity in Japanese art is a tortoise. But the +tortoise most commonly represented by native painters and metal-workers +has a peculiar tail, or rather a multitude of small tails, extending +behind it like the fringes of a straw rain-coat, mino, whence it is +called minogame Now, some of the tortoises kept in the sacred tanks of +Buddhist temples attain a prodigious age, and certain water--plants +attach themselves to the creatures' shells and stream behind them when +they walk. The myth of the minogame is supposed to have had its origin +in old artistic efforts to represent the appearance of such tortoises +with confervae fastened upon their shells. + +10 + +Early in summer the frogs are surprisingly numerous, and, after dark, +are noisy beyond description; but week by week their nightly clamour +grows feebler, as their numbers diminish under the attacks of many +enemies. A large family of snakes, some fully three feet long, make +occasional inroads into the colony. The victims often utter piteous +cries, which are promptly responded to, whenever possible, by some +inmate of the house, and many a frog has been saved by my servant-girl, +who, by a gentle tap with a bamboo rod, compels the snake to let its +prey go. These snakes are beautiful swimmers. They make themselves quite +free about the garden; but they come out only on hot days. None of my +people would think of injuring or killing one of them. Indeed, in Izumo +it is said that to kill a snake is unlucky. 'If you kill a snake without +provocation,' a peasant assured me, 'you will afterwards find its head +in the komebitsu [the box in which cooked rice is kept] 'when you take +off the lid.' + +But the snakes devour comparatively few frogs. Impudent kites and crows +are their most implacable destroyers; and there is a very pretty weasel +which lives under the kura (godown) and which does not hesitate to take +either fish or frogs out of the pond, even when the lord of the manor is +watching. There is also a cat which poaches in my preserves, a gaunt +outlaw, a master thief, which I have made sundry vain attempts to +reclaim from vagabondage. Partly because of the immorality of this cat, +and partly because it happens to have a long tail, it has the evil +reputation of being a nekomata, or goblin cat. + +It is true that in Izumo some kittens are born with long tails; but it +is very seldom that they are suffered to grow up with long tails. For +the natural tendency of cats is to become goblins; and this tendency to +metamorphosis can be checked only by cutting off their tails in +kittenhood. Cats are magicians, tails or no tails, and have the power of +making corpses dance. Cats are ungrateful 'Feed a dog for three days,' +says a Japanese proverb, 'and he will remember your kindness for three +years; feed a cat for three years and she will forget your kindness in +three days.' Cats are mischievous: they tear the mattings, and make +holes in the shoji, and sharpen their claws upon the pillars of +tokonoma. Cats are under a curse: only the cat and the venomous serpent +wept not at the death of Buddha and these shall never enter into the +bliss of the Gokuraku For all these reasons, and others too numerous to +relate, cats are not much loved in Izumo, and are compelled to pass the +greater part of their lives out of doors. + +11 + +Not less than eleven varieties of butterflies have visited the +neighbourhood of the lotus pond within the past few days. The most +common variety is snowy white. It is supposed to be especially attracted +by the na, or rape-seed plant; and when little girls see it, they sing: + +Cho-cho cho-cho, na no ha ni tomare; +Na no ha ga iyenara, te ni tomare. [26] + +But the most interesting insects are certainly the semi (cicadae). These +Japanese tree crickets are much more extraordinary singers than even the +wonderful cicadae of the tropics; and they are much less tiresome, for +there is a different species of semi, with a totally different song, for +almost every month during the whole warm season. There are, I believe, +seven kinds; but I have become familiar with only four. The first to be +heard in my trees is the natsuzemi, or summer semi: it makes a sound +like the Japanese monosyllable ji, beginning wheezily, slowly swelling +into a crescendo shrill as the blowing of steam, and dying away in +another wheeze. This j-i-i-iiiiiiiiii is so deafening that when two or +three natsuzemi come close to the window I am obliged to make them go +away. Happily the natsuzemi is soon succeeded by the minminzemi, a much +finer musician, whose name is derived from its wonderful note. It is +said 'to chant like a Buddhist priest reciting the kyo'; and certainly, +upon hearing it the first time, one can scarcely believe that one is +listening to a mere cicada. The minminzemi is followed, early in autumn, +by a beautiful green semi, the higurashi, which makes a singularly clear +sound, like the rapid ringing of a small bell,--kana-kana-kan a-kana- +kana. But the most astonishing visitor of all comes still later, the +tsukiu-tsukiu-boshi. [27] I fancy this creature can have no rival in the +whole world of cicadae its music is exactly like the song of a bird. Its +name, like that of the minminzemi, is onomatopoetic; but in Izumo the +sounds of its chant are given thus: + +Tsuku-tsuku uisu , [28] +Tsuku-tsuku uisu, +Tsuku-tsuku uisu; +Ui-osu, +Ui-osu, +Ui-osu, +Ui-os-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-su. + +However, the semi are not the only musicians of the garden. Two +remarkable creatures aid their orchestra. The first is a beautiful +bright green grasshopper, known to the Japanese by the curious name of +hotoke-no-uma, or 'the horse of the dead.' This insect's head really +bears some resemblance in shape to the head of a horse--hence the fancy. +It is a queerly familiar creature, allowing itself to be taken in the +hand without struggling, and generally making itself quite at home in +the house, which it often enters. It makes a very thin sound, which the +Japanese write as a repetition of the syllables jun-ta; and the name +junta is sometimes given to the grasshopper itself. The other insect is +also a green grasshopper, somewhat larger, and much shyer: it is called +gisu, [29] on account of its chant: + +Chon, Gisu; +Chon, Gisu; +Chon, Gisu; +Chon . . . (ad libitum). + +Several lovely species of dragon-flies (tombo) hover about the pondlet +on hot bright days. One variety--the most beautiful creature of the kind +I ever saw, gleaming with metallic colours indescribable, and spectrally +slender--is called Tenshi-tombo, 'the Emperor's dragon-fly.' There is +another, the largest of Japanese dragon-flies, but somewhat rare, which +is much sought after by children as a plaything. Of this species it is +said that there are many more males than females; and what I can vouch +for as true is that, if you catch a female, the male can be almost +immediately attracted by exposing the captive. Boys, accordingly, try to +secure a female, and when one is captured they tie it with a thread to +some branch, and sing a curious little song, of which these are the +original words: + +Konna [30] dansho Korai o +Adzuma no meto ni makete +Nigeru Wa haji dewa naikai? + +Which signifies, 'Thou, the male, King of Korea, dost thou not feel +shame to flee away from the Queen of the East?' (This taunt is an +allusion to the story of the conquest of Korea by the Empress Jin-go.) +And the male comes invariably, and is also caught. In Izumo the first +seven words of the original song have been corrupted into 'konna unjo +Korai abura no mito'; and the name of the male dragon-fly, unjo, and +that of the female, mito, are derived from two words of the corrupted +version. + +12 + +Of warm nights all sorts of unbidden guests invade the house in +multitudes. Two varieties of mosquitoes do their utmost to make life +unpleasant, and these have learned the wisdom of not approaching a lamp +too closely; but hosts of curious and harmless things cannot be +prevented from seeking their death in the flame. The most numerous +victims of all, which come thick as a shower of rain, are called +Sanemori. At least they are so called in Izumo, where they do much +damage to growing rice. + +Now the name Sanemori is an illustrious one, that of a famous warrior of +old times belonging to the Genji clan. There is a legend that while he +was fighting with an enemy on horseback his own steed slipped and fell +in a rice-field, and he was consequently overpowered and slain by his +antagonist. He became a rice-devouring insect, which is still +respectfully called, by the peasantry of Izumo, Sanemori-San. They light +fires, on certain summer nights, in the rice-fields, to attract the +insect, and beat gongs and sound bamboo flutes, chanting the while, 'O- +Sanemori, augustly deign to come hither!' A kannushi performs a +religious rite, and a straw figure representing a horse and rider is +then either burned or thrown into a neighbouring river or canal. By this +ceremony it is believed that the fields are cleared of the insect. + +This tiny creature is almost exactly the size and colour of a rice-husk. +The legend concerning it may have arisen from the fact that its body, +together with the wings, bears some resemblance to the helmet of a +Japanese warrior. [31] + +Next in number among the victims of fire are the moths, some of which +are very strange and beautiful. The most remarkable is an enormous +creature popularly called okorichocho or the 'ague moth,' because there +is a superstitious belief that it brings intermittent fever into any +house it enters. It has a body quite as heavy and almost as powerful as +that of the largest humming-bird, and its struggles, when caught in the +hand, surprise by their force. It makes a very loud whirring sound while +flying. The wings of one which I examined measured, outspread, five +inches from tip to tip, yet seemed small in proportion to the heavy +body. They were richly mottled with dusky browns and silver greys of +various tones. + +Many flying night-comers, however, avoid the lamp. Most fantastic of all +visitors is the toro or kamakiri, called in Izumo kamakake, a bright +green praying mantis, extremely feared by children for its capacity to +bite. It is very large. I have seen specimens over six inches long. The +eyes of the kamakake are a brilliant black at night, but by day they +appear grass-coloured, like the rest of the body. The mantis is very +intelligent and surprisingly aggressive. I saw one attacked by a +vigorous frog easily put its enemy to flight. It fell a prey +subsequently to other inhabitants of the pond, but, it required the +combined efforts of several frogs to vanquish the monstrous insect, and +even then the battle was decided only when the kamakake had been dragged +into the water. + +Other visitors are beetles of divers colours, and a sort of small roach +called goki-kaburi, signifying 'one whose head is covered with a bowl.' +It is alleged that the goki-kaburi likes to eat human eyes, and is +therefore the abhorred enemy of Ichibata-Sama--Yakushi-Nyorai of +Ichibata,--by whom diseases of the eye are healed. To kill the goki- +kaburi is consequently thought to be a meritorious act in the sight of +this Buddha. Always welcome are the beautiful fireflies (hotaru), which +enter quite noiselessly and at once seek the darkest place in the house, +slow-glimmering, like sparks moved by a gentle wind. They are supposed +to be very fond of water; wherefore children sing to them this little +song: + +Hotaru koe midzu nomasho; +Achi no midzu wa nigaizo; +Kochi no midzu wa amaizo. [32] + +A pretty grey lizard, quite different from some which usually haunt the +garden, also makes its appearance at night, and pursues its prey along +the ceiling. Sometimes an extraordinarily large centipede attempts the +same thing, but with less success, and has to be seized with a pair of +fire-tongs and thrown into the exterior darkness. Very rarely, an +enormous spider appears. This creature seems inoffensive. If captured, +it will feign death until certain that it is not watched, when it will +run away with surprising swiftness if it gets a chance. It is hairless, +and very different from the tarantula, or fukurogumo. It is called +miyamagumo, or mountain spider. There are four other kinds of spiders +common in this neighbourhood: tenagakumo, or 'long-armed spider;' +hiratakumo, or 'flat spider'; jikumo, or 'earth spider'; and totatekumo, +or 'doorshutting spider.' Most spiders are considered evil beings. A +spider seen anywhere at night, the people say, should be killed; for all +spiders that show themselves after dark are goblins. While people are +awake and watchful, such creatures make themselves small; but when +everybody is fast asleep, then they assume their true goblin shape, and +become monstrous. + +13 + +The high wood of the hill behind the garden is full of bird life. There +dwell wild uguisu, owls, wild doves, too many crows, and a queer bird +that makes weird noises at night-long deep sounds of hoo, hoo. It is +called awamakidori or the 'millet-sowing bird,' because when the farmers +hear its cry they know that it is time to plant the millet. It is quite +small and brown, extremely shy, and, so far as I can learn, altogether +nocturnal in its habits. + +But rarely, very rarely, a far stranger cry is heard in those trees at +night, a voice as of one crying in pain the syllables 'ho-to-to-gi-su.' +The cry and the name of that which utters it are one and the same, +hototogisu. + +It is a bird of which weird things are told; for they say it is not +really a creature of this living world, but a night wanderer from the +Land of Darkness. In the Meido its dwelling is among those sunless +mountains of Shide over which all souls must pass to reach the place of +judgment. Once in each year it comes; the time of its coming is the end +of the fifth month, by the antique counting of moons; and the peasants, +hearing its voice, say one to the other, 'Now must we sow the rice; for +the Shide-no-taosa is with us.' The word taosa signifies the head man of +a mura, or village, as villages were governed in the old days; but why +the hototogisu is called the taosa of Shide I do not know. Perhaps it is +deemed to be a soul from some shadowy hamlet of the Shide hills, whereat +the ghosts are wont to rest on their weary way to the realm of Emma, the +King of Death. + +Its cry has been interpreted in various ways. Some declare that the +hototogisu does not really repeat its own name, but asks, 'Honzon +kaketaka?' (Has the honzon [33] been suspended?) Others, resting their +interpretation upon the wisdom of the Chinese, aver that the bird's +speech signifies, 'Surely it is better to return home.' This, at least +is true: that all who journey far from their native place, and hear the +voice of the hototogisu in other distant provinces, are seized with the +sickness of longing for home. + +Only at night, the people say, is its voice heard, and most often upon +the nights of great moons; and it chants while hovering high out of +sight, wherefore a poet has sung of it thus: + +Hito koe wa. +Tsuki ga naitaka +Hototogisu! [34] + +And another has written: +Hototogisu +Nakitsuru kata wo +Nagamureba,-- +Tada ariake no +Tsuki zo nokoreru. [35] + +The dweller in cities may pass a lifetime without hearing the +hototogisu. Caged, the little creature will remain silent and die. Poets +often wait vainly in the dew, from sunset till dawn, to hear the strange +cry which has inspired so many exquisite verses. But those who have +heard found it so mournful that they have likened it to the cry of one +wounded suddenly to death. + +Hototogisu +Chi ni naku koe wa +Ariake no +Tsuki yori kokani +Kiku hito mo nashi. [36] + +Concerning Izumo owls, I shall content myself with citing a composition +by one of my Japanese students: + +'The Owl is a hateful bird that sees in the dark. Little children who +cry are frightened by the threat that the Owl will come to take them +away; for the Owl cries, "Ho! ho! sorotto koka! sorotto koka!" which +means, "Thou! must I enter slowly?" It also cries "Noritsuke hose! ho! +ho!" which means, "Do thou make the starch to use in washing to-morrow" + +And when the women hear that cry, they know that to-morrow will be a +fine day. It also cries, "Tototo," "The man dies," and "Kotokokko," "The +boy dies." So people hate it. And crows hate it so much that it is used +to catch crows. The Farmer puts an Owl in the rice-field; and all the +crows come to kill it, and they get caught fast in the snares. This +should teach us not to give way to our dislikes for other people.' + +The kites which hover over the city all day do not live in the +neighbourhood. Their nests are far away upon the blue peaks; but they +pass much of their time in catching fish, and in stealing from back- +yards. They pay the wood and the garden swift and sudden piratical +visits; and their sinister cry--pi-yoroyoro, pi-yoroyoro--sounds at +intervals over the town from dawn till sundown. Most insolent of all +feathered creatures they certainly are--more insolent than even their +fellow-robbers, the crows. A kite will drop five miles to filch a tai +out of a fish-seller's bucket, or a fried-cake out of a child's hand, +and shoot back to the clouds before the victim of the theft has time to +stoop for a stone. Hence the saying, 'to look as surprised as if one's +aburage [37] had been snatched from one's hand by a kite.' There is, +moreover, no telling what a kite may think proper to steal. For example, +my neighbour's servant-girl went to the river the other day, wearing in +her hair a string of small scarlet beads made of rice-grains prepared +and dyed in a certain ingenious way. A kite lighted upon her head, and +tore away and swallowed the string of beads. But it is great fun to feed +these birds with dead rats or mice which have been caught in traps +overnight and subsequently drowned. The instant a dead rat is exposed to +view a kite pounces from the sky to bear it away. Sometimes a crow may +get the start of the kite, but the crow must be able to get to the woods +very swiftly indeed in order to keep his prize. The children sing this +song: + +Tobi, tobi, maute mise! +Ashita no ha ni +Karasu ni kakushite +Nezumi yaru. [38] + +The mention of dancing refers to the beautiful balancing motion of the +kite's wings in flight. By suggestion this motion is poetically compared +to the graceful swaying of a maiko, or dancing-girl, extending her arms +and waving the long wide sleeves of her silken robe. + +Although there is a numerous sub-colony of crows in the wood behind my +house, the headquarters of the corvine army are in the pine grove of the +ancient castle grounds, visible from my front rooms. To see the crows +all flying home at the same hour every evening is an interesting +spectacle, and popular imagination has found an amusing comparison for +it in the hurry-skurry of people running to a fire. This explains the +meaning of a song which children sing to the crows returning to their +nests: + +Ato no karasu saki ine, +Ware ga iye ga yakeru ken, +Hayo inde midzu kake, +Midzu ga nakya yarozo, +Amattara ko ni yare, +Ko ga nakya modose. [39] + +Confucianism seems to have discovered virtue in the crow. There is a +Japanese proverb, 'Karasu ni hampo no ko ari,' meaning that the crow +performs the filial duty of hampo, or, more literally, 'the filial duty +of hampo exists in the crow.' 'Hampo' means, literally, 'to return a +feeding.' The young crow is said to requite its parents' care by feeding +them when it becomes strong. Another example of filial piety has been +furnished by the dove. 'Hato ni sanshi no rei ad'--the dove sits three +branches below its parent; or, more literally, 'has the three-branch +etiquette to perform.' + +The cry of the wild dove (yamabato), which I hear almost daily from the +wood, is the most sweetly plaintive sound that ever reached my ears. The +Izumo peasantry say that the bird utters these words, which it certainly +seems to do if one listen to it after having learned the alleged +syllables: + +Tete poppo, +Kaka poppo +Tete poppo, +Kaka poppo, +tete. . . (sudden pause). + +'Tete' is the baby word for 'father,' and 'kaka' for 'mother'; and +'poppo' signifies, in infantile speech, 'the bosom.' [40] + +Wild uguisu also frequently sweeten my summer with their song, and +sometimes come very near the house, being attracted, apparently, by the +chant of my caged pet. The uguisu is very common in this province. It +haunts all the woods and the sacred groves in the neighbourhood of the +city, and I never made a journey in Izumo during the warm season without +hearing its note from some shadowy place. But there are uguisu and +uguisu. There are uguisu to be had for one or two yen, but the finely +trained, cage-bred singer may command not less than a hundred. + +It was at a little village temple that I first heard one curious belief +about this delicate creature. In Japan, the coffin in which a corpse is +borne to burial is totally unlike an Occidental coffin. It is a +surprisingly small square box, wherein the dead is placed in a sitting +posture. How any adult corpse can be put into so small a space may well +be an enigma to foreigners. In cases of pronounced rigor mortis the work +of getting the body into the coffin is difficult even for the +professional doshin-bozu. But the devout followers of Nichiren claim +that after death their bodies will remain perfectly flexible; and the +dead body of an uguisu, they affirm, likewise never stiffens, for this +little bird is of their faith, and passes its life in singing praises +unto the Sutra of the Lotus of the Good Law. + +14 + +I have already become a little too fond of my dwelling-place. Each day, +after returning from my college duties, and exchanging my teacher's +uniform for the infinitely more comfortable Japanese robe, I find more +than compensation for the weariness of five class-hours in the simple +pleasure of squatting on the shaded veranda overlooking the gardens. +Those antique garden walls, high-mossed below their ruined coping of +tiles, seem to shut out even the murmur of the city's life. There are no +sounds but the voices of birds, the shrilling of semi, or, at long, lazy +intervals, the solitary plash of a diving frog. Nay, those walls seclude +me from much more than city streets. Outside them hums the changed Japan +of telegraphs and newspapers and steamships; within dwell the all- +reposing peace of nature and the dreams of the sixteenth century. There +is a charm of quaintness in the very air, a faint sense of something +viewless and sweet all about one; perhaps the gentle haunting of dead +ladies who looked like the ladies of the old picture-books, and who +lived here when all this was new. Even in the summer light--touching the +grey strange shapes of stone, thrilling through the foliage of the long- +loved trees--there is the tenderness of a phantom caress. These are the +gardens of the past. The future will know them only as dreams, creations +of a forgotten art, whose charm no genius may reproduce. + +Of the human tenants here no creature seems to be afraid. The little +frogs resting upon the lotus-leaves scarcely shrink from my touch; the +lizards sun themselves within easy reach of my hand; the water-snakes +glide across my shadow without fear; bands of semi establish their +deafening orchestra on a plum branch just above my head, and a praying +mantis insolently poses on my knee. Swallows and sparrows not only build +their nests on my roof, but even enter my rooms without concern--one +swallow has actually built its nest in the ceiling of the bathroom--and +the weasel purloins fish under my very eyes without any scruples of +conscience. A wild uguisu perches on a cedar by the window, and in a +burst of savage sweetness challenges my caged pet to a contest in song; +and always though the golden air, from the green twilight of the +mountain pines, there purls to me the plaintive, caressing, delicious +call of the yamabato: + +Tete poppo, +Kaka poppo +Tete poppo, +Kaka poppo, +tete. + +No European dove has such a cry. He who can hear, for the first time, +the voice of the yamabato without feeling a new sensation at his heart +little deserves to dwell in this happy world. + +Yet all this--the old katchiu-yashiki and its gardens--will doubtless +have vanished for ever before many years. Already a multitude of +gardens, more spacious and more beautiful than mine, have been converted +into rice-fields or bamboo groves; and the quaint Izumo city, touched at +last by some long-projected railway line--perhaps even within the +present decade--will swell, and change, and grow commonplace, and demand +these grounds for the building of factories and mills. Not from here +alone, but from all the land the ancient peace and the ancient charm +seem doomed to pass away. For impermanency is the nature of things, more +particularly in Japan; and the changes and the changers shall also be +changed until there is found no place for them--and regret is vanity. +The dead art that made the beauty of this place was the art, also, of +that faith to which belongs the all-consoling text, 'Verily, even plants +and trees, rocks and stones, all shall enter into Nirvana.' + + +Chapter Two The Household Shrine + +1 + +IN Japan there are two forms of the Religion of the Dead--that which +belongs to Shinto; and that which belongs to Buddhism. The first is the +primitive cult, commonly called ancestor-worship. But the term ancestor- +worship seems to me much too confined for the religion which pays +reverence not only to those ancient gods believed to be the fathers of +the Japanese race, but likewise to a host of deified sovereigns, heroes, +princes, and illustrious men. Within comparatively recent times, the +great Daimyo of Izumo, for example, were apotheosised; and the peasants +of Shimane still pray before the shrines of the Matsudaira. Moreover +Shinto, like the faiths of Hellas and of Rome, has its deities of the +elements and special deities who preside over all the various affairs of +life. Therefore ancestor-worship, though still a striking feature of +Shinto, does not alone constitute the State Religion: neither does the +term fully describe the Shinto cult of the dead--a cult which in Izumo +retains its primitive character more than in other parts of Japan. + +And here I may presume, though no Sinologue, to say something about that +State Religion of Japan--that ancient faith of Izumo--which, although +even more deeply rooted in national life than Buddhism, is far less +known to the Western world. Except in special works by such men of +erudition as Chamberlain and Satow--works with which the Occidental +reader, unless himself a specialist, is not likely to become familiar +outside of Japan--little has been written in English about Shinto which +gives the least idea of what Shinto is. Of its ancient traditions and +rites much of rarest interest may be learned from the works of the +philologists just mentioned; but, as Mr. Satow himself acknowledges, a +definite answer to the question, 'What is the nature of Shinto?' is +still difficult to give. How define the common element in the six kinds +of Shinto which are known to exist, and some of which no foreign scholar +has yet been able to examine for lack of time or of authorities or of +opportunity? Even in its modern external forms, Shinto is sufficiently +complex to task the united powers of the historian, philologist, and +anthropologist, merely to trace out the multitudinous lines of its +evolution, and to determine the sources of its various elements: +primeval polytheisms and fetishisms, traditions of dubious origin, +philosophical concepts from China, Korea, and elsewhere--all mingled +with Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. The so-called 'Revival of Pure +Shinto'--an effort, aided by Government, to restore the cult to its +archaic simplicity, by divesting it of foreign characteristics, and +especially of every sign or token of Buddhist origin--resulted only, so +far as the avowed purpose was concerned, in the destruction of priceless +art, and in leaving the enigma of origins as complicated as before. +Shinto had been too profoundly modified in the course of fifteen +centuries of change to be thus remodelled by a fiat. For the like reason +scholarly efforts to define its relation to national ethics by mere +historical and philological analysis must fail: as well seek to define +the ultimate secret of Life by the elements of the body which it +animates. Yet when the result of such efforts shall have been closely +combined with a deep knowledge of Japanese thought and feeling--the +thought and sentiment, not of a special class, but of the people at +large--then indeed all that Shinto was and is may be fully comprehended. +And this may be accomplished, I fancy, through the united labour of +European and Japanese scholars. + +Yet something of what Shinto signifies--in the simple poetry of its +beliefs--in the home training of the child--in the worship of filial +piety before the tablets of the ancestors--may be learned during a +residence of some years among the people, by one who lives their life +and adopts their manners and customs. With such experience he can at +least claim the right to express his own conception of Shinto. + +2 + +Those far-seeing rulers of the Meiji era, who disestablished Buddhism to +strengthen Shinto, doubtless knew they were giving new force not only to +a faith in perfect harmony with their own state policy, but likewise to +one possessing in itself a far more profound vitality than the alien +creed, which although omnipotent as an art-influence, had never found +deep root in the intellectual soil of Japan. Buddhism was already in +decrepitude, though transplanted from China scarcely more than thirteen +centuries before; while Shinto, though doubtless older by many a +thousand years, seems rather to have gained than to have lost force +through all the periods of change. Eclectic like the genius of the race, +it had appropriated and assimilated all forms of foreign thought which +could aid its material manifestation or fortify its ethics. Buddhism had +attempted to absorb its gods, even as it had adopted previously the +ancient deities of Brahmanism; but Shinto, while seeming to yield, was +really only borrowing strength from its rival. And this marvellous +vitality of Shinto is due to the fact that in the course of its long +development out of unrecorded beginnings, it became at a very ancient +epoch, and below the surface still remains, a religion of the heart. +Whatever be the origin of its rites and traditions, its ethical spirit +has become identified with all the deepest and best emotions of the +race. Hence, in Izumo especially, the attempt to create a Buddhist +Shintoism resulted only in the formation of a Shinto-Buddhism. + +And the secret living force of Shinto to-day--that force which repels +missionary efforts at proselytising--means something much more profound +than tradition or worship or ceremonialism. Shinto may yet, without loss +of real power, survive all these. Certainly the expansion of the popular +mind through education, the influences of modern science, must compel +modification or abandonment of many ancient Shinto conceptions; but the +ethics of Shinto will surely endure. For Shinto signifies character in +the higher sense--courage, courtesy, honour, and above all things, +loyalty. The spirit of Shinto is the spirit of filial piety, the zest of +duty, the readiness to surrender life for a principle without a thought +of wherefore. It is the docility of the child; it is the sweetness of +the Japanese woman. It is conservatism likewise; the wholesome check +upon the national tendency to cast away the worth of the entire past in +rash eagerness to assimilate too much of the foreign present. It is +religion--but religion transformed into hereditary moral impulse-- +religion transmuted into ethical instinct. It is the whole emotional +life of the race--the Soul of Japan. + +The child is born Shinto. Home teaching and school training only give +expression to what is innate: they do not plant new seed; they do but +quicken the ethical sense transmitted as a trait ancestral. Even as a +Japanese infant inherits such ability to handle a writing-brush as never +can be acquired by Western fingers, so does it inherit ethical +sympathies totally different from our own. Ask a class of Japanese +students--young students of fourteen to sixteen--to tell their dearest +wishes; and if they have confidence in the questioner, perhaps nine out +of ten will answer: 'To die for His Majesty Our Emperor.' And the wish +soars from the heart pure as any wish for martyrdom ever born. How much +this sense of loyalty may or may not have been weakened in such great +centres as Tokyo by the new agnosticism and by the rapid growth of other +nineteenth-century ideas among the student class, I do not know; but in +the country it remains as natural to boyhood as joy. Unreasoning it also +is--unlike those loyal sentiments with us, the results of maturer +knowledge and settled conviction. Never does the Japanese youth ask +himself why; the beauty of self-sacrifice alone is the all-sufficing +motive. Such ecstatic loyalty is a part of the national life; it is in +the blood--inherent as the impulse of the ant to perish for its little +republic--unconscious as the loyalty of bees to their queen. It is +Shinto. + +That readiness to sacrifice one's own life for loyalty's sake, for the +sake of a superior, for the sake of honour, which has distinguished the +race in modern times, would seem also to have been a national +characteristic from the earliest period of its independent existence. +Long before the epoch of established feudalism, when honourable suicide +became a matter of rigid etiquette, not for warriors only, but even for +women and little children, the giving one's life for one's prince, even +when the sacrifice could avail nothing, was held a sacred duty. Among +various instances which might be cited from the ancient Kojiki, the +following is not the least impressive: + +Prince Mayowa, at the age of only seven years, having killed his +father's slayer, fled into the house of the Grandee (Omi) Tsubura. 'Then +Prince Oho-hatsuse raised an army, and besieged that house. And the +arrows that were shot were for multitude like the ears of the reeds. And +the Grandee Tsubura came forth himself, and having taken off the weapons +with which he was girded, did obeisance eight times, and said: "The +maiden-princess Kara, my daughter whom thou deignedst anon to woo, is at +thy service. Again I will present to thee five granaries. Though a vile +slave of a Grandee exerting his utmost strength in the fight can +scarcely hope to conquer, yet must he die rather than desert a prince +who, trusting in him, has entered into his house." Having thus spoken, +he again took his weapons, and went in once more to fight. Then, their +strength being exhausted, and their arrows finished, he said to the +Prince: "My hands are wounded, and our arrows are finished. We cannot +now fight: what shall be done?" The Prince replied, saying: "There is +nothing more to do. Do thou now slay me." So the Grandee Tsubura thrust +the Prince to death with his sword, and forthwith killed himself by +cutting off his own head.' + +Thousands of equally strong examples could easily be quoted from later +Japanese history, including many which occurred even within the memory +of the living. Nor was it for persons alone that to die might become a +sacred duty: in certain contingencies conscience held it scarcely less a +duty to die for a purely personal conviction; and he who held any +opinion which he believed of paramount importance would, when other +means failed, write his views in a letter of farewell, and then take his +own life, in order to call attention to his beliefs and to prove their +sincerity. Such an instance occurred only last year in Tokyo, [1] when +the young lieutenant of militia, Ohara Takeyoshi, killed himself by +harakiri in the cemetery of Saitokuji, leaving a letter stating as the +reason for his act, his hope to force public recognition of the danger +to Japanese independence from the growth of Russian power in the North +Pacific. But a much more touching sacrifice in May of the same year--a +sacrifice conceived in the purest and most innocent spirit of loyalty-- +was that of the young girl Yoko Hatakeyama, who, after the attempt to +assassinate the Czarevitch, travelled from Tokyo to Kyoto and there +killed herself before the gate of the Kencho, merely as a vicarious +atonement for the incident which had caused shame to Japan and grief to +the Father of the people--His Sacred Majesty the Emperor. + +3 + +As to its exterior forms, modern Shinto is indeed difficult to analyse; +but through all the intricate texture of extraneous beliefs so thickly +interwoven about it, indications of its earliest character are still +easily discerned. In certain of its primitive rites, in its archaic +prayers and texts and symbols, in the history of its shrines, and even +in many of the artless ideas of its poorest worshippers, it is plainly +revealed as the most ancient of all forms of worship--that which Herbert +Spencer terms 'the root of all religions'--devotion to the dead. Indeed, +it has been frequently so expounded by its own greatest scholars and +theologians. Its divinities are ghosts; all the dead become deities. In +the Tama-no-mihashira the great commentator Hirata says 'the spirits of +the dead continue to exist in the unseen world which is everywhere about +us, and they all become gods of varying character and degrees of +influence. Some reside in temples built in their honour; others hover +near their tombs; and they continue to render services to their prince, +parents, wife, and children, as when in the body.' And they do more than +this, for they control the lives and the doings of men. 'Every human +action,' says Hirata, 'is the work of a god.' [3] And Motowori, scarcely +less famous an exponent of pure Shinto doctrine, writes: 'All the moral +ideas which a man requires are implanted in his bosom by the gods, and +are of the same nature with those instincts which impel him to eat when +he is hungry or to drink when he is thirsty.' [4] With this doctrine of +Intuition no Decalogue is required, no fixed code of ethics; and the +human conscience is declared to be the only necessary guide. Though +every action be 'the work of a Kami.' yet each man has within him the +power to discern the righteous impulse from the unrighteous, the +influence of the good deity from that of the evil. No moral teacher is +so infallible as one's own heart. 'To have learned that there is no way +(michi),'[5] says Motowori, 'to be learned and practiced, is really to +have learned the Way of the Gods.' [6] And Hirata writes: 'If you desire +to practise true virtue, learn to stand in awe of the Unseen; and that +will prevent you from doing wrong. Make a vow to the Gods who rule over +the Unseen, and cultivate the conscience (ma-gokoro) implanted in you; +and then you will never wander from the way.' How this spiritual self- +culture may best be obtained, the same great expounder has stated with +almost equal brevity: 'Devotion to the memory of ancestors is the +mainspring of all virtues. No one who discharges his duty to them will +ever be disrespectful to the Gods or to his living parents. Such a man +will be faithful to his prince, loyal to his friends, and kind and +gentle with his wife and children.' [7] + +How far are these antique beliefs removed from the ideas of the +nineteenth century? Certainly not so far that we can afford to smile at +them. The faith of the primitive man and the knowledge of the most +profound psychologist may meet in strange harmony upon the threshold of +the same ultimate truth, and the thought of a child may repeat the +conclusions of a Spencer or a Schopenhauer. Are not our ancestors in +very truth our Kami? Is not every action indeed the work of the Dead who +dwell within us? Have not our impulses and tendencies, our capacities +and weaknesses, our heroisms and timidities, been created by those +vanished myriads from whom we received the all-mysterious bequest of +Life? Do we still think of that infinitely complex Something which is +each one of us, and which we call EGO, as 'I' or as 'They'? What is our +pride or shame but the pride or shame of the Unseen in that which They +have made?--and what our Conscience but the inherited sum of countless +dead experiences with varying good and evil? Nor can we hastily reject +the Shinto thought that all the dead become gods, while we respect the +convictions of those strong souls of to-day who proclaim the divinity of +man. + +4 + +Shino ancestor-worship, no doubt, like all ancestor-worship, was +developed out of funeral rites, according to that general law of +religious evolution traced so fully by Herbert Spencer. And there is +reason to believe that the early forms of Shinto public worship may have +been evolved out of a yet older family worship--much after the manner in +which M. Fustel de Coulanges, in his wonderful book, La Cite Antique, +has shown the religious public institutions among the Greeks and Romans +to have been developed from the religion of the hearth. Indeed, the word +ujigami, now used to signify a Shinto parish temple, and also its deity, +means 'family God,' and in its present form is a corruption or +contraction of uchi-no-Kami, meaning the 'god of the interior' or 'the +god of the house.' Shinto expounders have, it is true, attempted to +interpret the term otherwise; and Hirata, as quoted by Mr. Ernest Satow, +declared the name should be applied only to the common ancestor, or +ancestors, or to one so entitled to the gratitude of a community as to +merit equal honours. Such, undoubtedly, was the just use of the term in +his time, and long before it; but the etymology of the word would +certainly seem to indicate its origin in family worship, and to confirm +modern scientific beliefs in regard to the evolution of religious +institutions. + +Now just as among the Greeks and Latins the family cult always continued +to exist through all the development and expansion of the public +religion, so the Shinto family worship has continued concomitantly with +the communal worship at the countless ujigami, with popular worship at +the famed Ohoya-shiro of various provinces or districts, and with +national worship at the great shrines of Ise and Kitzuki. Many objects +connected with the family cult are certainly of alien or modern origin; +but its simple rites and its unconscious poetry retain their archaic +charm. And, to the student of Japanese life, by far the most interesting +aspect of Shinto is offered in this home worship, which, like the home +worship of the antique Occident, exists in a dual form. + +5 + +In nearly all Izumo dwellings there is a kamidana, [8] or 'Shelf of the +Gods.' On this is usually placed a small Shinto shrine (miya) containing +tablets bearing the names of gods (one at least of which tablets is +furnished by the neighbouring Shinto parish temple), and various ofuda, +holy texts or charms which most often are written promises in the name +of some Kami to protect his worshipper. If there be no miya, the tablets +or ofuda are simply placed upon the shelf in a certain order, the most +sacred having the middle place. Very rarely are images to be seen upon a +kamidana: for primitive Shintoism excluded images rigidly as Jewish or +Mohammedan law; and all Shinto iconography belongs to a comparatively +modern era--especially to the period of Ryobu-Shinto--and must be +considered of Buddhist origin. If there be any images, they will +probably be such as have been made only within recent years at Kitauki: +those small twin figures of Oho-kuni-nushi-no-Kami and of Koto-shiro- +nushi-no-Kami, described in a former paper upon the Kitzuki-no-oho- +yashiro. Shinto kakemono, which are also of latter-day origin, +representing incidents from the Kojiki, are much more common than Shinto +icons: these usually occupy the toko, or alcove, in the same room in +which the kamidana is placed; but they will not be seen in the houses of +the more cultivated classes. Ordinarily there will be found upon the +kamidana nothing but the simple miya containing some ofuda: very, very +seldom will a mirror [9] be seen, or gohei--except the gohei attached to +the small shimenawa either hung just above the kamidana or suspended to +the box-like frame in which the miya sometimes is placed. The shimenawa +and the paper gohei are the true emblems of Shinto: even the ofuda and +the mamori are quite modern. Not only before the household shrine, but +also above the house-door of almost every home in Izumo, the shimenawa +is suspended. It is ordinarily a thin rope of rice straw; but before the +dwellings of high Shinto officials, such as the Taisha-Guji of Kitzuki, +its size and weight are enormous. One of the first curious facts that +the traveller in Izumo cannot fail to be impressed by is the universal +presence of this symbolic rope of straw, which may sometimes even be +seen round a rice-field. But the grand displays of the sacred symbol are +upon the great festivals of the new year, the accession of Jimmu Tenno +to the throne of Japan, and the Emperor's birthday. Then all the miles +of streets are festooned with shimenawa thick as ship-cables. + +6 + +A particular feature of Matsue are the miya-shops--establishments not, +indeed, peculiar to the old Izumo town, but much more interesting than +those to be found in larger cities of other provinces. There are miya of +a hundred varieties and sizes, from the child's toy miya which sells for +less than one sen, to the large shrine destined for some rich home, and +costing perhaps ten yen or more. Besides these, the household shrines of +Shinto, may occasionally be seen massive shrines of precious wood, +lacquered and gilded, worth from three hundred even to fifteen hundred +yen. These are not household shrines; but festival shrines, and are made +only for rich merchants. They are displayed on Shinto holidays, and +twice a year are borne through the streets in procession, to shouts of +'Chosaya! chosaya!' [10] Each temple parish also possesses a large +portable miya which is paraded on these occasions with much chanting and +beating of drums. The majority of household miya are cheap +constructions. A very fine one can be purchased for about two yen; but +those little shrines one sees in the houses of the common people cost, +as a rule, considerably less than half a yen. And elaborate or costly +household shrines are contrary to the spirit of pure Shinto The true +miya should be made of spotless white hinoki [11] wood, and be put +together without nails. Most of those I have seen in the shops had their +several parts joined only with rice-paste; but the skill of the maker +rendered this sufficient. Pure Shinto requires that a miya should be +without gilding or ornamentation. The beautiful miniature temples in +some rich homes may justly excite admiration by their artistic structure +and decoration; but the ten or thirteen cent miya, in the house of a +labourer or a kurumaya, of plain white wood, truly represents that +spirit of simplicity characterising the primitive religion. + +7 + +The kamidana or 'God-shelf,' upon which are placed the miya and other +sacred objects of Shinto worship, is usually fastened at a height of +about six or seven feet above the floor. As a rule it should not be +placed higher than the hand can reach with ease; but in houses having +lofty rooms the miya is sometimes put up at such a height that the +sacred offerings cannot be made without the aid of a box or other object +to stand upon. It is not commonly a part of the house structure, but a +plain shelf attached with brackets either to the wall itself, at some +angle of the apartment, or, as is much more usual, to the kamoi, or +horizontal grooved beam, in which the screens of opaque paper (fusuma), +which divide room from room, slide to and fro. Occasionally it is +painted or lacquered. But the ordinary kamidana is of white wood, and is +made larger or smaller in proportion to the size of the miya, or the +number of the ofuda and other sacred objects to be placed upon it. In +some houses, notably those of innkeepers and small merchants, the +kamidana is made long enough to support a number of small shrines +dedicated to different Shinto deities, particularly those believed to +preside over wealth and commercial prosperity. In the houses of the poor +it is nearly always placed in the room facing the street; and Matsue +shopkeepers usually erect it in their shops--so that the passer-by or +the customer can tell at a glance in what deities the occupant puts his +trust. There are many regulations concerning it. It may be placed to +face south or east, but should not face west, and under no possible +circumstances should it be suffered to face north or north-west. One +explanation of this is the influence upon Shinto of Chinese philosophy, +according to which there is some fancied relation between South or East +and the Male Principle, and between West or North and the Female +Principle. But the popular notion on the subject is that because a dead +person is buried with the head turned north, it would be very wrong to +place a miya so as to face north--since everything relating to death is +impure; and the regulation about the west is not strictly observed. Most +kamidana in Izumo, however, face south or east. In the houses of the +poorest--often consisting of but one apartment--there can be little +choice as to rooms; but it is a rule, observed in the dwellings of the +middle classes, that the kamidana must not be placed either in the guest +room (zashiki) nor in the kitchen; and in shizoku houses its place is +usually in one of the smaller family apartments. Respect must be shown +it. One must not sleep, for example, or even lie down to rest, with his +feet turned towards it. One must not pray before it, or even stand +before it, while in a state of religious impurity--such as that entailed +by having touched a corpse, or attended a Buddhist funeral, or even +during the period of mourning for kindred buried according to the +Buddhist rite. Should any member of the family be thus buried, then +during fifty days [12] the kamidana must be entirely screened from view +with pure white paper, and even the Shinto ofuda, or pious invocations +fastened upon the house-door, must have white paper pasted over them. +During the same mourning period the fire in the house is considered +unclean; and at the close of the term all the ashes of the braziers and +of the kitchen must be cast away, and new fire kindled with a flint and +steel. Nor are funerals the only source of legal uncleanliness. Shinto, +as the religion of purity and purification, has a Deuteronomy of quite +an extensive kind. During certain periods women must not even pray +before the miya, much less make offerings or touch the sacred vessels, +or kindle the lights of the Kami. + +8 + +Before the miya, or whatever holy object of Shinto worship be placed +upon the kamidana, are set two quaintly shaped jars for the offerings of +sake; two small vases, to contain sprays of the sacred plant sakaki, or +offerings of flowers; and a small lamp, shaped like a tiny saucer, where +a wick of rush-pith floats in rape-seed oil. Strictly speaking, all +these utensils, except the flower-vases, should be made of unglazed red +earthenware, such as we find described in the early chapters of the +Kojiki: and still at Shinto festivals in Izumo, when sake is drunk in +honour of the gods, it is drunk out of cups of red baked unglazed clay +shaped like shallow round dishes. But of late years it has become the +fashion to make all the utensils of a fine kamidana of brass or bronze-- +even the hanaike, or flower-vases. Among the poor, the most archaic +utensils are still used to a great extent, especially in the remoter +country districts; the lamp being a simple saucer or kawarake of red +clay; and the flower-vases most often bamboo cups, made by simply +cutting a section of bamboo immediately below a joint and about five +inches above it. + +The brazen lamp is a much more complicated object than the kawarake, +which costs but one rin. The brass lamp costs about twenty-five sen, at +least. It consists of two parts. The lower part, shaped like a very +shallow, broad wineglass, with a very thick stem, has an interior as +well as an exterior rim; and the bottom of a correspondingly broad and +shallow brass cup, which is the upper part and contains the oil, fits +exactly into this inner rim. This kind of lamp is always furnished with +a small brass object in the shape of a flat ring, with a stem set at +right angles to the surface of the ring. It is used for moving the +floating wick and keeping it at any position required; and the little +perpendicular stem is long enough to prevent the fingers from touching +the oil. + +The most curious objects to be seen on any ordinary kamidana are the +stoppers of the sake-vessels or o-mikidokkuri ('honourable sake-jars'). +These stoppers--o-mikidokkuri-nokuchisashi--may be made of brass, or of +fine thin slips of wood jointed and bent into the singular form +required. Properly speaking, the thing is not a real stopper, in spite +of its name; its lower part does not fill the mouth of the jar at all: +it simply hangs in the orifice like a leaf put there stem downwards. I +find it difficult to learn its history; but, though there are many +designs of it--the finer ones being of brass--the shape of all seems to +hint at a Buddhist origin. Possibly the shape was borrowed from a +Buddhist symbol--the Hoshi-notama, that mystic gem whose lambent glow +(iconographically suggested as a playing of flame) is the emblem of Pure +Essence; and thus the object would be typical at once of the purity of +the wine-offering and the purity of the heart of the giver. + +The little lamp may not be lighted every evening in all homes, since +there are families too poor to afford even this infinitesimal nightly +expenditure of oil. But upon the first, fifteenth, and twenty-eighth of +each month the light is always kindled; for these are Shinto holidays of +obligation, when offerings must be made to the gods, and when all uji- +ko, or parishioners of a Shinto temple, are supposed to visit their +ujigami. In every home on these days sake is poured as an offering into +the o-mikidokkuri, and in the vases of the kamidana are placed sprays of +the holy sakaki, or sprigs of pine, or fresh flowers. On the first day +of the new year the kamidana is always decked with sakaki, moromoki +(ferns), and pine-sprigs, and also with a shimenawa; and large double +rice cakes are placed upon it as offerings to the gods. + +9 + +But only the ancient gods of Shinto are worshipped before the kamidana. +The family ancestors or family dead are worshipped either in a separate +room (called the mitamaya or 'Spirit Chamber'), or, if worshipped +according to the Buddhist rites, before the butsuma or butsudan. + + +The Buddhist family worship coexists in the vast majority of Izumo homes +with the Shinto family worship; and whether the dead be honoured in the +mitamaya or before the butsudan altogether depends upon the religious +traditions of the household. Moreover, there are families in Izumo-- +particularly in Kitzuki--whose members do not profess Buddhism in any +form, and a very few, belonging to the Shin-shu or Nichirenshu, [13] +whose members do not practise Shinto. But the domestic cult of the dead +is maintained, whether the family be Shinto or Buddhist. The ihai or +tablets of the Buddhist family dead (Hotoke) are never placed in a +special room or shrine, but in the Buddhist household shrine [14] along +with the images or pictures of Buddhist divinities usually there +inclosed--or, at least, this is always the case when the honours paid +them are given according to the Buddhist instead of the Shinto rite. The +form of the butsudan or butsuma, the character of its holy images, its +ofuda, or its pictures, and even the prayers said before it, differ +according to the fifteen different shu, or sects; and a very large +volume would have to be written in order to treat the subject of the +butsuma exhaustively. Therefore I must content myself with stating that +there are Buddhist household shrines of all dimensions, prices, and +degrees of magnificence; and that the butsudan of the Shin-shu, although +to me the least interesting of all, is popularly considered to be the +most beautiful in design and finish. The butsudan of a very poor +household may be worth a few cents, but the rich devotee might purchase +in Kyoto a shrine worth as many thousands of yen as he could pay. + +Though the forms of the butsuma and the character of its contents may +greatly vary, the form of the ancestral or mortuary tablet is generally +that represented in Fig. 4 of the illustrations of ihai given in this +book. [15] There are some much more elaborate shapes, costly and rare, +and simpler shapes of the cheapest and plainest descriptions; but the +form thus illustrated is the common one in Izumo and the whole San-indo +country. There are differences, however, of size; and the ihai of a man +is larger than that of a woman, and has a headpiece also, which the +tablet of a female has not; while a child's ihai is always very small. +The average height of the ihai made for a male adult is a little more +than a foot, and its thickness about an inch. It has a top, or +headpiece, surmounted by the symbol I of the Hoshi-no-tama or Mystic +Gem, and ordinarily decorated with a cloud-design of some kind, and the +pedestal is a lotus-flower rising out of clouds. As a general rule all +this is richly lacquered and gilded; the tablet itself being lacquered +in black, and bearing the posthumous name, or kaimyo, in letters of +gold--ken-mu-ji-sho-shin-ji, or other syllables indicating the supposed +virtues of the departed. The poorest people, unable to afford such +handsome tablets, have ihai made of plain wood; and the kaimyo is +sometimes simply written on these in black characters; but more commonly +it is written upon a strip of white paper, which is then pasted upon the +ihai with rice-paste. The living name is perhaps inscribed upon the back +of the tablet. Such tablets accumulate, of course, with the passing of +generations; and in certain homes great numbers are preserved. + +A beautiful and touching custom still exists in Izumo, and perhaps +throughout Japan, although much less common than it used to be. So far +as I can learn, however, it was always confined to the cultivated +classes. When a husband dies, two ihai are made, in case the wife +resolves never to marry again. On one of these the kaimyo of the dead +man is painted in characters of gold, and on the other that of the +living widow; but, in the latter case, the first character of the kaimyo +is painted in red, and the other characters in gold. These two tablets +are then placed in the household butsuma. Two larger ones similarly +inscribed, are placed in the parish temple; but no cup is set before +that of the wife. The solitary crimson ideograph signifies a solemn +pledge to remain faithful to the memory of the dead. Furthermore, the +wife loses her living name among all her friends and relatives, and is +thereafter addressed only by a fragment of her kaimyo--as, for example, +'Shin-toku-in-San,' an abbreviation of the much longer and more sonorous +posthumous name, Shin-toku-in-den-joyo-teiso-daishi. [16] Thus to be +called by one's kaimyo is at once an honour to the memory of the husband +and the constancy of the bereaved wife. A precisely similar pledge is +taken by a man after the loss of a wife to whom he was passionately +attached; and one crimson letter upon his ihai registers the vow not +only in the home but also in the place of public worship. But the +widower is never called by his kaimyo, as is the widow. + +The first religious duty of the morning in a Buddhist household is to +set before the tablets of the dead a little cup of tea, made with the +first hot water prepared--O-Hotoke-San-nio-cha-to-ageru. [17] Daily +offerings of boiled rice are also made; and fresh flowers are put in the +shrine vases; and incense--although not allowed by Shinto--is burned +before the tablets. At night, and also during the day upon certain +festivals, both candles and a small oil-lamp are lighted in the butsuma +--a lamp somewhat differently shaped from the lamp of the miya and called +rinto On the day of each month corresponding to the date of death a +little repast is served before the tablets, consisting of shojin-ryori +only, the vegetarian food of the. Buddhists. But as Shinto family +worship has its special annual festival, which endures from the first to +the third day of the new year, so Buddhist ancestor-worship has its +yearly Bonku, or Bommatsuri, lasting from the thirteenth to the +sixteenth day of the seventh month. This is the Buddhist Feast of Souls. +Then the butsuma is decorated to the utmost, special offerings of food +and of flowers are made, and all the house is made beautiful to welcome +the coming of the ghostly visitors. + +Now Shinto, like Buddhism, has its ihai; but these are of the simplest +possible shape and material--mere slips of plain white wood. The average +height is only about eight inches. These tablets are either placed in a +special miya kept in a different room from that in which the shrine of +the Kami is erected, or else simply arranged on a small shelf called by +the people Mitama-San-no-tana,--'the Shelf of the August Spirits.' The +shelf or the shrine of the ancestors and household dead is placed always +at a considerable height in the mitamaya or soreisha (as the Spirit +Chamber is sometimes called), just as is the miya of the Kami in the +other apartment. Sometimes no tablets are used, the name being simply +painted upon the woodwork of the Spirit Shrine. But Shinto has no +kaimyo: the living name of the dead is written upon the ihai, with the +sole addition of the word 'Mitama' (Spirit). And monthly upon the day +corresponding to the menstrual date of death, offerings of fish, wine, +and other food are made to the spirits, accompanied by special prayer. +[18] The Mitama-San have also their particular lamps and flower-vases, +and, though in lesser degree, are honoured with rites like those of the +Kami. + +The prayers uttered before the ihai of either faith begin with the +respective religious formulas of Shinto or of Buddhism. The Shintoist, +clapping his hands thrice or four times, [19] first utters the +sacramental Harai-tamai. The Buddhist, according to his sect, murmurs +Namu-myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo, or Namu Amida Butsu, or some other holy words of +prayer or of praise to the Buddha, ere commencing his prayer to the +ancestors. The words said to them are seldom spoken aloud, either by +Shintoist or Buddhist: they are either whispered very low under the +breath, or shaped only within the heart. + +10 + +At nightfall in Izumo homes the lamps of the gods and of the ancestors +are kindled, either by a trusted servant or by some member of the +family. Shinto orthodox regulations require that the lamps should be +filled with pure vegetable oil only--tomoshiabura--and oil of rape-seed +is customarily used. However, there is an evident inclination among the +poorer classes to substitute a microscopic kerosene lamp for the ancient +form of utensil. But by the strictly orthodox this is held to be very +wrong, and even to light the lamps with a match is somewhat heretical. +For it is not supposed that matches are always made with pure +substances, and the lights of the Kami should be kindled only with +purest fire--that holy natural fire which lies hidden within all things. +Therefore in some little closet in the home of any strictly orthodox +Shinto family there is always a small box containing the ancient +instruments used for the lighting of' holy fire. These consist of the +hi-uchi-ishi, or 'fire-strike-stone'; the hi-uchi-gane, or steel; the +hokuchi, or tinder, made of dried moss; and the tsukegi, fine slivers of +resinous pine. A little tinder is laid upon the flint and set +smouldering with a few strokes of the steel, and blown upon until it +flames. A slip of pine is then ignited at this flame, and with it the +lamps of the ancestors and the gods are lighted. If several great +deities are represented in the miya or upon the kamidana by several +ofuda, then a separate lamp is sometimes lighted for each; and if there +be a butsuma in the dwelling, its tapers or lamp are lighted at the same +time. + + +Although the use of the flint and steel for lighting the lamps of the +gods will probably have become obsolete within another generation, it +still prevails largely in Izumo, especially in the country districts. +Even where the safety-match has entirely supplanted the orthodox +utensils, the orthodox sentiment shows itself in the matter of the +choice of matches to be used. Foreign matches are inadmissible: the +native matchmaker quite successfully represented that foreign matches +contained phosphorus 'made from the bones of dead animals,' and that to +kindle the lights of the Kami with such unholy fire would be sacrilege. +In other parts of Japan the matchmakers stamped upon their boxes the +words: 'Saikyo go honzon yo' (Fit for the use of the August High Temple +of Saikyo). [20] But Shinto sentiment in Izumo was too strong to be +affected much by any such declaration: indeed, the recommendation of the +matches as suitable for use in a Shin-shu temple was of itself +sufficient to prejudice Shintoists against them. Accordingly special +precautions had to be taken before safety-matches could be +satisfactorily introduced into the Province of the Gods. Izumo match- +boxes now bear the inscription: 'Pure, and fit to use for kindling the +lamps of the Kami, or of the Hotoke!' + +The inevitable danger to all things in Japan is fire. It is the +traditional rule that when a house takes fire, the first objects to be +saved, if possible, are the household gods and the tablets of the +ancestors. It is even said that if these are saved, most of the family +valuables are certain to be saved, and that if these are lost, all is +lost. + +11 + +The terms soreisha and mitamaya, as used in Izumo, may, I am told, +signify either the small miya in which the Shinto ihai (usually made of +cherry-wood) is kept, or that part of the dwelling in which it is +placed, and where the offerings are made. These, by all who can afford +it, are served upon tables of plain white wood, and of the same high +narrow form as the tables upon which offerings are made in the temples +and at public funeral ceremonies. + +The most ordinary form of prayer addressed to the ancient ancestors in +the household cult of Shinto is not uttered aloud. After pronouncing the +initial formula of all popular Shinto prayer, 'Harai-tamai,' etc., the +worshipper says, with his heart only--'Spirits august of our far-off +ancestors, ye forefathers of the generations, and of our families and of +our kindred, unto you, the founders of our homes, we this day utter the +gladness of our thanks.' + +In the family cult of the Buddhists a distinction is made between the +household Hotoke--the souls of those long dead--and the souls of those +but recently deceased. These last are called Shin-botoke, 'new Buddhas,' +or more strictly, 'the newly dead.' No direct request for any +supernatural favour is made to a Shin-botoke; for, though respectfully +called Hotoke, the freshly departed soul is not really deemed to have +reached Buddhahood: it is only on the long road thither, and is in need +itself, perhaps, of aid, rather than capable of giving aid. Indeed, +among the deeply pious its condition is a matter of affectionate +concern. And especially is this the case when a little child dies; for +it is thought that the soul of an infant is feeble and exposed to many +dangers. Wherefore a mother, speaking to the departed soul of her child, +will advise it, admonish it, command it tenderly, as if addressing a +living son or daughter. The ordinary words said in Izumo homes to any +Shin-botoke take rather the form of adjuration or counsel than of +prayer, such as these:-- + +'Jobutsu seyo,' or 'Jobutsu shimasare.' [Do thou become a Buddha.] + +'Mayo na yo.' [Go not astray; or, Be never deluded.] + +'Miren-wo nokorazu.' [Suffer no regret (for this world) to linger with +thee.] + +These prayers are never uttered aloud. Much more in accordance with the +Occidental idea of prayer is the following, uttered by Shin-shu +believers on behalf of a Shin-botoke: + +'O-mukai kudasare Amida-Sama.' [Vouchsafe, O Lord Amida, augustly to +welcome (this soul).] + +Needless to say that ancestor-worship, although adopted in China and +Japan into Buddhism, is not of Buddhist origin. Needless also to say +that Buddhism discountenances suicide. Yet in Japan, anxiety about the +condition of the soul of the departed often caused suicide--or at least +justified it on the part of those who, though accepting Buddhist dogma, +might adhere to primitive custom. Retainers killed themselves in the +belief that by dying they might give to the soul of their lord or lady, +counsel, aid, and service. Thus in the novel Hogen-nomono-gatari, a +retainer is made to say after the death of his young master:--'Over the +mountain of Shide, over the ghostly River of Sanzu, who will conduct +him? If he be afraid, will he not call my name, as he was wont to do? +Surely better that, by slaying myself, I go to serve him as of old, than +to linger here, and mourn for him in vain.' + +In Buddhist household worship, the prayers addressed to the family +Hotoke proper, the souls of those long dead, are very different from the +addresses made to the Shin-botoke. The following are a few examples: +they are always said under the breath: + +'Kanai anzen.' [(Vouchsafe) that our family may be preserved.] + +'Enmei sakusai.' [That we may enjoy long life without sorrow.] + +'Shobai hanjo.' [That our business may prosper.] [Said only by merchants +and tradesmen.] + +'Shison chokin.' [That the perpetuity of our descent may be assured.] + +'Onteki taisan.' [That our enemies be scattered.] + +'Yakubyo shometsu.' [That pestilence may not come nigh us.] + +Some of the above are used also by Shinto worshippers. The old samurai +still repeat the special prayers of their caste:-- + +'Tenka taihei.' [That long peace may prevail throughout the world.] + +'Bu-un chokyu.' [That we may have eternal good-fortune in war.] + + +'Ka-ei-manzoku.' [That our house (family) may for ever remain +fortunate.] + +But besides these silent formulae, any prayers prompted by the heart, +whether of supplication or of gratitude, may, of course, be repeated. +Such prayers are said, or rather thought, in the speech of daily life. +The following little prayer uttered by an Izumo mother to the ancestral +spirit, besought on behalf of a sick child, is an example:-- + +'O-kage ni kodomo no byoki mo zenkwai itashimashite, arigato- +gozarimasu!' [By thine august influence the illness of my child has +passed away;--I thank thee.] + +'O-kage ni' literally signifies 'in the august shadow of.' There is a +ghostly beauty in the original phrase that neither a free nor yet a +precise translation can preserve. + +12 + +Thus, in this home-worship of the Far East, by love the dead are made +divine; and the foreknowledge of this tender apotheosis must temper with +consolation the natural melancholy of age. Never in Japan are the dead +so quickly forgotten as with us: by simple faith they are deemed still +to dwell among their beloved; and their place within the home remains +ever holy. And the aged patriarch about to pass away knows that loving +lips will nightly murmur to the memory of him before the household +shrine; that faithful hearts will beseech him in their pain and bless +him in their joy; that gentle hands will place before his ihai pure +offerings of fruits and flowers, and dainty repasts of the things which +he was wont to like; and will pour out for him, into the little cup of +ghosts and gods, the fragrant tea of guests or the amber rice-wine. +Strange changes are coming upon the land: old customs are vanishing; old +beliefs are weakening; the thoughts of today will not be the thoughts of +another age--but of all this he knows happily nothing in his own quaint, +simple, beautiful Izumo. He dreams that for him, as for his fathers, the +little lamp will burn on through the generations; he sees, in softest +fancy, the yet unborn--the children of his children's children--clapping +their tiny hands in Shinto prayer, and making filial obeisance before +the little dusty tablet that bears his unforgotten name. + + + +Chapter Three Of Women's Hair + +1 THE hair of the younger daughter of the family is very long; and it +is a spectacle of no small interest to see it dressed. It is dressed +once in every three days; and the operation, which costs four sen, is +acknowledged to require one hour. As a matter of fact it requires nearly +two. The hairdresser (kamiyui) first sends her maiden apprentice, who +cleans the hair, washes it, perfumes it, and combs it with extraordinary +combs of at least five different kinds. So thoroughly is the hair +cleansed that it remains for three days, or even four, immaculate beyond +our Occidental conception of things. In the morning, during the dusting +time, it is carefully covered with a handkerchief or a little blue +towel; and the curious Japanese wooden pillow, which supports the neck, +not the head, renders it possible to sleep at ease without disarranging +the marvellous structure. [1] + +After the apprentice has finished her part of the work, the hairdresser +herself appears, and begins to build the coiffure. For this task she +uses, besides the extraordinary variety of combs, fine loops of gilt +thread or coloured paper twine, dainty bits of deliciously tinted crape- +silk, delicate steel springs, and curious little basket-shaped things +over which the hair is moulded into the required forms before being +fixed in place. + +The kamiyui also brings razors with her; for the Japanese girl is +shaved--cheeks, ears, brows, chin, even nose! What is here to shave? +Only that peachy floss which is the velvet of the finest human skin, but +which Japanese taste removes. There is, however, another use for the +razor. All maidens bear the signs of their maidenhood in the form of a +little round spot, about an inch in diameter, shaven clean upon the very +top of the head. This is only partially concealed by a band of hair +brought back from the forehead across it, and fastened to the back hair. +The girl-baby's head is totally shaved. When a few years old the little +creature's hair is allowed to grow except at the top of the head, where +a large tonsure is maintained. But the size of the tonsure diminishes +year by year, until it shrinks after childhood to the small spot above +described; and this, too, vanishes after marriage, when a still more +complicated fashion of wearing the hair is adopted. + +2 + +Such absolutely straight dark hair as that of most Japanese women might +seem, to Occidental ideas at least, ill-suited to the highest +possibilities of the art of the coiffeuse. [2] But the skill of the +kamiyui has made it tractable to every aesthetic whim. Ringlets, indeed, +are unknown, and curling irons. But what wonderful and beautiful shapes +the hair of the girl is made to assume: volutes, jets, whirls, eddyings, +foliations, each passing into the other blandly as a linking of brush- +strokes in the writing of a Chinese master! Far beyond the skill of the +Parisian coiffeuse is the art of the kamiyui. From the mythical era [3] +of the race, Japanese ingenuity has exhausted itself in the invention +and the improvement of pretty devices for the dressing of woman's hair; +and probably there have never been so many beautiful fashions of wearing +it in any other country as there have been in Japan. These have changed +through the centuries; sometimes becoming wondrously intricate of +design, sometimes exquisitely simple--as in that gracious custom, +recorded for us in so many quaint drawings, of allowing the long black +tresses to flow unconfined below the waist. [4] But every mode of which +we have any pictorial record had its own striking charm. Indian, +Chinese, Malayan, Korean ideas of beauty found their way to the Land of +the Gods, and were appropriated and transfigured by the finer native +conceptions of comeliness. Buddhism, too, which so profoundly influenced +all Japanese art and thought, may possibly have influenced fashions of +wearing the hair; for its female divinities appear with the most +beautiful coiffures. Notice the hair of a Kwannon or a Benten, and the +tresses of the Tennin--those angel-maidens who float in azure upon the +ceilings of the great temples. + +3 + +The particular attractiveness of the modern styles is the way in which +the hair is made to serve as an elaborate nimbus for the features, +giving delightful relief to whatever of fairness or sweetness the young +face may possess. Then behind this charming black aureole is a riddle of +graceful loopings and weavings whereof neither the beginning nor the +ending can possibly be discerned. Only the kantiyui knows the key to +that riddle. And the whole is held in place with curious ornamental +combs, and shot through with long fine pins of gold, silver, nacre, +transparent tortoise-shell, or lacquered wood, with cunningly carven +heads. [5] + +4 + +Not less than fourteen different ways of dressing the hair are practised +by the coiffeuses of Izumo; but doubtless in the capital, and in some of +the larger cities of eastern Japan, the art is much more elaborately +developed. The hairdressers (kamiyui) go from house to house to exercise +their calling, visiting their clients upon fixed days at certain regular +hours. The hair of little girls from seven to eight years old is in +Matsue dressed usually after the style called O-tabako-bon, unless it be +simply 'banged.' In the O-tabako-bon ('honourable smoking-box' style) +the hair is cut to the length of about four inches all round except +above the forehead, where it is clipped a little shorter; and on the +summit of the head it is allowed to grow longer and is gathered up into +a peculiarly shaped knot, which justifies the curious name of the +coiffure. As soon as the girl becomes old enough to go to a female +public day-school, her hair is dressed in the pretty, simple style +called katsurashita, or perhaps in the new, ugly, semi-foreign 'bundle- +style' called sokuhatsu, which has become the regulation fashion in +boarding-schools. For the daughters of the poor, and even for most of +those of the middle classes, the public-school period is rather brief; +their studies usually cease a few years before they are marriageable, +and girls marry very early in Japan. The maiden's first elaborate +coiffure is arranged for her when she reaches the age of fourteen or +fifteen, at earliest. From twelve to fourteen her hair is dressed in the +fashion called Omoyedzuki; then the style is changed to the beautiful +coiffure called jorowage. There are various forms of this style, more or +less complex. A couple of years later, the jorowage yields in the turn +to the shinjocho [6] '('new-butterfly' style), or the shimada, also +called takawage. The shimjocho style is common, is worn by women of +various ages, and is not considered very genteel. The shimada, +exquisitely elaborate, is; but the more respectable the family, the +smaller the form of this coiffure; geisha and joro wear a larger and +loftier variety of it, which properly answers to the name takawage, or +'high coiffure.' Between eighteen and twenty years of age the maiden +again exchanges this style for another termed Tenjin-gaeshi; between +twenty and twenty-four years of age she adopts the fashion called +mitsuwage, or the 'triple coiffure' of three loops; and a somewhat +similar but still more complicated coiffure, called mitsuwakudzushi, is +worn by young women of from twenty-five to twenty-eight. Up to that age +every change in the fashion of wearing the hair has been in the +direction of elaborateness and complexity. But after twenty-eight a +Japanese woman is no longer considered young, and there is only one more +coiffure for her--the mochiriwage or bobai, tine simple and rather ugly +style adopted by old women. + +But the girl who marries wears her hair in a fashion quite different +from any of the preceding. The most beautiful, the most elaborate, and +the most costly of all modes is the bride's coiffure, called hanayome; a +word literally signifying 'flower-wife.' The structure is dainty as its +name, and must be seen to be artistically appreciated. Afterwards the +wife wears her hair in the styles called kumesa or maruwage, another +name for which is katsuyama. The kumesa style is not genteel, and is the +coiffure of the poor; the maruwage or katsuyama is refined. In former +times the samurai women wore their hair in two particular styles: the +maiden's coiffure was ichogaeshi, and that of the married folk +katahajishi. It is still possible to see in Matsue a few katahajishi +coiffures. + +5 + +The family kamiyui, O-Koto-San, the most skilful of her craft in Izumo, +is a little woman of about thirty, still quite attractive. About her +neck there are three soft pretty lines, forming what connoisseurs of +beauty term 'the necklace of Venus.' This is a rare charm; but it once +nearly proved the ruin of Koto. The story is a curious one. + +Koto had a rival at the beginning of her professional career--a woman of +considerable skill as a coiffeuse, but of malignant disposition, named +Jin. Jin gradually lost all her respectable custom, and little Koto +became the fashionable hairdresser. But her old rival, filled with +jealous hate, invented a wicked story about Koto, and the story found +root in the rich soil of old Izumo superstition, and grew fantastically. +The idea of it had been suggested to Jin's cunning mind by those three +soft lines about Koto's neck. She declared that Koto had a NUKE-KUBI. + +What is a nuke-kubi? 'Kubi' signifies either the neck or head. 'Nukeru' +means to creep, to skulk, to prowl, to slip away stealthily. To have a +nuke-kubi is to have a head that detaches itself from the body, and +prowls about at night--by itself. + +Koto has been twice married, and her second match was a happy one. But +her first husband caused her much trouble, and ran away from her at +last, in company with some worthless woman. Nothing was ever heard of +him afterward--so that Jin thought it quite safe to invent a nightmare- +story to account for his disappearance. She said that he abandoned Koto +because, on awaking one night, he saw his young wife's head rise from +the pillow, and her neck lengthen like a great white serpent, while the +rest of her body remained motionless. He saw the head, supported by the +ever-lengthening neck, enter the farther apartment and drink all the oil +in the lamps, and then return to the pillow slowly--the neck +simultaneously contracting. 'Then he rose up and fled away from the +house in great fear,' said Jin. + +As one story begets another, all sorts of queer rumours soon began to +circulate about poor Koto. There was a tale that some police-officer, +late at night, saw a woman's head without a body, nibbling fruit from a +tree overhanging some garden-wall; and that, knowing it to be a nuke- +kubi, he struck it with the flat of his sword. It shrank away as swiftly +as a bat flies, but not before he had been able to recognize the face of +the kamiyui. 'Oh! it is quite true!' declared Jin, the morning after the +alleged occurrence; 'and if you don't believe it, send word to Koto that +you want to see her. She can't go out: her face is all swelled up.' Now +the last statement was fact--for Koto had a very severe toothache at +that time--and the fact helped the falsehood. And the story found its +way to the local newspaper, which published it--only as a strange +example of popular credulity; and Jin said, 'Am I a teller of the truth? +See, the paper has printed it!' + +Wherefore crowds of curious people gathered before Koto's little house, +and made her life such a burden to her that her husband had to watch her +constantly to keep her from killing herself. Fortunately she had good +friends in the family of the Governor, where she had been employed for +years as coiffeuse; and the Governor, hearing of the wickedness, wrote a +public denunciation of it, and set his name to it, and printed it. Now +the people of Matsue reverenced their old samurai Governor as if he were +a god, and believed his least word; and seeing what he had written, they +became ashamed, and also denounced the lie and the liar; and the little +hairdresser soon became more prosperous than before through popular +sympathy. + +Some of the most extraordinary beliefs of old days are kept alive in +Izumo and elsewhere by what are called in America travelling side- +shows'; and the inexperienced foreigner could never imagine the +possibilities of a Japanese side-show. On certain great holidays the +showmen make their appearance, put up their ephemeral theatres of rush- +matting and bamboos in some temple court, surfeit expectation by the +most incredible surprises, and then vanish as suddenly as they came. The +Skeleton of a Devil, the Claws of a Goblin, and 'a Rat as large as a +sheep,' were some of the least extraordinary displays which I saw. The +Goblin's Claws were remarkably fine shark's teeth; the Devil's Skeleton +had belonged to an orang-outang--all except the horns ingeniously +attached to the skull; and the wondrous Rat I discovered to be a tame +kangaroo. What I could not fully understand was the exhibition of a +nuke-kubi, in which a young woman stretched her neck, apparently, to a +length of about two feet, making ghastly faces during the performance. + +6 + +There are also some strange old superstitions about women's hair. + +The myth of Medusa has many a counterpart in Japanese folk-lore: the +subject of such tales being always some wondrously beautiful girl, whose +hair turns to snakes only at night; and who is discovered at last to be +either a dragon or a dragon's daughter. But in ancient times it was +believed that the hair of any young woman might, under certain trying +circumstances, change into serpents. For instance: under the influence +of long-repressed jealousy. + +There were many men of wealth who, in the days of Old Japan, kept their +concubines (mekake or aisho) under the same roof with their legitimate +wives (okusama). And it is told that, although the severest patriarchal +discipline might compel the mekake and the okusama to live together in +perfect seeming harmony by day, their secret hate would reveal itself by +night in the transformation of their hair. The long black tresses of +each would uncoil and hiss and strive to devour those of the other--and +even the mirrors of the sleepers would dash themselves together--for, +saith an ancient proverb, kagami onna-no tamashii--'a Mirror is the Soul +of a Woman.' [7] And there is a famous tradition of one Kato Sayemon +Shigenji, who beheld in the night the hair of his wife and the hair of +his concubine, changed into vipers, writhing together and hissing and +biting. Then Kato Sayemon grieved much for that secret bitterness of +hatred which thus existed through his fault; and he shaved his head and +became a priest in the great Buddhist monastery of Koya-San, where he +dwelt until the day of his death under the name of Karukaya. + +7 + +The hair of dead women is arranged in the manner called tabanegami, +somewhat resembling the shimada extremely simplified, and without +ornaments of any kind. The name tabanegami signifies hair tied into a +bunch, like a sheaf of rice. This style must also be worn by women +during the period of mourning. + +Ghosts, nevertheless, are represented with hair loose and long, falling +weirdly over the face. And no doubt because of the melancholy +suggestiveness of its drooping branches, the willow is believed to be +the favourite tree of ghosts. Thereunder, 'tis said, they mourn in the +night, mingling their shadowy hair with the long dishevelled tresses of +the tree. + +Tradition says that Okyo Maruyama was the first Japanese artist who drew +a ghost. The Shogun, having invited him to his palace, said: 'Make a +picture of a ghost for me.' Okyo promised to do so; but he was puzzled +how to execute the order satisfactorily. A few days later, hearing that +one of his aunts was very ill, he visited her. She was so emaciated that +she looked like one already long dead. As he watched by her bedside, a +ghastly inspiration came to him: he drew the fleshless face and long +dishevelled hair, and created from that hasty sketch a ghost that +surpassed all the Shogun's expectations. Afterwards Okyo became very +famous as a painter of ghosts. + +Japanese ghosts are always represented as diaphanous, and +preternaturally tall--only the upper part of the figure being distinctly +outlined, and the lower part fading utterly away. As the Japanese say, +'a ghost has no feet': its appearance is like an exhalation, which +becomes visible only at a certain distance above the ground; and it +wavers arid lengthens and undulates in the conceptions of artists, like +a vapour moved by wind. Occasionally phantom women figure in picture.- +books in the likeness of living women; but these are riot true ghosts. +They are fox-women or other goblins; and their supernatural character is +suggested by a peculiar expression of the eyes arid a certain impossible +elfish grace. + +Little children in Japan, like little children in all countries keenly +enjoy the pleasure of fear; and they have many games in which such +pleasure forms the chief attraction. Among these is 0-bake-goto, or +Ghost-play. Some nurse-girl or elder sister loosens her hair in front, +so as to let it fall over her face, and pursues the little folk with +moans and weird gestures, miming all the attitudes of the ghosts of the +picture-books. + +8 + +As the hair of the Japanese woman is her richest ornament, it is of all +her possessions that which she would most suffer to lose; and in other +days the man too manly to kill an erring wife deemed it vengeance enough +to turn her away with all her hair shorn off. Only the greatest faith or +the deepest love can prompt a woman to the voluntary sacrifice of her +entire chevelure, though partial sacrifices, offerings of one or two +long thick cuttings, may be seen suspended before many an Izumo shrine. + +What faith can do in the way of such sacrifice, he best knows who has +seen the great cables, woven of women's hair, that hang in the vast +Hongwanji temple at Kyoto. And love is stronger than faith, though much +less demonstrative. According to ancient custom a wife bereaved +sacrifices a portion of her hair to be placed in the coffin of her +husband, and buried with him. The quantity is not fixed: in the majority +of cases it is very small, so that the appearance of the coiffure is +thereby nowise affected. But she who resolves to remain for ever loyal +to the memory of the lost yields up all. With her own hand she cuts off +her hair, and lays the whole glossy sacrifice--emblem of her youth and +beauty--upon the knees of the dead. + +It is never suffered to grow again. + + + +Chapter Four From the Diary of an English Teacher + +1 + +MATSUE, September 2, 1890. + +I AM under contract to serve as English teacher in the Jinjo Chugakko, +or Ordinary Middle School, and also in the ShihanGakko, or Normal +School, of Matsue, Izumo, for the term of one year. + +The Jinjo Chugakko is an immense two-story wooden building in European +style, painted a dark grey-blue. It has accommodations for nearly three +hundred day scholars. It is situated in one corner of a great square of +ground, bounded on two sides by canals, and on the other two by very +quiet streets. This site is very near the ancient castle. + +The Normal School is a much larger building occupying the opposite angle +of the square. It is also much handsomer, is painted snowy white, and +has a little cupola upon its summit. There are only about one hundred +and fifty students in the Shihan-Gakko, but they are boarders. + +Between these two schools are other educational buildings, which I shall +learn more about later. + +It is my first day at the schools. Nishida Sentaro, the Japanese teacher +of English, has taken me through the buildings, introduced me to the +Directors, and to all my future colleagues, given me all necessary +instructions about hours and about textbooks, and furnished my desk with +all things necessary. Before teaching begins, however, I must be +introduced to the Governor of the Province, Koteda Yasusada, with whom +my contract has been made, through the medium of his secretary. So +Nishida leads the way to the Kencho, or Prefectural office, situated in +another foreign-looking edifice across the street. + +We enter it, ascend a wide stairway, and enter a spacious .room carpeted +in European fashion--a room with bay windows and cushioned chairs. One +person is seated at a small round table, and about him are standing half +a dozen others: all are in full Japanese costume, ceremonial costume-- +splendid silken hakama, or Chinese trousers, silken robes, silken haori +or overdress, marked with their mon or family crests: rich and dignified +attire which makes me ashamed of my commonplace Western garb. These are +officials of the Kencho, and teachers: the person seated is the +Governor. He rises to greet me, gives me the hand-grasp of a giant: and +as I look into his eyes, I feel I shall love that man to the day of my +death. A face fresh and frank as a boy's, expressing much placid force +and large-hearted kindness--all the calm of a Buddha. Beside him, the +other officials look very small: indeed the first impression of him is +that of a man of another race. While I am wondering whether the old +Japanese heroes were cast in a similar mould, he signs to me to take a +seat, and questions my guide in a mellow basso. There is a charm in the +fluent depth of the voice pleasantly confirming the idea suggested by +the face. An attendant brings tea. + +'The Governor asks,' interprets Nishida, 'if you know the old history of +Izumo.' + +I reply that I have read the Kojiki, translated by Professor +Chamberlain, and have therefore some knowledge of the story of Japan's +most ancient province. Some converse in Japanese follows. Nishida tells +the Governor that I came to Japan to study the ancient religion and +customs, and that I am particularly interested in Shinto and the +traditions of Izumo. The Governor suggests that I make visits to the +celebrated shrines of Kitzuki, Yaegaki, and Kumano, and then asks: + +'Does he know the tradition of the origin of the clapping of hands +before a Shinto shrine?' + +I reply in the negative; and the Governor says the tradition is given in +a commentary upon the Kojiki. + +'It is in the thirty-second section of the fourteenth volume, where it +is written that Ya-he-Koto-Shiro-nushi-no-Kami clapped his hands.' + +I thank the Governor for his kind suggestions and his citation. After a +brief silence I am graciously dismissed with another genuine hand-grasp; +and we return to the school. + +2 + +I have been teaching for three hours in the Middle School, and teaching +Japanese boys turns out to be a much more agreeable task than I had +imagined. Each class has been so well prepared for me beforehand by +Nishida that my utter ignorance of Japanese makes no difficulty in +regard to teaching: moreover, although the lads cannot understand my +words always when I speak, they can understand whatever I write upon the +blackboard with chalk. Most of them have already been studying English +from childhood, with Japanese teachers. All are wonderfully docile' and +patient. According to old custom, when the teacher enters, the whole +class rises and bows to him. He returns the bow, and calls the roll. + +Nishida is only too kind. He helps me in every way he possibly can, and +is constantly regretting that he cannot help me more. There are, of +course, some difficulties to overcome. For instance, it will take me a +very, very long time to learn the names of the boys--most of which names +I cannot even pronounce, with the class-roll before me. And although the +names of the different classes have been painted upon the doors of their +respective rooms in English letters, for the benefit of the foreign +teacher, it will take me some weeks at least to become quite familiar +with them. For the time being Nishida always guides me to the rooms. He +also shows me the way, through long corridors, to the Normal School, and +introduces me to the teacher Nakayama who is to act there as my guide. + +I have been engaged to teach only four times a week at the Normal +School; but I am furnished there also with a handsome desk in the +teachers' apartment, and am made to feel at home almost immediately. +Nakayama shows me everything of interest in the building before +introducing me to my future pupils. The introduction is pleasant and +novel as a school experience. I am conducted along a corridor, and +ushered into a large luminous whitewashed room full of young men in dark +blue military uniform. Each sits at a very small desk, sup-ported by a +single leg, with three feet. At the end of the room is a platform with a +high desk and a chair for the teacher. As I take my place at the desk, a +voice rings out in English: 'Stand up!' And all rise with a springy +movement as if moved by machinery. 'Bow down!' the same voice again +commands--the voice of a young student wearing a captain's stripes upon +his sleeve; and all salute me. I bow in return; we take our seats; and +the lesson begins. + +All teachers at the Normal School are saluted in the same military +fashion before each class-hour--only the command is given in Japanese. +For my sake only, it is given in English. + +3 + +September 22, 1890. + +The Normal School is a State institution. Students are admitted upon +examination and production of testimony as to good character; but the +number is, of course, limited. The young men pay no fees, no boarding +money, nothing even for books, college-outfits, or wearing apparel. They +are lodged, clothed, fed, and educated by the State; but they are +required in return, after their graduation, to serve the State as +teachers for the space of five years. Admission, however, by no means +assures graduation. There are three or four examinations each year; and +the students who fail to obtain a certain high average of examination +marks must leave the school, however exemplary their conduct or earnest +their study. No leniency can be shown where the educational needs of the +State are concerned, and these call for natural ability and a high +standard of its proof. + +The discipline is military and severe. Indeed, it is so thorough that +the graduate of a Normal School is exempted by military law from more +than a year's service in the army: he leaves college a trained soldier. +Deportment is also a requisite: special marks are given for it; and +however gawky a freshman may prove at the time of his admission, he +cannot remain so. A spirit of manliness is cultivated, which excludes +roughness but develops self-reliance and self-control. The student is +required, when speaking, to look his teacher in the face, and to utter +his words not only distinctly, but sonorously. Demeanour in class is +partly enforced by the class-room fittings themselves. The tiny tables +are too narrow to allow of being used as supports for the elbows; the +seats have no backs against which to lean, and the student must hold +himself rigidly erect as he studies. He must also keep himself +faultlessly neat and clean. Whenever and wherever he encounters one of +his teachers he must halt, bring his feet together, draw himself erect, +and give the military salute. And this is done with a swift grace +difficult to describe. + +The demeanour of a class during study hours is if anything too +faultless. Never a whisper is heard; never is a head raised from the +book without permission. But when the teacher addresses a student by +name, the youth rises instantly, and replies in a tone of such vigour as +would seem to unaccustomed ears almost startling by contrast with the +stillness and self-repression of the others. + +The female department of the Normal School, where about fifty young +women are being trained as teachers, is a separate two-story quadrangle +of buildings, large, airy, and so situated, together with its gardens, +as to be totally isolated from all other buildings and invisible from +the street. The girls are not only taught European science by the most +advanced methods, but are trained as well in Japanese arts--the arts of +embroidery, of decoration, of painting, and of arranging flowers. +European drawing is also taught, and beautifully taught, not only here, +but in all the schools. It is taught, however, in combination with +Japanese methods; and the results of this blending may certainly be +expected to have some charming influence upon future art-production. The +average capacity of the Japanese student in drawing is, I think, at +least fifty per cent, higher than that of European students. The soul of +the race is essentially artistic; and the extremely difficult art of +learning to write the Chinese characters, in which all are trained from +early childhood, has already disciplined the hand and the eye to a +marvellous degree--a degree undreamed of in the Occident--long before +the drawing-master begins his lessons of perspective. + +Attached to the great Normal School, and connected by a corridor with +the Jinjo Chugakko likewise, is a large elementary school for little +boys and girls: its teachers are male and female students of the +graduating classes, who are thus practically trained for their +profession before entering the service of the State. Nothing could be +more interesting as an educational spectacle to any sympathetic +foreigner than some of this elementary teaching. In the first room which +I visit a class of very little girls and boys--some as quaintly pretty +as their own dolls--are bending at their desks over sheets of coal-black +paper which you would think they were trying to make still blacker by +energetic use of writing-brushes and what we call Indian-ink. They are +really learning to write Chinese and Japanese characters, stroke by +stroke. Until one stroke has been well learned, they are not suffered to +attempt another--much less a combination. Long before the first lesson +is thoroughly mastered, the white paper has become all evenly black +under the multitude of tyro brush-strokes. But the same sheet is still +used; for the wet ink makes a yet blacker mark upon the dry, so that it +can easily be seen. + +In a room adjoining, I see another child-class learning to use scissors +--Japanese scissors, which, being formed in one piece, shaped something +like the letter U, are much less easy to manage than ours. The little +folk are being taught to cut out patterns, and shapes of special objects +or symbols to be studied. Flower-forms are the most ordinary patterns; +sometimes certain ideographs are given as subjects. + +And in another room a third small class is learning to sing; the teacher +writing the music notes (do, re, mi) with chalk upon a blackboard, and +accompanying the song with an accordion. The little ones have learned +the Japanese national anthem (Kimi ga yo wa) and two native songs set to +Scotch airs--one of which calls back to me, even in this remote corner +of the Orient, many a charming memory: Auld Lang Syne. + +No uniform is worn in this elementary school: all are in Japanese dress +--the boys in dark blue kimono, the little girls in robes of all tints, +radiant as butterflies. But in addition to their robes, the girls wear +hakama, [1] and these are of a vivid, warm sky-blue. + +Between the hours of teaching, ten minutes are allowed for play or +rest. The little boys play at Demon-Shadows or at blind-man's-buff or at +some other funny game: they laugh, leap, shout, race, and wrestle, but, +unlike European children, never quarrel or fight. As for the little +girls, they get by themselves, and either play at hand-ball, or form +into circles to play at some round game, accompanied by song. +Indescribably soft and sweet the chorus of those little voices in the +round: + +Kango-kango sho-ya, +Naka yoni sho-ya, +Don-don to kunde +Jizo-San no midzu wo +Matsuba no midzu irete, +Makkuri kadso. [2] + +I notice that the young men, as well as the young women, who teach these +little folk, are extremely tender to their charges. A child whose kimono +is out of order, or dirtied by play, is taken aside and brushed and +arranged as carefully as by an elder brother. + +Besides being trained for their future profession by teaching the +children of the elementary school, the girl students of the Shihan-Gakko +are also trained to teach in the neighbouring kindergarten. A delightful +kindergarten it is, with big cheerful sunny rooms, where stocks of the +most ingenious educational toys are piled upon shelves for daily use. + +Since the above was written I have had two years' experience as a +teacher in various large Japanese schools; and I have never had personal +knowledge of any serious quarrel between students, and have never even +heard of a fight among my pupils. And I have taught some eight hundred +boys and young men. + +4 + +October 1 1890. Nevertheless I am destined to see little of the Normal +School. Strictly speaking, I do not belong to its staff: my services +being only lent by the Middle School, to which I give most of my time. I +see the Normal School students in their class-rooms only, for they are +not allowed to go out to visit their teachers' homes in the town. So I +can never hope to become as familiar with them as with the students of +the Chugakko, who are beginning to call me 'Teacher' instead of 'Sir,' +and to treat me as a sort of elder brother. (I objected to the word +'master,' for in Japan the teacher has no need of being masterful.) And +I feel less at home in the large, bright, comfortable apartments of the +Normal School teachers than in our dingy, chilly teachers' room at the +Chugakko, where my desk is next to that of Nishida. + +On the walls there are maps, crowded with Japanese ideographs; a few +large charts representing zoological facts in the light of evolutional +science; and an immense frame filled with little black lacquered wooden +tablets, so neatly fitted together that the entire surface is uniform as +that of a blackboard. On these are written, or rather painted, in white, +names of teachers, subjects, classes, and order of teaching hours; and +by the ingenious tablet arrangement any change of hours can be +represented by simply changing the places of the tablets. As all this is +written in Chinese and Japanese characters, it remains to me a mystery, +except in so far as the general plan and purpose are concerned. I have +learned only to recognize the letters of my own name, and the simpler +form of numerals. + +On every teacher's desk there is a small hibachi of glazed blue-and- +white ware, containing a few lumps of glowing charcoal in a bed of +ashes. During the brief intervals between classes each teacher smokes +his tiny Japanese pipe of brass, iron, or silver. The hibachi and a cup +of hot tea are our consolations for the fatigues of the class-room. + +Nishida and one or two other teachers know a good deal of English, and +we chat together sometimes between classes. But more often no one +speaks. All are tired after the teaching hour, and prefer to smoke in +silence. At such times the only sounds within the room are the ticking +of the clock, and the sharp clang of the little pipes being rapped upon +the edges of the hibachi to empty out the ashes. + +5 + +October 15, 1890. To-day I witnessed the annual athletic contests (undo- +kwai) of all the schools in Shimane Ken. These games were celebrated in +the broad castle grounds of Ninomaru. Yesterday a circular race-track +had been staked off, hurdles erected for leaping, thousands of wooden +seats prepared for invited or privileged spectators, and a grand lodge +built for the Governor, all before sunset. The place looked like a vast +circus, with its tiers of plank seats rising one above the other, and +the Governor's lodge magnificent with wreaths and flags. School children +from all the villages and towns within twenty-five miles had arrived in +surprising multitude. Nearly six thousand boys and girls were entered to +take part in the contests. Their parents and relatives and teachers made +an imposing assembly upon the benches and within the gates. And on the +ramparts overlooking the huge inclosure a much larger crowd had +gathered, representing perhaps one-third of the population of the city. + +The signal to begin or to end a contest was a pistol-shot. Four +different kinds of games were performed in different parts of the +grounds at the same time, as there was room enough for an army; and +prizes were awarded to the winners of each contest by the hand of the +Governor himself. + +There were races between the best runners in each class of the different +schools; and the best runner of all proved to be Sakane, of our own +fifth class, who came in first by nearly forty yards without seeming +even to make an effort. He is our champion athlete, and as good as he is +strong--so that it made me very happy to see him with his arms full of +prize books. He won also a fencing contest decided by the breaking of a +little earthenware saucer tied to the left arm of each combatant. And he +also won a leaping match between our older boys. + +But many hundreds of other winners there were too, and many hundreds of +prizes were given away. There were races in which the runners were tied +together in pairs, the left leg of one to the right leg of the other. +There were equally funny races, the winning of which depended on the +runner's ability not only to run, but to crawl, to climb, to vault, and +to jump alternately. There were races also for the little girls--pretty +as butterflies they seemed in their sky-blue hakama and many coloured +robes--races in which the contestants had each to pick up as they ran +three balls of three different colours out of a number scattered over +the turf. Besides this, the little girls had what is called a flag-race, +and a contest with battledores and shuttlecocks. + +Then came the tug-of-war. A magnificent tug-of-war, too--one hundred +students at one end of a rope, and another hundred at the other. But the +most wonderful spectacles of the day were the dumb-bell exercises. Six +thousand boys and girls, massed in ranks about five hundred deep; six +thousand pairs of arms rising and falling exactly together; six thousand +pairs of sandalled feet advancing or retreating together, at the signal +of the masters of gymnastics, directing all from the tops of various +little wooden towers; six thousand voices chanting at once the 'one, +two, three,' of the dumb-bell drill: 'Ichi, ni,--san, shi,--go, roku,-- +shichi, hachi.' + +Last came the curious game called 'Taking the Castle.' Two models of +Japanese towers, about fifteen feet high, made with paper stretched over +a framework of bamboo, were set up, one at each end of the field. Inside +the castles an inflammable liquid had been placed in open vessels, so +that if the vessels were overturned the whole fabric would take fire. +The boys, divided into two parties, bombarded the castles with wooden +balls, which passed easily through the paper walls; and in a short time +both models were making a glorious blaze. Of course the party whose +castle was the first to blaze lost the game. + +The games began at eight o'clock in the morning, and at five in the +evening came to an end. Then at a signal fully ten thousand voices +pealed out the superb national anthem, 'Kimi ga yo, and concluded it +with three cheers for their Imperial Majesties, the Emperor and Empress +of Japan. + +The Japanese do not shout or roar as we do when we cheer. They chant. +Each long cry is like the opening tone of an immense musical chorus: +A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a..a! + +6 + +It is no small surprise to observe how botany, geology, and other +sciences are daily taught even in this remotest part of Old Japan. Plant +physiology and the nature of vegetable tissues are studied under +excellent microscopes, and in their relations to chemistry; and at +regular intervals the instructor leads his classes into the country to +illustrate the lessons of the term by examples taken from the flora of +their native place. Agriculture, taught by a graduate of the famous +Agricultural School at Sapporo, is practically illustrated upon farms +purchased and maintained by the schools for purely educational ends. +Each series of lessons in geology is supplemented by visits to the +mountains about the lake, or to the tremendous cliffs of the coast, +where the students are taught to familiarize themselves with forms of +stratification and the visible history of rocks. The basin of the lake, +and the country about Matsue, is physiographically studied, after the +plans of instruction laid down in Huxley's excellent manual. Natural +History, too, is taught according to the latest and best methods, and +with the help of the microscope. The results of such teaching are +sometimes surprising. I know of one student, a lad of only sixteen, who +voluntarily collected and classified more than two hundred varieties of +marine plants for a Tokyo professor. Another, a youth of seventeen, +wrote down for me in my notebook, without a work of reference at hand, +and, as I afterwards discovered, almost without an omission or error, a +scientific list of all the butterflies to be found in the neighbourhood +of the city. + +7 + +Through the Minister of Public Instruction, His Imperial Majesty has +sent to all the great public schools of the Empire a letter bearing date +of the thirteenth day of the tenth month of the twenty-third year of +Meiji. And the students and teachers of the various schools assemble to +hear the reading of the Imperial Words on Education. + +At eight o'clock we of the Middle School are all waiting in our own +assembly hall for the coming of the Governor, who will read the +Emperor's letter in the various schools. + +We wait but a little while. Then the Governor comes with all the +officers of the Kencho and the chief men of the city. We rise to salute +him: then the national anthem is sung. + +Then the Governor, ascending the platform, produces the Imperial +Missive--a scroll of Chinese manuscript sheathed in silk. He withdraws +it slowly from its woven envelope, lifts it reverentially to his +forehead, unrolls it, lifts it again to his forehead, and after a +moment's dignified pause begins in that clear deep voice of his to read +the melodious syllables after the ancient way, which is like a chant: + +'CHO-KU-G U. Chin omommiru ni waga koso koso kuni wo.... + +'We consider that the Founder of Our Empire and the ancestors of Our +Imperial House placed the foundation of the country on a grand and +permanent basis, and established their authority on the principles of +profound humanity and benevolence. + +'That Our subjects have throughout ages deserved well of the State by +their loyalty and piety and by their harmonious co-operation is in +accordance with the essential character of Our nation; and on these very +same principles Our education has been founded. + +'You, Our subjects, be therefore filial to your parents; be affectionate +to your brothers; be harmonious as husbands and wives; and be faithful +to your friends; conduct yourselves with propriety and carefulness; +extend generosity and benevolence towards your neighbours; attend to +your studies and follow your pursuits; cultivate your intellects and +elevate your morals; advance public benefits and promote social +interests; be always found in the good observance of the laws and +constitution of the land; display your personal courage and public +spirit for the sake of the country whenever required; and thus support +the Imperial prerogative, which is coexistent with the Heavens and the +Earth. + +'Such conduct on your part will not only strengthen the character of Our +good and loyal subjects, but conduce also to the maintenance of the fame +of your worthy forefathers. + +'This is the instruction bequeathed by Our ancestors and to be followed +by Our subjects; for it is the truth which has guided and guides them in +their own affairs and in their dealings towards aliens. + +'We hope, therefore, We and Our subjects will regard these sacred +precepts with one and the same heart in order to attain the same ends.' +[3] + +Then the Governor and the Head-master speak a few words--dwelling upon +the full significance of His Imperial Majesty's august commands, and +exhorting all to remember and to obey them to the uttermost. + +After which the students have a holiday, to enable them the better to +recollect what they have heard. + +8 + +All teaching in the modern Japanese system of education is conducted +with the utmost kindness and gentleness. The teacher is a teacher only: +he is not, in the English sense of mastery, a master. He stands to his +pupils in the relation of an elder brother. He never tries to impose his +will upon them: he never scolds, he seldom criticizes, he scarcely ever +punishes. No Japanese teacher ever strikes a pupil: such an act would +cost him his post at once. He never loses his temper: to do so would +disgrace him in the eyes of his boys and in the judgment of his +colleagues. Practically speaking, there is no punishment in Japanese +schools. Sometimes very mischievous lads are kept in the schoolhouse +during recreation time; yet even this light penalty is not inflicted +directly by the teacher, but by the director of the school on complaint +of the teacher. The purpose in such cases is not to inflict pain by +deprivation of enjoyment, but to give public illustration of a fault; +and in the great majority of instances, consciousness of the fault thus +brought home to a lad before his comrades is quite enough to prevent its +repetition. No such cruel punition as that of forcing a dull pupil to +learn an additional task, or of sentencing him to strain his eyes +copying four or five hundred lines, is ever dreamed of. Nor would such +forms of punishment, in the present state of things, be long tolerated +by the pupils themselves. The general policy of the educational +authorities everywhere throughout the empire is to get rid of students +who cannot be perfectly well managed without punishment; and expulsions, +nevertheless, are rare. + +I often see a pretty spectacle on my way home from the school, when I +take the short cut through the castle grounds. A class of about thirty +little boys, in kimono and sandals, bareheaded, being taught to march +and to sing by a handsome young teacher, also in Japanese dress. While +they sing, they are drawn up in line; and keep time with their little +bare feet. The teacher has a pleasant high clear tenor: he stands at one +end of the rank and sings a single line of the song. Then all the +children sing it after him. Then he sings a second line, and they repeat +it. If any mistakes are made, they have to sing the verse again. + +It is the Song of Kusunoki Masashige, noblest of Japanese heroes and +patriots. + +9 + +I have said that severity on the part of teachers would scarcely be +tolerated by the students themselves--a fact which may sound strange to +English or American ears. Tom Brown's school does not exist in Japan; +the ordinary public school much more resembles the ideal Italian +institution so charmingly painted for us in the Cuore of De Amicis. +Japanese students furthermore claim and enjoy an independence contrary +to all Occidental ideas of disciplinary necessity. In the Occident the +master expels the pupil. In Japan it happens quite as often that the +pupil expels the master. Each public school is an earnest, spirited +little republic, to which director and teachers stand only in the +relation of president and cabinet. They are indeed appointed by the +prefectural government upon recommendation by the Educational Bureau at +the capital; but in actual practice they maintain their positions by +virtue of their capacity and personal character as estimated by their +students, and are likely to be deposed by a revolutionary movement +whenever found wanting. It has been alleged that the students frequently +abuse their power. But this allegation has been made by European +residents, strongly prejudiced in favour of masterful English ways of +discipline. (I recollect that an English Yokohama paper, in this +connection, advocated the introduction of the birch.) My own +observations have convinced me, as larger experience has convinced some +others, that in most instances of pupils rebelling against a teacher, +reason is upon their side. They will rarely insult a teacher whom they +dislike, or cause any disturbance in his class: they will simply refuse +to attend school until he be removed. Personal feeling may often be a +secondary, but it is seldom, so far as I have been able to learn, the +primary cause for such a demand. A teacher whose manners are +unsympathetic, or even positively disagreeable, will be nevertheless +obeyed and revered while his students remain persuaded of his capacity +as a teacher, and his sense of justice; and they are as keen to discern +ability as they are to detect partiality. And, on the other hand, an +amiable disposition alone will never atone with them either for want of +knowledge or for want of skill to impart it. I knew one case, in a +neighbouring public school, of a demand by the students for the removal +of their professor of chemistry. In making their complaint, they frankly +declared: 'We like him. He is kind to all of us; he does the best he +can. But he does not know enough to teach us as we wish to be taught. +lie cannot answer our questions. He cannot explain the experiments which +he shows us. Our former teacher could do all these things. We must have +another teacher.' Investigation proved that the lads were quite right. +The young teacher had graduated at the university; he had come well +recommended: but he had no thorough knowledge of the science which he +undertook to impart, and no experience as a teacher. The instructor's +success in Japan is not guaranteed by a degree, but by his practical +knowledge and his capacity to communicate it simply and thoroughly. + +10 + +November 3, 1890 To-day is the birthday of His Majesty the Emperor. It +is a public holiday throughout Japan; and there will be no teaching this +morning. But at eight o'clock all the students and instructors enter the +great assembly hall of the Jinjo Chugakko to honour the anniversary of +His Majesty's august birth. + +On the platform of the assembly hall a table, covered with dark silk, +has been placed; and upon this table the portraits of Their Imperial +Majesties, the Emperor and the Empress of Japan, stand side by side +upright, framed in gold. The alcove above the platform has been +decorated with flags and wreaths. + +Presently the Governor enters, looking like a French general in his +gold-embroidered uniform of office, and followed by the Mayor of the +city, the Chief Military Officer, the Chief of Police, and all the +officials of the provincial government. These take their places in +silence to left and right of the plat form. Then the school organ +suddenly rolls out the slow, solemn, beautiful national anthem; and all +present chant those ancient syllables, made sacred by the reverential +love of a century of generations: + +Ki-mi ga-a yo-o wa +Chi-yo ni-i-i ya-chi-yo ni sa-za-red +I-shi-no +I-wa o to na-ri-te +Ko-ke no +Mu-u su-u ma-a-a-de [4] + + +The anthem ceases. The Governor advances with a slow dignified step from +the right side of the apartment to the centre of the open space before +the platform and the portraits of Their Majesties, turns his face to +them, and bows profoundly. Then he takes three steps forward toward the +platform, and halts, and bows again. Then he takes three more steps +forward, and bows still more profoundly. Then he retires, walking +backward six steps, and bows once more. Then he returns to his place. + +After this the teachers, by parties of six, perform the same beautiful +ceremony. When all have saluted the portrait of His Imperial Majesty, +the Governor ascends the platform and makes a few eloquent remarks to +the students about their duty to their Emperor, to their country, and to +their teachers. Then the anthem is sung again; and all disperse to amuse +themselves for the rest of the day. + +11 + +March 1 1891. The majority of the students of the Jinjo Chugakko are +day-scholars only (externes, as we would say in France): they go to +school in the morning, take their noon meal at home, and return at one +o'clock to attend the brief afternoon classes. All the city students +live with their own families; but there are many boys from remote +country districts who have no city relatives, and for such the school +furnishes boarding-houses, where a wholesome moral discipline is +maintained by special masters. They are free, however, if they have +sufficient means, to choose another boarding-house (provided it be a +respectable one), or to find quarters in some good family; but few adopt +either course. + +I doubt whether in any other country the cost of education--education of +the most excellent and advanced kind--is so little as in Japan. The +Izumo student is able to live at a figure so far below the Occidental +idea of necessary expenditure that the mere statement of it can scarcely +fail to surprise the reader. A sum equal in American money to about +twenty dollars supplies him with board and lodging for one year. The +whole of his expenses, including school fees, are about seven dollars a +month. For his room and three ample meals a day he pays every four weeks +only one yen eighty-five sen--not much more than a dollar and a half in +American currency. If very, very poor, he will not be obliged to wear a +uniform; but nearly all students of the higher classes do wear uniforms, +as the cost of a complete uniform, including cap and shoes of leather, +is only about three and a half yen for the cheaper quality. Those who do +not wear leather shoes, however, are required, while in the school, to +exchange their noisy wooden geta for zori or light straw sandals. + +12 + +But the mental education so admirably imparted in an ordinary middle +school is not, after all, so cheaply acquired by the student as might be +imagined from the cost of living and the low rate of school fees. For +Nature exacts a heavier school fee, and rigidly collects her debt--in +human life. + +To understand why, one should remember that the modern knowledge which +the modern Izumo student must acquire upon a diet of boiled rice and +bean-curd was discovered, developed, and synthetised by minds +strengthened upon a costly diet of flesh. National underfeeding offers +the most cruel problem which the educators of Japan must solve in order +that she may become fully able to assimilate the civilization we have +thrust upon her. As Herbert Spencer has pointed out, the degree of human +energy, physical or intellectual, must depend upon the nutritiveness of +food; and history shows that the well-fed races have been the energetic +and the dominant. Perhaps mind will rule in the future of nations; but +mind is a mode of force, and must be fed--through the stomach. The +thoughts that have shaken the world were never framed upon bread and +water: they were created by beefsteak and mutton-chops, by ham and eggs, +by pork and puddings, and were stimulated by generous wines, strong +ales, and strong coffee. And science also teaches us that the growing +child or youth requires an even more nutritious diet than the adult; and +that the student especially needs strong nourishment to repair the +physical waste involved by brain-exertion. + +And what is the waste entailed upon the Japanese schoolboy's system by +study? It is certainly greater than that which the system of the +European or American student must suffer at the same period of life. +Seven years of study are required to give the Japanese youth merely the +necessary knowledge of his own triple system of ideographs--or, in less +accurate but plainer speech, the enormous alphabet of his native +literature. That literature, also, he must study, and the art of two +forms of his language--the written and the spoken: likewise, of course, +he must learn native history and native morals. Besides these Oriental +studies, his course includes foreign history, geography, arithmetic, +astronomy, physics, geometry, natural history, agriculture, chemistry, +drawing, and mathematics. Worst of all, he must learn English--a +language of which the difficulty to the Japanese cannot be even faintly +imagined by anyone unfamiliar with the construction of the native +tongue--a language so different from his own that the very simplest +Japanese phrase cannot be intelligibly rendered into English by a +literal translation of the words or even the form of the thought. And he +must learn all this upon a diet no English boy could live on; and always +thinly clad in his poor cotton dress without even a fire in his +schoolroom during the terrible winter, only a hibachi containing a few +lumps of glowing charcoal in a bed of ashes. [5] Is it to be wondered at +that even those Japanese students who pass successfully 'through all the +educational courses the Empire can open to them can only in rare +instances show results of their long training as large as those +manifested by students of the West? Better conditions are coming; but at +present, under the new strain, young bodies and young minds too often +give way. And those who break down are not the dullards, but the pride +of schools, the captains of classes. + +13 + +Yet, so far as the finances of the schools allow, everything possible is +done to make the students both healthy and happy--to furnish them with +ample opportunities both for physical exercise and for mental enjoyment. +Though the course of study is severe, the hours are not long: and one of +the daily five is devoted to military drill--made more interesting to +the lads by the use of real rifles and bayonets, furnished by +Government. There is a fine gymnastic ground near the school, furnished +with trapezes, parallel bars, vaulting horses, etc.; and there are two +masters of gymnastics attached to the Middle School alone. There are +row-boats, in which the boys can take their pleasure on the beautiful +lake whenever the weather permits. There is an excellent fencing-school +conducted by the Governor himself, who, although so heavy a man, is +reckoned one of the best fencers of his own generation. The style taught +is the old one, requiring the use of both hands to wield the sword; +thrusting is little attempted, it is nearly all heavy slashing. The +foils are made of long splinters of bamboo tied together so as to form +something resembling elongated fasces: masks and wadded coats protect +the head and body, for the blows given are heavy. This sort of fencing +requires considerable agility, and gives more active exercise than our +severer Western styles. Yet another form of healthy exercise consists of +long journeys on foot to famous places. Special holidays are allowed for +these. The students march out of town in military order, accompanied by +some of their favourite teachers, and perhaps a servant to cook for +them. Thus they may travel for a hundred, or even a hundred and fifty +miles and back; but if the journey is to be a very long one, only the +strong lads are allowed to go. They walk in waraji, the true straw +sandal, closely tied to the naked foot, which it leaves perfectly supple +and free, without blistering or producing corns. They sleep at night in +Buddhist temples; and their cooking is done in the open fields, like +that of soldiers in camp. + +For those little inclined to such sturdy exercise there is a school +library which is growing every year. There is also a monthly school +magazine, edited and published by the boys. And there is a Students' +Society, at whose regular meetings debates are held upon all conceivable +subjects of interest to students. + +14 + +April 4, 1891. The students of the third, fourth, and fifth year classes +write for me once a week brief English compositions upon easy themes +which I select for them. As a rule the themes are Japanese. Considering +the immense difficulty of the English language to Japanese students, the +ability of some of my boys to express their thoughts in it is +astonishing. Their compositions have also another interest for me as +revelations, not of individual character, but of national sentiment, or +of aggregate sentiment of some sort or other. What seems to me most +surprising in the compositions of the average Japanese student is that +they have no personal cachet at all. Even the handwriting of twenty +English compositions will be found to have a curious family resemblance; +and striking exceptions are too few to affect the rule. Here is one of +the best compositions on my table, by a student at the head of his +class. Only a few idiomatic errors have been corrected: + +THE MOON 'The Moon appears melancholy to those who are sad, and joyous +to those who are happy. The Moon makes memories of home come to those +who travel, and creates homesickness. So when the Emperor Godaigo, +having been banished to Oki by the traitor Hojo, beheld the moonlight +upon the seashore, he cried out, "The Moon is heartless!" + +'The sight of the Moon makes an immeasurable feeling in our hearts when +we look up at it through the clear air of a beauteous night. + +'Our hearts ought to be pure and calm like the light of the Moon. + +'Poets often compare the Moon to a Japanese [metal] mirror (kagami); and +indeed its shape is the same when it is full. + +'The refined man amuses himself with the Moon. He seeks some house +looking out upon water, to watch the Moon, and to make verses about it. + +'The best places from which to see the Moon are Tsukigashi, and the +mountain Obasute. + +'The light of the Moon shines alike upon foul and pure, upon high and +low. That beautiful Lamp is neither yours nor mine, but everybody's. + +'When we look at the Moon we should remember that its waxing and its +waning are the signs of the truth that the culmination of all things is +likewise the beginning of their decline.' + +Any person totally unfamiliar with Japanese educational methods might +presume that the foregoing composition shows some original power of +thought and imagination. But this is not the case. I found the same +thoughts and comparisons in thirty other compositions upon the same +subject. Indeed, the compositions of any number of middle-school +students upon the same subject are certain to be very much alike in idea +and sentiment--though they are none the less charming for that. As a +rule the Japanese student shows little originality in the line of +imagination. His imagination was made for him long centuries ago--partly +in China, partly in his native land. From his childhood he is trained to +see and to feel Nature exactly in the manner of those wondrous artists +who, with a few swift brushstrokes, fling down upon a sheet of paper the +colour-sensation of a chilly dawn, a fervid noon, an autumn evening. +Through all his boyhood he is taught to commit to memory the most +beautiful thoughts and comparisons to be found in his ancient native +literature. Every boy has thus learned that the vision of Fuji against +the blue resembles a white half-opened fan, hanging inverted in the sky. +Every boy knows that cherry-trees in full blossom look as if the most +delicate of flushed summer clouds were caught in their branches. Every +boy knows the comparison between the falling of certain leaves on snow +and the casting down of texts upon a sheet of white paper with a brush. +Every boy and girl knows the verses comparing the print of cat's-feet on +snow to plum-flowers, [6] and that comparing the impression of bokkuri +on snow to the Japanese character for the number 'two.' These were +thoughts of old, old poets; and it would be very hard to invent prettier +ones. Artistic power in composition is chiefly shown by the correct +memorising and clever combination of these old thoughts. + +And the students have been equally well trained to discover a moral in +almost everything, animate or inanimate. I have tried them with a +hundred subjects--Japanese subjects--for composition; I have never found +them to fail in discovering a moral when the theme was a native one. If +I suggested 'Fire-flies,' they at once approved the topic, and wrote for +me the story of that Chinese student who, being too poor to pay for a +lamp, imprisoned many fireflies in a paper lantern, and thus was able to +obtain light enough to study after dark, and to become eventually a +great scholar. If I said 'Frogs,' they wrote for me the legend of Ono- +no-Tofu, who was persuaded to become a learned celebrity by witnessing +the tireless perseverance of a frog trying to leap up to a willow- +branch. I subjoin a few specimens of the moral ideas which I thus +evoked. I have corrected some common mistakes in the originals, but have +suffered a few singularities to stand: + +THE BOTAN 'The botan [Japanese peony] is large and beautiful to see; but +it has a disagreeable smell. This should make us remember that what is +only outwardly beautiful in human society should not attract us. To be +attracted by beauty only may lead us into fearful and fatal misfortune. +The best place to see the botan is the island of Daikonshima in the lake +Nakaumi. There in the season of its flowering all the island is red with +its blossoms. [7] + +THE DRAGON 'When the Dragon tries to ride the clouds and come into +heaven there happens immediately a furious storm. When the Dragon dwells +on the ground it is supposed to take the form of a stone or other +object; but when it wants to rise it calls a cloud. Its body is composed +of parts of many animals. It has the eyes of a tiger and the horns of a +deer and the body of a crocodile and the claws of an eagle and two +trunks like the trunk of an elephant. It has a moral. We should try to +be like the dragon, and find out and adopt all the good qualities of +others.' + +At the close of this essay on the dragon is a note to the teacher, +saying: 'I believe not there is any Dragon. But there are many stories +and curious pictures about Dragon.' + +MOSQUITOES 'On summer nights we hear the sound of faint voices; and +little things come and sting our bodies very violently. We call .them +ka--in English "mosquitoes." I think the sting is useful for us, because +if we begin to sleep, the ka shall come and sting us, uttering a small +voice; then we shall be bringed back to study by the sting.' + +The following, by a lad of sixteen, is submitted only as a +characteristic expression of half-formed ideas about a less familiar +subject: + +EUROPEAN AND JAPANESE CUSTOMS 'Europeans wear very narrow clothes and +they wear shoes always in the house. Japanese wear clothes which are +very lenient and they do not shoe except when they walk out-of-the-door. + +'What we think very strange is that in Europe every wife loves her +husband more than her parents. In Nippon there is no wife who more loves +not her parents than her husband. + +'And Europeans walk out in the road with their wives, which we utterly +refuse to, except on the festival of Hachiman. + +'The Japanese woman is treated by man as a servant, while the European +woman is respected as a master. I think these customs are both bad. + +'We think it is very much trouble to treat European ladies; and we do +not know why ladies are so much respected by Europeans.' + +Conversation in the class-room about foreign subjects is often equally +amusing and suggestive: + +'Teacher, I have been told that if a European and his father and his +wife were all to fall into the sea together, and that he only could +swim, he would try to save his wife first. Would he really?' + +'Probably,' I reply. + +'But why?' + +'One reason is that Europeans consider it a man's duty to help the +weaker first--especially women and children.' + +'And does a European love his wife more than his father and mother?' + +'Not always--but generally, perhaps, he does.' + +'Why, Teacher, according to our ideas that is very immoral.' + +'Teacher, how do European women carry their babies?' + +'In their arms.' + +'Very tiring! And how far can a woman walk carrying a baby in her arms?' + +'A strong woman can walk many miles with a child in her arms.' + +'But she cannot use her hands while she is carrying a baby that way, can +she?' + +'Not very well.' + +'Then it is a very bad way to carry babies,' etc. + +15 + +May 1, 1891. My favourite students often visit me of afternoons. They +first send me their cards, to announce their presence. On being told to +come in they leave their footgear on the doorstep, enter my little +study, prostrate themselves; and we all squat down together on the +floor, which is in all Japanese houses like a soft mattress. The servant +brings zabuton or small cushions to kneel upon, and cakes, and tea. + +To sit as the Japanese do requires practice; and some Europeans can +never acquire the habit. To acquire it, indeed, one must become +accustomed to wearing Japanese costume. But once the habit of thus +sitting has been formed, one finds it the most natural and easy of +positions, and assumes it by preference for eating, reading, smoking, or +chatting. It is not to be recommended, perhaps, for writing with a +European pen--as the motion in our Occidental style of writing is from +the supported wrist; but it is the best posture for writing with the +Japanese fude, in using which the whole arm is unsupported, and the +motion from the elbow. After having become habituated to Japanese habits +for more than a year, I must confess that I find it now somewhat irksome +to use a chair. + +When we have all greeted each other, and taken our places upon the +kneeling cushions, a little polite silence ensues, which I am the first +to break. Some of the lads speak a good deal of English. They understand +me well when I pronounce every word slowly and distinctly--using simple +phrases, and avoiding idioms. When a word with which they are not +familiar must be used, we refer to a good English-Japanese dictionary, +which gives each vernacular meaning both in the kana and in the Chinese +characters. + +Usually my young visitors stay a long time, and their stay is rarely +tiresome. Their conversation and their thoughts are of the simplest and +frankest. They do not come to learn: they know that to ask their teacher +to teach out of school would be unjust. They speak chiefly of things +which they think have some particular interest for me. Sometimes they +scarcely speak at all, but appear to sink into a sort of happy reverie. +What they come really for is the quiet pleasure of sympathy. Not an +intellectual sympathy, but the sympathy of pure goodwill: the simple +pleasure of being quite comfortable with a friend. They peep at my books +and pictures; and sometimes they bring books and pictures to show me-- +delightfully queer things--family heirlooms which I regret much that I +cannot buy. They also like to look at my garden, and enjoy all that is +in it even more than I. Often they bring me gifts of flowers. Never by +any possible chance are they troublesome, impolite, curious, or even +talkative. Courtesy in its utmost possible exquisiteness--an +exquisiteness of which even the French have no conception--seems natural +to the Izumo boy as the colour of his hair or the tint of his skin. Nor +is he less kind than courteous. To contrive pleasurable surprises for me +is one of the particular delights of my boys; and they either bring or +cause to be brought to the house all sorts of strange things. + +Of all the strange or beautiful things which I am thus privileged to +examine, none gives me so much pleasure as a certain wonderful kakemono +of Amida Nyorai. It is rather large picture, and has been borrowed from +a priest that I may see it. The Buddha stands in the attitude of +exhortation, with one, hand uplifted. Behind his head a huge moon makes +an aureole and across the face of that moon stream winding lines of +thinnest cloud. Beneath his feet, like a rolling of smoke, curl heavier +and darker clouds. Merely as a work of colour and design, the thing is a +marvel. But the real wonder of it is not in colour or design at all. +Minute examination reveals the astonishing fact that every shadow and +clouding is formed by a fairy text of Chinese characters so minute that +only a keen eye can discern them; and this text is the entire text of +two famed sutras--the Kwammu-ryjo-kyo and the Amida-kyo--'text no larger +than the limbs of fleas.' And all the strong dark lines of the figure, +such as the seams of the Buddha's robe, are formed by the characters of +the holy invocation of the Shin-shu sect, repeated thousands of times: +'Namu Amida Butsu!' Infinite patience, tireless silent labour of loving +faith, in some dim temple, long ago. + +Another day one of my boys persuades his father to let him bring to my +house a wonderful statue of Koshi (Confucius), made, I am told, in +China, toward the close of the period of the Ming dynasty. I am also +assured it is the first time the statue has ever been removed from the +family residence to be shown to anyone. Previously, whoever desired to +pay it reverence had to visit the house. It is truly a beautiful bronze. +The figure of a smiling, bearded old man, with fingers uplifted and lips +apart as if discoursing. He wears quaint Chinese shoes, and his flowing +robes are adorned with the figure of the mystic phoenix. The microscopic +finish of detail seems indeed to reveal the wonderful cunning of a +Chinese hand: each tooth, each hair, looks as though it had been made +the subject of a special study. + +Another student conducts me to the home of one of his relatives, that I +may see a cat made of wood, said to have been chiselled by the famed +Hidari Jingoro--a cat crouching and watching, and so life-like that real +cats 'have been known to put up their backs and spit at it.' + +16 + +Nevertheless I have a private conviction that some old artists even now +living in Matsue could make a still more wonderful cat. Among these is +the venerable Arakawa Junosuke, who wrought many rare things for the +Daimyo of Izumo in the Tempo era, and whose acquaintance I have been +enabled to make through my school-friends. One evening he brings to my +house something very odd to show me, concealed in his sleeve. It is a +doll: just a small carven and painted head without a body,--the body +being represented by a tiny robe only, attached to the neck. Yet as +Arakawa Junosuke manipulates it, it seems to become alive. The back of +its head is like the back of a very old man's head; but its face is the +face of an amused child, and there is scarcely any forehead nor any +evidence of a thinking disposition. And whatever way the head is turned, +it looks so funny that one cannot help laughing at it. It represents a +kirakubo--what we might call in English 'a jolly old boy,'--one who is +naturally too hearty and too innocent to feel trouble of any sort. It is +not an original, but a model of a very famous original--whose history is +recorded in a faded scroll which Arakawa takes out of his other sleeve, +and which a friend translates for me. This little history throws a +curious light upon the simple-hearted ways of Japanese life and thought +in other centuries: + +'Two hundred and sixty years ago this doll was made by a famous maker of +No-masks in the city of Kyoto, for the Emperor Go-midzu-no-O. The +Emperor used to have it placed beside his pillow each night before he +slept, and was very fond of it. And he composed the following poem +concerning it: + +Yo no naka wo +Kiraku ni kurase +Nani goto mo +Omoeba omou +Omowaneba koso. [8]' + +'On the death of the Emperor this doll became the property of Prince +Konoye, in whose family it is said to be still preserved. + +'About one hundred and seven years ago, the then Ex-Empress, whose +posthumous name is Sei-Kwa-Mon-Yin, borrowed the doll from Prince +Konoye, and ordered a copy of it to be made. This copy she kept always +beside her, and was very fond of it. + +'After the death of the good Empress this doll was given to a lady of +the court, whose family name is not recorded. Afterwards this lady, for +reasons which are not known, cut off her hair and became a Buddhist nun +--taking the name of Shingyo-in. + +'And one who knew the Nun Shingyo-in--a man whose name was Kondo-ju- +haku-in-Hokyo--had the honour of receiving the doll as a gift. + +'Now I, who write this document, at one time fell sick; and my sickness +was caused by despondency. And my friend Kondo-ju-haku-in-Hokyo, coming +to see me, said: "I have in my house something which will make you +well." And he went home and, presently returning, brought to me this +doll, and lent it to me--putting it by my pillow that I might see it and +laugh at it. + +'Afterward, I myself, having called upon the Nun Shingyo-in, whom I now +also have the honour to know, wrote down the history of the doll, and +make a poem thereupon.' + +(Dated about ninety years ago: no signature.) + +17 + +June 1, 1891 I find among the students a healthy tone of scepticism in +regard to certain forms of popular belief. Scientific education is +rapidly destroying credulity in old superstitions yet current among the +unlettered, and especially among the peasantry--as, for instance, faith +in mamori and ofuda. The outward forms of Buddhism--its images, its +relics, its commoner practices--affect the average student very little. +He is not, as a foreigner may be, interested in iconography, or +religious folklore, or the comparative study of religions; and in nine +cases out of ten he is rather ashamed of the signs and tokens of popular +faith all around him. But the deeper religious sense, which underlies +all symbolism, remains with him; and the Monistic Idea in Buddhism is +being strengthened and expanded, rather than weakened, by the new +education. What is true of the effect of the public schools upon the +lower Buddhism is equally true of its effect upon the lower Shinto. +Shinto the students all sincerely are, or very nearly all; yet not as +fervent worshippers of certain Kami, but as rigid observers of what the +higher Shinto signifies--loyalty, filial piety, obedience to parents, +teachers, and superiors, and respect to ancestors. For Shinto means more +than faith. + +When, for the first time, I stood before the shrine of the Great Deity +of Kitzuki, as the first Occidental to whom that privilege had been +accorded, not without a sense of awe there came to me the 'This is the +Shrine of the Father of a Race; this is the symbolic centre of a +nation's reverence for its past.' And I, too, paid reverence to the +memory of the progenitor of this people. + +As I then felt, so feels the intelligent student of the Meiji era whom +education has lifted above the common plane of popular creeds. And +Shinto also means for him--whether he reasons upon the question or not-- +all the ethics of the family, and all that spirit of loyalty which has +become so innate that, at the call of duty, life itself ceases to have +value save as an instrument for duty's accomplishment. As yet, this +Orient little needs to reason about the origin of its loftier ethics. +Imagine the musical sense in our own race so developed that a child +could play a complicated instrument so soon as the little fingers gained +sufficient force and flexibility to strike the notes. By some such +comparison only can one obtain a just idea of what inherent religion and +instinctive duty signify in Izumo. + +Of the rude and aggressive form of scepticism so common in the Occident, +which is the natural reaction after sudden emancipation from +superstitious belief, I find no trace among my students. But such +sentiment may be found elsewhere--especially in Tokyo--among the +university students, one of whom, upon hearing the tones of a +magnificent temple bell, exclaimed to a friend of mine: 'Is it not a +shame that in this nineteenth century we must still hear such a sound?' + +For the benefit of curious travellers, however, I may here take occasion +to observe that to talk Buddhism to Japanese gentlemen of the new school +is in just as bad taste as to talk Christianity at home to men of that +class whom knowledge has placed above creeds and forms. There are, of +course, Japanese scholars willing to aid researches of foreign scholars +in religion or in folk-lore; but these specialists do not undertake to +gratify idle curiosity of the 'globe-trotting' description. I may also +say that the foreigner desirous to learn the religious ideas or +superstitions of the common people must obtain them from the people +themselves--not from the educated classes. + + 18 + +Among all my favourite students--two or three from each class--I cannot +decide whom I like the best. Each has a particular merit of his own. But +I think the names and faces of those of whom I am about to speak will +longest remain vivid in my remembrance--Ishihara, Otani-Masanobu, +Adzukizawa, Yokogi, Shida. + +Ishihara is a samurai a very influential lad in his class because of his +uncommon force of character. Compared with others, he has a somewhat +brusque, independent manner, pleasing, however, by its honest manliness. +He says everything he thinks, and precisely in the tone that he thinks +it, even to the degree of being a little embarrassing sometimes. He does +not hesitate, for example, to find fault with a teacher's method of +explanation, and to insist upon a more lucid one. He has criticized me +more than once; but I never found that he was wrong. We like each other +very much. He often brings me flowers. + +One day that he had brought two beautiful sprays of plum-blossoms, he +said to me: + +'I saw you bow before our Emperor's picture at the ceremony on the +birthday of His Majesty. You are not like a former English teacher we +had.' + +'How?' + +'He said we were savages.' + +'Why?' + +'He said there is nothing respectable except God--his God--and that only +vulgar and ignorant people respect anything else.' + +'Where did he come from?' + +'He was a Christian clergyman, and said he was an English subject.' + +'But if he was an English subject, he was bound to respect Her Majesty +the Queen. He could not even enter the office of a British consul +without removing his hat.' + +'I don't know what he did in the country he came from. But that was what +he said. Now we think we should love and honour our Emperor. We think it +is a duty. We think it is a joy. We think it is happiness to be able to +give our lives for our Emperor. [9] But he said we were only savages-- +ignorant savages. What do you think of that?' + +'I think, my dear lad, that he himself was a savage--a vulgar, ignorant, +savage bigot. I think it is your highest social duty to honour your +Emperor, to obey his laws, and to be ready to give your blood whenever +he may require it of you for the sake of Japan. I think it is your duty +to respect the gods of your fathers, the religion of your country--even +if you yourself cannot believe all that others believe. And I think, +also, that it is your duty, for your Emperor's sake and for your +country's sake, to resent any such wicked and vulgar language as that +you have told me of, no matter by whom uttered.' + +Masanobu visits me seldom and always comes alone. A slender, handsome +lad, with rather feminine features, reserved and perfectly self- +possessed in manner, refined. He is somewhat serious, does not often +smile; and I never heard him laugh. He has risen to the head of his +class, and appears to remain there without any extraordinary effort. +Much of his leisure time he devotes to botany--collecting and +classifying plants. He is a musician, like all the male members of his +family. He plays a variety of instruments never seen or heard of in the +West, including flutes of marble, flutes of ivory, flutes of bamboo of +wonderful shapes and tones, and that shrill Chinese instrument called +sho--a sort of mouth-organ consisting of seventeen tubes of different +lengths fixed in a silver frame. He first explained to me the uses in +temple music of the taiko and shoko, which are drums; of the flutes +called fei or teki; of the flageolet termed hichiriki; and of the kakko, +which is a little drum shaped like a spool with very narrow waist, On +great Buddhist festivals, Masanobu and his father and his brothers are +the musicians in the temple services, and they play the strange music +called Ojo and Batto--music which at first no Western ear can feel +pleasure in, but which, when often heard, becomes comprehensible, and is +found to possess a weird charm of its own. When Masanobu comes to the +house, it is usually in order to invite me to attend some Buddhist or +Shinto festival (matsuri) which he knows will interest me. + +Adzukizawa bears so little resemblance to Masanobu that one might +suppose the two belonged to totally different races. Adzukizawa is +large, raw-boned, heavy-looking, with a face singularly like that of a +North American Indian. His people are not rich; he can afford few +pleasures which cost money, except one--buying books. Even to be able to +do this he works in his leisure hours to earn money. He is a perfect +bookworm, a natural-born researcher, a collector of curious documents, a +haunter of all the queer second-hand stores in Teramachi and other +streets where old manuscripts or prints are on sale as waste paper. He +is an omnivorous reader, and a perpetual borrower of volumes, which he +always returns in perfect condition after having copied what he deemed +of most value to him. But his special delight is philosophy and the +history of philosophers in all countries. He has read various epitomes +of the history of philosophy in the Occident, and everything of modern +philosophy which has been translated into Japanese--including Spencer's +First Principles. I have been able to introduce him to Lewes and John +Fiske--both of which he appreciates,--although the strain of studying +philosophy in English is no small one. Happily he is so strong that no +amount of study is likely to injure his health, and his nerves are tough +as wire. He is quite an ascetic withal. As it is the Japanese custom to +set cakes and tea before visitors, I always have both in readiness, and +an especially fine quality of kwashi, made at Kitzuki, of which the +students are very fond. Adzukizawa alone refuses to taste cakes or +confectionery of any kind, saying: 'As I am the youngest brother, I must +begin to earn my own living soon. I shall have to endure much hardship. +And if I allow myself to like dainties now, I shall only suffer more +later on.' Adzukizawa has seen much of human life and character. He is +naturally observant; and he has managed in some extraordinary way to +learn the history of everybody in Matsue. He has brought me old tattered +prints to prove that the opinions now held by our director are +diametrically opposed to the opinions he advocated fourteen years ago in +a public address. I asked the director about it. He laughed and said, +'Of course that is Adzukizawa! But he is right: I was very young then.' +And I wonder if Adzukizawa was ever young. + +Yokogi, Adzukizawa's dearest friend, is a very rare visitor; for he is +always studying at home. He is always first in his class--the third year +class--while Adzukizawa is fourth. Adzukizawa's account of the beginning +of their acquaintance is this: 'I watched him when he came and saw that +he spoke very little, walked very quickly, and looked straight into +everybody's eyes. So I knew he had a particular character. I like to +know people with a particular character.' Adzukizawa was perfectly +right: under a very gentle exterior, Yokogi has an extremely strong +character. He is the son of a carpenter; and his parents could not +afford to send him to the Middle School. But he had shown such +exceptional qualities while in the Elementary School that a wealthy man +became interested in him, and offered to pay for his education. [10] He +is now the pride of the school. He has a remarkably placid face, with +peculiarly long eyes, and a delicious smile. In class he is always +asking intelligent questions--questions so original that I am sometimes +extremely puzzled how to answer them; and he never ceases to ask until +the explanation is quite satisfactory to himself. He never cares about +the opinion of his comrades if he thinks he is right. On one occasion +when the whole class refused to attend the lectures of a new teacher of +physics, Yokogi alone refused to act with them--arguing that although +the teacher was not all that could be desired, there was no immediate +possibility of his removal, and no just reason for making unhappy a man +who, though unskilled, was sincerely doing his best. Adzukizawa finally +stood by him. These two alone attended the lectures until the remainder +of the students, two weeks later, found that Yokogi's views were +rational. On another occasion when some vulgar proselytism was attempted +by a Christian missionary, Yokogi went boldly to the proselytiser's +house, argued with him on the morality of his effort, and reduced him to +silence. Some of his comrades praised his cleverness in the argument. 'I +am not clever,' he made answer: 'it does not require cleverness to argue +against what is morally wrong; it requires only the knowledge that one +is morally right.' At least such is about the translation of what he +said as told me by Adzukizawa. + +Shida, another visitor, is a very delicate, sensitive boy, whose soul is +full of art. He is very skilful at drawing and painting; and he has a +wonderful set of picture-books by the Old Japanese masters. The last +time he came he brought some prints to show me--rare ones--fairy maidens +and ghosts. As I looked at his beautiful pale face and weirdly frail +fingers, I could not help fearing for him,--fearing that he might soon +become a little ghost. + +I have not seen him now for more than two months. He has been very, very +ill; and his lungs are so weak that the doctor has forbidden him to +converse. But Adzukizawa has been to visit him, and brings me this +translation of a Japanese letter which the sick boy wrote and pasted +upon the wall above his bed: + +'Thou, my Lord-Soul, dost govern me. Thou knowest that I cannot now +govern myself. Deign, I pray thee, to let me be cured speedily. Do not +suffer me to speak much. Make me to obey in all things the command of +the physician. + +'This ninth day of the eleventh month of the twenty-fourth year of +Meiji. + +'From the sick body of Shida to his Soul.' + +19 + +September 4, 1891. The long summer vacation is over; a new school year +begins. There have been many changes. Some of the boys I taught are +dead. Others have graduated and gone away from Matsue for ever. Some +teachers, too, have left the school, and their places have been filled; +and there is a new Director. + +And the dear good Governor has gone--been transferred to cold Niigata in +the north-west. It was a promotion. But he had ruled Izumo for seven +years, and everybody loved him, especially, perhaps, the students, who +looked upon him as a father. All the population of the city crowded to +the river to bid him farewell. The streets through which he passed on +his way to take the steamer, the bridge, the wharves, even the roofs +were thronged with multitudes eager to see his face for the last time. +Thousands were weeping. And as the steamer glided from the wharf such a +cry arose--'A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a!' It was intended for a cheer, but it +seemed to me the cry of a whole city sorrowing, and so plaintive that I +hope never to hear such a cry again. + +The names and faces of the younger classes are all strange to me. +Doubtless this was why the sensation of my first day's teaching in the +school came back to me with extraordinary vividness when I entered the +class-room of First Division A this morning. + +Strangely pleasant is the first sensation of a Japanese class, as you +look over the ranges of young faces before you. There is nothing in them +familiar to inexperienced Western eyes; yet there is an indescribable +pleasant something common to all. Those traits have nothing incisive, +nothing forcible: compared with Occidental faces they seem but 'half- +sketched,' so soft their outlines are--indicating neither aggressiveness +nor shyness, neither eccentricity nor sympathy, neither curiosity nor +indifference. Some, although faces of youths well grown, have a childish +freshness and frankness indescribable; some are as uninteresting as +others are attractive; a few are beautifully feminine. But all are +equally characterized by a singular placidity--expressing neither love +nor hate nor anything save perfect repose and gentleness--like the +dreamy placidity of Buddhist images. At a later day you will no longer +recognise this aspect of passionless composure: with growing +acquaintance each face will become more and more individualised for you +by characteristics before imperceptible. But the recollection of that +first impression will remain with you and the time will come when you +will find, by many varied experiences, how strangely it foreshadowed +something in Japanese character to be fully learned only after years of +familiarity. You will recognize in the memory of that first impression +one glimpse of the race-soul, with its impersonal lovableness and its +impersonal weaknesses--one glimpse of the nature of a life in which the +Occidental, dwelling alone, feels a psychic comfort comparable only to +the nervous relief of suddenly emerging from some stifling atmospheric +pressure into thin, clear, free living air. + +20 + +Was it not the eccentric Fourier who wrote about the horrible faces of +'the civilisUs'? Whoever it was, would have found seeming confirmation +of his physiognomical theory could he have known the effect produced by +the first sight of European faces in the most eastern East. What we are +taught at home to consider handsome, interesting, or characteristic in +physiognomy does not produce the same impression in China or Japan. +Shades of facial expression familiar to us as letters of our own +alphabet are not perceived at all in Western features by these Orientals +at first acquaintance. What they discern at once is the race- +characteristic, not the individuality. The evolutional meaning of the +deep-set Western eye, protruding brow, accipitrine nose, ponderous jaw-- +symbols of aggressive force and habit--was revealed to the gentler race +by the same sort of intuition through which a tame animal immediately +comprehends the dangerous nature of the first predatory enemy which it +sees. To Europeans the smooth-featured, slender, low-statured Japanese +seemed like boys; and 'boy' is the term by which the native attendant of +a Yokohama merchant is still called. To Japanese the first red-haired, +rowdy, drunken European sailors seemed fiends, shojo, demons of the sea; +and by the Chinese the Occidentals are still called 'foreign devils.' +The great stature and massive strength and fierce gait of foreigners in +Japan enhanced the strange impression created by their faces. Children +cried for fear on seeing them pass through the streets. And in remoter +districts, Japanese children are still apt to cry at the first sight of +a European or American face. + +A lady of Matsue related in my presence this curious souvenir of her +childhood: 'When I was a very little girl,' she said, our daimyo hired a +foreigner to teach the military art. My father and a great many samurai +went to receive the foreigner; and all the people lined the streets to +see--for no foreigner had ever come to Izumo before; and we all went to +look. The foreigner came by ship: there were no steamboats here then. He +was very tall, and walked quickly with long steps; and the children +began to cry at the sight of him, because his face was not like the +faces of the people of Nihon. My little brother cried out loud, and hid +his face in mother's robe; and mother reproved him and said: "This +foreigner is a very good man who has come here to serve our prince; and +it is very disrespectful to cry at seeing him." But he still cried. I +was not afraid; and I looked up at the foreigner's face as he came and +smiled. He had a great beard; and I thought his face was good though it +seemed to me a very strange face and stern. Then he stopped and smiled +too, and put something in my hand, and touched my head and face very +softly with his great fingers, and said something I could not +understand, and went away. After he had gone I looked at what he put +into my hand and found that it was a pretty little glass to look +through. If you put a fly under that glass it looks quite big. At that +time I thought the glass was a very wonderful thing. I have it still.' +She took from a drawer in the room and placed before me a tiny, dainty +pocket-microscope. + +The hero of this little incident was a French military officer. His +services were necessarily dispensed with on the abolition of the feudal +system. Memories of him still linger in Matsue; and old people remember +a popular snatch about him--a sort of rapidly-vociferated rigmarole, +supposed to be an imitation of his foreign speech: + +Tojin no negoto niwa kinkarakuri medagasho, +Saiboji ga shimpeishite harishite keisan, +Hanryo na Sacr-r-r-r-r-U-na-nom-da-Jiu. + +21 + +November 2, 1891. +Shida will never come to school again. He sleeps under the shadow of the +cedars, in the old cemetery of Tokoji. Yokogi, at the memorial service, +read a beautiful address (saibun) to the soul of his dead comrade. + +But Yokogi himself is down. And I am very much afraid for him. He is +suffering from some affection of the brain, brought on, the doctor says, +by studying a great deal too hard. Even if he gets well, he will always +have to be careful. Some of us hope much; for the boy is vigorously +built and so young. Strong Sakane burst a blood-vessel last month and is +now well. So we trust that Yokogi may rally. Adzukizawa daily brings +news of his friend. + +But the rally never comes. Some mysterious spring in the mechanism of +the young life has been broken. The mind lives only in brief intervals +between long hours of unconsciousness. Parents watch, and friends, for +these living moments to whisper caressing things, or to ask: 'Is there +anything thou dost wish?' And one night the answer comes: + +'Yes: I want to go to the school; I want to see the school.' + +Then they wonder if the fine brain has not wholly given way, while they +make answer: + +'It is midnight past, and there is no moon. And the night is cold.' + +'No; I can see by the stars--I want to see the school again.' + +They make kindliest protests in vain: the dying boy only repeats, with +the plaintive persistence of a last--'I want to see the school again; I +want to see it now.' So there is a murmured consultation in the +neighbouring room; and tansu-drawers are unlocked, warm garments +prepared. Then Fusaichi, the strong servant, enters with lantern +lighted, and cries out in his kind rough voice: + +'Master Tomi will go to the school upon my back: 'tis but a little way; +he shall see the school again. + +Carefully they wrap up the lad in wadded robes; then he puts his arms +about Fusaichi's shoulders like a child; and the strong servant bears +him lightly through the wintry street; and the father hurries beside +Fusaichi, bearing the lantern. And it is not far to the school, over the +little bridge. + +The huge dark grey building looks almost black in the night; but Yokogi +can see. He looks at the windows of his own classroom; at the roofed +side-door where each morning for four happy years he used to exchange +his getas for soundless sandals of straw; at the lodge of the slumbering +Kodzukai; [11] at the silhouette of the bell hanging black in its little +turret against the stars. Then he murmurs: + +'I can remember all now. I had forgotten--so sick I was. I remember +everything again: Oh, Fusaichi, you are very good. I am so glad to have +seen the school again.' + +And they hasten back through the long void streets. + + + 22 + +November 26 1891. + +Yokogi will be buried to-morrow evening beside his comrade Shida. + +When a poor person is about to die, friends and neighbours come to the +house and do all they can to help the family. Some bear the tidings to +distant relatives; others prepare all necessary things; others, when the +death has been announced, summon the Buddhist priests. [12] + +It is said that the priests know always of a parishioner's death at +night, before any messenger is sent to them; for the soul of the dead +knocks heavily, once, upon the door of the family temple. Then the +priests arise and robe themselves, and when the messenger comes make +answer: 'We know: we are ready.' + +Meanwhile the body is carried out before the family butsudan, and laid +upon the floor. No pillow is placed under the head. A naked sword is +laid across the limbs to keep evil spirits away. The doors of the +butsudan are opened; and tapers are lighted before the tablets of the +ancestors; and incense is burned. All friends send gifts of incense. +Wherefore a gift of incense, however rare and precious, given upon any +other occasion, is held to be unlucky. + +But the Shinto household shrine must be hidden from view with white +paper; and the Shinto ofuda fastened upon the house door must be covered +up during all the period of mourning. [13] And in all that time no +member of the family may approach a Shinto temple, or pray to the Kami, +or even pass beneath a torii. + +A screen (biobu) is extended between the body and the principal entrance +of the death chamber; and the kaimyo, inscribed upon a strip of white +paper, is fastened upon the screen. If the dead be young the screen must +be turned upside-down; but this is not done in the case of old people. + +Friends pray beside the corpse. There a little box is placed, containing +one thousand peas, to be used for counting during the recital of those +one thousand pious invocations, which, it is believed, will improve the +condition of the soul on its unfamiliar journey. + +The priests come and recite the sutras; and then the body is prepared +for burial. It is washed in warm water, and robed all in white. But the +kimono of the dead is lapped over to the left side. Wherefore it is +considered unlucky at any other time to fasten one's kimono thus, even +by accident. + +When the body has been put into that strange square coffin which looks +something like a wooden palanquin, each relative puts also into the +coffin some of his or her hair or nail parings, symbolizing their blood. +And six rin are also placed in the coffin, for the six Jizo who stand at +the heads of the ways of the Six Shadowy Worlds. + +The funeral procession forms at the family residence. A priest leads it, +ringing a little bell; a boy bears the ihai of the newly dead. The van +of the procession is wholly composed of men--relatives and friends. Some +carry hata, white symbolic bannerets; some bear flowers; all carry paper +lanterns--for in Izumo the adult dead are buried after dark: only +children are buried by day. Next comes the kwan or coffin, borne +palanquin-wise upon the shoulders of men of that pariah caste whose +office it is to dig graves and assist at funerals. Lastly come the women +mourners. + +They are all white-hooded and white-robed from head to feet, like +phantoms. [14] Nothing more ghostly than this sheeted train of an +Izumo funeral procession, illuminated only by the glow of paper +lanterns, can be imagined. It is a weirdness that, once seen, will often +return in dreams. + +At the temple the kwan is laid upon the pavement before the entrance; +and another service is performed, with plaintive music and recitation of +sutras. Then the procession forms again, winds once round the temple +court, and takes its way to the cemetery. But the body is not buried +until twenty-four hours later, lest the supposed dead should awake in +the grave. + +Corpses are seldom burned in Izumo. In this, as in other matters, the +predominance of Shinto sentiment is manifest. + +23 + +For the last time I see his face again, as he lies upon his bed of +death--white-robed from neck to feet--white-girdled for his shadowy +journey--but smiling with closed eyes in almost the same queer gentle +way he was wont to smile at class on learning the explanation of some +seeming riddle in our difficult English tongue. Only, methinks, the +smile is sweeter now, as with sudden larger knowledge of more mysterious +things. So smiles, through dusk of incense in the great temple of +Tokoji, the golden face of Buddha. + +24 + +December 23, 1891. The great bell of Tokoji is booming for the memorial +service--for the tsuito-kwai of Yokogi--slowly and regularly as a +minute-gun. Peal on peal of its rich bronze thunder shakes over the +lake, surges over the roofs of the town, and breaks in deep sobs of +sound against the green circle of the hills. + +It is a touching service, this tsuito-kwai, with quaint ceremonies +which, although long since adopted into Japanese Buddhism, are of +Chinese origin and are beautiful. It is also a costly ceremony; and the +parents of Yokogi are very poor. But all the expenses have been paid by +voluntary subscription of students and teachers. Priests from every +great temple of the Zen sect in Izumo have assembled at Tokoji. All the +teachers of the city and all the students have entered the hondo of the +huge temple, and taken their places to the right and to the left of the +high altar--kneeling on the matted floor, and leaving, on the long broad +steps without, a thousand shoes and sandals. + +Before the main entrance, and facing the high shrine, a new butsudan has +been placed, within whose open doors the ihai of the dead boy glimmers +in lacquer and gilding. And upon a small stand before the butsudan have +been placed an incense-vessel with bundles of senko-rods and offerings +of fruits, confections, rice, and flowers. Tall and beautiful flower- +vases on each side of the butsudan are filled with blossoming sprays, +exquisitely arranged. Before the honzon tapers burn in massive +candelabra whose stems of polished brass are writhing monsters--the +Dragon Ascending and the Dragon Descending; and incense curls up from +vessels shaped like the sacred deer, like the symbolic tortoise, like +the meditative stork of Buddhist legend. And beyond these, in the +twilight of the vast alcove, the Buddha smiles the smile of Perfect +Rest. + +Between the butsudan and the honzon a little table has been placed; and +on either side of it the priests kneel in ranks, facing each other: rows +of polished heads, and splendours of vermilion silks and vestments gold- +embroidered. + +The great bell ceases to peal; the Segaki prayer, which is the prayer +uttered when offerings of food are made to the spirits of the dead, is +recited; and a sudden sonorous measured tapping, accompanied by a +plaintive chant, begins the musical service. The tapping is the tapping +of the mokugyo--a huge wooden fish-head, lacquered and gilded, like the +head of a dolphin grotesquely idealised--marking the time; and the chant +is the chant of the Chapter of Kwannon in the Hokkekyo, with its +magnificent invocation: + +'O Thou whose eyes are clear, whose eyes are kind, whose eyes are full +of pity and of sweetness--O Thou Lovely One, with thy beautiful face, +with thy beautiful eye--O Thou Pure One, whose luminosity is without +spot, whose knowledge is without shado--O Thou forever shining like that +Sun whose glory no power may repel--Thou Sun-like in the course of Thy +mercy, pourest Light upon the world!' + +And while the voices of the leaders chant clear and high in vibrant +unison, the multitude of the priestly choir recite in profoundest +undertone the mighty verses; and the sound of their recitation is like +the muttering of surf. + +The mokugyo ceases its dull echoing, the impressive chant ends, and the +leading officiants, one by one, high priests of famed temples, approach +the ihai. Each bows low, ignites an incense-rod, and sets it upright in +the little vase of bronze. Each at a time recites a holy verse of which +the initial sound is the sound of a letter in the kaimyo of the dead +boy; and these verses, uttered in the order of the characters upon the +ihai, form the sacred Acrostic whose name is The Words of Perfume. + +Then the priests retire to their places; and after a little silence +begins the reading of the saibun--the reading of the addresses to the +soul of the dead. The students speak first--one from each class, chosen +by election. The elected rises, approaches the little table before the +high altar, bows to the honzon, draws from his bosom a paper and reads +it in those melodious, chanting, and plaintive tones which belong to the +reading of Chinese texts. So each one tells the affection of the living +to the dead, in words of loving grief and loving hope. And last among +the students a gentle girl rises--a pupil of the Normal School--to speak +in tones soft as a bird's. As each saibun is finished, the reader lays +the written paper upon the table before the honzon, and bows; and +retires. + +It is now the turn of the teachers; and an old man takes his place at +the little table--old Katayama, the teacher of Chinese, famed as a poet, +adored as an instructor. And because the students all love him as a +father, there is a strange intensity of silence as he begins-- +Ko-Shimane-Ken-Jinjo-Chugakko-yo-nen-sei: + +'Here upon the twenty-third day of the twelfth month of the twenty- +fourth year of Meiji, I, Katayama Shokei, teacher of the Jinjo Chugakko +of Shimane Ken, attending in great sorrow the holy service of the dead +[tsui-fuku], do speak unto the soul of Yokogi Tomisaburo, my pupil. + +'Having been, as thou knowest, for twice five years, at different +periods, a teacher of the school, I have indeed met with not a few most +excellent students. But very, very rarely in any school may the teacher +find one such as thou--so patient and so earnest, so diligent and so +careful in all things--so distinguished among thy comrades by thy +blameless conduct, observing every precept, never breaking a rule. + +'Of old in the land of Kihoku, famed for its horses, whenever a horse of +rarest breed could not be obtained, men were wont to say: "There is no +horse." Still there are many line lads among our students--many ryume, +fine young steeds; but we have lost the best. + +'To die at the age of seventeen--the best period of life for study--even +when of the Ten Steps thou hadst already ascended six! Sad is the +thought; but sadder still to know that thy last illness was caused only +by thine own tireless zeal of study. Even yet more sad our conviction +that with those rare gifts, and with that rare character of thine, thou +wouldst surely, in that career to which thou wast destined, have +achieved good and great things, honouring the names of thine ancestors, +couldst thou have lived to manhood. + +'I see thee lifting thy hand to ask some question; then bending above +thy little desk to make note of all thy poor old teacher was able to +tell thee. Again I see thee in the ranks--thy rifle upon thy shoulder-- +so bravely erect during the military exercises. Even now thy face is +before me, with its smile, as plainly as if thou wert present in the +body--thy voice I think I hear distinctly as though thou hadst but this +instant finished speaking; yet I know that, except in memory, these +never will be seen and heard again. O Heaven, why didst thou take away +that dawning life from the world, and leave such a one as I--old Shokei, +feeble, decrepit, and of no more use? + +'To thee my relation was indeed only that of teacher to pupil. Yet what +is my distress! I have a son of twenty-four years; he is now far from +me, in Yokohama. I know he is only a worthless youth; [15] yet never +for so much as the space of one hour does the thought of him leave his +old father's heart. Then how must the father and mother, the brothers +and the sisters of this gentle and gifted youth feel now that he is +gone! Only to think of it forces the tears from my eyes: I cannot speak +--so full my heart is. + +'Aa! aa!--thou hast gone from us; thou hast gone from us! Yet though +thou hast died, thy earnestness, thy goodness, will long be honoured and +told of as examples to the students of our school. + +'Here, therefore, do we, thy teachers and thy schoolmates, hold this +service in behalf of thy spirit,--with prayer and offerings. Deign thou, +0 gentle Soul, to honour our love by the acceptance of our humble +gifts.' + +Then a sound of sobbing is suddenly whelmed by the resonant booming of +the great fish's-head, as the high-pitched voices of the leaders of the +chant begin the grand Nehan-gyo, the Sutra of Nirvana, the song of +passage triumphant over the Sea of Death and Birth; and deep below those +high tones and the hollow echoing of the mokugyo, the surging bass of a +century of voices reciting the sonorous words, sounds like the breaking +of a sea: + +'Sho-gyo mu-jo, je-sho meppo.--Transient are all. They, being born, must +die. And being born, are dead. And being dead, are glad to be at rest.' + + + +CHAPTER FIVE Two Strange Festivals + +THE outward signs of any Japanese matsuri are the most puzzling of +enigmas to the stranger who sees them for the first time. They are many +and varied; they are quite unlike anything in the way of holiday +decoration ever seen in the Occident; they have each a meaning founded +upon some belief or some tradition--a meaning known to every Japanese +child; but that meaning is utterly impossible for any foreigner to +guess. Yet whoever wishes to know something of Japanese popular life and +feeling must learn the signification of at least the most common among +festival symbols and tokens. Especially is such knowledge necessary to +the student of Japanese art: without it, not only the delicate humour +and charm of countless designs must escape him, but in many instances +the designs themselves must remain incomprehensible to him. For +hundreds of years the emblems of festivity have been utilised by the +Japanese in graceful decorative ways: they figure in metalwork, on +porcelain, on the red or black lacquer of the humblest household +utensils, on little brass pipes, on the clasps of tobacco-pouches. It +may even be said that the majority of common decorative design is +emblematical. The very figures of which the meaning seems most +obvious--those matchless studies [1] of animal or vegetable life with +which the Western curio-buyer is most familiar--have usually some +ethical signification which is not perceived at all. Or take the +commonest design dashed with a brush upon the fusuma of a cheap hotel--a +lobster, sprigs of pine, tortoises waddling in a curl of water, a pair +of storks, a spray of bamboo. It is rarely that a foreign tourist +thinks of asking why such designs are used instead of others, even +when he has seen them repeated, with slight variation, at twenty +different places along his route. They have become conventional simply +because they are emblems of which the sense is known to all Japanese, +however ignorant, but is never even remotely suspected by the stranger. + +The subject is one about which a whole encyclopaedia might be written, +but about which I know very little--much too little for a special essay. +But I may venture, by way of illustration, to speak of the curious +objects exhibited during two antique festivals still observed in all +parts of Japan. + +2 + +The first is the Festival of the New Year, which lasts for three days. +In Matsue its celebration is particularly interesting, as the old city +still preserves many matsuri customs which have either become, or are +rapidly becoming, obsolete elsewhere. The streets are then profusely +decorated, and all shops are closed. Shimenawa or shimekazari--the straw +ropes which have been sacred symbols of Shinto from the mythical age-- +are festooned along the faades of the dwellings, and so inter-joined +that you see to right or left what seems but a single mile-long +shimenawa, with its straw pendents and white fluttering paper gohei, +extending along either side of the street as far as the eye can reach. +Japanese flags--bearing on a white ground the great crimson disk which +is the emblem of the Land of the Rising Sun--flutter above the gateways; +and the same national emblem glows upon countless paper lanterns strung +in rows along the eaves or across the streets and temple avenues. And +before every gate or doorway a kadomatsu ('gate pine-tree') has been +erected. So that all the ways are lined with green, and full of bright +colour. + +The kadomatsu is more than its name implies. It is a young pine, or part +of a pine, conjoined with plum branches and bamboo cuttings. [2] Pine, +plum, and bamboo are growths of emblematic significance. Anciently the +pine alone was used; but from the era of O-ei, the bamboo was added; and +within more recent times the plum-tree. + +The pine has many meanings. But the fortunate one most generally +accepted is that of endurance and successful energy in time of +misfortune. As the pine keeps its green leaves when other trees lose +their foliage, so the true man keeps his courage and his strength in +adversity. The pine is also, as I have said elsewhere, a symbol of +vigorous old age. + +No European could possibly guess the riddle of the bamboo. It represents +a sort of pun in symbolism. There are two Chinese characters both +pronounced setsu--one signifying the node or joint of the bamboo, and +the other virtue, fidelity, constancy. Therefore is the bamboo used as a +felicitous sign. The name 'Setsu,' be it observed, is often given to +Japanese maidens--just as the names 'Faith,' 'Fidelia,' and 'Constance' +are given to English girls. + +The plum-tree--of whose emblematic meaning I said something in a former +paper about Japanese gardens--is not invariably used, however; sometimes +sakaki, the sacred plant of Shinto, is substituted for it; and sometimes +only pine and bamboo form the kadomatsu. + +Every decoration used upon the New Year's festival has a meaning of a +curious and unfamiliar kind; and the very cornmonest of all--the straw +rope--possesses the most complicated symbolism. In the first place it is +scarcely necessary to explain that its origin belongs to that most +ancient legend of the Sun-Goddess being tempted to issue from the cavern +into which she had retired, and being prevented from returning thereunto +by a deity who stretched a rope of straw across the entrance--all of +which is written in the Kojiki. Next observe that, although the +shimenawa may be of any thickness, it must be twisted so that the +direction of the twist is to the left; for in ancient Japanese +philosophy the left is the 'pure' or fortunate side: owing perhaps to +the old belief, common among the uneducated of Europe to this day, that +the heart lies to the left. Thirdly, note that the pendent straws, which +hang down from the rope at regular intervals, in tufts, like fringing, +must be of different numbers according to the place of the tufts, +beginning with the number three: so that the first tuft has three +straws, the second live, the third seven, the fourth again three, the +fifth five, and the sixth seven--and so on, the whole length of the +rope. The origin of the pendent paper cuttings (gohei), which alternate +with the straw tufts, is likewise to be sought in the legend of the +Sun-Goddess; but the gohei also represent offerings of cloth anciently +made to the gods according to a custom long obsolete. + +But besides the gohei, there are many other things attached to the +shimenawa of which you could not imagine the signification. Among these +are fern-leaves, bitter oranges, yuzuri-leaves, and little bundles of +charcoal. + +Why fern-leaves (moromoki or urajiro)? Because the fern-leaf is the +symbol of the hope of exuberant posterity: even as it branches and +branches so may the happy family increase and multiply through the +generations. + +Why bitter oranges (daidai)? Because there is a Chinese word daidai +signifying 'from generation unto generation.' Wherefore the fruit called +daidai has become a fruit of good omen. + +But why charcoal (sumi)? It signifies 'prosperous changelessness.' Here +the idea is decidedly curious. Even as the colour of charcoal cannot be +changed, so may the fortunes of those we love remain for ever unchanged +In all that gives happiness! The signification of the yuzuri-leaf I +explained in a former paper. + +Besides the great shimenawa in front of the house, shimenawa or +shimekazari [3] are suspended above the toko, or alcoves, in each +apartment; and over the back gate, or over the entrance to the gallery +of the second story (if there be a second story), is hung a 'wajime, +which is a very small shimekazari twisted into a sort of wreath, and +decorated with fern-leaves, gohei, and yuzuri-leaves. + +But the great domestic display of the festival is the decoration of the +kamidana--the shelf of the Gods. Before the household miya are placed +great double rice cakes; and the shrine is beautiful with flowers, a +tiny shimekazari, and sprays of sakaki. There also are placed a string +of cash; kabu (turnips); daikon (radishes); a tai-fish, which is the +'king of fishes,' dried slices of salt cuttlefish; jinbaso, of 'the +Seaweed of the horse of the God'; [4] also the seaweed kombu, which is a +symbol of pleasure and of joy, because its name is deemed to be a +homonym for gladness; and mochibana, artificial blossoms formed of rice +flour and straw. + +The sambo is a curiously shaped little table on which offer-ings are +made to the Shinto gods; and almost every well-to-do household in hzumo +has its own sambo--such a family sambo being smaller, however, than +sambo used in the temples. At the advent of the New Year's Festival, +bitter oranges, rice, and rice-flour cakes, native sardines (iwashi), +chikara-iwai ('strength-rice-bread'), black peas, dried chestnuts, and a +fine lobster, are all tastefully arranged upon the family sambo. Before +each visitor the sambo is set; and the visitor, by saluting it with a +prostration, expresses not only his heartfelt wish that all the good- +fortune symbolised by the objects upon the sambo may come to the family, +but also his reverence for the household gods. The black peas (mame) +signify bodily strength and health, because a word similarly pronounced, +though written with a different ideograph, means 'robust.' But why a +lobster? Here we have another curious conception. The lobster's body is +bent double: the body of the man who lives to a very great old age is +also bent. Thus the Lobster stands for a symbol of extreme old age; and +in artistic design signifies the wish that our friends may live so long +that they will become bent like lobsters--under the weight of years. And +the dried chestnut (kachiguri) are emblems of success, because the first +character of their name in Japanese is the homonym of kachi, which means +'victory,' 'conquest.' + +There are at least a hundred other singular customs and emblems +belonging to the New Year's Festival which would require a large volume +to describe. I have mentioned only a few which immediately appear to +even casual observation. + +3 + +The other festival I wish, to refer to is that of the Setsubun, which, +according to the ancient Japanese calendar, corresponded with the +beginning of the natural year--the period when winter first softens into +spring. It is what we might term, according to Professor Chamberlain, 'a +sort of movable feast'; and it is chiefly famous for the curious +ceremony of the casting out of devils--Oni-yarai. On the eve of the +Setsubun, a little after dark, the Yaku-otoshi, or caster-out of devils, +wanders through the streets from house to house, rattling his shakujo, +[5] and uttering his strange professional cry: 'Oni wa soto!--fuku wa +uchi!' [Devils out! Good-fortune in!] For a trifling fee he performs his +little exorcism in any house to which he is called. This simply consists +in the recitation of certain parts of a Buddhist kyo, or sutra, and the +rattling of the shakujo Afterwards dried peas (shiro-mame) are thrown +about the house in four directions. For some mysterious reason, devils +do not like dried peas--and flee therefrom. The peas thus scattered are +afterward swept up and carefully preserved until the first clap of +spring thunder is heard, when it is the custom to cook and eat some of +them. But just why, I cannot find out; neither can I discover the origin +of the dislike of devils for dried peas. On the subject of this dislike, +however, I confess my sympathy with devils. + +After the devils have been properly cast out, a small charm is placed +above all the entrances of the dwelling to keep them from coming back +again. This consists of a little stick about the length and thickness of +a skewer, a single holly-leaf, and the head of a dried iwashi--a fish +resembling a sardine. The stick is stuck through the middle of the +holly-leaf; and the fish's head is fastened into a split made in one end +of the stick; the other end being slipped into some joint of the timber- +work immediately above a door. But why the devils are afraid of the +holly-leaf and the fish's head, nobody seems to know. Among the people +the origin of all these curious customs appears to be quite forgotten; +and the families of the upper classes who still maintain such customs +believe in the superstitions relating to the festival just as little as +Englishmen to-day believe in the magical virtues of mistletoe or ivy. + +This ancient and merry annual custom of casting out devils has been for +generations a source of inspiration to Japanese artists. It is only +after a fair acquaintance with popular customs and ideas that the +foreigner can learn to appreciate the delicious humour of many art- +creations which he may wish, indeed, to buy just because they are so +oddly attractive in themselves, but which must really remain enigmas to +him, so far as their inner meaning is concerned, unless he knows +Japanese life. The other day a friend gave me a little card-case of +perfumed leather. On one side was stamped in relief the face of a devil, +through the orifice of whose yawning mouth could be seen--painted upon +the silk lining of the interior--the laughing, chubby face of Otafuku, +joyful Goddess of Good Luck. In itself the thing was very curious and +pretty; but the real merit of its design was this comical symbolism of +good wishes for the New Year: 'Oni wa soto!--fuku wa uchi!' + +4 + +Since I have spoken of the custom of eating some of the Setsubun peas at +the time of the first spring thunder, I may here take the opportunity to +say a few words about superstitions in regard to thunder which have not +yet ceased to prevail among the peasantry. + +When a thunder-storm comes, the big brown mosquito curtains are +suspended, and the women and children--perhaps the whole family--squat +down under the curtains till the storm is over. From ancient days it has +been believed that lightning cannot kill anybody under a mosquito +curtain. The Raiju, or Thunder-Animal, cannot pass through a mosquito- +curtain. Only the other day, an old peasant who came to the house with +vegetables to sell told us that he and his whole family, while crouching +under their mosquito-netting during a thunderstorm, actually, saw the +Lightning rushing up and down the pillar of the balcony opposite their +apartment--furiously clawing the woodwork, but unable to enter because +of the mosquito-netting. His house had been badly damaged by a flash; +but he supposed the mischief to have been accomplished by the Claws of +the Thunder-Animal. + +The Thunder-Animal springs from tree to tree during a storm, they say; +wherefore to stand under trees in time of thunder and lightning is very +dangerous: the Thunder-Animal might step on one's head or shoulders. The +Thunder-Animal is also alleged to be fond of eating the human navel; for +which reason people should be careful to keep their navels well covered +during storms, and to lie down upon their stomachs if possible. Incense +is always burned during storms, because the Thunder-Animal hates the +smell of incense. A tree stricken by lightning is thought to have been +torn and scarred by the claws of the Thunder-Animal; and fragments of +its bark and wood are carefully collected and preserved by dwellers in +the vicinity; for the wood of a blasted tree is alleged to have the +singular virtue of curing toothache. + +There are many stories of the Raiju having been caught and caged. Once, +it is said, the Thunder-Animal fell into a well, and got entangled in +the ropes and buckets, and so was captured alive. And old Izumo folk say +they remember that the Thunder-Animal was once exhibited in the court of +the Temple of Tenjin in Matsue, inclosed in a cage of brass; and that +people paid one sen each to look at it. It resembled a badger. When the +weather was clear it would sleep contentedly in its, cage. But when +there was thunder in the air, it would become excited, and seem to +obtain great strength, and its eyes would flash dazzlingly. + +5 + +There is one very evil spirit, however, who is not in the least afraid +of dried peas, and who cannot be so easily got rid of as the common +devils; and that is Bimbogami. + +But in Izumo people know a certain household charm whereby Bimbogami may +sometimes be cast out. + +Before any cooking is done in a Japanese kitchen, the little charcoal +fire is first blown to a bright red heat with that most useful and +simple household utensil called a hifukidake. The hifukidake ('fire- +blow-bamboo') is a bamboo tube usually about three feet long and about +two inches in diameter. At one end--the end which is to be turned toward +the fire--only a very small orifice is left; the woman who prepares the +meal places the other end to her lips, and blows through the tube upon +the kindled charcoal. Thus a quick fire may be obtained in a few +minutes. + +In course of time the hifukidake becomes scorched and cracked and +useless. A new 'fire-blow-tube' is then made; and the old one is used as +a charm against Bimbogami. One little copper coin (rin) is put into it, +some magical formula is uttered, and then the old utensil, with the rin +inside of it, is either simply thrown out through the front gate into +the street, or else flung into some neighbouring stream. This--I know +not why--is deemed equivalent to pitching Bimbogami out of doors, and +rendering it impossible for him to return during a considerable period. + +It may be asked how is the invisible presence of Bimbogami to be +detected. + +The little insect which makes that weird ticking noise at night called +in England the Death-watch has a Japanese relative named by the people +Bimbomushi, or the 'Poverty-Insect.' It is said to be the servant of +Bimbogami, the God of Poverty; and its ticking in a house is believed to +signal the presence of that most unwelcome deity. + +6 + +One more feature of the Setsubun festival is worthy of mention--the sale +of the hitogata ('people-shapes'). These: are little figures, made of +white paper, representing men, women, and children. They are cut out +with a few clever scissors strokes; and the difference of sex is +indicated by variations in the shape of the sleeves and the little paper +obi. They are sold in the Shinto temples. The purchaser buys one for +every member of the family--the priest writing upon each the age and sex +of the person for whom it is intended. These hitogata are then taken +home and distributed; and each person slightly rubs his body or her body +with the paper, and says a little Shinto prayer. Next day the hitogata +are returned to the kannushi, who, after having recited certain formulae +over them, burns them with holy fire. [6] By this ceremony it is hoped +that all physical misfortunes will be averted from the family during a +year. + + + +Chapter Six By the Japanese Sea + +1 + +IT is the fifteenth day of the seventh month--and I am in Hokii. + +The blanched road winds along a coast of low cliffs--the coast of the +Japanese Sea. Always on the left, over a narrow strip of stony land, or +a heaping of dunes, its vast expanse appears, blue-wrinkling to that +pale horizon beyond which Korea lies, under the same white sun. +Sometimes, through sudden gaps in the cliff's verge, there flashes to us +the running of the surf. Always upon the right another sea--a silent sea +of green, reaching to far misty ranges of wooded hills, with huge pale +peaks behind them--a vast level of rice-fields, over whose surface +soundless waves keep chasing each other under the same great breath that +moves the blue to-day from Chosen to Japan. + +Though during a week the sky has remained unclouded, the sea has for +several days been growing angrier; and now the muttering of its surf +sounds far into the land. They say that it always roughens thus during +the period of the Festival of the Dead--the three days of the Bon, which +are the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth of the seventh month by +the ancient calendar. And on the sixteenth day, after the shoryobune, +which are the Ships of Souls, have been launched, no one dares to enter +it: no boats can then be hired; all the fishermen remain at home. For on +that day the sea is the highway of the dead, who must pass back over its +waters to their mysterious home; and therefore upon that day is it +called Hotoke-umi--the Buddha-Flood--the Tide of the Returning Ghosts. +And ever upon the night of that sixteenth day--whether the sea be calm +or tumultuous--all its surface shimmers with faint lights gliding out to +the open,--the dim fires of the dead; and there is heard a murmuring of +voices, like the murmur of a city far-off,--the indistinguishable speech +of souls. + +2 + +But it may happen that some vessel, belated in spite of desperate effort +to reach port, may find herself far out at sea upon the night of the +sixteenth day. Then will the dead rise tall about the ship, and reach +long hands and murmur: 'Tago, tago o-kure!--tago o-kure!' [1] Never may +they be refused; but, before the bucket is given, the bottom of it must +be knocked out. Woe to all on board should an entire tago be suffered to +fall even by accident into the sea!--for the dead would at once use it +to fill and sink the ship. + +Nor are the dead the only powers invisible dreaded in the time of the +Hotoke-umi. Then are the Ma most powerful, and the Kappa. [2] + +But in all times the swimmer fears the Kappa, the Ape of Waters, hideous +and obscene, who reaches up from the deeps to draw men down, and to +devour their entrails. + +Only their entrails. + +The corpse of him who has been seized by the Kappa may be cast on shore +after many days. Unless long battered against the rocks by heavy surf, +or nibbled by fishes, it will show no outward wound. But it will be +light and hollow--empty like a long-dried gourd. + +3 + +Betimes, as we journey on, the monotony of undulating blue on the left, +or the monotony of billowing green upon the right, is broken by the grey +apparition of a cemetery--a cemetery so long that our jinricksha men, at +full run, take a full quarter of an hour to pass the huge congregation +of its perpendicular stones. Such visions always indicate the approach +of villages; but the villages prove to be as surprisingly small as the +cemeteries are surprisingly large. By hundreds of thousands do the +silent populations of the hakaba outnumber the folk of the hamlets to +which they belong--tiny thatched settlements sprinkled along the leagues +of coast, and sheltered from the wind only by ranks of sombre pines. +Legions on legions of stones--a host of sinister witnesses of the cost +of the present to the past--and old, old, old!--hundreds so long in +place that they have been worn into shapelessness merely by the blowing +of sand from the dunes, and their inscriptions utterly effaced. It is as +if one were passing through the burial-ground of all who ever lived on +this wind-blown shore since the being of the land. + +And in all these hakaba--for it is the Bon--there are new lanterns +before the newer tombs--the white lanterns which are the lanterns of +graves. To-night the cemeteries will be all aglow with lights like the +fires of a city for multitude. But there are also unnumbered tombs +before which no lanterns are--elder myriads, each the token of a family +extinct, or of which the absent descendants have forgotten even the +name. Dim generations whose ghosts have none to call them back, no local +memories to love--so long ago obliterated were all things related to +their lives. + +4 + +Now many of these villages are only fishing settlements, and in them +stand old thatched homes of men who sailed away on some eve of tempest, +and never came back. Yet each drowned sailor has his tomb in the +neighbouring hakaba, and beneath it something of him has been buried. + +What? + +Among these people of the west something is always preserved which in +other lands is cast away without a thought--the hozo-no-o, the flower- +stalk of a life, the navel-string of the newly-born. It is enwrapped +carefully in many wrappings; and upon its outermost covering are written +the names of the father, the mother, and the infant, together with the +date and hour of birth,--and it is kept in the family o-'mamori-bukuro. +The daughter, becoming a bride, bears it with her to her new home: for +the son it is preserved by his parents. It is buried with the dead; and +should one die in a foreign land, or perish at sea, it is entombed in +lieu of the body. + +5 + +Concerning them that go down into the sea in ships, and stay there, +strange beliefs prevail on this far coast--beliefs more primitive, +assuredly, than the gentle faith which hangs white lanterns before the +tombs. Some hold that the drowned never journey to the Meido. They +quiver for ever in the currents; they billow in the swaying of tides; +they toil in the wake of the junks; they shout in the plunging of +breakers. 'Tis their white hands that toss in the leap of the surf; +their clutch that clatters the shingle, or seizes the swimmer's feet in +the pull of the undertow. And the seamen speak euphemistically of the +O-'bake, the honourable ghosts, and fear them with a great fear. + +Wherefore cats are kept on board! + +A cat, they aver, has power to keep the O-bake away. How or why, I have +not yet found any to tell me. I know only that cats are deemed to have +power over the dead. If a cat be left alone with a corpse, will not the +corpse arise and dance? And of all cats a mike-neko, or cat of three +colours, is most prized on this account by sailors. But if they cannot +obtain one--and cats of three colours are rare--they will take another +kind of cat; and nearly every trading junk has a cat; and when the junk +comes into port, its cat may generally be seen--peeping through some +little window in the vessel's side, or squatting in the opening where +the great rudder works--that is, if the weather be fair and the sea +still. + +6 + +But these primitive and ghastly beliefs do not affect the beautiful +practices of Buddhist faith in the time of the Bon; and from all these +little villages the shoryobune are launched upon the sixteenth day. They +are much more elaborately and expensively constructed on this coast than +in some other parts of Japan; for though made of straw only, woven over +a skeleton framework, they are charming models of junks, complete in +every detail. Some are between three and four feet long. On the white +paper sail is written the kaimyo or soul-name of the dead. There is a +small water-vessel on board, filled with fresh water, and an incense- +cup; and along the gunwales flutter little paper banners bearing the +mystic manji, which is the Sanscrit swastika.[3] + + +The form of the shoryobune and the customs in regard to the time and +manner of launching them differ much in different provinces. In most +places they are launched for the family dead in general, wherever +buried; and they are in some places launched only at night, with small +lanterns on board. And I am told also that it is the custom at certain +sea-villages to launch the lanterns all by themselves, in lieu of the +shoryobune proper--lanterns of a particular kind being manufactured for +that purpose only. + +But on the Izumo coast, and elsewhere along this western shore, the +soul-boats are launched only for those who have been drowned at sea, and +the launching takes place in the morning instead of at night. Once every +year, for ten years after death, a shoryobune is launched; in the +eleventh year the ceremony ceases. Several shoryobune which I saw at +Inasa were really beautiful, and must have cost a rather large sum for +poor fisher-folk to pay. But the ship-carpenter who made them said that +all the relatives of a drowned man contribute to purchase the little +vessel, year after year. + +7 + +Near a sleepy little village called Kanii-ichi I make a brief halt in +order to visit a famous sacred tree. It is in a grove close to the +public highway, but upon a low hill. Entering the grove I find myself in +a sort of miniature glen surrounded on three sides by very low cliffs, +above which enormous pines are growing, incalculably old. Their vast +coiling roots have forced their way through the face of the cliffs, +splitting rocks; and their mingling crests make a green twilight in the +hollow. One pushes out three huge roots of a very singular shape; and +the ends of these have been wrapped about with long white papers bearing +written prayers, and with offerings of seaweed. The shape of these +roots, rather than any tradition, would seem to have made the tree +sacred in popular belief: it is the object of a special cult; and a +little torii has been erected before it, bearing a votive annunciation +of the most artless and curious kind. I cannot venture to offer a +translation of it--though for the anthropologist and folk-lorist it +certainly possesses peculiar interest. The worship of the tree, or at +least of the Kami supposed to dwell therein, is one rare survival of a +phallic cult probably common to most primitive races, and formerly +widespread in Japan. Indeed it was suppressed by the Government scarcely +more than a generation ago. On the opposite side of the little hollow, +carefully posed upon a great loose rock, I see something equally artless +and almost equally curious--a kitoja-no-mono, or ex-voto. Two straw +figures joined together and reclining side by side: a straw man and a +straw woman. The workmanship is childishly clumsy; but still, the woman +can be distinguished from the man by .the ingenious attempt to imitate +the female coiffure with a straw wisp. And as the man is represented +with a queue--now worn only by aged survivors of the feudal era--I +suspect that this kitoja-no-mono was made after some ancient and +strictly conventional model. + +Now this queer ex-voto tells its own story. Two who loved each other +were separated by the fault of the man; the charm of some joro, perhaps, +having been the temptation to faithlessness. + +Then the wronged one came here and prayed the Kami to dispel the +delusion of passion and touch the erring heart. The prayer has been +heard; the pair have been reunited; and she has therefore made these two +quaint effigies 'with her own hands, and brought them to the Kami of the +pine--tokens of her innocent faith and her grateful heart. + +8 + +Night falls as we reach the pretty hamlet of Hamamura, our last resting- +place by the sea, for to-morrow our way lies inland. The inn at which we +lodge is very small, but very clean and cosy; and there is a delightful +bath of natural hot water; for the yadoya is situated close to a natural +spring. This spring, so strangely close to the sea beach, also +furnishes, I am told, the baths of all the houses in the village. + +The best room is placed at our disposal; but I linger awhile to examine +a very fine shoryobune, waiting, upon a bench near the street entrance, +to be launched to-morrow. It seems to have been finished but a short +time ago; for fresh clippings of straw lie scattered around it, and the +kaimyo has not yet been written upon its sail. I am surprised to hear +that it belongs to a poor widow and her son, both of whom are employed +by the hotel. + +I was hoping to see the Bon-odori at Hamamura, but I am disappointed. At +all the villages the police have prohibited the dance. Fear of cholera +has resulted in stringent sanitary regulations. In Hamamura the people +have been ordered to use no water for drinking, cooking, or washing, +except the hot water of their own volcanic springs. + +A little middle-aged woman, with a remarkably sweet voice, comes to wait +upon us at supper-time. Her teeth are blackened and her eyebrows shaved +after the fashion of married women twenty years ago; nevertheless her +face is still a pleasant one, and in her youth she must have been +uncommonly pretty. Though acting as a servant, it appears that she is +related to the family owning the inn, and that she is treated with the +consideration due to kindred. She tells us that the shoryobune is to be +launched for her husband and brother--both fishermen of the village, who +perished in sight of their own home eight years ago. The priest of the +neighbouring Zen temple is to come in the morning to write the kaimyo +upon the sail, as none of the household are skilled in writing the +Chinese characters. + +I make her the customary little gift, and, through my attendant, ask her +various questions about her history. She was married to a man much older +than herself, with whom she lived very happily; and her brother, a youth +of eighteen, dwelt with them. They had a good boat and a little piece of +ground, and she was skilful at the loom; so they managed to live well. +In summer the fishermen fish at night: when all the fleet is out, it is +pretty to see the line of torch-fires in the offing, two or three miles +away, like a string of stars. They do not go out when the weather is +threatening; but in certain months the great storms (taifu) come so +quickly that the boats are overtaken almost before they have time to +hoist sail. Still as a temple pond the sea was on the night when her +husband and brother last sailed away; the taifu rose before daybreak. +What followed, she relates with a simple pathos that I cannot reproduce +in our less artless tongue: + +'All the boats had come back except my husband's; for' my husband and my +brother had gone out farther than the others, so they were not able to +return as quickly. And all the people were looking and waiting. And +every minute the waves seemed to be growing higher and the wind more +terrible; and the other boats had to be dragged far up on the shore to +save them. Then suddenly we saw my husband's boat coming very, very +quickly. We were so glad! It came quite near, so that I could see the +face of my husband and the face of my brother. But suddenly a great wave +struck it upon one side, and it turned down into the water and it did +not come up again. And then we saw my husband and my brother swimming +but we could see them only when the waves lifted them up. Tall like +hills the waves were, and the head of my husband, and the head of my +brother would go up, up, up, and then down, and each time they rose to +the top of a wave so that we could see them they would cry out, +"Tasukete! tasukete!" [4] But the strong men were afraid; the sea was +too terrible; I was only a woman! Then my brother could not be seen any +more. My husband was old, but very strong; and he swam a long time--so +near that I could see his face was like the face of one in fear--and he +called "Tasukete!" But none could help him; and he also went down at +last. And yet I could see his face before he went down. + +'And for a long time after, every night, I used to see his face as I saw +it then, so that I could not rest, but only weep. And I prayed and +prayed to the Buddhas and to the Kami-Sama that I might not dream that +dream. Now it never comes; but I can still see his face, even while I +speak. . . . In that time my son was only a little child.' + +Not without sobs can she conclude her simple recital. Then, suddenly +bowing her head to the matting, and wiping away her tears with her +sleeve, she humbly prays our pardon for this little exhibition of +emotion, and laughs--the soft low laugh de rigueur of Japanese +politeness. This, I must confess, touches me still more than the story +itself. At a fitting moment my Japanese attendant delicately changes the +theme, and begins a light chat about our journey, and the danna-sama's +interest in the old customs and legends of the coast. And he succeeds in +amusing her by some relation of our wanderings in Izumo. + +She asks whither we are going. My attendant answers probably as far as +Tottori. + +'Aa! Tottori! So degozarimasu ka? Now, there is an old story--the +Story of the Futon of Tottori. But the danna-sama knows that story?' + +Indeed, the danna-sama does not, and begs earnestly to hear it. And the +story is set down somewhat as I learn it through the lips of my +interpreter. + +9 Many years ago, a very small yadoya in Tottori town received its +first guest, an itinerant merchant. He was received with more than +common kindness, for the landlord desired to make a good name for his +little inn. It was a new inn, but as its owner was poor, most of its +dogu--furniture and utensils--had been purchased from the furuteya. [5] +Nevertheless, everything was clean, comforting, and pretty. The guest +ate heartily and drank plenty of good warm sake; after which his bed was +prepared on the soft floor, and he laid himself down to sleep. + +[But here I must interrupt the story for a few moments, to say a word +about Japanese beds. Never; unless some inmate happen to be sick, do you +see a bed in any Japanese house by day, though you visit all the rooms +and peep into all the corners. In fact, no bed exists, in the Occidental +meaning of the word. That which the Japanese call bed has no bedstead, +no spring, no mattress, no sheets, no blankets. It consists of thick +quilts only, stuffed, or, rather, padded with cotton, which are called +futon. A certain number of futon are laid down upon the tatami (the +floor mats), and a certain number of others are used for coverings. The +wealthy can lie upon five or six quilts, and cover themselves with as +many as they please, while poor folk must content themselves with two or +three. And of course there are many kinds, from the servants' cotton +futon which is no larger than a Western hearthrug, and not much thicker, +to the heavy and superb futon silk, eight feet long by seven broad, +which only the kanemochi can afford. Besides these there is the yogi, a +massive quilt made with wide sleeves like a kimono, in which you can +find much comfort when the weather is extremely cold. All such things +are neatly folded up and stowed out of sight by day in alcoves contrived +in the wall and closed with fusuma--pretty sliding screen doors covered +with opaque paper usually decorated with dainty designs. There also are +kept those curious wooden pillows, invented to preserve the Japanese +coiffure from becoming disarranged during sleep. + +The pillow has a certain sacredness; but the origin and the precise +nature of the beliefs concerning it I have not been able to learn. Only +this I know, that to touch it with the foot is considered very wrong; +and that if it be kicked or moved thus even by accident, the clumsiness +must be atoned for by lifting the pillow to the forehead with the hands, +and replacing it in its original position respectfully, with the word +'go-men,' signifying, I pray to be excused.] + +Now, as a rule, one sleeps soundly after having drunk plenty of warm +sake, especially if the night be cool and the bed very snug. But the +guest, having slept but a very little while, was aroused by the sound of +voices in his room--voices of children, always asking each other the +same questions:--'Ani-San samukaro?' 'Omae samukaro?' The presence of +children in his room might annoy the guest, but could not surprise him, +for in these Japanese hotels there are no doors, but only papered +sliding screens between room and room. So it seemed to him that some +children must have wandered into his apartment, by mistake, in the dark. +He uttered some gentle rebuke. For a moment only there was silence; then +a sweet, thin, plaintive voice queried, close to his ear, 'Ani-San +samukaro?' (Elder Brother probably is cold?), and another sweet voice +made answer caressingly, 'Omae samukaro?' [Nay, thou probably art cold?] + +He arose and rekindled the candle in the andon, [6] and looked about the +room. There was no one. The shoji were all closed. He examined the +cupboards; they were empty. Wondering, he lay down again, leaving the +light still burning; and immediately the voices spoke again, +complainingly, close to his pillow: + +'Ani-San samukaro?' + +'Omae samukaro?' + +Then, for the first time, he felt a chill creep over him, which was not +the chill of the night. Again and again he heard, and each time he +became more afraid. For he knew that the voices were in the futon! It +was the covering of the bed that cried out thus. + +He gathered hurriedly together the few articles belonging to him, and, +descending the stairs, aroused the landlord and told what had passed. +Then the host, much angered, made reply: 'That to make pleased the +honourable guest everything has been done, the truth is; but the +honourable guest too much august sake having drank, bad dreams has +seen.' Nevertheless the guest insisted upon paying at once that which he +owed, and seeking lodging elsewhere. + +Next evening there came another guest who asked for a room for the +night. At a late hour the landlord was aroused by his lodger with the +same story. And this lodger, strange to say, had not taken any sake. +Suspecting some envious plot to ruin his business, the landlord answered +passionately: 'Thee to please all things honourably have been done: +nevertheless, ill-omened and vexatious words thou utterest. And that my +inn my means-of-livelihood is--that also thou knowest. Wherefore that +such things be spoken, right-there-is-none!' Then the guest, getting +into a passion, loudly said things much more evil; and the two parted in +hot anger. + +But after the guest was gone, the landlord, thinking all this very +strange, ascended to the empty room to examine the futon. And while +there, he heard the voices, and he discovered that the guests had said +only the truth. It was one covering--only one--which cried out. The rest +were silent. He took the covering into his own room, and for the +remainder of the night lay down beneath it. And the voices continued +until the hour of dawn: 'Ani-San samukaro?' 'Omae samukaro?' So that he +could not sleep. + +But at break of day he rose up and went out to find the owner of the +furuteya at which the futon had been purchased. The dlealer knew +nothing. He had bought the futon from a smaller shop, and the keeper of +that shop had purchased it from a still poorer dealer dwelling in the +farthest suburb of the city. And the innkeeper went from one to the +other, asking questions. + +Then at last it was found that the futon had belonged to a poor family, +and had been bought from the landlord of a little house in which the +family had lived, in the neighbourhood of the town. And the story of the +futon was this:-- + +The rent of the little house was only sixty sen a month, but even this +was a great deal for the poor folks to pay. The father could earn only +two or three yen a month, and the mother was ill and could not work; and +there were two children--a boy of six years and a boy of eight. And they +were strangers in Tottori. + +One winter's day the father sickened; and after a week of suffering he +died, and was buried. Then the long-sick mother followed him, and the +children were left alone. They knew no one whom they could ask for aid; +and in order to live they began to sell what there was to sell. + +That was not much: the clothes of the dead father and mother, and most +of their own; some quilts of cotton, and a few poor household utensils-- +hibachi, bowls, cups, and other trifles. Every day they sold something, +until there was nothing left but one futon. And a day came when they had +nothing to eat; and the rent was not paid. + +The terrible Dai-kan had arrived, the season of greatest cold; and the +snow had drifted too high that day for them to wander far from the +little house. So they could only lie down under their one futon, and +shiver together, and compassionate each other in their own childish way +--'Ani-San, samukaro?' 'Omae samukaro?' + +They had no fire, nor anything with which to make fire; and the darkness +came; and the icy wind screamed into the little house. + +They were afraid of the wind, but they were more afraid of the house- +owner, who roused them roughly to demand his rent. He was a hard man, +with an evil face. And finding there was none to pay him, he turned the +children into the snow, and took their one futon away from them, and +locked up the house. + +They had but one thin blue kimono each, for all their other clothes had +been sold to buy food; and they had nowhere to go. There was a temple of +Kwannon not far away, but the snow was too high for them to reach it. So +when the landlord was gone, they crept back behind the house. There the +drowsiness of cold fell upon them, and they slept, embracing each other +to keep warm. And while they slept, the gods covered them with a new +futon--ghostly-white and very beautiful. And they did not feel cold any +more. For many days they slept there; then somebody found them, and a +bed was made for them in the hakaba of the Temple of Kwannon-of-the- +Thousand-Arms. + +And the innkeeper, having heard these things, gave the futon to the +priests of the temple, and caused the kyo to be recited for the little +souls. And the futon ceased thereafter to speak. + + 10 + +One legend recalls another; and I hear to-night many strange ones. The +most remarkable is a tale which my attendant suddenly remembers--a +legend of Izumo. + +Once there lived in the Izumo village called Mochida-noura a peasant who +was so poor that he was afraid to have children. And each time that his +wife bore him a child he cast it into the river, and pretended that it +had been born dead. Sometimes it was a son, sometimes a daughter; but +always the infant was thrown into the river at night. Six were murdered +thus. + +But, as the years passed, the peasant found himself more prosperous. He +had been able to purchase land and to lay by money. And at last his wife +bore him a seventh--a boy. + +Then the man said: 'Now we can support a child, and we shall need a son +to aid us when we are old. And this boy is beautiful. So we will bring +him up.' + +And the infant thrived; and each day the hard peasant wondered more at +his own heart--for each day he knew that he loved his son more. + +One summer's night he walked out into his garden, carrying his child in +his arms. The little one was five months old. + +And the night was so beautiful, with its great moon, that the peasant +cried out--'Aa! kon ya med xurashii e yo da!' [Ah! to-night truly a +wondrously beautiful night is!] + +Then the infant, looking up into his face and speaking the speech of a +man, said--'Why, father! the LAST time you threw me away the night was +just like this, and the moon looked just the same, did it not?' [7] And +thereafter the child remained as other children of the same age, and +spoke no word. + +The peasant became a monk. + +11 + +After the supper and the bath, feeling too warm to sleep, I wander out +alone to visit the village hakaba, a long cemetery upon a sandhill, or +rather a prodigious dune, thinly covered at its summit with soil, but +revealing through its crumbling flanks the story of its creation by +ancient tides, mightier than tides of to-day. + +I wade to my knees in sand to reach the cemetery. It is a warm moonlight +night, with a great breeze. There are many bon-lanterns (bondoro), but +the sea-wind has blown out most of them; only a few here and there still +shed a soft white glow--pretty shrine-shaped cases of wood, with +apertures of symbolic outline, covered with white paper. Visitors beside +myself there are none, for it is late. But much gentle work has been +done here to-day, for all the bamboo vases have been furnished with +fresh flowers or sprays, and the water basins filled with fresh water, +and the monuments cleansed and beautified. And in the farthest nook of +the cemetery I find, before one very humble tomb, a pretty zen or +lacquered dining tray, covered with dishes and bowls containing a +perfect dainty little Japanese repast. There is also a pair of new +chopsticks, and a little cup of tea, and some of the dishes are still +warm. A loving woman's work; the prints of her little sandals are fresh +upon the path. + + 12 + +There is an Irish folk-saying that any dream may be remembered if the +dreamer, after awakening, forbear to scratch his head in the effort to +recall it. But should he forget this precaution, never can the dream be +brought back to memory: as well try to re-form the curlings of a smoke- +wreath blown away. + +Nine hundred and ninety-nine of a thousand dreams are indeed hopelessly +evaporative. But certain rare dreams, which come when fancy has been +strangely impressed by unfamiliar experiences--dreams particularly apt +to occur in time of travel--remain in recollection, imaged with all the +vividness of real events. + +Of such was the dream I dreamed at Hamamura, after having seen and heard +those things previously written down. + +Some pale broad paved place--perhaps the thought of a temple court-- +tinted by a faint sun; and before me a woman, neither young nor old, +seated at the base of a great grey pedestal that supported I know not +what, for I could look only at the woman's face. Awhile I thought that I +remembered her--a woman of Izumo; then she seemed a weirdness. Her lips +were moving, but her eyes remained closed, and I could not choose but +look at her. + +And in a voice that seemed to come thin through distance of years she +began a soft wailing chant; and, as I listened, vague memories came to +me of a Celtic lullaby. And as she sang, she loosed with one hand her +long black hair, till it fell coiling upon the stones. And, having +fallen, it was no longer black, but blue--pale day-blue--and was moving +sinuously, crawling with swift blue ripplings to and fro. And then, +suddenly, I became aware that the ripplings were far, very far away, and +that the woman was gone. There was only the sea, blue-billowing to the +verge of heaven, with long slow flashings of soundless surf. + +And wakening, I heard in the night the muttering of the real sea--the +vast husky speech of the Hotoke-umi--the Tide of the Returning Ghosts. + + +CHAPTER SEVEN Of a Dancing-Girl + + +NOTHING is more silent than the beginning of a Japanese banquet; and no +one, except a native, who observes the opening scene could possibly +imagine the tumultuous ending. + +The robed guests take their places, quite noiselessly and without +speech, upon the kneeling-cushions. The lacquered services are laid upon +the matting before them by maidens whose bare feet make no sound. For a +while there is only smiling and flitting, as in dreams. You are not +likely to hear any voices from without, as a banqueting-house is usually +secluded from the street by spacious gardens. At last the master of +ceremonies, host or provider, breaks the hush with the consecrated +formula: 'O-somatsu degozarimasu gal--dozo o-hashi!' whereat all present +bow silently, take up their hashi (chopsticks), and fall to. But hashi, +deftly used, cannot be heard at all. The maidens pour warm sake into the +cup of each guest without making the least sound; and it is not until +several dishes have been emptied, and several cups of sake absorbed, +that tongues are loosened. + +Then, all at once, with a little burst of laughter, a number of young +girls enter, make the customary prostration of greeting, glide into the +open space between the ranks of the guests, and begin to serve the wine +with a grace and dexterity of which no common maid is capable. They are +pretty; they are clad in very costly robes of silk; they are girdled +like queens; and the beautifully dressed hair of each is decked with +mock flowers, with wonderful combs and pins, and with curious ornaments +of gold. They greet the stranger as if they had always known him; they +jest, laugh, and utter funny little cries. These are the geisha, [1] or +dancing-girls, hired for the banquet. + +Samisen [2] tinkle. The dancers withdraw to a clear space at the farther +end of the banqueting-hall, always vast enough to admit of many more +guests than ever assemble upon common occasions. Some form the +orchestra, under the direction of a woman of uncertain age; there are +several samisen, and a tiny drum played by a child. Others, singly or in +pairs, perform the dance. It may be swift and merry, consisting wholly +of graceful posturing--two girls dancing together with such coincidence +of step and gesture as only years of training could render possible. But +more frequently it is rather like acting than like what we Occidentals +call dancing--acting accompanied with extraordinary waving of sleeves +and fans, and with a play of eyes and features, sweet, subtle, subdued, +wholly Oriental. There are more voluptuous dances known to geisha, but +upon ordinary occasions and before refined audiences they portray +beautiful old Japanese traditions, like the legend of the fisher +Urashima, beloved by the Sea God's daughter; and at intervals they sing +ancient Chinese poems, expressing a natural emotion with delicious +vividness by a few exquisite words. And always they pour the wine--that +warm, pale yellow, drowsy wine which fills the veins with soft +contentment, making a faint sense of ecstasy, through which, as through +some poppied sleep, the commonplace becomes wondrous and blissful, and +the geisha Maids of Paradise, and the world much sweeter than, in the +natural order of things, it could ever possibly be. + +The banquet, at first so silent, slowly changes to a merry tumult. The +company break ranks, form groups; and from group to group the girls +pass, laughing, prattling--still pouring sake into the cups which are +being exchanged and emptied with low bows [3] Men begin to sing old +samurai songs, old Chinese poems. One or two even dance. A geisha tucks +her robe well up to her knees; and the samisen strike up the quick +melody, 'Kompira fund-fund.' As the music plays, she begins to run +lightly and swiftly in a figure of 8, and a young man, carrying a sake +bottle and cup, also runs in the same figure of 8. If the two meet on a +line, the one through whose error the meeting happens must drink a cup +of sake. The music becomes quicker and quicker and the runners run +faster and faster, for they must keep time to the melody; and the geisha +wins. In another part of the room, guests and geisha are playing ken. +They sing as they play, facing each other, and clap their hands, and +fling out their fingers at intervals with little cries and the samisen +keep time. + +Choito--don-don! +Otagaidane; +Choito--don-don! +Oidemashitane; +Choito--don-don! +Shimaimashitane. + +Now, to play ken with a geisha requires a perfectly cool head, a quick +eye, and much practice. Having been trained from childhood to play all +kinds of ken--and there are many--she generally loses only for +politeness, when she loses at all. The signs of the most common ken are +a Man, a Fox, and a Gun. If the geisha make the sign of the Gun, you +must instantly, and in exact time to the music, make the sign of the +Fox, who cannot use the Gun. For if you make the sign of the Man, then +she will answer with the sign of the Fox, who can deceive the Man, and +you lose. And if she make the sign of the Fox first, then you should +make the sign of the Gun, by which the Fox can be killed. But all the +while you must watch her bright eyes and supple hands. These are pretty; +and if you suffer yourself, just for one fraction of a second, to think +how pretty they are, you are bewitched and vanquished. Notwithstanding +all this apparent comradeship, a certain rigid decorum between guest and +geisha is invariably preserved at a Japanese banquet. However flushed +with wine a guest may have become, you will never see him attempt to +caress a girl; he never forgets that she appears at the festivities only +as a human flower, to be looked at, not to be touched. The familiarity +which foreign tourists in Japan frequently permit themselves with geisha +or with waiter-girls, though endured with smiling patience, is really +much disliked, and considered by native observers an evidence of extreme +vulgarity. + +For a time the merriment grows; but as midnight draws near, the guests +begin to slip away, one by one, unnoticed. Then the din gradually dies +down, the music stops; and at last the geisha, having escorted the +latest of the feasters to the door, with laughing cries of Sayonara, can +sit down alone to break their long fast in the deserted hall. + +Such is the geisha's rle But what is the mystery of her? What are her +thoughts, her emotions, her secret self? What is her veritable existence +beyond the night circle of the banquet lights, far from the illusion +formed around her by the mist of wine? Is she always as mischievous as +she seems while her voice ripples out with mocking sweetness the words +of the ancient song? + +Kimi to neyaru ka, go sengoku toruka? Nanno gosengoku kimi to neyo? [4] + +Or might we think her capable of keeping that passionate promise she +utters so deliciously? + +Omae shindara tera ewa yaranu! Yaete konishite sake de nomu, [5] + +'Why, as for that,' a friend tells me, 'there was O'-Kama of Osaka who +realised the song only last year. For she, having collected from the +funeral pile the ashes of her lover, mingled them with sake, and at a +banquet drank them, in the presence of many guests.' In the presence of +many guests! Alas for romance! + +Always in the dwelling which a band of geisha occupy there is a strange +image placed in the alcove. Sometimes it is of clay, rarely of gold, +most commonly of porcelain. It is reverenced: offerings are made to it, +sweetmeats and rice bread and wine; incense smoulders in front of it, +and a lamp is burned before it. It is the image of a kitten erect, one +paw outstretched as if inviting--whence its name, 'the Beckoning +Kitten.' [6] It is the genius loci: it brings good-fortune, the +patronage of the rich, the favour of banquet-givers Now, they who know +the soul of the geisha aver that the semblance of the image is the +semblance of herself--playful and pretty, soft and young, lithe and +caressing, and cruel as a devouring fire. + +Worse, also, than this they have said of her: that in her shadow treads +the God of Poverty, and that the Fox-women are her sisters; that she is +the ruin of youth, the waster of fortunes, the destroyer of families; +that she knows love only as the source of the follies which are her +gain, and grows rich upon the substance of men whose graves she has +made; that she is the most consummate of pretty hypocrites, the most +dangerous of schemers, the most insatiable of mercenaries, the most +pitiless of mistresses. This cannot all be true. Yet thus much is true-- +that, like the kitten, the geisha is by profession a creature of prey. +There are many really lovable kittens. Even so there must be really +delightful dancing-girls. + +The geisha is only what she has been made in answer to foolish human +desire for the illusion of love mixed with youth and grace, but without +regrets or responsibilities: wherefore she has been taught, besides ken, +to play at hearts. Now, the eternal law is that people may play with +impunity at any game in this unhappy world except three, which are +called Life, Love, and Death. Those the gods have reserved to +themselves, because nobody else can learn to play them without doing +mischief. Therefore, to play with a geisha any game much more serious +than ken, or at least go, is displeasing to the gods. + +The girl begins her career as a slave, a pretty child bought from +miserably poor parents under a contract, according to which her services +may be claimed by the purchasers for eighteen, twenty, or even twenty- +five years. She is fed, clothed, and trained in a house occupied only by +geisha; and she passes the rest of her childhood under severe +discipline. She is taught etiquette, grace, polite speech; she has daily +lessons in dancing; and she is obliged to learn by heart a multitude of +songs with their airs. Also she must learn games, the service of +banquets and weddings, the art of dressing and looking beautiful. +Whatever physical gifts she may have are; carefully cultivated. +Afterwards she is taught to handle musical instruments: first, the +little drum (tsudzumi), which cannot be sounded at all without +considerable practice; then she learns to play the samisen a little, +with a plectrum of tortoise-shell or ivory. At eight or nine years of +age she attends banquets, chiefly as a drum-player. She is then the +most charming little creature imaginable, and already knows how to fill +your wine-cup exactly full, with a single toss of the bottle and without +spilling a drop, between two taps of her drum. + +Thereafter her discipline becomes more cruel. Her voice may be flexible +enough, but lacks the requisite strength. In the iciest hours of winter +nights, she must ascend to the roof of her dwelling-house, and there +sing and play till the blood oozes from her fingers and the voice dies +in her throat. The desired result is an atrocious cold. After a period +of hoarse whispering, her voice changes its tone and strengthens. She is +ready to become a public singer and dancer. + +In this capacity she usually makes her first appearance at the age of +twelve or thirteen. If pretty and skilful, her services will be much in +demand, and her time paid for at the rate of twenty to twenty-five sen +per hour. Then only do her purchasers begin to reimburse themselves for +the time, expense, and trouble of her training; and they are not apt to +be generous. For many years more all that she earns must pass into their +hands. She can own nothing, not even her clothes. + +At seventeen or eighteen she has made her artistic reputation. She has +been at many hundreds of entertainments, and knows by sight all the +important personages of her city, the character of each, the history of +all. Her life has been chiefly a night life; rarely has she seen the sun +rise since she became a dancer. She has learned to drink wine without +ever losing her head, and to fast for seven or eight hours without ever +feeling the worse. She has had many lovers. To a certain extent she is +free to smile upon whom she pleases; but she has been well taught, above +all else to use her power of charm for her own advantage. She hopes to +find Somebody able and willing to buy her freedom--which Somebody would +almost certainly thereafter discover many new and excellent meanings in +those Buddhist texts that tell about the foolishness of love and the +impermanency of all human relationships. + +At this point of her career we may leave the geisha: there-. after her +story is apt to prove unpleasant, unless she die young. Should that +happen, she will have the obsequies of her class, and her memory will be +preserved by divers curious rites. + +Some time, perhaps, while wandering through Japanese streets at night, +you hear sounds of music, a tinkling of samisen floating through the +great gateway of a Buddhist temple together with shrill voices of +singing-girls; which may seem to you a strange happening. And the deep +court is thronged with people looking and listening. Then, making your +way through the press to the temple steps, you see two geisha seated +upon the matting within, playing and singing, and a third dancing before +a little table. Upon the table is an ihai, or mortuary tablet; in front +of the tablet burns a little lamp, and incense in a cup of bronze; a +small repast has been placed there, fruits and dainties--such a repast +as, upon festival occasions, it is the custom to offer to the dead. You +learn that the kaimyo upon the tablet is that of a geisha; and that the +comrades of the dead girl assemble in the temple on certain days to +gladden her spirit with songs and dances. Then whosoever pleases may +attend the ceremony free of charge. + +But the dancing-girls of ancient times were not as the geisha of to-day. +Some of them were called shirabyoshi; and their hearts were not +extremely hard. They were beautiful; they wore queerly shaped caps +bedecked with gold; they were clad in splendid attire, and danced with +swords in the dwellings of princes. And there is an old story about one +of them which I think it worth while to tell. + +1 + +It was formerly, and indeed still is, a custom with young Japanese +artists to travel on foot through various parts of the empire, in order +to see and sketch the most celebrated scenery as well as to study famous +art objects preserved in Buddhist temples, many of which occupy sites of +extraordinary picturesqueness. It is to such wanderings, chiefly, that +we owe the existence of those beautiful books of landscape views and +life studies which are now so curious and rare, and which teach better +than aught else that only the Japanese can paint Japanese scenery. After +you have become acquainted with their methods of interpreting their own +nature, foreign attempts in the same line will seem to you strangely +flat and soulless. The foreign artist will give you realistic +reflections of what he sees; but he will give you nothing more. The +Japanese artist gives you that which he feels--the mood of a season, the +precise sensation of an hour and place; his work is qualified by a power +of suggestiveness rarely found in the art of the West. The Occidental +painter renders minute detail; he satisfies the imagination he evokes. +But his Oriental brother either suppresses or idealises detail--steeps +his distances in mist, bands his landscapes with cloud, makes of his +experience a memory in which only the strange and the beautiful survive, +with their sensations. He surpasses imagination, excites it, leaves it +hungry with the hunger of charm perceived in glimpses only. +Nevertheless, in such glimpses he is able to convey the feeling of a +time, the character of a place, after a fashion that seems magical. He +is a painter of recollections and of sensations rather than of clear-cut +realities; and in this lies the secret of his amazing power--a power not +to be appreciated by those who have never witnessed the scenes of his +inspiration. He is above all things impersonal. His human figures are +devoid of all individuality; yet they have inimitable merit as types +embodying the characteristics of a class: the childish curiosity of the +peasant, the shyness of the maiden, the fascination of the joro the +self-consciousness of the samurai, the funny, placid prettiness of the +child, the resigned gentleness of age. Travel and observation were the +influences which developed this art; it was never a growth of studios. + +A great many years ago, a young art student was travelling on foot from +Kyoto to Yedo, over the mountains The roads then were few and bad, and +travel was so difficult compared to what it is now that a proverb was +current, Kawai ko wa tabi wo sase (A pet child should be made to +travel). But the land was what it is to-day. There were the same forests +of cedar and of pine, the same groves of bamboo, the same peaked +villages with roofs of thatch, the same terraced rice-fields dotted with +the great yellow straw hats of peasants bending in the slime. From the +wayside, the same statues of Jizo smiled upon the same pilgrim figures +passing to the same temples; and then, as now, of summer days, one might +see naked brown children laughing in all the shallow rivers, and all the +rivers laughing to the sun. + +The young art student, however, was no kawai ko: he had already +travelled a great deal, was inured to hard fare and rough lodging, and +accustomed to make the best of every situation. But upon this journey he +found himself, one evening after sunset, in a region where it seemed +possible to obtain neither fare nor lodging of any sort--out of sight of +cultivated land. While attempting a short cut over a range to reach some +village, he had lost his way. + +There was no moon, and pine shadows made blackness all around him. The +district into which he had wandered seemed utterly wild; there were no +sounds but the humming of the wind in the pine-needles, and an infinite +tinkling of bell-insects. He stumbled on, hoping to gain some river +bank, which he could follow to a settlement. At last a stream abruptly +crossed his way; but it proved to be a swift torrent pouring into a +gorge between precipices. Obliged to retrace his steps, he resolved to +climb to the nearest summit, whence he might be able to discern some +sign of human life; but on reaching it he could see about him only a +heaping of hills. + +He had almost resigned himself to passing the night under the stars, +when he perceived, at some distance down the farther slope of the hill +he had ascended, a single thin yellow ray of light, evidently issuing +from some dwelling. He made his way towards it, and soon discerned a +small cottage, apparently a peasant's home. The light he had seen still +streamed from it, through a chink in the closed storm-doors. He hastened +forward, and knocked at the entrance. + +Not until he had knocked and called several times did he hear any stir +within; then a woman 's voice asked what was wanted. The voice was +remarkably sweet, and the speech of the unseen questioner surprised him, +for she spoke in the cultivated idiom of the capital. He responded that +he was a student, who had lost his way in the mountains; that he wished, +if possible, to obtain food and lodging for the night; and that if this +could not be given, he would feel very grateful for information how to +reach the nearest village--adding that he had means enough to pay for +the services of a guide. The voice, in return, asked several other +questions, indicating extreme surprise that anyone could have reached +the dwelling from the direction he had taken. But his answers evidently +allayed suspicion, for the inmate exclaimed: 'I will come in a moment. +It would be difficult for you to reach any village to-night; and the +path is dangerous.' + +After a brief delay the storm-doors were pushed open, and a woman +appeared with a paper lantern, which she so held as to illuminate the +stranger's face, while her own remained in shadow. She scrutinised him +in silence, then said briefly, 'Wait; I will bring water.' She fetched a +wash-basin, set it upon the doorstep, and offered the guest a towel. He +removed his sandals, washed from his feet the dust of travel, and was +shown into a neat room which appeared to occupy the whole interior, +except a small boarded space at the rear, used as a kitchen. A cotton +zabuton was laid for him to kneel upon, and a brazier set before him. + +It was only then that he had a good opportunity of observing his +hostess, and he was startled by the delicacy and beauty of her features. +She might have been three or four years older than he, but was still in +the bloom of youth. Certainly she was not a peasant girl. In the same +singularly sweet voice she said to him: 'I am now alone, and I never +receive guests here. But I am sure it would be dangerous for you to +travel farther tonight. There are some peasants in the neighbourhood, +but you cannot find your way to them in the dark without a guide. So I +can let you stay here until morning. You will not be comfortable, but I +can give you a bed. And I suppose you are hungry. There is only some +shojin-ryori, [7]--not at all good, but you are welcome to it.' + +The traveller was quite hungry, and only too glad of the offer. The +young woman kindled a little fire, prepared a few dishes in silence-- +stewed leaves of na, some aburage, some kampyo, and a bowl of coarse +rice--and quickly set the meal before him, apologising for its quality. +But during his repast she spoke scarcely at all, and her reserved manner +embarrassed him. As she answered the few questions he ventured upon +merely by a bow or by a solitary word, he soon refrained from attempting +to press the conversation. + +Meanwhile he had observed that the small house was spotlessly clean, and +the utensils in which his food was served were immaculate. The few cheap +objects in the apartment were pretty. The fusuma of the oshiire and +zendana [8] were of white paper only, but had been decorated with large +Chinese characters exquisitely written, characters suggesting, according +to the law of such decoration, the favourite themes of the poet and +artist: Spring Flowers, Mountain and Sea, Summer Rain, Sky and Stars, +Autumn Moon, River Water, Autumn Breeze. At one side of the apartment +stood a kind of low altar, supporting a butsudan, whose tiny lacquered +doors, left open, showed a mortuary tablet within, before which a lamp +was burning between offerings of wild flowers. And above this household +shrine hung a picture of more than common merit, representing the +Goddess of Mercy, wearing the moon for her aureole. + +As the student ended his little meal the young woman observed: I cannot +offer you a good bed, and there is only a paper mosquito-curtain The bed +and the curtain are mine, but to-night I have many things to do, and +shall have no time to sleep; therefore I beg you will try to rest, +though I am not able to make you comfortable.' + +He then understood that she was, for some strange reason, entirely +alone, and was voluntarily giving up her only bed to him upon a kindly +pretext. He protested honestly against such an excess of hospitality, +and assured her that he could sleep quite soundly anywhere on the floor, +and did not care about the mosquitoes. But she replied, in the tone of +an elder sister, that he must obey her wishes. She really had something +to do, and she desired to be left by herself as soon as possible; +therefore, understanding him to be a gentleman, she expected he would +suffer her to arrange matters in her own way. To this he could offer no +objection, as there was but one room. She spread the mattress on the +floor, fetched a wooden pillow, suspended her paper mosquito-curtain, +unfolded a large screen on the side of the bed toward the butsudan, and +then bade him good-night in a manner that assured him she wished him to +retire at once; which he did, not without some reluctance at the thought +of all the trouble he had unintentionally caused her. + +3 + +Unwilling as the young traveller felt to accept a kindness involving the +sacrifice of another's repose, he found the bed more than comfortable. +He was very tired, and had scarcely laid his head upon the wooden pillow +before he forgot everything in sleep. + +Yet only a little while seemed to have passed when he was awakened by a +singular sound. It was certainly the sound of feet, but not of feet +walking softly. It seemed rather the sound of feet in rapid motion, as +of excitement. Then it occurred to him that robbers might have entered +the house. As for himself, he had little to fear because he had little +to lose. His anxiety was chiefly for the kind person who had granted him +hospitality. Into each side of the paper mosquito-curtain a small square +of brown netting had been fitted, like a little window, and through one +of these he tried to look; but the high screen stood between him and +whatever was going on. He thought of calling, but this impulse was +checked by the reflection that in case of real danger it would be both +useless and imprudent to announce his presence before understanding the +situation. The sounds which had made him uneasy continued, and were more +and more mysterious. He resolved to prepare for the worst, and to risk +his life, if necessary, in order to defend his young hostess. Hastily +girding up his robes, he slipped noiselessly from under the paper +curtain, crept to the edge of the screen, and peeped. What he saw +astonished him extremely. + +Before her illuminated butsudan the young woman, magnificently attired, +was dancing all alone. Her costume he recognised as that of a +shirabyoshi, though much richer than any he had ever seen worn by a +professional dancer. Marvellously enhanced by it, her beauty, in that +lonely time and place, appeared almost supernatural; but what seemed to +him even more wonderful was her dancing. For an instant he felt the +tingling of a weird doubt. The superstitions of peasants, the legends of +Fox-women, flashed before his imagination; but the sight of the Buddhist +shrine, of the sacred picture, dissipated the fancy, and shamed him for +the folly of it. At the same time he became conscious that he was +watching something she had not wished him to see, and that it was his +duty, as her guest, to return at once behind the screen; but the +spectacle fascinated him. He felt, with not less pleasure than +amazement, that he was looking upon the most accomplished dancer he had +ever seen; and the more he watched, the more the witchery of her grace +grew upon him. Suddenly she paused, panting, unfastened her girdle, +turned in the act of doffing her upper robe, and started violently as +her eyes encountered his own. + +He tried at once to excuse himself to her. He said he had been suddenly +awakened by the sound of quick feet, which sound had caused him some +uneasiness, chiefly for her sake, because of the lateness of the hour +and the lonesomeness of the place. Then he confessed his surprise at +what he had seen, and spoke of the manner in which it had attracted him. +'I beg you,' he continued, 'to forgive my curiosity, for I cannot help +wondering who you are, and how you could have become so marvellous a +dancer. All the dancers of Saikyo I have seen, yet I have never seen +among the most celebrated of them a girl who could dance like you; and +once I had begun to watch you, I could not take away my eyes.' + +At first she had seemed angry, but before he had ceased to speak her +expression changed. She smiled, and seated herself before him.' 'No, I +am not angry with you,' she said. 'I am only sorry that you should have +watched me, for I am sure you must have thought me mad when you saw me +dancing that way, all by myself; and now I must tell you the meaning of +what you have seen.' + +So she related her story. Her name he remembered to have heard as a boy +--her professional name, the name of the most famous of shirabyoshi, the +darling of the capital, who, in the zenith of her fame and beauty, had +suddenly vanished from public life, none knew whither or why. She had +fled from wealth and fortune with a youth who loved her. He was poor, +but between them they possessed enough means to live simply and happily +in the country. They built a little house in the mountains, and there +for a number of years they existed only for each other. He adored her. +One of his greatest pleasures was to see her dance. Each evening he +would play some favourite melody, and she would dance for him. But one +long cold winter he fell sick, and, in spite of her tender nursing, +died. Since then she had lived alone with the memory of him, performing +all those small rites of love and homage with which the dead are +honoured. Daily before his tablet she placed the customary offerings, +and nightly danced to please him, as of old. And this was the +explanation of what the young traveller had seen. It was indeed rude, +she continued, to have awakened her tired guest; but she had waited +until she thought him soundly sleeping, and then she had tried to dance +very, very lightly. So she hoped he would pardon her for having +unintentionally disturbed him. + +When she had told him all, she made ready a little tea, which they drank +together; then she entreated him so plaintively to please her by trying +to sleep again that he found himself obliged to go back, with many +sincere apologies, under the paper mosquito-curtain. + +He slept well and long; the sun was high before he woke. On rising, he +found prepared for him a meal as simple as that of the evening before, +and he felt hungry. Nevertheless he ate sparingly, fearing the young +woman might have stinted herself in thus providing for him; and then he +made ready to depart. But when he wanted to pay her for what he had +received, and for all the trouble he had given her, she refused to take +anything from him, saying: 'What I had to give was not worth money, and +what I did was done for kindness alone. So! pray that you will try to +forget the discomfort you suffered here, and will remember only the +good-will of one who had nothing to offer.' + +He still endeavoured to induce her to accept something; but at last, +finding that his insistence only gave her pain, he took leave of her +with such words as he could find to express his gratitude, and not +without a secret regret, for her beauty and her gentleness had charmed +him more than he would have liked to acknowledge to any but herself. She +indicated to him the path to follow, and watched him descend the +mountain until he had passed from sight. An hour later he found himself +upon a highway with which he was familiar. Then a sudden remorse touched +him: he had forgotten to tell her his name. For an instant he hesitated; +then he said to himself, 'What matters it? I shall be always poor.' And +he went on. + +Many years passed by, and many fashions with them; and the painter +became old. But ere becoming old he had become famous. Princes, charmed +by the wonder of his work, had vied with one another in giving him +patronage; so that he grew rich, and possessed a beautiful dwelling of +his own in the City of the Emperors. Young artists from many provinces +were his pupils, and lived with him, serving him in all things while +receiving his instruction; and his name was known throughout the land. + +Now, there came one day to his house an old woman, who asked to speak +with him. The servants, seeing that she was meanly dressed and of +miserable appearance, took her to be some common beggar, and questioned +her roughly. But when she answered: 'I can tell to no one except your +master why I have come,' they believed her mad, and deceived her, +saying: 'He is not now in Saikyo, nor do we know how soon he will +return.' + +But the old woman came again and again--day after day, and week after +week--each time being told something that was not true: 'To-day he is +ill,' or, 'To-day he is very busy,' or, 'To-day he has much company, and +therefore cannot see you.' Nevertheless she continued to come, always at +the same hour each day, and always carrying a bundle wrapped in a ragged +covering; and the servants at last thought it were best to speak to +their master about her. So they said to him: 'There is a very old woman, +whom we take to be a beggar, at our lord's gate. More than fifty times +she has come, asking to see our lord, and refusing to tell us why-- +saying that she can tell her wishes only to our lord. And we have tried +to discourage her, as she seemed to be mad; but she always comes. +Therefore we have presumed to mention the matter to our lord, in order +that we may learn what is to be done hereafter.' + +Then the Master answered sharply: 'Why did none of you tell me of this +before?' and went out himself to the gate, and spoke very kindly to the +woman, remembering how he also had been poor. And he asked her if she +desired alms of him. + +But she answered that she had no need of money or of food, and only +desired that he would paint for her a picture. He wondered at her wish, +and bade her enter his house. So she entered into the vestibule, and, +kneeling there, began to untie the knots of the bundle she had brought +with her. When she had unwrapped it, the painter perceived curious rich +quaint garments of silk broidered with designs in gold, yet much frayed +and discoloured by wear and time--the wreck of a wonderful costume of +other days, the attire of a shirabyoshi. + +While the old woman unfolded the garments one by one, and tried to +smooth them with her trembling fingers, a memory stirred in the Master's +brain, thrilled dimly there a little space, then suddenly lighted up. In +that soft shock of recollection, he saw again the lonely mountain +dwelling in which he had received unremunerated hospitality--the tiny +room prepared for his rest, the paper mosquito-curtain, the faintly +burning lamp before the Buddhist shrine, the strange beauty of one +dancing there alone in the dead of the night. Then, to the astonishment +of the aged visitor, he, the favoured of princes, bowed low before her, +and said: 'Pardon my rudeness in having forgotten your face for a +moment; but it is more than forty years since we last saw each other. +Now I remember you well. You received me once at your house. You gave up +to me the only bed you had. I saw you dance, and you told me all your +story. You had been a shirabyoshi, and I have not forgotten your name.' + +He uttered it. She, astonished and confused, could not at first reply to +him, for she was old and had suffered much, and her memory had begun to +fail. But he spoke more and more kindly to her, and reminded her of many +things which she had told him, and described to her the house in which +she had lived alone, so that at last she also remembered; and she +answered, with tears of pleasure: 'Surely the Divine One who looketh +down above the sound of prayer has guided me. But when my unworthy home +was honoured by the visit of the august Master, I was not as I now am. +And it seems to me like a miracle of our Lord Buddha that the Master +should remember me.' + +Then she related the rest of her simple story. In the course of years, +she had become, through poverty, obliged to part with her little house; +and in her old age she had returned alone to the great city, in which +her name had long been forgotten. It had caused her much pain to lose +her home; but it grieved her still more that, in becoming weak and old, +she could no longer dance each evening before the butsudan, to please +the spirit of the dead whom she had loved. Therefore she wanted to have +a picture of herself painted, in the costume and the attitude of the +dance, that she might suspend it before the butsudan. For this she had +prayed earnestly to Kwannon. And she had sought out the Master because +of his fame as a painter, since she desired, for the sake of the dead, +no common work, but a picture painted with great skill; and she had +brought her dancing attire, hoping that the Master might be willing to +paint her therein. + +He listened to all with a kindly smile, and answered her: 'It will be +only a pleasure for me to paint the picture which you want. This day I +have something to finish which cannot be delayed. But if you will come +here to-morrow, I will paint you exactly as you wish, and as well as I +am able.' + +But she said: 'I have not yet told to the Master the thing which most +troubles me. And it is this--that I can offer in return for so great a +favour nothing except these dancer's clothes; and they are of no value +in themselves, though they were costly once. Still, I hoped the Master +might be willing to take them, seeing they have become curious; for +there are no more shirabyoshi, and the maiko of these times wear no such +robes.' + +'Of that matter,' the good painter exclaimed, 'you must not think at +all! No; I am glad to have this present chance of paying a small part +of my old debt to you. So to-morrow I will paint you just as you wish.' + +She prostrated herself thrice before him, uttering thanks and then said, +'Let my lord pardon, though I have yet something more to say. For I do +not wish that he should paint me as I now am, but only as I used to be +when I was young, as my lord knew me.' + +He said: 'I remember well. You were very beautiful.' + +Her wrinkled features lighted up with pleasure, as she bowed her thanks +to him for those words. And she exclaimed: 'Then indeed all that I hoped +and prayed for may be done! Since he thus remembers my poor youth, I +beseech my lord to paint me, not as I now am, but as he saw me when I +was not old and, as it has pleased him generously to say, not uncomely. +O Master, make me young again! Make me seem beautiful that I may seem +beautiful to the soul of him for whose sake I, the unworthy, beseech +this! He will see the Master's work: he will forgive me that I can no +longer dance. + +Once more the Master bade her have no anxiety, and said: 'Come tomorrow, +and I will paint you. I will make a picture of you just as you +were when I saw you, a young and beautiful shirabyoshi, and I will paint +it as carefully and as skilfully as if I were painting the picture of +the richest person in the land. Never doubt, but come.' + +5 + +So the aged dancer came at the appointed hour; and upon soft white silk +the artist painted a picture of her. Yet not a picture of her as she +seemed to the Master's pupils but the memory of her as she had been in +the days of her youth, bright-eyed as a bird, lithe as a bamboo, +dazzling as a tennin [9] in her raiment of silk and gold. Under the +magic of the Master's brush, the vanished grace returned, the faded +beauty bloomed again. When the kakemono had been finished, and stamped +with his seal, he mounted it richly upon silken cloth, and fixed to it +rollers of cedar with ivory weights, and a silken cord by which to hang +it; and he placed it in a little box of white wood, and so gave it to +the shirabyoshi. And he would also have presented her with a gift of +money. But though he pressed her earnestly, he could not persuade her to +accept his help. 'Nay,' she made answer, with tears, 'indeed I need +nothing. The picture only I desired. For that I prayed; and now my +prayer has been answered, and I know that I never can wish for anything +more in this life, and that if I come to die thus desiring nothing, to +enter upon the way of Buddha will not be difficult. One thought .alone +causes me sorrow--that I have nothing to offer to the Master but this +dancer's apparel, which is indeed of little worth, though I beseech him +I to accept it; and I will pray each day that his future life may be a +life of happiness, because of the wondrous kindness which I he has done +me.' + +'Nay,' protested the painter, smiling, 'what is it that I have done? +Truly nothing. As for the dancer's garments, I will accept them, if that +can make you more happy. They will bring back pleasant memories of the +night I passed in your home, when you gave up all your comforts for my +unworthy sake, and yet would not suffer me to pay for that which I used; +and for that kindness I hold myself to be still in your debt. But now +tell me where you live, so that I may see the picture in its place.' For +he had resolved within himself to place her beyond the reach of want. + +But she excused herself with humble words, and would not tell him, +saying that her dwelling-place was too mean to be looked upon by such as +he; and then, with many prostrations, she thanked him again and again, +and went away with her treasure, weeping for joy. + +Then the Master called to one of his pupils: 'Go quickly after that +woman, but so that she does not know herself followed, and bring me word +where she lives.' So the young man followed her, unperceived. + +He remained long away, and when he returned he laughed in the manner of +one obliged to say something which it is not pleasant to hear, and he +said: 'That woman, O Master, I followed out of the city to the dry bed +of the river, near to the place where criminals are executed. There I +saw a hut such as an Eta might dwell in, and that is where she lives. A +forsaken and filthy place, O Master!' + +'Nevertheless,' the painter replied, 'to-morrow you will take me to that +forsaken and filthy place. What time I live she shall not suffer for +food or clothing or comfort.' + +And as all wondered, he told them the story of the shirabyoshi, after +which it did not seem to them that his words were strange. + +6 + +On the morning of the day following, an hour after sun-rise, the Master +and his pupil took their way to the dry bed of the river, beyond the +verge of the city, to the place of outcasts. + +The entrance of the little dwelling they found closed by a single +shutter, upon which the Master tapped many times without evoking a +response. Then, finding the shutter unfastened from within, he pushed it +slightly aside, and called through the aperture. None replied, and he +decided to enter. Simultaneously, with extraordinary vividness, there +thrilled back to him the sensation of the very instant when, as a tired. +lad, he stood pleading for admission to the lonesome little cottage +among the hills. + +Entering alone softly, he perceived that the woman was lying there, +wrapped in a single thin and tattered futon, seemingly asleep. On a rude +shelf he recognised the butsudan of' forty years before, with its +tablet, and now, as then, a tiny lamp was burning in front of the +kaimyo. The kakemono of the Goddess of Mercy with her lunar aureole was +gone, but on the wall facing the shrine he beheld his own dainty gift +suspended, and an ofuda beneath it--an ofuda of Hito-koto-Kwannon [10]-- +that Kwannon unto whom it is unlawful to pray more than once, as she +answers but a single prayer. There was little else in the desolate +dwelling; only the garments of a female pilgrim, and a mendicant's staff +and bowl. + +But the Master did not pause to look at these things, for he desired to +awaken and to gladden the sleeper, and he called her name cheerily twice +and thrice. + +Then suddenly he saw that she was dead, and he wondered while he gazed +upon her face, for it seemed less old. A vague sweetness, like a ghost +of youth, had returned to it; the lines of sorrow had been softened, the +wrinkles strangely smoothed, by the touch of a phantom Master mightier +than he. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT From Hoki to Oki + +1 + +I RESOLVED to go to Oki. + +Not even a missionary had ever been to Oki, and its shores had never +been seen by European eyes, except on those rare occasions when men-of- +war steamed by them, cruising about the Japanese Sea. This alone would +have been a sufficient reason for going there; but a stronger one was +furnished for me by the ignorance of the Japanese themselves about Oki. +Excepting the far-away Riu-Kiu, or Loo-Choo Islands, inhabited by a +somewhat different race with a different language, the least-known +portion of the Japanese Empire is perhaps Oki. Since it belongs to the +same prefectural district as Izumo, each new governor of Shimane-Ken is +supposed to pay one visit to Oki after his inauguration; and the chief +of police of the province sometimes goes there upon a tour of +inspection. There are also some mercantile houses in Matsue and in other +cities which send a commercial traveller to Oki once a year. +Furthermore, there is quite a large trade with Oki--almost all carried +on by small sailing-vessels. But such official and commercial +communications have not been of a nature to make Oki much better known +to-day than in the medieval period of Japanese history. There are still +current among the common people of the west coast extraordinary stories +of Oki much like those about that fabulous Isle of Women, which figures +so largely in the imaginative literature of various Oriental races. +According to these old legends, the moral notions of the people of Oki +were extremely fantastic: the most rigid ascetic could not dwell there +and maintain his indifference to earthly pleasures; and, however wealthy +at his arrival, the visiting stranger must soon return to his native +land naked and poor, because of the seductions of women. I had quite +sufficient experiences of travel in queer countries to feel certain that +all these marvellous stories signified nothing beyond the bare fact that +Oki was a terra incognita; and I even felt inclined to believe that the +average morals of the people of Oki--judging by those of the common folk +of the western provinces--must be very much better than the morals of +our ignorant classes at home. + +Which I subsequently ascertained to be the case. + +For some time I could find no one among my Japanese acquaintances to +give me any information about Oki, beyond the fact that in ancient times +it had been a place of banishment for the Emperors Go-Daigo and Go-Toba, +dethroned by military usurpers, and this I already knew. But at last, +quite unexpectedly, I found a friend--a former fellow-teacher--who had +not only been to Oki, but was going there again within a few days about +some business matter. We agreed to go together. His accounts of Oki +differed very materially from those of the people who had never been +there. The Oki folks, he said, were almost as much civilised as the +Izumo folks: they, had nice towns and good public schools. They were +very simple and honest beyond belief, and extremely kind to strangers. +Their only boast was that of having kept their race unchanged since the +time that the Japanese had first come to Japan; or, in more romantic +phrase, since the Age of the Gods. They were all Shintoists, members of +the Izumo Taisha faith, but Buddhism was also maintained among them, +chiefly through the generous subscription of private individuals. And +there were very comfortable hotels, so that I would feel quite at home. + +He also gave me a little book about Oki, printed for the use of the Oki +schools, from which I obtained the following brief summary of facts: + +2 + +Oki-no-Kuni, or the Land of Oki, consists of two groups of small islands +in the Sea of Japan, about one hundred miles from the coast of Izumo. +Dozen, as the nearer group is termed, comprises, besides various islets, +three islands lying close together: Chiburishima, or the Island of +Chiburi (sometimes called Higashinoshima, or Eastern Island); +Nishinoshima, or the Western Island, and Nakanoshima, or the Middle +Island. Much larger than any of these is the principal island, Dogo, +which together with various islets, mostly uninhabited, form the +remaining group. It is sometimes called Oki--though the name Oki is +more generally used for the whole archipelago. [1] + +Officially, Oki is divided into four kori or counties. Chiburi and +Nishinoshima together form Chiburigori; Nakanoshima, with an islet, +makes Amagori, and Dogo is divided into Ochigori and Sukigori. + +All these islands are very mountainous, and only a small portion of +their area has ever been cultivated. Their chief sources of revenue are +their fisheries, in which nearly the whole population has always been +engaged from the most ancient times. + +During the winter months the sea between Oki and the west coast is +highly dangerous for small vessels, and in that season the islands hold +little communication with the mainland. Only one passenger steamer runs +to Oki from Sakai in Hoki In a direct line, the distance from Sakai in +Hoki to Saigo, the chief port of Oki, is said to be thirty-nine ri; but +the steamer touches at the other islands upon her way thither. + +There are quite a number of little towns, or rather villages, in Oki, of +which forty-five belong to Dogo. The villages are nearly all situated +upon the coast. There are large schools in the principal towns. The +population of the islands is stated to be 30,196, but the respective +populations of towns and villages are not given. + +3 + +From Matsue in Izumo to Sakai in Hoki is a trip of barely two hours by +steamer. Sakai is the chief seaport of Shimane-Ken. It is an ugly little +town, full of unpleasant smells; it exists only as a port; it has no +industries, scarcely any shops, and only one Shinto temple of small +dimensions and smaller interest. Its principal buildings are warehouses, +pleasure resorts for sailors, and a few large dingy hotels, which are +always overcrowded with guests waiting for steamers to Osaka, to Bakkan, +to Hamada, to Niigata, and various other ports. On this coast no +steamers run regularly anywhere; their owners attach no business value +whatever to punctuality, and guests have usually to wait for a much +longer time than they could possibly have expected, and the hotels are +glad. + +But the harbour is beautiful--a long frith between the high land of +Izumo and the low coast of Hoki. It is perfectly sheltered from storms, +and deep enough to admit all but the largest steamers. The ships can lie +close to the houses, and the harbour is nearly always thronged with all +sorts of craft, from junks to steam packets of the latest construction. + +My friend and I were lucky enough to secure back rooms at the best +hotel. Back rooms are the best in nearly all Japanese buildings: at +Sakai they have the additional advantage of overlooking the busy wharves +and the whole luminous bay, beyond which the Izumo hills undulate in +huge green billows against the sky. There was much to see and to be +amused at. Steamers and sailing craft of all sorts were lying two and +three deep before the hotel, and the naked dock labourers were loading +and unloading in their own peculiar way. These men are recruited from +among the strongest peasantry of Hoki and of Izumo, and some were really +fine men, over whose brown backs the muscles rippled at every movement. +They were assisted by boys of fifteen or sixteen apparently--apprentices +learning the work, but not yet strong enough to bear heavy burdens. I +noticed that nearly all had bands of blue cloth bound about their calves +to keep the veins from bursting. And all sang as they worked. There was +one curious alternate chorus, in which the men in the hold gave the +signal by chanting 'dokoe, dokoel' (haul away!) and those at the hatch +responded by improvisations on the appearance of each package as it +ascended: + +Dokoe, dokoe! +Onnago no ko da. +Dokoe, dokoe! +Oya dayo, oya dayo. +Dokoe, dokoel +Choi-choi da, choi-choi da. +Dokoe, dokoe! +Matsue da, Matsueda. +Dokoe, dokoe! +Koetsumo Yonago da, [20] etc. + +But this chant was for light quick work. A very different chant +accompanied the more painful and slower labour of loading heavy sacks +and barrels upon the shoulders of the stronger men:-- + +Yan-yui! +Yan-yui! +Yan-yui! +Yan-yui! +Yoi-ya-sa-a-a-no-do-koe-shi! [3] + +Three men always lifted the weight. At the first yan-yui all stooped; at +the second all took hold; the third signified ready; at the fourth the +weight rose from the ground; and with the long cry of yoiyasa no +dokoeshi it was dropped on the brawny shoulder waiting to receive it. + +Among the workers was a naked laughing boy, with a fine contralto that +rang out so merrily through all the din as to create something of a +sensation in the hotel. A young woman, one of the guests, came out upon +the balcony to look, and exclaimed: 'That boy's voice is RED'--whereat +everybody smiled. Under the circumstances I thought the observation very +expressive, although it recalled a certain famous story about scarlet +and the sound of a trumpet, which does not seem nearly so funny now as +it did at a time when we knew less about the nature of light and sound. + +The Oki steamer arrived the same afternoon, but she could not approach +the wharf, and I could only obtain a momentary glimpse of her stern +through a telescope, with which I read the name, in English letters of +gold--OKI-SARGO. Before I could obtain any idea of her dimensions, a +huge black steamer from Nagasaki glided between, and moored right in the +way. + +I watched the loading and unloading, and listened to the song of the boy +with the red voice, until sunset, when all quit work; and after that I +watched the Nagasaki steamer. She had made her way to our wharf as the +other vessels moved out, and lay directly under the balcony. The captain +and crew did not appear to be in a hurry about anything. They all +squatted down together on the foredeck, where a feast was spread for +them by lantern-light. Dancing-girls climbed on board and feasted with +them, and sang to the sound of the samisen, and played with them the +game of ken. Late into the night the feasting and the fun continued; and +although an alarming quantity of sake was consumed, there was no +roughness or boisterousness. But sake is the most soporific of wines; +and by midnight only three of the men remained on deck. One of these had +not taken any sake at all, but still desired to eat. Happily for him +there climbed on board a night-walking mochiya with a box of mochi, +which are cakes of rice-flour sweetened with native sugar. The hungry +one bought all, and reproached the mochiya because there were no more, +and offered, nevertheless, to share the mochi with his comrades. +Whereupon the first to whom the offer was made answered somewhat after +this manner: + +'I-your-servant mochi-for this-world-in no-use-have. Sake alone this- +life-in if-there-be, nothing-beside-desirable-is. + +'For me-your-servant,' spake the other, 'Woman this-fleeting-life-in +the-supreme-thing is; mochi-or-sake-for earthly-use have-I-none.' + +But, having made all the mochi to disappear, he that had been hungry +turned himself to the mochiya, and said:--'O Mochiya San, I-your-servant +Woman-or-sake-for earthly-requirement have-none. Mochi-than things +better this-life-of-sorrow-in existence-have-not !' + +4 + +Early in the morning we were notified that the Oki-Saigo would start at +precisely eight o'clock, and that we had better secure our tickets at +once. The hotel-servant, according to Japanese custom, relieved us of +all anxiety about baggage, etc., and bought our tickets: first-class +fare, eighty sen. And after a hasty breakfast the hotel boat came under +the window to take us away. + +Warned by experience of the discomforts of European dress on Shimane +steamers, I adopted Japanese costume and exchanged my shoes for sandals. +Our boatmen sculled swiftly through the confusion of shipping and +junkery; and as we cleared it I saw, far out in midstream, the joki +waiting for us. Joki is a Japanese name for steam-vessel. The word had +not yet impressed me as being capable of a sinister interpretation. + +She seemed nearly as long as a harbour tug, though much more squabby; +and she otherwise so much resembled the Lilliputian steamers of Lake +Shinji, that I felt somewhat afraid of her, even for a trip of one +hundred miles. But exterior inspection afforded no clue to the mystery +of her inside. We reached her and climbed into her starboard through a +small square hole. At once I found myself cramped in a heavily-roofed +gangway, four feet high and two feet wide, and in the thick of a +frightful squeeze--passengers stifling in the effort to pull baggage +three feet in diameter through the two-foot orifice. It was impossible +to advance or retreat; and behind me the engine-room gratings were +pouring wonderful heat into this infernal corridor. I had to wait with +the back of my head pressed against the roof until, in some unimaginable +way, all baggage and passengers had squashed and squeezed through. Then, +reaching a doorway, I fell over a heap of sandals and geta, into the +first-class cabin. It was pretty, with its polished woodwork and +mirrors; it was surrounded by divans five inches wide; and in the centre +it was nearly six feet high. Such altitude would have been a cause for +comparative happiness, but that from various polished bars of brass +extended across the ceiling all kinds of small baggage, including two +cages of singing-crickets (chongisu), had been carefully suspended. +Furthermore the cabin was already extremely occupied: everybody, of +course, on the floor, and nearly everybody lying at extreme length; and +the heat struck me as being supernatural. Now they that go down to the +sea in ships, out of Izumo and such places, for the purpose of doing +business in great waters, are never supposed to stand up, but to squat +in the ancient patient manner; and coast, or lake steamers are +constructed with a view to render this attitude only possible. Observing +an open door in the port side of the cabin, I picked my way over a +tangle of bodies and limbs--among them a pair of fairy legs belonging +to a dancing-girl--and found myself presently in another gangway, also +roofed, and choked up to the roof with baskets of squirming eels. Exit +there was none: so I climbed back over all the legs and tried the +starboard gangway a second time. Even during that short interval, it had +been half filled with baskets of unhappy chickens. But I made a reckless +dash over them, in spite of frantic cacklings which hurt my soul, and +succeeded in finding a way to the cabin-roof. It was entirely occupied +by water-melons, except one corner, where there was a big coil of rope. +I put melons inside of the rope, and sat upon them in the sun. It was +not comfortable; but I thought that there I might have some chance for +my life in case of a catastrophe, and I was sure that even the gods +could give no help to those below. During the squeeze I had got +separated from my companion, but I was afraid to make any attempt to +find him. Forward I saw the roof of the second cabin crowded with third- +class passengers squatting round a hibachi. To pass through them did not +seem possible, and to retire would have involved the murder of either +eels or chickens. Wherefore I sat upon the melons. + +And the boat started, with a stunning scream. In another moment her +funnel began to rain soot upon me--for the so-called first-class cabin +was well astern--and then came small cinders mixed with the soot, and +the cinders were occasionally red-hot. But I sat burning upon the water- +melons for some time longer, trying to imagine a way of changing my +position without committing another assault upon the chickens. Finally, +I made a desperate endeavour to get to leeward of the volcano, and it +was then for the first time that I began to learn the peculiarities of +the joki. What I tried to sit on turned upside down, and what I tried to +hold by instantly gave way, and always in the direction of overboard. +Things clamped or rigidly braced to outward seeming proved, upon +cautious examination, to be dangerously mobile; and things that, +according to Occidental ideas, ought to have been movable, were fixed +like the roots of the perpetual hills. In whatever direction a rope or +stay could possibly have been stretched so as to make somebody unhappy, +it was there. In the midst of these trials the frightful little craft +began to swing, and the water-melons began to rush heavily to and fro, +and I came to the conclusion that this joki had been planned and +constructed by demons. + +Which I stated to my friend. He had not only rejoined me quite +unexpectedly, but had brought along with him one of the ship's boys to +spread an awning above ourselves and the watermelons, so as to exclude +cinders and sun. + +'Oh, no!' he answered reproachfully 'She was designed and built at +Hyogo, and really she might have been made much worse. . . ' 'I beg your +pardon,' I interrupted; 'I don't agree with you at all.' + +'Well, you will see for yourself,' he persisted. 'Her hull is good +steel, and her little engine is wonderful; she can make her hundred +miles in five hours. She is not very comfortable, but she is very swift +and strong.' + +'I would rather be in a sampan,' I protested, 'if there were rough +weather.' + +'But she never goes to sea in rough weather. If it only looks as if +there might possibly be some rough weather, she stays in port. Sometimes +she waits a whole month. She never runs any risks.' + +I could not feel sure of it. But I soon forgot all discomforts, even the +discomfort of sitting upon water-melons, in the delight of the divine +day and the magnificent view that opened wider and wider before us, as +we rushed from the long frith into the Sea of Japan, following the Izumo +coast. There was no fleck in the soft blue vastness above, not one +flutter on the metallic smoothness of the all-reflecting sea; if our +little steamer rocked, it was doubtless because she had been overloaded. +To port, the Izumo hills were flying by, a long, wild procession of' +broken shapes, sombre green, separating at intervals to form mysterious +little bays, with fishing hamlets hiding in them. Leagues away to +starboard, the Hoki shore receded into the naked white horizon, an ever- +diminishing streak of warm blue edged with a thread-line of white, the +gleam of a sand beach; and beyond it, in the centre, a vast shadowy +pyramid loomed up into heaven--the ghostly peak of Daisen. + +My companion touched my arm to call my attention to a group of pine- +trees on the summit of a peak to port, and laughed and sang a Japanese +song. How swiftly we had been travelling I then for the first time +understood, for I recognised the four famous pines of Mionoseki, on the +windy heights above the shrine of Koto-shiro-nushi-no-Kami. There used +to be five trees: one was uprooted by a storm, and some Izumo poet wrote +about the remaining four the words which my friend had sung: + +Seki no gohon matsu +Ippun kirya, shihon; +Ato wa kirarenu Miyoto matsu. + +Which means: 'Of the five pines of Seki one has been cut, and four +remain; and of these no one must now be cut--they are wedded pairs.' And +in Mionoseki there are sold beautiful little sake cups and sake bottles, +upon which are pictures of the four pines, and above the pictures, in +spidery text of gold, the verses, 'Seki no gohon matsu.' These are for +keepsakes, and there are many other curious and pretty souvenirs to buy +in those pretty shops; porcelains bearing the picture of the Mionoseki +temple, and metal clasps for tobacco pouches representing Koto-shiro- +nushi-no-Kami trying to put a big tai-fish into a basket too small for +it, and funny masks of glazed earthenware representing the laughing face +of the god. For a jovial god is this Ebisu, or Koto-shiro-nushi-no-Kami, +patron of honest labour and especially of fishers, though less of a +laughter-lover than his father, the Great Deity of Kitzuki, about whom +'tis said: 'Whenever the happy laugh, the God rejoices.' + +We passed the Cape--the Miho of the Kojiki--and the harbour of Mionoseki +opened before us, showing its islanded shrine of Benten in the midst, +and the crescent of quaint houses with their feet in the water, and the +great torii and granite lions of the far-famed temple. Immediately a +number of passengers rose to their feet, and, turning their faces toward +the torii began to clap their hands in Shinto prayer. + +I said to my friend: 'There are fifty baskets full of chickens in the +gangway; and yet these people are praying to Koto-shiro-nushi-no-Kami +that nothing horrible may happen to this boat.' + +'More likely,' he answered, 'they are praying for good-fortune; though +there is a saying: "The gods only laugh when men pray to them for +wealth." But of the Great Deity of Mionoseki there is a good story told. +Once there was a very lazy man who went to Mionoseki and prayed to +become rich. And the same night he saw the god in a dream; and the god +laughed, and took off one of his own divine sandals, and told him to +examine it. And the man saw that it was made of solid brass, but had a +big hole worn through the sole of it. Then said the god: "You want to +have money without working for it. I am a god; but I am never lazy. +See! my sandals are of brass: yet I have worked and walked so much that +they are quite worn out."' + +5 + +The beautiful bay of Mionoseki opens between two headlands: Cape Mio (or +Miho, according to the archaic spelling) and the Cape of Jizo (Jizo- +zaki), now most inappropriately called by the people 'The Nose of Jizo' +(Jizo-no-hana). This Nose of Jizo is one of the most dangerous points of +the coast in time of surf, and the great terror of small ships returning +from Oki. There is nearly always a heavy swell there, even in fair +weather. Yet as we passed the ragged promontory I was surprised to see +the water still as glass. I felt suspicious of that noiseless sea: its +soundlessness recalled the beautiful treacherous sleep of waves and +winds which precedes a tropical hurricane. But my friend said: + +'It may remain like this for weeks. In the sixth month and in the +beginning of the seventh, it is usually very quiet; it is not likely to +become dangerous before the Bon. But there was a little squall last week +at Mionoseki; and the people said that it was caused by the anger of the +god.' + +'Eggs?' I queried. + +'No: a Kudan.' + +'What is a Kudan?' + +'Is it possible you never heard of the Kudan? The Kudan has the face of +a man, and the body of a bull. Sometimes it is born of a cow, and that +is a Sign-of-things-going-to-happen. And the Kudan always tells the +truth. Therefore in Japanese letters and documents it is customary to +use the phrase, Kudanno-gotoshi--"like the Kudan"--or "on the truth of +the Kudan."' [4] + +'But why was the God of Mionoseki angry about the Kudan?' + +'People said it was a stuffed Kudan. I did not see it, so I cannot tell +you how it was made. There was some travelling showmen from Osaka at +Sakai. They had a tiger and many curious animals and the stuffed Kudan; +and they took the Izumo Maru for Mionoseki. As the steamer entered the +port a sudden squall came; and the priests of the temple said the god +was angry because things impure--bones and parts of dead animals--had +been brought to the town. And the show people were not even allowed to +land: they had to go back to Sakai on the same steamer. And as soon as +they had gone away, the sky became clear again, and the wind stopped +blowing: so that some people thought what the priests had said was +true.' + +6 + +Evidently there was much more moisture in the atmosphere than I had +supposed. On really clear days Daisen can be distinctly seen even from +Oki; but we had scarcely passed the Nose of Jizo when the huge peak +began to wrap itself in vapour of the same colour as the horizon; and in +a few minutes it vanished, as a spectre might vanish. The effect of this +sudden disappearance was very extraordinary; for only the peak passed +from sight, and that which had veiled it could not be any way +distinguished from horizon and sky. + +Meanwhile the Oki-Saigo, having reached the farthest outlying point of +the coast upon her route began to race in straight line across the +Japanese Sea. The green hills of Izumi fled away and turned blue, and +the spectral shores of Hoki began to melt into the horizon, like bands +of cloud. Then was obliged to confess my surprise at the speed of the +horrid little steamer. She moved, too, with scarcely any sound, smooth +was the working of her wonderful little engine. But she began to swing +heavily, with deep, slow swingings. To the eye, the sea looked level as +oil; but there were long invisible swells--ocean-pulses--that made +themselves felt beneath the surface. Hoki evaporated; the Izumo hills +turned grey, a their grey steadily paled as I watched them. They grew +more and more colourless--seemed to become transparent. And then they +were not. Only blue sky and blue sea, welded together in the white +horizon. + +It was just as lonesome as if we had been a thousand leagues from land. +And in that weirdness we were told some very lonesome things by an +ancient mariner who found leisure join us among the water-melons. He +talked of the Hotoke-umi and the ill-luck of being at sea on the +sixteenth day of the seventh month. He told us that even the great +steamers never went to sea during the Bon: no crew would venture to take +ship out then. And he related the following stories with such simple +earnestness that I think he must have believed what said: + +'The first time I was very young. From Hokkaido we had sailed, and the +voyage was long, and the winds turned against us. And the night of the +sixteenth day fell, as we were working on over this very sea. + +'And all at once in the darkness we saw behind us a great junk--all +white--that we had not noticed till she was quite close to us. It made +us feel queer, because she seemed to have come from nowhere. She was so +near us that we could hear voices; and her hull towered up high above +us. She seemed to be sailing very fast; but she came no closer. We +shouted to her; but we got no answer. And while we were watching her, +all of us became afraid, because she did not move like a real ship. The +sea was terrible, and we were lurching and plunging; but that great junk +never rolled. Just at the same moment that we began to feel afraid she +vanished so quickly that we could scarcely believe we had really seen +her at all. + +'That was the first time. But four years ago I saw something still more +strange. We were bound for Oki, in a junk, and the wind again delayed +us, so that we were at sea on the sixteenth day. It was in the morning, +a little before midday; the sky was dark and the sea very ugly. All at +once we saw a steamer running in our track, very quickly. She got so +close to us that we could hear her engines--katakata katakata!--but we +saw nobody on deck. Then she began to follow us, keeping exactly at the +same distance, and whenever we tried to get out of her way she would +turn after us and keep exactly in our wake. And then we suspected what +she was. But we were not sure until she vanished. She vanished like a +bubble, without making the least sound. None of us could say exactly +when she disappeared. None of us saw her vanish. The strangest thing was +that after she was gone we could still hear her engines working behind +us--katakata, katakata, katakata! + +'That is all I saw. But I know others, sailors like myself, who have +seen more. Sometimes many ships will follow you--though never at the +same time. One will come close and vanish, then another, and then +another. As long as they come behind you, you need never be afraid. But +if you see a ship of that sort running before you, against the wind, +that is very bad! It means that all on board will be drowned.' + +7 + +The luminous blankness circling us continued to remain unflecked for +less than an hour. Then out of the horizon toward which we steamed, a +small grey vagueness began to grow. It lengthened fast, and seemed a +cloud. And a cloud it proved; but slowly, beneath it, blue filmy shapes +began to define against the whiteness, and sharpened into a chain of +mountains. They grew taller and bluer--a little sierra, with one paler +shape towering in the middle to thrice the height of the rest, and +filleted with cloud--Takuhizan, the sacred mountain of Oki, in the +island Nishinoshima. + +Takuhizan has legends, which I learned from my friend. Upon its summit +stands an ancient shrine of the deity Gongen-Sama. And it is said that +upon the thirty-first night of the twelfth month three ghostly fires +arise from the sea and ascend to the place of the shrine, and enter the +stone lanterns which stand before it, and there remain, burning like +lamps. These lights do not arise at once, but separately, from the sea, +and rise to the top of the peak one by one. The people go out in boats +to see the lights mount from the water. But only those whose hearts are +pure can see them; those who have evil thoughts or desires look for the +holy fires in vain. + +Before us, as we steamed on, the sea-surface appeared to become suddenly +speckled with queer craft previously invisible--light, long fishing- +boats, with immense square sails of a beautiful yellow colour. I could +not help remarking to my comrade how pretty those sails were; he +laughed, and told me they were made of old tatami. [5] I examined them +through a telescope, and found that they were exactly what he had said-- +woven straw coverings of old floor-mats. Nevertheless, that first tender +yellow sprinkling of old sails over the soft blue water was a charming +sight. + +They fleeted by, like a passing of yellow butterflies, and the sea was +void again. Gradually, a little to port, a point in the approaching line +of blue cliffs shaped itself and changed colour--dull green above, +reddish grey below; it defined into a huge rock, with a dark patch on +its face, but the rest of the land remained blue. The dark patch +blackened as we came nearer--a great gap full of shadow. Then the blue +cliffs beyond also turned green, and their bases reddish grey. We passed +to the right of the huge rock, which proved to be a detached and +uninhabited islet, Hakashima; and in another moment we were steaming +into the archipelago of Oki, between the lofty islands Chiburishima and +Nakashima. + +8 + +The first impression was almost uncanny. Rising sheer from the flood on +either hand, the tall green silent hills stretched away before us, +changing tint through the summer vapour, to form a fantastic vista of +blue cliffs and peaks and promontories. There was not one sign of human +life. Above their pale bases of naked rock the mountains sloped up +beneath a sombre wildness of dwarf vegetation. There was absolutely no +sound, except the sound of the steamer's tiny engine--poum-poum, poum! +poum-poum, poum! like the faint tapping of a geisha's drum. And this +savage silence continued for miles: only the absence of lofty timber +gave evidence that those peaked hills had ever been trodden by human +foot. But all at once, to the left, in a mountain wrinkle, a little grey +hamlet appeared; and the steamer screamed and stopped, while the hills +repeated the scream seven times. + +This settlement was Chiburimura, of Chiburishima (Nakashima being the +island to starboard)--evidently nothing more than a fishing station. +First a wharf of uncemented stone rising from the cove like a wall; then +great trees through which one caught sight of a torii before some Shinto +shrine, and of a dozen houses climbing the hollow hill one behind +another, roof beyond roof; and above these some terraced patches of +tilled ground in the midst of desolation: that was all. The packet +halted to deliver mail, and passed on. + +But then, contrary to expectation, the scenery became more beautiful. +The shores on either side at once receded and heightened: we were +traversing an inland sea bounded by three lofty islands. At first the +way before us had seemed barred by vapoury hills; but as these, drawing +nearer, turned green, there suddenly opened magnificent chasms between +them on both sides--mountain-gates revealing league-long wondrous vistas +of peaks and cliffs and capes of a hundred blues, ranging away from +velvety indigo into far tones of exquisite and spectral delicacy. A +tinted haze made dreamy all remotenesses, an veiled with illusions of +colour the rugged nudities of rock. + +The beauty of the scenery of Western and Central Japan is not as the +beauty of scenery in other lands; it has a peculiar character of its +own. Occasionally the foreigner may find memories of former travel +suddenly stirred to life by some view on a mountain road, or some +stretch of beetling coast seen through a fog of spray. But this illusion +of resemblance vanishes as swiftly as it comes; details immediately +define into strangeness, and you become aware that the remembrance was +evoked by form only, never by colour. Colours indeed there are which +delight the eye, but not colours of mountain verdure, not colours of the +land. Cultivated plains, expanses of growing rice, may offer some +approach to warmth of green; but the whole general tone of this nature +is dusky; the vast forests are sombre; the tints of grasses are harsh or +dull. Fiery greens, such as burn in tropical scenery, do not exist; and +blossom-bursts take a more exquisite radiance by contrast with the heavy +tones of the vegetation out of which they flame. Outside of parks and +gardens and cultivated fields, there is a singular absence of warmth and +tenderness in the tints of verdure; and nowhere need you hope to find +any such richness of green as that which makes the loveliness of an +English lawn. + +Yet these Oriental landscapes possess charms of colour extraordinary, +phantom-colour delicate, elfish, indescribable--created by the wonderful +atmosphere. Vapours enchant the distances, bathing peaks in bewitchments +of blue and grey of a hundred tones, transforming naked cliffs to +amethyst, stretching spectral gauzes across the topazine morning, +magnifying the splendour of noon by effacing the horizon, filling the +evening with smoke of gold, bronzing the waters, banding the sundown +with ghostly purple and green of nacre. Now, the Old Japanese artists +who made those marvellous ehon--those picture-books which have now +become so rare--tried to fix the sensation of these enchantments in +colour, and they were successful in their backgrounds to a degree almost +miraculous. For which very reason some of their foregrounds have been a +puzzle to foreigners unacquainted with certain features of Japanese +agriculture. You will see blazing saffron-yellow fields, faint purple +plains, crimson and snow-white trees, in those old picture-books; and +perhaps you will exclaim: 'How absurd!' But if you knew Japan you would +cry out: 'How deliciously real!' For you would know those fields of +burning yellow are fields of flowering rape, and the purple expanses are +fields of blossoming miyako, and the snow-white or crimson trees are not +fanciful, but represent faithfully certain phenomena of efflorescence +peculiar to the plum-trees and the cherry-trees of the country. But +these chromatic extravaganzas can be witnessed only during very brief +periods of particular seasons: throughout the greater part of the year +the foreground of an inland landscape is apt to be dull enough in the +matter of colour. + +It is the mists that make the magic of the backgrounds; yet even without +them there is a strange, wild, dark beauty in Japanese landscapes, a +beauty not easily defined in words. The secret of it must be sought in +the extraordinary lines of the mountains, in the strangely abrupt +crumpling and jagging of the ranges; no two masses closely resembling +each other, every one having a fantasticality of its own. Where the +chains reach to any considerable height, softly swelling lines are rare: +the general characteristic is abruptness, and the charm is the charm of +Irregularity. + +Doubtless this weird Nature first inspired the Japanese with their +unique sense of the value of irregularity in decoration--taught them +that single secret of composition which distinguishes their art from all +other art, and which Professor Chamberlain has said it is their special +mission to teach to the Occident. [6] Certainly, whoever has once +learned to feel the beauty and significance of the Old Japanese +decorative art can find thereafter little pleasure in the corresponding +art of the West. What he has really learned is that Nature's greatest +charm is irregularity. And perhaps something of no small value might be +written upon the question whether the highest charm of human life and +work is not also irregularity. + +9 + +From Chiburimura we made steam west for the port of Urago, which is in +the island of Nishinoshima. As we approached it Takuhizan came into +imposing view. Far away it had seemed a soft and beautiful shape; but as +its blue tones evaporated its aspect became rough and even grim: an +enormous jagged bulk all robed in sombre verdure, through which, as +through tatters, there protruded here and there naked rock of the +wildest shapes. One fragment, I remember, as it caught the slanting sun +upon the irregularities of its summit, seemed an immense grey skull. At +the base of this mountain, and facing the shore of Nakashima, rises a +pyramidal mass of rock, covered with scraggy undergrowth, and several +hundred feet in height--Mongakuzan. On its desolate summit stands a +little shrine. + +'Takuhizan' signifies The Fire-burning Mountain--a name due perhaps +either to the legend of its ghostly fires, or to some ancient memory of +its volcanic period. 'Mongakuzan' means The Mountain of Mongaku--Mongaku +Shonin, the great monk. It is said that Mongaku Shonin fled to Oki, and +that he dwelt alone upon the top of that mountain many years, doing +penance for his deadly sin. Whether he really ever visited Oki, I am not +able to say; there are traditions which declare the contrary. But the +peaklet has borne his name for hundreds of years. + +Now this is the story of Mongaku Shonin: + +Many centuries ago, in the city of Kyoto, there was a captain of the +garrison whose name was Endo Morito. He saw and loved the wife of a +noble samurai; and when she refused to listen to his desires, he vowed +that he would destroy her family unless she consented to the plan which +he submitted to her. The plan was that upon a certain night she should +suffer him to enter her house and to kill her husband; after which she +was to become his wife. + +But she, pretending to consent, devised a noble stratagem to save her +honour. For, after having persuaded her husband to absent himself from +the city, she wrote to Endo a letter, bidding him come upon a certain +night to the house. And on that night she clad herself in her husband's +robes, and made her hair like the hair of a man, and laid herself down +in her husband's place, and pretended to sleep. + +And Endo came in the dead of the night with his sword drawn, and smote +off the head of the sleeper at a blow, and seized it by the hair and +lifted it up and saw it was the head of the woman he had loved and +wronged. + +Then a great remorse came upon him, and hastening to a neighbouring +temple, he confessed his sin, and did penance and cut off his hair, and +became a monk, taking the name of Mongaku. And in after years he +attained to great holiness, so that folk still pray to him, and his +memory is venerated throughout the land. + +Now at Asakusa in Tokyo, in one of the curious little streets which lead +to the great temple of Kwannon the Merciful, there are always wonderful +images to be seen--figures that seem alive, though made of wood only-- +figures illustrating the ancient legends of Japan. And there you may see +Endo standing: in his right hand the reeking sword; in his left the head +of a beautiful woman. The face of the woman you may forget soon, because +it is only beautiful. But the face of Endo you will not forget, because +it is naked hell. + +10 + +Urago is a queer little town, perhaps quite as large as Mionoseki, and +built, like Mionoseki, on a narrow ledge at the base of a steep +semicircle of hills. But it is much more primitive and colourless than +Mionoseki; and its houses are still more closely cramped between cliffs +and water, so that its streets, or rather alleys, are no wider than +gangways. As we cast anchor, my attention was suddenly riveted by a +strange spectacle--a white wilderness of long fluttering vague shapes, +in a cemetery on the steep hillside, rising by terraces high above the +roofs of the town. The cemetery was full of grey haka and images of +divinities; and over every haka there was a curious white paper banner +fastened to a thin bamboo pole. Through a glass one could see that these +banners were inscribed with Buddhist texts--'Namur-myo-ho-renge-kyo'; +'Namu Amida Butsu'; 'Namu Daiji Dai-hi Kwan-ze-on Bosats,'--and other +holy words. Upon inquiry I learned that it was an Urago custom to place +these banners every year above the graves during one whole month +preceding the Festival of the Dead, together with various other +ornamental or symbolic things. + +The water was full of naked swimmers, who shouted laughing welcomes; and +a host of light, swift boats, sculled by naked fishermen, darted out to +look for passengers and freight. It was my first chance to observe the +physique of Oki islanders; and I was much impressed by the vigorous +appearance of both men and boys. The adults seemed to me of a taller and +more powerful type than the men of the Izumo coast; and not a few of +those brown backs and shoulders displayed, in the motion of sculling +what is comparatively rare in Japan, even among men picked for heavy +labour--a magnificent development of muscles. + +As the steamer stopped an hour at Urago, we had time to dine ashore in +the chief hotel. It was a very clean and pretty hotel, and the fare +infinitely superior to that of the hotel at Sakai. Yet the price charged +was only seven sen; and the old landlord refused to accept the whole of +the chadai-gift offered him, retaining less than half, and putting back +the rest, with gentle force, into the sleeve of my yukata. + +11 + +From Urago we proceeded to Hishi-ura, which is in Nakanoshima, and the +scenery grew always more wonderful as we steamed between the islands. +The channel was just wide enough to create the illusion of a grand river +flowing with the stillness of vast depth between mountains of a hundred +forms. The long lovely vision was everywhere walled in by peaks, bluing +through sea-haze, and on either hand the ruddy grey cliffs, sheering up +from profundity, sharply mirrored their least asperities in the flood +with never a distortion, as in a sheet of steel. Not until we reached +Hishi-ura did the horizon reappear; and even then it was visible only +between two lofty headlands, as if seen through a river's mouth. + +Hishi-ura is far prettier than Urago, but it is much less populous, and +has the aspect of a prosperous agricultural town, rather than of a +fishing station. It bends round a bay formed by low hills which slope +back gradually toward the mountainous interior, and which display a +considerable extent of cultivated surface. The buildings are somewhat +scattered and in many cases isolated by gardens; and those facing the +water are quite handsome modern constructions. Urago boasts the best +hotel in all Oki; and it has two new temples--one a Buddhist temple of +the Zen sect, one a Shinto temple of the Izumo Taisha faith, each the +gift of a single person. A rich widow, the owner of the hotel, built the +Buddhist temple; and the wealthiest of the merchants contributed the +other--one of the handsomest miya for its size that I ever saw. + +12 + +Dogo, the main island of the Oki archipelago, sometimes itself called +'Oki,' lies at a distance of eight miles, north-east of the Dozen group, +beyond a stretch of very dangerous sea. We made for it immediately after +leaving Urago; passing to the open through a narrow and fantastic strait +between Nakanoshima and Nishinoshima, where the cliffs take the form of +enormous fortifications--bastions and ramparts, rising by tiers. Three +colossal rocks, anciently forming but a single mass, which would seem to +have been divided by some tremendous shock, rise from deep water near +the mouth of the channel, like shattered towers. And the last promontory +of Nishinoshima, which we pass to port, a huge red naked rock, turns to +the horizon a point so strangely shaped that it has been called by a +name signifying 'The Hat of the Shinto Priest.' + +As we glide out into the swell of the sea other extraordinary shapes +appear, rising from great depths. Komori, 'The Bat,' a ragged silhouette +against the horizon, has a great hole worn through it, which glares like +an eye. Farther out two bulks, curved and pointed, and almost joined at +the top, bear a grotesque resemblance to the uplifted pincers of a crab; +and there is also visible a small dark mass which, until closely +approached, seems the figure of a man sculling a boat. Beyond these are +two islands: Matsushima, uninhabited and inaccessible, where there is +always a swell to beware of; Omorishima, even loftier, which rises from +the ocean in enormous ruddy precipices. There seemed to be some grim +force in those sinister bulks; some occult power which made our steamer +reel and shiver as she passed them. But I saw a marvellous effect of +colour under those formidable cliffs of Omorishima. They were lighted by +a slanting sun; and where the glow of the bright rock fell upon the +water, each black-blue ripple flashed bronze: I thought of a sea of +metallic violet ink. + +From Dozen the cliffs of Dogo can be clearly seen when the weather is +not foul: they are streaked here and there with chalky white, which +breaks through their blue, even in time of haze. Above them a vast bulk +is visible--a point-de-repre for the mariners of Hoki--the mountain of +Daimanji. Dogo, indeed, is one great cluster of mountains. + +Its cliffs rapidly turned green for us, and we followed them eastwardly +for perhaps half an hour. Then they opened unexpectedly and widely, +revealing a superb bay, widening far into the land, surrounded by hills, +and full of shipping. Beyond a confusion of masts there crept into view +a long grey line of house-fronts at the base of a crescent of cliffs-- +the city of Saigo; and in a little while we touched a wharf of stone. +There I bade farewell for a month to the Oki-Saigo. + +13 + +Saigo was a great surprise. Instead of the big fishing village I had +expected to see, I found a city much larger and handsomer and in all +respects more modernised than Sakai; a city of long streets full of good +shops; a city with excellent public buildings; a city of which the whole +appearance indicated commercial prosperity. Most of the edifices were +roomy two story dwellings of merchants, and everything had a bright, new +look. The unpainted woodwork of the houses had not yet darkened into +grey; the blue tints of the tiling were still fresh. I learned that this +was because the town had been recently rebuilt, after a conflagration, +and rebuilt upon a larger and handsomer plan. + +Saigo seems still larger than it really is. There are about one thousand +houses, which number in any part of Western Japan means a population of +at least five thousand, but must mean considerably more in Saigo. These +form three long streets--Nishimachi, Nakamachi, and Higashimachi (names +respectively signifying the Western, Middle, and Eastern Streets), +bisected by numerous cross-streets and alleys. What makes the place seem +disproportionately large is the queer way the streets twist about, +following the irregularities of the shore, and even doubling upon +themselves, so as to create from certain points of view an impression of +depth which has no existence. For Saigo is peculiarly, although +admirably situated. It fringes both banks of a river, the Yabigawa, near +its mouth, and likewise extends round a large point within the splendid +bay, besides stretching itself out upon various tongues of land. But +though smaller than it looks, to walk through all its serpentine streets +is a good afternoon's work. + +Besides being divided by the Yabigawa, the town is intersected by +various water-ways, crossed by a number of bridges. On the hills behind +it stand several large buildings, including a public school, with +accommodation for three hundred students; a pretty Buddhist temple +(quite new), the gift of a rich citizen; a prison; and a hospital, which +deserves its reputation of being for its size the handsomest Japanese +edifice not only in Oki, but in all Shimane-Ken; and there are several +small but very pretty gardens. + +As for the harbour, you can count more than three hundred ships riding +there of a summer's day. Grumblers, especially of the kind who still use +wooden anchors, complain of the depth; but the men-of-war do not. + +14 + +Never, in any part of Western Japan, have I been made more comfortable +than at Saigo. My friend and myself were the only guests at the hotel to +which we had been recommended. The broad and lofty rooms of the upper +floor which we occupied overlooked the main street on one side, and on +the other commanded a beautiful mountain landscape beyond the mouth of +the Yabigawa, which flowed by our garden. The sea breeze never failed by +day or by night, and rendered needless those pretty fans which it is the +Japanese custom to present to guests during the hot season. The fare was +astonishingly good and curiously varied; and I was told that I might +order Seyoryori (Occidental cooking) if I wished--beefsteak with fried +potatoes, roast chicken, and so forth. I did not avail myself of the +offer, as I make it a rule while travelling to escape trouble by keeping +to a purely Japanese diet; but it was no small surprise to be offered in +Saigo what is almost impossible to obtain in any other Japanese town of +five thousand inhabitants. From a romantic point of view, however, this +discovery was a disappointment. Having made my way into the most +primitive region of all Japan, I had imagined myself far beyond the +range of all modernising influences; and the suggestion of beefsteak +with fried potatoes was a disillusion. Nor was I entirely consoled by +the subsequent discovery that there were no newspapers or telegraphs. + +But there was one serious hindrance to the enjoyment of these comforts: +an omnipresent, frightful, heavy, all-penetrating smell, the smell of +decomposing fish, used as a fertiliser. Tons and tons of cuttlefish +entrails are used upon the fields beyond the Yabigawa, and the never- +sleeping sea wind blows the stench into every dwelling. Vainly do they +keep incense burning in most of the houses during the heated term. After +having remained three or four days constantly in the city you become +better able to endure this odour; but if you should leave town even for +a few hours only, you will be astonished on returning to discover how +much your nose had been numbed by habit and refreshed by absence. + +15 + +On the morning of the day after my arrival at Saigo, a young physician +called to see me, and requested me to dine with him at his house. He +explained very frankly that as I was the first foreigner who had ever +stopped in Saigo, it would afford much pleasure both to his family and +to himself to have a good chance to see me; but the natural courtesy of +the man overcame any scruple I might have felt to gratify the curiosity +of strangers. I was not only treated charmingly at his beautiful home, +but actually sent away loaded with presents, most of which I attempted +to decline in vain. In one matter, however, I remained obstinate, even +at the risk of offending--the gift of a wonderful specimen of bateiseki +(a substance which I shall speak of hereafter). This I persisted in +refusing to take, knowing it to be not only very costly, but very rare. +My host at last yielded, but afterwards secretly sent to the hotel two +smaller specimens, which Japanese etiquette rendered it impossible to +return. Before leaving Saigo, I experienced many other unexpected +kindnesses from the same gentleman. + +Not long after, one of the teachers of the Saigo public school paid me a +visit. He had heard of my interest in Oki, and brought with him two fine +maps of the islands made by himself, a little book about Saigo, and, as +a gift, a collection of Oki butterflies and insects which he had made. +It is only in Japan that one is likely to meet with these wonderful +exhibitions of pure goodness on the part of perfect strangers. + +A third visitor, who had called to see my friend, performed an action +equally characteristic, but which caused me not a little pain. We +squatted down to smoke together. He drew from his girdle a remarkably +beautiful tobacco-pouch and pipe-case, containing a little silver pipe, +which he began to smoke. The pipe-case was made of a sort of black +coral, curiously carved, and attached to the tabako-ire, or pouch, by a +heavy cord of plaited silk of three colours, passed through a ball of +transparent agate. Seeing me admire it, he suddenly drew a knife from +his sleeve, and before I could prevent him, severed the pipe-case from +the pouch, and presented it to me. I felt almost as if he had cut one of +his own nerves asunder when he cut that wonderful cord; and, +nevertheless, once this had been done, to refuse the gift would have +been rude in the extreme. I made him accept a present in return; but +after that experience I was careful never again while in Oki to admire +anything in the presence of its owner. + +16 + +Every province of Japan has its own peculiar dialect; and that of Oki, +as might be expected in a country so isolated, is particularly distinct. +In Saigo, however, the Izumo dialect is largely used. The townsfolk in +their manners and customs much resemble Izumo country-folk; indeed, +there are many Izumo people among them, most of the large businesses +being in the hands of strangers. The women did not impress me as being +so attractive as those of Izumo: I saw several very pretty girls, but +these proved to be strangers. + +However, it is only in the country that one can properly study the +physical characteristics of a population. Those of the Oki islanders may +best be noted at the fishing villages many of which I visited. +Everywhere I saw fine strong men and vigorous women; and it struck me +that the extraordinary plenty and cheapness of nutritive food had quite +as much to do with this robustness as climate and constant exercise. So +easy, indeed, is it to live in Oki, that men of other coasts, who find +existence difficult, emigrate to Oki if they can get a chance to work +there, even at less remuneration. An interesting spectacle to me were +the vast processions of fishing-vessels which always, weather +permitting, began to shoot out to sea a couple of hours before sundown. +The surprising swiftness with which those light craft were impelled by +their sinewy scullers--many of whom were women--told of a skill acquired +only through the patient experience of generations. Another matter that +amazed me was the number of boats. One night in the offing I was able to +count three hundred and five torch-fires in sight, each one signifying a +crew; and I knew that from almost any of the forty-five coast villages I +might see the same spectacle at the same time. The main part of the +population, in fact, spends its summer nights at sea. It is also a +revelation to travel from Izumo to Hamada by night upon a swift steamer +during the fishing season. The horizon for a hundred miles is alight +with torch-fires; the toil of a whole coast is revealed in that vast +illumination. + +Although the human population appears to have gained rather than lost +vigour upon this barren soil, the horses and cattle of the country seem +to have degenerated. They are remarkably diminutive. I saw cows not much +bigger than Izumo calves, with calves about the size of goats. The +horses, or rather ponies, belong to a special breed of which Oki is +rather proud--very small, but hardy. I was told that there were larger +horses, but I saw none, and could not learn whether they were imported. +It seemed to me a curious thing, when I saw Oki ponies for the first +time, that Sasaki Takatsuna's battle-steed--not less famous in Japanese +story than the horse Kyrat in the ballads of Kurroglou--is declared by +the islanders to have been a native of Oki. And they have a tradition +that it once swam from Oki to Mionoseki. + +17 + +Almost every district and town in Japan has its meibutsu or its +kembutsu. The meibutsu of any place are its special productions, whether +natural or artificial. The kembutsu of a town or district are its +sights--its places worth visiting for any reason--religious, +traditional, historical, or pleasurable. Temples and gardens, remarkable +trees and curious rocks, are kembutsu. So, likewise, are any situations +from which beautiful scenery may be looked at, or any localities where +one can enjoy such charming spectacles as the blossoming of cherry-trees +in spring, the flickering of fireflies in summer nights, the flushing of +maple-leaves in autumn, or even that long snaky motion of moonlight upon +water to which Chinese poets have given the delightful name of Kinryo, +'the Golden Dragon.' + +The great meibutsu of Oki is the same as that of Hinomisaki--dried +cuttlefish; an article of food much in demand both in China and Japan. +The cuttlefish of Oki and Hinomisaki and Mionoseki are all termed ika (a +kind of sepia); but those caught at Mionoseki are white and average +fifteen inches in length, while those of Oki and Hinomisaki rarely +exceed twelve inches and have a reddish tinge. The fisheries of +Mionoseki and Hinomisaki are scarcely known; but the fisheries of Oki +are famed not only throughout Japan, but also in Korea and China. It is +only through the tilling of the sea that the islands have become +prosperous and capable of supporting thirty thousand souls upon a coast +of which but a very small portion can be cultivated at all. Enormous +quantities of cuttlefish are shipped to the mainland; but I have been +told that the Chinese are the best customers of Oki for this product. +Should the supply ever fail, the result would be disastrous beyond +conception; but at present it seems inexhaustible, though the fishing +has been going on for thousands of years. Hundreds of tons of cuttlefish +are caught, cured, and prepared for exportation month after month; and +many hundreds of acres are fertilised with the entrails and other +refuse. An officer of police told me several strange facts about this +fishery. On the north-eastern coast of Saigo it is no uncommon thing for +one fisherman to capture upwards of two thousand cuttlefish in a single +night. Boats have been burst asunder by the weight of a few hauls, and +caution has to be observed in loading. Besides the sepia, however, this +coast swarms with another variety of cuttlefish which also furnishes a +food-staple--the formidable tako, or true octopus. Tako weighing fifteen +kwan each, or nearly one hundred and twenty-five pounds, are sometimes +caught near the fishing settlement of Nakamura. I was surprised to learn +that there was no record of any person having been injured by these +monstrous creatures. + +Another meibutsu of Oki is much less known than it deserves to be--the +beautiful jet-black stone called bateiseki, or 'horsehoof stone.' [7] +It is found only in Dogo, and never in large masses. It is about as +heavy as flint, and chips like flint; but the polish which it takes is +like that of agate. There are no veins or specks in it; the intense +black colour never varies. Artistic objects are made of bateiseki: ink- +stones, wine-cups, little boxes, small dai, or stands for vases or +statuettes; even jewellery, the material being worked in the same manner +as the beautiful agates of Yumachi in Izumo. These articles are +comparatively costly, even in the place of their manufacture. There is +an odd legend about the origin of the bateiseki. It owes its name to +some fancied resemblance to a horse's hoof, either in colour, or in the +semicircular marks often seen upon the stone in its natural state, and +caused by its tendency to split in curved lines. But the story goes that +the bateiseki was formed by the touch of the hoofs of a sacred steed, +the wonderful mare of the great Minamoto warrior, Sasaki Takatsuna. She +had a foal, which fell into a deep lake in Dogo, and was drowned. She +plunged into the lake herself, but could not find her foal, being +deceived by the reflection of her own head in the water. For a long time +she sought and mourned in vain; but even the hard rocks felt for her, +and where her hoofs touched them beneath the water they became changed +into bateiseki. [8] + +Scarcely less beautiful than bateiseki, and equally black, is another +Oki meibutsu, a sort of coralline marine product called umi-matsu, or +'sea-pine.' Pipe-cases, brush-stands, and other small articles are +manufactured from it; and these when polished seem to be covered with +black lacquer. Objects of umimatsu are rare and dear. + +Nacre wares, however, are very cheap in Oki; and these form another +variety of meibutsu. The shells of the awabi, or 'sea-ear,' which +reaches a surprising size in these western waters, are converted by +skilful polishing and cutting into wonderful dishes, bowls, cups, and +other articles, over whose surfaces the play of iridescence is like a +flickering of fire of a hundred colours. + +18 + +According to a little book published at Matsue, the kembutsu of Oki-no- +Kuni are divided among three of the four principal islands; Chiburishima +only possessing nothing of special interest. For many generations the +attractions of Dogo have been the shrine of Agonashi Jizo, at +Tsubamezato; the waterfall (Dangyo-taki) at Yuenimura; the mighty cedar- +tree (sugi) before the shrine of Tama-Wakusa-jinja at Shimomura, and the +lakelet called Sai-no-ike where the bateiseki is said to be found. +Nakanoshima possesses the tomb of the exiled Emperor Go-Toba, at +Amamura, and the residence of the ancient Choja, Shikekuro, where he +dwelt betimes, and where relics of him are kept even to this day. +Nishinoshima possesses at Beppu a shrine in memory of the exiled Emperor +Go-Daigo, and on the summit of Takuhizan that shrine of Gongen-Sama, +from the place of which a wonderful view of the whole archipelago is +said to be obtainable on cloudless days. + +Though Chiburishima has no kembutsu, her poor little village of Chiburi +--the same Chiburimura at which the Oki steamer always touches on her way +to Saigo--is the scene of perhaps the most interesting of all the +traditions of the archipelago. + +Five hundred and sixty years ago, the exiled Emperor Go-Daigo managed to +escape from the observation of his guards, and to flee from Nishinoshima +to Chiburi. And the brown sailors of that little hamlet offered to serve +him, even with their lives if need be. They were loading their boats +with 'dried fish,' doubtless the same dried cuttlefish which their +descendants still carry to Izumo and to Hoki. The emperor promised to +remember them, should they succeed in landing him either in Hoki or in +Izumo; and they put him in a boat. + +But when they had sailed only a little way they saw the pursuing +vessels. Then they told the emperor to lie down, and they piled the +dried fish high above him. The pursuers came on board and searched the +boat, but they did not even think of touching the strong-smelling +cuttlefish. And when the men of Chiburi were questioned they invented a +story, and gave to the enemies of the emperor a false clue to follow. + +And so, by means of the cuttlefish, the good emperor was enabled to +escape from banishment. + +19 + +I found there were various difficulties in the way of becoming +acquainted with some of the kembutsu. There are no roads, properly +speaking, in all Oki, only mountain paths; and consequently there are no +jinricksha, with the exception of one especially imported by the leading +physician of Saigo, and available for use only in the streets. There are +not even any kago, or palanquins, except one for the use of the same +physician. The paths are terribly rough, according to the testimony of +the strong peasants themselves; and the distances, particularly in the +hottest period of the year, are disheartening. Ponies can be hired; but +my experiences of a similar wild country in western Izumo persuaded me +that neither pleasure nor profit was to be gained by a long and painful +ride over pine-covered hills, through slippery gullies and along +torrent-beds, merely to look at a waterfall. I abandoned the idea of +visiting Dangyotaki, but resolved, if possible, to see Agonashi-Jizo. + +I had first heard in Matsue of Agonashi-Jizo, while suffering from one +of those toothaches in which the pain appears to be several hundred +miles in depth--one of those toothaches which disturb your ideas of +space and time. And a friend who sympathised said: + +'People who have toothache pray to Agonashi-Jizo. Agonashi-Jizo is in +Oki, but Izumo people pray to him. When cured they go to Lake Shinji, to +the river, to the sea, or to any running stream, and drop into the water +twelve pears (nashi), one for each of the twelve months. And they +believe the currents will carry all these to Oki across the sea. + +'Now, Agonashi-Jizo means 'Jizo-who-has-no-jaw.' For it is said that in +one of his former lives Jizo had such a toothache in his lower jaw that +he tore off his jaw, and threw it away, and died. And he became a +Bosatsu. And the people of Oki made a statue of him without a jaw; and +all who suffer toothache pray to that Jizo of Oki.' + +This story interested me for more than once I had felt a strong desire +to do like Agonashi-Jizo, though lacking the necessary courage and +indifference to earthly consequences. Moreover, the tradition suggested +so humane and profound a comprehension of toothache, and so large a +sympathy with its victims, that I felt myself somewhat consoled. + +Nevertheless, I did not go to see Agonashi-Jizo, because I found out +there was no longer any Agonashi-Jizo to see. The news was brought one +evening by some friends, shizoku of Matsue, who had settled in Oki, a +young police officer and his wife. They had walked right across the +island to see us, starting before daylight, and crossing no less than +thirty-two torrents on their way. The wife, only nineteen, was quite +slender and pretty, and did not appear tired by that long rough journey. + +What we learned about the famous Jizo was this: The name Agonashi-Jizo +was only a popular corruption of the true name, Agonaoshi-Jizo, or +'Jizo-the-Healer-of-jaws.' The little temple in which the statue stood +had been burned, and the statue along with it, except a fragment of the +lower part of the figure, now piously preserved by some old peasant +woman. It was impossible to rebuild the temple, as the disestablishment +of Buddhism had entirely destroyed the resources of that faith in Oki. +But the peasantry of Tsubamezato had built a little Shinto miya on the +sight of the temple, with a torii before it, and people still prayed +there to Agonaoshi-Jizo. + +This last curious fact reminded me of the little torii I had seen +erected before the images of Jizo in the Cave of the Children's Ghosts. +Shinto, in these remote districts of the west, now appropriates the +popular divinities of Buddhism, just as of old Buddhism used to absorb +the divinities of Shinto in other parts of Japan. + +20 + +I went to the Sai-no-ike, and to Tama-Wakasu-jinja, as these two +kembutsu can be reached by boat. The Sai-no-ike, however, much +disappointed me. It can only be visited in very calm weather, as the way +to it lies along a frightfully dangerous coast, nearly all sheer +precipice. But the sea is beautifully clear and the eye can distinguish +forms at an immense depth below the surface. After following the cliffs +for about an hour, the boat reaches a sort of cove, where the beach is +entirely corn posed of small round boulders. They form a long ridge, the +outer verge of which is always in motion, rolling to and fro with a +crash like a volley of musketry at the rush and ebb of every wave. To +climb over this ridge of moving stone balls is quite disagreeable; but +after that one has only about twenty yards to walk, and the Sai-no-ike +appears, surrounded on sides by wooded hills. It is little more than a +large freshwater pool, perhaps fifty yards wide, not in any way +wonderful You can see no rocks under the surface--only mud and pebbles +That any part of it was ever deep enough to drown a foal is hard to +believe. I wanted to swim across to the farther side to try the depth, +but the mere proposal scandalised the boat men. The pool was sacred to +the gods, and was guarded by invisible monsters; to enter it was impious +and dangerous I felt obliged to respect the local ideas on the subject, +and contented myself with inquiring where the bateiseki was found. They +pointed to the hill on the western side of the water. This indication +did not tally with the legend. I could discover no trace of any human +labour on that savage hillside; there was certainly no habitation within +miles of the place; it was the very abomination of desolation. [9] + +It is never wise for the traveller in Japan to expect much on the +strength of the reputation of kembutsu. The interest attaching to the +vast majority of kembutsu depends altogether upon the exercise of +imagination; and the ability to exercise such imagination again depends +upon one's acquaintance with the history and mythology of the country. +Knolls, rocks, stumps of trees, have been for hundreds of years objects +of reverence for the peasantry, solely because of local traditions +relating to them. Broken iron kettles, bronze mirrors covered with +verdigris, rusty pieces of sword blades, fragments of red earthenware, +have drawn generations of pilgrims to the shrines in which they are +preserved. At various small temples which I visited, the temple +treasures consisted of trays full of small stones. The first time I saw +those little stones I thought that the priests had been studying geology +or mineralogy, each stone being labelled in Japanese characters. On +examination, the stones proved to be absolutely worthless in themselves, +even as specimens of neighbouring rocks. But the stories which the +priests or acolytes could tell about each and every stone were more than +interesting. The stones served as rude beads, in fact, for the recital +of a litany of Buddhist legends. + +After the experience of the Sai-no-ike, I had little reason to expect to +see anything extraordinary at Shimonishimura. But this time I was +agreeably mistaken. Shimonishimura is a pretty fishing village within an +hour's row from Saigo. The boat follows a wild but beautiful coast, +passing one singular truncated hill, Oshiroyama, upon which a strong +castle stood in ancient times. There is now only a small Shinto shrine +there, surrounded by pines. From the hamlet of Shimonishimura to the +Temple of Tama-Wakasu-jinja is a walk of twenty minutes, over very rough +paths between rice-fields and vegetable gardens. But the situation of +the temple, surrounded by its sacred grove, in the heart of a landscape +framed in by mountain ranges of many colours, is charmingly impressive. +The edifice seems to have once been a Buddhist temple; it is now the +largest Shinto structure in Oki. Before its gate stands the famous +cedar, not remarkable for height, but wonderful for girth. Two yards +above the soil its circumference is forty-five feet. It has given its +name to the holy place; the Oki peasantry scarcely ever speak of Tama- +Wakasu-jinja, but only of 'O-Sugi,' the Great Cedar. + +Tradition avers that this tree was planted by a Buddhist nun more than +eight hundred years ago. And it is alleged that whoever eats with +chopsticks made from the wood of that tree will never have the +toothache, and will live to become exceedingly old.[10] + +21 + +The shrine dedicated to the spirit of the Emperor Go-Daigo is in +Nishinoshima, at Beppu, a picturesque fishing village composed of one +long street of thatched cottages fringing a bay at the foot of a +demilune of hills. The simplicity of manners and the honest healthy +poverty of the place are quite wonderful even for Oki. There is a kind +of inn for strangers at which hot water is served instead of tea, and +dried beans instead of kwashi, and millet instead of rice. The absence +of tea, however, is much more significant than that of rice. But the +people of Beppu do not suffer for lack of proper nourishment, as their +robust appearance bears witness: there are plenty of vegetables, all +raised in tiny gardens which the women and children till during the +absence of the boats; and there is abundance of fish. There is no +Buddhist temple, but there is an ujigami. + +The shrine of the emperor is at the top of a hill called Kurokizan, at +one end of the bay. The hill is covered with tall pines, and the path is +very steep, so that I thought it prudent to put on straw sandals, in +which one never slips. I found the shrine to be a small wooden miya, +scarcely three feet high, and black with age. There were remains of +other miya, much older, lying in some bushes near by. Two large stones, +unhewn and without inscriptions of any sort, have been placed before the +shrine. I looked into it, and saw a crumbling metal-mirror, dingy paper +gohei attached to splints of bamboo, two little o-mikidokkuri, or Shinto +sake-vessels of red earthenware, and one rin. There was nothing else to +see, except, indeed, certain delightful glimpses of coast and peak, +visible in the bursts of warm blue light which penetrated the +consecrated shadow, between the trunks of the great pines. + +Only this humble shrine commemorates the good emperor's sojourn among +the peasantry of Oki. But there is now being erected by voluntary +subscription, at the little village of Gosen-goku-mura, near Yonago in +Tottori, quite a handsome monument of stone to the memory of his +daughter, the princess Hinako-Nai-Shinno who died there while attempting +to follow her august parent into exile. Near the place of her rest +stands a famous chestnut-tree, of which this story is told: + +While the emperor's daughter was ill, she asked for chestnuts; and some +were given to her. But she took only one, and bit it a little, and threw +it away. It found root and became a grand tree. But all the chestnuts of +that tree bear marks like the marks of little teeth; for in Japanese +legend even the trees are loyal, and strive to show their loyalty in all +sorts of tender dumb ways. And that tree is called Hagata-guri-no-ki, +which signifies: 'The Tree-of-the-Tooth-marked-Chestnuts.' + + 22 + +Long before visiting Oki I had heard that such a crime as theft was +unknown in the little archipelago; that it had never been found +necessary there to lock things up; and that, whenever weather permitted, +the people slept with their houses all open to the four winds of heaven. + +And after careful investigation, I found these surprising statements +were, to a great extent, true. In the Dozen group, at least, there are +no thieves, and practically no crime. Ten policemen are sufficient to +control the whole of both Dozen and Dogo, with their population of +thirty thousand one hundred and ninety-six souls. Each policeman has +under his inspection a number of villages, which he visits on regular +days; and his absence for any length of time from one of these seems +never to be taken advantage of. His work is mostly confined to the +enforcement of hygienic regulations, and to the writing of reports. It +is very seldom that he finds it necessary to make an arrest, for the +people scarcely ever quarrel. + +In the island of Dogo alone are there ever any petty thefts, and only in +that part of Oki do the people take any precautions against thieves. +Formerly there was no prison, and thefts were never heard of; and the +people of Dogo still claim that the few persons arrested in their island +for such offences are not natives of Oki, but strangers from the +mainland. What appears to be quite true is that theft was unknown in Oki +before the port of Saigo obtained its present importance. The whole +trade of Western Japan has been increased by the rapid growth of steam +communications with other parts of the empire; and the port of Saigo +appears to have gained commercially, but to have lost morally, by the +new conditions. + +Yet offences against the law are still surprisingly few, even in Saigo. +Saigo has a prison; and there were people in it during my stay in the +city; but the inmates had been convicted only of such misdemeanours as +gambling (which is strictly prohibited in every form by Japanese law), +or the violation of lesser ordinances. When a serious offence is +committed, the offender is not punished in Oki, but is sent to the great +prison at Matsue, in Izumo. + +The Dozen islands, however, perfectly maintain their ancient reputation +for irreproachable honesty. There have been no thieves in those three +islands within the memory of man; and there are no serious quarrels, no +fighting, nothing to make life miserable for anybody. Wild and bleak as +the land is, all can manage to live comfortably enough; food is cheap +and plenty, and manners and customs have retained their primitive +simplicity. + + 23 + +To foreign eyes the defences of even an Izumo dwelling against thieves +seem ludicrous. Chevaux-de-frise of bamboo stakes are used extensively +in eastern cities of the empire, but in Izumo these are not often to be +seen, and do not protect the really weak points of the buildings upon +which they are placed. As for outside walls and fences, they serve only +for screens, or for ornamental boundaries; anyone can climb over them. +Anyone can also cut his way into an ordinary Japanese house with a +pocket-knife. The amado are thin sliding screens of soft wood, easy to +break with a single blow; and in most Izumo homes there is not a lock +which could resist one vigorous pull. Indeed, the Japanese themselves +are so far aware of the futility of their wooden panels against burglars +that all who can afford it build kura--small heavy fire-proof and (for +Japan) almost burglar-proof structures, with very thick earthen walls, a +narrow ponderous door fastened with a gigantic padlock, and one very +small iron-barred window, high up, near the roof. The kura are +whitewashed, and look very neat. They cannot be used for dwellings, +however, as they are mouldy and dark; and they serve only as storehouses +for valuables. It is not easy to rob a kura. + +But there is no trouble in 'burglariously' entering an Izumo dwelling +unless there happen to be good watchdogs on the premises. The robber +knows the only difficulties in the way of his enterprise are such as he +is likely to encounter after having effected an entrance. In view of +these difficulties, he usually carries a sword. + +Nevertheless, he does not wish to find himself in any predicament +requiring the use of a sword; and to avoid such an unpleasant +possibility he has recourse to magic. + +He looks about the premises for a tarai--a kind of tub. If he finds one, +he performs a nameless operation in a certain part of the yard, and +covers the spot with the tub, turned upside down. He believes if he can +do this that a magical sleep will fall upon all the inmates of the +house, and that he will thus be able to carry away whatever he pleases, +without being heard or seen. + +But every Izumo household knows the counter-charm. Each evening, before +retiring, the careful wife sees that a hocho, or kitchen knife, is laid +upon the kitchen floor, and covered with a kanadarai, or brazen wash- +basin, on the upturned bottom of which is placed a single straw sandal, +of the noiseless sort called zori, also turned upside down. She believes +this little bit of witchcraft will not only nullify the robber's spell, +but also render it impossible for him--even should he succeed in +entering the house without being seen or heard--to carry anything +whatever away. But, unless very tired indeed, she will also see that the +tarai is brought into the house before the amado are closed for the +night. + +If through omission of these precautions (as the good wife might aver), +or in despite of them, the dwelling be robbed while the family are +asleep, search is made early in the morning for the footprints of the +burglar; and a moxa [11] is set burning upon each footprint. By this +operation it is hoped or believed that the burglar's feet will be made +so sore that he cannot run far, and that the police may easily overtake +him. + + 24 + +It was in Oki that I first heard of an extraordinary superstition about +the cause of okori (ague, or intermittent fever), mild forms of which +prevail in certain districts at certain seasons; but I have since +learned that this quaint belief is an old one in Izumo and in many parts +of the San-indo. It is a curious example of the manner in which Buddhism +has been used to explain all mysteries. + +Okori is said to be caused by the Gaki-botoke, or hungry ghosts. +Strictly speaking, the Gaki-botoke are the Pretas of Indian Buddhism, +spirits condemned to sojourn in the Gakido, the sphere of the penance of +perpetual hunger and thirst. But in Japanese Buddhism, the name Gaki is +given also to those souls who have none among the living to remember +them, and to prepare for them the customary offerings of food and tea. + +These suffer, and seek to obtain warmth and nutriment by entering into +the bodies of the living. The person into whom a gaki enters at first +feels intensely cold and shivers, because the gaki is cold. But the +chill is followed by a feeling of intense heat, as the gaki becomes +warm. Having warmed itself and absorbed some nourishment at the expense +of its unwilling host, the gaki goes away, and the fever ceases for a +time. But at exactly the same hour upon another day the gaki will +return, and the victim must shiver and burn until the haunter has become +warm and has satisfied its hunger. Some gaki visit their patients every +day; others every alternate day, or even less often. In brief: the +paroxysms of any form of intermittent fever are explained by the +presence of the gaki, and the intervals between the paroxysms by its +absence. + + 25 + +Of the word hotoke (which becomes botoke in such com-pounds as nure- +botoke, [12] gaki-botoke) there is something curious to say. + +Hotoke signifies a Buddha. + +Hotoke signifies also the Souls of the Dead--since faith holds that +these, after worthy life, either enter upon the way to Buddhahood, or +become Buddhas. + +Hotoke, by euphemism, has likewise come to mean a corpse: hence the verb +hotoke-zukuri, 'to look ghastly,' to have the semblance of one long +dead. + +And Hotoke-San is the name of the Image of a Face seen in the pupil of +the eye--Hotoke-San, 'the Lord Buddha.' Not the Supreme of the Hokkekyo, +but that lesser Buddha who dwelleth in each one of us,--the Spirit. [13] + +Sang Rossetti: 'I looked and saw your heart in the shadow of your eyes.' +Exactly converse is the Oriental thought. A Japanese lover would have +said: 'I looked and saw my own Buddha in the shadow of your eyes. + +What is the psychical theory connected with so singular a belief? [14] I +think it might be this: The Soul, within its own body, always remains +viewless, yet may reflect itself in the eyes of another, as in the +mirror of a necromancer. Vainly you gaze into the eyes of the beloved to +discern her soul: you see there only your own soul's shadow, diaphanous; +and beyond is mystery alone--reaching to the Infinite. + +But is not this true? The Ego, as Schopenhauer wonderfully said, is the +dark spot in consciousness, even as the point whereat the nerve of sight +enters the eye is blind. We see ourselves in others only; only through +others do we dimly guess that which we are. And in the deepest love of +another being do we not indeed love ourselves? What are the +personalities, the individualities of us but countless vibrations in +the Universal Being? Are we not all One in the unknowable Ultimate? One +with the inconceivable past? One with the everlasting future? + +26 + +In Oki, as in Izumo, the public school is slowly but surely destroying +many of the old superstitions. Even the fishermen of the new generation +laugh at things in which their fathers believed. I was rather surprised +to receive from an intelligent young sailor, whom I had questioned +through an interpreter about the ghostly fire of Takuhizan, this +scornful answer: 'Oh, we used to believe those things when we were +savages; but we are civilised now!' + +Nevertheless, he was somewhat in advance of his time. In the village to +which he belonged I discovered that the Fox-.superstition prevails to a +degree scarcely paralleled in any part of Izumo. The history of the +village was quite curious. From time immemorial it had been reputed a +settlement of Kitsune-mochi: in other words, all its inhabitants were +commonly believed, and perhaps believed themselves, to be the owners of +goblin-foxes. And being all alike kitsune-mochi, they could eat and +drink together, and marry and give in marriage among themselves without +affliction. They were feared with a ghostly fear by the neighbouring +peasantry, who obeyed their demands both in matters reasonable and +unreasonable. They prospered exceedingly. But some twenty years ago an +Izumo stranger settled among them. He was energetic, intelligent, and +possessed of some capital. He bought land, made various shrewd +investments, and in a surprisingly short time became the wealthiest +citizen in the place. He built a very pretty Shinto temple and presented +it to the community. There was only one obstacle in the way of his +becoming a really popular person: he was not a kitsune-mochi, and he had +even said that he hated foxes. This singularity threatened to beget +discords in the mura, especially as he married his children to +strangers, and thus began in the midst of the kitsune-mochi to establish +a sort of anti-Fox-holding colony. + +Wherefore, for a long time past, the Fox-holders have been trying to +force their superfluous goblins upon him. Shadows glide about the gate +of his dwelling on moonless nights, muttering: 'Kaere! kyo kara kokoye: +kuruda!' [Be off now! from now hereafter it is here that ye must dwell: +go!] Then are the upper shoji violently pushed apart; and the voice of +the enraged house owner is heard: 'Koko Wa kiraida! modori!' [Detestable +is that which ye do! get ye gone!] And the Shadows flee away.[15] + + 27 + +Because there were no cuttlefish at Hishi-ura, and no horrid smells, I +enjoyed myself there more than I did anywhere else in Oki. But, in any +event, Hishi-ura would have interested me more than Saigo. The life of +the pretty little town is peculiarly old-fashioned; and the ancient +domestic industries, which the introduction of machinery has almost +destroyed in Izumo and elsewhere, still exist in Hishi-ura. It was +pleasant to watch the rosy girls weaving robes of cotton and robes of +silk, relieving each other whenever the work became fatiguing. All this +quaint gentle life is open to inspection, and I loved to watch it. I had +other pleasures also: the bay is a delightful place for swimming, and +there were always boats ready to take me to any place of interest along +the coast. At night the sea breeze made the rooms which I occupied +deliciously cool; and from the balcony I could watch the bay-swell +breaking in slow, cold fire on the steps of the wharves--a beautiful +phosphorescence; and I could hear Oki mothers singing their babes to +sleep with one of the oldest lullabys in the world: + +Nenneko, +O-yama no +Usagi. no ko, +Naze mata +O-mimi ga +Nagai e yara? +Okkasan no +O-nak ni +Oru toku ni, +BiWa no ha, +Sasa no ha, +Tabeta sona; +Sore de +O-mimi ga +Nagai e sona. [16] + +The air was singularly sweet and plaintive, quite different from that to +which the same words are sung in Izumo, and in other parts of Japan. + +One morning I had hired a boat to take me to Beppu, and was on the point +of leaving the hotel for the day, when the old landlady, touching my +arm, exclaimed: 'Wait a little while; it is not good to cross a +funeral.' I looked round the corner, and saw the procession coming along +the shore. It was a Shinto funeral--a child's funeral. Young lads came +first, carrying Shinto emblems--little white flags, and branches of the +sacred sakaki; and after the coffin the mother walked, a young peasant, +crying very loud, and wiping her eyes with the long sleeves of her +coarse blue dress. Then the old woman at my side murmured: 'She sorrows; +but she is very young: perhaps It will come back to her.' For she was a +pious Buddhist, my good old landlady, and doubtless supposed the +mother's belief like her own, although the funeral was conducted +according to the Shinto rite. + + 28 + +There are in Buddhism certain weirdly beautiful consolations unknown to +Western faith. + +The young mother who loses her first child may at least pray that it +will come back to her out of the night of death--not in dreams only, but +through reincarnation. And so praying, she writes within the hand of the +little corpse the first ideograph of her lost darling's name. + +Months pass; she again becomes a mother. Eagerly she examines the +flower-soft hand of the infant. And lo! the self-same ideograph is +there--a rosy birth-mark on the tender palm; and the Soul returned looks +out upon her through the eyes of the newly-born with the gaze of other +days. + + 29 + +While on the subject of death I may speak of a primitive but touching +custom which exists both in Oki and Izumo--that of calling the name of +the dead immediately after death. For it is thought that the call may be +heard by the fleeting soul, which might sometimes be thus induced to +return. Therefore, when a mother dies, the children should first call +her, and of all the children first the youngest (for she loved that one +most); and then the husband and all those who loved the dead cry to her +in turn. + +And it is also the custom to call loudly the name of one who faints, or +becomes insensible from any cause; and there are curious beliefs +underlying this custom. + +It is said that of those who swoon from pain or grief especially, many +approach very nearly to death, and these always have the same +experience. 'You feel,' said one to me in answer to my question about +the belief, 'as if you were suddenly somewhere else, and quite happy-- +only tired. And you know that you want to go to a Buddhist temple which +is quite far away. At last you reach the gate of the temple court, and +you see the temple inside, and it is wonderfully large and beautiful. +And you pass the gate and enter the court to go to the temple. But +suddenly you hear voices of friends far behind you calling your name-- +very, very earnestly. So you turn back, and all at once you come to +yourself again. At least it is so if your heart cares to live. But one +who is really tired of living will not listen to the voices, and walks +on to the temple. And what there happens no man knows, for they who +enter that temple never return to their friends. + +'That is why people call loudly into the ear of one who swoons. + +'Now, it is said that all who die, before going to the Meido, make one +pilgrimage to the great temple of Zenkoji, which is in the country of +Shinano, in Nagano-Ken. And they say that whenever the priest of that +temple preaches, he sees the Souls gather there in the hondo to hear +him, all with white wrappings about their heads. So Zenkoji might be the +temple which is seen by those who swoon. But I do not know.' + + 30 + +I went by boat from Hishi-ura to Amamura, in Nakanoshima, to visit the +tomb of the exiled Emperor Go-Toba. The scenery along the way was +beautiful, and of softer outline than I had seen on my first passage +through the archipelago. Small rocks rising from the water were covered +with sea-gulls and cormorants, which scarcely took any notice of the +boat, even when we came almost within an oar's length. This fearlessness +of wild creatures is one of the most charming impressions of travel in +these remoter parts of Japan, yet unvisited by tourists with shotguns. +The early European and American hunters in Japan seem to have found no +difficulty and felt no compunction in exterminating what they considered +'game' over whole districts, destroying life merely for the wanton +pleasure of destruction. Their example is being imitated now by 'Young +Japan,' and the destruction of bird life is only imperfectly checked by +game laws. Happily, the Government does interfere sometimes to check +particular forms of the hunting vice. Some brutes who had observed the +habits of swallows to make their nests in Japanese houses, last year +offered to purchase some thousands of swallow-skins at a tempting price. +The effect of the advertisement was cruel enough; but the police were +promptly notified to stop the murdering, which they did. About the same +time, in one of the Yokohama papers, there appeared a letter from some +holy person announcing, as a triumph of Christian sentiment, that a +'converted' fisherman had been persuaded by foreign proselytisers to +kill a turtle, which his Buddhist comrades had vainly begged him to +spare. + +Amarnura, a very small village, lies in a narrow plain of rice-fields +extending from the sea to a range of low hills. From the landing-place +to the village is about a quarter of a mile. The narrow path leading to +it passes round the base of a small hill, covered with pines, on the +outskirts of the village. There is quite a handsome Shinto temple on the +hill, small, but admirably constructed, approached by stone steps and a +paved walk. + +There are the usual lions and lamps of stone, and the ordinary simple +offerings of paper and women's hair before the shrine. But I saw among +the ex-voto a number of curious things which I had never seen in Izumo-- +tiny miniature buckets, well-buckets, with rope and pole complete, +neatly fashioned out of bamboo. The boatman said that farmers bring +these to the shrine when praying for rain. The deity was called Suwa- +Dai-Myojin. + +It was at the neighbouring village, of which Suwa-Dai-Myojin seems to be +the ujigami, that the Emperor Go-Toba is said to have dwelt, in the +house of the Choja Shikekuro. The Shikekuro homestead remains, and still +belongs to the Choja'sa descendants, but they have become very poor. I +asked permission to see the cups from which the exiled emperor drank, +and other relics of his stay said to be preserved by the family; but in +consequence of illness in the house I could not be received. So I had +only a glimpse of the garden, where there is a celebrated pond--a +kembutsu. + +The pond is called Shikekuro's Pond,--Shikekuro-no-ike. And for seven +hundred years, 'tis said, the frogs of that pond have never been heard +to croak. + +For the Emperor Go-Toba, having one night been kept awake by the +croaking of the frogs in that pond, arose and went out and commanded +them, saying: 'Be silent!' Wherefore they have remained silent through +all the centuries even unto this day. + +Near the pond there was in that time a great pine-tree, of which the +rustling upon windy nights disturbed the emperor's rest. And he spoke to +the pine-tree, and said to it: 'Be still!' And never thereafter was that +tree heard to rustle, even in time of storms. + +But that tree has ceased to be. Nothing remains of it but a few +fragments of its wood and hark, which are carefully preserved as relics +by the ancients of Oki. Such a fragment was shown to me in the toko of +the guest chamber of the dwelling of a physician of Saigo--the same +gentleman whose kindness I have related elsewhere. + +The tomb of the emperor lies on the slope of a low hill, at a distance +of about ten minutes' walk from the village. It is far less imposing +than the least of the tombs of the Matsudaira at Matsue, in the grand +old courts of Gesshoji; but it was perhaps the best which the poor +little country of Oki could furnish. This is not, however, the original +place of the tomb, which was moved by imperial order in the sixth year +of Meiji to its present site. A lofty fence, or rather stockade of heavy +wooden posts, painted black, incloses a piece of ground perhaps one +hundred and fifty feet long, by about fifty broad, and graded into three +levels, or low terraces. All the space within is shaded by pines. In the +centre of the last and highest of the little terraces the tomb is +placed: a single large slab of grey rock laid horizontally. A narrow +paved walk leads from the gate to the tomb; ascending each terrace by +three or four stone steps. A little within this gateway, which is opened +to visitors only once a year, there is a torii facing the sepulchre; and +before the highest terrace there are a pair of stone lamps. All this is +severely simple, but effective in a certain touching way. The country +stillness is broken only by the shrilling of the semi and the +tintinnabulation of that strange little insect, the suzumushi, whose +calling sounds just like the tinkling of the tiny bells which are shaken +by the miko in her sacred dance. + + 31 + +I remained nearly eight days at Hishi-ura on the occasion of my second +visit there, but only three at Urago. Urago proved a less pleasant place +to stay in--not because its smells were any stronger than those of +Saigo, but for other reasons which shall presently appear. + +More than one foreign man-of-war has touched at Saigo, and English and +Russian officers of the navy have been seen in the streets. They were +tall, fair-haired, stalwart men; and the people of Oki still imagine +that all foreigners from the West have the same stature and complexion. +I was the first foreigner who ever remained even a night in the town, +and I stayed there two weeks; but being small and dark, and dressed like +a Japanese, I excited little attention among the common people: it +seemed to them that I was only a curious-looking Japanese from some +remote part of the empire. At Hishi-ura the same impression prevailed +for a time; and even after the fact of my being a foreigner had become +generally known, the population caused me no annoyance whatever: they +had already become accustomed to see me walking about the streets or +swimming across the bay. But it was quite otherwise at Urago. The first +time I landed there I had managed to escape notice, being in Japanese +costume, and wearing a very large Izumo hat, which partly concealed my +face. After I left for Saigo, the people must have found out that a +foreigner--the very first ever seen in Dozen--had actually been in Urago +without their knowledge; for my second visit made a sensation such as I +had never been the cause of anywhere else, except at Kaka-ura. + +I had barely time to enter the hotel, before the street became entirely +blockaded by an amazing crowd desirous to see. The hotel was +unfortunately situated on a corner, so that it was soon besieged on two +sides. I was shown to a large back room on the second floor; and I had +no sooner squatted down on my mat, than the people began to come +upstairs quite noiselessly, all leaving their sandals at the foot of the +steps. They were too polite to enter the room; but four or five would +put their heads through the doorway at once, and bow, and smile, and +look, and retire to make way for those who filled the stairway behind +them. It was no easy matter for the servant to bring me my dinner. +Meanwhile, not only had the upper rooms of the houses across the way +become packed with gazers, but all the roofs--north, east, and south-- +which commanded a view of my apartment had been occupied by men and boys +in multitude. Numbers of lads had also climbed (I never could imagine +how) upon the narrow eaves over the galleries below my windows; and all +the openings of my room, on three sides, were full of faces. Then tiles +gave way, and boys fell, but nobody appeared to be hurt. And the +queerest fact was that during the performance of these extraordinary +gymnastics there was a silence of death: had I not seen the throng, I +might have supposed there was not a soul in the street. + +The landlord began to scold; but, finding scolding of no avail, he +summoned a policeman. The policeman begged me to excuse the people, who +had never seen a foreigner before; and asked me if I wished him to clear +the street. He could have done that by merely lifting his little finger; +but as the scene amused me, I begged him not to order the people away, +but only to tell the boys not to climb upon the awnings, some of which +they had already damaged. He told them most effectually, speaking in a +very low voice. During all the rest of the time I was in Urago, no one +dared to go near the awnings. A Japanese policeman never speaks more +than once about anything new, and always speaks to the purpose. + +The public curiosity, however, lasted without abate for three days, and +would have lasted longer if I had not fled from Urago. Whenever I went +out I drew the population after me with a pattering of geta like the +sound of surf moving shingle. Yet, except for that particular sound, +there was silence. No word was spoken. Whether this was because the +whole mental faculty was so strained by the intensity of the desire to +see that speech became impossible, I am not able to decide. But there +was no roughness in all that curiosity; there was never anything +approaching rudeness, except in the matter of ascending to my room +without leave; and that was done so gently that I could not wish the +intruders rebuked. Nevertheless, three days of such experience proved +trying. Despite the heat, I had to close the doors and windows at night +to prevent myself being watched while asleep. About my effects I had no +anxiety at all: thefts are never committed in the island. But that +perpetual silent crowding about me became at last more than +embarrassing. It was innocent, but it was weird. It made me feel like a +ghost--a new arrival in the Meido, surrounded by shapes without voice. + +32 + +There is very little privacy of any sort in Japanese life. Among the +people, indeed, what we term privacy in the Occident does not exist. +There are only walls of paper dividing the lives of men; there are only +sliding screens instead of doors; there are neither locks nor bolts to +be used by day; and whenever weather permits, the fronts, and perhaps +even the sides of the house are literally removed, and its interior +widely opened to the air, the light, and the public gaze. Not even the +rich man closes his front gate by day. Within a hotel or even a common +dwelling-house, nobody knocks before entering your room: there is +nothing to knock at except a shoji or fusuma, which cannot be knocked +upon without being broken. And in this world of paper walls and +sunshine, nobody is afraid or ashamed of fellow-men or fellow-women. +Whatever is done, is done, after a fashion, in public. Your personal +habits, your idiosyncrasies (if you have any), your foibles, your likes +and dislikes, your loves or your hates, must be known to everybody. +Neither vices nor virtues can be hidden: there is absolutely nowhere to +hide them. And this condition has lasted from the most ancient time. +There has never been, for the common millions at least, even the idea of +living unobserved. Life can be comfortably and happily lived in Japan +only upon the condition that all matters relating to it are open to the +inspection of the community. Which implies exceptional moral conditions, +such as have no being in the West. It is perfectly comprehensible only +to those who know by experience the extraordinary charm of Japanese +character, the infinite goodness of the common people, their instinctive +politeness, and the absence among them of any tendencies to indulge in +criticism, ridicule, irony, or sarcasm. No one endeavours to expand his +own individuality by belittling his fellow; no one tries to make himself +appear a superior being: any such attempt would be vain in a community +where the weaknesses of each are known to all, where nothing can be +concealed or disguised, and where affectation could only be regarded as +a mild form of insanity. + + 33 + +Some of the old samurai of Matsue are living in the Oki Islands. When +the great military caste was disestablished, a few shrewd men decided to +try their fortunes in the little archipelago, where customs remained +old-fashioned and lands were cheap. Several succeeded--probably because +of the whole-souled honesty and simplicity of manners in the islands; +for samurai have seldom elsewhere been able to succeed in business of +any sort when obliged to compete with experienced traders, Others +failed, but were able to adopt various humble occupations which gave +them the means to live. + +Besides these aged survivors of the feudal period, I learned there were +in Oki several children of once noble families--youths and maidens of +illustrious extraction--bravely facing the new conditions of life in +this remotest and poorest region of the empire. Daughters of men to whom +the population of a town once bowed down were learning the bitter toil +of the rice-fields. Youths, who might in another era have aspired to +offices of State, had become the trusted servants of Oki heimin. Others, +again, had entered the police, [17] and rightly deemed themselves +fortunate. + +No doubt that change of civilisation forced upon Japan by Christian +bayonets, for the holy motive of gain, may yet save the empire from +perils greater than those of the late social disintegration; but it was +cruelly sudden. To imagine the consequence of depriving the English +landed gentry of their revenues would not enable one to realise exactly +what a similar privation signified to the Japanese samurai. For the old +warrior caste knew only the arts of courtesy and the arts of war. + +And hearing of these things, I could not help thinking about a strange +pageant at the last great Izumo festival of Rakuzan-jinja. + + 34 + +The hamlet of Rakuzan, known only for its bright yellow pottery and its +little Shinto temple, drowses at the foot of a wooded hill about one ri +from Matsue, beyond a wilderness of rice-fields. And the deity of +Rakuzan-jinja is Naomasa, grandson of Iyeyasu, and father of the Daimyo +of Matsue. + +Some of the Matsudaira slumber in Buddhist ground, guarded by tortoises +and lions of stone, in the marvellous old courts of Gesshoji. But +Naomasa, the founder of their long line, is enshrined at Rakuzan; and +the Izumo peasants still clap their hands in prayer before his miya, and +implore his love and protection. + +Now formerly upon each annual matsuri, or festival, of Rakuzan-jinja, it +was customary to carry the miya of Naomasa-San from the village temple +to the castle of Matsue. In solemn procession it was borne to .those +strange old family temples in the heart of the fortress-grounds--Go-jo- +naiInari-Daimyojin, and Kusunoki-Matauhira-Inari-Daimyojin--whose +mouldering courts, peopled with lions and foxes of stone, are shadowed +by enormous trees. After certain Shinto rites had been performed at both +temples, the miya was carried back in procession to Rakuzan. And this +annual ceremony was called the miyuki or togyo--'the August Going,' or +Visit, of the ancestor to the ancestral home. + +But the revolution changed all things. The daimyo passed away; the +castles fell to ruin; the samurai caste was abolished and dispossessed. +And the miya of Lord Naomasa made no August Visit to the home of the +Mataudaira for more than thirty years. + +But it came to pass a little time ago, that certain old men of Matsue +bethought them to revive once more the ancient customs of the Rakuzan +matauri. And there was a miyuki. + +The miya of Lord Naomasa was placed within a barge, draped and +decorated, and so conveyed by river and canal to the eastern end of the +old Mataubara road, along whose pine-shaded way the daimyo formerly +departed to Yedo on their annual visit, or returned therefrom. All those +who rowed the barge were aged samurai who had been wont in their youth +to row the barge of Matsudaira-Dewa-no-Kami, the last Lord of Izumo. +They wore their ancient feudal costume; and they tried to sing their +ancient boat-song--o-funa-uta. But more than a generation had passed +since the last time they had sung it; and some of them had lost their +teeth, so that they could not pronounce the words well; and all, being +aged, lost breath easily in the exertion of wielding the oars. +Nevertheless they rowed the barge to the place appointed. + +Thence the shrine was borne to a spot by the side of the Mataubara road, +where anciently stood an August Tea-House, O-Chaya, at which the daimyo, +returning from the Shogun's capital, were accustomed to rest and to +receive their faithful retainers, who always came in procession to meet +them. No tea-house stands there now; but, in accord with old custom, the +shrine and its escort waited at the place among the wild flowers and the +pines. And then was seen a strange sight. + +For there came to meet the ghost of the great lord a long procession of +shapes that seemed ghosts also--shapes risen out of the dust of +cemeteries: warriors in created helmets and masks of iron and +breastplates of steel, girded with two swords; and spearmen wearing +queues; and retainers in kamishimo; and bearers of hasami-bako. Yet +ghosts these were not, but aged samurai of Matsue, who had borne arms in +the service of the last of the daimyo. And among them appeared his +surviving ministers, the venerable karo; and these, as the procession +turned city-ward, took their old places of honour, and marched before +the shrine valiantly, though bent with years. + +How that pageant might have impressed other strangers I do not know. For +me, knowing something of the history of each of those aged men, the +scene had a significance apart from its story of forgotten customs, +apart from its interest as a feudal procession. To-day each and all of +those old samurai are unspeakably poor. Their beautiful homes vanished +long ago; their gardens have been turned into rice-fields; their +household treasures were cruelly bargained for, and bought for almost +nothing by curio-dealers to be resold at high prices to foreigners at +the open ports. And yet what they could have obtained considerable +money for, and what had ceased to be of any service to them, they clung +to fondly through all their poverty and humiliation. Never could they be +induced to part with their armour and their swords, even when pressed by +direst want, under the new and harder conditions of existence. + +The river banks, the streets, the balconies, and blue-tiled roofs were +thronged. There was a great quiet as the procession passed. Young people +gazed in hushed wonder, feeling the rare worth of that chance to look +upon what will belong in the future to picture-books only and to the +quaint Japanese stage. And old men wept silently, remembering their +youth. + +Well spake the ancient thinker: 'Everything is only for a day, both that +which remembers, and that which is remembered.' + + 35 + +Once more, homeward bound, I sat upon the cabin-roof of the Oki-Saigo-- +this time happily unencumbered by watermelons--and tried to explain to +myself the feeling of melancholy with which I watched those wild island- +coasts vanishing over the pale sea into the white horizon. No doubt it +was inspired partly by the recollection of kindnesses received from many +whom I shall never meet again; partly, also, by my familiarity with the +ancient soil itself, and remembrance of shapes and places: the long blue +visions down channels between islands--the faint grey fishing hamlets +hiding in stony bays--the elfish oddity of narrow streets in little +primitive towns--the forms and tints of peak and vale made lovable by +daily intimacy--the crooked broken paths to shadowed shrines of gods +with long mysterious names--the butterfly-drifting of yellow sails out +of the glow of an unknown horizon. Yet I think it was due much more to a +particular sensation in which every memory was steeped and toned, as a +landscape is steeped in the light and toned in the colours of the +morning: the sensation of conditions closer to Nature's heart, and +farther from the monstrous machine-world of Western life than any into +which I had ever entered north of the torrid zone. And then it seemed to +me that I loved Oki--in spite of the cuttlefish--chiefly because of +having felt there, as nowhere else in Japan, the full joy of escape from +the far-reaching influences of high-pressure civilisation--the delight +of knowing one's self, in Dozen at least, well beyond the range of +everything artificial in human existence. + + + +Chapter Nine Of Souls + +Kinjuro, the ancient gardener, whose head shines like an ivory ball, sat +him down a moment on the edge of the ita-no-ma outside my study to smoke +his pipe at the hibachi always left there for him. And as he smoked he +found occasion to reprove the boy who assists him. What the boy had been +doing I did not exactly know; but I heard Kinjuro bid him try to comport +himself like a creature having more than one Soul. And because those +words interested me I went out and sat down by Kinjuro. + +'O Kinjuro,' I said, 'whether I myself have one or more Souls I am not +sure. But it would much please me to learn how many Souls have you.' + +'I-the-Selfish-One have only four Souls,' made answer Kinjuro, with +conviction imperturbable. + +'Four? re-echoed I, feeling doubtful of having understood 'Four,' he +repeated. 'But that boy I think can have only one Soul, so much is he +wanting in patience.' + +'And in what manner,' I asked, 'came you to learn that you have four +Souls?' + +'There are wise men,' made he answer, while knocking the ashes out of +his little silver pipe, 'there are wise men who know these things. And +there is an ancient book which discourses of them. According to the age +of a man, and the time of his birth, and the stars of heaven, may the +number of his Souls be divined. But this is the knowledge of old men: +the young folk of these times who learn the things of the West do not +believe.' + +'And tell me, O Kinjuro, do there now exist people having more Souls +than you?' + +'Assuredly. Some have five, some six, some seven, some eight Souls. But +no one is by the gods permitted to have more Souls than nine.' + +[Now this, as a universal statement, I could not believe, remembering a +woman upon the other side of the world who possessed many generations of +Souls, and knew how to use them all. She wore her Souls just as other +women wear their dresses, and changed them several times a day; and the +multitude of dresses in the wardrobe of Queen Elizabeth was as nothing +to the multitude of this wonderful person's Souls. For which reason she +never appeared the same upon two different occasions; and she changed +her thought and her voice with her Souls. Sometimes she was of the +South, and her eyes were brown; and again she was of the North, and her +eyes were grey. Sometimes she was of the thirteenth, and sometimes of +the eighteenth century; and people doubted their own senses when they +saw these things; and they tried to find out the truth by begging +photographs of her, and then comparing them. Now the photographers +rejoiced to photograph her because she was more than fair; but presently +they also were confounded by the discovery that she was never the same +subject twice. So the men who most admired her could not presume to fall +in love with her because that would have been absurd. She had altogether +too many Souls. And some of you who read this I have written will bear +witness to the verity thereof.] + +'Concerning this Country of the Gods, O Kinjuro, that which you say may +be true. But there are other countries having only gods made of gold; +and in those countries matters are not so well arranged; and the +inhabitants thereof are plagued with a plague of Souls. For while some +have but half a Soul, or no Soul at all, others have Souls in multitude +thrust upon them, for which neither nutriment nor employ can be found. +And Souls thus situated torment exceedingly their owners. . . . .That is +to say, Western Souls. . . . But tell me, I pray you, what is the use of +having more than one or two Souls?' + +'Master, if all had the same number and quality of Souls, all would +surely be of one mind. But that people are different from each other is +apparent; and the differences among them are because of the differences +in the quality and the number of their Souls.' + +'And it is better to have many Souls than a few?' 'It is better.' + +'And the man having but one Soul is a being imperfect?' + +'Very imperfect.' + +'Yet a man very imperfect might have had an ancestor perfect?' + +'That is true.' + +'So that a man of to-day possessing but one Soul may have had an +ancestor with nine Souls?' + +'Yes.' + +'Then what has become of those other eight Souls which the ancestor +possessed, but which the descendant is without?' + +'Ah! that is the work of the gods. The gods alone fix the number of +Souls for each of us. To the worthy are many given; to the unworthy +few.' + +'Not from the parents, then, do the Souls descend?' + +'Nay! Most ancient the Souls are: innumerable, the years of them.' + +'And this I desire to know: Can a man separate his Souls? Can he, for +instance, have one Soul in Kyoto and one in Tokyo and one in Matsue, all +at the same time?' + +'He cannot; they remain always together.' + +'How? One within the other--like the little lacquered boxes of an inro?' + +'Nay: that none but the gods know.' + +'And the Souls are never separated?' + +'Sometimes they may be separated. But if the Souls of a man be +separated, that man becomes mad. Mad people are those who have lost one +of their Souls.' + +'But after death what becomes of the Souls?' + +'They remain still together. . . . When a man dies his Souls ascend to +the roof of the house. And they stay upon the roof for the space of nine +and forty days.' + +'On what part of the roof?' + +'On the yane-no-mune--upon the Ridge of the Roof they stay.' + +'Can they be seen?' + +'Nay: they are like the air is. To and fro upon the Ridge of the Roof +they move, like a little wind.' + +'Why do they not stay upon the roof for fifty days instead of forty- +nine?' + +'Seven weeks is the time allotted them before they must depart: seven +weeks make the measure of forty-nine days. But why this should be, I +cannot tell.' + +I was not unaware of the ancient belief that the spirit of a dead man +haunts for a time the roof of his dwelling, because it is referred to +quite impressively in many Japanese dramas, among others in the play +called Kagami-yama, which makes the people weep. But I had not before +heard of triplex and quadruplex and other yet more highly complex Souls; +and I questioned Kinjuro vainly in the hope of learning the authority +for his beliefs. They were the beliefs of his fathers: that was all he +knew. [1] + +Like most Izumo folk, Kinjuro was a Buddhist as well as a Shintoist. As +the former he belonged to the Zen-shu, as the latter to the Izumo- +Taisha. Yet his ontology seemed to me not of either. Buddhism does not +teach the doctrine of compound-multiple Souls. There are old Shinto +books inaccessible to the multitude which speak of a doctrine very +remotely akin to Kinjuro's; but Kinjuro had never seen them. Those books +say that each of us has two souls--the Ara-tama or Rough Soul, which is +vindictive; and the Nigi-tama, or Gentle Soul, which is all-forgiving. +Furthermore, we are all possessed by the spirit of Oho-maga-tsu-hi-no- +Kami, the 'Wondrous Deity of Exceeding Great Evils'; also by the spirit +of Oho-naho-bi-no-Kami, the 'Wondrous Great Rectifying Deity,' a +counteracting influence. These were not exactly the ideas of Kinjuro. +But I remembered something Hirata wrote which reminded me of Kinjuro's +words about a possible separation of souls. Hirata's teaching was that +the ara-tama of a man may leave his body, assume his shape, and without +his knowledge destroy a hated enemy. So I asked Kinjuro about it. He +said he had never heard of a nigi-tama or an ara-tama; but he told me +this: + +'Master, when a man has been discovered by his wife to be secretly +enamoured of another, it sometimes happens that the guilty woman is +seized with a sickness that no physician can cure. For one of the Souls +of the wife, moved exceedingly by anger, passes into the body of that +woman to destroy her. But the wife also sickens, or loses her mind +awhile, because of the absence of her Soul. + +'And there is another and more wonderful thing known to us of Nippon, +which you, being of the West, may never have heard. By the power of the +gods, for a righteous purpose, sometimes a Soul may be withdrawn a +little while from its body, and be made to utter its most secret +thought. But no suffering to the body is then caused. And the wonder is +wrought in this wise: + +'A man loves a beautiful girl whom he is at liberty to marry; but he +doubts whether he can hope to make her love him in return. He seeks the +kannushi of a certain Shinto temple, [2] and tells of his doubt, and +asks the aid of the gods to solve it. Then the priests demand, not his +name, but his age and the year and day and hour of his birth, which they +write down for the gods to know; and they bid the man return to the +temple after the space of seven days. + +'And during those seven days the priests offer prayer to the gods that +the doubt may be solved; and one of them each morning bathes all his +body in cold, pure water, and at each repast eats only food prepared +with holy fire. And on the eighth day the man returns to the temple, and +enters an inner chamber where the priests receive him. + +'A ceremony is performed, and certain prayers are said, after which all +wait in silence. And then, the priest who has performed the rites of +purification suddenly begins to tremble violently in all his body, like +one trembling with a great fever. And this is because, by the power of +the gods, the Soul of the girl whose love is doubted has entered, all +fearfully, into the body of that priest. She does not know; for at that +time, wherever she may be, she is in a deep sleep from which nothing can +arouse her. But her Soul, having been summoned into the body of the +priest, can speak nothing save the truth; and It is made to tell all +Its thought. And the priest speaks not with his own voice, but with the +voice of the Soul; and he speaks in the person of the Soul, saying: "I +love," or "I hate," according as the truth may be, and in the language +of women. If there be hate, then the reason of the hate is spoken; but +if the answer be of love, there is little to say. And then the trembling +of the priest stops, for the Soul passes from him; and he falls forward +upon his face like one dead, and long so--remains. + +'Tell me, Kinjuro,' I asked, after all these queer things had been +related to me, 'have you yourself ever known of a Soul being removed by +the power of the gods, and placed in the heart of a priest?' + +'Yes: I myself have known it.' + +I remained silent and waited. The old man emptied his little pipe, threw +it down beside the hibachi, folded his hands, and looked at the lotus- +flowers for some time before he spoke again. Then he smiled and said: + +'Master, I married when I was very young. For many years we had no +children: then my wife at last gave me a son, and became a Buddha. But +my son lived and grew up handsome and strong; and when the Revolution +came, he joined the armies of the Son of Heaven; and he died the death +of a man in the great war of the South, in Kyushu. I loved him; and I +wept with joy when I heard that he had been able to die for our Sacred +Emperor: since there is no more noble death for the son of a samurai. So +they buried my boy far away from me in Kyushu, upon a hill near +Kumamoto, which is a famous city with a strong garrison; and I went +there to make his tomb beautiful. But his name is here also, in +Ninomaru, graven on the monument to the men of Izumo who fell in the +good fight for loyalty and honour in our emperor's holy cause; and when +I see his name there, my heart laughs, and I speak to him, and then it +seems as if he were walking beside me again, under the great pines. . . +But all that is another matter. + +'I sorrowed for my wife. All the years we had dwelt together no unkind +word had ever been uttered between us. And when she died, I thought +never to marry again. But after two more years had passed, my father and +mother desired a daughter in the house, and they told me of their wish, +and of a girl who was beautiful and of good family, though poor. The +family were of our kindred, and the girl was their only support: she +wove garments of silk and garments of cotton, and for this she received +but little money. And because she was filial and comely, and our kindred +not fortunate, my parents desired that I should marry her and help her +people; for in those days we had a small income of rice. Then, being +accustomed to obey my parents, I suffered them to do what they thought +best. So the nakodo was summoned, and the arrangements for the wedding +began. + +'Twice I was able to see the girl in the house of her parents. And I +thought myself fortunate the first time I looked upon her; for she was +very comely and young. But the second time, I perceived she had been +weeping, and that her eyes avoided mine. Then my heart sank; for I +thought: She dislikes me; and they are forcing her to this thing. Then I +resolved to question the gods; and I caused the marriage to be delayed; +and I went to the temple of Yanagi-no-Inari-Sama, which is in the Street +Zaimokucho. + +'And when the trembling came upon him, the priest, speaking with the +Soul of that maid, declared to me: "My heart hates you, and the sight of +your face gives me sickness, because I love another, and because this +marriage is forced upon me. Yet though my heart hates you, I must marry +you because my parents are poor and old, and I alone cannot long +continue to support them, for my work is killing me. But though I may +strive to be a dutiful wife, there never will be gladness in your house +because of me; for my heart hates you with a great and lasting hate; and +the sound of your voice makes a sickness in my breast (koe kiite mo mune +ga waruku naru); and only to see your face makes me wish that I were +dead (kao miru to shinitaku naru)." + +'Thus knowing the truth, I told it to my parents; and I wrote a letter +of kind words to the maid, praying pardon for the pain I had unknowingly +caused her; and I feigned long illness, that the marriage might be +broken off without gossip; and we made a gift to that family; and the +maid was glad. For she was enabled at a later time to marry the young +man she loved. My parents never pressed me again to take a wife; and +since their death I have lived alone. . . . O Master, look upon the +extreme wickedness of that boy!' + +Taking advantage of our conversation, Kinjuro's young assistant had +improvised a rod and line with a bamboo stick and a bit of string; and +had fastened to the end of the string a pellet of tobacco stolen from +the old man's pouch. With this bait he had been fishing in the lotus +pond; and a frog had swallowed it, and was now suspended high above the +pebbles, sprawling in rotary motion, kicking in frantic spasms of +disgust and despair. 'Kaji!' shouted the gardener. + +The boy dropped his rod with a laugh, and ran to us unabashed; while the +frog, having disgorged the tobacco, plopped back into the lotus pond. +Evidently Kaji was not afraid of scoldings. + +'Gosho ga waruil' declared the old man, shaking his ivory head. 'O Kaji, +much I fear that your next birth will be bad! Do I buy tobacco for +frogs? Master, said I not rightly this boy has but one Soul?' + + + +CHAPTER TEN Of Ghosts and Goblins + +1 + +THERE was a Buddha, according to the Hokkekyo who 'even assumed the +shape of a goblin to preach to such as were to be converted by a +goblin.' And in the same Sutra may be found this promise of the Teacher: +'While he is dwelling lonely in the wilderness, I will send thither +goblins in great number to keep him company.' The appalling character +of this promise is indeed somewhat modified by the assurance that gods +also are to be sent. But if ever I become a holy man, I shall take heed +not to dwell in the wilderness, because I have seen Japanese goblins, +and I do not like them. + +Kinjuro showed them to me last night. They had come to town for the +matsuri of our own ujigami, or parish-temple; and, as there were many +curious things to be seen at the night festival, we started for the +temple after dark, Kinjuro carrying a paper lantern painted with my +crest. + +It had snowed heavily in the morning; but now the sky and the sharp +still air were clear as diamond; and the crisp snow made a pleasant +crunching sound under our feet as we walked; and it occurred to me to +say: 'O Kinjuro, is there a God of Snow?' + +'I cannot tell,' replied Kinjuro. 'There be many gods I do not know; and +there is not any man who knows the names of all the gods. But there is +the Yuki-Onna, the Woman of the Snow.' + +'And what is the Yuki-Onna?' + +'She is the White One that makes the Faces in the snow. She does not any +harm, only makes afraid. By day she lifts only her head, and frightens +those who journey alone. But at night she rises up sometimes, taller +than the trees, and looks about a little while, and then falls back in a +shower of snow.' [1] + +'What is her face like?' + +'It is all white, white. It is an enormous face. And it is a lonesome +face.' + +[The word Kinjuro used was samushii. Its common meaning is 'lonesome'; +but he used it, I think, in the sense of 'weird.'] + +'Did you ever see her, Kinjuro?' + +'Master, I never saw her. But my father told me that once when he was a +child, he wanted to go to a neighbour's house through the snow to play +with another little boy; and that on the way he saw a great white Face +rise up from the snow and look lonesomely about, so that he cried for +fear and ran back. Then his people all went out and looked; but there +was only snow; and then they knew that he had seen the Yuki-Onna.' + +'And in these days, Kinjuro, do people ever see her?' + +'Yes. Those who make the pilgrimage to Yabumura, in the period called +Dai-Kan, which is the Time of the Greatest Cold, [2] they sometimes see +her.' + +'What is there at Yabumura, Kinjuro?' + +'There is the Yabu-jinja, which is an ancient and famous temple of Yabu- +no-Tenno-San--the God of Colds, Kaze-no-Kami. It is high upon a hill, +nearly nine ri from Matsue. And the great matsuri of that temple is held +upon the tenth and eleventh days of the Second Month. And on those days +strange things may be seen. For one who gets a very bad cold prays to +the deity of Yabu-jinja to cure it, and takes a vow to make a pilgrimage +naked to the temple at the time of the matsuri.' + +'Naked?' + +'Yes: the pilgrims wear only waraji, and a little cloth round their +loins. And a great many men and women go naked through the snow to the +temple, though the snow is deep at that time. And each man carries a +bunch of gohei and a naked sword as gifts to the temple; and each woman +carries a metal mirror. And at the temple, the priests receive them, +performing curious rites. For the priests then, according to ancient +custom, attire themselves like sick men, and lie down and groan, and +drink, potions made of herbs, prepared after the Chinese manner.' + +'But do not some of the pilgrims die of cold, Kinjuro?' + +'No: our Izumo peasants are hardy. Besides, they run swiftly, so that +they reach the temple all warm. And before returning they put on thick +warm robes. But sometimes, upon the way, they see the Yuki-Onna.' + +2 + +Each side of the street leading to the miya was illuminated with a line +of paper lanterns bearing holy symbols; and the immense court of the +temple had been transformed into a town of booths, and shops, and +temporary theatres. In spite of the cold, the crowd was prodigious. +There seemed to be all the usual attractions of a matsuri, and a number +of unusual ones. Among the familiar lures, I missed at this festival +only the maiden wearing an obi of living snakes; probably it had become +too cold for the snakes. There were several fortune-tellers and +jugglers; there were acrobats and dancers; there was a man making +pictures out of sand; and there was a menagerie containing an emu from +Australia, and a couple of enormous bats from the Loo Choo Islands--bats +trained to do several things. I did reverence to the gods, and bought +some extraordinary toys; and then we went to look for the goblins. They +were domiciled in a large permanent structure, rented to showmen on +special occasions. + +Gigantic characters signifying 'IKI-NINGYO,' painted upon the signboard +at the entrance, partly hinted the nature of the exhibition. Iki-ningyo +('living images') somewhat correspond to our Occidental 'wax figures'; +but the equally realistic Japanese creations are made of much cheaper +material. Having bought two wooden tickets for one sen each, we entered, +and passed behind a curtain to find ourselves in a long corridor lined +with booths, or rather matted compartments, about the size of small +rooms. Each space, decorated with scenery appropriate to the subject, +was occupied by a group of life-size figures. The group nearest the +entrance, representing two men playing samisen and two geisha dancing, +seemed to me without excuse for being, until Kinjuro had translated a +little placard before it, announcing that one of the figures was a +living person. We watched in vain for a wink or palpitation. Suddenly +one of the musicians laughed aloud, shook his head, and began to play +and sing. The deception was perfect. + +The remaining groups, twenty-four in number, were powerfully impressive +in their peculiar way, representing mostly famous popular traditions or +sacred myths. Feudal heroisms, the memory of which stirs every Japanese +heart; legends of filial piety; Buddhist miracles, and stories of +emperors were among the subjects. Sometimes, however, the realism was +brutal, as in one scene representing the body of a woman lying in a pool +of blood, with brains scattered by a sword stroke. Nor was this +unpleasantness altogether atoned for by her miraculous resuscitation in +the adjoining compartment, where she reappeared returning thanks in a +Nichiren temple, and converting her slaughterer, who happened, by some +extraordinary accident, to go there at the same time. + +At the termination of the corridor there hung a black curtain behind +which screams could be heard. And above the black curtain was a placard +inscribed with the promise of a gift to anybody able to traverse the +mysteries beyond without being frightened. + +'Master,' said Kinjuro, 'the goblins are inside.' + +We lifted the veil, and found ourselves in a sort of lane between +hedges, and behind the hedges we saw tombs; we were in a graveyard. +There were real weeds and trees, and sotoba and haka, and the effect was +quite natural. Moreover, as the roof was very lofty, and kept invisible +by a clever arrangement of lights, all seemed darkness only; and this +gave one a sense of being out under the night, a feeling accentuated by +the chill of the air. And here and there we could discern sinister +shapes, mostly of superhuman stature, some seeming to wait in dim +places, others floating above the graves. Quite near us, towering above +the hedge on our right, was a Buddhist priest, with his back turned to +us. + +'A yamabushi, an exorciser?' I queried of Kinjuro. + +'No,' said Kinjuro; 'see how tall he is. I think that must be a Tanuki- +Bozu.' + +The Tanuki-Bozu is the priestly form assumed by the goblin-badger +(tanuki) for the purpose of decoying belated travellers to destruction. +We went on, and looked up into his face. It was a nightmare--his face. + +'In truth a Tanuki-Bozu,' said Kinjuro. 'What does the Master honourably +think concerning it?' + +Instead of replying, I jumped back; for the monstrous thing had suddenly +reached over the hedge and clutched at me, with a moan. Then it fell +back, swaying and creaking. It was moved by invisible strings. + +'I think, Kinjuro, that it is a nasty, horrid thing. . . . But I shall +not claim the present.' + +We laughed, and proceeded to consider a Three-Eyed Friar (Mitsu-me- +Nyudo). The Three-Eyed Friar also watches for the unwary at night. His +face is soft and smiling as the face of a Buddha, but he has a hideous +eye in the summit of his shaven pate, which can only be seen when seeing +it does no good. The Mitsu-me-Nyudo made a grab at Kinjuro, and startled +him almost as much as the Tanuki-Bozu had startled me. + +Then we looked at the Yama-Uba--the 'Mountain Nurse.' She catches little +children and nurses them for a while, and then devours them. In her face +she has no mouth; but she has a mouth in the top of her head, under her +hair. The YamaUba did not clutch at us, because her hands were occupied +with a nice little boy, whom she was just going to eat. The child had +been made wonderfully pretty to heighten the effect. + +Then I saw the spectre of a woman hovering in the air above a tomb at +some distance, so that I felt safer in observing it. It had no eyes; its +long hair hung loose; its white robe floated light as smoke. I thought +of a statement in a composition by one of my pupils about ghosts: 'Their +greatest Peculiarity is that They have no feet.' Then I jumped again, +for the thing, quite soundlessly but very swiftly, made through the air +at me. + +And the rest of our journey among the graves was little more than a +succession of like experiences; but it was made amusing by the screams +of women, and bursts of laughter from people who lingered only to watch +the effect upon others of what had scared themselves. + +3 + +Forsaking the goblins, we visited a little open-air theatre to see two +girls dance. After they had danced awhile, one girl produced a sword and +cut off the other girl's head, and put it upon a table, where it opened +its mouth and began to sing. All this was very prettily done; but my +mind was still haunted by the goblins. So I questioned Kinjuro: + +'Kinjuro, those goblins of which we the ningyo have seen--do folk +believe in the reality, thereof?' + +'Not any more,' answered Kinjuro--'not at least among the people of the +city. Perhaps in the country it may not be so. We believe in the Lord +Buddha; we believe in the ancient gods; and there be many who believe +the dead sometimes return to avenge a cruelty or to compel an act of +justice. But we do not now believe all that was believed in ancient +time. . . .Master,' he added, as we reached another queer exhibition, +'it is only one sen to go to hell, if the Master would like to go--'Very +good, Kinjuro,' I made reply. 'Pay two sen that we may both go to hell.' + +4 + +And we passed behind a curtain into a big room full of curious clicking +and squeaking noises. These noises were made by unseen wheels and +pulleys moving a multitude of ningyo upon a broad shelf about breast- +high, which surrounded the apartment upon three sides. These ningyo were +not ikiningyo, but very small images--puppets. They represented all +things in the Under-World. + +The first I saw was Sozu-Baba, the Old Woman of the River of Ghosts, who +takes away the garments of Souls. The garments were hanging upon a tree +behind her. She was tall; she rolled her green eyes and gnashed her long +teeth, while the shivering of the little white souls before her was as a +trembling of butterflies. Farther on appeared Emma Dai-O, great King of +Hell, nodding grimly. At his right hand, upon their tripod, the heads of +Kaguhana and Mirume, the Witnesses, whirled as upon a wheel. At his +left, a devil was busy sawing a Soul in two; and I noticed that he used +his saw like a Japanese carpenter--pulling it towards him instead of +pushing it. And then various exhibitions of the tortures of the damned. +A liar bound to a post was having his tongue pulled out by a devil-- +slowly, with artistic jerks; it was already longer than the owner's +body. Another devil was pounding another Soul in a mortar so vigorously +that the sound of the braying could be heard above all the din of the +machinery. A little farther on was a man being eaten alive by two +serpents having women's faces; one serpent was white, the other blue. +The white had been his wife, the blue his concubine. All the tortures +known to medieval Japan were being elsewhere deftly practised by swarms +of devils. After reviewing them, we visited the Sai-no-Kawara, and saw +Jizo with a child in his arms, and a circle of other children running +swiftly around him, to escape from demons who brandished their clubs and +ground their teeth. + +Hell proved, however, to be extremely cold; and while meditating on the +partial inappropriateness of the atmosphere, it occurred to me that in +the common Buddhist picture-books of the Jigoku I had never noticed any +illustrations of torment by cold. Indian Buddhism, indeed, teaches the +existence of cold hells. There is one, for instance, where people's lips +are frozen so that they can say only 'Ah-ta-ta!'--wherefore that hell is +called Atata. And there is the hell where tongues are frozen, and where +people say only 'Ah-baba!' for which reason it is called Ababa. And +there is the Pundarika, or Great White-Lotus hell, where the spectacle +of the bones laid bare by the cold is 'like a blossoming of white lotus- +flowers.' Kinjuro thinks there are cold hells according to Japanese +Buddhism; but he is not sure. And I am not sure that the idea of cold +could be made very terrible to the Japanese. They confess a general +liking for cold, and compose Chinese poems about the loveliness of ice +and snow. + +5 + +Out of hell, we found our way to a magic-lantern show being given in a +larger and even much colder structure. A Japanese magic-lantern show is +nearly always interesting in more particulars than one, but perhaps +especially as evidencing the native genius for adapting Western +inventions to Eastern tastes. A Japanese magic-lantern show is +essentially dramatic. It is a play of which the dialogue is uttered by +invisible personages, the actors and the scenery being only luminous +shadows. 'Wherefore it is peculiarly well suited to goblinries and +weirdnesses of all kinds; and plays in which ghosts figure are the +favourite subjects. As the hall was bitterly cold, I waited only long +enough to see one performance--of which the following is an epitome: + +SCENE 1.--A beautiful peasant girl and her aged mother, squatting +together at home. Mother weeps violently, gesticulates agonisingly. From +her frantic speech, broken by wild sobs, we learn that the girl must be +sent as a victim to the Kami-Sama of some lonesome temple in the +mountains. That god is a bad god. Once a year he shoots an arrow into +the thatch of some farmer's house as a sign that he wants a girl--to +eat! Unless the girl be sent to him at once, he destroys the crops and +the cows. Exit mother, weeping and shrieking, and pulling out her grey +hair. Exit girl, with downcast head, and air of sweet resignation. + +SCENE II.--Before a wayside inn; cherry-trees in blossom. Enter coolies +carrying, like a palanquin, a large box, in which the girl is supposed +to be. Deposit box; enter to eat; tell story to loquacious landlord. +Enter noble samurai, with two swords. Asks about box. Hears the story of +the coolies repeated by loquacious landlord. Exhibits fierce +indignation; vows that the Kami-Sama are good--do not eat girls. +Declares that so-called Kami-Sama to be a devil. Observes that devils +must be killed. Orders box opened. Sends girl home. Gets into box +himself, and commands coolies under pain of death to bear him right +quickly to that temple. + +SCENE III.--Enter coolies, approaching temple through forest at night. +Coolies afraid. Drop box and run. Exeunt coolies. Box alone in the dark. +Enter veiled figure, all white. Figure moans unpleasantly; utters horrid +cries. Box remains impassive. Figure removes veil, showing Its face--a +skull with phosphoric eyes. [Audience unanimously utter the sound +'Aaaaaa!'] Figure displays Its hands--monstrous and apish, with claws. +[Audience utter a second 'Aaaaaa!'] Figure approaches the box, touches +the box, opens the box! Up leaps noble samurai. A wrestle; drums sound +the roll of battle. Noble samurai practises successfully noble art of +ju-jutsu. Casts demon down, tramples upon him triumphantly, cuts off his +head. Head suddenly enlarges, grows to the size of a house, tries to +bite off head of samurai. Samurai slashes it with his sword. Head rolls +backward, spitting fire, and vanishes. Finis. Exeunt omnes. + +6 + +The vision of the samurai and the goblin reminded Kinjuro of a queer +tale, which he began to tell me as soon as the shadow-play was over. +Ghastly stories are apt to fall flat after such an exhibition; but +Kinjuro's stories are always peculiar enough to justify the telling +under almost any circumstances. Wherefore I listened eagerly, in spite +of the cold: + +'A long time ago, in the days when Fox-women and goblins haunted this +land, there came to the capital with her parents a samurai girl, so +beautiful that all men who saw her fell enamoured of her. And hundreds +of young samurai desired and hoped to marry her, and made their desire +known to her parents. For it has ever been the custom in Japan that +marriages should be arranged by parents. But there are exceptions to all +customs, and the case of this maiden was such an exception. Her parents +declared that they intended to allow their daughter to choose her own +husband, and that all who wished to win her would be free to woo her. + +'Many men of high rank and of great wealth were admitted to the house as +suitors; and each one courted her as he best knew how--with gifts, and +with fair words, and with poems written in her honour, and with promises +of eternal love. And to each one she spoke sweetly and hopefully; but +she made strange conditions. For every suitor she obliged to bind +himself by his word of honour as a samurai to submit to a test of his +love for her, and never to divulge to living person what that test might +be. And to this all agreed. + +'But even the most confident suitors suddenly ceased their importunities +after having been put to the test; and all of them appeared to have been +greatly terrified by something. Indeed, not a few even fled away from +the city, and could not be persuaded by their friends to return. But no +one ever so much as hinted why. Therefore it was whispered by those who +knew nothing of the mystery, that the beautiful girl must be either a +Fox-woman or a goblin. + +'Now, when all the wooers of high rank had abandoned their suit, there +came a samurai who had no wealth but his sword. He was a good man and +true, and of pleasing presence; and the girl seemed to like him. But she +made him take the same pledge which the others had taken; and after he +had taken it, she told him to return upon a certain evening. + +'When that evening came, he was received at the house by none but the +girl herself. With her own hands she set before him the repast of +hospitality, and waited upon him, after which she told him that she +wished him to go out with her at a late hour. To this he consented +gladly, and inquired to what place she desired to go. But she replied +nothing to his question, and all at once became very silent, and strange +in her manner. And after a while she retired from the apartment, leaving +him alone. + +'Only long after midnight she returned, robed all in white--like a Soul +--and, without uttering a word, signed to him to follow her. Out of the +house they hastened while all the city slept. It was what is called an +oborozuki-yo--'moon-clouded night.' Always upon such a night, 'tis said, +do ghosts wander. She swiftly led the way; and the dogs howled as she +flitted by; and she passed beyond the confines of the city to a place of +knolls shadowed by enormous trees, where an ancient cemetery was. Into +it she glided--a white shadow into blackness. He followed, wondering, +his hand upon his sword. Then his eyes became accustomed to the gloom; +and he saw. + +'By a new-made grave she paused and signed to him to wait. The tools of +the grave-maker were still lying there. Seizing one, she began to dig +furiously, with strange haste and strength. At last her spade smote a +coffin-lid and made it boom: another moment and the fresh white wood of +the kwan was bare. She tore off the lid, revealing a corpse within--the +corpse of a child. With goblin gestures she wrung an arm from the body, +wrenched it in twain, and, squatting down, began to devour the upper +half. Then, flinging to her lover the other half, she cried to him, +"Eat, if thou lovest mel this is what I eat!" 'Not even for a single +instant did he hesitate. He squatted down upon the other side of the +grave, and ate the half of the arm, and said, "Kekko degozarimasu! mo +sukoshi chodai." [3] For that arm was made of the best kwashi [4] that +Saikyo could produce. + +'Then the girl sprang to her feet with a burst of laughter, and cried: +"You only, of all my brave suitors, did not run away! And I wanted a +husband: who could not fear. I will marry you; I can love you: you are a +man!"' + +7 + +'O Kinjuro,' I said, as we took our way home, 'I have heard and I have +read many Japanese stories of the returning of the dead. Likewise you +yourself have told me it is still believed the dead return, and why. But +according both to that which I have read and that which you have told +me, the coming back of the dead is never a thing to be desired. They +return because of hate, or because of envy, or because they cannot rest +for sorrow. But of any who return for that which is not evil--where is +it written? Surely the common history of them is like that which we have +this night seen: much that is horrible and much that is wicked and +nothing of that which is beautiful or true.' + +Now this I said that I might tempt him. And he made even the answer I +desired, by uttering the story which is hereafter set down: + +'Long ago, in the days of a daimyo whose name has been forgotten, there +lived in this old city a young man and a maid who loved each other very +much. Their names are not remembered, but their story remains. From +infancy they had been betrothed; and as children they played together, +for their parents were neighbours. And as they grew up, they became +always fonder of each other. + +'Before the youth had become a man, his parents died. But he was able to +enter the service of a rich samurai, an officer of high rank, who had +been a friend of his people. And his protector soon took him into great +favour, seeing him to be courteous, intelligent, and apt at arms. So the +young man hoped to find himself shortly in a position that would make it +possible for him to marry his betrothed. But war broke out in the north +and east; and he was summoned suddenly to follow his master to the +field. Before departing, however, he was able to see the girl; and they +exchanged pledges in the presence of her parents; and he promised, +should he remain alive, to return within a year from that day to marry +his betrothed. + +'After his going much time passed without news of him, for there was no +post in that time as now; and the girl grieved so much for thinking of +the chances of war that she became all white and thin and weak. Then at +last she heard of him through a messenger sent from the army to bear +news to the daimyo and once again a letter was brought to her by another +messenger. And thereafter there came no word. Long is a year to one who +waits. And the year passed, and he did not return. + +'Other seasons passed, and still he did not come; and she thought him +dead; and she sickened and lay down, and died, and was buried. Then her +old parents, who had no other child, grieved unspeakably, and came to +hate their home for the lonesomeness of it. After a time they resolved +to sell all they had, and to set out upon a sengaji--the great +pilgrimage to the Thousand Temples of the Nichiren-Shu, which requires +many years to perform. So they sold their small house with all that it +contained, excepting the ancestral tablets, and the holy things which +must never be sold, and the ihai of their buried daughter, which were +placed, according to the custom of those about to leave their native +place, in the family temple. Now the family was of the Nichiren-Shu; and +their temple was Myokoji. + +'They had been gone only four days when the young man who had been +betrothed to their daughter returned to the city. He had attempted, with +the permission of his master, to fulfil his promise. But the provinces +upon his way were full of war, and the roads and passes were guarded by +troops, and he had been long delayed by many difficulties. And when he +heard of his misfortune he sickened for grief, and many days remained +without knowledge of anything, like one about to die. + +'But when he began to recover his strength, all the pain of memory came +back again; and he regretted that he had not died. Then he resolved to +kill himself upon the grave of his betrothed; and, as soon as he was +able to go out unobserved, he took his sword and went to the cemetery +where the girl was buried: it is a lonesome place--the cemetery of +Myokoji. There he found her tomb, and knelt before it, and prayed and +wept, and whispered to her that which he was about to do. And suddenly +he heard her voice cry to him: "Anata!" and felt her hand upon his hand; +and he turned, and saw her kneeling beside him, smiling, and beautiful +as he remembered her, only a little pale. Then his heart leaped so that +he could not speak for the wonder and the doubt and the joy of that +moment. But she said: "Do not doubt: it is really I. I am not dead. It +was all a mistake. I was buried, because my people thought me dead-- +buried too soon. And my own parents thought me dead, and went upon a +pilgrimage. Yet you see, I am not dead--not a ghost. It is I: do not +doubt it! And I have seen your heart, and that was worth all the +waiting, and the pain.. . But now let us go away at once to another +city, so that people may not know this thing and trouble us; for all +still believe me dead." + +'And they went away, no one observing them. And they went even to the +village of Minobu, which is in the province of Kai. For there is a +famous temple of the Nichiren-Shu in that place; and the girl had said: +"I know that in the course of their pilgrimage my parents will surely +visit Minobu: so that if we dwell there, they will find us, and we shall +be all again together." And when they came to Minobu, she said: "Let us +open a little shop." And they opened a little food-shop, on the wide way +leading to the holy place; and there they sold cakes for children, and +toys, and food for pilgrims. For two years they so lived and prospered; +and there was a son born to them. + +'Now when the child was a year and two months old, the parents of the +wife came in the course of their pilgrimage to Minobu; and they stopped +at the little shop to buy food. And seeing their daughter's betrothed, +they cried out and wept and asked questions. Then he made them enter, +and bowed down before them, and astonished them, saying: "Truly as I +speak it, your daughter is not dead; and she is my wife; and we have a +son. And she is even now within the farther room, lying down with the +child. I pray you go in at once and gladden her, for her heart longs for +the moment of seeing you again." + +'So while he busied himself in making all things ready for their +comfort, they entered the inner, room very softly--the mother first. + +'They found the child asleep; but the mother they did not find. She +seemed to have gone out for a little while only: her pillow was still +warm. They waited long for her: then they began to seek her. But never +was she seen again. + +'And they understood only when they found beneath the coverings which +had covered the mother and child, something which they remembered having +left years before in the temple of Myokoji--a little mortuary tablet, +the ihai of their buried daughter.' + +I suppose I must have looked thoughtful after this tale; for the old man +said: + +'Perhaps the Master honourably thinks concerning the story that it is +foolish?' + +'Nay, Kinjuro, the story is in my heart.' + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN The Japanese Smile + +1 + +THOSE whose ideas of the world and its wonders have been formed chiefly +by novels and romance still indulge a vague belief that the East is more +serious than the West. Those who judge things from a higher standpoint +argue, on the contrary, that, under present conditions, the West must be +more serious than the East; and also that gravity, or even something +resembling its converse, may exist only as a fashion. But the fact is +that in this, as in all other questions, no rule susceptible of +application to either half of humanity can be accurately framed. +Scientifically, we can do no more just now than study certain contrasts +in a general way, without hoping to explain satisfactorily the highly +complex causes which produced them. One such contrast, of particular +interest, is that afforded by the English and the Japanese. + +It is a commonplace to say that the English are a serious people--not +superficially serious, but serious all the way down to the bed-rock of +the race character. It is almost equally safe to say that the Japanese +are not very serious, either above or below the surface, even as +compared with races much less serious than our own. And in the same +proportion, at least, that they are less serious, they are more happy: +they still, perhaps, remain the happiest people in the civilised world. +We serious folk of the West cannot call ourselves very happy. Indeed, we +do not yet fully know how serious we are; and it would probably frighten +us to learn how much more serious we are likely to become under the +ever-swelling pressure of industrial life. It is, possibly, by long +sojourn among a people less gravely disposed that we can best learn our +own temperament. This conviction came to me very strongly when, after +having lived for nearly three years in the interior of Japan, I returned +to English life for a few days at the open port of Kobe. To hear English +once more spoken by Englishmen touched me more than I could have +believed possible; but this feeling lasted only for a moment. My object +was to make some necessary purchases. Accompanying me was a Japanese +friend, to whom all that foreign life was utterly new and wonderful, and +who asked me this curious question: 'Why is it that the foreigners never +smile? You smile and bow when you speak to them; but they never smile. +Why?' + +The fact was, I had fallen altogether into Japanese habits and ways, and +had got out of touch with Western life; and my companion's question +first made me aware that I had been acting somewhat curiously. It also +seemed to me a fair illustration of the difficulty of mutual +comprehension between the two races--each quite naturally, though quite +erroneously, estimating the manners and motives of the other by its own. +If the Japanese are puzzled by English gravity, the English are, to say +the least, equally puzzled by Japanese levity. The Japanese speak of the +'angry faces' of the foreigners. The foreigners speak with strong +contempt of the Japanese smile: they suspect it to signify insincerity; +indeed, some declare it cannot possibly signify anything else. Only a +few of the more observant have recognised it as an enigma worth +studying. One of my Yokohama friends--a thoroughly lovable man, who had +passed more than half his life in the open ports of the East--said to +me, just before my departure for the interior: 'Since you are going to +study Japanese life, perhaps you will be able to find out something for +me. I can't understand the Japanese smile. Let me tell you one +experience out of many. One day, as I was driving down from the Bluff, I +saw an empty kuruma coming up on the wrong side of the curve. I could +not have pulled up in time if I had tried; but I didn't try, because I +didn't think there was any particular danger. I only yelled to the man +in Japanese to get to the other side of the road; instead of which he +simply backed his kuruma against a wall on the lower side of the curve, +with the shafts outwards. At the rate I was going, there wasn't room +even to swerve; and the next minute one of the shafts of that kuruma was +in my horse's shoulder. The man wasn't hurt at all. When I saw the way +my horse was bleeding, I quite lost my temper, and struck the man over +the head with the butt of my whip. He looked right into my face and +smiled, and then bowed. I can see that smile now. I felt as if I had +been knocked down. The smile utterly nonplussed me--killed all my anger +instantly. Mind you, it was a polite smile. But what did it mean? Why +the devil did the man smile? I can't understand it.' + +Neither, at that time, could I; but the meaning of much more mysterious +smiles has since been revealed to me. A Japanese can smile in the teeth +of death, and usually does. But he then smiles for the same reason that +he smiles at other times. There is neither defiance nor hypocrisy in the +smile; nor is it to be confounded with that smile of sickly resignation +which we are apt to associate with weakness of character. It is an +elaborate and long-cultivated etiquette. It is also a silent language. +But any effort to interpret it according to Western notions of +physiognomical expression would be just about as successful as an +attempt to interpret Chinese ideographs by their real or fancied +resemblance to shapes of familiar things. + +First impressions, being largely instinctive, are scientifically +recognised as partly trustworthy; and the very first impression produced +by the Japanese smile is not far from the truth The stranger cannot fail +to notice the generally happy and smiling character of the native faces; +and this first impression is, in most cases, wonderfully pleasant. The +Japanese smile at first charms. It is only at a later day, when one has +observed the same smile under extraordinary circumstances--in moments of +pain, shame, disappointment--that one becomes suspicious of it. Its +apparent inopportuneness may even, on certain occasions, cause violent +anger. Indeed, many of the difficulties between foreign residents and +their native servants have been due to the smile. Any man who believes +in the British tradition that a good servant must be solemn is not +likely to endure with patience the smile of his 'boy.' At present, +however, this particular phase of Western eccentricity is becoming more +fully recognised by the Japanese; they are beginning to learn that the +average English-speaking foreigner hates smiling, and is apt to consider +it insulting; wherefore Japanese employees at the open ports have +generally ceased to smile, and have assumed an air of sullenness. + +At this moment there comes to me the recollection of a queer story told +by a lady of Yokohama about one of her Japanese servants. 'My Japanese +nurse came to me the other day, smiling as if something very pleasant +had happened, and said that her husband was dead, and that she wanted +permission to attend his funeral. I told her she could go. It seems they +burned the man's body. Well, in the evening she returned, and showed me +a vase containing some ashes of bones (I saw a tooth among them); and +she said: "That is my husband." And she actually laughed as she said it! +Did you ever hear of such disgusting creatures?' + +It would have been quite impossible to convince the narrator of this +incident that the demeanour of her servant, instead of being heartless, +might have been heroic, and capable of a very touching interpretation. +Even one not a Philistine might be deceived in such a case by +appearances. But quite a number of the foreign residents of the open +ports are pure Philistines, and never try to look below the surface of +the life around them, except as hostile critics. My Yokohama friend who +told me the story about the kurumaya was quite differently disposed: he +recognised the error of judging by appearances. + +2 + +Miscomprehension of the Japanese smile has more than once led to +extremely unpleasant results, as happened in the case of T--a Yokohama +merchant of former days. T--had employed in some capacity (I think +partly as a teacher of Japanese) a nice old samurai, who wore, according +to the fashion of the era, a queue and two swords. The English and the +Japanese do not understand each other very well now; but at the period +in question they understood each other much less. The Japanese servants +at first acted in foreign employ precisely as they would have acted in +the service of distinguished Japanese; [1] and this innocent mistake +provoked a good deal of abuse and cruelty. Finally the discovery was +made that to treat Japanese like West Indian negroes might be very +dangerous. + +A certain number of foreigners were killed, with good moral +consequences. + +But I am digressing. T--was rather pleased with his old samurai, though +quite unable to understand his Oriental politeness, his prostrations or +the meaning of the small gifts which he presented occasionally, with an +exquisite courtesy entirely wasted upon T--. One day he came to ask a +favour. (I think it was the eve of the Japanese New Year, when everybody +needs money, for reasons not here to be dwelt upon.) The favour was that +T--would lend him a little money upon one of his swords, the long one. +It was a very beautiful weapon, and the merchant saw that it was also +very valuable, and lent the money without hesitation. Some weeks later +the old man was able to redeem his sword. + +What caused the beginning of the subsequent unpleasantness nobody now +remembers Perhaps T--'s nerves got out of order. At all events, one day +he became very angry with the old man, who submitted to the expression +of his wrath with bows and smiles. This made him still more angry, and +he used some extremely bad language; but the old man still bowed and +smiled; wherefore he was ordered to leave the house. But the old man +continued to smile, at which T--losing all self-control struck him. And +then T--suddenly became afraid, for the long sword instantly leaped from +its sheath, and swirled above him; and the old man ceased to seem old. +Now, in the grasp of anyone who knows how to use it, the razor-edged +blade of a Japanese sword wielded with both hands can take a head off +with extreme facility. But, to T--'s astonishment, the old samurai, +almost in the same moment, returned the blade to its sheath with the +skill of a practised swordsman, turned upon his heel, and withdrew. + +Then T--wondered and sat down to think. He began to remember some nice +things about the old man--the many kindnesses unasked and unpaid, the +curious little gifts, the impeccable honesty. T-- began to feel ashamed. +He tried to console himself with the thought: 'Well, it was his own +fault; he had no right to laugh at me when he knew I was angry.' Indeed, +T-- even resolved to make amends when an opportunity should offer. + +But no opportunity ever came, because on the same evening the old man +performed hara-kiri, after the manner of a samurai. He left a very +beautifully written letter explaining his reasons. For a samurai to +receive an unjust blow without avenging it was a shame not to be borne, +He had received such a blow. Under any other circumstances he might have +avenged it. But the circumstances were, in this instance, of a very +peculiar kind, His code of honour forbade him to use his sword upon the +man to whom he had pledged it once for money, in an hour of need. And +being thus unable to use his sword, there remained for him only the +alternative of an honourable suicide. + +In order to render this story less disagreeable, the reader may suppose +that T--was really very sorry, and behaved generously to the family of +the old man. What he must not suppose is that T--was ever able to +imagine why the old man had smiled the smile which led to the outrage +and the tragedy. + +3 + +To comprehend the Japanese smile, one must be able to enter a little +into the ancient, natural, and popular life of Japan. From the +modernised upper classes nothing is to be learned. The deeper +signification of race differences is being daily more and more +illustrated in the effects of the higher education. Instead of creating +any community of feeling, it appears only to widen the distance between +the Occidental and the Oriental. Some foreign observers have declared +that it does this by enormously developing certain latent peculiarities +--among others an inherent materialism little perceptible among fife +common people. This explanation is one I cannot quite agree with; but it +is at least undeniable that, the more highly he is cultivated, according +to Western methods, the farther is the Japanese psychologically removed +from us. Under the new education, his character seems to crystallise +into something of singular hardness, and to Western observation, at +least, of singular opacity. Emotionally, the Japanese child appears +incomparably closer to us than the Japanese mathematician, the peasant +than the statesman. Between the most elevated class of thoroughly +modernised Japanese and the Western thinker anything akin to +intellectual sympathy is non-existent: it is replaced on the native side +by a cold and faultless politeness. Those influences which in other +lands appear most potent to develop the higher emotions seem here to +have the extraordinary effect of suppressing them. We are accustomed +abroad to associate emotional sensibility with intellectual expansion: +it would be a grievous error to apply this rule in Japan. Even the +foreign teacher in an ordinary school can feel, year by year, his pupils +drifting farther away from him, as they pass from class to class; in +various higher educational institutions, the separation widens yet more +rapidly, so that, prior to graduation, students may become to their +professor little more than casual acquaintances. The enigma is perhaps, +to some extent, a physiological one, requiring scientific explanation; +but its solution must first be sought in ancestral habits of life and of +imagination. It can be fully discussed only when its natural causes are +understood; and these, we may be sure, are not simple. By some observers +it is asserted that because the higher education in Japan has not yet +had the effect of stimulating the higher emotions to the Occidental +pitch, its developing power cannot have been exerted uniformly and +wisely, but in special directions only, at the cost of character. Yet +this theory involves the unwarrantable assumption that character can be +created by education; and it ignores the fact that the best results are +obtained by affording opportunity for the exercise of pre-existing +inclination rather than by any system of teaching. + +The causes of the phenomenon must be looked for in the race character; +and whatever the higher education may accomplish in the remote future, +it can scarcely be expected to transform nature. But does it at present +atrophy certain finer tendencies? I think that it unavoidably does, for +the simple reason that, under existing conditions, the moral and mental +powers are overtasked by its requirements. All that wonderful national +spirit of duty, of patience, of self-sacrifice, anciently directed to +social, moral, or religious idealism, must, under the discipline of the +higher training, be concentrated upon an end which not only demands, but +exhausts its fullest exercise. For that end, to be accomplished at all, +must be accomplished in the face of difficulties that the Western +student rarely encounters, and could scarcely be made even to +understand. All those moral qualities which made the old Japanese +character admirable are certainly the same which make the modern +Japanese student the most indefatigable, the most docile, the most +ambitious in the world. But they are also qualities which urge him to +efforts in excess of his natural powers, with the frequent result of +mental and moral enervation. The nation has entered upon a period of +intellectual overstrain. Consciously or unconsciously, in obedience to +sudden necessity, Japan has undertaken nothing less than the tremendous +task of forcing mental expansion up to the highest existing standard; +and this means forcing the development of the nervous system. For the +desired intellectual change, to be accomplished within a few +generations, must involve a physiological change never to be effected +without terrible cost. In other words, Japan has attempted too much; yet +under the circumstances she could not have attempted less. Happily, even +among the poorest of her poor the educational policy of the Government +is seconded with an astonishing zeal; the entire nation has plunged into +study with a fervour of which it is utterly impossible to convey any +adequate conception in this little essay. Yet I may cite a touching +example. Immediately after the frightful earthquake of 1891, the +children of the ruined cities of Gifu and Aichi, crouching among the +ashes of their homes, cold and hungry and shelterless, surrounded by +horror and misery unspeakable, still continued their small studies, +using tiles of their own burnt dwellings in lieu of slates, and bits of +lime for chalk, even while the earth still trembled beneath them. [2] +What future miracles may justly be expected from the amazing power of +purpose such a fact reveals! + +But it is true that as yet the results of the higher training have not +been altogether happy. Among the Japanese of the old regime one +encounters a courtesy, an unselfishness, a grace of pure goodness, +impossible to overpraise. Among the modernised of the new generation +these have almost disappeared. One meets a class of young men who +ridicule the old times and the old ways without having been able to +elevate themselves above the vulgarism of imitation and the commonplaces +of shallow scepticism. What has become of the noble and charming +qualities they must have inherited from their fathers? Is it not +possible that the best of those qualities have been transmuted into mere +effort,--an effort so excessive as to have exhausted character, leaving +it without weight or balance? + +It is to the still fluid, mobile, natural existence of the common people +that one must look for the meaning of some apparent differences in the +race feeling and emotional expression of the West and the Far East. With +those gentle, kindly, sweet-hearted folk, who smile at life, love, and +death alike, it is possible to enjoy community of feeling in simple, +natural things; and by familiarity and sympathy we can learn why they +smile. + +The Japanese child is born with this happy tendency, which is fostered +through all the period of home education. But it is cultivated with the +same exquisiteness that is shown in the cultivation of the natural +tendencies of a garden plant. The smile is taught like the bow; like the +prostration; like that little sibilant sucking-in of the breath which +follows, as a token of pleasure, the salutation to a superior; like all +the elaborate and beautiful etiquette of the old courtesy. Laughter is +not encouraged, for obvious reasons. But the smile is to be used upon +all pleasant occasions, when speaking to a superior or to an equal, and +even upon occasions which are not pleasant; it is a part of deportment. +The most agreeable face is the smiling face; and to present always the +most agreeable face possible to parents, relatives, teachers, friends, +well-wishers, is a rule of life. And furthermore, it is a rule of life +to turn constantly to the outer world a mien of happiness, to convey to +others as far as possible a pleasant impression. Even though the heart +is breaking, it is a social duty to smile bravely. On the other hand, to +look serious or unhappy is rude, because this may cause anxiety or pain +to those who love us; it is likewise foolish, since it may excite +unkindly curiosity on the part of those who love us not. Cultivated from +childhood as a duty, the smile soon becomes instinctive. In the mind of +the poorest peasant lives the conviction that to exhibit the expression +of one's personal sorrow or pain or anger is rarely useful, and always +unkind. Hence, although natural grief must have, in Japan as elsewhere, +its natural issue, an uncontrollable burst of tears in the presence of +superiors or guests is an impoliteness; and the first words of even the +most unlettered countrywoman, after the nerves give way in such a +circumstance, are invariably: 'Pardon my selfishness in that I have been +so rude!' The reasons for the smile, be it also observed, are not only +moral; they are to some extent aesthetic they partly represent the same +idea which regulated the expression of suffering in Greek art. But they +are much more moral than aesthetic, as we shall presently observe. + +From this primary etiquette of the smile there has been developed a +secondary etiquette, the observance of which has frequently impelled +foreigners to form the most cruel misjudgements as to Japanese +sensibility. It is the native custom that whenever a painful or shocking +fact must be told, the announcement should be made, by the sufferer, +with a smile. [3] The graver the subject, the more accentuated the +smile; and when the matter is very unpleasant to the person speaking of +it, the smile often changes to a low, soft laugh. However bitterly the +mother who has lost her first-born may have wept at the funeral, it is +probable that, if in your service, she will tell of her bereavement with +a smile: like the Preacher, she holds that there is a time to weep and a +time to laugh. It was long before I myself could understand how it was +possible for those whom I believed to have loved a person recently dead +to announce to me that death with a laugh. Yet the laugh was politeness +carried to the utmost point of self-abnegation. It signified: 'This you +might honourably think to be an unhappy event; pray do not suffer Your +Superiority to feel concern about so inferior a matter, and pardon the +necessity which causes us to outrage politeness by speaking about such +an affair at all.'. The key to the mystery of the most unaccountable +smiles is Japanese politeness. The servant sentenced to dismissal for a +fault prostrates himself, and asks for pardon with a smile. That smile +indicates the very reverse of callousness or insolence: 'Be assured that +I am satisfied with the great justice of your honourable sentence, and +that I am now aware of the gravity of my fault. Yet my sorrow and my +necessity have caused me to indulge the unreasonable hope that I may be +forgiven for my great rudeness in asking pardon.' The youth or girl +beyond the age of childish tears, when punished for some error, receives +the punishment with a smile which means: 'No evil feeling arises in my +heart; much worse than this my fault has deserved.' And the kurumaya cut +by the whip of my Yokohama friend smiled for a similar reason, as my +friend must have intuitively felt, since the smile at once disarmed him: +'I was very wrong, and you are right to be angry: I deserve to be +struck, and therefore feel no resentment.' + +But it should be understood that the poorest and humblest Japanese is +rarely submissive under injustice. His apparent docility is due chiefly +to his moral sense. The foreigner who strikes a native for sport may +have reason to find that he has made a serious mistake. The Japanese are +not to be trifled with; and brutal attempts to trifle with them have +cost several worthless lives. + +Even after the foregoing explanations, the incident of the Japanese +nurse may still seem incomprehensible; but this, I feel quite sure, is +because the narrator either suppressed or overlooked certain facts in +the case. In the first half of the story, all is perfectly clear. When +announcing her husband's death, the young servant smiled, in accordance +with the native formality already referred to. What is quite incredible +is that, of her own accord, she should have invited the attention of her +mistress to the contents of the vase, or funeral urn. If she knew enough +of Japanese politeness to smile in announcing her husband's death, she +must certainly have known enough to prevent her from perpetrating such +an error. She could have shown the vase and its contents only in +obedience to some real or fancied command; and when so doing, it is more +than possible she may have uttered the low, soft laugh which accompanies +either the unavoidable performance of a painful duty, or the enforced +utterance of a painful statement. My own opinion is that she was obliged +to gratify a wanton curiosity. Her smile or laugh would then have +signified: 'Do not suffer your honourable feelings to be shocked upon my +unworthy account; it is indeed very rude of me, even at your honourable +request, to mention so contemptible a thing as my sorrow.' + +4 + +But the Japanese smile must not be imagined as a kind of sourire figU, +worn perpetually as a soul-mask. Like other matters of deportment, it is +regulated by an etiquette which varies in different classes of society. +As a rule, the old samurai were not given to smiling upon all occasions; +they reserved their amiability for superiors and intimates, and would +seem to have maintained toward inferiors an austere reserve. The dignity +of the Shinto priesthood has become proverbial; and for centuries the +gravity of the Confucian code was mirrored in the decorum of magistrates +and officials. From ancient times the nobility affected a still loftier +reserve; and the solemnity of rank deepened through all the hierarchies +up to that awful state surrounding the Tenshi-Sama, upon whose face no +living man might look. But in private life the demeanour of the highest +had its amiable relaxation; and even to-day, with some hopelessly +modernised exceptions, the noble, the judge, the high priest, the august +minister, the military officer, will resume at home, in the intervals of +duty, the charming habits of the antique courtesy. + +The smile which illuminates conversation is in itself but a small detail +of that courtesy; but the sentiment which it symbolises certainly +comprises the larger part. If you happen to have a cultivated Japanese +friend who has remained in all things truly Japanese, whose character +has remained untouched by the new egotism and by foreign influences, you +will probably be able to study in him the particular social traits of +the whole people--traits in his case exquisitely accentuated and +polished. You will observe that, as a rule, he never speaks of himself, +and that, in reply to searching personal questions, he will answer as +vaguely and briefly as possible, with a polite bow of thanks. But, on +the other hand, he will ask many questions about yourself: your +opinions, your ideas, even trifling details of your daily life, appear +to have deep interest for him; and you will probably have occasion to +note that he never forgets anything which he has learned concerning you. +Yet there are certain rigid limits to his kindly curiosity, and perhaps +even to his observation: he will never refer to any disagreeable or +painful matter, and he will seem to remain blind to eccentricities or +small weaknesses, if you have any. To your face he will never praise +you; but he will never laugh at you nor criticise you. Indeed, you will +find that he never criticises persons, but only actions in their +results. As a private adviser, he will not even directly criticise a +plan of which he disapproves, but is apt to suggest a new one in some +such guarded language as: 'Perhaps it might be more to your immediate +interest to do thus and so.' When obliged to speak of others, he will +refer to them in a curious indirect fashion, by citing and combining a +number of incidents sufficiently characteristic to form a picture. But +in that event the incidents narrated will almost certainly be of a +nature to awaken interest, and to create a favourable impression. This +indirect way of conveying information is essentially Confucian. 'Even +when you have no doubts,' says the Li-Ki, 'do not let what you say +appear as your own view.' And it is quite probable that you will notice +many other traits in your friend requiring some knowledge of the Chinese +classics to understand. But no such knowledge necessary to convince you +of his exquisite consideration for others, and his studied suppression +of self. Among no other civilised people is the secret of happy living +so thoroughly comprehended as among the Japanese; by no other race is +the truth so widely understood that our pleasure in life must depend +upon the happiness of those about us, and consequently upon the +cultivation in ourselves of unselfishness and of patience. For which +reason, in Japanese society, sarcasm irony, cruel wit, are not indulged. +I might almost say that they have no existence in refined life. A +personal failing is not made the subject of ridicule or reproach; an +eccentricity is not commented upon; an involuntary mistake excites no +laughter. + +Stiffened somewhat by the Chinese conservatism of the old conditions, it +is true that this ethical system was maintained the extreme of giving +fixity to ideas, and at the cost of individuality. And yet, if regulated +by a broader comprehension social requirements, if expanded by +scientific understanding of the freedom essential to intellectual +evolution, the very same moral policy is that through which the highest +and happiest results may be obtained. But as actually practised it was +not favourable to originality; it rather tended to enforce the amiable +mediocrity of opinion and imagination which still prevails. Wherefore a +foreign dweller in the interior cannot but long sometimes for the sharp, +erratic inequalities Western life, with its larger joys and pains and +its more comprehensive sympathies. But sometimes only, for the +intellectual loss is really more than compensated by the social charm; +and there can remain no doubt in the mind of one who even partly +understands the Japanese, that they are still the best people in the +world to live among. + +5 + +As I pen these lines, there returns to me the vision of a Kyoto night. +While passing through some wonderfully thronged and illuminated street, +of which I cannot remember the name, I had turned aside to look at a +statue of Jizo, before the entrance of a very small temple. The figure +was that of a kozo, an acolyte--a beautiful boy; and its smile was a bit +of divine realism. As I stood gazing, a young lad, perhaps ten years +old, ran up beside me, joined his little hands before the image, bowed +his head and prayed for a moment in silence. He had but just left some +comrades, and the joy and glow of play were still upon his face; and his +unconscious smile was so strangely like the smile of the child of stone +that the boy seemed the twin brother of the god. And then I thought: +'The smile of bronze or stone is not a copy only; but that which the +Buddhist sculptor symbolises thereby must be the explanation of the +smile of the race.' + +That was long ago; but the idea which then suggested itself still seems +to me true. However foreign to Japanese soil the origin of Buddhist art, +yet the smile of the people signifies the same conception as the smile +of the Bosatsu--the happiness that is born of self-control and self- +suppression. 'If a man conquer in battle a thousand times a thousand and +another conquer himself, he who conquers himself is the greatest of +conquerors.' 'Not even a god can change into defeat the victory of the +man who has vanquished himself.' [4] Such Buddhist texts as these--and +they are many--assuredly express, though they cannot be assumed to have +created, those moral tendencies which form the highest charm of the +Japanese character. And the whole moral idealism of the race seems to me +to have been imaged in that marvellous Buddha of Kamakura, whose +countenance, 'calm like a deep, still water' [5] expresses, as perhaps +no other work of human hands can have expressed, the eternal truth: +'There is no higher happiness than rest.' [6] It is toward that +infinite calm that the aspirations of the Orient have been turned; and +the ideal of the Supreme Self-Conquest it has made its own. Even now, +though agitated at its surface by those new influences which must sooner +or later move it even to its uttermost depths, the Japanese mind +retains, as compared with the thought of the West, a wonderful +placidity. It dwells but little, if at all, upon those ultimate abstract +questions about which we most concern ourselves. Neither does it +comprehend our interest in them as we desire to be comprehended. 'That +you should not be indifferent to religious speculations,' a Japanese +scholar once observed to me, 'is quite natural; but it is equally +natural that we should never trouble ourselves about them. The +philosophy of Buddhism has a profundity far exceeding that of your +Western theology, and we have studied it. We have sounded the depths of +speculation only to fluid that there are depths unfathomable below those +depths; we have voyaged to the farthest limit that thought may sail, +only to find that the horizon for ever recedes. And you, you have +remained for many thousand years as children playing in a stream but +ignorant of the sea. Only now you have reached its shore by another path +than ours, and the vastness is for you a new wonder; and you would sail +to Nowhere because you have seen the infinite over the sands of life.' + +Will Japan be able to assimilate Western civilisation, as she did +Chinese more than ten centuries ago, and nevertheless preserve her own +peculiar modes of thought and feeling? One striking fact is hopeful: +that the Japanese admiration for Western material superiority is by no +means extended to Western morals. Oriental thinkers do not commit the +serious blunder of confounding mechanical with ethical progress, nor +have any failed to perceive the moral weaknesses of our boasted +civilisation. One Japanese writer has expressed his judgment of things +Occidental after a fashion that deserves to be noticed by a larger +circle of readers than that for which it was originally written: + +'Order or disorder in a nation does not depend upon some-thing that +falls from the sky or rises from the earth. It is determined by the +disposition of the people. The pivot on which the public disposition +turns towards order or disorder is the point where public and private +motives separate. If the people be influenced chiefly by public +considerations, order is assured; if by private, disorder is inevitable. +Public considerations are those that prompt the proper observance of +duties; their prevalence signifies peace and prosperity in the case +alike of families, communities, and nations. Private considerations are +those suggested by selfish motives: when they prevail, disturbance and +disorder are unavoidable. As members of a family, our duty is to look +after the welfare of that family; as units of a nation, our duty is to +work for the good of the nation. To regard our family affairs with all +the interest due to our family and our national affairs with all the +interest due to our nation--this is to fitly discharge our duty, and to +be guided by public considerations. On the other hand, to regard the +affairs of the nation as if they were our own family affairs--this is to +be influenced by private motives and to stray from the path of duty. ... + +'Selfishness is born in every man; to indulge it freely is to become a +beast. Therefore it is that sages preach the principles of duty and +propriety, justice and morality, providing restraints for private aims +and encouragements for public spirit.. . . . What we know of Western +civilisation is that it struggled on through long centuries in a +confused condition and finally attained a state of some order; but that +even this order, not being based upon such principles as those of the +natural and immutable distinctions between sovereign and subject, parent +and child, with all their corresponding rights and duties, is liable to +constant change according to the growth of human ambitions and human +aims. Admirably suited to persons whose actions are controlled by +selfish ambition, the adoption of this system in Japan is naturally +sought by a certain class of politicians. From a superficial point of +view, the Occidental form of society is very attractive, inasmuch as, +being the outcome of a free development of human desires from ancient +times, it represents the very extreme of luxury and extravagance. +Briefly speaking, the state of things obtaining in the West is based +upon the free play of human selfishness, and can only be reached by +giving full sway to that quality. Social disturbances are little heeded +in the Occident; yet they are at once the evidences and the factors of +the present evil state of affairs. . . . Do Japanese enamoured of +Western ways propose to have their nation's history written in similar +terms? Do they seriously contemplate turning their country into a new +field for experiments in Western civilisation? . . . + +'In the Orient, from ancient times, national government has been based +on benevolence, and directed to securing the welfare and happiness of +the people. No political creed has ever held that intellectual strength +should be cultivated for the purpose of exploiting inferiority and +ignorance. . . . The inhabitants of this empire live, for the most part, +by manual labour. Let them be never so industrious, they hardly earn +enough to supply their daily wants. They earn on the average about +twenty sen daily. There is no question with them of aspiring to wear +fine clothes or to inhabit handsome houses. Neither can they hope to +reach positions of fame and honour. What offence have these poor people +committed that they, too, should not share the benefits of Western +civilisation? . . . By some, indeed, their condition is explained on the +hypothesis that their desires do not prompt them to better themselves. +There is no truth in such a supposition. They have desires, but nature +has limited their capacity to satisfy them; their duty as men limits it, +and the amount of labour physically possible to a human being limits it. +They achieve as much as their opportunities permit. The best and finest +products of their labour they reserve for the wealthy; the worst and +roughest they keep for their own use. Yet there is nothing in human +society that does not owe its existence to labour. Now, to satisfy the +desires of one luxurious man, the toil of a thousand is needed. Surely +it is monstrous that those who owe to labour the pleasures suggested by +their civilisation should forget what they owe to the labourer, and +treat him as if he were not a fellow-being. But civilisation, according +to the interpretation of the Occident, serves only to satisfy men of +large desires. It is of no benefit to the masses, but is simply a system +under which ambitions compete to accomplish their aims. . . . That the +Occidental system is gravely disturbing to. the order and peace of a +country is seen by men who have eyes, and heard by men who have ears. +The future of Japan under such a system fills us with anxiety. A system +based on the principle that ethics and religion are made to serve human +ambition naturally accords with the wishes of selfish individuals; and +such theories as those embodied in the modem formula of liberty and +equality annihilate the established relations of society, and outrage +decorum and propriety. . . . + +Absolute equality and absolute liberty being unattainable, the limits +prescribed by right and duty are supposed to be set. But as each person +seeks to have as much right and to be burdened with as little duty as +possible, the results are endless disputes and legal contentions. The +principles of liberty and equality may succeed in changing the +organisation of nations, in overthrowing the lawful distinctions of +social rank, in reducing all men to one nominal level; but they can +never accomplish the equal distribution of wealth and property. Consider +America. . . . It is plain that if the mutual rights of men and their +status are made to depend on degrees of wealth, the majority of the +people, being without wealth, must fail to establish their rights; +whereas the minority who are wealthy will assert their rights, and, +under society's sanction, will exact oppressive duties from the poor, +neglecting the dictates of humanity and benevolence. The adoption of +these principles of liberty and equality in Japan would vitiate the good +and peaceful customs of our country, render the general disposition of +the people harsh and unfeeling, and prove finally a source of calamity +to the masses. . . + +'Though at first sight Occidental civilisation presents an attractive +appearance, adapted as it is to the gratification of selfish desires, +yet, since its basis is the hypothesis that men' 's wishes constitute +natural laws, it must ultimately end in disappointment and +demoralisation. . . . Occidental nations have become what they are after +passing through conflicts and vicissitudes of the most serious kind; and +it is their fate to continue the struggle. Just now their motive +elements are in partial equilibrium, and their social condition' is more +or less ordered. But if this slight equilibrium happens to be disturbed, +they will be thrown once more into confusion and change, until, after a +period of renewed struggle and suffering, temporary stability is once +more attained. The poor and powerless of the present may become the +wealthy and strong of the future, and vice versa. Perpetual disturbance +is their doom. Peaceful equality can never be attained until built up +among the ruins of annihilated Western' states and the ashes of extinct +Western peoples.' + +Surely, with perceptions like these, Japan may hope to avert some of the +social perils which menace her. Yet it appears inevitable that her +approaching transformation must be coincident with a moral decline. +Forced into the vast industrial competition of nation's whose +civilisations were never based on altruism, she must eventually develop +those qualities of which the comparative absence made all the wonderful +charm of her life. The national character must continue to harden, as it +has begun to harden already. But it should never be forgotten that Old +Japan was quite as much in advance of the nineteenth century morally as +she was behind it materially. She had made morality instinctive, after +having made it rational. She had realised, though within restricted +limits, several among those social conditions which our ablest thinkers +regard as the happiest and the highest. Throughout all the grades of her +complex society she had cultivated both the comprehension and the +practice of public and private duties after a manner for which it were +vain to seek any Western parallel. Even her moral weakness was the +result of an excess of that which all civilised religions have united in +proclaiming virtue--the self-sacrifice of the individual for the sake of +the family, of the community, and of the nation. It was the weakness +indicated by Percival Lowell in his Soul of the Far East, a book of +which the consummate genius cannot be justly estimated without some +personal knowledge of the Far East. [8] + +The progress made by Japan in social morality, although greater than our +own, was chiefly in the direction of mutual dependence. And it will be +her coming duty to keep in view the teaching of that mighty thinker +whose philosophy she has wisely accepted [9]--the teaching that 'the +highest individuation must be joined with the greatest mutual +dependence,' and that, however seemingly paradoxical the statement, 'the +law of progress is at once toward complete separateness and complete +union. + +Yet to that past which her younger generation now affect to despise +Japan will certainly one day look back, even as we ourselves look back +to the old Greek civilisation. She will learn to regret the forgotten +capacity for simple pleasures, the lost sense of the pure joy of life, +the old loving divine intimacy with nature, the marvellous dead art +which reflected it. She will remember how much more luminous and +beautiful the world then seemed. She will mourn for many things--the +old-fashioned patience and self-sacrifice, the ancient courtesy, the +deep human poetry of the ancient faith. She will wonder at many things; +but she will regret. Perhaps she will wonder most of all at the faces of +the ancient gods, because their smile was once the likeness of her own. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE +Sayonara! + +1 + +I am going away--very far away. I have already resigned my post as +teacher, and am waiting only for my passport. + +So many familiar faces have vanished that I feel now less regret at +leaving than I should have felt six months ago. And nevertheless, the +quaint old city has become so endeared to me by habit and association +that the thought of never seeing it again is one I do not venture to +dwell upon. I have been trying to persuade myself that some day I may +return to this charming old house, in shadowy Kitaborimachi, though all +the while painfully aware that in past experience such imaginations +invariably preceded perpetual separation. + +The facts are that all things are impermanent in the Province of the +Gods; that the winters are very severe; and that I have received a call +from the great Government college in Kyushu far south, where snow rarely +falls. Also I have been very sick; and the prospect of a milder climate +had much influence in shaping my decision. + +But these few days of farewells have been full of charming surprises. To +have the revelation of gratitude where you had no right to expect more +than plain satisfaction with your performance of duty; to find affection +where you supposed only good-will to exist: these are assuredly +delicious experiences. The teachers of both schools have sent me a +farewell gift--a superb pair of vases nearly three feet high, covered +with designs representing birds, and flowering-trees overhanging a slope +of beach where funny pink crabs are running about--vases made in the old +feudal days at Rakuzan--rare souvenirs of Izumo. With the wonderful +vases came a scroll bearing in Chinese text the names of the thirty-two +donors; and three of these are names of ladies--the three lady-teachers +of the Normal School. + +The students of the Jinjo-Chugakko have also sent me a present--the last +contribution of two hundred and fifty-one pupils to my happiest memories +of Matsue: a Japanese sword of the time of the daimyo. Silver karashishi +with eyes of gold--in Izumo, the Lions of Shinto--swarm over the crimson +lacquer of the sheath, and sprawl about the exquisite hilt. And the +committee who brought the beautiful thing to my house requested me to +accompany them forthwith to the college assembly-room, where the +students were all waiting to bid me good-bye, after the old-time custom. + +So I went there. And the things which we said to each other are +hereafter set down. + +2 + +DEAR TEACHER:--You have been one of the best and most benevolent +teachers we ever had. We thank you with all our heart for the knowledge +we obtained through your kindest instruction. Every student in our +school hoped you would stay with us at least three years. When we +learned you had resolved to go to Kyushu, we all felt our hearts sink +with sorrow. We entreated our Director to find some way to keep you, but +we discovered that could not be done. We have no words to express our +feeling at this moment of farewell. We sent you a Japanese sword as a +memory of us. It was only a poor ugly thing; we merely thought you would +care for it as a mark of our gratitude. We will never forget your +kindest instruction; and we all wish that you may ever be healthy and +happy. + +MASANABU OTANI, Representing all the Students of the Middle School of +Shimane-Ken. + + +MY DEAR BOYS:--I cannot tell you with what feelings I received your +present; that beautiful sword with the silver karashishi ramping upon +its sheath, or crawling through the silken cording of its wonderful +hilt. At least I cannot tell you all. But there flashed to me, as I +looked at your gift, the remembrance of your ancient proverb: 'The Sword +is the Soul of the Samurai.' And then it seemed to me that in the very +choice of that exquisite souvenir you had symbolised something of your +own souls. For we English also have some famous sayings and proverbs +about swords. Our poets call a good blade 'trusty' and 'true'; and of +our best friend we say, 'He is true as steel'--signifying in the ancient +sense the steel of a perfect sword--the steel to whose temper a warrior +could trust his honour and his life. And so in your rare gift, which I +shall keep and prize while I live, I find an emblem of your +true-heartedness and affection. May you always keep fresh within your +hearts those impulses of generosity and kindliness and loyalty which I have +learned to know so well, and of which your gift will ever remain for me +the graceful symbol! + +And a symbol not only of your affection and loyalty as students to +teachers, but of that other beautiful sense of duty you expressed, when +so many of you wrote down for me, as your dearest wish, the desire to +die for His Imperial Majesty, your Emperor. That wish is holy: it means +perhaps even more than you know, or can know, until you shall have +become much older and wiser. This is an era of great and rapid change; +and it is probable that many of you, as you grow up, will not be able to +believe everything that your fathers believed before you--though I +sincerely trust you will at least continue always to respect the faith, +even as you still respect the memory, of your ancestors. But however +much the life of New Japan may change about you, however much your own +thoughts may change with the times, never suffer that noble wish you +expressed to me to pass away from your souls. Keep it burning there, +clear and pure as the flame of the little lamp that glows before your +household shrine. + +Perhaps some of you may have that wish. Many of you must become +soldiers. Some will become officers. Some will enter the Naval Academy +to prepare for the grand service of protecting the empire by sea; and +your Emperor and your country may even require your blood. But the +greater number among you are destined to other careers, and may have no +such chances of bodily self-sacrifice--except perhaps in the hour of some +great national danger, which I trust Japan will never know. And there is +another desire, not less noble, which may be your compass in civil life: +to live for your country though you cannot die for it. Like the kindest +and wisest of fathers, your Government has provided for you these +splendid schools, with all opportunities for the best instruction this +scientific century can give, at a far less cost than any other civilised +country can offer the same advantages. And all this in order that each +of you may help to make your country wiser and richer and stronger than +it has ever been in the past. And whoever does his best, in any calling +or profession, to ennoble and develop that calling or profession, gives +his life to his emperor and to his country no less truly than the +soldier or the seaman who dies for duty. + +I am not less sorry to leave you, I think, than you are to see me go. +The more I have learned to know the hearts of Japanese students, the +more I have learned to love their country. I think, however, that I +shall see many of you again, though I never return to Matsue: some I am +almost sure I shall meet elsewhere in future summers; some I may even +hope to teach once more, in the Government college to which I am going. +But whether we meet again or not, be sure that my life has been made +happier by knowing you, and that I shall always love you. And, now, with +renewed thanks for your beautiful gift, good-bye! + +3 + +The students of the Normal School gave me a farewell banquet in their +hall. I had been with them so little during the year--less even than the +stipulated six hours a week--that I could not have supposed they would +feel much attachment for their foreign teacher. But I have still much to +learn about my Japanese students. The banquet was delightful. The +captain of each class in turn read in English a brief farewell address +which he had prepared; and more than one of those charming compositions, +made beautiful with similes and sentiments drawn from the old Chinese +and Japanese poets, will always remain in my memory. Then the students +sang their college songs for me, and chanted the Japanese version of +'Auld Lang Syne' at the close of the banquet. And then all, in military +procession, escorted me home, and cheered me farewell at my gate, with +shouts of 'Manzai!' 'Good-bye!' 'We will march with you to the steamer +when you go.' + +4 + +But I shall not have the pleasure of seeing them again. They are all +gone far away--some to another world. Yet it is only four days since I +attended that farewell banquet at the Normal School! A cruel visitation +has closed its gates and scattered its students through the province. + +Two nights ago, the Asiatic cholera, supposed to have been brought to +Japan by Chinese vessels, broke out in different parts of the city, and, +among other places, in the Normal School. Several students and teachers +expired within a short while after having been attacked; others are even +now lingering between life and death. The rest marched to the little +healthy village of Tamatsukuri, famed for its hot springs. But there the +cholera again broke out among them, and it was decided to dismiss the +survivors at once to their several homes. There was no panic. The +military discipline remained unbroken. Students and teachers fell at +their posts. The great college building was taken charge of by the +medical authorities, and the work of disinfection and sanitation is +still going on. Only the convalescents and the fearless samurai +president, Saito Kumataro, remain in it. Like the captain who scorns to +leave his sinking ship till all souls are safe, the president stays in +the centre of danger, nursing the sick boys, overlooking the work of +sanitation, transacting all the business usually intrusted to several +subordinates, whom he promptly sent away in the first hour of peril. He +has had the joy of seeing two of his boys saved. + +Of another, who was buried last night, I hear this: Only a little while +before his death, and in spite of kindliest protest, he found strength, +on seeing his president approaching his bedside, to rise on his elbow +and give the military salute. And with that brave greeting to a brave +man, he passed into the Great Silence. + +5 + +At last my passport has come. I must go. + +The Middle School and the adjacent elementary schools have been closed +on account of the appearance of cholera, and I protested against any +gathering of the pupils to bid me good-bye, fearing for them the risk of +exposure to the chilly morning air by the shore of the infected river. +But my protest was received only with a merry laugh. Last night the +Director sent word to all the captains of classes. Wherefore, an hour +after sunrise, some two hundred students, with their teachers, assemble +before my gate to escort me to the wharf, near the long white bridge, +where the little steamer is waiting. And we go. + +Other students are already assembled at the wharf. And with them wait a +multitude of people known to me: friends or friendly acquaintances, +parents and relatives of students, every one to whom I can remember +having ever done the slightest favour, and many more from whom I have +received favours which I never had the chance to return--persons who +worked for me, merchants from whom I purchased little things, a host of +kind faces, smiling salutation. The Governor sends his secretary with a +courteous message; the President of the Normal School hurries down for a +moment to shake hands. The Normal students have been sent to their +homes, but not a few of their teachers are present. I most miss friend +Nishida. He has been very sick for two long months, bleeding at the +lungs but his father brings me the gentlest of farewell letters from +him, penned in bed, and some pretty souvenirs. + +And now, as I look at all these pleasant faces about me, I cannot but +ask myself the question: 'Could I have lived in the exercise of the same +profession for the same length of time in any other country, and have +enjoyed a similar unbroken experience of human goodness?' From each and +all of these I have received only kindness and courtesy. Not one has +ever, even through inadvertence, addressed to me a single ungenerous +word. As a teacher of more than five hundred boys and men, I have never +even had my patience tried. I wonder if such an experience is possible +only in Japan. + +But the little steamer shrieks for her passengers. I shake many hands-- +most heartily, perhaps, that of the brave, kind President of the Normal +School--and climb on board. The Director of the Jinjo-Chugakko a few +teachers of both schools, and one of my favourite pupils, follow; they +are going to accompany me as far as the next port, whence my way will be +over the mountains to Hiroshima. + +It is a lovely vapoury morning, sharp with the first chill of winter. +From the tiny deck I take my last look at the quaint vista of the +Ohashigawa, with its long white bridge--at the peaked host of queer dear +old houses, crowding close to dip their feet in its glassy flood--at the +sails of the junks, gold-coloured by the early sun--at the beautiful +fantastic shapes of the ancient hills. + +Magical indeed the charm of this land, as of a land veritably haunted by +gods: so lovely the spectral delicacy of its colours--so lovely the +forms of its hills blending with the forms of its clouds--so lovely, +above all, those long trailings and bandings of mists which make its +altitudes appear to hang in air. A land where sky and earth so strangely +intermingle that what is reality may not be distinguished from what is +illusion--that all seems a mirage, about to vanish. For me, alas! it is +about to vanish for ever. + +The little steamer shrieks again, puffs, backs into midstream, turns +from the long white bridge. And as the grey wharves recede, a long +Aaaaaaaaaa rises from the uniformed ranks, and all the caps wave, +flashing their Chinese ideographs of brass. I clamber to the roof of the +tiny deck cabin, wave my hat, and shout in English: 'Good-bye, good- +bye!' And there floats back to me the cry: 'Manzai, manzai!' [Ten +thousand years to you! ten thousand years!] But already it comes faintly +from far away. The packet glides out of the river-mouth, shoots into the +blue lake, turns a pine-shadowed point, and the faces, and the voices, +and the wharves, and the long white bridge have become memories. + +Still for a little while looking back, as we pass into the silence of +the great water, I can see, receding on the left, the crest of the +ancient castle, over grand shaggy altitudes of pine--and the place of my +home, with its delicious garden--and the long blue roofs of the schools. +These, too, swiftly pass out of vision. Then only faint blue water, +faint blue mists, faint blues and greens and greys of peaks looming +through varying distance, and beyond all, towering ghost-white into the +east, the glorious spectre of Daisen. + +And my heart sinks a moment under the rush of those vivid memories which +always crowd upon one the instant after parting--memories of all that +make attachment to places and to things. Remembered smiles; the morning +gathering at the threshold of the old yashiki to wish the departing +teacher a happy day; the evening gathering to welcome his return; the +dog waiting by the gate at the accustomed hour; the garden with its +lotus-flowers and its cooing of doves; the musical boom of the temple +bell from the cedar groves; songs of children at play; afternoon shadows +upon many-tinted streets; the long lines of lantern-fires upon festal +nights; the dancing of the moon upon the lake; the clapping of hands by +the river shore in salutation to the Izumo sun; the endless merry +pattering of geta over the windy bridge: all these and a hundred other +happy memories revive for me with almost painful vividness--while the +far peaks, whose names are holy, slowly turn away their blue shoulders, +and the little steamer bears me, more and more swiftly, ever farther and +farther from the Province of the Gods. + + +NOTES for Chapter One + +1 Such as the garden attached to the abbots palace at Tokuwamonji, +cited by Mr. Conder, which was made to commemorate the legend of stones +which bowed themselves in assent to the doctrine of Buddha. At Togo-ike, +in Tottori-ken, I saw a very large garden consisting almost entirely of +stones and sand. The impression which the designer had intended to +convey was that of approaching the sea over a verge of dunes, and the +illusion was beautiful. + +2 The Kojiki, translated by Professor B. H. Chamberlain, p. 254. + +3 Since this paper was written, Mr. Conder has published a beautiful +illustrated volume,-Landscape Gardening in Japan. By Josiah Conder, +F.R.I.B.A. Tokyo 1893. A photographic supplement to the work gives views +of the most famous gardens in the capital and elsewhere. + +4 The observations of Dr. Rein on Japanese gardens are not to be +recommended, in respect either to accuracy or to comprehension of the +subject. Rein spent only two years in Japan, the larger part of which +time he devoted to the study of the lacquer industry, the manufacture +of silk and paper and other practical matters. On these subjects his +work is justly valued. But his chapters on Japanese manners and +customs, art, religion, and literature show extremely little +acquaintance with those topics. + +5 This attitude of the shachihoko is somewhat de rigueur, whence the +common expression shachihoko dai, signifying to stand on ones head. + +6 The magnificent perch called tai (Serranus marginalis), which is very +common along the Izumo coast, is not only justly prized as the most +delicate of Japanese fish, but is also held to be an emblem of good +fortune. It is a ceremonial gift at weddings and on congratu-latory +occasions. The Japanese call it also the king of fishes. + +7 Nandina domestica. + +8 The most lucky of all dreams, they say in Izumo, is a dream of Fuji, +the Sacred Mountain. Next in order of good omen is dreaming of a falcon +(taka). The third best subject for a dream is the eggplant (nasubi). To +dream of the sun or of the moon is very lucky; but it is still more so +to dream of stars. For a young wife it is most for tunate to dream of +swallowing a star: this signifies that she will become the mother of a +beautiful child. To dream of a cow is a good omen; to dream of a horse +is lucky, but it signifies travelling. To dream of rain or fire is good. +Some dreams are held in Japan, as in the West, to go by contraries. +Therefore to dream of having ones house burned up, or of funerals, or +of being dead, or of talking to the ghost of a dead person, is good. +Some dreams which are good for women mean the reverse when dreamed by +men; for example, it is good for a woman to dream that her nose bleeds, +but for a man this is very bad. To dream of much money is a sign of loss +to come. To dream of the koi, or of any freshwater fish, is the most +unlucky of all. This is curious, for in other parts of Japan the koi is +a symbol of good fortune. + +9 Tebushukan: Citrus sarkodactilis. + +10 Yuzuru signifies to resign in favour of another; ha signifies a leaf. +The botanical name, as given in Hepburns dictionary, is Daphniphillum +macropodum. + +11 Cerasus pseudo-cerasus (Lindley). + +12 About this mountain cherry there is a humorous saying which +illustrates the Japanese love of puns. In order fully to appreciate it, +the reader should know that Japanese nouns have no distinction of +singular and plural. The word ha, as pronounced, may signify either +leaves or teeth; and the word hana, either flowers or nose. The +yamazakura puts forth its ha (leaves) before his hana (flowers). +Wherefore a man whose ha (teeth) project in advance of his hana (nose) +is called a yamazakura. Prognathism is not uncommon in Japan, +especially among the lower classes. + +13 If one should ask you concerning the heart of a true Japanese, point +to the wild cherry flower glowing in the sun. + +14 There are three noteworthy varieties: one bearing red, one pink and +white, and one pure white flowers. + +15 The expression yanagi-goshi, a willow-waist, is one of several in +common use comparing slender beauty to the willow-tree. + +16 Peonia albiflora, The name signifies the delicacy of beauty. The +simile of the botan (the tree peony) can be fully appreciated only by +one who is acquainted with the Japanese flower. + +17 Some say kesbiyuri (poppy) instead of himeyuri. The latter is a +graceful species of lily, Lilium callosum. + +18 Standing, she is a shakuyaku; seated, she is a botan; and the charm +of her figure in walking is the charm of a himeyuri. + +19 In the higher classes of Japanese society to-day, the honorific O is +not, as a rule, used before the names of girls, and showy appellations +are not given to daughters. Even among the poor respectable classes, +names resembling those of geisha, etc., are in disfavour. But those +above cited are good, honest, everyday names. + +20 Mr. Satow has found in Hirata a belief to which this seems to some +extent akin--the curious Shinto doctrine according to which a divine +being throws off portions of itself by a process of fissure, thus +producing what are called waki-mi-tama--parted spirits, with separate +functions. The great god of Izumo, Oho-kuni-nushi-no-Kami, is said by +Hirata to have three such parted spirits: his rough spirit (ara-mi- +tama) that punishes, his gentle spirit (nigi-mi-tama) that pardons, and +his benedictory or beneficent spirit (saki-mi-tama) that blesses, There +is a Shinto story that the rough spirit of this god once met the gentle +spirit without recognising it, + +21 Perhaps the most impressive of all the Buddhist temples in Kyoto. It +is dedicated to Kwannon of the Thousand Hands, and is said to contain +33,333 of her images. + +22 Daidaimushi in Izunio. The dictionary word is dedemushi. The snail is +supposed to be very fond of wet weather; and one who goes out much in +the rain is compared to a snail,--dedemushi no yona. + +23 Snail, snail, put out your horns a little it rains and the wind is +blowing, so put out your horns, just for a little while. + +24 A Buddhist divinity, but within recent times identified by Shinto +with the god Kotohira. + +25 See Professor Chamberlains version of it in The Japanese Fairy Tale +Series, with charming illustrations by a native artist. + +26 Butterfly, little butterfly, light upon the na leaf. But if thou +dost not like the na leaf, light, I pray thee, upon my hand. + +27 Boshi means a hat; tsukeru, to put on. But this etymology is more +than doubtful. + +28 Some say Chokko-chokko-uisu. Uisu would be pronounced in English +very much like weece, the final u being silent. Uiosu would be +something like ' we-oce. + +29 Pronounced almost as geece. + +30 Contraction of kore noru. + +31 A kindred legend attaches to the shiwan, a little yellow insect which +preys upon cucumbers. The shiwan is said to have been once a physician, +who, being detected in an amorous intrigue, had to fly for his life; but +as he went his foot caught in a cucumber vine, so that he fell and was +overtaken and killed, and his ghost became an insect, the destroyer of +cucumber vines. In the zoological mythology and plant mythology of Japan +there exist many legends offering a curious resemblance to the old Greek +tales of metamorphoses. Some of the most remarkable bits of such folk- +lore have originated, however, in comparatively modern time. The legend +of the crab called heikegani, found at Nagato, is an example. The souls +of the Taira warriors who perished in the great naval battle of Dan-no- +ura (now Seto-Nakai), 1185, are supposed to have been transformed into +heikegani. The shell of the heikegani is certainly surprising. It is +wrinkled into the likeness of a grim face, or rather into exact +semblance of one of those black iron visors, or masks, which feudal +warriors wore in battle, and which were shaped like frowning visages. + +32 Come, firefly, I will give you water to drink. The water of that. +place is bitter; the water here is sweet. + +33 By honzon is here meant the sacred kakemono, or picture, exposed to +public view in the temples only upon the birthday of the Buddha, which +is the eighth day of the old fourth month. Honzon also signifies the +principal image in a Buddhist temple. + +34 A solitary voice! Did the Moon cry? Twas but the hototogisu. + +35 When I gaze towards the place where I heard the hototogisu cry, lol +there is naught save the wan morning moon. + +36 Save only the morning moon, none heard the hearts-blood cry of the +hototogisu. + +37 A sort of doughnut made of bean flour, or tofu. + +38 Kite, kite, let me see you dance, and to-morrow evening, when the +crows do not know, I will give you a rat. + +39 O tardy crow, hasten forward! Your house is all on fire. Hurry to +throw Water upon it. If there be no water, I will give you. If you have +too much, give it to your child. If you have no child, then give it back +to me. + +40 The words papa and mamma exist in Japanese baby language, but their +meaning is not at all what might be supposed. Mamma, or, with the usual +honorific, O-mamma, means boiled rice. Papa means tobacco. + + +Notes for Chapter Two + +1 This was written early in 1892 + +2 Quoted from Mr. Satow's masterly essay, 'The Revival of Pure Shinto,' +published in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. By 'gods' +are not necessarily meant beneficent Kami. Shinto has no devils; but it +has its 'bad gods' as well as good deities. + +3 Satow, 'The Revival of Pure Shinto.' + +4 Ibid. + +5 In the sense of Moral Path,--i.e. an ethical system. + +6 Satow, 'The Revival of Pure Shinto.' The whole force of Motowori's +words will not be fully understood unless the reader knows that the +term 'Shinto' is of comparatively modern origin in Japan,--having been +borrowed from the Chinese to distinguish the ancient faith from +Buddhism; and that the old name for the primitive religion is Kami-no- +michi, 'the Way of the Gods.' + +7 Satow, 'The Revival of Pure Shinto.' + +8 From Kami, 'the [Powers] Above,' or the Gods, and tana, 'a shelf.' +The initial 't' of the latter word changes into 'd' in the compound,-- +just as that of tokkuri, 'a jar' or 'bottle,' becomes dokkuri in the +cornpound o-mi kidokkuri. + +9 The mirror, as an emblem of female divinities, is kept in the secret +innermost shrine of various Shinto temples. But the mirror of metal +commonly placed before the public gaze in a Shinto shrine is not really +of Shinto origin, but was introduced into Japan as a Buddhist symbol of +the Shingon sect. As the mirror is the symbol in Shinto of female +divinities, the sword is the emblem of male deities. The real symbols of +the god or goddess are not, however, exposed to human gaze under any +circumstances. + +10 Anciently the two great Shinto festivals on which the miya were thus +carried in procession were the Yoshigami-no-matsuri, or festival of the +God of the New Year, and the anniversary of Jimmu Tenno to the throne. +The second of these is still observed. The celebration of the Emperor's +birthday is the only other occasion when the miya are paraded. On both +days the streets are beautifully decorated with lanterns and shimenawa, +the fringed ropes of rice straw which are the emblems of Shinto. Nobody +now knows exactly what the words chanted on these days (chosaya! +chosaya!) mean. One theory is that they are a corruption of Sagicho, the +name of a great samurai military festival, which was celebrated nearly +at the same time as the Yashigami-no-matsuri,--both holidays now being +obsolete. + +11 Thuya obtusa. + +12 Such at least is the mourning period under such circumstances in +certain samurai families. Others say twenty days is sufficient. The +Buddhist code of mourning is extremely varied and complicated, and would +require much space to dilate upon. + +13 In spite of the supposed rigidity of the Nichiren sect in such +matters, most followers of its doctrine in Izumo are equally fervent +Shintoists. I have not been able to observe whether the same is true of +Izumo Shin-shu families as a rule; but I know that some Shin-shu +believers in Matsue worship at Shinto shrines. Adoring only that form of +Buddha called Amida, the Shin sect might be termed a Buddhist +'Unitarianism.' It seems never to have been able to secure a strong +footing in Izumo on account of its doctrinal hostility to Shinto. +Elsewhere throughout Japan it is the most vigorous and prosperous of all +Buddhist sects. + +14 Mr. Morse, in his Japanese Homes, published on hearsay a very +strange error when he stated: 'The Buddhist household shrines rest on +the floor--at least so I was informed.' They never rest on the floor +under any circumstances. In the better class of houses special +architectural arrangements are made for the butsudan; an alcove, recess, +or other contrivance, often so arranged as to be concealed from view by +a sliding panel or a little door In smaller dwellings it may be put on a +shelf, for want of a better place, and in the homes of the poor, on the +top of the tansu, or clothes-chest. It is never placed so high as the +kamidana, but seldom at a less height than three feet above the floor. +In Mr. Morse's own illustration of a Buddhist household shrine (p. 226) +it does not rest on the floor at all, but on the upper shelf of a +cupboard, which must not be confounded with the butsudan--a very small +one. The sketch in question seems to have been made during the Festival +of the Dead, for the offerings in the picture are those of the +Bommatauri. At that time the household butsudan is always exposed to +view, and often moved from its usual place in order to obtain room for +the offerings to be set before it. To place any holy object on the floor +is considered by the Japanese very disrespectful. As for Shinto objects, +to place even a mamori on the floor is deemed a sin. + +15 Two ihai are always made for each Buddhist dead. One usually larger +than that placed in the family shrine, is kept in the temple of which +the deceased was a parishioner, together with a cup in which tea or +water is daily poured out as an offering. In almost any large temple, +thousands of such ihai may be seen, arranged in rows, tier above tier-- +each with its cup before it--for even the souls of the dead are supposed +to drink tea. Sometimes, I fear, the offering is forgotten, for I have +seen rows of cups containing only dust, the fault, perhaps, of some lazy +acolyte. + +16 This is a fine example of a samurai kaimyo The kaimyo of kwazoku or +samurai are different from those of humbler dead; and a Japanese, by a +single glance at an ihai, can tell at once to what class of society the +deceased belonged, by the Buddhist words used. + +17 'Presenting the honourable tea to the august Buddhas'--for by +Buddhist faith it is hoped, if not believed, that the dead become +Buddhas and escape the sorrows of further transmigration. Thus the +expression 'is dead' is often rendered in Japanese by the phrase 'is +become a Buddha.' + +18 The idea underlying this offering of food and drink to the dead or +to the gods, is not so irrational as unthinking Critics have declared it +to be. The dead are not supposed to consume any of the visible substance +of the food set before them, for they are thought to be in an ethereal +state requiring only the most vapoury kind of nutrition. The idea is +that they absorb only the invisible essence of the food. And as fruits +and other such offerings lose something of their flavour after having +been exposed to the air for several hours, this slight change would have +been taken in other days as evidence that the spirits had feasted upon +them. Scientific education necessarily dissipates these consoling +illusions, and with them a host of tender and beautiful fancies as to +the relation between the living and the dead. + +19 I find that the number of clappings differs in different provinces +somewhat. In Kyushu the clapping is very long, especially before the +prayer to the Rising Sun. + +20 Another name for Kyoto, the Sacred City of Japanese Buddhism. + + +Notes for Chapter Three + +1 Formerly both sexes used the same pillow for the same reason. The long +hair of a samurai youth, tied up in an elaborate knot, required much +time to arrange. Since it has become the almost universal custom to wear +the hair short, the men have adopted a pillow shaped like a small +bolster. + +2 It is an error to suppose that all Japanese have blue-black hair. +There are two distinct racial types. In one the hair is a deep brown +instead of a pure black, and is also softer and finer. Rarely, but very +rarely, one may see a Japanese chevelure having a natural tendency to +ripple. For curious reasons, which cannot be stated here, an Izumo woman +is very much ashamed of having wavy hair--more ashamed than she would be +of a natural deformity. + +3 Even in the time of the writing of the Kojiki the art of arranging t +hair must have been somewhat developed. See Professor Chainberlai 's +introduction to translation, p. xxxi.; also vol. i. section ix.; vol. +vii. section xii.; vol. ix. section xviii., et passim. + +4 An art expert can decide the age of an unsigned kakemono or other work +of art in which human figures appear, by the style of the coiffure of +the female personages. + +5 The principal and indispensable hair-pin (kanzashi), usually about +seven inches long, is split, and its well-tempered double shaft can be +used like a small pair of chopsticks for picking up small things. The +head is terminated by a tiny spoon-shaped projection, which has a +special purpose in the Japanese toilette. + +6 The shinjocho is also called Ichogaeshi by old people, although the +original Ichogaeshi was somewhat different. The samurai girls used to +wear their hair in the true Ichogaeshi manner the name is derived from +the icho-tree (Salisburia andiantifolia), whose leaves have a queer +shape, almost like that of a duck's foot. Certain bands of the hair in +this coiffure bore a resemblance in form to icho-leaves. + +7 The old Japanese mirrors were made of metal, and were extremely +beautiful. Kagamiga kumoru to tamashii ga kumoru ('When the Mirror is +dim, the Soul is unclean') is another curious proverb relating to +mirrors. Perhaps the most beautiful and touching story of a mirror, in +any language is that called Matsuyama-no-kagami, which has been +translated by Mrs. James. + + +Notes for Chapter Four + +1 There is a legend that the Sun-Goddess invented the first hakama by +tying together the skirts of her robe. + +2 'Let us play the game called kango-kango. Plenteously the water of +Jizo-San quickly draw--and pour on the pine-leaves--and turn back +again.' Many of the games of Japanese children, like many of their toys, +have a Buddhist origin, or at least a Buddhist significance. + +3 I take the above translation from a Tokyo educational journal, +entitled The Museum. The original document, however, was impressive to a +degree that perhaps no translation could give. The Chinese words by +which the Emperor refers to himself and his will are far more impressive +than our Western 'We' or 'Our;' and the words relating to duties, +virtues, wisdom, and other matters are words that evoke in a Japanese +mind ideas which only those who know Japanese life perfectly can +appreciate, and which, though variant from our own, are neither less +beautiful nor less sacred. + +4 Kimi ga yo wa chiyo ni yachiyo ni sazare ishi no iwa o to narite oke +no musu made. Freely translated: 'May Our Gracious Sovereign reign a +thousand years--reign ten thousand thousand years--reign till the little +stone grow into a mighty rock, thick-velveted with ancient moss!' + +5 Stoves, however, are being introduced. In the higher Government +schools, and in the Normal Schools, the students who are boarders obtain +a better diet than most poor boys can get at home. Their rooms are also +well warmed. + +6 Hachi yuki ya Neko no ashi ato Ume no hana. + +7 Ni no ji fumi dasu Bokkuri kana. + +8 This little poem signifies that whoever in this world thinks much, +must have care, and that not to think about things is to pass one's life +in untroubled felicity. + +9 Having asked in various classes for written answers to the question, +'What is your dearest wish?' I found about twenty per cent, of the +replies expressed, with little variation of words, the simple desire to +die 'for His Sacred Majesty, Our Beloved Emperor.' But a considerable +proportion of the remainder contained the same aspiration less directly +stated in the wish to emulate the glory of Nelson, or to make Japan +first among nations by heroism and sacrifice. While this splendid spirit +lives in the hearts of her youth, Japan should have little to fear for +the future. + +10 Beautiful generosities of this kind are not uncommon in Japan. + +11 The college porter + +12 Except in those comparatively rare instances where the family is +exclusively Shinto in its faith, or, although belonging to both faiths, +prefers to bury its dead according to Shinto rites. In Matsue, as a +rule, high officials only have Shinto funeral. + +13 Unless the dead be buried according to the Shinto rite. In Matsue +the mourning period is usually fifty days. On the fifty-first day after +the decease, all members of the family go to Enjoji-nada (the lake-shore +at the foot of the hill on which the great temple of Enjoji stands) to +perform the ceremony of purification. At Enjoji-nada, on the beach, +stands a lofty stone statue of Jizo. Before it the mourners pray; then +wash their mouths and hands with the water of the lake. Afterwards they +go to a friend's house for breakfast, the purification being always +performed at daybreak, if possible. During the mourning period, no +member of the family can eat at a friend's house. But if the burial has +been according to the Shinto rite, all these ceremonial observances may +be dispensed with. + +14 But at samurai funerals in the olden time the women were robed in +black. + + +Notes for Chapter Five + +1 As it has become, among a certain sect of Western Philistines and +self-constituted art critics, the fashion to sneer at any writer who +becomes enthusiastic about the truth to nature of Japanese art, I may +cite here the words of England's most celebrated living naturalist on +this very subject. Mr. Wallace's authority will scarcely, I presume, be +questioned, even by the Philistines referred to: + +'Dr. Mohnike possesses a large collection of coloured sketches of the +plants of Japan made by a Japanese lady, which are the most masterly +things I have ever seen. Every stem, twig, and leaf is produced by +single touches of the brush, the character and perspective of very +complicated plants being admirably given, and the articulations of stem +and leaves shown in a most scientific manner.' (Malay Archipelago, chap. +xx.) + +Now this was written in 1857, before European methods of drawing had +been introduced. The same art of painting leaves, etc., with single +strokes of the brush is still common in Japan--even among the poorest +class of decorators. + +2 There is a Buddhist saying about the kadomatsu: + +Kadomatsu Meido no tabi no Ichi-ri-zuka. + +The meaning is that each kadomatsu is a milestone on the journey to the +Meido; or, in other words, that each New Year's festival signal only +the completion of another stage of the ceaseless journey to death. + +3 The difference between the shimenawa and shimekazari is that the +latter is a strictly decorative straw rope, to which many curious +emblems are attached. + +4 It belongs to the sargassum family, and is full of air sacs. Various +kinds of edible seaweed form a considerable proportion of Japanese diet. + +5 'This is a curiously shaped staff with which the divinity Jizo is +commonly represented. It is still carried by Buddhist mendicants, and +there are several sizes of it. That carried by the Yaku-otoshj is +usually very short. There is a tradition that the shakujo was first +invented as a means of giving warning to insects or other little +creatures in the path of the Buddhist pilgrim, so that they might not be +trodden upon unawares. + +6 I may make mention here of another matter, in no way relating to the +Setsubun. + +There lingers in Izumo a wholesome--and I doubt not formerly a most +valuable--superstition about the sacredness of writing. Paper upon which +anything has been written, or even printed, must not be crumpled up, or +trodden upon, or dirtied, or put to any base use. If it be necessary to +destroy a document, the paper should be burned. I have been gently +reproached in a little hotel at which I stopped for tearing up and +crumpling some paper covered with my own writing. + + +NOtes for Chapter Six + +1 'A bucket honourably condescend [to give]. + +2 The Kappa is not properly a sea goblin, but a river goblin, and +haunts the sea only in the neighbourhood of river mouths. About a mile +and a half from Matsue, at the little village of Kawachi-mura, on the +river called Kawachi, stands a little temple called Kawako-no-miya, or +the Miya of the Kappa. (In Izumo, among the common people, the word +'Kappa' is not used, but the term Kawako, or 'The Child of the River.') +In this little shrine is preserved a document said to have been signed +by a Kappa. The story goes that in ancient times the Kappa dwelling in +the Kawachi used to seize and destroy many of the inhabitanta of the +village and many domestic animals. One day, however, while trying to +seize a horse that had entered the river to drink, the Kappa got its +head twisted in some way under the belly-band of the horse, and the +terrified animal, rushing out of the water, dragged the Kappa into a +field. There the owner of the horse and a number of peasants seized and +bound the Kappa. All the villagers gathered to see the monster, which +bowed its head to the ground, and audibly begged for mercy. The peasants +desired to kill the goblin at once; but the owner of the horse, who +happened to be the head-man of the mura, said: 'It is better to make it +swear never again to touch any person or animal belonging to Kawachi- +mura. A written form of oath was prepared and read to the Kappa. It said +that It could not write, but that It would sign the paper by dipping Its +hand in ink, and pressing the imprint thereof at the bottom of the +document. This having been agreed to and done, the Kappa was set free. +From that time forward no inhabitant or animal of Kawachi-mura was ever +assaulted by the goblin. + +3 The Buddhist symbol. [The small illustration cannot be presented +here. The arms are bent in the opposite direction to the Nazi swastika. +Preparator's note] + +4 'Help! help!' + +5 Furuteya, the estab!ishment of a dea!er in second-hand wares--furute. + +6 Andon, a paper lantern of peculiar construction, used as a night +light. Some forms of the andon are remarkably beautiful. + +7 'Ototsan! washi wo shimai ni shitesashita toki mo, chodo kon ya no +yona tsuki yo data-ne?'--Izumo dialect. + + +Notes for Chapter Seven + +1 The Kyoto word is maiko. + +2 Guitars of three strings. + +3 It is sometimes customary for guests to exchange cups, after duly +rinsing them. It is always a compliment to ask for your friend's cup. + +4 Once more to rest beside her, or keep five thousand koku? What care I +for koku? Let me be with her!' + +There lived in ancient times a haramoto called Fuji-eda Geki, a vassal +of the Shogun. He had an income of five thousand koku of rice--a great +income in those days. But he fell in love with an inmate of the +Yoshiwara, named Ayaginu, and wished to marry her. When his master bade +the vassal choose between his fortune and his passion, the lovers fled +secretly to a farmer's house, and there committed suicide together. And +the above song was made about them. It is still sung. + +5 'Dear, shouldst thou die, grave shall hold thee never! I thy body's +ashes, mixed with wine, wit! drink.' + +6 Maneki-Neko + +7 Buddhist food, containing no animal substance. Some kinds of shojin- +ryori are quite appetising. + +8 The terms oshiire and zendana might be partly rendered by 'wardrobe' +and 'cupboard.' The fusuma are sliding screens serving as doors. + +9 Tennin, a 'Sky-Maiden,' a Buddhist angel. + +10 Her shrine is at Nara--not far from the temple of the giant Buddha. + + +Notes for Chapter Eight + +1 The names Dozen or Tozen, and Dogo or Toga, signify 'the Before- +Islands' and 'the Behind-Islands.' + +2 'Dokoe, dokoel' 'This is only a woman's baby' (a very small +package). 'Dokoe, dokoel' 'This is the daddy, this is the daddy' (a big +package). 'Dokoe, dokoel' ''Tis very small, very small!' 'Dokoe, dokoel' +'This is for Matsue, this is for Matsue!' 'Dokoe, dokoel' 'This is for +Koetsumo of Yonago,' etc. + +3 These words seem to have no more meaning than our 'yo-heaveho.' Yan- +yui is a cry used by all Izumo and Hoki sailors. + +4 This curious meaning is not given in Japanese-English dictionaries, +where the idiom is translated merely by the phrase 'as aforesaid.' + +5 The floor of a Japanese dwelling might be compared to an immense but +very shallow wooden tray, divided into compartments corresponding to the +various rooms. These divisions are formed by grooved and polished +woodwork, several inches above the level, and made for the accommodation +of the fusurna, or sliding screens, separating room from room. The +compartments are filled up level with the partitions with tatami, or +mats about the thickness of light mattresses, covered with beautifully +woven rice-straw. The squared edges of the mats fit exactly together, +and as the mats are not made for the house, but the house for the mats, +all tatami are exactly the same size. The fully finished floor of each +roam is thus like a great soft bed. No shoes, of course, can be worn in +a Japanese house. As soon as the mats become in the least soiled they +are replaced by new ones. + +6 See article on Art in his Things Japanese. + +7 It seems to be a black, obsidian. + +8 There are several other versions of this legend. In one, it is the +mare, and not the foal, which was drowned. + +9 There are two ponds not far from each other. The one I visited was +called 0-ike, or 'The Male Pond,' and the other, Me-ike, or 'The Female +Pond.' + +10 Speaking of the supposed power of certain trees to cure toothache, +I may mention a curious superstition about the yanagi, or willow-tree. +Sufferers from toothache sometimes stick needles into the tree, +believing that the pain caused to the tree-spirit will force it to +exercise its power to cure. I could not, however, find any record of +this practice in Oki. + +11 Moxa, a corruption of the native name of the mugwort plant: moe- +kusa, or mogusa, 'the burning weed.' Small cones of its fibre are used +for cauterising, according to the old Chinese system of medicine--the +little cones being placed upon the patient's skin, lighted, and left to +smoulder until wholly consumed. The result is a profound scar. The moxa +is not only used therapeutically, but also as a punishment for very +naughty children. See the interesting note on this subject in Professor +Chamberlain's Things Japanese. + +12 Nure botoke, 'a wet god.' This term is applied to the statue of a +deity left exposed to the open air. + +13 According to popular legend, in each eye of the child of a god or a +dragon two Buddhas are visible. The statement in some of the Japanese +ballads, that the hero sung of had four Buddhas in his eyes, is +equivalent to the declaration that each of his eyes had a double-pupil. + +14 The idea of the Atman will perhaps occur to many readers. + +15 In 1892 a Japanese newspaper, published in Tokyo stated upon the +authority of a physician who had visited Shimane, that the people of Oki +believe in ghostly dogs instead of ghostly foxes. This is a mistake +caused by the literal rendering of a term often used in Shi-mane, +especially in Iwami, namely, inu-gami-mochi. It is only a euphemism for +kitsune-mochi; the inu-gami is only the hito-kitsune, which is supposed +to make itself visible in various animal forms. + +16 Which words signify something like this: + +'Sleep, baby, sleep! Why are the honourable ears of the Child of the +Hare of the honourable mountain so long? 'Tis because when he dwelt +within her honoured womb, his mamma ate the leaves of the loquat, the +leaves of the bamboo-grass, That is why his honourable ears are so +long.' + +17 The Japanese police are nearly all of the samurai class, now called +shizoku. I think this force may be considered the most perfect police in +the world; but whether it will retain those magnificent qualities which +at present distinguish it, after the lapse of another generation, is +doubtful. It is now the samurai blood that tells. + + +Notes for Chapter Nine + +1 Afterwards I found that the old man had expressed to me only one +popular form of a belief which would require a large book to fully +explain--a belief founded upon Chinese astrology, but possibly modified +by Buddhist and by Shinto ideas. This notion of compound Souls cannot be +explained at all without a prior knowledge of the astrological relation +between the Chinese Zodiacal Signs and the Ten Celestial Stems. Some +understanding of these may be obtained from the curious article 'Time,' +in Professor Chamberlain's admirable little book, Things Japanese. The +relation having been perceived, it is further necessary to know that +under the Chinese astrological system each year is under the influence +of one or other of the 'Five Elements'--Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water; +and according to the day and year of one's birth, one's temperament is +celestially decided. A Japanese mnemonic verse tells us the number of +souls or natures corresponding to each of the Five Elemental Influences +--namely, nine souls for Wood, three for Fire, one for Earth, seven for +Metal, five for Water: + +Kiku karani +Himitsu no yama ni +Tsuchi hitotsu +Nanatsu kane to zo +Go suiryo are. + +Multiplied into ten by being each one divided into 'Elder' and +'Younger,' the Five Elements become the Ten Celestial Stems; and their +influences are commingled with those of the Rat, Bull, Tiger, Hare, +Dragon, Serpent, Horse, Goat, Ape, Cock, Dog, and Boar (the twelve +Zodiacal Signs)--all of which have relations to time, place, life, luck, +misfortune, etc. But even these hints give no idea whatever how +enormously complicated the subject really is. + +The book the old gardener referred to--once as widely known in Japan as +every fortune-telling book in any European country--was the San-re-so, +copies of which may still be picked up. Contrary to Kinjuro's opinion, +however, it is held, by those learned in such Chinese matters, just as +bad to have too many souls as to have too few. To have nine souls is to +be too 'many-minded'--without fixed purpose; to have only one soul is to +lack quick intelligence. According to the Chinese astrological ideas, +the word 'natures' or 'characters' would perhaps be more accurate than +the word 'souls' in this case. There is a world of curious fancies, born +out of these beliefs. For one example of hundreds, a person having a +Fire-nature must not marry one having a Water-nature. Hence the +proverbial saying about two who cannot agree--'They are like Fire and +Water.' + +2 Usually an Inari temple. Such things are never done at the great +Shinto shrines. + + +Notes for Chapter Ten + +1 In other parts of Japan I have heard the Yuki-Onna described as a very +beautiful phantom who lures young men to lonesome places for the purpose +of sucking their blood. + +2 In Izumo the Dai-Kan, or Period of Greatest Cold, falls in February. + +3 'It is excellent: I pray you give me a little more.' + +4 Kwashi: Japanese confectionery + + +Notes for Chapter Eleven + +1 The reader will find it well worth his while to consult the chapter +entitled 'Domestic Service,' in Miss Bacon's Japanese Girls and Women, +for an interesting and just presentation of the practical side of the +subject, as relating to servants of both sexes. The poetical side, +however, is not treated of--perhaps because intimately connected with +religious beliefs which one writing from the Christian standpoint could +not be expected to consider sympathetically. Domestic service in ancient +Japan was both transfigured and regulated by religion; and the force of +the religious sentiment concerning it may be divined from the Buddhist +saying, still current: + +Oya-ko wa is-se, Fufu wa ni-se, Shuju wa san-se. + +The relation of parent and child endures for the space of one life only; +that of husband and wife for the space of two lives; but the relation +between msater and servant continues for the period of three existences. + +2 The shocks continued, though with lessening frequency and violence, +for more than six months after the cataclysm. + +3 Of course the converse is the rule in condoling with the sufferer. + +4 Dhammapada. + +5 Dammikkasutta. + +6 Dhammapada. + +7 These extracts from a translation in the Japan Daily Mail, November +19, 20, 1890, of Viscount Torio's famous conservative essay do not give +a fair idea of the force and logic of the whole. The essay is too long +to quote entire; and any extracts from the Mail's admirable translation +suffer by their isolation from the singular chains of ethical, +religious, and philosophical reasoning which bind the Various parts of +the composition together. The essay was furthermore remarkable as the +production of a native scholar totally uninfluenced by Western thought. +He correctly predicted those social and political disturbances which +have occurred in Japan since the opening of the new parliament. Viscount +Torio is also well known as a master of Buddhist philosophy. He holds a +high rank in the Japanese army. + +8 In expressing my earnest admiration of this wonderful book, I must, +however, declare that several of its conclusions, and especially the +final ones, represent the extreme reverse of my own beliefs on the +subject. I do not think the Japanese without individuality; but their +individuality is less superficially apparent, and reveals itself much +less quickly, than that of Western people. I am also convinced that much +of what we call 'personality' and 'force of character' in the West +represents only the survival and recognition of primitive aggressive +tendencies, more or less disguised by culture. What Mr. Spencer calls +the highest individuation surely does not include extraordinary +development of powers adapted to merely aggressive ends; and yet it is +rather through these than through any others that Western individuality +most commonly and readily manifests itself. Now there is, as yet, a +remarkable scarcity in Japan, of domineering, brutal, aggressive, or +morbid individuality. What does impress one as an apparent weakness in +Japanese intellectual circles is the comparative absence of spontaneity, +creative thought, original perceptivity of the highest order. Perhaps +this seeming deficiency is racial: the peoples of the Far East seem to +have been throughout their history receptive rather than creative. At +all events I cannot believe Buddhism--originally the faith of an Aryan +race--can be proven responsible. The total exclusion of Buddhist +influence from public education would not seem to have been stimulating; +for the masters of the old Buddhist philosophy still show a far higher +capacity for thinking in relations than that of the average graduate of +the Imperial University. Indeed, I am inclined to believe that an +intellectual revival of Buddhism--a harmonising of its loftier truths +with the best and broadest teachings of modern science--would have the +most important results for Japan. + +9 Herbert Spencer. A native scholar, Mr. Inouye Enryo, has actually +founded at Tokyo with this noble object in view, a college of philosophy +which seems likely, at the present writing, to become an influential +institution. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan, by Lafcadio Hearn + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GLIMPSES OF AN UNFAMILIAR JAPAN *** + +This file should be named 7glm210.txt or 7glm210.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7glm211.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7glm210a.txt + +Produced by John Orford + +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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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. 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: Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan + +Author: Lafcadio Hearn + +Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8133] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 17, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GLIMPSES OF AN UNFAMILIAR JAPAN *** + + + + +Produced by John Orford + + + + +Glimpses of Unfamilar Japan +Second Series +by Lafcadio Hearn + +CONTENTS + +1 IN A JAPANESE GARDEN + +2 THE HOUSEHOLD SHRINE + +3 OF WOMEN'S HAIR + +4 FROM THE DIARY OF AN ENGLISH TEACHER + +5 TWO STRANGE FESTIVALS + +6 BY THE JAPANESE SEA + +7 OF A DANCING-GIRL + +8 FROM HOKI TO OKI + +9 OF SOULS + +10 OF GHOSTS AND GOBLINS + +11 THE JAPANESE SMILE + +12 SAYONARA! + + + +Chapter One +In a Japanese Garden + +º1 +MY little two-story house by the Ohashigawa, although dainty as a bird- +cage, proved much too small for comfort at the approach of the hot +season--the rooms being scarcely higher than steamship cabins, and so +narrow that an ordinary mosquito-net could not be suspended in them. I +was sorry to lose the beautiful lake view, but I found it necessary to +remove to the northern quarter of the city, into a very quiet Street +behind the mouldering castle. My new home is a katchiu-yashiki, the +ancient residence of some samurai of high rank. It is shut off from the +street, or rather roadway, skirting the castle moat by a long, high wall +coped with tiles. One ascends to the gateway, which is almost as large +as that of a temple court, by a low broad flight of stone steps; and +projecting from the wall, to the right of the gate, is a look-out +window, heavily barred, like a big wooden cage. Thence, in feudal days, +armed retainers kept keen watch on all who passed by--invisible watch, +for the bars are set so closely that a face behind them cannot be seen +from the roadway. Inside the gate the approach to the dwelling is also +walled in on both sides, so that the visitor, unless privileged, could +see before him only the house entrance, always closed with white shoji. +Like all samurai homes, the residence itself is but one story high, but +there are fourteen rooms within, and these are lofty, spacious, and +beautiful. There is, alas, no lake view nor any charming prospect. Part +of the O-Shiroyama, with the castle on its summit, half concealed by a +park of pines, may be seen above the coping of the front wall, but only +a part; and scarcely a hundred yards behind the house rise densely +wooded heights, cutting off not only the horizon, but a large slice of +the sky as well. For this immurement, however, there exists fair +compensation in the shape of a very pretty garden, or rather a series of +garden spaces, which surround the dwelling on three sides. Broad +verandas overlook these, and from a certain veranda angle I can enjoy +the sight of two gardens at once. Screens of bamboos and woven rushes, +with wide gateless openings in their midst, mark the boundaries of the +three divisions of the pleasure-grounds. But these structures are not +intended to serve as true fences; they are ornamental, and only indicate +where one style of landscape gardening ends and another begins. + +º2 + +Now a few words upon Japanese gardens in general. + +After having learned--merely by seeing, for the practical knowledge of +the art requires years of study and experience, besides a natural, +instinctive sense of beauty--something about the Japanese manner of +arranging flowers, one can thereafter consider European ideas of floral +decoration only as vulgarities. This observation is not the result of +any hasty enthusiasm, but a conviction settled by long residence in the +interior. I have come to understand the unspeakable loveliness of a +solitary spray of blossoms arranged as only a Japanese expert knows how +to arrange it--not by simply poking the spray into a vase, but by +perhaps one whole hour's labour of trimming and posing and daintiest +manipulation--and therefore I cannot think now of what we Occidentals +call a 'bouquet' as anything but a vulgar murdering of flowers, an +outrage upon the colour-sense, a brutality, an abomination. Somewhat in +the same way, and for similar reasons, after having learned what an old +Japanese garden is, I can remember our costliest gardens at home only as +ignorant displays of what wealth can accomplish in the creation of +incongruities that violate nature. + +Now a Japanese garden is not a flower garden; neither is it made for the +purpose of cultivating plants. In nine cases out of ten there is nothing +in it resembling a flower-bed. Some gardens may contain scarcely a sprig +of green; some have nothing green at all, and consist entirely of rocks +and pebbles and sand, although these are exceptional. [1] As a rule, a +Japanese garden is a landscape garden, yet its existence does not depend +upon any fixed allowances of space. It may cover one acre or many acres. +It may also be only ten feet square. It may, in extreme cases, be much +less; for a certain kind of Japanese garden can be contrived small +enough to put in a tokonoma. Such a garden, in a vessel no larger than a +fruit-dish, is called koniwa or toko-niwa, and may occasionally be seen +in the tokonoma of humble little dwellings so closely squeezed between +other structures as to possess no ground in which to cultivate an +outdoor garden. (I say 'an outdoor garden,' because there are indoor +gardens, both upstairs and downstairs, in some large Japanese houses.) +The toko-niwa is usually made in some curious bowl, or shallow carved +box or quaintly shaped vessel impossible to describe by any English +word. Therein are created minuscule hills with minuscule houses upon +them, and microscopic ponds and rivulets spanned by tiny humped bridges; +and queer wee plants do duty for trees, and curiously formed pebbles +stand for rocks, and there are tiny toro perhaps a tiny torii as well-- +in short, a charming and living model of a Japanese landscape. + +Another fact of prime importance to remember is that, in order to +comprehend the beauty of a Japanese garden, it is necessary to +understand--or at least to learn to understand--the beauty of stones. +Not of stones quarried by the hand of man, but of stones shaped by +nature only. Until you can feel, and keenly feel, that stones have +character, that stones have tones and values, the whole artistic meaning +of a Japanese garden cannot be revealed to you. In the foreigner, +however aesthetic he may be, this feeling needs to be cultivated by +study. It is inborn in the Japanese; the soul of the race comprehends +Nature infinitely better than we do, at least in her visible forms. But +although, being an Occidental, the true sense of the beauty of stones +can be reached by you only through long familiarity with the Japanese +use and choice of them, the characters of the lessons to be acquired +exist everywhere about you, if your life be in the interior. You cannot +walk through a street without observing tasks and problems in the +aesthetics of stones for you to master. At the approaches to temples, by +the side of roads, before holy groves, and in all parks and pleasure- +grounds, as well as in all cemeteries, you will notice large, irregular, +flat slabs of natural rock--mostly from the river-beds and water-worn-- +sculptured with ideographs, but unhewn. These have been set up as votive +tablets, as commemorative monuments, as tombstones, and are much more +costly than the ordinary cut-stone columns and haka chiselled with the +figures of divinities in relief. Again, you will see before most of the +shrines, nay, even in the grounds of nearly all large homesteads, great +irregular blocks of granite or other hard rock, worn by the action of +torrents, and converted into water-basins (chodzubachi) by cutting a +circular hollow in the top. Such are but common examples of the +utilisation of stones even in the poorest villages; and if you have any +natural artistic sentiment, you cannot fail to discover, sooner or +later, how much more beautiful are these natural forms than any shapes +from the hand of the stone-cutter. It is probable, too, that you will +become so habituated at last to the sight of inscriptions cut upon rock +surfaces, especially if you travel much through the country, that you +will often find yourself involuntarily looking for texts or other +chisellings where there are none, and could not possibly be, as if +ideographs belonged by natural law to rock formation. And stones will +begin, perhaps, to assume for you a certain individual or physiognomical +aspect--to suggest moods and sensations, as they do to the Japanese. +Indeed, Japan is particularly a land of suggestive shapes in stone, as +high volcanic lands are apt to be; and such shapes doubtless addressed +themselves to the imagination of the race at a time long prior to the +date of that archaic text which tells of demons in Izumo 'who made +rocks, and the roots of trees, and leaves, and the foam of the green +waters to speak. + +As might be expected in a country where the suggestiveness of natural +forms is thus recognised, there are in Japan many curious beliefs and +superstitions concerning stones. In almost every province there are +famous stones supposed to be sacred or haunted, or to possess miraculous +powers, such as the Women's Stone at the temple of Hachiman at Kamakura, +and the Sessho-seki, or Death Stone of Nasu, and the Wealth-giving Stone +at Enoshima, to which pilgrims pay reverence. There are even legends of +stones having manifested sensibility, like the tradition of the Nodding +Stones which bowed down before the monk Daita when he preached unto them +the word of Buddha; or the ancient story from the Kojiki, that the +Emperor O-Jin, being augustly intoxicated, 'smote with his august staff +a great stone in the middle of the Ohosaka road, whereupon the stone ran +away!' [2] + +Now stones are valued for their beauty; and large stones selected for +their shape may have an aesthetic worth of hundreds of dollars. And +large stones form the skeleton, or framework, in the design of old +Japanese gardens. Not only is every stone chosen with a view to its +particular expressiveness of form, but every stone in the garden or +about the premises has its separate and individual name, indicating its +purpose or its decorative duty. But I can tell you only a little, a very +little, of the folk-lore of a Japanese garden; and if you want to know +more about stones and their names, and about the philosophy of gardens, +read the unique essay of Mr. Conder on the Art of Landscape Gardening in +Japan, [3] and his beautiful book on the Japanese Art of Floral +Decoration; and also the brief but charming chapter on Gardens, in +Morse's Japanese Homes. [4] + +º3 + +No effort to create an impossible or purely ideal landscape is made in +the Japanese garden. Its artistic purpose is to copy faithfully the +attractions of a veritable landscape, and to convey the real impression +that a real landscape communicates. It is therefore at once a picture +and a poem; perhaps even more a poem than a picture. For as nature's +scenery, in its varying aspects, affects us with sensations of joy or of +solemnity, of grimness or of sweetness, of force or of peace, so must +the true reflection of it in the labour of the landscape gardener create +not merely an impression of beauty, but a mood in the soul. The grand +old landscape gardeners, those Buddhist monks who first introduced the +art into Japan, and subsequently developed it into an almost occult +science, carried their theory yet farther than this. They held it +possible to express moral lessons in the design of a garden, and +abstract ideas, such as Chastity, Faith, Piety, Content, Calm, and +Connubial Bliss. Therefore were gardens contrived according to the +character of the owner, whether poet, warrior, philosopher, or priest. +In those ancient gardens (the art, alas, is passing away under the +withering influence of the utterly commonplace Western taste) there were +expressed both a mood of nature and some rare Oriental conception of a +mood of man. + +I do not know what human sentiment the principal division of my garden +was intended to reflect; and there is none to tell me. Those by whom it +was made passed away long generations ago, in the eternal transmigration +of souls. But as a poem of nature it requires no interpreter. It +occupies the front portion of the grounds, facing south; and it also +extends west to the verge of the northern division of the garden, from +which it is partly separated by a curious screen-fence structure. There +are large rocks in it, heavily mossed; and divers fantastic basins of +stone for holding water; and stone lamps green with years; and a +shachihoko, such as one sees at the peaked angles of castle roofs--a +great stone fish, an idealised porpoise, with its nose in the ground and +its tail in the air. [5] There are miniature hills, with old trees upon +them; and there are long slopes of green, shadowed by flowering shrubs, +like river banks; and there are green knolls like islets. All these +verdant elevations rise from spaces of pale yellow sand, smooth as a +surface of silk and miming the curves and meanderings of a river course. +These sanded spaces are not to be trodden upon; they are much too +beautiful for that. The least speck of dirt would mar their effect; and +it requires the trained skill of an experienced native gardener--a +delightful old man he is--to keep them in perfect form. But they are +traversed in various directions by lines of flat unhewn rock slabs, +placed at slightly irregular distances from one another, exactly like +stepping-stones across a brook. The whole effect is that of the shores +of a still stream in some lovely, lonesome, drowsy place. + +There is nothing to break the illusion, so secluded the garden is. High +walls and fences shut out streets and contiguous things; and the shrubs +and the trees, heightening and thickening toward the boundaries, conceal +from view even the roofs of the neighbouring katchiu-yashiki. Softly +beautiful are the tremulous shadows of leaves on the sunned sand; and +the scent of flowers comes thinly sweet with every waft of tepid air; +and there is a humming of bees. + +º4 + +By Buddhism all existences are divided into Hijo things without desire, +such as stones and trees; and Ujo things having desire, such as men and +animals. This division does not, so far as I know, find expression in +the written philosophy of gardens; but it is a convenient one. The folk- +lore of my little domain relates both to the inanimate and the animate. +In natural order, the Hijo may be considered first, beginning with a +singular shrub near the entrance of the yashiki, and close to the gate +of the first garden. + +Within the front gateway of almost every old samurai house, and usually +near the entrance of the dwelling itself, there is to be seen a small +tree with large and peculiar leaves. The name of this tree in Izumo is +tegashiwa, and there is one beside my door. What the scientific name of +it is I do not know; nor am I quite sure of the etymology of the +Japanese name. However, there is a word tegashi, meaning a bond for the +hands; and the shape of the leaves of the tegashiwa somewhat resembles +the shape of a hand. + +Now, in old days, when the samurai retainer was obliged to leave his +home in order to accompany his daimyo to Yedo, it was customary, just +before his departure, to set before him a baked tai [6] served up on a +tegashiwa leaf. After this farewell repast the leaf upon which the tai +had been served was hung up above the door as a charm to bring the +departed knight safely back again. This pretty superstition about the +leaves of the tegashiwa had its origin not only in their shape but in +their movement. Stirred by a wind they seemed to beckon--not indeed +after our Occidental manner, but in the way that a Japanese signs to his +friend to come, by gently waving his hand up and down with the palm +towards the ground. + +Another shrub to be found in most Japanese gardens is the nanten, [7] +about which a very curious belief exists. If you have an evil dream, a +dream which bodes ill luck, you should whisper it to the nanten early in +the morning, and then it will never come true. [8] There are two +varieties of this graceful plant: one which bears red berries, and one +which bears white. The latter is rare. Both kinds grow in my garden. The +common variety is placed close to the veranda (perhaps for the +convenience of dreamers); the other occupies a little flower-bed in the +middle of the garden, together with a small citron-tree. This most +dainty citron-tree is called 'Buddha's fingers,' [9] because of the +wonderful shape of its fragrant fruits. Near it stands a kind of laurel, +with lanciform leaves glossy as bronze; it is called by the Japanese +yuzuri-ha, [10] and is almost as common in the gardens of old samurai +homes as the tegashiwa itself. It is held to be a tree of good omen, +because no one of its old leaves ever falls off before a new one, +growing behind it, has well developed. For thus the yuzuri-ha symbolises +hope that the father will not pass away before his son has become a +vigorous man, well able to succeed him as the head of the family. +Therefore, on every New Year's Day, the leaves of the yuzuriha, mingled +with fronds of fern, are attached to the shimenawa which is then +suspended before every Izumo home. + +º5 + +The trees, like the shrubs, have their curious poetry and legends. Like +the stones, each tree has its special landscape name according to its +position and purpose in the composition. Just as rocks and stones form +the skeleton of the ground-plan of a garden, so pines form the framework +of its foliage design. They give body to the whole. In this garden there +are five pines,--not pines tormented into fantasticalities, but pines +made wondrously picturesque by long and tireless care and judicious +trimming. The object of the gardener has been to develop to the utmost +possible degree their natural tendency to rugged line and massings of +foliage--that spiny sombre-green foliage which Japanese art is never +weary of imitating in metal inlay or golden lacquer. The pine is a +symbolic tree in this land of symbolism. Ever green, it is at once the +emblem of unflinching purpose and of vigorous old age; and its needle- +shaped leaves are credited with the power of driving demons away. + +There are two sakuranoki, [11] Japanese cherry-trees--those trees whose +blossoms, as Professor Chamberlain so justly observes, are 'beyond +comparison more lovely than anything Europe has to show.' Many varieties +are cultivated and loved; those in my garden bear blossoms of the most +ethereal pink, a flushed white. When, in spring, the trees flower, it is +as though fleeciest masses of cloud faintly tinged by sunset had floated +down from the highest sky to fold themselves about the branches. This +comparison is no poetical exaggeration; neither is it original: it is an +ancient Japanese description of the most marvellous floral exhibition +which nature is capable of making. The reader who has never seen a +cherry-tree blossoming in Japan cannot possibly imagine the delight of +the spectacle. There are no green leaves; these come later: there is +only one glorious burst of blossoms, veiling every twig and bough in +their delicate mist; and the soil beneath each tree is covered deep out +of sight by fallen petals as by a drift of pink snow. + +But these are cultivated cherry-trees. There are others which put forth +their leaves before their blossoms, such as the yamazakura, or mountain +cherry. [12] This, too, however, has its poetry of beauty and of +symbolism. Sang the great Shinto writer and poet, Motowori: + +Shikishima no +Yamato-gokoro wo +Hito-towaba, +Asa-hi ni niou +Yamazakura bana. [13] + +Whether cultivated or uncultivated, the Japanese cherry-trees are +emblems. Those planted in old samurai gardens were not cherished for +their loveliness alone. Their spotless blossoms were regarded as +symbolising that delicacy of sentiment and blamelessness of life +belonging to high courtesy and true knightliness. 'As the cherry flower +is first among flowers,' says an old proverb, 'so should the warrior be +first among men'. + +Shadowing the western end of this garden, and projecting its smooth dark +limbs above the awning of the veranda, is a superb umenoki, Japanese +plum-tree, very old, and originally planted here, no doubt, as in other +gardens, for the sake of the sight of its blossoming. The flowering of +the umenoki, [14] in the earliest spring, is scarcely less astonishing +than that of the cherry-tree, which does not bloom for a full month +later; and the blossoming of both is celebrated by popular holidays. Nor +are these, although the most famed, the only flowers thus loved. The +wistaria, the convolvulus, the peony, each in its season, form displays +of efflorescence lovely enough to draw whole populations out of the +cities into the country to see them.. In Izumo, the blossoming of the +peony is especially marvellous. The most famous place for this spectacle +is the little island of Daikonshima, in the grand Naka-umi lagoon, about +an hour's sail from Matsue. In May the whole island flames crimson with +peonies; and even the boys and girls of the public schools are given a +holiday, in order that they may enjoy the sight. + +Though the plum flower is certainly a rival in beauty of the sakura-no- +hana, the Japanese compare woman's beauty--physical beauty--to the +cherry flower, never to the plum flower. But womanly virtue and +sweetness, on the other hand, are compared to the ume-no-hana, never to +the cherry blossom. It is a great mistake to affirm, as some writers +have done, that the Japanese never think of comparing a woman to trees +and flowers. For grace, a maiden is likened to a slender willow; [15] +for youthful charm, to the cherry-tree in flower; for sweetness of +heart, to the blossoming plum-tree. Nay, the old Japanese poets have +compared woman to all beautiful things. They have even sought similes +from flowers for her various poses, for her movements, as in the verse, + +Tateba skakuyaku; [16] +Suwareba botan; +Aruku sugatawa +Himeyuri [17] no hana. [18] + +Why, even the names of the humblest country girls are often those of +beautiful trees or flowers prefixed by the honorific O: [19] O-Matsu +(Pine), O-Take (Bamboo), O-Ume (Plum), O-Hana (Blossom), O-ine (Ear-of- +Young-Rice), not to speak of the professional flower-names of dancing- +girls and of joro. It has been argued with considerable force that the +origin of certain tree-names borne by girls must be sought in the folk- +conception of the tree as an emblem of longevity, or happiness, or good +fortune, rather than in any popular idea of the beauty of the tree in +itself. But however this may be, proverb, poem, song, and popular speech +to-day yield ample proof that the Japanese comparisons of women to trees +and flowers are in no-wise inferior to our own in aesthetic sentiment. + +º6 + +That trees, at least Japanese trees, have souls, cannot seem an +unnatural fancy to one who has seen the blossoming of the umenoki and +the sakuranoki. This is a popular belief in Izumo and elsewhere. It is +not in accord with Buddhist philosophy, and yet in a certain sense it +strikes one as being much closer to cosmic truth than the old Western +orthodox notion of trees as 'things created for the use of man.' +Furthermore, there exist several odd superstitions about particular +trees, not unlike certain West Indian beliefs which have had a good +influence in checking the destruction of valuable timber. Japan, like +the tropical world, has its goblin trees. Of these, the enoki (Celtis +Willdenowiana) and the yanagi (drooping willow) are deemed especially +ghostly, and are rarely now to be found in old Japanese gardens. Both +are believed to have the power of haunting. 'Enoki ga bakeru,' the izumo +saying is. You will find in a Japanese dictionary the word 'bakeru' +translated by such terms as 'to be transformed,' 'to be metamorphosed,' +'to be changed,' etc.; but the belief about these trees is very +singular, and cannot be explained by any such rendering of the verb +'bakeru.' The tree itself does not change form or place, but a spectre +called Ki-no o-bake disengages itself from the tree and walks about in +various guises.' [20] Most often the shape assumed by the phantom is +that of a beautiful woman. The tree spectre seldom speaks, and seldom +ventures to go very far away from its tree. If approached, it +immediately shrinks back into the trunk or the foliage. It is said that +if either an old yanagi or a young enoki be cut blood will flow from the +gash. When such trees are very young it is not believed that they have +supernatural habits, but they become more dangerous the older they grow. + +There is a rather pretty legend--recalling the old Greek dream of +dryads--about a willow-tree which grew in the garden of a samurai of +Kyoto. Owing to its weird reputation, the tenant of the homestead +desired to cut it down; but another samurai dissuaded him, saying: +'Rather sell it to me, that I may plant it in my garden. That tree has a +soul; it were cruel to destroy its life.' Thus purchased and +transplanted, the yanagi flourished well in its new home, and its +spirit, out of gratitude, took the form of a beautiful woman, and became +the wife of the samurai who had befriended it. A charming boy was the +result of this union. A few years later, the daimyo to whom the ground +belonged gave orders that the tree should be cut down. Then the wife +wept bitterly, and for the first time revealed to her husband the whole +story. 'And now,' she added, 'I know that I must die; but our child will +live, and you will always love him. This thought is my only solace.' +Vainly the astonished and terrified husband sought to retain her. +Bidding him farewell for ever, she vanished into the tree. Needless to +say that the samurai did everything in his power to persuade the daimyo +to forgo his purpose. The prince wanted the tree for the reparation of a +great Buddhist temple, the San-jiu-san-gen-do. [21]' The tree was +felled, but, having fallen, it suddenly became so heavy that three +hundred men could not move it. Then the child, taking a branch in his +little hand, said, 'Come,' and the tree followed him, gliding along the +ground to the court of the temple. + +Although said to be a bakemono-ki, the enoki sometimes receives highest +religious honours; for the spirit of the god Kojin, to whom old dolls +are dedicated, is supposed to dwell within certain very ancient enoki +trees, and before these are placed shrines whereat people make prayers. + +º7 + +The second garden, on the north side, is my favourite, It contains no +large growths. It is paved with blue pebbles, and its centre is occupied +by a pondlet--a miniature lake fringed with rare plants, and containing +a tiny island, with tiny mountains and dwarf peach-trees and pines and +azaleas, some of which are perhaps more than a century old, though +scarcely more than a foot high. Nevertheless, this work, seen as it was +intended to be seen, does not appear to the eye in miniature at all. +From a certain angle of the guest-room looking out upon it, the +appearance is that of a real lake shore with a real island beyond it, a +stone's throw away. So cunning the art of the ancient gardener who +contrived all this, and who has been sleeping for a hundred years under +the cedars of Gesshoji, that the illusion can be detected only from the +zashiki by the presence of an ishidoro or stone lamp, upon the island. +The size of the ishidoro betrays the false perspective, and I do not +think it was placed there when the garden was made. + +Here and there at the edge of the pond, and almost level with the water, +are placed large flat stones, on which one may either stand or squat, to +watch the lacustrine population or to tend the water-plants. There are +beautiful water-lilies, whose bright green leaf-disks float oilily upon +the surface (Nuphar Japonica), and many lotus plants of two kinds, those +which bear pink and those which bear pure white flowers. There are iris +plants growing along the bank, whose blossoms are prismatic violet, and +there are various ornamental grasses and ferns and mosses. But the pond +is essentially a lotus pond; the lotus plants make its greatest charm. +It is a delight to watch every phase of their marvellous growth, from +the first unrolling of the leaf to the fall of the last flower. On rainy +days, especially, the lotus plants are worth observing. Their great cup- +shaped leaves, swaying high above the pond, catch the rain and hold it a +while; but always after the water in the leaf reaches a certain level +the stem bends, and empties the leaf with a loud plash, and then +straightens again. Rain-water upon a lotus-leaf is a favourite subject +with Japanese metal-workers, and metalwork only can reproduce the +effect, for the motion and colour of water moving upon the green +oleaginous surface are exactly those of quicksilver. + +º8 + +The third garden, which is very large, extends beyond the inclosure +containing the lotus pond to the foot of the wooded hills which form the +northern and north-eastern boundary of this old samurai quarter. +Formerly all this broad level space was occupied by a bamboo grove; but +it is now little more than a waste of grasses and wild flowers. In the +north-east corner there is a magnificent well, from which ice-cold water +is brought into the house through a most ingenious little aqueduct of +bamboo pipes; and in the north-western end, veiled by tall weeds, there +stands a very small stone shrine of Inari with two proportionately small +stone foxes sitting before it. Shrine and images are chipped and broken, +and thickly patched with dark green moss. But on the east side of the +house one little square of soil belonging to this large division of the +garden is still cultivated. It is devoted entirely to chrysanthemum +plants, which are shielded from heavy rain and strong sun by slanting +frames of light wood fashioned, like shoji with panes of white paper, +and supported like awnings upon thin posts of bamboo. I can venture to +add nothing to what has already been written about these marvellous +products of Japanese floriculture considered in themselves; but there is +a little story relating to chrysanthemums which I may presume to tell. + +There is one place in Japan where it is thought unlucky to cultivate +chrysanthemums, for reasons which shall presently appear; and that place +is in the pretty little city of Himeji, in the province of Harima. +Himeji contains the ruins of a great castle of thirty turrets; and a +daimyo used to dwell therein whose revenue was one hundred and fifty-six +thousand koku of rice. Now, in the house of one of that daimyo's chief +retainers there was a maid-servant, of good family, whose name was O- +Kiku; and the name 'Kiku' signifies a chrysanthemum flower. Many +precious things were intrusted to her charge, and among others ten +costly dishes of gold. One of these was suddenly missed, and could not +be found; and the girl, being responsible therefor, and knowing not how +otherwise to prove her innocence, drowned herself in a well. But ever +thereafter her ghost, returning nightly, could be heard counting the +dishes slowly, with sobs: + + Ichi-mai, Yo-mai, Shichi-mai, + Ni-mai, Go-mai, Hachi-mai, + San-mai, Roku-mai, Ku-mai-- + +Then would be heard a despairing cry and a loud burst of weeping; and +again the girl's voice counting the dishes plaintively: 'One--two-- +three--four--five--six--seven--eight--nine--' + +Her spirit passed into the body of a strange little insect, whose head +faintly resembles that of a ghost with long dishevelled hair; and it is +called O-Kiku-mushi, or 'the fly of O-Kiku'; and it is found, they say, +nowhere save in Himeji. A famous play was written about O-Kiku, which is +still acted in all the popular theatres, entitled Banshu-O-Kiku-no-Sara- +yashiki; or, The Manor of the Dish of O-Kiku of Banshu. + +Some declare that Banshu is only the corruption of the name of an +ancient quarter of Tokyo (Yedo), where the story should have been laid. +But the people of Himeji say that part of their city now called Go-Ken- +Yashiki is identical with the site of the ancient manor. What is +certainly true is that to cultivate chrysanthemum flowers in the part of +Himeji called Go-KenYashiki is deemed unlucky, because the name of O- +Kiku signifies 'Chrysanthemum.' Therefore, nobody, I am told, ever +cultivates chrysanthemums there. + +º9 + +Now of the ujo or things having desire, which inhabit these gardens. + +There are four species of frogs: three that dwell in the lotus pond, and +one that lives in the trees. The tree frog is a very pretty little +creature, exquisitely green; it has a shrill cry, almost like the note +of a semi; and it is called amagaeru, or 'the rain frog,' because, like +its kindred in other countries, its croaking is an omen of rain. The +pond frogs are called babagaeru, shinagaeru, and Tono-san-gaeru. Of +these, the first-named variety is the largest and the ugliest: its +colour is very disagreeable, and its full name ('babagaeru' being a +decent abbreviation) is quite as offensive as its hue. The shinagaeru, +or 'striped frog,' is not handsome, except by comparison with the +previously mentioned creature. But the Tono-san-gaeru, so called after a +famed daimyo who left behind him a memory of great splendour is +beautiful: its colour is a fine bronze-red. + +Besides these varieties of frogs there lives in the garden a huge +uncouth goggle-eyed thing which, although called here hikigaeru, I take +to be a toad. 'Hikigaeru' is the term ordinarily used for a bullfrog. +This creature enters the house almost daily to be fed, and seems to have +no fear even of strangers. My people consider it a luck-bringing +visitor; and it is credited with the power of drawing all the mosquitoes +out of a room into its mouth by simply sucking its breath in. Much as it +is cherished by gardeners and others, there is a legend about a goblin +toad of old times, which, by thus sucking in its breath, drew into its +mouth, not insects, but men. + +The pond is inhabited also by many small fish; imori, or newts, with +bright red bellies; and multitudes of little water-beetles, called +maimaimushi, which pass their whole time in gyrating upon the surface of +the water so rapidly that it is almost impossible to distinguish their +shape clearly. A man who runs about aimlessly to and fro, under the +influence of excitement, is compared to a maimaimushi. And there are +some beautiful snails, with yellow stripes on their shells. Japanese +children have a charm-song which is supposed to have power to make the +snail put out its horns: + +Daidaimushi, [22] daidaimushi, tsuno chitto dashare! Ame haze fuku kara +tsuno chitto dashare! [23] + +The playground of the children of the better classes has always been the +family garden, as that of the children of the poor is the temple court. +It is in the garden that the little ones first learn something of the +wonderful life of plants and the marvels of the insect world; and there, +also, they are first taught those pretty legends and songs about birds +and flowers which form so charming a part of Japanese folk-lore. As the +home training of the child is left mostly to the mother, lessons of +kindness to animals are early inculcated; and the results are strongly +marked in after life It is true, Japanese children are not entirely free +from that unconscious tendency to cruelty characteristic of children in +all countries, as a survival of primitive instincts. But in this regard +the great moral difference between the sexes is strongly marked from the +earliest years. The tenderness of the woman-soul appears even in the +child. Little Japanese girls who play with insects or small animals +rarely hurt them, and generally set them free after they have afforded a +reasonable amount of amusement. Little boys are not nearly so good, when +out of sight of parents or guardians. But if seen doing anything cruel, +a child is made to feel ashamed of the act, and hears the Buddhist +warning, 'Thy future birth will be unhappy, if thou dost cruel things.' + +Somewhere among the rocks in the pond lives a small tortoise--left in +the garden, probably, by the previous tenants of the house. It is very +pretty, but manages to remain invisible for weeks at a time. In popular +mythology, the tortoise is the servant of the divinity Kompira; [24] and +if a pious fisherman finds a tortoise, he writes upon his back +characters signifying 'Servant of the Deity Kompira,' and then gives it +a drink of sake and sets it free. It is supposed to be very fond of +sake. + +Some say that the land tortoise, or 'stone tortoise,' only, is the +servant of Kompira, and the sea tortoise, or turtle, the servant of the +Dragon Empire beneath the sea. The turtle is said to have the power to +create, with its breath, a cloud, a fog, or a magnificent palace. It +figures in the beautiful old folk-tale of Urashima. [25] All tortoises +are supposed to live for a thousand years, wherefore one of the most +frequent symbols of longevity in Japanese art is a tortoise. But the +tortoise most commonly represented by native painters and metal-workers +has a peculiar tail, or rather a multitude of small tails, extending +behind it like the fringes of a straw rain-coat, mino, whence it is +called minogame Now, some of the tortoises kept in the sacred tanks of +Buddhist temples attain a prodigious age, and certain water--plants +attach themselves to the creatures' shells and stream behind them when +they walk. The myth of the minogame is supposed to have had its origin +in old artistic efforts to represent the appearance of such tortoises +with confervae fastened upon their shells. + +º10 + +Early in summer the frogs are surprisingly numerous, and, after dark, +are noisy beyond description; but week by week their nightly clamour +grows feebler, as their numbers diminish under the attacks of many +enemies. A large family of snakes, some fully three feet long, make +occasional inroads into the colony. The victims often utter piteous +cries, which are promptly responded to, whenever possible, by some +inmate of the house, and many a frog has been saved by my servant-girl, +who, by a gentle tap with a bamboo rod, compels the snake to let its +prey go. These snakes are beautiful swimmers. They make themselves quite +free about the garden; but they come out only on hot days. None of my +people would think of injuring or killing one of them. Indeed, in Izumo +it is said that to kill a snake is unlucky. 'If you kill a snake without +provocation,' a peasant assured me, 'you will afterwards find its head +in the komebitsu [the box in which cooked rice is kept] 'when you take +off the lid.' + +But the snakes devour comparatively few frogs. Impudent kites and crows +are their most implacable destroyers; and there is a very pretty weasel +which lives under the kura (godown) and which does not hesitate to take +either fish or frogs out of the pond, even when the lord of the manor is +watching. There is also a cat which poaches in my preserves, a gaunt +outlaw, a master thief, which I have made sundry vain attempts to +reclaim from vagabondage. Partly because of the immorality of this cat, +and partly because it happens to have a long tail, it has the evil +reputation of being a nekomata, or goblin cat. + +It is true that in Izumo some kittens are born with long tails; but it +is very seldom that they are suffered to grow up with long tails. For +the natural tendency of cats is to become goblins; and this tendency to +metamorphosis can be checked only by cutting off their tails in +kittenhood. Cats are magicians, tails or no tails, and have the power of +making corpses dance. Cats are ungrateful 'Feed a dog for three days,' +says a Japanese proverb, 'and he will remember your kindness for three +years; feed a cat for three years and she will forget your kindness in +three days.' Cats are mischievous: they tear the mattings, and make +holes in the shoji, and sharpen their claws upon the pillars of +tokonoma. Cats are under a curse: only the cat and the venomous serpent +wept not at the death of Buddha and these shall never enter into the +bliss of the Gokuraku For all these reasons, and others too numerous to +relate, cats are not much loved in Izumo, and are compelled to pass the +greater part of their lives out of doors. + +º11 + +Not less than eleven varieties of butterflies have visited the +neighbourhood of the lotus pond within the past few days. The most +common variety is snowy white. It is supposed to be especially attracted +by the na, or rape-seed plant; and when little girls see it, they sing: + +Cho-cho cho-cho, na no ha ni tomare; +Na no ha ga iyenara, te ni tomare. [26] + +But the most interesting insects are certainly the semi (cicadae). These +Japanese tree crickets are much more extraordinary singers than even the +wonderful cicadae of the tropics; and they are much less tiresome, for +there is a different species of semi, with a totally different song, for +almost every month during the whole warm season. There are, I believe, +seven kinds; but I have become familiar with only four. The first to be +heard in my trees is the natsuzemi, or summer semi: it makes a sound +like the Japanese monosyllable ji, beginning wheezily, slowly swelling +into a crescendo shrill as the blowing of steam, and dying away in +another wheeze. This j-i-i-iiiiiiiiii is so deafening that when two or +three natsuzemi come close to the window I am obliged to make them go +away. Happily the natsuzemi is soon succeeded by the minminzemi, a much +finer musician, whose name is derived from its wonderful note. It is +said 'to chant like a Buddhist priest reciting the kyo'; and certainly, +upon hearing it the first time, one can scarcely believe that one is +listening to a mere cicada. The minminzemi is followed, early in autumn, +by a beautiful green semi, the higurashi, which makes a singularly clear +sound, like the rapid ringing of a small bell,--kana-kana-kan a-kana- +kana. But the most astonishing visitor of all comes still later, the +tsukiu-tsukiu-boshi. [27] I fancy this creature can have no rival in the +whole world of cicadae its music is exactly like the song of a bird. Its +name, like that of the minminzemi, is onomatopoetic; but in Izumo the +sounds of its chant are given thus: + +Tsuku-tsuku uisu , [28] +Tsuku-tsuku uisu, +Tsuku-tsuku uisu; +Ui-osu, +Ui-osu, +Ui-osu, +Ui-os-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-su. + +However, the semi are not the only musicians of the garden. Two +remarkable creatures aid their orchestra. The first is a beautiful +bright green grasshopper, known to the Japanese by the curious name of +hotoke-no-uma, or 'the horse of the dead.' This insect's head really +bears some resemblance in shape to the head of a horse--hence the fancy. +It is a queerly familiar creature, allowing itself to be taken in the +hand without struggling, and generally making itself quite at home in +the house, which it often enters. It makes a very thin sound, which the +Japanese write as a repetition of the syllables jun-ta; and the name +junta is sometimes given to the grasshopper itself. The other insect is +also a green grasshopper, somewhat larger, and much shyer: it is called +gisu, [29] on account of its chant: + +Chon, Gisu; +Chon, Gisu; +Chon, Gisu; +Chon . . . (ad libitum). + +Several lovely species of dragon-flies (tombo) hover about the pondlet +on hot bright days. One variety--the most beautiful creature of the kind +I ever saw, gleaming with metallic colours indescribable, and spectrally +slender--is called Tenshi-tombo, 'the Emperor's dragon-fly.' There is +another, the largest of Japanese dragon-flies, but somewhat rare, which +is much sought after by children as a plaything. Of this species it is +said that there are many more males than females; and what I can vouch +for as true is that, if you catch a female, the male can be almost +immediately attracted by exposing the captive. Boys, accordingly, try to +secure a female, and when one is captured they tie it with a thread to +some branch, and sing a curious little song, of which these are the +original words: + +Konna [30] dansho Korai o +Adzuma no meto ni makete +Nigeru Wa haji dewa naikai? + +Which signifies, 'Thou, the male, King of Korea, dost thou not feel +shame to flee away from the Queen of the East?' (This taunt is an +allusion to the story of the conquest of Korea by the Empress Jin-go.) +And the male comes invariably, and is also caught. In Izumo the first +seven words of the original song have been corrupted into 'konna unjo +Korai abura no mito'; and the name of the male dragon-fly, unjo, and +that of the female, mito, are derived from two words of the corrupted +version. + +º12 + +Of warm nights all sorts of unbidden guests invade the house in +multitudes. Two varieties of mosquitoes do their utmost to make life +unpleasant, and these have learned the wisdom of not approaching a lamp +too closely; but hosts of curious and harmless things cannot be +prevented from seeking their death in the flame. The most numerous +victims of all, which come thick as a shower of rain, are called +Sanemori. At least they are so called in Izumo, where they do much +damage to growing rice. + +Now the name Sanemori is an illustrious one, that of a famous warrior of +old times belonging to the Genji clan. There is a legend that while he +was fighting with an enemy on horseback his own steed slipped and fell +in a rice-field, and he was consequently overpowered and slain by his +antagonist. He became a rice-devouring insect, which is still +respectfully called, by the peasantry of Izumo, Sanemori-San. They light +fires, on certain summer nights, in the rice-fields, to attract the +insect, and beat gongs and sound bamboo flutes, chanting the while, 'O- +Sanemori, augustly deign to come hither!' A kannushi performs a +religious rite, and a straw figure representing a horse and rider is +then either burned or thrown into a neighbouring river or canal. By this +ceremony it is believed that the fields are cleared of the insect. + +This tiny creature is almost exactly the size and colour of a rice-husk. +The legend concerning it may have arisen from the fact that its body, +together with the wings, bears some resemblance to the helmet of a +Japanese warrior. [31] + +Next in number among the victims of fire are the moths, some of which +are very strange and beautiful. The most remarkable is an enormous +creature popularly called okorichocho or the 'ague moth,' because there +is a superstitious belief that it brings intermittent fever into any +house it enters. It has a body quite as heavy and almost as powerful as +that of the largest humming-bird, and its struggles, when caught in the +hand, surprise by their force. It makes a very loud whirring sound while +flying. The wings of one which I examined measured, outspread, five +inches from tip to tip, yet seemed small in proportion to the heavy +body. They were richly mottled with dusky browns and silver greys of +various tones. + +Many flying night-comers, however, avoid the lamp. Most fantastic of all +visitors is the toro or kamakiri, called in Izumo kamakake, a bright +green praying mantis, extremely feared by children for its capacity to +bite. It is very large. I have seen specimens over six inches long. The +eyes of the kamakake are a brilliant black at night, but by day they +appear grass-coloured, like the rest of the body. The mantis is very +intelligent and surprisingly aggressive. I saw one attacked by a +vigorous frog easily put its enemy to flight. It fell a prey +subsequently to other inhabitants of the pond, but, it required the +combined efforts of several frogs to vanquish the monstrous insect, and +even then the battle was decided only when the kamakake had been dragged +into the water. + +Other visitors are beetles of divers colours, and a sort of small roach +called goki-kaburi, signifying 'one whose head is covered with a bowl.' +It is alleged that the goki-kaburi likes to eat human eyes, and is +therefore the abhorred enemy of Ichibata-Sama--Yakushi-Nyorai of +Ichibata,--by whom diseases of the eye are healed. To kill the goki- +kaburi is consequently thought to be a meritorious act in the sight of +this Buddha. Always welcome are the beautiful fireflies (hotaru), which +enter quite noiselessly and at once seek the darkest place in the house, +slow-glimmering, like sparks moved by a gentle wind. They are supposed +to be very fond of water; wherefore children sing to them this little +song: + +Hotaru koe midzu nomasho; +Achi no midzu wa nigaizo; +Kochi no midzu wa amaizo. [32] + +A pretty grey lizard, quite different from some which usually haunt the +garden, also makes its appearance at night, and pursues its prey along +the ceiling. Sometimes an extraordinarily large centipede attempts the +same thing, but with less success, and has to be seized with a pair of +fire-tongs and thrown into the exterior darkness. Very rarely, an +enormous spider appears. This creature seems inoffensive. If captured, +it will feign death until certain that it is not watched, when it will +run away with surprising swiftness if it gets a chance. It is hairless, +and very different from the tarantula, or fukurogumo. It is called +miyamagumo, or mountain spider. There are four other kinds of spiders +common in this neighbourhood: tenagakumo, or 'long-armed spider;' +hiratakumo, or 'flat spider'; jikumo, or 'earth spider'; and totatekumo, +or 'doorshutting spider.' Most spiders are considered evil beings. A +spider seen anywhere at night, the people say, should be killed; for all +spiders that show themselves after dark are goblins. While people are +awake and watchful, such creatures make themselves small; but when +everybody is fast asleep, then they assume their true goblin shape, and +become monstrous. + +º13 + +The high wood of the hill behind the garden is full of bird life. There +dwell wild uguisu, owls, wild doves, too many crows, and a queer bird +that makes weird noises at night-long deep sounds of hoo, hoo. It is +called awamakidori or the 'millet-sowing bird,' because when the farmers +hear its cry they know that it is time to plant the millet. It is quite +small and brown, extremely shy, and, so far as I can learn, altogether +nocturnal in its habits. + +But rarely, very rarely, a far stranger cry is heard in those trees at +night, a voice as of one crying in pain the syllables 'ho-to-to-gi-su.' +The cry and the name of that which utters it are one and the same, +hototogisu. + +It is a bird of which weird things are told; for they say it is not +really a creature of this living world, but a night wanderer from the +Land of Darkness. In the Meido its dwelling is among those sunless +mountains of Shide over which all souls must pass to reach the place of +judgment. Once in each year it comes; the time of its coming is the end +of the fifth month, by the antique counting of moons; and the peasants, +hearing its voice, say one to the other, 'Now must we sow the rice; for +the Shide-no-taosa is with us.' The word taosa signifies the head man of +a mura, or village, as villages were governed in the old days; but why +the hototogisu is called the taosa of Shide I do not know. Perhaps it is +deemed to be a soul from some shadowy hamlet of the Shide hills, whereat +the ghosts are wont to rest on their weary way to the realm of Emma, the +King of Death. + +Its cry has been interpreted in various ways. Some declare that the +hototogisu does not really repeat its own name, but asks, 'Honzon +kaketaka?' (Has the honzon [33] been suspended?) Others, resting their +interpretation upon the wisdom of the Chinese, aver that the bird's +speech signifies, 'Surely it is better to return home.' This, at least +is true: that all who journey far from their native place, and hear the +voice of the hototogisu in other distant provinces, are seized with the +sickness of longing for home. + +Only at night, the people say, is its voice heard, and most often upon +the nights of great moons; and it chants while hovering high out of +sight, wherefore a poet has sung of it thus: + +Hito koe wa. +Tsuki ga naitaka +Hototogisu! [34] + +And another has written: +Hototogisu +Nakitsuru kata wo +Nagamureba,-- +Tada ariake no +Tsuki zo nokoreru. [35] + +The dweller in cities may pass a lifetime without hearing the +hototogisu. Caged, the little creature will remain silent and die. Poets +often wait vainly in the dew, from sunset till dawn, to hear the strange +cry which has inspired so many exquisite verses. But those who have +heard found it so mournful that they have likened it to the cry of one +wounded suddenly to death. + +Hototogisu +Chi ni naku koe wa +Ariake no +Tsuki yori kokani +Kiku hito mo nashi. [36] + +Concerning Izumo owls, I shall content myself with citing a composition +by one of my Japanese students: + +'The Owl is a hateful bird that sees in the dark. Little children who +cry are frightened by the threat that the Owl will come to take them +away; for the Owl cries, "Ho! ho! sorotto koka! sorotto koka!" which +means, "Thou! must I enter slowly?" It also cries "Noritsuke hose! ho! +ho!" which means, "Do thou make the starch to use in washing to-morrow" + +And when the women hear that cry, they know that to-morrow will be a +fine day. It also cries, "Tototo," "The man dies," and "Kotokokko," "The +boy dies." So people hate it. And crows hate it so much that it is used +to catch crows. The Farmer puts an Owl in the rice-field; and all the +crows come to kill it, and they get caught fast in the snares. This +should teach us not to give way to our dislikes for other people.' + +The kites which hover over the city all day do not live in the +neighbourhood. Their nests are far away upon the blue peaks; but they +pass much of their time in catching fish, and in stealing from back- +yards. They pay the wood and the garden swift and sudden piratical +visits; and their sinister cry--pi-yoroyoro, pi-yoroyoro--sounds at +intervals over the town from dawn till sundown. Most insolent of all +feathered creatures they certainly are--more insolent than even their +fellow-robbers, the crows. A kite will drop five miles to filch a tai +out of a fish-seller's bucket, or a fried-cake out of a child's hand, +and shoot back to the clouds before the victim of the theft has time to +stoop for a stone. Hence the saying, 'to look as surprised as if one's +aburage [37] had been snatched from one's hand by a kite.' There is, +moreover, no telling what a kite may think proper to steal. For example, +my neighbour's servant-girl went to the river the other day, wearing in +her hair a string of small scarlet beads made of rice-grains prepared +and dyed in a certain ingenious way. A kite lighted upon her head, and +tore away and swallowed the string of beads. But it is great fun to feed +these birds with dead rats or mice which have been caught in traps +overnight and subsequently drowned. The instant a dead rat is exposed to +view a kite pounces from the sky to bear it away. Sometimes a crow may +get the start of the kite, but the crow must be able to get to the woods +very swiftly indeed in order to keep his prize. The children sing this +song: + +Tobi, tobi, maute mise! +Ashita no ha ni +Karasu ni kakushite +Nezumi yaru. [38] + +The mention of dancing refers to the beautiful balancing motion of the +kite's wings in flight. By suggestion this motion is poetically compared +to the graceful swaying of a maiko, or dancing-girl, extending her arms +and waving the long wide sleeves of her silken robe. + +Although there is a numerous sub-colony of crows in the wood behind my +house, the headquarters of the corvine army are in the pine grove of the +ancient castle grounds, visible from my front rooms. To see the crows +all flying home at the same hour every evening is an interesting +spectacle, and popular imagination has found an amusing comparison for +it in the hurry-skurry of people running to a fire. This explains the +meaning of a song which children sing to the crows returning to their +nests: + +Ato no karasu saki ine, +Ware ga iye ga yakeru ken, +Hayo inde midzu kake, +Midzu ga nakya yarozo, +Amattara ko ni yare, +Ko ga nakya modose. [39] + +Confucianism seems to have discovered virtue in the crow. There is a +Japanese proverb, 'Karasu ni hampo no ko ari,' meaning that the crow +performs the filial duty of hampo, or, more literally, 'the filial duty +of hampo exists in the crow.' 'Hampo' means, literally, 'to return a +feeding.' The young crow is said to requite its parents' care by feeding +them when it becomes strong. Another example of filial piety has been +furnished by the dove. 'Hato ni sanshi no rei ad'--the dove sits three +branches below its parent; or, more literally, 'has the three-branch +etiquette to perform.' + +The cry of the wild dove (yamabato), which I hear almost daily from the +wood, is the most sweetly plaintive sound that ever reached my ears. The +Izumo peasantry say that the bird utters these words, which it certainly +seems to do if one listen to it after having learned the alleged +syllables: + +Tete poppo, +Kaka poppo +Tete poppo, +Kaka poppo, +tete. . . (sudden pause). + +'Tete' is the baby word for 'father,' and 'kaka' for 'mother'; and +'poppo' signifies, in infantile speech, 'the bosom.' [40] + +Wild uguisu also frequently sweeten my summer with their song, and +sometimes come very near the house, being attracted, apparently, by the +chant of my caged pet. The uguisu is very common in this province. It +haunts all the woods and the sacred groves in the neighbourhood of the +city, and I never made a journey in Izumo during the warm season without +hearing its note from some shadowy place. But there are uguisu and +uguisu. There are uguisu to be had for one or two yen, but the finely +trained, cage-bred singer may command not less than a hundred. + +It was at a little village temple that I first heard one curious belief +about this delicate creature. In Japan, the coffin in which a corpse is +borne to burial is totally unlike an Occidental coffin. It is a +surprisingly small square box, wherein the dead is placed in a sitting +posture. How any adult corpse can be put into so small a space may well +be an enigma to foreigners. In cases of pronounced rigor mortis the work +of getting the body into the coffin is difficult even for the +professional doshin-bozu. But the devout followers of Nichiren claim +that after death their bodies will remain perfectly flexible; and the +dead body of an uguisu, they affirm, likewise never stiffens, for this +little bird is of their faith, and passes its life in singing praises +unto the Sutra of the Lotus of the Good Law. + +º14 + +I have already become a little too fond of my dwelling-place. Each day, +after returning from my college duties, and exchanging my teacher's +uniform for the infinitely more comfortable Japanese robe, I find more +than compensation for the weariness of five class-hours in the simple +pleasure of squatting on the shaded veranda overlooking the gardens. +Those antique garden walls, high-mossed below their ruined coping of +tiles, seem to shut out even the murmur of the city's life. There are no +sounds but the voices of birds, the shrilling of semi, or, at long, lazy +intervals, the solitary plash of a diving frog. Nay, those walls seclude +me from much more than city streets. Outside them hums the changed Japan +of telegraphs and newspapers and steamships; within dwell the all- +reposing peace of nature and the dreams of the sixteenth century. There +is a charm of quaintness in the very air, a faint sense of something +viewless and sweet all about one; perhaps the gentle haunting of dead +ladies who looked like the ladies of the old picture-books, and who +lived here when all this was new. Even in the summer light--touching the +grey strange shapes of stone, thrilling through the foliage of the long- +loved trees--there is the tenderness of a phantom caress. These are the +gardens of the past. The future will know them only as dreams, creations +of a forgotten art, whose charm no genius may reproduce. + +Of the human tenants here no creature seems to be afraid. The little +frogs resting upon the lotus-leaves scarcely shrink from my touch; the +lizards sun themselves within easy reach of my hand; the water-snakes +glide across my shadow without fear; bands of semi establish their +deafening orchestra on a plum branch just above my head, and a praying +mantis insolently poses on my knee. Swallows and sparrows not only build +their nests on my roof, but even enter my rooms without concern--one +swallow has actually built its nest in the ceiling of the bathroom--and +the weasel purloins fish under my very eyes without any scruples of +conscience. A wild uguisu perches on a cedar by the window, and in a +burst of savage sweetness challenges my caged pet to a contest in song; +and always though the golden air, from the green twilight of the +mountain pines, there purls to me the plaintive, caressing, delicious +call of the yamabato: + +Tete poppo, +Kaka poppo +Tete poppo, +Kaka poppo, +tete. + +No European dove has such a cry. He who can hear, for the first time, +the voice of the yamabato without feeling a new sensation at his heart +little deserves to dwell in this happy world. + +Yet all this--the old katchiu-yashiki and its gardens--will doubtless +have vanished for ever before many years. Already a multitude of +gardens, more spacious and more beautiful than mine, have been converted +into rice-fields or bamboo groves; and the quaint Izumo city, touched at +last by some long-projected railway line--perhaps even within the +present decade--will swell, and change, and grow commonplace, and demand +these grounds for the building of factories and mills. Not from here +alone, but from all the land the ancient peace and the ancient charm +seem doomed to pass away. For impermanency is the nature of things, more +particularly in Japan; and the changes and the changers shall also be +changed until there is found no place for them--and regret is vanity. +The dead art that made the beauty of this place was the art, also, of +that faith to which belongs the all-consoling text, 'Verily, even plants +and trees, rocks and stones, all shall enter into Nirvana.' + + +Chapter Two The Household Shrine + +º1 + +IN Japan there are two forms of the Religion of the Dead--that which +belongs to Shinto; and that which belongs to Buddhism. The first is the +primitive cult, commonly called ancestor-worship. But the term ancestor- +worship seems to me much too confined for the religion which pays +reverence not only to those ancient gods believed to be the fathers of +the Japanese race, but likewise to a host of deified sovereigns, heroes, +princes, and illustrious men. Within comparatively recent times, the +great Daimyo of Izumo, for example, were apotheosised; and the peasants +of Shimane still pray before the shrines of the Matsudaira. Moreover +Shinto, like the faiths of Hellas and of Rome, has its deities of the +elements and special deities who preside over all the various affairs of +life. Therefore ancestor-worship, though still a striking feature of +Shinto, does not alone constitute the State Religion: neither does the +term fully describe the Shinto cult of the dead--a cult which in Izumo +retains its primitive character more than in other parts of Japan. + +And here I may presume, though no Sinologue, to say something about that +State Religion of Japan--that ancient faith of Izumo--which, although +even more deeply rooted in national life than Buddhism, is far less +known to the Western world. Except in special works by such men of +erudition as Chamberlain and Satow--works with which the Occidental +reader, unless himself a specialist, is not likely to become familiar +outside of Japan--little has been written in English about Shinto which +gives the least idea of what Shinto is. Of its ancient traditions and +rites much of rarest interest may be learned from the works of the +philologists just mentioned; but, as Mr. Satow himself acknowledges, a +definite answer to the question, 'What is the nature of Shinto?' is +still difficult to give. How define the common element in the six kinds +of Shinto which are known to exist, and some of which no foreign scholar +has yet been able to examine for lack of time or of authorities or of +opportunity? Even in its modern external forms, Shinto is sufficiently +complex to task the united powers of the historian, philologist, and +anthropologist, merely to trace out the multitudinous lines of its +evolution, and to determine the sources of its various elements: +primeval polytheisms and fetishisms, traditions of dubious origin, +philosophical concepts from China, Korea, and elsewhere--all mingled +with Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. The so-called 'Revival of Pure +Shinto'--an effort, aided by Government, to restore the cult to its +archaic simplicity, by divesting it of foreign characteristics, and +especially of every sign or token of Buddhist origin--resulted only, so +far as the avowed purpose was concerned, in the destruction of priceless +art, and in leaving the enigma of origins as complicated as before. +Shinto had been too profoundly modified in the course of fifteen +centuries of change to be thus remodelled by a fiat. For the like reason +scholarly efforts to define its relation to national ethics by mere +historical and philological analysis must fail: as well seek to define +the ultimate secret of Life by the elements of the body which it +animates. Yet when the result of such efforts shall have been closely +combined with a deep knowledge of Japanese thought and feeling--the +thought and sentiment, not of a special class, but of the people at +large--then indeed all that Shinto was and is may be fully comprehended. +And this may be accomplished, I fancy, through the united labour of +European and Japanese scholars. + +Yet something of what Shinto signifies--in the simple poetry of its +beliefs--in the home training of the child--in the worship of filial +piety before the tablets of the ancestors--may be learned during a +residence of some years among the people, by one who lives their life +and adopts their manners and customs. With such experience he can at +least claim the right to express his own conception of Shinto. + +º2 + +Those far-seeing rulers of the Meiji era, who disestablished Buddhism to +strengthen Shinto, doubtless knew they were giving new force not only to +a faith in perfect harmony with their own state policy, but likewise to +one possessing in itself a far more profound vitality than the alien +creed, which although omnipotent as an art-influence, had never found +deep root in the intellectual soil of Japan. Buddhism was already in +decrepitude, though transplanted from China scarcely more than thirteen +centuries before; while Shinto, though doubtless older by many a +thousand years, seems rather to have gained than to have lost force +through all the periods of change. Eclectic like the genius of the race, +it had appropriated and assimilated all forms of foreign thought which +could aid its material manifestation or fortify its ethics. Buddhism had +attempted to absorb its gods, even as it had adopted previously the +ancient deities of Brahmanism; but Shinto, while seeming to yield, was +really only borrowing strength from its rival. And this marvellous +vitality of Shinto is due to the fact that in the course of its long +development out of unrecorded beginnings, it became at a very ancient +epoch, and below the surface still remains, a religion of the heart. +Whatever be the origin of its rites and traditions, its ethical spirit +has become identified with all the deepest and best emotions of the +race. Hence, in Izumo especially, the attempt to create a Buddhist +Shintoism resulted only in the formation of a Shinto-Buddhism. + +And the secret living force of Shinto to-day--that force which repels +missionary efforts at proselytising--means something much more profound +than tradition or worship or ceremonialism. Shinto may yet, without loss +of real power, survive all these. Certainly the expansion of the popular +mind through education, the influences of modern science, must compel +modification or abandonment of many ancient Shinto conceptions; but the +ethics of Shinto will surely endure. For Shinto signifies character in +the higher sense--courage, courtesy, honour, and above all things, +loyalty. The spirit of Shinto is the spirit of filial piety, the zest of +duty, the readiness to surrender life for a principle without a thought +of wherefore. It is the docility of the child; it is the sweetness of +the Japanese woman. It is conservatism likewise; the wholesome check +upon the national tendency to cast away the worth of the entire past in +rash eagerness to assimilate too much of the foreign present. It is +religion--but religion transformed into hereditary moral impulse-- +religion transmuted into ethical instinct. It is the whole emotional +life of the race--the Soul of Japan. + +The child is born Shinto. Home teaching and school training only give +expression to what is innate: they do not plant new seed; they do but +quicken the ethical sense transmitted as a trait ancestral. Even as a +Japanese infant inherits such ability to handle a writing-brush as never +can be acquired by Western fingers, so does it inherit ethical +sympathies totally different from our own. Ask a class of Japanese +students--young students of fourteen to sixteen--to tell their dearest +wishes; and if they have confidence in the questioner, perhaps nine out +of ten will answer: 'To die for His Majesty Our Emperor.' And the wish +soars from the heart pure as any wish for martyrdom ever born. How much +this sense of loyalty may or may not have been weakened in such great +centres as Tokyo by the new agnosticism and by the rapid growth of other +nineteenth-century ideas among the student class, I do not know; but in +the country it remains as natural to boyhood as joy. Unreasoning it also +is--unlike those loyal sentiments with us, the results of maturer +knowledge and settled conviction. Never does the Japanese youth ask +himself why; the beauty of self-sacrifice alone is the all-sufficing +motive. Such ecstatic loyalty is a part of the national life; it is in +the blood--inherent as the impulse of the ant to perish for its little +republic--unconscious as the loyalty of bees to their queen. It is +Shinto. + +That readiness to sacrifice one's own life for loyalty's sake, for the +sake of a superior, for the sake of honour, which has distinguished the +race in modern times, would seem also to have been a national +characteristic from the earliest period of its independent existence. +Long before the epoch of established feudalism, when honourable suicide +became a matter of rigid etiquette, not for warriors only, but even for +women and little children, the giving one's life for one's prince, even +when the sacrifice could avail nothing, was held a sacred duty. Among +various instances which might be cited from the ancient Kojiki, the +following is not the least impressive: + +Prince Mayowa, at the age of only seven years, having killed his +father's slayer, fled into the house of the Grandee (Omi) Tsubura. 'Then +Prince Oho-hatsuse raised an army, and besieged that house. And the +arrows that were shot were for multitude like the ears of the reeds. And +the Grandee Tsubura came forth himself, and having taken off the weapons +with which he was girded, did obeisance eight times, and said: "The +maiden-princess Kara, my daughter whom thou deignedst anon to woo, is at +thy service. Again I will present to thee five granaries. Though a vile +slave of a Grandee exerting his utmost strength in the fight can +scarcely hope to conquer, yet must he die rather than desert a prince +who, trusting in him, has entered into his house." Having thus spoken, +he again took his weapons, and went in once more to fight. Then, their +strength being exhausted, and their arrows finished, he said to the +Prince: "My hands are wounded, and our arrows are finished. We cannot +now fight: what shall be done?" The Prince replied, saying: "There is +nothing more to do. Do thou now slay me." So the Grandee Tsubura thrust +the Prince to death with his sword, and forthwith killed himself by +cutting off his own head.' + +Thousands of equally strong examples could easily be quoted from later +Japanese history, including many which occurred even within the memory +of the living. Nor was it for persons alone that to die might become a +sacred duty: in certain contingencies conscience held it scarcely less a +duty to die for a purely personal conviction; and he who held any +opinion which he believed of paramount importance would, when other +means failed, write his views in a letter of farewell, and then take his +own life, in order to call attention to his beliefs and to prove their +sincerity. Such an instance occurred only last year in Tokyo, [1] when +the young lieutenant of militia, Ohara Takeyoshi, killed himself by +harakiri in the cemetery of Saitokuji, leaving a letter stating as the +reason for his act, his hope to force public recognition of the danger +to Japanese independence from the growth of Russian power in the North +Pacific. But a much more touching sacrifice in May of the same year--a +sacrifice conceived in the purest and most innocent spirit of loyalty-- +was that of the young girl Yoko Hatakeyama, who, after the attempt to +assassinate the Czarevitch, travelled from Tokyo to Kyoto and there +killed herself before the gate of the Kencho, merely as a vicarious +atonement for the incident which had caused shame to Japan and grief to +the Father of the people--His Sacred Majesty the Emperor. + +º3 + +As to its exterior forms, modern Shinto is indeed difficult to analyse; +but through all the intricate texture of extraneous beliefs so thickly +interwoven about it, indications of its earliest character are still +easily discerned. In certain of its primitive rites, in its archaic +prayers and texts and symbols, in the history of its shrines, and even +in many of the artless ideas of its poorest worshippers, it is plainly +revealed as the most ancient of all forms of worship--that which Herbert +Spencer terms 'the root of all religions'--devotion to the dead. Indeed, +it has been frequently so expounded by its own greatest scholars and +theologians. Its divinities are ghosts; all the dead become deities. In +the Tama-no-mihashira the great commentator Hirata says 'the spirits of +the dead continue to exist in the unseen world which is everywhere about +us, and they all become gods of varying character and degrees of +influence. Some reside in temples built in their honour; others hover +near their tombs; and they continue to render services to their prince, +parents, wife, and children, as when in the body.' And they do more than +this, for they control the lives and the doings of men. 'Every human +action,' says Hirata, 'is the work of a god.' [3] And Motowori, scarcely +less famous an exponent of pure Shinto doctrine, writes: 'All the moral +ideas which a man requires are implanted in his bosom by the gods, and +are of the same nature with those instincts which impel him to eat when +he is hungry or to drink when he is thirsty.' [4] With this doctrine of +Intuition no Decalogue is required, no fixed code of ethics; and the +human conscience is declared to be the only necessary guide. Though +every action be 'the work of a Kami.' yet each man has within him the +power to discern the righteous impulse from the unrighteous, the +influence of the good deity from that of the evil. No moral teacher is +so infallible as one's own heart. 'To have learned that there is no way +(michi),'[5] says Motowori, 'to be learned and practiced, is really to +have learned the Way of the Gods.' [6] And Hirata writes: 'If you desire +to practise true virtue, learn to stand in awe of the Unseen; and that +will prevent you from doing wrong. Make a vow to the Gods who rule over +the Unseen, and cultivate the conscience (ma-gokoro) implanted in you; +and then you will never wander from the way.' How this spiritual self- +culture may best be obtained, the same great expounder has stated with +almost equal brevity: 'Devotion to the memory of ancestors is the +mainspring of all virtues. No one who discharges his duty to them will +ever be disrespectful to the Gods or to his living parents. Such a man +will be faithful to his prince, loyal to his friends, and kind and +gentle with his wife and children.' [7] + +How far are these antique beliefs removed from the ideas of the +nineteenth century? Certainly not so far that we can afford to smile at +them. The faith of the primitive man and the knowledge of the most +profound psychologist may meet in strange harmony upon the threshold of +the same ultimate truth, and the thought of a child may repeat the +conclusions of a Spencer or a Schopenhauer. Are not our ancestors in +very truth our Kami? Is not every action indeed the work of the Dead who +dwell within us? Have not our impulses and tendencies, our capacities +and weaknesses, our heroisms and timidities, been created by those +vanished myriads from whom we received the all-mysterious bequest of +Life? Do we still think of that infinitely complex Something which is +each one of us, and which we call EGO, as 'I' or as 'They'? What is our +pride or shame but the pride or shame of the Unseen in that which They +have made?--and what our Conscience but the inherited sum of countless +dead experiences with varying good and evil? Nor can we hastily reject +the Shinto thought that all the dead become gods, while we respect the +convictions of those strong souls of to-day who proclaim the divinity of +man. + +º4 + +Shino ancestor-worship, no doubt, like all ancestor-worship, was +developed out of funeral rites, according to that general law of +religious evolution traced so fully by Herbert Spencer. And there is +reason to believe that the early forms of Shinto public worship may have +been evolved out of a yet older family worship--much after the manner in +which M. Fustel de Coulanges, in his wonderful book, La Cite Antique, +has shown the religious public institutions among the Greeks and Romans +to have been developed from the religion of the hearth. Indeed, the word +ujigami, now used to signify a Shinto parish temple, and also its deity, +means 'family God,' and in its present form is a corruption or +contraction of uchi-no-Kami, meaning the 'god of the interior' or 'the +god of the house.' Shinto expounders have, it is true, attempted to +interpret the term otherwise; and Hirata, as quoted by Mr. Ernest Satow, +declared the name should be applied only to the common ancestor, or +ancestors, or to one so entitled to the gratitude of a community as to +merit equal honours. Such, undoubtedly, was the just use of the term in +his time, and long before it; but the etymology of the word would +certainly seem to indicate its origin in family worship, and to confirm +modern scientific beliefs in regard to the evolution of religious +institutions. + +Now just as among the Greeks and Latins the family cult always continued +to exist through all the development and expansion of the public +religion, so the Shinto family worship has continued concomitantly with +the communal worship at the countless ujigami, with popular worship at +the famed Ohoya-shiro of various provinces or districts, and with +national worship at the great shrines of Ise and Kitzuki. Many objects +connected with the family cult are certainly of alien or modern origin; +but its simple rites and its unconscious poetry retain their archaic +charm. And, to the student of Japanese life, by far the most interesting +aspect of Shinto is offered in this home worship, which, like the home +worship of the antique Occident, exists in a dual form. + +º5 + +In nearly all Izumo dwellings there is a kamidana, [8] or 'Shelf of the +Gods.' On this is usually placed a small Shinto shrine (miya) containing +tablets bearing the names of gods (one at least of which tablets is +furnished by the neighbouring Shinto parish temple), and various ofuda, +holy texts or charms which most often are written promises in the name +of some Kami to protect his worshipper. If there be no miya, the tablets +or ofuda are simply placed upon the shelf in a certain order, the most +sacred having the middle place. Very rarely are images to be seen upon a +kamidana: for primitive Shintoism excluded images rigidly as Jewish or +Mohammedan law; and all Shinto iconography belongs to a comparatively +modern era--especially to the period of Ryobu-Shinto--and must be +considered of Buddhist origin. If there be any images, they will +probably be such as have been made only within recent years at Kitauki: +those small twin figures of Oho-kuni-nushi-no-Kami and of Koto-shiro- +nushi-no-Kami, described in a former paper upon the Kitzuki-no-oho- +yashiro. Shinto kakemono, which are also of latter-day origin, +representing incidents from the Kojiki, are much more common than Shinto +icons: these usually occupy the toko, or alcove, in the same room in +which the kamidana is placed; but they will not be seen in the houses of +the more cultivated classes. Ordinarily there will be found upon the +kamidana nothing but the simple miya containing some ofuda: very, very +seldom will a mirror [9] be seen, or gohei--except the gohei attached to +the small shimenawa either hung just above the kamidana or suspended to +the box-like frame in which the miya sometimes is placed. The shimenawa +and the paper gohei are the true emblems of Shinto: even the ofuda and +the mamori are quite modern. Not only before the household shrine, but +also above the house-door of almost every home in Izumo, the shimenawa +is suspended. It is ordinarily a thin rope of rice straw; but before the +dwellings of high Shinto officials, such as the Taisha-Guji of Kitzuki, +its size and weight are enormous. One of the first curious facts that +the traveller in Izumo cannot fail to be impressed by is the universal +presence of this symbolic rope of straw, which may sometimes even be +seen round a rice-field. But the grand displays of the sacred symbol are +upon the great festivals of the new year, the accession of Jimmu Tenno +to the throne of Japan, and the Emperor's birthday. Then all the miles +of streets are festooned with shimenawa thick as ship-cables. + +º6 + +A particular feature of Matsue are the miya-shops--establishments not, +indeed, peculiar to the old Izumo town, but much more interesting than +those to be found in larger cities of other provinces. There are miya of +a hundred varieties and sizes, from the child's toy miya which sells for +less than one sen, to the large shrine destined for some rich home, and +costing perhaps ten yen or more. Besides these, the household shrines of +Shinto, may occasionally be seen massive shrines of precious wood, +lacquered and gilded, worth from three hundred even to fifteen hundred +yen. These are not household shrines; but festival shrines, and are made +only for rich merchants. They are displayed on Shinto holidays, and +twice a year are borne through the streets in procession, to shouts of +'Chosaya! chosaya!' [10] Each temple parish also possesses a large +portable miya which is paraded on these occasions with much chanting and +beating of drums. The majority of household miya are cheap +constructions. A very fine one can be purchased for about two yen; but +those little shrines one sees in the houses of the common people cost, +as a rule, considerably less than half a yen. And elaborate or costly +household shrines are contrary to the spirit of pure Shinto The true +miya should be made of spotless white hinoki [11] wood, and be put +together without nails. Most of those I have seen in the shops had their +several parts joined only with rice-paste; but the skill of the maker +rendered this sufficient. Pure Shinto requires that a miya should be +without gilding or ornamentation. The beautiful miniature temples in +some rich homes may justly excite admiration by their artistic structure +and decoration; but the ten or thirteen cent miya, in the house of a +labourer or a kurumaya, of plain white wood, truly represents that +spirit of simplicity characterising the primitive religion. + +º7 + +The kamidana or 'God-shelf,' upon which are placed the miya and other +sacred objects of Shinto worship, is usually fastened at a height of +about six or seven feet above the floor. As a rule it should not be +placed higher than the hand can reach with ease; but in houses having +lofty rooms the miya is sometimes put up at such a height that the +sacred offerings cannot be made without the aid of a box or other object +to stand upon. It is not commonly a part of the house structure, but a +plain shelf attached with brackets either to the wall itself, at some +angle of the apartment, or, as is much more usual, to the kamoi, or +horizontal grooved beam, in which the screens of opaque paper (fusuma), +which divide room from room, slide to and fro. Occasionally it is +painted or lacquered. But the ordinary kamidana is of white wood, and is +made larger or smaller in proportion to the size of the miya, or the +number of the ofuda and other sacred objects to be placed upon it. In +some houses, notably those of innkeepers and small merchants, the +kamidana is made long enough to support a number of small shrines +dedicated to different Shinto deities, particularly those believed to +preside over wealth and commercial prosperity. In the houses of the poor +it is nearly always placed in the room facing the street; and Matsue +shopkeepers usually erect it in their shops--so that the passer-by or +the customer can tell at a glance in what deities the occupant puts his +trust. There are many regulations concerning it. It may be placed to +face south or east, but should not face west, and under no possible +circumstances should it be suffered to face north or north-west. One +explanation of this is the influence upon Shinto of Chinese philosophy, +according to which there is some fancied relation between South or East +and the Male Principle, and between West or North and the Female +Principle. But the popular notion on the subject is that because a dead +person is buried with the head turned north, it would be very wrong to +place a miya so as to face north--since everything relating to death is +impure; and the regulation about the west is not strictly observed. Most +kamidana in Izumo, however, face south or east. In the houses of the +poorest--often consisting of but one apartment--there can be little +choice as to rooms; but it is a rule, observed in the dwellings of the +middle classes, that the kamidana must not be placed either in the guest +room (zashiki) nor in the kitchen; and in shizoku houses its place is +usually in one of the smaller family apartments. Respect must be shown +it. One must not sleep, for example, or even lie down to rest, with his +feet turned towards it. One must not pray before it, or even stand +before it, while in a state of religious impurity--such as that entailed +by having touched a corpse, or attended a Buddhist funeral, or even +during the period of mourning for kindred buried according to the +Buddhist rite. Should any member of the family be thus buried, then +during fifty days [12] the kamidana must be entirely screened from view +with pure white paper, and even the Shinto ofuda, or pious invocations +fastened upon the house-door, must have white paper pasted over them. +During the same mourning period the fire in the house is considered +unclean; and at the close of the term all the ashes of the braziers and +of the kitchen must be cast away, and new fire kindled with a flint and +steel. Nor are funerals the only source of legal uncleanliness. Shinto, +as the religion of purity and purification, has a Deuteronomy of quite +an extensive kind. During certain periods women must not even pray +before the miya, much less make offerings or touch the sacred vessels, +or kindle the lights of the Kami. + +º8 + +Before the miya, or whatever holy object of Shinto worship be placed +upon the kamidana, are set two quaintly shaped jars for the offerings of +sake; two small vases, to contain sprays of the sacred plant sakaki, or +offerings of flowers; and a small lamp, shaped like a tiny saucer, where +a wick of rush-pith floats in rape-seed oil. Strictly speaking, all +these utensils, except the flower-vases, should be made of unglazed red +earthenware, such as we find described in the early chapters of the +Kojiki: and still at Shinto festivals in Izumo, when sake is drunk in +honour of the gods, it is drunk out of cups of red baked unglazed clay +shaped like shallow round dishes. But of late years it has become the +fashion to make all the utensils of a fine kamidana of brass or bronze-- +even the hanaike, or flower-vases. Among the poor, the most archaic +utensils are still used to a great extent, especially in the remoter +country districts; the lamp being a simple saucer or kawarake of red +clay; and the flower-vases most often bamboo cups, made by simply +cutting a section of bamboo immediately below a joint and about five +inches above it. + +The brazen lamp is a much more complicated object than the kawarake, +which costs but one rin. The brass lamp costs about twenty-five sen, at +least. It consists of two parts. The lower part, shaped like a very +shallow, broad wineglass, with a very thick stem, has an interior as +well as an exterior rim; and the bottom of a correspondingly broad and +shallow brass cup, which is the upper part and contains the oil, fits +exactly into this inner rim. This kind of lamp is always furnished with +a small brass object in the shape of a flat ring, with a stem set at +right angles to the surface of the ring. It is used for moving the +floating wick and keeping it at any position required; and the little +perpendicular stem is long enough to prevent the fingers from touching +the oil. + +The most curious objects to be seen on any ordinary kamidana are the +stoppers of the sake-vessels or o-mikidokkuri ('honourable sake-jars'). +These stoppers--o-mikidokkuri-nokuchisashi--may be made of brass, or of +fine thin slips of wood jointed and bent into the singular form +required. Properly speaking, the thing is not a real stopper, in spite +of its name; its lower part does not fill the mouth of the jar at all: +it simply hangs in the orifice like a leaf put there stem downwards. I +find it difficult to learn its history; but, though there are many +designs of it--the finer ones being of brass--the shape of all seems to +hint at a Buddhist origin. Possibly the shape was borrowed from a +Buddhist symbol--the Hoshi-notama, that mystic gem whose lambent glow +(iconographically suggested as a playing of flame) is the emblem of Pure +Essence; and thus the object would be typical at once of the purity of +the wine-offering and the purity of the heart of the giver. + +The little lamp may not be lighted every evening in all homes, since +there are families too poor to afford even this infinitesimal nightly +expenditure of oil. But upon the first, fifteenth, and twenty-eighth of +each month the light is always kindled; for these are Shinto holidays of +obligation, when offerings must be made to the gods, and when all uji- +ko, or parishioners of a Shinto temple, are supposed to visit their +ujigami. In every home on these days sake is poured as an offering into +the o-mikidokkuri, and in the vases of the kamidana are placed sprays of +the holy sakaki, or sprigs of pine, or fresh flowers. On the first day +of the new year the kamidana is always decked with sakaki, moromoki +(ferns), and pine-sprigs, and also with a shimenawa; and large double +rice cakes are placed upon it as offerings to the gods. + +º9 + +But only the ancient gods of Shinto are worshipped before the kamidana. +The family ancestors or family dead are worshipped either in a separate +room (called the mitamaya or 'Spirit Chamber'), or, if worshipped +according to the Buddhist rites, before the butsuma or butsudan. + + +The Buddhist family worship coexists in the vast majority of Izumo homes +with the Shinto family worship; and whether the dead be honoured in the +mitamaya or before the butsudan altogether depends upon the religious +traditions of the household. Moreover, there are families in Izumo-- +particularly in Kitzuki--whose members do not profess Buddhism in any +form, and a very few, belonging to the Shin-shu or Nichirenshu, [13] +whose members do not practise Shinto. But the domestic cult of the dead +is maintained, whether the family be Shinto or Buddhist. The ihai or +tablets of the Buddhist family dead (Hotoke) are never placed in a +special room or shrine, but in the Buddhist household shrine [14] along +with the images or pictures of Buddhist divinities usually there +inclosed--or, at least, this is always the case when the honours paid +them are given according to the Buddhist instead of the Shinto rite. The +form of the butsudan or butsuma, the character of its holy images, its +ofuda, or its pictures, and even the prayers said before it, differ +according to the fifteen different shu, or sects; and a very large +volume would have to be written in order to treat the subject of the +butsuma exhaustively. Therefore I must content myself with stating that +there are Buddhist household shrines of all dimensions, prices, and +degrees of magnificence; and that the butsudan of the Shin-shu, although +to me the least interesting of all, is popularly considered to be the +most beautiful in design and finish. The butsudan of a very poor +household may be worth a few cents, but the rich devotee might purchase +in Kyoto a shrine worth as many thousands of yen as he could pay. + +Though the forms of the butsuma and the character of its contents may +greatly vary, the form of the ancestral or mortuary tablet is generally +that represented in Fig. 4 of the illustrations of ihai given in this +book. [15] There are some much more elaborate shapes, costly and rare, +and simpler shapes of the cheapest and plainest descriptions; but the +form thus illustrated is the common one in Izumo and the whole San-indo +country. There are differences, however, of size; and the ihai of a man +is larger than that of a woman, and has a headpiece also, which the +tablet of a female has not; while a child's ihai is always very small. +The average height of the ihai made for a male adult is a little more +than a foot, and its thickness about an inch. It has a top, or +headpiece, surmounted by the symbol I of the Hoshi-no-tama or Mystic +Gem, and ordinarily decorated with a cloud-design of some kind, and the +pedestal is a lotus-flower rising out of clouds. As a general rule all +this is richly lacquered and gilded; the tablet itself being lacquered +in black, and bearing the posthumous name, or kaimyo, in letters of +gold--ken-mu-ji-sho-shin-ji, or other syllables indicating the supposed +virtues of the departed. The poorest people, unable to afford such +handsome tablets, have ihai made of plain wood; and the kaimyo is +sometimes simply written on these in black characters; but more commonly +it is written upon a strip of white paper, which is then pasted upon the +ihai with rice-paste. The living name is perhaps inscribed upon the back +of the tablet. Such tablets accumulate, of course, with the passing of +generations; and in certain homes great numbers are preserved. + +A beautiful and touching custom still exists in Izumo, and perhaps +throughout Japan, although much less common than it used to be. So far +as I can learn, however, it was always confined to the cultivated +classes. When a husband dies, two ihai are made, in case the wife +resolves never to marry again. On one of these the kaimyo of the dead +man is painted in characters of gold, and on the other that of the +living widow; but, in the latter case, the first character of the kaimyo +is painted in red, and the other characters in gold. These two tablets +are then placed in the household butsuma. Two larger ones similarly +inscribed, are placed in the parish temple; but no cup is set before +that of the wife. The solitary crimson ideograph signifies a solemn +pledge to remain faithful to the memory of the dead. Furthermore, the +wife loses her living name among all her friends and relatives, and is +thereafter addressed only by a fragment of her kaimyo--as, for example, +'Shin-toku-in-San,' an abbreviation of the much longer and more sonorous +posthumous name, Shin-toku-in-den-joyo-teiso-daishi. [16] Thus to be +called by one's kaimyo is at once an honour to the memory of the husband +and the constancy of the bereaved wife. A precisely similar pledge is +taken by a man after the loss of a wife to whom he was passionately +attached; and one crimson letter upon his ihai registers the vow not +only in the home but also in the place of public worship. But the +widower is never called by his kaimyo, as is the widow. + +The first religious duty of the morning in a Buddhist household is to +set before the tablets of the dead a little cup of tea, made with the +first hot water prepared--O-Hotoke-San-nio-cha-to-ageru. [17] Daily +offerings of boiled rice are also made; and fresh flowers are put in the +shrine vases; and incense--although not allowed by Shinto--is burned +before the tablets. At night, and also during the day upon certain +festivals, both candles and a small oil-lamp are lighted in the butsuma +--a lamp somewhat differently shaped from the lamp of the miya and called +rinto On the day of each month corresponding to the date of death a +little repast is served before the tablets, consisting of shojin-ryori +only, the vegetarian food of the. Buddhists. But as Shinto family +worship has its special annual festival, which endures from the first to +the third day of the new year, so Buddhist ancestor-worship has its +yearly Bonku, or Bommatsuri, lasting from the thirteenth to the +sixteenth day of the seventh month. This is the Buddhist Feast of Souls. +Then the butsuma is decorated to the utmost, special offerings of food +and of flowers are made, and all the house is made beautiful to welcome +the coming of the ghostly visitors. + +Now Shinto, like Buddhism, has its ihai; but these are of the simplest +possible shape and material--mere slips of plain white wood. The average +height is only about eight inches. These tablets are either placed in a +special miya kept in a different room from that in which the shrine of +the Kami is erected, or else simply arranged on a small shelf called by +the people Mitama-San-no-tana,--'the Shelf of the August Spirits.' The +shelf or the shrine of the ancestors and household dead is placed always +at a considerable height in the mitamaya or soreisha (as the Spirit +Chamber is sometimes called), just as is the miya of the Kami in the +other apartment. Sometimes no tablets are used, the name being simply +painted upon the woodwork of the Spirit Shrine. But Shinto has no +kaimyo: the living name of the dead is written upon the ihai, with the +sole addition of the word 'Mitama' (Spirit). And monthly upon the day +corresponding to the menstrual date of death, offerings of fish, wine, +and other food are made to the spirits, accompanied by special prayer. +[18] The Mitama-San have also their particular lamps and flower-vases, +and, though in lesser degree, are honoured with rites like those of the +Kami. + +The prayers uttered before the ihai of either faith begin with the +respective religious formulas of Shinto or of Buddhism. The Shintoist, +clapping his hands thrice or four times, [19] first utters the +sacramental Harai-tamai. The Buddhist, according to his sect, murmurs +Namu-myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo, or Namu Amida Butsu, or some other holy words of +prayer or of praise to the Buddha, ere commencing his prayer to the +ancestors. The words said to them are seldom spoken aloud, either by +Shintoist or Buddhist: they are either whispered very low under the +breath, or shaped only within the heart. + +º10 + +At nightfall in Izumo homes the lamps of the gods and of the ancestors +are kindled, either by a trusted servant or by some member of the +family. Shinto orthodox regulations require that the lamps should be +filled with pure vegetable oil only--tomoshiabura--and oil of rape-seed +is customarily used. However, there is an evident inclination among the +poorer classes to substitute a microscopic kerosene lamp for the ancient +form of utensil. But by the strictly orthodox this is held to be very +wrong, and even to light the lamps with a match is somewhat heretical. +For it is not supposed that matches are always made with pure +substances, and the lights of the Kami should be kindled only with +purest fire--that holy natural fire which lies hidden within all things. +Therefore in some little closet in the home of any strictly orthodox +Shinto family there is always a small box containing the ancient +instruments used for the lighting of' holy fire. These consist of the +hi-uchi-ishi, or 'fire-strike-stone'; the hi-uchi-gane, or steel; the +hokuchi, or tinder, made of dried moss; and the tsukegi, fine slivers of +resinous pine. A little tinder is laid upon the flint and set +smouldering with a few strokes of the steel, and blown upon until it +flames. A slip of pine is then ignited at this flame, and with it the +lamps of the ancestors and the gods are lighted. If several great +deities are represented in the miya or upon the kamidana by several +ofuda, then a separate lamp is sometimes lighted for each; and if there +be a butsuma in the dwelling, its tapers or lamp are lighted at the same +time. + + +Although the use of the flint and steel for lighting the lamps of the +gods will probably have become obsolete within another generation, it +still prevails largely in Izumo, especially in the country districts. +Even where the safety-match has entirely supplanted the orthodox +utensils, the orthodox sentiment shows itself in the matter of the +choice of matches to be used. Foreign matches are inadmissible: the +native matchmaker quite successfully represented that foreign matches +contained phosphorus 'made from the bones of dead animals,' and that to +kindle the lights of the Kami with such unholy fire would be sacrilege. +In other parts of Japan the matchmakers stamped upon their boxes the +words: 'Saikyo go honzon yo' (Fit for the use of the August High Temple +of Saikyo). [20] But Shinto sentiment in Izumo was too strong to be +affected much by any such declaration: indeed, the recommendation of the +matches as suitable for use in a Shin-shu temple was of itself +sufficient to prejudice Shintoists against them. Accordingly special +precautions had to be taken before safety-matches could be +satisfactorily introduced into the Province of the Gods. Izumo match- +boxes now bear the inscription: 'Pure, and fit to use for kindling the +lamps of the Kami, or of the Hotoke!' + +The inevitable danger to all things in Japan is fire. It is the +traditional rule that when a house takes fire, the first objects to be +saved, if possible, are the household gods and the tablets of the +ancestors. It is even said that if these are saved, most of the family +valuables are certain to be saved, and that if these are lost, all is +lost. + +º11 + +The terms soreisha and mitamaya, as used in Izumo, may, I am told, +signify either the small miya in which the Shinto ihai (usually made of +cherry-wood) is kept, or that part of the dwelling in which it is +placed, and where the offerings are made. These, by all who can afford +it, are served upon tables of plain white wood, and of the same high +narrow form as the tables upon which offerings are made in the temples +and at public funeral ceremonies. + +The most ordinary form of prayer addressed to the ancient ancestors in +the household cult of Shinto is not uttered aloud. After pronouncing the +initial formula of all popular Shinto prayer, 'Harai-tamai,' etc., the +worshipper says, with his heart only--'Spirits august of our far-off +ancestors, ye forefathers of the generations, and of our families and of +our kindred, unto you, the founders of our homes, we this day utter the +gladness of our thanks.' + +In the family cult of the Buddhists a distinction is made between the +household Hotoke--the souls of those long dead--and the souls of those +but recently deceased. These last are called Shin-botoke, 'new Buddhas,' +or more strictly, 'the newly dead.' No direct request for any +supernatural favour is made to a Shin-botoke; for, though respectfully +called Hotoke, the freshly departed soul is not really deemed to have +reached Buddhahood: it is only on the long road thither, and is in need +itself, perhaps, of aid, rather than capable of giving aid. Indeed, +among the deeply pious its condition is a matter of affectionate +concern. And especially is this the case when a little child dies; for +it is thought that the soul of an infant is feeble and exposed to many +dangers. Wherefore a mother, speaking to the departed soul of her child, +will advise it, admonish it, command it tenderly, as if addressing a +living son or daughter. The ordinary words said in Izumo homes to any +Shin-botoke take rather the form of adjuration or counsel than of +prayer, such as these:-- + +'Jobutsu seyo,' or 'Jobutsu shimasare.' [Do thou become a Buddha.] + +'Mayo na yo.' [Go not astray; or, Be never deluded.] + +'Miren-wo nokorazu.' [Suffer no regret (for this world) to linger with +thee.] + +These prayers are never uttered aloud. Much more in accordance with the +Occidental idea of prayer is the following, uttered by Shin-shu +believers on behalf of a Shin-botoke: + +'O-mukai kudasare Amida-Sama.' [Vouchsafe, O Lord Amida, augustly to +welcome (this soul).] + +Needless to say that ancestor-worship, although adopted in China and +Japan into Buddhism, is not of Buddhist origin. Needless also to say +that Buddhism discountenances suicide. Yet in Japan, anxiety about the +condition of the soul of the departed often caused suicide--or at least +justified it on the part of those who, though accepting Buddhist dogma, +might adhere to primitive custom. Retainers killed themselves in the +belief that by dying they might give to the soul of their lord or lady, +counsel, aid, and service. Thus in the novel Hogen-nomono-gatari, a +retainer is made to say after the death of his young master:--'Over the +mountain of Shide, over the ghostly River of Sanzu, who will conduct +him? If he be afraid, will he not call my name, as he was wont to do? +Surely better that, by slaying myself, I go to serve him as of old, than +to linger here, and mourn for him in vain.' + +In Buddhist household worship, the prayers addressed to the family +Hotoke proper, the souls of those long dead, are very different from the +addresses made to the Shin-botoke. The following are a few examples: +they are always said under the breath: + +'Kanai anzen.' [(Vouchsafe) that our family may be preserved.] + +'Enmei sakusai.' [That we may enjoy long life without sorrow.] + +'Shobai hanjo.' [That our business may prosper.] [Said only by merchants +and tradesmen.] + +'Shison chokin.' [That the perpetuity of our descent may be assured.] + +'Onteki taisan.' [That our enemies be scattered.] + +'Yakubyo shometsu.' [That pestilence may not come nigh us.] + +Some of the above are used also by Shinto worshippers. The old samurai +still repeat the special prayers of their caste:-- + +'Tenka taihei.' [That long peace may prevail throughout the world.] + +'Bu-un chokyu.' [That we may have eternal good-fortune in war.] + + +'Ka-ei-manzoku.' [That our house (family) may for ever remain +fortunate.] + +But besides these silent formulae, any prayers prompted by the heart, +whether of supplication or of gratitude, may, of course, be repeated. +Such prayers are said, or rather thought, in the speech of daily life. +The following little prayer uttered by an Izumo mother to the ancestral +spirit, besought on behalf of a sick child, is an example:-- + +'O-kage ni kodomo no byoki mo zenkwai itashimashite, arigato- +gozarimasu!' [By thine august influence the illness of my child has +passed away;--I thank thee.] + +'O-kage ni' literally signifies 'in the august shadow of.' There is a +ghostly beauty in the original phrase that neither a free nor yet a +precise translation can preserve. + +º12 + +Thus, in this home-worship of the Far East, by love the dead are made +divine; and the foreknowledge of this tender apotheosis must temper with +consolation the natural melancholy of age. Never in Japan are the dead +so quickly forgotten as with us: by simple faith they are deemed still +to dwell among their beloved; and their place within the home remains +ever holy. And the aged patriarch about to pass away knows that loving +lips will nightly murmur to the memory of him before the household +shrine; that faithful hearts will beseech him in their pain and bless +him in their joy; that gentle hands will place before his ihai pure +offerings of fruits and flowers, and dainty repasts of the things which +he was wont to like; and will pour out for him, into the little cup of +ghosts and gods, the fragrant tea of guests or the amber rice-wine. +Strange changes are coming upon the land: old customs are vanishing; old +beliefs are weakening; the thoughts of today will not be the thoughts of +another age--but of all this he knows happily nothing in his own quaint, +simple, beautiful Izumo. He dreams that for him, as for his fathers, the +little lamp will burn on through the generations; he sees, in softest +fancy, the yet unborn--the children of his children's children--clapping +their tiny hands in Shinto prayer, and making filial obeisance before +the little dusty tablet that bears his unforgotten name. + + + +Chapter Three Of Women's Hair + +º1 THE hair of the younger daughter of the family is very long; and it +is a spectacle of no small interest to see it dressed. It is dressed +once in every three days; and the operation, which costs four sen, is +acknowledged to require one hour. As a matter of fact it requires nearly +two. The hairdresser (kamiyui) first sends her maiden apprentice, who +cleans the hair, washes it, perfumes it, and combs it with extraordinary +combs of at least five different kinds. So thoroughly is the hair +cleansed that it remains for three days, or even four, immaculate beyond +our Occidental conception of things. In the morning, during the dusting +time, it is carefully covered with a handkerchief or a little blue +towel; and the curious Japanese wooden pillow, which supports the neck, +not the head, renders it possible to sleep at ease without disarranging +the marvellous structure. [1] + +After the apprentice has finished her part of the work, the hairdresser +herself appears, and begins to build the coiffure. For this task she +uses, besides the extraordinary variety of combs, fine loops of gilt +thread or coloured paper twine, dainty bits of deliciously tinted crape- +silk, delicate steel springs, and curious little basket-shaped things +over which the hair is moulded into the required forms before being +fixed in place. + +The kamiyui also brings razors with her; for the Japanese girl is +shaved--cheeks, ears, brows, chin, even nose! What is here to shave? +Only that peachy floss which is the velvet of the finest human skin, but +which Japanese taste removes. There is, however, another use for the +razor. All maidens bear the signs of their maidenhood in the form of a +little round spot, about an inch in diameter, shaven clean upon the very +top of the head. This is only partially concealed by a band of hair +brought back from the forehead across it, and fastened to the back hair. +The girl-baby's head is totally shaved. When a few years old the little +creature's hair is allowed to grow except at the top of the head, where +a large tonsure is maintained. But the size of the tonsure diminishes +year by year, until it shrinks after childhood to the small spot above +described; and this, too, vanishes after marriage, when a still more +complicated fashion of wearing the hair is adopted. + +º2 + +Such absolutely straight dark hair as that of most Japanese women might +seem, to Occidental ideas at least, ill-suited to the highest +possibilities of the art of the coiffeuse. [2] But the skill of the +kamiyui has made it tractable to every aesthetic whim. Ringlets, indeed, +are unknown, and curling irons. But what wonderful and beautiful shapes +the hair of the girl is made to assume: volutes, jets, whirls, eddyings, +foliations, each passing into the other blandly as a linking of brush- +strokes in the writing of a Chinese master! Far beyond the skill of the +Parisian coiffeuse is the art of the kamiyui. From the mythical era [3] +of the race, Japanese ingenuity has exhausted itself in the invention +and the improvement of pretty devices for the dressing of woman's hair; +and probably there have never been so many beautiful fashions of wearing +it in any other country as there have been in Japan. These have changed +through the centuries; sometimes becoming wondrously intricate of +design, sometimes exquisitely simple--as in that gracious custom, +recorded for us in so many quaint drawings, of allowing the long black +tresses to flow unconfined below the waist. [4] But every mode of which +we have any pictorial record had its own striking charm. Indian, +Chinese, Malayan, Korean ideas of beauty found their way to the Land of +the Gods, and were appropriated and transfigured by the finer native +conceptions of comeliness. Buddhism, too, which so profoundly influenced +all Japanese art and thought, may possibly have influenced fashions of +wearing the hair; for its female divinities appear with the most +beautiful coiffures. Notice the hair of a Kwannon or a Benten, and the +tresses of the Tennin--those angel-maidens who float in azure upon the +ceilings of the great temples. + +º3 + +The particular attractiveness of the modern styles is the way in which +the hair is made to serve as an elaborate nimbus for the features, +giving delightful relief to whatever of fairness or sweetness the young +face may possess. Then behind this charming black aureole is a riddle of +graceful loopings and weavings whereof neither the beginning nor the +ending can possibly be discerned. Only the kantiyui knows the key to +that riddle. And the whole is held in place with curious ornamental +combs, and shot through with long fine pins of gold, silver, nacre, +transparent tortoise-shell, or lacquered wood, with cunningly carven +heads. [5] + +º4 + +Not less than fourteen different ways of dressing the hair are practised +by the coiffeuses of Izumo; but doubtless in the capital, and in some of +the larger cities of eastern Japan, the art is much more elaborately +developed. The hairdressers (kamiyui) go from house to house to exercise +their calling, visiting their clients upon fixed days at certain regular +hours. The hair of little girls from seven to eight years old is in +Matsue dressed usually after the style called O-tabako-bon, unless it be +simply 'banged.' In the O-tabako-bon ('honourable smoking-box' style) +the hair is cut to the length of about four inches all round except +above the forehead, where it is clipped a little shorter; and on the +summit of the head it is allowed to grow longer and is gathered up into +a peculiarly shaped knot, which justifies the curious name of the +coiffure. As soon as the girl becomes old enough to go to a female +public day-school, her hair is dressed in the pretty, simple style +called katsurashita, or perhaps in the new, ugly, semi-foreign 'bundle- +style' called sokuhatsu, which has become the regulation fashion in +boarding-schools. For the daughters of the poor, and even for most of +those of the middle classes, the public-school period is rather brief; +their studies usually cease a few years before they are marriageable, +and girls marry very early in Japan. The maiden's first elaborate +coiffure is arranged for her when she reaches the age of fourteen or +fifteen, at earliest. From twelve to fourteen her hair is dressed in the +fashion called Omoyedzuki; then the style is changed to the beautiful +coiffure called jorowage. There are various forms of this style, more or +less complex. A couple of years later, the jorowage yields in the turn +to the shinjocho [6] '('new-butterfly' style), or the shimada, also +called takawage. The shimjocho style is common, is worn by women of +various ages, and is not considered very genteel. The shimada, +exquisitely elaborate, is; but the more respectable the family, the +smaller the form of this coiffure; geisha and joro wear a larger and +loftier variety of it, which properly answers to the name takawage, or +'high coiffure.' Between eighteen and twenty years of age the maiden +again exchanges this style for another termed Tenjin-gaeshi; between +twenty and twenty-four years of age she adopts the fashion called +mitsuwage, or the 'triple coiffure' of three loops; and a somewhat +similar but still more complicated coiffure, called mitsuwakudzushi, is +worn by young women of from twenty-five to twenty-eight. Up to that age +every change in the fashion of wearing the hair has been in the +direction of elaborateness and complexity. But after twenty-eight a +Japanese woman is no longer considered young, and there is only one more +coiffure for her--the mochiriwage or bobai, tine simple and rather ugly +style adopted by old women. + +But the girl who marries wears her hair in a fashion quite different +from any of the preceding. The most beautiful, the most elaborate, and +the most costly of all modes is the bride's coiffure, called hanayome; a +word literally signifying 'flower-wife.' The structure is dainty as its +name, and must be seen to be artistically appreciated. Afterwards the +wife wears her hair in the styles called kumesa or maruwage, another +name for which is katsuyama. The kumesa style is not genteel, and is the +coiffure of the poor; the maruwage or katsuyama is refined. In former +times the samurai women wore their hair in two particular styles: the +maiden's coiffure was ichogaeshi, and that of the married folk +katahajishi. It is still possible to see in Matsue a few katahajishi +coiffures. + +º5 + +The family kamiyui, O-Koto-San, the most skilful of her craft in Izumo, +is a little woman of about thirty, still quite attractive. About her +neck there are three soft pretty lines, forming what connoisseurs of +beauty term 'the necklace of Venus.' This is a rare charm; but it once +nearly proved the ruin of Koto. The story is a curious one. + +Koto had a rival at the beginning of her professional career--a woman of +considerable skill as a coiffeuse, but of malignant disposition, named +Jin. Jin gradually lost all her respectable custom, and little Koto +became the fashionable hairdresser. But her old rival, filled with +jealous hate, invented a wicked story about Koto, and the story found +root in the rich soil of old Izumo superstition, and grew fantastically. +The idea of it had been suggested to Jin's cunning mind by those three +soft lines about Koto's neck. She declared that Koto had a NUKE-KUBI. + +What is a nuke-kubi? 'Kubi' signifies either the neck or head. 'Nukeru' +means to creep, to skulk, to prowl, to slip away stealthily. To have a +nuke-kubi is to have a head that detaches itself from the body, and +prowls about at night--by itself. + +Koto has been twice married, and her second match was a happy one. But +her first husband caused her much trouble, and ran away from her at +last, in company with some worthless woman. Nothing was ever heard of +him afterward--so that Jin thought it quite safe to invent a nightmare- +story to account for his disappearance. She said that he abandoned Koto +because, on awaking one night, he saw his young wife's head rise from +the pillow, and her neck lengthen like a great white serpent, while the +rest of her body remained motionless. He saw the head, supported by the +ever-lengthening neck, enter the farther apartment and drink all the oil +in the lamps, and then return to the pillow slowly--the neck +simultaneously contracting. 'Then he rose up and fled away from the +house in great fear,' said Jin. + +As one story begets another, all sorts of queer rumours soon began to +circulate about poor Koto. There was a tale that some police-officer, +late at night, saw a woman's head without a body, nibbling fruit from a +tree overhanging some garden-wall; and that, knowing it to be a nuke- +kubi, he struck it with the flat of his sword. It shrank away as swiftly +as a bat flies, but not before he had been able to recognize the face of +the kamiyui. 'Oh! it is quite true!' declared Jin, the morning after the +alleged occurrence; 'and if you don't believe it, send word to Koto that +you want to see her. She can't go out: her face is all swelled up.' Now +the last statement was fact--for Koto had a very severe toothache at +that time--and the fact helped the falsehood. And the story found its +way to the local newspaper, which published it--only as a strange +example of popular credulity; and Jin said, 'Am I a teller of the truth? +See, the paper has printed it!' + +Wherefore crowds of curious people gathered before Koto's little house, +and made her life such a burden to her that her husband had to watch her +constantly to keep her from killing herself. Fortunately she had good +friends in the family of the Governor, where she had been employed for +years as coiffeuse; and the Governor, hearing of the wickedness, wrote a +public denunciation of it, and set his name to it, and printed it. Now +the people of Matsue reverenced their old samurai Governor as if he were +a god, and believed his least word; and seeing what he had written, they +became ashamed, and also denounced the lie and the liar; and the little +hairdresser soon became more prosperous than before through popular +sympathy. + +Some of the most extraordinary beliefs of old days are kept alive in +Izumo and elsewhere by what are called in America travelling side- +shows'; and the inexperienced foreigner could never imagine the +possibilities of a Japanese side-show. On certain great holidays the +showmen make their appearance, put up their ephemeral theatres of rush- +matting and bamboos in some temple court, surfeit expectation by the +most incredible surprises, and then vanish as suddenly as they came. The +Skeleton of a Devil, the Claws of a Goblin, and 'a Rat as large as a +sheep,' were some of the least extraordinary displays which I saw. The +Goblin's Claws were remarkably fine shark's teeth; the Devil's Skeleton +had belonged to an orang-outang--all except the horns ingeniously +attached to the skull; and the wondrous Rat I discovered to be a tame +kangaroo. What I could not fully understand was the exhibition of a +nuke-kubi, in which a young woman stretched her neck, apparently, to a +length of about two feet, making ghastly faces during the performance. + +º6 + +There are also some strange old superstitions about women's hair. + +The myth of Medusa has many a counterpart in Japanese folk-lore: the +subject of such tales being always some wondrously beautiful girl, whose +hair turns to snakes only at night; and who is discovered at last to be +either a dragon or a dragon's daughter. But in ancient times it was +believed that the hair of any young woman might, under certain trying +circumstances, change into serpents. For instance: under the influence +of long-repressed jealousy. + +There were many men of wealth who, in the days of Old Japan, kept their +concubines (mekake or aisho) under the same roof with their legitimate +wives (okusama). And it is told that, although the severest patriarchal +discipline might compel the mekake and the okusama to live together in +perfect seeming harmony by day, their secret hate would reveal itself by +night in the transformation of their hair. The long black tresses of +each would uncoil and hiss and strive to devour those of the other--and +even the mirrors of the sleepers would dash themselves together--for, +saith an ancient proverb, kagami onna-no tamashii--'a Mirror is the Soul +of a Woman.' [7] And there is a famous tradition of one Kato Sayemon +Shigenji, who beheld in the night the hair of his wife and the hair of +his concubine, changed into vipers, writhing together and hissing and +biting. Then Kato Sayemon grieved much for that secret bitterness of +hatred which thus existed through his fault; and he shaved his head and +became a priest in the great Buddhist monastery of Koya-San, where he +dwelt until the day of his death under the name of Karukaya. + +º7 + +The hair of dead women is arranged in the manner called tabanegami, +somewhat resembling the shimada extremely simplified, and without +ornaments of any kind. The name tabanegami signifies hair tied into a +bunch, like a sheaf of rice. This style must also be worn by women +during the period of mourning. + +Ghosts, nevertheless, are represented with hair loose and long, falling +weirdly over the face. And no doubt because of the melancholy +suggestiveness of its drooping branches, the willow is believed to be +the favourite tree of ghosts. Thereunder, 'tis said, they mourn in the +night, mingling their shadowy hair with the long dishevelled tresses of +the tree. + +Tradition says that Okyo Maruyama was the first Japanese artist who drew +a ghost. The Shogun, having invited him to his palace, said: 'Make a +picture of a ghost for me.' Okyo promised to do so; but he was puzzled +how to execute the order satisfactorily. A few days later, hearing that +one of his aunts was very ill, he visited her. She was so emaciated that +she looked like one already long dead. As he watched by her bedside, a +ghastly inspiration came to him: he drew the fleshless face and long +dishevelled hair, and created from that hasty sketch a ghost that +surpassed all the Shogun's expectations. Afterwards Okyo became very +famous as a painter of ghosts. + +Japanese ghosts are always represented as diaphanous, and +preternaturally tall--only the upper part of the figure being distinctly +outlined, and the lower part fading utterly away. As the Japanese say, +'a ghost has no feet': its appearance is like an exhalation, which +becomes visible only at a certain distance above the ground; and it +wavers arid lengthens and undulates in the conceptions of artists, like +a vapour moved by wind. Occasionally phantom women figure in picture.- +books in the likeness of living women; but these are riot true ghosts. +They are fox-women or other goblins; and their supernatural character is +suggested by a peculiar expression of the eyes arid a certain impossible +elfish grace. + +Little children in Japan, like little children in all countries keenly +enjoy the pleasure of fear; and they have many games in which such +pleasure forms the chief attraction. Among these is 0-bake-goto, or +Ghost-play. Some nurse-girl or elder sister loosens her hair in front, +so as to let it fall over her face, and pursues the little folk with +moans and weird gestures, miming all the attitudes of the ghosts of the +picture-books. + +º8 + +As the hair of the Japanese woman is her richest ornament, it is of all +her possessions that which she would most suffer to lose; and in other +days the man too manly to kill an erring wife deemed it vengeance enough +to turn her away with all her hair shorn off. Only the greatest faith or +the deepest love can prompt a woman to the voluntary sacrifice of her +entire chevelure, though partial sacrifices, offerings of one or two +long thick cuttings, may be seen suspended before many an Izumo shrine. + +What faith can do in the way of such sacrifice, he best knows who has +seen the great cables, woven of women's hair, that hang in the vast +Hongwanji temple at Kyoto. And love is stronger than faith, though much +less demonstrative. According to ancient custom a wife bereaved +sacrifices a portion of her hair to be placed in the coffin of her +husband, and buried with him. The quantity is not fixed: in the majority +of cases it is very small, so that the appearance of the coiffure is +thereby nowise affected. But she who resolves to remain for ever loyal +to the memory of the lost yields up all. With her own hand she cuts off +her hair, and lays the whole glossy sacrifice--emblem of her youth and +beauty--upon the knees of the dead. + +It is never suffered to grow again. + + + +Chapter Four From the Diary of an English Teacher + +º1 + +MATSUE, September 2, 1890. + +I AM under contract to serve as English teacher in the Jinjo Chugakko, +or Ordinary Middle School, and also in the ShihanGakko, or Normal +School, of Matsue, Izumo, for the term of one year. + +The Jinjo Chugakko is an immense two-story wooden building in European +style, painted a dark grey-blue. It has accommodations for nearly three +hundred day scholars. It is situated in one corner of a great square of +ground, bounded on two sides by canals, and on the other two by very +quiet streets. This site is very near the ancient castle. + +The Normal School is a much larger building occupying the opposite angle +of the square. It is also much handsomer, is painted snowy white, and +has a little cupola upon its summit. There are only about one hundred +and fifty students in the Shihan-Gakko, but they are boarders. + +Between these two schools are other educational buildings, which I shall +learn more about later. + +It is my first day at the schools. Nishida Sentaro, the Japanese teacher +of English, has taken me through the buildings, introduced me to the +Directors, and to all my future colleagues, given me all necessary +instructions about hours and about textbooks, and furnished my desk with +all things necessary. Before teaching begins, however, I must be +introduced to the Governor of the Province, Koteda Yasusada, with whom +my contract has been made, through the medium of his secretary. So +Nishida leads the way to the Kencho, or Prefectural office, situated in +another foreign-looking edifice across the street. + +We enter it, ascend a wide stairway, and enter a spacious .room carpeted +in European fashion--a room with bay windows and cushioned chairs. One +person is seated at a small round table, and about him are standing half +a dozen others: all are in full Japanese costume, ceremonial costume-- +splendid silken hakama, or Chinese trousers, silken robes, silken haori +or overdress, marked with their mon or family crests: rich and dignified +attire which makes me ashamed of my commonplace Western garb. These are +officials of the Kencho, and teachers: the person seated is the +Governor. He rises to greet me, gives me the hand-grasp of a giant: and +as I look into his eyes, I feel I shall love that man to the day of my +death. A face fresh and frank as a boy's, expressing much placid force +and large-hearted kindness--all the calm of a Buddha. Beside him, the +other officials look very small: indeed the first impression of him is +that of a man of another race. While I am wondering whether the old +Japanese heroes were cast in a similar mould, he signs to me to take a +seat, and questions my guide in a mellow basso. There is a charm in the +fluent depth of the voice pleasantly confirming the idea suggested by +the face. An attendant brings tea. + +'The Governor asks,' interprets Nishida, 'if you know the old history of +Izumo.' + +I reply that I have read the Kojiki, translated by Professor +Chamberlain, and have therefore some knowledge of the story of Japan's +most ancient province. Some converse in Japanese follows. Nishida tells +the Governor that I came to Japan to study the ancient religion and +customs, and that I am particularly interested in Shinto and the +traditions of Izumo. The Governor suggests that I make visits to the +celebrated shrines of Kitzuki, Yaegaki, and Kumano, and then asks: + +'Does he know the tradition of the origin of the clapping of hands +before a Shinto shrine?' + +I reply in the negative; and the Governor says the tradition is given in +a commentary upon the Kojiki. + +'It is in the thirty-second section of the fourteenth volume, where it +is written that Ya-he-Koto-Shiro-nushi-no-Kami clapped his hands.' + +I thank the Governor for his kind suggestions and his citation. After a +brief silence I am graciously dismissed with another genuine hand-grasp; +and we return to the school. + +º2 + +I have been teaching for three hours in the Middle School, and teaching +Japanese boys turns out to be a much more agreeable task than I had +imagined. Each class has been so well prepared for me beforehand by +Nishida that my utter ignorance of Japanese makes no difficulty in +regard to teaching: moreover, although the lads cannot understand my +words always when I speak, they can understand whatever I write upon the +blackboard with chalk. Most of them have already been studying English +from childhood, with Japanese teachers. All are wonderfully docile' and +patient. According to old custom, when the teacher enters, the whole +class rises and bows to him. He returns the bow, and calls the roll. + +Nishida is only too kind. He helps me in every way he possibly can, and +is constantly regretting that he cannot help me more. There are, of +course, some difficulties to overcome. For instance, it will take me a +very, very long time to learn the names of the boys--most of which names +I cannot even pronounce, with the class-roll before me. And although the +names of the different classes have been painted upon the doors of their +respective rooms in English letters, for the benefit of the foreign +teacher, it will take me some weeks at least to become quite familiar +with them. For the time being Nishida always guides me to the rooms. He +also shows me the way, through long corridors, to the Normal School, and +introduces me to the teacher Nakayama who is to act there as my guide. + +I have been engaged to teach only four times a week at the Normal +School; but I am furnished there also with a handsome desk in the +teachers' apartment, and am made to feel at home almost immediately. +Nakayama shows me everything of interest in the building before +introducing me to my future pupils. The introduction is pleasant and +novel as a school experience. I am conducted along a corridor, and +ushered into a large luminous whitewashed room full of young men in dark +blue military uniform. Each sits at a very small desk, sup-ported by a +single leg, with three feet. At the end of the room is a platform with a +high desk and a chair for the teacher. As I take my place at the desk, a +voice rings out in English: 'Stand up!' And all rise with a springy +movement as if moved by machinery. 'Bow down!' the same voice again +commands--the voice of a young student wearing a captain's stripes upon +his sleeve; and all salute me. I bow in return; we take our seats; and +the lesson begins. + +All teachers at the Normal School are saluted in the same military +fashion before each class-hour--only the command is given in Japanese. +For my sake only, it is given in English. + +º3 + +September 22, 1890. + +The Normal School is a State institution. Students are admitted upon +examination and production of testimony as to good character; but the +number is, of course, limited. The young men pay no fees, no boarding +money, nothing even for books, college-outfits, or wearing apparel. They +are lodged, clothed, fed, and educated by the State; but they are +required in return, after their graduation, to serve the State as +teachers for the space of five years. Admission, however, by no means +assures graduation. There are three or four examinations each year; and +the students who fail to obtain a certain high average of examination +marks must leave the school, however exemplary their conduct or earnest +their study. No leniency can be shown where the educational needs of the +State are concerned, and these call for natural ability and a high +standard of its proof. + +The discipline is military and severe. Indeed, it is so thorough that +the graduate of a Normal School is exempted by military law from more +than a year's service in the army: he leaves college a trained soldier. +Deportment is also a requisite: special marks are given for it; and +however gawky a freshman may prove at the time of his admission, he +cannot remain so. A spirit of manliness is cultivated, which excludes +roughness but develops self-reliance and self-control. The student is +required, when speaking, to look his teacher in the face, and to utter +his words not only distinctly, but sonorously. Demeanour in class is +partly enforced by the class-room fittings themselves. The tiny tables +are too narrow to allow of being used as supports for the elbows; the +seats have no backs against which to lean, and the student must hold +himself rigidly erect as he studies. He must also keep himself +faultlessly neat and clean. Whenever and wherever he encounters one of +his teachers he must halt, bring his feet together, draw himself erect, +and give the military salute. And this is done with a swift grace +difficult to describe. + +The demeanour of a class during study hours is if anything too +faultless. Never a whisper is heard; never is a head raised from the +book without permission. But when the teacher addresses a student by +name, the youth rises instantly, and replies in a tone of such vigour as +would seem to unaccustomed ears almost startling by contrast with the +stillness and self-repression of the others. + +The female department of the Normal School, where about fifty young +women are being trained as teachers, is a separate two-story quadrangle +of buildings, large, airy, and so situated, together with its gardens, +as to be totally isolated from all other buildings and invisible from +the street. The girls are not only taught European science by the most +advanced methods, but are trained as well in Japanese arts--the arts of +embroidery, of decoration, of painting, and of arranging flowers. +European drawing is also taught, and beautifully taught, not only here, +but in all the schools. It is taught, however, in combination with +Japanese methods; and the results of this blending may certainly be +expected to have some charming influence upon future art-production. The +average capacity of the Japanese student in drawing is, I think, at +least fifty per cent, higher than that of European students. The soul of +the race is essentially artistic; and the extremely difficult art of +learning to write the Chinese characters, in which all are trained from +early childhood, has already disciplined the hand and the eye to a +marvellous degree--a degree undreamed of in the Occident--long before +the drawing-master begins his lessons of perspective. + +Attached to the great Normal School, and connected by a corridor with +the Jinjo Chugakko likewise, is a large elementary school for little +boys and girls: its teachers are male and female students of the +graduating classes, who are thus practically trained for their +profession before entering the service of the State. Nothing could be +more interesting as an educational spectacle to any sympathetic +foreigner than some of this elementary teaching. In the first room which +I visit a class of very little girls and boys--some as quaintly pretty +as their own dolls--are bending at their desks over sheets of coal-black +paper which you would think they were trying to make still blacker by +energetic use of writing-brushes and what we call Indian-ink. They are +really learning to write Chinese and Japanese characters, stroke by +stroke. Until one stroke has been well learned, they are not suffered to +attempt another--much less a combination. Long before the first lesson +is thoroughly mastered, the white paper has become all evenly black +under the multitude of tyro brush-strokes. But the same sheet is still +used; for the wet ink makes a yet blacker mark upon the dry, so that it +can easily be seen. + +In a room adjoining, I see another child-class learning to use scissors +--Japanese scissors, which, being formed in one piece, shaped something +like the letter U, are much less easy to manage than ours. The little +folk are being taught to cut out patterns, and shapes of special objects +or symbols to be studied. Flower-forms are the most ordinary patterns; +sometimes certain ideographs are given as subjects. + +And in another room a third small class is learning to sing; the teacher +writing the music notes (do, re, mi) with chalk upon a blackboard, and +accompanying the song with an accordion. The little ones have learned +the Japanese national anthem (Kimi ga yo wa) and two native songs set to +Scotch airs--one of which calls back to me, even in this remote corner +of the Orient, many a charming memory: Auld Lang Syne. + +No uniform is worn in this elementary school: all are in Japanese dress +--the boys in dark blue kimono, the little girls in robes of all tints, +radiant as butterflies. But in addition to their robes, the girls wear +hakama, [1] and these are of a vivid, warm sky-blue. + +Between the hours of teaching, ten minutes are allowed for play or +rest. The little boys play at Demon-Shadows or at blind-man's-buff or at +some other funny game: they laugh, leap, shout, race, and wrestle, but, +unlike European children, never quarrel or fight. As for the little +girls, they get by themselves, and either play at hand-ball, or form +into circles to play at some round game, accompanied by song. +Indescribably soft and sweet the chorus of those little voices in the +round: + +Kango-kango sho-ya, +Naka yoni sho-ya, +Don-don to kunde +Jizo-San no midzu wo +Matsuba no midzu irete, +Makkuri kadso. [2] + +I notice that the young men, as well as the young women, who teach these +little folk, are extremely tender to their charges. A child whose kimono +is out of order, or dirtied by play, is taken aside and brushed and +arranged as carefully as by an elder brother. + +Besides being trained for their future profession by teaching the +children of the elementary school, the girl students of the Shihan-Gakko +are also trained to teach in the neighbouring kindergarten. A delightful +kindergarten it is, with big cheerful sunny rooms, where stocks of the +most ingenious educational toys are piled upon shelves for daily use. + +Since the above was written I have had two years' experience as a +teacher in various large Japanese schools; and I have never had personal +knowledge of any serious quarrel between students, and have never even +heard of a fight among my pupils. And I have taught some eight hundred +boys and young men. + +º4 + +October 1 1890. Nevertheless I am destined to see little of the Normal +School. Strictly speaking, I do not belong to its staff: my services +being only lent by the Middle School, to which I give most of my time. I +see the Normal School students in their class-rooms only, for they are +not allowed to go out to visit their teachers' homes in the town. So I +can never hope to become as familiar with them as with the students of +the Chugakko, who are beginning to call me 'Teacher' instead of 'Sir,' +and to treat me as a sort of elder brother. (I objected to the word +'master,' for in Japan the teacher has no need of being masterful.) And +I feel less at home in the large, bright, comfortable apartments of the +Normal School teachers than in our dingy, chilly teachers' room at the +Chugakko, where my desk is next to that of Nishida. + +On the walls there are maps, crowded with Japanese ideographs; a few +large charts representing zoological facts in the light of evolutional +science; and an immense frame filled with little black lacquered wooden +tablets, so neatly fitted together that the entire surface is uniform as +that of a blackboard. On these are written, or rather painted, in white, +names of teachers, subjects, classes, and order of teaching hours; and +by the ingenious tablet arrangement any change of hours can be +represented by simply changing the places of the tablets. As all this is +written in Chinese and Japanese characters, it remains to me a mystery, +except in so far as the general plan and purpose are concerned. I have +learned only to recognize the letters of my own name, and the simpler +form of numerals. + +On every teacher's desk there is a small hibachi of glazed blue-and- +white ware, containing a few lumps of glowing charcoal in a bed of +ashes. During the brief intervals between classes each teacher smokes +his tiny Japanese pipe of brass, iron, or silver. The hibachi and a cup +of hot tea are our consolations for the fatigues of the class-room. + +Nishida and one or two other teachers know a good deal of English, and +we chat together sometimes between classes. But more often no one +speaks. All are tired after the teaching hour, and prefer to smoke in +silence. At such times the only sounds within the room are the ticking +of the clock, and the sharp clang of the little pipes being rapped upon +the edges of the hibachi to empty out the ashes. + +º5 + +October 15, 1890. To-day I witnessed the annual athletic contests (undo- +kwai) of all the schools in Shimane Ken. These games were celebrated in +the broad castle grounds of Ninomaru. Yesterday a circular race-track +had been staked off, hurdles erected for leaping, thousands of wooden +seats prepared for invited or privileged spectators, and a grand lodge +built for the Governor, all before sunset. The place looked like a vast +circus, with its tiers of plank seats rising one above the other, and +the Governor's lodge magnificent with wreaths and flags. School children +from all the villages and towns within twenty-five miles had arrived in +surprising multitude. Nearly six thousand boys and girls were entered to +take part in the contests. Their parents and relatives and teachers made +an imposing assembly upon the benches and within the gates. And on the +ramparts overlooking the huge inclosure a much larger crowd had +gathered, representing perhaps one-third of the population of the city. + +The signal to begin or to end a contest was a pistol-shot. Four +different kinds of games were performed in different parts of the +grounds at the same time, as there was room enough for an army; and +prizes were awarded to the winners of each contest by the hand of the +Governor himself. + +There were races between the best runners in each class of the different +schools; and the best runner of all proved to be Sakane, of our own +fifth class, who came in first by nearly forty yards without seeming +even to make an effort. He is our champion athlete, and as good as he is +strong--so that it made me very happy to see him with his arms full of +prize books. He won also a fencing contest decided by the breaking of a +little earthenware saucer tied to the left arm of each combatant. And he +also won a leaping match between our older boys. + +But many hundreds of other winners there were too, and many hundreds of +prizes were given away. There were races in which the runners were tied +together in pairs, the left leg of one to the right leg of the other. +There were equally funny races, the winning of which depended on the +runner's ability not only to run, but to crawl, to climb, to vault, and +to jump alternately. There were races also for the little girls--pretty +as butterflies they seemed in their sky-blue hakama and many coloured +robes--races in which the contestants had each to pick up as they ran +three balls of three different colours out of a number scattered over +the turf. Besides this, the little girls had what is called a flag-race, +and a contest with battledores and shuttlecocks. + +Then came the tug-of-war. A magnificent tug-of-war, too--one hundred +students at one end of a rope, and another hundred at the other. But the +most wonderful spectacles of the day were the dumb-bell exercises. Six +thousand boys and girls, massed in ranks about five hundred deep; six +thousand pairs of arms rising and falling exactly together; six thousand +pairs of sandalled feet advancing or retreating together, at the signal +of the masters of gymnastics, directing all from the tops of various +little wooden towers; six thousand voices chanting at once the 'one, +two, three,' of the dumb-bell drill: 'Ichi, ni,--san, shi,--go, roku,-- +shichi, hachi.' + +Last came the curious game called 'Taking the Castle.' Two models of +Japanese towers, about fifteen feet high, made with paper stretched over +a framework of bamboo, were set up, one at each end of the field. Inside +the castles an inflammable liquid had been placed in open vessels, so +that if the vessels were overturned the whole fabric would take fire. +The boys, divided into two parties, bombarded the castles with wooden +balls, which passed easily through the paper walls; and in a short time +both models were making a glorious blaze. Of course the party whose +castle was the first to blaze lost the game. + +The games began at eight o'clock in the morning, and at five in the +evening came to an end. Then at a signal fully ten thousand voices +pealed out the superb national anthem, 'Kimi ga yo, and concluded it +with three cheers for their Imperial Majesties, the Emperor and Empress +of Japan. + +The Japanese do not shout or roar as we do when we cheer. They chant. +Each long cry is like the opening tone of an immense musical chorus: +A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a..a! + +º6 + +It is no small surprise to observe how botany, geology, and other +sciences are daily taught even in this remotest part of Old Japan. Plant +physiology and the nature of vegetable tissues are studied under +excellent microscopes, and in their relations to chemistry; and at +regular intervals the instructor leads his classes into the country to +illustrate the lessons of the term by examples taken from the flora of +their native place. Agriculture, taught by a graduate of the famous +Agricultural School at Sapporo, is practically illustrated upon farms +purchased and maintained by the schools for purely educational ends. +Each series of lessons in geology is supplemented by visits to the +mountains about the lake, or to the tremendous cliffs of the coast, +where the students are taught to familiarize themselves with forms of +stratification and the visible history of rocks. The basin of the lake, +and the country about Matsue, is physiographically studied, after the +plans of instruction laid down in Huxley's excellent manual. Natural +History, too, is taught according to the latest and best methods, and +with the help of the microscope. The results of such teaching are +sometimes surprising. I know of one student, a lad of only sixteen, who +voluntarily collected and classified more than two hundred varieties of +marine plants for a Tokyo professor. Another, a youth of seventeen, +wrote down for me in my notebook, without a work of reference at hand, +and, as I afterwards discovered, almost without an omission or error, a +scientific list of all the butterflies to be found in the neighbourhood +of the city. + +º7 + +Through the Minister of Public Instruction, His Imperial Majesty has +sent to all the great public schools of the Empire a letter bearing date +of the thirteenth day of the tenth month of the twenty-third year of +Meiji. And the students and teachers of the various schools assemble to +hear the reading of the Imperial Words on Education. + +At eight o'clock we of the Middle School are all waiting in our own +assembly hall for the coming of the Governor, who will read the +Emperor's letter in the various schools. + +We wait but a little while. Then the Governor comes with all the +officers of the Kencho and the chief men of the city. We rise to salute +him: then the national anthem is sung. + +Then the Governor, ascending the platform, produces the Imperial +Missive--a scroll of Chinese manuscript sheathed in silk. He withdraws +it slowly from its woven envelope, lifts it reverentially to his +forehead, unrolls it, lifts it again to his forehead, and after a +moment's dignified pause begins in that clear deep voice of his to read +the melodious syllables after the ancient way, which is like a chant: + +'CHO-KU-G U. Chin omommiru ni waga koso koso kuni wo.... + +'We consider that the Founder of Our Empire and the ancestors of Our +Imperial House placed the foundation of the country on a grand and +permanent basis, and established their authority on the principles of +profound humanity and benevolence. + +'That Our subjects have throughout ages deserved well of the State by +their loyalty and piety and by their harmonious co-operation is in +accordance with the essential character of Our nation; and on these very +same principles Our education has been founded. + +'You, Our subjects, be therefore filial to your parents; be affectionate +to your brothers; be harmonious as husbands and wives; and be faithful +to your friends; conduct yourselves with propriety and carefulness; +extend generosity and benevolence towards your neighbours; attend to +your studies and follow your pursuits; cultivate your intellects and +elevate your morals; advance public benefits and promote social +interests; be always found in the good observance of the laws and +constitution of the land; display your personal courage and public +spirit for the sake of the country whenever required; and thus support +the Imperial prerogative, which is coexistent with the Heavens and the +Earth. + +'Such conduct on your part will not only strengthen the character of Our +good and loyal subjects, but conduce also to the maintenance of the fame +of your worthy forefathers. + +'This is the instruction bequeathed by Our ancestors and to be followed +by Our subjects; for it is the truth which has guided and guides them in +their own affairs and in their dealings towards aliens. + +'We hope, therefore, We and Our subjects will regard these sacred +precepts with one and the same heart in order to attain the same ends.' +[3] + +Then the Governor and the Head-master speak a few words--dwelling upon +the full significance of His Imperial Majesty's august commands, and +exhorting all to remember and to obey them to the uttermost. + +After which the students have a holiday, to enable them the better to +recollect what they have heard. + +º8 + +All teaching in the modern Japanese system of education is conducted +with the utmost kindness and gentleness. The teacher is a teacher only: +he is not, in the English sense of mastery, a master. He stands to his +pupils in the relation of an elder brother. He never tries to impose his +will upon them: he never scolds, he seldom criticizes, he scarcely ever +punishes. No Japanese teacher ever strikes a pupil: such an act would +cost him his post at once. He never loses his temper: to do so would +disgrace him in the eyes of his boys and in the judgment of his +colleagues. Practically speaking, there is no punishment in Japanese +schools. Sometimes very mischievous lads are kept in the schoolhouse +during recreation time; yet even this light penalty is not inflicted +directly by the teacher, but by the director of the school on complaint +of the teacher. The purpose in such cases is not to inflict pain by +deprivation of enjoyment, but to give public illustration of a fault; +and in the great majority of instances, consciousness of the fault thus +brought home to a lad before his comrades is quite enough to prevent its +repetition. No such cruel punition as that of forcing a dull pupil to +learn an additional task, or of sentencing him to strain his eyes +copying four or five hundred lines, is ever dreamed of. Nor would such +forms of punishment, in the present state of things, be long tolerated +by the pupils themselves. The general policy of the educational +authorities everywhere throughout the empire is to get rid of students +who cannot be perfectly well managed without punishment; and expulsions, +nevertheless, are rare. + +I often see a pretty spectacle on my way home from the school, when I +take the short cut through the castle grounds. A class of about thirty +little boys, in kimono and sandals, bareheaded, being taught to march +and to sing by a handsome young teacher, also in Japanese dress. While +they sing, they are drawn up in line; and keep time with their little +bare feet. The teacher has a pleasant high clear tenor: he stands at one +end of the rank and sings a single line of the song. Then all the +children sing it after him. Then he sings a second line, and they repeat +it. If any mistakes are made, they have to sing the verse again. + +It is the Song of Kusunoki Masashige, noblest of Japanese heroes and +patriots. + +º9 + +I have said that severity on the part of teachers would scarcely be +tolerated by the students themselves--a fact which may sound strange to +English or American ears. Tom Brown's school does not exist in Japan; +the ordinary public school much more resembles the ideal Italian +institution so charmingly painted for us in the Cuore of De Amicis. +Japanese students furthermore claim and enjoy an independence contrary +to all Occidental ideas of disciplinary necessity. In the Occident the +master expels the pupil. In Japan it happens quite as often that the +pupil expels the master. Each public school is an earnest, spirited +little republic, to which director and teachers stand only in the +relation of president and cabinet. They are indeed appointed by the +prefectural government upon recommendation by the Educational Bureau at +the capital; but in actual practice they maintain their positions by +virtue of their capacity and personal character as estimated by their +students, and are likely to be deposed by a revolutionary movement +whenever found wanting. It has been alleged that the students frequently +abuse their power. But this allegation has been made by European +residents, strongly prejudiced in favour of masterful English ways of +discipline. (I recollect that an English Yokohama paper, in this +connection, advocated the introduction of the birch.) My own +observations have convinced me, as larger experience has convinced some +others, that in most instances of pupils rebelling against a teacher, +reason is upon their side. They will rarely insult a teacher whom they +dislike, or cause any disturbance in his class: they will simply refuse +to attend school until he be removed. Personal feeling may often be a +secondary, but it is seldom, so far as I have been able to learn, the +primary cause for such a demand. A teacher whose manners are +unsympathetic, or even positively disagreeable, will be nevertheless +obeyed and revered while his students remain persuaded of his capacity +as a teacher, and his sense of justice; and they are as keen to discern +ability as they are to detect partiality. And, on the other hand, an +amiable disposition alone will never atone with them either for want of +knowledge or for want of skill to impart it. I knew one case, in a +neighbouring public school, of a demand by the students for the removal +of their professor of chemistry. In making their complaint, they frankly +declared: 'We like him. He is kind to all of us; he does the best he +can. But he does not know enough to teach us as we wish to be taught. +lie cannot answer our questions. He cannot explain the experiments which +he shows us. Our former teacher could do all these things. We must have +another teacher.' Investigation proved that the lads were quite right. +The young teacher had graduated at the university; he had come well +recommended: but he had no thorough knowledge of the science which he +undertook to impart, and no experience as a teacher. The instructor's +success in Japan is not guaranteed by a degree, but by his practical +knowledge and his capacity to communicate it simply and thoroughly. + +º10 + +November 3, 1890 To-day is the birthday of His Majesty the Emperor. It +is a public holiday throughout Japan; and there will be no teaching this +morning. But at eight o'clock all the students and instructors enter the +great assembly hall of the Jinjo Chugakko to honour the anniversary of +His Majesty's august birth. + +On the platform of the assembly hall a table, covered with dark silk, +has been placed; and upon this table the portraits of Their Imperial +Majesties, the Emperor and the Empress of Japan, stand side by side +upright, framed in gold. The alcove above the platform has been +decorated with flags and wreaths. + +Presently the Governor enters, looking like a French general in his +gold-embroidered uniform of office, and followed by the Mayor of the +city, the Chief Military Officer, the Chief of Police, and all the +officials of the provincial government. These take their places in +silence to left and right of the plat form. Then the school organ +suddenly rolls out the slow, solemn, beautiful national anthem; and all +present chant those ancient syllables, made sacred by the reverential +love of a century of generations: + +Ki-mi ga-a yo-o wa +Chi-yo ni-i-i ya-chi-yo ni sa-za-red +I-shi-no +I-wa o to na-ri-te +Ko-ke no +Mu-u su-u ma-a-a-de [4] + + +The anthem ceases. The Governor advances with a slow dignified step from +the right side of the apartment to the centre of the open space before +the platform and the portraits of Their Majesties, turns his face to +them, and bows profoundly. Then he takes three steps forward toward the +platform, and halts, and bows again. Then he takes three more steps +forward, and bows still more profoundly. Then he retires, walking +backward six steps, and bows once more. Then he returns to his place. + +After this the teachers, by parties of six, perform the same beautiful +ceremony. When all have saluted the portrait of His Imperial Majesty, +the Governor ascends the platform and makes a few eloquent remarks to +the students about their duty to their Emperor, to their country, and to +their teachers. Then the anthem is sung again; and all disperse to amuse +themselves for the rest of the day. + +º11 + +March 1 1891. The majority of the students of the Jinjo Chugakko are +day-scholars only (externes, as we would say in France): they go to +school in the morning, take their noon meal at home, and return at one +o'clock to attend the brief afternoon classes. All the city students +live with their own families; but there are many boys from remote +country districts who have no city relatives, and for such the school +furnishes boarding-houses, where a wholesome moral discipline is +maintained by special masters. They are free, however, if they have +sufficient means, to choose another boarding-house (provided it be a +respectable one), or to find quarters in some good family; but few adopt +either course. + +I doubt whether in any other country the cost of education--education of +the most excellent and advanced kind--is so little as in Japan. The +Izumo student is able to live at a figure so far below the Occidental +idea of necessary expenditure that the mere statement of it can scarcely +fail to surprise the reader. A sum equal in American money to about +twenty dollars supplies him with board and lodging for one year. The +whole of his expenses, including school fees, are about seven dollars a +month. For his room and three ample meals a day he pays every four weeks +only one yen eighty-five sen--not much more than a dollar and a half in +American currency. If very, very poor, he will not be obliged to wear a +uniform; but nearly all students of the higher classes do wear uniforms, +as the cost of a complete uniform, including cap and shoes of leather, +is only about three and a half yen for the cheaper quality. Those who do +not wear leather shoes, however, are required, while in the school, to +exchange their noisy wooden geta for zori or light straw sandals. + +º12 + +But the mental education so admirably imparted in an ordinary middle +school is not, after all, so cheaply acquired by the student as might be +imagined from the cost of living and the low rate of school fees. For +Nature exacts a heavier school fee, and rigidly collects her debt--in +human life. + +To understand why, one should remember that the modern knowledge which +the modern Izumo student must acquire upon a diet of boiled rice and +bean-curd was discovered, developed, and synthetised by minds +strengthened upon a costly diet of flesh. National underfeeding offers +the most cruel problem which the educators of Japan must solve in order +that she may become fully able to assimilate the civilization we have +thrust upon her. As Herbert Spencer has pointed out, the degree of human +energy, physical or intellectual, must depend upon the nutritiveness of +food; and history shows that the well-fed races have been the energetic +and the dominant. Perhaps mind will rule in the future of nations; but +mind is a mode of force, and must be fed--through the stomach. The +thoughts that have shaken the world were never framed upon bread and +water: they were created by beefsteak and mutton-chops, by ham and eggs, +by pork and puddings, and were stimulated by generous wines, strong +ales, and strong coffee. And science also teaches us that the growing +child or youth requires an even more nutritious diet than the adult; and +that the student especially needs strong nourishment to repair the +physical waste involved by brain-exertion. + +And what is the waste entailed upon the Japanese schoolboy's system by +study? It is certainly greater than that which the system of the +European or American student must suffer at the same period of life. +Seven years of study are required to give the Japanese youth merely the +necessary knowledge of his own triple system of ideographs--or, in less +accurate but plainer speech, the enormous alphabet of his native +literature. That literature, also, he must study, and the art of two +forms of his language--the written and the spoken: likewise, of course, +he must learn native history and native morals. Besides these Oriental +studies, his course includes foreign history, geography, arithmetic, +astronomy, physics, geometry, natural history, agriculture, chemistry, +drawing, and mathematics. Worst of all, he must learn English--a +language of which the difficulty to the Japanese cannot be even faintly +imagined by anyone unfamiliar with the construction of the native +tongue--a language so different from his own that the very simplest +Japanese phrase cannot be intelligibly rendered into English by a +literal translation of the words or even the form of the thought. And he +must learn all this upon a diet no English boy could live on; and always +thinly clad in his poor cotton dress without even a fire in his +schoolroom during the terrible winter, only a hibachi containing a few +lumps of glowing charcoal in a bed of ashes. [5] Is it to be wondered at +that even those Japanese students who pass successfully 'through all the +educational courses the Empire can open to them can only in rare +instances show results of their long training as large as those +manifested by students of the West? Better conditions are coming; but at +present, under the new strain, young bodies and young minds too often +give way. And those who break down are not the dullards, but the pride +of schools, the captains of classes. + +º13 + +Yet, so far as the finances of the schools allow, everything possible is +done to make the students both healthy and happy--to furnish them with +ample opportunities both for physical exercise and for mental enjoyment. +Though the course of study is severe, the hours are not long: and one of +the daily five is devoted to military drill--made more interesting to +the lads by the use of real rifles and bayonets, furnished by +Government. There is a fine gymnastic ground near the school, furnished +with trapezes, parallel bars, vaulting horses, etc.; and there are two +masters of gymnastics attached to the Middle School alone. There are +row-boats, in which the boys can take their pleasure on the beautiful +lake whenever the weather permits. There is an excellent fencing-school +conducted by the Governor himself, who, although so heavy a man, is +reckoned one of the best fencers of his own generation. The style taught +is the old one, requiring the use of both hands to wield the sword; +thrusting is little attempted, it is nearly all heavy slashing. The +foils are made of long splinters of bamboo tied together so as to form +something resembling elongated fasces: masks and wadded coats protect +the head and body, for the blows given are heavy. This sort of fencing +requires considerable agility, and gives more active exercise than our +severer Western styles. Yet another form of healthy exercise consists of +long journeys on foot to famous places. Special holidays are allowed for +these. The students march out of town in military order, accompanied by +some of their favourite teachers, and perhaps a servant to cook for +them. Thus they may travel for a hundred, or even a hundred and fifty +miles and back; but if the journey is to be a very long one, only the +strong lads are allowed to go. They walk in waraji, the true straw +sandal, closely tied to the naked foot, which it leaves perfectly supple +and free, without blistering or producing corns. They sleep at night in +Buddhist temples; and their cooking is done in the open fields, like +that of soldiers in camp. + +For those little inclined to such sturdy exercise there is a school +library which is growing every year. There is also a monthly school +magazine, edited and published by the boys. And there is a Students' +Society, at whose regular meetings debates are held upon all conceivable +subjects of interest to students. + +º14 + +April 4, 1891. The students of the third, fourth, and fifth year classes +write for me once a week brief English compositions upon easy themes +which I select for them. As a rule the themes are Japanese. Considering +the immense difficulty of the English language to Japanese students, the +ability of some of my boys to express their thoughts in it is +astonishing. Their compositions have also another interest for me as +revelations, not of individual character, but of national sentiment, or +of aggregate sentiment of some sort or other. What seems to me most +surprising in the compositions of the average Japanese student is that +they have no personal cachet at all. Even the handwriting of twenty +English compositions will be found to have a curious family resemblance; +and striking exceptions are too few to affect the rule. Here is one of +the best compositions on my table, by a student at the head of his +class. Only a few idiomatic errors have been corrected: + +THE MOON 'The Moon appears melancholy to those who are sad, and joyous +to those who are happy. The Moon makes memories of home come to those +who travel, and creates homesickness. So when the Emperor Godaigo, +having been banished to Oki by the traitor Hojo, beheld the moonlight +upon the seashore, he cried out, "The Moon is heartless!" + +'The sight of the Moon makes an immeasurable feeling in our hearts when +we look up at it through the clear air of a beauteous night. + +'Our hearts ought to be pure and calm like the light of the Moon. + +'Poets often compare the Moon to a Japanese [metal] mirror (kagami); and +indeed its shape is the same when it is full. + +'The refined man amuses himself with the Moon. He seeks some house +looking out upon water, to watch the Moon, and to make verses about it. + +'The best places from which to see the Moon are Tsukigashi, and the +mountain Obasute. + +'The light of the Moon shines alike upon foul and pure, upon high and +low. That beautiful Lamp is neither yours nor mine, but everybody's. + +'When we look at the Moon we should remember that its waxing and its +waning are the signs of the truth that the culmination of all things is +likewise the beginning of their decline.' + +Any person totally unfamiliar with Japanese educational methods might +presume that the foregoing composition shows some original power of +thought and imagination. But this is not the case. I found the same +thoughts and comparisons in thirty other compositions upon the same +subject. Indeed, the compositions of any number of middle-school +students upon the same subject are certain to be very much alike in idea +and sentiment--though they are none the less charming for that. As a +rule the Japanese student shows little originality in the line of +imagination. His imagination was made for him long centuries ago--partly +in China, partly in his native land. From his childhood he is trained to +see and to feel Nature exactly in the manner of those wondrous artists +who, with a few swift brushstrokes, fling down upon a sheet of paper the +colour-sensation of a chilly dawn, a fervid noon, an autumn evening. +Through all his boyhood he is taught to commit to memory the most +beautiful thoughts and comparisons to be found in his ancient native +literature. Every boy has thus learned that the vision of Fuji against +the blue resembles a white half-opened fan, hanging inverted in the sky. +Every boy knows that cherry-trees in full blossom look as if the most +delicate of flushed summer clouds were caught in their branches. Every +boy knows the comparison between the falling of certain leaves on snow +and the casting down of texts upon a sheet of white paper with a brush. +Every boy and girl knows the verses comparing the print of cat's-feet on +snow to plum-flowers, [6] and that comparing the impression of bokkuri +on snow to the Japanese character for the number 'two.' These were +thoughts of old, old poets; and it would be very hard to invent prettier +ones. Artistic power in composition is chiefly shown by the correct +memorising and clever combination of these old thoughts. + +And the students have been equally well trained to discover a moral in +almost everything, animate or inanimate. I have tried them with a +hundred subjects--Japanese subjects--for composition; I have never found +them to fail in discovering a moral when the theme was a native one. If +I suggested 'Fire-flies,' they at once approved the topic, and wrote for +me the story of that Chinese student who, being too poor to pay for a +lamp, imprisoned many fireflies in a paper lantern, and thus was able to +obtain light enough to study after dark, and to become eventually a +great scholar. If I said 'Frogs,' they wrote for me the legend of Ono- +no-Tofu, who was persuaded to become a learned celebrity by witnessing +the tireless perseverance of a frog trying to leap up to a willow- +branch. I subjoin a few specimens of the moral ideas which I thus +evoked. I have corrected some common mistakes in the originals, but have +suffered a few singularities to stand: + +THE BOTAN 'The botan [Japanese peony] is large and beautiful to see; but +it has a disagreeable smell. This should make us remember that what is +only outwardly beautiful in human society should not attract us. To be +attracted by beauty only may lead us into fearful and fatal misfortune. +The best place to see the botan is the island of Daikonshima in the lake +Nakaumi. There in the season of its flowering all the island is red with +its blossoms. [7] + +THE DRAGON 'When the Dragon tries to ride the clouds and come into +heaven there happens immediately a furious storm. When the Dragon dwells +on the ground it is supposed to take the form of a stone or other +object; but when it wants to rise it calls a cloud. Its body is composed +of parts of many animals. It has the eyes of a tiger and the horns of a +deer and the body of a crocodile and the claws of an eagle and two +trunks like the trunk of an elephant. It has a moral. We should try to +be like the dragon, and find out and adopt all the good qualities of +others.' + +At the close of this essay on the dragon is a note to the teacher, +saying: 'I believe not there is any Dragon. But there are many stories +and curious pictures about Dragon.' + +MOSQUITOES 'On summer nights we hear the sound of faint voices; and +little things come and sting our bodies very violently. We call .them +ka--in English "mosquitoes." I think the sting is useful for us, because +if we begin to sleep, the ka shall come and sting us, uttering a small +voice; then we shall be bringed back to study by the sting.' + +The following, by a lad of sixteen, is submitted only as a +characteristic expression of half-formed ideas about a less familiar +subject: + +EUROPEAN AND JAPANESE CUSTOMS 'Europeans wear very narrow clothes and +they wear shoes always in the house. Japanese wear clothes which are +very lenient and they do not shoe except when they walk out-of-the-door. + +'What we think very strange is that in Europe every wife loves her +husband more than her parents. In Nippon there is no wife who more loves +not her parents than her husband. + +'And Europeans walk out in the road with their wives, which we utterly +refuse to, except on the festival of Hachiman. + +'The Japanese woman is treated by man as a servant, while the European +woman is respected as a master. I think these customs are both bad. + +'We think it is very much trouble to treat European ladies; and we do +not know why ladies are so much respected by Europeans.' + +Conversation in the class-room about foreign subjects is often equally +amusing and suggestive: + +'Teacher, I have been told that if a European and his father and his +wife were all to fall into the sea together, and that he only could +swim, he would try to save his wife first. Would he really?' + +'Probably,' I reply. + +'But why?' + +'One reason is that Europeans consider it a man's duty to help the +weaker first--especially women and children.' + +'And does a European love his wife more than his father and mother?' + +'Not always--but generally, perhaps, he does.' + +'Why, Teacher, according to our ideas that is very immoral.' + +'Teacher, how do European women carry their babies?' + +'In their arms.' + +'Very tiring! And how far can a woman walk carrying a baby in her arms?' + +'A strong woman can walk many miles with a child in her arms.' + +'But she cannot use her hands while she is carrying a baby that way, can +she?' + +'Not very well.' + +'Then it is a very bad way to carry babies,' etc. + +º15 + +May 1, 1891. My favourite students often visit me of afternoons. They +first send me their cards, to announce their presence. On being told to +come in they leave their footgear on the doorstep, enter my little +study, prostrate themselves; and we all squat down together on the +floor, which is in all Japanese houses like a soft mattress. The servant +brings zabuton or small cushions to kneel upon, and cakes, and tea. + +To sit as the Japanese do requires practice; and some Europeans can +never acquire the habit. To acquire it, indeed, one must become +accustomed to wearing Japanese costume. But once the habit of thus +sitting has been formed, one finds it the most natural and easy of +positions, and assumes it by preference for eating, reading, smoking, or +chatting. It is not to be recommended, perhaps, for writing with a +European pen--as the motion in our Occidental style of writing is from +the supported wrist; but it is the best posture for writing with the +Japanese fude, in using which the whole arm is unsupported, and the +motion from the elbow. After having become habituated to Japanese habits +for more than a year, I must confess that I find it now somewhat irksome +to use a chair. + +When we have all greeted each other, and taken our places upon the +kneeling cushions, a little polite silence ensues, which I am the first +to break. Some of the lads speak a good deal of English. They understand +me well when I pronounce every word slowly and distinctly--using simple +phrases, and avoiding idioms. When a word with which they are not +familiar must be used, we refer to a good English-Japanese dictionary, +which gives each vernacular meaning both in the kana and in the Chinese +characters. + +Usually my young visitors stay a long time, and their stay is rarely +tiresome. Their conversation and their thoughts are of the simplest and +frankest. They do not come to learn: they know that to ask their teacher +to teach out of school would be unjust. They speak chiefly of things +which they think have some particular interest for me. Sometimes they +scarcely speak at all, but appear to sink into a sort of happy reverie. +What they come really for is the quiet pleasure of sympathy. Not an +intellectual sympathy, but the sympathy of pure goodwill: the simple +pleasure of being quite comfortable with a friend. They peep at my books +and pictures; and sometimes they bring books and pictures to show me-- +delightfully queer things--family heirlooms which I regret much that I +cannot buy. They also like to look at my garden, and enjoy all that is +in it even more than I. Often they bring me gifts of flowers. Never by +any possible chance are they troublesome, impolite, curious, or even +talkative. Courtesy in its utmost possible exquisiteness--an +exquisiteness of which even the French have no conception--seems natural +to the Izumo boy as the colour of his hair or the tint of his skin. Nor +is he less kind than courteous. To contrive pleasurable surprises for me +is one of the particular delights of my boys; and they either bring or +cause to be brought to the house all sorts of strange things. + +Of all the strange or beautiful things which I am thus privileged to +examine, none gives me so much pleasure as a certain wonderful kakemono +of Amida Nyorai. It is rather large picture, and has been borrowed from +a priest that I may see it. The Buddha stands in the attitude of +exhortation, with one, hand uplifted. Behind his head a huge moon makes +an aureole and across the face of that moon stream winding lines of +thinnest cloud. Beneath his feet, like a rolling of smoke, curl heavier +and darker clouds. Merely as a work of colour and design, the thing is a +marvel. But the real wonder of it is not in colour or design at all. +Minute examination reveals the astonishing fact that every shadow and +clouding is formed by a fairy text of Chinese characters so minute that +only a keen eye can discern them; and this text is the entire text of +two famed sutras--the Kwammu-ryjo-kyo and the Amida-kyo--'text no larger +than the limbs of fleas.' And all the strong dark lines of the figure, +such as the seams of the Buddha's robe, are formed by the characters of +the holy invocation of the Shin-shu sect, repeated thousands of times: +'Namu Amida Butsu!' Infinite patience, tireless silent labour of loving +faith, in some dim temple, long ago. + +Another day one of my boys persuades his father to let him bring to my +house a wonderful statue of Koshi (Confucius), made, I am told, in +China, toward the close of the period of the Ming dynasty. I am also +assured it is the first time the statue has ever been removed from the +family residence to be shown to anyone. Previously, whoever desired to +pay it reverence had to visit the house. It is truly a beautiful bronze. +The figure of a smiling, bearded old man, with fingers uplifted and lips +apart as if discoursing. He wears quaint Chinese shoes, and his flowing +robes are adorned with the figure of the mystic phoenix. The microscopic +finish of detail seems indeed to reveal the wonderful cunning of a +Chinese hand: each tooth, each hair, looks as though it had been made +the subject of a special study. + +Another student conducts me to the home of one of his relatives, that I +may see a cat made of wood, said to have been chiselled by the famed +Hidari Jingoro--a cat crouching and watching, and so life-like that real +cats 'have been known to put up their backs and spit at it.' + +º16 + +Nevertheless I have a private conviction that some old artists even now +living in Matsue could make a still more wonderful cat. Among these is +the venerable Arakawa Junosuke, who wrought many rare things for the +Daimyo of Izumo in the Tempo era, and whose acquaintance I have been +enabled to make through my school-friends. One evening he brings to my +house something very odd to show me, concealed in his sleeve. It is a +doll: just a small carven and painted head without a body,--the body +being represented by a tiny robe only, attached to the neck. Yet as +Arakawa Junosuke manipulates it, it seems to become alive. The back of +its head is like the back of a very old man's head; but its face is the +face of an amused child, and there is scarcely any forehead nor any +evidence of a thinking disposition. And whatever way the head is turned, +it looks so funny that one cannot help laughing at it. It represents a +kirakubo--what we might call in English 'a jolly old boy,'--one who is +naturally too hearty and too innocent to feel trouble of any sort. It is +not an original, but a model of a very famous original--whose history is +recorded in a faded scroll which Arakawa takes out of his other sleeve, +and which a friend translates for me. This little history throws a +curious light upon the simple-hearted ways of Japanese life and thought +in other centuries: + +'Two hundred and sixty years ago this doll was made by a famous maker of +No-masks in the city of Kyoto, for the Emperor Go-midzu-no-O. The +Emperor used to have it placed beside his pillow each night before he +slept, and was very fond of it. And he composed the following poem +concerning it: + +Yo no naka wo +Kiraku ni kurase +Nani goto mo +Omoeba omou +Omowaneba koso. [8]' + +'On the death of the Emperor this doll became the property of Prince +Konoye, in whose family it is said to be still preserved. + +'About one hundred and seven years ago, the then Ex-Empress, whose +posthumous name is Sei-Kwa-Mon-Yin, borrowed the doll from Prince +Konoye, and ordered a copy of it to be made. This copy she kept always +beside her, and was very fond of it. + +'After the death of the good Empress this doll was given to a lady of +the court, whose family name is not recorded. Afterwards this lady, for +reasons which are not known, cut off her hair and became a Buddhist nun +--taking the name of Shingyo-in. + +'And one who knew the Nun Shingyo-in--a man whose name was Kondo-ju- +haku-in-Hokyo--had the honour of receiving the doll as a gift. + +'Now I, who write this document, at one time fell sick; and my sickness +was caused by despondency. And my friend Kondo-ju-haku-in-Hokyo, coming +to see me, said: "I have in my house something which will make you +well." And he went home and, presently returning, brought to me this +doll, and lent it to me--putting it by my pillow that I might see it and +laugh at it. + +'Afterward, I myself, having called upon the Nun Shingyo-in, whom I now +also have the honour to know, wrote down the history of the doll, and +make a poem thereupon.' + +(Dated about ninety years ago: no signature.) + +º17 + +June 1, 1891 I find among the students a healthy tone of scepticism in +regard to certain forms of popular belief. Scientific education is +rapidly destroying credulity in old superstitions yet current among the +unlettered, and especially among the peasantry--as, for instance, faith +in mamori and ofuda. The outward forms of Buddhism--its images, its +relics, its commoner practices--affect the average student very little. +He is not, as a foreigner may be, interested in iconography, or +religious folklore, or the comparative study of religions; and in nine +cases out of ten he is rather ashamed of the signs and tokens of popular +faith all around him. But the deeper religious sense, which underlies +all symbolism, remains with him; and the Monistic Idea in Buddhism is +being strengthened and expanded, rather than weakened, by the new +education. What is true of the effect of the public schools upon the +lower Buddhism is equally true of its effect upon the lower Shinto. +Shinto the students all sincerely are, or very nearly all; yet not as +fervent worshippers of certain Kami, but as rigid observers of what the +higher Shinto signifies--loyalty, filial piety, obedience to parents, +teachers, and superiors, and respect to ancestors. For Shinto means more +than faith. + +When, for the first time, I stood before the shrine of the Great Deity +of Kitzuki, as the first Occidental to whom that privilege had been +accorded, not without a sense of awe there came to me the º 'This is the +Shrine of the Father of a Race; this is the symbolic centre of a +nation's reverence for its past.' And I, too, paid reverence to the +memory of the progenitor of this people. + +As I then felt, so feels the intelligent student of the Meiji era whom +education has lifted above the common plane of popular creeds. And +Shinto also means for him--whether he reasons upon the question or not-- +all the ethics of the family, and all that spirit of loyalty which has +become so innate that, at the call of duty, life itself ceases to have +value save as an instrument for duty's accomplishment. As yet, this +Orient little needs to reason about the origin of its loftier ethics. +Imagine the musical sense in our own race so developed that a child +could play a complicated instrument so soon as the little fingers gained +sufficient force and flexibility to strike the notes. By some such +comparison only can one obtain a just idea of what inherent religion and +instinctive duty signify in Izumo. + +Of the rude and aggressive form of scepticism so common in the Occident, +which is the natural reaction after sudden emancipation from +superstitious belief, I find no trace among my students. But such +sentiment may be found elsewhere--especially in Tokyo--among the +university students, one of whom, upon hearing the tones of a +magnificent temple bell, exclaimed to a friend of mine: 'Is it not a +shame that in this nineteenth century we must still hear such a sound?' + +For the benefit of curious travellers, however, I may here take occasion +to observe that to talk Buddhism to Japanese gentlemen of the new school +is in just as bad taste as to talk Christianity at home to men of that +class whom knowledge has placed above creeds and forms. There are, of +course, Japanese scholars willing to aid researches of foreign scholars +in religion or in folk-lore; but these specialists do not undertake to +gratify idle curiosity of the 'globe-trotting' description. I may also +say that the foreigner desirous to learn the religious ideas or +superstitions of the common people must obtain them from the people +themselves--not from the educated classes. + +º 18 + +Among all my favourite students--two or three from each class--I cannot +decide whom I like the best. Each has a particular merit of his own. But +I think the names and faces of those of whom I am about to speak will +longest remain vivid in my remembrance--Ishihara, Otani-Masanobu, +Adzukizawa, Yokogi, Shida. + +Ishihara is a samurai a very influential lad in his class because of his +uncommon force of character. Compared with others, he has a somewhat +brusque, independent manner, pleasing, however, by its honest manliness. +He says everything he thinks, and precisely in the tone that he thinks +it, even to the degree of being a little embarrassing sometimes. He does +not hesitate, for example, to find fault with a teacher's method of +explanation, and to insist upon a more lucid one. He has criticized me +more than once; but I never found that he was wrong. We like each other +very much. He often brings me flowers. + +One day that he had brought two beautiful sprays of plum-blossoms, he +said to me: + +'I saw you bow before our Emperor's picture at the ceremony on the +birthday of His Majesty. You are not like a former English teacher we +had.' + +'How?' + +'He said we were savages.' + +'Why?' + +'He said there is nothing respectable except God--his God--and that only +vulgar and ignorant people respect anything else.' + +'Where did he come from?' + +'He was a Christian clergyman, and said he was an English subject.' + +'But if he was an English subject, he was bound to respect Her Majesty +the Queen. He could not even enter the office of a British consul +without removing his hat.' + +'I don't know what he did in the country he came from. But that was what +he said. Now we think we should love and honour our Emperor. We think it +is a duty. We think it is a joy. We think it is happiness to be able to +give our lives for our Emperor. [9] But he said we were only savages-- +ignorant savages. What do you think of that?' + +'I think, my dear lad, that he himself was a savage--a vulgar, ignorant, +savage bigot. I think it is your highest social duty to honour your +Emperor, to obey his laws, and to be ready to give your blood whenever +he may require it of you for the sake of Japan. I think it is your duty +to respect the gods of your fathers, the religion of your country--even +if you yourself cannot believe all that others believe. And I think, +also, that it is your duty, for your Emperor's sake and for your +country's sake, to resent any such wicked and vulgar language as that +you have told me of, no matter by whom uttered.' + +Masanobu visits me seldom and always comes alone. A slender, handsome +lad, with rather feminine features, reserved and perfectly self- +possessed in manner, refined. He is somewhat serious, does not often +smile; and I never heard him laugh. He has risen to the head of his +class, and appears to remain there without any extraordinary effort. +Much of his leisure time he devotes to botany--collecting and +classifying plants. He is a musician, like all the male members of his +family. He plays a variety of instruments never seen or heard of in the +West, including flutes of marble, flutes of ivory, flutes of bamboo of +wonderful shapes and tones, and that shrill Chinese instrument called +sho--a sort of mouth-organ consisting of seventeen tubes of different +lengths fixed in a silver frame. He first explained to me the uses in +temple music of the taiko and shoko, which are drums; of the flutes +called fei or teki; of the flageolet termed hichiriki; and of the kakko, +which is a little drum shaped like a spool with very narrow waist, On +great Buddhist festivals, Masanobu and his father and his brothers are +the musicians in the temple services, and they play the strange music +called Ojo and Batto--music which at first no Western ear can feel +pleasure in, but which, when often heard, becomes comprehensible, and is +found to possess a weird charm of its own. When Masanobu comes to the +house, it is usually in order to invite me to attend some Buddhist or +Shinto festival (matsuri) which he knows will interest me. + +Adzukizawa bears so little resemblance to Masanobu that one might +suppose the two belonged to totally different races. Adzukizawa is +large, raw-boned, heavy-looking, with a face singularly like that of a +North American Indian. His people are not rich; he can afford few +pleasures which cost money, except one--buying books. Even to be able to +do this he works in his leisure hours to earn money. He is a perfect +bookworm, a natural-born researcher, a collector of curious documents, a +haunter of all the queer second-hand stores in Teramachi and other +streets where old manuscripts or prints are on sale as waste paper. He +is an omnivorous reader, and a perpetual borrower of volumes, which he +always returns in perfect condition after having copied what he deemed +of most value to him. But his special delight is philosophy and the +history of philosophers in all countries. He has read various epitomes +of the history of philosophy in the Occident, and everything of modern +philosophy which has been translated into Japanese--including Spencer's +First Principles. I have been able to introduce him to Lewes and John +Fiske--both of which he appreciates,--although the strain of studying +philosophy in English is no small one. Happily he is so strong that no +amount of study is likely to injure his health, and his nerves are tough +as wire. He is quite an ascetic withal. As it is the Japanese custom to +set cakes and tea before visitors, I always have both in readiness, and +an especially fine quality of kwashi, made at Kitzuki, of which the +students are very fond. Adzukizawa alone refuses to taste cakes or +confectionery of any kind, saying: 'As I am the youngest brother, I must +begin to earn my own living soon. I shall have to endure much hardship. +And if I allow myself to like dainties now, I shall only suffer more +later on.' Adzukizawa has seen much of human life and character. He is +naturally observant; and he has managed in some extraordinary way to +learn the history of everybody in Matsue. He has brought me old tattered +prints to prove that the opinions now held by our director are +diametrically opposed to the opinions he advocated fourteen years ago in +a public address. I asked the director about it. He laughed and said, +'Of course that is Adzukizawa! But he is right: I was very young then.' +And I wonder if Adzukizawa was ever young. + +Yokogi, Adzukizawa's dearest friend, is a very rare visitor; for he is +always studying at home. He is always first in his class--the third year +class--while Adzukizawa is fourth. Adzukizawa's account of the beginning +of their acquaintance is this: 'I watched him when he came and saw that +he spoke very little, walked very quickly, and looked straight into +everybody's eyes. So I knew he had a particular character. I like to +know people with a particular character.' Adzukizawa was perfectly +right: under a very gentle exterior, Yokogi has an extremely strong +character. He is the son of a carpenter; and his parents could not +afford to send him to the Middle School. But he had shown such +exceptional qualities while in the Elementary School that a wealthy man +became interested in him, and offered to pay for his education. [10] He +is now the pride of the school. He has a remarkably placid face, with +peculiarly long eyes, and a delicious smile. In class he is always +asking intelligent questions--questions so original that I am sometimes +extremely puzzled how to answer them; and he never ceases to ask until +the explanation is quite satisfactory to himself. He never cares about +the opinion of his comrades if he thinks he is right. On one occasion +when the whole class refused to attend the lectures of a new teacher of +physics, Yokogi alone refused to act with them--arguing that although +the teacher was not all that could be desired, there was no immediate +possibility of his removal, and no just reason for making unhappy a man +who, though unskilled, was sincerely doing his best. Adzukizawa finally +stood by him. These two alone attended the lectures until the remainder +of the students, two weeks later, found that Yokogi's views were +rational. On another occasion when some vulgar proselytism was attempted +by a Christian missionary, Yokogi went boldly to the proselytiser's +house, argued with him on the morality of his effort, and reduced him to +silence. Some of his comrades praised his cleverness in the argument. 'I +am not clever,' he made answer: 'it does not require cleverness to argue +against what is morally wrong; it requires only the knowledge that one +is morally right.' At least such is about the translation of what he +said as told me by Adzukizawa. + +Shida, another visitor, is a very delicate, sensitive boy, whose soul is +full of art. He is very skilful at drawing and painting; and he has a +wonderful set of picture-books by the Old Japanese masters. The last +time he came he brought some prints to show me--rare ones--fairy maidens +and ghosts. As I looked at his beautiful pale face and weirdly frail +fingers, I could not help fearing for him,--fearing that he might soon +become a little ghost. + +I have not seen him now for more than two months. He has been very, very +ill; and his lungs are so weak that the doctor has forbidden him to +converse. But Adzukizawa has been to visit him, and brings me this +translation of a Japanese letter which the sick boy wrote and pasted +upon the wall above his bed: + +'Thou, my Lord-Soul, dost govern me. Thou knowest that I cannot now +govern myself. Deign, I pray thee, to let me be cured speedily. Do not +suffer me to speak much. Make me to obey in all things the command of +the physician. + +'This ninth day of the eleventh month of the twenty-fourth year of +Meiji. + +'From the sick body of Shida to his Soul.' + +º19 + +September 4, 1891. The long summer vacation is over; a new school year +begins. There have been many changes. Some of the boys I taught are +dead. Others have graduated and gone away from Matsue for ever. Some +teachers, too, have left the school, and their places have been filled; +and there is a new Director. + +And the dear good Governor has gone--been transferred to cold Niigata in +the north-west. It was a promotion. But he had ruled Izumo for seven +years, and everybody loved him, especially, perhaps, the students, who +looked upon him as a father. All the population of the city crowded to +the river to bid him farewell. The streets through which he passed on +his way to take the steamer, the bridge, the wharves, even the roofs +were thronged with multitudes eager to see his face for the last time. +Thousands were weeping. And as the steamer glided from the wharf such a +cry arose--'A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a!' It was intended for a cheer, but it +seemed to me the cry of a whole city sorrowing, and so plaintive that I +hope never to hear such a cry again. + +The names and faces of the younger classes are all strange to me. +Doubtless this was why the sensation of my first day's teaching in the +school came back to me with extraordinary vividness when I entered the +class-room of First Division A this morning. + +Strangely pleasant is the first sensation of a Japanese class, as you +look over the ranges of young faces before you. There is nothing in them +familiar to inexperienced Western eyes; yet there is an indescribable +pleasant something common to all. Those traits have nothing incisive, +nothing forcible: compared with Occidental faces they seem but 'half- +sketched,' so soft their outlines are--indicating neither aggressiveness +nor shyness, neither eccentricity nor sympathy, neither curiosity nor +indifference. Some, although faces of youths well grown, have a childish +freshness and frankness indescribable; some are as uninteresting as +others are attractive; a few are beautifully feminine. But all are +equally characterized by a singular placidity--expressing neither love +nor hate nor anything save perfect repose and gentleness--like the +dreamy placidity of Buddhist images. At a later day you will no longer +recognise this aspect of passionless composure: with growing +acquaintance each face will become more and more individualised for you +by characteristics before imperceptible. But the recollection of that +first impression will remain with you and the time will come when you +will find, by many varied experiences, how strangely it foreshadowed +something in Japanese character to be fully learned only after years of +familiarity. You will recognize in the memory of that first impression +one glimpse of the race-soul, with its impersonal lovableness and its +impersonal weaknesses--one glimpse of the nature of a life in which the +Occidental, dwelling alone, feels a psychic comfort comparable only to +the nervous relief of suddenly emerging from some stifling atmospheric +pressure into thin, clear, free living air. + +º20 + +Was it not the eccentric Fourier who wrote about the horrible faces of +'the civilisÚs'? Whoever it was, would have found seeming confirmation +of his physiognomical theory could he have known the effect produced by +the first sight of European faces in the most eastern East. What we are +taught at home to consider handsome, interesting, or characteristic in +physiognomy does not produce the same impression in China or Japan. +Shades of facial expression familiar to us as letters of our own +alphabet are not perceived at all in Western features by these Orientals +at first acquaintance. What they discern at once is the race- +characteristic, not the individuality. The evolutional meaning of the +deep-set Western eye, protruding brow, accipitrine nose, ponderous jaw-- +symbols of aggressive force and habit--was revealed to the gentler race +by the same sort of intuition through which a tame animal immediately +comprehends the dangerous nature of the first predatory enemy which it +sees. To Europeans the smooth-featured, slender, low-statured Japanese +seemed like boys; and 'boy' is the term by which the native attendant of +a Yokohama merchant is still called. To Japanese the first red-haired, +rowdy, drunken European sailors seemed fiends, shojo, demons of the sea; +and by the Chinese the Occidentals are still called 'foreign devils.' +The great stature and massive strength and fierce gait of foreigners in +Japan enhanced the strange impression created by their faces. Children +cried for fear on seeing them pass through the streets. And in remoter +districts, Japanese children are still apt to cry at the first sight of +a European or American face. + +A lady of Matsue related in my presence this curious souvenir of her +childhood: 'When I was a very little girl,' she said, our daimyo hired a +foreigner to teach the military art. My father and a great many samurai +went to receive the foreigner; and all the people lined the streets to +see--for no foreigner had ever come to Izumo before; and we all went to +look. The foreigner came by ship: there were no steamboats here then. He +was very tall, and walked quickly with long steps; and the children +began to cry at the sight of him, because his face was not like the +faces of the people of Nihon. My little brother cried out loud, and hid +his face in mother's robe; and mother reproved him and said: "This +foreigner is a very good man who has come here to serve our prince; and +it is very disrespectful to cry at seeing him." But he still cried. I +was not afraid; and I looked up at the foreigner's face as he came and +smiled. He had a great beard; and I thought his face was good though it +seemed to me a very strange face and stern. Then he stopped and smiled +too, and put something in my hand, and touched my head and face very +softly with his great fingers, and said something I could not +understand, and went away. After he had gone I looked at what he put +into my hand and found that it was a pretty little glass to look +through. If you put a fly under that glass it looks quite big. At that +time I thought the glass was a very wonderful thing. I have it still.' +She took from a drawer in the room and placed before me a tiny, dainty +pocket-microscope. + +The hero of this little incident was a French military officer. His +services were necessarily dispensed with on the abolition of the feudal +system. Memories of him still linger in Matsue; and old people remember +a popular snatch about him--a sort of rapidly-vociferated rigmarole, +supposed to be an imitation of his foreign speech: + +Tojin no negoto niwa kinkarakuri medagasho, +Saiboji ga shimpeishite harishite keisan, +Hanryo na Sacr-r-r-r-r-Ú-na-nom-da-Jiu. + +º21 + +November 2, 1891. +Shida will never come to school again. He sleeps under the shadow of the +cedars, in the old cemetery of Tokoji. Yokogi, at the memorial service, +read a beautiful address (saibun) to the soul of his dead comrade. + +But Yokogi himself is down. And I am very much afraid for him. He is +suffering from some affection of the brain, brought on, the doctor says, +by studying a great deal too hard. Even if he gets well, he will always +have to be careful. Some of us hope much; for the boy is vigorously +built and so young. Strong Sakane burst a blood-vessel last month and is +now well. So we trust that Yokogi may rally. Adzukizawa daily brings +news of his friend. + +But the rally never comes. Some mysterious spring in the mechanism of +the young life has been broken. The mind lives only in brief intervals +between long hours of unconsciousness. Parents watch, and friends, for +these living moments to whisper caressing things, or to ask: 'Is there +anything thou dost wish?' And one night the answer comes: + +'Yes: I want to go to the school; I want to see the school.' + +Then they wonder if the fine brain has not wholly given way, while they +make answer: + +'It is midnight past, and there is no moon. And the night is cold.' + +'No; I can see by the stars--I want to see the school again.' + +They make kindliest protests in vain: the dying boy only repeats, with +the plaintive persistence of a last--'I want to see the school again; I +want to see it now.' So there is a murmured consultation in the +neighbouring room; and tansu-drawers are unlocked, warm garments +prepared. Then Fusaichi, the strong servant, enters with lantern +lighted, and cries out in his kind rough voice: + +'Master Tomi will go to the school upon my back: 'tis but a little way; +he shall see the school again. + +Carefully they wrap up the lad in wadded robes; then he puts his arms +about Fusaichi's shoulders like a child; and the strong servant bears +him lightly through the wintry street; and the father hurries beside +Fusaichi, bearing the lantern. And it is not far to the school, over the +little bridge. + +The huge dark grey building looks almost black in the night; but Yokogi +can see. He looks at the windows of his own classroom; at the roofed +side-door where each morning for four happy years he used to exchange +his getas for soundless sandals of straw; at the lodge of the slumbering +Kodzukai; [11] at the silhouette of the bell hanging black in its little +turret against the stars. Then he murmurs: + +'I can remember all now. I had forgotten--so sick I was. I remember +everything again: Oh, Fusaichi, you are very good. I am so glad to have +seen the school again.' + +And they hasten back through the long void streets. + + +º 22 + +November 26 1891. + +Yokogi will be buried to-morrow evening beside his comrade Shida. + +When a poor person is about to die, friends and neighbours come to the +house and do all they can to help the family. Some bear the tidings to +distant relatives; others prepare all necessary things; others, when the +death has been announced, summon the Buddhist priests. [12] + +It is said that the priests know always of a parishioner's death at +night, before any messenger is sent to them; for the soul of the dead +knocks heavily, once, upon the door of the family temple. Then the +priests arise and robe themselves, and when the messenger comes make +answer: 'We know: we are ready.' + +Meanwhile the body is carried out before the family butsudan, and laid +upon the floor. No pillow is placed under the head. A naked sword is +laid across the limbs to keep evil spirits away. The doors of the +butsudan are opened; and tapers are lighted before the tablets of the +ancestors; and incense is burned. All friends send gifts of incense. +Wherefore a gift of incense, however rare and precious, given upon any +other occasion, is held to be unlucky. + +But the Shinto household shrine must be hidden from view with white +paper; and the Shinto ofuda fastened upon the house door must be covered +up during all the period of mourning. [13] And in all that time no +member of the family may approach a Shinto temple, or pray to the Kami, +or even pass beneath a torii. + +A screen (biobu) is extended between the body and the principal entrance +of the death chamber; and the kaimyo, inscribed upon a strip of white +paper, is fastened upon the screen. If the dead be young the screen must +be turned upside-down; but this is not done in the case of old people. + +Friends pray beside the corpse. There a little box is placed, containing +one thousand peas, to be used for counting during the recital of those +one thousand pious invocations, which, it is believed, will improve the +condition of the soul on its unfamiliar journey. + +The priests come and recite the sutras; and then the body is prepared +for burial. It is washed in warm water, and robed all in white. But the +kimono of the dead is lapped over to the left side. Wherefore it is +considered unlucky at any other time to fasten one's kimono thus, even +by accident. + +When the body has been put into that strange square coffin which looks +something like a wooden palanquin, each relative puts also into the +coffin some of his or her hair or nail parings, symbolizing their blood. +And six rin are also placed in the coffin, for the six Jizo who stand at +the heads of the ways of the Six Shadowy Worlds. + +The funeral procession forms at the family residence. A priest leads it, +ringing a little bell; a boy bears the ihai of the newly dead. The van +of the procession is wholly composed of men--relatives and friends. Some +carry hata, white symbolic bannerets; some bear flowers; all carry paper +lanterns--for in Izumo the adult dead are buried after dark: only +children are buried by day. Next comes the kwan or coffin, borne +palanquin-wise upon the shoulders of men of that pariah caste whose +office it is to dig graves and assist at funerals. Lastly come the women +mourners. + +They are all white-hooded and white-robed from head to feet, like +phantoms. [14] Nothing more ghostly than this sheeted train of an +Izumo funeral procession, illuminated only by the glow of paper +lanterns, can be imagined. It is a weirdness that, once seen, will often +return in dreams. + +At the temple the kwan is laid upon the pavement before the entrance; +and another service is performed, with plaintive music and recitation of +sutras. Then the procession forms again, winds once round the temple +court, and takes its way to the cemetery. But the body is not buried +until twenty-four hours later, lest the supposed dead should awake in +the grave. + +Corpses are seldom burned in Izumo. In this, as in other matters, the +predominance of Shinto sentiment is manifest. + +º23 + +For the last time I see his face again, as he lies upon his bed of +death--white-robed from neck to feet--white-girdled for his shadowy +journey--but smiling with closed eyes in almost the same queer gentle +way he was wont to smile at class on learning the explanation of some +seeming riddle in our difficult English tongue. Only, methinks, the +smile is sweeter now, as with sudden larger knowledge of more mysterious +things. So smiles, through dusk of incense in the great temple of +Tokoji, the golden face of Buddha. + +º24 + +December 23, 1891. The great bell of Tokoji is booming for the memorial +service--for the tsuito-kwai of Yokogi--slowly and regularly as a +minute-gun. Peal on peal of its rich bronze thunder shakes over the +lake, surges over the roofs of the town, and breaks in deep sobs of +sound against the green circle of the hills. + +It is a touching service, this tsuito-kwai, with quaint ceremonies +which, although long since adopted into Japanese Buddhism, are of +Chinese origin and are beautiful. It is also a costly ceremony; and the +parents of Yokogi are very poor. But all the expenses have been paid by +voluntary subscription of students and teachers. Priests from every +great temple of the Zen sect in Izumo have assembled at Tokoji. All the +teachers of the city and all the students have entered the hondo of the +huge temple, and taken their places to the right and to the left of the +high altar--kneeling on the matted floor, and leaving, on the long broad +steps without, a thousand shoes and sandals. + +Before the main entrance, and facing the high shrine, a new butsudan has +been placed, within whose open doors the ihai of the dead boy glimmers +in lacquer and gilding. And upon a small stand before the butsudan have +been placed an incense-vessel with bundles of senko-rods and offerings +of fruits, confections, rice, and flowers. Tall and beautiful flower- +vases on each side of the butsudan are filled with blossoming sprays, +exquisitely arranged. Before the honzon tapers burn in massive +candelabra whose stems of polished brass are writhing monsters--the +Dragon Ascending and the Dragon Descending; and incense curls up from +vessels shaped like the sacred deer, like the symbolic tortoise, like +the meditative stork of Buddhist legend. And beyond these, in the +twilight of the vast alcove, the Buddha smiles the smile of Perfect +Rest. + +Between the butsudan and the honzon a little table has been placed; and +on either side of it the priests kneel in ranks, facing each other: rows +of polished heads, and splendours of vermilion silks and vestments gold- +embroidered. + +The great bell ceases to peal; the Segaki prayer, which is the prayer +uttered when offerings of food are made to the spirits of the dead, is +recited; and a sudden sonorous measured tapping, accompanied by a +plaintive chant, begins the musical service. The tapping is the tapping +of the mokugyo--a huge wooden fish-head, lacquered and gilded, like the +head of a dolphin grotesquely idealised--marking the time; and the chant +is the chant of the Chapter of Kwannon in the Hokkekyo, with its +magnificent invocation: + +'O Thou whose eyes are clear, whose eyes are kind, whose eyes are full +of pity and of sweetness--O Thou Lovely One, with thy beautiful face, +with thy beautiful eye--O Thou Pure One, whose luminosity is without +spot, whose knowledge is without shado--O Thou forever shining like that +Sun whose glory no power may repel--Thou Sun-like in the course of Thy +mercy, pourest Light upon the world!' + +And while the voices of the leaders chant clear and high in vibrant +unison, the multitude of the priestly choir recite in profoundest +undertone the mighty verses; and the sound of their recitation is like +the muttering of surf. + +The mokugyo ceases its dull echoing, the impressive chant ends, and the +leading officiants, one by one, high priests of famed temples, approach +the ihai. Each bows low, ignites an incense-rod, and sets it upright in +the little vase of bronze. Each at a time recites a holy verse of which +the initial sound is the sound of a letter in the kaimyo of the dead +boy; and these verses, uttered in the order of the characters upon the +ihai, form the sacred Acrostic whose name is The Words of Perfume. + +Then the priests retire to their places; and after a little silence +begins the reading of the saibun--the reading of the addresses to the +soul of the dead. The students speak first--one from each class, chosen +by election. The elected rises, approaches the little table before the +high altar, bows to the honzon, draws from his bosom a paper and reads +it in those melodious, chanting, and plaintive tones which belong to the +reading of Chinese texts. So each one tells the affection of the living +to the dead, in words of loving grief and loving hope. And last among +the students a gentle girl rises--a pupil of the Normal School--to speak +in tones soft as a bird's. As each saibun is finished, the reader lays +the written paper upon the table before the honzon, and bows; and +retires. + +It is now the turn of the teachers; and an old man takes his place at +the little table--old Katayama, the teacher of Chinese, famed as a poet, +adored as an instructor. And because the students all love him as a +father, there is a strange intensity of silence as he begins-- +Ko-Shimane-Ken-Jinjo-Chugakko-yo-nen-sei: + +'Here upon the twenty-third day of the twelfth month of the twenty- +fourth year of Meiji, I, Katayama Shokei, teacher of the Jinjo Chugakko +of Shimane Ken, attending in great sorrow the holy service of the dead +[tsui-fuku], do speak unto the soul of Yokogi Tomisaburo, my pupil. + +'Having been, as thou knowest, for twice five years, at different +periods, a teacher of the school, I have indeed met with not a few most +excellent students. But very, very rarely in any school may the teacher +find one such as thou--so patient and so earnest, so diligent and so +careful in all things--so distinguished among thy comrades by thy +blameless conduct, observing every precept, never breaking a rule. + +'Of old in the land of Kihoku, famed for its horses, whenever a horse of +rarest breed could not be obtained, men were wont to say: "There is no +horse." Still there are many line lads among our students--many ryume, +fine young steeds; but we have lost the best. + +'To die at the age of seventeen--the best period of life for study--even +when of the Ten Steps thou hadst already ascended six! Sad is the +thought; but sadder still to know that thy last illness was caused only +by thine own tireless zeal of study. Even yet more sad our conviction +that with those rare gifts, and with that rare character of thine, thou +wouldst surely, in that career to which thou wast destined, have +achieved good and great things, honouring the names of thine ancestors, +couldst thou have lived to manhood. + +'I see thee lifting thy hand to ask some question; then bending above +thy little desk to make note of all thy poor old teacher was able to +tell thee. Again I see thee in the ranks--thy rifle upon thy shoulder-- +so bravely erect during the military exercises. Even now thy face is +before me, with its smile, as plainly as if thou wert present in the +body--thy voice I think I hear distinctly as though thou hadst but this +instant finished speaking; yet I know that, except in memory, these +never will be seen and heard again. O Heaven, why didst thou take away +that dawning life from the world, and leave such a one as I--old Shokei, +feeble, decrepit, and of no more use? + +'To thee my relation was indeed only that of teacher to pupil. Yet what +is my distress! I have a son of twenty-four years; he is now far from +me, in Yokohama. I know he is only a worthless youth; [15] yet never +for so much as the space of one hour does the thought of him leave his +old father's heart. Then how must the father and mother, the brothers +and the sisters of this gentle and gifted youth feel now that he is +gone! Only to think of it forces the tears from my eyes: I cannot speak +--so full my heart is. + +'Aa! aa!--thou hast gone from us; thou hast gone from us! Yet though +thou hast died, thy earnestness, thy goodness, will long be honoured and +told of as examples to the students of our school. + +'Here, therefore, do we, thy teachers and thy schoolmates, hold this +service in behalf of thy spirit,--with prayer and offerings. Deign thou, +0 gentle Soul, to honour our love by the acceptance of our humble +gifts.' + +Then a sound of sobbing is suddenly whelmed by the resonant booming of +the great fish's-head, as the high-pitched voices of the leaders of the +chant begin the grand Nehan-gyo, the Sutra of Nirvana, the song of +passage triumphant over the Sea of Death and Birth; and deep below those +high tones and the hollow echoing of the mokugyo, the surging bass of a +century of voices reciting the sonorous words, sounds like the breaking +of a sea: + +'Sho-gyo mu-jo, je-sho meppo.--Transient are all. They, being born, must +die. And being born, are dead. And being dead, are glad to be at rest.' + + + +CHAPTER FIVE Two Strange Festivals + +THE outward signs of any Japanese matsuri are the most puzzling of +enigmas to the stranger who sees them for the first time. They are many +and varied; they are quite unlike anything in the way of holiday +decoration ever seen in the Occident; they have each a meaning founded +upon some belief or some tradition--a meaning known to every Japanese +child; but that meaning is utterly impossible for any foreigner to +guess. Yet whoever wishes to know something of Japanese popular life and +feeling must learn the signification of at least the most common among +festival symbols and tokens. Especially is such knowledge necessary to +the student of Japanese art: without it, not only the delicate humour +and charm of countless designs must escape him, but in many instances +the designs themselves must remain incomprehensible to him. For +hundreds of years the emblems of festivity have been utilised by the +Japanese in graceful decorative ways: they figure in metalwork, on +porcelain, on the red or black lacquer of the humblest household +utensils, on little brass pipes, on the clasps of tobacco-pouches. It +may even be said that the majority of common decorative design is +emblematical. The very figures of which the meaning seems most +obvious--those matchless studies [1] of animal or vegetable life with +which the Western curio-buyer is most familiar--have usually some +ethical signification which is not perceived at all. Or take the +commonest design dashed with a brush upon the fusuma of a cheap hotel--a +lobster, sprigs of pine, tortoises waddling in a curl of water, a pair +of storks, a spray of bamboo. It is rarely that a foreign tourist +thinks of asking why such designs are used instead of others, even +when he has seen them repeated, with slight variation, at twenty +different places along his route. They have become conventional simply +because they are emblems of which the sense is known to all Japanese, +however ignorant, but is never even remotely suspected by the stranger. + +The subject is one about which a whole encyclopaedia might be written, +but about which I know very little--much too little for a special essay. +But I may venture, by way of illustration, to speak of the curious +objects exhibited during two antique festivals still observed in all +parts of Japan. + +º2 + +The first is the Festival of the New Year, which lasts for three days. +In Matsue its celebration is particularly interesting, as the old city +still preserves many matsuri customs which have either become, or are +rapidly becoming, obsolete elsewhere. The streets are then profusely +decorated, and all shops are closed. Shimenawa or shimekazari--the straw +ropes which have been sacred symbols of Shinto from the mythical age-- +are festooned along the faþades of the dwellings, and so inter-joined +that you see to right or left what seems but a single mile-long +shimenawa, with its straw pendents and white fluttering paper gohei, +extending along either side of the street as far as the eye can reach. +Japanese flags--bearing on a white ground the great crimson disk which +is the emblem of the Land of the Rising Sun--flutter above the gateways; +and the same national emblem glows upon countless paper lanterns strung +in rows along the eaves or across the streets and temple avenues. And +before every gate or doorway a kadomatsu ('gate pine-tree') has been +erected. So that all the ways are lined with green, and full of bright +colour. + +The kadomatsu is more than its name implies. It is a young pine, or part +of a pine, conjoined with plum branches and bamboo cuttings. [2] Pine, +plum, and bamboo are growths of emblematic significance. Anciently the +pine alone was used; but from the era of O-ei, the bamboo was added; and +within more recent times the plum-tree. + +The pine has many meanings. But the fortunate one most generally +accepted is that of endurance and successful energy in time of +misfortune. As the pine keeps its green leaves when other trees lose +their foliage, so the true man keeps his courage and his strength in +adversity. The pine is also, as I have said elsewhere, a symbol of +vigorous old age. + +No European could possibly guess the riddle of the bamboo. It represents +a sort of pun in symbolism. There are two Chinese characters both +pronounced setsu--one signifying the node or joint of the bamboo, and +the other virtue, fidelity, constancy. Therefore is the bamboo used as a +felicitous sign. The name 'Setsu,' be it observed, is often given to +Japanese maidens--just as the names 'Faith,' 'Fidelia,' and 'Constance' +are given to English girls. + +The plum-tree--of whose emblematic meaning I said something in a former +paper about Japanese gardens--is not invariably used, however; sometimes +sakaki, the sacred plant of Shinto, is substituted for it; and sometimes +only pine and bamboo form the kadomatsu. + +Every decoration used upon the New Year's festival has a meaning of a +curious and unfamiliar kind; and the very cornmonest of all--the straw +rope--possesses the most complicated symbolism. In the first place it is +scarcely necessary to explain that its origin belongs to that most +ancient legend of the Sun-Goddess being tempted to issue from the cavern +into which she had retired, and being prevented from returning thereunto +by a deity who stretched a rope of straw across the entrance--all of +which is written in the Kojiki. Next observe that, although the +shimenawa may be of any thickness, it must be twisted so that the +direction of the twist is to the left; for in ancient Japanese +philosophy the left is the 'pure' or fortunate side: owing perhaps to +the old belief, common among the uneducated of Europe to this day, that +the heart lies to the left. Thirdly, note that the pendent straws, which +hang down from the rope at regular intervals, in tufts, like fringing, +must be of different numbers according to the place of the tufts, +beginning with the number three: so that the first tuft has three +straws, the second live, the third seven, the fourth again three, the +fifth five, and the sixth seven--and so on, the whole length of the +rope. The origin of the pendent paper cuttings (gohei), which alternate +with the straw tufts, is likewise to be sought in the legend of the +Sun-Goddess; but the gohei also represent offerings of cloth anciently +made to the gods according to a custom long obsolete. + +But besides the gohei, there are many other things attached to the +shimenawa of which you could not imagine the signification. Among these +are fern-leaves, bitter oranges, yuzuri-leaves, and little bundles of +charcoal. + +Why fern-leaves (moromoki or urajiro)? Because the fern-leaf is the +symbol of the hope of exuberant posterity: even as it branches and +branches so may the happy family increase and multiply through the +generations. + +Why bitter oranges (daidai)? Because there is a Chinese word daidai +signifying 'from generation unto generation.' Wherefore the fruit called +daidai has become a fruit of good omen. + +But why charcoal (sumi)? It signifies 'prosperous changelessness.' Here +the idea is decidedly curious. Even as the colour of charcoal cannot be +changed, so may the fortunes of those we love remain for ever unchanged +In all that gives happiness! The signification of the yuzuri-leaf I +explained in a former paper. + +Besides the great shimenawa in front of the house, shimenawa or +shimekazari [3] are suspended above the toko, or alcoves, in each +apartment; and over the back gate, or over the entrance to the gallery +of the second story (if there be a second story), is hung a 'wajime, +which is a very small shimekazari twisted into a sort of wreath, and +decorated with fern-leaves, gohei, and yuzuri-leaves. + +But the great domestic display of the festival is the decoration of the +kamidana--the shelf of the Gods. Before the household miya are placed +great double rice cakes; and the shrine is beautiful with flowers, a +tiny shimekazari, and sprays of sakaki. There also are placed a string +of cash; kabu (turnips); daikon (radishes); a tai-fish, which is the +'king of fishes,' dried slices of salt cuttlefish; jinbaso, of 'the +Seaweed of the horse of the God'; [4] also the seaweed kombu, which is a +symbol of pleasure and of joy, because its name is deemed to be a +homonym for gladness; and mochibana, artificial blossoms formed of rice +flour and straw. + +The sambo is a curiously shaped little table on which offer-ings are +made to the Shinto gods; and almost every well-to-do household in hzumo +has its own sambo--such a family sambo being smaller, however, than +sambo used in the temples. At the advent of the New Year's Festival, +bitter oranges, rice, and rice-flour cakes, native sardines (iwashi), +chikara-iwai ('strength-rice-bread'), black peas, dried chestnuts, and a +fine lobster, are all tastefully arranged upon the family sambo. Before +each visitor the sambo is set; and the visitor, by saluting it with a +prostration, expresses not only his heartfelt wish that all the good- +fortune symbolised by the objects upon the sambo may come to the family, +but also his reverence for the household gods. The black peas (mame) +signify bodily strength and health, because a word similarly pronounced, +though written with a different ideograph, means 'robust.' But why a +lobster? Here we have another curious conception. The lobster's body is +bent double: the body of the man who lives to a very great old age is +also bent. Thus the Lobster stands for a symbol of extreme old age; and +in artistic design signifies the wish that our friends may live so long +that they will become bent like lobsters--under the weight of years. And +the dried chestnut (kachiguri) are emblems of success, because the first +character of their name in Japanese is the homonym of kachi, which means +'victory,' 'conquest.' + +There are at least a hundred other singular customs and emblems +belonging to the New Year's Festival which would require a large volume +to describe. I have mentioned only a few which immediately appear to +even casual observation. + +º3 + +The other festival I wish, to refer to is that of the Setsubun, which, +according to the ancient Japanese calendar, corresponded with the +beginning of the natural year--the period when winter first softens into +spring. It is what we might term, according to Professor Chamberlain, 'a +sort of movable feast'; and it is chiefly famous for the curious +ceremony of the casting out of devils--Oni-yarai. On the eve of the +Setsubun, a little after dark, the Yaku-otoshi, or caster-out of devils, +wanders through the streets from house to house, rattling his shakujo, +[5] and uttering his strange professional cry: 'Oni wa soto!--fuku wa +uchi!' [Devils out! Good-fortune in!] For a trifling fee he performs his +little exorcism in any house to which he is called. This simply consists +in the recitation of certain parts of a Buddhist kyo, or sutra, and the +rattling of the shakujo Afterwards dried peas (shiro-mame) are thrown +about the house in four directions. For some mysterious reason, devils +do not like dried peas--and flee therefrom. The peas thus scattered are +afterward swept up and carefully preserved until the first clap of +spring thunder is heard, when it is the custom to cook and eat some of +them. But just why, I cannot find out; neither can I discover the origin +of the dislike of devils for dried peas. On the subject of this dislike, +however, I confess my sympathy with devils. + +After the devils have been properly cast out, a small charm is placed +above all the entrances of the dwelling to keep them from coming back +again. This consists of a little stick about the length and thickness of +a skewer, a single holly-leaf, and the head of a dried iwashi--a fish +resembling a sardine. The stick is stuck through the middle of the +holly-leaf; and the fish's head is fastened into a split made in one end +of the stick; the other end being slipped into some joint of the timber- +work immediately above a door. But why the devils are afraid of the +holly-leaf and the fish's head, nobody seems to know. Among the people +the origin of all these curious customs appears to be quite forgotten; +and the families of the upper classes who still maintain such customs +believe in the superstitions relating to the festival just as little as +Englishmen to-day believe in the magical virtues of mistletoe or ivy. + +This ancient and merry annual custom of casting out devils has been for +generations a source of inspiration to Japanese artists. It is only +after a fair acquaintance with popular customs and ideas that the +foreigner can learn to appreciate the delicious humour of many art- +creations which he may wish, indeed, to buy just because they are so +oddly attractive in themselves, but which must really remain enigmas to +him, so far as their inner meaning is concerned, unless he knows +Japanese life. The other day a friend gave me a little card-case of +perfumed leather. On one side was stamped in relief the face of a devil, +through the orifice of whose yawning mouth could be seen--painted upon +the silk lining of the interior--the laughing, chubby face of Otafuku, +joyful Goddess of Good Luck. In itself the thing was very curious and +pretty; but the real merit of its design was this comical symbolism of +good wishes for the New Year: 'Oni wa soto!--fuku wa uchi!' + +º4 + +Since I have spoken of the custom of eating some of the Setsubun peas at +the time of the first spring thunder, I may here take the opportunity to +say a few words about superstitions in regard to thunder which have not +yet ceased to prevail among the peasantry. + +When a thunder-storm comes, the big brown mosquito curtains are +suspended, and the women and children--perhaps the whole family--squat +down under the curtains till the storm is over. From ancient days it has +been believed that lightning cannot kill anybody under a mosquito +curtain. The Raiju, or Thunder-Animal, cannot pass through a mosquito- +curtain. Only the other day, an old peasant who came to the house with +vegetables to sell told us that he and his whole family, while crouching +under their mosquito-netting during a thunderstorm, actually, saw the +Lightning rushing up and down the pillar of the balcony opposite their +apartment--furiously clawing the woodwork, but unable to enter because +of the mosquito-netting. His house had been badly damaged by a flash; +but he supposed the mischief to have been accomplished by the Claws of +the Thunder-Animal. + +The Thunder-Animal springs from tree to tree during a storm, they say; +wherefore to stand under trees in time of thunder and lightning is very +dangerous: the Thunder-Animal might step on one's head or shoulders. The +Thunder-Animal is also alleged to be fond of eating the human navel; for +which reason people should be careful to keep their navels well covered +during storms, and to lie down upon their stomachs if possible. Incense +is always burned during storms, because the Thunder-Animal hates the +smell of incense. A tree stricken by lightning is thought to have been +torn and scarred by the claws of the Thunder-Animal; and fragments of +its bark and wood are carefully collected and preserved by dwellers in +the vicinity; for the wood of a blasted tree is alleged to have the +singular virtue of curing toothache. + +There are many stories of the Raiju having been caught and caged. Once, +it is said, the Thunder-Animal fell into a well, and got entangled in +the ropes and buckets, and so was captured alive. And old Izumo folk say +they remember that the Thunder-Animal was once exhibited in the court of +the Temple of Tenjin in Matsue, inclosed in a cage of brass; and that +people paid one sen each to look at it. It resembled a badger. When the +weather was clear it would sleep contentedly in its, cage. But when +there was thunder in the air, it would become excited, and seem to +obtain great strength, and its eyes would flash dazzlingly. + +º5 + +There is one very evil spirit, however, who is not in the least afraid +of dried peas, and who cannot be so easily got rid of as the common +devils; and that is Bimbogami. + +But in Izumo people know a certain household charm whereby Bimbogami may +sometimes be cast out. + +Before any cooking is done in a Japanese kitchen, the little charcoal +fire is first blown to a bright red heat with that most useful and +simple household utensil called a hifukidake. The hifukidake ('fire- +blow-bamboo') is a bamboo tube usually about three feet long and about +two inches in diameter. At one end--the end which is to be turned toward +the fire--only a very small orifice is left; the woman who prepares the +meal places the other end to her lips, and blows through the tube upon +the kindled charcoal. Thus a quick fire may be obtained in a few +minutes. + +In course of time the hifukidake becomes scorched and cracked and +useless. A new 'fire-blow-tube' is then made; and the old one is used as +a charm against Bimbogami. One little copper coin (rin) is put into it, +some magical formula is uttered, and then the old utensil, with the rin +inside of it, is either simply thrown out through the front gate into +the street, or else flung into some neighbouring stream. This--I know +not why--is deemed equivalent to pitching Bimbogami out of doors, and +rendering it impossible for him to return during a considerable period. + +It may be asked how is the invisible presence of Bimbogami to be +detected. + +The little insect which makes that weird ticking noise at night called +in England the Death-watch has a Japanese relative named by the people +Bimbomushi, or the 'Poverty-Insect.' It is said to be the servant of +Bimbogami, the God of Poverty; and its ticking in a house is believed to +signal the presence of that most unwelcome deity. + +º6 + +One more feature of the Setsubun festival is worthy of mention--the sale +of the hitogata ('people-shapes'). These: are little figures, made of +white paper, representing men, women, and children. They are cut out +with a few clever scissors strokes; and the difference of sex is +indicated by variations in the shape of the sleeves and the little paper +obi. They are sold in the Shinto temples. The purchaser buys one for +every member of the family--the priest writing upon each the age and sex +of the person for whom it is intended. These hitogata are then taken +home and distributed; and each person slightly rubs his body or her body +with the paper, and says a little Shinto prayer. Next day the hitogata +are returned to the kannushi, who, after having recited certain formulae +over them, burns them with holy fire. [6] By this ceremony it is hoped +that all physical misfortunes will be averted from the family during a +year. + + + +Chapter Six By the Japanese Sea + +º1 + +IT is the fifteenth day of the seventh month--and I am in Hokii. + +The blanched road winds along a coast of low cliffs--the coast of the +Japanese Sea. Always on the left, over a narrow strip of stony land, or +a heaping of dunes, its vast expanse appears, blue-wrinkling to that +pale horizon beyond which Korea lies, under the same white sun. +Sometimes, through sudden gaps in the cliff's verge, there flashes to us +the running of the surf. Always upon the right another sea--a silent sea +of green, reaching to far misty ranges of wooded hills, with huge pale +peaks behind them--a vast level of rice-fields, over whose surface +soundless waves keep chasing each other under the same great breath that +moves the blue to-day from Chosen to Japan. + +Though during a week the sky has remained unclouded, the sea has for +several days been growing angrier; and now the muttering of its surf +sounds far into the land. They say that it always roughens thus during +the period of the Festival of the Dead--the three days of the Bon, which +are the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth of the seventh month by +the ancient calendar. And on the sixteenth day, after the shoryobune, +which are the Ships of Souls, have been launched, no one dares to enter +it: no boats can then be hired; all the fishermen remain at home. For on +that day the sea is the highway of the dead, who must pass back over its +waters to their mysterious home; and therefore upon that day is it +called Hotoke-umi--the Buddha-Flood--the Tide of the Returning Ghosts. +And ever upon the night of that sixteenth day--whether the sea be calm +or tumultuous--all its surface shimmers with faint lights gliding out to +the open,--the dim fires of the dead; and there is heard a murmuring of +voices, like the murmur of a city far-off,--the indistinguishable speech +of souls. + +º2 + +But it may happen that some vessel, belated in spite of desperate effort +to reach port, may find herself far out at sea upon the night of the +sixteenth day. Then will the dead rise tall about the ship, and reach +long hands and murmur: 'Tago, tago o-kure!--tago o-kure!' [1] Never may +they be refused; but, before the bucket is given, the bottom of it must +be knocked out. Woe to all on board should an entire tago be suffered to +fall even by accident into the sea!--for the dead would at once use it +to fill and sink the ship. + +Nor are the dead the only powers invisible dreaded in the time of the +Hotoke-umi. Then are the Ma most powerful, and the Kappa. [2] + +But in all times the swimmer fears the Kappa, the Ape of Waters, hideous +and obscene, who reaches up from the deeps to draw men down, and to +devour their entrails. + +Only their entrails. + +The corpse of him who has been seized by the Kappa may be cast on shore +after many days. Unless long battered against the rocks by heavy surf, +or nibbled by fishes, it will show no outward wound. But it will be +light and hollow--empty like a long-dried gourd. + +º3 + +Betimes, as we journey on, the monotony of undulating blue on the left, +or the monotony of billowing green upon the right, is broken by the grey +apparition of a cemetery--a cemetery so long that our jinricksha men, at +full run, take a full quarter of an hour to pass the huge congregation +of its perpendicular stones. Such visions always indicate the approach +of villages; but the villages prove to be as surprisingly small as the +cemeteries are surprisingly large. By hundreds of thousands do the +silent populations of the hakaba outnumber the folk of the hamlets to +which they belong--tiny thatched settlements sprinkled along the leagues +of coast, and sheltered from the wind only by ranks of sombre pines. +Legions on legions of stones--a host of sinister witnesses of the cost +of the present to the past--and old, old, old!--hundreds so long in +place that they have been worn into shapelessness merely by the blowing +of sand from the dunes, and their inscriptions utterly effaced. It is as +if one were passing through the burial-ground of all who ever lived on +this wind-blown shore since the being of the land. + +And in all these hakaba--for it is the Bon--there are new lanterns +before the newer tombs--the white lanterns which are the lanterns of +graves. To-night the cemeteries will be all aglow with lights like the +fires of a city for multitude. But there are also unnumbered tombs +before which no lanterns are--elder myriads, each the token of a family +extinct, or of which the absent descendants have forgotten even the +name. Dim generations whose ghosts have none to call them back, no local +memories to love--so long ago obliterated were all things related to +their lives. + +º4 + +Now many of these villages are only fishing settlements, and in them +stand old thatched homes of men who sailed away on some eve of tempest, +and never came back. Yet each drowned sailor has his tomb in the +neighbouring hakaba, and beneath it something of him has been buried. + +What? + +Among these people of the west something is always preserved which in +other lands is cast away without a thought--the hozo-no-o, the flower- +stalk of a life, the navel-string of the newly-born. It is enwrapped +carefully in many wrappings; and upon its outermost covering are written +the names of the father, the mother, and the infant, together with the +date and hour of birth,--and it is kept in the family o-'mamori-bukuro. +The daughter, becoming a bride, bears it with her to her new home: for +the son it is preserved by his parents. It is buried with the dead; and +should one die in a foreign land, or perish at sea, it is entombed in +lieu of the body. + +º5 + +Concerning them that go down into the sea in ships, and stay there, +strange beliefs prevail on this far coast--beliefs more primitive, +assuredly, than the gentle faith which hangs white lanterns before the +tombs. Some hold that the drowned never journey to the Meido. They +quiver for ever in the currents; they billow in the swaying of tides; +they toil in the wake of the junks; they shout in the plunging of +breakers. 'Tis their white hands that toss in the leap of the surf; +their clutch that clatters the shingle, or seizes the swimmer's feet in +the pull of the undertow. And the seamen speak euphemistically of the +O-'bake, the honourable ghosts, and fear them with a great fear. + +Wherefore cats are kept on board! + +A cat, they aver, has power to keep the O-bake away. How or why, I have +not yet found any to tell me. I know only that cats are deemed to have +power over the dead. If a cat be left alone with a corpse, will not the +corpse arise and dance? And of all cats a mike-neko, or cat of three +colours, is most prized on this account by sailors. But if they cannot +obtain one--and cats of three colours are rare--they will take another +kind of cat; and nearly every trading junk has a cat; and when the junk +comes into port, its cat may generally be seen--peeping through some +little window in the vessel's side, or squatting in the opening where +the great rudder works--that is, if the weather be fair and the sea +still. + +º6 + +But these primitive and ghastly beliefs do not affect the beautiful +practices of Buddhist faith in the time of the Bon; and from all these +little villages the shoryobune are launched upon the sixteenth day. They +are much more elaborately and expensively constructed on this coast than +in some other parts of Japan; for though made of straw only, woven over +a skeleton framework, they are charming models of junks, complete in +every detail. Some are between three and four feet long. On the white +paper sail is written the kaimyo or soul-name of the dead. There is a +small water-vessel on board, filled with fresh water, and an incense- +cup; and along the gunwales flutter little paper banners bearing the +mystic manji, which is the Sanscrit swastika.[3] + + +The form of the shoryobune and the customs in regard to the time and +manner of launching them differ much in different provinces. In most +places they are launched for the family dead in general, wherever +buried; and they are in some places launched only at night, with small +lanterns on board. And I am told also that it is the custom at certain +sea-villages to launch the lanterns all by themselves, in lieu of the +shoryobune proper--lanterns of a particular kind being manufactured for +that purpose only. + +But on the Izumo coast, and elsewhere along this western shore, the +soul-boats are launched only for those who have been drowned at sea, and +the launching takes place in the morning instead of at night. Once every +year, for ten years after death, a shoryobune is launched; in the +eleventh year the ceremony ceases. Several shoryobune which I saw at +Inasa were really beautiful, and must have cost a rather large sum for +poor fisher-folk to pay. But the ship-carpenter who made them said that +all the relatives of a drowned man contribute to purchase the little +vessel, year after year. + +º7 + +Near a sleepy little village called Kanii-ichi I make a brief halt in +order to visit a famous sacred tree. It is in a grove close to the +public highway, but upon a low hill. Entering the grove I find myself in +a sort of miniature glen surrounded on three sides by very low cliffs, +above which enormous pines are growing, incalculably old. Their vast +coiling roots have forced their way through the face of the cliffs, +splitting rocks; and their mingling crests make a green twilight in the +hollow. One pushes out three huge roots of a very singular shape; and +the ends of these have been wrapped about with long white papers bearing +written prayers, and with offerings of seaweed. The shape of these +roots, rather than any tradition, would seem to have made the tree +sacred in popular belief: it is the object of a special cult; and a +little torii has been erected before it, bearing a votive annunciation +of the most artless and curious kind. I cannot venture to offer a +translation of it--though for the anthropologist and folk-lorist it +certainly possesses peculiar interest. The worship of the tree, or at +least of the Kami supposed to dwell therein, is one rare survival of a +phallic cult probably common to most primitive races, and formerly +widespread in Japan. Indeed it was suppressed by the Government scarcely +more than a generation ago. On the opposite side of the little hollow, +carefully posed upon a great loose rock, I see something equally artless +and almost equally curious--a kitoja-no-mono, or ex-voto. Two straw +figures joined together and reclining side by side: a straw man and a +straw woman. The workmanship is childishly clumsy; but still, the woman +can be distinguished from the man by .the ingenious attempt to imitate +the female coiffure with a straw wisp. And as the man is represented +with a queue--now worn only by aged survivors of the feudal era--I +suspect that this kitoja-no-mono was made after some ancient and +strictly conventional model. + +Now this queer ex-voto tells its own story. Two who loved each other +were separated by the fault of the man; the charm of some joro, perhaps, +having been the temptation to faithlessness. + +Then the wronged one came here and prayed the Kami to dispel the +delusion of passion and touch the erring heart. The prayer has been +heard; the pair have been reunited; and she has therefore made these two +quaint effigies 'with her own hands, and brought them to the Kami of the +pine--tokens of her innocent faith and her grateful heart. + +º8 + +Night falls as we reach the pretty hamlet of Hamamura, our last resting- +place by the sea, for to-morrow our way lies inland. The inn at which we +lodge is very small, but very clean and cosy; and there is a delightful +bath of natural hot water; for the yadoya is situated close to a natural +spring. This spring, so strangely close to the sea beach, also +furnishes, I am told, the baths of all the houses in the village. + +The best room is placed at our disposal; but I linger awhile to examine +a very fine shoryobune, waiting, upon a bench near the street entrance, +to be launched to-morrow. It seems to have been finished but a short +time ago; for fresh clippings of straw lie scattered around it, and the +kaimyo has not yet been written upon its sail. I am surprised to hear +that it belongs to a poor widow and her son, both of whom are employed +by the hotel. + +I was hoping to see the Bon-odori at Hamamura, but I am disappointed. At +all the villages the police have prohibited the dance. Fear of cholera +has resulted in stringent sanitary regulations. In Hamamura the people +have been ordered to use no water for drinking, cooking, or washing, +except the hot water of their own volcanic springs. + +A little middle-aged woman, with a remarkably sweet voice, comes to wait +upon us at supper-time. Her teeth are blackened and her eyebrows shaved +after the fashion of married women twenty years ago; nevertheless her +face is still a pleasant one, and in her youth she must have been +uncommonly pretty. Though acting as a servant, it appears that she is +related to the family owning the inn, and that she is treated with the +consideration due to kindred. She tells us that the shoryobune is to be +launched for her husband and brother--both fishermen of the village, who +perished in sight of their own home eight years ago. The priest of the +neighbouring Zen temple is to come in the morning to write the kaimyo +upon the sail, as none of the household are skilled in writing the +Chinese characters. + +I make her the customary little gift, and, through my attendant, ask her +various questions about her history. She was married to a man much older +than herself, with whom she lived very happily; and her brother, a youth +of eighteen, dwelt with them. They had a good boat and a little piece of +ground, and she was skilful at the loom; so they managed to live well. +In summer the fishermen fish at night: when all the fleet is out, it is +pretty to see the line of torch-fires in the offing, two or three miles +away, like a string of stars. They do not go out when the weather is +threatening; but in certain months the great storms (taifu) come so +quickly that the boats are overtaken almost before they have time to +hoist sail. Still as a temple pond the sea was on the night when her +husband and brother last sailed away; the taifu rose before daybreak. +What followed, she relates with a simple pathos that I cannot reproduce +in our less artless tongue: + +'All the boats had come back except my husband's; for' my husband and my +brother had gone out farther than the others, so they were not able to +return as quickly. And all the people were looking and waiting. And +every minute the waves seemed to be growing higher and the wind more +terrible; and the other boats had to be dragged far up on the shore to +save them. Then suddenly we saw my husband's boat coming very, very +quickly. We were so glad! It came quite near, so that I could see the +face of my husband and the face of my brother. But suddenly a great wave +struck it upon one side, and it turned down into the water and it did +not come up again. And then we saw my husband and my brother swimming +but we could see them only when the waves lifted them up. Tall like +hills the waves were, and the head of my husband, and the head of my +brother would go up, up, up, and then down, and each time they rose to +the top of a wave so that we could see them they would cry out, +"Tasukete! tasukete!" [4] But the strong men were afraid; the sea was +too terrible; I was only a woman! Then my brother could not be seen any +more. My husband was old, but very strong; and he swam a long time--so +near that I could see his face was like the face of one in fear--and he +called "Tasukete!" But none could help him; and he also went down at +last. And yet I could see his face before he went down. + +'And for a long time after, every night, I used to see his face as I saw +it then, so that I could not rest, but only weep. And I prayed and +prayed to the Buddhas and to the Kami-Sama that I might not dream that +dream. Now it never comes; but I can still see his face, even while I +speak. . . . In that time my son was only a little child.' + +Not without sobs can she conclude her simple recital. Then, suddenly +bowing her head to the matting, and wiping away her tears with her +sleeve, she humbly prays our pardon for this little exhibition of +emotion, and laughs--the soft low laugh de rigueur of Japanese +politeness. This, I must confess, touches me still more than the story +itself. At a fitting moment my Japanese attendant delicately changes the +theme, and begins a light chat about our journey, and the danna-sama's +interest in the old customs and legends of the coast. And he succeeds in +amusing her by some relation of our wanderings in Izumo. + +She asks whither we are going. My attendant answers probably as far as +Tottori. + +'Aa! Tottori! So degozarimasu ka? Now, there is an old story--the +Story of the Futon of Tottori. But the danna-sama knows that story?' + +Indeed, the danna-sama does not, and begs earnestly to hear it. And the +story is set down somewhat as I learn it through the lips of my +interpreter. + +º9 Many years ago, a very small yadoya in Tottori town received its +first guest, an itinerant merchant. He was received with more than +common kindness, for the landlord desired to make a good name for his +little inn. It was a new inn, but as its owner was poor, most of its +dogu--furniture and utensils--had been purchased from the furuteya. [5] +Nevertheless, everything was clean, comforting, and pretty. The guest +ate heartily and drank plenty of good warm sake; after which his bed was +prepared on the soft floor, and he laid himself down to sleep. + +[But here I must interrupt the story for a few moments, to say a word +about Japanese beds. Never; unless some inmate happen to be sick, do you +see a bed in any Japanese house by day, though you visit all the rooms +and peep into all the corners. In fact, no bed exists, in the Occidental +meaning of the word. That which the Japanese call bed has no bedstead, +no spring, no mattress, no sheets, no blankets. It consists of thick +quilts only, stuffed, or, rather, padded with cotton, which are called +futon. A certain number of futon are laid down upon the tatami (the +floor mats), and a certain number of others are used for coverings. The +wealthy can lie upon five or six quilts, and cover themselves with as +many as they please, while poor folk must content themselves with two or +three. And of course there are many kinds, from the servants' cotton +futon which is no larger than a Western hearthrug, and not much thicker, +to the heavy and superb futon silk, eight feet long by seven broad, +which only the kanemochi can afford. Besides these there is the yogi, a +massive quilt made with wide sleeves like a kimono, in which you can +find much comfort when the weather is extremely cold. All such things +are neatly folded up and stowed out of sight by day in alcoves contrived +in the wall and closed with fusuma--pretty sliding screen doors covered +with opaque paper usually decorated with dainty designs. There also are +kept those curious wooden pillows, invented to preserve the Japanese +coiffure from becoming disarranged during sleep. + +The pillow has a certain sacredness; but the origin and the precise +nature of the beliefs concerning it I have not been able to learn. Only +this I know, that to touch it with the foot is considered very wrong; +and that if it be kicked or moved thus even by accident, the clumsiness +must be atoned for by lifting the pillow to the forehead with the hands, +and replacing it in its original position respectfully, with the word +'go-men,' signifying, I pray to be excused.] + +Now, as a rule, one sleeps soundly after having drunk plenty of warm +sake, especially if the night be cool and the bed very snug. But the +guest, having slept but a very little while, was aroused by the sound of +voices in his room--voices of children, always asking each other the +same questions:--'Ani-San samukaro?' 'Omae samukaro?' The presence of +children in his room might annoy the guest, but could not surprise him, +for in these Japanese hotels there are no doors, but only papered +sliding screens between room and room. So it seemed to him that some +children must have wandered into his apartment, by mistake, in the dark. +He uttered some gentle rebuke. For a moment only there was silence; then +a sweet, thin, plaintive voice queried, close to his ear, 'Ani-San +samukaro?' (Elder Brother probably is cold?), and another sweet voice +made answer caressingly, 'Omae samukaro?' [Nay, thou probably art cold?] + +He arose and rekindled the candle in the andon, [6] and looked about the +room. There was no one. The shoji were all closed. He examined the +cupboards; they were empty. Wondering, he lay down again, leaving the +light still burning; and immediately the voices spoke again, +complainingly, close to his pillow: + +'Ani-San samukaro?' + +'Omae samukaro?' + +Then, for the first time, he felt a chill creep over him, which was not +the chill of the night. Again and again he heard, and each time he +became more afraid. For he knew that the voices were in the futon! It +was the covering of the bed that cried out thus. + +He gathered hurriedly together the few articles belonging to him, and, +descending the stairs, aroused the landlord and told what had passed. +Then the host, much angered, made reply: 'That to make pleased the +honourable guest everything has been done, the truth is; but the +honourable guest too much august sake having drank, bad dreams has +seen.' Nevertheless the guest insisted upon paying at once that which he +owed, and seeking lodging elsewhere. + +Next evening there came another guest who asked for a room for the +night. At a late hour the landlord was aroused by his lodger with the +same story. And this lodger, strange to say, had not taken any sake. +Suspecting some envious plot to ruin his business, the landlord answered +passionately: 'Thee to please all things honourably have been done: +nevertheless, ill-omened and vexatious words thou utterest. And that my +inn my means-of-livelihood is--that also thou knowest. Wherefore that +such things be spoken, right-there-is-none!' Then the guest, getting +into a passion, loudly said things much more evil; and the two parted in +hot anger. + +But after the guest was gone, the landlord, thinking all this very +strange, ascended to the empty room to examine the futon. And while +there, he heard the voices, and he discovered that the guests had said +only the truth. It was one covering--only one--which cried out. The rest +were silent. He took the covering into his own room, and for the +remainder of the night lay down beneath it. And the voices continued +until the hour of dawn: 'Ani-San samukaro?' 'Omae samukaro?' So that he +could not sleep. + +But at break of day he rose up and went out to find the owner of the +furuteya at which the futon had been purchased. The dlealer knew +nothing. He had bought the futon from a smaller shop, and the keeper of +that shop had purchased it from a still poorer dealer dwelling in the +farthest suburb of the city. And the innkeeper went from one to the +other, asking questions. + +Then at last it was found that the futon had belonged to a poor family, +and had been bought from the landlord of a little house in which the +family had lived, in the neighbourhood of the town. And the story of the +futon was this:-- + +The rent of the little house was only sixty sen a month, but even this +was a great deal for the poor folks to pay. The father could earn only +two or three yen a month, and the mother was ill and could not work; and +there were two children--a boy of six years and a boy of eight. And they +were strangers in Tottori. + +One winter's day the father sickened; and after a week of suffering he +died, and was buried. Then the long-sick mother followed him, and the +children were left alone. They knew no one whom they could ask for aid; +and in order to live they began to sell what there was to sell. + +That was not much: the clothes of the dead father and mother, and most +of their own; some quilts of cotton, and a few poor household utensils-- +hibachi, bowls, cups, and other trifles. Every day they sold something, +until there was nothing left but one futon. And a day came when they had +nothing to eat; and the rent was not paid. + +The terrible Dai-kan had arrived, the season of greatest cold; and the +snow had drifted too high that day for them to wander far from the +little house. So they could only lie down under their one futon, and +shiver together, and compassionate each other in their own childish way +--'Ani-San, samukaro?' 'Omae samukaro?' + +They had no fire, nor anything with which to make fire; and the darkness +came; and the icy wind screamed into the little house. + +They were afraid of the wind, but they were more afraid of the house- +owner, who roused them roughly to demand his rent. He was a hard man, +with an evil face. And finding there was none to pay him, he turned the +children into the snow, and took their one futon away from them, and +locked up the house. + +They had but one thin blue kimono each, for all their other clothes had +been sold to buy food; and they had nowhere to go. There was a temple of +Kwannon not far away, but the snow was too high for them to reach it. So +when the landlord was gone, they crept back behind the house. There the +drowsiness of cold fell upon them, and they slept, embracing each other +to keep warm. And while they slept, the gods covered them with a new +futon--ghostly-white and very beautiful. And they did not feel cold any +more. For many days they slept there; then somebody found them, and a +bed was made for them in the hakaba of the Temple of Kwannon-of-the- +Thousand-Arms. + +And the innkeeper, having heard these things, gave the futon to the +priests of the temple, and caused the kyo to be recited for the little +souls. And the futon ceased thereafter to speak. + +º 10 + +One legend recalls another; and I hear to-night many strange ones. The +most remarkable is a tale which my attendant suddenly remembers--a +legend of Izumo. + +Once there lived in the Izumo village called Mochida-noura a peasant who +was so poor that he was afraid to have children. And each time that his +wife bore him a child he cast it into the river, and pretended that it +had been born dead. Sometimes it was a son, sometimes a daughter; but +always the infant was thrown into the river at night. Six were murdered +thus. + +But, as the years passed, the peasant found himself more prosperous. He +had been able to purchase land and to lay by money. And at last his wife +bore him a seventh--a boy. + +Then the man said: 'Now we can support a child, and we shall need a son +to aid us when we are old. And this boy is beautiful. So we will bring +him up.' + +And the infant thrived; and each day the hard peasant wondered more at +his own heart--for each day he knew that he loved his son more. + +One summer's night he walked out into his garden, carrying his child in +his arms. The little one was five months old. + +And the night was so beautiful, with its great moon, that the peasant +cried out--'Aa! kon ya med xurashii e yo da!' [Ah! to-night truly a +wondrously beautiful night is!] + +Then the infant, looking up into his face and speaking the speech of a +man, said--'Why, father! the LAST time you threw me away the night was +just like this, and the moon looked just the same, did it not?' [7] And +thereafter the child remained as other children of the same age, and +spoke no word. + +The peasant became a monk. + +º11 + +After the supper and the bath, feeling too warm to sleep, I wander out +alone to visit the village hakaba, a long cemetery upon a sandhill, or +rather a prodigious dune, thinly covered at its summit with soil, but +revealing through its crumbling flanks the story of its creation by +ancient tides, mightier than tides of to-day. + +I wade to my knees in sand to reach the cemetery. It is a warm moonlight +night, with a great breeze. There are many bon-lanterns (bondoro), but +the sea-wind has blown out most of them; only a few here and there still +shed a soft white glow--pretty shrine-shaped cases of wood, with +apertures of symbolic outline, covered with white paper. Visitors beside +myself there are none, for it is late. But much gentle work has been +done here to-day, for all the bamboo vases have been furnished with +fresh flowers or sprays, and the water basins filled with fresh water, +and the monuments cleansed and beautified. And in the farthest nook of +the cemetery I find, before one very humble tomb, a pretty zen or +lacquered dining tray, covered with dishes and bowls containing a +perfect dainty little Japanese repast. There is also a pair of new +chopsticks, and a little cup of tea, and some of the dishes are still +warm. A loving woman's work; the prints of her little sandals are fresh +upon the path. + +º 12 + +There is an Irish folk-saying that any dream may be remembered if the +dreamer, after awakening, forbear to scratch his head in the effort to +recall it. But should he forget this precaution, never can the dream be +brought back to memory: as well try to re-form the curlings of a smoke- +wreath blown away. + +Nine hundred and ninety-nine of a thousand dreams are indeed hopelessly +evaporative. But certain rare dreams, which come when fancy has been +strangely impressed by unfamiliar experiences--dreams particularly apt +to occur in time of travel--remain in recollection, imaged with all the +vividness of real events. + +Of such was the dream I dreamed at Hamamura, after having seen and heard +those things previously written down. + +Some pale broad paved place--perhaps the thought of a temple court-- +tinted by a faint sun; and before me a woman, neither young nor old, +seated at the base of a great grey pedestal that supported I know not +what, for I could look only at the woman's face. Awhile I thought that I +remembered her--a woman of Izumo; then she seemed a weirdness. Her lips +were moving, but her eyes remained closed, and I could not choose but +look at her. + +And in a voice that seemed to come thin through distance of years she +began a soft wailing chant; and, as I listened, vague memories came to +me of a Celtic lullaby. And as she sang, she loosed with one hand her +long black hair, till it fell coiling upon the stones. And, having +fallen, it was no longer black, but blue--pale day-blue--and was moving +sinuously, crawling with swift blue ripplings to and fro. And then, +suddenly, I became aware that the ripplings were far, very far away, and +that the woman was gone. There was only the sea, blue-billowing to the +verge of heaven, with long slow flashings of soundless surf. + +And wakening, I heard in the night the muttering of the real sea--the +vast husky speech of the Hotoke-umi--the Tide of the Returning Ghosts. + + +CHAPTER SEVEN Of a Dancing-Girl + + +NOTHING is more silent than the beginning of a Japanese banquet; and no +one, except a native, who observes the opening scene could possibly +imagine the tumultuous ending. + +The robed guests take their places, quite noiselessly and without +speech, upon the kneeling-cushions. The lacquered services are laid upon +the matting before them by maidens whose bare feet make no sound. For a +while there is only smiling and flitting, as in dreams. You are not +likely to hear any voices from without, as a banqueting-house is usually +secluded from the street by spacious gardens. At last the master of +ceremonies, host or provider, breaks the hush with the consecrated +formula: 'O-somatsu degozarimasu gal--dozo o-hashi!' whereat all present +bow silently, take up their hashi (chopsticks), and fall to. But hashi, +deftly used, cannot be heard at all. The maidens pour warm sake into the +cup of each guest without making the least sound; and it is not until +several dishes have been emptied, and several cups of sake absorbed, +that tongues are loosened. + +Then, all at once, with a little burst of laughter, a number of young +girls enter, make the customary prostration of greeting, glide into the +open space between the ranks of the guests, and begin to serve the wine +with a grace and dexterity of which no common maid is capable. They are +pretty; they are clad in very costly robes of silk; they are girdled +like queens; and the beautifully dressed hair of each is decked with +mock flowers, with wonderful combs and pins, and with curious ornaments +of gold. They greet the stranger as if they had always known him; they +jest, laugh, and utter funny little cries. These are the geisha, [1] or +dancing-girls, hired for the banquet. + +Samisen [2] tinkle. The dancers withdraw to a clear space at the farther +end of the banqueting-hall, always vast enough to admit of many more +guests than ever assemble upon common occasions. Some form the +orchestra, under the direction of a woman of uncertain age; there are +several samisen, and a tiny drum played by a child. Others, singly or in +pairs, perform the dance. It may be swift and merry, consisting wholly +of graceful posturing--two girls dancing together with such coincidence +of step and gesture as only years of training could render possible. But +more frequently it is rather like acting than like what we Occidentals +call dancing--acting accompanied with extraordinary waving of sleeves +and fans, and with a play of eyes and features, sweet, subtle, subdued, +wholly Oriental. There are more voluptuous dances known to geisha, but +upon ordinary occasions and before refined audiences they portray +beautiful old Japanese traditions, like the legend of the fisher +Urashima, beloved by the Sea God's daughter; and at intervals they sing +ancient Chinese poems, expressing a natural emotion with delicious +vividness by a few exquisite words. And always they pour the wine--that +warm, pale yellow, drowsy wine which fills the veins with soft +contentment, making a faint sense of ecstasy, through which, as through +some poppied sleep, the commonplace becomes wondrous and blissful, and +the geisha Maids of Paradise, and the world much sweeter than, in the +natural order of things, it could ever possibly be. + +The banquet, at first so silent, slowly changes to a merry tumult. The +company break ranks, form groups; and from group to group the girls +pass, laughing, prattling--still pouring sake into the cups which are +being exchanged and emptied with low bows [3] Men begin to sing old +samurai songs, old Chinese poems. One or two even dance. A geisha tucks +her robe well up to her knees; and the samisen strike up the quick +melody, 'Kompira fund-fund.' As the music plays, she begins to run +lightly and swiftly in a figure of 8, and a young man, carrying a sake +bottle and cup, also runs in the same figure of 8. If the two meet on a +line, the one through whose error the meeting happens must drink a cup +of sake. The music becomes quicker and quicker and the runners run +faster and faster, for they must keep time to the melody; and the geisha +wins. In another part of the room, guests and geisha are playing ken. +They sing as they play, facing each other, and clap their hands, and +fling out their fingers at intervals with little cries and the samisen +keep time. + +Choito--don-don! +Otagaidane; +Choito--don-don! +Oidemashitane; +Choito--don-don! +Shimaimashitane. + +Now, to play ken with a geisha requires a perfectly cool head, a quick +eye, and much practice. Having been trained from childhood to play all +kinds of ken--and there are many--she generally loses only for +politeness, when she loses at all. The signs of the most common ken are +a Man, a Fox, and a Gun. If the geisha make the sign of the Gun, you +must instantly, and in exact time to the music, make the sign of the +Fox, who cannot use the Gun. For if you make the sign of the Man, then +she will answer with the sign of the Fox, who can deceive the Man, and +you lose. And if she make the sign of the Fox first, then you should +make the sign of the Gun, by which the Fox can be killed. But all the +while you must watch her bright eyes and supple hands. These are pretty; +and if you suffer yourself, just for one fraction of a second, to think +how pretty they are, you are bewitched and vanquished. Notwithstanding +all this apparent comradeship, a certain rigid decorum between guest and +geisha is invariably preserved at a Japanese banquet. However flushed +with wine a guest may have become, you will never see him attempt to +caress a girl; he never forgets that she appears at the festivities only +as a human flower, to be looked at, not to be touched. The familiarity +which foreign tourists in Japan frequently permit themselves with geisha +or with waiter-girls, though endured with smiling patience, is really +much disliked, and considered by native observers an evidence of extreme +vulgarity. + +For a time the merriment grows; but as midnight draws near, the guests +begin to slip away, one by one, unnoticed. Then the din gradually dies +down, the music stops; and at last the geisha, having escorted the +latest of the feasters to the door, with laughing cries of Sayonara, can +sit down alone to break their long fast in the deserted hall. + +Such is the geisha's r¶le But what is the mystery of her? What are her +thoughts, her emotions, her secret self? What is her veritable existence +beyond the night circle of the banquet lights, far from the illusion +formed around her by the mist of wine? Is she always as mischievous as +she seems while her voice ripples out with mocking sweetness the words +of the ancient song? + +Kimi to neyaru ka, go sengoku toruka? Nanno gosengoku kimi to neyo? [4] + +Or might we think her capable of keeping that passionate promise she +utters so deliciously? + +Omae shindara tera ewa yaranu! Yaete konishite sake de nomu, [5] + +'Why, as for that,' a friend tells me, 'there was O'-Kama of Osaka who +realised the song only last year. For she, having collected from the +funeral pile the ashes of her lover, mingled them with sake, and at a +banquet drank them, in the presence of many guests.' In the presence of +many guests! Alas for romance! + +Always in the dwelling which a band of geisha occupy there is a strange +image placed in the alcove. Sometimes it is of clay, rarely of gold, +most commonly of porcelain. It is reverenced: offerings are made to it, +sweetmeats and rice bread and wine; incense smoulders in front of it, +and a lamp is burned before it. It is the image of a kitten erect, one +paw outstretched as if inviting--whence its name, 'the Beckoning +Kitten.' [6] It is the genius loci: it brings good-fortune, the +patronage of the rich, the favour of banquet-givers Now, they who know +the soul of the geisha aver that the semblance of the image is the +semblance of herself--playful and pretty, soft and young, lithe and +caressing, and cruel as a devouring fire. + +Worse, also, than this they have said of her: that in her shadow treads +the God of Poverty, and that the Fox-women are her sisters; that she is +the ruin of youth, the waster of fortunes, the destroyer of families; +that she knows love only as the source of the follies which are her +gain, and grows rich upon the substance of men whose graves she has +made; that she is the most consummate of pretty hypocrites, the most +dangerous of schemers, the most insatiable of mercenaries, the most +pitiless of mistresses. This cannot all be true. Yet thus much is true-- +that, like the kitten, the geisha is by profession a creature of prey. +There are many really lovable kittens. Even so there must be really +delightful dancing-girls. + +The geisha is only what she has been made in answer to foolish human +desire for the illusion of love mixed with youth and grace, but without +regrets or responsibilities: wherefore she has been taught, besides ken, +to play at hearts. Now, the eternal law is that people may play with +impunity at any game in this unhappy world except three, which are +called Life, Love, and Death. Those the gods have reserved to +themselves, because nobody else can learn to play them without doing +mischief. Therefore, to play with a geisha any game much more serious +than ken, or at least go, is displeasing to the gods. + +The girl begins her career as a slave, a pretty child bought from +miserably poor parents under a contract, according to which her services +may be claimed by the purchasers for eighteen, twenty, or even twenty- +five years. She is fed, clothed, and trained in a house occupied only by +geisha; and she passes the rest of her childhood under severe +discipline. She is taught etiquette, grace, polite speech; she has daily +lessons in dancing; and she is obliged to learn by heart a multitude of +songs with their airs. Also she must learn games, the service of +banquets and weddings, the art of dressing and looking beautiful. +Whatever physical gifts she may have are; carefully cultivated. +Afterwards she is taught to handle musical instruments: first, the +little drum (tsudzumi), which cannot be sounded at all without +considerable practice; then she learns to play the samisen a little, +with a plectrum of tortoise-shell or ivory. At eight or nine years of +age she attends banquets, chiefly as a drum-player. She is then the +most charming little creature imaginable, and already knows how to fill +your wine-cup exactly full, with a single toss of the bottle and without +spilling a drop, between two taps of her drum. + +Thereafter her discipline becomes more cruel. Her voice may be flexible +enough, but lacks the requisite strength. In the iciest hours of winter +nights, she must ascend to the roof of her dwelling-house, and there +sing and play till the blood oozes from her fingers and the voice dies +in her throat. The desired result is an atrocious cold. After a period +of hoarse whispering, her voice changes its tone and strengthens. She is +ready to become a public singer and dancer. + +In this capacity she usually makes her first appearance at the age of +twelve or thirteen. If pretty and skilful, her services will be much in +demand, and her time paid for at the rate of twenty to twenty-five sen +per hour. Then only do her purchasers begin to reimburse themselves for +the time, expense, and trouble of her training; and they are not apt to +be generous. For many years more all that she earns must pass into their +hands. She can own nothing, not even her clothes. + +At seventeen or eighteen she has made her artistic reputation. She has +been at many hundreds of entertainments, and knows by sight all the +important personages of her city, the character of each, the history of +all. Her life has been chiefly a night life; rarely has she seen the sun +rise since she became a dancer. She has learned to drink wine without +ever losing her head, and to fast for seven or eight hours without ever +feeling the worse. She has had many lovers. To a certain extent she is +free to smile upon whom she pleases; but she has been well taught, above +all else to use her power of charm for her own advantage. She hopes to +find Somebody able and willing to buy her freedom--which Somebody would +almost certainly thereafter discover many new and excellent meanings in +those Buddhist texts that tell about the foolishness of love and the +impermanency of all human relationships. + +At this point of her career we may leave the geisha: there-. after her +story is apt to prove unpleasant, unless she die young. Should that +happen, she will have the obsequies of her class, and her memory will be +preserved by divers curious rites. + +Some time, perhaps, while wandering through Japanese streets at night, +you hear sounds of music, a tinkling of samisen floating through the +great gateway of a Buddhist temple together with shrill voices of +singing-girls; which may seem to you a strange happening. And the deep +court is thronged with people looking and listening. Then, making your +way through the press to the temple steps, you see two geisha seated +upon the matting within, playing and singing, and a third dancing before +a little table. Upon the table is an ihai, or mortuary tablet; in front +of the tablet burns a little lamp, and incense in a cup of bronze; a +small repast has been placed there, fruits and dainties--such a repast +as, upon festival occasions, it is the custom to offer to the dead. You +learn that the kaimyo upon the tablet is that of a geisha; and that the +comrades of the dead girl assemble in the temple on certain days to +gladden her spirit with songs and dances. Then whosoever pleases may +attend the ceremony free of charge. + +But the dancing-girls of ancient times were not as the geisha of to-day. +Some of them were called shirabyoshi; and their hearts were not +extremely hard. They were beautiful; they wore queerly shaped caps +bedecked with gold; they were clad in splendid attire, and danced with +swords in the dwellings of princes. And there is an old story about one +of them which I think it worth while to tell. + +º1 + +It was formerly, and indeed still is, a custom with young Japanese +artists to travel on foot through various parts of the empire, in order +to see and sketch the most celebrated scenery as well as to study famous +art objects preserved in Buddhist temples, many of which occupy sites of +extraordinary picturesqueness. It is to such wanderings, chiefly, that +we owe the existence of those beautiful books of landscape views and +life studies which are now so curious and rare, and which teach better +than aught else that only the Japanese can paint Japanese scenery. After +you have become acquainted with their methods of interpreting their own +nature, foreign attempts in the same line will seem to you strangely +flat and soulless. The foreign artist will give you realistic +reflections of what he sees; but he will give you nothing more. The +Japanese artist gives you that which he feels--the mood of a season, the +precise sensation of an hour and place; his work is qualified by a power +of suggestiveness rarely found in the art of the West. The Occidental +painter renders minute detail; he satisfies the imagination he evokes. +But his Oriental brother either suppresses or idealises detail--steeps +his distances in mist, bands his landscapes with cloud, makes of his +experience a memory in which only the strange and the beautiful survive, +with their sensations. He surpasses imagination, excites it, leaves it +hungry with the hunger of charm perceived in glimpses only. +Nevertheless, in such glimpses he is able to convey the feeling of a +time, the character of a place, after a fashion that seems magical. He +is a painter of recollections and of sensations rather than of clear-cut +realities; and in this lies the secret of his amazing power--a power not +to be appreciated by those who have never witnessed the scenes of his +inspiration. He is above all things impersonal. His human figures are +devoid of all individuality; yet they have inimitable merit as types +embodying the characteristics of a class: the childish curiosity of the +peasant, the shyness of the maiden, the fascination of the joro the +self-consciousness of the samurai, the funny, placid prettiness of the +child, the resigned gentleness of age. Travel and observation were the +influences which developed this art; it was never a growth of studios. + +A great many years ago, a young art student was travelling on foot from +Kyoto to Yedo, over the mountains The roads then were few and bad, and +travel was so difficult compared to what it is now that a proverb was +current, Kawai ko wa tabi wo sase (A pet child should be made to +travel). But the land was what it is to-day. There were the same forests +of cedar and of pine, the same groves of bamboo, the same peaked +villages with roofs of thatch, the same terraced rice-fields dotted with +the great yellow straw hats of peasants bending in the slime. From the +wayside, the same statues of Jizo smiled upon the same pilgrim figures +passing to the same temples; and then, as now, of summer days, one might +see naked brown children laughing in all the shallow rivers, and all the +rivers laughing to the sun. + +The young art student, however, was no kawai ko: he had already +travelled a great deal, was inured to hard fare and rough lodging, and +accustomed to make the best of every situation. But upon this journey he +found himself, one evening after sunset, in a region where it seemed +possible to obtain neither fare nor lodging of any sort--out of sight of +cultivated land. While attempting a short cut over a range to reach some +village, he had lost his way. + +There was no moon, and pine shadows made blackness all around him. The +district into which he had wandered seemed utterly wild; there were no +sounds but the humming of the wind in the pine-needles, and an infinite +tinkling of bell-insects. He stumbled on, hoping to gain some river +bank, which he could follow to a settlement. At last a stream abruptly +crossed his way; but it proved to be a swift torrent pouring into a +gorge between precipices. Obliged to retrace his steps, he resolved to +climb to the nearest summit, whence he might be able to discern some +sign of human life; but on reaching it he could see about him only a +heaping of hills. + +He had almost resigned himself to passing the night under the stars, +when he perceived, at some distance down the farther slope of the hill +he had ascended, a single thin yellow ray of light, evidently issuing +from some dwelling. He made his way towards it, and soon discerned a +small cottage, apparently a peasant's home. The light he had seen still +streamed from it, through a chink in the closed storm-doors. He hastened +forward, and knocked at the entrance. + +Not until he had knocked and called several times did he hear any stir +within; then a woman 's voice asked what was wanted. The voice was +remarkably sweet, and the speech of the unseen questioner surprised him, +for she spoke in the cultivated idiom of the capital. He responded that +he was a student, who had lost his way in the mountains; that he wished, +if possible, to obtain food and lodging for the night; and that if this +could not be given, he would feel very grateful for information how to +reach the nearest village--adding that he had means enough to pay for +the services of a guide. The voice, in return, asked several other +questions, indicating extreme surprise that anyone could have reached +the dwelling from the direction he had taken. But his answers evidently +allayed suspicion, for the inmate exclaimed: 'I will come in a moment. +It would be difficult for you to reach any village to-night; and the +path is dangerous.' + +After a brief delay the storm-doors were pushed open, and a woman +appeared with a paper lantern, which she so held as to illuminate the +stranger's face, while her own remained in shadow. She scrutinised him +in silence, then said briefly, 'Wait; I will bring water.' She fetched a +wash-basin, set it upon the doorstep, and offered the guest a towel. He +removed his sandals, washed from his feet the dust of travel, and was +shown into a neat room which appeared to occupy the whole interior, +except a small boarded space at the rear, used as a kitchen. A cotton +zabuton was laid for him to kneel upon, and a brazier set before him. + +It was only then that he had a good opportunity of observing his +hostess, and he was startled by the delicacy and beauty of her features. +She might have been three or four years older than he, but was still in +the bloom of youth. Certainly she was not a peasant girl. In the same +singularly sweet voice she said to him: 'I am now alone, and I never +receive guests here. But I am sure it would be dangerous for you to +travel farther tonight. There are some peasants in the neighbourhood, +but you cannot find your way to them in the dark without a guide. So I +can let you stay here until morning. You will not be comfortable, but I +can give you a bed. And I suppose you are hungry. There is only some +shojin-ryori, [7]--not at all good, but you are welcome to it.' + +The traveller was quite hungry, and only too glad of the offer. The +young woman kindled a little fire, prepared a few dishes in silence-- +stewed leaves of na, some aburage, some kampyo, and a bowl of coarse +rice--and quickly set the meal before him, apologising for its quality. +But during his repast she spoke scarcely at all, and her reserved manner +embarrassed him. As she answered the few questions he ventured upon +merely by a bow or by a solitary word, he soon refrained from attempting +to press the conversation. + +Meanwhile he had observed that the small house was spotlessly clean, and +the utensils in which his food was served were immaculate. The few cheap +objects in the apartment were pretty. The fusuma of the oshiire and +zendana [8] were of white paper only, but had been decorated with large +Chinese characters exquisitely written, characters suggesting, according +to the law of such decoration, the favourite themes of the poet and +artist: Spring Flowers, Mountain and Sea, Summer Rain, Sky and Stars, +Autumn Moon, River Water, Autumn Breeze. At one side of the apartment +stood a kind of low altar, supporting a butsudan, whose tiny lacquered +doors, left open, showed a mortuary tablet within, before which a lamp +was burning between offerings of wild flowers. And above this household +shrine hung a picture of more than common merit, representing the +Goddess of Mercy, wearing the moon for her aureole. + +As the student ended his little meal the young woman observed: I cannot +offer you a good bed, and there is only a paper mosquito-curtain The bed +and the curtain are mine, but to-night I have many things to do, and +shall have no time to sleep; therefore I beg you will try to rest, +though I am not able to make you comfortable.' + +He then understood that she was, for some strange reason, entirely +alone, and was voluntarily giving up her only bed to him upon a kindly +pretext. He protested honestly against such an excess of hospitality, +and assured her that he could sleep quite soundly anywhere on the floor, +and did not care about the mosquitoes. But she replied, in the tone of +an elder sister, that he must obey her wishes. She really had something +to do, and she desired to be left by herself as soon as possible; +therefore, understanding him to be a gentleman, she expected he would +suffer her to arrange matters in her own way. To this he could offer no +objection, as there was but one room. She spread the mattress on the +floor, fetched a wooden pillow, suspended her paper mosquito-curtain, +unfolded a large screen on the side of the bed toward the butsudan, and +then bade him good-night in a manner that assured him she wished him to +retire at once; which he did, not without some reluctance at the thought +of all the trouble he had unintentionally caused her. + +º3 + +Unwilling as the young traveller felt to accept a kindness involving the +sacrifice of another's repose, he found the bed more than comfortable. +He was very tired, and had scarcely laid his head upon the wooden pillow +before he forgot everything in sleep. + +Yet only a little while seemed to have passed when he was awakened by a +singular sound. It was certainly the sound of feet, but not of feet +walking softly. It seemed rather the sound of feet in rapid motion, as +of excitement. Then it occurred to him that robbers might have entered +the house. As for himself, he had little to fear because he had little +to lose. His anxiety was chiefly for the kind person who had granted him +hospitality. Into each side of the paper mosquito-curtain a small square +of brown netting had been fitted, like a little window, and through one +of these he tried to look; but the high screen stood between him and +whatever was going on. He thought of calling, but this impulse was +checked by the reflection that in case of real danger it would be both +useless and imprudent to announce his presence before understanding the +situation. The sounds which had made him uneasy continued, and were more +and more mysterious. He resolved to prepare for the worst, and to risk +his life, if necessary, in order to defend his young hostess. Hastily +girding up his robes, he slipped noiselessly from under the paper +curtain, crept to the edge of the screen, and peeped. What he saw +astonished him extremely. + +Before her illuminated butsudan the young woman, magnificently attired, +was dancing all alone. Her costume he recognised as that of a +shirabyoshi, though much richer than any he had ever seen worn by a +professional dancer. Marvellously enhanced by it, her beauty, in that +lonely time and place, appeared almost supernatural; but what seemed to +him even more wonderful was her dancing. For an instant he felt the +tingling of a weird doubt. The superstitions of peasants, the legends of +Fox-women, flashed before his imagination; but the sight of the Buddhist +shrine, of the sacred picture, dissipated the fancy, and shamed him for +the folly of it. At the same time he became conscious that he was +watching something she had not wished him to see, and that it was his +duty, as her guest, to return at once behind the screen; but the +spectacle fascinated him. He felt, with not less pleasure than +amazement, that he was looking upon the most accomplished dancer he had +ever seen; and the more he watched, the more the witchery of her grace +grew upon him. Suddenly she paused, panting, unfastened her girdle, +turned in the act of doffing her upper robe, and started violently as +her eyes encountered his own. + +He tried at once to excuse himself to her. He said he had been suddenly +awakened by the sound of quick feet, which sound had caused him some +uneasiness, chiefly for her sake, because of the lateness of the hour +and the lonesomeness of the place. Then he confessed his surprise at +what he had seen, and spoke of the manner in which it had attracted him. +'I beg you,' he continued, 'to forgive my curiosity, for I cannot help +wondering who you are, and how you could have become so marvellous a +dancer. All the dancers of Saikyo I have seen, yet I have never seen +among the most celebrated of them a girl who could dance like you; and +once I had begun to watch you, I could not take away my eyes.' + +At first she had seemed angry, but before he had ceased to speak her +expression changed. She smiled, and seated herself before him.' 'No, I +am not angry with you,' she said. 'I am only sorry that you should have +watched me, for I am sure you must have thought me mad when you saw me +dancing that way, all by myself; and now I must tell you the meaning of +what you have seen.' + +So she related her story. Her name he remembered to have heard as a boy +--her professional name, the name of the most famous of shirabyoshi, the +darling of the capital, who, in the zenith of her fame and beauty, had +suddenly vanished from public life, none knew whither or why. She had +fled from wealth and fortune with a youth who loved her. He was poor, +but between them they possessed enough means to live simply and happily +in the country. They built a little house in the mountains, and there +for a number of years they existed only for each other. He adored her. +One of his greatest pleasures was to see her dance. Each evening he +would play some favourite melody, and she would dance for him. But one +long cold winter he fell sick, and, in spite of her tender nursing, +died. Since then she had lived alone with the memory of him, performing +all those small rites of love and homage with which the dead are +honoured. Daily before his tablet she placed the customary offerings, +and nightly danced to please him, as of old. And this was the +explanation of what the young traveller had seen. It was indeed rude, +she continued, to have awakened her tired guest; but she had waited +until she thought him soundly sleeping, and then she had tried to dance +very, very lightly. So she hoped he would pardon her for having +unintentionally disturbed him. + +When she had told him all, she made ready a little tea, which they drank +together; then she entreated him so plaintively to please her by trying +to sleep again that he found himself obliged to go back, with many +sincere apologies, under the paper mosquito-curtain. + +He slept well and long; the sun was high before he woke. On rising, he +found prepared for him a meal as simple as that of the evening before, +and he felt hungry. Nevertheless he ate sparingly, fearing the young +woman might have stinted herself in thus providing for him; and then he +made ready to depart. But when he wanted to pay her for what he had +received, and for all the trouble he had given her, she refused to take +anything from him, saying: 'What I had to give was not worth money, and +what I did was done for kindness alone. So! pray that you will try to +forget the discomfort you suffered here, and will remember only the +good-will of one who had nothing to offer.' + +He still endeavoured to induce her to accept something; but at last, +finding that his insistence only gave her pain, he took leave of her +with such words as he could find to express his gratitude, and not +without a secret regret, for her beauty and her gentleness had charmed +him more than he would have liked to acknowledge to any but herself. She +indicated to him the path to follow, and watched him descend the +mountain until he had passed from sight. An hour later he found himself +upon a highway with which he was familiar. Then a sudden remorse touched +him: he had forgotten to tell her his name. For an instant he hesitated; +then he said to himself, 'What matters it? I shall be always poor.' And +he went on. + +Many years passed by, and many fashions with them; and the painter +became old. But ere becoming old he had become famous. Princes, charmed +by the wonder of his work, had vied with one another in giving him +patronage; so that he grew rich, and possessed a beautiful dwelling of +his own in the City of the Emperors. Young artists from many provinces +were his pupils, and lived with him, serving him in all things while +receiving his instruction; and his name was known throughout the land. + +Now, there came one day to his house an old woman, who asked to speak +with him. The servants, seeing that she was meanly dressed and of +miserable appearance, took her to be some common beggar, and questioned +her roughly. But when she answered: 'I can tell to no one except your +master why I have come,' they believed her mad, and deceived her, +saying: 'He is not now in Saikyo, nor do we know how soon he will +return.' + +But the old woman came again and again--day after day, and week after +week--each time being told something that was not true: 'To-day he is +ill,' or, 'To-day he is very busy,' or, 'To-day he has much company, and +therefore cannot see you.' Nevertheless she continued to come, always at +the same hour each day, and always carrying a bundle wrapped in a ragged +covering; and the servants at last thought it were best to speak to +their master about her. So they said to him: 'There is a very old woman, +whom we take to be a beggar, at our lord's gate. More than fifty times +she has come, asking to see our lord, and refusing to tell us why-- +saying that she can tell her wishes only to our lord. And we have tried +to discourage her, as she seemed to be mad; but she always comes. +Therefore we have presumed to mention the matter to our lord, in order +that we may learn what is to be done hereafter.' + +Then the Master answered sharply: 'Why did none of you tell me of this +before?' and went out himself to the gate, and spoke very kindly to the +woman, remembering how he also had been poor. And he asked her if she +desired alms of him. + +But she answered that she had no need of money or of food, and only +desired that he would paint for her a picture. He wondered at her wish, +and bade her enter his house. So she entered into the vestibule, and, +kneeling there, began to untie the knots of the bundle she had brought +with her. When she had unwrapped it, the painter perceived curious rich +quaint garments of silk broidered with designs in gold, yet much frayed +and discoloured by wear and time--the wreck of a wonderful costume of +other days, the attire of a shirabyoshi. + +While the old woman unfolded the garments one by one, and tried to +smooth them with her trembling fingers, a memory stirred in the Master's +brain, thrilled dimly there a little space, then suddenly lighted up. In +that soft shock of recollection, he saw again the lonely mountain +dwelling in which he had received unremunerated hospitality--the tiny +room prepared for his rest, the paper mosquito-curtain, the faintly +burning lamp before the Buddhist shrine, the strange beauty of one +dancing there alone in the dead of the night. Then, to the astonishment +of the aged visitor, he, the favoured of princes, bowed low before her, +and said: 'Pardon my rudeness in having forgotten your face for a +moment; but it is more than forty years since we last saw each other. +Now I remember you well. You received me once at your house. You gave up +to me the only bed you had. I saw you dance, and you told me all your +story. You had been a shirabyoshi, and I have not forgotten your name.' + +He uttered it. She, astonished and confused, could not at first reply to +him, for she was old and had suffered much, and her memory had begun to +fail. But he spoke more and more kindly to her, and reminded her of many +things which she had told him, and described to her the house in which +she had lived alone, so that at last she also remembered; and she +answered, with tears of pleasure: 'Surely the Divine One who looketh +down above the sound of prayer has guided me. But when my unworthy home +was honoured by the visit of the august Master, I was not as I now am. +And it seems to me like a miracle of our Lord Buddha that the Master +should remember me.' + +Then she related the rest of her simple story. In the course of years, +she had become, through poverty, obliged to part with her little house; +and in her old age she had returned alone to the great city, in which +her name had long been forgotten. It had caused her much pain to lose +her home; but it grieved her still more that, in becoming weak and old, +she could no longer dance each evening before the butsudan, to please +the spirit of the dead whom she had loved. Therefore she wanted to have +a picture of herself painted, in the costume and the attitude of the +dance, that she might suspend it before the butsudan. For this she had +prayed earnestly to Kwannon. And she had sought out the Master because +of his fame as a painter, since she desired, for the sake of the dead, +no common work, but a picture painted with great skill; and she had +brought her dancing attire, hoping that the Master might be willing to +paint her therein. + +He listened to all with a kindly smile, and answered her: 'It will be +only a pleasure for me to paint the picture which you want. This day I +have something to finish which cannot be delayed. But if you will come +here to-morrow, I will paint you exactly as you wish, and as well as I +am able.' + +But she said: 'I have not yet told to the Master the thing which most +troubles me. And it is this--that I can offer in return for so great a +favour nothing except these dancer's clothes; and they are of no value +in themselves, though they were costly once. Still, I hoped the Master +might be willing to take them, seeing they have become curious; for +there are no more shirabyoshi, and the maiko of these times wear no such +robes.' + +'Of that matter,' the good painter exclaimed, 'you must not think at +all! No; I am glad to have this present chance of paying a small part +of my old debt to you. So to-morrow I will paint you just as you wish.' + +She prostrated herself thrice before him, uttering thanks and then said, +'Let my lord pardon, though I have yet something more to say. For I do +not wish that he should paint me as I now am, but only as I used to be +when I was young, as my lord knew me.' + +He said: 'I remember well. You were very beautiful.' + +Her wrinkled features lighted up with pleasure, as she bowed her thanks +to him for those words. And she exclaimed: 'Then indeed all that I hoped +and prayed for may be done! Since he thus remembers my poor youth, I +beseech my lord to paint me, not as I now am, but as he saw me when I +was not old and, as it has pleased him generously to say, not uncomely. +O Master, make me young again! Make me seem beautiful that I may seem +beautiful to the soul of him for whose sake I, the unworthy, beseech +this! He will see the Master's work: he will forgive me that I can no +longer dance. + +Once more the Master bade her have no anxiety, and said: 'Come tomorrow, +and I will paint you. I will make a picture of you just as you +were when I saw you, a young and beautiful shirabyoshi, and I will paint +it as carefully and as skilfully as if I were painting the picture of +the richest person in the land. Never doubt, but come.' + +º5 + +So the aged dancer came at the appointed hour; and upon soft white silk +the artist painted a picture of her. Yet not a picture of her as she +seemed to the Master's pupils but the memory of her as she had been in +the days of her youth, bright-eyed as a bird, lithe as a bamboo, +dazzling as a tennin [9] in her raiment of silk and gold. Under the +magic of the Master's brush, the vanished grace returned, the faded +beauty bloomed again. When the kakemono had been finished, and stamped +with his seal, he mounted it richly upon silken cloth, and fixed to it +rollers of cedar with ivory weights, and a silken cord by which to hang +it; and he placed it in a little box of white wood, and so gave it to +the shirabyoshi. And he would also have presented her with a gift of +money. But though he pressed her earnestly, he could not persuade her to +accept his help. 'Nay,' she made answer, with tears, 'indeed I need +nothing. The picture only I desired. For that I prayed; and now my +prayer has been answered, and I know that I never can wish for anything +more in this life, and that if I come to die thus desiring nothing, to +enter upon the way of Buddha will not be difficult. One thought .alone +causes me sorrow--that I have nothing to offer to the Master but this +dancer's apparel, which is indeed of little worth, though I beseech him +I to accept it; and I will pray each day that his future life may be a +life of happiness, because of the wondrous kindness which I he has done +me.' + +'Nay,' protested the painter, smiling, 'what is it that I have done? +Truly nothing. As for the dancer's garments, I will accept them, if that +can make you more happy. They will bring back pleasant memories of the +night I passed in your home, when you gave up all your comforts for my +unworthy sake, and yet would not suffer me to pay for that which I used; +and for that kindness I hold myself to be still in your debt. But now +tell me where you live, so that I may see the picture in its place.' For +he had resolved within himself to place her beyond the reach of want. + +But she excused herself with humble words, and would not tell him, +saying that her dwelling-place was too mean to be looked upon by such as +he; and then, with many prostrations, she thanked him again and again, +and went away with her treasure, weeping for joy. + +Then the Master called to one of his pupils: 'Go quickly after that +woman, but so that she does not know herself followed, and bring me word +where she lives.' So the young man followed her, unperceived. + +He remained long away, and when he returned he laughed in the manner of +one obliged to say something which it is not pleasant to hear, and he +said: 'That woman, O Master, I followed out of the city to the dry bed +of the river, near to the place where criminals are executed. There I +saw a hut such as an Eta might dwell in, and that is where she lives. A +forsaken and filthy place, O Master!' + +'Nevertheless,' the painter replied, 'to-morrow you will take me to that +forsaken and filthy place. What time I live she shall not suffer for +food or clothing or comfort.' + +And as all wondered, he told them the story of the shirabyoshi, after +which it did not seem to them that his words were strange. + +º6 + +On the morning of the day following, an hour after sun-rise, the Master +and his pupil took their way to the dry bed of the river, beyond the +verge of the city, to the place of outcasts. + +The entrance of the little dwelling they found closed by a single +shutter, upon which the Master tapped many times without evoking a +response. Then, finding the shutter unfastened from within, he pushed it +slightly aside, and called through the aperture. None replied, and he +decided to enter. Simultaneously, with extraordinary vividness, there +thrilled back to him the sensation of the very instant when, as a tired. +lad, he stood pleading for admission to the lonesome little cottage +among the hills. + +Entering alone softly, he perceived that the woman was lying there, +wrapped in a single thin and tattered futon, seemingly asleep. On a rude +shelf he recognised the butsudan of' forty years before, with its +tablet, and now, as then, a tiny lamp was burning in front of the +kaimyo. The kakemono of the Goddess of Mercy with her lunar aureole was +gone, but on the wall facing the shrine he beheld his own dainty gift +suspended, and an ofuda beneath it--an ofuda of Hito-koto-Kwannon [10]-- +that Kwannon unto whom it is unlawful to pray more than once, as she +answers but a single prayer. There was little else in the desolate +dwelling; only the garments of a female pilgrim, and a mendicant's staff +and bowl. + +But the Master did not pause to look at these things, for he desired to +awaken and to gladden the sleeper, and he called her name cheerily twice +and thrice. + +Then suddenly he saw that she was dead, and he wondered while he gazed +upon her face, for it seemed less old. A vague sweetness, like a ghost +of youth, had returned to it; the lines of sorrow had been softened, the +wrinkles strangely smoothed, by the touch of a phantom Master mightier +than he. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT From Hoki to Oki + +º1 + +I RESOLVED to go to Oki. + +Not even a missionary had ever been to Oki, and its shores had never +been seen by European eyes, except on those rare occasions when men-of- +war steamed by them, cruising about the Japanese Sea. This alone would +have been a sufficient reason for going there; but a stronger one was +furnished for me by the ignorance of the Japanese themselves about Oki. +Excepting the far-away Riu-Kiu, or Loo-Choo Islands, inhabited by a +somewhat different race with a different language, the least-known +portion of the Japanese Empire is perhaps Oki. Since it belongs to the +same prefectural district as Izumo, each new governor of Shimane-Ken is +supposed to pay one visit to Oki after his inauguration; and the chief +of police of the province sometimes goes there upon a tour of +inspection. There are also some mercantile houses in Matsue and in other +cities which send a commercial traveller to Oki once a year. +Furthermore, there is quite a large trade with Oki--almost all carried +on by small sailing-vessels. But such official and commercial +communications have not been of a nature to make Oki much better known +to-day than in the medieval period of Japanese history. There are still +current among the common people of the west coast extraordinary stories +of Oki much like those about that fabulous Isle of Women, which figures +so largely in the imaginative literature of various Oriental races. +According to these old legends, the moral notions of the people of Oki +were extremely fantastic: the most rigid ascetic could not dwell there +and maintain his indifference to earthly pleasures; and, however wealthy +at his arrival, the visiting stranger must soon return to his native +land naked and poor, because of the seductions of women. I had quite +sufficient experiences of travel in queer countries to feel certain that +all these marvellous stories signified nothing beyond the bare fact that +Oki was a terra incognita; and I even felt inclined to believe that the +average morals of the people of Oki--judging by those of the common folk +of the western provinces--must be very much better than the morals of +our ignorant classes at home. + +Which I subsequently ascertained to be the case. + +For some time I could find no one among my Japanese acquaintances to +give me any information about Oki, beyond the fact that in ancient times +it had been a place of banishment for the Emperors Go-Daigo and Go-Toba, +dethroned by military usurpers, and this I already knew. But at last, +quite unexpectedly, I found a friend--a former fellow-teacher--who had +not only been to Oki, but was going there again within a few days about +some business matter. We agreed to go together. His accounts of Oki +differed very materially from those of the people who had never been +there. The Oki folks, he said, were almost as much civilised as the +Izumo folks: they, had nice towns and good public schools. They were +very simple and honest beyond belief, and extremely kind to strangers. +Their only boast was that of having kept their race unchanged since the +time that the Japanese had first come to Japan; or, in more romantic +phrase, since the Age of the Gods. They were all Shintoists, members of +the Izumo Taisha faith, but Buddhism was also maintained among them, +chiefly through the generous subscription of private individuals. And +there were very comfortable hotels, so that I would feel quite at home. + +He also gave me a little book about Oki, printed for the use of the Oki +schools, from which I obtained the following brief summary of facts: + +º2 + +Oki-no-Kuni, or the Land of Oki, consists of two groups of small islands +in the Sea of Japan, about one hundred miles from the coast of Izumo. +Dozen, as the nearer group is termed, comprises, besides various islets, +three islands lying close together: Chiburishima, or the Island of +Chiburi (sometimes called Higashinoshima, or Eastern Island); +Nishinoshima, or the Western Island, and Nakanoshima, or the Middle +Island. Much larger than any of these is the principal island, Dogo, +which together with various islets, mostly uninhabited, form the +remaining group. It is sometimes called Oki--though the name Oki is +more generally used for the whole archipelago. [1] + +Officially, Oki is divided into four kori or counties. Chiburi and +Nishinoshima together form Chiburigori; Nakanoshima, with an islet, +makes Amagori, and Dogo is divided into Ochigori and Sukigori. + +All these islands are very mountainous, and only a small portion of +their area has ever been cultivated. Their chief sources of revenue are +their fisheries, in which nearly the whole population has always been +engaged from the most ancient times. + +During the winter months the sea between Oki and the west coast is +highly dangerous for small vessels, and in that season the islands hold +little communication with the mainland. Only one passenger steamer runs +to Oki from Sakai in Hoki In a direct line, the distance from Sakai in +Hoki to Saigo, the chief port of Oki, is said to be thirty-nine ri; but +the steamer touches at the other islands upon her way thither. + +There are quite a number of little towns, or rather villages, in Oki, of +which forty-five belong to Dogo. The villages are nearly all situated +upon the coast. There are large schools in the principal towns. The +population of the islands is stated to be 30,196, but the respective +populations of towns and villages are not given. + +º3 + +From Matsue in Izumo to Sakai in Hoki is a trip of barely two hours by +steamer. Sakai is the chief seaport of Shimane-Ken. It is an ugly little +town, full of unpleasant smells; it exists only as a port; it has no +industries, scarcely any shops, and only one Shinto temple of small +dimensions and smaller interest. Its principal buildings are warehouses, +pleasure resorts for sailors, and a few large dingy hotels, which are +always overcrowded with guests waiting for steamers to Osaka, to Bakkan, +to Hamada, to Niigata, and various other ports. On this coast no +steamers run regularly anywhere; their owners attach no business value +whatever to punctuality, and guests have usually to wait for a much +longer time than they could possibly have expected, and the hotels are +glad. + +But the harbour is beautiful--a long frith between the high land of +Izumo and the low coast of Hoki. It is perfectly sheltered from storms, +and deep enough to admit all but the largest steamers. The ships can lie +close to the houses, and the harbour is nearly always thronged with all +sorts of craft, from junks to steam packets of the latest construction. + +My friend and I were lucky enough to secure back rooms at the best +hotel. Back rooms are the best in nearly all Japanese buildings: at +Sakai they have the additional advantage of overlooking the busy wharves +and the whole luminous bay, beyond which the Izumo hills undulate in +huge green billows against the sky. There was much to see and to be +amused at. Steamers and sailing craft of all sorts were lying two and +three deep before the hotel, and the naked dock labourers were loading +and unloading in their own peculiar way. These men are recruited from +among the strongest peasantry of Hoki and of Izumo, and some were really +fine men, over whose brown backs the muscles rippled at every movement. +They were assisted by boys of fifteen or sixteen apparently--apprentices +learning the work, but not yet strong enough to bear heavy burdens. I +noticed that nearly all had bands of blue cloth bound about their calves +to keep the veins from bursting. And all sang as they worked. There was +one curious alternate chorus, in which the men in the hold gave the +signal by chanting 'dokoe, dokoel' (haul away!) and those at the hatch +responded by improvisations on the appearance of each package as it +ascended: + +Dokoe, dokoe! +Onnago no ko da. +Dokoe, dokoe! +Oya dayo, oya dayo. +Dokoe, dokoel +Choi-choi da, choi-choi da. +Dokoe, dokoe! +Matsue da, Matsueda. +Dokoe, dokoe! +Koetsumo Yonago da, [20] etc. + +But this chant was for light quick work. A very different chant +accompanied the more painful and slower labour of loading heavy sacks +and barrels upon the shoulders of the stronger men:-- + +Yan-yui! +Yan-yui! +Yan-yui! +Yan-yui! +Yoi-ya-sa-a-a-no-do-koe-shi! [3] + +Three men always lifted the weight. At the first yan-yui all stooped; at +the second all took hold; the third signified ready; at the fourth the +weight rose from the ground; and with the long cry of yoiyasa no +dokoeshi it was dropped on the brawny shoulder waiting to receive it. + +Among the workers was a naked laughing boy, with a fine contralto that +rang out so merrily through all the din as to create something of a +sensation in the hotel. A young woman, one of the guests, came out upon +the balcony to look, and exclaimed: 'That boy's voice is RED'--whereat +everybody smiled. Under the circumstances I thought the observation very +expressive, although it recalled a certain famous story about scarlet +and the sound of a trumpet, which does not seem nearly so funny now as +it did at a time when we knew less about the nature of light and sound. + +The Oki steamer arrived the same afternoon, but she could not approach +the wharf, and I could only obtain a momentary glimpse of her stern +through a telescope, with which I read the name, in English letters of +gold--OKI-SARGO. Before I could obtain any idea of her dimensions, a +huge black steamer from Nagasaki glided between, and moored right in the +way. + +I watched the loading and unloading, and listened to the song of the boy +with the red voice, until sunset, when all quit work; and after that I +watched the Nagasaki steamer. She had made her way to our wharf as the +other vessels moved out, and lay directly under the balcony. The captain +and crew did not appear to be in a hurry about anything. They all +squatted down together on the foredeck, where a feast was spread for +them by lantern-light. Dancing-girls climbed on board and feasted with +them, and sang to the sound of the samisen, and played with them the +game of ken. Late into the night the feasting and the fun continued; and +although an alarming quantity of sake was consumed, there was no +roughness or boisterousness. But sake is the most soporific of wines; +and by midnight only three of the men remained on deck. One of these had +not taken any sake at all, but still desired to eat. Happily for him +there climbed on board a night-walking mochiya with a box of mochi, +which are cakes of rice-flour sweetened with native sugar. The hungry +one bought all, and reproached the mochiya because there were no more, +and offered, nevertheless, to share the mochi with his comrades. +Whereupon the first to whom the offer was made answered somewhat after +this manner: + +'I-your-servant mochi-for this-world-in no-use-have. Sake alone this- +life-in if-there-be, nothing-beside-desirable-is. + +'For me-your-servant,' spake the other, 'Woman this-fleeting-life-in +the-supreme-thing is; mochi-or-sake-for earthly-use have-I-none.' + +But, having made all the mochi to disappear, he that had been hungry +turned himself to the mochiya, and said:--'O Mochiya San, I-your-servant +Woman-or-sake-for earthly-requirement have-none. Mochi-than things +better this-life-of-sorrow-in existence-have-not !' + +º4 + +Early in the morning we were notified that the Oki-Saigo would start at +precisely eight o'clock, and that we had better secure our tickets at +once. The hotel-servant, according to Japanese custom, relieved us of +all anxiety about baggage, etc., and bought our tickets: first-class +fare, eighty sen. And after a hasty breakfast the hotel boat came under +the window to take us away. + +Warned by experience of the discomforts of European dress on Shimane +steamers, I adopted Japanese costume and exchanged my shoes for sandals. +Our boatmen sculled swiftly through the confusion of shipping and +junkery; and as we cleared it I saw, far out in midstream, the joki +waiting for us. Joki is a Japanese name for steam-vessel. The word had +not yet impressed me as being capable of a sinister interpretation. + +She seemed nearly as long as a harbour tug, though much more squabby; +and she otherwise so much resembled the Lilliputian steamers of Lake +Shinji, that I felt somewhat afraid of her, even for a trip of one +hundred miles. But exterior inspection afforded no clue to the mystery +of her inside. We reached her and climbed into her starboard through a +small square hole. At once I found myself cramped in a heavily-roofed +gangway, four feet high and two feet wide, and in the thick of a +frightful squeeze--passengers stifling in the effort to pull baggage +three feet in diameter through the two-foot orifice. It was impossible +to advance or retreat; and behind me the engine-room gratings were +pouring wonderful heat into this infernal corridor. I had to wait with +the back of my head pressed against the roof until, in some unimaginable +way, all baggage and passengers had squashed and squeezed through. Then, +reaching a doorway, I fell over a heap of sandals and geta, into the +first-class cabin. It was pretty, with its polished woodwork and +mirrors; it was surrounded by divans five inches wide; and in the centre +it was nearly six feet high. Such altitude would have been a cause for +comparative happiness, but that from various polished bars of brass +extended across the ceiling all kinds of small baggage, including two +cages of singing-crickets (chongisu), had been carefully suspended. +Furthermore the cabin was already extremely occupied: everybody, of +course, on the floor, and nearly everybody lying at extreme length; and +the heat struck me as being supernatural. Now they that go down to the +sea in ships, out of Izumo and such places, for the purpose of doing +business in great waters, are never supposed to stand up, but to squat +in the ancient patient manner; and coast, or lake steamers are +constructed with a view to render this attitude only possible. Observing +an open door in the port side of the cabin, I picked my way over a +tangle of bodies and limbs--among them a pair of fairy legs belonging +to a dancing-girl--and found myself presently in another gangway, also +roofed, and choked up to the roof with baskets of squirming eels. Exit +there was none: so I climbed back over all the legs and tried the +starboard gangway a second time. Even during that short interval, it had +been half filled with baskets of unhappy chickens. But I made a reckless +dash over them, in spite of frantic cacklings which hurt my soul, and +succeeded in finding a way to the cabin-roof. It was entirely occupied +by water-melons, except one corner, where there was a big coil of rope. +I put melons inside of the rope, and sat upon them in the sun. It was +not comfortable; but I thought that there I might have some chance for +my life in case of a catastrophe, and I was sure that even the gods +could give no help to those below. During the squeeze I had got +separated from my companion, but I was afraid to make any attempt to +find him. Forward I saw the roof of the second cabin crowded with third- +class passengers squatting round a hibachi. To pass through them did not +seem possible, and to retire would have involved the murder of either +eels or chickens. Wherefore I sat upon the melons. + +And the boat started, with a stunning scream. In another moment her +funnel began to rain soot upon me--for the so-called first-class cabin +was well astern--and then came small cinders mixed with the soot, and +the cinders were occasionally red-hot. But I sat burning upon the water- +melons for some time longer, trying to imagine a way of changing my +position without committing another assault upon the chickens. Finally, +I made a desperate endeavour to get to leeward of the volcano, and it +was then for the first time that I began to learn the peculiarities of +the joki. What I tried to sit on turned upside down, and what I tried to +hold by instantly gave way, and always in the direction of overboard. +Things clamped or rigidly braced to outward seeming proved, upon +cautious examination, to be dangerously mobile; and things that, +according to Occidental ideas, ought to have been movable, were fixed +like the roots of the perpetual hills. In whatever direction a rope or +stay could possibly have been stretched so as to make somebody unhappy, +it was there. In the midst of these trials the frightful little craft +began to swing, and the water-melons began to rush heavily to and fro, +and I came to the conclusion that this joki had been planned and +constructed by demons. + +Which I stated to my friend. He had not only rejoined me quite +unexpectedly, but had brought along with him one of the ship's boys to +spread an awning above ourselves and the watermelons, so as to exclude +cinders and sun. + +'Oh, no!' he answered reproachfully 'She was designed and built at +Hyogo, and really she might have been made much worse. . . ' 'I beg your +pardon,' I interrupted; 'I don't agree with you at all.' + +'Well, you will see for yourself,' he persisted. 'Her hull is good +steel, and her little engine is wonderful; she can make her hundred +miles in five hours. She is not very comfortable, but she is very swift +and strong.' + +'I would rather be in a sampan,' I protested, 'if there were rough +weather.' + +'But she never goes to sea in rough weather. If it only looks as if +there might possibly be some rough weather, she stays in port. Sometimes +she waits a whole month. She never runs any risks.' + +I could not feel sure of it. But I soon forgot all discomforts, even the +discomfort of sitting upon water-melons, in the delight of the divine +day and the magnificent view that opened wider and wider before us, as +we rushed from the long frith into the Sea of Japan, following the Izumo +coast. There was no fleck in the soft blue vastness above, not one +flutter on the metallic smoothness of the all-reflecting sea; if our +little steamer rocked, it was doubtless because she had been overloaded. +To port, the Izumo hills were flying by, a long, wild procession of' +broken shapes, sombre green, separating at intervals to form mysterious +little bays, with fishing hamlets hiding in them. Leagues away to +starboard, the Hoki shore receded into the naked white horizon, an ever- +diminishing streak of warm blue edged with a thread-line of white, the +gleam of a sand beach; and beyond it, in the centre, a vast shadowy +pyramid loomed up into heaven--the ghostly peak of Daisen. + +My companion touched my arm to call my attention to a group of pine- +trees on the summit of a peak to port, and laughed and sang a Japanese +song. How swiftly we had been travelling I then for the first time +understood, for I recognised the four famous pines of Mionoseki, on the +windy heights above the shrine of Koto-shiro-nushi-no-Kami. There used +to be five trees: one was uprooted by a storm, and some Izumo poet wrote +about the remaining four the words which my friend had sung: + +Seki no gohon matsu +Ippun kirya, shihon; +Ato wa kirarenu Miyoto matsu. + +Which means: 'Of the five pines of Seki one has been cut, and four +remain; and of these no one must now be cut--they are wedded pairs.' And +in Mionoseki there are sold beautiful little sake cups and sake bottles, +upon which are pictures of the four pines, and above the pictures, in +spidery text of gold, the verses, 'Seki no gohon matsu.' These are for +keepsakes, and there are many other curious and pretty souvenirs to buy +in those pretty shops; porcelains bearing the picture of the Mionoseki +temple, and metal clasps for tobacco pouches representing Koto-shiro- +nushi-no-Kami trying to put a big tai-fish into a basket too small for +it, and funny masks of glazed earthenware representing the laughing face +of the god. For a jovial god is this Ebisu, or Koto-shiro-nushi-no-Kami, +patron of honest labour and especially of fishers, though less of a +laughter-lover than his father, the Great Deity of Kitzuki, about whom +'tis said: 'Whenever the happy laugh, the God rejoices.' + +We passed the Cape--the Miho of the Kojiki--and the harbour of Mionoseki +opened before us, showing its islanded shrine of Benten in the midst, +and the crescent of quaint houses with their feet in the water, and the +great torii and granite lions of the far-famed temple. Immediately a +number of passengers rose to their feet, and, turning their faces toward +the torii began to clap their hands in Shinto prayer. + +I said to my friend: 'There are fifty baskets full of chickens in the +gangway; and yet these people are praying to Koto-shiro-nushi-no-Kami +that nothing horrible may happen to this boat.' + +'More likely,' he answered, 'they are praying for good-fortune; though +there is a saying: "The gods only laugh when men pray to them for +wealth." But of the Great Deity of Mionoseki there is a good story told. +Once there was a very lazy man who went to Mionoseki and prayed to +become rich. And the same night he saw the god in a dream; and the god +laughed, and took off one of his own divine sandals, and told him to +examine it. And the man saw that it was made of solid brass, but had a +big hole worn through the sole of it. Then said the god: "You want to +have money without working for it. I am a god; but I am never lazy. +See! my sandals are of brass: yet I have worked and walked so much that +they are quite worn out."' + +º5 + +The beautiful bay of Mionoseki opens between two headlands: Cape Mio (or +Miho, according to the archaic spelling) and the Cape of Jizo (Jizo- +zaki), now most inappropriately called by the people 'The Nose of Jizo' +(Jizo-no-hana). This Nose of Jizo is one of the most dangerous points of +the coast in time of surf, and the great terror of small ships returning +from Oki. There is nearly always a heavy swell there, even in fair +weather. Yet as we passed the ragged promontory I was surprised to see +the water still as glass. I felt suspicious of that noiseless sea: its +soundlessness recalled the beautiful treacherous sleep of waves and +winds which precedes a tropical hurricane. But my friend said: + +'It may remain like this for weeks. In the sixth month and in the +beginning of the seventh, it is usually very quiet; it is not likely to +become dangerous before the Bon. But there was a little squall last week +at Mionoseki; and the people said that it was caused by the anger of the +god.' + +'Eggs?' I queried. + +'No: a Kudan.' + +'What is a Kudan?' + +'Is it possible you never heard of the Kudan? The Kudan has the face of +a man, and the body of a bull. Sometimes it is born of a cow, and that +is a Sign-of-things-going-to-happen. And the Kudan always tells the +truth. Therefore in Japanese letters and documents it is customary to +use the phrase, Kudanno-gotoshi--"like the Kudan"--or "on the truth of +the Kudan."' [4] + +'But why was the God of Mionoseki angry about the Kudan?' + +'People said it was a stuffed Kudan. I did not see it, so I cannot tell +you how it was made. There was some travelling showmen from Osaka at +Sakai. They had a tiger and many curious animals and the stuffed Kudan; +and they took the Izumo Maru for Mionoseki. As the steamer entered the +port a sudden squall came; and the priests of the temple said the god +was angry because things impure--bones and parts of dead animals--had +been brought to the town. And the show people were not even allowed to +land: they had to go back to Sakai on the same steamer. And as soon as +they had gone away, the sky became clear again, and the wind stopped +blowing: so that some people thought what the priests had said was +true.' + +º6 + +Evidently there was much more moisture in the atmosphere than I had +supposed. On really clear days Daisen can be distinctly seen even from +Oki; but we had scarcely passed the Nose of Jizo when the huge peak +began to wrap itself in vapour of the same colour as the horizon; and in +a few minutes it vanished, as a spectre might vanish. The effect of this +sudden disappearance was very extraordinary; for only the peak passed +from sight, and that which had veiled it could not be any way +distinguished from horizon and sky. + +Meanwhile the Oki-Saigo, having reached the farthest outlying point of +the coast upon her route began to race in straight line across the +Japanese Sea. The green hills of Izumi fled away and turned blue, and +the spectral shores of Hoki began to melt into the horizon, like bands +of cloud. Then was obliged to confess my surprise at the speed of the +horrid little steamer. She moved, too, with scarcely any sound, smooth +was the working of her wonderful little engine. But she began to swing +heavily, with deep, slow swingings. To the eye, the sea looked level as +oil; but there were long invisible swells--ocean-pulses--that made +themselves felt beneath the surface. Hoki evaporated; the Izumo hills +turned grey, a their grey steadily paled as I watched them. They grew +more and more colourless--seemed to become transparent. And then they +were not. Only blue sky and blue sea, welded together in the white +horizon. + +It was just as lonesome as if we had been a thousand leagues from land. +And in that weirdness we were told some very lonesome things by an +ancient mariner who found leisure join us among the water-melons. He +talked of the Hotoke-umi and the ill-luck of being at sea on the +sixteenth day of the seventh month. He told us that even the great +steamers never went to sea during the Bon: no crew would venture to take +ship out then. And he related the following stories with such simple +earnestness that I think he must have believed what said: + +'The first time I was very young. From Hokkaido we had sailed, and the +voyage was long, and the winds turned against us. And the night of the +sixteenth day fell, as we were working on over this very sea. + +'And all at once in the darkness we saw behind us a great junk--all +white--that we had not noticed till she was quite close to us. It made +us feel queer, because she seemed to have come from nowhere. She was so +near us that we could hear voices; and her hull towered up high above +us. She seemed to be sailing very fast; but she came no closer. We +shouted to her; but we got no answer. And while we were watching her, +all of us became afraid, because she did not move like a real ship. The +sea was terrible, and we were lurching and plunging; but that great junk +never rolled. Just at the same moment that we began to feel afraid she +vanished so quickly that we could scarcely believe we had really seen +her at all. + +'That was the first time. But four years ago I saw something still more +strange. We were bound for Oki, in a junk, and the wind again delayed +us, so that we were at sea on the sixteenth day. It was in the morning, +a little before midday; the sky was dark and the sea very ugly. All at +once we saw a steamer running in our track, very quickly. She got so +close to us that we could hear her engines--katakata katakata!--but we +saw nobody on deck. Then she began to follow us, keeping exactly at the +same distance, and whenever we tried to get out of her way she would +turn after us and keep exactly in our wake. And then we suspected what +she was. But we were not sure until she vanished. She vanished like a +bubble, without making the least sound. None of us could say exactly +when she disappeared. None of us saw her vanish. The strangest thing was +that after she was gone we could still hear her engines working behind +us--katakata, katakata, katakata! + +'That is all I saw. But I know others, sailors like myself, who have +seen more. Sometimes many ships will follow you--though never at the +same time. One will come close and vanish, then another, and then +another. As long as they come behind you, you need never be afraid. But +if you see a ship of that sort running before you, against the wind, +that is very bad! It means that all on board will be drowned.' + +º7 + +The luminous blankness circling us continued to remain unflecked for +less than an hour. Then out of the horizon toward which we steamed, a +small grey vagueness began to grow. It lengthened fast, and seemed a +cloud. And a cloud it proved; but slowly, beneath it, blue filmy shapes +began to define against the whiteness, and sharpened into a chain of +mountains. They grew taller and bluer--a little sierra, with one paler +shape towering in the middle to thrice the height of the rest, and +filleted with cloud--Takuhizan, the sacred mountain of Oki, in the +island Nishinoshima. + +Takuhizan has legends, which I learned from my friend. Upon its summit +stands an ancient shrine of the deity Gongen-Sama. And it is said that +upon the thirty-first night of the twelfth month three ghostly fires +arise from the sea and ascend to the place of the shrine, and enter the +stone lanterns which stand before it, and there remain, burning like +lamps. These lights do not arise at once, but separately, from the sea, +and rise to the top of the peak one by one. The people go out in boats +to see the lights mount from the water. But only those whose hearts are +pure can see them; those who have evil thoughts or desires look for the +holy fires in vain. + +Before us, as we steamed on, the sea-surface appeared to become suddenly +speckled with queer craft previously invisible--light, long fishing- +boats, with immense square sails of a beautiful yellow colour. I could +not help remarking to my comrade how pretty those sails were; he +laughed, and told me they were made of old tatami. [5] I examined them +through a telescope, and found that they were exactly what he had said-- +woven straw coverings of old floor-mats. Nevertheless, that first tender +yellow sprinkling of old sails over the soft blue water was a charming +sight. + +They fleeted by, like a passing of yellow butterflies, and the sea was +void again. Gradually, a little to port, a point in the approaching line +of blue cliffs shaped itself and changed colour--dull green above, +reddish grey below; it defined into a huge rock, with a dark patch on +its face, but the rest of the land remained blue. The dark patch +blackened as we came nearer--a great gap full of shadow. Then the blue +cliffs beyond also turned green, and their bases reddish grey. We passed +to the right of the huge rock, which proved to be a detached and +uninhabited islet, Hakashima; and in another moment we were steaming +into the archipelago of Oki, between the lofty islands Chiburishima and +Nakashima. + +º8 + +The first impression was almost uncanny. Rising sheer from the flood on +either hand, the tall green silent hills stretched away before us, +changing tint through the summer vapour, to form a fantastic vista of +blue cliffs and peaks and promontories. There was not one sign of human +life. Above their pale bases of naked rock the mountains sloped up +beneath a sombre wildness of dwarf vegetation. There was absolutely no +sound, except the sound of the steamer's tiny engine--poum-poum, poum! +poum-poum, poum! like the faint tapping of a geisha's drum. And this +savage silence continued for miles: only the absence of lofty timber +gave evidence that those peaked hills had ever been trodden by human +foot. But all at once, to the left, in a mountain wrinkle, a little grey +hamlet appeared; and the steamer screamed and stopped, while the hills +repeated the scream seven times. + +This settlement was Chiburimura, of Chiburishima (Nakashima being the +island to starboard)--evidently nothing more than a fishing station. +First a wharf of uncemented stone rising from the cove like a wall; then +great trees through which one caught sight of a torii before some Shinto +shrine, and of a dozen houses climbing the hollow hill one behind +another, roof beyond roof; and above these some terraced patches of +tilled ground in the midst of desolation: that was all. The packet +halted to deliver mail, and passed on. + +But then, contrary to expectation, the scenery became more beautiful. +The shores on either side at once receded and heightened: we were +traversing an inland sea bounded by three lofty islands. At first the +way before us had seemed barred by vapoury hills; but as these, drawing +nearer, turned green, there suddenly opened magnificent chasms between +them on both sides--mountain-gates revealing league-long wondrous vistas +of peaks and cliffs and capes of a hundred blues, ranging away from +velvety indigo into far tones of exquisite and spectral delicacy. A +tinted haze made dreamy all remotenesses, an veiled with illusions of +colour the rugged nudities of rock. + +The beauty of the scenery of Western and Central Japan is not as the +beauty of scenery in other lands; it has a peculiar character of its +own. Occasionally the foreigner may find memories of former travel +suddenly stirred to life by some view on a mountain road, or some +stretch of beetling coast seen through a fog of spray. But this illusion +of resemblance vanishes as swiftly as it comes; details immediately +define into strangeness, and you become aware that the remembrance was +evoked by form only, never by colour. Colours indeed there are which +delight the eye, but not colours of mountain verdure, not colours of the +land. Cultivated plains, expanses of growing rice, may offer some +approach to warmth of green; but the whole general tone of this nature +is dusky; the vast forests are sombre; the tints of grasses are harsh or +dull. Fiery greens, such as burn in tropical scenery, do not exist; and +blossom-bursts take a more exquisite radiance by contrast with the heavy +tones of the vegetation out of which they flame. Outside of parks and +gardens and cultivated fields, there is a singular absence of warmth and +tenderness in the tints of verdure; and nowhere need you hope to find +any such richness of green as that which makes the loveliness of an +English lawn. + +Yet these Oriental landscapes possess charms of colour extraordinary, +phantom-colour delicate, elfish, indescribable--created by the wonderful +atmosphere. Vapours enchant the distances, bathing peaks in bewitchments +of blue and grey of a hundred tones, transforming naked cliffs to +amethyst, stretching spectral gauzes across the topazine morning, +magnifying the splendour of noon by effacing the horizon, filling the +evening with smoke of gold, bronzing the waters, banding the sundown +with ghostly purple and green of nacre. Now, the Old Japanese artists +who made those marvellous ehon--those picture-books which have now +become so rare--tried to fix the sensation of these enchantments in +colour, and they were successful in their backgrounds to a degree almost +miraculous. For which very reason some of their foregrounds have been a +puzzle to foreigners unacquainted with certain features of Japanese +agriculture. You will see blazing saffron-yellow fields, faint purple +plains, crimson and snow-white trees, in those old picture-books; and +perhaps you will exclaim: 'How absurd!' But if you knew Japan you would +cry out: 'How deliciously real!' For you would know those fields of +burning yellow are fields of flowering rape, and the purple expanses are +fields of blossoming miyako, and the snow-white or crimson trees are not +fanciful, but represent faithfully certain phenomena of efflorescence +peculiar to the plum-trees and the cherry-trees of the country. But +these chromatic extravaganzas can be witnessed only during very brief +periods of particular seasons: throughout the greater part of the year +the foreground of an inland landscape is apt to be dull enough in the +matter of colour. + +It is the mists that make the magic of the backgrounds; yet even without +them there is a strange, wild, dark beauty in Japanese landscapes, a +beauty not easily defined in words. The secret of it must be sought in +the extraordinary lines of the mountains, in the strangely abrupt +crumpling and jagging of the ranges; no two masses closely resembling +each other, every one having a fantasticality of its own. Where the +chains reach to any considerable height, softly swelling lines are rare: +the general characteristic is abruptness, and the charm is the charm of +Irregularity. + +Doubtless this weird Nature first inspired the Japanese with their +unique sense of the value of irregularity in decoration--taught them +that single secret of composition which distinguishes their art from all +other art, and which Professor Chamberlain has said it is their special +mission to teach to the Occident. [6] Certainly, whoever has once +learned to feel the beauty and significance of the Old Japanese +decorative art can find thereafter little pleasure in the corresponding +art of the West. What he has really learned is that Nature's greatest +charm is irregularity. And perhaps something of no small value might be +written upon the question whether the highest charm of human life and +work is not also irregularity. + +º9 + +From Chiburimura we made steam west for the port of Urago, which is in +the island of Nishinoshima. As we approached it Takuhizan came into +imposing view. Far away it had seemed a soft and beautiful shape; but as +its blue tones evaporated its aspect became rough and even grim: an +enormous jagged bulk all robed in sombre verdure, through which, as +through tatters, there protruded here and there naked rock of the +wildest shapes. One fragment, I remember, as it caught the slanting sun +upon the irregularities of its summit, seemed an immense grey skull. At +the base of this mountain, and facing the shore of Nakashima, rises a +pyramidal mass of rock, covered with scraggy undergrowth, and several +hundred feet in height--Mongakuzan. On its desolate summit stands a +little shrine. + +'Takuhizan' signifies The Fire-burning Mountain--a name due perhaps +either to the legend of its ghostly fires, or to some ancient memory of +its volcanic period. 'Mongakuzan' means The Mountain of Mongaku--Mongaku +Shonin, the great monk. It is said that Mongaku Shonin fled to Oki, and +that he dwelt alone upon the top of that mountain many years, doing +penance for his deadly sin. Whether he really ever visited Oki, I am not +able to say; there are traditions which declare the contrary. But the +peaklet has borne his name for hundreds of years. + +Now this is the story of Mongaku Shonin: + +Many centuries ago, in the city of Kyoto, there was a captain of the +garrison whose name was Endo Morito. He saw and loved the wife of a +noble samurai; and when she refused to listen to his desires, he vowed +that he would destroy her family unless she consented to the plan which +he submitted to her. The plan was that upon a certain night she should +suffer him to enter her house and to kill her husband; after which she +was to become his wife. + +But she, pretending to consent, devised a noble stratagem to save her +honour. For, after having persuaded her husband to absent himself from +the city, she wrote to Endo a letter, bidding him come upon a certain +night to the house. And on that night she clad herself in her husband's +robes, and made her hair like the hair of a man, and laid herself down +in her husband's place, and pretended to sleep. + +And Endo came in the dead of the night with his sword drawn, and smote +off the head of the sleeper at a blow, and seized it by the hair and +lifted it up and saw it was the head of the woman he had loved and +wronged. + +Then a great remorse came upon him, and hastening to a neighbouring +temple, he confessed his sin, and did penance and cut off his hair, and +became a monk, taking the name of Mongaku. And in after years he +attained to great holiness, so that folk still pray to him, and his +memory is venerated throughout the land. + +Now at Asakusa in Tokyo, in one of the curious little streets which lead +to the great temple of Kwannon the Merciful, there are always wonderful +images to be seen--figures that seem alive, though made of wood only-- +figures illustrating the ancient legends of Japan. And there you may see +Endo standing: in his right hand the reeking sword; in his left the head +of a beautiful woman. The face of the woman you may forget soon, because +it is only beautiful. But the face of Endo you will not forget, because +it is naked hell. + +º10 + +Urago is a queer little town, perhaps quite as large as Mionoseki, and +built, like Mionoseki, on a narrow ledge at the base of a steep +semicircle of hills. But it is much more primitive and colourless than +Mionoseki; and its houses are still more closely cramped between cliffs +and water, so that its streets, or rather alleys, are no wider than +gangways. As we cast anchor, my attention was suddenly riveted by a +strange spectacle--a white wilderness of long fluttering vague shapes, +in a cemetery on the steep hillside, rising by terraces high above the +roofs of the town. The cemetery was full of grey haka and images of +divinities; and over every haka there was a curious white paper banner +fastened to a thin bamboo pole. Through a glass one could see that these +banners were inscribed with Buddhist texts--'Namur-myo-ho-renge-kyo'; +'Namu Amida Butsu'; 'Namu Daiji Dai-hi Kwan-ze-on Bosats,'--and other +holy words. Upon inquiry I learned that it was an Urago custom to place +these banners every year above the graves during one whole month +preceding the Festival of the Dead, together with various other +ornamental or symbolic things. + +The water was full of naked swimmers, who shouted laughing welcomes; and +a host of light, swift boats, sculled by naked fishermen, darted out to +look for passengers and freight. It was my first chance to observe the +physique of Oki islanders; and I was much impressed by the vigorous +appearance of both men and boys. The adults seemed to me of a taller and +more powerful type than the men of the Izumo coast; and not a few of +those brown backs and shoulders displayed, in the motion of sculling +what is comparatively rare in Japan, even among men picked for heavy +labour--a magnificent development of muscles. + +As the steamer stopped an hour at Urago, we had time to dine ashore in +the chief hotel. It was a very clean and pretty hotel, and the fare +infinitely superior to that of the hotel at Sakai. Yet the price charged +was only seven sen; and the old landlord refused to accept the whole of +the chadai-gift offered him, retaining less than half, and putting back +the rest, with gentle force, into the sleeve of my yukata. + +º11 + +From Urago we proceeded to Hishi-ura, which is in Nakanoshima, and the +scenery grew always more wonderful as we steamed between the islands. +The channel was just wide enough to create the illusion of a grand river +flowing with the stillness of vast depth between mountains of a hundred +forms. The long lovely vision was everywhere walled in by peaks, bluing +through sea-haze, and on either hand the ruddy grey cliffs, sheering up +from profundity, sharply mirrored their least asperities in the flood +with never a distortion, as in a sheet of steel. Not until we reached +Hishi-ura did the horizon reappear; and even then it was visible only +between two lofty headlands, as if seen through a river's mouth. + +Hishi-ura is far prettier than Urago, but it is much less populous, and +has the aspect of a prosperous agricultural town, rather than of a +fishing station. It bends round a bay formed by low hills which slope +back gradually toward the mountainous interior, and which display a +considerable extent of cultivated surface. The buildings are somewhat +scattered and in many cases isolated by gardens; and those facing the +water are quite handsome modern constructions. Urago boasts the best +hotel in all Oki; and it has two new temples--one a Buddhist temple of +the Zen sect, one a Shinto temple of the Izumo Taisha faith, each the +gift of a single person. A rich widow, the owner of the hotel, built the +Buddhist temple; and the wealthiest of the merchants contributed the +other--one of the handsomest miya for its size that I ever saw. + +º12 + +Dogo, the main island of the Oki archipelago, sometimes itself called +'Oki,' lies at a distance of eight miles, north-east of the Dozen group, +beyond a stretch of very dangerous sea. We made for it immediately after +leaving Urago; passing to the open through a narrow and fantastic strait +between Nakanoshima and Nishinoshima, where the cliffs take the form of +enormous fortifications--bastions and ramparts, rising by tiers. Three +colossal rocks, anciently forming but a single mass, which would seem to +have been divided by some tremendous shock, rise from deep water near +the mouth of the channel, like shattered towers. And the last promontory +of Nishinoshima, which we pass to port, a huge red naked rock, turns to +the horizon a point so strangely shaped that it has been called by a +name signifying 'The Hat of the Shinto Priest.' + +As we glide out into the swell of the sea other extraordinary shapes +appear, rising from great depths. Komori, 'The Bat,' a ragged silhouette +against the horizon, has a great hole worn through it, which glares like +an eye. Farther out two bulks, curved and pointed, and almost joined at +the top, bear a grotesque resemblance to the uplifted pincers of a crab; +and there is also visible a small dark mass which, until closely +approached, seems the figure of a man sculling a boat. Beyond these are +two islands: Matsushima, uninhabited and inaccessible, where there is +always a swell to beware of; Omorishima, even loftier, which rises from +the ocean in enormous ruddy precipices. There seemed to be some grim +force in those sinister bulks; some occult power which made our steamer +reel and shiver as she passed them. But I saw a marvellous effect of +colour under those formidable cliffs of Omorishima. They were lighted by +a slanting sun; and where the glow of the bright rock fell upon the +water, each black-blue ripple flashed bronze: I thought of a sea of +metallic violet ink. + +From Dozen the cliffs of Dogo can be clearly seen when the weather is +not foul: they are streaked here and there with chalky white, which +breaks through their blue, even in time of haze. Above them a vast bulk +is visible--a point-de-repÞre for the mariners of Hoki--the mountain of +Daimanji. Dogo, indeed, is one great cluster of mountains. + +Its cliffs rapidly turned green for us, and we followed them eastwardly +for perhaps half an hour. Then they opened unexpectedly and widely, +revealing a superb bay, widening far into the land, surrounded by hills, +and full of shipping. Beyond a confusion of masts there crept into view +a long grey line of house-fronts at the base of a crescent of cliffs-- +the city of Saigo; and in a little while we touched a wharf of stone. +There I bade farewell for a month to the Oki-Saigo. + +º13 + +Saigo was a great surprise. Instead of the big fishing village I had +expected to see, I found a city much larger and handsomer and in all +respects more modernised than Sakai; a city of long streets full of good +shops; a city with excellent public buildings; a city of which the whole +appearance indicated commercial prosperity. Most of the edifices were +roomy two story dwellings of merchants, and everything had a bright, new +look. The unpainted woodwork of the houses had not yet darkened into +grey; the blue tints of the tiling were still fresh. I learned that this +was because the town had been recently rebuilt, after a conflagration, +and rebuilt upon a larger and handsomer plan. + +Saigo seems still larger than it really is. There are about one thousand +houses, which number in any part of Western Japan means a population of +at least five thousand, but must mean considerably more in Saigo. These +form three long streets--Nishimachi, Nakamachi, and Higashimachi (names +respectively signifying the Western, Middle, and Eastern Streets), +bisected by numerous cross-streets and alleys. What makes the place seem +disproportionately large is the queer way the streets twist about, +following the irregularities of the shore, and even doubling upon +themselves, so as to create from certain points of view an impression of +depth which has no existence. For Saigo is peculiarly, although +admirably situated. It fringes both banks of a river, the Yabigawa, near +its mouth, and likewise extends round a large point within the splendid +bay, besides stretching itself out upon various tongues of land. But +though smaller than it looks, to walk through all its serpentine streets +is a good afternoon's work. + +Besides being divided by the Yabigawa, the town is intersected by +various water-ways, crossed by a number of bridges. On the hills behind +it stand several large buildings, including a public school, with +accommodation for three hundred students; a pretty Buddhist temple +(quite new), the gift of a rich citizen; a prison; and a hospital, which +deserves its reputation of being for its size the handsomest Japanese +edifice not only in Oki, but in all Shimane-Ken; and there are several +small but very pretty gardens. + +As for the harbour, you can count more than three hundred ships riding +there of a summer's day. Grumblers, especially of the kind who still use +wooden anchors, complain of the depth; but the men-of-war do not. + +º14 + +Never, in any part of Western Japan, have I been made more comfortable +than at Saigo. My friend and myself were the only guests at the hotel to +which we had been recommended. The broad and lofty rooms of the upper +floor which we occupied overlooked the main street on one side, and on +the other commanded a beautiful mountain landscape beyond the mouth of +the Yabigawa, which flowed by our garden. The sea breeze never failed by +day or by night, and rendered needless those pretty fans which it is the +Japanese custom to present to guests during the hot season. The fare was +astonishingly good and curiously varied; and I was told that I might +order Seyoryori (Occidental cooking) if I wished--beefsteak with fried +potatoes, roast chicken, and so forth. I did not avail myself of the +offer, as I make it a rule while travelling to escape trouble by keeping +to a purely Japanese diet; but it was no small surprise to be offered in +Saigo what is almost impossible to obtain in any other Japanese town of +five thousand inhabitants. From a romantic point of view, however, this +discovery was a disappointment. Having made my way into the most +primitive region of all Japan, I had imagined myself far beyond the +range of all modernising influences; and the suggestion of beefsteak +with fried potatoes was a disillusion. Nor was I entirely consoled by +the subsequent discovery that there were no newspapers or telegraphs. + +But there was one serious hindrance to the enjoyment of these comforts: +an omnipresent, frightful, heavy, all-penetrating smell, the smell of +decomposing fish, used as a fertiliser. Tons and tons of cuttlefish +entrails are used upon the fields beyond the Yabigawa, and the never- +sleeping sea wind blows the stench into every dwelling. Vainly do they +keep incense burning in most of the houses during the heated term. After +having remained three or four days constantly in the city you become +better able to endure this odour; but if you should leave town even for +a few hours only, you will be astonished on returning to discover how +much your nose had been numbed by habit and refreshed by absence. + +º15 + +On the morning of the day after my arrival at Saigo, a young physician +called to see me, and requested me to dine with him at his house. He +explained very frankly that as I was the first foreigner who had ever +stopped in Saigo, it would afford much pleasure both to his family and +to himself to have a good chance to see me; but the natural courtesy of +the man overcame any scruple I might have felt to gratify the curiosity +of strangers. I was not only treated charmingly at his beautiful home, +but actually sent away loaded with presents, most of which I attempted +to decline in vain. In one matter, however, I remained obstinate, even +at the risk of offending--the gift of a wonderful specimen of bateiseki +(a substance which I shall speak of hereafter). This I persisted in +refusing to take, knowing it to be not only very costly, but very rare. +My host at last yielded, but afterwards secretly sent to the hotel two +smaller specimens, which Japanese etiquette rendered it impossible to +return. Before leaving Saigo, I experienced many other unexpected +kindnesses from the same gentleman. + +Not long after, one of the teachers of the Saigo public school paid me a +visit. He had heard of my interest in Oki, and brought with him two fine +maps of the islands made by himself, a little book about Saigo, and, as +a gift, a collection of Oki butterflies and insects which he had made. +It is only in Japan that one is likely to meet with these wonderful +exhibitions of pure goodness on the part of perfect strangers. + +A third visitor, who had called to see my friend, performed an action +equally characteristic, but which caused me not a little pain. We +squatted down to smoke together. He drew from his girdle a remarkably +beautiful tobacco-pouch and pipe-case, containing a little silver pipe, +which he began to smoke. The pipe-case was made of a sort of black +coral, curiously carved, and attached to the tabako-ire, or pouch, by a +heavy cord of plaited silk of three colours, passed through a ball of +transparent agate. Seeing me admire it, he suddenly drew a knife from +his sleeve, and before I could prevent him, severed the pipe-case from +the pouch, and presented it to me. I felt almost as if he had cut one of +his own nerves asunder when he cut that wonderful cord; and, +nevertheless, once this had been done, to refuse the gift would have +been rude in the extreme. I made him accept a present in return; but +after that experience I was careful never again while in Oki to admire +anything in the presence of its owner. + +º16 + +Every province of Japan has its own peculiar dialect; and that of Oki, +as might be expected in a country so isolated, is particularly distinct. +In Saigo, however, the Izumo dialect is largely used. The townsfolk in +their manners and customs much resemble Izumo country-folk; indeed, +there are many Izumo people among them, most of the large businesses +being in the hands of strangers. The women did not impress me as being +so attractive as those of Izumo: I saw several very pretty girls, but +these proved to be strangers. + +However, it is only in the country that one can properly study the +physical characteristics of a population. Those of the Oki islanders may +best be noted at the fishing villages many of which I visited. +Everywhere I saw fine strong men and vigorous women; and it struck me +that the extraordinary plenty and cheapness of nutritive food had quite +as much to do with this robustness as climate and constant exercise. So +easy, indeed, is it to live in Oki, that men of other coasts, who find +existence difficult, emigrate to Oki if they can get a chance to work +there, even at less remuneration. An interesting spectacle to me were +the vast processions of fishing-vessels which always, weather +permitting, began to shoot out to sea a couple of hours before sundown. +The surprising swiftness with which those light craft were impelled by +their sinewy scullers--many of whom were women--told of a skill acquired +only through the patient experience of generations. Another matter that +amazed me was the number of boats. One night in the offing I was able to +count three hundred and five torch-fires in sight, each one signifying a +crew; and I knew that from almost any of the forty-five coast villages I +might see the same spectacle at the same time. The main part of the +population, in fact, spends its summer nights at sea. It is also a +revelation to travel from Izumo to Hamada by night upon a swift steamer +during the fishing season. The horizon for a hundred miles is alight +with torch-fires; the toil of a whole coast is revealed in that vast +illumination. + +Although the human population appears to have gained rather than lost +vigour upon this barren soil, the horses and cattle of the country seem +to have degenerated. They are remarkably diminutive. I saw cows not much +bigger than Izumo calves, with calves about the size of goats. The +horses, or rather ponies, belong to a special breed of which Oki is +rather proud--very small, but hardy. I was told that there were larger +horses, but I saw none, and could not learn whether they were imported. +It seemed to me a curious thing, when I saw Oki ponies for the first +time, that Sasaki Takatsuna's battle-steed--not less famous in Japanese +story than the horse Kyrat in the ballads of Kurroglou--is declared by +the islanders to have been a native of Oki. And they have a tradition +that it once swam from Oki to Mionoseki. + +º17 + +Almost every district and town in Japan has its meibutsu or its +kembutsu. The meibutsu of any place are its special productions, whether +natural or artificial. The kembutsu of a town or district are its +sights--its places worth visiting for any reason--religious, +traditional, historical, or pleasurable. Temples and gardens, remarkable +trees and curious rocks, are kembutsu. So, likewise, are any situations +from which beautiful scenery may be looked at, or any localities where +one can enjoy such charming spectacles as the blossoming of cherry-trees +in spring, the flickering of fireflies in summer nights, the flushing of +maple-leaves in autumn, or even that long snaky motion of moonlight upon +water to which Chinese poets have given the delightful name of Kinryo, +'the Golden Dragon.' + +The great meibutsu of Oki is the same as that of Hinomisaki--dried +cuttlefish; an article of food much in demand both in China and Japan. +The cuttlefish of Oki and Hinomisaki and Mionoseki are all termed ika (a +kind of sepia); but those caught at Mionoseki are white and average +fifteen inches in length, while those of Oki and Hinomisaki rarely +exceed twelve inches and have a reddish tinge. The fisheries of +Mionoseki and Hinomisaki are scarcely known; but the fisheries of Oki +are famed not only throughout Japan, but also in Korea and China. It is +only through the tilling of the sea that the islands have become +prosperous and capable of supporting thirty thousand souls upon a coast +of which but a very small portion can be cultivated at all. Enormous +quantities of cuttlefish are shipped to the mainland; but I have been +told that the Chinese are the best customers of Oki for this product. +Should the supply ever fail, the result would be disastrous beyond +conception; but at present it seems inexhaustible, though the fishing +has been going on for thousands of years. Hundreds of tons of cuttlefish +are caught, cured, and prepared for exportation month after month; and +many hundreds of acres are fertilised with the entrails and other +refuse. An officer of police told me several strange facts about this +fishery. On the north-eastern coast of Saigo it is no uncommon thing for +one fisherman to capture upwards of two thousand cuttlefish in a single +night. Boats have been burst asunder by the weight of a few hauls, and +caution has to be observed in loading. Besides the sepia, however, this +coast swarms with another variety of cuttlefish which also furnishes a +food-staple--the formidable tako, or true octopus. Tako weighing fifteen +kwan each, or nearly one hundred and twenty-five pounds, are sometimes +caught near the fishing settlement of Nakamura. I was surprised to learn +that there was no record of any person having been injured by these +monstrous creatures. + +Another meibutsu of Oki is much less known than it deserves to be--the +beautiful jet-black stone called bateiseki, or 'horsehoof stone.' [7] +It is found only in Dogo, and never in large masses. It is about as +heavy as flint, and chips like flint; but the polish which it takes is +like that of agate. There are no veins or specks in it; the intense +black colour never varies. Artistic objects are made of bateiseki: ink- +stones, wine-cups, little boxes, small dai, or stands for vases or +statuettes; even jewellery, the material being worked in the same manner +as the beautiful agates of Yumachi in Izumo. These articles are +comparatively costly, even in the place of their manufacture. There is +an odd legend about the origin of the bateiseki. It owes its name to +some fancied resemblance to a horse's hoof, either in colour, or in the +semicircular marks often seen upon the stone in its natural state, and +caused by its tendency to split in curved lines. But the story goes that +the bateiseki was formed by the touch of the hoofs of a sacred steed, +the wonderful mare of the great Minamoto warrior, Sasaki Takatsuna. She +had a foal, which fell into a deep lake in Dogo, and was drowned. She +plunged into the lake herself, but could not find her foal, being +deceived by the reflection of her own head in the water. For a long time +she sought and mourned in vain; but even the hard rocks felt for her, +and where her hoofs touched them beneath the water they became changed +into bateiseki. [8] + +Scarcely less beautiful than bateiseki, and equally black, is another +Oki meibutsu, a sort of coralline marine product called umi-matsu, or +'sea-pine.' Pipe-cases, brush-stands, and other small articles are +manufactured from it; and these when polished seem to be covered with +black lacquer. Objects of umimatsu are rare and dear. + +Nacre wares, however, are very cheap in Oki; and these form another +variety of meibutsu. The shells of the awabi, or 'sea-ear,' which +reaches a surprising size in these western waters, are converted by +skilful polishing and cutting into wonderful dishes, bowls, cups, and +other articles, over whose surfaces the play of iridescence is like a +flickering of fire of a hundred colours. + +º18 + +According to a little book published at Matsue, the kembutsu of Oki-no- +Kuni are divided among three of the four principal islands; Chiburishima +only possessing nothing of special interest. For many generations the +attractions of Dogo have been the shrine of Agonashi Jizo, at +Tsubamezato; the waterfall (Dangyo-taki) at Yuenimura; the mighty cedar- +tree (sugi) before the shrine of Tama-Wakusa-jinja at Shimomura, and the +lakelet called Sai-no-ike where the bateiseki is said to be found. +Nakanoshima possesses the tomb of the exiled Emperor Go-Toba, at +Amamura, and the residence of the ancient Choja, Shikekuro, where he +dwelt betimes, and where relics of him are kept even to this day. +Nishinoshima possesses at Beppu a shrine in memory of the exiled Emperor +Go-Daigo, and on the summit of Takuhizan that shrine of Gongen-Sama, +from the place of which a wonderful view of the whole archipelago is +said to be obtainable on cloudless days. + +Though Chiburishima has no kembutsu, her poor little village of Chiburi +--the same Chiburimura at which the Oki steamer always touches on her way +to Saigo--is the scene of perhaps the most interesting of all the +traditions of the archipelago. + +Five hundred and sixty years ago, the exiled Emperor Go-Daigo managed to +escape from the observation of his guards, and to flee from Nishinoshima +to Chiburi. And the brown sailors of that little hamlet offered to serve +him, even with their lives if need be. They were loading their boats +with 'dried fish,' doubtless the same dried cuttlefish which their +descendants still carry to Izumo and to Hoki. The emperor promised to +remember them, should they succeed in landing him either in Hoki or in +Izumo; and they put him in a boat. + +But when they had sailed only a little way they saw the pursuing +vessels. Then they told the emperor to lie down, and they piled the +dried fish high above him. The pursuers came on board and searched the +boat, but they did not even think of touching the strong-smelling +cuttlefish. And when the men of Chiburi were questioned they invented a +story, and gave to the enemies of the emperor a false clue to follow. + +And so, by means of the cuttlefish, the good emperor was enabled to +escape from banishment. + +º19 + +I found there were various difficulties in the way of becoming +acquainted with some of the kembutsu. There are no roads, properly +speaking, in all Oki, only mountain paths; and consequently there are no +jinricksha, with the exception of one especially imported by the leading +physician of Saigo, and available for use only in the streets. There are +not even any kago, or palanquins, except one for the use of the same +physician. The paths are terribly rough, according to the testimony of +the strong peasants themselves; and the distances, particularly in the +hottest period of the year, are disheartening. Ponies can be hired; but +my experiences of a similar wild country in western Izumo persuaded me +that neither pleasure nor profit was to be gained by a long and painful +ride over pine-covered hills, through slippery gullies and along +torrent-beds, merely to look at a waterfall. I abandoned the idea of +visiting Dangyotaki, but resolved, if possible, to see Agonashi-Jizo. + +I had first heard in Matsue of Agonashi-Jizo, while suffering from one +of those toothaches in which the pain appears to be several hundred +miles in depth--one of those toothaches which disturb your ideas of +space and time. And a friend who sympathised said: + +'People who have toothache pray to Agonashi-Jizo. Agonashi-Jizo is in +Oki, but Izumo people pray to him. When cured they go to Lake Shinji, to +the river, to the sea, or to any running stream, and drop into the water +twelve pears (nashi), one for each of the twelve months. And they +believe the currents will carry all these to Oki across the sea. + +'Now, Agonashi-Jizo means 'Jizo-who-has-no-jaw.' For it is said that in +one of his former lives Jizo had such a toothache in his lower jaw that +he tore off his jaw, and threw it away, and died. And he became a +Bosatsu. And the people of Oki made a statue of him without a jaw; and +all who suffer toothache pray to that Jizo of Oki.' + +This story interested me for more than once I had felt a strong desire +to do like Agonashi-Jizo, though lacking the necessary courage and +indifference to earthly consequences. Moreover, the tradition suggested +so humane and profound a comprehension of toothache, and so large a +sympathy with its victims, that I felt myself somewhat consoled. + +Nevertheless, I did not go to see Agonashi-Jizo, because I found out +there was no longer any Agonashi-Jizo to see. The news was brought one +evening by some friends, shizoku of Matsue, who had settled in Oki, a +young police officer and his wife. They had walked right across the +island to see us, starting before daylight, and crossing no less than +thirty-two torrents on their way. The wife, only nineteen, was quite +slender and pretty, and did not appear tired by that long rough journey. + +What we learned about the famous Jizo was this: The name Agonashi-Jizo +was only a popular corruption of the true name, Agonaoshi-Jizo, or +'Jizo-the-Healer-of-jaws.' The little temple in which the statue stood +had been burned, and the statue along with it, except a fragment of the +lower part of the figure, now piously preserved by some old peasant +woman. It was impossible to rebuild the temple, as the disestablishment +of Buddhism had entirely destroyed the resources of that faith in Oki. +But the peasantry of Tsubamezato had built a little Shinto miya on the +sight of the temple, with a torii before it, and people still prayed +there to Agonaoshi-Jizo. + +This last curious fact reminded me of the little torii I had seen +erected before the images of Jizo in the Cave of the Children's Ghosts. +Shinto, in these remote districts of the west, now appropriates the +popular divinities of Buddhism, just as of old Buddhism used to absorb +the divinities of Shinto in other parts of Japan. + +º20 + +I went to the Sai-no-ike, and to Tama-Wakasu-jinja, as these two +kembutsu can be reached by boat. The Sai-no-ike, however, much +disappointed me. It can only be visited in very calm weather, as the way +to it lies along a frightfully dangerous coast, nearly all sheer +precipice. But the sea is beautifully clear and the eye can distinguish +forms at an immense depth below the surface. After following the cliffs +for about an hour, the boat reaches a sort of cove, where the beach is +entirely corn posed of small round boulders. They form a long ridge, the +outer verge of which is always in motion, rolling to and fro with a +crash like a volley of musketry at the rush and ebb of every wave. To +climb over this ridge of moving stone balls is quite disagreeable; but +after that one has only about twenty yards to walk, and the Sai-no-ike +appears, surrounded on sides by wooded hills. It is little more than a +large freshwater pool, perhaps fifty yards wide, not in any way +wonderful You can see no rocks under the surface--only mud and pebbles +That any part of it was ever deep enough to drown a foal is hard to +believe. I wanted to swim across to the farther side to try the depth, +but the mere proposal scandalised the boat men. The pool was sacred to +the gods, and was guarded by invisible monsters; to enter it was impious +and dangerous I felt obliged to respect the local ideas on the subject, +and contented myself with inquiring where the bateiseki was found. They +pointed to the hill on the western side of the water. This indication +did not tally with the legend. I could discover no trace of any human +labour on that savage hillside; there was certainly no habitation within +miles of the place; it was the very abomination of desolation. [9] + +It is never wise for the traveller in Japan to expect much on the +strength of the reputation of kembutsu. The interest attaching to the +vast majority of kembutsu depends altogether upon the exercise of +imagination; and the ability to exercise such imagination again depends +upon one's acquaintance with the history and mythology of the country. +Knolls, rocks, stumps of trees, have been for hundreds of years objects +of reverence for the peasantry, solely because of local traditions +relating to them. Broken iron kettles, bronze mirrors covered with +verdigris, rusty pieces of sword blades, fragments of red earthenware, +have drawn generations of pilgrims to the shrines in which they are +preserved. At various small temples which I visited, the temple +treasures consisted of trays full of small stones. The first time I saw +those little stones I thought that the priests had been studying geology +or mineralogy, each stone being labelled in Japanese characters. On +examination, the stones proved to be absolutely worthless in themselves, +even as specimens of neighbouring rocks. But the stories which the +priests or acolytes could tell about each and every stone were more than +interesting. The stones served as rude beads, in fact, for the recital +of a litany of Buddhist legends. + +After the experience of the Sai-no-ike, I had little reason to expect to +see anything extraordinary at Shimonishimura. But this time I was +agreeably mistaken. Shimonishimura is a pretty fishing village within an +hour's row from Saigo. The boat follows a wild but beautiful coast, +passing one singular truncated hill, Oshiroyama, upon which a strong +castle stood in ancient times. There is now only a small Shinto shrine +there, surrounded by pines. From the hamlet of Shimonishimura to the +Temple of Tama-Wakasu-jinja is a walk of twenty minutes, over very rough +paths between rice-fields and vegetable gardens. But the situation of +the temple, surrounded by its sacred grove, in the heart of a landscape +framed in by mountain ranges of many colours, is charmingly impressive. +The edifice seems to have once been a Buddhist temple; it is now the +largest Shinto structure in Oki. Before its gate stands the famous +cedar, not remarkable for height, but wonderful for girth. Two yards +above the soil its circumference is forty-five feet. It has given its +name to the holy place; the Oki peasantry scarcely ever speak of Tama- +Wakasu-jinja, but only of 'O-Sugi,' the Great Cedar. + +Tradition avers that this tree was planted by a Buddhist nun more than +eight hundred years ago. And it is alleged that whoever eats with +chopsticks made from the wood of that tree will never have the +toothache, and will live to become exceedingly old.[10] + +º21 + +The shrine dedicated to the spirit of the Emperor Go-Daigo is in +Nishinoshima, at Beppu, a picturesque fishing village composed of one +long street of thatched cottages fringing a bay at the foot of a +demilune of hills. The simplicity of manners and the honest healthy +poverty of the place are quite wonderful even for Oki. There is a kind +of inn for strangers at which hot water is served instead of tea, and +dried beans instead of kwashi, and millet instead of rice. The absence +of tea, however, is much more significant than that of rice. But the +people of Beppu do not suffer for lack of proper nourishment, as their +robust appearance bears witness: there are plenty of vegetables, all +raised in tiny gardens which the women and children till during the +absence of the boats; and there is abundance of fish. There is no +Buddhist temple, but there is an ujigami. + +The shrine of the emperor is at the top of a hill called Kurokizan, at +one end of the bay. The hill is covered with tall pines, and the path is +very steep, so that I thought it prudent to put on straw sandals, in +which one never slips. I found the shrine to be a small wooden miya, +scarcely three feet high, and black with age. There were remains of +other miya, much older, lying in some bushes near by. Two large stones, +unhewn and without inscriptions of any sort, have been placed before the +shrine. I looked into it, and saw a crumbling metal-mirror, dingy paper +gohei attached to splints of bamboo, two little o-mikidokkuri, or Shinto +sake-vessels of red earthenware, and one rin. There was nothing else to +see, except, indeed, certain delightful glimpses of coast and peak, +visible in the bursts of warm blue light which penetrated the +consecrated shadow, between the trunks of the great pines. + +Only this humble shrine commemorates the good emperor's sojourn among +the peasantry of Oki. But there is now being erected by voluntary +subscription, at the little village of Gosen-goku-mura, near Yonago in +Tottori, quite a handsome monument of stone to the memory of his +daughter, the princess Hinako-Nai-Shinno who died there while attempting +to follow her august parent into exile. Near the place of her rest +stands a famous chestnut-tree, of which this story is told: + +While the emperor's daughter was ill, she asked for chestnuts; and some +were given to her. But she took only one, and bit it a little, and threw +it away. It found root and became a grand tree. But all the chestnuts of +that tree bear marks like the marks of little teeth; for in Japanese +legend even the trees are loyal, and strive to show their loyalty in all +sorts of tender dumb ways. And that tree is called Hagata-guri-no-ki, +which signifies: 'The Tree-of-the-Tooth-marked-Chestnuts.' + +º 22 + +Long before visiting Oki I had heard that such a crime as theft was +unknown in the little archipelago; that it had never been found +necessary there to lock things up; and that, whenever weather permitted, +the people slept with their houses all open to the four winds of heaven. + +And after careful investigation, I found these surprising statements +were, to a great extent, true. In the Dozen group, at least, there are +no thieves, and practically no crime. Ten policemen are sufficient to +control the whole of both Dozen and Dogo, with their population of +thirty thousand one hundred and ninety-six souls. Each policeman has +under his inspection a number of villages, which he visits on regular +days; and his absence for any length of time from one of these seems +never to be taken advantage of. His work is mostly confined to the +enforcement of hygienic regulations, and to the writing of reports. It +is very seldom that he finds it necessary to make an arrest, for the +people scarcely ever quarrel. + +In the island of Dogo alone are there ever any petty thefts, and only in +that part of Oki do the people take any precautions against thieves. +Formerly there was no prison, and thefts were never heard of; and the +people of Dogo still claim that the few persons arrested in their island +for such offences are not natives of Oki, but strangers from the +mainland. What appears to be quite true is that theft was unknown in Oki +before the port of Saigo obtained its present importance. The whole +trade of Western Japan has been increased by the rapid growth of steam +communications with other parts of the empire; and the port of Saigo +appears to have gained commercially, but to have lost morally, by the +new conditions. + +Yet offences against the law are still surprisingly few, even in Saigo. +Saigo has a prison; and there were people in it during my stay in the +city; but the inmates had been convicted only of such misdemeanours as +gambling (which is strictly prohibited in every form by Japanese law), +or the violation of lesser ordinances. When a serious offence is +committed, the offender is not punished in Oki, but is sent to the great +prison at Matsue, in Izumo. + +The Dozen islands, however, perfectly maintain their ancient reputation +for irreproachable honesty. There have been no thieves in those three +islands within the memory of man; and there are no serious quarrels, no +fighting, nothing to make life miserable for anybody. Wild and bleak as +the land is, all can manage to live comfortably enough; food is cheap +and plenty, and manners and customs have retained their primitive +simplicity. + +º 23 + +To foreign eyes the defences of even an Izumo dwelling against thieves +seem ludicrous. Chevaux-de-frise of bamboo stakes are used extensively +in eastern cities of the empire, but in Izumo these are not often to be +seen, and do not protect the really weak points of the buildings upon +which they are placed. As for outside walls and fences, they serve only +for screens, or for ornamental boundaries; anyone can climb over them. +Anyone can also cut his way into an ordinary Japanese house with a +pocket-knife. The amado are thin sliding screens of soft wood, easy to +break with a single blow; and in most Izumo homes there is not a lock +which could resist one vigorous pull. Indeed, the Japanese themselves +are so far aware of the futility of their wooden panels against burglars +that all who can afford it build kura--small heavy fire-proof and (for +Japan) almost burglar-proof structures, with very thick earthen walls, a +narrow ponderous door fastened with a gigantic padlock, and one very +small iron-barred window, high up, near the roof. The kura are +whitewashed, and look very neat. They cannot be used for dwellings, +however, as they are mouldy and dark; and they serve only as storehouses +for valuables. It is not easy to rob a kura. + +But there is no trouble in 'burglariously' entering an Izumo dwelling +unless there happen to be good watchdogs on the premises. The robber +knows the only difficulties in the way of his enterprise are such as he +is likely to encounter after having effected an entrance. In view of +these difficulties, he usually carries a sword. + +Nevertheless, he does not wish to find himself in any predicament +requiring the use of a sword; and to avoid such an unpleasant +possibility he has recourse to magic. + +He looks about the premises for a tarai--a kind of tub. If he finds one, +he performs a nameless operation in a certain part of the yard, and +covers the spot with the tub, turned upside down. He believes if he can +do this that a magical sleep will fall upon all the inmates of the +house, and that he will thus be able to carry away whatever he pleases, +without being heard or seen. + +But every Izumo household knows the counter-charm. Each evening, before +retiring, the careful wife sees that a hocho, or kitchen knife, is laid +upon the kitchen floor, and covered with a kanadarai, or brazen wash- +basin, on the upturned bottom of which is placed a single straw sandal, +of the noiseless sort called zori, also turned upside down. She believes +this little bit of witchcraft will not only nullify the robber's spell, +but also render it impossible for him--even should he succeed in +entering the house without being seen or heard--to carry anything +whatever away. But, unless very tired indeed, she will also see that the +tarai is brought into the house before the amado are closed for the +night. + +If through omission of these precautions (as the good wife might aver), +or in despite of them, the dwelling be robbed while the family are +asleep, search is made early in the morning for the footprints of the +burglar; and a moxa [11] is set burning upon each footprint. By this +operation it is hoped or believed that the burglar's feet will be made +so sore that he cannot run far, and that the police may easily overtake +him. + +º 24 + +It was in Oki that I first heard of an extraordinary superstition about +the cause of okori (ague, or intermittent fever), mild forms of which +prevail in certain districts at certain seasons; but I have since +learned that this quaint belief is an old one in Izumo and in many parts +of the San-indo. It is a curious example of the manner in which Buddhism +has been used to explain all mysteries. + +Okori is said to be caused by the Gaki-botoke, or hungry ghosts. +Strictly speaking, the Gaki-botoke are the Pretas of Indian Buddhism, +spirits condemned to sojourn in the Gakido, the sphere of the penance of +perpetual hunger and thirst. But in Japanese Buddhism, the name Gaki is +given also to those souls who have none among the living to remember +them, and to prepare for them the customary offerings of food and tea. + +These suffer, and seek to obtain warmth and nutriment by entering into +the bodies of the living. The person into whom a gaki enters at first +feels intensely cold and shivers, because the gaki is cold. But the +chill is followed by a feeling of intense heat, as the gaki becomes +warm. Having warmed itself and absorbed some nourishment at the expense +of its unwilling host, the gaki goes away, and the fever ceases for a +time. But at exactly the same hour upon another day the gaki will +return, and the victim must shiver and burn until the haunter has become +warm and has satisfied its hunger. Some gaki visit their patients every +day; others every alternate day, or even less often. In brief: the +paroxysms of any form of intermittent fever are explained by the +presence of the gaki, and the intervals between the paroxysms by its +absence. + +º 25 + +Of the word hotoke (which becomes botoke in such com-pounds as nure- +botoke, [12] gaki-botoke) there is something curious to say. + +Hotoke signifies a Buddha. + +Hotoke signifies also the Souls of the Dead--since faith holds that +these, after worthy life, either enter upon the way to Buddhahood, or +become Buddhas. + +Hotoke, by euphemism, has likewise come to mean a corpse: hence the verb +hotoke-zukuri, 'to look ghastly,' to have the semblance of one long +dead. + +And Hotoke-San is the name of the Image of a Face seen in the pupil of +the eye--Hotoke-San, 'the Lord Buddha.' Not the Supreme of the Hokkekyo, +but that lesser Buddha who dwelleth in each one of us,--the Spirit. [13] + +Sang Rossetti: 'I looked and saw your heart in the shadow of your eyes.' +Exactly converse is the Oriental thought. A Japanese lover would have +said: 'I looked and saw my own Buddha in the shadow of your eyes. + +What is the psychical theory connected with so singular a belief? [14] I +think it might be this: The Soul, within its own body, always remains +viewless, yet may reflect itself in the eyes of another, as in the +mirror of a necromancer. Vainly you gaze into the eyes of the beloved to +discern her soul: you see there only your own soul's shadow, diaphanous; +and beyond is mystery alone--reaching to the Infinite. + +But is not this true? The Ego, as Schopenhauer wonderfully said, is the +dark spot in consciousness, even as the point whereat the nerve of sight +enters the eye is blind. We see ourselves in others only; only through +others do we dimly guess that which we are. And in the deepest love of +another being do we not indeed love ourselves? What are the +personalities, the individualities of us but countless vibrations in +the Universal Being? Are we not all One in the unknowable Ultimate? One +with the inconceivable past? One with the everlasting future? + +º26 + +In Oki, as in Izumo, the public school is slowly but surely destroying +many of the old superstitions. Even the fishermen of the new generation +laugh at things in which their fathers believed. I was rather surprised +to receive from an intelligent young sailor, whom I had questioned +through an interpreter about the ghostly fire of Takuhizan, this +scornful answer: 'Oh, we used to believe those things when we were +savages; but we are civilised now!' + +Nevertheless, he was somewhat in advance of his time. In the village to +which he belonged I discovered that the Fox-.superstition prevails to a +degree scarcely paralleled in any part of Izumo. The history of the +village was quite curious. From time immemorial it had been reputed a +settlement of Kitsune-mochi: in other words, all its inhabitants were +commonly believed, and perhaps believed themselves, to be the owners of +goblin-foxes. And being all alike kitsune-mochi, they could eat and +drink together, and marry and give in marriage among themselves without +affliction. They were feared with a ghostly fear by the neighbouring +peasantry, who obeyed their demands both in matters reasonable and +unreasonable. They prospered exceedingly. But some twenty years ago an +Izumo stranger settled among them. He was energetic, intelligent, and +possessed of some capital. He bought land, made various shrewd +investments, and in a surprisingly short time became the wealthiest +citizen in the place. He built a very pretty Shinto temple and presented +it to the community. There was only one obstacle in the way of his +becoming a really popular person: he was not a kitsune-mochi, and he had +even said that he hated foxes. This singularity threatened to beget +discords in the mura, especially as he married his children to +strangers, and thus began in the midst of the kitsune-mochi to establish +a sort of anti-Fox-holding colony. + +Wherefore, for a long time past, the Fox-holders have been trying to +force their superfluous goblins upon him. Shadows glide about the gate +of his dwelling on moonless nights, muttering: 'Kaere! kyo kara kokoye: +kuruda!' [Be off now! from now hereafter it is here that ye must dwell: +go!] Then are the upper shoji violently pushed apart; and the voice of +the enraged house owner is heard: 'Koko Wa kiraida! modori!' [Detestable +is that which ye do! get ye gone!] And the Shadows flee away.[15] + +º 27 + +Because there were no cuttlefish at Hishi-ura, and no horrid smells, I +enjoyed myself there more than I did anywhere else in Oki. But, in any +event, Hishi-ura would have interested me more than Saigo. The life of +the pretty little town is peculiarly old-fashioned; and the ancient +domestic industries, which the introduction of machinery has almost +destroyed in Izumo and elsewhere, still exist in Hishi-ura. It was +pleasant to watch the rosy girls weaving robes of cotton and robes of +silk, relieving each other whenever the work became fatiguing. All this +quaint gentle life is open to inspection, and I loved to watch it. I had +other pleasures also: the bay is a delightful place for swimming, and +there were always boats ready to take me to any place of interest along +the coast. At night the sea breeze made the rooms which I occupied +deliciously cool; and from the balcony I could watch the bay-swell +breaking in slow, cold fire on the steps of the wharves--a beautiful +phosphorescence; and I could hear Oki mothers singing their babes to +sleep with one of the oldest lullabys in the world: + +Nenneko, +O-yama no +Usagi. no ko, +Naze mata +O-mimi ga +Nagai e yara? +Okkasan no +O-nak ni +Oru toku ni, +BiWa no ha, +Sasa no ha, +Tabeta sona; +Sore de +O-mimi ga +Nagai e sona. [16] + +The air was singularly sweet and plaintive, quite different from that to +which the same words are sung in Izumo, and in other parts of Japan. + +One morning I had hired a boat to take me to Beppu, and was on the point +of leaving the hotel for the day, when the old landlady, touching my +arm, exclaimed: 'Wait a little while; it is not good to cross a +funeral.' I looked round the corner, and saw the procession coming along +the shore. It was a Shinto funeral--a child's funeral. Young lads came +first, carrying Shinto emblems--little white flags, and branches of the +sacred sakaki; and after the coffin the mother walked, a young peasant, +crying very loud, and wiping her eyes with the long sleeves of her +coarse blue dress. Then the old woman at my side murmured: 'She sorrows; +but she is very young: perhaps It will come back to her.' For she was a +pious Buddhist, my good old landlady, and doubtless supposed the +mother's belief like her own, although the funeral was conducted +according to the Shinto rite. + +º 28 + +There are in Buddhism certain weirdly beautiful consolations unknown to +Western faith. + +The young mother who loses her first child may at least pray that it +will come back to her out of the night of death--not in dreams only, but +through reincarnation. And so praying, she writes within the hand of the +little corpse the first ideograph of her lost darling's name. + +Months pass; she again becomes a mother. Eagerly she examines the +flower-soft hand of the infant. And lo! the self-same ideograph is +there--a rosy birth-mark on the tender palm; and the Soul returned looks +out upon her through the eyes of the newly-born with the gaze of other +days. + +º 29 + +While on the subject of death I may speak of a primitive but touching +custom which exists both in Oki and Izumo--that of calling the name of +the dead immediately after death. For it is thought that the call may be +heard by the fleeting soul, which might sometimes be thus induced to +return. Therefore, when a mother dies, the children should first call +her, and of all the children first the youngest (for she loved that one +most); and then the husband and all those who loved the dead cry to her +in turn. + +And it is also the custom to call loudly the name of one who faints, or +becomes insensible from any cause; and there are curious beliefs +underlying this custom. + +It is said that of those who swoon from pain or grief especially, many +approach very nearly to death, and these always have the same +experience. 'You feel,' said one to me in answer to my question about +the belief, 'as if you were suddenly somewhere else, and quite happy-- +only tired. And you know that you want to go to a Buddhist temple which +is quite far away. At last you reach the gate of the temple court, and +you see the temple inside, and it is wonderfully large and beautiful. +And you pass the gate and enter the court to go to the temple. But +suddenly you hear voices of friends far behind you calling your name-- +very, very earnestly. So you turn back, and all at once you come to +yourself again. At least it is so if your heart cares to live. But one +who is really tired of living will not listen to the voices, and walks +on to the temple. And what there happens no man knows, for they who +enter that temple never return to their friends. + +'That is why people call loudly into the ear of one who swoons. + +'Now, it is said that all who die, before going to the Meido, make one +pilgrimage to the great temple of Zenkoji, which is in the country of +Shinano, in Nagano-Ken. And they say that whenever the priest of that +temple preaches, he sees the Souls gather there in the hondo to hear +him, all with white wrappings about their heads. So Zenkoji might be the +temple which is seen by those who swoon. But I do not know.' + +º 30 + +I went by boat from Hishi-ura to Amamura, in Nakanoshima, to visit the +tomb of the exiled Emperor Go-Toba. The scenery along the way was +beautiful, and of softer outline than I had seen on my first passage +through the archipelago. Small rocks rising from the water were covered +with sea-gulls and cormorants, which scarcely took any notice of the +boat, even when we came almost within an oar's length. This fearlessness +of wild creatures is one of the most charming impressions of travel in +these remoter parts of Japan, yet unvisited by tourists with shotguns. +The early European and American hunters in Japan seem to have found no +difficulty and felt no compunction in exterminating what they considered +'game' over whole districts, destroying life merely for the wanton +pleasure of destruction. Their example is being imitated now by 'Young +Japan,' and the destruction of bird life is only imperfectly checked by +game laws. Happily, the Government does interfere sometimes to check +particular forms of the hunting vice. Some brutes who had observed the +habits of swallows to make their nests in Japanese houses, last year +offered to purchase some thousands of swallow-skins at a tempting price. +The effect of the advertisement was cruel enough; but the police were +promptly notified to stop the murdering, which they did. About the same +time, in one of the Yokohama papers, there appeared a letter from some +holy person announcing, as a triumph of Christian sentiment, that a +'converted' fisherman had been persuaded by foreign proselytisers to +kill a turtle, which his Buddhist comrades had vainly begged him to +spare. + +Amarnura, a very small village, lies in a narrow plain of rice-fields +extending from the sea to a range of low hills. From the landing-place +to the village is about a quarter of a mile. The narrow path leading to +it passes round the base of a small hill, covered with pines, on the +outskirts of the village. There is quite a handsome Shinto temple on the +hill, small, but admirably constructed, approached by stone steps and a +paved walk. + +There are the usual lions and lamps of stone, and the ordinary simple +offerings of paper and women's hair before the shrine. But I saw among +the ex-voto a number of curious things which I had never seen in Izumo-- +tiny miniature buckets, well-buckets, with rope and pole complete, +neatly fashioned out of bamboo. The boatman said that farmers bring +these to the shrine when praying for rain. The deity was called Suwa- +Dai-Myojin. + +It was at the neighbouring village, of which Suwa-Dai-Myojin seems to be +the ujigami, that the Emperor Go-Toba is said to have dwelt, in the +house of the Choja Shikekuro. The Shikekuro homestead remains, and still +belongs to the Choja'sa descendants, but they have become very poor. I +asked permission to see the cups from which the exiled emperor drank, +and other relics of his stay said to be preserved by the family; but in +consequence of illness in the house I could not be received. So I had +only a glimpse of the garden, where there is a celebrated pond--a +kembutsu. + +The pond is called Shikekuro's Pond,--Shikekuro-no-ike. And for seven +hundred years, 'tis said, the frogs of that pond have never been heard +to croak. + +For the Emperor Go-Toba, having one night been kept awake by the +croaking of the frogs in that pond, arose and went out and commanded +them, saying: 'Be silent!' Wherefore they have remained silent through +all the centuries even unto this day. + +Near the pond there was in that time a great pine-tree, of which the +rustling upon windy nights disturbed the emperor's rest. And he spoke to +the pine-tree, and said to it: 'Be still!' And never thereafter was that +tree heard to rustle, even in time of storms. + +But that tree has ceased to be. Nothing remains of it but a few +fragments of its wood and hark, which are carefully preserved as relics +by the ancients of Oki. Such a fragment was shown to me in the toko of +the guest chamber of the dwelling of a physician of Saigo--the same +gentleman whose kindness I have related elsewhere. + +The tomb of the emperor lies on the slope of a low hill, at a distance +of about ten minutes' walk from the village. It is far less imposing +than the least of the tombs of the Matsudaira at Matsue, in the grand +old courts of Gesshoji; but it was perhaps the best which the poor +little country of Oki could furnish. This is not, however, the original +place of the tomb, which was moved by imperial order in the sixth year +of Meiji to its present site. A lofty fence, or rather stockade of heavy +wooden posts, painted black, incloses a piece of ground perhaps one +hundred and fifty feet long, by about fifty broad, and graded into three +levels, or low terraces. All the space within is shaded by pines. In the +centre of the last and highest of the little terraces the tomb is +placed: a single large slab of grey rock laid horizontally. A narrow +paved walk leads from the gate to the tomb; ascending each terrace by +three or four stone steps. A little within this gateway, which is opened +to visitors only once a year, there is a torii facing the sepulchre; and +before the highest terrace there are a pair of stone lamps. All this is +severely simple, but effective in a certain touching way. The country +stillness is broken only by the shrilling of the semi and the +tintinnabulation of that strange little insect, the suzumushi, whose +calling sounds just like the tinkling of the tiny bells which are shaken +by the miko in her sacred dance. + +º 31 + +I remained nearly eight days at Hishi-ura on the occasion of my second +visit there, but only three at Urago. Urago proved a less pleasant place +to stay in--not because its smells were any stronger than those of +Saigo, but for other reasons which shall presently appear. + +More than one foreign man-of-war has touched at Saigo, and English and +Russian officers of the navy have been seen in the streets. They were +tall, fair-haired, stalwart men; and the people of Oki still imagine +that all foreigners from the West have the same stature and complexion. +I was the first foreigner who ever remained even a night in the town, +and I stayed there two weeks; but being small and dark, and dressed like +a Japanese, I excited little attention among the common people: it +seemed to them that I was only a curious-looking Japanese from some +remote part of the empire. At Hishi-ura the same impression prevailed +for a time; and even after the fact of my being a foreigner had become +generally known, the population caused me no annoyance whatever: they +had already become accustomed to see me walking about the streets or +swimming across the bay. But it was quite otherwise at Urago. The first +time I landed there I had managed to escape notice, being in Japanese +costume, and wearing a very large Izumo hat, which partly concealed my +face. After I left for Saigo, the people must have found out that a +foreigner--the very first ever seen in Dozen--had actually been in Urago +without their knowledge; for my second visit made a sensation such as I +had never been the cause of anywhere else, except at Kaka-ura. + +I had barely time to enter the hotel, before the street became entirely +blockaded by an amazing crowd desirous to see. The hotel was +unfortunately situated on a corner, so that it was soon besieged on two +sides. I was shown to a large back room on the second floor; and I had +no sooner squatted down on my mat, than the people began to come +upstairs quite noiselessly, all leaving their sandals at the foot of the +steps. They were too polite to enter the room; but four or five would +put their heads through the doorway at once, and bow, and smile, and +look, and retire to make way for those who filled the stairway behind +them. It was no easy matter for the servant to bring me my dinner. +Meanwhile, not only had the upper rooms of the houses across the way +become packed with gazers, but all the roofs--north, east, and south-- +which commanded a view of my apartment had been occupied by men and boys +in multitude. Numbers of lads had also climbed (I never could imagine +how) upon the narrow eaves over the galleries below my windows; and all +the openings of my room, on three sides, were full of faces. Then tiles +gave way, and boys fell, but nobody appeared to be hurt. And the +queerest fact was that during the performance of these extraordinary +gymnastics there was a silence of death: had I not seen the throng, I +might have supposed there was not a soul in the street. + +The landlord began to scold; but, finding scolding of no avail, he +summoned a policeman. The policeman begged me to excuse the people, who +had never seen a foreigner before; and asked me if I wished him to clear +the street. He could have done that by merely lifting his little finger; +but as the scene amused me, I begged him not to order the people away, +but only to tell the boys not to climb upon the awnings, some of which +they had already damaged. He told them most effectually, speaking in a +very low voice. During all the rest of the time I was in Urago, no one +dared to go near the awnings. A Japanese policeman never speaks more +than once about anything new, and always speaks to the purpose. + +The public curiosity, however, lasted without abate for three days, and +would have lasted longer if I had not fled from Urago. Whenever I went +out I drew the population after me with a pattering of geta like the +sound of surf moving shingle. Yet, except for that particular sound, +there was silence. No word was spoken. Whether this was because the +whole mental faculty was so strained by the intensity of the desire to +see that speech became impossible, I am not able to decide. But there +was no roughness in all that curiosity; there was never anything +approaching rudeness, except in the matter of ascending to my room +without leave; and that was done so gently that I could not wish the +intruders rebuked. Nevertheless, three days of such experience proved +trying. Despite the heat, I had to close the doors and windows at night +to prevent myself being watched while asleep. About my effects I had no +anxiety at all: thefts are never committed in the island. But that +perpetual silent crowding about me became at last more than +embarrassing. It was innocent, but it was weird. It made me feel like a +ghost--a new arrival in the Meido, surrounded by shapes without voice. + +º32 + +There is very little privacy of any sort in Japanese life. Among the +people, indeed, what we term privacy in the Occident does not exist. +There are only walls of paper dividing the lives of men; there are only +sliding screens instead of doors; there are neither locks nor bolts to +be used by day; and whenever weather permits, the fronts, and perhaps +even the sides of the house are literally removed, and its interior +widely opened to the air, the light, and the public gaze. Not even the +rich man closes his front gate by day. Within a hotel or even a common +dwelling-house, nobody knocks before entering your room: there is +nothing to knock at except a shoji or fusuma, which cannot be knocked +upon without being broken. And in this world of paper walls and +sunshine, nobody is afraid or ashamed of fellow-men or fellow-women. +Whatever is done, is done, after a fashion, in public. Your personal +habits, your idiosyncrasies (if you have any), your foibles, your likes +and dislikes, your loves or your hates, must be known to everybody. +Neither vices nor virtues can be hidden: there is absolutely nowhere to +hide them. And this condition has lasted from the most ancient time. +There has never been, for the common millions at least, even the idea of +living unobserved. Life can be comfortably and happily lived in Japan +only upon the condition that all matters relating to it are open to the +inspection of the community. Which implies exceptional moral conditions, +such as have no being in the West. It is perfectly comprehensible only +to those who know by experience the extraordinary charm of Japanese +character, the infinite goodness of the common people, their instinctive +politeness, and the absence among them of any tendencies to indulge in +criticism, ridicule, irony, or sarcasm. No one endeavours to expand his +own individuality by belittling his fellow; no one tries to make himself +appear a superior being: any such attempt would be vain in a community +where the weaknesses of each are known to all, where nothing can be +concealed or disguised, and where affectation could only be regarded as +a mild form of insanity. + +º 33 + +Some of the old samurai of Matsue are living in the Oki Islands. When +the great military caste was disestablished, a few shrewd men decided to +try their fortunes in the little archipelago, where customs remained +old-fashioned and lands were cheap. Several succeeded--probably because +of the whole-souled honesty and simplicity of manners in the islands; +for samurai have seldom elsewhere been able to succeed in business of +any sort when obliged to compete with experienced traders, Others +failed, but were able to adopt various humble occupations which gave +them the means to live. + +Besides these aged survivors of the feudal period, I learned there were +in Oki several children of once noble families--youths and maidens of +illustrious extraction--bravely facing the new conditions of life in +this remotest and poorest region of the empire. Daughters of men to whom +the population of a town once bowed down were learning the bitter toil +of the rice-fields. Youths, who might in another era have aspired to +offices of State, had become the trusted servants of Oki heimin. Others, +again, had entered the police, [17] and rightly deemed themselves +fortunate. + +No doubt that change of civilisation forced upon Japan by Christian +bayonets, for the holy motive of gain, may yet save the empire from +perils greater than those of the late social disintegration; but it was +cruelly sudden. To imagine the consequence of depriving the English +landed gentry of their revenues would not enable one to realise exactly +what a similar privation signified to the Japanese samurai. For the old +warrior caste knew only the arts of courtesy and the arts of war. + +And hearing of these things, I could not help thinking about a strange +pageant at the last great Izumo festival of Rakuzan-jinja. + +º 34 + +The hamlet of Rakuzan, known only for its bright yellow pottery and its +little Shinto temple, drowses at the foot of a wooded hill about one ri +from Matsue, beyond a wilderness of rice-fields. And the deity of +Rakuzan-jinja is Naomasa, grandson of Iyeyasu, and father of the Daimyo +of Matsue. + +Some of the Matsudaira slumber in Buddhist ground, guarded by tortoises +and lions of stone, in the marvellous old courts of Gesshoji. But +Naomasa, the founder of their long line, is enshrined at Rakuzan; and +the Izumo peasants still clap their hands in prayer before his miya, and +implore his love and protection. + +Now formerly upon each annual matsuri, or festival, of Rakuzan-jinja, it +was customary to carry the miya of Naomasa-San from the village temple +to the castle of Matsue. In solemn procession it was borne to .those +strange old family temples in the heart of the fortress-grounds--Go-jo- +naiInari-Daimyojin, and Kusunoki-Matauhira-Inari-Daimyojin--whose +mouldering courts, peopled with lions and foxes of stone, are shadowed +by enormous trees. After certain Shinto rites had been performed at both +temples, the miya was carried back in procession to Rakuzan. And this +annual ceremony was called the miyuki or togyo--'the August Going,' or +Visit, of the ancestor to the ancestral home. + +But the revolution changed all things. The daimyo passed away; the +castles fell to ruin; the samurai caste was abolished and dispossessed. +And the miya of Lord Naomasa made no August Visit to the home of the +Mataudaira for more than thirty years. + +But it came to pass a little time ago, that certain old men of Matsue +bethought them to revive once more the ancient customs of the Rakuzan +matauri. And there was a miyuki. + +The miya of Lord Naomasa was placed within a barge, draped and +decorated, and so conveyed by river and canal to the eastern end of the +old Mataubara road, along whose pine-shaded way the daimyo formerly +departed to Yedo on their annual visit, or returned therefrom. All those +who rowed the barge were aged samurai who had been wont in their youth +to row the barge of Matsudaira-Dewa-no-Kami, the last Lord of Izumo. +They wore their ancient feudal costume; and they tried to sing their +ancient boat-song--o-funa-uta. But more than a generation had passed +since the last time they had sung it; and some of them had lost their +teeth, so that they could not pronounce the words well; and all, being +aged, lost breath easily in the exertion of wielding the oars. +Nevertheless they rowed the barge to the place appointed. + +Thence the shrine was borne to a spot by the side of the Mataubara road, +where anciently stood an August Tea-House, O-Chaya, at which the daimyo, +returning from the Shogun's capital, were accustomed to rest and to +receive their faithful retainers, who always came in procession to meet +them. No tea-house stands there now; but, in accord with old custom, the +shrine and its escort waited at the place among the wild flowers and the +pines. And then was seen a strange sight. + +For there came to meet the ghost of the great lord a long procession of +shapes that seemed ghosts also--shapes risen out of the dust of +cemeteries: warriors in created helmets and masks of iron and +breastplates of steel, girded with two swords; and spearmen wearing +queues; and retainers in kamishimo; and bearers of hasami-bako. Yet +ghosts these were not, but aged samurai of Matsue, who had borne arms in +the service of the last of the daimyo. And among them appeared his +surviving ministers, the venerable karo; and these, as the procession +turned city-ward, took their old places of honour, and marched before +the shrine valiantly, though bent with years. + +How that pageant might have impressed other strangers I do not know. For +me, knowing something of the history of each of those aged men, the +scene had a significance apart from its story of forgotten customs, +apart from its interest as a feudal procession. To-day each and all of +those old samurai are unspeakably poor. Their beautiful homes vanished +long ago; their gardens have been turned into rice-fields; their +household treasures were cruelly bargained for, and bought for almost +nothing by curio-dealers to be resold at high prices to foreigners at +the open ports. And yet what they could have obtained considerable +money for, and what had ceased to be of any service to them, they clung +to fondly through all their poverty and humiliation. Never could they be +induced to part with their armour and their swords, even when pressed by +direst want, under the new and harder conditions of existence. + +The river banks, the streets, the balconies, and blue-tiled roofs were +thronged. There was a great quiet as the procession passed. Young people +gazed in hushed wonder, feeling the rare worth of that chance to look +upon what will belong in the future to picture-books only and to the +quaint Japanese stage. And old men wept silently, remembering their +youth. + +Well spake the ancient thinker: 'Everything is only for a day, both that +which remembers, and that which is remembered.' + +º 35 + +Once more, homeward bound, I sat upon the cabin-roof of the Oki-Saigo-- +this time happily unencumbered by watermelons--and tried to explain to +myself the feeling of melancholy with which I watched those wild island- +coasts vanishing over the pale sea into the white horizon. No doubt it +was inspired partly by the recollection of kindnesses received from many +whom I shall never meet again; partly, also, by my familiarity with the +ancient soil itself, and remembrance of shapes and places: the long blue +visions down channels between islands--the faint grey fishing hamlets +hiding in stony bays--the elfish oddity of narrow streets in little +primitive towns--the forms and tints of peak and vale made lovable by +daily intimacy--the crooked broken paths to shadowed shrines of gods +with long mysterious names--the butterfly-drifting of yellow sails out +of the glow of an unknown horizon. Yet I think it was due much more to a +particular sensation in which every memory was steeped and toned, as a +landscape is steeped in the light and toned in the colours of the +morning: the sensation of conditions closer to Nature's heart, and +farther from the monstrous machine-world of Western life than any into +which I had ever entered north of the torrid zone. And then it seemed to +me that I loved Oki--in spite of the cuttlefish--chiefly because of +having felt there, as nowhere else in Japan, the full joy of escape from +the far-reaching influences of high-pressure civilisation--the delight +of knowing one's self, in Dozen at least, well beyond the range of +everything artificial in human existence. + + + +Chapter Nine Of Souls + +Kinjuro, the ancient gardener, whose head shines like an ivory ball, sat +him down a moment on the edge of the ita-no-ma outside my study to smoke +his pipe at the hibachi always left there for him. And as he smoked he +found occasion to reprove the boy who assists him. What the boy had been +doing I did not exactly know; but I heard Kinjuro bid him try to comport +himself like a creature having more than one Soul. And because those +words interested me I went out and sat down by Kinjuro. + +'O Kinjuro,' I said, 'whether I myself have one or more Souls I am not +sure. But it would much please me to learn how many Souls have you.' + +'I-the-Selfish-One have only four Souls,' made answer Kinjuro, with +conviction imperturbable. + +'Four? re-echoed I, feeling doubtful of having understood 'Four,' he +repeated. 'But that boy I think can have only one Soul, so much is he +wanting in patience.' + +'And in what manner,' I asked, 'came you to learn that you have four +Souls?' + +'There are wise men,' made he answer, while knocking the ashes out of +his little silver pipe, 'there are wise men who know these things. And +there is an ancient book which discourses of them. According to the age +of a man, and the time of his birth, and the stars of heaven, may the +number of his Souls be divined. But this is the knowledge of old men: +the young folk of these times who learn the things of the West do not +believe.' + +'And tell me, O Kinjuro, do there now exist people having more Souls +than you?' + +'Assuredly. Some have five, some six, some seven, some eight Souls. But +no one is by the gods permitted to have more Souls than nine.' + +[Now this, as a universal statement, I could not believe, remembering a +woman upon the other side of the world who possessed many generations of +Souls, and knew how to use them all. She wore her Souls just as other +women wear their dresses, and changed them several times a day; and the +multitude of dresses in the wardrobe of Queen Elizabeth was as nothing +to the multitude of this wonderful person's Souls. For which reason she +never appeared the same upon two different occasions; and she changed +her thought and her voice with her Souls. Sometimes she was of the +South, and her eyes were brown; and again she was of the North, and her +eyes were grey. Sometimes she was of the thirteenth, and sometimes of +the eighteenth century; and people doubted their own senses when they +saw these things; and they tried to find out the truth by begging +photographs of her, and then comparing them. Now the photographers +rejoiced to photograph her because she was more than fair; but presently +they also were confounded by the discovery that she was never the same +subject twice. So the men who most admired her could not presume to fall +in love with her because that would have been absurd. She had altogether +too many Souls. And some of you who read this I have written will bear +witness to the verity thereof.] + +'Concerning this Country of the Gods, O Kinjuro, that which you say may +be true. But there are other countries having only gods made of gold; +and in those countries matters are not so well arranged; and the +inhabitants thereof are plagued with a plague of Souls. For while some +have but half a Soul, or no Soul at all, others have Souls in multitude +thrust upon them, for which neither nutriment nor employ can be found. +And Souls thus situated torment exceedingly their owners. . . . .That is +to say, Western Souls. . . . But tell me, I pray you, what is the use of +having more than one or two Souls?' + +'Master, if all had the same number and quality of Souls, all would +surely be of one mind. But that people are different from each other is +apparent; and the differences among them are because of the differences +in the quality and the number of their Souls.' + +'And it is better to have many Souls than a few?' 'It is better.' + +'And the man having but one Soul is a being imperfect?' + +'Very imperfect.' + +'Yet a man very imperfect might have had an ancestor perfect?' + +'That is true.' + +'So that a man of to-day possessing but one Soul may have had an +ancestor with nine Souls?' + +'Yes.' + +'Then what has become of those other eight Souls which the ancestor +possessed, but which the descendant is without?' + +'Ah! that is the work of the gods. The gods alone fix the number of +Souls for each of us. To the worthy are many given; to the unworthy +few.' + +'Not from the parents, then, do the Souls descend?' + +'Nay! Most ancient the Souls are: innumerable, the years of them.' + +'And this I desire to know: Can a man separate his Souls? Can he, for +instance, have one Soul in Kyoto and one in Tokyo and one in Matsue, all +at the same time?' + +'He cannot; they remain always together.' + +'How? One within the other--like the little lacquered boxes of an inro?' + +'Nay: that none but the gods know.' + +'And the Souls are never separated?' + +'Sometimes they may be separated. But if the Souls of a man be +separated, that man becomes mad. Mad people are those who have lost one +of their Souls.' + +'But after death what becomes of the Souls?' + +'They remain still together. . . . When a man dies his Souls ascend to +the roof of the house. And they stay upon the roof for the space of nine +and forty days.' + +'On what part of the roof?' + +'On the yane-no-mune--upon the Ridge of the Roof they stay.' + +'Can they be seen?' + +'Nay: they are like the air is. To and fro upon the Ridge of the Roof +they move, like a little wind.' + +'Why do they not stay upon the roof for fifty days instead of forty- +nine?' + +'Seven weeks is the time allotted them before they must depart: seven +weeks make the measure of forty-nine days. But why this should be, I +cannot tell.' + +I was not unaware of the ancient belief that the spirit of a dead man +haunts for a time the roof of his dwelling, because it is referred to +quite impressively in many Japanese dramas, among others in the play +called Kagami-yama, which makes the people weep. But I had not before +heard of triplex and quadruplex and other yet more highly complex Souls; +and I questioned Kinjuro vainly in the hope of learning the authority +for his beliefs. They were the beliefs of his fathers: that was all he +knew. [1] + +Like most Izumo folk, Kinjuro was a Buddhist as well as a Shintoist. As +the former he belonged to the Zen-shu, as the latter to the Izumo- +Taisha. Yet his ontology seemed to me not of either. Buddhism does not +teach the doctrine of compound-multiple Souls. There are old Shinto +books inaccessible to the multitude which speak of a doctrine very +remotely akin to Kinjuro's; but Kinjuro had never seen them. Those books +say that each of us has two souls--the Ara-tama or Rough Soul, which is +vindictive; and the Nigi-tama, or Gentle Soul, which is all-forgiving. +Furthermore, we are all possessed by the spirit of Oho-maga-tsu-hi-no- +Kami, the 'Wondrous Deity of Exceeding Great Evils'; also by the spirit +of Oho-naho-bi-no-Kami, the 'Wondrous Great Rectifying Deity,' a +counteracting influence. These were not exactly the ideas of Kinjuro. +But I remembered something Hirata wrote which reminded me of Kinjuro's +words about a possible separation of souls. Hirata's teaching was that +the ara-tama of a man may leave his body, assume his shape, and without +his knowledge destroy a hated enemy. So I asked Kinjuro about it. He +said he had never heard of a nigi-tama or an ara-tama; but he told me +this: + +'Master, when a man has been discovered by his wife to be secretly +enamoured of another, it sometimes happens that the guilty woman is +seized with a sickness that no physician can cure. For one of the Souls +of the wife, moved exceedingly by anger, passes into the body of that +woman to destroy her. But the wife also sickens, or loses her mind +awhile, because of the absence of her Soul. + +'And there is another and more wonderful thing known to us of Nippon, +which you, being of the West, may never have heard. By the power of the +gods, for a righteous purpose, sometimes a Soul may be withdrawn a +little while from its body, and be made to utter its most secret +thought. But no suffering to the body is then caused. And the wonder is +wrought in this wise: + +'A man loves a beautiful girl whom he is at liberty to marry; but he +doubts whether he can hope to make her love him in return. He seeks the +kannushi of a certain Shinto temple, [2] and tells of his doubt, and +asks the aid of the gods to solve it. Then the priests demand, not his +name, but his age and the year and day and hour of his birth, which they +write down for the gods to know; and they bid the man return to the +temple after the space of seven days. + +'And during those seven days the priests offer prayer to the gods that +the doubt may be solved; and one of them each morning bathes all his +body in cold, pure water, and at each repast eats only food prepared +with holy fire. And on the eighth day the man returns to the temple, and +enters an inner chamber where the priests receive him. + +'A ceremony is performed, and certain prayers are said, after which all +wait in silence. And then, the priest who has performed the rites of +purification suddenly begins to tremble violently in all his body, like +one trembling with a great fever. And this is because, by the power of +the gods, the Soul of the girl whose love is doubted has entered, all +fearfully, into the body of that priest. She does not know; for at that +time, wherever she may be, she is in a deep sleep from which nothing can +arouse her. But her Soul, having been summoned into the body of the +priest, can speak nothing save the truth; and It is made to tell all +Its thought. And the priest speaks not with his own voice, but with the +voice of the Soul; and he speaks in the person of the Soul, saying: "I +love," or "I hate," according as the truth may be, and in the language +of women. If there be hate, then the reason of the hate is spoken; but +if the answer be of love, there is little to say. And then the trembling +of the priest stops, for the Soul passes from him; and he falls forward +upon his face like one dead, and long so--remains. + +'Tell me, Kinjuro,' I asked, after all these queer things had been +related to me, 'have you yourself ever known of a Soul being removed by +the power of the gods, and placed in the heart of a priest?' + +'Yes: I myself have known it.' + +I remained silent and waited. The old man emptied his little pipe, threw +it down beside the hibachi, folded his hands, and looked at the lotus- +flowers for some time before he spoke again. Then he smiled and said: + +'Master, I married when I was very young. For many years we had no +children: then my wife at last gave me a son, and became a Buddha. But +my son lived and grew up handsome and strong; and when the Revolution +came, he joined the armies of the Son of Heaven; and he died the death +of a man in the great war of the South, in Kyushu. I loved him; and I +wept with joy when I heard that he had been able to die for our Sacred +Emperor: since there is no more noble death for the son of a samurai. So +they buried my boy far away from me in Kyushu, upon a hill near +Kumamoto, which is a famous city with a strong garrison; and I went +there to make his tomb beautiful. But his name is here also, in +Ninomaru, graven on the monument to the men of Izumo who fell in the +good fight for loyalty and honour in our emperor's holy cause; and when +I see his name there, my heart laughs, and I speak to him, and then it +seems as if he were walking beside me again, under the great pines. . . +But all that is another matter. + +'I sorrowed for my wife. All the years we had dwelt together no unkind +word had ever been uttered between us. And when she died, I thought +never to marry again. But after two more years had passed, my father and +mother desired a daughter in the house, and they told me of their wish, +and of a girl who was beautiful and of good family, though poor. The +family were of our kindred, and the girl was their only support: she +wove garments of silk and garments of cotton, and for this she received +but little money. And because she was filial and comely, and our kindred +not fortunate, my parents desired that I should marry her and help her +people; for in those days we had a small income of rice. Then, being +accustomed to obey my parents, I suffered them to do what they thought +best. So the nakodo was summoned, and the arrangements for the wedding +began. + +'Twice I was able to see the girl in the house of her parents. And I +thought myself fortunate the first time I looked upon her; for she was +very comely and young. But the second time, I perceived she had been +weeping, and that her eyes avoided mine. Then my heart sank; for I +thought: She dislikes me; and they are forcing her to this thing. Then I +resolved to question the gods; and I caused the marriage to be delayed; +and I went to the temple of Yanagi-no-Inari-Sama, which is in the Street +Zaimokucho. + +'And when the trembling came upon him, the priest, speaking with the +Soul of that maid, declared to me: "My heart hates you, and the sight of +your face gives me sickness, because I love another, and because this +marriage is forced upon me. Yet though my heart hates you, I must marry +you because my parents are poor and old, and I alone cannot long +continue to support them, for my work is killing me. But though I may +strive to be a dutiful wife, there never will be gladness in your house +because of me; for my heart hates you with a great and lasting hate; and +the sound of your voice makes a sickness in my breast (koe kiite mo mune +ga waruku naru); and only to see your face makes me wish that I were +dead (kao miru to shinitaku naru)." + +'Thus knowing the truth, I told it to my parents; and I wrote a letter +of kind words to the maid, praying pardon for the pain I had unknowingly +caused her; and I feigned long illness, that the marriage might be +broken off without gossip; and we made a gift to that family; and the +maid was glad. For she was enabled at a later time to marry the young +man she loved. My parents never pressed me again to take a wife; and +since their death I have lived alone. . . . O Master, look upon the +extreme wickedness of that boy!' + +Taking advantage of our conversation, Kinjuro's young assistant had +improvised a rod and line with a bamboo stick and a bit of string; and +had fastened to the end of the string a pellet of tobacco stolen from +the old man's pouch. With this bait he had been fishing in the lotus +pond; and a frog had swallowed it, and was now suspended high above the +pebbles, sprawling in rotary motion, kicking in frantic spasms of +disgust and despair. 'Kaji!' shouted the gardener. + +The boy dropped his rod with a laugh, and ran to us unabashed; while the +frog, having disgorged the tobacco, plopped back into the lotus pond. +Evidently Kaji was not afraid of scoldings. + +'Gosho ga waruil' declared the old man, shaking his ivory head. 'O Kaji, +much I fear that your next birth will be bad! Do I buy tobacco for +frogs? Master, said I not rightly this boy has but one Soul?' + + + +CHAPTER TEN Of Ghosts and Goblins + +º1 + +THERE was a Buddha, according to the Hokkekyo who 'even assumed the +shape of a goblin to preach to such as were to be converted by a +goblin.' And in the same Sutra may be found this promise of the Teacher: +'While he is dwelling lonely in the wilderness, I will send thither +goblins in great number to keep him company.' The appalling character +of this promise is indeed somewhat modified by the assurance that gods +also are to be sent. But if ever I become a holy man, I shall take heed +not to dwell in the wilderness, because I have seen Japanese goblins, +and I do not like them. + +Kinjuro showed them to me last night. They had come to town for the +matsuri of our own ujigami, or parish-temple; and, as there were many +curious things to be seen at the night festival, we started for the +temple after dark, Kinjuro carrying a paper lantern painted with my +crest. + +It had snowed heavily in the morning; but now the sky and the sharp +still air were clear as diamond; and the crisp snow made a pleasant +crunching sound under our feet as we walked; and it occurred to me to +say: 'O Kinjuro, is there a God of Snow?' + +'I cannot tell,' replied Kinjuro. 'There be many gods I do not know; and +there is not any man who knows the names of all the gods. But there is +the Yuki-Onna, the Woman of the Snow.' + +'And what is the Yuki-Onna?' + +'She is the White One that makes the Faces in the snow. She does not any +harm, only makes afraid. By day she lifts only her head, and frightens +those who journey alone. But at night she rises up sometimes, taller +than the trees, and looks about a little while, and then falls back in a +shower of snow.' [1] + +'What is her face like?' + +'It is all white, white. It is an enormous face. And it is a lonesome +face.' + +[The word Kinjuro used was samushii. Its common meaning is 'lonesome'; +but he used it, I think, in the sense of 'weird.'] + +'Did you ever see her, Kinjuro?' + +'Master, I never saw her. But my father told me that once when he was a +child, he wanted to go to a neighbour's house through the snow to play +with another little boy; and that on the way he saw a great white Face +rise up from the snow and look lonesomely about, so that he cried for +fear and ran back. Then his people all went out and looked; but there +was only snow; and then they knew that he had seen the Yuki-Onna.' + +'And in these days, Kinjuro, do people ever see her?' + +'Yes. Those who make the pilgrimage to Yabumura, in the period called +Dai-Kan, which is the Time of the Greatest Cold, [2] they sometimes see +her.' + +'What is there at Yabumura, Kinjuro?' + +'There is the Yabu-jinja, which is an ancient and famous temple of Yabu- +no-Tenno-San--the God of Colds, Kaze-no-Kami. It is high upon a hill, +nearly nine ri from Matsue. And the great matsuri of that temple is held +upon the tenth and eleventh days of the Second Month. And on those days +strange things may be seen. For one who gets a very bad cold prays to +the deity of Yabu-jinja to cure it, and takes a vow to make a pilgrimage +naked to the temple at the time of the matsuri.' + +'Naked?' + +'Yes: the pilgrims wear only waraji, and a little cloth round their +loins. And a great many men and women go naked through the snow to the +temple, though the snow is deep at that time. And each man carries a +bunch of gohei and a naked sword as gifts to the temple; and each woman +carries a metal mirror. And at the temple, the priests receive them, +performing curious rites. For the priests then, according to ancient +custom, attire themselves like sick men, and lie down and groan, and +drink, potions made of herbs, prepared after the Chinese manner.' + +'But do not some of the pilgrims die of cold, Kinjuro?' + +'No: our Izumo peasants are hardy. Besides, they run swiftly, so that +they reach the temple all warm. And before returning they put on thick +warm robes. But sometimes, upon the way, they see the Yuki-Onna.' + +º2 + +Each side of the street leading to the miya was illuminated with a line +of paper lanterns bearing holy symbols; and the immense court of the +temple had been transformed into a town of booths, and shops, and +temporary theatres. In spite of the cold, the crowd was prodigious. +There seemed to be all the usual attractions of a matsuri, and a number +of unusual ones. Among the familiar lures, I missed at this festival +only the maiden wearing an obi of living snakes; probably it had become +too cold for the snakes. There were several fortune-tellers and +jugglers; there were acrobats and dancers; there was a man making +pictures out of sand; and there was a menagerie containing an emu from +Australia, and a couple of enormous bats from the Loo Choo Islands--bats +trained to do several things. I did reverence to the gods, and bought +some extraordinary toys; and then we went to look for the goblins. They +were domiciled in a large permanent structure, rented to showmen on +special occasions. + +Gigantic characters signifying 'IKI-NINGYO,' painted upon the signboard +at the entrance, partly hinted the nature of the exhibition. Iki-ningyo +('living images') somewhat correspond to our Occidental 'wax figures'; +but the equally realistic Japanese creations are made of much cheaper +material. Having bought two wooden tickets for one sen each, we entered, +and passed behind a curtain to find ourselves in a long corridor lined +with booths, or rather matted compartments, about the size of small +rooms. Each space, decorated with scenery appropriate to the subject, +was occupied by a group of life-size figures. The group nearest the +entrance, representing two men playing samisen and two geisha dancing, +seemed to me without excuse for being, until Kinjuro had translated a +little placard before it, announcing that one of the figures was a +living person. We watched in vain for a wink or palpitation. Suddenly +one of the musicians laughed aloud, shook his head, and began to play +and sing. The deception was perfect. + +The remaining groups, twenty-four in number, were powerfully impressive +in their peculiar way, representing mostly famous popular traditions or +sacred myths. Feudal heroisms, the memory of which stirs every Japanese +heart; legends of filial piety; Buddhist miracles, and stories of +emperors were among the subjects. Sometimes, however, the realism was +brutal, as in one scene representing the body of a woman lying in a pool +of blood, with brains scattered by a sword stroke. Nor was this +unpleasantness altogether atoned for by her miraculous resuscitation in +the adjoining compartment, where she reappeared returning thanks in a +Nichiren temple, and converting her slaughterer, who happened, by some +extraordinary accident, to go there at the same time. + +At the termination of the corridor there hung a black curtain behind +which screams could be heard. And above the black curtain was a placard +inscribed with the promise of a gift to anybody able to traverse the +mysteries beyond without being frightened. + +'Master,' said Kinjuro, 'the goblins are inside.' + +We lifted the veil, and found ourselves in a sort of lane between +hedges, and behind the hedges we saw tombs; we were in a graveyard. +There were real weeds and trees, and sotoba and haka, and the effect was +quite natural. Moreover, as the roof was very lofty, and kept invisible +by a clever arrangement of lights, all seemed darkness only; and this +gave one a sense of being out under the night, a feeling accentuated by +the chill of the air. And here and there we could discern sinister +shapes, mostly of superhuman stature, some seeming to wait in dim +places, others floating above the graves. Quite near us, towering above +the hedge on our right, was a Buddhist priest, with his back turned to +us. + +'A yamabushi, an exorciser?' I queried of Kinjuro. + +'No,' said Kinjuro; 'see how tall he is. I think that must be a Tanuki- +Bozu.' + +The Tanuki-Bozu is the priestly form assumed by the goblin-badger +(tanuki) for the purpose of decoying belated travellers to destruction. +We went on, and looked up into his face. It was a nightmare--his face. + +'In truth a Tanuki-Bozu,' said Kinjuro. 'What does the Master honourably +think concerning it?' + +Instead of replying, I jumped back; for the monstrous thing had suddenly +reached over the hedge and clutched at me, with a moan. Then it fell +back, swaying and creaking. It was moved by invisible strings. + +'I think, Kinjuro, that it is a nasty, horrid thing. . . . But I shall +not claim the present.' + +We laughed, and proceeded to consider a Three-Eyed Friar (Mitsu-me- +Nyudo). The Three-Eyed Friar also watches for the unwary at night. His +face is soft and smiling as the face of a Buddha, but he has a hideous +eye in the summit of his shaven pate, which can only be seen when seeing +it does no good. The Mitsu-me-Nyudo made a grab at Kinjuro, and startled +him almost as much as the Tanuki-Bozu had startled me. + +Then we looked at the Yama-Uba--the 'Mountain Nurse.' She catches little +children and nurses them for a while, and then devours them. In her face +she has no mouth; but she has a mouth in the top of her head, under her +hair. The YamaUba did not clutch at us, because her hands were occupied +with a nice little boy, whom she was just going to eat. The child had +been made wonderfully pretty to heighten the effect. + +Then I saw the spectre of a woman hovering in the air above a tomb at +some distance, so that I felt safer in observing it. It had no eyes; its +long hair hung loose; its white robe floated light as smoke. I thought +of a statement in a composition by one of my pupils about ghosts: 'Their +greatest Peculiarity is that They have no feet.' Then I jumped again, +for the thing, quite soundlessly but very swiftly, made through the air +at me. + +And the rest of our journey among the graves was little more than a +succession of like experiences; but it was made amusing by the screams +of women, and bursts of laughter from people who lingered only to watch +the effect upon others of what had scared themselves. + +º3 + +Forsaking the goblins, we visited a little open-air theatre to see two +girls dance. After they had danced awhile, one girl produced a sword and +cut off the other girl's head, and put it upon a table, where it opened +its mouth and began to sing. All this was very prettily done; but my +mind was still haunted by the goblins. So I questioned Kinjuro: + +'Kinjuro, those goblins of which we the ningyo have seen--do folk +believe in the reality, thereof?' + +'Not any more,' answered Kinjuro--'not at least among the people of the +city. Perhaps in the country it may not be so. We believe in the Lord +Buddha; we believe in the ancient gods; and there be many who believe +the dead sometimes return to avenge a cruelty or to compel an act of +justice. But we do not now believe all that was believed in ancient +time. . . .Master,' he added, as we reached another queer exhibition, +'it is only one sen to go to hell, if the Master would like to go--'Very +good, Kinjuro,' I made reply. 'Pay two sen that we may both go to hell.' + +º4 + +And we passed behind a curtain into a big room full of curious clicking +and squeaking noises. These noises were made by unseen wheels and +pulleys moving a multitude of ningyo upon a broad shelf about breast- +high, which surrounded the apartment upon three sides. These ningyo were +not ikiningyo, but very small images--puppets. They represented all +things in the Under-World. + +The first I saw was Sozu-Baba, the Old Woman of the River of Ghosts, who +takes away the garments of Souls. The garments were hanging upon a tree +behind her. She was tall; she rolled her green eyes and gnashed her long +teeth, while the shivering of the little white souls before her was as a +trembling of butterflies. Farther on appeared Emma Dai-O, great King of +Hell, nodding grimly. At his right hand, upon their tripod, the heads of +Kaguhana and Mirume, the Witnesses, whirled as upon a wheel. At his +left, a devil was busy sawing a Soul in two; and I noticed that he used +his saw like a Japanese carpenter--pulling it towards him instead of +pushing it. And then various exhibitions of the tortures of the damned. +A liar bound to a post was having his tongue pulled out by a devil-- +slowly, with artistic jerks; it was already longer than the owner's +body. Another devil was pounding another Soul in a mortar so vigorously +that the sound of the braying could be heard above all the din of the +machinery. A little farther on was a man being eaten alive by two +serpents having women's faces; one serpent was white, the other blue. +The white had been his wife, the blue his concubine. All the tortures +known to medieval Japan were being elsewhere deftly practised by swarms +of devils. After reviewing them, we visited the Sai-no-Kawara, and saw +Jizo with a child in his arms, and a circle of other children running +swiftly around him, to escape from demons who brandished their clubs and +ground their teeth. + +Hell proved, however, to be extremely cold; and while meditating on the +partial inappropriateness of the atmosphere, it occurred to me that in +the common Buddhist picture-books of the Jigoku I had never noticed any +illustrations of torment by cold. Indian Buddhism, indeed, teaches the +existence of cold hells. There is one, for instance, where people's lips +are frozen so that they can say only 'Ah-ta-ta!'--wherefore that hell is +called Atata. And there is the hell where tongues are frozen, and where +people say only 'Ah-baba!' for which reason it is called Ababa. And +there is the Pundarika, or Great White-Lotus hell, where the spectacle +of the bones laid bare by the cold is 'like a blossoming of white lotus- +flowers.' Kinjuro thinks there are cold hells according to Japanese +Buddhism; but he is not sure. And I am not sure that the idea of cold +could be made very terrible to the Japanese. They confess a general +liking for cold, and compose Chinese poems about the loveliness of ice +and snow. + +º5 + +Out of hell, we found our way to a magic-lantern show being given in a +larger and even much colder structure. A Japanese magic-lantern show is +nearly always interesting in more particulars than one, but perhaps +especially as evidencing the native genius for adapting Western +inventions to Eastern tastes. A Japanese magic-lantern show is +essentially dramatic. It is a play of which the dialogue is uttered by +invisible personages, the actors and the scenery being only luminous +shadows. 'Wherefore it is peculiarly well suited to goblinries and +weirdnesses of all kinds; and plays in which ghosts figure are the +favourite subjects. As the hall was bitterly cold, I waited only long +enough to see one performance--of which the following is an epitome: + +SCENE 1.--A beautiful peasant girl and her aged mother, squatting +together at home. Mother weeps violently, gesticulates agonisingly. From +her frantic speech, broken by wild sobs, we learn that the girl must be +sent as a victim to the Kami-Sama of some lonesome temple in the +mountains. That god is a bad god. Once a year he shoots an arrow into +the thatch of some farmer's house as a sign that he wants a girl--to +eat! Unless the girl be sent to him at once, he destroys the crops and +the cows. Exit mother, weeping and shrieking, and pulling out her grey +hair. Exit girl, with downcast head, and air of sweet resignation. + +SCENE II.--Before a wayside inn; cherry-trees in blossom. Enter coolies +carrying, like a palanquin, a large box, in which the girl is supposed +to be. Deposit box; enter to eat; tell story to loquacious landlord. +Enter noble samurai, with two swords. Asks about box. Hears the story of +the coolies repeated by loquacious landlord. Exhibits fierce +indignation; vows that the Kami-Sama are good--do not eat girls. +Declares that so-called Kami-Sama to be a devil. Observes that devils +must be killed. Orders box opened. Sends girl home. Gets into box +himself, and commands coolies under pain of death to bear him right +quickly to that temple. + +SCENE III.--Enter coolies, approaching temple through forest at night. +Coolies afraid. Drop box and run. Exeunt coolies. Box alone in the dark. +Enter veiled figure, all white. Figure moans unpleasantly; utters horrid +cries. Box remains impassive. Figure removes veil, showing Its face--a +skull with phosphoric eyes. [Audience unanimously utter the sound +'Aaaaaa!'] Figure displays Its hands--monstrous and apish, with claws. +[Audience utter a second 'Aaaaaa!'] Figure approaches the box, touches +the box, opens the box! Up leaps noble samurai. A wrestle; drums sound +the roll of battle. Noble samurai practises successfully noble art of +ju-jutsu. Casts demon down, tramples upon him triumphantly, cuts off his +head. Head suddenly enlarges, grows to the size of a house, tries to +bite off head of samurai. Samurai slashes it with his sword. Head rolls +backward, spitting fire, and vanishes. Finis. Exeunt omnes. + +º6 + +The vision of the samurai and the goblin reminded Kinjuro of a queer +tale, which he began to tell me as soon as the shadow-play was over. +Ghastly stories are apt to fall flat after such an exhibition; but +Kinjuro's stories are always peculiar enough to justify the telling +under almost any circumstances. Wherefore I listened eagerly, in spite +of the cold: + +'A long time ago, in the days when Fox-women and goblins haunted this +land, there came to the capital with her parents a samurai girl, so +beautiful that all men who saw her fell enamoured of her. And hundreds +of young samurai desired and hoped to marry her, and made their desire +known to her parents. For it has ever been the custom in Japan that +marriages should be arranged by parents. But there are exceptions to all +customs, and the case of this maiden was such an exception. Her parents +declared that they intended to allow their daughter to choose her own +husband, and that all who wished to win her would be free to woo her. + +'Many men of high rank and of great wealth were admitted to the house as +suitors; and each one courted her as he best knew how--with gifts, and +with fair words, and with poems written in her honour, and with promises +of eternal love. And to each one she spoke sweetly and hopefully; but +she made strange conditions. For every suitor she obliged to bind +himself by his word of honour as a samurai to submit to a test of his +love for her, and never to divulge to living person what that test might +be. And to this all agreed. + +'But even the most confident suitors suddenly ceased their importunities +after having been put to the test; and all of them appeared to have been +greatly terrified by something. Indeed, not a few even fled away from +the city, and could not be persuaded by their friends to return. But no +one ever so much as hinted why. Therefore it was whispered by those who +knew nothing of the mystery, that the beautiful girl must be either a +Fox-woman or a goblin. + +'Now, when all the wooers of high rank had abandoned their suit, there +came a samurai who had no wealth but his sword. He was a good man and +true, and of pleasing presence; and the girl seemed to like him. But she +made him take the same pledge which the others had taken; and after he +had taken it, she told him to return upon a certain evening. + +'When that evening came, he was received at the house by none but the +girl herself. With her own hands she set before him the repast of +hospitality, and waited upon him, after which she told him that she +wished him to go out with her at a late hour. To this he consented +gladly, and inquired to what place she desired to go. But she replied +nothing to his question, and all at once became very silent, and strange +in her manner. And after a while she retired from the apartment, leaving +him alone. + +'Only long after midnight she returned, robed all in white--like a Soul +--and, without uttering a word, signed to him to follow her. Out of the +house they hastened while all the city slept. It was what is called an +oborozuki-yo--'moon-clouded night.' Always upon such a night, 'tis said, +do ghosts wander. She swiftly led the way; and the dogs howled as she +flitted by; and she passed beyond the confines of the city to a place of +knolls shadowed by enormous trees, where an ancient cemetery was. Into +it she glided--a white shadow into blackness. He followed, wondering, +his hand upon his sword. Then his eyes became accustomed to the gloom; +and he saw. + +'By a new-made grave she paused and signed to him to wait. The tools of +the grave-maker were still lying there. Seizing one, she began to dig +furiously, with strange haste and strength. At last her spade smote a +coffin-lid and made it boom: another moment and the fresh white wood of +the kwan was bare. She tore off the lid, revealing a corpse within--the +corpse of a child. With goblin gestures she wrung an arm from the body, +wrenched it in twain, and, squatting down, began to devour the upper +half. Then, flinging to her lover the other half, she cried to him, +"Eat, if thou lovest mel this is what I eat!" 'Not even for a single +instant did he hesitate. He squatted down upon the other side of the +grave, and ate the half of the arm, and said, "Kekko degozarimasu! mo +sukoshi chodai." [3] For that arm was made of the best kwashi [4] that +Saikyo could produce. + +'Then the girl sprang to her feet with a burst of laughter, and cried: +"You only, of all my brave suitors, did not run away! And I wanted a +husband: who could not fear. I will marry you; I can love you: you are a +man!"' + +º7 + +'O Kinjuro,' I said, as we took our way home, 'I have heard and I have +read many Japanese stories of the returning of the dead. Likewise you +yourself have told me it is still believed the dead return, and why. But +according both to that which I have read and that which you have told +me, the coming back of the dead is never a thing to be desired. They +return because of hate, or because of envy, or because they cannot rest +for sorrow. But of any who return for that which is not evil--where is +it written? Surely the common history of them is like that which we have +this night seen: much that is horrible and much that is wicked and +nothing of that which is beautiful or true.' + +Now this I said that I might tempt him. And he made even the answer I +desired, by uttering the story which is hereafter set down: + +'Long ago, in the days of a daimyo whose name has been forgotten, there +lived in this old city a young man and a maid who loved each other very +much. Their names are not remembered, but their story remains. From +infancy they had been betrothed; and as children they played together, +for their parents were neighbours. And as they grew up, they became +always fonder of each other. + +'Before the youth had become a man, his parents died. But he was able to +enter the service of a rich samurai, an officer of high rank, who had +been a friend of his people. And his protector soon took him into great +favour, seeing him to be courteous, intelligent, and apt at arms. So the +young man hoped to find himself shortly in a position that would make it +possible for him to marry his betrothed. But war broke out in the north +and east; and he was summoned suddenly to follow his master to the +field. Before departing, however, he was able to see the girl; and they +exchanged pledges in the presence of her parents; and he promised, +should he remain alive, to return within a year from that day to marry +his betrothed. + +'After his going much time passed without news of him, for there was no +post in that time as now; and the girl grieved so much for thinking of +the chances of war that she became all white and thin and weak. Then at +last she heard of him through a messenger sent from the army to bear +news to the daimyo and once again a letter was brought to her by another +messenger. And thereafter there came no word. Long is a year to one who +waits. And the year passed, and he did not return. + +'Other seasons passed, and still he did not come; and she thought him +dead; and she sickened and lay down, and died, and was buried. Then her +old parents, who had no other child, grieved unspeakably, and came to +hate their home for the lonesomeness of it. After a time they resolved +to sell all they had, and to set out upon a sengaji--the great +pilgrimage to the Thousand Temples of the Nichiren-Shu, which requires +many years to perform. So they sold their small house with all that it +contained, excepting the ancestral tablets, and the holy things which +must never be sold, and the ihai of their buried daughter, which were +placed, according to the custom of those about to leave their native +place, in the family temple. Now the family was of the Nichiren-Shu; and +their temple was Myokoji. + +'They had been gone only four days when the young man who had been +betrothed to their daughter returned to the city. He had attempted, with +the permission of his master, to fulfil his promise. But the provinces +upon his way were full of war, and the roads and passes were guarded by +troops, and he had been long delayed by many difficulties. And when he +heard of his misfortune he sickened for grief, and many days remained +without knowledge of anything, like one about to die. + +'But when he began to recover his strength, all the pain of memory came +back again; and he regretted that he had not died. Then he resolved to +kill himself upon the grave of his betrothed; and, as soon as he was +able to go out unobserved, he took his sword and went to the cemetery +where the girl was buried: it is a lonesome place--the cemetery of +Myokoji. There he found her tomb, and knelt before it, and prayed and +wept, and whispered to her that which he was about to do. And suddenly +he heard her voice cry to him: "Anata!" and felt her hand upon his hand; +and he turned, and saw her kneeling beside him, smiling, and beautiful +as he remembered her, only a little pale. Then his heart leaped so that +he could not speak for the wonder and the doubt and the joy of that +moment. But she said: "Do not doubt: it is really I. I am not dead. It +was all a mistake. I was buried, because my people thought me dead-- +buried too soon. And my own parents thought me dead, and went upon a +pilgrimage. Yet you see, I am not dead--not a ghost. It is I: do not +doubt it! And I have seen your heart, and that was worth all the +waiting, and the pain.. . But now let us go away at once to another +city, so that people may not know this thing and trouble us; for all +still believe me dead." + +'And they went away, no one observing them. And they went even to the +village of Minobu, which is in the province of Kai. For there is a +famous temple of the Nichiren-Shu in that place; and the girl had said: +"I know that in the course of their pilgrimage my parents will surely +visit Minobu: so that if we dwell there, they will find us, and we shall +be all again together." And when they came to Minobu, she said: "Let us +open a little shop." And they opened a little food-shop, on the wide way +leading to the holy place; and there they sold cakes for children, and +toys, and food for pilgrims. For two years they so lived and prospered; +and there was a son born to them. + +'Now when the child was a year and two months old, the parents of the +wife came in the course of their pilgrimage to Minobu; and they stopped +at the little shop to buy food. And seeing their daughter's betrothed, +they cried out and wept and asked questions. Then he made them enter, +and bowed down before them, and astonished them, saying: "Truly as I +speak it, your daughter is not dead; and she is my wife; and we have a +son. And she is even now within the farther room, lying down with the +child. I pray you go in at once and gladden her, for her heart longs for +the moment of seeing you again." + +'So while he busied himself in making all things ready for their +comfort, they entered the inner, room very softly--the mother first. + +'They found the child asleep; but the mother they did not find. She +seemed to have gone out for a little while only: her pillow was still +warm. They waited long for her: then they began to seek her. But never +was she seen again. + +'And they understood only when they found beneath the coverings which +had covered the mother and child, something which they remembered having +left years before in the temple of Myokoji--a little mortuary tablet, +the ihai of their buried daughter.' + +I suppose I must have looked thoughtful after this tale; for the old man +said: + +'Perhaps the Master honourably thinks concerning the story that it is +foolish?' + +'Nay, Kinjuro, the story is in my heart.' + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN The Japanese Smile + +º1 + +THOSE whose ideas of the world and its wonders have been formed chiefly +by novels and romance still indulge a vague belief that the East is more +serious than the West. Those who judge things from a higher standpoint +argue, on the contrary, that, under present conditions, the West must be +more serious than the East; and also that gravity, or even something +resembling its converse, may exist only as a fashion. But the fact is +that in this, as in all other questions, no rule susceptible of +application to either half of humanity can be accurately framed. +Scientifically, we can do no more just now than study certain contrasts +in a general way, without hoping to explain satisfactorily the highly +complex causes which produced them. One such contrast, of particular +interest, is that afforded by the English and the Japanese. + +It is a commonplace to say that the English are a serious people--not +superficially serious, but serious all the way down to the bed-rock of +the race character. It is almost equally safe to say that the Japanese +are not very serious, either above or below the surface, even as +compared with races much less serious than our own. And in the same +proportion, at least, that they are less serious, they are more happy: +they still, perhaps, remain the happiest people in the civilised world. +We serious folk of the West cannot call ourselves very happy. Indeed, we +do not yet fully know how serious we are; and it would probably frighten +us to learn how much more serious we are likely to become under the +ever-swelling pressure of industrial life. It is, possibly, by long +sojourn among a people less gravely disposed that we can best learn our +own temperament. This conviction came to me very strongly when, after +having lived for nearly three years in the interior of Japan, I returned +to English life for a few days at the open port of Kobe. To hear English +once more spoken by Englishmen touched me more than I could have +believed possible; but this feeling lasted only for a moment. My object +was to make some necessary purchases. Accompanying me was a Japanese +friend, to whom all that foreign life was utterly new and wonderful, and +who asked me this curious question: 'Why is it that the foreigners never +smile? You smile and bow when you speak to them; but they never smile. +Why?' + +The fact was, I had fallen altogether into Japanese habits and ways, and +had got out of touch with Western life; and my companion's question +first made me aware that I had been acting somewhat curiously. It also +seemed to me a fair illustration of the difficulty of mutual +comprehension between the two races--each quite naturally, though quite +erroneously, estimating the manners and motives of the other by its own. +If the Japanese are puzzled by English gravity, the English are, to say +the least, equally puzzled by Japanese levity. The Japanese speak of the +'angry faces' of the foreigners. The foreigners speak with strong +contempt of the Japanese smile: they suspect it to signify insincerity; +indeed, some declare it cannot possibly signify anything else. Only a +few of the more observant have recognised it as an enigma worth +studying. One of my Yokohama friends--a thoroughly lovable man, who had +passed more than half his life in the open ports of the East--said to +me, just before my departure for the interior: 'Since you are going to +study Japanese life, perhaps you will be able to find out something for +me. I can't understand the Japanese smile. Let me tell you one +experience out of many. One day, as I was driving down from the Bluff, I +saw an empty kuruma coming up on the wrong side of the curve. I could +not have pulled up in time if I had tried; but I didn't try, because I +didn't think there was any particular danger. I only yelled to the man +in Japanese to get to the other side of the road; instead of which he +simply backed his kuruma against a wall on the lower side of the curve, +with the shafts outwards. At the rate I was going, there wasn't room +even to swerve; and the next minute one of the shafts of that kuruma was +in my horse's shoulder. The man wasn't hurt at all. When I saw the way +my horse was bleeding, I quite lost my temper, and struck the man over +the head with the butt of my whip. He looked right into my face and +smiled, and then bowed. I can see that smile now. I felt as if I had +been knocked down. The smile utterly nonplussed me--killed all my anger +instantly. Mind you, it was a polite smile. But what did it mean? Why +the devil did the man smile? I can't understand it.' + +Neither, at that time, could I; but the meaning of much more mysterious +smiles has since been revealed to me. A Japanese can smile in the teeth +of death, and usually does. But he then smiles for the same reason that +he smiles at other times. There is neither defiance nor hypocrisy in the +smile; nor is it to be confounded with that smile of sickly resignation +which we are apt to associate with weakness of character. It is an +elaborate and long-cultivated etiquette. It is also a silent language. +But any effort to interpret it according to Western notions of +physiognomical expression would be just about as successful as an +attempt to interpret Chinese ideographs by their real or fancied +resemblance to shapes of familiar things. + +First impressions, being largely instinctive, are scientifically +recognised as partly trustworthy; and the very first impression produced +by the Japanese smile is not far from the truth The stranger cannot fail +to notice the generally happy and smiling character of the native faces; +and this first impression is, in most cases, wonderfully pleasant. The +Japanese smile at first charms. It is only at a later day, when one has +observed the same smile under extraordinary circumstances--in moments of +pain, shame, disappointment--that one becomes suspicious of it. Its +apparent inopportuneness may even, on certain occasions, cause violent +anger. Indeed, many of the difficulties between foreign residents and +their native servants have been due to the smile. Any man who believes +in the British tradition that a good servant must be solemn is not +likely to endure with patience the smile of his 'boy.' At present, +however, this particular phase of Western eccentricity is becoming more +fully recognised by the Japanese; they are beginning to learn that the +average English-speaking foreigner hates smiling, and is apt to consider +it insulting; wherefore Japanese employees at the open ports have +generally ceased to smile, and have assumed an air of sullenness. + +At this moment there comes to me the recollection of a queer story told +by a lady of Yokohama about one of her Japanese servants. 'My Japanese +nurse came to me the other day, smiling as if something very pleasant +had happened, and said that her husband was dead, and that she wanted +permission to attend his funeral. I told her she could go. It seems they +burned the man's body. Well, in the evening she returned, and showed me +a vase containing some ashes of bones (I saw a tooth among them); and +she said: "That is my husband." And she actually laughed as she said it! +Did you ever hear of such disgusting creatures?' + +It would have been quite impossible to convince the narrator of this +incident that the demeanour of her servant, instead of being heartless, +might have been heroic, and capable of a very touching interpretation. +Even one not a Philistine might be deceived in such a case by +appearances. But quite a number of the foreign residents of the open +ports are pure Philistines, and never try to look below the surface of +the life around them, except as hostile critics. My Yokohama friend who +told me the story about the kurumaya was quite differently disposed: he +recognised the error of judging by appearances. + +º2 + +Miscomprehension of the Japanese smile has more than once led to +extremely unpleasant results, as happened in the case of T--a Yokohama +merchant of former days. T--had employed in some capacity (I think +partly as a teacher of Japanese) a nice old samurai, who wore, according +to the fashion of the era, a queue and two swords. The English and the +Japanese do not understand each other very well now; but at the period +in question they understood each other much less. The Japanese servants +at first acted in foreign employ precisely as they would have acted in +the service of distinguished Japanese; [1] and this innocent mistake +provoked a good deal of abuse and cruelty. Finally the discovery was +made that to treat Japanese like West Indian negroes might be very +dangerous. + +A certain number of foreigners were killed, with good moral +consequences. + +But I am digressing. T--was rather pleased with his old samurai, though +quite unable to understand his Oriental politeness, his prostrations or +the meaning of the small gifts which he presented occasionally, with an +exquisite courtesy entirely wasted upon T--. One day he came to ask a +favour. (I think it was the eve of the Japanese New Year, when everybody +needs money, for reasons not here to be dwelt upon.) The favour was that +T--would lend him a little money upon one of his swords, the long one. +It was a very beautiful weapon, and the merchant saw that it was also +very valuable, and lent the money without hesitation. Some weeks later +the old man was able to redeem his sword. + +What caused the beginning of the subsequent unpleasantness nobody now +remembers Perhaps T--'s nerves got out of order. At all events, one day +he became very angry with the old man, who submitted to the expression +of his wrath with bows and smiles. This made him still more angry, and +he used some extremely bad language; but the old man still bowed and +smiled; wherefore he was ordered to leave the house. But the old man +continued to smile, at which T--losing all self-control struck him. And +then T--suddenly became afraid, for the long sword instantly leaped from +its sheath, and swirled above him; and the old man ceased to seem old. +Now, in the grasp of anyone who knows how to use it, the razor-edged +blade of a Japanese sword wielded with both hands can take a head off +with extreme facility. But, to T--'s astonishment, the old samurai, +almost in the same moment, returned the blade to its sheath with the +skill of a practised swordsman, turned upon his heel, and withdrew. + +Then T--wondered and sat down to think. He began to remember some nice +things about the old man--the many kindnesses unasked and unpaid, the +curious little gifts, the impeccable honesty. T-- began to feel ashamed. +He tried to console himself with the thought: 'Well, it was his own +fault; he had no right to laugh at me when he knew I was angry.' Indeed, +T-- even resolved to make amends when an opportunity should offer. + +But no opportunity ever came, because on the same evening the old man +performed hara-kiri, after the manner of a samurai. He left a very +beautifully written letter explaining his reasons. For a samurai to +receive an unjust blow without avenging it was a shame not to be borne, +He had received such a blow. Under any other circumstances he might have +avenged it. But the circumstances were, in this instance, of a very +peculiar kind, His code of honour forbade him to use his sword upon the +man to whom he had pledged it once for money, in an hour of need. And +being thus unable to use his sword, there remained for him only the +alternative of an honourable suicide. + +In order to render this story less disagreeable, the reader may suppose +that T--was really very sorry, and behaved generously to the family of +the old man. What he must not suppose is that T--was ever able to +imagine why the old man had smiled the smile which led to the outrage +and the tragedy. + +º3 + +To comprehend the Japanese smile, one must be able to enter a little +into the ancient, natural, and popular life of Japan. From the +modernised upper classes nothing is to be learned. The deeper +signification of race differences is being daily more and more +illustrated in the effects of the higher education. Instead of creating +any community of feeling, it appears only to widen the distance between +the Occidental and the Oriental. Some foreign observers have declared +that it does this by enormously developing certain latent peculiarities +--among others an inherent materialism little perceptible among fife +common people. This explanation is one I cannot quite agree with; but it +is at least undeniable that, the more highly he is cultivated, according +to Western methods, the farther is the Japanese psychologically removed +from us. Under the new education, his character seems to crystallise +into something of singular hardness, and to Western observation, at +least, of singular opacity. Emotionally, the Japanese child appears +incomparably closer to us than the Japanese mathematician, the peasant +than the statesman. Between the most elevated class of thoroughly +modernised Japanese and the Western thinker anything akin to +intellectual sympathy is non-existent: it is replaced on the native side +by a cold and faultless politeness. Those influences which in other +lands appear most potent to develop the higher emotions seem here to +have the extraordinary effect of suppressing them. We are accustomed +abroad to associate emotional sensibility with intellectual expansion: +it would be a grievous error to apply this rule in Japan. Even the +foreign teacher in an ordinary school can feel, year by year, his pupils +drifting farther away from him, as they pass from class to class; in +various higher educational institutions, the separation widens yet more +rapidly, so that, prior to graduation, students may become to their +professor little more than casual acquaintances. The enigma is perhaps, +to some extent, a physiological one, requiring scientific explanation; +but its solution must first be sought in ancestral habits of life and of +imagination. It can be fully discussed only when its natural causes are +understood; and these, we may be sure, are not simple. By some observers +it is asserted that because the higher education in Japan has not yet +had the effect of stimulating the higher emotions to the Occidental +pitch, its developing power cannot have been exerted uniformly and +wisely, but in special directions only, at the cost of character. Yet +this theory involves the unwarrantable assumption that character can be +created by education; and it ignores the fact that the best results are +obtained by affording opportunity for the exercise of pre-existing +inclination rather than by any system of teaching. + +The causes of the phenomenon must be looked for in the race character; +and whatever the higher education may accomplish in the remote future, +it can scarcely be expected to transform nature. But does it at present +atrophy certain finer tendencies? I think that it unavoidably does, for +the simple reason that, under existing conditions, the moral and mental +powers are overtasked by its requirements. All that wonderful national +spirit of duty, of patience, of self-sacrifice, anciently directed to +social, moral, or religious idealism, must, under the discipline of the +higher training, be concentrated upon an end which not only demands, but +exhausts its fullest exercise. For that end, to be accomplished at all, +must be accomplished in the face of difficulties that the Western +student rarely encounters, and could scarcely be made even to +understand. All those moral qualities which made the old Japanese +character admirable are certainly the same which make the modern +Japanese student the most indefatigable, the most docile, the most +ambitious in the world. But they are also qualities which urge him to +efforts in excess of his natural powers, with the frequent result of +mental and moral enervation. The nation has entered upon a period of +intellectual overstrain. Consciously or unconsciously, in obedience to +sudden necessity, Japan has undertaken nothing less than the tremendous +task of forcing mental expansion up to the highest existing standard; +and this means forcing the development of the nervous system. For the +desired intellectual change, to be accomplished within a few +generations, must involve a physiological change never to be effected +without terrible cost. In other words, Japan has attempted too much; yet +under the circumstances she could not have attempted less. Happily, even +among the poorest of her poor the educational policy of the Government +is seconded with an astonishing zeal; the entire nation has plunged into +study with a fervour of which it is utterly impossible to convey any +adequate conception in this little essay. Yet I may cite a touching +example. Immediately after the frightful earthquake of 1891, the +children of the ruined cities of Gifu and Aichi, crouching among the +ashes of their homes, cold and hungry and shelterless, surrounded by +horror and misery unspeakable, still continued their small studies, +using tiles of their own burnt dwellings in lieu of slates, and bits of +lime for chalk, even while the earth still trembled beneath them. [2] +What future miracles may justly be expected from the amazing power of +purpose such a fact reveals! + +But it is true that as yet the results of the higher training have not +been altogether happy. Among the Japanese of the old regime one +encounters a courtesy, an unselfishness, a grace of pure goodness, +impossible to overpraise. Among the modernised of the new generation +these have almost disappeared. One meets a class of young men who +ridicule the old times and the old ways without having been able to +elevate themselves above the vulgarism of imitation and the commonplaces +of shallow scepticism. What has become of the noble and charming +qualities they must have inherited from their fathers? Is it not +possible that the best of those qualities have been transmuted into mere +effort,--an effort so excessive as to have exhausted character, leaving +it without weight or balance? + +It is to the still fluid, mobile, natural existence of the common people +that one must look for the meaning of some apparent differences in the +race feeling and emotional expression of the West and the Far East. With +those gentle, kindly, sweet-hearted folk, who smile at life, love, and +death alike, it is possible to enjoy community of feeling in simple, +natural things; and by familiarity and sympathy we can learn why they +smile. + +The Japanese child is born with this happy tendency, which is fostered +through all the period of home education. But it is cultivated with the +same exquisiteness that is shown in the cultivation of the natural +tendencies of a garden plant. The smile is taught like the bow; like the +prostration; like that little sibilant sucking-in of the breath which +follows, as a token of pleasure, the salutation to a superior; like all +the elaborate and beautiful etiquette of the old courtesy. Laughter is +not encouraged, for obvious reasons. But the smile is to be used upon +all pleasant occasions, when speaking to a superior or to an equal, and +even upon occasions which are not pleasant; it is a part of deportment. +The most agreeable face is the smiling face; and to present always the +most agreeable face possible to parents, relatives, teachers, friends, +well-wishers, is a rule of life. And furthermore, it is a rule of life +to turn constantly to the outer world a mien of happiness, to convey to +others as far as possible a pleasant impression. Even though the heart +is breaking, it is a social duty to smile bravely. On the other hand, to +look serious or unhappy is rude, because this may cause anxiety or pain +to those who love us; it is likewise foolish, since it may excite +unkindly curiosity on the part of those who love us not. Cultivated from +childhood as a duty, the smile soon becomes instinctive. In the mind of +the poorest peasant lives the conviction that to exhibit the expression +of one's personal sorrow or pain or anger is rarely useful, and always +unkind. Hence, although natural grief must have, in Japan as elsewhere, +its natural issue, an uncontrollable burst of tears in the presence of +superiors or guests is an impoliteness; and the first words of even the +most unlettered countrywoman, after the nerves give way in such a +circumstance, are invariably: 'Pardon my selfishness in that I have been +so rude!' The reasons for the smile, be it also observed, are not only +moral; they are to some extent aesthetic they partly represent the same +idea which regulated the expression of suffering in Greek art. But they +are much more moral than aesthetic, as we shall presently observe. + +From this primary etiquette of the smile there has been developed a +secondary etiquette, the observance of which has frequently impelled +foreigners to form the most cruel misjudgements as to Japanese +sensibility. It is the native custom that whenever a painful or shocking +fact must be told, the announcement should be made, by the sufferer, +with a smile. [3] The graver the subject, the more accentuated the +smile; and when the matter is very unpleasant to the person speaking of +it, the smile often changes to a low, soft laugh. However bitterly the +mother who has lost her first-born may have wept at the funeral, it is +probable that, if in your service, she will tell of her bereavement with +a smile: like the Preacher, she holds that there is a time to weep and a +time to laugh. It was long before I myself could understand how it was +possible for those whom I believed to have loved a person recently dead +to announce to me that death with a laugh. Yet the laugh was politeness +carried to the utmost point of self-abnegation. It signified: 'This you +might honourably think to be an unhappy event; pray do not suffer Your +Superiority to feel concern about so inferior a matter, and pardon the +necessity which causes us to outrage politeness by speaking about such +an affair at all.'. The key to the mystery of the most unaccountable +smiles is Japanese politeness. The servant sentenced to dismissal for a +fault prostrates himself, and asks for pardon with a smile. That smile +indicates the very reverse of callousness or insolence: 'Be assured that +I am satisfied with the great justice of your honourable sentence, and +that I am now aware of the gravity of my fault. Yet my sorrow and my +necessity have caused me to indulge the unreasonable hope that I may be +forgiven for my great rudeness in asking pardon.' The youth or girl +beyond the age of childish tears, when punished for some error, receives +the punishment with a smile which means: 'No evil feeling arises in my +heart; much worse than this my fault has deserved.' And the kurumaya cut +by the whip of my Yokohama friend smiled for a similar reason, as my +friend must have intuitively felt, since the smile at once disarmed him: +'I was very wrong, and you are right to be angry: I deserve to be +struck, and therefore feel no resentment.' + +But it should be understood that the poorest and humblest Japanese is +rarely submissive under injustice. His apparent docility is due chiefly +to his moral sense. The foreigner who strikes a native for sport may +have reason to find that he has made a serious mistake. The Japanese are +not to be trifled with; and brutal attempts to trifle with them have +cost several worthless lives. + +Even after the foregoing explanations, the incident of the Japanese +nurse may still seem incomprehensible; but this, I feel quite sure, is +because the narrator either suppressed or overlooked certain facts in +the case. In the first half of the story, all is perfectly clear. When +announcing her husband's death, the young servant smiled, in accordance +with the native formality already referred to. What is quite incredible +is that, of her own accord, she should have invited the attention of her +mistress to the contents of the vase, or funeral urn. If she knew enough +of Japanese politeness to smile in announcing her husband's death, she +must certainly have known enough to prevent her from perpetrating such +an error. She could have shown the vase and its contents only in +obedience to some real or fancied command; and when so doing, it is more +than possible she may have uttered the low, soft laugh which accompanies +either the unavoidable performance of a painful duty, or the enforced +utterance of a painful statement. My own opinion is that she was obliged +to gratify a wanton curiosity. Her smile or laugh would then have +signified: 'Do not suffer your honourable feelings to be shocked upon my +unworthy account; it is indeed very rude of me, even at your honourable +request, to mention so contemptible a thing as my sorrow.' + +º4 + +But the Japanese smile must not be imagined as a kind of sourire figÚ, +worn perpetually as a soul-mask. Like other matters of deportment, it is +regulated by an etiquette which varies in different classes of society. +As a rule, the old samurai were not given to smiling upon all occasions; +they reserved their amiability for superiors and intimates, and would +seem to have maintained toward inferiors an austere reserve. The dignity +of the Shinto priesthood has become proverbial; and for centuries the +gravity of the Confucian code was mirrored in the decorum of magistrates +and officials. From ancient times the nobility affected a still loftier +reserve; and the solemnity of rank deepened through all the hierarchies +up to that awful state surrounding the Tenshi-Sama, upon whose face no +living man might look. But in private life the demeanour of the highest +had its amiable relaxation; and even to-day, with some hopelessly +modernised exceptions, the noble, the judge, the high priest, the august +minister, the military officer, will resume at home, in the intervals of +duty, the charming habits of the antique courtesy. + +The smile which illuminates conversation is in itself but a small detail +of that courtesy; but the sentiment which it symbolises certainly +comprises the larger part. If you happen to have a cultivated Japanese +friend who has remained in all things truly Japanese, whose character +has remained untouched by the new egotism and by foreign influences, you +will probably be able to study in him the particular social traits of +the whole people--traits in his case exquisitely accentuated and +polished. You will observe that, as a rule, he never speaks of himself, +and that, in reply to searching personal questions, he will answer as +vaguely and briefly as possible, with a polite bow of thanks. But, on +the other hand, he will ask many questions about yourself: your +opinions, your ideas, even trifling details of your daily life, appear +to have deep interest for him; and you will probably have occasion to +note that he never forgets anything which he has learned concerning you. +Yet there are certain rigid limits to his kindly curiosity, and perhaps +even to his observation: he will never refer to any disagreeable or +painful matter, and he will seem to remain blind to eccentricities or +small weaknesses, if you have any. To your face he will never praise +you; but he will never laugh at you nor criticise you. Indeed, you will +find that he never criticises persons, but only actions in their +results. As a private adviser, he will not even directly criticise a +plan of which he disapproves, but is apt to suggest a new one in some +such guarded language as: 'Perhaps it might be more to your immediate +interest to do thus and so.' When obliged to speak of others, he will +refer to them in a curious indirect fashion, by citing and combining a +number of incidents sufficiently characteristic to form a picture. But +in that event the incidents narrated will almost certainly be of a +nature to awaken interest, and to create a favourable impression. This +indirect way of conveying information is essentially Confucian. 'Even +when you have no doubts,' says the Li-Ki, 'do not let what you say +appear as your own view.' And it is quite probable that you will notice +many other traits in your friend requiring some knowledge of the Chinese +classics to understand. But no such knowledge necessary to convince you +of his exquisite consideration for others, and his studied suppression +of self. Among no other civilised people is the secret of happy living +so thoroughly comprehended as among the Japanese; by no other race is +the truth so widely understood that our pleasure in life must depend +upon the happiness of those about us, and consequently upon the +cultivation in ourselves of unselfishness and of patience. For which +reason, in Japanese society, sarcasm irony, cruel wit, are not indulged. +I might almost say that they have no existence in refined life. A +personal failing is not made the subject of ridicule or reproach; an +eccentricity is not commented upon; an involuntary mistake excites no +laughter. + +Stiffened somewhat by the Chinese conservatism of the old conditions, it +is true that this ethical system was maintained the extreme of giving +fixity to ideas, and at the cost of individuality. And yet, if regulated +by a broader comprehension social requirements, if expanded by +scientific understanding of the freedom essential to intellectual +evolution, the very same moral policy is that through which the highest +and happiest results may be obtained. But as actually practised it was +not favourable to originality; it rather tended to enforce the amiable +mediocrity of opinion and imagination which still prevails. Wherefore a +foreign dweller in the interior cannot but long sometimes for the sharp, +erratic inequalities Western life, with its larger joys and pains and +its more comprehensive sympathies. But sometimes only, for the +intellectual loss is really more than compensated by the social charm; +and there can remain no doubt in the mind of one who even partly +understands the Japanese, that they are still the best people in the +world to live among. + +º5 + +As I pen these lines, there returns to me the vision of a Kyoto night. +While passing through some wonderfully thronged and illuminated street, +of which I cannot remember the name, I had turned aside to look at a +statue of Jizo, before the entrance of a very small temple. The figure +was that of a kozo, an acolyte--a beautiful boy; and its smile was a bit +of divine realism. As I stood gazing, a young lad, perhaps ten years +old, ran up beside me, joined his little hands before the image, bowed +his head and prayed for a moment in silence. He had but just left some +comrades, and the joy and glow of play were still upon his face; and his +unconscious smile was so strangely like the smile of the child of stone +that the boy seemed the twin brother of the god. And then I thought: +'The smile of bronze or stone is not a copy only; but that which the +Buddhist sculptor symbolises thereby must be the explanation of the +smile of the race.' + +That was long ago; but the idea which then suggested itself still seems +to me true. However foreign to Japanese soil the origin of Buddhist art, +yet the smile of the people signifies the same conception as the smile +of the Bosatsu--the happiness that is born of self-control and self- +suppression. 'If a man conquer in battle a thousand times a thousand and +another conquer himself, he who conquers himself is the greatest of +conquerors.' 'Not even a god can change into defeat the victory of the +man who has vanquished himself.' [4] Such Buddhist texts as these--and +they are many--assuredly express, though they cannot be assumed to have +created, those moral tendencies which form the highest charm of the +Japanese character. And the whole moral idealism of the race seems to me +to have been imaged in that marvellous Buddha of Kamakura, whose +countenance, 'calm like a deep, still water' [5] expresses, as perhaps +no other work of human hands can have expressed, the eternal truth: +'There is no higher happiness than rest.' [6] It is toward that +infinite calm that the aspirations of the Orient have been turned; and +the ideal of the Supreme Self-Conquest it has made its own. Even now, +though agitated at its surface by those new influences which must sooner +or later move it even to its uttermost depths, the Japanese mind +retains, as compared with the thought of the West, a wonderful +placidity. It dwells but little, if at all, upon those ultimate abstract +questions about which we most concern ourselves. Neither does it +comprehend our interest in them as we desire to be comprehended. 'That +you should not be indifferent to religious speculations,' a Japanese +scholar once observed to me, 'is quite natural; but it is equally +natural that we should never trouble ourselves about them. The +philosophy of Buddhism has a profundity far exceeding that of your +Western theology, and we have studied it. We have sounded the depths of +speculation only to fluid that there are depths unfathomable below those +depths; we have voyaged to the farthest limit that thought may sail, +only to find that the horizon for ever recedes. And you, you have +remained for many thousand years as children playing in a stream but +ignorant of the sea. Only now you have reached its shore by another path +than ours, and the vastness is for you a new wonder; and you would sail +to Nowhere because you have seen the infinite over the sands of life.' + +Will Japan be able to assimilate Western civilisation, as she did +Chinese more than ten centuries ago, and nevertheless preserve her own +peculiar modes of thought and feeling? One striking fact is hopeful: +that the Japanese admiration for Western material superiority is by no +means extended to Western morals. Oriental thinkers do not commit the +serious blunder of confounding mechanical with ethical progress, nor +have any failed to perceive the moral weaknesses of our boasted +civilisation. One Japanese writer has expressed his judgment of things +Occidental after a fashion that deserves to be noticed by a larger +circle of readers than that for which it was originally written: + +'Order or disorder in a nation does not depend upon some-thing that +falls from the sky or rises from the earth. It is determined by the +disposition of the people. The pivot on which the public disposition +turns towards order or disorder is the point where public and private +motives separate. If the people be influenced chiefly by public +considerations, order is assured; if by private, disorder is inevitable. +Public considerations are those that prompt the proper observance of +duties; their prevalence signifies peace and prosperity in the case +alike of families, communities, and nations. Private considerations are +those suggested by selfish motives: when they prevail, disturbance and +disorder are unavoidable. As members of a family, our duty is to look +after the welfare of that family; as units of a nation, our duty is to +work for the good of the nation. To regard our family affairs with all +the interest due to our family and our national affairs with all the +interest due to our nation--this is to fitly discharge our duty, and to +be guided by public considerations. On the other hand, to regard the +affairs of the nation as if they were our own family affairs--this is to +be influenced by private motives and to stray from the path of duty. ... + +'Selfishness is born in every man; to indulge it freely is to become a +beast. Therefore it is that sages preach the principles of duty and +propriety, justice and morality, providing restraints for private aims +and encouragements for public spirit.. . . . What we know of Western +civilisation is that it struggled on through long centuries in a +confused condition and finally attained a state of some order; but that +even this order, not being based upon such principles as those of the +natural and immutable distinctions between sovereign and subject, parent +and child, with all their corresponding rights and duties, is liable to +constant change according to the growth of human ambitions and human +aims. Admirably suited to persons whose actions are controlled by +selfish ambition, the adoption of this system in Japan is naturally +sought by a certain class of politicians. From a superficial point of +view, the Occidental form of society is very attractive, inasmuch as, +being the outcome of a free development of human desires from ancient +times, it represents the very extreme of luxury and extravagance. +Briefly speaking, the state of things obtaining in the West is based +upon the free play of human selfishness, and can only be reached by +giving full sway to that quality. Social disturbances are little heeded +in the Occident; yet they are at once the evidences and the factors of +the present evil state of affairs. . . . Do Japanese enamoured of +Western ways propose to have their nation's history written in similar +terms? Do they seriously contemplate turning their country into a new +field for experiments in Western civilisation? . . . + +'In the Orient, from ancient times, national government has been based +on benevolence, and directed to securing the welfare and happiness of +the people. No political creed has ever held that intellectual strength +should be cultivated for the purpose of exploiting inferiority and +ignorance. . . . The inhabitants of this empire live, for the most part, +by manual labour. Let them be never so industrious, they hardly earn +enough to supply their daily wants. They earn on the average about +twenty sen daily. There is no question with them of aspiring to wear +fine clothes or to inhabit handsome houses. Neither can they hope to +reach positions of fame and honour. What offence have these poor people +committed that they, too, should not share the benefits of Western +civilisation? . . . By some, indeed, their condition is explained on the +hypothesis that their desires do not prompt them to better themselves. +There is no truth in such a supposition. They have desires, but nature +has limited their capacity to satisfy them; their duty as men limits it, +and the amount of labour physically possible to a human being limits it. +They achieve as much as their opportunities permit. The best and finest +products of their labour they reserve for the wealthy; the worst and +roughest they keep for their own use. Yet there is nothing in human +society that does not owe its existence to labour. Now, to satisfy the +desires of one luxurious man, the toil of a thousand is needed. Surely +it is monstrous that those who owe to labour the pleasures suggested by +their civilisation should forget what they owe to the labourer, and +treat him as if he were not a fellow-being. But civilisation, according +to the interpretation of the Occident, serves only to satisfy men of +large desires. It is of no benefit to the masses, but is simply a system +under which ambitions compete to accomplish their aims. . . . That the +Occidental system is gravely disturbing to. the order and peace of a +country is seen by men who have eyes, and heard by men who have ears. +The future of Japan under such a system fills us with anxiety. A system +based on the principle that ethics and religion are made to serve human +ambition naturally accords with the wishes of selfish individuals; and +such theories as those embodied in the modem formula of liberty and +equality annihilate the established relations of society, and outrage +decorum and propriety. . . . + +Absolute equality and absolute liberty being unattainable, the limits +prescribed by right and duty are supposed to be set. But as each person +seeks to have as much right and to be burdened with as little duty as +possible, the results are endless disputes and legal contentions. The +principles of liberty and equality may succeed in changing the +organisation of nations, in overthrowing the lawful distinctions of +social rank, in reducing all men to one nominal level; but they can +never accomplish the equal distribution of wealth and property. Consider +America. . . . It is plain that if the mutual rights of men and their +status are made to depend on degrees of wealth, the majority of the +people, being without wealth, must fail to establish their rights; +whereas the minority who are wealthy will assert their rights, and, +under society's sanction, will exact oppressive duties from the poor, +neglecting the dictates of humanity and benevolence. The adoption of +these principles of liberty and equality in Japan would vitiate the good +and peaceful customs of our country, render the general disposition of +the people harsh and unfeeling, and prove finally a source of calamity +to the masses. . . + +'Though at first sight Occidental civilisation presents an attractive +appearance, adapted as it is to the gratification of selfish desires, +yet, since its basis is the hypothesis that men' 's wishes constitute +natural laws, it must ultimately end in disappointment and +demoralisation. . . . Occidental nations have become what they are after +passing through conflicts and vicissitudes of the most serious kind; and +it is their fate to continue the struggle. Just now their motive +elements are in partial equilibrium, and their social condition' is more +or less ordered. But if this slight equilibrium happens to be disturbed, +they will be thrown once more into confusion and change, until, after a +period of renewed struggle and suffering, temporary stability is once +more attained. The poor and powerless of the present may become the +wealthy and strong of the future, and vice versa. Perpetual disturbance +is their doom. Peaceful equality can never be attained until built up +among the ruins of annihilated Western' states and the ashes of extinct +Western peoples.' + +Surely, with perceptions like these, Japan may hope to avert some of the +social perils which menace her. Yet it appears inevitable that her +approaching transformation must be coincident with a moral decline. +Forced into the vast industrial competition of nation's whose +civilisations were never based on altruism, she must eventually develop +those qualities of which the comparative absence made all the wonderful +charm of her life. The national character must continue to harden, as it +has begun to harden already. But it should never be forgotten that Old +Japan was quite as much in advance of the nineteenth century morally as +she was behind it materially. She had made morality instinctive, after +having made it rational. She had realised, though within restricted +limits, several among those social conditions which our ablest thinkers +regard as the happiest and the highest. Throughout all the grades of her +complex society she had cultivated both the comprehension and the +practice of public and private duties after a manner for which it were +vain to seek any Western parallel. Even her moral weakness was the +result of an excess of that which all civilised religions have united in +proclaiming virtue--the self-sacrifice of the individual for the sake of +the family, of the community, and of the nation. It was the weakness +indicated by Percival Lowell in his Soul of the Far East, a book of +which the consummate genius cannot be justly estimated without some +personal knowledge of the Far East. [8] + +The progress made by Japan in social morality, although greater than our +own, was chiefly in the direction of mutual dependence. And it will be +her coming duty to keep in view the teaching of that mighty thinker +whose philosophy she has wisely accepted [9]--the teaching that 'the +highest individuation must be joined with the greatest mutual +dependence,' and that, however seemingly paradoxical the statement, 'the +law of progress is at once toward complete separateness and complete +union. + +Yet to that past which her younger generation now affect to despise +Japan will certainly one day look back, even as we ourselves look back +to the old Greek civilisation. She will learn to regret the forgotten +capacity for simple pleasures, the lost sense of the pure joy of life, +the old loving divine intimacy with nature, the marvellous dead art +which reflected it. She will remember how much more luminous and +beautiful the world then seemed. She will mourn for many things--the +old-fashioned patience and self-sacrifice, the ancient courtesy, the +deep human poetry of the ancient faith. She will wonder at many things; +but she will regret. Perhaps she will wonder most of all at the faces of +the ancient gods, because their smile was once the likeness of her own. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE +Sayonara! + +º1 + +I am going away--very far away. I have already resigned my post as +teacher, and am waiting only for my passport. + +So many familiar faces have vanished that I feel now less regret at +leaving than I should have felt six months ago. And nevertheless, the +quaint old city has become so endeared to me by habit and association +that the thought of never seeing it again is one I do not venture to +dwell upon. I have been trying to persuade myself that some day I may +return to this charming old house, in shadowy Kitaborimachi, though all +the while painfully aware that in past experience such imaginations +invariably preceded perpetual separation. + +The facts are that all things are impermanent in the Province of the +Gods; that the winters are very severe; and that I have received a call +from the great Government college in Kyushu far south, where snow rarely +falls. Also I have been very sick; and the prospect of a milder climate +had much influence in shaping my decision. + +But these few days of farewells have been full of charming surprises. To +have the revelation of gratitude where you had no right to expect more +than plain satisfaction with your performance of duty; to find affection +where you supposed only good-will to exist: these are assuredly +delicious experiences. The teachers of both schools have sent me a +farewell gift--a superb pair of vases nearly three feet high, covered +with designs representing birds, and flowering-trees overhanging a slope +of beach where funny pink crabs are running about--vases made in the old +feudal days at Rakuzan--rare souvenirs of Izumo. With the wonderful +vases came a scroll bearing in Chinese text the names of the thirty-two +donors; and three of these are names of ladies--the three lady-teachers +of the Normal School. + +The students of the Jinjo-Chugakko have also sent me a present--the last +contribution of two hundred and fifty-one pupils to my happiest memories +of Matsue: a Japanese sword of the time of the daimyo. Silver karashishi +with eyes of gold--in Izumo, the Lions of Shinto--swarm over the crimson +lacquer of the sheath, and sprawl about the exquisite hilt. And the +committee who brought the beautiful thing to my house requested me to +accompany them forthwith to the college assembly-room, where the +students were all waiting to bid me good-bye, after the old-time custom. + +So I went there. And the things which we said to each other are +hereafter set down. + +º2 + +DEAR TEACHER:--You have been one of the best and most benevolent +teachers we ever had. We thank you with all our heart for the knowledge +we obtained through your kindest instruction. Every student in our +school hoped you would stay with us at least three years. When we +learned you had resolved to go to Kyushu, we all felt our hearts sink +with sorrow. We entreated our Director to find some way to keep you, but +we discovered that could not be done. We have no words to express our +feeling at this moment of farewell. We sent you a Japanese sword as a +memory of us. It was only a poor ugly thing; we merely thought you would +care for it as a mark of our gratitude. We will never forget your +kindest instruction; and we all wish that you may ever be healthy and +happy. + +MASANABU OTANI, Representing all the Students of the Middle School of +Shimane-Ken. + + +MY DEAR BOYS:--I cannot tell you with what feelings I received your +present; that beautiful sword with the silver karashishi ramping upon +its sheath, or crawling through the silken cording of its wonderful +hilt. At least I cannot tell you all. But there flashed to me, as I +looked at your gift, the remembrance of your ancient proverb: 'The Sword +is the Soul of the Samurai.' And then it seemed to me that in the very +choice of that exquisite souvenir you had symbolised something of your +own souls. For we English also have some famous sayings and proverbs +about swords. Our poets call a good blade 'trusty' and 'true'; and of +our best friend we say, 'He is true as steel'--signifying in the ancient +sense the steel of a perfect sword--the steel to whose temper a warrior +could trust his honour and his life. And so in your rare gift, which I +shall keep and prize while I live, I find an emblem of your +true-heartedness and affection. May you always keep fresh within your +hearts those impulses of generosity and kindliness and loyalty which I have +learned to know so well, and of which your gift will ever remain for me +the graceful symbol! + +And a symbol not only of your affection and loyalty as students to +teachers, but of that other beautiful sense of duty you expressed, when +so many of you wrote down for me, as your dearest wish, the desire to +die for His Imperial Majesty, your Emperor. That wish is holy: it means +perhaps even more than you know, or can know, until you shall have +become much older and wiser. This is an era of great and rapid change; +and it is probable that many of you, as you grow up, will not be able to +believe everything that your fathers believed before you--though I +sincerely trust you will at least continue always to respect the faith, +even as you still respect the memory, of your ancestors. But however +much the life of New Japan may change about you, however much your own +thoughts may change with the times, never suffer that noble wish you +expressed to me to pass away from your souls. Keep it burning there, +clear and pure as the flame of the little lamp that glows before your +household shrine. + +Perhaps some of you may have that wish. Many of you must become +soldiers. Some will become officers. Some will enter the Naval Academy +to prepare for the grand service of protecting the empire by sea; and +your Emperor and your country may even require your blood. But the +greater number among you are destined to other careers, and may have no +such chances of bodily self-sacrifice--except perhaps in the hour of some +great national danger, which I trust Japan will never know. And there is +another desire, not less noble, which may be your compass in civil life: +to live for your country though you cannot die for it. Like the kindest +and wisest of fathers, your Government has provided for you these +splendid schools, with all opportunities for the best instruction this +scientific century can give, at a far less cost than any other civilised +country can offer the same advantages. And all this in order that each +of you may help to make your country wiser and richer and stronger than +it has ever been in the past. And whoever does his best, in any calling +or profession, to ennoble and develop that calling or profession, gives +his life to his emperor and to his country no less truly than the +soldier or the seaman who dies for duty. + +I am not less sorry to leave you, I think, than you are to see me go. +The more I have learned to know the hearts of Japanese students, the +more I have learned to love their country. I think, however, that I +shall see many of you again, though I never return to Matsue: some I am +almost sure I shall meet elsewhere in future summers; some I may even +hope to teach once more, in the Government college to which I am going. +But whether we meet again or not, be sure that my life has been made +happier by knowing you, and that I shall always love you. And, now, with +renewed thanks for your beautiful gift, good-bye! + +º3 + +The students of the Normal School gave me a farewell banquet in their +hall. I had been with them so little during the year--less even than the +stipulated six hours a week--that I could not have supposed they would +feel much attachment for their foreign teacher. But I have still much to +learn about my Japanese students. The banquet was delightful. The +captain of each class in turn read in English a brief farewell address +which he had prepared; and more than one of those charming compositions, +made beautiful with similes and sentiments drawn from the old Chinese +and Japanese poets, will always remain in my memory. Then the students +sang their college songs for me, and chanted the Japanese version of +'Auld Lang Syne' at the close of the banquet. And then all, in military +procession, escorted me home, and cheered me farewell at my gate, with +shouts of 'Manzai!' 'Good-bye!' 'We will march with you to the steamer +when you go.' + +º4 + +But I shall not have the pleasure of seeing them again. They are all +gone far away--some to another world. Yet it is only four days since I +attended that farewell banquet at the Normal School! A cruel visitation +has closed its gates and scattered its students through the province. + +Two nights ago, the Asiatic cholera, supposed to have been brought to +Japan by Chinese vessels, broke out in different parts of the city, and, +among other places, in the Normal School. Several students and teachers +expired within a short while after having been attacked; others are even +now lingering between life and death. The rest marched to the little +healthy village of Tamatsukuri, famed for its hot springs. But there the +cholera again broke out among them, and it was decided to dismiss the +survivors at once to their several homes. There was no panic. The +military discipline remained unbroken. Students and teachers fell at +their posts. The great college building was taken charge of by the +medical authorities, and the work of disinfection and sanitation is +still going on. Only the convalescents and the fearless samurai +president, Saito Kumataro, remain in it. Like the captain who scorns to +leave his sinking ship till all souls are safe, the president stays in +the centre of danger, nursing the sick boys, overlooking the work of +sanitation, transacting all the business usually intrusted to several +subordinates, whom he promptly sent away in the first hour of peril. He +has had the joy of seeing two of his boys saved. + +Of another, who was buried last night, I hear this: Only a little while +before his death, and in spite of kindliest protest, he found strength, +on seeing his president approaching his bedside, to rise on his elbow +and give the military salute. And with that brave greeting to a brave +man, he passed into the Great Silence. + +º5 + +At last my passport has come. I must go. + +The Middle School and the adjacent elementary schools have been closed +on account of the appearance of cholera, and I protested against any +gathering of the pupils to bid me good-bye, fearing for them the risk of +exposure to the chilly morning air by the shore of the infected river. +But my protest was received only with a merry laugh. Last night the +Director sent word to all the captains of classes. Wherefore, an hour +after sunrise, some two hundred students, with their teachers, assemble +before my gate to escort me to the wharf, near the long white bridge, +where the little steamer is waiting. And we go. + +Other students are already assembled at the wharf. And with them wait a +multitude of people known to me: friends or friendly acquaintances, +parents and relatives of students, every one to whom I can remember +having ever done the slightest favour, and many more from whom I have +received favours which I never had the chance to return--persons who +worked for me, merchants from whom I purchased little things, a host of +kind faces, smiling salutation. The Governor sends his secretary with a +courteous message; the President of the Normal School hurries down for a +moment to shake hands. The Normal students have been sent to their +homes, but not a few of their teachers are present. I most miss friend +Nishida. He has been very sick for two long months, bleeding at the +lungs but his father brings me the gentlest of farewell letters from +him, penned in bed, and some pretty souvenirs. + +And now, as I look at all these pleasant faces about me, I cannot but +ask myself the question: 'Could I have lived in the exercise of the same +profession for the same length of time in any other country, and have +enjoyed a similar unbroken experience of human goodness?' From each and +all of these I have received only kindness and courtesy. Not one has +ever, even through inadvertence, addressed to me a single ungenerous +word. As a teacher of more than five hundred boys and men, I have never +even had my patience tried. I wonder if such an experience is possible +only in Japan. + +But the little steamer shrieks for her passengers. I shake many hands-- +most heartily, perhaps, that of the brave, kind President of the Normal +School--and climb on board. The Director of the Jinjo-Chugakko a few +teachers of both schools, and one of my favourite pupils, follow; they +are going to accompany me as far as the next port, whence my way will be +over the mountains to Hiroshima. + +It is a lovely vapoury morning, sharp with the first chill of winter. +From the tiny deck I take my last look at the quaint vista of the +Ohashigawa, with its long white bridge--at the peaked host of queer dear +old houses, crowding close to dip their feet in its glassy flood--at the +sails of the junks, gold-coloured by the early sun--at the beautiful +fantastic shapes of the ancient hills. + +Magical indeed the charm of this land, as of a land veritably haunted by +gods: so lovely the spectral delicacy of its colours--so lovely the +forms of its hills blending with the forms of its clouds--so lovely, +above all, those long trailings and bandings of mists which make its +altitudes appear to hang in air. A land where sky and earth so strangely +intermingle that what is reality may not be distinguished from what is +illusion--that all seems a mirage, about to vanish. For me, alas! it is +about to vanish for ever. + +The little steamer shrieks again, puffs, backs into midstream, turns +from the long white bridge. And as the grey wharves recede, a long +Aaaaaaaaaa rises from the uniformed ranks, and all the caps wave, +flashing their Chinese ideographs of brass. I clamber to the roof of the +tiny deck cabin, wave my hat, and shout in English: 'Good-bye, good- +bye!' And there floats back to me the cry: 'Manzai, manzai!' [Ten +thousand years to you! ten thousand years!] But already it comes faintly +from far away. The packet glides out of the river-mouth, shoots into the +blue lake, turns a pine-shadowed point, and the faces, and the voices, +and the wharves, and the long white bridge have become memories. + +Still for a little while looking back, as we pass into the silence of +the great water, I can see, receding on the left, the crest of the +ancient castle, over grand shaggy altitudes of pine--and the place of my +home, with its delicious garden--and the long blue roofs of the schools. +These, too, swiftly pass out of vision. Then only faint blue water, +faint blue mists, faint blues and greens and greys of peaks looming +through varying distance, and beyond all, towering ghost-white into the +east, the glorious spectre of Daisen. + +And my heart sinks a moment under the rush of those vivid memories which +always crowd upon one the instant after parting--memories of all that +make attachment to places and to things. Remembered smiles; the morning +gathering at the threshold of the old yashiki to wish the departing +teacher a happy day; the evening gathering to welcome his return; the +dog waiting by the gate at the accustomed hour; the garden with its +lotus-flowers and its cooing of doves; the musical boom of the temple +bell from the cedar groves; songs of children at play; afternoon shadows +upon many-tinted streets; the long lines of lantern-fires upon festal +nights; the dancing of the moon upon the lake; the clapping of hands by +the river shore in salutation to the Izumo sun; the endless merry +pattering of geta over the windy bridge: all these and a hundred other +happy memories revive for me with almost painful vividness--while the +far peaks, whose names are holy, slowly turn away their blue shoulders, +and the little steamer bears me, more and more swiftly, ever farther and +farther from the Province of the Gods. + + +NOTES for Chapter One + +1 Such as the garden attached to the abbots palace at Tokuwamonji, +cited by Mr. Conder, which was made to commemorate the legend of stones +which bowed themselves in assent to the doctrine of Buddha. At Togo-ike, +in Tottori-ken, I saw a very large garden consisting almost entirely of +stones and sand. The impression which the designer had intended to +convey was that of approaching the sea over a verge of dunes, and the +illusion was beautiful. + +2 The Kojiki, translated by Professor B. H. Chamberlain, p. 254. + +3 Since this paper was written, Mr. Conder has published a beautiful +illustrated volume,-Landscape Gardening in Japan. By Josiah Conder, +F.R.I.B.A. Tokyo 1893. A photographic supplement to the work gives views +of the most famous gardens in the capital and elsewhere. + +4 The observations of Dr. Rein on Japanese gardens are not to be +recommended, in respect either to accuracy or to comprehension of the +subject. Rein spent only two years in Japan, the larger part of which +time he devoted to the study of the lacquer industry, the manufacture +of silk and paper and other practical matters. On these subjects his +work is justly valued. But his chapters on Japanese manners and +customs, art, religion, and literature show extremely little +acquaintance with those topics. + +5 This attitude of the shachihoko is somewhat de rigueur, whence the +common expression shachihoko dai, signifying to stand on ones head. + +6 The magnificent perch called tai (Serranus marginalis), which is very +common along the Izumo coast, is not only justly prized as the most +delicate of Japanese fish, but is also held to be an emblem of good +fortune. It is a ceremonial gift at weddings and on congratu-latory +occasions. The Japanese call it also the king of fishes. + +7 Nandina domestica. + +8 The most lucky of all dreams, they say in Izumo, is a dream of Fuji, +the Sacred Mountain. Next in order of good omen is dreaming of a falcon +(taka). The third best subject for a dream is the eggplant (nasubi). To +dream of the sun or of the moon is very lucky; but it is still more so +to dream of stars. For a young wife it is most for tunate to dream of +swallowing a star: this signifies that she will become the mother of a +beautiful child. To dream of a cow is a good omen; to dream of a horse +is lucky, but it signifies travelling. To dream of rain or fire is good. +Some dreams are held in Japan, as in the West, to go by contraries. +Therefore to dream of having ones house burned up, or of funerals, or +of being dead, or of talking to the ghost of a dead person, is good. +Some dreams which are good for women mean the reverse when dreamed by +men; for example, it is good for a woman to dream that her nose bleeds, +but for a man this is very bad. To dream of much money is a sign of loss +to come. To dream of the koi, or of any freshwater fish, is the most +unlucky of all. This is curious, for in other parts of Japan the koi is +a symbol of good fortune. + +9 Tebushukan: Citrus sarkodactilis. + +10 Yuzuru signifies to resign in favour of another; ha signifies a leaf. +The botanical name, as given in Hepburns dictionary, is Daphniphillum +macropodum. + +11 Cerasus pseudo-cerasus (Lindley). + +12 About this mountain cherry there is a humorous saying which +illustrates the Japanese love of puns. In order fully to appreciate it, +the reader should know that Japanese nouns have no distinction of +singular and plural. The word ha, as pronounced, may signify either +leaves or teeth; and the word hana, either flowers or nose. The +yamazakura puts forth its ha (leaves) before his hana (flowers). +Wherefore a man whose ha (teeth) project in advance of his hana (nose) +is called a yamazakura. Prognathism is not uncommon in Japan, +especially among the lower classes. + +13 If one should ask you concerning the heart of a true Japanese, point +to the wild cherry flower glowing in the sun. + +14 There are three noteworthy varieties: one bearing red, one pink and +white, and one pure white flowers. + +15 The expression yanagi-goshi, a willow-waist, is one of several in +common use comparing slender beauty to the willow-tree. + +16 Peonia albiflora, The name signifies the delicacy of beauty. The +simile of the botan (the tree peony) can be fully appreciated only by +one who is acquainted with the Japanese flower. + +17 Some say kesbiyuri (poppy) instead of himeyuri. The latter is a +graceful species of lily, Lilium callosum. + +18 Standing, she is a shakuyaku; seated, she is a botan; and the charm +of her figure in walking is the charm of a himeyuri. + +19 In the higher classes of Japanese society to-day, the honorific O is +not, as a rule, used before the names of girls, and showy appellations +are not given to daughters. Even among the poor respectable classes, +names resembling those of geisha, etc., are in disfavour. But those +above cited are good, honest, everyday names. + +20 Mr. Satow has found in Hirata a belief to which this seems to some +extent akin--the curious Shinto doctrine according to which a divine +being throws off portions of itself by a process of fissure, thus +producing what are called waki-mi-tama--parted spirits, with separate +functions. The great god of Izumo, Oho-kuni-nushi-no-Kami, is said by +Hirata to have three such parted spirits: his rough spirit (ara-mi- +tama) that punishes, his gentle spirit (nigi-mi-tama) that pardons, and +his benedictory or beneficent spirit (saki-mi-tama) that blesses, There +is a Shinto story that the rough spirit of this god once met the gentle +spirit without recognising it, + +21 Perhaps the most impressive of all the Buddhist temples in Kyoto. It +is dedicated to Kwannon of the Thousand Hands, and is said to contain +33,333 of her images. + +22 Daidaimushi in Izunio. The dictionary word is dedemushi. The snail is +supposed to be very fond of wet weather; and one who goes out much in +the rain is compared to a snail,--dedemushi no yona. + +23 Snail, snail, put out your horns a little it rains and the wind is +blowing, so put out your horns, just for a little while. + +24 A Buddhist divinity, but within recent times identified by Shinto +with the god Kotohira. + +25 See Professor Chamberlains version of it in The Japanese Fairy Tale +Series, with charming illustrations by a native artist. + +26 Butterfly, little butterfly, light upon the na leaf. But if thou +dost not like the na leaf, light, I pray thee, upon my hand. + +27 Boshi means a hat; tsukeru, to put on. But this etymology is more +than doubtful. + +28 Some say Chokko-chokko-uisu. Uisu would be pronounced in English +very much like weece, the final u being silent. Uiosu would be +something like ' we-oce. + +29 Pronounced almost as geece. + +30 Contraction of kore noru. + +31 A kindred legend attaches to the shiwan, a little yellow insect which +preys upon cucumbers. The shiwan is said to have been once a physician, +who, being detected in an amorous intrigue, had to fly for his life; but +as he went his foot caught in a cucumber vine, so that he fell and was +overtaken and killed, and his ghost became an insect, the destroyer of +cucumber vines. In the zoological mythology and plant mythology of Japan +there exist many legends offering a curious resemblance to the old Greek +tales of metamorphoses. Some of the most remarkable bits of such folk- +lore have originated, however, in comparatively modern time. The legend +of the crab called heikegani, found at Nagato, is an example. The souls +of the Taira warriors who perished in the great naval battle of Dan-no- +ura (now Seto-Nakai), 1185, are supposed to have been transformed into +heikegani. The shell of the heikegani is certainly surprising. It is +wrinkled into the likeness of a grim face, or rather into exact +semblance of one of those black iron visors, or masks, which feudal +warriors wore in battle, and which were shaped like frowning visages. + +32 Come, firefly, I will give you water to drink. The water of that. +place is bitter; the water here is sweet. + +33 By honzon is here meant the sacred kakemono, or picture, exposed to +public view in the temples only upon the birthday of the Buddha, which +is the eighth day of the old fourth month. Honzon also signifies the +principal image in a Buddhist temple. + +34 A solitary voice! Did the Moon cry? Twas but the hototogisu. + +35 When I gaze towards the place where I heard the hototogisu cry, lol +there is naught save the wan morning moon. + +36 Save only the morning moon, none heard the hearts-blood cry of the +hototogisu. + +37 A sort of doughnut made of bean flour, or tofu. + +38 Kite, kite, let me see you dance, and to-morrow evening, when the +crows do not know, I will give you a rat. + +39 O tardy crow, hasten forward! Your house is all on fire. Hurry to +throw Water upon it. If there be no water, I will give you. If you have +too much, give it to your child. If you have no child, then give it back +to me. + +40 The words papa and mamma exist in Japanese baby language, but their +meaning is not at all what might be supposed. Mamma, or, with the usual +honorific, O-mamma, means boiled rice. Papa means tobacco. + + +Notes for Chapter Two + +1 This was written early in 1892 + +2 Quoted from Mr. Satow's masterly essay, 'The Revival of Pure Shinto,' +published in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. By 'gods' +are not necessarily meant beneficent Kami. Shinto has no devils; but it +has its 'bad gods' as well as good deities. + +3 Satow, 'The Revival of Pure Shinto.' + +4 Ibid. + +5 In the sense of Moral Path,--i.e. an ethical system. + +6 Satow, 'The Revival of Pure Shinto.' The whole force of Motowori's +words will not be fully understood unless the reader knows that the +term 'Shinto' is of comparatively modern origin in Japan,--having been +borrowed from the Chinese to distinguish the ancient faith from +Buddhism; and that the old name for the primitive religion is Kami-no- +michi, 'the Way of the Gods.' + +7 Satow, 'The Revival of Pure Shinto.' + +8 From Kami, 'the [Powers] Above,' or the Gods, and tana, 'a shelf.' +The initial 't' of the latter word changes into 'd' in the compound,-- +just as that of tokkuri, 'a jar' or 'bottle,' becomes dokkuri in the +cornpound o-mi kidokkuri. + +9 The mirror, as an emblem of female divinities, is kept in the secret +innermost shrine of various Shinto temples. But the mirror of metal +commonly placed before the public gaze in a Shinto shrine is not really +of Shinto origin, but was introduced into Japan as a Buddhist symbol of +the Shingon sect. As the mirror is the symbol in Shinto of female +divinities, the sword is the emblem of male deities. The real symbols of +the god or goddess are not, however, exposed to human gaze under any +circumstances. + +10 Anciently the two great Shinto festivals on which the miya were thus +carried in procession were the Yoshigami-no-matsuri, or festival of the +God of the New Year, and the anniversary of Jimmu Tenno to the throne. +The second of these is still observed. The celebration of the Emperor's +birthday is the only other occasion when the miya are paraded. On both +days the streets are beautifully decorated with lanterns and shimenawa, +the fringed ropes of rice straw which are the emblems of Shinto. Nobody +now knows exactly what the words chanted on these days (chosaya! +chosaya!) mean. One theory is that they are a corruption of Sagicho, the +name of a great samurai military festival, which was celebrated nearly +at the same time as the Yashigami-no-matsuri,--both holidays now being +obsolete. + +11 Thuya obtusa. + +12 Such at least is the mourning period under such circumstances in +certain samurai families. Others say twenty days is sufficient. The +Buddhist code of mourning is extremely varied and complicated, and would +require much space to dilate upon. + +13 In spite of the supposed rigidity of the Nichiren sect in such +matters, most followers of its doctrine in Izumo are equally fervent +Shintoists. I have not been able to observe whether the same is true of +Izumo Shin-shu families as a rule; but I know that some Shin-shu +believers in Matsue worship at Shinto shrines. Adoring only that form of +Buddha called Amida, the Shin sect might be termed a Buddhist +'Unitarianism.' It seems never to have been able to secure a strong +footing in Izumo on account of its doctrinal hostility to Shinto. +Elsewhere throughout Japan it is the most vigorous and prosperous of all +Buddhist sects. + +14 Mr. Morse, in his Japanese Homes, published on hearsay a very +strange error when he stated: 'The Buddhist household shrines rest on +the floor--at least so I was informed.' They never rest on the floor +under any circumstances. In the better class of houses special +architectural arrangements are made for the butsudan; an alcove, recess, +or other contrivance, often so arranged as to be concealed from view by +a sliding panel or a little door In smaller dwellings it may be put on a +shelf, for want of a better place, and in the homes of the poor, on the +top of the tansu, or clothes-chest. It is never placed so high as the +kamidana, but seldom at a less height than three feet above the floor. +In Mr. Morse's own illustration of a Buddhist household shrine (p. 226) +it does not rest on the floor at all, but on the upper shelf of a +cupboard, which must not be confounded with the butsudan--a very small +one. The sketch in question seems to have been made during the Festival +of the Dead, for the offerings in the picture are those of the +Bommatauri. At that time the household butsudan is always exposed to +view, and often moved from its usual place in order to obtain room for +the offerings to be set before it. To place any holy object on the floor +is considered by the Japanese very disrespectful. As for Shinto objects, +to place even a mamori on the floor is deemed a sin. + +15 Two ihai are always made for each Buddhist dead. One usually larger +than that placed in the family shrine, is kept in the temple of which +the deceased was a parishioner, together with a cup in which tea or +water is daily poured out as an offering. In almost any large temple, +thousands of such ihai may be seen, arranged in rows, tier above tier-- +each with its cup before it--for even the souls of the dead are supposed +to drink tea. Sometimes, I fear, the offering is forgotten, for I have +seen rows of cups containing only dust, the fault, perhaps, of some lazy +acolyte. + +16 This is a fine example of a samurai kaimyo The kaimyo of kwazoku or +samurai are different from those of humbler dead; and a Japanese, by a +single glance at an ihai, can tell at once to what class of society the +deceased belonged, by the Buddhist words used. + +17 'Presenting the honourable tea to the august Buddhas'--for by +Buddhist faith it is hoped, if not believed, that the dead become +Buddhas and escape the sorrows of further transmigration. Thus the +expression 'is dead' is often rendered in Japanese by the phrase 'is +become a Buddha.' + +18 The idea underlying this offering of food and drink to the dead or +to the gods, is not so irrational as unthinking Critics have declared it +to be. The dead are not supposed to consume any of the visible substance +of the food set before them, for they are thought to be in an ethereal +state requiring only the most vapoury kind of nutrition. The idea is +that they absorb only the invisible essence of the food. And as fruits +and other such offerings lose something of their flavour after having +been exposed to the air for several hours, this slight change would have +been taken in other days as evidence that the spirits had feasted upon +them. Scientific education necessarily dissipates these consoling +illusions, and with them a host of tender and beautiful fancies as to +the relation between the living and the dead. + +19 I find that the number of clappings differs in different provinces +somewhat. In Kyushu the clapping is very long, especially before the +prayer to the Rising Sun. + +20 Another name for Kyoto, the Sacred City of Japanese Buddhism. + + +Notes for Chapter Three + +1 Formerly both sexes used the same pillow for the same reason. The long +hair of a samurai youth, tied up in an elaborate knot, required much +time to arrange. Since it has become the almost universal custom to wear +the hair short, the men have adopted a pillow shaped like a small +bolster. + +2 It is an error to suppose that all Japanese have blue-black hair. +There are two distinct racial types. In one the hair is a deep brown +instead of a pure black, and is also softer and finer. Rarely, but very +rarely, one may see a Japanese chevelure having a natural tendency to +ripple. For curious reasons, which cannot be stated here, an Izumo woman +is very much ashamed of having wavy hair--more ashamed than she would be +of a natural deformity. + +3 Even in the time of the writing of the Kojiki the art of arranging t +hair must have been somewhat developed. See Professor Chainberlai 's +introduction to translation, p. xxxi.; also vol. i. section ix.; vol. +vii. section xii.; vol. ix. section xviii., et passim. + +4 An art expert can decide the age of an unsigned kakemono or other work +of art in which human figures appear, by the style of the coiffure of +the female personages. + +5 The principal and indispensable hair-pin (kanzashi), usually about +seven inches long, is split, and its well-tempered double shaft can be +used like a small pair of chopsticks for picking up small things. The +head is terminated by a tiny spoon-shaped projection, which has a +special purpose in the Japanese toilette. + +6 The shinjocho is also called Ichogaeshi by old people, although the +original Ichogaeshi was somewhat different. The samurai girls used to +wear their hair in the true Ichogaeshi manner the name is derived from +the icho-tree (Salisburia andiantifolia), whose leaves have a queer +shape, almost like that of a duck's foot. Certain bands of the hair in +this coiffure bore a resemblance in form to icho-leaves. + +7 The old Japanese mirrors were made of metal, and were extremely +beautiful. Kagamiga kumoru to tamashii ga kumoru ('When the Mirror is +dim, the Soul is unclean') is another curious proverb relating to +mirrors. Perhaps the most beautiful and touching story of a mirror, in +any language is that called Matsuyama-no-kagami, which has been +translated by Mrs. James. + + +Notes for Chapter Four + +1 There is a legend that the Sun-Goddess invented the first hakama by +tying together the skirts of her robe. + +2 'Let us play the game called kango-kango. Plenteously the water of +Jizo-San quickly draw--and pour on the pine-leaves--and turn back +again.' Many of the games of Japanese children, like many of their toys, +have a Buddhist origin, or at least a Buddhist significance. + +3 I take the above translation from a Tokyo educational journal, +entitled The Museum. The original document, however, was impressive to a +degree that perhaps no translation could give. The Chinese words by +which the Emperor refers to himself and his will are far more impressive +than our Western 'We' or 'Our;' and the words relating to duties, +virtues, wisdom, and other matters are words that evoke in a Japanese +mind ideas which only those who know Japanese life perfectly can +appreciate, and which, though variant from our own, are neither less +beautiful nor less sacred. + +4 Kimi ga yo wa chiyo ni yachiyo ni sazare ishi no iwa o to narite oke +no musu made. Freely translated: 'May Our Gracious Sovereign reign a +thousand years--reign ten thousand thousand years--reign till the little +stone grow into a mighty rock, thick-velveted with ancient moss!' + +5 Stoves, however, are being introduced. In the higher Government +schools, and in the Normal Schools, the students who are boarders obtain +a better diet than most poor boys can get at home. Their rooms are also +well warmed. + +6 Hachi yuki ya Neko no ashi ato Ume no hana. + +7 Ni no ji fumi dasu Bokkuri kana. + +8 This little poem signifies that whoever in this world thinks much, +must have care, and that not to think about things is to pass one's life +in untroubled felicity. + +9 Having asked in various classes for written answers to the question, +'What is your dearest wish?' I found about twenty per cent, of the +replies expressed, with little variation of words, the simple desire to +die 'for His Sacred Majesty, Our Beloved Emperor.' But a considerable +proportion of the remainder contained the same aspiration less directly +stated in the wish to emulate the glory of Nelson, or to make Japan +first among nations by heroism and sacrifice. While this splendid spirit +lives in the hearts of her youth, Japan should have little to fear for +the future. + +10 Beautiful generosities of this kind are not uncommon in Japan. + +11 The college porter + +12 Except in those comparatively rare instances where the family is +exclusively Shinto in its faith, or, although belonging to both faiths, +prefers to bury its dead according to Shinto rites. In Matsue, as a +rule, high officials only have Shinto funeral. + +13 Unless the dead be buried according to the Shinto rite. In Matsue +the mourning period is usually fifty days. On the fifty-first day after +the decease, all members of the family go to Enjoji-nada (the lake-shore +at the foot of the hill on which the great temple of Enjoji stands) to +perform the ceremony of purification. At Enjoji-nada, on the beach, +stands a lofty stone statue of Jizo. Before it the mourners pray; then +wash their mouths and hands with the water of the lake. Afterwards they +go to a friend's house for breakfast, the purification being always +performed at daybreak, if possible. During the mourning period, no +member of the family can eat at a friend's house. But if the burial has +been according to the Shinto rite, all these ceremonial observances may +be dispensed with. + +14 But at samurai funerals in the olden time the women were robed in +black. + + +Notes for Chapter Five + +1 As it has become, among a certain sect of Western Philistines and +self-constituted art critics, the fashion to sneer at any writer who +becomes enthusiastic about the truth to nature of Japanese art, I may +cite here the words of England's most celebrated living naturalist on +this very subject. Mr. Wallace's authority will scarcely, I presume, be +questioned, even by the Philistines referred to: + +'Dr. Mohnike possesses a large collection of coloured sketches of the +plants of Japan made by a Japanese lady, which are the most masterly +things I have ever seen. Every stem, twig, and leaf is produced by +single touches of the brush, the character and perspective of very +complicated plants being admirably given, and the articulations of stem +and leaves shown in a most scientific manner.' (Malay Archipelago, chap. +xx.) + +Now this was written in 1857, before European methods of drawing had +been introduced. The same art of painting leaves, etc., with single +strokes of the brush is still common in Japan--even among the poorest +class of decorators. + +2 There is a Buddhist saying about the kadomatsu: + +Kadomatsu Meido no tabi no Ichi-ri-zuka. + +The meaning is that each kadomatsu is a milestone on the journey to the +Meido; or, in other words, that each New Year's festival signal only +the completion of another stage of the ceaseless journey to death. + +3 The difference between the shimenawa and shimekazari is that the +latter is a strictly decorative straw rope, to which many curious +emblems are attached. + +4 It belongs to the sargassum family, and is full of air sacs. Various +kinds of edible seaweed form a considerable proportion of Japanese diet. + +5 'This is a curiously shaped staff with which the divinity Jizo is +commonly represented. It is still carried by Buddhist mendicants, and +there are several sizes of it. That carried by the Yaku-otoshj is +usually very short. There is a tradition that the shakujo was first +invented as a means of giving warning to insects or other little +creatures in the path of the Buddhist pilgrim, so that they might not be +trodden upon unawares. + +6 I may make mention here of another matter, in no way relating to the +Setsubun. + +There lingers in Izumo a wholesome--and I doubt not formerly a most +valuable--superstition about the sacredness of writing. Paper upon which +anything has been written, or even printed, must not be crumpled up, or +trodden upon, or dirtied, or put to any base use. If it be necessary to +destroy a document, the paper should be burned. I have been gently +reproached in a little hotel at which I stopped for tearing up and +crumpling some paper covered with my own writing. + + +NOtes for Chapter Six + +1 'A bucket honourably condescend [to give]. + +2 The Kappa is not properly a sea goblin, but a river goblin, and +haunts the sea only in the neighbourhood of river mouths. About a mile +and a half from Matsue, at the little village of Kawachi-mura, on the +river called Kawachi, stands a little temple called Kawako-no-miya, or +the Miya of the Kappa. (In Izumo, among the common people, the word +'Kappa' is not used, but the term Kawako, or 'The Child of the River.') +In this little shrine is preserved a document said to have been signed +by a Kappa. The story goes that in ancient times the Kappa dwelling in +the Kawachi used to seize and destroy many of the inhabitanta of the +village and many domestic animals. One day, however, while trying to +seize a horse that had entered the river to drink, the Kappa got its +head twisted in some way under the belly-band of the horse, and the +terrified animal, rushing out of the water, dragged the Kappa into a +field. There the owner of the horse and a number of peasants seized and +bound the Kappa. All the villagers gathered to see the monster, which +bowed its head to the ground, and audibly begged for mercy. The peasants +desired to kill the goblin at once; but the owner of the horse, who +happened to be the head-man of the mura, said: 'It is better to make it +swear never again to touch any person or animal belonging to Kawachi- +mura. A written form of oath was prepared and read to the Kappa. It said +that It could not write, but that It would sign the paper by dipping Its +hand in ink, and pressing the imprint thereof at the bottom of the +document. This having been agreed to and done, the Kappa was set free. +From that time forward no inhabitant or animal of Kawachi-mura was ever +assaulted by the goblin. + +3 The Buddhist symbol. [The small illustration cannot be presented +here. The arms are bent in the opposite direction to the Nazi swastika. +Preparator's note] + +4 'Help! help!' + +5 Furuteya, the estab!ishment of a dea!er in second-hand wares--furute. + +6 Andon, a paper lantern of peculiar construction, used as a night +light. Some forms of the andon are remarkably beautiful. + +7 'Ototsan! washi wo shimai ni shitesashita toki mo, chodo kon ya no +yona tsuki yo data-ne?'--Izumo dialect. + + +Notes for Chapter Seven + +1 The Kyoto word is maiko. + +2 Guitars of three strings. + +3 It is sometimes customary for guests to exchange cups, after duly +rinsing them. It is always a compliment to ask for your friend's cup. + +4 Once more to rest beside her, or keep five thousand koku? What care I +for koku? Let me be with her!' + +There lived in ancient times a haramoto called Fuji-eda Geki, a vassal +of the Shogun. He had an income of five thousand koku of rice--a great +income in those days. But he fell in love with an inmate of the +Yoshiwara, named Ayaginu, and wished to marry her. When his master bade +the vassal choose between his fortune and his passion, the lovers fled +secretly to a farmer's house, and there committed suicide together. And +the above song was made about them. It is still sung. + +5 'Dear, shouldst thou die, grave shall hold thee never! I thy body's +ashes, mixed with wine, wit! drink.' + +6 Maneki-Neko + +7 Buddhist food, containing no animal substance. Some kinds of shojin- +ryori are quite appetising. + +8 The terms oshiire and zendana might be partly rendered by 'wardrobe' +and 'cupboard.' The fusuma are sliding screens serving as doors. + +9 Tennin, a 'Sky-Maiden,' a Buddhist angel. + +10 Her shrine is at Nara--not far from the temple of the giant Buddha. + + +Notes for Chapter Eight + +1 The names Dozen or Tozen, and Dogo or Toga, signify 'the Before- +Islands' and 'the Behind-Islands.' + +2 'Dokoe, dokoel' 'This is only a woman's baby' (a very small +package). 'Dokoe, dokoel' 'This is the daddy, this is the daddy' (a big +package). 'Dokoe, dokoel' ''Tis very small, very small!' 'Dokoe, dokoel' +'This is for Matsue, this is for Matsue!' 'Dokoe, dokoel' 'This is for +Koetsumo of Yonago,' etc. + +3 These words seem to have no more meaning than our 'yo-heaveho.' Yan- +yui is a cry used by all Izumo and Hoki sailors. + +4 This curious meaning is not given in Japanese-English dictionaries, +where the idiom is translated merely by the phrase 'as aforesaid.' + +5 The floor of a Japanese dwelling might be compared to an immense but +very shallow wooden tray, divided into compartments corresponding to the +various rooms. These divisions are formed by grooved and polished +woodwork, several inches above the level, and made for the accommodation +of the fusurna, or sliding screens, separating room from room. The +compartments are filled up level with the partitions with tatami, or +mats about the thickness of light mattresses, covered with beautifully +woven rice-straw. The squared edges of the mats fit exactly together, +and as the mats are not made for the house, but the house for the mats, +all tatami are exactly the same size. The fully finished floor of each +roam is thus like a great soft bed. No shoes, of course, can be worn in +a Japanese house. As soon as the mats become in the least soiled they +are replaced by new ones. + +6 See article on Art in his Things Japanese. + +7 It seems to be a black, obsidian. + +8 There are several other versions of this legend. In one, it is the +mare, and not the foal, which was drowned. + +9 There are two ponds not far from each other. The one I visited was +called 0-ike, or 'The Male Pond,' and the other, Me-ike, or 'The Female +Pond.' + +10 Speaking of the supposed power of certain trees to cure toothache, +I may mention a curious superstition about the yanagi, or willow-tree. +Sufferers from toothache sometimes stick needles into the tree, +believing that the pain caused to the tree-spirit will force it to +exercise its power to cure. I could not, however, find any record of +this practice in Oki. + +11 Moxa, a corruption of the native name of the mugwort plant: moe- +kusa, or mogusa, 'the burning weed.' Small cones of its fibre are used +for cauterising, according to the old Chinese system of medicine--the +little cones being placed upon the patient's skin, lighted, and left to +smoulder until wholly consumed. The result is a profound scar. The moxa +is not only used therapeutically, but also as a punishment for very +naughty children. See the interesting note on this subject in Professor +Chamberlain's Things Japanese. + +12 Nure botoke, 'a wet god.' This term is applied to the statue of a +deity left exposed to the open air. + +13 According to popular legend, in each eye of the child of a god or a +dragon two Buddhas are visible. The statement in some of the Japanese +ballads, that the hero sung of had four Buddhas in his eyes, is +equivalent to the declaration that each of his eyes had a double-pupil. + +14 The idea of the Atman will perhaps occur to many readers. + +15 In 1892 a Japanese newspaper, published in Tokyo stated upon the +authority of a physician who had visited Shimane, that the people of Oki +believe in ghostly dogs instead of ghostly foxes. This is a mistake +caused by the literal rendering of a term often used in Shi-mane, +especially in Iwami, namely, inu-gami-mochi. It is only a euphemism for +kitsune-mochi; the inu-gami is only the hito-kitsune, which is supposed +to make itself visible in various animal forms. + +16 Which words signify something like this: + +'Sleep, baby, sleep! Why are the honourable ears of the Child of the +Hare of the honourable mountain so long? 'Tis because when he dwelt +within her honoured womb, his mamma ate the leaves of the loquat, the +leaves of the bamboo-grass, That is why his honourable ears are so +long.' + +17 The Japanese police are nearly all of the samurai class, now called +shizoku. I think this force may be considered the most perfect police in +the world; but whether it will retain those magnificent qualities which +at present distinguish it, after the lapse of another generation, is +doubtful. It is now the samurai blood that tells. + + +Notes for Chapter Nine + +1 Afterwards I found that the old man had expressed to me only one +popular form of a belief which would require a large book to fully +explain--a belief founded upon Chinese astrology, but possibly modified +by Buddhist and by Shinto ideas. This notion of compound Souls cannot be +explained at all without a prior knowledge of the astrological relation +between the Chinese Zodiacal Signs and the Ten Celestial Stems. Some +understanding of these may be obtained from the curious article 'Time,' +in Professor Chamberlain's admirable little book, Things Japanese. The +relation having been perceived, it is further necessary to know that +under the Chinese astrological system each year is under the influence +of one or other of the 'Five Elements'--Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water; +and according to the day and year of one's birth, one's temperament is +celestially decided. A Japanese mnemonic verse tells us the number of +souls or natures corresponding to each of the Five Elemental Influences +--namely, nine souls for Wood, three for Fire, one for Earth, seven for +Metal, five for Water: + +Kiku karani +Himitsu no yama ni +Tsuchi hitotsu +Nanatsu kane to zo +Go suiryo are. + +Multiplied into ten by being each one divided into 'Elder' and +'Younger,' the Five Elements become the Ten Celestial Stems; and their +influences are commingled with those of the Rat, Bull, Tiger, Hare, +Dragon, Serpent, Horse, Goat, Ape, Cock, Dog, and Boar (the twelve +Zodiacal Signs)--all of which have relations to time, place, life, luck, +misfortune, etc. But even these hints give no idea whatever how +enormously complicated the subject really is. + +The book the old gardener referred to--once as widely known in Japan as +every fortune-telling book in any European country--was the San-re-so, +copies of which may still be picked up. Contrary to Kinjuro's opinion, +however, it is held, by those learned in such Chinese matters, just as +bad to have too many souls as to have too few. To have nine souls is to +be too 'many-minded'--without fixed purpose; to have only one soul is to +lack quick intelligence. According to the Chinese astrological ideas, +the word 'natures' or 'characters' would perhaps be more accurate than +the word 'souls' in this case. There is a world of curious fancies, born +out of these beliefs. For one example of hundreds, a person having a +Fire-nature must not marry one having a Water-nature. Hence the +proverbial saying about two who cannot agree--'They are like Fire and +Water.' + +2 Usually an Inari temple. Such things are never done at the great +Shinto shrines. + + +Notes for Chapter Ten + +1 In other parts of Japan I have heard the Yuki-Onna described as a very +beautiful phantom who lures young men to lonesome places for the purpose +of sucking their blood. + +2 In Izumo the Dai-Kan, or Period of Greatest Cold, falls in February. + +3 'It is excellent: I pray you give me a little more.' + +4 Kwashi: Japanese confectionery + + +Notes for Chapter Eleven + +1 The reader will find it well worth his while to consult the chapter +entitled 'Domestic Service,' in Miss Bacon's Japanese Girls and Women, +for an interesting and just presentation of the practical side of the +subject, as relating to servants of both sexes. The poetical side, +however, is not treated of--perhaps because intimately connected with +religious beliefs which one writing from the Christian standpoint could +not be expected to consider sympathetically. Domestic service in ancient +Japan was both transfigured and regulated by religion; and the force of +the religious sentiment concerning it may be divined from the Buddhist +saying, still current: + +Oya-ko wa is-se, Fufu wa ni-se, Shuju wa san-se. + +The relation of parent and child endures for the space of one life only; +that of husband and wife for the space of two lives; but the relation +between msater and servant continues for the period of three existences. + +2 The shocks continued, though with lessening frequency and violence, +for more than six months after the cataclysm. + +3 Of course the converse is the rule in condoling with the sufferer. + +4 Dhammapada. + +5 Dammikkasutta. + +6 Dhammapada. + +7 These extracts from a translation in the Japan Daily Mail, November +19, 20, 1890, of Viscount Torio's famous conservative essay do not give +a fair idea of the force and logic of the whole. The essay is too long +to quote entire; and any extracts from the Mail's admirable translation +suffer by their isolation from the singular chains of ethical, +religious, and philosophical reasoning which bind the Various parts of +the composition together. The essay was furthermore remarkable as the +production of a native scholar totally uninfluenced by Western thought. +He correctly predicted those social and political disturbances which +have occurred in Japan since the opening of the new parliament. Viscount +Torio is also well known as a master of Buddhist philosophy. He holds a +high rank in the Japanese army. + +8 In expressing my earnest admiration of this wonderful book, I must, +however, declare that several of its conclusions, and especially the +final ones, represent the extreme reverse of my own beliefs on the +subject. I do not think the Japanese without individuality; but their +individuality is less superficially apparent, and reveals itself much +less quickly, than that of Western people. I am also convinced that much +of what we call 'personality' and 'force of character' in the West +represents only the survival and recognition of primitive aggressive +tendencies, more or less disguised by culture. What Mr. Spencer calls +the highest individuation surely does not include extraordinary +development of powers adapted to merely aggressive ends; and yet it is +rather through these than through any others that Western individuality +most commonly and readily manifests itself. Now there is, as yet, a +remarkable scarcity in Japan, of domineering, brutal, aggressive, or +morbid individuality. What does impress one as an apparent weakness in +Japanese intellectual circles is the comparative absence of spontaneity, +creative thought, original perceptivity of the highest order. Perhaps +this seeming deficiency is racial: the peoples of the Far East seem to +have been throughout their history receptive rather than creative. At +all events I cannot believe Buddhism--originally the faith of an Aryan +race--can be proven responsible. The total exclusion of Buddhist +influence from public education would not seem to have been stimulating; +for the masters of the old Buddhist philosophy still show a far higher +capacity for thinking in relations than that of the average graduate of +the Imperial University. Indeed, I am inclined to believe that an +intellectual revival of Buddhism--a harmonising of its loftier truths +with the best and broadest teachings of modern science--would have the +most important results for Japan. + +9 Herbert Spencer. A native scholar, Mr. Inouye Enryo, has actually +founded at Tokyo with this noble object in view, a college of philosophy +which seems likely, at the present writing, to become an influential +institution. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan, by Lafcadio Hearn + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GLIMPSES OF AN UNFAMILIAR JAPAN *** + +This file should be named 8glm210.txt or 8glm210.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8glm211.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8glm210a.txt + +Produced by John Orford + +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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