Child Life in Japan by Matilda Chaplin Ayrton

8/14/2019 Child Life in Japan by Matilda Chaplin Ayrton

1/190


2/190

f/S.2/7' (-,

NY PUBLIC

b333 05825 0925


3/190


4/190


5/190


6/190


7/190

bI

1

-

,


8/190

'

i ' c

^ / s

& {/*L 7# ? x / y-.


9/190

o o

CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN,AND

JAPANESE CHILD-STORIES.

a


10/190

~ rE3?.?

G1843S7


11/190


12/190

KANGURA. _"


13/190

CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN,AND

JAPANESE CHILD-STORIES.BY

M. CHAPLIN AYRTON,Bachelier-es-Lettres, et Bachelier-es-Sciences (rest. ), Paris,

Cii'is Academic Edinensis,et

Elci't de la Faculte de Jfedt'dne de Paris.

WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS, INCLUDING SEVEN FULL-PAGE PICTURESDRAWN AND ENGRAVED BY JAPANESE ARTISTS.

., - - -

- . . j

i11 i j >

GRIFFITH AN1>. PARIAN,WEST CORNER ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, LONDON.

1879.


14/190

LONDON :R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,

BREAD STREET HILL, E.G.

THE NEWPUB LIASTOI

TILDENO

C I '

\Th( Rights of Translation and of Reproduction are Reserved.]


15/190

DEDICATION.

TO OJOSAMA.

AWAI ko ni mo tabiwo sassero (send thechild you love on ajourney), as saithgreat Nipon's pro-verb, and whitherdo you soon journey,beloved?" says,showing her black-stained teeth and

rubbing the head of the young. x?hild. she tends; an old Japanesenurse. " To my honoured grandmother of my noble country,"

* * i * j

lisps the little ladyship whose features, though, neither whose* ^ -i * ->dress nor talk, show her to be a European.


16/190

viii DEDICATION.

" And what shall I, your grandame here, do when youforsake and forget her ? "

" She will weep greatly for her Ojosama," and at this sadthought a little dimpled hand caresses consolingly the brownmuch-loved cheek.

" This kindly folk, this sunny country, its tea-gardens, itstemples, its pine-groves, its rice-fields, even its toys, all theseon which alone her wondering baby-stare has ever hung, allthese will be forgotten," a listener says, "for as the lotus inthe moat yonder casts its rosy petals, so will these early memoriesfade ; but as nourishing mud to the edible lotus-root so willOyour love and that of your gentle nation have caused the veryroots of this young life to germinate a loving nature that willitself endure and nourish love in others."


17/190

INTRODUCTION.

IN almost every English home are Japanesefens, in our shops Japanese dolls and ballsand other nicknacks, on our writing-tablesbronze crabs or lacquered pen-tray with out-lined on it the extinct volcano that is themost striking mountain seen from the capitalof Japan ; and at European places of amuse-ment Japanese houses of real size have beenexhibited, and the jargon of fashion for ''Jap-anese Art ' even reaches our children's ears.

Yet all these things seem dull and lifelesswhen thus severed from the quaint cheerinessof their true home. To those familiar with


18/190

INTRODUCTION.

Japan, that bamboo fan-handle recalls itsgraceful grassy tree, the thousand and onedaily purposes for which bamboo wood serves,-the open shop where squat the brown-faced

artisans cleverly dividinginto those slender

divisions the fan-handle,- -the wood-block en-graver's where some dozen men sit patientlychipping at their cherry-wood blocks,--theprinter's where the colouring arrangementsseem so simple to those used to Westernmachinery, but where the colours are so richand true. We see the picture stuck on thefan frame with starch paste, and drying in thebrilliant summer sunlight ; and the designsrecall vividly the life around, whether that lifebe the stage, the home, insects, birds, orflowers. We think of halts at wayside innswhen bowing tea-house girls at once profferthese fans to hot and tired guests.


19/190

INTRODUCTION. xi

The tonsured oblique-eyed doll suggeststhe festival of similarly oblique-eyed little girlson the 3rd of March, when dolls of everydegree obtain for a day "Dolls' Rights;' forin every Japanese household all the dolls ofthe present and previous generations are onthat festival set out to best advantage, with,beside them, sweets, green speckled rice-cake,and daintily gilt and lacquered dolls' utensils.For some time previous, to meet the increaseddemand, the doll shopman has been very busy,sitting before a straw-holder into which he canreadily stick, to dry, the wooden supports ofthe plaster dolls' heads he is painting, as hetakes first one and then another to give artistictouches to their glowing cheeks or littletongue. That dolly that seems but ' so odd 'to Polly or Maggie is there the cherisheddarling of its little owner, passing half its day


20/190


21/190

1NTRODUCTION. xiii

The Japanese house brought to Europeseems but a dull and listless affair, we missthe idle, easy-going life and chatter, the tea,the sweetmeats, the pipes and charcoal brazier,the clogs awaiting their wearers on the largeflat stone at the entry, the grotesquely-trainedferns, the glass balls and ornaments tinklingin the breeze, that hang, as well as lanterns,from the eaves, the garden with tiny pond andgoldfish, bridge and miniature hill, the brightsunshine beyond the sharp shadow of theupward curving angles of the tiled roof, theray scarlet folds of the women's under-dresso Jpeeping out, their little litter of embroideryor mending, and the babies, brown and halfnaked, scrambling about so happily ; for whathas a baby to be miserable about in a landwhere it is scarcely ever slapped, where itsclothing, always loose, is yet warm in winter,


22/190

x iv INTROD UCTION.

where it basks freely in air and sunshine, andlives in a house, that from its thick grass mats,its absence of furniture, and therefore ofcommands ' not to touch," is the very beau-ideal of an infant's playground.

The object with which the following pageswere written, was that young folks who inEngland see and handle so often Japaneseobjects, but who find books of travels thithertoo long and dull for their reading, might catcha glimpse of the spirit that pervades life in the" Land of the rising Sun." A portion of thebook is derived from translations from Japan-ese tales, kindly given to the author by Mr.Basil H. Chamberlain, whilst the rest waswritten at idle moments during graver studies.

M. CHAPLIN AYRTON,Ecole de M/decine, Paris.


23/190

CONTENTS.

PAGESEVEN SCENES OF CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN I

THE SCRAP-BOOK 15O'SHOGWATS (NEW YEAR) ... 23THE CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW 41THE BABES ON THE SEA 49FISHSAVE 55

THE FILIAL GIRL OF ECHIGO 6 1THE PARSLEY QUEEN 65

A WRESTLER AND A SNAKE 69A FIRE-CARRIAGE FROM HELL 75THE TWO DAUGHTERS OF OKADA . . . 79URANAI (SECOND-SIGHT) 87

GAMES 93

APPENDIX -THE GAMES AND SPORTS OF JAPANESE CHILDREN IOI


24/190


25/190

LIST OF FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.

MUSICAL BOYS

TOP SPINNING

PLAYING WITH PUPPIES

KANGURA .... Frontispiece.SNOW-BALLING Facing p. 4

BOY ON STILTS ,, IO

THE TURTLE ,, 12


26/190


27/190

LIST OF SMALLER PICTURES.GIRLS PLAYING BALL Title-page.LOTUS FLOWERS IN THE CASTLE MOAT AT YEDO viiHOI KANGO, JAPANESE GAME, DESCRIBED ON P. 96 3WRESTLING IIDARUMA, THE SNOW-MAN 13O'SHU 17ACROBATS 22BRONZE FISH FROM A GATEWAY 25JINGO KOGO ... 28THE SEVEN GODS OF WEALTH 33FIREMEN 39BOY PLAYING WITH A KANGURA MASK 40STREET STALL 43A TOY FESTIVAL CAR 47THE BABES ON THE SEA DRIFTING AWAY 51FISHSAVE JOURNEYING TO HIS FATHER 59THE GIRL OF ECHIGO HONOURING HER MOTHER'S MIRROR 63PLAYING AT CARRYING SPIRIT TUBS 67SANGIASH 8 1STORKS 85NEW YEAR'S DECORATIONS, DESCRIBED ON p. 26 92BLINDMAN'S BUFF 95KITE FLYING ... . ... 99


28/190

NOTE.The dance on the cover, representing a red and gold paper

string, called MIDZUHIKI, and a paper bag with a piece ofseaweed inside, called NOSHI, are the Japanese symbols thatthe book is a present.


29/190

SEVEN SCENES OF CHILD-LIFEIN JAPAN.


30/190


31/190

SEVEN SCENES OF CHILD-LIFEIN JAPAN.

HESE little boys all livea long way fromEngland in islandscalled "Japan." Ifthey invited you tocome and see them itwould cost two thou-sand shillings, andtake you about fifty-five days to travel inships and railwaytrains before you ar-rived at their home.But as you are too

I young yet to earnmoney, and have only enough pennies given you to buy


32/190

CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN.

this book andsugar-plums, you must fancy fromthese pictures what little Jap boys are like. They

have all rather brown chubby faces, and they arevery merry. Unless they give themselves a reallyhard knock they seldom get cross or cry.

In the second large picture two of the littleboys are playing at snowball. Although it is hotterin the summer in their country than it is in England,the winter is as cold as you feel it; like English boys,these lads enjoy a fall of snow, and still better thansnowballing they like making a snow-man with a char-coal ball for each eye and a streak of charcoal for hismouth. The shoes which they usually wear out of doorsare better for a snowy day than your boots, for their feetdo not sink into the snow, unless it is deep,. These shoesare of wood, and make a boy seem to be about threeinches taller than he really is. The shoe, you see, has notlaces or buttons, but is kept on the foot by that thongwhich passes between the first and second toe. Thethong is made of grass, and covered with strong paperor with white or coloured calico. The boy in the checkdress wears his shoes without socks, but you see the


33/190


34/190


35/190

o

SNOWBALLING. To face tage ~


36/190


37/190

SEVEN SCENES OF CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN. 5

other boy has socks on. His socks are made of darkblue calico, with a thickly woven sole, and a place, likeone finger of a glove, for his big toe. If you were towear Japanese shoes, you would think the thong be-tween your toes very uncomfortable, but from the habitof wearing this sort of shoe, their big toe grows moreseparate from the other toes, and the skin between thisand the next toe becomes as hard as the skin of adog's or a cat's paw.

The boys are not cold, for their cotton clothes beingwadded, are warm and snug. One boy has a roundedpouch fastened to his sash ; it is red, and prettilyembroidered with flowers or birds, and is his purse,in which he keeps some little toys and some money.His pence are as big as farthings and halfpennies, buthe would want five of his farthings to make up thevalue of an English farthing. Each piece of moneyhas a square hole in its centre, so that if, for instance,he is a rich little boy possessing perhaps threepence,he puts a bit of straw through these holes and knotsit at each end to make all safe, and keep his sixtycoins together. The other boy very likely has not a


38/190


pouch, but he has two famous big pockets, for, likeall Japanese, he uses the part of his large sleeve whichhangs down as his pocket. Thus when a group oflittle children are disturbed at play you see eachlittle hand seize a treasured toy and disappear into itssleeve, like mice running into their holes with bits ofcheese.

In the next large picture are two boys who arefond of music. One has a flute, which is madeof bamboo wood. These flutes are easy to make,as bamboo wood grows hollow with cross divisions atintervals, so that if you cut a piece with a divisionforming one end you need only make the outside holesin order to finish your flute.

The child sitting down has a drum. His drumand the paper lanterns hanging up have painted onthem an ornament which is also the crest of the houseof "Arima." If these boys belong to this family theywear the same crest embroidered on the centre of thebacks of their coats.

The picture which forms the frontispiece, repre-sents a game called " Kangura," that children in Japan


39/190


40/190


41/190

MUSICAL BOYS. To face page 6.


42/190


43/190

SEVEN SCENES OF CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN. 7

are very fond of playing at. They are probably tryingto act as well as the maskers did whom they sawon New Year's Day, just as English children tryand imitate things they see in a pantomime. Themasker goes from house to house accompanied by oneor two men who play on cymbals, flute, and drum.He steps into a shop where the people of the houseand their friends sit drinking tea, and passers-bypause in front of the open shop to sec the fun. Hetakes a mask, like the one in the picture, off his backand puts it over his head. This boar's-head mask ispainted scarlet and black, and gilt, and has a greencloth hanging down behind, in order that you may notperceive where the mask ends and the man's bodybegins. Then the masker imitates an animal. He goesup to a young lady and lays down his ugly headbeside her to be patted, as " Beast ' may have coaxed" Beauty ' in our English fairy tale. He grunts, androlls, and scratches himself, so that -the children almostforget he is a man, and roar with laughter at the funnyanimal. When they begin to tire of this fun heexchanges this mask for some of the two or three


44/190


others he carries with him, such as putting on amask of an old woman over his face, and at theback of his head a very different second mask, acloth tied over the centre of the head making thetwo faces yet more distinct from each other. Hehas quickly arranged the back of his dress tolook like the front of a person, and as he acts, firstpresenting the one person to his spectators, then theother, he makes you even imagine he has fourarms, so cleverly can he twist round his armand gracefully fan what is in reality the back ofhis head.

The tops the lads are playing with in picture No. 4,are not quite the same shape as our tops, but theyspin very well. Some men are so clever at makingspinning-tops run along strings, throwing them upinto the air and

catching them with a tobacco-pipe,that they earn a living by exhibiting their skill.Some of the tops are formed of short pieces of

bamboo with a wooden peg put through them, and thehole cut in the side makes them have a fine hum asthe air rushes in whilst they spin.


45/190


46/190


47/190TOP SPINNING.


48/190


49/190


50/190


51/190PLAYING WITH PUPPIES. To face page g.


52/190


53/190

SEVEN SCENES OF CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN.

The boys in the next large picture, No. 5, mustbe playing with the puppies of a large dog, to judgeby their big paws. There are a great many large dogsin the streets of Yedo ; some are very tame, and willlet children comb their hair and ornament them andpull

them about. These dogs do not wear collars, as doour pet dogs, but a wooden label bearing the owner'sname is hung round their necks. Other big dogs arealmost wild.

Half-a-dozen of these dogs will lie in one place,stretched drowsily on the grassy city walls under thetrees, during the day-time. Towards evening they rousethemselves and run off to yards and rubbish-heaps topick up what they can ; they will eat fish, but two orthree dogs soon get to know' where the meat-eatingEnglishmen live, and come trotting in regularly with abusiness-like air to search among the day's refuse forbones ; should any interloping dog try to establish aright to share the feast he can only gain his footingafter a victorious battle. All these dogs are very wolfish-looking, with straight hair, which is usually white ortan-coloured. There are other pet dogs kept in houses ;

c


54/190

io CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN.

these look something like spaniels ; they are small, withtheir black noses so much turned up that it seems asif, when they were puppies, they had tumbled downand broken the bridge of the nose. They are oftenornamented like dog Toby in " Punch and Judy,"with a ruff made of some scarlet stuff round their necks.

After the heavy autumn rains have filled the roadswith big puddles, it is great fun, this boy thinks, towalk about on stilts. You see him in plate No. 6.His stilts are of bamboo wood, and he calls them"Sangiash," after the long-legged snowy herons thatstrut about in the wet rice-fields. When he struts abouton them, he wedges the upright between his big andsecond toe as if the stilt was like his shoes. He hasa good view of his two friends who are wrestling, andprobably making hideous noises like wild animals asthey try to throw one another, for they have seen fatpublic wrestlers stand on opposite sides of a sandedring, stoop, rubbing their thighs, and in a crouchingattitude and growling, slowly advance upon one another,then when near to one another, the spring is madeand the men close. If after some time the round is not


55/190


56/190


57/190


58/190


59/190

SEVEN SCENES OF CHfLD-TJFR IN JAPAN. 1 1

decided by a throw, the umpire, who struts aboutlike a turkey-cock, fanning himself, approaches, andplucks the girdle of the weaker combatant, when thewrestlers at once retire to the side of the arena to rest,and to sprinkle a little water over themselves.

In the neighbourhood in which the children shownin the picture overleaf live, there is a temple, called" Compira," in honour of which a feast-day is held onthe tenth of every month, and the tenth day of the tenthmonth is a yet greater feast-day. On these days they


60/190

T2 CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN.

go the first thing in the morning to the barber's tohave their heads shaved and dressed, and their facespowdered with white, and their lips and cheeks paintedpink. They wear their best clothes and smartest sashes,and then they clatter off on their wooden clogs to thetemple and buy two little rice-cakes at the gates. Nextthey come to two large comical bronze dogs sitting onstands one on each side of the path. They reach upand gently rub the dog's nose, then rub their ownnoses, rub the dog's eyes, and then their own, and soon till they have touched the dog's and their own bodyall over. This is their way of praying for good health.They also add another to the number of little ragsthat have been hung by each visitor about the dog'sneck. Then they go to the altar and give their cakesto a boy belonging to the temple, who in exchangepresents them with one rice-cake which has beenblessed ; they ring a round brass bell to call their god'sattention, and throw him some money into a gratedbox as big as a child's crib, and then they squat downand pray to be good little boys. Now they go outand amuse themselves by looking at all the stalls of


61/190


62/190


63/190

THE TURTLE. To /nff />-ij;e 1-2.


64/190


65/190

SEVEN SCENES OF CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN.

toys, and cakes, and flowers, and fish. The man whosells the gold fish, with fan-like tails as long as theirbodies, has also turtles, and these boys at last settlethat of all the pretty things they have seen they wouldbest like to spend their money on a young turtle. Fortheir pet rabbits and mice died, but turtles, they say,are painted on fans and screens and boxes becauseturtles live for ten-thousand years, whereas even thenoble white crane is said to live no more than athousand years. In this picture they have carriedhome the turtle and are much amused at the funnyway it walks and peeps its head in and out from underits shell.


66/190


67/190

THE SCRAP-BOOK.


68/190


69/190

THE SCRAP-BOOK.

a

vHO does not know thecharm of a scrap-book ?I considered myself as achild privileged by thepossession of but a thirdshare in one owned with

two elder brothers. As a treat there was mother's bigscrap-book to pore over, helping us to picture thosesweet cloudland days of " when you were little,mother." Herein were short-waisted damsels, befrilledboys, episodes of coaching days, and political cari-catures of "old Bony' and Lord Brougham. Mynext experience was when seized in maturer years bythe ambitious scheme of making a genuine scrap-book, wherein should be gradually accumulated odds

D


70/190

1 8 CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN.

and ends, without recourse to those bought sheets ofsymmetrically arranged pictures that now form in anafternoon the misnamed scrap-book.. I was assistedby the wise counsel of a pair of youngsters who hadopinions so revolutionary as to persist that pigs wouldlook nice next to fairies, and that carts must comebefore horses, and whose delight it was to dab fatfingers in the paste and then suck them. Separatedfrom these comrades the scrap-book was laid asideunheeded ; years passed away ; the neglected book wastumbled into a box that was sent to Japan. Here itsloose and half-filled leaves were stitched together andthe scrap-book re-asserted itself; indeed as I write Ilook lovingly at its now well-filled and well-thumbedleaves and nice curling corners of pink and blue calico,innocently gaudy and free from modern high art tintsand bilious greens, bright with little Parisian litho-graphs of prettily affected juveniles, here a peacockbutterfly, and there a soberer woodcut of rompingEnglish children and spreading landscape, and gaywithal with brightest of Japanese prints, and of theselast is my tale.


71/190

THE SCRAP-BOOK. ig

An old woman called " the august Grandmother 'would set out with the child she loved, pick-a-back,and walk to the neighbouring print-shop. Herearrived, she bowed lowly to the shopman saying agreeting, then seated herself on the raised floor ofthe shop, loosened with a grunt the string that tiedher Ojo-sama (little ladyship) on her back, when thefreed child would at once make a dash at the nearestpictures. Most of the pictures are about one footthree by nine inches, and are ranged on strings acrossthe shop-front. Those curious fierce fellows withslanting eyebrows are actors, while amongst otherpictures, often in sets of threes, are warriors inlacquered armour, firemen with paper standard andwadded garments, paunchy wrestlers, quaintly-dresseddancers and red-kerchiefed acrobats, in fact almostevery scene or story of Japanese life is pictured ;but the literary treacle specially spread to catchthe little flies lies upon the shop floor, for thereare piles of prints containing smaller prints, often in-geniously arranged, so that, if cut out, a box, or house,or figure can be constructed ; coloured paper masks,


72/190

20 CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN.

tiny folding theatres, and little penny picture-books.The child selects her penny book, and this is the taleshe chose.

In the olden days, in the province of Shin, therelived with his step-mother a little boy called O'Shu.Now this step-mother was very cruel to poor little O'Shu.If he complained of a pain she, more often than otherparents, set light to some leaves of a plant put onO'Shu's back to burn him in many places, and shegave him very little fish to eat, and grudged himeven rice ; neither would she give him pence to geta bath nor have his hair dressed. But O'Shu wasalways bright and merry, because he bethought himhow his uncle the priest, as they walked in theshady pine-groves of Shiba's lacquered shrines, hadtold him that Confucius the great and wise hadspoken of filial piety as the noblest virtue, and taughthim that even unkind parents were to be reverencedby their offspring. Now it happened one day whennot only the big mountain Fusi was snow-cappedbut all the rice-fields were- snow-wreathed, when theearly white plum-blossoms could only be distinguished


73/190

THE SCRAP-BOOK. 2T

from the snow-flakes on the sloping branches by theirposition on the upright twigs, when scarce dusk theouter shutters were slid forth from their case and closedround the deep-eaved house, when the charcoal brazierswere heaped high with glowing embers and friendsgreeted with

"Cold it is truly,"

"Toast your hands,

I pray you," that the step-mother of O'Shu exclaimed" Verily, I wish for a dish of fresh fish ! ' Well, sheknew that such a thing as a dish of fresh fish couldnot be got when all the ponds and rivers were ice-bound. O'Shu, unnoticed, left the room and, slippingon his wooden clogs, his yellow paper rain-coat, andcarrying his varnished paper umbrella, he hurried downto the river. Not a single rift could he find in the ice,so the unselfish boy stripped off his clothes and layhimself on the ice to try and melt a hole in it bymeans of his bodily heat. The heavens were touchedby the ignorant lad's filial piety and caused the thickice to melt, when O'Shu beheld swimming towards himtwo noble carp, who allowed themselves to be graspedby the shivering but delighted boy. O'Shu thendressed and hurried home, set his fish on a lacquered


74/190


tray, and, to betoken that they were an offering, hetied round them the red and white paper stringcalled " midzuhiki ' and slipped in the folded paper"noshi' containing its quaint symbolic offering of atiny piece of seaweed. Next O'Shu slid aside thepaper screen and was before his parents holding thetray to his forehead, and then, in further token ofrespect prostrating himself till his forehead touched thesoft grass-woven mat, he respectfully presented to hisunamiable step-mother the desired delicacy.


75/190

O'SHOGWATS.


76/190


77/190

O'SHOGWATS.(NEW YEAR.)

ITTLE Yoshsan had justfinished eating the lastof five rice-cakes called"dango," that had beenstrung on a skewer ofbamboo and dipped inSoy sauce, when he saidto his little sister, calledChrysanthemum, " O'

Kiku, it is soon the great festival of the New Year.""What shall we do then?" asked little O'Kiku, notclearly remembering the festival of the previous year.Thus questioned, Yoshsan had his desired opening tohold forth on the coming delights, and he replied," Men will come the evening before the great feast-E


78/190

26 CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN,

day and help ' Plumblossom,' our maid, to clean allthe house with brush and broom. Others will set upthe decoration in front of our honoured gateway ; theywill dig two small holes and plant a gnarled, black-barkedfather-pine branch on the left, and the slighter reddishmother-pine branch on the right, they will then putwith these the tall knotted stem of a bamboo, with itssmooth, hard green leaves that chatter when the windblows ; next they will take a grass rope about as longas a tall man, fringed with grass, and decorated withthe ' Gohei,' zigzags of white paper, that our noblefather says are meant for rude images of men offeringthemselves in homage to the august gods."

"Oh, yes! I have not forgotten," interrupts Chry-santhemum, "this cord is stretched from bamboo tobamboo ; and ' Plumblossom ' says the rope is to barout the nasty two-toed, red, grey, and black demons, thebadgers, the foxes, and other evil spirits from crossingour threshold. But / think it is the next part of thearch which is the prettiest, the whole bunch of thingsthey tie in the middle of the rope, there is the crooked-backed lobster, like a bowed old man, with all around the


79/190

O'SHOGWATS. 27

melia branches, whose young leaves bud before the oldleaves fall. There are pretty fern-leaves shooting forthin pairs, and deep down between them the little babyfern-leaf ; there is the bitter yellow orange, the ' daidai 'whose name, you know, means many parents andchildren, and a black piece of charcoal, whose name isa pun on our homestead."

" But best of all," says Yoshsan, "/ like the seaweed' Hontawara,' for it tells me of our brave Queen JingoKogo, who, lest the troops should be discouraged,concealed from the army that her husband the kinghad died, put on armour, and led the great campaignagainst Corea.* Her troops, stationed at the marginof the sea, were in danger of defeat on account of thelack of fodder for their horses ; when she ordered thishontawara to be plucked from the shore, and thehorses, freshened by their meal of seaweed, rushedvictoriously to battle. On the bronzed clasp of ourworthy father's tobacco-pouch is, our noble father says,Jingo Kogo with her sword and the dear little baby-prince, Hachiman, who was born after the campaign,

* A.D. 2OO.


80/190


and who is now our Warrior God, guiding our troopsto victory, and that spirit on whose head squats adragon has risen partly from the deep, to presentan offering to the Queen and the Prince."

"Then there is another seaweed, whose name is apun on ' rejoicing.' There is the lucky bag that I made,for last year, of a square piece of paper into which weput chestnuts and the roe of a herring and driedpersimmon fruit, and then tied up the paper with redand white paper-string, that the sainted gods mightknow it was an offering."Yoshsan and his little sister had now reached the

great gate ornamented with huge bronze fishes sittingon their throats and twisting aloft their forked tails,that was near their home. So telling his sister she


81/190

O'SHOGWATS. 29

must wait to know more about the great festival tillthe time arrived, they shuffled off their shoes, bowed,till their foreheads touched the ground, to their parents,ate their evening bowl of rice and saltfish, said a prayerand burnt a stick of incense to many-armed Buddhaat the family altar, spread their cotton-wadded quilts,rested their dear little shaved heads, with quaint circletof hair, on the roll of cotton covered with white paperthat formed the cushion of their hard wooden pillows,and fell asleep to their mother's monotonously-chauntedlullaby of

" Nen ne ko."Sleep, my child, sleep my child,Where is thy nurse gone ?She is gone to the mountainsTo buy thee sweetmeats.What shall she buy thee ?The thundering drum, the bamboo pipe,The trundling man, or the paper kite.

The great festival drew still nearer to the children'sdelight as they watched the previously describedgraceful bamboo arch rise before their gateposts. Thencame a party of three men with an oven, a bottomless


82/190


tub, and some matting to replace the bottom. Theyshifted the pole that carried these utensils from theirshoulders, and commenced to make the Japanese cakethat may be viewed as the equivalent of a Christmaspudding. They mixed a paste of rice and put thesticky mass, to prevent rebounding, on the soft mat inthe tub. The third man then beat for a long time therice cake with a heavy mallet. Yoshsan liked to watchthe strong man swing down his mallet with dull resound-ing thuds. The well-beaten dough was then made upinto flattish rounds of varying size on a pastry boardone of the men had brought. Three cakes of graduatedsize formed a pyramid that was placed conspicuouslyon a lacquered stand, and the cakes were only to beeaten on the nth of January.The mother told " Plumblossom ' and the children

to get their clogs, and overcoats, and hoods, for shewas going to get the Daikoku-jime, and the partyshuffled off till they came to a stall where were biggrass ropes and fringes and quaint grass boats filledwith supposed bales of merchandise in straw coverings,a sun in red paper, and at bow and stern sprigs of fir,


83/190

O'SHOGWATS. 31

the whole brightened by bits of gold leaf, lightly stuck on,that quivered here and there. When the children hadchosen the harvest ship that seemed most besprinkledwith gold, " Plumblossom ' bargained about the price,and the mother, who, as a matter of form and rank,had pretended to take no interest in the purchase,took her purse out of her sash, handed it to herservant, who opened it, paid the shopman, andthen returned the purse to her mistress with the usualcivility of first raising it to her forehead. ThisDaikoku-jime they hung up in their sitting-room.Then they sent presents, such as large dried carp,tea, eggs, shoes, kerchiefs, fruits, sweets, or toys tovarious friends and dependants.

On the ist of January all were early astir, forthe father, dressed at dawn in full European evening-dress, as is customary on such occasions, had to payhis respects at the levee of the Emperor. When thisduty was over he returned home and received visitorsof rank inferior to himself, and later in the dayand on the following days he paid visits of NewYear greeting to all his friends, taking a present to


84/190

3 2 CPIILD-LIFE IN JAPAN.

those to whom he had sent no gift, and sometimestaking his little boy with him. For these visitsYoshsan, in place of his usual flowing silken robe,loose trousers, and sash, wore a funny little knicker-bocker suit, felt hat and boots ; these latter, thoughhe thought them grand, felt very uncomfortable afterhis straw sandals, and were more troublesome to takeoff before stepping on the straw mats, that, being usedas chairs as well as carpets, it would be a rudenessto soil. The maids, always kneeling, presented themwith tiny cups of tea on oval saucers, which, remainingin the maid's hand, served rather as waiters. Sweetmeatstoo, usually of a soft sticky nature, but sometimes hardlike sugar-plums, and called " fire-sweets," were offeredon carved lotus-leaf, or lacquered trays.

For the 2nd of January "Plumblossom" bought somepictures of the " Takara-bune," or ship of riches inwhich were seated the seven Gods of Wealth.There was Lord Bishamon in his armour ; Fukuro-kujin with his long head and big-lobed ears, who tamedthe cranes ; the Lady Benten, fairest of goddesses ;Lord Jirojin ; fat, pleasure-seeking Lord Hotei, and


85/190

O'SHOGWATS. 33

Lord Ebes with his fish. It has been sung thusabout this Ship of Luck :

Nagaki yo no,To no nemuri no.Mina me same.Nami nori fune no.Oto no yoki kana.

It is a long night,The gods of luck sleep.They all open their eyes.They ride in a boat on the waves.The sound is pleasing !

These pictures they each tied on their pillow tobring lucky dreams, and great was the laughter in

F


86/190


the morning when they related their dreams. Yoshsansaid he had dreamt he had a beautiful portmanteaufull of nice foreign things, such as comforters, note-books, pencils, india-rubber, condensed milk, lama,wide-awakes, boots, and brass jewelry, and just as heopened it everything vanished and he found only atorn fan, an odd chopstick, a horse's cast straw shoe,and a live crow.

When at home the children for the first few daysof the New Year dressed in their best crape, made up inthree silken-wadded layers, with their crest embroideredon the centre of the back and on the sleeves of thequaintly flowered long upper skirt, beneath whose waddedhem peeped the scarlet rolls of the hems of theirunder-dresses, and then the white-stockinged feet with,passing between the toes, the scarlet thong of theblack-lacquered clog. The little girl's sash was ofmany-flowered brocade with scarlet broidered pouchhanging at her right side, and a scarlet over-sash tokeep the large sash-knot in its place. Her hair gaywith knot of scarlet crinkled crape, lacquered comb,and hairpin of tiny golden battledoor, with, resting


87/190

O'SIIOGWATS. 35

thereon, a shuttlecock of coral, another pin of a tinyred lobster and green pine-sprig made of silk. In herbelt was coquettishly stuck the butterfly-broideredcase that held her quire of paper pocket-handkerchiefs.The brother's dress was of a simpler style andsoberer colouring ; his pouch of purple with a dragonworked on it, and the hair of his partly shaven headsimply tied into a little gummed tail with whitepaper string. They spent most of the day playingwith their pretty new battledoors, striking with itsplain side the airy little shuttlecock whose head ismade of a black seed, singing the while a rhymeon the numbers up to ten :-

Hitogo ni futa-go mi-watashi yo m6-go,Itsu yoni musashi nan no yakushi,Kokono-ya ja to yo.

When tired of this fun they would play with aball made of paper and wadding evenly wound aboutwith thread or silk of various colours, sincrinsr to theo othrows a song which seems abrupt because some


88/190


portions have probably fallen into disuse ; it runsthus :" See opposite, see Shin-kawa ! A very beautiful

lady who is one of the daughters of a chief magistrateof Odawara-cho. She was married to a salt-merchant.He was a man fond of display, and he thought how hewould dress her this year. He said to the dyer :" Please dye this brocade and the brocade for themiddle dress into seven- or eight-fold dresses ; "and the dyer said, " I am a dyer, and there-fore I will dye and stretch it. What patterndo you wish?" The merchant replied, "The patternof falling snow and broken twigs, and in the centrethe curved bridge of Gojo." Then to fill up therhyme come the words "Chokin, chokera, kokinkokera," and the tale goes on : " Crossing this bridgethe girl was struck here and there and the tea-house girls laughed ; put out of countenance bythis ridicule she drowned herself in the river Karas,the body sunk, the hair floated. How full of griefthe husband's heart, - now the ball counts ahundred!"


89/190

O'SHOGWATS. 37

This they varied with another song :One, two, three, four,Grate hard charcoal, shave kiri wood ;Put in the pocket, the pocket is wet.Kiyomadzu, on three yenoki treesWere three sparrows, chased by a pigeon.The sparrows said, " Chiu, chiu,"The pigeon said, "Po, po," now theBall counts a hundred.

The pocket referred to means the bottom of thelong sleeve, which is apt to trail and get wet when achild stoops at play, and Kiyomadzu may mean a famoustemple that bears that name. Sometimes they wouldsimply count the turns and make a sort of game offorfeiting and returning the number of rebounds keptup by each. Yoshsan had begun to think battledoorand balls too girlish an amusement and preferredflying his eagle or mask-like kite, or playing at cards,verses, or lotteries. Sometimes he played "Jiu-rokumusashi ' with his father, in which the board is dividedinto squares and diagonals, on which move sixteen menheld by one player and one large piece held by thesecond player. The point of the game is either that the


90/190


holder of the sixteen pieces hedges the large piece sothat it can make no move, or that the big piece takesall its adversaries ; a take can only be made by thelarge piece when it finds a piece immediately on eachside of it and a blank point beyond. Or he watched aparty of several, with the pictured sheet of the game" Sugo-roku ' before them, write their names on slips ofpaper or wood, and throw in turn a die ; the slips areplaced on the pictures whose numbers correspond withthe throw. At the next round, if the number thrown bythe particular player is written on the picture, he findsdirections as to which picture to move his slip backwardor forward to. He may, however, find his throw a blankand have to remain at his place. The winning consists inreaching a certain picture. When tired of these quietergames the "Tori wo oita," a strolling woman player on aguitar-like instrument, would be called in, or a party ofKangura performers afforded pastime by the quaint animal-like movements of the draped figure who wears a hugegrotesque scarlet mask on his head, and at times makesthis monster appear to stretch out and draw in its neckby an unseen change in position of the mask from the


91/190

O'SHOGWATS. 39

\

head to the gradually extendedand draped hand of the actor.The beat of a drum and thewhistle of a bamboo fluteformed the accompaniment tothe dumb-show acting.

Yoshsan thought the 4thand 5th days of January greatfun because they heard loudshoutings ; and running in thedirection of the sound they


92/190


would find the men of a fire-brigade who had formed aprocession to carry their new paper standard, bambooladders, paper lanterns, etc. This procession paused atintervals, when the men steadied the ladder with theirlong fire-hooks, whilst an agile member of the bandmounted the erect ladder and performed gymnastics atthe top ; his performance concluded, he dismounted, andthe march continued, the men as before yelling joy-ously at the highest pitch of their voices.

After about a week of fun, life at the Yashiki,or villa, gradually resumed its usual course, the fatherreturned to his office, the mother to her domesticemployments and the children to school, allhaving said for that new year their last joy-wishing greeting

OMEDETTO.


93/190

THE CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW.


94/190


95/190

THE CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW.YOSHSAN and his Grandmother go to visit the greattemple at Shiba, they walk up its steep stairs, andarrive at the lacquered threshold. Here they placeaside their wooden clogs, throw a few coins into ahuge box standing on the floor and covered with awooden grating so constructed as to prevent pilferinghands afterwards removing the coin. Then they pulla thick rope attached to a big brass bell like anexaggerated sheep-bell, hanging from the ceiling, butwhich gives forth but a feeble tinkling sound. To


96/190

44 CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN

insure the god's attention this is supplemented withthree distinct claps of the hands, which are afterwardsclasped in prayer for a short interval ; two more clapsmark the conclusion ; and, resuming their clogs, theyclatter down the steep copper-bound temple-steps intothe grounds. Here are stalls innumerable of toys, fruit,fish-cakes, birds, tobacco-pipes, ironmongery, and rice, andscattered amidst the stalls are tea-houses, peep-shows,and other places of amusement. Of these the greatestattraction is a newly-opened Chrysanthemum show.

The Chrysanthemums are trained to representfigures. Here a celebrated warrior, Kato Kirjomasaby name, who lived about the year 1600, when theeminent Hashiba Hideyoshi ruled Japan. Near theend of his reign Hashiba Hideyoshi, wishing to invadeChina, but being himself unable to command theexpedition, intrusted the leadership of the fleet andarmy to Kirjomasa. They embarked, reached Corea,where a fierce battle was fought and victory gained byKirjomasa. When, however, he returned to Japan, hefound Hideyoshi had died, and the expedition wastherefore recalled. Tales of the liberality and generosity


97/190

THE CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW. 45of the Chief, and how he single-handed had slain alarge and wild tiger with the spear that he is representedas holding, led to his being at length addressed as agod. His face is modelled in plaster and painted, andthe yellow Chrysanthemum blossoms may be supposedto be gold bosses on the verdant armour.

Next they looked at eccentric varieties of thisautumn flower, such as those having the petals longerand more curly than usual ; but to show off the flowersevery branch was tied to a stick, which caused Yoshsanto think the bushes looked a little stiff and ugly. Nearthe warrior was a Chrysanthemum-robed lady, Benten,or Benzaiten, standing in a flowery sailing-boat that issupposed to contain a cargo of jewels. Three rabbitsfurther on appeared to be chatting together. Perhapsthe best group of all was old Fukurokujin, with whitebeard and bald head, who conversed with two of thegraceful waterfowl so constantly seen in Japanese deco-rations. He is the god of luck, and has a reputationfor liking good cheer, as suggested by a gourd, ausual form of wine-bottle, that is suspended to hiscane, whilst another gourd contains homilies. He was


98/190


said to be so tender-hearted that even timid wild fowlwere not afraid of him.

Not the least amusing part of the show was thefigure before which Yosh's Grandmother exclaimed," Why, truly, that is clever ! Behold, I pray thee, abarbarian lady, and even her child ! ' In truth it was anunconscious caricature of Europeans, although the lady'sface had not escaped being slightly Japish. The childheld a toy, and had a regular shock head of hair. Thefrizzed hair of many foreign children appear very oddto Yoshsan, who thought their mothers must be veryunkind not to take the little " western men ' more oftento the barber's, when he complacently considered theneatness of his own shaven crown and tidily-clippedand gummed side-locks.

Being tired of standing, the old Grandmother toldher grandson they would go and listen to a recital atthe story-teller's ; so leaving their wooden shoes in apigeon-hole for that purpose, they joined an attentivethrong of some twenty listeners seated on mats in adimly-lighted room. Yosh could not make out all thetale-teller said, but he liked to watch him toy with his


99/190

THE CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW. 47

fan as he introduced his listeners to the characters ofhis story ; then the story-teller would hold his fan likea rod of command whilst he kept his audience in raptattention, then sometimes, amidst the laughter of thosepresent, he would raise his voice to a shrill whine, andwould emphasise a joke by a sharp tap on the tablewith his fan. After they had listened to one taleYoshsan was sleepy ; so they went and bargained with aman outside who had a carriage like a small gig withshafts called a. ginrickisha, and who ran after them to sayhe consented to wheel them home the two and a halfmiles for two-pence farthing.

A TOY FESTIVAL CAR.


100/190


101/190

THE BABES ON THE SEA.

H


102/190


103/190


104/190


enough to go this little sea journey. The delightedchildren helped to furnish the junk with all necessaries,such as rice and dry fish, and pots and pans, spades,hoes, and grass rain coats, and straw shoes for theworkmen. Senzaburo aged eleven, and Yone agedtwelve^ were then told to take care of the junk whilsttheir parents walked some miles into the country tohire labourers. The junk was hauled up a little dis-tance on the beach, and the good folks, not doubtingits safety, left it there without fastening it in any way.Well ! the children fell fast asleep and snored in thehold, and, while they slept, the tide rose round thejunk and floated it, after which, as the tide was be-ginning to ebb again a land breeze sprang up, and whatbetween the tide and the breeze the little craft was

i

borne away to a great distance, which was ever increasedby the growing violence of the wind, so much so,that the junk moved almost as rapidly as if hersail had been set. The children awoke, and saw aroundthem a stretch of sea from which arose none of thepoints of land with which they were familiar, so thatthey wept and were wild with grief, and yet could do


105/190

THE BABES ON THE SEA. 53

nothing to help themselves. On they went, blown bythe wind, whither they could not tell.

In the meantime, the father and mother had gottogether their hired labourers and came down to thebeach with the intention of getting on board, when, lo,and behold, the junk had disappeared ! Thinking atfirst that the children might have taken it round tosome sheltered cove out of reach of the wind, theyshouted loudly, "Senzaburo ! " " Yone ! Yone ! ' All wassilent except the burring hum of busy insect life.Then, filled with alarm, they explored all the neigh-bouring creeks and beach, but without success, till atlast they left off disheartened.

Well, the junk went on, and was at last blown onto the beach of an island far to the south of thechildren's original home. Still bitterly crying, theymade the boat fast, and then looked around them, andfound that the island was uninhabited. As there wasno possibility of returning home, they went on shorefor good, and Senzaburo said, "Here we are, helpless;yet it would be foolish to let ourselves die. So longas the provisions we have with us shall last, we have


106/190


107/190

FISHSAVE.


108/190


109/190

FISHSAVE.

THERE was once upon a time a little baby whose fatherwas Japanese ambassador to the Court of China, andwhose mother was a Chinese lady. While this childwas still in its infancy the ambassador had to returnto Japan ; so he said to his wife, " I swear to rememberyou and to send you letters by the ambassador thatshall succeed me, and as for our baby, I will despatchsome one to fetch it as soon as it is weaned." Thussaying he departed. Well, embassy after embassy came(and there was generally at least a year between each),but never a letter from the Japanese husband to theChinese wife, who at last, tired of waiting and ofgrieving, took her boy by the hand, and sorrowfullyleading him to the sea-shore, fastened round his necka label bearing the words, " The Japanese Ambassador'schild," and flung him into the sea in the direction ofthe Japanese Archipelago, confident that the paternal


110/190

5 8 CHILD LIFE IN JAPAN.

tie was one which it was not possible to break, andthat therefore father and child were sure to meetagain.

One day, when the former ambassador, the father,was walking by the beach of Naniwa (where afterwardswas built the city of Osaka), he saw something whitefloating out at sea, looking like a small island. Itfloated nearer, and he looked more attentively. Therewas no doubt about its being a child. Quite astonished,he stopped his horse and gazed again ; the floatingobject drew nearer and nearer still, and at last withperfect distinctness could be perceived to be a fair prettylittle boy of about four years old impelled onwards bythe waves. Still closer inspection showed that the boyrode bravely on the back of an enormous fish. Whenthe strange rider had dismounted on the strand theambassador ordered his attendants to take the manly littlefellow in their arms, when lo and behold ! there wasa label round his neck, on which was written, " TheJapanese Ambassador's child." " Oh, yes," he exclaimed," it must be my child, and no other, whom its mother,angry at having received no letters from me, must


111/190


112/190


113/190

THE FILIAL GIRL OF ECHIGO.


114/190


115/190


116/190


and morning, and gazing in it, saw therein a face liketo the face of her mother. Delighted thereat (for thevillage was situated in a remote country district amongthe mountains, and a mirror was a thing the girl hadnever heard of), she daily worshipped her reflected face,bowing before it till her forehead touched the mat as ifthis image had been in very truth her mother's own self.Her father one day, astonished to see her thus occupied,inquired the reason, which she directly told him. Buthe burst out laughing, and exclaimed, "Why! 'tis onlythine own face, so like to thy mother's, that is reflected.It is not thy mother's at all ! " This revelation distressedthe girl. Yet she replied, " Even if the face be notmy mother's, it is the face of one who belonged to mymother, and therefore my respectfully saluting it twiceevery day is the same as respectfully saluting her veryself." And so she continued to worship the mirrormore and more while tending her father with all filialpiety at least so the story goes, for even to-day, asgreat poverty and ignorance prevail in some parts ofEchigo, the peasantry know as little of mirrors as didthis little girl.


117/190

THE PARSLEY QUEEN.

K


118/190


119/190

THE PARSLEY QUEEN.

OW curious that the daughterof a peasant dwelling inan obscure country villagenear Aska, in the provinceof Yamato, should becomea Queen. Yet such wasthe case. Her father diedwhile she was yet in her

infancy, and the girl applied herself to the tending ofher mother with all filial piety. One day when shehad gone out into the fields to gather some parsley, ofwhich her mother was very fond, it chanced thatPrince Shotoku Taishi was making a progress to hispalace at Ikaruka, and all the inhabitants of the country-side flocked to the road along which the procession


120/190


was passing, in order to behold the gorgeous spectacle,and to show their respect for the Mikado's son. Thefilial girl, alone, paying no heed to what was goingon around her, continued picking her parsley, and wasobserved from his carriage by the Prince, who, astonishedat the circumstance, sent one of his retainers to inquireinto its cause. The girl replied, " My mother bade mepick parsley, and I am following her instructions thatis the reason why I have not turned round to pay myrespects to the Prince." The latter being informed ofher answer, was filled with admiration at the strictnessof her filial piety, and alighting at her mother's cottageon the way back, told her of the occurrence, and placingthe girl in the next carriage to his own, took her homewith him to the Imperial Palace, and ended by makingher his wife, upon which the people, knowing her story,gave her the name of the " Parsley Queen."


121/190


122/190


123/190

A WRESTLER AND A SNAKE.IN the days of yore there was a grand old river flowingby the house of a wrestler called Tsuneyori, and at thatspot it was particularly deep, calm, and shaded bymany trees.One summer day Tsuneyori set out for exercisedressed in the thin flax-spun gown katabira, with hissash about his waist, and his ashida, or clogs, made ofa wooden plank with a pair of thin teeth of hardwood, on his feet, his stick in his hand, and a boyattending him by his side. Pausing under the shadowof the trees by the river's margin, to cool himself, hesaw that the river flowed past with not a pebble orweed to be seen, only a blue, bottomless depth borderedby rank grasses. He was musing on the breadth ofthe river, when the water began to move as if some-


124/190


thing was coming to his side. While trying to makeout what it could possibly be, the wave approachedhim, and a snake popped up its head from the water,seemingly a very large snake. Tsuneyori stood gazingat it, wondering where it would land, while the snakelooked intently at him, as he stood about a foot fromthe water's edge. Then Tsuneyori wondered what thesnake was thinking about. The snake after looking athim for some time dropped its head down below thesurface, when the disturbed water surged to the oppositeside, and after a moment rushed back again. But thistime the snake showed its tail instead of its head.Now this tail came nearer and nearer to the wrestler,who remained quite still, thinking the snake had a plan,and that he would not interfere with its intentions. Thetail of the snake drew nearer and nearer to Tsuneyori,and at last coiled itself three or four times round hislegs. While he was wondering what the snake woulddo next, it tightened its grip and began to pull. Henow understood that the snake wanted to pull him intothe water; but, objecting to that part of the plan, hestood firmly, the snake pulling him more and more


125/190

A WRESTLER AND A SNAKE. 73

strongly, so that the teeth of his ashida broke, and thesituation grew dangerous. Then he exerted additionalforce and stood firmly, whilst the snake meantime pulledits utmost. By so exerting himself, the legs of Tsuneyorisank half a foot into the ground, and became im-movable. Then whilst the fighting-man was in hisheart praising the strength of the snake, the brutebroke like an over-strained rope into two pieces. Thewater of the river crimsoned, and Tsuneyori, perceivingthe accident, withdrew his legs, the tail following them.Untying this tail, he washed his feet with water, butthe rings left on his legs by the grip of the reptile didnot disappear. He, remembering having been told thatbruises fade away when washed with spirit, went backto his house, and while occupied with his washing, or-dered his servants to fetch the tail of the snake out ofthe river. This they found so extremely large that thediameter of the broken part was about a foot. Tsuneyorialso sent his servants to seek for the head part of thesnake ; and they found this other half, on the oppositeside of the river, encircling itself many times round atrunk of a large tree. By this means had the snake

L


126/190


127/190

A FIRE-CARRIAGE FROM HELL.


128/190


129/190


130/190

7 8 CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN.

this temple some years ago, and neglecting to return it,the messengers were sent for that offence. I repliedthat I would return my loan, adding that they mightmake what use they pleased of my ten bushels. Thenthe devils drove off." After a little while the priestexclaimed, " Now is the messenger from Paradiseadvancing," and showing his joy by rubbing his handstogether, he died. The house of this priest stands tothis day on the north side of the temple. If eversuch a small quantity of property which belongs toothers be used selfishly, the fire-carriage comes to takesuch an one to hell ; what then will be the fate ofthose monks who spend as luxuriously as they pleasethe revenues of their temples?


131/190

THE TWO DAUGHTERS OF OKADA.


132/190


133/190

THE TWO DAUGHTERS OF OKADA.T Akita, in the province of

Inaba, lived a rdnin calledOkada, who had two daugh-ters, by whom he wasministered to with all filialpiety. He was fond of shoot-ing with a gun, and thusvery often committed the sin(according to the teachingof holy Buddha) of takinglife, nor would he everhearken to the admonitionsof his daughters, who, mind-

I ful of the future, and aghastat the prospect in store for him in the world to come,

M


134/190


frequently endeavoured to convert him. Many werethe tears they shed. At last one day after they hadpleaded with him more earnestly still than before, thefather, touched by their supplications, promised to shootno more. But, after a while, some of his neighbourshaving come round to request him to shoot for themtwo storks, he was easily led to consent by the strengthof his natural liking for the sport. Still he would notallow a word to be breathed to his daughters, andslipped but at night, gun in hand, after they were, ashe imagined, fast asleep. They, however, had heardeverything, and the elder sister said to the younger:" Do what we may, our father will not condescend tofollow our words of counsel, and nothing now remainsbut to bring him to a knowledge of the truth by thesacrifice of one of our own lives. To-night is fortunatelymoonless; and if I put on white garments

and go tothe neighbourhood of the bay, he will take me for astork and shoot me dead. Do you continue to liveand tend our father with all the services of filialpiety." Thus she spake, her eyes dimmed with therolling tears. But the younger sister, with many sobs,


135/190

THE TWO DAUGHTERS OF OKADA. 83exclaimed : " For you, my sister, for you is it to receivethe inheritance of this house ; so do you condescendto be the one to live, and to practice filial devotion toour father, while / will offer up my life." Thus dideach strive for death ; and as the elder one, withoutmore words, seizing a white garment rushed out ofthe house, the younger one, unwilling to cede to herthe place of honour put on a white gown also, followedin her track to the shore of the bay, and there makingher way to her among the rushes continued the disputeas to which of the two should be the one to die.Meanwhile the father, peering around him in thedarkness, saw something white, and taking it for thestorks, aimed at the spot with his gun, and did notmiss his shot, for it pierced through the ribs of theelder of the two girls. The younger, helpless in hergrief, bent over her sister's body, while the father, notdreaming ol what he was about, and astonished to findthat his having shot one of the storks did not makethe other fly away, discharged another shot at theremaining white figure, and lamentable to relate,-hit his second daughter as he had the first ; she fell


136/190


pierced through the chest, and was laid on the samegrassy pillow as her sister. The father, pleased withhis success, came up to the rushes to look for hisgame. But what ! no storks, alas ! alas ! no, onlyhis two daughters ! Filled with consternation, heasked what it all meant ; and the girls, breathingwith difficulty, told him that their resolve had beento show him the crime of taking life, and thusrespectfully to cause him to desist therefrom. Theyexpired before they had time to say more. Thefather, then filled with sorrow and remorse, took thetwo corpses home on his back, and, as there was nowno help for what was done, he placed them reverentlyon a wood stack, and there they burnt, making smoketo the blowing wind. Frorn^ that hour he was aconverted man. He built himself a small cell ofbranches of trees, near the village bridge, and, placingtherein the memorial tablets of his two daughters,performed before them the due religious rites, andbecame the most pious follower of Buddha. Ah ! thatwas filial piety in very truth ! a marvel, that thesegirls should throw away their own lives, so that, by


137/190

THE TWO DAUGHTERS OF OKADA.

exterminating the evil seed in their father's conductin this world, they might guard him from its awful fruitin the world to come !


138/190


139/190

URANAI.(SECOND-SIGHT.)


140/190


141/190

URANAI.(SECOND-SIGHT.)

A TRAVELLER arrived at a village, and looking aboutfor an inn, he found one that, although rather shabby,would, he thought, suit him. So he asked whether hecould pass the night there, and the mistress said certainly.No one lived at the inn except the mistress, so that thetraveller was quite undisturbed.

The next morning, after he had finished breakfast,the traveller went out of the house to make arrangementsfor continuing his journey, when, to his surprise, hishostess asking him to stop a moment, said that he owedher a thousand pounds, solemnly declaring that he hadborrowed that sum from her inn long years ago. The

N


142/190

9o CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN.

traveller was astonished greatly at this, as it seemed tohim a preposterous demand, so fetching his trunk hesoon hid himself by drawing a curtain all round him.After thus secluding himself for some time, he calledthe woman and asked, " Was your father an adept inthe art of Uranai?" The woman replied, "Yes; my fathersecluded himself just as you have done." Said thetraveller, " Explain fully to me why you say I owe youso large a sum." The mistress then related that whenher father was going to die, he bequeathed her all hispossessions except his money, saying, that on a certainday, ten years later, a traveller would lodge at her house,and that, as the said traveller owed him a thousandpounds, she could reclaim at that time this sum fromhis debtor, subsisting in the meanwhile by the gradualsale of her father's goods.

Hitherto, being unable to earn as much moneyas she spent, she had been disposing of the inheritedvaluables, but had now exhausted nearly all of them.In the meantime, the predicted date had arrived,and a traveller had lodged at her house, just asher father had foretold, so she concluded he was the


143/190

URANAI. 91

man from whom she should recover the thousandpounds.

On hearing this the traveller said that all thatthe woman had related \vas perfectly true, and takingher to one side of the room, told her to tap gentlywith her knuckles all over a wooden pillar. Atone part, the pillar gave forth a hollow sound. Thetraveller said that the money spoken about by thepoor woman lay hidden in this part of the pillar, andadvising her only to spend it gradually he went onhis way.

The father of this woman had been extremely skilfulin the art of Uranai, and by its means he had discoveredthat his daughter would pass through ten years ofextreme poverty, and that on a certain future day adiviner would come and lodge in the house. The fatherwas also aware that if he bequeathed his daughter hismoney at once she would spend it extravagantly.Upon consideration therefore he hid the money inthe pillar and instructed his daughter as related. Inaccordance with the father's prophecy, the man cameand lodged in the house on the predicted day, and


144/190


by the art of divination discovered the thousand pounds.Thus Uranai, is the art of foreseeing future events veryclearly.

NEW YEAR'S DECORATION (page 26).


145/190

GAMES.


146/190


147/190

GAMES.SOME of the games we are daily playing at in ournurseries have been also played at for centuries byJapanese boys and girls, such as blindman's buff,

called Mekakushi (eye-hiding), puss in the corner, catching,racing, scrambling, a variety of here we go round themulberry bush, knuckle-bones, played however with five


148/190


little stuffed bags instead of sheep bones, which thechildren cannot get, as sheep are not used by theJapanese. Also performances such as honey-pots, headsin chancery, turning round back to back, or hand tohand, are popular among that long-sleeved, shaven-patedsmall fry. Still better than snowballing, the lads liketo make a snow-man, with a round charcoal ball foreach eye, and a streak of charcoal for his mouth. Thisthey call Buddha's squat follower " Daruma," whoselegs rotted off through his stillness over his lengthyprayers.

As might be expected, some of the Japanese gamesdiffer slightly from ours, or else are altogether peculiarto that country. The facility with which a Japanesechild slips its shoes on and off, and the absence on thepart of the parents of conventional or health scruplesregarding bare feet, lead to a sort of game of ball inwhich the shoes take the part of the ball, and to hidingpranks with the sandal, something like our hunt theslipper and hide and seek. On the other hand, Hoi kang-0jseen on page 3, is entirely Japanese : in this game, twochildren carry a bamboo pole on their shoulders, on to


149/190

GAMES. 97

which clings a third child, in imitation of a usual modeof travelling in Japan, in which the passenger is seatedin a light bamboo palanquin borne on men's shoulders.A miniature festival is thought great fun when a fewbits of rough wood mounted on wheels are decoratedwith cut paper and evergreens, and drawn slowlyalong amidst the shouts of the exultant contrivers, inmimicry of the real festival cars, as seen on page 47.Games of soldiers are of two types ; when copied fromthe historical fights, one boy, with his kerchief boundround his temples, makes a supposed marvellous andheroic defence, slashing his bamboo sword, as harlequinwaves his baton, to deal magical destruction all aroundon the attacking party ; or, \vhen the late insurrectioncommenced in Satsuma, the Tokio boys, hearing of thecampaign on modern tactics, would form attack anddefence parties, and a little company armed with bamboobreech-loaders would march to the assault of theroguish battalion lurking round the corner.

Wrestling, again, is popular with children, not somuch on account of the actual throwing, as from thelove of imitating the curious growling and animal-like

o


150/190


springingwith which the professional wrestlers en-

counter one another. Swimming, fishing, and generalpuddling about are congenial occupation for hot summerdays ; whilst some with a toy bamboo pump, like aJapanese feeble fire-engine, manage to send a squirt ofwater at a friend, as the firemen souse their comradesstanding on the burning housetops. Itinerant streetsellers have, on stalls of a height suited to their littlecustomers, an array of what looks like pickles, but isreally bright sea-weed pods that the children buy tomake a " clup ! ' sort of noise with between their lips,so that they go about apparently hiccoughing all daylong. The smooth glossy leaves of the camellia, ascommon as hedge roses are in England, make veryfair little trumpets when blown, after having been ex-pertly rolled up, or in spring their fallen blossoms are

strung into gay chains.On a border land between games and sweets arethe stalls of the itinerant batter-sellers, whereat thetiny purchaser enjoys the evidently much appreciatedprivilege of himself arranging his little measure ofbatter in fantastic forms, and frying them upon a hot


151/190

GA MES. 99

metal plate. A turtle is a favourite design, as thefirst blotch of batter makes its body, and six judiciouslyarranged smaller dabs soon suggest its head, tail andfeet.

The games and sports of Japanese children have,however, been so well described by Professor Griffis,that we give as an Appendix his account of theirdoings.


152/190


153/190

(APPENDIX.)THE GAMES AND SPORTS OF JAPANESE

CHILDREN.


154/190


155/190

(APPENDIX.)THE GAMES AND SPORTS OF JAPANESE

CHILDREN,IN Japan one sees that the children of a largergrowth enjoy with equal zest games which are thesame, or nearly the same, as those of lesser sizeand fewer years. Certain it is that the adults doall in their power to provide for the children theirfull quota of play and harmless sports. We fre-quently see full-grown and able-bodied natives in-dulging in amusements which the men of the westlay aside with their pinafores, or when their curls arecut. If we, in the conceited pride of our superiorcivilisation, look down upon this as childish, wemust remember that the Celestial, from the pinnacleof his lofty, and to him immeasurably elevated,


156/190


civilisation, looks down upon our manly sports withcontempt, thinking it a condescension even to noticethem.

A very noticeable change has passed over theJapanese people since the modern advent of foreignersin respect to their love of amusements. Their sportsare by no means as numerous or elaborate as formerly,and they do not enter into them with the enthusiasmthat formerly characterised them. The children's fes-tivals and sports are rapidly losing their importance,and some now are rarely seen. Formerly the holidayswere almost as numerous as saints' days in thecalendar. Apprentice-boys had a liberal quota ofholidays stipulated in their indentures ; and as thechildren counted the days before each great holidayon their fingers, we may believe that a great deal ofdigital arithmetic was being continually done. Wedo not know of any country in the world in whichthere are so many toy-shops, or so many fairs forthe sale of the things which delight children. Notonly are the streets of every city abundantly suppliedwith shops, filled as full as a Christmas stocking with


157/190


158/190


159/190

THE GAMES AND SPORTS OFJAPANESE CHILDREN. 107

by which he adds to the attractions on his stall. Adisk having a revolving arrow, whirled round by thehand of a child, or a number of strings which areconnected with the faces of imps, goddesses, devils orheroes, lends the excitement of chance, and, when alucky pull or whirl occurs, occasions the subsequentaddition to the small fraction of a sens worth to bebought. Men or women itinerate, carrying a smallcharcoal brazier under a copper griddle, with batter,spoons, cups and shoyu * sauce to hire out for the priceof a jumon f each to the little urchins who spend anafternoon of bliss, making their own griddle-cakes andeating them. The seller of sugar-jelly exhibits adevil, taps a drum and dances for the benefit of hisbaby-customers. The seller of mochi does the same,with the addition of gymnastics and skilful trickswith balls of dough. In every Japanese city, thereare scores, if not hundreds, of men and women whoobtain a livelihood by amusing the children.

Some of the games of Japanese children are of* The origin of the English soy.t The tenth part of a sen or halfpenny.


160/190

ic8 CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN.

a national character, and are indulged in by allclasses. Others are purely local or exclusive. Amongthe former are those which belong to the specialdays, or matsuri, which in the old calendars enjoyedvastly more importance than under the new one.Beginning with the first of the year, there are anumber of games and sports peculiar to this time.The girls, dressed in their best robes and girdles,with their faces powdered and their lips painted,until they resemble the peculiar colours seen on abeetle's wings, and their hair arranged in the mostattractive coiffure, are out upon the street playingbattledore and shuttlecock. They play not only intwos and threes, but also in circles. The shuttlecockis a small seed, often gilded, stuck round with feathersarranged like the petals of a flower. The battledoreis a wooden bat ; one side of which is of bare wood,while the other has the raised effigy of some popularactor, hero of romance, or singing girl in the mostultra-Japanese style of beauty. The girls evidentlyhighly appreciate this game, as it gives abundantopportunity for the display of personal beauty, figure


161/190

THE GAMES AND SPORTS OFJAPANESE CHILDREN. 109

and dress. Those who fail in the game often havetheir faces marked with ink, or a circle drawn roundtheir eyes. The boys sing a song that the wind willblow, the girls sing that it may be calm so that theirshuttlecocks may fly straight. The little girls at thistime play with a ball made of cotton cord, coveredelaborately with many strands of bright vari-colouredsilk. Inside the house they have games suited notonly for the daytime, but for the evenings. Manyforeigners have wondered what the Japanese do atnight, and how the long winter evenings are spent.On fair, and especially moonlight nights, most of thepeople are out of doors, and many of the childrenwith them. Markets and fairs are held regularly atnight in Tokio, and in other large cities. The foreignerliving in a Japanese city, even if he were blind, couldtell by stepping out of doors, whether the weatherwere clear and fine, or disagreeable. On dark andstormy nights, the stillness of a great city like Tokiois unbroken and very impressive ; but on a fair andmoonlight night the hum and bustle tell one that thepeople are out in throngs, and make one feel that it


162/190

no CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN.

is a city that he lives in. In most of the castle townsin Japan, it was formerly the custom of the people,especially of the younger, to assemble on moonlight nightsin the streets or open spaces near the castle gates,and dance a sort of subdued dance, moving round incircles and clapping their hands. These dances oftencontinued during the entire night, the following daybeing largely consumed in sleep. In the winterevenings in Japanese households the children amusethemselves with their sports, or are amused by theirelders, who tell them entertaining stories. The samuraifather relates to his son Japanese history and heroiclore, to fire him with enthusiasm and a love of thoseachievements which every samurai youth hopes at someday to perform. Then there are numerous socialentertainments, at which the children above a certainage are allowed to be present. But the games reliedon as standard means of amusement, and seen espe-cially about New Year, are those of cards. In oneof these, a large square sheet of paper is laid on thefloor. On this card are the names and pictures ofthe fifty-three post-stations between Yedo and Kioto.


163/190


164/190

ii2 CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN.

hundred cards, on which aie inscribed the onehundred stanzas or poems so celebrated and knownin every household. A stanza of Japanese poetryusually consists of two parts, a first and second, orupper and lower clause. The manner of playing thegame is as follows. The reader reads half the stanzaon his card, and the player, having the card on whichthe other half is written, calls out, and makes amatch. Some children become so familiar with thesepoems that they do not need to hear the entire halfof the stanza read, but frequently only the first word.

The Kokin Garuta, or the game of Ancient Odes,the Gcnji Gantta, named after the celebrated Genji(Minamoto) family of the middle ages, and the ShiGaruta are all card-games of a similar nature, but canbe thoroughly enjoyed only by wrell-educated Chinesescholars, as the references and quotations are writtenin Chinese and require a good knowledge of theChinese- and Japanese classics to play them well. Toboys who are eager to become proficient in Chinese,it often acts as an incentive to be told that they willenjoy these games after certain attainments in scholar-


165/190


166/190

ii 4 CHILD-LIFE IN JAPAN.

pieces number 40 in all. Backgammon is also afavourite play, and there are several forms of it.About the time of old style New Year's day, when thewinds of February and March are favourable to thesport, kites are flown, and there are few gamesin which Japanese boys, from the infant on theback to the full-grown and the over-grown boy,take more delight. I have never observed, however,as foreign books so often tell us, old men flying kitesand boys merely looking on. The Japanese kites aremade of tough paper pasted on a frame of bamboosticks and are usually of a rectangular shape. Someof them, however, are made to represent children ormen, several kinds of birds and animals, fans, &c.On the rectangular kites are pictures of ancient heroesor

Documents

Child Life in Japan by Matilda Chaplin Ayrton