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 < 
 
 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
 
 i.iiNDd.v : 
 
 i;. rl.AV, SON-s, AMI TAVLiil;. rillNTKIiS, 
 l;l:l'.AI> STUI'.KT II II. I..
 
 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE 
 
 ILLUBTPtATED. 
 
 BV 
 
 AIME HUM BEET, 
 
 I.ATK .KSViiY KXn;A.ii;iHNAI:V ANl. MINISTF.I; I'l.KNlPdTICNTIAl! V m TllK SWISS COXFKDKKATK.N-. 
 
 TRANSLATED I'.Y MllS. CASIIEI. llOEV 
 
 AMI 
 
 EDITED i;V H. W. HATES. 
 
 ASSISTANT SKi'|;KTA1:V T(i TIIK 1;i)VAI, i;i;(lli];AIMIIlAl. suciktv. 
 
 ^fe 
 
 A DOMKSi'Il- .SCKXE. 
 
 it'ouDoii : 
 RfCHARD BENTF-EY & SON, 
 
 |.)ublisbfrs in (L^rbinarn io |)cr |^lajcstn. 
 
 1874.
 
 m 
 
 PEE FACE. 
 
 The richly-illustrated work on Japan, of which a translation is now ofFered to the 
 English-reading world, has acquired high estimation on the continent of Europe, for 
 the evident fidelity with which it portrays the scenery of this interesting country, 
 and the varied life of its singular people. Its author, M. Aime Humbert, obtained 
 his copious material during a residence of two years in the country, in 1863-1864, 
 as Minister Plenipotentiary of the Swiss Republic ; availing himself of the privilege 
 of travelling outside the barriers of the foreign settlement at Yokohama, a privilege at 
 that time exclusively accorded to diplomatists of the Treaty Powers, to obtain subjects 
 for his pen and pencil in quarters inaccessible to the ordinary inquirer. How genially 
 he appreciated all he saw, and how pleasantly he communicates the knowledge he 
 acquired, will be understood by all readers of the following pages. 
 
 M. Humbert relates, in the Introduction to the original French Edition, that he 
 was accompanied in all his jjeregrinations by a faithful attache ; to whom, without 
 mentioning him by name, he wishes to be attributed a portion of the credit of his 
 work. Together, he says, they studied the country and the people, visiting the 
 neighbouring towns, and raml)ling at all seasons over the pleasant country around 
 the Kay of Yeddo. Armed with their sketching implements and a note-book, they 
 jotted down their observations ; sometimes seated at the foot of an ancient cedar ; 
 sometimes squatted on the threshold of a rustic tavern ; or again, more slyly, 
 intrenched in the back shop of some friendly tradesman, who good-naturedly aided 
 them in their inquiries. A large number of photographs were taken, under M. 
 Humbert's own eye ; and he speaks of the treasures, in the way of engravings, 
 Indian-ink sketches, and coloured pictures, all valuable illustrations of the hidden 
 
 1 114983
 
 vi PREFACE. 
 
 scenes ot Japanese political life and liistoiy, winch he obtained by frequent visits 
 to the print-shops of Yeddo. A judicious selection from the copious store of material 
 thus obtained formed the pictorial part of his work. 
 
 The t5riginal French work has passed through two editions : the second, from 
 which the present translation has been made, adds a summary of events in Japan 
 down to the year 1868 to the original narrative. During this interval the great 
 Eevolutiou, which has so profoundly modified the political condition and social life in 
 Japan, took place. A continuation of the narrative, bringing the I'ecord down to the 
 summer of 1873, is furnished by the editor of the English Edition. 
 
 Such a work must naturally be of deep interest to the people of Great Britain 
 and the United States of America, whose commercial relations with Japan out- 
 weigh those of all other nations put together ; and the interest will not be lessenetl 
 liy the reflection that the strange life — art, manners, and costumes — so graphically 
 portrayed, is undergoing a rapid change, and will soon l)e a thing of the past. 
 
 I.UMEDIAN.S TO THE KIS.VKl.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK I.-BENTEK. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE IX LAND SEA. 
 
 V\r,v. 
 K.XTKNT AND WKAl.TII (W TIIK KMPIUE (IF JAPAN.— SCENERY AND FEATl'HES oF TIIF INLAND SEA. 1 
 
 CHAPTER ir. 
 
 OUR NEIGnnOURS. 
 I'.KNTF.N. THK I'F.dri.K- TllF. TEMIM.ES.— THE TEA-HOUSES.— OFK I.ADV Vl.-^rnHiS ... ... 13 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 THE COUXTRY AXD TIIK PEOPLE. 
 
 THE rnlTI.ATKiN OF THE IJE.U'H -HTM l!LE lliisPrrAI.n'V.— SCENERY.— Sl'KINCTI DK. (TI.TI VATKiN. 
 
 — lNl)rsTl:V. — 1NVENTIVENE.SS ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... a 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DOME S TIC LI E E. 
 
 •lAPANESK nul"SE.S. — PEKSUNAI, APPEARANCE OF MEN AND WOMEN. -THEIR HiHSEHoED LIVES, 
 
 (TSTOMS, FURNITURE.— EDUCATION, LANGUAGE, SCHOOLS 34
 
 I'ACIK 
 
 viii CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK II.-KIOTO. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE JAPANESE PEOPLE. 
 
 COlirLICATIONS OF THE SUBJECT.— A SUPPOSED TARTAR IMMIGRATION.— PEACKFITI, TlilBES.-THE 
 
 .JAPANESE LANGUAGE.— PORTUGUESE ADVENTURERS.— COSMOGONY 47 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE GENESIS OF JAPAN. 
 
 THE BEGINNING.— THE PRIMITIVE GODS.— ACTS OF CREATION.— THE SEVEN CELESTIAL GODS.- THE 
 MYTH OF IZANAGI AND IZANAMI— THE CHILDREN OF THIS PRIMARY COUPLE.— ZINMOI'.— 
 THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE HISTORICAL ERA.— KAMI WORSHIP .V. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE EARLY SOVEREIGNS OF JAPAN. 
 
 THE CONQUEROR WHO CAME FROM THE SOUTH.— ORIGIN AND CAREER OF ZINMOU.— EARLY 
 HI.STORY.— FOUNDATION AND CONSOLIDATION OF THE EMPIRE.— THE RACE OF THE MIKADOS. 
 —ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION . . ... .. ... ... ... .■ ..■ SS 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ART AND FASHION IN KIOTO. 
 
 IMMOBILITY OF .VRT AND LITERATURE IN THE ANCIENT CAPITAL. -CONTRAST BETWEEN CHINA 
 AND .JAPAN.— DECREPITUDE OF THE ONE; ETERNAL YOUTH OF THE OTHER.— THE FESTIVAL 
 OF THE DEAD.— BURIAL CEREMONIES.— NATIVE DRAWING.— ARCHITECTURAL WORKS OF THE 
 .JAPANESE.— COURT DRESS AND CUSTOMS.— THE EMPRESS AND HER COURT.— DEVELOPMENT OF 
 iivn. AND MILITARY INSTITUTIONS.— THE INVISIBLE MIKADO.. . ... SO 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE DECADENCE OF THE MIKADOS. 
 
 A CHAPTKI! IN THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF JAPAN.— ITS DELINEATION BY PICTURES —THE SAPI'IN(; 
 
 OF THK niPERI.M. POWEi;.-TIIE BEGINNING OF THE END ... ,. . ... 8i>
 
 CONTENTS. ix 
 
 BOOK III.-KAMAKOURA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE RESIDENCES OF THE SIOGOUNS. 
 
 TllK UUINS.— THE SIOGOUNS.— YORITOMO.— HIS REFORMS.— A STANDING ARMY.— THE COURT OF KIOTO 
 
 AND THE SECONDARY SOVEREIGN 103 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE TEMPLES OF KAMAKOURA. 
 THE AVENUES.— THE CHAPELS.— THE TORIS.— THE PAGODA.— TOOLS,— BONZES.— THE DAIBOUDHS ... U« 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 B UD DHI SM IN J A P A X. 
 
 INTUODUCTION OF BUDDHISM.— BUDDHIST SYMBOLISM.— THE INFANT BUDDHA— FESTIVAL OF HIS 
 BIRTH AND BAPTISM.— THE DOCTRINE OF UNIVERSAL AND INEVITABLE SUFFERING.— NIRW ANA. 
 —THE GENERAL INFLUENCE OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY ON JAPANESE LIFE.— THE LITERATURE 
 OF BUDDHISM —JAIWNESE WRITING ... ... ... ... ... .. ... ... 1-27 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TAiKOSAMA AND THE TOk'AIDO. 
 
 INCREASING ANARCHY FROM FOURTEENTH TO SIXTEENTH CENTURY.— FlDi;-VOSI —SPREAD OF THE 
 BUDDHIST RELIGION— CONFLICTS.— ORDINANCES OF FIDfi-YOSI — THE PRINCE OF BOUNGO.— 
 FRANCIS XAVIER.— JAPANESE CHRISTIANS.— PERSECUTION.— MARTVRD0M.—IY6YAS.—THE TO- 
 KaTDO.— SINAGAWA h; 
 
 BOOK IV.-YEDDO. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE GREAT CI TV. 
 
 N.VTUKAL ADVANTAGES OF VEDDO.— THE DISTRICTS.— THE RIVERS— THE CANALS.— THE CROWD. 
 
 —GENERAL FE.A.TURES.— MONOTONY ... . ... , 167 
 
 h
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE TA I KOUNS. 
 
 MODKRN ASPECT OF YEDDO.— THE RESIDENCE OF THE TAIKOUN— HIS COURT— CEREMONIAL uF 
 AUDIENCE.— THE POLICY OF IVfiVAS.— THE LAWS OF GONGHENSAMA.— THE PREROGATIVES OF 
 THE T.UKOUN —LAW OF SUCCESSION.— THE LAST TATKOUN ... ... ... ... ... IH/ 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TEH POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE TAi KOUNS. 
 
 FA.MILY FEUDS.— the GOSANKES AND GOSANKIOS.— THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE T.\IKOUNAT INTO 
 
 A DESPOTIC SYSTEM.— POLITICAL .ASSASSINATION.— THE SPY SYSTEM ... ... ... ... 204 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 T II E II N D J 0. 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CITY— ITS EXTENT AND FEATURES ... ... ... ... .. ... ... -215 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A S A K S A-T E R A. 
 
 BONZE-HOUSES.— QUANNON.— A DISTRIBUTION OF TALISMANS.— BRAZEN ST.iTUES —AGGLOMERATION 
 OF BUILDINGS —FOX WORSHIP —PORTRAITS OF COURTEZANS —BUDDl! I.ST WORSHIP —MODERN 
 f'ORRUPTloN OF THE OLD DOCTRINES AND PR.VCTICES ... ... ... ... . 241 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EDUCATION AXD LITERATURE AT YEDDO. 
 
 SEPARATION OF RANKS.— CONFUCIUS AT THE UNIVERSITY.— ECLIPSE OF FAITH. -THE DOCTRINES OF 
 CONFUCIUS.— DIFFICULTIES IN THE STUDY OF CHINESE LITERATL'RE.-PRIMITIVE WRITING —THE 
 FORMER LITERARY CENTRE OF .lAPAN.—BOOKS.— POEMS.— LEGENDS.— ANCIENT ENCYCLOPyEDIAS. 
 —STORY-TELLERS AND SINGERS.— WORSHIP oK oI.D TREES.— FANTASTIC .sTORIK.s OF .\XIMALS.— 
 DEMONS.-GHOSTS . , . ... .. ... ... ... 251
 
 CONTENTS. xi 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DOMESTIC SOLEMNITIES. 
 
 liAKDENS.— BATHS.— POPULAR MEDICINE.— THE SHAMPOOERS.— WEDDINGS.— A SOCIAL COMEDY.— A '*^''' 
 .JAPANESE BABY.— DEATH.— BURIAL.— INCINEKATION.-YJSDAS.— CHRISTANS.— FURTHER CUSTOMS 267 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SOCI.IL INSTITUTIONS IN YEDDO. 
 
 .)UGGLEi;s AND ACROBATS.— TEMPLES.— TEA-HOUSES.— THE LIVKRY OF VICE.— SIGNALS.— SOCIAL DEMO- 
 RALIZATION.— FISH-CURING.— IMITATION OF EDIBLE NESTS.— STREET AMUSEMENTS.— THE LION 
 OF THE COREA.— TRADES ., ,. 291 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 S I N-Y S I W A R A. 
 A MOTHER'S SACUI KICK.— DEALING IN VICE.— BUDDHISM AND INFANTICIDE ... ... ... 310 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 RELIGIO US FESTI VA LS. 
 
 ANNUAL PURIFICATION. -THE PROCESSION OF SANNOO.— THE PROCESSION OF COURTEZANS. -THE GO- 
 
 sfiKlS.-FE.STlVAL OF MATRONS 319 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE SIBA'iA, OR NATIONAL DRAMA OF JAPAN 
 
 IIUMAN INTEREST OF THE DRAMA IN JAPAN. -THE SIBAIA.— MALE COMEDIANS.— FEMALE DANCERS.- 
 HARANGUES BY THE ACTORS.— RESTAURANTS. -CONSTRUCTION OF THE THEATRE.— SCENES ON 
 AND (IFF THE STAGE. -THE GREEN-ROOM . ... ... ... 333 
 
 b 2
 
 xii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 INAKA. 
 
 I'AGK 
 
 THK BELOVED SUBURB.-BEAUTlFrL SCENERY.-PLEASURE PARTIES.— CARICATURE. -MIXTURE OK 
 CHILDISH AND HEROIC ART.-GOOD NATURE.- POLITICAL SATIRES.— CHIMERAS. -THE HORRIBLE 
 AND THE FANTaSTIC.-ODJI-INARL— KITSNf:.— FOX WORSHIP AND ITS ORGIES ... 339 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE NEW ORDER OF THINGS IX JAPAN. 
 
 INTERNAL POLITICS AT THE EPOCH OF THE TREATIES.— WISDOM OF THE LINE TAKEN BY ENGLAND. 
 — STOTSBASHL- THE ASSEMBLY OF PRINCES.— THE FALL OF THE TAIKOUNAT.— THE MIKADO.— 
 GENERAL INFORMATION P0S.SES3ED BY THE JAPANESE.— PROSPECTS OF COMMERCE.— SANITARY 
 FACT.S.— PRODUCTS AND EXPORTS.— IMPORTS ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 359 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 PATRIOTIC ACT OF THE DAIMIOS.— SWEEPING REFORMS.— THE CALENDAR OF THE CHRISTIAN NATIONS 
 ADOPTED.— THE MIK.iDO VISIBLE.— RAILWAY OPENED.— RE.A.CTIONARY MOVEMENT.— FIDELITY 
 OF THE SAMOUKAL— COMMERCE AND COMMUNICATION INCREASING .. ... . . 371
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. 
 
 A roirnox of the fkaxk quakter at yokuhama 
 
 ISLANDERS OF THE INLAND SEA 
 
 WINTER DRESS OF THE FISHERMEN AND PEASANTS 
 
 JAPANESE BIRDS 
 
 A STREET IN BENTEN-TORl AT YOKOHAMA 
 THE PORTER'S LODGE AT THE Dl'TCH RESIDENCY 
 AVENUE OF THE TEMPLE AT BENTEN ... 
 INllAP.ITAXTS OF THE YAKOUNINE QrARTK.I! 
 
 A STABLE-MAN 
 
 OUR LADY VISITORS 
 
 THE POPULATION OF THE BEACH ... 
 
 KIlE CULTIVATION ... 
 
 l;iCE-FIELDS ... 
 
 HARVEST SCENE 
 
 A RICE MILL 
 
 A FURTHER STAGE OF RICE CULTIVATION 
 
 AN AERIAL BRIDGE 
 
 JAPANESE BIRDS 
 
 A DORMITORY IN A JAPANESE INN... 
 
 A GOVERNOR'S PROCESSION 
 
 A JAPANESE LADY AT HER TOILET 
 
 THE FINISHING TOUCH 
 
 AN INHAIJITANT OF THE CITY IX WINTER DRESS 
 
 A SERVANT AT AN INN 
 
 A DOMESTIC SCENE ... 
 
 A VIEW IN THE INLAND SEA 
 
 I-ACK 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 l:i 
 14 
 
 l.l 
 
 IS 
 
 ly 
 
 ■21 
 ■24 
 
 2y 
 
 31 
 3-2 
 34 
 36 
 37 
 39 
 40 
 41 
 43 
 47
 
 XIV 
 
 LIHT OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 ANCIENT WARRIOR WITH THE NECKLACE OF MONTAGAMAS 
 
 ANCIENT ARCHERS ... 
 
 ANCIENT WARRIOR AND ANCIENT ARCHER 
 
 SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC 
 
 BENEDICTION OF AMULETS BY THE KAMI PRIESTS 
 
 THE GOD OF LONGEVITY ... 
 
 KOFNI-TOKO-TATSI, THE FIRST OF THE CELESTIAL GODS 
 
 ZINMOU 
 
 THE KIRIN 
 
 .UrANESE EMPEROR IN ANCIENT TIMES ... 
 ANCIENT SCULPTOR ... 
 
 A PANTOMIMIC DANCE AT THE COURT OF THE MIKADO 
 
 DOMESTIC ALTAR OF THE GODS OF HAPPINESS 
 
 JAPANESE MOSAIC ... 
 
 A YEMA 
 
 DISTRIBUTION OF MONEY TO THE PEOPLE BY ORDER OF THE SIOGOUN 
 ACTORS AND DANCERS AT THE COURT OF THE MIKADO 
 
 A DAIMIO IN COURT DRESS 
 
 A POETESS OF KIUTO 
 
 IN THE OFFING 
 
 THE SIOGOUN AND HIS ESCORT 
 
 AN INVESTITURE 
 
 A FISHERMAN AND AN EGRET 
 GYMNASTS AT KIOTO 
 
 A WRESTLING CIRCUS 
 
 A CASHIER . 
 
 flALl.KKY IN AX INN ... - 
 
 BAKERS POUNDING RICE 
 
 A STREET SCENE ON NEW YEARS DAY ... 
 A STAGE NOBLE 
 
 THE CENTRAL TEMPLE, FR(lM THE TERRACE 
 
 A KAMI TKMIM.E 
 
 THE PROCESSION OF THE Gdl) OF THE SE.\ 
 
 THE PAGODA OF HATCHIMAN 
 
 THE APPARITION OF A DROWNED WOM.AN 
 
 A UESPECTABLK TEA-HOUSE
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xv 
 
 I'AOK 
 
 CELESTIAL SENTINELS ... 12!» 
 
 A lUMROO GROVE ... .. .. ... ... ... ... ... ... 131 
 
 THE GREAT Jl'DGE OF HELL ••• 133 
 
 15UDDHIDHAKMA ... .. ... ... ... ... - 13* 
 
 A SENNIN, OR BUDDHIST SAINT .. ... ... ... ... .. ... 13is 137 
 
 R.V'l'DEN, GOD OF TUrNDER ... ... ... ... . ... .. 13» 
 
 A UrDDHIST .MIRACLE: A lioNZE BKAVIXG DECAPITATK iN ... ... 140 
 
 THE QUEEN OE HEAVEN . . . . . . HI 
 
 THE PATRON OF ARMS ... ... ... .. . . . 142 
 
 FUTEN, (!01) OF THE WINDS ... ... ... ... .. ... .. ... 143 
 
 THE TATS-.MAKI, OR DR.A.GON OF THE TYPHOONS ... ... ... ... ... ... 144 
 
 A NKillT WATCH ... ... ... ... ... ... ., .. ... ... .. 145 
 
 A 150NZE ... ... ... ... ... ... ... . .. ... ... . . 140 
 
 A GUARD-HOU.SE ... ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... ... 147 
 
 A CARRIER OF DESPATCHES ... ... ... ... .. . ... . • 155 
 
 THE CANGO, OR PEOPLE'S PALANQUIN 157 
 
 TATTOOED COOLIES . . . . ... ... ... ... ■•• .• .. 138 
 
 SINAGAWA : INN GIRLS ASSISTING TRAVELLERS 10:! 
 
 BRIDGE-iUKING EXTRAORDINARY ... ... .. .. .. lt)7 
 
 A UICE AUCTION 169 
 
 CHILDREN'S GAMES 170 
 
 A SIGNAL FROM A GONDOLA _ 17-.> 
 
 THE GREEN ROOM 173 
 
 A SAMSIN-PLAYER LIGHTING HER PIPE ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 174 
 
 RIDING-SCHOOL AT YEDDO 175 
 
 A STREET IN YEDDO ON NEW YEAR'S DAY .. ... . . . ... ... 178 
 
 A VIEW IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF AKAIUNE ... ... ... ... ... ... . ISO 
 
 GREAT TORI OF ATAGOSA-YAMA ' ISI 
 
 IDOLS OF THE ORATORY OF ..\.TAGOSA-YAMA ... ... ... ... . IS'i 
 
 THE HERO YASHITZONE . ... ... ... ... ... .. ... 1S3 
 
 A RECEPTION BY A HIGH FUNCTIONARY . Ib4 
 
 THE PATRONS OF SAKl ... ISf. 
 
 KOSKEIS SEEKING NEW YEAR'S GIFTS ... .. 18G 
 
 DOMESTIC EXORCISM ... ... ... 1S.7 
 
 A SCULPTOR OF IDOLS ... ... 1S!» 
 
 MUSICIANS ... 191
 
 XVI 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 AN APOTHECAKY'S SHor AT YEDDO 193 
 
 COLLECTORS FOR THE KAMI TEMPLES ... ... ... ... ... ... ... •■■ ■ ■ 19* 
 
 A BdXZERV AND BAMBOO GROVE... ... ... ... ■ • ... ... ••• ■■■ •■■ 194 
 
 RESIDENCE OF GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONARIES 197 
 
 AN OFFICER OF THE T.UKOrN MAKING HIS ANNUAL VISIT TO THE TOMB OF HIS FAMILY ... 203 
 
 A PHYSICIAN'S VISIT ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 205 
 
 A NOBLE SENTENCED TO THE HARA-KIRI 206 
 
 A CULPRIT UNDER EXAMINATION. AND UNDER PUNISHMENT 209 
 
 COMMUTATION OF A CAPITAL SENTENCE UPON A NOBLE INTO ONE OF BANISHMENT ... ... 212 
 
 A NEWSMAN 213 
 
 SEA FISH ... ... ... ... ... ... -■ ■■■ ■ ■ ■■■ •■• ••• •■■ 215 
 
 .JAPANESE BARBERS ... ... ... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 217 
 
 SPARROW-HAWK FISHING 219 
 
 A TORTOISE CHARMER ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 220 
 
 .siIv^TA ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 221 
 
 TEA AND SAKl ... ... ... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 223 
 
 .SKETCH OF A MONKEY ... ... ... ... ... .. ... . .. ... ... 224 
 
 SKETCH OF A WEASEL ... ... ... ... .■ •■ ... ... ... ... ... 227 
 
 A FUNERAL PROCESSION LEAVING THE HOUSE ... ... ,.. ... ... ... ... ... 229 
 
 STATUES FROM THE TEMPLE OF THE FIVE HUNDRED (!ENII ... ... ... ... ... 231, 232 
 
 KNOTS AND EMBROIDERY' IN SILK ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 233 
 
 A BRONZE WAREHOUSE AT YEDDO 236 
 
 .L\PANESE ARTIST PAINTING A YEMA ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 237 
 
 iiIJNAMENTS ... ... ... ■■ ■•■ ... •■■ ..■ ... ■.. ... ... ... 238 
 
 .\ DAIMIO AND HIS SUITE (CARICATURE) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 239 
 
 iio.WVA liATA DOCKS AND WAREHOUSES ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... 241 
 
 c.UnCATURES 242,243 
 
 A SCENE IN ASAKSA-TE1!.\ ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... 246 
 
 INTERIOR OF THE TE.MI'I.K OF QUANNON... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 247 
 
 DANCE OF THE PRIESTS OF FOUNABA-S ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 249 
 
 BEGGING FOR TIIK. KAMI TEMPLES ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 250 
 
 SIKH'S AND WAREHOUSES AT NIPHON-BASSI ... ... ... ... ... 251 
 
 ALLEGORKAL PICTURE IN THE NOBLE STYLE . . ... ... ... ... ... ... 254 
 
 ALLEGORICAL PICTURE IN THE POPULAR STYLE 254 
 
 .\ .lAPANKSE WRITER ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... 256 
 
 A BONZE HOUSE .. 258
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIOXS. xvii 
 
 PAr.K 
 
 A MAOKIAX.. .. . ... ... ... .. 25!l 
 
 THE OLD woman: AXD.TIIK .^rAltlioW ... 2fiO 
 
 I'lIII.KMOX AXn I'.AICI.S ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 2til 
 
 THK son. OF THE Ol.l) CKDARS ... ... ... .. . . 263 
 
 KNTHAXCK I'd THK (iAltDEXS OF .MVASKI, YKDDO ... ... 267 
 
 A OiiD OF HAl'l'lXFSS ... ,, , ... ... . 2(! 
 
 THE I'AEACE OF PRIXCE SAT.SOLMA AT VEUDO ... ... ... ... ... ... 27li 
 
 A .SrKGICAL OPER.VTION 272 
 
 VEIUS ... 07a 
 
 THE rROCESSlON OF THE BLIXD iCAKIrATl'liE* . .. ... ... ... ... ' ... 274 
 
 A WEDIMXCt ... ... ... ... . . . . .. .. .. ... ... 28ii 
 
 A V1.-<1T OF CONDOLENCE ... ... ... ... ... . . .. ... ... ... ... 2S3 
 
 FL"XK1!AL SERVICE IX THE HiiL'SE OF THE DECEASED .. ... ... ... .. ... 284 
 
 INCINERATION 2.S« 
 
 COLLECTING THE REMAINS .... 287 
 
 THE END OF THE I'AlilA ... ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... ... 28S 
 
 A Tii.Mi; IX WHICH THE fltX IS PLACED ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 2811 
 
 SHAMPOOING ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 29U 
 
 A FRIED-FISH SHOP.— STREET JUGGLERS 291 
 
 IN THE PURLIEUS OF THE THEATRES 293 
 
 IN THE STREETS 294 
 
 ON THE NORTHERN ROAD 29ii 
 
 NEAR THE BRIDGES... ... ... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 297 
 
 TAVEUX SERVAXTS ... ... ... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 298 
 
 A DEALER I\ OLD CROCKERYAVARE ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 300 
 
 Pl'l'I'ET E.XHIBITORS... ... ' ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3,11 
 
 A PIPE CARVER ... 303 
 
 A MAKER OF LANTERNS 304 
 
 A COOPER 305 
 
 A BOWVER 306 
 
 A DOLL-MAKER ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... ... ... .. . . 30; 
 
 A VENDOR OF SECOND-HAND CLOTHES ... ... ... ... ... . . . ... 307 
 
 A CLOCKMAKER ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 303 
 
 SINVO.SIWARA.— RECEPTION HALL 310 
 
 1;EX ZAl-TEN-UJO . 312 
 
 DAIKOKOU .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 313
 
 Z/.ST OF ILLUSTnATinXS. 
 
 r.\<:K 
 . :il4 
 
 ... 316 
 
 . . 317 
 
 ... 31 :i 
 
 ... 3-21 
 
 BISJAMON 
 
 GIGOKOO 
 
 HOTEI 
 
 THE DANCE OF THE PPJESTS 
 
 THE PATRON OF HORSEMANSHIP . 
 
 PROCESSION OF COURTEZANS AT THE FETE OF THE TEMPLE OF SANN06 3-24 
 
 A CHILD WITH A FOX- MASK . ., .. .. 32« 
 
 NEW YEAR'S A'ISITS ... ... ... ■• ■■ •• ■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■ ^531 
 
 ACROBATS • 333 
 
 RESTAURANT, WITH A VIEW OF FoL^SI-YAMA . ... .. .. 339 
 
 CARICATURE OF A P.ONZE ... ... ... ... ... ... ■ ■ ■-. 342 
 
 THE RAT RICE MERCHANTS ... ... .. ... •. ■ . ■ 313 
 
 THE HARE AND THE WILD liOAIt .. 344 
 
 A DAIMIO'S TRAIN (CARICATURE) ... ... ... .. .• •• ■. ■■ ■■• ■• 31.5 
 
 PROCESSION OF TALISMANIC RAKES 34fi 
 
 THE GAME OF THE FOX ■■ 34!) 
 
 KITSNE 350 
 
 FESTIVAL OF THE FOXES ... ... ... ... ... ... •. ■. ••• 352 
 
 A SCENE OF SORCERY ... ... ... .. . . .• •• •• 353 
 
 A RURAL TEA-HOUSE 
 
 THE FAN-DANCE 
 
 THE GANKIRO 3.-,9 
 
 A MOUSNEE 3(!2 
 
 A MOUSNEE AND HER ClUl,!) 3iii; 
 
 SLEEPING MOUSNEES ■■ 3i;.s 
 
 BLACK SQUIRREL AND MARTKX FKRKET 3(i:) 
 
 RETURN OF THE SIOGOUN .. 371 
 
 JAPANESE IDEA OF A RAILWAY TKAIN • 371 
 
 355 
 35H
 
 TAP AN AND THE JAPANESE
 
 BOOK I 
 BENTEN
 
 ^tJNVCi^ 
 
 A I'LiRlIO.V OF THE FRAXK QUAllTEli AT YOKOHAMA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE INLAND SEA 
 
 EXTENT AND WEALTH OF THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN. — SCENERY AND FEATURES OF 
 
 THE INLAND SEA. 
 
 Ihe Empire of Japan extends over more than twenty-six degrees of latitude (from 
 24° 16' to 50° north latitude). It comprises 3,850 islands, or islets, representing a super- 
 ficies of 7,521 square miles, of fifteen to the degi-ee. 
 
 Tills little insular world, whose population is supposed to amount to between 
 thirty-two and thirty-four millions, is divided into six chief groups, or archipelagoes. 
 The largest is Japan, properly so called, comprehending 3,511 islands, with a superficies 
 of 5,30G square miles. Then come Yeso, the great Kouriles, Krafto, the Bonin group, 
 and the Flow Kiow Archipelago. 
 
 The Ldand Sea of Japan is bounded by the southern coasts of Niphon, and the 
 northern coasts of Kiousiou, and Sikoff. It is, however, more like a canal than a real 
 
 B 2
 
 4 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 mediterranean sea, being a communication established, at the height of the thirty-fourth 
 degree of north latitude, between the Chinese Sea, or, more strictly, of the Strait of 
 Corea, on the western coast of Japan, and the great ocean which washes the southern 
 and eastern shores of the same archipelago. The whole of the Japanese Mediterranean 
 is sometimes known as the Sea of Souavo. 
 
 Each of the provinces by which it is surrounded contains one or several "lordships," 
 belono-ino- to feudal princes, who enjoy considerable independence, and generally derive 
 large revenues from their estates. Among others, the family of the princes of Kisou may 
 be mentioned, as drawing from their patrimonial domains an annual revenue ecpiivalent to 
 the sum of £352,000 ; the Prince of Aki, whose revenue is £279,400 ; the Prince of Nagato, 
 whose fortune amounts to £236,1(50 ; and the Prince of Bidzen, M'ho draws £198,400. 
 
 The Japanese Mediterranean, like the European sea so called, is divided into several 
 basins. They arc five in number, and are named from tlie most important of the provinces 
 which overlook them, so tliat the Inland Sea bears five different names throughout its 
 lono-itudinal course from west to east. 
 
 In the midst of tlie natural wealth wliicli surrounds them, the large, industrious, 
 and intelligent population of the country parts of Japan have for their entire possessions 
 only a humble shed, a few working implements, some pieces of cotton cloth, a few 
 mats, a cloak of straw, a little store of tea. oil, rice, and salt ; for furniture, nothing 
 l)ut two or three cooking utensils ; in n word, only the strict necessaries of existence. 
 All the remaining product of their labour belongs to the owners of the soil, the 
 
 feudal lords. 
 
 The absence of a middle class gives a miserable aspect to the Japanese villages. 
 Liberal civilization would have covered the borders of the Inland Sea with pretty hamlets 
 and elegant villas. The uniformity of the rustic dwellings is broken by temples, but 
 they are to be distinguished at a distance only b}- the vast dimensions of their roofs, 
 and by the imposing effect of the ancient trees which arc almost always to be found 
 in their vicinity. liuddhist pagodas, which are lofty towers with pointed roofs, adorned 
 with cralleries on each iloor, ai'c much less common in Japan than in China. 
 
 On entering the basin of Hiogo, we came in sight of a towji of .some importance, 
 on the coast of Sikoff ; it is called Iniabari. A vast sandy beach, which is rarely to 
 1)0 found in Japan, stretched back to a kind of suburb, in which we could discern a 
 busy concourse of people, ajiparently carrying on market business. Above the strand
 
 WEALTH OF THE EMl'iriE. 5 
 
 were fertile plains, -whose undulating lines were lost in the mist at the foot of a chain 
 of mountains bathed in sunshine. The principal peaks of this chain — Kori-yama, 
 Yafatzowsen, and Siro Yama— are fi-om 1,000 to 1,G00 3'ards in height. 
 
 Fortifications, or rather mounds of earth, behind which shone several banners, 
 protected the batteries posted in front of the port. Some soldiers, standing in a 
 
 IM,ANliKl;» OK I'HK IM.A.M1 .SKA. 
 
 group on the shore, followed our corvette with their eyes. There was nothing 
 remarkable in the aspect of the town, except the sacred places, adorned l)y gigantic trees. 
 Some time afterwards we passed, within rifle-range, a large Japanese steamer, which 
 our pilot, whom we consulted, and Avho judged from the colours of the flag, informed 
 us was the property of the Prince of Tosa. His estates are situated in the southern 
 portion of the i.^sland of Sikoff, and they bring him in a very large annual revenue.
 
 G LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 Most probably he was returning from a conference of the feudal party held in the 
 city of Kioto, at the court of the Hereditary Emperor of Japan ; and had embarked at 
 Hiogo, in order to regain his own province by the Boungo canal. What were his 
 sentiments on beholdina; a strange corvette cleavinoj the waters of the Inland Sea ? 
 Does he flatter himself that he can repel the civilization of the AVest by the arms 
 which it places at his disposal ? Does he know whither steam will lead him ? 
 
 Counting up all the war-steamers which, to our knowledge, have been furnished to 
 Japan by Europe and America, we make the number fourteen. The first, the yacht 
 Solenburg, was given to the Taikoun by the King of the Netherlands ; another, the 
 yacht Emperor, by the Queen of England ; the others have been sold by the Govern- 
 ments or the traders of the "West, either to the Taikoun, or to certain of the principal 
 daimios, such as Mito, Nagato, Satsouma, and Tosa. 
 
 A little before sunset we saw, on the coast of Sikofl', a feudal castle, remarkable 
 for its picturesque site upon the summit and the sides of a wooded hill, at whose feet 
 a rustic hamlet seemed to shelter itself under the protection of the ancient lordly 
 towers. It is the Castle of Marougama, the residence of Prince Kiogokow Sanoke, 
 whose revenues are valued at £40,000. The castles of the daimios are generally at a 
 distance from the towns and villages. They are composed, in most instances, of a 
 vast quadrangular enclosure, within thick and lofty crenellated walls, surrounded by a 
 moat, and flanked at the corners, or surmounted at intervals throughout their extent, 
 by small square towers witli slightly sloping roofs. In the interior are the park, the 
 gardens, and the actual residence of the daimio, comprising a main dwelling, and 
 numerous dependencies. Sometimes a solitary tower, of a shape similar to the other 
 buildinfrs, rises in the middle of the feudal domain, and rears itself three or four 
 stories higher than the external wall. As in the case of the Chinese pagodas, each 
 story is surrounded by a roof, which, however, but seldom supports a gallery. All 
 the masonry is rough, and joined by cement ; the woodwork is painted red and 
 black, and picked out with copper ornaments, which are sometimes polished, but 
 sometimes laden with verdigris. The tiles of the roof are slate-colour. In general, 
 richness of detail is less aimed at than the general effect resulting from the grandeur 
 and harmony of the proportions of the buildings. In this respect, some of the 
 seignorial residences of Japan deserve to figure among the remarkable architectural 
 monuments of the peoples of Eastern Asia.
 
 SCENEBY OF THE IXLAND SEA. 
 
 "We anchored in a bay of the island of Souyousima, at the southern point of the 
 province of Bitsiou, and at the entrance of the basin of Arinia. We were surrounded by 
 mountains, at whose feet twinkled many lights shining in from houses. The stillness was 
 unbroken, save by the distant barking of 
 dogs. Next morning, April 24, very early, 
 w^e were ploughing the peaceful waters 
 of the Arimanado. This basin is com- 
 pletely closed on the east l»y a single 
 island, which divides it from the Idsou- 
 minada by a length of thirty miles. it 
 is in the form of a triangle, whose apex, 
 turned towards the north, faces the pro- 
 vince of Ariraa, on the island of Niphon. 
 This is the beautiful island of Awadsi, 
 which was the dwelling-place of the 
 sods, and the cradle of the national 
 mythology of the Japanese. The low- 
 lands at its southern extremity are covered 
 with a luxuriant vegetation, and the soil 
 rises gently into cultivated or wooded hills 
 until they touch the boundaries of a chain 
 of mountains from 300 to 700 yards in 
 heifiiht. Awadsi bolono;s to the Prince 
 of Awa, whose annual revenue amounts 
 to .£1G0,000. It is separated from the 
 island of SikofF on the west, by the pa.s- 
 sage of Naruto, and the island of Niphon 
 on the east, by the Strait of Linschoten. 
 
 The greater number of the steamers 
 which cross the Japanese Mediterranean 
 from west to east, pass from the basin of Arima into that of Idsoumi, where they 
 generally touch at the important commercial town of Hiogo ; and from thence they 
 enter the great ocean by the Strait of Linschoten. That passage of Naruto which leads 
 
 WlNTEll PRESS OF lilK KI.sIlERMK.V AND TEASAN TS.
 
 8 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 directly from the basin of Arima into the great ocean is shorter than the former ; 
 it is, however, much less frequented, because it is considered a dangerous channel for 
 high-decked vessels. 
 
 We saw the coasts drawing nearer and nearer to us, as we descended, towards 
 the south-west corner of this triangular piece of land. At the same time a promontory 
 of the island of Sikoff rose above the horizon on our right, and seemed to stretch 
 continuously onward in the direction of Awadsi. Very soon we found ourselves in 
 a passage from whence we could distinctly see the beautiful vegetation of the coast 
 of Sikoff and the coast of Awadsi. At lentrth we saw the gates of the Strait : on 
 
 
 i\ K.^pinr- 
 
 JAVANESE Bllins. 
 
 the left, rocks surmounted by pines, forming the front of the island of Awadsi ; on 
 the right, a solitary rock, or islet, also bearing a few pines, forming the front of 
 the island of Sikoff. Between them the sea, like a bar of breakers, though the 
 weather was calm : afar, tlie undulating ocean, without a speck of foam ; the tossing 
 of the waves in the passage being solely the result of the violence of the current. 
 All around us, on the waves and at the foot of the rocks, were thousands of sea- 
 birds, screaming, fluttering, and diving fur the prey which the sea, stirred to its 
 depths by the current, was pci'[>('tually tossing up to them. Several fishing-boats
 
 THE COASTS OF THE I XL AND SEA. 9 
 
 were out, not ou the canal — that wouhl have been impossible — but behind the rocks, 
 in the creeks of the little solitary islet and of Sikoff. 
 
 Below Awadsi, the united waters of the two straits of Naruto and Linschoten form 
 the canal of Kino, which washes the shores of the province of Awa, on SikofF, and of the 
 province of Kisou, on Niphon. We sailed for some time yet in sight of tlie latter ; then 
 the laud disappeared from our eyes, and we soon perceived, by the vide-roUing motion 
 of the waves, that we were on the outer sea, in tlie immense domain of the great ocean. 
 
 I occupied myself, during the whole evening, in recalling the recollections of my 
 journey; and I could find nothing out of Switzerland to compare with the eSect of the 
 beautiful Japanese scenery. Since then, several Japanese, travelling in Switzerland, have 
 told me that no other country awakened so vividly the remembrance of their own. 
 Still more frequently I transported myself in fancy to one or other of the archipelagoes 
 of the Souwonada, earnestly desiring the advent of that hour when the breath of 
 liberty will give them, in the Far East, the importance which formerly belonged, in 
 Europe, to the Archipelago of our Mediterranean. 
 
 They cannot be blended into a general impression. Nothing is less uniform than 
 the scenery of the shores of the Inland Sea. It is a series of pictures which vary 
 infinitely, according to the greater or less proximity of the coasts, or to the aspect 
 of the islands on the horizon. There are grand marine scenes, where the lines of 
 the sea blend with sandy beaches sleeping under the golden rays of the sun ; while 
 in the distance, the misty mountains form a dim backgrountl. There are little 
 landscapes, very clear, trim, and modest : a village at the back of a peaceful bay, 
 surrounded by green fields, over which towers a forest of pines ; just as one may 
 see by a lake in the Jura on a fine morning in June. 
 
 Sometimes, when the basins contracted, and the islands in front seemed Ijo shut 
 us in, I remembered the Rhine above Boppart. The Japanese scener)"- is, however, 
 more calm and bright than the romantic landscapes to which I allude. The abrupt 
 slopes, the great masses of shade, the shifting lines, are replaced by horizontal levels ; 
 by a beach, a port, and terraces ; in the distance are rounded islands, sloping hills, 
 conical mountains. These pictures have their charms : the imagination, no less than 
 the eye, rests in the contemplation of them ; but it would seek in vain that 
 melancholy attraction which, according to the notions of European taste, seems 
 inseparable from the enjoyment. 
 
 c
 
 10 LIFE IN JAPAN.. 
 
 Laying aside tlie question of the picturesque, which is not the essential element 
 of our relations with the Far East, I hope that, sooner or later, a chain of Western 
 colonies Avill be formed at Japan, peacefully developing the natural and commercial 
 resources of that admirable country, along a line marked by Yokohama, Hiogo, 
 Simonosaki, and Nagasaki. It might have a regular service of steamers. The trading 
 steamers of America, as well as those of China, might maintain the relations of the 
 two world.s with the King of the Archipelagoes of the Great Ocean. Europeans, weary 
 of the tropical climate or the burthen of business in Cliina, might seek pure and 
 strengthening air, and pass some weeks of repose on the shores of the Japanese 
 Mediterranean. How many families settled in China, how many wives and children 
 of Europeans, would be delighted to profit, during the trying summer months, by this 
 refuge, as beautiful and salubiious as Italy, and yet near their actual home ! 
 
 But while imagination, forestalling the march of time and the triumphs of 
 civilization, evokes the charms of a European society from the bosom of the isles of the 
 Souwonada, I must acknowledge that I privately congratulated myself on having seen 
 the Japanese Mediterranean in its primitive condition, while one may still " discover " 
 something, and has to ask tlie pilots the names of the islands, the mountains, and 
 the villages, and to cast anchor for the night in some creek called " fair port " by 
 the natives. 
 
 On the nio'ht of April 24, after liaving doubled the southern point of the great 
 island of Niphon, i.e the promontory of Idsoumo, situated at the southern extremity of 
 the principality of Kisou, we sailed, during the whole day on the 25th, with the current 
 which the Japanese call Kouro-Siwo, which runs from south-west to north-east, at the 
 rate of from thu'ty-five to forty miles a day. It is a current of hot water, whose 
 maximum temperature is 30" Centigrade. 
 
 The weather was fine, and the sea a shining emerald -green. I passrd many hours 
 on the poop, in stillness and vague contemplation. For the first time I enjoyed the 
 pleasure of sailing. The silence which reigned on board added to the majestic effect 
 of the ship, laden up to the summit of her masts with her triple wings of white. It 
 was as though the fires had been extinguished, and the noise of the engines hushed, 
 that we might present ourselves more respectfully at the gates of tlic residence of the 
 Taikouns. But when night fell, the fires were lighted again, in case of accident; for 
 the land-winds frequently cause much trouble to the ships in the Gulf of Yeddo. On
 
 THE COASTS OF THE IXLAXD SEA. 11 
 
 the 2Ctli, at daybreak, we came within sight of six small mountainous islands, which 
 looked like signals set up at the entrance of this vast arm of the sea. 
 
 The sun rose, and presented, amid the salt sea mists of the horizon, that image 
 of a scarlet globe which forms the national arms of Japan. His earliest rays lighted up 
 Cape Idsou, on the mainland of Niphon, whilst in the east we beheld the smoke of the 
 two craters of the island of Ohosima. At the head of a bay in the promontory of 
 Idsou is situated tlie town of Simoda, the first, but the least important of the 
 commercial places to which we come when sailing up the Gulf of Yeddo. The 
 Americans obtained an authorization to found an establishment there in 1854. Some 
 time afterwards the harbour of Simoda was destroyed by an earthquake, and no 
 mention was made of that place in tlie treaties of 1858. 
 
 A number of fishing-boats are to be seen on the coast, and several three-masted 
 vessels are going to the mainland of Niphon and the surrounding islands. Tlie scene is 
 full of life, and sparkling with brilliant and harmonious colour ; the wide sky is a 
 splendid azure ; the pale green sea has no longer the sombre hues of the great deeps, 
 but shines with the limpid brightness which characterises it upon the rocky coasts of 
 Japan. The isles are decked in the brilliant foliage of the spring ; the harsh brown 
 of the rocks is streaked with shades of ochre ; and the white sails of the native barques, 
 the snow-crests of Myakesima, and the smoke from the craters of Ohosima, complete 
 the beautiful marine scene. 
 
 Having reached tlie " Bay of the Mississippi," we made out, for the first time, the 
 summit of Fousi-yama, the "Matchless Mountain," an extinct volcano 12,450 feet above 
 the level of the sea. It is fifty nautical miles from the coast, on the west of the bay, 
 and except for the chain of the Akoui hills at its base, completely isolated. The efi"ect 
 of this immense solitary pyramid, covered with eternal snow, surjiasses description. It 
 lends inexpressible solemnity to the scenery of the Bay of Tcddo, already more 
 sombre than that of the gulf, l)y reason of the clo.-^er proximity of the shores, the 
 somewhat sandy hue of the sea-water, and the immense quantity of cedars, pines, 
 and other dark-foliaged trees which crown the crests of all the hills alonfj the coast. 
 
 At length we double Point Treaty, a picturesque promontory where the con- 
 vention lietween Commodore Perry and the Commissioners of the Taikoun was signed ; 
 and all uf a sudden, behind this promontory, we see the quays and the city of 
 Yokohama stretching along a marshy beach, bounded on the south and west by a
 
 12 LIFU IN JAPAN, 
 
 ring of wooded hills. A score of ships of war, and merchant vessels, English, Dutch, 
 French, and American, arc lying out in the roads, almost opposite the " foreign quarter," 
 which may easily be recognized by its white houses and its consular flags. Native 
 ju'd<s are lying at anchor at some distance from the jetties of the port and the store- 
 houses of the Custom House. AVe pass by these slowly, and steam at half speed in 
 front of the Japanese city, in which all the houses, except a certain number of shops, 
 are l)uilt of wood, and seem to have only one storey above the gx'ound floor. 
 
 AVhen we had come opposite to the Beuten cparter, situated at the extremity of the 
 beach of Yokohama, and at rhe mouth of a wide river, our corvette anchored, near the 
 Dutch Legation, which was at that time the only European residence in that part of 
 Yokohama.
 
 A STKEET IN BENTEX-TORI, AT YOKOHAMA. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 OUR NEIGHBOURS. 
 
 BENTEN. — THE PEOPLE. — THE TEMPLE. — THE TEA-HOUSES. — OUR LADY VISITORS. 
 
 That portion of the Japanese city of Yokoliama wliicli is called Benten derives its name 
 from a sea-goddess, who is worshipped in an island situated to the north-west of our 
 residence. Before the arrival of the Europeans, this sacred place was surrounded only by 
 a small town, in which dwelt fishermen and agriculturists, separated by a swamp from 
 the not less modest little town of Yokohama. Now, quays, streets, modern buildings, 
 have invaded the entire space which extends from the promontory of the " Treaty " to 
 the river, from which we are divided only by a range of Japanese barracks and a 
 guard -house. 
 
 Among the streets which extend to the sea-beach from Benten, there is one 
 shaded by a plantation of firs ; and on passing through the municipal barrier 
 which the police keep open during the day and shut at night, the stranger finds
 
 14 
 
 LIFE IN J A PAX. 
 
 himself in front of a long avenue of fir-trees, licaded by a sacred gate called a 
 Tori. It is composed of two pillars slightly inclined towards each other ; so that 
 they would meet at last at an acute angle, if at a certain elevation their pyramidal 
 development were not checked ; and joined by two horizontal transverse beams, of which 
 the uppermost is the thicker, and is curved upwards at both ends. The tori invariably 
 announces the vicinity of a temple, a chapel, or a sacred place of some sort. A grotto, a 
 
 THE Pur.TEK.S LODGE AT THE DUTCH HESIUENUV. 
 
 waterfall, a gigantic tree, a fantastic rock, all things which we prosaically call natural 
 curiosities, a Japanese regards with pious veneration or ^^•ith superstitious fear, according 
 to whether he be more or less governed by the Buddhist demonology : and the bonzes of 
 tlie country never fail to give tangible form to this popular tendency, by erecting a tori 
 close to each remarkable place.
 
 THE TEMPLE. 
 
 ir, 
 
 The pine-trees in the Benten avenue are lofty, slender, and for the most part bent 
 liy the continuous action of the sea-breezes. At regular distances long poles are nailed 
 upon them crosswise, on which, on festival days, the bonzes hang inscriptions, wreaths, 
 
 and swinging banners. 
 
 The avenue ends in a second tori, which, with due regard to perspective, is not 
 so lofty as the first. On approaching it, one is surprised to find tluit the avenuf 
 
 AVENUE OF THE TEMPLE AT BEXTEX. 
 
 makes a sudden bend and 2^i"olongs itself on the right. Here all is mystery ; a waste 
 ground, covered with rank grasses, bushes, and slender pines with aerial foliage ; on 
 the left, the calm transparent water of a little gulf formed by an arm of the river ; 
 in front is a wooden bridge, liuilt in a style of severe elegance, wide, and excessively 
 curved ; behind this bridge is a third tori, thrown out agiiinst the tliiek foliage of
 
 16 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 a grove of fine trees. The whole forms a strange picture, with something in it that 
 excites a secret apprehension. This bridge, whose pillars are decorated with ornaments 
 in copper, finally admits us to the sacred place. The third tori, bearing on its summit 
 an inscription in gold letters on a black ground, is entirely built of fine granite of 
 remarkable whiteness ; and the tombs, which are tastefully disposed on the left side of the 
 avenue, are constructed of the same material. The temple, almost entii'ely hidden by the 
 branches of the cedars and pines which surround it, faces us ; but the mysterious gloom 
 hardly permits us to discern the flight of steps on which the people kneel who come to 
 worship before the altar of the goddess. Should the temple be empty, one of the bonzes 
 in attendance may be summoned by shaking a long strip of woollen stuff that hangs 
 beside the entrance, with a bunch of pebbles attached to it. The bonze comes out of 
 his retreat immediately, and proceeds, according to the requirements of the visitor, to give 
 him advice, to distribute tapers or amulets, to undertake to recite prayers, in fact to per- 
 form any of the ceremonies of their worship ; — of course for the consideration of a fee. 
 
 As a Japanese, before he presents himself at the sanctuary, must wash and dry 
 his hands and face, in a small chapel, at some distance from the temple, on the 
 right, is a basin containing the holy water intended for ablutions, and napkins of 
 silk crape suspended on a roller, like the hand-towels in a sacristy. One of two 
 chapels close by contains the big drum which serves the purpose of a bell for the 
 temple, the other the ex-voto ofi"erings of the faithful. The bonzes who serve the 
 temple of Benten do not appear to live in opulence. Their attire is generally dirty and 
 neglected ; and the expression of their faces is stupid, sullen, and malevolent towards 
 strangers, who are glad to keep at a respectful distance from these holy persons. 
 
 I had only one opportunity of seeing them officiate ; it was on the occasion of a 
 procession on their local festival day. On ordinary days, it appears that they merely 
 give audiences ; ami T have rarely seen men resort to their ministrations. Their 
 habitual clients are peasant women, fishermen, and casual pilgrims. But I have 
 frequently heard, at sunset, the beating of the tambourines, which, except at great 
 solemnities, form the whole orchestra of the temple of Benten. The bonzes perform 
 interminable music on this monstrous instrument, always in the same rhythm ; four 
 equal loud notes, followed by four equal deep notes, and so on, for hours together, 
 probably the length of time required for driving away the evil influences. Nothing can 
 exceed the melancholy impression produced by tliis deep-sounding noise, when, in the
 
 rilE YAKOUXLXE QUAItTEIL 17 
 
 silence of the night, it blends witli the sighing of the great cedar-trees and the booming 
 of the sea. It (>[)presses one like a ninlitnuirc IJut indeed it may be said that the 
 religion wliicli finds expression in such customs weighs on the mind of the people like 
 a dream, full (if uneasiness and vague terror. Far from being natural religion, paganism 
 is the enem}' of human nature, the religion of denaturalized man ; and theucc it is 
 that, seen in action, it fills one with an indcscribabh; pain, an in.stinctive repulsion wliiih 
 seems to me to come from that especial chai'acteristic, rather than to be the effect of 
 our C'liiistian education. 
 
 The obligatory accom[)animent of the Japanese temples are tea-houses, or restaurants, 
 at which tea is principally su[iplied, but where saki, a fermented and highly intoxi- 
 cating drink, may be had. The eatables are fruits, fish, rice, or wheaten cakes ; and 
 everyone smokes. The pipes are metal ; the tobacco is veiy finely cut, and free from 
 all narcotic ail mixture : opium-smoking is unknown in Japan. These establishments, 
 where women are the attendants, and where external propriety is strictly observed, 
 arc, for the nK.ist part, places of ill fame. This is especially the case in respect 
 to those which are situated in the vicinity of the toris at l>enten, a circumstance 
 which probably dates from a period at which the little island dedicated to the patroness 
 of the sea still attracted a <'Ousiderable number of pilgrims. At present the altar 
 of the goddess is singtilr.rly neglected ; but there is a great military station in the 
 neighbourhood, with which the rule of the; Taikoun, — that of the sword, — has endowed 
 the city of Yokohama. It occupies the entire space between the island of Benten and 
 our dwelling. 
 
 The (quarter of the "Yakounines" is composed of the residences of Government 
 officers employed in the Customs, of the harliour police aii<l that of other public places, 
 f the jNIilitary Instiuction, of the guard of the Japanese city, and the superintendents 
 of the " free quarter." 
 
 The Yakounines have no outward and visible sign of their functions except a 
 large pointed hat of lacquered pasteboard, and two swords passed through the girdle on 
 the left side : one of these is large and two-handled ; the other, a kind of blade intended 
 for single combat, is small. These arc the only warlike points in the equipment of these 
 functionaries. They number several hundreds, they are almost all married, each has 
 his separate lodging, and all seem to l)c placed on a footing of equality in this 
 respect. It is not uninteresting to study the means which the Government of the 
 
 D 
 
 o
 
 18 
 
 LIFE IX JAPAX. 
 
 Taikoun lias adopted for organiziug this army of functionaries into a kind of caniji, 
 while retaining their domestic surroundings. This has been effected to a certain extent 
 by the application of the cellular system to family life. 
 
 Let the reader picture to himself a collection of wooden buildings, forming a 
 louo- square, a lofty wooden wall towards the street ; low doors at regular intervals, 
 each giving access to a court, which contains a small garden, a water cistern, a kitchen. 
 
 IMlAniTAXTS UK IIIE YAKUL'XINE QCAllTEl:. 
 
 and otlier oflices. Across the yard, on the ground floor, lies a spacious cell, which may 
 be subdivided into two or three rooms by means of sliding partitions; the court and 
 the cell comprise the lodging of a Yakounine family. Each of the long blocks of 
 which the streets in this i]uartcr ai-e composed encloses at least a dozen of these 
 dwellings, six ranged side by side, and then six back to l)ack with the others. The 
 cells arc all roofed with green tiles, and no roof is more lofty than another. The
 
 TlfK YAKorMXH (iUAlVrEll 
 
 10 
 
 Yakouuine (juarter is a iiiuiupli of straight linos aiul uiiiturniity. Tlir streets are 
 geucrally cinpty, l)ecaiise tlie men pass the greater part of the day at tin- Custom 
 House or the guanl-houscs ; and during the absence of its head, every family keej)s 
 itself within its iiarnnv enclosure. Even the door, which is so low tliat one must 
 stoop to pass through, is generally sliut during tliis time of seclusion. This custom is 
 however, in one way, analogous to the precaution with which Turkish jealousy surrounds 
 women. It arises from the position which 
 Japanese habits assign to the fathers of 
 families. In each, his wife beholds her lord 
 and master. In his presence she attends to 
 her domestic duties with perfect ease and 
 simplicity, caring nothing for the presence 
 of a stranger. In his absence she observes 
 an extreme reserve, which we might lie 
 tempted to attribute to modesty, but which 
 is more truthfully explained liy the depen- 
 dence and intimidation imposed on her by 
 marriage. 
 
 By degrees neighbourly relations were 
 established between our residence and the 
 Yakounine cpiartcr. In Japan, as elsewhere, 
 small presents encourage friendship. AV^e 
 sent some white sugar and some Java collee 
 to certain families where we learned there 
 were sick persons, or women in childbed, 
 and these small offerings were gratefully 
 received. 
 
 One day, when I was alone in the house, between four and tive o'clock in tlie 
 afternoon, the IMowlian came to aimounce the arrival of a fmninine deputation from the 
 Yakounine (|uarter, and to ask me whether he should send lliem away. These ladies had 
 l)een authorised by their husbands to make their acknowledgments in person, ])ut 
 they had profited by the opportunity to ex})ress their wish to examine our European 
 furniture. I told the porter that I would gladly undertake to do the honours of the 
 
 L» -1 
 
 A STABLE-MAN.
 
 20 LIFE IX JAPAN. 
 
 house to them. Prt'seutlv I heard the cliekino; of a number of wooden shoes on the 
 gravel walk in the garden, and, looking towards the fo{jt of the verandah staircase in 
 front of the saloon, I saw a group of smiling faces, anionir which I distinguished four 
 married women, two young girls, and several children of all ages. The former were 
 remarkable for the i)laiune:is of their dress ; no ornament in the hair, no lioht stutl's 
 
 J. ' O 
 
 or bright colours in their garments, no paint on their faces, Imt their teeth painted as 
 black as ebony, as is becoming to all married women, according to Japanese ideas. 
 The young girls, on the contrary, show off the natural whiteness of their teeth bv a 
 layer of carmine on their lips, put rouge on their cheeks, braid their thick hair with 
 strips of scarlet crape, and wear wide girdles of many colours. The children's dress is 
 simply a plain garment and a striped sash : they never wear any head-dress, and their 
 heads are shaven, except a few locks, some hanging loose, others tied together and 
 arranged as a chignon. 
 
 After the customary salutations, tlie orators of the deputation — for three or 
 four always spoke simultaneou.sly — said many prett}- things to me in Japanese, to 
 which I replied in French, while I made signs to the company to enter the 
 drawing-room. it was quite clear that they had understood me; I could not mis- 
 take the expression of thanks; and yet, instead of ascending the staircase, they 
 seemed to be asking me for an explanation of some sort. At length my fair 
 friends perceived my emljarrassment, and, by adding gestures to language, asked me, 
 " Ougb,t we to take off our shoes in the garden, or Avill it suffice if we take them 
 off in the verandah?" I ])rouounced in favour of the latter alternative, and my 
 guests immediately ascended the stairs, removed their shoes and placed them in a 
 line upon the floor, and then gleefully trod the carpets of the drawing-room — the 
 children with bare feet, the grown-up persons in socks made of cotton- cloth, divided 
 into two une(|ual compartments, one f'oi' the great toe, and the other fir the rest 
 of the f(.)ot. 
 
 Q'heir first impression was innocent admiration, to which general laughter succeeded 
 when they all found themselves reflected at full length and on all sides, in the long 
 mirrors whicli came down to the floor. While the young(;r members of the }iarty 
 indulged themselves in unwearied contemplation of a scene at once so novel and so 
 attractive, the matrons asked me the meaning of the [)ictures \\\\u-\\ adorned the room. I 
 explained that they represented the Taikoun of Holland and his \\ife, and also several
 
 nSITOL'S. 
 
 21 
 
 great (laiiuiijs, or priuct-s of tlie reigning fUmiiy. They bowed res|ieetfLilly, luit niie 
 of tlicin, wliose curiosity was not satisfied, said, timidly, tliat she supposed they had 
 also taken the pcjitrait of his Dulch .Majesty's groom ( I tn )k eare not {<> undeceive 
 lier, because she would not have understood that it (Miuld be correct to leprcsent a 
 piince standino; l)eside his saddle-horse and holdino it bv the bridle. Others, luivint'' 
 
 
 ^-'^ J^ c 
 
 oi'i: LAPV visiruiis. 
 
 attentively examined the velvet sofas and arm-chairs, told me how a di.spute had 
 arisen between them respectino; the use of those articles of fui-niture. Tlu'V ai^reed as 
 to the easy chairs: it was, uo doubt, intended that they should be sat uimn, — Init the 
 sofas'? Surely one ought to squat on them with crossed legs, especially when eating 
 at the table in front of them. Thcv sincerely pitied the ocntlemcn and ladies of the
 
 22 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 West, condemned to make such inconvenient use of these articles, and actually to sit 
 witli their leo;s hanging down. 
 
 My room, being open and on the same level, was speedily invaded, and almost 
 everything in it was a subject of astonishment to my visitors, who were none the less 
 daughters of Eve because they were born in Japan. They were particularly delighted 
 with a set of uniform buttons bearing the Swiss federal cross, according to the military 
 rule of my country. I had to give them some of these buttons, though I could not 
 imagine to what use they could possibly apply them, since all Japanese garments, for 
 the use of both sexes, are simply fastened by silken strings. The gift of a few 
 articles of Pai'isian perfumery was highly appreciated, but I praised Eau de Cologne 
 quite unsuccessfully. Cambric handkerchiefs are unknown in Japan. I showed them 
 some specimens, very prettily embroidered by the clever needlewomen of Appenzell ; 
 l)ut they explained to me that, though the elegantes cf Yeddo might perhaps use them 
 as cuffs for their wide and flowino; robes de cliamhre, not the lowest woman of the 
 people would hold in her hand or carry in her pocket a piece of stuff in which she 
 ]i:i(l blown her nose. There is, therefore, no chance at present that the little squares 
 of paper, made from vegetable substances, which they carry in a fold of the dress, in 
 the breast, or in a pocket in the sleeve, and which are thrown away as each is suc- 
 cessively used, will be supplanted l)y our barbarous method. Eau de Cologne, however, 
 might be used with advantage, to counteract the briny flavour uf the well-water 
 which is drunk at Benten. 
 
 Another point on which my visitors seemed to regard the superiority of Japanese 
 civilization as incontestable, is their method of writing. The Japanese uses a brush, a 
 stick of Chinese ink, and a roll of paper made from mulberry leaves. He carries those 
 things about with him evwywhere ; the roll of paper is placed in his breast ; the lirusli 
 and the inkstand hang in a case from his girdle, together with his pipe and his 
 tobacco- bag. 
 
 In order to regain my advantage, I exhibited a case containing an assortment 
 of sewing cotton, needles, and pins, and begged the lady yakounines to use tliem. 
 Tiiey unanimously acknowledged the imperfection of the working materials of their 
 countr}", where the scvviug-machiue is unknown. Needlework does not occupy in 
 Japan any [ilace like that which it takes in our middle-class households ; it is never 
 produced dining the long gossipping visits wdiich the Japanese women interchange.
 
 VISITORS. 2o 
 
 As in Europe men have recourse to the cigar, so in .lapan they season their 
 conversation with pipes. 
 
 The visit ended by my giving the children some prints representing Swiss 
 landscapes and costumes, and sliowing their elders a photographic album containing 
 likenesses of all the )nembers of my family, which they examined with more than 
 interest, with really touching emotion. It is within the domain of the natural affections 
 that the unity, the identity of the human race, in every clime and among every 
 people, makes itself most sensibly felt. What signifies diversity of idiom in tlic 
 presence of that universal language which translates itself by the expression of the 
 eye, by a tear upon the eyelid, by sweet and touching intonations of the voice, 
 like Mendelssohn's "Songs without Words"? The traveller is, in the sight of all 
 primitive peoples, a being who deserves the deepest pity, for he is separated from all 
 that constitutes the charm of life —the family, the paternal roof, the country of his 
 ancestors. Religious admiration would be mingled with the compassion he inspires 
 if he had left his country to accomplish a pious pilgrimage in a distant land. 
 l)Ut that a man should cro.ss the seas merely in the interest of terrestrial objects is 
 a thing incomprehensible to the Japanese. They might admit the notion of \\\y 
 being a political exil(>, the victim of the severity of my Government ; but wliei 
 tliev li'arn that 1 am neither a pilgrim nor proscribed, astonishment mingled \\\t\ 
 kind nf fright is added to their artless sympathy. 
 
 Truly, 1 am very far from Europe, in a world quite foreign to its civilization, 
 and it was time that the West should come to these insular people, to teach them 
 modes of thought and perception less incompatible with the genius of " business." 
 
 1 
 1 a
 
 TUE POrULATlON OF TUB TIKACII. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE. 
 
 THE POPULATION OF THE BEACH.- — HUMBLE HOSPITALITY. — SCEXERY. — SPRING-TIDE. 
 CULTIVATION. — INDUSTRY. — INVENTIVENES.S. 
 
 All the good people who compose the poptUation of the beach accost nie in tlie 
 friendliest manner. The children bring me beautiful glistening shells, and the Avomcn 
 (111 their best to make me understand the culinary properties of the hideous bttlc 
 marine monsters wliich they pile up in their baskets. This spontaneous kindliness
 
 THE RICE-GROUNDS. -ir. 
 
 and cordiality is a cliaiac.tcii.stic common to all tliu lower classes of .T;i]i;uiesc society. 
 More than once when I have been going on foot a))out the sulturhs of Nagasaki or 
 Yokohama, the country people have invited me to step inside their little euch)sm'es. 
 Then they would show me their flowers, and cut the best among them to nitake up a 
 bouquet for me. It wns always in vain that I offered them money ; they ne^■er 
 accepted it, and wei'c not satisfied until 1 had crossed their threshold and partaken 
 of tea and i-ice-cakes with them. Spring is the most tempting st'ason for exploring 
 the coasts of the Bay of Yeddo. From the heights on its borders, the inland scene, 
 stretching away to the foot of Fousi-yama, presents an uninterrupted succession 
 of wooded hills and cultivated valleys, diversified by rivers or gulfs, which at a 
 
 r.ICE CULTlVATKiX. 
 
 distance look like lakes. The villages on their bnnks are half hidden in rich foliage ; 
 and large farms, approached by shady roads, may be traced out at various [)oints 
 of the landscape. 
 
 The precocity of the vegetation in the rice-grounds and on the cultivated hills, the 
 quantity of evergreen trees on every side, deprives the springtide in Japan of that 
 fresh and budding aspect A\hich is one of its chief beauties elsewhere. And yet, where 
 can there l)e found a more luxuriant spring vegetation, more rich in beautiful details ? 
 All along the hedges, in the orchards, and about the villages, tufts of flowers and 
 foliage of dazzling hue stand out against the dark tints of a background of pines, 
 firs, cedars, cypress, laurels, green oak, and bamlioos. Here, we find the great white
 
 26 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 Howers of the wild mulberry ; there, camellias growing iu the open country, as tall 
 as our apple-trees ; everywhere, cherry-trees, plum-trees, peach-trees, generally laden 
 with double flowers, some quite white, others bright red, and sometimes white and 
 red on the same branches ; for many of the Japanese do not care at all for the fruit 
 of these trees, but cultivate and graft them merely for the sake of the double flowers, 
 and to vary or combine the species. The bamboo, much employed in the capacity 
 of a support to these trees, frequently lends his elegant foliage to the branches of 
 young fruit-trees which have no other adornment than their bunches of flowers. But 
 I love the bamboo most when it grows in solitary groups, like a tuft of gigantic 
 reeds. There is nothing more picturesque in the whole landscape than these tall green 
 
 racE-FlELDS. 
 
 polished stems, with their golden streaks and their tufted tops, and all around the 
 chiefs the young slender ofishoots with their feathered heads, and a midtitude of 
 long leaves streaming in the wind like thousands of fluttering pennons. The bamboo 
 groves are favourite subjects of study with the Japanese painters, whether they limit 
 themselves to repi'oduce the graceful lines and harmonious etfects, or enliven the 
 picture by adding some of the live creatures which seek their verdant shelter — the 
 little birds, the butterflies, and, in lonely places, the weasel, the ferret, the black 
 squirrel, and the red-faced brown monkey. 
 
 All the waysides are bordered with violets, but they are scentless. The country 
 produces a very small number of odoriferous plants, and it is remarkable that the lark,
 
 OVER-CULTIVATION. 27 
 
 the niglitiDgale, and other singing-bii'ds are very rare. Perhaps the hack of perfume 
 and of song, in the midst of all the wealth of a luxuriant vegetation, helps to diminish 
 the effect upon the imagination which it seems to me Japanese scenery ought to 
 produce. It is certain that in contemplating it one doea not experience that sense 
 of dreamy exaltation and tenderness which is produced by the sight of a European 
 landscape in the spring-time, when nature is waking up. Without going into the 
 question of the extent to which our sensibility is fed by the remembrances of childhood, 
 and the traditional ideas which find no application in the world of the Far East, I 
 think the cooling of our enthusiasm may be accounted for by the fact that, in Japan, 
 nature is over-cultivated. 
 
 I A l; VEST SCENE. 
 
 With the exception of the forests and other plantations of trees, which the 
 Government maintain with praiseworthy care, the entire soil is invaded by cultivation 
 to an extent which almost defies description. Early in April the fields outside 
 the woods are covered with buck-wheat in full flower. In four, or five weeks' time, 
 on the lower ground, they will be reaping tha barley and wheat sown in November. 
 In Japan they sow corn as we plant potatoes in Europe, i.e. in regular, perfectly 
 straight rows, and between each of these there is an interval of free space in 
 which are already sprouting a peculiar species of beans, which will spring up when the 
 field shall have been reaped. That green surface which might be taken for sprouting 
 corn is a field of millet, which was sown in March and will be ripe in September. 
 
 E 2
 
 2S 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 Millet is eaten by the natives in as large quantities as wheat ; they grind it into 
 flour, and make cakes or porridge of it. 
 
 On an adjacent plain there is a labourer tilling the ground by means of a small 
 plough drawn by one horse. In the fertile soil he will sow the seed of the cotton- 
 tree, and in September or October each seed will have produced a plant two or three 
 feet high, laden with twenty capsules arrived at maturity. Several white birds of 
 
 A UlrE-MlI.L. 
 
 the stork or heron family seem to be working in concert with the agriculturist ; they 
 follow him about gravely, and, by plunging their long beaks into the half-opened 
 furrow, they destroy the larva which the plough has just turned up. 
 
 In the depth of the valley are rice-grounds, which were laid under water about 
 a month ago, by the opening of the sluice-gates of the irrigation canals. While in
 
 RICE-GROWING. i'!i 
 
 this state, the soil is broken up l»y the plough, and trodden I)y the feet of the 
 buflaloes and the labourers ; the latter treading up to their ealves in the elay, and 
 breaking the stubborn elunips with pickaxes. When the earth has been mashed intd 
 a kind of li(|uid paste, men and women go step by step along the dykes of tin- 
 enclosure, and throw in handfuls of seed upon the square spaces destined to form 
 the nursery ground. Then these are turned over with a kind of rake, in order to 
 distribute and bury the seed. Now the water has subsided, the nursery ground jiuts 
 forth its thick, close crop, and the cultivators tear it up, roots and stems together, to 
 transplant them carefully in the large scpiares of soft earth which have not yet Ijcimi 
 utilised, in tufts arranged in a checjuered pattern at regular intervals. There the rirc 
 
 A Kl'inUEl; STACK OF Hrfli CULIIVATION. 
 
 will grow and ripen, to be cut in the month of October. Until then it has to 
 dread the pretty little red and white breasted birds which fall like hail on the grain- 
 laden stems, shake the ripe fruit to the ground, and set to their work of pillage with 
 shrill notes of joy, dancing on their little feet after a fashion fidl of charm for the 
 impartial observer, but which inspires the proprietor with far different feelings. The 
 persecuted rice-growers resort to all kinds of scarecrows, which they set up at tlic 
 most seriously menaced points, but without much apparent effect upon the morals 
 of the thriving birds. In one place, a complete network of cords of plaited straw, 
 garnished with swinging appendages of the same material, is fixed on poles, and 
 extended above the rice-field, forming a perfectly efficacious method of prevention,
 
 30 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 provided that it is kept in incessant motion. This is the task of a boy, who, when 
 there is not sufficient wind to shake the net, pulls the cord attached to it, like a 
 bell-rope, and thus keeps it going. The child sits in a lofty seat, perched on four 
 bamboos, under a little roof formed of reeds. 
 
 Several kinds of rice are grown in Japan. That of the plains is the most highly 
 esteemed : tliat of the hills does not require to be so long submerged as the former, 
 but I have seen it subjected, in the spring, to processes of irrigation which have cost 
 much laljour ; in the formation of reservoirs on the upper level of the hill, and the 
 estal)lishment of numerous canals, discharging themselves upon all the terraces prepared 
 for rice cidture. Each terrace thus converted into a rice-ground will bear, next autumn, 
 wheat or millet. The Japanese may perhaps clear some mountain-land now and then, 
 l)Ut they will never leave land capable of being tilled, fallow. 
 
 The tea-plant is not cultivated in our district. It is occasionally met with under 
 certain favourable circumstances, but the real tea-districts are several days' journey 
 north and west of the bay. We are much nearer to the silk-growing districts, and 
 there would be nothing to prevent the development of this industry in our immediate 
 vicinity, if there were sufficient space for the cultivation of the mulberry-tree. It 
 strikes me, in short, that the population by whom I am surrounded, and the inhabi- 
 tants of the southern coasts of Niphon generally, leave to the natives of the interior 
 tlie production of the most valuable articles of commerce, such as silk, tea, and even 
 cotton, which is not very abundant on our coasts ; while they devote themselves, solne 
 to fishing and water-carriage, and others to ngriculture in its strict sense — the produc- 
 tion of cereals and leguminous and oleaginous plants ; also to horticulture, and the 
 growth of flax, straw, reeds, and bamlioos. 
 
 Among the peasant population of the fertile valleys which border the Bay of 
 Yeddo, one frequently meets men of a more vigorous rac-e, whose aspect, though kindly, 
 seems to denote a certain independence of character or of niunner <>f life. These are 
 the "mountain people," or the inhabitants of the chain of the Akoui, at the foot of 
 Fousi-yama. The business which brings them down to tlie [)lains is very various in 
 its nature : for some, it is dealing in wood for ships and building ; for others,, it is 
 dealing in firewood. Some arc carrying baggage on pack-horses from the provinces 
 in the interior to such or such a port in the bay ; others are employed in hauling the 
 canal-boats, and among thera recruits are made for a select tribe of hunters, as well
 
 HAZARDOUS TRAVEL. 
 
 :U 
 
 as for a portion of the Tai'kouu's troops of the line ; i.e. the infantry companies, amon» 
 whom European arms of precision have been introduced. 
 
 AN AERIAL BIIIUGE. 
 
 Unfortunately, the country inhabited by these passing guests is ahiiost entirely 
 inaccessible to strangers. If certain native statements are to be believed, bridges, 
 aqueducts, and dams of most marvellous construction exist there, which baffle the
 
 :i2 LIFE IK JAPAK. 
 
 iniiioination when one thinks of the imperfection of the instruments with which tliey 
 have l)een made. TJie resources which the Japanese possess in raw material are 
 n(>t aicordctl to our climates. The bamboo, for instance, furnishes a natural concUiit 
 for hydraulic purpo3(>s, wln^se excellence yields to no product of modern industry. It 
 is employed in tlie formation of suspension-bridges in the place of wire. In the 
 mountains of Kiousiou there is a bridge, flung from one rock to another across a 
 deep abyss, by means of a hanging staircase formed of huge pieces of bamboo laid in 
 liiu\ and fitted over one another longitudinally. The Japanese traverse great rivers on 
 
 
 
 » Ra fiint. J 
 
 JATANESE lilUDS. 
 
 liridgcs made of casks, and managed by straw ropes. The}- cross terrific ravines by 
 ])ridges of rope, and even ])y means of a single rope, along which slips a kind of 
 aui'ial ferry-boat. 
 
 in a countiy like theirs, -where the Government maintains only one public 
 liighway— the great military road called the Toikado — the inhabitants, reduced to 
 riieir own resources, strive to establish the communications wliich they require at 
 the h'ast possilJe cost. Himce the infinite variety of their contrivances for transport 
 1)\- land and by water. A curious specimen of the latter is the means devised to 
 enable the women who are engaged in rice cultivation to cross the submerged lands. 
 Four tul)s, fastened together lietween the angles of two crossed planks, are ^^acked
 
 EXCLUSIVUNESS OF SOCIAL LIFE. 33 
 
 with as many persous and as large a quantity of provisions as this singular equipage 
 can accommodate, and two of the passengers propel it with poles. The same talent 
 for utilizing the simplest means of action, the most primitive instruments, the most 
 elementary processes, is equally to be traced in the arts and handicrafts of Japan. But 
 there is a very important part of their social life which either escapes us or which it 
 is very difficult for us to study. We can only see the people at work in the fields 
 and in some of the village sheds. The docks, the workshops, and the factories in the 
 industrial cities, the artistic conceptions, and the most original productions of their 
 autonomic civilization, are carefully hidden from us by the police restrictions of a 
 jealous Government. Nevertheless, little l)y little the light is coming, and a day 
 will soon dawn when, in this respect also, Japan shall be opened to the investigations 
 of Science.
 
 A HUUMITOKY IX A .lAI'VMCSK IXN. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DOMESTIC LIFE. 
 
 JAPANESE HOUSES. — PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF MEN AND WOMEN. — THEIR HOUSEHOLD 
 LIVES, CUSTOMS, FURNITURE. — EDUCATION, LANGUAGE, SCHOOLS. 
 
 Ihe country may be reached from Benten without passing through the Japanese city. 
 Beyond the precincts of the holy place, a wide pathway supported on piles forms a road 
 alongside the river. From this road, wliich leads to a suburb occupied by poor artisans, 
 and terminated by a military guard-house and a C'ustoms' station, we look down upon
 
 HOUSES. 35 
 
 the low streets and the marsh of Yokohama. A handsome wooden brido;o, built on 
 piles sufficiently high to permit the passage of sailing-boats, crosses the river, and joins 
 the footpath on the left bank. 
 
 By following this footpath to the north-oast, we reach the high road of Kanagawa ; 
 and by taking the south-east direction, we come to the country roads leadiuo- to the 
 Bay of the Mississippi. 
 
 The country is covered on every side with cultivated land, and the habitations are 
 exceedingly numerous. The isolated houses near the road, and those which Ijorder on the 
 village streets, are generally open, and may, so to speak, be seen through. The inhabit- 
 ants, in order to establish currents of air, slide the screens which form their walls 
 into the grooves on the right and left, so that the interiors of their houses are freely 
 exhibited to the sight of the passers-by. 
 
 Under such conditions it is not difficult to form a correct idea of household life, 
 and to observe the distinctive characters of the national type, as well as the domestic 
 manners oi the native population. 
 
 The conventional separation between classes in Japanese society does not rest upon 
 essential difference of race, or of modes of life. 
 
 From the height of the hill on which the residence of the Governors of Kanagawa 
 is situated I have more than once had occasion to examine and observe, on one 
 side, some buildings set apart for the dwellings of the Yakouniaes, and on the other 
 groups of houses or cottages belonging to artisans and cultivators. In the courtyards, 
 formed by divisions made of planks which separate the military caste from the others, 
 1 remarked exactly the same habits, the same modes of life, which I saw publicly in 
 action in the courtyards of the plebeians. J\Iy later observation of the houses of the high 
 Government functionaries only confirms me in the belief that we may reduce the chief 
 types and the domestic manners of the whole population of the centre of the Empire 
 — that is to say, of the three great islands of Kiousiou, SikofF, and Niphon — to certain 
 o-eneral features. 
 
 The Japanese are of middling height, very inferior to the men of the Germanic 
 race, but not without some resemblance to the inhabitants of the south-west of the 
 Iberian peninsula. 
 
 There is more difference in height between the men and the women of Japan 
 than in those of Europe. According to the observations of Dr. Mohnike, formerly 
 
 V 2
 
 36 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 physician to the Dutch Factory of Decima, the average height of the men is five feet 
 one inch, or five feet two inches (French measurement), and that of the women from 
 four feet one inch to four feet three inches. 
 
 The Japanese, without being precisely disproportioned, have generally large heads, 
 rather sunk in the shoulders, wide chests, long bodies, narrow hips, short and thin 
 
 A GUVEP.NOli S PKOCESSION. 
 
 legs, small feet, and slight and remarkably beautiful hands. Their retreating foreheads 
 and large and prominent cheek-bones make their faces represent the geometrical figure 
 of the trapeze rather than that of the oval. The cavities of the eyes being very 
 shallow, and the cartilage of the nose rather flattened, the eyes in almost every case 
 are more on the surface than those of the European, and sometimes very narrow. 
 But, nevertheless, the general eff"ect is not that of the Chinese or Mongol type. The
 
 PERSONAL CEARA CTERISTICS. 
 
 37 
 
 head of the Japanese is large, the face is long, and on the averao-e more rco-ular. 
 Finally, the nose is more prominent, better formed, and sometimes even aquiline. 
 i\ccording to Dr. Mohnike, the Japanese head is that of the Turanian race. 
 
 
 jj g"^ 
 
 A JAPANESE LAUli AT UEU lOlLET. 
 
 All the Japanese population, without exception, have fine, thick, straight, and 
 lustrous black hair. The women's hair is shorter than in the European and Malay
 
 38 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 countries. The Japanese have thick beards, but they shave at least every second day. 
 The colour of their skin varies according to the different classes of society, from 
 the copper tints of the interior of Java to the sunburnt white of the natives of 
 southern Europe. The predominant shade is olive-brown, but it never resembles 
 the yellow tint of the Chinese. Unlike those of Europeans, the face and hands 
 of the Japanese are generally less coloured than the body ; little children and young- 
 persons of both sexes have rosy complexions, red checks, and the same indications of 
 robust health which we like to see in persons of our own race. 
 
 The women have fairer complexions than the men : we saw several persons 
 of rank, and even in the middle classes, who were perfectly white ; the ladies of the 
 aristocracy regard excessive paleness as a mark of distinction. Nevertheless, both one 
 and the other are separated from the European type by those two indelible marks of 
 race — narrow eyes, and the ungraceful depression of the chest which is always evident 
 even in persons in the flower of their youth, and endowed with the greatest natural 
 charms. 
 
 Both men and women have black eyes, white and perfect teeth, separated by 
 regular interstices, and slightly projecting. It is the custom for married "women to 
 blacken their teeth. In this we trace a tradition of Java, where the women file their 
 teeth down to the gums ; or of the Malay country in general, where everyone has 
 black teeth, produced by the use of the betel. 
 
 The mobility of expression and the gTcat variety of physiognomy, which we remark 
 amongst the Japanese, seem to me to be the result of an intellectual develop- 
 ment more spontaneous, more original, and in short more free, than is to be met 
 with amongst any other people in Asia. 
 
 The national garment of the Japanese is the "kirimon." It is a kind of open 
 dressing-gown, made a little longer and more ample for women than for men. It is 
 crossed at the waist by means of a sash, which for men is made of a straight and 
 narrow piece of silk — for women, of a large piece of stuff elegantly tied at the back. 
 
 The Japanese wear no linen, Imt they bathe every day. The women wear a 
 chemise of red silk crape. In summer, the peasants, the fishermen, the artisans, and 
 the coolies do their work in a state of almost complete nudity, and the women 
 merely wear a single petticoat. During the rains they wear large cloaks of straw or 
 oil-paper, and hats of bamboo bark, made like those of Java, in the form of shields.
 
 COSTUME. 
 
 m 
 
 111 winter the working-men wear a jacket and trousers of blue cotton under 
 the kirimou, and the women one or several wadded mantles,^ but generally there is 
 
 THE FINISHING TOUCH. 
 
 'no difference between their costumes, excepting in the nature of the materials. The 
 
 nobles alone have a right to wear silk, and only dress richly to go to Court, or to 
 
 ^ Persons of the middle class and of the nobility never go out without jacket and trousers.
 
 40 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 Tuake visits of ceremony. The officers of the Government, and the Yakounines on 
 duty, wear wide trailing trousers ; and replace the kirimon by an overcoat with large 
 sleeves, which however only comes down to the hips, and is rather elegantly cut. Every- 
 one wears the same coverings for the 
 feet, which consist of sandals of plaited 
 straw, or wooden slijipers fastened by a 
 cord in which the great toe is caught. 
 When the roads are muddy, the people 
 wear a simple wooden sole, resting upon 
 two smaller pieces placed crosswise. 
 During the greater portion of the year 
 the working people merely use straw 
 sandals. Each, on returning to his own 
 house, or on presenting himself at that 
 of a stranger, removes his socks or his 
 sandals and leaves them at the door. 
 
 The Hoors of the Japanese houses 
 are constantly covered with mats. As 
 they are all of the same size, which is 
 so invariable that the mat is used as 
 a standard measure, — it is never diffi- 
 cult to arrange them in an apartment. 
 They are uniformly six feet three inches 
 lone, three feet two inches wdde, and 
 four inches thick. They are made of 
 rice-straw, very carefully plaited ; by 
 combining them with the grooves made 
 in the floor and with the sliding screens 
 which form the walls of the rooms, the 
 Japanese divides his habitation into small 
 or laro-e rooms; but the dimensions are always regular, and he modifies this dis- 
 tributiou exactly as it pleases him, without trouble, and never departing from the 
 exactly symmetrical lines. 
 
 AX INHABITANT OF THE CITY IN WINTER DRESS.
 
 FURNITURE. 
 
 41 
 
 The mat dispenses with all other furniture : it is the mattress on wliiili the 
 Japanese passes the night, wrapped up in an ample dressing-gown, and under a 
 large wadded counterpane, with his heail resting on a little bolster made of stri^js of 
 bamboo ; on it he sets out the utensils of lacquer and porcelain used at his meals ; 
 on it the bare feet of his children tread ; it is the divan where, crouching on his 
 heels, surrounded by his friends and his guests, all crouching like hiin, he indulges in 
 interminable talk, drinking a decoction of 
 
 \\W>?i 
 
 tea unmingled with any other ingredient, 
 and smoking tobacco out of microscopic 
 pipes. 
 
 In all the inns of Japan we find 
 what is called the "bali-bali;" a move- 
 able floor like a great table, covered 
 with mats and raised only a foot above 
 the ground. On this the traveller sits 
 or crouches, eats, drinks, takes a siesta, 
 and chats with his neighbours. The 
 Japanese house is nothing more than the 
 " bali-bali " brought to perfection, a rc- 
 posoir, a temporary I'efuge in which to 
 take shelter when the labours of the 
 street and the country are terminated : 
 Imt it is not the centre of existence, if 
 we may be permitted to use that ex- 
 pression at all in speaking of a people 
 who live from day to day, forgetful of 
 yesterday, not caring for to-morrow. 
 
 One day, when I had been listening to the recitation of half a dozen of the young 
 boys in our neighbourhood, who were squatting in front of their schoolmaster, I asked 
 what was the name of the exercise that they were repenting in chorus. I was told that 
 they were practising to recite the " Irova," a sort of alphabet in which not the vowels 
 and consonants, but the fundamental signs of the Japanese language, are collected and 
 grouped in four lines. The number of those sounds is fixed at forty-eight, and instead 
 
 G 
 
 A SERVANT AT AX INN.
 
 42 LIFE IN JAPAN,. 
 
 of classifying them in grammatical elements according to the organs of speech, they 
 have been made into a little piece of poetry, whose first word, " Irova," gives its name 
 to the alphabet. As nearly as I c;Tja reproduce the sense of the rhyme, this is it : — 
 
 " Colour ami odour alike pass away. 
 In our world nothing is permanent. 
 
 The present day has disappeared in the profound abyss of nothingness. 
 It was hut the pale image of a dream ; it causes us not the least regret." 
 
 This national alphabet told me more of the character of the Japanese people 
 than I might have found in volumes. For centuries the generations, who were departing 
 repeated to the generation who were coming, " There is nothing permanent in this world ; 
 the present passes like a dream, and its flight causes not the slightest trouble." That 
 this popular philosophy of nothingness does not give full satisfaction to the needs of 
 the soul, is quite evident when we consider how largely the manifestations of religious 
 sentiment have developed of late ; nevertheless, it is probable that it acts incessantly 
 as a latent force, and its influence is felt in all the details of life. 
 
 The children profit most by the way of life to which this gives rise. In the 
 first place, it is granted by everyone that the child ought to have its own way. 
 Fathers and mothers derive their pleasure from the observance of this natural law. 
 Every means of enjoyment for children, every subject of their amusement, becomes 
 a source of personal satisfaction to the parents ; they give themselves up to it with 
 all their hearts, and it suits the children admirably. Travellers who have said that 
 Japanese children never cry, have stated with very little exaggeration of expression a 
 perfectly real phenomenon. It is explained by circumstances to which I have alluded, 
 as well as by certain external conditions. 
 
 The Japanese is husband to only one wife, who passes almost without transition 
 from her doll to her child, and preserves for a long time her natural infantile character. 
 On the other hand, the national custom does not permit her to bring up her baby 
 too carefuUy. She is obliged to expose it to the atmospheric influences, carrying it 
 into the air every day, even at noon, with its head shaven, and perfectly naked. In 
 order to carry the child about as long as possible without much fatigue, the woman 
 places it upon her back, fastening it like a package between her chemise and the 
 collar of her kirimon. Thus the wives of the peasants may constantly be seen
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 43 
 
 working in the fields with a little head wagging about between their shoulders. In the 
 house the children may be left to themselves without any uneasiness ; they can roll 
 about among the mats, crawling on all-fours and trying to stand upright, because 
 there is no furniture against which they can hurt themselves, nor any object which 
 they can knock down or break. 
 
 Their companions are the domestic animals — little pug-dogs with short legs and 
 tremendously fat bodies, and a particular species of cat with white fur marked with 
 yellow and black stripes, who are exceedingly bad mousers, very idle, and very 
 affectionate. Like the cats of Java and the Isle of Man, these animals have no tails. 
 
 Every family in easy circumstances possesses an aquarium, containing fish — red, 
 silver, gold, transparent — some round as a ball, others ornamented with a long wide 
 tail or fin, which performs the office of a rudder, and which floats about like a piece 
 of extremely fine gauze. In all the houses there are cages made of bamboo bark, 
 constructed on the models of the most elegant habitations, and containing large 
 butterflies shut up there on a bed of flowers, or grasshoppers, in whose strident and 
 monotonous cry the natives take great delight. 
 
 Such are the surroundings amid which the Japanese child grows up without 
 any restraint in the paternal house, which is merely a sort of shady playground. 
 
 (J 2
 
 44 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 His parents arc prodigal of toys, and games, and entertainments, as much for their 
 own enjoyment as in the interest of his education. His lessons, properly speaking, 
 consist in singing in chorus, at the top of his voice, the " Irova," and drawing with 
 his brush and Chinese ink the first letters of the alphabet, then words, then phrases. 
 There is no compulsion and no precipitation about these lessons, because they are 
 certain things of undeniable utility that can only be acquired by long practice. No 
 one ever thinks of depriving his child of the benefits of instruction. There are no 
 scholastic rules, no measures of coercion for recalcitrant parents, and nevertheless the 
 whole adult population can read, write, and calculate. There is something estimable in 
 the pedagogic regime of Japan.
 
 BOOK 11 
 KIOTO
 
 A Vir.W I\ THK. IXLAXD SKA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ORIGIX OF THE JAPANESE PEOPLE. 
 
 COMPLICATIONS OF THE SUBJECT. — A SUPPOSED TARTAR IMMIGRATION. — PEACEFUL TRIBES. 
 — THE JAPANESE LANGUAGE. —PORTUGUESE ADVENTURERS. — COSMOGONY. 
 
 In observing the life of the Japanese, I have frequently asked myself " Whence have 
 come these interesting and original people ? " and, like so many other travellers to whom 
 the same problem has presented itself, I have been forced to conclude that science does 
 not afford tlie mcanfe of its solution. 
 
 It offers tlie most curious complications. The first supposition which presents 
 itself to the mind is, that the archipelago must have been peopled by the Tartar 
 immigration ; and I would freely admit that there have lieen very ancient relations 
 between Corea, the north of Japan, th(' Kouriles, and even Kamschatka ; for the chain 
 of islands which extends from the Asiatic continent to the American continent, in 
 tlie southern regions of tlie great ocean, appear to us like the dismantled arches of a
 
 48 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 gigantic bridge, and naturally awaken the idea of a passage from one to the other, 
 established by means of navigation in its most primitive form. But when we go 
 back to the origin of the Japanese people, what we meet is not a nomade and 
 conquering horde, but peaceful tribes of shepherds and hunters, scattered, under the 
 name of Aiuos, a native expression which signifies " Man," along the open coast and 
 in the islands of the southern part nf the great ocean. Now, the Ainos have not 
 
 the oblique and shallow eyes, the prominent 
 cheek-bones, nor the thin Ijeard of the 
 Mongols ; tbey ai-e a race of strong men 
 with large round, heads, and remarkably 
 hirsute bodies ; they might almost be 
 supposed to be contemporaries of the cave 
 bear. The American geologist, Bickmore, 
 who has observed them on the coast of 
 Yeso, includes them in our great Aryan 
 family, regarding them as probably the 
 only branch which \\as thrust back by 
 foreign imraia;ration. instead of themselves 
 beinor the invaders. 
 
 Just as the Celts have disappeared 
 from certani counties in England in 
 which they seemed to have taken root, 
 the Ainos have lost, little by little, the 
 territory which they occupied in ancient 
 times in the Kouriles, Saghalien, and 
 Yeso. They are already reduced to a nation 
 of from 10,000 to 12,000 souls. Their 
 memory is held in veneration among the 
 Japanese people. In \\\v present day it is the custom to serve a very ordinary shell- 
 fish, whicli was the primeval food of the Ainos, in the mo.st sumptuous repasts. This 
 is (lone in coniniomoration of the ancestors. The name never inspires any idea of 
 contempt: tlic r(|uivalent to the term "barbarian" used by the Greeks also exists in the 
 Jii)ianesi' langungc, but the word is Yc})is, not Ainos; only, if the barbarous tribes whom 
 
 AxciF.NT \VAi;i;iiii:, with the xfcklace of MATAOAMAS
 
 ETHNOGRAPHICAL DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 49 
 
 the founders of the Japanese Empire conquered under the name of Yebis were not 
 
 tribes of the Ainos, it must be asked in wliat did they differ from the latter, and what 
 
 has been the origin of both ; and, still more especially, whence came their conquerors 
 and their rulers l 
 
 ANCIKNT Alien KUS. 
 
 So gri'at are the difficulties presented ;it this point of departure in the ethnography 
 of .la[ian, that T fear I shall not be able to offer a clear description of the elements 
 wliicli compose the present population of that Empii-c. In fact, I can say nothing 
 
 H
 
 50 LIFE IN JAPAN.. 
 
 that will not be puzzling. It profits little to lay down as a principle that by 
 the form of their skulls the Japanese evidently belong to the Turanian ftimily, since 
 what we want to find is the link by wdiich the Japanese branch is attached to the 
 Turanian trunk ; and what it will be important to explain is the phenomenon of a 
 common trunk producing branches of the yellow race in China and Corea, and a little 
 further off, in Japan, a branch of the white race. 
 
 The results obtained by linguistic research will be the more readily accepted as 
 authoritative by students of ethnography. M. Leon Rosny has established that the 
 Japanese language, with its dialect of the Liou-Kiou Isles, has derived its origin 
 neither from the Chinese nor from any other language. He makes it evident that their 
 autochthonous general roots have nothing in common with any other known idiom, but 
 that their grammar has a certain likeness to the Tartar idioms. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that science has yet said its last word upon the 
 classification of languages in this part of the globe. Perhaps it would be interesting 
 to examine into the more or less intimate relations between the idioms of the Islands 
 of the Sound and the dialects of the south of Japan. Whatever may have been its 
 ancient relations with China, and especially with Corea, I am inclined to believe that 
 the southern portion of the Japanese archipelago, comprising the Liou-Kiou Islands, 
 was colonized by emigrants from the south. Maritime currents play a great part in the 
 stiU mysterious history of emigration. Voyages who.se extent astonish the imagination 
 have been accomplished by their means, though often in an involuntary way. All 
 the European residents in Yokohama are acquainted with the Japanese interpreter, 
 Joseph Hico, who was fishing, with the other members of his family, when a sudden 
 gust of wind drove his boat out to sea. The great equatorial ouri'cnt which 
 bathes the southern and eastern sides of Japan and returns to California, describing 
 a curve of several thousands of leagues, swept the unhappy fishermen towards these 
 coasts, "where they were taken up by an American vessel whirh landed them at San 
 Francisco. 
 
 Navigation between China and Japan is diftieult and dangerous : the cross current 
 of cold water coming from the polar regions sheds itself from north to south through 
 the canal which separates these two countries, while the immense currents of hot water 
 which come from the Indian Ocean, and escape from the Straits of Malacca and the 
 Sound, take the direction of the south-west and the north-east, and pour themselves
 
 THE FIRST EUROPEANS IN JAPAN. 
 
 51 
 
 out, not upon the coast of China, but upon the south-eastern coast of Japan and 
 tlie north-east coast of America. 
 
 The first Europeans who landed in Japan, three Portuguese deserters — Antonio 
 de Mota, Francisco Zimoro, and Antonio Peroto — having embarked in a Siamese port 
 on board a native junk, were carried into the open sea l)y a tempest, and blown 
 by the eastern current on the southern coast t)f the island of Kiousiou (1542). 
 
 AXCIENT WAKllInl;. 
 
 ANCIKNT AKClIl'.l;. 
 
 The celebrated Portuguese advciituic]', Feriian Mendez Pinto, and his two companions, 
 Diego Ziemoto and Christopher Borallio, met exactly the same fate : having embarked 
 from Macao on board a Clnnese junk, they were blown upon the Japanese island of 
 Tanegasima (1545). 
 
 \n the face of such facts, it is not without interest to recollect that two thousand 
 years ago tlu' gi'eat island of Java with its dependencies formed a powerful enii»ire, 
 
 u -1
 
 52 LIFE IN JAPAN, 
 
 which maintained commercial relations by its own fleet, on one side with Madagascar 
 and Arabia, and on the other with China and the neighbouring archipelagoes. My 
 thoughts turn in that direction, and to the Malay peninsula in general, whenever I 
 discover any unforeseen analogy between the public customs and the domestic habits of 
 the Javanese and the Japanese. 
 
 But I only throw out this observation in passing ; it merely belongs to the 
 domain of conjecture. 
 
 If Ave consult the Japanese themselves, and especially the interpreters, we obtain 
 nothing but evasive replies, which are either the result of their ignorance or of 
 repugnance to unveil the sanctuary of their national traditions before strangers. Not 
 that these traditions are completely unknown to us. They have been, on the contrary, 
 the subject of considerable research and of very patient labour on the part of the 
 Catholic missionaries and the doctoi-s in the service of the Dutch Indian Government. 
 The archives of Niphon, published by F. de Siebold, contain remarkable fragments of 
 Japanese literature AA'ith reference to cosmogony and national history. They are translated 
 by the learned Dr. Hoffmann, of Leyden. and accompanied by explanatory notes. Yet 
 these fragmentary studies, however conscientious they may be, cannot give us the 
 key to a civilization so complete in other directions as tliat of the Japanese people. 
 
 In short, certain subjects, which are in their very nature obscure, must be taken as 
 they are. We cannot explain the Japanese system of the formation of the universe 
 otherwise than as it is understood by the Japanese themselves, or rather as they 
 receive it from the hands of their own priests and their own annalists. 
 
 In this system we distinguish a philosophical section apparently borrowed from 
 China, and a legendary section which is purely national. 
 
 The Chinese system of cosmogony takes as its point of departure the Tai-Khit, or 
 primitive and eternal substance, the absolute and last extreme. It holds that all matter 
 is contained in the Tai-Khit under the two species of Yang and Yin ; that Yang is the 
 active, mobile, male principle, or primitive force ; that Yin is the passive, immobile, 
 female principle, or primitive matter ; and, finally, that the elements of which the 
 universe is formed arc the results of the particles Yang and tlie particles Yin, which 
 have issued from the Tai-Khit and combined together. 
 
 In the depths of tlie chaotic period, a divine trinity brought about the separation 
 of heaven and earth by its creative will.
 
 SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC. 
 
 53 
 
 ./CSi 
 
 <:i-' t>
 
 :4 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 In the second period, a series of seven celestial dynasties symbolizes the formation 
 of the various elements. 
 
 The first three dynasties are regulated by the male principle, created under the 
 action of the Celestial Reason. 
 
 During the four later dynasties, there is a passive co-existence of the male with 
 the female principle, formed under the action of the Terrestrial Reason. 
 
 Then, all the elements being prepared, the definitive creation was accomplished by 
 the action of the last couple of the celestial gods, and in two successive phases : 
 firstly, by the union, still purely spiritual, of the two cj-existent principles, which is 
 manifested by the creation of Japan ; and secondly, Ijy a physical union, which gives 
 l)irth ti) the dynasty of the terrestrial gods, of whom four generations are reckoned. 
 
 The last ends in Zinmou-ten-woo, the founder of the dynasty of the ]\Iikad()s. 
 
 After this brief summary, which contains everything in which we can establish a 
 parallel between the Chinese and Japanese systems, I pass on to the exposition (jf the 
 latter, under its traditional and popular form.
 
 BENEDICTION' UK A.MUI.ET.S BY THE KAMI I'lilESTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE GEXESJS OF JAPAN. 
 
 THE BEGINNING. — THE PRIMITIVE GODS. — ACTS OF CREATION. — THE SEVEN CELESTIAL GODS. 
 THE MYTH OF IZANAGt AND IZANAML — THE CHILDREN OF THIS PRIMARY COUPLE. — 
 ZINMON. — THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE HISTORICAL ERA. — KAMI WORSHIP. 
 
 In the beginning, there was neither heaven nor earth.' 
 
 The elements of all things formed a liquid, troubled mass, like that which is con- 
 tained in the embryo egg, where the yellow and the white are still mingled. 
 
 ' The female principle {me) and the male principle (u'c) were not (livided. CKlaproth's version, revised by 
 M. de Kosnj'.)
 
 56 LIFE IN JAPAN.. 
 
 In tlie infinite space filled by this chaos, a god uprose, a god called the supreme 
 being, whose throne is in the middle of the heavens. 
 
 Afterwards came the creator god, raised high above creation ; then the creator god 
 who is the holy spirit 
 
 Each of these three primitive gods had his own existence, but they were not yet 
 revealed outside of their spiritual nature. 
 
 Then, by degrees, the work of separation was wrought in chaos. 
 
 Subtle atoms, rolling away in different directions, formed the heavens. 
 
 Solid atoms, attaching and adhering to each other, produced the earth. 
 
 The subtle atoms rapidly constituted the rounded celestial vault above our heads. 
 
 The solid atoms aggregated themselves more slowly into a compact body ; the 
 earth was not made until long after the heavens. 
 
 When terrestrial matter was still floating like a fish on the surface of the watex's, 
 or like the image of the moon, which trembles in a limpid stream, there appeared 
 ijctween heaven and earth something like a reed, endowed with movement and sus- 
 ceptible of transformation. This was changed into three gods, who are — 
 
 Kouni-toko-tatsi, no mikoto, i.e. the August, existing perpetually in the empire. 
 
 Kouni-satsoutsi, no mikoto, i.e. who reigned by the virtue of water (the first of 
 the five elements) ; and 
 
 Toyo-koumou-sou, no mikoto, i.e. who reigned by the virtue of fire. 
 
 All three were of the masculine sex, because they owed their origin to the sole 
 action of the Celestial Reason. After the first three male gods, there were four couples 
 of gods and goddesses, who lived without sexual relations ; namely — - 
 
 Wou-hitsi-ni, no mikoto, and his companion, who reigned by the virtue of wood 
 (the third clement). 
 
 Oho-to-tsi, no mikoto, and his companion, who reigned by the virtue of metal. 
 
 Omo-tarou, no mikoto, and liis companion, who reigned by the virtue of the earth. 
 
 Lastly, Izanaghi, no mikoto, and his companion, Izanami. 
 
 This second dynasty includes as many goddesses and gods, because Terrestrial as 
 well as Celestial Reason had equally concurred in their formation. 
 
 The first of the seven celestial gods just named, Kouni-toko-tatsi, no mikoto, is 
 the initiator of the creation of our universe. The seven gods collectively personify 
 the elements of this creation. The three first generations are purely spiritual.
 
 THE CELESTIAL GODS. 
 
 57 
 
 In the last four, those of the couples of gods and goddesses, there is co'-existence 
 of the two principles, male and female ; but they only arrive at the consciousness of 
 themselves in Izauaghi and Izanami, in the seventli and last generation. 
 
 TUB GOU OF LONGEVITY. 
 
 The era of the celestial gods, beginning with Kouni-toko-tatsi and ending with 
 Izanaghi aud Izanami, comprises an immeasurable duration of millions of years. 
 
 1
 
 58 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 The myth of Izanaghi and Izanami refers to the creation of the habitable earth, 
 beginning with the creation of the Emjjire of Japan. 
 
 One day, while the god and the goddess were conversing together, leaning upon 
 the bridge of heaven, they began to speak of the possibility of the existence of a 
 lower world. 
 
 In order to satisfy themselves, " Let us try," said Izanaghi to hia companion, 
 " whether we may not find some submerged world in the waters which are beneath 
 us:" and he plunged into them the diamond point of his celestial javelin, and turned it 
 
 KOUNI-TCiKO-TATSI, THE FIIIST OF THE CELESTIAL GODP. 
 
 about in every direction ; several drops of salt water fell from it when he withdrew 
 it, which, becoming condensed as they fell, formed the island called Onokoro-sima. 
 
 Then the pair came down upon the island, and resolved to niaki' it ihe centre 
 of a great archipelago, which they should create by common consent. 
 
 They proceeded to this first union of their creative power in the following manner. 
 
 One went to the right, the other to the left ; and so they made the circuit of 
 the island. When they met, the goddess, transported with joy, exclaimed, " Oh, how 
 happy 1 am to see you, my dear and amiable husband ! " But the god, ofl'ended at 
 being forestalled, replied: "My position as your husband gives me the right to speak
 
 JZANAGHI AND IZANAMI. 59 
 
 first ; why do you usurp it ? Such precipitation is au ill omen. In order to avert 
 the evil conscquenfes, we must begin again." 
 
 On the second occasion the god spoke first, crying out the moment he met the 
 goddess, " Oh, how happy I am to see you, my dear and loving wife ! " 
 
 From that moment nothing interrupted their task of creation, which was effected 
 in the following order. 
 
 Izanaghi caused the island of terrestrial foam, Awadsi, to emerge from the waters, 
 in the first place ; then the mountainous Oho-Yamato, rich in autumnal fruits and in 
 tine harbours ; then lyo, with its l)eautiful country ; then Tsikousi, the pentagonal 
 island ; Iki, one of the columns of heaven ; Tsousima, of the excellent harbours ; Oki, 
 with its three islets; and the famous Sado, full of gold and copper. These collec- 
 tively constitute the Empire of the eight great islands. Afterwards arose the inferior 
 islands — Kibi, Adsouki, Oho-sima, Hime-sima, Tsikano-sima, and Foutagouo-sima, which 
 were also the creations of Izanaghi. 
 
 As for the other small isles, which, in a(hlition to these, are scattered here and 
 there about the ocean, they were formed, nmcli later, by the foam of the sea and the 
 deposit of the rivers. 
 
 Now, as the created country was desert and uiiinhaliitablc. Izanaghi called into 
 life eight millions of genii, who swooped down all at once upon the archipelago, and 
 instantly produced an al)undant vegetation. 
 
 Resides this, Izanaghi created the ten thousand things from which the innumerable, 
 (piantity of existing objects are derived. 
 
 On her side, the goddess Izananii created the genii of the mines, of water, of 
 aquatic plants, of the vegetable earth, and of fire. 
 
 Until then, divine bei)igs had bw'n produced in the universe by spontaneous 
 creation, and not by generation. Izanaghi and Izanami, having observed the loves of 
 the bird Isi-Tataki {Motacilla higuhns), were the first who engendered children. They 
 had a laroe number: the eldest and the most excellent was the founder of the five 
 dynasties of the terrestrial gods. 
 
 From Izanaghi and Izanami the inhabitants of the earth are descended, in a' 
 direct line. 
 
 Several biographies of the children of this primary couple exist. One of the 
 sons, Hirooko, was exposed in a bamboo basket on the ."^ea, in consequence of his 
 
 I 2
 
 60 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 ugliness ; another, Sosano, was banished for his cruelty. Izanami disappeared in giving 
 birth to the genius of fire. Izanaghi, inconsolable, descended into the infernal regions, to 
 seek for his beloved companion. He was very ill received, and only escaped by performing 
 various prodigies from the danger of being detained there in perpetual captivity. 
 
 Then Izanaghi himself quitted this world, and his departure put an end to the 
 reign of the celestial gods. 
 
 The first of the children of Izanaghi and Izanami became the supreme head of all 
 their creative works. This was their eldest daughter, the great divine sun, Oho-Hirou- 
 Me-Moutsi, also called the great geniiis who shines in the sky, Ama-terasou-oho-Kami. 
 This divinity is adored through the whole Empire of Japan, and respected even by the 
 rationalist sects, under the popular name Tcn-sjoo-dai-zin, the great imperial goddess, 
 heiress of the -celestial generation. As she is the only one of the children of Izanaghi 
 and Izanami wIk) left posterity, all the Japanese, and especially their hereditary 
 emperors, the Mikados, do not foil to trace their origin in a direct line to the goddess 
 of the sun. 
 
 After a reign of a hundred thousand years, Ten-sjoo-dai-zin was succeeded by her 
 eldest son, and with the great grandson of the latter the generation of the gods of the 
 earth became extinct. The fifth and last of the terrestiial gods had left four sons. 
 The youngest ascended the throne. He bore in his youth the name of Sannoa-no-Mikoto, 
 the lord of a narrow territory. At the age of forty-five years he departed to conquer 
 the countries to the east of his domains. Having subjugated them, he collected into 
 a single empire all the islands of Japan known at that epoch, and founded the dynasty 
 of the Mikados. 
 
 After his death he was given the name Zinmou-ten-woo, or the ruler glorified in 
 heaven, and under that description he is paid divine honours. 
 
 Zinmou, the first ruler of men, opens tlie historical era of Japan, which begins 
 with his accession to the throne, B.C. GGO. 
 
 Such is the Japanese cosmogony, reduced to its simplest expression, stripped of a 
 number of exotic branches imported from India or from China, and yet, under this 
 form, it is far from making a homogeneous whole. Perhaps there is notliing really 
 original in all tliis crude concejition, except the myth of Izanaghi and the heroic episode 
 of Zinmou. On these two points all authorities are concurrent. This is not the case 
 in respect to certain details which might be compared with the Hebrew and Greek
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE HISTORICAL ERA. 
 
 61 
 
 traditions. Thus, the sources from which Siebold quotes mention the three primitive 
 o-ods of creation, in which we mi^ht trace the Trinity of the Holy Scriptures, while 
 there is no reference to them in a translation attributed to the Abbd Mermet. 
 
 Besides, we arc dealing less with a compilation of legends and popular fables 
 than with a work of interested purpose, evidently conceived with the object of glorifying 
 a dynasty by attributing to it a divine character. 
 This work is posterior to the foundation of the 
 Empire of Zinmou. It is remarkable that it should 
 have succeeded in substituting itself so completely 
 for the ancient oral traditions. The latter were, 
 no doubt, less flattering to the national pride, 
 but they would have thrown some light on the 
 origin of the Japanese people. 
 
 It cannot be said that the Japanese adopt at 
 all points the version held sacred at the Court of 
 the IMikados. I do not think that in these days 
 anyone in Japan seriously claims the title of 
 a descendant of the sun ; but all the Japanese, 
 without distinction, would invoke their national 
 mythology, if re(piired, in order to protest 
 against the attempt to establish an affiliation 
 between them and the Chinese or any other neigh- 
 bouring people. 
 
 Science, confirming the data of tradition, states 
 that at the epoch at which the historical era com- zinmou. 
 
 mences in Japan a religion peculiar to it already 
 
 existed in that country, which, as Ksempfer observes, has never been introduced or practised 
 elsewhere, and wliich has been preserved up to the present time, althougli under an 
 altered form, and in a condition of inferiority with respect to other sects of later 
 origin. This religion is the worship of tlie Kamis, wliich has also i-eceived several 
 names borrowed from the Chinese language, and which for that reason I do not 
 enumerate. It must not be regarded as the worship of the spirits of ancestors in 
 general, nor of the ancestors of particular families. The spii'its venerated under the
 
 fi2 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 title of Kamis belong, it is true, to a mythological or heroic legend, whose glory- 
 is reflected upon families still existing ; but they are, above all, national genii, pro- 
 tectors of Japan and of the people who inhal)it it. The chapel dedicated to 
 Ten-sjoo-dai-zin, in the Isye country, is regarded as the most authentic monument of 
 the primitive religion of the Japanese. Kfempfer asserts that the Sintoists (the Chinese 
 appellation for the adherents of the Kami worship) make a pilgrimage to Tsy(^ once 
 a year, or at least once during their lifetime. The period to which the chapel of 
 Isye belongs is that of the infancy of art, which attained its present form at the 
 dawn of historic time, under the ri'ign of the first IMikados, and whose essential 
 characteristics I am about to trace. 
 
 The situation of the building is, in the first place, a capital point. The mias 
 (temples) were always built on the most picturesque and thickly-wooded sites. Sometimes 
 a fine avenue of pines or cedars leads to the holy place. In every instance it is 
 approached through one of those toris or detached portals which I have described in 
 speaking of the temple of Benten. The mias are generally built upon hills, some of 
 them artificial, and supported by walls of Cyclopean maj^siveucss. The temple is 
 reached by a long and well-kept staircase. At the foot of the stair stands the Chapel 
 of Ablutions : it consists of a simple roof sheltering a stone basin, which is always full 
 of water. The temple, properly so called, is raised two or three feet above the ground, 
 supported on fnur thick pillars, and surrounded, like niost Japanese habitations, by a 
 "•allcry with a short flight of steps. It is built of wood, closed on three sides and open 
 in front, but supplied with sliding panels, which admit of its being shut at need. 
 
 The interior of the sanctuary is thus open to view. A certain elegance mingles 
 with the austere simplicity which distinguishes it. The woodwork shines with cleanliness; 
 tlic mats which cover the floor are delicately fine ; the metal disc which ornaments 
 the altar produces a good efl'ect in the picture : and regarded from the symbolical point 
 of view, there is nothing to weaken its mute eloquence, for the eye finds neither 
 statues, images, nor drapeiies to distract attention and })revent meditation. 
 
 The roof of the chapel is remarkable. It may be made of wood, tiles, or thatch, 
 inditferently ; but the foini is peculiar to tin- mias. The roof slopes graduall)- on 
 either side, and i)en(ls towards the base, where it projects .so as to jut out over the 
 verandah ; and from this wide base to the summit it presents an elevation which is 
 relativelv considerablr and disproportionate to the h(>iglit of the building. The roof
 
 A' A At/ TEMPLES. 03 
 
 riuls at the two upper angles in two l)are beams, in the f'oiin of an X, or of 
 St. Andrew's Cross. The hn-el of tlic roof does not pass beyond the point of interseetion 
 of the two beams, so that of the four arms of the cross, two adhere to tlie roof 
 and two surmount it, spreading themselves apart in the air ; and the latter are seooped 
 out into a deep hollow at the top, j)robably to give them more lightness. Small beams 
 cut into the form of spindles are plaeed at ef[ual distances across the span of the roof. 
 The meaning of this singular architecture is not easily understood. Such seems to l)e the 
 type of the mia in its primitive purity. I assume that the objects which 1 am about 
 to mention were introduced into the Kami worship at a late period. 
 
 These are two statues of mythological animals, in bronze, representing, under fantastic 
 forms— one a sort of dog, the " Koma-Inou ; " the other a sort of unicorn, the " Kirin," 
 — both crouching on their hind legs, and intended to symbolize the two purifying 
 elements, water and fii-e. Also, various other ornaments, coloured lanterns, perfume 
 vases, consecrated urns for the offerings of wine and saki, and liower-pots which contain 
 branches of evergreen shrubs, such as the myrtle, the cypress, and especially the salcakt. 
 At the foot of the high altar stands a large wooden coffer, in which the oflferings of 
 the fixithful are placed. In some of the mias, as also in the Buddhist temples, a metal 
 gong, or a cord with a bunch of pebbles attached to it, hangs in front of the altar, 
 to enable visitors to call the bonzes, or to arouse the attention of the divinity. 
 
 Buddhism has borrowed in more than one instance from the national worshi]) of 
 the Kamis. It places the mirror of Izanami on its altars, and sometimes, on the 
 threshold of its bonze-houses right and left of the doorway, we find the mythological 
 dog, carved in granite and mounted on a pedestal ornamented with Chinese characters. 
 A proof that the above-mentioned objects were introduced late into Kami worship is 
 furnished by the remarkable circumstance that that religion had originally no 
 priesthood. 
 
 The mias were, in the beginning, no more than commemorative chapels erected 
 in honour of the national heroes, like Tell's Chapel on the shore of the L;ike of the 
 I'our Cantons. The lord of the favoured country \\hich boasted such a monument 
 watched over its preservation ; but no priest served at the altar of the Kami, no 
 privileged caste interposed itself between the worshipper and the object of his pious 
 homage. Besides, the act of adoration accomplished before the mirror of Izanami <lid 
 not stop at the Kami of the commemorative chapel, but went up to the gods of whom
 
 64 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAX. 
 
 the Kami was the instrument. Thus the chapel was open to everybody, given up 
 freely to the use of the worshippers, and the worship was devoid of all ceremonial. 
 
 This state of things is no longer maintained in its integrity. Younger sons of good 
 families were proposed for the guardianship, and then for the service of the holy 
 place. Kami worship, in its turn, had its processions, its litanies, its offerings, and 
 even its miraculous images, Its priests so far preserved the tradition of its origin, that 
 they never formed a clerical caste, properly so called. They wore a surplice while 
 celebrating the offices, but on leaving the sacred precincts they resumed their costumes 
 and arms, as gentlemen. But there was speedily formed below them a real monastic 
 confraternity, thf-t of the Kanousis, which devoted itself especially to the " exploitation " 
 of pilgrims, 
 
 Two causes led to the decline of Kami worship from its primitive purity : the 
 foundatiou of the power of the Mikados, and afterwards the invasion of Japanese 
 society by the religion of Buddha. 
 
 THE KUUX.
 
 JAPANESE EMl'EKOH IN AXLIENT ilMES. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE EARLY SOVEREIGNS OF JAPAN. 
 
 THE CONQUEROR WHO CAME FROM THE SOUTH. — ORIGIN AND CAREER OF ZINMOU. — 
 EARLY HISTORY. — FOUNDATION AND CONSOLIDATION OF THE EM TIRE. — THE RACE OF 
 THE MIKADOS. — ADVANCE OF CIVILIZATION. 
 
 Ihe history of .Japan commences with the couqueror who came from the isles of 
 the south. According to the annals of the Empire, he was a native prince and lord 
 of a small territory at the southern extremity of the island of Kiousiou. Obscure 
 tradition attributes to him a distant origin : the birthplace of his ancestors, if not his
 
 66 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 own, is said to have been the little archipelago of the Liou-Kiou Islands, which forms 
 the link between Formosa, southern China, and Japan. 
 
 Six centuries before his time, an expedition from Formosa and the Asiatic conti- 
 nent, headed by a certain Prince Ta'ip^ or Taifak, had reached the shores of Kiousiou, 
 having proceeded from island to island; but it was in the year 660 B.C. that the 
 first historical personage, Sannoo, whose memory is celebrated under the name of 
 Zinmou, makes his appearance. Although he was the youngest of four sons, his 
 father had named him his successor from his fifteenth year. He ascended the 
 throne at the age of forty-five years, without any opposition on the part of his 
 orothers. An old retainer, Avhose adventurous life had led him to the distant isles 
 behind which the sun rises, loved to describe to him the beauty of their shores, on 
 which the gods themselves formerly sought refuge. " Now," said he, " they are 
 inhabited by barbarous tribes, always at war with one another. If the prince desires 
 to profit by their divisions, their men of arms, however skilful they may be in the 
 management of the lance, the bow, and the sword, being dressed only in coarse fabrics, 
 or the skins of savage beasts, cannot resist a disciplined army protected by helmets 
 and iron cuirasses." 
 
 Zinmou lent a willing ear to the suggestions of the old retainer ; collected all 
 his disposable forces, placed them under the orders of his elder brothers and his 
 sons, embai-ked them u]X)n a flotilla of war-junks perfectly equipped, and, assuming 
 command of the expedition, set sail, after taking leave of his home, which neither he 
 nor his brothers were ever to see again. 
 
 After he had doubled the south-east point of Kiousiou, he sailed along the eastern 
 side of the island, keeping close to the shore after the fashion of the ancient Normans, 
 making occasional descents, giving battle when he was resisted, and forming alliances 
 when he found the nobles or chiefs of clans disposed to assist him in his enterprise. 
 
 It was evident that all this coast had been the theatre of former invasions. 
 The population was composed of a ruling class, and serfs attached to the land. 
 
 In some of the chapels of the national Kamis, stone arms are exhibited, which 
 were used by the primitive populations at the epoch when, under certain unknown 
 circumstances, they came in contact with a superior civilization. 
 
 AVhen Zinmou made his appearance, walls and palisades protected the families of 
 the soldiers and the masters of the country. The latter were armed with l)ows and
 
 ZINMOU. C7 
 
 long arrows ; a great sword with a carved hilt and a naked blade, worn in the folds 
 of tlie girdle, eompK'ted tlieir equipment. 
 
 Their richest adornments consisted of a chain of magatamas, or out gems, which 
 they wore hanging on the side above the right hiji. Among these stones were rock 
 crystal, serpentine, jasper, agates, amethysts, and topazes. Some were in the fonn of a 
 ball or an egg, others cylindrical ; one a crescent, another a broken ring. The women 
 liad necklaces of a similar kind. It is said that the use of the magatamas has still 
 some connection with certain religious solemnities in the islands of Liou-Kiou, and at 
 Yeso, in the north of Japan ; and it is concluded thence that it must have been common 
 to all the populations of the long chains of islands extending from Formosa to 
 Kamtschatka. If this custom has flisappeared from the central region of tlie Japanese 
 archipelago, the cause of the phenomenon must bo sought in the superior culture which 
 characterises the inhabitants of these countries, and which has led them to renounce the 
 display of the family wealth on their persons. 
 
 After a difficult voyage of ten months, interrupted by occasional brilliant feats of 
 arms and by profitable negotiations, Zinmou reached the north-eastern extremity of the 
 island of Kiousiou. He was at a loss how to got further, when he discovered a 
 fisherman who was floating upon the waves, sijuatting upon the shell of a huge turtle. 
 He hailed him immediately, and employed him as a pilot. Thus Zinmou succeeded in 
 crossing the strait whicli separates Kiousiou from the laud of Niphon, and coasted 
 along in the direction of tlie cast, operating with prudent caution, and leaving 
 behind him no important point without having secured its possession. Nevertheless, 
 as the native tribes continually opposed him at sea as well as on land, he disembarked 
 and fortified himself upon the peninsula of Takasima, where he devoted three years 
 to the constnvction and equipment of an auxiliary fleet. 
 
 Then he set out again, and achieved the conquest of the coast and archipelago of 
 the Inland Sea ; after which he disembarked the greater part of his army, and penetrating 
 into Niphon, he established his rule over the rich countries, intersected by fertile 
 valleys and wooded mountains, which extend from Osaka to the borders of the Gulf of 
 Yeddo. From that time all the cultivated countries and all the civilized peoples in 
 ancient Japan were under the power of Zinmou. 
 
 The conqueror inaugurated and established the preponderance of the south over 
 the destinies of the Japanese i)cople. Whether the race which ruled before him (jver 
 
 K 2
 
 G8 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 the native inbabitants had been of Turanian origin or not, it also submitted in its 
 turn to this last and decisive invasion, to which the Empire of the Mikados owes 
 its ancient glorv and its actual existence. 
 
 It does not follow, however, that Japanese civilization was a simple importation. 
 Zinmou appears to have been in certain respects, especially that of religion, a 
 tributary of the people whom he had conquered. The diverse elements with which he 
 had to deal — the native clans and the Tartar emigrants, with the invaders Avho had 
 come from the islands of the south, the ancient nobles lately conquered, and their new 
 sovereign, who was won over to their favourite customs — were thus fused into one 
 national body. The tribes which remained aloof from the pacific constitution of the 
 Empire were the Ainos, who had been driven further and further towards the north, 
 and the Yebis, dispersed during the strife of the invasion, and who lived in the forests 
 on the products of hunting and rapine. 
 
 But it would be vain to attempt an analysis of the various elements which have 
 contribvited to the formation of the national character of the Japanese. The 
 civilization of the country appears to be the result of a combination of the iudi- 
 senous and the foreign elements. There has been a mixture of races without an 
 absorption of native qualities, among the islanders of the extreme east, and, as was 
 the case among the islanders of Great Britain, the alliance has produced a new and 
 original type. 
 
 When the divine warrior Zinmou had accomplished his ambitious aims, seven 
 years had elapsed since his departure from Kiousiou, — seven years, accompanied with 
 how much fatiijue, sufferincf, and troul)le of everv kind ! His three brothers had 
 perished under his eyes : the first pierced with an arrow at the siege of a fortress ; 
 the two others victims of their own devotion to him, for they had thrown themselves 
 into the sea in order to appease a tempest which threatened the junk of the 
 conqueror. 
 
 The sun had always shown itself favourable to his enterprises. To its divine 
 protection it was due that he had not been lost in the dangerous defiles of Yamato. 
 A raven, sent to him by the divinity at a critical moment, had guided him into 
 safety. Thus he had added to his ancestral arms tlie image of the glittering goddess, 
 such as she appeared to him each day when she arose above the horizon, and had 
 it painted upon his banner, his cuirass, and his war fan. In tlie fourth year of his
 
 THE LAW OF SUCCESSION: 69 
 
 reign, when he liad attained possession of uncontested j^wer, lie iiistituted a solemn 
 feast of thanksgiving in honour of Ten-sjoo-dai-zin. The national Kamis had also 
 their share in his homage. He ordained sacrifices in honour of the eight immortal 
 spirits, protectors of countries and families, in order to celebrate the inauguration of 
 his royal residence, and to surround his throne with the prestige of that religion 
 which was so dear to the peoples whom he had conquered. 
 
 These things happened in the country of Yamato, which occupies the centre of 
 the great peninsula in the south-east of Niphon, whose coasts border the Inland Sea 
 and the ocean. There Zinmou constructed a vast fortress on a great hill. He called 
 this castle his " Miako," or the chief palace of his States, and there he installed his 
 Court, or Dairi. These two names have ever since been retained by the sovereigns 
 of the Japanese Empire to distinguish it from their othei' residences. The 
 sovereigns themselves bear the honour-giving title of "Mikados," or "august" and 
 " venerable," without prejudice to the glorious surnames under which they figure 
 in the annals of the nation after death. The native historians frequently employ the 
 word " Miako " instead of the proper name of the city in which the Emperor resides, 
 and that of " Dairi " in place of the title of Mikado. They say, for example, such and 
 such a thing has been done " by order of the Dairi," instead of " by order of the 
 Mikado." This custom is, however, common to the lansuasre of all Courts. 
 
 As Zinmou had been raised to the throne by the free choice of his father, it was 
 enacted that for the future the reigning Mikado should designate one among his sons 
 to succeed him, or, if he had no sons, one among the other princes of the blood, 
 according to his own choice, and without regard to the order of primogeniture. If the 
 throne became vacant during the minority of the elect prince, the widow of the 
 Mikado was to assume the regency of the Empire, and to exercise sovereign rights during 
 the interregnum. 
 
 Zinmou terminated his glorious career in the sixty-seventh year of his age, 585 
 years before the birth of Christ. He has been placed among the number of the Kamis. 
 His chapel, known in Japan by the name of Simoyasiro, is situated upon ]\Iount 
 Kamo, near Kioto, and he is still worshipped there as the founder and the first chief 
 of the Empire. The hereditary right to the crown has subsisted in his family for 
 more than two thousand five hundred years, and is still maintained. 
 
 The ancient race of the Mikados was strong and long-lived. Zinmou lived one
 
 70 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 huudred aud twenty years ; the fifth Mikado lived one hundred and fourteen years ; 
 the sixth, one huudred and thirty-seven years ; the seventh, one hundred and twenty- 
 eight years ; the eighth, one hundred and six years ; the ninth, one hundred and 
 eleven years ; the eleventh and twelfth, each one hundred and forty years ; the 
 sixteenth, one hundred and eleven years ; and the seventeenth, who died in the 
 3S8th year of our era, attained the age of three hundred and eight years, or three 
 hundred and thirty years according to the version of some historians. 
 
 Seimou, the thirteenth Mikado, was ten feet high. The wives of the Mikados, 
 who governed the Empire in the capacity of Eegent, were equal in point of character 
 to their venerable husbands. One of them, Zingou, a.d. 201, equipped a fleet, and, 
 embarking at the head of a select ai'my, crossed the Sea of Japan and conquered 
 the Corea, from whence she returned only just in time to give birth to a future 
 Mikado. 
 
 The progress of civilization kept pace with the aggrandisement of the Empire. 
 From Corea came the camel, the ass, and the horse : the latter animal is the only 
 one which has been naturalized in Japan. 
 
 The establishment of tanks and canals for the irrigation of the rice-fields dates 
 back to thirty-six years B.C. The tea-shrub was introduced from China. Tatsima 
 Noii brought the orange from " the country of eternity." The culture of the mulberry 
 and the fabrication of silk date from the fifth century of our era. Two centuries 
 later the Japanese learned to distinguish "the earth which replaces oil and wood for 
 burning," and to extract silver from the mines of Tsousiina. 
 
 Several important inventions date from the third century : for example, the 
 institution of a horse post ; making beer from rice, known under the name of sakl ; 
 and the art of sewing clothes, which was taught to the Japanese housewives by needle- 
 women who came from the kingdom of Petsi, in Corea. The Mikado, enchanted 
 with the first attempt, and wishing to go to the fountain-head, sent an embassy to 
 the chief of the Celestial Empire to ask him for needlewomen. In the fourth century 
 the Dairi built, in various parts of Japan, rice stores, intended to jtrevent the 
 recurrence of the famines which had more tlian once ravaged the population. In 543, 
 the Court of Petsi sent a jjrccious instrument to the Mikado — it was " the wheel which 
 indicates the south." The introduction of hydraulic clocks took place in 6G0, and ten 
 years later that of wheels worked l)y water-power. At tlie end of the eighth century
 
 THE DAWN OF ART. 
 
 71 
 
 a system of writing, proper to Japan, was invented, but from the third century the 
 
 use of Chinese signs had been introduced at Court. 
 
 The obscurity in which ancient national literature is enveloped does not permit us 
 
 to estimate its influence on civilization. It is all the more interesting to trace 
 
 the beneficent action which the fine arts 
 
 exercised upon the people. Human victims 
 
 were immolated at the funerals of the Mikado, 
 
 or of his wife, the Kisaki, and these victims 
 
 were usually servants of the Court. In the 
 
 year 3 B.C., Nomino Soukoune, a native 
 
 sculptor, being informed of the death of the 
 
 Kisaki, had the generous courage to present 
 
 himself before his sovereign with clay images, 
 
 which he proposed to him should be thrown 
 
 into the tomb of his royal wife in place 
 
 of the servants destined to the sacrifice. The 
 
 Mikado accepted the offer of the humble 
 
 modeller, and testified his satisfaction by 
 
 changing his family name to that of Fasi, 
 
 or "artist." 
 
 The laws remained as they still are, 
 more barbarous and cruel than the customs. 
 
 For example, the punishment of crucifixion was inflicted on nolile women guilty of 
 adultery. 
 
 A whole series of measures admirably adapted for the rapid development of 
 the genius of the nation, and for imbuing it with a true sense of its strem>-th 
 and individuality, is due to the political administration. In the year 86 B.C., 
 the sovereign had census tables of the population made, and ship-building yards 
 established. In the second century of our era he divided his States into ei^ht 
 administrative circles, and these circles into sixty-eight provinces. In the fifth century 
 he sent an oflacial into each province, charged with the collection ami registration of 
 the popular customs and traditions of every district. Thus the pro[>er names of each 
 family, and the titles and surnames of the provincial dynasties, were fixed. An imperial 
 
 ANCIENT NftlLl-niU.
 
 72 LIFE IX JAPAN. 
 
 road was made between the priucipal cities, five in number, and the Mikado transported 
 his Court successively into each. The most important, in the seventh century, was 
 the city of Osaka, on the eastern coast of the luhxud Sea. 
 
 In order to confer political union, and also unity of language, letters, and general 
 civilization, upon the country, a capital was indispensable, and this great want was 
 supplied in the eighth century by the foundation of Kioto, which became the favourite 
 city of the Mikado, and was his permanent residence until the twelfth century. 
 
 The city of Hiogo, whose secure and spacious harbour has been for years the 
 centre of the maritime commerce of the Japanese Empire, is built on the coast of the 
 basin of Idsoumi, opposite to the north-eastern point of the island of Awadsi. At 
 Hiogo the junks from Simonasaki discharge their cargoes from China, the Liou-Kiou 
 Islands, from Nagasaki, and from the western coast of Niphon, and even of Corea and 
 Yeso, for the supply of the interior and the east of Jaj^au. From these, thousands of 
 other junks transport the agricultural produce and objects of art and industry of the 
 southern provinces of Niphon to the islands of the Inland Sea. 
 
 In time, a double line of steamboats, in the great commercial services of England 
 and France, will unite the port of Hiogo to China. 
 
 The great and ancient city of Osaka is only eight hours' journey from Hiogo. 
 It is the Venice of Japan. The palaces of the nobility occupy the quays which 
 stretch along the principal arm of the river. All the rest of the town is com- 
 posed of houses and shops belonging to the trading classes. Only a few old temples, 
 more or less dilapidated, are to be seen. One of them, at the far end of the eastern 
 suburb, has been placed by the Government of the Taikoun at the disposal of the 
 foreign Embassies. A citadel, a mile in circumference, overlooks the north-eastern 
 portion of the city, and commands the imperial high road to Kioto. 
 
 The city of Osaka contains seven hundred thousand inhabitants. From the 
 year 744 to the year 1185 of our era it was the residence of the Mikados. 
 rhey were well pleased to dwell amid its energetic, laborious, and enterprising 
 pupulatidu, to whom the Empire chiefly owed the development of its commerce and 
 prosperity. But this was no longer the heroic epoch, when the Mikado, like the 
 Doge of the Venetian Republic, embarked upon his wav-juuk, and fulfilled in 
 person the functions of High Admiral. He was no longer to be seen inspecting 
 his troops, borne u[)on a litter upon the shoulders of four brave heralds, or
 
 OSAKA AND KIOTO. 73 
 
 commanding the manoeuvres from the summit of a liill, sitting upon a stool, and 
 holding in his right hand his iron fan. At Osaka, the Mikado, who had reached the 
 height of riches, power, and security, built a palace in the midst of a spacious park, 
 which shut him out from the tumult of the city. His courtiers persuaded him that 
 it was requisite for the dignity of the descendant of the sun that he should be 
 invisible to the great body of his subjects, and should leave to i)rinces and favourites 
 the cares of government and the command of the army and the fleet. The life of the 
 Dairi was subject to ceremonial laws which regulated its smallest details and its 
 least movements, and the sovereign dwelt within a circle inviolable by all except his 
 courtiers. Imperial pomp henceforth rarely became visible to the people ; who, deceived 
 in their dearest hopes, weary of the arbitrary rule of favourites, ventured at length 
 to raise their voices, and their murmurs reached the ears of their sovereign. He did 
 not convoke an assembly of notables, but he instituted certain bureaus, where the 
 complaints of the jieople were registered. The courtiers, convinced that the dynasty 
 of the descendants of the sun was in danger, carried away themselves and their Emperor 
 to Kioto, a small town in the interior, on the north of Osaka. They succeeded 
 in making this the permanent residence of the Mikados, and the capital, or miako, of 
 the Empire. 
 
 In abandoning the populous city, the great centre of commerce, of industry, and 
 of intellectual activity, independent of the Dairi, they obtained the double advantage of 
 cutting off all communication between the people and the sovereign, and of moulding 
 the new capital to their tastes, and for the convenience of their passions. 
 
 Kioto is situated in a fertile plain, open to the south, and bounded to the north- 
 east by a chain of green hills, b(;liind which there is a great lake, called indifierently 
 the lake of Oitz, or Oumi, the names of the two principal cities on its shores. It is 
 said to offer some of the most beautiful views in Japan. The waters of a dozen 
 rivers flow into it, and give rise to the Yodo-gawa, which runs to the south of Kioto, 
 and into the Inland Sea below Osaka. 
 
 Two affluents of the Yodo-gawa rise on the north of the capital, and flow 
 beneath its walls, one to the east and the other to the west. Thus Kioto is completely 
 surrounded by a network of running water, which is utilized in irrigating the rice- 
 fields, in the formation of canals in the streets of the city, and also in the tanks in 
 the imperial parks.
 
 74 ' LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 In the iieighbourlioofl of Kioto, rice, sarmsin, wheat, tea, the mulbeny-tree, the 
 cotton-plant, and an immense variety of fruit-trees and vegetables are cnltivated. 
 Groves of bamboos and laurels, chestnuts, pines, and cypress crown the hills. Springs 
 are abundant. Thousands of birds- — the fiilcon, the pheasant, the peewit, ducks, geese, 
 and hawks of all kinds — abouml in the countr}-. Kioto is famed for the salubrity of 
 its climate. It is one of those portions of the Empire least exposed to hurricanes and 
 earthquakes. 
 
 The successors of Zinmou could not have found a more propitious retreat in 
 which to enjo)- the fruits of the labours of their ancestors ; to raise themselves to 
 the rank of divinities upon the pedestal of the ancient traditions of their race, and 
 to lose sight of the realities of human life. All these things they did so completely as 
 to allow one of the greatest sceptres in the world to escape from their enervated hands. 
 
 The descendant of the Kamis of Japan naturally Ijecame the chief of the national 
 relio-ion, ^\llil•]l had no clergy. The JMikados created an hierarchy of functionaries, 
 endowed with tlic sacerdotal character, and rharged to preside over all the details of 
 ])ul)lic worship. All the high dignitaries were chosen from the immediate and collateral 
 members of the imperial family. 
 
 The same order of proceeding was observed generally in all that concerned the 
 service of the palace and the important functionaries of the Dai'ri. The chiefs of 
 the civil and military administrations were gradually more and more alienated from 
 the Court properly so called, and the latter took an exclusively clerical stamp. So the 
 capital of the Empire ended by presenting a strange spectacle. Nothing was to be 
 seen there which had reference to the army, the navy, or the govei'nment of the 
 countrv. All these were abandoned to the care of the functionaries employed in the 
 various services, and scattered about in the provinces. On the other hand, all the sects 
 Mliirli recognized the supremacy of the Mikado assemljled their own dignitaries within 
 \\\^ city of residence, and all vied witli each other in building temples for their 
 respective religions. Thus, wlien Buddhism, imported by monks from China, had 
 made sure of tlie protection of the Mikado by paying him homage under the title 
 of s]>iritual chief of tlie Empire, it speedil)- surpassed all that had been done in the 
 eapilal to the honour and glory of the Kami worship. 
 
 The Japanese Buddhists endowed Kioto witli the largest bell in the world, and 
 with a temple no less uni(jue of its kind. It is called the Temple of tlie Thirty-
 
 TEMPLES AT KIOTO. 75' 
 
 throe Tliousaiul Three Huudrod ami Thirty-three, wliich is exactly the nuniher of the 
 idols whieh it contains. In order to make sueh a prodigy intelligible, it must he 
 explained that the great statues support a multitude of small ones, placed upon their 
 heads and knees and upon tin- palms of their hands. 
 
 The temples or chapels of Kioto ^^•hieh belong to the ancient nati(jual religion 
 still preserve to a certain extent the simjilicity which distinguishes them in the pro- 
 ^^nces. Some are consecrated to the seven celestial dynasties of the native mythology, 
 others to the spirits of the earth, and others to the divinity of the Sun, Ten-sjoo-dai-zin, 
 or to her descendants, the first j\likados. 
 
 The Kami worship towards the end of the seventeenth eentury had two thousand 
 one hundred and twenty-seven mias in Kioto and its suburbs ; but the Buddhist religion, 
 in its different sects or ramifications, had no less than three thousand eight hundred 
 and ninety-three temples, pagodas, or chapels. 
 
 There are no other monuments worthy of notice in this singular capital. 
 
 The palaces of the Daui ari', numbered among the sacred edifices, both by 
 reason of the style of their architecture and their purpose. They arc enclosed within 
 a circuit of walls occupying the north-eastern portion of the city. Long lines of trees, 
 of great height, which show above the distant roofs, give a vague idea of the extent 
 and tranquillity of the parks, in whose recesses the imperial dwellings hide them- 
 selves from profane eyes and the noise of the city. 
 
 As it frequently happens that the Mikado abdicates in favour of the hereditary 
 prince, in order to end his days in absolute seclusion, a special palace is reserved for 
 him, under such circumstances, in a solitary enclosure on the south-eastern side of 
 the 1 )ai'ri. 
 
 In the centre of the city there is a strong fort, whose ramparts are surmounted 
 at intervals by square towers two or three storeys high, intended to serve as a refuge 
 for the Mikado in troublous times. The head-cjuarters of the gairison of the Taikoun 
 was established there in later days. 
 
 The high dignitaries and functionaries, and the persons employed in the various 
 residences of the Emperor and of his numerous family, may be counted by thousands. 
 The number can never be exactly known, 1)ecause the ('(jurt has the privilege of 
 escaping {\\v, annual census. 
 
 At all times the Japanese Government has occupied itself carefully with national 
 
 L 2
 
 76 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 statistics. In the holy city of the Empire, every individual is officially classed in the 
 sect to which he declares himself to belong. In 1G93 Ksempfer reports that the perma- 
 nent population of Kioto, exclusive of the Court, comprised 52,169 ecclesiastics, and 
 477,557 lay persons; both one and the other were divided into twenty recognized sects, 
 the mogt numerous of which included 159,113 adherents, and the least numerous, which 
 was a sort of Buddhist confraternity, 289 members only. 
 
 It must not be imagined that this euormous development of sacerdotal life in the 
 capital of Japan renders the city gloomy, or makes the public morals austere. Exactly 
 the contrary is the case ; the stories and pictures which exist in Kioto, and record 
 what it was in the days of its prosperity, produce the impression of a never-ending 
 carnival. 
 
 Let us suppose that we are reaching the holy city at sundown. Our ears will be 
 assailed by a concert of instruments. On all the hills, which are covered with sacred 
 groves, temples, and convents, the bonzes and the monks are celebrating the evening 
 office to the sound of drums and tambourines, copper gongs, and brass bells. The 
 faubourgs are illuminated with bright-coloured paper lanterns of all dimensions : the 
 largest, of cylindrical form, are suspended from the columns of the temples ; 
 the smaller, like globes, hang from the doors of the inns and the galleries of the 
 houses. The sacred edifices and profane establishments, which participate in this 
 illumination, are so considerable in number, and so close together, that the whole quarter 
 seems to be the scene of a Venetian f6te. In the heart of the city a compact crowd 
 of both sexes throngs the streets, which extend from the north to the south, in the 
 vicinity of the Dairi. The priests ai'.e there in great numbers. Those of the Kami 
 worship wear a little hat of black lacquered cardboard, surmounted with a sort of 
 crest of the same colour, and a small white cross. This curious head-dress has an 
 appendage of very stiff ribbon which is tied behind the head and hangs down the 
 back of the neck. It is the ancient national head-dress, which docs not belong ex- 
 clusively to tlie priests, but may be worn, with certain modifications prescribed by the 
 sumptuary laws, by the nineteen officially titled classes of the population of Kioto. 
 A wide simar, big trousers, and great sword, which is probably only an ornamental 
 weapon, completes the costume of the priests of the Kami temples. 
 
 All the meml)ers of the Buddhist clergy, regular as well as secular, have the head 
 shaven and completely bare, with the exception of certain orders who wear wide-
 
 JtELIGIOUS FtFES. 77 
 
 brimmed hats. The habit is generally grey, but there are some black, brown, yellow, 
 and red, occasionally diversified by a scarf and breastplate, or a surplice. 
 
 Kioto boasts of certain hermits, saints who have made choice of the capital to 
 retire from the world. The grateful citizens transform the cells of these monks into 
 little storehouses of abundance. The most mysterious of them is cut out of the front 
 of a rock, and inhabited no one knows by whom or how ; but baskets of provisions 
 are lifted up by an ingenious pulley over a great tank, which separates the rock 
 from the public road. 
 
 Mendicity is extensively practised. 
 
 The annual fHes instituted in honour of the principal Kamis of Japan have no 
 other sacred rites than the ceremonies of purification, and were introduced about the 
 end of the eighth century. On the day before the great solemnity the priests go in 
 procession with lights to the temple, where the arms and other objects which belonged 
 to the divine hero are kept in a precious reliquary called " Mikosi." According to 
 clerical fiction, the Mikosi represents the terrestrial dwelling of the Kami — a kind of 
 throne still preserved to him in his earthly country — and each year it undergoes a 
 radical purification. The reliquary is emptied and brought to the river : while a certain 
 number of priests carefully wash it, others light great fires in order to keep away all 
 evil genii ; and the Kagoura, or sacred choir, play softly in order to appease the 
 spirit of the Kami, who is momentarily deprived of his earthly dwelling ; nevertheless, 
 they make no delay in restoring it to him, which is done by solemrdy reinstating 
 the relics m the reliquary. 
 
 As, however, the temple itself equally requires purification, the Mikosi does not 
 re-enter it until this operation has Ir'cu performed; and during the cw^ayq fete, which is 
 prolonged during several days, it is sheltered in a reposoir specially constructed for the 
 purpose, and duly protected against evil spirits. Should those dread things endeavour 
 to pass through the ropes of rice-straw which bound the sacred enclosure, they wouM 
 expose themselves to showers of boiling holy water, with which from time to time the 
 dwelling of the Kami is sprinkled ; and woe to the evil spirits who sliould flutter in 
 the air within reach of the Kami's guard of honour, for the priests who compose it are 
 skilful horsemen and accomplished archers. The people applaud their evolutions, and 
 follow with admiring eyes the arrows that they shoot into the clouds, and which fall 
 within the enclosure of the holy place.
 
 78 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 Such are the ceremonies which lend a devotional character to the festival. The 
 influence which Kami worship has had upon the development of the dramatic taste 
 of the nation has not been produced, I need hardly say, by these puerile juggleries. 
 The annual festivals have another and worthier side. The historical cortege, a great 
 
 A PANTUMIMIC UA.NtK AT TIIK riilW;'! iil'' THE MIKADO. 
 
 procession of masked and costumed priests, represents various scenes taken from the lives 
 of their heroes. These theatrical representations in the open air were accompanied by 
 music, songs, and pantomimic dances. Thus the fine arts and poetry are made inter- 
 preters of national traditions, and the people flock to receive the patriotic instruction
 
 ANNUAL FESTIVALS. 79 
 
 with avidity. Sometimes an cxliil)ition of troiiliies of arms, or groups of figures in 
 i-lay, reproducing the features and wt-aring the traditional costume of the principal 
 Kamis, was added to tlie entertainment. They were placed on cars or on platforms of 
 pyramidal form, rej^resenting the building, the bridge, the junk, or sacred place illustrated 
 by the herdcs whose memory was celebrated. Originall}' these annual festivals, whicli 
 were called Matsouris, were limited to a small number of the most ancient cities in the 
 Empire. Eight provinces only had the honour of possessing Kamis. But, from the 
 tenth century, every province, every district, every place of any importance wished 
 to Jiave its hero or its celestial patron. Finally, the number of Kamis reached three 
 thousand one hundred and thirty-two, among whom a great difference was made in 
 favour I if the most ancient. Four hundred and ninety-two were distinguished under the 
 title of "great Kamis," and the others received the name of "inferior Kamis." 
 
 Thenceforth, Matsouris were held in all important places in Japan, and from one 
 end fo the other of the Eni[iire a taste for heroic recitals and artistic enjoyments, allied 
 to the love of country and manly qualities, was diff"used. 
 
 In this respect the national religion of Japan has not been sterile. Something has 
 accrued from it, because it has created a people universally possessed of the sentiment 
 of patriotism, an Empire which has never known the yoke of a foreigner, and a 
 Government which has preserved, in its entire autonomy, even to our time, its 
 relations with the most powerful European States.
 
 DOMESTIC ALTAR OF THE GODS OF HAPPINESS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AET AND FASHION IN KIOTO. 
 
 IMMOBILITY OF ART AND LITERATURE IN THE A^X1ENT CAPITAL. — CONTRAST BETWEEN 
 CHINA AND JAPAN. — DECREPITUDE OF THE ONE ; ETERNAL YOUTH OF THE OTHER. — 
 THE FESTIVAL OF THE DEAD. — BURIAL CEREMONIES. — NATIVE DRAWING. — ARCHITEC- 
 TURAL WORKS OF THE JAPANESE. — COURT DRESS AND CUSTOMS. — THE EMPRESS AND 
 HER COURT. — DEVELOPMENT OF CIVIL AND MILITARY INSTITUTIONS. — THE INVISIBLE 
 MIKADO. 
 
 .Notwithstanding its bonzes, its astrologers, and its academical poet.s, the aucieut 
 Japanese civilization was not without its popular period, which has left an indelible 
 impression upon taste at Kioto. All works which come out of the workshops of the 
 old capital are distinct from everything that one sees elsewhere. But the aduiirati(jn
 
 ART IN KIOTO. 81 
 
 which they inspire is mingled with a feeling of regret, for by a singular con- 
 tradiction they attain an astonishing perfection in the imitation of animal and 
 vegetable nature, whilst on approaching the sphere of human life they present only 
 types without reality, and figures cut on conventional patterns. Evidently the noble 
 faculties revealed in the conceptions and in the handiwork of the national artists were 
 arrested in their development by official rules, and hindered for want of a method 
 superior to that suggested to them by the fashions of the Court. 
 
 Thus, art as well as literature became a conventional and hollow routine in 
 its subservience to the Mikados. We may even add, that at the decline of the 
 Mikados it remained exactly the same as it had been in the height of their power ; 
 and it is a remarkable fact that it has not since degenerated or become corrupt. 
 
 The working population of the ancient imperial cities has not changed for 
 centuries. Amid institutions which have fallen into decrepitude it does not exhibit 
 the slightest trace of the decadence and debility which arc common to every class of 
 Chinese society. China awakes in the mind at every moment the image of a worm- 
 eaten, dusty edifice, inhabited by aged invalids. But in Japan there are really neither 
 ruins nor dust, the fresh vegetation of its always green islands is matched by that 
 appearance of unalterable youth which transmits itself generation after generation among 
 the inhabitants of this happy country, who ornament even their last dwellings with 
 the emblems of eternal spring. Their cemeteries abound with verdure and flowers in 
 all seasons. Their tombs, simple commemorative tablets, preserve the recollection of 
 the dead without any symbol of destruction. Every family has its separate enclosure 
 and every dead person a stone in the common resting-place ; the tradition of those 
 who are no more is carried on from hill to hill among the gardens of the sacred 
 groves, even to the extremities of the suburbs of their cities. 
 
 At Nagasaki this picture seems perfect. The city stretches out at the foot of 
 a chain of mountains, of little height, which have been cut out into terraces, forming 
 an amphitheatre of funeral ground in the eastern quarter of the city. 
 
 Here, one is in the presence of two cities : in the plain, the city of the 
 living lies in the sun, with its long and wide streets bordered with fragile wooden 
 houses and inhabited by an ephemeral crowd ; on the mountain is the necro- 
 polis, with its walls and monuments of granite, its trees hundreds of years old, its 
 solemn calm. 
 
 M
 
 82 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 The inhabitants of Nagasaki, when they raise their eyes in the direction of 
 the mountain, must think involuntarilj' of the innumerable generations which have 
 passed away before them from the face of the earth. That multitude of stones raised 
 upon the terrace, standing up clear against the blue haze of the distance, keeps alive 
 among them the idea that the spirits of their ancestors come back from their tombs, 
 and that, mute, but attentive, they contemplate the life of the city. 
 
 One day of the year, towards the end of the month of August, the entire 
 population invite these spirits to a solemn festival, which is prolonged during three 
 consecutive nisrhts. 
 
 On the first evening the tombs of all persons who have died during the past year 
 are lighted by lanterns, painted in different colours. 
 
 On the second and third nights, all the tombs without exception, the old as well 
 as the new, participate in a similar illumination, and all the families of Nagasaki come 
 out and install themselves in the cemeteries, where they give themselves up to 
 drinking abundantly in honour of their ancestors. 
 
 But on the third night, about three o'clock in the morning, long processions of 
 lights come down from the heights and group themselves together on the borders 
 of the bay, while the mountain gradually resumes its darkness and its silence. 
 The souls of the dead men have embarked and disappeared before the dawn. 
 Thousands of small straw boats have been fitted up for them, each provided with fruit 
 and small pieces of money. These fragile barks are laden with all the painted 
 paper lamps which had served for the illuminations of the cemeteries, their little sails 
 of mat are spread, and the morning breeze disperses them over the water, where 
 they are soon consumed. Thus the entire flotilla is burnt, and for a long time the 
 traces of fire may be seen dancing over the waves. But the dead go quickly. Finally, 
 the last ship disappears, the last light is extinguished, the last soul has again bidden 
 adieu to the earth. 
 
 At the rising of the sun there is no trace of the dead or of the merrymakers. 
 In ancient times the Japanese had no other religion than that of the Kamis : the 
 honours of a special sepulture were awarded only to persons of a certain importance, 
 who were allowed a resting-place distinct from the cemeteries reserved for the common 
 people. 
 
 The ceremonies of the burial of the dead had, in ancient times, a very solemn
 
 FUNERAL CEREMONIES. 83 
 
 character, but suggestive to the beholder rather of the triumph of a hero. Beside the 
 dead man, iu the tomb, was hiid his coat of mail, his arms, all his most precious 
 possessions : even his principal servants followed him to the sepulchre, and his favourite 
 horse was immolated to his manes. These barbarous customs were abolished in the 
 first century of our era. Lay figures replaced human victims, and only the picture 
 of a horse was sacrificed. A few strokes of a brush, boldly dashed upon a plank of 
 wood, represented the image of the four-footed companion of the dead, and this plank 
 was enclosed in the tomb. 
 
 The native painters display such skill in the execution of these designs, that 
 these Yemas, or sketches of horses, have become artistic curiosities : and numbers of 
 them exist in various chapels in the towns and country places, and are regarded as 
 votive pictures. Amateurs search eagerly fur Yemas upon the screens in the old houses 
 and iu the palaces of Yeddo. A few of them may be found among the presents 
 sent by the Taikoun to foreign Governments. 
 
 This kind of drawing was not regarded with favour Ijy the Couit of the 
 Mikado, where miniature painting was much in fashion. The works of the miniature 
 painters of Kioto remind us of our mediocval missals : they are painted on vellum, 
 with the same profusion of colour on a golden background ; the manuscript is 
 ornamented by plates in the text, and rolled upon an ivory cylinder, or upon a stick 
 of precious wood, with metal ornaments inserted in the ends. 
 
 Collections of poetry, almanacks, litanies, prayers, and romances are generally 
 bound up into volumes. Ladies use microscopic prayer-books ; and the}- and the poets 
 of Kioto employ no other almanacks than the calendar of flowers, in wliirh the 
 months and their subdivisions are represented by symbolical boucpu'ts. Tlu're is 
 also a calendar of the blind, and collections of prayers exist in characters of 
 unknown oritiin. 
 
 The dress of tlie women uf quality not only indicates their rank and condition, 
 but is always in liarniony, as to its colour and the subjects embi-oidered upon the 
 garments, with the time and the seasons, the flowers, and the productions of the difi'ereut 
 months of the year. The months themselves are never called by their names, but 
 by their attributes. The month Amiable draws the bonds of friendship closer by visits 
 and presents on the new year ; the month of " the awakening of nature " is the third 
 month of the year ; the month of Mlstiives, which is the seventh, has one day 
 
 M 2
 
 84 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 assigned to the exchange of letters of congratulation ; and the twelfth is that of " the 
 business of the masters," because it obliges them to leave the house in order to attend 
 to the regulation of their affairs. 
 
 The architectural works of the Japanese, the products of their industry — everything 
 that comes out of the hands of their corporations of arts and trades — indicate a certain 
 
 JAPANESE MOSAIC. 
 
 symbolical research mingled with great purity of taste in the imitation of nature. In 
 all the temples and palaces we find ornaments in sculptured wood, which represent 
 a bank of clouds, above wliich rises the front of the edifice. The grand entrance of 
 th<! Dairi is decorated with a golden sun surrounded by the signs of the Zodiac ; the
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 85 
 
 portals of the temples devoted to Buddhism are surmounted by two elephants' heads, 
 which indicate that this religion came from India ; the carpenters' tools all bear 
 symbolical devices. 
 
 The favourite designs of their mosaics and their carvings in wood are borrowed 
 from the lines described by the foaming waves of the sea and the basalt rocks cut by 
 the waters ; bats and cranes are represented with extended wings ; the iris, the Avater- 
 lily, and the lotus are always in full flower; the bamboo, the cedar, the palm-tree, and 
 the pear-tree, are either isolated or combined with the most graceful climbing plants. 
 
 We observed numerous ornaments whose signification we could not discover. Within 
 the precincts of the Dairi there is a bronze vase which coarsely represents a bird 
 of some unknown kind, of the height of a man. This is one of the most ancient 
 monuments of native art. It is called the Tori-Kamd ; its origin and use are 
 unknown. Other va.scs of great antiquity, mounted on pedestals, and which serve as 
 perfume-burners, are carved witli designs representing the head and scales of the 
 crocodile, an animal unknown in Japan. The tortoise and the heron, which figure 
 frequently in tlie composition of perfume-vases and sacred candelabra, are emblems 
 of immortality, or at least of longevity. The Foo, a mythological bird common to 
 both China and Japan, is found upon the lintels of the door of the Daii'i, as an 
 emblem of eternal happiness. 
 
 These same mythological images, and others which it would take too long to 
 enumerate, are reproduced in the designs of the rich stuffs worked in silk, gold, and 
 silver, which form the glory and the pride of the weavers of Kioto ; and also in the 
 carvings and engravings on plates of gold, silver, red copper, and steel, with which the 
 native jewellers decorate the handles and the scabbards of swords, portable inkstands, 
 pipes, tobacco-boxes, and other ornaments ; in short, in all the innumerable utensils, 
 pieces of plate, and lacquer and porcelain furniture, which constitute the wealth of 
 Japanese households. 
 
 It was pointed out to me one day, amongst a collection of curiosities from the 
 workshops of Kioto, that none of the objects had a perfectly quadrangular foi'm. I 
 verified this in examining a great number of cabinets, screens, covers, paper boxes, 
 and other varnished objects, amongst which, in fact, I did not discover a single acute 
 angle : all were softened and rounded. Supposing that this peculiarity is only one of the 
 caprices of taste, and therefore not to be disputed, there is another fact which may perhaps
 
 86 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 have a symbolical siguificance : it is, that all Japanese mirrors, without exception, present 
 the figure of a disc. Such uniformity seems to confirm the opinion of Siebold, that 
 the mirrors of the temples of the Kamis is an emblem of the sun's disc. It would be 
 more embarrassing to divine the reasons of certain fashions among those of Kioto, if 
 indeed fashions ever have a reason. 
 
 The Court ladies pull out their eyebrows and replace them by two thick black 
 patches painted half way up the forehead. Is this done because these beauties with 
 prominent cheek-bones are aware that the oval of their faces is not quite so perfect as it 
 might be ; or do they endeavour to lengthen it by this little feminine trick, which tends 
 to place the eyelids, which Nature has put too low, in a more suitable position ? 
 
 The amplitude of their rich brocade garments leads us to think that at Kioto feminine 
 luxury is measured by the c|uantity of silk that a Court lady can trail after her. 
 But what can be the meaniuo- of those two Ion 2; tails which are seen on the right 
 and left below the undulating drapery of the mantle ? When the lady is walking, 
 they obey each cadenced movement of her two little invisible feet ; and, looked at 
 from a distance, she seems to be wearing, not a robe, but a pair of long trailing trousers, 
 which oblige her to advance on her knees. >Such is in fact the effect which this costume 
 is intended to produce. The ladies of tlie Court who are admitted to the presence of 
 the Mikado are bound to appear as if they were a})proaching his Sacred JMajesty on 
 fheir knees. 
 
 No noise is ever heard in the interior of the palace except the rustling of silk 
 on the rich carpets with which the mats are covered. Bamboo blinds intercept the 
 light of day. Screens covered with marvellous paintings, damask draperies, velvet 
 hangings, ornamented with knots of plaited silk in which artificial birds are framed, 
 form the panels and the jjo7'tie?r.s of the reception rooms. No article of furniture of 
 any kind interferes with the elegant simplicity : in the corners there is, here, an 
 aquarium of porcelain, with shrubs and natural flowers; there, a cabinet encrusted 
 with mother-of-pearl, or an elegant table laden with numerous poetical anthologies 
 of the old Empire, prinled upon leaves of gold. The scent of the precious wood, the 
 fine mats, and rich stiiifs, mixes with the pure air which comes in on all sides from 
 the open partitions. The young girls on duty in the palace bring tea from Oudsji 
 and sweatmeats from the refectory of the Empress. This personage, called the Kisaki, 
 who |iroudly rules over twelve other legitimate wives of the Mikado and a crowd of
 
 THE KISAKI ASD HER COURT. 87 
 
 liis concubines, squats in proud isolation on the top step of tlic vast dais wlucli 
 rises aliovc tlic whole. The ladies of honour and the women in waiting squat or 
 kneel behind her at a respectful distance, composing groups which have the effect of 
 beds of flowers, because each group, according to its hieraichical position, has its especial 
 costume and its colours. 
 
 The folds of the garments of the Empress are arranged with sucli art that they 
 surround her like a dazzling cloud of gauzy crape and brocade ; and three vertical 
 rays of gold surmount her diadem like the insignia of a queen of flowers. 
 
 The guests are ranged in concentric demi-circles in front of their sovereign. At 
 a gesture from her hand the ladies-in-waiting on duty approach, and, prostrating 
 themselves before her, receive her orders for the commencement of the anecdotical 
 conversations or literary jousts, which form the diversions of her Court. 
 
 The Court of the Kisaki is the academy of the floral games of Japan. On the 
 third of the third montli, all the wits of the Dairi collect together in the gardens of the 
 citadel, saki circulates, and challenges are exchanged between the gentlemen and the noble 
 ladies, as to who shall find and paint, upon the classic ftm of white cedar ornamented 
 with ivy leaves, the most poetic stanzas in celebration of the revival of sj^ring. 
 
 Tlie Court of the Empress, however, admitted other amusements than these literary 
 diversions. She had her chapel music, composed of stringed instruments, such as the 
 violin with three strings ; the Japanese mandoline, called the samsin ; a sort of violon- 
 cello, played without a bow, which is called a l)iwa ; and the gotto, a ten-stringed 
 instrument, measuring, when laid flat, two yards long, — the first was made in the year 
 300 from the remains of a pirogue belonging to the JVlikado. Notwithstanding the 
 diSereuce in dimensions, the gotto reminds us of the Tyrolese zither. Theatrical 
 representations were added to music. A corps of young comedians plaj^ed little 
 operas or executed character dances, some grave and methodicaJ, in which a long 
 tailed mantle was worn ; others lively and playful, full of fancy, and varied with 
 disguises, the dancers coming out occasionally with the wings of birds or butterflies. 
 In addition to this, the ladies of the Da'iri had their private boxes, not only at the 
 imperial theatre, but at the circus of the wrestlers and boxers attached to the Court 
 of the Mikado in virtue of privileges dating from the year 24 B.C. They were also 
 permitted to witness cock-fighting in the verandahs of their country-houses, in strict 
 privacy. A certain class of the oSicers of the Empress's service were especially
 
 88 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 detailed to arrange these barbai-ous and ridiculous representations. They wore helmets 
 and padded trousers, in which they looked like balls. 
 
 The manners and customs of the Court of Kioto are still kept up in our time, with 
 this exception, that they no longer exhibit the least vestige of artistic or literary 
 life. They are mechanically preserved in so far as the resources of the treasury permit ; 
 and are the last traces of the civilization of the old Empire. They are concentrated 
 upon one single point in Japan, where they remain motionless as the old tombs 
 
 themselves. Meanwhile, modern life has invaded the cities and the country all around 
 the antique miako. The Taikoun has developed civil and military institutions in 
 his modern monarchy, and already the smoke of the steamers before the ports of the 
 Inland Sea announce the approach of the Christian civilization of the West. 
 
 These circumstances lend a tragic interest to the actual situation of the ancient 
 hereditary and theocratic Emperor of Japan, that invisible Mikado of whom one is 
 not permitted to speak even while describing his Court. But he also must come out 
 of the mysterious darkness which surrounds him. The force of events will ])ring him 
 to light upon the scene of contemporaneous history.
 
 li|>U;iilL'l IciN UK MM.SKV TU THE TROPLE BY ORDEU OF THK MuuulN. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE DECADENCE OF THE Ml K A DOS. 
 
 A C'HAPTEi; IN T]1K AXCIKNT JIISTdUY (iF JAPAN. — ITS DELINKATH iN BY PICTURES. — THK 
 SAPPING UF THE IMPERIAL POWER. — THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 
 
 More than two Imndrecl years ago, iiiulcr the third Siogouii of the dynasty of lyeyas, 
 the successful usurper of the civil and military power of the Mikados, the peace of 
 the Empire being secnrc, ami the dominion of the Siognuii uncontested, it liappened 
 
 N
 
 90 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 thiit the latter made a visit of courtesy to his lord aud master, the dispossessed 
 Emperor. This strange event produced a profound sensation ; the native artists applied 
 themselves to reproducing the most interesting scenes of the voyage of the Siogouu 
 and of his interview with the Mikado. The zeal with which they endeavoured to satisfy 
 the curiosity of their contemporaries has bequeathed to us documents that throw light 
 upon an entire epoch of the history of Japan, which has been recently presented in a 
 very contradictory fashion. It was a period of absolute calm, without any internal 
 disturbances, without remarkable external facts ; and the interest which it presents is 
 entirely concentrated on the relative position and the personal relations of the two 
 sovereigns. The Dutch inhabitants of the settlement of Decima, who were the only 
 witnesses of this state of things, have described it in terms which, however objectionable 
 in certain respects, are admirably adapted to give us the key to the situation — so 
 admirably adapted, in fact, that it is difficult to replace or correct them. They 
 designate the Mikado as Spiritual Emperor, and Kioto as the sacred city, or, the 
 Rome of Japan. They give to the Siogoun the title of Temporal Emperor, and to his 
 residence, Yeddo, the surname of the political capital of the Empire ; but, in order to 
 avoid all disputes about words on a subject which has now become ancient history, I 
 shall set aside the Dutch narratives, and in all the details I am about to give, I will 
 be guided by the pencils of the Japanese themselves. 
 
 The Mikado occupied the supreme rank in the hierarchical order of the 
 Empire. 
 
 The Siogoun was, properly speaking, the first General of the Mikado, and his 
 lieutenant in the administration of public affairs. 
 
 Though the Siogoun had abused his position so far as to seize upon the civil and 
 military power, the Mikado, on his side, preserved the advantage of birth as well 
 as the prestige of his sacred character. The descendant of the sun, he carried on the 
 tradition of the Gods, of the demigods, the heroes aud hereditary sovereigns, who 
 had reigned over Japan in an uninterrupted succession since the creation of the Empire 
 of the eight great islands. 
 
 As the august head of religion, under whatever form it was presented to the people, 
 he officiated as chief pontiff of the ancient national worship of the Kamis. At the 
 summer solstice, he sacrificed to the Earth : at the winter solstice, he sacrificed to 
 Heaven. A god was expressly delegated to take charge of his fate ; in the bosom of
 
 THE THEOCRATIC SOVEREIGN. 91 
 
 tlie Temple built to him on the summit of Mount Kamo, this god watched day and 
 night over the Dairi. 
 
 On the death of the Mikados, their names were inscribed in the Temples of their 
 ancestors. They were also simultaneously inscribed at Kioto, in the Temple of 
 Hatchiman, and at Isye, in the Temple of the Sun itself. 
 
 As theocratic Emperor and hereditary sovereign, the Mikado held the power which 
 devolved upon him direct from Heaven. 
 
 But it became more and more difficult for him to find an opportunity of exercising 
 it, and also, from time to time, it seemed to him good and necessary to give signs of 
 existence by bestowing pompous titles, which were purely honorary, on some of the 
 old feudal nobles who had deserved well of the Altar. Sometimes he allowed himself 
 tlie satisfaction of protesting against the acts of his temporal lieutenant, when they 
 were calculated to injure his own prerogatives. Thus, in our own time, the Mikad(j 
 set his veto upon the treaties concluded between the Taikoun and certain of the 
 Western nations. Subsequently he sanctioned them, when the alUcd squadrons 
 presented themselves before the walls of Osaka — a recognition of his supremacy on 
 their part. 
 
 The Taikoun has never been, in the eyes of the Court of Kioto, anything more 
 than the fortunate heir of a vulgar usurper. His ancestors, the Siogouns, were the 
 servants of the Mikado, who had despoiled their master of his army, his navy, his 
 lands, and his treasure, under pretence of relieving him from all earthly anxiety, and 
 the Mikado had lent himself too easily to their designs. They gave him a chariot 
 with two wheels, drawn by a bullock, for his daily excursions in the parks of the 
 citadel ; a considerable pri\'ilege, no doubt, in a country where nobody uses 
 a carriage ; Init he ought not, therefore, to have relinquished the manly exercises 
 of archery, of falconry, and his brilliant hunting parties in pursuit of deer and wild 
 boar. He acted under the inspiration of an unwise policy which gradually withdrew 
 liim from the sight of his subjects ; though, some time after that, they made him take 
 share in a great festival of the Dairi, by exhibiting him on a platform, in a motionless 
 attitude, for the mute adoration of the prostrate Court. But, by degrees, the Mikado 
 ceased to communicate with the external world, except through the medium of the 
 women charged with the care of his person. They dressed him, and fed him, attiring 
 him every day in a new costume, and serving his meals in vessels which each day 
 
 N 2
 
 y^ LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 fuinc fivsh from llie Lauds of the maker, wlio liad a iiniiiojiily of their niaiiufacturo. 
 The feet of the sai-red personage never toiiehed the ground ; his face was never seen 
 l)y daylight, or by proflvne eyes ; in a word, the IMikado was never sid)jeeted to 
 contact witli the elements, or to exposure to the light of the sun or moon, to the 
 touch of earth, of men, or of his own hands. 
 
 The famous interview took place at Kioto, the holy city, which the Mikado was 
 not permitted to leave. He possessed no other property there, except his palace and 
 the ancient temples of his family. The city was under the I'ule of the Siogoun, but 
 the latter devoted its revenues to the spiritual sovereign, and maintained a permanent 
 garrison there for the protection of the pontifical throne. 
 
 Ail the preliminaries being arranged on both sides, a proclamation announced the 
 da\- v.lii'u the ^linamoto Yemitz would leave his capital, the immense and populous 
 city of Yeddo^theu a completely modern town, the centre of the political and ci\'il admi- 
 nistration of the Empire, the seat of the Naval and Military Colleges, of the College of 
 Interpreters, and of the Academy of Medicine and Philosophy. 
 
 He was preceded by a guard of picked troops, who went by land to Kioto, tra\elling 
 along the imperial high road called the Tokaido, and he had ordered his war fleet to sail 
 for the Inland Sea. He himself, the tempoi'al sovereign, embarked on Ijoard his great 
 war-junk ; and the S(|uadron, leavisig the bay of Yeddo, doubled Cai)e 8agami and the 
 promontory of Idsou, passed through the Straits of Linschoten, and, coasting along the 
 western side of the island of Awadsi, anchored in the harbour of Hiogo. w here the Siogoun 
 landed in the midst of the nobility of the seabo.ird provinces, who knelt to receive him 
 on the beach, which was covered with the richest carpets. 
 
 The Siogoun's state entry into Kioto took place later, without any other military 
 demonstration than the parade of his own army, because the ]\Iikado had neither troops 
 nor guns at his disposal, but sim[)]y a guard of archers, recruited from families related to 
 himself, or which belonged to the ohl fiudd nobility. It was with difficulty that he 
 jirovided even for this expense and for the ordinarv maintenanrc of his Couit; and he 
 found himself oldigcd to accept wirli one hand an aiinuil\" whiih the Siogoun con- 
 descended to pay him, and with the ntlicr the proeeeds of collections made by begging 
 monks of ceitain monastic orders, who make annual progres.'-es from village to vilhige, 
 oven into the most distant provinces of the Empire. < >nl\' the hemic disinterestedness 
 of the greater nund)ei' of his high dignitaiies enabled him to sustain his rank ; several
 
 THE rnOCESSION. 93 
 
 of them served him witliout any other romuiioratinn than tlie gratuitous use of the 
 rich costumes furnisheil liy the old imjiciial wardrobe. 
 
 These circumstances did not deter the I\Iikado tVom hastening the day of the 
 interview, when his sj^h'ndid rival sliould be invited to witnes.s tlie grand procession 
 of the Dairi. Attended b}- hi.s archers, his lioiisehohl, Ids Court, and all his ])ontifical 
 suite, he left the palace by the southern gate, which, towards the close of the ninth 
 century, was decorated with historical compositions by the celebrated painter and poet 
 Kos^ Kanaoka. He went along the ]irineipal streets, to the sul)urbs on the liank of 
 the Yodo-gawa, and returned towards the citadid, passing through the chief part 
 of the city. 
 
 The ancient insignia of his supreme power were eairied in great pomp at the head 
 of the procession : the mirror of Izanami, his ancestress, the charming goddess who 
 gave birth to the 8un in the island of Awadsi ; the gloi'ious standards whose long 
 jiaper pennons had waved over the troops of Zinmou the conqueror ; the glittering 
 blade of the hero of Yamato, who slew the eight-headed hydra to which virgins of 
 j)rincely blood were sacrificed ; the seal which was set to the primitive laws of the 
 Empire ; the cedar-wood fan, lath-shaped, used as a sce[)tre, which, for more than two 
 thousand years, has passed from the hands of each deceased Mikado into those of 
 his successor. 
 
 A second display, intended, no doubt, to enhance the eflfeet of the first, was 
 that of the heraldic banners of all the ancient noble families of the Empire who 
 were directly ndated to the Dairi. Pi-obably the manifestation was to remind the 
 Siogoun that he was only a parvenu in the eyes of the old territnvinl nobility ; but 
 the parvenu could console himself with the reflection that all the Japanese lords, the 
 great as well as the small Dai'mios, were none the less obliged to pa.ss six months 
 in e;i<-li vear at his Court of Yeddo, and to do homaore to him in the midst of 
 nobles of his crcatiDii. The most numerous and ])icturesque section of the pro- 
 cession consisted of the representatives of all the sects who recognize the spiritual 
 suin-eiuacy nf the Mikado. The dignitaries of the ancient Kami worship were hardly 
 to be distinguished by their costume from the great officers of the jialaee ; a costume 
 whiih reminds us that there was no priesthood in the ancient religious system of 
 Japan. Buddhism, on the contrary, which c;ime from China, and spread rapidly 
 throughout the Empire, was represented by an infinite variety of sects, rites, orders, and
 
 94 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 fraternities. The Buddhist bonzes and monks formed endless files of grave per- 
 sonages with tonsured or completely shaven heads, some bare, some covered with 
 extraordinary caps, mitres, or broad-brimmed hats. A few carried a crozier in the right 
 hand ; some, a rosaiy ; others, fly-brushes, sea-shcll.s, or a holy-water brush with paper 
 
 t€^, rt — .•* 
 
 ACTUK8 ANU DANCKUS AT THE CoriiT OF Till! MIKADO. 
 
 streamers. Soutanes, surplices, cloaks of every shape and colour, composed their 
 accoutrement. ""■■ 
 
 They were followed by the household of the Mikado. The pontifical body-guard 
 surpassed all iu the elegance of their costume. They left halberts and shirts of mail 
 to the Siogoun's men-at-arms, and each wore a lacquered cap ornamented with an open 
 fan upon each side, and a rich silken pourpoint edgecl with pink festoons of the same
 
 THE MIKADO'S PROCESSION. 95 
 
 material. Their feet were hidden in the voluminous folds of their trousers, and a large 
 sword, a bow, and a quiver full of arrows, completed their equipment. Some of them, 
 mounted on horseback, flourished a long switch fastened to the wrist by a cord of silk, 
 with large tufts. Under all this external grandeur there lurked great brutality. The 
 turbulence and dissoluteness of the young cavaliers of the sacerdotal Court of Japan 
 have furnished history with pages which recall the time of Csesar Borgia. Conrad 
 Kramer, the envoy from the Dutch India Company to the Court of Kioto, was 
 admitted to the honour of witnessing the ausfust interview between the two 
 .sovereigns. He declares that on the day following this solemnity, the corpses of 
 many women, young girls, and children, victims of nocturnal violence, were picked 
 up in the streets. A still larger number of married women and young girls, from 
 Osaka, Sakai, and other towns in the neighbourhood, who had accompanied their 
 husbands or their parents to Kioto, disappeared in the tumult of the crowded streets, 
 and were not recovered until after a week or a fortnight ; and justice on their 
 ravishers was never obtained by their families. 
 
 Polygamy exists in Japan as the right of the Mikado only ; or rather it jjossesses 
 in his case the character of a legal institution. It is not surprising that he should 
 make a great display of the privilege which has cost him so dear ; for this right of 
 polygamy was the flower-bordered gulf which was dug for the successors of Zinmou 
 by tlie first usurpers of the imperial power. Surely a perfidious smile must have 
 crossed the face of Siogoun when the carriages of the Dairi drew near. 
 
 These heavy vehicles, built of precious woods, and varnished in different colours, 
 were each drawn by four black buffaloes, led by pages in white attire. They contained 
 the Empress, and the other twelve legitimate wives of the Mikado, with whom the 
 Empress could not with propriety have refused to share her privilege of using this 
 special kind of conveyance. The favourite concubines of the Mikado, and fifty ladies- 
 in-waiting to the Empress followed, in noriraons, or covered palanquins. 
 
 Whenever the Mikado came out of the citadel, it was always in his pontifical norimon, 
 a palanquin fastened to long poles, which, carried by fifty bearers in white livery, towered 
 above the crowd. It is constructed in the form of the ]\Iikosis, or reliquaries in which 
 the sacred relics of the Kamis are exhibited ; and it resembles a garden pavilion with a 
 cupola decorated with a fringe of bells. The cupola is surmounted by a ball, on which 
 stands a cock, with outstretched wings and spread tail ; perhaps there exists some
 
 96 LIFE IX JAI'AX. 
 
 symbolical couneclion between this emblem and the mythological bird known in 
 China and Japan under the name of Foo. 
 
 The portable pavilion of tlie Dairi was built of white wood, and its decoration was 
 all of pure gold. It was so hermetically closed, that it was difficult to believe it could 
 be occupied. The proof that it really did fulfil tlie lofty purpose assigned to it, is that 
 the women attached to the domestic service of the ]\Iikadi) walked beside the doors 
 on either side. They only had the privilege of surrounding his sacred person. The 
 Mikailo was invisible, mute, unapproachable, for his Court as well as for his people ; and 
 this attribute was maintained inviolate, even in his interview with the Siosoun. 
 
 Among the buildings in the citadel which gives to Kioto the rank of residence 
 (Miako), there is one which might be called the Temple of tlio Pontifical Audiences, for 
 it is l)uilt in the style of architecture proper to the edifices of the Kami worship, 
 and it liears, like them, the name of ]\Iia. It is attached to the main body of the 
 Mikado's dwelling, in a vast paved court planted with trees, through which the 
 processions defile on occasions of great solemnity. 
 
 In this reserved space a detachment of orderly officers and body-guards of the 
 Siogoun took up their position. Then came several groups of dignitaries of the Mikado's 
 suite, escorted by some archers from the Dairi. 
 
 The women retii^ed to their apartments. Deputations of bonzes and monastic 
 orders occupied the spaces within the enclosing walls. Soldiers belonging to the garrison 
 of Kioto lined the two sides of the avenue leading to the wide steps of the facade of 
 the building. The courtiers uf the Mikado, arrayed in mantles with long trains, 
 majestically ascended the steps, and took their places to the right and loft on the 
 verandah, their faces turned towards the closed doors of the vast Throne-room. Before 
 squatting down in their phiccs, they lifted their trains and hung them over the 
 balustrade of the vei'andah, so as to display the heraldic bearings en)l)i-()iderod upon 
 them to the crowd. The entiixi length of the gallery was thus brilliantly decorated. 
 
 Meantime, from the loft wing of th(> edifice came the sound of flutes, conch-shells, 
 and the gongs of the pontifical chapel, announcing that the IMikado was making his 
 solemn entry into tlie sanctuary. Profjund silence reigned amid the crowil. An hour 
 elapsed in pious expectation beftu'e the preparations fur the ivception were conclud(Ml ; 
 then, a flourish of trumpets announced the arrival of the Siogoun. He advanced inlo 
 the arena, on foot, and unescorted ; his first minister, the commandants of tlie army
 
 THE AUDIEXCK 
 
 07 
 
 and the fleet, and certain members of the Council of tlie Court of Yctlilo, walked 
 licliiml him, at a respectful distance. He paused for a moment at the foot of the grand 
 staircase, and immediately the doors of the Temple were slightly opened, aii<l little by 
 little slipped back into their grooves. The Siogoun ascended tlie steps. aii<l then the 
 spectacle, for whicli ihi' multitude was silently Avaiting, was displayed befoi-e tlieir eyes. 
 
 A UAI.MIU IN iiiliri-lUiESS. 
 
 A great blind of bandioo-bark, painted green, which hung from the ceiling of 
 the hall, was ht down to witliin two or three feet of the threshold. Through this 
 narrow space a pile of mats and carpet, over which were spread the wide folds of a 
 Voluminous white robe, could 1)e discerned. 
 
 in this consistiMl the apparition of the Mikado on his throne. From the other .side 
 of the blind lie could see everything without being seen, and, as far as his sight could 
 

 
 98 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 reach, he beheld nothing but heads, prostrate before liis invisible Majesty. One head 
 alone lifted itself above the temple stair, but that head wore a high cap of gold, tlie 
 royal insignia of the temporal chief of the Empire. And even he, that powerful 
 sovereign whose might knew no resistance, when he had reached the last step down, 
 bent and slowly fell upon his knees. Then he stretched his arms out towards the 
 threshold of the Throne-room, and touched the ground with his brow. 
 
 From that moment, the ceremony of the interview was accomplished, the end of 
 the solemnity was attained ; the Siogoun had ostensibly prostrated himself at the feet 
 of the Mikado. 
 
 But, it may be asked, how were the interests of Minamoto Yemitz served by his 
 thus humbling himself in the Temple of the Dai'ri ? Was not this step compromising 
 to that authority which he owed solely to the militaiy and political success of his 
 ancestors ? 
 
 On the contrary, it appears to me that in this matter the worthy grandson of 
 the astute lyeyas did exactly the best thing for the consolidation of the still insecure 
 basis of his government. The consequence of the interview of Kioto was the 
 establishment of two facts, one of which might be regarded as a pure formality, 
 but the other had all the weight of the consecration hitherto wanting to the dynasty 
 of the Siogouns. By the first, the act of genuflexion, the temporal sovereign testified 
 that he continued to be, traditionally, the obedient son of the great pontiff of the national 
 religion ; but by the second, that is to say, the acceptation of that homage by the 
 Mikado, the theocratic Emperor formally recognized the representative of a dynasty 
 which had been founded alongside of the only legitimate one, and even in opposition to 
 the will of the Dai'ri. Apparently the two powers merely exchanged courtesies ; in reality, 
 the temporal prince did not alienate a particle of his usurped power ; while tlic Mikado 
 publicly abdicated every ulterior pretension to the resumption of secular government. 
 
 Such a result was well worth attaining by the Siogoun, at the cost of a j^olitical 
 genuflexion. 
 
 The great day had a final touch of meaning. Minamoto Yemitz convoked the 
 populace of Kioto to the courtyard of his own citadel. In Japan, as elsewhere, he 
 who pays, rules. The crowd, formed into lines by the troops, knelt down in perfect 
 order. The Siogoun commanded his treasurer to open cofiers filled with packets of 
 money, in the presence of the people, and to empty the contents into trays which were
 
 THE SIOGOUN'H POLITIC LARGESi^E. 
 
 99 
 
 placed on the verandah. Whin all was ready, several officers, each carrying one of 
 these trays, went through tlie ranks of the people, inviting everyone to ijeJD himself, 
 and taking care that no indi\iduul was excluded from the largesse of the temporal 
 sovereign. 
 
 A I'UKTESS l,iK KIOTO.
 
 BOOK III 
 KAMAKOUEA
 
 IS riir. uFKi.Nc;. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE RESIDENCES OF THE SIOGOUNS. 
 
 THE RUINS.— THE SIOfiOUNS. — YORITOMO.— HIS KEEOIIM.S. — A STANDING ARMY. — THE COURT 
 
 OF KIOTO AND THE SECONDARY SOVEREIGN. 
 
 The environs of Kamakoura are those of a great city ; but the great city itself 
 exists no longer. llich vegetation covers the inequalities of the soil which has 
 evidently accumulated over ruins, overthrown walls, and canals now filled up.
 
 1(U 
 
 LIFE IX J A VAX. 
 
 Antique avenues of trees streteli beyond waste groves overgrown with liraniMes. 
 These avenues formerly led to palaces, of which there is now no trace. In 
 Japan, even palaces, being for the most part liuilt of wood, leave no ruins after 
 their fall. 
 
 At Kamakoura the Siogouns had established their residence. Under the name 
 of Siogouns we recall the generals-in-chief, temporal lieutenants of the theocratic Emperor. 
 They governed Japan, under the supremacy of the Mikado, from the end of the twelfth 
 centary to the commencement of the seventeenth, from Minamoto Yoritomo, who was 
 tlie founder of their power, to lyeyas, surnamed Gonghensama, the thirty-second 
 
 ^i ^> ;i 
 
 '^m 
 
 -=rif77^> 
 
 V I' 
 
 =-7^ ■-. 
 
 
 
 
 7\\ V 
 
 '.\ ^^ .^-. 
 
 lliK siiir;ovx .\ND Ills escukt. 
 
 Siogdun, who made Yeddo the political capital of Japan, and created a new dynasty, 
 whose last representatives adopted the title of Taikoun a.d. IS 54. 
 
 Yoritomo, born of a princely family, was indebted to his education by an ambitious 
 mother for the (pialities whlcli made him the ruler and real chief of the Empire. He 
 was brought uj) at the Court of Kioto, and early appreciated the condition of 
 weakness into which the power of the Dairi had fdlen. The Mikado, shut up in his 
 seraglio, occupied himself with nothing but palace intrigues. The courtiers were given 
 up to idleness, or plungeil in dissipation. The old f;xmilies, who were brouglit into 
 communication with the Emperor either by kinship, alliance, or official rank, thought
 
 THE DAIMIOS. 
 
 105 
 
 onlv of scrvinof the iiitorosts of themselves and their chihlren at court. Thcv fiulcavourcd 
 to procure high dignities for their eldest sons, and put tlie young.'r into holy orders. 
 As for the girls, rather than send them into convents, they applied for their admission 
 into the raid<s of the Empress's fifty ladies of honour, who were all ohliged to take 
 vows of chastity. The amhition of the iuatri)ns of high degree was jjcrfeetly satisfird 
 
 AK INVESTITURE. 
 
 hy the puerile ceremonies which accompanied the birth of tlie heir-presumptive, and the 
 nomination of its nurse, who was chosen among the eighty ladies of the old feudal 
 nobility best c^ualified to fulfil this eminent function. 
 
 AVhile thintrs were m'm^ on thus at Kioto, the Daimios, avIio lived in ntiremcnt 
 in their ]irovinces, became by degrees less and less faithful in the maintenance of the 
 obligations which th-y had contracted with the Crown. Some arrogated to themselves
 
 loG 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 absolufc power in the governmont of their imperial fiefs; others aggrandized their domains 
 at the expense of their neighl^ours. Family wars, acts of vengeance and reprisal, stained 
 
 A FISirEUMAX AND AN KIIUKT. 
 
 tlic rustic fortresses of the ])rincip;d dynasties of Japan with lilood for many ^i ars : 
 anarchy w;is gaining ground liy degrees, yoritomo, whose family had sulli'ivd much i'rom
 
 THE TWO COURTS. KC 
 
 tiifsc troubles, o])tainod a superior coinmaud from the JMikaclo after several vicissitudes, 
 riiul was invested with extensive power that he might establish order in the Empire. At 
 this epoch the IMikado, as well as the armour-bearing nobles, had no other troops than 
 the territorial militia. At the close of an expedition the men returned to their homes. 
 Yoritomo created a standing army, perfected the art of encampments, utilized thi-m 
 to discipline liis soldiers, and neglected nothing to make them discard the habits of 
 domestic life. It is to him, for example, that Japan owes the official organization of the 
 most shameful of occupations, which has been, ever since his time, a social institution 
 regulated by the Government. 
 
 Yoritomo succeeded in his designs. Ho subjugated the Daimios, who had attempted 
 to render themselves independent, and forced them to take an oath of fidelity and 
 homage to him in his (piality of lieutenant of the Alikado. Some of them refusing to 
 recognize him under this title, he exterminated them, with their entire families, and 
 confiscated the whole of tlicir property. ]\Iore than once, when exasperated by the 
 unexpected resistance, he inflicted tlie most cruel tortures on his enemies. 
 
 On the other hand, he incessantly eamied on intrigues, by means of agents, in the 
 Dai'ri, He had commenced his career under tlie seventy-sixth Mikado — he finished it 
 under the eighty-third. Each emperor who opposed him had been obliged to abdicate : 
 one of tliem took the tonsuie and retired into a cloister. 
 
 It was only under the eighty-second IMikado that Yoritomo was officially invested 
 with the title of Siogouu. He had exercised his functions during twenty year.s. His son 
 succeeded him. 
 
 'Ihere were thenceforth two distinct Courts in the Empire of Japan; that of the 
 Mikado at Kioto, and that of the Siogoun at Kamakoura. 
 
 In the beginning, the new power was not hereditary. It happened sometimes that 
 till' sons of the Mikados were invested with it. Ear from taking uml>rage at wliat 
 was taking place at Kamakoura, the sacerdotal and literary court of Kioto found a subjecl, 
 of jest in it; now amusing themselves with tin; aii-s of tlie wife of the Siogoun, the bad 
 taste which the Secondary (Jourts showed in dress, the trivial performances of the actor ; 
 the awkwardness of the dancers; and again laughing at the gaudiness of the military 
 uniforms, which Yoritomo had l)rought into fasliion, or at the vulgarity of speech and 
 manners of those ncw-lilown orandees who ffiive themselves airs as restorers of the pontifical 
 throne and saviours of the l*>iu[iire. 
 
 P 2
 
 lUS 
 
 LIFE IX JAP AX. 
 
 An imforesoon ciri'iiinstaiiee arose which gave sudden imjjoitance to the Court of 
 Kamakoiira, and eont-eutrated upon it the attention and sympathy of the nation. 
 
 In the tut'lflh inoiith of the year 12G8, a Mongol embassy landed at Japan. It 
 came in the name of Koul)]ai-Khan who, worthy descendant of the Tartar conquerors, 
 was destined twelve years later to take possession of China; he fixed his residence at 
 
 ^^CS'^c./'o^ 
 
 GY>:NASTS .U' KIOTO. 
 
 Pekin and founded the Yum dynasty, umlcr wliirli tin- gicat canal was constructed. 
 Tliis is the same .sovereign who kept at his Court the Venetian ^larco Polo, tlie first 
 traveller who furnished luirope with exact notions re.specting China and Japan. His 
 narratives, it is .said, exercised so decided an inthicnce upon Christopher Colundais, that 
 the discoverv of America is in a sen.se due Lo them.
 
 KOUBLAI-KirAX. 
 
 lu'J 
 
 Kdulilai-Kliau wrote to the Emperor of Nipliou : — 
 
 '■ I am the lieatl of a state formerly witliout importaiiee. Xow the cities aiul 
 eouiitries whirh rriognizc my [lower ar<' mimhcrless. \ am emleavouriiig to estahli.sh 
 good relations with the princes my neighlioiirs. 1 have put an end to thf 
 hostilities of wliieh the land of Kaoli was the scene. The eluef of that littli- 
 
 A WKKsiLiNi; c'ii;ci:.s. 
 
 kingdom has prcsentci] himself at my C'lUirt to declare his gi-atitude. I ha,ve treated 
 him as a father treats his eliild. I will not act otherwise towards the piinees 
 of Xiphon. Xo (nilia>sv has, as yet, come from ymir Court to confer with 
 inc. I fear that in your country the true state of tilings is unknown. I therefore 
 i^eritl vou this letter hv delegates, who will inform you of my intentions. 'flu' wise
 
 110 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN: 
 
 man lias said that the 'world should consist only of one family. But if amicabl 
 ndatiuns Ije not kt'pt up, how shall that juinciple be realized ? For my part, 1 hav 
 
 A fAsiiiia;. 
 
 drridcl I, pull piirMiiiiu' its cxecutiou, even shoidd I he o])lii;rd to rcsorl lo anns. 
 ^'""') il is tlic duty of the sovereign of Kiiihon to consider what it will suit liini 
 tn d,,."
 
 THE ItEPLY OF THE MIKADO. 
 
 Ill 
 
 'I'll!' Mikailo uiuiounced Lis inteiitiou of replying favuurubly to the oveiture.s of 
 Kimhlai-Klian. 
 
 The Sinni)uii, oil llic (•ontraiy, declared himself lio.-tiji! to an alliance' with the 
 hordes of the ^Mongols. He coiivnked an assenilily i^f the Dainiios at Kaniakouia. 
 su]jinittc(l his objeetions to them, and enrolled them on his side. 
 
 The embassy was dismissed with evasive words. 
 
 CALI.r.KY IN AN INN. 
 
 In th(> following j-ear the Mongol chief vainly propo.sed that a meeting of the 
 delegates of the two Emjiires should take place on the island of Isousima, in the Strait.s 
 <if ('urea. Tn 1:2 71 a new mi.s.sivc on his part remained unanswered. In 127:5 he 
 sent two ambassadors to Kamakoura, aiid the Siocroun had them sent back. 
 
 A short timi' after\\ards lie was informed that two generals of KoublaT-Khan were 
 about to attack Japan at the lu'ad of an expedition (if three bundled large war-junk.s,
 
 112 
 
 LIFE IK JAI'AK. 
 
 three liumlred swift sailing-sliips, nnd three liuiulred traiisport-liarks. The Mikado 
 ordered ])ul)lic prayers and jirocessions to the priiiei[ial temples of the Kamis. The 
 .Siogoun organized the national defence. At every \)om{ on the coasts of Isousinia and 
 Kiousiou where the Mongols attempted to efi'ect a descent, they were repulsed and 
 lieaten. 
 
 li.VKliUS I'OL'.NUING lacK. 
 
 Their Khan endeavoured vainly to renew the negotiations. Two ambassadors whom 
 he sent to tlie Siogoun in 107;"), were immediately turned out. Tlie third, having 
 presented himself in 1271), was i)elieade(!. 
 
 Then, if we are to ])elieve the annals of Japan, that country was menaced hy the 
 most formidable expedition whieli iiad ever saih'd upon the seas of tlie far East. 
 The Mongol fleet numbered four tliousand sail, and carried an army of two hundred
 
 77//; VAXriltJOX at KAMAKornA. 
 
 n:j 
 
 and forty tlidusaiul iiirii. It wns doseeiuling uiion Fii'ado towards tliL' fiitiaiiL-e of tlie 
 inland soa wlicn it was dispirficd liy a typhoon and dashed upon the coast. All who 
 ilid not perish in tlic waves fell under the swords of the Japanese, who spared only 
 tlireo 2)risoners, \\hoiu tht'y sent baek to the other side of the strait to carry 
 the news. 
 
 After the oeeurnnce of these events, it was no longer possible to regard tlie 
 Siogouns as simple functionaiies of the Crown, or even as the official protectors of the 
 Mikado. The entire nation owed its safety to them. From that moment the Court 
 
 A sii;£iiT .sci'.MC ON NKW vi:ai;s hay. 
 
 of Kioto had a rival in that of Kaniakoura, whieh must fpeedily eclipse it and supplant 
 it in the management of the affairs of the Empire. 
 
 At the present time we lind at Kamakoura the ranthcon of the glories of 
 Japan. It is composed of a majestic colkction of sacred huiklings which have 
 always been s])arcd hy the fury of civil war. They are placed under the invocation 
 of Hatehiman, one of the great national Kami.s. Hatehiman belongs to the heroic 
 period of the Em[ure of the Mikados. His mother was the Empress Zingou, who effected 
 the conquest of the three kingdoms of Corea, and to whom Divine honours arc 
 rendered. Each year, on the ninth day of the ninth month, a solemn procession
 
 114 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAK 
 
 to the tomb which is consecrated to her at Fousirai, in the country of Yamasiro, 
 commemorates her glorious deeds. Zingou herself surnamed her son Fatsman, " the eight 
 banners," in consequence of a sign which appeared in the heavens at the birth of 
 tlie child. Thanks to the education which she gave him, she made him the bravest 
 (if her soldiers and the most skilful of her generals. When she had attained the 
 age of one hundred years she transmitted the sceptre and crown of the Mikados to 
 her son, in the year 270 of our era. He was then seventy-one years old. Under 
 tlic name of Woozin he reigned gloriously for forty-three years, and was raised, after 
 
 'vjtPi^':^^/^^>r>4'ty^vwP^ \M\\^^^^ 
 
 A STAGE NODLE. 
 
 his death, to the rank of a protecting genius of the Empire. He is especially revered 
 as the patron of soldiers. In the annual fetes dedicated to him, Japan celebrates the 
 memory of the heroes who have died for their country. The popular processions 
 which take place on this occasion revive the ancient pomps of Kami worship. Even 
 tlie horses formerly destined for sacrifice are among the cortege ; but instead of being 
 immolated, they are turned loose on the race-course. 
 
 Most of the great cities of Japan possess a Temple of Hatchiman. That of 
 Kamakoura is distinguished above all the others by the trophies which it contains. 
 Two vast buildings arc required for the display of this national wealth. There, it is
 
 THE rROPHIES OF KAMAKOURA. 115 
 
 said, are pivservod the s[)oils of the Coreaii and tlie Mongol invasions, also oKjeets taken 
 from the Portuguese Colonies and the Christian communities of Japan at tiie epoch w Inn 
 the Portuguese were expelled, and the Japanese Christians were exterminated by order 
 of the Siogouns. 
 
 No European has ever }et lieeu permitted to view thi' trojjhies of Kaniakoura. 
 
 While all European states like to display the treasures which they have respectively 
 seized nr won in their frontier and dynastic wars, Japan hides all monuments of its 
 military glory from foreigners. They are kept in reserve, like a family treasure, iu 
 venerable sanctuaries, to wliich no profane feet ever find access. 
 
 On approaching the Temple of Hatchimau we perceived that our arrival had 
 been announced, and that the bonzes were closing the shutters of their treasure- 
 house. 
 
 Q 2
 
 iriK CKNTKAl, TKMI'I.F, I'KOM THE TKI: IIAIK. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE Ti:.]rrLKs of kamakoura. 
 
 THE AVENUES. — THE CHAPELS. — -THE TORIS. — THE PAGODA. — IDOLS. — BONZES. — THE 
 
 DAIBOUDHS. 
 
 iiiE Tempk'.s of llatcliimaii are appruaclicil l)y long Hues of tlicsc great cedar-trees 
 which form the avenues to all places of worship in Japan. As we a(lvan(;e along 
 the avenue on the Kanasawa side, chapels multiply themselves along tlie road, and to 
 the left, upon the sacred hills, we also come in sight of the oratories and commemorative
 
 THE Tonis. ] 1 7 
 
 st<iii(\s wliich mark the stations of the processions; on the right the liorizoii is cluscJ 
 liy the niouiitaiii, witli its grottos, its streams, and its pine groves. After \vc have 
 crossed the river by a fine wooden bridge, we find ourselves su<Menlv at tlic 
 cntranec of anotlier aHcy, which leads from the sea-side, and occupies a large .street. 
 Tliis is the principal avenue, intersected liy three gigantic tori.s, and it oiiens on the 
 
 ^.:*4- ^r:^^^-<3^^^'-^ .siiifc*^'*!.^ 
 
 
 A KAMI lE.Ml'Li;. 
 
 grand srpiare in front of the chief staircase of the main buildings of the Temple. 
 The precinct of tht; sacred place extends into the street, and is surrounded on 
 three sides by a low wall of solid masonry, surmounted by a barrier of wood painted 
 red and black. Two steps lead to the first level. There is nothing to be seen there 
 but the houses of the bonzes, arranged like the side-scenes of a theatre, amid trees 
 planted along tlie barrier-wall, with two great oval ponds occupying the centre
 
 118 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 of the square. They are connected with each other hy a hirge canal crossed by two 
 parallel bridges, each equally remarkable in its way. That on the right is of white 
 granite, and it describes an almost perfect semicircle, so that when one sees it for 
 the first time one supposes that it is intended for some sort of geometrical exercise ; 
 Init I suppose that it is in reality a bridge of honour, reserved for the gods and the 
 good genii who come to visit the Temple. The bridge on the left is quite flat, 
 constructed of wood covered with red lacquer, with balusters and other ornaments ia 
 old polished copper. The pond crossed by the stone bridge is covered with magnificent 
 white lotus flowers, — the pond crossed by the Avooden bridge with red lotus flowers. 
 Among the leaves of the flowers we saw numbers of fish, some red and others like 
 mother of pearl, with glittering fins, swimming about in water of crystal clearness. 
 The l)lack tortoise glides among the great water-plants and clings to their stems. 
 
 After having thoroughly enjoyed this most attractive spectacle, we go on towards 
 the second enclosure. It is raised a few steps higher than the first, and, as it is 
 protected by an additional sanctity, it is only to be approached through the gate of 
 the divine guardians of the sanctuary. This building, which stands oj)posite the bridges, 
 contains two monstrous idols, placed side by side in the centre of the edifice. They 
 are sculptured in wood, and are covered from head to foot with a thick coating of 
 vermilion. Their grinning faces and their enormous busts are spotted all over Avitli 
 innumerable pieces of chewed paper, which the native visitors throw at them when 
 passing, without any more formality than would be used by a number of schoolboys 
 out for a holiday. Nevertheless, it is considered a very serious act on the part of the 
 pilgrims. It is the means by which they make the prayer written on the sheet of 
 chewed paper reach its address, and when they wish to recommend anything to the 
 gods very strongly indeed, they bring as an oSering a pair of straw slippers plaited 
 with regard to the size of the feet of the Colossus, and hang them on the iron railings 
 wdthin which the statues are enclosed. Articles of this kind, suspended by thousands 
 to the bars, remain there until they fall away in time, and it may be supposed that 
 this curious ornamentation is anything but beautiful. Here a lay brother of the 
 bonzes approached us, and his interested views were easily enough detected by his 
 bearing. We hastened to assure him that we required nothing from his good offices, 
 except access to an enclosed building. With a shake of his head, so as to make us 
 understand that we were asking for an impossibility, he simply set himself to follow us
 
 120 
 
 LIFE IX JAPAK 
 
 al».ut with the mechanical prcci.siou of a subaltern. Ho was (i»itc supcrHunus 
 1,ut wc did not allow his presence to interfere with our a.lmiration. A hi-h 
 
 ■I HE I'ACCiHA OK IIATflllMAN. 
 
 trrracc, reached hv a IniK^ stone staircase, surmounted tlie second enclosure. It is 
 sustained by a Cyclopean wall, and in its turn supports the principal Temple as
 
 THE TEMPLE OF HATCniMAN. 121 
 
 well as the habitations of the bonzes. The grey roofs of all these different buildings 
 stand out against the sombre forest of cedars and pines. On our left are the buildings 
 of the Treasury ; one of them has a pyramidal roof surmounted by a turret of bronze 
 most elegantly worked. At the foot of the great terrace is the Chapel of the Ablutions. 
 On our right stands a tall pagoda, constructed on the principle of the Chinese pagodas, 
 but in a more sober and severe style. The first stage, of a quadrangular form, is 
 supported by pillars ; the second stage consists of a vast circular gallery which, though 
 extremely massive, seems to rest simply upon a pivot. A painted roof, terminated by 
 a tall spire of cast bronze, embellished with pendants of the same metal, completes 
 the effect of this strange but exquisitely proportioned building. 
 
 All the doors of the buildings which I have enumerated are in good taste. The 
 fine proportions, the rich brown colouring of the wood, which is almost the only 
 material employed in their construction, is enhanced by a few touches of red and 
 dragon green, and the effect of the whole is perfect ; — add to the picture a frame of 
 ancient trees and the extreme brilliancy of the sky, for the atmosphere of Japan is 
 the most transparent in the world. 
 
 We went beyond the pagoda to visit a bell-tower, where \vc were shown a large 
 bell beautifully engraved, and an oratory on each side containing three golden images, a 
 large one in the centre, and two small ones' at either side. Each was surrounded by a 
 nimbus. This beautiful Temple of Hatchiman is consecrated to a Kami ; but it is quite 
 evident that the religious customs of India have supplanted the ancient worship ; — we 
 had several proofs of this fact. When we were about to turn back we were solicited 
 by the lay brother to go with him a little further. We complied, and he stopped us 
 under a tree laden with ex-votos, at the foot of which stands a block of stone, sur- 
 rounded by a barrier. This stone, which is probably indebted to the chisels of the 
 bonzes for its peculiar form, is venerated by the multitude, and largely endowed with 
 ex-voto offerings. Like the peoples of the extreme East the Japanese are very super- 
 stitious ; a fact of which we had abundant evidence on this and other occasions. 
 
 The Temple towards which we directed our steps on leaving the avenue of the 
 Temple of Hatchiman, immediately diverted our thoughts from the grandeur of this 
 picture. It is admirably situated on the summit of a promontory, wlience we overlook 
 the whole Bay of Kamakoura ; but it is always sad to come, in the lyidst of beautiful 
 nature, upon a so-called holy place which inspires nothing but disgust. The principal 
 
 R
 
 122 LIFE IX JAPAN. 
 
 sanctuar}', at first sight, did not strike \is as remarkable. Insignificant golden idols 
 stand upon tlie Ligh altar ; and in a side cliapel there is an image of the God of Wealth, 
 armed with a miner's hammer. But when the Louzes who received us conducted us 
 behind the hioh altar, and thence into a sort of cage as dark as a prison and as high 
 as a tower, they lighted two lanterns, and stuck them at the end of a long pole. Then, 
 by this glimmering light, which entirely failed to disperse the shades of the roof, we 
 perceived that we were standing in front of an enormous idol of gilt wood, about 
 twelve yards higli, holding in its right hand a sceptre, in its left a lotus, and 
 wearing a tiara composed of three rows of heads, representing the inferior divinities. 
 This gigantic idol belongs to the religion of the auxiliary gods of the Buddhist 
 mythology: the Amidas and the Quaunons, intercessors who collect the prayers of men 
 and transmit them to heaven. By means of similar religious conceptions, the bonzes 
 strike a superstitious terror into the imaginations of their followers, and succeed in 
 keeping them in a state of perpetual fear and folly. 
 
 We then went to see the Daiboudhs, which is the wonder of Kamakoura. This 
 building is dedicated to the Daiboudhs, that is to say, to the great Buddha, and may 
 be regarded as the most finished work of Japanese genius, from the double points of 
 view of art and religious sentiment. The Temple of Hatchiman had already given us 
 a remarkable example of the use which native art makes of nature in producing that 
 impression of religious majesty which in our northern climates is efi'ected by Gothic 
 architecture. The Temple of Daiboudhs differs considerably from the first which we had 
 seen. Instead of the great dimensions, instead of the illimitable space which seemed to 
 stretch from portal to portal down to the sea, a solitary and mysterious retreat prepares 
 the mind for some supernatural revelation. Tlie road leads far away from every habitation ; 
 in the direction of the mountain it winds about between hedges of tall shrubs. Finally, 
 we see nothing before us but the high road, going up and up in the midst of foliage 
 and flowers; then it turns in a totally different direction, and all of a sudden, at the 
 end of the alley, we perceive a gigantic brazen Divinity, squatting witli joined hands, and 
 the head slightly bent forward, in an attitude of contemplative ecstasy. The involuntary 
 amazement produced by the aspect of this great image soon gives place to admiration. 
 There is an irresistible charm in the attitude of the Daiboudhs, as well as in the harmony 
 of its proportions. The noble simplicity of its gamients and the calm pui-ily of its 
 features are in perfect accord with the sentiment of screnit}' inspired by its presence. A
 
 THE DAiBOUDHS. 123 
 
 grove, consisting of some beautiful groups of trees, fomis the enclosure of the sacred 
 place, whose silence and solitude ai"e never disturl)cd. The small cell of the attendant 
 priest can hardly be discerned amongst the foliage. The altar, on which a little incense 
 is burning at the feet of the Divinity, is composed of a small brass table ornamented by 
 two lotus vases of the same metal, and beautifully wrought. The steps of the altar are 
 composed of large slabs forming regular lines. The blue of the sky, the deep shadow 
 of the statue, the sombre colour of the In-ass, the brilliancy of the flowers, the vaiied 
 verdure of the hedges and the gi'oves, fill this solemn retreat with the richest effect 
 of light and colour. The idol of the Daiboudhs, with the platform which supports it, 
 is twenty yards high ; it is far from e(|ual in elevation to the statue of St. Charles 
 Borromeo, which may be seen from Arona on the borders of Lake Maggiore, init which 
 affects the spectator no more than a trigonometrical signal-post. The interiors of the?c 
 two colossal statues have been utilized. The European tourists seat themselves in the 
 nose of the holy cardinal. The Japanese descend by a secret staircase into the 
 foundations of their Daiboudhs, and there they find a peaceful oratory, whose altar 
 is lighted by a ray of sun.shine admitted through an opening in the folds of the 
 mantle at the back of the idol's neck. It would be idle to discuss to what extent 
 the Buddha of Kamakoura resembles the Buddha of history, but it is important to 
 remark that he is conformable to the Buddha of tradition. 
 
 The Buddhists have made one authentic and sacramental im;ige of the founder 
 of their religion, covered with characters carefully numbered, with thirty-two principal 
 signs, and eighty secondary marks, so that it may be transmitted to future ages 
 in all its integrity. The Japanese idol conforms in all essential respects to this 
 established type of the great Hindoo reformer. It scrupulously reproduces the pose, 
 the meditative attitudes ; thus it was that the sage joined his hands, the fingers 
 straightened, and thumb resting against thumb ; thus he squatted, the legs bent and 
 gathered up one over the other, the right foot lying upon the left knee. The broad, 
 smooth brow is also to ])e recognized, and the hair forming a multitude of short 
 curls. Even the singular protuberance of the skull, which slightly disfigures the top 
 of the head, exists in the statue, and also a tuft of white hairs between the eyebrows, 
 indicated by a little rounded excrescence in the metal. 
 
 All these marks, however, do not constitute the physiognomy, tlic expression of 
 the personage. In this respect the Daiboudlis of Kamakoura has nc^thing in common 
 
 R 2
 
 124 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 with the fantastic dolls which are worshipped in China under the name of Buddhas, 
 and the fact appears worthy of notice, because Buddhism was introduced into Japan 
 from China. 
 
 The first effect of Buddhist preaching in Japan must have been to arouse curiosity 
 among the islanders, who are as inquisitive and restless as the Hindoos are taciturn 
 and contemplative. 
 
 AVhat a vast field of exploration for minds which were only making their first 
 voyage of discovery in the regions of metaphysics ! As they did not feel any 
 impatience to plunge into Nirwana, they were chiefly interested in finding out what 
 was to come to pass between death and final extinction. With the assistance of 
 the bonzes, a certain number of accepted ideas about the soul, death, and the life 
 to come, were put in circulation in the towns and in the villages, without prejudice, it 
 must be understood, to all that had been taught by ancestral wisdom concerning the 
 ancient gods and the venerable national Kamis. 
 
 The soul of man, it was said, is like a floating vapour, indissoluble, having the form 
 of a tiny worm, and a thin thread of blood which runs from the top of the head to the 
 extremity of the tail. If it were closely observed it might be seen to escape from the 
 house of death, at the moment when the dying person heaves his last sigh. At all times, 
 the cracking of the panel may be heard as the soul passes through it. Whither does it 
 go ? No one knows ; but it cannot fiiil to be received by the ministering servants of the 
 great judge of hell. They bring it before his tribunal, and the judge causes it to 
 kneel before a mirror, in which it beholds all the evil of which it has been guilty. This 
 is a phenomenon which is occasionally produced upon the earth : a comedian in Yeddo, 
 who had committed a murder, could not look into his mirror without his gaze being met 
 by the livid face of his victim. 
 
 Souls, laden with crime, wander in one or other of the eighteen concentric circles 
 of hell, according to the gravity of their offences. 
 
 Souls in process of purification sojourn in a purgatory whose lid they may lift up 
 when they can do so without fear of falling, and resume the progressive course of 
 their pilgrimage. 
 
 In the case of a woman who, being deserted, drowned herself with her child, she 
 is popularly believed to present herself before all wayfarers by the side of the marsh, 
 Ijolding up the infant, in protest against her betrayers as the real author of her crime.
 
 JAPANESE GODS. 
 
 12a 
 
 Finally, there are souls who return to the places which they have inhabited, or to 
 the resting-piacc of thdr mortal remains. 
 
 Ghost stories, terrible tales, books illustrated by pictures representing hell or 
 apparitions of demons, have multiplied in Japan with such profusion, that the popular 
 imagination is completely possessed by them. The patron of literature of this kind. 
 
 THE AFPARITION OF A DROWKED WOMAN. 
 
 according to the national mythology, is Tengou, the god of dreams, a burlesque winged 
 genius, whose head-dress is an extinguisher with a golden handle. He leads the nocturnal 
 revelry of all the objects, sacred or profane, which can fill the imagination of man. 
 The refuge of death itself is not closed against him. The candelabra bend their heads, 
 pierced with luminous holes, with a measured motion. The stone tortoises which bear 
 the epitaphs move in a grim, orderly march, and grinning skeletons, clad in their shrouds.
 
 126 LIFE IX JAPAX. 
 
 join the fantastic measure, waving about them the holy-water brush which drives away- 
 evil spirits. 
 
 In spite of some difference in style, and of its exceptional dimensions, the noble 
 Japanese statue is the fellow of those of which great numbers are to be seen in the 
 islands of Java and Ceylon ; those sacred refuges which were opened to Buddhism when 
 it was expelled from India. There the type of the hero of Contemplation is preserved 
 most religiously, and appears under its most exquisite form, in marvellous images of 
 basalt, granite, and clay, generally above the human stature. This type, for the most 
 part conventional, although perfectly authentic in the eyes of ftiith, is, especially for the 
 Cingalese priests, who are devoted to the art of statuary, the unique subject of the 
 indefatigable labour by which they strive to realize ideal perfection. They have in fact 
 produced work of such purity as has hardly been surpassed by the Madonnas of 
 Raphael. 
 
 Japan has inherited somewhat of the lofty tradition of the Buddhist Isles. 
 Apostles from those distant shores have probably visited it. On the other hand, it has 
 suffered to an extreme degree, and under the intluence of its nearest neighbours, all 
 the fatal consequences of the doctrine of the master himself, and especially the 
 monstrous vagaries of his disciples. M. Martin Arzelier remarks in his Chretien 
 Evangelique (No. 10, eleventh year), that it would be au unprofitable task to undertake 
 to trace the pure and abstract doctrine of the founder of the " Good Tao " in Japanese 
 Buddhism. The Proteus of Greek fable, he adds, is not less intangible than the Good 
 Tao in its metamorphoses among the various peoples of Asia and the Far East. 
 
 Every sort of modification and addition is justified beforehand by the following 
 adage, which seems to have been the watchword of the missionaries of Buddhism : 
 " Everything that agrees with good sense and circumstances agrees with truth, and 
 ought to serve as a rule." 
 
 The Temples of Kamakoura furnisli many examples in support of this observation.
 
 A HK>l'EcrAliLK TKA UOl'SK. 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 BUDDHISM I.V JAPAN. 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF BUDDHISM. — BUDDHIST SYMBOLISM. — THE INFANT BUDDHA. — FESTIVAL 
 OF HIS BIRTH AND BAPTISM. — THE DOCTRINE OF UNIVERSAL AND INEVITABLE 
 SUFFERING. — NIRWaNA. — THE GENERAL INFLUENCE OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY ON 
 JAPANESE LIFE. — THE LITERATURE OF BUDDHISM. — JAPANESE WRITING. 
 
 J. HE introduction of Biuldiiisin into Japan dates from the year 552 of our era. 
 
 At tliat epoch, Kin-Mei, the thirteentli ]\Iikado, received from King Petsi at Corea, 
 a statue of Sdkyamouni, together with books, banners, a baldaquin, and other objects 
 used iu the worship of Buddha. With these presents came a letter to the follo\ving effect.
 
 128 LIFE IN JAPAN.. 
 
 " Behold the best of all doctrines ; — coming from distant India, it reveals to us what 
 was a mystery to Confucius himself, and transports us into a final condition whose 
 felicity cannot be surpassed. The King of Petsi communicated it to the Empire of the 
 Mikado so that it may be spread about, and that thus may be accomplished that which 
 is written in the books of Buddha, ' My doctrine shall extend itself towards the East.' " 
 The Mikado immediately consulted his ministers upon the reception which was due to 
 the statue of the great Kami of India. All the nations of the West replied, "Inam^ 
 venerate the Buddha, why should Niphon turn its back upon him ! " 
 
 But, objected Wasoki, " If we render homage to the stranger Kami, is it not to be 
 feared that we shall irritate the national Kamis ?" Thereon the Mikado pronounced authori- 
 tatively this conciliatory sentence : " It is just and equitable to accord to man that which 
 his heart desires ; let Inamd revere the image." Inam^ accordingly carried away the image, 
 and constructed a chapel for it. Nevertheless, an epidemic having broken out, it was 
 attributed to the new worship, the chapel was burnt and the statue thrown into the 
 river. The family of Inamd remained none the less secretly attached to the strange 
 doctrine. In the reign of Bidas, successor to Kin-Mei, the minister Sogano, son of Inam^, 
 presented to the Mikado a bonze who had come from Siura in Corca. The holy man, 
 warned of the difficulties which must attend the introduction of Buddhism into a 
 country where the national religion united the people and the sovereign so closely, 
 conceived a means of procuring the favour of the Mikado. As soon as he saw the 
 Mikado's grandson at the Court — a little boy of six years old, in whose birth there had 
 been something extraordinary — he prostrated himself at the feet of the miraculous child 
 and worshipped him, announcing that he recognized in him the incarnation of a 
 disciple of Buddha, the new patron of the Empire, the future propagator of religious 
 life. The Mikado allowed himself to be persuaded to dedicate this child to the priest- 
 hood and confided his education to the Corean bonze. The rest is easily divined. 
 This boy became the initiator and the first High Priest of Buddhism in the Empire of 
 Japan, where he is now revered under the name of Sjo-Tak-Daise, the holy, hereditary, 
 and virtuous Prince. Far from denying the foreign origin of their new worship, the 
 Japanese considered it their duty to recall it by various symbols, such as the 
 elephants' heads which 1 have already described among the architectural ornaments on 
 Buddhist monuments, and, in memory of India, by palm plants of a small species accli- 
 matized in Japan, which are seen in the neighbourhood of the Temples. It was more
 
 THE BIRTH OF BUDDHA. 
 
 129 
 
 easy for them to testify their respect fur tlic birthplace of Buddha by certain outward 
 signs, than to preserve the essence of liis religion, that is to say, the exact tradition of 
 his life, liis personality, and his teaching. 
 
 According to the Japanese legend, Buddha came into the world in a miraculous 
 manner. Immediately on his birth he stood upright in the middle of the chamber, made 
 seven steps in the direction of each of the four cardinal points, and, pointing with his right 
 hand towards heaven and his left hand towards the ground, he said, " Above me on high, 
 and below and around me, there is nothing which can compare w'ith me, and no other 
 
 A CELESTIAL SENTINEL. 
 
 A CELESTIAL SENTINEL. 
 
 being more worthy of veneration."' In this way is tlio infant Buddha represented, and 
 when his biithday is eclel)rated nn tlu- eighth day of the fourth montli, the people gt> to 
 his Temple and bathe the statue in a dceoction of aromatic herbs, which the bonzes have 
 prepared, and placrd at the feet of tlif itnagi- iii a sort of holy-water font. The statue 
 then receives the adoration of the faithful, and tlir more devout sprinkle themselves with 
 this decoction and drink it. From the iiintli to the fifteenth day of the second niontli 
 the rcmombrancu of the meditations of Sakyaniouni in tlie solitude of the forests is
 
 130 J^^FE IJ^' JAPAN: 
 
 celebrated. This is a week of retreat and of preaching, during which the bonzes teach the 
 people that the awakening of supreme consciousness in tlie soul of Buddha was in correlation 
 with the apparition of a brilliant star ; that the sage, having attained to the full posses- 
 sion of light, proclaimed during thirty-seven days the first book of his Law ; during twelve 
 years the second ; during thirty years the third ; during eight years the fourth, and during 
 one day and one night the last, which treats of the Nirwaua, or final annihilation. They 
 add, that during forty-nine years of his ministry he turned the wheel of the law three 
 hundred and sixty times, an image which signifies the complete exposition of his 
 doctrines. 
 
 The seventh and last day of the festival is consecrated to the commemoration of 
 the death of Buddha. In each of the places of worship dedicated to him a cenotaph is 
 erected, and the faithful go from Temple to Temple, vieing with each other in their zeal 
 for the ornamentation of the holy tomb. On this occasion the celebrated picture of 
 Nehanzao, painted by Toodenzou is displayed in the Temple of Toofoukzi at Kioto. In 
 the centre of this great painting Buddha is represented, extended under saras trees, 
 I»lunged in the repose of eternal nothingness. The solemn calm of his face reveals that 
 tlie emancipation of his intelligence is consummated ; that the sage has irrevocably 
 entered into the Nirwana. His disciples stand around him, contemplating him with 
 mingled expressions of regret and admiration. The poor and oppressed, the pariahs, weep 
 for the charitable friend wlio has fed them by his alms, who has begged for them ; 
 for the consoler, whose compassionate words open a prospect of deliverance to 
 their souls. The entire creation is moved at beholding him, who constantly resjjected 
 life under every form which it wears in nature, reduced to the condition of a corpse. 
 The genii of tlie cartli, the waters, and the air approach him with respect, foUoAved 
 by the tenants of their several domains ; fish, birds, insects, reptiles, quadrupeds 
 of all sorts, even to the white elephant, the supreme degree of the Brahminical 
 metempsychosis. This composition, extravagant as it is, produces nevertheless a 
 powerful effect. It awakens I know not what mysterious sympathy, and it expresses 
 an idea which is no stranger to Christianity ; that is to say, an idea of a certain 
 solidarity established between man and all the beings of the terrestrial creation. As 
 for the principal subject of tlie picture, I believe that no decision has ever been 
 arrived at as to the meaning to be attributed to it. Does it represent the Nirwana, 
 the supreme end of all Buddhist aspirations, as the absorption of the soul of the
 
 BUDDHIST SYMBOLISM. 
 
 i:n 
 
 just into the divine essence of the Universal Spirit? or doe., it actually make it the 
 synonym of annihilation ? The doctrine of Buddha is very obscure on tins point 
 
 A HAMIIDO CiROVK. 
 
 Nevertheless, the best authority pronounces in favour of the latter altcrHatixo. The 
 interpretations of M. E. Ikirnouf and ]\r. Earthelemy Saint-Hilairc are almost precisely 
 as follows : — 
 
 s 2
 
 132 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 The Buddliist takes an incontestable fact as the point of departure of his doctrine ; 
 it is the existence of human suffering in some form in all social conditions. Seeking 
 out the causes of this pain, he attributes it to passions, to desire, to faults, to igno- 
 rance, even to existence itself. This being so, pain can have no other term than 
 the cessation of existence. But in order that this end should be real, it must be 
 Nothingness, or the Nirwana. There is no other means by which man can escape 
 frorii the circle of perpetual re-births, by which he can definitively withdraw himself 
 from the law of transmigration. This compound of body and of soul, which is 
 called man, can be really delivered only by annihilation, because so long as there 
 shall remain the least atom of his soul, the soul may again be born under one of those 
 innumerable appearances assumed by existence, and its pretended liberation would be 
 only an illusion like the others. The only asylum and the only reality is nothingness, 
 because from that one does not return. 
 
 If the opinion which I have just quoted really express the thoughts of the Hindoo 
 refonner, we must acknowledge that the Buddhist Nirwilua surpasses in tragical liorror 
 every imagination of the ancients concerning the mystery of human destiny. This 
 conception is the last word of despair and the highest exaltation of the AA'ill. In 
 proposing to abolish pain by the suppression of existence, Buddha plainly takes up the 
 ground of atheism, because that end cannot be attained by anything short of the 
 abstraction of the idea of the Supreme Being. At the same time that Buddha 
 welcomes death as the angel of deliverance, he casts at him a sovereign defiance, and 
 places himself for ever out of the reach of his power by destroying, in their last germ, 
 the elements of a new birth. Finally, he finds in this negative victory, in his final 
 annihilation, the means by which he renders himself superior to the gods. This is 
 because the gods remain subject to the law of transmigration. 
 
 It is diflicult to realize that more than one-third of the entire human race has no 
 other creed than that of Buddhism, tliat worsliip without God, that religion of 
 Nothingness invented by despair. We would endeavour to persuade ourselves that the 
 multitudes under this rule do not understand tlie doctrine which they profess, or that 
 they refuse to admit its consequences. The idolatrous practices which have grown out 
 of the teaching of the book of the Good Law, would seem, indeed, to testify that that 
 book could neither satisfy nor smother the religious sentiments innate in man, and ever 
 living among all peoples,
 
 THE TROVA. 
 
 133 
 
 On the other hand, we must not underrate the influence of the phih.sopliv cf tinid 
 annihilation in a great number of traits of Japanese manners. Tiie Irova, as w.; 
 have seen, teaches the children in the schools tliat life has no more consistency than a 
 dream, and that no truce of it remains. When the Japanese has reached a mature 
 age he will sacrifice hi.s life, or that of his neighbour, with the most disdainful 
 indifference, to the satisfaction of his pride, or to sotne trifling resentment. Munlers and 
 
 TllK GlIliAT JUDOK OF Illil.I-. 
 
 suii-ides arc so frequent in Japan that there are few gentlemen who do not possess, ami 
 make it a point of honour to exhil)it, at least one sword belonging to the family that 
 has been steeped in blood. 
 
 Buddhism is nevertheless superior, in many respects, to the religion which it has 
 displaceil. Its relative superiority is shown in the justness of its point of departure,
 
 134 
 
 LIFE IX JAPAN. 
 
 which i* the acknowledgment of a need of deliverance, based upon the double fact 
 of the existence of evil in man, as well as the universal condition of misery and 
 sufferiuo- in the world. The promise of the worship of the Kamis lias reference to the 
 present life. The rules of the purification were to preserve the faithful from five great 
 ,.yilg • — the fire of heaven, sickness, poverty, exile, and premature death. The pomps 
 
 UrUIilll-lillAUMA. 
 
 "f its religious fe8tiv;ll^ had for thcii' sdlc aim the glorification of the lieroes of the 
 l*]iu|mv. Iliit thii\ioli patiiofi.'^ni may be idealized to the extent of liecoming the 
 iiatiniial \viii>hip, it is no less true that this natural sentiment, precious and ]n-aiseworthy 
 in itself, caiinnt sutlii-r to till up the mind and satisfy all its needs. The liuman 
 siiul is greater than the world. It ivquires a religion which detaches it fmni th<'
 
 ASCETICS. jo- 
 
 cai-tb. Buddhism, in a certain sense, resjionds to aspirations of this kind previously 
 misunderstood. 
 
 This circumstance in itself explains the success with wliidi it is propa^ati'd in 
 Japan and elsewhere, hy the arms of persuasion alone ; still, nevertheless, we may 
 believe that it is not in this abstract and philosophical form that it has become so 
 popular, and nothing proves that more forcibly than its actual condition. 
 
 Japan, like India, has produced ascetics, mortified by al)stinence ami plunged in 
 abstraction, but their number is very small, and the most illustrious among them was 
 a Hindoo by origin. He is Buddhi-Dharma, the founder of the Sen-sjou sect. He came 
 to Japan in a.d. 6l:>. The legend represents him as traversing the straits of Corea, 
 standing upon one of the large leaves of the tree called " aschi,"' or upon a simple 
 reed. He had prepared himself for his mission by a retreat of nine consecutive years 
 in the I'urean temple of Schao-lin, which he passed in squatting upon a mat with his 
 face invariably turned to the side of the wall. 
 
 Bu<ldha had recommended to his disciples the exercise of the Dhyana — that is to say. 
 Contemplation. The bonzes, desiring to systematize this exercise, made of the Dliyaiui 
 a sort of mystic ladder of two stages, each divided into four steps. In order to climb 
 the first ladder, the ascetic must be detached from every other desire than that of tin- 
 Nirwana. In this state of soul he still judges and reasons ; but he is sheltered from 
 the seductions of evil, and the feeling that this first stop opens to him the perspective 
 of the Nirwana, places him in an ecstatic disposition which soon permits him to attain 
 to the second degree. At the second step the purity of the ascetic remains the sauK^ : 
 but in addition to this purity he has laid aside judgment and reasoning, so that his 
 intelligence, which no longer thinks of things, but fixes itself wholly upon the Nirwana. 
 experiences only the pleasure of interior satisfaction, without judging it or evt-u 
 understanding it. At the third degree, the pleasure of interior satisfaction ha.s 
 disappeared ; the sage has fallen into indifference with respect even to the happiness 
 which he just now experienced through his intelligence. All the pleasure which 
 remains to him is a vague sentiment of physical well-being diffused through liis 
 body. He has, however, not lost his memory of the conditions through which lu' has 
 passed, and still retains a confused consciousness of himself, notwithstanding the almost 
 absolute detachment which he has reached. Finally, at the fourth degree, the ascetic 
 no longer possesses this sentiment of physical well-being, all obscure as it is ; he has
 
 136 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN: 
 
 lost ;ill memory. jMore than this, he has even lost the feeling of indifference, and, 
 henceforth free from all pleasure and all grief, whatever may be their object, whether 
 Avithin or without, he has reached impassibility — he is as near to the Nirwana as he can 
 be during this life. Then it is that the ascetic is permitted to approach the second stage 
 of the Dhyuua, the four superposed regions of the world without forms. He first 
 enters into the region of the infinite in space. From this he climbs a new step, into 
 the reffiou of the infinite of intelligence. Having attained to this height, he enters 
 ui)on a third region, that in which nothing exists. But, as in this vacuum and in this 
 darkness an idea might remain, to represent to the ascetic the nothingness into which 
 
 A SENNIN", Oi; BUDDHIST .SAINT. 
 
 he is plunging, he requires a last and supreme effort to enter the fourth region of the 
 world without form.s, where there are no longer ideas, nor even an idea of the absence 
 of ideas. 
 
 Such arc the mystic exercLscs of Buddhist contemplation, of which the Buddhi- 
 Dharma was th.' inoinnii'r in Japiu. The other apostles, his successors, walk in 
 the footsteps ..f Buddha in tlic .same manner— that is to say, by substituting, each 
 after his fashion, exterior practices for the spontaneity ol piety and the activity of 
 intelligence. The mas^ter said to his disciples, "Go, all men of piety, hide your 
 good works, and show your sins." So the bonzes instituted processions of penitents. 
 Gentleness was one of the principal traits of Siikyamouni's character. His compassion
 
 SAKYAMOUNI. 
 
 137 
 
 extended itself to all created beings. When Lis doctrine spread amongst the Japanese, 
 the latter had already made it a law that the flesh of no domestic animal should be 
 eaten. This custom had, among other economical effects, the advantage of preventing 
 a rise in the price of the buffalo, which in a rice country is absolutely indispensable to 
 the poorest cultivators. Certain other Buddhist sects went so far as to proscribe every 
 other nourishment than the vegetable. Sakyamouni recommended abstinence, not only 
 
 A SEXNIN', OR nrniiiirsT saint. 
 
 from lying and evil- speaking, but also from every idle word. Silence took its place 
 among other monastic vows. In the same way abnegation, purity of morals, patience, 
 and perseverance, were erected into ordinances, regulating, in the most minute detail, 
 the costume, food, and employment of the hours of the day ami the night of the 
 various conventual corporations.
 
 138 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 Because Buddha liad shown himself indefatigable in soliciting the com m iseration of the 
 rich on behalf of all who were unfortunate, fraternities of mendicant monks were organized. 
 Because he had declared himself equally well-disposed towards men who were despised 
 by society as towards those who were respected, and that he would expound his law to 
 the ignorant as well as the wise, ignorance was made a cardinal virtue. "While knowledge 
 was allied with this faith in the doctrine of the Hindoo reformer, the latter vii'tue, in 
 the opinion of the bonzes, dispensed with all other virtues. " With the exception of the 
 'Sen-sjou' sect," writes a Japanese author, "our bonzes tend to maintain the people, and 
 above all, the peasants, in profound ignorance. They say that blind faith is sufficient 
 to lead to perfection." 
 
 The High-priest Foudaisi, who came from China with his two sons Fousjoo and 
 Fouken, invented a mechanical process for the purpose of dispensing the bonzes from 
 turning the wheel of the law according to the sense consecrated among the mystic 
 language of Buddhism, by permitting them to follow this operation to the letter. Then 
 he constructed the Rinzoo, a sort of moveable chorister's desk turning upon a pivot, 
 and spread out upon it the rolls of the sacred books. His adepts received from him, 
 according to the degree of their devotion, authority to make a quarter of a turn, 
 a half turn, or three-quarters of a turn of the Rinzoo; they very rarely obtained the 
 favour of an entii-e turn, because that was an act as meritorious as if all the books 
 of the law had been recited from end to end. The bonzes Sinran, Nitziten, and thirty 
 others, became famous as the founders of sects, in which each was distinguished 
 by some peculiarity more or less worthy to rival the ingenious invention of Foudaisi. 
 Thus the monopoly of the great family rosary is conferred upon a certain confraternity. 
 We must bear in mind that the Buddhist rosary has no virtue unless it be correctly 
 told. Now there is no guarantee that, in a numerous family, some errors may not 
 occur in the use of the rosary; hence it is sometimes reproached wdtli uselessness. 
 Instead of recriminating in the case, true wisdom consists in sending for a bonze of the 
 great rosary to come to the house to put things in good order. He comes there with 
 his bead chaplet, which is something like a good-sized boa, and places it in the hands 
 of the entire family, who are ranged in a circle, while he stands before the altar of the 
 domestic idol, and directs the operations by means of a bell and a little hammer. At 
 a given signal the father, the mother, and the children, shout out their daily prayers at 
 the top of their voices. Tlie small beads, the large beads, and the blows of the hammer
 
 MECnANICAL PRAYERS. 
 
 139 
 
 succeed each other with cadenced regularity. The exercise of the rosary becomes 
 animated, the cries become passionate, hands and arms obey with the precision of a 
 machine, till the body is worn out with fatigue. Finally, the termination of the ceremony 
 leaves the whole family out of breath, exhausted, but radiant with happiness, because 
 their intercessory gods are now satisfied. 
 
 Buddhism is a flexible, insinuating, and conciliatory religion, accommodatint^ itself 
 
 P.A1DEN, COD OF THUNDKU. 
 
 to the genius and the habits of a widely diverse people. Ever since its com- 
 mencement in Japan, the bonzes have succeeded in getting hold of the little chapels 
 of the Kamis, and placing them within the precincts of their sanctuaries. They have 
 added to their ceremonies several symbols borrowed from the ancient national worship ; 
 and, in order to mis up the two religions more effectually, they have introduced into 
 their temples the Kamis, to whom they give the title and attributes of the Hindoo 
 
 T 2
 
 140 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN.. 
 
 divinities, and Hindoo divinities transformed into the Japanese Kamis. There was 
 nothing inadmissible in such exchanges, which naturally explain themselves by the 
 
 A BUBDHISr MIRACLE : A BOKZE BRAVING DECAPITATION. 
 
 dogma of transmigration. Thanks to the combination of the two worships, to which 
 they have given the name of Rioobou-Sintoo, Buddhism has become the ruling religion 
 of Japan.
 
 THE RULING RELIGION. 
 
 141 
 
 When wc look at it superficially, it seems to do nothing more than aihl its sanction 
 to the veneration of new objects of worship in addition to those already received 
 by the masses. At first, it was the great Indian Buddha to whom these colossal statues, 
 of which the Daiboudhs of Kamakoura offers the finest type, were erected. The Japanese 
 idea of u supreme Divinity was afterwards personified in the fantastic image of Amida, 
 
 THE IJUKEN ol' HEAVEN. 
 
 represented under nine diff"erent forms symbolical of its incarnations and essential 
 perfections, one of which is expressed by the emblem of a dog's head. 
 
 Buddhism has an image, the Queen of Heaven ; the guardians of heaven, of whom 
 some arc also the guardians of the temples, the Kings of Earth and the Kings of Hell, 
 beneficent genii, avenging genii; it has placed beside the ancient Japanese divinity of 
 the Sun, the gods of the moon, the planets, the signs of the Zodiac, the genii of the
 
 142 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 Eain, Wind, and Thunder. Finally, it has assigned celestial patrons to all classes and 
 all social professions. Among this multitude of images, grave and fantastic, it is not 
 always easy to discern those which properly belong to Buddhism. Several were, no 
 doubt, popular in Japan before its importation. Perhaps we ought to place in this 
 category the god of the thunder, Raiden, and the god of the winds, Futen. — Eaiden, 
 the god of thunder and lightning, is infinitely less majestic than the Olympian Jove. 
 
 THE PATRON III' AUMS. 
 
 It is a grotesque demon, which beats half-a-dozen cymbals, ranged in a circle round 
 its head. There is a great deal of uncertainty about the origin of the numerous 
 grotesque animals of the Japanese mythology. I will only mention those to which some 
 artistic interest attaches.
 
 GliOTESQUE ANIMALS. 
 
 143 
 
 Two horned quadrupeds, Hino-woo and Midsou-no-woo, genii of fire and water, 
 seem to belong to Kami worship. Fo6, a sort of phoenix, must liave been introduced 
 into it from China. The Kirin has a woman's head, deer's feet, a horse's body. His 
 apparition, quick as lightning— for his feet hardly touch the ground, and would not 
 even tread upon a worm — is a presage of the birth of a benevolent genius, such as 
 SS,kya, Dharnia, Sjotokdaisi. The Koma-inou was brought from Corea, it is said, by the 
 
 FUTK.V, OOn OF THE WINDS. 
 
 Empress Ziugou. This animal, which is pnrt dog, part lion, may perhaps be a 
 recollection of the cave-lion. Two fine specimens, in cut granite, stand on the esplanade 
 of the Temple of Kami-Hamayou at Simonosdki. The Tat.s-Maki is the terror of all 
 people. This immense dragon generally haunts the deep sea caverns, but sometimes 
 he comes up to the surface ; and springing towards heaven, causes such a perturbation 
 of the atmo.sphcrc, that he produces the redoubtable phenomenon known as the typhoon. 
 Mooki is a turtle with a dog's head and a long tail of trailing marine mosses. There
 
 144 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 are Mookis so old, that the legends tell how trees, rocks, and peaks have grown up 
 on their backs. In the most zealous days of Buddhism, the seventh and eighth centuries, 
 the bonzes themselves lent a hand in the building of the temples and adorning 
 them with pictures and statues. 
 
 But though the native arts, especially sculpture and architecture, may be indebted to 
 
 TlIK TATS-MAKI, OU DliAGON OF TIIF. TVl'll'illNS 
 
 them for some portion of their progress, little good can be said of the bonzes ur \\\nv literary 
 productions. Let us try to imagine what the monastic lucubrations must he ! They 
 consist of tliousands of volumes upon the lotus of the Good Law, upon tlie twenty- 
 eight subdivisions of contemplation, upon the glories of Buddha, nnd tlie niiinoulous 
 lives of the innumerable ascetics, saints, and martyrs of his religion. The true merit 
 of sucli a literature is that it is absolutely illegible outside that separate world
 
 KIBIKO. 
 
 145 
 
 composed by the inhabitants of the bonze-houses and the regular frequenters of those 
 establishments. 
 
 At a period in which Chinese characters were still used in writing the Japanese 
 language, a learned man of the sect of Youto, named Kibiko, abridged the compli- 
 cated forms of those immense large square characters, reducing them to forty-seven 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 Kt'''^ T^^^w^S^^H 
 
 1 
 
 ^^H^^H^^*-;V^-''jfl 
 
 V 
 
 ^^^^^^■1 '1 ' ilK.^r 
 
 I^^^H 
 
 ^p 
 
 r ' ■ 4^^B 
 
 
 H 
 
 wm\ 
 
 |K 
 
 i 
 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^1 
 
 P^,'* 
 
 ]^g ":_,^ 
 
 Sk \^ '.^^IH^^I 
 
 I^H 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 '■"■ " ^-'^^ 
 
 31 
 
 A NKIIIT WAiril. 
 
 simple elements easily recognized and invariable. This system, wliicli has since 
 been used for notes, glossaries, and iiiterlineary explanations, is named the Katakana. 
 But tlic bonze Koka'i, who was born in the year 75.5, the founder of tlie sect of 
 Singous-jou, went still further into the simplification of Chinese signs. He also 
 chose forty-seven proper forms to represent the Japanese syllables ; he took away their 
 figurative or metaphorical value, and adapted them to the most cursive form of Chinese 
 
 u
 
 146 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. ■ 
 
 writing, aud tlius composed the system that is called the Hirakana. It is this which 
 is used by women, by the lower orders, and even liy the literati themselves, in writing- 
 ordinary things aud composing works of light literature, such as romances, songs, and 
 comedies. 
 
 All the Japanese women learn the Hirakana in their childhood, and they are 
 tauf>-ht no otlier. The men also learn it ; but in addition they are taught the Katakaua, 
 and the literati add to that the knowledge of a more or less considerable number of 
 Chinese sio-ns. The result of that wise combination is, that the men can always read 
 the writino- of the women, but that the women cannot read that of the men unless 
 wlien they employ the Hirakana system.
 
 A m'Alin HOUSE. 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 TAIKOSAMA AXD THE TOKAIDO. 
 
 INCREASING ANARCHY FROM FOURTEENTH TO SIXTEENTH CENTURY. — FIDE- YOSI. — SPREAD 
 OF THE BUDDHIST RELIGION. — CONFLICTS. — ORDINANCES OF FIDE-YOSI. — THE PRINCE 
 OF BOUNGO. —FRANCIS XAVIER. — JAPANESE CHRISTIANS. — PERSECUTION. — MARTYRDOM. 
 lYEYAS. — THE TOKAIDO. — SINAGAWA. 
 
 The civil wars which broufjlit al)out the ruin of Kamakoura liad few points of interest 
 in themselves. From the fourteenth to the sixteenth centurj-, tlie Emigre of Japan 
 presented a spectacle of increasing anarchy, which threatened the work of jioliticjil 
 centralization which had heen inaugurated by Yoritomo. 
 
 u 2
 
 148 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 A domestic quarrel arose within the Dairi itself, which forced the legitimate sovereign 
 to yield Kioto to his competitor ; and, during nearly sixty years, six Mikados successively 
 occupied the pontifical throne, by usurpation, while the real descendants of the Sun 
 had to submit to holding their court at Yosimo, a small borough situated on the south 
 of the capital, in the province of Yomato. At length a family arrangement put an 
 end to this public scandal ; and the hundred and first Mikado, He of the South, 
 resumed possession of his holy city, and solemnly revived the fiction of his theocratic 
 sovereignty. 
 
 On the other hand, the power of the Siogouns was the object of strenuous rivalries, 
 which carried fire and sword through Kioto and Kamakoura by turns, and did not 
 shrink even from fratricide. The feudal nobles took advantage of the general confusion 
 to make one more attempt to break through their vassalage to the crown or its 
 lieutenajits. When, in the year 1.582, the Siogoun Nobounanga was surprised and 
 massacred, with his entire femily, in his own palace, the Empire seemed to be on the 
 brink of dissolution. It was saved by an adventurer, the son of a peasant, who had 
 begun life as a groom in the service of the Siogoun. His grave and taciturn demeanour, 
 matured by the vicissitudes of a vagabond youth, attracted the attention of his new 
 master. He was frequently observed squatting in the attitude of persons of his class, 
 near the stalls in which the horses in his charge stood, his arms stretched out on his 
 knees, and liis mind plunged in deep reverie. Nobounanga offered him a military 
 career. The ex-groom, become General Faxiba, distinguished liimself by brilliant deeds, 
 for which ho was raised to the rank of Daimio. On the death of his benefactor, he 
 undertook to avenge him, and he commanded, under the name of Fide-Yosi, the troops 
 wliicli were sent into the provinces of the great vassals who had revolted. Two years 
 sufliced for the suppression of the rebellion. His return to Kioto was a genuine 
 trium[)h. The Mikado solemnly invested liini with the chief title of the Dairi — that 
 of Quamboukou, and proclaimed him his lieutenant-general. 
 
 Then Fidd-Yosi carried his sword into another scene of strife. Every one of the 
 thousand divinities of the Buddhist mythology had taken his place in Japan. There 
 they had temples, statues, monastic fraternities. Bonzes, monks, nuns, abounded throughout 
 the Empire, and principally in tlie centre and south of Niphon. Each convent vied 
 with its neighbours for the public favour. By degrees the competition became so vehement, 
 that jealousy, hatred, and envy embittered the mutual relations of certain powerful
 
 BE LI a 10 us CONFLICTS. 149 
 
 and ambitious orders. From invective tliey proceeded to violence. The imperial police 
 interfered in the earlier conflicts of the tonsured foes, but they were soon powerless to 
 oppose the torrent. Bands of furious men in soutanes and habits, armed with sticks, 
 pikes, and flails, came down in the night ujion the territory of the fraternity with whom 
 they were at variance ; ravaged everything that came in their way ; ill-treated, killed, 
 or dispersed the victims of their surprise, and did not retire until they had set fire to 
 the four quarters of the bonze-house. But the aggressors, sooner or later, in their turn 
 assailed unawares, underwent similar treatment. Six times, in the course of the twelfth 
 century, the monks of the convent on the Yeisan jjurned the bonze-house of Djensj6si ; 
 twice the monks of Djensj6si burned the convent of Yeisan to ashes. 
 
 Similar scenes were enacted in various parts of Niphon. In order to protect their 
 convents from a sudden attack, rich priors converted them into fortresses. Their audacity 
 increased with the incapacity of the Government. Inimical fraternities had armed 
 encounters under the very walls of the temples which they possessed in the capital. A 
 portion of the Dairi was sacked, in 12S.'>, after one of these encounters. A temple in 
 Kioto having been fired in 153G, the flames spread to an adjacent quarter, and immense 
 damage was done. The eff"ovts of the Siogoun Nebounanga to reduce the insurgent 
 fraternity to submission were rendered fruitless by tiie entrenchments from behind which 
 they opposcnl him. 
 
 Fidd-Yosi resolved to make an end, once for all, of the (juarrels of the monks. He 
 surprised, captured, and occupied the most militant bonze-houses, demolished their defences, 
 transported all the monks who had broken tlie public peace to distant islands, and 
 placed the whole of the Japanese clergy, without distinction, under the superintendence 
 (if an active, severe, and inexorable police. He enacted that thenceforth the bonzes 
 should enjoy only the usufruct of their lands, the property in them being transferred 
 to the Government, with full and free power of disposal of them. 
 
 Then he ordered all the dignitaries among the clergy, both regular and secular, to 
 limit themselves strictly, together with their subordinates, to their religious functions. From 
 this law the Japanese priesthood has never since departed. They ofiiciate at the altai- 
 in the interior of their bonze-houses, under the eyes of the people, in a sanctuary which 
 is separated by a juhe from the crowd ; but they never address the people otherwise than 
 by preaching, and only on the holydays especially set apart for the purpose. 
 
 They were forbidden to organize processions except at certain periods of the year,
 
 150 LIFE IN JAPAIsL 
 
 and with the co-operation of the. Government officials charged with the ordering of public 
 ceremonies. 
 
 Their pastoral duties were restricted to the narrowest limits, and have never been 
 enlarged. The bonzes are charged w'ith the accomplishment of the sacramental ceremonies 
 with which all sects in Japan surround the last moments of the dying. They conduct 
 the funerals, and provide, according to the wishes of the relations of the deceased, for 
 the burial or the burning of the corpse, and for the consecration and preservation of 
 his tomb. 
 
 But, in proportion as they reign over the domain of death, they arc vigilantly 
 watched and restrained in all their lelations with society and tlie business of life. 
 Most of the secular priests arc married, and hold familiar intercourse with a small 
 circle of friends and neighbours ; but they are all the more sternly dealt with if they 
 give any offence in consequence. I saw, in the chief market-place at Yokohama an 
 aged bonze, who had been exposed there for three consecutive days, on his knees, on 
 an old mat, under the burning sun. The poor wretch endeavoured occasionally to wipe 
 the sweat from his bald head witli a little crape handkerchief. A placard, stuck in 
 the ground in front of him, apprized the public that this man had practised medicine 
 clandestinely, and had criminally assaulted one of his female patients, and therefore 
 the justice of the Taikoun had condemned him to transportation for life after public 
 exposure. 
 
 In 1.586, a short time after Fide-Yosi had put an end to the monastic troubles 
 of the Empire, strange news caused pulilic attention to fix itself u]ton the island of 
 Kiousiou. At this time the trade of Japan with the Asiatic continent and archipelagoes 
 was not in any way shackled. The Prince of Boungo, who, forty years previously, 
 had received the Portuguese adventurers flung upon the coasts of his province by a 
 tempest, had hastened to furnish them with the means of returning to Goa, and had 
 begged them to send him every year a ship laden witli merchandise suitalile for the 
 native markets. 
 
 Thus relations between Portugal and Japan were founded and developed. On 
 one of its first voyages, the Portuguese ship, at tli(> moment of setting sail for Goa, secretly 
 gave asylum to a Japanese gentleman named Hansiro, who had committed a homicide. 
 The illustrious Jesuit, Francis Xavier, who had recently disembarked at Goa, undertook 
 the religious instruction of the Japanese fugitive, niid administered baptism to liiiii.
 
 A rORTUGUESE ADVENTURER. 151 
 
 In 1549, the first Jesuit mission was established in the iskmd of Kiousiou, under 
 the direction of Saint Francis Xavier himself, and with the assistance of Hansiro. 
 
 The missionaries were at first astonished and terrified at finding in Japan so 
 many institutions, ceremonies, and objects of worship closely resembling tliose which 
 they had come thither to introduce. Taking no heed of the immense antiquity of 
 Buddhism, they declared that that religion could be nothing less than a diabolical 
 counterfeit of the true Church. Nevertheless, they were not slow to perceive that they 
 might turn that circumstance to the advantage of their propaganda. Nothing in the 
 doctrine of Buddhism was opposed to the admission of Jesus among the number of 
 the Buddhas who, in the course of ages, have appeared upon earth. Nor was there 
 any insurmountable difliculty in giving the Virgin pre-eminence over the queens of 
 heaven of the ancient Pantheon. In a word, the ruling creed at least furnished certain 
 useful points of contact, and all sorts of pretexts and good opportunities foi' 
 introducing the matter. This first mission had a prodigious success, and there is 
 ample room for believing that, thanks to the apostolical zeal and persuasive power of 
 Saint Francis Xavier, mmierous and sincere conversions to Christianity took place in 
 all classes of Japanese society. 
 
 Several high dignitaries of Buddhism were filled with uneasiness about the future 
 of their religion, and carried their complaints and remonstrances to the foot of 
 the throne. 
 
 " How many sects," asked the Mikado, " do you estimate as existing in my 
 dominions ? " 
 
 " Thirty-five," was the prompt reply. 
 
 " Very well, then, that will make the thirty-sixth," replied tlie jovial Emperor. 
 
 The Siogoun Fid^-Yosi regarded the question from another point of view. 
 
 Struck by the fact that the foreign missionaries applied themselves not only to 
 s])read their doctrines among the people, but to gain the favour of the great vassals 
 of the Empire, and that the anarchical tendencies of the latter were mysteriously 
 fostered by their relations with these priests, he discovered that they were commissioned 
 l)y a sovereign pontitl' who wore a triple crown, and who could, at his free will and 
 pleasure, dispossess the greatest princes, distribute the kingdoms of Europe among his 
 favourites, and even dispose of newly-discovered continents. lie reflected that the 
 emissaries of this redoubtable ruler of the West had already formed a party in the
 
 152 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 coast of the Mikado, and had founded a house in his capital; that the former 
 Siogoun Nobounanga had openly protected and befriended them ; and that there was 
 reason to believe that he, the Siogoun in place and power, was actually surrounded 
 in his own palace by dark intrigues in the household of his young son and heir 
 presumptive. 
 
 Fide-Yosi communicated his observations and his fears to an experienced servant 
 whom lie had already charged with several delicate missions. The dark and subtle 
 genius of this confidant, who became so famous in the history of Japan under the 
 name of lyeyas, applied itself diligently to sounding the depth of the danger. An 
 embassy of Japanese Clii-istians, directed by Father Valignani, the superior of the 
 Order of the Jesuits, had set out for Rome. lyeyas supplied his master with proofs 
 that the princes of Boungo, Omoura, and Arima, had written, on this occasion, to 
 the Spiritual Emperor of the Christians (Pope Gregory XIII.) letters iu which they 
 declared that they threw themselves at his feet, and worshipped him as their supreme 
 Lord, in his quality of sole representative of God on earth. The Siogoun dissembled 
 his wrath, but only in order to render his vengeance more signal. He employed nearly 
 a year in organizing, in concert with his favourite, the blow he meditated. At 
 length, in June 1587, his troops were at their posts, in their suspected provinces of 
 Kiousiou and the southern coast of Niphon, in sufficient force to suppress any attempt 
 at resistance. On one especial day, from one end of the Empire to the other, an 
 edict was published, by order of the Siogoun, l)y which, in the name and as the 
 lieutenant of tlie IMikado, he commanded the suppression of Christianity within six 
 months ; ordered that the foreign missionaries should be banished in perpetuity, on 
 pain of death ; that their schools should l)e immediately closed, their churches 
 demolished, crosses pulled down wherever they were found ; and that the native 
 converts should abjure the new doctrine in the presence of the Government officials. 
 At the same time, in order to make the agreement between the two potentates evident, 
 the Mikado paid a solemn visit to his lieutenant, while the latter, to reward the 
 services of liis faithful lyeyas, raised him to the rank of his prime minister, and made 
 him governor of eight provinces. 
 
 All the measures provided by the edict of the Siogoun were punctually accomplished, 
 with the exception of one, which was ])recisely that which the ex-groom expected 
 to have given him the least trouble. To his profound amazement, the native
 
 THE XAriVE CHRISTIANS. 153 
 
 Christians of both sexes, of all classes, and of every age absulutely refused to abjure. 
 Those who possessed lands he dispossessed, and enriched his officers with their spoils. 
 Others were imprisoned or exiled. These rigorous examples produced no eflfect 
 whatever. 
 
 The recalcitrants were threatened with capital puiiislunent. Tlay Ijuwed their 
 heads to the sword of the executioner with resignation hitherto unknown ; and in 
 many instances the sympathies of the crowd were excited by the testimony which 
 they rendered to their Faith. Then the most ingenious modes of torture were resorted 
 to, and the native Christians were put to death by fire and crucifixion. In a great 
 number of cases the latter mode was selected. The Japanese martyrs rivalled the first 
 confessors of the Church in the constancy of their faith. For three consecutive 
 years the fury of the Siogoun's officers vainly expended itself in the utmost refinements 
 of barbarity and brutality, in ferocious, hideous, unspeakable inventions, practised upon 
 more than 20,500 victims, men and women, young men and maidens, old men and 
 little children. Suddenly, the persecution was relaxed. Fide-Yosi called the feudal 
 nobles to arms, and threw 160,000 fighting men on the coasts of Corea, with which 
 country Japan was at perfect peace (1592). His general summoned the Coreans to 
 join them in attacking the dynasty of the Mings. The Chinese army mai'ched to 
 meet the invaders, but it suffered so decisive a defeat, that the Emperor of China 
 hastened to offer the Siogoun peace, with the title of King of Niphon and First 
 Vassal of the Celestial Empire. 
 
 Fid^-Yosi proudly replied ; " I am already King of Niphon ; 1 am so of myself, 
 and I should know how, if I chose to do so, to make the Emperor of China 
 my vassal." 
 
 In 1597 he followed up his threat by sending a second army of 130,000 men. 
 But death surprised him, towards the close of the following year, before the issue of 
 the new campaign; and the two Empires, ecjually weary of an unjustifiable war, 
 hastened to be reconciled, and recalled their armies. During his later years, Fid^-Yosi 
 was honoured by his Court with the surname of the Great (Taikosama) which 
 history has preserved. 
 
 The two Chinese expeditions which ended the career of Taikosama, and which 
 one might be tempted to regard as foolish adventures, seem to have been, as well as 
 his edict of persecution, acts maturely premeditated with the view to attaining the double 
 
 X
 
 154 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 end of his ambitious dreams, tlie crushing of the feudal nobility and the foundation 
 upon its ruins of a monarchical dynasty. 
 
 Already the vassals of the Empire were exhausted in sterile internal strife : it was 
 necessary to ruin tliem by distant and costly wars. 
 
 Under the pretext of protecting the wives and children of the Daimios who were 
 called to military service, Taikosama obliged the families and the principal servants of 
 the princes to come and live in houses which he had prepared for them within the 
 enclosure of his fortresses. When the nobles themselves returned from China, they 
 couki onl}' regain possession of their lands on condition of residing on them henceforth 
 alone, without their families, but with the power of temporarily rejoining the latter at 
 the Court of the Siogoun, where they were still to remain as hostages. 
 
 Ksempfer describes this as a unique and marvellous example of a great number of 
 powerful princes subjugated Ijy a simple soldier of low extraction. But this was not 
 enough to keep the provinces under the domination of tlie new central power. 
 
 Hitherto the cities of residence had been united to one another by a military road. 
 Taikosama profited by the absence of the nobles to make a road through their lands, 
 extending to the extremities of the Empire, which was to be independent of all 
 other ward, police, or jurisdiction than that of the Siogoun. It was called the Tokaido. 
 Posts were established at twenty minutes' distance one from the other — spaces still 
 covered without rest by the Imperial runners who form the postal service at the 
 present time. In each station runners were ready to relieve their comrades ; saddle-horses 
 and pack-horses harnessed ; custom-house officers, police, and a picket of soldiers, who 
 have charge of a rock furnished witli Sfuns and lances for arming the reinforcements. 
 Finally, a perfect network of day and night signals covered the heights, in order to 
 vspread alarm to the hcad-cjuarters of the Government forces at the first indication of 
 danwr. 
 
 It was in the midst of these works, Avhich by their results were to acquire all 
 the importance of a permanent occupation of the feudal provinces, that Taikosama was 
 surprised by death in the sixty-third year of his age and the twelfth of his reign. His 
 last wishes were that measures might be taken for the consolidation of his dynasty. 
 Although his sou Fidd-Yosi was yet a minor, he married him to the daughter of his 
 first minister lydyas, to whom he confided the regency of the Empire. 
 
 lydyas bound himself by a solemn oath, signed with his blood, to relinquish his
 
 lYEVAS. 
 
 15S 
 
 powers as soon cOs the presumptive heir should be old enough to ascend tlic throne. 
 He closed the eyes of Tuikosama, gave him a magnificent funeral, and governed .Jajiaii 
 
 A CAKKIKIl UK DKM'Ali IIKS. 
 
 for five years uiKler tlie title of Regent, api)lying himself systematically to keep the 
 y<3ung Siogoun out of the management of affairs. But the latter had certain counsellors, 
 %vho saw through the designs of lyeyas, anW successfully raised all sorts of obstacles to 
 
 X 2
 
 156 LIFE IX J A PAX. 
 
 tlio realization of Ids amljitlous plans. lyeyas summoned tliem to give up to liim the 
 fortress of Osaka, where thoy had established the residence of his son-in-law. On their 
 refusal, he invested the place. After several months of heroic resistance, the garrison 
 was ohliged to capitulate. Fide-Yosi .set fire with his own liands to his palace, and Hung 
 himself, with all his servants, into the flames. 
 
 lyeyas, proclaimed Siogoun, justified his perjury and the tragic end of Fide-Yosi, 
 liy accusing that prince of having secretly conspired with the Christians. The army 
 took the oath of fidelity to him. The J\Iikado sanctioned his usurpation. The people 
 prostrated themselves before him with the docility of slaves. 
 
 To the usurper lydyas is due the merit of having made Yeddo the political 
 capital of Japan, and the obligatory residence of the noble families of the Empire. 
 At that epoch, at the commencement of the seventeenth century, Yeddo was not equal 
 in importance to the pontifical Miako, nor to Osaka, the centre of commerce, nor even 
 to Nagasaki. But, like tlie last city, it has the advantage of a strategical position, 
 easily defended on the land side, and regarded as impregnable on that of the sea. 
 Krempfer, who on two occasions went with an embassy of the Dutch India Company 
 to Kioto and to Yeddo, reckons that in the line of the Tokaido, or close to it, there are 
 thirty-three great cities with fortresses and fifty-seven small towns unfortified, without 
 mentioning an infinite number of villages and hamlets. It takes no less than from 
 twenty-five to thirty days to go from Nagasaki to Yeddo, by the Tokaido, using the 
 means of transport customary among the natives, who know no other than the horse or 
 the palancpiin. There are two sorts of palanquin, the norimon and the cango. The 
 former, which requires four bearers for long journeys, is a large, heavy box, in which 
 one may sit with tolerable comfort. The sides are in lacquered wood, and contain two 
 sliding doors. Although this norimon is, jj>ar excellence, the vehicle of the nobility, it 
 admits of no ornaments, and is used by the ladies of the middle class and by the registered 
 courtesans, because both occupy a certain position of fortune and consideration in 
 society. The cango is a light litter of bamboo, open on both sides ; it requires only 
 two bearers, who always walk with a rapid and regular step. They rest for one minute 
 out of twenty. When they go back, each carries in his turn the cango, suspended at 
 the end of a pole, over his shoulder. 
 
 The pack-horses intended for the transport of merchandise and of travellers go 
 slowly behind their drivers, the head bent, and attached by a strap which passes under
 
 MODES OF CONVEYANCE. 
 
 157 
 
 the body to the cord which goes round the iiuiraal. The Japanese, instead of shoeing 
 theii" hoises, wrap their hoofs in a little mat, which only lasts one day. According as 
 these mats wear out, they are thrown aside, and immediately replaced, and large provisions 
 of them always make part of the baggage. Foot-passengers do the same with their 
 sandals of i)laited straw ; so that all the roads of Japan are covered witli these relics. 
 
 THE CANGO, OR PEOPLE'S PALANQUIN. 
 
 The Tokaido is crossed in several places by arms of the sea and by rapid rivers. 
 Large boats do duty as coaches, and cross the strait wdiich separates the island of 
 Kiousiou from Simonosdki, in two hours. Most of the travellers, and even pilgrims, 
 profit by the great merchant-junks of the inland sea to make the journey from Simonosdki 
 to Hiogo. It is only half a day's journey from Hiogo to Osaka, and one day from Osaka 
 to Kioto. Between this city and Yeddo lie the most picturesque portions of the road.
 
 158 
 
 JJFE IN JAPJK 
 
 Travellers croFS the rivers in flat boats, or on tlie shoulders of porters. These 
 Twrters forni a corporation, wliich iiulemnifics the traveller in case of personal accident 
 
 
 TATTOOED cool. IKS 
 
 or lo.ss of baggage. "Wilb the exception of a girdle tattooing suffices for tlicir clotliijig, 
 according fo cnstuiu ;uii<iiig tlu' Coolies of .Tapan. The sul)jects of this process arc heroic,
 
 COOLIES. 159 
 
 suck as the Strife of Yamato with the Dragon, the Tribunal of Hell,, aud the image of 
 that incomparable soldier who, when his head was falling under the sword, tore off 
 his enemies' armour with his teeth. 
 
 The fare is always extremely moderate, and varies according to whether eight 
 men are employed to carry the uorimon, or four men with a litter, two men with a 
 stretcher, or a simple porter. In the latter case, which is the most frequent, the 
 traveller seats himself astride the bearer's neck, and the latter takes him l»v both lees, 
 and, telling him to sit steadily, steps into the water warily and firmly. Sometimes a 
 sudden rise of the river intercepts the passage, and then the travellers install themselves 
 in the tea-houses on the shore, from whence they svatch the water until the porters 
 come to tell tlieni that the ford is practicable. 
 
 Three days' journey from Yeddo, the Tokaido passes by the foot of Fousi-yama, fiom 
 which it is only separated by the lake of Akoni. Thousands of pilgrims go annually 
 in procession to the summit of the marvellous mountain, where they are received by 
 the monks of a convent built at the very edge of the crater, which opened for the first 
 time 28G years before the birth of Christ and vomited its last lava in 1707. 
 
 The hills of Akoni, covered with forests in which large game abound, give access 
 to no other road than that of the Tokaido. All the roads of the provinces to the 
 west and south of Yeddo are connected with this great artery, while this one ends in 
 a narrow defile, provided with heavy barriers and fortified guard-houses. Here 
 all travellers have to exhibit their passports, and submit their effects to the inspection 
 of the Government officers. Neither the rank of the Grand Daimios, nor their imposing 
 suites, can exempt them from these formalities, whose special object is the prevention 
 of the clandestine conveyance of arms into the provinces, no less than attempts at 
 evasion on the part of the noble ladies whose birth aud the laws of Taiikosama 
 condemn them to reside at Yeddo. 
 
 Not content with tliese precautions, which do not extend to the northern provinces, 
 Jydyas and his successors thought it necessary to protect the approaches to their 
 capital on that side by a long wall, at whose gates an inspection is made by the 
 custom-house aud police officers. 
 
 Beyond the hills of Akoni, the Tokaido overlooks the gulf of Odawara, towards 
 the bay of Yeddo, which it joins at the village of Kanagawa, opposite Yokohama. All 
 these localities have been the scenes of assassinations, committed upon inoffensive
 
 1(50 LIFE IX JAPAN. 
 
 foreigners of differont natious by men belonging to the class of the Samourais, or 
 Japanese nobles having the privilege of carrying two swords. 
 
 Major Baldwin and Lieutenant Bird, English officers, were murdered not far 
 from the statue of the Daibouclhs of Kamakoura. The corpse of Lieutenant Camus, 
 a French officer, was found horrilily mutilated at the entrance of the village of 
 Odongaia. An English merchant, Mr. Lenox Richardson, was killed upon the 
 threshold of the tea-house of Maneia, near Kanagawa. Two Russian officers, and, 
 shortly after, two Captains of the Dutch merchant marine, M. Yos and J\L Decker, 
 were cut to pieces in the Lligh Street of the Japanese city of Yokohama. A 
 Japanese interjiretcr to the English minister, and the Dutch interpreter of the 
 American Legation, ]\Ir. Keusken, perished in the streets of Yeddo. The whole of 
 the British Legation had a narrow escape of falling victims to a night attack, which 
 was repelled with great bloodshed. Two English soldiers were killed at their j^osts 
 in a second attack on the same legation. 
 
 It is difficult to forget these things when one is residing in the country where 
 they have happened, and above all when one has installed one's self at Yeddo. 
 
 The Government of the Taikoun is always disposed to dwell upon the danger 
 presented by a sojourn in the c<apital. That docs not prevent their adding that the 
 Taikoun is profoundly humiliated that such a state of things should exist in his 
 country. On the other hand, where he finds himself at a loss for expedients to 
 escape the reception of an embassy, or when he has used eloc^uence in persuading 
 them to retire, he is particularly anxious to pi-ove to his foreign guests that the fears 
 he has thought it his duty to express are well founded. 
 
 Thus, when one goes to Yeddo by land, one is obliged to accept the escort of a 
 troop of mounted yakoumines. Ours joined us at the limit a.ssigned to the residents 
 of Yokohama for their exercise towards the north of the bay. AYe crossed the arm 
 of the sea which separates Benten from Kanagawa in our sampan. Our horses were 
 awaiting us in the latter village, and we enjoyed our last hour of liberty by following 
 the Tokaido, with its two interminable files of travellers on foot and on horseback, in 
 norimons and in cangos ; those who were going to the capital kept the road to the 
 right ; those who were coming back keeping the left. 
 
 AYe halted at the Maneia tea-house, which was crowded with picturesque groups 
 of guestri. All along the front were stoves, smoking kettles, tables laden with
 
 A TEA HorSK. 161 
 
 provisions, active waitreBses coming and going on tlic right and left, distributing 
 lacquered trays with cups of tea, howls of saki, fried fish, cakes, and fruits of the 
 season. Before the threshold, sotitcd on benches, were artizans and coolies fanning 
 themselves, while their wives lit their pipes at the common brasero. Suddenly a 
 movement of horror manifested itself among the guests and tlie waitresses ; a 
 detachment of police officers, escorting a criminal, came to take refreshment. With 
 great haste, boiling tea and saki are ofiered to the two-sworded men, while the 
 coolies, who carried the prisoner in a bamboo basket, without any opening, deposit 
 their burden on the ground, and rub themselves dry with a long piece of crape. As 
 for the unhappy criminal, who could be seen doubled up in his bamboo prison, a man 
 with haggard eyes, dishevelled hair, and bushy beard, he was going to be tortured in 
 the prisons of Yeddo, as a punishment for the evil deeds set forth upon a placard which 
 hung from his ignominious basket. 
 
 The beautiful little town of Kawasaki boasts of several temples, among which 
 that of the Daisi-Gnawara-Heghensi seems to me to be one of the purest monuments 
 of Buddhist architecture in Jaj^an. I had heard different versions of the worship to 
 which it is consecrated ; among others, the miraculous legend reputed of the Saint 
 who was the special object of the veneration of the faithful in that place. To so 
 high a degree did he possess the virtue of contemplation, that lie did not perceive 
 that a coal fire placed near him in a brazier was consuming his hands, while he 
 was absorbed in meditation. 
 
 Although the Tokaido is in general as fine a road as any uf our great European 
 highways, and has the advantage over them of being bordered over its whole extent 
 by footpaths shaded with fine plantations of trees, it is, in tlu' environs of the 
 capital, strange to say, that it is worst kept. One day of rain turns the streets of 
 the numerous villages beyond Kanagawa into gullies. On this point, as upon many 
 others, the Japanese display, at the same time, a remarkable intelligence in all their 
 works of civilization, and, when they come to the application of them, a carelessness in 
 detail no less extraordinary. At length we roach the populous suburbs of Yeddo. 
 A short halt on the threshold of one of the numei-ous tea-houses of tin- village of 
 Omori introduces us to a merry company of citizens, accompanied by their wives 
 and children. Other groujis, who were making no less noise, were besieging a great 
 toy-shop ; an infinite variety of playthings for children, fancy straw hats, animals 
 
 Y
 
 1,32 LIFE IN JAPAN. . 
 
 of plaited straw, painted and varnished, were placed in the front. I readily 
 recoo-nized the bear of Yeso, the monkey of Niphon, the domestic buffalo, the tortoise 
 a hundred years old, dragging like a long tail great tufts of seaweed growing from 
 his shell. 
 
 But time pressed, and, the sight of the offing covered with white sails exciting 
 our impatience, we made our way to the sea-board. The road rests on strong- 
 stone foundations, but the waves which formerly came up to it are now lost among 
 the reeds and sea-plants. On our left is stretched a pine-wood, and some cypress 
 groves, over which we noticed great flocks of crows were hovering ; our guides 
 informed us that this is the place of capital executions, Dzousoukamori — or at least 
 that of the southern quarter of the great city, for there is a second in the 
 northern quarter. 
 
 The aspect of the place was exceedingly gloomy. If one is sufficiently fortunate 
 as to escape the sight of mutilated heads or bodies abandoned to the dogs and the 
 birds, one cannot behold, without horror, the great extent of earth covering the last 
 remains of criminals, a granite pillar, bearing I know not what funeral inscription, 
 a platform appropriated to the use of the officers who have to preside at executions, 
 and a gigantic statue of Buddha, a gloomy symbol of implacable expiation and 
 death without consolation. 
 
 Immediately after passing the place where the justice of the Taikoun exhibits 
 his exemplary vengeance to the people, we enter the most ill-famed faubourg of Yeddo, 
 Sinagawa, which commences at two miles south of the city, and joins it at the gates 
 of the Takanawa quarter. 
 
 The Government has taken measures to provide foreigners coming to Yeddo, or 
 residing in that city, Avith a strong escort in passing through Sinagawa, which they 
 are only allowed to do by daylight. The regular population of this neighbourhood is 
 inoffensive, being composed for the most part of boatmen, fishermen, and labourers ; 
 but they inhabit the cabins which throng the beach, while the two sides of the 
 Tokaido are lined almost uninterruptedly with tea-houses of the worst kind, which 
 harbour the same scum of society as in the great cities in Europe and America, and 
 in addition a very dangerous class of men proper to the capital of Japan. These 
 are the lonines ; officers without employment, belonging to the caste of the Samourais, 
 and consequently preserving the right of wearing two swords. Some of them are
 
 LONINES. 
 
 163 
 
 meu of good family, who have been turned out of their homes in consequence of the 
 debaucheiy of their lives. Others have lost, through misconduct, their place in the 
 
 SINAOAWA : INN GIltLS ASSAILING TRAVELLKKS 
 
 service of the Taikoun, or in the military house of some Daimio. Others have been 
 dismissed by a chief, whom evil times has forced to restrict his expenses by the 
 reduction of his personal following. 
 
 y 2
 
 164 f'IFE TN JAPAN. 
 
 The lonine, deprived of the pay on wliicli lie lived, and knowing no other 
 profession than that of arms, has generally no other resource, while waiting for a new- 
 engagement, than to take refuge in these dens of vice, Avhere he repays the hospitality 
 which he receives by the vilest kind of industry. The customers whom he attracts 
 add new elements of wickedness to those with which the faubourg abounds. A kind 
 of organization of discipline even in disorder is established. There are captains of 
 lonines who hold the bands of wretches in blind svibjection, and to whom the 
 mysterious agents, who are the instruments of family vengeance or political hatred 
 among the Japanese nobility, address themselves to get their bloody work done. 
 
 Sinagawa is abandoned by the police during the greater part of the night. The 
 women come down upon the Tokaido, attack belated travellers, and drag them into 
 the inns where they serve. The lonines are so conscious of the state of abjectness 
 in which they live, that, when they come out of their dens, they generally hide 
 their faces under broad-brimmed hats, or wear a piece of crape wrapped round the 
 head, so that the eyes only are visible. It is in this unpleasing neighbourhood 
 on the height of the Takanawa quarter that the Japanese Government has placed the 
 foreian lesation.s.
 
 BOOK TV 
 YE DD O
 
 BlUBGK-MAKINO KXTUAOKDJNAItY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE GREAT CITY. 
 
 NATURAL ADVANTAGES OF YEDDO. — THE DISTRICTS. — THE RIVERS. — THE CANALS. — THE 
 
 CROV/D. — GENERAL FEATURES. — MONOTONY. 
 
 Above all otliiT great cities iu the world, Yeddo seems to me to be favoured by 
 nature in situation, climate, vegetable wealth, and abundance of running water. It is 
 placed at the mouth of two rivers, of which one bathes the Hondjo on the cast, 
 and the other, passing from north to south through the most populous quarters of the. 
 town, separates the Hondjo from the city, and from the two Asaksas. 
 
 Two wide streams among seven or eight of less importance flow through the 
 districts which surround the citadel; they are the Tanorike, and the Yeddo Gawa.
 
 163 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 Basins, tanks, moats, and a whole network of irrigating canals, connect these 
 natural water-courses, and cany commercial circulation, popular animation, and the 
 movement and life of the immense capital, into the heart of the city, as well as to 
 the centre and extremities of the Hondjo. 
 
 Among the number of canals on the sea side of the citadel, that of Niphon- 
 bassi holds the first rank ; the canal of Kio-bassi holds the second ; they are both in 
 the heart of the commercial city. 
 
 The most pictm-esquc view of Yeddo is to be had from its Niphon-bassi, the most 
 strongly fortified of the bridges. 
 
 On turning towards the north, we have on the horizon the white pyramid 
 of Fousi-yama ; on the right, the city, overlooked hj terraces, the parks and the 
 square towei's of the residence of the Taikoun. In the same direction, and as far 
 as its junction with the moats of the citadel, the canal of Niphon-basei is 
 bordered on both banks by innumerable warehouses containing silk, cotton, rice, and 
 Baki. On our left, beyond the fish -market, lie canals, and streets which go down to 
 the Ogawa. Hundreds of long boats, laden with wood, coal, bamboo canes, mats, 
 covered baskets, boxes, barrels, and enormous fish, are crossing and recrossing through 
 all the channels of navigation, while the streets seem to be exclusively given up to 
 the people. Occasionally, a string of horses or black bufi'aloes heavily laden may 
 be distinguished among the crowd of foot passengers, and sometimes we see heavy 
 waggons carrying four or five layers of skilfully jiacked bales. These two-wheeled 
 vehicles are drawn by coolies. No other kind of carriage is to be seen. The 
 sound of wooden shoes upon the pavements and upon the sonorous bridges, the 
 bells on the harness of the beasts of burden, the gongs of the beggars, the cadenced 
 cries of the coolies, and the confused noises which come up from the canal, form 
 a strange harmony, unlike the sounds of any other cities. All great cities have 
 a voice of their own. In Loadon it is like the surge of the rising tide ; at 
 Yeddo, it is like the murmur of a stream. As wave follows wave, so do generations 
 succeed each other. That wliicli I liavc under my eyes is passing away and dis- 
 appearing, cariying with it all that its ancestors bequeathed to it ; oljjects of 
 worship, ancient costumes, old arms, laws which dated from centuries ; all these will 
 soon be only a tradition to the new Japanese society which is forming itself in the 
 school of till' West.
 
 THE roruLATwx. 
 
 J tV.l 
 
 The Oguwa is the princijial artery of YeiUlu. 
 
 The Junk Harbour at the mouth of the great river occupies the entire space 
 lietween the small island of Lskawa and the large triangular island whic-h makes part 
 of the district of Xiphon-bassi. Above the canal of this name the bridge of Yetoi 
 
 A UlCE ALCTIllX. 
 
 extends from the regions of the north-east of the triangle to the western bank of the 
 district of Foukagawa. 
 
 On both sides the population is essentially plebeian. "With the exception of some 
 Yaskis of the second and third class, the houses of fishermen, mariners, and small 
 shopkeepers form those quarters. The bridge, the S(juares, and the neighbouring streets 
 are constantly rniwded with people of the lower classes, who have apparently no other 
 
 z
 
 170 
 
 LIFE IX JAPAN. 
 
 object tliau recreation. The children phiy on the bridge and in the streets without 
 any fear of being molested by the passers by. 
 
 No less than four gigantic bridges span the banks of the Ogawa, with intervals 
 between them of about twenty minutes' walk ; and the squares upon whi( h they 
 debouch, on the Hondjo side as well as on that of Yeddo, are almost all equally 
 spacious. 
 
 Ascending the river on the north of Yeddo we come in the first place to the 
 great bridge 0-bassi, so named because it is the largest of the four ; the third 
 and fourth bridges, Eiogokou and Adsouraa, are very nearly as spacious ; above the 
 Adsouma-bassi the river takes the name of Sumida-gawa. These limpid waters form 
 the extreme limit of the quarters north of the citadel. A single bridge, with sixteen 
 arches, called the Bridge of Oskio-kaido, or Northern Road, places the wh(jle of this 
 
 l.'HILDIiEN' S CAMES. 
 
 portion of the city in communication with the fields, the villages, and the rustic 
 tea-houses of the northern suburb, which abounds in fertile fields and charming views, 
 and is the favourite scene of parties of pleasure. If the inhabitant of Yeddo is proud of 
 his good city, he is additionally proud of the magnificent suburb called Inako, for he is 
 su.scoptible alike to the charms of nature and the pleasures of society, and loves the cool 
 retreats on the banks of the Oskio-Kaido as well as the crowded quays of the city. 
 There are three things to which the Japanese refuses his sympathy. First, that 
 perfidious clement the sea, which he abandons to the fisheimcn, the boatmen, and the 
 garrison of the six detached forts ; secondly, the cold solitude of the bonze-liouses ; 
 and thirdly, the formidable enclosure of the citadel and the ]>aimio-Kodzi. He kee[)s 
 as far away from all these as his business will })crmit, and such pleasure as he takes 
 in the city itself he seeks for at a respectful distance from the scat of the Government.
 
 THE IlIOGOKOU. 171 
 
 Tlie Riogokou, or Liogokou-bassi, may be regarded as tlie centre of the nocturnal 
 merry-makings of the citizens and the hattamotos. This bridge, which is completely 
 outside the commercial quarter of the city, places the Hondjo in communication with thf 
 Asaksas : or two districts on the left bank, which contain the ]iriiiiipal places of 
 amuscnu'iit in Yeddo. The river is not deep enough to float merchant junks at this 
 h(M<ilit, but its surface is covered with hundreds of light boats, whicli can move 
 about freely in all directions. During the fine nights in summer, i"afts, laden with 
 pvrotechnic devices, go up tlie stream and fling bouquets of stars towards the sky. 
 Gondolas, ornamented with brilliantly-coloured lanterns, cross and recross from one 
 bank to tlie other, while large barques, all decorated with lamps and banners, are slowly 
 propelled, or lie still upon the water, while their joyous crews are playing the guitar 
 or singing. A ci'owd of bystanders liiics the bridges and the quays, delighting in tiic 
 animated and picturesque spectacle which the river affords. 
 
 Yeddo, at these times, presents an almost identical picture of a Venetian fete, 
 without omitting the Syrens, who are not wanting on the waters of the Ogawa 
 any nioie than on the Lagoons. But, on the other hand, we must be careful 
 not to compare the great family boats of the Eiogokou-bassi to the flower-laden 
 barques of China. The former generally belong to respectable tea-houses, and are let 
 out by the hour, the proprietors of the tea-houses furnishing their customers with 
 lefreshments and guitar-players. They are only annexes of these tea-houses, and 
 occasionally of the little bamboo establishments which are built on the quays, and 
 used by professional singers and musicians. The neighbourhood of the Ijridges, far 
 frnm injuring the effect of the productions of these humble artists, lends them an 
 ailditimial charm. 
 
 I have often passed many hours in genuine Japanese far nicnte, listening to 
 the confused sounds of singing and instruments of music rising above the murmur 
 of the crowds of foot passengers from the tea-house of the Riogokou-bassi. 
 
 The intervals of silence are broken by the distant noise of comers and goers 
 on the wooden brid^^e. No roll of carriages, none of the discordant clamour of our 
 European cities breaks the charm of our impre,ssions. 
 
 In Venice only, among European cities, can this same movement of the people, 
 this same concert of steps, voices, sounds of music, be heard, without anything to trouble 
 its peaceful cadence and its charming harmony. The Ogawa reminds us of the Grand 
 
 z 2
 
 172 
 
 LIFE IX J A PAX. 
 
 Canal, and the neiglibourhood of the Ijridge.s of Yeddo is, like the public squares of 
 Venice, the rendezvous of the citizen population. The multitudes who meet each 
 other there every evening cause no inconvenience whatever ; for though Yeddo is 
 }i(ir exct'Uoice a city of great dimensions, the Japanese people practise spontaneously 
 
 A SIGNAL KllOM A CONIIOLA. 
 
 that discipline of circulation which our policemen have so much dithculty m 
 establishing in our capitals. 
 
 ^lusical entertainments in Yeddo are only appreciable by the natives ; for the 
 Japanese melodies have something in them strange and incomprehensible to the 
 ear of the European. The musical system upon which they rest is liardly known. 
 Japanese music is very rich in semitones, and even in cparter-tones. J\I. F. J- l^etis
 
 JAPANESE MUSIC. 
 
 173 
 
 observes that the melodies collected l)y Siobold seem to destroy the theory of analoo-y 
 between Japanese and Chinese music ; so tliat there exists in the musical art, as iu 
 the nati\-e idiom of that covmtry, the double mystery of a separate system, which has 
 nothing iu common with the Western world, or with that of the far East. 
 
 
 THE UKKKX l;il(l.M. 
 
 Jaj^anese musical instruuicnts are also remarkable for their originality. 
 
 Stringed in>trunients are iiiade of the lioht and sonorous wood of the Paulownia 
 imperkfVis, ami the strings are fine cords of silk thinly coated with lacquer. 
 
 The samsiu and the guitar are, above all others, the popular iustruments ; they 
 are indispensable articles in the trousseau of a young bride.
 
 171 
 
 LIFE IX JAPAN. 
 
 The kukiou, a violoncello played uitli a Uow, is frequently used, and also the 
 l)i\va, a violoncello played with the plectrum of the samsin. 
 
 The Japanese clarionet is made of bamboo, like, a flute, and they have also a sort 
 of flageolette with eight holes. 
 
 The Japanese use the trumpet and the marine conch exclusively in their religious 
 festivals. 
 
 They have two kinds of percussion instruments. One is made of copper or 
 composite metal, and includes a great variety of gongs of various shapes : anidiig 
 tlirui shields, bells, fi.sh and tortoise, and the sound they produce varies between 
 
 -cf^^lu 
 
 A NAMSIN IM.AYKl'i I.ICUITINO HKI; VWii. 
 
 the grave and sonorous and the S(jueaky and shrill. Besides these they have 
 an instrument formed of two rings fastened on a handle, and struck by a light 
 nii'tal rod. 
 
 The other instruments of jiercussion are wooddi rattles, stone drums like bowls, 
 which stand on low frames ; a musical drum made of leather ; finally, the tom-tom, 
 or portable tambourine, and the kettle drum. 
 
 The tamltourines, which invarialily accompany the character dances, are sometimes 
 jilaycd two at a time, one lieiiig held under the arm and the other in the left hand.
 
 THE CENSUS. 
 
 175 
 
 The Sibaia, or national theatre of the Japanese, occasionally employs the whole 
 of the musical resources of the city, in pieces which bear a distant resemblance to 
 our great operas. 
 
 According to a Japanese saying, in order to be happy one must visit Yeddo. 
 
 This extraordinary city contained, in 1858, one million eight hundred thousand 
 inhabitants, and notwithstanding the fluctuations to which it is peculiarly subject, I 
 
 UIDISG-SCHOOL AT YLDUO. 
 
 believe the calculation tlien made of the number of the population, and their 
 division into classes, may be taken to represent its actual condition with tolerable 
 accuracy. 
 
 The southern portion of the city, in which the foreign legations are established, 
 includes eight districts, all essentially plebeian. They contain a considerable
 
 17G LIFE IX JAPAF. 
 
 agricultural population, devoted to the culture of kitclien-gardeus, rice-grounds, and all 
 the arable lands not yet invaded by dwellings. These districts are composed of a 
 multitude of mean houses tenanted by fishermen, lalioiirers, small artizans, retail shop- 
 keepers, inferior officers, and low-class eating-house keepers. A few lordly mansions 
 break the uniformity of these wooden buildings liy their long whitewashed walls. 
 Bonze-houses and temples are scattered about everywhere, except in the two quarters 
 built on the bay : Takanawa alone contains thirty. 
 
 The low streets and quays of 'J'akanawa are filled from morning to night with 
 a great concourse of people. The staple population of this quarter seems to live on 
 taxes levied on all comers. Here tobacco is chopped and sold ; there rice is 
 packed and made into cakes ; along the whole line dried fish, water melons, and 
 an infinite variety of fruits and other cheap eatables are displayed upon tables in 
 the open air, or in innumerable restaurants. Everywhere there are coolies, porters, 
 and boatmen offering their services. In the small side streets are stalls for 
 the pack-horses and stabling for the buffaloes, who draw in the products of the 
 surrounding countrj^ upon the rustic carts which are the only wheeled vehicles 
 in Yeddo. 
 
 At the doors of the tea-houses of Takanawa, the singers, dancers, and wandering 
 jugglers, who come to try their luck in the capital, make their first appearance. Among 
 the former there exists a privileged class subject to police discij^line. They may 
 be recognized by their large flat hats pulled down on their foreheads ; they always 
 go about two by two, or four by four — two dancers accompajiying the two musicians who 
 play the samsin and sing romantic songs. The favourite tumblers of the Japanese streets 
 are little boys, who, before they begin their tricks, hide their heads under a hood, 
 surmounted by a tuft of cock's feathers, and wear a little scarlet mask which 
 represents a dog's muzzle. To the monotonous sound of their master's tambourine these 
 poor children play their antics, representing the spectacle of a grotesque and really 
 fantastic struggle between two animals with the heads of monsters and human limbs. 
 The constant sound of gong.s, and of the bells of the mendicant monks mingle with the 
 deafening noises of the streets almost as frequently as at Kioto. At Yeddo I perceived 
 for the first time that the monks were not shaven, and I inquired to what order they 
 belonged. Our interpreter told me that they were laymen merely, people of Yeddo who 
 were making a trade or merchandise of devotion. Although thev were all dressed
 
 TAKANA WA. 177 
 
 in wliitc, tlie sign of mouniiiig ami repentance, those \\\\o eai-riccl a long stick with a 
 licll, somt' liooks in a basket, ami a large white hat decorated at one side with a drawing 
 i)f Fousi-yama, had just retui-ned from accomplishing a pilgrimage to the holy 
 mountain at the expense of public charity ; and the others, with a gong at the waist, 
 a great black hat strijjcd with yellow, and a heavy sack upon their backs, were 
 probably ruined shojjkeepers, who had nothing better to do than to hawk about idols 
 on commission for a bonze-house. 
 
 By following the great street which, beginning at the Tokaklo, cuts obliquely the 
 chain of hills on which the legations are Ituilt, and crossing the southern part of 
 Takanawa in a straight line from north to south, we pass successively through three 
 distinct zones of the social life of Ycddo. First, the southern zone, which I have just 
 described, with its multitudes living in the open air and conducting all their business 
 in the public street. Between the hills we find a sedentary population, devoted to 
 various kinds of manual labour. Even their dwellings and their workshops may be 
 distinguished from afar by their significant signs : here a board cut in the form of 
 sandals or of a kirinion : next an enormous umbrella of wax-paper hanging above the 
 shop : further on a quantity of straw hats of all dimensions suspended from the top of 
 the roof and r.-achiiig the shop-door. "We look for a moment at the armourers and 
 the burnisheis engaged in rei)airing coats of mail, war fans, and sabres for the 
 Samourais ; an old artizan perfectly naked squats upon a mat, blowing the bellows of 
 the for^e with the jjreat toe of the left foot, and haramerinsr with his right hand an 
 iron bar which he holds in his left. His son, also squatting in a corner, is putting 
 the bars into the fire with a jtair of pincers, and passing them to his father when 
 reddened. The (rliicf of our escort bade us continue our march. ]>y degrees the 
 road be<i;an to be deserted. We were enterins; into the vast solitude of an agdome- 
 ration of seignorial residences. On our right extended the magnificent shade of the i)ark 
 belonging to Prime Satsouma ; on our left the boun<lary-wall of the palace of the 
 Prince of Arima. When we had turned the north-east corner we found ourselves 
 before the principal front of the building ; it stretches out parallel to a plantation of 
 trees forming the bank of a lim[)id river which divides the Takanawa quarter from 
 that of Atakosta. 
 
 One of our party having made preparations to photograph this beautiful scene, 
 two officers belonging to the Prince's household came to him and begged him to dis- 
 
 A A
 
 A SUCCESSFUL RUSE. 170 
 
 continue his opera tii)ns. Our friend requested tlieui to go ami take tlic orders of their 
 "master upon tlie suljject ; they went, but returned in a veiy few minutes, saying 
 tluit tliii I'rince absolutely forbade th it any view should be taken of his palace. Beato 
 obe3'ed respectfully, and ordered the koskeis to take away the machine ; and the officers 
 retired perfectly satisfied, without the slightest suspicion that during their temporary 
 absence the operator had taken two negatives. Tiie yakouniucs of our escort, who 
 had been witnesses of this scene, unanimously applauded the success of our friend's 
 trick, but when he told them that it was his intention to take a pliotograjih of the 
 cemetery of the Taikouns, they in their turn opposed him, with a persistency that 
 nothing could shake. AVe were even obligrd to renounce the lu)pe of entering the 
 cemetery. We could perceive very distinctly tlu' lofty red pagoda and the sombre groves 
 of cypress, but we could only obtain leave to pass along the eastern side of the 
 grove of Siba — the name given to tlie holy place, and which occurs again in the 
 complete designation of our own district Siba-Takanawa. 
 
 We pass the river on an arched bridge, not far from the place where Heuskcn 
 was murdered ; and, leaving on our left a few houses of the Akabane suljurl) which the 
 fire had spared, we crossed a square, l)Ounded on one side by a matohan or archery 
 garden, and on the other bj' walls, behind which rise the plantations ami roofs of 
 Soiosti — a group of temples belonging to the great bonze-house, whidi has the honour of 
 i-eceiving the Taikouns into their last resting-places, there to abide under the combined 
 protection of the two religions of the Empire. 
 
 Buddhism, it is true, is supreme in this place, where it possesses seventy sacred 
 buildings, but among this number the ancient gods, Ilatcliiman, Benten, and Inari, 
 has each his own chapel; and a temple dedicated to the worship of tlie Kamis adorns 
 the eastern avenue of Siba on the side of TokaTdo and the bay. In the same 
 direction is the landing-place of the Tai'koun, on the island of Amagoten at the mouth 
 of the river Tamoriike, which su])plie3 the moats of the citadel. 
 
 Amagoten forms a regular parallelogram, and is united by two bridges, which are 
 closed to the public. I rowed almost all round it in our consular sampan. The walls, 
 the staircases, and the pavilions of the landing-place, and the groves of trees which 
 surround it, are admirable in their grandeur, their simplicity, and their elegance. 
 The river is bordered on both sides with great trees, which droop over its deep, 
 pure waters. 
 
 A A 2
 
 180 
 
 LIFE IX JAPAN. 
 
 "We left the enclosure of Siba, after we Lad reached its north-east limit. On that 
 side is the palace of the High Priest, and beneath it we were shown the avenue 
 and the door exclusively reserved for the use of the Taikouu ; he passes through it 
 but once a year, when he goes to make his obligatory devotions at the tombs of his 
 ancestors. Every courtier, following his example, pnys a ceremonious visit on one 
 day of the year to his family burial-ground. 
 
 We pursued our route towards the nortli. The district of Atakosta, which extends 
 on our right as far as Amagoten, is occupied Ijy the residences of the Daimios and 
 
 ■k\.'.t»M\ il R An - > 
 
 A VIKW IN THE NER^lllii irKilUUI) OF AKABANE. 
 
 tlic great functionaries of the Empire. On our left, fourteen little contiguous temples 
 present themselves ; those of Sai'soostji extend to tlie foot of the hills of Atagosa- 
 yama. A wide stream separates them from the ]iublie way ; each has its special 
 bridge, door, and wall, surrounded by the chajiels and habitations of the bonzes. At 
 the ])ack of the court is the Chapel of the Al)lutions, the sacred grove, and the roof 
 of the sanctuary. Tlie sixth bonze-house is the exception. On cro.ssing the threshold 
 we saw a great ilaggi'd court, with a majestic tori of granite, and when we passed 
 in !it the socrcd door we found ourselves iu the presence of two candelabra placed 
 at the foot of an esplanade reached by a Hight of steps. Then comes a second court.
 
 ATAa0SA-YA}fA. 
 
 181 
 
 bortlered with fine trees, whose interlacing brancliea form arcades like that of a Gothic 
 ^(^athedral. Through their foliage we distinguished a wide stone staircase, the suniuiit 
 lost amid verdure. 
 
 We ascended the staircase, wliith consists of one hundred steps very regularly 
 laid, to the top of the hill. On the right is another road, which crosses the 
 
 ^■L^tiCbn^ .: 
 
 OUE.Vr TOKI UF ArA(ii>SA-YAMA. 
 
 wooded slopes, and is composed of a series of staircases, with flat terraces provided 
 with irjwsoirs. 
 
 A dilapidated oratory with two insignificant idols— one standing upon a lotus, the 
 other seated upon a tortoise — with long covered galleries surrounding the tea-houses, 
 occupies the summit of Atagosa-yama. The young waitresses of the house hasten to
 
 182 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 serve lis with refreshments, and we take a few minvites' rest before we approach the 
 pavilions at the two extremities of the terrace. 
 
 At length the moment has come when wc shall get a complete view of the great 
 city. We begin at the southern pavilion, and we are at first dazzled by the extent 
 and brilliancy of the picture. The sun is going down to the horizon in a cloudless 
 
 IDOLS AT lilt UUAIUUV Uf AXAGUSA-VAMA. 
 
 sky ; the transparencj' of the atmosphere permits us to distinguish tlie forts on the 
 luminous surface of the bay, Vmt over the whole space which extends from tlie offing 
 to the foot of the hill there is nothing to arrest one's gaze. It is an ocean of long 
 streets, white walls, and grey roofs. The monotony of this picture is unbroken except 
 liy a few groups of trees with dark foliage, or a spire rising above the undulating 
 lines of the innumerable houses.
 
 THE BURIAL PLACE OF THE TAIKOUNS. 
 
 18:5 
 
 In a no ighbouring quarter we observe a large hole cut through the streets, as if a 
 l)omb-shell luul passed ; it is the scene of a recent fire. At a little distance a sombre 
 group of hills, consecrated to the sepultui'e of the Taikouns, rises like a solitary island 
 above a tumultuous sea. 
 
 IIIE lir.Kll YASIIITZONK. 
 
 The ]i:uiiii-nnia seen from the iiDrtlicni ] avilion is, if possible, more uniform. It 
 includes the (|uarter8 inhabited by lh<' nobility, and its limit on the horizon is the 
 nniiparts of the citadel. 
 
 The 1 )iiimio-ya.ski, or seignorial residcncis to wiiich we improperly gave the na.me 
 of palace, do not differ except Iiy their dimensions. The most opulent and the simplest 
 present the same type of arehitectur(\ the same elmraett'r of simplicity. They are com- 
 posed of a finst enclosure of liuildings reserved for the Prince's aervants and men-at-
 
 184 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 arms. These buildings have only one storey above the ground floor, and form a long 
 s(|uare, always surrounded by a ditch ; a single roof covers them, a single wall protects 
 them, and most frequently they have no other issue on the public way than this 
 one door. The windows are numerous, low, and wide, regularly placed on two parallel 
 lines, and furnished with wooden shutters. In the interior a more or less considerable 
 number of Louses divided into regular compartments, like the ban'acks of the yakounines 
 at Benten, are placed diagonally all round, or on two sides at least, of the centre 
 
 A UECKl'TlOX BY A IliUH FUSCTIuNAKV. 
 
 building. These arc tlie quarters of the Prince's troops. A wide space separates tliem 
 from a second railed enclosure, which contains the Residence properly so called. 
 
 The dependencies of the palace face the military quarter. The principal building 
 is surrounded by a verandah opening upon an interior court, and upon the garden 
 with its tanks and its delicious shades. Such is the inviolable and silent asylum 
 in wliich the proud ])ainii(j shuts himself up in the bosom of his family, during the 
 six months of each year wliich the custom of the Empire obliges him to jiass in 
 the (rapital. 
 
 We could form an idea of the dwellings of the Japanese nobility only from what 
 might be discerned in a bird's-t'ye view of this quarter. No European has ever crossed
 
 PANORAMIC VIEW OF YEDLO. 
 
 185 
 
 the threshold of a Japanese Yaski. The Taikoun's miuistcrs, following the example of 
 the nobility, have never permitted the foreign ambassadors to visit their dwellings ; 
 their personal relations are restricted to ceremonial audiences, which take place in 
 certain l)uildings wliicli belong to the administration, and correspond to the ministrrial 
 residences in our country. Among this number are the two Alarine Schools on tlic 
 shore of the bay, and the Gokandjo-bounio, the seat of the Finance Department, at the 
 north-west extremity of Atakosta. 
 
 TlIK I'ATIUINS OF SAKI. 
 
 Edifices of this kind have in general the same external appearance as the pahice.s 
 of the Daimios. 
 
 The panorama seen from Atago?a-yama shows us only a ftnirth part of the great 
 capital. On the north our view was bounded liy tlic walls of the rc-^icU'iices of the 
 Taikoiin. We resolved to devute another day to tlie quarter which, with the eiladel, 
 ibrms the central portion of Yeddo. 
 
 The road we were about to follow resembled a mysterious labyrinth of stone, formed 
 ni' the ramparts, the towers, and the palaces, behind which the power of the Taikoun 
 lias entrenched itself for two centuries and a half. 
 
 B B
 
 186 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAX. 
 
 It is an imini.siiig spectacle, l)Ut it creates a painful impression. The political order 
 of things instituted in Japan liy the usurper lyeyas vaguely recalls the regime of the 
 Venetian Republic under the rule of the Council of Ten. It has, if not all its grandeur, 
 at least all its terrors — the sombre majesty of the chief of the State, the impenetrable 
 mystery of his government, the latent and continuous action of a system of espionage 
 officially organized through all the branches of the administration, and bringing in its 
 suite proscriptions, assassinations, and secret executions. We must not push the 
 comparison further. We vainly seek at Yeddo, in the vast extent of the citadel, 
 
 KOSKEIS SKF.KIXG NF.W YKAT.'s GIFTS. 
 
 any monument which deserves mention beside the marvellous edifices of tlie Piazza 
 of St. Mark ; artistic taste is completely wanting in the Court of the Taikoun. 
 It has been reliu(]uishcd t(t the jieoplc, with poetry, religion, social life, all those 
 superHuous things which do liut clog the wheels of the governmental machine. From 
 end to end of tlie administrative hierarchy, every functionary is assisted by a con- 
 troller; the genius of the employes is exercised in doin<j- iKitliino- and savincr nothincj 
 which can furnish matter for compromising reports. As to their i)rivate life, it is 
 hidih'U, Hki' that <>[ the Japanese nublrs in general, bcliind the walls of their domestic
 
 THE TWO SOCIETIES OF YEDDO. 
 
 187 
 
 fortresses. While the streets of the town, composed of houses standing wide open on 
 the public way, are constantly enlivened by a crowd of comers ami goers of all :iges 
 and of both sexes ; in the aristocratic quarters neither women nor childnn are to lie 
 seen, except indeed by stealth behind the window bars in the servants' quarters. 
 
 There arc two societies in Yeddo— one, armed and privileged, lives in a state of 
 
 ^^^,::: 
 
 ~ - Jz 1 C-ji«-yui "i_^ 
 
 DOMESTIC rXDluISM. 
 
 magnificent imprisonment, in the vast citadel : the other, disarmed, and subject to the 
 dominion of the first, seems to enjoy the advantages of liberty ; but, in reality, an iron 
 yoke weighs upon the middle classes uf the people of Yeddo. For every iivr lifads 
 of families, the Taikounal administration sets up one as a magistrate over the 
 other four. Iniquitous laws punish a whole family, a whole quarter, for the crime 
 
 K B 2
 
 188 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 of one of its members. The properties, and even the lives, of the citizens, are secured by- 
 no legal guarantee. The extortions and the violence of the two-sword ed men remain 
 too frequently unpunished. The citizen finds compensation in the charms of the beautiful 
 city. If the regime of the Taikouns is severe, he remembers that the Mikados were 
 not always amiable, and that one of them delighted in exhibiting his skill as an 
 archer b}^ shooting down peasants who were forced to climb trees within easy reach 
 of his arrows. The peoples of countries accustomed to despotism are puzzled to 
 decide where their patience ought to stop. 
 
 A Japanese Emperor, born under the constellation of the Dog, commanded that 
 d(w-.s were to be respected as sacred animals, that they should never be killed, and 
 that at their death they should receive the honours of sepulture. One of his subjects 
 whose dog had died thought it right to inter the animal upon one of the funeral hills. 
 As he was going along, fatigued with the weight of the four-footed corpse, he ventured 
 to remark to a friend who was accompanying him, that the Emperor's decree appeared 
 to him ridiculous. " Take care how you murmur," replied his comrade, " and recollect 
 that our Emperor might just as well have been born under the sign of the 
 Horse." 
 
 The Sakourada quarter, which forms the first great line of defence of the 
 citadel on the southern side, is surrounded by water at all parts, except the west, 
 where it communicates with the Bantsio quarter by the arsenal belonging to the 
 Taikoun. Ten bridges are thrown over the great ditches. The southern bridges 
 have fortified gates, behind which the road makes a bend, which exposes it to the 
 tii-c from the ramparts, and from the guns mounted in the interior. A strong 
 detachment of the Taikoun's troops occupies the guard-house adjoining the gate 
 through which we pass. The common soldiers are men from the mountains of Akoni, 
 who are discharged after two or three years' service. Their uniform is made of blue 
 cotton, and consists of tight trousers, and a sliirt like that of the Garibaldian 
 Volunteers, but crossed by white Ijands on the .shoulders. They wear cotton socks, 
 and leather soles fastened by sandals ; also a belt, from which hangs a large sabre 
 with a lac(picr scabbard. A jiointcd hat of lacquered cardlioard completes their 
 costunu', but thty only wear it when mounting guard, or on })arade. The guns of 
 the Japanese army are all percussion, with varied calibre and construction. I saw 
 four ditferent kinds in the racks of tlie barracks at Benten, into v/hich a yakounine
 
 FENCING AT YEDDO. 
 
 189 
 
 took me. He first showed luo a Dutch model, then an arm of inferior quality, made 
 at Yeddo ; then an American gun, and finally the Minie, whose use was being taught 
 by a young officer to a jjicket of soldiers in the courtyard. I remarked that this 
 officer used the Dutch language. I asked him to come home with me, that I misrht 
 show him my fowling-piece and a Swiss carbine. Half a dozen of his comrades also 
 accepted my invitation. 
 
 A SCULPTOR OF IDOLS. 
 
 I have more tliau unce been present at assaults of arms l)y the yakounines. 
 The champions salute each other before attacking. The one who is on guard 
 frequently kneels on the ground, to parry his adversary's blow.s more successfully. 
 Each pass is accompanied l)y theatrical poses and expressive gestures ; each lilow 
 provokes passionate exclamations on the part of both. Then the judges intervene 
 and deliver their verdict. In the intervals the combatants drink tea, after wliirh 
 they recommence with great spirit. There is even a School of Fence for the use of the 
 Japanese ladies. Their arm is a lance, with a bent blade, which may be compared 
 to a Polish reaping-hook. They carry it with the point towards the ground, and
 
 I'JO LIFE IX JAPAX. 
 
 manoeuvre regularly in a series of attitudes, poses, and harmonious movements, which 
 would look remarkably well in a ballet. I was not allowed to enjoy this pretty 
 spectacle long. I only caught a glimjise of it in passing before the half-open court. 
 My yakounines immediately shut the door, assuring me that the customs of the 
 country did not permit beholders. 
 
 The Japanese nobles display much luxury, and take great pride in their arms, 
 especially in their swords, which are of unrivalled temper, and are generally adorned 
 on the handle and scabbard with ornaments in carved and wrought metal of extra- 
 ordinary richness. But the principal value of these arms consists in their antiquity 
 and their celebrity. Every sabre in the old families of the Daimios has its tradition 
 and its history, whose eclat is measured by the blood which it has shed. A new 
 sword must not remain intact in the hands of the man who has bought it ; while 
 waiting for an opportunity of dyeing it in human blood, the Saraourai who has 
 become its happy possessor tries it on live animals, or, what is still better, upon 
 the corpses of executed criminals. The executioner gives them up to him upon 
 being authorized so to do Ity the proper functionary, and he fastens them to a cross 
 in his courtyard, wlieie he practises himself in cutting and hacking until he has 
 acquired sufficient strength and address to cut two corpses, tied together, through the 
 middle. 
 
 It is easy to imagine the aversion with which the arms of the West inspire 
 these Japanese gentlemen, for whom the sword is at once an emblem of Ijravery 
 and a title to nobility. "When the son of a Samoiuai is too little to carry arms 
 at his belt, he is seen walking, with a koskei, or even an elder sister, following 
 him respectfully, and holding in her right hand, by the middle of the scabbard, a 
 sword suitable to the height of the diminutive personage. In another year or two 
 fencing will become the principal occupation of lii.s life. 
 
 The Taikoun selected a numljer of his young yakounines, and sent them to 
 Nagasaki, to learn the use of fire-arms, under the tuition of tlie Dutch otKcers. 
 They were not very well received when they returned to the capital, and were 
 quartered in the barracks for the purpose of instructing the new Japanese infantry. 
 'I'lieir former comrades shouted " Treason ! " and threw themselves on them witli arms 
 in their hands. There were victims on Ijoth sides. Nevertheless the decline of the 
 sword is inevitable. Notwithstanding the traditional prestige with which tlie privileged
 
 192 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 caste still endeavour to surround it, notwithstanding the contempt in which it affects 
 to hold the military innovations of the Government, that democratic arm the 
 musket has been introduced into Japan, and with it an incalculable social revolution 
 has become a fact which the representatives of the feudal rerjime resent bitterly but 
 vainly. 
 
 Tlie conduct of their chiefs has precipitated the catastrophe. Conspiracies in 
 the palace and j^olitical assassinations multiply themselves at Yeddo with frightful 
 rapidity. It is averred that not only several ministers of state, but two Taikouns, 
 have successively died violent deaths since the opening up of Japan. The same fate 
 has befallen the Gotaii'o, or Regent Ikammon-no-Kami, the governor of the young 
 sovereign, who died in 186G. His palace is situated on a hill, in the southern portion 
 of the Sakourada Cjuarter, in front of the wide ditches and the high walls forming 
 the exterior enclosure of the citadel. It overlooks, on the east and the south, the great 
 s(piarcs and streets formed by some fifty of the nobles' residences. 
 
 It was in this princely neighbourhood that, on the 24th of ]\Iarch, 1860, at 
 eleven o'clock in the morniufr. the Recent, carried in his norimon, and comimT out 
 of the citadel by the Sakourada bridge, with an escort of four or five hundred men, 
 w-as assailed by a band of seventeen lonines in the sjiacious public road, parallel with 
 the ditch in the direction of his own palace. On both sides the fighting was severe. 
 Twenty soldiers of the escort fell at their posts ; five conspirators perished W'ith arms 
 ill their hands, two performed the "happy despatch," four were made prisoners; the 
 others escaped — among them the chief of the expedition, who carried away the 
 liegeut's head under his cloak. Pulilic rumour adds that the head was ex[)Osed in 
 the chief place of the province, in which the Prince of JMito, the instigator of the 
 conspiracy, resides, and then at Kioto, before the buildings of the Dairi, and finally 
 that the Regent's jieople found it one day in the garden of the palace, into which it 
 had been thiown, over the wall, in the night. 
 
 The portions of Yeddii inhabited by the aristocracy are almost entirely devoid of 
 buildings consecrated to public worshi]?. There is not one in the whole of the Dairaio's 
 <|uarter. Bantsio and Sourouga have each three temples, but they are of little 
 importance. Iliere are half a ddzen in Sakourada, amongst which is a celebrated 
 bonze-house under the invoi'ation of Saniiu, " the Kino- of the Mountain." Its title is 
 one of the s(u-names of Zinniou ; nevertheless the bonze-house belongs to the Buddhist
 
 1 =■ 
 
 
 c c
 
 104 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 religion, and contains an altar consecrated to Quannon. The buildings and the groves 
 of the sacred place occupy a group of lulls, which rise above the southern enclosure 
 of Sourouga, with its vast basins of limpid water surrounded by trees and flowers, and 
 its myriads of birds. 
 
 COLLECTORS FOB THE KAMI TEMI'LES. 
 
 The political system of the Taikouns did ncrt disdain clerical support for their 
 budding dynasty. But as Iy(jyas and his successors had nothing to hope from the 
 good will of the IMikados, they conciliated the favour of the most influential sects 
 of Buddhism by endowing bonze-liouses and temples, which surpass the most sumptuous 
 sacred edifices of Kioto. The munificence of the Taikouns with regard to Buddhism 
 has, however, added nothing to the reverence professed at Yeddo for the ministers of
 
 BUDLUIST PRIESTS IN YEDDO. 
 
 1!)') 
 
 that itligioii. It ajijicais to mc tliat, in all the diverse classes of society in the capital, 
 the position of the bonzes is analogous to that of the Popes of the Greek Church 
 
 A liU^ZkKV A.NLl UAMlluu OUUth. 
 
 when tlir laltei- come into contact with the nobles, the traders, or the Moujiks. The 
 priests of the Kami worship arc in a biill less enviable condition, because their existence 
 
 c c 2
 
 1116 LIFE IX JAP AX. 
 
 iri hardly noticed. It is true that tlie representatives of the ]\Iikado at the Court 
 of the Tuikoun, and some provincial nijbknien, honour them by their patronage, but the 
 generality of the feudal nobility in residenec at Yeddo stand entirely aloof from -what 
 is being done around them, in matters of religion as well as in everything else. 
 They would prefer to pay a ehaplain in the house rather than contribute to the 
 support of any public worship whatever. The only thing they will do for the 
 ancient national religion is to authorize the Kami priests to send tbeir collectors 
 once a year to the aristocratic quarters. The priests, on their side, considering that it 
 ^\()ukl be advisable to stimulate the charity of the higher classes by the attraction of 
 some pious jugglery, have created two classes of collectors. The first, who go about 
 in all seasons by order and at a fi.\;ed price, is composed of fortune-telling priestesses 
 dressed in white .surplices, with a holy-water machine constructed of paper in the left 
 hand, and in the right a buuch of pebbles; they accompany their prophecies with 
 a kind of rhythmical dance, to which a koskei dressed in a Kioto cap marks time by 
 beatina: a large drum. 
 
 The second class of collectors go out only at the new year and pa}' general visits. 
 The presents made on this occasion are voluntary. The persons charged with this 
 office are the principal koskeis of the Kami temples, each of whom is follow^ed by 
 his own special koskei. The leader is dressed after the fashion of the ancient priests 
 of the Court of the jMikado, with a lacquered cap, a great sword, and padded trousers, 
 and he holds in his right hand a classic fan of cedar-wood. His attendant, who is 
 disguised as a koskei from Kioto, carries a small tambourine, and a bag, destined 
 to receive the gifts. Dances, comic songs, and burlesc[ue pantomimes form the 
 oratorical artifices of the two collectors. The buffooneries of the first are played up 
 to by his attendant. Thus the sacred collection is effected from palace to palace in 
 the midst of the laughter and applause of the noble feudal fiimilies, \vhose political 
 existence rests entirely upon the very religion which they helji to In'ing into 
 contempt.
 
 llK.sIUKXfK OF COVKIiX.MEN'T FUXCTIONAKIKs. 
 
 riTAPTER II. 
 
 THE TAIKOUXS. 
 
 MODERN ASPECT OF YEDDO. — THE KESIDENCE OF THE TAIKOUN. — HIS COVET. — CEREMONIAL 
 OF AUDIENX'E. — THE POLICY OF lYEYAS. — THE LAWS OF GONGHENSAMA. — THE PRERO- 
 GATIVES OF THE TAIKOUX. — LAW OF SUCCESSION. — THE LAST TAIKOUN. 
 
 Xhe immensity of the Japanese capital is exceedingly striking. Imagination ami 
 sight alike become weary of dwolliiig on this boundless agglomeration of huiium 
 habitations, all bearing the same stamp of uniformity. Among our old cities in 
 Europe each has a physiognomy proper to itself, though all an- united by the 
 charm of ancient memories and artistic achievements. At Yeddo, everything belongs 
 to the same epoch, and is in the same style. Everything rests upon one siiiorle 
 fact, upon the same political data — the foundation of the dynasty of the Taikoun.s. 
 Yeddo is a completely modern city, and seems to lie waiting for its history and 
 its monuments.
 
 198 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 Even the residence of the Taikouus, seen from a distance, is remarkable 
 only for its dimensions, its vast extent of terraces separated by enormous granite 
 walls, its parks of magnificent trees, its moats covered with flocks of aquatic 
 birds. 
 
 In tlie interior tbe vast proportion of everything — walls, avenues of trees, canals, 
 o-atcs, guard and custom houses — is most impressive. The exqu'site cleanli- 
 ness of the squares and the avenues, the profound silence which reigns around, the 
 noble and simple buildings of cedar with their marble basements, awaken those im- 
 pressions of majesty, mystery, and fear which despotism demands for the maintenance 
 of its prestige. 
 
 Here, as in the Japanese temples, we are forced to admire the sobriety of the 
 means employed by the native architects for the realization of their most daring 
 conceptions. It is always from nature that they borrow their resources and ideas. 
 The audience chamber of the Taikoun possesses neither columns, statues, nor any 
 kind of furniture. It is composed of a long line of saloons of great extent and 
 hei'dit, separated from each other by moveable partitions which reach the ceiling. 
 They are ranged in perspective, like the wings of a theatre, and the back of the 
 scene opens on the lawns and avenues of the immen.'€ parks. 
 
 The throne of the Taikoun is a sort of divan raised on a few steps, and 
 placed in front of a screen which faces the principal entrance. On his right and 
 left sit the residents delegated from the Court of Kioto, the ministers of state, and 
 the members of the representative council of the Daimios. Throughout the whole 
 extent of the hall, as far as the eye can reach, the high functionaries of the Court, 
 the princes of the feudal provinces, the nobles of the cities, the castles, and the 
 country districts, the Hattamotos or military nobles, are ranged by hundreds, and 
 at the great receptions by thousands, in the places assigned to them by their 
 hierarchical positions. No sound is heard throughout this vast crowd. Everyone is 
 unarmed, unshod, his feet hidden in the folds of his great trailing trousers. The 
 Diiimios may be recognized by their high pointed caps and long mantles of brocade, 
 embroidered on both sleeves with their family escutcheon. The functionaries of the 
 Taikoun wear a surcoat of silken gauze, spread out over the shoulders like two 
 stiff wings. 
 
 The assembly, divided into two distinct groups, squat in silence, before the
 
 THE COURT OF THE TAIKOUN. IJi'.i 
 
 arrival of the Taikoun, on the tliirk bamboo mats which cover the floor ; they 
 prostrate themselves before their sovereign as soon as he appears, and they remain 
 in that attitude until, having taken his seat upon his throne, he has ordered 
 his ministers to receive the communications on the orders of the day. Each speaker 
 or petitioner prostrates himself when he approaches the throne. 
 
 The costume of the Taikoun is composed of a wide-sleeved robe, drawn in <\t 
 the waist by silken cords, and of wide trousers, which fall over his velvet boots. 
 On his head he wears a golden toque, resembling the cap of the Doges of Venice. 
 
 What more splendid and more majestic decoration could his throne have, than this 
 living gallery of the glories of Japan, this august assembly of the princes, nobles, 
 and high functionaries, who personify the wealth, power, and dignity of the Empire ? 
 
 This picture, which the Taikoun views with pride, is the characteristic work of 
 lyeyas. It belonged to him alone, and is not a continuation of the work of 
 Taikosama. lyeyas is the real founder of th-e dynasty of the Taikouns, though he 
 never actually received recognition as such. His honwary name in the annals of 
 Japan is Gonghensama. The title of Taikoun dates only from 1858. 
 
 During the conferences between Commodore Perry and the delegates of tlie 
 Japanese Government at Yokohama, the American negotiator requiring to designate 
 the political head of the Empire, and fimling himself greatly embarrassed how to 
 choose among the titles of Siogoun, Koubasama, and others which had been 
 conferred by the Mikados on their temporal lieutenants, the interpreter Hyashi 
 proposed that a uniform denomination should be agreed upon, to be expressed by 
 the two Chinese signs, Tai-Koun, which signifies a great chief; and this was assented 
 to. Since then, although the Government of Japan has shown itself on several occasions 
 little satisfied witii the innovation, the title of Taikoun has passed officially into all con- 
 ventions concluded with other Governments, and it has become easily and completely 
 l)()pular. 'ibis circumstance alone proves that, in the mind of the Japanese jicople, 
 the notion of the Taikounate was entirely distinct from that of the power of the 
 Siogouns, long before it had received its proper denomination. 
 
 A few words respecting the career of Gonghensama will explain how the 
 political regime whicli he inaugurated is distinguished from that of the Siogouns. 
 
 The conflict with the territorial nobility commenced in the first place by Yori- 
 tomo, and carried on valiantly by Taikosama, could not fail to result in the annihila-
 
 200 LTFE IX JAT'AX. 
 
 tiou of the feudality and of the Dairi, and in the trausforniation of the Empire 
 nf the Mikados into an absolute monarchy, whose sceptre should remain hereditary 
 iu the family of Faxiba, the ex-groom. 
 
 Since lyeyas had rid himself of the last scion of that family, he had only to 
 consolidate his own dynasty. Far from becoming intoxicated by the success of his 
 arms, he profited l)v the moment of his greatest good fortune to make terms with the 
 heads of the feudal nobility who still held the country. lyeyas oflered them peace, 
 which they gladly accepted ; and he laid down, in concert with them, the conventions 
 which have formed, up to our time, the constitutional basis of the Empire, under the 
 title of the Laws of Gono;liensaraa. 
 
 It is important to observe that the minister of Taikosama was not simply a parvenu, 
 or a vulgar usurper. 
 
 Tokoungawa Inimnato-uo-Iyeyasu was descended from the ancient race of Gheudjis, 
 who go back to the 56th Mikado, who died a.d. 880. This is one of the fine dynastic 
 stems from which the great Daimios, or Kokoushis (or Gok'chis) of Japan, spring. 
 
 The latter are nineteen in number, comprising the head of the Tokoungawa family. 
 He has the title of Prince of Kwauto. 
 
 In treating with the heads of the territorial nobility, lyeyas was entering into 
 negotiations with his peers, who might without any derogation recognize him as their 
 legislator. (_)n the other hand, this explains the concessions which he was about to make 
 to them in the interests of the public peace and the future of his dynasty. 
 
 According to the compact of Gonghensama, the prerogatives of the Taikoun were 
 singularly limited. He disposed, it is true, of the sea and land forces, and concentrated 
 in his own hands the legislative authority as well as the administrative power. He 
 nominated the five ministers who composed his Cabinet, or Council of State, "the Gorogio,"' 
 and from him all the civil functionaries and all the military officers iu the various 
 services of the Government received their commissions. On the other hand, his edicts were 
 submitted to the control and placed under the guarantee of the Alikado, and the eighteen 
 Kokoushis who formed the representative council at Yeddo, and who, without playing an 
 active part iu the administrative cpiestions of their fortunate colleague, could oppose him 
 with the Mikado, and interfere, in certain doubtful cases, in the election of a new 
 Taikoun.
 
 THE LAW UF SUCCESSION. 201 
 
 The law of succcssiou, which makes part of the compact of Gonghensama, ordains 
 tliat the Siogounal power shall be maintained in the direct descent of the heir chosen 
 Iiy Iy(5yas in the person of his eldest son; but it adds that, in default of direct descent, 
 this power shall i:)ass to one of the collateral branches. 
 
 There is, therefore, a competition on the part of the collaterals, who appeal to the 
 intervention of the Council of Kokoushis, whose decision is submitted, in the final 
 instance, to the sanction of the Mikado. 
 
 The chief object of lydyas was to place the power of his family upon an imposing 
 and permanent footing. 
 
 In proportion as he made himself agreeable to the eighteen Kokoushis, whose 
 neuti'ality it was necessary to secure, he was inexorable with respect to the nobles of 
 secondary rank who luul attached themselves to the fortunes of the unhappy Fide-Yozi. 
 Not content with having beaten and dispersed them in the battle of Sekigahara, in the 
 year 1600, he despoiled them of their domains, which he distributed among his children 
 and his partisans. 
 
 To his eight sons he gave eight great fiefs, known as (rokamongkds, and who.se 
 chief bore the title of Kami. 
 
 In addition, lyeyas created three hundred and forty-four Kofdais, or noble 
 vassals, whom he also provided with hereditary fiefs. To this category of Daimios 
 belong several remarkable personages, who have figured in the history of the modern 
 relations between Japan and the West. 
 
 The political achievements of Gonghensama were consummated by an audacious 
 act, which rapidly developed his residential city, and opposed to the old feudal nobility 
 — who were subject to the Mikado only — an entirely new privileged caste, a military 
 nobility without land, and who, being dependent upon the favour of the sovereign, 
 were exclusively devoted to the service of the new-born* dynasty. 
 
 By one single act he ennobled and endowed eighty thousand of his partisans. 
 Such was the origin of the numerous classes of petty oflicers or functionaries of Yeddo, 
 who are called Hattamotos. 
 
 The founder of the Taikouual power took care to display the national standard of 
 the Empire of the Rising Sun upon his residence. But in his quality as head of the 
 clan of Tokoungawa, he caused all the branches of his family to adopt arms, and thus 
 commemorated the most glorious reminiscences of his ambitious career. The bodies of 
 
 D D
 
 202 LIFE IX JAPAN. 
 
 troops which he commanded in the battle of Sekigahara having been ordered to attix 
 to their banners a common sign of recognition — three marshmallow leaves, so arranged 
 as to meet at their points, was the design agreed upon. This humble emblem led them 
 to victory. We see it at present, not only in the liveries of Kokoushi Kwanto, but 
 among the arms of numerous princes of the same blood. 
 
 Fide-Tada, the son and successor of Gonghensama, wishing to retain the power which 
 he had inherited as much as possible among his direct descendants, instituted three 
 special fiefs, the investiture with which could alone give access to the throne, for his 
 three sons. They are called fiefs of the (xosankes, and each is known by the name of 
 one of the rich provinces with which they are endowed — Owari, Ksiou, and Mito ; their 
 owners bear the title of Dono, Owari-dono, Gosanke d'Owari ; Kii or Ksiou-dono, Gosanke 
 de Ksiou ; Mito-dono, Gosanke de Mito. 
 
 The third successor of lydyas, desiring to secure possession of the throne to his 
 descendants, in case the Gosanke families should become extinct, founded for his three 
 sons the three Gosankios or fiefs, which were endowed in the second degree with the 
 same titles and the same rights as the preceding. 
 
 The Gosankios are : Stotsbashi-dono, Taiusou-dono, and 8himidsou-dono. The latter 
 fief is retained by extinction in the immediate domain of the Princes of Kwanto. 
 
 The family of Stotsbashi is also extinct, but the fief was conferred upon a cadet 
 of Mito. In 18.53, the family and the princes of Ksiou having given an uninterrupted 
 series of Ta'ikouns to the Empire, the fifth — he who admitted the squadron of Commodore 
 Perry into the waters of the Gulf of Yeddo — did not survive until the return of the 
 American mission. There is reason to believe that in 18.58 the Ta'ikoun, with whom Lord 
 Elgin was supposed to be in negotiation, no longer existed when these delegates affixed 
 his seal and their signatures to the P>ritish Treaty. I have heard several Japanese 
 express great uneasiness on the subject of the young Prince wlio was occupying the 
 throne during my sojourn in Japan. " For a long tiiue there has not been any 
 Taikoun except those of the dynasty of Ksiou, and it is very much to be regretted that 
 there should be none of the family of Mito." [ asked whether the family possessed a 
 presumptive heir since the last Lord of Mito, to whom the assassination of the Regent 
 was attributed. " We do not know," was the reply : " he has left an adopted son, 
 who is universally respected — he is the .Stotsbashi ; he is invested with the dignity ot 
 Vice-Taikoun."
 
 THE LAST TAIKOUN. 
 
 203 
 
 Towards the end of 1866, correspondence IVoni .lapan brought intelligence of the 
 death of the Taikoun at Osaka on the 28th of August, in consequence of the fatigue 
 of his campaign against the Prince of Nagato ; and that his lieutenant, Gosankios 
 Stotsbashi, who had hocomo the head of the chief Tokoungawa family, had been raised 
 by the Mikado to the dignity of Dai-Sei-Siogoun of the Empire. He was, since Yoritomo, 
 the forty-sixth Siogoun, and since ly^yas, the fifteenth and last Taikoun of Japan. 
 
 D D 2
 
 A PHYSICIAN S VISIT. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TUK POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE TAIKOUNS. 
 
 FAMILY FEUDS. — GOSANKES AND GOSANKIOS. — THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TAIKOUNATE INTO 
 A DESPOTIC SYSTEM. — POLITICAL ASSASSINATION. — THE SPY SYSTEM. 
 
 An inherent permanent cause of dissolution existed in the Taikounate. The 
 law of succession devised by Gonghcnsama, and perfected by liis son and his great- 
 grandson, coukl not fail to retain the power in tlie fiimily of Tokoungawa ; Imt by
 
 THE SPY SYSTEM. 205 
 
 guaranteeing to the three Gosankes an equal riglit to competition in case of a 
 failure in the direct descent, it provoked dangerous rivalry, and authorized candidatures 
 which were afterwards disallowed by the Council of Daimios. 
 
 Brothers were then seen arrayed against brothers, soliciting favour and begging for 
 support from the feudal dynasties. As soon as the choice of the council was made, 
 the discarded pretenders gave free course to their discontent, or secretly conspired 
 against the rival who had been preferred to them. Analogous intrigues took place 
 among the Gosankios, when the chance arose for them to take precedence over the 
 Gosankds. 
 
 Thus, the Taikounate, that is to say the ancient office of the Siogoun, was 
 changed into a d}Tiastic institution, presenting the combined inconvenience of despotic 
 government and elective monarchy — insecurity, internal jealousy, family hatred, palace 
 intrigues, and political assassination. 
 
 The Taikoun, surrounded snares, by the exercise of his power checked by the 
 coalition of an aristocracy, at first silent, and thun audacious, was still more sorely 
 threatened in his family interests by the ambitious designs of his favourites and 
 those who sun-ounded him. 
 
 Such a state of things necessarily led to an extraordinary political .system. Tlie 
 Court of Yeddo rai.sed the necessity of espionage to a high art, and made it its 
 principal means of government. Capital punishment and transportation became the 
 necessary complement. By wa}' of corrective, voluntary suicide, or suicide officially 
 prescribed, were admitted. 
 
 The spy system in Ja|)an comprehended, in tlie first place, the organization of a 
 secret police, analogous to that of the states which are at the head of European 
 civilization ; but, it had a complete hierarchy of public functionaries, known under 
 the general title of Ometskes, or Inspectors. From the sergeants of police \\\i to 
 the ministers of state there was not an employ^, not a high dignitary of the 
 Taikounal administration, who was not controlled in the exercise of his functions by 
 hi.s official inspector. I have been present at negotiations in which the Japanese 
 minister presented his Ometske to me, and discussed with him what response was 
 to be made to my questions. The scribe of the minister and the scribe of the 
 Ometske compared notes respectively of all that was said. Consequently every 
 matter became the object of two parallel reports ; the superior functionary to whom
 
 200 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 it was addressed had in his turn to submit his report to the control of his acolyte, 
 and so on until the reeoi'd of" the whole affair should liave reached the supreme 
 authority, who picked it to pieces and pronounced upon it. 
 
 Suicide — hert- I speak only of the noble suicide — consists, as its name of hara- 
 kiri indicates, of cutting open the stomach. It is said sometimes to replace the 
 
 A NOIII.K SENTEXCIU) To TIIK HARA-KIIII. 
 
 duel, but 1 doubt the accuracy nF the assertion. Tin; .Japanese do not understand 
 duellinjf, liut they supply that defect in their social organization by assassination. 
 There arc circumstances, however, in which honour can be satisfied only by the 
 hara-kiri, or by the immnLitinn of a voluntary victim, which serves as a pretext
 
 UAUA-KUil. 207 
 
 for the vengeance of the outraged family. An example will serve to illustrate 
 this case. 
 
 The Governor of Kauagawa, Hori-Oribe no-Kami, exchanges with .M. Ilcuskcii. 
 the Dutch Secretary and Interijreter of the American Legation, an official corresiion- 
 dence which seems to him to be derogatory to his dignity. He complains to 
 his chief, Andi)-no-Kami, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and requests him to procure 
 M. Heusken's expulsion from Japan. This being refused by the minister, he consults 
 the members of his family and his friends. They all agi-ce that his birth and his 
 title do not permit him to survive such an affront, and the proud Oovernor performs 
 the hara-kiri in tlieir presence. The witnesses are prepared to do their duty. The 
 careless Heusken foil under the swords of a band of conspirators, who put his escort 
 of yakounines to flight, as he passed along the street of Akabaud. The minister 
 Ando never went out except by daylight, strongly escorted, his hand on the 
 pommel of his sword, which lay beside him in his norimon, and his eyes always 
 on the watch. Thus the moment the conspirators appeared he was uj) .md readv, 
 encouraging his men and setting them an example l)y liis own bravery. The assassins 
 dispersed, leaving their dead and wounded on tiie gnnuid. From that iiMinent the 
 quarrel was over : public opinion was satisfied, and the family of Orilic had i>nl\ 
 to keep themselves quiet, which they were quite ready to do. 
 
 Suicide, officially prescribed, replaces capital punishment in the case of a Japanese 
 noble, where the sentence has been pionounced by his peers on account of forfeiture 
 of the honour of his cfiste, or by order of the Tadvoun, when it is the crime of 
 high treason. The trial, the judgment, and the exocutinn of the sentence are 
 conducted with great solemnity. A vast wooden l:all, with a roof supported bv 
 four pillars, is erected in the interior of the citadel. It is surrounded \)\ a 
 paling of bamboo, hung on the inside with white silk. Men-at arms are posted 
 around the enclosure. At each of the extremities there is a door, one for the u.-<(^ 
 of the accused, accompanied by two friends or witnesses chosen by hiniself, and bv 
 his legal defenders ; the other for tlie use of his accusers and his judges. Tli<; 
 accused, dressed in white, as are also his witnesses, squats in front of his aceusei-s, 
 who sit on folding stools, upon a white carpet, bordered with red. The judges are 
 placed on their left, and on their right the coun.sel for the defence stand, at a 
 respectful di.stance. All are in full dress. A person who stands behiiul the accused
 
 2().S LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 wears a military uniform, and has a large sword passed through his belt. His orders 
 are to strike off the head of the accused, should he, so soon as the sentence has been 
 pronounced, refuse to put an end to his own existence. 
 
 The instrument of punishment is, till the last moment, hidden behind a screen. 
 It is a long knife, Avitli a very strong blade, and a thick large handle. Every 
 Samoura'i is taught in his youth what is the exact s^iot into which the entire blade is 
 to be plunged, in order to make the blow mortal, and destroy consciousness immediately. 
 Beside the little table, on which the instrument lies, are placed a bowl of saki, a 
 canful of water, and a large empty tub, which is slipped under the victim as he falls 
 with his face towards the ground. When the case has to be legally debated, the jury 
 retire behind the screen to consider their verdict ; and on their return into court, the 
 accused prostrates himself while the sentence is read. 
 
 I am assured that it is extremely rai'e for a Samourai, condemned to suicide, to 
 exhibit the slightest hesitation in the accomplishment of the hara-kiri. 
 
 It sometimes happens that capital punishment is commuted to Ixinishment. The 
 condemned man is then sent to one of the convict islands, Sado, Oki, Isou, or Fatsisio. 
 The chief among them is Fatsisio, the most distant of the Japanese possessions on the 
 .south. 
 
 We are far from understanding the political mysteries of the Venice of the Far 
 East, and it is difficult even for the Japanese to arrive at a just knowledge of them. 
 But everybody at Yeddo knows that the prisons of the Daimio-Kodzi have their 
 torture chambers, their dungeons, and places for seci;et executions. 
 
 In Japan, the simple repression of common (iffences is marked from beginning to 
 end by ferocity. 
 
 The police fall upon suspected persons like a vulture on its prey. 
 
 All investigations are accompanied by the Itamboo ; the act of accusation is 
 unrolled before the eyes of the prisoner, and if he does not reply according to the 
 plea.sure of the prosecutor, blows rain upuu his shoulders. Woe to him if he is 
 suspected of lying, or of entrenching himself within a system of denial ; he is then 
 forced to kneel upon a framework of hard wood, and in that position great slabs of 
 stone are placed upon his bended legs, until they are reddened with his blood, and 
 the pain extracts from liim an acknowledgment, oitlicr real or fictitious, of the guilt 
 of wliicli he is accused.
 
 JUSTICE IN JAPAN. 
 
 209 
 
 In the eyes of a Japanese judge every accused man is guilty. Tlic trilnuial.-! 
 thirst for victims, which are supplied by the agents of tlie ])oliee. In the dejiAt 
 there arc always twenty or thirty prisoners in each hall. They wear the same dress, 
 
 composed of only one garment, a coarse kirimon of blue cotton. As they arc not 
 pcrmitteil either to comb their hair or to shave, in the course of a few day.-^ the beard 
 and hair suffice to place them in the category of the impure, and inspire tiie beholder 
 with contempt and disgust. Tiiey sleep upon bare [ilanks on the pri.son pavement. 
 
 Tho.=;e who can pay for it may sometimes obtain a mat or a waddid ipiill from the 
 gaoler. Rice is their only food. Absolute silenee is imposed upon them, and to this 
 rule there is but a single exception ; it is when one of the prisoners has been eon-
 
 210 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 demned to deatli. When the officei-s of the prison take him away from his com- 
 panions in captivity, the hitter are permitted to utter together, and with all their 
 strength, a long cry of despair, after which the silence is more impressive than 
 before. 
 
 The laws of Gonghensama do not admit of imprisonment, except accompanied by 
 corporal punishment or death. Grandees of the Empire and bonzes may be banished. 
 They are sent according to their rank to one or other of the convict islands, and 
 permitted to occupy themselves during their exile in weaving silk stuffs. Im- 
 prisonment is never of long duration, except as a preliminary to triaL The 
 sentence may add a few weeks, or some months, as I have seen at Yokohama, where 
 the koskei of a resident European was condemned for theft to three months' 
 imprisonment at the residence of the Governors of Kanagawa. He was shut up, 
 with o'ther malefactors, in a lofty cell composed of four whitewashed walls, sur- 
 mounted by a thick railing, and he daily received fur his food a bowl of rice and 
 a tempo, or small ])iece of money, worth about a halfpenny (English), for whicJi sum 
 the gaoler gave him a piece of fruit or some vegetable. But, generally sj)eaking, 
 imprisonment is only an accessory to corporal pimishment, such as flogging or 
 branding. 
 
 For small thefts, branding is inflicted. It is not done with a hot iron, but a 
 kind of lancet is used, with which an incision is made in the left arm, and the 
 scar is rendered indelible by tattooing powder. 
 
 Every malefactor who falls into the hands of justice, after having been marked 
 twenty-four times, or who commits a theft of the value of forty itsihous, is 
 condemned to capital punishment. The ordinary plan is to wait until three or four 
 executions are to take place, and then they arc carried out in the yard of the prison 
 with onl}' the Governors and their oflicers for witnesses. The condemned are brought 
 one by one into their presence, their eyes are bandaged, and the kirimon thrown back 
 over their shoulders ; one of them is then made to kneel ; four assistants, who 
 squat beside him, hold his feet and arms, and his head falls under the practised 
 sword of the chief executioner. They throw the head into a tub, and wash it ; and 
 it is afterwards exhibited witli tlie others for twenty-four hours in one of the market- 
 places of the city. The body, which is immediately stripped and washed, is placed 
 in a straw sack ; when the first sack has Ijecn tied up, they bring out the second
 
 JUSTICE IN JAPAN. 211 
 
 criminal, and the same operation is repeated, until the task of the executioner 
 is completed. Then nothing remains except to hand over the corpses to the claimants 
 for them, to be used for tlie noble i)urpo3es of their sword exercise. 
 
 Only great criminals, such as incendiaries and assassins, are put to death at the 
 public place of execution. The former are given over to the flames. When they are 
 attached to the fatal pile, their hands are covered with a layer of earth ; for the 
 Japanese do not yet understand the use of chains — and their straw ropes, howevfr 
 well plaited, would not long resist the action of fire. Former residents in Japan 
 have described to me, as eye-witnesses, the execution of an incendiary, who had 
 attempted to burn the " Frank Quarter." He was taken in the act at his second or 
 third attempt. Had I felt so disposed, I might have witnessed the crucifi.xion of two 
 parricides ; for I received one morning an illustrated broadsheet, detailing their 
 crime, and announcing their approaching execution ; it had been bought from 
 a Dewsraan who was crying it publicly, after a fashion not altogether unknown to 
 Christian civilization. 
 
 Assassination without aggravating circumstances is punished by decapitation, as 
 was formerly the case in Europe. Public executions are justified under the pretext 
 that they produce a salutary impression on the crowd. The criminal is placed on 
 horseback upon a high wooden saddle, and a rosary is hung round his neck. The 
 cortege is headed by certain ofKcials, who direct the attention of the people to a 
 large inscription, borne l)y coolies, and detailing in empliatic terms the lugubrious drama 
 •whose final act is about to be accomplished. 
 
 In J;ipan, as in all despotic states, it is principally upon the middle classes 
 that the yoke of power weighs most heavily. 
 
 The middle class has lieen formed, and exists in reality, only in the Taikounnl 
 towns, Kioto, Yeddo, Hiogo, Osaka, Sakai, Nagasaki, and Hakodate, to which were 
 added the new ports of Yokohama and Nigata. 
 
 This recent class of Japanese society bears within it the germ of the great future 
 to which contemporary Japan seems to be called. Nevertheless, it enjoys no civil 
 rifjhts, and the meanest of the Hattamotos would disdain an alliance with the best of 
 the city families. 
 
 The territorial nobility and the governmental caste affect to regard indifferently 
 the artizau and tlic shopkeeper ; even the great merchant is inferior to the 
 
 E E 2
 
 212 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 agriculturist, as occupying the lowest scale of social liberty ; beneath whom are 
 only Yetas, persons who live by impure trades, butchers, leather-sellers, and 
 beggars. 
 
 Should a Daimio and his suite, or some great functionary of the Taikouii, be 
 passing by in state, it is the business of the citizen to pay attention to the 
 
 TIFE COMMrrATKlN OF A CAPITAL SENTENCE UPON A NOBI.K INTO ONE OF BANISHMENT. 
 
 announcements of the horalds-at-arms and the runners, and to withdraw immediately 
 to the edere of tlie road with uncovered head, and motionless, crouching body, if 
 he would not receive a blow with a sword, or be crushed under tlie feet of the 
 horses. It is, however, just to add, that most frequently the nobles and the
 
 ETIQUETTE. 
 
 213 
 
 functionaries from the citadel traverse the streets of the city in a sort of incognito, 
 without insisting upon the honours due to their high position. When tliey do think 
 proper to exact thoui, they take care to have their approach announced from a distance, 
 iKjt only by their advanced guard, l)ut by means <jf ensigns, which are hoisted upon 
 the end of long pikes whicli are borne at the head of their cort»5go, and easily 
 recognized by the people. 
 
 Whenever any matter of business brings an akindo, or tradesman, into the 
 presence of a fiamourai', tlic former is bound to salute his superior by prostrating 
 
 
 -Cl. 
 
 gT-^vi.^^ 
 
 A NEWSMAK. 
 
 himself several times. Un ajiproaching the threshold of the (Iwclliiig of a imblr, he 
 kneels, and, touching the ground with his forehead, waits in that position until \\w 
 master of the house gives him leave to rise, and then he must never speak without 
 a bowed head, his body leaning forward and his two hands hanging u[)on his knees. 
 A tiic hiiving ravaged ai) entire quarter of the citadel, an officer from Yeddi) 
 went to seek some Jajianese carpenters who were employed in the Eurojiean buildings 
 at Yokohama. One of the overseers of the works having made some observation 
 to iiim respecting the vexatious consequences which might arise from the unauthorized
 
 214 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 departure of so many men who were working by contract, the impatient officer 
 instantly cut down the unfortunate remonstrant. 
 
 This same intolerance, fatal to progress and to true civilization, and utterly hostile 
 to humanity, extends throughout everything connected with the nobility and the 
 Government. 
 
 The Taikouns have never been able to understand that the only real basis of 
 their power, and the certain source of prosperity in their Empire, is precisely that 
 middle class which they keep in iron subjection. The victims of this system 
 occasionally contrive to escape from the meshes of the net, and to forget the official 
 world which rules them. If we would observe the bright side of a Japanese citizen's 
 life, we must follow him to his family meals, to his country excursions, to the scenes of 
 dissipation in the capital and in the society of his numerous friends; literati and poets, 
 physicians and students, painters and comedians.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE IIOSDJO. 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CITY. — ITS EXTENT AND FEATURES. 
 
 ^V 
 
 The City, properly Ro-cullcd, extends to the east of tlie castle, from the bridge 
 named Sen-bassi, winch unites it to the Atakosta quarter towards the south, to 
 that named 0-bassi at the limit of the northern quarter.
 
 216 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 It is composed of tliree districts, which lie exclusively in tlie direction of the 
 south-west to the north-east — Kio-bassi, Nihon- or Niphon-bassi, and Niphon-kito. 
 
 In the latter district, the city stretches down to tlie Ogawa ; while, in the two 
 preceding, the banks and islands of the great river are for the most part occupied 
 by public buildings or the residences of the nobles. Among them are a dozen 
 palaces of the Daimios, and some small yaskis belonging to the Hattamotos. In the 
 vicinity of the race-course is the great Temple of Nisihongandji, a few light batteries, 
 and a Clovcrnraeut naval school. 
 
 The whole of the remaining space comprised between the citadel and the Ogawa 
 resembles an immense draught-board, so completely symmetrical are all its sections ; 
 with their longitudinal streets regularlv^ intersected bv cross roads. 
 
 The district of Niphon-bassi, which is in the heart of the city, contains five 
 longitudinal and twenty-two transverse streets, cutting each other at right angles, and 
 forming seventy-eight squares of houses almost identical with each other. It presents 
 the figure of a long parallelogram : navigable canals surround it on the four sides. 
 Fifteen bridges communicate witli tlie adjacent quarters — two on the west, which 
 span the great moat of the citadel, five o)i the east, five on the south, and three 
 on the north. 
 
 The Bridgi^, of Niphon, on tlie nortli, which gives its name to the quarter 
 is held to be the geometrical centre of Jai)an : from which all the geographical 
 distances of the Empire arc measured. It is also at the Bridge of Niphon that the 
 Tokai'do commences. Starting from the faubourg of Sinagawa, it crosses, under the 
 name of the Street of Ottari, the quarters of Takanawa, Atakosta, Kio-bassi, and 
 Niphon-bassi; and, at the extremity of tlie latter, a central bridge forms the limit 
 between this great political, military, and commercial artery of the southern Empire, 
 and another, no less important, which stretches to the north. It is also called Ottari 
 within the precincts of Yeddo ; and beyond them the Oskio-kaido. It ends at the 
 northern point of Niphon, from whence we cross the strait of La Perousc in order 
 to reach Hakodate, on the island of Yeso. 
 
 Although they have a completely homogeneous character, the city quarters do not 
 convey such an impression of pompous monotony as the yaskis of the Court and 
 the feudal nobility. The citizens' houses, like the palaces, preserve the type of 
 architecture proper to them ; they are simply wooden constructions, having but
 
 UNIFORM BUILDINGS. 
 
 21: 
 
 one storey above the basement, generally enclosed within an open gallery ; tlicii- loss' 
 roofs arc made of slate-coloured tiles, and ornamented with mouldings in gypsum ut 
 
 JAPANESE BAKUKRil. 
 
 the two ends. But, if the frame be unifurni, the pictures which it displays are of 
 charming variety, oddity, and ingenuity. 
 
 F F
 
 218 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 At the upper end of the street of Niphon-bassi we come upon a barber's shop, 
 in which two or three citizens, in the simplest apparel, are making their morning 
 toilet. Seated upon a stool, they gravely hold in the left hand a lacquered tray, 
 destined to receive the soapsuds. The barbers, free from all clothing which could 
 trammel the freedom of their movements, lean sometimes to the right and some- 
 times to the left of their customers' heads, over which they pass both the hand 
 and the razor, like antique sculptors modelling cariatides. I need hardly add that 
 the illusion ceases when, holding between their teeth a long silken cord, they roll 
 it round and tie it at each end, leaving the pudding-like ball which forms the 
 Japanese head-dress. 
 
 At a little distance we find a shoemaker's shop. It is adorned with innume- 
 rable wooden soles and numberless wooden sandals, which hang from the roof by long 
 ropes of the same material. The shoemaker, squatting on his shelf, reminds me of 
 the native idol to whom the beggars make presents of sandals. Many persons of both 
 sexes stop before the shop-front, examining or trying on the merchandise, exchanging 
 some amicable phrase with the shoemaker, and, without disturbing him from his 
 quietude, lay the price at his feet. The accounts, so far as I could see, were kept 
 in szenis — little pieces of iron, of which twenty make up a teDipo, or bit of copper 
 money, worth fifteen centimes. The szenis, like Chinese cash, have a small square 
 liole in the centime ; they are strung on a cord and hang from the girdle. 
 
 Next to the shoemaker's came the shop of a dealer in edible seaweed, which 
 forms one of the principal articles of export trade between Jajjan and China. This 
 seaweed is called tang, and is found in great floating masses in all the bays of the 
 insular Empii-e. When the sea is calm, its rich golden purple and olive tints are 
 distinctly seen thi-ough the still surface of the blue water. By means of a boatman's 
 hook the fishermen draw it through the sea like an immense net, load their boats with 
 it, and clean it carefully, collecting the little shells which cling to it in immense 
 numbers. When the cargo has been landed, it is dried in the sun, and then formed 
 into bundles tied with bands of straw, or in small parcels wrapped up in paper ; 
 the former are for exportation, and are sold by weight to the junks; the others 
 are sold by the 2^^cket for a few szenis, and arc to be bought either in the 
 market or the eating-houses. 
 
 At Yeddo there is an immense consumption of shell-fish : the dealer fills his
 
 FISH. 
 
 219 
 
 tubs, in which he sliakes and turns them about with long bamboo sticks, after 
 which he sets forth, crying his wares. Sea-leeches, and all sorts of little molluscs, 
 the trcpang, and the whole class of radiates arc sold in a dry state. They arc 
 eaten fried, and most frequently cut into pieces mingled with rice. One sort of fish, 
 very thin, long, and narrow, is simply dried in the sun, and eaten without any 
 
 SHAUUOW-l.'AWK FISHING. 
 
 further cooking. Oysters are abundant, but coarse. The Japanese have no method 
 of opening them except by breaking the upper valve with a stone. 
 
 Uraga supports the whole Empire with dried oysters, belonging to the large kind 
 called awabis : the Taikoun is said to have the monopoly of this trade. 
 
 Although the Japanese profess, from an ajsthetic point of view, a profound dis- 
 gust for shell-fish, they do not seem to disdain them when they are fried and laid 
 
 F F 2
 
 220 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 out on herbs and coloured paper. I have remarked that delicacies of this sort have 
 a great sale in the public markets. 
 
 The shops of the grain-dealers at Yeddo are very interesting, from the immense 
 quantity and the infinite variety of the products, the diversity of their forms and 
 colours, and the art with which they are ranged upon the shelves. But surprise and 
 admiration succeed to curiosity when we perceive that on each of the parcels already 
 done up in paper, on each of the bags ready to be delivered, is a coloured drawing 
 
 A TORTOISE-CHAKMKR. 
 
 of the plants themselves, together with the name of the grain. This drawing is 
 often a little masterpiece, which might figure in an album of the flora of Japan. 
 Presently we see the painter and the workshop. Tlie painter is a young girl, 
 who lies at full Icngtli on mats covered with flowers and sheets of paper, and works 
 inces-santly in this singular attitude. 
 
 As we approach the central bridge of the commercial city the crowd increases, 
 and on both sides of the street shops give place to popular restaurants, and confec-
 
 THE GREAT FISH MARKET. 
 
 221 
 
 tioneis, where cakes, rice, and millet are sold, and where hot tea and saki may be 
 purchased. 
 
 We are close to the great fish-market. The canal is covered with fishing-boats, 
 either discharging their cargo of both sea and river fish — great fish of the ocean 
 currents which come down from tlie Polo, and those of the equatorial stream, tortoises 
 and mussels from the gulfs of Niphon, hideous jelly-fish and fantastic crustacese. In 
 this place Siebold reckoned seventy dififerent kinds of fish, crabs, and moUusca, and 
 twenty-six sorts of mussels and other shell-fish. 
 
 Fiah-sheds, roughly put up near the landing-place, are besieged by buyers. In the 
 middle of the tumultuous crowd we see strong arms lifting full baskets and emptying 
 
 them into the lacquered cases of the coolies. From time to time tlic crowd has to 
 oj)en, to give passage to two coolies laden with a dolphin, a sliark, or a porpoise, 
 suspended by ropes on a bamboo pole, which they carry on their shoulders. The 
 Japanese boil the flesh of all these animals, and salt the whole blubber. 
 
 One of the strangest pictures in the environs of Niphon-bassi is a group of 
 shark and whale sellers, wholesale and retail. The stature, the dress, and the gestures 
 of these personages, their fentastic equipment, the dimensions of tlio luige knives whicli 
 they plunge into the sides of the sea monsters, suggest the prodigious exercise of 
 human strength and employment of the resources of nature, which can alone suflSce 
 for the supply of the great city.
 
 222 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 At the southern extremity of Niphon-bassi, a barrier encloses several pillars 
 fovered with notices painted on white wood ; and, a little further on, we find a pavilion 
 raised upon a granite platform, and containing a quantity of printed notices. This is 
 the Kokosatsou of Yeddo, from whence the ancient laws which are still in use are 
 explained, and the daily ordinances of the Taikounal police are announced. 
 
 Close by is a yakounine guard-house and a post of the flying brigade. Wooden 
 tubs and jars, filled with water and ranged in pjrramids, are placed at intervals 
 on the thresholds of the warehouses, and on the edge of the public pathways. These 
 precautionary measures are taken in all the populous streets of Yeddo, and generally in 
 all Japanese cities. Reservoirs of water occupy the upper galleries and roofs of the 
 houses. Long and strong ladders are planted against the great wooden buildings, such 
 as temples and pagodas. Stores, known in the commercial language of the Far East 
 under the name of godoivns, are said to be fireproof. They are multiplied as much 
 as possible in the wooden quarters, so as to present numerous obstacles to the spread 
 of fire. These square, high buildings are constructed of stone, and covered outside with 
 a thick layer of whitewash. Their doors and shutters are of iron, and from the four 
 walls great hooks stick out, from which wet mats and mattresses may be hung when 
 there is imminent danger. 
 
 The godowns, the ladders, and the tubs do not contribute to the embellishment 
 of the capital. In this, as in other details of Japanese life, the beautiful is sacrificed 
 to the useful, and visitors must just make the best of the charming accidental views 
 which occur in the city. Its religious buildings would render it exceedingly beautiful, 
 were not its chief sites occupied by the endless lines of warehouses. 
 
 Pursuing our route from street to street, we look into the interior of the 
 houses, with hardly any interruption from the sliding panels, and see the picturesque 
 groups of men, women, and children squatting round their humble dinners. The straw 
 table-cloth is laid on the mats which cover the floor; in the centre is a large 
 wooden bowl containing rice, which forms the principal food of every class of Japanese 
 society. Each guest attacks the common dish, and takes out enough to pile up a 
 great china cup, from which he eats without the aid of the little stick which serves 
 him for a fork, except just for the last few mouthfuls, to Avhich he adds a scrap of 
 fish, crab, or fowl, taken from the numerous plates which surround the centre bowl. 
 
 These viands are seasoned with sea-salt, pepper, and soy — a very strong sauce made
 
 DINNER. 
 
 223 
 
 from black beans by a process of fermentation ; eggs, soft and hard, fresh or preserved ; 
 boiled vegetables, such as turnips, carrots, and sweet potatoes, slices of young twigs of 
 bamboo, or a salad of lotus bulbs, complete the bill of fare of a Japanese citizen's 
 dinner. 
 
 The meal is invariably accompanied by tea and saki, and these two beverages are 
 ordinarily drank hot, without any other liquid, and without sugar. The teapots which 
 contain them stand upon a brasier shaped like a casket ; it is a little larger than 
 anotlier corresponding article of furniture called a tobacco-bon, on which coal, a pipe- 
 rack, and ;i supply of tobacco are placed. 
 
 TEA AXU KAKl. 
 
 I have never examined the pretty utensils used at a Japanese table — the bowls, 
 cups, saucers, boxes, lacquered trays, vases of porcelain, jugs and teapots in glazed 
 earthenware — nor have I ever contemplated the people while eating, seen the grace of 
 their movements, and watched the dexterity of their delicate little hands, without fancying 
 1 was looking oii at a number of grown-up cliildrcn playing at housekee^iing, and 
 eating rather for their amusement than because they were hungry. 
 
 Maladies resulting from excess or from unwholesome diet are generally unlaiown, 
 but the immoderate use of their national beverage sometimes produces grave result!^. 
 I have seen more than one case of delirium ti'cmens.
 
 224 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 The ravages caused by dysentery and cholera in certain parts of Japan, especially 
 at Yeddo, will cause no surprise to the European resident, who has seen how greedily 
 children and the lower classes of the people devour water-melons, limes, Siam oranges, 
 and all sorts of fruits at the beginning of the autumn, before they are fully ripe. 
 
 Japanese houses are rarely supplied with really wholesome water, because, even 
 at Yeddo, where springs are abundant, they use only cisterns, though it would be easy 
 
 SKETCH OF A MONKEV. 
 
 to establish fountains in every quarter in the town. The inconvenience and danger of 
 this state of things are, however, reduced by the fact that the Japanese are in the habit 
 of using hot chinks in all seasons. 
 
 Their popular hygiene demands hot baths, which they take every day. This extreme 
 cleanliness, the salubrity of their climate, and the excellent qualities of their diet, aid
 
 MEDICI XE AND DOCTORS. 225 
 
 in making the Japanese one of the healthiest and one of the most robust of peoples. 
 There are, however, very few of them wlio do not suffer from diseases of the 
 skin, and from chronic and incurable maladies, which are not to be traced to their 
 natural conditions. This great misfortune dates from the epoch at which the 
 government of the Siogouns authorized the foundation and officially protected the 
 development of a disgraceful institution, whose fatal consequences sap the entire edifice 
 of society. 
 
 There are a great number of physicians in Japan, principally at Yeddo. Those who 
 are attached to the Court of the Taikoun belong to the Hattamoto class, carry two 
 swords, shave the head, and occupy a more or less elevated rank according as they 
 belong to either category of functionaries. The first, which is necessarily very limited, 
 comprises the physicians of the Taikoun's household ; they do not practise outside the 
 palace. The second category are the officers of health who accompany the army in 
 time of war, and who, when they are not on service, practise among the families of 
 their own relations. Both one and the other are nominated by the Taikoun or his 
 Government. 
 
 The members of the medical body w'ho are neither functionaries nor officers, that 
 is to say, who practise as physicians of the third class, belong to the bourgeoisie. They 
 have generally been educated at the University of Kioto or that of Yeddo ; but some 
 of them, who belong to families where the medical profession has been followed from 
 father to son, have received an education under the paternal roof. 
 
 As no examinations are required for the practice of medicine, each man enters the 
 profession when he pleases, and practises according to his own fancy ; some healing b}'' 
 the routine of the native empirics, others treating their patients according to the rules 
 of Chinese science, a third claiming to be adepts in Dutch medicine ; but in reality they 
 have actually neither method nor system. University studies in Japan are exceedingly 
 superficial. It cannot be otherwise in a country where no one possesses the preparatory 
 knowledge, which is taken for granted on entering upon a University course. This state 
 of things can only be reformed by frequent contact with Europeans. The people, however, 
 do not care about it. All they want is to have a number of doctors at their disposal ; 
 to be treated and physicked rather upon these conjoint methods than upon the best, 
 supposing it to exist ; in fact, to find in their physicians pleasant servants, who 
 will not contradict the notions of their patients, and who scrupulously justify the 
 
 G G
 
 226 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 confidence with which their profession is honoured. This obliges them to adopt 
 a certain demeanour which impresses the public, and sets them apart from the rest 
 of society. 
 
 Japanese medical practitioners may be easily recognized by their dress, by their 
 methodical demeanour, and some other peculiarities, which vary according to the 
 fancy of these grave personages. I have seen one whose head was shaved like 
 that of a bonze, or of an Imperial doctor, though he certainly belonged to a 
 physician of the third class. I have seen others wearing their hair long and 
 plaited, the ends coiled upon their neck, and others with a profuse beard. Their 
 middle class extraction not permitting them to wear two swords, they wear one, 
 passed through the folds of their girdle ; but it is always a very small one, and 
 generally carefully wrapped up in crape or velvet. 
 
 Certain members of the faculty take care never to show themselves in public 
 unattended by a koskei carrying their instrument case and medicines. 
 
 The third class command public esteem and enjoy uncontested respect. I have 
 heard it said, that when they are sent for to aristocratic houses they are paid 
 by those sentiments rather than in itzibous. It is well known that the greater 
 number — even those who possess an extensive connection — can hardly live ; for the 
 citizens' families generally find at the end of the year, when they have met 
 their indispensable expenses — housekeeping, annual fetes, the theatre, the baths, the 
 bonzes, and the parties of pleasure — that they have very little left to give to 
 the doctor. 
 
 The latter, on his side, accepts the situation with philosophy, and it must be 
 added to his credit, that he is generally a truly disinterested person. Many 
 possess real scientific zeal, and a taste for the observation of nature which might 
 produce remarkable results if these qualities rested upon a solid basis or sufiicient 
 preparatory instruction. There is no doubt that the medical fraternity is one of the 
 most energetic agents of progress and civilization in Japan. 
 
 This fraternity is one of a Corporation of arts and professions which enjoys an ofiicial 
 constitution and certain privileges. It was placed by the Mikado under the invocation 
 of a holy patron called Yakousi, and is evidently of great antiquity. We learn from 
 the Imperial annals of Kioto that the first Japanese pharmacy was founded in 730, 
 that in the year 808 medical science was enriched by a collection of recipes published
 
 MEDICAL SCIENCE. 
 
 227 
 
 in one hundred A'olumcs by Doctor Firo-Sada, and tliat the year 825 endowed the 
 Empire witli its first liospital. 
 
 For a long time Japan was tributary to China in all that concerns medical science, 
 as well as in the other branches of human knowledge. The Celestial Empire supplied it 
 with works on anatomy and botanical treatises, books and recipes, as well as professors, 
 
 on 
 
 SKETCH OF A WEASFI. 
 
 medical practitioners, and ready-made medicines for curing an infinity of ailments. In 
 the second half of the eleventh century, the Chinese merchant Wangman made a fortune 
 by selling medicines and parrots in Japan. 
 
 At that time the resources of art were added to the secrets of magic. In the 
 present day the successors of the early practitioners in this line carry about kirimons 
 covered with cabalistic .signs through the towns and villages. These kiiinions, placed at 
 
 G u 2
 
 228 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 an opportune moment upon the body of a patient, have the power of recalling a dead 
 man to life. The monks, on their side, know prayers of a sacramental kind which 
 stop bleeding, heal wounds, exorcise insects, cure burns, and counteract the evil eye, 
 in the case of men and animals. 
 
 Two great events, of which one occurred at the beginning and the other at the 
 end of the seventeenth century, prevented the scientific labours of the medical fraternity 
 from being shrouded by degrees in the great darkness of Buddhist superstition. The first 
 was the arrival of the Dutch, who received their letters of franchise and inaugurated 
 their factory at Firado under the direction of the superintendent, Van Specx, in the 
 year 1609; and the second was the foundation of the University of Yeddo, which 
 took place in the reign of the thirty-sixth Siogoun, Tsouna-Yosi, the fourth successor 
 to lyeyas, in 1690. 
 
 Thunberg recounts that, towards the middle of the following century, he, being 
 at Yeddo as attache to the biennial embassy from the Dutch superintendent of 
 Decima, obtained permission from the Siogoun to receive a visit from five phy- 
 sicians and two astronomers attached to the Court ; he had long conversations with 
 them, and convinced himself from the observations of the former that they had 
 derived their knowledge of natural history, physics, medicine and surgery, not only 
 from the traditional Chinese sources, but from Dutch works. 
 
 At a later date, the physicians of the factory, having been authorized to take 
 pupils, strove, with great zeal and devotion, to impart to them the medical science 
 of the West. 
 
 If the judgment of civilized peoples were not distorted by the manner in 
 which they are taught history — if they had learned that science has its honours 
 as well as war — they would look with admiration upon the peaceful conquests 
 which have been made in the Empire of Japan, to the advantage of the whole 
 world, by the physicians of the factory at Decima since the time of Ksempfer to the 
 present day. 
 
 Hondjo, properly so called, answers in some respects to the industrial quarters of 
 our great cities. It contains manufactories of tiles and of coarse pottery, kitchen 
 utensils in iron, paper factories, and workshops for the cleaning and preparation of 
 cotton, for the weaving of cotton and silk fabrics, dyeing vats, weavers' shops, basket 
 makers, and mat plaiters.
 
 HONDJO. 
 
 229 
 
 Japanese industry has not yet utilized machinery. There are, indeed, iron foundries, 
 in which the bellows are moved by an hydraulic wheel, over which the water is 
 directed by tubes of bamboo. The combustible material is composed of charcoal 
 and coal, the former of excellent quality. Women have their share in every 
 kind of industry. No great manufactories exist in Japan ; neither the occupation 
 nor the population of our factories is represented there. The working classes labour 
 in their own houses, interrupting their toil by eating when they are hungry, and 
 resting when it pleases them. In a group of six artizans of both sexes, we always 
 find one or two smoking their pipes and enlivening their comrades by their gay 
 
 • -?j: 'Aiimms, 
 
 A FUNERAL PROCESSION LEAVING THE HOUSE. 
 
 talk. Thus from generation to generation an instinct of sociability is transmitted, 
 ^■"-apssd good humour and repartee generally characterize the lower classes of the capital. 
 At Yeddo, as in all other capitals through which a river runs, the population of 
 the lower bank and that of the centre of the city present entirely different features. 
 Hondjo has not the continual movement, the imposing mass of the residences 
 witliin the citadel, nor the animation of the places reserved for the pleasures of the 
 crowil in the northern quarter. Nevertheless, we find in it commerce, industry^
 
 230 LTFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 temples, palaces, and places of public amusement, but under quite special conditions. 
 Some of the great merchants of Japan live in Hondjo, while their counting-houses 
 are in the quarters of Kio-bassi, or Niphon-bassi, after the fashion of the great 
 merchants of Rotterdam, who have their houses at Vercade, and their counting-houses 
 among the stores of Wijnstraat. 
 
 The relative tranquillity of the left Ijank, and the facility with which ground can 
 be obtained there, have been favourable to the establishment of numerous bonze-houses. 
 Some of them possess very large temples. Among the twenty or thirty temples of the 
 Foukagawa quarter, the ancient national worship is principally represented by the two 
 celebrated Mias of Temmango and Hatchiman ; and the Buddhist worship by the Tera 
 of Sandjiou-san-Ghendho. In Hondjo, where there are forty temples of different deno- 
 minations, that of the five hundred genii, the Goiaka-Lakan or Goiakoura-Kandji, conse- 
 crated to the memory of Racans and other illustrious Buddhist saints, are chiefly 
 distinguished. Formerly this veneraljle army, entirely composed of wooden statues, larger 
 than life and faded in colour, -was displayed upon the galleries of the nave, the choir 
 and the side chapels of the holy place, or the right and left of a colossal idol of 
 Buddha, revered under the name of T6-Schabori. An earthquake flung its ranks into 
 confusion. The mutilated victims were collected in the barns in the neighbourhood, 
 and the devastated temple has not yet been repaired and restored for the puqiose 
 of worship. At a little distance, another bonze-house has founded its reputation 
 upon a less fragile basis thnn the images of the defunct heroes of asceticism and 
 contemplation. Twice a year it engages the services of the chief wrestlers of Yeddo 
 for a series of public representations, and this pious speculation nevei- fails to 
 attract an immense crowd belonging to all classes of society. Every monastery has 
 its peculiarity, for instance, the avenue of the bonze-house of Hondjo is guarded by 
 half a dozen statues of ])igs, mounted on granite pedestals. Public opinion admits, 
 without diflBculty and ]>y silent consent, anything which the bonzes please to imagine 
 may lend a novel attraction to the exercise of devotion. 
 
 A certain number of families of the old nobility have made of Hondjo a sort of 
 Faul)Ourg St. (jcrmaiii, where they live in profound seclusion, far from the noise of 
 the city, and from all contact with the Court and the Government functionaries. In 
 addition to the larger industries which I have enumerated, we find in Hondjo important 
 manufactories of silk, stuffs, and porcelain utensiLj, household furniture, and toilet orna-
 
 IDOLS. 
 
 231 
 
 meiits of lacquered wootl, iis well as great workshops of sculpture, cabiuet-makiug, and 
 wood-inlaying. I never saw marble works anywhere, though there are quarries in the 
 mountains of the interior. All the candelabra and the pillars of the toris are granite, 
 as arc also the candelabra of the holy places, the tombs, statuettes, and funeral 
 stones, as well as the Buddha ; the sacred tortoises, and foxes, are made of a very 
 
 STATUK FlIOM THE TE.MII.K OF TliK ilVE UUNDKKD GENII. 
 
 fine kind of earthenware. Sculptors in wood make domestic altars with very rich 
 panels, elegant reliquaries and coffins in the form of mikosis, elephants' heads, monstrous 
 chimeras for the adornment of the temple roofs, wood carvings and mosaics, representing 
 cranes, geese, bats, and mythological animals ; the moon half- veiled by a cloud, branches of 
 cedars, pines, bamboos, and palms. The idols, which are generally gigantic, come from the 
 workshops of Yeddo, and are frequently surrounded by a golden nimbus, and painted
 
 232 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 in very bright colours ; — the guardians of heaven, for example, in vermilion ; Tengou 
 in indigo ; the foxes are white, brown, or gilded, and generally have a golden key 
 in their mouths. Several interesting branches of industry are connected with the 
 work of the sculptors. The panels of the moveable partitions are ornamented with 
 drawings in Chinese ink, traced by a few strokes of the brush, or with groups of 
 trees and flowers, brilliantly coloured with paintings of birds famous for the richness 
 
 — 1 _/- e^^i>%t 
 
 STATUES FROM THE TEMPLE OF THE FIVE IltrSDRED GENir. 
 
 of their plumage. All this is done in the manufactory, but by the hand. Nothing 
 is printed except the papers for wall-hangings or the woodwork. The embroidresses, 
 who make the screens which serve for blinds and shutters, work beautifully; they 
 employ silk, and reproduce, according to the subjects, either the lustrous tissue of 
 leaves, the velvet down of birds, the thick fur of quadrupeds, or the brilliant scales of 
 fish. The silk plaiters add to the woodwork and the hangings of rooms a beautiful 
 ornament composed of garlands and knots of various colours, headed by groups of
 
 EMBROIDERY. 
 
 2:j3 
 
 flowers and birds. These delicate arts of embroidery and braiding are also appliealjlc 
 to the heavy stuffs brocaded in gold and silver, of which the Court mantles and lonw 
 trailing dresses are made. We also find crape and gauze of extreme fineness, adorned 
 with needlework of the purest taste. The Obi, or girdle worn by all Japanese women, 
 married and unmarried, with the exception of the ladies of the princely families, is that 
 portion of female dress which presents tlie greatest variety according to the taste and 
 
 ■^(^"L*^;?^.:- 
 
 KNOTS AND EMIIIKIIDEUY IN SILK. 
 
 fancy of the wearers. Sometimes the 01 )i afi'ects great simplicity — sometimes it is di.stin- 
 guished for richness of material and profusion of embroidery ; it is generally wide 
 enough to suffice at the same time for girdle aud corset : it i.s i-oUcd round tlif ])ody 
 and tied behind the back in an elegant bow, i)i whidi the end is caught up. The result 
 is a sort of wide floating knot, which falls squarely ilown upon the hips, or a large 
 loop, which hangs from the girdle with much elegance. A widow who has made up 
 
 II II
 
 234 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 her mind not to marry again ties lier Obi in the front of her dress. Every woman, 
 after her death is chid in lier best costume ; the Obi is arranged after the fashion of 
 a widows ; it is then tied as tight as possible in two knots. 
 
 It is not an easy thing to get admission to Japanese workshops, especially when 
 one's escort is formed of the yakounines. Notwithstanding the promises of their 
 masters, I was not permitted to witness the process of dyeing, to see the manufacture 
 of rich silk stuffs, or any paper factory. On the other hand, I found the wholesale 
 and retail shojis quite accessible, and was even allowed to go into the back 
 shops, which are l)y no means unworthy of a visit, because the Japanese merchant 
 does not care about show ; far from putting his most valuable objects for sale in 
 the front, he keeps them in reserve — a fact well known to amateurs; so that, in 
 order to have an idea of the wealth, variety, and artistic merit of Japanese fabrics, 
 it is necessary, not only to visit the trading streets of the natives, but to make 
 friends with the shopkeepers, and come back again and again to the shops, until 
 one has explored all their corners and recesses. This is the more indispensable as 
 there is no bazaar in Japan, and every shop and workshop has its speciality. 
 There is, indeed, a small native bazaar, established under the name of " stores," in the 
 ports open to Europeans ; but these are only permanent exhibitions of samples, and 
 offer no real opportunity for studying Japanese industry, which in some branches is but 
 little developed — for instance, that of saddlery, which must necessarily remain so while 
 religious prejudices shackle the trades of the tanner and the leather-worker. This 
 circumstance obliges Japan to lie under obligations to foreign countries, especially since 
 the Taikoun and the Daimios have carried on a jealous rivalry in the reform of their 
 artillery and cavalry, Germany supplies them with leather, Holland and France with 
 saddles and horse-trappings, gloves, and belts. Trade in skins, which is so widely 
 extended in China, has scarcely any existence in Japan. 
 
 The JMongols delight in wrapping themselves in furs, while the children of the great 
 Niphon regard fur with repugnance. Neither the Chinese nor the Japanese preserve 
 or prepare the skins of beasts for stuffing. The Chinese make artificial birds, whose 
 bodies are modelled in wax, with real feathers gummed on one after the other 
 witli the most minute care. The Japanese employ nothing but silk in making images 
 of their favourite animals. They excel in reproducing, in miniature, cocks, hens, 
 pheasants, ducks, cats, and little spaniels. They employ hair and natural feathers
 
 JAPANESE ARTIZANS. 235 
 
 only in making dust-brushes, fly-brushes, and fans. These objects are sometimes 
 very elegant, especially the fly-brushes and the fans of white feathers spotted in 
 the middle with two or three little feathers of bright colours. The making 
 of i^aint-brushes is carried to extreme perfection and cheapness, which i.s to be 
 expected in a country in which this one kind of instrument is used for writing, 
 drawing, and painting. The Japanese brushes arc made of the hair of otters, weasels, 
 and foxes. Those which are got from the principality of Satsouma are considered to 
 l)e the best. 
 
 Silken cord plays a great part not only in the fabrication of hoi-se-trappings, but for 
 the fastenings of casques and cuirasses, in all military equipments, and civil costumes, 
 for men as well as women, because our buttons, hooks, clasps, and aiguilettes are per- 
 fectly unknown in native toilets. Coarse ropes and cables are made of Manilla cotton, 
 and vegetable paper. The silken cords do great honour to the art of those who make 
 them ; those used for flying kites and for use in falconry arc very elegant. The 
 strings of musical instruments are made of silk covered with varnish. 
 
 Window blinds are generally ornamented by drawings of flowers and birds very 
 skilfully done. The fishermen's cloaks, and brooms, are made of fine strips of palm 
 bark. Bird-catchers and sellers of poultry use bamboo cages, whose forms vary from 
 the common type of the beehive and the covered basket, to beautiful mwlels of country 
 pavilions and garden-houses. AVu also noticed tall turrets made of bamboo trellis, in 
 which the restaurateurs hang their finest specimens of game, such as the wild boar, the 
 deer, and the black bear of Yeso. Animals famed for theii" malignity arc not shown so 
 much honour ; the fox, extended upon the stall, holds the knife with which he is 
 about to be cut up in his mouth ; and the monkey, suspended by his four i)aws to the 
 lintel of the door, is exposed to the ridicule of the street children, who laugli at his 
 grinning red face. 
 
 The artizan of Yeddo is a true artist. If we except the conventional style whicli 
 he retains in his reproductions of the human figure, and excuse the insufficiency of 
 his studies in penspective, we shall have nothing but praise to bestow on him. His 
 works are distinguished from those of Kioto by simplicity of form, severity of 
 line, sobriety of oruanieut, and exquisite feeling for nature in all the subjects of 
 decoration which he borrows from the vegetable or animal kingdom. In such sub- 
 jects he delights. Flowers and birds inspire him with compositions full of truth, grace, 
 
 H II 2
 
 236 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 and harmony ; while the execution is equally admirable in the works of the artists of 
 both capitals. 
 
 The Japanese do not understand the fal)rication of panes of glass and of bottles ; 
 but they delight in making all sorts of little objects in glass — pipes, and water- 
 bowls, and long blue stems, little white cups at the bottom of which we see a tinv 
 
 >r />o -7^ :^^_"^^ 
 
 A BKONZE WAHlillUU.sE AT YEDDO. 
 
 red crab, which rises to the surface according as the cuji becomes full of liquid ; and 
 little balls half filled with coloured water, ornaments much used by the women 
 in thrir liead-dresses. 
 
 At Yeddo I was shown some attempts at painting on glass, and at enamel-work which 
 denoted more goodwill than science. But among a number of native curiosities which
 
 ORNAMENTS. 
 
 237 
 
 are really original, are little balls of stone pierced and cut in facets and cm-iched with 
 enamel arabesques. These are extensively bought by foreigners for necklaces, and used 
 in Yeddo itself for making rosaries. For the latter purpose they are strung on silk. 
 
 Mother-of-pearl competes with enamel in certain miniatures which are applied 
 on metal. The. gilders' art consists entirely in the application of their leaves of gold 
 
 JAPANESE AltTIsr rAl.MI.NG A \1-.MA. 
 
 to such things as are thought worthy of this decoration ; for instance, the nimbus 
 round the heads of saints in the Buddhist temples, the frames of theatre scenes, 
 the sculptures of altar-pieces, the lances from which the military standards are dis- 
 played, and the leaves of screens of the very first style. Among the latter we find
 
 238 -LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 exquisite specimens of drawings in Chinese ink representing hunting scenes, and 
 horses, all done with two brushes and a single line on a gold background. 
 
 The stories which come to us from former embassies singularly exaggerate the 
 decorative richness of the palaces of the Mikados and the Siogouns. The truth is 
 that there is no royal residence in Europe which does not represent a greater intrinsic 
 value tlian the imperial palaces of Kioto and Yeddo. Strictly speaking there are 
 neither goldsmiths nor jewellers in Japan. The serpentine, the malachite, the 
 amethyst, the topaz, are all found in the country, but no one, not even the most 
 elegant among the women, wears jewelled ornaments. Their only luxury after that 
 of material consists in loading the heavy edifice of their head-dress with large pins of 
 
 
 ORNAMENTS. 
 
 shell or metal, ornamented with small pictures on emblematic subjects. The lapidaries 
 of Yeddo liave nothing to do except to cut rock crystal, of which very fine specimens 
 are broufht to Europe. These are exquisitely polished, and cut either round or in 
 facets, but they cost an exorbitant price. 
 
 The closest approach to goldsmith's work is found in the ornamentation of the 
 arms of the yakounines, which arc sometimes marvels of carving, and of the mingling 
 of metals. Gold, silver, steel, copper, brass, and a composition known as Sawa imtal, 
 are used for this purpose, and also for paper weights, clasps, locks, portfolios, and 
 rulers. Of all the cities of .Japan, Yeddo can boast of the most skilful workers 
 in metals. Numbers of depots in the city are among the most interesting of 
 the native curiosities.
 
 VARNISHED WARES. 
 
 239 
 
 I need not dwell upon tlie perfection of their porcelain, second only to wliich 
 are their master-pieces in brass and their works in lacquered wood. Such is the 
 talent with ■which the native workman utilizes the incomparable varnish of Japan, 
 such is their skill in combining its effects with the processes of their decorative 
 art, that articles of furniture whose material is held of no value at all rival in 
 brilliancy, and we might almost say substance, those which in our country are made 
 of marble and precious metals. 
 
 In the interior decoration of cabinets, boxes, and coffers, brown lacquer spangled 
 with gold is extensively used ; but for the exterior the lacquer is generally of one clear 
 
 A DAIMIO AND BIS SUITE. (CAUICATrUE.) 
 
 red, brown, or black, adorned with drawings of two or three colours, or with gold-leaf, 
 with or without relief There is seldom anything in the form, in the drawing, or in the 
 ornamentation which cannot sustain criticism by the most cultivated taste. If, however, 
 the kotans, which we call cabinets, are sometimes too lieaA'ily laden with incrustations 
 of porcelain and mother-of-pearl, silver, and even gold, we may be quite sure that 
 the native workmen have been obliged to study the caprices of foreign purchasers, 
 who want to find in the Niphon market something of the heavy splendour of the 
 Chinese shops.
 
 240 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 An indispensable ceremonial -in all Japanese banquets is the service of Saki. 
 This beverage is brought in solemnly in large lacquered jars or in cans of metal. 
 The large or small cups from which it is to be drunk are made of fine red lacquer, 
 and ornamented with fantastic designs, with gold-leaf or rich paintings, covered 
 with a transparent glaze. Some of these beautiful cups represent the most celebrated 
 landscapes in Japan, or the most remarkable towns situated between the two capitals. 
 There are even some of a still more sumptuous order formed of the nautilus in 
 mother-of-pearl, the heliotis, and other beautiful shells ornamented with silver filigree.
 
 OGAWA-ltATA DOCKS AND WAIiEUOUSES. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A S A K S A - T E R A. 
 
 BONZE-HOUSES. — QUANNOX. — A DISTPaBUTION OF TALISMANS. — BRAZEN STATUES. — AGGLOMERA- 
 TION OF BUILDINGS. — FOX-WORSUIP. — PORTRAITS OF COURTEZANS. — BUDDHIST WORSHIP. 
 — MODERN CORRUPTION OF THE OLD DOCTRINES AND PRACTICES. 
 
 Over one hundred bonzc-houscs, each composed of a more or less considerable number 
 of buildings, such as monasteries, temples, pagodas, chapels, tea-houses, and shops, form 
 the central division of the quarter of Asaksa-Imato. The greatest and most famous 
 is that of Quannon, a Buddhist divinity, to whom is attributed tlu' magical power of 
 intercession between heaven and earth. The celebrity of this bonze-house comjiletely eclip.scs 
 all the other holy places of the neighbourhood, so that in the language of the people 
 the word Asaksa-Tera is never usetl to designate any other temple than that of Quannon 
 in the quarter of Asaksa. 
 
 I 1
 
 2-1:2 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 At the soiitliern extremity of the square, in which there is a permanent market of 
 slnuhs and flowers, stands a heavy portal adorned with colossal lanterns. Two of the 
 guardians of heaven, wooden giants painted in vermilion, are posted on the right hand 
 and on the left of the principal entrance, defending the passage, and levying upon each 
 j)ilgrim the traditional tribute of a pair of enormous straw sandals. Under their eyes, 
 
 on th(^ eve of cnfli new ycnr, a gratuitou.s distrihutidu of pnjier amulets \» made to the 
 populace. The lumzcs fur ihc most part visit their (dients on this dav, and for a small 
 consideration luing to their houses l)ifs of the hrush with which they distribute 
 holy water. 'I'lie.se scraps are fastened to the lintels of the door, and are believed to 
 preserve the liou.'se from evil spirits. The coolies, and labourers of all kinds, flock to
 
 DISTRIBUTION OF TALISMANS. 
 
 •Z4,o 
 
 Asaksa to have their share in the same privilege, because there they can obtain it 
 without expense, though not without trouble. Two bonzes, perched at the risk of their 
 lives upon a platform composed of planks suspended by hooks half way uj) the 
 high columns of the doorway, are distributing an abundant provision of blessed papers. 
 i'hcy take handfuls of them at intervals, and throw them into the air. The koskeis 
 
 standing on cither side, provided with large palm-leaf fans, make the amulets fly about 
 ajid fall upon the people like snow-tlakes. Let him catch them who can. Soon the 
 entire space presents a spectacle of extraordinary confusion ; people pushing, elbowing, 
 pursuing each other — some stretching out their arms in order to catch the morsels of 
 paper in their flight, others bending, and even rolling themselves on the ground, in order 
 
 I I 2
 
 ■2U LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 to pick them up. Nevertheless, as the most fortunate and the most skilful retire when 
 tl)ey have obtained their share, success becomes for their rivals a mere matter of 
 patience, and no one is compelled to return home empty-handed. Beyond this great 
 gateway is a long, wide, paved street, which is called Kindjousan-Asaksa-Tera. It is 
 intersected by cross-lanes, and occupied from one end to the other by booths for the 
 sale of sacred objects, such as rosaries, wax candles, statues, perfumed vases, and domestic 
 altars. Above and beyond the middle-class houses are oratories, small temples, and 
 various curiosities, which warmly interest the pilgrims from the town and the 
 country. Here is a mia, or chapel, consecrated to the Kami worship There, surrounded 
 liy a bamboo railing, stands the venerable trunk of a cedar of unknown age. Farther 
 on. in an oratory hung with ex-votos, is a miraculous image ; beyond that comes a 
 small aristocratic temple approached by an avenue of banners planted in the ground, 
 each bearing the arms and the family names of some one of the illustrious personages 
 who have honoured this place by their visits. At the eastern extremity of the 
 street, a hill surmounted by a temple rises above a little lake covered with water- 
 lilies. The tea-houses stretch out their long wooden galleries amid the leaves and 
 flowers of the splendid aquatic plants. On the other side of the public road, a small 
 bonze-house is half hidden by a cedar grove. 
 
 At length we reach the second gateway, which stands in the great square, almost 
 surrounded by shops and by the booths of strolling actors. On the right, two huge 
 sitting statues of brass, the heads crowned by the Buddhist nimbus, overlook the crowds 
 from the height of the granite terrace. Two enormous guardians of heaven defend the 
 second doorway, as their colleagues defend the first. From the galleries which surround 
 tlie upper storey of this building we can see the whole square, the high road, and, on 
 the north, the first enclosure of the principal temple, which has numerous dependencies. 
 Under the name of Asaksa-Tera is in reality comprehended an agglomeration of 
 from forty to fifty sacred buildings, including the sanctuary of Quanuon-sama, the 
 chief divinity and patron of the place, whose power of intercession is signified by 
 an enormous statue, with thirty-six arms and one hundred hands, placed at the entrance 
 of the temple. Under its protection are grouped the chapels of Sannoo, the ruler of 
 men ; Dai'kok, the god of riches ; Benten, the goddess of harmony ; Hatchiman, 
 the patron of warriors : in a word, the entire national mythology, not excepting 
 the worship of the fox. This diabolical animal is worshipped, as well as his companion
 
 QUANNON. 245 
 
 Inari, tlio patron of cereals, on the summit of a wooded hill, within the enclosure of 
 the bonze-house. His little chapel, thickly hung with ex-votos, is reached by an avenue 
 in which we pass innumerable toris painted vermilion. From the one to the other the 
 distance is only that of a fox's jump, and they ai'e hardly as tall as a man. The road 
 is steep, winding, and impeded by the roots of the pines of the sacred grove. It is 
 impossible to climb it, except with great care and by bending the head. 
 
 In that humble attitude we reach the esplanade of the holy place. There we mu.st 
 pass between two granite images representing the malicious divinity in a sitting posture, 
 his tail turned up, his muzzle in the air, but his oblique eye watching every person 
 who approaches the sanctuary. The faithful bow respectfully, make their ablutions, 
 cast their pieces of money into the box, and kneel in prayer on the steps of the chapel. 
 
 Among tlu! numerous buildings placed in the enclosure of Asaksa-Tera, a pagoda of 
 five storeys symbolizes the supremacy of Buddhism over other religions. The central 
 building is an enormous quadrangular edifice, — the body painted red, and the colossal roof 
 covered with grey tUes. The basement only is in stone, and supports a spacious gallery 
 raised some yards above the ground. In the interior of the temple, the ceiling rests upon 
 colonnades of red pillars ; the walls of the nave arc adorned with pictures on a golden 
 ground. Framed images, statuettes, ex-votos, laccjuered boards, wlih inscriptions 
 in gold letters, are to be seen on all sides — on the columns, and on the panels 
 of the side chapels. One of the latter contains a gallery of portraits of the 
 most celebrated courtezans in Yeddo, as well as other pictures of a similar nature. Not 
 only do the bonzes of Miodjin and tlic priests of Sanno6 invite courtezans to take a 
 share in the periodical religious processions ; but every year, in the enclosure of Sin-Yosiwara, 
 a fair takes place, accompanied by a grand parade, which is simply a public exhibition of 
 the five thousand registered courtezans who inhabit this quarter ; and the bonzes of Asaksa- 
 Tera have portraits of the queens of the festival taken on these occasions, and suspended 
 in their sanctuary as if in a pantheon. The choir of the temple, dark and smoked from 
 the vapour of the incense, does not present any remarkable peculiarity, except that on 
 the high altar, is the idol Quannon, symbolizing the mother of Buddha, behind a trellis 
 of wLrework, wearing a nimbus and seated upon the sacred lotus. This mysterious 
 combination excites little notice from the crowds of people who pass to and fro, and 
 keep up a perpetual tumult in the nave, Avhich is not spacious, and is separated 
 from the choir by a lofty barrier of carved wood like a Gothic jub5. In the choir
 
 
 A 8CENK IN ASAKSA-TKIIA.
 
 BUDDHIST WORSHIP. 
 
 ■IVi 
 
 the bonzes, laden with their lieavy sacerdotal vestments, officiate to an accom- 
 jianinient of gongs and tambourines. Some of the faithful merely throw iron mont-y 
 
 INIKKIOU OF TIIR TKMPLK OF 4UANNON. 
 
 wrapped in a white paper at their feet from behind the barrier; others buy the eandle.i 
 which the sacristan offers them. Before and after the hours of worship, a Inrge covered
 
 248 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 box which, in front of the railing, communicates with the underground portion of the 
 temple, receives the gifts of the visitors. 
 
 The solemn entry of the Higli Priest into the choir makes an immediate diversion 
 in the monotony of the service. This majestic personage wears a red cloak, with a 
 pointed hood and a green silk stole over his white robe. He is followed by a young 
 novice, who might be taken at first sight for a young girl, so effeminate are his face, 
 complexion, and dress. His head-dress is an elegant edifice of plaited hair, he weai's 
 loose white trousers, a white sash tied in wide bows, a short vest of green silk, with 
 long hanging sleeves lined with white satin ; he accompanies his master, step by step, 
 to offer him, at tlie first sign he makes, a cup of tea contained in a portable vessel, 
 the handle of which he holds in both hands. 
 
 On beholding the present ministers of the religion of Buddha, we cannot refrain 
 from thinking rather sadly of the pious reformer whose disciples they claim to be. 
 
 The Buddhist pentalogue is conceived in these terms : — 
 
 1. Thou shalt not kill. 
 
 2. Thou shalt not steal. 
 
 3. Thou shalt not commit fornication. 
 
 4. Thou shalt not lie. 
 
 5. Thou shalt abstain from all intoxicating liquor. 
 
 What has become of the ascetic purity of the " C4ood Law " in the hands of men who 
 are plunged, for the most part, in the lowest degradation ? What ironical destiny pursues 
 the precepts of the great Sakya-Mouni in the midst of this temple, where art glorifies 
 the corruption of morals, where incense burns before an idol who gives indulgences for 
 every crime, where the industry of the monks is exercised in making money of the vices, 
 as well as of the sanguinary passions, of the nobility, in imposing upon the credulity 
 of the people and fostering their jirofligacy ? 
 
 The bonze-house of Asaksa is distinguished for the luxury and variety of the 
 costumes of its priests, and for its immense personal staff; also for the theatrical pomp 
 of its ceremonies. The most imposing is the general procession of the Annual Dedication 
 which follows tlse feasts of the purification of the temple and its dependencies. The 
 superiors of the convent have the head shaved, and conform in all its details to 
 the rule of Buddhist sacerdotalism ; but their authority extends over several 
 fraternities attached to the ancient national woishif) ; and each of these wears the
 
 THE HORSES OF THE GODDESS. 
 
 249 
 
 hair according to the ordinances of the Dairi to which they belong. There is no less 
 variety in the costumes and liveries of the masters of ceremonies, heralds-of-arms, cooks, 
 grooms, porters, and valets attached to the different sects of the bonze-house. 
 
 The grooms of Quannon-sama have the care of a couple of Albinos horses, called 
 "the horses of the goddess." These sacred horses are fed with consecrated beans, and enjoy 
 
 IIANfE OP TllK rilllvSTS (iK FOUXATiAS. 
 
 the privilege of sleeping upriglit, sustained by a sort of hammock made of strong 
 suspending bands. At morning, the priests lead them forth before the statue of Quaunon, 
 and ask her if she does not wish to go out riding. The heralds-at-arms have charge 
 of a whole arsenal of casques and steel armour, and figure in the jT-les and in the 
 processions. The bonzes often give spectacles in which artists play their parts 
 either as dancers or as comedians. On these occasions there may be seen, on 
 the fifteenth day of the sixth month, a very curious piece, — a swoid-dance, or 
 
 K K
 
 250 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 great military pantomime exclusively executed by the priests. But the triumph of 
 Asaksa-Tera is its Kermesse at the end of the year. Although there is a permanent 
 fair which is frequented by crowds every day, and is the habitual resort or play- 
 ground of its great bonze-house, it is from the eighteenth to the last day of the twelfth 
 month that the sacred residence of Quannon-sama displays all its prestige and 
 becomes the centre of circulation, not only for several hundreds of thousands, but 
 for three or four millions of inhabitants of the city and surrounding provinces. The 
 entire precinct is invaded by the multitude, whose waves form regular currents which 
 pass backward and forward under the skilful and silent direction of the police. Such 
 perfect order in the midst of such a multitude is only possible in a city like Yeddo, 
 where not only there are no vehicles, but where one word from a magistrate suffices to 
 prohibit the use of horses and palanquins for a fortnight throughout the vast space. 
 Thus there is no crush at any point. Cords made of straw limit the space reserved 
 to each industry. At certain specified places there are reposoirs, and the exits and 
 entrances are skilfully arranged. No fixed hour is named for closing ; the tide of humanity 
 rises all day, attains its height at sunset, and ebbs rapidly from midnight until dawn. 
 
 BEOCINC. KOI! Till'. KAMI JI'.M I'l.E.s.
 
 SHOPS AND WAREHOUSES AT NII'lION-IIASSI. 
 
 CHAPTEll VI. 
 
 EDUCATIOX ASD LITERATURE AT YEDDO. 
 
 SEPARATION OF RANKS. — CONFUCIUS AT THE UNIVERSITY. — ECLIPSE OF FAITH. THE DOCTRINES 
 
 OF CONFUCIUS. — DIFFICULTIES IN THE STUDY OF CHINESE LITERATURE. — PRIMITIVE 
 WRTTINC. — THE FORMER LITERARY CENTRE OF JAPAN. — BOOKS. — POEMS — LEGENDS. 
 — ANCIENT ENCYCLOPEDIAS. — STORY-TELLERS AND SINGERS. — WORSHIP OF OLD TREES. — 
 FANTASTIC STORIES OF ANIMALS. — DEMONS. — GHOSTS. 
 
 J- HE high class schools which compose the University of YecWo are perhaps the only 
 neutral ground on whi<-li the sons of the Japanese nobility meet daily and live in 
 common with the young people of the middle classes. The separation of ranks exists 
 between them nevertheless in all its severity ; their studies also differ in essential 
 points. The young gentlemen receive only a certain classical culture based upon the 
 books of the Chinese philosophers, while to the middle class populace the career of 
 liberal professions is open, such as the teaching of languages, and tlic practice of 
 
 K K 2
 
 252 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 medicine ; they are also prepared to become interpreters and engineers iu the service 
 of the Government. 
 
 The University of Yeddo is not only placed under the invocation of Confucius, 
 
 but it patronizes the doctrines of the Chinese philosopher, and spreads them over all 
 
 the educated classes of Japanese society. This is done in the form of an aggressive 
 
 propaganda openly hostile to the established worships. The University tolerates existing 
 
 institutions, but it destroys the creeds which form their soul. J have heard it said 
 
 by an interpreter at Yeddo, " The pupils in our University no longer believe in 
 
 anything ; " and I know a functionary of the citadel who stated at a diplomatic dinner 
 
 that all the people of cultivation in his country were cj^uite on a level with those of 
 
 our own, from the point of view of religion. The clergy, whose temporal position is 
 
 not threatened, preserve a modest and prudent attitude towards the literates. The 
 
 bonzes are not inclined to attack the popularity with which the memory of Confucius 
 
 is regarded in Japan, where he is universally venerated under the name of Ko6-ci, a 
 
 corruption of the Chinese name Khoung-Tseu. Nevertheless, he was never known there 
 
 until the year 255 of our era. At that epoch Ozin, the sixteenth Mikado, enraged 
 
 at seeing the paternal intentions of his Government paralyzed by the ignorance of his 
 
 subjects, begged the King of Petsi in Corea to teach him what he should do to 
 
 instruct the people. The King sent him the learned "Wang- Jin, who made known to 
 
 the Dairi the books of the great teacher to whom China was indebted for more than 
 
 six centuries for its wisdom and its prosperity. The services rendered by the learned 
 
 Corean to the Empire of the Mikados had been so highly appreciated, that Wang-Jin, 
 
 foreigner though he was, was admitted among the number of the national Kamis, 
 
 together with the founders of the monarchy and the heroes or benefactors of 
 
 Japan. 
 
 "When we endeavour to account for the influence which the writings of Confucius 
 have exercised upon Japanese society, we must acknowledge at the same time that 
 they have contributed more than anything else to endow it, not indeed with 
 (;ivilization, but with the civilism iu which it takes such pride. It is very difficult 
 to reduce the general principles from which he deducts his moral sentences to a 
 scientific form. 
 
 Men, according to Confucius, are by nature the friends of each other ; it is only 
 habit and education which separates them.
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF CONFUCIUS. 253 
 
 To perfect oneself is the basis of all moral development. 
 
 The means of obtaining this development consists in pursuing the enlightening principle 
 of reason which we receive from Heaven. 
 
 This reason teaches us perseverance of conduct in a right line equally divided 
 from extremes. 
 
 Invariability in the juste milieu, such is the rule or formula of wisdom. 
 
 The perfecting of oneself is, however, only the first part of virtue ; the second 
 and most important part consists of the perfecting of others. 
 
 The supreme doctrine of humanity is that we should act towards others as we wish 
 that they should act towards ourselves. 
 
 All social conditions arc not equally proper to the development of good natural 
 dispositions. 
 
 He who has the power or faculty of pursuing his moral development, and lie 
 who attains to it, is distinguished from the crowd, and to him Heaven gives 
 a mandate to govern and to insti'uct the peoples. 
 
 Nevertheless, although the sovereign holds his power from IIoa\'eii, the sole 
 guarantee whereVjy he preserves that power resides in the support which lie derives 
 from the atfection of his people. Finally, men who are supremely perfect have tlie 
 faculty, not oul}' of governing peoples, but of contributing to the development of beings, 
 and of identifying themselves by their works with heaven and earth. 
 
 This is, so far as I can discern, the substance of the doctrine of Khoung- 
 Tscu ; and no doubt it leaves little to desire, if we regard man merely as a 
 reasonable being ; but if the human organization includes love, the life of the heart 
 with its infinite aspirations and its mysterious intuitions of eternal tilings, the 
 sage of the Celestial Empire deceived himself, his doctrine is insufficient ; it has only 
 the appearance of life, it encloses men and states in a circle within which iiu- 
 manity becomes atrophied. Great thoughts come from the heart and enthu.siasm makes 
 a great people. 
 
 China, disciplined by Confucius, has become the type of stagnant nations. The 
 Japanese people have escaped from the fate of their neighbours, but the Government 
 of Japan, formed in the school of Chinese philosophy, has been unable to assimilate 
 (Christian civilization and has merely let its power slip into the hands of the old 
 national Theocracy.
 
 254 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN: 
 
 It is a fact worthy of remark, that Khoung-Tscu has rever been the apostle of 
 auy of the aristocratic chasses of society. His real moral grandeur consists in having 
 isolated himself, while in the midst of paganism, in the domain of reason, as it were 
 in a fortress, and of never having pretended to elevate himself into tlie founder 
 of a new religion. He expressly forbids innovations in anything whatsoever. All 
 
 ALLEGORICAL PICTURE IN THE NODLE STYLE. 
 
 AI.LEnOI'.ICAL I'ICTURE IX THE I'OI'ULAR STYLE. 
 
 his instructions are limited to recommending the study and the example of the old 
 customs. The worship which is paid to him in China and Yeddo in the temple of 
 the University docs not con.stitute, properly speaking, an act of adoration, but merely 
 one of pious commemoration. It is unhappily true that this homage degenoiates into 
 a superstitious respect for the words of the master, strengthened by the difficulties 
 presented by the dry study of his works.
 
 A LJTERAR Y CENTRE. 255 
 
 In China, and in all countries subject to the preponderance of the classical Chinese 
 literature, the attachment of the litterati to the texts of their favourite author, is strong 
 in proportion to the trouble which it gives them to fix them in their memory. The 
 study of a Chinese book is a most arduous task, even for a Japanese ; because the 
 national idiom of the latter has neither analogy nor any point of contact with the 
 language of the Celestial Empire. 
 
 The primitive writing of the Japanese exists no longer, except as an archaeological 
 curiosity ; it has given place to Chinese writing, which on its side has undergone the 
 most extraordinary transformation under the reed of the Japanese. 
 
 Kioto was formerly the literary centre of Japan. At present the ancient pontifical 
 city possesses a speciality in albums containing miniatures ; almanacs of the Dairi ; 
 religious books ; romances and poems inscribed upon vellum-paper spangled with 
 gold stars. But the presses of Yeddo are far more important in the number, variety, 
 popularity, and immense sale of their publications. The greater part of the literary 
 novelties of tlie capital ai'e produced by the Professors of the University or the 
 principal pupils of the Interpreter's College. They are almost all didactic, of a practical 
 tendency, Avith an utilitarian aim. There are among them certain works which we 
 may entitle the Scientific Year, the Review of Inventions and Discoveries, Statistics of 
 Europe and of North America, the ]\Ianual of Modern History, the Precis of 
 Contemporary Geography, the Annals of Physical and Natural Sciences, of Medicine, 
 of Navigation, of Mechanics and of Military and Naval Engineering. The ancient 
 Eacycloptedias, which consist of more than two hundred volumes, are replaced by a sort 
 of Dictionary of Conversation publislicd annually in a single volume adorned with a 
 quantity of wood engravings. The ethnographical portion of this Avork is the most 
 interesting. All that which relates to the clerical and political institutions of the 
 Empire reduces itself to a dry nomenclature. The chapters devoted to the description 
 of foreign nations are extremely tame and uncritical. One of the most categorical 
 deals with the Spaniards and Portuguese, of whom it says, in so many words, that 
 they have an extremely bad religion. 
 
 I do not believe that there exists in Japan any treatise upon religious or 
 philosopliical controversy. The doctrine of Confucius excludes every kind of polemics, 
 because if men are beings naturally good, if several of them have during distant 
 centuries attained perfection, then there is really nothing more to dispute about ;
 
 256 
 
 LIFE IX JAPAN. 
 
 perfectil)ility becomes a non-sense, and progress consists in retrogression, as far as those 
 Emperors of the ancient ages, who, according to Chinese philosophy, furnished 
 
 A JAl'ANESE WKITKl:. 
 
 humanity with its supreme and definitive tyj)e. We must, however, acknowhodge, 
 lliiit tlic time has not yet come for us to judge of Japanese literature. Those harncd
 
 SrORY-TELLERS. 257 
 
 I'luropeans who are by dogrees making it known to us have only translated in the 
 tirst place useful books ; treatises whose study nu)y be of innnrdiate service to one 
 or other of our great industries. Such arc the important -works on the art 
 of sericulture, and the manufacture of porcelain in China and Japan, which liave been 
 j)ublished since 1848. As for the purely literary productions of Japanese writers, we 
 have very few of them, and the selections made by the translators have not been 
 judicious. No doubt deeper research will give us more valuable results, but they 
 will oidy be really profitable when we shall have penetrated into the private life of 
 the middle classes, and shall have succeeded in getting hold of the repertory of their 
 plays, their legends, their stories, and tlieir festival songs. 
 
 The lower classes are passionately f.jnd of listening to story-tellers and singers. 
 ICvery day, at the cessation of lalimir and of tiatfie, groups of persons of both 
 sexes may be seen about the work;-l;(i} s, or at an angle of the cro?s roads, ranged 
 in a semicircle around the professional nicoittcKr. Natidual nmiauccs and legends arc 
 abandoned, by the common consent, to the women who live liy the trade uf singers 
 and musicians. They form a very numerous class of the Japanese proletariat, 
 but some of them are much less nomadic than the others, and of an evidently 
 superior class. The most distinguished among the public singers go al)out accomiianied 
 by three or four musicians, and do not themselves play on any instrument. Th<' 
 artistic productions of these feminine associations are at once dramatic and musical, 
 and the efi'eet is very charming when they play in the open air, on a tine summer 
 evening, within a frame-work lightly constructed of bamboo, ornamented with eliniliing 
 plants and with garlands of coloured - paper lanterns. This is one of the popular 
 spectacles which delights strangers. 
 
 One evenino- when we had been i)resent at a concert bv these musicians, 1 .said 
 ti> (lur yakounines on our way home, that I regretted ver}- mucli that I could not 
 understand tlu; words of their national romances. Thev a.ssured nic, hni<j;hin2f and 
 .shrugging their shoulders, that I lost nothing by my ignorance. One of them, however, 
 iiad the politeness to a<ld, that books containing the legends recited bv the i)rofessioual 
 sinfrers were to be boiisj;ht of the booksellers in the city. 1 afterwards asked a carrier 
 in Yokohama to [lurchase for me all the best productions of tlic kind ; and f am sure 
 he executed my commission very faithfull}', for ln' brought me a complete library of 
 moral talcs, historical anecdotes, and heroic or marvellous leaends. As the greater 
 
 o 
 L L
 
 258 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAX. 
 
 iiuinlior of this collection was illustrated, I had no difficulty in recognizing the most 
 popular of their subjects, and, dipping by chance into the warlike series, I found 
 poetical and artistic illustrations of exploits which would put Ariosto's heroes to shame. 
 Asahiua-Sabro charges a troop of enemies and passes through them, lifting up 
 with his right hand a soldier wearing a casque and cuirass, and spinning him round 
 
 IMJailuAlilMUMitl^ 
 
 A liuNZE llorsE. 
 
 in the air. wliilr with the left iiand he kills two eijually redoubtable warriors with one 
 IpIuw of his mace. 
 
 Nitan-Xosiro, the dauntless hunter, astride on the back of a gigantic wild boar, — 
 wliich has Hung down and trodden under its hoofs all the companions of the hero, — 
 holds llic furious monster between his knees, and ])lunL:es bis cutlass into its shoulder.
 
 HEROIC LEOENVii. 
 
 :i."9 
 
 Sousig^, one of tin; liorscmcii of tlic Mikado, finds Id.s comrades squatting round 
 a draught-board ; he spurs his horse, and with one hound it stands in tlie centre of 
 tlie l)()ard motionh^ss, on its hind feet, whihi its master, who has not lost his stirrups 
 for a moment, sits as firmly in this difficult position as the equestrian statue of 
 Peter the Great on its granite pedestal on the lianks of the Neva. 
 
 The bow of Ulysses, king of Ithaca, has for a long time enjoyed unrivalled repu- 
 tation, liut 1 fear it is aliout to be eclipsed by the bow of Tametomo ; with which that 
 warrior con([uered the Island of Fatsisio. He desired to avoid bloodshed, and to con- 
 vince the islanders that all resistance on their part was useless : he therefore summoned 
 
 A M.VCIC IAN. 
 
 the two Strongest men of the race of Aiuos, and, seated cahnly upon a mass of rock, 
 he ]>resented his bow to them, holding it by the wood, and ordered them to try ami 
 bend it. Each seized it by lioth hands, and, setting their heels against the wood 
 t)f till' bow, they leaned back with all their weight and pulknl the strino- with all their 
 strength. Every effort was in vain; the bow yielded only when Tametomo took it 
 delicately between the finger and thumb of his right hand and shot an arrow, whi.h 
 was immediately lost in the clouds. 
 
 Such is the nature of the heroic literature of Japan. It would be much more 
 difficult to give an idea of their marvellous or fantastic legends. The merit of these 
 productions, which are generally short poems, ai)pears to me to consist essentially in the 
 
 I. h -1
 
 i60 
 
 LIFE IN JArA:^. 
 
 clioice of expressions, in tlie structure of the verses ; in fact, in the elegance of the style 
 without any reference to the subject, because most frequently we find, on translating 
 them, tiiat they have only a childish meaning, witli no moral signification or any value 
 in point of intelligence. What, for instance, can be the point of the following anecdote \ 
 " The soul of a thieving weasel having hidden itself in a bonze's kettle, the l)onze 
 saw it come out one day when he set the kettle on an unusually hot fire." This is 
 all ; and tliis absurdity is the subject of an exceedingly popular picture. There are, 
 howevci-, among these legends a few which, notwithstanding that good sense and good 
 
 taste protest against them, to a certain extent captivate 
 the imagination, excite curiosity, and provoke reflection. 
 
 Several times I have asked myself what can possilily 
 be the origin and the traditional cause of tlie almost 
 religious importance attached by all the middle-class 
 families to a picture which represents an old man armed 
 with a bamboo rake, of the sort which is used for I'aking 
 the ears of rice or small shell-fish ; and an old woman 
 holding a broom, with which she seems to be about to 
 sweep up dead leaves. They stand together side by side, 
 or they sit at the foot of an ancient cedar, whose 
 cavernous truid< seems to be their abode. AVhcnever 1 saw this picture, I thought 
 of the fable of Baucis and Philemon ; but the legend never speaks of the end of the 
 veneral)lc .lai.anese couple. An interpreter told me that the people of his province 
 regard these two personages as the Adam and Eve of their country. We often find 
 the tortoise and the crane, two animals endowed with eternal peace and a very long 
 life, frequently associated with them, and the good old man and old woman are 
 exhibited at all weddimj feasts, cither in the form of a iiicture or as a tabic ornament. 
 Xo doubt they symbolize to the young married (-ouple domestic happiness, lasting to 
 the extreme limit of old age, as the reward of a simple life and a faithful affection. 
 
 On tlic other hand, there is a tree called the Enoki, dedicated to unhappy hou.sc- 
 holds. It is Siiid to have sprung up on the tomb of the first Japanese Momau who was 
 divorci'd. If a married couple no longer suit one another, they have only to go secretly, 
 each without the knowledge of the other, to the foot of the Enoki, and there form 
 the intention of separating. In a short time the sei^aiation is accomplished without 
 
 THK OLD WOMAN AM) Till'. SPAKHOW.
 
 TREE WORSHIP. 
 
 L'Ol 
 
 any difficulty, and tlic gnitcful liushaud suspends a votive tal>le.t on the trunk of the 
 tn-c representing a, man and a woman crouching upon the ground, and turning thoir 
 backs on oii(> another. 
 
 Tree-worship, whicli luis existed among all ancient races, is limited by the Japanese 
 to very old trees. Wlien the lord of Yaniato wislied to furnish his house compk-tely 
 
 IMlIhKMON AND BAUIMS. 
 
 from the trunk (if the finest cedar in his park, the axes of the woodman bounded from 
 the bark, and large drops of l)lo()d tlowcd froni every stroke. This, says the h'gend, 
 is because ancient trees have a soul, like men and eods, orantcd to them on account 
 of their great age. They ai'c also capable of sympathy with the misfortunes of fugitives 
 who place themselves untler their protection. More than one unfortunate warrior on the
 
 262 LIFE IX JAPAN. 
 
 point of falling into the li<auds of implacable enemies has found a retreat in their 
 branehes, or in some old trunk. 
 
 Japanese legend has its Genevieve de Brabant. A noble lady driven forth into 
 the woods, gave birth to a son, whom she nursed at her breast while she laboured 
 for their common support. AVhen her innocence had been recognized she was brought 
 back with o-reat pomp to the Court of the IMikado, and her kirinion of leaves 
 was exposed in a temple for public veneration. T<i the end of his life her son retained 
 thr weather-beaten complexion and the crisp hair, which he owed to his early mode of 
 life. He was accustomed to combat with wild beasts, to tame bears, and to resist the 
 attacks of brigands ; he possessed prodigious strength and skill, and he has become 
 Diic of the principal heroes of the Empire under the name of Rouiko. 
 
 'i'he forests, and the pine and bamboo groves shelter great numbers of wild 
 beasts, among which the monkey, the polecat, the badger, and especially the fox, 
 furnish inexhaustible sulyects for fantastic stories and drawings. Animals who attain 
 to a great age end, like trees, in becoming endowed with a human soul and supernatural 
 virtues. The polecat, when it is old, calls the wind and the clouds from the mountain- 
 tops. The hail and rain obey him. He allows himself to be carried away u})on the 
 wings of the hurricane. The traveller caught in the open country may courageously 
 brave the tempest, but he cannot })rotect his face from being cut as if by a knife. 
 This is th.e effect of the claws of the polecat, who passes him in the storm. Old 
 frogs upon the liordeis of the tanks bring down a damp fog into the eyes of the 
 belated passenger, who believes that he sees the roofs of his hamlet upon the horizon, 
 but this is only an illusion which lures him still farther into the vast swamp. 
 
 The Yama tori, or silver pheasant, makes a mirror of his plumage. He is an 
 invulnerable being. I.'e does not fly from the sight of the sportsman; but woe to the 
 latter if he attempt to harm him, or to pursue him into the defiles of the mountains, 
 for lie will never return. 
 
 Old wolves have the gift of metamorphosis. One especially large wolf suddenly dis- 
 appeared from the country, in which he had long been the terror of travellers, but 
 when they thought they might heiicefoi-th go their ways in safety, they met at nightfall, 
 just at the corner of the wood, a beautiful girl who carried a lantern, painted like a 
 liouquet of roses, in her hand. She is well known through all the country-side under 
 the name of "the Bcautv witli llie liose-Lintei'ii." Alas! everv traveller who has followed
 
 J A PA Xb\^E LEUESDS. 
 
 2G3 
 
 TIIK SOUL OK TlIK OLD rr.n.uis. 
 
 her lias fallen into the jaws of the wolf. TluM-o was another girl, who, as seen frmn 
 afar, had all the graces uf her sex, but a man who saw her face to face 
 a ilenion. 
 
 liiMlrlil
 
 2(i4 LIFE IX JAFAX 
 
 Taile-vauKi is a vltv high mountain, with a deep crater in its summit. On 
 lookino- into the gulf, tlie horrified traveller Leholds a basin filled with human blood, 
 and this Ijlood boils, heated by the voleano : such a place, says the bonze, can only 
 I)e one of the departments of hell. 
 
 All maladies which break out for the first time among the people have a diabolical 
 oriijiii. The demon of small-pox came to Japan by sea. He was dressed in a red 
 tunic, and he l)orr a letter addressed, no one knows by whom, to the Divine patron 
 of the Empire. In the sanctuary of some of the old bonze houses, barbed arrow-heads 
 of flint and jasper, lancedieads in the form of spits, knives and axes of basalt and 
 of jade, are exhibited. These instruments, according to the bonzes, are for the most 
 part relics which have come down from the time of the ancient dynasties of the Gods 
 of Heaven and Earth. In the southern part of Kiphon there exists a kind of axe 
 formed of thunderbolts ; and stone arrows, which bear witness to the strife reigning 
 among the .spirits of the tempest, still fill in sliowers when the inichained elements 
 menace tlu' habitations of men. 
 
 Great respect is due to printed books, respect in fact equal to that claimed for 
 ancestral monuments. The bonze Raigo, having in a moment of anger destroyed the 
 library of his convent, was after his death changed into a rat, and condemned to gnaw 
 .sora[)s of paper and old fragments of parchment as his only food. 
 
 The evil spirits of the air haunt during the night all phiccs where crimes, either 
 detected or secret, have been committed. 
 
 The souls of misers return to tlu earth, while their treasures, however skilfully they 
 may have been concealed, are carried away, no one knows how or where. A woman 
 who had great revmiues refused to marry ; her moti\e was pure a\arice. AVhen she was 
 (Irad her sisters inherited her property. One of them, who loved to adorn herself with 
 a dress whirh had belonged to the dead woman, and who hung it up every night on 
 a nail at the l)ack of her bedroom dooi', saw a Iouq- lank arm protrudintr from the 
 dress and shaking it violently. 
 
 The souls of women who have been unhajtpy wander about the scene of their 
 misfortunes. 
 
 The souls of women who have committed suicide by diowning float in the air 
 as if they were about to fall head foremost. 
 
 Women who have died in cliildlicd appear to the ])assers-by carrying the infant
 
 lIIsrulUVAL WRITISUS. 205 
 
 in their arms, and ••rviiig, in a supplicating voice, — " Have mercy, and receive my child' 
 that it may not remain in the tomb." 
 
 A woman having died in consequence of the ill-treatment of her husband, the 
 latter sent for a bonze immediately after lu'r interment, and directed him to place a 
 blessed paper, which lia.-s the properly of dispelling evil spirits, upon the lintels of his 
 doorway. When the soul of the dead woman came back from the cemetery, it could 
 not pass tlie sacred barrier, and thencefortli she cries incessantly to all persons who 
 approach the house: "All you who pass Ijy take away that paper." 
 
 Ihe historical anecdotes present a totally difl'erent ehaiacter from the heroic and 
 marvellous legends. Tln-y hear the modern imjjress of the critical studies of the 
 University of Yeddo, and are niaiked Iiy the cold reasoning which distinguishes the 
 philosophical school of Confucius. 
 
 The American Missionary, Verbeck, has made us acquainted with one of the most 
 remarkable specimens: "The C'ollection of Virtuous Actions accomplished in Japan and 
 China," the work of a Japanese, a native of Yeddo, and a \\w\n\ in the University. 
 A short quotation will enaljle my readers to appreciate the book, and the school to 
 which it belongs : " All men," says the autlior, " invoke some deity to preserve them 
 and their families from ill-fortune. Some address their prayers to the moon : others 
 watch all night, in order that they may salute the rising sun l.y their homage ; others 
 invoke the gods of Heaven and Earth, and also Buddha. But to adore the sun, the 
 moon, the gods, oi- I'.uddha, without doing that which is good, is to ask that rice-stems 
 should come out (.f the earth before the grain lias been planted. Learn, then, that in 
 that case, tlie moon, the sun, the gods, and Buddha may perliaps have a great deal 
 of compassion for you, but they will never cause the rice to grow until you have 
 sown the seed." 
 
 Confucius has said: "He who offends heaven has nobody whom he eau invoke 
 with profit;" and tlu' Japaiu-sc sage, Kita-mo-noKanii, has written: "If thou turn not 
 away thine lu-art from truth and goodness, the gods will take eare of thee without thine 
 invt)cation 
 
 " To be virtuous is to adore.' 
 
 Under the reign of one of the ancient .Mikado.s, an unknown star appeared in the 
 sky. A celebrat.'d astronomer having observed it, deehuiHl that it was the presage of a 
 great calamity about t.; fall upon the family of one of the generals-iu-chief of the 
 
 ^^'1 n 'I'M I <-i M -*<li I i .f 
 
 M M
 
 266 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 Empire. At this epoch Nakahira was the general-in-cliief of the left, and Sane'gori was 
 o^eneral-in-chief of the right. On learning the prediction of the astrologer, San^gori and 
 his family fled to the temples of Buddha and of Sinto, in the neighbonrhood, and there 
 worshipped without cessation, Avhile the family of Nakahira took no precaution of 
 the kind. A priest, remarking this, went to Nakahira and expressed his surprise. 
 " Sancgori," said he, " visits all the holy places, and offers np prayers in order that he 
 may escape from the misfortune presaged by the unknown star ; why do not you do the 
 same ? " Nakahira, who had attentively listened to the priest, replied : " You have seen 
 what is going on, and you will know how to understand ray justification. AVhen I am 
 told that the unknown star presages a misfortune to one of the generals-in-chief, it stands 
 to reason that the predicted calamity must fiill upon either Sanegori or upon me. Now 
 wlien I come to reflect, I know that I am of very advanced age, and that I have no 
 military talent ; Sanegori, on the contrary, is in the prime of life, and perfectly suited for 
 the post he holds. Consequently, if I were to pray and were to be heard, so as to turn 
 away from myself the calamity which threatens us both eijually, it could only take place 
 to the greater peril of Sanegori, and to the detriment of the Empire. I abstain therefore 
 from prayer, in order to aid as far as I can in saving the precious life of this man." 
 
 On hearing tliese words the priest could not restrain his emotion, and he exclaimed : 
 " Certainly so noble a thought is the best act of worship you could make, and most 
 undoubtedly, if there be gods, and if there be a Buddha, it is neither upon you nor 
 yiiur family that the calamity will fall.'
 
 K.\ rilANcK lu TlIIv i;Ar.llKNS iiF .MVASKI. VI'UDO. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 dumesth: solemmties. 
 
 GARDENS. — BATHS. — POPL'L.\R MRDICIXK. — THE SHAMPOOERS. — WEDDINGS. — A SOCIAL COMEDY. 
 — A JAPANESE BABY.- — DEATH. — I'.IKI.M,. — INCINERATION. — YEDA.S. — CHKISTANS. — 
 FURTHEU CUSTOMS. 
 
 Chinese civilization ] lo.-^.ses-se.s nothing wIul-Ii resembles the beneficent institution of a 
 (lay of rest recurring ri'gularly after a certain series of \V(n-king days. There are 
 monthly festivals, by which the working cla.sses commonly profit very little, and an 
 
 M M 2
 
 2i',S LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 entire week, the first of the year, dimng which all labour is suspended, and the 
 population of the cities and the countries give themselves up to the amusements Avithin 
 their reach, each person choosing them according to his social position and the resources 
 at his disposal. 
 
 The citizens of Yeddo, the artizans, the manufacturers, the Japanese tradesmen in 
 general, lived, until the ari'ival of the Europeans, under the most exceptional economic 
 conditions in the world. They worked only for the internal supply of a country highly 
 favoured by nature, sufficiently large and sufficiently cultivated to supply all its own 
 needs ; for centuries they had enjoyed the pleasures of an easy and simple life. This 
 is no longer the case. I witnessed the last days of the age of innocence, in which, 
 with the exception of some great merchants whom fortune had obstinately pursued 
 with its favours, no one worked except to live, and no one lived except to enjoy 
 (existence. Work itself had a place in the category of the purest and deepest enjoyments. 
 The artizan had a passion for his work, and, far from counting the hours, the days, 
 the weeks, which he gave to it, it was with reluctance that he drew himself away from 
 it till he had at length brought it — not to a certain saleable value, which was less 
 the object of his care — but to that state of perfection which satisfied him. If he were 
 tired, he left his workshop and rested himself for as long or as short a time as he 
 pleased, either in his house, or in company with his friends at some place of amusement. 
 
 There was not a Japanese dwelling of the middle classes without its little garden, 
 a sacred asylum for solitude, for the siesta, for amusing reading, for line fishing, or 
 for long libations of tea and saki. 
 
 The hills on the south, west, and north of the citadel, are rich in pretty valleys 
 and grottoes, springs and ponds, all utilized in the most ingenious manner l)y the 
 small proprietors. If nature has not isolated the demesne by means of hedges or 
 natural palisades of bamboo covered with climbing plants, industry supplies the 
 deficiency. When the garden is approached from the street, a rustic bridge is thrown 
 across the canal before the door, and hidden with tufts of trees and thick-leaved shrubs. 
 On crossing the threshold, the visitor might believe himself to be in a virgin forest 
 far from all human haliitations. Blocks of stone, negligently arranged as steps, help 
 him to mount the hill, and suddenly, when he has reached the summit, a delightful 
 spectacle lies at his feet. Below the flower-covered rocks is a gracefully-formed pond, 
 its banks adorned with lotus, iris, and water lilies ; a little wooden bridoe crosses it.
 
 GARDENS. 
 
 2G9 
 
 The path desceuds through groves of tufted bamboos, azaleas, dwarf pahns, and camellias ; 
 then through beautiful groups of tiny pines which liide the ivy-covered roeks, and 
 alono- hill-sides enamelled with flowers, amid which the lily lifts its white crown above 
 the dwarf shrubs, which arc cut into fantastic forms. 
 
 This scene, when beheld from the bottom of the valley, offers an equally harmonious 
 combination of form and colour. There is nothing to excite particular attention, but 
 the whole landscape aiul all its details wrap the mind in calm, and leave it no other 
 impression than the vague pleasure of per- 
 fect rest. 
 
 Although the Japanese delight on occa- 
 sion to plunge themselves into a condition 
 which clo.sely approaches the physical in.scn- 
 sibility and ideal annihilation recommended 
 by Buddhi.sm, they do not systematically 
 indulge in it. The spirit of order presides 
 over their daily conduct, and regulates their 
 hygienic practices. 
 
 Among the latter the bath holds the first 
 place. In addition to their muining ablutions, 
 the Japanese, of ever)' age nnd of both sexes, 
 take a hot bath every day, at a temperature 
 rather above that of fifty degrees centigrade. 
 They remain from five to thirty minutes in 
 
 the water, sometimes plunged up to the shoulders, sometimes only u}i to the waist, 
 according as they lie down or scpiat ; and during all the time they take the greatest 
 care to avoid wetting the head. It not unfre(|uently happens that congestion of the 
 brain, and even apoplexy, is the result of this unrea.s(mable habit. 
 
 A custom whi(?h has become a daily need, and is practised by all clas.ses of an 
 enormous population, could not be in any sense private. A tacit agreement has 
 therefore been established at Japan, which places the bath, from the point of view 
 of public morals, in the category of iiulifferent actions, ueitlier more nor less than sleeping, 
 walking out, and drinking. As the superior classes of society have dormitories and 
 dining-rooms, so each house belonging to the nol)ility or the upper ranks of the citizens 
 
 A GOD of Il.U'l'INF.KS.
 
 270 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 has one or two liatli-rooms reserved for domestic use ; and there is no small citizen's 
 dwelling without some little room where a bath, with its heating apparatus, may be 
 found. AVhen the bath is ready, the entire family profit ]:)y it in succession ; first the 
 father, then the mother, then the children and all the household servants included. 
 
 niK I'AI.Al i: OK I'KINCK SATSIU'SIA AT VKDDO. 
 
 Nevertheless, the common l)ath is rarely used, because the expense of the fuel which 
 it would involve would l)e much greater than the expense of a family subsLiijitio]! 
 to the public baths. Accorduigly the majority of the population regularly use tlie 
 latter. They are to be found in every street of a certain importance, and ever\\vheie 
 they are so crowded, especially during the two last hours of the day, that it has become 
 al.'solutely necessary Lo allow the Ixithers to liathe in commuiiitv. There are jfenerallv two
 
 BATHS. 271 
 
 reservoirs, separated by a low iron or wooden bridge, and sufficient!)' spacious to 
 receive from twelve to twenty bathers at a time. The women and cliildren collect 
 on one side, and the men on the other; but without prejudice to the leading 
 principle tliat every new Comer shall install himself where he finds a place, no matter 
 who may 1)C the previous occupant. The proprietor squats upon a platform, from 
 which he can observe the persons who come in, and who pay in passing. Sometimes 
 the proprietor smokes, and sometimes he reads romances to amuse himself 
 
 The national law wliicli regulates the public baths extends beyond the threshold 
 of these establishments, — that is to say, if the bathers of either sex wish to take the air 
 on the pavement outside, they are respectively regarded as partaking of the benefit of 
 the accepted fiction ; and more than that, it shelters them to their own dwelling, when 
 it is their pleasure to proceed thither with the fine lobster-colour which they have 
 brought out of the hot water intact. 
 
 However strange this custom may appear to us, no Japanese, before the arrival of 
 the Europeans, supposed that it could have a reprehensible side. On the contrary, it 
 was in perfect harmony with the rules of domestic life, and irreproachable from the 
 moral point of view. 
 
 Many singularities find explanation in the fact that the Japanese have decidedly 
 no pretension to plastic beauty. Nothing is more characteristic in this respect than the 
 manner in whii-h the native painters draw the heroes and heroines of their stories of 
 love and war. Ju a little while, however, Japan will be under the influence 
 of the Japanese who have visited Europe, and especially those who have made a 
 prolonged sojourn here. If the comparison which they institute between the two 
 civilizations does not induce them to recommend the adoption of ours in its lesser 
 details, we may be quite sure that tlicy will reform all suc'h national customs as have 
 provoked the ridicule of foreigners. 
 
 Several of the great jiuMic baths of Yeddo have added modern therapeutic 
 inventions, such as douches of hot and cold water, to the ordinary resources of these 
 establishments. 
 
 The physicians of the opulent classes of society are always certain to win the good 
 graces of their patients by recommending them to try a cure in one of the mountain 
 districts famous for the efficacy of their waters. There are some particularly celebrated 
 in the island of Kiousiou, at the foot of the volcanoes of Aso and Wounsentake. The
 
 272 LIFE IX JAPAX. 
 
 thermal springs which ai'o found there are, geuerally speakiny, sulphurous and 
 verv hot. They arc used in rheumatic affections and skin diseases. 
 
 It has not yet occurred to the mind of the Japanese to enhance the charms of 
 the hathiuii season hv the attraction of roulette and treiite et qnarnnfe. Games of chance 
 
 A SCr.GICAL Ol'EItATION. 
 
 are disdained hy eveiyonc in good society. Cards are left to servants and coolies, and 
 these are not permitted to play for money. 
 
 The small tradesman does not trouble himself to go to tlic thermal baths; when 
 •lectors do not .seem to be doing him any good, he prefers to undertake a pilarimao-e. 
 He is not, however, without his omu notions about mrdicine. Arcoiiling to him the latent 
 <•au.se of all the disturbance of the human machine resides in the more or less ill-
 
 POPULAR MEDICINE. 
 
 273 
 
 regulated action of the internal vapours; apparently those of which Sganarelle speaks, 
 " the vapours formed of the exhalations of the influences which arise from the region 
 of the malady." The daily baths, no doubt, contribute to disengage and to dissolve 
 them. If, however, some unexpected indisposition arises during the hours of work or 
 of recreation, it is good to have a little medicine case at hand, and, therefore, he wears 
 it hanging from his girdle, on the same bunch of strings with his pipe and his tobacco 
 bag. But if the morbific gas resists the powders and the pills in his little box, he 
 must have recourse to cautery. The former docs not absolutely demand the intervention 
 of the surgeon. Every well-arranged household has 
 its supply of the little cones of mug wort with which 
 moxas are applied, and every good housewife ought 
 to know what are the portions of the body to 
 burn according to the symptoms of the malady : 
 as, for example, the shoulders in indigestion, stomach 
 complaints, and loss of appetite ; the vertebrae in 
 attacks of pleurisy, the muscles of the thumb in a 
 case of toothache, and so on. SurU is the reputa- 
 ti(jn of tlie moxa among the Japanese people, that 
 it is frequently used as a preventive, and even at 
 fixed times once or twice a year. 
 
 A sovereign remedy against cholic consists in 
 makinji; six or nine deei) incisions, by means of fine 
 
 ° 1 ' ./ YEBIS. 
 
 needles of s;old or silver, in the abdominal reffiou. 
 
 As in certain countries in Europe, there exists a class of quacks who add teeth- 
 drawing to the barbei-'s profession, and who put on leeches and blisters, so Japan possesses 
 a whole host of subaltern surgeons specially devoted to the practice of cautery and 
 other empirical remedies. They are called Tensasi, or " men who punish," in reference 
 to their preliminary operations. Whatever talent they may display in their various 
 functions, they are never permitted to add shampooing— a kind of treatment nxuch 
 resorted to in Japan in cases of nervous irritation or rheumatic affections — to them. 
 
 The reason for this exclusion was told me liy a shopkeeper, at whose house I witnessed 
 a spectacle which at first sight I could not understand. A woman, lying on her left 
 side at full length u^kju the mats in the back shop, was patiently bearing the weight 
 
 N N 
 
 J^mMv^'.
 
 274 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 of a biff fellow, who was kneading her shoulders with both hands. " Is that your wife ? " 
 said I to the shopkeeper. He made an affirmative sign, and then placing his thumb 
 and middle finger of his left hand upon his two eyelids, showed me that the operator 
 was blind, and went on to inform me that the laws of society among the Japanese 
 limited the office of shampoocrs to men deprived of sight. I remembered to have met 
 
 niE rUOCKSSION ok IIIK BLINU. (CARICATVKE. 
 
 blind mon in the street carefully feeling for the footway, a rough staff in their right 
 hand, and in tlie left a reed cut into a whistle, from whence they extracted a plaintive 
 and prolonged sound at intervals. Thus they announce to the citizens that they are 
 passing by, in case any one wants to be shampooed. The shampooers have the head 
 shaven, and wear one garment, of grey or blue stuff.
 
 THE SHAMPOOERS. 275 
 
 1 was told that they form a large fraternity, which is divided into two orders. 
 The most ancient, that of Bou-Setzous, has a religious character and belongs to the 
 Dairi. It was instituted and endowed by the son of a Mikado, Prince Sen-Mimar, who 
 became blind by dint of weeping for the death of his Empress. 
 
 The rival order of more recent origin, but not less chivalrous, is that of the Fekis. 
 
 Tn the great battle which the Taigoun Yoritomo won at Simonoseki, having put 
 an end to the civil wars which rent the Empire, Feki, the chief of the rebel party, 
 was slain. His brave general, named Kakekigo, soon fell into the jjower of the 
 conqueror, who treated his prisoner with great consideration. When he imagined he 
 had gained him over by his attentions, he called him into his j>resence and proposed 
 to him to ally himself to the Imperial cause. " I have been the faithful servant of a 
 good master," replied the general, "and I have lost him ; no other in the world shall 
 succeed to him in my esteem. As for you, the author of his death, I could never look 
 on you without longing to strike your head off at my feet, but you confound nic by 
 your magnanimity, therefore, accept the only sacrifice by which I can render homage 
 to it." So saying, the unfortunate man tore out his two eyes and offered them to his 
 new master. 
 
 Yoritomo set him at liberty, and gave him an estate in the province of Fiougo. 
 The general founded the order for the blind under the authorization of the ]\Iikado, and 
 the Fekis soon exceeded the Bou-Setzous in numbers and in wealth. All the members 
 of this society must exercise a profession. There are some who become musicians, 
 special players on the biwa, but the greater number practise shampooing. All the 
 money which they collect from city to city is deposited in a central treasury, from 
 which the associates receive a fixed sum, sufficient for their subsistence to the end of 
 their lives. 
 
 The governor of the order resides at Kioto. I am told that he exercises the right 
 of life and death over the members, subject only to the Imperial supremacy. 
 
 It is not difficult for a foreigner sojourning in Japan to mix with the people, and 
 even to penetrate into the intimacy of the middle classes ; but I doubt whether he 
 would ever succeed in gaining admission to family festivals in any rank whatever of 
 native society. 
 
 In all the countries of the far East, the marriage of a daughter is always celebrated 
 with more or less prolonged rejoicings in the house of the husband. But, while the 
 
 K N 2
 
 276 LIFE IN JArAH. 
 
 Chinese is [iroud to invite foreign guests to the wedding of his son, in order that he 
 may make a pompous parade before them, the Japanese, on the contrary, surrounds the 
 ceremonies which belong to this solemn act with the discreetest reserve. He regards 
 it as much too serious an affair to bo interfered with by the presence of any but the 
 nearest relatives and the confidential friends of the two principals. 
 
 Most Japanese mamages are the result of family arrangement made long before- 
 hand, under the inspiration of the practical good sense wliich is oik- of the national 
 characteristics. 
 
 The bride brings no dowry, but she is given a trousseau which many a lady of 
 higher rank might be proud of. She is required to have an unsullied reputation, a 
 gentle and yielding disposition, the amount of education fitted for her sex, and the 
 acquii'ements of a good housekeeper. 
 
 Considerations of pecuniary interest hold only a secondary place, and they gene- 
 rally lead rather to business combinations than to mere money bargains. Thus, when a 
 good citizen who has no son, gives his only, or his eldest daughter in marriage, her 
 husband receives the title of his father-in-law's iKlopted son, takes the name of his 
 father-in-law, and succeeds him in the exercise of his industry, or the transaction of 
 his commercial afi"airs. Japanese weddings are prece<led by a betrothal .ceremony, at 
 which the principal members of both families are present ; and it not unfrequently 
 happens that it is on this occasion the young people discover for the first time the 
 projects which their respective parents have formed for them. From that day 
 forth they are given opportunities of meeting, and of appreciating the wisdom of 
 the choice which has been made on their behalf. Visits, invitations, presents, 
 preparations for their installation in their new home succeed each other so rapidly 
 and so pleasantly, that the young people are rarely otherwise than delighted with 
 tlieir prospects. 
 
 Tlic max'riage generally takes place when the bride-elect has attained her sixteenth, 
 and the bridegroom-elect his twentieth year. Early in the morning the young girl's 
 trousseau is brought to the bridegroom's dwelling, and laid out very tastefully in the 
 apartments in which the wedding feast is to be held. In the chief room a domestic 
 altar is erected, adorned with flowers and hxAon with ofTerinos ; and in front of this 
 altar, images of the gods and patron saints of the two families are hung. The aqua- 
 riums are supplied with various plants, grouped picturesquely, and with symbolical
 
 WEDDINGS. 277 
 
 significance. On tlu; lactjucr-work tables are ]jla(K'd dwarf cedars and small figures 
 representing the first couple, accompanied by their venerable attributes, the hundred- 
 years-old crane and tortoisf. To comt)ietc the picture by a lesson in nKjrals and 
 patriotism, some packets of edible seaweed, of mussels and dried fish, are placed among 
 the wedding presents, to remind the young couple of the primitive food, and the simple 
 customs of the ancient inhabitants of Japan. 
 
 About noon a splendid procession entei-s the rooms thus prejiarcd ; the young bride, 
 veiled and arrayed in wliite, advances, led by two female fiiends, and followed by a 
 crowd of relatives, friends, and neighbours, in robes of ceremony composed of splendid 
 scarlet brocade, gauze, and embj-oidcries. The two friends do the honours, distribute the 
 guests, see to the arrangements for the repast, and Hit al)out frum one group to another. 
 They are called the male and femab' butterfly. They must personify, in the cut and 
 decoration of their crape and gauze robes, tlie charming couple who, in popular 
 storj^, set an example of conjugal felicity. May you, too, they seem to say to the 
 betrothed pair, taste the flowers of life, hover in aerial flight over the earth, during your 
 terrestrial career, alwaj's joyous, always united, until your happy existence exhales in 
 common in a final embrace. 
 
 With the exception of certain Buddhist sects, whose rites include a nuptial l)ene- 
 diction, the priest has no place in the celebration of marriage in Japan, The decisive 
 ceremony by which the Japanese replace our sacramental ordinance possesses an afi'ecting 
 symbolism. Amongst the objects displayed in the midst of the circle of the guests 
 is a metal vase, in the form of a pitcher with two mouths. This vase is beautifully 
 ornamented. At an appointed signal one of the bride's ladies fills it with saki ; the 
 other takes it by the handle, raises it to the height of the mouths of the kneeling 
 bride and bridegroom, and makes them drink alternately, each from the pitcher mouth 
 placed opposite to their lips, until the vase is emptied. It is thus that, husband and 
 wife, they must drink horn the i-w\^ of conjugal life; he on his side, she on hers, but 
 they must both taste the same ambrosia, or the same gall ; they must share eipially the 
 pains and sorrows as well as the joys of this new existence. 
 
 If the poetical charm of the symbolism of the natural aflections sufiiced to render 
 people moral, tlie Japanese should be the best husbands in the world. Unhappily, the 
 same man who has the right to kill his wife on the simplest suspicion — if, for example, 
 he should see her in conversation with a stranger — no relation of the family — has no
 
 278 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 scruple about introducing a first concubine, and soon a second, then a third, and it may 
 be even a fourth, under the conjugal roof. 
 
 It is said that, in order to spare the dignity of the legitimate wife, and in 
 deference to her rank as a mother and the mistress of the house, the husband deigns 
 to consult her upon the choice of each of the pearls of beauty he thinks fit to add to 
 the treasures of his domestic felicity. It is said that the proudest dame, the most 
 tenacious of her rights and of her prerogatives, feels no jealousy, and sees with no 
 displeasure an augmentation of her household which permits her to rule over a numerous 
 suite of vromen, her humble servants, and little pages, slaves to the caprices of her own 
 children. But this picture is not true to life. There is, no doubt, a class in Japanese 
 society in which the marriage tie is much relaxed ; that of the Daimios, formerly 
 condemned by the inhuman policy of the Siogouus to leave their wives and children 
 as hostages at Yeddo, during the prolonged absences rendered imperative by their 
 feudal position and its administrative duties. But the licentious habits of the nobility 
 never propagate themselves among the middle classes with impunity. When the mother 
 of the family forces herself to suffer humiliation in silence, thenceforward peace and 
 domestic hajipiness are at an end. When the relaxation of the ties of esteem and mutual 
 confidence leads to a breach of the community of interests, disorder creeps into household 
 affairs, the husband neglects the exercise of his profession, and endeavours to blind 
 himself to his true moral condition, by an ever increasing consumption of saki. 
 Finally, poverty, sickness, and frequently even some violent catastrophe, bring about 
 the dissolution or the ruin of the household, which had been founded under such fair 
 auspices. 
 
 The middle classes, and the masses in general, are saved by their narrow means from 
 the scourge I have just indicated. The great majority of households, those of shopkeepers, 
 artizans, workmen, and cultivators, require the common toil of both father and mother 
 for their maintenance ; the constant combination of their efforts, not to secure ease, 
 but merely to supply the commonest necessaries of life. 
 
 The introduction of one single vice into such a state of things would bring 
 about its immediate ruin. Many a young couple have to struggle bravely for years, 
 in order to defray the expenses of their marriage. Others have had sufficient courage 
 and good sense to resist the temptation of the national custom. The proceedings in 
 the latter instances testify to the national talent for acting. An honest couple have
 
 A SOCIAL COMEDY. 279 
 
 a marriageable daughter, and the latter is acquainted with a fine young fellow, 
 who would be a capital match, if only he possessed the necessary means of making 
 his lady-love and her parents the indispensable wedding presents, and of keeping 
 open house for a week. One fine evening, the father and mother, returning from the 
 bath, find the house empty, — the daughter is gone. They make inquiries in the 
 neighbourhood ; no one has seen her ; but the neighbours hasten to ofi'er their services 
 in seekinof her, together with her distracted parents. They accept the ofier, and head 
 a solemn procession, which goes from street to street, to the lover's door. In vain 
 does he, hidden behind his panels, turn a dieaf ear; he is at length obliged to yield 
 to the importunities of the besieging crowd ; he opens the door, and the young girl, 
 drowned in tears, throws herself at the feet of her parents, who threaten to curse 
 her. Then comes the intervention of charitable friends, deeply moved by this spectacle ; 
 the softening of the mother, the proud and inexorable attitude of the father, the 
 combined eloquence of the multitude, employed to soften his heart ; the lover's endless 
 protestations of his resolution to become the best of sons-in-law. At length the 
 father yields, his resistance is overcome ; he raises liis kueehng daughter, pardons her 
 lover, and calls him his son-in-law. Then, almost as if by enchantment, cups of 
 saki circulate through the assembly ; everybody sits down upon the mats ; the two 
 culprits are placed in the centre of the circle, large bowls of saki are handed to 
 them ; and when they are emptied, tlie marriage is recognized, and declared to be 
 validly contracted in the presence of a suflicient number of witnesses, and it is 
 registered next day by the proper officer, without any difiiculty. 
 
 Tlie fashion of wedding-trips is unknown in Japan. Far from leaving the young 
 people to enjoy their happiness in peace, their friends resort to every sort of pretext for 
 overwhelming them with invitations and visits, which are always accompanied by 
 prolonged bouts of eating and drinking. 
 
 As soon as the young wife has the hope of becoming a mother, all her relatives, 
 near and distant, assemble at her house, and the announcement of the good news 
 is welcomed by a concert of coarse congratulations, indiscreet questions, and hygienic 
 confidences absolutely untranslatable. The young wife is, from this moment, placed 
 under the direction of an experienced matron, called the obassan, whose sole real 
 service consists in making herself an indispensable fixture in the house for the rest 
 of her days. At the third month a fresh solemnity takes place, no less difiicult to describe
 
 280 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 than the first. On this occasion the obassau unfolds, exhibits to the company, and 
 finally invests hor charge with the girdle of red cords, which is only to be laid aside 
 on the completion of the sixth month. When the time of delivery approaches, the 
 poor patient is surrounded by a crowd of friends, relations, and neighbours, and is 
 
 A WEUniNU. 
 
 obliged to sul)niit with hnnd)lo resignation to the suffering imposed l)y the orders of the 
 obassan, and the contradictory advice of hor inmimerable counsellors. The birth of the 
 child does Ijut redouble their officiousness. An incomprehensible prejudice deprives 
 the young mother of the necessary sleep which her wluih' being craves, and she is not 
 allowed a moment's repose until her diild, having been washed and dressed, is placed in 
 her ai'ms.
 
 A JAPANESE BABY. 281 
 
 Here commences the second phase of her conjugal career. For two years at lea.st 
 she will nurse the chiM, and according to the rules of politeness which regulate the visits 
 of Japanese ladies, she must extend her lacteal gifts to the children of her friends. 
 Another demonstration of courtesy is made by the young girls of the neighbourhood. 
 They dispute for the privilege of carrying the new-born infant out for its air and exercise, 
 not only as an act of neighbourly kindness, but in order that they may, quite seriously, 
 .serve an apprenticeship to the main duties of their future vocation. 
 
 On the thirtieth day after hi.s birth, the new citizen of Niphon receives his fir.st 
 name. He will take a second on attaining his majority, a third at his marriage, a fourth 
 when he shall be appointed to any public function, a fifth when he shall ascend in rank 
 (ir in dignity, and so on until the last, the name which shall be given liiiu aftm- his death, 
 and inscribed upon his tomb ; that by which his memory .sliall be iiidd sacred from 
 generation to generation. 
 
 The ceremony, whieli corresponds to baptism among us, is a simple presentation of 
 the newly-born child in the temple of his parents' gods. Except in c(!rtaiu .sects, 
 it is not accompanied by sprinkling with water, or nny of the formalities of jwrification. 
 The father hands a memorandum containing three names, to the officiating bonze, who 
 copies them on three separate sheets of paper, which he mixes together and shakes up 
 at random, pronouncing a sacramental invocation in a loud voice. Then he tlu-ows 
 them into the air, and tlie first which, in falling, touches the floor of the holy place, 
 indicates the name most agreeable to the presiding divinity. The bonze immediately 
 inscribes it ujton a sheet of blessed paper, and gives it as a talisman to the child's 
 fatlier. Then, the religious act being complete, it remains only to celebiate the event 
 by visits and banquets proportionate to tlie social condition of the infant liero of the 
 festival, wlio receives a numl)er of presents on this occasion, among wlii'-h two fans figure, 
 in the case of a male, and a pot of pommade in that of a female child, flic fans are 
 [trecursors of swords, and the pommade is the prestige of feminine cliarnis. In both cases, 
 a packet of flax thread is added, signifying good wishes for a long life. 
 
 The baptism of a child is always an occasion for generosity on the part of the 
 parent towards the priests of their religion. Tt is understood that tlie piii'sts shall not 
 fail to inscribe the child's name on the list of their pupils, and .shall follow all the pha.ses 
 of his life with solicitude. Tlic reccisters in the bDiize-houses are .--aid to be most 
 accurately kept; they must always be at the disposal of the police authorities. 
 
 o
 
 282 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 At three years old, the boy begins to wear a sword belt, and at seven, if he be a 
 Samourai, the two swords, which form the insignia of his rank. These weapons are, of 
 course, provisional, and adapted to his size. At fifteen, he exchanges them for the proven 
 swords confided to him, as a glorious trust, by his family, during his lifetime. 
 
 In the middle class, the chivalrous ceremonies have no place, but the three before- 
 mentioned dates, and chiefly the last, are kept with rejoicings which yield in importance 
 only to marriage festivities. On the day which completes the boy's fifteenth year, he 
 attains his majority, adopts the headdress of grown men, and takes a part in the business 
 of the paternal house. The day before he is addressed as a child ; all of a sudden 
 everything around him is changed ; the ceremonious forms of national civility increase his 
 importance in his own eyes, and he hastens, on his side, to respond to the congratulations 
 which he receives, so as to prove that while he is proud of his new position, he is 
 also awake to its responsibility. This noble testimony does not, indeed, limit itself 
 to vain declarations, and I do not hesitate to assert, that among the most interesting 
 traits of Japanese society are the zeal, perseverance, and seriousness with which young 
 people of fifteen forsake the pleasures of childhood, and enter the severe school of practical 
 life, each preparing himself to make his way honourably in the world. 
 
 Apprenticeship to any manual profession is equivalent to ten years' service. During 
 this time the master feeds, clothes, and lodges the apprentice, but he never gives him any 
 salary, until quite near the end of the terra, when the apprentice having become a workman, 
 receives suflBcient pocket-money to buy tobacco. Professional instruction, nevertheless, does 
 not suffer from this state of things. The master is interested in teaching his apprentice as 
 thoroughly as possible, because it is he who presents the workman, in his turn aspiring to the 
 rank of master, to the " tribe " or trade. This rank cannot be attained under the ao-e of 
 twenty-five years. As soon as the workman has reached that time of life, his master gives 
 him his liberty, and presents him with the tools necessary for the setting up of a modest 
 workshop. Then conu.'s marriage to consecrate the new establishment. 
 
 It frequently happens that the workman marries before he is set up in a workshop 
 of his own ; but this takes place only when his parents' circumstances admit of 
 his bringing his wife to live under tlieir roof until he can make a home for her. 
 
 In all Japanese families death gives liso to a series of domestic solemnities, 
 more or less sumptuous, according to the rank of the deceased, but in every case in 
 a proportion ver}- expensive to his nearest relatives. They have to bear the cost of the
 
 DEATH. 
 
 283 
 
 religious ceremonies which arc in (lie province of the bonzes : they h;ne to pay fur 
 the last sacraments ; the watching and the praying, whicli is kept up without intermission 
 in the house of the deceased until the funeral, the service which precedes the departure of 
 the funeral procession, the funeral mass celebrated in the temple, and all the requisites 
 for the burial or the burning of the corpse ; such as the coHin, draperies, torches, flowers, 
 
 A VISIT UK CONDI)]. liNPK. 
 
 combustibles, urn, tomb, (-oUections and offerings given to the bonzes. Ihen comes the 
 turn of the coolies who have washed tlic body, of .those who have carried the coffin, and 
 the convent servants whose duties lie within the enclosure of the cemetery. JJut 
 this is not all ; a pious custom ordains tliat all persons of a certain station shall install 
 a servant at the house door charged witli the distribution of alms, in small coins, to 
 
 u 2
 
 284 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN 
 
 all the poor, indiscriminately, who come to seek tliem. And also, on the return of 
 the funeral procession, all the party are expected to take leave of the head of the 
 aflBicted family, who testifies his gratitude by giving them a handsome repast. 
 
 It is not, however, in these harassing expenses only that we must seek for the source 
 of the hardly disguised impatience with which the Japanese discharge the last ofiices 
 towards their neighbours. The truth is, that though they are hardened to the sight 
 of blood, and to scenes of homicide, they cannot overcome, even in the case of members 
 
 Kl-NKUAl. SEIIVUK IN IIJK HOUSK OF THE DECKASK.D. 
 
 of their own family, the instinctive repugnance, the profound horror which the presence 
 or even tln^ vicinity of a corpse causes thrm, when the death has been a natural one. 
 Tlicrr are, however, nul)le exceptions. Among the Japanese women, we find wives 
 and mothers, who, overcoming every supei'stitious fear, know how to prove that love 
 is stronger than death; while the men nf the household consider themselves acquitted of 
 their task when tlu'y have .sent for the bonzes to recite prayers, and for a barber 
 and his coolie assistants, who lay out the corpse, and retire to smoke and drink at 
 the greatest possible distance from the chamber of death, the mother of the family
 
 BURIAL. 285 
 
 remains to the last beside the corpse of the husband or the son. During the first hours 
 of mourning, it is she wlio receives the condolences of the friends and neighbours. 
 Humbly prostrated on the reversed mat, at the foot of a screen, also reversed, which 
 hides the corpse from viev\', slie mingles her sobs with the sighs and consoling words of 
 her visitors. But as soon as the undertakers (as Ave should call them), arrive, she rises 
 and assists in all the preparations they have to make. The head of the deceased must 
 be completely shaven, and his body carefully washed, which is done by plentiful douches 
 of tepid water, showered into the bath-room in wliicli lie is placed sitting on a turned 
 up tub. When tlie coolies have dried the corpse, they lift it up respectfully, in order 
 to place it in the coffin. The operation is not always an easy one. The rich Japanese 
 who favour inhumation, like to rest in the earth, doubled up into enormous jars, which 
 are masterpieces of native pottery. It requires a certain amount of energy and very 
 strong wrists to squeeze a corpse who is at all l)rond-shouldered into tlie narrow 
 neck of one of these jars. 
 
 The lo^\'er middle class and common people use, for coffins, simply barrels made 
 of fir planks, willi li.'inds of bamboo bark. Whether the corpse is going to be 
 buried or burned, it is squeezed into the same narrow compass. The head is bent, 
 the legs are doubled up under the body, and the arms are crossed on the bicast. 
 It is not accidentiiUy that the Japanese bury their dead in the attitude in which a 
 child rests in the mother's womb. The practice enforces the dogma of a fntuic life 
 under an eloquent s}mbolism, of which the concluding action of the final })arting 
 is a most significant feature. At the moment when the coolies are about to place 
 the cover on the jar, or the lid on the Ijarrel, the mourning woman who has previously 
 assisted in all the melancholy preliminaries, bends fur the last time over the corpse, 
 and places between its hands a viaticum, no doubt the strangest, but also the most 
 remarkable in all the mythologies of antiquity. It is a little sheet of paper, folded 
 in four, containing a small shred of the umbilical cord which united the dead person 
 with his mother at the moment of his birth. When maternal love, or that of his 
 successor has confided this strange emblem of a future birth to the mysteries of the 
 tomb, and made, under this curious form, its humble protest against the seeming 
 triumph of death, the coffin is closed ; and the most important of the national 
 funeral ceremonies, the "domestic solemnity" is accomplished. 
 
 The rest consists merely of superstitious practices, vain pomp, and pure formalities,
 
 286 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAX. 
 
 iu which exorcism alteiiiatcs with the gloiitication of family pride. It does not 
 suffice that the Mikosi slioiild protect the coffiu, at its exit from the house of death, 
 it passes under an arch of blessed bamboo, which prevents evil influences from 
 following it. Tlie bonzes, carrying their rosaries, open the procession. The nearest 
 
 ini'Inei:aiion. 
 
 relatives are dressed in white, or they wear common straw hats, which they do 
 not remove until after the completion of the ceremonies of purification. An 
 inscription, carried before tlie Mikosi, proclaims tlie name wliich the deceased is to 
 receive in his epitaph. The horses of a military chief figure in his funeral procession, 
 caparisoned in white, and hd liy grooms in mourning. His swords, his armorial
 
 INCINEIIATIUX. 
 
 287 
 
 bearings, his banner, various precious things which recall the rank that he held in 
 the world, arc exhibited among the groups of his relations and followers. 
 
 The funeral procession of the poor man consists of a small number of friends 
 and neighbours, who hurry, at sunset, to the sombre valley where the vulgar rite 
 of incineration takes place under the auspices of some bonze of low station, sent 
 from a neifjlibourin"' convent. 
 
 iS^Bf^'^l.iri'-t^- 
 
 ^*-^"<'?,^:r**' 
 
 t'Oi.MTTiNc Till; i:r,M.viN-;. 
 
 Thu Ycdas, who are tJR' pariahs of .lapanese society, and deprived of the aids 
 of religion, disdain every kind of cercmon)'. They simply lay the corpses of their 
 brethren in abjectncss on rude stretehers, and carry them away to a desert place. 
 There, they pile up a hea[> of dead wood on which they stretch the bodies, covered 
 with straw mats ; and kindle with their own hands the fire that is to restore these 
 miserable remains of humanit}- to the elements. 
 
 There is a class still lower than that of the Ycdas. [iropcrly so called, that is 
 to say the artisans who prarti<e unclean arts, such as skinners, tanners, leather
 
 288 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 dressers ; aud one lower still, public executioners, purveyors of vice, lepers, cripples, 
 reo-istered beo-o-ars ; tbcn comes a final category of individuals held in the extreme 
 decree of Ic^al infamy, it is the class of " Christans," the tolerated descendants 
 of such of tlie native Christian families as were not entirely destroyed in the great 
 
 TIIK END OF THE I'AUI.l. 
 
 persecution of tlie 17ili century. Their condition is worse than that of the mere 
 Yudas, who livt' nniong tliemselves in freedom, outside the city boundaries ; so 
 utterly ignored l>y ilic law, that the space of ground occupied by their camp of 
 thatched huts does not count in (he raeasurcnioiit plans. The Christans, on the 
 contrary, are assigned a miserable crowded quarter in tin' city, like the ghetto of the
 
 THE UlUUSTASS. 
 
 28y 
 
 Jews ill tlic Middle Ages, wliiili is virtuallv a prison. The police keep watch over 
 them until they have drawn their last breath, and it is their business to remove the 
 torpses, and dispose of them somehow, — no one knows where or how ; but so that 
 the name of tlie crucified one shall not be pronounced over their ashes. 
 
 A TUMI! IX WHICH HIE UU.N IS ri,.vililj. 
 
 Respect for the dead, and tomb-worship, which is one of the seemingly 
 estimable features of the Buddhist religion, does not exist, properly speaking, except 
 among the privileged classes, and in proportion to the profit which the bonzes extract 
 from it. The method of inhumation, the form of the coffin, and especially the practice 
 of incineration, introduced, in the year 700, by the priest Joseo, have enabled the 
 
 p p
 
 290 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 bonzes to make an immense trade out of the lots of ground of which they dispose. A 
 small enclosure is sufficient for a whole family through a great number of generations. 
 The commemorative table, which stands over the spot in which the cinerary urn has 
 been buiied, occupies no greater space than the urn itself. The badly-kept condition 
 of the burial-places of the common people contrasts strongly with the orderliness of 
 the fine terraces and great funereal monuments in their neighbourhood. Both are en- 
 trusted to the care of the same bonze-house ; but it is the same with tombs as 
 with indulgences, the bonzes have made each a question of taiiff. 
 
 Sli AMI-DOING.
 
 A FllIED-KISlI KUOr. STREET JUGGLERS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SOCIAL IXSTITUTIOXS IN YEDDO. 
 
 JUGGLERS AND ACROBATS.— TEMPLES. — TEA-HOUSES. — THE LIVERY OF VICE. — SIGNALS. 
 
 SOCIAL DEMORALIZATION. — FISH-CURING. — IMITATION OF EDIBLE NESTS. — STREET 
 AMUSEMENTS. — THE LION OF THE COREA. — TRADES. 
 
 The public performers in the service of the Sibaia, or National Dramatic Institution, 
 form a corporation independent of the fraternity of Comedians. They are, properly 
 speaking, jugglcns, equilibrists, and acrobats, of whom it is easy to form an idea, since 
 
 P p 2
 
 292 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 several of them have been for years exhibiting iu Europe. Another corporation, infinitely 
 more interesting, is that of the conjuring jugglers, the most skilful among whom perform 
 principally at the fair of Yamasta, and in all the dependencies of the Grand Temple 
 of Quannon at Asaksa. They also make provincial touj-s, although we have not heard 
 of their having rjuitted Japan. But we may leave them aside, and even their superiors, 
 and ])ass on to the bonze-houses on the great Tera of Quannon, in the district of 
 Asaksa-Imato, which combine within their vast space all the seductions and all the 
 juggleries, every industry and every artifice, by which it is possible to contribute to 
 human superstitions and human passions. 
 
 The great river which divides Yeddo into two distinct cities, encloses iu one vast 
 circuit the districts to the north of the citadel. Two portions of the town of Yeddo are 
 known by the name of Asaksa-Okouramaya, the region of tea-houses ; and Asaksa-Imato^ 
 the region of bonze-houscs. Now the two Asaksas, as well as Neghis and Staia (smaller 
 districts), are specially consecrated to the pleasures of the inhabitants of the capital. 
 In those pleasures centres the industiy of the district, and it excludes no class of society. 
 It accommodates itself, on the contrary, to all tastes, responds to all caprices, and satisfies 
 all exigencies. 
 
 Hundreds of temples rival the tea-houses ; the circuses compete with the theatres ; 
 the fairs with the groves, the lakes, and the canals — those refuges of tranquil joy ; 
 while towards the north, in the solitude of the rice-fields of Asaksa-Imato, the great 
 square, which we may almost call the City of Sin-Yosiwara, harbours, with the full 
 sanction of the Government, countless dens of vice and debauchery. 
 
 The northern road beyond Ogawa-Bata is divided into two branches ; one branch 
 leads directly to the great Tera of Asaksa ; the other borders the river as far as the 
 quarter of the theatres, which is north-east of the bonzeries ; thence it enters the rice- 
 fields and takes the direction of Sendjoo-bassi. On the right and left of the high road, 
 and all along the avenues of Asaksa-tera, on the bank of the Ogawa, and in the side 
 streets which diverge from the high road, there are temples, tea-houses, public gardens, 
 eating-houses, oratories, shops, and reposoirs, booths in which consecrated rosaries and pro- 
 fane curiosities are exhibited — in a word, everything that the most ingenious speculation 
 can offer to the travellers, the pilgrims, the frequenters of theatres, and the idlers of all 
 ages, who are coming and going by thousands, by night as well as by day, through 
 tliese distant quarters of the capital. There arc, however, almost within the same district,
 
 TEA-HOUSES. 
 
 293 
 
 and gc'iiorall}' throughout the meridional zone of the triangle formed hy the Ogawa, 
 two kinds uf cstablishmeuts which only prosper at a certain distance from the great 
 arteries of circulation, because their speciality consists in keeping themselves apai-t 
 from tlic floating population, while permitting their frequenters to mino-le for a 
 
 JN TlIK I'l'liLIEl'S OF Till! niEATIlKS. 
 
 few minutes, when they please, with the movements of the crowd. Tiie first arc the 
 aristocratic tea-houses. They can hardly be distinguished externally from thos(> of 
 the middle classes. Their entire superiority consists in the arrangement of the halls 
 and of the furniture, of the garden, and above all in the ceremonj' of the entertain- 
 ments. When the haughty Samourai enters one of these establishments, the mistress
 
 ■2'M 
 
 LIFE IN JAPA^r 
 
 of the house, and the young waitresses who accompany her, prostrate themselves at 
 liis ft'ct. The youngest of the girls rises, and begs the favour of carrying the sword 
 of the nol)lc person, who presents it to her. She hastens to unfold a silken 
 handkerchief, with which she covers her right hand, in order to take hold of the 
 
 I.N rilE STREETS. 
 
 .sahre l)y tlic end of the scabbard, and she holds it in front of her breast until the 
 Samourai has gone into the vestiary, when she places it upon a lacquered rack. The 
 gentleman then proceeds, with the aid of his female suite, to make the most luxurious 
 and minute nocturnal toilet. The one lock of hair which constitutes his head-dress is 
 twisted by means of a knot of crape into a sort of nightcap. On his neck and
 
 TEA-HOUSES. 295 
 
 .shoulders is laid a thick silken handkercliief, which serves him for a shawl. His 
 cloak is replaced by a sumptuous dressing-gown, fastened by silken cords mo.^t 
 gracefully disposed ; a pair of white socks, which serve as slippers, completes 
 his costume, and after having washed his hands and face in perfumed water, he 
 majestically takes his way to the salon, where a collation is prepared. It is a 
 rule for houses of this rank to maintain a very numerous staff, so that it 
 would be considered beneath their dignity to have recour.se to the services of pro- 
 fessional singers, guitar-players, and dancers. It is only in the inferior restaurants 
 and other public places that such persons may be engaged either by the night or 
 by the hour. These women, on their side, never set their feet in such establish- 
 ments, unless they are expressly sent for. In this respect, as well as by the 
 correctness of their behaviour, they are distinguished from the street musicians and 
 the dancers at fairs. The law does not permit them to come into private houses ; 
 they can only be asked for in places subject to police regulation. Theati'es are 
 comprised in this category ; they appear there at the request of the performers in 
 the plays in order to figure in the ballet. The other tea-houses which I have 
 indicated are also reckoned highly distinguished. They are patronized by retired 
 functionaries, officers without ambition, or merchants who have made their fortunes, 
 peaceful people and very exclusive, who during the day requii-e nothing but shade, 
 freshness, retirement, and silence, and in the evening hours the quiet chat in the 
 verandah in front of the groves and the garden tank. Sometimes the hostess or 
 one of her young attendants is invited to take part in the conversation. Women 
 of this class are renowned for their wit and freedom of speech. They conduct 
 themselves with graceful modesty towards men in good society, but they encounter 
 with perfect case the barrack talk of the yakounines. This is not a symptom of 
 effrontery on their part ; we must recognize it merely as the eifcct of national 
 education, which permits both sexes indifll'erently to speak of everything without the . 
 slightest periphrasis, or any respect for persons, even for children. This excessive liberty 
 of speech is common to the Japanese of every rank, but it must not be confounded 
 with laxity in morals, which, even among unmarried w^omen, is much less general 
 than we might be tempted to suppose. Women of the class to which I am alluding 
 are not supposed to advertise themselves so shamelessly in Japan as they are 
 in Europe ; it is only by a certain exceptional head-dress and luxurious costume that
 
 l".k; 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 tlio lively of vice can be recognized. Outside the enclosure of Sin-Ynsiwara, 
 and especially in the northern quarters, it may be perceived under various forms, 
 but none of them are indecent. Among the crowd of boats upon the Ogawa we 
 may perhaps notice an elegant gondola, in which a young girl, negligently lenniug 
 
 ON TIIK NORTHERN r.OAl). 
 
 against the roof of the cabin, attracts attention by her tasteful attire. Her 
 long robe, in particular, will be distinguished by some strange embroidery which 
 facilitates the recognition of her person. For example, it may be a double wreath 
 of bats, one black and the other white. Suddenly the girl will draw out of her 
 girdle a roll of tissue-paper, which forms th(> Japanese handkerchief, and shaking
 
 SIGNALS. 
 
 297 
 
 it with the right hand, will give a discreet signal, which no douht has l)ocn inulcr- 
 stood, for she immediately changes the course of the gondola, which is speedily 
 propelled towards the shore in the direction of the tea-house, the nuinl)er on whose 
 lantern corresponds with that u|ion the prow of her boat. 
 
 KEAlt THE BUIDCiESi. 
 
 Again, on the footpaths of the northern road, another girl, not less strangcl}' attired, 
 seems to have set herself the task of tfuidino: benighted travellers, who have not vet 
 made choice of a place of abode, to a neighbouring hotel, by the seductive play of her 
 rich fan. Two hundred thousand travellers on the average are lodged ever)' night in this 
 City of Vice and its suburbs. They are of all orders, and of all conditions ; but no class
 
 298 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 escapes the vigilance of the female hotel- keepers. Those who are posted in the proximity 
 of the theatres belong to establishments of a very inferior rank ; thus their toilet displays 
 neither silk nor velvet — the only thing they can allow themselves is a little prodigality 
 in the stuff of their girdle and in the sleeves of their kirimon. They add a few mock 
 
 TAVERN SF.KVANTS. 
 
 tortoiseshcll pins to their head-dress, and they carry a little paper lantern painted in 
 the most brilliant colours. All who succeed to this third category hide themselves from 
 the light. Sometimes undir the spacious roof of a tea-house we may see the servants 
 watching from an angle of the gallery, and clapping their hands to attract the attention 
 of the passers-by.
 
 THE CITY OF VICE. 299 
 
 Other servants, of a still lower condition, the poor little slaves of the pot-house 
 keepers, wander in the darkness of the foetid alleys. But where must we look for the 
 lowest degree of abject misery ? Are we to find its type in the poor girl who lingers 
 about the bridges shuddering with cold, and hardly decently covered by her single garment 
 of thin cotton ? Or must we look for her in the depths of the abyss of Sin-Yosiwara ? 
 The police of Yeddo can tell us this with hideous precision ; for there it levies its infamous 
 tribute, and enforces the code of female slavery, not only for that portion of the city 
 which knows no other rule, but in all the hotels and among all the lodginsr-house 
 keepers, whose privilege is sanctioned alike by law and custom. 
 
 Not one of these unfortunates is permitted to free herself from her owners ; neither 
 is there one who escapes the vigilance of the authorities, which, however, does not extend 
 beyond purely police and fiscal action. Nothing whatever is done in the interest of the 
 public health. All attempts in that direction made by Europeans, in the j)orts open 
 to them, are frustrated by the insurmountable repugnance of the natives. From year 
 to year this horrible evil extends in every grade of society, and assumes more and more 
 strongly the characteristics of a national scourge, and an immense public calamity. 
 
 "We made frequent morning excursions to the Foukagawa quarter, which forms 
 the southern faubourg of Hondjo. 
 
 On reaching the shore we could see the quays of Takanawa, Amagoten, Tetpozoo, 
 and the block of the city over which the enormous roof of the temple of Monzeki towers. 
 We have frequently ascended the coast of the isle of Iskawa at the rnouth of the great 
 river, and, turning to the left, disembarked behind the fortifications and the Govern- 
 ment docks on the southern extremity of Hondjo. 
 
 The streets in the vicinity of the harbour are the centre of innumerable industries, 
 whose raw materials are furnished by the ocean. There we saw vast drying-houses for 
 the fish, the molluscs, and the seaweed destined for exportation, and also the great 
 stages on which the preparations of the aboura-kami, or oil-paper stuiF used by the 
 Japanese instead of our waterproof materials, are stretched. 
 
 The native artizans excel in the fabrication and imitation of the edible birds' ncst^s 
 of Java. They produce these forgeries by means of a glutinous exudation of certain 
 marine herbs, and they are then exported to China, with every trick in their packing 
 and labelling which can possibly deceive the experts of the Celestial Empire ; and I am 
 by no means sure that Europe has not also been extensively taken in. 
 
 Q Q 2
 
 300 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 Fish sausages are extensively made in this quarter. They are of various kinds, 
 each having a special colour. A great whitewashed oven is set up in tlie centre of a 
 spacious kitchoi ; it contains bowls of iron, and a jar in which a certain class of fish 
 is cooking. ( )theis arc cliopjx^d up very small ; and as soon as they are sufficiently 
 dried and reduced to a powder in mortars of hard wood, they are sorted, seasoned, 
 and rolled into paste, pressed, and tied up in their envelopes, of which each receives 
 its dip of colour. They are then packed in bales. Half a dozen persons generally 
 work together on all these operations, which are performed to a monotonous song. The 
 
 A IIFAI.F.U IS ni.D CKOC'KEIlYWAliB. 
 
 knives and the pestles arc used in time to the rhyme. But when any noise comes from 
 the street the men throw them down and go out and swell the gaping crowd. 
 
 Perhaps nothing more serious is going on than the dance of the Lion of Corea. 
 How (jften everyone there has seen it ! And nevertheless the discordant appeal of 
 the fife and the tambourine which announce its approach is never resisted. 
 
 Four actors come out of a neighbouring street ; three form the orchestra, and 
 the fourth gives the representation. Pie is wi-apped in a very large striped cloak 
 surmounted by an enormous lion's head. The monster can make himself longer or
 
 THE LION OF COREA. 
 
 301 
 
 shorter at will, and sutldonly raise himself up two yards above the people who are with 
 him. The children utter cries of mingled admiration and fear. Some, bolder than the 
 rest, venture to lift iip the skirts of his cloak, and even to pinch the legs of the 
 mysterious tumbler. He sometimes frightens them, by turning his head towards them, 
 opening hi.s moutli, and shaking the thick mane of scraps of white paper which surrounds 
 his scarlet face ; then he will begin to dance to the sound of the instruments of his 
 companions. He carries his tambourine himself, but as soon as he leaves off dancing 
 he sets it down, and, suddenly stooping, transforms himself into a quadruped, executes 
 
 I'l'iTKr F.xinniTous. 
 
 some grotesque gambols, and finishes by stripping off' his accoutrements. Then th(^. 
 monster vanishes, but the juggler remains. He seizes a drumstick and balances it on 
 the thumb of the left hand ; he puts a second stick on the end of the first, and 
 a third crosswise above the other two ; finally, he throws them into the air, catches 
 them ill his hands, and spins them about more and more rapidly and uninterruptedly, 
 adding one, two, or three balls, which come from no one knows where. 
 
 The admiration of the spectators is at its height. One of the musicians passes round 
 a plate — that is to say, a fan. The repi'esentation is finished, and the juggler lights his
 
 302 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 pipe from that of some benevolent neighbour. It is not uncommon to see him negligently 
 putting on his costume again, and sitting calmly smoking, with his head covered down 
 to his nose with the enormous and grotesque mask of the monster. The latter is the 
 most picturesque part of the spectacle. 
 
 By degrees, as we penetrate into the streets and populous places of the faubourg, 
 we discover a whole world of small trades and small pleasures. 
 
 Here and there we see the humble dwellings of various classes of wandering 
 workmen who start for the city before the sun rises, and who will only return late at 
 night. These are cobblers, who go about mending wooden sandals ; tinkers, coopers, 
 traflBckers in broken porcelain, vendors of old clothes and remnants of stuff for 
 girdles and women's kirimons ; all these people are trained to the exercise of great 
 patience, and also to the calculation of fractions of fractions. It is a very curious sight 
 to watch them counting on their frames of beads strung on wires. 
 
 But we must not forget the rag-pickor of Yeddo, who unconsciously contributed 
 for many years to tlie maintenance of the paper factories in England. In the 
 morning and the evening he goes ferreting about in the public places, and in the 
 populous streets of Hondjo and the merchant city, laden, not with a hod, but with 
 a sort of paper basket which he carries in his left hand ; in his right hand is a 
 pair of long canes, by means of which he picks up everything that appears worth 
 the trouble, and throws it into the basket. 
 
 The professional tramps pay no attention to the curiosities they meet in their 
 path. Nevertheless, at Yeddo I have seen them exchange some amicable phrases, 
 accompanied by two or three puffs of tobacco, with their natural friends the 
 tumblers, with whom the good city abounds. These performers go about with what 
 we should call a Punch and Judy Show, but it is really a doll with joints, arrayed 
 in the costume of the sect of jumping priests. They exhibit, on a table, a 
 model of the temple of Amida, a white mouse runs up the steps, rings a bell at 
 the door, and performs its devotions at the altar. A third exhibitor goes about 
 with birds trained to fire a bow, to pick rice, to draw water out of a well ; and 
 to pull a little car laden with balls of cotton. A street juggler balances himself 
 upon two high planks, and turns somersaults, or spins over his head three or four 
 porcelain jugs or cups ; he breaks an egg, and pulls twenty yards of string out of
 
 STREET LIFE. 
 
 303 
 
 it. He crumples a bit of paper in his hand, and immediately a cloud of artificial 
 flies fills the air. 
 
 The greater number of these schemers speculate less on the receipts of their 
 representation than on the sale of certain small wares which the city shopkeepers 
 let them sell on commission. Marionettes and mice exhibitors bring crowds of 
 children round the box which they use as a stage, and these children know well 
 that the box is full of sweetmeats. The mender of fans has a store of new ones. 
 Other street actors bring specimens of the industry of the faubourgs into the 
 
 aristocratic quarters, and get a small commission on all orders which thoy succeed 
 in obtaining. 
 
 They also sell packets of the hard wood or bamboo canes which they use for 
 forks ; also toothpicks of scented and savory wood, tooth-brushes made of white 
 wood, with one of the ends beaten out into a little frinfre. 
 
 The Japanese have a peculiar tooth-powder ; one of its ingredients is, I am told, 
 ivory-dust. It is sold in small boxes, with variously coloured and decorated lids, 
 which vary according to the quality of the merchandise. Tlie powder with which 
 married women dye their teeth black is sold in metal caskets.
 
 304 
 
 LIFE IN JAPA^. 
 
 Workmen of tlie most humble appearance, cabinet-makers, joiners, turners, and 
 Avood-carvers, fabricate a multitude of pretty things, in elm-wood bark, bamboo, bone, 
 ivory, deer-horn, yellow-amber, sea-shells, tortoiseshell, and cocoa-nut. 
 
 The Chinese workmen who carve ivory excel in the execution of masterpieces of 
 patience, such as little empty balls, three or four- in number, which turn one within the 
 other. The Japanese artists do not build their fame on conquering difticulties ; a more 
 noble ambition animates them ; they aim above all at the perfection of the imitation 
 of nature, and wlicu tlicy yield to the caprice of their imagination, it takes ordinarily 
 
 A MAKKI: OK I.ANTl'.KNS. 
 
 a humorous direction, full of genuine mirth, and not the taste for burlesque and 
 eccentricity which characterises the Chinese workman. The most exquisite things 
 among the small figures in ivory to be found in Yeddo are ineontestably those 
 representing animals, and more particularly the tiger, the bufhxlo, the bear, the monkey, 
 and the mouse. These little art objects, which for us are only curious, arc an 
 integral part of the outfit of the native smokers of both sexes. In order to carry 
 their pipe in its case and their tobacco-box, they fasten them to the end of a 
 silken cord, whose either extremity is ornamented with one or two of these dainty
 
 TRADES. 
 
 30S 
 
 little trifles, which keep clown the cord ;ind prevent it slijiping when it has been passed 
 through the girdle. They do the same with their medicine-box. 
 
 I remarked at Foukagawa a very curious assemblage of large and small trades, the 
 greater part very vulgar, Init all, without exception, worthy of observation. 
 
 The weavers' trade is not only applied to silk and cotton, but to canvas, which the 
 Japanese painters use very largely; and to flax cloth, which cannot be of an inferior 
 
 quality in a country like -Japan, where the most precious of our European textiles grows 
 to two yards in height. 
 
 The workshops of the hosiers, mat-bordcrers, binders, and box-makers present a 
 picturesque assemblage of workpeople of all ages and of both sexes. The coopers work 
 in spacious enclosures behind bamboo palings. 
 
 The shops of the box-makers contain an immense collection of coffers and caskets 
 in wood of every kind, among which the camphor-wood of Kiousiou, which never loses 
 its aromatic perfume, is particularly remarkable. An assortment of these boxes means
 
 306 
 
 LUE IN JAPAN. 
 
 half a dozen, which can be placed one within the other so as to be packed in a single 
 parcel. 
 
 There is also an immense quantity of very strong boxes in lacquered paper ; an 
 infinite variety of household utensils, and small articles of furniture, some lacquered, such 
 as rice bowls, others in white wood or in bamboo. 
 
 The extreme scarcity of mechanical appliances at the disposal of the Japanese 
 artizans strikes the European visitor forcibly. 
 
 J'ef'jcMHi-Jt. 
 
 A BOWYKIl. 
 
 Xear the sliops or warehouses of which I am speaking were four or five booths, 
 which were assigned to as many different trades. I am convinced that all the tools of 
 the five workshops put together were not worth five pounds. 
 
 In the first booth a man was making dolls of papier-machd, which are especial 
 favourites in Japanese houses. Tliey consist of the luvid and the face only, wrapped 
 in a scarlet mantle ; and it is said that in this form they perpetuate from generation to 
 generation the memory of a high priest of Buddha who had used up his legs completely 
 in the practice of his devotions. These dolls can be turned inside out, and are of all 
 dimensions.
 
 TRADES. 
 
 3UV 
 
 Further on were two workmen, each using a little hammer and chisel in carving 
 
 A DOLL-MAKlili. 
 
 metal pipes, and a third was preparing wooden stems ; here a lounger was holding wood 
 
 
 A VENUOK OF SKCUNLl-IIANIl ll.uTIIKS. 
 
 before the iiames of a fire of shavings, in order to give it the necessary bend, while his 
 companion was putting together with a little cement and string the tufts of silk, horse- 
 
 it K -2.
 
 308 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 hair or paper, which arc hoisted at the ends of long pikes in order to indicate the rank 
 or functions of a civil or military chief. 
 
 In a neighbouring workshop an old man was adjusting the hoops and hooks of 
 a number of paper lanterns with a pair of pincers. 
 
 At the entrance of a side street we see half a dozen workmen making wooden 
 sandals. Here the work is divided ; everyone has his speciality. One cuts a piece of 
 wood into equal lengths with a saw, and then splits them into soles or cross planks. 
 
 A ULOCKMAKEIl. 
 
 A third rounds the edges of the heavy sandals, and a fourth makes holes in them, 
 through which the straw cords are passed. Other workmen are employed in finishing 
 sandals of a more luxurious kind, and packing them by dozens of pairs into the bales 
 which are to be carried to the retail warehouse. 
 
 I had yet to see the most peculiar of the shops in this quarter, that of the clock- 
 maker. He was making small dials and clocks, rivalling the "Cuckoos" of the Black 
 Forest, but with this difi'erence, that tbey are on the system of moveable hours, 
 which increase or decrease according to the seasons.
 
 LIMITED CLOCKMAKING. :iOi) 
 
 The artist, squatting before a little anvil fixed in the ground, is busy with 
 the mechanism of his chronometer, with the exception of the gong which strikes the 
 hours. His tools, scattered round him on mats, consist of a hammer, two or three 
 files, a couple of pincers, and some gimlets. 
 
 AVith the exterior of the small dials, which are portable instruments of the form 
 and size of a big chestnut, he has nothing to do ; the cases are made by the copper- 
 workers.
 
 S1>J-Y0SIWAUA. — llECEPl'ION HALL. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 SIN-YOSIWAJLl. 
 
 A MOTHERS SACRIFICE. — DEALING IN VICE. — BUDDHISM A^O INFANTICIDE. 
 
 \\ HITHER goes that poorly-dressed woman, holding by the hand a young girl seven 
 years of age, decked out in her best clothes ? After having laid her offering before 
 the altar of Quannon, she slowly' traverses the road across the rice-fields, which 
 turns to the east, and goes to Sin-Yosiwara. After an hour's walking, she reaches 
 the external wall of the City of Vice, accessible only on one side — that of the north. 
 She has met no woman upon her way. The elegant norimons of the ladies, whose 
 coolies are carrying thcin in tliat diuH'tion, arc closely shut. Individuals of every
 
 DEALING IN VICE. 311 
 
 rank meet in the city, but without saluting each other, without exchanging the smallest 
 politeness. Those who belong to the class of Samourai's hide themselves in a complete 
 disguise. The houses on both sides of the public way appear to be dependencies of the 
 privileofed quarter. The most miserable are tenanted by an immense population of 
 coolies and norimon-bearers, bric-h,-brac sellers, and mat-plaiters. The larger houses 
 contain bathing establishments, provision sheds, stores of bad books, restaurants, lottery 
 offices, and taverns, in which the apparent toleration of the police adroitly conceals the 
 control which is in reality exercised over the dangerous classes of the capital. A bridge 
 crosses the canal through the rice-fields. Nothing which takes place in this neighbour- 
 hood escapes the notice of a double post of yakounines installed before the gates in 
 two guard-rooms opposite one another. The gatekeeper on duty conducts tlie poor 
 traveller with her child into the presence of his chief. After a few minutes, the 
 mother and the daughter come out of the guard-room, accompanied by a police agent, 
 who leads them to one of the chief buildings in the street. This is the residence of the 
 functionary known as the chief of the great Gankiro. The mother returns alone, 
 carrying in the sleeve of her kirimon a sum of money, amounting to about the value of 
 100 francs (£4 sterling). The bargain she has made is duly signed and sealed. She has 
 sold her child, body and soul, for a term of seventeen years. 
 
 The countries of the far East v.'hich suffer from an excess of population are 
 those in which the inhuman, fundamentally anti-social, unnatural character of Buddhist 
 paganism is revealed in all its horrors. Its every form of pagan worship finds an 
 accomplice in the measures which the Governments of China and Japan have taken to 
 preserve their cities from the invasion of Christian civilization. The opposition put 
 in the way of native intercourse with foreigners, the absolute prohibition imposed 
 upon their desire to leave their native country, have been the true causes of the over- 
 crowding of maritime cities. In order to remedy this evil. Buddhism, which is its 
 real origin, palliates and absolves everything which has been resorted to by perversity, 
 in order to stop the progress of population. Thus Buddhism tolerates, in China, polygamy 
 and infanticide ; in Japan, concubinage ; in both countries, prostitution organized under 
 every form, brought within the reach of all classes of society, and fed without scruple 
 by all the resources of speculation, not excepting traffic in cliildreu under age, or, indeed, 
 in children of every age, because majority is only an illusory right when brought into 
 conflict with the will of parents.
 
 312 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 lu the greater number of cases tliese poor creatures are the victims of the ill-conduct 
 of the father, who has fallen into dissolute habits, and who, in order that he may be 
 perfectly without restraint, has turned his wife and children out of theii- home. 
 Japanese wives have no security against a rupture of the conjugal bond, which may be 
 broken by the husband with no greater formality than the procuring of a letter of 
 divorce. The forsaken wife will never have an o]iportunity of contracting a second 
 
 6^>:"tZ 
 
 #? 1^,^111 
 
 TiT.K ZAI-TEX-rjO. 
 
 marriage. Society condemns her. If she has no relations who will receive her, she is 
 left to utter solitude, and her only prospect is poverty. Under such conditions, to give 
 up a child under age to the Gankiro is to save her from destitution, and to defer, at 
 least for a time, her own penury. If the girl l)e grown up, the bargain is still more 
 advantageous, because tlui mother will derive from it an annual income of 100 or 200 
 francs (£4 or £8 sterling) during foiii- or five years.
 
 THE FATE OF THE CHILD. 
 
 313 
 
 But what becomes of the girl when the coutract has expired ? She docs not retain 
 a farthing of the money which her wretched profession has brought her. She has 
 generally been allowed to get into debt, for dresses and for food, to the chief of the 
 Gankiro, and in order to discharge her obligations she is obliged to form a new 
 engagement ; so that she generally ends her life as a servant, or an overlooker, or a 
 housekeeper, in the house where her career began. If it sometimes happen that a man 
 forms an attachment to a courtezan, purchases her, and even marries her — that is a 
 
 DAIKOKOIT. 
 
 very exceptional case, and might happen in any country, but which we cannot regard 
 as general in Japan. 
 
 Within the quadrangular enclosure of Sin-Yosiwara nine distinct quarters exist, 
 each in the form of a parallelogram stretching from cast to west. On the left of the 
 great gate there are five ; on tlic right there are four. The former are separated from the 
 latter l)y a long and spacious avenue of trees, whicli forms a beautiful promenade. At 
 one end is a watch-tower; and where three angles of the city meet is a chapel, built 
 
 s s
 
 3U 
 
 LIFE IX JAPAN. 
 
 out from the wall of the enclosure. A wide cross avenue in the centre of the quarter 
 ou the right also looks like a public promenade ; but it is reserved for the inhabitants 
 and visitors of the first-class houses by which it is surrounded. There, either- by day 
 or by night, according to the seasons, the feminine notabilities of the Gankiro are to 
 be found walking up and down, all dressed in the invariable kirimon, loaded with 
 embroidery, .and in a marvellous head attire of tortoise-shell combs and pins. Each 
 of these women is accompanied by two or three pupils attached to her personal service. 
 
 These young followers wear the colours of their mistress, and an elegant head-dress of 
 artificial flowers. 
 
 The great ladies of Sin-Yosiwara have their apartments and their reception-rooms 
 furni.shed witli extreme elegance. Some of them are " under the protection " of young 
 men of high family, who pay a stated sum to the chief of the Gankiro. The secrecy 
 of such relations, more easily hidden than others from parental vigilance, gives them a 
 peculiarly dangerous character. The women take advantage of this secrecy to gratify
 
 THE OANKIRO. 315 
 
 to tlie full extent their taste for luxury and ornament. More than one patrimony is 
 swallowed up in the satisfoction of their- caprices and the ridiculous vanity of their 
 adorers. The Gankiro properly so called is the casino of the fashionables of Sin- 
 Yosiwara ; payment is made to the door-keeper on entering, and the visitor is introduced 
 to the conversation room. Admirable order is preserved. Pipes and refreshments, such 
 as are ordinarily given at all Japanese entertainments, are to be hud in profusion to 
 season the witty conversation of the ladies, one of whom undertakes to guide the visitor 
 through the gardens and the various rooms. Every amusement has its tariff. In one 
 of these rooms a vocal and instrumental concert will be going on ; in another, character 
 (lances, both executed by women, professional artists residing at Yeddo and who have 
 nothing in common with the inhabitants of Sin-Yosiwara. These performances, even 
 from our point of view, would be by no means unworthy of the best company. 
 
 A banqueting hall in the Gankiro is very curiously decorated ; the walls 
 are hung with beautiful sketches, either in "genre" or in landscape, some in Chinese 
 ink, others coloured, but all painted on pieces of cardboard cut after the pattern of the 
 different .sorts of fans used in the far East. But the greatest curiosity of the Gankiro 
 is its children's theatre. All the actors are young girls from seven to thirteen years of 
 age, who.se education is confided to the retired courtezans of Sin-Yosiwara. The latter 
 teach their pupils reading, writing, arithmetic, singing, music, dancing, acting and 
 declamation. Operettas, little fairy pieces, and costume ballets, are executed by these 
 children with infinite grace and dexterity. It is doubtful whether these pieces are not 
 superior in literary value to the vaudevilles, the comedies, and the dramatic proverbs 
 which are played in schools in Europe ; but the little theatre is certainly superior to 
 such things among ourselves in talent, vivacity, and charming childish poetry. The 
 spectacle is very pretty and very interesting, and yet, at the same time, what can be 
 more sad than to see the young girls of the Gankiro so carefully educated ? The sight 
 only supplies an additional protest against these horrible institutions. 
 
 From time to time in the midst of the nocturnal rejoicings, a terrible rumour of 
 a bloody catastrophe is spread around, and suddenly reveals the real horrors of these 
 hideous places. Sometimes an unfortunate woman has completed with her own 
 hand the work of destruction which disease had commenced. Sometimes a young man, 
 having reached the end of his expedients, fearing rejection by his mistress because he 
 has no more money, kills her, and himself, in the apartment which he has taken for her. 
 
 S S 2
 
 316 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 Generally, however, tlie courtezans of high rank in this place know how to avoid 
 the double scandal. There are many whose pride consists in the number of their 
 victims. Several of the most celebrated openly avow their contempt for men and 
 for human life, their love of gain and taste for expenditure. The dread Gigokoo 
 
 UlouHWEil. 
 
 attributed tn herself a Satanic power over the human race ; the embroideries of her 
 kirimon representing scenes of hell, the great judge summoning before his tribunal 
 souls laden with guilt, and the damned expiating their sins in cauldrons of boiling 
 water, or clothed witli the bodies of monstrous beasts. 
 
 Of a lower grade in the social hell of Sin-Yosiwara are the regions frequented
 
 LOWER DEEPS. 
 
 317 
 
 by the small traders and the hattamotos. Suicide through love is frequently committed. 
 The lover kills himself because he is not rich enough to purchase his mistress, and she 
 kills herself because she has sworn to be faithful to him. 
 
 I have seen on the stage at Yokohama a play representing the tragical end of a 
 courtezan, whose tender declarations had been interpreted by a young Samourai in another 
 sense than that known in Yosiwara. Deceived in his love, outraged in his honour, the 
 furious lover strikes off the head of the faithless woman with one blow of his 
 
 sword. The Japanese Sibaia represents this scene, with full detail. The bloody sword 
 flashes, and the victim falls under the eyes of the spectators ; the orchestra breaks out 
 into an expression of horror by the combined effect of all its instruments. Suddenly 
 silence ensues, and the hero of the piece turns toward the public to give a pathetic 
 explanation of his reasons. At the same moment the machinist moves a trap in the 
 front of the stage, and the bloody head appears within two paces of the murderer, as 
 if it had rolled to his feet. 
 
 Sin- Yosiwara is closed against Europeans ; but, in the ports which have been opened
 
 318 
 
 LIFE IX JAPAN. 
 
 by treaty, the Japanese Government has instituted, and provided with every possible 
 facility, a Gankiro accessible to natives and foreigners alike. Feminine servitude 
 seems to me to present itself under the hardest conditions known to humanity in this 
 wretched place. Imagination which may conceive the hell of Dante, might fail before 
 the horror of the reality of such lives.
 
 THE PANCK OF THE PRIESTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 RE LI G 10 US FESTI VA LS. 
 
 ANNUAL PURIFICATION. — THE PROCESSION OP SANNOO. — THE PROCESSION OF COURTEZANS. — 
 
 THE GO-Si^KIS. — FESTIVAL OF MATRONS. 
 
 Each of the bonze-houses in the city of Yecldo has its Matsouri, or jinuual patroual /Me ; 
 but among them there are several which celebrate this festival only once in two years. 
 The solemnities are generally interesting only to the quarter, the street, or the small
 
 320 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 group of faithful who contribute to the maintenance of the bonze-house. To this rule, 
 there are, however, remarkable exceptions. Certain matsouris are in favour with one 
 entire section of the city, such as Hondjo ; and others seem to enjoy an unlimited 
 popularity with the whole of Yeddo. 
 
 These matsouris, as we may easily conceive, are f;ir from having preserved 
 
 patriotic elevation and the noble simplicity which distinguished them in the 
 splendid days of the national Kami worship. The mythical sense of the solemnity is 
 lost, its moral signification has fallen into oblivion. The fairs and rejoicings which 
 in earlier times were only the accessories of the festival have now become its 
 principal object, or rather its only interest. Thus in our own countries we see 
 how the religious festivals of the Middle Ages have disappeared, leaving behind 
 their kermesse, or popular fair, which was developed year after year under their 
 protection. So at Yeddo certain feasts recall the names of the ancient national 
 divinities ; the goddess of the sun ; the god of the moon ; the god of water ; the 
 patron of rice ; the gc I of the sea ; the god of war, whose anniversary is celebrated 
 on the first day of the Hare, which signifies the second month, corresponding to our 
 March. But the chief characteristic of these solemnities is the theatrical pomp dis- 
 played in them, in the processions and the choirs of music, — the dances and the 
 pantomimes of the priests on the one hand, and the masquerades and scenic repre- 
 sentations in the open air on the other. In addition to these attractions, there are 
 illuminations, public games, archery, horse-racing, wrestling, public lotteries, and every- 
 where a market of fruit and fish according to the season, jDastry, sweetmeats, flowers, 
 articles in common use^such as fans, umbrellas, paper lanterns, and children's toys. 
 
 The subject of the matsouris in a city like Yeddo, where the temples are counted 
 by hundreds, is one which it is impossible to treat in minute detail. I can only give 
 a few rapid sketches of those festivals which excite general attention, and attract 
 the entii-e population of the city to their scenes. 
 
 On the fifth day of the fifth month (June and July) the crowd repau-s in the early 
 morning to the woods of the suburb of Foutchiou, to gather herbs whose virtue is held 
 to be sovereign in cases of contagious maladies. An improvised fair on the border 
 of the forest enables the pilgrims to provide themselves with everything which they 
 will require during the day. In the evening the priests of the Eoksa-mia in the 
 neighbourhood proceeil to the annual purification of the holy place. While the
 
 A NNUA L P URIFICA TION. 
 
 321 
 
 temple is being cleaned, a solemn procession marches tlirougli tlie woods during the 
 greater part of the niglit, carrying relics belonging to the sanctuary. Piles of resinous 
 wood are prepared in the court of the sacred enclosure, at the foot of the toii in the 
 avenue, and at tlie ojicnings of the forest paths at their diverging points, and all alon<r 
 the road which the cortege is to take. At a given signal, all these an- lighted at 
 
 once, and the procession sets out, having been provided with abundant pajier lanterns of 
 -various colours, and accompanied by the music of fifes, gongs, anil the big drums of 
 the bonzerie. From every side a crowd accumulates upon the ruud' of the procession, 
 uttering cries, which are echoed by thousands of startled birds di.-tuibcd iinni thcii- sleep 
 by the strange, light and clamour.
 
 322 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 At tbo head of the procession, immediately after the band, march the horses of 
 tht' Kami, led by the bridle by grooms attired in au antique national costume. They 
 arc followed by the High Priests and their acolytes and servants, carrying the sacred 
 amis, trophies of the ancient heroes. Then, preceded by the gohei, or antique holy- 
 water brush, come two personages, who wear masks representing heads of C'orean dogs. 
 They are followed by the entire body of priests and their servants, the employes charged 
 with the care of mikosis, the furniture and utensils of the temple and its dependencies. 
 When the cortege has passed through all the exterior stations, it returns to the sacred 
 place, and the flames are extinguished ; the crowd disperses to the restaurants in the fair 
 and on the road side, darkness and silence take possession of the forest. 
 
 On the twenty-fourth day of the eighth month (September and October), the fraternity 
 of the temple of the Temmango, in Hondjo, which is purified on the twenty-fifth day 
 of the second month, exhibits the image of its god, which is drawn through the principal 
 streets of Yeddo on a buffalo cart. The chief officers of the families who patronize 
 this bonze house, and the priests Avho serve in the temple, precede and follow the 
 car, accomj^aiucd l)y coolies carrying coffers and baskets, which contain the utensils 
 and sacred objects belonging to the temple. 
 
 The Tohieisan celebrates its annual procession on the second day of the tenth 
 month (December and January). The bonzes, on their return, read aloud to the people 
 certain passages from the holv books; they also give them tea prepared and conse- 
 crated by them, and permit them free entrance into the gardens and the sacred wood 
 attached to the convent. The seventh day is consecrated to pantomimes, with subjects 
 taken from the ancient history of Niphon. In the great biennial procession of the 
 temple of Kanda-Miodjin, which is placed under the invocation of Kanda the patron 
 of Yeddo, there is a whole cavalcade of historical personages, among whom Ta'ikosama 
 is especially distinguished. In order to add to the efi'ect of this procession, the bonzes 
 invite a certain numlier of courtezans, who are carried in elegant palanquins. The car 
 of the saint of Miodjin is drawn by two buffaloes, and by an unlimited number of the 
 faithful, voluntarily harnessed (.) the sacred vehicle by straw ropes. A few feet behind 
 it a hideous colossal head of the demon over whom the saint triumphed is carried on a 
 platform. The people contemplate with horror the gigantic horns and erect crest of this 
 monster ; they point out to one another its bloody eyes, its scarlet skin and horrible 
 jaws. To add to the effect of (liis spectacle, the bonzes blow through their conch shells,
 
 THE PWCESSION OF SANXOO. 323 
 
 producing a terrible noise. A little further on an enormous axe, with which the 
 victorious hero cut off the monster's heud, is e.\lul)ited. 
 
 But all the united wonders of the procession of Miodjin fade l)efure the splendour 
 of the festival given annually by the priests of the temple of Sannoo, which is 
 sacred to the memory of Zinmou, the founder of the Empire of the great Niplion. 
 This is the most imposing of the matsouris of Yeddo. It takes place on the fifteenth 
 day of the sixth month. Tengou, the faithful porter and messenger of the gods, heads 
 the procession, adorned in his brilliant costume as the celestial herald. He half 
 unfolds a pair of iris coloured wings. His smiling air, his cunning eyes, his crimson 
 colour, his nose of preposterous length, excite merriment in the jjeople, and secure 
 the warmest welcome for the cortege. "When the evil spirits find the image of 
 Tengou at the door of the temples of the national religion, they hasten on. The 
 procession has therefore nothing to dread from them. 
 
 The municipal police is charged with the maintenance of public order. More 
 than a million of spectators preserve perfect discipline during the whole of this great 
 day. In all the streets and all tlic squares through wliicli the procession is to pass, 
 platforms are erected for the women, old men, and children. Places are reserved for 
 those who choose to pay for them ; free space is assigned to the workmen, but 
 everybody is bound to remain quietly in his place during the entire festival. Only the 
 sellers of fruit, cakes, and saki, have permission to go beyond the 1 )OUudary-rope 
 which separates the crowd from tlu; road kept for the procession. 
 
 The procession of Sannoo is a ki)id of national encyclopaedia in actimi, in which we 
 find all sorts of historical lessons, mythological symbols, traditions, and popular actions 
 mixed up together, just as w^e see Bacchus, Silenus, Noah's Ark, Ceres, and Pomona, 
 introduced indiscriminately in the old fete of the vine dressers at Vevy. AVhen 
 art attains this democratic breadth, criticism must merely bow and be silent. I pass 
 on to the most picturesque details of the ceremony. Here comes the patron of 
 the sacred dance of the Dairi. The image, dressed in the old theatrical garments of 
 Kioto, is raised upon a huge drum, supported by figurantes in costumes of festive 
 form and crowns of flowers. This is followed by the procession of the white elephant. 
 The animal is made of cardboard, and its bearers are skilfully hidden in its capacious 
 body ; their feet are hardly seen moving under the legs of the colossus, which is preceded 
 by a band of music, composed of flutes, trumpets, big drums, cymbals, gongs, and 
 
 T T 2
 
 .S24 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 tambourines. 'J'hc men of this group wear beards, a painted Lat with an aigrette, 
 boots, a long robe with a wide girdle, and some of them carry Chinese banners 
 covered witli images of dragons. A little further on a gigantic lobster is carried 
 by a priest of tlie Kami worship, and surrounded by a troop of negroes. Then 
 
 I'UUlIiSSIOX UK CUUllTEZA.N's Al INK I- I IK iiK IllK TlOiri.K UF SANNOO. 
 
 come a Imiidrtil cultivators wlio are liarnc.^sed to the chariot of the buffalo ; this 
 king of donio.-^tic aiiiinals is placed upon the veliicle under the shade of a flowering 
 peach-tree, and is accompauied l)y tlie demi-gdd wlio introduced him into Japan. 
 Six other chaiiots are laden with picturesque tropliies formed of the implements and 
 products of rice culture. A cortege of the priests of the Kami n-ligion generally'
 
 THE rnOCESSTOX OF COrETEZANS. 325 
 
 forms a guard of honour to a carriage made in the likeness of tliat of thf 
 Mikado, a splendid chariot, surmounted hy the sacred gong and the cock of the 
 Dairi. Antique banners, some ornamented by sketches of horses, precede a cavalcade 
 of superior officers costumed according to the Court fashions of Kioto. Suddenly 
 two terrible monsters appear ; they have the face of the tiger with the horns of a 
 bull. Their g-reat tails are elevated high above the helmets of the men-at-arms 
 who surround them. Perhaps they recall under a fantastic form the memory of those 
 tigers who gave so much trouble to the soldiers of the heroic mother of 
 Hatchimau in the Corean fields. To this group belongs the exhibition of the antique 
 arms of the arsenal of the Sanno6 ; lances and halberds, two-handed swords, bows, 
 arrows, war-fans and insignia of command. By degrees the exhibition loses its warlike 
 character ; in their turn appear priests and koskeis, carrying the mikosis, the vases of 
 the sanctuary, and all the furniture of the temple and its dependencies under banners 
 covered with hieroglyphic signs. Another troop of koskeis carries paper lanterns at 
 the end of long poles. Among tlie banners we recognize that of the quarter of Sin- 
 Yosiwara. This very effective group terminates the procession. 
 
 Then come seven of the handsomest Avomen in this reserved portion of tlic 
 capital, majestically attired in state costume ; each is accompanied by her waiting- 
 woman and by a koskci who carries a wide and lofty parasol, which shades her IVom the 
 rays of the sun. Her headdress is two or three storeys high, and the edifice is 
 supported by large pins of i-ed tortoise-shell. Her face shines with cosmetics 
 carefully applied. We may count the inunlier of her robes — thanks to five m- 
 six collars which hang over her shoulders. A wide kirimou cnvelups her ami 
 sweeps the ground ; its folds arc slightly raised liy means of an enormous girdle 
 composed of an entire piece of silk or velvet ; and some inches arc a<ldod to her 
 already noble -stature l)y the curious nianiu'r in which she is sliod with little planks 
 of wood. These seven figurantes arc well known to all the people. As they pass, 
 their names are mentioned on all sides, and indeed these names are embroidereil mi 
 their rich costume. The tiist is the lady <if the War-fan, which .she di.splavs upon her 
 wide velvet sash ; her rulie is eniliroidered with four cocks of various plumage, two 
 of whii-li are white, worked upnn the ample .sleeves of her kirimun : the silken 
 feathers of their tails wave gracefully in the air with eaeh of her niovement.s. The 
 second is the lady of the Golden Fish. ^She wears one on each side of her robe on a
 
 32G 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 background of waves and foam iu silver thread. The accessory embroideries 
 represent little children playing with ribbons of all sorts of colours, who sport on 
 her kirimon. Need I speak of the lady of the Death's head ; the lady of the 
 Candelabra, the lady of the Slaves, the lady of the Chrysanthemums "? No ! For 
 where should I stop if I were to describe in all its details the public homage paid 
 
 ,ij|ffl!irf»f4is)i|,iVllS^,i'!;';J: 
 
 A CHILD WITH A FOX MASK. 
 
 to the courtezans by the priests and by the people of Yeddo ? In the presence 
 of such customs we can only admire tlie appropriateness with which the great 
 Sanno6 admits to the rank of its idols and solemnly exhibits in the streets of the 
 city, a monkey, with a red face, wearing a sacerdotal mitre, and carrying a holy- 
 water brush.
 
 TUB GO-SEKIS. 327 
 
 That inockiug image mounted on a drum, with the rich drapery, is lifted high 
 above the crowd, an ironical caricature of the religious exhibition which the crowd 
 just witness. 
 
 The matsouris or kcrmcsses of the temples of Japan do the Government of 
 that country a service which will be strongly appreciated in Europe, by absolving 
 it from the. charge of amusing its subjects, who supply all funds needful for 
 the purpose out of their own pockets. There are Japanese festivals which do not 
 consist of representations and amusements given by the bonzes to the people but of real 
 l>ulilic rejoicings, in which the people themselves are the only actors and the real heroes 
 of the day. 
 
 These are the Go-Sckis, or five great annual festivals. They had originally a religious 
 stamp, which did not actually militate against the gaiety of their exterior manifestations, 
 because the moral of the Kami worship is, that a joyous heart is integrally in a state 
 of purity. The Seki of tlic first day of the first mouth is naturally the chief festival of 
 the new year. It is that of visits, of congratulations and presents, the latter consisting 
 of at least two or three fans, wdiich the visitor brings, according to custom, in a liox of 
 lacquer tied with silken cords ; l)ut, no matter what the nature or the valur i>f tlu' 
 ])rineipal gift, it is always accompanied by a screw of paper containing a dried morsel 
 of the flesh of the shell-fish named awal)i, or of the siebi, an exceedingly common fish ; 
 !ind this manifestation is a piece of homage paid to the frugality of the antique national 
 customs. The family receiving the visit gives a littht collation composed of saki, rice- 
 bread, and mandarin oranges. The lobster plays an important part in the exchange 
 of presents. Every house religiously preserves one until the following year, unless it 
 should be required as a remedy against certain maladies, in which case it is ground to 
 powder and eaten. 
 
 The second of the Go-Sckis, the Feast of Dolls, takes place on the third day of the 
 third month. I Avitnesscd it at Nagasaki on the 20th of April, 18G3. It is consecrated 
 to feminine youth. The mother of the family adorns the guest chamber with branches of 
 the flowering peach, and there lays out an exhibition of the dolls which her chUdreu 
 received at their birth. These are very pretty and elegantly dressed, representing the 
 Mikado, the Kisaki, and other personages of the Imperial Court. The offering is made 
 complete by a feast, which is prepared liy the young girls who are old enough to do so, 
 and towards evening the viands are eaten by the company.
 
 ^28 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 Ou the fifth day of the fifth nioiith (June) a festival of a less domestic character, 
 called that of the Banners, is celebrated in honour of the boys. Yeddo is on this day 
 a charming spectacle, especially when contemplated from a gallery looking upon one of 
 the wide streets of the city, which is decked out from early morning with tall bamboos 
 surmounted with plumes, or waving horse-tails, or balls of gilded paper, and with long 
 floating banners of [minted paper, fish made of lacquer or of plaited straw, and above 
 all, with great Ixinners sti'ctched on reed-frames, and adorned with armorial bearings, 
 family names, patriotic sentences or heroic figures. The bronze workshops exhibit 
 casques, sets of complete armour, and gigantic halberds of fantastic forms. Groups of 
 liovs in full dress occupy the public roads, some wearing two small swords, similar to 
 those of the yakounines, at their girdle ; others with fine paper ribbons on their shoulders 
 larry an immense wooden sabre ornamented with various colours, and others bear small 
 flags, which reproduce the favourite subjects of the street banners. The people of Yeddo 
 take special delight in the picturesque figure of the brave Shyoki, the hero without 
 fear and without reproach of the first Coreau war. The crowd delights in contem- 
 plating the austere face, always immoveable in the midst of danger. The wind blows 
 about his beard and his long hair ; over his head float the two classic feathers of the 
 nld helmet of the Dairi ; his calm, large, ond vigilant eyes, his right hand armed 
 with the sword, and the firmness of his attitude make him a finished type of bravery 
 and prudence. 
 
 When the Mongols attempted to invade the island of Kiousiou, the Siogoun not only 
 opposed them with his best troops, but disjplayed before them a great number of banners 
 bearing the image of Shyoki, and this spectacle alone jjctrified tlieni with terror. 
 
 The fourth great annual feast, that of the seventh day of the seventh month, is 
 known under the name of the Feast of Lamps or Lanterns. Little girls jmrade the 
 illuminated streets of the city of Yeddo in great numbers, singing with all their heart, 
 and swinging paper lanterns. In certain cities of the south the population visit the 
 hill cemeteries and pass the night amid the tombs. 
 
 The thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth are the days on which every one goes to 
 the temples to pray for the dead and to burn candles for them ; t!ie fifteenth Ijeing the 
 day fixed for the rcgulati(jn of accounts for the first half of the year. The public rejoicings 
 wliich succeed the fulfilment of this troublesome duty are particularly varied and brilliant. 
 JMasquerades, acconipanie(l l)y national dances, take a high ])lace among the popular
 
 THE GO-SEKIS. 329 
 
 [ilcasures. All the masks have their signification and trailitional character. There are 
 the noble types : first the placid faces of the gentlemen ami ladies of the Dairi ; then the 
 fierce physiognomies of the heroes of the civil wars. There are also masks with moveable 
 jaws, in imitation of those worn by the Mikado's actors. Others represent the grotesque 
 and divine Tengou, the good Okarae, the jolliest of the Japanese women mentioned in 
 history, or the unhappy Hiyotoko, the ideal of ugliness. These masks reproduce all the 
 varieties of the race of demons — those with one eye, with two eyes, with three and four 
 eyes, with horns and without horns, with two or even three horns, from the sprites to 
 the giants, and even to the odious Hanggia, the feminine devil. The final category includes 
 masks made in the likeness of Kisne the fox, and Sarou the monkey, or the lion of 
 Corea, or of Kappa, the man-frog who haunts the shores of Nippon. The dances axe of 
 every conceivable description ; the rice-dance alone numbers thirty figures, executed by 
 men whose entire clothing consists of a girdle of rice-straw, a round hat of the same 
 material brought down over their eyes, and a small cloak with large sleeves imitating 
 the wings of nocturnal moths. 
 
 The fifth of the Go-Sekis falls on the ninth day of the niuth mouth. This is the 
 Feast of Chrysanthemums. In all family repasts leaves of these beautiful flowers are 
 scattered on cups of tea or the bowls of saki. Libations prepared in this fashion arc 
 supposed to prolong life. The citizen of Yeddo would believe that he had failed in 
 his duty as a husband and father if he drank only moderately of this precious 
 specific. 
 
 Among the festivals of the fuurfli month, the eighth day is sacred to the baptism of 
 Buddha as he is represented at his birth, standing, pointing one hand to heaven and the 
 other hand to the earth. Not only do his devotees bathe with consecrated tea the bronze 
 image of the holy child in the places which serve for fonts in the Buddhist temples, 
 but the koskeis of the bonze-houses go through the streets carrying his statuette fixed in 
 the centre of a tub, so that the same ceremony may take place in private houses ; such 
 solicitude brings them in a considerable reward. 
 
 On the twenty-eighth day the people are invited to plunge themselves in the con- 
 templation of Fousi-mi, the Dolichos polystachios, and to make libations to the gods 
 under bowers of the plant, which is very common in the public gardens. 
 
 The festivals of the sixth month are in honour of the cereal harvest — rice, millet, 
 wheat, and paddy. The priests bless little squares of white paper fastened to sticks, 
 
 u u
 
 330 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 which the cultivators buy and plant at the four corners of their fields, under the 
 persuasion that these rustic amulets are indispensable to the fruitfulness of the soil. 
 This season of the year is a time of rejoicing for the citizens of Yeddo, who assemble in 
 the shady groves on the shores of the Sumida-gawa, or in the gardens of Odji, under 
 green arbours moistened with the foam of the cascades, or crowd the boats on the 
 great river, until the last day of the month convokes tliem to solemn expiation and 
 general purification. 
 
 The god of the water, an ancient divinity of the Kami worship, is feted from one 
 end to the other of the Empire during the whole of the seventh month, which represents 
 the entire term of the rainy season. Bamboos, from whose upper branches glass bells 
 and strips of blessed paper are suspended, are planted beside the springs, the wells and 
 the irrigating channels ; and every morning and evening banners are waved inscribed 
 with this sentence, "Respect and homage to the God of the Water." In the houses 
 of the country people off"erings, consisting of rice, fish, and small money, are made on 
 the domestic altar of the Kami. 
 
 The eighth month commences by a ceremonious exchange of civilities between 
 clients and their patrons, employes and their chiefs, subalterns and their superiors. 
 
 The fifteenth day is dedicated to the god of the moon. It is said to lie the 
 moment of the year in which the orb of night emits its utmost brilliancy. The 
 rivers and canals are crowded with gondolas, from which the citizens contemplate the 
 full moon. The stillness of the air and the warmth of the temperature during the 
 evenings of the months of September and October are fiivourable to these nocturnal 
 parties of pleasure, also to those which take place in the public gardens of the city 
 and its subvirbs. 
 
 The tenth month is placed under the invocation of Yebis, who is at once the 
 god of fishing and one of the favourite patrons of the shopkeepers, who make each 
 other presents on this occasion, among which are millet-cakes and a large red fish named 
 Tai. much admired for its beauty and tlie delicacy of its flavour. 
 
 The ladies of Yeddo arc not less diligent in the performance of the duties imposed 
 upon them l)y their social position. They pay each other neighbourly visits, and do 
 not neglect to burn candles before the image of Yebis for the prosperity of their husbands' 
 commercial enterprises. Early in the morning they may be seen going in groups to 
 certain bonze-houses, in whose sanctuaries there are altars privileged to receive the
 
 THE FESTIVAL OF MATRONS. 
 
 331 
 
 homage of the citizenesses. To perform tliis ceremony the pilgrim is attired in a 
 head-dress, consisting of a cotton handkerchief of dazzling whiteness, artistically wound 
 through the thick hair. 
 
 Towai'ds the middle of the month everyone is bound to notice and to communicate 
 to his friends the fact that the leaves of the maple-palm are beginning to change 
 colour. At the commencement of the eleventh month the maple is in all the magni- 
 ficence of its autumn dress. Crowds assemble in the gardens of the bonze-houses and 
 
 :'^^'.::^'!lP!IITil'll1|lfitlf!ei;)i'|I!!ll'l' 
 
 NKW YEAl: S VISITS. 
 
 the tea-houses. With the winter solstice come general congratulations. This is the 
 Festival of Matrons. No pressure of business, no journey to the city, no cause or 
 pretext whatever, can on this occasion excuse the absence of the husbands from their 
 homes. They come from all parts uf the countr)', and in tlie evening the city is 
 illuminated on all sides. The sounds of guitars and joyous voices fill the air on this 
 univcVKal festival. 
 
 u V 2
 
 332 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 The fifteenth day is called the passing of the river, by reason of a religious domestic 
 solemnity ; it symbolizes the flight of time, and the transition to the new year. 
 
 The twelfth month is de^'oted to the settlement of affairs, the renewal of furniture, 
 and the re-arrangement of the household ; operations which involve such a succession 
 of ceremonies, formalities, festivals, and rejoicings, that a whole volume might be written 
 ujjon the four or five weeks at the end of January and the commencement of February 
 in the cities and the villages of Niphou.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 t 
 
 THE SI BAT A on XATIOXAL DltAMA OF JAPAX. 
 
 HUMAN INTEREST OF THE DRAMA IX JAPAX. — THE SIBAIA. — MALE COMEDIANS. — FEMALE 
 DANCERS. — HARANGUES BY THE ACTORS. — RESTAURANTS. — CONSTRUCTION OF THE 
 THEATRE. — SCENES ON AND OFF THE STAGE. — THE GREEN-ROOM. 
 
 Although the great dramatic system of modem Japan, tbe Sibaia, is far from being 
 an aristocratic institution, it is one of the most curious in the workl. If it does
 
 334 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 not attain to the distinguished literary merit of the Chinese drama, or to the per- 
 fection of acting, it far exceeds both in poetic value, because it has more simplicity, 
 more passion, more individuality and a more purely human character. In China, the public 
 look on at the piece and criticise the actors ; in Japan, the public take part in the piece 
 in concert with the actors, exchange sentiments with them, and, in fact, are part of the 
 spectacle. In this respect the Sibaia reminds us of the little day-theatres of Italy, 
 but with all the difference which exists between an amusing and easy recreation and a 
 great popular subject, confused, often unintelligible, and whose gaiety is strange and 
 fantastic. Although the Sibaia is implanted in all the cities of Japan, it is at Yeddo, 
 and especially in the city and the northern departments, that it is most active and 
 important. The theatres are exceedingly numerous, one group occupying three longi- 
 tudinal and four cross streets. 
 
 The dramatic authors of Yeddo write principally for these theatres. From thence, 
 new pieces are distributed throughout the Empire, and companies of comedians from 
 the capital take, like the wrestlers, their holidays in the provinces. The actors are 
 all male. Only female dancers appear upon the boards, and then in the ballet of 
 the Grand Opera only. Comedians form a separate class, who are regarded by the 
 higher orders with contempt. The Sibaia is, pi'operly speaking, the theatre of the 
 middle classes of the Japanese population. It attracts great numbers of coolies and 
 labourers, when they can afford to go there, l)ut all classes above the traders abstain 
 from dramatic representations, or, if they go, take care to sit in latticed boxes. Among 
 the crowds which frequent the theatrical district it is extremely rare to meet two- 
 Bworded men, not but that the Samourais are sometimes mixed up with the 
 people, but they take good care to disguise themselves on this and other compromising 
 occasions. Just before sunset certain delegates from the company of actors appear on 
 platforms raised on the right and left of the doors of the theatres ; they are in ordinary 
 dress, and liarangue the multitude, explaining the subject of the pieces about to be 
 performed, and the merit of the principal actors who perform in them. After this 
 exordium come familiar jokes, pleasant talking, the eloquence of mimicry, and the high 
 art of managing the fan. Presently the lanterns are lit. "Come in, gentlemen! come 
 in, ladies!" they cry ; "take your places! now's the time I the piece is about to begin." 
 Nevertheless, nobody is in a huny, for the spectacle in tlie street captivates general 
 attenti(m. The illuminations afford great pleasure to the people. Tlie fii'st row of red
 
 OUTSIDE THE THEATRE. 335 
 
 lanterns hangs all along the whole length of the roof. A little lower is a second 
 range under the roof. Between the two hang balls of transparent paper, each con- 
 taining a painted candle. Near the doors enormous oblong lanterns light up the 
 pictures and tlie inscriptions, illustrating tlu' principal subjects and scenes of the jtieces. 
 Every theatre has its own arms and its own coluurs painted upon banners and 
 lanterns, along three sides of a sort of belvedere or square tower which springs from 
 the roof. 
 
 The buildings which adjoin those of the Sibaia are occupied by restaurants, 
 and are as gaily decorated as the exterior of the theatre, with designs and carvino-s 
 which have some relation to the name of each of these establishments. One is the 
 restaurant of Fousi-yama, and another of the Rising Sun ; farther off we see those of 
 the Tori, the Tai Fish, the Merchant Junk, the Stork, the Two Lovers, &c. &c. But it 
 is time to go into the theatre, and we ascend a wooden staircase leading to the second 
 gallery. A functionary opens a spacious box, and a servant brings saki, tea, cakes, 
 sweetmeats, and pipes and tobacco. 
 
 The interior of the theatre forms a long square. There are two ranges of galleries, 
 the upper containing the best places in the theatre. Numbers of ladies are to be seen 
 there in full dress, — ladies, that is to say, covered up to their eyes in crape dresses and 
 silk mantles. The whole of the remainder of the house is occupied exclusively by 
 men. There is no orchestra. The floor of the house, as seen from a distance, resembles 
 a draughtboard. It is divided into compartments, containing from eight to twelve 
 places each, most of which are hired by the year by the citizens, who take their children 
 regularly to the play. There are no lobbies. Everyone walks to his place on the 
 planks which enclose the compartments at the height of the spectators' shoulders, who 
 squat on their heels or crouch on little stools. There is neither a ladder nor a staircase 
 by which to get down into the midst of them. The men hold out their arms to the 
 women and children. The settling of the audience in its place forms a very picturesque 
 part in the preliminaries of the representation. Tobacco and refreshments are served 
 during the whole evening Ijy koskeis and servants, l)y the same means of communi- 
 cation. On two sides of tlu' pit are two bridges of planks, which also communicate 
 with the boards of the stage ; the first is nearest to one of the doors ; the second, 
 which is four planks wide, forms an angle with the extremity of the l)oxes. On 
 this bridge certain heroic or tragi-comic personages perform their parts, and the ballet
 
 333 J^IF^ I-^' JAPA]!^. 
 
 is danced. The house is lit by paper kmterns tied to the galleries ; there is no 
 chandelier from the roof, which is perfectly flat, the cupola being unknown in 
 Japanese architecture. I have, however, seen large lanterns held up to the roof of a 
 theatre at Yokohama in order to light up the performance of the acrobats, especially 
 that of the flying men, who cross the theatre l)y means of cleverly contrived 
 mechanism. 
 
 The curtain which hangs before the stage is ornamented by a gigantic inscription 
 in Chinese characters, and surmounted by a target with an arrow in the centre. This 
 symbolical sign is supposed to be a prognostic of the talent about to be displayed by 
 the actors, and which will hit the bull's-eye in the hearts of their audience. The 
 performance generally lasts until one o'clock in the morning. It consists of a comedy, 
 a tragedy, an opera wath a ballet, and two or three interludes of acrobats, wrestlers, 
 and jugglers. The principal parts are announced by a clicking noise, produced by 
 striking a small piece of wood against the Hoor of the stage. The appearance of infernal 
 personages is always preceded by lightning. The actors worthy of particular notice 
 are escorted by one or two koskeis, who carry a long stick, at the end of which is a 
 little candlestick with a lighted caudle. The spectators have only to follow the combined 
 movement of the two lights to know exactly Avhat they ought to admire ; sometimes 
 it is the expression of the actor's face, sometimes his attitude and gesture, and some- 
 times the details of his costume and head-dress. 
 
 The same custom prevails wath regard to the dancers. The koskeis may be seen 
 during the l)allet squatting upon the bridge which I have described, and profiting by 
 the immediate neighbourhood of the spectators to get them to snuff the candles with 
 their fingers, an office Avhich they always perform with pleasure ; it would indeed 
 be impossible to find anywhere a more good-humoui-ed audience. In homely comedies 
 the spectators frequently interrupt the actors, and answer them. Thus audience 
 and actors contribute alike to the success of the evening and the satisfaction of 
 all concerned. The zeal and contentment of the public are manifested by their 
 gifts, in addition to the price paid for admission. 
 
 Almost every theatre displays innumerable scraps of paper fastened to the walls by 
 which artists relate acts of generosity, and record the name and address of their benefactors. 
 
 We cannot yet form an appreciation of Japanese drama from a literary point of 
 view. No piece has been translated into any European language. Sir Eutherford
 
 THE INSIDE OF A THEATRE. 337 
 
 Alcock gives a detailed analysis of a performance which lie witnessed at Osaka. In 
 comparing my own observations with his and those of M. Layrlc, I have come to the 
 conclusion that dramatic art is still in its infancy in modern Japan. The political 
 circumstances of the country render historical drama impossible. The nearest approach 
 to it in the repertory of the Sil)aia is an incongruous mixture of liistory, mythology, 
 and l»urles(pii'. Opera, less advanced even than drama, is very mucli inferior to 
 that of the Celestial Empire, and imitates it only on its most fanciful side, the marvels 
 of the Buddhist demonology. Comedy seems to me to promise well, because it observes 
 the conditions of the natural and the real. It admits, no doubt, like opera, of scenes of 
 incredible coarseness. Nevertheless, nothing appears moi-e immoral to the Japanese than 
 our drama. This apparent contradiction is easily explained. Japanese realism admits 
 on the stage, as in romance, types and situations of which La Dame ctiix Camelias, 
 Les Filles de Marhre, and all our licentious literature, gives only a feeble idea. On tlio 
 other hand, it absolutely excludes every intrigue ]:)y which the character of a married 
 woman is compromised. Neither Phtedra, nor Hamlet's mother, the husbands depicted by 
 Molifere, nor Werther, nor Charlotte, nor the infjimous Madame Bovary, could have offered 
 the slightest attraction for the imagination of the Japanese. TIk? green-rooms and the 
 side-scenes of the theatres of the for East are no less interesting to the foreign observer 
 than the theatre, properly so called, and the audience which crowd.s it. lu these places 
 Tiono but men are to be seen, excepting from time to time some servants, or the 
 ai'tists' wives who bring refreshments to their husbands, or come to give the 
 last touch to their toilet before they go on the stage in the costume of either sex. 
 In the midst of the general disorder we find some very characteristic groups. Here 
 are musicians occupied in refreshing themselves, and indifferent to everything 
 else until the signal to return to their posts shall reach them ; there two actors 
 are rehearsing together the attitude and gesture which in a few miimtes are to 
 delight the spectators ; and another, sitting on his heels before a looking-glass placed 
 on the floor, is painting his face and adjusting his feminine head-dress. A young 
 devil beside him has thrown back his ma.sk, with its horns and its mane, over his 
 shoulders, and is fanning himself, while the chief of the wrestlers is tranquilly smoking 
 his pipe in the midst of the acrobats. Among the crowd, carpenters are coming and 
 going, carrying the screens and the partitions destined for the change of scene ; the 
 machinist is working a trap through which a whirlwind of flame is about to escape ; 
 
 X X
 
 S:;8 LIFE IX JAPAN. 
 
 and the piece is going on outside to the accompaniment of drum beating, amid the 
 conversation of the public in the house and that of the disengaged actors. 
 
 In the restauraut there is apparent inextricable confusion. Everyone crouches 
 on his mat, except the servants. A\\ sorts of games are in progress, and saki is 
 lirculatino- freely. Sometimes a group of dancers install themselves round the domestic 
 altar under the image of the god of contentment, and seldom fail liy their guitars 
 and their voices to arouse the enthusiasm of some young dandy, who will forsake his 
 party, advance towards the performers, and execute under their fair eyes a very elegant 
 dance to the accompaniment of the solemn motion of his fan. The restaurant supplies 
 all the deficiences of the theatre in point of refieshment, and is frequently crowded 
 during the greater part of the piece. Everybody knows all about it, and does not 
 mind sacrificing a few scenes to the pleasures of the table. The so-i-alled spectators 
 will eat and drink at the restaurant until the gong gives the signal for the great 
 interlude of the jugglers. Then the restauraut changes its aspect completely ; everyone 
 hastens to his place in the theatre. 

 
 EESTAUBANT, WITH A VIEW OF FOUSI-YAMA. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 T X.\ KA. 
 
 THE BELOVED SUBURB. — BEAUTIFUL SCENERY. — PLEASURE PARTIES — CARICATURE. MIXTURE 
 
 OF CHILDISH AXD HEROIC ART. — GOOD NATURE. — POLITICAL SATIRES. — CHIMERAS. — THE 
 HORRIBLE AND THE FANTASTIC. — ODJI-INARI. — KITSNE. — FOX WORSHIP AND ITS ORGIES. 
 
 The northern portion of A.saksa-Imuto, wliich is bounded by the curve formed by the 
 great river, belongs, with the three neighbouring districts, to tlie zone of Inaka. 
 
 Nothing gives such an idea of the immense circumference of Yeddo than followino' 
 the outer zone of the quarters situated on the south, the west, and north of the 
 citadel, for it extends from the faubourg of Sinagawa, opposite the six forts of the bay, 
 
 X X 2
 
 340 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 and the country traversed by the iiurtliern road beyond Seujou-Obassi ; aud embraces 
 on the north of Hondja those fertile fields which are watered ou one side by the 
 Sumidagawa, and on the other by the small river which forms the eastern boundary 
 (if the three districts on the right bank. But a description of the quarters comprised 
 in this suburb would be tiresome, because they have all a uniform agglomerate character, 
 and the curiosities which they contain are all of the same kind : sometimes rustic tem- 
 ples built u[jon the funeral hills, sometimes granite statues or commemorative tables 
 raised upon the tomb of some celebrated personage, and destined to perpetuate the 
 remembrance of a remarkable event in the history of the ancient Siogouns. Here 
 are tea-houses, great orchards, horticultural establishments ; there, arc sacred trees, 
 reposoirs set up at the best points of view, and sometimes an isolated hill, cut in the 
 shape of Fousi-yama, 
 
 Inaka, in a word, seen from a birdseye view, looks like a park, or a continuous 
 garden dotted with rural habitations ; or it resembles a garland of verdure and flowers, 
 (uist round the faubourgs of the south aud the districts of the west, and uniting them 
 to the artizan's quarters, in the heart of the city and to the villages which extend to 
 the rice-fields. 
 
 "When the orchards are in flower, the citizen, the painter, and the student, are seized 
 with rural fancies: they Hy from the labours and the pleasures of the capital, and hide 
 themselves for a day, or for many days, if it be possible, among the rustic roofs of the 
 tea-houses. These charming retreats, rich with the beauties of nature, arc innumerable. 
 Most of them can hardly be distinguished from the country houses in their neigh- 
 bourhood. Their vast roofs come down to the groimd Moor. Domestic birds flutter, 
 or ])lume themselves in the sun, on the moss with which the roof is covered, ami 
 which rises to the summit, where we see long lines of iris in full flower. When 
 there is no gallery, arbours of vines, or other climbing plants, shelter the guests 
 grouped negligently upon the threshold. A limpid spring murmurs and flows along 
 the path, which descends towards the plain across the gardens and vineyards, the 
 poppy and bean-fields, or the great expanse of cereal and textile plants. 
 
 In February, in June, and in 0(;tober, three times a year, certain societies 
 accomplish a rural pilgrimage into the villages at three or four miles distant from 
 Yeddo, merely to beliold with their own eyes the vicissitudes of the seasons and the 
 transformations of nature.
 
 PLEASURE PARTIES. 341 
 
 In winter, if the snow should fall, it is considered a duty as well as a pleasure 
 that whok' families should go and contemplate the strange aspect of the statues in 
 the enclosure of Kanda-Miodzin, in the high pagoda of Asaksa; but above all, no one 
 must fixil to retire to certain tea-houses in the ftiubourgs, such as those of Niken- 
 Tschaia, in the neighbourhood of Foukagawa, to admire the spectacle of the bay and 
 the country under the novel decoration. In summer, it is agreed that the concert of 
 grasshoppers must be listened to upon the heights of Diikwan-yama, and a good 
 family man would never fail to take his children thither, plentifully supplied with little 
 wicker cages, in order to bring back some of these sweet songsters- 
 Poets of the spring, choristers of the summer, painters and artists who 
 seek for new inspirations, delight to alxindon themselves from morning to evening 
 to charming study and reverie among the orchards of cherry, plum, pear, and peach 
 trees, among the groves of bamboo, citrons, oranges, pines, and cypress, which surround 
 the temples, the gardens of the tea-houses of Okaubo, Sougamou, Itabasi, To-neghis, 
 Haghitcra, Mimegori, and a multitude of other classic retreats of the Muses of 
 Niphon. "When night has come they meet in excellent inns, and combine with the 
 pleasures of the table the enjoyment of society, where conversation alternates with 
 songs and music, and drawings are exhibited in exchange for pages of poetry which 
 have been written during the day. 
 
 The pencil often intervenes in the capricious conversation, and the subject of a 
 tale or a discussion is illustrated or travestied by the imagination of the painter amid 
 the applause of the company. 
 
 Japanese caricatures generally bear the impi-ess of good nature. They are, for the 
 most part, taken from middle-class life. A grave physician is studying the state of his 
 patient's tongue, or examining with a vain expenditure of spectacles the ailing eyes — he 
 is lifting up the corner of the eyelid with great care ; quacks are engaged in the 
 operation of shampooing or in the application of moxas ; a band of blind shampooers 
 on their travels have gone astray at a ford, and are disputing in the midst of the 
 water as to the direction which they should take on reaching the opposite bank. 
 Then we have types of the begging friars ; of fishing misadventures ; scenes of feminine 
 jealousy and household (quarrels pushed to violent measures. There ai"e also very 
 complete series of caricatures, such as the small troubles of life in the great world ; 
 the household of the fat man, and tlie household of the thin man ; and the difi'erent
 
 U2 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 grimaces which eau be formed by the human face. Aud the artists do not spare 
 themselves ; for rapid painting, which is held in such esteem in Japan, is symbolized 
 under the figure of an artist who is working with six brushes at once, two in each 
 luind and one between each great toe. 
 
 The method which rendered Grandville so popular in his illustration of the fables 
 of La Fontaine is not unkm^wu to Japanese caricaturists. But their pencil is less 
 
 
 cabicatui:e of a donze. 
 
 sparing; they only exceptionally reach to the dramatic energy of the human passions. 
 Most frequently they limit themselves to giving animals a costume, or an attitude 
 which invests them witli a certain symbolic character. Tliis is the lower decree of 
 anthropomorphism. Such for example is the personification of tlie twelve signs of the 
 Zodiac— the mouse, the I)car, tlie tiger, tlie hare, the di-agou, the serpent, the horse, 
 the ram, the monkey, the cock, the dog, and the wild boar— each adorned with 
 vestments and attributes relating to their astronomical functions, or to the parts which 
 tbcy play in astrology.
 
 CARICATURES. 
 
 3i3 
 
 A sketch by Hoiksiii, no loss harmless, Imt wuav iinuising, represents a lico- 
 warehouse in which rats, the most dreaded enemies of that precious cereal, form 
 the warehousemen. Nothing is missing in this pretty scene, from the cashier 
 making liis calculations with Lis lend frrmo, to the f-alesnian turning over his hooks in 
 
 
 IIIK RAT lliri; MERCHANTS. 
 
 order to demonstrate to a purchaser that he cannot abate a farthing in the piicc. ' 
 The shopmen are carrying the bales, of which the purchaser is taking an invoice, on 
 their shoulders. The money is in little straw bags, which the coolies cany at 
 the ends of their bamboos. Everything is conducted with the order and regularity
 
 344 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAX. 
 
 becoming to a great house. The smallest details are drawn with the care which would 
 be bestowed upon a serious composition. It is in this kind of comic art, childish or 
 heroic by turns, that the Japanese display most ease and originality. 
 
 I frequently noticed a dash of satire of a political kind in the numerous and 
 varied sketches whose subject is furnished by the " trains " of the Daimios. For 
 instance, I have seen many in which the personages of the cortege, beginning with the 
 prince himself, arc represented as foxes or monkeys. 
 
 The satirical intention is not less manifest in those pictures in which we see the 
 superior of a bonze-house with a wolf's head, and a group of nuns under the image of 
 
 THE HAHE AKTi THE WILD BOAIl. 
 
 weasels. The most expressive picture I have seen of this kind represents an audience 
 in which a hare has prostrated himself, trembling, at the feet of a wild boar. The 
 hare is a little hattamoto out of employment, and the wild boar is a high-class 
 functionary in Court dress, who wears the toque of Kioto. 
 
 The taste for the fantastic goes along with that for caricature. In .lapan, political 
 institutions, religion, and nature, all concur to excite the imagination and to set it 
 wandering to the region of chimeras. On the sea-shore, the basaltic rocks take forms 
 now grotesque and now frightful. The ocean itself is a world of mysteries. 
 Sometimes, when it is very dark, a light may be seen under the water which resembles
 
 CHIMERAS. 
 
 345 
 
 <t dragon. Sailors luive scon sholLs darting along among the waves. Under the waters 
 of the Strait of Simonosdki is a gi'otto, or rather a temple, encrusted with pearls 
 and motluT-of-pearl. It is called the Eiogouii. It is situated in the place where 
 the young Mikado Antok was submerged with his suite, as he fled from the field 
 of battle where his i)artisans, the Fekis, were defeated by Yoritomo (1185). In 
 this temple he reigns and holds his Court. His men-at-arms carry long rods 
 
 A DAIMIO'S "TRAIN." (cARIOATUKB). 
 
 surmounted by .«harks' fins; these arc his banners. All the sea-gods, wearing diadems 
 representing the heads of seals, little fishes, medusas, crabs, and dragon's jaws, come 
 to ]>ay him homage. This Court of marine monsters and drowned men-at-arms has 
 inspired the strangest artistic compositions; equalled only by the revolting scenes 
 in which we see the bloody and slaughtered victims aiding demons in the punish- 
 ment of their murderers in the infernal regions. The pencil of Callot has produced 
 nothing so completely horrible. 
 
 Y Y
 
 ruo 
 
 LIFE IN JAI'AX. 
 
 The Japanese dcligbt in the imitation of hideous realities. The wax-work musouni 
 
 at Asaksa-tera possesses figures of executed eriininals, and coi'pses in a state of 
 
 decomposition, whicli form a collection very superior to the celebrated "Chamber uf 
 llnirors" at Madame Tussaud's. 
 
 PROCKSSION or TAlISMAMi" UAKES. 
 
 They can also, like ('allot, ally the burlesque to the horrible, but they do so 
 only in sulijects which are not tragical. Yov instance, they will change the vessels 
 used ill religious (( nnmnies, gongs, holy-\\ater brushes, candelabra, perfume vases,
 
 THE llOllUiniE AXD THE EAXTASTIC. 347 
 
 altars, images, and statuettes, into so many animated monsters, jumping or crawling 
 in an infernal dance led by evil spirits. 
 
 The fantastic has its part in the fascinations of tlie tea-houses in the suburbs of 
 Yeddo. Some are erected in places propitious to the contemplation of Fousi-yama, 
 and the sight of that exti-aordinary mountain, as it appears at sunrise or at sunset 
 \uider the clear sky, or when swept by storms, is such as to satisfy the moat 
 exacting imagination. The charm of the landscape and mysterious cataracts forming 
 cascades, is enhanced in other places by mineral springs and basins of thermal water, 
 like certain w^atering-places in tlie Swiss mountains. People do not go there for the 
 purpose of cure, properly so-called, but they go to pass a few days with their families 
 in elegant cedar chalets shaded with magnificent trees, on the banks of the water-eoui-se, 
 which may be compared to the finest Alpine rivers. The most frequented are those 
 uf Ottona-Sigawa, one of the principal afHuents of the great river. 
 
 Other places of pleasure are specially devoted to one or other of the popular super- 
 stitions. The people go from the temples to the tea-houses with the satisfaction whicii 
 accompanies the accomplishment of a pious task. During the first days of the eleventh 
 month the hotel-keepers and the bonzes of Yousima-Tcndjin receive thousands of pilgrims 
 nf both sexes, small traders, and agriculturists, in the faubourgs or the country imme- 
 diately around the city ; they come to buy rakes at an isolated temple in a mar.sh 
 on the north of the capital. These rakes are of good augury for harvest, and arc 
 simply pious playthings, which are held as talismans in the dwellings of the faithful. 
 They suit all purses and the most varied tastes ; some, of colossal size, are deeoi-ated 
 with a picture, representing the junk of happiness; others, of smaller dimensions, are 
 ornamented with the sign of the god of riches ; the simplest have only pictures on paper 
 or on papier-mAche, such as the head of the god of rice, the mask of Okamd, and all 
 sorts of mythological emblems. 
 
 As fortune does not confer its favours among men in proportion to their stature, it 
 frequently happens that, on their return from Yousima, the poorest pilgrims carry 
 away the thinnest loads, while their companions, rich but feeble, stagger under the 
 weight of the enormous instruments which their social position has obliged them to 
 purchase. 
 
 The comic eflfect of the procession is increased by the peculiarities of the costumes 
 of the season. The men wear tight trousers of blue cotton and a wide mantle with 
 
 Y Y 2
 
 us LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 large sleeves ; they are mostly bareheaded, but their uoses are protected by crape 
 handkerchiefs tied at the back of the neck ; others cover the head with an ample hood, 
 which hides the whole face with the exception of the eyes. The women generally adojit 
 this ugly hood, and, stuff their arms into the thick sleeves of their winter kirimon, 
 so that they look like as if they had none. Amulets to be placed at the edges of 
 the fields, in the form of squares of paper fixed on a wooden peg, are sold at the 
 temple of Yousima ; and the bareheaded pilgrims stick them behind the one plait of 
 hair which forms their head-dress, like hair-pins, so that they look as if they had 
 come from an agricultural exhibition with the number under which they were exliibited 
 stuck on their head. 
 
 On the other side of the Sumidagawa the cultivation of trees used in manufactures 
 occupies a no less important jilace among the labours of the country-people than the 
 culture of the rice-fields and their kitchen garden. Among others we may see great 
 plantations of Rhus veniix and Broussonetia papyri/era, which supply the lacquer and 
 paper fabrics of the capital. The former of these shrubs acquires in about thirteen 
 years an annual value of from £3 to £4 ; the sap is taken away twice, by means of 
 incisions made in January and renewed in Septemlier. The varnish produced in the 
 latter month is of inferior quality. 
 
 In order to avoid the contact of the skin with the native lacquer, which possesses 
 venomous properties, the workpeople cover their hands and face with a thick coating 
 of oil. 
 
 On the right bank of the river, and on the shores of its principal afiluents, the 
 builders and master-carpenters of Yeddo have their timber-yards, where the trunks of 
 trees brought fi-om the forests of the interior are cut into beams, laths, and planks. 
 These forests are inexhaustibly rich in woods fit for building purposes, such as the oak, 
 which attains an immense height in Japan ; the [)ine, of which some forty species exist ; 
 the cedar, Cryptomeria, of a native species ; the fir-tree, also remarkable for its 
 variety; and the browTi wood.s, and black employed in cabinet making or in small 
 ornaments. 
 
 The Gardens of Odji-Tnari, which stand high in the estimate of tlie city popu- 
 lation, are situate at the opening of a mountain gorge on the northern side of Yeddo. 
 A small river forming several cascades winds gracefully through the valley. On the 
 l)ank above its limpid waters, rises the long galleries and pavilions of the tea-house.
 
 ODJIINARl. 
 
 349 
 
 which enjoys the coolness of the water and the shade of the great trees. The 
 guest chambers, the verandahs, the partitions, and the mats, are kept in a state 
 of dazzlinor cleanliness. The whole establishment is distinguished by elegance and 
 simplicity. Historical remembrances attach to many places in the neighbourhood. 
 
 THE GAMK OK IIIK FoX. 
 
 A hunting-lodge of the Siogouns formerly occupied tlie summit of one of tlie hills, 
 which commands an extensive view of the plains watered by the Sumidagawa. In 
 a narrow valley, at some distance, is pointed out a temple consecrated to ly^yas, 
 who was its founder, also a miraculous spring which falls from an elevated wall of 
 rocks. This spring is placed under the invocation of a stone idol, to which the
 
 :5.">0 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAX. 
 
 iVi'quentcrs of tlic gardens address their pniycrs. When heated by the fumes of 
 
 saki, they i>hi(e themselves under the falling water and enjoy the natural bath. In 
 
 thu little hamlets of the plain a quantity of shops or booths offer all sorts of 
 
 curiosities and trinkets to the choice of the visitors and their children. A lively 
 
 trade is done by these traders, for no family ever returns from a party in the 
 country without bringing home some remembrance of the village markets. 
 
 The real secret of the celebrity of the gardens of Odji is, that they were placed in 
 very ancient times under the patronage of Inari, the tutelary god of the rice-fields, and 
 conjointly under the protection of the sacred animal which is his " altvibutc," that
 
 THE ASSEMBLY OF THE FOXES. :5.'")1. 
 
 is to say, Kitsne, tlio fox, wlio deigns to honour tlic countiy witli liis jiarli- 
 cular favour. He is worshipped on tlie hill which bears the name of Odji- 
 Inari. On the seventeenth day of the liist month an innumerable erowd of citi/fiis 
 and country people flock to his temple. They hang up e.x-votos, and deposit tiicii- 
 new year's tribute in the mouey-bo.x. Then the crowd disperses, wandering in groups 
 through the groves, and contemplate from afar a great tree in the marsh, around 
 which an annual scihhat of the foxes has been lield on the previous night. Persons 
 who jiretend to have seen the assembly of the foxes preceded by a Will-o'-the-wisp 
 and followe<l by the Spirits of the rice-fields, arc eagerly interrogated, and bear their 
 testimony gravely to the character of the festival, the number of the foxes, and tiie 
 greater or less gaiety manifested on the occasion. These particulars having Ijccn 
 ascertained, inferences are drawn from them respecting the year which is com- 
 mencing, and the abundance and the quality of the harvest are i)rognosticated. Then 
 the visitors, seat themselves around the " brasero " in the guest chambers of the 
 tea-house, and talk in a low voice of the mysterious influence of Kitsne in the artairs 
 of this world. What is chance ? what is hazard ? good or l)ad fortune ? — words devoid 
 of sense. And, nevertheless, there is something behind these words, because every 
 time that one uses them one is forced to it by circumstances. The fox has 
 come that way. " I," says one of the guests, " have had the misfortune to lose 
 a child ; the doctor could not even tell me the seat of his malady." AVhile the mother 
 was grieving, the lamps, which were placed beside the corpse, threw the shadow ol' 
 the poor woman upon the opposite wall ; everyone in the chamber of mourning 
 perceived at once that the shadow had taken tlu; form of a fox. " And travellers," con- 
 tinues a neighbour, " when they see their road prolonging itself indefinitely, although they 
 have calculated the distance, is it not because they have omitted to count with the tail 
 of the fox 1 How many times have they not wandered about the rice-fields, misguided 
 by the Will-o'-the-wisp, which Kitsnd can make to flicker where he chooses. And the 
 hunters, how many tricks lias he not played upon them ? If a good sportsman wa.s 
 to dare to attempt to revenge himself, he would only have the mortification of seeing 
 the fox bounding and jumping before him, and carrying away in his mouth the arrow 
 which had been let fly at him." 
 
 The annals of Japan state that Kitsne is capable of metamorphosis. When th« 
 Mikado, who reigned in 1150, found himself under the painful necessity of dismissing
 
 352 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 KKsriVAI, OK TUE FOXES. 
 
 lii^ favourite in order to save the finances of the Empire from complete ruin, the fair 
 one escaped from her apartments in the farm of a white fox adorned with six fan-shaped 
 tails. On the other hand, cases no less extraordinary are quoted of the abduction of
 
 KITSN6. 
 
 353 
 
 young girls, some of whom have never returned, while others on their return have closed 
 their parents' mouths by the word Kitsn^ ! Kitsnd ! 
 
 When it pleases the latter to disguise himself as an old bonze, he is most dangerous. 
 Tiiere is always one means of defeating him. Kitsnd, whatever may be his disguise, 
 never resists the suggestions of his nose. Let anyone place a rat newly roasted 
 in tiie path of the false priest, and he will not fail to forget his personation, and 
 fall upon the j^rey, forgetful of everything else. 
 
 The yamabos or bonzes of the mountains generally succeed in keeping Kitsnd at a 
 distance, because they know how to practise upon his weakness ; but they also must be 
 particularly on their guard to avoid a surprise. If the fox succeeds in discovering their 
 
 A SCENE OF SOUCEUV. 
 
 barrel of saki, woe to them who shall taste it afterwards ! It is thus that some very 
 respectable yamabos have become objects of popular derision. A few cups suffice to turn 
 their heads ; they throw off their clothing, utter cries, gesticulate like madmen, and 
 execute the most eccentric dances ; also danced by two foxes in the same step, and 
 who mark the time, one by blowing a sacred conch, the other by flourishing about the 
 holy-water brush of the poor bewitched bonzes. It is also said that the peasants, 
 whenever they have slept in the rice-fields, are liable to be caught in the nooses of 
 Kitsnu, who deprives them, according to his fancy, of the use of their limbs or of 
 freedom of movement. 
 
 The Japanese people have also their romance of the fox. They amuse themselves 
 with their hero, though they are afraid of him. 
 
 z z
 
 354 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 Kitsne becomes in turn a sacred, amusing, perfidious, and diabolical personage. 
 In the morning they pay him homage, in the evening they turn him into ridicule. 
 But if he lends himself to jesting, it is only to take a more signal revenge. Let 
 anyone try, for example, in family festivals or in social banquets, to amuse himself at 
 the expense of Kitsne and to try his patience ; when he shall have joined the party 
 in earnest, he will then soon turn all their heads the wrong way, and the night will 
 not pass without his strewing the ground with those who have given him provocation. 
 The game of the fox begins, very innocently in appearance, with a kind of song and 
 clapping of hands. Three attitudes are taken alternately. The fii'st consists in raising 
 the hands, and holding them half shut behind the ears ; the second, in doubling the 
 fist and stretching out the fore-arm ; the third, of opening both hands and spreading 
 them on the knees. This is called the game of the fox, the gun, and the yakounine. 
 The fox loses against the gun, because the gun kills ; the gun loses against the 
 yakounine, because tlie yakounine can defend himself ; finally, the yakounine loses 
 against the fox, because ]\itsne is the most cunning animal in creation. The losing 
 party is compelled to drink a cup of saki. 
 
 It is easy to conceive that under the influence of such a penalty the game 
 becomes more and more animated. Some of the players find it too sedentary ; one 
 of them rises, and, amid the acclamations of the company, procures a long rope, makes 
 a running knot, holds it by one end, and throws the other to a companion, who 
 stretches the rope as tight as he can without spoiling the running knot. Behind the 
 latter is placed a little stand, on which lies what is called the rat — it is a cap or cup, 
 or any other object — which the fox must take away quickly, without letting himself 
 be caught in the noose. If the guardians of the rat pull the cord between their 
 hands too quickly or too slowly, they pay the penalty. If tlie fox be caught, were it 
 only by the end of the finger, he has to defray the expense of any amount of 
 drinks so long as it pleases the guests of both sexes who enjoy tlie spectacle of his 
 captivity. In such cases, the ordinary resources of the orchestra fail to express the 
 debght of the company. The guests knock their glasses or porcelain cups together 
 like bells ; the singers imitate the cries of all sorts of animals ; the more active hop 
 niund the unfortunate fox, and mock him with every kind of grimace. Kitsne of 
 the mountains, from his hiding place, contemplates all the details of this Bacchic 
 scene, and thrills with pleasure when it attains its height.
 
 PICNICS. 
 
 355 
 
 Better than this foolish arauaenient are the quiet picnics which take place in the subuiUs 
 (luring the fine season. Two or three families arrange to ])ass an evening together in the 
 country, cither on the shady hills which overlook the bay, or in the groat orchards on 
 the north side, whence a full view of Fousi-yaraa may be had. They are preceded by 
 
 . rt/*tr^.Jt^'' 
 
 A RURAL TKA-IIOUSE. 
 
 koskeis, who, on reaching the iilacc agrecil upon, trace out a reserved space by means of 
 long pieces of stuff stretched on poles. AVithin this they lay down mats. Stoves are 
 prepared, with kettles for making tea, and pans for frying fish. The company arrive 
 and install themselves, the ladies unpacking the provisions, and the festival begins. It 
 lasts until sunset ; games, singing, and music, animate the scene. Sometimes professional 
 
 z z 2
 
 356 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 singers are summoned to the festival, and occasionally even a couple of wandering 
 dancers, whose speciality consists of pantomime, posturing, and character figures. One 
 of their prettiest performances is called the fan-dance ; it is a kind of pantomime, 
 generally executed by a young girl in the costume of a page. There are also some 
 national dances kept up in the society of the town, and these naturally have a place 
 among the diversions of the country jjarties. Generally, ladies dance alone ; they 
 form a quadrille, and the dance consists principally of gestures, without any change 
 
 
 \^\\:^^^ :\;^^^vS^N^^^i^:$$^^>^$$^$^ 
 
 THE FAN-DAN'CE. 
 
 of position, except in passing from one attitude to another. They stretch out their 
 hands and arms ; sometimes the right, and sometimes the left, not without o-race or 
 elegance, hut the movement is exceedingly monotonous. A man never dances, except 
 when, inspired by the fumes of saki, he imitates some choreographic feat which ho 
 has witnessed upon the stage. 
 
 But, as I have already said, it is not only pleasure which attracts the citizen to 
 the groves of Inaka ; he loves the place for its own sake ; he knows it under all 
 aspects and in all seasons ; he knows its curiosities and peculiarities, its local kermesscs,
 
 THE GROVES OF INAKA. 
 
 357 
 
 its annual markets, at whicli he purchases a part of his household provisions. He goes 
 to the public auctions of rice, vegetables, fruits, and coal, which take place at fixed periods 
 in certain rural districts ; he also goes to see the antique cedar on which he has painted 
 the initials of his name and the date of his first visit ; and he knows one still more ancient 
 which contains a natural reservoir of water celebrated for its efficacy against certain 
 diseases. This tree was planted by a Kami. 
 
 For a few centimes he is permitted to fish in the tanks of the Ijoiizc-housc, and to 
 carry home the results of his sport. There is not a convent, or temple, or chapel in the 
 neighbourhood wliicli is not distinguished by some more or less interesting peculiarity. 
 Here a group of [):ilin-trees, there bananas ami bamboos, or evergreen oaks, or maples, or 
 
 gigantic azaleas ; and the monastic orders to which the convents belong devote them- 
 selves to the education of tortoises and mandarin ducks, or to making sweetmeats. 
 
 Many of tlic liills have a special reputation ; this one because it affords the best 
 open-air view of the princely spectacle of hawking ; that one because it overlooks a 
 famous battle-field. Several are covered with tombs, ranged in terraces like little gardens. 
 The monuments present an infinite variety of style of ornamentation according to the 
 social condition and sect of the deceased ; most frequently a tablet bearing an epitaph
 
 :^58 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 rests on the shell of a large stniic tortoise, the symbol of Eternity. A great uumher 
 of tombs are formed of a socket surmounted by a statue of Buddha, or some auxiliary 
 divinity of Buddhism, sueli as Quauiion or Amida, standing on a lotus flower. These images 
 are cut in the granite, or the basalt, in extremely fine workmanship. The most ancient 
 are moss-grown, or smothered in branches of ivy and other climbing plants. Gigantic 
 pines, cypress-trees, and laurels, lend a charm by their picturesque grouping to the burial 
 places. 
 
 One of the most interesting cemeteries in the neiohbourhood of Yeddo is that of 
 the Schorin ; it is specially reserved for men illustrious in letters or sciences. 
 
 At the entrance of the villages, and sometimes in the open country, we find stones 
 erected to commemorate some historical event ; and frequently little chapels built in 
 honour of some hero who fought in the wars which founded the dynasty of lyeyas. 
 Buddhism has affixed its stamp to every place worthy of exciting the attention of 
 travellers. There is no grotto without its idol and its story ; there is no lake which does 
 not contain a little islet with its temple dedicated to Benten. 
 
 It is fortunate for the Japanese that their popular superstitions have developed in 
 them a love of country life, and a proper regard for the vegetable wealth in which their 
 countiy abounds.
 
 THE OANKIUO. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE XKW ORDER OF TUJXaS I X JAf'AA. 
 
 INTERNAL POLITICS AT THE EPOCH OK THE TREATIES. — WISDOM OF THE LINE TAKEN BY ENC- 
 LAND. — STOTSBASHL — THE ASSEMBLY OF PRINCES. — THE FALL OF THE TAIKOUNAT. — 
 THE MIKADO. — GENERAL INFORMATION POSSESSED BY THE JAPANESE. — PROSPECTS OF 
 COMMERCE. — .SANITARY FACTS. — PRODUCTS AND EXPORT.S. —IMPORTS. 
 
 The bombardment of Kagosinia, and tlic dostructioii of the batteries at Simoucseki, 
 were, in reality, only incidents in the question of the external relations inaugurated by
 
 360 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 the treaties. It was, however, difficult to avoid connecting them with the internal 
 political question which was agitating the privileged classes of the Empire. These 
 events, in fact, were apparently of a nature to confirm the previsions respecting the 
 future of Japan which had long been cherished in secret. The country, hitherto so 
 deeply divided, was about to reconstitute itself upon a fresh basis. It aspired to order, 
 to unity, to political centralization. Wbat was there to prevent its attainment of them ? 
 Just two things, which the Government might easily realize with the moral support 
 of the Powers interested in its preservation. The first was the definitive subjection 
 of the feudal nobility to the civil and political power concentrated in the Taikoun ; the 
 second was the complete emancipation of the Taikounat from the supremacy of the 
 Mikado in everything concerning temporal affairs. The successors of lydyas regarded 
 the latter point as settled, as an acquired right, so decidedly, that the Court of Yeddo 
 considered it highly improper and unconstitutional that the legations should have 
 demanded from the Mikado the ratification of the treaties concluded by the Taikoun in 
 all the plenitude of his legal competence. At the rate at which events were succeeding 
 each other in Japan, the double solution, which Avas to secure the unification and the 
 peace of the Empire and to consolidate its commercial relations with the West, was 
 advancing with rapid strides. The rising of the Daimios of the south against the 
 Taikoun, and the succession to the throne of a man of the capacity of Stotsbashi, would 
 no doubt precipitate the denouement, the issue could not be doubtful. 
 
 Europeans inevitably commit the error of transacting their affair's in the Eastern 
 world in too systematic a spirit. In this particular case, England, happily guided by 
 the instinct of commercial interests, made an exception to this rule. She became the 
 fiiend and confidant of the prince whose capital she had, shortly before, burned to 
 ashes. The insurrection of the Daimios of the south speedily assumed threatening 
 proportions. In place of opposing to it the resistance which had been expected from 
 his energy, and from the considerable military preparations which he had made with 
 the assistance of France, Stotsbashi suddenly abdicated, " through patriotism," accoi'ding 
 to the version of the Tokoungawa ;^ and begged the Mikado to convoke all the great 
 men of the Empire, in order to establish the govenrment upon a solid basis, to revise 
 the constitution, and thus to open up for the country a path of progress which should 
 lead it to power and prosperity. 
 
 ' Notified liy the Japanese embassy at Paris, in February, 1868.
 
 THE ASSEMBLY OF PRINCES. 361 
 
 The Mikado complied with the request of Stotsbashi ; but the asscrably of princes 
 was tumultuous, and ended liy a sort of coup d'etat on tlie jiart of the confederates of 
 the south, who carried the Emperor and his Court forcibly into their <-amp, dispersed 
 the friends of the Taikoun, and promulgated decrees abolishing the Taikounat and 
 placing the executive power in the hands of the Mikado. But then Stotsbashi made 
 up his mind to open the campaign. The four palaces which Satsouma po.ssessed at 
 Yeddo, and which served as a centre of operations for the conspirators in that cai)ital, 
 were attacked ;uid destroyed by cannon. The preceding Taikoun had previously 
 demolished the residence of Nagato, in order to disprove his connivance in the 
 aggressions of that prince on the Europeans. The army of Stotsbashi formed in line 
 at Fousimi, on the north-west of Osaka. The troops of Satsouma, of Chosiou (Nagato), 
 of Tosa, of Awa, of Aki, and others, occupied Kioto. The first engagement took place 
 January 28th, 1868. Stotsbashi remained in observation at Osaka. His forces, ill- 
 directed, fell back on the fortress of Yeddo. On the following days they lost it, retook 
 it, and were finally beaten in a pitched battle, when a great number of his men passed 
 over to the enemy, on the pretext tliat the latter, having hoisted the standard of the 
 Mikado, any farther struggle wmdtl have been sacrilege. The citadel of Osaka fell, 
 without the firing of a shot, into the hands of the conquerors of Yeddo, who burned 
 it to ashes. Stotsbashi fled by sea. 
 
 The troops of the confederates pushed their advantage boldly, and niarrhed on 
 Yeddo ; but, after the Prince of Ai'dzen had obtained some successes over them, an 
 arrangement w\as come to between the moderates of both camps. Aidzen, Shendai, 
 Nambou, and Yoncsawa, made submission. Stotsbashi, who was invited to resume his 
 functions, refused ; and a child of six years old, tlie son of Taiasou, a member of the 
 clan of the Tokoungawa, was elected in his stead. ]>ut, as the child's father did not 
 give his assent to this transaction, the Mikado pronounced the definitive suppicssiou 
 of the office. He made a solemn entry into Yeddo on the 25th November, ISGS. 
 The citadel was delivered up to him by Prince Owari, who belonged to the camp of 
 the confederates. The branch of the princes of Ksiou played no ostensible part in 
 these troubles. 
 
 The Taikounat went down before the first onslaught, under the reign of a 
 prince of the branch of Mito, and we nmst seek the cause of this defeat in the 
 bloody rivalry among families which has exhausted the dynasty of the Tokoungawa. 
 
 3 A
 
 362 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 It cannot be said that the pacification of Japan is complete. The last partisans of 
 the north have succumbed after heroic struggles in the island of Yt^so, of which they 
 had taken possession under the leadership of the gallant young Enomoto Idsoumi-no- 
 Kami, admiral of the Taikounal fleet. Nevertheless the two parties are still in an 
 
 A MOUSNEK. 
 
 attitude of mutual observation, and their forces remain almost equal. The traditional 
 antipathy whicli reigns between the Daimios of the south and those of the north is 
 an obstacle to the complete centralization of the administration. A proposal made by 
 Satsouma, that all the Daimios of Japan should make a return of their fiefs to the
 
 THE MIKADO. 363 
 
 Mikado, served only to (•oini)romise that piiiKc in the eyes of liis own :dlics. The 
 Mikado's Government has recognized the necessity of raising Yeddo officially to the 
 rank of a second capital of the Empire. In that capacity, it is called To-Kei. 
 
 The Mikado himself cannot do otherwise, in the interest of his relations with the 
 representatives of foreign powers, than reside there for at least a portion of the year. 
 Hut, in addition to this, there is already a question of the nomination of a Viceroy, 
 in order that each of the two capitals may have its Court as Avell as its share of 
 iiifluoneo in tlie affairs of the State. This would be the re-establishment of the 
 Taikounat under another name, and probably the restoration of the Tokoungawa 
 dynasty. 
 
 In any case, the fair days of Aranjucz are past, in the realm of the Daimios, and 
 for the gentlemen of Kioto in general. They must resign themselves to exchange 
 cock-fighting and tennis-playing for the burden of jiublic business, and to a daily 
 contact with the Western World. The civil war produced extreme perturbation in the 
 finances of the princes and the Government. The jMikado was constrained to create 
 [laper money (kinsatz), and to give it a forced currency, while refusing to accept it 
 at the public treasury. Commerce complains, according to its right and its duty ; but 
 I presume its lamentations are accompanied 1))' a slight smile, and a tolerably clear 
 notion that, in a very short time, dating from the day on which this economic 
 measure .shall have fallen into complete discredit, the Japanese will have begun to 
 open the almost virgin mines in which the country abounds, and to hand over the 
 concession and the working of them to the industry of Europeans. Thus, evcrythiucr 
 is coming to the assistance of the latter, even including those events which are 
 apparently most injurious to the interests of commerce ; and in fact it is very natural 
 that as breach after breach is made in tlie old walls of the Japanese edifice, the 
 place .should speedily fall into the power of the invaders. 
 
 But we must not indulge in illusions with respect to our advantao-es. It is not 
 our political prestige, it is not the splendour of our embassies, which constitute the 
 strongest argument with the Japanese ; it is simply the superiority of our civilization 
 from the point of view of the ceramic and industrial arts. 
 
 The Japanese are much better informed than we suppose upon the general 
 situation in Europe, and the resources of the various States. Their embassies to Europe, 
 between 1860 and 1868 ; to England, Holland, France, Belgium, Prussia, Rassia, 
 
 3 A 2
 
 364 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 Switzerlaucl, aiul Italy ; the share in the Paris Universal Exhibition taken by the 
 Taikoun, the Prince of Satsouma, the Prince of Fizen, and the commerce of Yeddo ; 
 and the studies made in Europe by a relatively considerable number of young Japanese, 
 a contingent which is renewed year after year; have all tended to consolidate the work 
 of the treaties., and secure our improved relations from all the vicissitudes of politics. 
 
 Japan has fallen to the West. Since the expeditions of Taikosama in Corea, 
 when the troops beat the Chinese auxiliaries despatched to the aid of that kingdom, 
 the Government of the Celestial Empire has been estranged from Niphon. It seems 
 that it has even forbidden its subjects to entertain commercial relations with that 
 country, for the junks whicli visit Nagasaki and the ports of the inland sea come 
 exclusively from Niphon, and belong to a trading corporation which is barely tolerated 
 by the Governors of Chekiang. Of all the countries of the far East, Japan, that is 
 to say, the South of Niphon, Schoff, and Kiousiou, is the country which is most 
 convenient and agreeable to Europeans. 
 
 The four seasons are very distinctly marked there : from March to the latter half 
 of May, a splendid spring ; from June to September, summer, commencing with a brief 
 rainy season, followed by heat, during which the thermometer marks from 63° to 70" 
 Fahr. ; from September to the end of November is autumn, without great heat, 
 and free from rain, storm, and mosquitoes ; finally, three months of winter usually 
 free from tempests, and under a perfectly serene sky ; with a temperature which some- 
 times falls at Yohokama as low as 43° Fahr. 
 
 From September to April the predominant winds are north and east, and the 
 rest of the year south and west. 
 
 Earthquakes, though frequent, are rarely disastrous, and are generally less dreaded 
 than fires. The latter scourge furnishes one of the most picturesque spectacles of 
 Japanese life. I have frequently been struck, during the conflagrations which I have 
 witnessed, by the attitude of the squadrons in the offing, in which the glare of the 
 flames is reflected ; the vessels answering, one after another, by luminous signals, to 
 the orders of the admiral ; and the men lending their perfectly disciplined aid, 
 in total silence, in tlie midst of the confusion of the natives. In a short time, 
 the advance of civilization will have considerably reduced danger from fire in Japan. 
 Excellent health may be maintained by combining certain European improvements with 
 the ordinary diet of tlie Japanese, Tropical fevers are unknown in Niphon ; and there
 
 COMMERCE. 365 
 
 is less danger to foreigners from cholera, dysentery, and small-pox, all much dreadeel 
 by natives, tiiau in Europe. 
 
 But the great attraction of Japan is that the commercial preponderance is not so 
 crushing there as in China and the East Indies. On this subject I can amply confirm 
 the judicious and practically interesting observations of M. Jaques Siegfried of Mulhause, 
 who says, in his work entitled Seize Mois au Tour du Monde (Paris, Hetzel) : — 
 
 " Tlie commerce of the East is becoming more and more democratic ; each one may 
 take his little share in it ; and the door is now open to all tlie world. The Germans 
 and the Swiss have profited largely by this state of things. They are not content to 
 occupy themselves with the affairs, relatively small, but of still increasing importance, 
 of their own respective countries, but they have mixed themselves up more and more 
 in the commerce of the English, and have succeeded in establishing a formidable com- 
 petition with them on their own ground, and one which increases daily. The commercial 
 relations of Europe with Japan are doubtless very far from having such importance as 
 those with China and the Indies. The Chinese, Indian, and Japanese trade with Europe 
 and its colonies amounted in 18G7, including both exports and imports, to three and 
 a half milliards of francs, which was more than double the amount of ten years before. 
 
 " The private business done at the principal Japanese port, Yokohama, has also 
 doubled in less than ten years. It may be estimated at 100 millions of francs. This 
 is little ; but it is also much, if we take an account of the abnormal and unfavour- 
 able circumstances of our early relations with Japan. When we look at the proportions 
 between the 30 or 34 millions of Japanese, the 200 millions of Hindoos, and the 300 
 or 400 millions of Chinese, there is room, not only for satisfaction with, but also for 
 astonishment at, the considerable progress which we have made in the brief space 
 of ten years. Of all Oriental races, the Japanese accustom themselves most rapidly 
 to our civilization and its necessities ; and most readily acquire a taste for the products 
 t)f our industry. In Japan, therefore, European commerce finds most encouraging 
 elements." 
 
 Two principal articles form the basis of the normal commerce of Japan, as regards 
 exportation. They arc raw silk and tea ; and notwithstanding inevitable fluctuations, 
 the importance of these products cannot do otherwise than augment year by year. 
 
 The export of silk from Japan to Europe is estimated at 15,000 bales per annum, 
 and it sends to America alone from 10 to 11 millions of pounds of tea. Japanese
 
 366 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 tea has not yet found favour in Europe, but I am convinced that, sooner or Later, 
 it will be highly appreciated there for its hygienic qualities. The exports of secondary 
 value, but which are in the category of regular commerce, are vegetable wax, camphor, 
 nutgalls, and the juice of fermented beans known under the name of soia (soy). Eaw 
 cotton, destined for the Chinese market, copper, highly esteemed in European indus- 
 
 A MOUSNEE AND IlKR CHILD. 
 
 tries, and coal, which is still very imperfectly worked, are only occasionally objects 
 of any considerable operations. 
 
 The trade in silkworms' eggs, being due to accidental causes, cannot be included 
 
 m the number of the permanent commercial resources of Japan. It has given rise
 
 EXPORTS. 367 
 
 during the last seven years to some considerable transactions ; but it is becoming more 
 and more spoiled in the hands of speculators. So long as Japan docs not employ 
 machinery in weaving her silks, Europe will be able to utilize her waste as she does 
 at present. 
 
 The other Japanese products available for occasional transactions of a very limited 
 kind, are tobacco, flax, ginseng root, fish oil, turnip oil and seed, colza, linseed, twine, 
 brocades, crapes, pierced cocoons, mushrooms, mats, deerhorns, paper — of which thoro 
 are seventy kinds, ranging from the finest tissue paper to wrappers as thick and as 
 strong as our w'axed canvas, — lacquer, and other art- objects ; vitriol, alum, saltpetre, 
 and sulphur. The latter article may sooner or later rival Sicilian sulphur in the 
 American market. To complete this enumeration I must mention the trade solely 
 intended for the Chinese market. The Japanese export to China iron bars of native 
 manufacture ; algnR — which arc much prized for their saline jiroperties in those Chinese 
 provinces in which salt is scarce — chestnuts, potatoes, the pulp of fruits, dried oysters, 
 shrimps, sharks' fins, and timber for building. 
 
 The import trade rests, like the export trade, on two capital articles alone : 
 cotton — spun, woven, and printed; and certain woollen stuff's, or woollen and cotton 
 mixed, which it would be wearisome to enumerate. 
 
 The sums whicli the annual export of these manufactures bring to us are far 
 from replacing those which are expended in our purchases of Japanese rice and teas. 
 Up to the present, however, exceptional circumstances have enabled us to strike the 
 balance between the exportations and the importations, and \ve may hope that this 
 unforeseen advantage will not fail us for a long time to come. 
 
 After the negotiations concerning exchange had been effected, we received 
 commissions for ships of war, armed steamers, batteries of rifled cannon, breech loaders, 
 and ammunition of all kiud.-^, \\liich the Japanese needed for the prosecution of their 
 civil war. We even built a military port for them with docks and a marine arsenal, 
 at Yokoske, south of Yokohama. They will soon be asking us to work their mines, 
 to establish their telegraphic communication, and to make then- railroads. Afterwards 
 the time will come when their windows will ha made of glaa^ instead of slides of 
 transparent paper ; when they must have curtains to their windows and mirrors in 
 their drawing rooms ; when they will burn gas instead of smoky candles ; and when 
 Parisian millinery will have its establishments at Niphon ; for the Japanese men are
 
 3C8 
 
 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 already adopting European attire, and we cannot suppose that the women will not 
 follow the fashion. 
 
 In the meantime, imports of the second class are limited to the following articles, 
 and in small numbers : lead, tin, tin and zinc in sheets, wire and pewter, watches, 
 articles de Paris, counterpanes, leather, hides, ivory, rhinoceros horns, and sugar. 
 
 Besides these, there is a special import trade in supplies for the strangers' 
 cjuarter : window-glass, furniture, pottery, glass, clothes, wine, spirits, and preserved 
 
 SLEEPING MOnSNEES. 
 
 meats. Far from having exaggerated the commercial importance of Japan, I may 
 add, that from this point of view Japan will not for a long time yet give 
 Urt as much as we might expect. The country is only emerging from a state 
 ot thiiiL^r-; under whirh it had no consumers outside its own population. The 
 northern portions of the Archipelago are generally untilled, and even in the south 
 of Niphon there are thousands of uncleared acres, covered with bush and scrub, 
 or turned into parks and unproductive gardens, the mortmain properties of feudal 
 lords and monastic confraternities. Nevertheless, though all this should be utilized,
 
 VOMMEliCIA L COMPETiriON. 
 
 wm 
 
 l)lanteil with mulberry and caniplior, with tea- and cotton-trees, the smalhioss of its 
 territory must always prevent Japan from competing in commercial value with eount)i<'s 
 of such colossal dimensions as China and Hindostan. 
 
 We must also bear in mind tliat, in our day, neither the exploitation of 
 textile fabrics, nor that of alimi'iitary products, is the monopoly of any people in 
 particular. Competition in this kind of supply makes giant strides, for the greater 
 good of humanity. Cotton from India has made a place for itself in our markets 
 beside cotton from America, and the Suez Canal will soon be bringing us cotton from 
 
 III.AIK syflllUKr. AM) M Ml IKN FKKUKT. 
 
 the newly-explored regions of Africa. Ten years ago, Europe depended wholly on the 
 Chinese market for tea and fur silk. She now lias two rival markets at her disposition 
 — China and Japan. Soon i)erhaps there will exist a tliinl — the Californian ; for 
 European speculators are already planting tlie mulberry, and introducing the culture of 
 silkworms into California, with the assistance of Japanese colonists. 
 
 Agriculture is at the basis of all societies, but they grow great only by the aits, 
 or by commerce ; and, better still, by the constant simultaneous development of tho.se 
 three branches of human activity. 
 
 3 B
 
 370 LIFE IN JAP AX. 
 
 The fouiulalioii of social order among the Japanese, as among the t'hinese, is 
 agriculture, which both have pushed to the highest point of perfectioD. It may be 
 said, generally, that the Japanese possess the mercantile faculty in only a slight degree, 
 anil that they show a great natural disposition for the arts and for industry. The 
 I'hinese, on the contrary, satisfied with their traditional technical processes, and 
 indifferent to all progress, excel in banking as in usury, in high commerce as in the 
 smallest trafiic. Let us then leave trade to the Chinese, and give to the Japanese 
 industry. 
 
 31. Siegfried has called them, not without reason, " The French of the East." 
 It behoves them, henceforth, to develop, side by side with their amiable qualities, 
 those of which manufacturers, mechanicians, and magistrates are made. The introduction 
 of the mechanical arts within the tropical zone is, if not impossible, at least devoid of 
 all}' chance of being made remunerative. China, in so far as she is concerned, rejects 
 every innovation of this kind. Japan, by its geographical position, by the wealth 
 of its soil in coal and metals, by the conditions of its climate and the genius of its 
 inhabitants, seems destined to become the central seat of the manufactures, the works, 
 the industrv, and the navijiation of the whole western basin of the oreat (.Icean. 
 
 
 WATEK FOWL.
 
 ^1^ h ^^^fe'^'v- ' 
 
 
 
 
 IIETUUS UK THE SIOGOUN. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 coycLusiox. 
 
 rATHlUTIC ACT OF TllE UAlMlUS. — .SWEEriNc; KKt'OUMS. — THK (ALKNDAR OF THE CIIIUSI IAN 
 NATIVES ADOPTED. — THE MIKADO VISIBLE.— IIAILWAY OPENED. — REACTIONAKY MOVE- 
 MENT. — FIDELITY OF THE SAMOUUT. — COMMERCE AND ri»MMUNICAT10N INCREASINO. 
 
 A BRIEF account uf the latest events in Japan is necessary to the completeness of the 
 record contained in the preceding pages. 
 
 The patriotic act of the Daimios after the downfall cf the Taikoun, and the recovery 
 of the executive power by the lawful Emperor, formed a striking conclusion to the 
 revolutionary drama. These powerful and senii-iudependent feudal nobles agreed volun- 
 tarily to resign their heritages into the hands of the Mikado, and to receive al>out 
 one-tenth of their fornier incomes as sufficient to keci) ui) their diminished status. Thi.s 
 
 ;] B 2
 
 ■M-1 LIFE IX J A PAX. 
 
 fxtraoi'dinaiy moveinont was started by Prince Akidzuki in a memorial addressed to 
 liis fellow nobles, which ran as follows : — 
 
 "Let those who wish to show their faith and loyalty act in the following manner, 
 so that they may firmly establish the foundations of the Imperial Government : — 
 
 " 1. Let them restore the territories which they have received [in times past] from 
 till' l*]niperor, and return to a constitutional and undivided country. 
 
 '■ :2. Let them abandon their titles, and under the name of kazoku (noblemen) receive 
 such small properties as may suffice for their wants. 
 
 " 3. Let the officers of the clans, abandoning that title, call themselves officers of 
 the Emperor, receiving property equal to that which they have hitherto held. 
 
 " Let these three important measures be adopted forthwith, in order that the Empire 
 may be built up on an imperishable basis." 
 
 The whole body of Daimios, two hundred and sixty-four in number, gradually gave 
 ill their adhesion to this scheme of patriotic sacrifice ; their fiefs were given up to the 
 Emperor, and their extensive domains became henceforward subject to taxation by the 
 Lnperial Government. As the right to maintain large bodies of armed retainers was 
 also relinquished, the vast revenues they formerly drew from their territories were no 
 longer necessary. 
 
 The revolution being so far accomplished, and political unity aiul adininistrational 
 c(aitralization attained, the ]\Iikado and his advisers proceeded with rapid strides to the 
 completion of the work of reform. Edict after edict issued from the Imperial ]>alaee. 
 Yeddo was to be styled henceforward Tokei, " the eastern capital," and to become the 
 seat of Government, with the shiro, or citadel, as the place of the Inijierial Court. Con- 
 tracts were entered into for constructing a Grand Trunk Eailway to connect Yeddo and 
 Yokohama with Kioto, Osaka, and Hiago, and for laying a line of telegraiih from one end 
 t(» the other of the Empii-e — between Nagasaki and the Eastern capital. Promising 
 Japanese youths were sent forth by hundreds to Europe and the United States to study 
 the language, laws, literature, and science of those natives of the West ^^•ho had produced 
 the mental ferment wliiih had led to such rfi'cat changes. Among the students were 
 many belonging to the liighest families, such as Prince Higashi Fushimi, who came to 
 England, and Prince Fushimi Yoshi-Hisa, who went to Prussia, both uncles of the present 
 Mikado. His Majesty also applied himself diligently to the study of English. Colleges 
 and schools for acquiring all branches of Western knowledge were established in various
 
 SWEEPING PxEFORMS. 373 
 
 cities of Japan, and professors invited from Europe and America to fill the posts of 
 instructors. Schools for popular education were formed throughout the Empire. The 
 Christian religion was officially tolerated ; and further, the Calendar of the Christian 
 nations (new style) adopted. To effect this change, " the third of the twelfth month of 
 the fifth year of l\Ieiji " was made to correspond with the 1st of January 1873. The 
 year was to consist of three hundred and sixty-five days, wliich were to lie ilivided into 
 twelve months. The 25tli of December was to be celebrated as a holiday, not for the 
 same reasons as the Christmas Day of the Christian world, bat in Imiiour of tlic founder 
 of the dynasty of the Mikado, the iMupcror Jimmu. Each day was to be divided into 
 twenty-four hours, and not into twelve watches, as heretofore ; and every seventh dav 
 was to be kept as a holiday. Other edicts were directed against ancient customs and 
 habits, ordering tliis and forbidding that, all witli a view to assimilating the life and 
 habits of the people to tliose of the nations of the Western world. 
 
 Amongst the important reforms are those connected with Religion. Buddhism h;is 
 Ijeen discouraged ; the revenues of many of the temples have been appropriated to Imperial 
 purposes, and the priests are ])eing compelled to realize as much of their moveable 
 property as i)0ssible, selling their bells and lironze images and ornaments to so great an 
 extent, that the metal has been lately one of the most considerable articles of export from 
 the Japanese ports. Kou.ses for the poor have been established, with the aim of doing 
 away with the numerous beggars in the streets and roads. The great popular festivals 
 and foirs — the inatsouris — in which this excitable and joyous people took so much delight, 
 have been forbidden, or at least greatly reduced in number. The two-sworded gentry 
 have been aboli.shed, and measures adopted to induce the dangerous Samourai, or military 
 class, to adopt the safer pursuits of commerce or the civil professioiLs. One of the few 
 changes which are regretted bv those who watch the astonishing transformations that 
 are .so rapidly taking place, is that of the easy and graceful native costumes, which are 
 giving way in most of the chief centres of population, but chiefly in the male sex, to 
 the conventional dress of London and Paris. 
 
 In 1872 thi' lirst railway in Japan was opened, with imposing ceremony and amiil 
 eheering pi-ognostications. It was the first completed .section of the Trunk line which 
 is to connect the great cities, and extends from Yokohama to Yeddo, but at present 
 consisting only of a single line of rails. The IMikado, throwing aside the traditional 
 mystery which for ages had surrounded the sacred person of the nuuiareh, resolved to
 
 374 
 
 LIFE IX JAPAN. 
 
 open tlic railwa}' in person, aud sliow himself publicly to the people. A vast concourse 
 of people assembled on the 14th of October at the Yeddo terminus, and the day was 
 observed as a national holiday. Accommodation was provided for 10,000 persons on 
 the platform, and the ^likado desired that all who wished to see the procession that 
 was announced in the programme for the day should find admittance. The Imperial 
 
 ^>~> 
 
 L 
 
 ^^^^^^ 
 
 JAl'ANlvSE IDEA OF A RAILWAY TRAIN. 
 
 pleasure gardens, formerly the private grounds of the Taikoun, were thrown open to the 
 public. All the foreign ministers from Yokohama were present, and the representatives 
 of the press invited to attend, in accordance with the most advanced views of modern 
 enlightenment. At nine in the morning the Mikado left the castle, in a state carriage 
 of European construction, and attended by a prince of the Imperial family, the prime
 
 THE MIKADO VISIBLE. 375 
 
 minister, and a si[u;ulron of cavalry ; followed by tlie other members of the Japanese 
 Government and by some of the chief nobles then resident in the capital. 
 
 Arriving at the station, where he was received by the ^Minister of Public Works, the 
 chief Commissioners of Railways, the Foreign Ministers and other officials, he inspected 
 a plan of the railway ; and a procession was then formed to the platform, from whicli 
 he entered the train, followed by the rest of his suite and the privileged few who were 
 invited to make the journey. On arriving at Yokohama he was received by the Governor 
 of Kanagawa, the railway officials, and tlie Consuls of the Treaty Powers ; and, in reply 
 to addresses presented on the part of the foreign residents, delivered the following speech 
 throuwh his ^liuister for Foreiou Aftairs : — 
 
 " I am i)rofoundly pleased to hear the congratulatory words which have been addressed 
 to nic by the foreign guests residing at Yokohama. Of the people who live in this 
 country, whether born on the soil or merely temporarily residing here — whether here 
 by chance or voyaging of their own accord — none arc deprived of protection or lose 
 theii" rights. This work will be still further extended, with the object of increasing our 
 prosperity and of advancing my country in the path of civilization ; and, as long as 
 the harmonious relations now existing between this and foreign countries continue to 
 prevail, 1 shall have both foreign and native people close to my heart." 
 
 The strong feeling of loyalty and veneration entertained by the Japanese for the 
 representative of their ancient line of monarchs, a sentiment which has contributed so 
 much to the success of the late revolution and the overthrow of the usurjiing Taikounat, 
 was strikingly shown on the departure of the Mikado from Yokohama. Immediately he 
 left the pavilion the crowd rushed forward, and, seizing the chair of state and the carpet on 
 which the sacred foot had trod, tore them both to shreds, each possessor of a scrap glorying 
 in his prize. The police were powerless; the crowd was so immense, and their eagerness 
 so uncontrollable, although full of good-humour, that it was (juite impossible to check 
 them. On the rctuni to Yeddo the Mikado thanked the railway officials, and in another 
 brief speech repeated his intention to develop still further the railway system, until it 
 extended throughout the country. The remainder of the day was spent in joyous 
 festivities, and at niglit Yeddo and Yokohama were illuminated. 
 
 The spectacle of a great and gifted nation, so long kept in jealous exclusion from the 
 rest of the world, thus emancipating itself from the trammels of a narrow Eastern policy and 
 entering into sympathy with Western Christian civilization, excites the deep interest of
 
 376 LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 moralists and statesmen. It is naturally asked, Will the cliange be lasting ? Is not the 
 pace too fast, and will not the conservative principle in princes and people, at present 
 stunned by the suddenness of the movement, re-assert itself in a disastrous reaction ? Some 
 of the reforms suggested by the more excited partisans of change fairly take away one's 
 In-eath ; but they have not at present been adopted. One was a proposition made by 
 Arinori Mori, recently Japanese Minister at Washington, for the transfer bodily of the 
 Eno-lish language into Japan. Tliis would be a clenching method of solving the enormous 
 difficulties in tlie way of free intercourse presented by the Japanese language. The 
 difficulties lie, however, cliiefly in the abstruseness and complication of the written and 
 printed characters, and i.s partly met by the adoption of the Roman letters and syllabic 
 forms, which are being tried by native scholars and printers. 
 
 The fears of a reaction, entertained in Europe and by the foreign mercantile 
 community in Japan, have been to some degree stimulated by the most recent occurrences. 
 Durino- the summer of tlie present year, serious riots broke out at several places in the 
 interior ; the most important of which was at Fukuoka and the adjoining districts, about 
 l.oO miles from Nagasaki. Alarming rumours reached the foreign residents, and were 
 transmitted to Europe and America. It was said that the discontented peasantry and 
 farmers had risen to the number of 80,000 men ; that the regular army had been defeated 
 and the Government stations pillaged and burnt. Subsequent and more reliable accounts 
 show that the number of the rebels had been exaggerated, although they do not diminish 
 the importance of the revolt, which was a reactionary movement against the reforms of 
 Government, which so many observers had expected. The exciting cause was the excessive 
 taxes and imports levied in consequence of the greatly increased public expenditure. All 
 taxes and official salaries, under the old system, were paid in kind — in rice ; and one of the 
 greatest economical difficulties of the new order of things has been connected with the 
 substitution of money payments for the old, no longer practicable, system. The introduction 
 of a uniform scale in a country where a system of land taxation in kind had grown up 
 full of complication, of local diversities of measure, allowances, compensations and so forth, 
 was sure to be productive of local discontent. The attempted enforcement of the new 
 taxation laws aj)pears to have been the sole cause of many of the riots which have taken 
 place; but the Fukuoka rebellion, after it had made some progress, revealed a deeper 
 discontent, as shown by the following six concessions demanded by the rebels as a condition 
 of laying down their arms :—
 
 co^'C'ESSIO^^s demanded by the rebels 
 
 37: 
 
 1. A return to old hau, restoring to the Daimios their lands and incomes. 
 
 2. That the officers of the district shall be appointed from among the inhabitants 
 of the district, and not from a distant hen. 
 
 3. That the incomes and all property of the Samourai shall be retuincd. 
 
 4. That the taxes shall be reduced by one-half for the space of three years. 
 
 0. That the Government shall cease cutting down the trees in the surroundin<T 
 district. 
 
 (J. That the old Japanese Calendar be returned to. 
 
 
 According to the latest news this serious outbreak, like many other rniiuir ones, 
 has been overcome ; partly by concessions with regard io ta.xes and small matters 
 involving no sacrifice of new principles, and partly by the valour and constancy of the 
 native troops. A most encouraging feature of the Fukuoka revolt was the iiddity of 
 
 3 c
 
 378 LIFE IX JAPAN. 
 
 tlie Samoura'i to the Govorumcnt, and the aid tliey lent, as a volunteer force, in the 
 defeat of the rebels. 
 
 The present attitude of outside observers with regard to Japan is one of expectancy. 
 The effects of the great political and social changes that have taken place have not yet 
 liad time to develop themselves, and it is hoped, by all who take an affectionate interest 
 in this sinoular people, that those effects will not involve the decay of the better traits in 
 their national character. In some respects the recent news from Japan is encouraging, 
 as showing the vigour of the executive and some progress among the people in the 
 assimilation of the new ideas. Evidences of greater caution in the Government than 
 was first observed are not wanting, though perhaps the caution may be displaced ; 
 thus whilst foreigners are clamouring for the right of free access to all parts of the 
 Empire, the Mikado and his ministers withhold the privilege, or make it known that 
 they will not grant it, except on the condition of the submission of foreign residents to 
 Japanese jurisdiction. It is the same with regard to the great mineral resources of the 
 country ; no facilities are given by law to the working of coal and other mines by 
 foreigners, or to the formation of equitable contracts with foreigners ; so strong, in 
 fact, is still the jealousy of foreign participation in the benefits of their country, that it 
 is delaying, by the preference given to inefficient native contractors, the completion of 
 great public works, such as the telegraph line from Nagasaki to Yeddo. Commerce, 
 however, is steadily increasing, and a whole fleet of passenger steamers keeps up 
 continual communication between their ports and the great marts of Europe and 
 America. The Japanese have become great travellers and accomplished linguists. To 
 this extent at least the chano-e is beneficent and irrevocable. 
 
 'IHE sto!;k of Till-; i:i('EFn:i.i)s
 
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