The Historical Child, by OSCAR CHRISMAN, a Project Gutenberg eBook

The Mother's Memorial.

"A sight not often met with in the cities, but in the suburbs and country places frequent as the cause of it requires, is the nagaré kanjō (flowing invocation). A piece of cotton cloth is suspended by its four corners to stakes set in the ground near a brook, rivulet, or, if in the city, at the side of the water-course which fronts the houses of the better classes. Behind it rises a higher, lath-like board, notched several times near the top, and inscribed with a brief legend. Resting on the cloth at the brookside, or, if in the city, in a pail of water, is a wooden dipper. Perhaps upon the four corners, in the upright bamboo, may be set bouquets of flowers. A careless stranger may not notice the odd thing, but a little study of its parts reveals the symbolism of death. The tall lath tablet is the same as that set behind graves and tombs. The ominous Sanskrit letters betoken death. Even the flowers in their bloom call to mind the tributes of affectionate remembrance which loving survivors set in the sockets of the monuments in the grave-yards. On the cloth is written a name such as is given to persons after death, and the prayer, 'Namu miō, hō ren ge kiō' (Glory to the salvation-bringing Scriptures). Waiting long enough, perchance but a few minutes, there may be seen a passer-by who pauses, and, devoutly offering a prayer with the aid of his rosary, reverently dips a ladleful of water, pours it upon the cloth, and waits patiently until it has strained through, before moving on.

"All this, when the significance is understood, is very touching. It is the story of vicarious suffering, of sorrow from the brink of joy, of one dying that another may live. It tells of mother-love and mother-woe. It is a mute appeal to every passer-by, by the love of Heaven, to shorten the penalties of a soul in pain.

"The Japanese (Buddhists) believe that all calamity is the result of sin either in this or a previous state of existence. The mother who dies in childbed suffers, by such a death, for some awful transgression, it may be in a cycle of existence long since passed. For it she must leave her new-born infant, in the full raptures of mother-joy, and sink into the darkness of Hades, to wallow in a lake of blood. There must she groan and suffer until the 'flowing invocation' ceases, by the wearing-out of the symbolic cloth. When this is so utterly worn that the water no longer drains, but falls through at once, the freed spirit of the mother, purged of her sin, rises to resurrection among the exalted beings of a higher cycle of existence. Devout men, as they pass by, reverently pour a ladleful of water. Women, especially those who have felt mother-pains, and who rejoice in life and loving offspring, repeat the expiatory act with deeper feeling; but the depths of sympathy are fathomed only by those who, being mothers, are yet bereaved. Yet, as in the presence of nature's awful glories the reverent gazer is shocked by the noisy importunity of the beggar, so before this sad and touching memorial the proofs of sordid priestcraft chill the warm sympathy which the sight even from the heart of an alien, might evoke.

"The cotton cloth inscribed with the prayer and the name of the deceased, to be efficacious, can be purchased only at the temples. I have been told, and it is no secret, that rich people are able to secure a napkin which, when stretched but a few days, will rupture, and let the water pass through at once. The poor man can get only the stoutest and most closely woven fabric. The limit of purgatorial penance is thus fixed by warp and woof, and warp and woof are gauged by money. The rich man's napkin is scraped thin in the middle. Nevertheless, the poor mother secures a richer tribute of sympathy from her humble people; for in Japan, as in other lands, poverty has many children, while wealth mourns for heirs; and in the lowly walks of life are more pitiful women who have felt the woe and the joy of motherhood than in the mansions of the rich."116

Dress.

The ordinary dress of both sexes in Japan in the older times was quite similar but differed in color and texture. It consisted of a number of loose, wide gowns worn over each other, fastened at the waist with a girdle. The family arms were woven or worked into the back and breast of the outer garment. The sleeves of the garments were wide and long. Within doors the feet were bare or covered with socks and outdoors clogs of straw, matting, or wood were worn, kept on the feet by an upright pin or button held between the two large toes.

The men shaved the front and crown of the head, leaving a sort of tuft on top; the boy's head was shaved in different ways, but at fifteen the boy's hair was dressed exactly like a mature man, because then he attained his majority. Among the women the hair was worn long but arranged differently for a married woman than a young girl, and, too, the married women removed the hair of the eyebrows.

The infant was free from swathing; at three its clothes was bound at the waist with a girdle. At seven or later the boy of noble birth wore a short sword in his girdle which at fifteen, when he became a man, he would exchange for the two swords of the samurai.

Regulations.

During the two hundred and fifty years—sixteenth-nineteenth centuries—when Japan was cut off from all outside people, the strictest economy was necessary for the nation to be able to care for itself. To this end regulations were laid down to which the different classes had to adhere closely. These were binding and must have proved irksome, yet they preserved the nation. It seems well to give some of the regulations here.

"The following are examples, first, of the rules applying to the bungen (station in life) of a farmer of seventy-five to one hundred koku ($375 to $500), and, second, to that of a common farm-laborer:

1. Such a farmer may build a house whose length is ten ken (about sixty feet), but there must be no parlor (zashiki), and the roof must not be tiled. If the householder wishes to tile the roof, to protect it against fires, he must first get permission.

2. On the occasion of a marriage of a son or daughter, the gifts of the householder must be limited to the following:

(2) The things placed on the honzen (a small table): (a) in the hira (one of the dishes), namasu (a kind of fish); (b) in the choku (the other dish), something roasted or broiled.

(3) Hikimono (viands taken home by each guest): (a) suimono (soup), two kinds; (b) torimono (a liquid), two kinds; (c) hikigashi (a kind of cake). These three kinds altogether must not make more than a small amount.

4. The family must never wear silk clothes. If a son or a daughter is to marry a person whose station allows the use of silk, the householder must request him not to use it on the occasion of the wedding.

5. No guests should be invited other than relations of the family, ko-bun (people who are under obligations to the householder for kindness received, and stand in the place of children), and a few of the most intimate friends. But this rule refers only to the day of the wedding.

6. At a wedding or New Year's call, the use of jū (lacquer boxes, containing confectionery, given as presents) is forbidden.

7. When a member of the family makes a visit to a relation or elsewhere, he should not carry valuable presents. When he is visiting a sick friend, he may take anything which happens to be at hand.

8. When there is death (fukō), and people come to the house on visits of condolence, no wine should be offered.

9. At a funeral (butsuji) wine should not be offered to the persons who follow to the grave.

10. On such occasions, the viands should be of five kinds only; but there should be no wine. If wine is offered, it should be given in soup-cups, not in wine-cups, nor should tori-zakana (a dish served only with wine) be prepared.

11. On the occasion of the birth of a first child (Uizan), the presents from the grandparents should be as follows only:

2. When the child is taken to the mura (village) temple (the occasion called miya-mairi), jū may be offered to the grandparents, but not to others.

13. At the time of hatsu-bina (girls' festival), and hatsu-nobori (boys' festival), grandparents and other relations should not present hina and nobori (dolls and flags), the whole family should present a single kami-nobori (paper-flag) and two yari (spears), and relatives may also make small money-presents.

1. The house may be five and a half ken (about thirty-two feet) in length, and the roof should be of straw or bamboo thatch.

3. At entertainments, one hira (dish) and one soup may be offered, but not in cups.

4. The collar and sleeve ends of the clothes may be ornamented with silk, and an obi (belt) of silk or silk crêpe may be worn, but not in public.

6. Footwear should be narazōri (sandals made at Nara) not setta (sandals of iron and leather). Women are to wear bamboo-thonged sandals ordinarily, but at occasions of ceremony sandals with cotton thongs; men should wear only bamboo-thonged sandals on all occasions.

7. At the time of Uizan (birth of first child) the grandparents may send two jū (set of confectionery boxes), and money for rice and fish; other relations should send only money for fish.

8. At the time of hatsu-nobori, the grandparents may present a yari (spear), and at the time of hatsu-bina a kami-bina (paper doll), or tsuchi-ningyo (earthen doll).

"Accompanying these specific regulations, made with careful reference to each man's station in life, there were also general rules to meet unspecified contingencies. For example, only in case of absolute necessity could an umbrella be used by the ordinary laborer. He must usually content himself with the protection of a straw raincoat. Another provision related to costly articles which a family might happen to have. Special permission was necessary to make use of them, and no articles of luxury were to be used if on hand."117

The Care of Children.

The birth of a child among the Japanese was a cause of rejoicing, a boy being somewhat more welcome than a girl. At the birth of a child, a special messenger was sent to notify relatives and intimate friends, who must soon visit the baby and take it presents, and especially so if it was the first in the family. Yet infanticide was not uncommon, for poverty sometimes decided against the infant, and this also might be true of a child born maimed or deformed. "In old days, when the new-born child was laid at the father's feet, the father could refuse to take it, and the child was then exposed to die in a bamboo-grove. The custom exists no longer; I doubt whether it ever prevailed to any very great extent, but it has left behind it a very picturesque reminder. If parents have lost a child by death, they often, not perhaps unnaturally, look upon their loss as the visitation of an angry Heaven, which must need be propitiated by the free-will offering up of the next born child. So when the next child is born it is taken to the bamboo-grove and left by its parents. The exposure is, however, nothing very serious; a friend of the family is waiting round the corner for the weeping parents to abandon their infant, and a few minutes afterwards he comes in, quite as if it were by accident, and tells the bereaved couple that he has just picked up a fine, handsome baby boy (or girl), which he hopes they will take and rear. Thus the anger of Heaven has been, figuratively at least, averted, and the baby is known in after life by the word sute ('abandoned') prefixed to his personal name. He is known as sutejiro or sutesaburo, as the case may be ('the abandoned second son' or 'the abandoned third')."118

The baby's dress was loose and easily put on, so it was soon dressed. The dresses were made like the kimono of the mother, being wide-sleeved and straight, silk, cotton, or flannel, as the season demanded, and long enough to cover the feet and hands. Red and yellow were the colors of the young baby's dress, and if a girl high colors prevailed later, but a boy's clothing became subdued in color. Near the one hundredth day of the child's life, long dresses were left off and also about the same time it was weaned. The baby's head was kept shaved bald until it was three years of age, when only a part of it was shaved; it might all be shaved but a tuft on top, or tufts at the side, or bare on top and encircling the head at the sides, just as the mother might wish. "There is no limit set to the whimsical mother's taste in this matter of tonsorial landscape gardening."119

Since the Japanese sat on the floor with their legs under them, the baby was placed on the floor with its knees bent under it, which trained it to the right way of sitting. The baby in learning to walk did not have chairs and the like to bump against and fall over and it had soft-matted floors to bump down upon without injury. It was quite noteworthy if the baby of his own accord should walk before its first birthday, and mochi (rice pastry) was made to celebrate the auspicious event. When the baby went outdoors, then its feet were hampered by sandals or clogs fastened to the feet by straps passing between the toes, but he soon learned to use them all right, so that babies of two or three could get around all right in these clogs. One good thing, these clogs did not bind the children's feet, but let them grow naturally. These clogs left the toes of the Japanese children free and thus they retained some of their prehensive powers so that in adult life the feet were still used somewhat for holding and grasping. It would seem that the baby learned to talk some earlier than in other countries, as the Japanese language is conducive for such since it abounds in expressions easy for children.

Naming Children.

On the seventh day, some authors say the thirteenth, the child received its name, at which time very little ceremony took place; at seven years of age this name gave way to another name; which occurred again upon reaching his majority at fifteen. When he married he received another name; again he was given a new name if he took office; another new name came if promoted; and, finally, after death, he received his last name, which was engraved upon his tomb.

Carrying Children.

The babies were carried upon the back of some member of the family, quite often an older brother or sister and sometimes these were not over five or six years of age. The baby was tied upon the back of the one carrying it, face front, head and feet out, and even in quite cold weather. The babies soon learned to hold on and thus they looked out for themselves so as not to be dropped by the one carrying them. "The mother bears the bairns, but the children carry them. Each preceding child, as it grows older, must lug the succeeding baby on its back till able to stand. The rearing of a Japanese poor family is a perpetual game of leap-frog."120

Adoption and Inheritance.

There was a great desire, especially in feudal times, to have a male heir to keep up the ancestral line, which otherwise would be a disgrace to the family. There being no male heir, it might be that a son would be adopted in early life to grow up as the heir, or he might be adopted with the idea of his marrying one of the daughters later, or there might be no formal adoption but a young man would marry a daughter and give up his own name and take that of the family and thus become the heir. The childless wife, if not divorced, would often care for the adopted child as if her own, which care would be reciprocated by the adopted son in her old age. In feudal times, in case a man should die leaving no children, either natural or adopted, his death was concealed till the lord gave permission for him to adopt a son, and not till then was his death announced, for otherwise the lands escheated to the lord.

Power and Duty of Father.

As in Rome, the family was the unit in feudal times in Japan, and the head of the family held complete power. He had the full control of the persons and property of his children and he could do with them as he chose, only being held back by that most binding of all laws—custom. Yet, as he had great power, so had he great responsibilities, as he was responsible to the state for the doings of his family.

Amusements.

Old Japan was a realm of sports. It was a nation of players. There seemed not to have been any distinct line of demarcation between the amusements of the children and those of the adults. The grown-up people entered with zest into games which were in many cases the same and in many others similar to the games of the young people. There were numerous holidays and festivals, on which days the whole nation of people seemed to give themselves over to the toy-sellers and showmen and story-tellers and musicians and games and plays—to a time of general enjoyment. Perhaps there was never any other people or country in the entire world at any time that took as much interest in the pleasures of their children as did the old Japanese.

When the evenings were pleasant they were spent out-of-doors, and on pleasant moonlight evenings almost the entire population of a town would be on its streets. At other times the evenings would be spent in the home, the entire family being together, including the grandparents and even the servants. Sometimes the father would tell stories of Japanese history and of folk-lore, sometimes they would play chess and checkers, but the greatest time was spent with cards. One such game was known as "The poems of a hundred poets." On one card was written the half of one hundred famous Japanese poems and the other half on another card, half of these cards being distributed among the players and the other half being given to a reader. The reader would call off the half of one poem and the one having the other half would call back and this would continue till all the cards were matched. There was dancing of evenings, usually by the young women, sometimes by the men, but, perhaps, never by men and women together. In some places of moonlight nights the young people would dance all night in the streets or open places near the castle-gates.

"Among the ghostly games intended to test the courage of, or perhaps to frighten, children, are two plays called, respectively, 'Hiyaku Monogatari' and 'Kon-daméshi,' or the 'One Hundred Stories' and 'Soul-examination.' In the former play a company of boys and girls assemble round the hibachi, while they, or an adult, an aged person or a servant, usually relate ghost-stories, or tales calculated to straighten the hair and make the blood crawl. In a distant dark room, a lamp (the usual dish of oil), with a wick of one hundred strands or piths, is set. At the conclusion of each story, the children in turn must go to the dark room and remove a strand of the wick. As the lamp burns down low, the room becomes gloomy and dark, and the last boy, it is said, always sees a demon, a huge face, or something terrible. In the 'Kon-daméshi,' or 'Soul-examination,' a number of boys, during the day plant some flags in different parts of a graveyard, under a lonely tree, or by a haunted hillside. At night, they meet together, and tell stories about ghosts, goblins, devils, etc.; and at the conclusion of each tale, when the imagination is wrought up, the hair begins to rise and the marrow to curdle, the boys, one at a time, must go out in the dark and bring back the flags, until all are brought in."121

The children had plenty to see to keep them amused. There were visits to the theaters, sometimes the performances lasted all day, in which were displayed the doings of historical peoples and lore heroes. There were all kinds of gymnastic feats and juggling of various kinds. "At the fair at Asakusa, in addition to the performances of jugglers of all kinds, there are collections of animals which have been taught to perform tricks—bears of Yezo, spaniels which are valuable in proportion to their ugliness, educated monkeys and goats. Birds and fish are also displayed in great quantities. But the most astonishing patience is manifested by an old Corean boatman, who has trained a dozen tortoises, large and small, employing no other means to direct them than his songs and a small metal drum. They march in line, execute various evolutions, and conclude by climbing upon a low table, the larger ones forming, of their own accord, a bridge for the smaller, to whom the feat would otherwise be impossible. When they have all mounted, they dispose themselves in three or four piles like so many plates."122

Among the leading amusements were the Festivals. These were of frequent occurrence and of the greatest diversity, so that the young people had plenty to amuse them. There were five great annual Festivals, which were the Festival of the New Year, the Festival of the Dolls, the Festival of the Banners, the Feast of Lanterns, and the Feast of Chrysanthemums.

The New Year Festival occurred on the first day of the first month of the old Japanese year. At this time congratulations and presents were much given and taken. This was a time for pleasure and all the members of the family laid aside their work and their dignity and entered into the fun and the sport that characterized this festival.

The Festival of the Dolls occurred on the third day of the third month. This day was especially devoted to the girls, and to them it was the greatest day of the year. All the dolls belonging to the family were brought out and which had been accumulating in some families for hundreds of years. When a daughter was born in a home, two images of wood or enameled clay were bought for her, with which she played, and when she was married she took them to her new home and kept them for her children, as well as any other dolls she might have. "The Tokugawa collection, of which I have spoken, is remarkably full and costly, for it has been making for hundreds of years in one of the younger branches of a family which for two and a half centuries was possessed of almost imperial power, and lived in more than imperial luxury; but there are few households so poor that they do not from year to year accumulate a little store of toys wherewith to celebrate the feast, and, whether the toys are many or few, the feast is the event of the year in the lives of the little girls of Japan."123

On the fifth day of the fifth month was celebrated the Festival of the Banners, which was celebrated in honor of the boys, and it was to them the greatest day in the year. On this day all kinds of military toys were displayed, such as heroes, warriors, generals, soldiers, etc. Also there were flags, streamers, banners, etc. A set of these toys was bought for every son born in the family. So as with the display of dolls, in old Japanese families the display on the Feast of Banners was very great. About the houses and on poles in the yards were hung long paper pennons of every color, banners with coats of arms, and also attached to a pole by a string was a paper fish, hollow so that as the wind filled it out it would flop its tail and fins in a most natural way. This paper fish was to show that a son had been born during the year or that there were sons in the family.

The Feast of Lanterns occurred on the seventh day of the seventh month. On this occasion the whole city or town was decorated with lanterns. In some places little girls would go in crowds through the streets and sing with all their might while swinging paper lanterns.

"The fifth festival takes place on the ninth day of the ninth month, and is called the Feast of Chrysanthemums. At all the family repasts during the day, the leaves of chrysanthemum flowers are scattered over the cups of tea and saké. It is believed that the libations prepared in this manner have the power of prolonging life. The citizen of Tokio would consider that he was wanting in his duty as a good husband and father, if he should partake sparingly of this specific."124

That children enjoyed themselves and that they were helped to enjoy themselves was well shown in the abundance of toys and toy-shops and many holidays on which to display them. The streets of the towns and cities were full of toy-shops, where every kind of toys imaginable could be found. Too, toys, and especially the religious varieties, were displayed for sale about the temples on feast days. There were images of the various gods and of implements and appliances used about the temples. There were on the streets toys of all kinds of animals, of wrestlers and acrobats, of soldiers, etc., etc. Dolls were one of the strongest features of toy-makers and toy-sellers. "Here let me tell you something you certainly never heard of before in relation to Japanese dolls,—not the tiny O-Hina-San I was just speaking about, but the beautiful life-sized dolls representing children of two or three years old; real toy-babes which, although far more cheaply and simply constructed than our finer kinds of Western dolls, become, under the handling of a Japanese girl, infinitely more interesting. Such dolls are well dressed, and look so life-like,—little slanting eyes, shaven pates, smiles, and all!—that as seen from a short distance the best eyes might be deceived by them. Therefore, in those stock photographs of Japanese life, of which so many thousands are sold in the open ports, the conventional baby on the mother's back is most successfully represented by a doll. Even the camera does not betray the substitution. And if you see such a doll, though held, quite close to you, being made by a Japanese mother to reach out its hands, to move its little bare feet, and to turn its head, you would be almost afraid to venture a heavy wager that it was only a doll. Even after having closely examined the thing, you would still, I fancy, feel a little nervous at being left alone with it, so perfect the delusion of that expert handling.

"Formerly the belief was less rare than it is now. Certain dolls were spoken of with reverence worthy of the Kami, and their owners were envied folk. Such a doll was treated like a real son or daughter: it was regularly served with food; it had a bed, and plenty of nice clothes, and a name. If in the semblance of a girl, it was O-Toku-San; if in that of a boy, Tokutarō-San. It was thought that the doll would become angry and cry if neglected, and that any ill-treatment of it would bring ill-fortune to the house. And, moreover, it was believed to possess supernatural powers of a very high order.

"In the family of one Sengoku, a samurai of Matsue, there was a Tokutarō-San which had a local reputation scarcely inferior to that of Kishibojin,—she to whom Japanese wives pray for offspring. And childless couples used to borrow that doll, and keep it for a time,—ministering unto it,—and furnish it with new clothes before gratefully returning it to its owners. And all who did so, I am assured, became parents, according to their heart's desire. 'Sengoku's doll had a soul.' There is even a legend that once, when the house caught fire, the Tokutarō-San ran out safely into the garden of its own accord!

"The idea about such a doll seems to be this: The new doll is only a doll. But a doll which is preserved for a great many years in one family, and is loved and played with by generations of children, gradually acquires a soul."125

There was an abundance of outdoor sports among the Japanese children. Beginning with the New Year there came the great game with the girls of battledore and shuttlecock. The girls made a beautiful sight, of which, no doubt, they were aware. With their gayest dresses, hair arranged in a most pleasing way, faces powdered and lips painted, the graceful, rhythmic motion of their bodies, their bright eyes and laughing faces, all combined to make them and their sport a most attractive scene. Kite-flying was about as great an amusement in Japan as in China. All kinds and sizes of kites were used. Some represented birds, others men, and yet others monsters. Kite-fights were of frequent occurrence. A part of the kite-string was smeared with glue and then sprinkled with powdered glass, which prepared it for sawing another kite-string in two, thus causing it to fall and become the property of the one sawing the string. To make the fight the more realistic, at the top of the frame of the kite was set a piece of whalebone, which in vibrating in the wind made the most blood-curdling howls. Also contests in tops were held, in which it was the aim to damage one another's tops and stop the spinning. There was leaping and running and jumping and wrestling and slinging. They played blind-man's-buff, prisoner's base, and pussy wants a corner, but in these last two instead of the officer and Puss, the oni, or devil, was the chief performer. They had stilts and handled them so well as to play games on them and run races. Where there was snow and ice, the Japanese children coasted, built snow-forts, fought battles with snow-balls, and the like. They made snow-men in the likeness of Daruma, a follower of Buddha, who lost his legs by paralysis and decay from long meditation and prayer in a squatting position.

The Japanese children in their plays imitated their elders, just as children everywhere do. Playing the doctor was one of the great imitative plays of the younger children, and there were dinners and tea-parties and weddings and funerals. One of the great amusements of the Japanese was wrestling-matches and the children imitated these with much precision, as they would stamp their feet, eat their salt, rinse their mouths, slap their knees, and then clinch and tug till one or the other was victor. "Another game which was very popular was called the 'Genji and Heiké.' These are the names of the celebrated rival clans, or families, Minamoto and Taira. The boys of a town, district, or school ranged themselves into two parties, each with flags. Those of the Heiké were red, those of the Genji white. Sometimes every boy had a flag, and the object of the contest, which was begun at the tap of a drum, was to seize the flags of the enemy. The party securing the greatest number of flags won the victory. In other cases, the flags were fastened on the back of each contestant, who was armed with a bamboo for a sword, and who had fastened, on a pad over his head, a flat, round piece of earthenware, so that a party of them looked not unlike the faculty of a college. Often these parties of boys numbered several hundred, and were marshalled in squadrons, as in a battle. At the given signal, the battle commenced, the object being to break the earthen dish on the head of the enemy. The contest was usually very exciting. Whoever had his earthen disk demolished had to retire from the field. The party having the greatest number of broken disks, representative of cloven skulls, was declared the loser. This game has been forbidden by the Government as being too severe and cruel. Boys were often injured in it."126

"Japanese papas, who find, as other fathers do, how much it costs to raise a large family, will not let an infant, or even a young child, look in a mirror (and thus see a child exactly like itself, making apparent twins); for if he does, the anxious parent supposes the child, when grown up and married, will have twins.

"Children are told that if they tell a lie, an oni, or an imp, called the tengu, will pull out their tongues.

"If a boy rests a gun on top of his head, he will grow no taller. Children must not carry any kind of basket on their heads, nor must they ever measure their own height.

"Children are told if they strike anything with their chopsticks while at their meals, they will be struck dumb.

"When a maimed or deformed child is born, people say that its parents or ancestors committed some great sin.

"In Japan, as with us, each baby is the most remarkable child ever seen, and wondrous are the legends rehearsed concerning each one; but it is a great day in a Japanese home when the baby, of his own accord, walks before his first birthday, and mochi (rice pastry) must be made to celebrate the auspicious event.

"Young girls do not like to pour tea or hot water into a cup of kawaméshi (red rice), lest their wedding-night should be rainy.

"Little boys, tempted to devour too much candy, are frightened, not with prophecies of pain or threats of nauseous medicines, but by the fear of a hideous worm that will surely be produced by indulgence in sweets."127

A peculiar superstition was in connection with the sacred trees, which were found quite numerous in both city and country. The patron gods of these trees were thought to inflict great injury upon those who might desecrate the trees. Believing this, sometimes a young woman whose affections had been stirred and then set aside used these sacred trees as a means of avenging herself. Making a rude image of straw to represent her former lover, at the "hour of the ox," two o'clock in the morning, she carried this straw man to one of these trees. Having on her feet the high clogs, worn in Japan, her hair disheveled, dressed in a loose flowing white night-dress, carrying in her hand nails and hammer, she proceeded to the tree and crucified on it the straw image of her lover. Then she beseeched the gods to whom the tree was dedicated to bring down affliction and even death upon him who mutilated the tree. These visits were repeated and the same things gone over till her recreant lover sickened and died. It is not told whether this always occurred or not.

"The wonderful story of 'Raiko and the Oni' is one of the most famous in the collection of Japanese grandmothers. Its power to open the mouths and distend the oblique eyes of the youngsters long after bedtime, is unlimited. I have before me a little stitched book of seven leaves, which I bought among a lot of two dozen or more in one of the colored print and book shops in Tōkio. It is four inches long and three wide. On the gaudy cover, which is printed in seven colors, is a picture of Raiko, the hero, in helmet and armor, grasping in both hands the faithful sword with which he slays the ghoul whose frightful face glowers above him. The hiragana text and wood-cuts within the covers are greatly worn, showing that many thousand copies have been printed from the original and oft-retouched face of the cherry-wood blocks. The story, thus illustrated with fourteen engravings, is as follows:

"A long time ago, when the mikado's power had slipped away into the hands of his regents, the guard at Kiōto was neglected. There was a rumor in the city that oni, or demons, frequented the streets late at night, and carried off people bodily. The most dreaded place was at the Ra-jō gate, at the southwestern entrance to the palace. Hither Watanabé, by order of Raiko, the chief captain of the guard, started one night, well armed. Wearily waiting for some hours, he became drowsy, and finally fell asleep. Seizing his opportunity, the wary demon put out his arm from behind the gate-post, caught Watanabé by the neck, and began to drag him up in the air. Watanabé awoke, and in an instant seized the imp by the wrist, and, drawing his sword, lopped the oni's arm off, who then leaped onto the cloud, howling with pain. In the morning Watanabé returned and laid the trophy at his master's feet. It is said that an oni's limb will not unite again if kept apart from the stump for a week. Watanabé put the hairy arm in a strong stone box, wreathed with twisted rice straw, and watched it day and night, lest the oni should recover it. One night a feeble knock was heard at his door, and to his challenge his old aunt's voice replied. Of course, he let the old woman in. She praised her nephew's exploit, and begged him to let her see it. Being thus pressed, as he thought, by his old aunty, he slid the lid aside. 'This is my arm,' cried the old hag, as she flew westward into the sky, changing her form into a tusked and hairy demon. Tracing the oni's course, Raiko and four companions, disguised as komusō (wandering priests), reached the pathless mountain Oyé, in Tango, which they climbed. They found a beautiful young girl washing a bloody garment. From her they learned the path to the oni's cave, and that the demons eat the men, and save the pretty damsels alive. Approaching, they saw a demon cook carving a human body, to make soup of. Entering the cave, they saw Shu ten dōji, a hideous tusked monster, with long red hair, sitting on a pile of silken cushions, with about a hundred retainers around him, at a feast. Steaming dishes were brought in, full of human limbs, cooked in every style. The young damsels had to serve the demons, who quaffed saké out of human skulls. Raiko and his band pretended to join in the orgies, and amused the demons by a dance, after which they presented them with a bottle of saké which had been mixed with a narcotic. The chief drank a skullful and gave to his retainers. Soon all the demons were asleep, and a thunder-storm of snores succeeded. Then Raiko and his men threw off their disguise, drew sword, and cut off their heads, till the cave flowed blood like a river. The neck of the chief demon was wider than Raiko's sword, but the blade miraculously lengthened, and Raiko cut the monster's head off at one sweep. They then destroyed the treasure, released all the prisoners, and returned to Kiōto in triumph, exposing the huge head along the streets."128

Religion.

Before the introduction of Christianity into Japan, there were but three religions: Shintoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. The first is native to Japan and the other two are importations. Shintoism teaches nature and ancestor worship, cleanliness, and purity. As is the nature of the Japanese, so this native religion has some merrymaking in it. Confucianism teaches implicit obedience to those who are in power, as emperor, parent, and teacher. Buddhism is somewhat similar to Christianity in making its followers kind to those in lower life, as, the poor, and animals. "In a word, 'Shintoism furnishes the object of worship, Confucianism offers the rules of life, and Buddhism supplies the way of future salvation.'"129

There is no doubt that all three of these religions had much to do in moulding the character of the young in Japan, for in nearly every house of the reigning class were the books or emblems or symbols or idols of these three religions.

The school children had a god all to themselves, who was supposed to aid them in their study. This god was called "Ten-jin," or "Heavenly Man." As the boy desired to become a scholar, learned in the Chinese characters and an excellent penman, so he prayed to Ten-jin to help him in all these.

Suicide.

The Japanese did not fear death nor dread the consequences of a future world, so that suicide was not looked upon as in Europe and America today. "As for the young lovers of whom I speak, they have a strange faith which effaces mysteries for them. They turn to the darkness with infinite trust. If they are too unhappy to endure existence, the fault is not another's, nor yet the world's; it is their own; it is innen, the result of errors in a previous life. If they can never hope to be united in this world, it is only because in some former birth they broke their promise to wed, or were otherwise cruel to each other. But they believe likewise that by dying together they will find themselves at once united in another world. Sometimes they make a little banquet for themselves, write very strange letters to parents and friends, mix something bitter with their rice-wine, and go to sleep forever. Sometimes they select a more ancient and more honored method: the lover first slays his beloved with a single sword stroke, and then pierces his own throat. Sometimes with the girl's long crape-silk under-girdle (koshi-obi) they bind themselves fast together, face to face, and so embracing leap into some deep lake or stream."130

"Bravery has always been the chief ideal of Japanese character. What beauty meant to the Greeks, and right to the Romans, and purity to the Hebrews of old, bravery has meant to Japan."131 In older Japan one of the bravest deeds was that of taking one's own life when there was a need. Thus arose the practice of seppuku (belly-cutting) or hara-kiri, the more common term. This act was performed by cutting across through one's bowels. This brought into practice the wearing of two swords, a long one for enemies and a short one for the wearer's own body. The young men were taught how to perform this deed upon themselves and they were so impressed that when the time came for its performance they were able to meet death without a tremor and with perfect composure. The young women were taught the equivalent duty of jigai, which was the piercing of the throat with a dagger so that a single cut would sever the arteries.