POSITION AND NAME OF JAPAN — APPEARANCE OF THE JAPANESE — DRESS OF THE MEN — USE OF SLEEVES — HAIR-DRESSING — COURT DRESS — THE TATTOO AND ITS USES — A STREET SCENE IN JAPAN — DRESS OF THE WOMEN — ARRANGEMENT OF THE HAIR — THE ANCIENT HAIR-PINS — USE OF PAINT — BLACKENING TEETH AND PULLING OUT EYEBROWS — MR. OLIPHANT’S OPINION UPON THE CUSTOM — DISREGARD OF CLOTHING — THE PUBLIC BATHS — HOMERIC SIMPLICITY — JAPANESE DRAWINGS — TRAVELLING IN JAPAN — A LADY ON HORSEBACK — JAPANESE RIDERS — THE GAME OF MALL — HORSE ACCOUTREMENTS — A SINGULAR HORSESHOE — THE NORIMON, OR PALANQUIN — FASHION OF THE POLE — THE CANGO, OR CHAIR — A NOBLE IN HIS NORIMON — ATHLETIC POWERS OF THE JAPANESE — THE LADDER BALANCING, TOP SPINNING, AND BUTTERFLY TRICK.

The Empire of Japan extends over a vast cluster of Islands, of different sizes, situated on the north eastern coast of Asia. There are nearly four thousand of these islands, but the kingdom practically consists of three chief Islands, Niphon, Kiou-siou, or Kew-sew, and Sikok, or Sitkokf. The first of these islands gives its name to the entire empire, our word Japan not having even a Japanese origin, but being a corruption of the Chinese rendering of the word Niphon, i. e. Land of the Sunrise. As might be inferred, it is within the island of Niphon that the capital, Jeddo or Yedo, is placed.

The complexion of the Japanese is yellowish, with a little brown, and in many cases is no darker than that of a Portuguese or southern Italian. The eyes are small, and not so much sunk in the head as those of the Chinese; the hair is black, straight, and coarse, and the nose, though thick, is well formed. Their stature is about equal to that of ordinary Europeans, and their limbs, though not large, are often very powerful, a slightly-made Japanese being able to lift easily a weight which a stalwart Englishman would find a heavy burden.

The dress of the Japanese is very peculiar, and well suited to their features and complexion. Although it has about it something of a Chinese aspect, it is as distinct from the Chinese as is the character of the two people. As in China, the dress consists of much the same articles with both sexes, that of the women differing from male apparel chiefly in the comparative length of the robes and the mode of dressing the hair. A male Japanese may or may not wear trousers, his liberty in this point being absolute, sometimes amounting to a practical dispensation with all dress whatever.

The chief articles of male dress are robes of differing lengths, one being worn upon the other, until a man will sometimes carry four or five robes at once. They are girt round the waist with a broad sash, so that if the wearer wishes to remove his dress, he has only to loosen the sash, and draw his arms out of the sleeves, when all the garments fall to the ground together. The sleeves are very large, and, being partly closed at the ends, are used as pockets, in which are carried various little articles of portable property. In the sleeves, for example, are carried the squares of white paper which serve as pocket handkerchiefs, and which are always thrown away when used; and in the same convenient receptacle the Japanese guest will carry off the remains of the feast to which he has been invited, such being the custom of this strange country.

The material of these robes differs according to the wealth and quality of the wearer, some being of simple cotton, while those of the higher classes are made of the finest silks, and ornamented with the device or arms of the family, embroidered on the breast and back of the outer robe.

The hair of the men is dressed in a very singular manner. The front and temples of the head are shaved, as in China, and the remaining hair is made into a tail, as is the case with the Chinese. The hair, however, is not allowed to grow to its utmost length, and to hang down the back, but is made into a short queue, about three inches in length, and as thick as the finger, and is turned up over the top of the head. Generally the head is bare, but it is sometimes covered with a hat. The hats differ much in shape. That which is in general use is nearly flat, and is fastened to the head by six strings, two of which pass under the chin, two are crossed at the back of the head, and two more are passed under the nose. A hat thus fastened gives to the head a very singular aspect, making the face look as if it had suffered from a severe accident, and was covered with bandages. Some hats look like beehives, and entirely conceal the features, and are worn by outlaws, or “lonins,” and disgraced nobles. Sometimes the men pass a piece of stuff over their heads in such a way as to hide the forehead and chin, and only to leave the eyes, nose, and mouth exposed; and in winter they throw over the hat a piece of cloth, which is tied over the nose so as to shield that member from the cold blasts.

Men of consideration also wear a scarf over the shoulders, its length being regulated by the rank of the wearer, and thus serving to indicate the amount of courtesy which is due from one man to another. When two Japanese gentlemen meet, they bow until the ends of the scarf touch the ground. It is evident, therefore, that the man who, in virtue of his rank, wears the longest scarf, has the less distance to bow.

In addition to the ordinary costume, the dress of ceremony has two extraordinary additions. The first is the “kami-samo,” respecting which the Japanese are exceedingly punctilious. It consists of a piece of stuff which is folded back over the shoulders in a fan-like form, and gives a most extraordinary and awkward look to the wearer. Courtiers wear another article of dress which is exactly opposed to our customs.

In European courts the nether garments are abbreviated, and only come to the knee; in Japan the custom is reversed. When the nobles appear before the emperor, they wear a pair of trousers with legs fully twice as long as those of the wearer, so that in walking they trail a yard or so on the ground. Walking in such garments is an art which can only be attained by long practice, and which, even when learned, is nothing more than an ungainly shuffle, threatening every moment to throw the courtier on his face. The attitudes which are assumed by fashionable courtiers are so absurd that the Japanese picture books abound in caricatures of noblemen at court. The object of this curious custom is probably to give the wearer of the court dress an aspect as if he were kneeling instead of standing.

Men of the better classes always appear in public carefully dressed, but those of the lower orders consider themselves sufficiently clothed if they have a mere strip of cloth like the “languti” of India. Coolies, for example, laborers of various kinds, post-runners, etc., wear nothing but the cloth strip while at work.

Mr. Oliphant, in his “Narrative,” mentions this fact in connection with the custom of tattooing, which is carried out in Japan to as much perfection as in Polynesia. “Some, however, denied themselves the benefit of dress, apparently for the purpose of exhibiting the brilliant patterns in which their skins were tattooed. One man had a monster crab on the small of his back, and a pretty cottage on his chest. It is rather fashionable to have scarlet fish playing sportively between your shoulders. The scarlet tattooing presents a very disgusting appearance. The skin looks as if it had been carefully peeled off into the required pattern.

“On a really well-tattooed man there is not an inch of the body which does not form part of a pictorial representation. If the general effect is not agreeable, it is perfectly decent, for the skin ceases to look bare, or like skin at all; it rather resembles a harlequin’s costume. It must be dreadful to feel that one can never undress again. Yet what anguish does not the victim undergo, in order to put himself into a permanent suit of red dye and gunpowder!” The Japanese are very fond of their children, and in summer time a man may often be seen in the streets, wearing nothing but the cloth strip, and carrying in his arms his infant child, who has no clothing whatever.

Sometimes a man will appear in a costume which even seems more absurd than the almost entire nudity which has just been mentioned, and will walk about in a hat, a short jacket, and nothing else but the cloth.

In an illustration on the next page, the artist has shown a number of the ordinary costumes as they appear when the wearers are gathered round a ballad-singer. The most conspicuous figure is that of a Samourai or Yaconin, an armed retainer of a nobleman, swaggering along with the two swords emblematic of his office, and his features nearly hidden under his hat. The men wearing the extraordinary piebald dresses are a sort of street constable, who accompany a man of rank on his journey, and who jingle an iron rod laden with rings, in order to warn people to get out of the way of the great man. The other figures of men are arranged so as to show the mode of dressing the hair, and one or two varieties of costume.

The general appearance of the women’s dress is well shown by a figure opposite to that of the Samourai. The dress is almost exactly like that of the men, except that the materials are generally finer, and the sash which confines the garments to the waist is very broad, and gathered up into a large and peculiar knot, almost exactly like the “panier” of European fashion. Both sexes wear stockings made like mittens, and having a separate place for the reception of the great toe. Without this provision they would not be able to wear the peculiar sandals and clogs of the country, which are held on the foot by a Y-shaped strap, the fork of which passes between the great and the second toe. The clogs that are worn by the women very much resemble those of the Malays in general shape, and, awkward as they look, are easily manageable after a little practice. Some clogs in my collection elevate the foot of the wearer six inches above the ground, but I have found that walking, or rather shuffling, in them is not at all difficult.

The chief distinction between masculine and feminine attire lies in the hair. Whereas the men shave nearly the whole of the head, the women allow their hair to grow, and even add to it when they do not possess a sufficient amount to produce the extraordinary forms into which they twist their locks. Various fashions of hair-dressing prevail in different parts of the country, but in all cases the women take extraordinary pains with their heads, and twist their hair into elaborate and fantastic patterns, which scarcely any European hairdresser could equal.

Hair-pins are very fashionable, not so much for the purpose of confining the locks in their places, as of mere adornment. The pins are of enormous size, seven or eight inches in length, and half an inch wide, and are made of various substances, such as tortoise shell, carved wood, and ivory. Some of the most characteristic hair-pins are made of glass. They are hollow, and nearly filled with some colored liquid, so that at every movement of the wearer an air bubble runs from one end of the pin to the other. Sometimes a woman will wear a dozen or more of these pins in her hair, so that at a little distance her head looks as if a bundle of firewood had been stuck loosely into it.

Having pleasing features by nature, it may be expected that the women do their best to disfigure them by art. The soft pale brown of their complexions is made ghastly and hideous by white paint, with which the face, neck, and bust are thickly covered. The natural pink of the lips is rendered disgusting by a layer of red paint, the white teeth are blackened, and the eyebrows are pulled out. This style of adornment belongs only to the married women, so that a really pretty girl will in a few hours transform herself into a repulsive hag.

Mr. Oliphant, in the work which has already been mentioned, gives rather a humorous reason for this strange custom. “The first impression of the fair sex which the traveller receives in a Japanese crowd is in the highest degree unfavorable; the ghastly appearance of the faces and bosoms, thickly coated with powder, the absence of eyebrows, and the blackened teeth, produce a most painful and disagreeable effect. Were it not for this abominable custom, Japanese women would probably rank high among Eastern beauties, certainly far before Chinese.

“All Japanese writers whom I have read upon the subject affirm that to have no eyebrows and black teeth is considered a beauty in Japan, and that the object of the process is to add to the charms of the fair one. The result of my inquiry and observation, however, rather led me to form an opposite conclusion.

“In the first place, young ladies do not, as a rule, neglect any opportunity of improving their looks; but no Japanese young ladies, even after they are ‘out,’ think of taking this method of increasing their powers of fascination; they color their lips and cheeks, and deck their hair, but it is not until they have made a conquest of some lucky swain, that, to prove their devotion to him, they begin to blacken their teeth and pull out their eyebrows.

“He, privileged being, is called upon to exhibit no such test of his affection: on the contrary, his lawful wife having so far disfigured herself as to render it impossible that she should be attractive to any one else, seems to lose her charms for her husband as well. So he places her at the head of his establishment; and adds to it an indefinite number of handmaidens, who neither pull out their eyebrows nor blacken their teeth. Hence it seems not difficult to account for the phenomenon which is universally admitted, that while Japanese wives are celebrated for their virtue, their husbands are no less notorious for their licentiousness.”

While upon the subject of dress, we must not pass unnoticed the extraordinary ideas which the Japanese have on the subject. Possessed as they are of much taste in dress, and having certain complete costumes for various ranks, it seems very remarkable that they are utterly indifferent to clothing considered in the light of covering. They attach no sense of indelicacy to exposure of the person, and men, women, and children may be seen bathing exposed to the sight of every passer-by.

Even their public baths, though some of them have two doors, one for men and one for women, are common to both sexes, and in those baths which are specially set apart for women the attendant is often a man. Sometimes there is a partition, about breast high, to separate the sexes, but the usual baths have no such refinement. The baths are merely shallow pans or depressions in the floor, in which the bathers sit while they pour over themselves abundant supplies of hot and cold water. Baths of this nature are attached to all the “tea-houses,” so that travellers can refresh themselves with a bath, in true Homeric style, before they take their meals. And, in Homeric style also, the attendants are women. The baths are known by a dark blue strip of cloth which hangs like a banner over the doorway. Europeans, when they first visit the country, are rather surprised when they pass along the streets to see a whole family “tubbing” in front of their houses, or, when they pass a public bath, to see the inmates run out to look at the strangers; but they very soon become used to such spectacles, and think no more of them than do the Japanese themselves.

Sir Rutherford Alcock, in dealing with this subject, and illustrating it by a Japanese drawing representing a bath tenanted by a man, a boy, and five women, makes the following remarks: “Men and women steaming in the bathing-houses raise themselves to the open bars of the lattice fronts to look out, the interior behind them presenting a view very faithfully represented in the following sketch by a native artist.

“In reference to which, I cannot help feeling there is some danger of doing injustice to the womanhood of Japan if we judge them by our rules of decency and modesty. Where there is no sense of immodesty, no consciousness of wrong-doing, there is, or may be, a like absence of any sinful or depraving feeling. It is a custom of the country. Fathers, brothers, and husbands all sanction it; and from childhood the feeling must grow up as effectually shielding them from self-reproach or shame, as their sisters in Europe in adopting low dresses in the ball-room, or any other generally adopted fashion of garments or amusements. There is much in the usual appearance and expression of Japanese women to lead to this conclusion. Any one of the real performers in the above scene,—a bathing saturnalia as it may appear to us,—when all is over, and the toilet completed, will leave the bath-door a very picture of womanly reserve and modesty.”

Certainly, no women can be more decently clad than those of Japan, as we may see by any of the multitudinous native drawings; and that they should attach no sense of decency to the dress, or indecency to its absence, is one of the many strange characteristics of this remarkable and enigmatic country.

The travelling dress of the women is little more than their ordinary costume, plus a large flat hat, which serves as a parasol. Japanese picture books abound with illustrations of women travelling, and, multitudinous as they are, each has always some characteristic point, and no two are exactly alike. Sometimes we see the women sauntering quietly along the river bank, sometimes they are being carried across the river on the shoulders of men, or, if they be of importance, in “norimons” or chairs borne by six or eight coolies. Some of the drawings depict women as sitting in boats, as being caught in a heavy snow or rain storm (see illustration), as walking by moonlight, and as they appear when riding.

The attitude and general appearance of a female equestrian in Japan differ considerably from those of an European. Side-saddles are unknown, the fair rider perching herself upon a saddle which lifts her high above the back of the animal, concealing her body downward, holding on tightly by the front part of the saddle, and, in fact, giving herself a look very much resembling that of a gayly attired monkey on horseback, as shown on the next page. This mode of riding is even followed by the opposite sex, the retainers of the high nobles sitting in their lofty saddles in very much the same attitude as that employed by the women, and being in consequence absolutely useless, except in looks, as cavalry.

Yet, when they choose, the Japanese can ride tolerably, as is shown by the fact of a game which is played among them, in which the competitors are all mounted. In this game the players have to contend against very great disadvantages. In the first place, the horses which they bestride are wretched animals, mere rough ponies, and the accoutrements are so clumsy, that it is a wonder how the horse can be guided at all. According to our ideas, a horse is guided by the pressure of the leg and the touch of the rein, but the Japanese saddles render such guidance impossible.

The former mode is prevented by the shape of the saddle, which has large flaps of stiff leather hanging so low that the heel or knee of the rider has no effect upon the animal; and the latter mode is nearly as impossible as the former, by reason of the bit and the fashion of riding. The bit is a mere light snaffle placed loosely in the mouth, and the reins are used, not so much for the purpose of guiding the horse, as of keeping the rider in his seat. The horsemen grasp a rein tightly in each hand, and so hang to the bit. The natural consequence is, that the mouths of the horses are nearly as tough as the leather saddle-flaps, and the animals always go with their noses in the air, so as to counteract the perpetual haul on the bridle.

The game which is played under these untoward conditions is a sort of mall. A large space is marked out, and at each end is a curtain. At some few feet from the ground a circular hole is cut in the curtain. Each player is furnished with a long-handled, small-headed racket, almost exactly resembling that which is employed by the North American Indians in their ball play, described on page 1324. The object of the game is to pick up the ball from the ground with the racket, and to throw it through the hole. In order that there may be no doubt whether the ball has really passed through the hole, a net is hung loosely on the opposite side of the hole, and receives the ball. The players arrange themselves in two parties, distinguished by colors, and the chief point of the game is to pursue the opponent as he is galloping triumphantly toward the goal, and knock the ball out of the racket just as he is going to throw it through the hole.

The stirrups used by the Japanese are very curious in shape, and not at all like the ordinary models. Their general outline resembles that of the letter S, the foot being thrust into the opening as far as it will go. The comparatively small stirrups used by Europeans are as troublesome to the Japanese as would be the tiny triangular stirrups of Patagonia to an English rider.

The strangest part of horse equipment in Japan is, however, the shoe. Our idea of a horseshoe is a metallic plate to protect the horse against hard ground. The Japanese shoe is made of plaited straw, and is, in fact, nothing more than a straw sandal tied to the foot, giving it a very clumsy appearance. As may be imagined, their shoes never last very long, and on a stony road are soon cut to pieces. The rider, therefore, takes a supply of shoes with him, and renews them as fast as they are worn out. Indeed, a journey is often roughly calculated as a distance of so many shoes.

Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that the horse is seldom used in travelling. None but a poor noble will condescend to ride from one place to another, as it might be supposed that he could not afford the retinue which is required to carry him. Sometimes a nobleman will condescend to ride in public, but then his horse must be held by two grooms, who tug continually at the poor animal’s mouth, and shout continually, “Chai! chai!” i. e. gently, for haste is always thought undignified by the Japanese, and a person of consideration would suffer a great infraction of dignity if he allowed himself to hurry over the road.

For those who can afford so expensive a luxury, the usual mode of conveyance is a sort of palanquin called a Norimon. It is a square cage, hung from a pole, and carried by four men, two in front and two behind. For Japanese travellers this is a very comfortable conveyance, but for Europeans, who are not accustomed to the crouching attitude so characteristic of the Japanese, even a short journey in a norimon is a source of torture, the unfortunate passenger finding great difficulty in getting into the machine, and, when the journey is over, almost as much difficulty in getting out again, his limbs being stiff and cramped by the position into which they have been forced.

The pole of the norimon is stout, and very long; and it is a matter of rivalry between young and fashionable men to have their norimon poles as long and as profusely decorated as possible. When the coolies carry the norimon, they hoist it on their shoulders at a signal from their master, and step along at some three miles an hour. In many parts the coolies much resemble the palanquin bearers of India, but are in this respect superior, that they travel in silence, and do not weary the soul of their master by the perpetual grunts and moans with which the Indian bearers are accustomed to lighten their journey.

Uncomfortable as is the norimon, there is a popular conveyance which is even more painful to European limbs. This is called the Cango, and it bears about the same relationship to the norimon as a wheelbarrow does to a carriage. Indeed, if the reader can imagine the wheel, the legs, and handle of a wheelbarrow to be removed, and the body of the machine to be hung from a pole, he can form some idea of a cango. In the norimon the inmate has to crouch, in the cango he has almost to tie himself in a knot. Yet the Japanese limbs are so supple, that cango employers travel for many successive hours without being in the least oppressed by the attitude which they are compelled to assume. Cangos are largely used in Japan, and are indeed what cabs are to Londoners, the norimons supplying the place of carriages.

When a great noble or Daimio travels, he always uses the norimon, partly because it is the most luxurious conveyance which he knows, and partly because it gives him an excuse for displaying the strength of his retinue, which is about the only mode of ostentation known to the Japanese. The norimon is preceded by some of the men called Samourais, or Yaconins, i. e. men who are permitted to attach themselves to his service, and thereby to gain the privilege of wearing two swords. As their master passes along, they continually utter the word “Shitanirio!” i. e. kneel down, whereupon every one that hears it must at once prostrate himself on the ground, or remain erect at his peril. The most serious quarrels that have arisen between strangers and the natives in Japan have originated in this custom, the strangers either not knowing the custom, or refusing to comply with it lest they should compromise the dignity of their nation. Refusing to obey such an order is sure to cause a quarrel, and is likely to end in loss of life, as the Yaconins who give the order to kneel are always ready to enforce obedience with their swords.

Around the norimon is a crowd of servants, each wearing his master’s badge on his back, and each armed according to his rank. Some led horses generally accompany the procession, so that the great man may ride when he is tired of the norimon, and a number of coolies bear umbrellas covered with waterproof cases, and large boxes on poles. These boxes are almost invariably empty, but are conventionally supposed to contain the stores of baggage without which so great a man could not be expected to stir. Superior officers in norimons, and inferior officers on horseback, accompany the procession, for which a passage is kept by a number of men fantastically dressed in harlequin-like suits of various colors. Each of them carries a long iron rod, to which are attached a number of rings made of the same metal. As they walk they strike the end of the rod against the ground at each step, so that a clashing sort of jingle is produced, and strikes awe into the people.

That the Japanese should be such poor horsemen is very singular, considering the marvellous perfection to which they have brought other athletic exercises. As “acrobats” the performers are far superior to those of any other nation, performing the most audacious and apparently impossible feats with an absolute precision which quite removes any idea of danger.

Until the Japanese gymnasts came to this country, we were inclined to treat the accounts of travellers as exaggerated, but they proved to be capable of performing any feats which our professional athletes could achieve, and many others which they never even dreamt of attempting. For example, nothing seems much more difficult than for a man to lie on his back and balance on the soles of his feet a ladder thirty feet high. But when we add that to the top of the ladder a second ladder was attached at right angles, like the top of the letter F, and that a boy went up and down the ladder, and even crawled to the end of the cross piece and there hung by his instep, while the ladder was balanced on the soles of the reclining man’s feet, we appear to be romancing rather than relating a fact. Yet this astonishing performance was repeated day after day, and nothing was more wonderful than the elaborate perfection and finish of the performance. The heavy ladder was placed on the upturned feet, and in a moment it was as steady as if it had been planted in the ground. Though, owing to the crosspiece, it was considerably inclined, its steadiness was not impaired, and even when the boy ascended and descended it, causing the centre of gravity to be continually altered, there was not the slightest wavering perceptible.

So with the other feats achieved by these remarkable performers. Everything was done with the deliberation which forms an essential part of the Japanese nature, but there were no needless delays, and whether the man was balancing the ladder on his feet, or whether he was spinning tops and making them act as if they were rational beings, or whether he was making two paper butterflies flutter about as if they were real insects, the same quiet perfection characterized the whole of the performance, and every feat was done with such consummate ease that it looked as if it really required no skill at all. The extraordinary life which the Japanese performers contrive to infuse into inanimate objects is almost incredible. Had not the feat been actually seen, it would be scarcely possible to believe that a top could be spun, and then launched off to perform the following feats without being even touched:—

It ascended an inclined plane to a temple, the doors of which were closed. It knocked open one of the doors, entered the temple, waited inside some time, and then knocked open another door at right angles to the former, and emerged. It then went over an inclined bridge, entered another temple, and went up stairs, emerging at an upper story. It then proceeded along an inclined plane standing at right angles to the temple, and passed over a drawbridge, which was immediately lifted, leaving a gap over which the top had to pass in order to get back again. However, by the loosing of a catch, the top was flung over the gap, and went on as gayly as ever, finishing with entering a third temple, ringing a bell inside, coming out again, and running over two more bridges into the hands of the spinner, having traversed some forty feet, besides the work in the temples.

The same man spun a top upon the edge of a sword, making it pass from one end of the blade to the other. He flung the top in the air and threw the string at it: the top caught the middle of the string by the peg, wound itself up, and was again flung into the air, spinning faster than before. It was then caught on the slender stem of a pipe, along which it ran as if alive, was passed behind the back, and caught again in front, and lastly, was received upon the hem of the sleeve, made to spin up the garment, over the neck and shoulders, and down the sleeve of the opposite side. It was also made to spin upon a slight string stretched from the wall, and to pass backward and forward as long as the spinner chose.

Some of these tops required no string, but were merely spun with the hand; they could be taken up and put down again, still spinning, or they could be stood on their heads and still spin, or they could be built into a perfect edifice of tops, three or four spinning upon each other, sometimes each leaning in a different direction, and then being brought upright by a touch of the ever-ready fan. The concluding feat was a very curious one. Some thirty feet above the heads of the spectators was hung a model of a temple, from which depended a string. The chief top-spinner then took a small but very heavy top, wound up its string, and flung the top in the air, drawing back the arm so that the top came flying into his hand. He went under the temple, gave the pendent string a half turn round the peg, and away went the top into the temple, bursting open its doors, and flinging out a quantity of rose leaves, which came fluttering down round the top as it descended the string, and fell into the hands of the performer.