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diff --git a/old/14613-0.txt b/old/14613-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..073d52d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14613-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,23363 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Foundations of Japan, by J.W. Robertson Scott + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: The Foundations of Japan + Notes Made During Journeys Of 6,000 Miles In The Rural Districts As + A Basis For A Sounder Knowledge Of The Japanese People + +Author: J.W. Robertson Scott + +Release Date: January 6, 2005 [EBook #14613] +[Most recently updated: July 30, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FOUNDATIONS OF JAPAN *** + + + + +Produced by Produced by Michael Ciesielski, Ronald Holder and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + +[Illustration: BATH IN AN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL] + +[Illustration: JŪJITSU (AND RIFLES) AT THE SAME SCHOOL.] + +YOUNG JAPAN + +[_Frontispiece_ + + + + +THE FOUNDATIONS OF JAPAN + +BY THE SAME AUTHOR + +FAR EASTERN + +THE PEOPLE OF CHINA +JAPAN, GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WORLD. + (Nippon Eikoku oyobi Sekai.) +THE IGNOBLE WARRIOR. (Koredemo Bushika.) +THE NEW EAST. (Tokyo.) Vols. I, II & III. + (Edited.) + +AGRICULTURAL + +A FREE FARMER IN A FREE STATE. (Holland.) +WAR TIME AND PEACE IN HOLLAND. (With + an Introduction by the late LORD REAY.) +THE LAND PROBLEM: AN IMPARTIAL SURVEY +SUGAR BEET: SOME FACTS AND SOME CONCLUSIONS. + A Study in Rural Therapeutics. +THE TOWNSMAN'S FARM +THE SMALL FARM +POULTRY FARMING: SOME FACTS AND SOME + ILLUSIONS +THE CASE FOR THE GOAT. (With Introductions + by the DUCHESS OF HAMILTON and SIR H. + RIDER HAGGARD.) +COUNTRY COTTAGES +THE STORY OF THE DUNMOW FLITCH +IN SEARCH OF AN £150 COTTAGE. (Edited.) +THE JOURNAL OF A JOURNEYMAN FARMER. + (Edited.) + + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + + +THE FOUNDATIONS +OF JAPAN + +NOTES MADE DURING JOURNEYS OF +6,000 MILES IN THE RURAL DISTRICTS AS +A BASIS FOR A SOUNDER KNOWLEDGE +OF THE JAPANESE PEOPLE + +BY J.W. ROBERTSON SCOTT + +("HOME COUNTIES") + +WITH 85 ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"In good sooth, my masters, this is no door, yet it is a little window" + + +LONDON + +JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. + +1922 + + + + +TO + +SCOTT SAN NO OKUSAN + +FOR WHOLESOME CRITICISM + + + + +A concern arose to spend some time with them that I might feel and +understand their life and the spirit they live in, if haply I might +receive some instruction from them, or they might be in any degree +helped forward by my following the leadings of truth among them when +the troubles of War were increasing and when travelling was more +difficult than usual. I looked upon it as a more favourable +opportunity to season my mind and to bring me into a nearer sympathy +with them.--_Journal of John Woolman_, 1762. + +I determined to commence my researches at some distance from the +capital, being well aware of the erroneous ideas I must form should I +judge from what I heard in a city so much subjected to foreign +intercourse.--BORROW. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The hope with which these pages are written is that their readers may +be enabled to see a little deeper into that problem of the relation of +the West with Asia which the historian of the future will +unquestionably regard as the greatest of our time. + +I lived for four and a half years in Japan. This book is a record of +many of the things I saw and experienced and some of the things I was +told chiefly during rural journeys--more than half the population is +rural--extending to twice the distance across the United States or +nearly eight times the distance between the English Channel and John +o' Groats. + +These pages deal with a field of investigation in Japan which no other +volume has explored. Because they fall short of what was planned, and +in happier conditions might have been accomplished, a word or two may +be pardoned on the beginnings of the book--one of the many literary +victims of the War. + +The first book I ever bought was about the Far East. The first leading +article of my journalistic apprenticeship in London was about Korea. +When I left daily journalism, at the time of the siege of the Peking +Legations, the first thing I published was a book pleading for a +better understanding of the Chinese. + +After that, as a cottager in Essex, I wrote--above a _nom de guerre_ +which is better known than I am--a dozen volumes on rural subjects. +During a visit to the late David Lubin in Rome I noticed in the big +library of his International Institute of Agriculture that there was +no took in English dealing with the agriculture of Japan.[1] Just +before the War the thoughts of forward-looking students of our home +affairs ran strongly on the relation of intelligently managed small +holdings to skilled capitalist farming.[2] During the early "business +as usual" period of the War, when no tasks had been found for men over +military age--Mr. Wells's protest will be remembered--it occurred to +me that it might be serviceable if I could have ready, for the period +of rural reconstruction and readjustment of our international ideas +when the War was over, two books of a new sort. One should be a +stimulating volume on Japan, based on a study, more sociological than +technically agricultural, of its remarkable small-farming system and +rural life, and the other a complementary American volume based on a +study of the enterprising large farming of the Middle West. I proposed +to write the second book in co-operation with a veteran rural reformer +who had often invited me to visit him in Iowa, the father of the +present American Minister of Agriculture. Early in 1915 I set out for +Japan to enter upon the first part of my task. Mr. Wallace died while +I was still in Japan, and the Middle West book remains to be +undertaken by someone else. + +The Land of the Rising Sun has been fortunate in the quality of the +books which many foreigners have written.[3] But for every work at the +standard of what might be called the seven "M's"--Mitford, Murdoch, +Munro, Morse, Maclaren, "Murray" and McGovern--there are many volumes +of fervid "pro-Japanese" or determined "anti-Japanese" romanticism. +The pictures of Japan which such easily perused books present are +incredible to readers of ordinary insight or historical imagination, +but they have had their part in forming public opinion. + +The basic fact about Japan is that it is an agricultural country. +Japanese æstheticism, the victorious Japanese army and navy, the +smoking chimneys of Osaka, the pushing mercantile marine, the +Parliamentary and administrative developments of Tokyo and a costly +worldwide diplomacy are all borne on the bent backs of _Ohyakusho no +Fufu_,[4] the Japanese peasant farmer and his wife. The depositories +of the authentic _Yamato damashii_ (Japanese spirit) are to be found +knee deep in the sludge of their paddy fields. + +One book about Japan may well be written in the perspective of the +village and the hamlet. There it is possible to find the way beneath +that surface of things visible to the tourist. There it is possible to +discover the _foundations_ of the Japan which is intent on cutting +such a figure in the East and in the West. There it is possible to +learn not only what Japan is but what she may have it in her to +become. + +A rural sociologist is not primarily interested in the technique of +agriculture. He conceives agriculture and country life as Arthur Young +and Cobbett did, as a means to an end, the sound basis, the touchstone +of a healthy State. I was helped in Japan not only by my close +acquaintance with the rural civilisation of two pre-eminently +small-holdings countries, Holland and Denmark, but by what I knew to +be precious in the rural life of my own land. + +An interest in rural problems cannot be simulated. As I journeyed +about the country the sincerity of my purpose--there are few words in +commoner use in the Far East than sincerity--was recognised and +appreciated. I enjoyed conversations in which customary barriers had +been broken down and those who spoke said what they felt. We +inevitably discussed not only agricultural economy but life, religion +and morality, and the way Japan was taking. + +I spoke and slept in Buddhist temples. I was received at Shinto +shrines. I was led before domestic altars. I was taken to gatherings +of native Christians. I planted commemorative trees until more +persimmons than I can ever gather await my return to Japan. I wrote so +many _gaku_[5] for school walls and for my kind hosts that my memory +was drained of maxims. I attended guileless horse-races. I was present +at agricultural shows, fairs, wrestling matches, _Bon_ dances, village +and county councils and the strangest of public meetings. I talked not +only with farmers and their families but with all kinds of landlords, +with schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, policemen, shopkeepers, +priests, co-operative society enthusiasts, village officials, county +officials, prefectural officials, a score of Governors and an Ainu +chief. I sought wisdom from Ministers of State and nobles of every +rank, from the Prince who is the heir of the last of the Shoguns down +to democratic Barons who prefer to be called "Mr.", I chatted with +farmers' wives and daughters, I interrogated landladies and mill +girls, and I paid a memorable visit to a Buddhist nunnery. I walked, +talked, rode, ate and bathed with common folk and with dignitaries. I +discussed the situation of Japan with the new countryman in college +agricultural laboratories and classrooms, and, in a remote region, +beheld what is rare nowadays, the old countryman kneeling before his +cottage with his head to the ground as the stranger rode past. + +I made notes as I traversed paddy-field paths, by mountain ways, in +colleges, schools, houses and inns. It can only have been when +crossing water on men's backs that I did not make notes. I jotted +things down as I walked, as I sat, as I knelt, as I lay on my _futon_, +as I journeyed in _kuruma_, on horseback, in jolting _basha_, in +automobiles, in shaking cross-country trains and in boats; in +brilliant sunshine and sweltering heat, in the shade and in dust; in +the early morning with chilled fingers or more or less furtively as I +crouched at protracted private or official repasts, or late at night +endeavoured to gather crumbs from the wearing conversation of polite +callers who, though set on helping me, did not always find it easy to +understand the kind of information of which I was in search. One of +these asked my travelling companion _sotto voce_, "Is he after metal +mines?" + +I went on my own trips and on routes planned out for me by +agricultural and social zealots, and from time to time I returned +physically and mentally fatigued to my little Japanese house near +Tokyo to rest and to write out from my memoranda, to seek data for new +districts from the obliging Department of Agriculture and the +Agricultural College people at the Imperial University, and to eat and +drink with rural authorities who chanced to be visiting the capital +from distant prefectures. I had many setbacks. I was misinformed, now +and then intentionally and often unintentionally. There were many days +which were not only harassing but seemingly wasted. I often despaired +of achieving results worth all the exertion I was making and the money +I was spending. I must have worn to shreds the patience of some +English-speaking Japanese friends, but they never owned defeat. In the +end I found that I made progress. + +But so did the War, which when I set out from London few believed +would last long. I was troubled by continually meeting with incredible +ignorance about the War, the issues at stake and the certain end. The +Japanese who talked with me were 10,000 miles away from the fighting. +Japan had nothing to lose, everything indeed to gain from the +abatement of Europe's activities in Asia. Not only Japanese soldiers +but many administrative, educational, agricultural and commercial +experts had been to school in Germany. There was much in common in the +German and Japanese mentalities, much alike in Central European and +Farthest East regard for the army and for order, devotion to +regulations, habit of subordination and deification of the State. +Eventually the well-known anti-Ally campaign broke out in Tokyo, a +thing which has never been sufficiently explained. Soon I was pressed +to turn aside from my studies and attempt the more immediately useful +task: to explain why Western nations, whose manifest interests were +peace, were resolutely squandering their blood and wealth in War. + +If what I published had some measure of success,[6] it was because by +this time, unlike some of the critics who sharply upbraided Japan and +made impossible proposals in impossible terms, I had learnt something +at first hand about the Japanese, because I wrote of the difficulties +as well as the faults of Japan, and because I was now a little known +as her well-wisher. One of the two books I published was translated as +a labour of love, as I shall never forget, by a Japanese public man +whose leisure was so scant that he sat up two nights to get his +manuscript finished. Before long I had involved myself in the arduous +task of founding and of editing for two years a monthly review, _The +New East (Shin Toyo)_,[7] with for motto a sentence of my own which +expresses what wisdom I have gained about the Orient, _The real +barrier between East and West is a distrust of each other's morality +and the illusion that the distrust is on one side only._ + +The excuse for so personal a digression is that, when this period of +literary and journalistic stress began, my rural notebooks and MSS., +memoranda of conversations on social problems and a heterogeneous +collection of reports and documents had to be stowed into boxes. There +they stayed until a year ago. The entries in a dozen of my little +hurriedly filled notebooks have lost their flavour or are +unintelligible: I have put them all aside. Neither is it possible to +utilise notes which were submarined or lost in over-worked post +offices. This book--I have had to leave out Kyushu entirely--is not +the work I planned, a complete account of rural life and industry in +every part of Japan, with an excursus on Korea and Formosa, and +certain general conclusions: a standard work, no doubt, in, I am +afraid, two volumes, and forgetful at times of the warning that "to +spend too much Time in Studies is Sloth." + +What I had transcribed before leaving Japan I have now been able in +the course of a leisured year in England to overhaul and to supplement +by up-to-date statistics in an extensive Appendix. In the changed +circumstances in which the book is completed I have also ruthlessly +transferred to this Appendix all the technical matter in the text, so +that nothing shall obstruct the way of the general reader. At some +future date there may be by another hand a book about Japan in terms +of soils, manures and crops. That is the book the War saved me from +writing. In the present work I have the opportunity which so few +authors have enjoyed of jettisoning all technics into an Appendix. + +[Illustration: _Shin Koron_ +"BYGONE DAYS IN JAPAN" IS THE TITLE OF THIS CARTOON] + +"It is necessary," says a wise modern author, "to meditate over one's +impressions at leisure, to start afresh again and again with a clearer +vision of the essential facts." And a Japanese companion of my +journeys writes, "Never can you be sorry that this book is coming +late. This time of delay has been the best time; we have had enough +of first impressions." The justification for this volume is that, in +spite of the difficulties attending the composition of it, it may be +held to offer a picture of some aspects of modern Japan to be found +nowhere else. Politics is not for these pages, nor, because there are +so many charming books on æsthetic and scenic Japan, do I write on Art +or about Fuji, Kyoto, Nara, Miyanoshita and Nikko. I went to Japan to +see the countryman. The Japanese whom most of the world knows are +townified, sometimes Americanised or Europeanised, and, as often as +not, elaborately educated. They are frequently remarkable men. They +stand for a great deal in modern Japan. But their untownified +fellow-countrymen, with the training of tradition and experience, of +rural schoolmasters and village elders, and, as frequently, of the +carefully shielded army, are more than half of the nation. + +What is their health of mind and body? By what social and moral +principles and prejudices are they swayed? To what extent are they +adequate to the demand that is made and is likely to be made upon +them? In what respects are they the masters of their lives or are +mastered? In what ways are they still open to Western influences? And +in what directions are they now inclined to trust to "themselves +alone"? + +If the masters of the rural journal were sometimes mistaken in the +observations they made from horseback, I cannot have escaped +blundering in passing through more dimly lit scenes than they visited. +"If there appears here and there any uncorrectness, I do not hold +myself obliged to answer for what I could not perfectly govern."[8] +But I have laboriously taken all the precautions I could and I have +obeyed as far as possible a recent request that "visitors to the Far +East should confine themselves to what they have seen with their own +eyes." As Huxley wrote, "all that I have proposed to myself is to say, +This and this have I learned." + +I take pleasure in recalling that some years ago I was approached with +a view to undertaking for the United States Government a +socio-agricultural investigation in a foreign country. Reared as I +have been in the whole faith of a citizen of the English-speaking +world, I am glad to think that the present volume may be of some +service to American readers. The United States is within ten +days--Canada is within nine--of Japan against Great Britain's month by +the Atlantic-C.P.R.-Pacific route and eight weeks by Suez. There are +more American visitors than British to Japan. It was America that +first opened Japan to the West, and the debt of Japan to American +training and stimulus is immense. But British services to Japan have +also been substantial. Great Britain was the first to welcome her +within the circle of the Great Powers, and the Anglo-Japanese Alliance +did more for Japan than some Japanese have been willing to admit. The +problem of Japan is the problem of the whole English-speaking world. +Rightly conceived, the interests of the British Empire and the United +States in the Far East are one and indivisible. + +The Japanese version of the title of this book (kindly suggested by +Mr. Seichi Narusé) is _Nihon no Shinzui_, literally, "The Marrow" or +"The Core of Japan." His Excellency the Japanese Ambassador, the +beauty of whose calligraphy is well known, was so very kind as to +allow me to requisition his clever brush for the script for the +engraver; but it must be understood that Baron Hayashi has seen +nothing of the volume but the cover. + +I greatly regret that the present conditions of book production make +it impossible to reproduce more than one in thirty of my photographs. + +It is in no spirit of ingratitude to my hosts and many other kind +people in Japan that I have taken the decision resolutely to strike +out of the text all those names of places and persons which give such +a forbidding air to a traveller's page. I have pleasure in +acknowledging here the particular obligations I am under to Kunio +Yanaghita, formerly Secretary of the Japanese House of Peers and a +distinguished and disinterested student of rural conditions, Dr. +Nitobe, assistant secretary of the League of Nations, and his wife, +Professor Nasu, Imperial University, Mr. Yamasaki, Mr. M. Yanagi, Mr. +Kanzō Uchimura, Mr. Bernard Leach, Mr. M. Tajima, Mr. Ono and two +young officials in Hokkaido, who each in turn found time to join me on +my journeys and showed me innumerable kindnesses. It was a piece of +good fortune that while these pages were in preparation Mr. Yanaghita, +Professor Nasu and other fellow-travellers were in Europe and +available for consultation. Professor Nasu unweariedly furnished +painstaking answers to many questions, and was kind enough to read all +of the book in proof; but he has no responsibility, of course, for the +views which I express. I am also specially indebted to Dr. Kozai, +President of the Imperial University, to Mr. Ito and other officials +of the Ministry of Agriculture, to Mr. Tsurimi, one of the most +understanding of travelled Japanese, to Mr. Iwanaga, formerly of the +Imperial Railway Board, to Dr. Sato, President of Hokkaido University, +and his obliging colleagues, to the Imperial Agricultural Society, to +Professors Yahagi and Yokoi, and to Viscount Kano, Dr. Kuwada, Mr. I. +Yoshida, Mr. K. Ohta, Mr. H. Saito, Mr. S. Hoshijima, and many +provincial agricultural and sociological experts. + +Portions of drafts for this book have appeared in the _Daily +Telegraph, World's Work, Manchester Guardian, New East, Asia, Japan +Chronicle_ and _Christian World_. I am indebted to the _World's Work_ +and _Asia_ for some additional illustrations from blocks made from my +photographs, and to the _New East_ for some sketches by Miss Elizabeth +Keith. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] There is a small book by an able American soil specialist, the +late Professor King, which describes through rose-tinted glasses the +farming of Japan, and of China and Korea as well, on the basis of a +flying trip to countries the population of which is thrice that of +Great Britain and the United States together. The author of another +book, published last year, delivers himself of this astonishing +opinion: "The Japanese is no better fitted to direct his own +agriculture than I am to steer a rudderless ship across the Atlantic." + +[2] _Vide_ Sir Daniel Hall's _Pilgrimage of English Farming_ and +articles of mine in the _Nineteenth Century_ and _Times_, and my _Land +Problem_. + +[3] The Japanese have only lately, however, made some acknowledgment +of their debt to Hearn, and in an eight-page bibliography of the best +books about Japan in the _Japan Year Book_ Murdoch's as yet unrivalled +_History_ is not even mentioned. + +[4] _Ohyakusho_ must not be confused with _Oo-hyakusho_ or +_Oo-byakusho_, which means a large farmer. _O_ is a polite prefix; +_Oo_ or _O_ means large. + +[5] Horizontal wall writings. + +[6] About 35,000 copies of my two bilingual books were circulated. + +[7] With the backing of a London Committee composed of Lord Burnham, +Sir G.W. Prothero, Mr. J. St. Loe Strachey and Mr. C.V. Sale. + +[8] Tenison, 1684. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +STUDIES IN A SINGLE PREFECTURE (AICHI) + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE MERCY OF BUDDHA + + II. "GOOD PEOPLE ARE NOT SUFFICIENTLY PRECAUTIOUS" + + III. EARLY-RISING SOCIETIES AND OTHER INGENUOUS ACTIVITIES + + IV. "THE SIGHT OF A GOOD MAN IS ENOUGH" + + V. COUNTRY-HOUSE LIFE + + VI. BEFORE OKUNITAMA-NO-MIKO-KAMI + + VII. OF "DEVIL-GON" AND YOSOGI + + +THE MOST EXACTING CROP IN THE WORLD + + VIII. THE HARVEST FROM THE MUD + + IX. THE RICE BOWL, THE GODS AND THE NATION + + + +BACK TO FIRST PRINCIPLES: THE APOSTLE AND THE ARTIST + + X. A TROUBLER OF ISRAEL + + XI. THE IDEA OF A GAP + + +ACROSS JAPAN (TOKYO TO NIIGATA AND BACK) + + XII. TO THE HILLS (TOKYO, SAITAMA, TOCHIGI AND FUKUSHIMA) + + XIII. THE DWELLERS IN THE HILLS (FUKUSHIMA) + + XIV. SHRINES AND POETRY (NIIGATA AND TOYAMA) + + XV. THE NUN'S CELL (NAGANO) + + +IN AND OUT OF THE SILK PREFECTURE + + XVI. PROBLEMS BEHIND THE PICTURESQUE + (SAITAMA, GUMMA, NAGANO AND YAMANASHI) + + XVII. THE BIRTH, BRIDAL AND DEATH OF THE + SILK-WORM (NAGANO) + + XVIII. "GIRL COLLECTORS" AND FACTORIES + (NAGANO AND YAMANASHI) + + XIX. "FRIEND-LOVE-SOCIETY'S" GRIM TALE + + +FROM TOKYO TO THE NORTH BY THE WEST COAST + + XX. "THE GARDEN WHERE VIRTUES ARE + CULTIVATED" (FUKUSHIMA AND YAMAGATA) + + XXI. THE "TANOMOSHI" (YAMAGATA) + + +BACK AGAIN BY THE EAST COAST + + XXII. "BON" SONGS AND THE SILENT PRIEST + (YAMAGATA, AKITA, AOMORI, IWATE, + MIYAGI, FUKUSHIMA AND IBARAKI) + + XXIII. A MIDNIGHT TALK + + +THE ISLAND OF SHIKOKU + + XXIV. LANDLORDS, PRIESTS AND "BASHA" + (TOKUSHIMA, KOCHI AND KAGAWA) + + XXV. "SPECIAL TRIBES" (EHIME) + + XXVI. THE STORY OF THE BLIND HEADMAN (EHIME) + + +THE SOUTH-WEST OF JAPAN + + XXVII. UP-COUNTRY ORATORY (YAMAGUCHI) + + XXVIII. MEN, DOGS AND SWEET POTATOES (SHIMANE) + + XXIX. FRIENDS OF LAFCADIO HEARN (SHIMANE, TOTTORI AND HYOGO) + + +TWO MONTHS IN TEMPLE (NAGANO) + + XXX. THE LIFE OF THE PEASANTS AND THEIR PRIESTS + + XXXI. "BON" SEASON SCENES + + +IN AND OUT OF THE TEA PREFECTURE + + XXXII. PROGRESS OF SORTS (SHIDZUOKA AND KANAGAWA) + + XXXIII. GREEN TEA AND BLACK (SHIDZUOKA) + + +EXCURSIONS FROM TOKYO + + XXXIV. A COUNTRY DOCTOR AND HIS NEIGHBOURS (CHIBA) + + XXXV. THE HUSBANDMAN, THE WRESTLER AND + THE CARPENTER (SAITAMA, GUMMA AND TOKYO) + + XXXVI. "THEY FEEL THE MERCY OF THE SUN" + (GUMMA, KANAGAWA AND CHIBA) + + +REFLECTIONS IN HOKKAIDO + + XXXVII. COLONIAL JAPAN AND ITS UN-JAPANESE WAYS + +XXXVIII. SHALL THE JAPANESE EAT BREAD AND MEAT? + + XXXIX. MUST THE JAPANESE MAKE THEIR OWN "YOFUKU"? + + XL. THE PROBLEMS OF JAPAN + + +APPENDICES + +INDEX + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +BATH IN AN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL _facing title-page_ + +JŪJITSU (AND RIFLES) AT THE SAME SCHOOL + +BYGONE DAYS IN JAPAN + +THE ROOM IN WHICH THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN + +THE MERCY OF BUDDHA + +"TO ROUSE THE VILLAGE YOU MUST FIRST ROUSE THE PRIEST" + +PLAN OF THE FARMER'S SYMBOLIC TREES + +ADJUSTED RICE-FIELDS + +LIBRARY AND WORKSHED OF A Y.M.A. + +LANDOWNER'S SON AND DAUGHTER + +SHRINE IN A LANDOWNER'S HOUSE + +MR. YAMASAKI, DR. NITOBE, AUTHOR AND PROF. NASU + +THE HOUSE IN WHICH THE TEA CEREMONY TOOK PLACE + +AUTHOR QUESTIONING OFFICIALS + +AUTHOR PLANTING COMMEMORATIVE TREES + +RICE POLISHING BY FOOT POWER + +"HIBACHI," A FLOWER ARRANGEMENT AND "KAKEMONO" + +SCHOOL SHRINE CONTAINING EMPEROR'S PORTRAIT + +FENCING AT AN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL + +WAR MEMENTOES--ALL SCHOOLS HAVE SOME + +A 200-YEARS-OLD DRAWING OF THE RICE PLANT + +SCATTERING ARTIFICIAL MANURE IN ADJUSTED +PADDIES + +PLANTING OUT RICE SEEDLINGS + +PUSH-CART FOR COLLECTION OF FERTILISER + +MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE'S EFFORTS TO KEEP PRICE OF RICE DOWN + +MUZZLED EDITORS + +"THE JAPANESE CARLYLE" + +MR. AND MRS. YANAGI + +CHILDREN CATCHING INSECTS ON RICE-SEED BEDS + +MASTERS OF A COUNTRY SCHOOL AND SOME CHILDREN + +CULTIVATION TO THE HILL-TOPS + +IMPLEMENTS, MEASURES AND MACHINES, AND A BALE OF RICE + +MOVABLE STAGE AT A FESTIVAL + +FARMHOUSE AT WHICH MR. UCHIMURA PREACHED + +TENANT FARMERS' HOUSES + +AUTHOR AT THE "SPIRIT MEETING" + +SOME PERFORMERS AT THE "SPIRIT MEETING" + +IN A BUDDHIST NUNNERY + +JAPANESE GRASS-CUTTING TOOLS COMPARED WITH A SCYTHE + +CHILD-COLLECTORS OF VILLAGERS' SAVINGS + +NUNS PHOTOGRAPHED IN A "CELL" + +STUDENTS' STUDY AT AN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL + +TEACHERS OF A VILLAGE SCHOOL + +GIRLS CARRYING BALES OF RICE + +SERICULTURAL SCHOOL STUDENTS + +SILK FACTORIES IN KAMISUWA + +VILLAGE ASSEMBLY-ROOM + +ARCHERY AT AN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL + +CULTIVATION OF THE HILLSIDE + +RAILWAY STATION "BENTO" AND POT OF TEA + +A SCARECROW + +THE BLIND HEADMAN AND HIS COLLECTING-BAG + +MR. YANAGHITA IN HIS CORONATION CEREMONY ROBES + +PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR RAISING WATER + +VILLAGE SCHOOL WITH PORTRAIT OF FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE + +RIVER-BEDS IN THE SUMMER + +SCHOOL SHRINE FOR EMPEROR'S PORTRAIT + +AUTHOR ADDRESSING LAFCADIO HEARN MEETING + +A PEASANT PROPRIETOR'S HOUSE + +GRAVESTONES REASSEMBLED AFTER PADDY ADJUSTMENT + +TEMPLE IN WHICH THIS CHAPTER WAS WRITTEN + +FIRE ENGINE AND PRIMITIVE FIGURES + +YOUNG MEN'S CLUB-ROOM + +MEMORIAL STONES + +ROOF PROTECTED AGAINST STORMS BY STONES + +OFF TO THE UPLAND FIELDS + +FARMER'S WIFE + +MOTHER AND CHILD + +A CRADLE + +FIRE ALARM AND OBSERVATION POST + +RACK FOR DRYING RICE + +VILLAGE CREMATORIUM + +DOG HELPING TO PULL JINRIKISHA + +AUTHOR, MR. YAMASAKI AND YOUNGEST INHABITANTS + +"TORII" AT THE SHRINE OF THE FOX GOD + +TABLETS RECORDING GIFTS TO A TEMPLE + +INSIDE THE "SHOJI" + +AUTOMATIC RICE POLISHER + +AUTHOR IN A CRATER + +A TYPE OF WAYSIDE MONUMENTS + +GIANT RADISH OR "DAIKON" + +CUTTING GRASS + + + + +CURRENCY, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES +AND OFFICIAL TERMS + + +The prices given in the text (but not in the footnotes and Appendix) were +recorded before the War inflation began. The War was followed by a +severe financial crisis. Professor Nasu wrote to me during the summer of +1921: + +"You are very wise to leave the figures as they stood. It is useless +to try to correct them, because they are still changing. The price of +rice, which did not exceed 15 yen per koku when you were making your +research work, exceeded 50 yen in 1919, and is now struggling to +maintain the price of 25 yen. Taking at 100 the figures for the years +1915 or 1916--fortunately there is not much difference between these +two years--the prices of six leading commodities reached in 1919 an +average of about 250. After 1919 the prices of some commodities went +still higher, but mostly they did not change very much; on the other +hand, recently the prices of many commodities--among them rice and raw +silk especially--have been coming down and this downward movement is +gradually extending to all other commodities. From these +considerations I deduce that the index number of general commodities +may be safely taken as 200 when your book appears. _The reader of your +book has simply to double the figures given by you--that is the +figures of_ 1915 _and_ 1916--_in order to get a rough estimate of +present prices._" + +Where exact statements of area and yield are necessary, as in the +study of the intense agriculture of Japan, local measures are +preferable to our equivalents in awkward fractions. Further, the +measures used in this book are easily remembered, and no serious study +of Japanese agriculture on the spot is possible without remembering +them. While, however, Japanese currency, weights and measures have +been uniformly used, equivalents have been supplied at every place in +the book where their omission might be reasonably considered to +interfere with easy reading. The following tables are restricted to +currency, weights and measures mentioned in the book. + + +MONEY[9] + +_Yen_ = roughly (at the time notes for the book were made) a florin or half +a dollar = 100 sen. + +_Sen_ = a farthing or half cent = 10 rin. + + +LONG + +_Ri_ = roughly 2-1/2 miles. + +_Shaku_ (roughly 1 ft.) = 11.93 in. + +Ri are converted into miles by being multiplied by 2.44. + + +SQUARE + +_Ri_ (roughly 6 sq. miles) = 5.955 sq. miles. + +_Chō_ (sometimes written, _Chōbu_) (roughly 2-1/2 acres) = 2.450 acres = +10 tan = 3,000 tsubo. + +_Tan_ or _Tambu_ (roughly 1/4 acre) = 0.245 acres = 10 se = 300 bu. + +_Bu_ or _Tsubo_ (roughly 4 sq. yds.) = 3.953 sq. yds. + +An acre is about 4 tan 10 bu or 1,200 bu or tsubo (an urban measure). +The size of rooms is reckoned by the number of mats, which are ordinarily +6 shaku in length and 3 shaku in breadth. + + +CAPACITY + +_Koku_ (roughly 40 gals, or 5 bush.) = 39.703 gals, or 4.960 bush. = +10 tō. According to American measurements, there are 47.653 gals, +(liquid) and 5.119 bush, (dry) in a koku. A koku of rice is 313-1/2 lbs. +(British). + +A koku of imported rice is, however, 330-1/2 lbs. The following koku must +also be noted: ordinary barley, 231 lbs.; naked barley 301.1 lbs.; wheat +288.7 lbs.; proso millet, 247.9 lbs.; foxtail millet, 280.9 lbs.; barnyard +millet, 165.2 lbs.; brickaheat, 247.9 lbs.; maize, 289.2 lbs.; soya beans, +286.5 lbs.; azuki (red) beans, 319.9 lbs.; horse beans, 266.6 lbs.; peas, +306.5 lbs. + +_Hyō_ (roughly 2 bush.) = 1.985 bush. = 4 tō = bale of rice. + +_Tō_ (roughly 4 gals, or 1/2 bush.) = 3.970 gals, or .496 bush, or +1.985 pecks = 10 shō. + +_Shō_ (roughly 1-1/2 qts.) = 1.588 qts. or 0.198 pecks or 108-1/2 +cub. in. = 10 gō. + +_Gō_ (roughly 1/3 pint) =.3176 pints or 0.019 pecks. + +Rice is not bagged but baled, and a bale is 4 tō or 1 hyō. + + +WEIGHT + +_Kwan_ or _kwamme_ (roughly 8-1/4 lbs.) = 8.267 lbs. av. or 10.047 lbs. +troy = 1,000 momme. + +_Kin_ (catty) = 1.322 lbs. av. or 1.607 troy = 160 momme. + +_Momme_ = 2.116 drams or 2.411 dwts. According to American measurements +a momme is 0.132 oz. av. and 0.120 oz. troy. + +_Hyakkin_ (_picul_) = 100 kin = 132.277 lbs. + +A stone is 1.693, a cwt. is 13.547, and a ton 270.950 kwamme. + + +LOCAL ADMINISTRATIVE TERMS + +_Ken_.--Prefecture. There are forty-three ken and Hokkaido. Ken +and fu are made up of the former sixty-six provinces. Sometimes the name +of the ken and the name of the capital of the ken are the same: example, +Shidzuoka-ken, capital Shidzuoka. + +_Fu_.--Three prefectures are municipal prefectures and are called not +ken but fu. They are Tokyo-fu, Kyoto-fu and Osaka-fu. + +_Gun_ (_kōri_).--Division of a prefecture, a county or rural district. +There are 636 gun. Gun are now being done away with. + +_Shi_.--City. There are seventy-nine cities. + +_Cho_.--A town or rather a district preponderatingly urban. There are +1,333 cho. + +_Machi_.--Japanese name for the Chinese character cho. + +_Son_.--A village or rather a district preponderatingly rural. There are +10,839 son. + +_Mura_.--Japanese name for a Chinese character son. + +A true idea of the Japanese village is obtained as soon as one mentally +defines it as a commune. There may be a rural community called son +or a municipal community called cho. The cho or son consists of a number of +oaza, that is, big aza, which in turn consists of a number of ko-aza or +small aza. A ko-aza may consist of twenty or thirty dwellings, that is, +a hamlet, or it may be only one dwelling. It may be ten acres in extent +or fifty. I found that the population of a particular municipality was +10,000 in seven big oaza comprising twenty-two ko-aza. + +[Illustration: THE ROOM, OVERLOOKING THE PACIFIC, IN WHICH MUCH OF +THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN +The feet of the chair and table are fitted with wooden slats so as not +to injure the _tatami_. Electricity as a matter of course!] + +[Illustration: THE MERCY OF BUDDHA +The worshippers in the front row lost relatives by a flood. +This is not the priest referred to in Chapter I.] + + + + +THE +FOUNDATIONS OF JAPAN + +STUDIES IN A SINGLE PREFECTURE +(AICHI)[10] + +CHAPTER I + +THE MERCY OF BUDDHA + +The only hard facts, one learns to see as one gets older, are the +facts of feeling. Emotion and sentiment are, after all, incomparably +more solid than any statistics. So that when one wanders back in +memory through the field one has traversed in diligent search of hard +facts, one comes back bearing in one's arms a Sheaf of +Feelings.--HAVELOCK ELLIS. + + +One day as I walked along a narrow path between rice fields in a +remote district in Japan, I saw a Buddhist priest coming my way. He +was rosy-faced and benign, broad-shouldered and a little rotund. He +had with him a string of small children. I stood by to let him pass +and lifted my hat. He bowed and stopped, and we entered into +conversation. He told me that he was taking the children to a +festival. I said that I should like to meet him again. He offered to +come to see me in the evening at my host's house. When he arrived, and +I asked him, after a little polite talk, what was the chief difficulty +in the way of improving the moral condition of his village, he +answered, "I am." + +We spoke of Buddhism, and he complained that its sects were "too +aristocratic." When his own sect of Buddhism, Shinshu, was started, he +said, it was something "quite democratic for the common people." But +with the lapse of time this democratic sect had also "become +aristocratic." "Though the founder of Shinshu wore flaxen clothing, +Shinshu priests now have glittering costumes. And everyone has heard +of the magnificence of the Kyoto Hongwanji" (the great temple at +Kyoto, the headquarters of the sect).[11] "Contrary to the principles +of religion and democracy," people thought of the priest and the +temple "as something beyond their own lives." All this stood in the +way of improvement. + +The fashion in which many landowners "despised exertion and lived +luxuriously" was another hindrance. These men looked down on +education, "thinking themselves clever because they read the +newspapers." Landlords of this sort were fond of curios, and kept +their capital in such things instead of in agriculture. Sellers of +curios visited the village too often. A wise man had called the +curio-seller the "Spirit of Poverty" (_Bimbogami_). He said that the +Spirit visited a man when he became rich--in order to bring curios to +him; and again when he became poor--in order to take them away from +him! After he became poor the Spirit of Poverty never visited him +again. + +Yet another drawback to rural progress was petty political ambition. +People slandered neighbours who belonged to another party and they +would not associate with them. Such party feeling was one of the bad +influences of civilisation. + +Further, "a mercenary spirit and materialism" had to be fought in the +village. There was not, however, much trouble due to drink, and there +was no gambling now. There might still be impropriety between young +people--formerly young men used to visit the factory girls--but it was +rare. Lately there had been land speculation, and some of those who +made money went to tea-houses to see geisha. + +There was in the neighbourhood, this Buddhist pastor went on, a temple +belonging to the same sect as his own, and he was on friendly terms +with its priest. It was good discipline, he said, for two priests to +be working near one another if they were of the same sect, for their +work was compared. In answer to my enquiry, the old man said that he +preached four days a month. Each service consisted of reading for an +hour and then preaching for two hours. About 150 or 200 persons would +attend. He had also a service every morning from five to six. In +addition to these gatherings in the temple he conducted services in +farmers' houses. "I feel rather ashamed sometimes," he said, "when I +listen to the good sermons of Christians." + +As the priest was taking leave he told me that he was going to a +farmer's house in order to conduct a service. I asked to be allowed to +accompany him. He kindly agreed, and invited me to stay the night in +his temple. + +When I reached the farmhouse there were there about two dozen kneeling +people, including members of the family. On the coming of the priest, +who had gone to the temple to put on his robes, the farmer threw open +the doors of the family shrine and lighted the candles in it. The +priest knelt down by the shrine and invited me to kneel near him. In a +few words he told the people why I was in the district. Whereupon the +farmer's aged mother piped, "We heard that a tall man had come, but to +think that we should see him and be in the same room with him!" + +When he had prayed, the priest read from a roll of the Shinshu +scripture which he had taken reverently from a box and a succession of +wrappings. Afterwards he preached from a "text," continuing, of +course, to kneel as we did. A flickering light fell upon us from a +lamp hanging from a beam. The room was pervaded with incense from an +iron censer which the farmer gently swung. The worshippers told their +beads, and in intervals between the priest's sentences I heard the +murmur of fervent prayer. The priest preached his sermon with his eyes +shut, and I could watch him narrowly. It is not so often that one sees +an old man with a sweet face. But there was sweetness in both the face +and voice of this priest. He spoke slowly and clearly, sometimes +pausing for a little between his sentences as if for better +inspiration, as a Quaker will sometimes do in speaking at meeting. His +tones were no higher than could be heard clearly in the room. There +was nothing of the exhorter in this man. His talk did not sound like +preaching at all. It was like kind, friendly talk at the fireside at a +solemn time. "Faith, prayer, morality: these alone are necessary," was +the burden of the simple address. "We have faith by divine providence; +out of our thanksgiving comes prayer, and we cannot but be good." It +was plain that the old women loved their priest. In the front of the +congregation were three crones gnarled in hands and face. When the +sermon of an hour or so came to an end they spoke quaveringly of the +mercy of Buddha to them, and of their own feebleness to do well. The +old priest gently offered them comfort and counsel. + +After the service, in the light of the priest's paper lantern, I made +my way along the road to the temple. At length I found myself mounting +the lichened stone steps to the great closed gates. The priest drew +the long wooden bolt and pushed one gate creakingly back. We went by a +paved pathway into the deeper shadow of the temple. Then a light +glowed from the side of the building, and we were in the priest's +house. It was like a farmer's house only more refined in detail. + +About half-past four in the morning I was awakened by the booming of +the temple bell. It is the sound which of all delights in the Far East +is most memorable. I got up, and, following the example of my host, +had a bath in the open, and dressed. + +Then I was lighted along passages into the public part of the temple. +The priest with an acolyte began service at the middle altar. +Afterwards he proceeded to a side altar. At one stage of the service +he chanted a hymn which ran something like this: + +From the virtues and the mercies of divine providence we + get faith, the worth of which is boundless. +The ice of petty care and trouble which froze our hearts + is melted. +It has become the water of divine illumination, bearing + us on to peace. +The more care and trouble, the greater the illumination + and the reward. + +I knelt on the outside of the congregational group. It was cold as +the great doors were slid open from time to time and the kneeling +figures grew in number to about forty. Day broke and a few sparrows +twittered by the time the first part of the service was over. + +The priest then took up his lamp and low table, and, coming without +the altar rail, knelt down in the midst of the congregation. In this +familiar relation with his people he delivered a homily in a +conversational tone. Buddha was to mankind as a father to his +children, he said. If a man did bad things but repented, his father +would be more delighted than if he got rich. The way of serving Buddha +was to feel his love. To ask of the rich or of a master was +supplication, but we did not need to supplicate Buddha. Our love of +Buddha and his love for us would become one thing. Carelessness, an +evil spirit, doubt: these were the enemies. Gold was beautiful to look +at, but if the gold stuck in one's eyes so that one could not see, how +then? The true essence of belief was the abandonment of ourselves to +divine providence. + +So the speaker went on, pressing home his thoughts with anecdote or +legend. There was the tale of a woman whose character benefited when +her husband became a leper. Another story was of an injured lizard +which was fed for many days by its mate. We were also told of a +mischievous fellow who tried to anger a believer. The ne'er-do-weel +went to the man's house and called him a liar. The believer thanked +him for his faithful dealing, and said that it might be true that he +was a liar. He would be glad, he said, to be given further advice +after his wife had warmed water in order that his visitor might wash +his feet. "The mind of the vagabond was thereupon changed." + +The rays of light from the lamp illumined the large Buddha-like shaven +head and mild countenance of the priest and the labour-worn faces of +his flock around him. Two weatherbeaten men curiously resembled +Highland elders. I saw that they, an old woman and a young mother with +a child tied on her back kept their eyes fixed on the preacher. It was +plain that in the service they found strength for the day. + +I was in a reverie when the priest ended his talk. To my +embarrassment he begged me to come with him within the altar rail and +speak to the people. I had been quickened to such a degree by the +experience of the previous night and by this service at dawn that I +stood up at once. But there seemed to be not one word at my call, and +my knees knocked because of cold and shyness. I grasped the chilly +brass altar rail, and, as I met the gaze of friendly, sun-tanned, +care-rutted alien faces, which yet had the look of "kent folk," I +marvellously found sentence following sentence. What I said matters +nothing. What I felt was the unity of all religion, my veneration for +this rare priest, a sense of kinship with these worshippers of another +race and faith, and a realisation of the elemental things which lie at +the basis of international understanding. Several old men and women +came up to me and bowed and made little speeches of kindness and +cordiality. Six was striking on a clock in the priest's house as the +doors of the temple were slid open, the great cryptomeria[12] which +guard the village fane stood forth augustly in the morning light, and +the congregation went out to its labour. + +As I knelt at breakfast and ate my rice and pickles and drank my +_miso_ soup,[13] the priest, after the manner of a Japanese with an +honoured guest, did not take food but waited upon me. He asked if the +English clergy wore a costume which marked them off from the people. +He liked the way of some of our preachers who wore ordinary clothes +and eschewed the title of "reverend." He was also taken by the idea of +the Quaker meeting at which there is silence until someone feels he +has a message to utter. As to the future of Buddhism, he deeply +regretted to say that many priests were a generation behind the age. +If the priests were "more democratic, better educated and more truly +religious," then they might be able to keep hold of young men. He knew +of one priest in Tokyo who had a dormitory for university students. + +The priest presented his wife, a kindly woman full of character. "This +is my wife," he said; "please teach her." I spoke of a kind of +kindergarten which I had learnt had been conducted at the temple for +five years. "We merely play with the children," she said. "I had the +plan of it from the kindergarten of a missionary," her husband added. +The priest and his wife were kneeling side by side in the still +temple-room looking out on their restful garden. Behind them was a +screen the inscription on which might be translated, "We are to be +thankful for our environment; we are to become content quite naturally +by the gracious influence of the universe and by the strength of our +own will." + +I could learn nothing from the priest concerning several helpful +organisations which I had heard that the villagers owed to his +influence and exertions. But the manager of the village agricultural +association told me that for a quarter of a century Otera San (Mr. +Temple) had superintended the education of the young people, that +under his guidance the village had a seven years' old co-operative +credit and selling society, 294 families belonged to a poultry +society, 320 men and women gathered to study the doctrines of Ninomiya +(whom we in the West know from a little book by a late Japanese +Ambassador in London, called _For His People_), and the young men's +association performed its discipline at half-past five in the morning +in the winter and at four o'clock in the summer. + +[Illustration: "TO ROUSE THE VILLAGE YOU MUST FIRST ROUSE THE PRIEST" +(Autograph of Otera San)] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[9] Exchange in 1916; in 1921 the yen is worth 2s. 8d. + +[10] The chapters in this section are based on notes of several visits +paid to Aichi, which is in the middle of Japan, and agriculturally and +socially one of the most interesting of the prefectures. It is three +prefectures distant from Tokyo. + +[11] Throughout this book an attempt has been made to preserve in +translation something of the character of the Japanese phraseology. + +[12] _Cryptomeria japonica_, or in Japanese, _sugi_, allied to the +sequoia, yew and cypress. + +[13] _Miso_, bean paste. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +"GOOD PEOPLE ARE NOT SUFFICIENTLY PRECAUTIOUS" + +Je ne propose rien, je n'impose rien, j'expose.--_De la liberté du travail_ + + +He had been through Tokyo University, but his hands were rough with +the work of the rice fields. "I resent the fact that a farmer is +considered to be socially inferior to a townsman," he said. "I am +going to show that the income of a farmer who is diligent and skilful +may equal that of a Minister of State. I also propose to build a fine +house, not out of vanity, but in order to show that an honest farmer +can do as well for himself as a townsman." + +When I asked the speaker to tell me something about himself he went +on: "My father was a follower of a pupil of the great Ninomiya. +Schools of frugal living and high ideals were common in the Tokugawa +period.[14] The object sought was the education of heart and spirit. +At night when I was in bed my father used to kneel by me,[15] his +eldest son, and say, 'When you grow big you must become a great man +and distinguish our family name.' This instruction was given to me +repeatedly and it went deeply into my heart." + +"When I became a young man," he continued, "I had two friends. We made +promises to each other. One said, 'I will become the greatest scholar +in Japan.' The second said, 'I will become the greatest statesman.' +The third, myself, said, 'I will be the greatest rice grower in this +country.' If we all succeeded we were to build beautiful houses and +invite each other to them. + +"I did not graduate at the University because, by the entreaty of my +father, when I reached twenty-one, I left Tokyo in order to become a +practical farmer. It is twenty-one years since I began farming. I +consulted with skilful agriculturists and then I saw my way to make a +plan. Rice in my native place is inferior. I improved it for three or +four years. I gained the first gold prize at the prefectural show. +Some years later I obtained the first prize at the exhibition which +was held by five prefectures together. Later still I received the +first prize at the exhibition for eighteen prefectures, also the first +prize at the exhibition of the National Agricultural Association. +Further, I was appointed a judge of rice and travelled about. + +"I consumed a great deal of time in doing this public work. One day I +was made to think. A collector for a charity said in my hearing that +he expected larger subscriptions from practical men because though +public men were esteemed by society their economic power was small. I +at once resolved that before doing any more public work I should put +myself in a sound financial position. + +"As I thought over the matter it seemed to me that it was not to be +expected that a public man should be able to do his really best work +if his financial position were not sound. Again, could he have lasting +influence with people in practical affairs if his own practical +affairs were not in good order?[16] At any rate I determined not to go +out to any more exhibitions or lectures except those which were +remunerative, and I resolved to devote myself as my first duty to my +farming. + +"I set to work and managed my land, 3 _chō_ (a _chō_ is 2-1/2 acres), +so as to obtain the gross income of an M.P. [The reader could scarcely +have a more striking illustration of the intensity with which Japanese +land is cultivated--the average area is under 3 acres per family.] I +am now working about 4 _chō_ (10 acres). Later on I am going to farm 7 +_chō_ (15-1/2 acres) and from that I am expecting the income of a +Minister.[17] I have already collected the materials for my villa, for +I am approaching my goal. One of my two friends, who is also forty +years of age, is a distinguished chemist in the Imperial Agricultural +College. My other friend, who is forty-four, is Secretary of the +Korean Government." + +The indomitable experimenter swallowed another cupful of tea and +declared that "in order to be prosperous, all the members of the +family must work." All the members of his family did work. His wife +was strong and there were five healthy children. He used the ordinary +farm implements and his livestock consisted of only a horse and a few +hens. The home farm was five miles from the station. The outlying +farms were scattered in five villages--"there are always spendthrift +lazy fellows willing to sell their land." "I have a firm belief," the +speaker added complacently, "that agriculture is the most honest, the +most sincere, the most interesting, the most secure and the most +profitable calling." + +"Very often," he went on, "good people are not sufficiently +precautious"--I give the excellent word coined by my interpreter. +"They spend for the public good, and in the end they are left poor. +Renowned, rich families have come to a miserable condition by such +action. What they have done may have been good. But they are reduced +to pauperism and they are laughed at by many persons. People jeer that +they pretended to do good, yet they could not do good to themselves. +If all people who work for the public benefit are laughed at at +last--and many are--it will come to be thought that to work for the +public benefit is not good. Therefore I think that the man who would +work for the public good must be careful in his own affairs. He must +not be a poor man if he is to help public business. However +philanthropic he may be, if his financial position is not strong he +cannot go on long. He will be stopped on his good way. He cannot help +other people. Therefore I am now gathering wealth for strengthening +my financial position as a means to attain the higher end." + +As the speaker awaited my judgment on his career, I ventured to +suggest that gifts, qualities and inspiration which made a man a +public man did not necessarily equip him for being a great success in +business life. The question was, perhaps, whether the type of man who +was pre-eminently successful in promoting his own pecuniary interests +was necessarily the best type of public man. Was the average character +equal to the strain of many years of concentration on money-making to +the exclusion of public interests? When men emerged from the sphere of +concentrated money-making, were they worth so very much as public men? +Might not the values of things have altered a little for them? Might +it not have a shrivelling effect on the heart to resist applications +which must be refused when the strengthening of one's financial +position was regarded as the chief object in life? + +At this point our host, Mr. Yamasaki, the respected principal of the +big agricultural school of the prefecture and a well-known rural +author and speaker, broke in with the ejaculation, "He has got a +needle in your head"--the Japanese equivalent for "touching the +spot"--and continued: "Surely he is right who through his life offers +freely what he may have as to members of his own family. I give away +many pamphlets and I have guests. I could save in these directions. +But I am not doing it. I am content if I can support my family. I gave +a savings book to each of my five children. When the boy becomes +twenty-one he will have enough to finish at the university or start as +a small merchant so as not to be a parasite. My girls will be provided +with enough to furnish the costs of modest marriage. If I did more I +might perhaps become greedy." + +I cannot say that the farmer who had so kindly outlined his life's +programme was impressed either by our host's views or by mine, but he +told us that he now spent 5 per cent. of his income on public +purposes, and that 150 yen received for giving lectures was spent on +books and recreation "for enlarging mind and heart." He happened to +mention that, though his family was of the Zen sect of Buddhism, he +was a Shintoist. It is difficult to believe that a genuine Buddhist +could have evolved such a life scheme. There is certainly a Shinto +symbolism in his plan of tree planting before his house. He has set +there, in the order shown, eleven pines which he named as marked: + +[Illustration: PLAN OF THE ELEVEN SYMBOLIC TREES WHICH THE FARMER PLANTED +OUTSIDE HIS HOUSE AND THE EVILS (REPRESENTED BY ARROWS) +FROM WHICH THEY ARE SHIELDING HIM] + +The virtues inscribed on this plan are the guardians of the farmer and +his family, which is represented in the middle of it. The words behind +the arrows represent the character of the attacks to which the farmer +conceives himself and his family to be exposed. Courage is imagined as +going before and Wisdom as protecting the rear. + +The talk turned to some advice which had been given to farmers to lay +out "economic gardens." They were to plant no trees but fruit trees. +To this an old farmer of our company replied: "If you are too +economical your children will become mercenary. Some families were too +economical and cut down beautiful trees, planting instead economical +ones. Those families I have seen come to an evil end. The man who +exercises rigid economy may be a good man, but his children can know +little of his real motives and must be wrongly influenced by his +conduct." We all agreed that there was nowadays too much talk about +money-making in rural Japan. "Even I," laughed the owner of the +symbolic trees, "planted not persimmons but pines." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] That is, before the Revolution of half a century ago, when the +Tokugawa Shogun resigned his powers to the Emperor. + +[15] The Japanese bed, _futon_, consists of a soft mattress of cotton +wool, two or three inches thick. It is spread on the floor, which +itself consists of mats of almost the same thickness, 6 ft. long by 3 +ft. wide. + +[16] Most of the really big men of Australia have left political life +in comparatively impoverished circumstances. Not only did Sir Henry +Parkes die poor. Sir George Reid took the High Commissionership in +London; Sir Graham Berry was provided with a small annuity; Sir George +Dibbs was made the manager of a State savings bank; Sir Edmund Barton +was lifted to the High Court Bench.--_Times_, January 11, 1921. + +To the last day of his life, executions were levied in his +house.--Rosebery on Pitt. + +[17] For his figures see Appendix I. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +EARLY-RISING SOCIETIES AND OTHER INGENUOUS +ACTIVITIES + +I should be heartily sorry if there were no signs of partiality. On the +other hand, there is, I trust, no importunate advocacy or tedious +assentation.--MORLEY + + +"The alarum clocks for waking us at four o'clock in the summer and +five in the winter"--it was the chairman of a village Early-Rising +Society who was speaking to me--are placed at the houses of the +secretaries, and each member is in turn a secretary. The duty of a +secretary, when the alarum clock strikes, is to get up and visit the +houses of all the members allotted to him and to shout for the young +men until they answer. Each member on rising walks to the house of the +secretary of his division and writes his name on the record of +attendances. Then the member goes to the shrine, where we fence and +wrestle for a time. At first we thought that if we fenced and wrestled +early in the morning we should be tired for our work, but we found +that it was not so. + +"Sometimes a clock gets damaged and does not ring, so a few of us may +be getting up later that morning. Or a man becomes afraid of sleeping +too late, fears his clock is wrong, and gets up at 3 o'clock and then +goes off to waken members. Hence complaints. Some cunning fellows ask +their friends or brothers to write down for them their names on the +list of attendances. But we find out their deceit by their +handwriting. It is very difficult to form the habit of early rising, +because members are not expected to report at the secretaries' houses +on a rainy day. As there is no control over them that day, they are +easy in their minds and sleep on. Thus they break the habit of early +rising that they are forming. Getting up early is necessary not only +because it is good to begin work early but because early rising +overcomes the habit of gadding about at night which is customary in +many villages. + +"You may say that all this is a great deal to ask of young men," the +chairman continued. "But if you ask from them comfortable practices +only, how can you expect from them a remarkable result? Young men +should ponder this and be willing to exert themselves." Later on it +was explained to me that it had been found that it took a great deal +of time for the secretaries to call up all the members in the morning +by shouting to them, "so the secretary obtained bugles; but even the +bugles were not heard everywhere, so they were changed to drums, and +now five drums go round our village every morning." + +In every village of Japan there is a young men's association, which is +by no means to be confounded with the world-encircling Y.M.C.A.[18] +The village Y.M.A. of Japan is an institution of some antiquity and it +has nothing whatever to do with religious effort. One day, when I was +staying in a rural district, I was invited to a remoter part in order +to see something of the discipline that the members of a group of +young men's associations were imposing on themselves. The members of +this group of Y.M.A. belonged to the branches established in a village +of nineteen _aza_, that is hamlets. This fact, with the further fact +that the village containing the nineteen _aza_ had four elementary +schools and one higher school, will show that a Japanese village may +be much larger than a Western one. + +Nearly six hundred young men were in the parade. They were dressed +exactly alike in the tight blue calico trousers and kimono of jacket +length which the Japanese farmer ordinarily wears. Each man had the +usual _obi_ (waist scarf) tied round his kimono, and in the _obi_ was +thrust the small cotton towel which Japanese carry with them +everywhere. The young men wore puttees, _waraji_ (straw sandals) and +caps. It is only of late that the Japanese worker has taken to wearing +head-gear, or at any rate head-gear other than he could contrive with +his towel. The physical condition of the young fellows was good and +their evolutions with dummy "rifles" were smart and skilful. The +paraders seemed lost in their desire to do their best for their +credit's sake and their own good. After the first movements, the +"troops" with "rifles" held as if there were bayonets at the end, made +rushes with loud cries. The secret of this somewhat surprising display +far away in the heart of Japan was that the work of the young men had +been done under the direction of two fit, be-medalled army surgeons, +reserve officers, who were present in order to answer my questions. + +Every morning half an hour before sunrise these Y.M.A. members +assemble in the grounds of their Shinto shrine or of their school, +where they exercise until the sun shows itself. In the evenings after +work they also fence, wrestle, lift weights and develop their wrists. +This wrist development is done by two youths grasping a pole, one at +either end, and then trying to rotate it one against the other. + +The members endeavour to cultivate their minds as well as their +bodies, and they also observe in their dress a self-denying ordinance. +On ceremonial occasions they permit themselves to wear a full-length +kimono and the _hakama_ or divided skirt, but they deny themselves the +third article of a Japanese man's full dress, the _haori_ or silk +overcoat. An effort is also made to dispense with the use of +"luxurious" _geta_ (the national wooden pattens).[19] + +The object of all this varied discipline is to develop physique, +self-control, self-respect and what the Japanese call the spirit of +association, or, as we might say, good fellowship. The spirit of +association is needed in order to promote greater administrative, +educational and social efficiency. The modern Japanese village is no +longer an historical but a political unit which covers a considerable +district. It is, as I have explained, a combination of clusters of +_aza_ (hamlets). Each of these _aza_ has its local sentiment, and this +local sentiment when untouched by outside influences tends to become +selfish, narrow and prejudiced. If, however, anything is to be done in +the development of rural life there must be co-operation between +_aza_ for all sorts of objects. + +I was assured that in addition to the development of physique, _moral_ +and the spirit of association, there was to be seen, under the +influence of the Y.M.A., a development of good manners and mental +nimbleness. A special result of early rising and discipline in one +area had been that "the habit of spending evening hours idly has died +away, immorality has diminished, singing loudly and foolishly and +boasting oneself have disappeared, while punctuality and respect for +old age have increased." I was even assured that parents--whom no true +Japanese would ever dream of attempting to reform at first +hand--parents, I say, moved by the physical and mental advance in +their sons, have "begun to practise greater punctuality." + +After the drilling was over I was taken to a large elementary school +and was called upon to address the young men, who were kneeling in +perfect files. Mr. Yamasaki followed me and told the youths that +Japanese were not so tall as they might be, and that therefore their +physique "must be continuously developed." Nor were rural conditions +all they should be from a moral point of view. Therefore, "every +desire which interferes with the development of your health or +morality must be overcome." + +Let me speak of another village. It numbers a thousand families and it +rises in the morning and goes to bed at night by the sound of the +bugle. It has five public baths and a notice-board of news "to enlarge +people's ideas." The shopkeepers are said to "work very diligently, so +things are cheaper." The education of such of the young men as are +exempted from military service is continued on Saturday evenings for +four years. The Y.M.A., in addition to the military discipline, +fencing, wrestling, weight-lifting and pole-twisting of which I have +spoken, exercises itself in handwriting--which many Japanese practise +as an art during their whole lifetime--and in composing the +conventional short poem. I was gravely informed that "the custom of +spending money on sweet-stuff is decreasing." What this really means +is that the young men were not frequenting the sweet-stuff shops, +which are staffed by girls who are in many cases a greater temptation +than the sweets. The worthy members of this association had "burnt +their _geta_." + +In some places Y.M.A. members give their labour when a school teacher +or a fellow member is building his house, or they do repairs at the +school. Bicycle excursions are made to neighbouring villages in order +to participate in inter-Y.M.A. debates, or to study vegetable raising, +fruit culture or poultry keeping. The Japanese are much given to +"taking trips," and the special training which they receive at school +in making notes and plans results in everybody having a notebook and +being able to sketch a rough route-plan for personal use, or for a +stranger who may ask his way. + +Not a few associations favour members cutting each other's hair once a +fortnight, thus at one and the same time saving money and curbing +vanity. Several Y.M.A.s publish cyclostyled monthlies. Others minutely +investigate the economic condition of their villages. Some Y.M.A.s +provide public "complaint boxes," and have boards up asking for +friendly help for soldiers billeted in the district. One association +has issued instructions to its members that they are not to ride when +in charge of ox-drawn carts. The reason is that the ox is only +partially under control and may injure a pedestrian--unwittingly, I am +sure, for the gentleness of the ox and even of the bull in harness +arrests one's attention. Many Y.M.A.s devote themselves to cultivating +improved qualities of rice or to breaking up new land. Sometimes the +land of the Shinto shrine is cultivated. I have heard of Y.M.A.s in +remote parts having handed over to them the exclusive sale of _saké_. + +I find a Y.M.A. counselling its members "not to speak vulgar words in +a crowd." There is also among the members of Y.M.A.s a certain +addiction to diary keeping for moral as well as economic purposes. The +diaries are distributed by the associations and "afterwards examined +and rewarded"--a plan which would hardly work in the West. There are +Y.M.A.s which make a point of seeing off conscripts with flags and +music. Others have fallen on the more economical plan of "writing to +the conscript as often as possible and helping with labour the family +which is suffering from the loss of his services." By some Y.M.A.s +"old people are respected and comforted." More than one association +has a practice of serving out red and black balls to its members at +the opening of every new year, when good resolutions are in order, and +at the end of the year recalling either the red or the black according +to the degree to which the publicly announced good resolutions have +been kept. Among the good resolutions are: to worship at the Shinto +shrine or the Buddhist temple regularly, to be tidier, to be more +efficient in cropping the land, to undertake work for the common good, +to have a secondary occupation in addition to farming, to sit with +more decorum at meals, to rise earlier, to visit the graves of +ancestors monthly, to be more considerate to parents or elder +brothers, and "not to remain idly at people's houses." + +One Y.M.A. decrees that a member found in a tea-house in conversation +with a geisha shall be fined 20 yen. There is even a village in which +the young men's association and the young women's association have +united to issue a regulation providing that at night time members, in +order that their doings shall be public, shall carry lanterns painted +with the ideographs of their societies.[20] + +With regard to the young women's associations, I found that one of +them studied domestic matters and good manners, "asking questions and +receiving answers." The motto of the organisation was "Good Wives and +Good Mothers." A member, this Society believes, should be "polite, +gentle and warm-hearted, but with a strong will inside and able to +meet difficulties." Her hairdressing and clothes "should not be +luxurious," and she "must not run after fashions." She must "respect +Buddha and abandon sweet-eating," for "taking food between meals is +bad for your health, for economy and for your posterity." + +Let us now hear something of Societies for the Cultivation of Rice by +Schoolboys. The lads become responsible for the cultivation of a _tan_ +of their family land, or of a small paddy, and they work it themselves +with the help of such advice as the schoolmaster may give them. (The +cultivation of a _tan_ of a paddy, a quarter of an acre, is supposed +to need in a year about twenty-one days' labour of a man working from +sunrise to sunset.) The report of one boy to which I turned in a +collection of reports by members of a rice-cultivation society showed +that he was between fourteen and fifteen. His diary of work and +observations was as follows: + + _June_ 5.--4 _to_ of herring applied. + + _June_ 7.--Locusts and other insects arrive.[21] + + _June_ 20.--153 clumps of rice transplanted from the seed bed.[22] + + _July_ 11.--Rice cultivated and 4 _to_ of herring applied. + + _July_ 27.--First weeding. + + _Aug_. 6.--Second weeding. + + _Aug_. 8.--Locusts again. + + _Aug_. 11.--Third weeding. + + _Sept_. 10.--All ears shot. + + _Oct_. 10.--Some plants suffering from bacillus. + +It was further noted that the soil was sandy, that cold spring water +was percolating through the bottom of the paddy field, that the +aeration of the soil was bad and that some plants were laid by wind. +The young farmer appended to his report an excellent plan. He received +marks as follows: Method of planting, 15; levelling, 20; provision +against insects, 5; general attention, 25; total, 65. Some boys got as +many as 99 marks. + +A word concerning a Village Association for Promoting Morality. One of +the things it does is to assemble yearly the whole population, old and +young, "in order to get friendly." The police meanwhile keep an eye +open for strangers who might take it into their heads to visit the +village on that day and help themselves from the houses. I may quote +three poems in rough translations from a speech made by a priest at +the annual meeting: + +The legs of a horse, the rudder of a boat, the pin of a fan, + and the sincerity of a man. +Let your heart be pure and true and you need not pray + for the protection of the gods. +The bride brings many things with her to her new home, + but one thing more, the spirit of sincerity, will not + encumber her. + +After these varied accounts of rural merit, I could not but listen +with attention to a tale of village gamblers, the offence of gambling +having been "introduced by the excavators on the new railway." First +the headman fined a dozen young men. Then he made a raid and found +among the village sinners several members of his own council. "The +salaried officials were at a loss to know what to do, and proposed to +resign. But the headman brought the prisoners together before the +whole body of officials. He spoke of the sufferings of the troops in +Manchuria and the heroic deaths among them. (It was the time of the +Russian war.) 'Lest your offences should come to be known by our +soldiers and discourage them,' said the headman, 'I cannot but +overlook your conduct.' It is thought that gambling practically ceased +from that time." + +Local officials have a way of making the most of historic events in +order to touch the imagination of their villagers. Many original +undertakings were begun, for example, under the inspiration of the +Coronation. One village set about raising a fund by a system of +taxation under which inhabitants contribute according to the following +tariff: + + Birth of a child, 10 sen (that is, 2-1/2 d. or 5 cents). + Wedding, 15 sen. + Adoption, 15 sen. + Graduation from the primary school, 10 sen; advanced + school, 20 sen. + Teacher or official on appointment, 2 per cent. of salary; + when salary is increased, 10 per cent. of increase. + When an official receives a prize of money from his + superior, 5 per cent. + Every villager to pay every quarter, 1 sen. + +On the basis of this assessment it is expected that fifty-seven years +after the Coronation such a sum will have been accumulated as will +enable the villagers to live rate free. Some villages have +thanksgiving associations in connection with Shinto shrines. Aged +villagers are "respected by being blessed before the shrine and by +being given a present." Worthy villagers who are not aged "receive +prizes and honour." + +More than once when I went to a village I was welcomed first by a +parade of the Y.M.A., then by the school children in rows, and finally +in the school grounds by two lines of venerable members of an +Ex-Public Servants' Association. The object of an E.P.S.A. is to +strengthen the hands of the present officials and to give honour to +their predecessors. A headman explained to me: "If ex-officials fell +into poverty or lacked public respect, people would not be inclined to +work for the public good. A former clerk in the village office whom +everybody had forgotten was working as a labourer. But as a member of +the association he was seen to be treated with honour, so the children +were impressed. The funeral of such a man is apt to be lonely, but +when this man died all the members of the association attended his +funeral in ceremonial dress and offered some money to his memory.[23] +His honour is great and the villagers say, 'We may well work for the +public benefit.'" + +Every village in Japan has a Village Agricultural Association. One +V.A.A., which belongs to a village of less than 6,000 people, sees the +fruit of its labours in the existence of "322 good manure houses." The +gift of a plan and the grant of a yen had prompted the building of +most of them. Then the organisation incites its members to cement the +ground below their dwellings. This is not so much for the benefit of +the farmer and his family as for the welfare of their silkworms. A fly +harmful to silkworms winters in the soil, but it cannot find a +resting-place in concrete. + +[Illustration: A WIDE EXPANSE OF ADJUSTED RICE-FIELDS.] + +A word may also be said about the way in which silkworm rearers have +been induced by the V.A.A. to keep the same breed of caterpillar, so +facilitating bulking of cocoons at the association's co-operative +sales. A small library of silkworm-culture books has been started in +the village, and there is a special pamphlet for young men which +they are urged to keep in "their pockets and to study ten minutes each +day." A general library has 2,400 volumes divided into eight +circulating libraries. The cost of the building which provides the +library in chief, a meeting hall and also a storehouse for cocoons has +been defrayed by the commissions charged for the co-operative sale of +cocoons. + +[Illustration: LIBRARY AND WORKSHED OF A YOUNG MEN'S ASSOCIATION.] + +Again, there used to be no cattle in the village, but now, thanks to +the purchase of young animals by the association, and thanks to +village shows, there are 103. + +There is a competition to get the biggest yield of rice, and there is +also "an exhibition of crops." This exhibition incidentally aims at +ending trouble between landlord and tenants due to complaints of the +inferiority of the rice brought in as rent. (Paddy-field rent is +invariably paid in rice.) These complaints are more directly dealt +with by the V.A.A. arbitrating between landlords and tenants who are +at issue. In addition to rice crop and cattle shows in the village, +there is a yearly exhibition of the prod ucts of secondary industries, +such as mats, sandals and hats. + +The V.A.A. is also working to secure the planting of hill-side waste. +Some 300,000 tree seedlings have been distributed to members of the +Y.M.A., who "grow them on," and, after examination and criticism, +plant them out. I must not omit to speak of the V.A.A.s' distribution +of moral and economic diaries of the type already referred to. The +villagers, in the spirit of boy-scoutism, are "advised to do one good +thing in a day." I saw several of these diaries, well thumbed by their +authors after having been laboured at for a year. One young farmer +noted down on the space for January 2 that he said his prayers and +then went _daikon_[24] pulling, and that _daikon_ pulling (like our +mangold pulling) is a cold job. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[18] There are, however, 11,000 members of Y.M.C.A. in Japan. There is +also a Y.W.C.A. with a considerable membership. + +[19] See Appendix II. + +[20] For official action in regard to the Y.M.A.s, see later. + +[21] The damage done by insects is estimated at 10 million yen a year. +In some parts locusts are roasted and eaten. + +[22] For an account of the processes of rice cultivation, see Chapter +IX. + +[23] It is the practical Japanese custom to make a gift of money to a +family on the occasion of a death. The Emperor makes a present to the +family of a deceased statesman. + +[24] The giant white radish which reaches 2 or 3 ft. in length and 3 +in. or more in diameter. There is also a correspondingly large +turnip-shaped sort. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +"THE SIGHT OF A GOOD MAN IS ENOUGH" + +It has been said that we should emulate rather than imitate them. +All I say is, Let us study them.--MATTHEW ARNOLD + + +For seven years in succession the men, old, middle-aged and young, who +had done the most remarkable things in the agriculture of the +prefecture had been invited to gather in conference. I went to this +annual "meeting of skilful farmers." Among the speakers were the local +governor and chiefs of departments who had been sent down by the +Ministry of Agriculture and the Home Office. According to our ideas, +everybody but the unpractised speakers--the expert farmers who were +called from time to time to the platform--spoke too long. But the +kneeling audience found no fault. Indeed, a third of it was taking +notes. It was an audience of seeking souls. + +One of the impromptu speakers, a white-haired, toil-marked farmer, +told how forty years before he had gone to the next prefecture and +opened new land. "With his spectacles and moustache," explained the +chairman--if the man who takes the initiative from time to time at a +Japanese meeting may be properly called a chairman--"he looks like a +gentleman; but he works hard." And the man showed his hands as a +testimony to the severity of his labours. + +"It was in the winter," he said, "that I went away from my home and +obtained a certain tract of waste. I had no acquaintance near. I +brought some food, but when I fell short I had no more. I had gone +with my third boy. We lived in a small hut and were in a miserable +condition. Then a fierce wind took off the roof. It was at four in the +morning when the roof blew off. In February I began to open a rice +field. Gradually we got a _chō_. At length I opened another _chō_, +but there was much gravel. Some of my newly opened fields are very +high up the hill. If you chance to pass my house please come to see +me. The maple leaves are very beautiful and you can enjoy the sight of +many birds." + +The early meetings of the expert farmers used to last not one day but +two, for the men delighted in narrating their experiences to one +another. Some of the audience used to weep as the older men told their +tales. The farmers would sit up late round a farmer or a professor who +was talking about some subject that interested them. The originator of +these gatherings, Mr. Yamasaki, told me that he was "more than once +moved to tears by the merits and pure hearts of the farmer speakers." + +Of the regard and respect which the farmers had for this man I had +many indications. Like not a few agricultural authorities, he is a +samurai.[25] He is exceptionally tall for a Japanese, looks indeed +rather like a Highland gillie, and when one evening I prevailed on him +to put on armour, thrust two swords in his _obi_ and take a long bow +in his hand, he was an imposing figure. He carries the ideals of +_bushido_ into his rural work. He does not sleep more than five hours, +and he is up every morning at five. + +But I am getting away from the meeting. There was a priest who spoke, +a man curiously like Tolstoy. (He had, no doubt, Ainu blood in him.) +He wore the stiff buttoned-up jacket of the primary school teacher and +spoke modestly. "Formerly the rice fields of my village suffered very +much from bad irrigation," he said, "but when that was put right the +soil became excellent. In the days when the soil was bad the people +were good and no man suspected another of stealing his seal.[26] But +when the soil became good the disposition of the people was influenced +in a bad way, and they brought their seals to the temple to be kept +safe. + +"At that time the organiser of this meeting came and made a speech in +my village. On hearing his speech I thought it an easy task to make my +village good. At once I began to do good things. I formed several +men's and women's associations, all at once, as if I were Buddha. But +the real condition of the people was not much improved. There came +many troubles upon me, and our friend wrote a letter. I was very +thankful, and I have been keeping that letter in the temple and bowing +there morning and evening. + +"I began to ask many distinguished persons to help me. They influenced +the farmers. The sight of a good man is enough. Speech is unnecessary. +The villagers were not educated enough to understand moralisings or +thinking, but the kind face of a good man has efficacy. There was a +man in the village who was demoralised, and when I told of him to a +distinguished man who lives near our village he sympathised very much. +That distinguished man is eighty-four years old, but he accompanied +that demoralised man for three days, giving no instruction but simply +living the same life, and the demoralised man was an entirely changed +man and ever thankful. + +"I am a sinful man. Sometimes it happens that after I have been +working for the public benefit I am glad that I am offered thanks. I +know it is not a good thing when people express gratitude to me, for I +ought not to accept it. When I know I am doing a good thing and +expecting thanks, I am not doing a good thing. My thanks must not come +from men but from Buddha. I am trying to cast out my sinful feelings. +It must not be supposed that I am leading these people. You skilful +farmers kindly come to my village if you pass. You need not give any +speech. Your good faces will do." + +But the two speeches I have reported are hardly a fair sample of the +discourses which were delivered. The addresses of the earnest Tokyo +officials and the Governor were directed towards urging on the farmers +increased production and increased labour, and the duty was pressed +upon them, as I understood, in the name of the highest patriotism and +of devotion to their ancestors. This talk was excellent in its way, +but when I got up I hazarded a few words on different lines. If I +venture to summarise my somewhat elementary address it is because it +furnishes a key to some of the enquiries I was to make during my +journeys. I was told the next day that the local daily had declared +that my "tongue was tipped with fire," which was a compliment to my +kind and clever interpreter, who, when he let himself go, seemed to be +able to make two or three sentences out of every one of mine: + +I said that my Japanese friends kept asking me my impressions, and one +thing I had to say to them was that I had got an impression in many +quarters of spiritual dryness. I dared to think that some +responsibility for a materialistic outlook must be shared by the +admirable officials and experts who moved about among the farmers. +They were always talking about crop yields and the amount of money +made, and they unconsciously pressed home the idea that rural progress +was a material thing. + +But the rural problem was not only a problem of better crops and of +greater production. Man did not live by food alone. Tolstoy wrote a +book called _What Men Live By_, and there was nothing in it about +food. Men lived not by the number of bales of rice they raised, but by +the development of their minds and hearts. It might be asked if it was +not the business of rural experts to teach agriculture. But a poet of +my country had said that it took a soul to move a pig into a cleaner +sty. It was necessary for a man who was to teach agriculture well to +know something higher than agriculture. The teacher must be more +advanced than his pupils. There must be a source from which the energy +of the rural teacher must be again and again renewed. There must be a +well from which he must be continually refreshed and stimulated. Some +called that well by the name of religion, unity with God. Some called +it faith in mankind, faith in the destiny of the world, that faith in +man which is faith in God. But it must be a real belief, not a +half-hearted, shivering faith. + +Agriculture was not only the oldest and the most serviceable calling, +it was the foundation of everything. But the fact must not be lost +sight of that agriculture, important and vital though it was, was only +a means to an end. The object in view was to have in the rural +districts better men, women and children. The highest aim of rural +progress was to develop the minds and hearts of the rural population, +and in all discussion of the rural problems it was necessary not to +lose in technology a clear view of the final object. + +But when account is taken of all the drab materialism in the rural +districts there remains a leaven of unworldliness. It takes various +forms. Here is the story of a landlord at whose beautiful house I +stayed. "When a tenant brings his rent rice to this landlord's +storehouse," a fellow-guest told me, "it is never examined. The door +of the storehouse is left unpadlocked, and the rent rice is brought by +the tenant when he is minded to do so. No one takes note of his +coming. If he meets his landlord on the road he may say, 'I brought +you the rent,' and the landlord says, 'It is very kind of you.' It is +an old custom not to supervise the tenants' bringing of the rent. + +"Nowadays, however, some tenants are sly. They say, 'Our landlord +never looks into our payments. Therefore we can bring him inferior +rice or less than the quantity.' The landlord loses somewhat by this, +but it is not in accordance with the honour of his family to change +the method of collecting his rent. He is now chairman of the village +co-operative society as well as of the young men's society, and he +aims to improve his village fundamentally." + +I also heard this narrative. The tenants in a certain place wished to +cultivate rice land rather than to farm dry land. But when silkworm +cultivation became prosperous they began to prefer dry land again in +order that they might extend the area of mulberries. Therefore the +landlords raised the rents of the dry farms. But there was one +landlord who said, "If this dry farm land had been improved by me I +should be justified in raising the rent. But I did not improve it. +Therefore it would be base to take advantage of economic conditions to +raise the rent." + +So he did not raise the rent. Then he was excluded from social +intercourse by the other landlords because their tenants grumbled. +These landlords said to him, "You can afford not to raise your rents, +but we cannot." Therefore the landlord who had not raised his rents +called his tenants together. He said to them, "It is a hard thing for +me to have no social intercourse with my equals. Therefore I will now +raise the rents. But I cannot accept that raised portion, and I will +take care of it for you, and in ten years I think it will amount to +enough for you to start a cooperative society." + +That was eight years ago and the formation of the society was now +proceeding. In order that the reader may not forget on what a very +different scale landlordism exists in Japan, I may mention that the +area owned by this landlord was only 10 _chō_. + +I was told the story of a landlord's solution of the rent reduction +problem. "Tenants," the narrator said, "sometimes pretend that their +crops are poorer than they are. Landlords may reduce the payment due, +but sometimes with a certain resentment. One landowner was asked for a +reduction for several years in succession on account of poor crops, +and gave it. But he was trying to think of a plan to defeat the +pretences of his tenants. At last he hit on one. While the tenants' +rice was young he often visited the fields, and when any insects were +to be seen he sent his labourers secretly to destroy them. In the same +way, when crops seemed to be under-manured, he secretly cast +artificial manure on them. At last his tenants found out what he was +doing, and they said, 'As our landlord is so kind to us, we must not +pretend that we need a reduction.' And they did not, and things are +going on very well there. This is an illustration of the fact that our +people are moved more by feeling than by logic." + +This was capped by another story. "A landlord, a samurai, has for his +tenants his former subjects, so something of the relation of master +and servant still remains. He wished to raise his tenants to the +position of peasant proprietors, so when land was for sale in the +village he advised them to buy. They said they had no money, but he +answered, 'Means may perhaps be found.' He secretly subscribed a sum +to the Shinto shrine and then advised the formation of a co-operative +society, which could borrow from the shrine for a tenant, so that the +tenant need not go to the landlord to thank him and feel patronised by +him. He need only to go to the shrine and give thanks there." "The +landlord," added the speaker in his imperfect English, "has entirely +hided himself from the business." A third of the tenants had become +peasant proprietors. + +In order to better the feeling between the farmers and landowners this +landlord and several others had begun to ask their tenants to their +gardens, where they were given tea and fruit. "In Japan," said one man +to me, "we see feudal ideas broken down by the upper, not the lower +class." + +I visited the romantic coast of a peninsula a dozen miles from the +railway. Some 10,000 pilgrims come in a year to the eighty-eight +temples on the peninsula, and in some parts the people are such strict +Buddhists that in one village the county authorities find great +difficulty in overcoming an objection to destroying the insect life +which preys on the rice crops. When rice land does not yield well, one +landlord causes an investigation to be made and gives advice based +upon it to the tenant, saying, "Do this, and if you lose I will +compensate you. If you gain, the advantage will be yours." Money is +also contributed by the landlord to enable tenants to make journeys in +order to study farming methods. + +A landlord here--I had the pleasure of being his guest--had started an +agricultural association. It had developed the idea of a secondary +school for practical instruction, "rich men to give their money and +poor men their labour." In order to obtain a fund to enable tenants to +get money with which to set up as peasant proprietors, this landlord +had thought of the plan of setting aside each harvest 250 _shō_[27] of +rice to each tenant's 3 _shō_. + +Good work was done in teaching farmers' wives. "When no instruction is +given," I was informed, "a wife may say, when her husband is testing +his rice seed with salt water, 'Salt is very dear, nowadays, why not +fresh water?' If a husband is kind he will explain. If not, some +unpleasantness may arise, so wives are taught about the necessity of +selecting by salt water." + +[Illustration: LANDOWNER'S SON AND DAUGHTER OFF TO THE VILLAGE +SCHOOL.] + +[Illustration: BUDDHIST SHRINE IN A LANDOWNER'S HOUSE.] + +Tenants are advised to save a farthing a day. In order to keep them +steadfast in their thriftiness they are asked to bring their savings +to their landlord every ten days. It is troublesome to be +constantly receiving so many small sums, but the landlord and his +brother think that they should not grudge the trouble. In two years +nearly 1,000 yen have been saved. Said one tenant to his landlord, "I +know how to save now, therefore I save." + +[Illustration: MR. YAMASAKI, DR. NITOBE, THE AUTHOR AND PROFESSOR +NASU.] + +[Illustration: THE HOME IN WHICH THE TEA CEREMONY TOOK PLACE.] + +One of my hosts, who was thirty-two, hoped to see all his tenants +peasant proprietors before he was fifty. The relation of this landlord +and his tenants was illustrated by the fact that on my arrival several +farmers brought produce to the kitchen "because we heard that the +landlord had guests." The village was very kind in its reception of +the foreign visitor. A meeting was called in the temple. I told the +story of Wren's _Si monumentum requiris circumspice_ and pointed a +rural moral. Some months afterwards I received a request from my host +to write a word or two of preface to go with a report of my address +which he was giving to each of his tenants as a New Year gift. + +This landlord's family had lived in the same house for eleven +generations. The courtesy of my host and his relatives and the beauty +of their old house and its contents are an ineffaceable memory. From +the time my party arrived until the time we left no servant was +allowed to do anything for us. The ladies of the house cooked our food +and the landlord and his younger brother brought it to us. The younger +brother waited upon us throughout our meals, even peeling our pears. +At night he spread our silk-covered _futon_ (mattresses). In the +morning he folded them up, arranged my clothes, swept the room and +stood at hand with towels, all of which were new, while I washed. + +When on our arrival in the house we sat and talked in the first +reception-room we entered, I noticed that outside the lattice a +company of villagers was listening with no consciousness of intrusion, +in full view of our host, to the sound of foreign speech. It was a +Shakespearean scene. + +Out of its setting, as it is often witnessed to-day, the tea ceremony +seems meaningless and wearisome, an affected simplicity of the idle. +But as a guest of this old house of fine timbers weathered to +silver-grey I found the secret of _Cha-no-yu_. This flower of Far +Eastern civilisation is an æsthetic expression of true +good-fellowship, and a gentle simplicity and sincerity are of its +essence. The admission of a foreigner to a family _Cha-no-yu_ was a +gesture of confidence. + +Five of us gathered late in the afternoon of an August day in the cool +matted rest-room in the garden. We looked on the beauty that +generations of gardeners of a single vision had created. Our minds +rested in the quiet as in the quaint phrase, we "tasted the sound of +the kettle and listened to the incense." At length at a signal we +rose. Led by the priestess of the ceremony, our host's aunt, a slight +figure in grey with snow-white _tabi_ and new straw sandals, we passed +by the dripping rocky fountain, with its lilies, and the azure +hydrangea of the hills which, some say, suggests distance. The +hut-like tea-room, traditionally rude in the material of which it was +built but perfect in every detail of its workmanship, we entered one +by one. According to old custom we humbly crept through the small +opening which serves as entrance, the idea being that all worldly rank +must bow at the sanctuary of beauty. The tiny chamber held, besides +the wonderful vessels of the ceremony, a flower arrangement of blue +Michaelmas daisies, and an exquisite scroll of wild duck in flight in +the miniature _tokonoma_,[28] the tea mistress, our host and four +guests. We drank from a black daimyo bowl which had been made four +hundred years before. We passed an hour together and in the twilight +we came out from the little room as from a sacrament of friendship. A +year afterwards my host wrote to me, "Yesterday we had _Cha-no-yu_ +again and you were in our thoughts. During the ceremony we placed your +photograph in the _tokonoma_." + +After dinner we had _kyōgen_[29] by distinguished amateurs, one of +whom, a neighbouring landowner, had lately appeared before the +Emperor. After the plays he painted _kyōgen_ scenes for us on +_kakemono_ and fans. He painted the _kakemono_ as he knelt with his +paper lying on a square of soft material on the floor. + +The plays were performed in ancient costumes or copies of old ones +and of course without scenery. The players were lighted by oily +candles two inches in diameter, which flamed and guttered in +candlesticks not of this century nor of the last. A player may make +his exit merely by sitting down. The players are men; masks are used +in playing women's parts. The stories are of the simplest. There was +the well-known tale of the sly servant who was sent to town by a +stupid daimyo in order to buy a fan, and, though he brought back an +umbrella, succeeded in imposing it on his master. There was also the +play of the fox who comes to a farmer to advise him not to kill foxes, +but is himself caught in a trap. I also recall a story of two good +tenants who had been rewarded by their landlord with an order that +they should receive hats. Owing to an oversight they received one hat +only between the two. Problem, how to meet the difficulty. It was +solved by the rustics fastening two pieces of wood together T-shape, +raising the hat of honour upon the structure and walking home in +triumph under either side of the T. + +The next morning I was greeted by the aged father and mother of our +host. The household was an interesting one, for the landlord and his +brother were married to two sisters. Before taking our departure we +knelt with our landlord and his father before the Buddhist shrine on +which rested the memorial tablets of former heads of the house. I +expressed my sense of the privilege extended to strangers. The reply +was, "Our ancestors will feel pleasure in your being among us." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[25] Samurai or _shizoku_ comprise about a twentieth of the +population. + +[26] Every Japanese signs by means of a stone or hard-wood seal which +he keeps in a case and ordinarily carries with him. + +[27] A _shō_ is about a quart and a half. + +[28] The raised recess in which is usually displayed the flower +arrangement, a piece of pottery and a _kakemono_. (See Note, page 35.) + +[29] Farcical interludes of the _Nō_ stage. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +COUNTRY-HOUSE LIFE + +The sense of a common humanity is a real political force.--J.R. GREEN + + +The stranger in Japan sees so little of the intimacies of country life +that I shall say something of further visits to what we should call +county families. My hosts, who seemed to be active to a greater or +less degree in promoting the welfare of their tenants, lived in purely +Japanese style. Yet now and then in a beautiful house there was a +showy gilt timepiece or some other thing of a deplorable Western +fashion. At all the houses without exception we were waited upon by +the host and his son, son-in-law or brother, and for some time after +our arrival our host and the members of his family would kneel, not in +the apartment in which our _zabuton_ (kneeling cushions) were +arranged, but in the adjoining apartment with its screens pushed back. +Even when the time of sweets and tea had passed and a regular meal was +served, all the little tables of food were brought in not by servants +but by the master of the house and such male relatives as were at +home. + +When the duration of a Japanese meal is borne in mind, some idea may +be gained of the fatigue endured by the head of a house in serving +many guests. The host sometimes honours his guests still further by +eating apart from them or by partaking of a portion only of the meal. +The name of a feast in Japanese is significant, "a running about." The +ladies of the house are usually seen for only a few minutes, when they +come with the children to welcome the guests on their arrival; but on +the second day of the visit the ladies may bring in food or tea or +play the _koto_. + +The foreigner, though on his knees, feels a little at a loss to know +how to acknowledge politely the repeated bows of so many kneeling men +and women. He watches with appreciation the perfect response of his +Japanese travelling companions. It is difficult to convey a sense of +the charm and dignity of old courtesies exchanged with sincerity +between well-bred people in a fine old house. Although all the +_shoji_[30] are open, the trees of the beautiful garden cast a pensive +shade. The ancient ceremonial of welcome and introduction would seem +ludicrous in the full light of a Western drawing-room, but in the +perfectly subdued light of these romantically beautiful apartments, +charged with some strange and melancholy emotion, the visitor from the +West feels himself entering upon the rare experience of a new world. + +Everyone knows how few are the treasures that a Japanese displays in +his house. His heirlooms and works of art are stored in a fireproof +annexe. For the feasting of the eye of every guest or party of +visitors the appropriate choice of _kakemono_,[31] carving or pottery +is made. I had the delight of seeing during my country-house visiting +many ancient pictures of country life and of animals and birds. It was +also a precious opportunity to inspect armour and wonderful swords and +stands of arrows in the houses in which the men who had worn the +armour and used the weapons had lived. The way of stringing the +seven-feet-high bow was shown to me by a kimono-clad samurai, as has +been recorded in the previous chapter. When he threw himself into a +warlike attitude and with an ancient cry whirled a gleaming two-handed +sword in the dim light thrown by lanterns which had lighted the house +in the time of the Shoguns, the figures on old-time Japanese prints +had a new vividness. + +What also helped in illuminating for me the old prints of warlike +scenes was a display of a remarkable kind of fencing with naked +weapons which one of my hosts kindly provided in his garden one +evening. The tournament was conducted by the village young men's +association. The exercises, which, as I saw them, are peculiar to the +district, are called _ki-ai_, which means literally "spirit meeting." +They call not only for long training but for courage and ardour. The +combats took place on a small patch of grass which was fenced by four +bamboo branches. These were connected by a rope of paper streamers +such as are used to distinguish a consecrated place. Before the first +bout the bamboos and rope were taken away and a handful of salt was +thrown on the grass. Salt was similarly thrown on the grass before +every contest. The idea is that salt is a purifier. It signifies, like +the handshake of our boxers, that the feelings of the combatants are +cleansed from malice. + +Most of the events were single combats, but there were two meetings in +which a man confronted a couple of assailants. The contests I recall +were spear _v_. spear, spear _v_. sword, sword _v_. long billhook, +spear _v_. the short Japanese sickle and a chain, spear _v_. paper +umbrella and sword, pole _v_. wooden sword, pole _v_. pole, and long +billhook _v_. fan and sword. The weapons were sharp enough to inflict +serious wounds if a false move should be made or there should be a +momentary lack of self-control. The flashing steel gave an impression +of imminent danger. There was also the feeling aroused in the +spectators by the way in which the combatants sought to gain advantage +over one another by fierce snarls, stamping on the ground and +appalling gestures. The neck veins of the fighters swelled and their +faces flamed with mock defiance. Their agility in escaping descending +blades was amazing. But the _ki-ai_ player's dexterity is famous. It +is his boast that with his sword he could cut a straw on a friend's +head. I noticed that no women were present at the "spirit meeting." + +More than once I found that my landlord host was accustomed to make a +circuit of his village once or twice a week in order to see how things +were going with his tenants. Public-spirited landlords were working +for their people by means of co-operation, lectures and prizes, the +distribution of leaflets and the giving of from 2-1/2 to 7-1/2 per +cent. discount in rent when good rice was produced. The rural +philanthropist in Japan sees himself as the father of his village.[32] +The Japanese word for landlord is "land master" and for tenant "son +tiller." The old idea was patronage on the one side and respect on the +other. This idea is disappearing. "We wish," said one landlord to me, +"to pass through the transition stage gradually. We do not feel the +same responsibility to our people, perhaps, now that they do not show +the same reverence for us, but we do not say to them that they may go +to the factory and we will invest our money for our children. We check +ourselves. We know well, however, that things will change in our +grandsons' time. We therefore try to mix our grandfathers' ideas and +modern ideas. We are believers in co-operation and we try to be +counsellors and to work behind the curtain." + +From time to time there are such things as tenants' strikes. Mr. +Yamasaki assured me that the problem of the rural districts can be +solved only by appealing to the feelings of the people in the right +way. He said that "the Japanese are largely moved by feelings, not by +convictions." In some coastwise counties, someone told me, a hurricane +destroyed the crops to such an extent that the tenants could not pay +rent, and the landlords who depended on their rents were impoverished. +Things reached such a pass that a hundred thousand peasants signed a +paper swearing fidelity to an anti-landlord propaganda. Officials and +lawyers achieved nothing. Then Mr. Yamasaki went, and, sitting in the +local temple, talked things over with both sides for days. He got the +landlords to say that they were sorry for their tenants and the +tenants to say that they were sorry for the landlords, and eventually +he was allowed to burn the oath-attested document in the temple.[33] + +Many landlords are "endeavouring to cultivate a moral relation" +between themselves and their tenants. They have often the advantage +that their ancestors were the landlords of the same peasant families +for many generations. But there are still plenty of absentee landlords +and landlords who are usurers. There are also the landlords who have +let their lands to middlemen. The cultivator therefore pays out of all +proportion to what the landlord receives. Of landlords generally, an +ex-daimyo's son said to me: "Many landlords treat their tenants +cruelly. The rent enforced is too high. In place of the intimate +relations of former days the relations are now that of cat and dog. +The ignorance of the landlords is the cause of this state of things. +It is very important that the landlord's son shall go to the +agricultural school, where there is plenty of practical work which +will bring the perspiration from him." The object of most good +landlords is to increase the income of their tenants. It is felt that +unless the farmers have more money in their hands, progress is +impossible. There is one direction in which the landlords are not +tried. The franchise is so narrow that farmers cannot vote against +their landlords. + +In the house of one old landowning family in which I was a guest I saw +a _gaku_ inscribed, "Happiness comes to the house whose ancestors were +virtuous." I was admitted to the family shrine. Round the walls of the +small apartment in which the shrine stood were the autographs or +portraits of distinguished members of the house going back four or +five hundred years. It was easy to see that the inspiring force of +this family was its untarnished name. It was a crime against the +ancestors to reduce the prestige or merit of the family. No stronger +influence could be exerted upon an erring member of such a family than +to be brought by his father or elder brother before the family shrine +and there reprimanded in the presence of the ancestral spirits. The +head of this house is at present a schoolboy of twelve and the +government of the family is in the hands of a "regent," the lad's +uncle. I saw the boy and his younger sister trot off in the morning +with their satchels on their backs to the village school in democratic +Japanese fashion. Japan is a much more democratic country than the +tourist imagines. Distinctions of class are accompanied by easy +relations in many important matters. + +I went for a second time to the restful city of Nagoya. It is out of +the sphere of influence of Tokyo and is conservative of old ideas. +People live with less display than in the capital and perhaps pride +themselves on doing so. But if the houses of even the well-to-do are +small and inconspicuous, the interiors are of satisfying quality in +materials and workmanship, and the family godowns bring forth +surprises. Here as elsewhere the guest is served in treasured lacquer +and porcelain. (While we are not accustomed in the West to look at the +marks on our host's table silver, it is perfect Japanese manners to +admire a food bowl by examining the potter's marks.) My host hung a +rural _kakemono_ in my room, one day a fine old study of poultry, +another an equally beautiful painting of hollyhocks. + +As we left the town my attention was attracted by a commemorative +stone overlooking rice fields. The inscription proclaimed the fact +that at that spot the late Emperor Meiji,[34] as a lad of fifteen, on +his historic first journey to Tokyo, "beheld the farmers reaping." + +The matron of a farmhouse two centuries old showed me a tub containing +tiny carp which she had hatched for her carp pond, the inmates of +which, as is common, came to be fed when she clapped her hands. In the +garden there was an old clay butt still used for archery. In the +farmhouse I was taken into a room in which in the old days the daimyo +overlord had rested, into another room which had a secret door and +into a third room where--an electric fan was buzzing. + +At a school I had to face the usual ordeal of having to "write" as +best I could a motto for use as a wall picture. Our lettering, when +done with a brush, falls pitifully behind Chinese characters in +decorative value, and our mottoes will not readily translate into +Japanese. I was often grateful to Henley for "I am the master of my +fate, I am the captain of my soul," because with the substitution of +"commander" for captain, the lines translate literally. + +We left the village through arches which had been erected by the young +men's association. At an old country house four interesting things +were shown to me. There was, first, a phial of rice seed 230 years +old. The agricultural professor who was my fellow-guest told me that +he had germinated some of the grains, but they did not produce rice +plants. The second thing was a fine family shrine before which a +religious ceremony had been performed twice a day by succeeding +generations of the same family for 350 years. The third object of +interest was a little, narrow, flat steel dagger about eight inches +long, sheathed in the scabbard of a sword. The dagger was used for +"fastening an enemy's head on." After the owner of the sword had +beheaded his foe, he drew the smaller weapon, and, thrusting one end +into the headless trunk and the other end into the base of the head, +politely united head and body once more, thus making it possible "to +show due respect and sympathy towards the dead." Finally, I had the +privilege of handling a wonderful suit of armour which was fitted +slowly together for me out of many pieces. Although it had been made +several centuries ago, this rich suit of lacquered leather had been a +Japanese general's wear on the field of battle within living memory. + +One of the landowners I met was a poet who had been successful in the +Imperial poem competition which is held every New Year. A subject is +set by His Majesty and the thousands of pieces sent in are submitted +to a committee. The dozen best productions are read before the +sovereign himself, and this is the honour sought by the competitors. +The subject for competition in the year in which the landowner had +been successful was, "The cryptomeria in a temple court." His poem was +as follows: + + In transplanting + The young cryptomeria trees + Within the sacred fence + There is a symbol + Of the beginning of the reign. + +The New Year poems come from every class of the community and there +is seldom a year in which landowners or farmers are not among the +fortunate twelve. + +As we rode along a companion spoke of the force of public opinion in +keeping things straight in the countryside, also of the far-reaching +control exercised by fathers and elder brothers. But the good +behaviour of some people was due, he said, to a dread of being +ridiculed in the newspapers, which allow themselves extraordinary +freedom in dealing with reputations. + +I met a man who had had a monument erected to him. He was a member of +a little company which received me in a farmer's house. He was +formerly the richest man in the village, that is to say, he owned 20 +_chō_ and was worth about 100,000 yen. Moved by the poverty of his +neighbours, he devoted his substance to improving their condition. Now +many of them are well off, the village has been "praised and rewarded" +by the prefecture for its "good farming and good morals," and the +philanthropist is worth only 50,000 yen. Impressed by his +unselfishness, the village has raised a great slab of stone in his +honour. + +I made enquiries continually about the influence exerted by priests. I +was told of many "careless" priests, but also of others who delivered +sermons of a practical sort. A few of the younger priests were +described as "philosophical" and some preached "the kingdom of God is +within you." Many people laid stress on the necessity for a better +education of the priesthood and for combating superstition among the +peasantry, though the schools had already had a powerful influence in +shaking the faith of thousands of the common people in charms and +suchlike. Many folk put up charms because it was the custom or to +please their old parents or because it could do no harm. + +I was told that the Government does not encourage the erection of new +temples. Its notion is that it is better to maintain the existing +temples adequately. When I went to see a gorgeous new temple, I found +that official permission for its erection had been obtained because +the figures, vessels and some of the fittings of an old and +dilapidated temple were to be used in the new edifice. This temple +was on a large tract of land which had recently been recovered from +the sea. The building had cost between 80,000 and 90,000 yen. It stood +on piles on rising ground and had a secondary purpose in that it +offered a place of refuge to the settlers on the new land if the sea +dike should break. + +The founder of the temple was the man who had drained the land and +established the colony. He had given an endowment of 500 yen a year, +three-quarters of which was for the priest. This functionary had also +an income of 150 yen from a _chō_ of land attached to the temple. +Further he received gifts of rice and vegetables. I noticed that the +gifts of rice--acknowledged on a list hung up in his house--varied in +quantity from four pecks to half a cupful. Probably the priest bought +very little of anything. If he needed matting for his house, which was +attached to the temple, or if he had to make a journey, the villagers +saw that his requirements were met. And he was always getting presents +of one kind or another. "A man says to the priest," I was told, "'This +is too good for me; please accept it.'" The villagers on their side +sat and smoked in one of the temple rooms and drank his reverence's +tea for hours before and after service.[35] + +The building of the temple was not only an act of piety but a work of +commercial necessity. The colonists on the reclaimed land would never +have settled there if there had not been a temple to hold them to the +place and to provide burial rites for their old parents. Not all the +people were of the same sect of Buddhism, but "they gradually came +together." A third of what a tenant produced went for rent and another +third for fertilisers, the remaining third being his own. The +population was 1,800 in 300 families. The average area per family was +2 _chō_ and colonists were expected to start with about 200 yen of +capital. Some unpromising tenants had been sent away and "some had +left secretly." Half of the people were in debt to the landlord--the +total indebtedness was about 15,000 yen--for the erection of houses +and the purchase of implements and stock. The rate was 8 per cent. In +the district 10 per cent. was quite usual and 12 per cent. by no means +rare. The co-operative society lent at the daily rate of 2-1/2 sen per +100 yen. + +The landlord told me that the sea dikes took two years to build and +that most of the earth was carried by women, 5,000 of them. Their +labour was cheap and the small quantities of earth which each woman +brought at a time permitted of a better consolidation of an embankment +that was 240 feet wide at the base. More than a million yen were laid +out on the work. The reclaimed land was free of State taxes for half a +century, but the landlord made a voluntary gift to the village of +2,000 yen a year. The yearly rent coming in was already nearly 56,000 +yen. The cost of the management of the drained land and of repairs to +the embankment, 20,000 yen a year, was just met by the profits of a +fishpond. A valuable edible seaweed industry was carried on outside +the sea dikes. The landlord mentioned that he had had great difficulty +in overcoming the objections of his grandfather to the investment, but +that eventually the old man got so much interested that at +ninety-three he used to march about giving orders. + +One day in the course of my journeying I was near a railway station +where country people had assembled to watch the passing of a train by +which the Emperor was travelling. No one was permitted along the line +except at specified points which were carefully watched. A young +constable who wore a Russian war medal was opposite the spot where I +stood. He politely asked me to keep one _shaku_ (foot) or so away from +the paling. When someone's child pushed itself half-way through the +paling the police instruction was, "Please keep back the little one +for, if it should pass through, other children will no doubt wish to +follow." A later request by the constable was to take off our hats and +keep silence when he raised his hand on the approach of the Imperial +train. We were further asked not to point at the Emperor and on no +account to cry Banzai. (The Japanese shout _Banzai_ for the Emperor in +his absence and cry _Banzai_ to victorious generals and admirals, but +perfect silence is considered the most respectful way of greeting the +Emperor himself.) The Imperial train, which was preceded by a pilot +engine drawing a van full of rather anxious-looking police, slowed +down on approaching the station so that everyone had a chance of +seeing the Emperor, who was facing us. All the school children of the +district had been marshalled where they could get a good view. The +Japanese bow of greatest respect--it has been introduced since the +Restoration, I was told--is an inclination of the head so slight that +it does not prevent the person who bows seeing his superior. This bow +when made by rows of people is impressive. Undoubtedly the crowd was +moved by the sight of its sovereign. Not a few people held their hands +together in front of them in an attitude of devotion. The day before I +had happened to see first a priest and then a professor examining a +magazine which had a portrait of the Emperor as frontispiece. Both +bowed slightly to the print. Coloured portraits of the Emperor and +Empress are on sale in the shops, but in many cases there is a little +square of tissue paper over the Imperial countenances. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[30] _Shoji_ are the screens which divide a room from the outside. +They are a dainty wooden framework of many divisions, each of which is +covered by a sheet of thin white paper. The _shoji_ provide light and +are never painted. The sliding doors between two rooms are _karakami +(fusuma_ is a literary word). They are a wooden framework with thick +paper or cloth on both sides of it and with paper packing between the +layers. _Karakami_ are often decorated with writing or may be painted. +No light passes through them. + +[31] A writing or a picture on a long perpendicular strip of paper or +silk or of paper mounted on silk, with rollers. The length is about +three times the width, which is usually 1 ft. 3 in. or 1 ft. 10 in. +The _kakemono_ in the _tokonoma_ of tea-ceremony rooms is about 10 in. +wide. + +[32] For budgets of large property owners, see Appendix III. + +[33] There have been several serious tenants' demonstrations in Aichi +during 1921. See Chapter XIX. + +[34] Each Emperor receives on his succession a name which is applied +to the period of his reign. The period of Mutsuhito's reign, +1868-1912, is called _Meiji_; that of the present Emperor _Taisho_. +Thus the year 1912 would be _Taisho_ I. + +[35] It will be remembered that there is only one prefecture in which +tea is not grown in larger or smaller areas, and that it is served +economically without sugar or milk. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +BEFORE OKUNITAMA-NO-MIKO-NO-KAMI[36] + +Nor do I see why we should take it for granted that their gods are +unworthy of respect.--_Valerius_ + + +In Aichi prefecture I was asked to plant trees (persimmons) in the +grounds of three temples or shrines and on the land of several +farmers. In an exposed position on a hill-top I found persimmons being +grown on a system under which the landlord provided the land, trees +and manures and the farmer the labour, and the produce was equally +divided. + +The cryptomeria at one of the shrines I visited were of great age. All +of them had lost their tops by lightning. It cannot be easy for those +who have never seen cryptomeria or the redwoods of California to +realise the impression made by dark giant trees that have stood before +some shrine for generations. At the approach to the shrine of which I +speak there were venerable wooden statues. I recall one figure carved +in wood as full of life as that of the famous Egyptian headman. + +The aged chief priest, who was assisted by two younger priests, kindly +invited me to take part in a Shinto service. First, I ceremonially +washed my hands and rinsed my mouth. Then, having ascended the steps, +my shoes were removed for me so that my hands should not be defiled. +On entering the shrine I knelt opposite the young priests, one of whom +brought me the usual evergreen bough with paper streamers. On +receiving it I rose to my feet, passed through the beautiful building +and advanced to what I may call, for the lack of a more accurate term, +the altar table. On this table, which, as is usual in Shinto +ceremonies, was of new white wood following the ancient design, I laid +the offering. Then I bowed and gave the customary three smart +hand-claps which summon the attention of the deity of the shrine, and +bowed again. On returning to my former kneeling-place one of the +priests offered me _saké_ and a small piece of dried fish in +paper.[37] The chief priest was good enough to read and to hand to me +an address headed, "Words of Congratulation to the Investigator," +which may be Englished as follows: + +"I, Yukimichi Otsu, the chief priest, speak most respectfully and +reverently before the shrine of the august deity, +Okunitama-no-miko-no-kami, and other deities here enshrined: Dr. +Robertson Scott, of England, is here this good day. He comes to see +the things of Japan under the governance of our gracious Emperor. I, +having made myself quite pure and clean, open the door of gracious +eyes that they may look upon those who are here. May Dr. Robertson +Scott be protected during night and day, no accident happening +wherever he may go. Dr. Robertson Scott goes everywhere in this +country; he may cross a hundred rivers and pass over many hills. May +there be no foundering of his boat, no stumbling of his horse. +Offering produce of land and sea, I say this most respectfully before +the shrine." + +After the shrine I visited a co-operative store, curiously reminiscent +of many a similar rural enterprise I had seen in Denmark. Sugar, +coarser than anything sold at home, was dear. Half the price paid for +sugar in Japan is tax. I was informed that there were no fewer than +400 cooperative organisations in the prefecture. + +[Illustration: AUTHOR QUESTIONING OFFICIALS--] + +[Illustration: AND PLANTING COMMEMORATIVE TREES] + +At several places, although the villagers were busy rice planting, the +young men's association turned out. The young men were reinforced by +reservists and came sharply to attention as our _kuruma_ +(_jinrikisha_, usually pneumatic-tyred) passed. Some of the villages +we bowled through were off the ordinary track, and the older villagers +observed the ancient custom of coming out from their houses or farm +plots, dropping on their knees and bowing low as we passed.[38] All +over Japan, a villager encountered on the road removed the towel from +his head before bowing. If a cloak or outer coat was worn, it was +taken off or the motion of taking it off was made. Frequently, in +showery weather, cyclists who were wearing mackintoshes or capes, +alighted and removed these outer garments before saluting. + +[Illustration: RICE POLISHING BY FOOT POWER.] + +I saw a village which a few years ago had been "disorderly and poor" +and in continual friction with its landlord. Eventually this man +realised his responsibility, and, inspired by Mr. Yamasaki, took the +situation in hand. He talked in a straightforward way with his +villagers, reduced a number of rents and spent money freely in +ameliorative work. To-day the village is "remarkable for its good +conduct" and the relation between landlord and tenant seems to be +everything that can be desired. The landlord is not only the moving +spirit of the co-operative store but has started a school for girls of +from fifteen to twenty. They bring their own food but the schooling is +free. + +On the gables of one or two houses near the roof I noticed ventilators +which were cut in the form of the Chinese ideograph which means water, +a kind of charm against fire. At the door of one rather well-to-do +peasant house I saw several paper charms against toothache. There was +also an inscription intimating that the householder was a director of +the co-operative society and another announcing that he was an expert +in the application of the moxa.[39] Every house I went into had a +collection of charms. One charm, a verse of poetry hung upside-down, +as is the custom, was against ants. Another was understood to ensure +the safe return of a straying cat. + +In one house in the village my attention was drawn to the fact that +the rice pot contained a large percentage of barley. + +In two or three places I passed pits for the excavation of lignite, +which does not look unlike the wood taken out of bogs. A pit I stopped +at was twenty-two fathoms deep. There were twenty miners at work and +air was being pumped down. + +One of the things we in the West might imitate with advantage is the +village crematorium. In Japan it is of the simplest construction. The +rate for villagers was 50 sen, that for outsiders 2 yen. No doubt +there would be an additional yen for the priest. In a little building +which was thirty years old 200 bodies had been cremated. + +I looked into a small co-operative rice storehouse. The building was +provided by a number of members "swearing" to save at the rate of a +yen and a half a month each until the funds needed had accumulated. +The money was obtained by extra labour in the evening. Just before I +left Japan the Department of Agriculture was arranging to spend 2 +million yen within a ten-years' period to encourage the building of +4,000 rice storehouses. + +As I watched the water pouring from one rice field to another and +wondered how the rights of landowners were ever reconciled, someone +reminded me of the phrase, "water splashing quarrels," that is +disputes in which each side blames the other without getting any +farther forward. To take an unfair advantage in controversy is to draw +water into one's own paddy. The equivalent for "pouring water on a +duck's back" is "flinging water in a frog's face." A Western European +is always astonished in Japan by the lung power of Far Eastern frogs. +The noise is not unlike the bleating of lambs. + +Every now and again one comes on a fragrant bed of lotus in its paddy +field. It seems odd at first that lotus--and burdock--should be +cultivated for food. As a pickle burdock is eatable, but lotus and +some unfamiliar tuberous plants are pleasant food resembling in +flavour boiled chestnuts. _Konnyaku_ (_hydrosme rivieri_), a near +relative of the arum lily, is produced to the weight of 11 million +_kwan_--a _kwan_ is roughly 8-1/4 lbs.[40] The yield of burdock is +about 44 million _kwan_. The chief of all vegetables is the giant +radish, of which 7-1/4 million _kwan_ are grown. Taro yields about 150 +million _kwan_. Foreigners usually like the young sprouts taken from +the roots of the bamboo, a favourite Japanese vegetable. + +This is as convenient a place as any to speak of an important +agricultural fact, the enormous amount of filth worked into the +paddies. As is well known, hardly any of the night soil of Japan is +wasted. Japanese agriculture depends upon it. Formerly the night soil +was removed from the houses after being emptied into a pair of tubs +which the peasant carried from a yoke. Such yoke-carried tubs are +still seen, but are chiefly employed in carrying the substance to the +paddies. The tubs which are taken to dwellings are now mostly borne on +light two-wheeled handcarts which carry sometimes four and sometimes +six. A farmer will push or pull his manure cart from a town ten or +twelve miles off. It is difficult to leave or enter a town without +meeting strings of manure carts. The men who haul the carts get +together for company on their tedious journey. They seem insensible to +the concentrated odour. Often the wife or son or daughter may be seen +pushing behind a cart. There is a certain amount of transportation by +horse-drawn frame carts, carrying a dozen or sixteen tubs, and by +boats. I was told of a city of half a million inhabitants which had +thirty per cent. of its night soil taken ten miles away. The work was +undertaken by a co-operative society which paid the municipality the +large sum of 70,000 yen a year. The removal of night soil, its storage +in the fields in sunken butts and concrete cisterns--carefully +protected by thatched, wooden or concrete roofs--and its constant +application to paddy fields or upland plots cause an odour to prevail +which the visitor to Japan never forgets.[41] + +It must not be supposed that, because the Japanese are careful to +utilise human waste products, no other manure is employed. There is an +enormous consumption of chemical fertilisers. Then there are brought +into service all sorts of crop-feeding materials, such as straw, +grass, compost, silkworm waste, fish waste, and of course the manure +produced by such stock as is kept.[42] In Aichi the value of human +waste products used on the land is only a quarter of the value of the +bean cake and fish waste similarly employed. + +At Mr. Yamasaki's excellent agricultural school (prefectural), which +I visited more than once,[43] I was struck by the grave bearing of the +students. I saw them not only in their classrooms but in their large +hall, where I was invited to speak from a platform between the busts +of two rural worthies, Ninomiya, of whom we have heard before, and +another who was "distinguished by the righteousness of his public +career." As in the Danish rural high schools, store is set on hard +physical exercise. An hour of exercise--_judō_ (jujitsu), sword play +or military drill--is taken from six to seven in the morning and +another at midday with the object of "strengthening the spirit" and +"developing the character," for "our farmers must not only be honest +and determined but courageous." Severe physical labour, shared by the +teacher, is also given out of doors, for example, in heaping manure. +"We believe," said one of the instructors, "in moral virtue taught by +the hands." + +For an hour a day "the main points of moral virtue" are put before the +different grades of students, according to their ages and development. +The school has a guild to which the twenty teachers and all the +students belong. It is a kind of co-operative society for the +"purchase and distribution of daily necessities," but one of its +objects is "the maintenance of public morality." Then there is the +students' association which has literary and gymnastic sides, the one +side "to refine wisdom and virtue," the other "for the rousing of +spirit." Mention may also be made of a "discipline calendar" of fixed +memorial days and ceremonies "that all the students should observe": +the ceremony of reading the Imperial Rescript on education, thrift and +morality, and the ceremonies at the end of rice planting, at harvest +and at the maturity of the silk-worm. The fitting-up of the school is +Spartan but the rooms are high and well lighted and ventilated. The +students' hot bath accommodates a dozen lads at a time. The studies +are also the dormitories, and in the corner of each there is stored a +big mosquito netting. Except for a few square yards near the doors, +these rooms consist of the usual raised platform covered with the +national _tatami_ or matting. + +I heard a characteristic story of the Director. During the +Russo-Japanese war everybody was economising, and many people who had +been in the habit of riding in _kuruma_ began to walk. Our +agricultural celebrity had always had a passion for walking, so it was +out of his power to economise in _kuruma_. What he did was to cease +walking and take to _kuruma_ riding, for, he said, "in war time one +must work one's utmost, and if I move about quickly I can get more +done." + +I may add a story which this rare man himself told me. I had seen in +his house a photograph of a memorial slab celebrating the heroic death +of a peasant. It appeared that in a period of scarcity there was left +in this peasant's village only one unbroken bale of rice. This rice +was in the possession of the peasant, who was suffering from lack of +food. But he would not cook any of the rice because he knew that if he +did the village would be without seed in spring. Eventually the brave +man was found dead of hunger in his cottage. His pillow had been the +unopened bale of rice. + +In the house of a small peasant proprietor I visited the inscriptions +on the two _gaku_ signified "Buddha's teaching broken by a beautiful +face" and "Cast your eyes on high." On the wall there was also a copy +of a resolution concerning a recent Imperial Rescript which 500 rural +householders, at a meeting in the county, had "sworn to observe," and, +as I understood, to read two or three times a year. + +Japan, as I have already noted, has always been a more democratic +country than is generally understood; but the people have been +accustomed to act under leaders. Some time ago an official of the +Department of Agriculture visited a certain district in order to speak +at the local temple in advocacy of the adjustment of rice fields. (See +Chapter VIII.) A dignitary corresponding to the chairman of an English +county council was at the temple to receive the official, but at the +time appointed for the meeting to begin the audience consisted of one +old man. Although the official from Tokyo and the _gunchō_ (head of a +county) waited for some time, no one else put in an appearance. So +they asked the old man the reason. He replied by asking them the +object of the meeting. They told him. He said that he had so +understood and that the community had so understood, but the farmers +were very busy men. Therefore, as he was the oldest man in the +district, they had sent him as their representative. Their +instructions were that he would be able to tell from his experience of +the district whether what the authorities proposed would be a good +thing for it or not. If he considered it to be a bad thing they would +not do it, but if he thought it to be a good thing they would do it. +He was to hear all that was said and then to give a decision on the +community's behalf to the officials who might attend. "So," said the +old man to the Tokyo official and the _gunchō_, "if you convince me +you have convinced the village." And after two hours' explanation they +convinced him! + +There are in Japan hydraulic engineering works as remarkable in their +way as any I have seen in the Netherlands. Some of these works, for +example the tunnels for conducting rice-field water through +considerable hills, have been the work of unlettered peasants. In one +place I found that 80 miles or more of irrigation was based on a canal +made two centuries ago. It is good to see so many embankings of +refractory streams and excavations of river beds commemorated by slabs +recording the public services of the men who, often at their own +charges, carried out these works of general utility. + +In various parts of the country I came upon smallholders who had +reached a high degree of proficiency in the fine art of dwarfing +trees. One day I stopped to speak with a farmer who by this art had +added 1,000 yen a year to his agricultural income. A thirty-years-old +maple was one of his triumphs. Another was a pomegranate about a foot +and a half high. It was in flower and would bear fruit of ordinary +size. The wonder of dwarfing is wrought, as is now well known, by +cramping the roots in the pot and by extremely skilful pruning, +manuring and watering. While we drank tea some choice specimens were +displayed before a screen of unrelieved gold. In the room in which we +sat the farmer had arranged in a bowl of water with great +effectiveness hydrangea, a spray of pomegranate and a cabbage. + +One marks the respect shown to the rural policeman. In his summer +uniform of white cotton, with his flat white cap and white gloves, and +an imposing sword, he looks like a naval officer, even if, as +sometimes happens, his feet are in _zori_. He gets respect because of +his dignified presence and sense of official duty, because of the +considerable powers which he is able to exercise, because he stands +for the Government, and because he is sometimes of a higher social +grade than that to which policemen belong in other countries. At the +Restoration many men of the samurai class did not think it beneath +them to enter the new sword-wearing police force and they helped to +give it a standing which has been maintained. As to the policeman +being a representative of the Government, the ordinary Japanese has a +way of speaking of the Government doing this or that as if the +Government were irresistible power. Average Japanese do not yet +conceive the Government as something which they have made and may +unmake[44]. But is it likely that they should, parliamentary history, +the work of their betters, being as short as it is? It is not whithout +significance that the Chambers of the Diet are housed in temporary +wooden buildings. + +The rural policeman is not only a paternal guardian of the peace but +an administrative official. He keeps an eye on public health. He is +charged with correctly maintaining the record of names and +addresses--and some other particulars--of everybody in the village. It +is his duty to secure correct information as to the name, age, place +of origin and real business of every stranger. He attends all public +meetings, even of the young men's and young women's associations, and +no strolling players can give their entertainment without his +presence. As to the movements of strangers, my own were obviously well +known. Indeed a friend told me that in the event of my losing myself I +had only to ask a policeman and he would be able to tell me where I +was expected next! At the houses of well-to-do people I was struck by +the way in which the local police officer--sometimes, no doubt, a +sergeant or perhaps a man of the rank of our superintendent or chief +constable--called with the headman and joined our kneeling circle in +the reception-room. Nominally he came to pay his respects, but his +chief object, no doubt, was to take stock of what was going on. I +invariably took the opportunity of closely interviewing him. + +The extraordinary degree to which Japanese are commonly accustomed in +their differences of opinion to refrain from blows makes many of their +quarrels harmless. The threat to send for the policeman or the actual +appearance of the policeman has an almost magical effect in calming a +disturbance. The Japanese policeman believes very much in reproving or +reprimanding evil doers and in reasoning with folk whose +"carelessness" has attracted attention. Sometimes for greater +impressiveness the admonitions or exhortations are delivered at the +police station[45]. In more than one village I heard a tribute paid to +the good influence exerted on a community by a devoted policeman. + +The chief of an agricultural experiment station also seems to obtain a +large measure of respect, to some extent, no doubt, because he +occupies a public office. The regard felt for Mr. Yamasaki goes +deeper. A few years ago he was sent on a mission abroad and in his +absence his local admirers cast about for a way of showing their +appreciation of his work. They began by raising what was described to +me as "naturally not a large but an honourable sum." With this money +they decided to add three rooms to his dwelling. They had noted how +visitors were always coming to his house in order to profit by his +experience and advice. Mr. Yamasaki uses the rooms primarily as "an +hotel for people of good intentions--those who work for better +conditions." I was proud to stay at this "hotel" and to receive as a +parting gift an old _seppuku_ blade. + +Which reminds me that one night at a house in the country I found +myself sitting under photographs of the late General and Countess Nogi +and of the gaunt bloodstained room of the depressing "foreign style" +house in which they committed suicide on the day of the funeral of +the Emperor Meiji[46]. One of my fellow-guests was a professor at the +Imperial University; the other was a teacher of lofty and unselfish +spirit. They were both samurai. I mentioned that a man of worth and +distinction has said to me that, while he recognised the nobility of +Nogi's action, he could but not think it unjustifiable. I was at once +told that Japanese who do not approve of Nogi's action "must be +over-influenced by Western thought." "Those who are quintessentially +Japanese," it was explained, "think that Nogi did right. Bodily death +is nothing, for Nogi still lives among us as a spirit. He labours with +a stronger influence. Many hearts were purified by his sacrifice. One +of Nogi's reasons for suicide was no doubt that he might be able to +follow his beloved Emperor, but his intention was also to warn many +vicious or unpatriotic people. Some politicians and rich people say +they are patriotic, but they are animated by selfish motives and +desires. Nogi's suicide was due to his loving his fellow-countrymen +sincerely. Surely he was acting after the manner of Christ. Nogi +crucified himself for the people in order to atone in a measure for +their sins and to lead them to a better way of life." + +I heard from my friends something of Nogi's demeanour. The old general +was a familiar figure in Tokyo. In the street cars--those were the +days when they were not over-crowded--he was always seen standing. His +admirers used to say that his face "beamed with beneficence." But +Nogi, though he loved to be within reach of the Emperor and did his +part as head of the Peers' School, liked nothing better than to get +away to the country. He was originally a peasant and he still +possessed a _chō_ of upland holding. He was glad to work on it with +the digging mattock of the farmer. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[36] Son-God-of-the-Spirit-of-the-Province. + +[37] It was a tiny squid. There are seventy sorts of cuttlefish and +octopuses in Japanese waters. Value of dried cuttlefish in 1917, 4 +million yen. + +[38] The hands are laid flat on the ground with finger-tips meeting +and the forehead touches the hands. + +[39] See Chapter XX. + +[40] The root grows to about the size of a big apple. It may be seen +in the shops in white dried sections. A stiff greyish jelly made from +it is eaten with rice. It is also eaten as _oden_ or _dengaku_. + +[41] See Appendix IV. + +[42] See Appendix XX. + +[43] See Appendix V. + +[44] The truth is being learnt by the younger generation. + +[45] For crime statistics, see Appendix VI. + +[46] _Harakiri_ (_seppuku_ is the polite word) still happens. Just +before writing this note I read of the captain of the first company of +the Japanese garrison in a Korean town having committed _seppuku_ +because of a sense of responsibility for the irregularities of +subordinates. But of 7,239 suicides of men in 1916 only 308 were by +cold steel. Of 4,558 cases of women suicides 140 were by steel. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +OF "DEVIL-GON" AND YOSOGI + +The consciousness of a common purpose in mankind, or even the +acknowledgment that such a common purpose is possible, would alter the +face of world politics at once.--GRAHAM WALLAS + + +There was a bad landlord who was nicknamed "Devil-gon." He was shot. +There was another bad landlord who, as he was crossing a narrow bridge +over a brook, was "pistolled through the sleeve and tumbled into the +water." Although the murderer was well known, his name was never +revealed to the police, and the family of the dead man was glad to +leave the district. The villagers celebrated their freedom by eating +the "red rice" which is prepared on occasions of festivity. In another +village, the _gunchō_ who spoke to me of these things said, there were +several usurious landlords. "The village headman got angry. He called +the landlords to him. He said to them that if they continued to lend +at high interest the people would set fire to their houses and he +would not proceed against them. So the landlords became affrighted and +amended their lives." The rural people of Japan have always three +weapons against usury, it was explained to me. First, there may be +tried injuring the offending person's house--rural dwellings are +mainly bamboo work and mud--by bumping into it with the heavy +palanquin which is carried about the roadway at the time of the annual +festival. If such a hint should prove ineffective, recourse may be had +to arson. Finally, there is the pistol. I remember someone's remark, +"A man does not lose a common mind and heart by becoming a landowner." + +I could not travel about the rural districts without there being +brought under my eyes the conditions which lead country girls to go to +the towns as _joro_ (prostitutes). A considerable agricultural +authority who had been all over Japan told me that he was in no doubt +that most of the girls adopted an immoral life through poverty. I +spoke to this man, who had been abroad, of the disgrace to Japan +involved in the presence of thousands of Japanese _joro_ at Singapore +and so many other ports of the Asiatic mainland. Did these women go +there of their free will? My informant was of opinion that "half are +deceived." I remember that on the Japanese steamship by which I went +out to Japan there were several Japanese girls, degraded in aspect and +apparently in ill health, who were returning from Singapore. They were +shepherded by an evil-looking fellow. The parting of these +unfortunates from their girl friends as the vessel was about to start +was a piteous sight. An official who called on me in Aichi--I +understood that he was the chief of the prefectural police--told me +that there were in the prefecture 2,011 girls in 222 houses, and that +there were in a year 725,598 customers, of whom 2,147 were foreigners. +Sums of from 200 to 500 yen might be paid to parents for a girl for a +three-years term. Food and clothes were also provided, but the girls +were almost invariably drawn into debt to the keepers, and not more +than 15 per cent. were able to return to their villages. All the girls +in the houses had alleged poverty as the reason for their being +there.[47] + +Because I was told that the moral condition of the town of +Anjo--population 17,000--where the agricultural school of the +prefecture is situated, had improved since its establishment, I asked +for some statistics. I found that there were 23 registered geisha, no +_joro_, 50 teahouse girls with dubious characters and 55 sellers of +_saké_. Against these figures were to be counted 19 Buddhist temples +of four sects with 19 priests and 20 Shinto shrines with 4 priests. + +I met a schoolmaster who had prepared a history of his village in a +dozen beautifully written volumes. He had been a vegetarian for +fifteen years because, as a Buddhist, he believed that "all living +things are in some degree my relatives." I picked up from him a +variant on "the early bird catches the worm." It was, "The early riser +may find a lost _rin_" (tenth of a farthing). He gave me another +proverb, "The contents of a spitting pot, like riches, become fouler +the more they accumulate." + +I heard of temples which were promoting rural improvement by means of +lanterns. In one village the lanterns were at the service of borrowers +at three different places. The inscription on the lanterns says, +"Think of the mercy of Buddha who illuminates the darkness of your +heart." There is written in smaller characters, "If you live half a +_ri_ away you need not return this lantern." Three hundred lanterns +are lost or damaged in a year, but paper lanterns are cheap. + +One temple has a society composed of those who have family graves in +its grounds. These people "study how to get the most abundant crop." +There is a prize for the best cultivated _tan_. Under this temple's +auspices there is not only a co-operative credit and purchase +association, a poultry society and an annual exhibition of +agricultural products, but a school for nurses--they are "taught to be +nurses not only physically but morally." The boys and girls of the +village are invited to the temple once a month and "told a story." The +youngsters are asked to come to a "learning meeting" where they must +recite or exhibit something they have written or drawn; "blockheads as +well as clever children are encouraged." A fund is being raised so +that "a genius who may be suffering from poverty may be able to get +proper education." Then there is a Women's Religious Association which +aims at "the improvement, necessary from a religious point of view, in +the home and of agricultural business." Sermons are given to 500 women +monthly. The society sent comfort bags, containing letters, +tooth-brushes and sweets, to soldiers at the taking of Tsingtao. A +similar organisation for men had for thirteen years listened to a +monthly lecture by a well-known priest. It sends occasional +subscriptions outside the village. Finally, this praiseworthy temple +issues every month 20,000 copies of a 4-1/2-sen magazine. + +The Shinto shrines of the prefecture have in all a little more than 40 +_chō_ of land. Someone has hit on the plan of getting the +agricultural societies of the county and villages to provide the +priests with rice seed of superior varieties, the crop of which can be +exchanged with farmers for common rice. This is done on a profitable +basis, because the shrines exchange unpolished rice for polished. A +_gō_ of seed rice makes only about .5 _gō_ when husked. + +I walked along the road some little way with a Buddhist priest. In +answer to my enquiry he said that as a Buddhist he felt no difficulty +about the bag strung across his shoulders being of leather, for the +founder of his sect (Shinshu) ate meat. Even a strict Buddhist might +nowadays eat animals not intentionally killed, animals which had not +been seen alive and animals which were killed painlessly. But my +companion abstained as much as possible from meat. As to the reason +why some priests were inactive in the work of rural amelioration, he +supposed that their poverty, the tradition of devoting themselves to +unworldly business and the fact that many of them were hereditary +priests accounted for it. He dwelt on the things in common between +Shinshu and Christianity and said that, next to the teaching of the +head of the agricultural college in the prefecture, the preaching of a +missionary had led him to work for the good of his village. + +In my host's house in the evening someone happened to quote the +proverb, "Richer after the fire." It means, of course, that after the +fire the neighbours are so ready with help that the last state of the +victim of the fire is better than the first. The view was expressed +that hitherto charitable institutions of some Western patterns had not +been so much needed in Japan as might be supposed.[48] "Those who go +to Europe from Japan are indeed much surprised by the number of +institutions to help people." Here, however, is the story of an +institution coming into existence in a village: "There was a man who +was thought to be rich, but he lived like a miser. His _shoji_ were +made of waste paper and his guests received tea only. So he was +despised. But many years afterwards it was found that for a long time +he had been collecting books. Then, to the surprise of everybody, he +built a library for his village. He is not at all proud of this and +those who ridiculed him are now ashamed." + +I was invited to a "Rural Life Exhibition." Some agricultural produce +was shown, but three hundred of the exhibits were manuscript books or +diagrams. One diagram illustrated the development in a particular +county of the use of two bactericides, formalin and carbon bisulphide. +The formalin was in use to the value of 2,000 yen. Then there was a +wall picture, a sort of Japanese "The Child: What will he Become?" The +good boy, aged fifteen, was shown spending his spare time in making +straw rope to the value of 3 sen 3 rin nightly, with the result that +after thirty years of such industry he became a rural capitalist who +possessed 1,000 yen and lived in circumstances of dignity. In contrast +with this virtuous career there was shown the rural rake's progress. A +youth who was in the habit of laying out 3 sen 3 rin riotously in +sweet-shops was proved to have wasted 1,000 yen in thirty years: the +prodigal was justly exhibited fleeing from his home in debt. + +One of the books on exhibition mentioned the volumes most in demand at +some village library. I translate the titles: + + Physical and Intellectual Training + About being Ambitious + The Housewife of a Peasant Family + The Management of a Farm + The Days when Statesmen were Boys + Culture and Striving + Essence of Rural Improvement + A Hundred Beautiful Stories + The Art of Composition + The Preparation of the Conscript + A Medical Treatise + A Translation of "Self-Help" + Nature and Human Life + The Glories of Native Places + Anecdotes concerning Culture + Lives of Distinguished Peasants + Mulberry Planting + Chinese Romances + Glories of this Peaceful Reign + Ninomiya Sontoku + +I noticed among the exhibits a short autobiography of a farmer, an +engaging egoist who wrote: + +"As a young man my will was not in study and though I used my wits I +did many stupid things and the results were bad. Then I became a +little awakened and for two years I studied at night with the primary +school teacher. After that I thought to myself in secret, 'Shall I +become a wise man in this village, or, by diligently farming, a rich +man?' That was my spiritual problem. Then all my family gathered +together and consulted and decided[49] that it would suit the family +better if I were to become a rich man, and I also agreed. To +accomplish that aim I increased my area under cultivation and worked +hard day and night. I cut down the cryptomeria at my homestead and +planted in their stead mulberries and persimmons. And I slowly changed +my dry land into rice fields (making it therefore more valuable). The +soil I got I heaped up at the homestead for eighteen years until I had +28,000 cubic feet. I was able then to raise the level of my house +which had become damp and covered with mould. The increase of my +cultivated area and of the yield per _tan_ and the improvement of my +house and the practice of economy were the delight of my life. I felt +grateful to my ancestors who gave me such a strong body. Sometimes I +kept awake all night talking with my wife about the goodness of my +ancestors. Also when in bed I planned a compact homestead. I once read +a Japanese poem, 'What a joy to be born in this peaceful reign and to +be favoured by ploughs and horses.' (Most Japanese farming is done +without either horses or ploughs.) It went deeply into my heart. Also +I heard from the school teacher of four loves: love of State, love of +Emperor, love of teacher and love of parent. I have been much favoured +by those loves. I also heard the doctrines of Ninomiya: sincerity, +diligence, moderate living, unselfishness. I felt it a great joy to +live remembering those doctrines. I also went to the prefectural +experiment station and studied fruit growing and my spirit was much +expanded. I returned again to the station and the expert talked to me +very earnestly. I asked for a special variety of persimmon. The expert +sent to Gifu prefecture for it. I planted the tree and made its top +into six grafts. It bore fruit and many passers-by envied it. Two +years after that I grafted five hundred trees and sold the grafted +stock." + +Several villages sent to the exhibition statistics of great interest. +One village set forth the changes which had taken place in the social +status of its inhabitants[50]. Some communities were represented by +statements of their hours of labour[51]. One small community's tables +showed how many of its inhabitants were "diligent people," how many +"average workers" and how many "other people[52]." A county +agricultural association had painstakingly collected information not +only about the work done in a year[53] and the financial returns +obtained by three typical farmers but about the way in which they +spent what they earned.[54] + +On my way back from the exhibition I heard the story of a priest. When +fourteen years of age he obtained seeds of cryptomeria and planted +them in a spot in the hills. He also practised many economies. When +still in his teens he asked permission to take two shares in a 50-yen +money-sharing club, but was not allowed to do so as no one would +believe that he could complete his payments. He persisted, however, +that he would be able to pay what was required and he was at length +accepted as a member. At twenty he became priest of a small temple +which was in bad repair and had a debt of 125 yen. He brought with him +his 100 yen from the club and the young cryptomeria. He planted the +trees in the temple grounds. He said, "I wish to rebuild the temple +when these trees grow up." He cultivated the land adjoining his temple +and contrived to employ several labourers. At last the cryptomeria +grew large enough for his purpose and he rebuilt the temple, expending +on the work not only his trees but 600 yen which he had by this time +saved. Then he proceeded to bring waste land into cultivation. At the +age of sixty-two he gave his temple to another priest and went to live +in a hut on the waste land. There came a tidal wave near the place, so +he went to the sufferers and invited five families to his now +cultivated waste land. He gave them each a _tan_ of land and the +material for building cottages and showed them how to open more land. + +[Illustration: "HIBACHI" AND, IN "TOKONOMA," FLOWER ARRANGEMENT AND +"KAKEMONO."] + +[Illustration: SCHOOL SHRINE CONTAINING EMPEROR'S PORTRAIT.] + +A good judge expressed the opinion that Buddhism was flourishing in 80 +per cent. of the villages of Aichi, but this was in a material and +ceremonial sense. The prefectures of Aichi and Niigata had been called +the "kitchens of Hongwanji"[55] (the great temple at Kyoto), such +liberal contributions were forthcoming from them. "A belief in +progress," this speaker said, "may be a substitute for religion for +many of our people; another substitute is a belief in Japan." A +village headman from the next prefecture (Shidzuoka) said: "People in +my village do not omit to perform their Buddhist ceremonies, but they +are not at their hearts religious. In our prefecture the influence of +Ninomiya is greater than that of Buddhism. If the villagers are good +it is Ninomiyan principles that make them so. Under Ninomiyan +influence the spirit of association has been aroused, thriftiness has +been encouraged and extravagance reprimanded." + +[Illustration: FENCING AT AN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL.] + +[Illustration: WAR MEMENTOES AT THE SAME SCHOOL--ALL SCHOOLS HAVE SOME] + +I told Mr. Yamasaki one day that there was an old Scotswoman who +divided good people into "rael Christians and guid moral fowk." What I +was curious to know was what proportion of Japanese rural people might +be fairly called "real Buddhists" and what proportion "good moral +folk." "There are certainly some real Buddhists, not merely good moral +folk," he assured me. "If you penetrate deeply into the lives of the +people you will be able to find a great number of them. In ordinary +daily life, during a period when nothing extraordinary happens, it is +not easy to distinguish the two classes; but when any trouble comes +then those real religious people are undismayed, while the ordinarily +good moral people may sometimes go astray. The proportion of religious +people is rather large among the poor compared with the middle and +upper classes. These poor people are always weighted with many +troubles which would be a calamity to persons of the middle or upper +classes. Such humble folk get support for their lives from what is in +their hearts. Though they may suffer privation or loss they are glad +that they can live on by the mercy of Buddha. There are some religious +people even among those who are not poor. They are usually people who +have lost some of their riches suddenly, or a dear child, or have been +deprived of high position, or have met some kind of misfortune. +Sometimes a man may become religious because he feels deeply the +misfortunes or miseries of a neighbour or the miseries of war. Or his +religion may come by meditation. A man who begins to be religious is +not, however, at once noticed. On the contrary, if he is a true +believer his daily life will be most ordinary." + +One day I passed a primary school playground. The girls had just +finished and the boys were beginning Swedish drill. Everyone engaged +in the drill, including the master, was barefoot. + +I saw that some of the cottages were built in an Essex fashion, of +puddled clay and chopped straw faced with tarred boards. Some +dwellings, however, were faced with straw instead of boards. They had +just had their wall thatch renewed for the winter. + +In one spot there was a quarter of a mile of wooden aqueduct for the +service of the paddy fields. Much agricultural pumping is done in +Aichi. I visited an irrigation installation where pumps (from London) +were turning barren hill tops into paddy fields.[56] The work was +being done by a co-operative society of 550 members who had borrowed +the 40,000 yen they needed from a bank on an undertaking to repay in +fifteen years. + +It was stated that common paddy near Anjo had been bought at 5,000 yen +per _chō_ and not for building purposes. When one member of our +company said, "The farmers here are rivalling each other in hard +work," the weightiest authority among us replied: "What the farmer +must do is to work not harder but better. At present he is not working +on scientific principles. The hours he is spending on really +profitable labour are not many. He must work more rationally. In 26 +villages in the south-west of Japan, where farming calls for much +labour, it was found that the number of days' work in the year was +only 192. Statistics for Eastern Japan give 186 days.[57] As to a +secondary industry, one or two hours' work a night at straw rope +making for a month may bring in a yen because the market for rope is +confined to Japan. The same with _zori_, a coarse sort being +purchasable for 2 sen a pair. But supplementary work like silk-worm +culture produces an article of luxury for which there is a world +market." + +When we returned home my host was kind enough to summarise for me--the +general reader may skip here--some of the reasons set forth by a +professor of agricultural politics for the farmer's position being +what it is: + +1. The average area cultivated per family is very small. + +2. The law of diminishing return. + +3. Imperfection of the agricultural system. Mainly crop raising, not a +combination of crop and stock raising, as in England. No profitable +secondary business but silkworm culture. Therefore the distribution of +labour throughout the year is not good and the number of days of +effective labour is relatively small. + +4. The commercial side of agriculture has not been sufficiently +developed. + +5. There has been a rise in the standard of living. In the old days +the farmer did not complain; he thought his lot could not be changed. +He was forbidden to adopt a new calling and he was restricted by law +to a frugal way of living. Now farmers can be soldiers, merchants or +officials and can live as they please. They begin to compare their +standard of living with that of other callings. What were once not +felt to be miseries are now regarded as such. + +6. Formerly the farmer had not the expense of education and of losing +the services of his sons to the army. There is also an increase in +taxation. A representative family which incurred a public expenditure, +not including education, of 12.86 yen in 1890, paid in 1898 19.68 yen. +In 1908 it was faced by a claim for 34.28 yen.[58] + +7. Although the area of land does not increase in relation to the +increase of population, the size of the peasant family is increasing +owing to the decrease of infanticide and abortion and the development +of sanitation. + +8. The farmer suffers from debts at high interest. + +9. The character, morality and ability of the farmer are not yet fully +developed. + +10. Formerly the farmer lived an economically self-contained +existence. He had no great need of money. He must now sell his produce +on a market with wider and wider fluctuations. + +11. There are many expensive customs and habits, for instance the two +or three days' feasting at weddings and funerals. + +During the evening I was told this story. In a village in a far part +of the prefecture there lived a farmer called Yosōgi. He was a thrifty +and diligent man. When he became old he gave all that he had to his +son. But the old man could not stop working. He would go to the farm +and help his son. The son did not like this. He wanted his old father +to rest. In the end he found that the only way to cope with his +industrious parent was to work very hard and leave him nothing to do. +But the old man was not to be balked. He took himself off to the +hillside and began to make a paddy field where there had never been a +paddy field before. To make a paddy field on such a slope is a +difficult task. The land must be embanked with stones and then +levelled. The building of the strong embankment alone calls for much +labour. The old man toiled very hard at his job and sometimes his son +in despair sent his labourers to help him. At length the paddy field +was finished. But it was only a tenth of a _tan_ in area. When the son +saw the small result of so much labour he said to his father, "I +grieve for the way you have toiled. You have laboured hard for many +days and my labourers have helped you, but all that has been +accomplished is the making of a paddy field so small and distant that +it is uneconomical." + +To this the old man replied: "When you go to Tokyo and see the +graveyard at Aoyama you will behold there many monuments of generals +and ministers of State. Their merits and their works in this world are +described on those monuments. But do you know where the monument of +the famous hero Kusunoki Masashige is? It is near Kobe, and it is not +more than half as big as those monuments at Tokyo. Do you know where +the monument of the great Taiko is? It is in Kyoto, but it is only +recently that this monument was put up. Thus the monuments of our +greatest heroes are small or have been erected recently. The reason is +that it is unnecessary to raise big monuments for them because what +they did in their lives was in itself their monument. They built their +monument in the hearts of the people. Therefore we can never judge +from the size of the monument the kind of work which was accomplished +by the man who sleeps under it. Monuments are not only for ministers +and warriors. We peasants can also erect monuments in our own way. To +open a new paddy field, to plant the bare hillside with trees, these +are our monuments. How lonely it would be for me if there were no +monument left after my death. However small this paddy field may be, +it will not be forgotten so long as it yields for your posterity the +blessing of its rice crop." "Happily," the interpreter added, "the old +man did not die so soon as he thought he would do. He lived for +several years and planted the bare hillside with trees. Now the wood +which grows there is worth 10,000 yen." + +A peasant proprietor expressed the conviction that goodness in a +family was "not the result of its own efforts but of the accumulation +of ancestral effort." The "ancestral merits and good spirit remain in +the family." On the problem of rich and poor he quoted the proverb, +"The very rich cannot remain very rich for more than three +generations; a poor family cannot long remain poor." He said that he +would be interested to know what I found to be "the causes of our +villagers becoming good or bad." "For ourselves," he said, quoting +another proverb, "'At the foot of the lighthouse it is dark.'" + + + + +THE MOST EXACTING CROP IN THE WORLD + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE HARVEST FROM THE MUD + +_Toyo-ashiwara-no-chiiho-aki-mizuho-no-Kuni_ (Land of plenteous ears +of rice in the plain of luxuriant reeds). + + +The vast difference between Far Eastern and Western agriculture is +marked by the fact that, except by using such a phrase as shallow +pond--and this is inadequate, because a pond has a sloping bottom and +a rice field necessarily a level one--it is difficult to describe a +rice field in terms intelligible to a Western farmer. The Japanese +have a special word for a rice field, _ta_, water field, written +[Kanji: ta]. It will be noticed that the ideograph looks like a water +field in four compartments. Another word, _hata_ or _hatake_,[59] +written [Kanji: hata], tells the story of the dry or upland field. It +is the ideograph for water field in association with the ideograph for +fire, and, as we shall see later on, when we make acquaintance with +"fire farming," an upland field is a tract the vegetation of which was +originally burnt off. + +Many of us have seen rice growing in Italy or in the United States. +But in Japan[60] the paddies are very-much smaller than anything to be +seen in the Po Valley and in Texas. Owing to the plentiful water +supply of a mountainous land, cultivation proceeds with some degree of +regularity and with a certain independence of the rainy season; and +there has been applied to traditional rice farming not a few +scientific improvements. + +There is a kind of rice with a low yield called upland rice which, +like corn, is grown in fields. But the first requisite of general rice +culture is water. The ordinary rice crop can be produced only on a +piece of ground on which a certain depth of water is maintained. + +In order to maintain this depth of water, three things must be done. +The plot of ground must be made level, low banks of earth must be +built round it in order to keep in the water, and a system of +irrigation must be arranged to make good the loss of water by +evaporation, by leakage and by the continual passing on of some of the +water to other plots belonging to the same owner or to other farmers. +The common name of a rice plot is paddy, and the rice with its husk +on, that is, as it is knocked from the ear by threshing, is called +paddy rice. The rice exported from Japan is some of it husked and some +of it polished. + +[Illustration: A 200-YEARS-OLD JAPANESE DRAWING OF THE RICE PLANT] + +Some 90 per cent. of the rice grown in Japan is ordinary rice. The +remaining 10 per cent. is about 2 per cent. upland and 8 per cent, +glutinous[61]--the sort used for making the favourite _mochi_ (rice +flour dumplings, which few foreigners are able to digest). It would be +possible to collect in Japan specimens of rice under 4,000 different +names, but, like our potato names, many of these represent duplicate +varieties. Rice, again reminding us of potatoes, is grown in early, +middle and late season sorts.[62] + +Just one-half of the cultivated area of Japan is devoted to paddy, +but there is to be added to this area under rice more than a quarter +million acres producing the upland rice, the yield of which is lower +than that of paddy rice. The paddy and upland rice areas together make +up more than a half of the cultivated land. The paddies which are not +in situations favourable to the production of second crops of rice +(they are grown in one prefecture only) are used, if the water can be +drawn off, for growing barley or wheat or green manure as a second +crop[63]. + +It is not only the Eastern predilection for rice and the wet condition +of the country, but the heavy cropping power of the plant[64]--500 +_go_ per _tan_ above barley and wheat yields--that makes the Japanese +farmer labour so hard to grow it[65]. Intensively cultivated though +Japan is, the percentage of cultivated land to the total area of the +country is, however, little more than half that in Great Britain[66]. +This is because Japan is largely mountains and hills. Level land for +rice paddies can be economically obtained in many parts of such a +country by working it in small patches only. There is no minimum size +for a Japanese paddy. I have seen paddies of the area of a counterpane +and even of the size of a couple of dinner napkins. + +The problem is not only to make the paddy in a spot where it can be +supplied with water, but to make it in such a way that it will hold +all the water it needs. It must be level, or some of the rice plants +will have only their feet wet while others will be up to their necks. +The ordinary procedure in making a paddy is to remove the top soil, +beat down the subsoil beneath, and then restore the top soil--there +may be from 5 to 10 in. of it. But the best efforts of the +paddy-field builder may be brought to naught by springs or by a +gravelly bottom. Then the farmer must make the best terms he can with +fortune. + +Paddies, as may be imagined from their physical limitations, are of +every conceivable shape. There is assuredly no way of altering the +shape of the paddies which are dexterously fitted into the hillsides. +But large numbers of paddies are on fairly level ground.[67] There is +no real need for these being of all sizes and patterns. They are what +they are because of the degree to which their construction was +conditioned by water-supply problems, the financial resources of those +who dug them or the position of neighbours' land. And no doubt in the +course of centuries there has been a great deal of swapping, buying +and inheriting. So the average farmer's paddies are not only of all +shapes and sizes but here, there and everywhere. + +Therefore there arose wise men to point out that for a farmer to work +a number of oddly shaped bits of land scattered all about the village +was uneconomical and out of date. (Like the old English strip system +which still survives in the Isle of Axholme.) So what was called an +adjustment of paddy fields was carried out in many places. The farmers +were persuaded to throw their varied assortment of fields into +hotchpot and then to have the mass cut up into oblong fields of equal +or relative sizes. These were then shared out according to what each +man had contributed. In some cases a little compensation had to be +given, for there were differences in the qualities as well as the +areas of the holdings. But reasonable justice was eventually done all +round, and ever afterwards a farmer, now that his holding was in +adjoining tracts, might spend his time working in his paddies instead +of in walking to and from them. Because many unnecessary paths and +divisions between paddies were done away with there was brought about +a saving of labour and increased efficiency of cultivation. There was +also a little more land to cultivate and the paddies were big enough +for an ox or a pony to be employed in them, and the water supply was +better and sufficiently under control for floods to be averted.[68] In +brief, costs were lower and crops were better.[69] + +Thus all over Japan nowadays one sees considerable tracts of adjusted +paddy fields. They are a joy to the rural sociologist. In its way +there has been nothing like it agriculturally in our time. For each of +these little farmers valued his odds and ends of paddy above their +agricultural worth. He or his forbears had made them or bought them or +married into them. And he believed that his own paddies were in a +condition of fertility surpassing not a few, and he doubted greatly +whether after adjustment he would find himself in possession of as +valuable land as his own. Sometimes also he believed that his paddies +were especially fortunate geomantically.[70] Yet, convinced by the +arguments for adjustment, the peasant agreed to the proposed +rearrangement, let his old tracts go and accepted in exchange neat +oblongs out of the common stock. Sometimes so great was the change +brought about in a village by adjustment that more than the paddies +were dealt with. Cottages were taken to new sites and the bones in +many little grave plots were removed. In a village in which there had +been an exhumation of the bones of 2,700 persons and a transference of +tombstones, I was told that the assembling together of the remains of +the departed in one place "had had a unifying effect on the +community." In this village within a period of twelve years 96 per +cent. of the paddies had been adjusted.[71] + +An advantage of adjustment which has not yet been mentioned is that +adjusted paddies can usually be dried off at harvest and can therefore +be put under a second crop, usually of grain. More than a third of the +paddy-field area of the country can be dried off, and therefore +produces a second crop of barley or wheat. The farmer has two +advantages if, owing to adjustment or natural advantages, he is able +to dry off his land. Of the first or rice crop, if he is a tenant +farmer, he has had to pay his landlord perhaps 60 per cent, in rent, +less straw;[72] but the second crop is his own. The further advantage +is that second-crop land can be cultivated dry shod. One-crop paddy is +under water all the year round, and must be cultivated with wet feet +and legs. + +It is because more than half the paddies are always under water that +rice cultivation is so laborious. Think of the Western farm labourer +being asked to plough and the allotment holder to dig almost knee-deep +in mud. Although much paddy is ploughed with the aid of an ox, a cow +or a pony,[73] most rice is the product of mattock or spade labour. +There is no question about the severity of the labour of paddy +cultivation. For a good crop it is necessary that the soil shall be +stirred deeply. + +Following the turning over of the stubble under water, comes the clod +smashing and harrowing by quadrupedal or bipedal labour. It is not +only a matter of staggering about and doing heavy work in sludge. The +sludge is not clean dirt and water but dirty dirt and water, for it +has been heavily dosed with manure, and the farmer is not fastidious +as to the source from which he obtains it.[74] And the sludge +ordinarily contains leeches. Therefore the cultivator must work +uncomfortably in sodden clinging cotton feet and leg coverings. Long +custom and necessity have no doubt developed a certain indifference to +the physical discomfort of rice cultivation. The best rice will grow +only in mud and, except on the large uniform paddies of the adjusted +areas, there is small opportunity for using mechanical methods. + +One day when I went into the country it happened to be raining hard, +but the men and women toiled in the paddies. They were breaking up the +flooded clods with a tool resembling the "pulling fork" used in the +West for getting manure from a dung cart. On other farms the task of +working the quagmire was being done by two persons with the aid of a +disconsolate pony harnessed to a rude harrow. The men and women in the +paddies kept off the rain by means of the usual wide straw hats and +loose straw mantles, admirable in their way in their combination of +lightness and rainproofness. Often, besides the farmer's wife, a young +widow or a young unmarried woman may be seen at work, but, as was once +explained to me, "The old Miss is not frequent in Japan."[75] + +Planting time arrives in the middle of June or thereabouts, when the +paddy has been brought by successive harrowings into a fine tilth or +rather sludge. It is illustrative of the exacting ways of rice that +not only has it to have a growing place specially fashioned for it, it +cannot be sown as cereals are sown. It must be sown in beds and then +be transplanted. The seed beds have been sown in the latter part of +April or the early part of May, according to the variety of rice and +the locality.[76] The seeds have usually been selected by immersion in +salt water and have been afterwards soaked in order to advance +germination. There is a little soaking pond on every farm. By the use +of this pond the period in which the seeds are exposed to the +depredations of insects, etc., is diminished. The seed bed itself is +about the width of an onion bed, in order that weeds and insect pests +may be easily reached. The seed bed is, of course, under water. The +seed is dropped into the water and sinks into the mud. Within about +thirty or forty days the seedlings are ready for transplanting. They +have been the object of unremitting care. Weeds have been plucked out +and insects have been caught by nets or trapped. There is a +contrivance which, by means of a wheel at either end, straddles the +seed bed, and is drawn slowly from one end to the other. It catches +the insects as they hop or fly up. + +In many localities specially fine varieties are grown for seed on the +land of the Shinto shrines. In other localities special sorts are +raised in ordinary paddies but surrounded by the rope and white paper +streamers which represent a consecrated place. In not a few villages +there are communal seed beds so that many farmers may grow the same +variety, and there may be a considerable bulk for co-operative sale. + +At transplanting time every member of the family capable of helping +renders assistance. Friends also give their aid if it is not planting +time for them too. The work is so engrossing that young children who +are not at school are often left to their own devices. Sometimes they +play by the ditch round the paddies and are drowned. Five such cases +of drowning are reported from three prefectures on the day I write +this. The suggestion is made that in the rice districts there should +be common nurseries for farmers' children at planting time. + +The rate at which the planters, working in a row across the paddy, set +out the seedlings in the mud below the water, is remarkable.[77] The +first weeding or raking takes place about a fortnight after planting. +After that there are three more weedings, the last being about the end +of August. All kinds of hoes are used in the sludge. They are usually +provided with a wooden or tin float. But most of the weeding is done +simply by thrusting the hand into the mud, pulling out the weed and +thrusting it back into the sludge to rot. The back-breaking character +of this work may be imagined. As much of it is done in the hottest +time of the year the workers protect themselves by wide-brimmed hats +of the willow-plate pattern and by flapping straw cloaks or by bundles +of straw fastened on their backs. + +A sharp look-out must be kept for insects of various sorts. In more +than one place I saw the boys and girls of elementary schools wading +in the paddies and stroking the young rice with switches in order to +make noxious insects rise. The creatures were captured by the young +enthusiasts with nets. The children were given special times off from +school work in which to hunt the rice pests and were encouraged to +bring specimens to school. + +There is no greater delight to the eye than the paddies in their early +green, rippled and gently laid over by the wind. (One should say +greens, for there is every tint from the rather woe-begone yellowish +green of the newly planted out rice to the happy luxuriant dark green +of the paddies that have long been enjoying the best of quarters.) As +harvest time approaches,[78] the paddies, because they are not all +planted with the same variety of rice, are in patches of different +shades. Some are straw colour, some are reddish brown or almost black. +A poet speaks of the "hanging ears of rice." Rice always seems to hang +its head more than other crops. It is weaker in the straw than barley, +but rice frequently droops not only because of its natural habit, but +because it has been over-manured or wrongly manured or because of wind +or wet. + +Beyond wind,[79] insects and drought, floods are the enemies of rice. +When the plants are young, three or four days' flooding do not matter +much, but in August, when the ears are shooting, it is a different +matter. The sun pours down and soon rots the rice lying in the warm +water. Sometimes the farmer, by almost withdrawing the water from his +paddies, raises the temperature of the soil with benefit to the crop. + +The farmer is fortunate who is able to get the water completely out of +his paddies by the time harvest arrives, but, as we have seen, +two-thirds of the paddies must be harvested in sludge. Many crops are +muddied before they can be cut. Sometimes on the eve of harvest the +farmer wades in and tries, by arranging the fallen stems across one +another, to keep some of the ears out of the water. But he is not very +successful. Rice may lie in the wet a week or even the best end of a +fortnight without serious damage. But all that this means is that +within the period specified it may not sprout. It must be damaged to +some extent even by a few days' immersion. The reason why it is not +damaged more than it is is no doubt, first, because rice is a plant +which has been brought up to take its chances with water, and in the +second place because the thing which is known to the housewife as rice +is not really the grain at all but the interior of the grain. + +Western farmers are hard put to it when their grain crops are beaten +down by wind and rain; Japanese agriculturists, because they gather +their harvest with a short sickle, do not find a laid crop difficult +to cut. But these harvesters are very muddy indeed. When the rice is +cut and the sheaves are laid along the low mud wall of the paddy they +are still partly in the sludge. We know how miserable a wet harvest is +at home, but think of the slushy harvest with which most Japanese +farmers struggle every year of their lives. The rice grower, although +year in and year out he has the advantage of a great deal of sunshine, +seldom gets his crop in without some rain. How does he manage to dry +his October and November rice? By means of a temporary fence or rack +which he rigs up in his paddy field or along a path or by the +roadside. On this structure the sheaves are painstakingly suspended +ears down. Sometimes he utilises poles suspended between trees. These +trees, grown on the low banks of the paddies, have their trunks +trimmed so that they resemble parasols. + +When the sheaves are removed in order to be threshed on the upland +part of the holding, they are carried away at either end of a pole on +a man's shoulder or are piled up on the back of an ox, cow or pony. +The height of the pile under which some animals stagger up from the +paddies gives one a vivid conception of "the last straw." + +Threshing is usually done by a man, woman, girl or youth taking as +many stems as can be easily grasped in both hands and drawing the +ears, first one way and then another, through a horizontal row of +steel teeth. The flail is not used for threshing rice but is employed +for barley. Another common way of knocking out grain is by beating the +straw over a table or a barrel. There are all sorts of cheap +hand-worked threshing machines. After the threshing of the rice comes +the winnowing, which may be done by the aid of a machine but is more +likely to be effected in the immemorial way, by one person pouring the +roughly threshed ears from a basket or skep while another worker +vigorously fans the grain. The result is what is known as paddy rice. +The process which follows winnowing is husking. This is done in the +simplest possible form of hand mill. Before husking the rice grain is +in appearance not unlike barley and it is no easy matter to get its +husk off. The husking mill is often made of hardened clay with many +wooden teeth on the rubbing surface. After husking there is another +winnowing. Then the grains are run through a special apparatus of +recent introduction called _mangoku doshi_, so that faulty ones may be +picked out. The result is unpolished rice. + +It looks grey and unattractive, and unfortunately the unprepossessing +but valuable outer coat is polished away. This is done in a mortar +hollowed out of a section of a tree trunk or out of a large stone. One +may see a young man or a young woman pounding the rice in the mortar +with a heavy wooden beetle or mallet. Often the beetle is fastened to +a beam and worked by foot. Or the polishing apparatus may be driven by +water, oil or steam power. Constantly in the country there are seen +little sheds in each of which a small polishing mill driven by a water +wheel is working away by itself. After the polishing, the _mangoku +doshi_ is used again to free the rice from the bran. This polished +rice is still further polished by the dealer, who has more perfect +mills than the farmer. + +[Illustration: SCATTERING ARTIFICIAL MANURE IN ADJUSTED PADDIES.] + +The farmer pays his rent not in the polished but in the husked rice. +At the house of a former _daimyo_ I saw an instrument which the +feudal lord's bailiff was accustomed to thrust into the rice the +tenants tendered. If when the instrument was withdrawn more than three +husks were found adhering, the rice was returned to be recleaned. +There are names for all the different kinds of rice. For instance, +paddy rice is _momi_; husked rice is _gemmai_; half-polished rice is +_hantsukimai_; polished rice is _hakumai_; cooked rice is _gohan_. + +[Illustration: PLANTING OUT RICE SEEDLINGS.] + +[Illustration: PUSH-CART FOR COLLECTION OF FERTILISER (TOKYO).] + +A century ago the farmer ate his rice at the _gemmai_ stage, that is +in its natural state, and there was no _beri-beri_. The "black saké" +made from this _gemmai_ rice is still used in Shinto ceremonies. In +order to produce clear _saké_ the rice was polished. Then well-to-do +people out of daintiness had their table rice polished. Now polished +rice is the common food. Half-polished rice may be prepared with two +or three hundred blows of the mallet; fully polished or white rice may +receive six, seven or eight hundred, or even it may be a thousand +blows. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[47] See Appendix VII. + +[48] See Appendix VIII. + +[49] Family in the French sense. + +[50] See Appendix IX. + +[51] See Appendix X. + +[52] See Appendix XI. + +[53] See Appendix XII. + +[54] See Appendix XIII. + +[55] It was recently stated that the consent of the authorities was +awaited for collections to the amount of 20 million yen, of which +13-1/2 million were for the two Hongwanjis. + +[56] For yields of new paddy, see Appendix XIV. + +[57] See Appendix XII. + +[58] It would be from 80 to 100 yen now. + +[59] _Hata_ (upland field) is not to be confounded with _hara_ +(prairie, wilderness, moor, often erroneously translated, plain). + +[60] Rice is grown in every prefecture. The largest total yields are +in Niigata, Hyogo, Fukuoka, Aichi, Yamagata, Ibariki and Chiba. + +[61] See Appendix XV. + +[62] The average yield of the three kinds at Government experimental +farms--the middle variety yields best and next comes the late +variety--is about 2-1/2 _koku_ per _tan_ or roughly (a _koku_ being +about 5 bushels and a _tan_ about a quarter of an acre) about 45 +bushels per acre. The average yield of ordinary rice in Japan in an +ordinary year is 40-3/4 bushels. In the bumper year of 1920 the +average yield was 41-1/3 bushels. In the year 1916 (to which most of +the figures in this book, apart from the Appendix and footnotes, in +which the latest available figures are given, refer) there was +produced 58-1/4 million _koku_ of all kinds of rice, the value of +which was 826-1/2 million yen. The normal yield (average of 7 years, +excluding the years of highest and lowest production) is 54-1/2 +million _koku_. See Appendix XV. + +[63] For wheat and barley crops, see Appendix XVI. + +[64] A few rice plants may be seen growing at Kew. + +[65] The cost of the rice crop and the income it yields are discussed +in Appendix XVII. + +[66] See Appendix XVIII. + +[67] In Japanese rural statistics the word plain may be said to mean a +tract of land which is neither cultivated nor timbered nor used for +the purposes of habitation. Sometimes it is called prairie, but this +is not always correct as it is very often a barren waste, a tract of +volcanic ash, or an area producing bamboo grass. Some of this land, +however, could be cultivated after proper irrigation, etc. In this +note, plains is employed in the ordinary acceptation of the word. Of +such plains there are several. The plain in which Tokyo is situated is +82,000 acres in extent. The traveller from Kobe to Tokyo passes +through the Kinai plain in which Kobe, Kyoto and Osaka stand. It is +said to feed 2-1/2 million people. Four other plains are reputed to +feed 7-1/2 million. + +[68] Rivers supply about 65 per cent. of the paddy water and +reservoirs about 21 per cent. The remainder has to be got from other +sources. + +[69] An acreage of a _tan_ is aimed at, but it is frequently larger; +it may even be 4 _tan_ (an acre). The cost ranges from about 8 yen to +50 yen per _tan_. The average increase in yield alter adjustment is +about 15 per cent., to which must be added the yield of the new land +obtained, say 3 per cent. of the area adjusted. The consent of half +the owners is required for adjustment. + +[70] Once when a friend in Tokyo had trouble with her servants a maid +informed her that the house was unlucky because a certain necessary +apartment faced the wrong point of the compass. + +[71] In the whole of Japan by 1919 two million and a half acres had +been adjusted or were in course of adjustment. + +[72] The rent is usually 57 per cent. of the rice harvest in the +paddies and 44 per cent. (in cash or kind) of the crops on the +non-paddy land. Any crop raised in the paddies between the harvesting +of one rice crop and the planting out of the next belongs to the +farmer. (All taxes and rates are paid by the landlord, and amount to +from 30 to 33 per cent. of the rent.) The area under paddy and the +area of upland under cultivation are almost equal. + +[73] See Appendix XIX. + +[74] See Appendix XX. + +[75] In 1920 there were 38,922,437 males and 38,083,073 females. + +[76] See Appendix XXI. + +[77] See Appendix XXII. + +[78] The harvest extends from mid-September in the north of Japan to +the end of October or beginning of November in the south. The harvest +is taken early in the north for fear of frost. + +[79] The "210th day" (counted from the beginning of spring), when +flowering commences, is so critical a period that the weather +conditions during the twenty-four hours in every prefecture are +reported to the Emperor. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RICE BOWL, THE GODS AND THE NATION + +I thank whatever gods there be....--HENLEY + +I + + +How many people who have not been in the East or in the rice trade +realise that rice, in the course of the polishing it receives from the +farmer and the dealer, loses nearly half its bulk? A necessary part of +the grain is lost. No wonder that sensible people in Japan and the +West demand the grey unpolished rice. In Japan some enterprising +person has started selling bottled stuff made from the part of the +rice grain that is rubbed off in the polishing process. It does not +look appetising. An easier thing would be to leave some of the coating +on the rice. One thinks of what Smollett said of white bread: + +"They prefer it to wholesome bread because it is whiter. Thus they +sacrifice their health to a most absurd gratification of a misjudging +eye, and the tradesman is obliged to poison them in order to live." + +Although, for economy's sake, a considerable amount of barley is eaten +with or instead of rice, it may be said in a general way that the +Japanese people, like so many millions of other Asiatics, have rice +for breakfast, rice for lunch and rice for dinner. If they have +anything to eat between meals it is as like as not to be rice cakes--- +to the foreigner's taste a loathly, half-cooked compost of rice flour +or pounded rice and water, a sort of tepid underdone muffin. We in the +West have bread at every meal as the Japanese have rice, but we eat +our bread not only as plain bread but as toast and bread-and-butter; +we also ring the changes on brown, white and oat bread. + +Among the covered lacquer dishes on the little table set before each +kneeling breakfaster, luncher or diner in Japan there is one which is +empty. This is the rice bowl. When the meal begins--or in the case of +an elaborate dinner at the rice course--the maid brings in a large +covered wooden copper-bound or brass-bound tub or round lacquered box +of hot rice. This rice she serves with a big wooden spoon, the only +spoon ever seen at a Japanese meal. A man may have three helpings or +four in a bowl about as big as a large breakfast cup. The etiquette is +that, though other dishes may be pecked at, the rice in one's bowl +must be finished. The usage on this point may have originated in the +feeling that it was almost impious to waste the staple food of the +country. It is not difficult to pick up the last rice grains with the +wooden _hashi_ (chopsticks), for the rice is skilfully boiled. (Soft +rice is served to invalids only.) But when the bowl is almost empty +the custom is to pour into it weak tea or hot water, and then to drink +this, so getting rid of the odd grains. It is through omitting to +drink in this way that foreigners get indigestion when at a Japanese +meal they eat a lot of rice. + +At first it is not easy for the foreigner to believe that people can +come with appetite to several bowls of plain rice three times a +day.[80] But good rice does seem to have something of the property of +oatmeal, the property of a continual tastiness. Further, the rice +eater picks up now and then from a small saucer a piece of pickle +which may have either a salty or a sweet fermented taste. The +nutrition gained at a Japanese meal is largely in soups in which the +bean preparations, _tofu_ and _miso_, and occasionally eggs, are used. +And there is no country in the world where more fish is eaten than in +Japan. The coast waters and rivers team with fish, and fish--fresh, +dried and salted, shell-fish and fish unrecognisable as fish after all +sorts of ingenious treatment--is consumed by almost everybody. + +The Japanese are in no doubt that the foreign rice which is brought +into the country to supplement the home supply is inferior to their +own.[81] Inferior means that they prefer the flavour of their own +rice, just as most Scots prefer oatmeal made from oats grown in +Scotland. + + +II + +In the year of the Coronation--it took place three years after the +Emperor's accession--two prefectures had the honour of being chosen to +produce the rice to be placed before gods, Emperor and dignitaries at +Kyoto. The work was not undertaken without ceremony. I was a witness +of the rites performed at the planting of the rice in one of the +prefectures. Plots had been prepared with enormous care. Along the top +of the special fencing were the Shinto straw bands and paper +streamers. A small shrine had been built to overlook the plots. Even +the instruments of the little meteorological station near, by which +the management of the crop would be guided, were surrounded by straw +bands and streamers--religion protecting science. The mattocks and +other implements which had been used in the preparation of the paddy +or were to be used in getting in the crops and in cultivating, +harvesting, threshing and cleaning it were all new. Even the herring +which had manured the plot had been "specially selected and blessed." +Further, there was a special bath-house where the young men and women +who were to plant the rice had washed ceremonially at an early hour. + +We had reached the spot through a crowd of twenty or thirty thousand +people who were gathering to witness the ceremony. A covered platform +had been built in front of the rice field shrine, and on either side +were large roofed-in spaces for some scores of Shinto priests and the +favoured spectators. The ceremony lasted two hours. It carried us +magically away from a Japan of frock coats to Japan of a thousand, it +may be two thousand years ago. Between the wail of ancient wood and +wind instruments and the cinema operators who missed nothing external +and some bored top-hatted spectators who furtively puffed a cigarette +before the ceremony came to an end,[82] what a gulf! Platter after +platter of food, sometimes rice, sometimes vegetables, sometimes +fruit, sometimes a big fish, was passed by one priest to another in +the sunlight until all the offerings were reverently placed by a +special dignitary on one of those unpainted, unvarnished, undecorated +but exquisitely proportioned altars which are an artistic glory of +Shintoism. The shrine was wholly open on the side of the rice field, +and the high priest was in full view as he stood before the altar with +bowed head and folded hands, his robe caught by the breeze, and +delivered in a loud voice his zealous invocation. His words were +stressed not only by an acolyte who twanged the strings of a venerable +harp, but by the song of a lark which rose with the first strains of +the harpist. The purpose of the ceremony was to call down the gods and +to gain their blessing for the crop and the new reign. At the moment +of highest solemnity the thousands assembled bowed their heads: the +gods were deigning to descend and accept the offering. More ancient +music, more ceremonial, and the gods having been called upon to return +to high heaven, the laden platters were gravely removed, and the rice +planting in the adjoining field began. To the sound of drum the young +men and women in special costumes strode through the wicket into the +mud of the paddies, and, under the supervision of the director of the +prefectural agricultural experiment station in a silk hat, planted out +the tufts of rice seedlings in scrupulously measured rows. + +I asked a distinguished Japanese who was standing near me--he is a +Christian--how many of the educated people in the assembly believed +that the gods had descended. His answer was, "I may not believe that +the gods of a truth descended, but I find something beautiful in +calling on the gods with a harp of Old Japan, and I do believe that +our humble and natural offering to-day may be acceptable to whatever +gods there may be and that it is a worthy exercise for us to undertake +and may also be conducive to a good harvest." My friend attempted the +following rough rendering of a song which had been sung by the rice +planters before the shrine: + +This day the beginning of sowing at an auspicious time-- +Long life to the rice! +May it be a token of the years of the Reign, +The seed of peace for the world-- +May it start from this consecrated field! +One in heart we see to it that our seedlings are well matched. +Mikawa's[83] millennium and the millennium of rice. +Let us pray for an abundant shooting. +Now let us plant the seedlings straight; +Pleasing to the gods are the ways that are not crooked. + +After this ceremony, in which the staple crop of the country and the +labour of the farmer in his paddy field had been honoured by the State +and dignified by ancestral blessings, there was luncheon in one of +those deftly contrived reed-covered structures, of the building of +which the Japanese have the knack, and the Governor asked some of us +to say a few words. Then on a raised platform in the open there was +enacted a comic interlude such as might have been seen in England in +the Middle Ages. In the evening I was bidden to a dinner of the +officials responsible for the day's doings. The Governor made a kindly +reference to my labours and the local M.P. presented me with a kimono +length of the cotton material which had been woven for the planters of +the sacred rice. + + +III[84] + +The production of rice has increased more quickly than the growth of +the population. If we consider, along with the advance in population, +the crops of the years 1882 and 1913, which were held to be average, +and, in order to be as up-to-date as possible, the normal annual +yield[85] of the five-years period 1912-18, we find that, as between +1882 and 1913, the population increased 45 per cent. and rice +production increased 63 per cent., while as between 1882 and the +normal annual yield period of 1912-18, the population increased 55 per +cent, and the crop 75 per cent.[86] + +This is a noteworthy fact. But equally noteworthy is the fact that in +the 1882-1913 period, in which the production of rice increased 63 per +cent. and the population only 45 per cent., the price of rice did not +fall. On the contrary it rose. This was due largely[87] to the fact +that people had begun to eat rice who had not before been able to +afford it. Many people who grow rice eat, as has been noted, barley or +barley mixed with a little rice. From the 'eighties onwards more and +more rice was eaten.[88] + +The reason was that, what with the cash obtained from cocoons through +the enormous development of sericulture,[89] what with the money +received by the girls who had gone to the factories, what with the +growth of big cities causing an increased demand for vegetables, eggs +and especially fruit at good prices, what with the use of better seed +and more artificial manure, what with agricultural co-operation, +paddy-field adjustment and the taking-in of new land, the farmer, in +spite of increased taxation,[90] was doing better, or at any rate was +minded to live better. In the thirty-years period 1882-1913, his crop +increased 63 per cent. although his area under cultivation increased +by only 17 per cent. In the following pages we shall hear more of the +methods by which the farmer's receipts have been increased. We shall +hear also, alas! of the ways in which his expenditure has increased. +He is indeed in a trying situation. Everything depends on his +character and education and on the influences, social and political, +moral and religious, under which he lives. That is why this book, in +devoting itself to an examination of the foundations of an +agricultural country, is concerned with rural sociology rather than +with the technique of crops and cropping. + +The outstanding problem of the rice grower is fluctuations in +price.[91] It is also the problem of the landlord, for rents are fixed +not at so much money but at so many _koku_ of rice. This means that +on rent day the farmer must pay the same amount of rice whether his +crop has been good or bad. It also means that when the price of rice +rises the amount of rent is automatically raised. If rent were paid, +not in so many _koku_ of rice but in money at a fixed amount, the +landlord would know where he was and the tenant would be in an easier +position, for when the rice crop failed the price would be high and he +would be able to meet his rent by selling a smaller amount of rice. +The counsel of the prudent to the rice producer is to build +storehouses and not to sell the whole of his crop immediately after +harvest, but to extend the sale over the whole year, marketing each +month about the same amount if possible. The Government Granary plan +came into force in 1921, some 3 million _koku_ of unpolished rice +being bought in five grades at from 27 yen to 33 yen. In the year +before the War rice was selling at 20 yen per _koku_ (5 bushels). The +previous year (1912) it had been 21 yen--had risen at times to 23 +yen--an unheard-of price. Between 1894 and 1912 it had climbed merely +from about 7 yen to a maximum of 16 yen.[92] In the year in which the +War broke out, it dropped as low as 12 yen, and in 1915 it was only 11 +yen. By 1916 it had not risen beyond 14 yen. + +The fall in prices was due to exceptional harvests in 1914 and 1915 +(that is, 57,006,541 _koku_ and 55,924,590 _koku_ as compared with the +50,255,000 _koku_ of the year before the War, or the 51,312,000 which +may be taken as the average of the seven-years period 1907-13). Such +exceptional harvests as those of 1914 and 1915 showed a surplus of +from 4½ to 6 million _koku_ over and above the needs of the country, +which are roughly estimated at 1 _koku_ per head including infants and +the old and feeble. In 1916 it was established, when account was taken +of stored rice, that the actual surplus was something like 6 or 7 +million _koku_. Therefore a fall in price took place. The extent to +which rice is imported and exported is shown in Appendix XXIV. This +Chapter would become much more technical than is necessary if I +entered into the question of the correctness of rice statistics. +Roughly, the statistics show a production 15 per cent. less than the +actual crops. Formerly the under-estimation was 20 per cent. The +practice has its origin in the old taxation system. + +The notes for the account of rural life in Japan which will be found +in this book were chiefly made in the second and third years of the +War. Since that time there has been an enormous rise in the price of +everything. For a time the farmers prospered as they had prospered in +the high rice-price years, 1912-13.[93] The high prices of all grain +as well as the fabulous price of raw silk (due to increased export to +America and to increased home consumption) were a great advantage. + +[Illustration: MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE'S EFFORTS TO KEEP THE PRICE OF RICE +FROM RISING] + +Then came the rice riots of the city workers, the general slump and +finally the commercial and industrial crash. Raw silk fell nearly to +one-third of its top price, and farmers had to sell cocoons under the +cost of production. Everywhere countrymen and countrywomen employed in +the factories were discharged in droves. A large proportion of these +unfortunates returned to their villages to dispel some rural dreams of +urban Eldorado. + +But this matter of the going up and coming down of prices has but a +passing interest for the reader. The only economic fact of which he +need lay hold is that in recent years the farmers have been led into +the way of spending more money--in taxation as well as in general +expenses of living--and that, when account is taken of every advantage +they have gained from better methods of production, they have pressing +on them the limitations imposed by the size of their farms and their +farming practice. Whatever the prices obtained for the: products of +the soil, climatic facts,[94] the character and social condition of +the people, their attitude towards life and authority and the attitude +of authority towards them remain very much the same. And thus a +narrative of things seen and heard chiefly during the first years of +the War is not at all out of date even if it were not supplemented as +it is by a plentiful supply of notes containing the latest statistical +data. + +There is one curious exception only. The reader of these pages will +constantly come on references to the poverty of the tenant farmers. +They are, of course, practically labourers, for they cultivate two or +three acres only, and at the end of the year, as has been shown, have +merely a trifle in hand and sometimes not that. Influenced by the +labour movement, which developed in the industrial centres during and +after the War,[95] this depressed class has of late shown spirit. It +has begun to assert its claims against landowners. At the end of 1920 +there were as many as ninety associations of tenant farmers, and sixty +of these had been started for the specific purpose of representing +tenants' interests against landowners. Strikes of tenants began and +continue. The end of this movement of a proverbially conservative +class is not at all certain.[96] + +The outstanding facts which are to be borne in mind about agricultural +Japan are that the population is as thick on the ground as the +population of the British Isles (thicker in reality, for so much of +Japan is mountain and waste)--ten times thicker than the population of +the United States[97]--that Japan is primarily an agricultural +country, while Great Britain is largely a manufacturing and trading +country, and that only 15½ per cent. of Japan proper (including +Hokkaido) is under cultivation against 27 per cent. in Great +Britain.[98] The average area cultivated per farming family in Japan, +counting paddy and upland together, is less than 3 acres. As the total +population of Japan is now (1921) 56 millions (55,960,150 in 1920, +plus the annual increase of 600,000), every acre has to feed close on +four persons. ("Even in Hokkaido," Dr. Sato notes, "the average area +per family is only 7½ acres.") Happily the number of families +cultivating less than 1¼ acres is decreasing and the number +cultivating from 1¼ up to 5 acres is increasing.[99] In other words, +the favourite size of farm is one which finds work for all the members +of the farmer's family. As on small holdings all over the world, it is +found that profits are difficult to make when help has to be paid for. +The facts that in the last four years for which figures are available +the number of farming families keeping silk-worms has risen by half a +million and that every year the area of land under cultivation +increases show that new ways of increasing income are eagerly seized +on. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[80] For estimate of daily consumption of rice by Japanese, see +Appendix XXIII. + +[81] For statistics of imported and exported rice, see Appendix XXIV. + +[82] Japanese. I was the only foreigner present. + +[83] The old name for a considerable part of Aichi + +[84] This section of the chapter was written in 1921. + +[85] For the way in which "normal yield" is arrived at, see p. 70. + +[86] See Appendix XXV. + +[87] War with China, 1894; with Russia, 1904. + +[88] For farmers' diet, see Appendix XXVI. + +[89] Farmers in sericultural districts live better than the ordinary +rice farmers. + +[90] See Appendix XXVII. + +[91] See Appendix XXVIII. + +[92] For prices, see Appendix XVII. + +[93] The rise in prices towards the close of the War, with the rise in +the cost of living throughout the world, has been discussed on page +xxv. + +[94] See Appendix XXIX. + +[95] See Chapter XX. + +[96] Recent figures show 400 tenants' associations, of which a third +are militant. + +[97] See Appendix XXX and page 97. + +[98] See Chapter XX. + +[99] See Appendix XXXI. + + + + +BACK TO FIRST PRINCIPLES: THE APOSTLE +AND THE ARTIST + +CHAPTER X + +A TROUBLER OF ISRAEL + +The signification of this gift of life, that we should leave a better +world for our successors, is being understood.--MEREDITH + + +To some people in Japan the countryman Kanzō Uchimura is "the Japanese +Carlyle." To others he is a religious enthusiast and the Japanese +equivalent of a troubler of Israel. He appeared to me in the guise of +a student of rural sociology. + +Uchimura is the man who as a school teacher "refused to bow before the +Emperor's portrait."[100] He endured, as was to be expected, social +ostracism and straitened means. But when his voice came to be heard in +journalism it was recognised as the voice of a man of principle by +people who heard it far from gladly. There is a seamy side to some +Japanese journalism[101] and Uchimura soon resigned his editorial +chair. He abandoned a second editorship because he was determined to +brave the displeasure of his countrymen by opposing the war with +Russia. To-day he deplores many things in the relations of Japan and +China. + +[Illustration: _Fuhei_ +MUZZLED EDITORS] + +Uchimura has written more than two dozen books, mostly on religion. +_How I became a Christian_ has been translated into English, German, +Danish, Russian and Chinese, and is to that extent a landmark in the +literary history of Japan. His Christianity is an Early Christianity +which places him in antagonism, not only to his own countrymen who are +Shintoists, Buddhists or Confucians, or vaguely Nationalists, but to +such foreign missionaries as are sectarians and literalists. His +earliest training was in agricultural science, and the welfare of the +Japanese countryside is near his heart. If he be a Carlyle, as his +fibre and resolution, downright way of writing and speaking, hortatory +gift, humour, plainness of life and dislike of officials, no less than +his cast of countenance, his soft hat and long gaberdine-like coat +have suggested, he is a Carlyle who is content to stay both in body +and mind at Ecclefechan. He is not, however, like Carlyle, whom he +calls "master," a peasant, but a samurai. + +"As you penetrate into the lives of the farmers and discover the +influences brought to bear on them," Uchimura said to me in his +decisive way, "there will be laid bare to you _the foundations of +Japan_. You know our proverb, of course, _No wa kuni no taihon nari_ +('Agriculture is the basis of a nation')? Have you been to Nikko?" +This seemed a little inconsequent, but I told him I had not yet been +to Nikko. ("Until you have seen Nikko," runs the adage, "do not say +'splendid'.") "How many of the tourists who are delighted with Nikko," +he went on, "have heard how the richest farms near that town were +devastated? A century ago a minister of the Shogun, who realised that +fertility depended on trees, saw to the whole range of Nikko hills +being afforested. It was a tract twenty miles by twenty miles in +extent. But the 'civilised' authorities of our own days sold all the +timber to a copper company for 8,000 yen. The company destroyed the +fertility of the district not only by cutting down the forest but by +poisoning the water with which the farmers irrigated their crops. A +member of Parliament gave himself with such devotion to the cause of +the ruined farmers that when he died the ashes of his cremated body +were divided and preserved in four shrines erected to his memory." + +It was a sad thing, said Uchimura, that the farmers of Japan, because +of the decreased fertility of the land due to the denudation of the +hills of trees, and because of their increased expenses, should be +laying out "a quarter of their incomes on artificial manures." "The +enemies which Japan has most to fear to-day," Uchimura declared, "are +impaired fertility and floods." + +It may be well, perhaps, to explain for a few readers how floods do +their ill work. The rain which falls on treeless mountains is not +absorbed there. The water washes down the mountain sides, bringing +with it first good soil and then subsoil, stones and rock. The hills +eventually become those peaked deserts the queer look of which must +have puzzled many students of Japanese pictures. The debris washed +away is carried into the rivers, along with trees from the lower +slopes, and the level of the river beds is raised. Because there is +less space in the river beds for water the rivers overflow their +banks, and disastrous floods take place. The farmers, the local +authorities and the State raise embankments higher and higher, but +embankment building is costly and cannot go on indefinitely. The real +remedy is to decrease the supply of water by planting forests in the +mountains[102]. In many places the rivers are flowing above the level +of the surrounding country. The imagination is caught by the fact that +there are four earthquakes a day in Japan[103] and that within a +twelvemonth fires destroy 400 acres or so of buildings; but every +year, on an average, floods, tidal waves and typhoons together drown +more than 600 people and cause a money loss of 25 million yen! Every +year 10½ million yen are spent by the State and the prefectures on +river control alone. + +Uchimura put on his famous wideawake and we went out for a walk. "I +should like," he said, "to press the view that the vaunted expansion +of Japan has meant to the farmers an increase of prices and taxes and +of armaments out of all proportion to our population[104]." + +Uchimura stood stock still in the little wood we had entered. "There +is one thing more," he added gravely. "Before you can get deeply into +your subject you must touch religion. There you see the depths of the +people. A large part of the deterioration of the countryside is due to +the deterioration of Buddhism. You must ask about it. You will see in +the villages much of what your old writers used to call 'priestcraft.' +You will hear of the thraldom of many of the people. You will see with +your own eyes that real Christianity may be a moral bath for a rural +district." + +"The essentials, not the forms of Christianity," he declared, would +save the countryside by "brotherly union." "Brotherly union" would +make a better life and a better agriculture. The rural class, he +explained, was more sharply divided than foreigners understood into +owners of land who lived on their rents and farmers who farmed[105]. +The division between the two classes was "as great as an Indian caste +division." "To the landowner who lives in his village like a feudal +lord the simple Gospel, with its insistence on the sacredness of work, +comes as an intellectual revolution." Women as well as men of means +received from Christianity "a new conception of humanity." They ceased +to "look upon their own glory and to take delight in the flattery of +poor people." They changed their way of speaking to the peasants. They +developed an interest, of which they knew nothing before, in the +spiritual and material betterment of the men, women and children of +their village. + +I went a two-days journey into the country with Uchimura. We stayed at +the house of a landowner who was one of his adherents. I found myself +in a large room where two swallows were flitting, intent on building +on a beam which yearly bore a nest. In this room stood a shrine +containing the ancestral tablets. The daily offerings were no longer +made, but Uchimura's counsel, unlike that of some zealots, was to +preserve not only this shrine but the large family shrine in the +courtyard. Near by was an engraving of Luther. + +[Illustration: "THE JAPANESE CARLYLE."] + +[Illustration: MR. AND MRS. YANAGI.] + +Uchimura spoke in the house to some thirty or more "people of the +district who had accepted Christianity." His appeal was to "live +Christianity as given to the world by its founder." The address, which +was delivered from an arm-chair, was based on the fifth chapter of +Matthew, which in the preacher's copy appeared to contain +cross-references to two disciples called Tolstoy and Carlyle. When I +was asked to speak I found that the women in the gathering had places +in front. "The remarkable effect of Christianity among those who +have come to think with us," Uchimura told me afterwards, "is seen +most in their treatment of women. Our host, had he not been a +Christian, would have been credited by public opinion with the +possession of a concubine, and would not have been blamed for it." +When, after the speaking, we knelt in a circle and talked less +formally of how best to benefit rural people, we were joined by the +women folk. Later, when a dozen of the neighbours were invited to +dinner, it was not served at separate tables for each kneeling guest, +but at one long table, an innovation "to indicate the brotherly +relation." + +[Illustration: CHILDREN CATCHING INSECTS ON RICE-SEED BEDS] + +[Illustration: MASTERS OF A COUNTRY SCHOOL AND SOME OF THE CHILDREN.] + +"So you see," said Uchimura, as we walked to the station in the +morning, "in an antiquated book, which, I suppose, stands dusty on the +shelves of some of your reformers, there is power to achieve the very +things they aim at." He went on to explain that he looked "in the +lives of hearers, not in what they say," for results from his +teaching. He believed in liberty and freedom, in sowing the seed of +change and reform and allowing people to develop as they would. "Let +men and women believe as they have light." + +He spoke in his kindly way of how "the bond of a common faith enables +Japanese to get closer to the foreigner and the foreigner closer to +the Japanese." There were many things we foreigners did not +understand. We did not understand, for example, that "A man's a man +for a' that" was an unfamiliar conception to a Japanese. I was to +remember, when I interrogated Japanese about the problems of rural +life, that they had had to coin a word for "problems." Above all, I +must be careful not to "exaggerate the quality of Eastern morality." +Uchimura asserted sweepingly that "morality in the Anglo-Saxon sense +is not found in Japan." We of the West underrated the value of the +part played by the Puritans in our development. Our moral life had +been evolved by the soul-stirring power of the Hebrew prophets and of +Christ. To deny this was "kicking your own mother." Just as it was not +possible for the Briton or American to get his present morality from +Greece and Rome exclusively, it was not possible for the Japanese to +obtain it from the sources at his disposal. + +The faults of the Eastern were that he thought too much of outward +conduct. Good political and neighbourly-relations, kindliness, honesty +and thrift were his idea of morality. "To love goodness and to hate +evil with one's whole soul is a Christian conception for which you may +search in vain through heathendom." The horror which the Western man +of high character felt when he thought of the future of the little +girls in attendance on geisha was not a horror generated by Plato. +"Heathen life looks nice on the outside to foreigners," but +Confucianism, Buddhism and Shintoism had all been weak in their +attitude towards immorality. It was Christianity alone which +controlled sexual life. Without deep-seated love of and joy in +goodness and deep-seated horror of evil it was impossible to reform +society. + +Uchimura said that it had taken him thirty years to reach the +conviction that the best way of raising his countrymen was by +preaching the religion of "a despised foreign peasant." Many things he +had been told by exponents of Christianity now seemed "very strange," +but there remained in the first four books of the New Testament, in +the essence of Christianity, principles "which would give new life to +all men." Moved by this belief, Uchimura and his friends gave their +lives to the work of the Gospel, to a work attended by humiliations; +"but this is our glory." + +Japanese civilisation, he reiterated, was "only good in the sense that +Greek and Roman civilisations were good." Modern Japan represented +"the best of Europe minus Christianity; the moral backbone of +Christianity is lacking." "Probe a dozen Buddhist priests in turn," he +said, "and you find something lacking; you don't find the Buddhist or +Confucian really to be your brother[106]." + +"The greatness of England," he went on, "is not due to the inherent +greatness of the English people, but to the greatness of the truths +which they have received." In considering the sources of national +greatness, it was idle to believe that some peoples were original and +some not original in their ideas and methods. Where were the people to +be found who were without extraneous influence? Where would England be +without Greek philosophy, Roman law, and Christianity? + +Our talk broke off as several peasant women passed us on the narrow +way by the rice fields. The mattocks they carried were the same weight +as their husbands' mattocks and the women were going to do the same +work as the men. But the women were nearly all handicapped by having a +child tied on their backs. Uchimura, returning to his objection to +foreign political adventure, said that Japan, properly cultivated, +could support twice its present population. There were many marshy +districts which could be brought into cultivation by drainage. Then +what might not forestry do? But the progress could not be made because +of lack of money. The money was needed for "national defence." + +"For myself," said Uchimura, "I find it still possible to believe in +some power which will take care of inoffensive, quiet, humble, +industrious people. If all the high virtues of mankind are not +safeguarded somehow, then let us take leave of all the ennobling +aspirations, all the poetry, and all the deepest hopes we have, and +cease to struggle upward. The question is whether we have faith." We +still waited, he declared, for the nation which would be Christian +enough to take its stand on the Gospel and sacrifice itself +materially, if need be, to its faith that right was greater than +might. + +And so "impractical, outspoken to rashness, but thoroughly sincere and +experienced," as one of his appreciative countrymen characterised him +to me, we take leave of the "Japanese Carlyle." With whom could I have +gone more provocatively towards the foundation of things at the +beginning of my investigation in farther Japan? + +FOOTNOTES: + +[100] The statement is, he told me, a calumny. He explained that he +lost his post for refusing to bow, not to the portrait, but to the +signature of the Emperor, the signature appended to that famous +Imperial rescript on education which is appointed to be read in +schools. Uchimura is very willing, he said, to show the respect which +loyal Japanese are at all times ready to manifest to the Emperor, and +he would certainly bow before the portrait of His Majesty; but in the +proposal that reverence should be paid to the Imperial autograph he +thought he saw the demands of a "Kaiserism"--his word, he speaks +vigorous English--which was foreign to the Japanese conception of +their sovereign, which would be inimical to the Emperor's influence +and would be bad for the nation. + +[101] But journalism is one of the most powerful influences for good, +and some of the best brains of the country is represented in it. +Papers like the _Jiji, Asahi, Nichi Nichi_, and the Osaka papers run +in conjunction with them have altogether a circulation approaching two +millions. + +[102] For statistics of forests, see Appendix XXXII. + +[103] A severe shook occurs on an average about every six years. The +eminent seismologist, Professor Omori, told me that he does not expect +an earthquake of a dangerous sort for a generation. + +[104] The _Oriental Economist_, a Japanese publication, in the autumn +of 1921 suggested the abandonment of all the extensions to the Empire +on the score that they had not been a benefit to Japan, and that she +was in no way dependent on them. See also Appendix XXXIII. + +[105] See Appendix XXXIV. + +[106] What of the old story which I have heard from Uchimura and +others of the Confucian missionary to certain head hunters of Formosa? +After many years of labour among them they promised to give up head +hunting if they might take just one more head. At last the good man +yielded, and told them that a Chinaman in a red robe was coming +towards the village the next day and his head might be taken. On the +morrow the men lay in wait for the stranger, sprang on him and cut off +his head, only to find that it was the head of their beloved +missionary. Struck with remorse and realising the evil of head taking, +the tribe gave up head hunting for ever. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE IDEA OF A GAP + +Bold is the donkey driver, O Khedive, and bold is the Khedive who +dares to say what he will believe, not knowing in any wise the mind of +Allah, not knowing in any wise his own heart. + + +The "Japanese Carlyle" is getting grey. It seemed well to seek out +some young Japanese thinker and take his view of that "heathenism" +concerning which Uchimura had delivered himself so unsparingly. Let me +speak of my first visit to my friend Yanagi. + +As a youth Yanagi was a lonely student. He took his own way to +knowledge and religion. The famed General Nogi had been given by the +Emperor the direction of the Peers' School, but even under such +distinguished tutelage the stripling made his stand. His reading led +him to write for the school magazine an anti-militarist article. The +veteran, as I once learned from a friend of Yanagi, promptly paraded +the school, boys and masters. He spoke of disloyal, immoral, +subversive ideas, and bade the youthful disturber of the peace attend +him at his own house. When Yanagi stood before Nogi and was asked what +he had to say, he replied with the question, "Don't you feel pain +because of sending so many men to death before Port Arthur[107]?" + +Again I found my prophet in a cottage. It was a cottage overlooking +rice fields and a lagoon. From the Japanese scene outdoors I passed +indoors to a new Japan. Cezanne, Puvis de Chavannes, Beardsley, Van +Gogh, Henry Lamb, Augustus John, Matisse and Blake--Yanagi has written +a big book on Blake which is in a second edition--hung within sight +of a grand piano and a fine collection of European music[108]. +Chinese, Korean and Japanese pottery and paintings filled the places +in the dwelling not occupied by Western pictures and the Western +library of a man well advanced with an interpretative history of +Eastern and Western mysticism. An armful of books about Blake and +Boehme, all Swedenborg, all Carlyle, all Emerson, all Whitman, all +Shelley, all Maeterlinck, all Francis Thompson, and all Tagore, and +plenty of other complete editions; early Christian mystics; much of +William Law, Bergson, Eucken, Caird, James, Haldane, Bertrand Russell, +Jefferies, Havelock Ellis, Carpenter, Strindberg, "Æ," Yeats, Synge +and Shaw; not a little poetry of the fashion of Vaughan, Traherne and +Crashaw; a well-thumbed Emily Brontë; all the great Russian novelists; +numbers of books on art and artists--it was an arresting collection to +come on in a Japanese hamlet, and odd to sit down beside it in order +to talk of "heathen." + +"Yes," said Yanagi--he speaks an English which reflects his wide +reading--"our young maid, on being shown the full moon the other +night, bowed her head. I find this natural instinct of some value. Our +people have much natural feeling towards Nature. If modern Japanese +art has degenerated it is because it does not sufficiently find out +life in things. The sough of the wind in the trees may have only a +slight influence on character, but it is a vital influence. I do not +like, of course, the word 'heathendom' of which Uchimura seems so +fond. I dearly admire Christ, but most of the Christianity of to-day +is not Christ. It is largely Paul. It is a mixture. It is not the +clear, pure, original thing. Christians must reform their Christianity +before it can satisfy us. In the East we now see clearly enough to +seek only the best that the West can offer." + +Yanagi said that the spontaneity and naturalness of Eastern religions +ought to be recognised. "You will find Christians admiring Walt +Whitman, but it is Whitman the democrat they admire, not Whitman the +prophet of naturalness." He spoke with appreciation of the Zen sect +of Buddhists. Many of the Zen devotees were "noble and had a profound +idea." He was unable to see "any difference at all" between the best +part of Buddhism and the best part of Christianity. He said that his +own mysticism was based on science, art, religion and philosophy. "My +sincerest wish," he declared, "is to produce a beautiful +reconciliation of these four. As it is, too often scientists and +philosophers have no deep knowledge of religion or art, artists have +no deep knowledge of religion or science, and the religious have no +idea of art. Surely the deepest religious idea is the deepest artistic +and philosophic idea. Perhaps our scientists are in the poorest state +just now with no understanding of art or religion. Our scientists are +immersed in the problem of matter, our religious people in the problem +of spirit, and our artists forget that in dealing with nature they are +dealing with spirit as well as body." + +Faced by force and science when Commander Perry came, Japan, in order +to save herself from foreign colonisation, had had to concentrate all +her attention on force and science. She had concentrated her attention +with signal success. But naturally she had had, in the process, to +slacken her hold somewhat on the spiritual life. + +"Always remember how difficult the Japanese find it to know which way +to take. Their whole basis has been shaken and on the surface all has +become chaotic. Ten years hence it will be possible to take a just +view. There is much reason for high hopes. For one thing, the burden +of old thought does not rest so heavily on us as might be supposed. We +are very free in many ways. In the matter of religion Japan is the +most free nation in the world. If England were to become Buddhist it +would sound strange or exotic, but Japan is free to become what she +may." + +"There may be a great difference between one of our temples and +shrines and an English church," Yanagi proceeded, "but I cannot +believe in the gap which some people seem to see yawning between East +and West. It is deplorable that the world should think that there is +such a complete difference between East and West. It is usually said +that self-denial, asceticism, sacrifice, negation are opposed to +self-affirmation, individualism, self-realisation; but I do not +believe in such a gap. I wish to destroy the idea of a gap. It is an +idea which was obtained analytically. The meeting of East and West +will not be upon a bridge over a gap, but upon the destruction of the +idea of a gap. + +"In future, religion cannot be limited by this or that sect or idea. +Religion cannot be limited to Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism or +Mahomedanism. Uchimura says that it is the essence of Christianity +which has the power to rescue Japan from its chaotic state. But the +essence of Buddhism can also contribute some important element to the +future of Japan. The notion that the essence of Christianity and the +essence of Buddhism are far apart is artificial and prejudiced." + +One day some weeks later I walked with Yanagi on the hills. He said: +"The weakest point in the Japanese character is the lack of the power +of questioning. We are repressed by our educational system. And so +many things come here at one time that it makes confusion. What is so +often taken for a lack of originality in us is a state resulting from +an immense importation of foreign ideas. They have been overpowering. +Many of us have no clear ideas on life, society, sex and so on, and +you will find it difficult to get satisfactory answers to many +questions which you will want to ask." + +As to morality, it was dangerous to say "this or that is immoral." +Morality was often merely custom. Ordinary morality had scant +authority. Critics of Japanese morality should not forget that, in the +opinion of Japanese, Western people were more erotic than they were. +Western dancing--not to speak of Western women's evening costumes--was +undoubtedly more erotic than Japanese dancing. Again, the sexual +curiosity of foreigners seemed stronger than that manifested by +Japanese. It was a well-known fact that the girls at many hotels and +restaurants had not a little to complain of from foreign men who +misjudged their naïve ways. It must be remembered that Japanese were +franker in sexual matters than Europeans and Americans. Sexual +ill-doing was not so much concealed as in Europe. A wrong impression +of Japanese morality was taken away by tourists whose guides showed +them, as in Paris, what they expected to see. + +"I wonder," he said, "that Western visitors to Tokyo who talk of our +immorality are not struck by the fact that in an Eastern capital a +foreign lady may walk home at night and be practically safe from being +spoken to. The Japanese are undoubtedly a very kind people. They may +be unmoral, but they are not immoral." + +"Most of our people do not understand liberty in the mental sexual +relations. Love is not free. In a very large proportion of cases, +indeed, parents would oppose a match because a son or daughter had +fallen in love. And if it is difficult to marry for love it is not +easy to fall in love.[109] Society in which young men and young women +meet is restricted; there are few opportunities of conversation. +Without liberty towards women there can be no perfect sense of +responsibility towards them." + +What had been taught to women as the supreme virtue was the virtue of +sacrifice for father, husband, children. It was most important to let +women know the significance of individualism. They were always +offering themselves for others before they became themselves. But the +idea of individuality was very little clearer to the Japanese man than +to the Japanese woman. People were too prone to wish to give 100 yen +before they had 100 yen. The Japanese were the most devotional people +in the world, but they hardly knew yet the things to be devoted to. + +Yanagi is a leading member of a small association of literary men, +artists and students who graduated together from the Peers' School. +They call themselves for no obvious reason the Shirakaba or Silver +Birch Society. The intelligent and consistent efforts of these young +men to introduce vital Western work in literature, philosophy, +painting, sculpture, draughtsmanship and music, and the large measure +of success they have attained is of some significance. Several members +of the group belong to the old Kuge families, that is the ancient +nobility which surrounded the Emperor at Kyoto before the +Restoration. Cut off for centuries from military and administrative +activities by the dominance of the Shogunate Government, the Kuge +devoted themselves to the arts and the refinements of life. For the +exclusiveness of the past some of their descendants substitute +artistic integrity. The Shirakaba has had for several years a +remarkable magazine. Its editor and its publisher, its size, its price +and its date of publication are continually changed; it never makes +any bid for popularity; it expresses its sentiments in a downright way +and it has always been anti-official: yet it survives and pays its +way. Beyond the magazine, the Society has had every year at least one +exhibition of what its members conceive to be significant modern +European work. The members have also supported a few Japanese artists +of outstanding sincerity. Through the Shirakaba the influence of +Cezanne, Van Gogh, Rodin, Blake, Delacroix, Matisse, Augustus John, +Beardsley, Courbet, Daumier, Maillol, Chavannes and Millet, +particularly Cezanne, Van Gogh, Rodin and Blake, has been marked. The +Silver Birch group has never tired of extolling the great names of +Rembrandt, Dürer, El Greco, Van Eyck, Goya, Leonardo, Michael Angelo, +Tintoretto, Giotto and Mantegna[110]. + +While an ardent Young Japan has formed and dissolved many societies, +movements and fashions, this Shirakaba group has held fast and has +gained friends by its sincerity, its vision and its audacity[111]. +Rodin encouraged the Shirakaba efforts to reproduce the best Western +art by presenting it with three pieces of sculpture. + +"The intellectual man does no fighting," Froude has written. Why do +not Yanagi and his friends make a stand on public questions? +"Because," he said, "at the present stage of our development it is +almost impossible to take up a strong attitude, and because, important +though political and social questions are, they are not, in our +opinion, of the first importance. To artists, philosophers, students +of religion, such problems are secondary. More important problems are: +What is the meaning of this world? What is God? What is the essence of +religion? How can we best nourish ourselves so as to realise our own +personalities? Political and social problems are secondary for us at +present; they are not related emotionally to our present +conditions[112]. + + For the East the Root, + For the West the Fruit. + +"If we faced such problems directly we should probably make them +primary problems, as you do in Great Britain. Our present attitude +does not prove, however, that we are cold to political and social +problems. In fact, when we think of these terrible political and +social questions they make us boil. But you will understand that in +order to have something to give to others, we must have that +something. We are seeking after that something." + +Yanagi, continuing, spoke of the direct contribution which the new +artistic movement in Japan, under the influence of modern Western art, +was making to the solution of political and social questions[113]. The +interest of the younger generation in Post Impressionism was "quite +disharmonious with the ordinary attitude towards militarism." +European art broke down barriers in the Japanese mind. When the +younger generation, nourished on higher ideals, grew up, it would be +the State, and there would be a more hopeful condition of affairs. +People generally supposed that social questions were the most +practical; but religious, artistic, philosophic questions were, in the +truest sense of the word, the most practical. + +Yanagi went on to tell of his devotion to Blake. He could not +understand "why Englishmen are so cool to him." He asked me how it was +that there was no word about Blake in Andrew Lang's work on English +literature. "I cannot imagine," he said, "why such an intelligent man +could not appreciate Blake." Yanagi regarded Blake as "the artist of +immense will, of immense desire, and a man in whom can be seen that +affirmative attitude towards life, exhibited later by Whitman." Yanagi +spoke also of "Anglo-Saxon nobility, liberty, depth of character and +healthiness," and of "a deep and noble character" in English +literature which he did not find elsewhere. Whitman, Emerson, Poe and +William James were "the crown of America." + +As I close this chapter I recall Yanagi's library, in the service of +which, bettering Mark Pattison's example, two-thirds of its owner's +income was for some time expended. I remember the thatched dwelling +overlooking the quiet reed-bound lagoon with its frosty sunrises, red +moonrises and apparitions of Fuji above the clouds seventy miles away. +No Western visitor whom I took to Abiko failed to be moved by that +room, designed by Yanagi himself in every detail, wherein East meets +West in harmony. I have made note of his Western books but not of the +classics and strange mystic writings of Chinese and Korean priests in +piles of thin volumes in soft bindings of blue or brown. I have not +mentioned a Rembrandt drawing and next to it the vigorous but restful +brush lines of an artist priest of the century that brought Buddhism +to Japan; severe little gilt-bronze figures of deities from China, a +little older; pottery figures of exquisite beauty from the tombs of +Tang, a little later; Sung pottery, a dynasty farther on; Korai +celadons from Korean tombs of the same epoch; and whites and blue and +whites of Ming and Korean Richo. On the wall a black and yellow tiger +is "burning bright" on a strip of blood-red silk tapestry woven on a +Chinese loom for a Taoist priest 500 years ago. Cimabue's portrait of +St. Francis breathes over Yanagi's writing desk from one side, while +from the other Blake's amazing life mask looks down "with its Egyptian +power of form added to the intensity of Western individualism." These +are Yanagi's silent friends. His less quiet friends of the flesh have +felt that this room was a sanctuary and Yanagi a priest of eternal +things, but a priest without priestcraft, a priest living joyously in +the world. Above his desk is inscribed the line of Blake: + + Thou also, dwellest in eternity + +and Kepler's aspiration, "My wish is that I may perceive God whom I +find everywhere in the external world in like manner within and +without me." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[107] One of the reasons assigned for the suicide of the General was +thoughts of his responsibility for the terrible slaughter in the +assaults on Port Arthur. + +[108] Mrs. Yanagi is one of the best contraltos heard at the now +numerous Japanese concerts of Western music. + +[109] _Shinjū_, or suicide for love, the girl often being a geisha, is +common. + +[110] "I am inclined to think," wrote Yanagi in 1921, in a paper on +Korean art, "that we have paid if anything rather too much attention +to European works while making little effort to pay attention to what +lies much nearer to us." + +[111] POLICE STANDARDS.--The sale of one issue of the magazine was +prohibited by the police, who found a nude "antagonistic to the +ordinary standard of public morals." The editors' answer next +month--the police standard being, "No front views"--was to publish +half a dozen more nudes with their backs to the reader. + +[112] It will be remembered that this conversation took place in the +summer of 1915 at the outset of my investigation. Since then, as noted +throughout this book, economic questions have increasingly pressed +themselves forward. I may mention that in 1919 Yanagi wrote a +vigorous and moving protest against misgovernment in Korea. In a +recent letter to me he says: "You know that I am going to establish a +Korean Folk Art Society in Seoul. This is a big work, but I want to do +it with all my power for love of Korea. I approach the solution of the +Korean question by the way of Art. Politics can never solve the +question. I want to use the gallery as a meeting-place of Koreans and +Japanese. People cannot quarrel in beauty. This is my simple yet +definite belief." Yanagi's manifesto on his project made one think of +the age when the great culture of China and India glowed across the +straits of Tsushima in the wake of early Buddhism. + +[113] A well-known member of the Shirakaba group started two years ago +an "ideal village" among the mountains. It is an effort towards social +freedom in which the police manifest a continuous interest. + + + + +ACROSS JAPAN (TOKYO TO NIIGATA AND +BACK) + +CHAPTER XII + +TO THE HILLS + +(TOKYO, SAITAMA, TOCHIGI AND FUKUSHIMA) + +Nothing which concerns a _countryman_ is a matter of unconcern to +me.--TERENCE + + +During the month of July I went from one side of Japan to the other, +starting from Tokyo, across the sea from which lies America, and +coming out at Niigata, across the sea from which lies Siberia. + +We first made a four hours' railway run through the great Kwanto plain +(6,000 square miles). Travelling is comfortable on such a trip, for +travellers take off their coats and waistcoats, and the train-boy--he +has the word "Boy" on his collar in English--brings fans and bedroom +slippers. The fans, which on one side advertised "Hotels in European +style, directly managed by the Imperial Government Railway[114]," +offered on the other a poem and a drawing. A poem addressed to a snail +played with the idea of its giving its life to climbing Fuji. The poem +was composed by a poet who wrote many delightful _hokku_ +(seventeen-syllable poems), showing a humorous sympathy with the +humblest creatures. One poem is: + + Come and play with me, + Thou orphan sparrow! + +Like Burns, Issa addressed a poem to a louse. + +As we climbed from the vicinity of the sea to higher lands someone +recalled the saying about saints living in the mountains and sages by +the sea. Speaking of religion, one man said that he had known of +people giving half their income to religious purposes. He also +mentioned that for some years his mother had gone to hear a sermon in +a Japanese Christian church every Sunday, but she still served her +Buddhist shrine. + +It was at an inn at the hot spring near the Mount Nasu volcano--the +odour of the sulphurous hot water was everywhere in the district--that +I first enjoyed the attentions of the blind _amma_ (_masseur_ or +_masseuse_), the call of whose plaintive pipe is heard every evening +in the smallest community. _Amma san_ rubbed and pommelled me for an +hour for 28 sen. The _amma_ does not massage the skin, but works +through the _yukata_ (bath gown) of the patient. I had my massaging as +I knelt with the other guests of the inn at an entertainment arranged +for the benefit of residents. The entertainers, professional and +non-professional--the non-professionals were local farmers--knelt on a +low platform or danced in front of it. They were extraordinarily able. +A dramatic tale by one of the story-tellers was about a yokelish young +wrestler and a daimyo. Another described the woes and suicide of an +old-time Court lady. + +The next day we started on foot on a seven miles' climb of the +volcano. Its lower slopes were covered with a variety of that +knee-high bamboo with a creeping root, which is so troublesome to +farmers when they break up new ground. One variety is said to blossom +and fruit once in sixty years and then die. An ingenious professor has +traced mice plagues to this habit. In the year in which the bamboo +fruits the mice increase and multiply exceedingly. Suddenly their food +supply gives out and they descend to the plains to live with the +farmers. + +At length we came in sight of the smoke and vapour of the volcano. +Soon we were near the top, where the white trunks and branches of dead +trees and scrub, killed by falling ash or gusts of vapour, dotted an +awesome desolation of calcined and fused stone and solidified mud. At +the summit we looked down into the churning horror of the volcano's +vat and at different spots saw the treacly sulphur pouring out, +brilliant yellow with red streaks. The man to whom there first came +the idea of hell and a prisoned revengeful power must surely have +looked into a crater. In the throat of this crater there seethed and +spluttered an ugliness that was scarlet, green, brown and yellow. The +sound of the steam blowing off was like the roar of the sea. The air +was stifling. It was very hot, and there was a high eerie wind. + +Adventurous men had built rude bulwarks of stone over some of the +orifices, and in this way had compelled the volcano to furnish them +with sulphur free from dirt. The production of sulphur in Japan is +valued at close on three million yen. + +As we went on our journey we spoke of the sturdiness and cheeriness of +our chief carrier, who had told us that he was seventy. I asked him if +he thought it fair that he should have to walk so far on a hot day +with so much to carry while we were empty-handed. He replied that it +might appear to be unjust, but that he was happy enough. He said that +he had lived long and seen many things, and he knew that to be rich +was not always to be happy. He quoted the proverb, "Sunshine and rice +may be found everywhere," and the poem which may be rendered, "If you +look at a water-fowl thoughtlessly you may imagine that she has +nothing to do but float quietly on the water, yet she is moving her +feet ceaselessly beneath the surface." + +At the little hot spring inn where we next stayed, insect powder was +on sale, not without reasonable hope of patronage by the guests. The +_Asahi_ once facetiously reported that I had taken on a journey three +_to_ (six pecks) of insect powder. The chief protector of the prudent +traveller in remote Japan is a giant pillowslip of cotton. He gets +into it and ties the strings together under his chin. The mats and +futon of old-fashioned hotels are full of fleas. The hard cylindrical +Japanese pillow has no doubt its tenants also, but I never got +accustomed to using it, and laid my head on a doubled-up kneeling +cushion. + +A foot-high partition separated the men's hot bath from the women's. +My cold bath in the morning I found I had to take unselfconsciously at +a water-gush in front of the house. As the food was poor here, we +were glad of our tinned food and ship's biscuits. This was of course +in a remote part. Apart from ordinary Japanese food, there are usually +available at the inns chicken, fish of some sort, eggs, omelettes and +soups. With a pot of jam or two and some powdered milk in one's bag, +one can live fairly well. Fresh milk can now be got in unlikely places +on giving notice overnight. It is produced for invalids and children. +If one makes no fuss, remembers one is a traveller who has resolved to +see rural Japan, and realises that the inn people will try to do their +best, one will not fare so badly. On the railway one is well catered +for by the provision of _bento_ (lunch) boxes, sold on the platforms +of stations. These chip boxes contain rice (hot), cold omelette, cold +fish or chicken and assorted pickles, and provide an appetising and +inexpensive meal. + +Monkeys, bears and antelopes are shot in this district. One man spoke +of a troop of eighty monkeys. In the high mountain regions there are +still people who escape the census and live a wild life. The records +of a gipsy folk called Sanka have a history going back 700 or 800 +years. + +As we wound our way up and down the hill-sides we saw evidence of +"fire-farming." It is the simple method by which a small tract with a +favourable aspect is cleared by fire and cultivated, and then, when +the fertility is exhausted, abandoned. I was assured that after +fire-farming "tea springs up naturally," and that though tea-drinking +may have been introduced from China there could not be such large +areas of tea growing wild if tea were not indigenous. + +Most of our paths lay through woods and matted vegetation. I noticed +that trees were often felled in order that mushrooms might be grown on +and around their trunks. There is a large consumption of these +tree-grown mushrooms in Japan and an export trade worth two and a half +million yen. + +[Illustration: CULTIVATION TO THE HILL-TOPS.] + +An inscribed stone by our path was a reminder of the belief in +"mountain maidens." They have the undoubted merit of not being "so +peevish as fairies." At another stone, before which was a pile of +small stones, a farmer told us that when a traveller threw a stone +on the heap he "left behind his tiredness." + +[Illustration: IMPLEMENTS, MEASURES AND MACHINES, AND A BALE OF RICE] + +In the first house we came to we found a young widow turning bowls +with power from a water-wheel. She could finish 400 bowls in a day and +got from one to five sen apiece. She said that she had often wished to +see a foreigner. Like nearly all the girls and women of the hills, she +wore close-fitting blue cotton trousers. + +We descended to a kind of prairie which had a tree here and there and +roughly wooded hills on either side. This brought us to the problem of +the wise method of dealing with the enormous wood-bearing areas of the +country, the timber crop of which is so irregular in quality. Japan +requires many more scientifically planned forests. As coal is not in +domestic use, however, large quantities of cheap wood are needed for +burning and for charcoal making. The demand for hill pasture is also +increasing. How shall the claims of good timber, good firewood, good +charcoal-making material and good pasture be reconciled? In the county +through which we were passing--a county which, owing to its large +consumption of wood fuel, needs relatively little charcoal--the +charcoal output was worth as much as 35,000 yen a year. + +We saw "buckwheat in full bloom as white as snow," as the Chinese poem +says. At a farmhouse there was a box fixed on a barn wall. It was for +communications for the police from persons who desired to make their +suggestions for the public welfare privately. + +Towards evening, when we had done about twenty miles, I managed to +twist an ankle. Happily I had the chance of a ride. It was on the back +of a dour-looking mare which was accompanied by her foal and tied by a +halter to the saddle of a led pack-horse which was carrying two large +boxes. Thus impressively I did several miles in descending darkness +and across the rocky beds of two rivers. The horse of this district is +a downcast-looking animal in spite of the fact that it is stalled +under the same roof as its owner and is thus able to share to some +extent in his family life. + +At the town at which we at last arrived, the comfort of the hot bath +was enhanced by a sturdy lass of the inn who unasked and unannounced +came and applied herself resolutely to scrubbing and knuckling our +backs. + +The next day I went to the principal school. There were in the place +three primary schools, one with a branch for agricultural work. The +"attendance" at the principal school, where there were 379 boys and +girls, was 98 per cent, for the boys and 94 per cent, for the +girls.[115] The buildings were most creditable to a small place fifty +miles from a railway station. The community had met the whole cost out +of its official funds and by subscriptions. More than half the +expenditure of many a village is on education, which in Japan is +compulsory but not free. One cannot but be impressed by the pride +which is taken in the local schools. The dominating man-made feature +of the landscape is less frequently than might be supposed a temple or +a shrine: where the picture which catches the eye is not the vast +expanse of the crops of the plain or the marvels of terracing for hill +crops, it is the long, low school building, set almost invariably on +the best possible site. The poorly paid men and women teachers are +earnest and devoted, and their influence must be far-reaching. They +are rewarded in part, no doubt, by the respect which pupils and the +general public give to the _sensei_ (teacher).[116] At the school I +visited, the children, as is customary, swept and washed out the +schoolrooms and kept the playground trim. Above one teacher's desk +were the following admonitions: + + Be obedient. + Be decent. + Be active. + Be social. + Be serious. + +"Be serious"!--graver small folk sit in no schools in the world. Here, +as usual, corporal punishment was never given. I suggested to teachers +all sorts of juvenile delinquencies, but their faith in the +sufficiency of reprimands, of "standing out" and of detention after +school hours was unshaken. + +A new wing, a beautiful piece of carpenter's work, had cost 4,000 yen, +a large sum in Japan, where wood and village labour are equally cheap. +It was to be used chiefly for the gymnastics which are steadily adding +to the stature of the Japanese people. At one end there was an +opening, about 20 ft. across and 5 ft. deep, designed as an honourable +place for the portraits of the Emperor and Empress, which are solemnly +exposed to view on Imperial birthdays[117]. + +Apart from a local spirit of pride and emulation and a belief in +education, one of the reasons for the building of new schools and +adding to old ones is to be found in the recent extension of the +period of compulsory attendance. It used to be from six to ten years +of age; it is now from six to twelve. The visitor to Japan usually +under-estimates the ages of children because they are so small. +Japanese boys grow suddenly from about fifteen to sixteen. + +In the whole of this county, with a population of 35,000, there were, +I learnt at the county offices, 22 elementary schools with 36 branch +schools, 3 secondary schools and 17 winter schools. Within the same +area there were 46 Buddhist temples with about 60 priests, and 125 +Shinto shrines with 11 priests. + +The chief police officer, in chatting with me, mentioned that, out of +71 charges of theft, only 47 were proceeded with. When charges were +not proceeded with it was either because restitution had been made or +the chief constable had exercised his discretion and dismissed the +offender with a reprimand. When transgressors are dismissed with a +reprimand an eye is kept on them for a year. As the Japanese are in +considerable awe of their police, I have no doubt that, as was +explained to me, those who have lapsed into evil-doing, but are +released from custody with a warning, may "tremble and correct their +conduct." In the whole county in a year 14,400 admonitions were given +at 14 police stations. The noteworthy thing in the criminal +statistics is the small proportion of crime against women and +children. + +The fact that the county was in a remote part of Japan may be held, +perhaps, to account for the fact that there were in it, I was assured, +only 14 geisha and 8 women known to be of immoral character. All of +them were living in the town and they were said to be chiefly +patronised by commercial travellers and imported labourers. I was told +that there were pre-nuptial relations between many young men and young +women. Two undoubted authorities in the district agreed that they +could not answer for the chastity of any young men before marriage or +of "as many as 10 per cent." of the young women. In an effort to save +the reputation of their daughters, fathers sometimes register +illegitimate children as the offspring of themselves and their wives. +Or when an unmarried girl is about to have a child her father may call +the neighbours to a feast and announce to them the marriage of his +daughter to her lover. The figures for illegitimate births are +vitiated by the fact that in Japan children are recorded as +illegitimate who are born to people who have omitted to register their +otherwise respectable unions.[118] + +In the county in which I was travelling I was assured that half the +still births might be put down to immoral relations and half to +imperfect nourishment or overworking of the mother. In this district +girls marry from 17 or 18, men from 18 to 30. + +The town was full of country people who had come to see the festival. +One feature of it was the performance of plays on four ancient wheeled +stages of a simplicity in construction that would have delighted +William Poel. Formerly these plays were given by the local youths; now +professional actors are employed. The different acts of the historical +dramas which were performed were divided into half a dozen scenes, and +when one of these scenes had been enacted the stage was wheeled +farther along the street. At the conclusion of each scene some three +dozen small boys, all wearing the white-and-black speckled cotton +kimono and German caps which are the common wear of lads throughout +Japan, would swarm up on the stage, and, with fans waved downwards, +would yell at the pitch of their voices an ancient jingle, which +seemed to signify "Push, push, push and go on!" This was addressed to +a score or so of young men who with loud shouts hauled the heavy +stage-wagon along the street. The performances on the four moving +theatres went on simultaneously and sometimes the cars passed one +another. The performances were given on the eve and on the day and +through the night of the festival. The acting was amazingly good, +considering the July heat and the cramped conditions in which the +actors worked. Happy boys sat at the back of the scenes fanning the +players. Our kindly and voluble landlady was not satisfied with the +number of times the stages stopped before her inn. She loudly +threatened the youths who were dragging them that she would reclaim +some properties she had lent and tell her dead husband of their +ingratitude! + +At one of the booths which had been opened for the festival by a +strolling company there were women actors, contrary to the convention +of the Japanese stage on which men enact female rôles and in doing so +use a special falsetto. Some of these actresses performed men's parts. +At every performance in a Japanese theatre, as I have already +mentioned, a policeman is provided with a chair on a special platform, +or in an otherwise favourable position, so that he can view and if +necessary censor what is going on. The constable at this particular +play was kind enough to offer me his seat. The rest of the audience +was content with the floor. The poor little company of players brought +to their work both ability and an artistic conscience, but they had to +do everything in the rudest way. They were in no way embarrassed by +the attendants frequently trimming the inferior oil lamps on the +stage. A little girl on the floor, entranced by the performance on the +stage, or curious about some detail of it, ran forward and laid her +chin on the boards and studied the actors at leisure. The folk in the +front row of the gallery dangled their naked legs for coolness. + +One of my friends asked me how we managed in the West to identify the +people who wanted to leave the theatre between the acts. I explained +that as our performances did not last from early afternoon until +nearly midnight it was rare for anyone to wish to leave a theatre +until the play was over. At a Japanese playhouse, however, a portion +of the audience may be disposed to go home at some stage of the +proceedings and return later. The careful manager of a small theatre +identifies these patrons by impressing a small stamp on the palms of +their hands. + +From the theatre we went to the travelling shows. They charged 2 sen. +We were shown a mermaid, peepshows, a snake, an unhappy bear, three +doleful monkeys and some stuffed animals which may or may not have had +in life an uncommon number of legs. There was a barefaced imposture by +a young and pretty show-woman who insisted that two marmots in her lap +were the offspring of a girl. "Look," she cried, "at two sisters, the +daughters of one mother. See their hands!" And she held up their paws. +She rounded off the fraud by feeding the creatures with condensed +milk. + +As I returned to the inn from these Elizabethan scenes I noticed that +I was preceded in the crowd by a spectacled policeman who carried a +paper lantern. Although, as I have explained, the stage plays given in +the street were continued all night, only one arrest was made. The +prisoner was a drunkard who proved to be a medicine seller but +described himself as a journalist. I went to see the clean wooden cell +where topers are confined until they are sober. It had a very low +door, so that culprits might be compelled to enter and leave humbly on +their knees. + +We had begun our festival day at six in the morning by attending a +celebration at the Shinto shrine. "Although it is no longer necessary, +perhaps, to attend the ceremony in a special kind of _geta_," said our +landlady, "it would be as well if you observed the old rule not to +attend without taking a bath in the early morning."[119] + +At the ancient shrine the townspeople whose turn it was to attend the +annual function had assembled in ceremonial costumes. One man wore his +hair tied up in the fashion of the old prints. The plaintive strains +of old instruments made the strange appeal of all folk music. A +decorous procession was headed by the piebald pony of the shrine. +Youths and maidens carried aloft tubs of rice, vegetables, fish and +_saké_. These were received by the chief priest. He carefully placed a +strip of cloth before his mouth and nose[120] and addressed the chief +deity, all heads being bowed. Then the priest placed the offerings in +the darkened interior of the shrine. There was a cheery naturalness in +all the proceedings. A few small children in gay holiday dress ran +freely among the worshippers and encountered indulgent smiles. When an +end had been made of offering food and drink the priest within the +shrine read a second message to the deity. Again all heads were bowed. +His thin voice was heard in the morning quiet, interrupted only by a +child's cry, the twittering of birds and the wind rustling the +cryptomeria, dark against the blue of the hills. + +After the ceremony the food and drink which had been brought by the +people were consumed by the priests and the country folk in a large +room of the chief priest's house. We were given ceremonial _saké_ to +which rice had been added and as mementoes little cakes and dried +fish. Not so long ago the presence of a foreigner would have been +unwelcome at such a ceremony as we had witnessed: the fear of +"contagion of foreigners" extended even to people from another +prefecture. To-day the amiable priest placed in our hands for a few +moments a small Buddha supposed to be six centuries old. + +Before the festival the priest had observed certain taboos for eight +days. He had avoided meeting persons in mourning and his food had been +cooked at a specially prepared fire. He had been careful not to touch +other persons, particularly women; he had bathed several times daily +in cold water and he had said many prayers. The heads of the household +in the community whose turn it was to attend at the shrine were also +supposed to have observed some of the same taboos. Only those persons +might make offerings at the shrine whose fathers and mothers were +living.[121] Formerly portions of the offerings of rice and _saké_ at +the shrine were solemnly given to a young girl. + +In this district, when we discussed the influences which made for +moral or non-material improvement, everyone put the school first. Then +came home training. In this part of the world the Buddhist priest was +too often indifferent; the Shinto priest worked at his farm. One +person well qualified to express an opinion said that a "wise and +benevolent" chief constable could exercise a good moral influence. +Others believed in public opinion. A policeman said, "The first thing +is for people to have food and clothes; without such primary +satisfaction it is very difficult to expect them to be moral." In +considering the influence of the police and the schoolmaster it is not +without interest to remember that a chief of police and the head of a +school receive about the same salary. Assistant teachers and plain +constables are also on an equality. I found the salary of the +administrative head of one county, the _gunchō_, to be only 2,000 yen +a year. + +I was told that in the prefecture we were passing through there were +no fewer than 360 co-operative societies. The credit branches had a +capital of two million yen; the purchase and sale branches showed a +turnover of three million yen. In time of famine, due to too low a +temperature for the rice or to floods which drown the crop, +co-operation had proved its value. The prefectures north of Tokyo +facing the Pacific are the chief victims of famine, for near Sendai +the warm current from the south turns off towards America. I was told +that the number of persons who actually die as the result of famine +has been "exaggerated." The number in 1905 was "not more than a +hundred." These unfortunates were infants "and infirm people who +suffered from lack of suitable nourishment." Every year the +development of railway and steam communications makes easier the task +of relieving famine sufferers.[122] In the old days people were often +found dead who had money but were unable to get food for it. As Japan +is a long island with varying climates there is never general +scarcity. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[114] For statistics of railways, see Appendix XXXV. + +[115] The percentage of children "attending" school for the whole of +Japan is officially reported in 1918 as: cities, 98.18 per cent.; +villages, 99.23 per cent.; but this does not mean daily attendance. + +[116] Since 1919 the salaries of elementary school teachers have been +raised to 26, 16 and 15 yen per month, according to grade. + +[117] Only last year (1921) another schoolmaster lost his life in an +endeavour to save the Emperor's portrait from his burning school. + +[118] See Appendix XXXVI. + +[119] A hot bath is ordinarily obtainable only in the afternoon and +evening in most Japanese hotels. In the morning people are content +merely with rinsing their hands and face. + +[120] In addressing a superior, many Japanese still draw in their +breath from time to time audibly. + +[121] That is, persons who might be considered not to have failed in +their filial duties. + +[122] After the failure of the 1918-19 crop in India, 600,000 persons +were in receipt of famine relief. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE DWELLERS IN THE HILLS +(FUKUSHIMA) + +I didn't visit this place in the hope of seeing fine prospects--my study +is man.--BORROW + + +Before I left the town I had a chat with a landowner who turned his +tenants' rent rice into _saké_. He was of the fifth generation of +brewers. He said that in his childhood drunken men often lay about the +street; now, he said, drunken men were only to be seen on festival +days. + +There had been a remarkable development in the trade in flavoured +aerated waters, "lemonade" and "cider champagne" chiefly. I found +these beverages on sale in the remotest places, for the Japanese have +the knack of tying a number of bottles together with rope, which makes +them easily transportable. The new lager beers, which are advertised +everywhere, have also affected the consumption of _saké_.[123] _Saké_ +is usually compared with sherry. It is drunk mulled. At a banquet, +lasting five or six hours or longer, a man "strong in _saké_" may +conceivably drink ten _go_ (a _go_ is about one-third of a pint) +before achieving drunkenness, but most people would be affected by +three _go_. Some of the topers who boast of the quantity of _saké_ +they can consume--I have heard of men declaring that they could drink +twenty _go_--are cheated late in the evening by the waiting-maids. The +little _saké_ bottles are opaque, and it is easy to remove them for +refilling before they are quite empty. + +The brewer, who was a firm adherent of the Jishu sect of Buddhists, +was accustomed to burn incense with his family at the domestic shrine +every morning. But this was not the habit of all the adherents of his +denomination. As to the moral advancement of the neighbourhood, his +grandfather "tried very earnestly to improve the district by means of +religion, but without result." He himself attached most value to +education and after that to young men's associations. + +As we left the town we passed a "woman priest" who was walking to +Nikko, eighty miles away. Portraits of dead people, entrusted to her +by their relatives for conveyance to distant shrines, were hung round +her body. + +As the route became more and more hilly I realised how accurate is +that representation of hills in Japanese art which seems odd before +one has been in Japan: the landscape stands out as if seen in a flash +of lightning. + +Three things by the way were arresting: the number of shrines, mostly +dedicated to the fox god; the rice suspended round the farm buildings +or drying on racks; and the masses of evening primroses, called in +Japan "moon-seeing flowers." + +A feature of every village was one or more barred wooden sheds +containing fire-extinguishing apparatus, often provided and worked by +the young men's association. Sometimes a piece of ground was described +to me as "the training ground of the fire defenders." The night +patrols of the village were young fellows chosen in turn by the +constable from the fire-prevention parties, made up by the youths of +the village. There stood up in every village a high perpendicular +ladder with a bell or wooden clapper at the top to give the alarm. The +emblem of the fire brigade, a pole with white paper streamers +attached, was sometimes distinguished by a yellow paper streamer +awarded by the prefecture. + +On a sweltering July day it was difficult to realise that the villages +we passed through, now half hidden in foliage, might be under 7 ft. of +snow in winter. In travelling in this hillier region one has an extra +_kurumaya_, who pushes behind or acts as brakeman. + +At the "place of the seven peaks" we found a stone dedicated to the +worship of the stars which form the Plough. Again and again I noticed +shrines which had before them two tall trees, one larger than the +other, called "man and wife." It was explained to me that "there +cannot be a more sacred place than where husband and wife stand +together." A small tract of cryptomeria on the lower slopes of a hill +belonged to the school. The children had planted it in honour of the +marriage of the Emperor when he was Crown Prince. + +Often the burial-grounds, the stones of which are seldom more than +about 2 ft. high by 6 ins. wide, are on narrow strips of roadside +waste. (The coffin is commonly square, and the body is placed in it in +the kneeling position so often assumed in life.) Here, as elsewhere, +there seemed to be rice fields in every spot where rice fields could +possibly be made. + +On approaching a village the traveller is flattered by receiving the +bows of small girls and boys who range themselves in threes and fours +to perform their act of courtesy. I was told that the children are +taught at school to bow to foreigners. I remember that in the remoter +villages of Holland the stranger also received the bows of young +people. + +On the house of the headman of one village were displayed charms for +protection from fire, theft and epidemic. We spoke of weather signs, +and he quoted a proverb, "Never rely on the glory of the morning or on +the smile of your mother-in-law." + +We had before us a week's travel by _kuruma_. Otherwise we should have +liked to have brought away specimens of the wooden utensils of some of +the villages. The travelling woodworker whom we often encountered--he +has to travel about in order to reach new sources of wood supply--has +been despised because of his unsettled habits, but I was told that +there was a special deity to look after him. In the town we had left +there was delightful woodwork, but most of the draper's stuff was +pitiful trash made after what was supposed to be foreign fashions. I +may also mention the large collection of blood-and-thunder stories +upon Western models which were piled up in the stationers' shops. + +As we walked up into the hills--the _kuruma_ men were sent by an +easier route--we passed plenty of sweet chestnuts and saw large +masses of blue single hydrangea and white and pink spirea. We came on +the ruined huts of those who had burnt a bit of hillside and taken +from it a few crops of buckwheat. The charred trunks of trees stood up +among the green undergrowth that had invaded the patches. There was a +great deal of plantain and a _kurumaya_ mentioned that sometimes when +children found a dead frog they buried it in leaves of that plant. +Japanese children are also in the habit of angling for frogs with a +piece of plantain. The frogs seize the plantain and are jerked ashore. + +We took our lunch on a hill top. It had been a stiff climb and we +marvelled at the expense to which a poor county must be put for the +maintenance of roads which so often hang on cliff sides or span +torrents. The great piles of wood accumulated at the summit turned the +talk to "silent trade." In "silent trade" people on one side of a hill +traded with people on the other side without meeting. The products +were taken to the hill top and left there, usually in a rough shed +built to protect the goods from rain. The exchange might be on the +principle of barter or of cash payment. But the amount of goods given +in exchange or the cash payment made was left to honour. "Silent +trade" still continues in certain parts of Japan. Sometimes the price +expected for goods is written up in the shed. "Silent trade" +originated because of fears of infectious disease; it survives because +it is more convenient for one who has goods to sell or to buy to +travel up and down one side of a mountain than up and down two sides. + +As we proceeded on our way we were once more struck by the +extraordinary wealth of wood. Here is a country where every household +is burning wood and charcoal daily, a country where not only the +houses but most of the things in common use are made of wood; and +there seems to be no end to the trees that remain. It is little wonder +that in many parts there has been and is improvident use of wood. +Happily every year the regulation of timber areas and wise planting +make progress. But for many square miles of hillside I saw there is no +fitting word but jungle. + +At the small ramshackle hot-spring inns of the remote hills the +guests are mostly country folk. Many of them carefully bring their own +rice and _miso_, and are put up at a cost of about 10 sen a day. In +the passage ways one finds rough boxes about 4 ft. square full of wood +ash in the centre of which charcoal may be burned and kettles boiled. + +We were in a region where there is snow from the middle of November to +the middle of April. For two-thirds of December and January the snow +is never less than 2 ft. deep. The attendance of the children at one +school during the winter was 95 per cent. for boys and 90 per cent. +for girls. (See note, p. 112.) + +My _kurumaya_ pointed to a mountain top where, he said, there were +nearly three acres of beautiful flowers. The rice fields in the hills +were suffering from lack of water and a deputation of villagers had +gone ten miles into the mountains to pray for rain. It is wonderful at +what altitudes rice fields are contrived. I noted some at 2,500 ft. In +looking down from a place where the cliff road hung out over the river +that flowed a hundred feet below I noticed a stone image lying on its +back in the water. It may have come there by accident, but the ducking +of such a figure in order to procure rain is not unknown. + +At an inn I asked one of the greybeards who courteously visited us if +there would be much competition for his seat when he retired from the +village assembly. He thought that there would be several candidates. +In the town from which we had set out on our journey through the +highlands a doctor had spent 500 yen in trying to get on the assembly. + +The tea at this resting place was poor and someone quoted the proverb, +"Even the devil was once eighteen and bad tea has its tolerable first +cup." On going to the village office I found that for a population of +2,000 there were, in addition to the village shrine, sixteen other +shrines and three Buddhist temples. Against fire there were four fire +pumps and 155 "fire defenders." A dozen of the young men of the +village were serving in the army, four were home on furlough, six were +invalided and forty were of the reserve. As many as thirty-seven had +medals. The doctors were two in number and the midwives three. There +was a sanitary committee of twenty-three members. The revenue of the +village was 5,740 yen. It had a fund of 740 yen "against time of +famine." The taxes paid were 2,330 yen for State tax, 2,460 yen for +prefectural tax and 4,350 yen for village tax. The village possessed +two co-operative societies, a young men's association, a Buddhist +young men's association, a Buddhist young women's association, a +society for the development of knowledge, a society of the graduates +of the primary school, two thrift organisations, a society for +"promoting knowledge and virtue," and an association the members of +which "aimed at becoming distinguished." There were in the village +ninety subscribers to the Red Cross and two dozen members of the +national Patriotic Women's Association. + +In the county through which we were moving there was gold, silver and +copper mining.[124] Out of its population of 36,000 only 632 were +entitled to vote for an M.P. + +We rested at a school where the motto was, "Even in this good reign I +pray because I wish to make our country more glorious." There were +portraits of four deceased local celebrities and of Peter the Great, +Franklin, Lincoln, Commander Perry and Bismarck. Illustrated wall +charts showed how to sit on a school seat, how to identify poisonous +plants and how to conform to the requirements of etiquette. The +following admonitions were also displayed--a copy of them is given to +each child, who is expected to read the twelve counsels every morning +before coming to school: + + 1.--Do your own work and don't rely on others to do it. + + 2.--Be ardent when you learn or play. + + 3.--Endeavour to do away with your bad habits and cultivate good ones. + + 4.--Never tell a lie and be careful when you speak. + + 5.--Do what you think right in your heart and at the same time have + good manners. + + 6.--Overcome difficulties and never hold back from hard work. + + 7.--Do not make appointments which you are uncertain to keep. + + 8.--Do not carelessly lend or borrow. + + 9.--Do not pass by another's difficulties and do not give another + much trouble. + + 10.--Be careful about things belonging to the public as well as + about things belonging to yourself. + + 11.--Keep the outside and inside of the school clean and also + take care of waste paper. + + 12.--Never play with a grumbling spirit. + +There was stuck on the roofs of many houses a rod with a piece of +white paper attached, a charm against fire. One house so provided was +next door to the fire station. Frequently we passed a children's +_jizō_ or Buddha, comically decked in the hat and miscellaneous +garments of youngsters whose grateful mothers believed them to have +been cured by the power of the deity. + +Speaking of clothes, it was the hottest July weather and the natural +garment was at most a loin cloth. The women wore a piece of red or +coloured cotton from their waist to their knees. The backs of the men +and women who were working in the open were protected by a flapping +ricestraw mat or by an armful of green stuff. The boys under ten or so +were naked and so were many little girls. But the influence of the +Westernising period ideas of what was "decent" in the presence of +foreigners survives. So, whenever a policeman was near, people of all +ages were to be seen huddling on their kimonos. I was sorry for a +merry group of boys and girls aged 12 or 13 who in that torrid +weather[125] were bathing at an ideal spot in the river and suddenly +caught sight of a policeman. It is deplorable that a consciousness of +nakedness should be cultivated when nakedness is natural, traditional +and hygienic. (Even in the schools the girls are taught to make their +kimonos meet at the neck--with a pin![126]--much higher than they used +to be worn.) It is only fair to bear in mind, however, that some +hurrying on of clothes by villagers is done out of respect to the +passing superior, before whom it is impolite to appear without +permission half dressed or wearing other than the usual clothing. + +At a hot spring we found many patrons because, as I was told, "Ox-day +is very suitable for bathing." The old pre-Meiji days of the week were +twelve: Rat-, Ox-, Tiger-, Hare-, Dragon-, Snake-, Horse-, Sheep-, +Monkey-, Fowl-, Dog-and Boar-day. When the Western seven days of the +week were adopted they were rendered into Japanese as: Sun, Moon, +Fire, Water, Wood, Metal and Earth, followed by the word meaning star +or planet and day. For instance, Sunday is _Nichi_ (Sun) _yo_ (star) +_bi_ (day), and Monday, _Getsu_ (Moon) _yo_ (planet) _bi_ (day), or +_Nichi-yo-bi_ and _Getsu-yo-bi_. For brevity the _bi_ is often dropped +off. + +The headman of a village we passed through told me that the occasion +of my coming was the first on which English had been heard in those +parts. Talking about the people of his village, he said that there had +been four divorces in the year. Once in four or five years a child was +born within a few months of marriage. In the whole county there had +been among 310 young men examined for the army only four cases of +"disgraceful disease." There was no immoral woman in the 75-miles-long +valley. Elsewhere in the county many young men were in debt, but in +the headman's village no youth was without a savings-bank book. And +the local men-folk "did not use women's savings as in some places." + +One shrine we passed seemed to be dedicated to the moon. Another was +intended to propitiate the horsefly. Several villages had boxes +fastened on posts for the reception of broken glass. As we approached +one village I saw an inscription put up by the young men's +association, "Good Crops and Prosperity to the Village." When we came +to the next village the schoolmaster was responsible for an +inscription, "Peace to the World and Safety to the State." In other +places I found young men's society notice boards giving information +about the area of land in a village, how it was cropped, the kind of +crops, the area of forest, lists of famous places, etc. + +[Illustration: MOVABLE STAGE AT A FESTIVAL FIFTY MILES FROM A RAILWAY.] + +[Illustration: FARMHOUSE AT WHICH MR. UCHIMURA PREACHED.] + +In the gorges we rode over many suspension bridges and crossed the +backbone of Japan in unforgettable scenes of romantic beauty. From +the craggy paths of our highlands, amid a wealth not only of gorgeous +flowers and greenery but of great velvety butterflies, we saw the +far-off snow-clad Japanese Alps. + +[Illustration: TENANT FARMERS' HOUSES] + +[Illustration: AUTHOR AT THE "SPIRIT MEETING."] + +[Illustration: SOME PERFORMERS AT THE "SPIRIT MEETING."] + +At one of the schools where we lunched I noticed that the large wall +maps were of Siam and Malaya, Borneo, Australia and China (two). The +portraits were of Florence Nightingale, Lincoln, Napoleon and Christ +as the Good Shepherd, the last named being "a present from a believer +friend of the schoolmaster."[127] This school closed at noon from July +10 to July 31, and had twenty days' vacation in August and another +twenty days in the rice-planting and busy sericultural season. The +sewing-room of the school was used in winter as a dormitory for boys +who lived at a distance. Accommodation for girls was provided in the +village. The children brought their rice with them. The products of +the school farm were also eaten by the boarding pupils. It was +estimated that the cost of maintaining the girls was 10 sen a day. +Three-fourths of this expense was borne by the village. The regularity +and strictness of the dormitory management were found to have an +excellent effect. At the winter school, an adjunct of the day school, +there was an attendance of a score of youths and sixty girls. + +Speaking of a place where we stayed for the night, one who had a wide +knowledge of rural Japan said that he did not think that there was a +lonelier spot where farming was carried on. There was no market or +fair for 80 or 90 miles and the little groups of houses were 2 or 3 +miles apart. In this district, it was explained, "the rich are not so +rich and the poor are not so poor." + +We passed somewhere a fine shrine for the welfare of horses. At a +certain festival hundreds of horses are driven down there to gallop +round and round the sacred buildings. Thousands of people attend this +festival, but it was declared that no one was ever hurt by the horses. + +The poetical names of country inns would make an interesting +collection. I remember that it was at "the inn of cold spring water" +that the waiting-maid had never seen cow's milk. She proved to be the +daughter of the host and wore a gold ring by way of marking the fact. +This girl told us that on the banks of the river there was only one +house in 70 miles. The village was having the usual holiday to +celebrate the end of the toilsome sericultural season. + +On our way to the next village we met two far-travelled young women +selling the dried seaweed which, in many varieties, figures in the +Japanese dietary.[128] (There are shops which sell nothing but +prepared seaweeds.) A notice board there informed us that the road was +maintained at the cost of the local young men's society. As we were on +foot we felt grateful, for the road was well kept. We passed for miles +over planking hung on the cliff side or on roadway carried on +embankments. On the suspended pathways there was now and then a plank +loose or broken, and there was no rail between the pedestrian and the +torrent dashing below. Where there was embanked roadway it was almost +always uphill and downhill and it frequently swung sharply round the +corner of a cliff. As the river increased in volume we saw many rafts +of timber shooting the rapids. At one place twenty-six raftsmen had +been drowned. The remnants of two bridges showed the force of the +floods. + +In this region the _kurumaya_ were hard put to it at times and once a +_kuruma_ broke down. Its owner cheerfully detached its broken axle and +went off with it at a trot ten miles or so to a blacksmith. Later he +traversed the ten miles once more to refit his _kuruma_, afterwards +coming on fifteen more miles to our inn. The endurance and cheeriness +of the _kurumaya_ were surprising. It was usually in face of their +protests that we got out to ease them while going uphill. Every +morning they wanted to arrange to go farther than we thought +reasonable. Each man had not only his passenger but his passenger's +heavy bag. One day we did thirty-six miles over rough roads. The +_kurumaya_ proposed to cover fifty. They showed spirit, good nature +and loyalty. The character of their conversation is worth mentioning. +At one point they were discussing the plays we had witnessed, at other +times the scenery, local legends, the best routes and the crops, +material condition and disposition of the villagers. Our _kurumaya_ +compared very favourably indeed with men of an equal social class at +home. Their manners were perfect. They stayed at the same inns as we +did--once in the next room--and behaved admirably. Every evening the +men washed their white cotton shorts and jackets--their whole costume +except for a wide-brimmed sun hat and straw _waraji_. Tied to the axle +of each _kuruma_ were several pairs of _waraji_, for on the rough hill +roads this simple form of footgear soon wears out. Discarded _waraji_ +are to be seen on every roadside in Japan. + +The inscriptions on some of the wayside stones we passed had been +written by priests so ignorant that the wording was either ridiculous +or almost without meaning. But there was no difficulty in deciphering +an inscription on a stone which declared that it had been erected by a +company of Buddhists who claimed to have repeated the holy name of +Amida 2,000,000 times. (The idea is that salvation may be obtained by +the repetition of the phrase _Namu Amida Butsu_.) A small stone set up +on a rock in the middle of paddy fields intimated that at that spot +"people gathered to see the moon one night every month." A third stone +was dedicated to the monkey as the messenger of a certain god, just as +the fox is regarded as the messenger of Inari. + +We saw during our journey large numbers of _kiri_ (Paulownia) used for +making _geta_ and bride's chests. Some farmers seem to plant _kiri_ +trees at the birth of a daughter so as to have wood for her wedding +chest or money for her outfit[129]. _Kiri_ seems to be increasingly +grown. On the other hand in the same districts lacquer trees were now +seldom planted. The farmers complained that they were cheated by the +collectors of lacquer who come round to cut the trees. The age of +cutting was given me as the eighth or ninth year, but poor farmers +sometimes allowed a young tree to be cut. A tree may be cut once a +year for three or four years. After that it is useless even for fuel, +owing to the smell it gives off, and is often left standing. The old +scarred trunks, sometimes headless, suggested the tattooed faces and +bodies of Maori veterans. As lacquer is poisonous to the skin the wood +calls for careful handling. I saw one of the itinerant lacquer +collectors, his hands wrapped in cotton, operating on a tree. + +During a particularly hot run we had the good fortune to come on a +soda-water spring from which we all drank freely. A factory erected to +tap the spring was in ruins. Evidently the cost of carriage was +prohibitive. + +In these hills the rice was planted farther apart than is usual so +that the sun might warm the water. Here as elsewhere _daikon_ were +hung up to dry on walls and trees, and looked like giant tallow +candles. Below a bridge, which marked the village boundary, flags had +been flung down by way of keeping off epidemics. Evil spirits were +warded off by special dances. + +The porch of a little tea-house where we rested was covered with +grapes. Soon after leaving it we reached our destination for the +night, a small town of houses of several storeys which clustered on a +hillside under the shadow of a Zen temple. Meat and eggs were +forbidden to the town, but as the residents were all Zen Buddhists the +restriction was no hardship. There was no cow in the place, but +condensed milk was allowed. A man at the inn told me that he knew of +ten Shinto shrines which forbade the use of chickens and eggs in their +localities. The view from the temple, perched high on its rock above +the wide riverway, was exceptionally fine. Parties of boys and girls +of thirteen paid visits to this temple "because thirteen is known as a +perilous age." The people of the vegetarian town, instead of feeding +on the fish in the river, fed them. I saw a shoal of fish being given +scraps at the water edge. + +As we went on our way and spoke of the bad roads it was suggested that +in the old days roads were purposely left uphill and downhill in order +that the advance of enemies might be hindered. We came to a +dilapidated tea-house kept by an ugly old woman who showed a touching +fondness for a cat and a dog. From her shack we had a view of a +volcano which had destroyed two villages a few years before. Our +hostess, who made much of us, said that the catastrophe had been +preceded by "horrible da-da-da-bang" sounds and lightnings, and that +it was accompanied by "thunderbolts and heavy thick smoke." The old +woman had beheld "soil boiling and cracking." + +Along our route we had more evidences of "fire farming." The procedure +was to sow buckwheat the first year and rape and millet the second +year. In the cryptomeria forests there was a variety which, when cut, +sprouts from the ground and makes a new growth like an elm. One crop +we saw was ginseng, protected by low structures covered by matting. + +At length we heard the distant sound of a locomotive whistle. We were +approaching the newly opened railway which was to take us the short +run to the sea. Soon we were in a rather unkempt village which had +hardly recovered from its surprise at finding that it had a railway +station. We paid our _kurumaya_ the sum contracted for and something +over for their faithful service and for their long return run, and +having exchanged bows and cordial greetings, we left for a time the +glorified perambulators which a foreign missionary is supposed to have +introduced half a century ago. (The Japanese claim the honour of +"inventing" the jinrikisha.) + +FOOTNOTES: + +[123] See Appendix XXXVII. + +[124] See Appendix XXXVIII. + +[125] In Tokyo one may sleep night after night in summer with no +covering but the thinnest loose cotton kimono and have an electric fan +going within the mosquito curtain, and still feel the heat. + +[126] The kimono has no button, hook, tie, or fastening of any kind, +and is kept in place by the waist string and _obi_. + +[127] It is an illustration of the difficulty of using a foreign +symbolism that it is unlikely that a single child in the school had +ever seen a shepherd or a sheep. + +[128] In 1918 the value of seaweed was returned at 13,600,000 yen. + +[129] In fifteen years a _kiri_ tree may be about 20 ft. high and 3 +ft. in circumference and be worth 30 yen. _Kiri_ trees to the value of +3 million yen were felled in 1918. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +SHRINES AND POETRY + +(NIIGATA AND TOYAMA) + +Sir, I am talking of the mass of the people.--JOHNSON + + +The railway made its way through snow stockades and through many +tunnels which pierced cryptomeria-clad hills. Eventually we descended +to the wonderful Kambara plains, a sea of emerald rice. Fourteen +million bushels of rice are produced on the flats of Niigata +prefecture, which grows more rice than any other. The rice, grown +under 800 different names, is officially graded into half a dozen +qualities. The problem of the high country we had come from was how to +keep its paddy fields from drying up; the problem of Niigata is +chiefly to keep the water in its fields at a sufficiently low level. +Almost every available square yard of the prefecture is paddy. + +At Gosen there were depressing-looking weaving sheds, but the Black +Country created by the oil fields farther on was in even more striking +contrast with the beautiful region we had left. The petroleum yield +was 65 million gallons, and the smell of the oil went with us to the +capital city. + +Niigata has a dark reputation for exporting farmers' daughters to +other parts of Japan, but I have also heard that the percentage of +attendance made by the children at the primary schools of the +prefecture is higher than anywhere else. Like Amsterdam, Niigata is a +city of bridges. There must be 200 of them. The big timber bridge +across the estuary is nearly half a mile long. One finds in Niigata a +Manchester-like spirit of business enterprise. Our hotel was +excellent. + +Because they speak with all sorts of people and hear a great deal of +conversation the blind _amma_ are full of interesting gossip. A clever +_amma_ who ran his knuckles up and down my back said that farm land a +good way from Niigata was sold at from 200 yen to 300 yen and +sometimes at 400 yen per quarter acre.[130] Prefectural officials who +called on me explained that drainage operations on a large scale were +being completed. The water of which the low land was relieved would be +used to extend farming in the hills. An effort was also being made to +develop stock-keeping in the uplands. It was proposed "to supply every +farmer with a scheme for increasing his live stock." The optimistic +authorities were particularly attracted by the notion of keeping +sheep. The plan was to arrange for co-operation in hill pasturing and +in wool and meat production. Mutton was as yet unknown, however, in +Niigata. (The mutton eaten by foreigners in Japan usually comes from +Shanghai.) + +I went into the country to a little place where the natural gas from +the soil was used by the farmers for lighting and cooking. I heard +talk in this village and in others of the influence of the local army +reservists' society. "Young men on returning from their army service +are always influential. They are much respected by the youths and are +talkative indeed in the village assembly." + +As our host was the village headman he kindly brought the assembly +together to meet me. I asked the assembled fathers about two stones +erected in the village. Somebody had kindled a fire of rice screenings +near one of them and it had been scorched. On the other stone a kimono +had been hung to dry. The explanation was that the stones were +monuments not shrines, and that the people who had set them up had +left the district. The stones were no doubt respected while the donors +lived. It was not uncommon for a pilgrim to a shrine to erect a +memorial on his return home. + +In this village fifty Shinto shrines of the fifth class had been +closed under the influence of the Home Office. They were shrines which +had no offering from the village to support them. They had only a few +worshippers. All the remaining shrines were of the fifth class but +one, and it was of the fourth class. In the county there was a +second-class shrine and in the whole prefecture there were two or +three first-class shrines. The villagers had agreed among themselves +which of their own shrines should be made an end of. A shrine which +was dispensed with was burnt. The stone steps approaching it were also +removed. Burning was not sacrilege but purification. On the closing of +a shrine there might be complaints on the part of some old man or +woman, but the majority of people approved. One Shinto shrine guardian +lived at the fourth-class shrine and conducted a ceremony at the +sixteen fifth-class shrines. Of the twenty Buddhist temples in the +village (300 families cultivating an average of a _chō_ apiece), +twelve were Hokke, five Shingon, two Shinshu and one Zen. All the +priests were married.[131] + +I have used the phrase "Buddhist temple" loosely and may do so again, +for it conveys an idea which "Buddhist church" does not. A temple +(_dō_) is properly an edifice in which a Buddha is enshrined. This +building is not for services or burial ceremonies or anniversary +offerings for departed souls. It may or may not have a guardian +(_domori_). He is never a priest with a shaven head. A Buddhist church +(_tera_) is a place where adherents go as anniversaries come round or +for sermons. It possesses a priest. There is a considerable difference +in the style of Buddhist edifices according to their denomination--Zen +buildings are particularly plain--but all are more elaborate than +Shinto shrines. + +A large Shinto shrine is called _yashiro_ (house of god); a small one +_hokora_. A _hokora_ is transportable. Originally it was and in some +places it still is a perishable wooden shrine thatched with reed or +grass straw which is renewed at the spring and autumn festivals. It +may be less than two feet high and may be made of stone or wood. But +it cannot be regarded as a building. Inside there are _gohei_ (upright +sticks with paper streamers). In a rich man's house a _hokora_ may be +seven or eight feet high or bigger than the smallest _yashiro_, and +may be embellished with colour and metal. + +Returning to Buddhism, if a priest has a son he may be succeeded by +him. But many Buddhist priests marry late and have no children. Or +their children do not want to be priests. So the priest adopts a +successor. Sometimes he maintains an orphan as acolyte or coadjutor. +During the day this assistant goes to school. In the evenings and +during holidays he is taught to become a priest. When the +primary-school education is finished the lad may be sent by his +patron, if he is well enough off, to a school of his sect at Kyoto or +Tokyo. + +My travelling companion spoke of the infiltration of new ideas in town +and country. "A mixing is taking place in the heart and head of +everybody who is not a bigot. But I don't know that some kinds of +Christianity are to do much for us. I heard the other day of a +Japanese Presbyterian who was preaching with zest about hell fire. +Generally speaking, our old men are looking to the past and our young +men are aspiring, but not all. Some are content if they can live +uncriticised by their neighbours. When they become old they may begin +to think of a future life and visit temples. But as young men their +thoughts are fully occupied by things of this world." + +In the office of the headman whom I mentioned a page or so back, there +was behind his chair a _kakemono_ which read, "Reflecting and +Examining One's Inner Spirit." We passed a night in the old house of +this headman, who was a poet and a country gentleman of a delightful +type. Being an eldest son he had married young, and his relations with +his eldest boy, a frank and clever lad, were pleasant to see. The +garden, instead of being shut in by a wall with a tiled coping or by a +palisade of bamboo stems in the ordinary way, was open towards the +rice fields, a scene of restful beauty. As our _kuruma_ drew near the +house, the steward appeared, a broom in his hand. Running for a short +distance before us until we entered the courtyard, he symbolically +swept the ground according to old custom. After a delightful hot bath +and an elaborate supper, which my fellow traveller afterwards assured +me had meant a week's work for the women of the household--snapping +turtle and choice bamboo shoots were among the honourable dishes--we +gathered at the open side of the room overlooking the garden. +Fireflies glowed in the paddies and in the garden two stone lanterns +had been lighted. One of them, which had a crescent-shaped opening cut +in it, gleamed like the moon; the other, which had a small serrated +opening, represented a star. + +I paid a visit to the local agricultural co-operative store which did +business under the motto, "Faith is the Mother of all Virtue." More +than half the money taken at the store was for artificial manures. +Next came purchases of imported rice, for, like the Danish peasants +who export their butter and eat margarine, the local peasants sold +their own rice and bought the Saigon variety. The society sold in a +year a considerable quantity of _saké_. Stretched over the doorway of +the building in which the goods of the society were stored were the +rope and paper streamers which are seen before Shinto shrines and +consecrated places. The society had a large flag post for weather +signals, a white flag for a fine day, a red one for cloudy weather and +a blue one for rain. + +I brought away from this village a calendar of agricultural operations +with poems or mottoes for each month, in the collection of which I +suspect the poet had a hand: + +_January_: Future of the day determined in the morning. + +_February_: The voice of one reading a farming book coming + from the snow-covered window. + +_March_: Grafting these young trees, thinking of the days + of my grandchildren. + +_April_: Digging the soil of the paddy field, sincerity + concentrated on the edge of the mattock. + +_May_: Returning home with the dim moonlight glinting + on the edges of our mattocks. + +_June_: Boundless wealth stored up by gracious heaven: + dig it out with your mattock, take it away with your + sickle. + +_July_: Weeding the paddy field[132] in a happiness and + contentment which townspeople do not know. + +_August_: Standing peasant worthier than resting rich man. + +_September_: Ears of rice bend their heads as they ripen. + (An allusion to wisdom and meekness.) + +_October_: White steam coming out of a manure house on + an autumn morning. + +_November_: Moon clear and bright above neatly divided + paddy fields. + +_December_: All the members of the family smiling and + celebrating the year's end, piling up many bales of rice. + +In this district I first noticed cotton. It is sown in June and is +picked from time to time between early September and early November. +Cotton has been grown for centuries in Japan, but nowadays it is +produced for household weaving only, the needs of the factories being +met by foreign imports. The plant has a beautiful yellow flower with a +dark brown eye. + +In one village I asked how many people smoked. The answer was 60 per +cent. of the men and 10 per cent. of the women. In the same village, +which did not seem particularly well off, I was told that 200 daily +papers might be taken among 1,300 families. Eighty per cent. of the +local papers were dailies and cost 35 sen a month. Tokyo papers cost +45 or 50 sen a month. + +I visited a school, half of which was in a building adjoining a temple +and half in the temple itself. In the same county there were two other +schools housed in temples. The small Shinto shrine in this temple held +the Imperial Rescript on education. On one side of it was an ugly +American clock and on the other a thermometer. In the temple (Zen) two +Tokyo University students were staying in ideal conditions for +vacation study. + +I saw at one place a very tired, unslept-looking peasant with a small +closed tub carried over his shoulder by means of a pole. On the tub +was tied a white streamer, such as is supplied at a Shinto shrine, and +a branch of _sakaki_ (_Eurya ochnacea_, the sacred tree). The +traveller was the delegate of his village. He had been to a mountain +shrine in the next prefecture and the tub held the water he had got +there. The idea is that if he succeeds in making the journey home +without stopping anywhere his efforts will result in rain coming down +at his village. If he should stop at any place to rest or sleep, and +there should be the slightest drip from his tub there, then the rain +will be procured not for his own village but for the community in +which he has tarried. So our voyager had walked not only for a whole +day but through the night. I heard of a rain delegate who had stamina +enough to keep walking for three or four days without sleeping. + +Another way of obtaining rain has principally to do with tugging at a +rock with a straw rope. Then there is the plan already referred to of +tying straw ropes to a stone image and flinging it into the river, +saying, "If you don't give us rain you will stay there; if you do give +us rain you shall come out." There is also the method of paying +someone liberally to throw the split open head of an ox into the deep +pool of a waterfall. "Then the water god being much angry," said my +informant, "he send his dragon to that village, so storm and rain come +necessarily." Yet another plan is for the villagers simply to ascend +to a particular mountain top crying, "Give us rain! Give us rain!" +While dealing with these magic arts I may reproduce the following +rendering of a printed "fortune" which I received from a rural shrine: +"Wish to agree but now somewhat difficult. Wait patiently for a while. +Do nothing wrong. Wait for the spring to come. Everything will be +completed and will become better. Endeavouring to accomplish it soon +will be fruitless." + +It was a student of agricultural conditions, in Toyama who gossiped to +me of the large expenditure by farmers of that prefecture on the +marriage of their daughters. "It is not so costly as the boys' +education and it procures a good reception for the girl from +father-and mother-in-law. The pinch comes when there is a second and +third daughter, for the average balance in hand of a peasant +proprietor in this prefecture at the end of the year is only 48 yen. +Borrowing is necessary and I heard of one bankruptcy. The Governor +tried to stop the custom but it is too old. They say Toyama people +spend more proportionately than the people in other prefectures. In +general they do not keep a horse or ox. I heard of young farmers +stealing each other's crops. Parents are very severe upon a daughter +who becomes ill-famed, for when they seek a husband for her they must +spend more. So mostly daughters keep their purity before marriage. But +I know parts of Japan where a large number of the girls have ceased to +be virtuous. Concerning the priests, those of Toyama are the worst. A +peasant proprietor with seven of a family and a balance at the end of +the year of 100 yen must pay 30 to 40 yen to the temple. Some priests +threaten the farmer, saying that if he does not pay as much as is +imposed on him by the collector an inferior Buddha will go past his +door. Priests want to keep farmers foolish as long as they can." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[130] For prices of land, see Appendix LIV. + +[131] There are about 116,000 Shinto shrines of all grades and 14,000 +priests, and 71,000 temples and 51,000 priests. There are about a +dozen Shinto sects and about thirty Buddhist sects and sub-sects. + +[132] It is done by wading in leech-infested water under a burning sun +and pulling out the weeds by hand and pushing them down into the +sludge. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE NUN'S CELL + +(NAGANO) + +It is one more incitement to a man to do well.--BOSWELL + + +Eighty per cent. of Nagano is slope. Hence its dependence on +sericulture. The low stone-strewn roofs of the houses, the railway +snow shelters and the zig-zag track which the train takes, hint at the +climatic conditions in winter time. Despite the snow--ski-ing has been +practised for some years--the summer climate of Nagano has been +compared with that of Champagne and there is one vineyard of 60,000 +vines. + +I was invited to join a circle of administrators who were discussing +rural morality and religion. One man said that there was not 20 per +cent. of the villages in which the priests were "active for social +development." Another speaker of experience declared that "the four +pillars of an agricultural village" were "the _sonchō_ (headman), the +schoolmaster, the policeman and the most influential villager." He +went on: "In Europe religion does many things for the support and +development of morality, but we look to education, for it aims not at +only developing intelligence and giving knowledge, but at teaching +virtue and honesty. But there is something beyond that. Thousands of +our soldiers died willingly in the Russian war. There must have been +something at the bottom of their hearts. That something is a certain +sentiment which penetrates deeply the characters of our countrymen. +Our morality and customs have it in their foundations. This spirit is +_Yamato damashii_ (Japanese spirit). It appeared among our warriors as +_bushido_ (the way of the soldier), but it is not the monopoly of +soldiers. Every Japanese has some of this spirit. It is the moral +backbone of Japan." + +"I should like to say," another speaker declared, "that I read many +European and American books, but I remain Japanese. Mr. Uchimura sees +the darkest side of Buddhism and Mr. Lafcadio Hearn expected too much +from it. 'So mysterious,' Hearn said, but it is not so mysterious to +us. We must be grateful to him for seeing something of the essence of +our life. Sometimes, however, we may be ashamed of his beautifying +sentences. I am a modern man, but I am not ashamed when my wife is +with child to pray that it may be healthy and wise. It is possible for +us Japanese to worship some god somewhere without knowing why. The +poet says, 'I do not know the reason of it, but tears fall down from +my eyes in reverence and gratitude.' I suppose this is natural +theology. The proverb says, 'Even the head of a sardine is something +if believed in.' I attach more importance to a man's attitude to +something higher than himself than to the thing which is revered by +him. Whether a man goes to Nara and Kyoto or to a Roman Catholic or a +Methodist church he can come home very purified in heart." + +"Some foreigners have thought well to call us 'half civilised,'" the +speaker went on. "Can it be that uncivilised is something distasteful +to or not understood by Europeans and Americans? We have the ambition +to erect some system of Eastern civilisation. It is possible that we +may have it in our minds to call some things in Europe 'half +civilised.' Surely the barbarians are usually the people other than +ourselves. When the townsman goes to the country he says the people +are savages. But the countryman finds his fellow-savages quite decent +people." + +"Some time ago," broke in a professor, "I read a novel by René Bazin +and I could not but think how much alike were our peasants and the +peasants of the West." + +The previous speaker resumed: "The other day a foreigner laughed in my +presence at our old art of incense burning and actually said that we +were deficient in the sense of smell. I told him that fifty years ago +our samurai class, in excusing their anti-foreign manifestations, +said they could not endure the smell of foreigners, and that to this +day our peasants may be heard to say of Western people, 'They smell; +they smell of butter and fat.'" + +In the city of Nagano early in the morning I went to a large Buddhist +temple where the authorities had kindly given me special facilities to +see the treasures--alas! all in a wooden structure. A strange thing +was the preservation untouched of the room in which the Emperor Meiji +rested thirty years ago. May oblivion be one day granted to that awful +chenille table cover and those appalling chairs which outrage the +beautiful woodwork and the golden _tatami_ of a great building! At the +entrance of the temple priests in a kind of open office were reading +the newspaper, playing _gō_ or smoking. More pleasing was the sight of +matting spread right round the temple below its eaves, in order that +weary pilgrims might sleep there, and the spectacle of travel-stained +women tranquilly sleeping or suckling their infants before the shrine +itself. There is a pitch dark underground passage below the floor +round the foundations of the great Buddha, and if the circuit be made +and the lock communicating with the entrance door to the sacred figure +be fortunately touched on the way, paradise, peasants believe, is +assured. I made the circuit a few moments after an old woman and found +the lock, and on returning to the temple with the rustic dame knelt +with her before the shrine as the curtain which veils the big Buddha +was withdrawn. The face of one wooden figure in the temple had been +worn, like that of many another in Japan, with the stroking that it +had received from the ailing faithful. + +[Illustration: IN A BUDDHIST NUNNERY.] + +[Illustration: GRASS-CUTTING TOOLS COMPARED WITH A WESTERN SCYTHE.] + +I had the privilege of visiting the adjoining nunnery. As I was +specially favoured by a general admission, I asked to be permitted to +see some nuns' cells. They showed a Buddhist advance on Western ideas. +The word "cells" was a misnomer for beautiful little flower-adorned +rooms of a cheerful Japanese house. The fragile, wistful nun who was +so kind as to speak with me had a consecrated expression. Her dress +was white, and over it was brocade in a perfect combination of green +and cream. Her head was shaven; her hands, which continually told +her beads, were hidden. Religious services are conducted and sermons +are delivered here and in other nunneries by the nuns themselves. I +could not but be sorry for some girl children who had become nuns on +their relatives' or guardians' decision. Adult newcomers are given a +month in which, if they wish, they may repent them of their vows; but +what of the children? The head of this nunnery was a member of the +Imperial family. The institution, like the temple from which I had +just come, stores thousands of wooden tablets to the memory of the +dead. There are many little receptacles in which the hair, the teeth +or the photographs of believers are preserved. I found that both at +the nunnery and the temple a practical interest was being shown in the +reformation of ex-criminals. + +[Illustration: THE CHILD-COLLECTORS OF VILLAGERS' SAVINGS.] + +[Illustration: NUNS PHOTOGRAPHED IN A "CELL" BY THE AUTHOR.] + +[Illustration: STUDENTS' STUDY AT AN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL.] + +While in the highlands of Nagano I spent a night at Karuizawa, a hill +resort at which tired missionaries and their families, not only from +all parts of Japan but from China, gather in the summer months beyond +the reach of the mosquito.[133] I stayed in the summer cottage of my +travelling companion's brother-in-law. The family consisted of a +reserved, cultivated man with a pretty wife of what I have heard a +foreigner call "the maternal, domestic type." In their owlishness +newcomers to the country are inclined to commiserate all Japanese +housewives as the "slaves of their husbands." They would have been +sadly wrong in such thoughts about this happy wife and mother. The +eldest boy, a wholesome-looking lad, had just passed through the +middle school on his way to the university, and spoke to me in simple +English with that air of responsibility which the eldest son so soon +acquires in Japan. His brothers and sisters enjoyed a happy relation +with him and with each other. The whole family was merry, unselfish +and, in the best sense of the word, educated. As we knelt on our +_zabuton_ we refreshed ourselves with tea and the fine view of the +active volcano, Asama, and chatted on schools, holidays, books, the +country and religion. After a while, a little to my surprise, the +mother in her sweet voice gravely said that if I would not mind at all +she would like very much to ask me two questions. The first was, "Are +the people who go to the Christian church here all Christians?" and +the second, "Are Christians as affectionate as Japanese?" + +Karuizawa, which is full of ill-nourished, scabby-headed, +"bubbly-nosed"[134] Japanese children, is an impoverished place on one +of the ancient highways. We took ourselves along the road until we +reached at a slightly higher altitude the decayed village of Oiwaké. +When the railway came near it finished the work of desolation which +the cessation of the daimyos' progresses to Yedo (now Tokyo) had begun +half a century ago. In the days of the Shogun three-quarters of the +300 houses were inns. Now two-thirds of the houses have become +uninhabitable, or have been sold, taken down and rebuilt elsewhere. +The Shinto shrines are neglected and some are unroofed, the Zen temple +is impoverished, the school is comfortless and a thousand tombstones +in the ancient burying ground among the trees are half hidden in moss +and undergrowth. + +The farm rents now charged in Oiwaké had not been changed for thirty, +forty or fifty years. In the old inn there was a Shinto shrine, about +12 ft. long by nearly 2 ft. deep, with latticed sliding doors. It +contained a dusty collection of charms and memorials dating back for +generations. Outside in the garden at the spring I found an irregular +row of half a dozen rather dejected-looking little stone _hokora_ +about a foot high. Some had faded _gohei_ thrust into them, but from +the others the clipped paper strips had blown away. At the foot of the +garden I discovered a somewhat elaborate wooden shrine in a +dilapidated state. "Few country people," someone said to me, "know who +is enshrined at such a place." It is generally thought that these +shrines are dedicated to the fox. But the foxes are merely the +messengers of the shrine, as is shown by the figures of crouching or +squatting foxes at either side. A well-known professor lately arrived +at the conviction that the god worshipped at such shrines is the god +of agriculture. He went so far as to recommend the faculty of +agriculture at Tokyo university to have a shrine erected within its +walls to this divinity, but the suggestion was not adopted. + +In the course of another chat with the old host of the inn he referred +to the time, close on half a century ago, when 3,000 hungry peasants +marched through the district demanding rice. They did no harm. "They +were satisfied when they were given food; the peasants at that time +were heavily oppressed." To-day the people round about look as if they +were oppressed by the ghosts of old-time tyrants. But there is +"something that doth linger" of self-respect. When we left on our way +to Tokyo I gave the man who brought our bags a mile in a barrow to the +station 40 sen. He returned 10 sen, saying that 30 sen was enough. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[133] Although, as has been seen, the rural problems under +investigation in this book are inextricably bound up with religion, +limits of space make it necessary to reserve for another volume the +consideration of the large and complex question of missionary work. + +[134] As to the "bubbly-nosed callant," to quote the description given +of young Smollett, nasal unpleasantness seems to be popularly regarded +as a sign of health. The constant sight of it is one of the minor +discomforts of travel. + + + + +IN AND OUT OF THE SILK PREFECTURE[135] + +CHAPTER XVI + +PROBLEMS BEHIND THE PICTURESQUE + +(SAITAMA, GUMMA, NAGANO AND YAMANASHI) + +A foreigner who comes among us without prejudice may speak his +mind freely.--GOLDSMITH + + +I went back to Nagano to visit the silk industrial regions. My route +lay through the prefectures of Saitama and Gumma. I left Tokyo on the +last day of June. Many farmers were threshing their barley. On the +dry-land patches, where the grain crop had been harvested, soya bean, +sown between the rows of grain long before harvest, was becoming +bushier now that it was no longer overshadowed. Maize in most places +was about a foot high, but where it had been sown early was already +twice that height. The sweet potato had been planted out from its +nursery bed for weeks. Here and there were small crops of tea which +had been severely picked for its second crop. I noticed melons, +cucumbers and squashes, and patches of the serviceable burdock. Many +paddy farmers had water areas devoted to lotus, but the big floating +leaves were not yet illumined by the mysterious beauty of the +honey-scented flowers. + +In order to imagine the scene on the rice flats, the reader must not +think of the glistering paddy fields[136] as stretching in an unbroken +monotonous series over the plain. Occasionally a rocky patch, +outcropping from the paddy tract, made a little island of wood. +Sometimes it was a sacred grove in which one caught a glimpse of a +Shinto shrine or the head stones of the dead. Sometimes there was a +little clump of cropped tree greenery which kept a farmhouse cool in +summer and, at another time of the year, sheltered from the wind. Few +householders were too poor or too busy to be without their little +patch of flowers. + +Before the train climbed out of the Kwanto plain temperature of not +far below 100° F. the planting of rice seemed to be almost an enviable +occupation. The peasant had his great umbrella-shaped straw hat, +sometimes an armful of green stuff tied on his back, and a delicious +feeling of being up to the knees in water or mud on a hot day-one +recalled the mud baths of the West-when the alternative was walking on +a dusty road, digging on the sun-baked upland or perspiring in a house +or the train. + +With the rise in the level a few mulberries began to appear and +gradually they occupied a large part of the holdings. Sometimes the +mulberries were cultivated as shoots from a stump a little above +ground level, and sometimes as a kind of small standard. As mulberry +culture increased, the silk factories' whitewashed cocoon stores and +the tall red and black iron chimneys of the factories themselves +became more numerous. It is a pity that the silk factory is not always +so innocent-looking inside as the pure white exterior of its stores +might suggest. It is certain that the overworked girl operatives, +sitting at their steaming basins, drawing the silk from the soaked +cocoons, were glad to find the weather conditions such that they could +have the sides of their reeling sheds removed. + +At many of the railway stations there were stacks of large, round, +flat bean cakes, for the farmer feeds his "cake" to his fields direct, +not through the medium of cattle. Although a paddy receives less +agreeable nutritive materials than bean cake, the extensive use of +this cake must be comforting to a little school of rural reformers in +the West. These ardent vegetarians have refused to listen to the +allegation that vegetarianism was impossible because without +meat-eating there would be no cattle and therefore no nitrogen for the +fields. + +It was not only the bean cakes at the stations which caught my +attention but the extensive use of lime. Square miles of paddy field +were white with powdered lime, scattered before the planting of the +rice, an operation which in the higher altitudes would not be finished +until well on in July. + +A contented and prosperous countryside was no doubt the impression +reflected to many passengers in the train that sunny day. But I knew +how closely pressed the farmers had been by the rise in prices of many +things that they had got into the way of needing. I had learnt, too, +the part that superstition[137] as well as simple faith played in the +lives of the country folk. When, however, I pondered the way in which +the rural districts had been increasingly invaded by factories run +under the commercial sanctions of our eighteen-forties, I asked myself +whether there might not be superstitions of the economic world as well +as of religious and social life. + +I heard a Japanese speak of being well treated at inns in the old days +for 20 sen a night. It should be remembered, however, that there is a +system not only of tipping inn servants but of tipping the inn. The +gift to the inn is called _chadai_ and guests are expected to offer a +sum which has some relation to their position and means and the food +and treatment they expect. I have stayed at inns where I have paid as +much _chadai_ as bill. To pay 50 per cent. of the bill as _chadai_ is +common. The idea behind _chadai_ is that the inn-keeper charges only +his out-of-pocket expenses and that therefore the guest naturally +desires to requite him. In acknowledgment of _chadai_ the inn-keeper +brings a gift to the guest at his departure--fans, pottery, towels, +picture postcards, fruit or slabs of stiff acidulated fruit jelly (in +one inn of grapes and in another of plums) laid between strips of +maize leaf. The right time to give _chadai_ is on entering the hotel, +after the "welcome tea." In handing money to any person in Japan, +except a porter or a _kurumaya_, the cash or notes are wrapped in +paper. + +On the journey from the city of Nagano to Matsumoto, wonderful views +were unfolded of terraced rice fields, and, above these, of terraced +fields of mulberry. How many hundred feet high the terraces rose as +the train climbed the hills I do not know, but I have had no more +vivid impression of the triumphs of agricultural hydraulic +engineering. We were seven minutes in passing through one tunnel at a +high elevation. + +I spoke in the train with a man who had a dozen _chō_ under grapes, 20 +per cent. being European varieties and 80 per cent. American. He said +that some of the people in his district were "very poor." Some farmers +had made money in sericulture too quickly for it to do them good. He +volunteered the opinion, in contrast with the statement made to me +during our journey to Niigata, that the people of the plains were +morally superior to the people of the mountains. The reason he gave +was that "there are many recreations in the plains whereas in the +mountains there is only one." In most of the mountain villages he knew +three-quarters of the young men had relations with women, mostly with +the girls of the village or the adjoining village. He would not make +the same charge against more than ten per cent. of the young men of +the plains, and "it is after all with teahouse girls." He thought that +there were "too many temples and too many sects, so the priests are +starved." + +An itinerant agricultural instructor in sericulture who joined in our +conversation was not much concerned by the plight of the priests. "The +causes of goodness in our people," he said, "are family tradition and +home training. Candidly, we believe our morals are not so bad on the +whole. We are now putting most stress on economic development. How to +maintain their families is the question that troubles people most. +With that question unsolved it is preaching to a horse to preach +morality. We can always find high ideals and good leaders when +economic conditions improve. The development of morality is our final +aim, but it is encouraged for six years at the primary school. The +child learns that if it does bad things it will be laughed at and +despised by the neighbours and scolded by its parents. We are busy +with the betterment of economic conditions and questions about +morality and religion puzzle us." + +When I reached Matsumoto I met a rural dignitary who deplored the +increasing tendency of city men to invest in rural property. +"Sometimes when a peasant sells his land he sets up as a +money-lender." I was told that nearly every village had a sericultural +co-operative association, which bought manures, mulberry trees and +silk-worm eggs, dried cocoons and hatched eggs for its members and +spent money on the destruction of rats. Of recent years the county +agricultural association had given 5 yen per _tan_ to farmers who +planted improved sorts of mulberry. About half the farmers in the +county had manure houses. Some 800 farmers in the county kept a +labourer. + +I went to see a _gunchō_ and read on his wall: "Do not get angry. +Work! Do not be in a hurry, yet do not be lazy." "These being my +faults," he explained, "I specially wrote them out." There was also on +his wall a _kakemono_ reading: "At twenty I found that even a plain +householder may influence the future of his province; at thirty that +he may influence the future of his nation; at forty that he may +influence the future of the whole world." Below this stirring +sentiment was a portrait of the writer, a samurai scholar, from a +photograph taken with a camera which he had made himself. He lived in +the last period of the Shogunate and studied Dutch books. He was +killed by an assassin at the instance, it was believed, of the Shogun. + +One of the noteworthy things of Matsumoto was the agricultural +association's market. Another piece of organisation in that part of +the world was fourteen institutes where girls were instructed in the +work of silk factory hands. The teachers' salaries were paid by the +factories. So were also the expenses of the silk experts of the local +authorities. On the day I left the city the daily paper contained an +announcement of lectures on hygiene to women on three successive days, +"the chief of police to be present." This paper was demanding the +exemption of students from the bicycle tax, the rate of which varies +in different prefectures. + +A young man was brought to see me who was specialising in musk melons. +He said that the Japanese are gradually getting out of their +partiality for unripe fruit. + +On our way to the Suwas we saw many wretched dwellings. The feature +of the landscape was the silk factories' tall iron chimneys, +ordinarily black though sometimes red, white or blue. + +It is not commonly understood that Japanese lads by the time they +"graduate" from the middle school into the higher school have had some +elementary military training. A higher-school youth knows how to +handle a rifle and has fired twice at a target. At Kami Suwa the +problem of how middle-class boys should procure economical lodging +while attending their classes had been solved by self-help. An +ex-scholar of twenty had managed to borrow 4,000 yen and had proceeded +to build on a hillside a dormitory accommodating thirty-six boarders. +Lads did the work of levelling the ground and digging the well. The +frugal lines on which the lodging-house was conducted by the lads +themselves may be judged from the fact that 5 yen a month covered +everything. Breakfast consisted of rice, _miso_ soup and pickles. +Cooking and the emptying of the _benjo_[138] were done by the lads in +turn. A kitchen garden was run by common effort. Among the many +notices on the walls was one giving the names of the residents who +showed up at 5 o'clock in the morning for a cold bath and fencing. I +also saw the following instruction written by the founder of the +house, which is read aloud every morning by each resident in turn: + +Be independent and pure and strive to make your characters more +beautiful. Expand your thought. Help each other to accomplish your +ambitions. Be active and steady and do not lose your self-control. Be +faithful to friends and righteous and polite. Be silent and keep +order. Do not be luxurious (_sic_). Keep everything clean. Pay +attention to sanitation. Do not neglect physical exercises. Be +diligent and develop your intelligence. + +The borrower of the 4,000 yen with which the institution was built +managed to pay it back within seven years with interest, out of the +subscriptions of residents and ex-residents. + +An agricultural authority whom I met spoke of "farming families +living from hand to mouth and their land slipping into the possession +of landlords"; also of a fifth of the peasants in the prefecture being +tenants. A young novelist who had been wandering about the Suwa +district had been impressed by the grim realities of life in poor +farmers' homes and cited facts on which he based a low view of rural +morality. + +Suwa Lake lies more than 3,500 ft. above sea level and in winter is +covered with skaters. The country round about is remarkable +agriculturally for the fact that many farmers are able to lead into +their paddies not only warm water from the hot springs but water from +ammonia springs, so economising considerably in their expenditure on +manure. A simple windmill for lifting the fertilising water is sold +for only 4 yen. + +We went to Kōfu, the capital of Yamanashi prefecture, through many +mountain tunnels and ravines. Entrancing is the just word for this +region in the vicinity of the Alps. But joy in the beauty through +which we passed is tinged for the student of rural life by thoughts of +the highlander's difficulties in getting a living in spots where quiet +streams may become in a few hours ungovernable torrents. I remember +glimpses of grapes and persimmons, of parties of middle-school boys +tramping out their holiday--every inn reduces its terms for them--and +of half a dozen peasant girls bathing in a shaded stream. But there +were less pleasing scenes: hills deforested and paddies wrecked by a +waste of stones and gravel flung over them in time of flood. Here and +there the indomitable farmers, counting on the good behaviour of the +river for a season or two, were endeavouring, with enormous labour, to +resume possession of what had been their own. The spectacle +illustrated at once their spirit and their industry and their need of +land. At night we slept at Kōfu at "the inn of greeting peaks." In the +morning a Governor with imagination told me of the prefecture's +gallant enterprises in afforestation and river embanking at +expenditures which were almost crippling. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[135] The three leading silk prefectures are in order: Nagano, +Fukushima and Gumma. + +[136] At this time of the year, when the rice plants are small, the +water in the paddies is still conspicuous. + +[137] An old Japan hand once counselled me that "the thing to find out +in sociological enquiries is not people's religions but their +superstitions." + +[138] See Appendix IV. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE BIRTH, BRIDAL AND DEATH OF THE SILK-WORM + +(NAGANO) + +The mulberry leaf knoweth not that it shall be silk.--_Arab proverb_ + + +One acre in every dozen in Japan produces mulberry leaves for feeding +the silk-worms which two million farming families--more than a third +of the farming families of the country--painstakingly rear. + +But the mulberry is not the only mark of a sericultural district. Its +mark may be seen in the tall chimneys of the factories and in the +structure of the farmers' houses. Breeders of silk-worms are often +well enough off to have tiled instead of thatched roofs; they have +frequently two storeys to their dwellings; and they have almost always +a roof ventilator so that the vitiated air from the _hibachi_-heated +silk-worm chambers may be carried off. Yet another sign of sericulture +being a part of the agricultural activities of a district is its +prosperity. Silk-worms produce the most valuable of all Japanese +exports. Japan sends abroad more raw silk than any other country.[139] + +It is in the middle of the country that sericulture chiefly nourishes. +The smallest output of raw silk is from the most northerly prefecture +and from the prefecture in the extreme south-west of the mainland. But +human aptitude plays its part as well as climate. The Japanese hand is +a wonderful piece of mechanism--look at the hands of the next Japanese +you meet--and in sericulture its delicate touch is used to the utmost +advantage. + +The gains of sericulture are not made without corresponding +sacrifices. Silk-worm raising is infinitely laborious. The constant +picking of leaves, the bringing of them home and the chopping and +supplying of these leaves to the smallest of all live stock and the +maintenance of a proper temperature in the rearing-chamber day and +night mean unending work. The silk-worms may not be fed less than four +or five times in the day; in their early life they are fed seven or +eight times. This is the feeding system for spring caterpillars. +Summer and autumn breeds must have two or three more meals. The men +and women who attend to them, particularly the women, are worn out by +the end of the season. "The women have only three hours' rest in the +twenty-four hours," I remember someone saying. "They never loose their +_obi_." + +When the caterpillars emerge from the tiny, pin-head-like eggs of the +silk-worm moth they are minute creatures. Therefore the mulberry +leaves are chopped very fine indeed. They are chopped less and less +fine as the silk-worms grow, until finally whole leaves and leaves +adhering to the shoots are given. Some rearers are skilful enough to +supply from the very beginning leaves or leaves still on the shoots. +The caterpillars live in bamboo trays or "beds" on racks. In the house +of one farmer I found caterpillars about three-quarters of an inch +long occupying fifteen trays. When the silk-worms grew larger they +would occupy two hundred trays. + +The eggs, when not produced on the farm, are bought adhering to cards +about a foot square. There are usually marked on these cards +twenty-eight circles about 2 ins. in diameter. Each circle is covered +with eggs. The eggs come to be arranged in these convenient circles +because, as will be explained later on, the moths have been induced to +lay within bottomless round tins placed on the circles on the cards. +The eggs are sticky when laid and therefore adhere. In a year +35,000,000 cards, containing about a billion eggs, are produced on +some 10,000 egg-raising farms. + +The eggs--they are called "seed"--are hatched in the spring (end of +April--as soon as the first leaves of the mulberry are available--to +the middle of May), summer (June and July) and autumn (August and +October). It takes from three to seven days--according to +temperature--for the "seed" to hatch, and from twenty to thirty-two +days--according to temperature--for the silk-worms to reach maturity. +Half the hatching is done in spring. In one farmer's house I visited +in the spring season I found that he had hatched fifty cards of +"seed." From the birth of the caterpillars to the formation of cocoons +the casualties must be reckoned at ten per cent. daily. Not more than +eighty-five per cent. of the cocoons which are produced are of good +quality. The remainder are misshapen or contain dead chrysalises. As +there are more than a thousand breeds of silk-worm, all cocoons are +not of the same shape and colour. Some are oval; some are shaped like +a monkey nut. Most are white but some are yellow and others yellow +tinted. + +In the whole world of stock raising there is nothing more remarkable +than the birth of silk-worm moths. The cocoons on the racks in the +farmer's loft are covered by sheets of newspaper in which a number of +round holes about three-quarters of an inch in diameter have been cut. +When the moths emerge from their cocoons they seek these openings +towards the light and creep through to the upper side of the +newspaper. For newly born things they come up through these openings +with astonishing ardour. In body and wings the moths are flour white. +White garments are suitable for the babe, the bride and the dead, and +the moth perfected in the cocoon is arrayed not only for its birth but +for bridal and death, which come upon it in swift succession. The male +as well as the female is in white and is distinguishable by being +somewhat smaller in size. On the newspaper the few males who have not +found partners are executing wild dances, their wings whirring the +while at a mad pace. When from time to time they cease dancing they +haunt the holes in the paper through which the newly born moths +emerge. When a female appears a male instantly rushes towards her, or +rather the two creatures rush towards one another, and they are at +once locked in a fast embrace. Immediately their wings cease to +flutter, the only commotion on the newspaper being made by the unmated +males. In a hatching-room these males on the stacks of trays are so +numerous that the place is filled with the sound of the whirring of +their wings. The down flies from their wings to such an extent that +one continually sneezes. The spectacle of the stacks of trays covered +by these ecstatic moths is remarkable, but still more remarkable is +the thrilling sense of the power of the life-force in a supposedly low +form of consciousness. + +The wonder of the scene is missed, no doubt, by most of those who are +habituated to it. From time to time weary, stolid-looking girls or old +women lift down the trays and run their hands over them in order to +pick up superfluous male moths. Sometimes the male moths are walking +about the newspaper, sometimes they are torn callously from the +embrace of their mates. The fate of the male moths is to be flung into +a basket where they stay until the next day, when perhaps some of them +may be mated again. The novice is impressed not only by the +ruthlessness of this treatment but by the way in which the whole loft +is littered by male moths which have fallen or have been flung on the +floor and are being trampled on. + +The female moths, when their partners have been removed, are taken +downstairs in newspapers in order to be put into the little tin +receptacles where the eggs are to be laid. On a tray there are spread +out a number of egg cards with, as before mentioned, twenty-eight +printed circles on each of them. On these circles are placed the +twenty-eight half-inch-high bottomless enclosures of tin. Some one +takes up a handful of moths and scatters them over the tins. Some of +the moths fall neatly into a tin apiece. Others are helped into the +little enclosures in which, to do them credit, they are only too +willing to take up their quarters. The curious thing is the way in +which each moth settles down within her ring. Indeed from the moment +of her emergence from the cocoon until now she has never used her +wings to fly. Nor did the male moth seem to wish to fly. The sexes +concentrate their whole attention on mating. After that the female +thinks of nothing but laying eggs. Almost immediately after she is +placed within her little tin she begins to deposit eggs, and within a +few hours the circle of the card is covered. + +Food is given neither to the females nor to the males. Those which are +not kept in reserve for possible use on the second day are flung out +of doors. When the female moth has deposited her eggs she also is +destroyed.[140] The _shoji_ of the breeding and egg-laying rooms +permit only of a diffused light. The discarded moths are cast out into +the brilliant sunshine where they are eaten by poultry or are left to +die and serve as manure. + +Sericulture is always a risky business. There is first the risk of a +fall in prices. Just before I reached Japan prices were so low that +many people despaired of being able to continue the business, and +shortly after I left there was a crisis in the silk trade in which +numbers of silk factories failed. At the time I was last in a +silk-worm farmer's house cocoons were worth from 5 to 6 yen per _kwan_ +of 8-1/4 lbs. From 8 to 10 _kwan_ of cocoons could be expected from a +single egg card. Eggs were considered to be at a high price when they +were more than 2 yen per card. The risks of the farmer are increased +when he launches out and buys mulberry leaves to supplement those +produced on his own land. Sometimes the price of leaves is so high +that farmers throw away some of their silk-worms. The risks run by the +man who grows mulberries beyond his own leaf requirements on the +chance of selling are also considerable. + +Beyond the risk of falling prices or of a short mulberry crop there is +in sericulture the risk of disease. One advantage of the system in +which the eggs are laid in circles on the cards instead of all over +them is that if any disease should be detected the affected areas can +be easily cut out with a knife and destroyed. Disease is so serious a +matter that silk-worm breeding, as contrasted with silk-worm raising, +is restricted to those who have obtained licences. The silk-worm +breeder is not only licensed. His silkworms, cocoons and mother moths +are all in turn officially examined. Breeding "seeds" were laid one +year by about 33,000,000 odd moths; common "seeds" by about +948,000,000. + +Of recent years enormous progress has been made in combating disease. +I have spoken of how a silk-worm district may be recognised by the +structure of the farmhouses and the prosperity of the farmers, but +another striking sign of sericulture is the trays and mats lying in +the sun in front of farmers' dwellings or on the hot stones of the +river banks in order to get thoroughly purified from germs. It is +illustrative of the progress that has been made under scientific +influence, that whereas twenty years ago a sericulturist would reckon +on losing his silk-worm harvest completely once in five years, such a +loss is now rare. Scientific instructors have their difficulties in +Japan as in the rural districts of other countries, but the people +respect authority, and they are accustomed to accept instruction given +in the form of directions. Also the Japanese have an unending interest +in the new thing. Further, there is a continual desire to excel for +the national advantage and in emulation of the foreigner. The advance +in scientific knowledge in the rural districts is remarkable, because +it is in such contrast with the primitive lives of the country people. +Picture the surprise of British or American farmers were they brought +face to face with thermometers, electric light and a working knowledge +of bacteriology in the houses of peasants in breech clouts. + +It was while I was trying to learn something of the sericultural +industry that I had the opportunity of visiting a noteworthy +institution. It is noteworthy, among other reasons, because I seldom +met a foreigner in Japan who knew of its existence. It is the great +Ueda Sericultural College in the prefecture of Nagano. I was struck +not only by its extent but by its systematised efficiency. On a level +with the director's eyes was a motto in large lettering, "Be diligent. +Develop your virtues." + +[Illustration: TEACHERS OF A VILLAGE SCHOOL.] + +[Illustration: GIRLS CARRYING BALES OF RICE.] + +[Illustration: SERICULTURAL SCHOOL STUDENTS.] + +The Institute devotes itself to mulberries, silk-worms and silk +manufacture. There are 200 students, as many as it will hold. The +young men become teachers of sericulture, advisers in mills and +experts of co-operative sericultural societies. The institution, in +addition to the fees it receives and its earnings from its own +products, some 33,000 yen in all, has an annual Government subsidy of +about 114,000 yen. There are other sericultural colleges doing similar +work in Tokyo and Kyoto, and there is also in the capital the Imperial +Sericultural Experiment Station (with a staff of 87), where I saw +all sorts of research work in progress. This experiment station has +half a dozen branches scattered up and down the silk districts. + +[Illustration: SOME OF THE SILK FACTORIES IN KAMISUWA.] + +[Illustration: VILLAGE ASSEMBLY-ROOM.] + +At Ueda I went through corridors and rooms, sterilised thrice a year, +to visit professors engaged in a variety of enquiries. One professor +had turned into a kind of beef tea the pupæ thrown away when the +cocoons are unwound; another had made from the residual oil two or +three kinds of soap. The usual thing at a silk factory is for the +pupæ, which are exposed to view when the silk is unrolled from the +scalded cocoons, to lie about in horrid heaps until they are sold as +manure or carp food. The professor declared that his product was equal +to a third of the total weight of the pupæ utilised, and was sure that +it could be sold at a fifteenth of the price of Western beef essences. +The Director of the College had tried the product with his breakfast +for a fortnight and avowed that during the experiment he was never so +perky. + +It was a pleasure to look into the well-kept dormitories of the +students, where there was evidence, in books, pictures and athletic +material, of a strenuous life. The young men are made fit not only by +_judō_, fencing, archery, tennis and general athletics, but by being +sent up the mountains on Sundays. The men are kept so hard that at the +open fencing contest twice a year the visitors are usually beaten. The +director quoted to me Roosevelt's "Sweat and be saved." + +From men we went to machines and mulberries. I inspected all sorts of +hot chambers for killing cocoons. I saw, in rooms draped in black +velvet like the pictured scenes at a beheading, silk testing for +lustre and colour. I gazed with respect on many kinds of winding and +weaving machinery. Then, going out into the experiment fields, I +strode through more varieties of mulberry than I had imagined to +exist. There are supposed to be 500 sorts in the country but many are +no doubt duplicates. The varieties differ so much in shape and texture +of leaf that the novice would not take some of them for mulberries. + +It was held that it would not be difficult to increase the mulberry +area in Japan by another quarter of a million acres. The yield of +leaves might be raised by 3,300 lbs. per acre if the right sort of +bushes were always grown and the right sort of treatment were given to +them and to the soil. As to the additional labour needed for an +extended sericulture, the annual increase in the population of Japan +would provide it. I was told that "the technics of sericulture are +sure to improve." It would be easy to raise the yield 2 _kwan_ per egg +card for the whole country. Within a seven-year period the production +of cocoons per egg card had become 20 per cent. better. The talk was +of doubling the present yield of cocoons. The "proper encouragement" +needed for doubling the production of cocoons was more technical +instruction and more co-operative societies. There had been a +continual rise in the world's demand for silk and there was no need to +fear "artificial silk." "People who buy it often come to appreciate +natural silk." And I read in an official publication that "the climate +of Japan is suitable for the cultivation of mulberry trees from +south-west Formosa to Hokkaido in the north." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[139] For statistics of sericulture, see Appendix XXXIX. + +[140] She is examined microscopically in order to make sure that she +was not affected by infectious disease. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +"GIRL COLLECTORS" AND FACTORIES + +(NAGANO AND YAMANASHI) + +At your return show the truth.--FROISSART + + +I visited factories in more than one prefecture. At the first +factory--it employed about 1,000 girls and 200 men--work began at 4.30 +a.m., breakfast was at 5 and the next meal at 10.30. The stoppages for +eating were for a few minutes only. A cake was handed to each girl at +her machine at 3. Suppertime came after work was finished at 7.[141] +No money was paid the first year. The second year the wages might be 3 +or 4 yen a month. The statement was made that at the end of her five +years' term a girl might have 300 yen, but that this sum was not +within the reach of all.[142] The girls were driven at top speed by a +flag system in which one bay competed with another and was paid +according to its earnings. Owing to the heat the flushed girls +probably looked better in health than they really were. They were fat +in the face, but this could not be regarded as an indication of their +general well-being. It was admitted that some girls left through +illness. Employees returned to their homes for January and February, +when the factory was closed down; there was also three days' holiday +in June. In the dormitory I noticed that each girl had the space of +one mat only (6 ft. by 3 ft.). Twenty-two girls slept in each +dormitory. The men connected with this factory were low-looking and +shifty-eyed. + +An agricultural expert who was well acquainted with the conditions of +silk manufacture and of the district and was in a disinterested +position told me after my visit to this factory how the foremen +scoured the country for girl labour during January and February. The +success of the _kemban_ or girl collector was due to the poverty of +the people, who were glad "to be relieved of the cost of a daughter's +food." Occasionally the _kemban_ had sub-agents. The mill proprietors +were in competition for skilled girls, and money was given by a +_kemban_ intent on stealing another factory's hand. + +The novices had no contract. The contract of a skilled girl provided +that she should serve at the factory for a specified period and that +if she failed to do so, she should pay back twenty times the 5 yen or +whatever sum had been advanced to her. Obviously 100 yen would be a +prohibitive sum for a peasant's daughter to find. The amount of the +workers' pay was not specified in the contract. The document was +plainly one-sided and would be regarded in an English court as against +public policy and unenforceable. Married women might take an infant +with them to the factory. In more than one factory I saw several +thin-faced babies. + +The effect of factory life on girls, a man who knew the countryside +well told me, was "not good." The girls had weakened constitutions as +the result of their factory life and when they married had fewer than +the normal number of children. The general result of factory life was +degeneration. The girls "corrupted their villages." + +The custom was, I understood, that the girls were kept on the factory +premises except when they could allege urgent business in town. But +they were allowed out on the three nights of the _Bon_ festival. It +was rare that priests visited the factories and there were no shrines +there. The girls had sometimes "lessons" given them and occasionally +story-tellers or gramophone owners amused them. The food supplied by +some factories was not at all adequate and the girls had to spend +their money at the factory tuck-shops. "Most proprietors," I was told, +"endeavour to make part of their staff permanent by acting as +middlemen to arrange marriages between female and male workers." The +infants of married workers were "looked after by the youngest +apprentices." + +In another place I saw over a factory which employed about 160 girls, +who were worked from 5:30 a.m. to 6:40 p.m. with twenty minutes for +each meal. If a girl "broke her contract" it was the custom to send +her name to other factories so that she could not get work again. The +foremen at this establishment seemed decent men. + +One who had no financial interest in the silk industry but knew the +district in which this second factory stood said that "many girls" +came home in trouble. The peasants did not like "the spoiling of their +daughters," but were "captured in their poverty by the idea of the +money to be gained." Undoubtedly the factory life was pictured in +glowing colours by the _kemban_. + +In a third factory there were more than 200 girls and only 15 men. The +proprietor and manager seemed good fellows. I was assured that it was +forbidden for men workers to enter the women's quarters, but on +entering the dormitory I came on a man and woman scuffling. The girls +of this factory and in others had running below their feet an iron +pipe which was filled with steam in cold weather. On some days in +July, the month in which I visited this factory, I noticed from the +temperature record sheet that the heat had reached 94 degrees in the +steamy spinning bays, where, unless the weather be damp, it was +impossible, because of spinning conditions, to admit fresh air. I saw +a complaint box for the workers. As in other factories, there was a +certain provision of boiled water and ample bathing accommodation. Hot +baths were taken every night in summer and every other night in +winter. Here, as elsewhere, though many of the girls were pale and +anaemic, all were clean in their persons, which is more than can be +said of all Western factory hands. Work began at 4 a.m. and went on +until 7 p.m. From 10 to 15 minutes were allowed for meals. The winter +hours were from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. + +In this factory, as in others, there was a system of tallies, showing +to all the workers the ranking of the girls for payment. The standard +wage seemed to be 20 sen a day, and the average to which it was +brought by good work 30 sen. There were thirty or more girls who had +deductions from their 20 sen. Apprentices were shown as working at a +loss. Once or twice a month a story-teller came to entertain the girls +and every fortnight a teacher gave them instruction. When I asked if a +priest came I was told that "in this district the families are not so +religious, so the girls are not so pious." Two doctors visited the +factory, one of them daily. Counting all causes, 5 per cent. of the +girls returned home. The owner of the factory, a man in good physical +training and with an alert and kindly face, said the industry +succeeded in his district because the employers "exerted themselves" +and the girls "worked with the devotion of soldiers." I thought of a +motto written by the Empress, which I had seen at Ueda, "It is my wish +that the girls whose service it is to spin silk shall be always +diligent." Behind the desk of this factory proprietor hung the motto, +"Cultivate virtues and be righteous." + +The fourth factory I saw seemed to be staffed entirely with +apprentices who were turned over to other factories in their third +year. The girls appeared to have to sleep three girls to two mats. In +the event of fire the dormitory would be a death-trap. I was told that +there was an entertainment or a "lecture on character" once a week. +The motto on the walls of this factory was, "Learning right ways means +loving mankind." + +I went over the factory which belonged to the largest concern in Japan +and had 10,000 hands. The girls were looked after in well-ventilated +dormitories by ten old women who slept during the day and kept watch +at night. There was a fire escape. All sorts of things were on sale at +wholesale prices at the factory shop, but for any good reason an exit +ticket was given to town. The dining-room was excellent. There was a +hospital in this factory and the nurse in the dispensary summarised at +my request the ailments of the 35 girls who were lying down +comfortably: stomachic, 12; colds, 7; fingers hurt by the hot water of +the cocoon-soaking basins, 5; female affections, 4; nervous, 2; eyes, +rheumatism, nose, lungs and kidneys, 1 each. The average wages in this +factory worked out at 60 yen for 9 months. The hour of beginning work +was 4:30 at the earliest. The factory stopped at sunset, the latest +hour being 6:30. I was assured that of the girls who did not get +married 70 per cent. renewed their contracts. A large enclosed open +space was available in which the girls might stroll before going to +bed. The motto of the establishment was, "I hear the voice of spring +under the shadow of the trees." In reference to the new factory +legislation the manager said that the hours of labour were so long +that it would be some time before 10 hours a day would be +initiated.[143] This factory and its branches were started thirty +years ago by a man who was originally a factory worker. Although now +very rich he had "always refused to be photographed and had not +availed himself of an opportunity of entering the House of Peers." + +I visited several factories the girls working at which did not live in +dormitories but outside. At a winding and hanking factory which was +airy and well lighted the hours were from 6 to 6. At a factory where +the hours were from 4:30 to 7 some reelers had been fined. Japanese +Christian pastors sometimes came to see the girls, and on the wall of +the recreation room there were paper _gohei_ hung up by a Shinto +priest. + +I got the impression that the girls in the factories at Kōfu in +Yamanashi prefecture were not driven so hard as those at the factories +in the Suwas in Nagano. Someone said: "However the Suwa people may +exploit their girls, we are able, working shorter hours and giving +more entertainments, to produce better silk, for the simple reason +that the girls are in better condition. We can get from 5 to 10 per +cent. more for our silk." A factory manager said that it would be +better if the girls had a regular holiday once a week, but one firm +could not act alone. (The factories are working seven days a week, +except for festival days and public holidays.) + +With regard to the _kemban_, I was told in Yamanashi that many girls +went to the factories "unwillingly by the instructions of their +parents." It was also stated that the money paid to girls or their +parents on their engagement was not properly a gratuity but an +advance. I heard that the police keep a special watch on _kemban_. +They would not do this without good reason. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[141] The times stated are those given to me in the factories. The +question of overtime is referred to later in the Chapter. + +[142] Again the reader must be reminded of the rise in wages and +prices (estimated on p. xxv). During the recent period of inflation, +silk rose to 3,000 yen per picul and fell to 1,300 or 1,400 yen. There +have been great fluctuations in the wages of factory girls. At the +most flourishing period as much as 25 yen per head was paid to +recruiters of girls. In this Chapter, however, it is best to record +exactly what I saw and heard. + +[143] On the day on which I re-read this for the printers, I notice in +an American paper that one of the largest employers of labour in the +United States has just stated that he did not see his way to abolish +the twelve-hours' day. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +"FRIEND-LOVE-SOCIETY'S" GRIM TALE + +The psychology of behaviour teaches us that [a country's] failures and +semi-failures are likely to continue until there is a far more +widespread appreciation of the importance of studying the forces which +govern behaviour.--SAXBY + +I + + +I do not think that some of the factory proprietors are conscious that +they are taking undue advantage of their employees. These men are just +average persons at the ante-Shaftesbury stage of responsibility +towards labour.[144] Their case is that the girls are pitifully poor +and that the factories supply work at the ruling market rates for the +work of the pitifully poor. Said one factory owner to me genially: +"Peasant families are accustomed to work from daylight to dark. In the +silk-worm feeding season they have almost no time for sleep. Peasant +people are trained to long hours. Lazy people might suffer from the +long hours of the factory, but the factory girls are not lazy." + +It hardly needs to be pointed out that there is all the difference +between a long day at the varied work of a farm, even in the trying +silk-worm season, and a long day, for nine or ten months on end, +sitting still, with the briefest intervals for food, in the din and +heat of a factory. Such a life must be debilitating. When it is added +that in most factories, in the short period between supper and sleep, +and again during the night, the girls are closely crowded, no further +explanation is wanted of the origin of the tuberculosis which is so +prevalent in the villages which supply factory labour.[145] There is +no question that in the scanty moments the girls do have for an airing +most of them are immured within the compounds of their factories. A +large proportion of the many thousands of factory girls[146] who are +to be mothers of a new generation in the villages are passing years of +their lives in conditions which are bad for them physically and +morally. It must not be forgotten that very many of the girls go to +the factories before they are fully grown. On the question of +morality, evidence from disinterested quarters left no doubt on my +mind that the _morale_ of the girls was lowered by factory life. The +Lancashire factory girl goes home every evening and she has her +Saturday afternoon and her Sunday, her church or chapel, her societies +and clubs, her amusements and her sweetheart. Her Japanese sister has +none of this natural life and she has infinitely worse conditions of +labour. + +It is only fair to remember, however, that the Japanese factory girl +comes from a distance. She has no relatives or friends in the town in +which she is working. But the plea that she would get into trouble if +she were allowed her liberty without control of any sort does not +excuse her present treatment. If the factories offered decent +conditions of life not a few of the companies would get at their doors +most of the labour they need and many of the girls would live at home. +If the factories insist on having cheap rural labour then they should +do their duty by it. The girls should have reasonable working hours, +proper sleeping accommodation and proper opportunities inside and +outside the factories for recreation and moral and mental improvement. +It is idle to suggest that fair treatment of this sort is impossible. +It is perfectly possible. + +The factory proprietors are no worse than many other people intent on +money making. But the silk industry, as I saw it, was exploiting, +consciously or unconsciously, not only the poverty of its girl +employees but their strength, morality, deftness[147] and remarkable +school training in earnestness and obedience. Several times I heard +the unenlightened argument that, if there were a certain sacrifice of +health and well-being, a rapidly increasing population made the +sacrifice possible; that, as silk was the most valuable product in +Japan, and it was imperative for the development and security of the +Empire that its economic position should be strengthened, the +sacrifice must be made. Nothing need be said of such a hopelessly +out-of-date and nationally indefensible attitude except this: that it +is doubtful whether any considerable proportion of the people +connected with the silk industry have felt themselves specially +charged with a mission to strengthen the economic condition of their +country. They have simply availed themselves of a favourable +opportunity to make money. That opportunity was presented by the cheap +labour available in farmers' daughters unprotected by effective trade +unions, by properly administered factory laws or by public opinion. + + + +II[148] + + +The enterprise, the efficiency and the profits shown by the +sericultural industry have been remarkable, and not a few of the +capitalists connected with it are personally public-spirited. But many +well-wishers of Japan, native-born and foreign, cannot help wondering +what is the real as compared with the seeming return of the industry +to a nation the strength of which is in its reservoir of rustic health +and willingness. It is significant of the extent to which the +factories are working with cheap labour that, in a country in which +there are more men than women,[149] there was in about 20,000 +factories 58 per cent. of female labour. If I stress the fact of +female employment it is because in Japan nearly every woman +eventually marries. Enfeebled women must therefore hand on +enfeeblement to the next generation.[150] + +The Japanese, in their present factory system, as in other +developments, insist on making for themselves all the mistakes that we +have made and are now ashamed of. In judging the Japanese let us +remember that all our industrial exploitation of women[151] was not, +as we like to believe, an affair as far off as the opening nineteenth +century. I do not forget as a young man filling a newspaper poster +with the title of an article which recounted from my own observation +the woes of women chain makers who, with bared breasts and their +infants sprawling in the small coals, slaved in domestic smithies for +a pittance. And as I write it is announced that the head of the United +States Steel Corporation says that "there is no necessity for trade +unions," which are, in his opinion, "inimical to the best interests of +the employers and the public." That is precisely the view of most +Japanese factory proprietaries. + +The trade union is not illegal in Japan, but its teeth have been drawn +(1) by the enactment that "those who, with the object of causing a +strike, seduce or incite others" shall be sentenced to imprisonment +from one to six months with a fine of from 3 to 30 yen; (2) by the +power given to the police (_a_) to detain suspected persons for a +succession of twenty-four hour periods, and (_b_) summarily to close +public meetings, and (3) by the franchise being so narrow that few +trade unionists have votes. During the six years of the War there were +as many as 141,000 strikers, but a not uncommon method of these +workers was merely to absent themselves from work, to refrain from +working while in the factory, or to "ca' canny." Nevertheless 633 of +them were arrested. When I attended in Tokyo a gathering of members of +the leading labour organisation in Japan it was discreetly named +Yu-ai-kai (Friend-Love-Society, i.e. Friendly Society). Now it is +boldly called the Confederation of Japanese Labour. A Socialist +League[152] and several labour publications exist. Workers assemble to +see moving pictures of labour demonstrations, and a labour meeting has +defied the police in attendance by singing the whole of the "Song of +Revolution." But crippled as the unions are under the law against +strikes and by the poverty of the workers, they find it difficult to +attain the financial strength necessary for effective action. Many +workers are trade unionists when they are striking but their trade +unionism lapses when the strike is over, for then the unions seem to +have small reason for existing. The head of the Federation of Labour +lately announced that the number of trade unionists was only 100,000, +or half what it was during the recent big strikes and it is doubtful +whether, even including the 7,000 members of the Seamen's Union, there +are in Japan more than 50,000 contributing members of the different +unions. But this 50,000 may be regarded as staunch. + +The poverty-stricken unions certainly afford no real protection to the +girl workers, who form indeed a very small proportion of their +members. And the Factory Law does little for them. A Japanese friend +who knows the labour situation well writes to me: + +"According to the Factory Law, which came into force in the autumn of +1916, 'factory employers are not allowed to let women work more than +twelve hours in a day.' (Article III, section 1.) But if necessary, +'the competent Minister is entitled to extend this limitation to +fourteen hours.' (Section 2.) As to night work the law says that +'factory employers are not allowed to let women work from 10 p.m. to 4 +a.m.' (Article IV.) If, however, there are necessary reasons, 'the +employers can be exempted from the obligation of the Article IV.' +(Article V.) Article IX says that 'the employers are forbidden to let +women engage in dangerous work.' But whether work is dangerous or not +is determined by 'the competent Minister' (Article XI), who may or may +not be well informed. There is also Article XII, 'The competent +Minister can limit or prohibit the work of women about to have +children' and within three weeks after confinement. But anyone who +enters factories may see women with pale faces because they work too +soon after their confinement. + +"I cannot tell you how far these provisions are enforced. I can only +say that I have not yet heard of employers being punished for +violating the Factory Law. Can it be supposed that employers are so +honest as never to violate the Factory Law? As to working hours, in +some factories they may work less than fourteen hours as the law +indicates. In others they may work more, because 'there are necessary +reasons.' This is especially true of the factories in the country +parts. As 200 inspectors have been appointed, the authorities must by +now know the actual situation pretty well." + +Dr. Kuwata, a former member of the Upper House, with whom I frequently +discussed the labour situation, declares the Factory Law to be +"palpably imperfect and primitive." At the end of 1917 there were, +according to official figures, 99,000 female factory operatives under +fifteen years of age and 2,400 under twelve. Some 20,000 of these +children were employed in silk factories. What protection have they? +Before passing this page for the press I have shown it to a +well-informed Japanese friend and he says that he has never seen any +newspaper report of a prosecution under the Factory Law. Obviously a +Factory Law under which no one is ever prosecuted is not +operative.[153] + +It is excellent that Japan has sent a large permanent delegation to +Switzerland to establish a system of liaison with the International +Labour Office of the League of Nations. This company of young men will +keep the Japanese Government well informed. There is undoubtedly in +Japan, under Western influence, a steady development of sensitiveness +to working-class conditions and a rapid growth of modern social +ideas. But the Government and the Diet will not step out far in +advance of general opinion, the most will naturally be made by the +authorities and trade interests of bad factory conditions on the +Continent of Europe and in some industries in the United States, and +the majority of a public which has been carefully nurtured in the +belief that a profitable industrialism is the great desideratum for +Japan will not be restive. Real factory reform is not to be expected +until an enlightened view is taken by Japanese in general of the +exploitation of girls for any purpose. It is not in commercial human +nature, Eastern or Western, that factory directors and shareholders +should forgo without a struggle the advantage of possessing cheaper +and more subjected labour than their foreign rivals. Some influence +may be exerted in the right direction by the fact that those who are +profiting by cheap and docile labour may themselves be undersold +before long by cheaper and still more docile labour in China.[154] And +in 1922 Japan is under an obligation, accepted at the Washington +Labour Conference, to stop women working more than eleven hours a day +and to abolish night work. Meantime the labour movement makes +progress. It is significant that many of its leaders are under the +influence of "direct action" ideas. They hope little from a Diet +elected on a narrow franchise and supported by a strong Government +machine backed by the Conservative farmer vote. Although, however, +there does not seem to be as yet a junction between the labour +movement and the unions of the tenant farmers, who have their own +interests alone in view, the future may present unexpected +developments. As I write, the labour movement is conducting a trial of +strength with the great Mitsubishi and Kawasaki enterprises and is +presenting a stronger front than it has yet done. + +This Chapter would give an unfair impression of the relations of +capital and labour in Japan if it included no reference to the +well-intentioned efforts made by several large employers to improve +the conditions of working-class life and labour. Sometimes they have +followed the example of philanthropic firms in Great Britain and +America. As often as not they have been inspired by old Japanese ideas +of a master's responsibilities. Many leading industrials have believed +and still believe that by the conservation and development of old +ideas of paternalism and loyalty the trade-union stage of industrial +development may be avoided. This conviction was expressed to me by, +among others, Mr. Matsukata, of the famous Kawasaki concern, who has +made generous contributions to "welfare" work. My own brief experience +as an employer in Japan made me acquainted with some canons in the +relationship of employer and employed which have lost their authority +in the West. Given wisdom on the part of masters, the prolonged +bitterness which has marked the industrial development of the West +need not be repeated in Japan, but whether that wisdom will be +displayed in time is doubtful. The Japanese commercial world has been +commendably quick to learn in many directions in the West. It will be +a serious reflection on the intelligence of the country if the lessons +of the industrial acerbities of Europe and the United States should +not be grasped. Meantime it is a duty which the foreign observer owes +to Japan to speak quite plainly of attempts as silly as they are +useless[155] to obscure the lamentable condition of a large proportion +of Japanese workers, to hide the immense profits which have been made +by their employers and to pretend that factory laws have only to be +placed on the statute book in order to be enforced. But if he be +honest he must also recognise the handicap of specially costly +equipment[156] and of unskilled labour and inexperience under which +the Japanese business world is competing for the place in foreign +trade to which it has a just claim. Such conditions do not in the +least excuse inhumanity, but they help to explain it. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[144] It is a chastening exercise to read before proceeding with this +Chapter an extract from Spencer Walpole's _History of England_, vol. +iii, p. 317, under the year 1832: "The manufacturing industries of the +country were collected into a few centres. In one sense the persons +employed had their reward: the manufacturers gave them wages. In +another sense their change of occupation brought them nothing but +evil. Forced to dwell in a crowded alley, occupying at night a house +constructed in neglect of every known sanitary law, employed in the +daytime in an unhealthy atmosphere and frequently on a dangerous +occupation, with no education available for his children, with no +reasonable recreation, with the sky shrouded by the smoke of an +adjoining capital, with the face of nature hidden by a brick wall, +neglected by an overworked clergyman, regarded as a mere machine by an +avaricious employer, the factory operative turned to the public house, +the prize ring or the cockpit." + +[145] See Appendix XL. + +[146] Number of factory workers, a million and a half, of whom 800,000 +are females. For statistics of women workers, see Appendix XLI. + +[147] The Minister of Commerce has himself stated that the +sericultural industry is rooted in the dexterity of the Japanese +countrywoman. + +[148] This section of the Chapter was written in 1921. + +[149] In Japan in 1918 there were, per 1,000, 505.2 men to 494.8 +women. + +[150] Of the workers under the age of fifteen in the 20,000 factories, +82 per cent. were girls. The statistics in this paragraph were issued +by the Ministry of Commerce in 1917. + +[151] For sketches of women and children (with a chain between their +legs) harnessed to coal wagons in the pits, see _Parliamentary +Papers_, vol. xv, 1842. "There is a factory system grown up in England +the most horrible that imagination can conceive," wrote Sir William +Napier to Lady Hester Stanhope two years after Queen Victoria's +accession. "They are hells where hundreds of children are killed +yearly in protracted torture." In Torrens's _Memoirs of the Queen's +First Prime Minister_, one reads: "Melbourne had a Bill drawn which +with some difficulty he persuaded the Cabinet to sanction, prohibiting +the employment of children _under 9 in any except silk mills_." + +[152] More than 200 books on Socialism were published in 1920. + +[153] For a declaration by Dr. Kuwata concerning bad food and +"defiance of hygienic rules," see Appendix XLII. + +[154] See Appendix XLIII. + +[155] See Appendix XLII. + +[156] In a pre-War publication of the United States Department of +Commerce it was stated that the cost of cotton mills per spindle is in +England _32s._, in the United States _44s._, in Germany _52s._, and in +Japan _100s._ + +[Illustration: ARCHERY AT AN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL.] + +[Illustration: CULTIVATION OF THE HILLSIDE.] + +[Illustration: RAILWAY STATION "BENTO" BOX (OPEN) AND POT OF TEA WITH +CUP. p. 110 The _bento_ box provides rice, meat, fish, omelette and +assorted pickles; also paper napkin and _hashi_ (chop-sticks) and +(between them) a toothpick.] + + + + +FROM TOKYO TO THE NORTH BY THE +WEST COAST + +CHAPTER XX + +"THE GARDEN WHERE VIRTUES ARE CULTIVATED" + +(FUKUSHIMA AND YAMAGATA) + +BOSWELL: If you should advise me to go to Japan I believe I should. +JOHNSON: Why yes, Sir, I am serious. + + +In one of my journeys I went from Tokyo to the extreme north of Japan, +travelling up the west coast and down the east. Fukushima +prefecture--in which is Shirakawa, famous for a horse fair which lasts +a week--encourages the eating of barley, for on the northern half of +the east coast of Japan there is no warm current and the rice crop may +be lost in a cold season. "Officials of the prefecture and county," +someone said to me, "take barley themselves; enthusiastic _gunchō_ +take it gladly." + +The prefectural station, by selecting the best varieties of rice for +sowing, had effected a 10 per cent. improvement in yield. In each +county an official "agricultural encourager" had been appointed. The +lectures given at the experiment station were attended by 18,000 +persons. The studious who listen to the lectures had formed an +association that provided at the station a fine building where supper, +bed, breakfast and lunch cost 30 sen. It contained a model of the Ise +shrine with a motto in the handwriting of a well-known Tokyo +agricultural professor, "Difficulties Polish You." + +"Some villagers," said a local authority, "want to make the Buddhist +temple the centre of the development of village life. In several +places agricultural products are exhibited at Shinto shrines. Farmers +offer them out of a kind of piety, but the products are afterwards +criticised from a technical point of view. This is done on the +initiative of the villagers encouraged by the prefecture." + +Hereabouts the winter work of the people, in addition to basket, rope +and mat making, was paper making and smoothing out the wrinkles of +tobacco.[157] A considerable number of people had emigrated to South +America. The principal need of the villages, it was stated, was money +at less than the current rate of 20 per cent. In one place I found a +factory built on the side of a daimyo's castle. + +I was told of crops of _konnyaku_ which had made one man the second +richest person in the prefecture and had therefore qualified him for +membership in the House of Peers. (The House includes one member from +each prefecture as the representative of the highest taxpayers of that +prefecture.) + +During my journeys I picked up many odds and ends of information by +walking through the trains and having chats with country people. I was +also helped by county and prefectural agricultural officials who, +having learnt of my movements, were kind enough to join me in the +train for an hour or so. One head of an agricultural school which was +full up with students told me that there were already in Fukushima two +prefectural and five county agricultural schools. + +Our train, half freight with a locomotive at each end, went over the +backbone of Japan through the usual series of snow shelters and +tunnels. Having surmounted the heights we slid down into Yamagata. I +should properly write Yamagataken, which we cannot translate +Yamagatashire, for a _ken_ (prefecture) is made up of counties. There +are eleven counties in Yamagataken. + +Almost any sort of dwelling looks tolerable in August, but many of the +houses that first caught our attention must be lamentable shelters in +winter. Some farmers, I learnt, were "in a very bad condition." We +dropped from a silk and rice plateau and then to a region where the +main crop was rice. The bare hills to be seen in our descent were an +appalling spectacle when it was realised how close was their relation +to the disastrous floods of the prefecture. A man in the train had +lost 10,000 yen by floods, a large sum in rural Japan. In two years +the prefecture had spent in river-bank repairs nearly a million yen. A +flood some years ago did damage to the amount of 20 million yen. The +prefecture had a debt of 60 million yen, chiefly due to havoc wrought +by its big river. A yearly sum was spent on afforestation in addition +to what was laid out by the State and by private individuals. A +forestry association was trying to raise half a million yen for tree +planting. But the flooding of the plains was not the only water +trouble of the Yamagatans. In one district they had a stream which +contained solutions of compounds of sulphuric acid so strong that +crops fail for three years on ground watered from it. In other parts +of the prefecture, however, farmers had the advantage, enjoyed in many +parts of Japan, of being able to water from ammonia water springs. + +Hereabouts I first noticed the device common to many districts of +having on the roof of a cottage a water barrel, tub or cistern, ready +to be emptied on the shingle roof when sparks fly from a burning +dwelling. Sometimes the wooden water receptacles are wrapped round +with straw. + +In the prefectural city of Yamagata I heard of a primary school which +had a farm and made a profit, also of four landowners who had engaged +an agricultural expert for the instruction of their tenants. "A very +certain crop" round about the city was grapes. Some 25,000 persons +yearly visited the prefectural 12 _-chō_ experiment station, which +within a year had distributed to farmers 7,600 cyanided fruit trees +and 80 bushels of special seed rice. + +Near the experiment station was a crematorium of ugly brick and +galvanised iron belonging to the city of Yamagata at which 1,000 +bodies were burnt in a year in furnaces heated with pine blocks. A +selection might be made from four rates ranging from 35 sen to 5 yen. +The most expensive rate was for folk who arrived in Western-style +coffins. + +The experiment station had another institution at its doors. This had +to do not with the dead but with the living. Its name was "The Garden +where Virtues are Cultivated." The director of it was the father of +the agricultural expert of the prefecture. The garden, which was not a +garden, was a home for bad boys, or rather for thirty bad boys and one +bad girl. The bad girl--the director, being a man of humanity, common +sense and courage, thought it most necessary that there should be at +least one bad girl--acted as maidservant to the director. The bad boys +"maided" themselves and the school. The lads were such as had fallen +into the hands of the police. They were being reformed in a somewhat +original way by a somewhat original director. + +Early in the day they had their cold bath, which was itself a break +with Japanese custom, for, though most Japanese have a nightly hot +bath, they are content with a basin wash in the morning. Then the boys +"cleaned school." Next they were marched up one by one to a mirror and +required to take a good look at themselves, in order, no doubt, to see +just how bad they were. After this they were called on to "give thanks +to the Emperor and their ancestors." Finally came a half-hour lecture +on "morality." It was considered that by this time the boys were +entitled to their breakfast. For open-air labour they were sent to the +experiment station, but they had manual work also in their own school, +where, among other things, they "made useful things out of waste," the +income from which went to their families. On Sundays the master, +though he must be nearer sixty than fifty, fenced with every one of +the thirty boys in turn--no ordinary task, for Japanese fencing calls +not only for an eye and a hand, but for a muscular back. Some +wholesome-looking young fellows, members of a young men's association, +served as volunteer masters and lived in the bare fashion that was so +good for the boys. + +The director did not believe that bad boys were hopeless. He said that +not only the boys but their parents were better for the work done in +"The Garden where Virtues are Cultivated." He seemed to have become a +sort of consulting expert to primary school-masters who were at a loss +to know how to manage bad boys. Chastisement, as is well known, is +unusual in Japanese schools. The director of the human _hortus +inclusus_ confessed to me that though two of his boys whom he had +caught fighting might not have been separated without, in the Western +phrase, "feeling the weight of his hand," his heaviest punishment on +other difficult occasions was the moxa. + +The moxa brings us back to real horticulture. Moxa is _mogusa_ or +mugwort. _Mogusa_ means "burning herb." The moxa is a great +therapeutic agent in the Far East. A bit of the dried herb is laid on +the skin and set fire to as a sort of blister. From the application of +the moxa as a cure for physical ills to its application for the cure +of bad boys is a natural step. One sees by the scars on the backs of +not a few Japanese that in their youth either their health or their +characters left something to be desired. The moxa, then, is the rod in +pickle in "The Garden where Virtues are Cultivated." But I think it is +not brought out often. A wrestling ring in a mass of sand thrown down +in a yard, a harmonium, a blackboard for the boys to work their will +on, doors labelled "The Room of Patience," "The Room of Honesty," "The +Room of Cleanliness" and "The Room of Good Arrangement," not to speak +of a rabbit loping about the school premises--these and some other +touches in the management of the school spoke of an even stronger +influence toward well-doing than the moxa. But even if the moxa should +fail, the attention of the boys could always be drawn to the +crematorium. + +One who knew the rural districts discoursed to me in this wise: "The +best men are not numerous, but neither are the worst. I doubt whether +the desire to enjoy life is as strong in the Japanese as in the people +of the West. Most farmers would no doubt be happy with material +comfort. Pressed as they have been by material needs, they have no +time to think. When they are easier, they may get something beyond the +physical. At present we must regard their material welfare as the most +urgent thing." But a man standing by, who was also a countryman, +strongly dissented. "Religion," he said, "is not only important but +fundamental." + +I have been received by more than one prefectural governor at eight in +the morning. His Excellency of Yamagata sets a good example by rising +at five and by going to bed at nine. He told me that he thought the +farmer's chief lack was cheap money. Low interest and a long term +might convert into arable 25,000 acres of barren land in his +prefecture. In the old days, as I knew, the farmers drove tunnels +considerable distances for irrigation, but with modern engineering +better results would be possible if money were available. As to the +misdeeds of the rivers, it might almost be said that every village was +feeling the need of embanking and of going to the source of loss by +planting trees in the hills. Beautiful forests of feudal period had +been wasted in the early days of Meiji and the result was now plain. + +But attention had to be given to the minds as well as the pockets of +the villagers. Families that were once reasonably content were now +discontented. A livelihood was harder to get, taxation was heavier and +there was an increase in needs. Country people imagined townspeople to +be comfortably off, "not realising how they were tormented." Villagers +envied townsmen their amusements. Some prefectures had forbidden the +_Bon_ dance and had supplied nothing in its place. It was easy to see +why farmers no longer applied themselves so closely to their calling +and were wavering in their allegiance to country life. Healthful +amusements were necessary for those whose minds were not much +developed. Also, country people should be taught the true character of +town life, and that agriculture, though it might not yield the profit +of commerce and industry, ensured a reasonably happy life in healthful +places where physical strength could be enjoyed. The right kind of +village libraries should be encouraged. Music might perhaps be forced +into competition with _saké_. + +A mental awakening by education was the final solution of the rural +problem, the Governor thought. Religion was also important for the +development of the village. Believers not under the eyes of others +would avoid wrong-doing because watched by heaven. Lectures on +agriculture and sanitation had a good influence when delivered by +priests. Temples were often schools before the era of Meiji and so +priests were socially active. Under the new dispensation the work was +taken out of their hands. So they had come to care little for the +affairs of the world. But they were influential and the prefecture had +asked for their help. The merits of many priests might not be +conspicuous, but the number of them who were active was increasing and +the villagers deferred to them if they took any step. + +The most hopeful thing in the villages was the awakening of the young +men: they were becoming "sincere," a favourite Japanese word. For the +most part the credit societies were not efficient, but in one county +credit societies had lessened the business of the banks. The best way +to furnish capital to farmers was out of the capital of their fellow +farmers. + +Possibly the girls of the villages were not making the same advance as +the boys. They did not go to their field labour willingly. Sometimes +when a woman was asked by a neighbour on the road, "Have you been +working on the farm?" she would answer, "No, I have been to the +temple." The host of women's papers had a bad effect. With regard to +the _habutae_ (silk goods) factories, there was a bright side, for +they gave work to the girls in winter, when they were idle "and +therefore poor and sometimes immoral." On the other hand, factory +girls tended to become vain and thriftless and the stay-at-home girls +were inclined to imitate them. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[157] See Appendix XLV. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE "TANOMOSHI" + +(YAMAGATA) + +Society is kept in animation by the customary and by sentiment.--MEREDITH + + +Six feet of snow is common on the line on which we travelled in +Yamagata prefecture, and washouts are not infrequent. A train has been +stopped for a week by snow. It was difficult to think of snow when one +saw groups of pilgrims with their flopping sun-mats on their backs. +The shrines on three local mountain tops are visited by 20,000 people +yearly. + +We bought at railway stations different sorts of gelatinous fruit +preparations. Most places in Japan have a speciality in the form of a +food or a curiosity that can be bought by travellers. + +In the great Shonai plain, which extends through three counties, there +are no fewer than 82,500 acres of rice and the unending crops were a +sight to see. A great deal of the paddy land has been adjusted. In one +county there is the largest adjusted area in Japan, 20,000 acres. When +one raises one's eyes from the waving fields of illimitable rice, the +dominating feature of the landscape is Mount Chokai with his August +snow cap. + +The three-storey hotel at which we stayed had been taken to pieces and +transported twenty miles. Such removal of houses to a more convenient +or, in the case of an hotel, a more profitable site, is not uncommon. +I sometimes patronised at Omori a large hotel on a little hill halfway +between Yokohama and Tokyo, which had formerly been the prefectural +building at Kanagawa. In the hotel in which I was now staying I was +interested in the "Notice" in my room: + +1. A spitting-pot is provided. [Usually of bamboo or porcelain.] + +2. No towels are lent for fear of _trachoma_.[158] [The traveller in +Japan carries his own towels, but a towel is a common gift on a +guest's departure in acknowledgment of his tea money.] + +3. There is a table of rates. Guests are requested to say in which +they desire to be reckoned. [To the hotel proprietor, landlord or +manager when the visit of courtesy is paid on the guest's arrival. +Otherwise a judgment is formed from the guest's clothes, demeanour and +baggage.] + +4. Please lock up your valuables or let us keep them. [There are no +locks on Japanese doors.] + +5. Railroad, _kuruma_, box-sledge or automobile charges on +application. [The box-sledge shows what the country is like in +winter.] + +In conversations about local conditions I was told that "landowners of +the middle grade" were suffering from "trying to keep up their +position." I remembered the song which may be rendered: + + Would that my daughter + Were married to a middle farmer. + With two _chō_ of farm + And a _tan_ in the wood. + No borrowing; no lending; + Both ends meeting. + Visiting the temple by turns-- + Someone must stay at home. + Going to Heaven sooner or later. + What a happy life! + What a happy life! + +Tenants were rather well off because their standard of living was +lower than that of owners. Economic conditions were improving in +Yamagata, but in the adjoining prefecture of Miyagi on the eastern +coast of Japan "whole villages" had gone to Hokkaido. Some poor +farmers were spending only 5 sen a day on food, the rest of what they +ate coming entirely from their own holdings. Some farmers said, "If +you calculate our income, we are certainly unable to make a living, +but in some way or other we are able," which is what some small +holders in many countries would say. + +I was told that a labourer's 5 _tan_ could be cultivated by working +half days. Generally more was earned by labouring than could be gained +from a small patch of land. But for half the year labourer's work was +not obtainable. My informant found small tenant labourers "well off" +if both husband and wife had wages: "they are able to buy a bottle of +_saké_ in the evening." Their position was better than that of a small +peasant proprietor. + +One in a thousand of the families in a specified county slept in +straw. I heard of the payment of 20 to 25 per cent. to pawnbroker +lenders. + +But there is another way of borrowing. The plan of the _kō_ may be +adopted. A _kō_--it is odd that it should so closely resemble our +abbreviation "Co."--is simple and effective. If a man is badly off or +wants to undertake something beyond his financial resources, and his +friends decide to help him, they may proceed by forming a _kō_. A _kō_ +is composed of a number of people who agree to subscribe a certain sum +monthly and to divide the proceeds monthly by ballot, beginning by +giving the first month's receipts to the person to succour whom the +_kō_ was formed. Suppose that the subscription be fixed at a yen a +month and that there are fifty subscribers. Then the beneficiary--who +pays in his yen with the rest--gets 50 yen on the occasion of the +first ingathering. Every month afterwards a member who is lucky in the +ballot gets 50 yen. The monthly paying in and paying out continue for +fifty months and all the subscribers duly get their money back, with +the advantage of having had a little excitement and having done a +neighbourly action. + +But the _kō_, or _tanomoshi_, as I ought to call it, is not always the +innocent organisation I have described. There is a _tanomoshi_ system +under which, after member A, the beneficiary, has received the first +month's subscriptions, the other members are open to receive bids for +their shares. That is to say that, when the time comes round for the +second paying out of 50 yen, member F, who happens to have become as +much in need of ready money as A was, offers, if the month's moneys be +handed over to him, to distribute among the members sums up to 20 yen. +July and December, when most people need ready money, are months in +which a hard-up member of a _tanomoshi_ may sometimes offer to +distribute as much as 50 per cent. of what he receives. The result of +such bidding for shares is that well-to-do members of a _tanomoshi_, +who are the last to draw their 50 yen, receive in addition to it all +the extra payments made by impoverished members who took their shares +earlier. Benevolence in a _tanomoshi_ is not seldom a mask for avarice +that the law against usury cannot touch. In truth, the only virtuous +part of a _tanomoshi_ may be the first sharing out to the person in +whose interest it was supposed to be started. It should be added, +however, that there is a sort of _tanomoshi_ which has no particular +beneficiary and is merely a kind of co-operative credit society. In +one place I heard of a _tanomoshi_ that maintained a large fund for +the relief of orphans and the sick. + +In many villages there were private or co-operative godowns for the +storage of rice against fire, rats and damp. Though the farmer who +sends rice to such a store receives a receipt, it is not legally a +marketable document. Hence an improvement on this simple storage plan. +I visited the premises of a company that could store more than 500,000 +bushels of rice, and I found purification by carbon bisulphide going +on. The receipts given by this company--"certificated" for large +quantities and "tickets" for small--certify not only the quantity but +the quality of the rice, and are readily cashed. The storehouse owners +work under a licence, and they have the advantage that the buyer of +the receipts of non-licensed stores is not protected by the courts. + +In the office of the company were samples of eleven market qualities +of rice, and before them, by way of showing respect to the great food +staple, was set the _gohei_ of cut white paper seen in Shinto +shrines. Outside the office, girl porters carried the bales of rice to +and fro. Close to the store was a river in which some of the dusty, +perspiring porters were washing and cooling themselves with a +simplicity to which Western civilisation is not yet equal. Opposite +them men were fishing by casting in draw nets from the shore just as +in biblical pictures the apostles are represented as doing. + +The company has a rice market where farmers were putting their +business in the dealers' hands. Each dealer has to deposit 5,000 yen +with the State. The dealer who buys rice from a farmer has better +polishing machinery than the farmer possesses. Therefore he can give +the rice a more uniform appearance. By decreasing the weight of the +rice during the polishing he gives it he is also able to lessen the +sum payable for carriage and he has the value of the offal. + +In order to visit farmers I rode some distance into the country.[159] +The village, which was of the Zen sect, was at work cleaning out and +straightening the stream which, as is usual in many villages, ran +through the middle of it. I was impressed during my visit not only by +the readiness and intelligence with which my questions were answered +but by the good humour with which a stranger's inquiries concerning +personal matters was received. I had another thought, that I might not +have found a group of Western farmers so well informed about their +financial position as these simple, primitively clad men. + +Our _kuruma_ route to and from the village had been through one great +tract of well-adjusted rice fields. Adjustment was not difficult in +this region because half the land belongs to the Homma family, which +has given much study to the art of land-holding. For two centuries the +clan by charging moderate rents and studying the interests of its +tenants has maintained happy relations with them. + +For many years a plan has been in operation by which 200 one-_tan_ +paddy-fields are cultivated by the agents or managers of the estate, +by tenants selected by their fellow tenants for merit, by tenants +chosen by the landlord for diligence and by others picked out because +of their interest in agriculture. In order to increase the zest of +competition the cultivators are divided into a black and a white +company. The names of those who raise the most and best rice are +published in the order of their success, farm implements are +distributed as prizes, the clever cultivators are invited to the +landlord's New Year entertainment to the agents and managers, and at +that feast "places of distinction are given." + +There is also a system of rewarding the best five-years averages. A +competition takes place between what are called "dress fields" because +those who get the best results from them receive a ceremonial dress +bearing the inscription, "Prosperity and Welfare." The honour of +wearing these robes in the presence of their landlord at his annual +feast is valued by these simple countrymen. + +Through the introduction by the landlord of horse labour and +ploughs--implements with which the farmers were formerly +unacquainted--second cropping of part of the paddies has become +possible. There is an elaborate system of "progressive reduction" and +"average reduction" of rents in a bad season, by which, it was +explained, "the industrious tenant enjoys a larger reduction than an +idle one." "Tenants are grouped in fives, which help one another in +their work and in cases of misfortune." In their agreement with their +landlord, tenants promise that "wrong-doing shall be mutually +reprimanded and counsel shall be given one to another." "Again, if a +tenant falls ill, has his house burnt or meets with misfortune, +assistance shall be given by his fellows." During the war with Russia +the following instructions were issued: + +Those enlisted in the army shall render their service at the cost of +their lives. + +Those who stay at home shall do their best, complying with the +principles laid down by the Minister of Agriculture. + +Relatives of soldiers at the front shall be helped and sympathised +with. + +All shall subscribe to war bonds as much as possible. + +All shall practise thrift and economy in accordance with their social +standing. + +Musical entertainments shall be given up for two years. + +Methods proved to be effective in cultivation shall be reported. + +In the warm, cloudy days insects multiply rapidly. Think of your +brothers at the front, struggling against one of the mighty military +powers of the world, and be ashamed to be vanquished by hordes of +insects or masses of vegetable growth in your fields. For the purpose +of destroying insects an ample supply of oil is to be had at the +experimental farm, as during last year; and payment therefor may be +deferred until after harvest. + +A communication to agents and managers says: "Comport yourselves in a +way suitable to the dignity of an agent of the clan. Bear in mind the +privileges and favours you enjoy, and exert yourselves to requite +these favours. Respect the name and the coat-of-arms of the clan." In +the neighbourhood there are about a hundred families bearing the name +of Homma. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[158] In the three years 1916-18 the percentage of conscripts +suffering from trachoma was 15.8. + +[159] For farmers' budgets, see Appendix XIII (end). + + + + +BACK AGAIN BY THE EAST COAST + +CHAPTER XXII + +"BON" SONGS AND THE SILENT PRIEST + +(YAMAGATA, AKITA,[160] AOMORI, IWATE, MIYAGI, FUKUSHIMA +AND IBARAKI) + +The worst of our education is that it looks askance, looks over its +shoulder at sex.--R.L.S. + + +A village headman, encountered in the train just as we were leaving +Yamagata prefecture, gave me some insight into the life of his little +community. The fathers of two-score families were shopkeepers and +tradesmen--- that is, tradesmen in the old meaning of the word. There +were also a few labourers. About two hundred and fifty families owned +land and some of them rented additional tracts. Another sixty were +simply tenants. The poorer farmers were also labourers or artisans. +Most of them were "comfortable enough." There were, however, half a +dozen people in the village who were helped from village funds. Of the +middle-grade farmers "it might be said that they do not become richer +or poorer." + +The headman had formed a society which sent its members to visit +prefectures more developed agriculturally. This society had engaged an +instructor from without the prefecture and he had taught horse tillage +and the management of upland fields and had made model paddies. Five +stallions had been obtained and a simple adjustment of paddy-land had +been brought about. As a result the rice yield had risen. + +This headman had also had addresses delivered in the village for the +first time. Further, after buying a number of books, he had visited +all the villagers in turn and shown them the books and had said to +each of them, "I wish you to buy a book and, after reading it, to give +it to the library." "And," he told me, "none of them objected." Soon a +valuable library came into existence. + +This admirable functionary felt some satisfaction at having been able +to abate the custom according to which the young men, with the tacit +permission of their parents, had gone into the neighbouring town after +harvest "to visit the immoral women." "They used to spend as much as 5 +yen," said our headman. He had started worthier forms of after-harvest +relaxation, and "the cost of the amusement days is now only 50 or 60 +sen." + +When we got on the main line again and pursued our way farther north, +it was through even stouter snow shelters and through many tunnels. +Not a few miserable dwellings were to be seen as we passed into Akita +prefecture. We broke our journey after some hours' travelling to stay +the night at a rather primitive hot spring inn four or five miles up +in the hills. A slight rain was falling. Four passengers at a time +made the ascent to the hotel, squatting on a mat in an old +contractor's wagon, pushed along roughly laid rails by two perspiring +youths in rain-cloaks of bark strips. At the inn, on going to the +bath, I found therein a miscellaneous collection of people of both +sexes from grandparents to grandchildren. One bather enlivened us by +performances on the flute, which, if a musical instrument must be +played in a bath, seems as suitable as any. In this rambling inn there +were many farmers who, by preparing their own food and doing for +themselves generally, were holiday-making at bedrock prices. + +As it was the _Bon_ season, when the spirits of the dead are supposed +to return, I was a witness of the method adopted to help the ghosts to +find their old homes. At the top of a 30 or 40 ft. pole a lantern is +fixed with a pulley. Fastened up beside the lantern is a bunch of +green stuff, cryptomeria in many cases. The lantern is lighted each +evening for a week. Having heard a good deal about the suppression of +_Bon_ dances and songs I was interested when a fellow-guest began +talking about them. He had seen many _Bon_ dances and had heard many +_Bon_ songs. There can be no doubt that there has been some +unenlightened interference with the _Bon_ gathering. The country +people seem to be suffering from the determination of officialdom to +make an end of everything in country as well as town that may be +considered "uncivilised" by any foreigner, however ill instructed. In +towns the sexes are not accustomed to meet, but country people must +work together; therefore they find it natural to dance and sing +together. As to the _Bon_ songs, it is common sense that expressions +which may be regarded as outrageous and indecent in a drawing-room may +not be so terrible on a hilltop among rustics used to very plain +speech and to easy recognition of natural facts that are veiled from +townspeople. My chance acquaintance at the inn recited a number of +_Bon_ songs and next morning brought me some more that he had +remembered and had been kind enough to write down. They merely +established the fact that bucolic wit is as elemental in Japan as in +other lands. Most of the songs had a Rabelaisian touch, some were +nasty, but nearly all had wit. The following is an entirely harmless +example: + + Mr. Potato of the Countryside + Got his new European suit. + But a potato is still a potato. + He took one and a half _rin_[161] out of his bag + And bought _amé_[162] and licked at it. + +Here are three others: + + Tip-toe, tip-toe, + Creaks the floor. + Girl made prayer, + Dreading ghost. + But 'twas her lover + Who stealthily came. + + Dancer, dancer, + Do not laugh at me. + My dance is very bad, + But I only began last year. + + How thin a thin-legged man may be + If he does not take his _miso_ soup.[163] + +The quality of these dramatic songs will be entirely missed if the +reader does not bear in mind the mimetic skill of the amateur Japanese +dancer and his power as a contortionist. Clever dancers often use +their powers in a humorous pretence of clumsiness. Of the freer sort +of songs I may quote two: + + Never buy vegetables in Third Street,[164] + You'll lose 30 sen and your nose. + + Onions from a basket hanging in the _benjo_[165] + Were cooked in _miso_[166] and given to a blind man, + But that chap was greatly delighted. + +Some of the other songs may be described, I suppose, as obscene, if +obscene be, as the dictionary says, "something which delicacy, purity +and decency forbid to be exposed"; but "delicacy, purity and decency" +must be considered in relation to climate, work and social usage. What +one feels about some critics of _Bon_ songs and dances is that they +need a course of _The Golden Bough_. Such an illustration as _Bon_ +songs furnish of the moral and mental conditions from which country +folk must raise themselves is of value if rural sociology is a real +thing. There is far too much theorising about the countryman and the +countrywoman, far too much idealising of them and far too much rating +of them as clods. If country people of all lands are free-spoken let +us be neither hypercritical nor hypocritical. A big gap seems to yawn +between the paddy-field peasant in his breech clout and the immaculate +clubman, but what difference is there between the savour of the +average _Bon_ song and of many a smoking-room jest which is not to the +credit of the peasant? At an inn in Naganoken a Japanese artist on +holiday showed me his sketch book. Among his drawings was a +representation of a shrine festival which he had witnessed in a remote +village. A festival car was being pushed by a knot of youths and by +about an equal number of young women and all of them were nude. But no +enlightened person believes that either decency or morals depends on +clothing, or would expect to find more essential indecency and +immorality in that village than in a modern city. What one would +expect to find would be marriages between physically well-developed +men and women. + +How the race moves on is shown in the famous tale of a saintly Zen +priest which I first heard in that little hill inn but was afterwards +to see in dramatic form on the stage of a Tokyo theatre. An unmarried +girl in the village in which the priest's temple was situated was +about to have a child. She would not confess to her angry father the +name of her lover. At last she attributed her condition to the greatly +honoured priest. Her father was astonished but he was also glad that +his daughter was in the favour of so eminent a man. So he went to the +priest and said that he brought him good tidings: the girl whom he had +deigned to notice was about to have a child. The father went on to +express at length his sense of obligation to the priest for the honour +done to his family. All the priest said in reply was, _So desuka_? (Is +that so?) Soon after the birth of the child the girl besought her +father to marry her to a certain young farmer. The father, proud of +the association with the priest, refused. Finally the girl told her +parent that it was not the priest but the young farmer who was the +father of her child. The parent was aghast and chagrined as he +recalled the terms in which he had addressed the saintly man. He +betook himself at once to the temple and expressed in many words his +feelings of shame and deep contrition. The priest heard him out, but +all he said was, _So desuka_? + +Yamagata signifies "shape of a mountain" and Akita means "autumn rice +field." Although Akita prefecture is mountainous there is a greater +proportion of level land in it than in Yamagata. I find "Rice, rice, +rice" written in my notebook. An agricultural expert gave me to +understand that fifteen per cent. of the farmers were probably living +on rents or on the dividends of silk factories, that 55 or 60 per +cent. were of the middle grade with an annual income of 300 yen, that +25 or 30 per cent. had about 150 yen--the lowest sum on which a family +could be supported--and that there were 3 or 4 per cent. of farm +labourers who earned less than 150 yen. There had been much paddy +adjustment and the prefecture was spending 300,000 yen a year for the +encouragement of adjustment and the opening of new paddies. In the +case of newly opened fields, tenants had contracts, but ordinary +tenancies were by word of mouth generation after generation. A great +deal of agricultural instruction was given by the prefecture, the +counties and the villages, and in 30 years the rice crop had been +doubled although the area had remained about the same. In order to +secure help in the work of rural amelioration a gathering of Buddhist +priests and another of Shinto priests had been lectured to at the +prefectural office. Nearly 300,000 yen had been spent in twelve months +on afforestation. The following year a special effort was to be made +to spend 500,000 yen. A society raised young trees and sold them at +cheap rates to farmers. Every young men's association in the +prefecture had land and had planted trees. It was in Akita that I +first saw peat in Japan. There are said to be 7,000 acres of it in the +country. + +The prefecture of Aomori forms the northern tip of the mainland. Apart +from its enormous forest area and the railroad stacks of sawn lumber, +what caught my eye were the apple orchards and the number of farmers +on horseback or seated in wagons. Who that has been in Japan has not a +memory of narrow winding roads along which men and women and young +people are pulling and pushing carts? Here many farming folk rode. I +was told that Akita produced apples and potatoes to the value of a +million yen each and that there were ten co-operative apple societies. +Much of the fruit went to Russia. + +Having passed through the city of Aomori we started to come down the +east coast. An agricultural authority said that the net profit of a +dry farm, that is a farm without any paddy, was almost negligible. +Because of low prices, cattle keeping had decreased to half what it +used to be. (The only cattle I saw from the train were on the road +with harness on their backs.) Only 18 yen could be got for a +two-year-old; the Aomori cattle were indeed the cheapest in Japan. The +expert added, "There are no buyers; only robbers." + +But the dealers were not the only robbers. Boats came from Hokkaido +and stole cattle from the prefecture to the number of a hundred a +year. Sometimes horses were taken too, but horse thefts were rare +"because you cannot kill a horse and sell it for meat." The average +price of a two-year-old not thus illicitly vended was 70 yen. (It was +a little less in the next prefecture of Iwate and in Hokkaido.) Half +of the stallions belonging to the "Bureau of Horse Politics" of the +Ministry of Agriculture were bought in Aomori. + +The farmers by the lake that we passed on our way south were described +as "very poor," for their soil was barren and their climate bad. Their +crops were only a third of what could be raised in another part of the +prefecture. The agriculture of all the prefectures through which I now +journeyed south to Tokyo suffer from the cold temperature of the sea. +The east-coast temperature drops in winter to 7 degrees below +freezing.[167] "Living is more and more difficult," said someone to +me. "The number of tenants increases because farmers get into debt and +have to sell their land. Millet and buckwheat are much eaten. Although +the temperature is 5 per cent. colder in Hokkaido, the people do worse +here because our soil is barren and there is no profitable winter +occupation like lumbering. Only 10 per cent. of the rural population +save anything. In bad times 65 per cent. of the families get into +debt." + +At Morioka in Iwate prefecture I visited the excellent higher +agricultural college, where there were 300 students. The competition +for places, as at every educational institution in Japan, was keen. +The number who sat at the last entrance examinations--the average age +was twenty--was 317, of whom only 80 got in. There were 15 professors +and 10 assistants. The charge to students was 300 yen for a year of +ten months. The annual cost of the college to the Government was +70,000 yen. Of the foreign volumes among the 20,000 books in the +library 50 per cent. were German, 30 per cent. English and 20 per +cent. American. + +An apiary of a single skep in a roped-off enclosure was an +illustration of unfamiliarity with bees. It seemed strange to find +that in this up-to-date and efficient institution the biggest +implement for cutting grass which was in use, a sickle of course, had +a blade no longer than 8 inches. Hung up at the back of a shed I +noticed a rusty scythe. When I tried to show what it could do it was +suggested that the implement was "too heavy, too difficult and too +dangerous." + +Iwate is the poorest of the northern prefectures, for bad weather so +often comes when the rice is in flower. As many as 40 per cent. of the +people were just making ends meet. Another 40 per cent. were always +dogged by poverty. Millet was the food of 10 per cent. of the farmers; +millet, salted vegetables and bean soup were the meagre diet of 5 per +cent; the staple food of the remainder was barley and rice. There are +few temples in Iwate compared with the rest of Japan. "Education is +more backward than in other prefectures," someone said. "The farmers +are not able. Too much _saké_ is drunk." Farmers come in to Morioka to +sell charcoal and wood and I saw some of them turning into the _saké_ +shops. + +There was talk in praise of millet. Though low socially in the dietary +of Japan, it has merits. It withstands cold and even salt spray. It +ripens earlier than rice and so may sometimes be harvested before a +spell of bad weather. It yields well, it will store for some time, its +taste is "little inferior to rice and better than that of barley" and +it contains more protein than rice. It is cooked after slight +polishing and the straw provides fodder. "In the north-east, where +millet is most eaten," I was told, "there are people who are 5 ft. 10 +ins. to 6 ft. and there are many wrestlers." The seeds in the handsome +heavy ears of millet are about the size of the letter O in the +footnote type of this book. + +In the train a farmer who knew the prefecture spoke of _Bon_ songs +and dances: "The result of the action against them was not good. The +meeting of young men and women at the _Bon_ gatherings was in their +minds half the year in prospect and half in retrospect. Bearing in +mind the condition of the people, even the worst _Bon_ songs are not +objectionable. But when the people become educated some songs will be +objectionable." + +Visitors to a poor prefecture like Miyagi must be surprised to see so +much adjusted paddy. There is more adjusted paddy in Miyagi than in +any other prefecture. Some 90,000 acres have been taken in hand and a +large amount of money has been spent. The work has been carried out +largely by way of giving wages to farmers during famine. A new tunnel +brought water to 6,000 acres. "The bad climate of Miyagi cannot be +mended," I was told; "all that can be done is to seek for the earliest +varieties of rice, to sow early, to work as diligently as possible and +to deal with floods by embanking the rivers and by tree planting." As +many as 7,000 people go from Miyagi to Hokkaido in a year. It seems to +point to a certain amount of fecklessness that 15 per cent. of them +return. + +One man I spoke with during my journey south gave a vivid impression +of the influence of young men's associations. "Before they started," +said he, "the young men spent their time in singing indecent songs, in +gambling, in talking foolishly, and twice or thrice a year in +immorality. A young widow has sometimes been at fault; the +parents-in-law need her help and village sentiment is against her +remarriage. The suppression of _Bon_ dances has done more harm than +good by keeping out of sight what used to be said and done +openly[168]. Two or three priests are active in this prefecture. Where +the Shinshu sect is strong you will find little divorce. But the +influence of Buddhism has been stationary in recent years. There is +some action by missionaries of the Japanese Christian church, but the +number of Christians among real rustics is very small." + +At Sendai it was pleasant to see a prefectural office--or most of +it--housed in a Japanese building instead of a dreadful edifice "in +Western style." In feudal times the building was a school. Portraits +of daimyos and famous scholars of the Sendai clan surround the +Governor's room, and adjoining it is the _tatami_-covered apartment in +which the daimyo used to sit when he was present at the examinations. +Among the portraits is one of a retainer which was painted in Rome, +where he had been sent on a mission of inquiry. + +[Illustration: A SCARECROW.--A SKETCH BY PROFESSOR NASU.] + +In his scarecrow-making the Japanese farmer seems to have great faith +in the Western-style cap, felt hat, or even umbrella, if he can get +hold of one. Ordinarily, the bogey man has a bow with the arrow +strung. Occasionally a farmer seeks to scare birds by means of +clappers which he places in the hands of a child or an old man who +sits in a rough shelter raised high enough to overtop the rice. Now +and then there is a clapper connected with a string to the farm-house. +I have also seen a row of bamboos carried across a paddy field with a +square piece of wood hanging loosely against each one. A rope +connecting all the bamboos with one another was carried to the +roadway, and now and then a passer-by of a benevolent disposition, or +with nothing better to do, or, it may be, standing in some degree of +relationship to the paddy-field proprietor, gave the rope a tug. Then +all the bamboos bent, and as they smartly straightened themselves +caused the clappers to give forth a sound sufficiently agitating to +sparrow pillagers in several paddies. + +On leaving Miyagi we were once more in Fukushima, with notes on which +this account of a trip to the north of Japan and back again began. +This time, instead of journeying by routes through the centre of the +prefecture, as in coming north, or as in the visit paid to Fukushima +in the Tokyo-to-Niigata journey, I travelled along the sea coast. When +we had passed through Fukushima we were in Ibaraki, a characteristic +feature of which is swamps. Drainage operations have been going on +since the time of the Shogunate. There is in this prefecture the +biggest production of beans in Japan, and we have come far enough +south to see tea frequently. In the lower half of the prefecture we +are in the great Kwanto plain, the prefectures in which are most +conveniently surveyed from Tokyo. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[160] Some Yamagata notes and those relating to Akita are conveniently +included in this Chapter, but these two prefectures are on the west +coast. + +[161] A _rin_ is the tenth part of a sen, which in its turn is a +farthing. + +[162] A kind of barley sugar. + +[163] Bean soup. + +[164] A street in Akita in which many prostitutes live. + +[165] Closet. + +[166] Bean paste. + +[167] The warm black current from the south flows up the east and west +coasts. Some distance north of Tokyo, the east-coast current meets the +cold Oyashiro current from Kamchatka, and is turned off towards +America. + +[168] See _A Free Farmer in a Free State_, pp. 173-4, for an account +of the custom in Zeeland by which peasants preserved themselves from +the calamity of childless marriage. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +A MIDNIGHT TALK + +True religion is a relation, accordant with reason and knowledge, which +man establishes with the infinite life surrounding him, and it is such as +binds his life to that infinity, and guides his conduct.--TOLSTOY + + +One of the most instructive experiences I had during my rural journeys +occurred one night when I was staying at a country inn. At a late hour +I was told that the Governor of the prefecture was in a room overhead. +I had called on him a few days before in his prefectural capital. He +was a large daimyo-like figure, dignified and courteous, but seemingly +impenetrable. There was no depth in our talk. His aloof and +uncommunicative manner was deterring, but by this time I had learnt +the elementary lesson of unending patience and freedom from hasty +judgment that is the first step to an advance in knowledge of another +race. I felt that I should like to know more about the man inside this +Excellency. No one had told me anything of his life. + +Now that he was in the same inn with me it was Japanese good manners +to pay him a visit. So I went upstairs with my travelling companion, +telling him on the way that we should not remain more than five +minutes. We were wearing our bath kimonos. The Governor was also at +his ease in one of these garments. He was kneeling at a low table +reading. We knelt at the other side, spoke on general topics, asked +one or two questions and began to take our leave. On this the Governor +said that he would like very much to ask me in turn some questions. We +spoke together until one in the morning, his Excellency continually +expressing his unwillingness for us to go. He spoke rapidly and with +such earnestness that I was balked of understanding what he said +sentence by sentence. The next day my companion wrote out a summary +of what the Governor had said and I had tried to say in reply. As a +brief report of a talk of three hours' duration it is plainly +imperfect. The artless account is of some interest, however, because +it furnishes an impression at once of an engaging simplicity and +sincerity in the Japanese character and of the pressure of Western +ideas. + +_Governor_: "There have died lately my mother, my wife and one of my +daughters. Some of my officials come to me and ask what consolation I +am getting. What do I feel at first when such things happen? Am I +content under such misfortune? I feel that I should be happy if I +could believe something and tell it to them. I am tormented by the +conflict of my scientific and religious feelings. How is the relation +of science and religion in your mind? Are you tormented or are you +composed and peaceful even when meeting such misfortune as mine?" + +_Myself_: "It is certain that it is not well to torment ourselves, for +grief is loss.[169] As to science, it did not drive away religion. +Science seeks after truth in all matters, but there are truths which +are to be searched out through our feeling, conscience and instinct. +Religion has to do with these truths. It is quite good for religion if +all superstition, dogma and ignorance are cleared away by science. +Concerning a future life, we are hampered in our thinking by our +traditions, prejudices, deep ignorance and poor mental strength and +training; and much energy is needed in the world for present service. +Some have thought of an immortality which is that a man's sincere +influence, his unselfish manifestations, those things which are the +essence of a man's existence, will live on; in other words, that the +best of a life is immortal; but not in the way of ghosts. As to the +memory, example and achievement of the dead it is sure that we are +aided by them." + +_Governor_: "If we sacrifice ourselves for the public good it is the +best that we can do in this world. But are you composed at the sad +news concerning the _Lusitania_? If you think that event was directed +by divine destiny then you can be composed and may not complain." + +_Myself_: "Such an accident may only be by divine destiny in the sense +that everything in this world, the saddest misery, the greatest +misfortunes, are suffered in the development of mankind, so that even +this War is unquestionably for the final betterment of the whole +world." + +_Governor_: "Please say what is God." + +_Myself_: "'If I could tell you what God is, I should be God myself.' +Many of my own countrymen have been taught that God is 'Spirit, +infinite, eternal, unchangeable in His Being, wisdom, power, holiness, +justice, goodness and truth.' There are those who would say that God +may be the total developing or bettering energy, and that we are all +part of God. Some people have a more personal conception of God, the +sum of all goodness. May not his Excellency consider the peasant's +idea of a Governor of a prefecture? The peasant's idea of a Governor +is greater than that of any particular Governor. His Excellency's good +works are not done by himself alone, but by all the good energies +inherent in the Governorship. Those energies are unseen but real. The +Japanese army and navy triumphed by the virtue of the Emperor--by the +virtue of ideas." + +_Governor_: "The thought of _Sensei_[170] is quite Oriental." + +_Myself_: "All religions are from Asia." + +_Governor_: "This world where stars move, flowers blossom and decay, +spring and autumn come, and people are born and die is too full of +mystery, but I can feel some intelligence working through it though +incomprehensible." + +_Myself_: "Alas, people will try to explain that +incomprehensibleness." + +_Governor_: "What you have said is what I have been accepting to this +day. It satisfies my reason, but I feel in my heart something lacking. +I seek for a warmer interpretation of the world, for a more heartfelt +relation with cosmos. Several of my officials themselves lost their +dear children recently. They cannot with heart and brain accept their +loss, and they ask my direction." + +_Myself_: "In the New Testament one thing is taught, God is Love. We +can be composed if we feel that God is love. The Gospel of John is the +most tender story in the world." + +_Governor_: "It may be difficult for all people to come to the same +point and agree altogether. We must solve a great problem by +ourselves." + +_Myself_: "We have opportunities of doing some good works in this +life. Therefore we must go on till we die and we must be content at +being able to do something good, directly or indirectly, in however +small measure. 'Earth is not as thou ne'er hadst been,' wrote an +Englishwoman poet of great scientific ability[171] who died while yet +a young woman." + +_Governor_: "I think of Napoleon dying tormented on St. Helena, and +the peaceful attitude of Socrates though being poisoned by enemies. +But Socrates had done many good things, yet he was poisoned." + +_Myself_: "Socrates had done what he could for his country and the +world, yet by his brave death he could add one thing more."[172] + +The Governor said that he "got comfort from our talk," but this did +not perfectly reassure me. The next evening, however, I found a +parboiled Governor alone in the bath and he greeted me very warmly. +Without our interpreter we could say nothing that mattered, but we +were glad of this further meeting in the friendly hot water. It seemed +that our midnight talk would be memorable to both of us. + +It is convenient to copy out here the following dicta on religion and +morals which were delivered to me at various times during my journeys: + +A. "The weakest deterrent influence among us is, 'It is wrong.' A +stronger deterrent influence is, 'Heaven will punish you.' The +strongest deterrent influence of all is, 'Everybody will laugh at +you.'" + +B. "In Japan all religions have been turned into sentiment or +æstheticism." + +C. (_after speaking appreciatively of the ideas animating many +Japanese Christians_): "All the same I do not feel quite safe about +trusting the future of Japan to those people." + +D. "We Japanese have never been spiritually gifted. We are neither +meditative and reflective like the Hindus nor individualistic like the +Anglo-Saxons. Nevertheless, like all mankind we have spiritual +yearnings. They will be best stirred by impulses from without." + +E. (_in answer to my enquiry whether a Quakerism which compromised on +war, as John Brights male descendants had done, might not gain many +adherents in Japan_): "Other sects may have a smaller ultimate chance +than Quakerism. One mistake made by the Quakers was in going to work +first among the poorer classes. The Quakers ought to have begun with +the intellectual classes, for every movement in Japan is from the +top." + +F. "You will notice what a number of the gods of Japan are deified +men. There is a good side to the earth earthy, but many Japanese seem +unable to worship anything higher than human beings. The readiest key +to the religious feeling of the Japanese is the religious life of the +Greeks. The more I study the Greeks the more I see our resemblance to +them in many ways, in all ways, perhaps, except two, our lack of +philosophy and our lack of physical comeliness." + +G. "As to uncomeliness there are several Japanese types. The refined +type is surely attractive. If many Japanese noses seem to be too +short, foreigners' noses seem to us to be too long. The results of +intermarriage between Western people and Japanese who are of equal +social and educational status and of good physique should be closely +watched." + +H. "In our schools an hour or two a week is reserved for culture, but +the true spirit of culture is lacking. The Imperial Rescript on +education is very good moral doctrine, but the real life's aim of many +of us is to be well off, to have an automobile, to become a Baron or +to extend the Empire. We do not ask ourselves, 'For what reason?'" + +I. "I conduct certain classes which the clerks of my bank must attend. +The teaching I give is based on Confucian, Christian and Buddhist +principles. I try to make the young men more manful. I constantly urge +upon them that 'you must be a man before you can be a clerk.'" + +J. (_a septuagenarian ex-daimyo_): "Confucianism is the basis of my +life, but twice a month I serve at my Shinto shrine and I conduct a +Buddhist service in my house morning and evening. It is necessary to +make the profession that Buddha saves us. I do not believe in +paradise. It is paradise if when I die I have a peaceful mind due to a +feeling that I have done my duty in life and that my sons are not bad +men. Unless I am peaceful on my deathbed I cannot perish but must +struggle on. Therefore my sons must be good. I myself strove to be +filial and I have always said to my sons, 'Fathers may not be fathers +but sons must be sons.'" + +K. (_the preceding speaker's son expressing his opinion on another +occasion_): "My father as a Confucian is kind to people negatively. We +want to be kind positively because it is right to be kind. As to +filial obedience, even fathers may err; we are righteous if we are +right. My father is a Shintoist because it is our national custom. He +wants to respect his ancestors in a wide sense and he desires that +Japan, his family and his crops may be protected." + +L. "I wish foreigners had a juster idea about 'idols'. There is a +difference between frequenters of the temples believing the figures to +be holy and believing them to be gods. Every morning my mother serves +before her shrine of Buddha but she does not believe our Buddha to be +God. She would not soil or irreverently handle our Buddha, but it is +only holy as a symbol, as an image of a holy being. My mother has said +to me, 'Buddha is our father. He looks after us always; I cannot but +thank him. If there be after life Buddha will lead me to Paradise. +There is no reason to beg a favour.' My mother is composed and +peaceful. All through her life she has met calamities and troubles +serenely. I admire her very much. She is a good example of how +Buddha's influence makes one peaceful and spiritual. But such +religious experience may not be grasped from the outside by +foreigners." + +M. "When I am in a temple or at a shrine I realise its value in +concentrating attention. The daily domestic service before the shrine +in the house also ensures some religious life daily. Many of my +countrymen no doubt regard religion as superstition; they know little +of spiritual life. For some of them patriotism or humanitarian +sentiments or eagerness to seek after scientific truth takes the place +of religion. Most men think that they can never comprehend the cosmos +and say, 'We may believe only what we can prove. Let us follow not +after preachers but after truth.' I believe with your Western +philosophers who say that the cosmos is not perfect but that it is +moving towards perfection. Many think that this War shows that the +cosmos is not perfect. Spiritual life is living according to one's +purest consciousness. But what is of first importance is our actions. +It is not enough merely to strive after moral development. One must +strive after economic and social development. Some religious people +think only of the spiritual life and have no sympathy with economics. +The labours of such religious people must be of small value." + +In later Chapters the views of other thoughtful Japanese are noted +down as they were communicated to me. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[169] "The strength that is given at such times arises not from +ignoring loss or persuading oneself that the thing is not that _is_, +but from the resolute setting of the face to the East and the taking +of one step forwards. Anything that detaches one, that makes one turn +from the past and look simply at what one has to do, brings with it +new strength and new intensity of interest."--HALDANE. + +[170] Teacher, instructor, master, or a polite way of saying +"You"--the usual title by which I was addressed. + +[171] Constance Naden. + +[172] "The _Phaedo_ was bought for us by the death of +Socrates."--QUILLER COUCH. + +[Illustration: THE BLIND HEADMAN AND HIS COLLECTING-BAG.] + +[Illustration: MR. YANAGHITA IN HIS CORONATION CEREMONY ROBES.] + +[Illustration: PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR RAISING WATER.] + +[Illustration: VILLAGE SCHOOL WITH PORTRAIT OF FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.] + +[Illustration: RIVER-BEDS IN THE SUMMER From which may be imagined +the power of the water in time of flood.] + + + + +THE ISLAND OF SHIKOKU + +CHAPTER XXIV + +LANDLORDS, PRIESTS AND "BASHA" +(TOKUSHIMA, KOCHI AND KAGAWA) + +The most capital article, the character of the inhabitants.--TYTLER + + +In travelling southwards I noticed between Kyoto and Osaka that farms +were being irrigated from wells in the primitive way by means of the +weighted swinging pole and bucket. Along the coast to the south, +indeed as far as Hiroshima, there have been great gains from the sea, +and in the neighbourhood of Kobe there are three parallel roads which +mark successive recoveries of land. Before crossing the Inland Sea at +Okayama to Shikoku (area about 1,000 square miles) I visited one of +the new settlements on recovered land. The labour available from a +family was reckoned as equal to that of two men, and as much as 4 to 5 +_chō_ was allotted to each house. It will be seen how much larger is +this area--5 _chō_ is 12-1/2 acres--than the average Japanese farming +family must be content with, a little less than 3 acres. The company +supplied houses, seeds, manures, etc., and after all expenses were met +the workers were allowed 25 per cent, of the net income of their +summer crop and 35 per cent, of the net income of their second crop. +The cultivation was directed by the company. There had been 300 +applications for the last twenty houses built. An experiment station +was maintained, and a campaign against a rice borer had been of +benefit to the amount of about 10,000 yen. I found the company's +winnowing machine discharging its chaff into the furnace of the +rice-drying apparatus. + +One of the experts of the company came with me for some distance in +the train in order to discuss some of his problems. He thought +agricultural work could be done in less back-breaking ways. He wanted +a small threshing machine which would be suitable not only for +threshing small quantities of rice or corn but for easy conveyance +along the narrow and easily damaged paths between the rice fields. If +he had such a machine he would like to improve it so that it would lay +out the threshed straw evenly, so making the straw more valuable for +the many uses to which it is put. He wished to see a machine invented +for planting out rice seedlings and another contrivance devised for +drying wheat. The company's rice-drying machine handled 200 _koku_ of +rice a day, but there were difficulties in drying wheat. (In many +places I noticed the farmers drying their corn by the primitive method +of singeing it and thus spoiling it.)[173] + +On the Inland Sea, aboard the smart little steamer of the Government +Railways, my companion spoke of the extent to which sea-faring men, a +conservative class, had abandoned the use of the single square sail +which one sees in Japanese prints; the little vessels had been +re-rigged in Western fashion. But many superstitions had survived the +abolished square sails. The mother of my fellow-traveller once told +him that, when she crossed the Inland Sea in an old-style ship and a +storm arose, the shipmaster earnestly addressed the passengers in +these words, "Somebody here must be unclean; if so, please tell me +openly." The title of the book my companion was reading was _The +History of the Southern Savage_. Who was the "Southern Savage"? The +word is _namban_, the name given to the early Portuguese and Spanish +voyagers to Japan. (The Dutch were called _komojin_, red-haired men.) +In looking through the official railway guide on the boat I saw that +there was a list of specially favourable places for viewing the moon. +An M.P. passenger told me that the average cost of getting returned to +the Diet was 10,000 yen[174]. + +The difficulties of communication in Shikoku are so considerable that +I was compelled to leave the two prefectures of Tokushima and Kochi +unvisited. Kochi is without a yard of railway line. In the prefecture +of Ehime most of my journey had to be made by _kuruma_. Communication +between the four prefectures of Shikoku--the one in which I landed was +Kagawa--is largely conducted by coasting steamers and sailing craft. +An interesting thing in Kochi is the area by the sea in which two +crops of rice are grown in the year. Tokushima holds a leading place +in the production of indigo. At one place in the hills the adventurous +have the satisfaction of crossing a river by means of suspension +bridges made of vine branches. + +The streets of Takamatsu, the capital of Kagawa, are many of them so +narrow that the shopkeepers on either side have joint sun screens +which they draw right across the thoroughfares. Here I found the carts +hauled by a smallish breed of cow. The placid animals are handier in a +narrow place and less expensive than horses. They are shod, like their +drivers, in _waraji_. In Shikoku the cow or ox is generally used in +the paddies instead of the horse. "It is slower but strong and can +plough deep," one agricultural expert said. "It eats cheaper food than +the horse, which moves too fast in a small paddy. Cows and oxen are +probably not working for more than seventy-five or eighty days in the +year." + +At Takamatsu I had the opportunity of visiting a daimyo's castle. I +was impressed by its strength not only because of the wide moats but +because of the series of earthen fortifications faced with cyclopean +stonework through which an invading force must wind its way. There was +within the walls a surprisingly large drilling ground for troops and +also an extensive drug garden. The present owner of the castle +proposed to build here a library and a museum for the town. I was glad +of the opportunity to ascend one of the high pagoda-like towers so +familiar in Japanese paintings. I was disillusioned. Instead of +finding myself in beautiful rooms for the enjoyment of marvellous +views and sea breezes I had to clamber over the roughest cob-webbed +timbers. One storey was connected with another by a stair of rude +planking. Such pagodas were built only for their military value as +lookouts and for their delightful appearance from the outside. + +The town now enjoyed as a park of more than ten acres the grounds of a +subsidiary residence of the daimyo. The magnificent trees, with lakes, +rivulets and hills fashioned with infinite art,[175] and the +background of natural hill and woodland, made in all a possession +which exhibited the delectable possibilities of Japanese gardening. An +occasional electric light amid the trees gave an effect in the evening +in which Japanese delight. Some of the old carp which dashed up to the +bridges when they heard our footsteps seemed to be not far short of 3 +ft. long. + +Except for a small patch of sugar cane in Shidzuoka--it is grown +practically on the sea beach where it is visible from the express--the +visitor to Japan may never see sugar cane until Shikoku is reached. +The value of the crop in the whole island is about 800,000 yen. The +tall cane is conspicuous alongside the more diminutive rice. In this +prefecture an experiment is being made in growing olives. + +Kagawa is remarkable in having had until lately 30,000 pond reservoirs +for the irrigation of rice fields. Under the new system of rice-field +adjustment many of the ponds are joined together. Because in Shikoku +flat tracts of land or tracts that can be made flat are limited in +number the farmers have to be content with small pieces of land. The +average area of farm in Kagawa outside the mountainous region is less +than two acres. When the farms are near the sea, as they commonly are, +the agriculturists may also be fishermen. + +The number of place names ending in _ji_ (temple) proclaims the former +flourishing condition of Buddhism. Shikoku is a great resort of +white-clothed pilgrims. Sometimes it is a solitary man whom one sees +on the road, sometimes a company of men, occasionally a family. Not +seldom the pilgrim or his companion is manifestly suffering from some +affection which the pilgrimage is to cure. In the old days it was not +unusual to send the victim of "the shameful disease" or of an +incurable ailment on a pilgrimage from shrine to shrine or temple to +temple. He was not expected to return. In Shikoku there are +eighty-eight temples to Buddha and the founder of the Shingon sect, +and it is estimated that it would mean a 760 miles' journey to visit +them all. + +We went off our route at one point where my companion wished to visit +a gorgeous shrine. A guidebook said that people flocked there "by the +million," but what I was told was that last year's attendance was +80,000. The street leading to the approach to the shrine was in a +series of steps. On either side were the usual shops with piled-up +mementoes in great variety and of no little ingenuity, and also, on +spikes, little stacks of _rin_--the old copper coin with a square hole +through the middle--into which the economical devotee takes care to +exchange a few sen. We climbed to the shrine when twilight was coming +on. At the point where the series of street steps ended there began a +new series of about a thousand steps belonging to the shrine. A +thousand granite steps may be tiring after a hot day's travel in a +_kuruma_. All the way up to the shrine there were granite pillars +almost brand new, first short ones, then taller, then taller still, +and after these a few which topped the tallest. They were +conspicuously inscribed with the names of donors to the shrine. A +small pillar was priced at 10 yen. What the big, bigger and biggest +cost I do not know. I turned from the pillars to the stone lanterns. +"They burn cedar wood, I believe," said my companion. But soon +afterwards I saw a man working at them with a length of electric-light +wire. + +The great shrine was impressive in the twilight. There was a platform +near, and from it we looked down from the tree-covered heights through +the growing darkness. Where the lights of the town twinkled there was +a subsidiary shrine. A bare-headed, kimono-clad sailor stepped forward +near us and bowed his head to some semblance of deity down there. +Various fishermen had brought the anchors of their ships and the oars +of their boats to show forth their thankfulness for safety at sea. In +the murkiness I was just able to pick out the outlines of a bronze +horse which stands at the shrine, "as a sort of scape-goat," my +companion explained. "It is probably Buddhist," he said; "but you can +never be sure; these priests embellish the history of their temples +so." + +It was at the inn in the evening that someone told me that in the town +which is dependent on the shrine there were "a hundred prostitutes, +thirty geisha and some waitresses." Late at night I had a visit from a +man in a position of great responsibility in the prefecture. He was at +a loss to know what could be done for morality. "Religion is not +powerful," he said, "the schools do not reach grown-up people, the +young men's societies are weak, many sects and new moralities are +attacking our people, and there are many cheap books of a low class." + +Next day I laid this view before a group of landlords. They did not +reply for a little and my skilful interpreter said, "they are thinking +deeply." At length one of them delivered himself to this effect: +"Landowners hereabouts are mostly of a base sort. They always consider +things from a material and personal point of view. But if they are +attacked and made to act more for the public good it may have an +effect on rural conditions which are now low." + +I enquired about the new sects of Buddhism and Shintoism, for there +had been pointed out to me in some villages "houses of new religions." +"New religions in many varieties are coming into the villages," I was +told, "and extravagant though they may be are influencing people. The +adherents seem to be moral and modest, and they pay their taxes +promptly. There is a so-called Shinto sect which was started twenty +years ago by an ignorant woman. It has believers in every part of +Japan. It is rather communistic."[176] None of the landlords who +talked with me believed in the possibility of a "revival of Buddhism." +One of them noted that "people educated in the early part of Meiji are +most materialistic. It is a sorrowful circumstance that the officials +ask only materialistic questions of the villagers." + +I asked one of the landlords about his tenants. He said that his +"largest tenant" had no more than 1.3 _tan_ of paddy. It was explained +that "tenants are obedient to the landowner in this prefecture." Under +the system of official rewards which exists in Japan, 1,086 persons in +the prefecture had been "rewarded" by a kind of certificate of merit +and nine with money--to the total value of 26 yen. + +When I drew attention to the fact that the manufacture of _saké_ and +_soy_ seemed to be frequently in the hands of landowners it was +explained to me that formerly this was their industry exclusively. +Even now "whereas an ordinary shop-keeper is required by etiquette to +say 'Thank you' to his customer, a purchaser of _saké_ or _soy_ says +'Thank you' to the shop-keeper." + +The flower arrangement in my room in the inn consisted of an effective +combination of _hagi_ (_Lespedeza bicolor_, a leguminous plant +which is grown for cattle and has been a favourite subject of Japanese +poetry), a cabbage, a rose, a begonia and leaf and a fir branch. + +A landowner I chatted with in the train showed me that it was a +serious matter to receive the distinction of growing the millet for +use at the Coronation. One of his friends who was growing 5 _sh=o_, +the actual value of which might be 50 or 60 sen, was spending on it +first and last about 3,000 yen. + +I enquired about the diversions of landowners. It is easy, of course, +to have an inaccurate impression of the extent of their leisure. Only +about 1 per cent, have more than 25 acres.[177] Therefore most of +these men are either farmers themselves or must spend a great deal of +time looking after their tenants. Still, some landowners are able to +take things rather easily. The landowners I interrogated marvelled at +the open-air habits of English landed proprietors. They were greatly +surprised when I told them of a countess who is a grandmother but +thinks nothing of a canter before breakfast. The mark of being well +off was often to stay indoors or at any rate within garden walls, +which necessarily enclose a very small area. (Hence the fact that one +object of Japanese gardening is to suggest a much larger space than +exists.) A good deal of time is spent "in appreciating fine arts." +Ceremonial tea drinking still claims no small amount of attention. (In +many gardens and in the grounds of hotels of any pretensions one comes +on the ostentatiously humble chamber for _Cha-no-yu_.) No doubt there +is among many landowners a considerable amount of drinking of +something stronger than tea, and not a few men sacrifice freely to +Venus. Perhaps the greatest claimant of all on the time of those who +have time to spare is the game of _go_, which is said to be more +difficult than chess. One cannot but remark the comparatively pale +faces of many landowners. + +As we went along by the coast it was pointed out to me that it was +from this neighbourhood that some of the most indomitable of the +old-time pirates set sail on their expeditions to ravage the Chinese +coast. They visited that coast all the way from Vladivostock, now +Russian (and like to be Japanese), to Saigon, now French. There are +many Chinese books discussing effectual methods of repelling the +pirates. In an official Japanese work I once noticed, in the +enumeration of Japanese rights in Taiwan (Formosa), the naïve claim +that long ago it was visited by Japanese pirates! The Japanese +fisherman is still an intrepid person, and in villages which have an +admixture of fishing folk the seafarers, from their habit of following +old customs and taking their own way generally, are the constant +subject of rural reformers' laments. + +I spent some time in a typical inland village. The very last available +yard of land was utilised. The cottages stood on plots buttressed by +stone, and only the well-to-do had a yard or garden; paddy came right +up to the foundations. Now that the rice was high no division showed +between the different paddy holdings. I noticed here that the round, +carefully concreted manure tank which each farmer possessed had a +reinforced concrete hood. I asked a landowner who was in a comfortable +position what societies there were in his village. He mentioned a +society "to console old people and reward virtue." Then there was the +society of householders, such as is mentioned in Confucius, which met +in the spring and autumn, and ate and drank and discussed local +topics "with open heart." There were sometimes quarrels due to +_saké_. Indeed, some villagers seemed to save up their differences +until the householders' meeting at its _saké_ stage. At householders' +meetings where there was no _saké_ peace appeared to prevail. The +householders' meeting was a kind of informal village assembly. That +assembly itself ordinarily met twice a year. There were in the +village, in addition to the householders' organisation, the usual +reservists' association, the young men's society and agricultural +association. As to _kō_, from philanthropic motives my informant was a +member of no fewer than ten. + +My host told me that he spent a good deal of time in playing _go_, but +in the shooting season (October 15 to April 15) he made trips to the +hills and shot pheasants, hares, pigeons and deer. In the garden of +his house two gardeners were stretched along the branches of a pine +tree, nimbly and industriously picking out the shoots in order to get +that bare appearance which has no doubt puzzled many a Western student +of Japanese tree pictures. Each man's ladder--two lengths of bamboo +with rungs tied on with string--was carefully leant against a pole +laid from the ground through the branches. Many of the well-cared-for +trees in the gardens and public places of Japan pass the winter in +neat wrappings of straw. + +I visited a farm-house and found the farmer making baskets. When I was +examining the winnowing machine my companion reminded me smilingly +that when he was a boy he was warned never to turn the wheel of the +winnowing machine when the contrivance had no grain in it or a demon +might come out. There was a properly protected tank of liquid manure +and a well-roofed manure house. The family bath in an open shed was of +a sort I had not seen before, a kind of copper with a step up to it. +Straw rope about three-quarters of an inch in diameter was being made +by the farmer's son, a day's work being 40 yds. At another farm a +woman showed me the working of a rough loom with which she could in a +day make a score of mats worth in all 60 sen. From the farmer's house +I went to the room of the young men's association and looked over its +library. I was impressed by the high level of civilisation which this +village seemed to exhibit in essentials. + +When we continued our journey we saw two portable water wheels by +means of which water was being lifted into a paddy. Each wheel was +worked by a man who continually ascended the floats. The two men were +able to leave their wheels in turn for a rest, for a third man was +stretched on the ground in readiness for his spell. It seems that a +man can keep on the water tread-mill for an hour. The two wheels +together were lifting an amazing amount of water at a great rate. When +the pumping is finished one of these light water wheels is easily +carried home on a man's shoulders. + +Farther on I saw in a dry river bed a man sieving gravel in an +ingenious way. The trouble in sieving gravel is that if the sieve be +filled to its capacity the shaking soon becomes tiring. This man had a +square sieve which when lying on the ground was attached at one side +by two ropes to a firmly fixed tripod of poles. When the sieve was +filled the labourer lifted it far enough away from the tripod for it +to be swinging on one side. Therefore when he shook the sieve he +sustained a portion only of its weight. + +As we rode along I was told that the largest taxpayer in the county +"does not live in idleness but does many good works." The next largest +taxpayer "labours every day in the field." When I enquired as to the +recreations of moneyed men I was told "travelling, _go_ and poem +writing." + +As we rode by the sea a trustworthy informant pointed out to me an +islet where he said the young men have the young women in common and +"give permission for them to marry." There is a house in which the +girls live together at a particular time and are then free from the +attentions of the youths. Children born are brought up in the families +of the mothers but there is some infanticide. In another little island +off the coast there are only two classes of people, the seniors and +the juniors. Any person senior to any other "may give him orders and +call him by his second name." (The surname comes first in Japanese +names.) + +Our route led us along the track of the new railway line which was +penetrating from Kagawa into Ehime. Not for the first time on my +journeys was I told of the corrupting influence exerted on the +countryside by the imported "navvies," if our Western name may be +applied to men who in figure and dress look so little like the big +fellows who do the same kind of work in England. Although these +navvies were a rough lot and our ancient _basha_ (a kind of +four-wheeled covered carriage) was a thing for mirth, we met with no +incivility as we picked our way among them for a mile or two. I was a +witness indeed of a creditable incident. A handcart full of earth was +being taken along the edge of the roadway, with one man in the shafts +and another pushing behind. Suddenly a wheel slipped over the side of +the roadway, the cart was canted on its axle, the man in the shafts +received a jolt and the cargo was shot out. Had our sort of navvies +been concerned there would have been words of heat and colour. The +Japanese laughed. + +The reference to our venerable _basha_ reminds me of a well-known +story which was once told me by a Japanese as a specimen of Japanese +humour. A _basha_, I may explain, has rather the appearance of a +vehicle which was evolved by a Japanese of an economical turn after +hearing a description of an omnibus from a foreigner who spoke very +little Japanese and had not been home for forty years. The body of the +vehicle is just high enough and the seats just wide enough for +Japanese. So the foreigner continually bumps the roof, and when he is +not bumping the roof he has much too narrow a seat to sit on. +Sometimes the _basha_ has springs of a sort and sometimes it has none. +But springs would avail little on the rural roads by which many +_basha_ travel. The only tolerable place for Mr. Foreigner in a +_basha_ is one of the top corner seats behind the driver, for the +traveller may there throw an arm round one of the uprights which +support the roof. If at an unusually hard bump he should lose his hold +he is saved from being cast on the floor by the responsive bodies of +his polite and sympathetic fellow-travellers who are embedded between +him and the door. The tale goes that a tourist who was serving his +term in a _basha_ was perplexed to find that the passengers were +charged, some first-, some second-and some third-class fare. While he +clung to his upright and shook with every lurch of the conveyance this +problem of unequal fares obsessed him. It was like the persistent +"punch-in-the-presence-of-the-passengare." What possible advantage, he +pondered, could he as first class be getting over the second and the +second class over the third? At length at a steep part of the road the +vehicle stopped. The driver came round, opened the door, and bowing +politely said: "Honourable first-class passengers will graciously +condescend to keep their seats. Second-class passengers will be good +enough to favour us by walking. Third-class passengers will kindly +come out and push." And push they did, no doubt, kimonos rolled up +thighwards, with good humour, sprightliness and cheerful grunts, as is +the way with willing workers in Japan. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[173] At Anjo agricultural experiment station I saw eighteen kinds of +small threshing machines at from 13 to 18 yen. There were husking +machines of three sorts. A rice thresher was equal to dealing with the +crop of one _tan_, estimated at 2 _koku_ 4 _to_, in three hours. + +[174] See Appendix XLVI. + +[175] It is quite possible that the trees had also come into their +positions artificially. There are no more skilful tree movers than the +Japanese. + +[176] It has recently come into collision with the authorities. +Another sect with Shinto ideas was also started by a woman. + +[177] See Appendix XLVII. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +"SPECIAL TRIBES" + +(EHIME) + +A frank basis of reality.--Meredith + + +In the prefecture of Ehime our journey was still by _basha_ or +_kuruma_ and near the sea. The first man we talked with was a _gunchō_ +who said that "more than half the villages contained a strong +character who can lead." He told us of one of the new religions which +taught its adherents to do some good deed secretly. The people who +accepted this religion mended roads, cleaned out ponds and made +offerings at the graves of persons whose names were forgotten. I think +it was this man who used the phrase, "There is a shortage of +religions." + +I had not before noticed wax trees. They are slighter than apple +trees, but often occupy about the same space as the old-fashioned +standard apple. The clusters of berries have some resemblance to +elderberries and would turn black if they were not picked green.[178] +Occasionally we saw fine camphor trees. Alas, owing to the high price +of camphor, some beautiful specimens near shrines, where they were as +imposing as cryptomeria, had been sacrificed. + +I began to observe the dreadful destruction wrought in the early ear +stage of rice not by cold but by wind. The wind knocks the plants +against one another and the friction generates enough heat to arrest +further development. The crops affected in this way were grey in +patches and looked as if hot water had been sprayed over them. In one +county the loss was put as high as 90 per cent. Happily farmers +generally sow several sorts of rice. Therefore paddies come into ear +at different times. + +The heads of millet and the threshed grain of other upland crops were +drying on mats by the roadside, for in the areas where land is so much +in demand there is no other space available. Sesame, not unlike +snapdragon gone to seed, only stronger in build, was set against the +houses. On the growing crops on the uplands dead stalks and chopped +straw were being used as mulch. + +I noticed that implements seemed always to be well housed and to be +put away clean. Handcarts, boats and the stacks of poles used in +making frameworks for drying rice were protected from the weather by +being thatched over. + +We continued to see many white-clad pilgrims and everywhere touring +students, as often afoot as on bicycles. I noted from the registers at +many village offices that the number of young men who married before +performing their military service seemed to be decreasing. In one +community, where there were two priests, one Tendai and the other +Shingon, neither seemed to count for much. One was very poor, and +cultivated a small patch near his temple; the other had a little more +than a _chō_. The custom was for the farmers to present to their +temple from 5 to 10 _shō_ of rice from the harvest. + +In connection with the question of improved implements I noticed that +a reasonably efficient winnowing machine in use by a comfortably-off +tenant was forty-nine years old--that is, that it dated back to the +time of the Shogun. The secondary industry of this farmer was +dwarf-plant growing. He had also a loom for cotton-cloth making. There +were in his house, in addition to a Buddhist shrine, two Shinto +shrines. After leaving this man I visited an ex-teacher who had lost +his post at fifty, no doubt through being unable to keep step with +modern educational requirements. He had on his wall the lithograph of +Pestalozzi and the children which I saw in many school-houses. + +On taking the road again I was told that the local landlords had held +a meeting in view of the losses of tenants through wind. Most had +agreed to forgo rents and to help with artificial manure for next +year. I found taro being grown in paddies or under irrigation. Not +only the tubers of the taro but its finer stalks are eaten. I saw +gourds cut into long lengths narrower than apple rings and put out to +dry. I also noticed orange trees a century old which were still +producing fruit. Boys were driving iron hoops--the native hoop was of +bamboo--and one of the hoop drivers wore a piece of red cloth stitched +on his shoulder, which indicated that he was head of his class. One +missed a dog bounding and barking after the hoop drivers. Sometimes at +the doors of houses I noticed dogs of the lap-dog type which one sees +in paintings or of the wolf type to which the native outdoor dog +belongs. The cats were as ugly as the dogs and no plumper or happier +looking. When I patted a dog or stroked a cat the act attracted +attention. + +We saw a good deal of _hinoki_ (ground cypress), the wood of which is +still used at Shinto festivals for making fire by friction. + +We were able to visit an Eta village or rather _oaza_. Whether the Eta +are largely the descendants of captives of an early era or of a low +class of people who on the introduction of Buddhism in the seventh or +eighth century were ostracised because of their association with +animal eating, animal slaughter, working in leather and grave digging +is in dispute. No doubt they have absorbed a certain number of +fugitives from higher grades of the population, broken samurai, +ne'er-do-weels and criminals. The situation as the foreigner discovers +it is that all over Japan there are hamlets of what are called +"special tribes." In 1876, when distinctions between them and Japanese +generally were officially abolished, the total number was given as +about a million. Most of these peculiar people, perhaps three-quarters +of them, are known as Eta. But whether they are known as Eta or Shuku, +or by some other name, ordinary Japanese do not care to eat with them, +marry with them or even talk with them. In the past Eta have often +been prosperous, and many are prosperous to-day, but a large number +are still restricted to earning a living as butchers and skin and +leather workers, and grave diggers. The members of these "special +tribes," believing themselves to be despised without cause, usually +make some effort to hide the fact that they are Eta. + +Shuku seem to be living principally in hamlets of a score or so of +houses in the vicinity of Osaka, Kyoto and Nara, and are often +travelling players, or, like some Eta, skilled in making tools and +musical instruments. There seems to be a half Shuku or intermarried +class. Many prostitutes are said to be Shuku or Eta. I was told that +most of the girls in the prostitutes' houses of Shimane prefecture are +from "special tribes," and that they are "preferred by the +proprietors" because, as I was gravely informed, "they do not weary of +their profession and are therefore more acceptable to customers." As +prostitutes are frequently married by their patrons, it is believed +that not a few women from "special villages" are taken to wife without +their origin being known. Unwitting marriage with an Eta woman has +long been a common motif in fiction and folk story. Many members of +the "special tribes" go to Hokkaido and there pass into the general +body of the population. The folk of this class are "despised," I was +told by a responsible Japanese, "not so much for themselves as for +what their fathers and grandfathers did." The country people +undoubtedly treat them more harshly than the townspeople, but a man of +the "special tribes" is often employed as a watchman of fields or +forests. I was warned that it was judicious to avoid using the word +Eta or Shuku in the presence of common people lest one might be +addressing by chance a member of the "special tribes." + +Except that the houses of the village we were visiting looked possibly +a trifle more primitive than those of the non-Eta population outside +the _oaza_, I did not discern anything different from what I saw +elsewhere. The people were of the Shinshu sect; there was no Shinto +shrine. At the public room I noticed the gymnastic apparatus of the +"fire defenders." The hamlet was traditionally 300 years old and one +family was still recognised as chief. According to the constable, who +eagerly imparted the information, the crops were larger than those of +neighbouring villages "because the people, male and female, are always +diligent." + +The man who was brought forward as the representative of the village +was an ex-soldier and seemed a quiet, able and self-respecting but sad +human being. His house and holding were in excellent order. None of +his neighbours smiled on us. Some I thought went indoors needlessly; a +few came as near to glowering as can be expected in Japan. I got the +impression that the people were cared for but were conscious of being +"hauden doon" or kept at arm's length.[179] + +Our next stop was for a rest in a fine garden, the effect of which was +spoilt in one place by a distressing life-size statue of the owner's +father. When we took to our _kuruma_ again we passed through a village +at the approaches to which thick straw ropes such as are seen at +shrines had been stretched across the road. Charms were attached. The +object was to keep off an epidemic. + +The indigo leaves drying on mats in front of some of the cottages were +a delight to the eye. There were also mats covered with cotton which +looked like fluffy cocoons. On the telegraph wires, the poles of which +all over Japan take short cuts through the paddies, swallows clustered +as in England, but it is to the South Seas, not to Africa, that the +Japanese swallow migrates. When the telegraph was a newer feature of +the Japanese landscape than it is now swallows on the wires were a +favourite subject for young painters. + +We crossed a dry river bed of considerable width at a place where the +current had made an excavation in the gravel, rocks and earth several +yards deep. It was an impressive illustration of the power of a heavy +flood. + +I found in one mountainous county that only about a sixth of the area +was under cultivation. A responsible man said: "This is a county of +the biggest landlords and the smallest tenants. Too many landowners +are thinking of themselves, so there arise sometimes severe conflicts. +Some 4,000 tenants have gone to Hokkaido." The conversation got round +to the young men's societies and I was told a story of how an Eta +village threatened by floods had been saved by the young men of the +neighbouring non-Eta village working all night at a weakened +embankment. Some days later an Eta deputation came to the village and +"with tears in their eyes gave thanks for what had been done." The +comment of a Japanese friend was: "In the present state of Japan +hypocrisy may be valuable. The boys and the Eta were at least +exercising themselves in virtue." + +Four villages in this county have among them eight fish nurseries, the +area of salt water enclosed being roughly 120 acres. I looked into +several cottages where paper making was going on.[180] + +I also went into two cotton mills. In both there were girls who were +not more than eleven or twelve. "They are exempted from school by +national regulation because of the poverty of their parents,"[181] I +was told. + +As we passed the open shop fronts of the village barbers I saw that as +often as not a woman was shaving the customer or using the patent +clippers on him. + +We looked at a big dam which an enterprising landowner was +constructing. Three hundred women were consolidating the earthwork by +means of round, flat blocks of granite about twice the size of a +curling stone. Round each block was a groove in which was a leather +belt with a number of rings threaded on it. To each ring a rope was +attached. When these ropes were extended the granite block became the +hub of a wheel of which the ropes were the spokes. A number of women +and girls took ropes apiece and jerked them simultaneously, whereupon +the granite block rose in the air to the level of the rope pullers' +heads. It was then allowed to fall with a thud. After each thud the +pullers moved along a foot so that the block should drop on a fresh +spot. The gangs hauling at the rammers worked to the tune of a +plaintive ditty which went slowly so as to give them plenty of +breathing time. It was something like this: + + Weep not, + Do not lament, + This world is as the wheel of a car. + If we live long, + We may meet again on the road. + +None of the sturdy earth thumpers seemed to be overworked in the +bracing air of the dam top, and they certainly looked picturesque with +their white and blue towels round their heads. Indeed, with all the +singing and movement, not to speak of the refreshment stalls, the +scene was not unlike a fair. When we got back to the road again we +passed through a well-watered rice district which was equal to the +production of heavy crops. Only three years before it had been covered +by a thick forest in which it was not uncommon for robbers to lurk. +The transformation had been brought about by the construction of a dam +in the hills somewhat similar to the one we had just visited. + +I could not but notice in this district the considerable areas given +up to grave-plots. No crematoria seemed to be in use. There had been a +newspaper proposal that in areas where the population was very large +in proportion to the land available for cultivation the dead should be +taken out to sea. Where land is scarce one sees various expedients +practised so that every square foot shall be cropped. I repeatedly +found stacks of straw or sticks standing not on the land but on a +rough bridge thrown for the purpose over a drainage ditch. In this +district land had been recovered from the sea. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[178] For an account of a vegetable wax factory, see Appendix XLVIII. + +[179] For further particulars of Eta in Japan and America, see +Appendix XLIX. + +[180] See Appendix L. + +[181] In 1918 net profits of 33 million yen were made by cotton +factories. The factories are anticipating sharp competition from +China. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE STORY OF THE BLIND HEADMAN + +(EHIME) + +The thing to do is to rise humorously above one's body which is the +veritable rebel, not one's mind.--MEREDITH + + +It is delightful to find so many things made of copper. Copper, not +iron, is in Japan the most valuable mineral product after coal.[182] +But there are drawbacks to a successful copper industry. Several times +as I came along by the coast I heard how the farmers' crops had been +damaged by the fumes of a copper refinery. "There are four copper +refineries in Japan, who fighted very much with the farmers," it was +explained. The Department of Agriculture is also the Department of +Commerce and "it was embarrassed by those battles." The upshot was +that one refinery moved to an island, another rebuilt its chimney and +the two others agreed to pay compensation because it was cheaper than +to install a new system. The refinery which had removed to an island +seven miles off the coast I had been traversing had had to pay +compensation as well as remove. I saw an apparatus that it had put up +among rice fields to aid it in determining how often the wind was +carrying its fumes there. The compensation which this refinery was +paying yearly amounted to as much as 75,000 yen. It had also been +compelled to buy up 500 _chō_ of the complaining farmers' land. When +we ascended by _basha_ into the mountains we looked down on a copper +mine in a ravine through which the river tumbled. The man who had +opened the original road over the pass had had the beautiful idea of +planting cherry trees along it so that the traveller might enjoy the +beauty of their blossoms in spring and their foliage and outlines the +rest of the year. The trees had attained noble proportions when the +refinery started work and very soon killed most of them. They looked +as if they had been struck by lightning. + +Some miles farther on, wherever on the mountain-side a little tract +could be held up by walling, the chance of getting land for +cultivation had been eagerly seized. It would be difficult to give an +impression of the patient endeavour and skilful culture represented by +the farming on these isolated terraces held up by Galloway dykes. +Elsewhere the heights were tree-clad. In places, where the trees had +been destroyed by forest fires or had been cleared, amazingly large +areas had been closely cut over for forage. One great eminence was a +wonderful sight with its whole side smoothed by the sickles of +indomitable forage collectors. In some spots "fire farming" had been +or was still being practised. Here and there the cultivation of the +shrubs grown for the production of paper-making bark had displaced +"fire farming." I saw patches of millet and sweet potato which from +the road seemed almost inaccessible. + +On the admirable main road we passed many pack ponies carrying immense +pieces of timber. Speaking of timber, the economical method of +preserving wood by charring is widely practised in Japan. The +palisades around houses and gardens and even the boards of which the +walls or the lower part of the walls of dwellings are constructed are +often charred. The effect is not cheerful. What does have a cheerful +and trim effect is a thing constantly under one's notice, the habit of +keeping carefully swept the unpaved earth enclosed by a house and +buildings as well as the path or roadway to them. This careful +sweeping is usually regarded as the special work of old people. Even +old ladies in families of rank in Tokyo take pleasure in their daily +task of sweeping. + +When we had crossed the pass and descended on the other side and taken +_kuruma_ we soon came to a wide but absolutely dry river bed. The high +embankments on either side and the width of the river bed, which, +walking behind our _kuruma_, it took us exactly four minutes to +cross, afforded yet another object lesson in the severity of the +floods that afflict the country. The rock-and rubble-choked condition +of the rivers inclines the traveller to severe judgments on the State +and the prefectures for not getting on faster with the work of +afforestation; but it is only fair to note that in many places +hillsides were pointed out to me which, bare a generation ago, are now +covered with trees. Within a distance of twenty-five miles hill +plantations were producing fruit to a yearly value of half a million +yen. As for the cultivation on either side of the roadway, along which +our _kurumaya_ were trotting us, I could not see a weed anywhere. + +A favourite rural recreation in Ehime, as in Shimane on the mainland, +is bull fighting. It is not, however, fighting with bulls but between +bulls: the sport has the redeeming feature that the animals are not +turned loose on one another but are held all the time by their owners +by means of the rope attached to the nose ring. The rope is gripped +quite close to the bull's head. The result of this measure of control +is, it was averred, that a contest resolves itself into a struggle to +decide not which bull can fight better but which animal can push +harder with his head. That the bulls are occasionally injured there +can be no doubt. The contests are said to last from fifteen to twenty +minutes and are decided by one of the combatants turning tail. There +is a good deal of gambling on the issue. In another prefecture of +Shikoku the rustics enjoy struggles between muzzled dogs. A taste for +this sport is also cultivated in Akita. A certain amount of dog and +cock fighting goes on in Tokyo. + +At an inn there was an evident desire to do us honour by providing a +special dinner. One bowl contained transparent fish soup. Lying at the +bottom was a glassy eye staring up balefully at me. (The head, +especially the eye, of a fish is reckoned the daintiest morsel.) There +was a relish consisting of grapes in mustard. A third dish presented +an entire squid. I passed honourable dishes numbers two and three and +drank the fish soup through clenched teeth and with averted gaze. + +I interrogated several chief constables on the absence of assaults on +women from the lists of crimes in the rural statistics I had +collected. Various explanations were offered to me: if there were +cases of assault they were kept secret for the credit of the woman's +family; no prosecution could be instituted except at the instance of +the woman, or, if married, the woman's husband; women did not go out +much alone; the number of cases was not in fact as large as might be +imagined, because the people were well behaved. An official who had +had police experience in the north of Japan declared that the south +was more "moral and more civilised and had higher tastes." In Ehime, +for example, there was very little illegitimacy and fewer children +still-born than in any other prefecture. Nevertheless four offences +against women had occurred in villages in Ehime within the preceding +twelve months. + +One of the most interesting stories of rural regeneration I heard was +told me by a blind man who had become headman of his village at the +time of the war with Russia. His life had been indecorous and he had +gradually lost his sight, and he took the headmanship with the wish to +make some atonement for his careless years. This is his story: + +"Although I thought it important to advance the economic condition of +the village it was still more important to promote friendship. As the +interests of landowners and tenants was the same it was necessary to +bring about an understanding. I began by asking landowners to +contribute a proportion of the crops to make a fund. I was blamed by +only fourteen out of two hundred. But the landowners who did blame me +blamed me severely, so much so that my family[183] were uneasy. I went +from door to door with a bag collecting rice as the priests do. My +eccentric behaviour was reported in the papers. The anxiety of my +household and relatives grew. My children were told at the school that +their father was a beggar. During the first harvest in which I +collected I gathered about 40 _koku_ (about 200 bushels). In the +fourth year a hundred tenants came in a deputation to me. They said: +'This gathering of rice is for our benefit. But you gather from the +landowners only. So please let us contribute every year. Some of us +will collect among ourselves and bring the rice to you, so giving you +no trouble.' I was very pleased with that. But I did not express my +pleasure. I scolded them. I said: 'Your plan is good but you think +only of yourselves. You do not give the landowners their due. When you +bring your rent to them you choose inferior rice. It is a bad custom.' +I advised them to treat their landowners with justice and achieve +independence in the relation of tenant and landowner. They were moved +by my earnestness. + +"In the next year the tenants exerted themselves and the landowners +were pleased with them. Thus the relation of landlord and tenant +became better. The landowners in their turn became desirous of showing +a friendly feeling toward the tenants. Some landlords came to me and +said, 'If you wish for any money in order to be of service to the +tenants we will lend it to you without interest.' I received some +money. I lent money to tenants to buy manure and cattle, to attack +insect pests, to provide protection against wind and flood and to help +to build new dwellings nearer their work. By these means the tenants +were encouraged and their welfare was promoted. The landlords were +also happier, for the rice was better and the land improved. The +landlords found that their happiness came from the tenants. There was +good feeling between them. The landlords began to help the tenants +directly and indirectly. Roads and bridges and many aids to +cultivation were furnished by the landlords. A body of landlords was +constituted for these purposes and it collected money. My idea was +realised that the way of teaching the villages is to let landlords and +tenants realise that their interests agree and they will become more +friendly." + +The co-operative credit society which the blind headman established +not only buys and sells for its members in the ordinary way but hires +land for division among the humbler cultivators. One of the +departments of the society's work is the collection of villagers' +savings. They are gathered every Sunday by school-children. One lad, I +found from his book, had collected on a particular Sunday 5 sen +each--5 sen is a penny--from two houses and 10 sen each from another +two dwellings. The next Sunday he had received 5 sen from one house, +10 sen from two houses, 30 sen and 50 sen from others and a whole yen +from the last house on his list. The subscriber gets no receipt but +sees the lad enter in his book the amount handed over to him, and the +next Sunday he sees the stamp of the bank against the sum. Some 390 +householders out of the 497 in the village hand over savings to the +boy and girl collectors, whose energy is stimulated with 1 per cent. +on the sums they gather. In five years the Sunday collections have +amassed 60,000 yen. The previous year had been marked by a bad harvest +and large sums had been drawn out of the bank, but there was still a +sum of 14,000 yen in hand. + +In this village there had been issued one of the economic and moral +diaries mentioned in an earlier chapter. The diary of this village has +two spaces for every day--that is, the economic space and the moral +space. The owner of this book had to do two good deeds daily, one +economic and the other moral, and he had to enter them up. Further, he +had to hand in the book at the end of the year to the earnest village +agricultural and moral expert who devised the diary and carefully +tabulates the results of twelve months' economic and moral endeavour. +One might think that the scheme would break down at the handing in of +the diary stage, but I was assured that there were good reasons for +believing that a considerable proportion of the 440 persons who had +taken out diaries would return them. + +There is an old custom by which Buddhist believers, in companies of a +dozen or so, meet to eat and drink together. As a good deal is eaten +and drunk the gatherings are costly. Our blind headman met the +difficulty of expense in his village by getting the companies of +believers to cultivate together in their spare time about three acres +of land. His object was to associate religion and agriculture and so +to dignify farming in the eyes of young men. He also wished to provide +an object lesson in the results of good cultivation. The profits +proved to be, as he anticipated, so considerable as to leave a balance +after defraying the cost of the social gathering. The headman +prevailed on the cultivators to keep accurate accounts and they made +plain some unexpected truths: as for example, that a _tan_ of paddy +did not need the labour of a man for more than twenty-three days of +ten hours, and that the net income from such an area was a little more +than 16 yen, and that thus the return for a day's labour was 73 sen. +It was demonstrated, therefore, that labour was recompensed very well, +and that instead of farming being "the most unprofitable of +industries"--for in Japan as in the West there are sinners against the +light who say this--it was reasonably profitable. + +But if rice called for only twenty-three days' labour per +_tan_--nearly all the farmers' land was paddy--and the whole holding +numbered only a few _tan_, it was also plain that there were many days +in the year when the farmer was not fully employed. From this it was +easy to proceed to the conviction that the available time should be +utilised either in secondary employments, or in, say, draining, which +would reduce the quantity of manure needed on the land. So the farmers +began to think about drainage and the means of economising labour. +They began to realise how time was wasted owing to most farmers +working not only scattered, but irregularly shaped pieces of land. So +the rice lands were adjusted, and everybody was found to have a trifle +more land than he held before, and the fields were better watered and +more easily cultivated. Only from sixteen to seventeen days' labour +instead of twenty-three were now needed per _tan_[184] and the crops +were increased. There is now no exodus from this progressive village. + +Concerning his blindness the headman said that it was more profitable +for him to hear than to see, for by sight "energy might be diverted." +He had recited in every prefecture his personal experience of rural +reform. He asserted that while conditions varied in every prefecture, +there was, generally speaking, labour on the land for no more than 200 +days in the year. He deplored the disappearance of some home +employments. He did not approve of the condition of things in the +north where women worked as much in the fields as their husbands and +brothers. Women were "so backward and conservative." The biggest +obstacles to agricultural progress were old women. To introduce a +secondary industry was to take women from the fields. + +I spoke with an agricultural expert, one of whose dicta was that +"students at normal schools who come from town families are not so +clever as students from farmers' families." He told me that 10,000 +young men in his county had sworn "to act in the way most fitting to +youths of a military state [sic], to buy and use national products as +far as possible and so to promote national industry." + +What was wrong with some farming, according to an official of a county +agricultural association whom I met later, was that the farmers +cultivated too intensively. They used too much "artificial." A +prefectural official, speaking of the possibility of extending the +cultivated area in Japan, said that in Ehime there were 6,000 _chō_ +which might be made into paddies if money were available. As to +afforestation, 100,000 yen a year, exclusive of salaries, was spent in +the prefecture. As a final piece of statistics he mentioned that +whereas ten years before pears were grown only in a certain island of +the prefecture, the production of a single county was now valued at +half a million yen yearly. + +I spent a night at a hot spring. It is said that the volume of water +is decreasing. What a situation for a town which lives on a hot spring +if the hot-water supply should suddenly stop! I heard of another +hot-spring resort at which the water is gradually cooling: it is +warmed up by secret piping. + +I have not troubled my readers with many stories of the jostling of +past and present, but I noticed in an electric street car at Matsuyama +a peasant trying to light his pipe with flint and tinder. As he did +not succeed a fellow-passenger offered him a match. He was so inexpert +with it that he still failed to get a light and he had to be handed a +cigarette stump. + +In riding down to the port in the street car I borrowed for a few +moments a schoolboy's English reader. It seemed rather mawkish. A book +of Japanese history which I was also allowed to look at was full of +reproductions of autographs of distinguished men. "They make the +impression very strong," I was told. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[182] See Appendix XXXVIII. + +[183] That is, not only his household but his relatives. + +[184] Adding to the 17 days' labour for the rice crop, 13 days' labour +for the succeeding barley crop, the total was 30 days' labour per +_tan_ against the general Japan average of 39 days per _tan_. + + + + +THE SOUTH-WEST OF JAPAN + +CHAPTER XXVII + +UP-COUNTRY ORATORY + +(YAMAGUCHI) + +I have confidence, which began with hope and strengthens with +experience, that humanity is gaining in the stores of mind.--MEREDITH + + +The main street of an Inland Sea island we visited was 4 ft. wide. +Because it was the eve of a festival the old folk were at home +"observing their taboo." The islander who had been the first among the +inhabitants to visit a foreign country was only fifty. The local +policeman made us a gift of pears when we left. + +At another primitive island querns were in use and "ordinary families" +were "only beginning to indulge in tombstones." In contrast with this, +the constable told us that a small condensed-milk factory had been +started. (This constable was a fine, dignified-looking fellow, but so +poor that his toes were showing through his blue cloth _tabi_.) The +condensed-milk factory must have been responsible for some surprises +to the cows when they were first milked in its interests. I heard a +tale of the first milking of an elderly cow. She had ploughed paddies, +carried hay and other things and had drawn a cart. But it took five +men and a woman to persuade her that to be milked into a clay pot was +a reasonable thing. + +The third island we explored lies in such a situation in the Inland +Sea that sailing ships used to be glad to shelter under it while +waiting for a favourable wind. Someone had the evil thought of +providing it with prostitutes, and, until steam began to take the +place of sails, the number of these women established in the island +was large. Even now, although the whole population numbers only a +hundred families, there are thirty women of bad character. These poor +creatures were conspicuous because of their bright clothing and +dewomanised look. A scrutiny of the islanders old and young yielded +the impression that the whole place was suffering from its peculiar +traffic. There were two houses, one for registering the women and the +other for investigating their state of health, and the purpose of the +buildings was bluntly proclaimed on the nameboards at their doors. + +When we got out to sea again the newest Japanese battleship doing her +trials was pointed out to me, but I was more interested in a large +fishing boat running before the wind. A sturdy woman was at the helm +and her naked young family was sprawling about the craft. + +Someone spoke of villagers of the mainland "failing to realise that +they now possessed the privilege of self-government." I was reminded +of the pleasant way of the headman of a village assembly in the +Loochoos, Japan's oldest outlying possession. He assembles or used to +assemble his colleagues in his courtyard and appear there with a draft +of proposed legislation. They bowed and departed and the Bill had +become an Act. + +Although we were already within the territorial waters of Hiroshima +prefecture, we determined not to make the mainland at once but to stay +the night at the famous island which is called both Miyajima (shrine +island) and Itsukushima (taboo island), and is considered to be one of +the three most noteworthy sights in Japan. Photographs and drawings of +the shrine with its red colonnades on piles by the shore and its big +red _torii_ standing in the sea are as familiar as representations of +Fuji. It used to be the custom to prevent as far as possible births +and deaths occurring on the island. Even now, funerals, dogs and +kuruma are prohibited. The iron lanterns of the shrine and galleries +and a hundred more in the pine tree-studded approaches are undoubtedly +"a most magnificent spectacle at full tide on a moonless night"; but +what of the subservience to the profitable foreign tourist seen in +this shrine notice?-- + +_Zori_ (straw sandals), _geta_ (wooden pattens) and all footgear +_except shoes and boots_ are forbidden. + +One is attracted by the idea of listening to music and watching dances +which came from afar in the seventh or eighth centuries, but the +business-like tariff, + + Ordinary music, 12 sen to 5 yen, + Special music and dance, 10 yen and upwards, + Lighting all lanterns, 9 yen, + +is calculated to take one out of the atmosphere of Hearn's dreams. The +deities of the shrine get along as best they can with the raucous +sirens of the tourist steamers, the din of the motor boats and the +boom of the big guns which are hidden at the back of the island and +make of Miyajima and its vicinity "a strategic zone" in which +photography, sketching or the too assiduous use of a notebook is +forbidden. Alas, I had myself arrived in a steamer which blew its +siren loudly, and in the morning I crossed from the holy isle to the +mainland in a motor launch. + +The name of Yamaguchi prefecture, which is at the extreme end of the +mainland and has the sea to the south, the east and the north, is not +so familiar as the name of its port, Shimoneseki. It was mentioned to +me that the farmers of Yamaguchi worked a smaller number of days than +in Ehime, possibly only a hundred in the year. The comment of my +companion, who had visited a great deal of rural Japan, was that 150 +full days' work was the average for the whole country.[185] + +I was told that here as elsewhere there was an unsound tendency to +turn sericulture from a secondary into a primary industry. "Experts +are not always expert," confessed an official. "Our farmers have had +bitter experience. Experts come who have learnt only from books or in +other districts, so they give unsuitable counsel. Then they leave the +prefecture for other posts before the results of their unwisdom are +apparent." + +The same official told me of a "little famine" in one county which had +imprudently concentrated its attention on the production of grape +fruit to the annual value of about a million yen. When a storm came +one spring there was almost a total loss. "The river and the sea were +covered with fruit, fishing was interfered with, and the county town +complained of the smell of the rotting fruit." It seems that many of +the suffering orange growers were samurai who found fruit farming a +more gentlemanly pursuit than the management of paddies. Like rural +amateurs everywhere, "some of them would do better if they knew more +about the working of the land." + +Rice was being assailed by a pest which survived in the straw stack +and had done damage in the prefecture to the amount of 30,000 yen. + +In this prefecture and two others during our tour my companion +delivered addresses to farmers under the auspices of the National +Agricultural Association. The burden of his talk was their duty as +agriculturists in the new conditions which were opening for the +nation. His three audiences numbered about 700, 1,000 and 1,500. They +were composed largely of picked men. At the first gathering the +audience squatted; at the next chairs were provided; at the third +there were school forms with backs. What I particularly noticed was +the easy-going way in which the meetings were conducted. No gathering +began exactly at the time announced, although one of the audiences had +been encouraged to be in time by the promise of a gift of mottoes to +the first hundred arrivals. At each meeting the Governor of the +prefecture was the first speaker. At one meeting the Governor arrived +about 8.30 a.m., made his speech and departed. When my friend had been +introduced to various people in the anteroom, had drunk tea and had +smoked and chatted a little, he was taken to the platform half an hour +or three quarters after the conclusion of the Governor's speech. +Nothing had happened at the meeting in the interval. The idea was that +the wait would help the audience's digestion of the speech it had had +and the speech it was going to have. There was no formal introduction +of the orator. He just mounted the platform and spoke for two hours. + +[Illustration: SCHOOL SHRINE FOR EMPEROR'S PORTRAIT.] + +[Illustration:cTHE AUTHOR ADDRESSING, THROUGH AN INTERPRETER, LAFCADIO +HEARN DEATH-DAY MEETING AT MATSUE.] + +At the second meeting the Governor awaited our arrival but "went +on" alone. The star speaker meanwhile refreshed himself in the +anteroom with tea, tobacco and conversation as before. In a few +minutes the Governor, having done his turn, rejoined us, and my friend +proceeded to the meeting to deliver his speech, the Governor taking +his departure. + +[Illustration: A PEASANT PROPRIETOR'S HOUSE.] + +[Illustration: GRAVESTONES REASSEMBLED AFTER PADDY ADJUSTMENT.] + +At the third meeting the Governor and the speaker of the day did enter +the hall together, but before the Governor had finished his +introductory harangue my companion took himself off to the anteroom to +refresh himself with a cigar and a chat. When the Governor concluded +and returned to the anteroom there was conversation for a few minutes, +and then my friend and his Excellency went into the meeting together. +This time the Governor stayed to the end. + +In his three speeches my friend said many moving things and his +audiences were appreciative. But no one presumed to interrupt with +applause. At the end, however, there was a hearty round of +hand-clapping, now a general custom at public gatherings. On the +conclusion of each of his addresses the orator stepped down from the +platform and made off to the hall, for no one dreamt of asking +questions. When he was gone an official expressed the thanks of the +audience and there was another round of applause. Then everybody +connected with the arrangement of the meeting gathered in the anteroom +and one after the other made appreciative speeches and bows. I +marvelled at the orator's toughness. Before he went on the platform he +had been pestered with unending introductions and beset by +conversation. But I do not know that my friend felt any strain. Nor +did the fashion in which the speakers wandered on and off the +platform, and thus, according to our notions, did their utmost to damp +the enthusiasm of the meetings, seem to have any such effect. Once in +an oculist's consulting clinic in Tokyo I was struck by the fact that +when water was squirted into the eyes of a succession of patients of +both sexes and various ages, they did not wince as Western people +would have done. + +I was told that school fees go up a little when the price of rice is +high; also of the "negatively good" effects of young men's +associations. During the period of our tour efforts were being made to +systematise these organisations. The Department of Agriculture wanted +a farmer at the head of each society, the War Office an ex-soldier. +There can be no doubt that the militarists have been doing their best +to give the societies the mental attitude of the army. + +In the country we were entering, the horse had taken the place of the +ox as the beast of burden. Two men of some authority in the prefecture +agreed that it was difficult to think of tracts in the south-west that +would be suitable for cattle grazing. There was certainly no "square +_ri_ where the price of land was low enough to keep sheep." As to +cattle breeding and forestry, one of them must give way. It was +necessary to keep immense areas under evergreen wood for the defence +of the country against floods. With regard to the areas available for +afforestation, for cattle keeping and for cultivation respectively, it +was necessary to be on one's guard against "experts" who were disposed +to claim all available land for their specialties. + +When we took to an automobile for the first stage of our long journey +through Yamaguchi and Shimane--the railway came no farther than the +city of Yamaguchi--I noticed that just as the bridges are often +without parapets, the roads winding round the cliffs were, as in +Fukushima, unprotected by wall or rail. This was due, no doubt, to +considerations of economy, to a widely diffused sense of +responsibility which makes people look after their own safety, and +also, in some degree, to stout Japanese nerves. That our driver's +nerves were sound enough was shown by the speed at which he drove the +heavy car round sharp corners and down slippery descents where we +should have dropped a few hundred feet had we gone over. + +At our first stopping-place I saw a photograph showing a Shinshu +priest engaged with the girl pupils of a Buddhist school in tree +planting. Our talk here was about the low incomes on which people +contrive to live. A little more than a quarter of a century ago the +family of a friend of mine, now of high rank, was living in a county +town on 5 yen a month! There were two adults and three children. Rent +was 1.20 yen and rice came to 1.80 yen. Even to-day an ex-Minister may +have only 1,500 yen a year. Many ex-Governors are living quietly in +villages. We went to call upon one of them who was getting great +satisfaction out of his few _tan_. Among other things he told us was +that there were five doctors and one midwife in the community. These +doctors do not possess a Tokyo qualification. They have qualified by +being taught by their fathers or by some other practitioner, and they +are entitled to practise in their own village and in, perhaps, a +neighbouring one. + +It was thoughtless of me, after inquiring about the doctors, to ask +about the gravedigger. I was told that when there was no member of a +"special tribe" available it was the duty of neighbours to dig graves. +A community's displeasure was marked by neighbours refraining from +helping to dig an unpopular person's grave. (One might have expected +to hear that such a grave would be dug with alacrity.) Families which +had run counter to public opinion had had to "apologise" before they +could get neighbourly help at the burial of their dead. + +Only one family in the village, I learnt from the headman, was being +helped from public funds. This family consisted of an old man and his +daughter, who, owing to the attendance her father required, could not +go out to work. The village provided a small house and three pints of +rice daily. The headman in his private capacity gave the girl, with +the assistance of some friends, straw rope-making to do and paid a +somewhat higher price than is usual. + +Of last year's births in the village 10 per cent. had been legally and +5 per cent. actually illegitimate. Four or five births had occurred a +few months after marriage. + +We ate our lunch in the headman's room in the village office. Hanging +from the ceiling was a sealed envelope to be opened on receipt of a +telegram. Some member of the village staff always slept in that room. +The envelope contained instructions to be acted upon if mobilisation +took place. + +When we had gone on some distance I stopped to watch a farmer's wife +and daughter threshing in a barn by pulling the rice through a row of +steel teeth, the simple form of threshing implement which is seen in +slightly different patterns all over Japan. (It is the successor of a +contrivance of bamboo stakes.) The women told me that one person could +thresh fourteen bushels a day. The implement cost 2-1/2 yen from +travelling vendors but only 1-1/2 yen from the co-operative society. +While we talked the farmer appeared. I apologised to him for +unwittingly stepping on the threshold of the barn--that is, the +grooved timber in which the sliding doors run. It is considered to be +an insult to the head of the house to tread on the threshold as in +some way "standing on the householder's head." + +This man had a bamboo plantation, and he told me, in reply to a +question, that the bamboo would shoot up at the rate of more than a +foot in twenty-four hours. (During the month in which this is dictated +I have measured the growth of a shoot of a Dorothy Perkins climber and +find that it averages about quarter of an inch in twenty-four hours.) + +FOOTNOTES: + +[185] See Appendix XII. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +MEN, DOGS AND SWEET POTATOES + +(SHIMANE) + +Nothing but omniscience could suffice to answer all the questions +implicitly raised.--J.G. FRAZER + + +When we descended from the hills we were in Shimane, a long, narrow, +coastwise prefecture through which one travels over a succession of +heights to the capital, Matsue, situated at the far end. Two-thirds of +the journey must be made on foot and by _kuruma_.[186] Some talk by +the way was about the farmers going five or six miles daily to the +hills to cut grass for their "cattle," the average number of cattle +per farmer being 1.3 hereabouts. It seemed strange to see buckwheat at +the flowering stage reached by the crops seen in Fukushima several +months before. The explanation was that buckwheat is sown both in +spring and autumn. + +In the old days notable samurai, fugitives from Tokyo, had kept +themselves secluded in the rooms we occupied at Yamaguchi. In Shimane +we had small plain low-ceiled rooms in which daimyos had been +accommodated. Not here alone had I evidences of the simplicity of the +life of Old Japan. + +I was wakened in the morning by the voice of a woman earnestly +praying. She stood in the yard of the house opposite and faced first +in one direction and then in another. A friend of mine once stayed +overnight at an inn on the river at Kyoto. In the morning he saw +several men and a considerable number of women praying by the +waterside. They were the keepers and inmates of houses of ill-fame. +The old Shinto idea was that prayers might be made anywhere at other +times than festivals, for the god was at the shrine at festivals only. +Nowadays some old men go to the shrine every morning, just as many old +women are seen at the Buddhist temples daily. Half the visitors to a +Shinto shrine, an educated man assured me, may pray, but in the case +of the other half the "worship" is "no more than a motion of respect." +My friend told me that when he prayed at a shrine his prayer was for +his children's or his parents' health. + +At a county town I found a library of 4,000 volumes, largely an +inheritance from the feudal regime. Wherever I went I could not but +note the cluster of readers at the open fronts of bookshops.[187] + +On our second day's journey in Shimane I had a _kuruma_ with wooden +wheels, and in the hills the day after we passed a man kneeling in a +_kago_, the old-fashioned litter. When we took to a _basha_ we +discovered that, owing to the roughness of the road, we had a driver +for each of our two horses. We had also an agile lad who hung on first +to one part and then another of the vehicle and seemed to be essential +in some way to its successful management. The head of the hatless +chief driver was shaved absolutely smooth. + +It was a rare thing for a foreigner to pass this way. My companion +frequently told me that he had difficulty in understanding what people +said. + +We saw an extinct volcano called "Green Field Mountain." There was not +a tree on it and it was said never to have possessed any. The whole +surface was closely cut, the patches cut at different periods showing +up in rectangular strips of varying shades. Wherever the hills were +treeless and too steep for cultivation they were carefully cut for +fodder. In cultivable places houses were standing on the minimum of +ground. More than once we had a view of a characteristic piece of +scenery, a dashing stream seen through a clump of bamboo. + +When our basha stopped for the feeding of the horses, they had a tub +of mixture composed of boiled naked barley, rice chaff, chopped straw +and chopped green stuff. I noticed near the inn a doll in a tree. It +had been put there by children who believe that they can secure by so +doing a fine day for an outing. When we started again we met with a +company of strolling players: a man, his wife and two girls, all with +clever faces. We also saw several peasant anglers fishing or going +home with their catch. A licence available from July to December cost +50 sen. + +At a shop I made a note of its signs, the usual strips of white wood +about 8 ins. by 3, nailed up perpendicularly, with the inscriptions +written in black. One sign was the announcement of the name and +address of the householder, which must be shown on every Japanese +house. A second stated that the place was licensed as a shop, a third +that the householder's wife was licensed to keep an inn, a fourth that +the householder was a cocoon merchant, a fifth that he was a member of +the co-operative credit society, a sixth that he belonged to the Red +Cross Society, a seventh that his wife was a member of the Patriotic +Women's Society,[188] the eighth, ninth and tenth that the shopkeeper +was an adherent of a certain Shinto shrine, a member of a Shinto +organisation and had visited three shrines and made donations to them. +An eleventh board proclaimed that he was of the Zen sect of Buddhism. +Finally, there was a box in which was stored the charms from various +shrines. + +We passed a company of villagers working on the road for the local +authority. The labourers were chiefly old people and they were taking +their task very easily. Farther along the road men and women were +working singly. It seemed that the labourers belonged to families +which, instead of paying rates, did a bit of roadmending. The work was +done when they had time to spare. + +For some time we had been in a part of the country in which the ridges +of the houses were of tiles. At an earlier stage of our journey they +had been either of straw or of earth with flowers or shrubs growing in +it. The shiny, red-brown tiles give place elsewhere to a +slate-coloured variety. The surface of all of these tiles is so +smooth that they are unlikely to change their hard tint for years. +Meanwhile they give the villages a look of newness. Their use is +spreading rapidly. Shiny though the tiles may be, one cannot but +admire the neat way in which they interlock. One day when I wondered +about the cost involved in recovering roofs with these tiles, a woman +worker who overheard me promptly said that, reckoning tiles and +labour, the cost was 60 or 70 sen per 22 tiles. In the old days tiled +porticoes were forbidden to the commonalty. They were allowed only to +daimyos who also used exclusively the arm rests which every visitor to +an inn may now command. Besides arm rests I have frequently had +kneeling cushions of the white brocade formerly used only for the +_zabuton_ of Buddhist priests. + +In the county through which we were passing the fine water grass, +called _i_, used for mat making, is grown on an area of about 78 +_chō_. It is sown in seed beds like rice and is transplanted into +inferior paddies in September. (The grass is better grown in Hiroshima +and Okayama.) + +I saw a beautiful tree in red blossom. The name given to it is "monkey +slip," because of the smoothness of its skin, which recalled the name +of that very different ornament of suburban gardens, "monkey puzzle." + +During this journey we recovered something of the conditions of +old-time travel. There were chats by the way and conferences at the +inn in the evening and in the morning concerning distances, the kind +of vehicles available, the character of their drivers, the charges, +the condition of the road, the probable weather and the places at +which satisfactory accommodation might be had. What was different from +the old days was that at every stopping-place but one we had electric +light. Part of our journey was done in a small motor bus lighted by +electricity. Like the automobile we had hired a day or two before, it +was driven--by two young men in blue cotton tights--at too high a +speed considering the narrowness and curliness of the roads by which +we crossed the passes. The roads are kept in reasonably good +condition, but they were made for hand cart and _kuruma_ traffic. + +We passed an island on which I was told there were a dozen houses. +When a death occurs a beacon fire is made and a priest on the mainland +conducts a funeral ceremony. By the custom of the island it is +forbidden to increase the number of the houses, so presumably several +families live together. In the mountain communities of the mainland, +where the number of houses is also restricted, it is usual for only +the eldest brother to be allowed to marry. The children of younger +brothers are brought up in the families of their mothers. + +We passed at one of the fishing hamlets the wreck of a Russian cruiser +which came ashore after the battle of Tsushima. Two boat derricks from +the cruiser served as gate posts at the entrance of the school +playground. + +A familiar sight on a country road is the itinerant medicine vendor. +He or his employer believes in pushing business by means of an +impressive outfit. One typical cure-all seller, who had his medicines +in a shiny bag slung over his shoulders, wore yellow shoes, cotton +drawers, a frock coat, a peaked cap with three gold stripes, and a +mysterious badge. On his hands he had white cotton gloves and as he +walked he played a concertina. A common practice is to leave with +housewives a bag of medicines without charge. Next year another call +is made, when the pills and what not which have been used are paid for +and a new bag is exchanged for the old one. + +The use of dogs to help to draw _kuruma_ is forbidden in some +prefectures, but in three stages of our journey in Shimane we had the +aid of robust dogs. During this period, however, I saw, attached to +_kuruma_ we passed, three dogs which did not seem up to their work. +Dogs suffer when used for draught purposes because their chests are +not adapted for pulling and because the pads of their feet get tender. +The animals we had were treated well. Each _kuruma_ had a cord, with a +hook at the end, attached to it; and this hook was slipped into a ring +on the dog's harness. The dogs were released when we went downhill and +usually on the level. Several times during each run, when we came to a +stream or a pond or even a ditch, the dogs were released for a bathe. +They invariably leapt into the water, drank moderately, and then, if +the water was too shallow for swimming, sat down in it and then lay +down. Sometimes a dog temporarily at liberty would find on his own +account a small water hole, and it was comical to see him taking a +sitz bath in it. When the sun was hot a dog would sometimes be +retained on his cord when not pulling in order that he might trot +along in the shade below the _kuruma_. The dog of the _kuruma_ +following mine usually managed when pulling to take advantage of the +shade thrown by my vehicle. A _kurumaya_ told me that he had given 8 +yen for his dog. Dogs were sometimes sold for from 10 to 15 yen. The +difficulty was to get a dog that had good feet and would pull. The +dogs I saw were all mongrels with sometimes a retriever, bloodhound or +Great Dane strain. + +I made enquiries about another county town library. There were 18,000 +volumes of which 300 consisted of European books and 600 of bound +magazines. The annual expenditure on books, and I presume magazines, +was 600 yen. + +We passed a "special tribe" hamlet. Here the Eta were devoting +themselves to tanning and bamboo work. I was told of other "peculiar +people" called Hachia, also of a hawker-beggar class which sells small +things of brass or bamboo or travels with performing monkeys. + +Water from hot springs is piped long distances in water pipes made of +bamboo trunks, the ends of which are pushed into one another. A turn +is secured by running two pipes at the angle required into a block of +wood which has been bored to fit. + +When we got down to the sand dunes there were windbreaks, 10 or 15 ft. +high, made of closely planted pines cut flat at the top. Elsewhere I +saw such windbreaks 30 ft. high. On the telegraph wires there were big +spiders' webs about 4 ft. in diameter. + +As we sped through a village my attention was attracted by a funeral +feast. The pushed-back _shoji_ showed about a dozen men sitting in a +circle eating and drinking. Women were waiting on them. At the back of +the room, making part of the circle, was the square coffin covered by +a white canopy. + +While passing a Buddhist temple I heard the sound of preaching. It +might have been a voice from a church or chapel at home. + +Shortly afterwards I came on a memorial to the man who introduced the +sweet potato into the locality 150 years before. This was the first of +many sweet-potato memorials which I encountered in the prefecture and +elsewhere. Sometimes there were offerings before the monuments. +Occasionally the memorial took the form of a stone cut in the shape of +a potato. There is a great exportation of sweet potatoes--sliced and +dried until they are brittle--to the north of Japan where the tuber +cannot be cultivated.[189] + +While we rested at the house of a friend of my companion we spoke of +emigration. There are four or five emigration companies, and it is an +interesting question just how much emigration is due to the initiative +of the emigrants themselves and how much to the activity of the +companies. The chief reason which induces emigrants to go to South +America is that, under the contract system, they get twice as much +money as they would obtain, say, in Formosa.[190] + +Our host did not remember any foreigner visiting his village since his +boyhood, though it is on the main road. It took nearly four days for a +Tokyo newspaper to arrive. This region is so little known that when a +resident mentioned it in Tokyo he was sometimes asked if it was in +Hokkaido. + +I was interested to see how many villages had erected monuments to +young men who had won distinction away from home as wrestlers. + +I had often noticed bulls drawing carts and behaving as sedately as +donkeys, but it was new to see a bull tethered at the roadside with +children playing round it. Why are the Japanese bulls so friendly? + +In the mountainous regions we passed through I saw several paddies no +bigger than a hearthrug. At one spot a land crab scurried across the +road. It was red in colour and about 2-1/2 ins. long. + +At a village office the headman's gossip was that priests had been +forbidden by the prefecture to interfere in elections. We looked +through the expenses of the village agricultural association. For a +lecture series 5 yen a month was being paid. Then there had been an +expenditure by way of subsidising a children's campaign against +insects preying on rice. For ten of the little clusters of eggs one +may see on the backs of leaves 4 rin was paid, while for 10 moths the +reward was 2 rin. The association spent a further 10 yen on helping +young people to attend lectures at a distance. The commune in which +those things had been done numbered 3,100 people. There had been two +police offences during the year, but both offenders were strangers to +the locality. + +In a cutting which was being made for the new railway, girl labourers +were steering their trucks of soil down a half-mile descent and +singing as they made the exhilarating run. The building of a railway +through a closely cultivated and closely populated country involves +the destruction of a large amount of fertile land and the rebuilding +of many houses. The area of agricultural land taken during the +preceding and present reigns, not only for railways and railway +stations but for roads, barracks, schools and other public buildings, +has been enormous. "The owner of land removed from cultivation may +seem to do well by turning his property into cash," a man said to me. +"He may also profit to some extent while the railway is building by +the jobs he is able to do for the contractor, with the assistance of +his family and his horse or bull; but afterwards he has often to seek +another way of earning his living than farming." + +We neared railhead on a market day and many folk in their best were +walking along the roads. Of fourteen umbrellas used as parasols to +keep off the sun that I counted one only was of the Japanese paper +sort; all the others were black silk on steel ribs in "foreign style" +except for a crude embroidery on the silk. + +When we got into the town it was as much as our _kurumaya_ could do to +move through the dense crowd of rustics in front of booths and shops. +Once more I was impressed by the imperturbability and natural +courtesy of the people. At the station quite a number of farmers and +their families had assembled, not to travel by the train but to see it +start. + +During the short journey by train I noticed lagoons in which fish were +artificially fed. At an agricultural experiment station in the place +at which we alighted there were two specimen windmills set up to show +farmers who were fortunate enough to have ammonia water on their land +the cheapest means of raising it for their paddies. The tendency here +as elsewhere was to apply too much of the ammonia water. All rubbish +on this extensive experiment station was carefully burnt under cover +in order to demonstrate the importance not only of getting all the +potash possible but of preserving it when obtained. + +Farmers who are without secondary industries are short of cash except +at the times when barley, rice and cocoons are sold, and in certain +places they seem to have taken to saving money on salt. An old man +told us with tears in his eyes how he had protested to his neighbours +against the tendency to do without salt. An excuse for attempting to +save on salt, besides the economical one, was the size of the salt +cubes. Neighbours clubbed together to buy a cube, and thus a family, +when it had finished its share, had to wait until the neighbours had +disposed of theirs and market day came round.[191] + +I saw a monument erected to the memory of "a good farmer" who had +planted a wood and developed irrigation. + +We made a stay at the spot where, on a forest-clad hill overlooking +the sea, there stands in utter simplicity the great shrine of Izumo. +The customary collection of shops and hotels clustering at the town +end of the avenue of _torii_ cannot impair the impression which is +made on the alien beholder by this shrine in the purest style of +Shinto architecture. In the month in which we arrived at Izumo the +deities are believed to gather there. Before the shrine the Japanese +visitor makes his obeisance and his offering at the precise spot--four +places are marked--to which his rank permits him to advance. (This +inscription may be read: "Common people at the doorway.") The +estimate which an official gave me of the number of visitors last +year, 40,000, bore no relation to the "quarter of a million" of the +guide book. But it had been a bad year for farmers. Forty-seven +geisha, who had reported the previous year that they had received +35,000 yen--there is no limit to what is tabulated in Japan--now +reported that they had gained only half that sum in twelve months, +"the price of cocoons being so low that even well-to-do farmers could +not come." I noticed that there was a clock let into one of the +granite votive pillars of the avenue along which one walks from the +town to the shrine. As I glanced at the clock it happened that the +sound of children's voices reached me from a primary school. I +wondered what time and modern education, which have brought such +changes in Japan, might make of it all. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[186] The railway has now been extended in the direction of Yamaguchi. + +[187] See Appendix LI. + +[188] Protests have been made against the way in which the country +people are dunned for subscriptions to these semi-official +organisations. A high agricultural authority has stated that in Nagano +the farmers' taxes and subscriptions to the Red Cross and Patriotic +Women Societies are from 65 to 70 per cent. of their expenditure as +against 30 to 35 per cent. spent on outlay other than food and +clothing. + +[189] _Satsuma-imo_ is sweet potato. Our potato is called _jaga-imo_ +or _bareisho_. _Imo_ is the general name. + +[190] See Appendix LII. + +[191] The Salt Monopoly profits are estimated at 314,204 yen for +1920-21. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +FRIENDS OF LAFCADIO HEARN + +(SHIMANE, TOTTORI AND HYOGO) + +Those who suffer learn, those who love know.--MRS. HAVELOCK ELLIS + + +At Matsue, with which the name of Lafcadio Hearn will always be +associated, I chanced to arrive on the anniversary of his death. His +local admirers were holding a memorial meeting. As a foreigner I was +honoured with a request to attend. First, however, I had the chance of +visiting Hearn's house. Matsue was the first place at which Hearn +lived. He always remembered it and at last came back there to marry. +Except that a pond has been filled up--no doubt to reduce the number +of mosquitoes--the garden of his house is little changed. + +The most interesting feature of the meeting was old pupils' grateful +recollections of Hearn, the middle-school teacher. The gathering was +held in a room belonging to the town library in the prefectural +grounds, but neither the Governor nor the mayor was present. A +sympathetic speech was made by a chance visitor to the town, the +secretary-general to the House of Peers. He recalled the antagonism +which the young men at Tokyo University, himself among them, felt +towards the odd figure of Hearn--he had a terribly strained eye and +wore a monocle--when he became a professor, and how very soon he +gained the confidence and regard of the class. + +I had often wondered that there was no Japanese memorial to Hearn, and +when I rose to speak I said so. I added that it was rare to meet a +Japanese who had any understanding of how much Hearn had done in +forming the conception of Japan possessed by thousands of Europeans +and Americans. The fault in so many books about Japan, I went on, was +not that their "facts" were wrong. What was wrong was their authors' +attitude of mind. I had heard Japanese say that Hearn was "too +poetical" and that some of his inferences were "inaccurate." That was +as might be. What mattered was that the mental attitude of Hearn was +so largely right. He did not approach Japan as a mere "fact" collector +or as a superior person. What he brought to the country was the +humble, studious, imaginative, sympathetic attitude; and it was only +by men and women of his rare type that peoples were interpreted one to +the other. + +In that free-and-easy way in which meetings are conducted in Japan it +was permissible for us to leave after another speech had been made. +The proceedings were interrupted while the promoters of the gathering +showed us a collection of books and memorials of Hearn, arranged under +a large portrait, and accompanied us to the door of the hall. I do not +recall during the time I was in Japan any other public gathering in +honour of Hearn, and I met several prominent men who had either never +heard his name or knew nothing of the far-reaching influence of his +books. But some months after this Matsue meeting there was included +among the Coronation honours a posthumous distinction for +Hearn--"fourth rank of the junior grade."[192] + +During this journey I attended a dinner of officials and leading +agriculturists and had the odd sensation of making a short +after-dinner speech on my knees. At such a dinner the guests kneel on +cushions ranged round the four walls of the room, and each man has a +low lacquer table to himself, and a geisha to wait on him. When the +geisha is not bringing in new dishes or replenishing the _saké_ +bottle, she kneels before the table and chatters entertainingly. The +governors of the feast visit the guests of honour and drink with them. +In the same way a guest drinks with his neighbour and with his +attendant geisha. I have a vivid memory of a grave and elderly +dignitary who at the merry stage of such a function capered the whole +length of the room with his kneeling-cushion balanced on the top of +his head. There is a growing temperance movement in Japan but a +teetotaller is still something of an oddity. My abstinence from _saké_ +was frequently supposed to be the result of a vow. + +Although the average geisha may be inane in her patter and have little +more than conventional grace and charm, I have been waited on by girls +who added real mental celerity, wit and a power of skilful mimicry to +that elusive and seductive quality that accounts for the impregnable +position of their class. At one dinner impersonations in both the +comic and the tragic vein were given by a girl of unmistakable genius. +Frequently a plain, elderly geisha will display unsuspected mimetic +ability. Alas, behind the merry laugh and sprightliness of the girls +who adorn a feast lurks a skeleton. One is haunted by thoughts of the +future of a large proportion of these butterflies. No doubt most +foreigners generalise too freely in identifying the professions of +geisha and _joro_. In the present organisation of society some geisha +play a legitimate rôle. They gain in the career for which they have +laboriously trained an outlet for the expression of artistic and +social gifts which would have been denied them in domestic life. At +the same time the degrading character of the life led by many geisha +cannot be doubted. Apart from every other consideration the temptation +to drink is great. The opening of new avenues to feminine ability, the +enlarged opportunities of education and self-respect and the +increasing opening for women on the stage--from which women have been +excluded hitherto--must have their effect in turning the minds of +girls of wit and originality to other means of earning a living than +the morally and physically hazardous profession of the geisha. + +When we left Matsue by steamer on our way to Tottori prefecture I saw +middle-school eights at practice. An agriculturist told me of the +custom of giving holidays to oxen and horses. The villagers carefully +brush their animals, decorate them and lead them to pastures where, +tethered to rings attached to a long rope, "they may graze together +pleasantly." One of the islands we visited bore the name of the giant +radish, Daikon, which is itself a corruption of the word for octopus. +The island devoted itself mainly to the growing of peonies and +ginseng. The ginseng is largely exported to China and Korea, but there +is a certain consumption in Japan. Ginseng is sometimes chewed, but is +generally soaked, the liquid being drunk. Ginseng is popularly +supposed to be an invigorant, and Japanese doctors in Korea have +lately declared that it has some value. The root is costly, hence the +proverb about eating ginseng and hanging oneself, i.e. getting into +debt. + +In walking across the island I passed a forlorn little shrine. It was +merely a rough shed with a wide shelf at the back, on which stood a +row of worn and dusty figures, decked with the clothes of children +whose recovery was supposed to have been due to their influence. It +was raining and the shelter was full of children playing in the +company of an old crone with a baby on her back. Further on in the +village I came across a new public bath. The price of admission was +one sen, children half price. + +A small port was pointed out to me as being open to foreign trade. +Everybody is not aware that in Japan there is a restriction upon +foreign shipping except at sixty specified places.[193] The reason +given for the restriction is the unprofitableness of custom houses at +small places. One day, perhaps, the world will wake up to the +inconvenience and financial burden imposed by the custom-house system +of raising revenue. + +We stayed the night at a little place at the eastern extremity of the +Shimane promontory where there is a shrine and no cultivation of any +sort is allowed "for fear of defilement." Waste products are taken +away by boat. I marked a contrast between theoretical and practical +holiness. Our inn overlooked a special landing-place where, because a +"sacred boat" from the shrine is launched there, a notice had been put +up forbidding the throwing of rubbish into the sea. A few minutes +after the board had been pointed out to me I saw an old man cast a +considerable mass of rubbish into the water not six feet away from it. +When we visited the shrine three pilgrims were at their devotions. The +next morning when our steamer left and the chief priest of the shrine +was bidding us adieu my attention was attracted by loud conversation +in the second storey of an inn, the _shoji_ of which were open. Our +pilgrims, two of whom were bald, had spent the night at an inn of bad +character and were now in the company of prostitutes in the sight of +all men. One pilgrim had a girl on his knee, another was himself on a +girl's knee and a third had his arm round a girl's neck. In this +"sacred" place of 2,000 inhabitants there were forty "double license" +girls, five being natives. A few years ago all the girls were natives. +A "double license" girl means one who is licensed both as a geisha and +a prostitute. The plan of issuing "double licenses" is adopted at +Kyoto and elsewhere. As to the pilgrims to whom I have referred, +someone quoted to me the saying, "It is only half a pilgrimage going +to the shrine without seeing the girls." + +Returning to the custom of launching a sacred boat it is not without +significance that many Japanese deities have some connection with the +sea. Even in the case of the deities of shrines a long way from the +sea the ceremony of "going down to the sea" is sometimes observed. +Sand and sea water are sent for in order to be mixed with the water +used to cleanse the car in which the figure of the deity is drawn +through the streets. + +The social and financial position of tenants was illustrated by an +incident at an inn. As the maid came from the country I asked her if +her father were a tenant or an owner. My companion interrupted to tell +me that the question was not judiciously framed because the girl would +"think it a disgrace to own that her father was a tenant." The name of +a tenant used long ago to be "water drinker." This waiting-maid was a +good-looking and rather clever girl. I was dismayed when my friend +told me that she had said to him quite simply that she had thoughts +of becoming a _joro_. She thought it would be a "more interesting +life." + +When we reached Tottori prefecture we found ourselves in a country +which grows more cotton than any other. Japanese cotton (grown on +about 400 _chō_) is unsuitable for manufacture into thread, but +because of its elasticity is considered to be valuable for the padding +of winter clothing and for _futon_ and _zabuton_. Their softness is +maintained by daily sunning. + +At a county office I noted that the persons who were receiving relief +were classified as follows: Illness, 26; cripples, 17; old age, 16; +schoolboys, 12; infancy, 1. + +In the course of our journey a Shinto priest was pointed out to me as +observing the priestly taboo by refusing tea and cake. I noticed, +however, that he smoked. I was told that when he was in Tokyo he +purified himself in the sea even in midwinter. I did not like his +appearance. Nor for the matter of that was I impressed by the +countenances of some Buddhist priests I encountered in the train from +time to time. "Thinking always of money," someone said. But every now +and again I saw fine priestly faces. + +I have noted down very little in regard to the crops and the +countryside in Tottori. Things seemed very much the same as I had seen +in Shimane. At an agricultural show in the city of Tottori the +varieties of yam and taro were so numerous as to deceive the average +Westerner into believing that he was seeing the roots of different +kinds of plants. A feature of the show was a large realistic model of +a rice field with two life-size figures. + +In the evening I talked with two distinguished men until a late hour. +"We are not a metaphysical people," one of them said. "Nor were our +forefathers as religious as some students may suppose. Those who went +before us gave to the Buddhist shrine and even worshipped there, but +their daily life and their religion had no close connection. We did +not define religion closely. Religion has phases according to the +degree of public instruction. Our religion has had more to do with +propitiation and good fortune than with morality. If you had come here +a century ago you would have been unable to find even then religion +after another pattern. If it be said that a man must be religious in +order to be good the person who says so does not look about him. I am +not afraid to say that our people are good as a result of long +training in good behaviour. Their good character is due to the same +causes as the freedom from rowdiness which may be marked in our +crowds." + +"What is wanted in the villages," said the other personage, "is one +good personality in each." I said that the young men's association +seemed to me to be often a dull thing, chiefly indeed a mechanism by +means of which serious persons in a village got the young men to work +overtime. "Yes," was the response, "the old men make the young fellows +work." + +The first speaker said that there had been three watchwords for the +rural districts. "There was Industrialisation and Increase of +Production. There was Public Spirit and Public Welfare. There was The +Shinto Shrine the Centre of the Village. We have a certain conception +of a model village, but perhaps some hypocrisy may mingle with it. +They say that the village with well-kept Buddhist and Shinto shrines +is generally a good village." + +"In other words," I ventured, "the village where there is some +non-material feeling." + +The rejoinder was: "Western religion is too high, and, I fear, +inapplicable to our life. It may be that we are too easily contented. +But there are nearly 60 millions of us. I do not know that we feel a +need or have a vacant place for religion. There is certainly not much +hope for an increase of the influence of Buddhism." + +As we went along in the train I was told that on a sixth of the rice +area in Tottori there had been a loss of 70 per cent. by wind. When a +man's harvest loss exceeds this percentage he is not liable for rates +and taxes. A passenger told me about "nursery pasture." This is a +patch of grass in the hills to which a farmer sends his ox to be +pastured in common with the oxen of other farmers under the care of a +single herdsman. It is from cattle keeping on this modest scale that +the present beef requirements of the country are largely met.[194] + +Although the opinions expressed to me by Governors of prefectures +have been frequently recorded in these pages, I have not felt at +liberty to identify more than one of the Excellencies who were good +enough to express their views to me. A friend who knew many Governors +offered me the following criticism, which I thought just: "They are +too practical and too much absorbed in administration to be able to +think. Often they read very little after leaving the university. They +have seldom anything to tell you about other than ordinary things, and +they seldom show their hearts. You cannot learn much from Governors +who have nothing original to say or are fearful or live in their frock +coats or do not mean to show half their minds or are practising the +old official trick of talking round and round and always evading the +point. One fault of Governors is that they are being continually +transferred from prefecture to prefecture. You have no doubt yourself +noticed how often Governors were new to their prefectures. But with +all the faults that our Governors have, there are not a few able, good +and kind men among them and they are not recruited from Parliament but +must be members of the Civil Service. One of the most common words in +our political life is _genshitsu_, 'responsibility for one's own +words.' If Governors fear to assume the responsibility of their own +views they are only of a part with a great deal of the official +world." + +We turned away from the northern sea coast and struck south in order +to cross Japan to the Inland Sea en route for Kobe and Tokyo. + +As we came through Hyogo prefecture my companion pointed to hill after +hill which had been afforested since his youth. One of the things +which interested me was the number and the tameness of the kites which +were catching frogs in the paddies. + +Before I left Hyogo I had the advantage of a chat with one who for +many years past had thought about the rural situation in Japan +generally. He spoke of "the late Professor King's idealising of the +Japanese farmer's condition." He went on: "While King laid stress on +the ability to be self-supporting on a small area he ignored the +extent to which many rural people are underfed. The change in the +Meiji era has been a gradual transference from ownership to tenancy. +Many so-called representative farmers have been able to add field to +field until they have secured a substantial property and have ceased +to be farmers. An extension of tenancy is to be deplored, not only +because it takes away from the farmer a feeling of independence and of +incentive, but because it creates a parasitic class which in Japan is +perhaps even more parasitic than in the West. A landowner in the West +almost invariably realises that he has certain duties. In Japan a +landowner's duties to his neighbourhood and to the State are often +imperfectly understood. + +"On the other hand the position of the farmer has been very much +improved socially. A great deal of pity bestowed by the casual foreign +visitor is wasted. The farmer is accustomed to extremes of heat and +cold and to a bare living and poor shelter. And after all there is a +great deal of happiness in the villages. It is hardly possible to take +a day's _kuruma_ ride without coming on a festival somewhere, and +drunkenness has undoubtedly diminished." + +I spoke with an old resident about the agricultural advance in the +prefecture. "In fifteen years," he said, "our agricultural production +has doubled. As to the non-material condition of the people, generally +speaking the villagers are very shallow in their religion. Not so long +ago officials used to laugh at religion, but I don't know that some of +them are not now changing their point of view. Some of us have thought +that, just as we made a Japanese Buddhism, we might make a Japanese +Christianity which would not conflict with our ideas." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[192] This is, I am officially informed, the highest rank ever +bestowed on a foreigner; but then Hearn was naturalised. In 1921 an +appreciation of "Koizumi Yakumo" was included by the Department of +Education in a middle-school textbook. Curiously enough, the fact that +Hearn married a Japanese is overlooked. Owing to the fact that Hearn +bought land in Tokyo which has appreciated in value his family is in +comfortable circumstances. + +[193] Coastwise traffic is also forbidden to foreign vessels, as is +traffic between France and Algeria to other than French vessels. + +[194] See Appendix LIII. + + + + +TWO MONTHS IN TEMPLE + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE LIFE OF THE PEASANTS AND THEIR PRIESTS + +(NAGANO) + +The condition of the lower orders is the true mark.--JOHNSON + + +The Buddhist temple in which I lived for about two months stands on +high ground in a village lying about 2,500 ft. above sea-level in the +prefecture of Nagano and does not seem to have been visited by +foreigners. It is reached by a road which is little better than a +track. No _kuruma_ are to be found in the district, but there are a +few light two-wheeled lorries. Practically all the traffic is on +horseback or on foot. There is a view of the Japanese Alps and of +Fuji. + +Running through the village[195] is a river. Most of the summer it may +be crossed by stepping stones, but the width of the rocky bed gives +some notion of the volume of water which pours down after rains and on +the melting of the snow. Two or three miles up from the village a +considerable amount of water is drawn off into two channels which have +been dug, one on either side of the river, at a gentler slope than +that at which the stream flows. The rapid fall of the river is +indicated by the fact that these channels reach the village more than +100 ft. above the level at which the river itself enters it. The +channels, cut as they have been through sharply sloping banks packed +with boulders and big stones, and strengthened throughout by banking, +in order to cope as far as possible with the torrents which rage down +the hillside in winter, represent a vast amount of communal labour. By +the side of each channel the excavated earth and stones have been used +to make a path for pack horses. The water which comes down these +channels serves not only for the ordinary uses of the village but for +irrigating the rice fields and for driving the many water wheels, the +plashing and groaning of which are heard night and day. + +[Illustration: THE BUDDHIST TEMPLE (WITH SHINTO SHRINE ON THE LEFT) +IN WHICH THIS CHAPTER WAS WRITTEN] + +The whole area of the _oaza_ is officially recorded as 800 _chō_, but +the real area may be double, or even more than that. About 40 per +cent. is cultivated either as paddy or as dry land. The remaining 60 +per cent., from which 18 _chō_ may be deducted for house land, is +under grass and wood. Half of this grass and woodland belongs to the +_oaza_ and half to private persons. The grass is mostly couch grass +and weeds. In places there is a certain amount of clover and vetch. Of +the 200 families, numbering about 1,700 people, less than a dozen are +tenants. Of the others, a third cultivate their own land and hire +some more. The remaining two-thirds cultivate their own land and hire +none. The outstanding crop beyond rice is mulberry. A considerable +amount of millet and buckwheat is also grown. + +The village is obviously well off. The signs are: successful +sericulture, the large quantity of rice eaten, the number of +well-looking horses (the millet seems to be grown largely for them, +but they also receive beans and wheat boiled), the fact that no +attempt is made to collect the considerable amount of horse manure on +the roads, the cared-for appearance of the temple and shrines, the +almost complete absence of tea-houses, the ease with which new land +may be obtained and the contented look of the people. + +One does not expect to find in a remote and wholly Buddhist village +many other animals than horses, and in this community the additional +live stock consists of ten goats (kept for giving milk for invalids), +two pigs and a number of poultry. A working horse over four years was +worth 150 yen. The value of land[196] is to be considered in relation +to local standards of value. It is doubtful if the priest, who seemed +to be comfortably off, is in receipt of more than 250 yen a year. The +midwife, who belongs to the oldest family and has been trained in +Tokyo, gets from 2 to 2-1/2 yen per case. As new land is always +available on the hillsides there is very little emigration to the +towns, but twenty girls are working in the factories in the big +silk-reeling centre twelve miles off. The hillside land which is owned +by the village is not sold but rented to those who want it. To make +new paddies is primarily a question of having enough capital with +which to buy the artificial manure required for the crops. + +I was given to understand that no one in the village was poor enough +to need public help, but that the school fees of twelve children were +paid by the community. This is a system peculiar to Nagano, which is a +progressive prefecture vying with other prefectures to increase the +percentage of school attendance. One of the signs of the well-off +character of the village which appears when one is able to investigate +a little is that the place is a favourite haunt of beggars, who, I am +told--every calling is organised--have made it over to the less +fortunate members of their fraternity. The village has enough money to +spend to make it worth while for tradesmen from a distance to open +temporary shops every _Bon_ season and at the New Year festival. A man +in an average position may lay out 200 yen on his daughter's wedding. +A farmer who knew his fellow-villagers' position pretty closely said +he thought that the position of tenant farmers was "rather well." In +the whole village there might be seventy or eighty householders who +had some debt, but it was justifiable. In an ordinary year about 150 +farmers would have something to lay by after their twelve months' +work. Perhaps fifty farmers, if the price of rice or of cocoons were +low, might be unable to save; but ordinarily they would have something +in their pockets. About half the farmers are engaged in sericulture--I +noticed cocoons offered at the shrine. The other half sell their +mulberry leaf crop to their neighbours. The village, which is perhaps +400 years old, is increasing in population by about forty every year. +The family which is said to have founded the village is still largely +represented in it. + +[Illustration: FIRE ENGINE AND PRIMITIVE FIGURES] + +The village has as many as six fire engines, which can be moved about +either on wheels or on runners according to the weather, and as many +look-out ladders and fire-alarm bells. The young men's association has +no fewer than half a dozen buildings, the property of the village. +Five of them are little more than sheds and seem to be used on wet +days as nurseries and playrooms for children. The sixth is the +village theatre, playing at which appears to have been abandoned for +some years. Travelling players give their shows where they will. The +theatre stands in a space encircled by large trees opposite the chief +shrine of the village. There is also here a smaller shrine (fox god) +and some tombstones. + +[Illustration: YOUNG MEN'S CLUB ROOM] + +Before the chief shrine are two large leaden lanterns. At the base of +these a considerable strip of metal has been torn away. This unusual +destruction by village lads caused me to make enquiry. I found that +the boys had merely enlarged a hole made by adults. The destruction +had been wrought in order to remove the inscription on the lanterns. +It was said that the local donor had meanly omitted to make the +customary gift to the shrine to cover the small expense of lighting +the lanterns on the occasion of festivals. It was the feeling of the +villagers, therefore, that he should not be allowed to blazon his name +in connection with a shabby gift. + +[Illustration: MEMORIAL STONES] + +There is a ceremony about half a dozen times a year at the chief +shrine, which is about a century old. The Shinto priest, who seemed to +be a genuine antiquary, was of opinion that the structure inside the +shrine might have been built two hundred years ago. In addition to +this chief shrine and the small shrine near it, there are two other +shrines in the village, one in the temple yard (god of happiness) and +the other (horse god) in an open space of its own. + +[Illustration: ROOF PROTECTED AGAINST STORMS BY STONES] + +But perhaps the most remarkable thing about the non-material life of +this village is the fact that it contains no fewer than 400 carved +stones of a more or less religious character. A few are Buddhist; some +are memorials to priests or teachers; several bear that representation +of a man and a woman facing one another (p. 265) which is one of the +oldest mystic emblems; the majority are devoted apparently to the +horse god. Every man who loses a horse erects a stone. There are two +persons in the village who can carve these stones at a cost of about 2 +yen. Some stones which are painted red are dedicated to the fire god. +The 400 stones of which I am speaking do not include grave stones. +These are seen everywhere, many of them just by the wayside. Nearly +every family buries in its own ground. Some burial places with stones +of many forms dating back for a long period of years are extremely +impressive. At the _Bon_ season the grass on every burying ground is +carefully cut. + +All the shop-keepers seem to own their own houses and all but three +have some land. There are three _saké_ shops, two of which sell other +things than _saké_, two general shops, two cake and sweet shops, two +tobacco shops, a lantern shop and a barber. There are eight +carpenters, four stonecutters, five plasterers and wall builders, five +woodcutters, two roof makers, two horse shoers, and in the winter a +blacksmith. (The cost of putting on four shoes is 60 sen.) All these +artisans own their own houses and all have land. + +As to the health of the village there are two doctors who come every +other day. One was qualified at Chiba and the other at Sendai. They +make no charge for advice and the price of medicine is only 10 sen +unless the materials are expensive. I suppose they may receive +presents. They also probably have a piece of land. There is no +veterinary surgeon, but one is to be found in the village which +composes the other half of the commune. + +A physician who had been born in the village and was staying for a few +days with the Buddhist priest who was my host, thought that 90 per +cent. of the villagers ate no meat whatever and that only 50 or 60 per +cent. ate fish, and then only ceremonially, that is at particular +times in the year when it is the custom in Japan to eat fish. The +villagers who did eat meat or fish did not take it oftener than twice +or thrice a month. The canned meat and canned fish in the +shops--Japanese brands--were used almost entirely for guests. The +doctor expressed the opinion of most Japanese that "people who do not +eat meat are better tempered and can endure more." I have heard +Japanese say that "foreigners are short-tempered because they eat so +much meat." + +We spoke of the considerable consumption of pickles, highly salted or +fermented. For example, in the ordinary 25-sen _bento_ (lunch) box +there are three or four different kinds of pickles. The doctor said +that pickles were not only a means of taking salt and so appetisers to +help the rice down, but digestives; fermented pickles supplied +diastase which enabled the stomach to deal promptly with the large +quantities of rice swallowed. + +I asked for the doctor's opinion as to the prevalence of tumours, +displacements and cancer among women who labour in the fields and have +to bring up children and do all the housework of a peasant's dwelling. +The doctor replied that he was disposed to think that cases of the +ailments I spoke of were not numerous. Cancer was certainly rare. He +knew that in Japan rickets, goitre and gout were all less common than +in the West. He expressed the opinion that childbirth was easier than +in the West. It was a delight to see the fine carriage of the women +and girls astride on the high saddles of the horses.[197] Both sexes +in the district wear over their kimonos blue cotton trousers, +something like a plumber's overall only tighter in the legs. The women +are certainly strong. One day I saw a woman carrying uphill on her +back two wooden doors about 6 ft. by 5 ft. 6 ins. An old woman I met +on the road volunteered her view that women were "stronger" than men. +She was very much concerned to know how foreigners could live without +eating rice. She said--and this is characteristically Japanese--that +she envied me being able to travel all over the world. + +[Illustration: OFF TO THE UPLAND FIELDS] + +The Buddhist temple is built wholly of wood and the roof is thatched. +Whenever there was an earthquake the timbers seemed to crackle rather +than creak. The temple is relatively new and seems to have been built +with materials given by the villagers and by means of a gift of 1,000 +yen. The workmanship was local and a good deal of it was faulty. This +may have been due to lack of experience, but it is more likely that +the cause was limited funds. The plan and proportions of the building +are excellent and the carving is first-rate. The right of +"presentation to the living" is in the hands of the village. The +priest and his family live in a large house on one side of the temple. +On the other side is a small Shinto shrine to which the priest seems +to give such attention as is necessary. The temple is Shingon. There +is a sermon once a year only, or "when some famous man comes." The +actual temple in which the priest, who showed me a fine collection of +robes, conducts his services is between forty and fifty mats in area. +Behind it is the room in which the _ihai_ or tablets of the dead are +arranged. This part of the building is covered on the outside with +plaster in the manner of a _kura_ (godown) so as to be fire-proof. On +either side of the actual temple are rooms very much as in a spacious +private house. There are two of eighteen and fifteen mats, two of +twelve and ten mats and two small ones. There is also a wide covered +_engawa_ (verandah) in front and at the sides. A small kitchen and +what the auctioneers call the usual offices complete the building. + +Right round the temple there is a nice garden which keeps the priest's +man, a picturesque, sweet-tempered, guileless old fellow, occupied +much of his time. The priest conducted a service twice a day, at 5:30 +in the morning and at 7:30 in the evening. When he fell ill and had to +be carried in a litter to the nearest town for an operation, we missed +his beautiful chanting and expert sounding of the deep-toned gong of +the sanctuary. The great bell in the court-yard was struck by the +priest's boy at sundown. The priest kept the old rule against meat. He +and his wife would not eat even cake or biscuits because they feared +that there might be milk and butter in them. The couple were very kind +to us and we enjoyed a delightfully quiet life in the lofty sunny +temple rooms. I should judge that _Otera San_ (Mr. Temple) was +respected in the village. His wife was a bustling woman of such +sweetness and simplicity of nature as can only be found in a far +valley. + +I have mentioned that the total incomings of the priest are probably +about 250 yen. He receives no salary but has his house free. He must +"discuss about anything wanted in the temple." I do not suppose he had +to ask anybody whether he might lodge us or not. He receives +considerable gifts of rice, perhaps to the value of 120 yen, at any +rate enough for the whole year. He has also the rent of the "glebe," +which consists of 12 _tan_ of paddy, 2 _tan_ of dry field and 10 _tan_ +of woodland. Then there are the gifts which are made to him at +funerals and for the services he conducts at the villagers' houses on +the days of the dead. One day during the _Bon_ season every household +sent a little girl or boy with a present to the priest. In return +these small visitors were given sweets. During the _Bon_ season some +very old men of the village came and worshipped at the Shinto shrine +and were entertained with _saké_ by the priest on the _engawa_ of his +temple. The amount in the collecting box in front of the little Shinto +shrine in the temple yard, largely in _rin_, would not be more than 10 +or 15 sen in the year. Most of the contributions are in the form of +pinches of rice. The priest may give 10 yen a year to his man who +works about the temple and his house and accompanies him to funerals +and to the memorial services at the villagers' dwellings; but this +servitor, like his master, no doubt receives presents. + +The Shinto priest is probably not so well off as the Buddhist priest. +The village makes a small payment to him twice a year. At New Year 3 +yen in all may be flung in the collecting box at the shrine, but the +priest has presents made to him when he goes to see ailing folk and +when he officiates at the building of a new house. Most people when +they are ill seem to send for the Shinto priest. But he explained to +me that he does not expect a sick man to "worship only." He is +accustomed to say to the people, "Doctor first, god second," from +which I was to conclude, one who heard told me, that the priest was +"rather a civilised man." The Shinto priest had succeeded a relative +in his position. The village had found its Buddhist priest in a +neighbouring district. + +The Buddhist priest told me that every year 150 or 160 men and women +made a pilgrimage to a famous shrine some few miles off. The custom +was for every house to be represented in the pilgrimage. Half a dozen +people in the year might go on personal pilgrimages and fifty or so +might visit a little shrine on a neighbouring mountain. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[195] The village consists of about 270 houses. It is joined +administratively to another village, about two miles off, in order to +form a _mura_ (commune). The village I am about to describe is an +_oaza_ (large hamlet), which is made up in its turn of two _aza_ +(small hamlets). These aza are themselves divided into six _kumi_ +(companies), which are again sub-divided, in the case of the largest, +into four. + +[196] See Appendix LIV. + +[197] The horses wear basket-work muzzles to prevent them nibbling the +crops. By way of compensation for these encumbrances they have head +tassels and belly cloths to keep off the flies. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +"BON" SEASON SCENES + +(NAGANO) + +As moderns we have no direct affinity; as individuals we have a capacity +for personal sympathy.--MATTHEW ARNOLD + + +I had the good fortune to be in the village during the _Bon_ season. +The idea is that the spirits which are visiting their old homes remain +between the 11th and 14th of August. The 11th is called _mukae bon_ +and the 14th _okuri bon_. (_Mukae_ means going to meet; _okuri_ to see +off.) On the 11th the villagers burned a piece of flax plant in front +of their houses. That night the priest said a special prayer in the +temple and used the cymbals in addition to the ordinary gong and drum. +The prayer seemed peculiarly sad. Before the shrines in their houses +the villagers placed offerings. One was a horse made out of a +cucumber, the legs being bits of flax twig and the tail and mane the +hair-like substance from maize cobs. There were also offerings of real +and artificial flowers and of grapes. In one house I visited I saw +_geta_, _waraji_, kimonos, pumpkins, caramels and pencils. Strings of +buck-wheat macaroni were laid over twigs of flax set in a vase. The +_ihai_ (name-plates of the dead) seemed to be displayed more +prominently than usual. (They are kept in a kind of small oratory +called _ihaido_, and after a time several names are collected on a +single plate.) _Mochi_ (rice-flour dumpling) is eaten at this time. On +the 12th and 14th the priest called at each house for two or three +minutes. + +I asked if the villagers really believed that their dead returned at +the _Bon_ season. The answer was, "Only the old men and young children +believe that the dead actually come, but the young men and young +women, when they see the burning of the flax-plant and the other +things that are done, think of the dead; they remember them solemnly +at this time." And I think it was so. The stranger to a Japanese +house, in which there is not only a Shinto shelf but a Buddhist +shrine--where the name plates of the dead for several generations are +treasured--cannot but feel that, when all allowances are made for the +dulling influences of use and wont, the plan is a means of taking the +minds of the household beyond the daily round. The fact that there is +a certain familiarity with the things of the shrine and of the Shinto +shelf, just as there is a certain freedom at the public shrines and in +the temple, does not destroy the impression. When a man has taken me +to his little graveyard I have been struck by the lack of that +lugubriousness which Western people commonly associate with what is +sacred. The Japanese conception of reverence is somewhat different +from our own. As to sorrow, the idea is, as is well known, that it is +the height of bad manners to trouble strangers with a display of what +in many cases is largely a selfish grief. A manservant smiled when he +told me of his only son's death. On my offering sympathy the tears ran +down his face. + +[Illustration: FARMER'S WIFE] + +When the _Bon_ season ended on the fourteenth all the flowers and +decorations of the domestic shrines were taken early in the morning to +the bridge over the diminished river and flung down. The idea is +perhaps that they are carried away to the sea. (As a matter of fact +there was so little water that almost everything flung in from the +bridge remained in sight for weeks until there was a storm.) When the +flowers and decorations had been cast from the bridge the people went +off to worship at the graves. Many coloured streamers of paper, +written on by the priest, were flying there. + +The _Bon_ dances took place five nights running in the open space +between the Shinto shrine and the old barn theatre. Nothing could have +been duller. The line from _Ruddigore_ came to mind, "This is one of +our blameless dances." The first night the performers were evidently +shy and the girls would hardly come forward. Things warmed up a little +more each night and on the last night of all there was a certain +animation; but even then the movement, the song and the whole scheme +of the dance seemed to be lacking in vigour. What happened was that a +number of lads gradually formed themselves into a ring, which got +larger or smaller as the girls joined it or waited outside. The girls +bunched together all the time. None of the dancers ever took hands. +The so-called dancing consisted of a raising of both arms--the girls +had fans in their hands--and a simple attitudinising. The lads all +clapped their hands together in time, but in a half-hearted kind of +way; the girls struck the palms of their left hands with their fans. +The boys were in clean working dress. Some had towels wound round +their heads, some wore caps and others hats. The girls were got up in +all their best clothes with fine _obi_ and white aprons. The music was +dirge-like. It was not at all what Western people understand to be +singing. The performers emitted notes in a kind of falsetto, and these +five or six notes were repeated over and over and over again. The only +word I can think of which approximately describes what I heard, but it +seems harsh, is the Northern word, yowling. First the lads yowled and +then the girls responded with a slightly more musical repetition of +the same sounds. For all the notice the boys appeared to take of the +girls they might not have been present. The lads and lasses were no +doubt fully conscious, however, of each other's presence. The dancing +took place on the nights of the full moon. But it was cloudy, and, +owing to the big surrounding trees, the performance was often dimly +lit. + +To me the dancing was depressing, but that is not to say that the +dancers found it so. Dancing began at eight o'clock and went on till +midnight. "They would not be fit for their work next day if they +danced later," a sober-minded adult explained. This was only one +suggestion among many that the dance has been devitalised under the +respectabilising influence of the policeman and village elders who had +forgotten their youth. To the onlooker it did not seem to matter very +much whether the dance, as it is now, continues or not. Occasionally +one had an impression that it had once been a folk dance of vigour and +significance. But the present-day performance might have been +conceived and presented by a P.S.A. All this is true when the dance is +contrasted with an English West-country dance or a dance in Scotland +at Hallowe'en. But it must be remembered that the _Bon_ dance during +the first nights is in the nature of a lament for the dead. There is +something haunting in the strange little refrain, though it is +difficult to hum or whistle it. Perhaps the whole festival is too +intimately racial to be fully understood by a stranger. By the end of +the festival, on the night of merrymaking in honour of the village +guardian spirit, things were livelier. Some of the lads had evidently +had _saké_ and even the girls had lost their demureness. + +[Illustration: MOTHER AND CHILD] + +After the Buddhist _Bon_ season was over it was the turn of Shinto, +and the village children were paraded before the shrine. A number of +Shinto priests in the neighbourhood took a leading part in making the +customary offerings and the local priest read a longish address to the +guardian spirit of the village. Respectful correctness rather than +devoutness is the phrase which one would ordinarily be disposed to +apply to the ceremonies at a Shinto shrine, but the local priest was +reverential. The ceremonies of the day evidently meant a great deal to +him. The children paid a well-drilled attention. They also sang the +national anthem and a special song for the day under the leadership of +the school teacher, who played on a portable harmonium which sounded +as portable harmoniums usually sound. The whole proceedings wore a +semi-official look. + +Happily there was nothing semi-official about the wrestling to which +we were invited later in the day. A special little platform had been +put up for us. The ring was made on rice chaff and earth. The +wrestlers squatted in two parties at opposite sides of the ring. They +did not wear the straw girdles of the professionals. Each man had a +wisp of cotton cloth tied round his waist and between his legs. One of +the best things about the wrestling was the formal introduction of the +competitors. A weazened little man with a tucked-up cotton kimono and +bare legs, but with the address and dignity of a "Nō" player, +proclaimed the names and styles--it seems that the wrestlers have a +fancy to be known by the names of mountains and rivers--in a fashion +which recalled the tournament. There was also another personage, with +a Dan Leno-like face and an extraordinary gift of contorting his legs, +who played the buffoon, and gyrated round the dignified M.C., who +remained unmoved while the audience laughed. It was evidently the +right thing for the prizes--they were awarded at the end of each +bout--to be presented as comically as possible; and some of the +Shakespearean humours which appealed so powerfully to the groundlings +at the Globe were enacted as if neither space nor time intervened +between us and the Elizabethans. + +The bouts were not so fast as professional wrestlers are accustomed +to, but they were none the less exciting. The result was invariably in +some doubt and often entirely unexpected. The usual rule was that he +who threw his man twice was the winner. In some events, immediately a +wrestler had been thrown, a succession of other contestants rushed at +the victor, one after the other, without allowing him time even to +straighten his back. Some of the competitors were poorly developed but +the lankiest and skinniest were often excellent wrestlers. At an +interval in the wrestling the committee flung hard peaches to +wrestlers and spectators. I wanted to make some little acknowledgment +of the kindness of the young men's association in providing us with +our little platform, and it was suggested that autographed fans at +about a penny three-farthings apiece for about forty wrestlers would +be acceptable. This gift was announced on a long streamer. The funny +man of the ring also made a speech of welcome. I may add that the +young men's association had fitted up on the way to the scene of the +wrestling a number of special lanterns which bore efforts in English +by a student home for the holidays. + +I was told that the people of the village were "honest, independent +and earnest," and I am disposed to think that this may be true of most +of them. As to honesty, we had the satisfaction of living without any +thought of _dorobo_ (robbers). It is a great comfort to be able at +night to leave open most of the _shoji_ and not to have to pull out +the _amado_ (wooden shutters) from their case. The nature of our +possessions was well known not only in the village but throughout the +district, for there was seldom a day on which a knot of grown-ups or +children did not come to peer into our rooms. The inspection was +accompanied by many polite bows and friendly smiles. On a festival day +the crowd occasionally reached about fifty. + +There were formerly several teahouses in the village, but under the +influence of the young men's association all houses of entertainment +but two had been closed. These two had become "inns." In one of these +the girl attendant was the proprietor's daughter; in the other there +was a solitary waitress. One of the abolished teahouses had taken +itself two miles away, where possibly it still had visitors. There +seemed to be two public baths in the village, both belonging to +private persons. The charge was 1 sen for adults and 5 _rin_ for +children. At one of the baths I noticed separate doors for men and +women; in the bath itself the division between the sexes was about two +feet high. + +The smallest subdivision of the village is called _kumi_ or company. +Each of these has a kind of manager who is elected on a limited +suffrage. The managers of the _kumi_, it was explained, are "like +diplomatists if something is wanted against another village." The +_kumi_ also seems to have some corporate life. There is once a month a +semi-social, semi-religious meeting at each member's house in turn. +The persons who attend lay before the house shrine 3 or 5 sen each or +a small quantity of rice for the feast. The master of the house +provides the sauce or pickles. I heard also of a kind of _kō_ called +_mujin_, a word which has also the meaning of "inexhaustible." By such +agencies as these money is collected for people who are poor or for +men who want help in their business or who need to go on a journey. + +We have seen that the village is by every token well off. What are its +troubles? Undoubtedly the people work hard. I imagine, however, that +there are very many districts where the people work much harder. The +foreigner is too apt to confuse working hard with working +continuously. Whether outdoors or indoors, whether at a handicraft or +at business, an Oriental gives the impression of having no notion of +getting his work done and being finished with it. The working day +lasts all day and part of the night. Whether much more is done in the +time than in the shorter Western day may be doubted. During the brief +silk-worm season many of the women of the village in which I stayed +are afoot for a long day and for part of the night, but the winter +brings relief from the strain of all sorts of work. Owing to the snow +it is practically impossible to do any work out of doors in January, +February and March. The snow may stop work even in December. Here, +then, is a natural holiday. Whether with their men indoors the women +have much of a holiday is uncertain. But indoors should not be taken +too exactly. There is some hunting in the winter. Deer come within two +miles and hares are easily got. + +Well-off though the village is, there is a strong desire to increase +incomes. The people are working harder than they have done in the past +because the cost of living has risen. An attempt is to be made to +increase secondary employments. Corporately, the village is said to +possess 10,000 yen in cash in addition to its land. It is said that +this money is lent out to some of the more influential people. What +the security is and how safe the monetary resources of a village +loaned out in this way may be I do not know, but there is obviously +some risk and I gathered that some anxiety existed. + +The people of the village, like a large proportion of the population +of the prefecture, are distinctly progressive. Nagano is full of what +someone called "a new rural type" of men who read and delight in going +to lectures. Lectures are a great institution in Nagano. For these +lectures country people tramp into a county town in their _waraji_ +carrying their _bento_. To these rustics a lecture is a lecture. A +friend of mine who is given to lecturing spoke on one occasion for +seven hours. It is true that he divided the lecture between two days +and allowed himself a half hour's rest in the middle of each three and +a half hours' section. He started with an audience of 500. On the +first day at the end of the second part of the lecture it was noticed +that the audience had decreased by about 70. On the second day about +100 people in all wearied in well-doing. But it was the townsfolk, not +the country people, who left. + +[Illustration: A CRADLE] + +I found upon enquiry that in the village in which I had been living +there had been one arrest only during the previous year. The charge +was one of theft. Half a dozen other people had got into trouble but +their arrests had been "postponed." Two of these six delinquents had +"caused fire accidentally," two had been guilty of petty theft, and +the remaining two had sold things of small value which did not belong +to them. During the twelve months there had been no charges of +immorality and no gambling. Perhaps, however, there may have been +police admonitions. It seemed to have been a long time since there had +been a case of what we should call illegitimacy or of a child being +born in the first months of a young couple's marriage. Someone +mentioned, however, that the girls who went to the silk factories +were, as a consequence of their life there, "debased morally and +physically." + +A notable thing in the village was four fires, two the month before we +arrived and two while we were there. They were suspected to have been +the work of a person of weak intellect. (As in our own villages half a +century ago, there is in every community at least one "natural.") On +the night of the first fire we were awakened about 3 a.m. by shouting, +by the clanging of the fire bell and by the booming of the great bell +in the temple yard. The fire was about four houses away. It was a +still night and the flames and sparks went straight up. As the +possibility of the wind shifting and the fire spreading could not be +entirely excluded we quickly got our more important possessions on the +_engawa_--at least a young maidservant did so. The continual +experience which the Japanese have of fires makes them self-possessed +on these occasions, and this girl had _futon_, bags, etc., neatly tied +in big _furoshiki_ (wrapping cloths) in the shortest possible time. It +was only when she was satisfied that our belongings were in readiness +for easy removal that she went to look after her own. The +matter-of-fact, fore-sighted, neat way in which she got to work was +admirable. With great kindness one of the elders of the village came +hurriedly to the temple, evidently thinking we should feel alarmed, +and cried out, "_Yoroshii, Yoroshii_" ("All right"). + +[Illustration: FIRE ALARM AND OBSERVATION POST] + +As I stood before the blaze what struck me most was the orderliness +and quiet of the crowd and the way in which whatever help was needed +was at once forthcoming without fuss. The fire brigades were working +in an orderly way and everything was so well managed that the scene +seemed almost as if it were being rehearsed for a cinema. One +difference between what I saw and what would be seen at home at a fire +was that the scene was well lighted from the front, for the members of +the fire brigades carried huge lanterns on high poles. From the mass +of old wet reed in the roadway I judged that the first act of the +firemen had been to use their long hooks to denude the roof of the +burning house of its thatch, which in the lightest wind is so +dangerous to surrounding dwellings. Nobody in the village is insured, +but the neighbours seem to meet about a third of the loss caused by a +fire. It is an illustration of local values that a larger subscription +than 2 yen would not be accepted from me. In connection with this fire +someone mentioned to me that incendiarism is specially prevalent in +some prefectures, while in others the use of the knife is the usual +means of wiping out scores. The phrase used by a person who threatens +arson is, "I will make the red worm creep into your roof." + +During the winter there is too much drinking--"generally by poor +men"--but there is said to be less of this than formerly. Some people +stop their newspaper in the summer and resume taking it during the +greater leisure of the winter. It has been noted, among other small +matters, that the local vocabulary has expanded during the past +fifteen years. During our stay the young midwife, who was going to +America to join her husband, was eager to give her service in the +kitchen for the chance of improving her English. We also gave help in +the evenings thrice a week to one of the school teachers who had +managed to obtain a fair reading knowledge of English. The earnestness +with which these two people studied was touching. While I was in the +village the young men's association began the issue of a magazine. +Lithographic ink was brought to me so that I might contribute in +autograph as well as in translation. The association, which receives +10 yen a year from the village, cultivates several plots of paddy and +dry land. The bigger schoolboys drilled with imitation rifles, +imitation bayonets and imitation cartridges. I felt that I should know +more about the villagers if I could learn, like Synge, their topics of +conversation when no stranger was present. One day while strolling +with a friend I asked him what was being said by two girls who were +working among the mulberries and were hidden from us by a hedge +(hedges only occur round mulberry plots). He told me that one was +enhancing to her companion the tremendous dignity of the Crown Prince +by exaggerating grotesquely the size of the house he lived in, which +reminded me of the servant who told her friend that "Queen Victoria +was so rich that she had a piano in her kitchen." Generally the +conversational topics of the villagers seemed to be people and prices. +Undoubtedly, I was told, the subjects which were most popular, +"because they provoked hilarity," were family discords and sexual +questions. One man with whom I spoke about the morality of the village +said cautiously, "They say there are some moneylenders here." + + + + +IN AND OUT OF THE TEA PREFECTURE + +CHAPTER XXXII + +PROGRESS OF SORTS + +(SHIDZUOKA AND KANAGAWA) + +I am not of those who look for perfection amongst the rural +population.--BORROW + + +The torrents that foam down the slopes of Fuji are a cheap source of +electricity, and, though the guide book may not stress the fact, it is +possible that the first glimpse of the unutterable splendours of the +sacred mountain may be gained in the neighbourhood of a cotton, paper +or silk factory. The farmers welcomed the factories when they found +that factory contributions to local rates eased the burden of the +agricultural population. The farmers also realised that to the +factories were due electric light, the telephone, better roads and +more railway stations. The farmers are undoubtedly better off. They +are so well off indeed that the district can afford an agricultural +expert of its own, children may be seen wearing shoes instead of +_geta_, and the agriculturists themselves occasionally sport coats cut +after a supposedly Western fashion. But the people, it was insisted, +have become a little "sly," and girls return from the factories less +desirable members of the community. + +Mention of these matters led an agricultural authority whom I met +during my trip in Shidzuoka to deliver himself on the general question +of the condition of the farmer in Japan. He expressed the opinion that +10 per cent. of the farmers were in a "wretched condition." Big +holdings--if any holdings in Japan can be called big--were getting +bigger; it was an urgent question how to secure the position of the +owners of the small and the medium-sized classes of holding. The fact +that many rural families were in debt, not for seed or manure but for +food spoke for itself. The amounts might seem trivial in Western eyes, +but when the average income was only 350 yen a year a debt of 80 yen +was a serious matter; and 80 yen was the average debt of farming +families in the prefecture of Shidzuoka. No one could say that the +farmers were lazy: they were working hard according to their lights. +They were working too hard, perhaps, on the limited food they got. +There could be no doubt that the physical condition of the countryman +was being lowered. + +Again, there was the fact of the rural exodus--the phrase sounded +strangely in the middle of a Japanese sentence. As to the causes, the +first unquestionably was that the farmer had not enough land on which +to make a living. If the farmer could have 5 acres or thereabouts he +would be well off. But the average area per farmer in the prefecture +in which we were travelling was a little less than 2-1/2 acres. High +taxes were another cause of the farmer's present condition. Then a +year's living would be mortgaged for the expenses of a marriage +ceremony. At a funeral, too, the neighbours came to eat and drink. +They took charge of the kitchen and even ordered in food. (After a +Japanese feast the guests are given at their departure the food that +is left over.) Further, some farmers wasted their substance on the +ambitions of local politics. Again, conscripts who had gone off to the +army hatless and wearing straw shoes came home hatted and sometimes +booted. Military service deprived farmers of labour, and their boys +while away asked their parents for money. Conscription pressed more +heavily on the poor because the sons of well-to-do people continued +their education to the middle school, and attendance at a middle +school entitled a young man to reduction of military service to one +year only.[198] + +The countryside was suffering from the way in which importance was +increasingly attached to industry and commerce. Many M.P.s were of the +agricultural class, but they were chiefly landlords, and they were +often shareholders and directors of industrial companies. There was +very little real Parliamentary representation of the farming class and +it had not yet found literary expression. There were signs, however, +that some landlords were realising that industry and agriculture were +not of equal importance. But the farmers were slow to move. The +traditions of the Tokugawa epoch survived, making action difficult. +Finally, there was the drawback to rural development which exists in +the family system. But that, as Mr. Pickwick said, comprises by itself +a difficult study of no inconsiderable magnitude, and we must return +to it on another occasion. + +In one of my excursions I went over a large agricultural school, the +boast of which was that of all the youths who had passed through it, +twenty only had deserted the land. I met the present scholars marching +with military tread, mattocks on shoulders, to the school paddies. + +I noticed schoolgirls wearing a wooden tablet. It was a good-conduct +badge. If a girl was not wearing it on reaching home her parents knew +that her teacher had retained it because of some fault; if she was not +wearing it at school her teacher knew that her parents had kept it +back for a similar reason. The girls when they come to school have +often baby brothers or sisters tied on their backs. Otherwise the +girls would have to stay at home in order to look after them. I asked +a schoolmaster what happened when children were kept at home. He said +that when a child had been absent a week he called twice on the +parents in order to remonstrate. If there was no result he reported +the matter to the village authorities, who administered two warnings. +Failing the return of the truant a report was made by the village +authorities to the county authorities. They summoned the father to +appear before them. This meant loss of time and the cost of the +journey. Should the parent choose to continue defiant he was fined 5 +to 10 yen for disobedience to authority and up to 30 yen for not +sending his child to school. + +I found that a local philanthropic association had provided the +speaker's school with a supply of large oil-paper-covered umbrellas so +that children who had come unprovided could go home on a rainy day +without a parent, elder brother or sister having to leave work to +bring an umbrella to school. + +In the playground of this school there was a low platform before which +the children assembled every morning. The headmaster, standing on the +platform, gravely saluted the children and the children as gravely +responded. The scholars also bowed in the direction of Tokyo, in the +centre of which is the Emperor's palace. An inscription hanging in the +school was, "Exert yourself to kill harmful insects." In another +school there was a portrait of a former teacher who had covered the +walls of the school with water-colours of local scenery. I noticed in +the playground of a third school a flower-covered cairn and an +inscribed slab to the memory of a deceased master. Every school +possesses equipment taken from the enemy during the Russo-Japanese +war, usually a shell, a rifle and bayonet and an entrenching spade. + +In this prefecture I heard of young men's associations' efforts to +discourage "cheek binding," which is the wearing of the head towel in +such a way as to disguise the face and so enable the cheek binder to +do, if he be so minded, things he might not do if he were +recognisable. + +One day I made my headquarters in a town that had just been rebuilt +after a fire. Within four hours the blaze aided by a strong wind had +consumed 1,700 houses and caused the deaths of nine persons. The +destruction of so many dwellings is wrought by bits of paper or +thatch, or the light pieces of wood from the _shoji_, which are +carried aflame by the wind, setting fire to several houses +simultaneously. + +Beside street gutters I came across little stone _jizō_, the +cheerful-looking guardian deities of the children playing near; but +they looked as incongruous in the position they occupied as did a +small shrine which was standing in the shadow of a gasometer. + +I heard of contracts under which girls served as nurse girls in +private families. A poor farmer may enter into a contract when his +girl is five for her to go into service at eight. He receives cash in +anticipation of the fulfilment of the contract. + +I was assured by a man competent to speak on the matter that a +certain small town was notorious for receiving boys who had been +stolen as small children from their homes in the hills. Up to 30 yen +might be given for a boy. There might be a dozen of such unfortunates +in the place. Happily many of the children obtained by this "slave +system," as my informant called it, ran away as soon as they were old +enough to realise how they had been treated. + +I visited a well-known rural reformer in the village which he and his +father had improved under the precepts of Ninomiya. The hillside had +been covered with tea, orange trees and mulberry; the community had +not only got out of debt but had come to own land beyond its +boundaries; gambling, drunkenness and immorality, it was averred, had +"disappeared"; there were larger and better crops; and "the habit of +enjoying nature" had increased. The amusements of the village were +wrestling, fencing, _jūjitstu_, and the festivals. + +I heard here a story of how a bridge which was often injured by stores +was as often mysteriously repaired. On a watch being kept it was found +that the good work was done by a villager who had been scrupulous to +keep secret his labours for the public welfare. Another tale was of a +poor man who bought an elaborate shrine and brought it to his humble +dwelling. On his neighbours suggesting that a finer house were a +fitter resting-place for such a shrine, the man replied: "I do not +think so. My shrine is the place of my parents and ancestors, and may +be fine. But the place in which the shrine stands is my place; it need +not be fine." + +In travelling the roads notices are often seen on official-looking +boards with pent roofs. But all of these notices are not official; one +I copied was the advertisement of a shrine which declared itself to be +unrivalled for toothache. The horses on the roads are sometimes +protected from the sun by a kind of oblong sail, which works on a +swivel attached to the harness. Black velvety butterflies as big as +wrens flit about. (There are twice as many butterflies and moths in +Japan as at home.) Snakes, ordinarily of harmless varieties, are +frequently seen, dead or alive. + +Many of the people one passes are smoking, usually the little brass +pipe used both by men and women, which, like some of the earliest +English pipes, does not hold more tobacco than will provide a few +draws. The pipe is usually charged twice or thrice in succession. One +notices an immense amount of cigarette smoking, which cannot be +without ill effect. There is a law forbidding smoking below the age of +twenty. It is not always enforced, but when enforced there is a +confiscation of smoking materials and a fining of the parents. The +voices of many middle-aged women and some young ones are raucous owing +to excessive smoking of pipes or cigarettes. + +I looked into a school and saw the wall inscription, "Penmanship is +like pulling a cart uphill. There must be no haste and no stopping." +Here, as in so many places, I saw the well-worn cover and much-thumbed +pages of _Self Help_. I may add a fact which would be in its place in +a new edition of Smiles's _Character_. As a simple opening to +conversation I often asked if a man had been in Europe or America. His +answer, if he had not travelled, was never "No." It was always "Not +yet." + +In these country schools most of the songs are set to Western tunes. +Such airs as "Ye Banks and Braes," "Auld Lang Syne," "Annie Laurie," +"Home, Sweet Home" and "The Last Rose of Summer" are utilised for the +songs not only of school children but of university students. Few of +the singers have any notion that the music was not written in their +own land. A Japanese friend told me that all the airs I mentioned +"seem tender and touching to us," and I remember a Japanese +agricultural expert saying, "Reading those poems of Burns, I believe +firmly that our hearts can vibrate with yours." + +As I have denied myself the pleasure of dwelling on Japanese scenic +beauties, I may not pause to bear witness to the faery delights of +cherry blossom which I enjoyed everywhere during this journey. But I +may record two cherry-blossom poems I gathered by the way. The first +is, "Why do you wear such a long sword, you who have come only to see +the cherry blossoms?" The second is, "Why fasten your horse to the +cherry tree which is in full bloom, when the petals would fall off if +the horse reared?" A Japanese once told me that a foreigner had +greatly surprised him by asking if the cherry trees bore much fruit. + +Orange as well as tea culture is a feature of the agricultural life of +the prefecture. As in California and South Africa, ladybirds have been +reared in large numbers in order to destroy scale. I saw at the +experiment station miserable orange trees encaged for producing scale +for the breeding ladybirds. The insects are distributed from the +station chiefly as larvae. They are sent through the post about a +hundred at a time in boxes. The ladybird, which has, I believe, eight +generations a year, and as an adult lives some twenty days, lays from +200 to 250 eggs, 150 of the larvae from which may survive. Alas for +the released ladybirds of Shidzuoka! Scale is said to be disappearing +so quickly that they are having but a hard life of it. + +In the neighbouring prefecture of Kanagawa I paid a visit to a +gentleman who, with his brother, had devoted himself extensively to +fruit and flower growing. Their produce was sent the twenty-six hours' +journey by road to Tokyo, where four shops were maintained. A +considerable quantity of foreign pears had been produced on the +palmette verrier system. The branches of the extensively grown native +pear are everywhere tied to an overhead framework which completely +covers in the land on which the trees stand. This method was adopted +in order to cope with high winds and at the same time to arrest +growth, for in the damp soil in which Japanese pears are rooted, the +branches would be too sappy. Foreign pears are not more generally +cultivated because they come to the market in competition with +oranges, and the Japanese have not yet learnt to buy ripe pears. The +native pear looks rather like an enormous russet apple but it is as +hard as a turnip, and, though it is refreshing because of its +wateriness, has little flavour. Progress is being made with peaches +and apricots. Figs are common but inferior. A fine native fruit, when +well grown, is the _biwa_ or loquat. And homage must be paid to the +best persimmons, which yield place only to oranges and +tangerines.[199] In the north the apples are good, but most orchards +are badly in need of spraying. Experiments have been made with dates. +Flowers have a weaker scent than in Europe. A rose called the +"thousand _ri_"--a _ri_ is two and a half miles--has only a slight +perfume two and a half inches away, and then only when pulled. I met +with no heather--it is to be seen in Saghalien, which has several +things in common with Scotland--but found masses of sweet-scented +thyme. + +One of the horticulturists to whom I have referred was something of an +Alpinist and was married to a Swiss lady. They had several children. I +also met an American lady who had had great experience of fruit +growing in California, had married a Japanese farmer there, and had +come to live with him in a remote part of his native country. From +such alliances as these there may come some day a woman's impressions +of the life and work of women and girls on the farms and in the +factories of rural Japan. Many a visitor to the country districts must +have marked the dumbness of the women folk. Women were often present +at the conversations I had in country places, but they seldom put in a +word. I was received one day at the house of a man who is well known +as a rural philanthropist--he has indeed written two or three +brochures on the problems of the country districts--but when he, my +friend and I sat at table his wife was on her knees facing us two +rooms off. Every instructed person knows that there is a beautiful +side to the self-suppression of the Japanese woman--many moving +stories might be told--and that the "subservience" is more apparent +than real. But there is certainly unmerited suffering. The men and +women of the Far East seem to be gentler and simpler, however, than +the vehement and demonstrative folk of the West, and conditions which +appear to the foreign observer to be unjust and unbearable cannot be +easily and accurately interpreted in Western terms. At present many +women who are conscious of the situation of their sex see no means of +improvement by their own efforts. But the development of the women's +movement is proceeding in some directions at a surprising pace. Many +young men are sincerely desirous to do their part in bringing about +greater freedom. They realise what is undoubtedly true that not a few +things which urgently need changing in Japan must be changed by men +and women working together. + +Money has always been forthcoming, officially, semi-officially and +privately, for sending to America and Europe numbers of intelligent +young men and women. So disciplined and studious are most of these +young people that their country has had back with interest every yen +of the funds so wisely provided. We have much to learn from Japanese +methods in this matter of well-considered post-graduate foreign +travel.[200] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[198] See Appendix LXIII. + +[199] See Appendix LV. + +[200] See Appendix LVI. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +GREEN TEA AND BLACK + +(SHIDZUOKA) + +Things I would know but am forbid +By time and briefness. + +LAURENCE BINYON + + +More than half of the tea grown in Japan comes from the hilly +coast-wise prefecture of Shidzuoka through which every traveller +passes on his journey from Kobe or Kyoto to Tokyo. He sees a terraced +cultivation of tea and fruit carried up to the skyline. But there is +more tea on the hills than the passenger in the train imagines. When +viewed from below much of the tea looks like scrub. In various parts +of southern Japan patches of tea may be noticed growing on little +islands in the paddies, but tea is a hill plant and it is on the sides +of hills and on the plateaus at the top of them that the plantations +are to be found. + +Tea looks not unlike privet and grows or is made to grow like box to a +height which can be conveniently picked over. The rows of neat-looking +plants are half a dozen feet apart. The first picking may take place +when the bush is three or four years old. Bushes may last forty, fifty +or even a hundred years, but the ordinary life of tea is between +twenty and thirty. A bush is usually cut back every ten years or so. A +good deal depends on the pruning. After each picking the bushes are +cut over with the shears just as we trim box. These trimmings may be +used to make an inferior tea for farmhouse consumption, or they may be +utilised in the manufacture of caffeine or theine--the two products +are indistinguishable. Usually the bushes are cut round-topped, but +occasionally they are roof-shaped and sometimes they are like giant +green toadstools. + +The characteristic feature of a tea district beyond the rows of tea +bushes is the chimney piping of the farmhouses which manufacture their +own tea. (The word manufacture is used in the original sense, for +farmhouse tea is hand-made.) In a country where the houses are +chimneyless these galvanised iron chimneys are conspicuous. + +The picking of the tea seems to be done almost entirely by women and +children. The pickers are supposed to take only the three leaves at +the tips. But the pickers mostly take bigger pieces, for the somewhat +higher price given for good picking is not enough to secure three-leaf +stuff only. It is not absolutely necessary, however, that the leaves +gathered should be all of such a choice sort. + +Women and girls come from a distance to pick tea. Picking is regarded +as "polite labour by the daughters of the higher middle class of +farmers." It has also the attraction that farmers' sons have a way of +visiting tea gardens in order to "pick up wives." The girls certainly +give would-be husbands every chance of seeing what they can do, for +they are at work for a long day, often of from twelve to fourteen +hours. In such a day it is possible, I was told, to pick 50, 80 or +even 100 lbs. of leaves. One man put the rate as from 50 to 120 pieces +a minute. Four pounds of leaves make a pound of tea. + +In one district the first picking may take place during the first +three weeks of May. In colder districts it is proceeding until the end +of the month. The second season is from the end of June until the +beginning of July. The third is in August. The bushes, after producing +their three crops of leaves, bear in November their seeds, which are +about three-quarters of an inch in diameter and are worth about a sen +a pound. Oil is pressed from them. + +Good tea depends on climate and soil, careful cutting over and good +manuring. In some places I saw soya bean being grown between the rows +as green manuring. Like so many other crops, tea is or ought to be +sprayed. The northern limit of tea is Niigata, where the bushes must +be protected from the snow, which may fall in that prefecture to a +great depth. The region in which tea cannot be grown is that in which +the temperature falls below zero for two months. Tea is not grown, as +in India and Ceylon, by tea planters, but in small areas and as a +side-line at that. I never saw a plantation of more than five acres. +Most areas are much smaller. The chief reason for this is that tea is +largely manufactured on the day on which it is picked and the capacity +of a farmer's tea manufacturing equipment is limited. In Shidzuoka +nearly a quarter of the tea is hand rolled and three-quarters made by +machinery. Elsewhere in Japan half the crop may be hand rolled. + +When leaves are sold to factors the transactions take place in booths +opened by them in the tea districts. It is a busy scene in the region +of the cottage factories. One is on a wide plateau covered almost +entirely with rows of tea plants. Here and there are parties of +chattering pickers, their heads protected by the national towel. +Against the blue hilltops on the horizon stand out the cottages of the +farmers with chimney-pipes smoking, the booths of the dealers, and, in +every patch of tea, the thatched roof over the precious sunken pot of +liquid manure by which the tea bushes have so often benefited. On the +road one passes women with baskets on their backs, like Scotch +fish-wives with their creels, men carrying two baskets suspended from +a pole across one shoulder, or a man and his wife hauling a barrow, +all heavy-laden with newly picked leaves. Small horse-drawn wagons +carry the manufactured tea in big, well-tied, pink paper bales. On the +whole, although the labour is hard it seemed a better life having to +do with the fragrant tea than with the rice of the sludge ponds in the +valley below. + +[Illustration: RACK FOR DRYING RICE.] + +[Illustration: VILLAGE CREMATORIUM.] + +[Illustration: DOG HELPING TO PULL JINRIKISHA.] + +[Illustration: AUTHOR, MR. YAMASAKI AND YOUNGEST INHABITANTS.] + +The tea produced in Japan is principally green tea. Most of this is of +the kind called _sencha--cha_ means tea. An inferior article made out +of older and tougher leaves is called _bancha_. The custom is for the +maid who serves _bancha_ to heat the leaves over the charcoal fire +just before infusing. This gives it an agreeable roasted flavour. It +is often served in a darker shade of porcelain than is used for +ordinary tea. There are also the finer teas, _kikicha_ (powdered tea) +and _gyokuro_ (jewelled dewdrops), which is the best kind of _sencha_. +Black tea was being made experimentally when I first arrived in Japan. +Brick tea (pressed to the consistency and weight of wood) may be green +or black. Most of the exported tea, other than brick tea, goes to +America. + +[Illustration: "TORII" AT FOX-GOD SHRINE.] + +[Illustration: RECORD OF GIFTS TO A TEMPLE.] + +It is unnecessary to state that the Japanese tea-tray does not include +a sugar basin, cream jug or spoons. It does include, however, a squat +oval jug into which the hot water from the kettle is poured in order +to lower the temperature below boiling point. Boiling water would +bring out a bitter flavour from the tea. Made with water just below +boiling point the tea is deliciously soft, even oily, and has a +flavour and aroma which cream and sugar would ruin. It is certainly +refreshing, and, when drunk newly infused, relatively harmless. +_Bancha_ is made with hotter water than other tea. The handleless cups +hold about half of what our teacups contain.[201] Tea is not the only +plant used for making "tea." One drinks in some parts infusions of +cherry, plum or peach blossom. + +The processes of tea manufacture in farmers' outhouses and in +factories are described in school-books, and I need not transcribe my +impressions.[202] But I may note that some of the money the tea farmer +earns for the country is spent in his interests. There is in Shidzuoka +a well-directed prefectural experiment station which exercises itself +over problems of tea production. Every tea grower and tea dealer in +the prefecture must belong to the prefectural tea guild. He must also +belong to his county tea guild. The rules of the guilds--there is a +central guild in Tokyo--have the force of law. Evil doers in the tea +industry have their product confiscated. Tea dealers who do not carry +their guild membership card are fined. It is not difficult to discover +colouring in tea if it is rubbed on white paper. The Government's part +in subduing tea colouring was to seize all the dye stuff it could lay +hold of which could be used for colouring tea. + +The future of green tea depends almost entirely on the demand from +the growing population of Japan, but a taste for the "foreign style" +black tea--with condensed milk--is spreading. The cheap labour of +India and China and the big plantations and factories of India have +diminished the Japanese green tea trade and the effort to produce +black tea is also met by foreign competition. I was told that China +tea receives much sunshine while growing, and that there was most hope +for Japanese black tea when made from leaves grown in the extreme +south. There is a difference between the Chinese and the Japanese tea +plant and it cannot be got over by importing Chinese plants, for the +climate of Japan simply Japanises the imported sort. + +I found in the United States that green tea is bought, as it is no +doubt sold in Shidzuoka, on appearance. American housewives were +paying for an appearance that matters little in an article that is not +to be looked at but soaked. Not only is much extra labour required for +sifting the leaf several times in order to obtain a good appearance, +but the bulk is reduced from 5 to 10 per cent. The drinking quality of +the tea also suffers, for the largest leaf has usually the best cup +quality. If teas were bought for cup quality only they might be at +least from 5 to 10 per cent. cheaper. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[201] At many stations one used to have handed into the carriage for +less than a penny a pot of tea and a cup--you are entitled to keep +both pot and cup if you like. The tea-seller's kettle of water is kept +hot with charcoal. Tea is freshly infused in each customer's pot. + +[202] For statistics and theine percentages, see Appendix LVII. + + + + +EXCURSIONS FROM TOKYO + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +A COUNTRY DOCTOR AND HIS NEIGHBOURS + +(CHIBA) + +What was yet wanting must be sought by fortuitous and unguided +excursions and gleaned as industry should find or chance should +offer.--JOHNSON + + +When I first went to Chiba, the peninsular prefecture lying across the +bay from Tokyo, many carriages in the trains were heated by iron +_hibachi_[203]with pieces of old carpet thrown over them. It is on the +Chiba trains that the recruits of that section of the army which has +to do with the operation of the railways learn their business. It is +in part of Chiba--and also in a district in Tokyo prefecture--that the +earliest rice is grown. Chiba also contains more poultry than any +other prefecture.[204] It has the further distinction of having tried +to issue truthful crop statistics.[205] + +Wherever one goes in Japan one is impressed by the large consumption +of fish--fresh, dried, and salted. Thin slices of raw fish make one of +the tasty dishes at a Japanese meal. The foreigner, forgetting the +Western relish for oysters and clams, is repelled by this raw fish, +but a liking for it seems to be quickly acquired. In Tokyo the slices +of raw fish are cut from the meaty bonito (tunny), but _tai_ (bream) +is also used. Bonito also provides the long narrow steaks, dried to a +mahogany-like hardness, which are known as _katsubushi_. This +_katsubushi_ keeps indefinitely and is grated or shaved with a kind +of plane and used much as the Western cook employs Parmesan cheese. + +I heard a man in Chiba combating very strongly the idea of there being +a connection between leprosy and fish eating. As to leprosy, it is +doubtful if the belief expressed by the Chinese name for the disease, +"heavenly punishment," has disappeared. There are at least 24,000 +lepers in Japan, and as a well-known Japanese work of reference +casually remarks, "the hospitals can at present accommodate only 5 per +cent. of them." + +I could not but compare the undulating countryside, on which so vast +an amount of labour had been expended, with what it would have been +under European treatment and the influence of an European +climate--possibly picturesque pasture with high hedges. The congeries +of rice fields was fringed, where the water supply had given out, with +upland cultivation. On the low mud walls which separated the paddies +beans grew except at a boundary corner, where a tea or mulberry bush +served as a landmark. In looking down or up the little valleys one saw +how completely the houses had been brushed aside to the foot of the +low hills so that no land cultivable as paddies should be wasted. This +intensely developed countryside was not however ideal land. It was +often much too sandy. Not a few paddies had to depend to some extent +on the water they could catch for themselves. A naturally draughty and +hungry land was yielding crops by a laborious manurial improvement of +its physical and chemical condition, by wonders being wrought in rural +hydraulics and by unending industry in cultivation and petty +engineering. + +It might be supposed that beauty had gone from the countryside. Some +of what the land agents call the amenities of the district had +certainly disappeared. There seemed to be nowhere for the pedestrian +to sit down in order to refresh himself with those rural sights and +sounds which exhilarate the spirit. But this marvellously delved, +methodised and trimmed countryside had a character and a stimulus of +its own. It reflected the energy and persistence that had subdued it. +I saw nothing ugly. The tidied rice plots, shaped at every possible +curve and angle, and eloquent of centuries of unremitting toil; the +upland beyond them, worked to a skilled perfection of finish; the +nesting houses which nowhere offended the eye; the big still ponds +contrived by the rude forefathers of the hamlet for water storage or +the succour of the rice in the hottest weather; the low hilltops green +with pine because cultivation could not ascend so far, and hiding here +and there a Shinto sanctuary: such a countryside was satisfying in its +own way. + +In Chiba, as in other prefectures, one is impressed by the way in +which the exertions of many generations have resulted in the levelling +of wide areas and even the complete removal of small hills. In many +places one can still see low hills in process of demolition. In Tokyo +itself several small hills have been carried off in recent years. + +I was in Chiba several times and I remember to have noticed one winter +day with what considered roughness the paddies had been dug in order +to receive from frost and sun the benefits which are as good as a +manuring. Some notion of the strength of the weather forces at work +may be gathered from the fact that, though I was walking without an +overcoat and was glad to shade my eyes by pulling down the brim of my +hat, the frost of the two previous nights had produced ice on the +paddies an inch thick. + +Sometimes at the irrigation reservoirs one may see notice boards +announcing that these water areas are stocked with _koi_ (carp). This +fish is also kept in the paddies. The carp are put in as yearlings or +two-year-olds, when the paddies are flooded, and a score out of every +hundred come out in the autumn--assuming the happiest conditions--ten +inches or so long. Carp culture flourishes in the sericulture +districts, where the pupæ which remain when the cocoons are unwound +are thrown to the fish; but pupæ fed carp have a flavour which +diminishes their value. Indeed paddy-field fish, which on the whole +must have a rather troubled existence, do not bring the price of river +carp. Other fish than carp, eels for instance, are also kept in +paddies.[206] + +I visited a vigorous personality who was at once a landowner and +rural oculist, as his father and grandfather had been before him. He +had graduated at Tokyo and had kept himself abreast of German +specialist literature. There was accommodation for about a hundred +patients in the buildings attached to his house. He believed in the +efficacy in eye cases of "the air of the rice fields," not to speak of +the shrine which overlooks the patients' quarters. As the number of +blind people in Japan is appalling,[207] it was interesting to hear +the opinion that the chief causes were gonorrhœa, inadequate attention +at birth, insufficient nourishment in childhood and nervous +disease--all more or less preventible. Nearly a quarter of my host's +patients had had their eyes wounded by rice-stem points while stooping +in the paddies. As the people are hurt in the busy season they often +put off coming for help until it is too late. + +The landowner-oculist's premises were lighted by natural gas from a +depth of 900 ft. According to a fellow-guest, who happened to be an +expert in this matter, natural gas is to be had all over Japan.[208] + +The room in which I slept belonged to a part of the house which was of +great age, but by my _futon_ there was laid an electric torch. + +A pleasant thing during my visit was the presence of a dozen +intelligent, kindly students who early in the evening came and knelt +in a semicircle round us, "in order to profit by our talk." One of +them, a son of the house, an athlete (and now, after travelling in +Europe, his father's successor), did all sorts of services for me +during my stay, in the simple-hearted fashion that shows such an +attractive side of the Japanese character. One question asked by the +students was, "For what reasons does _Sensei_ believe that the +influence of women in public life would be good?" Another enquiry was, +"Which are the best London and Paris papers?" These lads could hardly +hope to get through the university before they were twenty-five or +twenty-six. Yet, compared with our undergraduates, they had very +little time for general reading, discussions and outdoor sports. I +remember a man of some experience in the educational world saying to +me, "Our students do not read enough apart from their studies; it is +their misfortune." They have not only the burden of having to learn +nearly several thousand ideographs,[209] three scripts and Japanese +and Chinese pronunciation. They have to acquire Western languages, +which, owing to their absolute dissimilarity from Oriental +tongues--for example, the word for "I" is _watakushi_--must be learnt +entirely from memory. It is not that the Japanese student does not +begin early as well as leave off late. A professor once said to me, +"For some little time after I first went to school I was still fed +from the bosom of my mother." In some ways it is no doubt a source of +strength for Japan that her men can spend from their earliest years to +the age of twenty-six on the acquirement of knowledge and +self-discipline--the privileges of the student class and the +generosity of their families and friends and the public at large are +remarkable--but the disadvantages are plain. No sight seems stranger +to a new arrival in Japan than that of so many men in their middle or +late twenties still wearing the conspicuous kimono and German bandsman +cap of the student. + +To return to our host, he told us that tenants were "getting clever." +They were paying their rent in "worse and worse qualities of rice." +The landlords "encouraged" their tenants with gifts of tools, clothes +or saké in order that they might bring them the best rice, but the +tenants evidently thought it paid better to forgo these benefits and +market their best rice. This raises the question whether rent ought +nowadays to be paid in kind. Rural opinion as a whole is in favour of +continuing in the old way, but there is a clear-headed if small +section of rural reformers which is for rent being paid in cash. + +One thing I found in my notes of my talk with the landowner-oculist I +hesitated to transcribe without confirmation. Speaking of the physique +of the people, he had said that few farmers could carry the weights +their fathers and grandfathers could move about. But later on a high +agricultural authority mentioned to me that it had been found +necessary to reduce the weight of a bale of rice from 19 to 18 +_kwamme_ and then to 15--1 _kwamme_ is 8.26 lbs. + +In the _oaza_ in which I was staying there were eighty families. +Seventy were tenants. Under a savings arrangement initiated by my +host, the hamlet, including its five peasant proprietors, was saving +120 yen a month. On the other hand, more than half the tenants were in +debt "in connection with family excesses," such as weddings, births +and burials. But there might be unknown savings. I should state that +the villagers seemed contented enough. + +For some reason or other I was particularly struck by the sturdiness +of the small girls. This was interesting because Chiba had for long an +evil reputation for infanticide, and under a system of infanticide in +the Far East it would be supposed--I have heard this view stoutly +questioned--that more girls die than boys. The landowner-oculist was +of opinion that in stating the causes of the low economic condition of +his tenants the abating of infanticide must be put first. People no +longer restricted themselves to three of a family. The average area +available locally was only 6 _tan_ of paddy and 1.2 _tan_ of dry land. +In a one-crop district in which there was work for only a part of the +year this area was obviously insufficient and there was not enough dry +land for mulberries. Then taxation was now 2-1/2 yen per bale of rice +(_hyō_). A third of the rice went in rent. + +I tried to find out what the _oaza_ might be spending on religion. The +Shinto priest seemed to get 5 sen a month per family, which as there +are eighty families would be 48 yen yearly. The Buddhist priest had +land attached to his temple and money was given him at burials and at +the _Bon_ season. The _oaza_ might spend 100 yen a year to send five +pilgrims as far away as Yamagata, on the other side of Japan. The +priests did not seem to count for much. "Their only concern with the +public," I was informed, "is to be succoured by it. They are living +very painfully. The Buddhist priests have to send money to their sect +at Kyoto." In one of my strolls I passed the Shinto priest carrying a +rice basket and looking, as my companion said, "just like any other +man." At a shrine I saw a number of bowls hung up. A hole cut in the +bottom of each seemed a pathetic symbol of need, material or +spiritual. + +The keeper of the teahouse in the _oaza_ had been given a small sum by +our host to take himself off, but in the village of which the _oaza_ +formed a part there were two teahouses, where ten times as much was +spent as was laid out on religion. No one had ever heard of a case of +illegitimacy in the _oaza_ but there had been in the twelve months +three cases which pointed to abortion. It was five years since there +had been an arrest. The young men's association helped twice a year +families whose boys had been conscripted. + +According to what I was told in various quarters, some landowners in +Chiba did a certain amount of public work but most devoted themselves +to indoor trivialities. The fact that two banks had recently broken at +the next town, one for a quarter of a million yen, and that a +landowner had lost a total of 30,000 yen in these smashes, seemed to +show that there was a certain amount of money somewhere in the +district. No one appeared to "waste time on politics." In ten years +"there had been one or two politicians," but "one member of Parliament +set a wholesome example by losing a great deal of money in politics." +As to local politics, election to the prefectural assembly seemed to +cost about 500 yen. Membership of the village assembly might mean "a +cup of _saké_ apiece to the electors." + +I was assured that this hamlet was above the economic level of the +county. The belief was expressed that it could maintain that position +for three or four years. "I do not feel so much anxiety about the +present condition of the people," my host said; "they are passive +enough: but as to the future it is a difficult and almost insoluble +question." + +"The condition of our rural life is the most difficult question in +Japan," said a fellow guest. + +In one of the farmers' houses a girl, with the assistance of a +younger brother, was weaving rough matting for baling up artificial +manure. Near them two Minorcas were laying in open boxes. In this +family there were seven children, "three or four of whom can work." +The hired land was 8 _tan_ of paddy and 2-1/2 of dry. There was +nothing to the good at the end of the year. Indeed rice had had to be +borrowed from the landlord. The family was therefore working merely to +keep itself alive. But it looked cheerful enough. Looking cheerful is, +however, a Japanese habit. The conditions of life here were what many +Westerners would consider intolerable. But it was not Westerners but +Orientals who were concerned, and what one had to try to guess was how +far the conditions were satisfactory to Eastern imaginations and +requirements. The people at every house I visited--as it happened to +be a holiday the mending of clothing and implements seemed to be in +order--were plainly getting enjoyment from the warm sunshine. +Undoubtedly the long spells of sunshine in the comparatively idle +period of the year make hard conditions of life more endurable. + +In a very small house which was little more than a shelter, the father +and mother of a tenant were living. It is not uncommon for old +peasants to build a dwelling for themselves when they get nearly past +work, or sometimes after the eldest son marries. + +I found a 1-_chō_ peasant proprietor playing _go_ and rather the worse +for saké, though it was early in the morning. A 3-_chō_ proprietor was +living in a good-sized house which had a courtyard and an imposing +gateway. + +On the thatch of one house I noticed a small straw horse perhaps two +feet long. On July 7 such a horse is taken by young people to the +hills, where a bale of grass is tied on its back. On the reappearance +of the figure at the house, dishes of the ceremonial red rice and of +the ordinary food of the family are set before it. "The offering of +other than horse food indicates," it was explained, "that the desire +is to keep the straw animal as a little deity." Finally the horse is +flung on the roof. + +I went some distance to visit an _oaza_ of twenty families. It was +described to me as "well off and peaceful." Alas, one peasant +proprietor had gone to Tokyo, where he had made money, and on his +return had built his second son a house with Tokyo labour instead of +with the labour of his neighbours. So the _oaza_ was "excited with +bitter inward animosity." Like our own hamlets, these _oaza_ in the +sunshine, seemingly so peaceful, whisper nothing to townsfolk of their +bickerings and feuds. + +One of the thatched mud houses I came to was at once a primitive +co-operative sale-and-purchase society and the clubhouse of the old +people of the _oaza_. The rent the old folk received from the society +was enough to maintain the building. The oldsters gather from time to +time in order to eat, drink and make merry with gossip and dancing. +Dancing is a possibility for old people because it is swaying, sliding +and attitudinising, with an occasional stamp of the foot, rather than +hopping and whirling. One of the best amateur dances I have seen was +performed by a grandsire. Such clubhouses, places for the comfort of +the ageing and aged, are found in many villages. Young people are not +admitted. The subscription to this particular clubhouse was 2 yen and +3 _sho_ of saké on joining and 2 yen a year. + +As we went on our way there was pointed out to me a house the owner of +which had sold half a _tan_ of land for 120 yen and was drinking +steadily. He had tried to make money by opening an open-air village +theatre which owing to rain had been a failure. + +I visited an _oaza_ where all the land belonged to the man I called +upon. He assured me that most of his tenants "made ends meet." The +remainder had a deficiency at the end of the year due to "lack of will +to save" and to their "lack of capital which caused them to pay +interest to manure dealers." A co-operative society had just been +started. + +In looking at a map of the village to which some of these _oaza_ +belonged I noticed many holdings tinted a special colour. These were +called "jump land." They consisted of land subdued from the wild by +strangers. The properties were regarded as belonging to the _oaza_ in +which their cultivators lived. + +I walked through a bit of woodland which had formerly been held in +common and had been divided up, amid felicitations no doubt, at the +rate of half a tan each to every family. But the well-to-do people +soon got hold of their poorer neighbours' portions. + +In a roughish tract I came on burial grounds. One portion was set +apart for the eight families which recognised the chief landlord as +their head. The graves of lowlier folk seemed to occur anywhere. Each +grave was covered by a pyramidal mound of sandy earth with a piece of +twig stuck in it. Sometimes a tree had been planted and had grown. A +child's grave had some tiny bowls of food and a clay doll before a +little headstone. By way of shelter for these offerings there was hung +on the headstone a peasant's wide straw hat. A large beehive-shaped +bamboo basket over another grave was a reminder of the time when a +grave needed such protection in order to save the body from wild +animals. + +I saw at a distance in the midst of paddies two tree-covered mounds, a +large one and a small one. They looked like the grave mounds I had +seen in China, but it was suggested that they were probably on an old +frontier line and marked spots at which ceremonies for scaring off +disease were performed. + +In one place I found the people planting plum trees in order to meet +their communal taxation. It was reckoned that the yield of one tree +when it came into full bearing would defray the taxes of a +moderate-sized family. + +An open space in a wood was pointed out to me as the spot on which +dead horses were formerly thrown to the dogs and birds. Nowadays +notice was given to the Eta that a dead horse was to be cast away, and +they came and, after skinning the animal, buried the body. Farther +off, on the high road, I saw an 8 ft. high monument to a local steed +that had died in Manchuria. + +One of my further visits to Chiba was in the spring. The paddies, +which had been fallow since November, were under water; but much of +the stubble had been turned over with the long-bladed mattock. The +seed beds from which the rice is transplanted to the paddies were a +vivid green. On the high ground I saw good clean crops of barley and +wheat, beans and peas, on soil of very moderate quality. + +The name of Funabashi at a station reminded me of a Japanese friend +having told me that it was "famous for a shrine and a very immoral +place." But I afterwards heard that the keeper of that shrine, "acting +from conscientious motives, gave up his lucrative post and died a poor +man." It is said of one of the most sacred places in Japan that it is +also the "most immoral." Kyoto which contains nine hundred shrines is +also supposed to harbour several thousand women of bad character. + +I passed a place where 25,000 Russian prisoners had been detained. +There was an old peasant there who told his son that he could not +understand why so many Japanese went abroad at such great cost to see +the different peoples of the world. If they would only stay at home, +he said, they would see them all in turn, for first there had been the +Chinese prisoners, then the Russians and now there were the Germans. + +In the uplands it was peaceful and restful to walk through the shady +lanes between the tree-studded homesteads or along the road passing +between plots of mulberry, tea, vegetables or grain, cultivated with +the care given to plants in a garden. In the herbage by the roadside, +but not among the crops I need hardly say, I noticed dandelions, sow +thistles, Scots thistles, plantains and some other familiar weeds. + +In the paddies some men wore only a narrow band of red cotton between +their legs joined to a waist string, which, though convenient wear in +paddies, was comically conspicuous. I recall a friend's story of a +little foreign girl of seven who stayed with her mother in a Japanese +hamlet and struck up a friendship with a kindly old peasant. One hot +summer day the child came home carrying all her scanty garments over +her arm, and covered with mud to the waist. In answer to her mother's +enquiries the child said, "Well, mother, Ito San has all his clothes +off, and I could not go into the paddy to help him with mine on." + +I visited an elementary school which was little more than a shed. The +roofing was of bark and the paper-covered window shutters were of the +roughest. It said much for the stamina of the children that they could +sit there in bleak weather. An attempt had been made to shut off the +classes from one another by pieces of thin cotton sheeting fastened to +a string. But such essential furniture, from a hygienic point of view, +as benches with backs had been provided, for it is considered by the +national educational authorities that kneeling in the Japanese manner +is inimical to physical development. I noticed, also, that when the +children sang they had been taught to place their hands on their hips +in order that their chests might benefit from the vocal exercise. The +earnestness and kindliness of the men and women teachers were evident. +All the teachers came to school bare-foot on _geta_.[210] + +The sea was not far off and we went to the beach where there was +nothing between us and America. My companion and I were carried over +shallows on the backs of fishermen, wonderful bronze-coloured figures. +Above high-water mark heaps of small fish were drying. They were to be +turned into oil and fish-waste manure. I saw an earthenware vase with +a hole in the bottom like a flowerpot and found that it was used, with +a rope attached to the rim, for catching octopus. When the octopus +comes across such a vase on the sea bottom he regards it as a shelter +constructed on exactly the right principles and takes up his abode +therein. He is easily captured, for he refuses to let go his vase when +it is brought to the surface. Indeed the only way to dislodge him is +to pour hot water through the hole in the bottom of his upturned +tenement. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[203] The Japanese firepot, which is made of wood or porcelain as well +as metal, contains pieces of charcoal smouldering in wood ash. + +[204] I saw poultry of the table breeds which we call Indian Game or +Malay; the Japanese call them Siamese. + +[205] See Appendix LVIII. + +[206] In 1918 carp was produced to the value of a million and a half +yen and eels to the value of nearly a million. + +[207] See Appendix LIX. + +[208] See Appendix LX. + +[209] To cite a word already used in these pages, there are half a +dozen words spelt _ko_ and as many as fourteen spelt _kō_, but all +have a different ideograph. When the prolongation of the educational +course by the ideographs is dwelt on, it is wholesome for us to +remember Professor Gilbert Murray's declaration that "English spelling +entails a loss of one year in the child's school time." Other +authorities have considered the loss to be much more. + +[210] For statistics of stamina, heights and weights of children, see +Appendix LXI. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +THE HUSBANDMAN, THE WRESTLER AND THE CARPENTER + +(SAITAMA, GUMMA AND TOKYO) + +We are here to search the wounds of the realm, not to skim them +over.--BACON + + +One day in the third week of October when the roads were sprinkled +with fallen leaves I made an excursion into the Kwanto plain and +passed from the prefecture of Tokyo into that of Saitama.[211] The +weather now made it necessary for Japanese to wear double kimonos. +During the middle of the day, however, I was glad to walk with my +jacket over my arm, and many little boys and girls were running about +naked. The region visited had a naturally well-drained dark soil, +composed of river silt, of volcanic dust and of humus from buried +vegetation, and it went down to a depth beyond the need of the longest +_daikon_ (giant radish). Sweet potatoes and taro were still on the +ground, and large areas, worked to a perfect tilth, had been sown or +were in course of preparation for winter wheat and barley; but the +most conspicuous crop was _daikon_. There were miles and miles of it +at all sorts of stages from newly transplanted rows to roots ready for +pulling. There is _daikon_ production up to the value of about a +million yen. In addition to the roots sent into Tokyo, there is a +large export trade in _daikon_ salted in casks. + +I came into a district where there was a system of alternate grain and +wood crops. The rotation was barley and wheat for three or four years, +then fuel wood for about fifteen. The tendency was to lengthen the +corn period in the rotation. + +The women even as near Tokyo as this wore blue cotton trousers like +the men. One farm-house I entered was a century old but it had not +been more than forty years on its present site. It had been +transported three miles. I was once more impressed by the low standard +of living. If by this time I had not been getting to know something of +the ways of the farmers I should have found it difficult to credit the +fact that a household I visited was worth ten thousand yen. + +Sweet potatoes are here much the most important crop. They were +bringing the farmer in Tokyo a little over a yen the 82 lbs. bale. The +consumer was paying double that. Not a few of the farmers were +cultivating as much as 5 _chō_ or even 8 _chō_, for there was little +paddy. Even then, I was told, "it's a very hard life for a third of +the farmers." The reason was that there was no remunerative winter +employment. + +Before the Buddhist temple, where there was preaching twice a year, +were rows of little stone figures, many of which had lost their heads. +The heads were in much demand among gamblers who value them as +mascots. Among some mulberry plots belonging to different owners I saw +a little wooden shrine, evidently for the general good. It was there, +it was explained, "not because of belief but of custom." The evening +was drawing in and Fuji showed itself blue and mystical above the dark +greenery of the country. As I gazed a sweet-sounding gong was struck +thrice in the temple. Three times a day there is heard this summons to +other thoughts than those of the common task. + +[Illustration: INSIDE THE "SHOJI."] + +[Illustration: AUTOMATIC RICE POLISHER.] + +[Illustration: THE AUTHOR (AND THE KODAK HOLDER) IN THE CRATER OF A +VOLCANO.] + +My companion entered into conversation with a decent middle-aged +pedestrian, neatly but poorly dressed, and found that he was a man who +had formerly pulled his _kuruma_ in Tokyo. The man had found the work +of a _kurumaya_ too much for him and had withdrawn to his village to +open a tiny shop. But he had been taken ill and had been removed to +hospital. When he came out he found that his wife was in poverty and +that his eldest son had been summoned to serve in the army. Now his +wife had become ill and he was on his way to a distant relative to ask +him to take charge of a small child and to help him with a little +money to start some petty business. My companion gave him a yen and +deplored the fact that poor people should fail to take advantage of +the law releasing from service a son required for the support of a +parent. They failed occasionally to find friends to represent their +case to the authorities. + +[Illustration: A WAYSIDE MONUMENT.] + +[Illustration: THE GIANT RADISH OR "DAIKON," WHICH IS USED AS A +PICKLE.] + +While waiting at the station we talked with another old man. He had +come to see his daughter whose husband had been called up for two +years' service. She was living of course with her parents-in-law. He +said that his daughter would have no difficulty in keeping the farm +going during the young man's absence, but his being away was "a great +loss." + +The old man, who squatted at our feet as he spoke, went on to tell us +about a young man of his village who had served his term in the navy +but thought of remaining for another term. "Gran'fer" thought it a +good opening for him; he would not only get his living and clothes +but--and this is characteristic--"see the world and send back +interesting letters." The ancient was specially interested in the +sailor, he said, because his wife had "given milk" to the adventurer +when an infant. + +It is difficult to enter a village which has not its pillar or its +slab to the memory of a youth or youths who perished in the Russian or +Chinese wars.[212] But in the severe struggle with Russia the villages +did more than give their sons and build memorials to them when they +were killed. They tried, in the words of an official circular of that +time, "to preserve the spirit of independence in the hearts of the +relieved and to avoid the abuses of giving out ready money." There was +the secret ploughing society of the young men of a village in Gumma +prefecture. "Either at night or when nobody knew these young men went +out and ploughed for those who were at the front." In one prefecture +the school children helped in working soldiers' farms. In villages in +Osaka and Hyogo prefectures there was given to soldiers' families the +monopoly of selling _tofu_, matches and other articles. Some of the +societies which laboured in war time were the Women's One Heart +Society, the Women's Chivalrous Society, the National Backing Society +and the Nursing Place of Young Children of those Serving at the Front. + +In the train we talked of the hardiness induced by not being the slave +of clothing. When it rains _kuruma_ men and workmen habitually roll up +their kimonos round their loins, or if they are wearing trousers, take +them off.[213] Of course no Japanese believes in catching cold through +getting his feet wet. This is a condition which is continually +experienced, for the cotton _tabi_ are wet through at every shower. +Some years back it was not uncommon in walking along the sea-beach at +night to find fishermen sleeping out on the sand. An old man told me +that it used to be the custom in his sea-shore hamlet for all members +of a family to sleep on the beach except fathers, mothers and infants. + +On my return from the country I found myself in a company of earnest +rural reformers who were discussing a plan of State colonisation for +the inhabitants of some villages where everything had been lost in a +volcanic eruption. Families had been given a tract of forest land, 15 +yen for a cottage, 45 yen for tools and implements and the cost of +food for ten months (reckoned at 8 sen per adult and 7 sen per child +per day). During the evening I was shown the figure of a goddess of +farming venerated by the afflicted folk. The deity was represented +standing on bales of rice, with a bowl of rice in her left hand and a +big serving spoon in her right. + +The gathering discussed the question of rural morality. As to the +relations of the young men and women of the villages, to which there +has necessarily been frequent references in these pages, the reader +must always bear in mind the way in which the sexes are normally kept +apart under the influence of tradition. In nothing does this Japanese +countryside differ more noticeably from our own than in the fact that +joyous young couples are never seen arming each other along the road +of an evening. Thousands of allusions in our rural songs and poetry, +innumerable scenes in our genre pictures, speak of blissful hours of +which Japan gives no sign. There is no courting; there are in the +public view no "random fits of dallin'." An unmarried young man and +young woman do not walk and talk together. A young man and woman who +were together of an evening would be suspected of immorality. Even +when married they would not think of linking arms on the road. I was a +beholder of a family reunion at a railway station in which a young +wife met her young husband returned from abroad. There were merely +repeated bows and many smiles. The view taken of kissing in Japan is +shown by the fact that an issue of a Tokyo periodical was prohibited +by the police because it contained an allusion to it. We are helped to +understand the Japanese standpoint a little if we remember how +repugnant to English and American ideas is the Continental custom of +men kissing one another. Kissing is understood by the Japanese to be a +sexual act, as is shown by their word for it. + +Early in November in the neighbourhood of Tokyo, where three crops are +taken in the year and sometimes four or five, I found between the rows +of growing winter barley two lines of green stuff which would be +cleared off as the barley rose. The barley was sown in clumps of two +dozen or even thirty plants, each clump being about a foot apart, and +liberally treated with liquid manure. In Saitama 100 bushels per acre +has been produced by a good farmer. The clump method of sowing is +believed to afford greater protection against the weather. (Outside +the volcanic-soil area ordinary sowing in rows is common.) The +volcanic soil, as one sees in spots where excavations have been made, +is originally light yellow. The humus introduced by the liberal +applications of manure has made it black. + +I came upon a hollow in some low hills, studded with trees and +overlooking Tokyo Bay, which had been secured for the building of an +elaborate series of temples at a cost of three million yen. Acres of +grounds were being laid out with genius. The buildings were of that +beautiful simplicity which marks the edifices of the Zen sect. The +construction was in the hands of some of the cleverest master +craftsmen in Japan. The work was to be spread over four years. A great +hoarding displayed thousands of wooden tablets bearing the names and +the amounts of the subscriptions of the faithful. In one of the +completed temples a kindly priest was preaching. He added to the force +of his gestures by the use of a fan. He was being attentively listened +to by an intelligent-looking congregation. I caught the injunction +that in the attainment of goodness aspiration was little worth without +will. + +The method of announcing subscriptions on hoardings was also adopted +outside the new primary school near by. The subscriptions were from a +hundred yen to one yen. The charge to scholars at this school, I +found, was 10 sen per month during the first compulsory six years and +30 sen during the next two years. + +Just after Christmas I walked again into the country. There were miles +of dreary brown paddies with the stubble in puddles. On the non-paddy +land there was the refreshing green of young corn which seemed greatly +to enjoy being treated as a garden plant in a deep exquisitely worked +soil with never a weed in an acre. But children were kept from school +because their parents could not get along without their help. Many of +the school teachers seemed as poor as the farmers. As I passed the +farm-houses in the evening they seemed bleak and uninviting. In the +fire hole[214] of every house, however, there was a generous blaze and +the bath tub out-of-doors was steaming for the customary evening hot +dip in the opening. + +In my host's house I noticed an old painting of a forked _daikon_. +Such malformed roots used to be presented to shrines by women desirous +of having children. + +In the office of one village I visited I was permitted to examine the +dossiers of some of the inhabitants. Among a host of other particulars +about a certain person's origin and condition I read that he was a +minor when his father died, that such and such a person acted as his +guardian, that the guardianship ended on such and such a date, and +that his widowed mother had a child nine years after her husband's +death. + +In not a few places I found that the tiny shrines of hamlets (_aza_) +had been taken away and grouped together at a communal shrine with the +notion of promoting local solidarity. At one such combination of +shrines I saw notice boards intimating that "tramps, pedlars, +wandering priests and other carriers of subscription lists and +proselytisers" were not received in the village. It was explained that +a community was sometimes all of one faith: "therefore it does not +want to be disturbed by tactless preachers of other beliefs." + +At an inn there was a middle-aged widow who served there as waitress +in the summer but in the winter returned to Tokyo, where she employed +a number of girls in making _haori_ tassels. (She gave them board and +lodging and clothes for two years, and, after that period, +wages.[215]) Remembering what I had written down about courting, I +asked for her mature judgment on our rural custom of "walking out." +She was amused, but, in that way the Japanese have of trying to look +at a Western custom on its merits, she said, after consideration, that +there was much to be said for the plan. "In Japan," she declared, "you +cannot know a husband's character until you are married. On the whole, +I wish I had been a man." In order to catch our train we had to leave +this inn the moment our meal was finished, although the widow quoted +to us the adage, "Rest after a meal even if your parents are dead." + +On a morning in May I went into the country to visit a friend who was +taking a holiday in a ramshackle inn 4,000 ft. up Mount Akagi. I +continually heard the note of the _kakkō_ (cuckoo). On the higher +parts of the mountain there were azaleas at every yard, some quite +small but others 12 or even 15 ft. high. Many had been grazed by +cattle. Big cryptomeria were plentiful part of the way up, but at the +top there were no trees but diminutive oaks, birches and pines, +stunted and lichen covered, the topmost branches broken off by the +terrific blasts which from time to time sweep along the top of the +extinct volcano. + +One of the products of rural Japan is the wrestler. _Sumo_, which is +going on in every school and college of the country, exhibits its +perfect flower twice a year in the January and May ten-days-long +tournaments in the capital. The immense rotunda of the wrestlers' +association suggests a rather rickety Albert Hall and holds 13,000 +people.[216] On the day I went in I paid 2 yen and had only standing +room. Everybody knows the more than Herculean proportions of the +wrestlers in comparison with the rest of their countrymen. The +rigorous training, Gargantuan feeding and somewhat severe discipline +of the wrestlers enable them to grow beyond the average stature and to +a girth, protected by enormously developed abdominal muscles, which +reinforces strength with great weight.[217] + +I had often the opportunity at a railway station or in a train to +witness the easy carriage and magnificent pride of these massive, +good-tempered men. There is not in the world, probably, a more +remarkable illustration than they afford of what superior physical +training and superior feeding can do. At first sight, indeed, these +gigantic creatures seem to belong to a different race. It is no wonder +that they should be so commonly proteges of the rich and +distinguished. When an eminent wrestler retired in the year in which I +first saw a good wrestling bout the ceremony of cutting his hair--for, +like Samson, the wrestler wears his hair long--was performed by a +personage who combined the dignities of an admiral and a peer. There +is nothing of the bruiser in the looks of the smooth-faced wrestlers. +Many, however, are the bruises to their bodies and to their +self-esteem which they receive in their disciplinary progress from the +contests of their native villages through all the grades of their +profession to the highest rank. Their sexual morality is commonly of +the lowest. + +In my own hamlet at home in England I have seen the shoemaker, tailor +and carpenter successively pass away; the only craftsman left is the +smith. In Japan the hereditary craftsman survives for a while. I +watched in my house one day the labours of such a worker. He was not +arrayed in a Sunday suit fallen to the greasy bagginess of everyday +wear, topped by a soiled collar. He appeared in a blue cotton +jacket-length kimono and tight-fitting trousers of the same stuff, and +both garments, which were washed at least once a week, were admirably +fitted to their wearer's work. Almost the same rig was worn by our own +medieval and pre-medieval workmen. The carpenter had on the back of +his coat the name of his master or guild in decorative Chinese +characters in white. There are nowadays in the cities many inferior +workers, but all the men who came to my house worked with rapidity and +concentration, hardly ever lifting their eyes from their jobs. The +dexterity of the Japanese workman is seldom exaggerated. To his +dexterity he adds the considerable advantage of having more than two +hands, for he uses his feet together or singly. His supple big toes +are a great possession. We have lost the use of ours, but the Japanese +artisan, accustomed from his youth to _tabi_ with a special division +for the big toe, and to _geta_, which can be well managed only when +the big toe is lissom, uses his toes as naturally as a monkey, with +his paws and mouth full of nuts, gives a few to his feet to hold. The +first sight of a foot holding a tool is uncanny. + +The pitiful thing is that a modest, polite, cheerful, industrious, +skilful, and in the best sense of the word artistic hereditary +craftsmanship is proving only too easy a prey to the new industrial +system. It is a sad reflection that the country which, owing to her +long period of seclusion, had the opportunity of applying to all the +things of common life so remarkable a skill and artistry, should be so +little conscious of the pace at which her industrial rake's progress +is proceeding, so insensible to the degree to which she is prodigally +sacrificing that which, when it is lost to her, can never be +recovered. It is no doubt true that when our own handicrafts were +dying we also were insensitive. But because the Middle Ages in England +encountered the industrial system gradually we suffered our loss more +slowly than Japan is doing. Because, too, we never had in our +bustling history the long periods of immunity from home and foreign +strife by which Japanese craftsmanship profited so wonderfully, we may +not have had such large stores of precious skill and taste to squander +as New Japan, the spendthrift of Old Japan's riches, is unthinkingly +casting away. + +It is at Christmas at home that we have in the Christmas tree our +reminder of the country. It is on New Year's Day that in Japan a pine +tree is set up on either side of the front gate, but there are three +bamboos with it, and the four trunks are all beautifully bound +together with rope. If the ground be too hard for the trees to be +stuck in the ground, they are kept upright by having a dozen heavy +pieces of wood, not unlike fire logs, neatly bound round them. The +pines may be about 10 ft. high, the bamboo about 15 ft. To the trees +are affixed the white paper _gohei_. Over the doorway itself is an +arrangement of straw, an orange, a lobster, dried cuttlefish and more +_gohei_. A less expensive display consists of a sprig of pine and +bamboo. Poor people have to be content with a yard-high pine branch +with a French nail through it at either side of their doorway. I have +been ruralist enough to harbour thoughts of the extent to which the +woods are raided for all this New Year forestry. Some prefectures, in +the sincerity of their devotion to afforestation, forbid the New Year +destruction of pine trees. + +I remember the gay and elaborate dressing of the horses during the New +Year holidays. I saw one driver of a wagon who was not content with +tying streamers on every part of his horse where streamers could be +tied: he had also decorated himself, even to the extent of having had +his head cropped to a special pattern, tracts of hair and bare scalp +alternating. + +It was pleasant to learn that a fine chrysanthemum show arranged in an +open space in Tokyo was free to the public. Some plants, by means of +grafting, bore flowers of half a dozen different varieties. Several +plants had been wondrously trained into the form of _kuruma_, etc. Not +a few of the varieties exhibited were, according to our ideas, +atrocious in colouring, but many were beautiful and all were marvels +of cultivation. Even greater manipulative and horticultural skill was +represented in the chrysanthemums I saw at the Imperial garden party. +A chief of a department of the Ministry of Agriculture told me that +from a chrysanthemum growing in the ground it was possible to have a +thousand blooms. + +In a Japanese room the timber upright alongside the _tokonoma_ is +always a tree trunk in the rough. If it be cherry it has its bark on. +The contrast with the finely finished wood of the rest of the room is +arresting. It is said that the use of the unplaned upright is not more +than three or four hundred years old and that it had its origin in +_Cha-no-yu_ affectations of simplicity. + +I was visited one evening by an agricultural official who had returned +from a visit to Great Britain. He spoke of the "lonelyism" of our best +hotels. In a Japanese hotel of the same class one's room is so simple +and the view of the garden is so refreshing that, with the beautiful +flower arrangement indoors, the frequent change of _kakemono_, the +serving of one's meals in a different set of lacquer and porcelain +each day and the willing and smiling service always within the call of +a hand clap, there comes a sense of restfulness and peace. The +drawback which the Western man experiences is the lack of any means of +resting his back but by lying down and the inability to read for long +while resting an elbow on an arm rest which is too low for him.[218] A +Japanese often reads kneeling before a table. + +Here I am reminded to say that the development of the desire for books +and newspapers in the rural districts is a noticeable thing, if only +because it is new. It is not so long ago that reading was considered +to be an occupation for old men and women and for children. The +samurai had few books and the farmers fewer still. But the idea of +combining cultivation and culture was not unknown. I have heard a +rural student humbly quote the old saying, _Sei-kō U-doku_ +(literally, "Fine weather--farming--Rainy weather--reading"). + +I have a rural note of one of my visits to the _Nō_.[219] One farce +brought on an inferior priest of a sect which is now extinct but +surely deserves to be remembered for its encouragement of mountain +climbing. This "mountain climber," as he was called, was hungry and +climbed a farmer's tree in order to steal persimmons. (The actor got +on a stool, obligingly steadied by a supposedly invisible attendant, +and pretended to clamber up a corner post of the stage.) While he was +eating the persimmons he was discovered by their owner. The farmer was +a man of humour and said that he thought that "that must be a crow in +the tree." So the poor priest tried to caw. "No," said the farmer, "it +is surely a monkey." So the priest began to scratch after the manner +of monkeys. "But perhaps," the farmer went on, "it is really a kite." +The priest flapped his arms--and fell. The farmer thought that he had +the priest at his mercy. But the priest, rubbing his beads together, +put a spell on him and escaped. The word _Nō_ is written with an +ideograph which means ability, but _Nō_ also stands for +agriculture.[220] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[211] The Kwanto plain (73 by 96 miles) includes most of Tokyo and +Saitama prefecture, and also the larger part of Kanagawa and Chiba and +parts of Ibaraki, Gumma and Tochigi. + +[212] The characters on these slabs are beautifully written. They have +usually been penned by distinguished men. + +[213] The Japanese man wears below his kimono or trousers a pair of +bathing shorts. Peasants frequently wear in the fields nothing but a +little cotton bag and string. + +[214] Poor households ordinarily use, instead of movable _hibachi_, a +big square box in an opening in the floor and resting on the earth. + +[215] When I was in Tokyo, tradesmen's messenger boys received only +their food, lodging and clothing and an occasional present, with help +no doubt in starting a linked business when they were out of their +time. Now such youths, as a development of the labour movement, are on +a wage basis and receive 20 yen a month. + +[216] The place has since been burnt down. A bigger building has been +erected. + +[217] See Appendix LXII. + +[218] There is also the occasional whiff of the _benjo_; but, as an +agricultural expert said, "It is not a bad thing that a people which +is increasingly under the influence of industrialism should be +compelled to give a thought to agriculture." There are European +countries famous for their farming whose sanitary experts are +evidently similarly minded. + +[219] The fact that Dr. Waley's scholarly book is the third work on +the _Nō_ to be published in England in recent years is evidence that a +knowledge of a form of lyrical drama of rare artistry is gradually +extending in the West. + +[220] Hence the names of the two national agricultural organisations, +Teikoku Nōkai, that is the Imperial Agricultural Society, and Dai +Nippon Nōkai, that is the Great Japan Agricultural Society. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +"THEY FEEL THE MERCY OF THE SUN" + +(GUMMA, KANAGAWA AND CHIBA) + +I find the consolation of life in things with which Governments cannot +interfere, in the light and beauty the earth puts forth for her children. +If the universe has any meaning, it exists for the purposes of soul.--Æ + + +One December night there walked into my house a professor of +agricultural politics, clad in tweeds and an overcoat, and with him a +man who wore only a cotton kimono and a single under-garment. The +sunburnt forehead of this man showed that he was not in the habit of +wearing a hat. There is a smiling Japanese face which to many +foreigners is merely irritating. It is not less irritating when, as +often happens, it displays bad teeth ostentatiously gold-stopped. This +man's smile was sincere and he had beautiful teeth. His hands were +nervous and thin, his bearing was natural and his voice gentle. Here, +evidently, was an altruist, perhaps a zealot, probably a celibate. He +was introduced as a rural religionist from Gumma prefecture set on +reforming his countrymen. It is important to know the strength of the +reforming power which Japan is itself generating: here was a man who +for eight years had lived a life of poverty in remote regions and had +shaped his life by three heroes, "St. Francis, Tolstoy and Kropotkin." +He believed that the way to influence people was "to work with them." +He lived on his dole as a junior teacher in an elementary school. His +food, which he cooked himself, was chiefly rice and _miso_. He had +been a vegetarian for ten years. He was twenty-nine. + +He said that as far as the people of his village--largely peasant +proprietors who hired additional land--were concerned, "It is happy +for them if they end the year without debt." I asked how the men in +the village who owned land but did not work it spent their time. The +reply was: "They are chattering of many things, very trivial things, +and they disturb the village. They drink too much and they have +concubines or women elsewhere." + +"If an ordinary peasant went to the next town to see women there," the +speaker continued, "young men of the village would go and give him a +good knock. In former times 'waitresses' were highly spoken of in the +village, but not now. There are some young men who may go at night to +a house where there are young girls in the family and open the door. +Sometimes they bring cucumbers. Cucumbers are symbols. Some do this +out of fun and some sincerely to express their feelings. If the young +men who do such a thing do it out of fun they are given a good knock +by members of that house when discovered. If they are sincere the +members of the family will smile. There are in our village of 6,000 +inhabitants only four illegitimate children." + +As to the influences exerted for the betterment of the people the +follower of St. Francis was convinced that "when Buddhist influence, +Shintoism, Confucianism and the good customs of our race are all mixed +together so that you cannot discern one from the other we have some +living power." His own religion was "that of St. Francis combined with +Buddhism." + +Speaking generally of rural people my visitor said: "They are falling +into miserable conditions, are in effect spending what was accumulated +by their ancestors. Their houses are not so practical and cost more. +They think they live better but their physical condition is not +better. The number who cannot earn much is increasing." I was told of +a growing habit among village boys of running off to Tokyo without +their parents' permission. And bands of girls came to the district to +help in the silk-worm season "often without their parents' approval." + +Many villagers consulted my visitor on all sorts of subjects until he +had almost no leisure. Some wanted counsel about the future of their +children, some desired advice about the family debt, some wanted to +know how to put an end to quarrels and some asked "how a man will be +able to be easy-minded." The ordinary result of the primary school +system was "a mass of many informations in young brains and they +cannot tell wisdom from knowledge. The result is that they are +discontented with their hard lot. They grow up wishing to rob each +other within the bounds of the law. They want to live comfortably +without hard work. Good customs which were the crystallisation of the +experience of our race are dying away." + +My visitor had met an old woman on the road clad miserably. She earned +as a labourer on a farm, beside her board and lodging, 25 sen daily. +Of this sum she handed to a fellow-villager whom she trusted 20 sen. +He gave away many clothes to the poor and her contribution was used +with the money he expended. "If," said she, "one shall give to God a +small thing in darkness then it is accepted to its full value, but, if +it be known, it is accepted only at a small value." She was "content +and quite happy." + +This woman and many others in the district had a primitive kind of +religion. They observed the days called "waiting for the sun" and +"waiting for the moon." "The same-minded people gather. The one most +deeply experienced tells something to those assembled and they begin +to be imbued with the same spirit. It is some kind of transformed +worship of the sun god. They feel the mercy of the sun. They do not +worship the heavenly bodies but as the symbol of the merciful +universe. These people take meals together several times in a year. +They talk not only on spiritual but on common things and about the +news in the papers. It may seem to a stranger that what they talk is +foolish, but they have a wonderful power to attract the essential out +of those trifles." + +"The fundamental power which made Japan what it is," the speaker went +on with animation, "is not institutions and statesmen, but those +primitive religious acts. The people strongly resembling the old woman +I spoke of may be only 1 per cent., but almost all villagers are +imbued with such religious notions and feel thankfulness, and on rare +occasions a latent sentiment springs from their hearts. Their religion +may be connected with Buddhism or Shintoism; it is not Buddhism or +Shintoism, however, but a primitive belief which in its manifestation +varies much in different villages. For example, in one village the +good deeds of an ancient sage are told. The time when that priest +lived and particulars about him are getting dimmer and dimmer, but his +influence is still considerable. Though many people are worshipped in +national and prefectural shrines the influence of those enshrined is +small compared with the influence of a man or woman of the past who +was not much celebrated but was thought to be good by the rustic +people. + +"Think of the way in which the memory of the maid-servant Otake is +worshipped by the peasants through one-half of Japan. That was a pious +and illuminated person who worked very hard. As her _uta_ (poem) says, +'Though hands and feet are very busy at work, still I can praise and +follow God always because my mind and heart are not occupied by +worldly things.' She ate poor food and gave her own food to beggars. +So when a countryman wastes the bounty of nature he is still +reprimanded by the example of that maid-servant. She is more respected +than many great men." + +My visitor thought a religious revival might happen under the +leadership of a Christian or of a Buddhist, or of a man who "united +Buddhism and Christianity" or "developed the primitive form of faith +among the lower people." He thought there were "already men in the +country who might be these leaders." He said that much might happen in +ten years. "Materialism is prevalent everywhere, but people will begin +to feel difficulties in following their materialism. When they cannot +go any further with it they will begin to be awakened." + +And then this young man who sincerely desires to do something with his +life and has at any rate made a beginning went his way. Up and down +Japan I met several single-hearted men not unlike him. + +One day I made an excursion from Tokyo and came on an extraordinary +avenue of small wooden red painted _torii_, gimcracky things made out +of what a carpenter would call "two by two stuff." By the time I got +to the shrine to which the _torii_ led I must have passed a thousand +of these erections. In one spot there was a stack of _torii_ lying on +their sides. The shrine was in honour of the fox god and there was a +curious story behind it. Twenty years before a man interested in the +"development" of the district had caused it to be given out that +foxes, the messengers of the god Inari, had been seen on this spot in +the vicinity of a humble shrine to that divinity. The farmers were +continually questioned about the matter. It was suggested that the god +was manifesting his presence. In the end more and more worshippers +came, and, with the liberal assistance of the speculator, a fine new +shrine was erected in place of the shabby one. His hand was also seen +in the building of a big burrow--of concrete--for the comfort of the +god's messenger. The top of the burrow also furnished an excellent +view of the surrounding district, and teahouses were built in the +vicinity. Indeed in a year or two quite a village of teahouses came +into existence. The place, which was on the sea-coast, had become a +kind of Southend or Coney Island, and attracted thousands of visitors. + +A large proportion of these teahouses would have great difficulty in +establishing a claim to respectability. Numbers of lamps which crowded +the space before the shrine were the gifts of women of bad character +and the inscriptions on these gifts bore the _addresses and +profession_ of the donors. The final irony was the provision of a tram +service for the convenience of those who wished to worship at another +altar than that of the fox god. Although most of the visitors found +the chief attraction of the place in the teahouses,[221] they were +none the less devout. Every visitor to the teahouses worshipped at the +shrine. + +What do those who bow their heads and throw their Coppers in the +treasury pray for? "Well-being to my family and prosperity to my +business" was, I was told, a common form of invocation. Even among not +a few reasonably well educated people there is a conviction that +prayers made at the altar of the fox god are peculiarly efficacious. +Kanzō Uchimura, who accompanied me on this trip, improved the occasion +by saying in his vigorous English: "You in the West have some +difficulty, no doubt, in understanding the fierceness of the +indignation with which Old Testament prophets denounce heathen gods. +When you behold such an exhibition as this you may be helped to +understand. Here is impurity under divine protection, and this place +may fairly be called a fashionable shrine. The visitor to Japan often +vaunts himself on being broadminded. He regards heathendom as only +another sect and he desires to be respectful to it. But I want to show +you that it is not a case of only another sect but often a case of +gross and demoralising superstition and priestly countenancing of +immorality. Heaven forbid that I should deny the beauty of the idea of +the foxes being the messengers of divinity or that I should suggest +that some religious feelings may not inspire and some religious +feeling may not reward the sincere devotion of the countryman to his +fox god, but how much does it amount to in sum?" + +I thought of what Uchimura had said when one day, in the course of a +walk with his critic, Yanagi (Chapter XI), I was shown a shrine +pitifully bedizened by the _waraji_ (straw sandals) and _ema_[222] of +a thousand or more pilgrims who were suffering or had recovered from +syphilis.[223] + +During our conversation Yanagi said: "Shintoism is not of course a +religion at all. It draws great strength from the national instinct +for cleanliness manifested by people living in a hot climate. The +religion of poor people is largely custom; I complain of educated +people not that they are sceptical but that they are not sceptical +enough. They simply don't care. According to Mr. Uchimura, there is +only one way to God and that is through Christianity. But there are +many ways. A personal religion like Christianity is more effective +than Buddhism, but it does not follow that Christianity is better than +Buddhism. I find I get to like Mr. Uchimura more and more and his +views less and less. It is not his theoretical Christianity but his +courageous spirit which attracts. He is a courageous man and we have +very great need of morally courageous men. Although Christianity is +impossible without Christ, Buddhism is possible without Buddha. A +variety of religions is not harmful, and we have to take note of the +Christian temperament and the Buddhistic temperament. Orientals can +only be appealed to by an Oriental religion. Christianity is an +Oriental religion no doubt, but it has been Westernised. It must +always be borne in mind that Buddhistic literature is in a special +language and that it is difficult for most people to get a general +view of Buddhism." + +In further talk the speaker said that in Japan the individual had not +been separated from the mass. But it was difficult to exaggerate the +swiftness of the national development. The newer Russian writers were +"certainly as well known in England, possibly better known." As to +Tolstoy alone, there were at least fifty books about him. But it had +to be admitted that, generally speaking, the Japanese development +though rapid had not gone deep. In painting there was dexterity and +technique but few men knew where they were going. Their work was +"surface beautiful." They had not passed the stage of Zorn. + +We spoke of conscription and I said that it had not escaped my +attention that many young men showed an increasing desire to avoid +military service. From a single person I had heard of youths who had +escaped by looking ill--through a week's fasting--by impairing their +eyesight by wearing strong glasses for a few weeks, by contriving to +be examined in a fishing village where the standard of physique was +high, or by shamming Socialist.[224] Many Japanese bear +uncomplainingly the heavy burden of the military system. But the +others are to be reckoned with. + +Said one of these to me: "We Japanese are not inherently a warlike +people and have no desire to be militarists; but we are suffering from +German influence not only in the army but through the middle-aged +legal, scientific and administrative classes who were largely educated +in Germany or influenced by German teaching. This German influence may +have been held in check to some extent, perhaps, by the artistic +world, which has certainly not been German, except in relation to +music, and after all that is the best part of Germany. Many young +people have taken their ideas largely from Russia; more from the +United States and Great Britain. But Germany will always make her +appeal on account of her reputation with us for system, order, +industry, depth of knowledge, persistence and nationalism." + +On the family system, the study of which was more than once urged upon +me in connection with the rural problem, this statement was made to me +by an agricultural expert: "I will tell you the story of an official +whose salary was that of a Governor. His father was a farmer. The +farmer borrowed money to educate his son. When the son became an +official he paid the money back, but on the small salaries he received +this repayment was a strain. Then two brothers came to his house +frequently for money, and when they received it spent it in ridiculous +ways. This begging has gone on for nine years. My friend has to live +not like an Excellency but like a _gunchō_. He cannot treat his wife +and children fairly. But of the money he gives to his brothers he +says, 'It is my family expense.'" + +I also heard this story: "A married B. B died without having any +children. A next married B's sister, C. Then, because of the necessity +of having a male heir for the maintenance of his family, and because +he thought it was unlikely that his wife C would have children as her +dead sister B had had none, he adopted his wife's younger brother, D. +But the wife C did have children. Consequently, not only is A's wife +his sister-in-law and his eldest 'son' his wife's brother, but his +children are his eldest 'son's' nephews. The eldest of these children, +E, is legally the younger son. He says, 'I am glad that instead of an +uncle I have an elder brother. I am much attached to him and he is +attached to me. I am not sorry to be younger instead of elder brother, +for when my father dies my adopted brother will become head of the +family and he must then bring up his younger brothers and sisters, +manage the family fortunes, bear the family troubles and keep all the +cousins and uncles in good humour by inviting them occasionally and at +other times by visiting them and giving them presents.'[225] + +"It is obvious that our family system, for speaking in criticism of +which officials have been dismissed from their posts, puts too much +stress on the family and too little on the individual. The family is +the unit of society. Any member of it is only a fraction of that unit. +For the sake of the family every member of it must sacrifice almost +everything.[226] Sometimes the development of the individual character +and individual initiative is checked by the family system. An eldest +son is often required to follow his father's calling irrespective of +his tastes. Nowadays some eldest sons go abroad, but their departure +attracts attention and you seldom find such a thing happening among +farmers. The family system, by which all is subordinated to family, is +convenient to farmers for it means increased labour and economy of +living. Sometimes there may be two married sons living at home and +then there is often strife. Generally speaking, the family system at +one and the same time keeps young men from striking out in the world +and compels their early marriage so that the helping hands to the +family may be more numerous. The family system concentrates the +attention on the family and not on society. There is no energy left +for society. + +"Again, the family system gives too much power to relatives and leads +to disagreeable interference. In the case of a marriage being proposed +between family A and family B, the families related to A or B who will +be brought into closer connection by the marriage may object. On the +other hand, the family system has the advantage that the relatives who +interfere may also be looked upon for help. Not a few people are all +for maintaining the family system. But the spirit of individualism is +entering into some families and here and there children are beginning +to claim their rights and to act against relatives' wishes. One hears +of farmers sending boys, even elder sons, to the towns, and for their +equipment borrowing from the prefectural agricultural bank instead of +spending on the development of their business." + +At a Christmas-day luncheon I met four students of rural problems, two +of whom were peers, one a governor of an important prefecture, and a +fourth a high official in the agricultural world. One man, speaking of +the family system, said "the success of agriculture depends on it." +"In my opinion," someone remarked, "the foundation of the family +system is common production and common consumption, so when these +things go there must be a gradual disappearance of the family system." +"No," came the rejoinder, "the only enemy of the family system is +Western influence." "Yes," the fourth speaker added, "an enemy whose +blows have told." + +Someone suggested that the Japanese rural emigrant always hoped to +return home, that is if he could return with dignity--does not the +proverb speak of the desirability of returning home in good clothes? +One of the company said that he had seen in Kyushu rows of +white-washed slated houses which had been erected by returned +emigrants. "But they were successful prostitutes. Often, however, +these girls invest their money unwisely and have to go abroad again." + +Everybody at table agreed that there was in the villages a slow if +steady slackening of "the power of the landlord, of the authorities +and of religion," and a development of a desire and a demand for +better conditions of life. One who proclaimed himself a conservative +urged that changes of form were too readily confounded with changes of +spirit. The change in thought in Japan, he said, was slow, and some +occurrences might be easily misjudged. I said that that very day I had +heard from my house the drone of an aeroplane prevail over the sound +of a temple bell, happening to speak of _The Golden Bough_, I asked my +neighbour, who had read it, if to a Japanese who got its penetrating +view some things could ever be the same again. He answered frankly, +"There are things in our life which are too near to criticise. Do you +know that there are parts of Japan where folklore is still being +made?" + +I was invited one evening to dinner to meet a dozen men conspicuous in +the agricultural world. Priests were apologised for because most of +them were "very poor men and also poorly educated." Very few had been +even to a middle school. Many priests read Chinese scriptures aloud +but they did not understand what they were reading. + +One man reported that an old farmer had said to him that paddy-field +labour was harder than dry-land labour, but young men did not go off +to Tokyo because of the severity of the work; they went away because +of "the bondage of rural life." + +How much has the economic stress affected old convictions? How general +and how eager is the Japanese resolution to Westernise farther? None +of the rural sociologists had given any thought apparently to a new +factor in the rural problem: the way in which compulsory military +service, in taking farmers' sons to the cities as soldiers and +bluejackets, is giving them an acquaintance with neo-Malthusianism. In +Tokyo and other large cities certain articles are prominently +advertised on the hoardings. It is of some importance to consider what +will be the effect of this knowledge in competition with the national +appreciation of large families.[227] Is it likely that an intensely +"practical" people, which has bolted so much of European and American +"civilisation," will be wholly uninfluenced by the Western practice of +limitation of offspring? What is to-day the actual strength of the +social needs which have produced the large Japanese family?[228] +Whatever middle-aged Japanese may think, the matter is not in their +hands, but in the hands of the younger generation. Most Western +economists would no doubt argue that if fewer babies arrived in Japan +there would not be so many farmers' boys and university graduates bent +on emigrating. + +Without the voluntary limitation of families, however, the number of +children born is likely to be diminished by the increased cost of +living and by the postponement of marriage. I know Japanese men who +were married before they were twenty; the younger generation of my +friends is marrying nearer thirty.[229] + +There is reason to believe that the population has not increased of +recent years at the old rate.[230] A responsible authority expressed +the opinion to me that the necessities of the population are unlikely +to overtake the means of production in the near future.[231] + +The Japanese are intensely practical, but they have, as we have seen, +another side. If that other side is not "spiritual," in the sense in +which the word is largely used in the West, it is at least regardful +of other considerations than the "practical." It is with thoughts of +that vital side of the national character that I recall a story told +me by Dr. Nitobe of the last days of the Forty-seven Ronin. It is well +authenticated. When the Ronin had slain their dead lord's persecutor +and had given themselves up to the authorities, they were found worthy +of death. But the Shogun was in some anxiety as to what might justly +be done. He sent privily to a famous abbot saying that it was at all +times the duty of the Shogun to condemn to death men who had committed +murder. Yet it was the privilege of a priest to ask for mercy, and in +the matter of the lives of the Ronin the Shogun would not be unwilling +to listen to a plea for mercy. The abbot answered that he sympathised +deeply with the Ronin, but because he so sympathised with them he was +unwilling to take any steps which might hinder the carrying out of the +sentence. It was true, he said, that there were old men among the +Ronin, but many, of them were young men--one was only fifteen--and it +had to be borne in mind that if they escaped death at the hands of the +law it was hardly likely that during the whole course of their +after-lives they could hope to escape committing sin of some sort or +another. At the moment they had reached a pinnacle of nobility which +they could never pass and it was a thing to be desired for them that +they should die now, when they would live to all posterity as heroes. +The happiest fate for the Ronin was a righteous death, and as their +admiring sympathiser the abbot expressed his unwillingness to do +anything which might have the effect of saving them from so glorious +an end. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[221] Someone said to me, "I have in mind one village where there is a +poorly cared-for school and a score of teahouses giving employment to +nearly two hundred people." + +[222] "Small boards with crude designs painted on them. They may be +prayers, thank-offerings or protective charms. A shrine where many +thanks _ema_ have been left is clearly that of a god ready to hear and +answer prayer. Worshippers flock to the place and the accumulation of +painted boards--whether prayers or thanks--increases."--FREDERICK +STARR, _Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan_, vol. xlviii. + +[223] The percentage in conscripts in 1918 was 2.2 per cent, against +2.5 per cent, in 1917 and 2.7 per cent, in 1916. ("Not less than 10 +per cent. of the population of our large towns are infected with +syphilis and a much larger proportion with gonorrhœa."--SIR JAMES +CRICHTON-BROWNE.) The figures for the general population of Japan must +be higher. + +[224] See Appendix LXIII. + +[225] It sometimes happens that an adopted son is dismissed with "a +sufficient monetary compensation" when a real son is born. + +[226] I met a fine ex-daimyo, who after the Restoration had served as +a prefectural governor. He was so generous in giving money to public +objects in his prefecture that his family compelled him to resign +office. + +[227] See Appendix XXX. + +[228] It is only within the last quarter of a century that the +authorities have taken a stand against infanticide. There is no +traditional dislike of an artificial diminution of progeny, for many +of the fathers and grandfathers of the present generation practised +it. Methods of procuring abortion were also common. A certain plant +has a well-known reputation as an abortifacient. A young peer and his +wife are now conducting a campaign on behalf of smaller families, and +the discussion has advanced far enough for a magazine to invite Dr. +Havelock Ellis to express his views. + +[229] According to the 1918 figures the ages at which men and women +married were as follows per 1,000: before 20, m. 37.6, w. 259.0; +20-25, m. 304.9, w. 434.8; 26-30, m. 347.9, w. 159.4; 31-35, m. 145.1, +w. 67.3; 36-40, m. 70.0, w. 37.1; 41-45, m. 41.8, w. 21.4; 46-50, m. +22.8, w. 10.5; 51-55, m. 14.7, w. 6.0; 56-60, m. 7.3, w. 2.5; 61 and +upwards, m. 7.9, w. 2. + +[230] See Appendix XXX. + +[231] See Appendices XXV and LXXX; also page 363 for the reasons +operating against emigration. Mr. J. Russell Kennedy, of +Kokusai-Reuter, declared (1921) that it was "a myth that Japan must +find an outlet for surplus population; Japan has plenty of room within +her own border," that is, including Korea and Formosa as well as +Hokkaido in Japan. Mr. S. Yoshida, Secretary of the Japanese Embassy +in London, in an address also delivered in 1921, stressed the value of +the fishing-grounds and the mercantile marine as openings for an +increased population. "The resources of the sea," he said, "give Japan +more room for her population than appears." + + + + +REFLECTIONS IN HOKKAIDO + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +COLONIAL JAPAN AND ITS UN-JAPANESE WAYS + +Above all, this is not concerned with poetry.--WILFRED OWEN + + +When the traveller stands at the northern end of the mainland[232] of +Japan he is five hundred miles from Tokyo. In the north of Hokkaido he +is a thousand miles away. Hokkaido, the most northerly and the second +biggest of the four islands into which Japan is divided, is curiously +American. The wide straight streets of the capital, Sapporo,[233] laid +out at right angles, the rough buggies with the farmer and his wife +riding together, the wooden houses with stove stacks, and, instead of +paper-covered _shoji_, window panes: these things are seen nowhere +else in Japan and came straight from America. It was certainly from +America that the farmers had their cries of "Whoa." One of the best +authorities on Hokkaido has declared that the administrative and +agricultural instructors whom America sent there from about the time +of the Franco-Prussian war "gave Japan a fairer, kindlier conception +of America than all her study of American history." + +In Old Japan there is always something which speaks of the centuries +that are gone; in Sapporo there is nothing that matters which is fifty +years old. One of the most remarkable facts in the agricultural +history of Japan is that a country with a teeming population and an +intensive farming should have left entirely undeveloped to so late a +period as the early seventies a great island of 35,000 square miles +which lies within sight of its shores. The wonder is that an attempt +on Yezo[234] was not made by the Russians, who, but for the vigorous +action of a British naval commander, would undoubtedly have taken +possession of the island of Tsushima, 700 miles farther south and +midway between Japan and Korea. Up to the time of the fall of the +Shogun the revenue of the lords of Yezo was got by taxing the harvest +of the sea and the precarious gains of hunters. The Imperial Rescript +carried by the army which was sent against certain adherents of the +Shogun who had fled there said: "We intend to take steps to reclaim +and people the island."[235] It is doubtful if at that period the +population was more than 60,000[236] (including Ainu).[237] + +When Count Kuroda was put at the head of the Colonial Government he +went over to America and secured as his adviser-in-chief the chief of +the Agricultural Department at Washington. Stock, seeds, fruit trees, +implements and machinery, railway engines, buildings, practically +everything was American in the early days of Hokkaido. During a +ten-year period, in which forty-five American instructors were sent +for, five Russians, four Britons, four Germans, three Dutchmen and a +Frenchman were also imported.[238] + +Governor Kuroda had a million yen placed at his disposal for ten years +in succession, and a million yen was a big sum in those days. Before +long there were flour mills, breweries, beet-sugar factories, canning +plants, lead and coal mining and silk manufacturing and an experiment +in soldier colonisation which owed something to Russian experiments in +Cossack farming. An agricultural school grew into a large agricultural +college; and this agricultural college has lately become the +University of Hokkaido, with nearly a thousand students.[239] How much +of a pioneer Sapporo College was may be gathered from the fact that +when I was in Hokkaido 67 out of the 140 men who were members of the +faculty had been themselves taught there. Dean Sato (Japan's first +exchange lecturer to American universities), Dr. Nitobe (Japanese +Secretary of the League of Nations) and Kanzō Uchimura were among the +first students. There have always been American professors at +Sapporo--its first president came from Massachusetts--and the +professorship of English has always been held by an American. + +The 50 acres of elm-studded land in which the University buildings +stand are a surprise, for the elm grows nowhere else in Japan but +Hokkaido.[240] The extent of the University's landed possessions is +also unexpected. There are two training farms of 185 and 260 acres +respectively, beautifully kept botanic gardens, a tract of 15,000 +acres on which there are already more than a thousand tenants, and +300,000 acres of forests in Hokkaido, Saghalien and Korea. Four or +five times as many students as can be admitted offer themselves at +Sapporo. + +There is in Hokkaido an agricultural and rural life conceived for a +country where stock may be kept and a farmer does not need to practise +the superintensive farming of Old Japan. At the first University farm +I looked over it was clear that not only American but Swedish, German +and Swiss farming practice had had its influence. No longer was the +farmer content with mattocks, hoes and flails. A silo dominated the +scene, and maize, eaten from the cob in Old Japan, was a crop for +stock.[241] I also noticed crops of oats and rye. + +I arrived in Hokkaido in the last week of August in a linen suit and +was glad to put on a woollen one. By September 29 it was snowing. +Snow-shoes were shown among the products of the island at the +prefectural exhibition. Canadians have likened the climate of Hokkaido +to that of Manitoba. Hokkaido is on the line of the Great Lakes, but +the cold current from the North makes comparisons of this sort +ineffective. It is only in southern Hokkaido that apples will grow. +Thirty years ago wolves and bear were shot two miles from Sapporo and +bear may still be found within ten miles. + +The sea fisheries of Hokkaido are valuable but agriculture and +forestry are greater money makers. Even without forestry agriculture +is well ahead of factory industry, which is also eclipsed by mining. +Industry is aided by the presence of coal. Among manufactures, brewing +stands out even more conspicuously than wood-pulp making or canning. +One of the three best-known beers in Japan comes from Hokkaido.[242] +In contrast with the situation in Old Japan, where the land is half +paddy and half upland, there is in Hokkaido only a ninth of the +cultivated land under rice.[243] When I was in Hokkaido there were +600,000 _chō_ under cultivation, a hundred and fifty times more than +there were in 1873. The line marking the northern or rather the +north-eastern limit of rice shows roughly a third of the island on the +northern and eastern coasts to be at present beyond the skill of rice +growers. There is always uncertainty with the rice crop in Hokkaido. +As the growing period is short, half the rice is not transplanted but +sown direct in the paddies. A bad crop is expected once in seven +years. In such a season there is no yield and even the straw is not +good. + +Immigrants get 5 _chō_, but if they are without capital they first go +to work as tenants. There are contractors in the towns who supply +labourers to farmers and factories at busy times. When newcomers have +capital and are keen on rice growing and are families working without +hired labour, they are strongly recommended not to devote more than +2-1\2 _chō_ to rice--from 3 to 5 _chō_ are the absolute limit--against +1-1\2 or 2 _chō_ to other crops. When the holder of a 5-_chō_ holding +prospers he buys a second farm and more horses and implements, and +hires labour for the busy period. But 10 or 15 _chō_ is considered as +much as can be worked in this way. If the area is more than 10 or 15 +_chō_ it is difficult to get labour in the busy season, for it is the +busy season for everybody. Labourers from a distance can be got only +at an unprofitable rate. It is first the lack of capital and then the +lack of labour which prevents the farmer extending his holding.[244] +The limit of practical mixed farming is 30 _chō_. (Stock farming is +for milk rather than for meat, and more than one condensed-milk +factory is in operation.) Even in Hokkaido large farming, as it is +understood in Great Britain and America, is not easy to find.[245] + +On my journey north from Sapporo the first thing which brought home to +me the colonial character of the agriculture was the tree stumps +sticking up in the paddies. The second was the extent to which the +rivers were still uncontrolled. The longest river in Japan, 260 miles +long, is in Hokkaido. There was obviously a vast moorland area in need +of draining. Peat--there are 300,000 _chō_ of it--may be a standby +when the waste of timber that is going on brings about a shortage of +fuel other than coal. From poor peat soil, which was growing oats, +buckwheat and millet, we passed to land capable of producing rice, and +saw ploughing with horses. One region had been opened for only twenty +years, but already the farmers had cultivated the hillsides in the +assiduous fashion of Old Japan. + +From Ashigawa we made some excursions in a prim _basha_ to places +which were always several miles farther on than they were supposed to +be and were usually reached by tracks covered with stones from 6 to 9 +ins. long and having ruts a foot deep. + +We visited a large estate with 350 tenants who were mostly working +2-1/2 _chō_, though some had twice as much. Nearly all of these +tenants appeared to have one or two horses, although the estate +manager had advised them to use oxen or cows as more economical +draught animals. When I remembered the distance the farmers were from +the town and the state of the roads, and noticed the satisfaction +which the men we passed displayed in being able to ride, it was easy +to believe that the possession of a horse might have its value as a +means of social progress. During the last ten years half the tenants +had made enough to enable them to buy farms. The tenants on this +estate had two temples and one shrine.[246] + +I visited a fifteen-years-old co-operative alcohol factory with a +capital of 300,000 yen. Of its materials 80 per cent. seemed to be +potato starch waste and 20 per cent. maize. The product was 6,000 or +7,000 _koku_ of alcohol. The dividend was 8 per cent. On the waste a +large number of pigs was fed. The animals were kept in pens with +boarded floors within a small area, and I was not surprised to learn +that three or four died every month. Starch making, which produces the +waste used by the alcohol factory, is managed on quite a small scale. +An outfit may cost no more than 30 or 50 yen. I went over a small +peppermint-making plant. Most of the peppermint raised in Japan--it +reaches a value of 2 million yen--is grown in Hokkaido. + +One day in the eastern part of the island I met in a small hotel, +which was run by a man and his wife who had been in America, several +old farmers who had obviously made money. They declared that formerly +only 20 per cent. of the colonists succeeded, but now the proportion +was more than 65 per cent. I imagine that they meant by success that +the colonists did really well, for it was added that it was rare in +that district for people to return to Old Japan. One of the company +said that not more than 5 per cent. returned. "Land is too expensive +at home," he continued; "when a Japanese comes here and gets some, he +works hard." A good man, they said, should make, after four or five +years, 70 to 100 yen clear profit in a year. + +I rather suspect that the men I talked with had made some of their +money by advancing funds to their neighbours on mortgage. They all +seemed to own several farms. When I asked how religion prospered in +Hokkaido they said with a smile, "There are many things to do here, so +there is no spare time for religion as in our native places." There is +a larger proportion of Christians in Hokkaido than on the mainland. +One village of a thousand inhabitants contained two churches and a +Salvation Army barracks. It was reputed, also, to have eight or ten +"waitresses" and five saké shops. It is said that a good deal of +_shochu_, which is stronger than saké, is drunk. + +The roughest _basha_ ride I made was to a place seven miles from +railhead in the extreme north-east. Such roads as we adventured by are +little more than tracks with ditches on either side. The journey back, +because there were no horses to ride, we made in a narrow but +extraordinarily heavy farm wagon with wheels a foot wide and drawn by +a stallion. Shortly after starting there was a terrific thunderstorm +which soaked us and hastened uncomfortably the pace of the animal in +the shafts. When the worst of the downpour was over, and we had faced +the prospect of slithering about the wagon for the rest of the +journey, for the stallion had decided to hurry, a farmer's wife asked +us for a lift and clambered in with agility. My companion and I were +then sitting in a soggy state with our backs against the wagon front +and our legs outstretched resignedly. The cheery farmer's wife, who +was wet too, plopped down between us and, as the bumps came, gripped +one of my legs with much good fellowship. She was a godsend by reason +of her plumpness, for we were now wedged so tight that we no longer +rocked and pitched about the wagon at each jolt. And no doubt we dried +more quickly. Providence had indeed been good to us, for shortly +afterwards we passed, lying on its side in a _spruit_, the _basha_ +that had carried us on our outward journey. + +We were three hours in all in the wagon. Our passenger told us that +her husband had several farms and that they were very comfortably off +and very glad that they had come to Hokkaido. When the farmer's wife +had to alight a mile from our destination we chose to walk. Bad roads +are a serious problem for the Hokkaido farmer. In one district, only +fifteen miles from the capital, they are so bad that rice is at half +the price it makes in Sapporo. It is unfortunate that the roads are at +their worst in autumn and spring when the farmer wants to transport +his produce. + +I visited the 700-acre settlement which Mr. Tomeoka has opened in +connection with his Tokyo institution for the reclamation of young +wastrels. His formula is, "Feed them well, work them hard and give +them enough sleep." Among the volumes on his shelves there were three +books about Tolstoy and another three, one English, one American and +one German, all bearing the same title, _The Social Question_. +Needless to say that _Self-Help_ had its place. + +I liked Mr. Tomeoka's idea of an open-air chapel on a tree-shaded +height from which there was a fine view. It reminded me of the view +from an open space on rising ground near the famous Danish rural high +school of Askov, from which, on Sundays, parties of excursionists used +to look down enviously on Slesvig and irritate the Germans by singing +Danish national songs. Mr. Tomeoka believed in better houses and +better food for farmers and in money raised by means of the _kō_--"the +rules and regulations of co-operative societies are too complicated +for farmers to understand." + +I saw the huts of some settlers who had weathered their first Hokkaido +winter. Buckwheat, scratched in in open spaces among the trees, was +the chief crop. The huts consisted of one room. Most of the floor was +raised above the ground and covered with rough straw matting. In the +centre of the platform was the usual fire-hole. The walls were matting +and brushwood. I was assured that "the snow and good fires, for which +there is unlimited fuel, keep the huts warm." + +The railway winds through high hills and makes sharp curves and steep +ascents and descents. There are tracts of rolling country under rough +grass. Sometimes these areas have been cleared by forest fires +started by lightning. Wide spaces are a great change from the scenery +of closely farmed Japan. The thing that makes the hillsides different +from our wilder English and Scottish hillsides is that there are +neither sheep nor cattle on them. + +When the culpable destruction of timber in Hokkaido is added to what +has been lost by forest fires, due to lightning or to accident--one +conflagration was more than 200 acres in extent--it is easy to realise +that the rivers are bringing far more water and detritus from the +hills than they ought to do and are preparing flood problems with +which it will cost millions to cope when the country gets more closely +settled. It is deplorable that, apart from needless burning on the +hillsides, the farmers have not been dissuaded from completely +clearing their arable land of trees. On many holdings there is not +even a clump left to shelter the farmhouse and buildings. In not a few +districts the colonists have created treeless plains. In place after +place the once beautiful countryside is now ugly and depressing. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[232] The word used by people in Hokkaido for the main island, Hondo +or Honshu (_Hon_, main; _do_ or _shu_, land), is _Naichi_ (interior). + +[233] From Aomori on the mainland to Hakodate in Hokkaido is a +50-miles sea trip. Then comes a long night journey to Sapporo, during +which one passes between two active volcanoes. The sea trip is 50 +miles because a large part of the route taken by the steamer is +through Aomori Bay. The nearest part of Hokkaido to the mainland is a +little less than the distance between Dover and Calais. + +[234] Foreigners sometimes confound Yezo (Hokkaido) with Yedo, the old +name for Tokyo. + +[235] A sixth of Hokkaido still belongs to the Imperial Household. In +1918 it decided to sell forest and other land (parts of Japan not +stated) to the value of 100 million yen. In 1917 the Imperial estates +were estimated at 18-3/4 million chō of forest and 22-1/4 million chō +of "plains," that is tracts which are not timbered nor cultivated nor +built on. + +[236] In 1919 it was 2,137,700. + +[237] Considerations of space compel the holding over of a chapter on +the Ainu for another volume. + +[238] Of the 96 foreign instructors in institutions "under the direct +control" of the Tokyo Department of Education in 1917-18, there were +27 British, 22 German, 19 American and 12 French. + +[239] Hokkaido is one of five Imperial universities. There are in +addition several well-known private universities. + +[240] Grouse are also to be found in Hokkaido, but no pheasants and no +monkeys. The deep Tsugaru Strait marks an ancient geological division +between Hokkaido and the mainland. + +[241] It is sometimes eaten, ground to a rough meal, with rice. The +argument is that maize is two thirds the price of rice and more easily +digested. + +[242] See Appendix XXXVII. + +[243] The latest figures for Hokkaido show only a tenth. + +[244] For farmers' incomes, see Appendix XIII. + +[245] For sizes of farms, see Appendix LXIV. + +[246] For a tenant's contract, see Appendix LXV. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +SHALL THE JAPANESE EAT BREAD AND MEAT? + +_Bon yori shoko_ (Proof, not argument) + + +One day in Tokyo I heard a Japanese who was looking at a photograph of +a British woman War-worker feeding pigs ask if the animals were sheep. +Sheep are so rare in Japan that an old ram has been exhibited at a +country fair as a lion. In contrast with Western agriculture based on +live stock we have in Japan an agriculture based on rice.[247] But a +section of the Japanese agricultural world turns its eyes longingly to +mixed farming, and so, when I returned to Sapporo from my trip to the +north of Hokkaido, I was taken to see a Government stock farm--with a +smoking volcano in the background. Hokkaido has four other official +farms, one belonging to the Government and one for raising horses for +the army. I was shown, in addition to horses, Ayrshire, Holstein and +Brown Swiss cattle, Berkshire and Yorkshire pigs and Southdown and +Shropshire sheep in good buildings. I noticed two self-binders and a +hay loader and I beheld for the first time in Japan a dairymaid and +collies--one was of a useless show type. + +The extent to which the knack of looking after animals and a liking +for them can be developed is an interesting question. Experts in +stock-keeping with generations of experience behind them will agree +that it is on the answer to this question that the success or +non-success of the Japanese in animal industry in no small measure +depends. + +I have a note of a discussion on the general treatment of domestic +animals in Japan in the course of which it was admitted that they were +"certainly not treated as well as in most parts of Europe, or as in +China." One reason given was that "most sects believe in the +reincarnation of the wicked in the form of animals." The freedom which +dogs enjoyed in English houses seemed strange; my friends no doubt +forgot that Western houses have no _tatami_ to be preserved. It was +contended, however, that cavalry soldiers "often weep on parting from +their horses" and that "people with knowledge of animals are fond of +them." I have myself seen farmers' wives in tears at a horse fair when +the foals they had reared were to be sold and the animals in their +timidity nuzzled them. Westerners who are familiar with the exquisite +and humoursome studies of animal, bird and insect life by Japanese +artists of the past and present day,[248] are in no doubt that such +work was prompted by real knowledge and love of the "lower creation." +The Japanese have a keen appreciation of the "song" of an amazing +variety of "musical" insects--there are 20,000 kinds of insects. It is +an appreciation not vouchsafed to the foreigner whose nerves are +racked by the insistent bizz of the _semi_ or cicada--there are 38 +kinds of cicada. Everyone will recall Hearn's chapter on the trade in +"singing insects." + +One of my hosts in Aichi had two tiny cages which each contained one +of these creatures. The cages were hung from the eaves. In the evening +when the stone lantern in the garden was lit, and it was desired to +give an illusion of greater coolness after a hot day a servant was +sent up to the roof to pour down a tubful of water in order to produce +the dripping sound of rain; and this at once set the caged insects +chirping. + +The sensitive foreigner is distressed by the way in which newly born +puppies and kittens are thrown out to die because their Buddhist +owners are too scrupulous to kill them. The stranger's feelings are +also worked on by the unhappy demeanour and uncared-for look of dogs +and cats. On chancing to enter in a Japanese city an English home +where there were three dogs I could not but mark how they contrasted +in bearing and appearance with the generality of the animals I had +seen. Yet these dogs were all mongrel foundlings which had been +abandoned near my friend's house or dropped into her garden. No doubt +most Japanese dogs suffer from having too much rice--and polished at +that--and practically no bones. An excuse for the neglect of cats is +that they scratch woodwork and _tatami_ and insist on carrying their +food into the best room. + +Horses are often overloaded and mercilessly driven on hilly +roads.[249] On the other hand, carters lead their horses. It might be +added that the coolies who haul and push handcarts bearing enormous +loads never spare themselves. I was told more than once of people who +had been too tenderhearted to make an end of old horses. I also heard +of hens which had been allowed to live on until they died of old age. +In some mountain communities it is the custom, when a chicken must be +killed for a visitor's meal, for an exchange of birds to be made with +a neighbour in order that the killing may not be too painful for the +owner.[250] + +Except in hotels and stores in Tokyo and the cities which cater for +foreigners, one seldom sees such an animal product as cheese. On the +Government farm I found excellent cheese and butter being made. +Untravelled Japanese have the dislike of the smell of cheese that +Western people have of the stench of boiling _daikon_. Nor is cheese +the only alien food with which the ordinary Japanese has a difficulty. +The smell of mutton is repugnant to him and he has yet to acquire a +taste for milk. The demand for milk is increasing, however. The guide +books are quite out of date. Nearly all the milk ordinarily sold for +foreigners and invalids is supplied sterilised in bottles. On the +platforms of the larger railway stations bottles of milk are vended +from a copper container holding hot water. In places where I have been +able to obtain bread I have usually had no difficulty in getting milk. +(The word for bread, _pan_, has been in the language since the coming +of the Portuguese, and all over Japan one finds sponge cake, +_kasutera_, a word from the Spanish.) Butter in country hotels is +usually rancid, for the reason, I imagine, that it is carelessly +handled and kept too long and that few Japanese know the taste of good +butter. The development of a liking for bread and butter is obviously +one of the conditions of the establishment of a successful animal +industry. Condensed milk is sold in large quantities, but chiefly to +supplement infants' supplies and to make sweetstuff. The 1919 +production was estimated at 57 million tins. + +One argument for an animal industry is that with an increasing +population the fish supply will not go so far as it has done. It is +said that fish are not to be found in as large quantities as formerly. +Another argument is that the national imports include many products of +animal industry which might be advantageously produced at home. Not +only is more milk, condensed and fresh, being consumed: with the +adoption of foreign clothes in professional and business life and in +the army and navy, more and more wool is being worn[251] and more and +more leather is needed for the boots which are being substituted for +_geta_ and also for service requirements. It is contended that for the +emancipation of Japanese agriculture from the _petite culture_ stage +it is essential that a larger number of draught oxen and horses shall +be used. It is equally important, it is suggested, that more manure +shall be made on the farms, so that a limit shall be placed on the +outlay on imported fertilisers. Finally there are those who urge that +the Japanese should be better fed and that better feeding can only be +brought about by an increased consumption of animal products.[252] + +The possibilities of outdoor stock keeping in Hokkaido are limited by +the fact that snow lies from November to the middle of February and in +the north of the island to the end of March. A high agricultural +authority did not think that the number of cattle in all Japan could +be raised to more than two million within twenty years.[253] + +In the management of sheep--there were about 5,000 in the whole +country when I was in Hokkaido--there has been failure after failure, +but it is held that the prospects for sheep in Hokkaido are promising. +(The question is discussed in the next Chapter.) At present, owing to +the lack of a market for mutton, pigs, which used to be kept in the +days before Buddhism exerted its influence, seem more attractive to +experimenting farmers than sheep. No one has proposed that sheep +should be kept in ones and twos for milking as in Holland.[254] When +milk is needed it is said that goats, of which there are more than +90,000 in Japan, are desirable stock, but I doubt whether more than +500 of these goats are milked.[255] They are kept to produce meat. +Some people hope that those who eat goat's flesh will come to realise +the superiority of mutton. + +The case for pigs is that sweet potatoes and squash can be fed to +them, that they produce frequent litters, that pork is more and more +appreciated, and that there are 300,000 of them in the country +already. Some confident experts who have possibly been influenced by +the large consumption of pork in China argue that pork may become +equally popular in Japan. There are two bacon factories not far from +Tokyo. + +As in other countries, the argument for doing away with foreign +imports is pushed in Japan to ridiculous lengths. Japan, which aims +above all at being an exporting country, cannot attain her desire +without receiving imports to pay for her exports.[256] The +physiological argument for an animal industry is unconvincing. The +Japanese have a long dietetic history as vegetarians who eat a little +fish and a few eggs. There exists in Japan an exceptionally ingenious +variety of nitrogenous foods derived from the vegetable kingdom, and +the Japanese have become accustomed to digest vegetable protein.[257] +It might be suggested, with some show of reason, that in this matter +of the adoption of a meat dietary the Japanese are once more under the +influence of foreign ideas which are a little out of date.[258] In +Europe and America there is evidence of a decreasing meat consumption +among educated people, and medical papers are full of counsels to +diminish the amount of meat consumed. There is also in the West an +increasing sensitiveness to the horrors inflicted on animals in +transportation by rail and steamer, and if an animal industry were +established in Japan there would certainly be a great deal of +transportation by rail and steamer from the breeding to the rearing +districts, and from these districts to the slaughtering centres. If +the present advocacy of an animal industry for Japan should triumph +over the reluctance to take animal life inculcated by Buddhism it is +hardly likely to be regarded in the West as a forward step in the +ethical evolution of the Japanese.[259] + +I had the good fortune to meet in Sapporo a man who has made a +special study of the food of the Japanese people, Professor Morimoto +of the University. He said that he had no doubt that when the Japanese +began to eat bread instead of rice they would develop a taste for meat +as well as butter. With great kindness he placed at my disposal +statistics which he afterwards expanded in a thesis for Johns Hopkins +University. He had investigated the dietary of the families of 200 +tenants of the University farms. Reduced to terms of men per day the +result was: + + Sen. Sen. +Rice (1.95 _go_) 4.2 Vegetables 2.2 +(Naked) barley (3.45 _go_) 3.3 Pickles[260] .6 +Fish 1.0 Saké .08 +_Miso_ .7 Sugar .02 +_Shoyu_ (soy) .03 ------ + 12.13 + +Or at Tokyo prices, 14.3 sen. On averaging, in terms of per man per +day, the food and drink consumption of all Japan, Professor Morimoto +found the result to be: + + Sen. Sen. +Grain 6.60 Fruits .40 +Legumes .39 Sugar .53 +Vegetables 2.00 Salt .20 +Fish and seaweeds .54 Tea .10 +Beef and veal .10 } Alcoholic +Other animal food .03 } liquor 1.50 +Chicken .03 } .33 Tobacco .45 +Eggs .13 } +Milk .04 } + ----- + 13.04[261] + + +The Professor compares with these totals the 34.4 sen and 39.3 sen per +day which seem to represent the cost of the food of the rank and file +in the navy and army, and three standards of diet issued by the +official Bureau of Hygiene providing for expenditures of 32.1 sen, 33 +sen and 44.4 sen respectively. (All the prices I have cited are dated +1915.) Beef and pork as well as fish are used in the army and navy. +The navy also uses bread. + +Professor Morimoto estimates that a Japanese may be fairly expected to +consume only 80 per cent. of what a foreigner needs, for the average +weight of Japanese is only 13 _kwan_ 830 _momme_ to the European's 17 +_kwan_ 20 _momme_. + +My personal impression, which I give merely for what it is worth, for +I have made no investigation of the subject, is that, though Japanese +may thrive on meagre fare, they eat large quantities of food when +their resources permit of indulgence. The common ailment seems to be +"stomach ache." This may be due to eating at irregular hours, to an +unbalanced dietary, to the eating of undercooked viands or to +occasional over-eating, or to all of these causes.[262] Undoubtedly +there is much room for dietetic reform. + +Professor Morimoto had come to the conclusion "that there is +under-feeding, largely due to a bad choice of foods, that the relation +of the nutritive value of foods to their cost is insufficiently +studied and that cooking can be improved." It is of course an old +criticism of the Japanese table that food is either imperfectly cooked +or prepared too much with a view to appearance. The Professor's +finding was that the Japanese need the addition of meat and bread to +their dietary. As far as meat is concerned he did not convince me. Let +me quote him on the soy bean: "It is a remarkably good substitute for +meat. It is very low in price but its nutritive value is very high. +The essential element of _miso_, _tofu_ and _shoyu_ is soy bean." +Bread is another matter. The Japanese Navy, presumably because it may +find itself far from Japan, has accustomed its sailors to eat bread, +and a case can certainly be made out for the general population not +relying on rice as a grain food. But, as the large quantities of +barley eaten show, there is no such reliance now. Morimoto urged that +while there might be no difference in the nutritive value of wheat and +rice, rice as usually eaten induced "abnormal distension of the +stomach and poor nutrition." Again, wheat was a world crop,[263] +whereas rice, owing to the Japanese objection to foreign rice, was a +local crop. If the Japanese were users of wheat as well as of rice +they would not have to pay so much for food, when, on the failure of +the rice crop in considerable parts of Japan, the price of rice was +high. "The consumption is about 10 million bushels more than the +production." Further, rice was more costly in cultivation than wheat, +and its production could not be increased so as to keep pace with the +increase in population. The yield, which was 46 million _koku_ in +1904, was only 50 millions in 1912; and 65 millions in 1927 seemed an +excessive estimate. In 1912 the importation of rice was 2 million +_koku_. But on all these points the reader should take note of the +data on page 84 and in Appendices XXIV and XXV. + +The Professor's concluding point against rice was that it was +expensive to prepare. The washing of the rice in a succession of +waters and the cleaning of the sticky pot in which it was cooked and +of the equally sticky tub in which it was served took a great deal of +time. Then in order to cook rice properly--and the Japanese have +become connoisseurs--the exact proportion of water must be gauged. The +supplies of rice to be cooked were so considerable that the name of +the servant lass was "girl to boil the rice." But when bread was used +instead of rice, said the Professor jubilantly, a baking twice a week +would do. Why, an hour a day might be saved, which in twenty years +would be 73,000 hours, or a whole year, and, reckoning women's labour +as worth 5 sen an hour, that would be a saving of 565 yen! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[247] For statistics of cultivated area and live stock, see Appendix +LXVI. + +[248] One thinks of Takeuchi Seiho who lives in Kyoto, of +Toba Sojo (11th century) for monkeys, frogs and bullocks, and in the +Tokugawa period of Okio for dogs and carp, of Jakchū for fowls and +birds, of Hasegawa Tohaku and Sosen for monkeys, of Kawanabe Kyosai +for crows, and of Kesai and Hokusai for birds, fish and insects. + +[249] Nevertheless it is well not to be hasty in judgment. On the day +on which this footnote was written, April 7, 1921, I find the +following items in the _Daily Mail_. On page 4 the Attorney-General +regrets that the law tolerates the "cruel practice" by which 30 +pigeons were killed or injured at a certain pigeon-shooting +competition and expresses inability to bring in legislation. On page +5, col. 2, an M.P. is reported as mentioning a case in which a puppy +had been kicked to death and as asking the Home Secretary whether the +law imposing imprisonment for a short term could not be strengthened. +On the same page, col. 5, a railway porter is reported as having been +fined for flinging three small calves into a farm cart by the tails. + +[250] For poultry statistics, see Appendix LXVII. + +[251] Before the extensive use of _yofuku_ (foreign clothes) the dress +of Japanese men and women was entirely of cotton and silk or of cotton +only. Much of the material from which _yofuku_ are made is no doubt +cotton. + +[252] See Appendix LXVIII + +[253] The number of cattle, which was 1,342,587 in 1916, was only +1,307,120 in 1918. See also Appendix LXVI. + +[254] For photographs and particulars of the milk sheep, see my _Free +Farmer in a Free State_. + +[255] The value of the well-bred and well-cared-for goat as a milk and +manure producer is underestimated. The problem of keeping goats in +such a way that they shall not be destructive and shall yield the +maximum of manure is discussed in my _Case for the Goat_. + +[256] This question as it affects an agricultural country is discussed +in _A Free Farmer in a Free State_. + +[257] There is a consensus of scientific opinion that "non-meat +eating" races such as the Japanese have longer alimentary tracts than +flesh-eating Europeans. It is difficult to be precise on the subject, +an eminent Western surgeon tells me, for bowels are as contractile as +worms, which at one minute measure 100 units in length and the next +minute have shortened to 30. So much depends on the state at death. + +[258] On the other hand, the Japanese have taken up many new things at +the point which we in the West have only recently reached. They begin +to produce milk and supply it, not in the milkman's pail, but in +sterilised bottles. They abandon candles and lamps and, practically +skipping gas, adopt electric light or power. The capital invested in +electric enterprises in 1919 was about 700 million yen or seven times +that invested in gas. + +[259] There is one blameless form of stock keeping which is developing +in Hokkaido. Bees, which have still to make their way in Old Japan, +are now 6,000 hives strong in the northern island, though a start was +made only six or seven years ago. + +[260] It is illustrative of the extent to which pickle is +consumed in Japan that a family in Sapporo was found to have eaten no +fewer than 283 _daikon_ in a year. + +[261] The reader must put away the impression which this table +gives of a varied dietary. Few Japanese have such a range of food. The +average man habitually lives on rice, bean products (_tofu_, bean +jelly and _miso_, soft bean cheese), pickles, vegetables, tea, a +little fish and sometimes eggs. People of narrow means see little of +eggs and not much fish, unless it be _katsubushi_. + +[262] The watering of vegetables with liquid manure, the usual +practice of the Japanese farmer, and the pollution of the paddies make +salads and insufficiently cooked green stuff dangerous and many water +supplies of questionable purity. Great efforts have been made to +provide safe tap water from the hills. Intestinal parasites are +common. The build of the Japanese makes for strength, but in the urban +areas there is much absence from work on the plea of ill-health. Both +in Japan and in England I have been struck by the fact that when I +made an excursion with an urban Japanese he often tired before I did, +and on none of these trips was I in anything like first-class +condition. + +[263] Many Japanese look forward to a great production of wheat on the +north-eastern Asiatic mainland under Japanese auspices. In considering +imports of wheat it should be remembered that some of it is used in +soy and macaroni. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +MUST THE JAPANESE MAKE THEIR OWN "YOFUKU"?[264] + +"God damn all foreigners!"_--Interrupter at one of Mr. Gladstone's +early meetings at Oxford_ + + +When I was in Hokkaido sheep were being experimented with at different +places on the mainland, investigators and sheep buyers had gone off to +Australia, New Zealand and South America, and a Tokyo Sheep Bureau of +two dozen officials had been established. Great hopes were built on a +few hundred sheep in Hokkaido.[265] But I noticed that Government farm +sheep were under cover on a warm September day. Also I heard of +trouble with two well-known sheep ailments. There was talk +nevertheless of the day when there would be a million sheep in +Hokkaido, perhaps three millions. On the mainland I also met high +officials and enthusiastic prefectural governors who dreamed dreams of +sheep farming in Old Japan, where land is costly, farms small, +agriculture intensive, grazing ground to seek, and farmland +necessarily damp. This sheep keeping is conceived as one animal or +perhaps two on a holding as rather unhappy by-products. The notion is +that the wool and manure of a sheep would meet the expense of its keep +and that the mutton would be profit. Hopes of an extension of sheep +breeding resting on such a basis seem to be extravagant. One high +authority told me that it would take twenty or thirty years to develop +sheep keeping. + +The sheep at present in Japan are not living in natural conditions. +They feed on cultivated crops. Sheep could hardly live a week on +natural Japanese pasture. The wild herbage is full of the sharp bamboo +grass. In the summer much of the eatable herbage dries up. Not only +must sheep endure the summer heat and insects; they must survive the +trying rainy season. But they must do more than merely endure and +survive. In order to produce good wool it is necessary that they shall +be in good condition. The hair of one's head immediately shows the +effect of imperfect nutrition or unhealthy conditions, and it is the +same with the wool on the back of the sheep. + +It is said that the quality of the wool on the sheep kept in Japan +depreciates. However this may be, it is plain that sheep breeding must +be conducted on a large scale in order to produce wool in commercial +quantities and of even quality. Some notion of the land normally +required for sheep may be estimated from the fact that Australian +pasture carries no more than four sheep per acre.[266] + +An improvement of Japanese herbage sufficient to fit it for sheep +would be a heavy task even in small areas. It is not only the herbage +but the rocks below it which are all wrong for sheep, if we are to +judge by the geological formations on which sheep flourish in the +West. If the sheep were put on cultivated land[267] or placed on straw +as I saw them in Hokkaido there would be serious risks of foot rot. No +doubt there would also be insect pests to control. If Japan set up +sheep keeping she would no doubt have to devise her own special breed +of sheep, for the well-known Western breeds are artificial products. +Probably the experiments which are being made in China with sheep at +an earlier stage of development are proceeding on the right lines. I +have already spoken of the fact that a Japanese taste for mutton has +yet to be cultivated. + +This is a formidable list of difficulties confronting the new +Governmental Sheep Bureau. No doubt much may be done by a large +expenditure of money and much patience. The Japanese have wrought +marvels before by spending money and having a large stock of patience. +Account must also be taken of the spirit reflected in the speech made +to me by a Japanese friend when I read the foregoing paragraph to +him: + +"But we are keen to try. If there were no necessity to prepare for +war, when we must have wool for soldiers, sailors and officials, we +might rely on Australia and elsewhere and hope to improve the inferior +and dirty Chinese wool. But thinking of the disease prevailing in +Northern Manchuria and of service needs, we want to try sheep keeping +with some subsidy in Hokkaido and on the mainland in Northern Aomori +where there is much dry wild land and the farmers are often +miserable--there are villages where the people do not wash. We might +provide some of the wool needed by Japan. We have practically met our +needs in sugar, though of course our needs are small compared with +England and America." + +Let us turn from the sheep problem to the factory problem. What are +the difficulties of the woollen industry? In the first place, as we +have seen, there is no home supply of wool worth mentioning. Further, +there is the intricacy of woollen manufacture. Cotton machinery has +been brought to such a pitch of perfection for every operation and +there are in existence so many technical manuals for every department +of cotton manufacture that a certain standardisation of output is not +difficult. The problem of woollen manufacture is much more +complicated. The output cannot be similarly standardised, and there +are many directions in which originality, self-reliance and experience +come into play decisively. + +In the woollen districts of Great Britain the operatives are people +who have been in the trade all their lives, whose parents and +grandparents have been in the trade before them. There is not only an +hereditary aptitude but an hereditary interest. There is not only an +individual interest but an interest of the whole community. The +welfare of a town or city is wrapped up in the woollen industry. This +is not so in Japan. The mill workers in the Tokyo prefecture, for +example, come from remote parts of Japan, and the girls--and +three-quarters of the employees of the woollen industry are girls--are +merely on a three-years contract. The girls arrive absolutely +inexperienced. Even in England it is considered that it takes two or +three years to make a worker skilful. Within the three-years period +for which the Japanese mill girls or their parents contract, as many +as 30 per cent. leave the mills and, appalling fact, from 20 to 25 per +cent. die.[268] Not more than 10 per cent. renew their three-years +contract. Therefore there is, at present at any rate, little real +skilled labour in the factories. Another difficulty is the absence of +skilful wool sorters. Even before the War a good wool sorter commanded +in England from £3 to £4 a week. One of the things which hampers the +Japanese woollen industry is the prevalence of illness at the +factories. They must have, in consequence, about 25 per cent. more +labour than is needed. + +Generally one would say that the industry at its present stage is not +only weak on the labour side,[269] but, where it is efficient, is +skilful rather in imitation than in original design. Everything +produced is an imitation of foreign designs. That is not an unnatural +state of things, however, at the commencement of a new industry. + +With regard to the old complaint of Japanese goods failing to come up +to sample, the shortcoming is often due not to intentional dishonesty +but simply to inability to produce a uniform product. In one factory +an order had to be filled by bringing together work from 300 different +places. The first delivery of the cloth produced for the Russian army +was like the sample, but the later deliveries, though of excellent +material, were not, for the simple reason that the precise raw +materials for the required blending did not exist in Japan. + +One of the marvels of the industry is the high prices obtained in +Japan. The best winter serge was selling in England before the War at +8s. a yard. The Japanese price for winter serge was from 5 to 6 yen. +Before the War it was possible to import cloth at 50 per cent. less +than the local rates. Nevertheless there seemed to be a market for +everything. Japanese cloth lacks finish but it is made out of good +materials and will wear. The factories are compelled to use a better +quality of material in order to get anywhere near the appearance of +imported goods. A foreign manufacturer, "owing to his skill in +manufacture," as it was once explained to me, may produce a cloth of a +certain quality containing only 10 per cent. new wool: the Japanese +manufacturer, in order to produce a comparable article must use 30 per +cent. new wool. Obviously this means that the Japanese factory must +charge higher prices. + +In considering the position of the industry it is natural to ask how +it would be affected if the Japanese factories were able to draw more +largely upon Manchuria for wool. The answer is that the sheep in +Manchuria at present yield what is called "China" wool, which is +suitable only for blankets and coarse cloth. + +To some who feel a sympathy for Japan in her present stage of +industrial development and are inclined to take long views it may seem +a pity that she should contemplate making such a radical change in her +national habits as is represented by the demand for woollen materials +and for meat. Japanese dress, easy, hygienic and artistic though it +is, and admirably suited for wearing in Japanese dwellings, is ill +adapted for modern business life, not to speak of factory conditions. +But it has not yet been demonstrated that Japan is under the necessity +of substituting, to so large an extent as she evidently contemplates +doing, woollen for cotton and silk clothing, and Western clothing for +her own characteristic raiment.[270] The cotton padded garment and bed +cover are both warm and clean. It is odd that this new demand on the +part of Japan for woollen material should coincide with movements in +Europe and America to utilise more cotton, for underclothing at any +rate. There is undoubtedly a hygienic case of a certain force against +wool. The same is true of meat. It may well be that the dietary of +many Japanese has not been sufficiently nutritious, but much of the +meat-eating which is now being indulged in seems to be due more to an +aping of foreign ways than to physical requirements. The more meat +Japan eats and the more she dresses herself in wool the more she +places herself under the control of the foreigner.[271] Whatever +degree of success may attend sheep breeding within the limits imposed +upon it by physical conditions in Japan, the raw material of the +woollen industry must be mostly a foreign product. As far as meat is +concerned, it is difficult to believe that while the agriculture of +Japan is based upon rice production there is room for the production +of meat on a large scale. If the meat and wool are to be produced in +Manchuria and Mongolia we shall see what we shall see. The +significance of the experiment of the Manchuria Railway Company since +1913 in crossing merino and Mongolian sheep and the work which is +being done on the sheep runs of Baron Okura in Mongolia cannot be +overlooked. Ten years hence it will be interesting to examine +industrially and socially the position of the woollen industry[272] +and the animal industry in Japan and on the mainland, and the net gain +that the country has made. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[264] _Yofuku_ means foreign clothes. + +[265] In 1920 there were 8,219 sheep in Japan, including 945 in +Hokkaido. + +[266] A sheep produces about 7 lbs. of wool in the year. But this is +the unscoured weight. In Japan, an expert assured me, it would not +reach more than 56 to 60 per cent. when scoured. + +[267] "To-day sheep cannot, be kept on arable to leave any reward to +the farmer."--_Country Life_, August 20, 1921. + +[268] See Appendix LXIX. + +[269] See Appendix LXX. + +[270] An immense amount of silk is used in Japanese men's clothing. +The kimono, except the cheaper summer kind and the bath kimono +_(yukata)_, which are cotton, is silk. So are the _hakama_ (divided +skirt) and the _haori_ (overcoat). Japanese women's clothes are +largely silk. The dress of working people is cotton, but even they +have some silk clothing. + +[271] "By degrees they proceeded to all the stimulations of banqueting +which was indeed part of their bondage."--Tacitus on the Britons under +Roman influence. + +[272] The industry has already made on the London market an impression +of competence in some directions. For production and exports, see +Appendix LXX. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +THE PROBLEMS OF JAPAN + +Concerning these things, they are not to be delivered but from much +intercourse and discussion.--PLATO + + +Emigrants do not willingly seek a climate worse than their own. This +is one of the reasons why the development of Hokkaido has not been +swifter. The island is not much farther from the mainland than +Shikoku, but it is near, not the richest and warmest part of the +mainland, but the poorest and the coldest. If we imagine another +Scotland lying off Cape Wrath, at the distance of Ireland from +Scotland, and with a climate corresponding to the northerly situation +of such a supposititious island, we may realise how remoteness and +climatic limitations have hindered the progress of Hokkaido. + +"Our mode of living is not suited to the colder climate," an +agricultural professor said to me. "Poor emigrants do not have money +enough to build houses with stoves and properly fitting windows." + +To what extent the modified farming methods rendered necessary by the +Hokkaido climate have had a deterring effect on would-be settlers I do +not know. It has never been demonstrated that the Japanese farmer +prefers arduous amphibious labour to the dry-land farming in which +most of the world's land workers are engaged; but the cultivation of +paddy or a large proportion of paddy is his traditional way of +farming. Rice culture also means to him the production of the crop +which, when weather conditions favour, is more profitable than any +other. In Hokkaido, as we have seen, the remunerative kind of +agriculture is mixed farming, and, in a large part of the country, +rice cannot be grown at all. Against objections to Hokkaido on the +ground of the strangeness of its farming may probably be set, +however, the cheapness of land there. + +An undoubted hindrance to the colonisation of Hokkaido has been land +scandals and land grabbing. Many of what the late Lord Salisbury +called the "best bits" are in the hands of big proprietors or +proprietaries. Some large landowners no doubt show public spirit. But +their class has contrived to keep farmers from getting access to a +great deal of land which, because of its quality and nearness to +practicable roads and the railway, might have been worked to the best +advantage. In various parts of Japan I heard complaints. "The land +system in Hokkaido," one man in Aichi said to me, "is so queer that +land cannot be got by the families needing it, I mean good land." +Again in Shikoku I was assured that "the most desirable parts of the +Hokkaido are in the hands of capitalists who welcome tenants only." In +more than one part of northern Japan I was told of emigrants to +Hokkaido who had "returned dissatisfied." A charge made against the +large holder of Hokkaido land is that he is an absentee and a city man +who lacks the knowledge and the inclination to devote the necessary +capital to the development of his estate. Of late the rise in the +value of timber has induced not a few proprietors to interest +themselves much more in stripping their land of trees than in +developing its agricultural possibilities. + +The development of Hokkaido may also have been slowed down to some +extent by a lower level of education among the people than is +customary on most of the mainland, by a rougher and less skilful +farming than is common in Old Japan and by the existence of a residuum +which would rather "deal" or "let George do it" or cheat the Ainu than +follow the laborious colonial life. But no cause has been more potent +than a lack of money in the public treasury. I was told that for five +years in succession Tokyo had cut down the Hokkaido budget. Necessary +public work and schemes for development have been repeatedly stopped. +At a time when the interests of Hokkaido demand more farmers and there +is a general complaint of lack of labour, at a time when there are +persistent pleas for oversea expansion, there are in Japan twice or +thrice as many people applying for land in the island as are granted +entry. The blunt truth is that the State has felt itself compelled to +spend so much on military and naval expansion that the claims of +Hokkaido for the wherewithal for better roads, more railway line and +better credit have often been put aside.[273] + +One thing is certain, that slow progress in the development of +Hokkaido gives an opening to the critics of Japan who doubt whether +her need for expansion beyond her own territory is as pressing as is +represented by some writers. However this may be, Hokkaido is stated +to take only a tenth of the overplus of the population of Old Japan. +The number of emigrants in 1913 was no larger than the number in 1906. +A usual view in Hokkaido is that the island can hold twice as many +people as it now contains. "When 3,625,000 acres are brought into +cultivation," says an official publication, "Hokkaido will be able +easily to maintain 5,000,000 inhabitants on her own products." + +Very much of what has been achieved in Hokkaido has been done under +the stimulating influence of the Agricultural College, now the +University. The northern climate seems to be conducive to mental +vigour in both professors and students. If in moving about Hokkaido +one is conscious of a somewhat materialistic view of progress it may +be remembered that an absorption in "getting on" is characteristic of +colonists and their advisers everywhere. It is not high ideals of life +but bitter experience of inability to make a living on the mainland +which has brought immigrants to Hokkaido. As time goes on, the rural +and industrial development may have a less sordid look.[274] At +present the visitor who lacks time to penetrate into the fastnesses +of Hokkaido and enjoy its natural beauties brings away the unhappy +impression which is presented by a view of man's first assault on the +wild. + +But he must still be glad to have seen this distant part of Japan. He +finds there something stimulating and free which seems to be absent +from the older mainland. It is possible that when Hokkaido shall have +worked out her destiny she may not be without her influence on the +development of Old Japan. Those of the settlers who are reasonably +well equipped in character, wits and health are not only making the +living which they failed to obtain at home; they are testing some +national canons of agriculture. Face to face with strangers and with +new conditions, these immigrants are also examining some ideals of +social life and conduct which, old though they are, may not be +perfectly adapted to the new age into which Japan has forced herself. +One evening in Hokkaido I saw a lone cottage in the hills. At its door +was the tall pole on which at the _Bon_ season the lantern is hung to +guide the hovering soul of that member of the family who has died +during the year. The settler's lantern, steadily burning high above +his hut, was an emblem of faith that man does not live by gain alone +which the hardest toil cannot quench. In whatever guise it may express +itself, it is the best hope for Hokkaido and Japan. + +During my stay in the island I had an opportunity of meeting some of +the most influential men from the Governor downwards; also several +interesting visitors from the mainland. We often found ourselves +getting away from Hokkaido's problems to the general problems of rural +life. + +Of the good influences at work in the village, the first I was once +more assured, was "popular education and school ethics, a real +influence and blessing." The second was "the disciplinary training of +the army for regularity of conduct." ("The influence of officers on +their young soldiers is good, and they give them or provide them with +lectures on agricultural subjects and allow them time to go in +companies to experimental farms.") + +Someone spoke of "the influence of the religion of the past." "The +religion of the past!" exclaimed an elderly man; "in half a dozen +prefectures it may be that religion is a rural force, but elsewhere in +the Empire there is a lack of any moral code that takes deep root in +the head. After all Christians are more trustworthy than people +drinking and playing with geisha." + +On the other hand a prominent Christian said: "There is a weakness in +our Christians, generally speaking. There is an absence of a sound +faith. The native churches have no strong influence on rural life. +There is often a certain priggishness and pride in things foreign in +saying, 'I am a Christian.'" + +Another man spoke in this wise: "I have been impressed by some of the +following of Uchimura. They seem ardent and real. But I have also been +attracted by strength of character in members of various sects of +Christians. The theology and phraseology of these men may be curious, +may be in many respects behind the times, but their religion had a +beautiful aspect.[275] Many of our people have got something of +Christian ethics, but are no church-goers. Some Japanese try to +combine Christian principles with old Japanese virtues; others with +some soul supporting Buddhistic ideas. We must have Christianity if +only to supply a great lack in our conception of personality. People +who have accepted Christianity show so much more personality and so +much more interest in social reform." + +When we returned to agricultural conditions, one who spoke with +authority said: "In Old Japan the agricultural system has become +dwarfed. The individual cannot raise the standard of living nor can +crops be substantially increased. The whole economy is too small.[276] +The people are too close on the ground. They must spread out to +north-eastern Japan, to Hokkaido, Korea and Manchuria. The population +of Korea could be greatly increased. There is an immense opening in +Manchuria, which is four or five times the area of the Japanese Empire +and sparsely populated. There is also Mongolia."[277] + +"But in Korea," one who had been there said, "there are the Koreans, +an able if backward people, to be considered--they will increase with +the spread of our sanitary methods among a population which was +reduced by a primitive hygiene and by maladministration. And as to our +people going to the mainland of Asia, we do not really like to go +where rice is not the agricultural staple, and we prefer a warm +country. In Formosa, where it is warm, we are faced by the competition +of the Chinese at a lower standard of life.[278] The perfect places +for Japanese are California, New Zealand and Australia, but the +Americans and Australasians won't have us. I do not complain; we do +not allow Chinese labour in Japan. But we think that we might have had +Australasia or New Zealand if we had not been secluded from the world +by the Tokugawa régime, and so allowed you British to get there first. +It is not strange that some of our dreamers should grudge you your +place there, should cherish ideas of expansion by walking in your +footsteps. But it is wisdom to realise that we cannot do to-day what +might have been done centuries ago or make history repeat itself for +our benefit. It is wiser to seek to reduce the amount of +misapprehension, prejudice and--shall I say?--national feeling in +Japan and America and Australasia, and try to procure ultimate +accommodation for us all in that way. But not too much reduce, +perhaps, for, in the present posture of the world, nationalist +feeling and--we do not want premature inter-marriage--racial feeling +are still valuable to mankind." + +A speaker who followed said: "Remember to our credit how our area +under cultivation in Old Japan continually increases.[279] Bear in +mind, too, what good use we have made of the land we have been able to +get under cultivation--so many thousand more _chō_ of crops than there +are _chō_ of land, due, of course, to the two or three crops a year +system in many areas."[280] + +"As for the situation the emigrants[281] leave behind them in Old +Japan," resumed the first speaker, "the experiment should be tried of +putting ten or so of tiny holdings[282] under one control, and an +attempt should be made to see what improved implements and further +co-operation[283] can effect. I suppose the thing most needed on the +mainland is working capital at a moderate rate. Think of 900 million +yen of farmers' debt, much of it at 12 per cent. and some of it at 20 +per cent.! I do not reckon the millions of prefectural, county and +village debt. Of what value is it to raise the rice crop to 3 or 4 +_koku_ per _tan_ (60 or 80 bushels per acre)[284] if the moneylender +profits most? The farmers of Old Japan are undoubtedly losing land to +the moneyed people.[285] Every year the number of farmers owning their +own land decreases[286] and the number of tenants increases and more +country people go to the towns.[287] And, as an official statement +says, 'the physical condition of the army conscripts from the rural +districts is always superior to that of the conscripts of the urban +districts.'" + +Some Western criticism of Japanese agriculture cannot be +overlooked.[288] Criticism is naturally invited by (1) Japanese +devotion to what is in Western eyes an exotic crop--but owing to +exceptional water supplies, favourable climatic conditions and +acquired skill in cultivation, the best crop for all but the extreme +north-east of Japan;[289] (2) the small portions in which much of that +crop is grown--of necessity; (3) the primitive implements--not +ill-adapted, however, to a primitive cultural system; (4) the +non-utilisation of animal or mechanical power in a large part of the +country--due as much to physical conditions as to lack of cheap +capital; (5) what is spoken of as "the never-ending toil"--against +which must be set the figures I have quoted showing the number of +farmers who do not work on an average more than 4 or 5 days a week; +and (6) the moderate total production compared with the number of +producers--which must be considered in reference to the object of +Japanese agriculture and in relation to a lower standard of living. +Japanese agriculture, as we have seen, has shortcomings, many of which +are being steadily met; but with all its shortcomings it does succeed +in providing, for a vast population per square _ri_, subsistence in +conditions which are in the main endurable and might be easily made +better. + +Paddy adjustment has clearly shown that paddies above the average size +are more economically worked than small ones, but these adjusted +paddies are on the plains and a large proportion of Japanese paddies +have had to be made on uneven or hilly ground where physical +conditions make it impossible for these rice fields to be anything +else than small and irregular. Japanese agriculture is what it is and +must largely remain what it is because Japan is geologically and +climatically what it is, and because the social development of a large +part of Japan is what it is. Comparisons with rice culture in Texas, +California and Italy are usually made in forgetfulness of the fact +that the rice fields there are generally on level fertile areas, in +America sometimes on virgin soil. In Japan rice culture extends to +poor unfavourable land because the people want to have rice +everywhere.[290] The Japanese have cultivated the same paddies for +centuries, Some American rice land is thrown out of cultivation after +a few years. In fertile localities the Japanese get twice the average +crop. It must also be remembered that Japanese paddies often produce +two crops, a crop of rice and an after-crop. Japanese technicians are +well acquainted with Texan, Californian and Italian rice culture, and +Japanese have tried rice production both in California and Texas. + +"They talk of Texan and Italian rice culture," said one man who had +been abroad on a mission of agricultural investigation, "but I found +the comparative cost of rice production greater in Texas than in +Japan. Some Japanese farmers who went to Texas were overcome by weeds +because of dear labour. In Italian paddies, also, I saw many more +weeds than in ours. It is rational, of course, for Americans and +Italians to use improved machinery, for they have expensive labour +conditions, but we have cheap labour. The Texans have large paddies +because their land is cheap, but ours is dear. In these big paddies +the water cannot be kept at two or three inches, as with us. It is +necessarily five inches or so, too deep, and the soil temperature +falls and they lose on the crops what they gain by the use of +machinery. Further, it must be remembered that we are not producing +our rice for export. It is a special kind for ourselves, which we +like;[291] but foreigners would just as soon have any other sort. We +have no call, therefore, to develop our rice culture in the same +degree as our sericulture, which rests mainly on a valuable oversea +trade." + +"On this general question of improvement of implements and methods," +said another member of our company, "we must use machinery and +combine farming management when industrial progress drives us to it; +but why try to do it before we are compelled? Concerning horses, the +difficulty which some farmers have in using them is the difficulty of +feeding them economically. Concerning cereals, our consumption is not +less than that of Germany, but Germany imports more than twice the +cereals we do, so there would seem to be something to be said for our +system." + +[Illustration: CUTTING GRASS] + +"Some revolutionising of Japanese farming is necessary, in combined +threshing, for instance," the expert who had opened our discussion +said. "This combined threshing is now seen in several districts, and +combined threshing will be extended. But there is the objection to the +threshing machine that it breaks the straw and thus spoils it for +farmers' secondary industries. It should not be impossible to invent +some way of avoiding this, but the threshing machine is also too heavy +for narrow roads between paddies. It is difficult to deliver the crops +to the machine in sufficient bulk. Necessity may show us ways, but +small threshing machines are not so economical. Of course we must have +much more co-operative buying of rural requirements, and certainly +there is room in some places for the Western scythe made smaller, but +our people, as you have seen, are dexterous with their extremely +sharp, short sickle, and fodder is often cut on rather difficult +slopes, from which it is not easy to descend loaded, with a scythe. +Some foreigners who speak so positively about machinery for paddies, +and for, I suppose, the sloping uplands to which our arable farming is +relegated, do not really grasp the physical conditions of our +agriculture. And they are always forgetting the warm dankness of our +climate. They forget, too, that implements for hand use are more +efficient than machinery, and, if labour be cheap, more economical. +They forget above all that we are of necessity a small-holdings +country." + +Is it such a bad thing to be a small-holdings country? Does the rural +life of countries which are pre-eminently small-holding, like Denmark +and Holland, compare so unfavourably with that of England? I wonder +how much money has been sunk--most of it lost--during the past quarter +of a century in attempts to increase small holdings in England. + +"Because we have much remote, wild, uncultivated land," the speaker I +have interrupted continued, "that is not to say that most of it, often +at a high elevation, or sloping, or poor in quality, as well as +remote, can be profitably broken up for paddies. Much of this land can +be and ought to be utilised in one fashion or another, but we have +found some experiments in this direction unprofitable, even when rice +was dear. But it may be said, Why break up this wild land into +paddies? Why not have nice grassy slopes for cattle as in Switzerland? +But our experts have tried in vain to get grass established. The heavy +rains and the heat enable the bamboo grass to overcome the new fodder +grass we have sown. The first year the fodder grass grows nicely, but +the second year the bamboo grass conquers. In Hokkaido and Saghalien +we are conquering bamboo grass with fodder grass. The advice to go in +largely for fruit ignores the fact of our steamy damp climate, which +encourages sappy growth, disease and those insects which are so +numerous in Japan. We cannot do much more than grow for home +consumption." + +"The advice to draw the cultivation of our small farms under group +control has not always been profitable when followed by landlords," +one who had not yet spoken remarked. "They have not always made more +when they farmed themselves than when they let their land. All the +world over, land workers do better for themselves than for others. +Proposals further to capitalise farming which, with a rural exodus +already going on, would have the effect of driving people off the land +who are employed on it healthily and with benefit to the social +organism, do not seem to offer a more satisfactory situation for +Japan. No country has shown itself less afraid of business combination +than Japan, and the world owes as much to industry as to agriculture, +and I am not in the least afraid of machinery and capital; but +production is not our final aim. Production is to serve us; we are not +to serve production. If people can live in self-respect on the land +they are better off in many ways than if they are engaged in industry +in some of its modern developments." + +"The world is also better off," my interpreter in his notes records me +as saying when I was pressed to state my opinion. "The day will come +when the uselessness and waste of a certain proportion of industry and +commerce will be realised, when the saving power of an export and +import trade in unnecessary things will be questioned and when the +cultivator of the ground will be restored to the place in social +precedence he held in Old Japan. With him will rank the other real +producers in art, literature and science, industry and commerce. The +industrialisation of the West and its capitalistic system have not +been so perfectly successful in their social results for it to be +certain that Japan should be hurried more quickly in the industrial +and capitalistic direction than she is travelling already.[292] If she +takes time over her development, the final results may be better for +her and for the world. I have not noticed that Japanese rural people +who have departed from a simple way of life through the acquirement of +many farms or the receipt of factory dividends have become worthier. +On the question of the alleged over-population of rural Japan, one +Japanese investigator has suggested to me that as many as 20 per +cent. could be advantageously spared from agricultural labour. But he +was not himself an agriculturist or an ex-agriculturist. He was not +even a rural resident. Further, he conceived his 20 per cent. as +entering rural rather than urban industry. + +"A great deal of afforestation and better use of a large proportion of +forest land, much more co-operation for borrowing and buying, improved +implements where improved implements can be profitably used, animal +and mechanical power where they can be employed to advantage, paddy +adjustment to the limit of the practical, more intelligent manuring, a +wider use of better seeds,[293] the bringing in of new land which is +capable of yielding a profit when an adequate expenditure is made upon +it, a mental and physical education which is ever improving--all +these, joined to better ways of life generally, are obvious avenues of +improvement, in Northern Japan particularly, not to speak of +Hokkaido.[294] But it is not so much the details of improvement that +seem urgently to need attention. It is the general principles. I have +been assured again and again by prefectural governors and agricultural +experts--and in talking to a foreigner they would hardly be likely to +exaggerate--that considered plans for the prevention of disastrous +floods, for the breaking up of new land, for the provision of loans +and for the development of public intelligence and well-being were +hindered in their areas by lack of money alone. The degree to which +rural improvements, with which the best interests of Japan now and in +the future are bound up, may have been arrested and may still be +arrested by erroneous conceptions of national progress and of the ends +to which public energy and public funds[295] may be wisely devoted is +a matter for patriotic reflection.[296] No impression I have gained +in Japan is sharper than an impression of ardent patriotism. For good +or ill, patriotism is the outstanding Japanese virtue. What some +patriots here and elsewhere do not seem to realise, however, is what a +quiet, homely, everyday thing true patriotism is. The Japanese, with +so many talents, so many natural and fortuitous advantages, and with +opportunities, such as no other nation has enjoyed, of being able to +profit by the social, economic and international experience of States +that have bought their experience dearly and have much to rue, cannot +fairly expect to be lightly judged by contemporaries or by history. If +the course taken by Japan towards national greatness is at times +uncertain, it is due no doubt to the fascinations of many +will-o'-the-wisps. There can be one basis only for the enlightened +judgment of the world on the Japanese people: the degree to which they +are able to distinguish the true from the mediocre and the resolution +and common-sense with which they take their own way." + +"Our rural problems," a sober-minded young professor added, after one +of those pauses which are usual in conversations in Japan, "is not a +technical problem, not even an economic problem. It is, as you have +realised, a sociological problem. It is bound up with the mental +attitude of our people--and with the mental attitude of the whole +world." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[273] A high authority assured me that 100 million yen (pre-War +figures) could be laid out to advantage. A Japanese economist's +comment was: "Why not touch on the extraordinary proportion of land +owned by the Imperial Household and also by the State for military +purposes?" + +[274] In driving through what seemed to be one of the best streets in +Sapporo, I noticed that some exceptionally large houses were the +dwellings of the registered prostitutes. Each house had a large +ground-floor window. Before it was a barrier about a yard high which +cleared the ground, leaving a space of about another yard. Such of the +public as were interested were able, therefore, to peer in without +being identified from the street, for only their legs and feet were +visible. In Tokyo and elsewhere this exhibition of girls to the public +has ceased. The place of the girls is taken by enlarged framed +photographs. I found on enquiry that the Sapporo houses are so well +organised as to have their proprietors' association. At a little town +like Obihiro an edifice was pointed out to me containing fifty or more +women. + +[275] The classification is 101,671 Protestants, 75,983 Roman +Catholics and 36,265 Greek Church. + +[276] "'Spade farming' is an apt designation of the system of farming +or rather of cultivation, for little is done in the way of raising +stock."--PROFESSOR YOKOI. + +[277] See Appendix XXX. + +[278] But surely the basic reason against a large emigration of +farmers and artisans to Formosa, or to Manchuria, Mongolia or Korea, +with the intention of working at their callings, is that the standard +of living is lower there? The chief attraction of America and +Australasia is that the standard of living is higher. The question of +over-population must be considered in relation to the facts in +Appendices XXV, XXX and LXXX, and on page 331. It is not established +that the Japanese have now, or are likely to have in the near future, +a pressing need to emigrate. + +[279] See Appendix LXXII. + +[280] See Appendix LXXIII. + +[281] See Appendix LXXIV. + +[282] Between 1909 and 1918 the average area of holdings rose from +1.03 to 1.09 _chō_ or from 2.52 to 2.67 acres or 1.02 to 1.08 +hectares. + +[283] There were in 1919 some 13,000 co-operative societies of all +sorts. The number increases about 500 a year. + +[284] For rise in production per _tan_, see Appendix LXXV. + +[285] See Appendix LXXVI. + +[286] See Appendix LXXVII. + +[287] See Appendix LXXVIII. + +[288] See, for example, C.V. Sale in the _Transactions of the Society +of Arts_, 1907, and J.M. McCaleb in the _Transactions of the Asiatic +Society of Japan_, 1916. + +[289] For the question, is rice the right crop for Japan? See Appendix +LXXIX. + +[290] Dr. Yahagi in an address delivered in Italy pointed out to his +audience that Japan had 15 times as large an area under rice as Italy +and that, while the Italian harvest ranged between 42 and 83 +hectolitres per hectare, the Japanese ranged between 55 and 130. The +area under rice in the United States in 1920 was 1,337,000 acres and +the yield 53,710,000 bushels. The area under rice has steadily +increased since 1913, when it was only 25,744,000 bushels. + +[291] A well-informed Japanese who read this Chapter doubted the +ability of his countrymen to distinguish between native and Korean, +Californian or Texan rice. Saigon is another matter. See Appendix +XXIV. + +[292] "Some of our statesmen," notes a Japanese reader of this +Chapter, "are carried away by ideas of an industrial El Dorado." Such +men have no understanding of the relation of rural Japan to the +national welfare. They are as blind guides as the Japanese who, caught +by the glamour of the West, threw away the artistic treasures of their +forefathers and pulled down beautiful temples and _yashiki_. Japan has +much to gain from a wise and just industrial system, but not a little +of the present industrialisation is an exploitation of cheap labour, a +destruction of craftsmanship and social obligation, and an attempt to +cut out the foreigner by the production of rubbish. + +[293] The chairman of Rothamsted declares as I write that the standard +of English farming could be raised 50 per cent. Hall and Voelcker have +estimated that 20 million tons of farmyard manure made in the United +Kingdom is wasted through avoidable causes. + +[294] For a discussion of the question of inner colonisation versus +foreign expansion, see Appendix LXXX. + +[295] For figures bearing on the relative importance of agriculture, +commerce and industry, see Appendix LXXXI. For armaments, see Appendix +XXXIII. + +[296] There are many Britons who now reflect that millions which have +gone into Mesopotamia might have been better spent by the Ministries +of Health and Education. + + + + + The blessing of her sun-warmed days; + Her sea-spun cloak of wet; + Her pointing valleys, veiled in haze, + Where field and wood have met; + When we have gone our differing ways + These we shall not forget. + L.T., in _The New East_. + + + + +APPENDICES + +The sermon was bad enough, but the appendix was abominable.--MR. +BOWDLER. + + +THE INCOME OF A MINISTER OF STATE FROM THE LAND[I]. The speaker began +by inheriting 3 _chō_ (7-1/2 acres). He farmed a _chō_ of rice field +and about a third of a _chō_ of dry land. With rent from the part he +let, with gains from the part he farmed and with interest on 2,000 yen +spare capital, he had at end of the year a balance of 370 yen. With +the money gained from year to year more and more land was bought. At +the time of his talk with me he owned 8 _chō_. His net income, after +deducting cost of living, was 1,200 yen (including 500 yen from the +land that was let). In the future, when he farmed 7 _chō_ (15-1/2 +acres), he believed that his balance would be 4,500 yen, which is the +salary of a Governor! Or was, until the rise in prices when Governors' +salaries were raised about another 1,000 yen, with an additional +allowance of from 600 to 400 yen in the case of some prefectures. See +also Appendix III. + + +"GETA" [II]. The _geta_ is a flat piece of hard wood, about the length +of the foot but a little wider, with two stumpy pieces fastened +transversely below it. The foot maintains an uncertain and, in the +case of a novice whose big toe has not been accustomed to separation +from its fellows, a painful hold by means of a toe strap of thick rope +or cotton. To persons unused from childhood to the special toe grip +and scuffle of the _geta_, it seems odd to associate with this +difficult clattering footgear the idea of "luxury." But no pains are +spared by the _geta_ makers in choosing fine woods and pretty cords. + + +BUDGETS OF LARGE PROPERTY OWNERS [III]. Two landlords, A and B, kindly +allowed me to look into their budgets: + + +A + yen +80 _chō_ of rural land 320,000 +20 _chō_ of rural land 60,000 +20,000 _tsubo_ of city land 130,000 +Negotiable instruments 150,000 +Dwelling and furniture 150,000 + _______ + Total property 810,000 + ======= + +EXPENDITURE OF PAST YEAR + + yen +House 2,100 +Food and drink 1,350 +Clothing 1,000 +Social intercourse 1,500 +Public benefit 800 +Miscellaneous 1,000 +Taxes 5,000 + ______ + 12,750 + ====== + + +B + +owns 62 _chō_ 4 _tan_ and receives in rent 623 _koku_ 7 _to_. Members +of family, 11; servants, 8. + +EXPENDITURE OF PAST YEAR + + yen +House 519 +Food and drink (18 sen each per day for members of + family; 13 sen each for servants) 1,102 +Fuel 156 +Light 36 +Clothing 770 +Education (3 middle-school boys at 20 yen per month; + 3 primary-school boys and girls at 2 yen) 312 +Social intercourse 120 +Amusements (journey, 100 yen; summer trip, 231; + others, 50) 381 +Miscellaneous (servants, 480 yen; medicine, 150; other + things, 150) 780 +Donations 300 +Taxes 3,976 + ______ + 8,451 + ====== + + +THE "BENJO" [IV]. I never noticed a case in which earth was thrown +into the domestic closet tub according to Dr. Poore's system. I have +come across attempts to use deodorisers, but the application of a +germicide is inhibited because of the injury which would be caused to +the crops. Farmers are chary about removing night soil which has been +treated even with a deodoriser. I ventured to suggest more than once +that Japanese science should be equal to evolving a deodoriser to +which the farmer, who in Japan seems to be so easily directed, could +have no objection. The drawback to using Dr. Poore's system is that +the added earth would greatly increase the weight of the substance to +be removed. There would be the same objection to the use of _hibachi_ +ash (charcoal ash), but there is not enough produced to have any +sensible effect. The truth is that there is no lively interest in the +question of getting rid of the stink for everyone has become +accustomed to it. The odour from the _benjo_--the politer word is +_habakari_--which is always indoors, though at the end of the _engawa_ +(verandah), often penetrates the house. (_Engawa_ [edge or border] is +the passage which faces to the open; _roka_ is a passage inside a +house between two rooms or sometimes a bridgelike passage in the open, +connecting two separate buildings or parts of a house.) Emptying day +is particularly trying. This much must be said, however, that the +farmers' tubs are washed, scrubbed and sunned after every journey and +have close-fitting lids. And primitive though the _benjo_ is, it is +scrupulously clean. Also, if it is always more or less smelly, it is +contrived on sound hygienic principles. There is no seat requiring an +unnatural position. The user squats over an opening in the floor about +2 ft. long by 6 ins. wide. This opening is encased by a simple +porcelain fitting with a hood at the end facing the user. The top of +the tub is some distance below the floor. In peasants' houses there is +no porcelain fitting. Manure is so valuable in Japan that farmers +whose land adjoins the road often build a _benjo_ for the use of +passers-by. Although the traveller in Japan has much to endure from +the unpleasant odour due to the thrifty utilisation of excreta, the +Japanese deserve credit for the fact that their countryside is never +fouled in the disgusting fashion which proves many of our rural folk +to be behind the primitive standard of civilisation set up in +Deuteronomy (chap, xxiii. 13). The Western rural sociologist is not +inclined to criticise the sanitary methods of Japan. He is too +conscious of the neglect in the West to study thoroughly the grave +question of sewage disposal in relation to the needs of our crops and +the cost of nitrogenous fertilisers. See also Appendix XX. + + +AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS [V]. In Mr. Yamasaki's school there was dormitory +accommodation for 200 youths, some 40 lived in teachers' houses, +another 15 were in lodgings, and 45 came daily from their parents' +homes. Lads were admitted from 14 to 16 and the course was for 3 +years. The students worked 30 hours weekly indoors and the rest of +their time outside. Upper and lower grade agricultural schools number +280 with 23,000 students. In addition there are 7,908 agricultural +continuation schools with more than 430,000 pupils. The ratio of +illiteracy in Japan for men of conscription age (that is, excluding +old people and young people), which had been over 5 per cent. up to +1911, was reported to be only 2 per cent. in 1917. + + +CRIME [VI]. In 1916 the chief offences in Japan were: + +Dealt with at police station 445,502 +Gambling and lotteries 81,649 +Larceny 81,063 +Fraud and usurpation 49,772 +Assaults 19,022 +Robbery 10,383 +Arson 9,533 +Accidental assaults 3,277 +Obscenity 2,796 +Wilful injury 2,032 +Murder 1,886 +Abortion 1,252 +Abduction 907 +Rioting 813 +Official disgrace 481 +Military and naval 387 +Desertion 315 +Forgery 307 +Coining 206 + + +PROSTITUTES [VII]. The chief of police was good enough to let me have +a copy of the form to be filled up by girls desiring to enter the +houses in the prefecture. It is under nine heads: 1. The reason for +adopting the profession. 2. Age. 3. Permission of head of household. +If permission is not forthcoming, reason why. 4. If a minor, proof of +permission. 5. House at which the girl is going to "work." 6. Home +address. 7. Former means of getting a living. 8. Whether prostitute +before. If so, particulars. 9. Other details. + +When I was in Japan there were reputed to be about 50,000 _joro_ +(prostitutes), about half that number of geisha and about 35,000 +"waitresses." + + +PHILANTHROPIC AGENCIES [VIII]. In 1917 the number of paupers, tramps +and foundlings relieved by the State did not exceed 10,000. The number +of institutions was 730 (of which 40 were run by foreigners), with the +expenditure of about 5-1/2 million yen. + + +CHANGES IN RURAL STATUS [IX]. It seemed that during 47 years 18 +tenants had become peasant proprietors, 14 peasant proprietors had +become landowners (that is men who make their living by letting land +rather than by working it), 8 tenants had stepped straightway into the +position of landowners, 7 landowners had fallen to the grade of +peasant proprietors and 7 more to that of tenants, while 114 +householders had changed their callings or had gone to Hokkaido. + + +HOURS OF WORK PER DAY [X]. One of these villages showed that during +January and February it worked 6 hours, during March and April 8 +hours, from May to August 12-1/2 hours, during September and October +9-1/2 hours, and during November and December 9 hours. There was a +further record of labour at night. In January and February it worked +from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., during March and April and September and +October from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. and in November and December from 7 +p.m. to 10 p.m. As in the period from May to August inclusive the day +working hours were from 5 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., there then was no night +labour. + + +DILIGENT PEOPLE AND OTHERS [XI]. The adults of the village were +classified as follows: Diligent people, men 294, women 260; average +workers, men 270, women 236; other people, men 242, women 191. One +supposes that, in considering the women's activities, all that was +estimated was the number of hours spent in agricultural work or in +remunerative employment in the evening. + + +FARM AREAS AND DAYS WORKED IN THE YEAR [XII]. The information +concerned three typical peasant proprietors, A, B and C, living in the +same county. The areas of their land are given in _tan_: + +--------------------------------------------------------------------- + |Where farming |Paddy |Dry |Homestead |Rented |Children |Parents | +--------------------------------------------------------------------- +A |In hills |6 |3 |1 | -- |3 |2 | +B |On plain |6.6 |2.6 |.5 |2 paddy |3 |2 | +C |Near town |6 |4 |1 | -- |3 |- | +--------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Next we are told the number of days that not only A, B and C but their +wives and their parents worked and did not work during the year: + +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + | |Domestic |National | |Remaining + |Agriculture |Work |Holidays & |Illness |Days + | | |Festivals | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + {A |254 | 28 |25 | 6 |52 +Husbands {B |239 | 37 |25 | - |64 + {C |231 | 49 |19 | 2 |64 + | | | | | + {A |239 | 54 | 7 | - |64 +Wives {B |150 |128 |26 | - |64 + {C |141 |174 | 9 | - |41 + | | | | | + {A |144 | 47 |85 |18 |72 +Fathers {B |205 | 69 |40 | - |51 + {C | - | - | - | - | - + | | | | | + {A | 15 |324 | 6 | - |20 +Mothers {B | 82 |220 |23 | - |41 + {C | - | - | - | - | - +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + +It will be seen that men only were ill! [See next page.] + +For average of hours worked elsewhere, see page 232 and page 237. + + +FARMERS' EARNINGS AND SPENDINGS [XIII]. If the reader should feel that +the following details are lacking in comprehensiveness or +definiteness, he should understand that reports of a national and +authoritative character on the economic condition of the farmer were +not available. There existed certain reports of the Ministry of +Agriculture, but they were subjected to criticism. The National +Agricultural Association had set on foot an elaborate enquiry as to +the condition of the "middle farmer," but it was suggested that too +much reliance was placed on arithmetical calculations and too little +on known facts. I have had to rely, therefore, on official and private +investigations made in various prefectures and villages, and I give a +selection for what they are worth. Of the general condition of the +agricultural population the reader is offered the impressions recorded +in my different Chapters. + +INCOMES AND EXPENDITURES OF PEASANT PROPRIETORS.-- + +The incomes and expenditures of the three households referred to in +Appendix XII were: + +----------------------------------------- + |Income |Expenditure |Balance in hand +----------------------------------------- + |yen |yen |yen + A |477 |449 |28 + B |915 |838 |77 + C |971 |703 |68 +----------------------------------------- + +HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURES.--The household expenditures of the three +families were, in yen: + +------------------------------------------- + |A |B |C +------------------------------------------- + |yen |yen |yen +Food |192.76 |216.64 |189.57 +House | 2.32 | 2.24 | 1.20 +Clothes | 18.72 | 15.16 | 10.08 +Fuel | 12.72 | 13.53 | 21.00 +Tools and furniture | 10.97 |160.18 | 1.66 +Social intercourse | 9.58 | -- | 6.05 +Education | 1.56 | -- | 4.15 +Amusement | 3.30 | 2.03 | 18.00 +Unforeseen | 7.85 | 13.72 | 22.33 +Miscellaneous | 6.43 | 7.71 | 11.15 + |-------|-------|------ + |266.21 |431.21 |285.19 +------------------------------------------- + +It will be observed that the expenditure of B under the +heading of furniture, 160 yen, is out of all proportion with the +expenditures of A and C, 10 yen and 1 yen respectively. This +is due to the fact that B had to provide a bride's chest for a +daughter. + +A balance sheet given me by a peasant proprietor in Aichi +(5_tan_ of two-crop paddy and 5 _tan_ of upland) showed a balance +in hand of 27 yen. + +An agricultural expert said to me, "The peasant proprietors +are the backbone of the country, but the condition of the backbone +is not good. The peasant proprietors can make ends meet +only by secondary employments." The expert showed me average +figures for 18 farmers for 1891, 1900 and 1909. The average +land of these men was a little over a _chō_ of paddy and 5 _tan_ of +upland and some woodland. They had spent 39, 63 and 86 +yen on artificial manures as against 100, 153 and 204 yen on +food. The balance at the end of the year for the three years +respectively was 27, 40 and 29 yen. "The figures reflect the +general condition," I was told. + +INCOMES AND EXPENDITURES OF TENANTS.--I may also note the +circumstances of the largest and of the smallest tenant in an Aichi +village I visited. The largest tenant family showed a balance in hand, +93 yen; the smallest tenant, 23 yen. + +The accounts of 16 tenants for 1891 showed an average sum of 3 yen in +hand at the end of the year, for 1900 a loss of 5 yen and for 1909 a +gain of 1 yen. These men had an average of 9 _tan_ of paddy and 2 +_tan_ of upland. The man who gave me the data said that in the +north-east of Japan "the condition of the tenants is miserable--eating +almost cattle food." The only bright spot for tenants was that, as +compared with peasant proprietors, they were free to change their +holdings and even their business. + +INCOMES OF TENANTS AND PEASANT PROPRIETORS (SHIDZUOKA).--One tenant, +who pays 159 yen in rent and taxes, shows a total income of 374 yen +and an expenditure of 538 yen, with a _net loss of 164 yen_. "Farmers +of this class," notes the local expert on the memorandum he gave me, +"are becoming poorer every year." This tenant spent 2 yen on medicine +and 5 yen on tobacco. ("Nothing else for enjoyment," pencils the +expert.) In addition to parents, a man, a woman and a girl of the +family worked. Food cost 321 yen (cost of fish and meat, 4-1/2 yen) +and clothing 34 yen. + +In a "model village," where "the farmers are always diligent," a +small tenant's income was 508 yen and expenditure 527 yen; _loss_, 19 +_yen_. Clothes cost 95 yen and food 190 yen. (Cost of fish and meat, +4-3/4 yen.) There was an expenditure on medicine of 1-1/2 yen and on +tobacco and _saké_ ("only enjoyment") 10 yen. + +Twenty per cent, of the farmers, I was told, "lead a middle-class life +and occupy a somewhat rational area of land." The budgets often of +these men, who own their own land, show a _balance of 85 yen_. "If +they were tenants they would not be in such a good condition." "We +think the farmer ought to have 2 _chō_." + +BUDGETS OF FARMERS ON THE LAND OF THE HOMMA CLAN, YAMAGATA (page +186).--A tenant had 3 _chō_ of paddy and a small piece of vegetable +land. There lived with him his wife, two sons and the widow and child +of the eldest son. After paying his rent he had 30 _koku_ of rice +left. The cost of production and taxes, 100 yen or a little more, had +to come out of that. This tenant had a debt of 250 yen. + +A sturdy wagoner with a sturdy horse lived with his wife and three +children and his old mother. He hired 1 _chō_ for 28 _koku_ of rice +and his crop was 40 _koku_. He spent 30 yen on manure and 4 yen went +in taxes. + +A middle-grade farmer owned a house and a little more than 1 _chō_ and +rented 3 _chō_ of paddy and a patch for vegetables. His rent was about +38 _koku_. He spent 100 yen on manure and 128 yen for taxes, temple +dues and regulation of the paddy. He employed at 2-1/2 _koku_ a man +who lived with the family, also temporary labour for 48 days. His crop +might be 100 _koku_ or more. He had no debt. + +A third man was above the middle grade of farmer. His taxes were 240 +yen and his manure bill 130 yen. His payment for paddy-field +regulation, to continue for ten years, was 60 yen. He had three +labourers and he also hired extra labour for 100 days. He had three +unmarried sons of 40, 29 and 25. There were 260 yen of pensions in +respect of the war service of one son and the death of another. + +INCOME OF PEASANT PROPRIETORS (HOKKAIDO).--The following statistics +for the whole of Hokkaido are based on the experience of peasant +proprietors. The 2-1/2 _chō_ men are rice farmers--rice farming means +farming with rice as the principal crop. The 5-_chō_ men are engaged +in mixed farming: + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- +Farmer's|Income | Income | Total | Cost of |Cost of |Total |Balance. + Area | from |from Other| |Cultivation|Living |Outlay| + |Farming| Work | | | | | +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + | yen | yen | yen | yen | yen | yen | yen +2-1/2 | | | | | | | +chō | 366 | 43 | 409 | 107 | 276 | 382 | 27 + | | | | | | | +5 chō | 441 | 33 | 474 | 119 | 301 | 423 | 52 +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +It will be seen that mixed farming is the more profitable. + +Income of Tenants (Hokkaido).--Professor Takaoka was kind enough to +give me the following summaries of balance sheets of tenants of +college lands in different parts of Hokkaido in 1915. (In all cases +the accounts have been debited with wages for the farmer's family.) + +Five _chō_. Income, 447 yen; _net return, 37 yen_. (Rye, wheat, oats, +corn, soy, potatoes, grass, flax, buckwheat and rape. One horse and a +few hens.) + +Five _chō_. Income, 763 yen; _net return, 58 yen_. (Rye, wheat, oats, +rape, soy, potatoes, corn, grass, flax and onions. Three cows, one +horse.) + +Ten _chō_. Income, 1,015 yen; _net return, 122 yen_. (Same crops with +two cows and one horse and some hired labour.) + +Five _chō_ (peppermint on 3 _chō_). Income, 882 yen; _net return_, 93 +_yen_. + +Three _chō_. Income, 1,195 yen; _net return, 332 yen_. (Vegetable +farming. 206 yen paid for labour.) + +Thirty _chō_. Income, 1,979 yen; _net return, 61 yen_. (Mixed farming; +632 yen paid for labour.) + +Model _5-chō_ farm without rice. Made 604 yen, and 107 yen _net +return_, farm capital being 1,487 yen. (208 yen allowed for labour, +interest 128 yen, amortisation 27 yen, and taxes 13 yen.) + +Milk farmer, 12 _chō_ and 90 cattle. Income, 12,280 yen; _net return +of 3,641 yen_. + +2,120 _chō_ (1,235 forest, 402 pasture, 110 artificial grass and 42 +crops; 111 cattle). Income, 66,205 yen; _net return, 1,011 yen_. (Milk +and meat farming.) + +Average income and expenditure of 200 tenants of University land whose +budgets Professor Morimoto (see Chapter XXXIV) investigated: + + yen +Crops 451.66 +Wages earned 61.33 +Horses 20.09 +Poultry and eggs .96 +Pigs .85 +Manure (animal, 35 _kwan_; human, 14 _koku_) 24.50 +Other income 29.64 + ------ + 589.03 + yen +Cultivation, etc. 206.32 +Cost of living 303.33 + ------ + 509.65 + ------ +Profit 79.38 + ====== + +The returns of capital yielded the following averages: + + yen +Tenant right in respect of 5-16 _chō_ 750.82 +Buildings (32.2 _tsubo_) 195.95 +Clothing 162.82 +Horse (average 1.23) 108.48 +Furniture 58.47 +Implements 51.23 +Poultry (average 2.58) 1.15 +Pigs (average .12) .87 + -------- + Total 1,329.79 + ======== + + +VALUE OF NEW PADDY [XIV]. More delicious rice could be got, I was +told, from well-fertilised barren land than from naturally fertile +land. The first year the new paddy yielded per _tan_ an average of 1.2 +_koku_, the second 1.6, the third 2, and this fourth year the yield +would have been 2.3 had it not been for damage by storm. + + +AREAS AND CROPS OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF RICE [XV]. In 1919 there was +grown of paddy rice 2,984,750 _chō_ (2,729,639 ordinary, 255,111 +glutinous) and of upland rice 141,365 _chō_. Total, 3,126,115 _chō_. +The yield (husked, uncleaned) was of paddy 61,343,403 _koku_ +(ordinary, 56,438,005; glutinous, 4,905,398); of upland, 1,839,312. +Total, 63,182,715 _koku_; value, 2,352,145,519 yen. + +In 1877 the area is reputed to have been 1,940,000 _chō_ with a yield +of 24,450,000 _koku_ and in 1882 2,580,000 _chō_ with a yield of +30,692,000 _koku_. The average of the five years 1910-14 was 3,033,000 +_chō_ with a yield of 57,006,000 _koku_; of the five years 1915-19, +3,081,867 _chō_ with a yield of 94,817,431 _koku_. + +In a prefecture in south-western Japan I found that 2 _koku_ 5 _to_ +(or 2-1/2 _koku_, there being 10 _to_ in a _koku_) per _tan_ was +common and that from 3 _koku_ to 3 _koku_ 5 _to_ was reached. "A good +yield for 1 _tan_," says an eminent authority, "is 3 _koku_, or on the +best fields even 4 _koku_." The average yield in _koku_ per _tan_ for +the whole country has been (paddy-field rice only): 1882, 1.19; +1894-8, 1.38; 1899-1903, 1.44; 1904-8, 1.57; 1909-13, 1.63; 1914-18, +1.86; 1919, 1.99; 1920, 2.05 (ordinary, 2.06; glutinous, 1.92). Upland +rice in 1920, 1.30 as against 1.02 in 1909. All these figures are for +husked, uncleaned rice. + + +BARLEY AND WHEAT CROPS [XVI]. The following table (average of five +years, 1913-17) shows the yields per _tan_ of the two sorts of barley +and of wheat and the average yield all three together in comparison +with the rice yield (all quantities husked): + + _go_ _go_ +Barley 1,672 | All three together 1,307 +Naked barley 1,172 | Rice 1,808 +Wheat 1,073 | + +Naked barley is grown as an upland crop, as are ordinary barley and +wheat; but it is more largely grown as a second crop in paddies than +either barley or wheat. The barleys are chiefly used for human food +with or without rice. Wheat is eaten in macaroni, sweetstuffs and +bread. It is also used in considerable quantities in the manufacture +of soy, the chief ingredient of which is beans. There was imported in +the year 1920 wheat to the value of 28-1/2 million yen, and flour to +the value of 3-1/4 million yen. Macaroni is largely made of buckwheat +as well as of wheat. The other grain crop is millet, which is eaten by +the poorest farmers. In 1918, as against 60 million _koku_ of rice, +there were grown 5 million _koku_ of beans and peas. The crops of +barley were 17 million, of wheat 6 million, of millet 3-1/4 million, +and of buckwheat 3/4 million. More than a million _kwan_ of sweet +potatoes were produced and nearly half a million of "Irish" potatoes. +(The figures for barley and wheat are for 1919.) + + +COST AND PRICE OF RICE [XVII]. The annual figures (from Aichi) for the +years 1894 to 1915 (page 384) show the cost of producing a _tan_ of +rice, that is the summer crop. The amounts per _tan_ are calculated on +the basis of the expenses of a tenant who is cropping 8 _tan_. The +totals for the winter crop are also given. The figures which appear on +the opposite page were described to me by the farmer concerned as +"compiled on the basis of investigations by the chairman of the +village agricultural association and by its managers and still further +proved and quite trustworthy." It will be seen that the value of the +winter crop is low; a secondary employment is usually a better thing +for the farmer. In one or two places there is a sen or so difference +in the additions which may have been made by the transcriber from the +Japanese original. The difference in amounts of rent is due to +difference in fields rented and also to reduction allowed owing to bad +crops. The difference in the income from crops is usually due to +destruction by hail or wind. + + +COST AND PRICE OF RICE (see page 383) + +|Year +| |Yield in +| |_koku_ +| | |Reserved for Rent +| | |and Seeds (_koku_) +| | | |Market Price per +| | | |_koku_ (yen) +| | | | |Gross Income including +| | | | |Straw and Chaff, +| | | | |not usually sold (yen) +| | | | | |Manures (yen) +| | | | | | |Taxes and Amortisation +| | | | | | |of Implements (sen) +| | | | | | | |Total Outlay (yen) +| | | | | | | | |Net Income from Summer +| | | | | | | | |Crop of Rice (yen) +| | | | | | | | | |Days of Labour on +| | | | | | | | | |Summer Crop of Rice +| | | | | | | | | | |Net Income from +| | | | | | | | | | |Winter Crop (?Barley) +| | | | | | | | | | | |Total Net +| | | | | | | | | | | |Income from +| | | | | | | | | | | |both Crops. +|------|------|------|-------|-------|-----|----|------|-------|------|-------|-------| +| 1894 | 2.23 | 1.05 | 7.66 | 9.81 | 2 | 21 | 2.21 | 7.60 | 2.5 | 2.51 | 10.11 | +| 1895 | 2.13 | 1.05 | 8.09 | 8.71 | 2 | 21 | 2.26 | 6.45 | 21.5 | 2.48 | 8.92 | +| 1896 | 1.53 | .80 | 8.67 | 6.89 | 2.4 | 22 | 2.58 | 4.31 | 21.5 | 3.38 | 7.69 | +| 1897 | 1.88 | 1.05 | 11.53 | 10.63 | 2.9 | 23 | 3.13 | 7.50 | 21.5 | 5.22 | 12.72 | +| 1898 | 2.39 | 1.05 | 14.62 | 21.13 | 3.2 | 25 | 3.40 | 17.73 | 21.5 | 5.50 | 23.23 | +| 1899 | 1.75 | .88 | 12.05 | 11.48 | 3.8 | 30 | 4.11 | 7.37 | 21 | 2.22 | 9.99 | +| 1900 | 2.14 | 1.05 | 11.11 | 13.24 | 4.1 | 31 | 4.40 | 8.84 | 21 | 4.22 | 13.06 | +| 1901 | 2.10 | 1.05 | 10.53 | 12.06 | 4 | 32 | 4.35 | 7.71 | 21 | 3.87 | 11.58 | +| 1902 | 1.86 | .99 | 12.99 | 12.40 | 3.1 | 38 | 3.51 | 8.89 | 21 | 4.11 | 13 | +| 1903 | 2.06 | 1.04 | 12.50 | 13.85 | 3.4 | 49 | 3.79 | 10.05 | 21 | 6 | 16.85 | +| 1904 | 2.24 | 1.03 | 12.20 | 16 | 2.6 | 53 | 3.11 | 9.89 | 21 | 6.06 | 15.95 | +| 1905 | 1.77 | .99 | 13.42 | 11.60 | 2.1 | 46 | 2.55 | 9.05 | 21 | 6.67 | 15.71 | +| 1906 | 1.96 | 1.05 | 15.15 | 15 09 | 4 | 56 | 4.61 | 10.49 | 21 | 5.79 | 16.27 | +| 1907 | 1.98 | 1.14 | 16.39 | 16.69 | 4.4 | 42 | 4.83 | 11.84 | 21 | 8.60 | 20.43 | +| 1908 | 2.21 | 1.14 | 14.29 | 16.80 | 5.1 | 42 | 5.54 | 11.26 | 21 | 10.79 | 22.05 | +| 1909 | 2.27 | 1.14 | 11.63 | 14.39 | 3.7 | 99 | 4.64 | 9.75 | 21 | 11.49 | 21.24 | +| 1910 | 2.02 | 1.14 | 14.09 | 13.37 | 4.5 | 80 | 5.27 | 8.51 | 21 | 12.41 | 20.91 | +| 1911 | 2.22 | 1.14 | 16.67 | 19.72 | 4.4 | 78 | 5.13 | 14.59 | 21 | 13.49 | 28.08 | +| 1912 | 2.02 | .90 | 21.74 | 26.48 | 5.9 | 75 | 6.60 | 19.88 | 21.5 | 3.73 | 23.6 | +| 1913 | 2.31 | 1.14 | 20.83 | 24.67 | 6.5 | 79 | 7.30 | 17.37 | 21.5 | 12.62 | 30 | +| 1914 | 2.48 | 1.14 | 12.50 | 18.29 | 5.8 | 78 | 6.53 | 11.75 | 21.5 | 11.54 | 23.30 | +| 1915 | 2.36 | 1.20 | 11.77 | 14.91 | 5.8 | 82 | 6.67 | 8.24 | 21.5 | 9.67 | 18.91 | + +This table may be supplemented by the following prices for +(unpolished) rice in Tokyo: 1916, 13 yen 76 sen; 1917, 19 yen 84 sen; +1918, 32 yen 75 sen; 1919, 45 yen 99 sen. + + +In the spring of 1921 the League for the Prevention of Sales of Rice +at a Sacrifice proposed that rice should not be sold under 35 yen per +_koku_. The price passed the figure of 35 yen in July 1918. At the +time the League's proposals were made the Ministry of Agriculture was +quoted as stating that the cost of producing rice "is now 40 yen per +_koku_." The accuracy of the figures on which the Ministry's estimates +are made is frequently called in question. + + +CULTIVATED AREA IN JAPAN AND GREAT BRITAIN [XVIII]. In 1919 there were +in Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man and the +Channel Islands) 15,808,000 acres of arable, 15,910,000 of pasture and +13,647,000 of grazing, or a total of 45,365,000 acres out of a total +area of 56,990,000 acres. In Japan there were 15,044,202 acres of +paddy and of cultivated upland, 46,958,000 acres of forest and +8,773,000 acres of waste; total 70,775,000, out of 90,880,000 acres. +The area of the United Kingdom without Ireland is 56,990,080 acres; +that of Japan Proper, 75,988,378 acres. The population of the United +Kingdom without Ireland (in 1911) was 41,126,000, and of Japan Proper +(in 1911) 51,435,000. (See also Appendix XXX.) + + +HUMAN LABOUR _v_. CATTLE POWER [XIX]. The Department of Agriculture +stated in 1921 that "from 200 to 300, sometimes more than 500 days' +labour [of one man] are required to grow a _chō_ of rice." The area of +paddy which is ploughed by horse or cattle power was 61.89 per cent. +The area of upland so cultivated was only 38.97 per cent. The "average +year's work of the ordinary adult farmer" was put at 200 days. The +Department estimated an average man's day's work (10 hours) as +follows: + +--------------------------------------------------------------------- +Nature of Work | Tools used |Output by one + | | Man per Day +--------------------------------------------------------------------- + | |hectare +Tillage of paddy |_Kuwa_ (mattock) | 0.06 + " " " |_Fumi-guwa_ (heavy spade) | 0.1-0.15 +Transplanting rice |Hand work | 0.07-0.1 +Weeding |Sickle and weeding tools | 0.1 +Cutting the rice crop |Sickle | 0.1-0.15 +Mowing grass |Sickle (long handle) | 0.5 + " " |Scythe | 0.5 +--------------------------------------------------------------------- + +But I have never seen a scythe in use in Japan! + + +MANURE [XX]. The value of the manure used in Japan in a year has been +estimated at about 220 million yen, but for the three years ending +1916 it averaged 241 millions, as follows: + +Produced or obtained by the Farmer | Purchased + yen | yen +Compost 63,500,000 | Bean cake 32,000,000 +Human waste 54,000,000 | Mixed 17,000,000 +Green manure 9,600,000 | Miscellaneous 16,000,000 +Rice chaff 5,000,000 | Sulphate of ammonia 15,000,000 + | Superphosphate 12,000,000 + | Fish waste 12,000,000 + +Dr. Sato puts the artificial manure used per _tan_ at a sixth of that +of Belgium and a quarter of that of Great Britain and Germany. See +also Appendix IV. An agricultural expert once said to me, "Japanese +farmer he keep five head of stock, his own family." + + +SOWING OF RICE [XXI]. A common seeding time is the eighty-eighth day +of the year according to the old calendar, say May 1 or 2. +Transplanting is very usual at the end of May or early in June. In +Kagawa, Shikoku, I found that rice was sown at the beginning of May or +even at the end of April, the transplanting being done in mid-June. +The harvest was obtained 10 per cent. about September 10th, 30 per +cent. in October and 60 per cent. about the beginning of November. The +winter crop of naked barley was sown in the first quarter of December +and was harvested late in May or early in June, so there was just time +for the rice planting in mid-June. + +In Kochi the first crop is sown about March 15, the seedlings are put +out in mid-May and the harvest is ready about August 10. The second +crop, which has been sown in June, is ready with its seedlings from +August 13 to August 15, and the harvest arrives about November 1 and +2. The first crop may yield about 3 _koku_, the second 1-1/2 _koku_. + +A good deal depends in raising a big crop on a good seed bed. This is +got by reducing the quantity of seed used and by applying manure +wisely. Whereas formerly as much as from 5 to 7 _go_ of seed was sown +per _tsubo_, the biggest crops are now got from 1 _go_. + +The Japanese names of the most widely grown varieties are Shinriki, +Aikoku, Omachi, Chikusei and Sekitori. At an experiment station I +copied the names of the varieties on exhibition there: Banzai, +Patriotism, Japanese Embroidery, Good-looking, Early Power of God, +Bamboo, Small Embroidery, Power of God, Mutual Virtue, Yellow Bamboo, +Late White, Power of God (glutinous), Silver Rice Cake and Eternal +Rice Field. + +There are several thousand _chō_ in the vicinity of Tokyo where, owing +to the low temperature of the marshy soil, the seed is sown direct in +the paddies, not broadcast but at regular intervals and in thrice or +four times the normal quantities. + + +RATE OF PLANTING [XXII]. I have been told that an adult who has the +seedlings brought to his or her hand can stick in a thousand an hour. +The early varieties may be set in clumps of seven or eight plants; +middle-growth sorts may contain from five to six; the latest kind may +include only three or four. The number of clumps planted may be 42 per +_tsubo_, which, as a _tsubo_ is nearly four square yards, is about ten +per square yard. The clumps are put in their places by being pushed +into the mud. A straight line is kept by means of a rope. The success +of the crop depends in no small degree on skilful planting. + + +HOW MUCH RICE DOES A JAPANESE EAT? [XXIII]. The daily consumption of +rice per head, counting young and old, is nearly 3 _go_. (A _go_ is +roughly a third of a pint.) A sturdy labourer will consume at least 5 +_go_ in a day, and sometimes 7 or even 10 _go_. The allowance for +soldiers is 6 _go_. These quantities represent the rice uncooked. In +recent years more and more rice has been eaten by those who formerly +ate barley or mainly barley. And some who once ate a good deal of +millet and _hiye_ are now eating a certain amount of rice. The +average annual consumption per head of the Japanese population (Korea +and Formosa excluded from the calculation) was: 1888-93, 948 _go_; +1908-13, 1,037 _go_; 1913-18, 1,050 _go_. The averages of 25 years +(1888-1912) were: production, 42,756,584 _koku_; consumption, +44,410,725 _koku_; deficit, 1,984,970 _koku_; population, 45,140,094; +per head, 0.980 _koku_. In 1921 the Department of Agriculture, +estimating a population of 55,960,000 (see Appendix XXX) and an annual +consumption per head of 1.1 _koku_ per year, put the national +consumption for a year at about 61,550,000 _koku_. See also Appendix +XXVI. + + +IMPORTED AND EXPORTED RICE [XXIV]. "Good rice" is imported from Korea +and Formosa. The objection is to "Rangoon" rice. But most of the +imported rice does not come from Rangoon but from Saigon. The figures +for 1919 were in yen: China, 283,011; British India, 1,012,979; +Kwantung, 15,053,977; Siam, 29,367,430; French Indo-China, +116,313,525; other countries, 39,918; total, 162,070,840. The exports +in 1919 were in yen: China, 1,354; Australia, 6,570; Asiatic Russia, +165,463; Kwantung, 213,633; British America, 356,600; United States, +476,756; Hawaii, 3,046,598; other countries, 60,707--all obviously in +the main for Japanese consumption. The total imports and exports were +in _koku_ and yen over a period of years: + +-------------------------------------------------------- + | Imports | Exports | + Year |-----------------------|-----------|-----------| + | _Koku_ |Value (yen)| _Koku_ |Value (yen)| +-------------------------------------------------------- + 1909 | 1,325,243 | 13,585,817| 422,513 | 5,867,290 | + 1910 | 918,627 | 8,644,439| 429,251 | 5,900,477 | + 1911 | 1,719,566 | 11,721,085| 216,198 | 3,940,541 | + 1912 | 2,234,437 | 30,193,481| 208,423 | 4,367,824 | + 1913 | 3,637,269 | 48,472,304| 204,002 | 4,372,979 | + 1914 | 2,022,644 | 24,823,933| 260,738 | 4,974,108 | + 1915 | 457,606 | 4,886,125| 662,629 | 9,676,969 | + 1916 | 309,158 | 3,087,616| 686,479 |11,197,356 | + 1917 | 564,376 | 6,513,373| 769,129 |14,662,546 | + 1918 | 4,647,168 | 89,755,678| 264,565 | 8,321,965 | + 1919 | 4,642,382 |162,070,840| 95,219 | 4,327,690 | + 1920 | 471,083 | 18,059,194| 116,249 | 5,897,675 | +-------------------------------------------------------- + +The twenty-five years' average (1888-1912) of excess of import +over export was 1,339,493 _koku_. See also Appendix XXVIII. + + +INCREASE OF RICE YIELD AND OF POPULATION [XXV]. + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + | | |Percentage | | Percentage + | 1882 | 1913 | of | 1918 | of + | | |Increase | |Increase[*] +----------------------------------------------------------------------- +Population |36,700,000 |53,362,000 | 45 |66,851,000 | 55 +Rice crop |30,692,000 |50,222,000 | 63 |53,893,000 | 75 + (_koku_) | | | | | +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +* 1882-1918. The degree to which the increase in production will +be maintained is of course a matter for discussion. As far as rice is +concerned, it must be borne in mind that there is an increasing +consumption per head. + + +FARMERS' DIET [XXVI]. It is officially stated in 1921 that "the common +farm diet consists of a mixture of cooked rice and barley as the +principal food with vegetables and occasionally fish." The barley is +what is known as naked barley. Ordinary barley is eaten in northern +Japan, but two-thirds of the barley eaten elsewhere is the wheat-like +naked barley, which cannot be grown in Fukushima and the north. The +husking of ordinary barley is hard work. The young men do it during +the night when it is cool. They keep on until cock-crow. Their songs +and the sound of their mallets make a memorable impression as one +passes through a village on a moonlight night. Another substitute for +rice beyond millet is _hiye_ (panic grass). In the south it is +regarded as a weed of the paddies, but in the north many _tan_ are +planted with this heavy-yielding small grain. + + +TAXATION [XXVII]. Before 1906 national taxation was 2.5 per cent. of +the legal price of land. In 1900 it was 3.3 per cent., in 1904 5.5 per +cent., in 1911 4.7 per cent, and in 1915 4.5 per cent. But local +taxation increased in greater proportion. + + +FLAVOUR OF RICE AND PRICE FLUCTUATIONS [XXVIII]. Japanese rice has a +fatty flavour which the people of Japan like. Therefore the native +rice commands a higher price in Japan than Chinese or Indian rice. +With the exception of a small quantity exported to Japanese abroad, +Japanese rice is consumed in Japan. The supply of it and the demand +for it are exclusively a Japanese affair. Naturally, when the crop +fails the price soars, and when there is a superabundant harvest the +price comes down to the level of foreign rice. Here is the secret of +the enormous fluctuations in the price of Japanese rice with which +the authorities have so often endeavoured to cope. + +The Government granary plan is the third big effort of authority to +manage rice prices. The Okuma Government, under the administration of +which rice went down to 14 yen per _koku_, had a Commission to raise +prices. The Terauchi Ministry, at a time when prices rose, touching 55 +yen, had a Commission to bring prices down. + + +AREA AND CLIMATE [XXIX]. Japan Proper comprises a main island, three +other large islands in sight of the main island, and +archipelagos--4,000 islets have been counted. The main island, Honshu, +with Shikoku behind it, lies off the coast of Korea; the next largest +and northernmost island, Hokkaido, off the coast of Siberia, and the +remaining sizeable island and the southernmost, Kyushu, off the coast +of China over against the mouth of the Yangtse. The area of this +territory, that is of Japan before the acquirement of Formosa, Korea, +southern Saghalien and part of Manchuria, is about 142,000 square +miles in area, which is that of Great Britain in possession not of one +Wales but of four, or nearly 1 per cent. of the area of Asia. But +there are several million more people in Japan than there are +inhabitants of Great Britain and thrice as many as there are Britons +in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India. (See also +Appendix XXX.) Japan, which lies between the latitudes of Cairo and +the Crimea, may be said to consist of mountains, of which fifty are +active volcanoes, with some land, either hilly or boggy, at the foot +of them. It is nowhere more than 200 miles across and in one place is +only 50. A note on the ocean currents which exercise an influence on +agriculture will be found on page 195. The protection afforded to the +eastern prefectures by mountain ranges is obvious. Generally the +summer temperature of Japan is higher and the winter temperature is +lower than is recorded in Europe and America within the same +latitudes. + +"The mild climate and abundant rainfall," says the Department of +Agriculture, "stimulate a luxuriant forest development throughout the +country which in turn provides ample fountain heads for rivers. The +rivers and streams run in all directions, affording opportunity for +irrigation all over the country. The insular position of the country +renders its humidity high and its rainfall abundant when compared with +Continental countries. The rainy season prevails during the months of +June and July, making this season risky for the harvest of wheat and +barley; on the other hand it affords a beneficent irrigation supply to +paddy-grown rice, which is the most important crop. The characteristic +feature of the climate in the greater part of the islands is the +frequency of storms in the months of August and September. As the +flowers of the rice plant commence to bloom during the same period, +these late summer storms cause much damage." + +The weather in Tokyo in 1918 was as follows: + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + |Jan.|Feb.|Mar.|Apl.| May|June|July|Aug.|Sept.|Oct.|Nov.|Dec. +------------------------------------------------------------------------- +Rain and | | | | | | | | | | | | + snow (mm.)| 10| 65| 163| 108| 123| 149| 82| 78| 202| 135| 142| 80 +Temp. (C.) | 1.6| 3.6| 6.7|11.7|16.7|20.2|26.0|26.0| 22.6|16.0|10.4|3.9 +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +The varied climate of Japan is indicated by the following statistics +for centres as far distant as Nagasaki in the extreme south-west and +Sapporo in Hokkaido: + +--------------------------------------------------------------------- + |Nagasaki| Kyoto |Tokyo | Niigata | Aomori | Sapporo +----------------|--------|-------|------|---------|--------|--------- + Days of rain or| | | | | | + snow | 179 | 176 | 144 | 218 | 229 | 216 + Average | | | | | | + temp. (C.) | 14.9 | 13.6 | 13.8 | 12.5 | 9.4 | 7.3 + Maximum | 36.7 | 37.2 | 36.6 | 39.1 | 36.0 | 33.4 + Minimum | _5.6_ | _11.9_| _8.1_| _9.7_ | _19.0_ | _25.6_ +--------------------------------------------------------------------- + +The italicised temperatures are below zero. Average dates of last +frost: Tokyo, April 6; Nagoya, April 13; Matsumoto, May 17. + + +POPULATION OF JAPAN, MANCHURIA AND MONGOLIA [XXX]. The population of +the Empire according to the 1920 census was 77,005,510, which included +Korea, 17,284,207; Formosa, 3,654,398; Saghalien, 105,765; and South +Manchuria (that is, the Kwantung Peninsula), 80,000. In Old Japan +(Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu with the near islands, and Loo-choos and +Bonins) there were 53,602,043, and in Hokkaido (including Kuriles) +2,359,097. + +Tokyo is the largest city, 2,173,000, followed by Osaka, 1,252,000. +Kobe and Kyoto have a little more than half a million; Nagoya and +Yokohama four hundred thousand apiece. Ten other cities have a hundred +thousand odd. + +In the following table the populations and areas of Japan, Great +Britain and the United States are compared: + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + Country | Area | Population | Population + | | | per sq. mile +------------------------------------------------------------------------ +Japan (excluding Korea, Formosa | | | + and Saghalien) | 142,000 | 55,961,140 | 394 + | | (1920) | +British Isles | 121,636 | 47,306,664[*] | 388 + | | (1921) | +United States (excluding Alaska | | | + and oversea possessions) |3,000,000| 105,683,108 | 35 + | | (1920) | +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +* Ireland taken at 1911 census figures. + +Japan's 394 per square mile is lowered by the population of Hokkaido +(2,359,097), which is only 66 per square mile. The population of the +three chief Japanese islands is: Honshu, the mainland (41,806,930), +471; Shikoku (3,066,890), 423; and Kyushu (8,729,088), 511. (These +figures are for 1920.) "As regards density per square kilometre," +writes an official of the Imperial Bureau of Statistics in the _Japan +Year-book_, with the figures antecedent to the 1920 census before him, +"it is calculated at 140 for Japan and this compares as follows with +Belgium (1910) 252, England and Wales (1911) 239, Holland (1909) 171, +Italy (1911) 121, Germany (1910) 120 and France 44. When comparison is +made on the basis of habitable area Japan may be considered to surpass +all as to density, for while in Japan it constitutes only 19 per cent, +of the total area, the ratio is as high as 74 for Belgium, 73 for +England and Wales, 67 for Holland, 76 for Italy, 65 for Germany and 70 +for France." The Professor of Agricultural Science at Tokyo University +says: "The area under cultivation, even in the densely populated +parts, is comparatively smaller than in any other country." + +In a statement issued in 1921 the Department of Agriculture reckoned +the population at 145 per square kilometre and recorded the mean rate +of increase "in recent years" as 12.06 per 1,000. It stated that the +density of the rural population was 44 per square kilometre or 9.42 +per hectare of arable, in other words that the density "is higher +than that of France, Belgium, Switzerland and some other countries +where the agriculture is marked by fairly intensive methods." Mr. +Nikaido, of the Bureau of Statistics, writes in the _Japan Year-book_ +that the annual increase of Japan's population was 14.78 per 1,000 for +1909-13 and 12.06 for 1914-18, "a rate greater than in any civilised +country, with the exception of Germany and Rumania in the pre-War +years." + +The birth rate is high, but so is the mortality. The death rate of +minors is thrice that of Germany and Great Britain. Here the +increasing industrialisation of the country is no doubt playing its +part. The ratio of still births has steadily risen since the eighties. +The ratio of births, other than still births, per 1,000 of population, +which in 1889-93 was 28.6, increased by 1909-13 to 33.7; but the death +rate fell only from 21.1 to 20.6. The ratio of unmarried, 63.22 in +1893, was 66.22 in 1918. + +The following figures for Japan Proper are printed by the _Financial +and Economic Annual_, issued by the Department of Finance: + +--------------------------------------------------------- +Year. | Total. |Annual Increase |Average Increase per + | |of Population. |1,000 Inhabitants. +--------------------------------------------------------- + 1910 | 50,716,600 | -- | 14.09} + 1911 | 51,435,400 |718,800 | 14.17} + 1912 | 52,167,000 |731,600 | 14.22} 14.21 + 1913 | 52,911,800 |744,800 | 14.28} + 1914 | 53,668,600 |756,800 | 14.30} + | | | + 1915 | 54,448,200 |779,600 | 14.53} + 1916 | 55,235,000 |786,800 | 14.45} + 1917 | 56,035,100 |800,100 | 14.49} 14.50 + 1918 | 56,851,300 |816,200 | 14.57} + 1919 | 57,673,938 |822,638 | 14.47} + 1920 | 55,961,140 | -- | -- +--------------------------------------------------------- + +It will be seen that for the year 1920 there was a big drop. The +population of 55,961,140 for the year 1920 is the actual population as +returned by the census; the figures of the preceding years are +"based," it is explained to me, "on the local registrars' entries. The +national census has demonstrated that the figures were larger than the +actual number of inhabitants, the discrepancies being partly due to +erroneous and duplicate registration and partly to the exodus of +persons to the colonies or foreign countries whilst retaining their +legal domiciles at home. But the table serves to show the rate of +increase." A million and three-quarters is a substantial figure, +however, to account for in this way. It would seem reasonable to +suppose that the increased cost of living, marriage at a later age +than formerly and increased mortality due directly or indirectly to +the factory system have arrested the rate of increase of the +population in recent years. For trustworthy figures of the Japanese +population we must await the next census and compare its figures with +those of the 1920 census, the first to be taken scientifically. + +A considerable part of Japan is uninhabitable. Of how much of the +British Isles can this be said? The fact that there are in Japan fifty +more or less active volcanoes, about a thousand hot springs and two +dozen mountains between 12,000 and 8,000 ft. high speaks for itself. +Ben Nevis is only 4,400, Snowdon only 3,500 ft. + +The population of Korea in 1920 (17,284,207) was 239 per square mile. +According to _Whitaker_ for 1921 the population of Manchuria (11 +millions) is 30 per square mile, and of Mongolia (3 millions) 2.8. + + +SMALL FARMS DECREASING [XXXI]. + +------------------------------------------------------ +Year |Below 5 |Over 5 |Over 5 |Over 2 |Over 3 |Over 5 + |_tan_ |_tan_ |_chō_ |_chō_ |_chō_ |_chō_ +------------------------------------------------------ +1908 |37.28 |32.61 |19.51 |6.44 |3.01 |1.15 +1912 |37.14 |33.25 |19.61 |5.96 |2.83 |1.21 +1918 |35.54 |33.30 |20.70 |6.33 |2.82 |1.31 +1919 |35.36 |33.18 |20.68 |6.21 |2.83 |1.74 +---------------------------------------------------- + +See also Appendix XLVII. + + +FORESTS [XXXII]. The following figures for 1918 show, in thousand +_chō_, the ownership of forests (bared tracts in brackets): Crown, +1,303 (89); State, 7,288 (392); prefectures, cities, towns and +villages, 2,894 (1,383); temples and shrines, 111 (15); 7,186 (1,630); +total, 18,782 (3,509). The largest yield is from sugi (cryptomeria), +pine and _hinoki_ (_Charmae-cyparis obtusa_). + + +ARMAMENTS [XXXIII]. 1,505 million yen of the national debt is for +armaments and military purposes against 923 million yen for +reproductive undertakings (railways, harbours, drainage, roads, +steelworks, mining, telephones, etc.), 143 million for exploitation of +Formosa, Korea and Saghalien, 123 million for financial adjustment +and 98 million for feudal pensions and feudal debt. Of the expenditure +for 1920-1, 846 million, some 395 million were for the army and navy. +During a period of 130 years the United States Government has spent +nearly four-fifths of its revenue on war or objects related to war. + + +LANDOWNING AND FARMING [XXXIV]. Before the Restoration the farmers +were the tenants of the daimyos' vassals, the samurai, or of the +daimyos direct. When the daimyos gave up their lands the Crown made +the farmers the owners of the land they occupied. Its legal value was +assessed and the national land tax was fixed at 3 per cent, and the +local tax at 1 per cent. Various adjustments have since taken place. + +The Japanese Constitutional Labour Party has insisted in a +communication to the International Labour Conference at Geneva that +Japanese tenant farmers are not properly called farmers but that they +are "labourers pure and simple." See Appendix LXXVI. + + +STATE RAILWAYS [XXXV]. The railways, which were nationalised in 1907, +extended in 1919 to 6,000 miles. There were also nearly 2,000 miles of +light railways (in addition to 1,368 of electric street cars). Most of +the lines are single track. The gauge is 3 ft. 6 in. The Government +has proposed gradually to electrify the whole system. + + +ILLEGITIMACY [XXXVI]. In Japan illegitimacy is a question not of +morals but of law. That is to say, it is a question of registration. +If a husband omits to register his marriage he is not legally married. +Thus it is possible for there to be born to a married pair a child +which is technically illegitimate. If the child should die at an early +age it is equally possible for it to appear on the official records as +illegitimate. A birth must be registered within a fortnight. It may be +thought perhaps that it is practicable for the father to register his +marriage after the birth of the child and within the time allowed for +registration. It is possible but it is not always easy. An application +for the registration of the marriage of a man under twenty-five must +bear the signature of his parents and the signature of two persons who +testify that the required consent has been regularly obtained. In the +event of a man's father having "retired," the signature of the head of +the family must be secured. If a man is over twenty-five, then the +signatures of his parents or of any two relatives will suffice. Now +suppose that a man is living at a distance from his birthplace or +suppose that the head of his family is travelling. Plainly, there may +be a difficulty in securing a certificate in time. Therefore, because, +as has been explained, no moral obloquy attaches to unregistered +marriage or to unregistered or legally illegitimate children, +registration is often put off. When a man removes from one place to +another and thereupon registers, it may be that his marriage and his +children may be illegitimate in one place and legitimate in another. +There is a difference between actual and legal domicile. A man may +have his domicile in Tokyo but his citizen rights in his native +village. + + +SAKÉ AND BEER [XXXVII]. Saké is sold in 1 or 2 _go_ bottles at from 10 +to 25 sen for 2 _go_. As it is cheaper to buy the liquor unbottled +most people have it brought home in the original brewery tub. There +are five sorts of _saké_: _seishu_ (refined), _dakushu_ (unrefined or +muddy), _shirozake_ (white _saké_), _mirin_ (sweet _saké_) and +_shōchū_ (distilled _saké_). _Saké_ may contain from 10 to 14 per +cent. of alcohol; _shōchū_ is stronger; _mirin_ has been described as +a liqueur. Japanese beers contain from 1 to 2 per cent. less alcohol +than English beers and only about a quarter of the alcohol in _saké_. +More than four-fifths of it is sold in bottles. Beer is replacing +_saké_ to some extent, but owing to the increase in the population of +Japan the total consumption of _saké_ (about 4,000,000 _koku_) remains +practically the same. In 1919 beer and _saké_ were exported to the +value of 7,200,000 and 4,500,000 yen respectively. + + +MINERAL PRODUCTION [XXXVIII]. In 1919 the production was as follows: +gold, 1,938,711 _momme_, value 9,681,494 yen; silver, 42,822,160 +_momme_, value 11,131,861 yen; copper, 130,737,861 _kin_, value +67,581,475 yen; iron, steel and iron pyrites, 169,545,050 _kwan_, the +value of the steel being 72,666,867 yen; coal, 31,271,093 metric tons, +value 442,540,941 yen. + + +JAPAN AS SILK PRODUCER [XXXIX], In exportation of silk, Japan, which +in 1919 had under sericulture 8.6 of her total cultivated area and +17.1 per cent, of her upland, passed Italy in 1901 and China in 1910. +Her exportation is now twice that of China. In production her total is +thrice that of Italy. France is a long way behind Italy. The +production of China is an unknown quantity. + +As to the advantages and drawbacks of Japan for sericulture the +Department of Agriculture wrote in 1921: "Japan is not favourably +placed, inasmuch as atmospheric changes are often very violent, and +the air becomes damp in the silk-culture seasons. This is especially +the case in the season of spring silkworms, for the cold is severe at +the beginning and the air becomes excessively damp as the rainy season +sets in. The intense heat in July and August, too, is very trying for +the summer and autumn breeds. Compared with France and Italy, Japan +seems to be heavily handicapped, but the abundance of mulberry leaves +all over the land and the comparatively rich margin of spare labour +among the farmers have proved great advantages." + +The length of the sericultural season ranges from 54 days in spring to +31 or 32 days in autumn, but there are variations according to +weather, methods and seed. The season begins with the incubation +period. Then follows the rearing. Last is the period in which the +caterpillars mount the little straw stacks provided for them in order +that they may wind themselves into cocoons. I do not enter into the +technics of the retardation and stimulation of seed in order to delay +or to hasten the hatch according to the movements of the market. +Hydrochloric and sulphuric-acid baths and electricity are used as +stimulants; storage in "wind holes" is practised to defer hatching. + +Cocoons are reckoned both by the _kwan_ of 8-1/4 lbs. and by the +_koku_ of approximately 5 bushels. The cocoon production in 1918 +worked out at about 16-1/2 bushels per acre of mulberry or 18 bushels +per family engaged in sericulture. About 34 million bushels of cocoons +are produced. In 1919 the production was 270,800,000 kilos. The +average production of a _tambu_ of mulberry field was 1.356 _koku_. In +1919 a _koku_ was worth on the average 106.81 yen (including double +and waste cocoons). The cost of producing cocoons rose from 4.105 yen +per _kwamme_ in 1916 to 11.284 yen in 1920. The daily wages of +labourers employed by the farmers rose from 62 sen for men and 47 sen +for women in 1910 to 1 yen 93 sen for men and 1 yen 44 sen for women +in 1920. With the slump, the price of cocoons fell below the cost of +production and there was trouble in several districts when wages were +due. The labourers engaged for the silk seasons of 1916 numbered +341,577, of whom 30,000 came from other than their employers' +prefectures. These people migrate from the early to the late districts +and so manage to provide themselves with work during a considerable +period. As many as 5-1/2 per cent, of the persons engaged in the +industry are labourers. Many employment agencies are engaged in +supplying labour. + +It has been estimated that the labour of 19.8 persons (200 per +hectare) is needed for a _tambu_ of mulberry field. The silkworms +hatched from a card of eggs (laid by 100 moths) are supposed to call +for the labour of 49.2 persons (1,456 per kilo, 2.204 lbs.) + +The production of _cocoons_ rose from 0.866 _koku_ per card in 1914 to +1.105 in 1918, or from 4,412,000 to 6,832,000. + +More than three-quarters of the raw silk produced used to be exported. +Now, with the increase of factories in Japan (the figures are for +1918), only 67 per cent, goes abroad, the bulk of it to the United +States, which obtained from Japan, in 1917-18, 75 per cent., and in +1919, it has been stated, 90 per cent, of its total supply. About 28 +per cent, of the world's consumption is supplied by Japan. Whereas in +1915 the output of raw silk was 5,460,000 _kwan_ valued at 217,746,000 +yen, it was in 1918 7,891,000 _kwan_ valued at 546,543,000 yen. While +in 1915-16 the percentage of Japanese exporters to foreign exporters +was 64-4, it had risen in 1919-20 to 77.5. Against 450 _chō_ of +mulberries in 1914 there were in 1918 508,993 _chō_. The total export +of raw silk and silk textiles to all countries in 1920 was 382 and 158 +million yen respectively. In 1919, 96 per cent. of the raw silk Japan +exported went to the United States and 46 out of 101 million yens' +worth of exported silk textiles (habutal). Japan's whole trade with +the United States is worth 880 million yen a year. But the proportion +of basins in the factories steadily increases. There are nearly five +thousand factories, big and little. A well-informed correspondent +writes to me: "You know of course of the big organisation subsidised +by the Government to control prices and not to make too much silk. The +truth is the silk interest became too powerful and the Government is +not a free agent." + + +TUBERCULOSIS [XL]. Phthisis and tuberculosis sweep off 22 per cent, +and bronchitis and inflammation of the lungs 18 per cent., or together +more than a third of the population. See also Appendix LXIX. + + +WOMEN WORKERS [XLI]. In addition to women and girls working in +agriculture, in the mines, in the factories and & trades there are +said to be 1,200,000 in business and the public services. Teachers +number about 52,000, nurses 33,000, midwives 28,000 and doctors 700. + + +FACTORY FOOD AND "DEFIANCE OF HYGIENIC RULES" [XLII]. Dr. Kuwata says +in the _Japan Year-book_ (1920-1) that "in cotton mills where +machinery is run day and night it is not uncommon when business is +brisk to put operatives to 18 hours' work. In such cases holidays are +given only fortnightly or are entirely withheld. The silk factories in +Naganoken generally put their operatives to 14 or 16 hours' work and +in only a small portion are the hours 13." + +Summarising a report of the Department of Agriculture and Commerce, he +says of the factory workers: "The bulk of workers are female and are +chiefly fed with boiled rice in 43 per cent. of the factories. In +other factories the staple food is poor, the rice being mixed with +cheaper barley, millet or sweet potato in the proportion of from 20 to +50 per cent. In most cases subsidiary dishes consist of vegetables, +meat or beans being supplied on an average only eight times a month. +Dormitories are in defiance of hygienic rules. In most cases only half +to 1 _tsubo_ (4 square yards) are allotted to one person." See also +Appendix LXIX. + + +CHINESE COMPETITION WITH JAPAN [XLIII]. The _Jiji_ called attention in +the spring of 1921 to the way in which spinning mills in China were an +increasing menace to Japanese industry. There were in China 810,000 +spindles under Chinese management, 250,000 under European and 340,000 +under Japanese, a total of 1,430,000, which will shortly be increased +to 1,150,000 against 3,000,000 in Japan only 1,800,000 of which are at +work. The 1919 return was: China, 1,530,000; Japan, 3,200,000. + + +HOODWINKING THE FOREIGNER [XLIV] In the _Manchester Guardian_ Japan +Number, June 9, 1921, the managing director of a leading spinning +company, in a page and a half article, states that among the reasons +why a large capitalisation is needed by Japanese factories, beyond the +fact of higher cost of machinery, is the "special protection needed +for Japanese operatives and the special consideration given by the +spinners to the happiness and welfare of their operatives." When will +Japanese believe their best friends when they tell them that such +attempts to hoodwink the foreigner achieve no result but to cover +themselves with ridicule? + + +TOBACCO [XLV]. In 1918-19 there was produced on 24,439 _chō_ +10,308,089 _kwan_ of tobacco. During the same period 9,681,274 _kwan_ +were taken by the Government, which paid 19,114,803 yen or 1.974 per +_kwan_. In 1919 there was imported leaf tobacco to the value of +5,288,918 yen. Cigarettes to the value of 589,744 yen were exported. +The profits of the Tobacco Monopoly, estimated at 71 millions for +1919-20, were estimated at 88 millions for 1920-1. + + +ELECTORAL OFFENCES [XLVI]. There were candidates at the 1920 election +who spent 50,000 yen. It is not uncommon for the number of persons +charged with election offences to reach four figures. The +qualification for a vote (law of 1918) is the payment of 3 yen of +national tax. Under the old law there were about 25 voters per 1,000 +inhabitants; now there are 54. + + +SMALLNESS OF ESTATES [XLVII]. The number of men holding from 5 to 10 +_chō_ was, in 1919, 121,141 and between 10 and 50 _chō_, 45,978. The +number holding 50 _chō_ (125 acres) and upwards was only 4,226, and +400 or so of these were in Hokkaido. See also Appendix XXXI. + + +VEGETABLE WAX MAKING [XLVIII]. The wax-tree berries are flailed and +then pounded. Next comes boiling. The mush obtained is put into a bag +and that bag into a wooden press. The result is wax in its first +state. A reboiling follows and then--the discovery of the method was +made by a wax manufacturer while washing his hands--a slow dropping of +the wax into water. What is taken out of the water is wax in a flaked +state. It is dried, melted and poured into moulds. The best berries +yield 13 per cent. of fine wax. The variety of wax grown was _oro_ +(yellow wax). There is another variety. The sort I saw is grafted at +three years with its own variety. The fruitful period lasts for a +quarter of a century. Roughly, the yield is 100 _kwan_ per _tan_. +Formerly, wax was made from wild trees. + + +NAMES FOR ETA [XLIX]. Eta (great defilement) is an offensive name. The +phrase _tokushu buraku_ (special villages), applied to Eta hamlets, is +also objected to. _Heimin_ is the official name, but the Eta are +generally termed _shin heimin_ (new common people), which is again +regarded as invidiously distinguishing them. The name _chihō_ is now +officially proposed for Eta villages. The fact that many Eta have +made large sums during the war has somewhat improved the position of +their class. Some Eta are well satisfied with their name and freely +acknowledge their origin. Year by year intermarriage increases in +Japan. A Home Department official has been quoted as saying that in +1918 as many as 450 marriages were registered between Eta and ordinary +Japanese. + +The population of the village I visited, 1,900 in 300 families, was +getting its living as follows: farming 682, trade 185, industry 31, +day labour 97, travelling players 180, not reported 180. The +Parliamentary voters were 10, prefectural 17, county 19 and village +57. There were 98 ex-soldiers in the community and one man was a +member of the local education committee. The birth rate was above the +local average. The crimes committed during the year were: theft 2, +gambling 2, assault 1, police offences 3. Of the 300 families only one +was destitute, and it had been taken care of by the young women's +society. + +A considerable proportion of the early emigrants to America were Eta. +It is now recognised that it was a short-sighted policy on the part of +the authorities to allow them to go. + + +PAPER MAKING [L]. A paper-making outfit may cost from 60 to 70 yen +only. The shrubs grown to produce bark for paper making are _kōzo_ +(the paper mulberry), _mitsumata_ (_Edgworthia chrysantha_) and +_gampi_ (_Wilkstroemia sikokiana_). Someone has also hit on the idea +of turning the bark of the ordinary mulberry to use in paper making. + + +LIBRARIES, THE PRESS AND THE CENSORSHIP [LI]. There are 1,200 +libraries in the country with 4 million books and 8 million visitors +in the year. About 47,000 books are published in a year, of which less +than half, probably, are original works. From one to two hundred are +translations, usually condensed translations. The largest number deal +with politics. There are about 3,000 newspapers and periodicals. In +1917 some 1,200 issues of newspapers and periodicals attracted the +attention of the censor and the sale of 600 books was prohibited. Some +sixty foreign books were stopped. + + +JAPANESE IN BRAZIL [LII]. Emigration to South America has latterly +been arrested through the rise in wages at home. During the past four +years an average of about 3,000 families has gone every twelve months +to Brazil, where about a quarter of a million acres are owned and +leased by Japanese. The Japanese Government spends 100,000 yen a year +on giving a grant of 50 yen to each emigrating family up to 2,000 in +number, through the Overseas Colonisation Company. The Brazilian +Government also offers a gratuity. + + +CATTLE KEEPING IN SOUTH-WESTERN JAPAN [LIII]. Tajima, the old province +which comprises about four counties in Tottori, is a large supplier of +"Kobe beef," but it is a cattle-feeding not a grazing district. The +number of cattle in Hyogo is double the cattle population of Tottori, +but no cattle keeper has more than a score of beasts. The usual thing +is for farmers to have two or three apiece. Some of the "Kobe beef" +comes from the prefectures of Hiroshima and Okayama. It is in the +north of Japan, where the people are not so thick on the ground and +cultivation is less intense, that cattle production has its best +chance. + + +VALUE OF LAND [LIV]. The value of land in the hill-village in which I +stayed necessarily varied, but the average price of paddy was given me +as 250 yen per _tan_. Dry land was half that. Open hill land, that is +the so-called grass land, might be worth 120 yen. The rise in values +which has taken place is illustrated by the following table of +farm-land values per _tan_ in 1919, published by the Bank of Japan: + +------------------------------------------------------------ + | Paddy | Upland +------------------------------------------------------------ + |Good |Ordinary|Bad |Good |Ordinary|Bad +------------------------------------------------------------ +Hokkaido |231 |158 |95 |115 |62 |26 + {North } |802 |579 |366 |477 |295 |170 +Honshu {Tokyo } |863 |607 |406 |673 |442 |272 +(main {middle} |1,226 |834 |523 |875 |565 |313 +island){west } |1,226 |840 |525 |727 |443 |244 +Shikoku |1,120 |784 |470 |752 |450 |225 +Kyushu |960 |652 |416 |538 |300 |175 +----------------------------------------------------------- + + +FRUIT PRODUCTION [LV]. The Japanese when they do not eat meat do not +feel the need of fruit which is experienced in the West. But there is +now a steady increase in the fruit crops. For 1918 the figures were +(in thousands of _kwan_): persimmons, 43,620; pears, 27,730; oranges, +73,660; peaches, 12,810; apples, 6,695; grapes, 6,240; plums (largely +used pickled), 6,190. + + +JAPANESE STUDENTS ABROAD [LVI]. During 1921 more than 200 young +professors or candidates for professorships were sent to Europe and +America by the Ministry of Education. Probably another 300 were +studying on funds (£450 for a year plus fares is the grant which is +made by the Ministry of Education) supplied by the Ministries of +Agriculture, of Railways and of the Army and Navy (often supplemented, +no doubt, by money furnished by their families). If to these students +are added those sent by independent Universities, institutions, +corporations and private firms, the total cannot be fewer than 1,000. +The students stay from six months to two or three years, and when they +return others take their places. Counting diplomatists, business men, +tourists and students there are, of course, more Japanese in Great +Britain than there are British in Japan. There are fifteen hundred +Japanese in London alone. + + +TEA PRODUCTION [LVII]. Every prefecture but Aomori produces some tea, +but very little is grown in the prefectures of the extreme north. The +largest producers are in order: Shidzuoka, Miye, Nara, Kyoto, +Kumamoto, Gifu, Kagoshima, Shiga, Saitama, Osaka and Ibariki. In 1919 +Shidzuoka produced 4 million _kwan_, valued at nearly 13 million yen. +But the statistics of tea production are unsatisfactory. Much tea is +produced and sold locally which is unreported. A great deal of this is +of inferior quality and produced from half-wild bushes. The 1919 +figures are: area, 48,843 _chō_; number of factories, 1,122,164; green +tea--_sencha_, 7,205,886 _kwan_; _bancha_, 2,580,035 _kwan; gyokuro_, +75,826 _kwan_; black, 50,756 _kwan_; others, 234,868 _kwan_; _sencha_ +dust, 249,862 _kwan_; other dust, 486 _kwan_. Total, 10,397,719 +_kwan_; value, 33,377,460 yen. There was exported green tea (pan +fired), 12,420,000 yen; green tea (basket fired), 4,575,000 yen; +others, 1,405,000 yen. Of this there went to the United States +consignments to the value of 15,600,000 yen and to Canada of 1,700,000 +yen. In 1918 the export to America was 50,000 tons; in 1919, 30,000; +and in 1920, 23,000; and a further decline is expected in 1921. The +total exports, which were, in 1909, 62 per cent, of the production, +were, in 1918, only 57 per cent, and, in 1919, 37 per cent. + + +THEINE PERCENTAGES.--The following percentages of theine in black and +green tea were furnished me by the Department of Agriculture: + +--------------------------------------------------- + |Green |Green |Black |Oolong + |(Basket Fired) |(Pan Fired) | | +--------------------------------------------------- +Theine |2.81 |2.22 |2.26 |2.35 +Tannin |15.08 |14.29 |7.32 |16.15 +--------------------------------------------------- + +Theine or caffeine is a feathery-looking substance which resembles +the material of a silk-worm's cocoon. There is more theine or caffeine +in tea leaves than in coffee. + + +MISTAKES IN CROP STATISTICS [LVIII]. Generally speaking, it may be +said that cereals are under-estimated and cocoons over-estimated. +Cereals may be 20 per cent. under-estimated. The under-estimation may +no doubt be traced back to the time when taxation was on the basis of +the grain yield. + + +OCCUPATIONS FOR THE BLIND [LIX]. A third of the 70,000 sightless are +_amma_, about a quarter as many practise acupuncture and the +application of the moxa, while nearly the same number are musicians or +storytellers. The blind have petitioned the Diet to restrict the +calling of _amma_ to men and women who have lost their sight. + + +WELL SINKING FOR GAS [LX]. The presence of gas, which is odourless, is +betrayed by the discoloration of the water from which it emanates and +by bubbles. + + +HEALTH, HEIGHTS AND WEIGHTS OF SCHOOL CHILDREN [LXI]. In 1917-18 the +constitutions of 1,193,000 elementary school boys were reported as 53 +per cent. robust, 48 per cent. medium and 4 per cent. weak. The +constitutions of 1,016,000 elementary school girls were reported 49 +per cent. robust, 48 per cent. medium and 3 per cent. weak. Just as +women are often underfed in Japan, girls may frequently be less well +fed than boys. Elementary school boys of 16 averaged 4.84 _shaku_ in +height and 10.85 _kwan_ in weight. The average height and weight of +512 elementary school girls of the same age were 4.71 _shaku_ and +10.83 _kwan_. + + +HEIGHT AND WEIGHT OF WRESTLERS [LXII]. In a list of ten famous +wrestlers the tallest is stated to be 6.30 _shaku_ (a _shaku_ is 11.93 +inches) and the heaviest as 33.2 _kwan_ (a _kwan_ is 8.267 lbs.). The +average height and weight of these men work out at 5.84 _shaku_ and +28.4 _kwan_. By way of comparison it may be mentioned that the +percentage of conscripts in 1918 over 5.5 _shaku_ was 2.58 per cent. +The average weight of Japanese is recorded as 13 _kwan_ 830 _momme_. + + +EXEMPTION FROM AND AVOIDANCE OF CONSCRIPTION [LXIII]. The age is 20 +and the service two years (with four years in reserve and ten years +depot service). The only son of a parent over 60 unable to support +himself or herself is released. Middle school boys' service is +postponed till they are 25. Students at higher schools and +universities need not serve till 26 or 27. The service of young men +abroad (i.e. elsewhere than China) is similarly postponed. (If still +abroad at 37, they are entered in territorial army list and exempted.) +Young men of education equal to that of middle-school graduates can +volunteer for a year and pay 100 yen barracks expenses and be passed +out with the rank of non-commissioned officers and be liable +thereafter for only two terms of three months in territorial army. +There are about half a million youths liable to conscription annually. +To this number is to be added about 100,000 postponed cases. (In 1917, +47,324 students, 32,263 abroad, 15,920 whereabouts unknown, 5,069 ill, +3,147 criminal causes, 2,477 absentees, family reasons or crime.) +Evasions in 1917: convicted, 234; suspected, 1,582. There are two +conscription insurance companies with policies issued for 69 million +yen. In one place charms against being conscripted are sold--at a +shrine. Desertions in 1916 (7 per cent, officers) 956, of which 258 +received more than "light punishment." The conscripts suffering from +trachoma were 15.3 per cent. and from venereal diseases 2.2 per cent. +Heights (1918): under 5 _shaku_, 10.95 per cent.; 5-5.3 _shaku_, 53.34 +per cent.; 5.3-5.5 _shaku_, 33.13 per cent.; above 5.5 _shaku_, 2.58 +per cent. In these four classes there was a decrease in height in the +first two of .39 per cent. and .57 per cent. respectively and an +increase in the second two of .80 per cent. and 15 per cent. +respectively. + + +HOKKAIDO HOLDINGS [LXIV]. There are only 28 holdings of more than +1,000 _chō_, 62 of over 500 _chō_, 161 over 100 _chō_ and 80 over 50 +_chō_. These large holdings are used for cattle breeding alone. There +are no more than 620 holdings over 20 _chō_ and only 6,756 over 10. +The number over 5 _chō_ is 51,877, and over 2 _chō_ 62,015. Under the +area of 2 _chō_ there are as many as 40,928. Few of the largest +holdings are worked as single farms. They are let in sections to +tenants. + + +CLAUSES IN A TENANT'S CONTRACT [LXV]. (1) The tenant must make at +least 1 _chō_ of paddy every year. (2) Rent rice must be the best of +the harvest, but the tenant may pay in money. (3) In the following +cases the owner will give orders to the tenants: (_a_) If tenants do +not use enough manure, (_b_) If there is disease of plants or insect +pests, (_c_) If the tenant neglects to mend the road or other +necessary work is neglected. (4) The owner will dismiss a tenant: +(_a_) If the tenant does not pay his rent without reason, (_b_) If +the tenant is neglectful of his work or is idle, (_c_) If the tenant +is not obedient to the owner and does not keep this contract +faithfully. (_d_) If the tenant is punished by the law. (5) When +tenants leave without permission of absence more than twenty days the +owner can treat as he will crops or buildings. (6) In the following +cases the tenant must provide two labourers to the owner: mending +road, drainage canal or bridges; mending water gate and irrigation +canal; when necessary public works must be undertaken. + + +CULTIVATED AREA AND LIVESTOCK [LXVI]. The area of cultivated land in +Japan (counting paddy and arable) was, in 1919, 15,179,721 acres +(6,071,888 _chō_). The number of animals kept for tillage purposes was +1,199,970 horses and 1,036,020 homed cattle. The total number of +horses in the country was only 1,510,626 and of horned cattle, +excluding 207,891 returned as "calving" and 12,761 as "deaths," +1,307,120. Sheep, 4,546; goats, 91,777; swine, 398,155. The number of +horned cattle slaughtered in the year was 226,108. Some 86,800 horses +were also slaughtered. In Great Britain (arable, pasture and grazing +area, 63 million acres) there were, in 1919, 11 million cattle, 25 +million sheep, 3 million pigs and 1-3/4 million horses. + + +EGGS AND POULTRY [LXVII]. Even with the assistance of a tariff on +Chinese eggs and of a Government poultry yard, which distributes birds +and sittings at cost price, there were in 1919 14,105,085 fowls and +11,278,783 chickens. There was an importation of 3-1/2 million "fresh" +eggs. + + +MEAT CONSUMPTION [LXVIII]. The present meat consumption by Japanese is +uncertain, for there were in 1920[A] 3,579 foreign residents and +22,104 visitors, and there is an exportation of ham and tinned and +potted foods. The number of animals slaughtered in 1918 was: cattle +and calves, 226,108; horses, 86,800; sheep and goats, 9,587; swine, +327,074. Someone said to me that "the nutritious flesh of the horse +should not be neglected, for the farmer is able to digest tough food." + +[Footnote A: In 1921 as many as 24,000 foreigners landed in nine months.] + + +TUBERCULOSIS IN THE MILLS [LXIX]. When we remember early and +mid-Victorian conditions in English mills and the conditions of the +sweat shops in New York and other American cities (vide "Susan +Lenox"), we shall be less inclined to take a harsh view of industrial +Japan during a period of transition. But it is to the interest of the +woollen industry no less than that of its workers that the fact should +be stated that a competent authority has alleged that 50 per cent. of +the employees in the mills suffer from consumption and that many girls +sleep ten in a room of only ten-mat size. Improvements have been made +lately under the influence of legislation and enlightened +self-interest--the president of the largest company is a man of +foresight and public spirit--but when I was in Japan, as I recorded in +the _New East_ at the time, girls of 13 and 14 were working 11-hour +day and night shifts in some mills. + + +WOOLLEN FACTORIES [LXX]. In the Japanese woollen factory the cost of +the hands is low individually, but expensive collectively. An expert +suggested that it takes half a dozen of the unskilled girls to do the +work of an English mill-girl. It is much the same with male labour. +"An English worker may be expected to produce work equal to the output +of four Japanese hands." Labour for heads of departments is also +difficult to get. There are textile schools and probably a hundred men +are graduated yearly. But the men are not all fitted for the jobs +which are vacant. Therefore, one finds a man acting as an engineer +who, because of his lack of technical experience, is unable to +exercise sufficient control over the men in his charge. A curiosity of +the industry is the high wages which many men of this sort command. +They are really being paid better for inferior work than skilled men +in England. The capital of the factories in 1918 was 46-1/2 million +yen with 32-3/4 million paid up. Before the War the companies made 8 +per cent, as against the 2-1/2 per cent, which contents the English +manufacturer, who has often side lines to help his profits. There was +more than 100 million yen invested in the woollen textile business, +manufacturing and retail. The industry did well during the War by +supplies of cloth to Russia and of yarn and muslin to countries which +ordinarily are able to supply themselves. In 1918 the production +(woollen fabrics and mixtures) was valued at 85 million yen (muslin, +32; cloth, 21; serges, 19; blankets, 3; flannel, 1; others, 8). The +imports of wool were 60 million and of yarn 251,000. In 1919 the +figures were 61 million and 710,000 respectively. In 1920 the exports +were: woollen or worsted yarns, 1,437,926 yen; woollen cloth and +serges, 3,019,382 yen; blankets, 1,024,540 yen; other woollens, +548,922 yen. The Nippon Wool Weaving Company, which in 1921 +distributed a 20 per cent, ordinary and 20 per cent. extraordinary +dividend, has 15 foreign experts. + + +POPULATION OF HOKKAIDO [LXXI]. In 1869, 58,467; has risen as follows: + +Year Population + +1874 174,368 +1884 276,414 +1894 616,650 +1904 1,233,669 +1914 1,869,582 +1919 2,137,700 +1920 2,359,097 + + +EXTENSION OF CROP-BEARING AREA OF JAPAN [LXXII]. There is normally +added to the crop-bearing area about 53,000 _chō_ (132,000 acres) a +year. From the new crop-bearing area every year is deducted the loss +of arable land from floods, the extension of cities and towns and +railways and the building of factories and institutions. This is +reckoned at nearly 8,000 _chō_ in the year. One computation is that +there are 2 million _chō_ (5 million acres) available for addition to +the crop-bearing area, of which 1 million _chō_ would be convertible +into paddies. A decision was taken by the Government in 1919 to bring +250,000 _chō_ under cultivation within nine years from that date, and +by 1920 some 20,000 _chō_ had been reclaimed. Persons who reclaim more +than 5 _chō_ receive 6 per cent, of their expenditure. + +The increase in the area of cultivation has been as follows (in +_chō_): + +|Year |Paddy |Upland Farm |Total | +-------------------------------------------------- +|1905 |2,841,471 |2,540,906 |5,382,378 | +|1906 |2,849,288 |2,551,170 |5,400,459 | +|1907 |2,858,628 |2,639,680 |5,498,309 | +|1908 |2,882,426 |2,684,531 |5,566,958 | +|1909 |2,902,899 |2,777,453 |5,680,352 | +|1910 |2,910,970 |2,804,434 |5,715,405 | +|1911 |2,923,520 |2,836,002 |5,759,522 | +|1912 |2,939,445 |2,880,301 |5,819,756 | +|1913 |2,953,947 |2,902,445 |5,856,392 | +|1914 |2,961,639 |2,916,569 |5,878,208 | +|1915 |2,974,042 |2,948,075 |5,922,118 | +|1916 |2,987,579 |2,971,800 |5,959,379 | +|1917 |3,005,679 |3,012,685 |6,018,364 | +|1918 |3,011,000 |3,070,000 |6,081,000 | +|1919 |3,021,879 |3,050,008 |6,071,887 | + +Whereas the percentage of cultivated land to uncultivated was in 1909 +14.6 per cent., it was in 1918 15.6 per cent. + + +USE TO WHICH THE LAND IS PUT [LXXIII]. Here are the details of the +division of the land in 1909 and 1918: + +Division of the Land | Years | Area in _chō_ | Percentage of + | | in 000 's | Total Area +------------------------|--------|----------------|-------------- +Total area | 1909 | 38,847 | 100.0 + | 1918 | 38,864 | 100.0 + | | | +Paddy fields | 1909 | 2,903 | 7.5 + | 1918 | 3,011 | 7.7 + | | | +Upland fields | 1909 | 2,777 | 7.1 + | | 3,070 | 7.9 + | | | +Total arable as above | 1909 | 5,680 | 14.6 + | 1918 | 6,081 | 15.6 + | | | +Meadows and pastures | 1909 | 39 | 0.1 + | 1918 | 43 | 0.1 + | | | +Grass lands and heather | 1909 | 1,941 | 5.0 +(excluding pastures) | 1918 | 3,509 | 9.0 + | | | +Forests | 1909 | 22,072 | 56.8 + | 1918 | 18,783 | 48.3 + | | | +Dwellings, factories, | 1909 | 9,115 | 23.5 +roads, railways, | 1918 | 10,448 | 27.0 +institutions, etc. | | | +------------------------|--------|----------------|-------------- + + + +Crop | Chō | Yield +----------------------------------------------------------- +Rice (1919) | 3,104,611 | 60,818,163 _koku_; + | | value, 2,891,397,063 yen + | | +Mulberry (1918) | 508,993 | 6,832,000 _koku_; + | | raw silk, 7,891,000 _kwan_; + | | value, 546,543,000 yen + | | +Tea (1919) | 48,843 | 10,397,719 _kwan_ + | | value, 33,377,460 yen + | | +Barley (1919) | 534,279 | 9,664,000 _koku_ + | | +Naked Barley (1919) | 646,362 | 7,995,000 _koku_ + | | +Wheat (1919) | 548,508 | 5,611,000 _koku_ + | | +Soy Bean (1918) | 432,207 | 3,451,320 _koku_ + | | +Other Beans (1918) | -- | 1,237,000 _koku_ + | | +Peas (1918) | -- | 536,000 _koku_ + | | +Millets (1918) | -- | 2,903,000 _koku_ + | | +Buckwheat (1918) | 136,313 | 852,000 _koku_ + | | +Sweet Potato (1918) | 314,012 | 918,328,000 _kwan_ + | | +Irish Potato (1918) | 132,090 | 323,930,000 _kwan_ + | | +Rape Seed (1918) | 116,300 | 856,880 _kwan_ + | | +Sugar Cane (1918) | 29,367 | 316,745,596 _kwan_ + | | +Indigo (1918) | 5,570 | 2,717,757 _kwan_ + | | +Hemp (1918) | 11,821 | 2,564,114 _kwan_ + | | +Cotton (1918) | 2,930 | 681,021 _kwan_ +----------------------------------------------------------- + +Radish (1917), 576,746,000 _kwan_; taro (1917), 159,168,000 _kwan_; +burdock (1917), 43,424,000 _kwan_; turnip (1917), 41,527,000 _kwan_; +onion (1917), 37,601,000 _kwan_; carrot (1917), 26,976,000 _kwan_; +cabbage (1917); 19,951,000 _kwan_; wax-tree seed (1918), 13,761,000 +_kwan_; rush for matting, (1918), 10,442,000 _kwan_; flax (1918), +17,300,000 _kwan_; ginger (1918), 8,189,000 _kwan_; paper mulberry +(1918), 6,964,000 _kwan_; peppermint (1918), 3,380,000 _kwan_; lily +(1917), 682,000 _kwan_; chillies (1918), 441,000 _kwan_. + + +EMIGRANTS AND RESIDENTS ABROAD (LXXIV). The latest official figures as +to Japanese resident abroad, supplied in 1921 and probably gathered in +1920, are: + + Asia +China 200,740 +Kwantung 79,307 +Tsingtao 23,555 +Philippines 11,156 +Strait Settlements 10,828 +Russian Asia 7,028 +Dutch India 4,436 +Hongkong 3,083 +India 1,278 +Burma 680 +Indo-China 371 + + Europe +England 1,638 +Germany 409 +Holland 375 +France 342 +Switzerland 87 +Italy 34 +Belgium 12 +Sweden 10 + + North America +U.S.A. 115,186 +Hawaii 112,221 +Canada 17,716 +Mexico 2,198 +Panama 225 + + South America +Brazil 34,258 +Peru 10,102 +Argentine 1,958 +Chile 484 +Bolivia 145 + + Africa +South Africa 38 +Egypt 35 + + Oceania +Australia 5,274 +South Seas 3,399 + +Total 648,915 + +(The comparable return for 1918 was 493,845.) It has been suggested +that these official statistics are incomplete; 7,000 as the number of +Japanese in Russian territory seems low. Even during the War, in 1917, +passports were issued to 62,000 Japanese going abroad. Of these, +according to the _Japan Year-book_, 23,000 were made out for Siberia. +Professor Shiga has stated that "no small number" of Japanese leave +their country as stowaways. + + +RISE IN PRODUCTION PER "TAN" OF PADDY [LXXV]. The 3 or 4 _koku_ is +reached in favourable circumstances only. The average is far below +this, but it rises, as shown in Appendix XV. + +Between 1887 and 1915 the area under barley and wheat rose from +1,591,000 _chō_ to 1,812,000 _chō_, the yield from 15,822,000 _koku_ +to 23,781,000 _koku_ and the yield per _tan_ from .994 _koku_ to +1.313. Between 1882 and 1914 the increase in the crops of the three +varieties of millet averaged .515 _koku_ per _tan_. The increased +yield of soy beans was .229 _koku_ per _tan_, of sweet potatoes 138 +_kwamme_ per _tan_ and of Irish potatoes 138 _kwamme_. + + +LABOURERS [LXXVI]. When hired labour is required on farms it is +supplied either by relatives and neighbours or by the surplus labour +of strangers who are small farmers or members of a small farmer's +family. According to the Department of Agriculture: "Ordinary fixed +employees are upon an equal social footing. Apprentice labourers are +very numerous. No working class holds a special social position as +such. This is the greatest point of difference between the Japanese +agricultural labour situation and that of Europe." The number of +labourers in October 1920 was: + + | Day | Seasonal| All the + | | |year round| Total +---------------------------|-----------|---------|----------|--------- +Labourers living { male | 119,676 | 52,007 | 49,110 | 220,793 +solely on wages, { female | 80,870 | 42,193 | 23,862 | 146,925 +agricultural and { | | | | +other { | 200,546 | 94,200 | 72,972 | 367,718 + | | | | + | | | | +Labourers who are { male | 949,266 | 407,596 | 188,369 | 1,546,231 +labourers part { female | 646,720 | 405,131 | 116,152 | 1,168,003 +of their time | | | | + | 1,595,986 | 813,727 | 304,521 | 2,714,234 + | | | | + Total . . . . . | 1,796,532 | 907,927 | 377,493 | 3,081,952 +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +In addition to the total of 3,081,952 "there are 32,973 agricultural +labourers who are boys and girls under 14." + + +DECREASE OF FARMERS TILLING THEIR OWN LAND [LXXVII]. In 1914 the +number of farmers owning their own land was 1,731,247; in 1919 it had +fallen to 1,700,747. In 1914 the number of tenants was 1,520,476; in +1919 it had increased to 1,545,639. That is, there were 30,500 fewer +landowners and 25,163 more tenants. During the period between 1914 and +1919 the number of farmers (landowners and tenants) increased 30,293. +While from 1909 to 1914 the percentage of landowners fell from 33.27 +to 31.73, the percentage of tenant farmers rose from 27.69 to 27.87 +and the percentage of persons partly owner and partly tenant from +39.04 to 40.40. See Appendix XXXIV. + + +RURAL AND URBAN POPULATIONS [LXXVIII]. The following table shows the +percentage of the population living in communes under 5,000 and 10,000 +inhabitants in 1913 and 1918: + + Year | Percentage of Population living in | Percentage of Families + | Communities | engaged in Agricultural + |------------------------------------| to Total Families in + | under 5,000 | under 10,000 | Japan Proper +------|---------------|--------------------|------------------------ + 1913 | 50.44 | 72.39 | 57.6 + 1918 | 46.23 | 67.71 | 52.3 +------|---------------|--------------------|------------------------ + | -4.21 | -4.68 | -5.3 +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + +These figures clearly indicate the decrease of the rural population. +To take 10,000 inhabitants as the demarcation line between urban and +rural population is probably less correct than to take a demarcation +line of 7,500 inhabitants. A mean of the two percentages of +populations living in communities under 5,000 and under 10,000 +inhabitants shows 61.41 per cent, in 1913 and 56.97 per cent, in 1918, +a decrease of 4.44 per cent. The variation between this result and the +preceding one has a simple explanation. About 30 per cent, of the +families engaged in agriculture carry on their farming as an accessory +business. Teachers, priests and mechanics may all have patches of +land. On the other hand, a small number of people have no land. +Therefore, the percentage of the rural population is only slightly +higher than that of the families engaged in agriculture. In 1918 there +were 5,476,784 farming families (to 10,460,440 total families or 52.3 +per cent.), and if we multiply by 5-1/3--the average number of persons +per family in Japan is 5.317 (1918)--to find the population dependent +on agriculture, the number is 29,209,514. The total population of +Japan in 1918 was 55,667,711. The Department of Agriculture has stated +that on the basis of the census of 1918 the number of persons in +households engaged in agriculture was 52 per cent. of the population. +According to one set of statistics the percentage of farming families +to non-farming families fell from 64 per cent, in 1904 to 60.3 per +cent. in 1910 and 56 in 1914. We shall probably not be far wrong in +supposing the rural population to be at present about 55 per cent, of +the population. The percentage of persons actually working on the +farms is another matter. As has been seen, some 30 per cent, of the +5-1/2 million farming families are engaged in agriculture as a +secondary business only. It may be, therefore, that the 5-1/2 million +families do not actually yield more than 10 million effective farm +hands. + + +IS RICE THE RIGHT CROP FOR JAPAN [LXXIX]. Mr. Katsuro Hara, of the +College of Literature, Kyoto University, asks, "Is Japan specially +adapted for the production of rice?" and answers: "Southern Japan is +of course not unfit. But rice does not conform to the climate of +northern Japan. This explains the reason why there have been repeated +famines. By the choice of this uncertain kind of crop as the principal +foodstuff the Japanese have been obliged to acquiesce in a +comparatively enhanced cost of living. The tardiness of civilisation +may be perhaps partly attributed to this fact. Why did our forefathers +prefer rice to other cereals? Was a choice made in Japan? If the +choice was made in this country the unwisdom of the choice and of the +choosers is now very patent." + +Along with this expression of opinion may be set the following +figures, showing the total production of rice and of other grain crops +during the past six years, in thousands of _koku_: + +---------|----------|---------------|--------|-------------|-------- + Year | Barley | Naked Barley | Wheat | Barley and | Rice + | | | | Wheat | +---------|----------|---------------|--------|-------------|-------- + 1915 | 10,253 | 8,296 | 5,231 | 23,781 | 55,924 + 1916 | 9,559 | 7,921 | 5,869 | 23,350 | 58,442 + 1917 | 9,169 | 8,197 | 6,786 | 24,155 | 54,658 + 1918 | 8,368 | 7,777 | 6,431 | 22,576 | 54,699 + 1919 | 9,664 | 7,995 | 5,611 | 23,271 | 60,818 +---------|----------|---------------|--------|-------------|-------- + +From 1910 to 1919 the areas under barleys and wheat were, in _chō_, +1,771,655-1,729,148, and under rice 2,949,440-3,104,611. + + +INNER COLONISATION _v_. FOREIGN EXPANSION [LXXX]. _An Introduction to +the History of Japan_ (1921), written by an Imperial University +professor and published by the Yamato Society, the members of which +include some of the most distinguished men in Japan, says: "It is +doubtful whether the backwardness of the north can be solely +attributed to its climatic inferiority. Even in the depth of winter +the cold in the northern provinces cannot be said to be more +unbearable than that of the Scandinavian countries or of north-eastern +Germany. The principal cause of the retardation of progress in +northern Japan lies rather in the fact that it is comparatively +recently exploited.... The northern provinces might have become far +more populous, civilised and prosperous than we see them now. +Unfortunately for the north, just at the most critical time in its +development the attention of the nation was compelled to turn from +inner colonisation to foreign relations. The subsequent acquisition of +dominions oversea made the nation still more indifferent." + +According to a report of the Hokkaido Government in 1921, the number +of immigrants during the latest three year period was 90,000, and one +and a half million acres are available for cultivation and +improvement. + + +AGRICULTURE _v_. COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY [LXXXI]. There is supposed to +be more money invested in land than in commerce or industry. +Comprehensive figures of a trustworthy kind establishing the relative +importance of agriculture, commerce and industry are not readily +obtained. "This is a question," writes a Japanese professor of +agriculture to me, "which we should like to study very much." +Industrial and commercial figures at the end of and immediately after +the War are not of much use because of the inflation of that period. +The annual value of agricultural production before the War was about +1,800 million yen; it must be by now about 2,500 or 3,000. In 1912, +according to the Department of Finance, the debt of the agricultural +population was 740 million yen. In 1916 the Japan Mortgage Bank and +the prefectural agricultural and industrial banks had together +advanced to agricultural organisations 110 millions and to other +borrowers 273 millions. In 1915 co-operative credit associations had +advanced 45 millions to farmers and 11 millions to other borrowers. +The paid-up capital of companies, was, in 1913, 1,983 million, of +which 27 million was agricultural, and in 1916, 2,434 million, of +which 31 million was agricultural. The reserves were, in 1913, 542 +million, of which 1 million was agricultural, and in 1916, 841 +million, of which 3 were agricultural. (For some reason or other, +"fishing" is included under "agricultural." On careful dissection I +find that of the 45 million of investments credited to agriculture in +1918, only 28 million are purely agricultural.) The land tax is +estimated to yield 73 million yen in 1920-1. It is 2-1/2 per cent. on +residential land, 4.5 per cent. on paddy and cultivated land--3.2 per +cent, in Hokkaido--and 5.5 per cent. on other land--4 per cent. in +Hokkaido. + + + + +INDEX + + +_This Index may be regarded as a Glossary inasmuch as every Japanese +word which occurs in the book will be found in it. The meaning is +usually given on the page the number of which comes first._ + +132 (2) _signifies that there are two references on page 132 to the +subject indexed._ + +_Such subjects as Agriculture, Hokkaido, Labour, Paddies, Rice and +Sericulture are indexed at length, but some matters which relate to +them and are of general interest appear in the body of the Index._ + +Abbot and Ronin 333 + +Abiko 105 + +Ability 66 + +Abortion 65, 303; + Abortifacient 332 + +Abroad, first, 235 + +Accommodation with the West 363 + +Acreage, see Agriculture + +Acting 115 (2), 320 + +Adjustment 85, 186, 194, 197, 210, 232, 365, 370, 380; + Cost 72; + Cottages 72; + Graves 72; + Method and Results 71-2; + Statistics 72 + +Admonition, see Police, 54 + +Adoption 21, 328 + +Adulteration 356 + +Æ 99, 321 + +Aerated waters 119 + +Aeroplanes 31 + +Aestheticism 203 + +Affection, Question by a Japanese, 144 + +Affinity 272 + +Afforestation, see Deforestation, + Floods, Tree planting; 23, 92-3, 97, 152, 177, 194, 197, 228, 233, + 240, 260, 318, 370 + +Africa 410 + +Agriculture, see Adjustment, Animals under different names, Area, + Cattle, Crops under different names, Cultivation, Farmers, Grain, + Hokkaido, Implements under different names, Land new, Land available, + Land utilised, Manure, Milk, Paddies, Peasant Proprietors, Tenants, + Tools, Rice and other crops, Sericulture, Upland; + Advantages 365, 367; + Accessory business 412; + American, proposed study of, vii; + Arable 409, (British) 385; + Areas 394, 400, + quarter acre 89, + one and a quarter acre to five acres 89, + two 210, + two and a half 9, 284, + three 10, + five 284, + seven and a half 89, 373, + ten 10, + twelve and a half 207, + fifteen 10, + twenty-five 213, + one _tan_ 232, + five 184, + six 302, + eight 304, 383, + twelve 270, + fifteen and a half 373, + one _chō_ 220, 304, 377 (3), 379, 380, 385, + one and a half 379, + two 380, + two and a half, + see Hokkaido, + three 373, 380, + four 10, + four to four and a half 338, + four to five 207, + five 310, 337-8, + seven 10, 338, 373, + eight 310, 373, + ten 28, + ten to fifteen 28, 338, + thirty 338, + sixty-two 374; + Associations against landlords 88; + v. Armaments 93, 359; + an Author on viii; + Based on rice 343; + Basis of nation ix, 92; + Calendar of operations 136; + Compared with British 390; + Capitalisation 368-9; + College 195; + Criticism of 362, 365, (backbreaking) 75; + v. Commerce and industry 180, 414; + Commercial side 65; + Company 207; + Consolidation of holdings 364; + Crop statistics errors 404; + "Encourager" 176; + Experiment station 158, 176-7, 207, 370; + Experts 207, 283, (respect for) 54; + Foundation and means to an end ix, 27; + Foreign 365, 367; + v. "Foreign relations" 414; + and Family system 330; + Faults of 65; + like Gardening 307; + God of 145; + Goddess of 312; + Helpful 180; + Holdings, Consolidation of 368; + How to teach 27; + Grazing 240, (British) 385; + Hydraulic engineering 149; + Industry and Commerce 284; + Implements 268; + Improvement, Principles of 370; + Land, how used, 408; + Machinery 365, 367-8-9; + in praise of 10; + Methods 208; + Limitations imposed on 365 (2), 367; + Merits 365; + National Agricultural Society 378; + Night work 359; + Number of families engaged in 412; + Relations to national welfare 369, 370-1; + Pasture 111, 409, (British) 385; + Petite Culture 346; + Production not final aim 367; + Profitable 232, 373; + Progress 261; + Remedies 368-9, 370; + Revolutionising 367; + and Religion 231; + Schools, see Schools, 176, 375; + Shortcomings 365; + Strikes 88; + Students not leaving land 285; + Subsistence provided by 365; + Small farms decreasing 394; + Tenants' Movement, see Landlords; + Without rice 381 (2) + +Aichi 1-67, 84, 345 + +"Aiming at being Distinguished" 124 + +Ainu x, 25 + +Akagi 315 + +Akita 189, 190, 193 + +Alimentary tract, 348, 351 + +Allah 98 + +"All family smiling" 137 + +Alpinist 290 + +Alps, 127, 152, 262 + +_Amado_ 277 + +"A man's a man," etc. 95 + +_Amé_ 191 + +America, + see Hokkaido, 137, 141, 288, 290, 363 (2); + Rice culture 365-6 + +_Amida_ xxx, 129 + +_Amma_ 108, 133 + +Ammonia water 177, 251 + +Amphibious labour 358 + +Amusements, see Farmers, 180, 287, 374, 378 + +Ancestors 19, 26, 33, 38 (3), 58, 61, 67, 94, 178 + +Anchors 211 + +Angelo, Michael, 103 + +Angling 245 + +Anglo-Japanese Alliance xv; + Anglo-Saxons 203 + +Animals + Bird artists 344; + Buddhism and 59; + Food, see Meat, 349; + Industry 346, 348; + Knack of looking after 343; + Liking for 221, 343; + Power 365, 370; + Tillage 406 + +Anjo 57 + +Anniversaries 50 + +Antelopes 110 + +Anti-Landlord movement 37, 88 + +Ants 47 + +Aomori 189, 194, 195, 334, 354, 391 + +Aoyama 66 + +"A plain householder" 150 + +Apostle and artist 90 + +Appetiser 268 + +Apples, see Hokkaido, 194, 289, 402 + +Appointments 125; + Tax 21 + +Apprentices 411 + +Apricots 289 + +Aqueduct 64 + +Archery 39, 40, 159 + +Architecture 198 + +Ardour 124 + +Area 65, 390; + and Habitable compared with other countries 385, 392; + per Family 42, 89 (2) + +Armaments 93, 97, 394; + U.S. expenditure 394 + +Armour 36, 40 + +Arm rest 246, 319 + +Army 202, 346, 350, 360 (2), 403; + Discipline 361; + and Farmer ix; + Officers and Agriculture 362; + Railway service 297 + +Arnold, Matthew, 24, 272 + +Arrests postponed 280 + +Arson 56, 280, 282 + +Art 99, 214, 369; + Degenerated 99; + and Farmer ix; + Hills in 120; + Korean 103; + Influence of Western 103-4; + Artists 99, 100; + Sketches at festivals 193; + Artistry 317; + Artistic treasures 369; + Artistic world 102-3-4-5, 328 + +Artificials, see Manure + +Artisans 317; + with land and houses 268; + see Farmers + +"_Asahi_" 90, 109 + +Asama, Mt., 143 + +Asceticism 101 + +Asia, see West and East, 202; + Residents in 410; + Asiatic Mainland 351, 363; + Asiatic Society of Japan 364 + "Aspiring" young men 135 + +Assaults 282 + +Assentation 14 + +Associations against Landlords 88; + for Economical agricultural Students 176; + Spirit of 16 + +"At twenty I found" 150 + +Athletics, + see under different names, 159 + +Attempts to deceive the West 174 + +Attitude + for foreign student 254; + of world, 371; + to something higher; + see Materialism, Spirituality + +Attorney-General, 345 + +Audience, 24 + +Australia, 127, 352-3, 363 (2), 388; + Might have possessed, 363 + +Author + Attitude towards Japan, xii; + before domestic shrine, 33; + Carried, 308; + Chats in trains, 176; + "Fortune", 138; + First Englishman in place, 126; + Governor and, 84; + on Hearn, 254; + Some Conclusions, see Hokkaido, 369; + and Police, 53; + Reception at Shinto Shrine, 45; + Shinto address to, 46; + Speeches, 6, 26, 31, 254; + Tree planting, 45; + Welcome, 22; + at Wrestling match, 297 + +Authority + Disobedience to, 285; + Power going, 330 + +Autobiography of a Farmer-Egotist, 61 + +Autographs, 38, 324 + +Automobile, see Chauffeur, 205 + +Autumn, 214 + +"Average workers", 62, 377 + +Awakening, 324 + +Axholme, Isle of, 71 + +_Aza_ xxv, 15, 16, 262, 315 + +Azaleas, 316 + + +Babies, 285 + +Backbreaking, 75, 208 + +Back to the Land, 88 + +Backwardness of North, + see Japan, Northern + +Bacon, 347 + +Bacon, Lord, xii, 309 + +Bactericides, 60 + +"Bad tea has its tolerable," etc., 123 + +Bag and string, 312 + +Balls, Black and red, 19 + +Bamboo, 48, 318, 244, 248; + Grass, 70, 108, 352, 368; + and Mice, 108; + Rate of growth, 242; + Shoots, 136; + Work, 248 + +_Bancha_, 294, 403 + +Bankruptcy, 138 + +Banks, 205, 303, 402, 414 + +Banqueting, 357 + +_Banzai_, 43 + +Barbers, 224, 267 + +Barefoot, 64 + +Bark strips, 190 + +Barley, 146, 175, 196, 307, 313 (3), 349, 351, 386, 389, 391, 409, 410; + Big crop, 313; + Husking, 389; + Naked, 409; + with and without Rice, 47, 80, 85, 383, 387; + Production compared with Wheat, 413 + +Barons x, 204 + +Barriers ix, 104 + +Barter, 122 + +Barton, Sir E., 9 + +_Basha_, see Hokkaido, 244; + story, 217 + +Baskets, 177, 215 + +Baths x, 17, 50, 82, 109, 112, 116-7, 190, 203, 215, 256, 277, 314, 354; + "A moral bath", 94; + Bathing, 125, 152, 186 + +Battleship, 235 + +Bayonets, Imitation, 282 + +Bazin René, 141 + +Beans, see Soya, 147, 199, 307, 383, 409; + Cake, 386 + +Beardsley, Aubrey, 98, 103 + +Bears, see Hokkaido, 110 + +Beauty, see Hokkaido, 104, 127, 298 + +"Be diligent", 158; + "Be serious", 112 + +Beef, see Kobe beef, 259, 349, 350; + Essence, 158 + +Beer, see Hokkaido, 119, 396 + +Bees, 196, 348 + +Beggars, 265, 324 + +Begonia, 213 + +Behaviour, Training in good, 259 + +Belgium, 386 + +Beliefs, see Customs, 310, 331; + +Believers, 63; + Believer and ne'er do well, 5 + +Belly cloths, 269 + +_Benjo_, 151, 192, 374 + +Ben Nevis, 394 + +_Bento_ 110, 268, 279 + +Bergson, 99 + +_Beri beri_, 79 + +Berry, Sir G., 9 + +Better living, 370; + Better world, 90 + +_Bi_, 126 + +Bible, 95 + +Bicycles, 18, 150, 220 + +Binyon, L., 292 + +Birches, 316 + +Birds, 25, 117, 344 + +Births, + see Still; + Celebration of, 302; + Forbidden, 236; + Rate, 392; + Tax, 21 + +Biscuits, 270 + +_Biwa_, 289 + +Black and white company, 187 + +Black Country, 132 + +"Black saké", 79 + +Blacksmith, 264 + +Blake, William, 98, 103, 105-6 + +Blind, + see _Amma_, 192, 300; + Advantage of Blindness, 232; + Blind guides, 369; + Headman, 229 + +Blood and thunder stories 121 + +Boar day 126 + +Boasting 17 + +Boat, sacred, 257 + +Body 226 + +Boehme 99 + +Bog 390 + +"Bold is the donkey driver" 98 + +Bolting ideas 331 + +_Bon_ 180, 190, 265, 267, 271-2, 302, 361; + Songs and dances 189, 190, 197 (2), 274 + +Bonins 391 + +Bonito 297 + +Books 159, 190, 319, 401; + Cheap 212; + Faults of many about Japan 254; + Foreign 141, 196, 248; + In demand 60; + In a Village Library 60; + Shops 244 + +Booths 115 + +Boots 236, 284, 346 + +Borneo 127 + +Borrow vi, 119, 283 + +Borrowing, + see Credit, _Ko, Tanomoshi_; 125, 183 + +Boswell, 140, 175 + +Bottles, tied with rope, 119 + +Bowing 44 (2), 46, 83, 121, 286, 313 + +Bowels 348, 351 + +Bowls, Turning, 111; + at shrine 303 + +Box for letters for Police 111 + +Boy + Growth of 113; + Labour 411; + Tradesmen's 315; + Reformation of 178; + Running away 322; + Stolen 286; + "Boy San" 103 + +Brazil 401 + +Bread 80 (2), 346 (2), 350-1 (2), 383 + +Bream 297 + +Breath 117 + +Brewing, see Hokkaido, 119 + +Bribery 208, 400; 123, 303 + +Bride 21; + Chest 129, 379 + +Bridges 128, 132, 240; + Mysteriously repaired, 287; + Suspension 209 + +Briefness 292 + +Bright, John, 203 + +Britons, see Hokkaido, 403 + +Broadmindedness 326 + +Brontë, E., 99 + +Brothels 56, 222, 243 + +Brother, Eldest, 19, 329 + +Brotherly union 94-5 + +Buckwheat, see Hokkaido; 111, 122, 243, 264, 381, 409; + "As white as snow" 111 + +Buddha 1, 3, 4, 5, 19, 26 (2), 51, 58 117, 125, 142, 205-6; + Inferior 139; + Heads 310. + --Buddhism 19, 30, 42, 57 (2), 63 (3), 96, 101, + 197, 205, 210, 212, 322, 324; + and Animal life 59, 345, 347; + behind the age 6; + without Buddha 322, 327; + and Christianity 59, 100-1, 324, 362; + Definition of 93; + Difficulty of getting a general view of 327, 321; + England and 100; + of old time 258; + Too aristocratic 1 + Buddhist 91, 96, 129; + Gatherings 231; + Influence 259; + Literature 327, 331; + Real 63; + Sects, under names; + Services 3, 205 (2), 270; + Strict 30; + Y.M.A. 124; + Y.W.A. 124. + --Buddhist Priests, see _Bon_; 1-7, 96, 113, 118, 134, 142, + 194, 231, 240, 258, 264, 269, 270 (2)-1-2, 302, 314; + Priest's man 270-1; + Succession to 135; + Wives 6, 270; + Shrines 220, + Value of 273; + Temples, 113, 123, 134, 142, 176, 180, 211, 244, 249, 258-9, 269, + 310, 327; + Architecture 134, + "Church" 134, + New, 313, + Sleeping in x; + Two months in 262, + Underground passage 142 + +Buffoon 276 + +Bugles 15-17 + +Bulls 18, 249, 250; + Fighting 228 + +Burden of the Old 100 + +Burdock 48, 146, 410 + +Bureau of Horse Politics 195; + of Hygiene 350 + +Burials, see Graves, 121, 267, 306; + at Sea 225 + +Burnham, Lord, 9 + +Burns, Robert, 107, 288 + +_Bushido_ 25, 140 + +Businesses, linked, 315; + "Business, My," 326 + +Butter 142, 270, 346 + +Butterflies 127, 287 + + +Cabbage 53, 213, 440 + +Caffeine 292, 403 + +Cairo 390 + +Calendar 136 + +California 290, 363, 365-6 + +Camphor trees 219 + +Canada 388 + +Cancer 268 + +Candles 340 + +Canning, see Hokkaido, 368; + Canned meat and fish 268 + +Cape 267, 270 + +Capes 47 + +Cape Wrath 358 + +Capitalism 368-9 + +Caps 114, 301 + +Caramels 272 + +Carbon bisulphide 60 + +"Carelessness" 54 + +Carlyle, T., 90-1, 94, 99 + +Carp, 39, 158, 210, 299 + +Carpenter 99, 267, 317 + +Carrier's conversation 109 + +Carrot 410 + +Carts 209; + Push 194 + +Carving 269 + +"Case for the Goat, The," 347 + +Cast 94 + +Cats 47, 131, 221, 345 + +Cattle, see Cow, Oxen, Bulls, Hokkaido; 23, 194-5, 230, 240, 243, 316, + 347, 381, 406; + Keeping 194, 259, 402; + Thieves 195 + +Cedar wood 211 + +Cells 116, 143 + +Censorship 401 + +Census 393-4 + +Cereals 367, 404 + +Certificate of merit 213 + +Cezanne 98, 103 + +_Chadai_ 148 + +Chaff 386 + +Chainmakers 170 + +Chairman 24 + +Champagne 140 + +Changes, seeming, 331 + +_Cha-no-yu_ 31, 214, 319 + +Character 88, 151, 201, 203-4-5-6-7 258, 259, 269, 288, 290, 311, 317, + 323, 331-2; + Nature and 99; + Weakness of 101; + Wish to give before have anything 102; + Chinese 39 + +Charcoal 111, 122-3, 196 + +Charitable Institutions 59, 376 + +Charms 41, 47, 121, 125, 223, 245 + +Charring 227 + +Chastity 114, 139, 149 + +Chauffeur 240, 246 + +Chavannes, Puvis de, 98, 103 + +Cheek-binding 286 + +Cheerfulness 304, 317 + +Cheese 345 + +Chemist, Distinguished, 10 + +Chenille 142 + +Cherries 295, 319; + Poems 288; + Refineries 226 + +Chestnuts 121 + +Chiba 268, 297, 309, 321 + +Chicken 110, 349 + +Chief Constable, Influence of, 118 + +_Chihō_ 400 + +Children 110, 112, 117, 203, 216, 323, 377; + Childbirth 268; + Ages of 113; + Assaults on 229; + British exploitation of 170; + Charm to obtain 314; + Contracts 286; + Crimes against 114; + Marriage 197; + Politeness 121; + Services for 130; + and Temple 58; + What will he become? 60; + Workers, see Labour, 314 + +Chillies 41 + +Chimneys 147, 151 + +China 110, 127, 143, 214, 256, 306, 344, 347, 388, 390, 396-7, 404; + War 85, 311; + Chinaman in Formosa story 96; + Tea 296; + Relations with 91; + Chinese competition 399; + Labour 363; + Prisoners 307; + Scriptures not understood 331; + Sheep and wool 353-4-5-6 + +_Cho_ xxiv; + _Chō_ xxv + +Chokai, Mount, 182 + +Chopsticks 81 + +Chōsen, see Korea + +Christ 55, 95, 96, 127; + Christianity, see Hokkaido, 96, 99, 101, 198, 205, 324; + Christian, 99, 203, 362 (3); + a Japanese question 144; + and Buddhism 101, 108, 324, 327, 362; + Conceptions 96, + Early 91; + Essence of 94 (2); + Ethics of 362; + Influence of 94; + Japanese 83, 135, 261; + and Personality 362; + and Social reform 362; + Temperament 327; + Christmas 318; + Churches 96, 362 + +Chrysanthemum 318 + +Cicada 344 + +Cider champagne 119 + +Cigarettes 82, 288, 400 + +Cimabue 106 + +Cities xxv; + workers 87 + +Civilisation 96, 141, 216, 229 + +Clan 188 + +Classes 94, 251 + +Cleanliness 326, 354 + +Clerks 205 + +Climate, see Hokkaido, Weather; 88, 140, 195-6, 197, 198, 299, 309, 327, + 358, 363, 365, 372, 390, 413 + +Cloak 47, 76 + +Clock 252 + +Clothing, see Farmers, 19, 30, 74, 125, 193, 307, 312, 317, 321, 323, + 330, 346, 355-6-7, 374, 378, 380, 382; + Advantages and Disadvantages of 356; + Cotton and Silk v. Wool 356; + Foreign 283, 346, 352 + +Clover 263 + +Clubhouse 305 + +Coal, see Hokkaido, 226, 396 + +Coasting steamers 209; + coastwise traffic 256 + +Coat 47 + +Cobbett, William, ix + +Cockfighting 228 + +Coffin 121, 248 + +Cold 261; + Catching 312 + +Collectors, Boy, 230 + +Colleges 158 + +Colony 207 + +Colouring 295 + +Comeliness 204 + +Comfort 201, 203; + Bags 58 + +Comic interlude 84 + +Commerce, 414; + Uselessness of some, 369; + Commercial crash 87 + +Common good, Work for, 19; + Common humanity 34; + "Common people at the gateway" 252; + Common purpose in mankind 56 + +Commune 268; + Communal labour 263; + Communistic 212 + +Communities under 5,000 and 10,000 population 412 + +Companies 414 + +Complaint boxes 18 + +Concentration 206, 317 + +Concrete 22, 214, 325 + +Concubines 95, 322 + +Conduct 200, 361 + +Coney Island 325 + +Confucianism 91, 96, 101, 205 (3), 214, 322 + +Confusion 101 + +Conscience 201 + +Conscription, see Soldiers, 19, 65, 123, 284, 311 (2), 327, 331, 364; + Statistics 404 + +Conservative view 331 + +Consolation 201, 321 + +Constitutional Party 395 + +"Contagion of foreigners" 117 + +Contentment 7, 259, 264, 302, 323 + +Contracts 194, 286 + +Controversy 48 + +Conversation, Subjects of, 129, 282 + +Conviction 37, 331 + +Cooking 350 (2) + +Coolies 345 + +Co-operation, see Cocoons, Hokkaido, +_Kō_, _Tanomoshi_, 7, 28-9 (2), 37 (2), 43, 47, 50, 58, 64, 85, + 118, 124, 133, 136, 150, 185, 187, 194, 230, 305 (2), 364, 414; + Capital for 48; + More 370 + +Copper 92, 124, 226, 396 + +Coronation 21; + Rice Ceremony 82; + Millet 213 + +Corruption 208, 400 + +Cosmos 202, 206 + +Cottages, see Houses + +Cotton, 132, 137, 223, 258, 404; + Clothing 346; + Chinese competition 399; + Factories 174; + Industry 354; + Loom 220; + Factory Manager's _Manchester Guardian_ article 399; + Silk v. Wool 366 + +Couch grass 265 + +Counsel 187 + +Countess 213 + +Country folk xiv, + Countryman ix, xiv, 107, 141, 192, 233, 283, 302, 324, 331; + Countryside 148, + contrasted with Western 298, 313; + County families and Country-house life 34 + +County Agricultural Association 150 (2) + +Courage, Moral, 327 + +Courbet 103 + +Court lady 108 + +Courtesy, see Politeness, 36 + +Cows, + see Paddies; + First milking 235; + Oxen, 209, 235, 381 (2) + +Crab, Land, 249 + +Cradle 279 + +Craftsmanship 314, 317, 369 + +Crashaw 99 + +Crater 108-9 + +Credit, + see Cheap money; + Cooperation 181, 370, 414 + +Crematoria 48, 177 + +Crest, see _Mon_ + +Crime, + see Police, 54, 279, 303; + Charges not proceeded with 113; + Table of crimes 376; + Ex-criminals 143 + +Crimea 390 + +Crisis, Industrial and Commercial, 87 + +Crops 313, 380-1; + see Agriculture, Paddies, Upland; + Area devoted to each 408-9; + Better 19, 370; + Competitions to increase 58; + Drying 208; + Increase compared with area 364 + +Crow 320 + +Crowds 250, 259 + +Crown Prince 282 + +Cruelty to Animals 344-5 + +Cryptomeria 6, 40, 45, 61-2, 117, 121, 131-2, 190, 316, 394 + +Cuckoo 315 + +Cucumbers 146, 322 + +Cultivation, see + Agriculture, Backbreaking, Cows, Harrowing, Hoes, Horses, Mattock, + Paddy, Pony, Ploughing, Rice, Seed, Spade; + Area compared with Great Britain 89; + Area under 223; + Doubling population 97; + Increase of area 364, 414; + Two or three crops 364; + Japan and Great Britain 305; + in relation to Stock 406; + Methods to be reported 188; + in proportion to Wild 408; + Prizes 58; + Too intensive 233; + yearly increase of 408 + +Culture, see Education, 204 + +Curio Collectors 2 + +Curiosity 279 + +Currency xxiv + +Currents, Warm and Cold, 118, 175, 195 + +Customs 66, 182, 310, 322-3; + Houses unprofitable 256, + World realisation of cost and inconvenience 256 + +Cutting out the foreigner 369 + +Cuttle fish, see Squid, Octopus; 46, 318 + +Cyanide 177 + +Cymbals 272 + +"Daffin" 313 + +Dagger 40 + +_Daikon_ 23, 130, 309, 314, 345, 409 + +Daikon (island) 256 + +_Daily Mail_ 345 + +Daimyo 33, 39, 144, 176, 198, 205, 210, 246, 395; + ex-Daimyo 329; + Castle 209 + +_Dai Nippon Nōkai_ 320 + +_Dakushu_ 396 + +Dam 224-5 + +Damp 185, 289, 368, 372 + +Dancing, see _Bon_ Dances; 130, 237, 305; + Western 101 + +Dandelions 307 + +Danish _Hojskōle_ 50 + +Dates 290 + +Daumier 103 + +Days, + of the Dead, 271; + of the week 126; + Suitable 126; + Worked 377-8; + +Dead 201, 219; + Belief in return of 272; + Days of the 271; + Return 190; + Tablets of, see _Ihai_; + Memorials of, see Hair, Teeth, Portraits + +Dealers 195 + +Death + Forbidden 236; + Presents at 22; + Rate 393; + Minors 393 + +Debates 18 + +Debt, see Farmers; 66, 126, 195 (2), 265, 287, 302, 322-3, 364, 380, 414; + for Food 284 + +"Decency" 125, 193 + +Deception of the West 174 + +Deer 215, 278 + +Defiled 45; + Defilement 256 + +Deforestation, see Afforestation; 92, 152, 176, 180, 318 + +Deftness 169 + +Deified men 204 + +Deities and the Sea 257 + +Delacroix 102 + +_De la liberté du travail_ 8 + +Delay, Advantage of, xiii + +Democracy 38, 51, 99; + and religion 2 + +Demon 215 + +Demonstrations 88 + +Demoralised men 26 + +_Dengaku_ 48 + +Denmark ix, 46, 368; + see Danish + +Denudation of hills, see Deforestation, 92 + +"Depths of the people" 93 + +Derricks 248 + +"Despised foreign peasant" 96 + +Destiny 202 + +Deuteronomy 375 + +Development, + Economic, 206; + Moral 206; + National 327; + Social 206 + +"Devil-gon" 56 + +Diagrams 60 + +Diaries 18, 23, 231 + +Diastase 268 + +Dibbs, Sir G., 9 + +Diet, see Food + +Dietetic reform 350 + +Difficulties 124-5; + "Difficulties polish you" 176 + +Digestive 268 + +Dikes, Women's work on, 43 + +Diligence 151; + "Diligent people" 62, 377 + +Diminishing return 65 + +Dinner 228, 254 + +Diplomacy, Farmer and, ix + +"Direct action" 173 + +Discipline 50 + +Discontent 323 + +Discussion 358 + +Disease 210, 350 + +"Disgraceful disease," see Syphilis + +Dishonesty 354 + +Displacements 268 + +Distinguished man and demoralised man 26 + +Dividends, Effect of factory, 369 + +Divorce 126, 197 + +_Dō_ 134; + _Do_ (land) 334 + +Doctors 123, 241, 268 (2), 399; + "Doctor first, God second," 271 + +Dogs 131, 221, 236, 344-5; + Dog day 126; + Fighting 228; + for _kuruma_ 248 + +Doing good secretly 219, 323 + +Doll in tree 244 + +Domicile 396 + +_Domori_ 134 + +"Do not get angry" 150 + +Doorway inscription 47 + +_Dorobo_, see Robber + +Dossiers 314 + +"Double licence" 257 + +Dover and Calais 334 + +Dowries 138 + +Dragon Day 126 + +Drainage see Irrigation, Water; 97, 133, 199, 232 + +Drapers' stuff 121 + +Draughtsmanship 102 + +"Drawing water into one's own paddy" 48 + +Draw nets 186 + +Dreamers 363 + +Dress, see Clothing; Fields, 187; of Honour, 187 + +Drill 15, 50, 282 + +Drinking, see Drunkenness + +Drivers' hair cutting 318 + +Drought 132 + +Drowning 128 + +Drum 15, 17, 83, 272 + +Drunkenness 116, 119, 187, 261, 282, 305, 322; + see Saké 2 + +Dürer 103 + +Dutch 208; + Books 150 + +Dwarf trees, see Trees dwarfed; 52, 220 + +Dye 295 + + +"Early riser may catch," etc. 57 + +Early rising 57, 179 + +Early Rising Societies 14 _et seq_. + +Earnestness 168, 277, 308 + +Earth 126 + +"Earth is not as," etc. 203 + +Earthquakes, see Volcanoes 23 + +East, see also West and East; + Wants the best 99; + East and West 141; + Bridge 101; + Inharmony 105; + Supposed difference 100; + Eastern, Faults of 96; + Ideals 96 + +"Easy minded" 323 + +Economic conditions and development 149, 206; + Economic questions 104; + Economic superstition 148; + Economy, see Thrift, 19; + Economy too small 362 + +_Edgworthia chrysantha_, see _Mitsumata_ +Education, see Farmers, Genius, Hokkaido, + Schools, 17, 26, 98, 120, 127, 140, 169, 194, 196, 204, 252, + 361, 374, 378; + Burden 65; + Better 370; + Competition for places 195; + Ill result of 204, 301, 323; + System, repressed by 101; + Western 189 + +Eels 299 + +Eggs 85, 110, 130, 348-9, 406 + +Egoist's story 61 + +Ehime 201, 219, 226 + +Eights 255 + +Elder brothers 19, 329 + +Eldest son 143, 329 + +El Dorado 88 + +Electoral offences, see Bribery, Corruption + +Electricity 39; + Among trees 210; + and Fuji 283; + Fan 125; + Light 211; + Torch 300 + +El Greco 103 + +Elizabethan scenes 116, 276 + +Ellis, Dr. Havelock, xiii, 1, 99, 332; + Mrs. 253 + +_Ema_ 326 + +Embanking 93, 152, 197 + +Emerson, R.W. 99, 105 + +Emigration, see Hokkaido (Immigrants); 176, 249, 264, 330, 332 (2), + 358, 360, 363, 401, 376, 413-4; + Number of emigrants 410; + No pressing need 363; + Why emigrants do not go to mainland and Formosa 363 + +Emperor, see also Imperial train; 22, 46, 82, 121, 178, 202, 286; + Etiquette 44; + Portrait 90, 113; + Respect for 44; + Seeing 43 + +Empire, To extend the 205 + +Endurance 261 + +_Engawa_ 270, 271, 280, 375 + +England: and Buddhism 100; + and Christianity 97; + Greatness of 97; + and Greek Philosophy 97; + and Roman law 97 + +English (language) 126, 282, 297; + Reader (book) 234; + Speaking world and Japan xv + +"Enlarge people's ideas" 17 + +"Enlarging mind and heart" 11 + +Entertainers 108 + +Epidemics 121, 130, 223 + +Erotic West 101 + +Eruption, see Volcano + +"Essential out of trifles" 323 + +Estates, see Hokkaido; + Smallness of 213, 400 + +_Eta_ 221, 223, 248, 307, 400; + in America 401; + Marriages 400 + +Ethical evolution 348 + +Etiquette, see Manners; 6, 19, 35, 39, 124, 148, 200, 213, 242, 273; + in roadway 47 + +Europe 288, 410; + Half civilised 141 + +European 141 + +_Eurya ochnacea_, 137 + +Evening primroses, 120 + +"Even in this good reign," 124 + +"Even the devil was once," etc., 123 + +"Even the head of a sardine," 141 + +Evolution, Ethical, 348 + +Excel, Desire to, 158 + +Excreta, see Manure; + 375, 382, 386 + +Excursions, 18, 297 + +Exercise, 151 + +"Exert yourself to kill harmful insects," 286 + +Exhibition, see Show; + also Bural Life Exhibition; + 58, 60 + +Ex-officials, 22; + Ex-preacher, 220; + Ex-Public Servants' Association, 22 + +Expansion, 360, 413-4; + Suggested abandonment of oversea possessions, 93 + +Expenditure, see Farmers + +Experts, see Agricultural Experts; + 27, 237, 240 + +Exports, 414; + Some useless, 369 + +Eyesight, 327 + + +Faces, Good will do, 26 + +Factories, see also Tuberculosis, 282; + ante-Shaftesbury, 167; + Bathing 163; + Babies 162-3; + Better treatment, more silk, 165; + _Bon_, 162; + British and American conditions, 406; + Child workers, 172; + Chimneys, 151; + Compounds, 162; + 164-5, 168 (2); + Contracts, 162-3, 165; + "Cost of a daughter's food," 162; + Dexterity, 169; + Diet, see Parliament; + Discharged workers, 88; + Dividends and effect of, 193, 369; + Dormitories, 162, 164 (2)-5, 168 (2), 399, 407; + Education and Entertainment, 162, 164 (2)-5, 168; + Earnestness 169; + Effect of, 162-3, 181, 280, 283; + Empress, 164; + English parallels, 167-8, 170 (2); + Fair treatment of Employees practicable, 168; + Flag system, 161, 164; + Food, 161-2-3 (2)-4, 168, 399; + Foremen, 162-3, 165; + Girls, 2, 85, 264; + Government, 172-3; + Health, 161-2-3-4 (2); + Heat, 161; + Holidays, 161, 165; + Hours (thirteen, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen), 161, 163 (2)-4-5 (3), 167; + Illness, 161-2-3-4, 168; + Immorality, 163 (2); + International Labour Office, 172; + _Kemban_, see Recruiters, Köfu, 165; + Kuwata, Dr., 172; + Labour cheap, 169 (2), 173; + Labour docile, 173; + Legislation, 165, 171; + Married women, 162; + Marriages, 163; + Morale, 168; + Mottoes, 164 (3)-5; + Number of workers, 168; + Obedience, 169; + Parliament, 173 (2); + Police 166; + Pressure 161; + Priests and Missionaries, 162, 165; + Proprietors, 163 (2)-4-5, 167-8; + Recruiters, 161-2-3, 166; + Sleeping, see Dormitories; + Suwa, 165; + Switzerland, 172; + Wages 161-2, 164-5, 167-8; + Walpole's History, 167; + Washington Conference, 173; + Western responsibility, 173; + "Worked like soldiers," 164; + and daimyo's castle, 176; + and farmers, 282; Silk 147, 150, 161; + Tea 403; + Visits to, 161; + Woollen, 354-5-6-7 + +Failures, A country's, due to, 167 + +Fairies, 110 + +Faith, 27, 97, 148; + "Faith is the mother," etc., 136 + +Fame, Worldly, and good repute, 324 + +Familiarity, 273 + +Family, 61, 326; + Discords, 282; + "Excesses," 302; + Large, Appreciation of, 302, 331; + Size of, see also Limitation of, 66, 331 (2), 377; + Number in, 412; + System, 285, 328-9, 330 + +Famines, 118, 124, 197, 237, 413 + +Fans, 115, 148, 314 + +Farmers, see also Adjustment, Agriculture, Area per family, Countryman, + Debt, Heroic peasant, Labour, Paddy, Peasant Proprietors, Rice, + Tenants, Work; + Ability, 65; + Aged mother, 3; + and Adjustment, 71; + and Artisan, 189; + Attraction of towns, 180; + and Copper companies, 92, 227; + Egotist 61; + and M.P. 92; + and reading, 319; + and thieving priest, 320; + Attitude towards Science, 158; + as poets 41; + Autobiography, 8; + Bondage 331; + British, 370; + Capital, 42; + Character needed, 50; + Children clever, 233; + Clothing, 186; + Condition, 18, 173, 189, 283-4-5, 265, 304, 310 (2), 314, 322, 354, + 365, 378; + Condition improved, 261; + Condition of success, 10; + Days working, 232 (3); + (hand work, heavy spade, long-handled sickle, mattock, sickle, scythe, + weeding 385-6;) + Debts 42; + Expenditure, 62, 381-2; + Evicted by Railways, 250; + Families 412; + for and against Family system 330; + Fishermen 210; + Foreign sympathy excessive 261; + Food 378, 380-1, 389; + in sericultural districts 85; + Future 303; + Holidays, too small, + Home, 61; 281; Good humour 186; + Hours worked 278; + Idealising of 260; + Importance of Character, Education and Influences brought to bear on 85; + Incomes too low 38; + Lowest on which can live 194; + of an M.P. and of a Minister of State 9-10; + Increased expenditure 88; + Intelligence of 186; + Knowledge of financial position 186; + Laboriousness 298; + Lack of cash 251; + Large, see Hokkaido; + Limitations imposed by area, practice and physical conditions 88, + 364 _et seq._; + Long hours, see Day's working, 167; + Metayer system 207; + Meeting of skilful 24; + Middle 183, 189, 193, 378, 380; + Mixed, see Hokkaido; + Monument 251; + Morality 66; + No time to think 149, 179; + Not able 196; + Not inferior to a townsman 8; + Pilgrimages 252; + Pluck, industry and need of land 152; + Poverty 176, 183, 195; + Pressure on 148; + Profit, see Hokkaido; + Self-contained existence no longer 66; + Selling land 10; + Shall rent be paid in cash? 301; + Small decreasing, large increasing, 89; + Social precedence, 369; + Spade 362; + Stories 24-25; + Temporary prosperity 87; + Tenants' movement, see Landlords; + Thatch for implements, 220; + "Toil never ending" 365; + Unrepresented in Parliament 285; + Why better off 85; + Why poor 65; + Wives 30; + Working days 237; + Yosōgi's story 66 + +Farce 320 + +Fashions 19 + +Fasting 327 + +Fat 142 + +Father and son 8, 135, 205 (2); + Father-in-law 138 + +Feast, name of, 34 + +Feeling 210; + v. Statistics 1; + Logic 29, 37 + +Feet 317; + Wet 312 + +Fencing and Wrestling, see Wrestling; + 14, 16, 159, 178, 287 + +Ferment 323 + +Fertiliser 42; + Fertility 92 (2) + +Festivals 50, 114, 235, 261, 287, 377; + Sketches at, 192 + +Feudal ideas 30; + Pensions and debt 395; + Régime 244 + +Field (Upland) 372 + +Figs 289 + +Filial duties 117, 205 (2) + +Filth, see Manure + +Fine arts 214 + +Fine days 245 + +Fines 285 + +Fir 213 + +Fire defenders and Fire extinguishing 22, 120, 123, 222, 281; + Flies 136 + +Fire farming 110, 122, 227, 131 + +Fire God 267 + +Fire holes 314 + +Fires, see also Arson; 59, 93, 125-6,185, 227, 280, 286, 342 + +Fish 81, 83, 110, 117 (2), 268, 297, 348-9 (2), 379, 380, 389; + Ceremonial 46; + Daintiest part 228; + Eyes 228; + Fed 130; + Nurseries 224, 251; + Soup 228; + Supply 346; + Waste 308, 386 + +Fisheries, see also Hokkaido; 43, 414 + +Fishermen 211, 214, 308; + Farmers 210 + +Fishing 186, 332; + Boat 235; + Village 327 + +Flags 130, 136 + +Flail 78 + +Flax 272-3, 381 (2), 410 + +Fleas 109 + +"Flinging water at a frog's back" 48 + +Flint and tinder 233 + +Floods 92, 93, 118, 128, 152, 177, 180, 197, 223 (2), 227, 240, 370 + +Flowers 123, 127, 147, 272, 289, 290; + Arrangement 53, 213, 319 + +Flute 190 + +Folklore being made 331 + +Food, see Farmers, Hokkaido; 34, 71, 196, 228, 261, 312, 324, 346, + 374 (2), 389, 404; + and Clothes 118; + Five _sen_ a day 184; + Japanese v. foreign 350; + Lack of 114; + Production 367; + Specialities 182; + Tea and Rice 81; + Rice and Pickle 81; + Taken away by guests 284; + Unbalanced 350; + When travelling 110 + +Forage 227, 243-4, 367 + +Forces which govern behaviour 167 + +Foreign: Apeing Foreign 306, 362; + Benevolence 376; + Books 196; + Emulation of 158; + Fashions 121; + Influence 97; + Ideas overpowering 101; + Pride in things foreign 362; + Tourist 236; + Under control 357 + +Foreigners 69, 80, 81, 111, 117, 141 (2), 146, 204, 217, 244, 249, 262, + 269, 345, 352; + Cutting them out 369; + and idols 205; + and Japanese, Closer relations with 95; + and Waitresses 101; + Hoodwinking 399; + Ill-instructed 191; + Immorality 56; + Sexual curiosity 101; + Short-tempered because of Meat-eating 268; + Smell of 142 + +Forests, see Floods; 194, 240, 370, 390, 385, 394, 409 + +Forestry, see Hokkaido; + Association 177 + +Formalin 60 + +Formosa, see Taiwan; 96, 214, 249, 390-1, 332, 363 (2) + +Fortunate days 126 + +"Fortune" 138 + +Forty-seven Ronin 333 + +Foster mother 311 + +Foundations of Japan in village ix, 92 + +Foundlings 376 + +Fowl day 126 + +Fox 33, 129, 144, 326; + God 120, 266, 325-6 (2) + +France 397 (2); + and Algeria 256 + +Franchise 38, 124, 170, 173, 400 + +Franklin, B., 124 + +Frankness 146 + +Frazer, Sir J.G., 243 + +Freedom, see Hokkaido; 273, 361 + +_Free Farmer in a Free State, A_, 197, 347-8 + +Free, Japan very, 100 + +Frockcoats 82, 259 + +Frogs 48 (2), 122, 260 + +Froissart 161 + +Frontier line 306 + +Frost 195, 391 + +Froude, J.A., 103 + +Frugality 8, 151 + +Fruit, see Names of; 18, 85, 148, 177, 282, 289, 292, 307, 349, 368, + 402; + Disease 368; + Growing 61; + Jelly 148; + Insects 368; + Preparations 182; + Unripe 150 + +_Fu_ xxv + +Fuel, see Charcoal, Coal, Wood; 374, 378 + +Fuji 107, 262, 310; + and Electricity 283 + +Fukushima 107, 119, 175, 189, 199 + +Funabushi 307 + +Fundamental power 323 + +Funerals 22, 66, 270, 302; + Forbidden 236; + Feast 248 + +Furniture 382 + +_Furoshiki_ 280 + +Fusuma 36 + +_Futon_ 8, 31, 109, 258, 280, 300 + +"Future in the morning" 136; + Future Life 201 + + +_Gaku_ 4, 38-9, 51 + +Galloway dykes 227 + +Gambling 21, 197, 280, 287, 310 + +_Gampi_ 401 + +Gap between East and West 100 + +Gardens 135, 210, 213-4, 215, 222, 270, 313; + Economic 12; + "Garden where virtues, etc." 177 + +Gas 348; + Natural 133, 300, 404; + Gasometer and shrine 286 + +Geisha 2, 19, 57, 96, 102, 114, 212, 252, 254, 257, 362 + +_Gemmai_ 79 + +Geniuses, Education of, 58 + +Genre pictures 313 + +_Genshitsu_ 259 + +Gentleness 19 + +Geology 365 + +Geomancy 72 + +German prisoners 307 + +Germany, see Hokkaido; 300-1, 328, 386, 413 + +_Geta_ 16, 18, 116, 236, 272, 308, 317, 346, 373 + +_Getsu-yo-bi_ 126 + +Gifu 61 + +Gillie 25 + +Ginger 410 + +_Ginseng_ 131, 256 + +Giotto 103 + +Girls, see School girls; 13-4, 181, 275, 407; + Babies on backs 285; + Exploitation 173; + in hotels and restaurants 101; + Labourers 250, 286, 322, 411; + Porters 186; + Primitive conditions 216; + Sturdiness 302; + Wages 315; + Gipsies 110 + +Gladstone 352 + +Glamour of West 369 + +Glass, Box for broken, 126 + +Globe 276 + +"Glory of the Morning" 121 + +_Go_ (measure) 119; + _Gō_ (chess) 142, 214-5 + +Goats 264, 321, 347, 406 + +Godown 185, 376 + +Gods 21, 80, 82, 202-3-4, 244, 251; + of Agriculture 145; + calling down 83; + Christian view of 83; + "God damn all foreigners" 352; + of Fire 261; + of Happiness 267; + of Horses 26; + "If one shall give to God" 323; + Respect for 45; + and Sea 257; + "God second" 271; + Sirens and guns 237 + +Gogh, Van, 98 + +_Gohai_ 134, 144, 185, 318 + +_Gohan_ 79 + +Goitre 268 + +Gold 124, 396; + Story 5 + +_Golden Bough, The_, 192, 331 + +Goldsmith, Oliver, 146 + +Gong 272, 310 + +Gonorrhœa 300 + +Good: + Doing 26; + Fellowship 16; + Humour 217; + "Good people are not sufficiently precautious" 8; + Resolutions, Black and red balls for, 19; + "Good wives and good mothers" 19; + Good Shepherd 127; + Goodness, Causes of, 67, 149 + +Goods, not up to sample, 354 + +Gosen 132 + +Gospel 94, 97 + +Gourds 221 + +Government, + Feeling towards, 63; + Granary 86 + +Governors 21, 39, 84, 152, 179, 198, 200, 202-3, 238, 259, 328, 352, + 361, 370, 373; + Ex- 241 + +Goya 103 + +Graduation tax 21 + +"Grafting, Thinking," 136 + +Grain 307, 349; + and wood crops 309 + +Granary 86 + +Grandfather's story 43 + +Grapes 130, 140, 149, 152, 177, 272, 402; + in mustard 228; + Grapefruit 238 + +Grass, see Forage; 381 (3), 409; + Land available 368; + Hokkaido and Saghalien 368; + Bamboo 352 + +Gratitude 26, 141 + +Gravel 25 + +Graves, see Burial grounds; 19, 58, 72, 225, 306; + Stones 121, 144, 147, 219, 235, 267; + Gravedigger 241; + Unpopular persons 241 + +Great Britain xv, 328, 386 + +Greece 95-6, 204; + Greek Church 362 + +Green, J.K., 34 + +"Greenfield Mountain" 244 + +Grief 201, 273 + +Ground cypress 221 + +"Guid moral fowk" 63 + +Guilds 295, 317 + +Gumma 146, 309, 321 + +_Gun_ xxv; + _Gunchō_ 51, 56, 118, 150, 175, 219, 328 + +Guns, sirens and gods, 237 + +Gutters 286 + +Gymnastics 113, 222 + +_Gyokuro_ 294, 403 + + + +_Habakari_ 375 + +Habits 124 + +Hachia 248 + +_Hagi_ 213 + +Hair 18, 19, 143, 224, 318, 353; + Tied up 116 + +_Hakama_ 16, 356 + +_Hakumai_ 79 + +Haldane, Lord, 201 + +Half-civilised 141; + dressed 126 + +Hall, Sir D., viii, 370 + +Ham 406 + +Hamlets xxvi, 15, 16 + +Hand-claps 45-6, 319; + Hands 153 + +Handicrafts, Japanese and British, 317 + +_Hantsukimai_ 79 + +_Haori_ 16, 315, 356 + +Happiness 109, 261; + God of, 267 + +_Harakiri_, see _Seppuku_, 55 + +_Hara_ (prairie) 68 + +Hara, Professor, 413 (2) + +Hard work, or better, 64 + +Hare 278; + Day 126 + +Harmoniums 276 + +Harp 83 + +Harvest, see Paddy, 50; + Gods and, 83 + +Hasegawa, Tokaku, 344 + +_Hashi_ 81 + +Hata 68; + _Hatake_ 68 + +Hats 74, 76, 83, 129, 198, 284 + +Hawaii 388 + +Hawker: beggar 248 + +Hayashi, Baron, xv + +Haze 392 + +Headhunters 96 + +Headman, see Blind Headman, 54, 56, 121, 126, 133, 140, 189, 241, 250; + and Officials 21; + Loochoos 236 + +Health, see Bureau of Hygiene, Invalids, Physique, Tuberculosis; + 50, 53, 80, 180, 268, 308, 368, 375, 398, 404 + +Hearn, Lafcadio, viii, 141, 237, 253, 344 + +Hearts 25, 27 + +Heat, 125, 147, 261, 307 + +"Heathen" 96, 98, 99, 326 + +Heather 290 + +Heaven 23, 183; + "Heavenly punishment" 298 + +Hebrew prophets 95 + +Height 17, 404-5 + +_Heimin_ 400 + +Hell 109 + +Hemp 409 + +Henley, W.E., 40, 80 + +Hens, Pensions for, 345 + +"Here the Emperor beheld," etc. 39 + +Herring blessed 82 + +_Hibachi_ 153, 297, 374 + +"Hided himself" 29 + +Highways, Ancient, 144 + +Hills 390; + Artificial 210 + +Hills removed 299 + +Hindus 203 + +_Hinoki_ 221, 394 + +Hiroshima 207, 236, 402 + +History: Cannot be repeated 363; + of England 167; + of the "Southern Savage" 208 + +_Hiye_ 387, 389 + +Hoes, see Paddy + +Hokkaido xxv, 89 (2), 195, 197, 222-3, 249, 332, 363, 390; + Agricultural college, 336; + American supplies and influence 334(2)-5-6 (2); + Apples 337; + Ashigawa 338; + Ainu 336; + Alcohol factory 339; + Askov 341; + _Basha_ 338, 340; + Bear 337; + Beer 337; + "Best bits" 359; + Beauty 361; + Brewing 335-6-7; + Britons 336; + Brothels 360; + Buckwheat 338, 341; + Budget cut down 359; + Buggies 334; + Canning 336-7; + Cattle 343; + Christians 340; + Climate 337; + Collies 343; + Cooperation 339, 341; + Countryside 342; + Credit 360; + Cossack farming 336; + Dairymaid 343; + Danish songs 341; + Development, 335, 358-9, 360, 414; + Drainage 338; + Dutch 336; + Education 359; + Elms 336; + Farms, Area, 239, 337-8; + Mixed, milk, meat, 338, 343, 348; + Profits 340, 380-1-2; + Official farms 343, + Farms, large, 338; + "Feed them well" 341; + Fisheries 335, 337; + Floods 342; + Flour mills 336; + Food 341; + Foreign practice 336; + Forestry 337; + Forest fires 342; + French 336; + "Getting on" 360; + Germans 336, 341; + Grouse 336; + Immigrants 337, 339, 340, 341, 359; + Grass 341; + Hakadate 334; + Hay 343; + Horses 338, 341; + Houses 334; + Hunting 335; + Huts 341; + Imperial household 335-6, 360, + Rescript 336; + Immigration into island, 360, 414; + Industry 337; + Influence on Old Japan 334, 361; + _Kō_ 341; + Kuroda 336; + Labour difficulties 337-8, + Land scandals 359, + Not available 360, + System 359; + Licensed Quarters, see Brothel; + Manitoba 337; + Maize 336-7; + Milk 338; + Millet 338; + Mining 337; + Moneylenders 340; + Money wanted 359; + Monkeys 336; + Mortgage 340; + Nitobe, Dr., 336; + Oats 337; + Oxen 339; + Peat 338; + Peppermint 339; + Pheasants 336; + Pigs 339, 343; + Population 335, 360, 414; + Potato, see Starch; + Prostitutes 360; + Railway 341, 360; + Religion 340; + Residuum 341, 359; + Rice 337-8, 341; + Rivers 338, 342; + Roads 338, 341, 360; + Riding 339; + Russians 335-6; + Rye 337; + Saké 340; + Salisbury, Lord, 359; + Salvation Army 340; + Sapporo, 343-4 (2), 337-8, 391; + Sato, Dr., 336; + Scenery 342; + Self-binders 343; + _Self-help_ 341; + Sheep 343, 347, 352-3-4; + Silo 336; + Stock-keeping 343, 347; + _shōchū_ 340; + Shrine 339; + Slesvig 341; + Snow 341, 347; + "Social question" 341; + Soldier colony 336; + "Sordid" 360; + Stallion 340; + Starch factory 339; + Stimulating and free 361; + Streets 334; + Sugar-beet factories 336; + Taxation 414; + Temples 339; + Tenants 339; + Tolstoy 341; + Tomeoka 341; + Trees 338, 342; + Uchimura 336; + Ugliness 342; + University 336, 360; + Value of land 402; + Volcanoes 334, 343, 390; + Wagon storage 340; + "Whoa" 334; + Windows 334; + Wolves 337; + Wood pulp 337; + Yezo 335 + +Hokke 134 + +_Hokku_ 107 + +_Hokora_ 134, 144 + +Hokusai 344 + +Holidays 128, 278, 377; + Cheap 123, 190; + To cattle 256 + +Holiness, Theoretical and practical, 256 + +Holland, see Dutch; ix, 121, 368 + +Hollyhocks 39 + +Home Office 24, 133, 345; + Home training 149 + +Homma 186, 188, 380 + +_Hon_ 334 + +Hondo, see Honshu + +Honesty 140, 145, 277 + +"Honourable first-class passengers" 218 + +Honours, 187 + +Honshu 334, 390-1-2, 402 + +Hoops 221 + +Hopes for the future 361 + +Horses, see Hokkaido, Paddy; 61, 111, 139, 187, 189, 194-5, 209, + 240, 262-3-4, 269, 287, 307, 345 (2), 346, 381 (3) -2 (2), 406; + Bronze 212; + Day 126; + Difficulty of feeding 367; + Dressing 318; + Fair 175; + Feed 244; + Fondness for 344; + Fly 126; + God 267 (2), 304; + Holidays for 256; + Monuments to 167, 307; + Power 385; + Shows 268; + Slaughtered 406; + Shrine 127; + Symbol 272, 304; + Horseman's hair cutting 318 + +Hotels, see Inns, 107; + Japanese and English 319; + "Hotel for people of good intentions" 54 + +Hot spring 126, 190; + Story 233 + +Houses, see Hokkaido; 66, 153, 207, 214, 261, 314, 322, 378; + Beauties of 31, 35; + Building 17; + Courtesies 34-5; + of ill fame, see Brothels; + Miserable 176, 190; + New forbidden 247; + Simplicity 39; + Transported 310; + Western "taste" 34 + +"How I became a Christian" 91 + +Humanity 235; + New conception of 94; + Humanitarians 206 + +Humidity, see Climate + +Humour 217, 276 + +Humus 309, 313 + +Hunger 145 + +Hunting, see Hokkaido, 278 + +Husband and Wife 121 + +Huxley xiv + +Hydrangea 53, 122 + +Hydraulic works 52 + +Hygiene, see Health + +Hyogo 253, 260, 311, 402 + +Hypocrisy 224, 259 + + +_I_ 246, 410 + +"I am the master of my fate" 41; + "I remain Japanese" 141; + "I hear the voice of Spring" 165 + +Ibaraki 189, 199, 309 + +Idea of a Gap 98; + Old ideas 331 + +Ideographs 68, 301 + +Idleness, Correction of, 17, 19 + +"Idols" 142, 205 + +"If you look at a water fowl" 101; + "If you should advise me" 175 + +_Ihai_ 143, 270, 272; + _Ihaido_ 272-3 + +Illegitimacy 114, 229, 241, 280, 303, 322, 395 + +Illiteracy 375 + +Illness 187, 350, 377 + +Image, see Idols, 142, 205 + +Imitation, 24 + +Immorality, see Morality, Women, Primitive conditions; + 2, 17, 101-2, 114, 126, 132, 139, 149, 193, 190, 191-2, 197, + 201, 212, 214, 241, 280, 287, 307, 315, 322; + Foreigners, 56; + and Shrine, 325-6 + +Imperial Household, see Hokkaido; + Garden Party, 319; + Rescript 50-1, 90, 137, 204; + Poem competition 40; + Train 44 + +Imperturbability 251 + +Implements 364, 378, 382; + Better, 365, 367, 370; + Cared for, 220; + Primitive, 365 + +Imports, Doing away with 347; + Some useless 369 + +Impressions xiii, 27 + +Improvement, Principles of, 370 + +Inari 129, 325 + +Incendiarism, see Arson + +Incense 119, 141 + +"Incitement to do well" 140 + +Income of a Governor, 373; + of a Minister of State 373; + Small 240 + +Incomprehensibleness 202 + +Incongruity 137 + +Indecency 192, 197 + +Independence 151, 277, 311 + +India 388 + +Indigo 209, 223, 409 + +Individualism 101-2, 204, 327, 330 + +Indo-China 388 + +Indoors 213 + +Industry (quality) 297, 317 + +Industry, see Hokkaido, Factories, Sericulture; + Alleged economic necessity for Sweating 169; + "Industry and Increase of Production" 259; + Cheap labour 169 (2), 173; + Cotton factories 174; + Chinese competition 173; + and Commerce v. Agriculture 284, 414; + Crash 87; + Criticism 369; + Destruction of Craftsmanship 317; + Death rate 393; + Deception of West 174; + Docile Labour 169, 173; + Employers' public spirit 173; + Excuses for shortcomings 169; + Exploiting 169 (2); + El Dorado 369; + Female labour 169, 399; + Foreign competition 173-4; + Handicap of 174; + Indefensible attitude 169; + Inexperienced labour 174; + Inhumanity 174; + Just claim 174; + Mistakes imitating West 170; + Net return to Japan 169; + Number of workers 168; + Profits 174; + Rural v. Urban 369; + Success of 169; + Uselessness of some 369; + Unskilled labour 174; + Welfare work 174; + Wellwishers' fears 169; + Western lessons 174, 369; + Wisdom, Will it be displayed? 174; + Woollen, 354-5-6-7 + +Infanticide 66, 216, 302, 332 + +Infinity 200 + +Inflation xxiv, 414 + +Influence 201, 203, 321, 324; + Influential villager 140 + +Inhalation 117 + +Inland Sea 207-8, 235 + +Inner colonisation, 307, 413-4 + +Inn 108-9-10, 116, 122-3, 127, 132, 144-5, 152, 190, + 214, 228, 315; + of Cold Spring Water 128; + Entertainment 108; + Notices in 183; + Old days 148; + Rates 148, 183; + Restfulness 319; + Transportation of 182 + +Inscriptions 47, 126, 129 + +Insects 20 (2), 188, 230, 250, 286, 344, 353, 368; + Fondness for, 344; + Insect powder 109 + +Instinct 201 + +Instructions 26, 151 + +Insurance 281 + +Intellectuals 103, 203 + +Intelligence 140, 151, 370 + +Intercourse 358 + +Interest, see Usury; 43, 66 + +Intermarriage 204, 252, 290, 364 + +International Labour Conference 395; + Understanding, see West and East + +Interpreter 27 + +Intestines 348, 351 + +_Introduction to the History of Japan_, 413 + +Invalids 110, 346 + +Ireland 358 + +Iron 226, 396 + +Irrigation, see Water, Waterwheels, Wells; + 25, 52, 180, 197, 207, 210, 262, 390-1 + +Ise Shrine 176 + +Islands 235 (3), 390; + Beacon 247 + +Italy 365-6, 396-7 + +Ito San 307 + +Itsukushima 236 + +Iwate 189, 195-6 + +Izumo 251 + + +_Jaga-imo_ 249 + +Jakchū, 344 + +James, William, 105 + +Japan, see Japanese; + Anti-Ally campaign xi; + Belief in, a substitute for religion, 63; + Books, good and bad, on viii; + and Germany xi; + and Great Britain 89, 385, 390; + Compared with Asia 390; + Could support double the population 97; + Course 371; + Danger of Foreign colonisation 100; + English-speaking world and xv; + Free 100; + Future, neither a technical nor an economic problem, 371; + Forced into Materialism, 100; + Great Britain and, xv; + Mental attitude 371; + New and Old 318; + Northern 365, 370, 402, 413 (2), 414; + Proper 385, 390; + Thousand years ago 82; + United States and xv; + Width 390; + Will o' the wisps 371; + World opinion on ix + +Japanese: Advantages 371; + Aestheticism and farmer ix; + Closer relations with foreigners 95; + Christian church 197; + Common sense 371; + Devotional 102; + Essence of life 141; + Family, a, 143; + Ideas, old, 174; + Judgment on 371; + Kindness 102; + Number in Great Britain 403; + in London 403; + Opportunities 371; + Puzzled 100; + "Japanese spirit," see _Yamato damashii_, 140, 323; + Talents 371; + True v. mediocre, 371 + +Jeffries, 99 + +_Ji_ 210 + +"_Jiji_" 90 + +_Jinrikisha_, see Kurumo; 46, 131 + +_Jishu_ 119 + +_Jizō_ 125, 286 + +John, Augustus 98, 103 + +Johns Hopkins 349 + +Johnson, Dr., 132, 175, 262, 297 + +_Joro_, see Prostitutes; 56, 255, 258 +_Judō_ 50, 159 + +_Jūjitsu_ 50, 287 + +"Jump land" 305 + +Jungle 122 + + +Kagawa 207, 209 + +_Kago_ 244 + +Kaiserism 90 + +_Kakemono_ 36, 39, 135, 150 (2), 319 + +_Kakkō_ 315 + +Kambara 132 + +Kamchatka 195 + +Kanagawa 182, 283, 309, 321 + +_Karakami_ 36 + +Karuizawa 143-4 + +_Kasutera_ 346 + +_Katsubushi_ 297, 349 + +Kawasaki, see Labour + +"Keeping up position" 183 + +_Ken_ xxvi, 176 + +Kennedy, J. Russell, 332 + +Kepler 106, 123, 344 + +Khedive 98 + +_Ki-ai_ 36 + +_Kikicha_ 294 + +Kimonos 15, 16, 84, 114, 125 (4), 200, 218, 269, 272, + 301, 309, 312, 317, 321, 356; + Respect for superiors 125 + +Kinai 71 + +Kindergarten 7 + +Kindness 102, 205, 307 + +King, Professor, vii, 260 + +_Kiri_ 129 + +Kissing 313 + +Kitchens of Hongwanji 63 + +Kites 260 + +Kittens, see Cats; 345 + +Kneeling 17, 308, 319 + +Knife 282 + +Knowledge 301, 328 + +_Kō_, see Hokkaido, _Tanomoshi_; 215, 278, 301 + +_Ko-aza_ xxvi + +Kobe 66, 71, 207, 260, 292, 392; + "Kobe beef" 402 + +Kochi 207, 209, 386 + +Kōfu 152 + +_Koi_, see Carp + +Koizumi Yakumo 254 + +Kokusai-Reuter 332 + +_Komojin_ 208 + +_Konnyaku_ 48, 176 + +Korea 99, 103, 104, 256, 332, 336, 363 (2), 390 (2), 391, 394; + Folk art 104; + Secretary of Government 10 + +_Korai_ 105 + +_Kōri_ xxvi + +_Koto_ 34 + +_Kōzo_ 401 + +Kropotkin 321 + +_Kuge_ 102-3 + +_Kumi_ 262, 278 + +_Kura_, see Godown + +Kuriles 391 + +_Kuruma_ 46, 121 (2), 209, 243, 262, 310; + in War time 51; + Forbidden 236; + Wooden wheels 244; + _Kurumaya_ 120, 122-3, 128, 131, 148, 250; + Story 310 + +Kusonoki Masashige 66-7 + +Kuwata, Dr., 399 + +Kwanto 107, 147, 199, 309 + +Kwantung 388, 391 + +_Kyōgen_ 32 + +Kyosai, Kawanabe, 344 + +Kyōto xxvi, 63, 66, 82, 141, 207, 222, 243, 257, 292, + 303, 307, 391-2; + Hongwanji 2 + +Kyushu xii, 330, 390-1-2, 402 + + +Labour, see Factories, Farmers, Land, Paternalism, Revolution; + Socialism, 160; + Arrests 171; + Better directed 64; + Ca'-canny 171; + Cheap labour exploited 369; + Child workers 170, 172, 224; + Confederation of Japanese Labour 171; + Labour contractors, see Hokkaido, Sericulture; + Days in the Year, 62, 65 (2), 377; + Employers' public spirit 173; + English parallels 167, 170 (2); + Factory law 165, 169, 171-2 (2), 224; + Hours 62, 376-7, 378; + Eleven 173, + Twelve 170, + Fourteen 171-2; + Farmer's Co-operation, see Tenants' movement; + "Friend-Love-Society" 171; + Girls' labour 224; + Imprisonment 170; + Increased 26; + Irregular 350; + Given 17; + Kawasaki 173-4; + Matsukata 173-4; + Mitsubishi 173; + Night 48, 171; + Police 170-1; + Prosecutions 172; + Publications 171; + Public meetings 170; + Public opinion 169, 172-3; + Seaman's Union 171; + Strikes, 88, 170; + Tenants' Movement 173; + Trade Unions 169, 170 (2) -1; + Wages substituted for apprentice system 315; + Women workers, see Silk (Factories) 171-2; + _Yu-ai-kai_ 171; + +Labourers, see Girl labourers, 150, 184, 189, 194, 380-1, + 395, 397, 411 + +Lacquer 39, 130, 319 + +Ladder for tree pruning 215 + +Ladybirds 289 + +Lamb, Henry, 98 + +Lamps 348 + +Land available, see Utilised, 97, 180, 233, 368, 408, 414; + Covered by buildings, railways, etc., 250, 409; + City investments in, 150; + under Cultivation 70; + Divided up, result, 306; + New 18, 24, 42-3, 62, 66, 85, 194, 207 (2), 225 (2), 264, 305, 370; + Yearly 408; + Government action, 408; + Ownership decrease, 411; + "of Plenteous ears" 68; + Made over to farmers at Restoration 395; + from the Sea, 41; + held by Tradesmen and other, 412; + Utilised, 214, 225, 227, 244; + Value of, 64, 133, 240, 339, 402 + +Landlady and Players 115 + +Landless 412 + +Landlords, see also Tenants, Hokkaido, Homma; + 193, 212, 223, 303, 305, 358, 376, 394; + Area 29, 41, 213, 400; + Absentees 38; + Advice and gifts by 30 (2); + Bad 58 (4); + Budgets 41, 373; + Boycotted 28; + Competition for Farmers 186; + Circuit of village 36; + Cruel 38; + Expert engaged 177; + Diversions 213; + Factory dividends 193; + as Farmers, 213; + Idle 322; + and Farmers' wives 30; + Garden parties 30; + "Hided himself" 29; + "Land master" 37; + Parasitic 261; + Poets 41; + Power going from 36, 330; + Rents and Reduction of 29, 37, 85, 220; + Sharing system, 45; + Storehouses, 28 (2); + and Tenants, 23 29, 30, 31, 34, 37-8, 88, 94, 152, 229, 230, 301; + Taxes 73; + Tenant movement 37-8; + Perspiration, 38; + Reformation of village, 47; + Uchimura 94; + Usurers 38; + Western and Japanese compared, 261 + +Landscape 120 + +Lanes 307 + +Lang, A., 105 + +Language 301 + +Lanterns 19, 36, 58, 136, 190, 211, 237, 266-7 + +Lark 83 + +Laughter 217 + +Law, William, 99 + +Leaders 26, 51, 140 + +League of Nations, Japanese Secretary, 336 + +"Learning Meeting" 58; + "Learning right ways," etc., 164 + +Lectures 150, 176, 180, 189, 250, 279 + +Leeches, see Paddy, 137 + +"Left behind his tiredness" 111 + +Legislation 236 + +Legumes 349 + +Lemonade 119 + +Lending, see Borrowing, _Kō, Tanomoshi_, 125, 183 + +Leonardo 103 + +Leprosy 5, 298 + +_Lespedeza bicolor_ 213 + +Letter in the temple 26 + +Letters, interesting, 311; + Lettering, Western v. Eastern, 39 + +_Liberté du travail, De la_, 8 + +Libraries 23, 59, 60, 180, 190, 196, 215, 244, 248, 401 + +Licensed Quarters, see Brothels + +Life 101; + Aim 205; + Chaotic 100; + Desire to enjoy 179; + Significance of 90; + Too near to Criticise 331 + +Lignite 47 + +Lighthouse, "At foot it is dark," 67 + +Lighting 120 + +Lily 410 + +Lime 148 + +Lincoln 124, 127 + +Literature 369; Western 102 + +"Livestock, his family," 386 + +Living, Bare, 261; + Better 370; + Cost of 278; + Standard of 65, 85, 310, 240; + "What men live by" 27; + "Living Power" 322 + +Lizard story 5 + +Lobster 318 + +Locks 183 + +Locusts 20 + +Logic v. feeling 29 + +Loin cloth 125, 307 + +London 64; + Market 357 + +Lonely spot 127; + "Lonelyism" 319 + +Loochoos 236, 391 + +Loquat 289 + +Lorries 621 + +Loss 201, 203 + +Lotus 48, 146 + +Louse 107 + +Love, Not easy to fall in, 102; + Not free 102; + Four loves 61 + +Loyalty 174 + +L.T. 372 + +Lubin, David, vii + +Lucky days 126 + +Lugubriousness, Absence of, 273 + +Lumbering, see Forests; 194-5 + +Lunacy, see "Natural" + +"Lusitania" 202 + +Luther 94 + +Luxury 2, 19, 151 + +Lying 124 + + +Macaroni 272, 351, 381 + +McCaleb, J.M., 364 + +_Machi_ xxv + +Mackintoshes 47 + +Maeterlinck 99 + +Magazines 18, 58, 282 + +Mahomedanism 101 + +Maid servant 324 + +Maillol 103 + +Maize, see Hokkaido, 146, 148, 272, 381 (2) + +Malaya 127 + +Mallets 359 + +_Manchester Guardian_ 339 + +Man 150; + "Man and Wife" 121; + Development 202; + with a monument 41; + Study of 119; + Manfulness 205 + +Manchuria 21, 354, 356-7, 363 (2), 390, 394; + Railway company 357 + +_Mangoku doshi_ 78 + +Mantles 74, 76 + +Manners, see Etiquette 17, 19 + +Manual labour 50 + +Mantegna 103 + +Manure, see _Benjo_; 230, 232-3, 259, 264, 298, + 308, 313, 346, 352, 374, 380-2, 384, 386; + Artificial 49, 85, 92, 136; + Better manuring 370; + Co-operation 49; + Manure blessed 82; + House 22, 137, 150, 215; + Green 386; + Liquid, for Vegetables, 350; + "Livestock, his family," 386; + Odour 49; + Students and 50; + Tanks 214-5; + "White steam rising" 137 + +Maples 25, 52 + +Market, No, 127 + +Marmots 166 + +Marriage, see Weddings, Unmarried; + 11, 114-5, 138, 170, 193, 220, 247, 284, 293, + 315, 330, 379, 380, 395, 400; + Ages 332; + Marrying for love, 102; + Remarriage 197 + +"Marrow of Japan, The," xv + +Masses 132 + +Mascots 310 + +Masters and men, 174, 315 + +Materialism 2, 27-8, 212, 324 + +Matisse 103 + +Mats, see _Tatami_, 177, 215, 270, 304 + +Matsue 243, 253-4 + +Matsukata, see Labour + +Matsumoto 148, 150, 391 + +Matter 100 + +Matthew, St., 94 + +Mattocks, see Paddies; 97, 285, 385; + Wealth and 136 + +Meadow 409 + +Meals 34, 323 + +Meanness punished 266 + +Meat 130, 133, 346, 348, 349, 350, 356-7, 368, 379, 380, 406; + and Good Temper 268 + +Mechanical power 370, 412 + +Medals 123 + +Medicine 248, 268, 374, 379, 380 + +Meetings, see Public meetings; 63, 238, 254 + +Meiji, Emperor, 39, 142 + +Melbourne 167 + +Melons 146, 150 + +_Memoirs of the Queen's First Prime Minister_ 170 + +Memorial stones 41, 51-2, 67, 311; + Services 271; + Days 50 + +Mental attitude 254; + nimbleness 17 + +Mercantile Marine 332; + Farmer and ix + +Mercenary spirit 2, 12 + +Merciful universe 323; + "Mercy of the sun" 321 + +Meredith 90, 182, 219, 226, 235 + +Merits 25 + +Mesopotamia 371 + +Metal 126; + Mines story xi + +Metaphysical, Not, 258 + +Metayer system 45, 207 + +Methodist 141 + +Mice and bamboo 108 + +Middle Ages 84, 317 + +Middle School boys 151, 255, 284, 404 + +Middle men 38 + +Midwives 123, 241, 264, 282, 399 + +Migration 264, 364 + +Mikawa 84 + +Militarism 104, 233, 240, 328, 360; + Military service, see Conscription, 220; + Training 151, 282, 285 + +Milk, see Hokkaido; 110, 116, 128, 130, 150 (2), 235, 264, + 345, 347-349, 381 (2); + Foster mother 311 + +Millet, see Hokkaido 103, 131, 195-6 (2), 213, 219, 227, 264, + 383, 389, 409, 411 + +Mimetic skill, 192 + +Minds, 27, 151, 226 + +Minerals, see also Hokkaido; 284, 396 + +Ming 106 + +Ministers and Ministries of Agriculture 24, 378, 385, 390, 397, 403, + 411; + of Health and Education (British) 371; + of Finance 414; + of Railways 403; + of State, Income of, 373; + Ministers, ex- 241 + +Mirror 178 + +_Mirin_ 396 + +Misapprehensions, International, 363 + +Miser 59 + +Misfortune 187, 201; + and Religion, 63 + +_Miso_ 6, 81, 123, 151, 191-2, 196, 321, 349 (2), 350 + +Missionaries 7, 59, 143, 197 + +Mitsubishi, see Labour + +_Mitsumata_ 401 + +"Mixing in the heart" 135 + +Miyagi 189, 197 + +Miyajima 236 + +Mobilisation 241 + +_Mochi_ 69, 272 + +Modesty 317 + +_Mogusa_ 179 + +_Momi_ 79 + +_Mon_ 188 + +Monday 126 + +Money: Etiquette 148; + Cheap 176, 184, 364; + Need of 66, 370; + Moneylenders, see Usury, 150, 282, 364; + Money-sharing Club, see _Kō, tanomoshi_ + +Mongolia 357, 363 (2), 394 + +Monkey, see Hokkaido; 110, 129, 248; + Monkey day 126; + "Monkey slip" 246 + +Moon 126 (2), 129, 137, 208, 275; + Bowing to 99; + "Moon-seeing flowers" 120; + Moonlight on mattocks 136; + "Waiting for the Moon" 323 + +Morality, see Crime, Immorality, Police; + 17, 20, 37, 50, 66, 95, 101-2, 140, 149, 152, 169, 179, 193, 203, + 206, 229, 313; + Anglo-Saxon sense of 95; + Moral backbone 96, 141; + "Moral bath" 94; + Code, Lack of, 362; + "Distrust of each other's morality the barrier" xii; + Morality dependent on material well-being 118, 149; + Quality of Eastern 95; + "Not so bad" 149 + +Morimoto 349 + +Morioka 195-6 + +Morley, 14 + +Mosquitoes 50, 125, 143 + +"Mother, from the bosom of," 301; + Mother-in-law 121, 138 + +Motor bus 246; + Launch 237 + +Mottoes 7, 39, 126, 135-6, 150, 158, 187, 288 + +Mounds 306 + +Mountains 70, 108, 159, 176, 390 (2), 394; + "Mountain climbers" 320; + Mountain maidens 110 + +Moxa, see _Mogusa_; 47, 179 + +M.P., see Franchise; 124, 208, 285; + Ashes of 92; + and farmers 92 + +"Mr. Temple" 7, 270 + +M's, Seven, viii + +Mud baths 147 + +_Mujin_ 278 + +_Mukae bon_ 272 + +Mulberry 40, 61, 147, 149, 153, 158-9 (2), 160, 264-5, 282, 287, 298, + 302, 307, 310; + Area and Yield 153, 409; + Paper 410; + Proverb 153 + +Mulch 220 + +_Mura_ xxv, 262 + +Murdoch, James, Japanese and, viii + +Murray, Gilbert, 301 + +Mushrooms 110 + +Music 102, 116, 180, 188, 237, 328; + Ancient 82; + Instruments 222; + Western 99 (2), 288 + +Mutton, see also Sheep; 133, 345, 347 + +Muzzles 269 + +Mysticism 99, 100, 267 + +"My wish is that I may perceive" 106 + +Naden, Constance, 203 + +Nagano 140, 146, 153, 262, 272, 399 + +Nagasaki 391 + +Nagoya 38, 391, 392 + +_Naichi_ 334 + +Naked children 309; + Nakedness 115, 125, 193; + Child story 307 + +_Namban_ 208 + +"Name, called by second," 217 + +"_Namu Amida_," etc., 129 + +Napier, Sir W., 170 + +Napoleon 127, 203 + +Nara 222 + +Nasu, Mount 108 + +Nasu, Professor S., xv, xxiv + +Nation 8; + National Agricultural Societies 238, 320; + Backing Society 312; + Defence 97; + Feeling 363; + Funds 371; + Greatness, Sources of, 97; + Products 233; + Nationalism 204, 328; + Nationalists 91 + +_Natsu mekan_ 238 + +Nature 287; + and Character 99; + Feeling towards 99; + "Natural" 280; + Naturalness 99 + +Naval Service 311 + +Navvies 21, 217 + +Navy 311, 346, 350-1, 360, 403; + Farmer and ix + +"Needle in your head" 11 + +Negation 101 + +Neo-Malthusianism 331-2 + +Nerves 238, 240 + +Nets 186 + +New and modern ideas 37; + New ideas 135; + New and Old Japan 318; + New Age 361; + "New rural type" 79 + +_New East_ xii, 372, 406 + +News, see Notice boards, 323; + Newspapers, see Press, 137, 249, 282, 300, 301, 319 + +New Testament 96, 203 + +New Year 265 + +New York 271, 318 + +New Zealand 352, 363 + +_Nichi_ 126 + +"_Nichi-Nichi_" 90 + +_Nichi-yo-bi_ 126 + +Nightingale, Florence, 127 + +Night-soil, see Manure + +Night-time 19 + +_Nihon no Shinzui_ xv + +Niigata 107, 132, 295, 391 + +Nikko 92, 120 + +Ninomiya 7, 8, 50, 60, 61, 287 + +Nirvana 205 + +Nitobe, Dr., see Hokkaido; xv, 333 + +Nitrogen 147, 348 + +_Nō_ 32, 320 + +Nogi, General, 54, 98 + +Non-material feeling 259 + +Normal school 233 + +"Normal yield" 70 + +North America 410 + +North, backwardness of, see Japan, Northern + +North of Japan, see Japan, Northern + +Noses 144, 192, 204 + +Note-books 18 + +"Nothing which concerns a countryman," etc., 107 + +Notice boards for news 17, 126; + Notices 287 + +"Not yet" 288 + +Novelist 152; + Novelists, Russian, 99 + +_No wa kuni taihon nari_ 92 + +Nunnery 142; + Nuns 140, 142, 143 + +Nursery pasture 259; + Nurseries, see Paddies, Children drowned, 266; + Nurses 58, 399; + "Nursing-place for children of soldiers" 312 + +Nutrition poor, see Food + + +Oaks 316 + +Oars 211 + +Oats 381 (2) + +_Oaza_ xxvi, 221, 263, 302, 304, 305 + +_Obi_ 15, 25 + +Obedience 169 + +Obscenity 192 + +Oceania 410 + +Octopus 46, 308 + +Oculist 239, 300 + +_Oden_ 48 + +Offerings 272 + +Officials 27, 51, 176, 212, 261; + Official rewards 213 + +_Ohyakusho no Fufu_ ix + +Oil, see Petroleum; + For insects 188 + +Oiwaké 144 + +Okayama 207, 402 + +Okio 344 + +Okuma, Prince, 390 + +_Okunitama no Miko no Kami_ 45, 46 + +Okura, Baron, 357 + +_Okuri bon_ 272 + +Old age 17, 19, 22, 43; + Old farmer to his son 66; + Old man and officials 51; + Old men 135, 271; + "Old Miss not frequent" 74; + Old Japan 391; + Old People's Clubhouse 305, + Houses 304, + Work 227 + +Old Testament 326 + +Olives 210 + +Omelette 110 + +Omori 93, 182 + +Onions 381 (2), 410 + +"Only half a pilgrimage," etc., 257 + +Open heart 215 + +Oranges 221, 287, 289 (2), 402 + +Order 328; + "Orders, May give him," etc., 217 + +_Oriental Economist_ 93; + Oriental religion for Orientals 327 + +Originality, supposed lack of 101 + +_Oro_ 400 + +Orphans 185 + +Osaka ix, xxv, 71, 90, 207, 222, 311, 392 + +Otake 324 + +_Otera San_ 7, 270 + +"Other people" 62, 377 + +_Otsu Yukimichi_ 46 + +Out-of-date ideas 348 + +Owen, Wilfrid, 334 + +Overloading 345 + +Over-population, see Population + +Overpowering foreign ideas 101 + +Overseas Colonisation Co. 402 + +Overwork 114 + +Oxen, see Cows, Cattle, Hokkaido, Holidays, Paddies; 18, 139, 346; + Ox-day 126; + Ox-drawn carts 18 + +Oyashiro current 195 + + +Paddies, see Adjustment, Agriculture, Bull, Cow, Horse, Lime, + Mattock, Plough, Pony, Rice, Straw, _Ta_, Windmills; + 20, 66, 68-9, 70-1-2, 132, 264; + Adjustment 182; + Appearance 146, 298; + Area, see Size, 385; + Back breaking 75; + Beauty 76; + Blindness 300; + At Christmas 314; + Carp 299; + Children drowned 75; + Clothing 74; + Cow 73, 77; + Cultivated for centuries 366; + Cultivation in sludge 73; + Damaged crops 76-7; + Discomfort 74; + Drying 73, 77; + Paddy v. Dry field labour 358; + Floods 72, 76; + Frost 299; + Harrowing 73-4; + Harvest 76-7; + Hoes 75; + Horse 73; + _I_ 246; + Insects 74-5-6; + Italy 68; + Labour 70-3 _et seq_., 331, 358, 365; + Labour required per _tan_ 232; + Leeches 74; + Mattock 73, see Mattock; + Model 189, 258; + Ox 72-3, 77; + Ploughing 73, 385; + Pony 73, 77; + Pulling Fork 74; + Rent, see Rent, 23, 73; + Reservoirs 72, 210, 299; + Scattered 71; + Second crop 70, 73; + Seed bed 74-5-6, 84; + Shape 69, 70-1; + Shinto streamers 75; + Sickle 77; + Size 70, 249, 365-6, 360 (2); + Soil 70, 73; + Sowing 74-5; + Spade 73; + in Spring 307; + Straw 76; + Stubble 73; + Temperature raised 76; + Transplanting 74-5 (3), 84; + Two hundred and tenth day 76; + U.S.A. 68; + Value 214, 402, 408-9; + Wet 76-7; + Water, Ammonia, Depth, Warm, 70, 72, 152, 366; + Wet Feet 73; + Weeding 74-5(2); + Wind 76; + Women 74; + Work of 147 + +Pagodas 209 + +Painting 102, 223, 286, 327 + +Palisades 227 + +_Pan_ 346 + +Panic grass, see _Hiye_ + +Paper 125, 148, 177, 227, 401 + +Paradise 205 (2) + +Parasites 261, 350 + +Parasol, see Umbrellas + +Parents 17, 102, 117, 149 + +Park 210 + +Parkes, Sir Henry, 9 + +Parliament 53; + Cost of election 208; + Farmers and ix + +Parmesan 298 + +Partiality 14 + +Party feeling, see Politics, 2 + +Past and Present 233 + +Paternalism 174 + +Patience 153 + +Patriotism 26, 206, 371; + Patriotic Women's Society, 105, 124 + +Patronage 37 + +Pattison, Mark, 105 + +Paul, St., 99 + +Paulownia 129 + +Paupers 376 + +Peace of the world 84; + Peaceful mind 205 (2) + +Peaches 277, 289, 295, 402 + +Pears 31, 233, 235, 289, 402 + +Peas 307, 383, 409 + +Peasant, of East and West, 141; + Heroic 51; + Hungry 145; + and Lucifer match 233; + Monuments to 67; + "Peasant Sage of Japan" 7 + +Peasant Proprietors, see Tenants; 138-9, 184, 189, 261, 264, 284, + 321, 364, 376, 378-9, 380 (4), 411 + +Peat, see Hokkaido, 194 + +Pedlars 315 + +Peers, School, 55, 102; + Qualifications for House of 176 + +Pencils 272 + +Pensions 380 + +Peonies 256 + +People, Condition of, 262 + +Peppermint 381, 410 + +Perfection 283 + +Perry, Commander, 100, 124 + +Persimmons x, 13, 45, 61 (2), 152, 289, 320, 402 + +Persistence 328 + +Personalities 104 + +Perspiration 38 + +Pestalozzi, 220 + +Peter the Great 124 + +Petroleum 132 + +_Phædo_ 203 + +Pheasants, see Hokkaido, 215 + +Philanthropy, see Charitable institutions; 41, 376 + +Philosophy 100, 102, 204, 206 + +Photographs xvi + +Physique 16, 171, 193, 204, 284, 302, 322, 350, 364 + +Piano 99 + +Pickles 81, 110, 159, 268, 349 + +Picture postcards 148 + +Pigeons 215 + +Pigs, see Hokkaido; 27, 264, 347, 382 (2), 406 + +Pilgrims 20, 133, 142, 182, 210-1, 220, 252, 271, 302; + and Prostitutes, 257 + +Pillow 109; slip 109 + +Pine 215, 248, 299, 316, 318, 394 + +Pipes 288 + +Pirates 214 + +Pistol 56 + +Pitt 9 + +"Places of distinction" 187; + "Place of the Seven Peaks" 120 + +Plains 70 + +Planet 126 + +Plans 18 + +Plantain 122, 307 + +Plasters 267 + +Plato 96, 358 + +Players 115, 124-5, 245, 266; + Playrooms 260 + +Ploughing, see Agriculture, Hokkaido, Paddies; + Worship of 61, 87, 120 + +Plums 295, 307, 405 + +Poe 105 + +Poel, William, 114 + +Poet 27, 40, 135; + Poems, see Song, _Uta_; 20, 61, 107, 109, 111, 136, 141, 183, 216, + 288, 324; + Poetry 313, 334 + +Poisonous plants 124 + +Pole and bucket 207 + +Police, see Arrests, Cells, Crime, Postponed offences, Prisoners, Theft; + 20, 43-4, 53-4, 113, 116, 125, 140, + 150, 235, 280; + Influence of 118; + Letters for 111; + Offences 250; + Shirakaba 103; + at Theatre 115 + +Politeness 19, 40, 217, 251, 277, 317 + +Politics, see Franchise, "Direct Action"; 103, 104, 303; + Local 284, 303; + Slander 2 + +Pomegranate 52-3 + +Ponds, cleaned out free, 219 + +Pony, see Paddies; 227; + at Shrine 116 + +Poor, see Farmers, Relief; 57, 63, 67, 94, 145, 149, 278, 320, 323; + Cannot remain poor 67; + Flattery of 94 + +Poore, Dr., 374 + +Population, see Birth and Death rates 160, 391; + Census 393-4; + Compared with Great Britain and U.S.A. 82, 385, 392; + Cost of living and postponement of marriage 332 (2); + Empire and its parts 391; + Percentage Habitable compared with other Countries 392-3; + How to support double 97; + Increase of 89, 392-3-4; + Increase compared with increase of Rice production 389; + and Means of Production 332; + Decrease of Rural 412; + and Rural and Urban compared 412; + Sexes 169; + per square mile 392; + per square kilometre compared with Belgium, England and Wales, + Holland, Italy, Germany and France 392; + Surplus 332, 360, 369, 413 + +Porcelain 39, 319 + +Pork 347, 350 + +Port Arthur 98; + Ports, Open, 256 + +Porters 186 + +Porticoes 246 + +Portraits 38, 120, 143, 198 + +Portuguese 208, 346 + +Posterity 19 + +Post-impressionism 104 + +Potash 251 + +Potatoes 191, 194, 249; + Irish 383, 409, 411; + Sweet 146, 227, 309, 347, 381 (2), 383, 409, 411; + Memorials 249 + +Pottery 99, 148 + +Poultry 7, 18, 39, 58, 264, 297, 304, 381-2 (2), 406; + Pensions for 345 + "Pouring water on a duck's back" 48 + +Poverty, see Poor + +Power, Fundamental, 323 + +Prairie 71, 111 + +Prayer 141, 243-4, 272, 326 + +Preaching 3, 4, 5, 249, 270, 310, 314-15 + +Prefecture xxv + +Prejudice 146, 363 + +Pre-nuptial relations, see Immorality + +Presents 218, 271 (2), 329 + +Press, see Newspapers; + Brains and circulation of 90; + Dread of 41 + +Prices xxiv, 13; + Prices in this book xxiv, 87-8; + Rise in Prices 87-8 + +Priests, see Buddhist priest, Shinto priest; 1, 20, 45, 57, + 139, 140, 149 (2), 180-1, 197, 212, 220, 247, 331, 412; + Dress 25; + Priest-craft 93; + at Elections 250; + Good deeds 324; + Ignorance 120; + and Illegitimate child 193; + Income 42; + Influence, Character and Education 41; + Silent 189; + Speech by 25; + Talk with 1, 51, 59; + Thieving 320; + Thrifty 62; + Wandering 315 + +Priggishness 362 + +Primitive belief, 323-4 (2) + +Prisoners 307 + +Prize tax 21 + +Problems 95, 104 + +Prodigal 60 + +Production 26, 369, 414 + +Professors 42 + +Progress 63, 235, 279; + Delayed by lack of money 97; + Erroneous conception of 370; + by means of horses 339 + +"Proof not argument" 343 + +Prospects 119 + +"Prosperity and welfare" 187 + +Prostitutes, see Hokkaido, Immorality; 56, 114, 132, 190, 192, + 212, 222, 235, 243, 257, 325, 330, 376 + +"Protection for inoffensive people" 97 + +Protein, vegetable, 348-9 + +Protestants 362 + +Prothero, Sir G.W., 9 + +Proverbs, see Mottoes; 48, 57-8-9, 67, 109, 121, 123, 136, 141, + 256-7, 307, 315, 343 + +Pruning 215 + +P.S.A. 275 + +Psychology of behaviour 167 + +Public benefit 374; + Energy 371; + Funds 371; + Good 22, 201-3; + Health, see Health, Public; + Public man, Farmers' and Author's view, 9-10-11; + Meetings 24, 170, 238; + "Public Spirit and Public Welfare" 259; + Opinion 41, 118, 135, 149, 203; + Welfare 125; + Work 303 + +Pumping, see Water-wheels, 64 + +Pumpkins 272 + +Punishment 112, 178 + +Puppies 345 + +"Purified in heart" 141; + Purification 134; + Puritans 95; + Purity 151 + +"Push, push, push," 115 + + +"Q" 203 + +Quaker 3, 6, 203 + +Quarrelling, see also Family discords; 54, 322 + +Queen Victoria 282 + +Querns 235 + +Questions 243, 303; + difficulty of, 101; + Questioning, lack of power of, 101 + +Rabbits 179 + +Race, Factories' effect on, 168-70; + Method of gaining knowledge of another 200; + Racial feeling 364 + +"Rael Christians" 63 + +Rafts 128 + +Railway 131-2,144,176,182, 208-9, 217, 243, 250, 251, 395 + +Rain 74, 137, 190, 285, 312, 345, 390-1 (3); + Rain making 123, 137-8; + Ducked figure 123 + +Rake's progress 317 + +Ram 343 + +Rammer 224 + +Ranks 251, 254 + +Rape seed 131, 381 (2), 409 + +Rapids 128; + Rapid work 317 + +Rats 150, 185; + Rat day 126 + +Ravine 152 + +Reading 279, 319 + +Reality 219 + +"Realm, Wounds of the," 309 + +Reclaimed land, see Land, new + +Recreation and Immorality 149 + +Red Cross 124, 245 + +"Red worm" 282 + +Reed-covered buildings 84 + +"Reflecting and Examining" 135 + +Reformers and Bible 95 + +Reformer "St. Francis" 321 + +"Regent" 38 + +Reid, Sir G., 9 + +Reincarnation 344 + +Relief, see Kō, Poor, _Tanomoshi_; 189, 241, 258, 264, 311 + +Religion, see Hokkaido; 27, 63, 108, 120, 135, 140-1, 149, 179, 180, + 200, 202, 203, 212, 258-9, 261, 302, 310, 323, 326, 327, 331, 362; + and Agriculture 231; + as Custom 327; + "the Depths of the People" 93; + Religious idea, the deepest 100; + and Morality 259; + Naturalness 99; + New 212, 219; + Primitive 323-4; + Protecting Science 82; + Reconciliation of 100; + Revival 324; + and Science 201; + Not limited to Sects or Ideas 101; + Substitutes for 63; + and Taxation 212; + Advantage of Variety 327; + Western "too high" 259 + +Remarriage 197 + +Rembrandt 103, 105 + +Remoteness 127-8, 249 + +Rents, see Rice, Paddy; 23, 28-9, 38, 42, 73, 78, 86, 144, 186-7, 301-2 + +Reprimand, see Admonition, 187 + +Research work 158 + +Reservists 123, 133, 215 + +Residents abroad 410 + +Resolutions, see Good resolutions + +Respect 37, 40, 324 + +"Responsibility for one's words" 240, 259 + +"Best after a meal," etc. 315 + +Restoration 395 + +Retainer 198 + +Reunion 313 + +Reverence 141, 273 + +"Revolution, Song of," 171 + +Rewards 213 + +"_Ri_ away" 58 + +Rice, see Adjustment, Agriculture, Aqueduct, Barley, Hokkaido, + Implements under their different names, Irrigation, Millet, + Normal yield, Paddies, _Ta_, Tunnels, Water; + 123, 127, 264, 268-9, 271, 321, 349, 389; + Aeration of soil 20; + America 365-6; + Areas 132, 182, 193, 382-3 (2), 409; + Agriculture based on 343; + Air of rice fields 300; + Altitude 123; + "All members of family smiling" 137; + Appearance 146, 298; + Adjustment, see Adjustment, story 51; + Compared with Barley and Wheat 70, 413; + Barley substituted for 80, 85; + Beauty of 76; + _Beri beri_ 79; + Bowl 80-1; + Cakes 80; + California 365-6; + Ceremonies 50, 82; + Certificates 185; + Climate 197, 391; + Collecting 229; + Consumption 81, 86, 127, 351, 366, 387; + Cooking 351; + Crop 68, 70, 193, 209, 364-5, 387-8, 410; + Cost of production 383; + Cultivation 18, 19, 20; + Daimyo's test 79; + Dealers 78, 186; + Deficit 388; + Disease 207, 238; + Distance apart 130; + Dog's food 345; + Drying 77, 120, 207-8; + "Ears bend as ripen" 137; + more Eaten 85; + Emigration and 363; + Etiquette, 81; + Engineering 52; + Everywhere paddies 121; + Exports 86, 388; + Flavour, see Saigon, Rangoon, California, 366, 382, 389; + Flowering 196, 391; + Foreign 81; + Gemmai 79; + "Girl to boil" 351; + Goddess 312; + Glutinous 69, 382-3; + _Gohei_ 185; + _Gohan_ 79; + Government action 48, 86, 390; + Granary, see Government action; + _Hakumai_ 79; + Hand mills 78; + "Hanging ears" 76; + _Hantsukimai_ 79; + Harvest 76, 77, 86, 386; + Heavy cropping power 70; + Heroic peasants 51; + Husking 77, 382-3; + Imports 86, 136, 351, 388; + Indigestion 81; + Insects 74, 201, 250; + Italy 365-6; + Japanese v. foreign production 366; + Kew plants 70; + Day's labour to produce 1 _chō_ 385; + Land available 368; + "Last straw" 77; + League for Preventing Sales at a Sacrifice 384; + Licences 185; + Locusts 20; + _Mangoku Doshi_ 78; + Manure, see Manure, 20; + Market 186; + Mat for workers 125; + _Momi_ 79; + Names, see Varieties, 79, 387; + and Oatmeal 81-2; + Ordinary 382-3; + "Paddy" 69; + Opening a new Paddy 24; + Phial of old 40; + Polishing 78-9 (2), 186; + Porters 186; + Prefectures where most is grown 68; + Prices 85 (2) -6 (2) -7, 351, 383-4, 389, 390; + Profitable 358; + Production 351, and population increased 84; + Prizes at shows 9; + Qualities, see Varieties, 185; + Rangoon 388; + Red 56; + Rent rice, Inferiority of, see Rent, 23; + Reservoirs 210; + Respect for 185; + Right crop for Japan? 413; + Riots 87; + Rotting 76; + Saigon 366, 388; + Salt water, Testing with, 30; + School fees 239; + Seasons 69; + Seed 177, 208, 387; + at Shrine 116 (2), 118; + Soaking pond 74; + Soft for Invalids 81; + Song 83; + Sowing 386, Direct 387; + State 84; + Statistics, see Appendix, 84, 86; + Storehouses 48, 86, 185; + at Table 80, 91; + Tastiness 81; + for Temple 220; + Terraces 149; + Texas 365-6; + Threshing 77-8, 241; + Tickets 185; + Transplanting 20, 386-7; + Tub 81; + Two hundred and tenth day 76; + Uncleaned 382-3; + Unpolished 78; + Upland 69 (2), 73, 383; + U.S. area and crop 366; + Varieties, see Qualities, 69, 132; + Weeding 20, 75; + Weight of Bale 302; + Wet 76, 77; + Rice v. Wheat 351; + Wind 20, 76, 219, 220, 259; + Winnowing 78, 207; + Yahagi, Dr., 366; + Yields 69, 175, 382-3; + Compared with Increase of Population 389 + +"Rich are not so rich" 127; + "Rich cannot remain rich" 67; + Riches 58; + "Richer after the fire" 59 + +Richo 106 + +Rickets 268 + +Riding, see Hokkaido; 194 + +Rifles 151, 282 + +_Rin_ 191, 211, 271 + +Ring 128 + +Riots 87 + +Rise in prices, see Prices + +Rivers, see Hokkaido; 72, 93, 262, 390; + Beds, see Floods, 111 + +R.L.S. 189 + +Roads 122, 128, 130, 194, 219, 224, 240, 246, 287; + Mending free, 219, + for Rates, 245 + +Robbers 195, 225, 277 + +Robes 2, 270; + of Honour 187 + +Rodin, 103 + +_Roka_ 375 + +Roman Catholics 141, 362; + Rome 198 + +_Ronin_, Forty-seven, 333 + +_Ron yori shoko_ 343 + +Roof makers 268; + Roofs 153 + +"Room of Patience" 179 + +Roosevelt 159 + +Rope, see Straw, 215; + Making 177; + Straw (Shinto) 223 + +Rose 213, 290; + Rate of growth 242 + +Rosebery, Lord, 9 + +Rotation 309 + +Rothamsted 370 + +Route plans 18 + +Rubbish, Production of, 369 + +_Ruddigore_ 274 + +Running about 34 + +Rural, and urban population compared, 364, 412; + "Bondage" 331; + Districts' relation to national welfare 369, 370-1; + Exodus 284; + Life, Most difficult question in Japan, 303; + Exhibition 60; + Aim of Progress 27; + Rake's progress 60; + Sociology iv, ix, 85, 192 + +Rush, see _I_, 410 + +Russia, see Hokkaido; 194, 328; + Cruiser 248; + Novelists 99; + Prisoners 307; + War 85, 187, 286, 311; + Writers 327 + +Rye 381 (2) + + +Sacred boat 257; + Grove 146; + Sacredness of work 94 + +Sacrifice 101; + for father, husband, children, 102 + +Sacrilege 134 + +Saddles 269 + +Sages 108 + +Saghalien 290, 336, 390-1 + +Saigon, see Rice + +Sailing craft 208-9; + Ships 235 + +Sailors 211 + +Sails, Western for Japanese, 208 + +St. Francis 106, 321-2 + +Saints 107 + +Saitama 107, 146, 309, 313 + +_Sakaki_ 137 + +Saké, see Drunkenness; 18, 46, 57, 79, 116 (2), 118-9, 136, 180, 184, + 213, 215, 254-5, 267, 271, 303, 305, 313, 349 (2), 380, 396 + +Salads dangerous 350 + +Sale, C.V., xii, 364 + +Salt 36, 251, 268, 349 + +Salvation Army, see Hokkaido + +Samurai 25, 53, 92, 141, 238, 243, 319, 395; + Scholar's kakemono 150 + +Sanitary Committee 123 + +Sanitation, Western 375 + +_Sanka_ 110 + +Sappy growth 368 + +Sato, Dr., see Hokkaido; 386 + +Savages 141 + +Savings 302; + Bank book 126; + Collected 230 + +Saxby 167 + +Sayings, see Proverbs + +Scale 289 + +Scandinavia 413 + +Scapegoat 212 + +Scarecrows 198 + +Scenery 119, 152; + Characteristic 244 + +Schools, see Children, Teachers, Schoolmasters; 15, 41, 113, 144, 212; + Agricultural 50, 375; + Influence of 57; + Attendance 112, 123, 264; + Barefoot drill 64; + Boys 38; + Boys' badges 221; + Buildings 112-3; + Care of 112; + Children (Heights, weights and physique) 404; + Cleaned by children 112; + Compulsory attendance 113; + Co-operative 30; + Counsels 112, 124; + Early age of attendance 301; + Ethics 361; + Farm 127, 177; + Fees 239, 264, 314; + For girls' 47; + Girls' badge 285; + Influence of 118; + Masters, see Teachers, 20, 57, 61, 118, 140; + Maps 127; + Military relics 286; + Morality 149; + Mottoes 112, 124; + Order 127; + Poor 325; + Portraits 124; + Pride in 112; + Punishments 112, 178; + Rainy days 185; + in temple 137; + Truants 285; + Shrines 113; + Salutes 286; + Spartan conditions 50, 307; + Swedish drill 64; + Training 169; + Tree planting 121; + Vacation for helping with crops 127; + Winter arrangements 127 + +Science 369; + and Religion 82, 201; + and Farmers 158; + Scientific truth 206; + Scientists 100 + +Scolding 149 + +Scotland 290, 358 + +Scott San no Okusan (Mrs. Scott) v + +Screen over streets 209 + +Sculpture 102 + +Scythe 196, 367, 385 + +Sea 108, 332; + Beach sleeping 312; + Deities and 257; + Gains from 207; + Weed 43, 128, 349 + +Seals 25 + +Seats 124 + +Secondary Industries 23, 65, 195, 232, 251, 279, 310, 379, 385 + +Secret Ploughing Society 311 + +Sects, see under names of; 149, 212 + +Seeds, Better, 85, 370; + "Seed" (silkworm eggs), see Sericulture + +Seiho, Takeuchi 344 + +_Sei-kō U-doku_ 310 + +_Seishu_ 396 + +Self affirmation 101; + Command 280; + Control 16, 151, 157, 193; + Denial 101; + Discipline 301; + Government 236; + Realisation 101, 124, 125; + Respect 16, 369; + Self supporting but underfed 261 + +_Self Help_, see Hokkaido; 60, 288 + +_Semi_ 344 + +Semi-official 276 + +_Sencha_ 294, 403 + +Sendai 118, 198, 268 + +Seniors and juniors 216 + +_Sensei_ 12, 202, 300 + +Sentiment 182, 203; + Latent 324 + +_Seppuku_ 54-5, 333 + +Sericulture, see Factories (Silk), Industry, Silk (below); + 140, 237, 264-5; + Advantage to Farmers 85; + Aptitude 153; + Beef tea 158; + Books for young men 22; + Ceremonies 50; + Cocoons 87, 150, 160, 404, + (Co-operation 22, + Killing 22, 159, + Production and price 397, + Retardation and Stimulation 397, + Shape 155, + Stores 147, + Where most are produced 153;) + Co-operation 160; + Disease 157-8; + Eggs 150, 153-4, 156-7, 160; + Feeding 153; + Girl Collectors 161; + Hatching 154, 397-8; + Hard work 153; + How sericulture districts are distinguishable 153; + Instruction, capacity for, 158; + Japan's advantages and disadvantages 397; + Licences 157; + Losses 155; + Mating 155-6; + Microscopic examination 157; + Moths 155-6-7; + Mulberry 157, 397-8; + Nagano 161; + New thing 158; + Prices 157; + Purification 158; + Pupæ 158; + Rearing 154; + Risks 157; + Season 397; + "Seed," see Eggs; Prospects of, 160; + Quick profits 149; + Silkworms, 22, 89, 158, 278; + Science 157-8; + Soap 158; + Students 158; + Temperature 153; + Wind holes 397; + Yamanashi 161. + --Silk 158, 160; + Artificial 160; + Clothing 346, 356; + Consumption 398; + Export 398; + Government 398; + Institutes 150; + Japanese export compared with other countries 153, 396; + Machinery 159; + Prefectures in which grown 146; + Production 398; + Rise in prices 87; + Testing 159; + U.S.A. 398; + World market 65 + +Sermons, see Preaching, 58 + +Servants 280, 374 + +Service 319; + by hosts 31 + +Sesame 220 + +Sewing 127 + +Sex 101, 189, 274, 282 + +Sexes, see Bath, Bathing; 269, 315; + Balance of 169; + Curiosity 101; + Kept apart 313; + Ill-doing little concealed 101; + Numbers of 74; + Relations of 322; + Relations, no liberty in, 102; + Sex life and Japanese cults 97 + +Shakespearean scenes 31, 276 + +Shanghai 133 + +Sheep, see Hokkaido; 240, 343, 347, 352-3-4, 406; + Bureau 352; + Day 126; + Milk 347 + +Shelley 99 + +_Shi_ xxvi + +Shidzuoka 25, 63, 210, 283, 292, 396 + +Shiga, Professor, 410 + +Shikoku 207, 358, 379, 390, 391-2, 402 + +Shimane 222, 243, 253 + +Shimoneseki 237 + +_Shin heimin_ 400 + +Shingon 134, 211, 220, 269 + +_Shinjū_ 102 + +Shinshu 2, 3, 134, 197, 222, 240 + +Shinto 12, 19, 83, 96, 205 (2), 322, 326; + Architecture 251; + Ceremonies 45, 79, 82, 117, 275; + Deities 244; + Festival 192, 221; + Shintoists 91; + Priests 82-3, 113, 118, 134, 194. 258, 266, 271, 302-3; + Sects 134; + Shelf, value of, 273; + Shrines x, 16, 18, 22, 29, 45, 57, 75, 82, 94, 116, 123, 126, + 130, 144 (2), 147, 186, 205, 220, 244, 251, 259, 263, 264, 266 (3), + 269, 271, 299, 300: + "The centre of the village" 259; + Closing of 133-4; + Produce at 177; + Seed from 59 + +Shipping, Foreign, 256 + +Shirakaba 102 + +Shirakawa 175 + +Shrine, see Buddhist shrine, Shinto Shrine; 120 (8), 127, 138, 206, + 211, 219, 236, 237, 245, 256, 324, 326; + Advertisement of 287; + and gasometer 286; + and immorality 257, 307, 325-6; + Bowls at, 203; + Communal 315; + Family 38-40; + Mothers before 142, 287, 325 + +_Shōchū_ 396 + +Shoes, see Boots, 236, 283-4, 45 + +_Shogun_ 144, 150, 220, 333, 335 + +_Shōji_, see Hokkaido for Windows; 36, 248, 257, 277, 286 + +Shonai 182 + +Shooting 215 + +Shopkeepers 189, 213; + Diligent 17; + With land 267 + +Shorts, Bathing, 312 + +Shows, see Rural Life Exhibition; 9, 23, 58, 60, 103, 116, 258 + +_Shōyū_, see Soy + +_Shu_ 334 + +Shuku 222 + +Siam 127, 388 + +Siberia 388, 390, 410 + +Sick relief 185 + +Sickles, see Paddies; 196, 227, 363, 385 + +Sieve 216 + +"Sight of a good man enough" 24 + +Signs, Shop, 245 + +"Silent Trade" 122 + +Silver 124, 396 + +Silver Birch Society 102 + +_Si monumentum_ 31 + +Simplicity 50, 186; + of living 38; + in Old Japan 240, 243 + +Sincerity 20, 21, 124, 181; + "On the edge of the mattock" 136 + +"Sinful man, I am," 26 + +Singapore 57 + +Singing 17, 308 + +Sirens, guns and gods, 237 + +Sitting 124 + +Skating 152 + +Ski-ing 140 + +Skill 317; + "Skill in manufacture" 356 + +"Slave system" 287; + "Slaves of their husbands" 143 + +Sledge 183; + on beach 312 + +Sleep 25 + +"Sly" 283 + +Smallholders' incomes 184; + Smallholdings, see Farmer; + and country 368; + Condition of success 89; + in Great Britain 368 + +Smells, see Manure; + "They smell" 142 + +Smiling 288, 321 + +Smoking 137, 142, 258, 288 + +Smollett 80, 144 + +Snail 107 + +Snakes 287; + Day 126 + +Snapping turtle 136 + +Snow, see Hokkaido; 120, 123, 132, 140, 182, 278, 391; + Shelters 140, 176, 190 + +Snowdon 394 + +Soap 158 + +Social Conditions 88; + Development 206, 365; + Ideals 361; + Intercourse 374, 378; + Obligation exploited 369; + Reform and Christianity 362; + Question, see Hokkaido, 104; + Status, changes in, 62, 376 + +Socialism 171, 328; + League 171 + +Society 101, 182; + Restrictions 102; + Societies 214, 312; + "For Aiming at being Distinguished" 124; + "for Developing Knowledge" 124; + "for Knowledge and Virtue" 124; + for Rice cultivation by Schoolboys 19; + for Visiting other Prefectures 189; + of householders 214; + of primary school graduates 124; + to reward virtue 214; + to console old people 214 + +Sociologist, A joy to 72; + Rural 85 + +Socrates 203 + +Soda water 130 +_Sō desuka?_ 193 + +Soil 307; + and farmers' character 25; + Barren 195; + Dark 309; + Improvement of 298; + Volcanic 309, 313-4 + +Sojo, Toba 344 + +Soldiers, see Conscripts; 18, 58, 187; + farms 311 + +"Something that doth linger" 145 + +Son, see Eldest brother; + Eldest, 329; + and father 205 (2); + Son's death 273; + "Son tiller" 37 + +_Son_, xxvi, _-chō_ 140 +Song 224, 313; + of insects 344; + of Revolution 171; + of rice planters 83; + Western 288 + +Sorrow 273 + +Sosen 344 + +Soul 321 + +Soups 110 + +South America 176, 249, 352, 410; + South Seas 223 + +Southend 329 + +_Soy_ 213, 349, 350, 381 (2), 383; + Soya bean 146, 295, 409, 411 + +Spade, see Paddies; 385; + Farming 362 + +Spanish 346; + Spaniards 208 + +Sparrows 107, 199 + +Speaking 24, 238; + Way of, to peasants, 94 + +Special tribes 221, 241, 248 +Speculation 2; + Speculator and shrine 325 + +Speech, see Author, Lectures, Speaking; 26, 238, 279; + Unnecessary 26 + +Spelling, English, 301 + +Spiders' big webs 248 + +Spirea 122 + +Spirit 50, 61, 67, 100; + Spirits 130; + Spirit meeting 36; + of Japan 323; + Spiritual betterment 95; + Dryness 27; + Spirituality 203, 206, 322-3, 361; + Why slackened 100 + +Spitting pot 58, 183 + +Spontaneity 99 + +Spraying 290 + +Spring 214 + +Squashes 146, 347 + +Squid, see Cuttlefish, Octopus; 46, 228 + +Stage, movable, 115; + Women on, 255 + +Standard of living, see Living standard; 365, 378-9, 380-1-2; + and Emigration 363 + +"Standing on householder's head" 242 + +"Standing Peasant" 137 + +Stanhope, Lady Hester, 170 + +Starr, Dr., 326 + +State Colonisation 312; Statesmen + and Industrialism 369 + +Statistics, see Appendix; 62, 297; + and Feeling 1; + Mistakes in 404 + +Statues 45, 222 + +Stealing, see Thefts, Crime; + Boys, 287 + +Steel 396 + +Steps 211 + +Sterilisation 159, 348 + +Steward's broom, 135 + +Still births 114, 393 + +Stockades 132 + +Stock-keeping, see Hokkaido, 133 + +Stomach-ache 350 (2), 351 + +Stones, cutters, 267; + Memorial 133; + Pile of 110 + +Storehouses 48, 86 + +Storeys 153 + +Storms 316, 391 + +Stoves 358 + +Strachey, J. St. Loe 9 + +Strategic zone 237 + +Straw, see Hats, Cloaks, Mantles; 73, 208, 367; + Rope 65; + Sleeping in 184; + Wrappings for trees 215 + +Stream, Cleaning, 186 + +Streamers 136 + +Streets, Narrow, 209, 235 + +Strindberg 99 + +Stroking 142 + +Students 150, 152, 159, 195, 220, 300; + Abroad 291, 402; + Character 50; + Grants to, 403; + Guild 50; + Holidays 137; + Promises to one another 8; + Sympathetic attitude 254 + +Sty 27 + +Subscriptions 281, 314 (2), 315 + +Subservience 231 + +Sugar 46, 210, 349 (2), 354, 409 + +Suicide 55; + for love 102 + +Sulphate of ammonia 386; + Sulphur 109; + Sulphuric acid water 177 + +Summer 390 + +_Sumo_, see Wrestlers + +Sun, 126 (2), 372; + God worship 323; + Waiting for the, 323; + Sunshine 76-7, 304; + "and rice may be found," etc., 109; + Sunday 126, 159 + +Sung 105 + +Superior person 254 + +Superphosphate 386 + +Superstition 41, 148 (3), 206, 208, 326 + +"Surface beautiful" 327 + +Suspension bridges 126 + +Suwas 151; + Suwa Lake 152 + +Swallows 94, 223 + +Swamps 199 + +Swearing 48 + +Sweat and be saved 169 + +Swedenborg 99 + +Sweeping earth 31, 227; + Symbolical 135 + +Sweethearts 302 + +Sweets 17, 19, 267, 346, 383; + Shop girls 17 + +Swine, see Pigs +Swiss 290; + Switzerland 368 + +Swords 36 + +Symbolism, Foreign, 127 + +Sympathy 272-3 + +Synge, J.M., 99, 282 + +Syphilis, see Gonorrhœa, 126, 211, 326 + +System 328 + +_Ta_ 68 + +_Tabi_ 312, 317 + +Table, One long, 95 + +Tablets 314 (3) + +Tabu 117, 235-6, 258 + +Tacitus 357 + +Tagore 99 + +_Tai_ 297 + +Taiko, 66 + +_Taisho_ 39 + +Taiwan, see Formosa + +Tajima 402 + +Takamatsu 209 + +Takaoka, Professor, 381 +Talking foolishly 197; + "Talking with my wife" 61; + Talk 201 + +Taming 248 + +_Tan_, see Agriculture + +Tang 105 + +Tangerines 289 + +_Tanomoshi_ 62, 182, 185 + +Taoist 106 + +_Taro_ 48, 220, 258, 309, 409 + +Task, Summons from common, 310 + +_Tatami_, see Mats; 50, 142, 198, 345 + +Taxation 46, 65, 73, 85, 124, 176, 180, 284, 302, 307, + 380, 389, 395, 404; + Voluntary 21; + Freedom from 43; + and Religion 212; + Largest taxpayer 216 + +Tea 42, 110, 123, 146, 199, 287, 298, 307, 349, 409; + and cake 258; + Experiment stations 295; + Export 403; + Growing and making 292; + Prefectures 283, 403; + Tea Ceremony, see _Cha-no-yu_; + Houses 2, 19, 57, 130 (2), 149, 264, 277, + 303, 325 + +Teachers, see Schools, Schoolmasters; 27, 112, 282, 308, 321, 399, 412 + +Technology xiii, 28 + +Teeth 143, 321 + +Teetotalism 255 + +_Teikoku Nōkai_ 320 + +Telegraph wire 223 + +Temper, Better without meat, 268 + +Temperance, see Teetotalism + +Temperature, see Heat; 195, 390-1 + +Temples, see Buddhist temples, Buddhism; 20, 31, 37, 45, 57-8 (2), 62, + 149, 183, 196, 206, 210, 220, 263-4, 369; + Bell 331; + Dues 139, 380; + Government attitude, 41; + New, 41; + Priest's house in 4; + Services 3; + Schools 137; + "Temples, Shrines and English church" 100 + +Ten years hence, see Time; 100, 324, 357 + +Tenants, see Agriculture, Hokkaido, Farmers, Landlords; + 37, 42, 152 (2), 189, 194-5, 213, 223, 258, 261, 263, 265, 283, + 301-2, 364, 376, 411; + as "Labourers" 88, 395; + Condition of 207, 304-5, 379, 380 (3)-1; + Contract 405; + Common interests with landlord 229-30; + Eating cattle food 379; + Gifts to landlord 31; + Movement against landlords, see Tenants' movement (Landlords); + Rewarded 33, 187; + Sly 28; + Transference to Peasant Proprietorship 29-30 (2), 31 + +Tendai 220 + +Tenison xiv + +Tennis 159 + +_Tera_ 134 + +Terauchi 390 + +Terence 107 + +Terracing 149, 227 + +Texas 365-6 + +Thanks not to be accepted 26 + +Thatch 153, 281, 286 + +Theatre 115, 266, 305; + and Police 53; + Moving 115; + Stamp on hands 115 + +Theft, see Crime; 113, 139, 195, 280 (2) + +Theine 292, 403 + +Theology 362; Natural 141 + +Thermometer 137 + +"They feel the mercy of the sun" 321 + +"Thirteen a perilous age" 130 + +Thistles 307 + +Thompson, Francis, 99 + +"Those who suffer learn," etc., 253 + +"Thou also dwellest," 106 + +"Though hands and feet," etc., 324 + +Thought changes really slow 331 + +Threshing 208, 367; + Machinery, 78 + +Threshold 242 + +Thrift 11, 12, 13, 30-1, 48, 50, 60-1, 124, 187 + +Thunderbolts 131 + +Thyme 290 + +Tidal waves 62, 93 + +Tidiness 19 + +Tiger-day 126 + +Tiles 153, 245 + +Timber 111, 122, 128, 194, 227 + +Time, see Ten years hence; 252, 292 + +Tintoretto 103 + +"Tipped with fire" 27 + +Tipping 145, 148 + +Toast 80 + +Tobacco 177, 267, 349, 379, 380, 400 + +Tochigi 107, 309 + +Toes 317 + +_Tōfu_ 81, 311, 349, 350 + +_Tokobashira_, see Tree in room + +_Tokonoma_ 32, 319 + +Tokugawa Iyesato, Prince, x; + Tokugawa period 8, 285, 363 + +_Tokushu buraku_ 400 + +Tokushima 207, 209 + +Tokyo xxvi, 26, 38, 55, 66, 71-2, 102, 107, 144, 182, 227, 249, 260, + 286, 289, 292, 299, 309, 313, 318, 322, 331, 334, 349, 387, 391 (2); + Population 392; + University 145 + +Tolstoy, see Hokkaido; 25, 27, 94, 200, 321, 327 + +Tombstones 72 + +"Too near to criticise" 331; + "Too poetical" 254 + +Tools, see Paddies, Implememts; 174, 222, 301, 317 + +Top, Movement from, 30, 204 + +_Torii_ 236, 251, 325 + +Torrens 170 + +Tottori 253, 255, 402 + +Tourist steamers 237 + +Towels 16, 31, 148, 183, 286, 295 + +Town life, True character of, 180; + Townsman envied 180; + Townsman v. Countryman 233 + +Toyama 132, 138 + +_Toyo-ashiwara_, etc., 68 + +_Trachoma_ 183, 405 + +Trade Unions, see Labour; + U.S. and 170; + Tradesmen 189; + Tradesmen's boys 315 + +Tradition, Family, 149 + +Traherne, 99 + +Training, Home, 149 + +Tramps 315, 376 + +_Transactions of Society of Arts_, see Asiatic; 364 + +Translations 401 + +Travel, see Trips; 216, 269; + Counsel 110; + Old time 246; + Postgraduate 29 + +Trees, see Varieties of, under names, 62, 147, 227, 316; + Cutting down 13; + Dwarfed 52; + Homesteads studded 146, 307; + in the house 319; + Moving 210; + Mushrooms 110; + Planting, see Afforestation, 45, 67, 121, 240; + in Room 319; + Symbolical 12, 121; + Pictures 215; + Trimmed 77; + in Winter 215 + +"Tremble and correct their conduct" 113 + +Trips 18 + +Troubler of Israel 90 + +Trousers 111, 269, 310, 312 + +Truth 161 + +Tsingtao 58 + +Tsushima 248, 335 + +Tuberculosis 398, 406 + +Tunnels 52, 132, 149, 152, 176, 190, 197 + +Tumours 268 + +Turnips 410 + +Twelve hours' day, U.S. and, 170 + +Types (Racial) 204 + +Typhoons 93 + +Tytler 207 + +Uchimura, Kanz=o, see also Hokkaido; 90-7, 99, 101, 141, 326-7, 362 + +Ueda Sericulture College 158-9 + +Umbrellas 198, 250, 285 + +Unclean 208 + +Undercooking 350 + +Underfeeding 350 + +Understanding, see West and East + +Uninhabitable, see also Area habitable; 394; + compared with Great Britain 394 + +United States 328, 388; + and British Interests in Far East xv; + and Japan xv; + Government xiv; + and twelve hours' day 170; + Steel Corporation 170 + +Universe 7, 321 + +Universities 300, 403 + +Unmarried 393 + +Unworldliness 28 +Upland, see also Rice; 372; + _Hata_ 68; + Area 385; + Area ploughed by cattle 385; + Profit of 194; + Value of 402 + +Upper class reformers 30 + +Usury 38, 56, 176, 184, 185 + +_Uta_ 324 + +Utilisation of waste, see Waste; 48 + + +Vacation, see Schools + +_Valerius_ 45 + +Valleys 372 + +Van Eyck 103 + +Van Gogh 103 + +Vaughan 99 + +Veal 349 + +Vegetable protein 348-9 + +Vegetables 18, 85, 307, 349 (2), 389; + at Shrine 16, 83; + Salted 196 + +Vegetarianism 57, 59, 130, 147, 270, 321, 348 + +Venus 214 + +Vetch 263 + +Veterinary surgeon 268 + +Views 119 + +Village activities 250; + Association for promoting morality 20; + Callings 189; + Cleaning stream 186; + Conditions 322; + Discords 305; + Founders 265; + Funds 124, 279; + Histories 57; + Ideal 104; + Improvement of 28; + Library 59; + Mobilisation 241; + Meetings 20, 278; + Model 259, 380; + Number of Houses in 262; + Office 314; + Praised and rewarded 41; + Reformed 47; + Return to 88; + Revenue 124; + Signs of being well off 263-4; + Signs of good 259; + Tax free 21; + Troubles 278; + Unified by removal of graves 72; + Wanted one good personality in 259; + Villagers, not educated enough to understand, 26, 341; + Savings 230; + Taxes in work 245; + Worthy 22 + +Village Agricultural Association 22-3, 30, 215, 250, 303, 380 + +Village assembly 123, 133, 215 +Villages, see Famine, Revenue, Sanitary Committee, Societies, Taxation; + xxvi, 16, 18, 43, 134 + +Vine branches 209 + +Virtue, see Morality; 140; + Supreme 120; + Taught by hands 50 + +Vladivostok 214 + +Voelcker, Dr., 370 + +"Voice of one," etc., 136 +Volcanic ash 70; + Eruption grants 312; + Soil 309, 313 + +Volcanoes, see Earthquakes, Hokkaido; 108, 131, 143, 316, 390, 394 + +Voters, see Franchise; 124, 400 + +Votive pillars 211; + clock 252 + +Vow 255 + +Vulgar words 18 + +Waist string 307 + +Waitresses 212, 315, 322, 376; + and Foreigners 101 + +Waley, A., 320 + +"Walking out" 313, 315 + +Wall builders 267; + Wall charts 124 + +Wallace, Robert, viii + +Wallas, Graham, 86 + +War 203, 311, 354, 414; + and this book xxv, 87-8; + Bonds 187; + China 85; + Counsels 187; + Great War x, 206; + Russia, see Russia, 21, 85, 91 + +_Waraji_ 15, 129, 209, 272, 279, 326 + +Washing 45, 317, 354; + Washouts 182 + +Waste 70, 324, 385; + of time xi; + Planting of, see Afforestation; + Utilisation of 48, 178 + +Wastrels, see Hokkaido + +_Watakushi_ 301 + +Watchword 259 + +Water 64, 126, 132-3, 262, 298-9, 390; + Colours 286; + Dangerous 108, 350; + "Water drinker" 258; + Hot piped 248; + Pollution 350; + On roof 177; + Wheels 216, 263; + Splashing quarrels 48; + Works 52 + +Wax and trees 219, 400, 410 + +Weather, see Climate; 86, 136, 391 + +Weddings, see Marriages; 66, 265, 302, 332, 379; + Tax 21 + +Weeds, see Paddies; 228, 263, 307, 314, 366, 385; + "Weeding in happiness" 137 + +Week 126 + +"Weep not," etc., 224; + Weeping 25 + +Weights 350, 404; + Lifting 16; + and Measures xxv + +Welcome tea 148 + +Well off 204, 264 (2), 370 + +Wells 27, 207 + +Wells, H.G., viii + +West and East, Elemental things 6; + Glamour 369; + Importance of problem vii; + Real barrier xii +Western art 102; + Costumes 101; + Dancing 101; + Civilisation 186; + Eroticism 101; + Ideas 201; + Influence 174, 330, 369; + Literature 102; + Music 102; + Painting 102; + Philosophy 102; + Sculpture 102; + Thought 55 + +Wet, see Climate + +"What a happy life" 183 + +Wheat 307, 351 (2), 381 (2), 391, 409-10; + Compared with Rice 351, 383; + Imports 383 + +Whitman, Walt, 99 (2), 105 + +"Why do you wear," etc., 288; + "Why fasten your horse," etc., 288 + +Widows 111, 197 + +Wild people 110 + +_Wilkstroemia Sikokiana_, see Gampi + +Will 19, 314 + +Windbreaks 248; + Mills 152, 251; + and Taxes 259 + +Windows 358 + +Winnowing 215, 220 + +Winter 278, 282, 390, 413; + Crop 384-5-6 + +Wisdom or Riches 61 + +Wit 191 + +Wives, see Marriage, Wedding; 143; + "Please teach her" 6 + +Women, see Farmers' wives, Nurses, Paddies, Porters, Teachers, Wives; + 34, 205, 212; + Barbers 224; + British Exploitation of 170; + Carriage of 268; + Children on back 97; + Women's Chivalrous Society 312; + Clothing 125; + Cooking 136; + Crime against 114, 229; + on dam and dyke 43, 224; + Diseases 268; + Exploitation of 173; + Fisher women 235; + Individualism 102; + Influence of Christianity 94 (2), 95; + Kindness 31; + Labourers 323; + Women's Movement 290; + and Men 102, 169, 290; + New openings for 255; + Number of Workers 168-9, 399; + One Heart Society 312; + Overworked 114; + Press 181; + Praying 243; + and Priest 4; + Priest 120; + Primitive conditions 216, 247; + Obstacles to Agricultural progress 232; + Public life 300; + Same implements as husband 97; + Savings not used by men 126; + Story of old woman 323; + Religious Association 58; + Self-suppression 290; + Strength 269; + Suffering 181, 290; + Trousers, see Trousers, 111; + compared with Western 290; + Western costumes 101; + Wives, see Wives, 293; + Work 278 + +Wood 110, 126, 196, 372; + Cutters 267; + Divided up, Result, 306; + and Grain crops 309; + Preservation 227; + Quantity needed 111; + Utensils 121; + Wealth of 122; + Workers 121; + White (Shinto) 46, 83 + +Wool 133, 346, 352-3-4-5-6-7; + v. Cotton and Silk 356; + Woollen factories compared with English 354-7; + Industry 354-5-6-7, 407 + +Woolman, John, vi + +Work, for common good 19; + to Gain influence 321; + Good 317; + Hard 125, 284; + "Make the young fellows" 259; + Sacredness of 94; + Workers 218, City 87-8; + Workmen good 317 + +World, Attitude, 371; + Better world 90, 202 + +Worship 141, 244, 271, 324, 326 + +"Would that my daughter," etc. 183 + +"Wounds of the realm" 309 + +Wren 31 + +Wrens 287 + +Wrestlers 16, 28, 108, 179, 196, 249, 276, 316, 404 + +Wrist development 16 + +Writing 17, 288, 311; + "Penmanship is like," etc., 288 + + +Yahagi, Dr., 366 + +Yam 258 + +Yamagata 175, 176, 182, 189, 193, 302, 380 + +Yamaguchi 235, 237 + +Yamanashi 146 + +Yamasaki, N., 11, 17, 25, 37, 47, 51, 54, 63, 375 + +_Yamato damashii_ ix, 140 + +Yamato Society 413 + +Yanagi, M., 98-106, 326-7; + Mrs. 99 + +Yangtse 390 + +_Yashiki_ (mansion) 369 + +_Yashiro_ 134 + +Yeats, W.B., 99 + +Yeddo, see Tokyo, Yezo; 144, 335 + +Yields, see Agriculture, Crops and names of + +Y.M.A. 7, 15 _et seq._, 22, 23, 28, 46, 120 (2), 124, 126, 128, + 178, 194, 197, 212, 215, 223, 239, 265, 286; + Criticism of 259, 277 (2), 282, 303; + Official action 240; + Y.M.C.A. 15; + Y.W.A. 19; + Y.W.C.A. 15 + +_Yo_ 126 + +_Yofuku_, see Foreign clothes + +Yokohama 182, 392 + +Yokoi, Dr., 362 + +_Yoroshii_ 280 + +Yoshida, S., 332 + +Yosōgi 66 + +Young, Arthur, ix + +Young men 135, 181; + and Women, see Sexes, 313; + with a mission 324 + +_Yukata_ 108, 356 + + +_Zabuton_ 34, 143, 246, 258 + +Zeeland 197 + +_Zen_ 11, 100, 130, 134, 144, 186, 193, 245, 313 + +Zig-zag tracks 140 + +_Zori_ 65, 236 + +Zorn 327 + + +[Compiler's Notes + +The following typographical errors or inconsistencies were corrected: +Page xv (Introduction), 315: The name Kanzō Uchimura did not have a +macron over the o, but it did in the index and two other locations +in the text, and it was confirmed from another source, so the macrons +were edited in. +Page xv (Introduction): The term 'kōri' (division of a prefecture) +did not have the macron, but it did in the index; also confirmed +from another source, so put the macron character in. +In four places, the term 'gunchō' (head of a county) did not +have a macron over the o, but in five other places, it did, +so I have edited the word on pages 51, 52, and 56, and in the index. +Page 55: Changed 'familar' to 'familiar'. +Page 125: The term 'jizō' did not have a macron over the o, +but it did in another location and in the index, so I edited it. +Page 226: Changed 'instal' to 'install'. +Page 315: The term 'kakkō' (cuckoo) did not have a macron over the o, +but it did in the index, and I determined from another +source that it should have the macron, so I edited it. +Index: various hyphenated words did not have hyphens in the index +entries, edited in the hyphens. +Index: Entry for 'Cimabue' should not have accented e (confirmed +from another source) so corrected it. +Index: Entry for 'furoshiki' had two i's at the end; confirmed with +another source it should only have one i at the end; corrected. +Index: Entry for 'genshitsu' was mis-spelled, confirmed from another +source, corrected. +Index: Entry for phrase 'Getsu-yo-bi' was mis-spelled, obvious from +the text in the book, so corrected. +Index: phrase 'Okunitama-no-miko-no-kami mis-spelled, corrected.' +Index: entry for phrase 'Sei-kō U-doku' did not have a macron but in +the book it did, so edited the index entry. +Index: entry for phrase 'Tokushu buraku' was mis-spelled, confirmed +from another source, corrected. +Index: entry for word 'yofuku' had macron over the o here, but not +anywhere in the book, so it was made consistent by using a normal o. +Index: The name 'Yosōgi' had the macron over the first o instead of +the second one, inconsistent with the other index listing and the +chapter text, so the index entry was corrected. The Chapter title +does not use a macron at all, and has been left as printed. +Index: Entry for 'Yukata' should not have a macron on the u - verified +this from another source, made correction.] + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Foundations of Japan, by J.W. Robertson Scott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FOUNDATIONS OF JAPAN *** + +***** This file should be named 14613-0.txt or 14613-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/1/14613/ + +Produced by Michael Ciesielski, Ronald Holder and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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