for taking vengeance upon a straw image of the recreant lover at the shrine of Fudō.

“After 5 P. M. many people will not put on new clothes or sandals" (Griffis). From "Superstitious Japan": "If one swallows seven grains of red beans (azuki) and one go of sake before the hour of the ox on the first day of the year, he will be free from sickness and calamity throughout the year; if he drinks toso (spiced sake) at the hour of the tiger of the same day, he will be untouched by malaria through the year. On the seventh day of the first month if a male swallows seven, and a female fourteen, red beans, they will be free from sickness all their lives; if one bathes at the hour of the dog on the tenth day [of the same month], his teeth will become hard."

There are also superstitions about ages. Some persons, for instance, "are averse to a marriage between those whose ages differ by three or nine years. A man's nativity also influences the direction in which he should remove; and his age may permit his removal one year and absolutely forbid it the next." There are also critical years in a person's life, such as the seventh, twenty-fifth, forty-second, and sixty-first1 years for a man, and the seventh, eighth, thirty-third, forty-second, and sixty-first 1 years for a woman. There is a similar story to the effect that a child born (or begotten?) in the father's

1 The sixty-first year of a person's life is of special interest, because it is the first of a second cycle of sixty years.

forty-third year is supposed to be possessed of a devil. When such a child is about one month old, it is, therefore, exposed for about three hours in some sacred place. Some member or friend of the family then goes to get it, and bringing it to the parents, says: "This is a child whom I have found and whom you had better take and bring up." Thus having fooled the devil, the parents receive their own child back.

From Inouye's "Sketches of Tōkyō Life "we learn that aged persons provide against failing memory by passing through seven different shrine gates on the spring or autumn equinox. An incantation against noxious insects, written with the infusion of India ink in liquorice water on the eighth day of the fourth moon, Buddha's birthday, will prevent the entrance of the insects at every doorway or window where it is posted. January 16 and July 16 were and are special holidays for servants and apprentices, and considered sacred to Emma, the god of Hades. At the time of the winter solstice doctors would worship the Chinese Esculapius. "The foot-wear left outside on the night of the winter equinox should be thrown away; he who wears them will shorten his own life. If you cut a bamboo on a moonlight night, you will find a snake in the hollow of it between the third and fourth joints." "During an eclipse of the sun or moon, people carefully cover the wells, as they suppose that poison falls from the sky during the period of the obscuration." "If on the night of

the second day of the first moon, one dreams of the takara-bune (treasure-ship), he shall become a rich man." The first "dog day" and the third "dog day" in July are days for eating special cakes. "The third dog day is considered by the peasantry a turning-point in the life of the crops. Eels are eaten on any day of the bull [ox] that may occur during this period of greatest heat." The author was once warned by a Japanese woman that he must not take medicine or consult a doctor on New Year's Day, because such acts would portend a year of illness.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

There are many good books which portray the manners and customs of the Japanese people; and as for magazine and newspaper articles on the subject, their name is legion. The works of Griffis, Chamberlain, Rein, Hearn, Lowell, Miss Bacon, Miss Scidmore, Miss Hartshorne, Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop, and Mitford's "Tales of Old Japan" may be recommended. Good novels, like " Mito Yashiki " (Maclay), "Honda the Samurai" (Griffis), “In the Mikado's Service "(Griffis), etc., give an insight into Japanese life. This may suffice, as more particular references have been given in connection with many of the topics of the chapter. A Japanese Boy" (Shigemi), "Japanese Girls and Women" (Miss Bacon), and "The Wee Ones of Japan" (Mrs. Bramhall) give good pictures of child-life.

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CHAPTER VI

JAPANESE TRAITS

OUTLINE OF TOPICS: First impressions: minuteness; politeness and courtesy; etiquette; simplicity; vivacity; equanimity ; union of Stoicism and Epicureanism; generosity; unpracticality; procrastination; humility and conceit; lack of originality; fickleness; æstheticism; loyalty; filial piety; sentimental temperament; susceptibility to impulse; land and people.- Bibliography.

F

IRST impressions are, of course, often deceitful, as they are likely to be formed from merely superficial views; but they are quite certain to emphasize the peculiar characteristics of a person or a people. The points of difference are very evident at first, but gradually become less observable or prominent, and in time may scarcely be noticed. It is, of course, undeniable that first impressions must be more or less modified, but it is also true that some remain practically unchanged, or are verified and strengthened by long experience.

In the case of the Japanese, for instance, a first and lasting impression is that of minuteness. This characteristic of "things Japanese" pertains less to quality than to quantity, is not a mental or a moral, so much as a physical or dimensional, feature. The empire, though called Dai Nippon (Great Japan)

is small; the people are short; the lanes are narrow; the houses are low and small; farms are insignificant;1 teacups, other dishes, pipes, etc., are like our toys; and innumerable other objects are Lilliputian. Pierre Loti, the French writer, in his description of Japanese life, draws extensively on the diminutives of his native tongue. In business matters, moreover, the Japanese seem incapable of managing big enterprises, and do everything on a small scale with a small capital. The saying that they are 'great in little things and little in great things " contains some truth. But it must, in fairness, be acknowledged that, of recent years, the Japanese have begun to display a remarkable facility and success in the management of great enterprises. They are outgrowing this characteristic of smallness, and are even now reckoned among the "great worldpowers."

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The Japanese are famous the world over for their politeness and courtesy; they are a nation of good manners, and, for this and other qualities, have been styled "the French of the Orient." From morning to night, from the cradle to the grave, the entire life is characterized by unvarying gentleness and politeness in word and act. Many of the expressions and actions are mere formalities, it is true; but they have, by centuries of hereditary influence,

1 "The vast rice crop is raised on millions of tiny farms; the silk crop in millions of small, poor homes; the tea crop on countless little patches of soil." - LAFCADIO HEARN.