Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan Volume II Part 25

38 Kite, kite, let me see you dance, and to-morrow evening, when the crows do not know, I will give you a rat.

39 O tardy crow, hasten forward! Your house is all on fire. Hurry to throw Water upon it. If there be no water, I will give you. If you have too much, give it to your child. If you have no child, then give it back to me.

40 The words papa and mamma exist in j.a.panese baby language, but their meaning is not at all what might be supposed. Mamma, or, with the usual honorific, O-mamma, means boiled rice. Papa means tobacco.

Notes for Chapter Two

1 This was written early in 1892

2 Quoted from Mr. Satow's masterly essay, 'The Revival of Pure Shinto,'

published in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of j.a.pan. By 'G.o.ds'

are not necessarily meant beneficent Kami. Shinto has no devils; but it has its 'bad G.o.ds' as well as good deities.

3 Satow, 'The Revival of Pure Shinto.'

4 Ibid.

5 In the sense of Moral Path,--i.e. an ethical system.

6 Satow, 'The Revival of Pure Shinto.' The whole force of Motowori's words will not be fully understood unless the reader knows that the term 'Shinto' is of comparatively modern origin in j.a.pan,--having been borrowed from the Chinese to distinguish the ancient faith from Buddhism; and that the old name for the primitive religion is Kami-no- michi, 'the Way of the G.o.ds.'

7 Satow, 'The Revival of Pure Shinto.'

8 From Kami, 'the [Powers] Above,' or the G.o.ds, and tana, 'a shelf.'

The initial 't' of the latter word changes into 'd' in the compound,-- just as that of tokkuri, 'a jar' or 'bottle,' becomes dokkuri in the cornpound o-mi kidokkuri.

9 The mirror, as an emblem of female divinities, is kept in the secret innermost shrine of various Shinto temples. But the mirror of metal commonly placed before the public gaze in a Shinto shrine is not really of Shinto origin, but was introduced into j.a.pan as a Buddhist symbol of the Shingon sect. As the mirror is the symbol in Shinto of female divinities, the sword is the emblem of male deities. The real symbols of the G.o.d or G.o.ddess are not, however, exposed to human gaze under any circ.u.mstances.

10 Anciently the two great Shinto festivals on which the miya were thus carried in procession were the Yoshigami-no-matsuri, or festival of the G.o.d of the New Year, and the anniversary of Jimmu Tenno to the throne.

The second of these is still observed. The celebration of the Emperor's birthday is the only other occasion when the miya are paraded. On both days the streets are beautifully decorated with lanterns and shimenawa, the fringed ropes of rice straw which are the emblems of Shinto. n.o.body now knows exactly what the words chanted on these days (chosaya!

chosaya!) mean. One theory is that they are a corruption of Sagicho, the name of a great samurai military festival, which was celebrated nearly at the same time as the Yashigami-no-matsuri,--both holidays now being obsolete.

11 Thuya obtusa.

12 Such at least is the mourning period under such circ.u.mstances in certain samurai families. Others say twenty days is sufficient. The Buddhist code of mourning is extremely varied and complicated, and would require much s.p.a.ce to dilate upon.

13 In spite of the supposed rigidity of the Nichiren sect in such matters, most followers of its doctrine in Izumo are equally fervent Shintoists. I have not been able to observe whether the same is true of Izumo Shin-shu families as a rule; but I know that some Shin-shu believers in Matsue worship at Shinto shrines. Adoring only that form of Buddha called Amida, the Shin sect might be termed a Buddhist 'Unitarianism.' It seems never to have been able to secure a strong footing in Izumo on account of its doctrinal hostility to Shinto.

Elsewhere throughout j.a.pan it is the most vigorous and prosperous of all Buddhist sects.

14 Mr. Morse, in his j.a.panese Homes, published on hearsay a very strange error when he stated: 'The Buddhist household shrines rest on the floor--at least so I was informed.' They never rest on the floor under any circ.u.mstances. In the better cla.s.s of houses special architectural arrangements are made for the butsudan; an alcove, recess, or other contrivance, often so arranged as to be concealed from view by a sliding panel or a little door In smaller dwellings it may be put on a shelf, for want of a better place, and in the homes of the poor, on the top of the tansu, or clothes-chest. It is never placed so high as the kamidana, but seldom at a less height than three feet above the floor.

In Mr. Morse's own ill.u.s.tration of a Buddhist household shrine (p. 226) it does not rest on the floor at all, but on the upper shelf of a cupboard, which must not be confounded with the butsudan--a very small one. The sketch in question seems to have been made during the Festival of the Dead, for the offerings in the picture are those of the Bommatauri. At that time the household butsudan is always exposed to view, and often moved from its usual place in order to obtain room for the offerings to be set before it. To place any holy object on the floor is considered by the j.a.panese very disrespectful. As for Shinto objects, to place even a mamori on the floor is deemed a sin.

15 Two ihai are always made for each Buddhist dead. One usually larger than that placed in the family shrine, is kept in the temple of which the deceased was a parishioner, together with a cup in which tea or water is daily poured out as an offering. In almost any large temple, thousands of such ihai may be seen, arranged in rows, tier above tier-- each with its cup before it--for even the souls of the dead are supposed to drink tea. Sometimes, I fear, the offering is forgotten, for I have seen rows of cups containing only dust, the fault, perhaps, of some lazy acolyte.

16 This is a fine example of a samurai kaimyo The kaimyo of kwazoku or samurai are different from those of humbler dead; and a j.a.panese, by a single glance at an ihai, can tell at once to what cla.s.s of society the deceased belonged, by the Buddhist words used.

17 'Presenting the honourable tea to the august Buddhas'--for by Buddhist faith it is hoped, if not believed, that the dead become Buddhas and escape the sorrows of further transmigration. Thus the expression 'is dead' is often rendered in j.a.panese by the phrase 'is become a Buddha.'

18 The idea underlying this offering of food and drink to the dead or to the G.o.ds, is not so irrational as unthinking Critics have declared it to be. The dead are not supposed to consume any of the visible substance of the food set before them, for they are thought to be in an ethereal state requiring only the most vapoury kind of nutrition. The idea is that they absorb only the invisible essence of the food. And as fruits and other such offerings lose something of their flavour after having been exposed to the air for several hours, this slight change would have been taken in other days as evidence that the spirits had feasted upon them. Scientific education necessarily dissipates these consoling illusions, and with them a host of tender and beautiful fancies as to the relation between the living and the dead.

19 I find that the number of clappings differs in different provinces somewhat. In Kyushu the clapping is very long, especially before the prayer to the Rising Sun.

20 Another name for Kyoto, the Sacred City of j.a.panese Buddhism.

Notes for Chapter Three

1 Formerly both s.e.xes used the same pillow for the same reason. The long hair of a samurai youth, tied up in an elaborate knot, required much time to arrange. Since it has become the almost universal custom to wear the hair short, the men have adopted a pillow shaped like a small bolster.

2 It is an error to suppose that all j.a.panese have blue-black hair.

There are two distinct racial types. In one the hair is a deep brown instead of a pure black, and is also softer and finer. Rarely, but very rarely, one may see a j.a.panese chevelure having a natural tendency to ripple. For curious reasons, which cannot be stated here, an Izumo woman is very much ashamed of having wavy hair--more ashamed than she would be of a natural deformity.

3 Even in the time of the writing of the Kojiki the art of arranging t hair must have been somewhat developed. See Professor Chainberlai 's introduction to translation, p. x.x.xi.; also vol. i. section ix.; vol.

vii. section xii.; vol. ix. section xviii., et pa.s.sim.

4 An art expert can decide the age of an unsigned kakemono or other work of art in which human figures appear, by the style of the coiffure of the female personages.

5 The princ.i.p.al and indispensable hair-pin (kanzashi), usually about seven inches long, is split, and its well-tempered double shaft can be used like a small pair of chopsticks for picking up small things. The head is terminated by a tiny spoon-shaped projection, which has a special purpose in the j.a.panese toilette.

6 The shinjocho is also called Ichogaeshi by old people, although the original Ichogaeshi was somewhat different. The samurai girls used to wear their hair in the true Ichogaeshi manner the name is derived from the icho-tree (Salisburia andiantifolia), whose leaves have a queer shape, almost like that of a duck's foot. Certain bands of the hair in this coiffure bore a resemblance in form to icho-leaves.

7 The old j.a.panese mirrors were made of metal, and were extremely beautiful. Kagamiga k.u.moru to tamashii ga k.u.moru ('When the Mirror is dim, the Soul is unclean') is another curious proverb relating to mirrors. Perhaps the most beautiful and touching story of a mirror, in any language is that called Matsuyama-no-kagami, which has been translated by Mrs. James.

Notes for Chapter Four

1 There is a legend that the Sun-G.o.ddess invented the first hakama by tying together the skirts of her robe.

2 'Let us play the game called kango-kango. Plenteously the water of Jizo-San quickly draw--and pour on the pine-leaves--and turn back again.' Many of the games of j.a.panese children, like many of their toys, have a Buddhist origin, or at least a Buddhist significance.

3 I take the above translation from a Tokyo educational journal, ent.i.tled The Museum. The original doc.u.ment, however, was impressive to a degree that perhaps no translation could give. The Chinese words by which the Emperor refers to himself and his will are far more impressive than our Western 'We' or 'Our;' and the words relating to duties, virtues, wisdom, and other matters are words that evoke in a j.a.panese mind ideas which only those who know j.a.panese life perfectly can appreciate, and which, though variant from our own, are neither less beautiful nor less sacred.

4 Kimi ga yo wa chiyo ni yachiyo ni sazare ishi no iwa o to narite oke no musu made. Freely translated: 'May Our Gracious Sovereign reign a thousand years--reign ten thousand thousand years--reign till the little stone grow into a mighty rock, thick-velveted with ancient moss!'

5 Stoves, however, are being introduced. In the higher Government schools, and in the Normal Schools, the students who are boarders obtain a better diet than most poor boys can get at home. Their rooms are also well warmed.

6 Hachi yuki ya Neko no ashi ato Ume no hana.

7 Ni no ji fumi dasu Bokkuri kana.

8 This little poem signifies that whoever in this world thinks much, must have care, and that not to think about things is to pa.s.s one's life in untroubled felicity.

9 Having asked in various cla.s.ses for written answers to the question, 'What is your dearest wish?' I found about twenty per cent, of the replies expressed, with little variation of words, the simple desire to die 'for His Sacred Majesty, Our Beloved Emperor.' But a considerable proportion of the remainder contained the same aspiration less directly stated in the wish to emulate the glory of Nelson, or to make j.a.pan first among nations by heroism and sacrifice. While this splendid spirit lives in the hearts of her youth, j.a.pan should have little to fear for the future.

10 Beautiful generosities of this kind are not uncommon in j.a.pan.

11 The college porter