The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1864-10-05
A strange PconIe.


odd customs; but for the oldest Of people.
and the quoerest OF manners, commend us
to those islands included in tho sovereignty
of Japan.
Till very recent date, no Europeans
were permitted To trespsss beyond the sa-
cred limits of this most exclusive OF ompiros
nor We're any Japanese allowed TO quit their
native shores. Even now, when you land
at Nagasaki your movements are watched
by regular sentriCG, who report every stop
you take to their supCuors whilo % pre-
vent the Japanese themselve es from roaming
to foreign lands, all their vessels are built
after Government model, with open sterrs.
so that long sea voyages are impossible;
and il they exclude us from visiting thom.
! they are in turn equally debarred from Wis.,
iting us.
They need not he afraid Of visitors,
from any possibility Of being overpowored
! Ivy numbers; for the thousand aud enc
isles which make up the empire of Japan,
contain thirteon thousand dcnsely.popula-
ted towns. Jeddo, the capital, seated in the
island OF Niphou has population nearly
equal to that Of Lordon; and we are told by
! travellers. that the castle in which resides
/ the secular empcror--therc are two ompe-
rorS, one sacred, one sccular--could ac-
commodate forty.thousand men. Mako, q
! city covering twelve square miles, could
raise a battalion of lfty-thOusaud alone;
| while Osacco, the Birmingham of the Eul-
pire, could itself send forth an army Of
eighty thousand.
You scarcely emerge from ono bor-
| oush. says kNmphcr, but you enter an
othcr and you may travel many miles, as
| it were, in one street, without knowing it
to he composed of many villages, save by
| the different names that were formerly Civ
en- them. aud which they after retained,
though iuiUed to one another"
Earthquakes are disastruusly frequent in
Japan, and are of terribly long duration -
One iul5S6 lasted, with varying intensity
for forty days. Two hundred thousand
persisted at Jeddo, during the convulsion of
1903; and a large city was prostratcd by
| that of 1892. It becomes impossible, there
rorc, for the Japanese architects to con
struct lofty piles out of clay and bamboos
and the chimneys of the Manchester faoto-
ries would be out Of place in Niphou. The
law restricts the hight of a dwelling to six
kins or lorty-lour feet three inches, and
there are few houses which boast of more
than one story
Lot us walk into Japanese house, pas
sing without notice the worthy householder
who sits in u tub of water at tho door. per-
forming his abutions with refreshing
freedom from bashlulness. Iou notice
that the door is slightly raised above the
level of the earth, aud thickly covered with
mats of rushes and rice.straw, elegantly
decorated. These mats are used instead of
chairs, and there are no tables, but you
will be provided with little raised tray
when you take refreshments. There are
no beds---you must sleep upon mats, sit
upon mats, smoke upon mats, and hdget up
on mats.
Observe that the rooms are separated by
folding screens of gilt or coorcd papers
and lighted by windows of oiled paper, for
glass is unknown. You can not warm
yourself at the lire--there is, alas! no fire.
place; bnt in the middle of the room you
may croucn down on the brink of the
square.tiled hole, from which ascend the
Gumes.o charcoal. The said charcoal, 10y
the hy, is ,lways burning and over it Il
kettle of hot water is always boiling. The
Japanese drink tea as voraciouly as Eng.
llsh old women; but they use littlo Gugar
doa't put many spoonluls into tho pot and
serve it up III porcelain cups.
The bathroom resembles European bath
rooms In its general appointments; but II Is
more often resorted to than in our chilly
British Isles. The Japanese men ba the
the women hatho, the children battle, in
doors and out Of doors, morning, noon ant
night. The water movement is universal
and most zealously followed out,
At the top of the house is a large tub o
; water, as Il resource in the not unfrequen
event OF Il conilagraton. No London insu
rance company, We fancy, would insure, a
any premium, the iuhdmable structures o
bamboos, screens, oiled papers, mats, ane
,s,. .l...,, 1
There are wooden tanks i'll the streets, anC
: rude iire.engincs at appointed stations
whore the alarm is given by the patrols
who, on discovering tho first shootin.
flames, strike forcibiy the thick plauks, sus
pended from posts ior that purpose.
! The Japanese women, according to recon
! travellers, are models of amability AM
good temper, graceful in their m 'nners AM
attractive in their persons; but they dy
their lips iiercc scarlet, their checks
: violet, and stain their teeth black, with
e detestablo gangrenous compOund--pfaC
tices scarcely i'll harmony with the tullc
| artIGces OF all English belle. They are ton
of dress, OF COURSE, Ur would they bo WON
en2
7 The Japanese gentleman is, generally,
Il wellookiug, intelligent. and active ind
vdual. He weare two swords-a larg
{ and small one; while the mlddle-clas
: man is only entitled to one sword; and tn
"the lower orders" carry none. lie carrie
+ a fan wherever he goes, and whatever Ii
l docs, and no delights III huge trOwseri
o like sheet stitched MP between the leg
though open at the sides, III order TO allo'
0 of the play Of the feet while walking
r His Shoes and his horses shoes arc mad
t OF plated straw. Consequently, they wea
o out with equal rapidity, and force upU
n their wearer shamblng, shuihlng gai
I like Robinson's i'll the ~ anderiug NH
u strel.'
Tanners and curriers' arc not in goo
odor in Japan, for lhey have to touch til
Il bodies OF the dead--a necessity which I'll
e Japanese religion, singuaily enough, 4
sents.
o Kendall, in his Memorials Of the Empr
:, of Japan" pronounces am opinion on III
Japanese character which seems admirabl
II impartial: "They carry" he says, their NJ
u tions Of honor to the verge OF tanatacisr
aud they are naughty, vindictive, aud lice
tious On the other hand. brawers, brat
D garts, and backbiters are held in the, mo
" supreme contempt, The slightest mira
0 ton oitruth is punished with severityi the
IS are open hearted, hospitabe and as friend
10 faithful to DEATH 1t is represented thi
there is no peril Japanese will not e
u counter TO serve friend; that no tormr
will compel him to betray q trust; aud th
even tue stranger who seeks aid VIII |