The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1868-11-07
WOMEN AND FASHIONS IN
JAPAN.

The women of Japan retain their
beauty up till labout the age of twen-
ty-five. They usually marry about
sixteen or seventeen years old, at
which time they have reached the
fHll maturity of womanhood. The
girls are, as q rule, very pretty and
accomplished, and stain their lips,
and also their toe and finger nails,
deep red but when married they
bIaCken their teeth with a peculiar
kind of dyewood, and shave their
eyebrows. They wear sandals, and
are very proud to have notice taken
Of their feet. If II is intended by
the blackened teeth and shaven eye
brows to render married ladies as un-
interesting in appearance rs possible,
the plan seems most etfectual one.
Women belonging to the upper
ranks are highly educated, and are
as remarkable for the learning of
which many Of them are possessed,
rs for the talent in every description
of fancy work which almost all of
them display. They wear loose, hOw-
ing robes, the value of which is en-
hanced by all manner Of beautiful
inwrought silk designs, proportioned
! in costliness to the station and means
of the wearer. The young women
belonging to the lower orders of So
Ciety have only one dress i'll the
world. 1t corresponds in appearance
with our dressing gown, and is
bound round the waist with a sash.
Ladies belonging to the "upper ten"
do no manner of work, for their em-
ployment at needle work, painting,
and the like, is merely fashionable
recreation. They sit at h0me, and
when not embroidering, or similarly
engaged, they sing and play upon
the "cotto," a dulcinler harp with
thirteen strings, which is essentially
an aristocratic instrument. The
daughters Of poor people, on the
other hand, work with their parents
in the fields, and live happy and con-
tented lives. Music teachers are gen.
orally blind ladies; and here itshould
be remarked that the japanese are
entitled to great credit for the care
which they take of those who are
unfortunately deprived of sight. A
man who becomes blind is educated
as doctor, while a woman Is III
structed to take charge of the educa
: ton of the young. japanese wOmer
are vocalists from the cradle. They
have no written music, but the tune
are traditional. They play upon thu
siemsim, little banjo with thre'
3 strings, which is of universal use
. and the "cotto,n which, as | hav,
said, is fingered only by women mo
wing in the upper circles. The char
acter of their music, which is almos
oil in the minor mode, differs from
t any of which we have a knowledge
At first it falls very unpleasantly up
t on the ear of q European, but after
I time he comes to feel that it has
: sweetness peculiarly its own. Sim
l plicity is its general characteristic
a but there are some pieces, the origil
e of which is lost in the mists of anti
}, quity, of most elaborate construction
I Orchestral music, even in the thea
. tire, where these complex arrange
Q ments are chiefly introduced, is re
n stricted to three or four miserabl
:, little three-stringed banios, q drum
i a flute, and two hard pieces Of wood
welded by q fellow who holds on
t in each hand, and when the singe
}, or speaker is in q declamatory mooC
e strikes them violently together !
y quick repetitions of about doge
u strokes. ,a