New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-01-09

|
| tables. IT., sob ho;,od
vegetables. jar OF slightly modified clear soup
| and other vegetables.
| Nno zen.
LIST Table. Rice SOUP boiled fish, jar OF q
| different soup, and relishes.
I'd Table. Broiled fish, vegetables.
Honzcn
Rice. soup, broiled fish, raw fish, vegetables.
These bills of fare seem meagre, but such mum,
| her of dainties are comprised under inc Hehu
relisnes. that each table probably contains from
| eight to-twelve bowls OF dishes. 49,.
| At all entertainments sake, or reel Deer q straw
cclored fluid of faintish smell and taste most
varieties of which contain from II TO ~ per
cent of alcohol. plays an important part ~ Is ire
| ouently heated and is taken before what the Jap
anese consider as the real repast. ,oo
| Before an entertainment, fish, either on me Ilc
ouer or porcelain dish, or on separate taDies' ID
served with sake to each guest and Is known ny 'o
| name Of sake no sdkdna, or accompaniment ~
sake" This is independent of the one Two or 'i s
tables of the feast. The preparation OF raw nS r
| cut into OhlOng strips called sdsh'm Is uSFu IN
clusivey Tor this purpose, but occasionally Ine
sake accompaniment" consists OF large dlsh coli,
! tanning n preparation of fish, boiled duai!S, ana
| other delicacies. cut up and piled one on thc TOP
CT another. Before this preliminary tea anu sweet
| meats are handed round but are hardly touched.
| few of the combinations used IN the Dest
class of japanese cookery are wild duck dock root
| cnuisetum; sea perch, lettuce, tlriupS; FERNS
sea perch. Aralia cordata; crane, Aralla cordata'
| mushrooms; salt pheasant, dock roof, AIalIa cor
data; cod whitclsh. greens boiled IN SdEe. Any
three OF these, in the order in when tney arc
| given are found floating together in the soup; ,
With the pamasg, thin threads OF raw ilsil, tno
adiuncts are SOLE shrmpS; chestnuts gli teeI
ddkOR orange, sea slug. Jelly 1sl small lon'teiS
carrots onions parsley and scrapcd ddlk0n f0ur Oh
which are usually served on the same plate. A..
| With the sashimi Ohlong strips OF raw lish' me
combinations frequently are salmon. muSm-
rooms lemon juice carp cut up alive, large clahS'
strong SAKE III jar boiled pheasant gatlc hluGf'
! With Iyemono. q vegetable " oJ0,' htNiG pi""Mft-
fdg carrots mushrooms. bccbcde Mr.. minced beans;
mushrooms. and kind OF horSelall. ih'se anu anu
| other combinations IN cookery, as WIN U.S. dIc
| partly determined by custom.
! 1t will be an unpleasant surprise to most readers
! to learn that Japan beyond the limits OF
| Oriental magnifccncc." Color and gliding arc
only found in the temples palaces and cottages ere
alike of gray wood; architecture scarcely exists;
the people among the most Industrious III the
world. everybody working hard without even a
Sabbath yet squalid poverty prevails, and if there
is any wealth 1t makes no show; dali blues,
browns and prays are the usual cOlOrS of costume
everything is poor and pale; monotony OF mean
ness charactcrizcs the towns. The beautiful pro-
duets oi art which we associate with japanese in
,usry are not conspicuous in the external life OF
tnc Empire They must he SOUGHT ont in small
shops. or III private houses where they have been
preserved rs heir looms often for many genera
tons. Tho fine taste for color and decoration
which seems TO be instructive with the japanese in
their own art. forsakes them when they buy
| Western manufactures and those who try to copy
European fashions ill their houses with tawdry
furniture and garsh carpets The people of the
treaty ports have been vugarzed rs we'll as
corrupted by the presence of foreigners.
What Mis- Bird says of the present rage for
Western civilization IN Japan is worth cOnsid-
Grafton. The Empire has mado many costly mis-
takes. committed various absurditics. contracted
,loI,ts f,rc aD1 fl nj
to the neglect of works of prime necessity such as
wagon roads,, and is educating a great many
pupils in scientific and technical institutes for
whom the country at present has no use. But
there Is great and real progress nevertheless; and
good reason to believe III the permanencc of tho
movement is found in the fact that the impulse
was not given from without, but from within,
and from the people themselves. The permanent
| cInploymcnt of foreigners in the Imperial service
| is no part of the programme Of progress. AS fast
rs their scry ices can be- dispensed with they are
replaced by natives. But Miss Bird calls attention
! TO n very important and much neglected aspect
Of the pending transformation. 1t IL an attempt,
the first in history to establish Christian civiliza-
ton without Christianity. II missionary enter
prlsc is now tolerated in the Empire, it is not
! because Jopan is becoming more favorable to Chris
tianity but because she rapidly describing all re-
! ligious ideas whatsoever. Buddhism has been " dis
| established" -; ITS gorgeous ccrrmonialS have been
| greatly rcduccd PROSTATE images OF Buddha lie
neglected along the roads; SlntOsm, vague and
! bare form Of nature Worship without cvrn Il code
Of morality is fancy rather than religion; GER
tam devotional practices ngcr. but it is only by
the force Of custom; the frequent pllgrImagc' to
| famous shrines are little better than ir0llc5; no
! creed has any real hold upon the people; the re-
| licous faculty appears to 1c lost out of the Jap
! Lara fltn INn
TO the root of the tree of the old cuus and beliefs
substituting nothing. Probably there is scarcely
an atheism so blank or a materialism 80 complete
on earth as that of tho educated modern Japan esq.,
! The difficulty experienced by American and Luro-
pcan missionaries in contcnding against this gen
cfal paralysis ~ religious feeling Is enormously IN
creased by the fact that atheism Is one OF tho
modern inprOy cmcns which Japan Is continually
| importing from the West. 4" The indirect and in
some cases the direct influence OF some of the
foreign teachers has been against Christianity and
in favor of matcralsm.' The Japanese students
who are educated by their Government in England
or America return and tell their countrymen that
no one OF any intelligence or position now believes
in Christianity and that it is an exploded system
only proppcd up by the clergy AMI the unelucatcd
I masses" al asked n highly educated and thought
ful Young japanese" says Miss Bird " who had Just
returned from u course OF some years Of scientific
study in America, ii he had over studied religion,
and his answer cmbodles at least the view of the
educated classes: No. / hat no time for ANYTHING
mat hal no practical bcdriHq.'" Orr traveller visited
an important normal school largely controlled by
foreign influences: Before leaving, knowing what
tine reply would be. | asked the teacher if they
taught religion and both tho gentlemen laughed
with undisguiEcd contempt. we have no re-
lgion the teacher said. and all your learned men
know that religion is talse.'' Miss Bird had an
interesting conversation at Kiyoto with highly
intelligent and cultivated priest. named Akamah,
who spent some years in England studying Chris
rnnnnni tho fnInnlnst lnnlnr of