The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1881-11-10

inreality, vastly more different than are
Germans and ifrenc hmen This differ.
ancc Is seen 70 only In blood, charac.
ter, languages and f1fossybut in history,
focial customs and h6hsehold habits.
For instance. thongh the Chinese weave
annually millions of yards of mating,
this fabrieis not, as rule, used to cover
floors. Tkese battery in China, are oil
stone, brick, wood or earth. Mating
spsed rather for cloaks and bedding,
sexeept anpng the higher classes, where
1T may seFye as rugs or carpets.
Go. In Japan. however, the floors are uni
SversaHy hidden BIZ, the tatan1i, or bed
dedlats. aNihesa sire Iof regulate size
throughout the empire, and in building
faikguser the rooms are divided off SO
-sas to hold 6 certain number of these
!. units of floor measure. A tatami is ex-
actly five feet nine inches long, three
feet. wide and two and a half inches
thick, or in round numbers and Japan
ese measure six by three BY two The
only difference between the mats that
acovers the imperial floor and those OF
vtAe cottagefssis that the former are
larger in size and are covered with a
.,gayer border. In ordinary houses this
border is black or indigo blue. In the
palace it is white. Even the throne of
that now defunct official, the Tycoon,
.as well as the place of eminenee of the
Mikado, whom he initiated, was only a
square, padded mat, few inches
Higher than common, and edged with
nvariegated colors.A "A Japanese floor
being so substantially covered need be
7oplK of cheap, unplaneds wood, laid
without mortices. This floor is two
and. half inches below the grooved
sills in which the doors, or rather par
titions, slide, Hinges are used only on
gates. Into this huge pan, SO to speak,
which the floor makes, the mats are
laid and tit snugiy together, with
their surface level with the sills or
grooves. The mats are the household
property of the tenants, as landlords
rent the houses uncarpeted, as we do.
In case of a fire people pull up theses
expensive ornaments and run. A col
lection of tatami usually requires the first
outlay Of a Japanese couple toward
housekeeping Often these exquisite
~ clean and soft mats are the chief, If
not the only, articles of furniture in
ceEtain rooms. The Chinese for .centu-
ries have used chairs and lounges, but
the Japanese eschew these luxuries,
using the floor and its covering for GER
emony and the occasions of eating and
drinking and sleeping. The tatami
serve for tables, bedsteads, chairs and
iounging purposes. In palace and hut,
alike guiltless of sitting machinery, has
grows up that elaborate system OF ETH
quette and ceremonial, renowned over
the tworld. Only by the Generals in
tho field were folding camp chairs used.
In the monastery the Abbott sat in
state, or for reflection in the arm chair.
Ike Japanese have the word !" koshi-
kaken lback-rester1, but there is no
general word or equivalent for our
SIMPLE word. " chair, Most of the
obsequiousness and exaggerated polite
ness Of the. Oriental islanders may be
thus mechanically accounted for. If
the superior is no higher than the floor
the Inferior must bow low indeed. To
salute properly, indoors. one must turn
his head INTO temporary tack hammer
! and pound vigorously on the floor.
The various kinds of mats woven by
4 the japanese besides tatami are the
mushlro, or coarse rice straw mat used
by farmers to dry grain; komo, with
which VINE casks are wrapped; gamma,
made OF cat-tail rush, and the various
kinds OF rattan mating for covering
tea chests, etc. The mat-weavinp IN.
dustry is carried on in every province.
and the value in 1877 of mating prop
or was 81 800, 900, and woven reed and
bamboo, 1927, 975. OF course, owing
to the cheapness OF native labor, these
figures would stand much higher in our
own country.
The basis or substratum CT fhe
Japanese mat is q welting of rice
straw, two and sone-fourth inches
thick, laid together in wisps and
conpactly drawn together with five
warps and plated along the edges. In
this no special skill, but only care.
muscle aud pressure are required. The
surface mist be fat and the edges hard
and square.
The onote, which forms the beauti.
fnl front face of the tatami, is made
from fine rush that lines the rivers
and water courses Of Japan. This COW
ering is the matting proper, and called |
goza. The material of It is finer than
the average Chinese mating. The |
weavers are generally women, who |
work out of doors, with machinery of |
the most primitive character. ii con-
sists OF q portable square frame
OF wood, not more elaborate than /
a clothes-horse. It is laid on a |
piece of rough mating for q
floor. Two uprfghts hold two CROSS
bars about seven feet apart, which is a
little more than the length to be woven.
A light rod run across the top holds the
balls or pay-outs of Irvine which furnish
the wraps. These latter number about
forty, and are strung over the frame.
sseh little less than an inch apart
from the other, and are fastened and
kept taut on bamboo beneath the
lower cross-piece. One girl does the
weaving, while another selects and in
serts the straws
When the proper length OF seven feet
is woven. the web is taken out and
new warp is run over the frame
and threaded into the bar. Rolled into
bundles, the goza awaits the mat sewer.
This workman, having laid his rice-
straw mat on a pine table of the regula-