Daily Republican., 1888-09-13
CUSTOM or THE JApANEsE.
BY AMBROSE s. oTTEY.

The Japanese shave off just what
the Chinese leave on, making their
heads perfectly bare above the crown,
and allowing the hair TO grow on each
side of the head about the ears. This
hair they do up in fantastic knots
which rest on the bald part of the oily
crown. If q japanese should marry q
woman with large feet, and take her
from this country into his own, his
countrymen would laugh and make
all manner Of fun of him for bringing
Large footed woman" They nat
urally believe in small footed women.
Their mode of doing many things
would seem strange TO US. For ex-
ample, the hand.saw among them has
handle like hoe and they pull in
stead of showing the instrument in
saving. The teeth stand the other
way from ours. They draw plane
toward them in planning board.
Their tsilors put the thimble between
the first and second joints on The mid
die finger.
One way they have in offering up
prayer is on q machine, which is a
wheel with four arms hung on two
upright posts. Another way of offer
ing up prayer is TO buy one from the
priest, written one; they put 1t in the
mouth and chew it into pulp and then
throw the "spit ball." If it sticks, he
believes that his prayer will be heard /;
If 1t fails he expects 1t to fail.
Trees many years old are made to
represent cats. dogs, boats, houses,
wagons and other objects. They take
great delight in raising dwarf trees,
trimmed Into all sorts Of fanciful
shapes, even while growing.
II one is sick he is said to have q
fox in him, and priest is sent for,
who by beating tom. tom a drum)
at say three beats each half minute, all
night long, will drive him out The
fox with them is the cause Of a thou
sand Ills TO the people 1t is revered
because 1t is supposed to be the most
cunning creature in creation. They
also believe the fox is the cause of
what we call the lightning bugs here.
New Years day with them is q
national holiday. The day before New
Years is observed In Japan with
many ceremonies. All accounts and
debts are squared, new clothing is
bought, and they prepare to spend
the next day New Years. with great
joy.
(Ifthe American people would fol-
low out this one act of paying their
debts many poor man would be com
fortsbly fixed.) If the debts are not
paid before 10 o'clock on New Years
eve the creditors cannot demand the
debt owed in the coming year, hut he
can suit himself whether he trusts or
not. On New Years eve they hold a
feast, and when the merriment is al
most over the head of the house takes
o dish of beans and throws them in
every corner of the rooms. In this
way they think they drive out the
devils, and when they are all out, as
they suppose, they place sacred piece
of paper, which they have purchased
from the priest, on the door to pre-
vent the devils from re entering the
house.
Thus they make the start In the new
year, out of debt, with new clothing,
with the devils all driven out. Thus
Tor the most OF the coming year they
feel they are happy.
When a Japanese is out on rainy
day, and he should get his shoes mud
dy, before he will enter his house off
come the shoes. THAT would suit
some Of our women grandly.]
This letter closes up all that we
have learned about the Japanese. Our
next will be on the Chinese, which Ia
very odd.