Woodville Republican., 1888-12-01
A JAPANESE HOUSE.
Outside 1t Is Uninviting, But Inside
It Is a Beauty.
Novel Experiences for stranger-The
Bath-Japanese COnversation-Raw
Fish Among the Menu Of
Japanese Dinner
The Geisha.


/ have moved into Japanese house.
How to describe a Japanese house,
where nothing is like any thing corre-
spending to Il at homep From the out
side Il Is an uninviting big black barn;
inside it is a spOtless dolls house mag
nifed a thousand diameters, all wood
and wicker and white paper The en-
trance hall is a platform raised couple
of feet above the ground, where you
take off your boots If you are a for
eigner, or leave your sandals if you are
a Japanese. Ascreen door slides back
and you are in--but that depends upon
circumstances. Sometimes you are in
one room and sometimes in another. 1t
may be a general sitting-room fifty feet
square; it may be a bedroom (if you
call early in the morning.; or you may
find yourself in an improvised sanctum
and intruding upon somebody writing
labored descriptions for a far-away
press For here walls have not only
ears, they have also legs, and when you
wish to make new room you simply
''form square" by sliding enough pan
els in their grooves to inclose the space,
or at your pleasure all the rooms can be
thrown into one, inclosed. in our case,
by forty-slx panels. Those forming the
sides of tho house consist each of sixty
little paper panes. To wet ones finger,
stick it silently into the window and
peep through, is thus the natural Jap.
anese counterpart Of Occidental surrep-
titious inspection by the keyhole.
The floor is of mats; not mats strewed
about as at home, but solid structures
of delicate stuffed wicker, an inch thick,
of conventional and regular size, lei
into the floor, elastic, spotless, immov
able. never profaned by even the dain
tiest of slippers. Chairs and tables are
OF course unknown, and the posture O.
repose is to seat oneself on ones heels
This squattings by the wsy, is very
painful at first, and like the ''blamelesl
dances" in ''Ruddigore, "takes a dea
of training" Atmeal times you squat
anywhere and your food is placed be
fore you. When you are tired yol
throw yourself anywhere on the floor
with no fear of soiling your white liner
suit When evening comes you do no
seek your bed chamber, you simpl!
make it, by sliding the walls round th,
spot you have chosen for your slumbers
The rough-and-ready way, according t.
my American friend, is to tread arount
on the floor till you find specially sof
mat and then lay few walls upon it TO
acouch. A more luxurious one is to hav,
a futon or thick quilt spread out ant
roll yourself in a rug or blanket upol
1t. The chief drawback for a foreigne
is that his hip-bone, which is mucl
more prominent than that OF o Japa
nese, is terribly in the way, and m,
journalism not having yet advance II
graduation upon the plank bed, / hav
not learned the trick of obliteratinI
the natural projections of the body
But you sleep comfortably in spite q
the marauding rat, whose immunit
from attack has rendered him equal
inquisitive and harmless, and in th
morning when you return from tn
bath, bed and bedroom have alike dis
appeared. It is the story of Aladdi
domesticated.
The bath again, is new experience
Take an enormous oval bucket, hold
ing perhaps fifty gallons, with a stove
pipe running up inside it. Fill the tu
with water and the pipe with red-hc
charcoal, and when the temperature /
q little short of boiling pointsget bodil
in and sit down. and you have a Japar
ese bath. In most cases the next ste
is to get out again with amazing alae
! rity, but the Japanese sits calmly ther
and perspires until he is parboiled. Be
ing the guest, / am invited to ente
first, while the entire household stand
round and suppresses its amusement
When emerge, in fainting condi
tion, my host enters, and he is followe
in time by the five servants in the OF
der Of their dignity, down to the hun
bic 'scook-boy.p II there were any Ia
dies resident in our household the
would take their turn with the rest
This bath is. Of course, merely to ope
the pores. One is not supposed to was
in it, but to sit quite still. Soaping 70
lows for the foreigners and rubbing 70
the others, and the cold douche. Th
process when completed is delicious
cleansing and invigorating, and ia
ahead Of the simple ''cold tub" Of tn
Englishman at home and abroad.
Behind every Japanese house, hcN
ever small and humble. there is a gal
den. In ours there are the hug'
lesve1 palms, the pleasant shady ~