The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-11-01
STRANGE SCENES IN JAPAN. :.

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rftst Imprcssfons--Th Common People.
A Strange F~ssivaS- Japanese Women.
In Yokohama is . long boulevard called
the .'Bumd, bounded at each end by
jetty OF pier called the .'Iiatoba," with a
pleasant wooded hill to the left known rs
the YBluif," dotted with white houses.
The isarbor or lay itself is circle OF
yd&t perhaps three miles wije-<eig
enough at any rate to be so rough IN
windy weather that the ships have to get
up steam and go to sea for safety.
&&sune Rox TO s.first impressions"
tlisr kksSes Of coursc, two kinds of these.
There are the mere sense impressions,
tho things whichstrikc the eye and car
asNtrsnes, and there are the "first inn
rre3Aioais,n (Which mem the conclusions
springing to tho mind when the exter-
nats-are first understood. The former
class of these first impressions" gener-
ally attach themselves to very trivial
matters but they are often not the less
entertai,ing for all this. The first thing.
for instance, that l noticed in Japan was
the enormous hats of the coolies, and
next ths, ndicrous combinations OF
European anel foreign dress worn by
many young members of the middle
class. A pot hat, cotton wrapper or
bath gown--tlie y,ikata--a pair of long
stockings and;tpuss- was common.
mixturey the yvearer evidently and
rightly thinking Chat he had adopted tho
best points Yof both systems. An
hour alter, landing, too, re-
mark iaa6cAat& mae by an educated
japanese gentleman on the Belgic
,ccurred to me. had asked him il tho
coming Constitution for Japan was likely
to include. trial by jury. ''Aftcr you
have seen Japan" he replied, with a
smile, "vou won't ask that question"
mean by this that was struck with tho
fact that the common people of Japan,
courteous and clever and civilized as
they are in many ways-the hewers OF
wood and drawers of water and pullers
of jerinkishas-are upon different plane
from the common people at home. One
might say that they live in two dimen-
sions. whereas trial by jury, not in its
origin, but in its significance today, is
three dimension idea. Moreover, tho
rulers OF Japan see that trial by jury is
often failure or a farce with us, and
they have no wish to educate the people
upxto it.
SAM IA japan there are almost as many re-
ligious festivals as in Spain, and one of
these--matsuri Is their generic name
was being celebrated the other day in the
Japanese town. l went to look for il
with my detective camera, aud when I
met it could hardly believe my eyes
it corresponded more to ones idea of New
Guinea than of Japan. Upon an ordinary
bullock cart a raised platform and scaf-
felling twenty feet high had been con-
structcd, and bullock and all covered
with paper decorations and green boughs
and artificial flowers. In front q girl
with grotcsque mask danced and post
ured, while half dozen musicians
twangcd impossible instruments and kept,
up an incess;int tattoo ON drums. Chill
dren wild with delight crowded up
| among the performers and chung like
llies all over the cart, and only that
Providence which takes care of them, to-
gether with drunkards and the United
States of America, preserved them from
making Juggernaut Of it. On foot
around the bashi, as the whole structure
| is called, were twenty or thirty men,
naked as to their legs, their faces chalked,.
with straw hats a yard wide, many col
orcd tunics, in which scarlet predomi-
mated, decked out with paper streamcrs
and flowers enough to mako q Sioux
chief despair of himself, dancing along
to very rude chant and at every step
banging upon the ground a long iron bar
fitted with loose rings.
| Tho colors, the song the dance, tho
music and tho changing iron formed to-
gcthcr a spectacle as barbarous in taste
rs possible, something wholly different
from what one had supposed tho gentle
culture of the Japanese to be. At tho
timc I was greatly puzzled, but subse-
quently learned that this matsuri is not
80 barbarous as it looks. took it to bo
n serious religious ceremony. / found
that it had just as much to do with relig-
ion as an Italian carnival has-that is,
it was born of religious feeling and has
entirely forgotten its ancestry. Bud
dhism, which is the religion of the COM
mon people, has always played to tho
gallery, so to speak, and the priests of
today make money out OF the matsuri,
partly in the shape Of the coins which
are thrown into the temple ponds and
partly from their share OF the subscrip-
tions Of the well to do people Of the neigh
borhood, by whom the festival is sup
ported. The affair is thus japanese
carnival, where people drink sake and
play tho fool themselves or watch others
doing SO, exactly as ut Nice or Venice.
No account of s'fifst impressions, too,
would be complete without an illusion to
| tho grace and charm of tho Japanese
| women. The first timc one secs couple
of pretty and prettily dressed japanese
| girls walking abroad under their huge'
varicgated paper umbrella, with their
claborately dressed black hair, their per-
feet tiny hands and feet, their large
brown cycs-set obliquely if they are
sbcauties;" with their delicate, soft
toned cr.y, garments. and the heavy fat
silk obi Twisted round and round their
waist and ending in colossal bow be-
hind; with their funny motion on their
clip-clapping pattens, half undulating
run and half waddlc, and their merry
laughter and chatter-when one secs
them for the first time, say, ono is
usually delighted enough to follow them
up and down for half an hour under a
fine pretense of losing ones way or look
ing into the shops. At least did, till l
succeeded in getting snap photograph
Of them. Yokohama Cor. Now York
World.