Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1890-10-23
A NATION OF ATHLETES
EXTRAORDINARY MUSCULAR
DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE.

A"S W ho'S nun Nv TIu-
man Muscle and Man the Beast
of Burden-The Use of Mas
sage.
The physical development of the Jap
anese is, perhaps, as remarkable as that
of any people in the world. Within the
past few years Americans have been sur
prised at the wonderful feats displayed
by the almond-eyed athletes from Japan
who have starred America, under various
managers, and two of the great attrac-
tions of Barnum's circus this year are
japanese rope-walkers and turner's. A
year or so ago London went wild over
the wrestlers at the japanese village at
/ Hyde Park, and every visitor to Japan
comes away admiring the magnificent
calves and sturdy frames of the laborers
he meets with there, according to
writer in the Ledger. Probably no better
leg development is shown among any
people in the world than that of tn
japanese .jinrikiSha men. The jinrikiShd
is mammoth two wheeled baby carriage
with q pair of shafts fastened to it. 1t
has a cover, and the passenger leans back
at his ease, while the .jin7ikiSha man
pulls him at the rate of five to eight
miles an hour through the city or across
the country. These men are paid 10 cents
an hour, or so cents day, and they can
make long distances at speed equal to
that of the average horse. They run all
day without firing, and instances have
been known of their making seventy
miles in twelve hours.
There are eighty thousand of them in
l Tnkin olona and half
million in Japan. During the summer,
they wear little else than the breechclout
when running along the country roads,
and the hot sun of Japan turns their Jer
sey cream skins to rich mahogany, ard
brings out the perspiration in drops of
diamond sweat upon their backs. Their
arms are also we'll developed, and they
are, as a rule, profession of athletes.
; The few clothes worn by the japanese in
the summer gives the traveller fine
opportunity to ooscrve their magnificent
! frames. The travelling in the mountain
districts is done in kagOS, or box-like
chairs, swung upon long pole which is
carried on the shoulders of two men, one
, of whom marches in front of you and the
other behind. These kago-b bearers have
z the arms of Apolos, and their legs are
as symmetrically cut as those of Michael
g Angeles statue of David.
' Equally well-developed limbs may
be found among the ordinary labor
ers of Japan; and have never seen such
beautiful physiques as those of the boat
men at the japanese ports. Every
muscle of their frames seems to be Per-
, fectly developed and their endurance
surpasses belief.
1t is no wonder, however, that the
Japanese have good physical develop
t ment, for the whole country is run by
human muscle. Man is the beast of bur
e den. He plows the ground, carries the
D freight, and does the thousand and one
things which are here relegated to horses
or to steam. There are but few horses OF
cattle in the empire, and even in Toxic,
! a city of million people, the drays are,
in almost all cases, pushed and hauled by
: men. All this work is done on diet OF
rice and tea, and the results seem to sur
a pass those of beefsteak and wheat. The
japanese bring into use greater num-
Der of muscles than we do in their work
and their exercise The athlete and the
: laborer use their toes and their feet as
/ we do our hands; and the cooper holds
his tub with his toes while he hoops it.
= The carpenter uses his toes in the manip-
= ulation of some of his tools, and the
gymnast can walk up a slanting wire OF
slide down it holding on by his toes. In
the ordinary method of sitting the Jap
anese call set of muscles into play which
| we seldom use. The favorite loafng po-
, sition is squatting ON your heels so that
the whole weight of your body rests upon
, your feet and so that no potion of your
anatomy except your feet touches the
ground. The japanese will sit in this
way on his heels for hours at time and
, and enjoy himself as he chats or smokes.
If you will try the experiment you will
find yourself tired out in two minutes,
and an experience of half an hour in this
position will give you aching joints fol
days.
One of the secrets of the fine physiqucs
: of the people of Japan lies in the uni
versal use of the massage treatment. The
blind men are the masseurs of Japan
They are known as the shampooers, and
;, . the trade of shampooing is given entirely
over to them. They are organized into q
great trade guild, have their offices, theil
fixed prices and their rules of labor, and
they ply their trade in every city and
village of the country. Every night you
will hear the shrill whistle which forms
their street cry outside your door, and il
you are of the taste of the ordinary
e japanese you will call one of them in
y. and give your tired body into his hands.
/ From long training they understand the
location of everymuscle and every nerve,
e and with deft fingers they will go over
n your body as it lies semi-naked on the
g floor and press each atom until you feel
as though you were being mashed to q
e pulp, but endure the sensation
, knowing that you will awake a new
man, with every force revivifed and ev-
c cry muscle renewed. Every Japanese
: goes through this process every day, and
in the cases of the poorer people, the
shampooing is often done by a daughter
or wife. Some of the most touching
=, pictures to the Japanese in their litera-
: ture are those which paint the flial piety
OF the young girl who, instead drumming
out to tlirt with the young men, stays at
home to shampoo her half-blind grand
father, and the ideal poor mans wife is
E she who goes over her husbands frame
every evening, after his hard days work,
and shampoos his WEAKNESS into rest.
This exercise brings about uniformity
OF muscular development, and in addition
to it comes the daily hot bath, which
Keeps the skin in perfect condition. We
have the idea that the hot bath is weak
ening. 1t does not seem to be so for the
Japanese, for every man, woman and
al, e Al. in ha