The evening times., 1898-07-27
BEGGAhs IN JAPAN.

| In the snakai Zasshi No. Il appears
facts bearing on the lives Of beggarz
| not generally known. The writer Is Mr..
| Adachi Noritada, manager Of the Tokyo
| poor asylum, who has made a special
| investigation Of the lives led by beg
| gars. their children and dependents. Few
| people have any idea OF the hardness of
the lives passed by, these outcasts. We
| lows:
The class Of children who become beg
| gars are mostly castaways, children who
have fled from cruel mothers-in-law. or
children begoften of parents Of nomadic
habits. who. finding 1t impossible to drag
their offspring from village to village.
commit them toathe care Of beggars.
who teach them how to earn livelihood.
Then adult bfggars beget a large num-
ber of children. In Mannen-cho. Shit
ava. there is a house known as a kodO-
mo no sonryoya ca child-hiring
agencyD. where children as young as
four are kept for hire. They are leased
out to adult 9beggars Of about forty or
fifty years of age. mostly cripples or de-
formed In some way. who represent them
selves as widowers with these young
children left on their hands. Since the
object of their employers is to. excite
pity, they prefer emaciated. children to
those who have plump faces and pay
the agents better prices for the former.
The price paid for these children ranges
from ten sen to three sen per day.
Emaciation being at a premium the poor
little mites are In many cases poorly led.
From to u years of age they beg
from door to door. When IA or Is. under
pretense of collecting old paper, they
commence petty thieving. When about
l6 they are instructed in the art of pick
ing pockets and the like. From the on
spring Of beggars come what are known
as as kopparai "a type of thieD. The lat
ter. under the guise Of rag and paper
gatherers, constantly steal from houses
and back yards. Some Of them use bam-
boos with bird lime on the ends, by
means Of which they procure articles that
are difficult to reach.
There is an intimate connection between
the majority Of beggars and the majority
of thieves In some cases the leader Of
a gang of thieves is chosen by the beg
gars who are in league with that gang.
Thieves are divided into oyakata (chiefs
or leaders, and kobun (subordinates.)
The training received by pickpockets
commences at the age Of Il and continues
for seven years. Daily lessons are given
by the heads Of gangs who are expert
In the light-fngered art. 1t is said that
one professional instructor now in Toxic
studied at the Berlin school Of pickpock-
cts and is a past master in all the tricks
nf haN Ar
1co promising pupils The middle and up
per class of pickpockets receive about 40
per cent Of their earnings. II would seem
that there Is such a thing as honor among
thieves. for when one of the gang is ar
rested no information is given that might
incuipafe other members Of the gang
The money or articles taken are. It is
said, faithfully handed over to the heads
of the gangs. and any breach of this rule
involves expulsion from the ring.
Every conceivable disguise Is assumed
by these pickpockets. In turn they ap-
pear as well-to-do traders carpen-
tiers. masons. or apprentices. The
man who steals is Invariably at
tended by a receiver of the stolen
goods, into whose hands the stolen prop
erty is passed. The actual thief puts on
an innocent face. while his accomplice
Thieves are accustomed 10 speak of their
Imprisonment as a tax paid to the gov
ernment. The time spent In jail is in
most cases utilized for devising new ways
OF deception. Mr.. ,Adachi Is OF the opin-
ion that. imperfect as was the Tokugawa
method of controlling the beggar cIass,
it was infinitely preferable TO allowing
them 10 enjoy liberty IN the way they
do now. Beggars were designated HMM
tbeings that were not human in Toku-
gawa days. but the government exer-
cised control over them by appointing
heads of guilds and making these heads
responsible for the conduct of their sub
ordinates. As begging is found to exist.
the Tokugawa shoguns thought IL prefer
able 10 countenaEce and control ii rather
than allow it scope 10 develop crime in
the way IT does at the present time.
Tokugawa Hidetada was the first sho-
gun TO introduce this practice. He made
the famous kuruma Zensichi the head of
the beggars' guild, The story of Zens-
hichi's life is an interesting one. AT first
the would-be assassin of Hidetada. he
lived to organize a beggars' guild of a
most interesting type. His beggars were
trained TO perform military service. and
held ready to aid the shotgun at any
moment. Zenshicihi Kept a record of
the life of each beggar in the guild. Some
of the beggars were created heads of
companies of so or 100. The organiza-
tion was complete. and begging in Japan
was more respectable than 1t had ever
been before or is likely to become.
In those days men who had lost all
their money Joined a beggars' guild and
were content to stand outside the pale
of society for awhile till the accumula-
tion of money enabled them to start in
life again. The heads of the guilds had
the power to reinstate outcasts in this
manner. the process being described as
washing Of feet (ashi wo arau). In
those days thieving was very rare among
beggars. the offense being followed by
serious consequences to the head of the
guild to which the thief belonged.