The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-03-16

the utensils are as few as the furniture
| in the rest of the house-a small stove
for cooking and a few pots and other
| cooking articles. Dishes there are and
trays on which to serve them, and chop
sticks take the place of forks and
knives; then there are basins, tubs and
hot water cans in the bath room
The kitchen is well worth inspection.
especially in some old country house
belonging to a wealthy resident. One
part is lower than the rest and has a
floor of beaten earth. which stand
tubs of water. and in which the
rougher work is done. The rest is car
peted with tatami, and in the middle
pit filled with pebble and ashes
serves as the hearth, while overhang-
ing 1t is a kettle, and around the Goals
are iron sDits. In the place of a CHM
ney there is opening in the roof,
and what smoke is unable to escape
through the roof goes out through the
| open sides OF the house.
Private houses, as rule, turn a
blank side to the street. and trees and
shrubbery are cleverly arranged to keep
out curious eyes, for no one is more
particular about the undisturSed pri-
vacy of his home than a Jap.
There is no privacy between the
members of a family, but from the out
slider the family life in Japan is kept
absolutely sacred. It is not considered
good form to mention one little Incl
dent of the home to outsiders, though
an outsider, once taken into the house
hold, is allowed to feel no reserve at
all.
When a young man marries he does
not merely take unto himself a COM
panion and helpmeet. His wife stands
in the place of her parents-in-1aw'
own daughter. and is treated accord
ingly- Besides doing his best to please
| her husband, she must in all things be
useful to his father and mother. The
japanese girls married life is by no
means easy, though it is much better
than it was a few years ago. Formerly,
she had to stand everything from her
/ husband, and to him alone was ac-
/ corded the right of suing for divorce,
but at the present time she has risen
more nearly to the level of American
/ wives, and for certain offenses the Iii
| vorce court is even open to her. AS
! for choosing her husband, she exercises
as much right in that matter as the
man, and has a very distinct say in
| the matter. But even as yet love has
very little TO do with the choice of
! either of the contracting parties until
/ after marriage, for, as Confucius' law
puts it, Marriage must begin with re-
/ spect, and after marriage love begins
The simplicity of daily life in Japan
! impresses all foreigners, but most of
all Americans who are divided between
pity for the OrientaPs lack of necessi-
ties and envy of his freedom from such
membranes. And whether they
1 would like it for themselves or not, it
is certain that this simplicity is a large
part of Japan's fascination for strang-
/ e---
In one of these quiet households day
begins with the rolling back of the
/ wooden shutters, frequently before the
/ sun has appeared over the houSetoDs.
/ Schools begin at in winter and in the
| summer at 7. First the children APP
pear before their parents with the
morning greeting, in doing which they
kneel until their foreheads touch the
mats; even the baby of the family
learns this very necessary act of rev.
erence as soon as he is able to under
stand anything.
The family generally take their meals
together. seated in a row around the
ROOM for there is no dining table: the
dishes are served on trays. Even here
the old superstitions of the country are
observed, as in everything else. For
instance, peas, as indicating good luck,
are served to one starting on jour
ney; it is very bad luck to put the chop
sticks upright in a bowl of rice be-
cause they are placed so in making
offerings to the dead, and for this rea-
son no one will pour cold water into a
basin and add hot.
At the end of the meal the children
never forgetful of their reverential re-
gard for their parents, bow politely,
and. with complimentary phrase
about the repast, leave the room to at
tend to their schools or other duties,
while their honorable mother looks
to her housekeeping. She over1ooks ev-
erything, no matter how many SER
wants she has, and each member of her
household is carefully looked after. In
this way she wins the envy and ad-
miration of her American cousins, for
beside all this the demands of social
etiquette are as endless as those of the
most popular society woman in the
United States. She is truly the mis-
tress of her husbands home, RESPONSE
bic for everything and controlling eV-
erything.
The refinement of the mikado's peo-
pie is a characteristic everywhere re-
marked. and their extreme cleanliness
is merely an outcome of this attribute.
It is apparent in their persons, their
houses, their workshops and no less in
the great carefulness and exemplary
exactness with which they look after
their fields.
Every Jap, great and small. takes, if
possible, MS warm bath every day. mo
one bathes in cold or luSewar1n water,
not even the peasant. though he is &C
customed while working to stand FOR
hours in cold water. The bath is placed
according to circumstances, near the
kitchen, in a separate bath room on the
side Of the court or garden, or, in bet
ter houses, in connection with the en-
PERTAINING rooms.
There is no doubt that the regular warm
tributes greatly to the maintenance and
improvement of their health. Rheumatic
complaints. to which labor in the rice
fields. fishing and other daily occupations
as yell as the arrangement of the houses
anese winter. might abundantIy contrib