The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-08-17
AN AMERICAN WOMAN TELLS
OF A JAPANESE JUBILATI0N
KYoTo, JAPAN. June 10. 1904.

n
When the spirit of joy breaks loose in
a Japanese crowd, no human being on
earth with ordinary sympathies can es-
cape it's influence. AS rule, these
strange little people are not at all de-
nonstrative. They practice self-re-
preston from the cradle. They go a
long doing the things they do quite
stolidly. and much as if it were all a
matter of course. but the spirit of pat
riotism is the life of Japan, and "Dai
Nippon Banzai!' is it's expression. 1t
is as ''Vfve Ia belle France!" to a
Frenchman's heart, and its sound
makes mad, Joyful demons of the Jap
anese After dinner this evening, 1
called Takiga and my kurama, and
started out in the cool night air to es-
cape the STIFFNESS of the hotel and the
inconsistencies which was overcoming
me in spite of Japan's fascination and
my determination to make the most of
it. The streets incur immediate neigh
borhood are very dark, and when one
gets, down off the hills they are often
sive in other ways, being densely pop
ulated with people who know not the
meaning of the word sanitation; so
my depression deepened as we ratified
along through the starlit gloom.
But suddenly we turned corner and
came upon a scene to drive ennui
back to it's uttermost confines. The
street was brilliantly lighted with
every lighting device know to the
Japanese, and SO crowded that our
kuramayas mad to slow down into
walk and shout ''Ah yail'' continually
to make path for our little vehicles.
Spread out upon the ground or display
ed in little improvised booths all along
on either side of the way were all sorts
of articles, useful and ornamental.
from wooden shoes to exquisite kimo-
nos and tortoise shell combs; from lit
tie unpublished wooden trays to exquis-
tie lacquer cabinets; from common lit
tie undecorated teapots to beautiful
pieces of cloisonne, Damascene, Matsu-
ma. Kiomizu, and other artistic wares
manufactured in this part of Japan.
People We're squatting about on the
ground. for all the world like so many
looking things over and chat
tering about them and handling the
works OF art with the true Japanese
found in the lowest ranks
of the race. And what a lot of people
there were. Women with babies
clinging to their kimonos, old men and
old women, young men and young
women. boys and girls-alls of them
curious to my eyes, and all of them
moving like creatures in a restless
dream; while above the hum of many
voices rose the unforgettable ''clank-
clonk'' of thousands of wooden shoes.
/" It's payday - shouted Takiga,
above the din. IT forgot to tell you"
Payday"
'' Yes; laborers and servants always
get paid twice each month, and then
they go out and have a great night of
it, The merchants all display goods out
along the street within easy reach, and
when the people go home they have no
money left. Then they go to work
again.
Takiga tells much in few words. 1t
of To-
labor question in nutshell. I thought
for a while we should have to get
down and walk, the crowd was so
dense. I was the only European" as
all people not Monaghan are called in
the East, upon the street, and ours
We're the only 'rikshas. The people We're
so friendly they were positively rude,
pressing up against my kurama, bow
ing and smiling as if 1 We're long
lost friend We went slowly along, and
each moment new interests unfolded
themselves. The melancholy clank of
the sanisen and the wall of geisha
voices hoated out through the open
windows of every tea-house we passed,
mingling with the strange cries of the
hawkers squatting upon straw mats
behind their curious wares under the
fitful glow of dozen of bright paper
lanterns.
Suddenly out of the distance came the
sound of a band, brass band, the regu-
lation Fourth of-July-celebration band
and land of my fathers. the tune that
reached my delighted ears was, March
ing through Georgia" In another min
ute we had come to a cross street, and
looking down its narrow length saw a
dancing crowd, haIf-mad with joy, each
carrying a brilliant paper lantern on a