Morris tribune., 1906-07-21
EATING WITH
CHOP STICKS
REV. F. B HILL HAS A NATIVE
DINNER IN KYOTA, JAPAN.
Visits College and Tries to Show
Japanese Pitcher How to Curve
the Ball-The "Tea Ceremony
Japanese Farm Life.
Continued from last week.

the Katsuragawa river (the ''gawa"
ending means riverD finally reaching
the village of Arashiyama. The boats
used are large fat bottomed affairs
made of inch boards with practically
no ribbing. The wonder is that they
stand the strain for as we flew down
the swiftest rapids the bottom of the
craft seemed really to writhe, twisting
and bending in alarming fashion. The
river is very beautiful and the scenery
along the way reminded me of the
Berkshire hills Of New England.
Every tourist who goes to Kyoto is
expected to have native dinner at
some celebrated tea house. From
observations hastily made we were
quite certain that a native meal would
have no great attraction for us but as
it was the thing to do (slaves that we
are to custom) and as we were further
assured that real dinner would be
waiting for us at the hotel when we
returned, we went. Of course we sat
on the floor and each had an arm rest
and tiny table at his service. Upon
the table was placed the whole meal
at one fell swoop. Tea was there to
start with and 'Esa-ke" for those who
like it and who dare to test its power.
Then there were five different dishes
of fish, cooked and uncooked. A soup
was there and sweets which the
Japanese loves, all, alb were there
And to eat with chop sticks aye
there's the rub! The proper way to
eat with chop-sticks is first to retire
to the privacy Of the bath and there
to hold the dish close to the mouth
and to shovel the food in. The native
does not retire to the bath and ne
doesn't make bad work Of the shovel
ling process. [ made decidedly bad
work of it. Of course we had to be
entertained by the "geisha" girls
Polite society does not recognize the
social standing of these girls, but so
far as their dancing for US is concern
ed. we could have no complaints.
Each dance tells a story, crudeiy
enough to be sure, but the dance
would be nothing without the story
The room was decorated with United
States and Japanese flags and present.
ed an attractive appearance. I would
feien not mention the music. l nave
expatiated upon that before.
Besides the many temples which we
visited, we spent some time at the old
castle and the palace where the
ancient Mikados and the Shoguns, the
former real rulers of Japan lived. vi
temples there are some ten thousand
in Kyoto alone, so we did not try to
see them all. The chief attraction OF
the palace and the castle are the ex-
ouisite screens and kakemonas, paint
ed by the leading Japanese artists.
NV artistic limitations were never SO
apparent as when [ was asked to ad-
mire Japanese art as revealed IN old
prints and in screens and mural decor
ations. If this be art, then may be
spared the pain of acquiring the artis-
tic temperament.
In Kyoto and elsewhere we met
several of the Congregational mission
aries and found them to be a broad
minded and sympathetic class. I have
learned that they are held in high
esteem by the leading Japanese and
their opinions and their advice are
often sought by those who are in the
forefront of Japanese thought. l
visited the Dosnisha college, which
was founded by Christian Japanese,
Mr.. Neesino over thirty years ago. It
has high standard of work and only
recently all government positions
have been thrown open to graduates
of this college. I was especially IN
terested to see the boys there playing
base ball. They handled themselves
cleverly. tried to coach a young
fellow in pitching but as we were
rather mutually ignorant of one an
others language, didn't get far.
have been told that the Japanese
have made great success with base
ball save in the matter of pitching and
batting. They have as yet no idea of
different styles of delivery and hence
are at the mercy of both pitcher and
batter of experience. A university
team recently visited America and
~,
because of this ignorance.
I must not fail to mention the cele-
brated sstea ceremony" which holds
high place in Japanese esteem. We
saw the ceremony performed by pro-
fessional and so suppose that every
detail was carefully carried out. The
purpose of the ceremony as I under
stand it, is to develop poise and self
4 In oh |