PEOPLE, HOUSES, FOOD, DRESS
OUTLINE OF TOPICS: Ainu; ethnology; two types; comparative stature
and weight; intellectual and moral qualities.—Classes in society of
old and new _régimes_; social principle.—Family and empire.—Houses;
public buildings; rooms; foreign architecture.—Gardens.—Food;
meals; table manners; foreign cooking.—Undress and dress; European
costume.—Bathing.—Bibliography.
Who were the aborigines of Japan is yet a disputed question. Remains
have been found of a race of dwarfs who dwelt in caves and pits, but
who these people were is not positively known. They may have been
contemporary with the Ainu, whom many call “the aborigines of Japan.”
It is certain, however, that the Ainu were once a very numerous
nation, “the members of which formerly extended all over Japan, and
were in Japan long before the present race of Japanese.” But the
latter gradually forced the former northward, until a final refuge was
found in Yezo and the Kurile Islands. There the Ainu are now living,
but are slowly dying out as a race; there are at present only about
17,000 remaining. They are said to be “the hairiest race in the whole
world,” “of sturdy build,” filthy in their habits (bathing is unknown),
addicted to drunkenness, and yet “of a mild and amiable disposition.”
Their religion is nature-worship.[41]
It is well known that the Japanese are classed under the Mongolian
(or Yellow) Race. They themselves boastfully assert that they belong
to the “golden race,” and are superior to Caucasians, who belong to
the “silver race”! As Mongolians, they are marked, not only by a
yellowish hue, of many shades from the darkest to the lightest, but
also by straight black hair (rather coarse), scanty beard, rather broad
and prominent cheek-bones, and eyes more or less oblique. Some think
that the Japanese people show strong evidences of Malay origin,[42]
and claim that the present Emperor, for instance, is of a striking
Malay type. It is not impossible, nor even improbable, that Malays
were borne on the “Japan Current” northward from their tropical abodes
to the Japanese islands; but there is no historical record of such a
movement. Therefore the best authorities, like Rein and Baelz, do not
acknowledge more than slight traces of Malay influence. A more recent
theory concerning the origin of the real Japanese—or Yamato men, as
they called themselves—is that they are descendants of the Hittites,
whose capital was Hamath, or Yamath, or Yamato!
There are two distinct types of Japanese: the oval-faced, narrow-eyed,
small aristocratic class; and the pudding-faced, full-eyed, flat-nosed,
stout common people. Of these, the latter is the one claimed to be
Malay. The plebeians, having always been accustomed to hard labor by
the sweat of the brow, are comparatively strong; the others, having
been developed by centuries of an inactive life, have inherited weak
constitutions. Indeed, the people, as a whole, are subject to early
maturity and early decay. There is a Japanese proverb to this effect:
“At ten, a god-like child; at twenty, a clever man; from twenty-five
on, an ordinary man.” And, in spite of the fact that there have been
remarkable exceptions to this rule, careful investigation by Japanese
supports the truth of the proverb. And yet there seems to be no doubt
that modern education and conditions of life show a gradual improvement
in this respect.
[Illustration: GROUP OF COUNTRY PEOPLE]
The average Japanese, compared with the average European or American,
has a lower stature[43] with a long body and short legs. A good
authority states that “the average stature of Japanese men is about
the same as the average stature of European women”; and that “the
[Japanese] women are proportionately smaller.” Some one has wittily
called the Japanese “the diamond edition of humanity.”
The Japanese also weigh much less than Europeans. The average weight
of young men of twenty years of age in Europe is about 144 pounds,
while the average weight of the strongest young men of the suburban
districts of Tōkyō was only about 121 pounds; which gives the European
an advantage of 23 pounds.
The Japanese are very quick to learn. Their minds are strong in
observation, perception, and memory, and weak in logic and abstraction.
As born lovers of nature, they have well-trained powers of observation
and perception, so that their minds turn readily to scientific
pursuits. And as the ancient Japanese system of education followed
Chinese models, the power of memorizing by rote has been strongly
developed, so that the Japanese mind has little difficulty in becoming
a storehouse of historical and other facts. But, as the powers of
reasoning and abstraction have not been well trained, the Japanese do
not take so readily to mathematical problems and metaphysical theorems.
The typical Japanese is loyal, filial, respectful, obedient, faithful,
kind, gentle, courteous, unselfish, generous.[44] His besetting sins
are deception, intemperance, debauchery,—and these are common sins
of humanity. In respect to these evils, he is unmoral rather than
immoral; and in his case these sins should not be considered so heinous
as in the case of one who has been taught and knows better.[45] And
it is with reference to these very evils that Shintō, Buddhism,
and Confucianism have been a complete failure in Japan, and that
Christianity is making its impress upon the nation.
There never were distinct and rigid castes in Japan, as in Egypt and
India, but formerly there were four classes in society. These were,
in order, the official and military class; the agricultural class, or
the farmers; the laboring class, or the artisans; and the mercantile
class, or merchants. Above all these were the Emperor and the Imperial
family; below all these were the tanners, grave-diggers, beggars, etc.,
who were the Japanese pariah, or outcasts. The first class included
the court nobility, the feudal lords, and their knights; they alone
were permitted to carry two swords, were exempt from taxation, and were
also the special educated and literary class, because they had the most
leisure for study. The other three classes together constituted the
common people, who were kept in rigid subjection and bled profusely by
taxes.
Under the present _régime_ there are three general classes of the
entire population of Japan: the nobility, the gentry, and the common
people. The nobility, created in 1884, comprises five orders: prince,
marquis, count, viscount, and baron; the gentry are the descendants
of the knights (_samurai_) of the old first class; the common people
include all the rest of the population. By the census of 1903 the
nobility numbered 5,055; the gentry, 2,168,058; and the common people,
44,559,015. (These figures are exclusive of Formosa.) Even now the
burden of taxation falls upon the mass of the common people, especially
upon the farming class, for the land tax is the most important source
of revenue in Japan.
The fundamental principle of Japanese society was, and still is,
reverent obedience to superiors. This polite and humble deference is
exhibited in their language and in their manners and customs, and has
become so thoroughly incorporated into their natures that it even yet
resists the levelling tendency of the present age. The language is full
of honorifics to be applied to or concerning another, and of humilifics
to be applied concerning self. I and mine are thus always ignorant,
stupid, dirty, homely, insignificant, etc., while you and yours are
ever intelligent, wise, clean, beautiful, noble etc. Perhaps there is
nothing that causes the student of the vernacular deeper chagrin than
to find that he has made so serious an error as to transpose the humble
and the honorific words or phrases! The ordinary salutation is really
an obeisance, as it consists of a profound bow,—on the street with
body bent half forward, in the house with forehead touching the floor.
This deep and universal feeling of reverence for superiors and elders
early developed into worship, both of the family and of the national
ancestors. This is the fundamental and central idea of Shintō, the
native cult, of which more will be written in a subsequent chapter.
The Japanese family[46] was, in its constitution, an empire, with
absolute authority in the hands of one man. The husband was,
theoretically and practically, the great authority to whom wife and
children were subject. He was a veritable autocrat and despot; and he
received superciliously the homage of all the family, who literally
bowed down before him. The family, and not the individual, was the unit
of society; but by the new codes now in operation the individual has
acquired greater rights. There is much hope, therefore, that gradually
the tyranny of the family will be eliminated.
One writer on Japan has well said: “The Empire is one great family;
the family is a little empire.”[47] In truth, the empire is founded and
maintained on the family idea of one line “in unbroken succession” from
Jimmu Tennō.
A house alone does not make a “home,” but merely gives it local
habitation; and as Japanese houses[48] are unique, they deserve some
consideration. Although brick and stone are coming into use among the
wealthy classes, wood is the chief material employed in building. A
typical Japanese house is a slight and flimsy frame structure with
straw-thatched, or shingled, or tiled roof. It has no foundation in
the ground, but rests on stones laid on the ground, and stands wholly
above the surface. This and other peculiar features of construction and
ornamentation are the outcome of attempts to lessen the dangers from
the frequent and severe earthquakes. The outer doors and windows of
Japanese houses are called _amado_ (rain-doors), and are solid wood.
They slide in grooves above and below; in stormy weather and at night
they are closed and fastened, not so tightly, however, as to prevent
them from rattling; at other times they are open. The inner doors, the
windows, and sometimes the partitions between the different rooms are
lattice frames, covered with a translucent, but not transparent, white
paper, and running in grooves. These, too, as well as the opaque paper
screens used between the rooms, can be taken out; so that all the rooms
may be turned into one, or the entire house be thrown open to the air
of heaven. The floors are covered with _tatami_—thick, soft mats of
straw, each usually six by three feet in size. Thus the accommodations
of rooms are indicated by the terms, “six-mat room,” “eight-mat room,”
etc. Inasmuch as on these mats the Japanese walk, sit, eat, work,
sleep, it is necessary to keep them very clean. They are carpet, chair,
sofa, bed, table, all in one, and must not be soiled by dirty sandals,
clogs, shoes, or boots, all of which are, therefore, to be removed
before entering a house. It may readily be seen that this is quite an
inconvenient custom for foreigners!
Schools, churches, offices, stores, and other places for large and
frequent public gatherings are being constructed in Occidental style,
with doors on hinges, glass windows, chairs, benches, tables, stoves,
grates, and other “modern conveniences.”
A room in a Japanese house seems to an American to be comparatively
bare and plain, as it is devoid of furniture and bric-à-brac. There is
no stove, for only a small box or brazier, containing a few pieces of
charcoal in a bed of ashes, is used for heating purposes. There are no
chairs or sofas, for the Japanese sit on their feet on the floor. There
are no huge bed sets, for they sleep on thick padded quilts spread on
the floor at night, and kept in a closet when not needed. There is no
large dining-table, for each person eats sitting before a small, low
lacquer tray, or table, about a foot high. There is no dazzling array
of pictures and other ornaments on the wall—only a _kakemono_ (wall
banner) or two; and there are no miscellaneous ornaments set around
here and there—only a vase of flowers.
But more and more are the Japanese coming to build at least parts of
the house in Occidental style, so that it is now quite common to find,
in houses of well-to-do people, a foreign room with carpet, table,
chairs, pictures, etc. Stoves and grates, too, for either wood or coal,
are being largely used. Mattresses, springs, and bedsteads are also
coming into use, because sleeping on the floor, where one is subject
to draughts, has been found to be unhealthy. In the case of foreign
rooms, moreover, it is generally unnecessary to take off the shoes; and
thus another frequent cause of colds is removed. A prevailing style of
architecture at present is the hybrid!
The best rooms of a Japanese house are not in the front, but in the
rear, and have an outlook upon the garden, which likewise, from its
plainness and simplicity, is unique. “Its artistic purpose is to copy
faithfully the attractions of a veritable landscape, and to carry the
real impressions that a real landscape communicates. It is, therefore,
at once a picture and a poem; perhaps even more a poem than a picture.”
It is in Japan, moreover, that it is possible to have a “garden”
without flowers or grass—with, perhaps, only “rocks and pebbles and
sand.” For the Japanese truly and literally find “sermons in stones,”
and give them not only “character” but also “tones and values.” More
than all that, “they held it possible to express moral lessons in
the design of a garden, and abstract ideas, such as charity, faith,
piety, content, calm, and connubial bliss.” In Japan, therefore,
landscape-gardening is and always has been a fine art.[49]
The Japanese may be called vegetarians, for it is only within a recent
period that meat has come to play any part in their diet. Fish, flesh,
and fowl were once strictly forbidden as articles of food by the tenets
of Buddhism, but gradually, one after another, came to be allowed as
eatables. Even now meat, though becoming more and more popular as an
article of diet, is not used in large quantities at one meal. Chicken,
game, beef, ham, and pork may be found on sale in most large towns and
cities. But beef is cut up into mouthfuls, and sold to Japanese by
the ounce; chickens are carefully and minutely dissected, and sold by
parts, as the wing, the leg, or an ounce or two of the breast. It was a
matter of great amazement to the Japanese of Mito that the foreigners
living there bought a whole chicken or two, or five or six pounds of
beef, at one time, and devoured them all in two or three meals!
Rice is, of course, the staple article of diet, “the staff of life”
of the Japanese; and yet, in poverty-stricken country districts, this
may be a luxury, with barley or millet as the ordinary food. Various
vegetables, particularly beans, are much used, fresh or pickled;
seaweed, fish, eggs, and nuts are largely eaten; and a sauce, made
of beans and wheat, and sold in America as “soy,” is “the universal
condiment.” Thin vegetable soups are an important part of their meals,
and, as no spoons are used, are drunk with a loud sucking noise, which
is a fixed habit in drinking. The principal beverages, even more common
than water, are tea and _sake_. The latter, an alcoholic liquor brewed
from rice, is taken hot; the former, without milk or sugar, is also
taken hot, and is served, not only at meals, but just about all the
time. A kettle of hot water is always kept ready at hand, in house or
inn, so that tea may be steeped in a moment and procured to drink at
any time. It is always set before a guest as soon as he arrives, and is
absolutely indispensable in every household.
At meal time each person sits on the floor before a small, low table
on which his food is placed. They use no knife, fork, or spoon, only
chop-sticks; and do not consider it in bad form to eat and drink with
loud smacking and sucking sounds. Their food, when served, seems to
foreigners more beautiful than palatable; it is “unsatisfying and
mawkish.” One who has probably had innumerable experiences during
a long residence in Japan says: “After a Japanese dinner you have
simultaneously a feeling of fulness and a feeling of having eaten
nothing that will do you any good.”[50] Yet, in time foreigners learn
to like many parts of a Japanese bill of fare; and when travelling
about the country, by carrying with them bread, butter, jam, and canned
meats, can get along with rice, eggs, vegetables, and chicken or
fish to complete the daily fare. In the summer resorts frequented by
foreigners there are always hotels and restaurants where only European
cooking is served. With the introduction of Western civilization came
wine, ale, beer, etc., which are extensively used by the Japanese.
Indeed, we must not fail to take notice of the change that is taking
place in the diet of the Japanese. Bread and meat, which were long ago
introduced into the diet of the army and the navy, are pretty generally
popular; and many other articles of “foreign food” are largely used. It
is quite a common custom in well-to-do families to have at least one
“foreign meal” per day; and “foreign restaurants,” especially in the
large cities, are well patronized. It is said, indeed, that first-class
“foreign cooking” is cheaper than first-class “Japanese cooking.” The
standard of living has been considerably raised within the past decade.
It is important to touch briefly on the subject of costume, though it
will not be possible or profitable to describe minutely every garment.
It may not be improper to begin with the topic of undress; for the
Japanese, perhaps because great lovers of nature, think it nothing
immodest to be seen, even in public, in the garb of nature. Of course,
in the open ports and large cities, foreign ideas of modesty are more
strongly enforced; but in the interior the primitive innocence of the
Garden of Eden prevails to a greater or less extent. In hot weather
children go stark-naked, and men wear only a loin-cloth: “_Honi soit
qui mal y pense_”—“Evil to him who evil thinks.”
The ordinary Japanese costume may be said to consist of a shirt, a
loose silk gown fastened at the waist with a silk sash, short socks
with separate places for the big toes, and either straw sandals or
wooden clogs. For ceremonial occasions, “a divided skirt,” and a silk
coat, adorned with the family crest, are used; these are called,
respectively, _hakama_ and _haori_. In winter two or three padded gowns
are added; and in all seasons many persons go bare-footed, bare-legged,
and bare-headed. The female garb[51] does not differ greatly from the
male costume, except that the sash is larger and richer and the gown is
made of lighter fabrics. The women powder and paint, oil their hair,
and adorn their heads with pretty combs and hairpins.
The Japanese costume is certainly very beautiful and becoming, and is
pronounced by medical authorities to be highly sanitary. For persons,
however, in active business, and for those who work in the fields, it
is not so convenient as the European costume; but it is altogether
too charming to be entirely discarded, and, with some modification,
might well be adopted in other lands. At court, the European costume
is generally used; the frock coat and evening dress have become common
ceremonial garbs; and silk hats, gloves, and canes also have become
fashionable. The efforts of the Japanese to adopt Western customs
and to conform to the usages of the Occident in matters of dress are
sometimes quite amusing to those who witness them.[52]
Chamberlain affirms that “cleanliness is one of the few original items
of Japanese civilization.” Surely their practice of frequent bathing
ought to have brought them to that stage which is considered “next to
godliness.” A bathroom is commonly an important part of the house; but
if a room is not available for that purpose, a bathtub outdoors will
do, or the public bath-houses afford every facility at a very small
charge. Necessary exposure of the person in connection with bathing is
not considered immodest; but, in large cities at least, the two sexes
are no longer permitted to bathe together promiscuously. The hot baths,
with water at about 110° F., are generally unendurable by foreigners.
The latter, however, after some experience, may become accustomed to
such heat and find it quite healthy. “Sea-bathing was not formerly
much practised; but since 1885 the upper classes have taken greatly to
it, in imitation of European usage, and the coast is now dotted with
bathing establishments.”[53] The Japanese also resort “to an almost
incredible extreme” to the hot mineral springs, which are so numerous
in Japan and generally possess excellent medicinal qualities.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Rein’s “Japan” is valuable on these topics; “Advance Japan” has
a good chapter on “Diet, Dress, and Manners” (iv.); “A Japanese
Interior,” by Miss Alice M. Bacon, gives most interesting glimpses
of the inner life of the people; Murray’s “Story of Japan,” chap.
ii.; Knapp’s “Feudal and Modern Japan,” vol. i. chap. v. and vol. ii.
chap. iv.; and “Japan in History, Folklore, and Art” (Griffis), are
useful; Finck in his “Lotos-Time in Japan,” also gives interesting
glimpses of these topics; and Miss Bacon’s “Japanese Girls and Women”
(revised and illustrated edition) is invaluable concerning family
life. Miss Hartshorne’s “Japan and her People” is well worth reading
on these subjects. “Japanese Life in Town and Country” (Knox), “Dai
Nippon” (Dyer), and “Every Day Japan” (Lloyd) are also valuable.