[1] The highest rate of subscription to a daily journal is twelve
shillings per annum, and the usual charge for advertisement is from
7d. to one shilling per line of 22 ideographs (about nine words).
[2] It is first boiled in a lye obtained by lixiviating wood ashes;
it is next polished with charcoal powder; then immersed in plum
vinegar and salt; then washed with weak lye and placed in a tub of
water to remove all traces of alkali, the final step being to digest
in a boiling solution of copper sulphate, verdigris and water.
[3] This method is some 300 years old. It is by no means a modern
invention, as some writers have asserted.
[4] Obtained from the shell of the _Halictis_.
[5] In 1877 there were 120 English engineers, drivers and foremen in
the service of the railway bureau. Three years later only three
advisers remained.
[6] The largest is the mitsubishi at Nagasaki. It has a length of 722
ft. Next stands the kawasaki at Kobe, and in the third place is the
uraga.
[7] They were called _fuda-sashi_ (ticket-holders), a term derived
from the fact that rice-vouchers were usually held in a split bamboo
which was thrust into a pile of rice-bags to indicate their buyer.
[8] In 1725, when the population of Yedo was about three-quarters of
a million, the merchandise that entered the city was 861,893 bags of
rice; 795,856 casks of sake; 132,892 casks of soy (fish-sauce);
18,209,987 bundles of fire-wood; 809,790 bags of charcoal; 90,811
tubs of oil; 1,670,850 bags of salt and 3,613,500 pieces of cotton
cloth.
[9] Some derive this term from _mika_, an ancient Japanese term for
"great," and _to_, "place."
[10] The names given in italics are those more commonly used. Those
in the first column are generally of pure native derivation; those in
the second column are composed of the Chinese word _shu_, a
"province," added to the Chinese pronunciation of one of the
characters with which the native name is written. In a few cases both
names are used.
[11] The mayor of a town (_shicho_) is nominated by the minister for
home affairs from three men chosen by the town assembly.
[12] The term _hyaku-sho_, here translated "working man," means
literally "one engaged in any of the various callings" apart from
military service. In a later age a further distinction was
established between the agriculturist, the artisan, and the trader,
and the word _hyaku-sho_ then came to carry the signification of
"husbandman" only.
[13] A tent was simply a space enclosed with strips of cloth or silk,
on which was emblazoned the crest of the commander. It had no
covering.
[14] The Japanese never at any time of their history used poisoned
arrows; they despised them as depraved and inhuman weapons.
[15] The general term for commoners as distinguished from samurai.
[16] The privilege at first led to great abuses. It became a common
thing to employ some aged and indigent person, set him up as the head
of a "branch family," and give him for adopted son a youth liable to
conscription.
[17] Conscription without lot is thus the punishment for all failures
to comply with and attempts to evade the military laws.
[18] Sons of officers' widows, or of officers in reduced
circumstances, are educated at these schools either free or at
reduced charges, but are required to complete the course and to
graduate.
[19] Uniform does not vary according to regiments or divisions. There
is only one type for the whole of the infantry, one for the cavalry,
and so on (see UNIFORMS, NAVAL AND MILITARY). Officers largely obtain
their uniforms and equipment, as well as their books and technical
literature through the _Kai-ko-sha_, which is a combined officers'
club, benefit society and co-operative trading association to which
nearly all belong.
[20] The term _maru_ subsequently became applicable to merchantmen
only, war-ships being distinguished as _kan_.
[21] The reader should be warned that absolute accuracy cannot be
claimed for statistics compiled before the Meiji era.
[22] The _yen_ is a silver coin worth about 2s.: 10 _yen_ = £1.
[23] In addition to the above grant, the feudatories were allowed to
retain the reserves in their treasuries; thus many of the feudal
nobles found themselves possessed of substantial fortunes, a
considerable part of which they generally devoted to the support of
their former vassals.
[24] The Bank of Japan was established as a joint-stock company in
1882. The capital in 1909 was 30,000,000 _yen_. In it alone is vested
note-issuing power. There is no limit to its issues against gold or
silver coins and bullion, but on other securities (state bonds,
treasury bills and other negotiable bonds or commercial paper) its
issues are limited to 120 millions, any excess over that figure being
subject to a tax of 5% per annum.
[25] The amounts include the payments made in connexion with what may
be called the disestablishment of the Church. There were 29,805
endowed temples and shrines throughout the empire, and their estates
aggregated 354,481 acres, together with 1¾ million bushels of rice
(representing 2,500,000 _yen_). The government resumed possession of
all these lands and revenues at a total cost to the state of a little
less than 2,500,000 _yen_, paid out in pensions spread over a period
of fourteen years. The measure sounds like wholesale confiscation.
But some extenuation is found in the fact that the temples and
shrines held their lands and revenues under titles which, being
derived from the feudal chiefs, depended for their validity on the
maintenance of feudalism.
[26] This sum represents interest-bearing bonds issued in exchange
for fiat notes, with the idea of reducing the volume of the latter.
It was a tentative measure, and proved of no value.
[27] In this is included a sum of 110,000,000 _yen_ distributed in
the form of loan-bonds among the officers and men of the army and
navy by way of reward for their services during the war of 1904-5.
[28] When war broke out in 1904 the local administrative districts
took steps to reduce their outlays, so that whereas the expenditures
totalled 158,000,000 _yen_ in 1903-1904, they fell to 122,000,000 and
126,000,000 in 1904-1905 and 1905-1906 respectively. Thereafter
however, they expanded once more.
[29] This includes 22¼ millions of loans raised abroad.
[30] The problem was to induce the co-operation of a feudatory whose
castle served for frontier guard to the fief of a powerful chief, his
suzerain. The feudatory was a Christian. Nobunaga seized the Jesuits
in Kioto, and threatened to suppress their religion altogether unless
they persuaded the feudatory to abandon the cause of his suzerain.
[31] The mutilation was confined to the lobe of one ear. Crucifixion,
according to the Japanese method, consisted in tying to a cross and
piercing the heart with two sharp spears driven from either side.
Death was always instantaneous.
[32] See _A History of Christianity in Japan_ (1910), by Otis Cary.
[33] The Imperial cities were Yedo, Kioto, Osaka and Nagasaki. To
this last the English were subsequently admitted. They were also
invited to Kagoshima by the Shimazu chieftain, and, had not their
experience at Hirado proved so deterrent, they might have established
a factory at Kagoshima.
[34] _A History of Japan_ (Murdoch and Yamagata).
[35] H.M.S. "Phaeton," which entered that port in 1808.