You See Wheat Stacks, Ten Feet High, Moving Slowly, And
While You Are Wondering, You Become Aware Of Four Feet
Moving below
them; for all the crop is carried on horses' if not on human backs.
I went to see
Several threshing-floors, - clean, open spaces outside
barns, - where the grain is laid on mats and threshed by two or four
men with heavy revolving flails. Another method is for women to
beat out the grain on racks of split bamboo laid lengthwise; and I
saw yet a third practised both in the fields and barn-yards, in
which women pass handfuls of stalks backwards through a sort of
carding instrument with sharp iron teeth placed in a slanting
position, which cuts off the ears, leaving the stalk unbruised.
This is probably "the sharp threshing instrument having teeth"
mentioned by Isaiah. The ears are then rubbed between the hands.
In this region the wheat was winnowed altogether by hand, and after
the wind had driven the chaff away, the grain was laid out on mats
to dry. Sickles are not used, but the reaper takes a handful of
stalks and cuts them off close to the ground with a short, straight
knife, fixed at a right angle with the handle. The wheat is sown
in rows with wide spaces between them, which are utilised for beans
and other crops, and no sooner is it removed than daikon (Raphanus
sativus), cucumbers, or some other vegetable, takes its place, as
the land under careful tillage and copious manuring bears two, and
even three, crops, in the year. The soil is trenched for wheat as
for all crops except rice, not a weed is to be seen, and the whole
country looks like a well-kept garden. The barns in this district
are very handsome, and many of their grand roofs have that concave
sweep with which we are familiar in the pagoda. The eaves are
often eight feet deep, and the thatch three feet thick. Several of
the farm-yards have handsome gateways like the ancient "lychgates"
of some of our English churchyards much magnified. As animals are
not used for milk, draught, or food, and there are no pasture
lands, both the country and the farm-yards have a singular silence
and an inanimate look; a mean-looking dog and a few fowls being the
only representatives of domestic animal life. I long for the
lowing of cattle and the bleating of sheep.
At six we reached Tochigi, a large town, formerly the castle town
of a daimiyo. Its special manufacture is rope of many kinds, a
great deal of hemp being grown in the neighbourhood. Many of the
roofs are tiled, and the town has a more solid and handsome
appearance than those that we had previously passed through. But
from Kasukabe to Tochigi was from bad to worse. I nearly abandoned
Japanese travelling altogether, and, if last night had not been a
great improvement, I think I should have gone ignominiously back to
Tokiyo. The yadoya was a very large one, and, as sixty guests had
arrived before me, there was no choice of accommodation, and I had
to be contented with a room enclosed on all sides not by fusuma but
shoji, and with barely room for my bed, bath, and chair, under a
fusty green mosquito net which was a perfect nest of fleas. One
side of the room was against a much-frequented passage, and another
opened on a small yard upon which three opposite rooms also opened,
crowded with some not very sober or decorous travellers. The shoji
were full of holes, and often at each hole I saw a human eye.
Privacy was a luxury not even to be recalled. Besides the constant
application of eyes to the shoji, the servants, who were very noisy
and rough, looked into my room constantly without any pretext; the
host, a bright, pleasant-looking man, did the same; jugglers,
musicians, blind shampooers, and singing girls, all pushed the
screens aside; and I began to think that Mr. Campbell was right,
and that a lady should not travel alone in Japan. Ito, who had the
room next to mine, suggested that robbery was quite likely, and
asked to be allowed to take charge of my money, but did not decamp
with it during the night! I lay down on my precarious stretcher
before eight, but as the night advanced the din of the house
increased till it became truly diabolical, and never ceased till
after one. Drums, tom-toms, and cymbals were beaten; kotos and
samisens screeched and twanged; geishas (professional women with
the accomplishments of dancing, singing, and playing) danced, -
accompanied by songs whose jerking discords were most laughable;
story-tellers recited tales in a high key, and the running about
and splashing close to my room never ceased. Late at night my
precarious shoji were accidentally thrown down, revealing a scene
of great hilarity, in which a number of people were bathing and
throwing water over each other.
The noise of departures began at daylight, and I was glad to leave
at seven. Before you go the fusuma are slidden back, and what was
your room becomes part of a great, open, matted space - an
arrangement which effectually prevents fustiness. Though the road
was up a slight incline, and the men were too tired to trot, we
made thirty miles in nine hours. The kindliness and courtesy of
the coolies to me and to each other was a constant source of
pleasure to me. It is most amusing to see the elaborate politeness
of the greetings of men clothed only in hats and maros. The hat is
invariably removed when they speak to each other, and three
profound bows are never omitted.
Soon after leaving the yadoya we passed through a wide street with
the largest and handsomest houses I have yet seen on both sides.
They were all open in front; their highly-polished floors and
passages looked like still water; the kakemonos, or wall-pictures,
on their side-walls were extremely beautiful; and their mats were
very fine and white.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 16 of 112
Words from 15411 to 16436
of 115002
