The place is full of people, and
the four bathing-sheds were crowded. Some energetic invalids bathe
twelve times a day! Every one who was walking about carried a blue
towel over his arm, and the rails of the balconies were covered
with blue towels hanging to dry. There can be very little
amusement. The mountains rise at once from the village, and are so
covered with jungle that one can only walk in the short streets or
along the track by which I came. There is one covered boat for
excursions on the lake, and a few geishas were playing the samisen;
but, as gaming is illegal, and there is no place of public resort
except the bathing-sheds, people must spend nearly all their time
in bathing, sleeping, smoking, and eating. The great spring is
beyond the village, in a square tank in a mound. It bubbles up
with much strength, giving off fetid fumes. There are broad boards
laid at intervals across it, and people crippled with rheumatism go
and lie for hours upon them for the advantage of the sulphurous
steam. The temperature of the spring is 130 degrees F.; but after
the water has travelled to the village, along an open wooden pipe,
it is only 84 degrees. Yumoto is over 4000 feet high, and very
cold.
IRIMICHI. - Before leaving Yumoto I saw the modus operandi of a
"squeeze." I asked for the bill, when, instead of giving it to me,
the host ran upstairs and asked Ito how much it should be, the two
dividing the overcharge. Your servant gets a "squeeze" on
everything you buy, and on your hotel expenses, and, as it is
managed very adroitly, and you cannot prevent it, it is best not to
worry about it so long as it keeps within reasonable limits. I. L.
B.
LETTER X
Peaceful Monotony - A Japanese School - A Dismal Ditty - Punishment - A
Children's Party - A Juvenile Belle - Female Names - A Juvenile Drama-
-Needlework - Calligraphy - Arranging Flowers - Kanaya - Daily Routine-
-An Evening's Entertainment - Planning Routes - The God-shelf.
IRIMICHI, Nikko, June 23.
My peacefully monotonous life here is nearly at an end. The people
are so quiet and kindly, though almost too still, and I have
learned to know something of the externals of village life, and
have become quite fond of the place.
The village of Irimichi, which epitomises for me at present the
village life of Japan, consists of about three hundred houses built
along three roads, across which steps in fours and threes are
placed at intervals. Down the middle of each a rapid stream runs
in a stone channel, and this gives endless amusement to the
children, specially to the boys, who devise many ingenious models
and mechanical toys, which are put in motion by water-wheels. But
at 7 a.m. a drum beats to summon the children to a school whose
buildings would not discredit any school-board at home. Too much
Europeanised I thought it, and the children looked very
uncomfortable sitting on high benches in front of desks, instead of
squatting, native fashion. The school apparatus is very good, and
there are fine maps on the walls. The teacher, a man about twenty-
five, made very free use of the black-board, and questioned his
pupils with much rapidity. The best answer moved its giver to the
head of the class, as with us. Obedience is the foundation of the
Japanese social order, and with children accustomed to
unquestioning obedience at home the teacher has no trouble in
securing quietness, attention, and docility. There was almost a
painful earnestness in the old-fashioned faces which pored over the
school-books; even such a rare event as the entrance of a foreigner
failed to distract these childish students. The younger pupils
were taught chiefly by object lessons, and the older were exercised
in reading geographical and historical books aloud, a very high key
being adopted, and a most disagreeable tone, both with the Chinese
and Japanese pronunciation. Arithmetic and the elements of some of
the branches of natural philosophy are also taught. The children
recited a verse of poetry which I understood contained the whole of
the simple syllabary. It has been translated thus:-
"Colour and perfume vanish away.
What can be lasting in this world?
To-day disappears in the abyss of nothingness;
It is but the passing image of a dream, and causes only a slight
trouble."
It is the echo of the wearied sensualist's cry, "Vanity of
vanities, all is vanity," and indicates the singular Oriental
distaste for life, but is a dismal ditty for young children to
learn. The Chinese classics, formerly the basis of Japanese
education, are now mainly taught as a vehicle for conveying a
knowledge of the Chinese character, in acquiring even a moderate
acquaintance with which the children undergo a great deal of
useless toil.
The penalties for bad conduct used to be a few blows with a switch
on the front of the leg, or a slight burn with the moxa on the
forefinger - still a common punishment in households; but I
understood the teacher to say that detention in the school-house is
the only punishment now resorted to, and he expressed great
disapprobation of our plan of imposing an added task. When twelve
o'clock came the children marched in orderly fashion out of the
school grounds, the boys in one division and the girls in another,
after which they quietly dispersed.
On going home the children dine, and in the evening in nearly every
house you hear the monotonous hum of the preparation of lessons.
After dinner they are liberated for play, but the girls often hang
about the house with babies on their backs the whole afternoon
nursing dolls.
