From Inouye’s “Sketches of Tōkyō Life” we learn that aged persons provide against failing memory by passing through seven different shrine gates on the spring or autumn equinox. An incantation against noxious insects, written with the infusion of India ink in liquorice water on the eighth day of the fourth moon, Buddha’s birthday, will prevent the entrance of the insects at every doorway or window where it is posted. January 16 and July 16 were and are special holidays for servants and apprentices, and considered sacred to Emma, the god of Hades. At the time of the winter solstice doctors would worship the Chinese Esculapius. “The foot-wear left outside on the night of the winter equinox should be thrown away; he who wears them will shorten his own life. If you cut a bamboo on a moonlight night, you will find a snake in the hollow of it between the third and fourth joints.” “During an eclipse of the sun or moon, people carefully cover, the wells, as they suppose that poison falls from the sky during the period of the obscuration.” “If on the night of the second day of the first moon, one dreams of the _takara-bune_ (treasure-ship), he shall become a rich man.” The first “dog day” and the third “dog day” in July are days for eating special cakes. “The third dog day is considered by the peasantry a turning-point in the life of the crops. Eels are eaten on any day of the bull [ox] that may occur during this period of greatest heat.” The author was once warned by a Japanese woman that he must not take medicine or consult a doctor on New Year’s Day, because such acts would portend a year of illness. BIBLIOGRAPHY. There are many good books which portray the manners and customs of the Japanese people; and as for magazine and newspaper articles on the subject their name is legion. The works of Griffis, Chamberlain, Rein, Hearn, Lowell, Miss Bacon, Miss Scidmore, Miss Hartshorne, Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop, and Mitford’s “Tales of Old Japan” may be recommended. Good novels, like “Mito Yashiki” (Maclay), “Honda the Samurai” (Griffis), “In the Mikado’s Service” (Griffis), etc., give an insight into Japanese life. This may suffice, as more particular references have been given in connection with many of the topics of the chapter. “A Japanese Boy” (Shigemi), “When I was a Boy in Japan” (Shioya), “Japanese Girls and Women” (Miss Bacon), and “The Wee Ones of Japan” (Mrs. Bramhall) give good pictures of child-life; and Dr. Griffis has edited an edition of Mrs. Chaplin-Ayrton’s valuable “Child-Life in Japan.” “Japanese Life in Town and Country” (Knox), and “Every Day Japan” (Lloyd) also contain good material in this connection. CHAPTER VI JAPANESE TRAITS