“It may be observed, in general, that the buildings of this country, ecclesiastical or civil, public or private, being commonly low and of wood, are by no means to be compared to ours in Europe, neither in largeness nor magnificence. The houses of private persons never exceed six ken, or thirty-six feet in height. Nay, ’tis but seldom they build their houses so high, unless they design them also for warehouses. Even the palaces of the Dairi, the secular monarch, and of the princes and lords, are not above one story high. And although there be many common houses, chiefly in towns, of two stories, yet the upper story, if it deserves that name, is generally very low, unfit to be inhabited, and good for little else but to lay up some of the least necessary household goods, it being often without a ceiling or any other cover but the bare roof. The reason of their building their houses so low, is the frequency of earthquakes, which prove much more fatal to lofty and massy buildings of stone, than to low and small houses of wood. But if the houses of the Japanese be not so large, lofty, or so substantially built as ours, they are on the other hand greatly to be admired for their uncommon neatness and cleanliness, and curious furniture. I could not help taking notice that the furniture and the several ornaments of their apartments make a far more graceful and handsome appearance in rooms of a small compass, than they would do in large, lofty halls. They have none, or but few, partition walls to divide their rooms from each other, but instead of them make use of folding screens, made of colored or gilt paper, and laid into wooden frames, which they can put up or remove whenever they please, and by this means enlarge their rooms or make them narrower, as it best suits their fancy or convenience. The floors are somewhat raised above the level of the street, and are all made of boards, neatly covered with fine mats[167], the borders whereof are curiously fringed, embroidered, or otherwise neatly adorned. All mats are of the same size in all parts of the empire, to wit, a ken, or six feet long[168], and half a ken broad. All the lower part of the house, the staircase leading up to the second story, if there be any, the doors, windows[169], posts and passages, are curiously painted and varnished. The ceilings are neatly covered with gilt or silver colored paper, embellished with flowers, and the screens in several rooms curiously painted. In short, there is not one corner in the whole house but looks handsome and pretty, and this the rather since all their furniture may be bought at an easy rate.