The population of the empire of Japan is to a large extent massed in cities and villages. Even in the country, among the farmers, the people are gathered in settlements with wide spaces of cultivated and uncultivated land between. This is due in a great measure to the character of the crops and to the primitive nature of the cultivation. Rice, which is the most common crop, requires irrigation for its successful tillage. This limits the area occupied to the valleys and to those hillsides where the streams can be diverted to the rice fields. The area of land under actual cultivation is about 12,000,000 acres. It has been estimated that the average amount of land under cultivation is only three quarters of an acre for each of those engaged in farming. This amount seems to us very little and can only be explained by the character of the cultivation. The land almost always is made to bear two crops each year. As soon as one crop is cleared away, and often even before that, another is planted. According to the census(15) of 1890 the population of the Japanese empire is as follows: Kwazoku (nobles) 3,768 Shizoku (_samurai_) 2,008,641 Heimin (common people) 38,441,052 Total 40,453,461 The areas of the several large islands and their dependencies together with their population are given below: Sq. m. Population. Main island and dependencies 87,485 31,052,068 Shikoku and dependencies 7,031 2,879,260 Kyūshū and dependencies 16,841 6,228,419 Yezo and dependencies 36,299 293,714 Totals 147,656 40,453,461 [Illustration] Shintoists: Preacher [Illustration] Shintoists: Dancer [Illustration] Shintoists: Assistant [Illustration] Shintoists: The Mirror Dance CHAPTER II. THE ORIGINAL AND SURVIVING RACES. In the present population of Japan there are two distinct races, the Ainos and the Japanese. Of the former there is only a small number now remaining in the island of Yezo. There was also a remnant in the island of Saghalien, but in 1875, when a treaty was made with Russia ceding the Japanese claim to the southern half of Saghalien in exchange for the Kurile islands, permission was granted for all Japanese subjects who wished, to remove to the Japanese island of Yezo. Accordingly among other Japanese subjects seven hundred and fifty Ainos removed to the valley of the Ishikari, where they have continued to reside. [Illustration] Aino Family