* In regard to wives and concubines, the law and customs are the same as between master and servant. The Mikado is allowed twelve concubines. Daimios and Hattamotos are allowed to have eight. Tei fu--_i.e._, men with titles--and Sho daibu are allowed five. Officers and Samurai are allowed two concubines. This is to be found in the old holy books of the Rai ki rites and ceremonies (Lei, king of China). At times very foolish and bad men have made the way to the Rai ki dark, and have addicted themselves to numerous concubines, and so broken the laws of nature. In former times, whenever Daimios or officers have lost their territories and castles, it may in nearly all cases be traced to this cause. Hence the man is not upright who is much given to women. [It is a common error with writers upon Japan to allege that the Japanese are indifferent to the respectability of their wives; and, indeed, that they rather prefer to take one from among the public courtesans; and, further, to convey the impression that nearly all the women of the country go through some such course before marriage. Such an idea is contrary to common sense as well as to propriety; and the common belief that the spirits take a warm interest and perform an important part in the marriage of every pair in Japan shows that the rite itself is looked upon as a very important institution, requiring Divine sanction and blessing, and not to be lightly entered upon for the gratification of temporary or transient feelings. On the other hand, intercourse between parties not married is looked upon as disreputable, or at least an attempt is made to convey such an impression to young persons. All such connections are called “damass koto,” _i.e._, a false, a sham affair; and it is said of such persons that the fox--_i.e._, the devil--has tied the yeng or knot. It is a common saying by youths, “I know that it is damass koto; but the fox always brings us together again, and I cannot cut the thread.” As their idea of the yeng is taken from the Chinese, it shows that polygamy is not, with that large portion of the human race, looked on with approval. In China the first wife is the only wife; the others who may be taken afterward are concubines. In these countries the position of a prostitute is different from what it is in Christian communities, as they are forced to the life, and educated to it from childhood; and the education and mixing with the world in conversation gives them often a cleverness and power of pleasing which are often wanting in the ladies brought up in the quiet and seclusion of a Chinese family. Besides, they go to the same churches and worship the same gods, going through their devotions as religiously as the rest of the community.]