=Kannon=, written K(w)annon, Sanskrit Avalokites-vara, the Goddess of Mercy, who contemplates the world and listens to the prayers of the unhappy. In the opinion of a small minority Kannon belongs to the male sex. =Kimono.= The long-sleeved robe of Japan, which has no fastening. It is merely folded across on the right-hand side (only grave-clothes are crossed to the left) and kept in place by the folds of the _obi_. Practically the same shaped kimono is worn by men and women, the difference consisting principally in pattern and colour. The number of _kimono_ worn depends entirely on the temperature. =Kirin.= A fabulous monster answering to our griffin. He degenerates sometimes into a sort of three-cornered dog, and is said not to trample on live insects nor to eat live grass. =Kitsune.= Fox. It is the fox and the badger in Japan who are credited with supernatural powers. Foxes are able to change themselves into beautiful young women to the undoing of confiding man. The powers of the badger may be comic. =Kojiki=, or “Record of Ancient Matters.” The oldest literary work of Japan, dating from the year 712 A.D. It is a chronicle partly mythological, partly historical, of the doings of gods, emperors and men. =Kuruma.= _See_ =Jinricksha=. The Japanese term for _jinricksha_. =Kurumaya.= The man who draws the _kuruma_. =Manjū.= A flat round cake of rice paste filled with a brown bean-jam. =Meiji.= Age of Enlightenment or Progress. The name of the years from 1868 onwards. The privilege of appointing year-names is regarded in the Far East as one of the rights of independent sovereignty, much as coining money with us. In Japan the length of the year-name period has been up to now purely arbitrary, not coinciding with the reign of an emperor as in China. =Miyajima.= One of the _San-kei_ or “Three Chief Sights” of Japan. An exceedingly beautiful island in the Inland Sea. It contains a temple built on piles, which at high tide seems to float on the water. According to tradition, the first temple was erected about 600 A.D. =Mma.= The actual pronunciation in the Tokyo district of the word usually Romanised as _Uma_, horse. =Mmé.= The actual pronunciation in the Tokyo district of the word usually Romanised as _Umé_. =Musmé= or =Musumé=. Daughter; girl; and so, waiting-girl. =Namu-myōho-rengekyō.= Sanskrit, _lit._ “O! the Scripture of the Lotus of the Wonderful Law.” =Nēsan=. _lit._ elder sister miss. Used as a half-polite, half-familiar address to girls; and so, waiting-girl.