The foundations of Japan : $b Notes made during journeys of 6,000 miles in the rural districts as a basis for a sounder knowledge of the Japanese peopleRobertson Scott, J. W. (John William)
General
The foundations of Japan : $b Notes made during journeys of 6,000 miles in the rural districts as a basis for a sounder knowledge of the Japanese people
Robertson Scott, J. W. (John William)
Agriculture -- Japan; Country life -- Japan; Japan -- Description and travel; Japan -- Social conditions
We continued to see many white-clad pilgrims and everywhere touring
students, as often afoot as on bicycles. I noted from the registers at
many village offices that the number of young men who married before
performing their military service seemed to be decreasing. In one
community, where there were two priests, one Tendai and the other
Shingon, neither seemed to count for much. One was very poor, and
cultivated a small patch near his temple; the other had a little more
than a _chō_. The custom was for the farmers to present to their
temple from 5 to 10 _shō_ of rice from the harvest.
In connection with the question of improved implements I noticed that
a reasonably efficient winnowing machine in use by a comfortably-off
tenant was forty-nine years old--that is, that it dated back to the
time of the Shogun. The secondary industry of this farmer was
dwarf-plant growing. He had also a loom for cotton-cloth making. There
were in his house, in addition to a Buddhist shrine, two Shinto
shrines. After leaving this man I visited an ex-teacher who had lost
his post at fifty, no doubt through being unable to keep step with
modern educational requirements. He had on his wall the lithograph of
Pestalozzi and the children which I saw in many school-houses.
On taking the road again I was told that the local landlords had held
a meeting in view of the losses of tenants through wind. Most had
agreed to forgo rents and to help with artificial manure for next
year. I found taro being grown in paddies or under irrigation. Not
only the tubers of the taro but its finer stalks are eaten. I saw
gourds cut into long lengths narrower than apple rings and put out to
dry. I also noticed orange trees a century old which were still
producing fruit. Boys were driving iron hoops--the native hoop was of
bamboo--and one of the hoop drivers wore a piece of red cloth stitched
on his shoulder, which indicated that he was head of his class. One
missed a dog bounding and barking after the hoop drivers. Sometimes at
the doors of houses I noticed dogs of the lap-dog type which one sees
in paintings or of the wolf type to which the native outdoor dog
belongs. The cats were as ugly as the dogs and no plumper or happier
looking. When I patted a dog or stroked a cat the act attracted
attention.
We saw a good deal of _hinoki_ (ground cypress), the wood of which is
still used at Shinto festivals for making fire by friction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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