I visited an elementary school which was little more than a shed. The roofing was of bark and the paper-covered window shutters were of the roughest. It said much for the stamina of the children that they could sit there in bleak weather. An attempt had been made to shut off the classes from one another by pieces of thin cotton sheeting fastened to a string. But such essential furniture, from a hygienic point of view, as benches with backs had been provided, for it is considered by the national educational authorities that kneeling in the Japanese manner is inimical to physical development. I noticed, also, that when the children sang they had been taught to place their hands on their hips in order that their chests might benefit from the vocal exercise. The earnestness and kindliness of the men and women teachers were evident. All the teachers came to school bare-foot on _geta_.[210] The sea was not far off and we went to the beach where there was nothing between us and America. My companion and I were carried over shallows on the backs of fishermen, wonderful bronze-coloured figures. Above high-water mark heaps of small fish were drying. They were to be turned into oil and fish-waste manure. I saw an earthenware vase with a hole in the bottom like a flowerpot and found that it was used, with a rope attached to the rim, for catching octopus. When the octopus comes across such a vase on the sea bottom he regards it as a shelter constructed on exactly the right principles and takes up his abode therein. He is easily captured, for he refuses to let go his vase when it is brought to the surface. Indeed the only way to dislodge him is to pour hot water through the hole in the bottom of his upturned tenement. FOOTNOTES: [203] The Japanese firepot, which is made of wood or porcelain as well as metal, contains pieces of charcoal smouldering in wood ash. [204] I saw poultry of the table breeds which we call Indian Game or Malay; the Japanese call them Siamese. [205] See Appendix LVIII. [206] In 1918 carp was produced to the value of a million and a half yen and eels to the value of nearly a million. [207] See Appendix LIX. [208] See Appendix LX. [209] To cite a word already used in these pages, there are half a dozen words spelt _ko_ and as many as fourteen spelt _kō_, but all have a different ideograph. When the prolongation of the educational course by the ideographs is dwelt on, it is wholesome for us to remember Professor Gilbert Murray's declaration that "English spelling entails a loss of one year in the child's school time." Other authorities have considered the loss to be much more. [210] For statistics of stamina, heights and weights of children, see Appendix LXI. CHAPTER XXXV THE HUSBANDMAN, THE WRESTLER AND THE CARPENTER (SAITAMA, GUMMA AND TOKYO) We are here to search the wounds of the realm, not to skim them over.--BACON