Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/70

 shoe-shaped affairs of later ages, but are rather of the Occidental type.

The costume of these ancient Japanese had little in common with that of their modern descendants. They wore an upper garment of woven stuff, fashioned after the manner of a loosely fitting tunic, and confined at the waist by a girdle, and they had loose trousers reaching nearly to the feet. For ornaments they used necklaces of beads or of rings,—silver, stone, or glass; finger-rings, sometimes of silver or gold, sometimes of copper, bronze, or iron plated with one of the precious metals; ring-shaped buttons; metal armlets; bands or plates of gilt copper which were attached to the tunic; ear-rings of gold, and tiaras. Not one item in this catalogue, the tiara excepted, appears among the garments or personal ornaments of the Japanese since their history and habits began to be known to the outer world. No nation has undergone a more radical change of taste in the matter of habiliments and adornments. The ear-ring, the necklace, the finger-ring, the bracelet, and the band or plate of metal attached to the tunic,—all these passed completely out of vogue so long ago that, without the evidence of the contents of the dolmen, it would be impossible to conceive the existence of such things in Japan. One of the most noteworthy features of the people's habits in mediæval or modern times is that, with the solitary exception of pins and fillets for the hair, they eschew