Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/92

 habit did prevail among the people of Riukiu. Another reasonable hypothesis is that tattooing was introduced among a limited section of the nation when Japan received the Malayan element of her population. At all events, in every era it was confined to the lowest classes, namely, those who bared their bodies to perform the severe labour falling to their lot.

These Chinese annalists confirm the supposition suggested by the rituals, as noted above, that crimes of larceny and burglary were very rare in old Japan. They say, also, that Japanese women were neither sensual nor jealous, which is assuredly true in modern times and seems to have been true in every age of the nation's existence. Another fact adduced in praise of the people was that they gave the law courts very little occupation. But there is an unfavourable interpretation of that state of affairs. The severity of the law, when occasion for its enforcement did arise, was terrible. If political considerations aggravated a crime, the whole family of the criminal were executed, and sometimes every member, even to distant relations, was reduced to the condition of serfdom. The people in general may be said to have been serfs with regard to the interval separating them from the upper classes. Thus, if an inferior met a superior, the former had to step aside and bow profoundly. He was further required to squat, or kneel, with both hands on the ground, when addressing a man of rank.