Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/294

 —Every document placed in the meyasu-bako had to carry the name and address of its compiler: otherwise its contents received no attention. There were also severe vetoes against any appeal based on purely personal interests, or of a slanderous character; against complaints not supported by the complainant's intimate knowledge of facts; against petitions embodying cases which had not been previously submitted to the proper authorities, and against false statements of every kind.  —Although men were sometimes condemned to be burned at the stake, or sawn in sunder or crucified,—i.e. bound to a cross and transfixed with lances,—it appears that they were generally strangled before the carrying out of the sentence.  —Mr. Basil Hall Chamberlain.  —This hand-clapping custom is common on occasions of congratulation among actors, keepers of tea-houses connected with a theatre, and professionals of all kinds. One may often observe that a party of such persons, arriving at or leaving a railway station, clap hands in unison with those that have come to greet them or to bid adieu.  —It is right to note that the Liberals were by no means alone in their employment of sōshi. Other political parties employed them subsequently. But the Liberals set the example.  —One of these troupes, headed by an ex-sōshi, Kawakami, and aided by the services of his wife, Yakko, an ex-geisha, made quite a sensation in Europe.  —Riparian works have long been a troublesome question in Japan. Owing to gradual banking up, the beds of many rivers have been elevated high above the general level of the district. The water can thus be easily led hither and thither for irrigation purposes, but, on the other hand, the bursting of banks pours the whole river like a cataract over the country.  —There are many evidences that the supply of rice was found insufficient in the Tokugawa epoch. At one time (1643) the brewing of sake (rice-beer) was limited; at another (1644) the making of all cakes or confectionery that <section end="Note 14" />