Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/262

 to drink the spiced saké. As for the spices, they are chiefly carminatives.  —The bit of haliotis is called noshi, which signifies "stretched out."  —A kind of silk.  —The popularity of kite-flying in Japan is indirectly attested by the ordinary manner of estimating the strength of twine. "One-sheet twine" (ichi-mai ito) means twine capable of holding a one-sheet kite; "two-sheet twine" (ni-mai ito), twine capable of holding a two-sheet kite, and so on. There is, consequently, no three-sheet twine, or five-sheet twine, etc., because kites, being square or rectangular, cannot be constructed with three, five, seven, eleven, etc. sheets of paper.  —The great hall in a temple is often utilised for the purpose.  —The Eta no longer form a separate class in the eye of the law.  —It is not easy to trace the origin of this custom. In the Imperial Palace, on the 4th of the first month, it used to assume a much more elaborate form, the dancers being four, with costumes suggesting Manchurian affinities,—head-gear like a helmet, boat-shaped sandals, and long trains. The manzai who perform in the streets of towns and villages come from Mikawa, which province enjoys the special privilege of supplying these artists.  — <section end="Note 13" /> <section begin="Note 14" />—Sometimes a bamboo basket is fixed on the roof to drive away demons. <section end="Note 14" /> <section begin="Note 15" />—In some parts of Japan there still survives a custom once common everywhere on the 15th of the first month. A pine branch is painted in five colours (black, red, white, yellow, and blue), and if a woman is struck with this kayutsuye, as it is called, she becomes destined to be the mother of a boy. <section end="Note 15" /> <section begin="Note 16" />—The festival of Uso-kai had its origin in Chikuzen Province. There, beginning at a date no longer ascertainable, <section end="Note 16" />