Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/267

 cal, or burlesque, language, but was used with reference to the entertainment furnished by the choric monologues rather than to any extravagance in their diction.  —The Oban (large plate) did not consist of pure gold. It contained about sixty-eight per cent of gold and twenty-nine per cent of silver.  —A cheque, or commercial note, is still called te-gata (lit. hand-shape), evidently from the fact that in early times the impression of the thumb was the common method of signature. Sometimes the whole hand was impressed.  —The fact that they were market towns in the old days may be gathered from the names that some places still retain; as Yokka-ichi (fourth-day market), Yōka-ichi (eighth-day market), Kami-ichi (upper market), Shimo-ichi (lower market), etc.  —This hall was called Koro-kwan. There were three: one in Kyōtō, one in Naniwa (Ōsaka), and one at Hakata in Chikuzen.  —They were called toimaru, a term now obsolete.  —These were known as kaisen, in medival phraseology.  —The interior dimensions of the masu as prescribed by the Taikō's legislation were 5.1 inches by 5.15 inches by 2.45 inches. Japanese joiners found no difficulty in conforming with these measurements. The object of the legislator was to contrive a measure which should contain a fraction less than 1 sho (or 10 go). The masu here indicated had a capacity of 9.86 go. <section end="Note 47" /> <section begin="Note 48" />—This céladon is called Tenryu-seiji, seiji (green ware) being the general name given to céladon in Japan. (Vide chapter on porcelain and pottery.) <section end="Note 48" /> <section begin="Note 49" />—There has been some dispute about these facts, but they appear to be historical. It is on record that Yoshimitsu went to Hyōgo to meet a Chinese ambassador; that he wore a Chinese costume to receive his guest and rode in a Chinese palanquin to the place of meeting. <section end="Note 49" /> <section begin="Note 50" />—Nanking was the residence of the Chinese Court until the year 1412, when Peking became the capital. <section end="Note 50" /> <section begin="Note 51" />— The reader should perhaps be warned against <section end="Note 51" />