Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/60

 among the middle and lower classes generally, the call assumes a more genuine and genial character. The visitor carries with him, or is preceded by, a present of some kind, a "year jewel" (toshi-dama); usually trifling in value—as a basket of oranges, a fan, a bundle of dried sea-weed (hoshi-nori), a towel, a parcel of paper, a salted salmon, or a box of sweetmeats—but always wrapped up with scrupulous neatness, and encircled by a cord with strands of red and gold or red and white, the ends joined in a "butterfly knot," under which is thrust a bit of haliotis looking out from a quiver-shaped envelope. Black is the ill-omened hue among colours in Japan; red stands at the opposite end of the category, and red and gold constitute the richest combination, red and white being next in order of auspiciousness. The bit of dried haliotis has a double meaning: it suggests not only singleness of affection, supposed to be typified by the mollusc's single shell, but also durability of love and longevity, since the dried haliotis is capable of being stretched to an extraordinary length. This elaboration of detail extends to the formul of greeting. The curt phrases current in the Occident are replaced by sentences that centuries of use have polished and crystallised: "I respectfully tender rejoicings at the opening season;" "I thank you for the many acts of kindness shown to me in the old year, and trust that there