Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/62

 fly, and alleges that the game acts as a charm against the attacks of mosquitoes during the ensuing summer, the dragon-fly being a devourer of those insect pests. But that phantasy has passed out of mind. The game of shuttlecock came to Japan from China. In the latter country it is a pastime for men: the heels of their shoes, soled with paper to a thickness of one or two inches, serve for battledoors, and they kick with marvellous dexterity. Japan added a battle-board and thus adapted the amusement to both sexes, while at the same time, bringing its paraphernalia within the range of decorative art. For the battle-board gradually became an object of beauty. The idea of furnishing it with a cat-gut face or parchment back did not occur to its makers: it remained essentially a thin, flat board of white pine. But its reverse, lacquered at first in gold and colours, was finally covered with applied pictures (oshie) showing all the elaboration of detail that distinguishes a Parisian poupée of the most costly kind. The Japanese maiden loves and cherishes dolls at least as much as does her little sister of the West, but her battle-boards hold nearly the same rank in her affections, and if she is fortunate in the possession of rich parents and fond friends, the pillars of her play-room support galleries of battle-boards where may be seen all the great personages of her country's history moulded in white habut and tricked out in the