Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/83

 gambler, therefore, moulds himself on finer lines. He is an accomplished man of the world, a charming companion, fatally versed in all the intricacies of hana-awase, and competent to supplement skill by art. He frequents fashionable tea-houses, and inveigles pleasure-seekers into little games with costly results.

Numerical symmetry has always possessed a charm for the Japanese, and may perhaps be chiefly responsible for the fact that during many centuries they have specially feted the third day of the third month, the fifth of the fifth, the seventh of the seventh, and the ninth of the ninth. These four days, together with the seventh day of the first month, constitute the go-sekku, or "five festivals of the seasons." There is a weird and fanciful legend which connects the five celebrations with the story of an ox-headed incanation of Buddha, who married the youngest daughter of the dragon king, and subsequently carved into five pieces the body of a prince who had opposed his quest for a wife; but the fabrication of this gruesome tale evidently succeeded the birth of the custom for which it professes to account. The celebration on the third day of the third month is commonly called the hina-matsuriy or dolls' festival. It is the fête of little maidens, and their manner of celebrating it is to marshal a multitude of dolls representing historical characters, with their vassals, servitors, soldiers,