Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 7.djvu/91



HERE are proofs that the ancient Japanese attached much importance to industrial occupations. It is not possible, indeed, to speak with confidence as to the quality of their manufactures except in so far as the contents of burial mounds convey information. But history seems to indicate that the early settlers, the progenitors of the Japanese proper, were an industrial people rather than an agricultural; for whereas the records are almost silent on the subject of farming, they contain many references to handicrafts. It would appear that the whole of the people, apart from the administrative and military classes, were engaged solely in industrial pursuits, and that there existed a species of tribal division founded on differences of occupation. Thus the annals speaks of yuge-be (bow-makers); yahagi-be (arrow-makers); tatenui-be (shield-stitchers); kura-tsukuri-be (saddlers); ori-be, hatori-be and kinu-be (weavers and tailors); ko-taukmi (carpenters); kanu-be (blacksmiths); nuri-be (lacquerers); ishi-tsukuri (stone-cutters); and hashi-be (bridge builders). The number and variety of these organisations are alone sufficient to imply a tolerably advanced state of industrial activity, although the skill possessed by the artisans can-