Page:Kojiki by Chamberlain.djvu/41

Rh hat, which still form the Japanese peasant’s effectual protection against the inclemencies of the weather. The tendrils of creeping plants served the purposes of string, and bound the warrior’s sword round his waist. Combs are mentioned, and it is evident that much attention was devoted to the dressing of the hair. The men seem to have bound up their hair in two bunches, one on each side of the head, whilst the young boys tied theirs into a topknot, the unmarried girls let their locks hang down over their necks, and the married women dressed theirs after a fashion which apparently combined the two last-named methods. There is no mention in any of the old books of cutting the hair or beard except in token of disgrace; neither do we gather that the sexes, but for this matter of the head-dress, were distinguished by a diversity of apparel and ornamentation.

With regard to the precious stones mentioned above as having been used as ornaments for the head, neck, and arms, the texts themselves give us little or no information as to the identity of the stones meant to be referred to. Indeed it is plain (and the native commentators admit the fact) that a variety of Chinese characters properly denoting different sorts of jewels were used indiscriminately by the early Japanese writers to represent the single native word tama, which is the only one the language contains to denote any hard substance on which a special value is set, and which often refers chiefly to the rounded shape, so that it might in fact be translated by the word “bead” as fittingly as by the word “jewel.” We know, however, from the specimens which have rewarded the labours of archæological research in Japan that agate, crystal, glass, jade, serpentine, and steatite are the most usual materials, and carved and pierced cylindrical shapes (maga-tama and kuda-tama), the commonest forms.

The horse (which was ridden, but not driven), the barndoor fowl, and the cormorant used for fishing, are the only domesticated creatures mentioned in the earlier traditions, with the doubtful exception of the