Page:Sketches of Tokyo Life (1895).djvu/101

Rh and a wife are by dabblers in horoscopy deduced simply from their nativities and the difference in their ages. Superstitious persons, for instance, are averse to a marriage between those whose ages differ by three or nine years. A man’s nativity also influences the direction in which he should remove; and his age may permit his removal one year and absolutely forbid it the next. The north-east is considered unlucky for all. The plan of a house is also determined by the luck attending the bearings of its component parts to the centre. Many people who discover to their dismay that the direction in which they wish to remove is unlucky, only reach the desired point by making two successive removals in lucky directions which form a triangle with the unlucky one. Every day has its degree of luck for removal and indeed, according to another system, for actions of any kind, for a day is presided over in succession by one of six stars which may make it lucky throughout or only at night, or in the forenoon or the afternoon, or exactly at noon, or absolutely unlucky. There are also special days on which marriages should take place, prayers are granted by the gods, stores should be opened, and sign-boards put up. In short, the various methods of horoscopy, astrology, and other occult sciences for determining a man’s calling and actions, and the days and hours for their accomplishment are so complicated and withal so contradictory that one cannot but wonder people under their influence do not run mad with perplexity; but as a matter of fact, they manage with great tact and naiveté to reject all the methods which clash with those that best suit their convenience.

Physiognomy is also widely practised. It appears to be a complicated science, with numerous schools. As popular book gives amusing examples of different kinds of faces, from which we extract the following:—(1) A fortunate man’s forehead is high and broad, and his head large and round; the eyebrows are thin and long; the eyes are