Page:Sketches of Tokyo Life (1895).djvu/105

Rh Some build temporary sheds and some squat on curtained cars, four feet square, while others sit on a camp-stool with a table before them at the road-side. They have by them a few books for show, or diagrams of hands or faces to explain the art of palmistry or physiognomy, or watch for victims with a display of divining blocks and sticks. They first ask the age and birthday of their victims; and after elaborately arranging the blocks in the usual style of eki, examine their faces and hands with a magnifying glass, paying especial attention all the while to their dresses and other indications for concluding whether they are countrymen or inhabitants of the capital. If the former, they have an easy task before them. The great point with them is to let their customer run on as much as he pleases with his complaints or explanations, as they obtain from them their cue for impressing him with their great wisdom. The usual charges of these street fortune-tellers is two sen for consultation on a single subject, so that, except in rare cases, they lead hand-to-mouth lives.

Fortune-tellers, especially of the street, are the favourite butt of professional story-tellers. Anecdotes of their wily ways are numerous. They all turn upon the ambiguous advice they give their clients. An interesting instance from real life is that of a fortune-teller who lives not far from the Tokyo Rice Exchange. Many rice speculators came to consult him, and his advice was given on the understanding that they should hand over to him a tithe of the profits they made through it, while he was willing to forego his charges if they lost thereby. Those who gained came to him, hoping to profit still further by his advice. He made a little fortune; and the man’s head was turned. Seeing that only a tithe of his clients’ gains had brought him so much money, he determined to speculate himself. He had unfortunately forgotten that a large number who had lost through his advice never came to him and that the actual gainers formed a very small proportion of those who had