Page:Sketches of Tokyo Life (1895).djvu/81

Rh closed; but the thumb put out stands for a frog, the fore-finger for a snake, and the little finger for a slug. Here the frog is stronger than the slug which is stronger than the snake, and the last beats the frog. This is the simplest of the ken games. The stone is also played with the right hand. The hand entirely closed stands for a stone, and only the index and middle fingers put out with the tips apart represent a pair of scissors, while the whole open hand signifies a piece of paper. Now scissors are ineffectual against a stone, while they can cut a piece of paper which can, on the other hand, wrap up a stone. Thus the stone beats the scissors which beat the paper, and that beats the stone. This game is played more than any other as the quickest way of deciding a case where otherwise lots would have to be drawn. Coolies and

jinrikisha-men resort to it when they wish to settle their turn in any work. It is in short the Japanese equivalent of tossing a coin. The game, however, which is more played for amusement than any other and is in fact the only one played by geisha, is the fox ken. Both hands are used, the three positions of which are supposed to stand for a fox, a hunter, and a village headman. The first is represented by putting up a hand on either side of the forehead, in imitation