Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/553

Rh whose outspread claws measure 14 ft. from tip to tip, are occasionally caught in the bay of Yedo. Sea otters and seals are shot in great numbers in Karafto and the Kuriles. The salamander is sometimes seen in the lakes and rivers. The reptiles and insects of Japan are varied and interesting.—The Japanese people are of middling size, in general active and vigorous; and in their mental characteristics they resemble Europeans more than the average Asiatic peoples. Their skins range through all colors from white to light brown, yellow copper color, dirty red, and almost black. The average hue is a pale copper on the body, and shades of yellowish brown in the face. The color depends greatly upon the degree of exposure; the ladies of the upper class, who rarely go out of the house, are often perfectly white and fair, while some of the coolies are almost as black as negroes. Their eyes are oblong, of a very dark brown, often deeply sunk in the head, and not so oblique as those of the Chinese. The upper lid toward the nose is folded so as to prevent the eyes from opening as widely as those of Caucasians. Their noses are flat, thick, short, depressed at the bridge, and round and open in front, instead of beneath. Their hair is not a true black, but of a very dark brown, sometimes distinctly red. Its blackness and coarseness are promoted by the universal practice of shaving the heads of the children from their birth. Usually it is made to appear very black and glossy with unguents and bandoline made from a mucilaginous plant. Some of the mountaineers, boatmen, and coolies are tall and muscular, but the average Japanese is flat-breasted, undersized, and weak in physique, compared with Caucasians. Both sexes have small hands and feet. The women are usually small and dumpy, though often very beautiful, and exceedingly neat in dress and coiffure. People of every age and sex bathe daily in hot water. In the public bath houses, so numerous in every street, the water is often intensely hot, which the bathers delight in, at the cost of half a cent. The heat of the water and the price of a bath are now regulated by government, which has also of late years prohibited the practice of promiscuous bathing. The married women, and those above 20 years of age, blacken their teeth with a mixture of galls and powdered iron, which forms a jet-like black, but is not more corrosive than common writing ink. The origin of this custom is now lost in obscurity. Formerly the emperor and court nobles blackened their teeth; they ceased to do so in 1868. The practice is now discouraged, and many women are forsaking it, following the example of the empress. Married women formerly shaved off their eyebrows, a custom now also falling into disuse. The Japanese maiden, wife, or widow may be distinguished by her coiffure. Among the men, the old percussion gun-hammer style of topknot or shaven scalp is rapidly giving way to the foreign style of hair dressing. In character, the people are lively and volatile, quick of apprehension, frank, liberal, and hospitable. They are peculiarly fond of military life, and make excellent soldiers and sailors. They learn rapidly, and show much aptitude for the acquisition of European knowledge. In the schools of America and Europe they have won the highest praise, and in some cases honors, which have not tended to decrease their natural vanity. Regard for truth and chastity, or reverence for human life, cannot be said to characterize the Japanese. The youth seems to be a model of all that is frank, noble, impulsive, obedient, grateful, and polite. The same individual as an official often appears the incarnation of deceit, meanness, ingratitude, and untruth, though always outwardly polite. The people are very industrious, but social and pleasure-loving, fond of feasts and frolics, and have frequent national and religious holidays. Music, dancing, and the theatre are the favorite amusements of all classes. Mountebanks, conjurers, jugglers, tumblers, and strolling players and musicians were formerly often seen in the streets, and were highly popular, but are now much less so. Japanese jugglers and acrobats have appeared in America and Europe, and have fully sustained the reputation of the people in these matters. Dancing consists almost entirely in posturing and quick movements of the body, our idea of moving about while dancing not being understood. Education, consisting in the arts of reading and writing the native syllabary, perusing the popular story books, and reckoning on the abacus, is very general, but not so much so as former accounts would lead one to suppose. The higher classes can read the Chinese and Japanese classics, which are now giving place to the study of foreign languages and books. The women are carefully educated in household duties, but in the lower classes receive very little instruction in book learning. In the higher classes the young ladies spend much time in making fancy work, and in being taught the various books relating to the duties of a wife, mother, and housekeeper. The "Woman's Great Study" is a large book containing minute details of woman's duty and culture. The three great duties of a woman are: 1, obedience to her parents when a child; 2, obedience to her husband, when a wife; 3, obedience to her eldest son, when a widow. Politeness is a national characteristic. A vast and minute system of etiquette is the life study of the higher classes, and among the lowest class mutual courtesy is strictly observed. The foreigner in Japan is surprised to hear the politest phrases and to see mutual forbearance among the commonest coolies. The Japanese make no distinction between politeness and morals. They say that cheating, lying, &c., are not polite. Politeness is goodness and virtue in their eyes. The rules that govern social intercourse are formed into a regular system, which is taught in schools.