Page:Things Japanese (1905).djvu/39

 some idea of the dog as a faithful protector, more especially against onslaughts by evil spirits. (See also Article on Things Japanese/Polo.)

 Archæology. The remains of Japanese antiquity fall naturally into two classes, which it is in most cases easy to distinguish from each other. The first consists of objects connected with that early race of which only a small remnant now lingers in the Ainos of Yezo, but which at one time probably occupied all the Japanese islands. The second comprises the relics of the immigrants from the neighbouring continent of Asia, whose descendants constitute the bulk of the present Japanese nation.

To the former class belong various objects familiar to us in Europe, such as stone implements and weapons. Some of these are peculiar to Japan, though on the whole the resemblance to those found in more Western lands is very striking. Flint celts are perhaps the most common type; and it is curious to note that in Japan, as in the British Isles, the popular imagination has given them the name of "thunder-bolts." Stone clubs, plain or adorned with carvings, have been found in considerable numbers. One of these, described by the late Baron Kanda, measures five feet in length and nearly five inches in diameter, and must have been a truly formidable weapon when wielded by adequate hands. There are also stone swords, pestles, daggers, and a variety of miscellaneous objects, some of unknown use. The material of all these is polished stone. Chipped flints are not unknown, but occur chiefly in the form of arrow or spear-heads for which a high degree of workmanship was less necessary.

An interesting discovery was made in 1878 by Professor Morse near the Omori station of the Tōkyō-Yokohama railway. He found that the railway cutting at this place passed through mounds identical in character with the "kitchen-middens" of Denmark, which have attracted so much attention in Europe. They 