Footnotes
Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. v., part i. p. 207.
It may be well to state here that most of the good and reliable contributions upon Japan are to be found in the Transactions of the English and German Asiatic Societies published in Yokohama; also in the pages of the Japan “Mail,” in the now extinct Tokio “Times,” and in a most excellent but now defunct magazine called the “Chrysanthemum,” whose circulation becoming vitiated by the theological sap in its tissues, finally broke down altogether from the dead weight of its dogmatic leaves.
Among the many valuable papers published in these Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, is one by Thomas R. H. McClatchie, Esq., on “The Feudal Mansions of Yedo,” vol. vii. part iii. p. 157, which gives many important facts concerning a class of buildings that is rapidly disappearing, and to which only the slightest allusion has been made in the present work. The reader is also referred to a Paper in the same publication by George Cawley, Esq., entitled “Some Remarks on Constructions in Brick and Wood, and their Relative Suitability for Japan,” vol. vi. part ii. p. 291; and also to a Paper by R. H. Brunton, Esq., on “Constructive Art in Japan,” vol. ii. p. 64; vol. iii. part ii. p. 20.
Professor Huxley has said in one of his lectures, that if all the books in the world were destroyed, with the exception of the Philosophical Transactions, “it is safe to say that the foundations of Physical Science would remain unshaken, and that the vast intellectual progress of the last two centuries would be largely though incompletely recorded.” In a similar way it might almost be said of the Japan “Mail,” that if all the books which have been written by foreigners upon Japan were destroyed, and files of the Japan “Mail” alone preserved, we should possess about all of value that has been recorded by foreigners concerning that country. This journal not only includes the scholarly productions of its editor, Capt. F. Brinkley, as well as an immense mass of material from its correspondents, but has also published the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan in advance ot the Society's own publications.
Still another English writer says: “It is unpleasant to live within ugly walls; it is still more unpleasant to live within unstable walls: but to be obliged to live in a tenement which is both unstable and ugly is disagreeable in a tenfold degree.” He thinks it is quite time to evoke legislation to remedy these evils, and says: “An Englishman's house was formerly said to be his castle; but in the hands of the speculating builder and advertising tradesman, we may be grateful that it does not oftener become his tomb.”
[Fig. 12] represents the frame-work of an ordinary two-storied house. It is copied from a Japanese carpenter's drawing, kindly furnished the writer by Mr. Fukuzawa, of Tokio, proper corrections in perspective having been made. The various parts have been lettered, and the dimensions given in Japanese feet and inches. The Japanese foot is, within the fraction of an inch, the same as ours, and is divided into ten parts, called sun. The wood employed in the frame is usually cedar or pine. The corner posts, as well as the other large upright posts, called hashira (H), are square, and five sun in thickness; these are tenoned into the plate upon which they rest. This plate is called do-dai (D); it is made of cedar, and sometimes of chestnut. The do-dai is six sun square, and rests directly on a number of stones, which are called do-dai-ishi (D,1). Between the hashira come smaller uprights, called ma-bashira (M) (hashira changed to bashira for euphony); these are two sun square. Through these pass the cross-pieces called nuki; these are four sun wide and one sun thick. To these are attached the bamboo slats as substitutes for laths. The horizontal beam to support the second-story floor is called the nikaibari (Ni); this is of pine, with a vertical thickness of one foot two sun, and a width of six tenths of a sun. The rafters of the roof, called yane-shita (Ya), in this frame are nine feet long, three sun wide, and eight tenths of a sun in thickness. Cross-beams (T), from the upper plate from which spring posts to support the ridge-pole, are called taruki. The first floor is sustained by posts that rest on stones embedded in the ground, as well as by a beam called yuka-shita (Yu); this is secured to the upright beams at the height of one and one-half or two feet above the do-dai. The upper floor-joists are of pine, two inches square; the flooring boards are six tenths of a sun in thickness, and one foot wide. The lower floor-joists, called neda-maruta (Ne), are rough round sticks, three sun in diameter, hewn on opposite sides. On top of these rest pine boards six tenths of a sun in thickness.
The accompanying sketches will illustrate the various stages in the construction of the ceiling.
General Francis A. Walker, in his Lowell Lectures on the United States Census for 1880, shows that carpenters constitute the largest single body of artisans working for the supply of local wants. He shows that the increase of this body from decade to decade is far behind what it should be if it increased in the ratio of the population; and though this fact might excite surprise, he shows that it is due to the enormous increase in machine-made material, such as doors, sashes, blinds, etc.; in other words, to the making of those parts which in former times trained a man in delicate work and accurate joinery.
There is no question but that in England apprentices serve their time at trades more faithfully than with us; nevertheless, the complaints that go up in the English press in regard to poor and slovenly work show the existence of a similar class of impostors, who defraud the public by claiming to be what they are not. The erratic Charles Reade, in a series of letters addressed to the “Pall Mall Gazette,” on builders' blunders, inveighs against the British workmen as follows: “When last seen, I was standing on the first floor of the thing they call a house, with a blunder under my feet,—unvarnished, unjoined boards; and a blunder over my head,—the oppressive, glaring plaster-ceiling, full of the inevitable cracks, and foul with the smoke of only three months' gas.”
In regard to sash windows, he says: “This room is lighted by what may be defined ‘the unscientific window.’ Here, in this single structure, you may see most of the intellectual vices that mark the unscientific mind. The scientific way is always the simple way; so here you have complication on complication,—one half the window is to go up, the other half is to come down. The maker of it goes out of his way to struggle with Nature's laws; he grapples insanely with gravitation, and therefore he must use cords and weights and pulleys, and build boxes to hide them in. He is a great hider. His wooden frames move up and down wooden grooves, open to atmospheric influence. What is the consequence? The atmosphere becomes humid; the wooden frame sticks in the wooden box, and the unscientific window is jammed. What, ho! Send for the Curse of Families, the British workman! On one of the cords breaking (they are always breaking), send for the Curse of Families to patch the blunder of the unscientific builder.”
A Government bureau called the Kaitakushi, now fortunately extinct, established in Yezo, the seat of its labors, one or two saw-mills; but whether they are still at work I do not know.
A structure of stone or wood, not unlike the naked frame-work of a gate, erected in front of shrines and temples.
This sketch was made from a photograph taken for this work, at the suggestion of Dr. W. S. Bigelow, by Percival Lowell, Esq.
We have characterized as a ridge-roof that portion which has truncate ends,—in other words, the form of a gable,—and which receives special methods of treatment. The line of demarcation between the long reach of thatch of the roof proper and the ridge-roof is very distinct.
An odor which at home we recognize as “Japanesy,” arising from the wood-boxes in which Japanese articles are packed.
In the plan ([fig. 97]) P is an eight-mat room; D and L are six-mat rooms; S is a four and one-half mat room; S, H, and St. are three-mat rooms; S B, and F are two-mat rooms.
The following is a brief explanation of the names of the rooms given in plan [fig. 99]: Agari-ba (Agari, “to go up; ” ba, “place”), Platform, or place to stand on in coming out of the Bath. Cha-dokoro, Tea-place; Ge-dan, Lower Step; ō-dan, Upper Step; Iri-kawa, Space between verandah and room; Kami-no-ma, Upper place or room; Tsugi-no-ma, Next place or room; Kesho-no-ma, Dressing-room (Kesho,—“adorning the face with powder”). Nan-do, Store-room; Naka-tsubo, Middle space, Oshi-ire, Closet (literally, “push,” “put in”); Ro-ka, Corridor, Covered way; Tamari, Ante-chamber; Tsume-sho, Waiting-room for servants; Yu-dono, Bath-room; Yen-zashiki, End parlor; Watari,—“to cross over;” Sunoko, Bamboo shelf or platform.
See chapter viii. for further considerations regarding the matter.
A correspondent in the “Pall Mall Gazette,” in protesting against the attempt to impose European clothing on those people who are accustomed to go without any, says: “In many parts of India there is a profound suspicion of the irreligiousness of clothing. The fakir is distressed even by the regulation rag upon which the Government modestly insists, and a fully dressed fakir would be scouted. The late Brahmo minister, Chesub Chunder Sen, expressed the belief that India would never accept a Christ in hat and boots. The missionary should remember that clothes-morality is climatic, and that if a certain degree of covering of the body has gradually become in the Northwest associated with morality and piety, the traditions of tropical countries may have equally connected elaborate dress rather with the sensualities of Solomon in his glory than with the purity of the lily as clothed by Nature.”
Rein says: “The cleanliness of the Japanese is one of his most commendable qualities. It is apparent in his body, in his house, in his workshop, and no less in the great carefulness and exemplary exactness with which he looks after his fields.”
From the name tokonoma, which means “bed-place,” literally “bed of floor,” it is supposed that in ancient times the bed was made or placed in this recess.
In this connection it may be interesting to mention the various names applied to the privy by the Japanese, with a free translation of the same as given me by Mr. A. S. Mihara: Setsu-in, “snow-hide;” Chodsu-ba,“place to wash hands” (the chōdzu-bachi, a convenience for washing the hands, being always near the privy); Benjo and Yo-ba,“place for business;” Ko-ka,“ back-frame.” Habakari is a very common name for this place; the word Yen-riyo, though not applied to this place, has the same meaning, it implies reserve.
These words with their meanings certainly indicate a great degree of refinement an delicacy in the terms applied to the privy.
The ordinary form of verandah is called yen, or yen-gawa. In Kishiu it is called simply yen, while in Tokio it is called yen-gawa. A low platform is called an ochi-yen; a platform that can be raised or lowered is called an age-yen. When the platform has no groove for the rain-doors on the outer edge, it is called a nuri-yen,—nuri meaning wet, the rain in this case beating in and wetting the verandah. A little platform made of bamboo, which may be used as a shelf for plants, is called sunoko.
A gate-like structure seen in front of all shrines and temples.
This legend is from a work entitled “Chikusan Teizoden.”
Professor Atkinson, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. vi. part i.; Dr. Geerts, ibid., vol. vii. part iii.
Dr. O. Korschelt has made an extremely valuable contribution to the Asiatic Society of Japan, on the water-supply of Tokio. Aided by Japanese students, he has made many analyses of well-waters and waters from the city supply, and shows that, contrary to the conclusions of Professor Atkinson, the high-ground wells are on the whole much purer than those on lower ground. Dr. Korschelt also calls attention to the great number of artesian wells sunk in Tokio, by means of bamboo tubes driven into the ground. The ordinary form of well is carried down thirty or forty feet in the usual way, and then at the bottom bamboo tubes are driven to great depths, ranging from one hundred to two hundred feet and more. He speaks of a number of these wells in Tokio and the suburbs as overflowing. There is one well not far from the Tokio Daigaku which overflows; and a very remarkable sight it is to see the water pouring over a high well-curb and flooding the ground in the vicinity. He shows that pure water may be reached in most parts of Tokio by means of artesian wells; and to this source the city must ultimately look for its water-supply.
For further particulars concerning this subject, the reader is referred to Dr. Korschelt's valuable paper in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xii. part iii., p. 143.
The pier-glaas is happily unknown in Japan; a small disk of polished metal represents the mirror, and is wisely kept in a box till needed!
Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. i. p. 20.
Owing to the sensible civil service of England, scholars and diplomates are appointed to these duties in the East; and as a natural result all the honors,—political, commercial, and literary,—have, with few exceptions, been won by Englishmen.
Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. ix. part ii. p. 191.
Ibid., vol. x. Supplement.
Ibid., vol. iii. part ii. p. 131.
In Anam I noticed that the bed-rooms were indicated by hanging cloth partition as well as by those made of matting.
Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. vi. part i. p. 109.
Satow gives quite a different rendering of this passage.
Translations of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. ii. p. 119.
Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. iii. part ii.
In Mr. Aston's translation this word is printed “heart,” but evidently this must be a misprint.
It is lamentable to reflect how many monstrous designs have been perpetrated under the general name of Gothic, which are neither in spirit nor letter realized the character of Mediaeval art. In London these extraordinary ebullitions of uneducated taste generally appear in the form of meeting-houses, music-halls, and similar places of popular resort. Showy in their general effect, and usually overloaded with meretricious ornament, they are likely enough to impose upon an uninformed judgment, which is incapable of discriminating between what Mr. Ruskin has called the “Lamp of Sacrifice,”—one of the glories of ancient art,—and the lust of profusion which is the bane of modern design.—Eastlake's Hints on Household Taste, p. 21.
Notes of a visit to Hachijô, in 1878. By F. V. Dickins and Ernest Satow. Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. vi. part iii. p. 435.
Vol. iv. p. 68.