Footnote 32: [(return)]
This sort of bath, in which the water is heated by the fire of a furnace which is lighted from outside, is called Goyémon-buro, or Goyémon's bath, after a notorious robber named Goyémon, who attempted the life of Taiko Sama, the famous general and ruler of the sixteenth century, and suffered for his crimes by being boiled to death in oil—a form of execution which is now obsolete.
Footnote 33: [(return)]
This gate was destroyed by fire a few years since.
Footnote 34: [(return)]
Sir Rutherford Alcock, in his book upon Japan, states that the portraits of the most famous courtesans of Yedo are yearly hung up in the temple at Asakusa. No such pictures are to be seen now, and no Japanese of whom I have made inquiries have heard of such a custom. The priests of the temple deny that their fane was ever so polluted, and it is probable that the statement is but one of the many strange mistakes into which an imperfect knowledge of the language led the earlier travellers in Japan. In spite of all that has been said by persons who have had no opportunity of associating and exchanging ideas with the educated men of Japan, I maintain that in no country is the public harlot more abhorred and looked down upon.
Footnote 35: [(return)]
In Dr. Hepburn's Dictionary of the Japanese language, the Chinese characters given for the word Shiba-i are chi chang (keih chang, Morrison's Dictionary), "theatrical arena." The characters which are usually written, and which are etymologically correct, are chih chü (che keu, Morrison), "the place of plants or turf plot."
Footnote 36: [(return)]
This refers to the Chinese doctrine of the Yang and Yin, the male and female influences pervading all creation.
Footnote 37: [(return)]
I allude to the Tai Hei Nem-piyô, or Annals of the Great Peace, a very rare work, only two or three copies of which have found their way into the libraries of foreigners.
Footnote 38: [(return)]
The note at the end of the Story of the Grateful Foxes contains an account of Inari Sama, and explains how the foxes minister to him.
Footnote 39: [(return)]
This is a literal translation of a Japanese proverb.
Footnote 40: [(return)]
Shikoku, one of the southern islands separated from the chief island of Japan by the beautiful "Inland Sea;" it is called Shikoku, or the "Four Provinces," because it is divided into the four provinces, Awa, Sanuki, Iyo, and Tosa.
Footnote 41: [(return)]
Sukésada, a famous family of swordsmiths, belonging to the Bizen clan. The Bizen men are notoriously good armourers, and their blades fetch high prices. The sword of Jiuyémon is said to have been made by one of the Sukésada who lived about 290 years ago.