As a rule, Japanese punishments resemble those inflicted by the Chinese, and seem to be based on the Mosaic principle of 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' Arson, for instance, is punished at the stake; and a thief who endeavours to conceal the results of his robberies by burying them, has the disadvantages of that mode of concealment impressed upon him, by being himself embedded for a day or two in the ground, with only his head out—a mode of instruction that rarely requires a repetition of the lesson.
Apropos of this punishment is the testimony of an eye-witness, who, in passing the public execution place at Yeddo, noticed a head on the ground, which he supposed to have been recently struck off. He had turned away with a shudder, when a laugh from the bystanders caused him to look again, when, to his great astonishment, the head was vigorously puffing at a pipe which the facetious executioner had a few moments before been smoking himself.
The last illustration shows a man and woman undergoing public exposure for adultery—a crime which is rare in Japan and which is punished with great severity.
EXPOSURE FOR INFIDELITY
With such detestation is it regarded, that, in addition to all legal cognizance, the husband is permitted, in certain instances, to avenge himself by taking the lives of the offenders upon the spot.
The board on the right contains the official intimation of the crime.
The curious instruments depicted in the woodcut are Japanese emblems of justice and are to be seen at all the guard-houses; they are used to catch runaway offenders or to pin a drunken yaconin against a wall or house, and so facilitate the task of disarming him without danger to the captors.
