At an inn I asked one of the greybeards who courteously visited us if there would be much competition for his seat when he retired from the village assembly. He thought that there would be several candidates. In the town from which we had set out on our journey through the highlands a doctor had spent 500 yen in trying to get on the assembly.
The tea at this resting place was poor and someone quoted the proverb, "Even the devil was once eighteen and bad tea has its tolerable first cup." On going to the village office I found that for a population of 2,000 there were, in addition to the village shrine, sixteen other shrines and three Buddhist temples. Against fire there were four fire pumps and 155 "fire defenders." A dozen of the young men of the village were serving in the army, four were home on furlough, six were invalided and forty were of the reserve. As many as thirty-seven had medals. The doctors were two in number and the midwives three. There was a sanitary committee of twenty-three members. The revenue of the village was 5,740 yen. It had a fund of 740 yen "against time of famine." The taxes paid were 2,330 yen for State tax, 2,460 yen for prefectural tax and 4,350 yen for village tax. The village possessed two co-operative societies, a young men's association, a Buddhist young men's association, a Buddhist young women's association, a society for the development of knowledge, a society of the graduates of the primary school, two thrift organisations, a society for "promoting knowledge and virtue," and an association the members of which "aimed at becoming distinguished." There were in the village ninety subscribers to the Red Cross and two dozen members of the national Patriotic Women's Association.
In the county through which we were moving there was gold, silver and copper mining.[ [124]] Out of its population of 36,000 only 632 were entitled to vote for an M.P.
We rested at a school where the motto was, "Even in this good reign I pray because I wish to make our country more glorious." There were portraits of four deceased local celebrities and of Peter the Great, Franklin, Lincoln, Commander Perry and Bismarck. Illustrated wall charts showed how to sit on a school seat, how to identify poisonous plants and how to conform to the requirements of etiquette. The following admonitions were also displayed—a copy of them is given to each child, who is expected to read the twelve counsels every morning before coming to school:
1.—Do your own work and don't rely on others to do it.
2.—Be ardent when you learn or play.
3.—Endeavour to do away with your bad habits and cultivate good ones.
4.—Never tell a lie and be careful when you speak.
5.—Do what you think right in your heart and at the same time have good manners.
6.—Overcome difficulties and never hold back from hard work.