[59] This appears to have been the substitute for those private interviews in which the doctor and secretary were expected to show off for the entertainment of the Dutch, and of which Kämpfer has given so curious an account.
[60] It would take a thousand of the ordinary Japanese mats to cover such a floor; but Thunberg says the mats upon it were of an extra size.
[61] This was a different arrangement from that which prevailed in Kämpfer’s time, when the ambassador had the whole, except those presented by the emperor himself.
[62] See paper on “Japanese Costume,” in vol. viii of the “Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.”—Edr.
[63] The two swords, the badge of nobility, are worn stuck into the belt, on the left side, with no belt of their own, a little crosswise, and with the edge upwards. When a person is seated, the longer sword is taken from the belt and laid on the ground by him.
[64] The bosom of the gown is also used for the same purpose. For pocket-handkerchiefs, the Japanese carry about them a supply of small, square bits of soft paper, which they throw away as they use them.
[65] The Japanese print entirely from stereotype plates. They do not employ movable types, and they print on one side of the paper only.
[66] The emperors are seldom or never spoken of, in the Jesuit letters and other contemporary memorials, by their personal or family names, but only by some title, as Kubō-Sama; Kwambaku-dono,—the Kwambaku (or bonnet-keeper) being a high dignitary in the court of the Dairi, regent in case of a minority or a female Dairi;—Taikō-Sama, mighty lord; Shōgun-Sama, etc., etc.
[67] For a complete list of Shōguns, see Appendix III of Murray’s “Story of Japan.”—Edr.
[68] Kämpfer represents the Japanese strawberry as entirely insipid, and the raspberries and brambleberries as not agreeable; and Golownin, from his own experience, agrees with him in this statement.