Playing at cards and draughts was a very common amusement. The cards were at first known to the Japanese by their European names, and were fifty-two in the pack. Owing, however, to the pecuniary losses—for the Japanese were great gamesters—and fatal disputes to which cards gave rise, they were strictly prohibited. But this law was evaded by the invention of a pack of forty-eight cards much smaller than those of Europe. Their game at draughts was extremely difficult and complicated. They made use of a large board, and four hundred men, which they moved about in many directions, and which were liable to be taken in various ways. The Russian sailors played at draughts in the European way, which the Japanese soon learned to imitate, so that the game, and the Russian terms employed in playing it, soon became familiar throughout the city of Matsumae.
The following anecdote throws some light on Japanese domestic relations: “Our interpreter, Uyehara Kumajirō (this was the first interpreter), visited us the day after the marriage of his daughter, and having mentioned the marriage, said that he had wept very much. ‘Why wept,’ said we, ‘since on such occasions it is usual only to rejoice?’ ‘Certainly,’ he answered, ‘I should have rejoiced, were I but convinced that the man will love my daughter and make her happy; but, as the contrary often happens in the married state, a father who gives his daughter to a husband cannot be indifferent, for fear of future misfortunes.’ He spoke this with tears in his eyes, and in a voice which affected us.”
Of the value which the Japanese put upon female society the following curious instance occurred. The prisoners’ meals were at one time superintended by an old officer of sixty, who was very civil, and frequently consoled them with assurances that they should be sent home. One day he brought them three portraits of Japanese ladies, richly dressed, which, after examining, they handed back; but the old man insisted they should keep them, and, when asked why, he observed that, when time hung heavy on their hands, they might console themselves by looking at them!
For the first fortnight of the new year all business was suspended. Nothing was thought of except visiting and feasting. In the latter half of the month the more industrious resumed their employments. All who can, procure new clothes on this occasion, and the Japanese insisted upon furnishing their prisoners in the same way. “Custom requires,” says Golownin, “that each person should visit all his acquaintances in the place in which he resides, and send letters of congratulation to those who are at a distance. Our interpreters and guards were accordingly employed, for some days previous to the festival, in writing letters of that kind and visiting-cards. On the latter the names of the person from whom the card comes, and for whom it is intended, are written, and the opportunity by which it is presented is also noted. Teisuke translated for us one of his congratulatory letters, addressed to the officer at Kunashiri by whom we had been entrapped, and which was to the following effect: “Last year you were happy, and I greatly desire that this new year you may enjoy good health, and experience happiness and prosperity in every undertaking. I still respect you as formerly, and request that you will not forget me.
Teisuke.”
It is evident, from Golownin’s narrative, that the houses, furniture, and domestic arrangement, at Matsumae, notwithstanding the coldness of the climate, differed in nothing from those in use in the more southerly islands. The Japanese, Golownin observed, were, compared with the Russians, very small eaters. They were also much more temperate in drinking, it being looked upon as disgraceful to be drunk in the daytime, or at any time, extraordinary festivities excepted.
Repairing Wooden Clogs
Repairing Tatami