The heavy expenses of the marriage ceremonies often occasion considerable domestic strife and misery, at least if they are celebrated according to all the established conventionalities. Debts are then incurred which perhaps the young couple are unable to meet, so that when other expenses grow, and trouble or misfortune overtake them, they are speedily plunged into the deepest distress and indigence. The natural consequence of these arbitrary customs is the increase of runaway matches. The elopement, however, is usually wisely winked at by the parents, who feign great lamentation and anger, then finally assemble their neighbors, pardon their recreant children, and circulate the inevitable saki, and the marriage is considered as satisfactory as if performed with all the requisite formalities.
The birth of a child is another occasion for the meeting of the whole circle of relations, and the consumption of a great many more bumpers of saki. The baptism of the young Japanese citizen takes place thirty days later, when the infant is taken to the temple of the family divinity to receive its first name. The father has previously written three different names upon three separate slips of paper, which are handed over to the officiating bonze or priest. The latter throws them into the air, and the piece of paper which in falling first touches the ground contains the name which is to be given to the child. There are no godparents, but several friends of the family declare themselves the infant’s protectors and make it several presents, among which is a fan if it be a boy, or a pot of rouge if a girl.
CHILD CARRYING BABY.
The Japanese child is early taught to endure hardships, and is subjected from its infancy to all the small miseries of life, so far as may be thought wise for its training. The mother nurses it till it is two years of age, and carries it continually about with her attached to her back for convenience. The children are daintily pretty, chubby, rosy, sparkling-eyed. The children’s heads are shaved in all curious fashions, some with little topknots, and others with bald spots. The way the babies are carried is an improvement upon the Indian fashion. He is lugged on the back of his mother or his sister, maybe scarcely older than himself, either strapped loosely but safely, with his head just peering above the shoulder of the bearer, or else enclosed in a fold of the garment she wears. It is a popular belief among travelers that Japanese babies are the best in the world and never cry, but the Japanese themselves claim no such distinction for the little ones, very proud of them though they are, and affirm that they have their fits of temper as well as American babies.
Education is not forced too early upon the children, but nature is allowed its own way during the first years of childhood. Toys, pleasures, fetes of all kinds, are liberally indulged in. One writer has said that Japan is the paradise of babies; not only is this true but it is also a very delightful abode for all who love play. The contrast between the Japanese and Chinese character in this respect is radical. The whole character, manners, and even the dress of the sedate and dignified Chinaman, seems to be in keeping with that aversion to rational amusement and athletic exercises which characterize that adult population. In Japan, on the contrary, one sees that children of the larger growth enjoy with equal zest, games which are the same or nearly the same as those of the little ones. Certain it is that the adults do all in their power to provide for the children their full quota of play and harmless sports.
A very noticeable change has passed over the Japanese people since the recent influx of foreigners, in respect of their love of amusements. Their sports are by no means as numerous or elaborate as formerly, and they do not enter into them with the enthusiasm that formerly characterized them. The children’s festivals and sports are rapidly losing their importance, and some are rarely seen. There is no country in the world in which there are so many toy shops for the sale of the things which delight children. Street theatrical shows are common. Sweet meats of a dozen strange sorts are carried by men who do tricks in gymnastics to please the little ones. In every Japanese city there are scores if not hundreds of men and women who obtain a livelihood by amusing the children. There are indoor games and outdoor games, games for the day time and games for the evening. Japanese kite flying and top spinning are famous the world over, and experts in these sports come to exhibit their adeptness in our own country. In the northern provinces, where the winters are severe, Japanese boys have the same sports with snow and ice, coasting, sliding, fighting mimic battles with snowballs, that are known to our own American boys. Dinners, tea parties, and weddings, keeping store, and playing doctor, are imitated in Japanese children’s games.
On the third day of the third month is held the wonderful “Feast of Dolls” which is the day especially devoted to the girls, and to them it is the greatest day in the year. The greatest day in the year for the boys is on the fifth day of the fifth month, when they celebrate what is known as the “Feast of Flags.”
THE CHINESE FLEET AT WEI-HAI-WEI.