In the Eastern Seas

by William Henry Giles Kingston

As China and Japan had become civilised long before the mode of constructing an arch was discovered, and the inhabitants of neither are addicted to change, they still retain their original style of building bridges; and I give a sketch of one we crossed on our way. It is similar to those generally found in the country. Some of their gateways are very curious; and though they make their bridges with vast slabs of stone or long wooden rafters, they take the trouble of hewing out of the rock huge circles, or segments of circles, which are afterwards put together to form ornamental gateways to their pleasure-grounds.

At length our party arrived before a handsome flight of steps, with two magnificent camphor-trees on either side. The gate at the top being thrown open, we all entered the unpretending yet clean abode of the governor. A few inferior officers were sitting or standing about in the vestibule. They saluted us with a careless air, and one of them then announced our arrival, when the vice-governor, or one of the principal officers, came forward, and shaking hands, led us into another room. Here the governor himself was seated. After the proper number of bows had been made and returned, he requested to know the object of our visit. While the merchant was explaining this we had time to look about the room. All round it, with the exception of one side, which opened on the garden, were suspended screens of white grass-cloth, with a design which looked like a trefoil worked on them. Over it we caught sight of several sparkling pairs of eyes—the sex of the owners could not be doubted. In the garden was a pond in which water-lilies and other aquatic plants grew, with the usual ornaments of temples and bridges, artificial rocks being scattered about, and a considerable amount of invention displayed in the arrangement. While speaking of flowers, I must not forget the magnificent lily of Japan, which, in point of size, must be similar I should think to those of Palestine pointed out by our Lord when he said, “Consider the lilies of the field.” But to return to our visit.

After the official interview was over, tea, pipes, and cake were served, with a variety of other dishes. The great man’s wife having expressed a desire to see the strangers, we were introduced to her. She was a very handsome person; her hair, jet-black, ornamented with amber and tortoise-shell combs, with a large quantity of hair on the top mixed with flowers and ribbons. Her costume was magnificent—sky-blue crape, embroidered with gold and silver, and a profusion of flowers. It was lined with a bright scarlet silk wadding, which formed a train on the ground. Only a part, however, was visible, as the silken belt round the waist allowed it only very slightly to open. She wore a very broad sash, also of black silk, tied behind in an immense knot. The sleeves of her dress reached only to the elbow. She had no other ornaments; and her feet were encased in white cotton socks. Alas! however, her skin was completely covered with rice-powder, damped, so that it might the better adhere. Her eyebrows were shaven, as those of all married ladies are. Her lips were dyed of a bright red colour, and her teeth were black and polished as ebony. Yet we could judge of what she would have been by her exquisitely-chiselled nose, and black expressive eyes. We saw also several of her children, the younger ones dressed in crape of various colours, the others dressed much as their mother; but their teeth were beautifully white, their eyebrows unshorn; and very pretty little creatures they were. We remained for another repast, which commenced by the servants bringing in, and placing before each person on the table, which was eighteen inches high, a handsome gold and black lacquered cup and saucer, with a pair of chop-sticks. Some very nice chicken soup, with vegetables, were in the cup. After this came a similar bowl, containing venison, duck, and sweet jelly, all mixed up together. We found it very difficult eating with the chop-sticks, and Emily and Grace could not help looking up every now and then and laughing at each other as they made the attempt. We managed better with some harder things, such as fish. The last dish contained boiled chestnuts, peeled. This was placed in the centre of the table, so that each person could help himself.

The lady afterwards came to pay a return visit to our friend’s wife. She and her elder children arrived each in a norimon. This is a sort of litter slung to a bamboo pole, each end of which is carried on a man’s shoulder. A cushion is placed at the bottom, so as to come up at one end for the back, at the other for the knees; and the person sits crouched up in rather an awkward position. There is a flat covering, on which the lady’s slippers, fan, smoking apparatus, and other articles are carried. The bearers have each a pole, on which they can rest the norimon.

The ladies, I should say, are great smokers, though their pipes are small and their tobacco of a delicate description.

I need not describe the entertainment our friends gave their guests, as it was similar in many respects to that of the Japanese, though with certain English dishes. Each of their attendants, when they set out on their return, lighted a paper lantern, which is universally carried after dusk in all the towns of Japan.

The Japanese appear to be very fond of their children, and very indulgent. In our excursions we often stopped and looked into the cottages, which were invariably neat and clean in the extreme. I remember one day hearing youthful voices, and looking in, we saw a couple of children seated by the side of their father on a cushion on the floor. One of them apparently was ill, and the other was pouring out some physic from a bottle into a bowl to give to it. The expression on their countenances amused us. The little invalid was turning away his head, unwilling to take the potion; while the other seemed to be entreating that he might not have too much of it. It was a family picture, however, which gave us a very fair idea of the terms on which parents and their children exist.

Generally speaking, the women of Japan are as fair as many Europeans, and were it not for their peculiar sandals, which give them an awkward manner in walking, they would be graceful. Their hair is bound up into thick masses at the back of the head, through which a number of gold and silver or ivory arrows are placed, much in the manner of the peasant girls in some parts of Germany. The unmarried women have good eyebrows and beautiful teeth; but when they marry they blacken their teeth and shave off their eyebrows, to show their affection for their husbands, and that they no longer wish to win the admiration of others. The men have a curious way of saluting each other, passing their hands down the knee and leg, when they give a strong inhalation indicative of pleasure; and it is curious to hear these whistling sounds going on while people are paying each other compliments. When women of the same rank meet, they bend nearly double, and remain in the same position some time in conversation, occasionally giving a bob for every compliment that is paid. When they get up to go away, the same bobbing and bowing goes on for some time. When an inferior meets a superior, the former makes a low bow till the fingers almost touch the ground. Both sexes, both at home and abroad, go with the head uncovered, and to protect them from the sun they use large fans or paper umbrellas. The military, however, wear hats.

The Japanese are fond of field-sports, and the nobles go out shooting on their estates much in the same way that gentlemen in England do on theirs. They, as do the Chinese, also hunt game with hawks and falcons. The birds are trained much as they were in England in former days, when the gentle craft, as it was called, was fashionable among the nobles and gentry of the land. The accompanying drawing, which was given to me to put into my journal, gives a good idea of the Chinese way of hunting with the falcon.

The houses we visited were very curious. They are chiefly of unpainted wood; even the outsides are formed of sliding panels. There is generally an inside lining at a distance of about six feet or so, the space forming a sort of balcony. All the rooms are formed in the same way, with sliding panels. The windows are composed of oiled paper, fastened to neat frames with a glue which water cannot melt. The panels which divide the chambers are ornamented with paintings of various animals—tortoises, cranes, butterflies, and wonderfully unreal monsters. Mats, about half an inch thick, cover the floors. In the centre is a square place for a wood fire, when a brazero is not used. No chairs or tables are employed in ordinary houses, as the inhabitants sit on the mats round their trays at dinner or when drinking tea; and at night, mattresses are spread on the floor, covered with cotton, crape, or silk. The day garment is then thrown off, and a wadded dressing-gown put on for the night. The Japanese pillow is a little lacquered box with drawers in it, in which the ladies keep various small articles for their toilet—paper, hair-arrows, pins, etcetera. In the top of this curious box is a concavity with a little cushion wrapped in clean paper, and on this the back of the head is rested. Thus their head-dresses are not tumbled at night. The inhabitants of the Fiji Islands use a similar pillow for the same object of preventing their elaborately-dressed hair from being disarranged. The Japanese, however, only sleep for a short period at a time, as they have the custom of having trays with sweetmeats by their bed-sides, which they eat occasionally; or they take a few whiffs from their pipes, their tobacco-boxes, with live embers, and other necessaries for smoking, being always at hand.