Part 20
=Nichiren.= _B._ 1222, _d._ 1282, at Ikkégami, where some of his bones remain as relics. He entered the priesthood at the early age of twelve, when he adopted the name of Nichiren, or “Lotus of the Sun.” He miraculously learned the whole of the 100 volumes of the Buddhist canon in one night. He fiercely attacked all the already existing Buddhist sects, a thing unheard of in Japanese ecclesiastical history; was twice banished, and once condemned to death, on which occasion the executioner’s sword refused to perform its function. His crest is the orange blossom.
=O= and =Go=. Polite prefixes usually translated as “honourable” or “august.”
=O Bā San=, _lit._ honourable grandmother Mrs.
=Obi.= A long sash usually of wadded brocade, which is folded several times round the waist and tied behind. The _obi_ is the most expensive part of a woman’s dress, and exceptional ones of richest brocade stiffened with gold thread can cost as much as £50 or more; such _obi_ are handed down in families as heirlooms.
=O hachi=, _lit._ honourable pot. Tub in which cooked rice is kept.
=Persimmon.= A fruit the size of an apple which can be round and reddish, or orange and pear-shaped. Called in Japanese _kaki_.
=Ricksha.= _See_ =Jinricksha=.
=Rin.= 10 _rin_ make 1 _sen_, or one farthing.
=Ronin=, _lit._ wave-man. _Samurai_ without a feudal lord. He might be described as a _samurai_ out of work either through fault or misfortune.
=Saké.= An intoxicating drink obtained from fermented rice, containing 11 to 14 per cent. of alcohol. It is generally drunk warm and tastes something like sherry.
=Samisen.= A square three-stringed lute with a long handle, played with a plectrum; the commonest and most popular of the musical instruments of Japan. Its notes are very tinny. In Tokyo usually called _shamisen_.
=Sampan.= A small flat-bottomed boat, rowed by a man standing in the stern.
=Samurai.= Derived from the verb _samurau_, to be on guard. A term used in the early Middle Ages of the soldiers of the Mikado’s palace, then applied to the entire warrior class. The _samurai_ were “the gentry” of Japan, the _daimyō_ corresponding to the peers. In Old Japan all gentlemen were soldiers and all soldiers gentlemen. Since the Restoration, when their incomes were commuted for a lump sum, the _samurai_ have had to earn their own livelihood. They are now the officers, professors, schoolmasters, policemen, officials, practically the whole governing class of Japan.
=San.= Contraction of _sama_. A title such as our Mr., but used for both sexes and all ages.
=Semmi.= Cicada. Japan grows innumerable _semmi_ of many kinds. A favourite amusement of boys is to catch them and keep them in small cages of green net.
=Sen.= ¼_d._ 100 _sen_ make 1 _yen_.
=Shappo.= From the French _chapeau_. The modern name for the modern “foreign” hat. Old Japan knew no hats.
=Shintō=, _lit._ the way of the gods. This, the native religion of Japan, is a combination of ancestor-and nature-worship. Its priesthood is not a caste, nor even a separate profession. Up to the time of the revival of Shintōism, due to the Restoration of power to the Mikado, everybody was born with _Shintō_ and buried with Buddhist rites. The whole Japanese nation is supposed to be descended from the lesser _Shintō_ deities, while the Emperor is the direct descendant of Amaterasu.
=Shōgun=, _lit._ generalissimo. A title first used in 813 A.D., and continued down to 1868. In the twelfth century the _shōgun_ Yoritomo first contrived to become the effective ruler of the land; thus originating the dual control of Japan, the temporal power belonging to the _shōgun_, the spiritual to the Emperor. Yoritomo was succeeded by various dynasties of _shōgun_ until Iyeyasu founded the Tokugawa shōgunate in 1600.
=Shoji.= The sliding wall of a house, like an immense lattice window whose leadings are wood and whose panes are rice-paper, _Shōji_ are semi-transparent, and divide the room from the outer world. The walls which divide one room from another are called _karakami_ or _fusumi_, and are of opaque paper. They slide in grooves and can be entirely removed when required.
=Susa-no-wo=, _lit._ the Impetuous Male Deity, was born from the nose of the creator Izanagi. It was owing to the insult which he offered his sister Amaterasu by breaking a hole in the roof of the hall of heaven where she sat weaving with her celestial maidens, and dropping down into it “a heavenly piebald horse flayed with a backward flaying” that the Sun-Goddess retired to the cavern and left the world in darkness. Susa-no-wo was the ancestor of the rulers of Izumo, who finally gave up their throne to the descendants of the Sun-Goddess, accepting a spiritual for an earthly homage. Susa-no-wo is sometimes considered as the God of the Moon, sometimes as the God of the Sea.
=Suzuki Tetsutarō.= The family name in Japan always comes first, the “Christian” name after, as Smith John. Suzuki is one of the commonest of Japanese surnames of _samurai_ rank, Hayashi running it very close. Tetsutarō, _lit._ own eldest son.
=Tabi.= Half-boots fastening up on the inner, not the outer, side, as with us. They are made of cotton, and the sole is a soft sock. There is a separate compartment for the big toe. _Tabi_ are of either dark blue or white cotton; white is for house and street wear; dark blue for hard work or walking, and mostly worn by the lower classes.
=Tenshisama.= Chinese term meaning Son of Heaven, from _ten_, heaven. _Sama_ is the longer and more courteous form of _san_. The Emperor is also called _Tennō_, Heavenly Emperor, or _Shujō_, the Supreme Master; all Chinese terms. The word Mikado is very rarely used by the Japanese except in poetry or on great occasions.
=Tōfu.= A white bean-curd, looking like cream cheese. A favourite food of the coolie.
=Tokonoma.= A raised alcove. Probably it was originally that part of a room raised above the level of the earth floor, on which people slept.
=Tokugawa.= The family name of Iyeyasu and so of the shōgunate founded by him. The last _shōgun_, who abdicated in 1868, is still living.
=Tokyo.= The modern name for Yedo, meaning the Eastern Capital.
=Torī.= A gateway without a gate formed of two perpendicular and two horizontal beams, which at first stood in front of every _shintō_ temple. When the Buddhists adopted it they turned up the ends in a glorious curve, and used it for affixing tablets. Popular etymology derives it from _tori_, fowl, and _i_ (_iru_), dwelling, regarding it as a perch for the sacred birds. It probably came from Northern India, where similar gateways called _turan_ are found outside burial-grounds. _Cf._ Luchuan _turi_.
=Uchi=, _lit._ inside; and so, house.
=Uguisu.= A small brown bird, the _cettria cantans_, with a simple but exquisite song.
=Urashima.= The Rip Van Winkle of Japanese folk-lore. He married the Sea King’s daughter. After a short honeymoon he came back to visit his parents. But the oldest inhabitant of the village could only dimly remember the family tombstones in the graveyard. Thinking he was the victim of an illusion, Urashima rashly opened a box the Sea Princess had given him. Instantly a grey smoke went up to heaven, and Urashima changed from a stalwart youth to an old man, sank down on the seashore and died. He was a thousand years old.
=Yedo.= The original name of Tokyo, given it by its founder Iyeyasu.
=Yashiki.= The house or enclosure of a noble or honourable person.
=Yen.= The Japanese money unit, worth 2_s._ ½_d._
=Waraji.= A straw sandal fastening securely with strings of straw. The straw turns up slightly round the back of the heel. _Waraji_ are for travelling.
=Zashki.= The room; parlour; the sitting-room of a house.
For much of the information contained in these notes I am indebted to the works of Prof. B. H. Chamberlain.
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Books on Japanese Subjects
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=Arts and Crafts of Old Japan.= By Stewart Dick. With thirty illustrations. Gray boards, 8vo, $1.20 net.
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=The Makers of Japan.= By J. Morris. With twenty-four illustrations. Large 8vo, $3.00 net.
=McDonald of Oregon.= A Tale of Two Shores. The chronicle of the earliest Japanese refugees to land in America, and of the first Americans who visited Japan, later to act as interpreters to Perry. By Eva Emery Dye. Illustrated by W. J. Enright. 8vo, $1.50
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TRANSCRIBERS’ NOTES
The Publisher’s Advertisement Page has been moved from the front to the end of the text.
Different spellings of the same word have been standardized.
In this text version, the following marking were used to indicate the original text styles: _italic_ and =bold=.
Text originally printed in small caps has been converted to uppercase letters.
The following typos and omissions have been changed in the text:
Page 39: missing “b” added to: _blue hose, with brown weather-beaten faces_
Page 63: missing period added to: _and there was nothing else._
Page 115: “proscribed” changed to “prescribed”: _already bent to the prescribed curves for me_
Page 122: “ackowledged” changed to “acknowledged”: _dramatic instinct is acknowledged to be far below_
Page 125: “possibilites” changed to “possibilities”: _more possibilities than a rice-field_
Page 140: duplicate “in” removed from: _are washed in the softest of bark brown_
Page 151: “th” changed to “the”: _the position of the person serving_
Page 167: comma changed to period: _as the boys, lantern in hand, plunged downward._
Page 209: “capitials” changed to “capitals”: _stating in printed Roman capitals that_
Page 230: “ust” changed to “us”: _but he never told us why._
Page 230: “nor” changed to “not”: _that we could not read the Chinese_
Page 266: missing period added to: _Skoshi mo arimasen._
Page 295: missing period added to: _1542, d. 1616. The founder of the Tokugawa_
Page 300: missing period added to: _meaning the Eastern Capital._