CHAPTER I
. THE MERCY OF BUDDHA
II. "GOOD PEOPLE ARE NOT SUFFICIENTLY PRECAUTIOUS"
III. EARLY-RISING SOCIETIES AND OTHER INGENUOUS ACTIVITIES
IV. "THE SIGHT OF A GOOD MAN IS ENOUGH"
V. COUNTRY-HOUSE LIFE
VI. BEFORE OKUNITAMA-NO-MIKO-KAMI
VII. OF "DEVIL-GON" AND YOSOGI
THE MOST EXACTING CROP IN THE WORLD
VIII. THE HARVEST FROM THE MUD
IX. THE RICE BOWL, THE GODS AND THE NATION
BACK TO FIRST PRINCIPLES: THE APOSTLE AND THE ARTIST
X. A TROUBLER OF ISRAEL
XI. THE IDEA OF A GAP
ACROSS JAPAN (TOKYO TO NIIGATA AND BACK)
XII. TO THE HILLS (TOKYO, SAITAMA, TOCHIGI AND FUKUSHIMA)
XIII. THE DWELLERS IN THE HILLS (FUKUSHIMA)
XIV. SHRINES AND POETRY (NIIGATA AND TOYAMA)
XV. THE NUN'S CELL (NAGANO)
IN AND OUT OF THE SILK PREFECTURE
XVI. PROBLEMS BEHIND THE PICTURESQUE (SAITAMA, GUMMA, NAGANO AND YAMANASHI)
XVII. THE BIRTH, BRIDAL AND DEATH OF THE SILK-WORM (NAGANO)
XVIII. "GIRL COLLECTORS" AND FACTORIES (NAGANO AND YAMANASHI)
XIX. "FRIEND-LOVE-SOCIETY'S" GRIM TALE
FROM TOKYO TO THE NORTH BY THE WEST COAST
XX. "THE GARDEN WHERE VIRTUES ARE CULTIVATED" (FUKUSHIMA AND YAMAGATA)
XXI. THE "TANOMOSHI" (YAMAGATA)
BACK AGAIN BY THE EAST COAST
XXII. "BON" SONGS AND THE SILENT PRIEST (YAMAGATA, AKITA, AOMORI, IWATE, MIYAGI, FUKUSHIMA AND IBARAKI)
XXIII. A MIDNIGHT TALK
THE ISLAND OF SHIKOKU
XXIV. LANDLORDS, PRIESTS AND "BASHA" (TOKUSHIMA, KOCHI AND KAGAWA)
XXV. "SPECIAL TRIBES" (EHIME)
XXVI. THE STORY OF THE BLIND HEADMAN (EHIME)
THE SOUTH-WEST OF JAPAN
XXVII. UP-COUNTRY ORATORY (YAMAGUCHI)
XXVIII. MEN, DOGS AND SWEET POTATOES (SHIMANE)
XXIX. FRIENDS OF LAFCADIO HEARN (SHIMANE, TOTTORI AND HYOGO)
TWO MONTHS IN TEMPLE (NAGANO)
XXX. THE LIFE OF THE PEASANTS AND THEIR PRIESTS
XXXI. "BON" SEASON SCENES
IN AND OUT OF THE TEA PREFECTURE
XXXII. PROGRESS OF SORTS (SHIDZUOKA AND KANAGAWA)
XXXIII. GREEN TEA AND BLACK (SHIDZUOKA)
EXCURSIONS FROM TOKYO
XXXIV. A COUNTRY DOCTOR AND HIS NEIGHBOURS (CHIBA)
XXXV. THE HUSBANDMAN, THE WRESTLER AND THE CARPENTER (SAITAMA, GUMMA AND TOKYO)
XXXVI. "THEY FEEL THE MERCY OF THE SUN" (GUMMA, KANAGAWA AND CHIBA)
REFLECTIONS IN HOKKAIDO
XXXVII. COLONIAL JAPAN AND ITS UN-JAPANESE WAYS
XXXVIII. SHALL THE JAPANESE EAT BREAD AND MEAT?
XXXIX. MUST THE JAPANESE MAKE THEIR OWN "YOFUKU"?
XL. THE PROBLEMS OF JAPAN
APPENDICES
INDEX
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
BATH IN AN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL _facing title-page_
JŪJITSU (AND RIFLES) AT THE SAME SCHOOL
BYGONE DAYS IN JAPAN
THE ROOM IN WHICH THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN
THE MERCY OF BUDDHA
"TO ROUSE THE VILLAGE YOU MUST FIRST ROUSE THE PRIEST"
PLAN OF THE FARMER'S SYMBOLIC TREES
ADJUSTED RICE-FIELDS
LIBRARY AND WORKSHED OF A Y.M.A.
LANDOWNER'S SON AND DAUGHTER
SHRINE IN A LANDOWNER'S HOUSE
MR. YAMASAKI, DR. NITOBE, AUTHOR AND PROF. NASU
THE HOUSE IN WHICH THE TEA CEREMONY TOOK PLACE
AUTHOR QUESTIONING OFFICIALS
AUTHOR PLANTING COMMEMORATIVE TREES
RICE POLISHING BY FOOT POWER
"HIBACHI," A FLOWER ARRANGEMENT AND "KAKEMONO"
SCHOOL SHRINE CONTAINING EMPEROR'S PORTRAIT
FENCING AT AN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL
WAR MEMENTOES--ALL SCHOOLS HAVE SOME
A 200-YEARS-OLD DRAWING OF THE RICE PLANT
SCATTERING ARTIFICIAL MANURE IN ADJUSTED PADDIES
PLANTING OUT RICE SEEDLINGS
PUSH-CART FOR COLLECTION OF FERTILISER
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE'S EFFORTS TO KEEP PRICE OF RICE DOWN
MUZZLED EDITORS
"THE JAPANESE CARLYLE"
MR. AND MRS. YANAGI
CHILDREN CATCHING INSECTS ON RICE-SEED BEDS
MASTERS OF A COUNTRY SCHOOL AND SOME CHILDREN
CULTIVATION TO THE HILL-TOPS
IMPLEMENTS, MEASURES AND MACHINES, AND A BALE OF RICE
MOVABLE STAGE AT A FESTIVAL
FARMHOUSE AT WHICH MR. UCHIMURA PREACHED
TENANT FARMERS' HOUSES
AUTHOR AT THE "SPIRIT MEETING"
SOME PERFORMERS AT THE "SPIRIT MEETING"
IN A BUDDHIST NUNNERY
JAPANESE GRASS-CUTTING TOOLS COMPARED WITH A SCYTHE
CHILD-COLLECTORS OF VILLAGERS' SAVINGS
NUNS PHOTOGRAPHED IN A "CELL"
STUDENTS' STUDY AT AN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL
TEACHERS OF A VILLAGE SCHOOL
GIRLS CARRYING BALES OF RICE
SERICULTURAL SCHOOL STUDENTS
SILK FACTORIES IN KAMISUWA
VILLAGE ASSEMBLY-ROOM
ARCHERY AT AN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL
CULTIVATION OF THE HILLSIDE
RAILWAY STATION "BENTO" AND POT OF TEA
A SCARECROW
THE BLIND HEADMAN AND HIS COLLECTING-BAG
MR. YANAGHITA IN HIS CORONATION CEREMONY ROBES
PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR RAISING WATER
VILLAGE SCHOOL WITH PORTRAIT OF FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
RIVER-BEDS IN THE SUMMER
SCHOOL SHRINE FOR EMPEROR'S PORTRAIT
AUTHOR ADDRESSING LAFCADIO HEARN MEETING
A PEASANT PROPRIETOR'S HOUSE
GRAVESTONES REASSEMBLED AFTER PADDY ADJUSTMENT
TEMPLE IN WHICH THIS CHAPTER WAS WRITTEN
FIRE ENGINE AND PRIMITIVE FIGURES
YOUNG MEN'S CLUB-ROOM
MEMORIAL STONES
ROOF PROTECTED AGAINST STORMS BY STONES
OFF TO THE UPLAND FIELDS
FARMER'S WIFE
MOTHER AND CHILD
A CRADLE
FIRE ALARM AND OBSERVATION POST
RACK FOR DRYING RICE
VILLAGE CREMATORIUM
DOG HELPING TO PULL JINRIKISHA
AUTHOR, MR. YAMASAKI AND YOUNGEST INHABITANTS
"TORII" AT THE SHRINE OF THE FOX GOD
TABLETS RECORDING GIFTS TO A TEMPLE
INSIDE THE "SHOJI"
AUTOMATIC RICE POLISHER
AUTHOR IN A CRATER
A TYPE OF WAYSIDE MONUMENTS
GIANT RADISH OR "DAIKON"
CUTTING GRASS
CURRENCY, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES AND OFFICIAL TERMS
The prices given in the text (but not in the footnotes and Appendix) were recorded before the War inflation began. The War was followed by a severe financial crisis. Professor Nasu wrote to me during the summer of 1921:
"You are very wise to leave the figures as they stood. It is useless to try to correct them, because they are still changing. The price of rice, which did not exceed 15 yen per koku when you were making your research work, exceeded 50 yen in 1919, and is now struggling to maintain the price of 25 yen. Taking at 100 the figures for the years 1915 or 1916--fortunately there is not much difference between these two years--the prices of six leading commodities reached in 1919 an average of about 250. After 1919 the prices of some commodities went still higher, but mostly they did not change very much; on the other hand, recently the prices of many commodities--among them rice and raw silk especially--have been coming down and this downward movement is gradually extending to all other commodities. From these considerations I deduce that the index number of general commodities may be safely taken as 200 when your book appears. _The reader of your book has simply to double the figures given by you--that is the figures of_ 1915 _and_ 1916--_in order to get a rough estimate of present prices._"
Where exact statements of area and yield are necessary, as in the study of the intense agriculture of Japan, local measures are preferable to our equivalents in awkward fractions. Further, the measures used in this book are easily remembered, and no serious study of Japanese agriculture on the spot is possible without remembering them. While, however, Japanese currency, weights and measures have been uniformly used, equivalents have been supplied at every place in the book where their omission might be reasonably considered to interfere with easy reading. The following tables are restricted to currency, weights and measures mentioned in the book.
MONEY[9]
_Yen_ = roughly (at the time notes for the book were made) a florin or half a dollar = 100 sen.
_Sen_ = a farthing or half cent = 10 rin.
LONG
_Ri_ = roughly 2-1/2 miles.
_Shaku_ (roughly 1 ft.) = 11.93 in.
Ri are converted into miles by being multiplied by 2.44.
SQUARE
_Ri_ (roughly 6 sq. miles) = 5.955 sq. miles.
_Chō_ (sometimes written, _Chōbu_) (roughly 2-1/2 acres) = 2.450 acres = 10 tan = 3,000 tsubo.
_Tan_ or _Tambu_ (roughly 1/4 acre) = 0.245 acres = 10 se = 300 bu.
_Bu_ or _Tsubo_ (roughly 4 sq. yds.) = 3.953 sq. yds.
An acre is about 4 tan 10 bu or 1,200 bu or tsubo (an urban measure). The size of rooms is reckoned by the number of mats, which are ordinarily 6 shaku in length and 3 shaku in breadth.
CAPACITY
_Koku_ (roughly 40 gals, or 5 bush.) = 39.703 gals, or 4.960 bush. = 10 tō. According to American measurements, there are 47.653 gals, (liquid) and 5.119 bush, (dry) in a koku. A koku of rice is 313-1/2 lbs. (British).
A koku of imported rice is, however, 330-1/2 lbs. The following koku must also be noted: ordinary barley, 231 lbs.; naked barley 301.1 lbs.; wheat 288.7 lbs.; proso millet, 247.9 lbs.; foxtail millet, 280.9 lbs.; barnyard millet, 165.2 lbs.; brickaheat, 247.9 lbs.; maize, 289.2 lbs.; soya beans, 286.5 lbs.; azuki (red) beans, 319.9 lbs.; horse beans, 266.6 lbs.; peas, 306.5 lbs.
_Hyō_ (roughly 2 bush.) = 1.985 bush. = 4 tō = bale of rice.
_Tō_ (roughly 4 gals, or 1/2 bush.) = 3.970 gals, or .496 bush, or 1.985 pecks = 10 shō.
_Shō_ (roughly 1-1/2 qts.) = 1.588 qts. or 0.198 pecks or 108-1/2 cub. in. = 10 gō.
_Gō_ (roughly 1/3 pint) =.3176 pints or 0.019 pecks.
Rice is not bagged but baled, and a bale is 4 tō or 1 hyō.
WEIGHT
_Kwan_ or _kwamme_ (roughly 8-1/4 lbs.) = 8.267 lbs. av. or 10.047 lbs. troy = 1,000 momme.
_Kin_ (catty) = 1.322 lbs. av. or 1.607 troy = 160 momme.
_Momme_ = 2.116 drams or 2.411 dwts. According to American measurements a momme is 0.132 oz. av. and 0.120 oz. troy.
_Hyakkin_ (_picul_) = 100 kin = 132.277 lbs.
A stone is 1.693, a cwt. is 13.547, and a ton 270.950 kwamme.
LOCAL ADMINISTRATIVE TERMS
_Ken_.--Prefecture. There are forty-three ken and Hokkaido. Ken and fu are made up of the former sixty-six provinces. Sometimes the name of the ken and the name of the capital of the ken are the same: example, Shidzuoka-ken, capital Shidzuoka.
_Fu_.--Three prefectures are municipal prefectures and are called not ken but fu. They are Tokyo-fu, Kyoto-fu and Osaka-fu.
_Gun_ (_kōri_).--Division of a prefecture, a county or rural district. There are 636 gun. Gun are now being done away with.
_Shi_.--City. There are seventy-nine cities.
_Cho_.--A town or rather a district preponderatingly urban. There are 1,333 cho.
_Machi_.--Japanese name for the Chinese character cho.
_Son_.--A village or rather a district preponderatingly rural. There are 10,839 son.
_Mura_.--Japanese name for a Chinese character son.
A true idea of the Japanese village is obtained as soon as one mentally defines it as a commune. There may be a rural community called son or a municipal community called cho. The cho or son consists of a number of oaza, that is, big aza, which in turn consists of a number of ko-aza or small aza. A ko-aza may consist of twenty or thirty dwellings, that is, a hamlet, or it may be only one dwelling. It may be ten acres in extent or fifty. I found that the population of a particular municipality was 10,000 in seven big oaza comprising twenty-two ko-aza.
[Illustration: THE ROOM, OVERLOOKING THE PACIFIC, IN WHICH MUCH OF THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN The feet of the chair and table are fitted with wooden slats so as not to injure the _tatami_. Electricity as a matter of course!]
[Illustration: THE MERCY OF BUDDHA The worshippers in the front row lost relatives by a flood. This is not the priest referred to in Chapter I .]
THE FOUNDATIONS OF JAPAN
STUDIES IN A SINGLE PREFECTURE (AICHI)[10]
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