Lafcadio Hearn's Japan (35 page)

4
. An art expert can decide the age of an unsigned kakemono or other work of art in which human figures appear, by the style of the coiffure of the female personages.

5
. The principal and indispensable hairpin
(kanzashi),
usually about seven inches long, is split, and its well-tempered double shaft can be used like a small pair of chopsticks for picking up small things. The head is terminated by a tiny spoon-shaped projection, which has a special purpose in the Japanese toilette.

6
. The shinj
ō
ch
ō
is also called ich
ō
gaeshi by old people, although the original Ich
ō
gaeshi was somewhat different. The samurai girls used to wear their hair in the true ich
ō
gaeshi manner; the name is derived from the ich
ō
-tree
(Salisburia andiantifolia),
whose leaves have a queer shape, almost like that of a duck's foot. Certain bands of the hair in this coiffure bore a resemblance in form to ich
ō
-leaves.

7
. The old Japanese mirrors were made of metal, and were extremely beautiful.
Kagami ga kumoru to tamashii ga kumoru
(“When the Mirror is dim, the Soul is unclean”) is another curious proverb relating to mirrors. Perhaps the most beautiful and touching story of a mirror in any language is that called “Matsuyama-no-kagami,” which has been translated by Mrs. James.

A Street Singer
(
Kokoro,
1896)

Kimiko
(
Kokoro,
1896)

1
. “To wish to be forgotten by the beloved is a soul-task harder far than trying not to forget.”—
Poem by
Kimiko.

2
.
Oni mo jiuhachi, azami no hana
. There is a similar saying of a dragon:
ja mo hatachi
(“even a dragon at twenty”).

Yuko: A Reminiscence
(
Out of the East,
1898)

On a Bridge
(
A Japanese Miscellany,
1901)

The Case of O-Dai
(
A Japanese Miscellany,
1901)

1
. Prêta.

Drifting
(
A Japanese Miscellany,
1901)

1
. The word
Fukuju
signifies “Fortunate Longevity.”

2
. That is to say the first, or coronation-year, of the Period Manyen,— 1860–1861.

3
. “Come this way!”

4
. This invocation, signifying “Salutation to the Buddha Amitâbha,” is commonly repeated as a prayer for the dead.

5
. As we should say, “Hey! hey!”—to call attention.

6
. That is to say, about sixty-three English miles.

7
. The distance is more than one hundred and fifty miles.

Drifting
(
A Japanese Miscellany,
1901)

Diplomacy
(
Kwaidan,
1904)

A Passional Karma
(
In Ghostly Japan,
1899)

1
. The
hatamoto
were samurai forming the special military force of the ShMgun. The name literally signifies “Banner-Supporters.” These were the highest class of samurai,—not only as the immediate vassals of the ShMgun, but as a military aristocracy.

2
. Perhaps this conversation may seem strange to the Western reader; but it is true to life. The whole of the scene is characteristically Japanese.

3
. The invocation
Namu Amida Butsu!
(“Hail to the Buddha Amitâbha!”),—repeated, as a prayer, for the sake of the dead.

4
.
Komageta
in the original. The geta is a wooden sandal, or clog, of which there are many varieties,—some decidedly elegant. The
komageta,
or “pony-geta,” is so-called because of the sonorous hoof-like echo which it makes on hard ground.

5
. The sort of lantern here referred to is no longer made. It was totally unlike the modern domestic hand-lantern, painted with the owner's crest; but it was not altogether unlike some forms of lanterns still manufactured for the Festival of the Dead, and called
Bon-d
ō
r
ō
. The flowers ornamenting it were not painted: they were artificial flowers of crêpe-silk, and were attached to the top of the lantern.

6
. “For the time of seven existences,”—that is to say, for the time of seven successive lives. In Japanese drama and romance it is not uncommon to represent a father as disowning his child “for the time of seven lives.” Such a disowning is called
shichi-sh
ō
madé no mand
ō
,
a disinheritance for seven lives,— signifying that in six future lives after the present the erring son or daughter will continue to feel the parental displeasure.

7
. The profession is not yet extinct. The
ninsomi
uses a kind of magnifying glass (or magnifying-mirror sometimes), called
tenganky
ō
or
ninsomégané
.

8
. The color and form of the dress, and the style of wearing the hair, are by Japanese custom regulated according to the age of the woman.

9
. The forms of speech used by the samurai, and other superior classes, differed considerably from those of the popular idiom; but these differences could not be effectively rendered into English.

10
. The Japanese word
mamori
has significations at least as numerous as those attaching to our own term “amulet.” It would be impossible, in a mere footnote, even to suggest the variety of Japanese religious objects to which the name is given. In this instance, the
mamori
is a very small image, probably enclosed in a miniature shrine of lacquerwork or metal, over which a silk cover is drawn. Such little images were often worn by
samurai
on the person. I was recently shown a miniature figure of Kwannon, in an iron case, which had been carried by an officer through the Satsuma war. He observed, with good reason, that it had probably saved his life; for it had stopped a bullet of which the dent was plainly visible.

11
. From
shiry
ō
,
a ghost, and
yokeru,
to exclude. The Japanese have two kinds of ghosts proper in their folk-lore: the spirits of the dead,
shiry
ō
;
and the spirits of the living,
ikiry
ō
. A house or a person may be haunted by an
ikiry
ō
as well as by a
shiry
ō
.

12
. A special service,—accompanying offerings of food, etc., to those dead having no living relatives or friends to care for them,—is thus termed. In this case, however, the service would be of a particular and exceptional kind.

13
. The name would be more correctly written
Uh
ō
-Darani-Ky
ō
. It is the Japanese pronunciation of the title of a very short sutra translated out of Sanscrit into Chinese by the Indian priest Amoghavajra, probably during the eighth century. The Chinese text contains transliterations of some mysterious Sanscrit words,—apparently talismanic words,—like those to be seen in Kern's translation of the Saddharma-Pundarika, ch. xxvi.

14
.
O-fuda
is the general name given to religious texts used as charms or talismans. They are sometimes stamped or burned upon wood, but more commonly written or printed upon narrow strips of paper.
O-fuda
are pasted above house-entrances, on the walls of rooms, upon tablets placed in household shrines, etc., etc. Some kinds are worn about the person;—others are made into pellets, and swallowed as spiritual medicine. The text of the larger
o-fuda
is often accompanied by curious pictures or symbolic illustrations.

15
. According to the old Japanese way of counting time, this
yatsudoki
or eighth hour was the same as our two o'clock in the morning. Each Japanese hour was equal to two European hours, so that there were only six hours instead of our twelve; and these six hours were counted backwards in the order,—9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4. Thus the ninth hour corresponded to our midday, or midnight; half-past nine to our one o'clock; eight to our two o'clock. Two o'clock in the morning, also called “the Hour of the Ox,” was the Japanese hour of ghosts and goblins.

16
.
En-netsu
or
Sh
ō
-netsu
(Sanscrit “Tapana”) is the sixth of the Eight Hot Hells of Japanese Buddhism. One day of life in this hell is equal in duration to thousands (some say millions) of human years.

17
. The Male and Female principles of the universe, the Active and Passive forces of Nature. Yusai refers here to the old Chinese nature-philosophy,—better known to Western readers by the name Feng-shui.

Survivals
(
Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation,
1904)

1
. That is to say, he cannot separate himself from the family in law; but he is free to live in a separate house. The tendency to further disintegration of the family is shown by a custom which has been growing of late years,— especially in T
ō
ky
ō
: the custom of demanding, as a condition of marriage, that the bride shall not be obliged to live in the same house with the parents of the bridegroom. This custom is yet confined to certain classes, and has been adversely criticised. Many young men, on marrying, leave the parental home to begin independent housekeeping,—though remaining legally attached to their parents' families, of course. . . . It will perhaps be asked, What becomes of the cult in such cases? The cult remains in the parental home. When the parents die, then the ancestral tablets are transferred to the home of the married son.

2
. Except as regards the communal cult, perhaps. The domestic cult is transplanted; emigrants who go abroad, accompanied by their families, take the ancestral tablets with them. To what extent the communal cult may have been established in emigrant communities, I have not yet been able to learn. It would appear, however, that the absence of Ujigami in certain emigrant settlements is to be accounted for solely by the pecuniary difficulty of constructing such temples and maintaining competent officials. In Formosa, for example, though the domestic ancestor-cult is maintained in the homes of the Japanese settlers, Ujigami have not yet been established. The government, however, has erected several important Shint
ō
temples; and I am told that some of these will probably be converted into Ujigami when the Japanese population has increased enough to justify the measure.