370 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



proprietors, the princes, seemed proud of them, and were careful to show their points to the 

 greatest advantage hefore our astonished countrymen. Some two or three of these huge monsters 

 were the most famous wrestlers in Japan, and ranked as the champion Tom Cribs and Hyers of 

 the land. Koyanagi, the reputed bully of the capital, was one of them, and paraded himself 

 with the conscious pride of superior immensity and strength. He was especially brought to 

 the Commodore, that he might examine his massive form. The commissioners insisted that the 

 monstrous fellow should be minutely inspected, that the hardness of his well-rounded muscles 

 should be felt, and that the fatness of his cushioned frame should be tested by the touch. The 

 Commodore accordingly attempted to grasp his immense arm, which he found as solid as it was 

 huge, and then passed his hand over the monstrous neck, which fell in folds of massive flesh, 

 like the dewlap of a prize ox. As some surprise was naturally expressed at this wondrous 

 exhibition of animal development, the monster himself gave a grunt expressive of his flattered 

 vanity. 



They were all so immense in flesh that they appeared to have lost their distinctive features, 

 and seemed to be only twenty-five masses of fat. Their eyes were barely visible through a long 

 perspective of socket, the prominence of their noses was lost in the puffiness of their bloated 

 cheeks, and their heads were almost set directly on their bodies, with merely folds of flesh 

 where the neck and chin are usually found. Their great size, however, was more owing to the 

 development of muscle than to the deposition of fat, for, although they were evidently well fed, 

 they were not less well exercised, and capable of great feats of strength. As a preliminary 

 exhibition of the power of these men, the princes set them to removing the sacks of rice to a 

 convenient place on the shore for shipping. Each of the sacks weighed not less than one 

 hundred and twenty-five pounds, and there were only a couple of the wrestlers who did not 

 carry each two sacks at a time. They bore the sacks on the right shoulder, lifting the first 

 from the ground and adjusting it without help, but obtaining aid for the raising of the second. 

 One man carried a sack suspended by his teeth, and another, taking one in his arms, turned 

 repeated somersaults as he held it, and apparently with as much ease as if his tons of flesh had 

 been only so much gossamer, and his load a feather. 



After this preliminary display, the commissioners proposed that the Commodore and his party 

 should retire to the treaty house, where they would have an opportunity of seeing the wrestlers 

 exhibit their professional feats. The wrestlers themselves were most carefully provided for, 

 having constantly about them a number of attendants, who were always at hand to supply them 

 with fans, which they often required, and to assist them in dressing and undressing. While 

 at rest they were ordinarily clothed in richly-adorned robes of the usual Japanese fashion, but 

 when exercising they were stripped naked, with the exception of the cloth about the loins. 

 After their performance with the sacks of rice, their servitors spread upon the huge frames of 

 the wrestlers their rich garments and led them up to the treaty house. 



A circular space of some twelve feet in diameter had been enclosed within a ring, and the 

 ground carefully broken up and smoothed in front of the building, while in the portico, divans 

 covered with red cloth were arranged for the Japanese commissioners, the Commodore, his 

 officers and their various attendants. The bands from the ships were also present, and enli- 

 vened the intervals during the performance with occasional lively strains. As soon as the 

 spectators had taken their seats, the naked wrestlers were brought out into the ring, and the 

 whole number, being divided into two opposing parties, tramped heavily backwai'd and forward, 

 looking defiance at each other, but not engaging in any contest, as their object was merely to 



