150 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



of 1868, which abolished feudalism and restored the Mikado to his position of almost divine 

 power and authority, and notwithstanding the wide adoption of Western notions since the 

 opening of the country to foreign merchants, missionaries, and tourists at that date, the Japan 

 of to-day remains decidedly Japanese. The coolies do not wear "bowler" hats, even though 

 there is an apparent inclination among the humbler Japs to combine the Englishman's hat 

 and boots with a Japanese costume. 



To the stranger in Japan who may be making his first excursion through the city in a 

 rattling jinriksha, everything appears quaint, elfish, and pantomime-like. Everything as well 

 as everybody is small, quaint, and mysterious. Some shade of blue predominates. The 

 houses are crowned with blue roofs; the little shop-fronts are hung with blue, and the smiling 

 little people have more dark blue in their costume than any other colour. A first glance 

 down one of the queer streets you pass creates only an odd confusion as you look through a 

 seemingly endless flutter of flags and swaying of dark-blue tapestry, all made more strange 

 (though certainly relieved and it may be beautified) by the Japanese or Chinese lettering 

 which appears on them. There is no regularity of plan at least, none which the stranger can 

 immediately discern. Nothing is exactly like anything else. The shops are all low and light, 

 with their first storeys open to the street. Above each shop-front a thin strip of roofing slopes 

 back to the miniature balcony of the paper-screened second storey. The floors of the tiny 

 shops are well raised above the level of the street, and they are covered with matting. The 

 dark-blue blouses of the labouring people are adorned on the back with the same curious 

 lettering which appears on the shop draperies. As the letters appear on the back of a 

 workman's frock pure white or dark blue large enough to be easily read at a great distance, 

 they give to the poor cheap garment an appearance of distinction and value which it is 

 not possible to estimate correctly at first. The letters are the wearer's trade-mark they 

 make known the name of some guild or company of which he is a member, or by which 

 he is employed. 



Children are everywhere. In the quieter thoroughfares you may see rows and processions 

 of girls, carrying funny -looking little Jap babies in hoods on their backs. One cannot be 

 quite sure whether the carriers are the sisters or the mothers of their burdens, for Japanese 

 girls marry and become mothers very early. 



The women are fond of dress. All who can 

 afford it have the hitomo, or under-garment of silk, 

 which is generally of a bright colour. Over it, 

 according to the season and the occasion, are worn 

 two or three and sometimes as many as five or 

 six flowing robes called kimono which fall down 

 over the feet. These are mainly of silk or crape, 

 those underneath of a light, the others of a dark 

 colour, generally blue. All are girdled round the 

 waist by the obi, 6 or 8 feet long, and a foot wide, 

 which is generally of satin or some Leavy silk 

 material. The ends of this girdle are tied into a 

 large square bow behind. The feet are protected by 

 high clogs of elm-wood or straw sandals, according 

 to the weather. Tattooing, introduced less than three 

 hundred years ago, was once very common, but is 

 now chiefly practised by men of the lower class. 

 Umbrellas and fans are used by both sexes; but the 

 men, during the past thirty years, have largely 

 imitated the European style of dress. 



Photo by jfo*r.. Kujima A nuwo. li ma Y be d of the Japanese, with far more 



AN ELABORATE JAPANESE HEAD-DRESS. truth than it has been said of the Chinese, that they 



