458 JAPANESE PONIES 



like nothing in the world so much as a coarse black 

 clothes-brush ; and the Japanese pony's head is an exag- 

 geration of his master's. Old pictures show that this has 

 always been so. The shaggy mane and forelock is not like 

 that of a good pony ; it is not only unkempt, but scarcely 

 possible to comb ; it exhibits the lowest form of breeding, 

 and the rest of his appearance corresponds. He is, how- 

 ever, much larger and apparently stronger than the Chi- 

 nese pony. 



There is no typical Japanese rider at the present day. 

 The daimio of old has gone into the army, and rides ac- 

 cording to the modern dispensation ; the samurai have 

 degenerated into policemen. They are out of our cat- 

 egory. Polo may be said no longer to exist. The fact 

 that there is a Polo Club — an aristocratic survival of Old 

 Japan — and that a formal game is now and then played — 

 much as we hold a Forefathers' Ball — merely serves to 

 prove the rule. I have said above that the Japanese ex- 

 ceed all other players in skill at polo. This is true ; but I 

 must limit the statement to that part of the game whicli 

 consists of handling the ball. In the part which covers 

 horsemanship they are far behind. 



You may not remember the fact that Japanese polo, 

 Avhich has been played since the seventh century, is a line 

 game of skill rather than a hammering athletic sport. 

 The polo mallet is really a sort of small racket with a 

 long bamboo handle, and with the net loose enough to en- 

 able the player to catch up and by a circular motion of 

 the wrist retain the ball. It weighs under two ounces, 

 and the ball under one. Fourteen players range them- 

 selves in two files down each side of the long enclosure. 

 Goal is a fence at the farther end of the ground, in which 

 is a round hole eighteen inches in diameter, holding a net 

 pocket; and the object of each ])layer is to put the balls 



