JAPANESE HOME LIFE. 17 



peasant, just beyond the outskirts of the field. He knocked again 

 and again, but no one came in answer, and so he had to wait for 

 the day to dawn. Shortly after sunrise the people of the house 

 arose, and, hearing the knocking, took the still breathless wan- 

 derer into the guest chamber, where they attended to his pitiable 

 state, and then begged him to relate what had befallen him. 

 This he did, and the peasants at once determined to go to the 

 little hut in the field of Inami, which was well known to them. 

 Upon arriving at the spot they found no signs of a burial or of a 

 grave. Mound and coffin had utterly disappeared; but just in 

 front of the hut lay the body of a huge badger, killed by the one 

 cut of the good steel. At once they saw what had happened. 

 The evil beast had wished to frighten the belated wanderer ; and 

 the funeral procession and priest, coffin, and grave had been 

 merely the work of magic. 



So much for the stories that play such an important role in 

 the drama of home life in Japan. It is to be regretted that this 

 subject has not been more extensively dealt with in recent writ- 

 ings of the country, for many of the hidden beauties of the coun- 

 try and people are best portrayed in the stories of bygone heroes, 

 as told to the children around the liibachi, or as sung by some 

 graceful maiden with samisen or koto accompaniment ; while the 

 tales of ghosts or ghouls rival those of almost any other land in 

 variety and horror. 



Turning to the pastimes common to Japanese homes, a brief 

 mention of the most popular games must not be omitted. Go and 

 slwgi are similar to our games of draughts and chess, yet the for- 

 mer is far more scientific than checkers. There are several games 

 of cards, the playing cards being about as long as those used in 

 this country, but scarcely three quarters of an inch wide. Another 

 favorite game is that of " One Hundred Poems." It is somewhat 

 similar to our rather childish game of " Authors," with the excep- 

 tion that the Japanese game is by no means childish, and requires 

 an intimate knowledge of at least one hundred poems of well- 

 known merit. Two hundred cards are used in the game, and half 

 a poem is written on each card. The cards being spread before 

 the players, the half of a poem on any one card is read, and the 

 other half searched for by the contestants. Then the different 

 seasons of the year have typical games. The most picturesque of 

 these is haguita, or " battledoor and shuttlecock," which is exclu- 

 sively a New- Year's game. Then the time of the cherry blooms 

 brings its games beneath the bloom-laden branches. Music and 

 song find their way into the homes of Japan far more extensively 

 than in this country. To be sure, the music of either koto or 

 samisen is apt to sound strange, and at first perhaps almost unin- 



VOL. XLHI. 2 



