616 



JAPAN. 



Japan. 



Form of 



govern- 



menu 



Laws. 



Afts and 

 stiences. 



honours paid to the gods themselves. His person is 

 considered as too sacred to be exposed to the air and 

 sun, and still less to the view of any human creature. 

 He never passes beyond the precincts of his court ; and 

 if he is at any time under an absolute necessity of going 

 out of his palace, he is generally borne on men's shoulders 

 that he may not touch the earth. His hair, nails, and 

 beard are never suffered to be cut or cleaned, unless by 

 stealth, and while he is asleep. He never eats twice 

 from the same plate, and all the vessels once used in 

 his meals, which are purposely of an inferior kind of 

 porcelain, are usually broken to pieces, that they may 

 not be profaned by unhallowed hands. His attendants 

 are with few exceptions selected from his own kindred ; 

 and beyond the precincts of his court few persons know 

 even his name till long after his death. Since the re- 

 trenchment of his power he derives his revenues from 

 the town and district of Miaco, from an allowance out 

 of the Kubo's treasury, and from the large sums which 

 he acquires by conferring titles of honour. This eccle- 

 siastical court is likewise the principal seat of litera- 

 ture, and may be considered as the only university in 

 the empire. The students are maintained and instruct- 

 ed at his expence in the history of the country, mathe- 

 matics, poetry, music, &c. The Kubos, or secular em- 

 perors, now reign in hereditary succession. Each pro- 

 vince of the empire is governed by a prince, who is 

 responsible to the emperor for his administration. He 

 enjoys the revenues of his government, keeps his court, 

 and defrays all the civil expences. Such an order of 

 things appears to us only safe against turbulence and 

 faction by powerful checks. Perhaps it is secured in 

 Japan, by mutual jealousy, and the impressions of un- 

 limited submission to the emperor, a feature of cha- 

 racter peculiarly Asiatic. 



Thunberg informs us, that the laws of Japan are few, 

 but rigidly enforced, without regard to persons. We have 

 little acquaintance, however, with the Japanese code. 

 We are told that most crimes are punished with death, 

 and that none may incur this from ignorance, a brief 

 code in large characters is posted up in every town 

 and village, and regularly read in the temples. This, 

 however, respects rather the crimes prohibited than 

 the penalties annexed, which are said to be in some 

 cases purposely kept unknown, and this uncertainty 

 they affirm to have a salutary effect in deterring of- 

 fenders. 



The Japanese have been celebrated for their profi- 

 ciency in the arts and sciences. Perhaps the safest 

 standard of comparison, in this respect, will be their 

 neighbours the Chinese. They excel in manufactures 

 of silk and cotton. Their swords are of curious work- 

 manship. Their varnish is well known as inimitable, 

 but for this they are chiefly indebted to the vegetable, 

 from which it is made. The Japanese cultivate mu- 

 sic, painting, drawing, geography, astronomy, and his- 

 tory. They are totally unacquainted with anatomy ; 

 and have no farther knowledge of natural philosophy 

 and chemistry than a few notions gathered from Euro- 

 pean physicians. Th/eir surgery consists almost en- 

 tirely in burning pellets of moxa (or the leaves of mug- 

 wort rubbed soft like cotton) upon the place which is 

 supposed to be the seat of disease; and thus forming an 

 issue, which is kept open for some time. They also 

 puncture with a silver needle where pains are felt. 

 Krusenstern mentions that one of the talks, (or inter- 

 preters of the Dutch language) knew that Teneriffe be- 

 longed to theCanary Islands, and St Catherines to Brazil, 

 from which we may conclude that they are no despicable 



geographers for Asiatics. Their drawings, we suspect, Japan. 

 may challenge competition with those of China, like '""Y"" 

 them, bidding defiance to perspective; and so scru- 

 pulous are they in copying from originals, that ugli- 

 ness meets with no flattery from their portrait pain- 

 ters. Though we are not acquainted with the ex- 

 act extent of their astronomical knowledge, we know 

 that there is a set of people, called Issis, inhabit- 

 ing temples near Jeddo, who foretel eclipses of the 

 sun and moon. Their predictions are inserted in ca- 

 lendars, of which two sorts are published annually at 

 Jeddo, one complete for the rich, and another abbre- 

 viated for the poor. Their art of printing is confined 

 to the use of blocks, with which they impress only one 

 side of the paper. Schools generally abound, and cor- Sdiool.=, 

 poral punishment, it is said, is not introduced into 

 their system of education. Their children are stimu- 

 lated to emulation, and worthy achievements, by the 

 recital of songs in praise of their deceased heroes. A 

 few of the more studious acquire the Chinese language, 

 and some of the physicians are able to understand the 

 Dutch, and even the Latin. They have some know- 

 ledge of engraving ; and are tolerably versed in the 

 practical part of surveying, so as to possess pretty ac- 

 curate maps of their own country and its towns. 

 Their artificers work very skilfully in iron and copper, M am: r, c , 

 and in a mixture of gold and copper, called sowas, tures. 

 which they have the art of staining black or blue by 

 means of their ink. They excel in the fabrication of 

 steel instruments, and their gwords are of incomparable 

 proof. They are acquainted with the art of making 

 glass, and grinding it for telescopes; with the con. 

 struction of watches which they learned from their 

 European visitors ; and with the manufacture of paper 

 from the bark of the mulberry tree. Their silk and 

 cotton stuffs are equal, and often superior to similar 

 productions of other eastern countries; and their la- 

 quering or varnishing in wood surpasses all the at- 

 tempts which have ever been made in that department 

 by any other people in the world. This varnish is Varnish, 

 made from the juice of the rhus vernix, which upon its 

 first exuding from the tree, is of a lightish colour, and of 

 the consistence of cream ; but the surface exposed to 

 the air immediately becomes black. It is of so trans- 

 parent a nature, that when it is laid unmixed upon 

 boxes, and other articles of furniture, every vein of the 

 wood may be clearly seen. But they make it of va- 

 rious .colours, especially black or red, by mixing it 

 with powdered substances of these colours. They ap- 

 ply it with a brush, and with as smooth a surface as 

 possible ; and when well dried in the sun it becomes 

 harder than the board on which it is laid. It is then 

 rubbed with a smooth stone and water, till completely 

 polished, when it is covered with a mixture of turpen- 

 tine oil. This varnish flies and cracks like glass when 

 struck with a hard substance ; but is capable of being 

 exposed to boiling water without receiving any da 

 mage. 



Jeddo, the capital city, is situated in a bay on the 

 south-east side of the island of Niphon. As Euro- 

 peans have little freedom here, no accurate idea can 

 be formed of its extent. A large river runs through 

 it. The emperor's palace and its appendages compose 

 of themselves a town. It may be included among me- 

 tropolitan cities of the first class, in point of size. Mi- 

 aco, the second city of the empire, stands inland about 

 160 miles south-west of Jeddo. It is the first com- 

 mercial and manufacturing city in these dominions. 

 Here is fixed the Dairi's palace and court, whence 





