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one of the provinces. His wife accompanied him. Dur- 

 ing a storm the faithful woman jumped into the boiling 

 waters. His whole army was saved that it might punish 

 the barbarians. The disconsolate husband cries, Ah I 

 tsuma koishi: O my dear wife, how I grieve for you! 

 Next the legend of a beautiful lady who escaped during 

 the troublous times with her children. One of these 

 children afterwards became the Shogoun Yoritomo, the 

 founder of Kamabura, in about 1J90 to 1210 (A. D.). 

 This gave rise to a number of old stories. 



O 



Another legend refers to a demon who haunted the 

 palace of the Mikado. 



These legends are fruitful sources of song and story in 

 Japan, and all the characters on fans, screens, and pic- 

 tures have a meaning. Fans are very much used for 

 representations of scenes and other objects. In Japan 

 they are used for advertisements. Nine-tenths of them 

 are intended to advertise restaurant and theatrical resorts, 

 with representations of noted dancing girls. . Sometimes 

 on the fans are views of places to attract sight-seers and 

 tourists. 



All Japanese decorations have a meaning, either myth- 

 ological, legendary, historical, symbolic, or proverbial. 

 One common sketch represents a man slaying a remark- 

 able animal, a symbol of difficulties overcome. A fabu- 

 lous animal is a decoration for imperial robes. Every 

 animal, bird, and tree, and their relations to each other, 

 their combinations, have their own peculiar meaning. A 

 pine tree represents good wishes. A swallow represents 

 return, as "When the swallows homeward fly." And so 

 a cherry tree and pheasant, a bird flying to the plum tree, 

 the bamboo and tiger, and the wild boar, have each their 

 symbolic meanings. They have caricatures of men all 

 eyes, all ears, or all legs, figurative of those who see too 



