THE JAPANESE NATION. 675 



sit upon the floor, they have no need of furniture. For seats they have 

 mats, all of the same size and alike. The size of the room is known by 

 the number of mats on the floor. Upon these mats the people eat, 

 sleep, and die. They are bed, chair, lounge, and table combined. 

 Their meals are served in lacquer dishes on the floor. The mats at 

 night are covered with wadded quilts, put away in the daytime, 

 and on these they sleep. The houses are without fireplaces, chim- 

 neys, or smoke, being heated by braziers of charcoal. Every house 

 contains one or more vases, and often hanging baskets filled with flowers 

 arranged with greater taste than with us, while the paper upon the 

 panels forming the partitions is ornamented with drawings and pictures 

 more beautiful than those we find in our homes. Fireproof buildings are 

 attached to many of the large houses, into which furniture and valuables 

 can be moved in case of fire. Some writers criticise the houses of the 

 Japanese because they are built of such frail materials and so loosely 

 put together, forgetting that these typical Japanese houses, though 

 entirely unsuited to our life, are better fitted for earthquake- shaken 

 Japan than buildings of wood and stone. A few hundred dollars will 

 buy and furnish a good and commodious house. Mr. Morse tells us that 

 his house in Tokyo was 21 by 31 feet, with an annex 15 by 24 feet, with 

 vestibule, hall, and kitchen — seven rooms and nine closets. The cost 

 of the house was about $1,000, on a lot one-quarter of an acre in extent 

 which cost $330; annual tax, $5. 



Public baths are universal, and for a cent or two one may have a hot 

 bath, while for the house they have bath tubs made with ovens for 

 heating water. That the Japanese are a most cleanly race is apparent 

 in their houses, their workshops, and in the care with which they look 

 after everything in their charge. 



Western architecture has been adopted for buildings in which West- 

 ern occupations are carried on — as the post-offices, custom-houses, 

 breweries, and cotton mills — but even in these buildings they have often 

 developed purely oriental features. 



LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 



The Japanese language is a combination of the tongues of the ancient 

 inhabitants of the islands, and is therefore unlike other languages. 

 Literature was introduced into Japan from China with the religion of 

 Buddha; but the words and the pronunciation have been so softened 

 to fit the melodious Japanese tongue that a Japanese can not under- 

 stand a Chinese nor a Chinese a Japanese. As a large proportion of 

 the Chinese characters are used, it is not difficult for a Chinese and 

 Japanese to communicate by writing. 



The difficulty of learning to write the Japanese language is very 

 great, as in addition to the Japanese alphabet some 15,000 to 20,000 

 Chinese characters must be memorized and the eye and hand trained 

 to distinguish and delineate them. It is said that it requires seven 



