33 2 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



matters not, for in either case-the children rarely take any part 

 in the religious life of their parents or elders, and indeed usually 

 grow up in blissful ignorance as to what it is all about. True, 

 they may be occasionally taken to the temple, and taught to rub 

 their palms together, clap thrice, and incline their heads toward 

 the shrine, as they toss their offering of rin through the wooden 

 grating of the huge money-till. They may have some vague 

 notion that there is something meritorious in all this, but noth- 

 ing more, although every Japanese home has a latticed niche, 

 or Jcamidana, dedicated to the service of the household Lares and 



Interior of the Shrine at the Tomb of the Tokugawa Shoguns at Shiba, Tokyo. 

 Eelics of the hero are preserved in the rear. 



Penates, or Daikolcu and Ebisu as they appear in Japan. These 

 quaint figures — Daikohu with his bag of rice, and Ebisu with his 

 wise smile and accompanying fish — are regarded more as symbols 

 of good luck than supreme beings, and are retained, in many 

 homes at least, in the same spirit as we Occidentals would fasten 

 a horseshoe over a doorway. 



The entire absence of demonstrative affection in Japanese fam- 

 ilies seems almost incompatible with the deep feeling of parental 

 and filial love and tenderness that exists. Petting and caressing 

 are dispensed with as soon as babyhood is over ; and even during 

 this time the mother but rarely presses her lips to the child's 



