HOME LIFE OF THE JAPANESE WOMAN 



9 



they are very little children she is anxious 

 to try their baby ability to talk. She 

 teaches them how to sit politely on the 

 floor, how to eat their meals, how to speak 

 correctly. Thus from its earliest years 

 the Japanese child is firmly but gently dis- 

 ciplined. Where there is a very small 

 baby the mother, when she can afford it, 

 sends it out in the morning to a profes- 

 sional nurse, or hires a woman to take en- 

 tire charge of it in the house while she is 

 about her other duties. 



After an hour the little ones are allowed 

 to go out and play in the garden, though 

 they are not permitted to run around too 

 much or play rough games. They must 

 reserve such games necessarily for the 

 fields, and they are always impressed with 

 the importance of in no way spoiling the 

 plants and flowers in their garden. Mean- 

 while, the mother, either in the garden 

 with the children or in a room from where 

 she can keep an eye on them constantl}^ 

 spends a couple of hours in sewing. She 

 usually makes not only her own and her 

 husband's garments, but those of her chil- 

 dren, though the latter, as soon as they 

 are old enough to handle a needle, assist 

 her. Very often a grown up daughter 

 takes the entire work from her mother's 

 hands. 



When she has finished her sewing for 

 the day all the litter is carefully cleared 

 away. She goes thoroughly over her house 

 to see that it is in spotless condition- 

 There is no more exacting housekeeper 

 than a Japanese woman. 



^^lien the weather permits the Japanese 

 mother spends much of her time with the 

 children in the fields. She will find some 

 pleasant spot under a blossoming tree 

 whence she can, while watching her chil- 

 dren and engaging her hands in sewing, at 

 the same time feast her eyes upon the 

 lovely scenery that surrounds her and 

 whose influence she knows must add to her 

 serenity and amiability of mind. No 

 mother of any land is more feared, yet 

 tenderly obeyed and loved. This may be 

 because her authority is ever of that gentle 



reasoning sort which, while exacting un- 

 questioning obedience, is never explosive. 

 ]^o Japanese woman who desires the re- 

 spect of her children will permit herself 

 to exhibit before them such emotions as 

 irritation, rage, or ungovernable anger 

 with them for acts of refractoriness, no 

 matter how grave. 



The Japanese are essentially out-of-door 

 people, and most of their lives are spent in 

 the sun. The sun has a beneficent influ- 

 ence upon one's temperament. How much 

 gentler the mother under the blossoming 

 tree and the shining sky than the irritable, 

 worn-out mother with her restless brood 

 of whiners in the shadow of the house. 

 The Japanese believe that by letting their 

 eyes continually behold the beauty of na- 

 ture their beauty of soul and character 

 must expand and blossom also. 



In the afternoon the lady of the house 

 takes her drive in her jinrikisha. Some- 

 times she drives merely through the woods 

 and pathways, but more often she shops 

 in the city, and sometimes stops at her 

 husband's place of business and brings him 

 home with her, for while work must com- 

 mence early, so it ends early for the busi- 

 ness man in Japan. 



On a certain day in the week the Jap- 

 anese woman, like the American, is at 

 home to her friends, and on another day 

 she pays a number of calls, sometimes 

 merely sending in her card without even 

 alighting from her jinrikisha. In this 

 way she can make a great many calls dur- 

 ing the day. 



A Japanese family retires at sundown; 

 at all events the children are never allowed 

 to remain up after dark. Sometimes, how- 

 ever, the parents attend banquets and par- 

 ties in the evening. The month of August 

 is particularly given up to banqueting. 

 Banquets 'are held chiefly in the honor of 

 the full moon, as it is to be seen at its best 

 during this month. Some particularly 

 charming spot is chosen, and a gathering 

 of jovial friends meet to drink tea or sake 

 together and enjoy the serene beauty of 

 the moon rising from behind a mountain 



