6ge JAP 
blades fo celebrated in Europe. A tolerably-thick nail 
is eafi^y cut in two without any damage to the edge; and 
a man, according to the account of the Japanefe, may be 
cleft afunder. A feparate fafli is never ufed, but the 
fvvord is Stuck in the belt, on the left tide, with the edge 
upwards, which to a European appears ridiculous. All s 
perfons in office wear two X'.ch Sabres, one of their own, 
and the other the /word of office, as it is called ; the latter 
is always the longer. .Both are worn in. the belt on the 
fame fide, and fo difpofed as to crofs each other. When 
they are fitting, they have their fword of office laid on 
one ijde or before them. 
The faiences .are very far from having arrived at the 
fame height in Japan as in Europe. The liiftory of the 
country is, notwithstanding,' more authentic, perhaps, 
than that of any other country ; ’and it is Studied, with¬ 
out diflimftion, by all. Agriculture, which is confidered 
as the art mofTnecefiary, and molt conducive to the fup- 
port and profperity of the kingdom, is no where in the 
.world brought to fuch perfection as here ; where neither 
civil or foreign war, nor emigration, diminifhes popula¬ 
tion ; and where a thought is never entertained, either of 
getting poffeffion of other- countries, or to import the 
ulelel's and often hurtful produftions of foreign lands; 
but where the utmoft care is taken that no turf lies un¬ 
cultivated, and no' produce of the earth -unemployed. 
Afixonomy is- purlued and refpected ; but the natives are 
unable, without the aid of Chinefe, and fometimes of Dutch, 
almanacs, to form a true calendar, or calculate an eclipfe 
of the fun or moon within minutes and feconds. Medi¬ 
cine has neither arrived, nor is it likely to arrive, at any 
degree of perfection. Anatomy is totally unknown; the 
knowledge of dileafes imperfeft, intricate, and often fa¬ 
bulous. Botany, and the knowledge of medicine, con¬ 
stitute the whole of their {kill. They ufe only fimples ; 
and thefe generally in diuretic and diaphoretic decoctions. 
They are unacquainted with compound medicines. Their 
phyficians always indeed feel the pulfe; but they are 
very tedious, not quitting it for a quarter of an hour ; 
befides, they examine firft one and then the other arm, 
as if the blood were not driven by the fame heart to both 
pulfes. Behdes thofe difeafes which they have in common 
-with 'other countries, or peculiar to themfelves, the ve¬ 
nereal difeale is very frequent, which they only underftood 
how to alleviate by decoCtions thought to purify the 
blood. Salivation, which their phyficians have heard 
mentioned by the Dutch furgeons, appears to them ex¬ 
tremely formidable, both to conduct and to undergo; but 
they have lately learned the art of employing the fubli- 
mate with much fuccefs. The Japanefe know little more 
of phyfics or chemiftry than what they have learned of 
late years of the Europeans. 
Their computation of time takes its rife from Min-o, 
or 660 years before Chrift. The year is divided accord¬ 
ing to the changes of the moon ; fo that fome years con- 
fill of twelve, and others of thirteen, months ; and the 
beginning of the year falls out in February or March. 
They have no weeks confiding of feveii days, or of fix 
working days and a holiday ; but the firft and fifteenth 
day of the month ferve for a holiday. On thefe days no 
■work is done. On new-year's day they go round to with 
one another a happy new year, with their whole families, 
clad in white and blue chequered, their holiday drefs; 
and they reft almolt the whole of the firft month. The 
day is divided only into twelve hours; and in this divi¬ 
sion they are direfted the whole year by the riling and 
fetting of the fun. They reckon fix o’clock at the riling, 
and fix likewife at the fetting, of the fun. Mid-day and 
mid-night are always at nine. Time is not meafured by 
clocks or hour-glaffes, but with burning matches, which 
are twilled together like ropes, and divided by knots. 
When the match' is burnt to a knot, which indicates a 
certain portion of time elapfed, notice is given during the 
day, by Striking the bells of the temples ; and in the 
night, by the watchmen Striking two boards again ft one 
A N. 
another. - A child is always reckoned a year old at the 
end of the year of his birth, whether this happen at the 
beginning or the clofe. A few days after the be¬ 
ginning of the year, is performed the horrid' ceremony of 
trampling on images reprefenting the crofs and the Vinria 
Mary with her child. This ceremony is intended to im- 
prefs every individual, with hatred-of the Christian doc¬ 
trine, and the Portuguefe who attempted to introduce it 
there,; and alfo to discover whether there is any remnant 
of it left among the Japanefe. It is performed in the 
places where the Christians chiefly relided. In Nagafaki 
it lafts tour days ; then the images are conveyed to the 
circumjacent places, and afterwards are laid afide againft 
the next year. Every perfon, except the Japanefe go¬ 
vernor and his attendants, even the linallelt child, mult 
be prefent; but it is not true, as Some have pretended, 
that the Dutch are alfo obliged to-trample on the image. 
Overleers are appointed in every place, which affembie 
the people in companies in certain houfes, call over the 
name of every one in his turn, and take care that every 
thing goes on properly. The children, not,yet able to 
walk, have their feet placed upon it; older perfons pafs 
over it from one fide of the room to the other. 
The Japanefe are much addicted to poetry, mufic, and 
painting; the firft js faid to be grand as to the Style and 
imagery, loftinefs, and cadence'; but, like that of the 
Chinefe, is not eafily underftood or relished by the Euro¬ 
peans. The fame may be faid of their mufic, both vocal 
and instrumental; .the beft of which, of either kind, 
would hardly be tolerable to a nice European ear. They 
pretend, like the Chinefe, to have been the inventors of 
printing from.time immemorial, and their method is the 
fame with theirs, on wooden blocks; but they excel them 
in the neatnefs of cutting them, as well as in the good- 
nefs.of their ink and paper. They likewife lay claim to 
the invention of gunpowder; and are vaftly Superior, to 
the Chinefe in the ule of all forts of fire-arms, efpecially 
of artillery, as well as the curioufnefs of their fire-works. 
Their manner of writing is much the fame as that of the 
Chinefe, viz. in' columns from top to bottom, and the 
columns beginning at the right and ending at the left 
hand. Their characters were alfo originally the fame, but 
now differ confiderably. Their language hath fome affi¬ 
nity with the Chinefe, though it appears from its various 
dialefts to have been a kind of compound of that and 
other languages, derived from the various nations that 
firlt peopled thole islands. It is not only very regular, 
polite, elegant, and copious, but abounds with a "great 
variety of fynonyma, adapted to the nature of the SubjeCt 
they are upon, whether fublime, familiar, or low; and to 
the quality, age, and fex, both of the Speaker and per¬ 
fon lpoken to. 
The Japanefe are commonly very ingenious in molt 
handicraft trades ; and excel even the Chinefe in Several 
manufactures, particularly in the beauty, goodnCfs, and 
variety, of their Silks, cottons, and other Stuffs, and in their. 
Japan and porcelain wares. No eaftern nation conies up 
to them in the tempering and fabricating of Scymitars, 
fwords, mulkets, and other fuch weapons. 
The Japanefe architecture is much in the fame tafte and 
Style as that of the Chinefe, efpecially as to their temples, 
palaces, and other public buildings ; but in private ones 
they affeCt ipore plainnefs and neatnefs than Show. Thefe 
tall are of wood and cement, confuting of two ftories ; 
they dwell only in the lower; the upper chamber fervino- 
for wardrobes. The roofs are covered with rulb-mats 
three or four inches thick. In every houfe there is a final! 
court, ornamented with trees, flirub,s, and flower-pots ; 
as likewife with a place for bathing. Chimneys, are un¬ 
known in this country, although fire is needed from the 
cold month of OCtober till the end of March. They heat 
their rooms with charcoal contained in a copper ftove, 
which they fit round. The principal furniture of the Ja¬ 
panefe coniifts in ftraw-mats, which Serve them for feats 
and beds; a finall table for every one who choofes to eat 
