Japan and Her People, Volume II

This volume was published in 1902 and part two of two books.
This title contains fold outs that are not available in digital format. Please contact the Rare Book Collection, Wilson Library, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for more information on accessing these pages.

Excerpts:
The Ainu:
They still live almost entirely by fishing and hunt-
ing, the fish being still plenty, the game yearly more
scarce. For deer hunting they used dogs, which were
trained to keep the herd back until the hunters could
come up and shoot them with poisoned arrows. They
also use a kind of primitive bagpipe, made of fish-skins
tied over a piece of wood, to imitate the cry of the
deer and decoy them within reach. Nets and fish-
traps they once used, but these are now forbidden, and
they stand on the shore or in their long, narrow dug-
outs, and cast a spear or harpoon with great skill.
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Miyanoshita:
They say in Tokyo that if you can see Fuji San at
sunrise, floating alone above the clouds which hide all
the lesser mountains, it is sure to be fine weather.
Later in the day the mists rise in horizontal bands,
disclosing the blue saw-tooth of the Hakone range
across Fuji's base, and the white cone grows fainter
and fainter, paling into the pale sky, to reappear at
sunset, dark against the gold. They are fifty miles
away, those mountains ; part of the great barrier
stretching right across the island and cutting it nearly
in half.
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All the earliest pottery was hand-made. According
to Japanese tradition, the inventor of the wheel was
one Gyogi, a Buddhist priest ; some say that he, too,
came from Korea. He is said to have been a great
enthusiast for art and industry, and to have gone
about the country teaching people improved methods.
A number of curious black wheel-made glazed pots
and vases are kept at Nara, which are attributed to
Gyogi, or at least to his time; but there is good
evidence that the wheel was used much earlier than
his period, which was the end of the seventh century.
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At one of the temples in the sacred province of
Yamato there is a lantern called the Poor Woman's
Single Lamp. Its legend is that on some great occa-
sion the people of the neighborhood were all giving
lamps to the temple ; and a very rich man gave a
thousand great ones, making a lavish display of his
wealth and piety. But among the common people
there was one poor woman who had nothing at all to
give ; but she cut off her long hair, and by selling
that managed to get enough money to buy one poor
little light. So on the night of the festival all the
lamps were lighted, and the rich man's thousand shone
brilliantly, and all the world admired and praised
him. But while they were looking a sudden gale of
wind rose and swept through the open galleries and
blew out every light save only one little forgotten
lamp, which shone as never candle shone before. Then
they looked and found who had given it ; and they
knew that the poor woman's sacrifice had been more
acceptable than all that the rich man gave of his
abundance.
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October also is a dull month, when there is little
doing at the temples, because all the gods are supposed
to be off visiting the gods of Idzumo. Conservative
people would not think of undertaking a wedding or
betrothal or any important affair during this month.