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 i^ORMATI^^^J^ THE MILLION, 
 
 JAPAN 
 
 A¥D THE JAPA:N^ESE. 
 
 WRITTEN AND COMPILED FEOM! THE EECOED OF THE AMEEICAN 
 EXPEDITION, AND THE BEST SOUECES. 
 
 BY AN ORIENTAL TRAVELLER, 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Early History of Japan, and its Discorery by the Portuguese — Great Success of the 
 Jesuit Missions — Persecution and Horrible Slaughter of Christians : 37,000 put to 
 death in one day. 
 
 Decree which isolated Japan for so long. 
 
 Arrival of the Dutch and English— The United States Expedition under Com. Perry 
 — Our Treaty and those of England, Russia, and France. 
 
 Situation and extent of the Empire of Japan — Climate — Surface of the Country — 
 Volcanoes and Earthquakes — Rivers and Lakes — Geology — Vegetable Productions 
 — Animals — Natives — Origin of Race and Language — Population — Classes of So- 
 ciety — Government — Character of the Japanese — Army — Laws — Revenue — Agri- 
 culture — Manufactures — Arts and Sciences — Religion — Education — Trade. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 FREDERIC A. BRADY, PUBLISHER, 
 
 24 ANN STREET. 
 
 1860. 
 
 W. H. TINfeON, Priuur luul Ster«iiyiK:i, 43 «t 45 C«..iie St., N. Y. 
 
HOME TRUTHS 
 
 roR 
 
 UPON THE 
 
 MANAGEMENT OF PARTIES 
 MARRIAO^ES, 
 
 CHEISTENING AND FUNERALS. ,. 
 
 ^ALSO ' '( 
 
 HOW TO PREPARE FOR AND GO UPON A WEDDING TOUR, HOW Ij 
 TO TAKE, FURNISH, AND MANAGE A HOUSE. l[ 
 
 Price, 13 Cents. { 
 
 F. A. BRADY, PnbUsher, 126 Nassau St.. N. Y. J 
 
 THE PASTRY COOK'S 
 
 AXD I 
 
 CONFECTIONER'S ASSISTANT. ! 
 
 Containmg the most approved and choice directions for making . 
 all manner of 
 
 PASTRY, PATTIES, TARTS, PIES, PUDDINGS, JELLIES, 
 
 Showing how to ma'ke 
 
 BKIDE CAKES, SAVOY, SPONGE, ALMOND RATAFIA, 
 AND ROrX CAKES, 
 
 MACAROONS, ROCK, AND OTHER BISCUITS, 
 
 BUXS, BATIIBUXS, AKD TEA CAKES. 
 
 The best methods of Preserving Fruit, the Art of Sugar Boiling, 
 Making Lozenges, Drops, Pipe, Barley-Sugar, Twist, C;irraway 
 Comfits, &c., &c. 
 
 Price, 13 Cents. 
 
 F. A. BRADY, Publisher, 24 ANN STREET. N. "?. 
 
 |i 
 
INFORMATION FOR THE MILLION. 
 
 JAPAN 
 
 AND THE JAPANESE 
 
 WRITTEN AND COMPILED FEOM THE EECOED OF THE AMERICAN 
 EXPEDITION, AND THE BEST SOURCES. 
 
 BY AN ORIENTAL TRAVELLER 
 
 <iC< 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 FREDERIC A. BRADY, PUBLISHER, 
 
 24 ANN STREET. 
 1860. 
 
JAPAN im THE JAPANESE. 
 
 In history, the Japanese do not make such extra- 
 vagant pretensions to antiquity as the Hindoos and 
 Chinese. They are content with going back to the 
 commencement of the reign of their first spiritual 
 monarch, whose name was Sinmu, or at full length 
 Sinmu Tenu, meaning " the supreme of all men," and 
 the divine conqueror, a descendant of the gods. He 
 was the first emperor, the supposed civilizer of the 
 Japanese, and ascended the throne 660 years b.c. 
 From his reign to a.d.-TI there reigned only ten em- 
 perors, which gives an average of seventy-three years 
 to each reign ! The first of the emperors is reported 
 to have lived 167 years, and to have reigned ninety- 
 eight. From A.D. 71 to 1690, there reigned 104: 
 emperors, which makes the average duration of a 
 reign in this period fifteen years and seven months, 
 its shortness being, in a great measure, ^attributable 
 to the very frequent practice of abdication, sometimes 
 voluntary, and sometimes involuntary. We may 
 
^ 
 
 4 JAPAJSr AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 notice a few of tlie most remarkable events of this 
 long period. In 693 the art of making saki was dis- 
 covered. In 749, gold, which had heretofore been 
 imported from China, was first found in Japan. In 
 788, a strange people, not Chinese, invaded Japan, 
 and their final expulsion involved a war of eighteen 
 years. Li 1147 was born Yozitorno, the first secular 
 emperor. Placed in command of an army to sup- 
 press rebellion, this j)ersonage used the power thus 
 intrusted to him for his own* aggrandizement, by 
 usurping nearly the whole temporal authority of his 
 sovereign, leaving him little more than the spiritual, 
 and thus establishing the form of government which 
 has existed down to our time. In 1284 the Mogul 
 Tartar conquerors of China invaded Japan with an 
 armada of 4,000 ships, carrying a force, according to 
 the Japanese, of 240,000 men. This was the cele- 
 brated expedition .of Kublai Khan (grandson of the 
 renowned Jenghis), the patron of Marco Polo. This 
 great armada, like the Spanish against England, was 
 nearly destroyed by a storm. Had it effected a land- 
 ing in sufficient force, it is probable that it would 
 have made a conquest of Japan, as the people who 
 fitted it out had just made of China. 
 
 Japan was first made known to Europe by Marco 
 Polo, who was in China at the time of the Mogul ex- 
 pedition. This, however, did not lead to its dis- 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 5 
 
 coveiy. A Chinese junk, manned by Portuguese, 
 was driven upon the coast by a storm, in 1542, fifty- 
 four years after the arrival of the Portuguese in 
 India. In 1549, seven years after the discovery, the 
 Jesuits, headed by Francis Xavier, the famous 
 apostle of the Indies, made their appearance in 
 Japan, and forthwith the labor of converting the in- 
 habitants went on prosperously until 1587, or for 
 thirty-eight years, when it was partially arrested by 
 the first persecution, which was of no great severity. 
 This took place under Taico Sama, the most illustrious 
 of all the secular emperors of Japan, a man who, by 
 mere force of character, had, from the condition of 
 a hewer of wood, raised himself to the throne. The 
 native priesthood took alarm at the rapid spread of 
 Christianity ; and, in 1587, the emperor issued a 
 proclamation prohibiting his subjects, under pain of 
 death, from embracing the new religion ; and several 
 persons were executed for disobedience. It does not 
 appear, however, that more than six or seven and 
 twenty suffered on this occasion. . The son of Taico, 
 himself a usurper, was dethroned by another usurper ; 
 and under liim the persecution of Christianity became 
 terrible, for, in 1590, it is stated that no fewer than 
 20,570 Christians were put to death. Another perse- 
 cution followed in 1597, when, among others that 
 suffered, were some European priegts, that were cru- 
 
6 JAPAN AND THE JAPAKESE. 
 
 cified. After this a lull of forty years took place, 
 wlien the persecution was renewed in 1637 ; and in a 
 single day of the ensuing year, the 12th of April, 
 87,000 Christians were put to death. The persecu- 
 tion of the Roman emperors were trifles to such 
 wholesale butcheries. During the. two following 
 years the Spaniards and Portuguese were finally ex- 
 pelled. The Eomish priesthood boast that before 
 the first persecution they had made 1,800,000 con- 
 verts, and that in the year that followed it they made 
 12,000, so that in all they had probably converted 
 not far from two millions of Japanese, reckoning 
 among their proselytes several of the vassal princes. 
 The decree which isolated Japan from the rest of 
 the world is as follows : " JSTo Japanese ship or boat 
 whatsoever, nor any native of Japan, shall presume 
 to go out of the country. "Whoso acts contrary to 
 this shall die, and the ship, with the crew and goods 
 aboard, shall be sequestrated till fui'ther orders. All 
 Japanese who return from abroad shall be put to 
 death. "Whoever discovers a Christian priest shall 
 have a reward of from 400 to 500 shuets (from $1,525 
 to $1,905), and for every Christian in proportion. 
 All persons who propagate the doctrine of the Christ- 
 ians (the worship of the Fathers), or bear this scan- 
 dalous name, shall be imprisoned in the Ombra, or 
 common jail of the town. The whole race of the 
 
JAPAN AliTD THE JAPAlfESE. 7 
 
 Portuguese, with their mothers, nurses, and whatever 
 belongs to them, shall be banished to Macao. Who- 
 ever presumes to bring a letter from abroad, or to 
 return after he has been banished, shall die, with all 
 his family ; and whoever presumes to intercede for 
 him shall be put to death. ISTo nobleman, nor any 
 soldier, shall be suffered to purchase anything of a 
 foreigner." 
 
 The Japanese government acted fully up to the 
 letter of its bloody decree of proscription. In 1640, 
 three years after its publication, and the year which 
 immediately followed the practical expulsion of the 
 Portuguese and Spaniards, the Portuguese governor 
 of Macao sent a mission to Japan, which, with its 
 retinue, amounted to seventy-three persons. On 
 their arrival at Nagaski, the whole were arrested, 
 and an order came in due time from the emperor, di- 
 recting them to be beheaded, and it was carried into 
 effect on all but twelve of the meanest persons, re- 
 served for the purpose of carrying back a threaten- 
 ing message, to the effect, that " Should the king of 
 Portugal, nay, the very God of the Christians, pre- 
 sume to enter his dominions, he would serve them in 
 the very same manner." 
 
 The ceremony of trampling on the cross was insti- 
 tuted on the expulsion of the Christians. It seems, 
 however, always to have been confined to those 
 
8 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 parts in whicli the Christians had obtained their 
 chief footing — ^namely, the town of I^agaski, and 
 the provinces of Omura and Bnngo, in the island of 
 Eju-siu. 
 
 The proscription of one particular form of worship, 
 when so many other religions or sects were tolerated, 
 or viewed with indifference, is easily explained. 
 The new religion was propagated bj an energetic 
 race of men, and its votaries inspired with an active 
 zeal unknown to all the old forms of worship. 
 Christianitj, in a word, was proscribed, not on 
 account of its tenets, but on account of the danger 
 apprehended from those who taught it. The perse- 
 cution was not a religious, but a political one. Its 
 ministers and followers threatened the subversion of 
 the native government and the institutions, and the 
 substitution of a foreign yoke. They were deemed 
 guilty of high treason, and punished according to 
 the bloody code of Japan. According to Japanese 
 notions, a dangerous insurrection was suppressed by 
 the extermination of the insurgents. In this matter 
 the Japanese acted with foresight ; for there can be 
 little doubt but that the Portuguese and Spaniards 
 would in due course, and through the instrumentality 
 of religion, have effected the conquest of Japan, 
 unless we suppose them, which is highly improbable, 
 to have acted with a forbearance which neither 
 
JAPAN AJSTD THE JAPANESE. 
 
 Spanish, Dutch, nor English have exhibited in other 
 parts of the East. The Japanese not only saw this, 
 but very plainly expressed it. Thus, when the Span- 
 ish governor of the Philippines, in the year 1597, 
 sent an envoy to the emperor to remonstrate with 
 him respecting the persecution of the Christians, he 
 addressed the Spanish official as follows : " Conceive 
 yourselves in my position, the ruler of a great 
 empire, and suppose certain of my subjects should find 
 their way into your possessions, on the pretence of 
 teaching the doctrine of Sinto. If yon shonld dis- 
 cover their assumed zeal in the cause of religion to 
 be a mere mask for ambitious projects — that their 
 real object was to make themselves masters of your 
 dominions, would you not treat them as traitors to 
 the state ? I hold the Fathers to be traitors to my 
 state, and as snch I treat them." 
 
 The priests of the various ancient forms of worship, 
 a numerous body — ^for in the ecclesiastical capital 
 alone they amounted to 52,169 with 6,020 temples — 
 were equally interested with the government in the 
 suppression of the rival, and to them, dangerous 
 religion. The violence, insolence, and indiscretion of 
 the Fathers, provoked the native priesthood beyond 
 bearing. The Jesuits eulogize one of the converted 
 tributary chiefs for his zeal, alleging that he had 
 destroyed heathen temples, and monasteries, reckoned 
 
10 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 by some at no fewer tlian 3,000. Some of these tri- 
 butary princes even went the length of sending an 
 embassy to the pope, and king of Spain, which the 
 emperor would not fail to consider an act of high 
 treason. About the time that the first edict against 
 Christians was published, the emperor dispatched two 
 imperial commissioners to Father Cuello, demanding 
 an answer and explanation to the following questions : 
 " "Why he and his associates forced their creed on the 
 subjects of the emperor? Why they incited their 
 disciples to destroy the national temples ? Why they 
 persecuted the Bonzes (priests) ? Why they and the 
 rest of their nation used for food animals useful to 
 man, such as oxen and cows ? And finally, why they 
 permitted the merchants of their nation to traffic in 
 his subjects, and carry them away as slaves to the 
 Indies ?" Evasive answers only were given to these 
 demands, but the destruction of the temples and the 
 traffic in slaves were not denied. With such provo- 
 cations as these, we cannot wonder at persecution, 
 although shocked at the ferocity and vindictiveness 
 of the excesses. It is often affirmed, by people of 
 great credit among the Japanese themselves, that 
 pride and covetousness in the first place — pride 
 amongst the great, and covetousness in the people of 
 less note — contributed very much to the fall of the 
 Portuguese by rendering them all odious. In our 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 11 
 
 time the persecution, with the murder of ambassadors, 
 would certainly be avenged by invasion, very proba- 
 bly ending in the conquest of Japan. Even in the 
 seventeenth century Spain would probably have 
 engaged in such an enterprise from the Philippines, 
 had she not about this time been separated from Por- 
 tugal ; and the naval superiority of the Dutch, in 
 alliance with the Japanese, proved an insuperable 
 obstacle. 
 
 The Dutch made their first appearance in Japan in 
 1600, fifty-eight years .after its discovery by the Por- 
 tuguese, and about half a century after the latter 
 nation had been carrying on trade with it. In com- 
 mon with the Portuguese, and eventually with the 
 Spaniards, they carried on an active and profitable in- 
 tercourse, down to the time of the exclusion of these 
 two nations. The seat of commerce was at Firando, 
 in the island of Kiu-siu. When the last persecution 
 of Catholic Christianity was in progress, the Dutch 
 furnished information of the political intrigues of 
 their commercial rivals to the Japanese. They were 
 called upon to assist in destroying the last refuge of 
 the Japanese Christians in Simabarra, in Kiu-siu, and 
 effected with the cannon of their ships what had baf- 
 fled the skill of the imperial forces. This last event 
 happened in 1639, and two years after, imperial 
 commissioners arrived in Firando to remonstrate with 
 
12 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 them respecting what appeared to be very venial 
 proceedings. They were addressed : " In former 
 times, it was well known to us, that you both served 
 Christ, but on account of the bitter enmity you ever 
 bore each other, we imagined there were two Christs. 
 ^NTow, however, the emperor is assured to the con- 
 trary. ISTow, he knows you both serve one and the 
 same Christ. From any indication of serving him 
 you must in future forbear. Moreover, in certain 
 buildings which you have newly erected, there is a 
 date carved, which is reckoned from the birth of 
 Christ. These buildings you must raze to the ground 
 forthwith." The order was incontinently complied 
 with ; but their prompt obedience did not save the 
 Dutch from being removed in 1641 from Firando 
 and its comparative liberty to the virtual imprison- 
 ment on the island of Dezima in the harbor of 'Na- 
 gaski. 
 
 In 1613 we have the first authentic information of 
 the English having attempted an intercourse with 
 Japan ; but it is certain, from the accurate informa- 
 tion concerning the country, that they must have fre- 
 quented it much earlier. "William Adams, an English- 
 man, who acted as pilot to the first Dutch vessel 
 that arrived at Japan, and had settled there, induced 
 his countrymen to establish a trade. Accordingly, a 
 ship called the Clove, commanded by Captain John 
 
JAPAN AJSro THE JAPANESE. 13 
 
 Sares, was dispatched for Japan, and reached Eiran- 
 do on the 11th June, 1613. Adams, who stood high 
 in favor, obtained for his countrymen a most favorable 
 reception, and, in a letter to the king of England, the 
 emperor desires " the continuance of friendship with 
 your highness — and that it may stand with your good 
 liking to send your subjects to any part of our 
 dominions, where they shall be most heartily wel- 
 come ; applauding much their worthiness in the 
 admirable knowledge of navigation, having with 
 much facility discovered a country so remote, being 
 no whit amazed with the distance of so mighty a 
 gulf, nor greatness of such infinite clouds and storms, 
 from prosecuting honorable enterprises of discoveries 
 and merchandising — wherein they shall find me to 
 further them according to their desires." The Eng- 
 lish, however, did not succeed, and after ten years' 
 trial, in which they expended $200,000, they with- 
 drew from the country. In 1653, a fruitless attempt 
 was made to renew the British intercourse with 
 Japan, said to have been defeated by the Dutch 
 informing the Japanese that the queen of England 
 was a daughter of the king of Portugal. The failure 
 is not to be regretted, since it is certain that under 
 the influence of a monopoly, such as that of the East 
 India Company, trade could not have prospered in 
 Japan, or anywhere else. 
 
14 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 It is not necessary to advert to any of the subse- 
 quent small and futile attempts made to open an 
 intercourse with long locked Japan, since they are 
 all superseded by the more successful attempt recent- 
 ly made by the government of this country. 
 
 To the United States of America belongs the 
 credit of having been the first to reestablish commer- 
 cial relations with Japan. The increased traffic of 
 that part of the world, particularly between eastern 
 Asia and northwestern America, and the importance 
 of the whale fishery in the Japanese seas, rendered it 
 very desirable to have free access to at least some of 
 the ports of Japan. Hepeated attempts had been 
 made by England, Eussia, and the United States 
 without success, when at length the United States 
 government resolved to make an effort worthy of the 
 object, and accordingly fitted out an expedition 
 under Commodore M. C. Perry. The commodore 
 sailed from ITorfolk, m the Mississippi war-steamer, 
 on the 24th of E'ovember, 1852, to be followed as 
 soon as possible by the other vessels of the expedi- 
 tion. He arrived at the Bay of Yeddo on July 8th, 
 1853, with four vessels, two war-steamers and two 
 sloops-of-war, and after some negotiations he de- 
 livered the letter of the President, promising to 
 return for an answer in the spring. The rest of the 
 year was spent at Loo Choo and China, and on the 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 15 
 
 12th of February, 1854, the squadron reappeared in 
 the Bay of Yeddo, having by this time been increased 
 to nine vessels, three steam frigates, four sloops-of- 
 war, and two store ships. A treaty was concluded on 
 the 31st of March, in terms ctf which the ports 
 Simoda in the island of Mpon, and Hakodadi in 
 Yesso, are opened for the reception of American 
 ships, where they will be supplied with wood, water, 
 provisions, coal, and other articles, so far as the 
 Japanese possess . them. Ships in distress, or from 
 stress of weather, may enter other ports ; and seamen 
 shipwrecked on any part of the coast are to be aided 
 and carried either to Simoda or Hakodadi. Seamen 
 and others temporarily residing at these ports are, at 
 Simoda, free to go anywhere within the limits of 17 
 miles from a small island in the harbor, and in like 
 manner at Hakodadi within 12 miles. Ships of the 
 United States are also permitted to trade under such 
 regulations as shall be temporarily established by the 
 Japanese government for the purpose. All the 
 privileges that may hereafter be granted to any 
 other nation, are to be accorded to the United States, 
 and an embassy sent from the emperor of Japan to 
 the President — ^which embassy, under one pretence 
 or another, has been delayed for six years, and only 
 now reached our shores. 
 
 About six months after the American treaty was 
 
16 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 concluded, an English squadron, consisting of a fri- 
 gate and three steamers, under the command of Kear 
 Admiral Sir James Stirling, entered JSTagaski. The 
 primary object of this visit to Japan was to search 
 for Kussian vessels,* but it was also intended to 
 attempt to establish friendly relations between the 
 two nations. A treaty was entered into, the effect 
 of which is to open absolutely to British ships of 
 every description, for effecting repairs, and obtaining 
 fresh water, provisions and other supplies, two of 
 the most convenient harbors in Japan — ^Nagaski 
 and Hakodadi — to open inferentially to British ships 
 in distress any other port in Japan it may be expe- 
 dient for them to seek shelter in ; to secure eventually 
 to British ships and subjects in every port in Japan 
 which may hereafter be open to foreigners, equal 
 advantages with the ships, citizens, or subjects, of 
 the most favored nation — excepting only the advan- 
 tages at present accorded to the Dutch and Chinese. 
 It imposes in return for these concessions no other 
 obligation than that of respecting the laws and ordi- 
 nances of the ports entered. The Russians and 
 French have since succeeded in obtaining a similar 
 footing in Japan. 
 
 The empire of Japan consists of a chain of islands 
 lying off the eastern coast of Asia, and extending 
 southeast and northwest between latitudes 31° and 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 11 
 
 48° and east longitude 129° and 150°. Inclosed 
 between this chain and the opposite coasts of Corea 
 and Manchu Tartar j, is the Sea of Japan, which 
 communicates by means of straits with the Chinese 
 Sea on the south, the Pacific Ocean on the east, and 
 the Sea of Okhotsk on the north. To the east Japan 
 has no nearer land than California, 5,000 miles off ; 
 the nearest port of China is 420 miles, and Kam- 
 tschatka 270 miles distant. The word Japan is pro- 
 bably a corruption of the Chinese name, Jih-pun-quo, 
 that is. Kingdom of the Source of the Sun, or Eastern 
 Ejngdom. Marco Polo, who, as has been stated, was 
 the first to bring intelligence of it to Europe, and who 
 acquired his information in China, called it Zipanga. 
 The Japanese name is Nipon, or l^ifon — that is " Sun 
 Source." 
 
 The empire i§ divided into Japan proper — consist- 
 ing of the three large islands of Nipon, Kiu-siu, and 
 Sitkokf. Nipon, the largest and more important of 
 the group, and that which gives name to the whole 
 dmpire, has an estimated era of 100,000 square miles ; 
 its length being more than 900 miles, while its 
 average breadth exceeds 100. It is about one-fifth 
 part larger than Great Britain. Its form is that of a 
 curve or crescent, with the concave side toward the 
 mainland. South of Nipon, and separated from it 
 by a narrow channel, is the island of Kiu-siu, or 
 
18 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 Ximo, about 200 miles in length and about 30 in 
 average breadth, thus containing an area of about 
 16,000 -square miles. Lying northeast of Kiu-siu, and 
 eastward of the southern extremity of Nipon, is the 
 island of Sitkokf, or Sikoko, about 150 miles in length 
 by 70 in average breadth. It is separated from 
 ISTipon by a long strait, in some parts not more than a 
 mile in width, and from Kiu-siu by Bungo Channel, 
 which is about thirty miles broad. ]^orth of Nipon 
 is the large island of Y esso, a conquest and colony of 
 the empire. Its form is that of an irregular triangle, 
 and its area is computed at 20,000 square miles. The 
 southern portions of the island of Krafto, or Sagalien, 
 which is separated from Yesso by the strait of 
 Perouse, and the three southermost of the Kurile 
 Islands belong to Japan. 
 
 The small islands that surround these are generally 
 rocky and barren, but occasionally rich and fruitful. 
 The entire number of islands composing the empire 
 of Japan is estimated above 1,000, and the area of t^e 
 whole at no less than 170,000 square miles. The 
 coasts are difficult of access, not only from the multi- 
 tude of rocks and islets which beset the passages, but 
 also from the severe gales which agitate these narrow 
 seas. Several dangerous whirlpools also occur among 
 the rocks. It has been remarked that nature seems 
 to have designed these islands to be a sort of little 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 19 
 
 world, secluded and independent from the rest, as well 
 hj rendering it dangerous to approach their shores, 
 as bj endowing them plentifully with everything 
 necessary for luxury and comfort, and thus enabling 
 them to subsist without any commerce with other 
 nations. The Japanese policy, which rigidly forbids 
 all intercourse with strangers, in other circumstances 
 impracticable, has been greatly facilitated by the 
 interposition of these barriers. 
 
 The climate of Japan must vary considerably 
 between its northern and southern extremities ; but 
 except at a few points, we possess very little informa- 
 tion on the subject. At IN'agaska, in the island of 
 Kiu-siu, latitude 33°, the average temperature in the 
 month of January was 35°, and in August 98° of 
 Fahrenheit. At this place the weather is very 
 changeable. Rain is frequent at all seasons of the 
 year, but especially in the months of July and August. 
 In December and January the ground is covered 
 with hoar frost, and occasionally with snow except in 
 mild winters. In summer the land is cooled by the 
 sea breeze which blows from the south during the 
 day and from the east at night. At Simoda, on the 
 island of I^ipon, in latitude 34° 39', we learn from 
 the account of the American expedition that the 
 climate was more or less variable in the winter and 
 spring. 
 
20 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 The presence of snow upon the lofty peaks, although 
 there is seldom frost or snow at Simoda itself, and 
 not unfrequent rains and fogs, give an occasional 
 humidity and rareness to the atmosphere, which is 
 chilly to the senses, and must he productive of in- 
 flammatory diseases, such as are frequent in spring 
 and winter with us. The change of wind alternates 
 often between the warm sea-breezes from the south, 
 and the cold blasts from the snow-capped mountains 
 inland, and produces the usual effects of such varia- 
 tions. In summer it is occasionally very hot in the 
 daytime, but the nigjits are refreshed with cool 
 breezes. From April 19 to May 13, a record of 
 the thermometer gives 72° as the highest, and 58° as 
 the lowest point ; and of the barometer 29° 38', and 
 30°. A Eussian officer, who was for two years a 
 prisoner at Hakodadi, in Yesso, latitude 41° 49', says 
 that the lakes freeze, snow lies in the valleys and 
 plains from ITovember to April, and falls in as great 
 abundance as at St. Petersburg. Severe frosts are 
 uncommon, yet the temperature is often two degrees 
 below the freezing point. In summer, the rain pours 
 in torrents at least twice a week, the horizon is ob- 
 scured by dark clouds, violent winds blow, and the 
 fog is scarcely ever dispersed. Apples, pears, and 
 peaches hardly attain ripeness, and the orajige and 
 lemon will not bear fruit. Of the climate of the still 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 21 
 
 more northern part of the empire we have no precise 
 account ; but the same authority informs us, that on 
 the coast of Sagalien, which is but little further 
 north than Paris, the sea is not clear of ice so early 
 as the Gulf of Finland. Fogs are very prevalent in 
 Japan, and thunder storms are frequent. 
 
 The surface of the principal islands is in general 
 very irregular, though in the interior some plains of 
 very considerable extent occur. In many places hills 
 descend close to the seashore, or leave only a narrow 
 strip of land between the water and their bases. The 
 highest mountain is said to be Fuzi, an extinct vol- 
 cano, on the island of Nipon, westward of the bay of 
 Yeddo. Its summit is clad in perpetual snow, thus 
 indicating a height of not less than 12,000 feet above 
 the level of the sea. Several mountains of consider- 
 able elevation are seen to rise in the northern part of 
 Nipon, in Yesso, and in Sagalien, and some of them 
 are active volcanoes. Besides the outburst of frequent 
 volcanic eruptions, no country is more frequently vis- 
 ited by destructive earthquakes. Earthquakes are 
 said to be so frequent that, the natives regard them no 
 more than we do ordinary storms. In 1586 a suc- 
 cession of earthquakes took place, and lasted forty 
 days, causing the destruction of the best part of the 
 city of Yeddo, and the death, it is alleged, of 200,000 
 of its inhabitants. Many volcanic eruptions and se- 
 
22 JAPAN AJSTD THE JAPANESE. 
 
 vere earthquakes are recorded as having taken place 
 between that time and the present. In December, 
 1854, an earthquake which occurred, was felt on the 
 whole coast. Of the town of Simoda only a few tem- 
 ples and private edifices, that stood on elevated spots, 
 escaped destruction. The fine city of Osaca, on the 
 southeastern side of IS^ipon, was completely destroyed, 
 and the capital of Yeddo did not escape without in- 
 jury. On the 10th of N'ovember, 1855, an earth- 
 quake at Yeddo is said to have caused the destruction 
 of 100,000 dwellings, and 54 temples, and the death 
 of 30,000 persons. 
 
 The rivers are numerous, but short, shallow, and 
 rapid. They are not navigable for vessels of burden, 
 but some of them may be ascended, by small boats, 
 for some miles from the sea. The principal lake in 
 Japan, is that of Oitz, in the southern part of IsTipon. 
 It is about 60 miles in length, but of inconsiderable 
 breadth. 
 
 Little is at present known of the geological forma- 
 tion of the Japanese islands. The volcanic formation 
 appears to prevail, but by no means to the exclusion 
 of the sedimentary. The usual mineral products, as 
 far as yet known, are gold, silver, copper, quicksilver, 
 tin, lead, iron, coal, sulphur and salt. With the ex- 
 ception of tin and iron, these seem to be very abund- 
 ant. The gold is found in many parts of the empire, 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 2«$ 
 
 sometimes as ore, and sometimes from the washings 
 of the earth and sand. Silver is equally plentiful 
 with gold, and it is probable that the quantity of 
 these metals annually exported from the country,- 
 when the trade was open, amounted to $7,000,000, or • 
 $8,000,000. Copper abounds throughout the whole 
 group, and sometimes of a quality not to be surpassed 
 by any in the world. The natives refine it, and cast 
 it into cylinders about a foot long and an inch thick. 
 Iron ore, rich enough for the purpose of smelting, 
 appears to be confined to three provinces, and the 
 metal is consequently very dear. Lead and quicksil- 
 ver are said to be abundant, but they have never 
 been an article of export. Tin has been discovered 
 in small quantities, and of a quality so fine and white 
 that it almost equals silver ; but of the extent to 
 which it may be procured, little is known, as the Ja- 
 panese do not attach much value to it. Sulphur is so 
 abundant, that in many places it lies in broad, deep 
 beds, and may be dug up and removed with as much 
 ease as sand. Coal is found in many parts of the 
 country ; the mines are skillfully worked, and it is 
 used for fuel by the people. ISTo diamonds have been 
 found ; but agates, carnelians, and jaspers are met 
 with, some of them of great beauty. Pearls, often 
 of great size and beauty, are fished up on nearly all 
 parts of the coast. 
 
24 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 The vegetable productions of Japan are, for the 
 most part, those common to temperate regions. Tim- 
 ber is, however, so scarce that no one is permitted to 
 cut down a tree without permission from thg magis- 
 • trate, and only on condition of planting a young one 
 in its stead. The most common forest trees are the 
 fir and cedar, the latter growing to an immense size, 
 being sometimes more than eighteen feet in diameter. 
 Two species of oak are found in the northern part of 
 the empire. The mulberry grows wild, in great 
 abimdance. In the south the bamboo cane, though 
 a tropical plant, is found, and largely used in manu- 
 factures of various sorts. The camphor-tree is very 
 valuable, and lives to a great age. The camphor is 
 made from a decoction of the roots and stems, cut in 
 small pieces. Chestnut and walnut-trees are both 
 found. Among the fruit-trees, are the orange, lemon, 
 fig, plum, cherry and apricot. 
 
 Extensive cultivation leaves no room for wild ani- 
 mals, and the tame animals not being used for food, 
 are not multiplied beyond the necessity for their use. 
 The horses are small, but hardy, durable and active. 
 William Adams, an English mariner, already men- 
 tioned, of the time of King James I., describes them 
 as " not tall, but of the size of our middling nags, 
 short and well trust, small headed and very full of 
 metal, in my opinion far exceeding the Spanish jennet 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. ^S 
 
 in pride and stomach." Oxen and cows are onlj used 
 in ploughing and carriage, milk and butter not being 
 articles of food. Buffaloes of an extraordinary size, 
 with hunches on their backs, like camels, are used to 
 draw carts, and cany heavy goods on their backs. 
 Swine are a great item of trade with the Chinese. 
 Dogs are to be found in large numbers, in the half 
 domesticated state in which they generally exist in 
 the East. This is not true, however, of one species 
 resembling a Xing Charles spaniel, which is consid- 
 ered very valuable. It is conjectured that the variety 
 known to us may have sprung from some presented 
 by the emperor to the king of England. The wild 
 animals are bears, boars, foxes, monkeys, deer and 
 hares. Rats and mice are very common, as well as 
 two small species of weasel, or ichneumon, which 
 live, half tame, under the eaves of houses. 
 
 Wild fowl are very abundant, consisting chiefly of 
 geese and ducks, which migrate in great numbers to 
 the shores of Japan, in winter. ISTumerous species 
 of pigeons are to be found, and woodcocks, pheas- 
 ants, snipes, larks, etc., are common. There are two 
 species of pheasant, and one of peacock, peculiar to 
 Japan. Domestic poultry are kept by the natives 
 almost solely for ornament or amusement. Some of 
 the reptilia are of large size, and along with the in- 
 
 2 
 
26 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 sect tribes, are dreaded for their deadly and destruc- 
 tive powers. 
 
 The Japanese are an active, vigorous people, of the 
 middle size, and in their bodily and mental powers, 
 more closely assimilated to Europeans than Asiatics. 
 The common people are of a yellow color, which 
 sometimes borders on brown, and sometimes on white. 
 The classes which expose the upper parts of their 
 bodies in summer, have their naturally fair complex- 
 ion deepened into brown. Their dark brown eyes are 
 oblong, small, and sunk deep in their head. The 
 eyelids forming a deep furrow, gives them the appear- 
 ance of being keen-sighted. Their heads are large, 
 and their necks short, their hair black and glossy 
 with oil. Their noses, without being flat, are yet 
 rather thick and short. The ladies of distinction, who 
 seldom go out in the open air without being covered, 
 jire perfectly white, and the cheeks of the young dis- 
 play a blooming carnation color. The married women 
 of Japan dye the teeth black, by means of a corrosive 
 composition, so powerful that by mere touch it burns 
 the flesh into a purple, gangrenous spot, and in spite 
 of the utmost care in the application, invariably taints 
 the gums, destroying their ruddy color and vitality. 
 With the exception of the black teeth, of those who 
 are married, the Japanese women are not ill-looking. 
 The young girls are well formed, and rather pretty. 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 27 
 
 In the ordinary mutual intercourse of friends and 
 families, the women have their share, and rounds of 
 visiting and tea-parties are kept up as briskly in Ja- 
 pan as in the United States. Superficial observation 
 led to the belief that Japan was colonized by the 
 Chinese ; but a more accurate knowledge of the phy- 
 sical characteristics and language of the people, has 
 rendered this opinion untenable. Indeed, the Japan- 
 ese themselves consider it a great disgrace to be com- 
 pared with the Chinese. The structure of the lan- 
 guages of the two countries is essentially different ; 
 that of Japan being polysyllabic, while all the dia- 
 lects of the Chinese are monosyllabic. It is true 
 that, like the Latin in Europe during the middle ages, 
 the Mandarin dialect of the Chinese is in use among 
 the learned in Japan, as in Corea, Yonquin, and else- 
 where : and hence many Chinese words have found 
 their way into the Japanese language ; but the intro- 
 duction of these only makes the structural differ- 
 ence the more apparent. The Yomi, or primitive 
 language of Japan, is used in poetry and works of 
 light literature. The Chinese language, slightly va- 
 ried in pronunciation, is employed by the Bonzes, or 
 priests, in their religious books. The vulgar language 
 of the country is a mixture of the two. Close affini- 
 ties have not been traced between the Yomi of Japan 
 and other Asiatic languages. By some it is thought to 
 
5i» JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 be most like tlie language of the Tartar race, to whicli, 
 in spite of diversity in physical characteristics, it is now 
 most commonly believed that the Japanese belong. 
 
 In regard to the population of Japan, all our in- 
 formation rests merely on conjecture. Some travel- 
 lers have estimated it at 10,000,000, while others 
 make it more than four or five times that amount. 
 All, however, who have visited the country bear testi- 
 mony to the populousness of the parts seen by them. 
 Taking the average of the population of divisions of 
 India — countries which, in nearly the same latitudes, 
 when taken together, combine the -principal features 
 of the Japanese territory — we obtain 225 persons to 
 the square mile as an excee^ngly probable basis for 
 calculating the population of Japan. This, in round 
 numbers, would give the population of the four princi- 
 pal Japanese islands as 39,900,000. Taking the average 
 all over China, according to the last census, as the 
 basis of calculation, which gives 268 to the square 
 mile, we would have a Japanese population 'of 
 42,000,000. The checks to this exuberant population 
 are infanticide, which though prohibited by law is 
 openly practised ; and public prostitution, which is 
 legalized. Pestilences, and occasional famines have 
 periodically thinned a country wholly dependent on 
 its own resources. 
 
 The Japanese are divided into classes, which are 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 29 
 
 all hereditary : a state of society that has a close re- 
 semblance to that of the Hindoos, while it differs 
 widely from that of the Chinese. These classes, ex- 
 clusive of the imperial families, are : 1st, The here- 
 ditary vassal princes of the empire ; 2d, The here- 
 ditary nobility, who hold the lands as fiefs subject to 
 military service to some one of the hereditary princes ; 
 3d, The priests ; 4th, The military, or soldiers of the 
 nobility ; 5th, The professional classes, including in- 
 ferior officials, medical practitioners, and the like; 
 6th, Tbe mercantile class, comprising all merchants 
 and traders; 7th, The artisan class, including all 
 crafts; and 8th, Unskilled laborers, including pea- 
 sants, fishermen, and sailors. To this last class be- 
 longs the great mass of the people, who are, in fact, 
 in a condition of villenage, and in so far as they are 
 rural laborers, mere occupants. To these may be 
 added a Pariah class, consisting of all persons dealing 
 in leather, skins, and peltry, and who, from their 
 constant contact with deai animal matter, are deemed 
 in a state of perpetual j^Uution. They are not per- 
 mitted to dwell among the rest of the people, and 
 must live in villages by themselves. They dare not 
 even enter an inn, tea-house, or any place of public 
 entertainment ; and no Japanese, not of their own class, 
 would even touch or use a vessel out of which they 
 had taken food. From them are taken the jailers 
 
30 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 and executioners. The first fonr classes have the 
 privilege of wearing two swords, the fifth of wearing 
 one, and all the five of wearing a particular kind of 
 trowsers forbidden to the rest. Although the rankg 
 of each are closed against the others, it does not ap- 
 pear that the line of class separation is always imj)as- 
 sable. The most illustrious of all the secular emperors 
 who reigned toward the end of the sixteenth century, 
 rose to the throne from being a hewer and carrier of 
 wood, from the mere force of superior endowment. 
 
 The form of government in Japan resembles, in no 
 small degree, the feudal system of medieval Europe. 
 The sovereign power is lodged in a supreme ruler, 
 but the greater part of the country is subject to vassal 
 princes, who pay tribute or render military service to 
 the lord paramount. 'Not only every institution but 
 nearly every office is hereditary, descending from 
 father to son. According to Japanese history, a sin- 
 gle race of sovereigns, reputed to be descended from 
 the gods, governed the empire for 1800 years' to 
 A.D. 1195, when the then commander of the army 
 while engaged in suppressing a rebellion, usurped the 
 greater part of the secular power, leaving to the law- 
 ful sovereign little more than the spiritual. Hence 
 rose the singular government which still exists, con- 
 sisting of two sovereigns, the one invested with the 
 whole secular power, the other only with the ecclesi- 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 31 
 
 astical. Both princes have separate courts or capitals, 
 the spiritual chief residing in Miako, the temporal in 
 Yeddo. The former, thongh nominally supreme, has 
 not a particle of temporal power, being literally, from 
 birth to death, shut up at Miako, in his little princi- 
 pality of Kioto, with the revenues of which, and the 
 presents sent him by the temporal ruler, called the 
 Siogun, or Ticoon, or Kubo Sama, he must be con- 
 tent. Even the government of his own principality 
 is in the hands of some grandee of his court, so that 
 there never lived a sovereign having less of the attri- 
 butes of sovereignty. He is visited with great pomp 
 once in seven years by the Siogun. Whatever may 
 have at one time been the power of the Siogun or 
 Ticoon, it is certain that it is now very much cii'cum- 
 Bcribed; indeed, he is as much subject to laws as the 
 meanest of his subjects. The real power of the em- 
 pire is chiefly vested in the grand council of thirteen 
 members, five belonging to the first class of society, 
 the hereditary vassal princes, and the remaining eight 
 to the second class, the nobility below the rank of 
 princes. The chief or president of this council has 
 the title of " Governor of the Empire," and in him is 
 vested the supreme power. He decides upon all af- 
 fairs of moment, appoints the various officers, and 
 receives returns from all the authorities of the offices. 
 His office appears to be hereditary. The grand coun- 
 
32 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 cil has even the power of dethroning the emperor. 
 Important resolutions of the council are always laid 
 before him, and he generally assents without investi- 
 gation or delay ; but should he not at once grant his 
 assent, or disapprove of a measure, it is immediately 
 referred to the arbitration of the three princes of the 
 royal blood most nearly related to the Siogun, and 
 their decision is final. If they differ in opinion from 
 the monarch he must instantly relinquish the throne 
 to his son, or some other heir, without even the power 
 to retract. K, on the contrary, tliey agree with him, 
 the member of council who proposed the rejected 
 measure must die, and not unfrequently all who sup- 
 ported him. It has thus sometimes happened that 
 the whole council, with the governor of the empire 
 at their head, have been obliged by suicide to atone 
 for a mistake in national policy. The vassal prince 
 still exercises a kind of sovereign power within his 
 own territories. Formerly the kingdom was sub-divided 
 into sixty-six or sixty-eight principalities, which had 
 previously formed independent kingdoms, and con- 
 tinued as principalities under the rule of their respec- 
 tive princes, subject however to forfeiture in the case 
 of rebellion or treason. This penalty of forfeiture 
 having been incurred by many of the reigning princes, 
 advantage was taken of the circumstance to split the 
 forfeited principalities into fragments, so that, instead 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 33 
 
 of the original number, there are now no less than six 
 hundred and four distinct administrations, including 
 principalities, lordships, imperial provinces, and im- 
 perial towns, of which last the Siogun himself is the 
 ruling lord. The chief danger to the empire lies in 
 these princes, and accordingly strange and harassing 
 means are employed to restrain their power. Their 
 families are kept at court as hostages, and they them- 
 selves are obliged to pass half the year on every alter- 
 nate year there, while they are kept poor by the large 
 contingent of troops which they are compelled to fur- 
 nish. They are allowed to exercise scarcely any 
 function of administration, that is not merely ceremo- 
 nial, the real administration being conducted by de- 
 puties appointed by the imperial council, two for 
 each province. To secure the fidelity even of these, 
 their families must constantly reside at Yeddo, the 
 capital, while they themselves reside alternately at 
 the capital and in the provinces. Besides these the 
 princes are continually surrounded by numerous pri- 
 vate spies, who, unknown to them, watch their domes- 
 tic as well as public proceedings. In fact, the em- 
 perors, the governor of the empire, grand counsellors, 
 vassal princes, down even to the humblest citizens, 
 are all under the eye of a secret police. Every city 
 or town is divided into groups of five families, and 
 every member is held personally responsible for the 
 
34: JAPAN Airo THE JAPAMESE. 
 
 conduct of the whole. Everything, therefore, that 
 occurs in one of these families, out of the usual course, 
 is instantly reported to the authorities by the other 
 four to save themselves from censure. Such are the 
 means by which an extensive but essentially feeble 
 empire is held together, and hence arises the unalter- 
 able nature of the laws and customs. A governor, a 
 lord, a prince, knows that if he attempts any altera- 
 tions whatever, he will be instantly denounced by his 
 colleague or secretary as a violator of the established 
 usages of the empire, and the punishment of this crime 
 is death. The same fear of the same inevitable doom 
 deters the common people from making the slightest 
 degree of change. 
 
 Thus a people naturally frank, and possessed of a 
 high sense of honor, have become in public life cun- 
 ning, treacherous and mean. The men of all classes 
 are said to be exceedingly courteous, and although 
 inquisitive about strangers, never becoming offen- 
 sively intrusive. The rigid exclusiveness in' re- 
 gard to foreigners is a law merely enacted by the 
 government from motives of policy, and not a senti- 
 ment of the Japanese people. Their habits are social 
 among themselves. They have the cliaracter, from 
 all travellers, of being very industrious, and perse- 
 vering. They are satisfied with little, and live prin- 
 cipally on vegetables, rice and fish. "Water is their 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 35 
 
 common drink. Although essentially an abstemious 
 people, they are not averse, occasionally, to strong 
 potations. The lower orders frequently drink to ex- 
 cess on holidays, but the sin of drunkenness is far less 
 common than among ourselves. 
 
 Woman is recognized as a companion, and not 
 treated as a slave. Her position is certainly not so 
 elevated as among Christian nations, but the fact of 
 the non-existence of polygamy is a distinctive feature 
 which preeminently characterizes the Japanese as 
 the most moral and refined of all the Eastern people. 
 Concubinage, however, is common ; and prostitution 
 prevails to a very great extent. Public bagnios are 
 licensed, and open from sunset to sunrise ; their 
 keepers rank with merchants, and are entitled to wear 
 one sword and the distinguishing trowsers. One of 
 the temples of Yenus, at Yeddo, is as magnificent as a 
 prince's palace, and contains 600 priestesses. It would 
 appear, however, that there is something like moral 
 revenge on the keepers of these establishments after 
 death, for when they die, a bridle of straw is put in 
 their mouths, and their bodies dragged through the 
 streets to a dunghill, where they are left to be de- 
 voured by dogs. Captain Saris gave this very same 
 account 200 years ago. The women of the lower 
 order are frequently seen engaged in field labor, and 
 employments which in other countries are considered 
 
36 JAPAJPT AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 to belong specially to the stronger sex, showing the 
 general industry, and necessity of keeping every 
 hand employed in this populous empire. All along 
 the coast, says old Adams, " we found women divers 
 that lived with their household and families in boats. 
 These women would catch fish by diving, which the 
 net and lines had missed, and that in eight fathoms 
 deep." 
 
 The Japanese are distinguished by their neat, clean 
 and orderly habits. They are very particular in 
 keeping themselves, their clothes and houses clean 
 and neat. The bath is in frequent use, their inns 
 and houses being furnished with cold, hot and vapor 
 baths. Their highways are good, and swept with a 
 degree of regularity and nicety which it would be 
 well for our city authorities to imitate. The distances 
 are marked by posts, and, where practicable, the 
 rivers crossed by bridges. Along the roads are 
 numerous inns for the accommodation of travellers. 
 Adams, on one occasion, accompanied the prince 
 of Firando to the capital, who had with him a train 
 of 3,000 persons, and he thus describes the hospitality 
 of the march : "Such good order was taken for the 
 passing and providing for these 3,000 soldiers, that 
 no man either travelling or inhabiting upon the way 
 where they lodged was any way injured by them, 
 but chiefly entertained them as their guests, because 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 37 
 
 they paid for what they took as all other men did. 
 Every town and village upon the way being well 
 fitted with cooks and victualling houses, where they 
 might at an instant have what they needed, and 
 diet themselves from a penny English a meal to two 
 shillings a meal." 
 
 The Japanese at one time enjoyed a high reputa- 
 tion among Eastern nations for courage and military 
 prowess. This, however, is no longer the case ; and 
 we suspect they wiU be found an essentially feeble 
 and pusillanimous people. They are said to be 
 deficient in courage, and in the art of war mere 
 children. This can scarcely fail to be the case with 
 a people who, by all accounts, have enjoyed peace 
 external and internal for more than two centuries. 
 A courageous and patient endurance of pain and 
 suffering, and even a contempt for death, we know 
 to be quite consistent with a lack of active aggressive 
 courage. 
 
 Of the Japanese army little is known, except that 
 it is very numerous, and that the military, like other 
 classes, are hereditary. The officers and commanders, 
 however, do not belong to the military order, but are 
 princes and nobles, from which we may infer that 
 the spirit and discipline of the Japanese army are 
 not of a very high order. It consists of two classes, 
 the soldiers of the emperor, and those of the vassal 
 
36 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 princes, the former being considered the better or- 
 ganized. Both consist of infantry and cavalry, 
 armed with swords, lances, and bow and arrow, and 
 occasionally with a matchlock. 
 
 The Japanese laws are very short and intelligible, 
 and the proceedings under them are as simple as the 
 laws themselves. There are no professional lawyers, 
 every man being deemed competent to plead his own 
 case. If a person is aggrieved, he appeals to the 
 magistrate, who summons the other person before 
 him. The case is then stated by the complainant in 
 his own way, and the accused is heard in reply. The 
 magistrate examines witnesses, and is said frequently 
 to display great acuteness in the detection of false- 
 hood. He passes sentence, from which there is no 
 appeal, and it is carried into execution instanter. If 
 the matter in dispute be of great importance, the 
 magistrate may refer it to the emperor in council. 
 Sometimes, in trifling cases, he orders the parties to 
 go and settle the matter privately with the aid: of 
 friends, and it is well understood that it must be 
 settled, or unpleasant consequences will result. 
 
 There is no country, not even excepting China, in 
 which human life seems to be less valued than in 
 Japan, whether by the government or the people 
 themselves. Capital punishments extend even to the 
 slightest offences, and suicide is not only frequent, 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE 6\) 
 
 but is considered meritorious. Disembowelling is 
 the usual manner of committing suicide, and is per- 
 formed by making two incisions in the form of a 
 cross over the abdomen, while a trusty follower 
 stands behind to complete the work by decapitation. 
 Public executions are usually performed by behead- 
 ing ; crucifixion is also a mode in use. After execu- 
 tion, the bystanders amuse themselves by trying their 
 own skill and the temper of their swords upon the 
 corpse. 
 
 The great source of revenue in Japan is the rent 
 of land, with an impost on houses, in the manner of a 
 ground rent. There appears to be no tax on articles 
 of consumption, no capitation tax, and no transit 
 duties. The cultivators of the soil appear to be mere 
 villeins. On lands belonging to the crown, the pro- 
 portion of the crop considered rent is four parts in 
 ten, and on the rest, six in ten, most commonly the 
 latter. These proportions apply to every kind of 
 crop — corn, pulses, and cotton. In order to deter- 
 mine the rent, the land is surveyed by sworn ap- 
 praisers twice a year, once before the seed is sown, 
 and again immediately after harvest. Those who 
 cultivate untilled ground, have the crop for two or 
 three years. Among their many excellent laws 
 relating to agriculture, one is, that whosoever does 
 not cultivate his ground for the term of one year, 
 
4:0 JAPAInT AI^D the JAPANESE. 
 
 forfeits his possession. It would appear from the 
 proportion of crop taken as rent, that the impost on 
 the land does not materially diifer from that assumed 
 as land-tax under the Mohammedan government of 
 Hindostan, and continued, in most parts of that 
 country, by the British. This will enable us to 
 make an approximate estimate of the rental of 
 Japan — that is, of the principal source of its public 
 income. This, of course, will suppose a similar con- 
 dition of society and rate of population in Japan and 
 the country with which it is compared. Let us take, 
 therefore, the same Indian territories by which we 
 have attempted to estimate the population. These 
 districts have, in round numbers, a population of 
 46,000,000, and yield a land-tax of $50,000,000. 
 This proportion would give Japan, with its estimated 
 population of 40,000,000, a rental of $43,500,000 to 
 be divided between the imperial government, feu- 
 datory princes, hereditary nobles, and soldiery. To 
 the rent of land is to be added the ground rent of the 
 houses, which is said to be at the rate of forty cents 
 for each fathom of frontage, without regard to depth, 
 unless it exceed fifteen fathoms, when the rate is 
 doubled. Estimating the houses in the towns to con- 
 tain an average of five inhabitants each, and also five 
 fathoms of frontage, would give the income from this 
 source at more than $16,500,000 ; or, adding this to 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 41 
 
 the land-rent, would make the annual revenue of the 
 empire about $60,000,000. 
 
 The Japanese being chiefly dependent on the soil 
 for subsistence, have arrived at a high state of perfec- 
 tion in the art of agriculture. Though the greater 
 part of the country is hilly or mountainous, and the 
 soil in general rather poor, yet almost every available 
 foot of land is cultivated, and very abundant crops 
 are raised. Where the land is inaccessible to the 
 plough it is cultivated by manual labor. Like the 
 Chinese, they pay great attention to manuring and 
 irrigation. As animal food constitutes hardly any 
 part of their subsistence, no pastures or meadows are 
 to be seen. Rice constitutes the main object of agri- 
 culture, as it forms the bread corn of the people from 
 one end of the empire to the other. Its cultivation ex- 
 tends to the island of Yesso, and as far as forty-five de- 
 grees of north latitude. The rice of Japan is known 
 to excel every other of Asia. From it the inhabitants 
 distill a drink, in very great use among them, called 
 " saki." Wheat and barley are grown, but the 
 former is not much used, and the latter chiefly as 
 provender for cattle. Rye, maize, and millet are also 
 raised. Beans and peas of diflerent kinds are culti- 
 vated in great abundance: particularly the bean 
 from which soy, a kind of sauce, prepared by boiling 
 and fermentation, is made. Among esculent roots 
 
42 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 and pot-herbs the following are successfully culti- 
 vated: the batata, potato, carrot, turnip, cabbage, 
 radish, lettuce, gourd, melon, and cucumber. The 
 fruits are much the same as those of this country. 
 
 The tea plant in Japan, as in China, takes the 
 place of the vine in the temperate regions of the west, 
 and of the coffee of tropical countries. The tea shrub 
 is a very useful plant in Japan, and yet it is allowed 
 no other room but round the borders of rice and corn 
 fields, and in barren places unfit for the cultivation 
 of other things. In consequence of this want of care, 
 its leaves are unfit for the consumption of strangers. 
 Its use, however, is universal among the natives. It 
 was introduced into Japan, from China, in the ninth 
 century. Tobacco was first introduced, by the Portu- 
 guese, in the early part of the sixteenth century, about 
 the same time that it was taken to England, and it is 
 remarkable that the Japanese emperor instituted a 
 persecution against its growers and smokers at the 
 same time that king James, the " British Solom'on," 
 issued his " Counter Blast," and with as little effect 
 in arresting its use. The plants cultivated in Japan 
 for textile purposes are cotton and hemp. The mul- 
 berry is grown for the silk-worm. In husbandry cot- 
 ton ranks next in importance to rice, and furnishes 
 material for clothing the great mass of the people. 
 
 In the manufacture of cotton fabrics the Japanese 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 43 
 
 display considerable skill, but in this respect they do 
 not equal the Hindoos. Their best silk is equal to 
 that of the Chinese. In the manufacture of porcelain 
 they are said to excel the Chinese. Like the Chinese, 
 the Japanese have long practised the manufacture of 
 paper and glass. Formerly they did not know how 
 to make the flat pane for window glass, and what 
 they now make is of an inferior quality, as they still 
 purchase thick mirror glass to grind into lenses. 
 They manufacture paper in great abundance, as well 
 for writing and printing, as for tapestry, handker- 
 chiefs, etc. It is made of very various qualities, and 
 some of it is as soft and flexible as cotton cloth. In- 
 deed, that used for handkerchiefs niight be mistaken 
 for cloth, so far as toughness and flexibility are con- 
 cerned. This paper is made from the bark of the 
 mulberry by means of a peculiar process. The well 
 known lacquer ware to which Japan has given a 
 name, is unequalled for beauty and durability by that 
 of any other nation. They display considerable skill 
 in working metals. In wood- work, caskets, cabinets, 
 and the like, they are unsurpassed. Some of their 
 swords are equal to the finest Damascus blades ; and 
 their carpenters' and cabinetmakers' tools are as good 
 in temper as those of a similar kind in this country, 
 lliey are exceedingly quick in observing any improve- 
 ment brought in among them by foreigners, and copy 
 
44 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 it with great skill and exactness. Clocks, watches, 
 and astronomical instruments are made by them, 
 copied from imported models. 
 
 In certain branches of the fine arts the Japanese 
 have attained no small skill. They are ignorant, 
 however, of anatomy and perspective, and therefore 
 barbarous in their sculptures and landscapes ; but in 
 the representation of a single object, they manifest 
 great accuracy of detail, and a truthful adherence to 
 nature. Architecture, as an art, can hardly be said 
 to have an existence — their temples, palaces, and pri- 
 vate houses being all low and temporary structures, 
 generally of wood ; and the frequency of earthquakes 
 leads them to bestow less care on their buildings than 
 in other circumstances they might do. 
 
 The medical knowledge of the Japanese must ne- 
 cessarily be very imperfect, as their dread of pollution 
 from contact with dead bodies prevents them from 
 scientifically investigating the dead subject. The 
 native physicians display great eagerness to acquire 
 information on professional points from strangers ; 
 and Dr. Siebold speaks with high praise of the zeal 
 with which they thronged around him from all parts 
 of the empire, seeking to enlarge their stores of know- 
 ledge. He also bears testimony to their intelligence, 
 as evinced by the questions they asked. Original 
 medical works are constantly appearing, as well as 
 
JAPAN AKD THE JAPANESE. 45 
 
 translations of such Dutch medical books as they can 
 best understand. Their drugs are mostly animal and 
 vegetable ; they are too little acquainted with che- 
 mistry to venture upon mineral remedies. They 
 study medical botany with great attention, and dis- 
 play considerable knowledge of the virtues of plants. 
 In the science of astronomy they are tolerably profi- 
 cient. They understand the use of our instruments, 
 and many of them are successfully imitated by native 
 workmen. They calculate eclipses accurately ; and 
 yearly almanacs are prepared in the Yeddo and Dairi 
 colleges. Their year consists of twelve lunar months, 
 but is converted into sidereal time by the introduc- 
 tion, every third year, of an intercalary month of the 
 requisite length. The natural day of twenty-four 
 hours is divided into twelve watches — six for the day 
 from sunrise to sunset, and six for the night from 
 sunset to sunrise. As this division is absolute, it 
 follows that the watches are never of the same length, 
 except at the equinoxes. Their length is regulated 
 only four times in the year, the intervening watches 
 being consequently left in uncertainty. The twelve 
 watches go by the names of the signs of the zodiac. 
 These signs are the same as ours, differing only in 
 their names. The chronology of the Japanese, like 
 that of the Chinese, is usually reckoned by the reigns 
 of their monarchs, beginning with the first supposed 
 
46 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 founder of the empire, who commenced his reign 
 B.C. 660. They have also a cycle of sixty years, 
 formed by multiplying the signs of the zodiac by the 
 number of elements, which they, as the Hindoos, 
 reckon to be jS.ve. 
 
 There are three religions, and numerous religious 
 sects in Japan. The ancient religion of the country 
 is called Sinsyu, that is, the gods' worship, and its 
 followers are called Sintoos. In this worship the 
 chief deity is the sun-goddess, Ten-sio-dai-zin. She 
 is considered to be too exalted to be herself addressed 
 in prayer. She is said to be invoked through infe- 
 rior or subaltern deities called Kami, of whom there 
 are said to be reckoned 492. Other religions of Asia 
 have been so grossly misrepresented in the West by 
 travellers either too ignorant, or too bigoted, to 
 inquire into and report fairly upon their tenets, that 
 we must be exceedingly careful in giving credence 
 to the assertion that the Japanese worship such a 
 multiplicity of gods. Upon inquiry and reflection, 
 it will be found that, however the forms and external 
 ceremonies may differ, common sense upon matters 
 of religion is pretty equally divided among mankind : 
 and we are more than inclined to think that the 492 
 inferior divinities of Japan are merely separate attri- 
 butes of God. There are 2,640 deified men in their 
 calendar, who, together with the 492 inferior gods, 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 4? 
 
 make a total of 3,132 divinities, who have eacli their 
 temples, priests, and priestesses ; the last being the 
 / wives of the priests, for celibacy forms no part of 
 their worship. The more immediate end which the 
 followers of the Sintoo faith are said to pursue is 
 happiness in this world. The temples are generally 
 in a grove of trees, or on the side of a green hill, 
 and have avenues of cypresses leading to them, the 
 buildings themselves being small and mean. The 
 five great duties enjoined in the Sintoo religion are — 
 1st, Preservation of pure fire as an emblem of purity 
 and an instrument of purification ; 2d, Purity of soul 
 and body, the former by obeying the dictates of 
 reason and the laws, and the latter from abstaining 
 from whatever defiles; 3d, Observance of festival 
 days, which are numerous ; 4th, Pilgrimages ; and, 
 5th, The worship of Kami, both in the temples 
 and in private dwellings. For pilgrimages there are 
 twenty-two chief holy places, besides many smaller 
 ones. Preeminent among them is the temple of 
 Isye, in the island Nifon, which is to the Sintoos 
 what Mecca is to the Mohammedans. One pil- 
 grimage, at least, to this shrine is incumbent upon 
 every one, and the very pious go annually. But the 
 most remarkable feature in this religion is the doc- 
 trine of purity and pollution in regard to acts harm- 
 less or indifferent in themselves, in which respect it 
 
48 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 agrees with that of the Hindoos, and differs entirely 
 from any form of belief among the Chinese. Exter- 
 nal purity is one of the most stringent parts of the 
 Sintoo religion. This consists in abstaining from 
 blood, from eating of flesh, and from communication 
 with dead bodies. Those who have rendered them- 
 selves impure by any of these things are thereby dis- 
 abled from going to the temples, from visiting the 
 holy places, and in general from appearing in the 
 presence of the gods. Whoever is stained with his 
 own or any other blood, is impure for seven days. 
 Whoever eats the flesh of any four-footed beast — 
 with one or two exceptions — is impure for thirty 
 days. Whoever eats the flesh of a fowl, wild or 
 tame — water-fowl, pheasants, and cranes excepted — 
 is impure only for a Japanese hour, which is two of 
 ours. Whoever kills a beast, or is present at a 
 public execution, or attends a dying person, or comes 
 into a house where a dead body lies, is impure for 
 that day. But of all other things which are impure, 
 none are reckoned so very contagious as the death 
 of parents and near relations. The nearer you are 
 related to the dead person, so much the greater the 
 impurity. All ceremonies which are to be observed 
 on this occasion, the times of mourning and the like, 
 are determined by rule. They have no idols in their 
 temples : there are images of Kami, but, these, it is 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 49 
 
 alleged, are not for purposes of worship. The only- 
 decorations in the older temples were a mirror, the 
 emblem of purity of the soul, and some strips of 
 white paper also, as emblems of purity. The festi- 
 vals all begin with a visit to the temple. There the 
 votary performs his ablutions at a reservoir pro- 
 vided for the purpose : he then kneels down in the 
 veranda opposite to a grated window, through 
 which he gazes at the mirror, and offers up his 
 prayers, with a sacrifice of rice, fruit, tea, and the 
 like. This done, he drops his coin in the money-box 
 and retires. The money thus contributed is applied 
 to the support of the priests of the temple. 
 
 The religion of Buddha — an off-shoot of Brahmin- 
 ism — is said to have been introduced to Japan a.d. 
 69, but to have made very little progress until the 
 sixth century. It is now by far the most prevalent 
 religion of the country, but is much mixed up 
 with the ancient worship, and the ancient worship 
 with it. 
 
 The philosophy of Confucius was early introduced 
 into Japan, but is confined to the higher and more 
 educated classes. It is rather a system of philosophy 
 than a religion ; it inculcates no particular faith and 
 accommodates itself to any. It is compounded of 
 most of the moral precepts of Confucius and some 
 high mystic Buddhist notions. In some of its fea- 
 
§0 JAPA2T AND THE JAPAKESB. 
 
 tures it borders closely upon Pantheism. It has no 
 religious rites and ceremonies of its own. 
 
 Of the two principal religions, it would appear 
 that there are many sects. Liberty of conscience, 
 so far as it does not interfere with the interests of the 
 government, or affect the peace and tranquillity of the 
 empire, has been at all times allowed. It was on 
 political, and not on religious grounds that Christ- 
 ianity was driven out. A curious illustration of this 
 toleration is given in an account of the shipwreck on 
 the coast of Japan of the governor-general of the 
 Philippines in 1608. 
 
 It was given upon his return to Spain, and is as 
 follows : " There are no less than thirty-five different 
 sects or religions in Japan. Some deny the immor- 
 tality of the soul, others acknowledge divers gods, 
 and others adore the elements. All are tolerated. 
 The priests of all sects having concurred in a request 
 to the emperor that he would expel our monks from 
 Japan ; the prince, troubled with their importunities, 
 inquired how many different religions there were in 
 Japan. Thirty-five was the reply. Well, said he, 
 where thirty-five sects can be tolerated, we can easily 
 bear with thirty-six : leave the strangers in peace." 
 We have other testimony to the same effect in refer- 
 ence to toleration. Every citizen has a right to pro- 
 fess what faith he pleases, and to change it as often 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 51 
 
 as lie thinks fit. 'No one appears to care wlietlier lie 
 does it from conviction or from regard to interest. 
 Kot only is any belief tolerated, but even the absence 
 of all belief; in short, every mood of mind that does 
 not vex the political mood of the empire. It fre- 
 quently happens that the members of one family fol- 
 low different sects, yet this difference of faith never 
 occasions ill will or disputes. The making of prose- 
 lytes, however, is prohibited by law. 
 
 Education, in so far as this consists in reading and 
 writing, is universal even among the lowest ranks in 
 Japan. There are colleges and academies through- 
 out the empire in all the principal towns. There 
 would seem also to be something like a national sys- 
 tem of education, for the children of both sexes, and 
 of all ranks, are invariably sent to rudimentary 
 schools, where they are all taught to read and write, 
 and are initiated into some knowledge of the history 
 of their own country. There are immense numbers 
 of cheap easy books continually issuing from tlie 
 Japanese press, designed for the instruction of child- 
 ren and poor people. Books of a higher order are 
 produced for the rich and better educated — reading 
 being a favorite occupation with both sexes. Printing 
 from blocks, after the Chinese fashion, was introduced 
 in the beginning of the thirteenth century. Books 
 are profusely illustrated with wood-cuts engraved on 
 
52 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 the same block with the type, and the Japanese are 
 not ignorant of the art of printing in colors. 
 
 The Japanese carry on a large internal traffic, 
 which from the peculiar characteristics of tlieir coun- 
 try, is in a great measure by coasting. The numerous 
 straits and creeks, with their shallow waters, though 
 generally unfit for ships of burden, are sufficiently 
 commodious for the small craft of the natives, which 
 rarely exceed sixty tons. The inland transport is by 
 horses, oxen, and porters, there being very little river 
 or canal navigation. That the Japanese are a com- 
 mercial people may be inferred from the order, neat- 
 ness, and propriety with which everything connected 
 with their trade is conducted. They have gold, 
 silver, and copper money, as well as bills of ex- 
 change. Their shops have signs, and their goods are 
 packed and labelled with a truly mercantile neat- 
 ness. The foreign intercourse of Japan was more 
 than two centuries, and till the date of our treaty, 
 solely confined to the Dutch and Chinese. Even 
 with these the trade was limited, being with the 
 Dutch for a considerable time restricted to a single 
 ship annually, and with the Chinese to ten junks. 
 The exports and imports were even limited as to 
 value, and the sales and purchases fixed by a tariff 
 of the Japanese government. The Dutch were con- 
 fined to the small island of Dezima, in the harbor of 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 63 
 
 Nagaski, which is only about 640 feet in length hj 
 240 feet in extreme breadth. A small stone bridge 
 connects the island with the town, and a strong 
 Japanese guard was always stationed here, no one 
 being allowed to pass either to or from the island 
 without license. The whole island is surrounded 
 with a high fence, on the top of which are placed 
 iron spikes. On the north side are two water gates 
 which were kept always shut, except to admit or let 
 out the Dutch vessels. When a ship arrived her 
 guns and ammunition were first taken out, and she 
 was afterward searched in every part, and an exact 
 list made of everything on board. The crew were 
 then permitted to land on the island, where they 
 were kept, as long as the ship remained, under the 
 inspection of guards. Every Japanese official at the 
 Dutch factory was bound twice or thrice a year to 
 take a solemn oath of renunciation and hatred of the 
 Christian religion, and was made to trample crosses 
 and crucifixes under his feet. The Dutch were at all 
 times surrounded with spies, whom they were obliged 
 to employ as interpreters, clerks, servants, etc. 
 
 The commodities chiefly in demand in Japan are 
 iron, steel, lead, tin, quicksilver, cinnabar, sapan 
 wood, black pepper, cloves, nutmegs, sugar, putchuk, 
 deer skins, ivory, Chinese and Tonquin raw silk, 
 Indian cotton goods, cotton yarn, mirrors and other 
 
§4: JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 glass ware, and woollens. At one time or other all 
 these articles have found a market in Japan. We 
 may suppose that iron, steel and timber, high priced 
 commodities there, will now become the staple arti- 
 cles of trade. In the earlier period of her intercourse, 
 Japan was not only free to all the world, but trade 
 was not even burdened with imposts on either ship 
 or cargo ; presents, however, had to be made to the 
 emperor, the principal governors and a few others. 
 
 From the clause in Commodore Perry's treaty, 
 entitling the ships and citizens of the United States 
 to be received upon the same footing in Japan as 
 those of the most favored nation, our privileges in 
 that country steadily but silently advance, as other 
 powers press upon the Japanese government and ob- 
 tain treaties opening other ports and conferring other 
 commercial advantages. It is true that the Dutch 
 and Chinese retain a certain preference, which they 
 have long enjoyed, and which was made a special 
 exception to the clause above referred to ; but in the 
 natural course of events this exception must disap- 
 pear, and the ports and trade of Japan be absolutely 
 opened to the fleets and traffic of the world. We 
 have over 700 whale-ships, manned by some 18,000 
 of our countrymen, employing a capital of more than 
 $25,000,000, and yielding returns to those engaged 
 in it of some $5,000,000 per annum. A very large 
 
r 
 
 JAPAIT AND THE JAPANESE. 55 
 
 proportion of these ships annually visit the seas in 
 the neighborhood of the coasts of Japan, and the 
 advantage of having convenient ports to refit and 
 refresh in must prove very considerable indeed. 
 Estimating the capacity of the people of that empire 
 for the consumption of commodities of foreign pro- 
 duction by those of other countries similarly situated 
 — as we have already done the population and 
 revenue — there will in all probability be an import 
 trade carried on, by all nations, of about $10,000,000 
 per annum ; and paid for in various trifling manu- 
 factured articles, but chiefly by the produce of the 
 mines. 
 
 The many fruitless attempts made to open the ports 
 of Japan, by various nations, unaccompanied by that 
 display of physical force necessary to command due 
 respect for their request ; and the immediate success 
 of Commodore Perry at the head of his formidable 
 fleet, point significantly toward the kind of diplo- 
 macy best calculated to prove prosperous in that 
 country, as in other parts of Asia. It appears not a 
 little chimerical to expect any very beneficial result, 
 to either the Japanese or ourselves, to spring from 
 the presence of the present embassy. Indeed, we 
 doubt much if the narrative of its adventures, by 
 sea and land, will have more effect in enlightening 
 the natives upon its return, and giving them any real 
 
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 56 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 
 
 insight into western ways and institutions, than had 
 those of Marco Polo, or Sir John Mandeville, in 
 advancing the knowledge of Europeans in regard to 
 the nations of the East. Many things in America — 
 that, in themselves, are so simple that any of our 
 schoolboys could give an intelligible account of 
 them — ^must prove not a little bewildering to the 
 understanding of our Oriental guests. The journal 
 of the sights and marvels seen in the United States 
 by the Japanese Ambassadors — if ever it be trans- 
 lated into any European tongue — will be a great 
 curiosity indeed, and perhaps surpass everything in 
 the shape of travels that has appeared since the 
 publication of those of the renowned Lemuel 
 Gulliver. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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