Things Japanese; being notes on various subjects connected with
Japan for the use of travellers and others, by Basil Hall Chamberlain
...
Chamberlain, Basil Hall, 1850-1935.
London : J. Murray, 1902.
https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t7zk5jn47
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THINGS JAPANESE
NOTES ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH JAPAN
FOR THE USE OF TRAVELLERS AND OTHERS
BY
BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN
EMERITUS I'KOFESSOU OK JAPANESE AND I'HILOLOGV IN THE IMI'KRIAL
UNIVERSITY OF TUKYO
Fourtl] Edition Revised & Enlarged
LONDON :
lOIIN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE Sl'REl-.T
YOKOHAMA
SHANGHAI
KKLLY & WALSH, LLMITED \ 'IC^AnnP^r''
j SIN(jAI'ORE
1902
[AU rights reserved]
S-words. 441
mat from those to whom an audience was granted. Photography,
when first introduced, was also considered dangerous, because
Hkely to absorb some portion of the life or spirit of the person
photographed.
The above are samples merely, culled at haphazard. Of other
superstitions concerning names,- concerning clothes, concerning
the weather, concerning sneezing, concerning words to be avoided,
etc., etc., etc., the tale is endless. A very fat volume could be
filled, were a complete account of all Japanese superstitions, past
and present, urban and rustic, to be brought together; for each
province would contribute its quota. At the same time all, or
almost all, are now confined to the lower classes ; or if they
find any credence in the upper class, it is chiefly among the
women-folk. The generation now at school is—both for good
and for evil —distinctly Voltairian.
S"Words. The Japanese sword of ancient days (the isunigi)
was a straight, double-edged, heavy weapon some three feet
long, intended to be brandished with both hands. That of
mediaeval and modern times (the ka/a?ia) is lighter, shorter, has
t>ut a single edge, and is slightly curved towards the point.
There is also the ivakizashi, or dirk of about nine and a half
inches, with which harakiri was committed. The four most
famous Japanese sword-smiths are Munechika (loth century),
Masamune and Yoshimitsu (latter part of the 13th century),
and Muramasa (latter part of the 14th century). But IMuramasa's
blades had the reputation of being unlucky. Towards
the close of the fifteenth century arose schools of artists in
metal, who made it their business to adorn the hilt, the guard,
the sheath, and other appurtenances in a manner which is still
the delight of collectors. But to the Japanese connoisseur the
great treasure is always the blade itself, which has been called
" the living soul of the Samurai."
Japanese swords excel even the vaunted products of Damascus
and Toledo. To cut through a pile of copper coins without
442 Swords.
nicking the blade
is,
or was,
a
common feat. History, tradition,
and romance alike re-echo with the exploits of this wonderful
weapon. The magic sword, and the sword handed down as
an heirloom, figure as plentifully in the pages of Japanese
novel-writers as magic rings and strawberry-marks used once
upon
a
time to do in the West. The custom which obtained
among the Samurai of wearing two swords,
is
believed to date
from the beginning of the fourteenth century.
It
was abolished
by an edict issued on the 28th March, 1S76, and taking effect
from the ist January, 1877. The edict was obeyed by this
strangely docile people without
a
blow being struck, and the
curio-shops displayed heaps of swords which,
a
few months
before, the owners would less willingly have parted with than
with life itself. Shortly afterwards,
a
second edict appeared, rescinding
the first and leaving any one at liberty to wear w^hat
swords he pleased. But as the privilege of
a
class distinction
w'as thus obliterated, none cared to take advantage of the
permission, and the two-sworded Japanese gentleman
is
now
extinct.
Excellent specimens of swords and scabbards may be seen at
Tokyo in the Yushii-kivan, or Museum of Arms, situated in the
grounds of the Shokonsha temple.
Japanese swords are made of soft, elastic, magnetic iron combined
with hard steel.
" The tempering of the edge," says
Rein, "
is
carefully done in the charcoal furnace, the softer
backs and the sides being surrounded up to
a
certain point with
fire-clay, so that only the edge remains outside. The cooling
takes place in cold water.
It
is
in this way that the steeled
edge may be distinguished clearly from the back, by its colour
and lustre. The backs of knives, axes, and other weapons are
united to the steel edge either by welding on one side, or by
fitting the edge into
a
fluted groove of the back blade, and
welding on both sides."
The most extraordinary circumstance connected with swords
in this country
is
that ladders are made of them set edge up,
Taste. 443
which men climb, with the idea originally of propitiating the
gods and gaining merit, though now the ordeal would seem to
have sunk to the level of a mere acrobatic performance. On
the occasion when the present writer witnessed one of these
performances in the grounds of the temple of Asakusa at Tokyo,
he inspected the swords, could not detect any trace of deception,
and is therefore unable to offer an explanation of the fact that
several persons walked up this dreadful ladder barefoot without
any untoward consequences.
Books recomiueuded. Rein's Industries of Japan^ p. 430.
— JMcClatchie".s The
Sword of yapan, in Vol. II. of the "Asiatic Transactions." — B. S. Lyman's Japanese
Swords, in the " Proceedings of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia
" for 1892, and papers by E. Gilbertson in the "Transactions of the Japan Society."
— For prehistoric swords, The Dohnens atid Burial Mounds in Japan, by Wm. Gowland,
published by the Society of Antiquaries (London).
— Lowell's Occult Japan for the sword-
walking.
Taste. Japanese taste in painting, in house decoration, in
all matters depending on line and form, may be summed up in
one word—sobriety! The bluster which mistakes bigness for
greatness, the vulgarity which smothers beauty under ostentation
and extravagance, have no place in the Japanese way of thinking.
The alcove of a Tokyo or Kyoto drawing-room holds one
picture and one flower-vase, which are changed from time to time.
To be sure, picture and vase are alike exquisite. The possessions
of the master of the house are not sown broadcast, as much
as to say,
" Look what a lot of expensive articles I've got, and
just think how jolly rich I must be !
"
He does not stick up
plates on walls :—plates are meant to hold food. He would not,
whatever might be his means, waste ;^iooo, or ;^ioo, or even
£20, on the flow-ers for a single party : —-flowers are simple
things, perishable things ; it is incongruous to la\ish on them
sums that would procure precious stones for heirlooms. And
how^ this moderation makes for happiness ! The rich not being
blatant, the poor are not abject ; in fact, though poverty exists,
pauperism does not. A genuine spirit of equality pervades
society.