Part 3 (2/2)

The village Y.M.A. of j.a.pan is an inst.i.tution of some antiquity and it has nothing whatever to do with religious effort. One day, when I was staying in a rural district, I was invited to a remoter part in order to see something of the discipline that the members of a group of young men's a.s.sociations were imposing on themselves. The members of this group of Y.M.A. belonged to the branches established in a village of nineteen _aza_, that is hamlets. This fact, with the further fact that the village containing the nineteen _aza_ had four elementary schools and one higher school, will show that a j.a.panese village may be much larger than a Western one.

Nearly six hundred young men were in the parade. They were dressed exactly alike in the tight blue calico trousers and kimono of jacket length which the j.a.panese farmer ordinarily wears. Each man had the usual _obi_ (waist scarf) tied round his kimono, and in the _obi_ was thrust the small cotton towel which j.a.panese carry with them everywhere. The young men wore puttees, _waraji_ (straw sandals) and caps. It is only of late that the j.a.panese worker has taken to wearing head-gear, or at any rate head-gear other than he could contrive with his towel. The physical condition of the young fellows was good and their evolutions with dummy ”rifles” were smart and skilful. The paraders seemed lost in their desire to do their best for their credit's sake and their own good. After the first movements, the ”troops” with ”rifles” held as if there were bayonets at the end, made rushes with loud cries. The secret of this somewhat surprising display far away in the heart of j.a.pan was that the work of the young men had been done under the direction of two fit, be-medalled army surgeons, reserve officers, who were present in order to answer my questions.

Every morning half an hour before sunrise these Y.M.A. members a.s.semble in the grounds of their s.h.i.+nto shrine or of their school, where they exercise until the sun shows itself. In the evenings after work they also fence, wrestle, lift weights and develop their wrists.

This wrist development is done by two youths grasping a pole, one at either end, and then trying to rotate it one against the other.

The members endeavour to cultivate their minds as well as their bodies, and they also observe in their dress a self-denying ordinance.

On ceremonial occasions they permit themselves to wear a full-length kimono and the _hakama_ or divided skirt, but they deny themselves the third article of a j.a.panese man's full dress, the _haori_ or silk overcoat. An effort is also made to dispense with the use of ”luxurious” _geta_ (the national wooden pattens).[19]

The object of all this varied discipline is to develop physique, self-control, self-respect and what the j.a.panese call the spirit of a.s.sociation, or, as we might say, good fellows.h.i.+p. The spirit of a.s.sociation is needed in order to promote greater administrative, educational and social efficiency. The modern j.a.panese village is no longer an historical but a political unit which covers a considerable district. It is, as I have explained, a combination of cl.u.s.ters of _aza_ (hamlets). Each of these _aza_ has its local sentiment, and this local sentiment when untouched by outside influences tends to become selfish, narrow and prejudiced. If, however, anything is to be done in the development of rural life there must be co-operation between _aza_ for all sorts of objects.

I was a.s.sured that in addition to the development of physique, _moral_ and the spirit of a.s.sociation, there was to be seen, under the influence of the Y.M.A., a development of good manners and mental nimbleness. A special result of early rising and discipline in one area had been that ”the habit of spending evening hours idly has died away, immorality has diminished, singing loudly and foolishly and boasting oneself have disappeared, while punctuality and respect for old age have increased.” I was even a.s.sured that parents--whom no true j.a.panese would ever dream of attempting to reform at first hand--parents, I say, moved by the physical and mental advance in their sons, have ”begun to practise greater punctuality.”

After the drilling was over I was taken to a large elementary school and was called upon to address the young men, who were kneeling in perfect files. Mr. Yamasaki followed me and told the youths that j.a.panese were not so tall as they might be, and that therefore their physique ”must be continuously developed.” Nor were rural conditions all they should be from a moral point of view. Therefore, ”every desire which interferes with the development of your health or morality must be overcome.”

Let me speak of another village. It numbers a thousand families and it rises in the morning and goes to bed at night by the sound of the bugle. It has five public baths and a notice-board of news ”to enlarge people's ideas.” The shopkeepers are said to ”work very diligently, so things are cheaper.” The education of such of the young men as are exempted from military service is continued on Sat.u.r.day evenings for four years. The Y.M.A., in addition to the military discipline, fencing, wrestling, weight-lifting and pole-twisting of which I have spoken, exercises itself in handwriting--which many j.a.panese practise as an art during their whole lifetime--and in composing the conventional short poem. I was gravely informed that ”the custom of spending money on sweet-stuff is decreasing.” What this really means is that the young men were not frequenting the sweet-stuff shops, which are staffed by girls who are in many cases a greater temptation than the sweets. The worthy members of this a.s.sociation had ”burnt their _geta_.”

In some places Y.M.A. members give their labour when a school teacher or a fellow member is building his house, or they do repairs at the school. Bicycle excursions are made to neighbouring villages in order to partic.i.p.ate in inter-Y.M.A. debates, or to study vegetable raising, fruit culture or poultry keeping. The j.a.panese are much given to ”taking trips,” and the special training which they receive at school in making notes and plans results in everybody having a notebook and being able to sketch a rough route-plan for personal use, or for a stranger who may ask his way.

Not a few a.s.sociations favour members cutting each other's hair once a fortnight, thus at one and the same time saving money and curbing vanity. Several Y.M.A.s publish cyclostyled monthlies. Others minutely investigate the economic condition of their villages. Some Y.M.A.s provide public ”complaint boxes,” and have boards up asking for friendly help for soldiers billeted in the district. One a.s.sociation has issued instructions to its members that they are not to ride when in charge of ox-drawn carts. The reason is that the ox is only partially under control and may injure a pedestrian--unwittingly, I am sure, for the gentleness of the ox and even of the bull in harness arrests one's attention. Many Y.M.A.s devote themselves to cultivating improved qualities of rice or to breaking up new land. Sometimes the land of the s.h.i.+nto shrine is cultivated. I have heard of Y.M.A.s in remote parts having handed over to them the exclusive sale of _sake_.

I find a Y.M.A. counselling its members ”not to speak vulgar words in a crowd.” There is also among the members of Y.M.A.s a certain addiction to diary keeping for moral as well as economic purposes. The diaries are distributed by the a.s.sociations and ”afterwards examined and rewarded”--a plan which would hardly work in the West. There are Y.M.A.s which make a point of seeing off conscripts with flags and music. Others have fallen on the more economical plan of ”writing to the conscript as often as possible and helping with labour the family which is suffering from the loss of his services.” By some Y.M.A.s ”old people are respected and comforted.” More than one a.s.sociation has a practice of serving out red and black b.a.l.l.s to its members at the opening of every new year, when good resolutions are in order, and at the end of the year recalling either the red or the black according to the degree to which the publicly announced good resolutions have been kept. Among the good resolutions are: to wors.h.i.+p at the s.h.i.+nto shrine or the Buddhist temple regularly, to be tidier, to be more efficient in cropping the land, to undertake work for the common good, to have a secondary occupation in addition to farming, to sit with more decorum at meals, to rise earlier, to visit the graves of ancestors monthly, to be more considerate to parents or elder brothers, and ”not to remain idly at people's houses.”

One Y.M.A. decrees that a member found in a tea-house in conversation with a geisha shall be fined 20 yen. There is even a village in which the young men's a.s.sociation and the young women's a.s.sociation have united to issue a regulation providing that at night time members, in order that their doings shall be public, shall carry lanterns painted with the ideographs of their societies.[20]

With regard to the young women's a.s.sociations, I found that one of them studied domestic matters and good manners, ”asking questions and receiving answers.” The motto of the organisation was ”Good Wives and Good Mothers.” A member, this Society believes, should be ”polite, gentle and warm-hearted, but with a strong will inside and able to meet difficulties.” Her hairdressing and clothes ”should not be luxurious,” and she ”must not run after fas.h.i.+ons.” She must ”respect Buddha and abandon sweet-eating,” for ”taking food between meals is bad for your health, for economy and for your posterity.”

Let us now hear something of Societies for the Cultivation of Rice by Schoolboys. The lads become responsible for the cultivation of a _tan_ of their family land, or of a small paddy, and they work it themselves with the help of such advice as the schoolmaster may give them. (The cultivation of a _tan_ of a paddy, a quarter of an acre, is supposed to need in a year about twenty-one days' labour of a man working from sunrise to sunset.) The report of one boy to which I turned in a collection of reports by members of a rice-cultivation society showed that he was between fourteen and fifteen. His diary of work and observations was as follows:

_June_ 5.--4 _to_ of herring applied.

_June_ 7.--Locusts and other insects arrive.[21]

_June_ 20.--153 clumps of rice transplanted from the seed bed.[22]

_July_ 11.--Rice cultivated and 4 _to_ of herring applied.

_July_ 27.--First weeding.

_Aug_. 6.--Second weeding.

_Aug_. 8.--Locusts again.

_Aug_. 11.--Third weeding.

_Sept_. 10.--All ears shot.

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