Part 4 (1/2)

_Oct_. 10.--Some plants suffering from bacillus.

It was further noted that the soil was sandy, that cold spring water was percolating through the bottom of the paddy field, that the aeration of the soil was bad and that some plants were laid by wind.

The young farmer appended to his report an excellent plan. He received marks as follows: Method of planting, 15; levelling, 20; provision against insects, 5; general attention, 25; total, 65. Some boys got as many as 99 marks.

A word concerning a Village a.s.sociation for Promoting Morality. One of the things it does is to a.s.semble yearly the whole population, old and young, ”in order to get friendly.” The police meanwhile keep an eye open for strangers who might take it into their heads to visit the village on that day and help themselves from the houses. I may quote three poems in rough translations from a speech made by a priest at the annual meeting:

The legs of a horse, the rudder of a boat, the pin of a fan, and the sincerity of a man.

Let your heart be pure and true and you need not pray for the protection of the G.o.ds.

The bride brings many things with her to her new home, but one thing more, the spirit of sincerity, will not enc.u.mber her.

After these varied accounts of rural merit, I could not but listen with attention to a tale of village gamblers, the offence of gambling having been ”introduced by the excavators on the new railway.” First the headman fined a dozen young men. Then he made a raid and found among the village sinners several members of his own council. ”The salaried officials were at a loss to know what to do, and proposed to resign. But the headman brought the prisoners together before the whole body of officials. He spoke of the sufferings of the troops in Manchuria and the heroic deaths among them. (It was the time of the Russian war.) 'Lest your offences should come to be known by our soldiers and discourage them,' said the headman, 'I cannot but overlook your conduct.' It is thought that gambling practically ceased from that time.”

Local officials have a way of making the most of historic events in order to touch the imagination of their villagers. Many original undertakings were begun, for example, under the inspiration of the Coronation. One village set about raising a fund by a system of taxation under which inhabitants contribute according to the following tariff:

Birth of a child, 10 sen (that is, 2-1/2 d. or 5 cents).

Wedding, 15 sen.

Adoption, 15 sen.

Graduation from the primary school, 10 sen; advanced school, 20 sen.

Teacher or official on appointment, 2 per cent. of salary; when salary is increased, 10 per cent. of increase.

When an official receives a prize of money from his superior, 5 per cent.

Every villager to pay every quarter, 1 sen.

On the basis of this a.s.sessment it is expected that fifty-seven years after the Coronation such a sum will have been acc.u.mulated as will enable the villagers to live rate free. Some villages have thanksgiving a.s.sociations in connection with s.h.i.+nto shrines. Aged villagers are ”respected by being blessed before the shrine and by being given a present.” Worthy villagers who are not aged ”receive prizes and honour.”

More than once when I went to a village I was welcomed first by a parade of the Y.M.A., then by the school children in rows, and finally in the school grounds by two lines of venerable members of an Ex-Public Servants' a.s.sociation. The object of an E.P.S.A. is to strengthen the hands of the present officials and to give honour to their predecessors. A headman explained to me: ”If ex-officials fell into poverty or lacked public respect, people would not be inclined to work for the public good. A former clerk in the village office whom everybody had forgotten was working as a labourer. But as a member of the a.s.sociation he was seen to be treated with honour, so the children were impressed. The funeral of such a man is apt to be lonely, but when this man died all the members of the a.s.sociation attended his funeral in ceremonial dress and offered some money to his memory.[23]

His honour is great and the villagers say, 'We may well work for the public benefit.'”

Every village in j.a.pan has a Village Agricultural a.s.sociation. One V.A.A., which belongs to a village of less than 6,000 people, sees the fruit of its labours in the existence of ”322 good manure houses.” The gift of a plan and the grant of a yen had prompted the building of most of them. Then the organisation incites its members to cement the ground below their dwellings. This is not so much for the benefit of the farmer and his family as for the welfare of their silkworms. A fly harmful to silkworms winters in the soil, but it cannot find a resting-place in concrete.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A WIDE EXPANSE OF ADJUSTED RICE-FIELDS. p. 71]

A word may also be said about the way in which silkworm rearers have been induced by the V.A.A. to keep the same breed of caterpillar, so facilitating bulking of coc.o.o.ns at the a.s.sociation's co-operative sales. A small library of silkworm-culture books has been started in the village, and there is a special pamphlet for young men which they are urged to keep in ”their pockets and to study ten minutes each day.” A general library has 2,400 volumes divided into eight circulating libraries. The cost of the building which provides the library in chief, a meeting hall and also a storehouse for coc.o.o.ns has been defrayed by the commissions charged for the co-operative sale of coc.o.o.ns.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LIBRARY AND WORKSHED OF A YOUNG MEN'S a.s.sOCIATION. p. 15]

Again, there used to be no cattle in the village, but now, thanks to the purchase of young animals by the a.s.sociation, and thanks to village shows, there are 103.

There is a compet.i.tion to get the biggest yield of rice, and there is also ”an exhibition of crops.” This exhibition incidentally aims at ending trouble between landlord and tenants due to complaints of the inferiority of the rice brought in as rent. (Paddy-field rent is invariably paid in rice.) These complaints are more directly dealt with by the V.A.A. arbitrating between landlords and tenants who are at issue. In addition to rice crop and cattle shows in the village, there is a yearly exhibition of the prod ucts of secondary industries, such as mats, sandals and hats.

The V.A.A. is also working to secure the planting of hill-side waste.

Some 300,000 tree seedlings have been distributed to members of the Y.M.A., who ”grow them on,” and, after examination and criticism, plant them out. I must not omit to speak of the V.A.A.s' distribution of moral and economic diaries of the type already referred to. The villagers, in the spirit of boy-scoutism, are ”advised to do one good thing in a day.” I saw several of these diaries, well thumbed by their authors after having been laboured at for a year. One young farmer noted down on the s.p.a.ce for January 2 that he said his prayers and then went _daikon_[24] pulling, and that _daikon_ pulling (like our mangold pulling) is a cold job.

FOOTNOTES:

[18] There are, however, 11,000 members of Y.M.C.A. in j.a.pan. There is also a Y.W.C.A. with a considerable members.h.i.+p.