Part 5 (1/2)

The funeral customs are very different from ours. It is a strange feature of the native character that when one is deeply moved he is very likely to cover up his emotion with a laugh. If a man announces to you the death of his child, he will probably laugh as he does so.

At funerals there is not that solemn silence which we expect, but frequently loud talking and laughter. The coffin is a square, upright box with considerable ornamentation. The corpse is placed in it in a sitting posture. In j.a.pan are found the hired mourners of whom we read in the Bible. Anciently they were employed to follow the corpse, mourning in a loud voice; but that has become obsolete, and now they simply follow in the procession, wearing the white garments. The usual manner of disposing of dead bodies is by interment, but cremation is rapidly growing in favor. The government will not permit a body to be buried until it has been dead twenty-four hours.

For several weeks after a body has been interred it is customary for the members of the bereaved family to make daily visits to the tomb and present offerings to the departed spirit in the temple. {85} Each year, on the anniversary of the death, the children are expected to visit the tomb and wors.h.i.+p the spirit of the departed. This custom of ancestor-wors.h.i.+p is forbidden by Christianity, and hence the people charge us with teaching disrespect to parents and ancestors.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Hara-kiri.]

A custom peculiar to j.a.pan is a form of suicide known as hara-kiri, or ”belly-cutting.” From time immemorial, to take one's own life in this manner has been considered very honorable and has expiated all crimes and offenses. In olden times, if the life of any one of n.o.ble blood became hurtful to the state, he was simply sent a certain kind of short sword. This meant that he was to take his own life by the favorite national method. So the recipient quietly ate his last meal, bade his family farewell, and, seating himself squarely on the mat, deliberately thrust the sword into the left side of his abdomen, and drew it across to the right side. As this cut does not kill immediately, a retainer, from behind, placed there for that purpose, struck off his master's head with one blow of a heavy sword. In the eyes of the law this death atoned for all sins and offenses; hence it was often practised in old j.a.pan. It is almost obsolete now.

The j.a.panese are an exceedingly polite people. They have been called the Frenchmen of the Orient in recognition of this national characteristic. Politeness is exalted above everything, above {86} even truth and honor. If you ask an ordinary j.a.panese which is better, to tell a falsehood or be impolite, he will at once reply, ”To tell a falsehood.” But while the people are exceedingly polite, a large part of this politeness is merely surface, without any meaning. Etiquette requires that you always address and treat your equals as though they were your superiors. There is a separate form of address for each step in the social scale. I have seen j.a.panese men stand at a door for five minutes, and blush, and beg each other to pa.s.s through first, each hesitating to precede the other. A j.a.panese gentleman never stops to converse with a friend, be he only a child, without taking off his hat.

To look down upon one from a superior elevation is considered very impolite. Thus if the emperor or any one of especial distinction pa.s.ses through a city, all the upper stories of the houses must be vacated. Under no circ.u.mstances are any permitted to observe the procession from an upper window. I was out walking one day in our good city of Saga with a foreign friend who was leading his little boy by the hand. It happened that a countess was pa.s.sing through the city.

The policemen had cleared the street for the procession, and a large crowd was standing at the corner. We joined this crowd. The little boy could not see, so his father held him up that {87} he might look over the people's heads. At once the police forbade it and made him put the child down.

In many instances forms of politeness are carried to a ridiculous extreme. When you give a present, no matter how nice, you must apologize by saying that it is so _cheap_ and _insignificant_ that you are ashamed to _lift it up_ to the honorable person, but if he will _condescend_ to accept it he will make you very happy. If you receive a present you must elevate it toward the top of the head (as that is considered the most honorable part of the body) and at the same time say that it is the _most beautiful thing on earth_. When you are invited to a dinner the invitation will carefully state that no special preparation will be made for the occasion. At the beginning of the meal the hostess will apologize for presuming to set before you such mean, dirty food, and will declare that she has nothing whatever for you to eat, although she will doubtless have a feast fit for a king.

Even if it should not be good, you must say that it is and praise it extravagantly.

The greetings between friends are sometimes right funny. I have often overheard such conversations as the following. Two men meet in the street, and, taking off their hats, bow very low, and begin as follows:

_A_. ”I have not had the pleasure of {88} hanging myself in your honorable eyes for a long time.”

_B_. ”I was exceedingly rude the last time I saw you.”

_A_. ”No; it was surely I who was rude. Please excuse me.”

_B_. ”How is your august health?”

_A_. ”Very good, thanks to your kind a.s.sistance.”

_B_. ”Is the august lady, your honorable wife, well?”

_A_. ”Yes, thank you; the lazy old woman is quite well.”

_B_. ”And how are your princely children?”

_A_. ”A thousand thanks for your kind interest. The noisy, dirty little brats are well too.”

_B_. ”I am now living on a little back street, and my house is awfully small and dirty; but if you can endure it, please honor me by a visit.”

_A_. ”I am overcome with thanks, and will early ascend to your honorable residence, and impose my uninteresting self upon your hospitality.”

_B_. ”I will now be very impolite and leave you.”

_A_. ”If that is so, excuse me. _Sayonara_.”

{89}

V

j.a.pANESE CIVILIZATION