A Road, At This Time A Quagmire, Intersected By
A Rapid Stream, Crossed In Many Places By Planks, Runs Through The
Village.
This stream is at once "lavatory" and "drinking
fountain." People come back from their work, sit on the planks,
take off their muddy clothes and wring them out, and bathe their
feet in the current.
On either side are the dwellings, in front of
which are much-decayed manure heaps, and the women were engaged in
breaking them up and treading them into a pulp with their bare
feet. All wear the vest and trousers at their work, but only the
short petticoats in their houses, and I saw several respectable
mothers of families cross the road and pay visits in this garment
only, without any sense of impropriety. The younger children wear
nothing but a string and an amulet. The persons, clothing, and
houses are alive with vermin, and if the word squalor can be
applied to independent and industrious people, they were squalid.
Beetles, spiders, and wood-lice held a carnival in my room after
dark, and the presence of horses in the same house brought a number
of horseflies. I sprinkled my stretcher with insect powder, but my
blanket had been on the floor for one minute, and fleas rendered
sleep impossible. The night was very long. The andon went out,
leaving a strong smell of rancid oil. The primitive Japanese dog -
a cream-coloured wolfish-looking animal, the size of a collie, very
noisy and aggressive, but as cowardly as bullies usually are - was
in great force in Fujihara, and the barking, growling, and
quarrelling of these useless curs continued at intervals until
daylight; and when they were not quarrelling, they were howling.
Torrents of rain fell, obliging me to move my bed from place to
place to get out of the drip.
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