The latest victim held her hands clasped
tightly together while the cuts were inflicted, but never cried.
The pattern on the lips is deepened and widened every year up to
the time of marriage, and the circles on the arm are extended in a
similar way. The men cannot give any reason for the universality
of this custom. It is an old custom, they say, and part of their
religion, and no woman could marry without it. Benri fancies that
the Japanese custom of blackening the teeth is equivalent to it;
but he is mistaken, as that ceremony usually succeeds marriage.
They begin to tattoo the arms when a girl is five or six, and work
from the elbow downwards. They expressed themselves as very much
grieved and tormented by the recent prohibition of tattooing. They
say the gods will be angry, and that the women can't marry unless
they are tattooed; and they implored both Mr. Von Siebold and me to
intercede with the Japanese Government on their behalf in this
respect. They are less apathetic on this than on any subject, and
repeat frequently, "It's a part of our religion."
The children are very pretty and attractive, and their faces give
promise of an intelligence which is lacking in those of the adults.
They are much loved, and are caressing as well as caressed. The
infants of the mountain Ainos have seeds of millet put into their
mouths as soon as they are born, and those of the coast Ainos a
morsel of salt-fish; and whatever be the hour of birth, "custom"
requires that they shall not be fed until a night has passed. They
are not weaned until they are at least three years old. Boys are
preferred to girls, but both are highly valued, and a childless
wife may be divorced.
Children do not receive names till they are four or five years old,
and then the father chooses a name by which his child is afterwards
known. Young children when they travel are either carried on their
mothers' backs in a net, or in the back of the loose garment; but
in both cases the weight is mainly supported by a broad band which
passes round the woman's forehead. When men carry them they hold
them in their arms. The hair of very young children is shaven, and
from about five to fifteen the boys wear either a large tonsure or
tufts above the ears, while the girls are allowed to grow hair all
over their heads.
Implicit and prompt obedience is required from infancy; and from a
very early age the children are utilised by being made to fetch and
carry and go on messages.
