The Wife Of Saigo, The Minister
Of Education, Called One Day In An Exquisite Japanese Dress Of
Dove-Coloured Silk Crepe, With A Pale Pink Under-Dress Of The Same
Material, Which Showed A Little At The Neck And Sleeves.
Her
girdle was of rich dove-coloured silk, with a ghost of a pale pink
blossom hovering upon it here and there.
She had no frills or
fripperies of any description, or ornaments, except a single pin in
her chignon, and, with a sweet and charming face, she looked as
graceful and dignified in her Japanese costume as she would have
looked exactly the reverse in ours. Their costume has one striking
advantage over ours. A woman is perfectly CLOTHED if she has one
garment and a girdle on, and perfectly DRESSED if she has two.
There is a difference in features and expression - much exaggerated,
however, by Japanese artists - between the faces of high-born women
and those of the middle and lower classes. I decline to admire
fat-faces, pug noses, thick lips, long eyes, turned up at the outer
corners, and complexions which owe much to powder and paint. The
habit of painting the lips with a reddish-yellow pigment, and of
heavily powdering the face and throat with pearl powder, is a
repulsive one. But it is hard to pronounce any unfavourable
criticism on women who have so much kindly grace of manner. I. L.
B.
LETTER VI
Fears - Travelling Equipments - Passports - Coolie Costume - A Yedo
Diorama - Rice-Fields - Tea-Houses - A Traveller's Reception - The Inn
at Kasukabe - Lack of Privacy - A Concourse of Noises - A Nocturnal
Alarm - A Vision of Policemen - A Budget from Yedo.
KASUKABE, June 10.
From the date you will see that I have started on my long journey,
though not upon the "unbeaten tracks" which I hope to take after
leaving Nikko, and my first evening alone in the midst of this
crowded Asian life is strange, almost fearful. I have suffered
from nervousness all day - the fear of being frightened, of being
rudely mobbed, as threatened by Mr. Campbell of Islay, of giving
offence by transgressing the rules of Japanese politeness - of, I
know not what! Ito is my sole reliance, and he may prove a "broken
reed." I often wished to give up my project, but was ashamed of my
cowardice when, on the best authority, I received assurances of its
safety. {6}
The preparations were finished yesterday, and my outfit weighed 110
lbs., which, with Ito's weight of 90 lbs., is as much as can be
carried by an average Japanese horse. My two painted wicker boxes
lined with paper and with waterproof covers are convenient for the
two sides of a pack-horse. I have a folding-chair - for in a
Japanese house there is nothing but the floor to sit upon, and not
even a solid wall to lean against - an air-pillow for kuruma
travelling, an india-rubber bath, sheets, a blanket, and last, and
more important than all else, a canvas stretcher on light poles,
which can be put together in two minutes; and being 2.5 feet high
is supposed to be secure from fleas.
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