This Afternoon Has Been Fine And Windy, And The Boys Have Been
Flying Kites, Made Of Tough Paper On A Bamboo Frame, All Of A
Rectangular Shape, Some Of Them Five Feet Square, And Nearly All
Decorated With Huge Faces Of Historical Heroes.
Some of them have
a humming arrangement made of whale-bone.
There was a very
interesting contest between two great kites, and it brought out the
whole population. The string of each kite, for 30 feet or more
below the frame, was covered with pounded glass, made to adhere
very closely by means of tenacious glue, and for two hours the
kite-fighters tried to get their kites into a proper position for
sawing the adversary's string in two. At last one was successful,
and the severed kite became his property, upon which victor and
vanquished exchanged three low bows. Silently as the people
watched and received the destruction of their bridge, so silently
they watched this exciting contest. The boys also flew their kites
while walking on stilts - a most dexterous performance, in which few
were able to take part - and then a larger number gave a stilt race.
The most striking out-of-door games are played at fixed seasons of
the year, and are not to be seen now.
There are twelve children in this yadoya, and after dark they
regularly play at a game which Ito says "is played in the winter in
every house in Japan." The children sit in a circle, and the
adults look on eagerly, child-worship being more common in Japan
than in America, and, to my thinking, the Japanese form is the
best.
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