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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 40 of 417
Words from 11053 to 11340
of 115002
