Then I Or Ito Ask The
Price Of A Thing, And She Names It, Very Likely Asking 4s. For What
Ought To Sell At 6d. You Say 3s., She Laughs And Says 3s. 6d.; You
Say 2s., She Laughs Again And Says 3s., Offering You The Tabako-
Bon.
Eventually the matter is compromised by your giving her 1s.,
at which she appears quite delighted.
With a profusion of bows and
"sayo naras" on each side, you go away with the pleasant feeling of
having given an industrious woman twice as much as the thing was
worth to her, and less than what it is worth to you!
There are several barbers' shops, and the evening seems a very busy
time with them. This operation partakes of the general want of
privacy of the life of the village, and is performed in the raised
open front of the shop. Soap is not used, and the process is a
painful one. The victims let their garments fall to their waists,
and each holds in his left hand a lacquered tray to receive the
croppings. The ugly Japanese face at this time wears a most
grotesque expression of stolid resignation as it is held and pulled
about by the operator, who turns it in all directions, that he may
judge of the effect that he is producing. The shaving the face
till it is smooth and shiny, and the cutting, waxing, and tying of
the queue with twine made of paper, are among the evening sights of
Nikko.
Lacquer and things curiously carved in wood are the great
attractions of the shops, but they interest me far less than the
objects of utility in Japanese daily life, with their ingenuity of
contrivance and perfection of adaptation and workmanship. A seed
shop, where seeds are truly idealised, attracts me daily. Thirty
varieties are offered for sale, as various in form as they are in
colour, and arranged most artistically on stands, while some are
put up in packages decorated with what one may call a facsimile of
the root, leaves, and flower, in water-colours. A lad usually lies
on the mat behind executing these very creditable pictures - for
such they are - with a few bold and apparently careless strokes with
his brush. He gladly sold me a peony as a scrap for a screen for 3
sen. My purchases, with this exception, were necessaries only - a
paper waterproof cloak, "a circular," black outside and yellow
inside, made of square sheets of oiled paper cemented together, and
some large sheets of the same for covering my baggage; and I
succeeded in getting Ito out of his obnoxious black wide-awake into
a basin-shaped hat like mine, for, ugly as I think him, he has a
large share of personal vanity, whitens his teeth, and powders his
face carefully before a mirror, and is in great dread of sunburn.
He powders his hands too, and polishes his nails, and never goes
out without gloves.
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