Japanese Memories | Page 4

influential of the whole aristocracy of Japan has decided on having its children (especially its girls) brought up in charge of an accomplished English lady." To which the Japan Daily Mail of February 21st added the following comment: "There is nothing novel in the action taken by Prince Shimadzu unless it be that the lady is to reside with the Prince's family, instead of having a separate home of her own. There can be no doubt, of course, that such a plan must prove more effective for purposes of instruction, but there is not much probability of its being widely adopted, for it entails the necessity of making special arrangements for food, etc., and not many Japanese families are in a position to do that."
On looking back, this suggestion that it was "especially the girls" whom I was to educate causes me amusement, for I was appointed solely to the charge of the sons of this great family; the girls were merely introduced as a piece of journalistic diplomacy. It was long afterwards that I learnt what a commotion my coming had caused, the idea of a woman having anything to do with the sons of a Japanese nobleman being at the time of my arrival almost beyond endurance.
To go back to the beginning. The post one morning brought a letter asking if I would accept a position in Japan if it were offered me. After some hesitation, and relying mainly on my impressions that the Japanese were a delightful people, always laughing and merry, with houses that fell down like a pack of cards when earthquakes came, and were built up again as quickly, I decided to go, regardless of the exact nature of the work, and with no foreshadowing of its enormous responsibilities. The proposal was that I should undertake the care of some orphan Princes, the eldest of whom was a "Daimyo." What that might be I had no notion. I was merely told that a Daimyo was equivalent to a duke.
A talk with Sir Edwin Arnold, however, set me thinking very deeply, and made me keenly interested in my future work. He hinted at there being a certain number of old customs which were still kept up in the houses of Daimyos, and added that it had become necessary to break down many of these owing to recent political developments. Sir Edwin's parting remark made a deep impression on me. c How beautiful it would be," he said, " if you could bring East and West together through the lives of these young noblemen." I often wonder what influence my work really had in this connection, and my justification for writing a book must be that I was the first woman who had ever resided in the family of a Japanese nobleman, particularly in that of the Daimyo of Satsuma.
I started for Japan on December 31st, 1900, under rather strange conditions, as the agreement drawn up by my solicitors had to be left unsigned for two reasons. Firstly, because I had discovered at the last moment that, although I had been told there were three pupils to be educated, two others had been added to my charge, which was alarming, as I did not know if such an addition might be only a preliminary. Secondly, because there seemed to be some difficulty as to what I should be called. Guardian was suggested, but not approved of; Governess was apparently not sufficient, as the children were orphans, and I had to take the place of a parent; Head of the House seemed still less satisfactory. So I set out in some trepidation, with no definite official status and no proper legal settlement. It is, however, interesting to note that in an old diary, kept by a steward of the Prince's household, in which my engagement is entered, Home Instructor is the name assigned to me in the translation.
My voyage out was a long one, taking in all forty-nine days. Owing to the Chinese New Year, which is kept some weeks later than our own, we were delayed in Hong- Kong, waiting for coals.
The first place to touch at in Japan was Nagasaki, where I was kindly entertained by the British Consul.
We spent the next day at Kobe, and there I received my first impressions. I remember seeing a Japanese man, who quite terrified me. He was walking in wooden clogs, such as are used by coolies in muddy weather. They are made of waterproof paper with a place for the toes, after the pattern of our carpet slippers, and are raised on two pieces of wood five or six inches high, which give the wearer quite a tall appearance. This man, who was above the ordinary height, wore a grey wadded kimono, as is usual in cold