Japanese Memories | Page 8

and suffering poor of Tokio. He has also done much valuable work for his country, and for the education of medical students.
This early dinner was to be an ordinary one, such as my young charges would have every evening. The table was spread with a coarse new white cloth; the plates and dishes were of ugly white ware; the spoons and forks were plated, and the glass salt-cellars boasted of no spoons. There were finger bowls filled with hot water, with paper d'oyleys under them. It was quite touching to see the attempt that had been made to conform to English customs. The little boys used big knives and forks, and managed to help themselves neatly from the dishes as they were handed round; but I had many a shock and surprise during that meal, and I saw there was great scope for improvement in their manners.
It greatly puzzled me why the furniture and table service should be of such an ordinary kind. I could not understand the seemingly rigid economy, having heard of the family's great wealth. Later on, I learned the truth. There was a reason for it, and a noble one. The object in adopting this Western education was to get all the best that was possible out of it. What good, they asked, would a luxurious house be to the sons of a great warrior, such as these Princes? Would it help to produce courage and valour? Character could only be beautified by simplicity and denial in daily life. What need to have more than a bare and empty house? There was just one touch of the beautiful for my eye to rest on. In the corner of the room stood two little dwarf plum-trees, in blossom, which made up for any amount of ugly furniture. The Prince's house was renowned for its collection of these wonderful old trees, which are exceedingly difficult to rear. Their height was about two feet, the bark being an exquisite soft grey-green, and the branches covered with pink blossoms. They seemed to me like a peep into fairy-land, and I soon found one placed in my bedroom, showing that my appreciation of them was recognized.
After dinner, sketches of livery were brought from a tailor, and I was asked to select one for the servant who had waited at table. As he was short and dumpy I dreaded the result. I chose a butler's suit, but found they preferred that of a footman, and eventually we decided on a compromise. Mr. Nagasaki then gave me the list of attendant gentlemen, which seemed an endlessly long one, headed by a comptroller of the house, and a treasurer. He told me that Japanese reporters had been continually worrying him for information as to my coming, but that he had kept the date of my arrival unknown until the moment when he had asked the Emperor to excuse him, which had awakened great interest at the Palace. He said he had brought me some very kind messages from the gentlemen in the Court, begging me to believe that I had their sympathy and congratulations on my safe arrival.
Dinner being over we went into the adjoining room, and there I realized for the first time how the eldest brother was accustomed to be treated. An attendant came in, and the Prince was consulted as to my having the use of a carriage. He was grave and silent, and the attendant standing behind his chair spoke for him. Later on I found it was necessary to obtain his permission on any important matter. Strange as it may seem, I never felt that this young Prince was like an ordinary boy of fourteen years of age. In some ways he was a grown-up person. His authority was imperceptibly felt, even by me, a foreigner; and, although he yielded himself to me to educate, and never failed to do all I asked of him, even to giving strict obedience, yet, in a sense, I always felt him to be the Master of the House.
CHAPTER II
I MUST now give a short description of the Prince and his brothers.
On the first day a paper was handed to me with the names and ages of my charges, as follows:
Prince Tadashige Shimadzu, aged 14 years, 5 months.
Baron Tomijiro Shimadzu .. 9 9 ,,
Baron Junnosuke Shimadzu ,, 8 5 ,,
Akinoshin Shimadzu .. 7 2
Yonosuke Shimadzu .... 6 2
It is to be noted that none of the sons of this celebrated family had been given more than one name. They were not pampered, as are most European princelings, with a string of endless names, for it is not customary in Japan to call a child after any relation or friend.
In the Shimadzu family the word "Tada" was always placed at the beginning of the