Kimono

Kimono

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Kimono, by John Paris
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Title: Kimono
Author: John Paris
Release Date: June 5, 2004 [eBook #12527]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KIMONO***
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KIMONO
by
JOHN PARIS

1922

CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I
AN ANGLO-JAPANESE MARRIAGE
II HONEYMOON
III EASTWARDS
IV NAGASAKI
V CHONKINA
VI ACROSS JAPAN
VII THE EMBASSY
VIII THE HALF-CASTE GIRL
IX ITO SAN
X THE YOSHIWARA WOMEN
XI A GEISHA DINNER
XII FALLEN CHERRY-BLOSSOMS
XIII THE FAMILY ALTAR
XIV THE DWARF TREES
XV EURASIA

XVI THE GREAT BUDDHA
XVII THE RAINY SEASON
XVIII AMONG THE NIKKO MOUNTAINS
XIX YAÉ SMITH
XX THE KIMONO
XXI SAYONARA (GOOD-BYE)
XXII FUJINAMI ASAKO
XXIII THE REAL SHINTO
XXIV THE AUTUMN FESTIVAL
XXV JAPANESE COURTSHIP
XXVI ALONE IN TOKYO
XXVII LADY BRANDAN

_Utsutsu wo mo Utsutsu to sara ni Omowaneba, Yume wo mo yume to
Nani ka omowamu?
Since I am convinced That Reality is in no way Real, How am I to
admit That dreams are dreams?_
The verses and translation above are taken from A. Waley's
"JAPANESE POETRY: THE UTA" (Clarendon Press), as are many of
the classical poems placed at the head of the chapters.
CHAPTER I
AN ANGLO-JAPANESE MARRIAGE

_Shibukaro ka Shiranedo kaki no Hatsu-chigiri_.
Whether the fruit be bitter Or whether it be sweet, The first bite tells.
The marriage of Captain the Honourable Geoffrey Barrington and Miss
Asako Fujinami was an outstanding event in the season of 1913. It was
bizarre, it was picturesque, it was charming, it was socially and
politically important, it was everything that could appeal to the taste of
London society, which, as the season advances, is apt to become jaded
by the monotonous process of Hymen in High Life and by the
continued demand for costly wedding presents.
Once again Society paid for its seat at St. George's and for its glass of
champagne and crumb of cake with gifts of gold and silver and
precious stones enough to smother the tiny bride; but for once in a way
it paid with a good heart, not merely in obedience to convention, but
for the sake of participating in a unique and delightful scene, a touching
ceremony, the plighting of East and West.
Would the Japanese heiress be married in a kimono with flowers and
fans fixed in an elaborate _coiffure_? Thus the ladies were wondering
as they craned their necks to catch a glimpse of the bride's procession
up the aisle; but, though some even stood on hassocks and pew seats,
few were able to distinguish for certain. She was so very tiny. At any
rate, her six tall bridesmaids were arrayed in Japanese dress, lovely
white creations embroidered with birds and foliage.
It is hard to distinguish anything in the perennial twilight of St.
George's; a twilight symbolic of the new lives which emerge from its
Corinthian portico into that married world about which so much has
been guessed and so little is known.
One thing, however, was visible to all as the pair moved together up to
the altar rails, and that was the size of the bridegroom as contrasted
with the smallness of his bride. He looked like a great rough bear and
she like a silver fairy. There was something intensely pathetic in the
curve of his broad shoulders as he bent over the little hand to place in
its proud position the diminutive golden circlet which was to unite their

two lives.
As they left the church, the organ was playing _Kimi-ga-ya_, the
Japanese national hymn. Nobody recognized it, except the few
Japanese who were present; but Lady Everington, with that
exaggeration of the suitable which is so typical of her, had insisted on
its choice as a voluntary. Those who had heard the tune before and half
remembered it decided that it must come from the "Mikado"; and one
stern dowager went so far as to protest to the rector for permitting such
a tune to desecrate the sacred edifice.
Outside the church stood the bridegroom's brother officers. Through the
gleaming passage of sword-blades, smiling and happy, the strangely
assorted couple entered upon the way of wedlock, as Mr. and Mrs.
Geoffrey Barrington--the shoot of the Fujinami grafted on to one of the
oldest of our noble families.
"Are her parents here?" one lady was asking her neighbour.
"Oh, no; they are both dead, I believe."
"What kind of people are they, do you know? Do Japs have