Peeps at Many Lands: Japan | Page 6

he is not only willing, but proud, to give it in her defence.
This was seen to the full in the late war with Russia. Time and again a
Japanese regiment was ordered to go to certain death. Not a man
questioned the order, not a man dreamed for an instant of disobedience.
Forward went the line, until every man had been smitten down, and the
last brave throat had shouted its last shrill "Banzai!" This was the result
of teaching every boy in Japan that the most glorious thing that can
happen to him is to die for his Emperor and his native land.

CHAPTER V
THE JAPANESE GIRL
The word "obedience" has a large part in the life of a Japanese boy; it is
the whole life of a Japanese girl. From her babyhood she is taught the
duty of obeying some one or other among her relations. There is an old
book studied in every Japanese household and learned by heart by
every Japanese girl, called "Onra-Dai-Gaku"--that is, the "Greater
Learning for Women." It is a code of morals for girls and women, and
it starts by saying that every woman owes three obediences: first, while
unmarried, to her father; second, when married, to her husband and the
elders of his family; third, when a widow, to her son.

Up to the age of three the Japanese girl baby has her head shaved in
various fancy patterns, but after three years old the hair is allowed to
grow to its natural length. Up to the age of seven she wears a narrow
obi of soft silk, the sash of infancy; but at seven years old she puts on
the stiff wide obi, tied with a huge bow, and her dress from that
moment is womanly in every detail. She is now a musume, or moosme,
the Japanese girl, one of the merriest, brightest little creatures in the
world. She is never big, for when at her full height she will be about
four feet eight inches tall, and a Japanese woman of five feet high is a
giantess.
This is her time to wear gay, bright colours, for as a married woman
she must dress very soberly. A party of moosmes tripping along to a
feast or a fair looks like a bed of brilliant flowers set in motion. They
wear kimonos of rich silks and bright shades, kimonos of vermilion and
gold, of pink, of blue, of white, decorated with lovely designs of
apple-blossom, of silk crape in luminous greens and golden browns,
every shade of the rainbow being employed, but all in harmony and
perfect taste. If a shower comes on and they tuck up their
gaily-coloured and embroidered kimonos, they look like a bed of
poppies, for each shows a glowing scarlet under-kimono, or petticoat.
Not only is this the time for the Japanese girl to be gaily dressed, but it
is her time to visit fairs and temples, and to enjoy the gaieties which
may fall in her way: for when she marries, the gates which lead to the
ways of pleasure are closed against her for a long time. The duties of a
Japanese wife keep her strictly at home, until the golden day dawns
when her son marries and she has a daughter-in-law upon whom she
may thrust all the cares of the household. Then once more she can go to
temples and theatres, fairs and festivals, while another drudges in her
stead.
Marriage is early in Japan. A girl marries at sixteen or seventeen, and to
be unmarried at twenty is accounted a great misfortune. At marriage
she completely severs herself from her own relations, and joins her
husband's household. This is shown in a very striking fashion by the
bride wearing a white kimono, the colour of mourning; and more, when

she has left her father's house, fires of purification are lighted, just as if
a dead body had been borne to the grave. This is to signify that
henceforward the bride is dead to her old home, and her whole life
must now be spent in the service of her husband and his relations.
The wedding rites are very simple. There is no public function, as in
England, and no religious ceremony; the chief feature is that the bride
and bridegroom drink three times in turn from three cups, each cup
having two spouts. These cups are filled with saké, the national strong
drink of Japan, a kind of beer made from rice. This drinking is
supposed to typify that henceforth they will share each other's joys and
sorrows, and this sipping of saké constitutes the marriage ceremony.
The young wife now must bid farewell to her fine clothes and her
merry-making. She wears garments of a soft dove