. Japan, a record in colour . rthe womanly qualities that are most valuable in aJapanese girl are destroyed by this Western broaden-ing of their minds : they wear high-heeled shoes, putnosegays on the table, and are altogether to say, Western influence is keenly felt withinthe schools which belong to all classes and conditionsof Japanese children, and one trembles lest graduallythe simplicity and quaint formality of their bringing-upshould become hardened and roughened into the systemwhich has done so much to spoil the child-life of theWest. Their own artistic training is perfe
. Japan, a record in colour . rthe womanly qualities that are most valuable in aJapanese girl are destroyed by this Western broaden-ing of their minds : they wear high-heeled shoes, putnosegays on the table, and are altogether to say, Western influence is keenly felt withinthe schools which belong to all classes and conditionsof Japanese children, and one trembles lest graduallythe simplicity and quaint formality of their bringing-upshould become hardened and roughened into the systemwhich has done so much to spoil the child-life of theWest. Their own artistic training is perfect; andalthough Japan is the land of ceremony, and thechildren are brought up with a certain strictness ofpropriety unknown in the less ceremonious West,their utter naturalness and absolute freedom fromseeking after effects present in them a simplicity ofcharacter which helps to make them the most delightfulof their kind. A little boy flying a kite is like noother boy you have ever seen in England. There 142 SUGAR-WATER STALL. Children is a curious formality and staidness about him andhis companions which never degenerates into shyness. Once I drifted into a country village in search ofsubjects for pictures, and I found to my astonish-ment that every living soul there was flying a kite,from old men down to babies. It was evidently afete day, dedicated to kites; all business seemedabandoned, and every one either stood or ran about,gazing up in the air at the respective toys. Therewere kites of every variety—red kites, yellow kites,kites in the shape of fish, teams of fighting kites,and sometimes whole battalions of them at war withkites of a different colour, attempting to chafe eachothers strings. It rather surprised me at first to seestaid old men keenly interested in so childish an amuse-ment ; but in a very short time I too found myselfrunning about with the rest, grasping a string andwatching with the greatest joy imaginable the careerof a floating thing gorgeously painte
Size: 1376px × 1816px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectart, bookyear1901
