. The mikado's empire. pan. It will be noticed thatbeards and mustaches wereworn in those days. The art-ist has depicted his subjectwith a well - wrinkled face tomake him appear venerable,and with protruding cheeks toshow his lusty physique, recall-ing the ideals of Chinese art,in which the men are alwaysportly and massive, while thewomen are invariably frail andslender. His pose, expression,folded arms, and dress of fig-ured material (consisting of onelong loose robe with flowing;sleeves, and a second garment,like very wide trousers, girdedat the waist with straps of thesame material) are all
. The mikado's empire. pan. It will be noticed thatbeards and mustaches wereworn in those days. The art-ist has depicted his subjectwith a well - wrinkled face tomake him appear venerable,and with protruding cheeks toshow his lusty physique, recall-ing the ideals of Chinese art,in which the men are alwaysportly and massive, while thewomen are invariably frail andslender. His pose, expression,folded arms, and dress of fig-ured material (consisting of onelong loose robe with flowing;sleeves, and a second garment,like very wide trousers, girdedat the waist with straps of thesame material) are all to beseen, though in modified forms, in modern Japan. The fash- A Court Noble in Ancient Japan. (From a Na- ions of twenty centuries have *^^^ Drawing.) changed But slightly. Suspended from his girdle may be seen themagatama chatelaine, evidently symbolizing his rank. The magatamaare perforated and polished pieces of soap-stone or cornelian, of , shaped something like a curved seed-pod. They were 94 THE MIKADOS EMPIRE. together like beads. Other ornaments of this age were the kudatama^jewels of gold, silver, or iron. The ancient sword was a straight,double-edged blade, about three feet long. Buddhists and Confucianists assert that there existed no words intheir language for benevolence, justice, propriety, sagacity, and these virtues existed, though not as necessary principles, tobe taught, formulated, and incorporated into daily life. Chastity andrestraint among the unmarried were not reckoned as necessary virtues;and the most ancient Japanese literature, to say nothing of theirmythology, proves that marriage was a flimsy bar against the excursionsof irregular passion. Great feasts and drinking-bouts, in which ex-cessive eating was practiced, were common. They were fond of thechase, and hunting-parties were frequent from the most ancient the commendable features of their life were the habit of dailybathing and other methods o
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Keywords: ., bookauthorgriffisw, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1894
