. Japan, a record in colour . ised and pleasedme greatly. These men were all brilliant craftsmen and designers,creating work that could not be surpassed in Italy oranywhere else for beauty. Yet the bulk of them werepoorly fed, receiving only sevenpence or eightpence aday. Too poor to buy meat, they lived on rice and onthe heads and tails of fish twice a week, being unable toafford that which was between. But although the Japanese workman is very poorlypaid, it must also be remembered that his necessitiesare few and simple. This is roughly the way a work-man in Japan lives. He has one meal of r
. Japan, a record in colour . ised and pleasedme greatly. These men were all brilliant craftsmen and designers,creating work that could not be surpassed in Italy oranywhere else for beauty. Yet the bulk of them werepoorly fed, receiving only sevenpence or eightpence aday. Too poor to buy meat, they lived on rice and onthe heads and tails of fish twice a week, being unable toafford that which was between. But although the Japanese workman is very poorlypaid, it must also be remembered that his necessitiesare few and simple. This is roughly the way a work-man in Japan lives. He has one meal of rice per day,of the poorest quality, which costs him two sen eightrin. A sen is a tenth part of a penny, and a rina tenth part of a sen. For a mat to sleep on atnight he pays one sen five rin. Three sen he paysfor fish or the insides of fowls. Drinking-water costshim two rin, while two rin per day pays for thepriest. The total cost of his daily living thus sumsup into about five sen three rin. Then, as to be 160 A METAL-WORKER. Workers buried at the public expense is considered a deepdisgrace, forty sen is always put on one side for thepurchase of a coffin, seventy-five sen if the gentlemanwishes to be cremated, twenty sen for refreshmentsfor mourners, five rin for flowers, three sen for thefees of the two priests, while, to economise, a Japaneseof the lower grade will generally make use of friendsas bearers. Apropos of the absurdly small price at which a mancan live in Japan, I am reminded of an experience inKioto. I was walking down the theatre streets oneday with a Japanese friend, and we stopped in frontof a little stall full of very dainty toys. There werethousands of toys—miniature kitchen utensils exquisitelycarved in wood, small pots and pans and dishes, allbound with lacquer and beautifully finished, such aswould delight the heart of every housewife of myacquaintance. I asked the stall-holder, a little stolidold man, through the interpretation of my friend, howmuch he
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectart, bookyear1901
