d. In the room in which we
sat the farmer had arranged in a bowl of water with great
effectiveness hydrangea, a spray of pomegranate and a cabbage.

One marks the respect shown to the rural policeman. In his summer
uniform of white cotton, with his flat white cap and white gloves, and
an imposing sword, he looks like a naval officer, even if, as
sometimes happens, his feet are in _zori_. He gets respect because of
his dignified presence and sense of official duty, because of the
considerable powers which he is able to exercise, because he stands
for the Government, and because he is sometimes of a higher social
grade than that to which policemen belong in other countries. At the
Restoration many men of the samurai class did not think it beneath
them to enter the new sword-wearing police force and they helped to
give it a standing which has been maintained. As to the policeman
being a representative of the Government, the ordinary Japanese has a
way of speaking of the Government doing this or that as if the
Government were irresistible power. Average Japanese do not yet
conceive the Government as something which they have made and may
unmake[44]. But is it likely that they should, parliamentary history,
the work of their betters, being as short as it is? It is not whithout
significance that the Chambers of the Diet are housed in temporary
wooden buildings.

The rural policeman is not only a paternal guardian of the peace but
an administrative official. He keeps an eye on public health. He is
charged with correctly maintaining the record of names and
addresses--and some other particulars--of everybody in the village. It
is his duty to secure correct information as to the name, age, place
of origin and real business of every stranger. He attends all public
meetings, even of the young men's and young women's associations, and
no strolling players can give their entertainment without his
presence. As to the movements of strangers, my own were obviously well
known. Indeed a friend told me that in the event of my losing myself I
had only to ask a policeman and he would be able to tell me where I
was expected next! At the houses of well-to-do people I was struck by
the way in which the local police officer--sometimes, no doubt, a
sergeant or perhaps a man of the rank of our superintendent or chief
constable--called with the headman and joined our kneeling circle in
the reception-room. Nominally he came to pay his respects, bu