t of life that he
can. I do not suggest, of course, that the Japanese peasant has ever
philosophically discussed this matter with himself or perhaps thought
deeply, if at all, about it. I am merely recording what his view of
life is judging by his actions. He, I feel confident, enjoys life. In
some respects his life no doubt is a hard one, but it has its
alleviations, and if I judge him aright the ordinary Japanese does not
let his mind dwell overmuch on his hardships, but is content to get
what pleasure he can out of his surrounding conditions.

One very pleasing characteristic of the Japanese men and women to
which I have already referred is the habit of personal cleanliness.
In every town in the country public baths are numerous, and every
house of any pretensions has a bath-room. The Japanese use extremely
hot water to wash in. The women do not enter the bath immediately upon
undressing, but in the first instance, throwing some pailsful of water
over the body, they sit on the floor and scrub themselves with bran
prior to entering the bath, performing this operation two or three
times. Men do not indulge in a similar practice, and I have never been
able to understand why this different mode of bathing should obtain in
reference to the two sexes. In houses possessing a bath-room the bath
consists merely of a wooden tub with a stove to heat the water. The
bath is used by the whole family in succession--father, mother,
children, servants. Shampooing also forms an important part of the
Japanese system of cleanliness. It is not, as in this country,
confined to the head, but approximates to what we term massage, and
consists in a rubbing of the muscles of the body--a fact which not
only has a beneficial effect physically, but is also efficacious in
the direction of cleanliness.

Nearly every house in Japan possesses a garden, and the garden is a
source of perpetual delight to every Japanese. He is enabled to give
full vent therein to his love of flowers. Some critics have found
fault with Japanese gardens on account of their monotony. Miniature
lakes, grass plots, dwarfed trees, and trees clipped and trained into
representations of objects animate and inanimate are the prevailing
characteristics. A similar remark might, however, be made in regard to
the gardens of, say, London suburban houses, with this exception--that
the Japanese gardens show infinitely more good taste on the part of
the cultivators of them. These litt