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In the hotels, both in the country and the city, women play an important
part. The attendants are usually sweet-faced, prettily dressed girls,
and frequently the proprietor of the hotel is a woman. My first
experience of a Japanese hotel was at Nara, anciently the capital of
Japan, and now a place of resort because of its fine old temples, its
Dai Butsu, and its beautiful deer park. The day's ride in _jinrikisha_
from [=O]saka had brought our party in very tired, only to find that the
hotel to which we had telegraphed for rooms was already filled to
overflowing by a daimi[=o] and his suite. Not a room could be obtained,
and we were at last obliged to walk some distance, for we had dismissed
our tired _jinrikisha_ men, to a hotel in the village, of which we knew
nothing. What with fatigue and disappointment, we were not prepared to
view the unknown hotel in a very rosy light; and when our guide pointed
to a small gate leading into a minute, damp courtyard, we were quite
convinced that the hardships of travel in Japan were now about to begin;
but disappointment gave way to hope, when we were met at the door by a
buxom landlady, whose smile was in itself a refreshment. Although we had
little in the way of language in common, she made us feel at home at
once, took us to her best room, sent her blooming and prettily dressed
daughters to bring us tea and whatever other refreshments the mysterious
appetite of a foreigner might require, and altogether behaved toward us
in such motherly fashion that fatigue and gloom departed forthwith,
leaving us refreshed and cheerful. Soon we began to feel rested, and our
kind friend, seeing this, took us upon a tour around the house, in
which room after room, spotless, empty, with shining woodwork and
softest of mats, showed the good housekeeping of our hostess. A little
garden in the centre of the house, with dwarf trees, moss-covered
stones, and running water, gave it an air of coolness on the hot July
day that was almost deceptive; and the spotless wash-room, with its
great stone sink, its polished brass basins, its stone well-curb, half
in and half out of the house, was cool and clean and refreshing merely
to look at. A two days' stay in this hotel showed that the landlady was
the master of the house. Her husband was about the house constantly, as
were one or two other men, but they all worked under the direction of
the energetic head of affairs. She it w