of
the grounds. The contest is not decided until the balls have been
counted, when the girl who has succeeded in getting the greatest number
of balls of her color into the net is declared the winner. Another and
extremely pretty race, calling for great steadiness of hand and body, is
the running from one end of the ground to the other with a ball balanced
on a battledore. The Japanese battledore is made of light but hard wood,
and is long and narrow in shape. If one had not seen it done, it would
be well-nigh impossible to believe that any child could carry a ball
upon it for more than a few slow steps: but these children run at a
smart trot, keeping the ball immovable upon its small and smooth
surface.

Beside the games and races, there are calisthenic exhibitions, in which
great precision of motion and flexibility of body are manifested. One of
the most graceful and attractive of these is the fan drill shown on this
occasion, when some twenty or thirty girls, with their bright-colored
dresses, long, waving sleeves, and red _hakama_, posture in perfect
rhythm, with fans opened or closed, waving above the head, held before
the face, changed from position to position, with the performers'
changes of attitude, each new figure seemingly more graceful than the
last.

In these and many other ways the nobility of new Japan are being fitted
for the new part that they have to play in the world. No wonder that the
education now given, awakening the mind, toughening the body, arousing
ambition and individuality, is regarded by many of the ultra-conservatives
as a dangerous innovation, and one likely to bring the nobility down to
the level of the common people. Whether this new education is better or
worse than the old, we can hardly tell as yet, but there are no signs of
the immediate breakdown of the old spirit of the nobility, and the
better health and stronger characters of the young women who have
received the modern training promise much for the next generation.

_Page 192._

While this was entirely true in 1890, it is interesting to observe that
after ten years of commercial and industrial progress there are signs
that the embroidered kimono is coming back into fashion. With the growth
of large fortunes and of luxury that has marked the past decade, has
come the custom of providing wedding garments as magnificently
embroidered as were the robes of the daimi[=o]s' ladies, and even the
_montsuki_ or ceremonial dress, w