- Young Chinese Boy
- Painting a rock
Painting a rock - Rooster divider
- Reading a scroll
- Prince Chin Pa tried in vain to hold his followers
- Rough Sea Divider
- When Ah Tcha had eaten his Evening Rice, he took lantern and entered the largest of his mills
- Of course, they wore hideous false faces
- Old Chinese Man Divider
- Man working at the table
- Then he seized the plaques and flung them from him
- Meng Hu could imagine a knife at his throat
- We are the Shen, demons of the sea
- Tiao Fu snatched up her little-used embroidery scissors. Snip, Snip, Snip
- So the seventh demon sped away taking the sea with him
- Three Old Men
- So Chai Mi sat beside the river and sewed and wept
- Therefore—upon his donkey—the contrary husband started for Tsun Pu
- More and more sad came the music
- This nice large one is for your dinner a
- The first portrait he painted was that of Ying Ning, a monstrous ugly maiden
- The house of Weng Fu was luxurious in the extreme
- The king and his generals gazed across the river
- This nice large one is for your dinner
- Three children and the old man
- The king crawled under his throne
- The royal generals . . . knelt before Hai Low and bumped their heads in the dust
- It was the howl of a wolf
- Divider
- Kneeling before a tree
- The Koto
The only Japanese musical instrument taught in girls’ schools is the koto, a kind of zither. As the koto is the most adaptable of all Japanese instruments to western music, it is more readily learnt than others at schools where the piano and the violin are also taught. There are several kinds of koto, the number of strings on them ranging from one to twenty-five; but the one exclusively used at schools has thirteen strings It has a hollow convex body,six feet five inches long and ten inches wide at one end and half an inch narrower at the other, and stands on legs three and a half inches high. The strings are tied at equal distances at the head or broader end and gathered at the other; they are supported each by its own bridge, the position of which varies with the pitch required. Small ivory nails are put on the tips of the fingers for striking the strings. - The samisen
The samisen is early taught. Girls of seven or thereabouts are made to learn it while their fingers are still very pliant. But the lessons are hard to learn as the tunes have to be committed to memory, for there are no scores to refer to. There is no popular method of notation; the marks which are sometimes to be seen in song-books are too few to be of use to any but skilled musicians. The lighter samisen does not require much exertion to play; women can thrum it for hours on end; and they make slight indentations on the nails of the middle and ring fingers of the left hand for catching the strings when those fingers are moved up and down the neck to stop them. But with the heavier kind the indentations are deeper, and the constant friction of the strings hardens the finger-tips and often breaks the nails, while still worse is the condition of the right hand which holds the plectrum. The plectrum, the striking end of which is flat as in the one for the slender-necked samisen, is heavily leaded and weighs from twelve ounces to a pound when used by professionals; and the handle, which is square, is held between the ring and little fingers for leverage and worked with the thumb and the forefinger. - It was a well-plucked traveler who returned
- Drinking Tea
- Flowers in the rain
- Dragon
- Floral Divider
- He made a V of the bowstring
- How could she make beds when her hair needed burnishing
- Dragon Divider
- 'I—I—I—am hungry,' stammered Han Hsin
- 'Broooomp'
- House under a tree
- Han Hsin raised a bridge from island to mainland
- By look and action he was a maiden
- He was a weighty elephant—amid the cabbages
- Doctor Chu Ping beamed upon him
- Chinese man rowing divider
- He kept his forehead tight-pressed to the floor
- At that same hour a basket was found in the garden
- A whanging of wings that lifted . . . Up . . . Higher . . . Swifter
- A Sitting-room
The sitting-room has little furniture. An indispensable article in it is the brazier, usually oblong, with a set of three small drawers one under another at the side and two others side by side under the copper tray filled with ashes, on which charcoal is burnt inside an iron or clay trivet. On this trivet is set a kettle of iron or copper. The iron kettle is made of thick cast-iron and kept on the trivet so as always to have hot water ready for tea-making: and the copper kettle is used when we wish to boil water quickly. Beside the brazier is a small shelf or cabinet for tea-things. Behind the brazier is a cushion where the wife sits; this is her usual post. There is also a cushion on the other side or the brazier, where the husband or other members of the house may sit. - Young Chinese Divider
- . . . And cut leaf-shaped pieces
- A roofed and a pair gate
Gates, too, vary in size and form. The most modest are no more than low wicker-gates which can be jumped over and offer no bar to intrusion. Others are of the same make, but stand higher so that the interior can be seen only through cracks. But the most common consist of two square posts with hinged doors which meet in the middle and are kept shut by a cross-bar passing through clamps on them. These gates may be of the cheapest kind of wood, such as cryptomeria, or may be massive and of hard wood. Another common kind has a roof over it with a single door which is hinged on one post and fastened on to the other and provided with a small sliding-door for daily use. The larger pair gates have also small side-doors for use at night when they are themselves shut. - A necklace
- A helping hand
- An eight-matted parlour
The parlour, the principal room of the house, is always kept tidy. It has an alcove, six feet long by three deep, consisting of a dais, a few inches high, of plain hard wood, which will bear polishing, though a thin matting is sometimes put over it. Not unfrequently, another piece of wood, generally square, forms the outer edge so that the thickness of the floor of the alcove can be concealed. The dais has a special ceiling of its own, or a bit of a wall, of plaster or wood, coming down over it a foot or more from the ceiling. On the dais is set a vase of porcelain or metal, bottle-shaped or flat, in which branches of a tree or shrubs in flower are put in, and on the wall is hung a kakemono, or scroll of picture or writing. These two constitute the main ornament of the room. New flowers are put in every few days and the kakemono is changed from time to time. This is the peculiarity of the kakemono as a piece of house decoration. We do not exhibit all our treasures in kakemono at the same time, but hang them one, two, or three at a time according to the size of the alcove and the kakemono themselves, so that the visitor calling at different seasons may delight his eyes with the sight of fresh pictures or writings each time he calls. - A young lady dressed for a visit
When she goes out on an informal visit, the Japanese woman usually puts on a crested haori; but if it is only for a walk, the haori may be plain. The kimono may on such occasions be of any pattern, only that when she makes a call, the band must be of the same cloth as the kimono. - A House without a gate
In Japan there was neither an architect nor a builder as a distinct calling. Even now, ordinary dwelling-houses are not built by either of them; it is the carpenter who has charge of their construction. The carpenter’s is a dignified craft; he is called in Japanese the “great artificer,” and stands at the head of all artisans. In the building of a house, a master carpenter is called in; he prepares the plans, and if they are approved, he sets to work with his apprentices and journeymen.