



Produced by Andrea Ball and Marc D'Hooghe at
http://www.freeliterature.org





A JAPANESE BOY

BY

HIMSELF


NEW YORK

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

1890




_COPYRIGHTED_, 1889.

By SHIUKICHI SHIGEMI.




CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.

MY BIRTHPLACE--MY GRANDFATHER--TENJINSAN.

CHAPTER II.

OLD-FASHIONED SCHOOL--MY SCHOOLMASTER--THE SCHOOL-HOUSE.

CHAPTER III.

THE KITCHEN--DINNER--FOOD.

CHAPTER IV.

GAMES--NEW SCHOOL--IMITATING THE WEST--MORE ABOUT MY SCHOOLMASTER
--PUNISHMENTS AT SCHOOL.

CHAPTER V.

BATHS--EVENINGS AT HOME--JAPANESE DANCING AND MUSIC.

CHAPTER VI.

AMATEUR ACTORS AND REAL ACTORS AND ACTRESSES--JAPANESE THEATRE.

CHAPTER VII.

WRESTLING--STORY-TELLERS--PICNIC AND PICNIC GROUNDS--AN OLD CASTLE
AND A TRADITION.

CHAPTER VIII.

ANGLING--A PIOUS OLD LADY AND HER ADVENTURES.

CHAPTER IX.

THE YAITO--A WITCH-WOMAN--AUNT OTSUNE, MISS CHRYSANTHEMUM AND
MR. PROSPERITY.

CHAPTER X.

NEW-YEAR'S DAY--THE MOCHI-MAKING--OLD-TIME OBSERVANCES.

CHAPTER XI.

KITE-FLYING--HOW I MADE MY KITE--MY UNCLE AND HIS RIG KITE
--OTHER NEW-YEAR GAMES--HOW WE END OUR NEW-YEAR HOLIDAYS.

CHAPTER XII.

OTHER JAPANESE HOLIDAYS--TANABATA AND INOKO, THE BOYS' DAYS
--THE SHINTOISTIC AND BUDDHISTIC ABLUTION MASS.

CHAPTER XIII.

OUR PRIEST AND BOY-PRIEST--OUR DOG GEM--SHAKA'S BIRTHDAY.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE FESTIVALS OF LOCAL DEITIES--SCHOOL AGAIN, AND SOME ACCOUNT
OF MY SCHOOL-FELLOWS--CONCLUSION.






PREFATORY LETTER.


PROF. HENRY W. FARNAM:

_Dear Sir:_--My motives in writing this jejune little volume are, as you
are aware, two:

1st. There seems to be no story told in this country of the Japanese
boy's life by a Japanese boy himself. The following rambling sketches
are incoherent and extremely meagre, I own; but you must remember that
they are a boy's talks. Give him encouragement, and he will tell you
more.

2d. The most important of my reasons is my desire to obtain the means to
prosecute the studies I have taken up in America. Circumstances have
obliged me to make my own way in this hard world. If I knew of a better
step I should not have resorted to an indiscreet juvenile publication--a
publication, moreover, of my own idle experiences, and in a language the
alphabet of which I learned but a few years ago.

To you my sincere acknowledgments are due for encouraging me to write
these pages. This kindness is but one of many, of which the public has
no knowledge.

                                        I am, sir,
                                          Yours very truly.
                                            SHIUKICHI SHIGEMI

  NEW HAVEN. CT., September, 1889.




A JAPANESE BOY.




CHAPTER I.


I was born in a small seaport town called Imabari, which is situated on
the western coast of the island of Shikoku, the eastern of the two
islands lying south of Hondo. The Imabari harbor is a miserable ditch;
at low tide the mouth shows its shallow bottom, and one can wade across.
People go there for clam-digging. Two or three little streams empty
their waters into the harbor. A few junks and a number of boats are
always seen standing in this pool of salt-water. In the houses
surrounding it, mostly very old and ramshackle, are sold eatables and
provisions, fishes are bought from the boats, or shelter is given to
sailors.

When a junk comes in laden with rice, commission merchants get on