wrestlers in Japan, and ranked as the champion Tom Crihs and Hyers of
the land. Koyanagi, the reputed bully of the capital, was one of them, and
paraded himself with the conscions pride of superior immensity and strength.
He was especially brought to the Commodore, that he might examine his
massive form. The commissioners insisted that the monstrous fellow should
be minutely inspected, that the hardness of his well-rounded muscles should
be felt, and that the fatness of his cushioned frame should be tested by the
touch. The Commodore accordingly attempted to grasp his immense arm,
which he found as solid as it was huge, and then passed his hand over the
monstrous neck, which fell in folds of massive flesh, like the dewlap of a
prize ox. As some surprise was naturally expressed at this wondrous exhibition
of animal development, the monster himself gave a grunt expressive
of his flattered vanity.
They were all so immense in flesh that they appeared to have lost their
distinctive features, and seemed to be only twenty-five masses of fat. Their
eyes were barely visible through a long perspective of socket, the prominence
of their noses was lost in the pufliness of their bloated cheeks, and their
heads were almost set directly on their bodies, with merely folds of flesh
where the neck and chin are usually found. Their great size, however, was
more owing to the development of muscle than to the deposition of fat, for,
although they were evidently well fed, they were not less well exercised, and
capable of great feats of strength. As a preliminary exhibition of the power
of these men, the princes set them to removing the sacks of rice to a convenient
place on the shore for shipping. Each of the sacks weighed not less
than one hundred and twenty-five pounds, and there were only a couple of
the wrestlers who did not carry each two sacks at a time. They bore the
sacks on the right shoulder, lifting the first from the ground and adjusting
it without help, but obtaining aid for the raising of the second. One man
carried a sack suspended by his teeth, and another, taking one in his arms,
turned repeated somersaults as he held it, and apparently with as much ease
as if his tons of flesh had been only so much gossamer, and his load a
feather.
After this preliminary display, the commissioners proposed that the Commodore
and his party should retire to the treaty house, where they would
have an opportunity of seeing the wrestlers exhibit their professional feats.
The wrestlers themselves were most carefully provided for, having constantly
about them a number of attendants, who were always at hand to supply
them with fans, which they often required, and to assist them in dressing
and undressing. While at rest they were ordinarily clothed in richly-
adorned robes of the usual Japanese fashion, but when exereising, they were
stripped naked, with the exception of the cloth about the loins. After their
performance with the sacks of rice, their servitors spread upon the huge