Some of the higher classes cover their rohes with an oiled paper cloak,
whieh is impermeable to the wet. The umbrella, like that of the Chinese,
is almost a constant companion, and serves both to shade from the rays of
the sun, and keep off the effects of a shower. The men of all classes were
exceedingly courteous, and although inquisitive about the strangers, never became
offensively intrusive. The lower people were evidently in great dread
.of their superiors, and were more reserved in their presence, than they
would have been if they had been left to -their natural instincts. The rigid
exclusiveness in regard to foreigners is a law merely enacted by the government
from motives of policy, , and not a sentiment of the Japanese people.
Their habits are social among themselves, and they frequently intermingle
in friendly intercourse. There is one feature in the society of Japan, by
whieh the superiority of the people, to all other oriental nations, is clearly
manifest. Woman is recognized as a companion, and not merely treated
as a slave. Her - position is certainly not as elevated as in those countries
under the influence of the Christian dispensation, but the mother, wife, and
daughter of Japan, are neither the chattels and household drudges of China,
nor thé purchased objects of the capricious lust of the harems of Turkey.
The fact of the non-existence of polygamy, is a distinctive feature, which
pre-eminently characterizes the Japanese, as the most moral and refined of
all eastern nations. The absence of this degrading practice shows itself,
not only in the superior character of the women, but in the natural consequence
of the greater prevalence of the domestic virtues.
The Japanese women, always excepting the disgusting black teeth of
those who are married, are not ill-looking. The young girls are well formed
and rather pretty, and have much of that vivacity and self-reliance in
manners, whieh come from a consciousness of dignity, derived from the
comparatively high regard in which they are held. In the ordinary mutual
intercourse of friends and families the women have their share, and rounds
of visiting and tea parties are kept up as briskly in Japan as in the United
States. The attitude assumed by the women who prostrated themselves in
the presence of the Commodore and his party, should be considered rather
as a mark of their reverence for the strangers than as an evidence of their
subordination. That in the large towns and cities of Japan there is great
licentiousness, it is reasonable to suppose, for such seems, unhappily, a universal
law in all great communities; but it must be said to the credit of the
Japanese women, that during all the time of the presence of the squadron in
the bay of Tedo, there was none of the usual indication of wantonness and
license on the part of the female sex in their occasional relations with the
miscellaneous ships’ people.
On the 9th of April, notwithstanding a note received from the commissioners,
in which they urgently remonstrated against the movement, the Commodore
sent word that he would, on the following day, approach with the
R O A D S ID E O H A P E L , Y O K U H AM A .