M a n n e r s .
A s t r o l o g y .
J A P ,A N.
thence difperfed by fea to the peninfula o f Malacca, Siam, and
other places..
N o t w i t h s t a n d i n g the Japanefe have for ages fcarcely
known the peft o f war, yet they are endowed with the greatefl:
heroifm. I f in any quarrel they have been conquered: by an
enemy, and find they cannot revenge the infult, they will put
themfelves to death: I fpeak o f this, not in praife, but to de-
fcribe a high fpirit, bordering on brutality. That fpirit, exerted
in a foreign land againft the treachery o f Peter Nuyts, the Dutch
governor, merits our admiration and applaufe*. To fill the catalogue
o f their vices, they are diftruftful, proud, cruel, and defti-
tute o f benevolence; and from the doitrine o f their Bonzees,
are fo infenfible to the wants o f their fellow-creatures, as to
fuffer them to periih by denying them every fort o f relief. To
their intrepidity may be added their patience under labor, their
ability to Undergo any hardihips. Their other virtues are numerous
: they have great induftry, great moderation in their plea-
fures, are entirely free from luxury and intemperance; moderate
in their defires o f wealth, juft in their dealings, and true to
their Word; chafte in word and a£tion ; religious, but apt to deviate
into the grofleft iuperftitions.
T h e y are celebrated for the quicknefs o f their apprehenfions,
and faoility in learning. Before the arrival of the miffiona-ries,
their acquired knowledge was at a low ebb. What they attained
after that period may pofiibly he loft. At that time they were
very ignorant aftronomers,but much addicted to judicial aftrology;
they undertake nothing without confulting fome pretending
* PrLv. Hill. vol. x, p. 321. Kaempfer’ s Japan, vol. ii. app. 57.
impoftor.
J A P A N; 26a
impoftor. As to geography they made the world 'confift of three G e o g r a p h y .
parts, China, Siam, and Japan. We. may fee by their maps
their extent in that branch of fcience we have one as a proof
in the Britijb Mufeurm.
T h e i r Ikill in phyfic is .not Iefs moderate; their great art p h y s i c ,
is th at o f the pulfe-. The phyficians iirit feel' one afmand then
another, as i f the impulfe did not come from the fame machine,
the heart. Their Mfculapius or Apollo, i.s the god Jakufi, They
have very few remedies ; two form the principal, the one is the
Acu-pun&ura, or pricking with the needfe, in wfe for a dreadful a c u - p h n c t v r a .
fpecies o f colic common in Japan, The profefiors in the art
make ufe of certain needles; and form with much ceremony
and fuperftition, the punfrures in three rows hut this operation
is applied for the cure of other diforders t.
T h e other great remedy is the Mom, a cauft'ic applied in MoXA.
almoft every diftemper. It is made o f the leaves o f the Arte-
mWa vulgaris, and being frt oil fire, is placed on the part
afiefred. The flame is not vifihle, nor is the burning attended
with any confidcrable pain.. The aftrologers are eonfulted on
the occalioH, who have figures o f the hpman body drawn like
the man in the almanack, with all its parts marked to which the
.Moxa is to be applied J, for the phyficians feem to act with peculiar
reverence to the influence o f the ftars.
T h i s , remedy is alio in ufe in India, and other countries in
Afia. It has even been introduced into Europe as a cure for the
* Kaempfeiyii. App. -p. 29. tab. 43;
• 4 A lingular coincidence'with the Chinele.prg&iqe, ..mentioned by Dr. Gillan. Embairy,
vol. ii. p. 249. E.
+ Kaempfer, ii. tab. 44a.
gour,