He
carries the house, and she the furniture. Within a few hours they will be
comfortably settled in the new street to which their needs or their fancies
call them.
CHAPTER VIII
A JAPANESE DAY
The first person astir in a Japanese household is the mistress of the
house. She rises from the quilts on the floor which form her bed and puts
out the lamp, which has been burning all night. No Japanese sleeps without
an andon, a tall paper lamp, in which a dim light burns. Next she unlocks
the amado, the wooden shutters, and calls the servants.
Now the breakfast-table must be set out. In one way this is very simple,
for there is no cloth to spread, for tablecloths are unknown, and when
enough rice has been boiled and enough tea has been made, the breakfast
is ready. But there is one point upon which she must be very careful. The
lacquer rice-bowls and the chopsticks must be set in their proper order,
according to the importance of each person in the family. The slightest
mistake in arranging the position at a meal of any member of the family
or of a guest under the roof would be a matter of the deepest disgrace.
Etiquette is the tyrant of Japan. A slip in the manner of serving the food
is a thousand times more important in Japanese eyes than the quality of the
food itself. A hostess might serve burned rice and the most shocking tea,
but if it were handed round in correct form, there would be nothing more to
be said; but to serve a twice-honourable guest before a thrice-honourable
guest--ah! that would be truly dreadful, a blot never to be wiped off the
family escutcheon.
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