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Honda the Samurai; A Story of Modern Japan
Honda the Samurai A Story of Modern Japan Author:William Elliot Griffis General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1890 Original Publisher: Congregational Sunday-school and publishing society Subjects: Japan Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get... more » free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER III. THE BEGINNING OF ART. NOW that we have had our view and expressed our opinion about a house in Fukui, let us look upon the family during an afternoon and evening in midsummer. We should not have to watch the fat and red-cheeked maid long before we should see that she was well-wedded to superstitions. See her, before broiling fish for dinner, holding up the gridiron over her head and twirling it three times around so as to charm it, and thus prevent the fish from sticking to the iron bars. She would be nearly scared out of her wits if she accidentally stepped over an egg-shell, for then she would go crazy, as she thinks. Do you ever catch her, even at house- cleaning time, sweeping out a room with another woman ? Never! There must be either three or one, else one will see a ghost at night. When salt is brought, she throws a pinch in the fire to prevent quarreling in the family. When Mr. Rai, her master, started for his journey south, he hoped for fair weather; and to bring it she went back to the customs of her childhood's days, and, cutting out paper figured of a priest, hung them by a thread on the kitchen door. Every day she drops a bean in the well to save her master from having sore feet. Taka, whom in English we should call Hawk or Falcon, believes firmly in all the signs and omens in heaven, earth, and the waters, and when her left ear itches she is sure good news is to come soon. Only to-day the shadow of a flying bird moved swiftly across the papered lattice, and at once Taka said to herself,...« less