Young Folks Corner

Northland Age, Volume 5, Issue 4, 25 October 1935, Page 7

Young Folks Corner

KYOTO FROM TOKYO Kyoto was a little Japanese boy, with saffron coloured skin, and bright black eyes. Kyoto lived in the great city of Tokyo, on the beautiful island of Japan. Every day Kyoto could look up at the snow-capped peak of the magnificent volcano, Fujiyama. Every day he could breath the clear cool air and see the lovely blue of the water, for Tokyo is situated at the mouth of many rivers. Kyoto loved his beautiful city, with its trees, and flowering shrubs. Kyoto lived in a square wooden house, with a roof made of tiles. The walls of the house could slide back and forth, because they were set in grooves in the floor and in the ceiling. In the daytime these walls, or panels, were slid back so that the front of the house was open and exposed to the crisp air and sunshine. Kyoto always took off his street shoes, when he went into his house, and replaced them with soft slippers. There was no chimney on his house. Fireboxes, filled with hot charcoal, kept the kitchen and the parlour warm, and when it grew very cold, the walls were shut, and the house was boxed in, securely. A Japanese Bed Mat Kyoto slept on a very odd bed. He liked it very much, and would have been most uncomfortable in a bedstead such as is used in America or Europe. This bed was on the floor, and it was covered with a mattress made of cotton, about three inches thick. At the head of the bed, there

was a hard pillow stuffed with rice. Another cotton pad, of bright red, covered the bed. When Kyoto awoke in the morning, he dressed in his school uniform of dark blue, and then he rolled up his bed mat, and put it away neatly in the closet.

At breakfast, Kyoto sat on a cushion before a bare table. He always waited until his parents were seated first. Then he knelt on his cushion, and then sat back on his heels. Each member of the family had a breakfast tray. On each tray there was a bowl of bean-cured soup, another bowl of rice and a little dish of pickled turnips. Kyoto ate his rice with his chopsticks. The chopsticks were about eight inches long and were made of ivory. Celebrating the Festivals Kyoto was very happy, as almost all Japanese children are. He smiled a great deal. His father and mother were never cross, and athough they did not kiss him often they never scolded him. Kyoto often played games such as battledore and shuttle cock, with his parents. During the many festivals, Kyoto went with his father and mother to visit the near-by villages, and help celebrate. Bands of musicians played in the streets, and people danced in bright coloured costumes. There were many festivals to be celebrated—there were special holidays, when the various flowers came into bloom, for of all the countries in the world, in none ether are flowers loved as by the Japanese. Kyoto loved the springtime, and especially the early part of May when the Boy’s Festival called “Tango” came.

Outside of Kyoto’s house there hum a huge carp made of paper, for t

a Japanese boy a fish signifies courage and perseverance. Kyoto listened to the stirring legends his father told him, and the songs his mother sang about the ancient Japanese customs. These songs were hundreds of years old, and were very lovely. Kyoto was happy that he lived in Japan. As he danced with the other children, gaily singing the song of the cherry blossoms “Sakura, Sakura,” he would not have changed places with any other little boy in the whole world.