JAPANESE SKETCHES.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3166, 5 April 1871, Page 3

JAPANESE SKETCHES.

110 KAI. [From ho, a custom, ov usage ; and kai, a shell.] This delightful custom is a very ancient, one in Japan, and shows the high social pnsition which the ladies of thai country have olways hold. It is customary, when the Emperor, a prince, or Samourai of high standing, gels married, to present the bride with two magnificent lacquered boxes, which contain many hundreds of beautiful shells, on the insides of which arc- painted nice pictures of palaces and courtiers in court costume. Only two of those shells will match ; and the bride to show her devotion to her lord, tries all the shells until she linds ihc two which match. These she immediately presents to her lord, as symbolical of the wedded state. [We have been favored with an inspection of some beantiful specimens of the Ho Kai, now in the possession of the entrepreneur of the Japanese Troupe per forming here. — Ed.] Lv Belle Nipon is truly a land of contrarieties — everything goes contrary to the usages of the Western world. For instance, the Japanese write from right to left, mount their steeds from the right side, they saw timber towards them, they build the roofs of their houses first, they launch their ships bows foremost, they number the hours of the day back wards, commencing at nine and finishing at four, they only pay their doctors J when the patient is cured, they shoe their horses with straw, use paper reins, coats and hats, call the last child born the first, and, what might be copied with advantage by western nations, they have all their weights and measures, notation, &c, on the decimal system. In fact, every usage of these interesting people is a contrariety. OSAKA. The city of Osaka is the second city ' in Japan, and has a population of about ! 800,000 people, including the suburbs ; this city was only open to foreigners in 1808. It is a very ancient city, and has always been the greatest 6eat of commerce in the Empire. Here are to be found merchant princes, universities, arsenals, and dockyards, and, in consequence of the great wealth of the city, | it supports the cleverest artists of all denominations ; hence, we see one street, the Dotumburri, consisting entirely of theatres, which are open day and night, and count their audiences by tens of thousands. Osaka is the Venice of the far East ; the streets, which are all at right angles are paved with broken tiles, placed on edge, and each citizen is compelled to sprinkle and sweep perfectly clean that part of the road in front of his dwelling, and so effectually is this done that a lady would not soil a satin boot walking from one end of the city to the other The Osaka river has several ! mouths, and on the delta is built the city, nearly every street having a river or a connecting cutting behind it; consequently the streets require no sewerage. These rivers and cuttings are literally covered with passenger and pleasure boats, and are crossed by nearly four hundred bridges. In summer the people spend their time sailing in beautiful boats between the streets ; these boats are propelled by a half-dozen or more scullers, who keep time to a large drum v\hich is placed in the bows of the boat, which has a handsome compartment amidships decorated with many paper lanterns, which, when lighted, present a very pretty appearance indeed. Here are seated the pleasure seekers, the ladies being magnificently attired in crape silks of brilliant hues, the gentlemen singing to an accompanient on the native guitar, or sam-sing as it is called, played by the ladies. A person standing on one of the bridges on a summer evening, from 7 to 10 o'clock, will witness one of the grandest and most enlivening sights to be seen in any city in the world. MODE OF EXECUTION. The penal code of Japan is very severe indeed, but of late years it has not been so strictly enforced ; in fact, now-a-days, capital punishment is very rare. In the principality of Geysiu every article of Government property is marked with the crest of the Prince, which consists of three black parallel lines, and det\th is the penalty of any person found guilty of stealing any property so marked ; but the extreme penalty is only carried into effect on a second con viction, and in that case the modus operandi is as follows : — The culprit, who is securely bound, is placed on his back on a platform ; then the executioner, armed with an immense club, delayers with astonishing rapidity three blows, one on the breast, one a little lower, and a third across the bowels ; thus leaving three black marks on the body similar to the crest of the Prince. Death is instantaneous.

HARA KIRI. [From hara, the abdomen, and kiri, to cut.] This custom is better known to nonvisitors to Japan as the " happy despatch." Each Satnourai, or military man, carries two swords — a short one called naka dsahi, and a larger one called katana or sword —and it is the shorter one which is used for performing the hara kiri. liaru kiri is a kind of honorable suicide, performed to make the death of the perpetrator honorable. alike to himself and friends. In the early part of 1809, some soldiers of the Prince of Tasa were stationed at Sakai, a suburbs of Osaka; and the French man-of-war Dupleix, which was lying there at the time, sent an officer and twelve men in the steam-lauch up to Sakai to survey. The boat was fired into by the men of Tasa, and all were either killed then, or subsequently died of their wounds. The French Minister demanded redress, and had twenty-six men given up for execution ; that was two lieads for each Frenchman killed. At the execution, the authorities had great trouble, as each culprit wanted to be executed first ; however, there were twenty-six holes dug in the ground to receive the heads ag they wore severed from the body. The first man was brought out wearing his naka dashi, und accompanied by his fiiend, having knelt before one of the holes, deliberately drew his short sword, and plunging it into his left side, drew it across his bowels, bowing his head at the same time, which was struck off at one blow by his friend, and so on until the thirteenth man, who, buying cv! his body across, dragged out his entrails and exclaimed, " There, see how a Tasa man ciin die for his country." This so alluded the French Minister that he ordered the executions to cense. None of these men were dishonored; as they performed hara kiri.