Page:A handbook of modern Japan (IA handbookofmodern01clem).pdf/93

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PEOPLE, HOUSES, FOOD, DRESS
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improper to begin with the topic of undress; for the Japanese, perhaps because great lovers of nature, think it nothing immodest to be seen, even in public, in the garb of nature. Of course, in the open ports and large cities, foreign ideas of modesty are more strongly enforced; but in the interior the primitive innocence of the Garden of Eden prevails to a greater or less extent. In hot weather children go stark-naked, and men wear only a loin-cloth: "Honi soit qui mal y pense"—"Evil to him who evil thinks."

The ordinary Japanese costume may be said to consist of a shirt, a loose silk gown fastened at the waist with a silk sash, short socks with separate places for the big toes, and either straw sandals or wooden clogs. For ceremonial occasions, "a divided skirt," and a silk coat, adorned with the family crest, are used; these are called, respectively, hakama and haori. In winter two or three padded gowns are added; and in all seasons many persons go bare-footed, bare-legged, and bare-headed. The female garb[1] does not differ greatly from the male costume, except that the sash is larger and richer and the gown is made of lighter fabrics. The women powder and paint, oil their hair, and adorn their heads with pretty combs and hairpins.

The Japanese costume is certainly very beautiful and becoming, and is pronounced by medical authorities to be highly sanitary. For persons, however, in active business, and for those who work in the fields,

  1. ↑ See Norman's "Real Japan," pp. 180-195.
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