Japanese Physical Training/7
CHAPTER VII
FRESH AIR AS A VITALISER—THE USE OF STIMULANTS AND OF NARCOTICS
Any subject of the Mikado would smile at the notion that fresh air, in any form, could be harmful. The Japanese eat fresh air with even more gusto than they do food. It has been stated in an earlier chapter that the samurai of old rose in the morning to pass out into the outer air, there to take a number of deep breaths. The time of the morning chosen was just as the sun was coming up. At this hour the air is purest. When not engaged in marches the samurai rested through the middle of the day, keeping generally out of the sun in summer, though often courting the rays of warmth in winter.
In Japan there is no patience with the American superstition that night air of any kind is harmful. Nature, these people say, has provided for every hour of the day the kind of air that is most beneficial. The Japanese live, for the most part, in houses of frail bamboo structure. Rooms are divided by sliding partitions of paper. For windowpanes oiled paper is used in the place of glass. In the coldest nights of winter air circulates through the native house without interference. If the sleeper feels chilled he adds more bedclothing. But the passage of fresh air through the entire house is never prevented.
"Draughts" are not dreaded, for the meaning of the term is hardly understood by these hardy little people. On a chilly evening in the early fall the head of the family, the oji-san, will seat himself in his doorway, directly in the path of a draught of air that sweeps through from the back of the house. No cold is taken, and none can be taken by any one who will accustom himself gradually to this Oriental revolution from our Western ideas. The foreigner who visits the office of a Japanese merchant, even in January, will find that the windows are at least partly open, and that a strong, cold breeze is sweeping through the room. The Japanese will be found with enough clothing on to keep himself warm; if he understands the idiosyncrasies of the white man he will considerately rise and close the window during the period of the visit.
"Night air" is never considered as being injurious. The industrious Japanese, who toil through the day, revel in the after-dark atmosphere. This is their time of social enjoyment, in which the poorest share. Outside of the cities, where the poor enjoy rural life, the members of a family may be seen promenading with little or no clothing. The dew may fall, but no member of the family rushes into the house for a wrap. The bare feet pass freely through the grass, and this form of physical training is repeated in the early morning. After walking over the soil the foot-bath is used before retiring.
While insomnia is rarely known in Japan, there are, of course, some cases of this nervous disease. In the cities, the remedy is for the sufferer to rise and go out into the open night air. He walks up and down, while in the country he climbs to the top of the nearest hill, seats himself on the crest, and enjoys to his fill the gloriousness of the cool night air. If the night is extremely cold, he garbs himself with sufficient warmth and walks until he is drowsy. When a Japanese exhibits signs of insomnia, it is regarded as certain proof that he is afflicted with mental worriment. Yet even this dread malady is cured when the night air is used in sufficient quantity.
There is another important way in which fresh air is utilised as a vitaliser. The native Japanese costume makes it possible for one to have a free circulation of night air that is impossible to a Caucasian who conforms to his own ideas of dress. The Japanese clothing is loose and flowing. There is no restriction of the air currents that should pass up and down the body in all kinds of weather. Even the Japanese who wear European clothing—and these nearly all are descended from the ancient samurai—take advantage, when possible, of such air-baths as may be had, both in the daytime and at night. He who can, walks in the forests with little or no clothing oppressing him. Entirely nude, the same man will walk at night, under the trees that adjoin the open grounds around his house.
In ancient times the commoners slept with their windows closed in winter's severe weather. The samurai, who possessed clearer notions of what health required, slept with their windows partly open. Yet, in the Japanese house even closed windows do not threaten asphyxiation. The panes are made of oiled paper, and these are rather porous. The air comes in as freely as the average hygienist would require. When the window is opened a little, sideways, the ventilation is perfect.
When it is considered that one may live a few days without water, often for a month without food, yet only for a few moments without air, it must be apparent that the Japanese are right in their insistence upon having plenty of fresh air during both waking and sleeping hours. Although these people dread neither night air nor draughts, colds and pneumonia give but little work for their physicians. Japanese physicians do not settle as thickly in any given locality as do our own practitioners in the United States.
In the use of stimulants the Japanese of olden times did not progress very far. They had a wine known as sake, made from rice. It is still the national intoxicant beverage, and is rather weaker in alcohol than is the average Rhine wine. The only other stimulant known to the ancient Japanese was tea. Even to-day this is not brewed to the same strength that is sought in this country. The Japanese tea is prepared weakly, and is of a delicate colour. It is served without either milk or sugar. The casein in milk, the tannic acid in tea, with a slight mingling of other components found in both of the beverages, form a composition that is practically identical with leather. Centuries before the Japanese knew anything about the chemical properties of tea and milk combined they learned to distrust this mixture. Sugar was not used, and is not used, because it destroys the delicate aroma of the tea.
Until Japan threw her ports open to the world, beer, whiskey, and brandy were unknown. The first-named beverage has crept somewhat into favour, and there are several native breweries in the Empire. Whiskey and brandy are still imported from abroad. For that matter, English and German ales and beers are not much cared for by the Japanese, and most members of the race abstain from even beer.
As yet, no equivalents for beer, whiskey, and brandy have crept into the Japanese language. The foreigner who wishes to order such drinks must call for beer-sake, whiskey-sake, or brandy-sake. Sake means something, to Japanese, on which the imbiber means to get drunk, and he must order the particular kind of sake on which he proposes to do it.
In the matter of narcotics the Japanese are not addicted to the use of opium in any of its forms. Opium is little in favour, even with the physicians. There are, of course, some degenerates whom the Chinese have taught to use opium, but the number is not large. Tobacco, however, has been introduced largely into Japan since the days when Commodore Perry first secured the opening of the Empire's ports to commerce. There is now the same proportion of tobacco-users in Japan as is to be found in the United States. Cigarettes made of American tobacco are to be found everywhere through the Empire. But there is an important fact to be noted: the average Japanese uses not more than one-third the number of cigarettes that an American user of them would consider necessary. Japanese who prefer pipes carry them thrust through the girdle, from which depends a bag of tobacco. The bowls of the pipes are so tiny that the smoke means but a dozen light whiffs. A dozen or fifteen smokes in a day is considered sufficient for any sane man. This means less than a diurnal use of two cigars of average strength. Cigars, while occasionally used, are affected mainly by those of the Japanese who wish to be extremely Caucasian in their habits.
From their conduct to date, it does not seem probable that the Japanese, after fifty years of exposure to our Western abuses, will ever become too much addicted to the use of alcohol. There is just a chance that in time the seductiveness of tobacco will work for the partial weakening of the race that is, at present, the strongest and healthiest in the world.
THE STRUGGLE.
One of the most important Japanese exercises for the development of the entire body.