Paragons, should consult Anderson's Catalogue of Japanese and Chinese Paintings, page 171, where also an illustration of each is given. The Japanese have established a set of "Four-and-Twenty Native Paragons" (Honchō Ni-ju-shi Kō) of their own; but these are less popular.
The first question a European will probably ask on being told of the lengths to which filial piety is carried in the Far-East, is: how can the parents be so stony-hearted as to think of allowing their children thus to sacrifice themselves? But such a consideration never occurs to a Chinese or Japanese mind. That children should sacrifice themselves to their parents is, in the Far-Eastern view of things, a principle as indisputable as the duty of men to cede the best of everything to women is with us. Far-Eastern parents accept their children's sacrifices much as our women accept the front seat, with thanks perhaps, but as a matter of course. No text in the Bible raises so much prejudice here against Christianity as that which bids a man leave his father and mother, and cleave unto his wife. "There! you see it," exclaims the anti-Christian Japanese, pointing to the passage, "I always said it was an immoral religion.
Fires were formerly so common in Japan's wood and paper cities that the nickname of "Yedo Blossoms" was applied to the flames which in winter almost nightly lit up the metropolis with lurid lustre. So completely did this destructive agency establish itself as a national institution that a whole vocabulary grew up to express every shade of meaning in matters fiery. The Japanese language has special terms for an incendiary fire, an accidental fire, fire starting from one's own house, a fire caught from next door, a fire which one shares with others, a fire which is burning to an end, the flame of a fire, anything for instance, a brazier from which a fire may arise, the side from which to attack a fire in order to extinguish it, a visit of condolence after a fire, and so on. We have not given half.[1] Were all records except the
- ↑ Here are the Japanese originals of the above terms, for the benefit of the curious:
