Untitled

402
Fig.
186. JAPANESE WOMAN.
EAST ASIA.
receding brow, is far from answering to the Western ideal of beauty, and to most
foreigners seems decidedly plain. But this plainness
in the case of the women is
often counterbalanced by a graceful carriage, charming expression, and tender
glance. Those of Kioto and the southern regions bear the palm for beauty in the
estimation both of natives and foreigners. Amongst the Samurai aristocracy
many beardless youths betray a surprising resemblance to young women.
The inhabitants of the Lu-chu Archipelago form a transition between the
" Polynesian " type of Japan and the almost Malay features of the Formosans.
The eyes are nearly straight, the complexion of a somewhat olive tint, the beard
fuller than that either of the Japanese or Chinese, and the hair usually gathered in
chignon fashion on the top of the head. But these islanders are especially
distinguished by their gentle
expression and graceful manners.
Maxwell, Basil Hall, and the other
early European visitors, speak with
enthusiasm of this race, which
seems to lack no virtue except the
strength of character and dignity
inspired by the enjoyment of liberty.
In Lu-chu family names are borne
only by the two privileged classes
of the aristocracy and nobles of the
second rank. The plebeians wear
a different dress, and are forbidden
the use of silver hair-pins and
umbrellas.
To whatever class they may
belong, all the Japanese are of low
stature, averaging from 5 feet to 5
feet 2 inches in the men, and under
five feet in the women. The lower
orders are mostly robust, broad shouldered, very straight, and endowed with a
remarkable power of endurance. The Japanese coolie will carry a heavy load
at a rapid pace for hours together, without stopping even when ascending
steep mountain passes. Attendants on foot keep up with their master's horse
crossing the country at full gallop, and the acrobats are unsurpassed in strength
and activity by those of the West. A tendency to obesity is found only amongst
the wrestlers, amongst whom the Mongolian type seems, by a sort of atavism,
to be preserved to a surprising degree. The artisans and peasantry are generally
well proportioned, except that they are often somewhat knock-kneed, a defect
due to the way children are carried on their mothers' backs. They also become prema-
turely aged, both sexes being usually
covered with wrinkles about their thirtieth
year, and retaining of youth little beyond their white teeth and fiery glance.
The prevailing malady is anemia, which sooner or later affects four-fifths of the