Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Japanese Homes and Their SurroundingsIn an exceedingly interesting article on the early study of the Dutch in Japan, by Professor K. Mitsukuri, the author has occasion to refer to the uncle of one of the three famous Japanese scholars who translated into Japanese a Dutch book on anatomy. He says this uncle "Miyada was almost eccentric in his disposition. He held it to be a solemn duty to learn any art or accomplishment that might be going out of the world, and then describe it so fully that it might be preserved to posterity." The nephew was faithful to his uncle's instructions, and "though following medicine for his profession, he took it upon himself to learn 'hitoyogiri,' - a certain kind of music which was well-nigh forgotten, - and even went so far as to study a kind of dramatic acting."Though not animated by Miyada's spirit when I set about the task of collecting the material embodied in this work, I feel now that the labor has not been altogether in vain, as it may result in preserving many details of the Japanese house, - some of them trivial, perhaps, - which in a few decades of years may be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.