aterial and personal point of view. But if they are
attacked and made to act more for the public good it may have an
effect on rural conditions which are now low."

I enquired about the new sects of Buddhism and Shintoism, for there
had been pointed out to me in some villages "houses of new religions."
"New religions in many varieties are coming into the villages," I was
told, "and extravagant though they may be are influencing people. The
adherents seem to be moral and modest, and they pay their taxes
promptly. There is a so-called Shinto sect which was started twenty
years ago by an ignorant woman. It has believers in every part of
Japan. It is rather communistic."[176] None of the landlords who
talked with me believed in the possibility of a "revival of Buddhism."
One of them noted that "people educated in the early part of Meiji are
most materialistic. It is a sorrowful circumstance that the officials
ask only materialistic questions of the villagers."

I asked one of the landlords about his tenants. He said that his
"largest tenant" had no more than 1.3 _tan_ of paddy. It was explained
that "tenants are obedient to the landowner in this prefecture." Under
the system of official rewards which exists in Japan, 1,086 persons in
the prefecture had been "rewarded" by a kind of certificate of merit
and nine with money--to the total value of 26 yen.

When I drew attention to the fact that the manufacture of _sake_ and
_soy_ seemed to be frequently in the hands of landowners it was
explained to me that formerly this was their industry exclusively.
Even now "whereas an ordinary shop-keeper is required by etiquette to
say 'Thank you' to his customer, a purchaser of _sake_ or _soy_ says
'Thank you' to the shop-keeper."

The flower arrangement in my room in the inn consisted of an effective
combination of _hagi_ (_Lespedeza bicolor_, a leguminous plant
which is grown for cattle and has been a favourite subject of Japanese
poetry), a cabbage, a rose, a begonia and leaf and a fir branch.

A landowner I chatted with in the train showed me that it was a
serious matter to receive the distinction of growing the millet for
use at the Coronation. One of his friends who was growing 5 _sh=o_,
the actual value of which might be 50 or 60 sen, was spending on it
first and last about 3,000 yen.

I enquired about the diversions of landowners. It is easy, of course,
to have an inaccurate impression of the extent of their leisure. Only