and the constant desire of the inferior to imitate the
superior, have also helped to make the culture of the classes the
possession of the masses. This subserviency and spirit of imitation
has been further stimulated by the enforced courtesy and deference and
obedience of the common people.

In this connection it should be noted, however, that the universality
of culture in Japan is more apparent than real. The appearance is due
in part to the lack of furniture in the homes. Without chairs or
tables, bedsteads or washstands, and the multitude of other things
invariably found in the home of the Occidental, it is easy for the
Japanese housewife to keep her home in perfect order. No special
culture is needful for this.

How it came about that the Japanese people adopted their own method of
sitting on the feet, I cannot say; neither have I heard any plausible
explanation of the practice. Yet this habit has relieved them of all
necessity for heavy furniture. Given the custom of sitting on the
feet, and a large part of the furniture of the house will be useless.
Already is the introduction of furniture after Western patterns
producing changes in the homes of the people; and it will be
interesting to see whether the aesthetic sense of the Japanese will be
able to assimilate and harmonize with itself these useful, but bulky
and unaesthetic, elements of Occidental civilization.

That no part of the fine taste of the Japanese is due to the general
civilization, rather than to the individual possession of the aesthetic
faculty, may be inferred from many little signs. In spite of the fact
that, following the long-established social fashions, the women
usually display good taste in the choice of colors for their clothing,
it sometimes happens that they also manifest not the slightest sense
of the harmony of colors. Daughters of wealthy families will array
themselves in brilliant discordant hues, yet apparently without
causing the wearers or their friends the slightest aesthetic
discomfort. Little children are arrayed in clothing that would
doubtless put Joseph's coat of many colors quite out of countenance.
Combinations and brilliancy that to the Western eye of culture seem
crude and gaudy, typical of barbaric splendor, are in constant use,
and are apparently thought to be fine. The Japanese display both taste
and its lack in the choice of colors for clothing; this contradiction
is the more striking in view of the taste manifest