calamity, defilement was
sin, and physical purity at least was holiness. Everything that could
in any way soil the body or clothing was looked upon with abhorrence
and detestation."[CE] The number of specifications given in this
connection is worthy of careful perusal. But it is a strange nemesis
of history that the sense of physical pollution should develop a
religious rite fitted to become the very means for the dissemination
of physical pollution and disease.

Japanese personal cleanliness is often connected in the descriptions
of foreigners with ceremonial purification, but the facts are much
exaggerated. In contrast to nearly if not quite all non-Christian
peoples, the Japanese are certainly astonishingly cleanly in their
habits. But it is wholly unnecessary to exaggerate the facts. The
"tatami," or straw-mats, an inch or more in thickness, give to the
room an appearance of cleanliness which usually belies the truth. The
multitudes of fleas that infest the normal Japanese home are
convincing proof of the real state of the "tatami." There are those
who declare that a Japanese crowd has the least offensive odor of any
people in the world. One writer goes so far as to state that not only
is there no unpleasant odor whatever, but that there is even a
pleasant intimation of lavender about their exhalations. This exactly
contradicts my experience. Not to mention the offensive oil with which
all women anoint their hair to give it luster and stiffness, the
Japanese habit of wearing heavy cotton wadded clothing, with little or
no underwear, produces the inevitable result in the atmosphere of any
closed room. In cold weather I always find it necessary to throw open
all the doors and windows of my study or parlor, after Bible classes
of students or even after the visits of cultured and well-to-do
guests. That the Japanese bathe so frequently is certainly an
interesting fact and a valuable feature of their civilization; it
indicates no little degree of cleanliness; but for that, their
clothing would become even more disagreeable than it is, and the evil
effect upon themselves of wearing soiled garments would be much
greater. In point of fact, their frequent baths do not wholly remove
the need of change in clothing. To a Japanese the size of the weekly
wash of a foreigner seems extravagant.

As to the frequent bathing, its cleanliness is exaggerated by Western
thought, for instead of supplying fresh water for each person, th