ong oil-paper. They call these dwellings um
or um-mak, a term corresponding to the Japanese muro. Pit-dwellers
are mentioned in old Chinese literature, and the references to the
muro in the Records and Chronicles show that the muro of those days
had a character similar to that of the modern Korean um-mak [Aston].
We read of a muro being dug; of steps down to it; and we read of a
muro big enough to hold 160 persons at one time. The muro was not
always simply a hole roofed over: it sometimes contained a house
having a wooden frame lashed together with vine-tendrils, the walls
lined with sedges and reeds and plastered with a mixture of grass and
clay. The roof was thatched with reeds; there was a door opening
inwards, and a raised platform served for sleeping purposes. A
dwelling closely resembling this description was actually unearthed
near Akita in O-U, in 1807. Muro were used in ancient times by the
highest as Well as the poorest classes. Susanoo is said by the Izumo
Fudoki to have made for himself a muro; Jimmu's sort is represented
as sleeping in a great muro, and the Emperor Keiko, when (A.D.82)
prosecuting his campaign in Kyushu, is said to have constructed a
muro for a temporary palace. "In fact, pit-dwelling in northern
climates affords no indication of race."

CONCLUSION FROM HISTORICAL EVIDENCE

Thus the conclusion suggested by historical evidence is that the
Japanese nation is composed of four elements: the Yamato; the Yemishi
(modern Ainu); the Kumaso (or Hayato), and the Sushen. As to the last
of these, there is no conclusive indication that they ever immigrated
in appreciable numbers. It does not follow, of course, that the
historical evidence is exhaustive, especially Japanese historical
evidence; for the annalists of Japan do not appear to have paid any
special attention to racial questions.

ENGRAVING: ANCIENT HANGING BELLS

ENGRAVING: FUTAMI-GA-URA (The Husband and Wife Rocks)

CHAPTER VI

ORIGIN OF THE NATION: GEOGRAPHICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL RELICS

JAPAN'S CONNEXION WITH THE ASIATIC CONTINENT

THE group of islands forming Japan may be said to have routes of
communication with the continent of Asia at six places: two in the
north; two in the southwest, and two in the south. The principal
connexion in the north is across the narrow strait of Soya from the
northwest point of Yezo to Saghalien and thence to the Amur region of
Manchuria. The secondary connexion is from the north-east point of