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You are in the garden of the Count's suburban residence - these are two of his men servants.  A part of his house is built and furnished in European style - this is the Japanese portion.  Notice that the whole structure is of wood - building in stone and brick is almost unknown in this land of frequent earthquakes.  That piazza is just three feet wide, according to the universal custom of Japanese carpenters.  Those light-colored screens (shoji) are made of tough paper set in light bamboo frames - they run in grooves and can be pushed back, throwing open the whole front side of the house; heavier wooden shutters are put up around the piazza at night or in cold and stormy weather.  The roof is covered with earthenware tiles.

So far as you can see from here the interior looks quite bare of furniture - if you were to enter you would find the floor covered with beautifully woven straw mats, 3x6 feet in dimensions.  Japanese rooms have their dimensions planned to fit some multiple of that customary mat-area.  Sliding doors or screens covered with paper run in grooves across the floor, dividing the house interior into separate rooms whenever desired.  The dainty matting on the floor furnishes seats; low stools are rarely used - chairs never in a thoroughly Japanese interior, though Count Okuma has some in his "European" rooms.  When formal dinners are served, all sit upon beautiful mats, eating their food with dainty elegance from delicate porcelain dishes with the aid of chopsticks. The servants in attendance kneel while waiting. 

The beds used at night are thickly wadded quilts of cotton or silken stuff.  In the morning the quilts (futons) are punctiliously aired, then folded neatly away in store-closets, leaving no trace of anything like bedroom furniture in sight during the day.

(Read Morse's "Japanese Homes," Hartshorn's "Japan and Her People," etc.)

From Notes of Travel, No. 9, copyright, 1904, by Underwood & Underwood.



South front of Count Okuma's home; Tokyo, Japan.
Façade sud de la maison du Comte Okuma, Tokyo, Japon.
Süd-Unsicht des gräflich Osumaschen Hauses, Tokio, Japan.
Fachada sud de la casa del Conde Okuma, Tokyo, Japón
Södra façaden af grefve Okumas hem, Tokio, Japan.
Южный видъ  дворца Графа Окума, Токіо, Японія.

Transcription Notes:
Need the section below the double-line break to be completed.