Produced by Andrea Ball and Marc D'Hooghe at http://www.freeliterature.org
MY BIRTHPLACE--MY GRANDFATHER--TENJINSAN.
OLD-FASHIONED SCHOOL--MY SCHOOLMASTER--THE SCHOOL-HOUSE.
GAMES--NEW SCHOOL--IMITATING THE WEST--MORE ABOUT MY SCHOOLMASTER --PUNISHMENTS AT SCHOOL.
BATHS--EVENINGS AT HOME--JAPANESE DANCING AND MUSIC.
AMATEUR ACTORS AND REAL ACTORS AND ACTRESSES--JAPANESE THEATRE.
WRESTLING--STORY-TELLERS--PICNIC AND PICNIC GROUNDS--AN OLD CASTLE AND A TRADITION.
ANGLING--A PIOUS OLD LADY AND HER ADVENTURES.
THE YAITO--A WITCH-WOMAN--AUNT OTSUNÉ, MISS CHRYSANTHEMUM AND MR. PROSPERITY.
NEW-YEAR'S DAY--THE MOCHI-MAKING--OLD-TIME OBSERVANCES.
KITE-FLYING--HOW I MADE MY KITE--MY UNCLE AND HIS RIG KITE --OTHER NEW-YEAR GAMES--HOW WE END OUR NEW-YEAR HOLIDAYS.
OTHER JAPANESE HOLIDAYS--TANABATA AND INOKO, THE BOYS' DAYS --THE SHINTOISTIC AND BUDDHISTIC ABLUTION MASS.
OUR PRIEST AND BOY-PRIEST--OUR DOG GEM--SHAKA'S BIRTHDAY.
THE FESTIVALS OF LOCAL DEITIES--SCHOOL AGAIN, AND SOME ACCOUNT OF MY SCHOOL-FELLOWS--CONCLUSION.
_Dear Sir:_--My motives in writing this jejune little volume are, as you are aware, two:
1st. There seems to be no story told in this country of the Japanese boy's life by a Japanese boy himself. The following rambling sketches are incoherent and extremely meagre, I own; but you must remember that they are a boy's talks. Give him encouragement, and he will tell you more.
2d. The most important of my reasons is my desire to obtain the means to prosecute the studies I have taken up in America. Circumstances have obliged me to make my own way in this hard world. If I knew of a better step I should not have resorted to an indiscreet juvenile publication--a publication, moreover, of my own idle experiences, and in a language the alphabet of which I learned but a few years ago.
To you my sincere acknowledgments are due for encouraging me to write these pages. This kindness is but one of many, of which the public has no knowledge.
I am, sir, Yours very truly. SHIUKICHI SHIGEMI
I was born in a small seaport town called Imabari, which is situated on the western coast of the island of Shikoku, the eastern of the two islands lying south of Hondo. The Imabari harbor is a miserable ditch; at low tide the mouth shows its shallow bottom, and one can wade across. People go there for clam-digging. Two or three little streams empty their waters into the harbor. A few junks and a number of boats are always seen standing in this pool of salt-water. In the houses surrounding it, mostly very old and ramshackle, are sold eatables and provisions, fishes are bought from the boats, or shelter is given to sailors.