Free Lafcadio Hearn's Japan by Donald; Lafcadio; Richie Hearn

better classes have ever visited such a village; and even the poorest of the common people shun the place as they would shun a center of contagion; for the idea of defilement, both moral and physical, is still attached to the very name of its inhabitants. Thus, although the settlement is within half an hour’s walk from the heart of the city, probably not half a dozen of the thirty-six thousand residents of Matsué have visited it.
    â€œThere are four distinct outcast classes in Matsué and its environs: the hachiya, the koya-no-mono, the yama-no-mono, and the eta of Suguta.
    â€œThere are two settlements of hachiya . These were formerly the public executioners, and served under the police in various capacities. Although by ancient law the lowest class of pariahs, their intelligence was sufficiently cultivated by police service and by contact with superiors to elevate them in popular opinion above the other outcasts. They are now manufacturers of bamboo cages and baskets. They are said to be descendants of the family and retainers of Taira-no-Masakado-Heishino, the only man in Japan who ever seriously conspired to seize the imperial throne by armed force, and who was killed by the famous general Taira-no-Sadamori.
    â€œThe koya-no-mono are slaughterers and dealers in hides. They are never allowed to enter any house in Matsué except the shop of a dealer in geta and other foot-gear. Originally vagrants, they were permanently settled in Matsué by some famous daimy ō , who built for them small houses— koya —on the bank of the canal. Hence their name. As for the eta proper, their condition and calling are too familiar to need comment in this connection.
    â€œThe yama-no-mono are so called because they live among the hills (yama) at the southern end of Matsué. They have a monopoly of the rag-and-waste-paper business, and are buyers of all sorts of refuse, from old bottles to broken-down machinery. Some of them are rich. Indeed, the whole class is, compared with other outcast classes, prosperous. Nevertheless, public prejudice against them is still almost as strong as in the years previous to the abrogation of the special laws concerning them. Under no conceivable circumstances could any of them obtain employment as servants. Their prettiest girls in old times often became jor ō ; but at no time could they enter a jor ō -ya in any neighboring city, much less in their own, so they were sold to establishments in remote places. A yama-no-mono today could not even become a kurumaya . He could not obtain employment as a common laborer in any capacity, except by going to some distant city where he could hope to conceal his origin. But if detected under such conditions he would run serious risk of being killed by his fellow laborers. Under any circumstance it would be difficult for a yama-no-mono to pass himself off for a heimin . Centuries of isolation and prejudice have fixed and molded the manners of the class in recognizable ways; and even its language has become a special and curious dialect.
    â€œI was anxious to see something of a class so singularly situated and specialized; and I had the good fortune to meet a Japanese gentleman who, although belonging to the highest class of Matsué, was kind enough to agree to accompany me to their village, where he had never been himself. On the way thither he told me many curious things about the yama-no-mono . In feudal times these people had been kindly treated by the samurai; and they were often allowed or invited to enter the courts of samurai dwellings to sing and dance, for which performances they were paid. The songs and the dances with which they were able to entertain even those aristocratic families were known to no other people, and were called Daikoku-mai . Singing the Daikoku-mai was, in fact, the special hereditary art of the yama-nomono, and represented their highest comprehension of æsthetic and emotional matters. In former