There was talk in praise of millet.  Though low socially in the dietary of Japan, it has merits.  It withstands cold and even salt spray.  It ripens earlier than rice and so may sometimes be harvested before a spell of bad weather.  It yields well, it will store for some time, its taste is “little inferior to rice and better than that of barley” and it contains more protein than rice.  It is cooked after slight polishing and the straw provides fodder.  “In the north-east, where millet is most eaten,” I was told, “there are people who are 5 ft. 10 ins. to 6 ft. and there are many wrestlers.”  The seeds in the handsome heavy ears of millet are about the size of the letter O in the footnote type of this book.

In the train a farmer who knew the prefecture spoke of Bon songs and dances:  “The result of the action against them was not good.  The meeting of young men and women at the Bon gatherings was in their minds half the year in prospect and half in retrospect.  Bearing in mind the condition of the people, even the worst Bon songs are not objectionable.  But when the people become educated some songs will be objectionable.”

Visitors to a poor prefecture like Miyagi must be surprised to see so much adjusted paddy.  There is more adjusted paddy in Miyagi than in any other prefecture.  Some 90,000 acres have been taken in hand and a large amount of money has been spent.  The work has been carried out largely by way of giving wages to farmers during famine.  A new tunnel brought water to 6,000 acres.  “The bad climate of Miyagi cannot be mended,” I was told; “all that can be done is to seek for the earliest varieties of rice, to sow early, to work as diligently as possible and to deal with floods by embanking the rivers and by tree planting.”  As many as 7,000 people go from Miyagi to Hokkaido in a year.  It seems to point to a certain amount of fecklessness that 15 per cent. of them return.

One man I spoke with during my journey south gave a vivid impression of the influence of young men’s associations.  “Before they started,” said he, “the young men spent their time in singing indecent songs, in gambling, in talking foolishly, and twice or thrice a year in immorality.  A young widow has sometimes been at fault; the parents-in-law need her help and village sentiment is against her remarriage.  The suppression of Bon dances has done more harm than good by keeping out of sight what used to be said and done openly[168].  Two or three priests are active in this prefecture.  Where the Shinshu sect is strong you will find little divorce.  But the influence of Buddhism has been stationary in recent years.  There is some action by missionaries of the Japanese Christian church, but the number of Christians among real rustics is very small.”

At Sendai it was pleasant to see a prefectural office—­or most of it—­housed in a Japanese building instead of a dreadful edifice “in Western style.”  In feudal times the building was a school.  Portraits of daimyos and famous scholars of the Sendai clan surround the Governor’s room, and adjoining it is the tatami-covered apartment in which the daimyo used to sit when he was present at the examinations.  Among the portraits is one of a retainer which was painted in Rome, where he had been sent on a mission of inquiry.