I asked one of the landlords about his tenants.  He said that his “largest tenant” had no more than 1.3 tan of paddy.  It was explained that “tenants are obedient to the landowner in this prefecture.”  Under the system of official rewards which exists in Japan, 1,086 persons in the prefecture had been “rewarded” by a kind of certificate of merit and nine with money—­to the total value of 26 yen.

When I drew attention to the fact that the manufacture of sake and soy seemed to be frequently in the hands of landowners it was explained to me that formerly this was their industry exclusively.  Even now “whereas an ordinary shop-keeper is required by etiquette to say ‘Thank you’ to his customer, a purchaser of sake or soy says ‘Thank you’ to the shop-keeper.”

The flower arrangement in my room in the inn consisted of an effective combination of hagi (Lespedeza bicolor, a leguminous plant which is grown for cattle and has been a favourite subject of Japanese poetry), a cabbage, a rose, a begonia and leaf and a fir branch.

A landowner I chatted with in the train showed me that it was a serious matter to receive the distinction of growing the millet for use at the Coronation.  One of his friends who was growing 5 sh=o, the actual value of which might be 50 or 60 sen, was spending on it first and last about 3,000 yen.

I enquired about the diversions of landowners.  It is easy, of course, to have an inaccurate impression of the extent of their leisure.  Only about 1 per cent, have more than 25 acres.[177] Therefore most of these men are either farmers themselves or must spend a great deal of time looking after their tenants.  Still, some landowners are able to take things rather easily.  The landowners I interrogated marvelled at the open-air habits of English landed proprietors.  They were greatly surprised when I told them of a countess who is a grandmother but thinks nothing of a canter before breakfast.  The mark of being well off was often to stay indoors or at any rate within garden walls, which necessarily enclose a very small area. (Hence the fact that one object of Japanese gardening is to suggest a much larger space than exists.) A good deal of time is spent “in appreciating fine arts.”  Ceremonial tea drinking still claims no small amount of attention. (In many gardens and in the grounds of hotels of any pretensions one comes on the ostentatiously humble chamber for Cha-no-yu.) No doubt there is among many landowners a considerable amount of drinking of something stronger than tea, and not a few men sacrifice freely to Venus.  Perhaps the greatest claimant of all on the time of those who have time to spare is the game of go, which is said to be more difficult than chess.  One cannot but remark the comparatively pale faces of many landowners.