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the streets in Shiuri. It may be as well to observe in passing that the name given to the metropolis of Loochoo means simply ‘chief city,’ according to the practice which also obtains in China and Japan, where we find Nanking and Peking on the one hand, Kiôto and Tôkei (or Tôkiô) on the other.
The customs of the Loochooans seem to be, in the main, derived from China, as we find is also the case in Japan, and it is not improbable that, while many changes have taken place in the two latter countries, the Loochooans have preserved those customs unaltered. The following details are taken from a Japanese named Tomioka Shiukô, who compiled a short notice of these islands entitled ‘Chiuzan-koku Shiriaku,’ or ‘Short account of the Loochooan Embassy,’ some twenty years ago, on the last occasion[1] when an embassy visited Yedo.
The Sovereign wears a cap called ben, made according to a pattern worn in the time of the Ming dynasty. It is of black gauze, and consists of a spherical piece which sits close to the head, with a low crown rising above it. On each side rises a long piece of gauze (not unlike asses’ ears). The head-covering used by the nobles looks rather like a dried-up turban, and originally consisted of a long piece of cloth wound round the top of the head. At present it is formed of sheets of paper pasted together, covered with silk damask in overlapping layers, seven in front and twelve behind, and the rank of the wearer is indicated by the colour. The dress universally worn is a loose gown, descending to the feet, with sleeves reaching to the tips of the fingers. Under this is worn a short garment of silk or fine hempen cloth. Round the loins is wound a girdle fourteen or fifteen feet in length and six or seven inches in width. The stuff of both gown and girdle varies, of course, according to the rank of the wearer, the nobles indulging themselves in rich silks and brocades for these purposes, which are imported from China. These parts of their dress have evidently been
- ↑ An embassy has since visited Yedo in the year 1872. E.S.
