A Japanese BoyA Japanese Boy by Himself is an essay written by Shukichi Shigemi when he was a student attending medical school at Yale University in 1889. It was written in English and published by a company in Connecticut, U.S.A. The description of just a common boy's daily life in a countryside contributed to cross-cultural understanding between the two countries at an early stage after the end of the Japanese isolation policy. His book sold well that he could pay for education with this publication to become a qualified doctor. |
From inside the book
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Page 15
... separate book by the teacher , we try to trace the same on our copy- books , paying close attention to every particular . The first that we must learn is our alphabet of forty - eight letters , I recall vividly the trials in making the ...
... separate book by the teacher , we try to trace the same on our copy- books , paying close attention to every particular . The first that we must learn is our alphabet of forty - eight letters , I recall vividly the trials in making the ...
Page 16
... separately ; it is written large so that the learner may see where a bold stroke is required and where a mild touch . After the alphabet we learn to write Chinese characters . The copy - books be- come black after a while , being dried ...
... separately ; it is written large so that the learner may see where a bold stroke is required and where a mild touch . After the alphabet we learn to write Chinese characters . The copy - books be- come black after a while , being dried ...
Page 21
... separate small table in front of each of us . I remember my table was in the form of a box about a foot square , the lid of which I lifted and laid on the body of the box with the inner surface up . The inner surface was japanned red ...
... separate small table in front of each of us . I remember my table was in the form of a box about a foot square , the lid of which I lifted and laid on the body of the box with the inner surface up . The inner surface was japanned red ...
Page 36
... separates them completely . If you meet a man on the street in Japan with a wet towel hanging on his shoulder , he is from the public bath . He wears no hat even in sallying forth into the open air from the confined atmos- phere , walks ...
... separates them completely . If you meet a man on the street in Japan with a wet towel hanging on his shoulder , he is from the public bath . He wears no hat even in sallying forth into the open air from the confined atmos- phere , walks ...
Page 38
Shiukichi Shigemi. one cannot learn them all - each figure requires a separate effort for its mastery . A dance lasts twenty minutes or more ; scarcely two steps in it seem alike . In learning a Japanese dance one begins with little ...
Shiukichi Shigemi. one cannot learn them all - each figure requires a separate effort for its mastery . A dance lasts twenty minutes or more ; scarcely two steps in it seem alike . In learning a Japanese dance one begins with little ...
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Common terms and phrases
accent action Alliteration ancient Anne Hathaway Antonomasia appears auxiliary Auxiliary Verbs bamboo beautiful boys Cæsura called clause composition conjugation consequence couplets Dactyls dance denotes English Epic example expression father feet figure flowers French future give gods Grammar Greek hand hath heart hence holidays Imabari Indicative Mood Japanese John buried kind kite lady language lanterns Latin latter light look manner marry means metaphors mind modern Mood morning nature night noun past tense periphrasis person Peter loves Mary phrases poem poet poetical Poetry preceding quatrain reader Rhyme rice saké samisen Saxon sentence shrine simple song speak speaker species Spondees stanza street Subjunctive Subjunctive Mood substantive sweet syllables Tanabata temple tence termed thee things thought tion tive to-morrow town Trochee tsuzumi verb verse versification walk words write written young
Popular passages
Page 155 - ... unfinished. A quibble is the golden apple for which he will always turn aside from his career or stoop from his elevation. A quibble, poor and barren as it is, gave him such delight that he was content to purchase it by the sacrifice of reason, propriety, and truth. A quibble was to him the fatal Cleopatra for which he lost the world, and was content to lose it.
Page 83 - Bagdad, in order to pass the rest of the day in meditation and prayer. As I was here airing myself on the tops of the mountains, I fell into a profound contemplation on the vanity of human life; and passing from one thought to another, 'Surely,' said I, 'man is but a shadow, and life a dream.
Page 142 - Even now, methinks, as pondering here I stand, I see the rural Virtues leave the land. Down where yon anchoring vessel spreads the sail That idly waiting flaps with every gale, 400 Downward they move, a melancholy band, Pass from the shore, and darken all the strand. Contented Toil, and hospitable Care, And kind connubial Tenderness, are there ; And Piety with wishes placed above, And steady Loyalty, and faithful Love.
Page 212 - The very head and front of my offending Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech, And little bless'd with the set phrase of peace ; For since these arms of mine had seven years...
Page 6 - I may surely be contented without the praise of perfection, which, if I could obtain, in this gloom of solitude, what would it avail me? I have protracted my work till most of those whom I wished to please have sunk into the grave, and success and miscarriage are empty sounds: I therefore dismiss it with frigid tranquillity, having little to fear or hope from censure or from praise.
Page 111 - But me, not destined such delights to share, My prime of life in wandering spent and care ; Impell'd, with steps unceasing, to pursue Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view ; That, like the circle bounding earth and skies, Allures from far, yet, as I follow, flies ; My fortune leads to traverse realms alone, And find no spot of all the world my own.
Page 211 - Is now the labour of my thoughts ; 'tis likeliest They had engaged their wandering steps too far ; And envious darkness, ere they could return, Had stole them from me : else, O thievish night, Why shouldst thou, but for some felonious end, In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars. That nature hung in heaven, and fill'd their lamps With everlasting oil, to give due light To the misled and lonely traveller?
Page 309 - Paradise Lost is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again. None ever wished it longer than it is. Its perusal is a duty rather than a pleasure. We read Milton for instruction, retire harassed and overburdened, and look elsewhere for recreation; we desert our master and seek for companions.
Page 61 - But by the grace of God I am what I am : and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain ; but I laboured more abundantly than they all : yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
Page 110 - Of Man's First Disobedience, and the Fruit Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste Brought Death into the World, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, Sing Heav'nly Muse...