Japanese children are ever gay and happy, but there are two days in the year of especial joy. The third day of the third month is _the Dolls’ Festival_. This is the day for the little girls. At that time dolls and all sorts of toy tools, implements, vessels, and dishes are for sale. The Japanese are fond of dolls, and in some families they have dolls that have been kept more than two hundred years. In some families they will have dozens or scores of dolls. Among these there is always one that represents the Emperor, another the Empress, and others the courtiers. At the time of the festival all these dolls are carefully arranged on a stepped platform. The Emperor and Empress are given the seats of honor, and the rest are grouped around them. With these are arranged all the toy objects. The fifth day of the fifth month is the Boys’ Festival. Then they are selling bows and arrows and other toy weapons everywhere. Everywhere they hang out great paper fishes, shaped like carp, and brightly painted. These are hung to tall bamboo poles of which there is one set in front of every house where they have a boy in the family. One fish is hung for each boy, and it is a gay sight to see the hundreds of bright fish waving and tossing in the wind. The reason why the carp is represented is because it swims _up_ the river against the current; so it is hoped “the sturdy boy, overcoming all obstacles, will make his way in the world and rise to fame and fortune.”
[Illustration: BOYS’ FESTIVAL: JAPAN (BRAMHALL).]
Japanese houses consist of a light framework supporting a heavy thatched or tiled roof. The sides of the house are wooden slides, which are usually removed in the daytime, leaving the sides open. In cold weather, slides consisting of frames covered with paper can be fitted in to form walls. The house is divided into rooms by sliding screens of paper, which can be easily removed so as to join two, three, or more rooms into one. There are no tables or chairs. The floors are covered with thick mats. At night quilts are brought in and laid down for beds; in the morning these are rolled up and stored away.
Japanese gardens are curious and beautiful. They may be small, and frequently they contain no flowers. Sometimes a pretty landscape is built of rocks and water: there are little mountains and hills, valleys, streams, waterfalls, lakes. Wonderful in such gardens are the dwarfed trees. They may be pine trees, fifty or one hundred years old, flourishing and perfect in form, but not more than a foot in height.