Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
(90) Writing class. Two girl pupils bow respectfully to their teacher. One boy is less well
behaved. Each desk has an ink-stone and a copybook. Paper was expensive, and was used
again and again until it was black, only the wetness of the ink making new writing legible.
Note the brazier with its pokers, the cat, and the holder with brushes of various sizes.
There was also a great deal of reading for pleasure. Many sorts of fiction came out of
the publishing houses. Books were virtually all printed from woodblocks, and most had
illustrations (
91
)
.
The simplest were mere picture topics, whose contents filled the same
needsastoday'scomics.Thereweresuper-heroes,warriorsofmorethanhumancapability,
and in the same area as science fiction there were ghosts and malevolent foxes and badgers
changing into human form. This very popular literature, and also the theatre, nourished a
strong superstitious fear of supernatural visitors, partly founded on Buddhistic ideas about
the next world. Avenging ghosts were thought to be well within the bounds of possibility,
and anxious eyes looked to make sure that a stranger with a haggard expression had indeed
feet—ghosts were not provided with feet, and tended to float in the air, or materialize from
well-heads or behind screens. Beautiful women met with on lonely paths, especially in the
country,werenottobetakenattheirfacevalue;alltoooftentheywerefoxes—whitefoxes
beingthemostcunning—indisguise,onlytooreadytoseducehumanbeingsandleadthem
into trouble.
