Japan and the Japanese

SOCIAL POSITION OF MERCHANTS. 483
Russian or Japanese. They are all fond of a glass ; and there is
no danger in the harbor of Hakodade." So the sailors had a night
of it, being plentifully supplied with saki and Japanese tobacco.
Though he refused all presents of value, as being indeed prohib*
ited by Japanese law, Kachi accepted with pleasure a Russian tea-
set, as it would enable him, in entertaining his friends, to call to
mind his Russian hosts ; and he expressed much regret that the
custom of his country did not allow him to invite Rikord to his
own house. Finally, he brought a number of boats to help tow the
Diana out of the harbor.
This is the only full-length portrait we possess of a Japanese mer-
chant ; and, if it represents the class, the fraternity have reason to
be proud of their Japanese brethren.
" The class of merchants in
Japan," says Golownin, " is very extensive and rich, but not held in
honor. The merchants have not the right to bear arms ;
* but though
their profession is not respected, their wealth is ; for this, as in Eu-
rope, supplies the place of talents and dignity, and attains privileges
and honorable places. The Japanese told us that their officers of
state and men of rank behave themselves outwardly with great
haughtiness to the merchants, but in private are very familiar with
the rich ones, and are often under great obligations to them. We
had with us for some time a young officer, who was the son of a rich
merchant, and who, as the Japanese said, owed his rank not to his
own merit, but to his father's gold. Thus, though the laws do not
favor the mercantile profession, yet wealth raises it ; for even in
Japan, where the laws are so rigorously enforced, they are often
weighed down by the influence of gold."
* Yet Kachi wore two swords, though perhaps he did it in the character
of a ship-master, or as an officer in authority in the island to which he traded
from Hakodade, carrying on the fishery there chiefly by means of native Ku-
riles. These islands appear to have been farmed out by the government to
certain mercantile firms, which thus acquire a certain civil authority
over the inhabitants. The privilege of wearing swords, like other similar
privileges elsewhere, is probably rather encroached upon by the unprivileged.
On festival days, even the poorest inhabitants of Nagasaki decked themselves
out, according to Kampfer, with at least one sword. The present of a
sword as a marriage gift and it is ceremonies practised among the mer-
cantile class, to which reference is made is mentioned on p. 487.