Japan and the Japanese

KLAPROTH'S ACCOUNT OF JAPAN. 573
to the dialects of the Manchoos and Tungooses, who inhabit the continent (f
Asia opposite to Japan.
In manufacturing industry the Japanese rival the Chinese and the Hindus.
They have excellent workmen in copper, iron and steel ; their sabres are not
inferior to those of Damascus and Korasan. Many arts, such as the manu-
facture of silk and cotton fabrics, of porcelain, of paper from the bark of the
mulberry-tree and from the filaments of various plants, of lackered ware,
glassware and other articles, have reached a high degree of perfection amongst
them. The Japanese have practised the art of printing ever since the beginning
of the thirteenth century, in the same manner as the Chinese. The
most celebrated presses are at Miako and Jedo. These two cities, with Osaka,
Nagasaki, Yosida, and Kasi-no-mats, are the principal marts of industry in
the empire.
In the same proportion that the external commerce of Japan is circum-
scribed, its internal trade is active and flourishing. No imposts check its
operations, and communication is facilitated by the excellent condition of the
roads. Although the ports of Japan are sealed against foreigners, they are
crowded with vessels, both great and small. Shops and markets overflow
with every species of commodities, and large fairs attract a prodigious number
of people to the trading towns, which are scattered throughout the empire.
The three principal islands which constitute the Japanese empire are, for
the most part, studded with lofty volcanic mountains, particularly that of
Nipon, which is traversed in its whole length by a chain almost of uniform
elevation, and in many places crowned with peaks covered with perpetual
snow. This chain divides the streams which flow to the south and east, and
which fall into the Pacific Ocean, from those which pursue a course more or
less northerly to the sea of Japan. The highest mountain of the empire
it is that of Foosi-no-yama, an enor-
forms, however, no part of this chain ;
mous pyramid crowned with snows, situated in the province of Suruga, on,
the frontier of that of Kai'.
An empire composed of islands cannot, of course, have very considerable
rivers. It is only in the largest, the island of Nipon, that the most consider-
able streams are found, chiefly in the western portion, which is larger than
the eastern. The Jodogawa is the efflux of Lake Biwano-mitsu-oomi,
called on our maps the Lake of Oltz, situated in the province of Oomi, sev-
enty-two and a half English miles long, and twenty-two and a quarter
in its greatest width, and much the largest in Japan. The Jodogawa
passes before the cities of Jodo and Osaka, and falls into the gulf of that
name. The Kiso-gawa rises in the province of Sinano, flows to the south-
west, enters Mino, where it is reinforced by several large rivers, forms the
boundary between this province and that of Owari, and, under the name of
Sayagawa, falls into the gulf of Izeh. The Tenriogawa, or river of the heavenly
dragon, flows out of Lake Suwa, in the province of Sinano, enters Tooto-
mi, and there disembogues itself by three mouths into the sea ; it is very
wide, and its current is extremely rapid. The K'.unanafi originates at Mount