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82 HONDA THE SAMUEAI.
boiling oil. His assistants were less severely punished.
A law was passed prohibiting the kites from
being larger than a certain modest size, and the large
and splendid ones, for which Owari was once famous,
disappeared.
" And is this the reason, grandma, why the biggest
kind of a kite, like that of cousin Honda Jiro, is
called an Owari kite ? " asked Kozo.
" Yes ; and the high, deep bath-tubs, the water of
which is heated by a copper boiler set inside the tub
itself, with a chimney at the side, is called after the
robber's name, G-oyemon-furo, because he was boiled
in such a caldron."
"Well, sometimes Uhe"i, our servant man, heats
our bath water so hot, that I think he wants to boil
us alive," laughed Kozo.
The bath-tub is one of the best used articles in a
Japanese household, for while every one gets under
hot water at least once between rising from and
retiring to bed, many of the people take a hot bath
four or five times a day. They had no word in the
language for soap, but with plenty of hot water
Japan has always been a clean country, and the
people have been fond of cleanliness. It is a part of
religion, and is especially
inculcated in the Shinto
faith.
" It is largely on account of what we are taught by
the example of our ancestors," Mr. Rai used often to
say : " for cleanliness is a virtue which the gods
love."