Of course, the Japanese girl has plenty of dolls, and the great girls' festival of the year is the Feast of Dolls, which takes place on the third day of the third month, and lasts for three days. But though these days may be well called the apotheosis of dolldom, dolls play an important part in the amusements of the children of Japan as those of other lands throughout the year.

Games In Japan

There are also many other games and toys beloved of Japanese children, some of them only played with or used at stated seasons of the year, and others in favour at all times.

At the New Year one of the most popular outdoor games is battledore and shuttlecock; and many a pretty picture is formed in the gardens of the rich and the little courtyards of the poor, at street corners and in the open spaces and parks of temples, by groups of girls, in their bright-hued, wide-sleeved dresses, playing this game.

There are also several games played with balls. Many a Japanese child has a dexterity in catching balls, and even in manipulating two or three of them at one and the same time, which would not discredit a juggler. Hide-and-seek is an almost world-wide pastime, and there is, of course, a Japanese variety of this exciting and mirth-provoking game.

Popularity Of English Sports

In addition to those we have mentioned, there are many English and American outdoor games, sports, and pastimes which have been adopted by the youngsters of modern Japan, such as lawn-tennis, basketball, and various more or less athletic games. In running races, great ingenuity is often shown in the devising of some new and graceful development.

Of indoor games there are many, some of them bearing a resemblance to those played by English children, not a few being " forfeit " games, and others into which dancing enters.

Of the many quaint and curious festivals and customs in which the children of Japan take part is the Setsubun festival, one of the observances in connection with which is the purchase and use of the hito gita, or little figures of men and women and children cut out in white paper.

The figures are sold at Setsubun time in the Shinto temples. One is bought for each member of the family, and upon it the age and sex of the person for whom it is intended is written by the priest. The little figures are then taken home, and each person, on receiving his or her hito gita, lightly rubs it on his or her body, whilst saying a short Shinto prayer. On the following day the hito gita are returned to the priest, who, after reciting over them certain phrases, burns them in a holy fire. By this act the people to whom the hito gita belong are expected to escape all illness or accident during the ensuing year.

Special Festivals for Boys

The boys of Japan are by no means left without their festivals. In no country, probably, are the children more considered than in the empire of the Mikado, which is indeed a land of children, flowers, and festivals. The boys' chief festival is the Feast of Flags, which takes place on the fifth day of the fifth month - nowadays May 5 - and it is their own especial day.

The Feast Of Flags

Long before its arrival the shops in the streets and byways of every city and town are gay with all kinds of toys, whilst in the courtyard of every home stands a great bamboo pole, from which on the day of the festival will float an enormous paper carp. Its body is inflated by the wind, which blows down its widely opened mouth; and with its great staring eyes glaring at the beholders it seems to engage in an endless struggle with the breeze. In the courtyards of houses where there is more than one son in the family several poles are erected.

There are many other festivals, but few can compare for the children of both sexes and all ages with the great Matsuri of the parish temple, with its sports, lanterns, dancing, uproarious merriment, processions, and carnival-like, emblematical, historical and legendary cars, on which perform tumblers, jugglers, and dancing girls.

In the evening the streets are lighted with a thousand lanterns, and thronged by children and grown-up folk, who struggle along, stopping at times to gaze in at some shop where the faithful worshippers have erected an exquisite shrine, or have arranged the whole Matsuri procession in miniature about to enter the gates or courtyard of some model temple.

The night of the feast is the time for the boys. From many a by-street a horde of them will dash suddenly, each having his head bound up with a piece of blue-and-white towelling, and dressed more or less - often less than Western decorum would think necessary - in a blue - and - white haori.

Half a dozen boys bear on their shoulders as they plunge through the crowd, which good-naturedly makes way for them, a miniature float or travelling platform made out of a packing-case or sake-barrel, decorated with paper flowers, streamers, and lanterns.

The Close of a Festival

When all is over, and the lanterns begin to flicker out one by one, and the stars in the dark blue heavens above seem to shine all the brighter from the gradual decline of earthly competition, it is a very orderly, tired crowd that makes its way homeward, sometimes chanting, generally chatting over the incidents of the day, to the accompaniment of a musical klop-klop of geta on the earth of the country roads, a sound differing much from the sharper sound of the geta on the flags of temple courtyards or the cobbles of paved streets.

Such is a picture of child life in Japan, when the traditions of this fascinating country are followed. Western ideas are making rapid progress, and one by one native customs fall into disuse. But it will be a calamity for the coming generations of Japanese men and women if they lose the lessons of obedience, chivalry, and patriotism, inculcated by the present system of education, when adopting Western methods.