"A Japanese Boy" is a memoiristic collection of sketches in which Shigemi Shiukichi recounts his own boyhood in Japan. It describes school, family, food, games, holidays, and religious observances. It is worth listening to as a warm, firsthand portrait of daily life and customs in old Japan.
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Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.
Opening of the book
A JAPANESE BOY BY HIMSELF NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1890 COPYRIGHTED, 1889. By SHIUKICHI SHIGEMI. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. MY BIRTHPLACE—MY GRANDFATHER—TENJINSAN. CHAPTER II. OLD-FASHIONED SCHOOL—MY SCHOOLMASTER—THE SCHOOL-HOUSE. CHAPTER III. THE KITCHEN—DINNER—FOOD. CHAPTER IV.
GAMES—NEW SCHOOL—IMITATING THE WEST—MORE ABOUT MY
SCHOOLMASTER—PUNISHMENTS AT SCHOOL.
CHAPTER V.
BATHS—EVENINGS AT HOME—JAPANESE DANCING AND MUSIC.
CHAPTER VI.
AMATEUR ACTORS AND REAL ACTORS AND ACTRESSES—JAPANESE THEATRE.
CHAPTER VII.
WRESTLING—STORY-TELLERS—PICNIC AND PICNIC GROUNDS—AN OLD CASTLE
AND A TRADITION.
CHAPTER VIII.
ANGLING—A PIOUS OLD LADY AND HER ADVENTURES.
CHAPTER IX.
THE YAITO—A WITCH-WOMAN—AUNT OTSUNÉ, MISS CHRYSANTHEMUM AND MR.
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