The Medicine Girl of Japan.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 February 1922, Page 3

The Medicine Girl of Japan.

By Zoo Kincaid. TOKYO. Tokyo has a great variety of medicine vendors, but among them none can compare with th e girl who hails from Echigo, the cold northern province of Japan. She haunts the crowded districts, her country appearance in striking contrast) to that of the trim city maiden.

But th e girl from Echigo does not car© a particle about her non-confor-mity with fashion; she has a mission to fulfill.

i Generally short of stature, but strong and stout as a pony, her eyes look ' frankly forth underneath a wide straw ! hat, tied under her chin with red cords, i Her broad country face beams with health and good nature. Sh c wears a kimono short to the knees, and leggings of dark blue that reach to her rough-shod feet. The very long, narrow apron hanging down! in front and the coarse straw sandals she wears give her a peculiar style. She has a walk all her own and a particular poise of her body, this wild bird, the daughter of Echigo Province. She generally rambles through Tokyo with a companion who is her exact counterpart, and when her presence is made known it is also clear that the whole band to which she belongs is also in Tokyo, the members of it operating in different quarters of this great city. She belongs to a guild that sends its members to sell the balls of earth taken from th© compound of some Echigo temple and said to bo a sure remedy for certain human ailments. So sh L . comes from the mountains and valleys of her native country a-nd arrives in the capital, where she lives in cheap lodgings with many of her sisters for protection. The Echigo maid’s introduction to the complex life of Tokyo must prove to her a liberal education. Simple as sli e may seem, with her stooping figure, he r wide bat, her long apron trailing down in front and her muddy sandals,, her medicine box slung over her shoulder, and her big leather purse carried from her belt, she is well able to take care of herself.

She mingles with the throng that crowds the way to the best patronised temples, or vitews the thrilling attractions of the lurid pictures over the moving picture palaces of Theatre Street; she knows the intricate windings and turnings of the small streets where restaurants of every possible description are to be found; she is not unknown to the luxury and e xtravagnnce displayed in the show windows of the Ginza, ’! okyo’s chief thoroughfare. She may be found peeping into some western style of restaurant where the walls are all made of mirrors and people at small round tables partake of dainty food, or she may loiter around a shop fjom the depths of which emerge the strains of a phonograph. From spring until autumn she tramps about the city, always seeing some new aspect of the groat metropolis and pondering over its many strange ways. Then she says farewell to all its attractions, for she has accumulated a tidy sum from the profits of her sales and is anxious to hasten back to her native country.

But what is the motive which actuates this country girl to come all the wa\ from her home and brave the unknown perils of the c-ity? She has some special mission which keeps her trudging unwearied from morning till night ves, one which makes tie girls of other nations just as willing to go to still greater lengths. The Ec-higo maid, while selling her mud balls to suffering humanity, is earning the money for her trousseau. And when the snow lies deep over the province of Echigo she will have ai hearth of her own in som,. humble cottage and will relate to an admiring husband the story of her adventures in the great city.