IN THE NARA EPOCH
628), it had been enacted that any one entering the palace gate must kneel on both knees, place his hands on the ground, bow his head, and in that attitude crawl across the threshold. Twenty years later, this prostrate method of approach was abandoned; to be again revived shortly afterwards, and again finally abandoned towards the close of the seventh century. The Japanese, in fact, adopted Chinese customs sometimes faithfully, sometimes tentatively. They were disposed to take them wholesale, but equally disposed to reject them after trial. They did not then cover the floors of their rooms with the clean soft mats that subsequently came into universal use. Boards were employed, and kneeling on boards being irksome, a standing salutation was substituted. Matting, cushions, or skins were spread on the ground to serve as seats, but by high officials a large four-legged dais, à la Chinoise, was used. This solid, handsome article of furniture, with lacquered legs and edges, metal mountings, and brocade-rimmed matting on its surface, served as a kind of chair of state. Its occupant did not kneel with his feet under him, as subsequently became the fashion; he sat tailor-wise. Another Chinese custom—that of joining the palms of the raised hands and clapping them by way of greeting to a superior—came into vogue and was practised for a considerable time. But being associated with the standing system of etiquette, this hand-clapping courtesy
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