ON THE VERGE OF HISTORY
and wild-boar abounded. These were driven by beaters into open spaces, there to be pursued by men on horseback armed with bows and arrows. In the fourth century the pastime of hawking was introduced. It came from Korea: a king of that country sent a present of falcons to the Emperor of Japan, who caused a special office to be organised for the care of the birds.
Chinese annalists, writing in the third century, allege that the Japanese tattooed their faces and bodies, the positions and size of the designs constituting an indication of rank. Tattooing the body and cutting the hair were counted by the Chinese as violations of the rules of civilisation, and they offer an interesting explanation of the origin of these customs in Japan. They allege that the first rulers of that country were wandering princes of the Chou dynasty (1200 b. c.) who abandoned their patrimony in China, and migrated southwards, cutting their hair and tattooing themselves, to mark the completeness of their expatriation. The theory is quite untenable. One well-known Chinese work regards tattooing in Japan as a protection against the attacks of marine creatures of prey. But there are strong reasons to doubt whether tattooing was at any time prevalent among the Japanese proper. Possibly Chinese writers failed to distinguish between the inhabitants of the Riukiu archipelago and the people of Nippon, for tattooing of the face was never practised by the Japanese, whereas the
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