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to inferiors, and is in that case expressive of kindness and courtesy.
Omaye is respectful, and is used to superiors only.
Omaye sama expresses extreme deference, and was used in addressing the Prince.
Anata is never employed at ail.
As in Tôkiô boku and kimi are the words chiefly used for ‘I’ and ‘you’ by students, while their elders delight to display their Chinese scholarship by employing midomo, sokka, kiden, sokomoto.
For pronouns of the third person, though koré, soré, and aré are known, the most usual words are kaitsu, koitsu, saitsu, soitsu and aitsu (contractions for kono yatsu, sono yatsu and ano yatsu) which are used without any idea of rudeness, and for things as well as for persons. I may mention here that the word yatsu which in Tôkiô has the contemptuous meaning of our word ‘fellow,’ has in Yonezawa the kindly and familiar meaning of the same term. Thus riko na yatsu, teinei na yatsu are complimentary expressions for ‘a clever man,’ ‘a polite man,’ while an intimate friend is described as ‘kokoro-yasui yatsu.’
(4.) Of the words peculiar to the dialect many of those I have noted have no equivalents in Tôkiô, the articles they represent being as little known as the names; but specimens of nearly all of them have been presented to the museum of The Asiatic Society. To this class belong:
- Nizo.—A straw hat shaped like an inverted trowel, fitting closely to the back of the head, and projecting beyond the forehead.
- Sakata-bôshi.—A straw helmet ornamented with coloured cotton, with a deep fringe falling over the shoulders.
- Kugu-bôshi.—A hood and cape in one reaching down to the knees, made of a grass called Kugu.
- Suso-boso.—Hakama tight at the ancle, worn by both men and women of the samurai class.
- Tachi-tsuke.—A similar garment to the preceding, but without the board in the back, worn by the lower classes of both sexes.
