JANUARY may also be derived from janua, a gate, this month being, as it were, the gate of the year. January and February were introduced into the year by Numa Pompilius; Romulus's year beginning in March. The kalends, or 1st of this month, was under the protection of Juno, and consecrated to Janus by an offering of a cake made of new meal and new salt, with new frankincense and new wine. On this day the consuls elect took possession of their office, and, with the flamines, offered sacrifices and prayers for the prosperity of the empire: all animosities were suspended, and friends gave and received Strenæ, or new-year's gifts. JANUS, in fabulous history and mythology, the first king of Italy, who received Saturn hospitably, when he was driven from Arcadia by Jupiter. He tempered the manners of his subjects, and taught them civility; and from him they learned to improve the vine, to sow corn, and to make bread. After his death he was adored as a god. He was thought to preside over all new undertakings. Hence, in all sacrifices, the first libations of wine and wheat were offered to Janus; all prayers were prefaced with a short address to him; and the first month of the year was dedicated to and named from him. See JANUARY. Janus was represented with two faces, either to denote his prudence, or that he views at once the past and approaching years; he had a sceptre in his right hand, and a key in his left, to signify his extensive authority, and his invention of locks. JANUS was also the name of a street in Rome, chiefly inhabited by bankers and usurers. It was so called from two statues of Janus erected in it, one at the top, the other at the bottom. The top of the street was therefore called Janus summus, the bottom Janus imus, and the middle Janus medius. Hence Horace, lib. i. Epist. 1. v. 54. Hæc Janus summus ab imo and Sat. 3. lib. ii. Postquam omnis res mea Janum Ad medium fracta est. JANUS, TEMPLE OF, in ancient history, a square building at Rome, as some say, of entire brass, erected by Romulus, containing a statue of Janus five feet high, with brazen gates on each side, which were always kept open in war, and shut in time of peace. But the Romans were so much engaged in war, that this temple was shut only twice from the foundation of Rome till the reign of Augustus, and six times afterwards. It was shut, 1. During the long reign of Numa, who instituted this ceremony. 2. In A. U. C. 519, after the end of the first Punic war. 3. By Augustus after the battle of Actium, A.U.C. 725. 4. On Augustus's return from the war against the Cantabrians in Spain, A. U. C. 729. 5. Under the same emperor, in A. U. C. 744, and A. A. C. 5.; when there was a general peace throughout the whole Roman empire, which lasted twelve years. 6. Under Nero, A. U. C. 811. 7. Under Vespasian, in 824. 8. Under Constantius, when, upon Magnentius's death, he was left sole possessor of the empire, in 1105. Some dispute this, however, and say that the last time it was shut was under Gordian, about A. U. C. 994. Virgil gives us a noble description of this custom, En. lib. iii. ver. 607, &c. JAPAN. The isles or empire of Japan consists of three considerable, and a great number of small islands, separated from the peninsula of Corea, and the coast of Chinese Tartary, by the strait of Corea and the sea of Japan, and extending between the latitudes of 30° and 41°. These islands were first made known to Europe by Marco Paulo, who collected some details respecting them from the Chinese, under the name of Zipangri. In 1535, or 1548, they were visited by the Portuguese. The word Japan (Je-pen or Je-paun) is Chinese, and signifies the country of the rising sun. The three principal islands are Niphon, Kiusiu, and Sikokf. Their surface presents a variety of mountains, hills, and valleys. Many of the mountains contain volcanoes, but in general they are well clothed with evergreen trees, and give birth to numerous rivulets, which fertilise the valleys, but seldom arrive at the magnitude of rivers. The hills are cultivated to their summits, and present the smiling picture of human industry, in the midst of vestiges of physical convulsions. In the island of Niphon, in the centre of an extensive valley, is a lake, said to be in length equal to fifty hours of a horse's pace, and one-third of that in breadth. The east coasts are lined with rocks, against which the sea beats with incessant fury. The climate approaches to humid, the most abundant rains falling after Midsummer, and during this season it thunders almost every night. The maximum of the thermometer, at Nangasaki, in August, is 98°, and the minimum in January 35°. The summer heat is, however, moderated by frequent sea breezes; and the snow never lies on the ground more than a few days. Rice is the principal grain cultivated, but wheat, barley, rye, and Indian corn, are also produced; the potatoes are indifferent, but peas, beans, cabbages, and turnips, are equal to those of Europe. The islands have no apple trees, but pears grow to a very large size; and oranges, figs, shaddocks, bananas, cocoa-nuts, jacks, and other fruits of the tropics, arrive at perfection; ginger, black pepper, sugar, cotton, and indigo, are cultivated in great quantity; the tea shrub grows wild in the hedges; and on the sides of the smaller mountains are found the Indian laurel and camphor. The islands also afford other medicinal plants, such as the muquet of Japan, the aromatic acore, squine root, cerete of Japan, moxa, snakewood, murgo root, the opium poppy, jalap, &c. The cypress, larch, and weeping-willow, are common. These islands have but a scanty proportion of quadrupeds, there being but few hogs, and neither goats nor sheep; the first two are considered as injurious to agriculture, and therefore are not allowed to propagate. The horses and black cattle are in small number, and the only animals used in agriculture are buffaloes and very small cows. The wild animals are confined to wolves and bears, chiefly towards the north, and foxes. The flesh of the bear is eaten, but foxes are held in abhorrence, under the belief that they are evil spirits which have assumed this shape. Dogs, however, make up for the scarcity of other quadrupeds; for by a law of one of the emperors, particularly attached to the canine race, and which has become a sacred custom, they are protected and nourished at the expense of the towns. The only game are pheasants and partridges. The Japanese Islands abound in the precious metals, and the sovereign claims two-thirds of the produce of the mines. They have also rich nines of copper, mixed with considerable quantities of gold, which afford the most lucrative object of foreign commerce. Iron is the scarcest metal, but it is still found in sufficient quantity for the necessary domestic utensils and arms. Sulphur and pummice stone are in abundance; and coal is said to be found to the north. The islands have also white marble, red agates, asbestos, potters' earth, and other minerals. A kind of red naphtha is burned in lamps. Hot mineral springs are frequent, and are had recourse to in various diseases. The Japanese are of a middle size, well made and robust, their complexion either brown or pale white like the Chinese; but their distinctive feature is the eye, which is small, oblong, and sunk in the head. They have the head large, the neck short, the nose large, hair black, thick, and shining, from the oil they rub into it. These characteristics seem to denote their origin from the Chinese, with a mixture of Mongul or Manchou Tartars, but their language has no affinity to that of either of these people. According to their traditions, there formerly existed in the island of Niphon two other races, the Mosins, or Hairy Kuriliens on the north, and a nation of Negroes on the south. The ancient government of Japan resembled that of Thibct, the Dairi, or sovereign pontiff, answering to the grand lama. In the year 1143 (according to the Japanese annals) this prince confided the military government of his dominions to a kubo, whose office became hereditary. His power at last predominated over that of the dairi; and, in 1585, the latter was deprived of even the shadow of political authority. Since that period the government of Japan may be considered as an hereditary absolute monarchy, controlled by a great number of hereditary absolute princes, of whom the mutual jealousies, and the hostages they are obliged to deliver, secure their submission to the supreme power. Each of these petty sovereigns keeps a standing army on foot. The laws of Japan have been greatly praised by some travellers, while by others they have been as greatly decried. The former tell us, that justice is expeditious, and executed with rigor, without respect to persons, except that the nobles may commute certain punishments by pecuniary fines. That the police is well organised and vigilant, and that, the inhabitants of every street being made responsible for the crimes committed by any individual of it, crimes are consequently rare. But on the other hand, we are informed that the punishments are barbarously cruel, that mincing a criminal to pieces, opening the belly with a knife, suspending him by iron hooks through the ribs, or boiling him in oil, are the most common. Though, in such a system of legislation, crimes must certainly be rare, it at the same time deprives innocence of its tranquillity, and society of its happiness; and surely it is better to run the risque of being once or twice robbed in the course of life, than to be every day in fear of being boiled in oil, to expiate a crime committed by another. The standing armies of the different princes of Japan are estimated at 463,000 infantry and 58,000 cavalry, which would suppose a population of 20,000,000 to 30,000,000; but most probably there is in these estimates a great deal of exaggeration. The Japanese appear to be less advanced in navigation than the Chinese, the government strictly prohibiting the going out of sight of land; and, to insure the compliance with this restriction, the junks are built in a manner that unfits them for the open sea. Those seen by Broughton were from 30 to 300 tons, with but one mast and a single sail of cotton: they are unable to tack, but wear in a short compass; their anchors resemble graplings with a number of hooks. Other navigators describe them as so low abaft, as to be unable to go before the wind, when it blows fresh, without great danger. The Japanese use a compass nearly similar to that of the Chinese. It has four grand divisions, answering to the four cardinal points, and each of these is subdivided into three, making twelve subdivisions, to which are given the names of the signs of the Zodiac, viz. North, Koutta. 1 Division, Ue, the rat. 1 Division, Oa, the hare. South, Minou-ami. 1 Division, Oaina, the horse. 1 Division, Ton, the fowl. The Japanese pretend to have anciently navigated to Formosa and Java, and on the north to the coast of America, but at present their voyages extend no farther north than Jesso. The roads throughout Japan are wide, with ditches to carry off the water, and kept in the highest order, which is not, however, difficult, there being no wheeled carriages, the common modes of travelling being either on horseback or in palanquins. The Japanese are divided into two religious sects, called Sinto and Budso: the former believe in a Supreme Being, but who they conceive is too exalted to concern himself with their affairs, but they invoke divinities of an inferior order as mediators; they believe that the souls of the good inhabit luminous regions near the empire, while those of the wicked wander in the air, until they have expiated their faults. The Sintos abstain from animal food, not from a belief in the metempsychosis, but because they abhor the effusion of blood, and dare not touch a dead body. The sect of Budso is the same as that of Budha, or Boudh of India, mixed with some foreign superstitions. Between 1549 and 1638 the Jesuits were employed in introducing Christianity into Japan; but two persecutions annihilated the infant church. In the first, in 1590, 20,000 Christians were massacred, and in 1638 37,000, according to the account of the missionaries, shared the same fate. The political intrigues of the Jesuits, and their violent intolerance, is generally supposed to have been the chief cause that rendered the Christian doctrine odious to the sovereigns and people of Japan; and since the last epoch it has been held in abhorrence by the Japanese of all classes. The civilisation of the Japanese appears to have been long stationary, like that of the Chinese; but several particulars, in which the two people differ, afford a much greater probability of improvement in the former than the latter. A more manly character and a greater degree of political liberty bring the Japanese nearer to the European. Their learned language is said to be that of the ancient Chinese, but their alphabet instead of whole words designs single letters only. A number of the Japanese read and speak Dutch, and the elements of natural history and medicine have began to be taught according to works in that language. The Japanese are confined to one wife, but the concubines live in the house with her, and neither are shut up as in China. The dead bodies of people of distinction are burned, those of the common class buried. The most considerable commerce of the Japanese is with China; whence they procure sugar, turpentine, drugs and raw silk, in exchange for copper, varnish, and gum lac. For further particulars of the separate islands, NIPHON, KIUSIU and SIKOKF, see those articles. The smaller Japan islands are numerous but are little known. Ufu-Sima is the principal of a group of eight, between the Lieu-Kieu Islands and Kiusiu. Tanaa-sima is the largest of a group of seven, south-west of Kiusiu. Li-Keo is separated from the south end of this latter island by the strait of Van-Diemen. The inhabitants of Li-Keo are described as cultivating their fields to the music of lyres, and gathering two crops of rice a year. Cangox-Sima is worthy of notice as being the spot where the Portuguese first landed. The Gotto Isles are a group off the west point of Kiusiu. Tsus-Sima, in the middle of the strait of Corea, is tributary to Japan; it is of moderate height, the valleys well cultivated, and the west coast lined with rocks. The Oki Isles are a group north of the south end of Niphon. South-east of Niphon is a group of volcanic islands, of which Fatsisio is the largest, though only three or four miles long. Its shores rise perpendicularly to the height of eighty fathoms, and are only accessible by rope ladders; hence probably it is that this island is appropriated as a state prison. One of the islands throws out flames." JAPAN', n. s. & v. a. From Japan in Asia, JAPANNER, n. s. where figured work was originally done. Work varnished and raised in gold and colors. It is commonly used with another substantive, and therefore may be considered as an adjective. To varnish and embellish; to black and gloss shoes: japanner, one skilled in japanning work; a shoe-blacker, so called because he makes the shoes to shine. JAPANNING, as an art, was more encouraged in former times in this country, than it is at present. It consists in forming and varnishing figures on wood, in the manner practised by the natives of Japan. The substances which admit of being japanned are almost every kind that are dry and rigid, or not too flexible; as wood, metals, leather, and paper. The varnish said to be used in China and Japan is composed of turpentine and a curious sort of oil, which they boil up to a proper consistence. Persons who work in this business are liable to swellings and inflammations in the hands and face, but these are produced from the lack and not from the varnish. The lack is the sap or juice of a tree, which flows on cutting the lower part of the trunk, and is received in vessels set under the incisions. This juice is of the color and consistence of cream, when it runs from the tree, but as it comes in contact with the air it becomes black. It is only used in this state: the method of preparing it is to set it out in the open air, in large flat bowls; and, that the whole may be of the same uniform color, it is kept continually stirring for many hours. By this method it becomes of a fine deep black; burnt wood is now mixed with it, and then, spreading it thin over any board or substance which they mean to japan, they dry it in the sun, and it is soon harder than the board on which it is laid. When this is quite dry it is polished with a smooth stone and water, till it is as even as glass, and then, wiping it dry, they lay on the varnish, made of oil and turpentine. If the work is to be of any other color than black, that color is to be mixed with the varnish, and then the whole spread on evenly and thin, because on this depends the principal art of varnishing. When there are to Le fgures in gold and silver, these must be traced out with a pencil in the varnish, over the rest of the work; and, when this varnish is almost dry, the leaf-gold, or silver, is to be laid on, and polished afterwards with some smooth sub stance. Wood and metals do not require any other preparation, but to have their surface perfectly even and clean: but leather should be strained either on frames or on boards; as its bending or forming folds would otherwise crack and force off the coats of varnish: and paper should be treated in the same manner, and have a previous strong coat of some kind of size; but it is rarely made the subject of japanning till it is converted into papier mache, or wrought by other means into such form that its original state, particularly with respect to flexibility, is lost. One principal variation from the method for merly used in japanning is, the using or omitting any priming or undercoat on the work to be japanned. In the older practice, such priming was always used; and is at present retained in the French manner of japanning coaches and snuff-boxes of the papier maché; but, in the Birmingham manufacture, it has been always rejected. The advantage of using such priming or under-coat is, that it makes a saving in the quantity of varnish used: because the matter of which the priming is composed fills up the inequalities of the body to be varnished; and makes it easy, by means of rubbing and water-polishing, to gain an even surface for the varnish: this was, therefore, such a convenience in the case of wood, as the giving a hardness and firmness to the ground was also in the case of leather, that it became an established method. There is this inconvenience always attending the use of an under-coat of size, that the japan coats of varnish and color will be constantly liable to be cracked and peeled off by any violence, and will not endure so long as the bodies japanned in the same manner, but without any such priming; as may be easily observed in comparing the wear of the Paris and Birmingham snuff-boxes; the latter, when good of their kind, never peeling or cracking, unless by great violence, or such a continued rubbing as wastes away the substance of the varnish; while the japan coats of the Parisians crack and fly off in flakes, after any knock or fall, particularly near the edges. The laying on the colors in gum-water, instead of varnish, is also another variation from the method of japanning formerly practised; but the much greater strength of the work, where they are laid on in varnish or oil, has occasioned this way to be exploded in most regular manufactories: however, they who practise ja panning on cabinets, or other such pieces as are not exposed to much wear and violence, may not find it worth their while to encumber themselves with the preparations necessary for the other methods, and may paint with water-colors on an under-coat laid on the wood, or other substance, of which the piece to be japanned is formed; and then finish with the proper coats of varnish, according to the methods below taught: if the colors are tempered with the strongest singlass, size, and honey, instead of gum-water, and laid on very flat and even, the work will not be much inferior in appearance to that done by the other method, and will last as long as the old japan. Priming.-The priming is of the same nature with that called clear-coating, by house-painters; and consists only in laying on, and drying in the most even manner, a composition of size and whiting, or, sometimes, lime instead of the latter. The common size has been generally used for this purpose: but, where the work is of a nicer kind, it is better to employ the glovers', or the parchment size; and if a third of isinglass be added, it will be still better, and, if not laid on too thick, is much less liable to peel and crack. The work should be prepared by this priming, by being well smoothed with the fish-skin, or a glass-shaver; and, being made thoroughly clean, should be brushed over once or twice with hot size, and diluted with two-thirds of water, if it be of the common strength. The priming should then be laid on with a brush as evenly as possible; and should be formed of a size whose consistence is betwixt the common kind and glue, mixed with as much whiting as will give it a sufficient body of color to hide the surface of whatever it is laid upon, but not more. If the surface be very clean on which the priming is used, two coats of it laid on in this manner will be sufficient; but if, on trial with a fine wet rag, it will not receive a proper water-polish on account of any incqualities not sufficiently filled up, one or more coats must be given it; and, whether a greater or less number be used, the work should be smoothed, after the last coat but one is dry, by rubbing it with Dutch rushes. When the last coat is dry, the water-polish should be given, by passing over every part of it with a fine rag gently moistened, till the whole appear perfectly plain and even. The priming will then be completed, and the work ready to receive the painting, or colored varnish: the rest of the proceedings being the same in this case as where no priming is used. When wood or leather is to be japanned, and no priming is used, the best preparation is to lay two or three coats of coarse varnish, composed in the following manner :— -Take of rectified spirits of wine one pint, and of coarse seed-lac and resin, each, two ounces. Dissolve the seedlac and resin in the spirit; and then strain off the varnish. The varnish, as well as all others formed of spirits of wine, must be laid on in a warm place; and, if it can be conveniently managed, the piece of work to be varnished should be made warm likewise; and, for the same reason, all dampness should be avoided; for either cold or moisture chills this kind of varnish. and prevents its taking proper hold of the substance on which it is laid. Japan-grounds.-When the work is so prepared, or by the priming with the composition of size and whiting above described, the proper japanground must be laid on; which is much the best formed of shell-lac varnish, and the color desired, if white be not in question, which demands a peculiar treatment, or great brightness be not re quired, when also other means must be pursued. The colors used with the shell-lac varnish may be any pigments whatever, which give the tint of the ground desired; and they may be mixed together to form browns or any compound co lors. As metals never require to be under-coated with whiting, they may be treated in the same manner as wood or leather, when the under coat is omitted, except in the instances referred to below. White japan-grounds.-The forming a ground perfectly white, and of the first degree of hardness, remains hitherto a desideratum in the art of japanning, as there are no substances which form a very hard varnish but what have too much color not to injure the whiteness, when laid on of a due thickness over the work. The nearest approach, however, to a perfect white varnish, already known, is made by the following composition:-Take flake-white, or white-lead, washed over and ground up with a sixth of its weight of starch, and then dried; and temper it properly for spreading with the mastich-varnish. Lay these on the body to be japanned, prepared either with or without the under-coat of whiting, in the manner as above ordered; and then varnish it over with five or six coats of the following varnish :-Provide any quantity of the best seed-lac, and pick out of it all the clearest and whitest grains, reserving the more colored and fouler parts for the coarse varnishes, such as that used for priming or preparing wood or leather. Take of this picked seed-lac two ounces, and of gum-anime three ounces, and dissolve them (being previously reduced to a gross powder) in about a quart of spirit of wine, and strain off the clear varnish. The seed-lac will yet give a slight tinge to this composition, but cannot be omitted where the varnish is wanted to be hard; though, when a softer will answer the end, the proportion may be diminished, and a little crude turpentine added to the gum-anime to take off the brittleness. A very good varnish, free entirely from all brittleness, may be formed by dissolving as much gum-anime as the oil will take in old nut or poppy oil, which must be made to boil gently when the gum is put into it. The ground of white color itself may be laid on in this varnish, and then a coat or two of it may be put over the ground; but it must be well diluted with oil of turpentine when it is used. This, though free from brittleness, is nevertheless liable to suffer by being indented or bruised by any slight strokes; and it will not well bear any polish, but may be brought to a very smooth surface without, if it be judiciously managed in the laying it on. It is likewise somewhat tedious in drying, and will require some time where several coats are laid on; as the last ought not to contain much oil of turpentine. Blue japan grounds.-Grounds may be formed of bright Prussian blue, or verditer glazed over by Prussian blue, or of smalt. The color may be best mixed with shell-lac varnish, and brought to a polishing state by five or six coats of varnish of seed-lac: but the varnish, nevertheless, will somewhat injure the color by giving to a true blue a cast of green, and fouling, in some degree, a warm blue by the yellow it contains; where, therefore, a bright blue is required, and a less degree of hardness can be dispensed with, the method before directed in the case of white grounds must be pursued. For a scarlet japan ground, vermilion may be used: but the vermilion has a glaring effect that renders it much less beautiful than the crimson produced by glazing it over with carmine or fine lake or even with rose-pink, which has a very good effect used for this purpose. For a very bright crimson, nevertheless, instead of glazing with carmine the Indian lake should be used, dissolved in the spirit of which the varnish is compounded, which it readily admits of when good; and in this case, instead of glazing with the shell-lac varnish, the upper or polishing coats need only be used, as they will equally receive and convey the tinge of the Indian lake, which may be actually dissolved by spirit of wine; and this will be found a much cheaper method than the using carmine. If, nevertheless, the highest degree of brightness be required, the white varnishes must be used. -For bright yellow grounds, the king's yellow, or the turpeth mineral should be employed, either alone or mixed with fine Dutch pink; and the effect may be still more heightened by dissolving powdered turmeric root in the spirit of wine, of which the upper or polishing coat is made; which spirit of wine must be strained from off the dregs before the seed-lac be added to it to form the varnish. Green grounds may be produced by mixing the king's yellow and bright Prussian blue, or rather the turpeth mineral and Prussian blue; and a cheap but less perfect kind by verdigris with a little of the above-mentioned yellows or Dutch pink. But where a very bright green is wanted, the crystals of verdigris, called distilled verdigris, should be employed; and, to heighten the effect, they should be laid on a ground of leaf-gold, which renders the color extremely brilliant and pleasing. Orange-colored japan grounds may be formed by mixing vermilion or red lead with king's yellow or Dutch pink, or the orange-lae, which will make a brighter orange ground than can be produced by any mixture. Purple japan grounds may be produced by the mixture of lake and Prussian blue; another kind may be made by vermilion and Prussian blue. They may be treated as the rest with respect to the varnish. Black grounds may be formed by either ivoryblack or lamp black but the former is preferable where it is perfectly good. These may be always laid on with shell-lac varnish, and have their upper or polishing coats of common seedlac varnish, as the tinge or fulness of the varnish can be here no injury. For forming the common black japan grounds, by means of heat on metal, the piece of work to be japanned must be painted over with drying oil: and, when it is of moderate dryness, must be put into a stove of such a degree of heat as will change the oil to black, without burning it so as to destroy or weaken its tenacity. The stove should not be too hot when |