Wild animals are only moderately abundant, as is natural in a country so thickly inhabited. The black bear is found frequently in the well-wooded mountains of Yezo and the northern part of the Main island. The great bear, called also by the Japanese the red bear, and which is the same as the grizzly bear of North America, is also common in the Kurile islands and in Yezo. The wolf is sometimes found and the fox is common. The superstitions concerning the fox are as remarkable as those in the north of Europe, and have doubtless prevented its destruction. Deer are found in abundance in almost all parts of the islands. They are, however, most common in Yezo where immense herds feed upon the plentiful herbage.
The waters around Japan abound in fish. The coast is indented by bays and inlets which give opportunity for fishing. The warm currents flowing past the islands bring a great variety of fish which otherwise would not reach these islands. By far the most common article of food, other than vegetable, is the fish of various kinds and the shell-fish which are caught on the coasts and carried inland to almost all parts.
The division of the empire into provinces (kuni) [pg 016] was an important step in practical administration, and it is often referred to in these pages. This division was first made by the Emperor Seimu a.d. 131-190, when thirty-two provinces were constituted. The northern boundary of the empire was indicated by a line across the Main island from Sendai bay to a place on the west coast nearly corresponding to the present situation of Ni-igata. North of this line was the acknowledged territory of the Ainos, and even south of it were many tracts which were the disputed border.
The Empress Jingō, after her return from the expedition against Korea in a.d. 303, introduced the Korean system of division, by constituting the home provinces and circuits. After some changes and subdivisions in subsequent times the apportionment was settled as follows: Gokinai or the five home provinces, viz. Yamashiro, Yamato, Kawachi, Izumi, and Settsu; Tōkaidō, or eastern sea circuit, 15 provinces; Tōzandō, or eastern mountain circuit, eight provinces; Sanindō, or mountain back circuit, eight provinces; Sanyōdō, or mountain front circuit, eight provinces; and Saikaidō, or western sea circuit, nine provinces; in all sixty-eight provinces. After the close of the war of restoration in 1868, the large territories in the north of the Main island represented by the provinces of Mutsu and Dewa, which had been conquered from the Ainos, were subdivided into seven provinces, thus making seventy-three. Still later the island of Yezo, with which were associated the Kurile islands, was created a circuit under the name of Hok-kaidō, or north sea circuit, [pg 017] having eleven provinces. The number of existing provinces therefore is eighty-four. In recent times these eighty-four provinces have for administrative purposes been consolidated into three imperial cities (fu), forty-two prefectures (ken), and one territory (chō). The imperial cities (fu) are Tōkyō, Ōsaka, and Kyōto; the one territory (chō) comprises the island of Yezo and the adjacent small islands including the Kuriles; and the prefectures (ken) have been formed from the provinces by combining and consolidating them in accordance with their convenience and proximity.
There are only a few large cities in Japan, but very many of a small size.[13] Tōkyō,[14] the capital, contains 1,155,200 inhabitants. Ōsaka, the second largest city contains 473,541; Kyōto, the old capital, 289,588; Nagoya, 170,433; Kōbé, 136,968; and Yokohama, 127,987. These are all the cities containing as many as 100,000 inhabitants. Besides these there are four cities which have between 100,000 and 60,000; twelve which have between 60,000 and 40,000, and twelve which have between 40,000 and 30,000. The number of smaller towns is very great. The division of the country into daimiates, and the maintenance of a daimyō town in each led to the establishment of many cities and large villages.
The population of the empire of Japan is to a large extent massed in cities and villages. Even in the country, among the farmers, the people are gathered in settlements with wide spaces of cultivated and uncultivated land between. This is due in a great measure to the character of the crops and to the primitive nature of the cultivation. Rice, which is the most common crop, requires irrigation for its successful tillage. This limits the area occupied to the valleys and to those hillsides where the streams can be diverted to the rice fields. The area of land under actual cultivation is about 12,000,000 acres. It has been estimated that the average amount of land under cultivation is only three quarters of an acre for each of those engaged in farming. This amount seems to us very little and can only be explained by the character of the cultivation. The land almost always is made to bear two crops each year. As soon as one crop is cleared away, and often even before that, another is planted.
According to the census[15] of 1890 the population of the Japanese empire is as follows:
| Kwazoku (nobles) | 3,768 |
| Shizoku (samurai) | 2,008,641 |
| Heimin (common people) | 38,441,052 |
| Total | 40,453,461 |
The areas of the several large islands and their dependencies together with their population are given below:
| Sq. m. | Population. | |
| Main island and dependencies | 87,485 | 31,052,068 |
| Shikoku and dependencies | 7,031 | 2,879,260 |
| Kyūshū and dependencies | 16,841 | 6,228,419 |
| Yezo and dependencies | 36,299 | 293,714 |
| Totals | 147,656 | 40,453,461 |