YNDALE
-"
r
Mrs .
GIFT OF
^eonora B.
Luc as
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
JAPAN
& THE JAPANESE
BY
WALTER TYNDALE
WITH THIRTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
BY THE AUTHOR
NEW YORK
THE MAGMILLAN COMPANY
1910
PREFACE
T FEEL that I need some justification for
adding to the number of books written on
Japan, a country which has been described by
writers of great literary ability whose long
residence in the country has familiarized them
with its people, their institutions, and their
everyday life.
The outward appearance of things is what,
of necessity, concerns the painter most ; but
whilst in search of artistic material amongst
the gardens and habitations of so interesting a
people, the painter, too, could not fail to get an
ight into much that the outward appearance
suggests.
*V& It was my privilege to make the acquaintance
vi JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
and even to win the friendship of many Japanese,
who not only with great kindness made me
welcome to their homes, but also gave me
information on many subjects which may prove
of interest to readers, both to those who have
themselves paid a flying visit to Japan, and
also to those, less fortunate in this respect, who
have watched with interest the development
of that country and its increasingly friendly
relations with our own.
I take this opportunity of thanking the owners
of beautiful gardens which I was allowed to
paint as illustrations to a second book. To see
and paint these was, indeed, a main object of my
voyage to the Far East. This book is now
being written by Mr. Basil Taylor, and will be
published next year.
I also thank the European residents for
the hospitality and the valuable information they
gave me. Lastly, I wish to express my thanks
and how can I do so sufficiently ? to those
whose works were my constant companions
PREFACE vii
while cut off from current literature to the late
Lafcadio Hearn, to A. B. Mitford (now Lord
Redesdale), and to Professor Basil Hall Chamber-
lain, who first awoke my interest in " Things
Japanese."
W. T.
CONTENTS
I. ARRIVAL AT MOJI AND THE INLAND SEA 1
ii. KOBE . 15
in. KOBE (continued) - - 32
iv. KYOTO - - 45
v. KYOTO (continued] - 58
VI. KYOTO (continued} - 73
VII. THE OLEANDER - - 83
VIII. THE JUDAS-TREE AND POMEGRANATE - - 92
IX. THE LOTUS - 108
X. JOURNEY TO SHOJI - 126
XI. SHOJI - H2
XII. JOURNEY TO KOFU - 157
XIII. KOFU 166
XIV. JOURNEY TO HAKONE - - - 185
XV. HAKONE - - - 192
xvi. HAKONE (continued) - - 204
XVII. NIKKO - . 223
xvin. NIKKO (continued) - . 241
xix. TOKYO - - - 259
xx. TOKYO (continued) . . 274
XXI. ATAMI AND CONCLUSION - 293
INDEX - - . 313
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
1. THE KWANNON AT ASAKUSA - Frontispiece
2. THE BIRTHDAY OF THE BOYS 8
3. THE APPROACH TO IKUTA TEMPLE - - 18
4. CHERRY-TREES AT ARIMA - - 26
5. AN AZALEA GARDEN - 36
6. THE SHRINE OF INARI AT KOBE - 42
7. APPROACH TO A RUSTIC SHRINE - 54
8. THE IRISES AT KITANO 72
9. THE OLEANDER - 82
10. THE JUDAS-TREE - - 92
11. THE POMEGRANATE - - 102
12. LOTUSES - 110
13. GEISHAS - 120
14. FUJIYAMA FROM SHOJI - 128
15. A HOMESTEAD NEAR SHOJI - 136
16. THE COMMUNAL SHRINE - - 146
17. FUJIYAMA - 156
18. A RAINY DAY AT MOTOSU - - 164
19. MOTO-HAKONE - 174
20. THE BOZEN KAKU GARDEN - - 182
21. A MOUNTAIN HAMLET - 190
22. ROKUDO-NO-JIZO 198
xi
xii JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
I'AOE
23. HAKONE LAKE 208
24. THE BRONZE JIZO AT HAKONE 218
25. THE SHRINE OF IEMITSU 226
26. A SHRINE AT NIKKO 236
27. FUDO 246
28. AUTUMN FOLIAGE 256
29. CHRYSANTHEMUMS - 264
30. MAPLES - 274
31. A COTTAGE AT ATAMI 284
32. A PLUM ORCHARD - 294
JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
CHAPTER I
ARRIVAL AT MOJI AND THE INLAND SEA
riIHE rising sun threw a disc of golden light
on the panelling facing the porthole of my
cabin. The throb of the propeller had ceased,
making other noises more audible. These
awakened me from my sleep, and also to the
joyful fact that at last we had reached Moji, our
first port of call in the land of the Rising Sun.
Though I had come to this country to spend
the best part of a twelvemonth, I could not defer
getting my first peep of it a minute longer. It
was only half-past four in the morning, yet all
was in motion on deck. Lighters, laden with a
greasy-looking coal, were being made fast to
each side of the ship, and the queerest-looking
little people were busy erecting bamboo scaffold-
ing from these lighters up to the main-deck,
l
2 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
How they were going to get the coal on board
puzzled me at the time. Instead of a sloping
gangway, they were constructing a series of little
platforms, five or six feet one above the other,
and fastened to the ship in the most ingenious
manner. In a very short while an agile little
fellow stood on each platform, and, one after the
other, thousands of little baskets full of coal were
passed up from hand to hand and emptied into
the bunkers. A woman stood at the head of
each of these erections to throw the empty
baskets back into the lighters. Six hundred
tons were to be taken in before we could proceed,
and since the baskets were scarcely larger than a
bowler hat, I feared that we should be stuck at
Moji for some days.
A notice was posted up that no photographs
were to be taken, as we were near some fortifica-
tions. I had not the consolation that I should
be able to fill up the time by making a sketch or
two. Captain Peters, who commanded the good
ship Somali, was ever ready to accommodate his
passengers in any way consistent with his duty,
and when he forbade sketching-things or cameras
to leave the ship, we felt sure that he had good
reasons for doing so. He consoled us, however,
ARRIVAL AT MOJI 3
with the assurance that before dusk we should
be ready to proceed to Kobe.
Foggy weather had followed us all the way
from Shanghai, and after four weeks in the tropics
we had felt the cold bitterly. To see the sun again
and feel its warmth as the morning advanced put
the few remaining passengers in the best of
spirits, and we were all agog to get ashore.
When the launch was ready to start, Moji still
lay in the shadow of the hills that back it, and
the sun struck fully on Shimonoseki, a mile
away on the northern side of the strait. We
decided on Moji first, leaving Shimonoseki till
after tiffin. Now, as the former is little more
than a coaling-station, I expected to find it very
much Europeanized, and was well prepared
against being disappointed. On leaving the
quay, which certainly savoured of the Occident,
we turned up the main street, which was as
Japanese as anything we could wish to see.
The little town was en fete: it was the fifth of
May, on which the birthdays of all the little
boys are kept. Huge paper or cotton carps
hung from long bamboo poles. The wind,
entering at the open mouths of these fish, inflates
them, and they sway about somewhat in the way
4 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
they would in their natural element. The idea
is that, as the carp overcomes all obstacles in
going upstream, so the boy will have to fight
his way in the world to rise to fame and fortune.
No school that day for the lads ; they were at
liberty to follow us about and stare at the
foreigners. One of our party was a man of
many inches. He would strike anyone in
London as being exceptionally tall, but here it
was as if a giant had turned up for the children's
amusement. They were well-behaved, barring
the staring ; but this, I have since discovered,
is not considered rude which is unfortunate
for anyone who proposes sketching in the
streets.
Most of the shops looked as if they dealt in
Japanese curios, and it was hard to realize that
these articles were not displayed to sell to
tourists. They were, in truth, but the many
quaint little things which are in daily use here.
The foodstuffs were mostly fish queer-looking
creatures some of them and would have looked
more in place in spirits on a museum shelf;
others resembled to a remarkable degree their
counterfeit presentments which were floating
from the bamboo poles.
ARRIVAL AT MOJI 5
I was delighted not to see a vestige of European
clothing, either for sale or on any of the people,
except on a five-foot-nothing policeman.
But for the substantial roofs the dwellings
suggested dolls'-houses, and the infants looked
for all the world like dolls I had seen at Liberty's
come to life. Half the population had babies
slung on their backs hardly a girl or woman
without one and some of the little girls, who
were scarcely more than babies themselves, were
getting into training with a doll tied on in the
same manner. Baby-carrying is not confined to
the gentler sex either, for I saw many a boy with
a baby peeping over his shoulder, and he would
play at tipcat or hopscotch quite regardless of
his human burden.
The women did not look to me as if they had
stepped out of a screen, as Pierre Loti describes
them, for they suggested hard work more than
ornament. The type which he describes does
exist, but is not often met with amongst the
workaday folk.
What adds not a little to the picturesqueness
of a Japanese street are the Chinese characters
in which all is written. A soap or pill advertise-
ment, boldly painted in this lettering, decorates
6 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
rather than vulgarises the space which it occupies.
Not being able to read it may have something
to do with this.
There are no " sights " to be done at Moji, so we
could spend all our time looking into the shops ;
could see the women preparing their dinners,
having their hair dressed a serious business this
the men plying their various trades, and the
hundred little things which go to make up the
life in a small town. On a fine day the paper
slides are all thrown open, and everything is done
in view of the public. As it is not considered
rude to watch anyone at his work, there was
constant entertainment. This is often inter-
esting nearer home, but here in this land of topsy-
turveydom it is especially so.
The carpenter surprised me by drawing his
saw towards him instead of thrusting it through
the wood. He also drew his plane instead of
pushing it forward. Some builders at work
were constructing the roof before the founda-
tions of the house were laid. Some country-
women wore trousers, while some of the men
wore skirts. Nearly every house which we saw
here and at Shimonoseki was a shop of sorts,
yet most of the articles with which we are
ARRIVAL AT MOJI 7
familiar were not to be seen. No butcher, no
baker, and a paper-lantern shop took the place
of the candlestick maker. The greengrocer had
hardly a familiar vegetable on his stall seaweed
took the place of cabbages ; bamboo shoots were
in lieu of carrots ; a white root two and more feet
long, I was informed, was a radish. The toy-
shops were perhaps the most entertaining, and
being the birthday of the boys, trade was brisker
than usual.
I said above that hairdressing was a serious
business. We passed the coiffeur again an
hour or more later, and the same lady was still
sitting there, with a little hand-mirror, suggesting
various amendments, which were being discussed
both by the operator and by the onlookers. This
is so lengthy a process that the humbler classes
can only afford to undergo it once a week. The
women therefore sleep without a pillow, substi-
tuting for it a wooden head-rest, which fits under
the neck and does not disarrange the hair. The
age, state, and station in life can be told by the
way it is dressed. Hat or bonnet does not exist,
so what the women spend at the hairdresser's is
more than compensated for in lessening the
milliner's account. Jet-black is the only colour,
and with the help of oil the hair shines like a
newly-blacked boot.
Beyond the shop may be seen the living-room
of the proprietor, unless the shoji, or paper
slides, be closed. All is raised some two feet
from the ground, and while making a purchase
the buyer can sit on the edge of this platform ;
should he wish to go further in, he must take off
his boots. The cleanliness and good-humour of
the Japanese is perhaps what strikes the foreigner
more than anything else.
We were fortunate in landing on a fine day,
for first impressions are more precious than many
which a longer stay can produce.
We devoted the afternoon to Shimonoseki,
which is considerably larger than Moji ; but the
size of a town in Japan seems to bear no relation
to the size and importance of its streets and
buildings. The houses were as small and the
shops as modest as those of her neighbours
across the strait. The only sign of the Euro-
peanization which has been going on now for
forty years past was the station and a hotel for
foreigners. These were built in solid materials,
whereas all the other houses were wooden-
framed.
ARRIVAL AT MOJI
I am forgetting the telegraph-poles ; these are
in every town and village. At home we seldom
see one in a street, but here they are as plentiful
as lamp-posts, and more obtrusive than in Europe
from being so much taller than the houses.
Except for the small boys, who were celebrating
their birthdays with trumpet and drum, the
streets were quiet. No horses were to be seen,
and the only conveyances were jinrickshas. A
bicycle ridden by a youth in kimono and
wooden clogs, with a Chinese lantern nearly as
big as himself, looked somewhat incongruous.
Shimonoseki is an old town, but in its
outward appearance there is nothing to suggest
this. The life of a Japanese dwelling is seldom
more than a generation ; even the temples have
to be renewed so often that there is seldom
anything of the original left if they date back
more than a couple of centuries. In doing the
sights of a European city, it is usual to seek the
oldest parts, and the buildings lose in interest as
they get nearer to our own times. This is not
so in Japan ; age adds little beauty to a Japanese
house, and the temples lose more than they gain
in appearance by the lapse of time. With the
setting of the latter it is, of course, different, for
10 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
age is necessary to produce the magnificent ever-
greens, and to clothe the stone balustrades and
lanterns with moss and lichen.
How much the town was knocked about
during the bombardment in 1864 it is hard to
say, for there is probably not a house dating
previously to that.
Let us hope that the combined fleets of Great
Britain, France, the United States, and Holland,
expended their ammunition only on the forts
which were there. A few rockets and some
stones might have sufficed to destroy the town.
This use of a steam-hammer to crack an egg,
known as the " Shimonoseki affair," had a far-
reaching effect on the history of this country.
It destroyed the power of the Shoganate. Four
years later the constitution of the country was
reorganized, and the Mikado ceased to be a mere
puppet in the hands of the Shogun, as his for-
bears had been for seven centuries past. Modern
Japan dates from this the year of Meiji; 1862 is
the first year of the new era.
Paper lanterns were lit and paper slides were
closed when we got on the launch to return to
the Somali. What struck us in the full light of
day as pretty, quaint, and ingenious became
ARRIVAL AT MOJI 11
grand as seen from some distance and in the
light of a glorious sunset.
The pulsation of the ship's propeller soon
made us aware that we were on our way to
Kobe. It was consoling that the first sixty
miles of the inland sea is the least interesting, so
that we would not lose much during the night.
Rising early next morning, we found ourselves
well among the numerous islands (several
thousand according to the Japanese) which give
to this sea its unique character. Some are
large and mountainous, with fishing villages
studding the shores, whilst others are little more
than projecting rocks, with a few fantastically-
shaped pines outlined against the sky. We never
lost sight of them during the day ; sometimes,
both on the port and starboard sides, could we
see the inhabitants, and in one instance the
channel narrowed down to within a ship's length.
Volcanic islands have a distinctive character,
and resemble each other to a great extent, yet
there is a something in these which suggests
Japan and no other country. Is it that the
twisted pines and curiously-shaped rocks have
figured so often in Japanese prints, or is it
merely that they form the background to the
numerous trading-junks and fishing-craft which
have so strong an impress of this country ?
The colour seemed more intense than that of
the Mediterranean Isles as I remember them ;
the day may have been especially favourable in
that respect. There was so much to see from
both sides of the ship that we felt the want of an
interval. When the bell rang for tiffin we were
satiated with islands, and allowed them to slip
by without taking a glance through the port-
holes.
A slight mist changed the whole aspect during
the afternoon. The rocks were not now cut up
into patches of light and shade, but loomed up in
bold silhouettes against the grey, often taking
the most grotesque shapes. One would suggest
the form of a dragon, another some character in
" Les Contes Drollatiques," or some of those
huge heads without which no pantomime seems
complete. The profile of a well-known states-
man of a passing generation figured prominently,
and I saw once more in fancy an old lady of
whom I stood in awe as a small boy, a pine
doing duty for the frilling of her cap. As the
sun sank behind a bank of fog that lay nearer
the horizon the channel widened, the islands
ARRIVAL AT MOJI 13
gradually disappeared till only a few mountain-
tops, which caught the light from the setting sun,
were visible.
Before turning in, our course lay close to the
shore of Shikoku, the large island that shuts off
the inland sea from the Pacific Ocean. The
coast-line here twists about in such an extra-
ordinary manner that none save the pilot could
tell what was mainland and what were islands.
The latter increased in number as we advanced,
and occasionally the Somali seemed to be steam-
ing straight into the rocks ; she would, however,
get within a few hundred yards of the lighthouse,
then, rapidly changing her course, enter a channel
which had been invisible to us till then.
The mist diffused the light of the moon ; the
high land around us showed clearly against the
sky ; where land arid water met could only be
told by the lights on innumerable fishing-craft
which lay fast to their nets. The buoys attached
to these nets also carried a light. Some reached
to within a few yards of our ship ; but the course
of the steamers is well known by the fisher-folk,
and I was told that it rarely happened that any
nets got fouled.
The day had been full of interest. What we
14 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
had witnessed by the light of the sun was as
nothing compared to the beauty now seen by the
light of a hazy moon. Rocks glided past us,
sharp-cut against the sky, and lost in the mist
below, now hiding, now revealing dimmer and
more graceful outlines of mountains beyond.
The fishermen's lights in the distance, lying
still like glow-worms, swayed gently about as
they neared our ship, dimly lighting the craft to
which they were fixed, or masked by the dark
form of the man on watch.
These things combined to make a picture
never, I fear, to be adequately painted or
described by the writer who gazed on it from the
silent deck.
I was loath to leave so enchanting a scene,
but the lateness of the hour and the increasing
cold compelled me to turn in.
CHAPTER II
KOBE
KOBE faced us as we got on deck the next
morning. We lay opposite the foreign
settlement. The poetic vision of the previous
night was replaced by a prosaic European town.
I was glad to reach the end of my voyage ;
but each look at this prosperous and common-
place-looking town made my heart sink farther
within me. The idea that I had travelled ten
thousand miles and more to paint this added a
grim humour to my depression.
The worries of packing, the question of tips,
the landing and Custom-house formalities, had
their use in diverting my thoughts.
Some letters of introduction obliged me to
halt at Kobe, and I soon found myself installed
in a large European hotel, " replete with every
comfort," but with nothing in it to remind me of
Japan, except some waiters whose features ill-
15
16 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
harmonized with the Western clothes which they
wore.
The fear that I had got to Japan too late for
the cherry-blossom took away my appetite for an
excellently prepared lunch, and the dining-room,
which the manager informed me was the largest
east of Suez, but which only contained one guest
besides myself, added to my depression. I asked
about the cherry-blossom, only to hear that there
had been very little this year, and that the stormy
weather had dispersed it all. "Is the wistaria
over ?" I asked, in the voice one asks a dentist
whether the tooth should come out or not.
" No." He thought he had seen some some-
where, but could not exactly recall the place.
Seeing my distress, he went to make some
inquiries, and found out that the cherry was
still in blossom at Arima, a hill-station some
twenty miles north of Kobe. I decided to go
there the very next morning, devoting my after-
noon to calling on the people to whom I had
letters, and hunting for wistaria at the same
time.
The kind reception given me by the Consul
and his charming wife revived my spirits, and
a pretty subject in a non-Europeanized part of
KOBE 17
the town made me feel again that life was worth
living. It was a temple approach, with a purple
patch of wistaria just in the right place. The
wistaria looked not yet fully out, so I felt that
this could wait a day or two, but that Arima
must be reached as soon as possible. I ran across
my late cabin companion, the man of many
inches, whom I have mentioned before. Since
he and a young naval officer, also a fellow-pas-
senger, expressed a wish to see Arima, arrange-
ments were soon made, and at an early hour the
next morning we found ourselves in the train,
which circles round the base of the range of hills
which backs Kobe.
We had the promise of a lovely day, and it
was cold enough to enjoy the warmth of the sun
slanting in at the carriage windows. There must
have been some fair on in a neighbouring town,
for when we stopped at the first station after
leaving the European settlement the train
crowded up with people of both sexes and all
ages. When the third-class compartments were
packed till there was hardly standing room, they
filled up the seconds, and those least in a hurry
were finally accommodated in the first-class
carriages. A certain feeling of awe seemed to
18 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
overcome the holiday-makers as they gazed at
the unwonted luxury around them, and when
this wore off we came in for a good deal of their
attention. When the man of many inches hap-
pened to rise, all eyes went to the ceiling to see
if he would bump his head.
Sitting with their feet hanging down seemed
to give them the fidgets, and presently the
boldest one would drop his getas (the wooden
clogs they wear), and tuck his feet under him
on the cushion. The others soon followed suit,
and a row of clogs lined the floor.
The geta is so characteristic a form of footgear
that it deserves some elucidation. It varies con-
siderably so much so that, without being a
Sherlock Holmes, it was easy to gauge the status
of the wearer after a little examination. A stout
piece of wood, the size and shape more or less of
the sole of a boot, is raised from the ground by
two pieces jointed in underneath and crosswise
to the grain of the wood. Should the wearer be
a lady below the height considered the proper
one for her sex, she can add two or three inches
to her stature by means of these slips. Where
the latter are barely sufficient to protect her
white 1ahi from the mud, you may feel sure that
KOBE 19
the owner is tall enough not to require this
assistance. Two straps are so fixed that they
give the foot a good grip, very much as in the
classic sandal.
The tabi is a canvas sock, digitated like a one-
fingered glove, and allows the strap to pass
between the big and second toes. Some getas
have a leather covering for the toes, and are only
worn in wet weather. The well-to-do have soles
of prettily-plaited straw, and have red silk cover-
ings to the straps, while the soles of the poorer
folk have nothing between the hard clog and
their socks. The construction is also modified
to suit a short or long journey. Where a long
distance has to be walked, the slips of wood
which raise the clog are replaced by short thick
clumps.
I discovered later that fashion plays its part
here as well as in other articles of apparel. The
Kyoto geisha would not be seen cluttering about
the streets in similar ones to those her sisters
wear in Tokyo, and vice versa.
While contemplating this footgear, my mind
reverted to a similar scene outside a shrine in
Upper Egypt, where such shoes of the faithful
as were not worth stealing were left. What a
20 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
different people, and what different conditions
of living they suggested ! Outside that shrine
the dusty slippers were only those of men ; here,
on the floor of the rail way- carriage, the clogs of
men, women, and children lay as labels to a
strangely different-looking people, squatting in-
discriminately on the bench above. The un-
familiar language, instead of the Arabic which I
had been so long accustomed to hear ; the pleasant
warmth of the sun as it shone through the open
window, instead of being carefully shut out with
double blinds ; the absence of dust, and even
the mud on some of the clogs, all made me
realize how far the Somali, which we could still
see in Kobe Harbour, had brought us. If the
contrast inside the railway-carriage was striking,
how much greater was it in looking out ! Had
I come straight from England the green hill-
sides would have appeared natural enough, but
for a long time past I had been accustomed to
see no verdure except where the fertilizing waters
of the Nile reached during its flood.
We drew up at a station, the name of which
was given in English as well as in the quaint
Chinese characters. The traveller was informed
by a painted notice underneath that he was a
KOBE 21
mile and a quarter from a plum garden ; other
places of interest were also given, such as the
tomb of some poet or the sacred shrine of a god.
Now what other people in the world would be
sufficiently interested in the beauty of the
blossoming plum-tree to make such a notice
opportune ? At other stations I saw directions
as to the distance of a cherry orchard, of a peony
garden, or of the tomb of a couple of young lovers
who had ended a hopeless attachment by dying
together. There were probably also advertise-
ments of soaps and pills, but they happily were
not translated into English, so might, as far as I
knew, have been Buddhist texts or quotations
from the poets anent the beauty of the sur-
rounding landscape.
As the line circled round the base of the hills,
the sea and the low-lying rice-fields got cut off
from our view ; we were also rising considerably,
and on reaching Namaze, our last station, we
found ourselves in a beautiful valley. Rokkozan
dominated the mountains lying between us and
Kobe.
Here we engaged rickshaws, under the fond
delusion that we should get over the six or seven
miles still to be traversed rather faster ; but as
there was barely a level stretch of road the whole
way, we might have dispensed with these
carriages. There was a good deal of talk on the
part of the rickshaw-men before we started, and
from various signs I gathered that the one of our
friend of many inches wanted a second man to
help him up the steeper gradients. This was
agreed to, but as the sun got hotter and the
road steeper, the perspiring little kurumaya had
no heavier loads to draw up than our coats and
my few sketching materials.
It was a perfect day. A deep blue sky was
overhead, with sufficient clouds to cast fine
shadows on the hills. A mist hung about the
lower part of the valley, giving the hills an
appearance of height which in reality they do
not reach. Rokkozan had not yet lost its winter
covering of snow, and looked quite a respectable
mountain. The general aspect of the scenery
reminded me of some parts of the Pyrenees ; it
was in the detail where the difference lay : the
stone Buddha instead of the crucifix on the road-
side, thatched cottages instead of the grey slates,
toy-like water-mills with overshot wheel fed
through a long bamboo, the scarlet torii at the
foot of a flight of stone steps leading to a Shinto
KOBE 23
shrine hid in the clump of trees above, besides
plants, butterflies, and beetles such as I had
never seen in Europe.
These and many other things brought it home
to me how far I was from the South of France,
and yet farther from a little spot in Surrey of
which I hardly dared to think. That lump in
the throat which only the homesick know had
to be swallowed, for the best part of a year in
Japan still lay before me. On such a day as this
dismal thoughts are soon dispelled ; the more
rarefied air as we approached Arima, and the
delights of a country walk after the long con-
finement on ship -board, filled us with what the
French express so well, la joie de vivre.
The little town was much more picturesque
than I expected. Having heard it described as a
summer resort of the Kobe European residents,
I anticipated villas and hotels in keeping with
the plate-glass shop-fronts and counting-houses
of the settlement. There were villas and also
hotels, but they were all Japanese in outward
appearance.
A little country house built in the native style
can be run up at a quarter or less of the cost of
a European one of the same dimensions. This
24 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
has saved many a pretty place from being spoilt,
for a Brixton villa here would look as much out
of place as a Japanese uchi would look in
Brixton. The name of the inn to which we had
been recommended had slipped our memories,
and each rickshaw- man had a different one
which he declared was the best ; this, we
knew, meant where he would get the best com-
mission.
A quaint little landlady, with three giggling
daughters, welcomed us to her hostelry. " Euro-
pean food, no take off boots, speak Eengris." I
fancy that the young naval officer wished to hear
how much " Eengris " the prettiest of the three
daughters could speak ; we therefore decided to
lunch here. The landlady had about exhausted
her stock of English in her opening speech, and
the daughters we found, on further acquaintance,
could only giggle in that language. We followed
one of these " three little maids from school " up
a steep flight of stairs. The giggling developed
into a peal of laughter when the man of many
inches bumped his head against the ceiling. 1
had hardly finished laughing myself when my
cranium came in contact with something hard
overhead, and I did not think it at all funny ;
KOBE 25
our tall friend did, however. So much depends
on the point of view.
The room into which we were shown was that
of any Japanese yadoya, with matted floor,
paper slides, and shallow recess with the hanging
kakemono. A table and some chairs were the
only evidence of its being a foreign hotel. It
looked foreign enough to us, but not foreign in
the way our landlady intended it to look. As if
to prove what a European establishment it really
was, one of the little maids from school slid back
what we took for a wall, to allow us to admire
the bedroom beyond. An iron bedstead, about
half the length of our tall friend, stood here alone
on a large space of matting, with not a stick of
any other furniture to be seen. There was
something almost pathetic about this solitary
bedstead, and I was about to propose raising a
fund to allow us to add some article or other
just to keep it company, when a cackling and
fluttering of fowls diverted our attention.
Our lunch was apparently only being caught.
We none of us knew exactly how long it takes
to cook a fowl, but we agreed that it took an
appallingly long time. They hadn't even suc-
ceeded in catching the lunch, and it was only
26 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
when the three little maids joined forces that
they were able to drive one of the hens into an
outhouse, and the " cawk, cawk, cawk " which
followed revived our hopes.
To our surprise, lunch appeared within five
minutes, and though we had several dishes, there
was no fowl. Poached eggs formed a part of
the menu, and what connection there was
between these eggs and the disturbance in the
fowl-roost I was only to learn on another
occasion, when a hen-wife, being short of an egg,
assisted a dilatory hen in her " accouchement "
by a kind of massage.
This little inn seemed strange to me then,
but, compared with a genuine Japanese yadoya
where no foreigners are expected, it was ordinary
enough.
Now for the cherry-blossom, the chief object
of this long excursion.
With a good deal of difficulty we got the
landlady to understand for what I was searching,
and one of her three daughters was sent with us
as a guide. At every turning I hoped to see
" the dazzling mist of snowy blossoms clinging
like summer cloud-fleece about every branch and
twig," as Lafcadio Hearn so prettily expresses it.
KOBE 27
The first cherry-trees which we found were
already getting into leaf, and a sickening feeling
that I had reached Japan too late got hold
of me.
The little maid beckoned to us to come on,
and after walking round to the north side of a
little knoll, we saw, to our delight, two graceful
little trees still in full bloom. They stood near
the foot of a flight of stone steps leading to a
Shinto shrine partly hid in a grove of evergreens.
The pinky-white blossom differs from that of
the edible cherry at home, being double and very
much thicker, and forms a more solid mass of
colour and light against the darker background.
I soon got to work, for there were but two or
three more hours of daylight left. I bid farewell
to my two companions, who were anxious to get
back to Kobe before sundown.
I sketched away like one all possessed. It
was a delight to dip my brush into colour again.
The sight of the pigments put me in spirits. It
was like meeting old friends in a strange land.
The last time we had worked together they were
reproducing, as well as I could persuade them,
the barren cliffs which encircle Hatshepsu's
shrine at Thebes. With what a different task
28 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
they were to help me now ! Everything I saw
was waking up from its winter's sleep moss and
lichen vied with each other in covering the stone
balustrade and steps, which were the only things
which might have reminded me of the valley in
Upper Egypt I had so lately left.
The falling temperature as the afternoon
advanced accentuated the contrast, and obliged
me to content myself with a hasty record of
what is one of Japan's chief attractions. I had
intended working on till dark, and spending the
night on the iron bedstead in the little inn ; but it
got so cold that I decided to get back to Kobe by a
short-cut, and I engaged a rickshaw to take me
the whole way. I settled my little account with
the landlady. It was perhaps excessive for what
the guidebook terms a semi-foreign hotel, but,
considering the trouble they must have had to get
European food at this time of the year, I thought
they had earned their money. A little deference
is always agreeable, but when the hostess and her
three daughters knelt, and brought their heads
down to the matting, I felt it verged on the
idolatrous. How was I to return such a saluta-
tion ? Should I meet them half-way, and go down
on one knee ? I almost knew that excellent book
KOBE 29
of Professor Chamberlain's, " Things Japanese,"
by heart, but could not recall what the correct
thing would now be to do ; yet, whatever it was
I did, it seemed to satisfy them, for smiles lit up
their faces when they bid me Sayonara. It is
a pretty-sounding farewell, and most Japanese
women have pretty voices. The hostess spoilt
the effect by firing off her remaining English
sentence " Come back, come back !" which
reminded me of the noise a guinea-fowl makes.
The rickshaw-man evidently wanted to get
over the worst part of the run before darkness
set in. How he went down those steep hills and
turned sharp corners without the loss of a wheel
was a marvel. The most precipitous parts hap-
pened to be just at these turnings. I would grip
hold of the seat, determined that, if I were shot
over the edge of the road into the ravine below,
I would have the rickshaw with me so as to break
the fall. I was anxious at the start to get back
to the Kobe Hotel while there was still a chance
of getting some dinner ; now I was pretending
that there was not the least hurry ; but the more
1 pretended, the faster the little beggar ran. I
was alternately hot and cold at the dangerous
parts, and when these were past I felt nothing
30 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
but the increasing cold. I was thankful when a
slight uphill stretch of road gave me an excuse to
walk, and not being then in danger of life and
limb, I could admire the beautiful scenery.
Rokkozan still caught the light of the setting
sun, and the valley lay in a darkening shadow,
lightened here and there by the mist which hung
about the foot of the hills. Everything seemed
soaked in beautiful colour. Men and women
carrying huge bundles of brushwood and fodder
took fantastic shapes as they and their burdens
were outlined against the haze.
We passed through a long straggling village,
the houses thickly thatched, like those of some
hamlet in Dorsetshire ; below the eaves the simi-
larity ceased, for when the paper slides are closed,
and when they are lighted from within, they
resemble some queer-shaped Chinese lantern.
Shadows of people having their evening meal
fell black on the slides, and curious are the effects
one sees at lighting-up time in a Japanese village.
A figure seated at a certain angle from the lamp
may appear to have a nose a foot long, and to be
eating something twice as long as himself. A
seated black giant appears to be talking to a
woman not as big as his head, should she be
KOBE 31
sitting nearer the light. In warmer weather the
shoji are only closed when the bedding is spread
on the matting. The bath, the evening meal, and
family gathering all these take place in view of
the passer-by.
The remaining part of the ride was done in the
dark. A large paper lantern was hung from one
of the shafts of the rickshaw, and with this dim
light the little man ran me into Kobe. We had
come about fifteen miles in little over a couple
of hours. I gave him a trifle over the proper fare,
and expected to hear, as in Egypt, a clamouring
for more, but was agreeably disappointed a low
bow, a wave from his mushroom- shaped hat, and
I saw him no more.
CHAPTER 111
KOBE (continued}
comforts of a luxuriously fitted up
European hotel were very appreciable after
a tiring day and my cold ride. A hot bath, an
excellent dinner, and a roaring fire in an open
grate were certainly not things to grumble at ;
but I had hardly digested my dinner and got
thoroughly thawed when the feeling got hold
of me that it was not for this that I had come
so far. These were not the surroundings in
which I felt I could paint and write about Japan.
The people here were either tourists, who stayed
a couple of days at the most, and knew as little
about Japan as I did, or they were business men
from the settlement who took their meals here.
To get the latter to talk about things Japanese,
except to abuse them, seemed impossible. The
subject which I had seen the day before was the
only inducement to make me stay, and 1 decided
to move on to Kyoto as soon as I had finished a
32
KOBE 33
drawing of the patch of wistaria which came so
well with the stone torii of Ikuta temple.
I had heard of the inquisitiveness of the
Japanese, and had a good sample of it as soon as
I set up my easel. I chose an inconspicuous
place, and got my man to place the rickshaw so
as to hide me a little a vain precaution.
Someone sees you, must have a look at what
you are doing, can't make head nor tail of it,
beckons to a friend to enlighten him ; friend, not
quite sure, calls another friend, who thinks you
must be trying to draw so-and-so. As neither
of the three are quite sure, they decide to remain
till they have found out. Others come to see
what they are looking at. You are then fairly
well hidden, but not the onlookers, who serve as
call-birds. Your subject is soon completely
blocked out. You then place your started
sketch with its face to the wall, and possibly a
few take the hint and go. Others seem fascinated
with the back of the drawing, and can't take their
eyes off it. Not being able to work, you light a
cigarette ; the scratch of the match breaks the
fascination of the back of the drawing, and all
eyes are on your cigarette. The rickshaw-man,
whom you have engaged for the whole morning
3
34 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
in the hopes that he would keep off the people,
seems to be the only person who is not inquisitive,
for he is basking in the sun on the other side
of the square. Fortunately you are taller than
your crowd, so there is hope that your signals of
distress may be seen by the rickshaw-man. Crowd
is then intently interested in the signals, has
evidently never seen that class of signal before.
When you succeed in catching your man's eye,
he will run across, make his bow, and want to
know what his honourable fare may deign to
order him. You gradually make him understand
that you want to see the object you are painting,
and that you can't see through people four rows
deep. He will then bow to these gaping loafers,
and with a smile that he can wear for half an
hour at a time he will ask them to condescend
to stand aside. Those who feel that they have
stared as long as they wish move off, while the
others, who want to see me at work, take up
positions on each side.
The sun, which gave the chief charm to the
subject, now feels it is his turn to annoy, though
you may have started work under a cloudless
sky he has called up a great cumulus to block
out his rays for the rest of the morning.
KOBE 35
When your effect is what you want, and you
have decided how you will treat it, your work
soon absorbs all your attention, and as long as
no one stands in your light you may be un-
conscious of the starers on each side of you ; but,
should your effect change, and you are con-
sequently in doubt how to proceed, all the
philosophy you may bring to bear will not allay
the sense of irritation these onlookers cause.
I have done street-painting in many different
countries, and some of these annoyances are
common to all. The Japanese are not intention-
ally rude, for when they are asked to stand
aside they always do so. Inquisitiveness pushed
to this extreme is not, I believe, considered bad
manners. Professor Chamberlain calls it "a
kindly interest." The horse-play of the yahoos,
who usually hang about any centre, is absent
here, except on some special holiday, when sake
has been freely indulged in. The silence of my
spectators also struck me. People here, if they
are not acquainted, do not get into conversation
with each other as readily as in Continental
Europe. A student who can speak a few words
of English may air it with a foreigner, and ply
him with a hundred questions, but he will sit
36 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
silent next to one of his compatriots during a
whole journey, unless there be some very valid
reason for speaking. The stupid inquisitiveness
of the lower orders becomes a thirst for know-
ledge amongst the student class, and questioning
may take the place of staring.
The impressionistic sketch I had intended
making did not come off. The subject lost so
much without the sunlight that I had done little
more than draw it in, hoping for better luck the
next morning.
At lunch (which, by the way, we will call
" tiffin " in future, for I have heard it called by
no other name this side of Ceylon) I heard that
a private garden was thrown open to the public,
to allow it to inspect the peonies. Now I was
nearly as anxious to get a drawing of peonies as
I was of the cherry-blossom, so I was again soon
seated behind my rickshaw-man, " No 5."
The garden lay on the further side of Hyogo,
the older town which joins Kobe. After crossing
the foreign settlement we got into the native
part of Kobe, which is much larger than I had
anticipated. The change is sudden and striking.
In less than a couple of hundred yards we
have been carried from the West to the Far
AX A/ALKA CARDKX
KOBE 37
East. Some European goods may be displayed
in a shop, but do not appear more incongruous
than do Japaneseries seen in a shop-window in
England. The shop itself is not European, and
the sewing-machines or phonographs seem to
lose their Western obtrusiveness in their Oriental
setting. Telegraph-poles are in such quantities
that it seems as if they must have originated in
this country, with climate and soil favourable to
their growth.
We cross the Ai-oi Bridge, have a glance
down the canal, packed with unpainted junks,
and are in Hyogo. My rickshaw-man trots on,
giving his face and neck an occasional mop with
a little blue towel. He pulls off his coat and
throws it over one of the shafts without stopping,
calls out " Hi !" when he is uncomfortably near
bowling over an old woman or crushing an
infant. No one seems to mind his speed, and
when he nearly collides with another rickshaw at
a crossing, he will draw up sharp, smile at the
other man, and trot on. Though we are in the
main street of Hyogo, I hardly see a house of
more than one story above the ground floor, and
not even many as high as that. Fish-shops
abound, as everywhere in Japan. The board with
38 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
the name of the proprietor and his calling seems
out of all proportion to the importance of his
establishment, like the large flowing signatures
seen on the cheap water-colour drawings in
Venice. The picturesque Chinese characters,
swept on with a full brush, are such a feature
that one readily pardons this little bit of vanity.
On leaving the town there is no need to ask where
the garden of Sugimoto is, for other rickshaws
and groups of pedestrians are wending their way
to a villa crowning a low-lying hill a little way
off. On reaching the entrance, I see so many
people that I feel that my chances of being able
to work there are small. I leave my traps in
the rickshaw and enter.
A winding path through evergreens leads to
higher and more level ground. Notices are
posted up at most of the turnings, but, as I
cannot read them, I follow a group of holiday-
makers. I see them stop at the top of the path,
and an " Ooh !" from the men and " Kirei, kirei !"
from the women make me hurry to catcli them up.
It was a wonderful sight I saw white, yellow,
terra-cotta, and pink-coloured azaleas in wild
luxuriance fringed a small serpentine lake. Stone
lanterns, miniature bridges, and a pagoda are all
KOBE 39
carefully placed where they best suit the
composition, and wandering about in paths,
partly hid by the flowering shrubs, are women
and children in various coloured kimonos, and
carrying their quaint little umbrellas. One or
two stood on a bridge and were throwing crumbs
to the goldfish, and a spray of golden azaleas
stood out against the purple reflection of the
women's garments. Large mossy stones made
little islands and resting-places for the water-fowl.
Had the Princess now taken her seat on the
bridge, and the Prince disclosed himself from
amongst the azalea-bushes, and had the fairy,
with an electric light for a star, risen from the
water to bless the young couple before the
curtain was rung down, I should have felt 110
surprise. For the time being 1 forgot of what
I was in search, and seemed to be taking part
in a pantomime with a willow-pattern kind of
transformation-scene. I wish I had forgotten
the peonies altogether that afternoon, and had
been able to give myself up entirely to the
enjoyment of this novel garden-party.
People came flocking in, and as the paths were
narrow, I had to follow the crowd. To sit down
and paint was out of the question. 1 wandered
along winding paths, crossed and recrossed little
bridges, got into a maze of azalea-bushes, and
then became aware that I was alone. A notice
I had seen must have been to say that the public
were not admitted here, but as all notices looked
to me like labels on packets of China tea, I had
disregarded it. A gardener appeared, presumably
to turn me out, and I wondered how Japanese
gardeners usually treat trespassers. With a
smile he beckoned me to follow him, and he
took me up to the house. Three figures seated
in a room opening on to the garden soon
riveted my attention. They were clad in
armour, and their faces were hid by grinning
iron masks. Was I to be tried by these queer-
looking customers ? Is boiling oil meted out
to a trespasser, or is he allowed to perform
harakiri ? I contemplated a bolt, getting through
the maze by clearing the azalea -bushes, and
making a bee-line for where I thought my
rickshaw was. I had one more look before
taking so extreme a measure, and I then
perceived that my three inquisitors were no
more alarming than three dummies at Madame
Tussaud's.
The gardener said something with Sugamoto
KOBE 41
in it, from which I gathered that it was the
armour worn by the Samurai forbears of that
gentleman.
We skirted round the house, and got into
the grounds of a little Buddhist temple. My
conductor made a bow to a priest who was
there, and pointed to me. Taking this for a
kind of an introduction, I saluted the priest,
and said that I was sorry I could not speak
his language. I found, to my surprise, that he
could speak a little of mine. He gave me some
information about the temple, and showed me
some parts of the grounds 1 had not seen ; told
me that I was welcome to paint there as much
as I liked, but that I could not paint peonies,
as there were none. I bid farewell to the kindly
priest, was taken a short-cut towards the entrance
where " No. 5 " awaited me, and I offered the
gardener a gratuity which he would not take,
though acknowledging my good intentions and
thanking me profusely.
After being so long in the land of " baksheesh,"
I was a good deal surprised at this latter incident,
and mentioned it to the manager of the hotel.
I had offered this man what would be at least
a day's wage, but I was told that in a case like
42 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
that it would have reflected on his master's
hospitality had any of his dependents taken
money from any of the visitors.
I was more fortunate the following day with
my work. " No. 5 " was properly instructed what
to do, and he somehow managed to keep the
crowd from blocking out my view. Encouraged
by this, I started a second drawing, in the after-
noon, of a Shinto shrine, which was decked out
with lanterns and flags for its annual festival.
It was a modest little temple, but, backed up
and partly hid by the trees, it made a charming
setting for its temporary adornments and for the
people who came to visit it. The subject was so
full of colour, and it looked so typically Japanese,
that I could not resist it, even though it delayed
my getting to Kyoto. I felt a little uncertain
as to whether I should be allowed to set up
my easel in the sacred precincts, remembering
the difficulties I had gone through in Moham-
medan countries. No one, however, seemed to
object, and I was evidently looked on as a kind
of side-show to the main performance.
" No. 5 " had his work cut out this time, till a
sudden inspiration made his job a sinecure and
my work a possibility.
KOBE 43
He procured a few yards of string, and tied
one end to a balustrade near me, and the other
end to a tree, and, though a child could have
snapped this string, it was enough to keep the
people at a respectful distance. Seats were
reserved on the balustrade by small boys, and
every point of vantage had its spectator, but no
one ventured within the little space that " No. 5 "
had roped off. The goddess Inari, in whose
honour the shrine was erected, may have felt
jealous, but I can assure her that I did not wish
to share the attention of her devotees. She is
the goddess of rice, and a very popular goddess
she is. One meets her shrine everywhere, and
it is always recognizable by the images of foxes,
who serve as her messengers.
The Shinto priest and those that serve him
alone enter the shrine ; the worshippers stand
outside, and, in the case of most, the devotions
consist of little more than rattling a rope against
a brass gong which hangs from the lintel over
the entrance, the clapping of hands four times,
and the throwing of a copper coin into a huge
open coffer for its reception. Occasionally I saw
someone kneeling or standing in a devotional
attitude, but only for a minute or two, and then
44 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
he or she would proceed to inspect the little
stalls of sweets and toys that generally line each
side of the temple-approach when a festival is
on. These little shops, rigged up with bamboo
poles and matting, backed up with great stone
lanterns and the pines, the quaint-looking wares
and the groups of women and children in their
holiday kimonos, make a pretty picture. But I
felt sure that this and much more were to be
found at Kyoto. Hearing at the hotel that
there was to be the annual historical procession
to Shimogamo at Kyoto the next morning, I
packed up my traps at once, caught an early
train the following day, and by 10 a.m. I found
myself in Japan's ancient capital.
CHAPTER IV
KYOTO
O1OME forty minutes in a rickshaw took me
^ from the station up to the Yaami Hotel.
We passed through an interminable number of
streets, all similar in character to those I had
seen at Hyogo and Shimonoseki rows of low,
chimneyless houses, wooden-framed, with grey-
tiled roofs shops of sorts, all of them and the
monotony broken here and there by the approach
of a temple or shrine. It was only when we
crossed the Kamogawa, the river which divides
Kyoto into two unequal parts, that I was able
to realize that I was in a great city. A long
stretch of water, spanned by a number of wooden
bridges, leads the eye through a maze of wooden
structures far away to the densely-wooded hills
which form an amphitheatre around three parts
of the town. Seen in great masses, this un-
painted woodwork has a ramshackly appearance,
picturesque in its way, but with none of that
45
46 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
look of solid durability we associate with an old
and stately capital. Its chief beauties are not to
be found in the habitations of men, but in those of
the gods they worship, and in the sacred groves
which surround them.
Crossing the bridge, we dived into another
series of narrow, unostentatious streets, till we
reached the precincts of Gion Temple. Between
the giant stems of the cryptomerias and ever-
green oaks, I caught glimpses of scarlet pillars,
queer-looking gods, and huge stone lanterns.
The stone steps prevented the rickshaw from
taking the avenue which leads through this
enclosure, and we had to tramp up the steepish
road which skirts round a part of it. These
glimpses of things beautiful and quaint excited
my curiosity enormously. I felt as one en-
hungered and fed with an occasional lollipop.
Plenty of time lay before me, and I consoled
myself that I should be able to satisfy my
appetite to the full. The great procession and
religious dance, which I had for the moment
forgotten was I not to see that, as soon as the
commonplace business of engaging a room at the
hotel was over ?
At the top of Maruyama Park, in which we
KYOTO 47
now were, stood the Yaami. I engaged a room,
and told someone who could speak a little
English to direct the rickshaw-man to the
Shimogamo Temple. Sho was the name of the
little creature, with the form of a man and the
attributes of a pony, who so far had not spoken
a word except the " Hi !" to help to stave off a
collision. " Shimogamo tempre one hour," he
now said, mopping his forehead in anticipation of
a run in the sun. " I see you speak English," I
said, feeling a certain protection which the sense
of being able to make your wants known gives.
" I shpeak rittre Eengris," was the proud answer,
accompanied by the jerky bow, and a smile which
I should have got to miss by now had he
forgotten it.
There was no time for further conversation.
The man in Sho was now lost in the pony. The
strides he took going downhill seemed quite out
of proportion to the length of his legs. We spun
down the road which skirts the Gion Temple
enclosure ; the glimpses of the carven images and
stone lanterns shot past us, and I saw them as a
demon motorist sees the charms of an English
o
country village. Sho partly disrobed, and Sho
mopped his brow, but Sho never relaxed his speed.
48 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
We dived into more narrow streets, recrossed the
river, and sped along the quay for a mile or more.
It was at first exhilarating, and I felt like the
live portion of a fire-brigade, and that I should
have been yelling to clear the traffic, but after a
while some of that feeling got hold of me of
being thought an " 'Arry " by the pedestrians, and
awakened painful memories of sitting behind an
enthusiastic motorist, and watching the trail of
dust behind me greying trim lawns and entering >
the open casements of neat little roadside villas. .?
We were evidently nearirig the festivities, fort
the groups of people walking our way thickened^ >l
I called out to Sho to go slower, when he stopped^
short, and I was nearly shot out over his heao
Sho could " shpeak a rittre Eengris," but it was
very little he could understand. That anyone?
should wish to go slowly when he could gar
quickly for the same money was more than hi^;
pony-like brain could take in. He left me in hisri
rickshaw in the middle of the quay, and lookedo
into one or two of the shops which faced the*
river. Was he seeking an interpreter? No, foro
he asked no questions. I had not asked foro
clogs, so why did he pry about that get a shop ? '
I had not mentioned seaweed, dried octopus, or
KYOTO 49
any of the delicacies in the next shop which fixed
his attention. Japanese umbrellas, paper lanterns,
birdcages, and fans were displayed in the adjoin-
ing establishment. That's it ; he must have
noticed that I hadn't a fan ! I looked around
me, and saw that all had fans except myself and
some of the women. I don't like to be thought
effeminate, so I decided to have one. He has
made up his mind now which colour will suit my
complexion best. He slips into the passage,
atches hold of a long ladle hanging on the side
a tub, dips it in, and takes a drink. He
ives the shop without as much as making an
^er for a fan, starts his smile, makes his bow,
1 gets between the shafts.
It was about time, for I was baking in the sun,
xile Sho was merely taking a rest and quench-
g his thirst. He must have understood me,
?ter all, for his speed now was about as ex-
ilarating as that of a funeral procession. The
ne hour he had said at the start was now up,
_nd a distant bridge that a dense crowd was
.rossing showed that we were still a good way
jff what I had come to see. I pointed this out
to Sho, and he started at a trot again till the
thickening crowd of pedestrians made anything
50 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
but a walking pace impossible. Shimogamo is
approached in the shade of a grand avenue of
trees. Stalls, with sweets, toys, fans, and
mementoes of the festival, had been rigged up at
intervals. As we got nearer the temple we
found the two sides of the road roped off, and a
dense crowd were awaiting the procession. A
fee of ten sen had kept most of the people out of
the precincts. At the entrance to the latter I left
Sho, took a ticket, and went in. The chief hotels
had got platforms with seats, and I had hardly
squeezed myself into one of these when the
performance began.
I gathered that it was the kagura dance,
though it was hard to imagine anything less like
what the word dance conveys to our mind. It
was more a religious drama acted in dumb-show.
What it all meant is only known to the initiated.
The music which occasionally accompanied the
acting was as strange and weird as the spectacle.
But for the Europeans and Americans who were
sitting near me, I might have imagined myself
assisting at some great function in the planet
Mars.
As a mass of colour the sight was dazzling.
The temple buildings, which surround three sides
KYOTO 51
of a vast enclosure, had been lately restored, and
time had done nothing to dim the brilliance of
the scarlet and gold which covers the mass of
woodwork. On our left dark green cryptomerias,
ilexes and deciduous trees, then in their spring
foliage, rose up above the roofs, and cast deep
purple shadows on the lead-coloured tiles. On
turning our backs to the sun, all save the warm
shadows in the colonnades was light against the
deep blue sky.
Such a gorgeous setting might easily have
dimmed the bright attire of the performers, but
the various textures of the material, the beautiful
designs, and here and there a judicious use of
black, would have made them hold their own had
they been simply posing as a tableau vivant. An
occasional strain of music from queer-shaped
wind instruments made the silence of the
performance all the more impressive.
From various parts of the enclosure the actors
moved slowly towards the kagura stage, which is
a feature in most Shinto temples. The musicians
and the men in armour formed groups around
this, while about eight of the company ascended
the steps to the platform. They were all men,
and as far as I can remember, no women took
52 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
part in the spectacle. Their silk robes trailed
several feet behind them. Special care had been
taken that the costumes should make a rich and
harmonious mass of colour. As they moved
from one posture to another, crossed and re-
crossed, every conceivable combination of colour
presented itself, and the quantities of each hue
were so adjusted that a discordant note was
never struck.
The semi-religious, semi-historical significance
of the various actions of the performers was lost
on the foreign spectators who sat around me, as
well as on myself; one by one they quietly
slipped off, and when, finally, the actors descended
from the stage. I found myself alone in my little
auditorium. My watch told me that it was long
past the luncheon hour, and I had seen so much
to interest and to excite that it now seemed a
week since the hasty breakfast I had made at
six o'clock at the Kobe Hotel. I soon found
Sho, made no attempt this time to relax his
speed, and reached the Yaami Hotel while there
was yet time to get something to eat.
I could not get to work that day, so decided to
see all I could before getting into harness again.
A deep, sonorous "boom," that seemed to
KYOTO 53
come from the bowels of the earth, now startled
any decision I had come to out of me. The
slow vibrations shook the hotel, and had scarcely
died away when the sound repeated itself. I
had read of the great bell at Chion-in, and was
aware that the temple is not far from the Yaami ;
but the bell I heard must surely be kept in the
hotel cellar. I strolled round the veranda, and
saw, some two or three hundred yards before
me, the huge roof of this Buddhist shrine, backed
up and partly hid by a fine mass of foliage.
Gion must wait ; Chion-in was my nearest
neighbour, and should have the first visit. Sho
hung about the hotel entrance ; he ran for his
conveyance, and I waved him off rickshaws were
no use to mount a great flight of stone steps.
However, if he chose to follow me, that was his
lookout.
After ascending the stone steps we reached a
grove of evergreens, and advancing through this,
we soon arrived at a clearance, where an open
wooden structure stood with a tiled roof. From
the central beam hung the great bell that had
startled me some ten minutes previously. A
beam hanging horizontally from the roof is used
as a battering-ram ; two men swing this back-
54 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
wards and forwards till it has gained sufficient
impetus, and then they let it crash against the
mass of metal. Where the ram's head is usually
depicted I noticed a bronze chrysanthemum.
Referring to Murray, you will find that it is one
of the four largest bells in Japan, weighs nearly
74 tons, is 10 feet 8 inches in height, and 9 feet
in diameter.
As the crow flies, the bell hangs little more
than 100 yards from my bedroom, and, impressive
as its voice is, I hoped that it took a thorough
rest during the hours of the night.
From the bell-tower a long flight of steps leads
down to the temple enclosure. We look down on
the honden or main shrine, also on the massive
gateway, and to our right we see a part of the
library and the palace. The spaces between these
structures are decorated with stone and bronze
lanterns and lotus-shaped water - basins. An
avenue of cherry-trees connects the gateway with
the different buildings.
The huge honden was closed for repairs,
but the Shuei-dd was open to visitors. Here
we take off our boots, and are led by a priest
through a matted corridor into a superbly
beautiful chapel.
KYOTO 55
Two altars stand here, with images of Amida
and Kwannon ; one the work of the famous
sculptor Eshin, who dates from the tenth century.
It was not these which so much impressed me as
the effect of colour of the whole interior. The
warm light as it passes through the shoji is
reflected on black and gold lacquer. The
ornamentation is simple, so as not to detract
from the gilt and bronze images, which are the
chief feature, yet it is sufficiently rich to make a
proper setting for these works of art. The detail
has escaped me. The subdued harmony will
long outlive in my memory the blaze of colour
I had witnessed in the morning.
My cabin companion, the man of many inches,
walked in while I was there. We greeted
each other in whispers. He seemed equally
impressed with the awe and beauty of the place.
We silently followed the benevolent-looking priest
through some passages which led into the palace.
The apartments were built by lemitsu early in
the seventeenth century, and are chiefly inter-
esting for the number of paintings of the Kano
school. The easel picture, as we understand it,
does not exist here, The artist was evidently
responsible for the whole decoration of the room,
56 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
though his chief work is on the sliding-screens
which separate one apartment from another.
Cranes and pine-trees form the motive of two
rooms, the bamboo and plum-tree that of another.
The outlines, which are realistic, are boldly swept
in, but the tones are kept flat and decoratively con-
ventional. Some are still in good preservation,
but the celebrated sparrows by Nobumassa are
almost gone. The guide will tell you that they
were so lifelike that they flew away. The same
artist's chrysanthemums, which form the decora-
tion of another room, have fortunately not faded,
nor have they been picked.
While passing from room to room we caught
glimpses of a lovely garden surrounding two
sides of the palace. It composed so well from
one point of view that I forgot my fatigue and
wanted to paint it at once. The priest kindly
said I might do so, and as there were still a
couple hours of daylight, I sent Sho back to the
hotel to get my materials.
Here was an ideal Japanese garden, and no
crowd to bother me while at work. The early
azaleas were nearly over, but there were still
enough to show what they had been. This
immediate hurry to get at them may surprise
KYOTO 57
the reader. But I had come to Japan to illustrate
a book on Japanese gardens as well as this one.
The azalea, peony, and wistaria follow so quickly
on the cherry that there is hardly breathing-
space between them. Except when the azaleas
are in bloom, the Japanese garden proper is a
flowerless one. Mixed flower - borders and
bedding-out plants are rarely seen. The chry-
santhemums and peonies are grown in places set
apart for them, and the trailing wistaria is mostly
found in tea-gardens or occasionally in a public
park. Much as the Japanese delight in flowers,
they do not have a profusion around their homes
as we do in Europe, but they will make excursions
to see their favourites in some place set aside and
noted for them. Now, in this particular instance,
when the azaleas are over, the bushes will be
trimmed into shapes, and a varied mass of greenery
will be the outlook from the palace rooms for
the rest of the year. A few branches of maple
may, in autumn, give a touch of crimson, but
care would be taken not to have enough
deciduous trees to interfere with the growth of
the evergreens. As this subject will be fully
treated in another book, I must not encroach
further on it here.
CHAPTER V
KYOTO ( continued )
finHE modest hotel where I had now taken up
-*- my quarters suited me exactly. It stood on
high ground, and commanded a fine view of the
city to the west, while to the north and south,
on the slopes of the range of hills behind it, were
a series of temples with beautifully laid out
grounds and magnificent trees. The food and
furniture were European, but the house and
surroundings were Japanese. Knowing nothing
of the language, I did not yet venture on
a purely Japanese inn, while here sufficient
English was spoken to enable me to make my
wants known.
During the two and a half months I stayed
here I was mostly at work on gardens and
flowering shrubs generally. I soon made the
acquaintance of one or two Japanese, and got
introductions to the owners of the best gardens.
I was received everywhere with the greatest
58
KYOTO 59
courtesy. In one instance, where I had to go
a long distance, I used to take my lunch with
me, but each time at midday fruit and eggs and
tea were brought out to the little summer-house
near which I was at work.
Sho had a great time could sleep nearly all
the day, and could gobble up all my superfluous
lunch during his waking hours.
The rainy season, which begins early in June
and lasts about six weeks, did not interfere with
my work as much as I feared it would. The
gardens are so arranged that the best views are
generally obtained from the house or from some
structure where I could sit in shelter.
I made the acquaintance of a Japanese artist
here of considerable repute Mr. Kanocogni.
He had studied three years in Paris, and spoke
French very well. I saw a good deal of him,
and he put me in the way of seeing things which
a European visitor would rarely have a chance
of seeing.
The painters in Japan are divided into two
classes those practising the modern art of
Europe, and those who still cling to the tradi-
tions of the Japanese schools. The work of
the latter naturally interested me the most, for,
60 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
though some of the work of the former is very
good, still, I have seen better at home.
Mr. Kanocogni is the painting professor at the
Kyoto University, and he asked if he could bring
some of his pupils to see my water-colours.
They were as interested in seeing how I treated
the subjects familiar to them as we should be
to see how a Japanese artist would treat English
ones. The show pupil, Shiba by name, had been
asked to bring a portfolio of his studies with him.
Though the youth's ambition was to go to Europe
and study there, I was glad to see that he was
learning to draw as only Japanese can. The
rapid sketches of people in action, of birds, trees,
and bits of landscape, were done in a suggestive
outline with the long brush and Indian ink which
takes the place of the pen in this country. They
were very good, and showed how the essentials
only had caught his attention.
I did not like to advise him to go to Paris.
He had the beginnings of an art which is de-
lightful, and suitable to adorn the dwelling-
places here, whereas to paint second-rate Salon
pictures, looking quite out of place in a Japanese
room, seemed a very doubtful acquirement.
One can understand that, in a country which
KYOTO 61
is waking up to Western civilization, the artists
will not rest content to follow on in the old
traditions. They are justly proud of their native
art, but they feel that is less complete than that
of Europe, with its fuller knowledge of light and
shade and perspective. They are, however, such
an artistic people that it would not be surprising
if they get beyond the second-rate, and produce
modern pictures which could hold their own
either in Paris or anywhere else. Unless they
have some private means, I don't see how they
are to live in the meantime. The art patron
here would never hang an oil-painting with its
heavy framing on one of his wooden partitions,
and the way the last big earthquake tumbled
about the solidly-built houses does not encourage
him to adopt Western domestic architecture.
Some artists are compromising, but so far it is
not entirely satisfactory.
Mr. Kanocogni, who dined with me that even-
ing, asked me if I would care to dine a la
Japanaise with him a day or two later. I was
delighted, not only to have his company, but
to see how native fare agreed with me, as I hoped
to be able to stay in purely Japanese inns after
leaving my present one. He was not very
62 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
encouraging as to this, for he told me that he
had lately dined a Portuguese acquaintance of
his, and that his guest was ill the next day.
When he got over his indisposition, he in his
turn dined his host and his wife at the European
hotel, and the lady was equally upset by the
Western food.
The European had had his revenge, and
Kanocogni, who had suffered vicariously, thought
it rather funny.
At the appointed time my friend called for
me, and, to my disappointment, took me to a
restaurant. I had hoped that I was going to
dine en famillc and in company with his pretty
wife. It appears that this is not usually the
custom, and that dinners are nearly always given
in a public dining -place. Often geishas are
called in to sing and dance to the guests, and
it has this inconvenience that, unless your host
happens to be a rich man, you are putting him
to considerable expense. It was understood this
time that there were to be no geishas.
The restaurant was close by, at the top of
Maruyama Park. As we were expected, the
landlady and waitresses were at the door to
receive us, and made their profound bows while
KYOTO 63
we took off our boots. We were led into a large
room overlooking the park and city beyond, and
when we had decided where to squat, screens
were slid in the grooves, so as to enclose us in
a compartment of about eight mats. Each set
of diners likes to have a compartment to itself.
A low table, not a foot high, and a couple of
cushions was all the furniture, except a vase with
a spray of blossom in the takemona, or slightly-
raised recess, without which no Japanese room is
complete. The guest is always seated nearest to
this recess, which is considered the place of honour.
While waiting for the first course, I noticed
yet another piece of furniture, and that was a
large text painted in bold Chinese characters and
hung above the sliding-screens opposite to me.
Asking what it meant, I was told that each room
had a name, and the title of this one read, " The
room where the cool breezes blow."
There is many a true word spoken in jest, for
I found it decidedly draughty, and proposed our
closing the paper slides. We shut out a beautiful
view lit by the last rays of the setting sun, but it
was preferable to a possible stiff neck.
A pretty young girl now entered ; she was
the nesan, or waitress. She is a more important
personage at a Japanese dinner than the servant
in Europe who merely hands you the dishes, and
has often other tables to wait on as well as your
own. The nesan squats at your table during the
whole of the dinner ; she joins in the conversa-
tion, pours out the sake, fans the guests in hot
weather, or attends to the kibac/ii or charcoal
brazier during the cold. In this particular case
1 found her a useful instructress in the difficulties
of handling the chopsticks.
I pointed out to my host that we had been
favoured with the prettiest nesan of those we
saw on our entry to the hotel. " She is the
daughter of the landlord," my friend answered,
"and I always ask for her when I dine here."
I asked how his wife approved of this, and of his
dining out so often. The idea of wives dis-
approving, or anyhow giving expression to their
disapprobation, had evidently not entered his
mind.
By way of opening the conversation, you ask
the young lady her name. " You of name as
for, what that say ?" would be the literal
translation of your question. This one answers,
" Take," with an apologetic smile for having
so ordinary a one. Take means bamboo, and
KYOTO 65
Miss Bamboo, or Take San, now fills two little
cups with green tea, and places some sweets on
an eight-inch table for her honourable guests.
"What is your age, Take San?" quite the
correct thing to ask a lady in Japan. And Take
asks you to guess, and, having guessed seventeen,
Take smiles and bows, and says, " Arigato."
You wonder why she says " Thank you." She
answers that she is already nineteen, and the
thanks are for the compliment of having given
her the benefit of two years.
Having sipped a thimbleful of the tea, and
leaving the sweets, this hors-d'oeuvre is removed,
and Miss Bamboo runs to the paper slides and
calls out for the next course. A second waitress
now brings in a number of steaming red lacquer
bowls on a lacquer tray, and Take places the
bowls on the eight-inch table and hands us both
a pair of chopsticks. The latter are cut out of
a single piece of wood, and are still sticking
together at one end. My friend splits his apart,
and, while I do the same, he explains that the
tw r o pieces not having been separated insures
their never having been used before.
A sensation of pins and needles in my legs
compels me to change my position. One of
5
66 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
them has got so stiff that I can hardly unbend it.
I can sit on my heels no longer, and Take
considers how she can make my position more
comfortable. She fetches a hijitsuki, a kind of
rest to put under an elbow, and she places two
more cushions on the one I had been using.
I can now recline like a Roman Emperor at a
feast, and am sitting nearly on a level with the
eight-inch table.
The covers are now taken off the lacquer
bowls, and Take fills two little cups with warm
sakd a mild spirit, tasting somewhat like sherry
and water. When anything is drunk at a meal,
it is always at the beginning, and not at the end.
We empty the little cups, and my friend plunges
his into a bowl of water and then hands it to
Take. She receives it as a special mark of
consideration, and holds it out while my friend
pours in a few drops. Having drank this, and
made an appropriate little speech, she dips the
cup in the water and returns it.
I wish to know on what dish I am to begin,
as I see that my host does not eat until I do.
He recommended me to taste them all, and
leave what I did not like.
I begin on one which corresponds most to a
KYOTO 67
soup, and is called owan ; it is a broth, with fish
and mushrooms. I try to catch hold of a piece
of fish with my chopsticks. I raise it up a
certain height, and one of the sticks slips, and
" splosh " goes the fish into its element.
Miss Bamboo is immensely tickled, and takes
a paper napkin from a fold in her obi and gives
the table a wipe. She holds a pair of chopsticks
in her fingers, to show me how it is done. To
encourage her in the lesson I am to have, I
plunge my sake cup into the bowl of water and
hand it to her ; I pour in a few drops of sake,
which she makes a pretence of drinking, and
with a little speech she returns me the cup after
rinsing it in the water.
As a mother teaches her child to hold a
pen-holder, so Take San places the sticks between
my fingers ; she instructs me how to keep one
rigid while the other does most of the work.
I have another try raise the bit of fish higher
this time, and drop it in my lap. Take is aware
that she may laugh to her heart's content without
giving offence, and gives full play to her hilarity.
Tears flow from her eyes, which are now two
oblique slits. She unsplits a subsidiary pair of
chopsticks, and makes a dart at the fish in my
68 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
lap, and feeds me as a blackbird does its young
with a worm.
The liquid broth is easily managed, as the
bowl can be raised and drunk like a cup of tea,
and the mushrooms are floated in with it.
The next bowl contained tamago yaki, which
is a mixture of egg and curded beans. It is
very good and easy to take, as it will float into
the mouth with a very little coaxing with the
chopsticks.
Now why has Take started laughing again ?
and even my host cannot repress his merriment.
My moustache was likened to the pine-tree, with
its winter covering of snow.
I felt for my napkin, forgetting that we had
none, and was just getting out my handkerchief,
when Take produced a paper one from under
her obi.
I succeeded a little better with a third bowl,
and managed to secure a small octopus and some
bamboo-shoots, which I ate regardless of night-
mares and other forms of indigestion. I felt I
was getting on, and the nesan gave an encourag-
ing smile. She then trotted up to the slides and
called out for the next course.
The first was several courses rolled into one,
KYOTO 69
but as the bowls are small and the contents very
liquid, I felt I could do with another. This was
a more solid one, a goodly-sized goldfish a
severe exercise for a beginner in chopsticks.
I watched my friend dig pieces out of his and
convey them to his mouth, and I waited to see
if he would choke ; but never a fish-bone left
his dish. I dug the hachi into mine, and the
movable stick, which I looked on as the treble,
slipped, leaving the bass one sticking in the side
of the fish like a large harpoon in a very small
whale.
When I recovered the chopsticks, I couldn't
get pieces out of the fish without its slipping
about and nearly leaving the little dish it was in.
Miss Bamboo came to the rescue, and pinned
the goldfish firmly down with her auxiliary pair,
while 1 grubbed some pieces out of its side. It
was in a cat-like fashion that I finished that fish.
Were not fingers made before chopsticks ?
Take San now calls for gokan. I wonder
what go/tan may be, and if it is very difficult
to eat.
A maid brings up a little wooden bucket and
places it on the matting near our table. Take
takes off the cover, and I see a steaming mass of
70 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
boiled rice with a wooden spud sticking in it.
She flops a spudful of rice into two china bowls
this time, and passes them to us. So far the
dishes, with the exception of the goldfish, had
been Lilliputian, but the helping of rice was fit
for a Gulliver.
I was wondering how much of it I could leave
for manners, and the thought had hardly entered
my mind when my friend passed up his bowl to
be refilled. Take flops in another lot as skilfully
as a mason will flop a trowelful of mortar on to
a brick, and with equal skill my friend conveys
the contents to his mouth.
Such dexterity in the use of chopsticks fills me
with envy. With the rice ends the meal. A
little tea is often taken in the last bowlful, and
more cups of tea are taken while the little pipe is
being smoked.
I was quite satisfied that I should be able to
live on Japanese fare. The dishes were very
good, and I felt no premonitions that I should
be ill the next day as the Portuguese artist had
been ; nor did I despair of overcoming the chop-
stick difficulties.
I have dwelt rather a long while on this meal,
as nothing, so far, seemed to have taken me
KYOTO 71
further from accustomed surroundings nearer
home. Sight-seeing is so much a part of travel
that most people, if they have not actually seen
the different things which each country has of
interest, they have at least heard of them or
seen them reproduced in some form of illustra-
tion. Let us take Venice as an example.
Overawed with the beauty of St. Mark's, and
fascinated with the charm of gliding along the
canals in a gondola, you see now face to face
what you feel you have seen before dimly, as in
a looking-glass ; but put up at an Italian tratoria,
instead of at the cosmopolitan hotel the tourist
usually frequents, and then see how you are
mentally transplanted into a different world.
The most interesting thing in each country is,
after all, its people, and to get some insight into
their characteristics it is necessary to live
amongst them, and, if time permits, to learn their
language.
I had too much work to do during my stay
here to devote much time to the study of
Japanese. I decided, therefore, that the next
best thing would be to look about for an
intelligent guide, and, if found, to get clear away
from everything savouring of the West.
72 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
The professional guide is easily obtained, but
as they are, presumably, here, as elsewhere, what
is vulgarly termed "on the make," I felt that
I should as soon tire of him as he would of me.
I asked Mr. Kanocogni if he did not possibly
know of some young artist who spoke English
or French, and would act as guide, philosopher
and friend, and he promised to see if he could
find what I wanted. The man he eventually
got, and how we fared together, will be described
later on.
CHAPTER VI
KYOTO (continued]
T HAD some time yet before me in Kyoto. The
-- Japanese iris was still in bud, and the lotus-
leaves still lay flat on the surface of the water ;
the peonies were over, and only a few belated
azaleas still drew the bees within their petals.
I painted one or two of the flowerless gardens,
where the various shades of green are only
relieved by the greys of the stone-work and the
russet bark of the pines.
Sho had to skirmish for irises, and when at last
he had found what T wanted, irises filled all my
thoughts.
I now appreciated how an aesthetic people gets
its full measure of enjoyment out of its flowers.
The mauves and purples of the iris are not seen
here inharmoniously clashing with a patch of
yellow escoltchias, and the scarlet geranium is
not allowed to shout down the modest hue of the
heliotrope.
73
74 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
When the folks here put on their best kimonos
to enjoy irises, they see irises and nothing else.
To see an acre or more of Japanese irises is a
thing never to be forgotten. The beauty of
form and colour of the nearer ones is clearly
defined against the green flags ; the mauves,
purples, and pale pinks are dotted about the
green farther on, and the blending together of
these hues as they form into masses in the
distance is such a feast of beautiful colour that
one may well rest among the greenery of the
purely Japanese gardens till the lotus appears.
When the latter die down there is a pause in the
cultivated flowers broken now and again with
the morning glory till the chrysanthemum
shows make the year's final tableau.
I made the aquaintance of an Englishman,
Mr. Blow, who has lived here a good many
years ; he has a pretty Japanese house and
garden on the slopes of the hills overlooking the
city. I found some large patches of irises here,
of a kind I was unacquainted with. It was a
pretty subject : This flowery foreground, with
the grey city in the distance and the blue
mountains beyond.
Mrs. Blow, a charming Japanese lady, asked
KYOTO 75
me to lunch, with a promise that I should see her
husband's collection of prints.
It was my first entree into a Japanese private
house. I took off my boots, as one to the
manner born, when, to my horror, I saw part of a
white toe sticking out of one of the black socks.
Now it is astonishing how a detail of this kind
can handicap anyone trying to make a good first
impression.
At whatever angle I looked 1 saw this toe. 1
avoided looking down only to catch sight of it in
a mirror. Mrs. Blow did as if she had not seen
it, although it was like a white bull's-eye on a
black target one more proof of the courtly
manners of this people.
The prints, however, soon banished the peccant
sock from my thoughts, and I could revel to my
heart's content in the drawing of Hokusai and
Hirochige ; the delightful colour arrangements
of Yeisen, of Yesan, of Utamaro, and of a host of
others who, so far, were unknown to me.
Mr. Blow filled me with covetousness when
he produced a large sketch-book full of the
original drawings of Hiroshige rapid sketches
of figures in motion, groups of people, and sundry
details which form some of the incidents in his
famous " Fifty-five Stages of the Tokaido
Road." He also possesses a wonderful kake-
mono of Hokusai, and quite different work from
anything I had ever seen of that great artist. It
is a very highly-finished picture of a geisha, with
a marvellous pattern on her dress a subject
treated ad nauseam by the artists of the middle
of last century. The design showed that, besides
his great draughtsmanship, he had an imagination
surpassing that of most of his contemporaries
and all his followers.
Not twenty years ago good colour prints could
be picked up for a few pence, but a large number
of collectors have since learnt to appreciate them,
with the usual result, and the rarer specimens
are now fetching a good many pounds.
On returning to my hotel, I inquired of an old
resident who happened to be staying there
where European socks were to be obtained. He
told me where I could find what I wanted, and
also told me of an amusing incident concerning
his country's representative here.
His Excellency had asked my new acquaint-
ance to accompany him to some great function
and act as his interpreter. On arriving at the
house where the reception was held, boots had,
KYOTO 77
of course, to be taken off before stepping on to the
matting. To his dismay, the diplomat noticed that
a toe showed very plainly through a hole in one of
his black socks. He decided to return to his hotel,
and asked my friend to make some excuses for
his non-appearance. The latter was, however, a
man of great resource ; he tipped one of the
servants, and asked to be shown into some office
and supplied with brush and Indian ink, and here,
with a few well-adjusted touches, he gave His
Excellency a toe that any negro might have
been proud of. When thoroughly dry for it
would not do to risk blackening the trains of
some of the ladies' dresses they were able to
attend the function, and no one was any the wiser.
I went to a theatre with one or two others
staying in the same hotel as myself. We were
shown up some rickety stairs, and taken to what
approximates to our dress circle. The seats here
being fifty sen each (equal to one shilling), we
had the whole circle to ourselves, while the rest
of the building was crowded. They brought us
a bench to sit on, as some of our party could not
face squatting on the floor for the rest of the
evening.
The performance had probably been going on
78 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
since midday, but as it had still two or three
hours to run, we had still time enough to see all
we wanted. The audience was perhaps more
entertaining than the play, for, needless to say,
most of the jokes were lost on us, and when
the house was moved to tears it left us with dry
eyes ; the difficulty was not to laugh at the
wrong moment.
The theatre was a low building, with a gallery
some eight feet above the pit, where the latter
was farthest from the stage. Nearly the whole
auditorium was pit, and the gallery looked like
an after-thought. The floor was divided into a
number of low pens, the size of a mat each.
Papa and mamma and two or three hopefuls
would about fill a pen, and where the family was
large the adjoining pen would hold the rest of
the children, and possibly the maid-servant. The
partitions being only a foot high, there was easy
access from one compartment to another. Each
contained a fdbachi to light the little pipes and
receive the ashes when the two whiffs had
exhausted the fill of tobacco. The people
brought their food with them, and little earthen-
ware pots of tea were to be obtained in the
house. It looked like an indoor picnic.
KYOTO 79
A peculiar feature of Japanese theatres is a
low bridge, flush with the stage, and which crosses
the pit at right angles to the footlights. The
characters who enter the scene after the curtain
is up usually come in by it ; the funny man will
crack his little jokes with the members of the
audience as he crosses above their heads. A
small boy will sometimes climb up and do a
little jesting on his own account, and when the
curtain is down a lot of the children will scramble
up on to the stage and stick their heads under
the curtain to see what is going on. They may
apparently, here as elsewhere, do just as they
please.
The play, or rather series of plays, treated of
feudal times, which it is hard to realize only dates
back fifty years. The two-sworded Samurai was
very much to the fore. He played a kind of
knight-errant part, but the maiden in distress
seemed more frightened of him than of anyone
else.
When the first scene was over, there was no
curtain the stage revolved like a penny-go-
round till the next scene faced the audience, the
actors remaining on it all the while.
The women's parts were all played by men.
80 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
The shortest are naturally chosen for the parts,
and their voices are trained accordingly.
The dialogue was sometimes carried on by the
performers, and at other times they acted in dumb-
show, while the words were repeated in a sing-
song voice by a man sitting in a raised box,
something like that of a Punch and Judy show.
He emphasized the stops by striking a stick on
the rail of his rostrum.
Two boys, who were supposed to be invisible,
because they were dressed entirely in black and
wore black masks, were dodging in and out
among the performers, adjusting a bow here or
spreading out the train of a garment elsewhere.
They were certainly "seen but not looked at,"
as is said of the ladies who take their baths in the
presence of the opposite sex.
The scenery was extremely simple, although in
very good taste, and, as I anticipated, the acting
was very clever.
During an interlude a dancing-girl began her
turn at the far end of the bridge, doing her steps
and taking the postures of a first-rate geisha.
On reaching the stage itself she went through
the most graceful evolutions, the fan and butterfly
being the motive. The butterfly, being impaled
KYOTO 81
on the end of a wire, which one of the boys in
black directed, took away some of the charm I
was not yet sufficiently trained in treating him as
non-existent.
Our rickshaw-men had climbed up the rickety
stairs, dress-circle folk being so scarce that there
was no gate-keeper to stop them, and they calmly
squatted near us. I distinguished Sho's ugly
face in the semi-darkness, and remarked to him
how clever the girl was. Sho exploded : " She
no girl ; she man !" He and his mates seemed
to think this the best joke of the evening.
The dancer went on for some time, doing more
and more wonderful things with his fan and with
trailing ribbons ; but I lost all interest in him after
being aware of his sex, and was glad when the
curtain went down, or, I should say, was pulled
across the stage.
During the next piece I became conscious of
a sickly smell of drains, which had also crept
up the rickety stairs, and it gradually hung like
an invisible cloud over the gallery. One of our
party was snoring rather loudly, while my other
male companion had been trying to keep awake,
so as to get his full shilling's worth. While one
eye was open, I suggested to him that it was
6
82 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
time we left. " It's not over yet," he said, waking
up sharp. " I've been to Japanese plays before,
and they never end without cutting off heads."
The lady of our party, a Eurasian, looked as if
she could stand a bit more drain, and so we
stayed on. Her husband snored louder than
ever, the Scotchman dropped his head forward
and brought it up with a jerk, and I anxiously
awaited the head-cutting, so as to get away from
the drain.
Heads did not exactly fly off at the finale,
although a couple of Samurai were doing their
best, and when the curtain went down, all the
actors had been laid out flat, save one who was
wiping his sword.
CHAPTER VII
THE OLEANDER
painter should be able to resist a grace-
fully-grown oleander in bloom. The one
I fell a victim to was in a graveyard which sur-
rounded a small Buddhist temple. It was raining
slightly when I began my drawing, but the spread-
ing eaves of the shrine gave me a sufficient shelter.
The grey light suited my subject. When the
sun showed itself at intervals, awkward shadows
and the shine on the wet stones destroyed its
charm.
While painting specimen irises in the garden
of a Buddhist priest, who dwelt not far from here,
I made the acquaintance of an intelligent young
Japanese, Kiyoshi Masuda by name. He spoke
English fairly well, and I owe to him much of
the information I got about Japanese manners
and customs, as well as of that difficult subject
the fusion of two religions fundamentally so
different as are Shintoism and Buddhism. He
83
84 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
was also well informed about the arts and crafts
of his country, being an able assistant at the
stores of Messrs. Nomura, where a large collec-
tion of objects of art and vertu are displayed. It
being the slack season of the year, he was able to
give me a good deal of his company while painting
this graveyard, and also during the remainder of
my stay in Kyoto.
Shintoists lay side by side with Buddhists
under the wet, grey stones. Dedicated to a
Shinto god at its birth, the child is brought up
in the family cult, and to pay due respect to the
tablets of the ancestors, which are on a shelf in
every Japanese household. The child may be
taken to attend the services at Buddhist temples
of the sect to which its parents incline, but
whether he attends these or merely does his
duty as a follower of the earlier religion, he will
most probably at his death rest in a graveyard
attached to some Buddhist shrine.
The absence of religious or moral teaching
in Shintoism draws many who feel this want
to the Buddhist shrines, where an occasional
sermon is preached, and where a gorgeous ritual
appeals to their senses. They are allowed to
retain their own tfods, whom Buddhism has
THE OLEANDER 85
embraced in its pantheon, and considers in most
cases avatars of one of its own deities. Nature-
worship and ancestor-worship, the two main
features of the indigenous religion, have also
been tolerated by the Buddhist priesthood ever
since they first set foot in Japan.
My friend's English did not go quite far
enough to give me a lucid explanation of this,
but it gave me a start, and, with the help of
what Professor Chamberlain and Lafcadio Hearn
have written on the subject, I am beginning to
get some insight into the mental attitude of the
Japanese towards their creeds.
Accustomed as we are in other parts of the
world to find people quarrelling over slight
differences of dogma, the toleration of the
Japanese is striking. There is also no anti-
Christian feeling as far as I could gather.
I watched the people when a Salvationist
band went by, and could see no signs of
antagonism ; whereas 1 can well remember the
hostility of the onlookers when first the followers
of General Booth paraded the streets in London.
If the missionary abstains from interfering with
the customs of the people, he may carry on his
work without let or hindrance.
86 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
Had Christian countries shown a better
example by carrying out the principles of their
creed, there is little doubt but what Christianity
would have been made the State religion of
Japan.
The Government, when reconstructing society
after the revolution, actually appointed a Com-
mission to examine and report on how far
Christianity was instrumental in checking crime
and vice. The report was far from encouraging,
and Shintoism was made the official religion.
Buddhist priests, who had invaded most of the
Shinto temples, had to leave, and many a shrine
was denuded of its best works of art where
these were part and parcel of the Buddhist creed.
A difficulty sometimes arose as to the owner-
ship of some of the relics. The bones of a saint
would be claimed by both parties where the
saint was known to have observed the ordinances
of both religions. Who was to keep a valuable
statue of a god which each party worshipped
when the creed and even name of the donor had
long since been forgotten ?
Shinto shrines are now kept in repair by the
State, and the Buddhist temples are often sadly
dilapidated where the worshippers are too poor
THE OLEANDER 87
to pay for keeping them in repair. When the
shrine is one of especial importance, an appeal is
made to the country at large, and the where-
withal to defray the cost of repairing is generally
collected. A striking example was seen when
the celebrated Higashi Hongwanji was burnt
down early in the nineties.
Nearly a hundred thousand pounds sterling
was collected in the neighbouring provinces of
Kyoto, besides which much of the material and
labour was the gift of the people. Thousands of
women, having nothing more substantial to con-
tribute, cut off their hair to make hawsers to
draw the timbers which form the huge pillars.
These hawsers, twenty-nine in all, are still shown
with pride by the bonze who conducts you
round the temple, as an ocular proof that
Buddhism was not extinguished when dis-
established by the State.
The slight rain we had when I began my
drawing gradually increased in quantity ; the
gravestones blackened and shone as the water
trickled down their sides ; the face of the Buddha
darkened, and his habitual placid gaze seemed to
change as I gradually saw it reflected in a grow-
ing pool at his base.
88 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
The eaves of the temple, though sheltering us
from the downward pour, were no protection
from the splashing when the water overflowed
from the choked guttering. We crawled round
the edge of the building, and found shelter
under the porch, where we could continue our
talk.
A woman was inside the little temple, and was
repeating a thousand times the formula " Namu
amida Butso." If repeated that often, great
blessings are attached to this prayer. Time
is saved by only saying the word " Butso " at
intervals, and the u of the first word is eliminated.
The prayer of the supplicant made a plaintive
accompaniment to our conversation. When she
tired she would whisper, " Nam amida, nam
amida," then gradually increase the sound till it
reached to a loud and prolonged wail ; she
would then prostrate herself again on the
matting, and with sighings and sobbings con-
tinue the formula in a hushed voice.
My friend was not a Buddhist, being a
follower of the earlier religion ; he showed,
however, no pitying contempt for the vain
repetitions of this woman : " By concentrating
her mind on these words she is able to banish all
89
worldly thoughts, and draw near to the abstract
idea which * amida ' represents."
The rain now abated, and, as we wandered
away, the woman's " Nam amida, nam amida "
followed us till the sound was lost in the noises
of the street.
I returned to the oleander the next day to
complete my drawing. The rains had washed
off some of the petals of the flowers, but this
had been more than compensated for by the
attentions of the grave-keeper's wife, who had
decorated the tombs with a profusion of white
lilies. Nothing could have suited the compo-
sition better, and the idea the flowers conveyed
was as pretty as their form.
When the rain held off, my friend M. Masuda
rejoined me, and while I painted the lilies he
descanted on the significance of various unfamiliar
objects I saw in this graveyard. The xotoba
here seen is a long narrow slab of wood, notched
at the top, with characters painted on one of
the surfaces. Bundles of them are sometimes
fastened to the tombstones ; some decaying,
others with the lettering barely visible, and often
one which looked as having come freshly from
the carpenter's shop. They are placed here at
90 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
intervals by the relatives of the deceased. But
as the texts on them are written in Sanskrit, my
friend could not help me as to their meaning.
The sotoba is also used as a gravestone, and
then its form is more clearly defined. It is a
combination of ball, crescent, pyramid, sphere,
and cube, which symbolize respectively ether,
air, fire, water, and earth. Another favourite
device is the lotus-seed, which in size and shape
is somewhat like a Grenadier's bearskin.
A Buddha seated on a lotus-flower is seldom
absent. But the most common form of tomb-
stone is a shaft rounded at the top and resting
on a triple plinth, with the name and status of
the deceased inscribed on the former.
A large flat, upright stone attracted the atten-
tion of the few visitors who came. It was erected
to a young sergeant who fell in the last war, and
whose bravery was such that the Empress headed
the list of subscriptions to defray the cost of the
monument. I carefully copied his name, and
those of my readers who can read Japanese will
be able to decipher it on the left-hand side of
my drawing.
Since then the oleander has lost its bloom,
and reverent hands will have placed lotus-flowers
91
where the lilies bedecked this grave ; these will
have given place to the chrysanthemum, and
while the snow lies thick on the neighbouring
hills, sprays of plum-blossom will be keeping
fresh the memory of the young hero.
CHAPTER VIII
THE JUDAS-TREE AND POMEGRANATE
T71ROM the middle of June till the end of the
-*- following month there is no display of
cultivated flowers till the lotus-ponds attract the
holiday-makers. The morning glory is more of
a household pet than a garden decoration, and by
the time that the rains have abated specimens
of this convolvulus may be seen in pots in almost
every shop. The plants are dwarfed, and rarely
more than one or two blooms are seen at a time ;
by careful selection the flowers have attained a
size seldom seen elsewhere. In colour they
range from white, through pink and blue, down
to the darkest violet.
The shopman, squatting amongst his wares,
takes his fill of their beauty in the intervals
between attending to his customers. He has no
time to lose, for the day is not far spent when
his prized blooms close up and drop their petals
before he lights his store in the evening. He
92
JUDAS-TREE- -POMEGRANATE 93
consoles himself for the loss by contemplating a
bud, scarcely noticeable in the morning, which
now promises to rival, on the following day, the
short-lived glory of the vanished blooms.
Kiyomizu Tera, the most enchanting of
Kyoto's shrines, was not far from the hotel, and
when in doubt for a subject, I was always sure
to find one there or in its beautiful surroundings.
The question at this time of the year was to find
one where I could work under shelter, for the
weather was only fine then at lucid intervals.
The steep street leading up to this unique
temple is lined with china shops, where cheap
and brightly-colouredearthenware dolls, Kiyomizu
yaki, are sold to the pilgrims who visit this
popular shrine. An imposing flight of steps
leads to a two-storied gateway, and beyond this
two pagodas and numerous other minor buildings
are passed before reaching the hondo or main
temple. At the entrance a magnificent bronze
dragon vomits a jet of water into a stone basin ;
wooden ladles float on the surface, and it is a
pretty sight to see little children filling them at
the mouth of this terrible creature, either to
drink the water or wash the faces of the babies
slung to their backs.
94 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
The huge, roughly-hewn columns and the
worn and matless floor suggest a fortress rather
than a place of worship. But what impresses
the visitor most is the bold way in which the
temple is adapted to its site. A balustrade runs
round the south side, and leaning over it after
being satisfied that it will not give way he
looks across a deep and thickly-wooded valley
to the city lying below and the blue mountains
in the far distance. The platform he stands on
projects well over the steep hill-side to which
Kiyomizu clings, and is supported by a row of
massive piles whose bases are lost in the greenery
beneath.
Winding paths descend through the woods,
and wherever there is a good point of vantage, a
little tea-house or shed is erected, these often
being held up on piles as if in imitation of the
great building above them. To the left, the
valley is shut in by an almost precipitous hill
clothed with pines, camphor-trees, and evergreen
oaks. A flight of stone steps is visible here and
there, which lead to a shrine just showing among
the foliage.
Amidst the mass of green which I overlooked
stood a Judas-tree in full bloom ; it was a
JUDAS-TREE -POMEGRANATE 95
different species to what I had seen in the South
of France and Italy, but I felt satisfied that the
pale mauve blossom would harmonize better
with its surroundings than the crimson usually
associated with that tree. A tea-shed some way
down the valley promised both shelter and a
good view from it there ; with a slight shifting
of the tree, I was able to get it in combination
with the part of the temple I had just left.
The changes in the effect were interesting to
watch, but most exasperating to paint ; at times
the mist entirely blotted out the background.
The rain, so far, had only come in samples, but
having satisfied us all that it was of the proper
wet sort, it now came down in bulk. The shed
1 was under was only built to cope with the
samples, and my sketching umbrella had to be
put up to ward off the pit, pit, pit which irritated
my neck, and also a jet of water doing its best
to alter my last effect in the drawing. There
was nothing to do now but to try and get some
drawing into the tree and temple, and wait for a
propitious moment to fly back to the hotel.
I returned to the Judas-tree on the following
day and painted it in a drizzling rain. The
effect was not so exciting as some I had seen it
96 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
under, but there was no time to lose. The
heavy rain had washed off a good deal of the
blossom, and what remained had lost most of its
colour ; another reason made it a case of now or
never the Judas-tree was no more the sole
mistress of my affections.
I had wandered that morning through the
graveyards on the slopes above Chion-in, and
ascended a flight of stone steps through the
woods, to see what there might be beneath the
dark mass of cryptomerias which shut out the
sky above. A few moss-covered stone lanterns,
and a Buddha who had lost his nose at some
remote period of his contemplations, suggested
the approach to a shrine. Both to the right and
left of me, in little clearings in the woods, were
two more graveyards, which had probably held
their complement of ancestors for more than a
century. The fantastic shapes of the stones were
barely discernible through the growth of moss
and lichen which covered them. In a few cases
the little stone basins had still been cleared and
fresh water supplied by a living descendant of
the deceased, and a few wooden xotoba were still
sufficiently sound to show that the family cult
had been kept up till a recent period. The
JUDAS-TREE POMEGRANATE 97
water stagnating in the other basins was but the
drip from the overhanging boughs which shaded
the little cemetery.
After a hundred years it is presumed that the
deceased has become a Buddha, and that his
spirit needs no more food or water from his
descendants. Till that lapse of time any neglect
on the part of his living representatives may
result in dire consequences to their household.
I decided to make a study of this almost-
forgotten graveyard, but had first to satisfy my
curiosity as to what I might find at the top of
the steps. They led, very much as I expected,
to a small Buddhist temple, and going
round this rather dilapidated building, I came on
a neat little habitation of, presumably, the priest
a simple little structure, but glorified by a
beautifully- shaped pomegranate- tree just bursting
into bloom.
The graveyard could wait, but not this nor
any other blossoming shrub. I found the priest
at home. I made him understand what I wanted,
and was soon trying to do justice to the delightful
subject which a lucky chance had thrown in
my way.
It is pleasant to leave off with an assurance that
98 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
for some days at least the subject would improve
in beauty. The blossoms were not fully out, and
the innumerable buds promised a grand display
ere long. The beauty of the Judas-tree was on
the wane, and I even doubted whether I should
find any blossom left on my return that after-
noon.
To admire a tree or garden of a Japanese is as
sure a way to his heart as to admire a child is to
that of its mother. When I returned here the
next day the good priest placed a hibacM near me,
in case I wished to smoke, and brought the usual
cup of green tea. It was a delightful spot to
work in ; as it was on the way to nowhere else, I
had hardly any inquisitive people to watch my
proceedings. I told Masuda where I was work-
ing, and he joined me here the following morning.
While practising his English he was able to
enlighten me on many things which I was keenly
interested to know. He also carried his good-
nature so far as to pose for me, in the doorway,
in the attitude of one receiving a guest. I had
sketched in the figure of the lady making her
obeisance, and wanted the man to complete the
subject. When he took his pose I remarked that
he did not curtsey as lowly as the lady, and was
JUDAS-TREE POMEGRANATE 99
told that this was not the etiquette ; but had a
woman been receiving a male visitor, she would
have been down on her knees, with her head to
the floor.
Though so much has been reorganized in
Japan during the last fifty years, matters of
etiquette, and the relations of the sexes generally,
are the outcome of so long a period of training
that it may take centuries to alter them. A
Westerner may regret that these charming
women are always obliged to take a back seat
when brought in contact with the opposite sex,
although their happy-looking faces and delightful
manners soon console him that, however unjust
the training may have been, the results give us a
type of womanhood which has possibly never
been excelled.
Any signs of grief or vexation having been
considered bad manners in every class of society
for numberless past generations, a cheerful view
of things has become a part of their natures. The
smile required originally by good manners is now
much more often the natural expression of a
happy disposition.
Don't imagine for one moment that she is an
insipid or incapable creature. As mistress she
100 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
can make herself obeyed by her servants without
ever having to lower her dignity by becoming a
scold ; the devotion and amount of work she gets
out of her dependents would astonish a European
housekeeper. This devotion is not got by the
mere fact of feeding and paying the wages of the
maids in her employ, for she understands that
her duties towards her servants are quite as great
as those of her servants are towards herself.
Parents, unless they belong to the most
degraded classes, carefully choose the household
to which they send their daughters, domestic
service being considered a preparation for
marriage. The wages, often consisting of little
more than a suit of clothes twice a year, are of
secondary consideration, and are arranged, not
between the individuals chiefly concerned, but by
the two households to which servant and mistress
belong. Here, as elsewhere, the small farmer class
supply the best servants, and the parents of the
latter hold themselves responsible for the good
behaviour of their daughters. The engagement
may be for four or six years, according to the age
of the maid, but it usually lasts till the parents
have arranged their daughter's marriage.
In this important matter the girl herself has no
JUDAS-TREE POMEGRANATE 101
more say than she has in the choice of the house-
hold into which she enters. She is taught to
look on her mistress as on a foster-mother, and she
seldom sees her parents except when, at certain
intervals, they bring presents to her employers.
When her turn of domestic service is over, and
she is about to enter the marriage state, her
mistress will often supply her with her trousseau.
Up to the present the servant difficulty does
not appear to exist ; a respectable household need
have no fear of not getting well-behaved domestics
to wait on it. Servant - talk, that bugbear in
England and America, is seldom heard.
While I endeavoured to get the characteristics
and beauty of the pomegranate, my young friend
Mr. Masuda chatted about these and other
matters.
We got on to the subject of marriage more
suggestive, perhaps, of a blossoming orange than
of the scarlet flowers I was painting.
He had not entered the holy state himself;
very early marriages are not encouraged now, as
formerly, and obligatory military service and the
prolonged course of study required before enter-
ing a profession have also tended to increase the
age of matrimony. He told me that he was
102 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
almost sure to have to serve in the army, as he
had no physical defects, and, being an orphan, no
parent depended on what he earned ; neither had
he the exemption which professional studies some-
times allowed. It was therefore best not to
think of matrimony till this was over.
The idea of remaining a bachelor, unless
intended for the priesthood of one of the Buddhist
sects where celibacy is compulsory, would never
enter the mind of any young man belonging to a
nation whose social organization has been founded
and kept together by ancestor- worship.
Marriage was compulsory till within quite
recent times, and though not legally enforced
now, custom demands that every man should
carry on the family cult. Where only daughters
are born of the marriage, a son-in-law is found
who will become also a son by adoption, and
carry on the cult of the ancestors of the family
of his bride. Poor men only will put themselves
in this false position. The son-in-law, who thus
becomes a son by adoption, changes his name for
that of the family into which he marries, and their
gods become his gods, and their people his people.
The family cult cannot be carried on through the
female line, though the duties attending on this
JUDAS-TREE -POMEGRANATE 103
cult are usually deputed to the women of the
household.
Now marriage is a very different thing in the
Far East to what it is in European countries.
It is not a religious ceremony, nor is it as binding
a contract as in Christian countries, and, except
in very rare instances, neither of the two parties
chiefly concerned have any say in the matter.
Parents consider it as much their duty to provide
wr es for their sons and husbands for their
daughters when they have reached the marriage-
able age as it is their duty to provide them with
food and education.
It does not follow that the young couple be
even acquainted with the families with whom they
are to be connected, for the arrangements are left
to the nakodo, a match-maker. He is usually a
married man, not a woman, as the term " match-
maker " suggests to Anglo-Saxon ears. He is
a mutual friend of the two families, and becomes,
as it were, a godfather to the young couple when
his arrangements have been completed.
We often pity ourselves in England when the
duties of a trustee to a marriage settlement are
thrust on us ; but our responsibilities are light
indeed compared to those of the nakodo. Should
104 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
the marriage turn out a failure, the couple look
to him to untie the knot which has bound them
together ; but if he be a tactful man, he will often
bring the husband to a proper sense of duty, and
be able to avoid so extreme a measure. Obedience
to the will of her husband and to that of her
parents-in-law has become so much a part of a
Japanese woman's nature that it is seldom her
fault when family disputes arise. Should she not
bear him children, custom allows the husband to
have a concubine, and the children he may get
by this left-handed union become his legitimate
heirs. Divorce is much more common among
the poorer classes than among the well-to-do, for
when the couple do not agree the poor man has
not the means to console himself with a concubine.
Where law and custom favour one sex so very
much to the disadvantage of the other, the
cheerful countenance of the Japanese woman is
indeed surprising.
Now to return to the duties of the nakodo.
Having satisfied the parents of the young
couple that the match is a suitable one, he
arranges a meeting between the young man and
his destined bride. His own house or that of a
mutual friend is usually chosen, but among the
JUDAS-TREE POMEGRANATE 105
humbler classes this may take place at a theatre,
at a temple, or wherever it may suit their con-
venience. Obedience to the will of their parents
is so ingrained in the youth of this country that,
whether the two most chiefly concerned be
mutually attracted to each other or not, they, as a
rule, accept their fate, as their fathers and mothers
had done before them.
Shortly after this, the match-maker conveys
to the young woman a present from her intended,
and if her parents accept this, the betrothal
becomes a binding contract. The sumptuary
laws of the country used to regulate the value
of this present, in order that the poorer classes
should not be led into extravagance by trying to
imitate those more favoured by Fortune. To
choose an auspicious day for the wedding is
considered of the utmost importance, and when
that comes, the poor little woman is dressed in
white the colour of mourning and towards
evening she is carried in a litter to the house
of her bridegroom, or more generally to that of
his parents.
The idea of the mourning is that she has died
to her own family, and on her leaving the
parental home, it is swept out and purified in
106 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
the same way as when a corpse has been carried
out for burial.
The pledging of each other in little cups of
sake constitutes the actual wedding, and the
bride then changes her funereal garment and
appears in one befitting a festive occasion an
emblem of a new birth into the family of her
husband. The bridegroom changes his garments
at the same time, while the wedding guests sit
down to the feast. This often lasts till the time
arrives when the nakodo and his wife conduct
the newly-married pair to the bridal chamber.
Here there is more pledging of each other in
little cups of sake, and the ceremonies are then
completed.
Cases do, however, occur nowadays where the
young woman is the choice of her intended
husband, and I am told that marriages through
mutual attraction are on the increase.
A Japanese friend introduced me to his wife,
who is a very pretty woman. I asked him
afterwards if he had not had more say in the
matter than the nakodo, and he told me that
they had managed to arrange it themselves
without that gentleman's help. He had spent
some years in Europe, and decided to be married,
JUDAS-TREE POMEGRANATE 107
or at all events to choose his wife, a TEuropeenne.
His father was not living to prevent such a
departure from custom, and how far his other
relations may have disapproved he did not tell me.
Readers wishing to learn more about this
subject will find a detailed account in a conclud-
ing chapter in A. B. Mitford's "Tales of Old
Japan." Professor Chamberlain also gives us a
long article on marriage in " Things Japanese."
CHAPTER IX
THE LOTUS
A N excessively hot summer followed on the
-^- rains, and, had it not been for the lotus, I
should have left Kyoto early in July for some
summer resort in the hills near Fujiyama.
I was more anxious to see and paint the lotus
than perhaps any of the other flowers which
mark the different periods of the Japanese year.
It is of less value pictorially than the cherry or
wistaria, and than many others which I could
name, since it does not form into great masses of
colour, and at the most can only tell as dots of
white or pink in its setting of greyish-green leaves.
I had seen its form conventionally treated on
the walls of every ruined temple in Egypt, and
here in Japan no Buddhist shrine seemed com-
plete without it.
For some days I had seen its stately leaves
rising up from the surface of a pond fringed with
hydrangeas while painting these flowers for my
108
THE LOTUS 109
book on gardens, but it was not till the end of
July that I set eyes on the actual flower whose
presentment had become so familiar to me in the
Near as well as in the Far East.
The hydrangeas had withered when the first
buds of lotus were ready to open. The proprietor
of the pond and adjoining tea-house began to rig
up sheds to accommodate the visitors which any
display of flowers is sure to attract in this
country. One of these not only gave me shelter
from the sun, but it enabled me to sit sufficiently
high to see well above the leaves in the fore-
ground, which now rose three or four feet above
the level of the water.
It was necessary to get here early in the
morning, for when the sun is near reaching its
zenith the flowers close up. A contrary process
goes on with the leaves, which are often curled
up early in the day and open as the morning
advances.
Mr. Alfred Parsons, in a charming little book
on the flowers of Japan, mentions this difficulty
in painting lotuses, and he might have added
another, and that is, when a puff of wind catches
the leaves, it may upset a whole foreground
which the artist is struggling to draw. The
110 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
drawing of the leaves as well as of the flowers is
full of beauty, and most difficult to approximate ;
the relations of the bluish sky reflections on their
outward surfaces of the leaves to the juicy greens
where the light passes through them is as hard
to get as their complex drawing.
Crowds of holiday-makers do not flock here, as
in the case of the cherry-blossom, or even the
irises, for the lotus is always associated in the
minds of the Japanese with funerals. A certain
number came, however, and at times each shed
held its complement of men and women, who
sipped their tea, smoked their little pipes, and
gave themselves up to the full enjoyment of
flower-gazing.
At this time of the year pleasure resorts, as
well as the business parts of Kyoto, are abandoned
from noon till four or five o'clock. It is so hot
that even the rickshaw-men seem little anxious
to pick up a fare should a stray pedestrian venture
out in the heat.
Kyoto wisely goes to sleep, and Kyoto wakes
up when the sun has sunk sufficiently to cast
shadows across her streets. Maruyama Park
then fills up. Every bench round the small lake
is soon occupied by women and children, who
THE LOTUS 111
throw crumbs to the wild-fowl and goldfish ; the
geishas take air and exercise before entertaining
the guests at the dinner-parties ; the tea-houses
and booths which line the approach to Gion do a
brisk trade ; and within the precincts of this temple
men and women clap their hands before the
many shrines, and rattle the rope against the
gongs hanging from the lintels.
The Japanese are accused of not taking their
religion seriously, which is, I hold, a wrong im-
pression : they take it cheerily, and draw no hard-
and-fast line between their innocent pleasures and
their devotions. At the great annual festival, and
also once a month, when people flock in greater
numbers to the Gion temple, the booths and toy-
shops are rigged up in the precincts themselves.
The sounds of worship mingle strangely with the
showman's exhortations to come and see a pig with
two heads, or with the prattle of the cheap-jack.
From July 17 to 24 the Gion Matsuri takes
place. The image of the Shinto god Susa-no-o is
carried, on the evening of the first date, to his
O Tabisho that is, his sojourn in the country
with his goddess.
The temple buildings are lighted with hundreds
of paper lanterns, and a dense crowd fills the
112 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
precincts to see the god off on his happy journey.
Everyone is well-behaved, and the police, who
appear to carry nothing more formidable than a
paper lantern, have no difficulty in clearing a
space to allow the huge litter to approach the
main building.
No sooner had the god been placed on his port-
able throne than the wildest excitement got hold
of the crowd of young men who had volunteered
to be the bearers. They wore no clothes save a
loin-cloth, and when a dozen or more shouldered
the four shafts of the litter, they looked like
demons trying to seize the sacred image. Others
lighted the ends of long bundles of bamboo,
brandished them about, and very effectually
cleared the space deemed necessary for the god
to pass through.
There was, to all appearance, a fight going on
as to the road the god should take : his litter was
first rushed one way, then another, shot backwards
and then forwards, the men shouting all the while.
This was all the more surprising coming, as it did,
from a people who are usually so quiet.
My friend Masuda, who accompanied me,
explained that this was generally the case. " The
god did not at once make up his mind as to the
THE LOTUS 113
itinerary, and till all the bearers pulled the same
way it was not known by which route he wished
to go to his O Tabisho." A rush one way which
seemed more determined than the previous ones
finally decided the question, and the god, with his
noisy escort of torch-bearers, was carried into the
darkness beyond the great stone torii facing the
dancing- stage.
We now hurried out of the precincts and
worked our way through Gion Machi, the main
street which leads from the temple down to Shijd
Bridge. We knew the god would have eventually
to pass that way before reaching his goddess in the
country on the western extremity of the city.
A Japanese imitation of a European cafe, or,
rather, German beer-hall, overlooks the farther
end of the bridge, and to this my friend and I
hurried, so as to be in time to get seats com-
manding a good view. The beer is an excellent
imitation of the German product, and whatever
the creeds of the thirsty ones might have been,
all drank to the health of Susa-no-o and to his
expectant goddess.
The river, which was very much swollen a
week previous to this, now showed more than
two-thirds of its pebbly bed, and it was possible
114 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
for people to walk about between the western
bank and the main stream. The gullies which
intersected the stony bottom were bridged over,
and tea-houses and booths of various sorts were
erected on piles, both in the stream itself as well
as in the pools and the lesser water-courses. This
nightly fair reached from the Shijo Bridge to the
one higher up, a distance of about a third of a
mile. The whole was lighted with innumerable
paper lanterns, and presented a most fairy-like
scene.
People assemble here every evening during the
latter part of July and August to cool themselves
in the draught caused by the river. Some will sit
on the mats sipping their tea, their feet dangling
in the running water. Supper-parties are held, and
geisha girls entertain the guests with the samisen;
little gullies are dammed up so as to form tempo-
rary fish-ponds, round which sit numbers of
children angling for miniature goldfish ; merry-
go-rounds, shooting-galleries, and quaint Japanese
Aunt Sallies are rigged up in every available
space. In the pebbly alley -ways between the
shows an orderly crowd wanders about, laughing
and chatting, while awaiting the arrival of the god
at the bridge.
THE LOTUS 115
We presently hear the shouts of the bearers,
and see the light of the torches reflected on the
houses of Gion Machi. The crowd is ordered
off the bridge by the little policemen with paper
lanterns.
With a wild rush and loud shouts Susa-no-o
and his escort of torch-bearers take possession of
Shijo. No sooner was the bridge crossed than
the frantic efforts of the god to reach his goddess
ceased ; he gibbed, if one may say so of a god,
backed, and then made a dash for the balustrades
to the right and left of him. His bearers were
now in a frenzy of excitement, some pulling him
one way, some another, and then, as if agreed
that the goddess could wait a few minutes longer,
they ran their sacred load back to the east end of
the bridge. They crossed and recrossed it several
times before they continued their way to the
western part of the city.
During the six following nights the empty
shrine of Susa-no-o was the chief attraction of
Kyoto. Thousands of pilgrims, who had come
in from the surrounding provinces, would attend
the fair, and end the evening in the tea-houses
in the bed of the Kamogawa.
Everyone declared that this was the hottest
116 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
July on record ; the early morning and an hour
or two before sunset were the only times when
work seemed possible.
The heat forced up the lotuses, and I was
thankful to be able to get into the hills by the
beginning of August.
I dined with Mr. Kanocogni down at Shijo a
day or two before leaving, and he was able to
inform me that he had found the very man I
needed as guide, philosopher, and friend for the
next few months.
Our dinner was at a restaurant, built out over
the stream and within sight of the SMjo-gawara
no suzumi, or the alfresco fete which nightly
takes place in the bed of the river. The chief
dish was a particular fish which is eaten raw, and
was yet unconsciously swimming about in a tub
lashed to the piles supporting the dining- stage.
I had practised the use of chopsticks since my
first Japanese meal, but the idea of eating
uncooked fish made me go hot and cold. I had
eaten smoked fish in Germany, and also raw fish
pickled in various ways, but to see it taken out
of its element, and its still quivering flesh placed
before me the next minute, nearly made me sick.
I was recommended to dip the pieces into a
THE LOTUS 117
little bowl of shoyu, a favourite sauce in Japan,
and concentrating my thoughts on the sauce, I
ate some, and almost succeeded in persuading
myself that it was rather nice. Anxious, how-
ever, not to appear greedy, I may have left more
than manners actually required, and swallowed
several little cups of sake with the haste with
which a child swallows orange wine after a dose
of cod-liver oil. A slight suspicion of that useful
medicine had not been drowned in the sake, for
it lingered on through a part of the next course.
There were three pretty little geisha girls
dining under the third paper lantern from ours.
One was extremely pretty, and pointing this out
to my host, I was told that she was "No. 3."
I naturally wished to know what " No. 3 " meant.
" For wit and beauty she is given that place
amongst the geisha of Kyoto." I wondered
what " No. 1 " might be like. " Not necessarily
more beautiful," was my answer ; " for wit ranks
equally high, and, as a matter of fact, " No. 3 " is
perhaps the prettiest, though not as clever as the
two first ones." It was rather a shock when I
saw pretty Miss " No. 3 " poke a piece of raw fish
between her rosy lips. 1 reflected that a Japanese
would probably be as shocked to see a pretty
118 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
English girl eating underdone beei at home, and
I knocked one of my few remaining prejudices
on the head.
To my surprise, "No. 3" and her two companions
trotted up to where we were squatting when our
respective meals were over. They went down
on their knees, and bowed till their heads touched
the matting. My friend received this homage
with a slight bow and a smile, and introduced
them to me. Belonging to the superior sex, it
would not have been polite to have introduced
me to them this is in Japan, I hasten to add.
Renewed prostrations for my benefit now
followed, and I did my best to receive these as
due to the superiority of the male sex. They could
not stop to sip tea with us, since they were due
at a performance, where they were going to
dance; they bid us good-bye now with bows more
familiar than reverential, and with that low laugh
which is as natural to them as breathing they
tripped out of the room, and I saw them no more.
I remarked to my friend how thankful I was
that the craze which obtained some years ago for
adopting European dress had died out. He, as
an artist, would be sure to appreciate this.
" Indeed I do," he answered ; " not only the
THE LOTUS 119
artists, but all the men, thought the Western
dress unbecoming to our women, and they were
not long in returning to their national costume.
It is also less extravagant, on account of there
being no sudden changes in fashion, and it is more
cleanly from its being much simpler to wash."
I also remarked that the Japanese were too
short-legged to wear becomingly Western dress.
" We are altering that," he said, and as I naturally
looked sceptical, he hastened to assure me that it
was a fact. Medical men had come to the con-
clusion that the kneeling posture of the children
impeded the circulation, and prevented the full de-
velopment of the lower limbs, in consequence of
which all school-children are now obliged to sit
on stools during lesson-hours. Careful measure-
ments are periodically made, and it is proved
beyond doubt that the children on leaving school
have now longer legs than those of their parents.
They are indeed a wonderful people !
The geisha is an institution so essentially
Japanese that a few words on the subject may
not be out of place here.
Anyone professing or calling himself a Christian
can hardly fail to condemn it, and in truth Occi-
dentals generally, whether they hold the faith of
120 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
their forefathers or not, still hold, unconsciously
perhaps, sufficient to condemn an institution
which they feel is lowering to the sex of wife,
mother, or sister. A Japanese would answer
that it might be immoral for a European society
to recognize such an institution ; but as he is
not a Christian, and does not admit that woman
is on an equality with man, the suppression of the
geisha would not morally improve his country.
One may point out that it is not fair to sacrifice
these girls for the pleasure men may derive
thereby, whether the country they are born in
be heathen or Christian. The probable answer
would be, that she gets more enjoyment out of
her butterfly existence than she would have
done had her parents not sold her as a child to
the keeper of the geisha house, but had made
her work knee- deep in the paddy- fields to get
barely food enough to keep her.
" What becomes of her when, at the age of
twenty-seven, her term with the geisha-keeper
comes to an end ?" "A few marry, more
become concubines, and the remainder, if they
have been able to save a little money, keep
geisha houses themselves in their turn."
Now, having prefaced my description of the
THE LOTUS 121
geisha with an imaginary argument, let us see
how this wonderful work of art is produced.
Bought while a little child, of the neediest
parents, if her looks and health promise a good
investment, she becomes the property of her
mistress till she reaches an age when her attrac-
tions are on the decline. Her discipline is a
severe one, and none but an experienced hand
could turn this peasant-child into the accom-
plished little woman she is destined to become.
In Kyoto she is daily sent to the school for
meiko (the name she goes by till she reaches the
age of fifteen) ; she is taught to read and write,
and all the ordinary things learnt in an elementary
girls' school. Besides this, she has to spend hours
learning the different postures of the Japanese
dance ; she is taught to play the drum, the
samisen, and possibly the cotto musical instru-
ments requiring much more skill than one would
suppose. The elaborate etiquette observed at
weddings and other social gatherings must be
acquired ; drawing-room games, polite speech,
and, above all, to look her best on all occasions.
She may have to accompany geisha to dinner-
parties when only eight or ten years of age,
where she will beat her drum in accompaniment
122 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
to the other musical instruments, and mark time
to the dance of her elder sisters. She must fill
the little wine-cups to the brim without spilling
a drop, and be careful that every movement is
graceful. By the time she is twelve or thirteen
she will be sent out to banquets, to dance with
meiko of her own age, and at fifteen or sixteen
she may make her debut as a geisha.
I was taken round the school of the meiko,
and watched them being taught all these accom-
plishments. There might have been a hundred
or more little girls, and though I was conscious
that they were all the slaves of geisha- keepers,
they looked so healthy and happy that I failed
to feel sufficiently sorry for their lot.
The Japanese are naturally kind to children,
and it is in the interest of their owners to keep
them in good health and in happiness, for a
doleful-faced geisha is wanted nowhere.
While I was watching the teacher of the
samiften instructing a slopy-eyed little pupil
how to handle the plectrum, a party of Anglo-
Saxons came in two large, stout women and
a rather pretty girl of about eighteen. The
contrast in their appearance to that of the
teachers in this school was startling. They
THE LOTUS 123
would have been considered tall anywhere, but
here they looked giantesses. The two older
women had ponderous shoulders and busts, and
their pinched-in waists accentuated the bulk of
their hips. They looked as if they felt that they
were too big, and were doing their best to cut
themselves in two. They unsealed the building
we were in ; the passages now looked too narrow,
the ceilings too low. They were unbecomingly
hot, and their voices sounded too loud. The
young girl's face was pretty, but her figure and
movements were that of a boy. She suggested
hockey more than any graceful accomplishments.
Their dresses made me thankful that the women
of Japan had retained their national costume.
The fat women were upholstered rather than
clothed, and the girl's dress did not become her
for the lack of feminine grace to carry it off.
In outward appearance the difference between
these women of the two races was great, but
worlds separated them sociologically.
The careworn expression of the teachers told
of long hours of drudgery patiently borne and
poorly remunerated. And for what purpose ?
To turn these bought children into elegant toys
for the pecuniary benefit of their keepers !
124 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
The prosperous look of the tourists was almost
aggressive. They might come and go whither
they willed, and could indulge their desires with
the wealth which others had toiled for. They
would be treated with deference by their men-
folk instead of being their servants. The young
lady could hope to marry the man of her fancy,
and could not, like the young pupils in this
school, be bought and sold to a life of degrada-
tion. To be sure, the social position of these
Occidentals was different to that of their Oriental
sisters they had come to see, and had they been
visiting a school for young ladies of the well-to-do
classes in Japan, their conditions would have con-
trasted less, but the race differences would have
been just as striking.
I had been told that wit told as much as beauty
towards the success of the meiko when she made
her debut as a geisha. Now, young women with
more than a slight sense of humour are rare in
most countries. That this automatic training
should ever develop real wit seems hard to
believe. That it does exist will, I think, be
proved by the following specimen.
A Mr. Sizer, a young Englishman in one of
the foreign settlements, met some geishas at
THE LOTUS 125
an entertainment. The letter " i " in his name
being pronounced here the same as in Latin
countries, he was called what to our ears would
sound like Caesar San.
A slight breach of etiquette on his part made
one of these girls pretend that she was offended,
and she left the room for a short while. On her
return the Englishman asked her if she had for-
given him, when she drew herself up, and, in a
voice of mock tragedy, quoted in good English
the opening lines of Mark Antony's speech :
" I come to bury Ceesar, not to praise him."
Now this would have been a clever retort from
a well-educated English or American woman,
but coming, as it did, from a Japanese dancing-
girl, it sounds incredible. I can, however, vouch
for the truth of the story. It is just possible
that she belonged to a different class to that
from which the majority of the geishas come,
and was turning her talents and looks to account
in order to assist parents that had got into
straitened circumstances. In some cases a
good marriage ends their butterfly career, but
too often the end of these charming little
creatures is too unpleasant to dwell on.
CHAPTER X
JOURNEY TO SHOJI
HAVING completed tant bien que mal my
studies of the lotus pond, I decided to
get away from the heat of Kyoto at once, and go
to Shoji. There was so much in the old capital
which I had proposed painting, and so many
sights I had deferred seeing to leisure days which
never came, that I left this beautiful city with
the firm intention of returning to it as soon as
cooler weather would make work a possibility
and sight-seeing a pleasure.
The guide, philosopher, and friend that Mr.
Kanocogni had kindly procured me arrived in
time for us to catch the night train to Tokyo.
Hirosue Tsuda is his name. We will introduce
him to the reader as the G.P.F., trusting that
this may not be mistaken for some Government
department.
We reached Gotemba about eleven on the
following morning, and had barely time to get
126
JOURNEY TO SHOJI 127
our baggage into the primitive little tramway
which skirts a part of the base of Fujiyama and
ends at Kami-Yoshida. As the crow flies the
distance is only fifteen miles, but we soon found
that the straight course which that bird supposedly
takes is very different to the one of this tramway.
We also had not realized that we had to rise some
two thousand feet, and we had made no allowance
for the time spent in coaxing the car on to the
rails after the numerous times it got off them.
For eight hours we had to sit on a hard and
narrow bench in the little car, tightly packed with
all sorts and conditions of country-folk. The
derailments allowed us to stretch our legs a little,
and after getting used to them they came almost
as a relief. We were too tightly packed to be
shaken very much after we had picked up the
car's full complement of passengers, and a fat
woman next to me made a very good buffer.
Our fellow-passengers, being mostly of the
humbler classes, were much more communicative
than the ones we had as companions in the night
express, also much more amusing. As none
were likely to understand English, the G.P.F.
was able to discuss them with me, and interpret
any of the talk which caused most entertain-
128 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
ment. A Buddhist priest of the Zen sect and a
jolly old farmer were the wags of the party ; the
accidents on the line were looked on as huge
jokes, and the directions they volunteered to the
hands occupied in righting the car on to the rails
gave them ample scope for their witticisms. A
small tradesman and his concubine sat between
them, and more or less led the laughter, as the
claque in a French theatre leads the applause.
There were one or two students on their way
to climb Fuji, who were getting into training
by leaving the car at intervals to climb a hill,
joining us again when we had circled round a
part of its base.
An elderly woman, who fortunately sat in the
farther corner to the one I was in, was suffering
from a severe catarrh ; she used pieces of a
newspaper as a handkerchief, and threw them out
of the window, showing her contempt for modern
journalism at the same time. She and another
woman were the more serious part of the
company. The latter had two babies with
insatiable appetites ; the poor creature would
hardly finish nursing one when the second would
cry for its dinner. She looked the picture of
exhausted maternity ; she would probably have
JOURNEY TO SHOJI 129
laughed with the rest of them had she a laugh
left in her. My fat neighbour and excellent
buffer was a woman of many negative qualities ;
ready to laugh or look serious, and to agree with
everything and everybody. My luggage filled
up the little platform for the driver, who sat on
the upturned end of my trunk and let his legs
dangle over the splash - board. Like most
Japanese drivers, he had no whip, but was able
to make the pair of ponies do their utmost by
means of those peculiar sounds which the Jehu
of every country is an adept at making. He was
very popular with the ladies, had a little chaff
with every peasant-girl we met or overtook on
the road, and one who was carrying an extra
large bundle was allowed to climb up on his
platform, provided that she jumped off before
reaching the station where he was likely to meet
the inspector. " Always ready to give a good-
looking girl a ride for nothing," he informed the
company, while the young woman settled down
on the top of my suit-case, and deposited her
bundle on my hold-all.
I was fortunate enough to be able to catch up
some raw eggs, a doughy kind of bun, and some
apples, in a little village we passed, or I should
9
130 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
have had nothing from six o'clock that morning
till we reached Yoshida.
It was a beautiful day ; ever-varying cloud-
shapes hung about the summit of Fuji, some-
times hiding and sometimes setting off its grace-
ful outlines. As we circled round the lower hills
we lost sight of it for a while, and it would re-
appear in the least expected places.
When we reached Lake Yamanaka, we had a
less impeded view of the great extinct volcano ;
the clouds had dispersed, and the darkening
summit stood out sharply against the sky. The
snow had mostly disappeared, except in the
crevasses, and it told as a pale violet on the dark
mass of purple on which it lay.
For another couple of hours we ascended
slowly, through a wild, uncultivated country, with
scarcely a trace of human habitation. No cattle
or sheep browsed on the hill- slopes, though these
were rich in vegetation ; we saw a few birds,
some strange butterflies and beetles, and now
and again a snake would wriggle across our
track.
The benches in our rickety tramcar seemed to
get harder as each hour elapsed, and nothing
short of a derailment could stir up the least
JOURNEY TO SHOJI 131
excitement in our company during the last few
miles before we reached Yoshida.
This village, just bordering on the dimensions
of a small country town, was en fete: lanterns
and banners hung from every house, and strings
of small flags stretched across the street. On
inquiry, I learnt that a large number of pilgrims
was expected, Fuji now being sufficiently free
from snow to allow climbers to reach its
summit.
Nature-worship being an important feature of
Shintoism, it was to be supposed that Fuji,
Japan's greatest mountain, would be considered
a holy place ; and where an agreeable mountain
ascent is the pilgrimage, there is never a lack of
people to take part in it.
Yoshida is a favourite starting-point, and
during the two or three months that Fuji is open
its numerous inns do a very good trade.
We decided not to spend the night here, but
to push on to Funatso, the next stage in our
journey. The G.P.F. secured a man and hand-
cart to take our luggage, and a delightful walk of
two or three miles brought us there shortly after
the sun had set.
We got a room at a primitive little inn over-
132 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
looking Lake Kawaguchi. We were supplied
with sandals and kimonos, and the landlady
offered to undress us while her husband heated
up the bath. I explained that as I was a child
no longer, I could undress myself, but being
famished, we should be glad of some dinner as
soon as the bath was over. This was received
with smiles and bows and assurances that she
would do her best : "It is a humble inn
which my honoured guests have condescended to
patronize, and I fear that my utmost efforts must
of a necessity be unworthy." The G.P.F. had
nearly undressed during this speech, and I had
got off* as much clothing as decency allowed
when the lady trotted off in search of what food-
stuffs the village could supply.
The novelty of being considered a tall man had
worn off a little, but when I got into a kimono
made for a Japanese I felt a giant. This garment
only reached a few inches below my knees. I
climbed down the steep flight of stairs which led
into the living-room below, and was the cause of
some merriment to the second-class guests who
were assembled there. A sandal I had not gripped
firmly enough between the large and second toe
slipped off and clattered down the steps, while the
JOURNEY TO SHOJI 133
other one, which I had gripped too tightly, slid
round and stuck out at right angles to my foot.
As this did not stop the laughter, I took off
sandal No. 2, and had a shot at its fellow with
it, and nearly toppled down myself in doing so.
There were no banisters to these steps, so I
thought it safest to turn round and descend as
one does on a ladder. I was received with
applause like one who had successfully pulled off
a comic interlude at a serious gathering.
A hen-house had been converted into a bath-
room ; but as there was a clean towel, a bucket
of cold water, and a steaming hot bath, I had
nothing to complain of.
Forgetful of all I had read about the Japanese
bath, I put my foot into the tub, but very quickly
pulled it out again, and have felt sorry for the fate
of the lobster ever since. I called out to the land-
lord, who was still stoking in a little shed attached
to the ex-hen-house, and he lowered the tempera-
ture of the bath to within slow boiling-point, and
then another bucketful of cold water made it just
possible to get in. No soap is allowed in the hot
bath, as it would soil the water for the other
guests. The correct thing is to have a pre-
liminary wash before you get in, to have a long
134 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
soak in the heated water, then to be scrubbed by
the bath-man, and end with a cold douche.
There being no bath-man in this primitive inn,
the maid- of-all- work might have to scrub the
guests, had she not been fortunately otherwise
engaged, and I was left to complete my ablutions
by myself.
Bathing is so universal in Japan, and the bath-
room so important a feature in a Japanese inn,
that we may refer to it again later on.
The guest-rooms in the Naka-ya were built out
from the original cottage, and supported on piles
which were sunk in the bed of the lake itself.
The fine view had evidently been an important
consideration to the speculative proprietor when
he ventured on this inn, which serves as a resting-
place for foreigners on their way to Shdji Hotel.
The length of Lake Kawaguchi had to be
traversed ; carriers had to be provided to take
the luggage on to the next lake, and when that
was crossed, four miles of porterage was necessary
before reaching Lake Shdji, on which the foreign
hotel stood.
The proprietor was able to supply these wants
and also kugo, a species of litter, for any who
might not be up to the walk. His ideas of
JOURNEY TO SHOJI 135
European food were limited. He had taught
someone to bake bread, and professed to being
able to get cow's milk. Some tinned meats stood
on a shelf in the living-room, but as they might
have been there for some years, I was loath to
disturb them. My guide had told him that I
liked Japanese food, and I proved this to his
satisfaction when at last the dinner was served.
A delicious fish-broth with mushrooms, called
owan, a little bowl of tamago yaki, a compound
of egg and curded beans, and a dish of fresh trout,
were none of them things to be despised after a
long fast and a tiring day's journey, and the plain
boiled rice with which every Japanese meal ends
seems somehow or another just the thing required.
The prejudice foreigners have against the native
food is surprising. Ninety-nine out of a hundred
would have come here provided with tins, and
eaten this messy and often stale food in preference
to the clean and wholesome fare the landlord
could give them.
When the empty little lacquer bowls were
cleared away we were ready for bed. The nesan,
a thick-set country wench, started vigorously to
sweep the matting, we having to skip about to
keep clear of her broom. She then brought in
136 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
the quilts, spread them on the floor, and placed a
sheet over them ; from the recesses of her hang-
ing sleeve she fetched out a tin of insect-powder
(a Japanese imitation of Keating's), and peppered
a brown line of fortification round the edge of the
sheet. I watched this operation with mixed feel-
ings ; was surprised that in so clean a looking
room it should have been necessary. I was
anxious to learn what species of foe she was
protecting us against. " It was to keep off the
uomi" she said ; and I wasn't much the wiser. I
imitated a crawling motion with my fingers, and
she shook her head. I then gave some hops with
my finger over the matting, and found that I had
made a correct guess.
The foe was less alarming than the one 1 at
first feared, but should the Japanese nomi be as
nimble as the European one, he would not think
it much of a hop to clear so narrow a fortification.
I borrowed the rwsans pepper-pot, dusted the
whole sheet, and gave her to understand that
they might put another halfpenny on to the bill.
Encouraged by such generosity, she ran out to
fetch an enormous green muslin mosquito-curtain,
which she suspended from four hooks in the ceil-
ing. It had a band of black tape at each angle,
JOURNEY TO SHOJI 137
and also at the top and bottom, and when fixed
in position it looked like a huge meat-safe. She
then hitched up a corner to allow me to creep
into the bed, and drew the edges of the curtain
up to the powdery line of fortification.
Satisfied that I was properly protected from
the ka as well as the nomi, she went down on her
knees, brought her forehead to the matting, and
bid me " O yasumi nasai," which, being interpreted
literally, is, " Honourably resting deign." I gave
her the correct answer, " O yasumi," heard her
draw back the slides, and I tried to compose my-
self for a night's rest. The pillow was shaped like
a thick rolling-pin, and nearly as hard. It rolled
back over the quilt when I put my head on it ;
placing it further from the edge of the bedding, I
found my feet sticking out at the other end and
well over the Keating border. The quilt was
fortunately a wide one, and by stretching from
corner to corner I was able to get my feet covered.
I also learnt how the pillow should be treated to
keep it stationary, and that is to get it fixed in
the nape of the neck.
The old lady with the catarrh was squatting
in the further corner of the green meat-safe, and
had changed roles with the priest of the Zen
138 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
sect, for she was snuffling out jokes while he was
using a newspaper as a pocket-handkerchief.
The G.P.F. was nursing the hungry babes, and
exhausted motherhood was roaring with laughter
at his attempts. The bucksome wench was
slowly disappearing through the cover of my suit-
case, when a rattle and a bang awoke me.
I thought that the meat-safe had gone off the
rails : fortunately it was nothing more alarming
than the noise of the wooden shutters, which the
nesan and landlady were pushing along the
grooves outside the shoji (the paper slides),
and that banged together as they met in the
middle.
I had purposely left the shoji wide open, so as
to wake up at daybreak, and also to enjoy the
cool breeze which blew across the lake. But I
remembered now that police regulations oblige
everyone to lock up their houses at night. I felt
oppressed with a sense of stuffiness, and would
have pulled down the muslin curtain had not a
gentle " mi-i-i " made me aware that mosquitoes
were outside it. One or two nomi must have
crossed the Keating, and while trying to drive
one off my ankle, the rolling-pin slipped from
under my head. I began to feel more lenient to
JOURNEY TO SHOJI 139
the foreigner who avoids the native inns ; perhaps
he was not such a silly idiot after all.
A long day spent in the bracing air did more
than counteract the nibbling of the nomi and the
hardness of my pillow, for I became unconscious
of everything till the light streamed in through
the cracks in the shutters.
Mr. Tsuda had made all the necessary arrange-
ments with the landlord for the remainder of
our journey, and we were rowed across the lake
before the sun had risen above the surrounding
hills.
Kawaguchi is the most picturesque of the five
lakes which circle round the northern slopes of
Fuji. Funatso is prettily situated, at the east
and lower end, on a slight promontory capped
by a heavily thatched Shinto temple. The low-
lying hills and partly fishing, partly agricultural
villages on the southern edge often make a fine
foreground to the great mountain which rises
above them.
The cottages are all thatched, and the ridges
are thickly covered with house - leeks and a
variety of stonecrop ; on some we saw a fine
display of tiger-lilies. Whether the bulbs of the
latter are planted here, or whether the seed is
140 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
dropped by birds or blown up from the little
gardens below, I have never been able to
ascertain. A wooden object, shaped like a
scythe and about a yard high, is generally stuck
at both ends of the ridge. I am told this is to
keep off evil spirits.
We reached the head of the lake in a little
over an hour, when our luggage, and that of a
German merchant from Yokohama who accom-
panied us, was strapped on to the backs of four
coolies whom we had taken with us. We
climbed over a little pass in the hills and
descended to the shore of Nishinoumi. Here a
fresh boat was engaged, and we were taken
across this lake to a little riparian village called
Nemba.
The sun was now getting uncomfortably hot,
and we were thankful that the four or five miles
we had to tramp to reach Lake Shoji was mostly
through a thickly-wooded country.
It is astonishing how these little coolies can
tramp up the hills, heavily laden as they often
are. and on a diet on which an Englishman
wouldjstarve.
When we reached the last bit of water which
we had to cross, the men halloaed to the hotel
JOURNEY TO SHOJI 141
on the opposite shore to bring the boat, and
when they had succeeded in making themselves
heard, we were able to dismiss them.
An hour later Mrs. Higuchi welcomed us at
the landing-stage of the hotel which bears her
name.
CHAPTER XI
SHOJI
SHOJI is an ideal spot for the foreign
residents at Kobe or Yokohama to pass
their holidays. The air is bracing, the scenery
is beautiful ; delightful excursions are to be
made from here, and bathing, boating, and
fishing of sorts is to be had on the lake which
the hotel overlooks. It is too ungetatable
for a week-end outing, though well worth the
trouble of getting there for those who can
afford the time it takes. The inconveniences
of the tramway journey can be minimized by a
party hiring a car for themselves, and good
pedestrians can make the return journey by
walking to Kofu and taking the train to Yoko-
hama, or by descending the Fujikawa rapids and
joining the Tokaido Railway at Iwabuchi.
If the latter route be taken, the excursionist
will have gone round the whole of the base of
Fujiyama, amidst the most varied and beautiful
142
SHOJI 143
scenery. The river trip can be spread over three
days by sleeping a night at Minobu the Mecca
of the Buddhists of the Nicheren sect and
rejoining the boat at Hakii the next morning.
Visitors to Japan on pleasure bent, and not suffer-
ing from nerves, should make a point of taking
this trip. Full directions are given in Murray,
arid also an excellent description of Minobu.
Should they fail to do this, they may live in
danger of meeting a six weeks' excursionist, who
will exclaim : " Do you mean to say that you
were all that time in Japan and never went down
the Fujikawa !" The writer lives in that danger
now, and, alas ! has yet another hanging over him :
for two months he could gaze with respect on the
crown of Fujiyama when she lifted her cloudy
veil, but no attempt did he make to reach that
crown and look down on her loveliness. Attempts
to portray some of her beauty and to depict
many of the delightful subjects which lay in her
shadow required all the time at his disposal.
Shoji is an ideal spot, as we said before, both
for the idler, the overworked man needing a rest,
or the tourist who is satiated with the sights
which he has been rushed round to see. But
unfortunately it did not altogether suit the
144 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
requirements of my particular case. From the
hotel an uninterrupted view of the whole of Fuji
is obtained, but a poor foreground to help the
composition. She looked much more imposing
from many places we had passed on the way
here, where her outlines were partly hid and her
height enhanced by the lesser hills lying at her
base. 1 could make studies of the cloud-forms
which often hung about her summit ; but a good
picture of the mountain is not to be got here.
The village of Shoji, which Murray con-
temptuously dismisses as a squalid hamlet, has
distinct pictorial possibilities, and I spent most
of my time in painting there ; it takes half an
hour's row across the lake to reach it, and I was
not always fortunate enough to find the boat
disengaged.
The village starts in a fold in the hills, and
spreads out as it reaches down to the edge of
the lake. The dwellers at the top are mainly
agricultural, if such a term can be applied to the
poor folk who scratch little terraces out of the
mountain-side to grow a patch of maize or millet.
Wood-chopping is the chief occupation of the
bulk of the population ; the women bring the
wood down from the heights, while the men cut
SHOJI 145
it into lengths and sizes to be turned into broom-
handles and many other commodities. Thousands
of chop-sticks are also made here, and with a
surprising rapidity. Down on the strand live
the fisher-folk and the boatmen who bring the
timber from across the lake.
An unsophisticated people dwell in this remote
village, and live now much in the same way as
their forbears lived a thousand and more years
before them. A chain of mountains cuts them
off from the nearest township, eighteen miles
away, and no squire or parson lives within that
distance to use any civilizing influence. The
Shinto priest is in as humble a position as the
rest, and probably chops wood when not attend-
ing to the ceremonies of the communal cult at
the village temple.
Since the new order of things, the little ones
have to attend school, and a policeman has a look
round about once a fortnight.
The hotel across the lake had only been built
a few years ago, and the guests seldom paid the
village a visit. I was stared at as though I
were some strange being dropped out of another
planet, and curiosity was highly awakened when
I sat down to paint their houses.
10
146 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
Where there is apparently so little control, a
stranger would expect the people to be living
in a state of savagery, instead of being industrious
and well-behaved. Let him look a little deeper
into the matter, and he will find that there
is less individual freedom here than in any
European community, be it ever so well policed.
Each member of a household is responsible for
its good behaviour to the head of the family.
The sisters must obey the brothers ; the younger
sons are ruled by the elder ; and all are subject to
the will of the father or grandfather, as the case
may be. The head of each household is respon-
sible to the elders of the village, and they, in
their turn, are subject to the rulers of the
district. Everyone is in a sense his brother's
keeper, for the sin of the one is visited on the
many.
Though cruel punishments cannot, as formerly,
be inflicted on the erring ones, social custom is
so deeply engrained that none dare openly to
fight against it.
They are not alone ruled by the living ; they
must be careful also not to offend the spirits of
the dead ; neglect of the family cult may bring
disaster on that family, and neglect of the
SHOJI 147
communal cult may cause suffering to the
whole community. The Shinto priest, who may
be chopping wood to eke out his little salary, is
the representative of a more powerful system of
government than the frontiers of any constitution
could ever hope to attain. It has ruled these
people for probably more than three millen-
niums, and has become a part and parcel of their
natures.
The police may have to enforce new regula-
tions, and men may be fined or imprisoned for
the breach of a law recently enacted. The rule
of the dead will remain a power for good as long
as Japan holds a prominent position amongst the
nations.
A sanitary regulation was being carried out
during one of the days that I worked there, and
a policeman had come over from Motosu for the
purpose. Four times a year the mats have to be
taken out of the houses to be beaten and aired in
the sun a bad lookout for the nomi. I found it
just as well to do my sketching on the windward
side of these operations. In the better class of
houses the mats are taken off the frames to
which they are fixed and turned after the first
six months, and they are discarded after a year.
148 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
The paper is also stripped off the shoji, and
renewed every six months.
To satisfy the sensibilities of the foreigners,
who go to Japan in ever-increasing numbers, a
police regulation obliges everyone to take his
daily bath indoors ; and in the towns, where
there are plenty of police to enforce it, these
ablutions on the pavement during the hot
weather are not seen at present. They were
not so particular here in Shoji, for I constantly
saw men and women tubbing themselves in the
little courts in front of their cottages, and
sometimes in the street itself.
To heat up the bath inside the small houses
would make them unbearably hot, so the large
tub and heating furnace are placed outside till
the weather cools down. " Nudity in Japan is
seen but not looked at," as someone pithily put it.
As the Japanese are a very law-abiding people,
it is probable that in a few years this alfresco
bathing will cease to exist, although it is always
hard to put laws into force which are foreign to
the customs of a people.
1 had my first experience of an earthquake
while staying at Shoji. I was working in my
room when it occurred.
SHOJI 149
I felt the hotel shake several times before
I was aware of the cause. I went on with my
painting, wishing that Mrs. Higuchi had chosen
some other time for moving her furniture. A
more violent shake than the first ones made me
blot my drawing, and I reflected that, if the
workmen did not move the furniture more
carefully, they would bring the ceiling down
on me. I looked up to see if there were any
dangerous cracks in the plaster, when it dawned
on me that there was no floor above.
A low rumble followed, increasing in strength,
till the windows rattled to such an extent that I
moved rapidly away from the glass. I heard
hurried footsteps in the passage, and as my door
had flown open, I saw one of the German guests
running past to get outside. He must have
seen me as he flew past, for he called out :
" Ach ! do you not veal die eardquake ?"
Now, don't think that I was particularly brave,
or that my German acquaintance was excep-
tionally timid. He had lived some years in
Japan, and was instantly aware of the cause
of the shaking, and fully alive to the awful
possibilities ; whereas, in my case, it was mostly
over before I clearly realized what was happen-
150 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
ing. I remembered some of the remarks
Professor Chamberlain makes on the subject
in " Things Japanese " how the novice always
wonders why people should make such a fuss
about it ; how he changes his mind after a few
more experiences ; and how his terror of earth-
quakes grows with length of residence in this
earthquake-shaken land. I wondered if, after
my fifth or sixth experience, I would be in such
a mortal funk as my friend appeared to be in.
I went on with my work and forgot all about
the earthquake till the next day, when a news-
paper arrived with a description of the damages
which it had caused.
Two days later I was spending the evening
in the sitting-room with the other guests, when
we experienced a shock far severer than the last
ones. It came without the slightest warning,
and only lasted a few seconds. The noise it
made was probably far greater than it would
have made in a solidly-constructed house ; but
the danger was far less, for wooden buildings
will yield to vibrations which might easily bring
down brick or stone walls.
I felt less comfortable after this, my second
experience. For one thing, it made more noise
SHOJI 151
in this room, which had windows extending
round two sides of it. During a minute or
two after the shake everyone seemed on the
qui vive, and the most interesting story would
not have had a listener.
A lady declared that she knew one was coming,
as she felt sick just before it. " Was it really
before, and not at the time, or so soon after that
she would not notice the difference ?" These
were questions thought or only hinted at. But
we were assured, with the assurance which only
the doubted word brings forth, that such had
been her experience each time. Others have
also told me that a feeling of nausea always
preceded, in their cases, an earthquake shock.
The safest place in a room is just under the
doorway, for should part of the roof or a chimney-
stack come crashing through the ceiling, you get
some protection from the lintel and the wall
above it. I should feel more convinced of the
prophetic sickness mentioned above had I ever
seen or even heard of anyone so warned making
for this place of comparative safety before and
not after the shock.
A Japanese superstition, still existing amongst
the least educated, is that earthquakes are caused
152 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
by a huge subterranean fish, which, on waking
up, wriggles about and causes the vibrations. A
book could be written on the superstitions, the
anecdotes, and the native illustrations bearing on
this subject.
Since the waking up of Japan to modern
science, seismological research has been actively
carried on. The seismometer is nearly as
familiar to an educated Japanese as the barometer
is to the European. Japan has had the benefit
of Professor Milne's scientific knowledge, and
a volume of the " Seismological Transactions "
treats entirely on the volcanoes in the Japanese
Empire. When we look for the weather fore-
casts in our papers, the Japanese look for a report
of any earthquake shocks recorded during the
last twenty-four hours.
It is not supposed that science will ever be
able to prevent these disturbances, but science
has been able to point out some means of
minimizing their disastrous results. It has been
proved that the vibrations are much greater at
the surface of the soil than in the lower layers.
To illustrate this, it is only necessary to place
several billiard-balls in a row and touching each
other on a table, and by striking the first ball
SHOJI 153
it will be seen that the farthest one will move
the fastest, the intermediate ones remaining
comparatively stationary.
Little damage may result to a building if its
foundations be isolated from the soil's surface.
Before science had proved this fact, the law of
the survival of the fittest had taught the Japanese
builders to adopt this plan. The framing of their
structures being entirely of wood, it was advisable
to disconnect the perpendicular supports from the
soil so as to prevent the rot. The timbers were,
therefore, not sunk into the ground, but rested
on stone plinths, which served as the true founda-
tions. The wooden pillars of important buildings
have a bronze casing at the base, and probably a
metal pin is dowelled into the stone beneath.
It is generally supposed that wood was chosen
in preference to stone or brick for building
material on account of its being less liable to
damage from earthquakes. It may be one of the
reasons ; the greater cost of brick or stone is
probably the chief cause. Nine-tenths of Japan
is only suitable for the growth of timber, and
with this material close at hand wooden structures
were the most likely ones to be erected. Had
timber been scarce, it is possible that more durable
buildings would have been evolved to resist, in a
measure, the earth's vibrations. Such buildings
are now being constructed in the European
settlements in Tokyo and in other cities.
The one-storied house, so universal elsewhere,
is doubtless due to the fear of the earthquake,
for it is hardly to be supposed that in towns
where the ground is valuable such low houses
would exist but for this cause.
Japan suffers from a scourge even greater than
earthquakes, and that is fire. A serious visitation
of the former is usually followed by the latter.
Houses built of wood, the partitions generally
of paper, the floors covered with straw-matting,
and the rooms often only lighted with paper
lanterns with such an abundance of inflam-
mable material, can one wonder that fires are
so prevalent ?
It is said that good taste prevents the owner
of valuable works of art from making a display
of his treasures in his rooms ; and in truth, if you
call on a Japanese who is known as an art-
collector, you will be disappointed at the small
number of beautiful things seen in his sitting-
rooms. A kakemono of some painter of the Kano
school and a beautiful vase or statuette may be
SHO.TI 155
seen in the takemona, but beyond that all is
simplicity itself. Should he know that you are
interested in Japanese art, he will send a servant
to fetch some more things from the godown. I
may mention here that a godown is a fireproof
room attached to most buildings where there is
anything especially valuable to protect.
The two objects in his room which are there
solely for decorative purposes have their beauty
and importance very much enhanced in such a
simple and also tasteful setting. The ornamenta-
tion of the sliding-screens and other necessary
objects is in good taste, though not costly.
The effect is pleasing, but the cause of this
scarcity of precious things is not far to seek.
The owner knows full well the risks from fire
which he would run should he leave his valuables
in such inflammable surroundings. Good taste
is here the handmaiden of expediency.
AVere a man sufficiently wealthy not to mind
risking the loss of his works of art, he would be
justly deemed a vulgarian.
In spite of precautions, it is sad to think of
the havoc fire has caused to countless art
treasures.
During the last two days I spent in Kyoto, a
156 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
fire raged at Osaka, which is the second largest
city in Japan. It is estimated that more than a
quarter of the buildings were destroyed before
the fire could be mastered.
I was astonished at the little excitement that
so great a calamity caused in Kyoto, which is
only about thirty miles distant from Osaka.
The Japanese are not fatalists, like the Moham-
medans, who are past-masters in bearing the
trials of others ; but this seeming indifference
must be due to the frequent occurrence of this
dreadful scourge.
Many a prayer falls on the deaf ears of Fudo's
image, to ask his protection from the fires he
controls. May they be heard where the prayer
of the faithful is acceptable, though offered up to
wood and stone !
CHAPTER XII
JOURNEY TO KOFU
T AVAS fortunate enough to make the ac-
-- quaintance of a German officer and his wife,
who had come to the hotel by the Kofu route.
They told me of a wonderful display of lotuses
they had seen in the moat round the ruined Kofu
Castle.
This was not to be lost, and, finding that
Mr. Tsuda was equal to a long day's tramp, I
decided to leave the next day and return to
Shoji when I had got what I wanted.
We secured an agile young man to carry our
traps, and started at six in the morning, hoping
to get over the pass in the mountain range we
had to cross before the full heat of the day.
A tramp in bracing air and amidst beautiful
scenery is a delightful thing in itself, but add to
this a distinct object, and let it be in a country
where a surprise may be awaiting you round
157
158 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
every turning of the road : your day's tramp
thus becomes such an asset in the joys of
existence as to wipe out a host of vexations and
discomforts which may have accumulated on the
wrong side of the account.
Such a one it was which took us from Shoji to
the lotus-flowers at Kofu.
We crossed the water, ascended the village,
and took a path leading through the pine-woods
to the top of the ridge of hills which semicircle
round the lake. Looking back, we got a fine
view of Fuji's cone rising from a magnificent
wreath of clouds which hung round its base.
The reflections in the lake were unruffled as they
seldom are at a later hour in the day ; the village
lay at our feet, its mouse-coloured thatch
etherealized by the transparent columns of smoke
which rose straight up till a higher current of air
cut them off.
We had one last look at Fuji, and descended
into the next valley. Our path led alongside a
stream which splashed and eddied around the
stones and fallen timber in its course. Wild
hydrangeas grew in profusion, and often lined
each side of the pathway ; gentian, monk's-hood,
and Lilium auratuin throve in the moistened air
JOURNEY TO KOFU 159
and shelter of the heavier timbered trees we then
were under.
The stream increased considerably in volume
as we got farther down its course, and when we
emerged out of the wood we looked down on a
series of water-mills with curious little overshot
wheels, fed through conduits made of thick
bamboo stems. A few cottages were scattered
about near the mills, and, where the lie of the
land allowed of it, there were rice-fields.
The valley was long and narrow, and shut in
with high hills on each side. The sun was high
enough now to beat down on it, and we were
thankful to find a little tea-house to rest in
before ascending to the pass over the mountains.
The landlady, after she had got over the
surprise of seeing such unusual visitors, placed
the baby she was nursing under a small green
mosquito-curtain more like a meat-safe than
the one I slept under at Funatsu. She next
attended to the fire, which is usually in an iron
well sunk in the matted floor ; she blew up the
charcoal embers through an iron pipe, and hung
the kettle on a hook suspended over the fire
from the ceiling. She placed two cushions on
the edge of the raised floor for us to sit on,
ICO JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
allowing our feet to rest on the pavement out-
side. A cricket was chirping in a cage little
larger than a sardine-tin hung over the entrance,
just above our heads.
A young woman was attending to the washing
in the garden. I watched her fish a kimono out
of a tub and spread it out on some flat boards ;
then she flattened out all the pleats with her
hands, and left the sun to do the rest.
Little lacquer bowls of biscuits and sweetmeats
were placed before us, and when the water was
boiled we were served with little cups of green
tea. This is always taken without milk or sugar,
and is not allowed to draw more than a few
seconds. You do not ask the price of these
refreshments on leaving, but you place on the
tray a small sum which the okosan acknowledges
with a deep reverence and an apology for the
lowly fare she has served you. She does not
even look at the remuneration till you are off
the premises.
AYe left the valley shortly after our rest, and
took a winding path in a fold in the hills to our
right. Ubaguchitoge did not appear much of
a climb after all ; so thought the G.P.F. and I,
but a slight smile on the face of our carrier
JOURNEY TO KOFU 161
made me feel less confident. We were on the
wrong side of the hill, both for shade and the breeze,
and some nice fat clouds had an aggravating
way of just missing the sun as they lazily floated
across the blue. We got to the top of the first
summit, only to find that another and a rather
higher one stared us in the face. The young
mountaineer who acted as carrier and guide
tried to console us by saying that if we stepped
out we could get to the top in an hour.
The hour dragged on to one and a half; it
seemed an eternity under the scorching sun, and
above a bad blister on my heel. The half-
hour's halt at the top of the pass, when we finally
reached it, made ample amends for our toil. We
found a shady place under a rock, an icy cold
spring, and we overlooked the grandest panorama
which I have seen in Japan. A fertile plain,
criss-crossed by the streams which feed the
Fujikawa, stretched away to the right and left
of us. Kofu lay on the opposite side, and range
upon range of mountains, partly hid by huge
cumulus clouds or intensified in colour by the
shadows they cast, formed a magnificent back-
ground. Kofu is the centre of the silk trade,
and the numerous villages dotted about the
11
162 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
extensive patches of mulberry-bushes bore witness
to the importance of the industry.
Our descent into the plain was a steep and a
long one. It lies from two to three thousand feet
lower than the valley we had left behind us.
We were now on the shadier side of the range,
and got the benefit of the breeze that blew from
the north. We halted at Ubaguchi, the first
village we reached on entering the plain ; there
was no inn, but we were told that we could get
some rice at a little general store.
We had exhausted the packet of sandwiches,
and were quite ready for the dried fish and boiled
rice the store-keeper was able to prepare for us.
He also blessed man ! fished some bottles of
Kirin beer out of a well, and handed us two
glasses. I pointed out to him that there were
three of us, and he explained that he possessed a
third glass, but that it was so precious to him
that he never produced it unless obliged to do so.
He fetched it, however, and I asked the G.P.F.
to try and find out why this particular glass
should be so much prized, for it was but a
common little tumbler.
After clearing a space on the matting of the
clogs, straw sandals, and what not else that
JOURNEY TO KOFU 163
littered it, he squatted down, fanned the flies off
our dried fish, and told us the following story :
" While serving in Manchuria during the late
war I had brought a wounded Russian into our
camp, and I was told off to look after him. I
became very fond of my prisoner, who was a
peasant, like myself, and I did what I could to
relieve him in his sufferings. The poor fellow
was too badly hurt to recover, but before he
died he asked me to search in his greatcoat for
a vodka-glass he had, and, when I found it, he
said : * Take this. It is a poor offering to make in
return for what you have done, but it is the only
thing in this world that I possess.' You can't
wonder, then, gentlemen, that I value this little
tumbler."
A little girl now came in to buy a farthing's-
worth of oil. With many apologies, the shopman
asked if I would condescend to move, and he
lifted a little trap-door in the floor where I had
been squatting, let down a miniature bucket on
a string and brought it up full of oil, that was in
an open vat below. He gave the child her
measure and took the farthing (one sen). The
little girl evidently knew her man, for she looked
sideways into her jug, then at the bucket, and
164 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
smiled in such an enticing manner that our shop-
man could not resist pouring in another measure.
He was a jolly-looking fellow, not handsome
from our European point of view, but his figure,
only hid by a loin-cloth, was one an athlete
might be proud of.
I left his little store feeling better pleased with
human nature generally. I even thought I felt
my blister less, but possibly the Kirin beer may
have had something to do with it.
Ubaguchi is a long, straggling village ; in
nearly every house we saw women weaving silk
or winding it from cocoons, which bobbed about
in tubs of water. We tramped on for another
four or five miles, passing through one or two
hamlets, and everything we saw was in some way
or another connected with the production of
silk.
It began to rain as we reached a village along-
side the river we had to cross, and we took shelter
in another general store, which was hostel, tea-
house, and cake-factory at the same time. We
were just in time, for we had hardly sat down to
our little cups of tea when the rain came down
in torrents. People came running in with
dripping straw rain-coats or with large oiled-
JOURNEY TO KOFU 165
paper capes. Those who had not the wide-
brimmed circular hats carried paper umbrellas.
We were soon sitting in a hot, steamy mass of
humanity, who seemed to treat the storm as a
huge joke.
Our carrier and guide was able to hire a
covered cart to take us on to Kofu ; it was to
meet us on the farther side of the river, as the
wooden bridge was not considered safe, except
for foot-passengers.
We were lent paper umbrellas which we could
leave on the roadside before getting into the
cart. An extra wrap of oiled paper was tied
round our traps, and we crossed the rickety and
slippery bridge. We were soon jolted along the
two or three miles of road which separated us
from Kofu.
CHAPTER XIII
KOFU
Sadoko is a busy commercial hotel in
the centre of the long main street of Kofu.
The telephone, the tape with latest quotations,
and latest editions of evening papers, were all
there, and yet, in outward appearance, the place
was as unlike anything European as it is possible
to conceive.
Before we took off our boots, the manager
slid along the raised and matted floor, and, with
two or three jerky bows, informed us that there
were two rooms still vacant on the top floor.
A maid placed two cushions on the edge of
the platform for us to sit on, while a manservant
in the lobby undid our boots and placed them in
pigeon-holes made for the purpose. A maid
brought sandals for us to put our honourable
feet in, but was mildly reproved by the manager
for not bringing slippers, as neither of the honour-
able guests wore tabi (digitated socks), for with-
166
KOFU 167
out the latter it is impossible to get a grip on the
sandals. With humble apologies, she brought
slippers, and, taking me by the hand, she led me
up two steep flights of stairs to my room. This
was the first purely Japanese house I had seen,
which had two stories above the ground floor,
and as the stairs are steep and have no banisters,
the ascent has to be made with caution. Having
reached the top, the nJsan, as the waitresses are
called, closed up some sliding-screens, and two
rooms were ready to receive us. Mine was at
the corner of a wing of the building commanding
a view up and down the street. The passage
formed a kind of balcony round two of its sides.
Slippers have to be left in the passage, as even
they might soil the matting on the floor.
Kimonos were then presented to both of us, the
n&an remarking that she had found an extra
long one for me.
It was as hot here in Kofu as it had been at
Kyoto, so I was glad to get out of my clothes
and wear the cool cotton dress. While I stood
there, not quite knowing what to do, the nesan
tried to reach my collar, but told Mr. Tsuda that,
as she had not a ladder, she could not reach to
unbutton it. When she was assured that 1
168 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
usually undressed myself, she bowed lowly and
took her departure, promising to return as soon
as I was ready, so that she could conduct me to
the bath.
She seemed very much amused, when she
returned, at the way I had put on the kimono.
The left side was crossed over the right, as a coat
in England would be, and, whether she felt
ashamed to be seen with such a queer-looking
lodger, or whether it ran counter to her super-
stitions, I don't know. But she soon had my
obi off, recrossed the kimono as it should be, and
tied me up again , then, taking my towel and
soap-box, she led me by the skirt of my garment
down the steep stairs and into the bathroom,
quite regardless of the two or three men that
were drying themselves in a state of nature. I
gave her to understand that I could now get on
without her assistance, and she went away.
Now, glass is a rarity in a Japanese house ; it
was therefore passing strange that the door of
the bathroom should have been chiefly of that
material, especially as it faced the open kitchen,
where nearly all the maids congregate. I had
read and heard about the indignation there was
in Tokyo when a Paris-trained Japanese artist
KOFU 169
exhibited at the annual picture-show a painting
of the nude, which would have been thought
modest enough in our Royal Academy ; I had
also heard how shocked Japanese ladies were
when they went to a foreign reception and saw
European ladies in low dresses, and in no theatre
or professional dancing entertainment is the least
immodesty in dress allowed. Remembering all
these things, you may imagine my surprise when
what I shall now relate occurred.
The men who were drying themselves soon
left, and only one remained in the hot bath. I
went through the preliminary wash before getting
in the hot water, which gave the man time to
get out ; I crept slowly into his vacant place, for
I had not got accustomed to the intense heat of
the water, such as the Japanese like. While
I was having this soak, and while the other man
was being shampooed by the bathman, three
young ladies walked in, one of them carrying a
baby. They chatted for a while with the man
undergoing the scrubbing, and then dropped off
their kimonos arid other garments and were all
three in a state of nature.
They each took a little wooden pail, and, with
a word of apology, filled it with the hot water
170 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
in which I was sitting ; then, seating themselves
on low wooden stools, they set to work to soap
and scrub themselves as a preliminary to getting
into the bath itself.
Now, this was all very well and pretty, but
what was to happen next ? I must either get
out of the bath and make a bolt across the room
before I could find shelter behind my towel,
or else I should have the three young women
and the baby in the bath with me. There
was certainly not room for four people and a
fraction.
The young mother, having cleared herself and
child of soapsuds, now carried her offspring to
the hot bath and danced it in the water. 1 was
persuaded that she wanted to get in, but did not
like doing so till I got out ; there was nothing,
therefore, left for me but to make a dash for my
towel at the farther end of the room.
I tried to show as little concern as Adam
before the Fall might have shown, and I climbed
out of the bath. Hurrying my movements, after
stepping down to the floor, I unfortunately trod
on a piece of soap, and down I came. Whether
there was anything in common between my
physical fall and the moral one of our remote
KOFU 171
ancestor, I cannot say, but I am sure that Adam
did not hurry after fig-leaves any faster than I
did after my towel.
I had evidently kept the three ladies long
enough out in the cold, for they were all in the
hot water I had vacated before I had reached
the end of the room. Three heads with those
wondrous erections in hair only seen in Japan
now appeared to float on the surface of the
steamy water. The baby was seated on the floor,
placidly playing with its toes, while mamma and
its two aunts were enjoying themselves in the
bath.
It struck me that mamma and her sisters were
almost in pain from suppressed laughter, and
that it might have had some connection with
Adam's fall. I lingered for a moment outside
the door of the bathroom, and the peals of
laughter I heard confirmed me in my supposi-
tion.
Ladies in England or America who may read
this will probably dismiss these three bathers as
bold-faced hussies, and it may be difficult to
convince them that their hastily -formed judgment
is a wrong one. Far from being bold-faced, the
Japanese lady is extremely retiring and very
172 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
modest in her behaviour towards those of the
other sex. She would feel outraged were it pro-
posed that she should go to a public entertain-
ment in the scant garments which a Western
lady will assume ; neither would she remain in a
theatre where the short skirts and pink tights of
the European ballet were tolerated. She would
argue that such costumes are immodest because
they are worn to attract attention, whereas the
bath is a necessity, and indecency only begins
when the intention to be indecent is there.
A placid understanding exists in Japan that
when people unclothe entirely for the ablutions,
or even do so in part on account of the heat,
they be considered invisible, and during all the
time that I frequented Japanese inns I cannot
recall one instance where a word or look showed
that this understanding did not hold good.
In more important hotels in the larger centres
there are now two separate bathrooms, partly
due to pressure from the foreigners, who view
the matter from a totally different standpoint,
and partly for the convenience of the lady-guests
themselves. The latter, where there is but one
room, generally take their bath when the men
have finished theirs, unless there is some urgent
KOFU 173
reason for them to take it earlier. This is because
they are accustomed to take a second place in
most things.
The extreme heat of the bath has a most
exhilarating effect. It is often considered relax-
ing in England, but that is because it is seldom
taken hot enough. Englishmen, who cling to
their prejudices perhaps longer than any other
people, usually adopt this form of bath after
having dwelt some time in Japan.
Dinner is served to each guest in his own room.
As 1 did not care to dine alone in the square
bandbox which was allotted to me, I asked the
G.P.F. to dine with me. My powers of con-
versation were also much too limited to be able
to answer the questions which the nesan would
be sure to ask me, and to have her silently watch-
ing me working my chopsticks would be liable
to get on my nerves. When Mr. Tsuda joined
me, the nesan attending to his room followed, so
that, with three people speaking the language and
a fourth who could join in with an interpreter,
the meal was much more lively.
After we had finished the curded-bean soup,
fish - broth, lotus - roots, bamboo - shoots, and
octopus, and laid them to rest under a heavy
174 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
covering of boiled rice, we had to settle the
question of the chadai.
As our stay in Kofu depended on what I
might find to paint, it was difficult to decide
what amount this chadai should be. Chadai is
the present the guest makes to the landlord when
he has settled down in the hotel of the latter.
The scale of charges is little more than covers
the expenses, and should a guest not make this
money present, his host would be keeping him
at very little profit to himself. There is no bar
and standing drinks, also no billiard-room, sources
from which the British landlord hopes to derive a
considerable profit, and as tea is served at all
hours, the chadai, or tea-money, is expected,
though never asked for.
Having decided on the proper amount, con-
sistent with economy and a dislike to being
thought mean, I gave it to the nesan to take
to the landlord. The dinner-things were cleared
away, the G.P.F. went to his room, and I laid
down on the soft matting to read what Murray
had to say about Kofu, soon forgetting all about
the chadai.
Presently a lady, whom I had not seen before,
appeared at the entrance of my room. She
KOFU 175
dropped her sandals in the passage, got down on
her knees, and after several deep obeisances, slid
along the floor, and placed a neatly-done-iip
parcel before me. A sheet of paper with Chinese
characters written on it, which she also presented,
did not enlighten me as to the object of her visit.
" Wakarimasen,* wakarimasen," was all the
Japanese I could think of to say, and I ran to
the G.P.F.'s room to get his assistance.
The sheet of paper with the picturesque ideo-
graphs was merely a receipt for the clmdai, and
the neatly-done-up parcel contained a couple of
towels and two fans, which were, as she explained,
the humble offerings she hoped her honourable
guests would condescend to accept as a slight
return for the munificent ckadai. I asked my
interpreter to give a suitable answer to this
speech, and the landlady crawled backwards on
her knees till she reached the passage ; then one
more duck which brought her forehead to the
matting, and she disappeared.
Bed was now clearly indicated. The G.P.F.
clapped his hands and called out " Toko " to the
nesan when she arrived ; she in her turn called
out " Toko " to a young man corresponding to the
* " I don't understand. "
176 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
boots at an inn at home. A quaint-looking "boots "
he was. He had nothing on him but a scant loin-
cloth, and when he appeared with the bedding
rolled up in a huge bundle on his head, he re-
minded me of a statuette of Atlas carrying the
world. He shot his load on to the middle of the
floor, unrolled it, and in a few seconds the bed
was made. Having fixed up a huge green
mosquito curtain, toko was ready for the honour-
able guest to condescend to sleep in. The young
Atlas made a jerky bow (it was only the women
who prostrated themselves, I noticed), then, with
that quick indrawing of the breath a polite way
of showing your concern for the welfare of the
one you address he bid me " Oyasumi nasai."
Before I turned out the light a man appeared at
the entrance and repeated some formula. Having
noticed from his movements that he was blind,
and not knowing what to answer him, I stood
quite still. He held his head forward as if listen-
ing, and coming to the conclusion that the room
was empty, he moved away. I heard him repeat
the same words at the next room, where he got
an answer. He then crossed over to the wing of
the hotel facing the one I was lodged in, repeat-
ing this dreary monologue at each entrance he
KOFU 177
passed. On reaching the room exactly opposite to
mine, I saw him talking to a young couple who
occupied it.
The mystery now increased. The woman sat
on her heels and the blind man squatted behind
her. He passed his hands over her forehead and
drew them back towards himself, repeating this
motion a number of times ; he then wiped his
fingers down each side of her nose, smeared them
over her eyelids, played imaginary tunes on her
cheeks, thumbed her lips, and polished up her
chin. The husband did not seem to mind, for
he sat unconcernedly reading a newspaper and
smoking his little pipe. I turned out the light,
crept under my green curtain, fixed the bolster in
the nape of my neck, and tried to go to sleep.
My room now being in darkness made the one
opposite appear lighter than ever, and from the
way my bed was placed the light was right in
my eyes. The performance going on across the
narrow yard looked now like an animated picture
with the proper stage lighting. Perhaps this was
an instance when Japanese women " are seen but
not looked at." I tried not to look, and tried to
sleep, but while this light shone in my eyes sleep
was impossible.
12
178 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
A rattling noise, and a shutter slid half-way
across the open end of my room, showed that we
were to be boxed in for the night. The young
Atlas nipped round the passage, drew some more
shutters out of a box fixed to the end of the
veranda, and completely shut out the animated
picture just as the blind man was performing on
the lady's two ears. It dawned on me before I
fell asleep that this mysterious proceeding was
nothing more than the blind shampooer's daily
occupation.
Curious street-cries and the light coming in
through the cracks in the shutters awoke me
early the next morning. The boots appeared
soon after, and with a rattle and a bang sent
shutters sliding along the grooves and into the
boxes where they remained during the day.
I found my way to Tsuda's room, so as to find
out where I could attend to my toilet. There
was nothing in my room (when once the bedding
was cleared) except a little table eight inches
high, and a vase of flowers in the recess. The
G.P.F. clapped his hands for the nesan, and
asked her to take me to the lavatory. She
trotted back to my room, collected the various
articles I wanted, and, catching hold of the hem of
KOFU 179
my garment, led me through passages, down stairs,
and through yet more passages, till we reached
a long, wide dresser fixed against the wall. " Do
you want rnizu or oyu ?" she asked, pointing to the
brass taps. " Oyu kudusai," I answered, and she
filled a brass bowl with hot water.
Her curiosity got the better of her when I got
out a safety razor ; and when I started lathering
my face, she seemed immensely amused, and
beckoned to some other waitresses to come and
see the operation. When I scraped my cheeks
with the razor their hilarity knew no bounds,
and it was only by repeated dabs at them with
my shaving-brush that I could keep them at a
respectful distance.
Other guests then appeared, and took up places
on each side of me. Each one fetched a brass
bowl from under the dresser, and a second and
smaller one from a shelf above. They washed
their faces, and dried them with wet towels which
they had put in the hot water and rung out.
They gargled and washed out their mouths, took
a curiously-formed wooden toothbrush out of a
basket, and began polishing their teeth. The
latter operation is a very long one, and, to make
room for others, some would slowly climb up the
180 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
stairs and find their way back to their rooms,
never ceasing to polish their teeth. I saw some
of them again hanging over the rail of the veranda,
watching the people in the street below, and
continuing to work this wooden toothbrush back-
wards and forwards in their mouths. Like the
chopsticks, the toothbrushes are only used once
and then thrown away.
Breakfast is taken in the same way as the
dinner. The dishes are much the same, only
fewer in number, and it ends, as do the other
two daily meals, with rice.
" Rice " is the name given to all three, and they
are distinguished as morning rice, midday rice,
and evening rice. Until now I had never taken
much interest in plain boiled rice as a form of
food ; it would have appeared to me as wasting
an appetite had I ever tried it. I soon began to
like it, and daily increased the quantity. I found
it very satisfying at the time, but I got very
hungry within an hour or two after taking it.
These meals without meat, butter, or oil are
digestible if daikon, the pickled large radish, has
been eaten of sparingly, but they very soon make
you long for the next one, till you acquire the
habit of consuming a large quantity each time.
KOFU 181
The lotuses were all and more than I expected.
The wide and extensive moat round the walls
of the old castle was completely covered with
the stately leaves of this plant. We arrived
early enough to see the flowers fully open, and
1 remained to paint them till they closed up
beneath the rays of the noonday sun. It was
the white variety which filled three-quarters of
the moat, while the pink-flowering one was
confined to the other quarter.
A grand sight was this grey-green sea of lotus-
leaves dotted about with thousands of its classic-
shaped flowers. It had not that human interest
which gave the pond at Kyoto some of its charm.
No little sheds had been erected on the banks in
which the holiday-makers could sip their tea and
enjoy the flowers ; but this vast mass of tropical
leafage had a grandeur lacking in the former
and more intimate subject. Whether it was
intentional or not I cannot say, but the white
variety being confined to the longest stretches
of the moat helped the suggestion of a green
sea in a manner which the pink variety would
not have done. The slightest stir in the air
would cause an undulation in the leaves, and
where it lost itself in the distance the massing
182 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
of the white flowers suggested the crests of waves
breaking near the shore.
When the leaves had uncurled and the flowers
began to close up their petals, the sun had risen
sufficiently high to find out the patch of shade
where alone it was possible to work.
We had heard of an hotel, at the farther end
of the town, which had a garden and lotus-pond,
and where a European meal could be obtained if
ordered in time. It is situated near the public
garden, which I was also anxious to see.
The Bosen-kaku, as it is called, bears about
the same relation to the Sadoko (where we had
put up) as a quiet family hotel in a suburb bears
to a commercial inn in any busy centre.
Two sides of the building formed an angle
overlooking a characteristic Japanese garden,
backed up by the larger trees in the public park
beyond.
It was a comfort to get out of my tight-fitting
European clothes and put on the light cotton
kimono with which I was provided. We were
promised Western food, as they call it, if we
would condescend to wait a half-hour in their
humble sitting-room.
The illustration given is the view of the
KOFU 183
garden as seen from this room, which was a
large and spacious one, and capable of being
closed up in many little compartments by sliding-
screens. We were served an excellently-prepared
lunch, and were told that the bath would be
heated up early in the afternoon.
We could not have found a more delightful
place in which to spend the heat of the day, and
we had the beautiful public gardens in which to
stroll about and paint towards evening. We came
here during most of the days we spent in Kofu.
The landlord was about to pick the lotus-
flowers in his pond, for we were on the eve of a
Buddhist festival, when bunches of these blooms
are placed before the ancestral tablets and on the
altars in the temples. He desisted from gather-
ing any which came into my subject to oblige
me, and 1 think he was pleased that his garden
should figure later on in a book on Japan.
The public park, where I found another
subject for the book on Japanese gardens, was
formerly the grounds of the large temple which
overlooks it. It is beautifully laid out, and from
many points of view it arranges itself into a
well-composed picture. It is much frequented
by the townspeople during the cool hours of the
184 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
day. Stone bridges, bronze and stone lanterns,
and pretty little shrines, seem everywhere placed
to enhance the pictorial effort. Small thatched
tea-houses project over the margin of the lake,
and are partly hidden by dense evergreen oaks. A
geisha girl will here play the samisen to a group
of listeners, while others will amuse themselves
feeding the wild-fowl and the golden carp.
I should have liked to have tarried on in Kofu
during the remainder of the summer. The
public garden alone would have supplied me
with sufficient subjects. But Hakone and
Nikko called me, as it was necessary to do
my painting in these high-lying districts before
the cold weather set in.
CHAPTER XIV
JOURNEY TO HAKONE
"TTTE returned to Shoji by way of Uziki, a
station on the railway to Tokyo. Here
a better-served tram-line took us to within easy
reach of the lakes, and we were then able to get
back to the Higuchi Hotel in the same manner
in which we had gone there originally. It was a
roundabout way, and necessitated our spending
a night at a little upland inn, but the weather
did not promise an agreeable tramp back across
the mountains.
We left Mrs. Higuchi's comfortable hotel a
few days later for Hakone. Our landlady was
the widow of an Englishman who had built this
hotel, a few years previously, as a resort for
foreigners living at Tokyo, and in the settle-
ments at Yokohama and Kobe. To enable him
to own land in Japan, he had taken out papers
of naturalization, and adopted the name of his
wife. Left a widow with six little children, this
185
186 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
poor woman had nothing to depend on but a
heavily-mortgaged hotel, eighteen miles from
the nearest town where provisions could be
obtained, or any of the other necessaries required
by Europeans. By attending to every detail
herself, she had not only been able to keep her
establishment together, but she is gradually
clearing off the heavy mortgage on the place.
From point to point Shoji is not more than
thirty miles from Hakone Lake, but go by
whatever route you may choose, it cannot be
done in less than two long days.
We decided to avoid the lakes and tramp to
Yoshida, where we could take the primitive
tramway down to Gotemba. We engaged a
horse to carry our luggage, and its owner to
show us the way.
For the first five or six miles we followed a
track through the forest which clothes the
northern base of Fujiyama ; the landscape then
opened up a little, and we occasionally got a
good view of the great mountain. At Narusawa,
a village about half-way to Yoshida, we took
our rest.
The little High Street was similar in character
to that of most other villages in this part of
JOURNEY TO HAKONE 187
Japan, but the detached houses were singular
in that each one was surrounded with clipped
yew hedges, which often were as high as the
ridge of the thatched roof. This is done to
shelter the houses from the cold north-west
winds to w T hich this situation is exposed.
We saw more signs of cultivation during the
remainder of our walk, and occasionally we
passed a flight of steps which led up to a rustic
shrine.
We reached Yoshida in time to catch the
tram, and we ran down to Gotemba in less than
half the time the uphill journey had taken us.
For five miles or more our car ran down the hill
of its own accord, the horses galloping behind to
be used when we reached more level ground.
We left the rails less often than on our upward
ride, which was fortunate, for at the speed at
which we sometimes went a derailment might
have been a very serious affair.
We reached Gotemba soon after dark, and
put up at a ramshackle inn where pilgrims spend
the night before starting the ascent of Fuji. It
was very crowded, but as all the guests would
be rising at daybreak the next day, it was not
late when all sounds died down.
188 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
Many thousands of pilgrims ascend Fuji
annually, both from Yoshida and from Gotemba.
It was well worth while to rise at daybreak to
see them start. They were all dressed in white
cotton kimonos, and wore large straw hats with
sloping brims. Some had straw rain-coats rolled
and slung on their backs, and others had oiled -
paper capes. A staff, a gourd to carry the
water, and an extra pair of straw sandals,
appeared to be the only other necessaries for
the climb of nearly twelve thousand feet.
I saw no provision against the cold, and it has
often struck me how well the Japanese can stand
the cold weather, and how much they seem to
feel the heat in summer.
Our inn, as well as the others, was profusely
decorated with flags and wooden boards inscribed
with the names of the various pilgrim associations
who had used it.
The brass band and the stimulating drinks
which seem a necessity in any outing in Europe
are absent here, not on account of the devotional
object in view, but because the Japanese do not
feel the want of such aids to cheer them up.
Should the weather be propitious, this so-called
pilgrimage would probably be the most enjoyable
JOURNEY TO HAKONE 189
holiday which any of these men could look back
on. I saw no women in this party, though 1
have seen plenty of both women and children at
other places which could be reached with less
physical exertion.
We took an early train at Gotemba to Kosu,
both of which stations are on the Tokaido
Railway. This line takes its name from the
celebrated road which connects Kyoto with
Tokyo, the older capital with the new.
It was along this road that the Daimyos and
their retinues of Samurai used to travel when
they went from the Emperor's Court at Kyoto to
that of the Shogun at Yedo, as the present
capital was then called. It was a serious
business, lasting twelve days or more. Hiro-
chige has familiarized us with many of the
picturesque incidents of these journeys in his
beautiful series of colour-prints, known as the
Fifty-five Stages of the Tokaido.
An hour's run took us to Kozu, a town
prettily situated on the shore of Odawara Bay.
An electric tramway, as up-to-date as any near
London, runs from here along the shore to
Odawara, and then for four or five miles it rises
inland till it reaches Yumoto.
190 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
We had to engage porters at the latter place
to carry our luggage over the Hata Pass to the
village of Moto Hakone, which was our destina-
tion. It is a beautiful walk of seven or eight
miles with a rise of two thousand feet. We rested
at Hata, the village which gives its name to the
pass.
I should have been content to have spent the
remainder of the summer in this picturesque
place had it not been necessary for me to do the
well-known localities in Japan. The little inn
where we halted looked on to a little garden at
the back, which was not much larger than a
billiard-table ; it was so ingeniously planned that
it would have been possible to paint a large
landscape from it. A cascade splashed amongst
moss -covered rocks ; miniature trees grew in the
twisted and distorted way often seen in the
wildest mountain passes, and the stones had the
water-worn surfaces of the boulders they repre-
sented. No flowers were placed where in a
natural scene they could not have grown, and
which would probably have made a jarring note
of colour. The greys and greens were all
sufficient to make the garden a cool spot to look
on in the summer, and when the chill autumn
JOURNEY TO HAKONE 191
would follow a few maples would give the picture
some warm dashes of colour.
No professional landscape gardener had designed
it. The natural taste of the peasant proprietor
of the little inn had sufficed to evolve it during
the years he had been there.
It is a steep climb from Hata to the top of the
pass, and over a rough, stony path. It is in the
shade, and commands now and again a beautiful
view across the bed of the stream which flows
from Hakone Lake down to the sea.
We reached our inn at Moto Hakone just as
the sun was setting behind Fuji, whose summit is
visible at the farther end of the lake.
HAKONE
whole of the district in which we had
-*- been all day is Hakone, properly speaking.
The name is generally used by foreigners to
denote the two villages which lie a mile apart at
the south-east end of Hakone Lake. The one
we decided to stay in is known as Moto Hakone,
to distinguish it from its larger neighbour.
The Matsuzaka Hotel, situated on the edge of
the water, is the only one commanding a view of
Fujiyama. Half of it is Japanese, and half is
built and arranged to accommodate foreigners. I
got a room overlooking the lake, with a good
light for painting, in case inclement weather made
outdoor work impossible.
Frequent wet weather is the disadvantage of
staying in this beautiful district. It rained about
four days out of five ; not the prolonged drizzle
so frequent in Scotland, but heavy downpours
192
HAKONE 193
with sunny intervals and often grand cloud-
effects.
A more popular resort than Moto Hakone is
Miyanoshita, seven miles distant, and a thousand
feet lower down. It is also easier to reach from
Yokohama.
Miyanoshita is, of all places in Japan, the one
which the tourist recalls with most pleasure.
The scenery is no better, if as good, as that of
hundreds of places one could name, nor has it an
exceptional number of objects of interest in its
immediate neighbourhood. It has, however, a
well-managed European hotel, and it must be
that the good food and other creature-comforts
found there outweigh the greater interest and
more artistic surroundings of many other localities.
The rainfall is also less than nearer the lake ; but,
in spite of these advantages, I would advise any
artist who wishes to make the most of his time
to give the preference to Hakone.
I confess to a certain disappointment in the
view of Fuji obtained from the Matsuzaka Hotel.
It is pretty, when not blotted out by the mist,
but it is not grand. Its cone-shaped summit is
dwarfed by the hills much nearer, and they are
poor in outline and seldom fine in colour.
13
194 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
Setting the view of Fuji aside, an artist would
be hard to please if he did not find ample work
for his brush here.
To the pure landscape-painter the varying
effects seen during showery weather are compensa-
tion for the inconvenience the rain may put him
to. The numerous tea-sheds, which are run up
wherever a beautiful view may be an inducement
to the pedestrian to rest, furnish good shelters
from which sketches can be made.
The abundance of wild-flowers in the lanes and
on the hill- sides would be absent after a long spell
of dry weather, and, further, when the sun shone
down on all alike from a cloudless sky, the
scenery had a tameness compared to what it is
during more variable weather.
There are evidences that Moto Hakone and its
neighbour, Hakone proper, had seen better days.
The massive stone lanterns and fine torn, the
broken balustrades and flights of stone steps, now
leading to nowhere, or maybe to a dilapidated
shrine, tell of the times when a powerful Shogun
held his summer Court here.
The historic Tokaido road passes through the
two villages, and the giant cryptomerias which
shadow it have witnessed many a picturesque
HAKONE 195
scene, when the Daimyos from the western
provinces and their splendid retinues passed here
to do homage to their chief at Yedo.
We first hear of Hakone in the history of this
country when Yoritomo, the founder of the Sho-
gunate, built a summer residence near the lake.
This was during the latter half of the twelfth
century. The exact spot I could never ascertain,
and the only monuments now standing which tell
of those bristling times are the tombs of the Soga
Brethren and that of Tora Gozen, the mistress of
one of them.
The story of their undoing is still told by the
professional raconteur ; it is often represented on
the stage ; and I have seen gruesome presentments
in wax of their tragic late. They rank as heroes
in the popular imagination, only second to the
forty-seven Ronins, of whom we may speak later
on. It is strange how these stories of blood-thirsty
vendetta fascinate so gentle a people.
A certain Kudo Suketsune, a courtier of the
Shogun, had killed the father of Jiiro and Goro
Soga, for what reason we are not told. To have
lived while their father's death was unavenged
would have been a disgrace to the sons. They
tracked the murderer to the Shogun's hunting-
196 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
camp, and attempted to cut him down in the
presence of the Generalissimo himself. Juro was
killed by one of Suketsune's retainers, and Goro
was overpowered before he could wreak his
vengeance. Yoritomo, incensed at the attempt
on the life of one of his favourites, ordered Goro's
head to be hacked off with a blunt sword.
Some say that the fair Tora Gozen killed her-
self at the grave of her lover, and others say that
she became a nun, and was buried at her death
next to the tombs of the brothers.
Travellers on the road from Miyanoshita to
Hakone to this day place a stone on these monu-
ments as a mark of respect to the heroes who
sacrificed their lives to avenge their father, and
some of the gentler sex will lay one on Tora's
resting-place, remembering of this courtesan only
her constancy to the one she loved.
The images of a popular god and the tombs of
heroes are often almost obliterated by the piles of
stones which the country-folk place on them. I
have never heard any satisfactory explanation of
how the custom originated. Might it be a sur-
vival of the cairn which primitive people raised to
honour their dead ?
In towns, where loose stones are less easily
HAKONE 197
picked up, visiting-cards are often left on the
tombs, a practice I would recommend to those
lunatics who only see in a monument a suitable
place on which to scratch their names.
A short distance from the Soga tombs are
the Ni-ju-go Bosatsu that is, the Twenty-five
Bosatsu carved in high relief on a projecting
piece of andesyte rock. They are attributed to
Kobo Daishi, who lived in the latter part of the
eighth and the beginning of the ninth centuries.
A Bosatsu is one of a large class of saints who
has not yet attained to Buddhahood, and the
" Twenty-five " so often represented in art are
those especially sent by Buddha to watch over his
followers.
Kobo Daishi was not only the foremost of
Japanese Buddhist saints, but is famous also as
a sculptor, a writer, and a traveller. Professor
Chamberlain remarks that " had his life lasted six
hundred years instead of sixty, he could hardly
have graven all the images, scaled all the mountain-
peaks, confounded all the sceptics, wrought all the
miracles, and performed all the other feats with
which he is popularly credited." But as the
legend tells us that he graved these twenty -five
images in one night, his output could easily have
198 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
been a large one. Three of the figures are un-
finished, and the country-folk have it that day-
break arrived before they were completed. Why
this artist should have elected to work only in
the dark is not explained.
Not many yards from here is one of Japan's
greatest works in sculptural art. It is a colossal
figure of Rokudo no Jiso.
The god is hewn out of the solid andesyte rock.
He is represented as a shaven priest, sitting cross-
legged on a lotus-flower and holding a jewel in
his left hand. The staff with metal rings, which
he should be holding in his right hand, is gone,
but with this exception the figure is nearly as
perfect as when it was first wrought. Almost
needless to say that it is attributed to Kobo
Daishi, and it is also said that it was cut in one
single night. Whoever the author may have
been, he was an artist endued with a fine sense
of proportion and with an appreciation of quiet
dignity, without which no great work of plastic
art has ever been achieved.
The shrubs concealing the image from the high
road made it a peaceable place in which to do my
work. I could hear tourists to or from the
Miyanoshita Hotel pass along the high road with-
HAKONE 199
out stopping to see the Jiso. I heard a guide
trying to persuade one party to stop. This
answer, in transatlantic English " I guess we've
seen idols enough to laahst us a lifetime " settled
the matter.
I have asked Buddhists as well as Shin-
toists whether Jiso is a deity of the former or
latter religion, and each seemed to claim him to
such an extent have the two creeds been fused
together.
Professor Chamberlain describes him as " the
compassionate Buddhist helper of those who are
in trouble." He is the patron of travellers, of
pregnant women, and of children. We may
take it, then, that Buddhism introduced him into
Japan. To call him a god is misleading, for
Buddha himself was an agnostic, and to term
him an abstract idea of mercy and kindliness
deified seems hardly comprehensible to a Western
mind. It is a curious coincidence that the name
of this compassionate deity should be so similar
to that of our Lord.
Wild hydrangeas grew in profusion near the
image, the white and pale-blue flowers contrasting
beautifully with the dark-blue spikes of monk's-
hood, just discernible in the shade of the bushes.
200 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
Country-folk came now and again to pay their
respects to the Jiso, and would often place a stone
in his lap or on the pedestal. He would probably
have been partly hidden by these humble tokens
of regard were it not for the photographic artist
who tumbled them off again before taking his
snapshot. This was fortunate for me, since it
would not have been worth while tramping up
this hill to paint a heap of stones, charming as
the sentiment might be.
A couple of miles from here, on the road to
Miyanoshita, lies the village of Ashinoyu, which
is famous for its sulphur-springs. Many Japanese
suffering from rheumatism and skin diseases come
here for a cure.
I had been told of a pretty garden in the village,
so had occasion to go there several times. The
principal hotel is owned by the proprietor of the
Hakone one, and he kindly allowed us to take our
midday meal there.
I was fortunate in making the acquaintance of
two American lady artists at Hakone, one of
whom is an authority on Japanese gardens and
on the flora of the Far East. Her husband,
Captain Basil Taylor, R.N., is the harbour-master
at Hong- Kong, and they and their three charm-
HAKONE 201
ing little children often spend a part of the
summer in Japan. Our meeting was singularly
fortunate, for Mrs. Basil Taylor is to write the
book on Japanese gardens which my drawings
are to illustrate.
When writer and illustrator are not the same
person, it is well that they should have gone over
the same ground together, and be able to avoid
some of the misfits which occasionally arise
between the coloured illustration and the text.
The second lady was Miss Crauford, an artist
of considerable talent, who had been painting
in Japan for some time.
We spent several very pleasant days at Ashi-
noyu, making studies of the typical Japanese
garden there.
As I should be poaching on Mrs. Basil Taylor's
ground, I shall not attempt to describe its beauty ;
its ugly side, which I may perhaps mention, was
the smell of sulphur which hangs over the whole
village.
The Matsuzaka Hotel would be a pleasant one
barring the smell of the sulphur. It has some
Europeanized rooms, and Western cooking is
provided for the foreigners who wish to put up
there.
202 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
Miss Crauford and I were glad to get back to
Japanese food when we took our luncheon. It
is wonderful how the Japanese cooks have learnt
to prepare food to suit the taste of the foreigners,
but they naturally know how to prepare their
native dishes very much better. In a land where
mutton does not exist, and where most people
fight shy of pork, there must of a necessity be a
sameness in the Western menu, and a native
meal now and again makes a very welcome
change.
The hot sulphur baths are, of course, the raison
detre of this and the other hotels at Ashinoyu,
for the place itself has neither the attractions of
Miyanoshita nor of Hakone. The Japanese
bather wants few inducements to go out. He
will spend most of the day in the hot water, and
I have heard of cases where an entire month has
been spent in the bath, the patient being so
arranged that he can sleep in it without danger
of drowning.
Hot springs abound in these volcanic islands,
and the country people living near use them con-
tinually in cold weather to keep themselves
warm. The notion held in Europe that chills
would result from the violent change of tempera-
HAKONE 203
ture is not borne out in fact. I have myself
often, during the winter months, come in numbed
with cold, and found that after a long soak in a
hot bath I have kept warm the whole evening,
though there were no other means of heating the
room than the small charcoal braziers. The
Japanese usually take a bath before the evening
meal, and they hold that it gives them an appetite.
CHAPTER XVI
HAKONE (continued]
"TTTHEREVER I have met people residing in
' * a country foreign to their own, 1 have
noticed that a favourite topic of conversation is
finding fault with the people amongst whom they
are living. Japan is no exception to this rule.
A lady resident, who would certainly not be
considered a silly woman, was abusing the country
people to me one day, and ended her tirade by
saying they were dirty. I answered that I
wished they were all as clean in my own country,
and I suggested that perhaps in hers the daily bath
was not universal. Her answer was even more
surprising than her original statement. " It is
not because they want to be clean that they
bathe so often ; it is because they like the sensation
of the hot water." She might as well have said
that a man was not fed because he enjoyed the
sensation of eating. Had she witnessed the
soaping and scrubbing that takes place after the
204
HAKONE 205
soak in the hot water, it might have dawned on
the good lady that they also liked to be clean.
That the resident has some grievances is certain,
and that a prejudice against the people who cause
the grievance should follow is perhaps natural.
But it does not justify the wholesale abuse often
heard in the European settlements.
Having heard, in one of the foreign hotels
where I stayed, that I was about to write on
Japan, several of the guests thought it only right
that I should hear the " true " state of the case.
I heard remarks about people who stayed a fort-
night in the country and wrote about it as if they
knew all about the Japanese. Also, that tourists
only saw the pleasant side of their character, but,
had they resided amongst them and done business
with them, they would tell a very different tale
when they wrote their impressions. A great deal
was said about dishonest trading, infringement
of patents, and breaches of contract.
I asked if such things were unknown in the
various countries from which these guests hailed.
" Certainly," they said ; " but there is this
difference that in our country the law does not
uphold the wrongdoer." I asked an American if
he would consider it an infringement of patent if
206 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
a book, written and published by an Englishman,
were copied word by word and sold in America
without making any compensation to the author.
" Why, certainly," he said. I informed him, to
his surprise, that this was done, and that (unless
the law had been recently altered) there was no
legal redress to be obtained. I quoted Ruskin's
works, which were published at a high price in
England, and could be bought for a dollar or less
in the States ; I also told some Teutons that the
works of Ebers were pirated in Holland, where
they were obtainable for a fraction of the published
price in Germany. " If the books can't be
patented in those two countries, it can't be called
an infringement of patent." "That is true
enough," I had to admit, " but more shame to
those countries which withhold the copyright."
" Here they would pirate books if they thought
they could make anything by it," was said, " and
they pirate everything else where there is a chance
of making a few yen." " Have you heard of the
Black and White whisky case ?" I admitted
that I had not, and that I was glad to hear a
definite case stated.
Now this is the account they gave me, and as
they were all merchants who have been trading
HAKONE 207
in Japan for some years, 1 had every reason to
believe that their account of this well-known
case would be a true one
The firm of James Buchanan had patented in
Tokyo their brand of whisky, and when it was
seen that it was obtaining a considerable sale, a
Japanese set up a still and turned out a spirit
which his countryman might mistake for the
genuine article. He labelled his bottles " Black
and White House of Commons," in exactly the
same lettering as in the original, and signed his
name in European cursive handwriting, in such a
way that by a native it might be mistaken for the
name of the Scottish firm.
Not having a heavy duty to pay on his home-
made article, the distiller was able to sell it at a
much lower price, and, unfortunately, it sold
rapidly. Messrs. James Buchanan took proceed-
ings to prohibit the sale, and lost their case in
every law-court into which it was brought, and
my informants added that the Judges in every
way favoured their compatriot.
Getting no redress in the courts, it was made
a matter of diplomatic intervention, and only
then was the culprit prohibited from selling his
spurious goods.
208 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
It so happened that a bottle of Reading sau<
was on the table, and on the label I noticed th
the names were given of several persons who ha
been penalized for having infringed the paten
I pointed this out to my friends ; they admittec
that these acts were committed in every country
but this very label showed that redress had bee
obtained, whereas here the offender had bee 1
encouraged rather than restrained by the Judge
before whom his case was tried.
This was a very serious charge to make, and
the time I had no grounds for not accepting it
Some months later I was fortunate enough
become acquainted with an Englishman who c
all others was most likely to know the exac
truth of the case.
I told him the account I had heard, as I wat
anxious to know if he could bear it out. I ma^
mention that this gentleman is a patent agent,
and that his firm was interested in this as wel
as in any other foreign patents taken out in
Japan.
Now for his version : " The imitation of the
label was as clever a fraud as it was possible to
make. It was true, also, that Messrs. Buchanan
lost their case in the law-courts ; but it was not
HAKONE 209
true that the Judges were unfair, for the law as it
stands would not allow of any other verdict.
" What we know as common law does not
obtain in Japan, and according to the statute
law they could not prevent the use of the fraudu-
lent label, as it was not an exact copy. The
signature, though intending to deceive, was not
that of James Buchanan. To get over this
rigid adherence to the letter of the law, the
State has empowered the Patent Office to try
these cases by a board which it may nominate,
and therefore it was not necessary to try the case
in the law-courts. It was this board which finally
settled the matter, and gave Buchanan's the
redress they sought. Diplomatic intervention
had nothing to do with it."
Now see how these two versions differ. Had
one been given me by a Japanese and the other
by an alien I should have been prepared for a
slight difference, but both parties being aliens,
and both being keenly interested in the case, it
is surprising how dissimilar the two versions are.
My new acquaintance assured me that a patent
taken out in Japan was as good a protection as in
any other country.
1 mentioned a case which affected me in a
14
210 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
small way, and was amused to hear his account
of it
I had run out of some colours, and was obliged
to get what I could in Tokyo. I had been
warned that, if I bought Winsor and Newton's
colours hi the tubes marked exactly the same as
I knew them to be in England, I should be
getting a spurious article, and that I should
insist on getting tubes stamped in a slightly
different way. In short, I was to ask for the
very thing that I should naturally avoid had 1
not been warned.
I got what I wanted, but was not able to
follow the involved story which I was told by
the shopman, and never felt quite sure that the
colours I had to use were those of the makers
whose names were stamped on the tubes.
My mind was, however, set at ease by the
gentleman connected with the patents.
Messrs. Winsor and Newton had done as many
other firms do, and that is, to see first how their
goods sell in Japan before incurring the slight
expense of getting them patented a matter of
6 or 7.
The colours had a very good sale, and a
.Japanese set to work to imitate them. He went
HAKONE 211
to the Patent Office to see if the English firm had
protected itself, and found, to his delight, that they
had not done so. He thereupon got an exact
copy made of the tubes, and sold his colours
enclosed in them. He made a lot of money, as
there is a great demand for English water-colours,
and it was some time before the fraud leaked out.
Winsor and Newton then instructed their
agents to get their colours patented, and were
much surprised that they could not do so, as
the Japanese colourman had forestalled them.
The firm is now obliged to sell its colours in a
differently stamped tube, made especially for
Japan, and now patented in that country.
Now is this not a case of " penny wise and pound
foolish " ? The expense of sending an agent to
Japan to push their goods must be considerable,
and to risk injuring their trade by saving a matter
of a few pounds to protect these goods seems
incredible.
Was this not inviting dishonesty? And in
what country would this not be done if the
trader took so little precaution to protect himself ?
The argument is often heard that the Japanese
merchant is lacking in integrity, because, until
quite recently, all trade was looked down on ;
212 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
that the trading class was placed lower in the
social scale than that of the peasant ; and that
trade on a large scale has so recently developed
that there has not been time to acquire the
moral integrity found in old-established firms in
Europe.
Now, if this be true, should it not naturally
follow that the class from which these traders
sprang would be a dishonest class ? One cannot
spend the best part of a year in any country
without having some dealings with the people,
and in my case the little business transactions I
had were chiefly with this class. My experience
was that they dealt with me quite as honestly as
in any country in Europe. In their dealings
amongst themselves the Japanese set most
Europeans a good example.
The implicit trust they have in each other in
far-away country districts is illustrated by the
following story :
An acquaintance was making a long walking
tour through a little-frequented part of the
country, and wore, as all Japanese do when on
the tramp, straw sandals. These wear out in
a day or so, and a new pair is obtainable in
every hamlet for about a penny. The villages
HAKONE 213
were few and far between where this traveller
was wending his way, and it became more than
likely that his waraji would give out before he
could buy a new pair.
An enterprising native had foreseen this likeli-
hood, and he fixed a bamboo pole in the ground
on the side of a lane frequented by pilgrims at a
certain time of the year. To the pole he attached
a large bundle of straw sandals, and a notice to
travellers that, should they wish to buy a pair,
they were requested to take one and place four
sen in the slit in the bamboo which served as
a money-box.
Anyone could have walked off with both waraji
and money-box, but the little trader knew his
people well enough to be able to take the risk.
Most of the foreign business men I met ad-
mitted that the country-folk were not so bad,
but that they could not trust most of those who
had large dealings with Occidentals.
Some time before I left home for Japan, I read
an article in a leading London paper in which
the writer stated that the commercial classes in
Japan could trust each other so little that every
bank in the country employed a Chinaman as
a cashier. I remembered the gist of that article
214 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
so well that I felt a prejudice against the Japanese
of which I could not free myself for some time.
I had occasion to go to several different banks,
and I looked out each time for a pig-tailed cashier.
Failing ever to see one, I made inquiries as to
how long the Chinamen had been replaced by
Japanese, and I discovered that these Celestials
had never existed except in the imagination of
the writer of the newspaper article.
The only possible foundation for so gross a
libel on a people whom we have made our allies
is that in some of the foreign banks in the settle-
ments a Chinese comprador is engaged to attend
to the Chinese correspondence.
I had heard the Japanese trader ill spoken of in
Hong-Kong, in Shanghai, and at Kobe, where I
first landed, and in every case by men engaged in
business themselves, whom 1 considered qualified
to give an opinion. I was much relieved after-
wards to hear from others, who resided in the
country for purposes other than trade, that these
reports were very much exaggerated. A British
Consul, who knew the country well, said that,
considering the short while commerce on a large
scale had been carried on, it was wonderful how
well business was conducted.
HAKONE 215
I made the friendship of M. Odin, a cultured
Frenchman, long residentin Kyoto, arid, as he
was in no manner connected with trade, I was
anxious to hear his views.
" Is it not natural," he said, " that the
foreigner, who hitherto has had all the export
and import trade in his own hands, should feel
sore when he sees it gradually slipping away
from him, owing to the competition of the
native trader ? Is it to be supposed that a
nation which has risen to a first-rate Power should
not strive to do its own exporting and import-
ing ? The Japanese are becoming formidable
competitors in both trades, and it is hardly from
their rivals that you should expect an unbiassed
opinion."
The foreign houses are not making the money
that they formerly made, and many little vexa-
tions which exist in the foreign settlements cause
more irritation now than when the trade of these
houses was more prosperous.
There is little doubt that the foreigner in
Yokohama pays a higher price for the necessaries
of life than does the native resident, and the
globe-trotter is charged more for the curios he
buys than the foreign resident would be, who has
216 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
been long enough in the country to have acquired
some of the language. In most countries com-
petition would equalize the prices to a certain
extent. But competition between two of a trade
hardly exists in Japan. Most of the articles
consumed by the foreigners are not wanted by
the Japanese. The butcher, the baker, and the
dairyman only existed for the use of the
foreigner until quite recently, and even now
their goods are little in request with their
compatriots.
The tradesmen are loyal to each other, and if
they decide that the alien should pay a certain
price, it is useless for that alien to try and play
off one against the other. In towns where few
foreigners reside this kind of boycott does not
obtain, except at a few of the places of amuse-
ment patronized by the tourists. The excuse is
that the tourist gives more trouble, that he will
not content himself by squatting on the floor, and
will not take off his boots, and has to be supplied
with coverings for his feet in order not to dirty
the mats. Those who give extra trouble should
be prepared to pay something extra.
This reasoning does not always hold good, as
the following will show :
HAKONE 217
A Frenchman at Kyoto asked me to dine
with him at his hotel to meet a well-known
Japanese architect. After a pleasant dinner our
Japanese friend proposed that we should go to
the play, and nothing loath, we all three went to
the principal theatre. We took off our boots
and squatted on the matting just the same as did
any of the other spectators.
An official came and demanded double the
price of admission for the Frenchman and
myself, though we had in every way conformed
to the usages of the country. The architect
refused to pay this ; we were his guests, and
it was he who had taken the three tickets,
and, being a Japanese, he was not going
to pay more than the Japanese price. The
theatre official argued that the nationality of
the purchaser had nothing to do with it, and
that it was the nationality of the user which
made the difference. Our friend answered that
the advertised price was all he would get, and
that if he made any more fuss about it a
policeman would be sent for. This settled the
matter.
The argument was carried on in such a quiet
manner that, for all 1 knew at the time, they
218 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
might have been inquiring about the health of
each other's relations.
At theatres and shows, which are not the
usual " sights " tourists are recommended to do,
such extortion does not take place.
A small matter like this does a good deal of
harm to the reputation of the Japanese, and I
feel sure that if it were represented to the proper
authorities it would be stopped.
1 have dealt rather lengthily on the aspersions
often cast on the commercial morality of the
Japanese, firstly because it is a subject one hears
about ad nauseam in the Far East, and secondly
because the exaggerated charges often made are
liable to give a very wrong impression of the
character of this very lovable people.
Where they are least attractive is where they
have come most under European influence.
Let us now return to the gods so many of
the commercial Japanese are said to have for-
saken.
At the south of the long, straggling street,
which follows the sweep of the lower end of the
lake, and which is known as Moto Hakone, you
will find an avenue leading to some stone steps,
suggesting a shrine beyond. A Buddhist temple
HAKONE 219
of some importance stood formerly where the
modest dwelling of a priest now stands.
It is at the entrance to this avenue where our
interest now lies. A beautiful bronze figure of
Jiso is to the right of it, and a strange row of
small stone Buddhas is on the left-hand side.
The image of the merciful god and the friend
of little children is the pride of the villagers, and
they regard it much the same as the Brittany
peasants regard their parish Calvaire.
It is a fine work of art. This is said in fear and
trembling, lest the mania for housing in museums
works which were intended to be seen out of
doors may spread in Japan as in other countries ;
arid were this image removed from its present
surroundings, it would lose most of its charm.
The oxidation has given the metal a beautiful
colour, which relieves it from the sombre green of
the cryptomerias, making a perfect harmony. A
bunch of flowers, a lantern, or some other thank-
offering is oftimes placed at the base ; and
should this positive note of colour be absent, we
find it in the garments of the little children who
play near the Jiso, as if instinctively they felt his
protecting care.
May this image always remain where it now
220 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
is ! It faces the Tokaido Road, Japan's most
historic highway ; and the innate sense of the
beautiful, with which all Japanese are endowed,
will be as great a protection as the walls of a
museum.
It presumably belongs to the sect of Buddhists
who ministered in the temple which stood near
here. Whether (now that Buddhism is dis-
established) this sect has not the means to affect
the necessary repairs I cannot say, but the
beauty of the image is very much spoilt through
one of the legs and a part of the drapery having
been broken off. Partially to support the statue,
and also to secure the detached piece of bronze
from being carried off, the latter has been wedged
under the sitting figure in such a manner that
the foot sticks up in the air, and has a very
undignified appearance.
The young priest who lives in the little house
which partly appears in the illustration took
an interest in my drawing, and this emboldened
me to ask him if I might be allowed to place
the leg temporarily in position, so as to enable
me to draw the image as it should be. He
consented, and Mr. Tsuda and I tried to lift
the image sufficiently to disengage the leg. It
HAKONE 221
was much too heavy, but as it was then about
midday, some of the villagers were returning
from their work, and I got the assistance of half
a dozen willing hands.
It was a more serious business than I antici-
pated, for we had to lift the image bodily up
before we could disengage the broken member ;
props were necessary to prevent the Jiso from
falling forward when the bronze fragment was
removed from under him ; and when, finally, the
leg was placed in its natural position, half the
village had turned out to see what was the
matter.
As ill-luck would have it, it now began to
rain ; not sufficiently to drive away the crowd,
but enough to make my work very difficult. A
paper umbrella was borrowed from the nearest
cottage, and under this I painted the leg. My
spectators were all agreed that their Jiso should
be seen to the best advantage in his picture,
which would be shown in foreign parts.
It rained all the afternoon, and a stormy
evening followed. A horrible fear got hold of
me that some of the supports would give way,
and that the image would fall over. We had
had severe earthquake shocks two or three weeks
222 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
previously, and, should we have another, the Jiso
would surely be shaken off its pedestal and get
hopelessly broken. I ran round early the next
morning to see that nothing untoward had hap-
pened, and I found that the same fears had been
entertained by others as well as myself; for
someone had had it safely replaced, as it was
when first I saw it.
I made some further studies of gardens, and
tried to get a satisfactory drawing of Fuji from
the lake. I saw many other subjects that I
wished to paint, but could defer my visit to
Nikko no longer.
CHAPTER XVII
NIKKO
TTTE had to descend to Kosu by the same
' route we took when we left the Tokaido
Railway on our way to Hakone. I decided to
spend a couple of days at Tokyo, which we had
to take on our way to Nikko.
My first impressions of the new capital were
not as agreeable as those I had on my first
arrival in the old. There is a restfulness about
Kyoto which Tokyo lacks. The former is
suggestive of Japan under the old regime, while
the latter savours of a new Japan still in the
making. It has an unfinished look, and the new
and the old do not yet hit it off. During a
prolonged stay, after my visit to Nikko, I found
so much of interest in and about Tokyo that my
liking for the place increased considerably.
Let us proceed to Nikko now, and we can
refer again to Tokyo in another chapter.
The journey is a simple one, an up-to-date
223
224 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
train taking its passengers from the Ueno Station
to Nikko itself in four or five hours.
Travellers in Japan owe a great deal of their
pleasure to the excellent guide Murray has
published.
This country has had a number of singularly
gifted English and American writers to describe
its beauties, to translate its folklore, and also to
write its history. The Japanese Government
has secured the assistance of many eminent
scientists, whose works have been published in
our language. French and German men of
letters have also added a great deal to the litera-
ture of Japan in the languages of their respective
countries.
From this galaxy of literati, Messrs. John
Murray got Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain to
do the descriptive writing in the " Handbook on
Japan," and they also secured the services of
Mr. W. B. Mason, who knows more of the
geography of the country than anyone else.
The Nikko express is up-to-date in everything
except speed ; it gives the traveller plenty of time
to consult his Murray, and the beautiful things
Murray tells him to expect make him impatient
to get to his destination.
NIKKO 225
Turning to Route 16, he will find a Japanese
proverb says, " Do not use the word * magnificent '
till you have seen Nikko ":
Nikko wo minai uchi wa,
* Kekko ' to iu na !
" Nikko 's is a double glory a glory of nature
and a glory of art. Mountains, cascades, monu-
mental forest-trees, had always stood there. To
these, in the seventeenth century, were added
the mausolea of the illustrious Shogun leyasu,
founder of the Tokugawa Dynasty, and of his
scarcely less famous grandson, lemitsu. Japanese
wood-carving and painting on wood being then
at their zenith, the result was the most perfect
assemblage of shrines in the whole land. But
though there is gorgeousness, there is no gaudi-
ness. That sobriety which is the key-note of
Japanese taste gives to all the elaborate designs
and bright colours its own chaste character."
In addition to this promise of beautiful art and
glorious Nature, I had met no one, during the five
months I had already spent in Japan, who did
not ask me what 1 thought of Nikko or who would
not exclaim, " Is not Nikko a marvel ?" or some-
thing similar.
I had more than once taken two days to get
15
226 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
over a distance of fifty miles, and now I felt
irritated that the train should take five hours to
do a ninety-mile journey, which would prevent
our seeing the temples that day. We English
have the reputation of being a phlegmatic
nation, and we rather pride ourselves in being
able to suppress our feelings ; we are, however,
children in this respect compared to the Japanese.
My interpreter, Mr. Tsuda, had never seen
Nikko, and Nikko is the Mecca of Japan. A
long stop at a small station where no one got
out or got in would never evoke a sign of
impatience from him or from any of his fellow-
countrymen. Had some accident delayed us a
whole day, a few quiet questions might have
been asked ; no other signs of irritation would
have been apparent. I am used myself to take
things much as I find them, and, had I been in
some ramshackle diligence, and been obliged to
pass the night wherever the crazy old thing
happened to break down, I should have felt less
impatient than in this up-to-date train. It
looked so European that I felt its being called
an express was an untimely bit of sarcasm.
The cries of "Bentd ! Bento !" are as familiar at
Japanese railway-stations as " Morning paper !"
NIKKO 227
is to us at home. Bento is not a thing to read
on a journey, but one to inwardly digest, if pickled
radish and bamboo-shoots are eaten in modera-
tion. Mr. Tsuda procured two lots, a bottle of
warm sake, two pots of tea, and two little cups.
The bento, or luncheon, is supplied in two
separate boxes, neatly fastened with some
coloured ribbon. One contains nothing but
warm, plain-boiled rice, while the other has an
assortment of vegetable matter and some fish,
the latter separated from the former by a thin
wooden partition. It reminded me of the boxes
of German toys, the joy of children in the sixties ;
something I ate dimly recalled the taste of the
red paint on a cow I had put in my mouth, and
an artificial leaf, placed here to give the bet ltd
the touch of colour the combination required,
brought back those green scratchy trees under
which small wooden cows loved to graze. A
new pair of chopsticks and a toothpick neatly
wrapped in tissue-paper accompanies the lunch.
We are told that prices have doubled since
the late war, and are three times higher than in
the nineties ; I hardly expected, therefore, to
get change out of a fifty-sen bit i.e., one shilling
for all this food, with the crockery thrown in.
228 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
A double row of passengers now sit on their
heels on the two long benches to right and left
of the carriage. When the meal is over, the
empty boxes are thrown on the floor ; the chop-
sticks follow ; orange- and apple-peel, paper
napkins, and emptied teapots all add to the
litter. When the men unsheath the small-
bowled pipes which hang from their girdles, and
the women produce theirs from a pocket in their
long hanging sleeves or from the recesses of the
obi, the attendant comes and sweeps up all the
debris, and shoots it on to the permanent way.
We get glimpses now and again of the avenue
of ancient cryptomerias which formerly led from
Tokyo to the mausolea of the great Shoguns.
Many of the trees have unhappily been felled,
but on nearing Nikko the avenue, for a distance
of twenty miles, is lined with these giants.
We reached Nikko Station at dusk, and were
installed in the Konishi-ya Hotel soon after. It
is well not to arrive late in the day at any
Japanese yadoya ; the early guest gets into the
hot bath first. It is not the custom to take it in
the morning, except at thermal stations where it
is going all day. We secured an eight-mat
room overlooking the High Street, and were told
N1KKO 229
that in a day or two a number of pilgrims would
be leaving, and we might be able to choose a
room more to our liking.
The life here was much the same as at the
Kofu Hotel, except that the pilgrims who flock
to Nikkd are rather more noisy than the business
men who patronize the former.
We were up early the next morning, as I was
itching to see the sights and make the most of
the fine weather. The hotel is close to the
rapidly-flowing Daiya-gawa, which has to be
crossed before reaching the mausolea. It is
spanned by a wide bridge, which we and other
ordinary mortals have to take ; forty yards up-
stream is a second, and this one none save the
Mikado is allowed to cross. This is the Mihashi,
or Sacred Bridge. The whole structure is red-
lacquered, and, partly owing to its unusual colour,
as well as its exclusiveness, it has become one of
the noted sights of Japan. It has been quite
recently reconstructed, as the original one, which
dated from nearly three centuries ago, was
washed away in 1902.
A legend tells us that one of the earliest
Buddhist saints, Shodo Shdnin, went in search
of a holy spot, which had been indicated to him
from afar by four differently coloured clouds
ascending from it. His journey was stopped by
the river, which was a rushing torrent at the
time. He prayed for Divine heln to enable him
to cross, and in answer to his prayer, a gigantic
being, in coloured robes and a necklace of skulls,
appeared on the opposite bank. The mysterious
creature threw a blue and a green snake across
the stream, not loosing the tips of their tails,
which formed a rainbow-like bridge, and our
saint was able to cross.
The Sacred Red Bridge now spans the river at
this particular spot. The legends of Shudo
Shonin, and of the still more famous Kobo
Daishi, who appeared here a century later, lend
an interest to the place. But for my immediate
purpose the bridge was no use, for I decided not
to paint it the moment 1 saw it.
Crossing the river, we ascend an avenue just
opposite the Sacred Bridge. The dark green
cryptomerias hardly allow a ray of sunlight to
penetrate, and the darkness of the approach
emphasizes the dazzle of colour of the temple
buildings when the first glimpse of them is
caught. At the top of the avenue, we come to
a large walled enclosure, the Mangwanji, in which
NIKKO 231
a monastery, founded by Shodo Shonin, formerly
stood.
The road skirts two sides of the enclosure, and
on reaching the angle we enter the main avenue,
which takes us through torii and elaborate gate-
ways to the mausoleum of leyasu. Touches of
scarlet and gold glitter in the morning sun at the
far end of the perspective, closed in by the
cryptomerias which intervene.
We ascend some broad steps farther on, pass
under a great granite torii, and are then in full
view of the Ni-o-mon, the Gate of the Two
Kings. It stands on a raised terrace, which is
approached by a broad stairway. The retaining
wall of the terrace, with its stone balustrade and
the imposing flight of steps, are well proportioned
to the gateway, but all is dwarfed by the immense
size of the cryptomerias which overshadow it.
The main colouring of the woodwork is scarlet
and gold, and, seen from a little distance, it is
impressive as a gem in an expansive dark green
setting. When the trees were only ornamental
shrubs, the gateway and the buildings beyond
would have been imposing from their size as well
as from the elaborate carving and brilliant colour-
ing ; but they look small now until a figure
232 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
stands near them to give the scale. What
they may have lost one way is, however, amply
compensated. The gem-like effect of the Nikko
temples, overshadowed and backed up by the
great cryptomerias, is perhaps their chief charm.
A bright red wall encloses the courtyard
beyond the gateway. The three gorgeous build-
ings which stand here are merely storehouses ;
what the chief shrine must be like passes all
i magination. My little knowledge of architecture
and decoration is all at sea. After this scarlet
wall nothing need surprise. The shadow from
its wide coping and the high key of colour all
around, however, puts it right, and no other
colour would probably have done as well.
The next court, which is approached by another
flight of steps, is more wonderful still. The
quaint-shaperi drum-tower on the left, the hand-
some bell-tower on the right, the two huge bronze
candelabra, and the highly-wrought lantern from
Korea, fill the spectator as much with wonder as
with admiration.
A building with a comparatively modest
exterior stands on the extreme left of this plat-
form. It was erected in memory of Yakushi,
the Buddhist patron saint of leyasu. On enter-
NIKKO 233
ing, we find that the interior eclipses anything
which we have so far seen. All that the art of
the period was able to produce is seen here to
perfection.
The mausoleum of the great Shogun being
now the property of the State, the temple furni-
ture which pertains to the Buddhist cult has in
many places been removed ; but in this shrine,
specially dedicated to Yakushi, the wishes of its
founder have been respected. The statues of the
four Heavenly Kings stand in pairs on each side
of the altar terrific beings brandishing weapons
and stamping demons underfoot. The twelve
followers of Yakushi are to the right and left of
the Shi-Tenno, as the four Kings are called.
Where there is so much gold and brilliant colour-
ing in the decoration of the wall spaces, it is sur-
prising to find a subdued colour in the ceiling ;
a dragon painted in sepia wriggles and twists over
the whole of it. It is the work of one of the
Kami, and the wonderful draughtsmanship com-
pensates for the lack of colour.
On leaving this temple, it is a relief to rest
one's eyes on the sober grandeur of the crypto-
merias which overtop all the buildings.
The north wall of the court is decorated with
234 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
large panels of marvellous high-relief wood-carv-
ing. Birds fluttering amongst foliage or sprays
of blossom, feeding their young, or spreading out
their plumage, are the chief subjects. The
Japanese pheasant is most in evidence, doubtless
on account of its beautiful colour, for all this
elaborate carving is painted in the hues proper to
the subject it represents. Red-lacquered beams,
which form the framework of the fence, serve
also as a setting to each panel.
Ascending a third set of steps, we reach the
terrace on which the Yomei-mon stands. This gate
is the most noted of all the structures in the Nikko
mausolea. Whether it was that I had had too
rich a diet of Oriental splendour to appreciate fully
this building I cannot say, but I certainly longed
for some plain surface in this highly orna-
mented and wondrously coloured gate. Every
available material is used in its construction,
every surface is covered with some geometrical
pattern or high-relief carving. Rampant monsters
look as if they might fall off the lintels, and a
strange beast springs out where the lintel rests on
its supporting pillar. The colour scheme differs
from the temple buildings we have so far seen :
the columns are painted white instead of the red
NIKKO 235
lacquer so much in use ; blue and green is also
more freely used on the carving. It has a look
of lightness which is pleasing, but the large
shadow spaces in the recesses and under the porch
are too much cut up in strongly contrasting tones ;
the value of the broad shadow is partly lost
thereby, and it gives the structure an appearance
of unsubstantiality.
That the Yomei-mon was a supreme effort on
the part of both architect and patron is evidenced
by a detail which the guide points out. The
pattern on one of the pillars has been purposely
inverted, and it is known as the Evil- Averting
Pillar Ma- Yoke no Hashira. The superstition
was that a building without a flaw might excite
the jealousy of the gods, and bring misfortune on
the founder's family. The gods must be easily
taken in, for the effect is in nowise hurt by
it. Space does not allow of a detailed descrip-
tion of this as well as of the other numerous
buildings.
The Kara-mon, or Chinese Gate, faces the
Yomei-mon on the farther side of the square.
The detail is Chinese in character, though the
main outlines are Japanese ; it is as elaborate in
ornamentation as the one we have left, but it is
236 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
smaller, so as not to dwarf the shrine to which it
gives access.
The Honden, or oratory, has a profusely
decorated exterior, but so much ornamentation
has been lavished on the buildings leading to it
that there was nothing left to make it stand out
as of greater importance than the others.
The interior is very beautiful ; it looks empty
in contrast to the richly-furnished shrine of
Yakushi, which we have seen. This comes
almost as a relief; had the gorgeous emblems of
the Buddhist cult not been removed, one's
capacity for admiration would have been as ex-
hausted as the adjectives possible to describe it.
The Holy of Holies is beyond ; to gain access to
it special arrangements have to be made, as well
as the payment of ten yen equal to about a
guinea.
We had visited numerous other buildings
attached to the great mausoleum ; we had in-
spected so many objects and details not mentioned
here, though full of interest, that it was with no
feelings of sour grapes that we turned away to
seek the tomb of leyasu.
The G.P.F., who has absorbed some of the
Voltairian spirit prevalent among the educated
NIKKO 237
classes in Japan, seemed to think that the special
arrangements might be easily made, were the ten
yen forthcoming. His comment that temples and
most religious buildings were means of extracting
money was rather severe. Hitherto five farthings
was all that we had had to pay to be shown
round the inner compartments of any temple.
Nikkd stands alone in this respect. A vast sum
of money is needed to keep the buildings in
repair, and it is fair that those who enjoy seeing
them should help most towards defraying the
expenses. This is nevertheless overdone. The
visitor has to pay three shillings, both for himself
and for his guide ; and to demand of him another
two guineas, should he take his guide with him,
is excessive.
What I personally resented still more was
that each time I wished to paint in any of the
enclosures, the same charges as for a first visit
were necessary. I had been informed that a five-
yen ticket was obtainable, which would permit
of my working here every day for a month ;
nothing, however, seemed known of this when
we inquired at the office. The official was very
civil, and he told us that a great many artists
painted at Nikko, but found their best subjects
just outside the enclosed parts. A slight twinkle
in his eye seemed to suggest that the state of the
artists' purses may have some influence on the
choice of their subjects. As the official was in
no way responsible for the regulations, it was
useless to argue with him.
It is a short-sighted policy, for pictorial repre-
sentations do much to bring visitors to any place.
The tomb of leyasu is on the hill above the
shrine. We pass through the Chinese Gate and
between two buildings on our left an altar and
the kagura-do, or dancing-stage and we then
come to a door in the gallery which fences off'
this side of the enclosure. The Nemuri no Ne/co,
or " Sleeping Cat," of the famous sculptor Jingoro,
is pointed out to us. It has been so often re-
produced arid so much talked about that it may
disappoint a good many, especially as it is no
better than so much we have already seen. Pass-
ing through the door, we ascend a zigzag flight
of stone steps till we reach a torii and yet another
shrine, and behind this, in a clearing in the wood,
stands the tomb.
It is an impressive monument, and simplicity
itself compared to the highly-decorated buildings
we have seen. The design is somewhat like a
NIKKO 239
one-storied pagoda. As a bit of bronze casting,
it proves that Japan had nothing to learn from
Europe in that difficult art, for the whole is done
in one casting. We are told that the light colour
of the metal is owing to a good admixture of gold
in its composition. It rests on a simple granite
plinth, in front of which stands a huge bronze
incense-burner. A stork standing on a tortoise
and a large flower-vase, all of the same metal,
are to right and left of the burner. A touch of
another colour is given by the brass candlestick
held in the stork's beak and the brass lotus-flowers
and leaves which rise out of the vase. A plain
stone balustrade encloses the monument, to
which access is given through a handsome bronze
doorway.
The tomb is a costly one, and it is in good
taste. Its contrasting simplicity to the gorgeous-
ness of all the other structures in the mausoleum
suggests, nevertheless, a mock humility on the
part of the Shogun. "Is not everything else in
honour of the gods and of his patron saint ?" has
been said ; ** whereas this is only to commemo-
rate the resting-place of his mortal remains/' A
plausible argument, though far from expressing
the whole truth. The lavish expense in artistic
240 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
production and in material, as well as in the con-
struction of the road from here to the capital, was
all for the glorification of leyasu and the Toku-
gawa Dynasty, of which he was the founder.
The Mikados, though of heavenly descent and
the nominal rulers of the empire, were laid to
rest in humble surroundings compared to the
mausolea of the powerful Shoguns of this dynasty.
CHAPTER XVIII
NIKKO (continued]
WE hear little of leyasu's son who succeeded
him in the Shogunate. Were it not for
his splendid tomb at Tokyo, most people would
not even know his name.
leyasu made Yedo his capital. It was then
only a humble fishing village, but it soon grew in
importance, and its population eclipsed that of
Kyoto at the time of the revolution, from which
date its name has been changed to Tokyo. Hide-
tada, the next in succession, was buried at Shiba
in the new capital. His famous son lemitsu was
deemed worthy at his death to lie near his grand-
father, and in 1650, when he died, his remains
were brought to Nikko.
The wide avenue which forms the approach to
his tomb is the subject of the illustration.
The red-lacquered shrine on the left is one of
the Futatso-do, or the two temples which are con-
nected with a gallery. It is said that the bones
16 241
242 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
of Yoritomo are preserved here. As the same
thing is said of a temple at Kamakura, our
doubts may be pardoned.
The gate at the top of the stone steps is the
entrance to lemitsu's mausoleum. It is similar
in design to the first gate of leyasu's memorial,
but less ornate. It is dwarfed by the size of the
cryptomerias which intervene, though it is by no
means small in itself. The pilgrims and sight-
seers who constantly pass up and down the steps
serve to scale it, and they and their picturesque
attire add greatly to the subjects.
Were all that is connected with lemitsu the
only architectural attractions here, Nikko would
still well repay a visit. As it is, it is over-
shadowed by the splendours of leyasu's mauso-
leum. Most of the features of the latter are here,
but on a lesser scale.
It was cold work painting this gate, screened
as I was from the sun, but not from the chilly
winds which blew.
We were not half-way through October. The
two thousand feet we were above the level of the
sea, and the close proximity to the snow covering
the mountain-tops, made me doubtful as to whether
I could work a month here as well as a few days
NIKKO 243
at Chuzenji, which lies two thousand five hundred
feet higher,
Miss Crauford, whom I had met at Hakoiie,
was here also. She painted the same subject
from the opposite side of the road, where she
got the benefit of the sun and a certain shelter
from the wind. I thought I liked my view the
best ; I nevertheless envied her her point of
vantage. On a bright day the contrast between
the sun and shade was striking.
I procured some little stoves which the Japanese
women put in their sleeves and obi. They are
small enough to push up the sleeve of a coat, and
the slow-burning fuse which they hold will keep
alight for four or five hours. This species of
muff-warmer must be in great demand during
the cold weather, for it is procurable in most
villages, and costs about a penny, the fuel being
proportionately cheap.
Before I could finish my drawing, 1 had found
a place for a stove under my waistcoat, I had
stuffed one in each sock, and had a stove under
each foot. At Chuzenji, later on, I was like a
moving ironmonger's shop.
My preparations against the cold seemed to
cause no inconsiderable amusement to the maids
244 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
at the hotel, who take that " kindly interest " of
which we have heard in all the doings of the
guests.
Amongst the many minor objects of interest,
I saw many subjects which lent themselves more
to pictorial treatment than do the noted sights of
Nikko. I realized after a while that it was not
only the fees which induced the artists to choose
their subjects outside the mausolea enclosures.
A path through the woods on the north side
of the temples leads to one of the many water-
falls abounding in this neighbourhood. There
are subjects enough in this walk of half an hour
to furnish an artist with material for a long
summer's sojourn. We pass several modest
shrines, which are more sketchable than the well-
kept and elaborate temples in the enclosures.
Moss -covered stone lanterns stand between the
cryptomerias, which partly line each side of the
path, and suggest that the latter was once a
stately avenue.
A long and winding flight of stone steps
ascends a hill, and leads to a disused and partly
ruined temple. From the left-hand side of the
steps the waterfall is seen through the branches
of the trees, and when the plateau on which the
NIKKO 245
temple stands is reached, we find ourselves
on the level from which the roaring cascade
falls.
The priest's dwellings are in little better repair
than the temple. An aged wood-cutter lived a
hermit life in one of the buildings. He seemed
pleased to see us, and gave us some tea. He
showed us his stock of abnormal growths which
he had fashioned into flower-vases, tobacco-pots,
walking-sticks, and what not. He was able to
tell us of the days before Buddhism was dis-
established, when services were still held in
the temple. We had several occasions to call on
the old man, and his hot tea was more than
welcome after a long sit near the chilly waterfall.
The climb up to his house was as warming as
his tea.
The whine and grumble so often heard among
the aged poor nearer home is rarely met with in
Japan, and this old man would never be likely to
throw out a hint that he was in want. We
could make some return for the trouble he might
have been put to by buying an example of his
quaint collection, but he did not bring them
forward with this object in view, for it was we
who asked to see them.
246 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
The behaviour of the humbler classes has
doubtless changed for the worse in the towns
adjoining the foreign settlements. The foreigner
naturally comes most in contact with those who
live nearest to him and whom he employs, and
he has them in his mind when he sneers about
" Oriental politeness." The nicest Japanese
whom I have met were those who had not had
their courtly manners spoilt by contact with the
nations of the West.
Let us return to the waterfall, warmed by our
tea and our talk with the cheery old hermit, who
has passed his life within the sound of the rushing
waters.
On a ledge of rock projecting from the lower
part of the waterfall, a quaint image of a god is
seated. He holds an iron sword in his right
hand ; the weapon is nearly rusted through, and
the top part sways to and fro from the draught
caused by the fall of water. The outlines of
flames are just discernible on the stone backing
of the image. His original ferocious expression
has been a good deal modified by the mosses
which have taken root in his open mouth and
have choked up his distended nostrils.
The G.P.F. thinks that it is Fudo, but as my
NIKKO 247
friend is rather uncertain about his gods, he
consults our old friend the hermit. " Yes, it is
Fudd, the God of Fire," he afterwards assures
me ; but why and by whom he was placed in
such a damp situation is more than we can find
out. That it might have been deemed a safe place
in which to put this fiery old gentleman suggested
itself to me ; yet it seems hardly conceivable that
such disrespect to a god would be tolerated.
According to Monier Williams, Fudo means
" The Immovable," and it is one of the names of
the Brahminical God Siva ; while Satow identifies
him with Dainichi, the God of Wisdom, which
quality is symbolized by the flames which sur-
round him.
Water is no respecter of persons or of stone
gods. It squirts and splashes over and around
the image, trickles down the flames, and hangs in
drops from the nose. A water-wagtail tries the
head as a resting-place, till a puff' of wind sends
the spray that way, and he flies off.
The neighbourhood of Nikko abounds in
waterfalls, and many are very much more
imposing. But the image gives this one a kind
of human interest, and tempts me to try my
hand at a waterfall for the first time.
248 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
On our return to the village we saw some men
putting up a triumphal arch at the bottom of
the drive of the principal European hotel.
Others were fixing flag-posts, and from the
general interest the villagers were taking in the
proceedings, it was evident that something
unusual was going to happen.
The autumn manoeuvres were taking place
some twenty miles from Nikko, and I had heard
that the Emperor was attending them. Could it
be he that was coming ? I asked Mr. Tsuda to
find out, and imagine my surprise when I was
told that Lord Kitchener was expected to arrive
on the following day !
It was long since I had seen a newspaper, and
I had an idea that his lordship was in Australia.
Great preparations were also going on at our
hotel ; in two or three places a half-dozen rooms
were turned into one. The six- and eight-mat
compartments soon became a forty-mat dormitory
by shifting the screens out of the grooves. A
guard of honour of a hundred men were mostly
to be quartered at the Konishi-ya, besides several
officers. I expected to be kept awake half the
night by the noise, for the soldiers were to arrive
that same evening.
NIKKO 249
My fears, however, were groundless, for I have
never come across better-behaved men in my life.
When they had been assigned their quarters,
they were told off in batches of fifteen to the
bathroom. As only four can squeeze into the
hot bath at the same time, I do not know how
they managed it. The bath- man informed us
the next day that, although there were sixty
men, it was so arranged that everyone had his
proper share. I felt sorry for the last batch.
The men may be fairly clean before the hot
soak, but sixty men is a lot ! They supped and
slept in a wing of the inn other than the one
we were in, and the officers occupied the adjoin-
ing rooms to mine. By ten o'clock there was
not a sound to be heard, except the sugges-
tion of a snore from the other side of the
partition.
Lord Kitchener was to spend the best part
of the week at the Kanaya Hotel, and take the
train daily down to Utsonomiya, near which
station the manoeuvres were being held. The
guard of honour remained at Nikko to escort
him to and from the station.
Mr. Tsuda was asked by one of the officers
if a call on me would be welcome, and accordingly
250 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
I had a very pleasant evening visit from Lieu-
tenant Katayama. He had served in the late
war, as well as in the one with China. He
seemed inclined to tell me of some of his ex-
periences, but unfortunately the amount of
French he spoke was not sufficient to make
him quite intelligible. He would take nothing
to drink but tea, and as far as I could gather
none of the men under his command took any-
thing stronger.
Imagine the landlord of any licensed establish-
ment in Europe having sixty soldiers quartered
on him and doing no business at his bar !
Lord Kitchener arrived at noon on the follow-
ing day. We saw some hundreds of school-
children each one carrying a little flag march
down to the station to sing a welcoming ode.
A servant closed the shoji while we were at
lunch, and hearing the tramp of many people
passing in the street below, I slid the paper-
slides back to see the cortege. I noticed that
every window which faced the road was closed,
and that not a balcony had a spectator in it. It
had the depressing effect of the drawn blinds
when a funeral is in progress. I mentioned this
to the G.P.F., and was told that when a very
NIKKO 251
high personage passed officially along the streets
it was not etiquette to look down on him. I
hastily closed the shqji, and returned to my
lunch.
I knew that this custom obtained when a
member of the Imperial Family passed along
the streets, and I felt flattered that such an
honour should be shown to a distinguished
compatriot of mine.
Some days later I heard that if 1 wished to
paint the maples at Chuzenji in the full glory
of their autumnal foliage, there was no time to
lose.
We engaged a man to carry our necessary
traps, and made an early start for the lake. It
is seven miles from Nikkd, with a steep ascent
during the latter half of the walk.
\\ 7 e follow the course of the Daiya-gawa till
we reach Uma-gaeshi, the village at which most
people rest before starting on the steep ascent.
The name Uma-gaeshi means literally " horse
send back," and dates from the time when there
was no practicable road, and when visitors were
forced to do the remaining journey on foot.
As we ascend, the scenery becomes wilder and
more picturesque. We use the old footpath,
252 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
which is much shorter than the new road. The
two join occasionally, and half-circle round the
side of a cliff overlooking the gorge through
which the Daiya-gawa rushes.
The foliage of the deciduous trees was in every
shade of warm colouring, from pale gold down
to a deep crimson. The pines and yews which
relieved it looked more sombre than ever in
their dark evergreen. We made a slight detour
to see the Hannya and Hodo cascades.
A tea-house is perched on the edge of a ravine
which commands the best view. A number of
Japanese tourists were here, who, like ourselves,
were on their way to see the maples at Chuzenji.
Many of them had cameras, and were photo-
graphing the cascades.
The Hannya falls gracefully from a ledge of
rock, which is lost on both sides and overhead in
dense masses of maples. The stream at its base
is lost and found among the boulders, and comes
swirling and splashing in a serpentine line to
beneath the stage from which we see it.
Nature seemed bent on showing that she had
a reserve of colour which could, when she was in
the mood, put to shame the hues of the Nikko
shrines we had left.
NIKKO 253
We continued our journey till we reached
another tea-house, placed at the edge of a cliff
overlooking the Daiya-gawa. The air was too
chilly for us to enjoy the wild scenery for long.
The great sight on the way to the lake was still
before us.
After ascending to the level of Chuzenji, and
a little before reaching it, we saw a finger-post
directing us to the Kegon-no-taki waterfall. A
steep path winds down among the cliffs till it
nearly reaches the bed of the torrent. A wooden
bridge here crosses the base of another waterfall,
called Shirakumo, meaning the "white cloud."
It is a long bridge arid a slippery one, but we
must hasten to cross it, or we shall be drenched
by the spray from the falling water. We skirt
round the edge of another cliff, and descend to a
little tea-house placed in full view of Kegon, the
grandest fall of water in this part of Japan.
It is the chief outlet of Chuzenji Lake, and the
main source of the river near whose course we
had been ascending since we left Nikko. From a
narrow cleft in the overhanging rocks it bursts forth
in an unbroken cascade till it dashes into the bed
of the torrent, two hundred and fifty feet below.
We can hardly hear ourselves speak for the
254 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
roar, and it is as well, for comments are super-
fluous, if not jarring, when face to face with
Nature in her most awe-striking aspects.
It would be difficult to imagine a more de-
lightful place in which to spend the hot summer
months than on the shores of Lake Chuzenji.
The brilliancy of the colouring we now saw
would, of course, be absent, but for a prolonged
stay the quieter hues of summer would be more
restful. The gorgeous display of late October is
as short a period in the course of the year as that
of the sunset to the day which it closes. No one
would wish to live where the sun was always
setting, and he would cease to enjoy the beauty
of the fall were it of a longer duration.
We had not arrived a day too soon. On the
more exposed mountain-sides the frosts had
already shrivelled up the leaves of the maples
and turned their crimson to a rusty brown. On
the southern slopes of Nantai-zan, which rises
four thousand feet above the lake, the trees which
clothe them were still in their full splendour.
It was bitterly cold, yet I could not let this
opportunity slip without attempting some record
of what I saw.
My subject was in the lane leading to Vumoto,
NIKKO 255
a village situated on the shore of a smaller lake
some five miles north of Chuzenji.
But for the provision of muff-warmers which
I had brought from Nikko, work would have
been impossible.
The maples were not plentiful just here ; a
group of trees which I can only remember as
having silvery trunks and limbs, seen here and
there amongst a mass of golden foliage, was the
chief thing of beauty which I attempted to por-
tray in the illustration which accompanies this.
The inn where we stayed was on the edge of
the lake ; we had come with a letter of introduc-
tion from the landlord of our Nikko hotel, a
custom which prevails in Japan.
Foreigners travelling without a guide, and
frequenting native inns, are much helped by this
custom when their knowledge of the language is
very limited. It not only assures them of a good
welcome, but also states their requirements.
The rain held off during our three days' stay
at Chuzenji, and I was able to get another study
near the Kegon Falls, where the crimson maples
were the chief object.
Our return journey to Nikko was as delightful
as our ascent to Chuzenji had been. While rest-
256 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
ing at a tea-house in one of the villages on our
way, two Americans passed who were distribut-
ing tracts to the villagers. A child who had
picked up a couple gave one to Mr. Tsuda, and
I asked him to translate some of the contents
to me.
It was a translation into Japanese of the
ordinary evangelical tract met with at home. It
would appear as strange and incomprehensible to
the Japanese peasant as an English translation
of a Buddhist sutra would appear to a peasant
at home.
Fortunately, the advice sent from home and
posted up in flaming advertisements to drink So-
and-so's whisky and no other is as little heeded
by the country-folk as are the tracts which well-
meaning people distribute.
Japan has learnt much from Europe, but
should her people learn to poison themselves
with the spirits Europe tries to foist on her,
Japan will be wise enough to clap such a duty on
alcohol as to make its sale an impossibility.
We spent some delightful days in the garden
of a priest after our return to Nikko. It was
one of those small rock-gardens which none but
the Japanese know how to make beautiful at a
-
,'"*
NIKKO 257
slight cost some careful planning at first so as
to obtain a well-composed view from the veranda
of the dwelling-house, and then Nature is left to
do the rest. Such gardens could only have
evolved in a mountainous country with an abun-
dance of streams and a warm, moist summer to
further the growth of the shrubs, added to the
keen aesthetic sense of its people.
I was protected from the rain by the veranda,
and to a certain extent from the cold by the
kind attentions of the priest's old housekeeper,
who placed a charcoal brazier next to me, and
had some hot tea always going.
The perpetual tea-drinking in Japan does not
have the deleterious effects one might expect.
The hot water is never allowed to stand long on
the leaves, and the tea is taken sufficiently weak
barely to colour the water. It is also taken with-
out milk or sugar, and quenches the thirst more
readily than would sweet drinks. The tea is
green, and differs in flavour from that of China or
India. Europeans do not at first Jike it, but if
they once acquire the taste, they take to it very
readily.
I left Nikko with great regret. Its name is
not harmonious, but it recalls all that is most
17
258 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
beautiful and harmonious in the Far East. Of
things seen, the gem-like temple buildings, over-
shadowed by the giant cryptomerias, hold the
first place in my memory ; the kindly welcome
of the priest and his elderly housekeeper to their
modest dwelling, the simple hospitality of the
old hermit near the waterfall, as well as the
attention to our needs cheerily given by those at
our inn, will all retain a warm place in my heart
when the memory of things seen may become
dimmed by lapse of time.
CHAPTER XIX
TOKYO
rMHE chrysanthemum more than the cold
-- weather induced me to descend to the plains
and take up my abode at Tokyo.
My friend Mr. Kanocogni had recommended
me to a Japanese hotel not far from the centre of
the town, yet well cut off from the noise and
bustle of a busy capital. The Take-shiba over-
looks Tokyo Bay ; it has a large garden of its
own, and the trees of its neighbours give it a
seclusion rarely found in a large city.
The garden also had the chrysanthemums of
which I was in need.
Such inns as these do not advertise, as in
Europe, but depend on custom through the re-
commendation of previous guests. It is not only
recommended to the would-be guest, but he is
also recommended to the landlord. In the case of
foreigners this is very important, for their usual
inability to adapt themselves to the Japanese
259
260 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
mode of living is liable to give the landlord a
good deal of trouble, and may induce him to say
that he has no vacant rooms.
Our room led out into the garden and over-
looked the bay beyond ; it got all the sun, and
was sheltered from the cold winds by a projecting
wing of the house.
November in Japan is usually the sunniest
month of the year. As if to make up for an
excessively wet summer, we had sunshine during
nearly the whole of this and the following
month.
I had seen Tokyo in dirty weather during the
two or three days spent there on my way to
Nikko, and, owing to its low situation and
heavy soil, the mud in the streets was inde-
scribable.
Tokyo had now dried up, and it was possible
to walk about the streets with pleasure without
the highly-raised clogs the natives wear. A
system of tramways takes away from the old-
world look which is the charm of Kyoto, but as
the distances are very great, the rapid locomotion
is a convenience of which I availed myself con-
siderably.
The city is roughly a hundred square miles in
TOKYO 261
extent ; and Asakusa and Mukojima, where 1
found my chief subjects, are about seven and
eight miles from our hotel.
I started on the chrysanthemums in the hotel
garden at once, and Mr. Tsuda explored the
neighbourhood for places where these flowers
could be seen in masses and painted with con-
venience.
Chrysanthemum shows were advertised, and it
was a great pleasure to attend them. The crowds
of people made it impossible to work there, and
arranged, as the plants were, in rows and under
temporary sheds, they were not as pictorial as
when growing in the gardens.
I got what I wanted as an illustration for this
book without leaving my hotel, and the G.P.F.
discovered a delightful tea-garden in the suburb
of Mukojima which will serve as an illustration
to " Japanese Gardens."
Cut flowers were in evidence everywhere, and
for a trifling sum it was possible to have a grand
display in the takemona. Chrysanthemums were
to be seen in vases in most of the shops, and in
pots in the porches or under the verandas of
most of the private houses. It was at Mukojima
that we found the florist's gardens and tea-houses
262 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
where I could paint these charming flowers in
comfort and amidst suitable surroundings.
A tramway runs the whole distance from the
Shiba district to Asakusa, and from thence we
take a ferry which crosses the Sumida-gawa, and
lands us a mile or more up the stream. On the
south or Mukojima side there is an avenue of
cherry-trees two miles long on the river embank-
ment. When they are in blossom, thousands of
people come to enjoy the beautiful sight.
The chrysanthemum gardens do not attract
such numbers, for the great shows are then going
on more in the centre of the city.
The Shakwa Garden attracted me the most.
It is a combination of tea-garden and that of a
nurseryman and florist. The deciduous trees had
mostly shed their leaves, but there were sufficient
fine old evergreens to prevent the dreariness of
many gardens in the late autumn. The masses
of chrysanthemums in beds, in pots, and the more
delicate kinds sheltered under thatch -covered
roofs, were, of course, the chief attraction.
The marvellous developments of that flower
were not to be seen here, as they are in the
shows at Dango-zaka and at Asakusa, but there
were quite enough for my purpose.
TOKYO 263
The proprietor was as obliging as I usually
found most of the owners of gardens. He would
have a table placed wherever I wished to paint,
and I could keep my feet from the damp by sitting
on it. A charcoal brazier was also a welcome
companion. He showed me with great pride the
signature of Mr. Taft, now President of the
United States, and also some lines dedicated to
the kiku (chrysanthemum) which that statesman
had written. He had cut this out of his visitors'
book and framed it. Mr. Tsuda must, I fear,
have greatly exaggerated my reputation as an
artist, for I was also asked for my signature and
a laudatory word or two about his garden.
Mukojima is as unlike an ordinary suburb of a
great city as it is possible to conceive. It lies
very low, and is not considered sanitary, for the
rents of the small houses are as low as the situa-
tion. It reminded me of the outskirts of some
Dutch towns, from the number of ditches on the
sides of the roads and the little bridges and gates
that give access to the garden patches in front of
the houses. The hedges are trimmed and ever-
greens are cut into shapes, as is also seen in
Holland. The houses themselves are, of course,
quite different, being entirely constructed of
264 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
wood, save the dark-grey tiled roofs. I was
told that the rents of a great number were a
shilling and less per week.
There are some quaint little restaurants in this
suburb, some of which are noted for a particular
dish. The well-to-do of Tokyo often partake of
them when a floral attraction brings them this way.
We tried most of the eating-houses, as it was
too far to return to our hotel. Some are built on
piles driven into a pond they overlook. Goldfish
will collect near the staging, when guests appear,
for the crumbs which may drop from their six-
inch tables. A crane will stand at the edge of the
water casting an envious eye on the perforated
eel-tub lashed to one of the piles. Distorted pine-
trees and azalea-bushes, growing amongst the rock-
work, fringe the sides opposite the building.
Where circumstances allow, stone lanterns or
a bronze water-basin add to the decoration.
Sakana-no-tempura and unagi-mesM are dishes
which can usually be obtained, and they are both
dishes to be remembered. The first is a kind of
fish-fritter often crayfish and prawns similarly
treated and the second is stewed eels in layers
of rice and flavoured with soyu, the favourite
Japanese sauce. The latter dish is often served
TOKYO 265
in a lacquer box, delicately fashioned and in shape
like a lady's glove-box.
There was one restaurant where food was
especially prepared for the followers of a certain
Buddhist sect, and where not even fish was allowed
in their diet. We did not patronize it, as we
wanted something more sustaining than lotus-
roots and bamboo-shoots. I seemed to get on
very well without meat ; but where eggs are
little used, and milk and butter never, fish as a
substitute for flesh seems indicated.
Beef is now to be had in purely Japanese eat-
ing-houses in most centres. It had not yet
reached Mukojima.
We went often to Asakusa, one of the oldest
and most picturesque districts of Tokyo, for
before we had seen the last of the chrysanthe-
mums a subject there had ripened, and at all
costs I had to make an effort to paint it.
The great ?Y^o-trees surrounding the temple of
Kwannon had turned to the golden splendour
which adds another attraction to this spot during
the waning of the year.
Kwannon's shrine is the largest religious edifice
in the capital ; it is not gorgeously decorated, as
are the temples of Nikko, nor as some others in
266 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
Tokyo itself. It has all the appearance of being
there for the use of the people, and not of being
kept up as a show place.
The 17th and 18th of each month are days
sacred to the goddess Kwannon, and on those
days a fair is held on the large space between the
Nio-mon and the temple itself. It is picturesque
beyond measure. Stalls, holding everything
which may appeal to the tastes and purses of the
poorer classes, are rigged up between the trees
and the enormous stone and bronze lanterns ;
conjurers and fortune - tellers collect groups
around them ; sellers of charms and the ichiko,
who professes to give tidings from the dead, are
seldom absent.
The fair not only invades the precincts, but
encroaches beneath the colonnade that surrounds
the sanctuary in the temple itself. The doves,
which flutter fearlessly amongst the crowds
outside, seem quite at home in Kwannon's
shrine.
AVhere to find a spot from which to paint this
exciting subject was a matter of a good deal of
consideration.
The Nio-won, as the gate which gives access
to the precincts is called, furnished me with a
TOKYO 267
perch from which I could see over the heads of
the people.
The terror-striking beings who occupy niches
on each side of the entrance have fortunately
here a short flight of wooden steps leading up to
their enclosures. From this point of vantage
I was enabled to make the drawing which
serves as an illustration to this book.
I had to choose a day when the fair was not
on, for the booths then blocked out too much
of my subject. Ordinary days are, however,
sufficiently animated for what I wanted.
Asakusa is little affected by the modern
innovations which obtrude in other parts of
Tokyo. It is easy to picture the scenes which
Mitford laid here in his " Story of the Otokodate
of Yedo." Wandering about the extensive
grounds of the temple, we were attracted into
some of the shows, which are permanent fixtures.
We recognized scenes in some of the other
" Tales of Old Japan " which Mitford has so
vividly portrayed. We witnessed " The Vampire
Cat of Nabeshima," performed by marionettes ;
and though this tale is as well known in Japan
as " Cinderella " is with us, it was interesting to
see how the crowd of onlookers were moved by it.
268 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
We were here amongst the humbler classes,
who, as everywhere else, give more expression to
their emotions. The official Japanese, as well as
all the more educated, have learnt to disguise
their innermost feelings to the extent that
inscrutability is one of their chief characteristics.
Within a short distance of the Kwannon a
great show of chrysanthemums was now being
held. There was a great display of flowers, and
it was a very pretty sight, but I saw no varieties
which I had not seen in England. Adjoining
the open space where the long sheds of flowers
are, stands a great dome-shaped building, and,
following the crowd into it, we beheld a most
extraordinary series of flower- tableaux. Life-
sized figures and animals representing scenes
from well-known legends were entirely made
up of chrysanthemums, except the masks of
the faces, which were of wax or some other
material.
Millions of buds had been wired together to
imitate the colour and pattern of the robes of the
personages ; not only these, but the trees and
rocks and all the practicable furniture of the
stage was made up of the same flowers.
It was very quaint and interesting, but hardly
TOKYO 269
repaid the infinite labour involved in its pro-
duction.
I did not go to the Imperial garden-party
which takes place while the chrysanthemum is in
season.
A frock-coat and tall hat are de rigueur, and
to travel about in Japan with such useless encum-
brances is not to be thought of. It is the only
occasion, happily, when Japanese ladies wear
European dresses. They look charming in their
own national dress, and I did not wish to see
them in ill-fitting Paris creations. Time, also,
was too pressing, for there was a rush of beautiful
things in November which I wished to paint
while they lasted.
The maple was turning to crimson, the golden
leaves of the zYVjo-tree had not yet fallen, and I
had three chrysanthemum pictures on hand.
The former is quite a fortnight later than on
the heights at Chuzenji.
People were beginning to flock to Oji to
wander about the maple groves that clothe the
banks of the Takino-gawa. The purity of this
stream is unfortunately somewhat spoilt by some
unlovely factories which have of late sprung up.
Oji is also a great resort in the spring, when the
cherry is in bloom, but the smoke from the
neighbouring mills robs it of much of its charm.
Omori is at the opposite end of the city, and
is within easy reach of the inn where we lodged.
I went there once or twice to make a study for
the book on gardens.
It is an unfailing pleasure in Japan to find how
the people appreciate beautiful nature. They
wandered about under these maples, taking in a
full measure of the gorgeous colour around them.
Strangers from a distance who visited the park
took the opportunity to pay their respects to the
tombs of the " Forty-seven Ronins," which are
in the neighbourhood.
The story of these forty-seven heroes has been
so admirably told by Lord Redesdale, who wrote
under the name of A. B. Mitford, that I cannot
do better than refer my readers to his " Tales
of Old Japan."
How they plotted during two years to avenge
an insult to their late master, knowing full well
that, whether they succeeded or not, death was
in store for them ; how they fulfilled their vow ;
and how, having slain their enemy and placed his
head on the tomb of their lord, they committed
hara-kiri, in the hope of being able to serve their
TOKYO 271
master in the spirit- world this, and every
incident of the story, appeals to the imagination
of the people.
Western folk may admire the heroic devotion
of Takumi no Kami's retainers, but some of the
means they used to attain their ends, as well as
their self-inflicted death, might not meet with
approval.
They hold a place in the imagination of the
Japanese such as William Tell holds in that of
the Swiss.
They lie buried close to the tomb of their
master in a little fenced-in graveyard attached to
the Buddhist temple of Sengakuji. There is one
more stone in the enclosure than those to the
memory of Takumi no Kami and his forty-seven
followers, and the story of him who lies beneath
shows the veneration in which these Ronins were
held. One, known as " the Satsuma Man," had
seen Oishi Kuranosuke, the leader of the band,
lying drunk in the streets of Kyoto. " Faithless
beast !" he said, " is this the behaviour of a
Samurai, to lead a life of debauchery while the
insult and death of his master is still unavenged ? :1
His indignation was so great that he spat in the
face of the fallen man.
272 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
Two years later, when the fame of the Forty-
seven was noised abroad, the man from Satsuma
learnt that the life of debauchery which
Kuranosuke had led was done as a blind to put
his enemy off the scent and make him relax the
precautions he was taking against a reprisal.
Filled with remorse for the insult he had given
to so noble a man, he journeyed from Satsuma
to Tokyo to make an atonement at Oishi
Kuranosuke's grave.
Prostrating himself before the tomb, he
humbly begged forgiveness for the insult he had
given under a misconception, and, drawing his
dirk, he plunged it into his belly and died.
The Abbot of Sengakuji buried the Satsuma
man in a grave adjoining that of the man in
whose honour he had laid down his life.
In countries where hallowed ground is refused
to the suicide, such veneration for men who take
their own life is hard to understand. The fears
of an awful hereafter which medieval Christianity
has left in the minds of most Western people do
not exist here. Self-destruction of those who
have fallen into disgrace is considered an atone-
ment, and in some cases it is lauded as the most
praiseworthy act the person could commit.
TOKYO 273
I can refer those who wish for more informa-
tion on the gruesome subject of hara-kiri, to the
concluding chapter of Mitford's " Tales of Old
Japan." A Daymio who had given orders to
fire on the European settlement at Kobe was
condemned to commit hara-kiri, and Lord
Redesdale, in his then official capacity, had to
witness the carrying out of the sentence.
18
CHAPTER XX
TOKYO (conti?iued)
landlady of the Tak^-Shiba interested
-*- herself in a performance about to be given
at one of the leading theatres for some charitable
object, and asked me if I would patronize it. I
took tickets for myself and Mr. Tsuda, and
regretted that time would not allow me to
attend the play until it would be nearly over
namely, about half-past seven. " The greater
part would certainly be over," she said ; " but we
could still see something, as it went on till ten."
The performance began at two o'clock, and as
the piece was to be the " Story of the Forty-
Seven Ronins," I was really sorry not to be able
to see the whole of it.
The landlady herself had taken tickets for
most of the personnel of the hotel, and as there
were to be a series of these performances, the
servants had their treats on different days.
The book-keeper, the two maids who attended
TOKYO 275
to our room, and an elderly duenna, started
immediately after the midday rice, and took
provisions with them to help them to last out
the long entertainment.
When we arrived at the theatre after our
dinner, we found the book-keeper at the entrance
to receive us and show us our places. After
taking off our boots, we were led into the
auditorium, and I was amused to find that our
seats were on the same mat and in the same pen
as those of the book-keeper, the elderly duenna,
and that of Kimi San and Utah San, our
respective maids.
All were in their smartest kimonos, had the
daintiest of fans, and an extra shine on their jet-
black hair. A tear which a touching part of
the piece had brought to their eyes was imme-
diately wiped away, and three smiling faces were
brought down to the matting to welcome the
arrival of the two guests. Though Ronins were
just about to be ordered to commit hara-kiri, tea
must be prepared at once. I tried to assure
them that we could easily wait for our tea till
after the thrilling episodes on the stage were
over. I made a motion of committing hara-kiri
with the end of my pipe-stem to emphasize what
276 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
I meant, but this started them laughing, as if
disembowelling were the greatest joke imagin-
able. Our neighbours in the adjoining pens
seemed to think it equally funny.
I was about the only person in European dress
in the theatre, and got, in consequence, more
notice than I deserved.
The Ronins did not hara-kiri themselves on the
stage after all. Only half the play was given
when the curtain was drawn ; the second half
was, presumably, to come off on the following
day. A comic piece, only lasting an hour, was
to end the entertainment.
The carpenter of Fushimi (if I remember his
village rightly) was now to keep the audience in
fits of laughter. As in Kyoto, small boys
scrambled up the staging to stick their heads
under the curtain, so as to lose nothing during
the interval, while tea and cakes were being
consumed by their elders in the little pens which
extended all over the auditorium. The tap, tap
of the little pipes as they were emptied into the
bamboo ash-tray mingled with the noise of the
scene-shifting.
All eyes were suddenly directed to the part of
the house opposite the stage. The carpenter
TOKYO 277
of Fushimi was entering by the bridge which
crosses the pit, to join the scene which was at the
same time being disclosed.
On the stage his wife and his next-door
neighbour are having a dispute about the over-
due rent of his cottage. Seeing this from across
the theatre, our carpenter loses his temper, and
struts across the bridge to come to his wife's
assistance. He and the landlady get to words,
and he pushes her out of his yard. She trips up
and rolls along the stage. The audience by this
time are weeping from laughter.
In the next scene a myrmidon of the law
appears and tells the carpenter that he will have
to appear before the Daymio to answer for his
assault on his neighbour and for his overdue rent.
He and his wife and a young sister of his are
left in a terrible state of anxiety, till a friend
enters from across the pit and tells them to
cheer up. He has news to tell which will not
only get him out of his difficulties, but will
further his prospects. The Daymio had noticed
the young sister several times, and had decided on
making her his concubine.
The prospects of such a rise in the fortune of
the carpenter makes him as extravagantly
278 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
boisterous as he had been depressed before. The
young sister looks coy, and certainly not dis-
pleased. Sake is handed round, and the carpenter
becomes pot-valiant, and threatens to go to his
landlady's house and give her a bit of his mind.
While he is being restrained an envoy from the
Daymio arrives, and the joyful news is confirmed.
A period of a year now elapses. Small boys
scramble up the stage, and again poke their heads
under the curtain to watch the shifting of the
scenes. One climbs up on to the bridge and
tries to mimic the tipsy carpenter. Tea is made
and sipped in every pen, and again the tap, tap
of the little pipes striking the edge of the bamboo
ash-tray is heard.
The next scene is the open front of the
Daymio's palace. The audience are told by the
man in the rostrum, to the left of the stage, that
Kiku San, the honourable concubine of their
great lord, had obtained leave to receive her
brother, the carpenter, and show him her baby.
The Daymio is squatting on a raised seat with
attendant Samurai on each side of him. Kiku
San, now in gorgeous kimono, with whitened
face and scarlet lips, sits on her heels to the right
of the stage.
TOKYO 279
The carpenter enters. His borrowed smart
clothes sit badly on him ; his awkward manners
in the presence of the Daymio keep the audience
in fits of laughter ; and his amazement when he
sees his sister in her present get-up brings the
merriment to a climax. " Her face might be
made of plaster !" he exclaims, and crawls up to
her as if she were a sacred image.
The Daymio seems amused at the behaviour
of his left-handed brother-in-law, and orders some
sake to be brought. The carpenter takes to it
kindly, and wishes to stand drinks to the Samurai
attendants. A nurse next brings the baby, and
places it in its mother's lap.
The hero is beginning to show the effects of
the sake, and wishes to embrace his infant nephew.
Kiku lets him take up the child, whom he handles
as if it were a breakable object and covered with
wet paint.
When he holds the baby with its feet in the
air and head downwards, Kiku rushes forward
and rescues her child.
This ends the piece, the plot seemingly no
nearer a conclusion than at the beginning of the
last act.
The acting throughout was excellent, and the
280 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
mise en scene up to the requirements, but that so
poor a play should be as popular as it is is hard
to understand.
Being a fine frosty night, we walked part of
the way back to the hotel, the ladies keeping at
respectful distance behind. I suggested to Mr.
Tsuda that I should like to make a little return
for the tea and cakes which had been served to
us during the entertainment. He thought flowers
or cakes would be the most suitable. The flower-
stalls being closed, we slipped into a pastry-cook's
and procured the sweetstuffs we wanted.
On our arrival at the hotel, the landlady had
oysters and rice-cakes sent to our room ; it was
a good opportunity for presenting to Kimi San
and Utah San the load of pastry we had collected.
They opened the parcels and placed the contents
on the low table where we were squatting, and
disappeared. I felt that my present had fallen
rather flat, and looked at the G.P.F. for an ex-
planation. He said that we must eat some before
they did so, and that they had probably gone to
fetch the other ndsam, amongst whom they would
divide the sweets.
True enough we had hardly eaten our oysters
and rice-cakes when a do/en or more laughing
TOKYO 281
little women tripped up to our room, slid back
the sh6 f ji, and one by one brought their heads
down to the matting. Having answered their
"Arigato, arigato " with the correct " Do ita-
shimashite," which corresponds to our " Don't
mention it," we asked them to sit down.
I was looking forward to an impromptu supper-
party, and put the kettle on the hibachi to boil,
but instead of eating the sweets, they kept press-
ing Mr. Tsuda and myself to have some. We
assured them that, having condescended to eat
the honourable oysters, we had had quite
sufficient.
It was evidently not etiquette for them to eat
here, and as they did not take the things away,
the usual kind of conversation followed : " What
is your name ? " " Mura " from a pretty little
slopy-eyed creature. Mura means village. " Are
they all as nice-looking in your village ?" Mura's
eyes become two oblique slits, and the expected
answer comes : " Most of the musume. in my
village are much prettier ; I am the least worth
looking at." You ask Mura her age quite the
polite thing to do -and she asks you to guess.
You guess sixteen. She thanks you for the com-
pliment, and says she is already nineteen.
282 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
Meno San, or Miss Plum, is asked, after her
age is under-guessed, whether she is already
betrothed. Meno says, " No, no, no," and several
others join in that the nakodo is now arranging
a marriage. You tell Miss Plum that you hope
the match-maker may find a rich man, and one to
her liking. Plum answers that she does not care
whether he be rich or poor, as long as he is kind.
'* I can work," says Miss Plum, showing a pair of
well-rounded arms. " If only he be kind to me
I shall make him happy, however humble an uchi
we may have to live in."
I have heard this kind of remark several times.
The marriage tie being much looser here than in
Europe, the fear that the husband may tire of his
wife seems to haunt these sensitive little women.
After hearing the names and guessing the ages
of the Misses Village, Plum, Bamboo, Pine, Peony,
Lily, Clean, Song, and several others, and after
attempting little comments on their names, I was
rather hoping that the meeting would break up.
Miss Clean asked if she might see the photo-
graphs of my wife and sons. " How old were
the sons ? how old was the Oko San ?" I told
them my sons' ages, and must have under-guessed
that of my wife, for a little calculation would
TOKYO 283
have made her a mother at about nine years of
age. They did not calculate so deeply, and it
passed. " Had I no daughters ?" " No." " Oh,
then, I will be a daughter-in-law," came from
Miss Peony, a jolly little woman of seventeen.
" Write and tell your son to come to Japan, and
I shall marry him instantly." (The son is perhaps
as well where he is.) " Isn't he a beauty !" And
then a lop-sided compliment came my way :
" He must have been good-looking when he was
young." This after a careful comparison of the
photograph with myself.
It was getting very late, and I gave the G.P.F.
a hint to break up the party. The hint he gave
was, I thought, abrupt : "Get the room ready for
the night."
The cakes were marched off, and the whole
string of girls brought their heads to the floor :
" O yasumi nasai."
Amidst the chatter and giggling we heard a
dozen or more dainty little feet tripping along
the passage.
Play was now over for Kimi and Utah.
Everything had to be dusted and put in its place,
the matting vigorously swept, clothes folded,
and the quilts spread out on the floor. The
284 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
heavy hibachi, which in winter serves to warm
the room as well as to light the pipes and keep
the kettle on the boil, is taken out, for no one
sleeps with the live charcoal in the room. " O
yasumi nasai " from Kimi and Utah, and we are
left to dream of the tipsy carpenter and the
plaster face of Kiku San.
In taking leave of Tokyo, I feel how much of
what is beautiful there has not been mentioned
in these pages. Shiba and Ueno, the two great
gardens where, amidst magnificent trees, gor-
geously decorated shrines mark the resting-place
of former Shoguns ; the art treasures in the
museum and temples, have not even been
alluded to.
Tokyo is the heart of the Japanese Risorgi-
mento. The fight at Ueno in 1868, when the
Imperial troops routed the followers of the
Shogun, was one of the last blows to the old
order, and modern Japan dates from thence.
These and other matters have been fully and
ably dealt with, and do not come within the
purpose of this book.
I have endeavoured so far to treat of the
pictorial aspects of Japan, and of the life of the
people with whom I was thrown.
TOKYO 285
I did not visit the hospitals and prisons, but
contented myself with hearing from others that
these institutions were regulated according to the
most up-to-date systems obtaining in Europe.
The seamy side of Japanese life is little in
evidence unless the traveller goes out of his way
to seek it. He can wander about the streets at
night, and will rarely, if ever, see anyone the
worse for drink, and he will never hear the foul-
mouthed abuse often heard in Western cities.
Brazen-faced solicitation to vice is entirely absent.
It is true that libertinism is permitted and State-
regulated, but it is strictly confined to one quarter.
The Yoshiwara is the name given to that quarter
in Tokyo. The courtesans and those who live on
their trade alone inhabit it. It is a sad sight to
see some two thousand of these unfortunate
women, decked in gorgeous apparel, seated
behind the gilded bars of what would correspond
to a shop-front at home. The solicitation is done
by the brothel-keeper, who sits at the entrance
and extols his wares to the visitors.
The quiet behaviour of the young women adds
to the pathos of the scene. Not one is probably
here from any desire to lead what is termed " the
gay life."
286 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
They are recruited from the poorest country
districts, where, after a bad harvest or other mis-
fortune, a peasant may be found to sacrifice a
daughter to keep the family roof over his head.
She earns nothing herself during the term of
her degradation ; her wages are paid to her
parents, and she must hand over to her keeper
any presents she may receive.
Till the year 1900 these unfortunate girls had
no hope of freeing themselves, unless the moneys
disbursed to their parents could be restored to
their keepers, and unless the debts incurred for
their clothes could be wiped off. An agitation
against the system was begun by the Japan
branch of the Salvation Army. The Press took
it up, and a law was passed which renders it
easier for the inmates to free themselves.
Members of the Salvation Army stormed the
Yoshiwara, and from the streets explained to the
women the new state of the law. They also told
them that work would be provided which would
keep them, and enable them to pay off their debts
in time.
There was a great disturbance, many of the
women rushing out to join the Salvationists.
The brothel-keepers overawed the more timid
TOKYO 287
ones, and stoned and hustled the propagandists.
Most of the local papers approved the action
of the Salvation Army, and many of the houses
had to close their doors.
The number of the inmates has decreased con-
siderably since then. She who enters there does
not, as formerly, abandon hope.
The tourist who makes a short stay in Japan
is usually taken to the Yoshiwara as one of the
sights of Tokyo. He is also taken to the tea-
houses to be entertained by the geisha, and he
leaves the country with the impression that
Japanese womanhood is of easy virtue. That
he is wrong I am convinced. The legitimate
aspiration to marry and become the mother of
children is stronger in Japan than in most
countries. To carry on the family cult is as
much the desire of every peasant-girl as is the
desire in England in the more favoured classes
to have an heir to inherit an estate. She may
marry when she has served her term, but she
returns to her village as a damaged article, and
marriage may not improve her lot.
The attitude of the respectable women towards
the licensed hetairas is different from what we find
it at home. They are spoken of freely, not
288 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
necessarily in condemnation, but as unfortunates
whom stress of circumstances has forced to
lead this life. In hotels, where temptations to
vice may be greater than in the villages, the
Yoshiwara is held out to the maids as a place
of punishment where they might be sent should
they misbehave.
While wandering about Asakusa during one
of its fairs, I was attracted into a show where
a series of tableaux were on view. They repre-
sented episodes in the history of the popular
heroes and heroines of Japanese romance.
Amongst them was a variant of the story of
Claudio and Isabella in " Measure for Measure."
The hero is a young nobleman who is left no
choice than to commit hara-kiri unless he can
pay off some debt of honour, and the heroine
is his sister. He does not plead, as did the
miserable Claudio :
" Sweet sister, let me live : What sin you do to save a
brother's life, Nature dispenses with the deed so far
That it becomes a virtue."
And she does not answer him :
" () dishonest wretch ! Wilt thou be made a man out of
my vice ? Is't not a kind of incest to take life from
thine own sister's shame ?"
TOKYO 289
A third personage in the tableau is that of a
woman seated in her litter, which two carriers
are resting on the ground. She holds out the
purse of gold which will pay off the young man's
debt and save his life. The sister pleads with
her brother to take the money, though it is the
price of her honour which the emissary from the
Yoshiwara is offering.
The sympathies of the crowd who looked on
were all with the young noblewoman, and had
the brother yielded, her shame would have been
counted to her as a noble sacrifice.
Asakusa is the district of Tokyo which
seems the least affected by European influence.
Whether it be much visited by the inhabitants
of the centre or west end of the city I could not
say, but I rarely saw a man there in the Western
clothes which the business and official classes
are adopting. Advertisements in European
characters are, happily, also rare. Even the
lettering round the familiar poster of the terrier
listening to the gramophone was in Chinese
characters. Queer sounds proceed from the
gramophone when heard in Asakusa. The
terrier would listen in vain for "his master's
voice." Western music would be as little under-
19
290 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
stood here as the song of the geisha would be
at home.
I had seen that poster begun, continued, and
ended in the studio of my friend Francis Barraud.
and little expected to find it in the by-ways in
Japan.
The cinematograph has caught on as much
as the gramophone has. I attended a performance
where there was an even mixture of Parisian and
Japanese scenes. The intrigues of Alphonse and
madame's lady's-maid were entirely lost on the
audience, and would not have been edifying had
they been understood, whereas " The Loves of
Gompachi and Komurasaki " moved the audience
to tears.
I saw one of the " Tales of Old Japan " in the
making while at Nikko. The actors were going
through their parts on the bridge which crosses
the Daiya-gawa. The cinematographer was
winding his machine, while a young woman was
attempting to throw herself from the parapet,
to escape from the attentions of a young Samurai.
It was during the busiest part of the day, and
the click, click, click of the camera was often
interrupted to allow the ordinary traffic to pass.
The Red Sacred Bridge formed the background
TOKYO 291
to the drama which was being recorded. It is a
far cry from Shodo Shdnin's rainbow-like arch to
the faking of the cinematographic performance I
witnessed.
Whether there be a fair going on or not, the
narrow streets and open spaces of Asakusa are
always full of people. It is a populous district,
and it also attracts the country-folk, who make
their purchases here, and can always find some
entertainment.
I saw no drunkenness and I heard no quarrel-
ling. Once I was prepared to witness a row, for
I could not conceive a similar accident happening
anywhere without one. A tramcar we had taken
to come here fouled the end of a long ladder
which was on a two-wheeled cart. The ladder
and cart spun round, and the farther end was
dashed into a shop-window, upsetting and smash-
ing most of the hardware displayed. The shop-
man, the tram-conductor, and the man with the
ladder were the three whom a Westerner would
expect to hear blaspheme, even if the other
witnesses held their peace. No such thing took
place here. The three mostly concerned addressed
each other politely, took out their notebooks and
wrote down the circumstances, leaving the amount
292 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
of damages to be settled later on. After a quiet
talk they bowed to each other, the conductor
returned to his car, and we continued our journey.
When men of this class are brutally addressed
by Westerners at Kobe or Yokohama, what must
they think of the higher civilization which the
Westerner proudly assumes to represent ?
CHAPTER XXI
ATAMI AND CONCLUSION
increasing cold weather when November
ended made it impossible to work out of
doors unless I could happily find a place in the
sun and sheltered from the wind. Our room in
the hotel was bearable while the sun shone on it,
but the hibachi was not enough to keep it warm
at other times.
I made inquiries as to where in Japan it might
be possible to find a sheltered place which would
permit of my working out of doors. I was told
that I could find no warmer spot than Atami.
I looked up what Murray had to say about it,
and the first paragraph 1 read decided me to go
there : " Atami has become a favourite winter
resort of the Japanese, as it possesses hot springs,
and is protected by a high range of hills from the
north-westerly winds which prevail at this season.
The whole stretch of coast from Kozu, on the
Tokaidd Railway, to Atami partakes more or
293
294 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
less of the same advantage, and the soft air, the
orange-groves, and the deep blue of Odawara
Bay, combine to make of this district the Riviera
of Japan."
The phrase " favourite winter resort " did not
frighten me as it does nearer home. Such places
are not made hideous in Japan with rows of
jerry-built villas, an uninteresting esplanade,
and an iron pier. A further inducement was
that within a mile from Atami was the Bai-en,
or plum-garden, blossoming from the new year
to early February.
Leaving the Tdkaidd Railway at Kozu, we
took an electric tramway to Odawara, which has
been mentioned before. We then took the little
steam tramway which winds along the coast,
and reached our destination in another three
hours.
The Higuchi Hotel, where we put up, is the one
amongst the many which is in part Europeanized,
and where a fire-place in the rooms, as well as
large glazed windows, promised to make my
work a possibility, should the fine weather break.
I decided to stay there at least a month, arid,
anyhow, not leave it till I had made some studies
of the plum-blossom.
ATAMI AND CONCLUSION 295
When a place has been much praised, it is
seldom that a slight disappointment does not
await the visitor. This was not the case at
Atami. For one thing, the fine weather usually
expected in November lasted on, with but few
breaks, till after the new year. We could enjoy
the sunshine under the shelter from the piercing
cold winds. Though only sixty miles or so from
Tokyo, the difference was nearly as marked as
between the temperature of the North and South
of France.
I w r as at first the only guest in the European
part of the hotel, while in the purely Japanese
portion, where Mr. Tsuda lodged, there were a
fair number who were taking the baths. Foreign
visitors had engaged all the rooms in my part
for the Christmas holidays.
The blue sea and the lie of the land reminded
me of Alassio and other places on the Italian
Riviera. I found temples here under the shade
of huge camphor-trees and evergreen oaks, also
beautiful orange-groves with thousands of golden
spheres ready to be culled. The streets were as
picturesque as those of any primitive Japanese
country town which is not " a resort," and the
many things which are sketchable in most fishing
296 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
villages were in plenty where the town reaches
the shore of Odawara Bay.
I started to work at once in an orange-grove,
as the fruit was already being picked in the
neighbourhood.
The first promise of spring showed itself at
Bai-en before December was half through. The
buds of plum-blossom wanted but a few days
more of sunshine to open their petals. A large
rose-bush was in full bloom at the entrance to a
rustic tea-house where we rested. We were
promised here that in another fortnight Bai-en
would be in its full beauty.
I painted the rose-bush and tea-house, as well
as the keeper's little daughter with the last-born
slung on her back.
Bai-en is more of an orchard than a garden.
It stretches for nearly a mile up a fold in the
hills, and is divided in two by a running stream.
AVe saw it at its best only just in time, for the
long spell of fine weather broke soon after its
myriads of snowy petals had attracted people
from far and near to gaze on its beauty.
Great preparations were going on at the hotel
for the foreign visitors from Yokohama and
Tokyo, who were to arrive on Christmas Day.
ATAMI AND CONCLUSION 297
Two or three spring-cleanings rolled into one
would hardly equal the scrubbing and dusting
that went on.
The cook and the landlady made the decora-
tion of the dining-room their special care.
Garlands and coloured-glass globes were hung
on the walls and criss-crossed the ceiling. A
large sideboard was laden with fruits and sweet-
stuffs, and a huge Christmas cake with wondrous
sugary floral adornments formed the centre-piece.
Much time was spent on the arrangement of
the flowers placed on each table. The landlady
had evidently attended in her time classes where
the making of posies is solely taught. Her
floral compositions had all the necessary require-
ments : the longest spray in the middle, a
shorter one branching away from it, and a third
half the length of the latter bending over to the
opposite side. The angle at which the centre
stem leans over is a matter of great importance,
and the stem is often steamed and tied till a
graceful curve is obtained.
A consultation with the cook took place as to
whether one of the compositions could not be
amended so as to make a good silhouette from
the four ends of the table. Some slight re-
298 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
adjustments followed, and they were satisfied
that the aesthetic tastes of their guests would not
be shocked.
We were to have the orthodox Christmas dinner,
and I thought it might be a novel experience to
Mr. Tsuda to attend it. He accepted my invita-
tion, and seemed pleased to do so. A few hours
before the feast he came to my room and asked
to be let off. He gave some lame excuse about
Japanese cooking suiting him better, but as we
had often had European meals together, and he
never seemed the worse for them, I felt convinced
that there was some other reason.
The guests had arrived early in the afternoon,
and something in their manner of treating him
was probably the cause.
When the dinner was announced, I sat in my
usual corner at a little table by myself. I was
curious to see if the pains the landlady had
taken with the decorations would be appreciated.
Four young men, connected with business in
the foreign settlements, took their seats at the
table on which the chief floral composition was
placed. A handsome Englishman, with the build
of a young Hercules, sat nearest to the carefully
bent end of the twig. In stooping forward this
tickled his forehead ; he tried to push it aside, but
once or twice more it touched his head. Irritated at
this, he called out to the landlady, who stood near :
" Here, old lady, take this damn thing away !"
As she removed the floral composition, the
poor woman looked my way. " Is it for this that
I took such pains ?" That look expressed this
question as clearly as the spoken word. Some
Japanese equivalent to " casting pearls " probably
passed through her mind.
At the farther end of the room there sat round
a large table the landlady's old father, her
husband and several children, as well as some
other relatives. They seemed to be enjoying
this unusual meal, though some were as little
used to a knife and fork as I was to chopsticks
when I first dined in a Japanese inn.
I heard one or two remarks near me about
the cheek of their coming here, and why couldn't
they feed in the native part of the hotel ? I
remarked to one who appealed to me that I had
often fed in purely Japanese restaurants, and I
hoped that the native guests had not resented
my doing so. " Look how that one uses his
fork !" I answered that it was not half as funny
as my first attempts with chopsticks.
300 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
My suspicions why Tsuda had backed out of
dining here this evening were now confirmed.
At the end of the dinner one of my four
neighbours at the next table -^nade some amends
for the slight to the floral composition by taking
a bundle of crackers to the family group and
pulling them with the different members. This
seemed much appreciated, and after some con-
sultation, the landlord's little daughter of about
eight was sent to our end of the room to hand to
us some Japanese sweets.
I have often been told by the old resident who
prides himself on knowing the Japanese that I
must not flatter myself that they like us, in spite
of their courteous manners. Probably they
do not, when they take foreigners collectively ;
but most probably they take the individual as
they find him.
The trifling incidents which I have mentioned
may show how easily the susceptibilities of a
people may be offended, and yet how easy it is
to ingratiate oneself if a little pains are taken, as
in the case of the gentleman with the crackers.
The four men, seeing that 1 was alone, kindly
invited me to join their party, and some cham-
pagne made the conversation flow. They had
ATAMI AND CONCLUSION 301
all been in Japan longer than I had, and spoke
more of the language. More things were told
me to the prejudice of the Japanese. " Wait
till you have lived here as long as we have, and
you will change your mind," was heard once
more. It recalled a remark I once heard from
the late Sir William Harcourt, and that was :
" When a man tells me that he has lived twenty
years in a country and speaks the language, I
generally don't believe a word of what he says."
This remark struck me at the time as rather
absurd, but I have since come to the conclusion
that there is a certain amount of truth in it.
A strong prejudice may easily outlive twenty
years in any country. A young clerk joining a
house of business which is losing its trade through
native competition is not likely to hear unpreju-
diced opinions of the natives who have become
serious rivals. We often hear the honesty of
the Chinese traders quoted to the prejudice of
the Japanese men of business.
Wait till John Chinaman becomes a serious
rival in the trading now in the hands of the
foreigner ; we shall not hear so much then about
this honesty. As 1 mentioned before, the foreign
residents whom I had the pleasure of meeting,
302 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
and who were not connected with trade, all
spoke well of the Japanese. Our statesmen were
the first to make treaties whereby foreigners
were made subject to Japanese law, and they
were the first to deem Japan worthy of an alliance.
Some of the English newspapers in Japan
would do well to remember this before publishing
the disparaging articles often seen in them ; and
good taste should prevent the wholesale abuse
which some of the residents level at the people
in whose country they are making their living.
An artistic nation, and one whom the whole
world admires for the unparalleled sacrifices it
has made to preserve its independence, must of
necessity be a sensitive nation. The Japanese
seldom resort to vituperation in answer to the
sneers of the Westerners ; they may resent them
in silence, but the resentment is there nevertheless.
A case of one being answered in kind was told
me by a Japanese friend, and is worth repeating.
It was during the time when feeling ran high con-
cerning the treatment of Japanese children in the
schools in California. An American addressed a
Japanese he met in the States as follows : " Well,
what kind of a ' iiese ' are you, a Chinese or a
Japanese ?" He was answered by another question :
ATAMI AND CONCLUSION 303
" What kind of a ' kee ' are you, a donkee or a
Yankee ?" They resent being taken for China-
men, and they resent being termed Japs. I have
argued with them that the latter term, though
often used, is not necessarily meant as a slight,
and that in the slipshod English of ordinary con-
versation names are constantly clipped of some of
their syllables. Laplanders are called Laps, and
the Papuans are probably called Paps ; but I did
not make use of this analogy.
Since 1873 Japan has adopted the Gregorian
Calendar ; thus, her New Year falls on the same
day as ours. It is the chief holiday of the year.
Officially it lasts three days, but it is generally a
week or more before people resume their ordinary
work. Both the European and Japanese sides
of the Higuchi were crowded with visitors. The
Westerners spent their holiday in climbing the
mountains, taking excursions along the beautiful
sea-coast, or visiting one of the islands in the
bay. A few went to Bai-en on my recommenda-
tion, but they soon tired of looking at plum-
trees. It was good enough for Japanese and
feeble kind of people, such as artists and writers !
When we consider how seldom we hear at
home of excursions being made to view the
304 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
beauty of the apple-orchards in Kent, when the
trees are laden with pink and white blossoms,
or we consider the surprise of a Normandy
farmer should a party of Parisians ask to wander
amongst his apple-trees, is it to be wondered at
that Westerners residing in Japan should feel
equally indifferent to these plum-trees ? The
aesthetic sense, which is developed in a few in the
West, seems universal here in the Far East.
Trade competition, piece-work, and so on, may
blunt the sense in Japan, as it has done elsewhere.
Prophecies concerning the destinies of this country
have so often proved wrong ; let us hope that
this one may be equally fallacious.
Crowds flocked to Bai-en to stroll about in
the chequered sunlight and gaze at the snowy
blossoms above them. Groups of people sat
about in their holiday kimonos ; young poets
wrote verses to the Ume to be hung from the
boughs of the trees they extolled. The tea-
houses did a good trade, and the diviner and
fortune-teller was seldom without a client.
There was a tea-garden near the shore which
the plum-blossom now also beautified. I found
subjects there for the book on Japanese Gardens.
Fishing competitions took place from the edge
of a tortuous and well-bridged pond. The gold-
fish had little to mind from being caught, for,
when released from a barbless hook, they swam
about in a tub of water, and were returned to
the pond when the entertainment was over.
There was much more colour in the dresses of
the people than at ordinary times. The children
especially had gorgeous cloaks, with flowers and
butterflies embroidered on them.
The fisher-folk living near the shore had
flowers and fishes on the blue cotton kimonos,
which they only wear during the New Year
festival. Garlands hung from the balconies, and
a lobster, framed in a double loop of twisted
rope, was fastened over many doorways. The
crooked back of the lobster symbolizes old age,
and expresses the wish of long life to the
members of the household.
I should have found it hard to tear myself away
from Atami at any time. Protected as it is from
the piercing winds, it was still harder to return to
the wintry cold beyond the sheltering mountains.
I was obliged to return to England in the spring,
and wished to revisit Kyoto before I left Japan.
" If it must be so," say the Japanese, in their
graceful parting address " Sayonara."
20
306 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
After several attempts to see the geyser
(Atami's show-sight) break out, I succeeded in
seeing it belch up its heated water amidst a
dense cloud of steam. I felt I could now depart
in peace, and the G.P.F. and I started on our
return journey to Kyoto.
We visited Kamakura, the ancient capital of
the first Shoguns, climbed up the interior of the
bronze Daibutsu or the colossal Buddha, saw the
thousand-handed Kwannon, and wandered about
the precincts of Hachiman's shrine.
We broke our journey to Kyoto by spending
a night at Nagoya. I had obtained a permit
from the British Embassy to view the great
castle. I wipe Nagoya out of my reminiscences ;
it rained steadily, and we could not visit the castle
because the Crown Prince was in residence at
the time.
At Kyoto Station I parted company with Mr.
Tsuda. He had been my guide, philosopher,
and friend for five months past ; we had had
many a day's tramp together ; he had shared my
room in humble country inns, and he had been
able to pilot me around some quarters in the
cities which are hardly known to its well-to-do
inhabitants. Having obtained a permanent situa-
ATAMI AND CONCLUSION 307
tion with a large firm at Osaka, he was anxious
to catch the next train to that city.
The manager of the Yaami was there to meet
me, and I felt somewhat like returning home
when I got back to my old quarters in his hotel.
I looked up the friends I made in Kyoto. Mr.
Blow had not returned from England ; I was
fortunate in being able to renew my acquaintance
with Mr. Gordon-Smith before he left, and enjoyed
seeing the additions he had made to his unique
collection of Chinese snuff-bottles. Monsieur
Odin showed me a good deal of hospitality, and
was able to give me much information about
early Japanese art.
I revisited the apartments of Chion-in Temple
with my friend Kanocogni, and we spent some
happy hours together during the long evenings.
I had never been over the Nishi Hongwanji
temple, as there is sometimes a difficulty in getting
admitted ; and had I no other reasons for return-
ing to Kyoto, only to see this shrine would have
been reason enough.
The apartments are the residence of the Prince-
Abbot, and are adorned with the best paintings of
the masters of the Kano School. They are as im-
portant in their relation to the art of Japan as
308 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
the Loggia at the Vatican or the Doge's Palace
at Venice are to the art of Italy. There is not
one inharmonious note in one of these spacious
rooms.
Space does not allow of a detailed account of
the beautiful things to be seen there. Those
who make a short visit to Kyoto make a point of
seeing the Imperial Palace, and have often no
time left to visit the Nishi-Hongwanji. There is
little of exceptional interest in the former, while
in the latter they can see the best art that Japan
has produced.
I also made a point this time of seeing the
popular Shinto temple of Inari. I went with
my young friend Masuda. It was either the
Day of the Horse or the Day of the Serpent,
according to the old reckoning, for crowds of
country-folk come here on those two days and
bring offerings to the shrine of the popular
goddess. They also place food near the foxes'
holes in the grounds, but whether these attendants
on Inari actually eat the food, or whether they
even exist here, I could not ascertain. Their
images are seen in plenty, and they are the pro-
totype of the numerous stone and plaster foxes
met with all over Japan.
ATAMI AND CONCLUSION 309
The image of the Rice Goddess is seldom
visible, but I have hardly been in a hotel or tea-
garden without seeing a little shrine flanked with
her pair of attendant foxes.
The most singular sight is, however, the
hundreds of red torii, standing so close together as
to form a continuous colonnade in places, and
they are also met with in all the walks in the
extensive grounds attached to the temple.
Should a visitor to Kyoto have but a week at
his disposal, I would recommend him to visit
Inari's shrine, in spite of the distance, providing
he can get there on one of the popular days.
If he must see an Imperial residence, and has
obtained the permits, let him go to Nijo Castle
rather than to the Palace. Should he have time
for neither of them, he may console himself that
Nishi-Hongwanji is more or less of an Imperial
residence, and is much more beautiful than the
two former.
There are hundreds of shrines, each with some
especial objects of interest, but when time is
limited it is well to devote it to those offering
the greatest attractions. The apartments of Nishi-
Hongwanji contain the finest art production not
only of Kyoto, but of all Japan. Kyomizu-dera
310 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
should be visited for the beauty of its situation
and surroundings. Lovers of gardens should try
and see Ginkakuji, and they will see glimpses of
another temple garden while they view the apart-
ments at Chion-in. Kurudani more than repays
a visit, and the temple of Sanjusangendo is full
of interest.
While the cherry blossoms, or when the maple
turns to crimson, the descent of the Katsura-gawa
rapids will make a delightful day's excursion.
Should the visitor miss either of those seasons,
lie may be fortunate enough, as 1 was, to see the
river-banks clothed in a crimson mass of wild
azaleas.
During the hot weather, a day on Lake Biwa
is refreshing ; he can visit the Maidera Temple,
the famous tree of Karasaki, the long bridge of
Seta, and rest in the beautiful gardens of Hikone.
Nara can be seen in *a day's excursion from
Kyoto. The park, with its majestic avenues of
cryptomerias and hundreds of moss-covered
stone lanterns, as well as the deer, who, fearing
no evil, gather round the visitor to be fed, com-
bine to make Nara a place which will long be
remembered from amongst the many beautiful
places seen in Japan.
ATAMI AND CONCLUSION 311
Better to have but a week in Kyoto than not
to have seen it ; but those fortunate enough to
be able to spend a month there may daily find
something to admire, something to interest, and
a fund of entertainment in seeing its people at
their daily work and joining them in their innocent
recreations.
The cold weather for February is the coldest
month in Japan lessened my regret at having
to leave this enchanting city. Had I stayed
another month, to witness the witchery of spring's
awakening in the beauteous temple grounds, it
would have added tenfold to my sorrow in leave-
taking.
The more genial climate of Hong- Kong, and
the warm welcome I would receive from the
friends I had made there, hastened my departure.
I bid farewell to the numerous Japanese with
whom I had come in friendly contact in their
own beautiful expression, " Sayonara." And
farewell to the patient reader who has followed
me so far in these reminiscences of " Japan and
the Japanese.
INDEX
ACTORS, 51, 79, 273
Advertisements, 5, 21, 38, 256,
289
Americans, 199, 302
Architecture, 61
Arima, 23-29
Art, 59, 60, 61
Artist's troubles, 33, 34, 35, 36
Asakusa, 265, 266, 267, 288
Ashinoyu, 200, 201, 202
Atami, 293-305
Azaleas, see Flowers
Babies, 5
Bai-en, plum orchard, 296, 303,
304
Bamboo, 22
shoots for food, 68, 173
Bamboo, Miss, or Take San,
64-70
Bath, 133, 148, 168-173, 204
Baths, sulphur, 202, 203
Bedding, 135-138, 175, 176
Beer, 113, 162
Bells, 52-54
Bcntd, 126, 127
Birthday of the boys, festival of,
3, 4
Biwa, Lake, 310
Blow, Mr. and Mrs., 75
Building to resist earthquakes,
153
Carp, 2
imitated in cotton, 3, 4
Chadai, 174, 175
i Chamberlain, Professor Basil
Hall, preface, 29, 35, 85, 107,
150, 224
Charcoal brazier, see Hibachi
Cherry-blossom, see Flowers
I Children, 4, 79, 121
' Chinamen employed in banks,
213, 214
Chinese characters, 5
integrity compared to
Japanese, 310
Chion-in, see Temples
Chopsticks, 65-69, 145
' Christianity, 85, 86
| Christmas at Atami, 296-300
! Chrysanthemums, see Flowers
I Chuzenji, 251-255
Cinematograph, 290
Clothes, 5, 118, 123, 289
i Concubines, 104, 120
i Cottages, 30, 139
! Cotto, 121
', Courtesy of the people, 28, 41,
59, 245, 246, 291
i Cranes, 56, 264
Crauford, Miss, 201, 243
Crickets, 160
Cryptomerias, 231, 233, 242, 244,
258
avenues of, 228, 230, 310
Cult, see Religion
Curios, 4, 215
| Daibutsu at Karnakura, 306
DaiJson, 180
; Daiya-gawa, 229, 251. 252
! Dances, religious, 50, 51, 52
313
314 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
Dancing-girls, see Geisha
Dishes, 66, 67, 68, 116, 135, 264,
265
Divorce, 104, 282
Earthquakes, 61, 148-154
Eating-houses, 66, 116, 264
Etiquette, 66, 75, 118
Evil-averting pillar, 235
Fans, 49, 80, 175
Festivals, 3, 42, 44, 50, 111-115,
266, 308
Fires, 154, 155, 156
Fish, 4, 69, 135, 265
eaten raw, 116, 117
Fish-shops, 37
Flower-arranging, 297-299
Flowers :
azaleas, 38, 56
cherry-blossom, 26, 27, 262
chrysanthemums, 261-268
convolvulus, or morning
glory, 92, 93
hydrangeas, 109
irises, 73, 74
lilies, 89, 139
lotus, 74, 108, 109
oleander, 83
peonies, 59
pomegranate - blossom, 97,
98
wistaria, 17, 33, 57
Flowers, wild, 194
azaleas, 310
gentian, 158
hydrangeas, 158, 199
Lilium auratum, 158
monk's-hood, 158, 199
Food, 180, 202, 264, 280; see
also Dishes
Western, 26, 62, 182, 202
Foot-gear, 18-20
Forty- seven Ronins, 270 273
Fudo, see Gods
Fujikawa rapids, 142, 143
Fujiyama, 130, 131, 143, 144,
158, 193
Funatso, 131, 139
Gardens, 38, 56, 181, 190, 256,
262, 304
Geishas, 62, 117
Geta, see Foot-gear
Geyser at Atami, 306
Gion, see Temples
Gion Matsuri, 111
Gods and goddesses, 84
Amida, 88
Buddha, 90, 97
Daibutsu, 306
Dainichi, 247
Fudo, 247
Inari, 43
Jiso, 198, 219
Kwannon, 265
Ni-o, 266 '
Susa-no-o, 111
Goldfish, 69, 111, 114
Gongs, 43
Gordon- Smith, Mr., 307
Gotemba, 126
Guides, 71, 126
Hair -dressing, 7
Hair hawsers, 87
Hakone, 192
Hannya cascade, 252
Hara-kiri, 273
Hata Pass, 190
Hedges, trimmed, 187
Hermit, the, 245, 258
Higashi Hongwanji, see Temples
Higashi Otani, see Temples
Higuchi, see Hotels
Hikone, gardens at, 310
Hirochige, 75
Hodo cascade, 252
Hokusai, 75
Honesty of the country folk,
212
Hotels, foreign :
Higuchi Hotel, Shoji, 185
Tor Hotel, Kobe, 15, 32
Yaami, Kyoto, 45, 58
Hotels, Japanese (Yadoya), 131,
166, 182, 192, 202, 228, 255,
259
Hydrangeas, see Flowers
INDEX
315
Ichiko, the, 266
Icho, see Trees
lemifcsu, 241
leyasu, 225
Imperial palaces, 308
Inari, see Gods and goddesses
Inland sea, 11
Inquisitiveness, 33
Irises, see Flowers
" Jap " term resented, 303
Japanese characteristics, 33, 35,
122, 135, 188,204, 218, 245,291
Jisd, Rokudono, see Gods
Judas-tree, 94
Kago, 134
Kagura dance, 50, 115
Kamakura, 306
Kamogawa, 45, 115
Kanocogni, Mr., 59, 259, 307
Kano school, 55, 233, 307
Katsura-gawa, 310
Kawaguchi, Lake, 134
Kegon Falls, 253
Kimonos, see Clothes
Kitchener, visit of Lord, 249
Kiyornizu, see Temples
Kiyomizw Yaki, 93
Kobe, 15
Kobo-Daishi, 197
Kofu, 166
Kosu, 189
Kurumaya, see Bickshaw-nien
Kwannon,see Gods and goddesses
Kyoto, 45, 306
Lafcadio Hearn, Professor, pre-
face, 26, 85
Language, 71
Lanterns, paper, 9, 42, 49, 111,
114
stone and bronze, 38, 54,
194, 232, 244, 266
Legs of children to be lengthened,
119
Lilies, see Flowers
Lotus, see Flowers
roots as food, 173
Mangwanji, 230
Manners, see Courtesy
Maples, 57, 251, 269
Marriage, 101, 282
Maryama Park, 46, 110
Mason, Mr. W. B., 224
Masuda, Mr., 83, 98, 112, 308
Matsuzaka, see Hotels
Matting, 63, 147, 167
Meiji, 10
Meikos, 121
Mikados, 10, 241
Milne, Professor, 152
Mitford, A. B., preface, 270,
273
Miyanoshita, 200
Moji, 1
Monier-Williams, 247
Mosquitoes, 136, 159, 176
Mourning, white the colour of,
105
Mukojima, 261
Mulberry-trees, 162
Murray's guide to Japan, 224
Nagoya, 306
Nakodo, 103, 282
Nara, 310
Nature-worship, 131
Nemuri-no Neko, or "Sleeping
Cat," 238
Nesan, 63, 135, 167, 280
New- Year festivities, 303
Ni-ju-go Bosatsu, 197
Nikko, 223
Ni-6-Mon, 231
Nishinouami, 140
Nobumassa, 56
j Nomi, 136, 147
j Nomura, Messrs., 84
j Nudity, 148, 169
Obi, or sash, 68, 168
Octopus, 68
Odawara Bay, 189, 294
Odin, M., 215, 307
Oleander, 83
Tabisho, 111
316 JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE
Painters, Japanese, 55, 59, 76
Paintings, 55, 76, 233
Paper, oiled, 165
slides, see Shoji
umbrellas, 39, 165
Parks, 46, 110, 183, 284
Parsons, Mr. Alfred, 109
Patents, 205
Pierre Loti, 5
Pilgrims, 188
Pipes, 78
Police, 112, 145
regulations, 147
Prints, 76
Bain-coats, 164, 188
Rainy season, 93
Eedesdale, Lord, see A. B. Mit-
ford
Relics, 86
Religion, 111; see Buddhism !
and Shintoism
Rice, 70, 180
Rickshaws, 9, 21, 45
Rickshaw-men, 22, 29, 33, 36,
47, 81
Rokkosan, 22, 30
Sacred Bridge, 229
Sake, 66
Salvation Army, 85, 286
Samisen, 114, 121
Samurai, 41, 189
Sandals, see Foot-gear
Satow, Sir Ernest, 247
Schools, 121, 145
Sculptors, 55
Servants, 100, 274
Shakwa garden, 262
Shampooer, the blind, 176
Shijo Bridge, 113
Shimogamo, 44, 50
Shimonoseki, 9
Shintoism, 84, 145
Shinto priests, 43, 147
Shodo Shdnin, 280
Shoji, 142
Shoji, or paper slides, 30, 138,
250
Shows, 111, 114, 288
Shrines, 42, 145 ; see also
Temples
Sight-seeing, 71
Silk trade, 161
Sketching, 27, 33, 42, 95
Sobriety of the people, 188, 250
256, 291
Socks, 75
Soga Brethren, 195
Sotoba, 89
Stage, see Theatres
Stoves used as muff-warmers,
243
Susa-no-o,see Gods and goddesses
Tali, digitated sock, 19, 166
Taft, President, 263
Take, see Nesan
Take"-shiba, see Hotels
Takemona, 63, 155
" Tales of Old Japan," see
A. B. Mitford
Taylor, Mrs. Basil, 200
Temples :
Chion-in, 53
Ginkakuji, 310
Gion, 53, 111
Higashi Hongwanji, 87
Ikuta, 33
Inari, 43, 308
Kiyomizu-dera, 93, 309
Kurudani, 310
Nishi Hongwanji, 307
Sanjusangendo, 310
Senkakuji, 272
Shimogamo, 44
Tea-drinking, 70, 160, 228, 250,
257
Tea-houses, 160, 194, 252
Telegraph-poles, 9
Tents, 63
Theatres, 77, 274
Toilet, 170
Tokaido, Hirochige's Fifty- five
Stages of the, 75, 189
Tokaido road, 189, 194
Titko, see Bedding
Tokugawa dynasty, 225, 240
INDEX
317
Tokyo, 223, 259
Tombs, 90, 195, 238, 270
Topsyturvydom, 6
Tora Gozen, see Soga Brethren
Torii, 33
Tourists, 122, 198
Tracts, distribution of, 256
Trade competition, 215
morality, 204
Trains, 229
Tramways, 129, 189, 260
Tsuda, Mr., 126, 226, 298, 306
Ubaguchi, 162
Ubaguchitogi, 160
Ueno, 284
Uziki, 184
Vendetta, 195
Waiters, 15
Waitresses, see Nesan
Waraji, or straw sandals, 188,
213
Water-colours, 210
Waterfalls, 244, 252, 253
Whisky, 256
Winsor and Newton, 210
Wistaria, see Flowers
Wit of geisha, 124
Women, position of, 64, 99, 173,
282
Wood-carving at Nikko, 234
Yaarni Hotel, Kyoto, 45, 58
Yadoya, see Japanese hotels
Yakushi, 233
Yamanaka, Lake, 130
Yedo, former name of Tokyo,
see Tokyo
Yoritomo, founder of the Sho-
gunate, 195
Yoshida, 127, 131
Yoshiwara, the, 285
PRINTED BY
BILLING AND SONS, LTD.
GUILUFORD
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
UNIVERSITY LIB?
"*j on the last da
UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
! I II II || II | | II |
A A 000009393
