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diff --git a/2184-0.txt b/2184-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3f11d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/2184-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12583 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, by Isabella L. Bird + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: Unbeaten Tracks in Japan + + +Author: Isabella L. Bird + + + +Release Date: September 12, 2019 [eBook #2184] +[This file was first posted on September 19, 1999] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNBEATEN TRACKS IN JAPAN*** + + +Transcribed from the 1911 John Murray edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org. Second proofing by Kate Ruffell. + + [Picture: Book cover] + + [Picture: The Yomei Gate, Shrines of Nikkô] + + + + +UNBEATEN TRACKS +IN JAPAN + + + AN ACCOUNT OF TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR + INCLUDING VISITS TO THE ABORIGINES OF YEZO AND + THE SHRINE OF NIKKÔ + + BY ISABELLA L. BIRD + AUTHOR OF ‘SIX MONTHS IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS’ + ‘A LADY’S LIFE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS’ + ETC. ETC. + + * * * * * + + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS + + * * * * * + + LONDON + JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET + 1911 + + * * * * * + +FIRST EDITION, _January_ 1905 +_Reprinted_, _June_ 1907 +SECOND EDITION (1/-) _October_ 1911 + + * * * * * + + To the Memory + OF + LADY PARKES, + WHOSE KINDNESS AND FRIENDSHIP + ARE AMONG + MY MOST TREASURED REMEMBRANCES OF JAPAN, + THIS VOLUME IS + GRATEFULLY AND REVERENTLY + DEDICATED. + + + + +PREFACE + + +HAVING been recommended to leave home, in April 1878, in order to recruit +my health by means which had proved serviceable before, I decided to +visit Japan, attracted less by the reputed excellence of its climate than +by the certainty that it possessed, in an especial degree, those sources +of novel and sustained interest which conduce so essentially to the +enjoyment and restoration of a solitary health-seeker. The climate +disappointed me, but, though I found the country a study rather than a +rapture, its interest exceeded my largest expectations. + +This is not a “Book on Japan,” but a narrative of travels in Japan, and +an attempt to contribute something to the sum of knowledge of the present +condition of the country, and it was not till I had travelled for some +months in the interior of the main island and in Yezo that I decided that +my materials were novel enough to render the contribution worth making. +From Nikkô northwards my route was altogether off the beaten track, and +had never been traversed in its entirety by any European. I lived among +the Japanese, and saw their mode of living, in regions unaffected by +European contact. As a lady travelling alone, and the first European +lady who had been seen in several districts through which my route lay, +my experiences differed more or less widely from those of preceding +travellers; and I am able to offer a fuller account of the aborigines of +Yezo, obtained by actual acquaintance with them, than has hitherto been +given. These are my chief reasons for offering this volume to the +public. + +It was with some reluctance that I decided that it should consist mainly +of letters written on the spot to my sister and a circle of personal +friends, for this form of publication involves the sacrifice of artistic +arrangement and literary treatment, and necessitates a certain amount of +egotism; but, on the other hand, it places the reader in the position of +the traveller, and makes him share the vicissitudes of travel, +discomfort, difficulty, and tedium, as well as novelty and enjoyment. +The “beaten tracks,” with the exception of Nikkô, have been dismissed in +a few sentences, but where their features have undergone marked changes +within a few years, as in the case of Tôkiyô (Yedo), they have been +sketched more or less slightly. Many important subjects are necessarily +passed over. + +In Northern Japan, in the absence of all other sources of information, I +had to learn everything from the people themselves, through an +interpreter, and every fact had to be disinterred by careful labour from +amidst a mass of rubbish. The Ainos supplied the information which is +given concerning their customs, habits, and religion; but I had an +opportunity of comparing my notes with some taken about the same time by +Mr. Heinrich Von Siebold of the Austrian Legation, and of finding a most +satisfactory agreement on all points. + +Some of the Letters give a less pleasing picture of the condition of the +peasantry than the one popularly presented, and it is possible that some +readers may wish that it had been less realistically painted; but as the +scenes are strictly representative, and I neither made them nor went in +search of them, I offer them in the interests of truth, for they +illustrate the nature of a large portion of the material with which the +Japanese Government has to work in building up the New Civilisation. + +Accuracy has been my first aim, but the sources of error are many, and it +is from those who have studied Japan the most carefully, and are the best +acquainted with its difficulties, that I shall receive the most kindly +allowance if, in spite of carefulness, I have fallen into mistakes. + +The Transactions of the English and German Asiatic Societies of Japan, +and papers on special Japanese subjects, including “A Budget of Japanese +Notes,” in the _Japan Mail_ and _Tôkiyô Times_, gave me valuable help; +and I gratefully acknowledge the assistance afforded me in many ways by +Sir Harry S. Parkes, K.C.B., and Mr. Satow of H.B.M.’s Legation, +Principal Dyer, Mr. Chamberlain of the Imperial Naval College, Mr. F. V. +Dickins, and others, whose kindly interest in my work often encouraged me +when I was disheartened by my lack of skill; but, in justice to these and +other kind friends, I am anxious to claim and accept the fullest measure +of personal responsibility for the opinions expressed, which, whether +right or wrong, are wholly my own. + +The illustrations, with the exception of three, which are by a Japanese +artist, have been engraved from sketches of my own or Japanese +photographs. + +I am painfully conscious of the defects of this volume, but I venture to +present it to the public in the hope that, in spite of its demerits, it +may be accepted as an honest attempt to describe things as I saw them in +Japan, on land journeys of more than 1400 miles. + +Since the letters passed through the press, the beloved and only sister +to whom, in the first instance, they were written, to whose able and +careful criticism they owe much, and whose loving interest was the +inspiration alike of my travels and of my narratives of them, has passed +away. + + ISABELLA L. BIRD. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + LETTER I. +First View of Japan—A Vision of Fujisan—Japanese Pages 1–7 +_Sampans_—“Pullman Cars”—Undignified Locomotion—Paper +Money—The Drawbacks of Japanese Travelling + LETTER II. +Sir Harry Parkes—An “Ambassador’s Carriage”—Cart 8–9 +Coolies + LETTER III. +Yedo and Tôkiyô—The Yokohama Railroad—The Effect of 10–14 +Misfits—The Plain of Yedo—Personal Peculiarities—First +Impressions of Tôkiyô—H. B. M.’s Legation—An English +Home + LETTER IV. +“John Chinaman”—Engaging a Servant—First Impressions 15–20 +of Ito—A Solemn Contract—The Food Question + LETTER V. +Kwan-non Temple—Uniformity of Temple Architecture—A 21–31 +_Kuruma_ Expedition—A Perpetual Festival—The +_Ni-ô_—The Limbo of Vanity—Heathen Prayers—Binzuru—A +Group of Devils—Archery Galleries—New Japan—An +_Élégante_ + LETTER VI. +Fears—Travelling Equipments—Passports—Coolie Costume—A 32–42 +Yedo Diorama—Rice—Fields—Tea-Houses—A Traveller’s +Reception—The Inn at Kasukabé—Lack of Privacy—A +Concourse of Noises—A Nocturnal Alarm—A Vision of +Policemen—A Budget from Yedo + LETTER VI.—(_Continued_.) +A Coolie falls ill—Peasant Costume—Varieties in 43–50 +Threshing—The Tochigi _Yadoya_—Farming Villages—A +Beautiful Region—An _In Memoriam_ Avenue—A Doll’s +Street—Nikkô—The Journey’s End—Coolie Kindliness + LETTER VII. +A Japanese Idyll—Musical Stillness—My Rooms—Floral 51–53 +Decorations—Kanaya and his Household—Table Equipments + LETTER VIII +The Beauties of Nikkô—The Burial of Iyéyasn—The 54–61 +Approach to the Great Shrines—The Yomei Gate—Gorgeous +Decorations—Simplicity of the Mausoleum—The Shrine of +Iyémitsu—Religious Art of Japan and India—An +Earthquake—Beauties of Wood-carving + LETTER IX. +A Japanese Pack-Horse and Pack-Saddle—_Yadoya_ and 62–65 +Attendant—A Native Watering-Place—The Sulphur Baths—A +“Squeeze” + LETTER X. +Peaceful Monotony—A Japanese School—A Dismal 66–72 +Ditty—Punishment—A Children’s Party—A Juvenile +Belle—Female Names—A Juvenile +Drama—Needlework—Caligraphy—Arranging +Flowers—Kanaya—Daily Routine—An Evening’s +Entertainment—Planning Routes—The God-shelf + LETTER X.—(_Continued_.) +Darkness visible—Nikkô Shops—Girls and Matrons—Night 73–76 +and Sleep—Parental Love—Childish +Docility—Hair-dressing—Skin Diseases + LETTER X.—(_Completed_.) +Shops and Shopping—The Barber’s Shop—A Paper 77–79 +Waterproof—Ito’s Vanity—Preparations for the +Journey—Transport and Prices—Money and Measurements + LETTER XI. +Comfort disappears—Fine Scenery—An Alarm—A 80–91 +Farm-house—An unusual Costume—Bridling a Horse—Female +Dress and Ugliness—Babies—My _Mago_—Beauties of the +Kinugawa—Fujihara—My Servant—Horse-shoes—An absurd +Mistake + LETTER XII. +A Fantastic Jumble—The “Quiver” of Poverty—The 92–95 +Water-shed—From Bad to Worse—The Rice Planter’s +Holiday—A Diseased Crowd—Amateur Doctoring—Want of +Cleanliness—Rapid Eating—Premature Old Age + LETTER XII.—(_Concluded_.) +A Japanese Ferry—A Corrugated Road—The Pass of 96–98 +Sanno—Various Vegetation—An Unattractive +Undergrowth—Preponderance of Men + LETTER XIII. +The Plain of Wakamatsu—Light Costume—The Takata 99–105 +Crowd—A Congress of Schoolmasters—Timidity of a +Crowd—Bad Roads—Vicious Horses—Mountain Scenery—A +Picturesque Inn—Swallowing a Fish-bone—Poverty and +Suicide—An Inn-kitchen—England Unknown!—My Breakfast +Disappears + LETTER XIV. +An Infamous Road—Monotonous Greenery—Abysmal Dirt—Low 106–108 +Lives—The Tsugawa _Yadoya_—Politeness—A Shipping +Port—A “Barbarian Devil” + LETTER XV. +A Hurry—The Tsugawa Packet-boat—Running the 109–112 +Rapids—Fantastic Scenery—The +River-life—Vineyards—Drying Barley—Summer Silence—The +Outskirts of Niigata—The Church Mission House + LETTER XVI. +Abominable Weather—Insect Pests—Absence of Foreign 114–119 +Trade—A Refractory River—Progress—The Japanese +City—Water Highways—Niigata Gardens—Ruth Fyson—The +Winter Climate—A Population in Wadding + LETTER XVII. +The Canal-side at Niigata—Awful 120–127 +Loneliness—Courtesy—Dr. Palm’s Tandem—A Noisy +_Matsuri_—A Jolting Journey—The Mountain +Villages—Winter Dismalness—An Out-of-the-world +Hamlet—Crowded Dwellings—Riding a Cow—“Drunk and +Disorderly”—An Enforced Rest—Local +Discouragements—Heavy Loads—Absence of Beggary—Slow +Travelling + LETTER XVIII. +Comely Kine—Japanese Criticism on a Foreign Usage—A 128–136 +Pleasant Halt—Renewed Courtesies—The Plain of +Yonezawa—A Curious Mistake—The Mother’s +Memorial—Arrival at Komatsu—Stately Accommodation—A +Vicious Horse—An Asiatic Arcadia—A Fashionable +Watering-place—A Belle—“Godowns” + LETTER XIX. +Prosperity—Convict Labour—A New 137–142 +Bridge—Yamagata—Intoxicating Forgeries—The Government +Buildings—Bad Manners—Snow Mountains—A Wretched Town + LETTER XX. +The Effect of a Chicken—Poor Fare—Slow 143–145 +Travelling—Objects of Interest—_Kak’ké_—The Fatal +Close—A Great Fire—Security of the _Kuras_ + LETTER XX.—(_Continued_.) +Lunch in Public—A Grotesque Accident—Police 146–151 +Inquiries—Man or Woman?—A Melancholy Stare—A Vicious +Horse—An Ill-favoured Town—A Disappointment—A _Torii_ + LETTER XX.—(_Concluded_.) +A Casual Invitation—A Ludicrous Incident—Politeness of 152–154 +a Policeman—A Comfortless Sunday—An Outrageous +Irruption—A Privileged Stare + LETTER XXI. +The Necessity of Firmness—Perplexing 155–158 +Misrepresentations—Gliding with the Stream—Suburban +Residences—The Kubota Hospital—A Formal Reception—The +Normal School + LETTER XXII. +A Silk Factory—Employment for Women—A Police 159–160 +Escort—The Japanese Police Force + LETTER XXIII. +“A Plague of Immoderate Rain”—A Confidential 161–164 +Servant—Ito’s Diary—Ito’s Excellences—Ito’s Faults—A +Prophecy of the Future of Japan—Curious +Queries—Superfine English—Economical Travelling—The +Japanese Pack-horse again + LETTER XXIV. +The Symbolism of Seaweed—Afternoon Visitors—An Infant 165–169 +Prodigy—A Feat in Caligraphy—Child Worship—A Borrowed +Dress—A _Trousseau_—House Furniture—The Marriage +Ceremony + LETTER XXV. +A Holiday Scene—A _Matsuri_—Attractions of the 170–174 +Revel—_Matsuri_ Cars—Gods and Demons—A Possible +Harbour—A Village Forge—Prosperity of _Saké_ Brewers—A +“Great Sight” + LETTER XXVI. +The Fatigues of Travelling—Torrents and Mud—Ito’s 175–182 +Surliness—The Blind Shampooers—A Supposed Monkey +Theatre—A Suspended Ferry—A Difficult Transit—Perils +on the Yonetsurugawa—A Boatman Drowned—Nocturnal +Disturbances—A Noisy _Yadoya_—Storm-bound +Travellers—_Hai_! _Hai_!—More Nocturnal Disturbances + LETTER XXVII. +Good-tempered Intoxication—The Effect of Sunshine—A 183–186 +tedious Altercation—Evening Occupations—Noisy +Talk—Social Gatherings—Unfair Comparisons + LETTER XXVIII. +Torrents of Rain—An unpleasant Detention—Devastations 187–192 +produced by Floods—The Yadate Pass—The Force of +Water—Difficulties thicken—A Primitive _Yadoya_—The +Water rises + LETTER XXVIII.—(_Continued_.) +Scanty Resources—Japanese Children—Children’s Games—A 193–196 +Sagacious Example—A Kite Competition—Personal +Privations + LETTER XXIX. +Hope deferred—Effects of the Flood—Activity of the 197–199 +Police—A Ramble in Disguise—The _Tanabata_ +Festival—Mr. Satow’s Reputation + LETTER XXX. +A Lady’s Toilet—Hair-dressing—Paint and 200–202 +Cosmetics—Afternoon Visitors—Christian Converts + LETTER XXXI. +A Travel Curiosity—Rude Dwellings—Primitive 203–205 +Simplicity—The Public Bath-house + LETTER XXXII. +A Hard Day’s Journey—An Overturn—Nearing the 206–209 +Ocean—Joyful Excitement—Universal Greyness—Inopportune +Policemen—A Stormy Voyage—A Wild Welcome—A Windy +Landing—The Journey’s End + LETTER XXXIII. +Form and Colour—A Windy Capital—Eccentricities in 212–213 +House Roof + LETTER XXXIV. +Ito’s Delinquency—“Missionary Manners”—A Predicted 214–215 +Failure + LETTER XXXV. +A Lovely Sunset—An Official Letter—A “Front 216–230 +Horse”—Japanese Courtesy—The Steam Ferry—Coolies +Abscond—A Team of Savages—A Drove of Horses—Floral +Beauties—An Unbeaten Track—A Ghostly Dwelling—Solitude +and Eeriness + LETTER XXXV.—(_Continued_.) +The Harmonies of Nature—A Good Horse—A Single 231–233 +Discord—A Forest—Aino Ferrymen—“_Les Puces_! _Les +Puces_!”—Baffled Explorers—Ito’s Contempt for Ainos—An +Aino Introduction + LETTER XXXVI. +Savage Life—A Forest Track—Cleanly Villages—A 234–243 +Hospitable Reception—The Chief’s Mother—The Evening +Meal—A Savage _Séance_—Libations to the Gods—Nocturnal +Silence—Aino Courtesy—The Chief’s Wife + LETTER XXXVI.—(_Continued_.) +A Supposed Act of Worship—Parental Tenderness—Morning 244–253 +Visits.—Wretched Cultivation—Honesty and Generosity—A +“Dug-out”—Female Occupations—The Ancient Fate—A New +Arrival—A Perilous Prescription—The Shrine of +Yoshitsuné—The Chief’s Return + LETTER XXXVII. +Barrenness of Savage Life—Irreclaimable Savages—The 254–261 +Aino Physique—Female Comeliness—Torture and +Ornament—Child Life—Docility and Obedience + LETTER XXXVII.—(_Continued_.) +Aino Clothing—Holiday Dress—Domestic 262–272 +Architecture—Household Gods—Japanese Curios—The +Necessaries of Life—Clay Soup—Arrow Poison—Arrow +Traps—Female Occupations—Bark Cloth—The Art of Weaving + LETTER XXXVII.—(_Continued_.) +A Simple Nature-Worship—Aino Gods—A Festival 273–284 +Song—Religious Intoxication—Bear-Worship—The Annual +Saturnalia—The Future State—Marriage and +Divorce—Musical Instruments—Etiquette—The +Chieftainship—Death and Burial—Old Age—Moral Qualities + LETTER XXXVIII. +A Parting Gift—A Delicacy—Generosity—A Seaside 285–288 +Village—Pipichari’s Advice—A Drunken Revel—Ito’s +Prophecies—The _Kôckô’s_ Illness—Patent Medicines + LETTER XXXIX. +A Welcome Gift—Recent Changes—Volcanic 289–295 +Phenomena—Interesting Tufa Cones—Semi-strangulation—A +Fall into a Bear-trap—The Shiraôi Ainos—Horsebreaking +and Cruelty + LETTER XXXIX.—(_Continued_.) +The Universal Language—The Yezo _Corrals_—A “Typhoon 296–298 +Rain”—Difficult Tracks—An Unenviable Ride—Drying +Clothes—A Woman’s Remorse + LETTER XL. +“More than Peace”—Geographical 299–305 +Difficulties—Usu-taki—Swimming the Osharu—A Dream of +Beauty—A Sunset Effect—A Nocturnal Alarm—The Coast +Ainos + LETTER XL.—(_Continued_.) +The Sea-shore—A “Hairy Aino”—A Horse Fight—The Horses 306–311 +of Yezo—“Bad Mountains”—A Slight Accident—Magnificent +Scenery—A Bleached Halting-Place—A Musty Room—Aino +“Good-breeding” + LETTER XLI. +A Group of Fathers—The Lebungé Ainos—The _Salisburia 312–319 +adiantifolia_—A Family Group—The Missing +Link—Oshamambé—Disorderly Horses—The River Yurapu—The +Seaside—Aino Canoes—The Last Morning—Dodging Europeans + LETTER XLII. +Pleasant Last Impressions—The Japanese Junk—Ito 320–321 +Disappears—My Letter of Thanks + LETTER XLIII. +Pleasant Prospects—A Miserable Disappointment—Caught 322–324 +in a Typhoon—A Dense Fog—Alarmist Rumours—A Welcome at +Tôkiyô—The Last of the Mutineers + LETTER XLIV. +Fine Weather—Cremation in Japan—The Governor of 325–328 +Tôkiyô—An Awkward Question—An Insignificant +Building—Economy in Funeral Expenses—Simplicity of the +Cremation Process—The Last of Japan + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + PAGE +The Yomei Gate, Shrines of Nikkô _Frontispiece_ +Fujisan 2 +Travelling Restaurant 5 +Japanese Man-Cart 9 +A Lake Biwa Tea-House 20 +Stone Lanterns 28 +A Kuruma 35 +Road-Side Tea-House 38 +Sir Harry’s Messenger 42 +Kanaya’s House 52 +Japanese Pack-Horse 63 +Attendant at Tea-House 64 +Summer and Winter Costume 82 +Buddhist Priests 112 +Street and Canal 117 +The Flowing Invocation 130 +The Belle of Kaminoyama 135 +Torii 149 +Daikoku, the God of Wealth 154 +Myself in a Straw Rain-Cloak 176 +A Lady’s Mirror 201 +Akita Farm-House 204 +Aino Store-House at Horobets 223 +Aino Lodges. (_From a Japanese Sketch_) 224 +Aino Houses 234 +Ainos at Home. (_From a Japanese Sketch_) 235 +Aino Millet-Mill and Pestle 238 +Aino Store-House 247 +Ainos of Yezo 256 +An Aino Patriarch 258 +Tattooed Female Hand 260 +Aino Gods 266 +Plan of an Aino House 267 +Weaver’s Shuttle 270 +A Hiogo Buddha 272 +The Rokkukado 288 +My Kuruma-Runner 305 +Temple Gateway at Isshinden 311 +Entrance to Shrine of Seventh Shôgun, Shiba, Tôkiyô 323 +Fujisan, from a Village on the Tokaido 326 + + + + +LETTER I. + + +First View of Japan—A Vision of Fujisan—Japanese Sampans—“Pullman +Cars”—Undignified Locomotion—Paper Money—The Drawbacks of Japanese +Travelling. + + ORIENTAL HOTEL, YOKOHAMA, + _May_ 21. + +EIGHTEEN days of unintermitted rolling over “desolate rainy seas” brought +the “City of Tokio” early yesterday morning to Cape King, and by noon we +were steaming up the Gulf of Yedo, quite near the shore. The day was +soft and grey with a little faint blue sky, and, though the coast of +Japan is much more prepossessing than most coasts, there were no +startling surprises either of colour or form. Broken wooded ridges, +deeply cleft, rise from the water’s edge, gray, deep-roofed villages +cluster about the mouths of the ravines, and terraces of rice +cultivation, bright with the greenness of English lawns, run up to a +great height among dark masses of upland forest. The populousness of the +coast is very impressive, and the gulf everywhere was equally peopled +with fishing-boats, of which we passed not only hundreds, but thousands, +in five hours. The coast and sea were pale, and the boats were pale too, +their hulls being unpainted wood, and their sails pure white duck. Now +and then a high-sterned junk drifted by like a phantom galley, then we +slackened speed to avoid exterminating a fleet of triangular-looking +fishing-boats with white square sails, and so on through the grayness and +dumbness hour after hour. + +For long I looked in vain for Fujisan, and failed to see it, though I +heard ecstasies all over the deck, till, accidentally looking heavenwards +instead of earthwards, I saw far above any possibility of height, as one +would have thought, a huge, truncated cone of pure snow, 13,080 feet +above the sea, from which it sweeps upwards in a glorious curve, very +wan, against a very pale blue sky, with its base and the intervening +country veiled in a pale grey mist. {2} It was a wonderful vision, and +shortly, as a vision, vanished. Except the cone of Tristan d’Acunha—also +a cone of snow—I never saw a mountain rise in such lonely majesty, with +nothing near or far to detract from its height and grandeur. No wonder +that it is a sacred mountain, and so dear to the Japanese that their art +is never weary of representing it. It was nearly fifty miles off when we +first saw it. + +The air and water were alike motionless, the mist was still and pale, +grey clouds lay restfully on a bluish sky, the reflections of the white +sails of the fishing-boats scarcely quivered; it was all so pale, wan, +and ghastly, that the turbulence of crumpled foam which we left behind +us, and our noisy, throbbing progress, seemed a boisterous intrusion upon +sleeping Asia. + + [Picture: Fujisan] + +The gulf narrowed, the forest-crested hills, the terraced ravines, the +picturesque grey villages, the quiet beach life, and the pale blue masses +of the mountains of the interior, became more visible. Fuji retired into +the mist in which he enfolds his grandeur for most of the summer; we +passed Reception Bay, Perry Island, Webster Island, Cape Saratoga, and +Mississippi Bay—American nomenclature which perpetuates the successes of +American diplomacy—and not far from Treaty Point came upon a red +lightship with the words “Treaty Point” in large letters upon her. +Outside of this no foreign vessel may anchor. + +The bustle among my fellow-passengers, many of whom were returning home, +and all of whom expected to be met by friends, left me at leisure, as I +looked at unattractive, unfamiliar Yokohama and the pale grey land +stretched out before me, to speculate somewhat sadly on my destiny on +these strange shores, on which I have not even an acquaintance. On +mooring we were at once surrounded by crowds of native boats called by +foreigners _sampans_, and Dr. Gulick, a near relation of my Hilo friends, +came on board to meet his daughter, welcomed me cordially, and relieved +me of all the trouble of disembarkation. These _sampans_ are very +clumsy-looking, but are managed with great dexterity by the boatmen, who +gave and received any number of bumps with much good nature, and without +any of the shouting and swearing in which competitive boatmen usually +indulge. + +The partially triangular shape of these boats approaches that of a +salmon-fisher’s punt used on certain British rivers. Being floored gives +them the appearance of being absolutely flat-bottomed; but, though they +tilt readily, they are very safe, being heavily built and fitted together +with singular precision with wooden bolts and a few copper cleets. They +are _sculled_, not what we should call rowed, by two or four men with +very heavy oars made of two pieces of wood working on pins placed on +outrigger bars. The men scull standing and use the thigh as a rest for +the oar. They all wear a single, wide-sleeved, scanty, blue cotton +garment, not fastened or girdled at the waist, straw sandals, kept on by +a thong passing between the great toe and the others, and if they wear +any head-gear, it is only a wisp of blue cotton tied round the forehead. +The one garment is only an apology for clothing, and displays lean +concave chests and lean muscular limbs. The skin is very yellow, and +often much tattooed with mythical beasts. The charge for _sampans_ is +fixed by tariff, so the traveller lands without having his temper ruffled +by extortionate demands. + +The first thing that impressed me on landing was that there were no +loafers, and that all the small, ugly, kindly-looking, shrivelled, +bandy-legged, round-shouldered, concave-chested, poor-looking beings in +the streets had some affairs of their own to mind. At the top of the +landing-steps there was a portable restaurant, a neat and most compact +thing, with charcoal stove, cooking and eating utensils complete; but it +looked as if it were made by and for dolls, and the mannikin who kept it +was not five feet high. At the custom-house we were attended to by +minute officials in blue uniforms of European pattern and leather boots; +very civil creatures, who opened and examined our trunks carefully, and +strapped them up again, contrasting pleasingly with the insolent and +rapacious officials who perform the same duties at New York. + +Outside were about fifty of the now well-known _jin-ti-ki-shas_, and the +air was full of a buzz produced by the rapid reiteration of this uncouth +word by fifty tongues. This conveyance, as you know, is a feature of +Japan, growing in importance every day. It was only invented seven years +ago, and already there are nearly 23,000 in one city, and men can make so +much more by drawing them than by almost any kind of skilled labour, that +thousands of fine young men desert agricultural pursuits and flock into +the towns to make draught-animals of themselves, though it is said that +the average duration of a man’s life after he takes to running is only +five years, and that the runners fall victims in large numbers to +aggravated forms of heart and lung disease. Over tolerably level ground +a good runner can trot forty miles a day, at a rate of about four miles +an hour. They are registered and taxed at 8s. a year for one carrying +two persons, and 4s. for one which carries one only, and there is a +regular tariff for time and distance. + + [Picture: Travelling Restaurant] + +The _kuruma_, or jin-ri-ki-sha, {5} consists of a light perambulator +body, an adjustable hood of oiled paper, a velvet or cloth lining and +cushion, a well for parcels under the seat, two high slim wheels, and a +pair of shafts connected by a bar at the ends. The body is usually +lacquered and decorated according to its owner’s taste. Some show little +except polished brass, others are altogether inlaid with shells known as +Venus’s ear, and others are gaudily painted with contorted dragons, or +groups of peonies, hydrangeas, chrysanthemums, and mythical personages. +They cost from £2 upwards. The shafts rest on the ground at a steep +incline as you get in—it must require much practice to enable one to +mount with ease or dignity—the runner lifts them up, gets into them, +gives the body a good tilt backwards, and goes off at a smart trot. They +are drawn by one, two, or three men, according to the speed desired by +the occupants. When rain comes on, the man puts up the hood, and ties +you and it closely up in a covering of oiled paper, in which you are +invisible. At night, whether running or standing still, they carry +prettily-painted circular paper lanterns 18 inches long. It is most +comical to see stout, florid, solid-looking merchants, missionaries, male +and female, fashionably-dressed ladies, armed with card cases, Chinese +compradores, and Japanese peasant men and women flying along Main Street, +which is like the decent respectable High Street of a dozen forgotten +country towns in England, in happy unconsciousness of the ludicrousness +of their appearance; racing, chasing, crossing each other, their lean, +polite, pleasant runners in their great hats shaped like inverted bowls, +their incomprehensible blue tights, and their short blue over-shirts with +badges or characters in white upon them, tearing along, their yellow +faces streaming with perspiration, laughing, shouting, and avoiding +collisions by a mere shave. + +After a visit to the Consulate I entered a _kuruma_ and, with two ladies +in two more, was bowled along at a furious pace by a laughing little +mannikin down Main Street—a narrow, solid, well-paved street with +well-made side walks, kerb-stones, and gutters, with iron lamp-posts, +gas-lamps, and foreign shops all along its length—to this quiet hotel +recommended by Sir Wyville Thomson, which offers a refuge from the nasal +twang of my fellow-voyagers, who have all gone to the caravanserais on +the Bund. The host is a Frenchman, but he relies on a Chinaman; the +servants are Japanese “boys” in Japanese clothes; and there is a Japanese +“groom of the chambers” in faultless English costume, who perfectly +appals me by the elaborate politeness of his manner. + +Almost as soon as I arrived I was obliged to go in search of Mr. Fraser’s +office in the settlement; I say _search_, for there are no names on the +streets; where there are numbers they have no sequence, and I met no +Europeans on foot to help me in my difficulty. Yokohama does not improve +on further acquaintance. It has a dead-alive look. It has irregularity +without picturesqueness, and the grey sky, grey sea, grey houses, and +grey roofs, look harmoniously dull. No foreign money except the Mexican +dollar passes in Japan, and Mr. Fraser’s compradore soon metamorphosed my +English gold into Japanese _satsu_ or paper money, a bundle of yen nearly +at par just now with the dollar, packets of 50, 20, and 10 sen notes, and +some rouleaux of very neat copper coins. The initiated recognise the +different denominations of paper money at a glance by their differing +colours and sizes, but at present they are a distracting mystery to me. +The notes are pieces of stiff paper with Chinese characters at the +corners, near which, with exceptionally good eyes or a magnifying glass, +one can discern an English word denoting the value. They are very neatly +executed, and are ornamented with the chrysanthemum crest of the Mikado +and the interlaced dragons of the Empire. + +I long to get away into real Japan. Mr. Wilkinson, H.B.M.’s acting +consul, called yesterday, and was extremely kind. He thinks that my plan +for travelling in the interior is rather too ambitious, but that it is +perfectly safe for a lady to travel alone, and agrees with everybody else +in thinking that legions of fleas and the miserable horses are the great +drawbacks of Japanese travelling. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER II. + + +Sir Harry Parkes—An “Ambassador’s Carriage”—Cart Coolies. + + YOKOHAMA, _May_ 22. + +TO-DAY has been spent in making new acquaintances, instituting a search +for a servant and a pony, receiving many offers of help, asking questions +and receiving from different people answers which directly contradict +each other. Hours are early. Thirteen people called on me before noon. +Ladies drive themselves about the town in small pony carriages attended +by running grooms called _bettos_. The foreign merchants keep _kurumas_ +constantly standing at their doors, finding a willing, intelligent coolie +much more serviceable than a lazy, fractious, capricious Japanese pony, +and even the dignity of an “Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister +Plenipotentiary” is not above such a lowly conveyance, as I have seen +to-day. My last visitors were Sir Harry and Lady Parkes, who brought +sunshine and kindliness into the room, and left it behind them. Sir +Harry is a young-looking man scarcely in middle life, slight, active, +fair, blue-eyed, a thorough Saxon, with sunny hair and a sunny smile, a +sunshiny geniality in his manner, and bearing no trace in his appearance +of his thirty years of service in the East, his sufferings in the prison +at Peking, and the various attempts upon his life in Japan. He and Lady +Parkes were most truly kind, and encourage me so heartily in my largest +projects for travelling in the interior, that I shall start as soon as I +have secured a servant. When they went away they jumped into _kurumas_, +and it was most amusing to see the representative of England hurried down +the street in a perambulator with a tandem of coolies. + +As I look out of the window I see heavy, two-wheeled man-carts drawn and +pushed by four men each, on which nearly all goods, stones for building, +and all else, are carried. The two men who pull press with hands and +thighs against a cross-bar at the end of a heavy pole, and the two who +push apply their shoulders to beams which project behind, using their +thick, smoothly-shaven skulls as the motive power when they push their +heavy loads uphill. Their cry is impressive and melancholy. They draw +incredible loads, but, as if the toil which often makes every breath a +groan or a gasp were not enough, they shout incessantly with a coarse, +guttural grunt, something like _Ha huida_, _Ho huida_, _wa ho_, _Ha +huida_, etc. + + I. L. B. + + [Picture: Japanese Man-Cart] + + + + +LETTER III. + + +Yedo and Tôkiyô—The Yokohama Railroad—The Effect of Misfits—The Plain of +Yedo—Personal Peculiarities—First Impressions of Tôkiyô—H. B. M.’s +Legation—An English Home. + + H.B.M.’s LEGATION, YEDO, _May_ 24. + +I HAVE dated my letter Yedo, according to the usage of the British +Legation, but popularly the new name of Tôkiyô, or Eastern Capital, is +used, Kiyôto, the Mikado’s former residence, having received the name of +Saikiô, or Western Capital, though it has now no claim to be regarded as +a capital at all. Yedo belongs to the old régime and the Shôgunate, +Tôkiyô to the new régime and the Restoration, with their history of ten +years. It would seem an incongruity to travel to _Yedo_ by railway, but +quite proper when the destination is Tôkiyô. + +The journey between the two cities is performed in an hour by an +admirable, well-metalled, double-track railroad, 18 miles long, with iron +bridges, neat stations, and substantial roomy termini, built by English +engineers at a cost known only to Government, and opened by the Mikado in +1872. The Yokohama station is a handsome and suitable stone building, +with a spacious approach, ticket-offices on our plan, roomy waiting-rooms +for different classes—uncarpeted, however, in consideration of Japanese +clogs—and supplied with the daily papers. There is a department for the +weighing and labelling of luggage, and on the broad, covered, stone +platform at both termini a barrier with turnstiles, through which, except +by special favour, no ticketless person can pass. Except the +ticket-clerks, who are Chinese, and the guards and engine-drivers, who +are English, the officials are Japanese in European dress. Outside the +stations, instead of cabs, there are _kurumas_, which carry luggage as +well as people. Only luggage in the hand is allowed to go free; the rest +is weighed, numbered, and charged for, a corresponding number being given +to its owner to present at his destination. The fares are—3d class, an +_ichibu_, or about 1s.; 2d class, 60 _sen_, or about 2s. 4d.; and 1st +class, a _yen_, or about 3s. 8d. The tickets are collected as the +passengers pass through the barrier at the end of the journey. The +English-built cars differ from ours in having seats along the sides, and +doors opening on platforms at both ends. On the whole, the arrangements +are Continental rather than British. The first-class cars are +expensively fitted up with deeply-cushioned, red morocco seats, but carry +very few passengers, and the comfortable seats, covered with fine +matting, of the 2d class are very scantily occupied; but the 3d class +vans are crowded with Japanese, who have taken to railroads as readily as +to _kurumas_. This line earns about $8,000,000 a year. + +The Japanese look most diminutive in European dress. Each garment is a +misfit, and exaggerates the miserable _physique_ and the national defects +of concave chests and bow legs. The lack of “complexion” and of hair +upon the face makes it nearly impossible to judge of the ages of men. I +supposed that all the railroad officials were striplings of 17 or 18, but +they are men from 25 to 40 years old. + +It was a beautiful day, like an English June day, but hotter, and though +the _Sakura_ (wild cherry) and its kin, which are the glory of the +Japanese spring, are over, everything is a young, fresh green yet, and in +all the beauty of growth and luxuriance. The immediate neighbourhood of +Yokohama is beautiful, with abrupt wooded hills, and small picturesque +valleys; but after passing Kanagawa the railroad enters upon the immense +plain of Yedo, said to be 90 miles from north to south, on whose northern +and western boundaries faint blue mountains of great height hovered +dreamily in the blue haze, and on whose eastern shore for many miles the +clear blue wavelets of the Gulf of Yedo ripple, always as then, +brightened by the white sails of innumerable fishing-boats. On this +fertile and fruitful plain stand not only the capital, with its million +of inhabitants, but a number of populous cities, and several hundred +thriving agricultural villages. Every foot of land which can be seen +from the railroad is cultivated by the most careful spade husbandry, and +much of it is irrigated for rice. Streams abound, and villages of grey +wooden houses with grey thatch, and grey temples with strangely curved +roofs, are scattered thickly over the landscape. It is all homelike, +liveable, and pretty, the country of an industrious people, for not a +weed is to be seen, but no very striking features or peculiarities arrest +one at first sight, unless it be the crowds everywhere. + +You don’t take your ticket for Tôkiyô, but for Shinagawa or Shinbashi, +two of the many villages which have grown together into the capital. +Yedo is hardly seen before Shinagawa is reached, for it has no smoke and +no long chimneys; its temples and public buildings are seldom lofty; the +former are often concealed among thick trees, and its ordinary houses +seldom reach a height of 20 feet. On the right a blue sea with fortified +islands upon it, wooded gardens with massive retaining walls, hundreds of +fishing-boats lying in creeks or drawn up on the beach; on the left a +broad road on which _kurumas_ are hurrying both ways, rows of low, grey +houses, mostly tea-houses and shops; and as I was asking “Where is Yedo?” +the train came to rest in the terminus, the Shinbashi railroad station, +and disgorged its 200 Japanese passengers with a combined clatter of 400 +clogs—a new sound to me. These clogs add three inches to their height, +but even with them few of the men attained 5 feet 7 inches, and few of +the women 5 feet 2 inches; but they look far broader in the national +costume, which also conceals the defects of their figures. So lean, so +yellow, so ugly, yet so pleasant-looking, so wanting in colour and +effectiveness; the women so very small and tottering in their walk; the +children so formal-looking and such dignified burlesques on the adults, I +feel as if I had seen them all before, so like are they to their pictures +on trays, fans, and tea-pots. The hair of the women is all drawn away +from their faces, and is worn in chignons, and the men, when they don’t +shave the front of their heads and gather their back hair into a quaint +queue drawn forward over the shaven patch, wear their coarse hair about +three inches long in a refractory undivided mop. + +Davies, an orderly from the Legation, met me,—one of the escort cut down +and severely wounded when Sir H. Parkes was attacked in the street of +Kiyôto in March 1868 on his way to his first audience of the Mikado. +Hundreds of _kurumas_, and covered carts with four wheels drawn by one +miserable horse, which are the omnibuses of certain districts of Tôkiyô, +were waiting outside the station, and an English brougham for me, with a +running _betto_. The Legation stands in Kôjimachi on very elevated +ground above the inner moat of the historic “Castle of Yedo,” but I +cannot tell you anything of what I saw on my way thither, except that +there were miles of dark, silent, barrack-like buildings, with highly +ornamental gateways, and long rows of projecting windows with screens +made of reeds—the feudal mansions of Yedo—and miles of moats with lofty +grass embankments or walls of massive masonry 50 feet high, with +kiosk-like towers at the corners, and curious, roofed gateways, and many +bridges, and acres of lotus leaves. Turning along the inner moat, up a +steep slope, there are, on the right, its deep green waters, the great +grass embankment surmounted by a dismal wall overhung by the branches of +coniferous trees which surrounded the palace of the Shôgun, and on the +left sundry _yashikis_, as the mansions of the _daimiyô_ were called, now +in this quarter mostly turned into hospitals, barracks, and Government +offices. On a height, the most conspicuous of them all, is the great red +gateway of the _yashiki_, now occupied by the French Military Mission, +formerly the residence of Ii Kamon no Kami, one of the great actors in +recent historic events, who was assassinated not far off, outside the +Sakaruda gate of the castle. Besides these, barracks, parade-grounds, +policemen, _kurumas_, carts pulled and pushed by coolies, pack-horses in +straw sandals, and dwarfish, slatternly-looking soldiers in European +dress, made up the Tôkiyô that I saw between Shinbashi and the Legation. + +H.B.M.’s Legation has a good situation near the Foreign Office, several +of the Government departments, and the residences of the ministers, which +are chiefly of brick in the English suburban villa style. Within the +compound, with a brick archway with the Royal Arms upon it for an +entrance, are the Minister’s residence, the Chancery, two houses for the +two English Secretaries of Legation, and quarters for the escort. + +It is an English house and an English home, though, with the exception of +a venerable nurse, there are no English servants. The butler and footman +are tall Chinamen, with long pig-tails, black satin caps, and long blue +robes; the cook is a Chinaman, and the other servants are all Japanese, +including one female servant, a sweet, gentle, kindly girl about 4 feet 5 +in height, the wife of the head “housemaid.” None of the servants speak +anything but the most aggravating “pidgun” English, but their deficient +speech is more than made up for by the intelligence and service of the +orderly in waiting, who is rarely absent from the neighbourhood of the +hall door, and attends to the visitors’ book and to all messages and +notes. There are two real English children of six and seven, with great +capacities for such innocent enjoyments as can be found within the limits +of the nursery and garden. The other inmate of the house is a beautiful +and attractive terrier called “Rags,” a Skye dog, who unbends “in the +bosom of his family,” but ordinarily is as imposing in his demeanour as +if he, and not his master, represented the dignity of the British Empire. + +The Japanese Secretary of Legation is Mr. Ernest Satow, whose reputation +for scholarship, especially in the department of history, is said by the +Japanese themselves to be the highest in Japan {14}—an honourable +distinction for an Englishman, and won by the persevering industry of +fifteen years. The scholarship connected with the British Civil Service +is not, however, monopolised by Mr. Satow, for several gentlemen in the +consular service, who are passing through the various grades of student +interpreters, are distinguishing themselves not alone by their facility +in colloquial Japanese, but by their researches in various departments of +Japanese history, mythology, archæology, and literature. Indeed it is to +their labours, and to those of a few other Englishmen and Germans, that +the Japanese of the rising generation will be indebted for keeping alive +not only the knowledge of their archaic literature, but even of the +manners and customs of the first half of this century. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER IV. + + +“John Chinaman”—Engaging a Servant—First Impressions of Ito—A Solemn +Contract—The Food Question. + + H.B.M.’s LEGATION, YEDO, + _June_ 7. + +I WENT to Yokohama for a week to visit Dr. and Mrs. Hepburn on the Bluff. +Bishop and Mrs. Burdon of Hong Kong were also guests, and it was very +pleasant. + +One cannot be a day in Yokohama without seeing quite a different class of +orientals from the small, thinly-dressed, and usually poor-looking +Japanese. Of the 2500 Chinamen who reside in Japan, over 1100 are in +Yokohama, and if they were suddenly removed, business would come to an +abrupt halt. Here, as everywhere, the Chinese immigrant is making +himself indispensable. He walks through the streets with his swinging +gait and air of complete self-complacency, as though he belonged to the +ruling race. He is tall and big, and his many garments, with a handsome +brocaded robe over all, his satin pantaloons, of which not much is seen, +tight at the ankles, and his high shoes, whose black satin tops are +slightly turned up at the toes, make him look even taller and bigger than +he is. His head is mostly shaven, but the hair at the back is plaited +with a quantity of black purse twist into a queue which reaches to his +knees, above which, set well back, he wears a stiff, black satin +skull-cap, without which he is never seen. His face is very yellow, his +long dark eyes and eyebrows slope upwards towards his temples, he has not +the vestige of a beard, and his skin is shiny. He looks thoroughly +“well-to-do.” He is not unpleasing-looking, but you feel that as a +Celestial he looks down upon you. If you ask a question in a merchant’s +office, or change your gold into _satsu_, or take your railroad or +steamer ticket, or get change in a shop, the inevitable Chinaman appears. +In the street he swings past you with a purpose in his face; as he flies +past you in a _kuruma_ he is bent on business; he is sober and reliable, +and is content to “squeeze” his employer rather than to rob him—his one +aim in life is money. For this he is industrious, faithful, +self-denying; and he has his reward. + +Several of my kind new acquaintances interested themselves about the (to +me) vital matter of a servant interpreter, and many Japanese came to “see +after the place.” The speaking of intelligible English is a _sine quâ +non_, and it was wonderful to find the few words badly pronounced and +worse put together, which were regarded by the candidates as a sufficient +qualification. Can you speak English? “Yes.” What wages do you ask? +“Twelve dollars a month.” This was always said glibly, and in each case +sounded hopeful. Whom have you lived with? A foreign name distorted out +of all recognition, as was natural, was then given. Where have you +travelled? This question usually had to be translated into Japanese, and +the usual answer was, “The Tokaido, the Nakasendo, to Kiyôto, to Nikkô,” +naming the beaten tracks of countless tourists. Do you know anything of +Northern Japan and the Hokkaido? “No,” with a blank wondering look. At +this stage in every case Dr. Hepburn compassionately stepped in as +interpreter, for their stock of English was exhausted. Three were +regarded as promising. One was a sprightly youth who came in a well-made +European suit of light-coloured tweed, a laid-down collar, a tie with a +diamond (?) pin, and a white shirt, so stiffly starched, that he could +hardly bend low enough for a bow even of European profundity. He wore a +gilt watch-chain with a locket, the corner of a very white cambric +pocket-handkerchief dangled from his breast pocket, and he held a cane +and a felt hat in his hand. He was a Japanese dandy of the first water. +I looked at him ruefully. To me starched collars are to be an unknown +luxury for the next three months. His fine foreign clothes would enhance +prices everywhere in the interior, and besides that, I should feel a +perpetual difficulty in asking menial services from an exquisite. I was +therefore quite relieved when his English broke down at the second +question. + +The second was a most respectable-looking man of thirty-five in a good +Japanese dress. He was highly recommended, and his first English words +were promising, but he had been cook in the service of a wealthy English +official who travelled with a large retinue, and sent servants on ahead +to prepare the way. He knew really only a few words of English, and his +horror at finding that there was “no master,” and that there would be no +woman-servant, was so great, that I hardly know whether he rejected me or +I him. + +The third, sent by Mr. Wilkinson, wore a plain Japanese dress, and had a +frank, intelligent face. Though Dr. Hepburn spoke with him in Japanese, +he thought that he knew more English than the others, and that what he +knew would come out when he was less agitated. He evidently understood +what I said, and, though I had a suspicion that he would turn out to be +the “master,” I thought him so prepossessing that I nearly engaged him on +the spot. None of the others merit any remark. + +However, when I had nearly made up my mind in his favour, a creature +appeared without any recommendation at all, except that one of Dr. +Hepburn’s servants was acquainted with him. He is only eighteen, but +this is equivalent to twenty-three or twenty-four with us, and only 4 +feet 10 inches in height, but, though bandy-legged, is well proportioned +and strong-looking. He has a round and singularly plain face, good +teeth, much elongated eyes, and the heavy droop of his eyelids almost +caricatures the usual Japanese peculiarity. He is the most +stupid-looking Japanese that I have seen, but, from a rapid, furtive +glance in his eyes now and then, I think that the stolidity is partly +assumed. He said that he had lived at the American Legation, that he had +been a clerk on the Osaka railroad, that he had travelled through +northern Japan by the eastern route, and in Yezo with Mr. Maries, a +botanical collector, that he understood drying plants, that he could cook +a little, that he could write English, that he could walk twenty-five +miles a day, and that he thoroughly understood getting through the +interior! This would-be paragon had no recommendations, and accounted +for this by saying that they had been burned in a recent fire in his +father’s house. Mr. Maries was not forthcoming, and more than this, I +suspected and disliked the boy. However, he understood my English and I +his, and, being very anxious to begin my travels, I engaged him for +twelve dollars a month, and soon afterwards he came back with a contract, +in which he declares by all that he holds most sacred that he will serve +me faithfully for the wages agreed upon, and to this document he affixed +his seal and I my name. The next day he asked me for a month’s wages in +advance, which I gave him, but Dr. H. consolingly suggested that I should +never see him again! + +Ever since the solemn night when the contract was signed I have felt +under an incubus, and since he appeared here yesterday, punctual to the +appointed hour, I have felt as if I had a veritable “old man of the sea” +upon my shoulders. He flies up stairs and along the corridors as +noiselessly as a cat, and already knows where I keep all my things. +Nothing surprises or abashes him, he bows profoundly to Sir Harry and +Lady Parkes when he encounters them, but is obviously “quite at home” in +a Legation, and only allowed one of the orderlies to show him how to put +on a Mexican saddle and English bridle out of condescension to my wishes. +He seems as sharp or “smart” as can be, and has already arranged for the +first three days of my journey. His name is Ito, and you will doubtless +hear much more of him, as he will be my good or evil genius for the next +three months. + +As no English lady has yet travelled alone through the interior, my +project excites a very friendly interest among my friends, and I receive +much warning and dissuasion, and a little encouragement. The strongest, +because the most intelligent, dissuasion comes from Dr. Hepburn, who +thinks that I ought not to undertake the journey, and that I shall never +get through to the Tsugaru Strait. If I accepted much of the advice +given to me, as to taking tinned meats and soups, claret, and a Japanese +maid, I should need a train of at least six pack-horses! As to fleas, +there is a lamentable concensus of opinion that they are the curse of +Japanese travelling during the summer, and some people recommend me to +sleep in a bag drawn tightly round the throat, others to sprinkle my +bedding freely with insect powder, others to smear the skin all over with +carbolic oil, and some to make a plentiful use of dried and powdered +flea-bane. All admit, however, that these are but feeble palliatives. +Hammocks unfortunately cannot be used in Japanese houses. + +The “Food Question” is said to be the most important one for all +travellers, and it is discussed continually with startling earnestness, +not alone as regards my tour. However apathetic people are on other +subjects, the mere mention of this one rouses them into interest. All +have suffered or may suffer, and every one wishes to impart his own +experience or to learn from that of others. Foreign ministers, +professors, missionaries, merchants—all discuss it with becoming gravity +as a question of life and death, which by many it is supposed to be. The +fact is that, except at a few hotels in popular resorts which are got up +for foreigners, bread, butter, milk, meat, poultry, coffee, wine, and +beer, are unattainable, that fresh fish is rare, and that unless one can +live on rice, tea, and eggs, with the addition now and then of some +tasteless fresh vegetables, food must be taken, as the fishy and +vegetable abominations known as “Japanese food” can only be swallowed and +digested by a few, and that after long practice. {19} + +Another, but far inferior, difficulty on which much stress is laid is the +practice common among native servants of getting a “squeeze” out of every +money transaction on the road, so that the cost of travelling is often +doubled, and sometimes trebled, according to the skill and capacity of +the servant. Three gentlemen who have travelled extensively have given +me lists of the prices which I ought to pay, varying in different +districts, and largely increased on the beaten track of tourists, and Mr. +Wilkinson has read these to Ito, who offered an occasional remonstrance. +Mr. W. remarked after the conversation, which was in Japanese, that he +thought I should have to “look sharp after money matters”—a painful +prospect, as I have never been able to manage anybody in my life, and +shall surely have no control over this clever, cunning Japanese youth, +who on most points will be able to deceive me as he pleases. + +On returning here I found that Lady Parkes had made most of the necessary +preparations for me, and that they include two light baskets with covers +of oiled paper, a travelling bed or stretcher, a folding-chair, and an +india-rubber bath, all which she considers as necessaries for a person in +feeble health on a journey of such long duration. This week has been +spent in making acquaintances in Tôkiyô, seeing some characteristic +sights, and in trying to get light on my tour; but little seems known by +foreigners of northern Japan, and a Government department, on being +applied to, returned an itinerary, leaving out 140 miles of the route +that I dream of taking, on the ground of “insufficient information,” on +which Sir Harry cheerily remarked, “You will have to get your information +as you go along, and that will be all the more interesting.” Ah! but +how? + + I. L. B. + + [Picture: A Lake Biwa Tea-House] + + + + +LETTER V. + + +Kwan-non Temple—Uniformity of Temple Architecture—A _Kuruma_ Expedition—A +Perpetual Festival—The Ni-ô—The Limbo of Vanity—Heathen Prayers—Binzuru—A +Group of Devils—Archery Galleries—New Japan—An Élégante. + + H.B.M.’s LEGATION, YEDO, + _June_ 9. + +ONCE for all I will describe a Buddhist temple, and it shall be the +popular temple of Asakusa, which keeps fair and festival the whole year +round, and is dedicated to the “thousand-armed” Kwan-non, the goddess of +mercy. Writing generally, it may be said that in design, roof, and +general aspect, Japanese Buddhist temples are all alike. The sacred +architectural idea expresses itself in nearly the same form always. +There is a single or double-roofed gateway, with highly-coloured figures +in niches on either side; the paved temple-court, with more or fewer +stone or bronze lanterns; _amainu_, or heavenly dogs, in stone on stone +pedestals; stone sarcophagi, roofed over or not, for holy water; a flight +of steps; a portico, continued as a verandah all round the temple; a roof +of tremendously disproportionate size and weight, with a peculiar curve; +a square or oblong hall divided by a railing from a “chancel” with a high +and low altar, and a shrine containing Buddha, or the divinity to whom +the chapel is dedicated; an incense-burner, and a few ecclesiastical +ornaments. The symbols, idols, and adornments depend upon the sect to +which the temple belongs, or the wealth of its votaries, or the fancy of +the priests. Some temples are packed full of gods, shrines, banners, +bronzes, brasses, tablets, and ornaments, and others, like those of the +Monto sect, are so severely simple, that with scarcely an alteration they +might be used for Christian worship to-morrow. + +The foundations consist of square stones on which the uprights rest. +These are of elm, and are united at intervals by longitudinal pieces. +The great size and enormous weight of the roofs arise from the trusses +being formed of one heavy frame being built upon another in diminishing +squares till the top is reached, the main beams being formed of very +large timbers put on in their natural state. They are either very +heavily and ornamentally tiled, or covered with sheet copper ornamented +with gold, or thatched to a depth of from one to three feet, with fine +shingles or bark. The casing of the walls on the outside is usually +thick elm planking either lacquered or unpainted, and that of the inside +is of thin, finely-planed and bevelled planking of the beautiful wood of +the _Retinospora obtusa_. The lining of the roof is in flat panels, and +where it is supported by pillars they are invariably circular, and formed +of the straight, finely-grained stem of the _Retinospora obtusa_. The +projecting ends of the roof-beams under the eaves are either elaborately +carved, lacquered in dull red, or covered with copper, as are the joints +of the beams. Very few nails are used, the timbers being very +beautifully joined by mortices and dovetails, other methods of junction +being unknown. + +Mr. Chamberlain and I went in a _kuruma_ hurried along by three liveried +coolies, through the three miles of crowded streets which lie between the +Legation and Asakusa, once a village, but now incorporated with this +monster city, to the broad street leading to the Adzuma Bridge over the +Sumida river, one of the few stone bridges in Tôkiyô, which connects east +Tôkiyô, an uninteresting region, containing many canals, storehouses, +timber-yards, and inferior _yashikis_, with the rest of the city. This +street, marvellously thronged with pedestrians and _kurumas_, is the +terminus of a number of city “stage lines,” and twenty wretched-looking +covered waggons, with still more wretched ponies, were drawn up in the +middle, waiting for passengers. Just there plenty of real Tôkiyô life is +to be seen, for near a shrine of popular pilgrimage there are always +numerous places of amusement, innocent and vicious, and the vicinity of +this temple is full of restaurants, tea-houses, minor theatres, and the +resorts of dancing and singing girls. + +A broad-paved avenue, only open to foot passengers, leads from this +street to the grand entrance, a colossal two-storied double-roofed _mon_, +or gate, painted a rich dull red. On either side of this avenue are +lines of booths—which make a brilliant and lavish display of their +contents—toy-shops, shops for smoking apparatus, and shops for the sale +of ornamental hair-pins predominating. Nearer the gate are booths for +the sale of rosaries for prayer, sleeve and bosom idols of brass and wood +in small shrines, amulet bags, representations of the jolly-looking +Daikoku, the god of wealth, the most popular of the household gods of +Japan, shrines, memorial tablets, cheap _ex votos_, sacred bells, +candlesticks, and incense-burners, and all the endless and various +articles connected with Buddhist devotion, public and private. Every day +is a festival-day at Asakusa; the temple is dedicated to the most popular +of the great divinities; it is the most popular of religious resorts; and +whether he be Buddhist, Shintôist, or Christian, no stranger comes to the +capital without making a visit to its crowded courts or a purchase at its +tempting booths. Not to be an exception, I invested in bouquets of +firework flowers, fifty flowers for 2 _sen_, or 1d., each of which, as it +slowly consumes, throws off fiery coruscations, shaped like the most +beautiful of snow crystals. I was also tempted by small boxes at 2 _sen_ +each, containing what look like little slips of withered pith, but which, +on being dropped into water, expand into trees and flowers. + +Down a paved passage on the right there is an artificial river, not over +clean, with a bridge formed of one curved stone, from which a flight of +steps leads up to a small temple with a magnificent bronze bell. At the +entrance several women were praying. In the same direction are two fine +bronze Buddhas, seated figures, one with clasped hands, the other holding +a lotus, both with “The light of the world” upon their brows. The grand +red gateway into the actual temple courts has an extremely imposing +effect, and besides, it is the portal to the first great heathen temple +that I have seen, and it made me think of another temple whose courts +were equally crowded with buyers and sellers, and of a “whip of small +cords” in the hand of One who claimed both the temple and its courts as +His “Father’s House.” Not with less righteous wrath would the gentle +founder of Buddhism purify the unsanctified courts of Asakusa. Hundreds +of men, women, and children passed to and fro through the gateway in +incessant streams, and so they are passing through every daylight hour of +every day in the year, thousands becoming tens of thousands on the great +_matsuri_ days, when the _mikoshi_, or sacred car, containing certain +symbols of the god, is exhibited, and after sacred mimes and dances have +been performed, is carried in a magnificent, antique procession to the +shore and back again. Under the gateway on either side are the _Ni-ô_, +or two kings, gigantic figures in flowing robes, one red and with an open +mouth, representing the _Yo_, or male principle of Chinese philosophy, +the other green and with the mouth firmly closed, representing the _In_, +or female principle. They are hideous creatures, with protruding eyes, +and faces and figures distorted and corrupted into a high degree of +exaggerated and convulsive action. These figures guard the gates of most +of the larger temples, and small prints of them are pasted over the doors +of houses to protect them against burglars. Attached to the grating in +front were a number of straw sandals, hung up by people who pray that +their limbs may be as muscular as those of the _Ni-ô_. + +Passing through this gate we were in the temple court proper, and in +front of the temple itself, a building of imposing height and size, of a +dull red colour, with a grand roof of heavy iron grey tiles, with a +sweeping curve which gives grace as well as grandeur. The timbers and +supports are solid and of great size, but, in common with all Japanese +temples, whether Buddhist or Shintô, the edifice is entirely of wood. A +broad flight of narrow, steep, brass-bound steps lead up to the porch, +which is formed by a number of circular pillars supporting a very lofty +roof, from which paper lanterns ten feet long are hanging. A gallery +runs from this round the temple, under cover of the eaves. There is an +outer temple, unmatted, and an inner one behind a grating, into which +those who choose to pay for the privilege of praying in comparative +privacy, or of having prayers said for them by the priests, can pass. + +In the outer temple the noise, confusion, and perpetual motion, are +bewildering. Crowds on clattering clogs pass in and out; pigeons, of +which hundreds live in the porch, fly over your head, and the whirring of +their wings mingles with the tinkling of bells, the beating of drums and +gongs, the high-pitched drone of the priests, the low murmur of prayers, +the rippling laughter of girls, the harsh voices of men, and the general +buzz of a multitude. There is very much that is highly grotesque at +first sight. Men squat on the floor selling amulets, rosaries, printed +prayers, incense sticks, and other wares. _Ex votos_ of all kinds hang +on the wall and on the great round pillars. Many of these are rude +Japanese pictures. The subject of one is the blowing-up of a steamer in +the Sumidagawa with the loss of 100 lives, when the donor was saved by +the grace of Kwan-non. Numbers of memorials are from people who offered +up prayers here, and have been restored to health or wealth. Others are +from junk men whose lives have been in peril. There are scores of men’s +queues and a few dusty braids of women’s hair offered on account of vows +or prayers, usually for sick relatives, and among them all, on the left +hand, are a large mirror in a gaudily gilt frame and a framed picture of +the P. M. S. _China_! Above this incongruous collection are splendid +wood carvings and frescoes of angels, among which the pigeons find a home +free from molestation. + +Near the entrance there is a superb incense-burner in the most massive +style of the older bronzes, with a mythical beast rampant upon it, and in +high relief round it the Japanese signs of the zodiac—the rat, ox, tiger, +rabbit, dragon, serpent, horse, goat, monkey, cock, dog, and hog. Clouds +of incense rise continually from the perforations round the edge, and a +black-toothed woman who keeps it burning is perpetually receiving small +coins from the worshippers, who then pass on to the front of the altar to +pray. The high altar, and indeed all that I should regard as properly +the temple, are protected by a screen of coarsely-netted iron wire. This +holy of holies is full of shrines and gods, gigantic candlesticks, +colossal lotuses of gilded silver, offerings, lamps, lacquer, litany +books, gongs, drums, bells, and all the mysterious symbols of a faith +which is a system of morals and metaphysics to the educated and +initiated, and an idolatrous superstition to the masses. In this +interior the light was dim, the lamps burned low, the atmosphere was +heavy with incense, and amidst its fumes shaven priests in chasubles and +stoles moved noiselessly over the soft matting round the high altar on +which Kwan-non is enshrined, lighting candles, striking bells, and +murmuring prayers. In front of the screen is the treasury, a wooden +chest 14 feet by 10, with a deep slit, into which all the worshippers +cast copper coins with a ceaseless clinking sound. + +There, too, they pray, if that can be called prayer which frequently +consists only in the repetition of an uncomprehended phrase in a foreign +tongue, bowing the head, raising the hands and rubbing them, murmuring a +few words, telling beads, clapping the hands, bowing again, and then +passing out or on to another shrine to repeat the same form. Merchants +in silk clothing, soldiers in shabby French uniforms, farmers, coolies in +“vile raiment,” mothers, maidens, swells in European clothes, even the +_samurai_ policemen, bow before the goddess of mercy. Most of the +prayers were offered rapidly, a mere momentary interlude in the gurgle of +careless talk, and without a pretence of reverence; but some of the +petitioners obviously brought real woes in simple “faith.” + +In one shrine there is a large idol, spotted all over with pellets of +paper, and hundreds of these are sticking to the wire netting which +protects him. A worshipper writes his petition on paper, or, better +still, has it written for him by the priest, chews it to a pulp, and +spits it at the divinity. If, having been well aimed, it passes through +the wire and sticks, it is a good omen, if it lodges in the netting the +prayer has probably been unheard. The _Ni-ô_ and some of the gods +outside the temple are similarly disfigured. On the left there is a +shrine with a screen, to the bars of which innumerable prayers have been +tied. On the right, accessible to all, sits Binzuru, one of Buddha’s +original sixteen disciples. His face and appearance have been calm and +amiable, with something of the quiet dignity of an elderly country +gentleman of the reign of George III.; but he is now worn and defaced, +and has not much more of eyes, nose, and mouth than the Sphinx; and the +polished, red lacquer has disappeared from his hands and feet, for +Binzuru is a great medicine god, and centuries of sick people have rubbed +his face and limbs, and then have rubbed their own. A young woman went +up to him, rubbed the back of his neck, and then rubbed her own. Then a +modest-looking girl, leading an ancient woman with badly inflamed eyelids +and paralysed arms, rubbed his eyelids, and then gently stroked the +closed eyelids of the crone. Then a coolie, with a swelled knee, applied +himself vigorously to Binzuru’s knee, and more gently to his own. +Remember, this is the great temple of the populace, and “not many rich, +not many noble, not many mighty,” enter its dim, dirty, crowded halls. +{27} + +But the great temple to Kwan-non is not the only sight of Asakusa. +Outside it are countless shrines and temples, huge stone _Amainu_, or +heavenly dogs, on rude blocks of stone, large cisterns of stone and +bronze with and without canopies, containing water for the ablutions of +the worshippers, cast iron _Amainu_ on hewn stone pedestals—a recent +gift—bronze and stone lanterns, a stone prayer-wheel in a stone post, +figures of Buddha with the serene countenance of one who rests from his +labours, stone idols, on which devotees have pasted slips of paper +inscribed with prayers, with sticks of incense rising out of the ashes of +hundreds of former sticks smouldering before them, blocks of hewn stone +with Chinese and Sanskrit inscriptions, an eight-sided temple in which +are figures of the “Five Hundred Disciples” of Buddha, a temple with the +roof and upper part of the walls richly coloured, the circular Shintô +mirror in an inner shrine, a bronze treasury outside with a bell, which +is rung to attract the god’s attention, a striking, five-storied pagoda, +with much red lacquer, and the ends of the roof-beams very boldly carved, +its heavy eaves fringed with wind bells, and its uppermost roof +terminating in a graceful copper spiral of great height, with the “sacred +pearl” surrounded by flames for its finial. Near it, as near most +temples, is an upright frame of plain wood with tablets, on which are +inscribed the names of donors to the temple, and the amount of their +gifts. + +There is a handsome stone-floored temple to the south-east of the main +building, to which we were the sole visitors. It is lofty and very +richly decorated. In the centre is an octagonal revolving room, or +rather shrine, of rich red lacquer most gorgeously ornamented. It rests +on a frame of carved black lacquer, and has a lacquer gallery running +round it, on which several richly decorated doors open. On the +application of several shoulders to this gallery the shrine rotates. It +is, in fact, a revolving library of the Buddhist Scriptures, and a single +turn is equivalent to a single pious perusal of them. It is an +exceedingly beautiful specimen of ancient decorative lacquer work. At +the back part of the temple is a draped brass figure of Buddha, with one +hand raised—a dignified piece of casting. All the Buddhas have Hindoo +features, and the graceful drapery and oriental repose which have been +imported from India contrast singularly with the grotesque extravagances +of the indigenous Japanese conceptions. In the same temple are four +monstrously extravagant figures carved in wood, life-size, with clawed +toes on their feet, and two great fangs in addition to the teeth in each +mouth. The heads of all are surrounded with flames, and are backed by +golden circlets. They are extravagantly clothed in garments which look +as if they were agitated by a violent wind; they wear helmets and partial +suits of armour, and hold in their right hands something between a +monarch’s sceptre and a priest’s staff. They have goggle eyes and open +mouths, and their faces are in distorted and exaggerated action. One, +painted bright red, tramples on a writhing devil painted bright pink; +another, painted emerald green, tramples on a sea-green devil, an indigo +blue monster tramples on a sky-blue fiend, and a bright pink monster +treads under his clawed feet a flesh-coloured demon. I cannot give you +any idea of the hideousness of their aspect, and was much inclined to +sympathise with the more innocent-looking fiends whom they were +maltreating. They occur very frequently in Buddhist temples, and are +said by some to be assistant-torturers to Yemma, the lord of hell, and +are called by others “The gods of the Four Quarters.” + + [Picture: Stone Lanterns] + +The temple grounds are a most extraordinary sight. No English fair in +the palmiest days of fairs ever presented such an array of attractions. +Behind the temple are archery galleries in numbers, where girls, hardly +so modest-looking as usual, smile and smirk, and bring straw-coloured tea +in dainty cups, and tasteless sweetmeats on lacquer trays, and smoke +their tiny pipes, and offer you bows of slender bamboo strips, two feet +long, with rests for the arrows, and tiny cherry-wood arrows, +bone-tipped, and feathered red, blue, and white, and smilingly, but quite +unobtrusively, ask you to try your skill or luck at a target hanging in +front of a square drum, flanked by red cushions. A click, a boom, or a +hardly audible “thud,” indicate the result. Nearly all the archers were +grown-up men, and many of them spend hours at a time in this childish +sport. + +All over the grounds booths with the usual charcoal fire, copper boiler, +iron kettle of curious workmanship, tiny cups, fragrant aroma of tea, and +winsome, graceful girls, invite you to drink and rest, and more solid but +less inviting refreshments are also to be had. Rows of pretty paper +lanterns decorate all the stalls. Then there are photograph galleries, +mimic tea-gardens, tableaux in which a large number of groups of +life-size figures with appropriate scenery are put into motion by a +creaking wheel of great size, matted lounges for rest, stands with +saucers of rice, beans and peas for offerings to the gods, the pigeons, +and the two sacred horses, Albino ponies, with pink eyes and noses, +revoltingly greedy creatures, eating all day long and still craving for +more. There are booths for singing and dancing, and under one a +professional story-teller was reciting to a densely packed crowd one of +the old, popular stories of crime. There are booths where for a few +_rin_ you may have the pleasure of feeding some very ugly and greedy +apes, or of watching mangy monkeys which have been taught to prostrate +themselves Japanese fashion. + +This letter is far too long, but to pass over Asakusa and its novelties +when the impression of them is fresh would be to omit one of the most +interesting sights in Japan. On the way back we passed red mail carts +like those in London, a squadron of cavalry in European uniforms and with +European saddles, and the carriage of the Minister of Marine, an English +brougham with a pair of horses in English harness, and an escort of six +troopers—a painful precaution adopted since the political assassination +of Okubo, the Home Minister, three weeks ago. So the old and the new in +this great city contrast with and jostle each other. The Mikado and his +ministers, naval and military officers and men, the whole of the civil +officials and the police, wear European clothes, as well as a number of +dissipated-looking young men who aspire to represent “young Japan.” +Carriages and houses in English style, with carpets, chairs, and tables, +are becoming increasingly numerous, and the bad taste which regulates the +purchase of foreign furnishings is as marked as the good taste which +everywhere presides over the adornment of the houses in purely Japanese +style. Happily these expensive and unbecoming innovations have scarcely +affected female dress, and some ladies who adopted our fashions have +given them up because of their discomfort and manifold difficulties and +complications. + +The Empress on State occasions appears in scarlet satin _hakama_, and +flowing robes, and she and the Court ladies invariably wear the national +costume. I have only seen two ladies in European dress; and this was at +a dinner-party here, and they were the wives of Mr. Mori, the go-ahead +Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, and of the Japanese Consul at Hong +Kong; and both by long residence abroad have learned to wear it with +ease. The wife of Saigo, the Minister of Education, called one day in an +exquisite Japanese dress of dove-coloured silk _crêpe_, with a pale pink +under-dress of the same material, which showed a little at the neck and +sleeves. Her girdle was of rich dove-coloured silk, with a ghost of a +pale pink blossom hovering upon it here and there. She had no frills or +fripperies of any description, or ornaments, except a single pin in her +chignon, and, with a sweet and charming face, she looked as graceful and +dignified in her Japanese costume as she would have looked exactly the +reverse in ours. Their costume has one striking advantage over ours. A +woman is perfectly _clothed_ if she has one garment and a girdle on, and +perfectly _dressed_ if she has two. There is a difference in features +and expression—much exaggerated, however, by Japanese artists—between the +faces of high-born women and those of the middle and lower classes. I +decline to admire fat-faces, pug noses, thick lips, long eyes, turned up +at the outer corners, and complexions which owe much to powder and paint. +The habit of painting the lips with a reddish-yellow pigment, and of +heavily powdering the face and throat with pearl powder, is a repulsive +one. But it is hard to pronounce any unfavourable criticism on women who +have so much kindly grace of manner. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER VI. + + +Fears—Travelling Equipments—Passports—Coolie Costume—A Yedo +Diorama—Rice-Fields—Tea-Houses—A Traveller’s Reception—The Inn at +Kasukabé—Lack of Privacy—A Concourse of Noises—A Nocturnal Alarm—A Vision +of Policemen—A Budget from Yedo. + + KASUKABÉ, _June_ 10. + +FROM the date you will see that I have started on my long journey, though +not upon the “unbeaten tracks” which I hope to take after leaving Nikkô, +and my first evening alone in the midst of this crowded Asian life is +strange, almost fearful. I have suffered from nervousness all day—the +fear of being frightened, of being rudely mobbed, as threatened by Mr. +Campbell of Islay, of giving offence by transgressing the rules of +Japanese politeness—of, I know not what! Ito is my sole reliance, and he +may prove a “broken reed.” I often wished to give up my project, but was +ashamed of my cowardice when, on the best authority, I received +assurances of its safety. {32} + +The preparations were finished yesterday, and my outfit weighed 110 lbs., +which, with Ito’s weight of 90 lbs., is as much as can be carried by an +average Japanese horse. My two painted wicker boxes lined with paper and +with waterproof covers are convenient for the two sides of a pack-horse. +I have a folding-chair—for in a Japanese house there is nothing but the +floor to sit upon, and not even a solid wall to lean against—an +air-pillow for _kuruma_ travelling, an india-rubber bath, sheets, a +blanket, and last, and more important than all else, a canvas stretcher +on light poles, which can be put together in two minutes; and being 2½ +feet high is supposed to be secure from fleas. The “Food Question” has +been solved by a modified rejection of all advice! I have only brought a +small supply of Liebig’s extract of meat, 4 lbs. of raisins, some +chocolate, both for eating and drinking, and some brandy in case of need. +I have my own Mexican saddle and bridle, a reasonable quantity of +clothes, including a loose wrapper for wearing in the evenings, some +candles, Mr. Brunton’s large map of Japan, volumes of the Transactions of +the English Asiatic Society, and Mr. Satow’s Anglo-Japanese Dictionary. +My travelling dress is a short costume of dust-coloured striped tweed, +with strong laced boots of unblacked leather, and a Japanese hat, shaped +like a large inverted bowl, of light bamboo plait, with a white cotton +cover, and a very light frame inside, which fits round the brow and +leaves a space of 1½ inches between the hat and the head for the free +circulation of air. It only weighs 2½ ounces, and is infinitely to be +preferred to a heavy pith helmet, and, light as it is, it protects the +head so thoroughly, that, though the sun has been unclouded all day and +the mercury at 86°, no other protection has been necessary. My money is +in bundles of 50 _yen_, and 50, 20, and 10 _sen_ notes, besides which I +have some rouleaux of copper coins. I have a bag for my passport, which +hangs to my waist. All my luggage, with the exception of my saddle, +which I use for a footstool, goes into one _kuruma_, and Ito, who is +limited to 12 lbs., takes his along with him. + +I have three _kurumas_, which are to go to Nikkô, ninety miles, in three +days, without change of runners, for about eleven shillings each. + +Passports usually define the route over which the foreigner is to travel, +but in this case Sir H. Parkes has obtained one which is practically +unrestricted, for it permits me to travel through all Japan north of +Tôkiyô and in Yezo without specifying any route. This precious document, +without which I should be liable to be arrested and forwarded to my +consul, is of course in Japanese, but the cover gives in English the +regulations under which it is issued. A passport must be applied for, +for reasons of “health, botanical research, or scientific investigation.” +Its bearer must not light fires in woods, attend fires on horseback, +trespass on fields, enclosures, or game-preserves, scribble on temples, +shrines, or walls, drive fast on a narrow road, or disregard notices of +“No thoroughfare.” He must “conduct himself in an orderly and +conciliating manner towards the Japanese authorities and people;” he +“must produce his passport to any officials who may demand it,” under +pain of arrest; and while in the interior “is forbidden to shoot, trade, +to conclude mercantile contracts with Japanese, or to rent houses or +rooms for a longer period than his journey requires.” + +NIKKÔ, _June_ 13.—This is one of the paradises of Japan! It is a +proverbial saying, “He who has not seen Nikkô must not use the word +kek’ko” (splendid, delicious, beautiful); but of this more hereafter. My +attempt to write to you from Kasukabé failed, owing to the onslaught of +an army of fleas, which compelled me to retreat to my stretcher, and the +last two nights, for this and other reasons, writing has been out of the +question. + +I left the Legation at 11 a.m. on Monday and reached Kasukabé at 5 p.m., +the runners keeping up an easy trot the whole journey of twenty-three +miles; but the halts for smoking and eating were frequent. + +These kuruma-runners wore short blue cotton drawers, girdles with tobacco +pouch and pipe attached, short blue cotton shirts with wide sleeves, and +open in front, reaching to their waists, and blue cotton handkerchiefs +knotted round their heads, except when the sun was very hot, when they +took the flat flag discs, two feet in diameter, which always hang behind +_kurumas_, and are used either in sun or rain, and tied them on their +heads. They wore straw sandals, which had to be replaced twice on the +way. Blue and white towels hung from the shafts to wipe away the sweat, +which ran profusely down the lean, brown bodies. The upper garment +always flew behind them, displaying chests and backs elaborately tattooed +with dragons and fishes. Tattooing has recently been prohibited; but it +was not only a favourite adornment, but a substitute for perishable +clothing. + +Most of the men of the lower classes wear their hair in a very ugly +fashion,—the front and top of the head being shaved, the long hair from +the back and sides being drawn up and tied, then waxed, tied again, and +cut short off, the stiff queue being brought forward and laid, pointing +forwards, along the back part of the top of the head. This top-knot is +shaped much like a short clay pipe. The shaving and dressing the hair +thus require the skill of a professional barber. Formerly the hair was +worn in this way by the _samurai_, in order that the helmet might fit +comfortably, but it is now the style of the lower classes mostly and by +no means invariably. + + [Picture: A Kuruma] + +Blithely, at a merry trot, the coolies hurried us away from the kindly +group in the Legation porch, across the inner moat and along the inner +drive of the castle, past gateways and retaining walls of Cyclopean +masonry, across the second moat, along miles of streets of sheds and +shops, all grey, thronged with foot-passengers and _kurumas_, with +pack-horses loaded two or three feet above their backs, the arches of +their saddles red and gilded lacquer, their frontlets of red leather, +their “shoes” straw sandals, their heads tied tightly to the saddle-girth +on either side, great white cloths figured with mythical beasts in blue +hanging down loosely under their bodies; with coolies dragging heavy +loads to the guttural cry of _Hai_! _huida_! with children whose heads +were shaved in hideous patterns; and now and then, as if to point a moral +lesson in the midst of the whirling diorama, a funeral passed through the +throng, with a priest in rich robes, mumbling prayers, a covered barrel +containing the corpse, and a train of mourners in blue dresses with white +wings. Then we came to the fringe of Yedo, where the houses cease to be +continuous, but all that day there was little interval between them. All +had open fronts, so that the occupations of the inmates, the “domestic +life” in fact, were perfectly visible. Many of these houses were +road-side _chayas_, or tea-houses, and nearly all sold sweet-meats, dried +fish, pickles, _mochi_, or uncooked cakes of rice dough, dried +persimmons, rain hats, or straw shoes for man or beast. The road, though +wide enough for two carriages (of which we saw none), was not good, and +the ditches on both sides were frequently neither clean nor sweet. Must +I write it? The houses were mean, poor, shabby, often even squalid, the +smells were bad, and the people looked ugly, shabby, and poor, though all +were working at something or other. + +The country is a dead level, and mainly an artificial mud flat or swamp, +in whose fertile ooze various aquatic birds were wading, and in which +hundreds of men and women were wading too, above their knees in slush; +for this plain of Yedo is mainly a great rice-field, and this is the busy +season of rice-planting; for here, in the sense in which we understand +it, they do not “cast their bread upon the waters.” There are eight or +nine leading varieties of rice grown in Japan, all of which, except an +upland species, require mud, water, and much puddling and nasty work. +Rice is the staple food and the wealth of Japan. Its revenues were +estimated in rice. Rice is grown almost wherever irrigation is possible. + +The rice-fields are usually very small and of all shapes. A quarter of +an acre is a good-sized field. The rice crop planted in June is not +reaped till November, but in the meantime it needs to be “puddled” three +times, i.e. for all the people to turn into the slush, and grub out all +the weeds and tangled aquatic plants, which weave themselves from tuft to +tuft, and puddle up the mud afresh round the roots. It grows in water +till it is ripe, when the fields are dried off. An acre of the best land +produces annually about fifty-four bushels of rice, and of the worst +about thirty. + +On the plain of Yedo, besides the nearly continuous villages along the +causewayed road, there are islands, as they may be called, of villages +surrounded by trees, and hundreds of pleasant oases on which wheat ready +for the sickle, onions, millet, beans, and peas, were flourishing. There +were lotus ponds too, in which the glorious lily, _Nelumbo nucifera_, is +being grown for the sacrilegious purpose of being eaten! Its splendid +classical leaves are already a foot above the water. + +After running cheerily for several miles my men bowled me into a +tea-house, where they ate and smoked while I sat in the garden, which +consisted of baked mud, smooth stepping-stones, a little pond with some +goldfish, a deformed pine, and a stone lantern. Observe that foreigners +are wrong in calling the Japanese houses of entertainment +indiscriminately “tea-houses.” A tea-house or _chaya_ is a house at +which you can obtain tea and other refreshments, rooms to eat them in, +and attendance. That which to some extent answers to an hotel is a +_yadoya_, which provides sleeping accommodation and food as required. +The licenses are different. Tea-houses are of all grades, from the +three-storied erections, gay with flags and lanterns, in the great cities +and at places of popular resort, down to the road-side tea-house, as +represented in the engraving, with three or four lounges of dark-coloured +wood under its eaves, usually occupied by naked coolies in all attitudes +of easiness and repose. The floor is raised about eighteen inches above +the ground, and in these tea-houses is frequently a matted platform with +a recess called the _doma_, literally “earth-space,” in the middle, round +which runs a ledge of polished wood called the _itama_, or “board space,” +on which travellers sit while they bathe their soiled feet with the water +which is immediately brought to them; for neither with soiled feet nor in +foreign shoes must one advance one step on the matted floor. On one side +of the _doma_ is the kitchen, with its one or two charcoal fires, where +the coolies lounge on the mats and take their food and smoke, and on the +other the family pursue their avocations. In almost the smallest +tea-house there are one or two rooms at the back, but all the life and +interest are in the open front. In the small tea-houses there is only an +_irori_, a square hole in the floor, full of sand or white ash, on which +the live charcoal for cooking purposes is placed, and small racks for +food and eating utensils; but in the large ones there is a row of +charcoal stoves, and the walls are garnished up to the roof with shelves, +and the lacquer tables and lacquer and china ware used by the guests. +The large tea-houses contain the possibilities for a number of rooms +which can be extemporised at once by sliding paper panels, called +_fusuma_, along grooves in the floor and in the ceiling or cross-beams. + + [Picture: Road-Side Tea-House] + +When we stopped at wayside tea-houses the runners bathed their feet, +rinsed their mouths, and ate rice, pickles, salt fish, and “broth of +abominable things,” after which they smoked their tiny pipes, which give +them three whiffs for each filling. As soon as I got out at any of +these, one smiling girl brought me the _tabako-bon_, a square wood or +lacquer tray, with a china or bamboo charcoal-holder and ash-pot upon it, +and another presented me with a _zen_, a small lacquer table about six +inches high, with a tiny teapot with a hollow handle at right angles with +the spout, holding about an English tea-cupful, and two cups without +handles or saucers, with a capacity of from ten to twenty thimblefuls +each. The hot water is merely allowed to rest a minute on the +tea-leaves, and the infusion is a clear straw-coloured liquid with a +delicious aroma and flavour, grateful and refreshing at all times. If +Japanese tea “stands,” it acquires a coarse bitterness and an unwholesome +astringency. Milk and sugar are not used. A clean-looking wooden or +lacquer pail with a lid is kept in all tea-houses, and though hot rice, +except to order, is only ready three times daily, the pail always +contains cold rice, and the coolies heat it by pouring hot tea over it. +As you eat, a tea-house girl, with this pail beside her, squats on the +floor in front of you, and fills your rice bowl till you say, “Hold, +enough!” On this road it is expected that you leave three or four _sen_ +on the tea-tray for a rest of an hour or two and tea. + +All day we travelled through rice swamps, along a much-frequented road, +as far as Kasukabé, a good-sized but miserable-looking town, with its +main street like one of the poorest streets in Tôkiyô, and halted for the +night at a large _yadoya_, with downstairs and upstairs rooms, crowds of +travellers, and many evil smells. On entering, the house-master or +landlord, the _teishi_, folded his hands and prostrated himself, touching +the floor with his forehead three times. It is a large, rambling old +house, and fully thirty servants were bustling about in the _daidokoro_, +or great open kitchen. I took a room upstairs (i.e. up a steep +step-ladder of dark, polished wood), with a balcony under the deep eaves. +The front of the house upstairs was one long room with only sides and a +front, but it was immediately divided into four by drawing sliding +screens or panels, covered with opaque wall papers, into their proper +grooves. A back was also improvised, but this was formed of frames with +panes of translucent paper, like our tissue paper, with sundry holes and +rents. This being done, I found myself the possessor of a room about +sixteen feet square, without hook, shelf, rail, or anything on which to +put anything—nothing, in short, but a matted floor. Do not be misled by +the use of this word matting. Japanese house-mats, _tatami_, are as +neat, refined, and soft a covering for the floor as the finest Axminster +carpet. They are 5 feet 9 inches long, 3 feet broad, and 2½ inches +thick. The frame is solidly made of coarse straw, and this is covered +with very fine woven matting, as nearly white as possible, and each mat +is usually bound with dark blue cloth. Temples and rooms are measured by +the number of mats they contain, and rooms must be built for the mats, as +they are never cut to the rooms. They are always level with the polished +grooves or ledges which surround the floor. They are soft and elastic, +and the finer qualities are very beautiful. They are as expensive as the +best Brussels carpet, and the Japanese take great pride in them, and are +much aggrieved by the way in which some thoughtless foreigners stamp over +them with dirty boots. Unfortunately they harbour myriads of fleas. + +Outside my room an open balcony with many similiar rooms ran round a +forlorn aggregate of dilapidated shingle roofs and water-butts. These +rooms were all full. Ito asked me for instructions once for all, put up +my stretcher under a large mosquito net of coarse green canvas with a +fusty smell, filled my bath, brought me some tea, rice, and eggs, took my +passport to be copied by the house-master, and departed, I know not +whither. I tried to write to you, but fleas and mosquitoes prevented it, +and besides, the _fusuma_ were frequently noiselessly drawn apart, and +several pairs of dark, elongated eyes surveyed me through the cracks; for +there were two Japanese families in the room to the right, and five men +in that to the left. I closed the sliding windows, with translucent +paper for window panes, called _shôji_, and went to bed, but the lack of +privacy was fearful, and I have not yet sufficient trust in my +fellow-creatures to be comfortable without locks, walls, or doors! Eyes +were constantly applied to the sides of the room, a girl twice drew aside +the _shôji_ between it and the corridor; a man, who I afterwards found +was a blind man, offering his services as a shampooer, came in and said +some (of course) unintelligible words, and the new noises were perfectly +bewildering. On one side a man recited Buddhist prayers in a high key; +on the other a girl was twanging a _samisen_, a species of guitar; the +house was full of talking and splashing, drums and tom-toms were beaten +outside; there were street cries innumerable, and the whistling of the +blind shampooers, and the resonant clap of the fire-watchman who +perambulates all Japanese villages, and beats two pieces of wood together +in token of his vigilance, were intolerable. It was a life of which I +knew nothing, and the mystery was more alarming than attractive; my money +was lying about, and nothing seemed easier than to slide a hand through +the _fusuma_ and appropriate it. Ito told me that the well was badly +contaminated, the odours were fearful; illness was to be feared as well +as robbery! So unreasonably I reasoned! {41} + +My bed is merely a piece of canvas nailed to two wooden bars. When I lay +down the canvas burst away from the lower row of nails with a series of +cracks, and sank gradually till I found myself lying on a sharp-edged +pole which connects the two pair of trestles, and the helpless victim of +fleas and mosquitoes. I lay for three hours, not daring to stir lest I +should bring the canvas altogether down, becoming more and more nervous +every moment, and then Ito called outside the _shôji_, “It would be best, +Miss Bird, that I should see you.” What horror can this be? I thought, +and was not reassured when he added, “Here’s a messenger from the +Legation and two policemen want to speak to you.” On arriving I had done +the correct thing in giving the house-master my passport, which, +according to law, he had copied into his book, and had sent a duplicate +copy to the police-station, and this intrusion near midnight was as +unaccountable as it was unwarrantable. Nevertheless the appearance of +the two mannikins in European uniforms, with the familiar batons and +bull’s-eye lanterns, and with manners which were respectful without being +deferential, gave me immediate relief. I should have welcomed twenty of +their species, for their presence assured me of the fact that I am known +and registered, and that a Government which, for special reasons, is +anxious to impress foreigners with its power and omniscience is +responsible for my safety. + +While they spelt through my passport by their dim lantern I opened the +Yedo parcel, and found that it contained a tin of lemon sugar, a most +kind note from Sir Harry Parkes, and a packet of letters from you. While +I was attempting to open the letters, Ito, the policemen, and the lantern +glided out of my room, and I lay uneasily till daylight, with the letters +and telegram, for which I had been yearning for six weeks, on my bed +unopened! + +Already I can laugh at my fears and misfortunes, as I hope you will. A +traveller must buy his own experience, and success or failure depends +mainly on personal idiosyncrasies. Many matters will be remedied by +experience as I go on, and I shall acquire the habit of feeling secure; +but lack of privacy, bad smells, and the torments of fleas and mosquitoes +are, I fear, irremediable evils. + + I. L. B. + + [Picture: Sir Harry’s Messenger] + + + + +LETTER VI.—(_Continued_.) + + +A Coolie falls ill—Peasant Costume—Varieties in Threshing—The Tochigi +_yadoya_—Farming Villages—A Beautiful Region—An _In Memoriam_ Avenue—A +Doll’s Street—Nikkô—The Journey’s End—Coolie Kindliness. + +BY seven the next morning the rice was eaten, the room as bare as if it +had never been occupied, the bill of 80 _sen_ paid, the house-master and +servants with many _sayo naras_, or farewells, had prostrated themselves, +and we were away in the _kurumas_ at a rapid trot. At the first halt my +runner, a kindly, good-natured creature, but absolutely hideous, was +seized with pain and vomiting, owing, he said, to drinking the bad water +at Kasukabé, and was left behind. He pleased me much by the honest +independent way in which he provided a substitute, strictly adhering to +his bargain, and never asking for a gratuity on account of his illness. +He had been so kind and helpful that I felt quite sad at leaving him +there ill,—only a coolie, to be sure, only an atom among the 34,000,000 +of the Empire, but not less precious to our Father in heaven than any +other. It was a brilliant day, with the mercury 86° in the shade, but +the heat was not oppressive. At noon we reached the Toné, and I rode on +a coolie’s tattooed shoulders through the shallow part, and then, with +the _kurumas_, some ill-disposed pack-horses, and a number of travellers, +crossed in a flat-bottomed boat. The boatmen, travellers, and +cultivators, were nearly or altogether without clothes, but the richer +farmers worked in the fields in curved bamboo hats as large as umbrellas, +_kimonos_ with large sleeves not girt up, and large fans attached to +their girdles. Many of the travellers whom we met were without hats, but +shielded the front of the head by holding a fan between it and the sun. +Probably the inconvenience of the national costume for working men partly +accounts for the general practice of getting rid of it. It is such a +hindrance, even in walking, that most pedestrians have “their loins +girded up” by taking the middle of the hem at the bottom of the _kimono_ +and tucking it under the girdle. This, in the case of many, shows woven, +tight-fitting, elastic, white cotton pantaloons, reaching to the ankles. +After ferrying another river at a village from which a steamer plies to +Tôkiyô, the country became much more pleasing, the rice-fields fewer, the +trees, houses, and barns larger, and, in the distance, high hills loomed +faintly through the haze. Much of the wheat, of which they don’t make +bread, but vermicelli, is already being carried. You see wheat stacks, +ten feet high, moving slowly, and while you are wondering, you become +aware of four feet moving below them; for all the crop is carried on +horses’ if not on human backs. I went to see several +threshing-floors,—clean, open spaces outside barns,—where the grain is +laid on mats and threshed by two or four men with heavy revolving flails. +Another method is for women to beat out the grain on racks of split +bamboo laid lengthwise; and I saw yet a third practised both in the +fields and barn-yards, in which women pass handfuls of stalks backwards +through a sort of carding instrument with sharp iron teeth placed in a +slanting position, which cuts off the ears, leaving the stalk unbruised. +This is probably “the sharp threshing instrument having teeth” mentioned +by Isaiah. The ears are then rubbed between the hands. In this region +the wheat was winnowed altogether by hand, and after the wind had driven +the chaff away, the grain was laid out on mats to dry. Sickles are not +used, but the reaper takes a handful of stalks and cuts them off close to +the ground with a short, straight knife, fixed at a right angle with the +handle. The wheat is sown in rows with wide spaces between them, which +are utilised for beans and other crops, and no sooner is it removed than +_daikon_ (_Raphanus sativus_), cucumbers, or some other vegetable, takes +its place, as the land under careful tillage and copious manuring bears +two, and even three, crops, in the year. The soil is trenched for wheat +as for all crops except rice, not a weed is to be seen, and the whole +country looks like a well-kept garden. The barns in this district are +very handsome, and many of their grand roofs have that concave sweep with +which we are familiar in the pagoda. The eaves are often eight feet +deep, and the thatch three feet thick. Several of the farm-yards have +handsome gateways like the ancient “lychgates” of some of our English +churchyards much magnified. As animals are not used for milk, draught, +or food, and there are no pasture lands, both the country and the +farm-yards have a singular silence and an inanimate look; a mean-looking +dog and a few fowls being the only representatives of domestic animal +life. I long for the lowing of cattle and the bleating of sheep. + +At six we reached Tochigi, a large town, formerly the castle town of a +_daimiyô_. Its special manufacture is rope of many kinds, a great deal +of hemp being grown in the neighbourhood. Many of the roofs are tiled, +and the town has a more solid and handsome appearance than those that we +had previously passed through. But from Kasukabé to Tochigi was from bad +to worse. I nearly abandoned Japanese travelling altogether, and, if +last night had not been a great improvement, I think I should have gone +ignominiously back to Tôkiyô. The _yadoya_ was a very large one, and, as +sixty guests had arrived before me, there was no choice of accommodation, +and I had to be contented with a room enclosed on all sides not by +_fusuma_ but _shôji_, and with barely room for my bed, bath, and chair, +under a fusty green mosquito net which was a perfect nest of fleas. One +side of the room was against a much-frequented passage, and another +opened on a small yard upon which three opposite rooms also opened, +crowded with some not very sober or decorous travellers. The _shôji_ +were full of holes, and often at each hole I saw a human eye. Privacy +was a luxury not even to be recalled. Besides the constant application +of eyes to the _shôji_, the servants, who were very noisy and rough, +looked into my room constantly without any pretext; the host, a bright, +pleasant-looking man, did the same; jugglers, musicians, blind +shampooers, and singing girls, all pushed the screens aside; and I began +to think that Mr. Campbell was right, and that a lady should not travel +alone in Japan. Ito, who had the room next to mine, suggested that +robbery was quite likely, and asked to be allowed to take charge of my +money, but did not decamp with it during the night! I lay down on my +precarious stretcher before eight, but as the night advanced the din of +the house increased till it became truly diabolical, and never ceased +till after one. Drums, tom-toms, and cymbals were beaten; _kotos_ and +_samisens_ screeched and twanged; _geishas_ (professional women with the +accomplishments of dancing, singing, and playing) danced,—accompanied by +songs whose jerking discords were most laughable; story-tellers recited +tales in a high key, and the running about and splashing close to my room +never ceased. Late at night my precarious _shôji_ were accidentally +thrown down, revealing a scene of great hilarity, in which a number of +people were bathing and throwing water over each other. + +The noise of departures began at daylight, and I was glad to leave at +seven. Before you go the _fusuma_ are slidden back, and what was your +room becomes part of a great, open, matted space—an arrangement which +effectually prevents fustiness. Though the road was up a slight incline, +and the men were too tired to trot, we made thirty miles in nine hours. +The kindliness and courtesy of the coolies to me and to each other was a +constant source of pleasure to me. It is most amusing to see the +elaborate politeness of the greetings of men clothed only in hats and +_maros_. The hat is invariably removed when they speak to each other, +and three profound bows are never omitted. + +Soon after leaving the _yadoya_ we passed through a wide street with the +largest and handsomest houses I have yet seen on both sides. They were +all open in front; their highly-polished floors and passages looked like +still water; the _kakemonos_, or wall-pictures, on their side-walls were +extremely beautiful; and their mats were very fine and white. There were +large gardens at the back, with fountains and flowers, and streams, +crossed by light stone bridges, sometimes flowed through the houses. +From the signs I supposed them to be _yadoyas_, but on asking Ito why we +had not put up at one of them, he replied that they were all +_kashitsukeya_, or tea-houses of disreputable character—a very sad fact. +{46} + +As we journeyed the country became prettier and prettier, rolling up to +abrupt wooded hills with mountains in the clouds behind. The farming +villages are comfortable and embowered in wood, and the richer farmers +seclude their dwellings by closely-clipped hedges, or rather screens, two +feet wide, and often twenty feet high. Tea grew near every house, and +its leaves were being gathered and dried on mats. Signs of silk culture +began to appear in shrubberies of mulberry trees, and white and sulphur +yellow cocoons were lying in the sun along the road in flat trays. +Numbers of women sat in the fronts of the houses weaving cotton cloth +fifteen inches wide, and cotton yarn, mostly imported from England, was +being dyed in all the villages—the dye used being a native indigo, the +_Polygonum tinctorium_. Old women were spinning, and young and old +usually pursued their avocations with wise-looking babies tucked into the +backs of their dresses, and peering cunningly over their shoulders. Even +little girls of seven and eight were playing at children’s games with +babies on their backs, and those who were too small to carry real ones +had big dolls strapped on in similar fashion. Innumerable villages, +crowded houses, and babies in all, give one the impression of a very +populous country. + +As the day wore on in its brightness and glory the pictures became more +varied and beautiful. Great snow-slashed mountains looked over the +foothills, on whose steep sides the dark blue green of pine and +cryptomeria was lighted up by the spring tints of deciduous trees. There +were groves of cryptomeria on small hills crowned by Shintô shrines, +approached by grand flights of stone stairs. The red gold of the harvest +fields contrasted with the fresh green and exquisite leafage of the hemp; +rose and white azaleas lighted up the copse-woods; and when the broad +road passed into the colossal avenue of cryptomeria which overshadows the +way to the sacred shrines of Nikkô, and tremulous sunbeams and shadows +flecked the grass, I felt that Japan was beautiful, and that the mud +flats of Yedo were only an ugly dream! + +Two roads lead to Nikkô. I avoided the one usually taken by Utsunomiya, +and by doing so lost the most magnificent of the two avenues, which +extends for nearly fifty miles along the great highway called the +Oshiu-kaido. Along the Reiheishi-kaido, the road by which I came, it +extends for thirty miles, and the two, broken frequently by villages, +converge upon the village of Imaichi, eight miles from Nikkô, where they +unite, and only terminate at the entrance of the town. They are said to +have been planted as an offering to the buried Shôguns by a man who was +too poor to place a bronze lantern at their shrines. A grander monument +could not have been devised, and they are probably the grandest things of +their kind in the world. The avenue of the Reiheishi-kaido is a good +carriage road with sloping banks eight feet high, covered with grass and +ferns. At the top of these are the cryptomeria, then two grassy walks, +and between these and the cultivation a screen of saplings and brushwood. +A great many of the trees become two at four feet from the ground. Many +of the stems are twenty-seven feet in girth; they do not diminish or +branch till they have reached a height of from 50 to 60 feet, and the +appearance of altitude is aided by the longitudinal splitting of the +reddish coloured bark into strips about two inches wide. The trees are +pyramidal, and at a little distance resemble cedars. There is a deep +solemnity about this glorious avenue with its broad shade and dancing +lights, and the rare glimpses of high mountains. Instinct alone would +tell one that it leads to something which must be grand and beautiful +like itself. It is broken occasionally by small villages with big bells +suspended between double poles; by wayside shrines with offerings of rags +and flowers; by stone effigies of Buddha and his disciples, mostly +defaced or overthrown, all wearing the same expression of beatified rest +and indifference to mundane affairs; and by temples of lacquered wood +falling to decay, whose bells sent their surpassingly sweet tones far on +the evening air. + +Imaichi, where the two stately aisles unite, is a long uphill street, +with a clear mountain stream enclosed in a stone channel, and crossed by +hewn stone slabs running down the middle. In a room built over the +stream, and commanding a view up and down the street, two policemen sat +writing. It looks a dull place without much traffic, as if oppressed by +the stateliness of the avenues below it and the shrines above it, but it +has a quiet _yadoya_, where I had a good night’s rest, although my canvas +bed was nearly on the ground. We left early this morning in drizzling +rain, and went straight up hill under the cryptomeria for eight miles. +The vegetation is as profuse as one would expect in so damp and hot a +summer climate, and from the prodigious rainfall of the mountains; every +stone is covered with moss, and the road-sides are green with the +_Protococcus viridis_ and several species of _Marchantia_. We were among +the foothills of the Nantaizan mountains at a height of 1000 feet, abrupt +in their forms, wooded to their summits, and noisy with the dash and +tumble of a thousand streams. The long street of Hachiishi, with its +steep-roofed, deep-eaved houses, its warm colouring, and its steep +roadway with steps at intervals, has a sort of Swiss picturesqueness as +you enter it, as you must, on foot, while your _kurumas_ are hauled and +lifted up the steps; nor is the resemblance given by steep roofs, pines, +and mountains patched with coniferæ, altogether lost as you ascend the +steep street, and see wood carvings and quaint baskets of wood and grass +offered everywhere for sale. It is a truly dull, quaint street, and the +people come out to stare at a foreigner as if foreigners had not become +common events since 1870, when Sir H. and Lady Parkes, the first +Europeans who were permitted to visit Nikkô, took up their abode in the +Imperial Hombô. It is a doll’s street with small low houses, so finely +matted, so exquisitely clean, so finically neat, so light and delicate, +that even when I entered them without my boots I felt like a “bull in a +china shop,” as if my mere weight must smash through and destroy. The +street is so painfully clean that I should no more think of walking over +it in muddy boots than over a drawing-room carpet. It has a silent +mountain look, and most of its shops sell specialties, lacquer work, +boxes of sweetmeats made of black beans and sugar, all sorts of boxes, +trays, cups, and stands, made of plain, polished wood, and more grotesque +articles made from the roots of trees. + +It was not part of my plan to stay at the beautiful _yadoya_ which +receives foreigners in Hachiishi, and I sent Ito half a mile farther with +a note in Japanese to the owner of the house where I now am, while I sat +on a rocky eminence at the top of the street, unmolested by anybody, +looking over to the solemn groves upon the mountains, where the two +greatest of the Shôguns “sleep in glory.” Below, the rushing Daiyagawa, +swollen by the night’s rain, thundered through a narrow gorge. Beyond, +colossal flights of stone stairs stretch mysteriously away among +cryptomeria groves, above which tower the Nikkôsan mountains. Just where +the torrent finds its impetuosity checked by two stone walls, it is +spanned by a bridge, 84 feet long by 18 wide, of dull red lacquer, +resting on two stone piers on either side, connected by two transverse +stone beams. A welcome bit of colour it is amidst the masses of dark +greens and soft greys, though there is nothing imposing in its structure, +and its interest consists in being the Mihashi, or Sacred Bridge, built +in 1636, formerly open only to the Shôguns, the envoy of the Mikado, and +to pilgrims twice a year. Both its gates are locked. Grand and lonely +Nikkô looks, the home of rain and mist. _Kuruma_ roads end here, and if +you wish to go any farther, you must either walk, ride, or be carried. + +Ito was long away, and the coolies kept addressing me in Japanese, which +made me feel helpless and solitary, and eventually they shouldered my +baggage, and, descending a flight of steps, we crossed the river by the +secular bridge, and shortly met my host, Kanaya, a very bright, +pleasant-looking man, who bowed nearly to the earth. Terraced roads in +every direction lead through cryptomerias to the shrines; and this one +passes many a stately enclosure, but leads away from the temples, and +though it is the highway to Chiuzenjii, a place of popular pilgrimage, +Yumoto, a place of popular resort, and several other villages, it is very +rugged, and, having flights of stone steps at intervals, is only +practicable for horses and pedestrians. + +At the house, with the appearance of which I was at once delighted, I +regretfully parted with my coolies, who had served me kindly and +faithfully. They had paid me many little attentions, such as always +beating the dust out of my dress, inflating my air-pillow, and bringing +me flowers, and were always grateful when I walked up hills; and just +now, after going for a frolic to the mountains, they called to wish me +good-bye, bringing branches of azaleas. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER VII. + + +A Japanese Idyll—Musical Stillness—My Rooms—Floral Decorations—Kanaya and +his Household—Table Equipments. + + KANAYA’S, NIKKÔ, _June_ 15. + +I DON’T know what to write about my house. It is a Japanese idyll; there +is nothing within or without which does not please the eye, and, after +the din of _yadoyas_, its silence, musical with the dash of waters and +the twitter of birds, is truly refreshing. It is a simple but irregular +two-storied pavilion, standing on a stone-faced terrace approached by a +flight of stone steps. The garden is well laid out, and, as peonies, +irises, and azaleas are now in blossom, it is very bright. The mountain, +with its lower part covered with red azaleas, rises just behind, and a +stream which tumbles down it supplies the house with water, both cold and +pure, and another, after forming a miniature cascade, passes under the +house and through a fish-pond with rocky islets into the river below. +The grey village of Irimichi lies on the other side of the road, shut in +with the rushing Daiya, and beyond it are high, broken hills, richly +wooded, and slashed with ravines and waterfalls. + +Kanaya’s sister, a very sweet, refined-looking woman, met me at the door +and divested me of my boots. The two verandahs are highly polished, so +are the entrance and the stairs which lead to my room, and the mats are +so fine and white that I almost fear to walk over them, even in my +stockings. The polished stairs lead to a highly polished, broad verandah +with a beautiful view, from which you enter one large room, which, being +too large, was at once made into two. Four highly polished steps lead +from this into an exquisite room at the back, which Ito occupies, and +another polished staircase into the bath-house and garden. The whole +front of my room is composed of _shôji_, which slide back during the day. +The ceiling is of light wood crossed by bars of dark wood, and the posts +which support it are of dark polished wood. The panels are of wrinkled +sky-blue paper splashed with gold. At one end are two alcoves with +floors of polished wood, called _tokonoma_. In one hangs a _kakemono_, +or wall-picture, a painting of a blossoming branch of the cherry on white +silk—a perfect piece of art, which in itself fills the room with +freshness and beauty. The artist who painted it painted nothing but +cherry blossoms, and fell in the rebellion. On a shelf in the other +alcove is a very valuable cabinet with sliding doors, on which peonies +are painted on a gold ground. A single spray of rose azalea in a pure +white vase hanging on one of the polished posts, and a single iris in +another, are the only decorations. The mats are very fine and white, but +the only furniture is a folding screen with some suggestions of landscape +in Indian ink. I almost wish that the rooms were a little less +exquisite, for I am in constant dread of spilling the ink, indenting the +mats, or tearing the paper windows. Downstairs there is a room equally +beautiful, and a large space where all the domestic avocations are +carried on. There is a _kura_, or fire-proof storehouse, with a tiled +roof, on the right of the house. + + [Picture: Kanaya’s House] + +Kanaya leads the discords at the Shintô shrines; but his duties are few, +and he is chiefly occupied in perpetually embellishing his house and +garden. His mother, a venerable old lady, and his sister, the sweetest +and most graceful Japanese woman but one that I have seen, live with him. +She moves about the house like a floating fairy, and her voice has music +in its tones. A half-witted servant-man and the sister’s boy and girl +complete the family. Kanaya is the chief man in the village, and is very +intelligent and apparently well educated. He has divorced his wife, and +his sister has practically divorced her husband. Of late, to help his +income, he has let these charming rooms to foreigners who have brought +letters to him, and he is very anxious to meet their views, while his +good taste leads him to avoid Europeanising his beautiful home. + +Supper came up on a _zen_, or small table six inches high, of old gold +lacquer, with the rice in a gold lacquer bowl, and the teapot and cup +were fine Kaga porcelain. For my two rooms, with rice and tea, I pay 2s. +a day. Ito forages for me, and can occasionally get chickens at 10d. +each, and a dish of trout for 6d., and eggs are always to be had for 1d. +each. It is extremely interesting to live in a private house and to see +the externalities, at least, of domestic life in a Japanese middle-class +home. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER VIII. + + +The Beauties of Nikkô—The Burial of Iyéyasu—The Approach to the Great +Shrines—The Yomei Gate—Gorgeous Decorations—Simplicity of the +Mausoleum—The Shrine of Iyémitsu—Religious Art of Japan and India—An +Earthquake—Beauties of Wood-carving. + + KANAYA’S, NIKKÔ, _June_ 21. + +I HAVE been at Nikkô for nine days, and am therefore entitled to use the +word “_Kek’ko_!” + +Nikkô means “sunny splendour,” and its beauties are celebrated in poetry +and art all over Japan. Mountains for a great part of the year clothed +or patched with snow, piled in great ranges round Nantaizan, their +monarch, worshipped as a god; forests of magnificent timber; ravines and +passes scarcely explored; dark green lakes sleeping in endless serenity; +the deep abyss of Kêgon, into which the waters of Chiuzenjii plunge from +a height of 250 feet; the bright beauty of the falls of Kiri Furi, the +loveliness of the gardens of Dainichido; the sombre grandeur of the +passes through which the Daiyagawa forces its way from the upper regions; +a gorgeousness of azaleas and magnolias; and a luxuriousness of +vegetation perhaps unequalled in Japan, are only a few of the attractions +which surround the shrines of the two greatest Shôguns. + +To a glorious resting-place on the hill-slope of Hotoké Iwa, sacred since +767, when a Buddhist saint, called Shôdô Shônin, visited it, and declared +the old Shintô deity of the mountain to be only a manifestation of +Buddha, Hidetada, the second Shôgun of the Tokugawa dynasty, conveyed the +corpse of his father, Iyéyasu, in 1617. It was a splendid burial. An +Imperial envoy, a priest of the Mikado’s family, court nobles from +Kivôto, and hundreds of _daimiyôs_, captains, and nobles of inferior +rank, took part in the ceremony. An army of priests in rich robes during +three days intoned a sacred classic 10,000 times, and Iyéyasu was deified +by a decree of the Mikado under a name signifying “light of the east, +great incarnation of Buddha.” The less important Shôguns of the line of +Tokugawa are buried in Uyeno and Shiba, in Yedo. Since the restoration, +and what may be called the disestablishment of Buddhism, the shrine of +Iyéyasu has been shorn of all its glories of ritual and its magnificent +Buddhist paraphernalia; the 200 priests who gave it splendour are +scattered, and six Shintô priests alternately attend upon it as much for +the purpose of selling tickets of admission as for any priestly duties. + +All roads, bridges, and avenues here lead to these shrines, but the grand +approach is by the Red Bridge, and up a broad road with steps at +intervals and stone-faced embankments at each side, on the top of which +are belts of cryptomeria. At the summit of this ascent is a fine granite +_torii_, 27 feet 6 inches high, with columns 3 feet 6 inches in diameter, +offered by the _daimiyô_ of Chikuzen in 1618 from his own quarries. +After this come 118 magnificent bronze lanterns on massive stone +pedestals, each of which is inscribed with the posthumous title of +Iyéyasu, the name of the giver, and a legend of the offering—all the +gifts of _daimiyô_—a holy water cistern made of a solid block of granite, +and covered by a roof resting on twenty square granite pillars, and a +bronze bell, lantern, and candelabra of marvellous workmanship, offered +by the kings of Corea and Liukiu. On the left is a five-storied pagoda, +104 feet high, richly carved in wood and as richly gilded and painted. +The signs of the zodiac run round the lower story. + +The grand entrance gate is at the top of a handsome flight of steps forty +yards from the _torii_. A looped white curtain with the Mikado’s crest +in black, hangs partially over the gateway, in which, beautiful as it is, +one does not care to linger, to examine the gilded _amainu_ in niches, or +the spirited carvings of tigers under the eaves, for the view of the +first court overwhelms one by its magnificence and beauty. The whole +style of the buildings, the arrangements, the art of every kind, the +thought which inspires the whole, are exclusively Japanese, and the +glimpse from the _Ni-ô_ gate is a revelation of a previously undreamed-of +beauty, both in form and colour. + +Round the neatly pebbled court, which is enclosed by a bright red timber +wall, are three gorgeous buildings, which contain the treasures of the +temple, a sumptuous stable for the three sacred Albino horses, which are +kept for the use of the god, a magnificent granite cistern of holy water, +fed from the Sômendaki cascade, and a highly decorated building, in which +a complete collection of Buddhist Scriptures is deposited. From this a +flight of steps leads into a smaller court containing a bell-tower “of +marvellous workmanship and ornamentation,” a drum-tower, hardly less +beautiful, a shrine, the candelabra, bell, and lantern mentioned before, +and some very grand bronze lanterns. + +From this court another flight of steps ascends to the Yomei gate, whose +splendour I contemplated day after day with increasing astonishment. The +white columns which support it have capitals formed of great red-throated +heads of the mythical _Kirin_. Above the architrave is a projecting +balcony which runs all round the gateway with a railing carried by +dragons’ heads. In the centre two white dragons fight eternally. +Underneath, in high relief, there are groups of children playing, then a +network of richly painted beams, and seven groups of Chinese sages. The +high roof is supported by gilded dragons’ heads with crimson throats. In +the interior of the gateway there are side-niches painted white, which +are lined with gracefully designed arabesques founded on the _botan_ or +peony. A piazza, whose outer walls of twenty-one compartments are +enriched with magnificent carvings of birds, flowers, and trees, runs +right and left, and encloses on three of its sides another court, the +fourth side of which is a terminal stone wall built against the side of +the hill. On the right are two decorated buildings, one of which +contains a stage for the performance of the sacred dances, and the other +an altar for the burning of cedar wood incense. On the left is a +building for the reception of the three sacred cars which were used +during festivals. To pass from court to court is to pass from splendour +to splendour; one is almost glad to feel that this is the last, and that +the strain on one’s capacity for admiration is nearly over. + +In the middle is the sacred enclosure, formed of gilded trellis-work with +painted borders above and below, forming a square of which each side +measures 150 feet, and which contains the _haiden_ or chapel. Underneath +the trellis work are groups of birds, with backgrounds of grass, very +boldly carved in wood and richly gilded and painted. From the imposing +entrance through a double avenue of cryptomeria, among courts, gates, +temples, shrines, pagodas, colossal bells of bronze, and lanterns inlaid +with gold, you pass through this final court bewildered by magnificence, +through golden gates, into the dimness of a golden temple, and there +is—simply a black lacquer table with a circular metal mirror upon it. + +Within is a hall finely matted, 42 feet wide by 27 from front to back, +with lofty apartments on each side, one for the Shôgun and the other “for +his Holiness the Abbot.” Both, of course, are empty. The roof of the +hall is panelled and richly frescoed. The Shôgun’s room contains some +very fine _fusuma_, on which _kirin_ (fabulous monsters) are depicted on +a dead gold ground, and four oak panels, 8 feet by 6, finely carved, with +the phoenix in low relief variously treated. In the Abbot’s room there +are similar panels adorned with hawks spiritedly executed. The only +ecclesiastical ornament among the dim splendours of the chapel is the +plain gold _gohei_. Steps at the back lead into a chapel paved with +stone, with a fine panelled ceiling representing dragons on a dark blue +ground. Beyond this some gilded doors lead into the principal chapel, +containing four rooms which are not accessible; but if they correspond +with the outside, which is of highly polished black lacquer relieved by +gold, they must be severely magnificent. + +But not in any one of these gorgeous shrines did Iyéyasu decree that his +dust should rest. Re-entering the last court, it is necessary to leave +the enclosures altogether by passing through a covered gateway in the +eastern piazza into a stone gallery, green with mosses and hepaticæ. +Within, wealth and art have created a fairyland of gold and colour; +without, Nature, at her stateliest, has surrounded the great Shôgun’s +tomb with a pomp of mournful splendour. A staircase of 240 stone steps +leads to the top of the hill, where, above and behind all the stateliness +of the shrines raised in his honour, the dust of Iyéyasu sleeps in an +unadorned but Cyclopean tomb of stone and bronze, surmounted by a bronze +urn. In front is a stone table decorated with a bronze incense-burner, a +vase with lotus blossoms and leaves in brass, and a bronze stork bearing +a bronze candlestick in its mouth. A lofty stone wall, surmounted by a +balustrade, surrounds the simple but stately enclosure, and cryptomeria +of large size growing up the back of the hill create perpetual twilight +round it. Slant rays of sunshine alone pass through them, no flower +blooms or bird sings, only silence and mournfulness surround the grave of +the ablest and greatest man that Japan has produced. + +Impressed as I had been with the glorious workmanship in wood, bronze, +and lacquer, I scarcely admired less the masonry of the vast retaining +walls, the stone gallery, the staircase and its balustrade, all put +together without mortar or cement, and so accurately fitted that the +joints are scarcely affected by the rain, damp, and aggressive vegetation +of 260 years. The steps of the staircase are fine monoliths, and the +coping at the side, the massive balustrade, and the heavy rail at the +top, are cut out of solid blocks of stone from 10 to 18 feet in length. +Nor is the workmanship of the great granite cistern for holy water less +remarkable. It is so carefully adjusted on its bed that the water +brought from a neighbouring cascade rises and pours over each edge in +such carefully equalised columns that, as Mr. Satow says, “it seems to be +a solid block of water rather than a piece of stone.” + +The temples of Iyémitsu are close to those of Iyéyasu, and though +somewhat less magnificent are even more bewildering, as they are still in +Buddhist hands, and are crowded with the gods of the Buddhist Pantheon +and the splendid paraphernalia of Buddhist worship, in striking contrast +to the simplicity of the lonely Shintô mirror in the midst of the blaze +of gold and colour. In the grand entrance gate are gigantic _Ni-ô_, the +Buddhist Gog and Magog, vermilion coloured, and with draperies painted in +imitation of flowered silk. A second pair, painted red and green, +removed from Iyémitsu’s temple, are in niches within the gate. A flight +of steps leads to another gate, in whose gorgeous niches stand hideous +monsters, in human form, representing the gods of wind and thunder. Wind +has crystal eyes and a half-jolly, half-demoniacal expression. He is +painted green, and carries a wind-bag on his back, a long sack tied at +each end, with the ends brought over his shoulders and held in his hands. +The god of thunder is painted red, with purple hair on end, and stands on +clouds holding thunderbolts in his hand. More steps, and another gate +containing the Tennô, or gods of the four quarters, boldly carved and in +strong action, with long eye-teeth, and at last the principal temple is +reached. An old priest who took me over it on my first visit, on passing +the gods of wind and thunder said, “We used to believe in these things, +but we don’t now,” and his manner in speaking of the other deities was +rather contemptuous. He requested me, however, to take off my hat as +well as my shoes at the door of the temple. Within there was a gorgeous +shrine, and when an acolyte drew aside the curtain of cloth of gold the +interior was equally imposing, containing Buddha and two other figures of +gilded brass, seated cross-legged on lotus-flowers, with rows of petals +several times repeated, and with that look of eternal repose on their +faces which is reproduced in the commonest road-side images. In front of +the shrine several candles were burning, the offerings of some people who +were having prayers said for them, and the whole was lighted by two lamps +burning low. On a step of the altar a much-contorted devil was crouching +uneasily, for he was subjugated and, by a grim irony, made to carry a +massive incense-burner on his shoulders. In this temple there were more +than a hundred idols standing in rows, many of them life-size, some of +them trampling devils under their feet, but all hideous, partly from the +bright greens, vermilions, and blues with which they are painted. +Remarkable muscular development characterises all, and the figures or +faces are all in vigorous action of some kind, generally grossly +exaggerated. + +While we were crossing the court there were two shocks of earthquake; all +the golden wind-bells which fringe the roofs rang softly, and a number of +priests ran into the temple and beat various kinds of drums for the space +of half an hour. Iyémitsu’s tomb is reached by flights of steps on the +right of the chapel. It is in the same style as Iyéyasu’s, but the gates +in front are of bronze, and are inscribed with large Sanskrit characters +in bright brass. One of the most beautiful of the many views is from the +uppermost gate of the temple. The sun shone on my second visit and +brightened the spring tints of the trees on Hotoké Iwa, which was +vignetted by a frame of dark cryptomeria. + +Some of the buildings are roofed with sheet-copper, but most of them are +tiled. Tiling, however, has been raised almost to the dignity of a fine +art in Japan. The tiles themselves are a coppery grey, with a suggestion +of metallic lustre about it. They are slightly concave, and the joints +are covered by others quite convex, which come down like massive tubes +from the ridge pole, and terminate at the eaves with discs on which the +Tokugawa badge is emblazoned in gold, as it is everywhere on these +shrines where it would not be quite out of keeping. The roofs are so +massive that they require all the strength of the heavy carved timbers +below, and, like all else, they gleam with gold, or that which simulates +it. + +The shrines are the most wonderful work of their kind in Japan. In their +stately setting of cryptomeria, few of which are less than 20 feet in +girth at 3 feet from the ground, they take one prisoner by their beauty, +in defiance of all rules of western art, and compel one to acknowledge +the beauty of forms and combinations of colour hitherto unknown, and that +lacquered wood is capable of lending itself to the expression of a very +high idea in art. Gold has been used in profusion, and black, dull red, +and white, with a breadth and lavishness quite unique. The bronze +fret-work alone is a study, and the wood-carving needs weeks of earnest +work for the mastery of its ideas and details. One screen or railing +only has sixty panels, each 4 feet long, carved with marvellous boldness +and depth in open work, representing peacocks, pheasants, storks, +lotuses, peonies, bamboos, and foliage. The fidelity to form and colour +in the birds, and the reproduction of the glory of motion, could not be +excelled. + +Yet the flowers please me even better. Truly the artist has revelled in +his work, and has carved and painted with joy. The lotus leaf retains +its dewy bloom, the peony its shades of creamy white, the bamboo leaf +still trembles on its graceful stem, in contrast to the rigid needles of +the pine, and countless corollas, in all the perfect colouring of +passionate life, unfold themselves amidst the leafage of the gorgeous +tracery. These carvings are from 10 to 15 inches deep, and single +feathers in the tails of the pheasants stand out fully 6 inches in front +of peonies nearly as deep. + +The details fade from my memory daily as I leave the shrines, and in +their place are picturesque masses of black and red lacquer and gold, +gilded doors opening without noise, halls laid with matting so soft that +not a footfall sounds, across whose twilight the sunbeams fall aslant on +richly arabesqued walls and panels carved with birds and flowers, and on +ceilings panelled and wrought with elaborate art, of inner shrines of +gold, and golden lilies six feet high, and curtains of gold brocade, and +incense fumes, and colossal bells and golden ridge poles; of the mythical +fauna, _kirin_, dragon, and _howo_, of elephants, apes, and tigers, +strangely mingled with flowers and trees, and golden tracery, and diaper +work on a gold ground, and lacquer screens, and pagodas, and groves of +bronze lanterns, and shaven priests in gold brocade, and Shintô +attendants in black lacquer caps, and gleams of sunlit gold here and +there, and simple monumental urns, and a mountain-side covered with a +cryptomeria forest, with rose azaleas lighting up its solemn shade. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER IX. + + +A Japanese Pack-Horse and Pack-Saddle—_Yadoya_ and Attendant—A Native +Watering-Place—The Sulphur Baths—A “Squeeze.” + + YASHIMAYA, YUMOTO, NIKKÔZAN MOUNTAINS, + _June_ 22. + +TO-DAY I have made an experimental journey on horseback, have done +fifteen miles in eight hours of continuous travelling, and have +encountered for the first time the Japanese pack-horse—an animal of which +many unpleasing stories are told, and which has hitherto been as mythical +to me as the _kirin_, or dragon. I have neither been kicked, bitten, nor +pitched off, however, for mares are used exclusively in this district, +gentle creatures about fourteen hands high, with weak hind-quarters, and +heads nearly concealed by shaggy manes and forelocks. They are led by a +rope round the nose, and go barefoot, except on stony ground, when the +_mago_, or man who leads them, ties straw sandals on their feet. The +pack-saddle is composed of two packs of straw eight inches thick, faced +with red, and connected before and behind by strong oak arches gaily +painted or lacquered. There is for a girth a rope loosely tied under the +body, and the security of the load depends on a crupper, usually a piece +of bamboo attached to the saddle by ropes strung with wooden counters, +and another rope round the neck, into which you put your foot as you +scramble over the high front upon the top of the erection. The load must +be carefully balanced or it comes to grief, and the _mago_ handles it all +over first, and, if an accurate division of weight is impossible, adds a +stone to one side or the other. Here, women who wear enormous rain hats +and gird their _kimonos_ over tight blue trousers, both load the horses +and lead them. I dropped upon my loaded horse from the top of a wall, +the ridges, bars, tags, and knotted rigging of the saddle being smoothed +over by a folded _futon_, or wadded cotton quilt, and I was then fourteen +inches above the animal’s back, with my feet hanging over his neck. You +must balance yourself carefully, or you bring the whole erection over; +but balancing soon becomes a matter of habit. If the horse does not +stumble, the pack-saddle is tolerable on level ground, but most severe on +the spine in going up hill, and so intolerable in going down that I was +relieved when I found that I had slid over the horse’s head into a +mud-hole; and you are quite helpless, as he does not understand a bridle, +if you have one, and blindly follows his leader, who trudges on six feet +in front of him. + + [Picture: Japanese Pack-Horse] + +The hard day’s journey ended in an exquisite _yadoya_, beautiful within +and without, and more fit for fairies than for travel-soiled mortals. +The _fusuma_ are light planed wood with a sweet scent, the matting nearly +white, the balconies polished pine. On entering, a smiling girl brought +me some plum-flower tea with a delicate almond flavour, a sweetmeat made +of beans and sugar, and a lacquer bowl of frozen snow. After making a +difficult meal from a fowl of much experience, I spent the evening out of +doors, as a Japanese watering-place is an interesting novelty. + + [Picture: Attendant at Tea-House] + +There is scarcely room between the lake and the mountains for the +picturesque village with its trim neat houses, one above another, built +of reddish cedar newly planed. The snow lies ten feet deep here in +winter, and on October 10 the people wrap their beautiful dwellings up in +coarse matting, not even leaving the roofs uncovered, and go to the low +country till May 10, leaving one man in charge, who is relieved once a +week. Were the houses mine I should be tempted to wrap them up on every +rainy day! I did quite the wrong thing in riding here. It is proper to +be carried up in a _kago_, or covered basket. + +The village consists of two short streets, 8 feet wide composed entirely +of _yadoyas_ of various grades, with a picturesquely varied frontage of +deep eaves, graceful balconies, rows of Chinese lanterns, and open lower +fronts. The place is full of people, and the four bathing-sheds were +crowded. Some energetic invalids bathe twelve times a day! Every one +who was walking about carried a blue towel over his arm, and the rails of +the balconies were covered with blue towels hanging to dry. There can be +very little amusement. The mountains rise at once from the village, and +are so covered with jungle that one can only walk in the short streets or +along the track by which I came. There is one covered boat for +excursions on the lake, and a few _geishas_ were playing the _samisen_; +but, as gaming is illegal, and there is no place of public resort except +the bathing-sheds, people must spend nearly all their time in bathing, +sleeping, smoking, and eating. The great spring is beyond the village, +in a square tank in a mound. It bubbles up with much strength, giving +off fetid fumes. There are broad boards laid at intervals across it, and +people crippled with rheumatism go and lie for hours upon them for the +advantage of the sulphurous steam. The temperature of the spring is 130° +F.; but after the water has travelled to the village, along an open +wooden pipe, it is only 84°. Yumoto is over 4000 feet high, and very +cold. + +IRIMICHI.—Before leaving Yumoto I saw the _modus operandi_ of a +“squeeze.” I asked for the bill, when, instead of giving it to me, the +host ran upstairs and asked Ito how much it should be, the two dividing +the overcharge. Your servant gets a “squeeze” on everything you buy, and +on your hotel expenses, and, as it is managed very adroitly, and you +cannot prevent it, it is best not to worry about it so long as it keeps +within reasonable limits. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER X. + + +Peaceful Monotony—A Japanese School—A Dismal Ditty—Punishment—A +Children’s Party—A Juvenile Belle—Female Names—A Juvenile +Drama—Needlework—Calligraphy—Arranging Flowers—Kanaya—Daily Routine—An +Evening’s Entertainment—Planning Routes—The God-shelf. + + IRIMICHI, Nikkô, _June_ 23. + +My peacefully monotonous life here is nearly at an end. The people are +so quiet and kindly, though almost too still, and I have learned to know +something of the externals of village life, and have become quite fond of +the place. + +The village of Irimichi, which epitomises for me at present the village +life of Japan, consists of about three hundred houses built along three +roads, across which steps in fours and threes are placed at intervals. +Down the middle of each a rapid stream runs in a stone channel, and this +gives endless amusement to the children, specially to the boys, who +devise many ingenious models and mechanical toys, which are put in motion +by water-wheels. But at 7 a.m. a drum beats to summon the children to a +school whose buildings would not discredit any school-board at home. Too +much Europeanised I thought it, and the children looked very +uncomfortable sitting on high benches in front of desks, instead of +squatting, native fashion. The school apparatus is very good, and there +are fine maps on the walls. The teacher, a man about twenty-five, made +very free use of the black-board, and questioned his pupils with much +rapidity. The best answer moved its giver to the head of the class, as +with us. Obedience is the foundation of the Japanese social order, and +with children accustomed to unquestioning obedience at home the teacher +has no trouble in securing quietness, attention, and docility. There was +almost a painful earnestness in the old-fashioned faces which pored over +the school-books; even such a rare event as the entrance of a foreigner +failed to distract these childish students. The younger pupils were +taught chiefly by object lessons, and the older were exercised in reading +geographical and historical books aloud, a very high key being adopted, +and a most disagreeable tone, both with the Chinese and Japanese +pronunciation. Arithmetic and the elements of some of the branches of +natural philosophy are also taught. The children recited a verse of +poetry which I understood contained the whole of the simple syllabary. +It has been translated thus:— + + “Colour and perfume vanish away. + What can be lasting in this world? + To-day disappears in the abyss of nothingness; + It is but the passing image of a dream, and causes only a slight + trouble.” + +It is the echo of the wearied sensualist’s cry, “Vanity of vanities, all +is vanity,” and indicates the singular Oriental distaste for life, but is +a dismal ditty for young children to learn. The Chinese classics, +formerly the basis of Japanese education, are now mainly taught as a +vehicle for conveying a knowledge of the Chinese character, in acquiring +even a moderate acquaintance with which the children undergo a great deal +of useless toil. + +The penalties for bad conduct used to be a few blows with a switch on the +front of the leg, or a slight burn with the _moxa_ on the +forefinger—still a common punishment in households; but I understood the +teacher to say that detention in the school-house is the only punishment +now resorted to, and he expressed great disapprobation of our plan of +imposing an added task. When twelve o’clock came the children marched in +orderly fashion out of the school grounds, the boys in one division and +the girls in another, after which they quietly dispersed. + +On going home the children dine, and in the evening in nearly every house +you hear the monotonous hum of the preparation of lessons. After dinner +they are liberated for play, but the girls often hang about the house +with babies on their backs the whole afternoon nursing dolls. One +evening I met a procession of sixty boys and girls, all carrying white +flags with black balls, except the leader, who carried a white flag with +a gilded ball, and they sang, or rather howled, as they walked; but the +other amusements have been of a most sedentary kind. The mechanical +toys, worked by water-wheels in the stream, are most fascinating. + +Formal children’s parties have been given in this house, for which formal +invitations, in the name of the house-child, a girl of twelve, are sent +out. About 3 p.m. the guests arrive, frequently attended by servants; +and this child, Haru, receives them at the top of the stone steps, and +conducts each into the reception room, where they are arranged according +to some well-understood rules of precedence. Haru’s hair is drawn back, +raised in front, and gathered into a double loop, in which some scarlet +_crépe_ is twisted. Her face and throat are much whitened, the paint +terminating in three points at the back of the neck, from which all the +short hair has been carefully extracted with pincers. Her lips are +slightly touched with red paint, and her face looks like that of a cheap +doll. She wears a blue, flowered silk _kimono_, with sleeves touching +the ground, a blue girdle lined with scarlet, and a fold of scarlet +_crépe_ lies between her painted neck and her _kimono_. On her little +feet she wears white _tabi_, socks of cotton cloth, with a separate place +for the great toe, so as to allow the scarlet-covered thongs of the +finely lacquered clogs, which she puts on when she stands on the stone +steps to receive her guests, to pass between it and the smaller toes. +All the other little ladies were dressed in the same style, and all +looked like ill-executed dolls. She met them with very formal but +graceful bows. + +When they were all assembled, she and her very graceful mother, squatting +before each, presented tea and sweetmeats on lacquer trays, and then they +played at very quiet and polite games till dusk. They addressed each +other by their names with the honorific prefix _O_, only used in the case +of women, and the respectful affix _San_; thus Haru becomes O-Haru-San, +which is equivalent to “Miss.” A mistress of a house is addressed as +_O-Kami-San_, and _O-Kusuma_—something like “my lady”—is used to married +ladies. Women have no surnames; thus you do not speak of Mrs. Saguchi, +but of the wife of Saguchi _San_; and you would address her as +_O-Kusuma_. Among the children’s names were _Haru_, Spring; _Yuki_, +Snow; _Hana_, Blossom; _Kiku_, Chrysanthemum; _Gin_, Silver. + +One of their games was most amusing, and was played with some spirit and +much dignity. It consisted in one child feigning sickness and another +playing the doctor, and the pompousness and gravity of the latter, and +the distress and weakness of the former, were most successfully imitated. +Unfortunately the doctor killed his patient, who counterfeited the +death-sleep very effectively with her whitened face; and then followed +the funeral and the mourning. They dramatise thus weddings, +dinner-parties, and many other of the events of life. The dignity and +self-possession of these children are wonderful. The fact is that their +initiation into all that is required by the rules of Japanese etiquette +begins as soon as they can speak, so that by the time they are ten years +old they know exactly what to do and avoid under all possible +circumstances. Before they went away tea and sweetmeats were again +handed round, and, as it is neither etiquette to refuse them or to leave +anything behind that you have once taken, several of the small ladies +slipped the residue into their capacious sleeves. On departing the same +formal courtesies were used as on arriving. + +Yuki, Haru’s mother, speaks, acts, and moves with a charming +gracefulness. Except at night, and when friends drop in to afternoon +tea, as they often do, she is always either at domestic avocations, such +as cleaning, sewing, or cooking, or planting vegetables, or weeding them. +All Japanese girls learn to sew and to make their own clothes, but there +are none of the mysteries and difficulties which make the sewing lesson a +thing of dread with us. The _kimono_, _haori_, and girdle, and even the +long hanging sleeves, have only parallel seams, and these are only tacked +or basted, as the garments, when washed, are taken to pieces, and each +piece, after being very slightly stiffened, is stretched upon a board to +dry. There is no underclothing, with its bands, frills, gussets, and +button-holes; the poorer women wear none, and those above them wear, like +Yuki, an under-dress of a frothy-looking silk _crépe_, as simply made as +the upper one. There are circulating libraries here, as in most +villages, and in the evening both Yuki and Haru read love stories, or +accounts of ancient heroes and heroines, dressed up to suit the popular +taste, written in the easiest possible style. Ito has about ten volumes +of novels in his room, and spends half the night in reading them. + +Yuki’s son, a lad of thirteen, often comes to my room to display his +skill in writing the Chinese character. He is a very bright boy, and +shows considerable talent for drawing. Indeed, it is only a short step +from writing to drawing. Giotto’s O hardly involved more breadth and +vigour of touch than some of these characters. They are written with a +camel’s-hair brush dipped in Indian ink, instead of a pen, and this boy, +with two or three vigorous touches, produces characters a foot long, such +as are mounted and hung as tablets outside the different shops. Yuki +plays the _samisen_, which may be regarded as the national female +instrument, and Haru goes to a teacher daily for lessons on the same. + +The art of arranging flowers is taught in manuals, the study of which +forms part of a girl’s education, and there is scarcely a day in which my +room is not newly decorated. It is an education to me; I am beginning to +appreciate the extreme beauty of solitude in decoration. In the alcove +hangs a _kakemono_ of exquisite beauty, a single blossoming branch of the +cherry. On one panel of a folding screen there is a single iris. The +vases which hang so gracefully on the polished posts contain each a +single peony, a single iris, a single azalea, stalk, leaves, and +corolla—all displayed in their full beauty. Can anything be more +grotesque and barbarous than our “florists’ bouquets,” a series of +concentric rings of flowers of divers colours, bordered by maidenhair and +a piece of stiff lace paper, in which stems, leaves, and even petals are +brutally crushed, and the grace and individuality of each flower +systematically destroyed? + +Kanaya is the chief man in this village, besides being the leader of the +dissonant squeaks and discords which represent music at the Shintô +festivals, and in some mysterious back region he compounds and sells +drugs. Since I have been here the beautification of his garden has been +his chief object, and he has made a very respectable waterfall, a rushing +stream, a small lake, a rustic bamboo bridge, and several grass banks, +and has transplanted several large trees. He kindly goes out with me a +good deal, and, as he is very intelligent, and Ito is proving an +excellent, and, I think, a faithful interpreter, I find it very pleasant +to be here. + +They rise at daylight, fold up the wadded quilts or _futons_ on and under +which they have slept, and put them and the wooden pillows, much like +stereoscopes in shape, with little rolls of paper or wadding on the top, +into a press with a sliding door, sweep the mats carefully, dust all the +woodwork and the verandahs, open the _amado_—wooden shutters which, by +sliding in a groove along the edge of the verandah, box in the whole +house at night, and retire into an ornamental projection in the day—and +throw the paper windows back. Breakfast follows, then domestic +avocations, dinner at one, and sewing, gardening, and visiting till six, +when they take the evening meal. + +Visitors usually arrive soon afterwards, and stay till eleven or twelve. +Japanese chess, story-telling, and the _samisen_ fill up the early part +of the evening, but later, an agonising performance, which they call +singing, begins, which sounds like the very essence of heathenishness, +and consists mainly in a prolonged vibrating “No.” As soon as I hear it +I feel as if I were among savages. _Saké_, or rice beer, is always +passed round before the visitors leave, in little cups with the gods of +luck at the bottom of them. _Saké_, when heated, mounts readily to the +head, and a single small cup excites the half-witted man-servant to some +very foolish musical performances. I am sorry to write it, but his +master and mistress take great pleasure in seeing him make a fool of +himself, and Ito, who is from policy a total abstainer, goes into +convulsions of laughter. + +One evening I was invited to join the family, and they entertained me by +showing me picture and guide books. Most Japanese provinces have their +guide-books, illustrated by wood-cuts of the most striking objects, and +giving itineraries, names of _yadoyas_, and other local information. One +volume of pictures, very finely executed on silk, was more than a century +old. Old gold lacquer and china, and some pieces of antique embroidered +silk, were also produced for my benefit, and some musical instruments of +great beauty, said to be more than two centuries old. None of these +treasures are kept in the house, but in the _kura_, or fireproof +storehouse, close by. The rooms are not encumbered by ornaments; a +single _kakemono_, or fine piece of lacquer or china, appears for a few +days and then makes way for something else; so they have variety as well +as simplicity, and each object is enjoyed in its turn without +distraction. + +Kanaya and his sister often pay me an evening visit, and, with Brunton’s +map on the floor, we project astonishing routes to Niigata, which are +usually abruptly abandoned on finding a mountain-chain in the way with +never a road over it. The life of these people seems to pass easily +enough, but Kanaya deplores the want of money; he would like to be rich, +and intends to build a hotel for foreigners. + +The only vestige of religion in his house is the _kamidana_, or +god-shelf, on which stands a wooden shrine like a Shintô temple, which +contains the memorial tablets to deceased relations. Each morning a +sprig of evergreen and a little rice and _saké_ are placed before it, and +every evening a lighted lamp. + + + + +LETTER X.—(_Continued_.) + + +Darkness visible—Nikkô Shops—Girls and Matrons—Night and Sleep—Parental +Love—Childish Docility—Hair-dressing—Skin Diseases. + +I DON’T wonder that the Japanese rise early, for their evenings are +cheerless, owing to the dismal illumination. In this and other houses +the lamp consists of a square or circular lacquer stand, with four +uprights, 2½ feet high, and panes of white paper. A flatted iron dish is +suspended in this full of oil, with the pith of a rush with a weight in +the centre laid across it, and one of the projecting ends is lighted. +This wretched apparatus is called an _andon_, and round its wretched +“darkness visible” the family huddles—the children to play games and +learn lessons, and the women to sew; for the Japanese daylight is short +and the houses are dark. Almost more deplorable is a candlestick of the +same height as the _andon_, with a spike at the top which fits into a +hole at the bottom of a “farthing candle” of vegetable wax, with a thick +wick made of rolled paper, which requires constant snuffing, and, after +giving for a short time a dim and jerky light, expires with a bad smell. +Lamps, burning mineral oils, native and imported, are being manufactured +on a large scale, but, apart from the peril connected with them, the +carriage of oil into country districts is very expensive. No Japanese +would think of sleeping without having an _andon_ burning all night in +his room. + +These villages are full of shops. There is scarcely a house which does +not sell something. Where the buyers come from, and how a profit can be +made, is a mystery. Many of the things are eatables, such as dried +fishes, 1½ inch long, impaled on sticks; cakes, sweetmeats composed of +rice, flour, and very little sugar; circular lumps of rice dough, called +_mochi_; roots boiled in brine; a white jelly made from beans; and ropes, +straw shoes for men and horses, straw cloaks, paper umbrellas, paper +waterproofs, hair-pins, tooth-picks, tobacco pipes, paper _mouchoirs_, +and numbers of other trifles made of bamboo, straw, grass, and wood. +These goods are on stands, and in the room behind, open to the street, +all the domestic avocations are going on, and the housewife is usually to +be seen boiling water or sewing with a baby tucked into the back of her +dress. A lucifer factory has recently been put up, and in many house +fronts men are cutting up wood into lengths for matches. In others they +are husking rice, a very laborious process, in which the grain is pounded +in a mortar sunk in the floor by a flat-ended wooden pestle attached to a +long horizontal lever, which is worked by the feet of a man, invariably +naked, who stands at the other extremity. + +In some women are weaving, in others spinning cotton. Usually there are +three or four together—the mother, the eldest son’s wife, and one or two +unmarried girls. The girls marry at sixteen, and shortly these comely, +rosy, wholesome-looking creatures pass into haggard, middle-aged women +with vacant faces, owing to the blackening of the teeth and removal of +the eyebrows, which, if they do not follow betrothal, are resorted to on +the birth of the first child. In other houses women are at their toilet, +blackening their teeth before circular metal mirrors placed in folding +stands on the mats, or performing ablutions, unclothed to the waist. +Early the village is very silent, while the children are at school; their +return enlivens it a little, but they are quiet even at play; at sunset +the men return, and things are a little livelier; you hear a good deal of +splashing in baths, and after that they carry about and play with their +younger children, while the older ones prepare lessons for the following +day by reciting them in a high, monotonous twang. At dark the paper +windows are drawn, the _amado_, or external wooden shutters, are closed, +the lamp is lighted before the family shrine, supper is eaten, the +children play at quiet games round the _andon_; and about ten the quilts +and wooden pillows are produced from the press, the _amado_ are bolted, +and the family lies down to sleep in one room. Small trays of food and +the _tabako-bon_ are always within reach of adult sleepers, and one grows +quite accustomed to hear the sound of ashes being knocked out of the pipe +at intervals during the night. The children sit up as late as their +parents, and are included in all their conversation. + +I never saw people take so much delight in their offspring, carrying them +about, or holding their hands in walking, watching and entering into +their games, supplying them constantly with new toys, taking them to +picnics and festivals, never being content to be without them, and +treating other people’s children also with a suitable measure of +affection and attention. Both fathers and mothers take a pride in their +children. It is most amusing about six every morning to see twelve or +fourteen men sitting on a low wall, each with a child under two years in +his arms, fondling and playing with it, and showing off its physique and +intelligence. To judge from appearances, the children form the chief +topic at this morning gathering. At night, after the houses are shut up, +looking through the long fringe of rope or rattan which conceals the +sliding door, you see the father, who wears nothing but a _maro_ in “the +bosom of his family,” bending his ugly, kindly face over a gentle-looking +baby, and the mother, who more often than not has dropped the _kimono_ +from her shoulders, enfolding two children destitute of clothing in her +arms. For some reasons they prefer boys, but certainly girls are equally +petted and loved. The children, though for our ideas too gentle and +formal, are very prepossessing in looks and behaviour. They are so +perfectly docile and obedient, so ready to help their parents, so good to +the little ones, and, in the many hours which I have spent in watching +them at play, I have never heard an angry word or seen a sour look or +act. But they are little men and women rather than children, and their +old-fashioned appearance is greatly aided by their dress, which, as I +have remarked before, is the same as that of adults. + +There are, however, various styles of dressing the hair of girls, by +which you can form a pretty accurate estimate of any girl’s age up to her +marriage, when the _coiffure_ undergoes a definite change. The boys all +look top-heavy and their heads of an abnormal size, partly from a hideous +practice of shaving the head altogether for the first three years. After +this the hair is allowed to grow in three tufts, one over each ear, and +the other at the back of the neck; as often, however, a tuft is grown at +the top of the back of the head. At ten the crown alone is shaved and a +forelock is worn, and at fifteen, when the boy assumes the +responsibilities of manhood, his hair is allowed to grow like that of a +man. The grave dignity of these boys, with the grotesque patterns on +their big heads, is most amusing. + +Would that these much-exposed skulls were always smooth and clean! It is +painful to see the prevalence of such repulsive maladies as _scabies_, +scald-head, ringworm, sore eyes, and unwholesome-looking eruptions, and +fully 30 per cent of the village people are badly seamed with smallpox. + + + + +LETTER X.—(_Completed_.) + + +Shops and Shopping—The Barber’s Shop—A Paper Waterproof—Ito’s +Vanity—Preparations for the Journey—Transport and Prices—Money and +Measurements. + +I HAVE had to do a little shopping in Hachiishi for my journey. The +shop-fronts, you must understand, are all open, and at the height of the +floor, about two feet from the ground, there is a broad ledge of polished +wood on which you sit down. A woman everlastingly boiling water on a +bronze _hibachi_, or brazier, shifting the embers about deftly with brass +tongs like chopsticks, and with a baby looking calmly over her shoulders, +is the shopwoman; but she remains indifferent till she imagines that you +have a definite purpose of buying, when she comes forward bowing to the +ground, and I politely rise and bow too. Then I or Ito ask the price of +a thing, and she names it, very likely asking 4s. for what ought to sell +at 6d. You say 3s., she laughs and says 3s. 6d.; you say 2s., she laughs +again and says 3s., offering you the _tabako-bon_. Eventually the matter +is compromised by your giving her 1s., at which she appears quite +delighted. With a profusion of bows and “_sayo naras_” on each side, you +go away with the pleasant feeling of having given an industrious woman +twice as much as the thing was worth to her, and less than what it is +worth to you! + +There are several barbers’ shops, and the evening seems a very busy time +with them. This operation partakes of the general want of privacy of the +life of the village, and is performed in the raised open front of the +shop. Soap is not used, and the process is a painful one. The victims +let their garments fall to their waists, and each holds in his left hand +a lacquered tray to receive the croppings. The ugly Japanese face at +this time wears a most grotesque expression of stolid resignation as it +is held and pulled about by the operator, who turns it in all directions, +that he may judge of the effect that he is producing. The shaving the +face till it is smooth and shiny, and the cutting, waxing, and tying of +the queue with twine made of paper, are among the evening sights of +Nikkô. + +Lacquer and things curiously carved in wood are the great attractions of +the shops, but they interest me far less than the objects of utility in +Japanese daily life, with their ingenuity of contrivance and perfection +of adaptation and workmanship. A seed shop, where seeds are truly +idealised, attracts me daily. Thirty varieties are offered for sale, as +various in form as they are in colour, and arranged most artistically on +stands, while some are put up in packages decorated with what one may +call a facsimile of the root, leaves, and flower, in water-colours. A +lad usually lies on the mat behind executing these very creditable +pictures—for such they are—with a few bold and apparently careless +strokes with his brush. He gladly sold me a peony as a scrap for a +screen for 3 _sen_. My purchases, with this exception, were necessaries +only—a paper waterproof cloak, “a circular,” black outside and yellow +inside, made of square sheets of oiled paper cemented together, and some +large sheets of the same for covering my baggage; and I succeeded in +getting Ito out of his obnoxious black wide-awake into a basin-shaped hat +like mine, for, ugly as I think him, he has a large share of personal +vanity, whitens his teeth, and powders his face carefully before a +mirror, and is in great dread of sunburn. He powders his hands too, and +polishes his nails, and never goes out without gloves. + +To-morrow I leave luxury behind and plunge into the interior, hoping to +emerge somehow upon the Sea of Japan. No information can be got here +except about the route to Niigata, which I have decided not to take, so, +after much study of Brunton’s map, I have fixed upon one place, and have +said positively, “I go to Tajima.” If I reach it I can get farther, but +all I can learn is, “It’s a very bad road, it’s all among the mountains.” +Ito, who has a great regard for his own comforts, tries to dissuade me +from going by saying that I shall lose mine, but, as these kind people +have ingeniously repaired my bed by doubling the canvas and lacing it +into holes in the side poles, {79} and as I have lived for the last three +days on rice, eggs, and coarse vermicelli about the thickness and colour +of earth-worms, this prospect does not appal me! In Japan there is a +Land Transport Company, called _Riku-un-kaisha_, with a head-office in +Tôkiyô, and branches in various towns and villages. It arranges for the +transport of travellers and merchandise by pack-horses and coolies at +certain fixed rates, and gives receipts in due form. It hires the horses +from the farmers, and makes a moderate profit on each transaction, but +saves the traveller from difficulties, delays, and extortions. The +prices vary considerably in different districts, and are regulated by the +price of forage, the state of the roads, and the number of hireable +horses. For a _ri_, nearly 2½ miles, they charge from 6 to 10 _sen_ for +a horse and the man who leads it, for a _kuruma_ with one man from 4 to 9 +_sen_ for the same distance, and for baggage coolies about the same. +[This Transport Company is admirably organised. I employed it in +journeys of over 1200 miles, and always found it efficient and reliable.] +I intend to make use of it always, much against Ito’s wishes, who +reckoned on many a prospective “squeeze” in dealings with the farmers. + +My journey will now be entirely over “unbeaten tracks,” and will lead +through what may be called “Old Japan;” and as it will be natural to use +Japanese words for money and distances, for which there are no English +terms, I give them here. A _yen_ is a note representing a dollar, or +about 3s. 7d. of our money; a _sen_ is something less than a halfpenny; a +_rin_ is a thin round coin of iron or bronze, with a square hole in the +middle, of which 10 make a _sen_, and 1000 a _yen_; and a _tempo_ is a +handsome oval bronze coin with a hole in the centre, of which 5 make 4 +_sen_. Distances are measured by _ri_, _chô_, and _ken_. Six feet make +one _ken_, sixty _ken_ one _chô_, and thirty-six _chô_ one _ri_, or +nearly 2½ English miles. When I write of a road I mean a bridle-path +from four to eight feet wide, _kuruma_ roads being specified as such. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XI. + + +Comfort disappears—Fine Scenery—An Alarm—A Farm-house—An unusual +Costume—Bridling a Horse—Female Dress and Ugliness—Babies—My +_Mago_—Beauties of the Kinugawa—Fujihara—My Servant—Horse-shoes—An absurd +Mistake. + + FUJIHARA, _June_ 24. + +ITO’S informants were right. Comfort was left behind at Nikkô! + +A little woman brought two depressed-looking mares at six this morning; +my saddle and bridle were put on one, and Ito and the baggage on the +other; my hosts and I exchanged cordial good wishes and obeisances, and, +with the women dragging my sorry mare by a rope round her nose, we left +the glorious shrines and solemn cryptomeria groves of Nikkô behind, +passed down its long, clean street, and where the _In Memoriam_ avenue is +densest and darkest turned off to the left by a path like the bed of a +brook, which afterwards, as a most atrocious trail, wound about among the +rough boulders of the Daiya, which it crosses often on temporary bridges +of timbers covered with branches and soil. After crossing one of the low +spurs of the Nikkôsan mountains, we wound among ravines whose steep sides +are clothed with maple, oak, magnolia, elm, pine, and cryptomeria, linked +together by festoons of the redundant _Wistaria chinensis_, and +brightened by azalea and syringa clusters. Every vista was blocked by +some grand mountain, waterfalls thundered, bright streams glanced through +the trees, and in the glorious sunshine of June the country looked most +beautiful. + +We travelled less than a _ri_ an hour, as it was a mere flounder either +among rocks or in deep mud, the woman in her girt-up dress and straw +sandals trudging bravely along, till she suddenly flung away the rope, +cried out, and ran backwards, perfectly scared by a big grey snake, with +red spots, much embarrassed by a large frog which he would not let go, +though, like most of his kind, he was alarmed by human approach, and made +desperate efforts to swallow his victim and wriggle into the bushes. +After crawling for three hours we dismounted at the mountain farm of +Kohiaku, on the edge of a rice valley, and the woman counted her packages +to see that they were all right, and without waiting for a gratuity +turned homewards with her horses. I pitched my chair in the verandah of +a house near a few poor dwellings inhabited by peasants with large +families, the house being in the barn-yard of a rich _saké_ maker. I +waited an hour, grew famished, got some weak tea and boiled barley, +waited another hour, and yet another, for all the horses were eating +leaves on the mountains. There was a little stir. Men carried sheaves +of barley home on their backs, and stacked them under the eaves. +Children, with barely the rudiments of clothing, stood and watched me +hour after hour, and adults were not ashamed to join the group, for they +had never seen a foreign woman, a fork, or a spoon. Do you remember a +sentence in Dr. Macgregor’s last sermon? “What strange sights some of +you will see!” Could there be a stranger one than a decent-looking +middle-aged man lying on his chest in the verandah, raised on his elbows, +and intently reading a book, clothed only in a pair of spectacles? +Besides that curious piece of still life, women frequently drew water +from a well by the primitive contrivance of a beam suspended across an +upright, with the bucket at one end and a stone at the other. + +When the horses arrived the men said they could not put on the bridle, +but, after much talk, it was managed by two of them violently forcing +open the jaws of the animal, while a third seized a propitious moment for +slipping the bit into her mouth. At the next change a bridle was a thing +unheard of, and when I suggested that the creature would open her mouth +voluntarily if the bit were pressed close to her teeth, the standers-by +mockingly said, “No horse ever opens his mouth except to eat or to bite,” +and were only convinced after I had put on the bridle myself. The new +horses had a rocking gait like camels, and I was glad to dispense with +them at Kisagoi, a small upland hamlet, a very poor place, with +poverty-stricken houses, children very dirty and sorely afflicted by skin +maladies, and women with complexions and features hardened by severe work +and much wood smoke into positive ugliness, and with figures anything but +statuesque. + + [Picture: Summer and Winter Costume] + +I write the truth as I see it, and if my accounts conflict with those of +tourists who write of the Tokaido and Nakasendo, of Lake Biwa and Hakone, +it does not follow that either is inaccurate. But truly this is a new +Japan to me, of which no books have given me any idea, and it is not +fairyland. The men may be said to wear nothing. Few of the women wear +anything but a short petticoat wound tightly round them, or blue cotton +trousers very tight in the legs and baggy at the top, with a blue cotton +garment open to the waist tucked into the band, and a blue cotton +handkerchief knotted round the head. From the dress no notion of the sex +of the wearer could be gained, nor from the faces, if it were not for the +shaven eyebrows and black teeth. The short petticoat is truly +barbarous-looking, and when a woman has a nude baby on her back or in her +arms, and stands staring vacantly at the foreigner, I can hardly believe +myself in “civilised” Japan. A good-sized child, strong enough to hold +up his head, sees the world right cheerfully looking over his mother’s +shoulders, but it is a constant distress to me to see small children of +six and seven years old lugging on their backs gristly babies, whose +shorn heads are frizzling in the sun and “wobbling” about as though they +must drop off, their eyes, as nurses say, “looking over their heads.” A +number of silk-worms are kept in this region, and in the open barns +groups of men in nature’s costume, and women unclothed to their waists, +were busy stripping mulberry branches. The houses were all poor, and the +people dirty both in their clothing and persons. Some of the younger +women might possibly have been comely, if soap and water had been +plentifully applied to their faces; but soap is not used, and such +washing as the garments get is only the rubbing them a little with sand +in a running stream. I will give you an amusing instance of the way in +which one may make absurd mistakes. I heard many stories of the +viciousness and aggressiveness of pack-horses, and was told that they +were muzzled to prevent them from pasturing upon the haunches of their +companions and making vicious snatches at men. Now, I find that the +muzzle is only to prevent them from eating as they travel. Mares are +used exclusively in this region, and they are the gentlest of their race. +If you have the weight of baggage reckoned at one horse-load, though it +should turn out that the weight is too great for a weakly animal, and the +Transport agent distributes it among two or even three horses, you only +pay for one; and though our _cortège_ on leaving Kisagoi consisted of +four small, shock-headed mares who could hardly see through their bushy +forelocks, with three active foals, and one woman and three girls to lead +them, I only paid for two horses at 7 _sen_ a _ri_. + +My _mago_, with her toil-hardened, thoroughly good-natured face rendered +hideous by black teeth, wore straw sandals, blue cotton trousers with a +vest tucked into them, as poor and worn as they could be, and a blue +cotton towel knotted round her head. As the sky looked threatening she +carried a straw rain-cloak, a thatch of two connected capes, one +fastening at the neck, the other at the waist, and a flat hat of flags, +2½ feet in diameter, hung at her back like a shield. Up and down, over +rocks and through deep mud, she trudged with a steady stride, turning her +kind, ugly face at intervals to see if the girls were following. I like +the firm hardy gait which this unbecoming costume permits better than the +painful shuffle imposed upon the more civilised women by their tight +skirts and high clogs. + +From Kohiaku the road passed through an irregular grassy valley between +densely-wooded hills, the valley itself timbered with park-like clumps of +pine and Spanish chestnuts; but on leaving Kisagoi the scenery changed. +A steep rocky tract brought us to the Kinugawa, a clear rushing river, +which has cut its way deeply through coloured rock, and is crossed at a +considerable height by a bridge with an alarmingly steep curve, from +which there is a fine view of high mountains, and among them Futarayama, +to which some of the most ancient Shintô legends are attached. We rode +for some time within hearing of the Kinugawa, catching magnificent +glimpses of it frequently—turbulent and locked in by walls of porphyry, +or widening and calming and spreading its aquamarine waters over great +slabs of pink and green rock, lighted fitfully by the sun, or spanned by +rainbows, or pausing to rest in deep shady pools, but always beautiful. +The mountains through which it forces its way on the other side are +precipitous and wooded to their summits with coniferæ, while the less +abrupt side, along which the tract is carried, curves into green knolls +in its lower slopes, sprinkled with grand Spanish chestnuts scarcely yet +in blossom, with maples which have not yet lost the scarlet which they +wear in spring as well as autumn, and with many flowering trees and +shrubs which are new to me, and with an undergrowth of red azaleas, +syringa, blue hydrangea—the very blue of heaven—yellow raspberries, +ferns, clematis, white and yellow lilies, blue irises, and fifty other +trees and shrubs entangled and festooned by the wistaria, whose beautiful +foliage is as common as is that of the bramble with us. The redundancy +of the vegetation was truly tropical, and the brilliancy and variety of +its living greens, dripping with recent rain, were enhanced by the slant +rays of the afternoon sun. + +The few hamlets we passed are of farm-houses only, the deep-eaved roofs +covering in one sweep dwelling-house, barn, and stable. In every barn +unclothed people were pursuing various industries. We met strings of +pack-mares, tied head and tail, loaded with rice and _saké_, and men and +women carrying large creels full of mulberry leaves. The ravine grew +more and more beautiful, and an ascent through a dark wood of arrowy +cryptomeria brought us to this village exquisitely situated, where a +number of miniature ravines, industriously terraced for rice, come down +upon the great chasm of the Kinugawa. Eleven hours of travelling have +brought me eighteen miles! + +IKARI, June 25.—Fujihara has forty-six farm-houses and a _yadoya_—all +dark, damp, dirty, and draughty, a combination of dwelling-house, barn, +and stable. The _yadoya_ consisted of a _daidokoro_, or open kitchen, +and stable below, and a small loft above, capable of division, and I +found on returning from a walk six Japanese in extreme _déshabillé_ +occupying the part through which I had to pass. On this being remedied I +sat down to write, but was soon driven upon the balcony, under the eaves, +by myriads of fleas, which hopped out of the mats as sandhoppers do out +of the sea sand, and even in the balcony, hopped over my letter. There +were two outer walls of hairy mud with living creatures crawling in the +cracks; cobwebs hung from the uncovered rafters. The mats were brown +with age and dirt, the rice was musty, and only partially cleaned, the +eggs had seen better days, and the tea was musty. + +I saw everything out of doors with Ito—the patient industry, the +exquisitely situated village, the evening avocations, the quiet +dulness—and then contemplated it all from my balcony and read the +sentence (from a paper in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society) which +had led me to devise this journey, “There is a most exquisitely +picturesque, but difficult, route up the course of the Kinugawa, which +seems almost as unknown to Japanese as to foreigners.” There was a pure +lemon-coloured sky above, and slush a foot deep below. A road, at this +time a quagmire, intersected by a rapid stream, crossed in many places by +planks, runs through the village. This stream is at once “lavatory” and +“drinking fountain.” People come back from their work, sit on the +planks, take off their muddy clothes and wring them out, and bathe their +feet in the current. On either side are the dwellings, in front of which +are much-decayed manure heaps, and the women were engaged in breaking +them up and treading them into a pulp with their bare feet. All wear the +vest and trousers at their work, but only the short petticoats in their +houses, and I saw several respectable mothers of families cross the road +and pay visits in this garment only, without any sense of impropriety. +The younger children wear nothing but a string and an amulet. The +persons, clothing, and houses are alive with vermin, and if the word +squalor can be applied to independent and industrious people, they were +squalid. Beetles, spiders, and wood-lice held a carnival in my room +after dark, and the presence of horses in the same house brought a number +of horseflies. I sprinkled my stretcher with insect powder, but my +blanket had been on the floor for one minute, and fleas rendered sleep +impossible. The night was very long. The _andon_ went out, leaving a +strong smell of rancid oil. The primitive Japanese dog—a cream-coloured +wolfish-looking animal, the size of a collie, very noisy and aggressive, +but as cowardly as bullies usually are—was in great force in Fujihara, +and the barking, growling, and quarrelling of these useless curs +continued at intervals until daylight; and when they were not +quarrelling, they were howling. Torrents of rain fell, obliging me to +move my bed from place to place to get out of the drip. At five Ito came +and entreated me to leave, whimpering, “I’ve had no sleep; there are +thousands and thousands of fleas!” He has travelled by another route to +the Tsugaru Strait through the interior, and says that he would not have +believed that there was such a place in Japan, and that people in +Yokohama will not believe it when he tells them of it and of the costume +of the women. He is “ashamed for a foreigner to see such a place,” he +says. His cleverness in travelling and his singular intelligence +surprise me daily. He is very anxious to speak _good_ English, as +distinguished from “common” English, and to get new words, with their +correct pronunciation and spelling. Each day he puts down in his +note-book all the words that I use that he does not quite understand, and +in the evening brings them to me and puts down their meaning and spelling +with their Japanese equivalents. He speaks English already far better +than many professional interpreters, but would be more pleasing if he had +not picked up some American vulgarisms and free-and-easy ways. It is so +important to me to have a good interpreter, or I should not have engaged +so young and inexperienced a servant; but he is so clever that he is now +able to be cook, laundryman, and general attendant, as well as courier +and interpreter, and I think it is far easier for me than if he were an +older man. I am trying to manage him, because I saw that he meant to +manage me, specially in the matter of “squeezes.” He is intensely +Japanese, his patriotism has all the weakness and strength of personal +vanity, and he thinks everything inferior that is foreign. Our manners, +eyes, and modes of eating appear simply odious to him. He delights in +retailing stories of the bad manners of Englishmen, describes them as +“roaring out _ohio_ to every one on the road,” frightening the tea-house +nymphs, kicking or slapping their coolies, stamping over white mats in +muddy boots, acting generally like ill-bred Satyrs, exciting an +ill-concealed hatred in simple country districts, and bringing themselves +and their country into contempt and ridicule. {87} He is very anxious +about my good behaviour, and as I am equally anxious to be courteous +everywhere in Japanese fashion, and not to violate the general rules of +Japanese etiquette, I take his suggestions as to what I ought to do and +avoid in very good part, and my bows are growing more profound every day! +The people are so kind and courteous, that it is truly brutal in +foreigners not to be kind and courteous to them. You will observe that I +am entirely dependent on Ito, not only for travelling arrangements, but +for making inquiries, gaining information, and even for companionship, +such as it is; and our being mutually embarked on a hard and adventurous +journey will, I hope, make us mutually kind and considerate. Nominally, +he is a Shintôist, which means nothing. At Nikkô I read to him the +earlier chapters of St. Luke, and when I came to the story of the +Prodigal Son I was interrupted by a somewhat scornful laugh and the +remark, “Why, all this is our Buddha over again!” + +To-day’s journey, though very rough, has been rather pleasant. The rain +moderated at noon, and I left Fujihara on foot, wearing my American +“mountain dress” and Wellington boots,—the only costume in which ladies +can enjoy pedestrian or pack-horse travelling in this country,—with a +light straw mat—the waterproof of the region—hanging over my shoulders, +and so we plodded on with two baggage horses through the ankle-deep mud, +till the rain cleared off, the mountains looked through the mist, the +augmented Kinugawa thundered below, and enjoyment became possible, even +in my half-fed condition. Eventually I mounted a pack-saddle, and we +crossed a spur of Takadayama at a height of 2100 feet on a well-devised +series of zigzags, eight of which in one place could be seen one below +another. The forest there is not so dense as usual, and the lower +mountain slopes are sprinkled with noble Spanish chestnuts. The descent +was steep and slippery, the horse had tender feet, and, after stumbling +badly, eventually came down, and I went over his head, to the great +distress of the kindly female _mago_. The straw shoes tied with wisps +round the pasterns are a great nuisance. The “shoe strings” are always +coming untied, and the shoes only wear about two _ri_ on soft ground, and +less than one on hard. They keep the feet so soft and spongy that the +horses can’t walk without them at all, and as soon as they get thin your +horse begins to stumble, the _mago_ gets uneasy, and presently you stop; +four shoes, which are hanging from the saddle, are soaked in water and +are tied on with much coaxing, raising the animal fully an inch above the +ground. Anything more temporary and clumsy could not be devised. The +bridle paths are strewn with them, and the children collect them in heaps +to decay for manure. They cost 3 or 4 _sen_ the set, and in every +village men spend their leisure time in making them. + +At the next stage, called Takahara, we got one horse for the baggage, +crossed the river and the ravine, and by a steep climb reached a solitary +_yadoya_ with the usual open front and _irori_, round which a number of +people, old and young, were sitting. When I arrived a whole bevy of +nice-looking girls took to flight, but were soon recalled by a word from +Ito to their elders. Lady Parkes, on a side-saddle and in a +riding-habit, has been taken for a man till the people saw her hair, and +a young friend of mine, who is very pretty and has a beautiful +complexion, when travelling lately with her husband, was supposed to be a +man who had shaven off his beard. I wear a hat, which is a thing only +worn by women in the fields as a protection from sun and rain, my +eyebrows are unshaven, and my teeth are unblackened, so these girls +supposed me to be a foreign man. Ito in explanation said, “They haven’t +seen any, but everybody brings them tales how rude foreigners are to +girls, and they are awful scared.” There was nothing eatable but rice +and eggs, and I ate them under the concentrated stare of eighteen pairs +of dark eyes. The hot springs, to which many people afflicted with sores +resort, are by the river, at the bottom of a rude flight of steps, in an +open shed, but I could not ascertain their temperature, as a number of +men and women were sitting in the water. They bathe four times a day, +and remain for an hour at a time. + +We left for the five miles’ walk to Ikari in a torrent of rain by a +newly-made path completely shut in with the cascading Kinugawa, and +carried along sometimes low, sometimes high, on props projecting over it +from the face of the rock. I do not expect to see anything lovelier in +Japan. + +The river, always crystal-blue or crystal-green, largely increased in +volume by the rains, forces itself through gates of brightly-coloured +rock, by which its progress is repeatedly arrested, and rarely lingers +for rest in all its sparkling, rushing course. It is walled in by high +mountains, gloriously wooded and cleft by dark ravines, down which +torrents were tumbling in great drifts of foam, crashing and booming, +boom and crash multiplied by many an echo, and every ravine afforded +glimpses far back of more mountains, clefts, and waterfalls, and such +over-abundant vegetation that I welcomed the sight of a gray cliff or +bare face of rock. Along the path there were fascinating details, +composed of the manifold greenery which revels in damp heat, ferns, +mosses, _confervæ_, fungi, trailers, shading tiny rills which dropped +down into grottoes feathery with the exquisite _Trichomanes radicans_, or +drooped over the rustic path and hung into the river, and overhead the +finely incised and almost feathery foliage of several varieties of maple +admitted the light only as a green mist. The spring tints have not yet +darkened into the monotone of summer, rose azaleas still light the +hillsides, and masses of cryptomeria give depth and shadow. Still, +beautiful as it all is, one sighs for something which shall satisfy one’s +craving for startling individuality and grace of form, as in the +coco-palm and banana of the tropics. The featheriness of the maple, and +the arrowy straightness and pyramidal form of the cryptomeria, please me +better than all else; but why criticise? Ten minutes of sunshine would +transform the whole into fairyland. + +There were no houses and no people. Leaving this beautiful river we +crossed a spur of a hill, where all the trees were matted together by a +very fragrant white honeysuckle, and came down upon an open valley where +a quiet stream joins the loud-tongued Kinugawa, and another mile brought +us to this beautifully-situated hamlet of twenty-five houses, surrounded +by mountains, and close to a mountain stream called the Okawa. The names +of Japanese rivers give one very little geographical information from +their want of continuity. A river changes its name several times in a +course of thirty or forty miles, according to the districts through which +it passes. This is my old friend the Kinugawa, up which I have been +travelling for two days. Want of space is a great aid to the +picturesque. Ikari is crowded together on a hill slope, and its short, +primitive-looking street, with its warm browns and greys, is quite +attractive in “the clear shining after rain.” My halting-place is at the +express office at the top of the hill—a place like a big barn, with +horses at one end and a living-room at the other, and in the centre much +produce awaiting transport, and a group of people stripping mulberry +branches. The nearest _daimiyô_ used to halt here on his way to Tôkiyô, +so there are two rooms for travellers, called _daimiyôs_’ rooms, fifteen +feet high, handsomely ceiled in dark wood, the _shôji_ of such fine work +as to merit the name of fret-work, the _fusuma_ artistically decorated, +the mats clean and fine, and in the alcove a sword-rack of old gold +lacquer. Mine is the inner room, and Ito and four travellers occupy the +outer one. Though very dark, it is luxury after last night. The rest of +the house is given up to the rearing of silk-worms. The house-masters +here and at Fujihara are not used to passports, and Ito, who is posing as +a town-bred youth, has explained and copied mine, all the village men +assembling to hear it read aloud. He does not know the word used for +“scientific investigation,” but, in the idea of increasing his own +importance by exaggerating mine, I hear him telling the people that I am +_gakusha_, _i.e._ learned! There is no police-station here, but every +month policemen pay domiciliary visits to these outlying _yadoyas_ and +examine the register of visitors. + +This is a much neater place than the last, but the people look stupid and +apathetic, and I wonder what they think of the men who have abolished the +_daimiyô_ and the feudal _régime_, have raised the _eta_ to citizenship, +and are hurrying the empire forward on the tracks of western +civilisation! + +Since shingle has given place to thatch there is much to admire in the +villages, with their steep roofs, deep eaves and balconies, the warm +russet of roofs and walls, the quaint confusion of the farmhouses, the +hedges of camellia and pomegranate, the bamboo clumps and persimmon +orchards, and (in spite of dirt and bad smells) the generally satisfied +look of the peasant proprietors. + +No food can be got here except rice and eggs, and I am haunted by +memories of the fowls and fish of Nikkô, to say nothing of the “flesh +pots” of the Legation, and + + “—a sorrow’s crown of sorrow + Is remembering happier things!” + +The mercury falls to 70° at night, and I generally awake from cold at 3 +a.m., for my blankets are only summer ones, and I dare not supplement +them with a quilt, either for sleeping on or under, because of the fleas +which it contains. I usually retire about 7.30, for there is almost no +twilight, and very little inducement for sitting up by the dimness of +candle or _andon_, and I have found these days of riding on slow, +rolling, stumbling horses very severe, and if I were anything of a +walker, should certainly prefer pedestrianism. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XII. + + +A Fantastic Jumble—The “Quiver” of Poverty—The Water-shed—From Bad to +Worse—The Rice Planter’s Holiday—A Diseased Crowd—Amateur Doctoring—Want +of Cleanliness—Rapid Eating—Premature Old Age. + + KURUMATOGE, _June_ 30. + +AFTER the hard travelling of six days the rest of Sunday in a quiet place +at a high elevation is truly delightful! Mountains and passes, valleys +and rice swamps, forests and rice swamps, villages and rice swamps; +poverty, industry, dirt, ruinous temples, prostrate Buddhas, strings of +straw-shod pack-horses; long, grey, featureless streets, and quiet, +staring crowds, are all jumbled up fantastically in my memory. Fine +weather accompanied me through beautiful scenery from Ikari to Yokokawa, +where I ate my lunch in the street to avoid the innumerable fleas of the +tea-house, with a circle round me of nearly all the inhabitants. At +first the children, both old and young, were so frightened that they ran +away, but by degrees they timidly came back, clinging to the skirts of +their parents (skirts, in this case, being a metaphorical expression), +running away again as often as I looked at them. The crowd was filthy +and squalid beyond description. Why should the “quiver” of poverty be so +very full? one asks as one looks at the swarms of gentle, naked, +old-fashioned children, born to a heritage of hard toil, to be, like +their parents, devoured by vermin, and pressed hard for taxes. A horse +kicked off my saddle before it was girthed, the crowd scattered right and +left, and work, which had been suspended for two hours to stare at the +foreigner, began again. + +A long ascent took us to the top of a pass 2500 feet in height, a +projecting spur not 30 feet wide, with a grand view of mountains and +ravines, and a maze of involved streams, which unite in a vigorous +torrent, whose course we followed for some hours, till it expanded into a +quiet river, lounging lazily through a rice swamp of considerable extent. +The map is blank in this region, but I judged, as I afterwards found +rightly, that at that pass we had crossed the water-shed, and that the +streams thenceforward no longer fall into the Pacific, but into the Sea +of Japan. At Itosawa the horses produced stumbled so intolerably that I +walked the last stage, and reached Kayashima, a miserable village of +fifty-seven houses, so exhausted that I could not go farther, and was +obliged to put up with worse accommodation even than at Fujihara, with +less strength for its hardships. + +The _yadoya_ was simply awful. The _daidokoro_ had a large wood fire +burning in a trench, filling the whole place with stinging smoke, from +which my room, which was merely screened off by some dilapidated _shôji_, +was not exempt. The rafters were black and shiny with soot and moisture. +The house-master, who knelt persistently on the floor of my room till he +was dislodged by Ito, apologised for the dirt of his house, as well he +might. Stifling, dark, and smoky, as my room was, I had to close the +paper windows, owing to the crowd which assembled in the street. There +was neither rice nor soy, and Ito, who values his own comfort, began to +speak to the house-master and servants loudly and roughly, and to throw +my things about—a style of acting which I promptly terminated, for +nothing could be more hurtful to a foreigner, or more unkind to the +people, than for a servant to be rude and bullying; and the man was most +polite, and never approached me but on bended knees. When I gave him my +passport, as the custom is, he touched his forehead with it, and then +touched the earth with his forehead. + +I found nothing that I could eat except black beans and boiled cucumbers. +The room was dark, dirty, vile, noisy, and poisoned by sewage odours, as +rooms unfortunately are very apt to be. At the end of the rice planting +there is a holiday for two days, when many offerings are made to Inari, +the god of rice farmers; and the holiday-makers kept up their revel all +night, and drums, stationary and peripatetic, were constantly beaten in +such a way as to prevent sleep. + +A little boy, the house-master’s son, was suffering from a very bad +cough, and a few drops of chlorodyne which I gave him allayed it so +completely that the cure was noised abroad in the earliest hours of the +next morning, and by five o’clock nearly the whole population was +assembled outside my room, with much whispering and shuffling of shoeless +feet, and applications of eyes to the many holes in the paper windows. +When I drew aside the _shôji_ I was disconcerted by the painful sight +which presented itself, for the people were pressing one upon another, +fathers and mothers holding naked children covered with skin-disease, or +with scald-head, or ringworm, daughters leading mothers nearly blind, men +exhibiting painful sores, children blinking with eyes infested by flies +and nearly closed with ophthalmia; and all, sick and well, in truly “vile +raiment,” lamentably dirty and swarming with vermin, the sick asking for +medicine, and the well either bringing the sick or gratifying an +apathetic curiosity. Sadly I told them that I did not understand their +manifold “diseases and torments,” and that, if I did, I had no stock of +medicines, and that in my own country the constant washing of clothes, +and the constant application of water to the skin, accompanied by +friction with clean cloths, would be much relied upon by doctors for the +cure and prevention of similar cutaneous diseases. To pacify them I made +some ointment of animal fat and flowers of sulphur, extracted with +difficulty from some man’s hoard, and told them how to apply it to some +of the worst cases. The horse, being unused to a girth, became fidgety +as it was being saddled, creating a _stampede_ among the crowd, and the +_mago_ would not touch it again. They are as much afraid of their gentle +mares as if they were panthers. All the children followed me for a +considerable distance, and a good many of the adults made an excuse for +going in the same direction. + +These people wear no linen, and their clothes, which are seldom washed, +are constantly worn, night and day, as long as they will hold together. +They seal up their houses as hermetically as they can at night, and herd +together in numbers in one sleeping-room, with its atmosphere vitiated, +to begin with, by charcoal and tobacco fumes, huddled up in their dirty +garments in wadded quilts, which are kept during the day in close +cupboards, and are seldom washed from one year’s end to another. The +_tatami_, beneath a tolerably fair exterior, swarm with insect life, and +are receptacles of dust, organic matters, etc. The hair, which is loaded +with oil and bandoline, is dressed once a week, or less often in these +districts, and it is unnecessary to enter into any details regarding the +distressing results, and much besides may be left to the imagination. +The persons of the people, especially of the children, are infested with +vermin, and one fruitful source of skin sores is the irritation arising +from this cause. The floors of houses, being concealed by mats, are laid +down carelessly with gaps between the boards, and, as the damp earth is +only 18 inches or 2 feet below, emanations of all kinds enter the mats +and pass into the rooms. + +The houses in this region (and I believe everywhere) are hermetically +sealed at night, both in summer and winter, the _amado_, which are made +without ventilators, literally boxing them in, so that, unless they are +falling to pieces, which is rarely the case, none of the air vitiated by +the breathing of many persons, by the emanations from their bodies and +clothing, by the miasmata produced by defective domestic arrangements, +and by the fumes from charcoal _hibachi_, can ever be renewed. Exercise +is seldom taken from choice, and, unless the women work in the fields, +they hang over charcoal fumes the whole day for five months of the year, +engaged in interminable processes of cooking, or in the attempt to get +warm. Much of the food of the peasantry is raw or half-raw salt fish, +and vegetables rendered indigestible by being coarsely pickled, all +bolted with the most marvellous rapidity, as if the one object of life +were to rush through a meal in the shortest possible time. The married +women look as if they had never known youth, and their skin is apt to be +like tanned leather. At Kayashima I asked the house-master’s wife, who +looked about fifty, how old she was (a polite question in Japan), and she +replied twenty-two—one of many similar surprises. Her boy was five years +old, and was still unweaned. + +This digression disposes of one aspect of the population. {95} + + + + +LETTER XII.—(_Concluded_.) + + +A Japanese Ferry—A Corrugated Road—The Pass of Sanno—Various +Vegetation—An Unattractive Undergrowth—Preponderance of Men. + +WE changed horses at Tajima, formerly a _daimiyô’s_ residence, and, for a +Japanese town, rather picturesque. It makes and exports clogs, coarse +pottery, coarse lacquer, and coarse baskets. + +After travelling through rice-fields varying from thirty yards square to +a quarter of an acre, with the tops of the dykes utilised by planting +dwarf beans along them, we came to a large river, the Arakai, along whose +affluents we had been tramping for two days, and, after passing through +several filthy villages, thronged with filthy and industrious +inhabitants, crossed it in a scow. High forks planted securely in the +bank on either side sustained a rope formed of several strands of the +wistaria knotted together. One man hauled on this hand over hand, +another poled at the stern, and the rapid current did the rest. In this +fashion we have crossed many rivers subsequently. Tariffs of charges are +posted at all ferries, as well as at all bridges where charges are made, +and a man sits in an office to receive the money. + +The country was really very beautiful. The views were wider and finer +than on the previous days, taking in great sweeps of peaked mountains, +wooded to their summits, and from the top of the Pass of Sanno the +clustered peaks were glorified into unearthly beauty in a golden mist of +evening sunshine. I slept at a house combining silk farm, post office, +express office, and _daimiyô’s_ rooms, at the hamlet of Ouchi, prettily +situated in a valley with mountainous surroundings, and, leaving early on +the following morning, had a very grand ride, passing in a crateriform +cavity the pretty little lake of Oyakê, and then ascending the +magnificent pass of Ichikawa. We turned off what, by ironical courtesy, +is called the main road, upon a villainous track, consisting of a series +of lateral corrugations, about a foot broad, with depressions between +them more than a foot deep, formed by the invariable treading of the +pack-horses in each other’s footsteps. Each hole was a quagmire of +tenacious mud, the ascent of 2400 feet was very steep, and the _mago_ +adjured the animals the whole time with _Hai_! _Hai_! _Hai_! which is +supposed to suggest to them that extreme caution is requisite. Their +shoes were always coming untied, and they wore out two sets in four +miles. The top of the pass, like that of a great many others, is a +narrow ridge, on the farther side of which the track dips abruptly into a +tremendous ravine, along whose side we descended for a mile or so in +company with a river whose reverberating thunder drowned all attempts at +speech. A glorious view it was, looking down between the wooded +precipices to a rolling wooded plain, lying in depths of indigo shadow, +bounded by ranges of wooded mountains, and overtopped by heights heavily +splotched with snow! The vegetation was significant of a milder climate. +The magnolia and bamboo re-appeared, and tropical ferns mingled with the +beautiful blue hydrangea, the yellow Japan lily, and the great blue +campanula. There was an ocean of trees entangled with a beautiful +trailer (_Actinidia polygama_) with a profusion of white leaves, which, +at a distance, look like great clusters of white blossoms. But the rank +undergrowth of the forests of this region is not attractive. Many of its +component parts deserve the name of weeds, being gawky, ragged umbels, +coarse docks, rank nettles, and many other things which I don’t know, and +never wish to see again. Near the end of this descent my mare took the +bit between her teeth and carried me at an ungainly gallop into the +beautifully situated, precipitous village of Ichikawa, which is +absolutely saturated with moisture by the spray of a fine waterfall which +tumbles through the middle of it, and its trees and road-side are green +with the _Protococcus viridis_. The Transport Agent there was a woman. +Women keep _yadoyas_ and shops, and cultivate farms as freely as men. +Boards giving the number of inhabitants, male and female, and the number +of horses and bullocks, are put up in each village, and I noticed in +Ichikawa, as everywhere hitherto, that men preponderate. {98} + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XIII. + + +The Plain of Wakamatsu—Light Costume—The Takata Crowd—A Congress of +Schoolmasters—Timidity of a Crowd—Bad Roads—Vicious Horses—Mountain +Scenery—A Picturesque Inn—Swallowing a Fish-bone—Poverty and Suicide—An +Inn-kitchen—England Unknown!—My Breakfast Disappears. + + KURUMATOGE, _June_ 30. + +A SHORT ride took us from Ichikawa to a plain about eleven miles broad by +eighteen long. The large town of Wakamatsu stands near its southern end, +and it is sprinkled with towns and villages. The great lake of +Iniwashiro is not far off. The plain is rich and fertile. In the +distance the steep roofs of its villages, with their groves, look very +picturesque. As usual not a fence or gate is to be seen, or any other +hedge than the tall one used as a screen for the dwellings of the richer +farmers. + +Bad roads and bad horses detracted from my enjoyment. One hour of a good +horse would have carried me across the plain; as it was, seven weary +hours were expended upon it. The day degenerated, and closed in still, +hot rain; the air was stifling and electric, the saddle slipped +constantly from being too big, the shoes were more than usually +troublesome, the horseflies tormented, and the men and horses crawled. +The rice-fields were undergoing a second process of puddling, and many of +the men engaged in it wore only a hat, and a fan attached to the girdle. + +An avenue of cryptomeria and two handsome and somewhat gilded Buddhist +temples denoted the approach to a place of some importance, and such +Takata is, as being a large town with a considerable trade in silk, rope, +and _minjin_, and the residence of one of the higher officials of the +_ken_ or prefecture. The street is a mile long, and every house is a +shop. The general aspect is mean and forlorn. In these little-travelled +districts, as soon as one reaches the margin of a town, the first man one +meets turns and flies down the street, calling out the Japanese +equivalent of “Here’s a foreigner!” and soon blind and seeing, old and +young, clothed and naked, gather together. At the _yadoya_ the crowd +assembled in such force that the house-master removed me to some pretty +rooms in a garden; but then the adults climbed on the house-roofs which +overlooked it, and the children on a palisade at the end, which broke +down under their weight, and admitted the whole inundation; so that I had +to close the _shôji_, with the fatiguing consciousness during the whole +time of nominal rest of a multitude surging outside. Then five policemen +in black alpaca frock-coats and white trousers invaded my precarious +privacy, desiring to see my passport—a demand never made before except +where I halted for the night. In their European clothes they cannot bow +with Japanese punctiliousness, but they were very polite, and expressed +great annoyance at the crowd, and dispersed it; but they had hardly +disappeared when it gathered again. When I went out I found fully 1000 +people helping me to realise how the crowded cities of Judea sent forth +people clothed much as these are when the Miracle-Worker from Galilee +arrived, but not what the fatigue of the crowding and buzzing must have +been to One who had been preaching and working during the long day. +These Japanese crowds, however, are quiet and gentle, and never press +rudely upon one. I could not find it in my heart to complain of them +except to you. Four of the policemen returned, and escorted me to the +outskirts of the town. The noise made by 1000 people shuffling along in +clogs is like the clatter of a hail-storm. + +After this there was a dismal tramp of five hours through rice-fields. +The moist climate and the fatigue of this manner of travelling are +deteriorating my health, and the pain in my spine, which has been daily +increasing, was so severe that I could neither ride nor walk for more +than twenty minutes at a time; and the pace was so slow that it was six +when we reached Bangé, a commercial town of 5000 people, literally in the +rice swamp, mean, filthy, damp, and decaying, and full of an overpowering +stench from black, slimy ditches. The mercury was 84°, and hot rain fell +fast through the motionless air. We dismounted in a shed full of bales +of dried fish, which gave off an overpowering odour, and wet and dirty +people crowded in to stare at the foreigner till the air seemed +unbreathable. + +But there were signs of progress. A three days’ congress of +schoolmasters was being held; candidates for vacant situations were being +examined; there were lengthy educational discussions going on, specially +on the subject of the value of the Chinese classics as a part of +education; and every inn was crowded. + +Bangé was malarious: there was so much malarious fever that the +Government had sent additional medical assistance; the hills were only a +_ri_ off, and it seemed essential to go on. But not a horse could be got +till 10 p.m.; the road was worse than the one I had travelled; the pain +became more acute, and I more exhausted, and I was obliged to remain. +Then followed a weary hour, in which the Express Agent’s five emissaries +were searching for a room, and considerably after dark I found myself in +a rambling old over-crowded _yadoya_, where my room was mainly built on +piles above stagnant water, and the mosquitoes were in such swarms as to +make the air dense, and after a feverish and miserable night I was glad +to get up early and depart. + +Fully 2000 people had assembled. After I was mounted I was on the point +of removing my Dollond from the case, which hung on the saddle horn, when +a regular stampede occurred, old and young running as fast as they +possibly could, children being knocked down in the haste of their elders. +Ito said that they thought I was taking out a pistol to frighten them, +and I made him explain what the object really was, for they are a gentle, +harmless people, whom one would not annoy without sincere regret. In +many European countries, and certainly in some parts of our own, a +solitary lady-traveller in a foreign dress would be exposed to rudeness, +insult, and extortion, if not to actual danger; but I have not met with a +single instance of incivility or real overcharge, and there is no +rudeness even about the crowding. The _mago_ are anxious that I should +not get wet or be frightened, and very scrupulous in seeing that all +straps and loose things are safe at the end of the journey, and, instead +of hanging about asking for gratuities, or stopping to drink and gossip, +they quickly unload the horses, get a paper from the Transport Agent, and +go home. Only yesterday a strap was missing, and, though it was after +dark, the man went back a _ri_ for it, and refused to take some _sen_ +which I wished to give him, saying he was responsible for delivering +everything right at the journey’s end. They are so kind and courteous to +each other, which is very pleasing. Ito is not pleasing or polite in his +manner to me, but when he speaks to his own people he cannot free himself +from the shackles of etiquette, and bows as profoundly and uses as many +polite phrases as anybody else. + +In an hour the malarious plain was crossed, and we have been among piles +of mountains ever since. The infamous road was so slippery that my horse +fell several times, and the baggage horse, with Ito upon him, rolled head +over heels, sending his miscellaneous pack in all directions. Good roads +are really the most pressing need of Japan. It would be far better if +the Government were to enrich the country by such a remunerative outlay +as making passable roads for the transport of goods through the interior, +than to impoverish it by buying ironclads in England, and indulging in +expensive western vanities. + +That so horrible a road should have so good a bridge as that by which we +crossed the broad river Agano is surprising. It consists of twelve large +scows, each one secured to a strong cable of plaited wistari, which +crosses the river at a great height, so as to allow of the scows and the +plank bridge which they carry rising and falling with the twelve feet +variation of the water. + +Ito’s disaster kept him back for an hour, and I sat meanwhile on a rice +sack in the hamlet of Katakado, a collection of steep-roofed houses +huddled together in a height above the Agano. It was one mob of +pack-horses, over 200 of them, biting, squealing, and kicking. Before I +could dismount, one vicious creature struck at me violently, but only hit +the great wooden stirrup. I could hardly find any place out of the range +of hoofs or teeth. My baggage horse showed great fury after he was +unloaded. He attacked people right and left with his teeth, struck out +savagely with his fore feet, lashed out with his hind ones, and tried to +pin his master up against a wall. + +Leaving this fractious scene we struck again through the mountains. +Their ranges were interminable, and every view from every fresh ridge +grander than the last, for we were now near the lofty range of the Aidzu +Mountains, and the double-peaked Bandaisan, the abrupt precipices of +Itoyasan, and the grand mass of Miyojintaké in the south-west, with their +vast snow-fields and snow-filled ravines, were all visible at once. +These summits of naked rock or dazzling snow, rising above the smothering +greenery of the lower ranges into a heaven of delicious blue, gave +exactly that individuality and emphasis which, to my thinking, Japanese +scenery usually lacks. Riding on first, I arrived alone at the little +town of Nozawa, to encounter the curiosity of a crowd; and, after a rest, +we had a very pleasant walk of three miles along the side of a ridge +above a rapid river with fine grey cliffs on its farther side, with a +grand view of the Aidzu giants, violet coloured in a golden sunset. + +At dusk we came upon the picturesque village of Nojiri, on the margin of +a rice valley, but I shrank from spending Sunday in a hole, and, having +spied a solitary house on the very brow of a hill 1500 feet higher, I +dragged out the information that it was a tea-house, and came up to it. +It took three-quarters of an hour to climb the series of precipitous +zigzags by which this remarkable pass is surmounted; darkness came on, +accompanied by thunder and lightning, and just as we arrived a tremendous +zigzag of blue flame lit up the house and its interior, showing a large +group sitting round a wood fire, and then all was thick darkness again. +It had a most startling effect. This house is magnificently situated, +almost hanging over the edge of the knife-like ridge of the pass of +Kuruma, on which it is situated. It is the only _yadoya_ I have been at +from which there has been any view. The villages are nearly always in +the valleys, and the best rooms are at the back, and have their prospects +limited by the paling of the conventional garden. If it were not for the +fleas, which are here in legions, I should stay longer, for the view of +the Aidzu snow is delicious, and, as there are only two other houses, one +can ramble without being mobbed. + +In one a child two and a half years old swallowed a fish-bone last night, +and has been suffering and crying all day, and the grief of the mother so +won Ito’s sympathy that he took me to see her. She had walked up and +down with it for eighteen hours, but never thought of looking into its +throat, and was very unwilling that I should do so. The bone was +visible, and easily removed with a crochet needle. An hour later the +mother sent a tray with a quantity of cakes and coarse confectionery upon +it as a present, with the piece of dried seaweed which always accompanies +a gift. Before night seven people with sore legs applied for “advice.” +The sores were all superficial and all alike, and their owners said that +they had been produced by the incessant rubbing of the bites of ants. + +On this summer day the country looks as prosperous as it is beautiful, +and one would not think that acute poverty could exist in the +steep-roofed village of Nojiri, which nestles at the foot of the hill; +but two hempen ropes dangling from a cryptomeria just below tell the sad +tale of an elderly man who hanged himself two days ago, because he was +too poor to provide for a large family; and the house-mistress and Ito +tell me that when a man who has a young family gets too old or feeble for +work he often destroys himself. + +My hostess is a widow with a family, a good-natured, bustling woman, with +a great love of talk. All day her house is open all round, having +literally no walls. The roof and solitary upper room are supported on +posts, and my ladder almost touches the kitchen fire. During the +day-time the large matted area under the roof has no divisions, and +groups of travellers and _magos_ lie about, for every one who has toiled +up either side of Kurumatogé takes a cup of “tea with eating,” and the +house-mistress is busy the whole day. A big well is near the fire. Of +course there is no furniture; but a shelf runs under the roof, on which +there is a Buddhist god-house, with two black idols in it, one of them +being that much-worshipped divinity, Daikoku, the god of wealth. Besides +a rack for kitchen utensils, there is only a stand on which are six large +brown dishes with food for sale—salt shell-fish, in a black liquid, dried +trout impaled on sticks, sea slugs in soy, a paste made of pounded roots, +and green cakes made of the slimy river _confervæ_, pressed and dried—all +ill-favoured and unsavoury viands. This afternoon a man without clothes +was treading flour paste on a mat, a traveller in a blue silk robe was +lying on the floor smoking, and five women in loose attire, with +elaborate chignons and blackened teeth, were squatting round the fire. +At the house-mistress’s request I wrote a eulogistic description of the +view from her house, and read it in English, Ito translating it, to the +very great satisfaction of the assemblage. Then I was asked to write on +four fans. The woman has never heard of England. It is not “a name to +conjure with” in these wilds. Neither has she heard of America. She +knows of Russia as a great power, and, of course, of China, but there her +knowledge ends, though she has been at Tôkiyô and Kiyotô. + +July 1.—I was just falling asleep last night, in spite of mosquitoes and +fleas, when I was roused by much talking and loud outcries of poultry; +and Ito, carrying a screaming, refractory hen, and a man and woman whom +he had with difficulty bribed to part with it, appeared by my bed. I +feebly said I would have it boiled for breakfast, but when Ito called me +this morning he told me with a most rueful face that just as he was going +to kill it it had escaped to the woods! In order to understand my +feelings you must have experienced what it is not to have tasted fish, +flesh, or fowl, for ten days! The alternative was eggs and some of the +paste which the man was treading yesterday on the mat cut into strips and +boiled! It was coarse flour and buckwheat, so, you see, I have learned +not to be particular! + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XIV. + + +An Infamous Road—Monotonous Greenery—Abysmal Dirt—Low Lives—The Tsugawa +_Yadoya_—Politeness—A Shipping Port—A Barbarian Devil. + + TSUGAWA, _July_ 2. + +YESTERDAY’S journey was one of the most severe I have yet had, for in ten +hours of hard travelling I only accomplished fifteen miles. The road +from Kurumatogé westwards is so infamous that the stages are sometimes +little more than a mile. Yet it is by it, so far at least as the Tsugawa +river, that the produce and manufactures of the rich plain of Aidzu, with +its numerous towns, and of a very large interior district, must find an +outlet at Niigata. In defiance of all modern ideas, it goes straight up +and straight down hill, at a gradient that I should be afraid to hazard a +guess at, and at present it is a perfect quagmire, into which great +stones have been thrown, some of which have subsided edgewise, and others +have disappeared altogether. It is the very worst road I ever rode over, +and that is saying a good deal! Kurumatogé was the last of seventeen +mountain-passes, over 2000 feet high, which I have crossed since leaving +Nikkô. Between it and Tsugawa the scenery, though on a smaller scale, is +of much the same character as hitherto—hills wooded to their tops, cleft +by ravines which open out occasionally to divulge more distant ranges, +all smothered in greenery, which, when I am ill-pleased, I am inclined to +call “rank vegetation.” Oh that an abrupt scaur, or a strip of flaming +desert, or something salient and brilliant, would break in, however +discordantly, upon this monotony of green! + +The villages of that district must, I think, have reached the lowest +abyss of filthiness in Hozawa and Saikaiyama. Fowls, dogs, horses, and +people herded together in sheds black with wood smoke, and manure heaps +drained into the wells. No young boy wore any clothing. Few of the men +wore anything but the _maro_, the women were unclothed to their waists +and such clothing as they had was very dirty, and held together by mere +force of habit. The adults were covered with inflamed bites of insects, +and the children with skin-disease. Their houses were dirty, and, as +they squatted on their heels, or lay face downwards, they looked little +better than savages. Their appearance and the want of delicacy of their +habits are simply abominable, and in the latter respect they contrast to +great disadvantage with several savage peoples that I have been among. +If I had kept to Nikkô, Hakone, Miyanoshita, and similar places visited +by foreigners with less time, I should have formed a very different +impression. Is their spiritual condition, I often wonder, much higher +than their physical one? They are courteous, kindly, industrious, and +free from gross crimes; but, from the conversations that I have had with +Japanese, and from much that I see, I judge that their standard of +foundational morality is very low, and that life is neither truthful nor +pure. + +I put up here at a crowded _yadoya_, where they have given me two +cheerful rooms in the garden, away from the crowd. Ito’s great desire on +arriving at any place is to shut me up in my room and keep me a close +prisoner till the start the next morning; but here I emancipated myself, +and enjoyed myself very much sitting in the _daidokoro_. The +house-master is of the _samurai_, or two-sworded class, now, as such, +extinct. His face is longer, his lips thinner, and his nose straighter +and more prominent than those of the lower class, and there is a +difference in his manner and bearing. I have had a great deal of +interesting conversation with him. + +In the same open space his clerk was writing at a lacquer desk of the +stereotyped form—a low bench with the ends rolled over—a woman was +tailoring, coolies were washing their feet on the _itama_, and several +more were squatting round the _irori_ smoking and drinking tea. A coolie +servant washed some rice for my dinner, but before doing so took off his +clothes, and the woman who cooked it let her _kimono_ fall to her waist +before she began to work, as is customary among respectable women. The +house-master’s wife and Ito talked about me unguardedly. I asked what +they were saying. “She says,” said he, “that you are very polite—for a +foreigner,” he added. I asked what she meant, and found that it was +because I took off my boots before I stepped on the matting, and bowed +when they handed me the _tabako-bon_. + +We walked through the town to find something eatable for to-morrow’s +river journey, but only succeeded in getting wafers made of white of egg +and sugar, balls made of sugar and barley flour, and beans coated with +sugar. Thatch, with its picturesqueness, has disappeared, and the +Tsugawa roofs are of strips of bark weighted with large stones; but, as +the houses turn their gable ends to the street, and there is a promenade +the whole way under the eaves, and the street turns twice at right angles +and terminates in temple grounds on a bank above the river, it is less +monotonous than most Japanese towns. It is a place of 3000 people, and a +good deal of produce is shipped from hence to Niigata by the river. +To-day it is thronged with pack-horses. I was much mobbed, and one child +formed the solitary exception to the general rule of politeness by +calling me a name equivalent to the Chinese _Fan Kwai_, “foreign;” but he +was severely chidden, and a policeman has just called with an apology. A +slice of fresh salmon has been produced, and I think I never tasted +anything so delicious. I have finished the first part of my land +journey, and leave for Niigata by boat to-morrow morning. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XV. + + +A Hurry—The Tsugawa Packet-boat—Running the Rapids—Fantastic Scenery—The +River-life—Vineyards—Drying Barley—Summer Silence—The Outskirts of +Niigata—The Church Mission House. + + NIIGATA, _July_ 4. + +THE boat for Niigata was to leave at eight, but at five Ito roused me by +saying they were going at once, as it was full, and we left in haste, the +house-master running to the river with one of my large baskets on his +back to “speed the parting guest.” Two rivers unite to form a stream +over whose beauty I would gladly have lingered, and the morning, +singularly rich and tender in its colouring, ripened into a glorious day +of light without glare, and heat without oppressiveness. The “packet” +was a stoutly-built boat, 45 feet long by 6 broad, propelled by one man +sculling at the stern, and another pulling a short broad-bladed oar, +which worked in a wistaria loop at the bow. It had a croquet mallet +handle about 18 inches long, to which the man gave a wriggling turn at +each stroke. Both rower and sculler stood the whole time, clad in +umbrella hats. The fore part and centre carried bags of rice and crates +of pottery, and the hinder part had a thatched roof which, when we +started, sheltered twenty-five Japanese, but we dropped them at hamlets +on the river, and reached Niigata with only three. I had my chair on the +top of the cargo, and found the voyage a delightful change from the +fatiguing crawl through quagmires at the rate of from 15 to 18 miles a +day. This trip is called “running the rapids of the Tsugawa,” because +for about twelve miles the river, hemmed in by lofty cliffs, studded with +visible and sunken rocks, making several abrupt turns and shallowing in +many places, hurries a boat swiftly downwards; and it is said that it +requires long practice, skill, and coolness on the part of the boatmen to +prevent grave and frequent accidents. But if they are rapids, they are +on a small scale, and look anything but formidable. With the river at +its present height the boats run down forty-five miles in eight hours, +charging only 30 _sen_, or 1s. 3d., but it takes from five to seven days +to get up, and much hard work in poling and towing. + +The boat had a thoroughly “native” look, with its bronzed crew, thatched +roof, and the umbrella hats of all its passengers hanging on the mast. I +enjoyed every hour of the day. It was luxury to drop quietly down the +stream, the air was delicious, and, having heard nothing of it, the +beauty of the Tsugawa came upon me as a pleasant surprise, besides that +every mile brought me nearer the hoped-for home letters. Almost as soon +as we left Tsugawa the downward passage was apparently barred by +fantastic mountains, which just opened their rocky gates wide enough to +let us through, and then closed again. Pinnacles and needles of bare, +flushed rock rose out of luxuriant vegetation—Quiraing without its +bareness, the Rhine without its ruins, and more beautiful than both. +There were mountains connected by ridges no broader than a horse’s back, +others with great gray buttresses, deep chasms cleft by streams, temples +with pagoda roofs on heights, sunny villages with deep-thatched roofs +hidden away among blossoming trees, and through rifts in the nearer +ranges glimpses of snowy mountains. + +After a rapid run of twelve miles through this enchanting scenery, the +remaining course of the Tsugawa is that of a broad, full stream winding +marvellously through a wooded and tolerably level country, partially +surrounded by snowy mountains. The river life was very pretty. Canoes +abounded, some loaded with vegetables, some with wheat, others with boys +and girls returning from school. _Sampans_ with their white puckered +sails in flotillas of a dozen at a time crawled up the deep water, or +were towed through the shallows by crews frolicking and shouting. Then +the scene changed to a broad and deep river, with a peculiar alluvial +smell from the quantity of vegetable matter held in suspension, flowing +calmly between densely wooded, bamboo-fringed banks, just high enough to +conceal the surrounding country. No houses, or nearly none, are to be +seen, but signs of a continuity of population abound. Every hundred +yards almost there is a narrow path to the river through the jungle, with +a canoe moored at its foot. Erections like gallows, with a swinging +bamboo, with a bucket at one end and a stone at the other, occurring +continually, show the vicinity of households dependent upon the river for +their water supply. Wherever the banks admitted of it, horses were being +washed by having water poured over their backs with a dipper, naked +children were rolling in the mud, and cackling of poultry, human voices, +and sounds of industry, were ever floating towards us from the dense +greenery of the shores, making one feel without seeing that the margin +was very populous. Except the boatmen and myself, no one was awake +during the hot, silent afternoon—it was dreamy and delicious. +Occasionally, as we floated down, vineyards were visible with the vines +trained on horizontal trellises, or bamboo rails, often forty feet long, +nailed horizontally on cryptomeria to a height of twenty feet, on which +small sheaves of barley were placed astride to dry till the frame was +full. + +More forest, more dreams, then the forest and the abundant vegetation +altogether disappeared, the river opened out among low lands and banks of +shingle and sand, and by three we were on the outskirts of Niigata, whose +low houses,—with rows of stones upon their roofs, spread over a stretch +of sand, beyond which is a sandy roll with some clumps of firs. +Tea-houses with many balconies studded the river-side, and +pleasure-parties were enjoying themselves with _geishas_ and _saké_, but, +on the whole, the water-side streets are shabby and tumble down, and the +landward side of the great city of western Japan is certainly +disappointing; and it was difficult to believe it a Treaty Port, for the +sea was not in sight, and there were no consular flags flying. We poled +along one of the numerous canals, which are the carriage-ways for produce +and goods, among hundreds of loaded boats, landed in the heart of the +city, and, as the result of repeated inquiries, eventually reached the +Church Mission House, an unshaded wooden building without verandahs, +close to the Government Buildings, where I was most kindly welcomed by +Mr. and Mrs. Fyson. + +The house is plain, simple, and inconveniently small; but doors and walls +are great luxuries, and you cannot imagine how pleasing the ways of a +refined European household are after the eternal babblement and indecorum +of the Japanese. + + I. L. B. + + [Picture: Buddhist Priests] + + + +ITINERARY of ROUTE from NIKKÔ to NIIGATA +(Kinugawa Route.) + + +From Tôkiyô to + + No. of houses. _Ri_. _Chô_. +Nikkô 36 +Kohiaku 6 2 18 +Kisagoi 19 1 18 +Fujihara 46 2 19 +Takahara 15 2 10 +Ikari 25 2 +Nakamiyo 10 1 24 +Yokokawa 20 2 21 +Itosawa 38 2 34 +Kayashima 57 1 4 +Tajima 250 1 21 +Toyonari 120 2 12 +Atomi 34 1 +Ouchi 27 2 12 +Ichikawa 7 2 22 +Takata 420 2 11 +Bangé 910 3 4 +Katakado 50 1 20 +Nosawa 306 3 24 +Nojiri 110 1 27 +Kurumatogé 3 9 +Hozawa 20 1 14 +Torige 21 1 +Sakaiyama 28 24 +Tsugawa 615 2 18 +Niigata 50,000 souls 18 + _Ri_. 101 6 + +About 247 miles. + + + + +LETTER XVI. + + +Abominable Weather—Insect Pests—Absence of Foreign Trade—A Refractory +River—Progress—The Japanese City—Water Highways—Niigata Gardens—Ruth +Fyson—The Winter Climate—A Population in Wadding. + + NIIGATA, _July_ 9. + +I HAVE spent over a week in Niigata, and leave it regretfully to-morrow, +rather for the sake of the friends I have made than for its own +interests. I never experienced a week of more abominable weather. The +sun has been seen just once, the mountains, which are thirty miles off, +not at all. The clouds are a brownish grey, the air moist and +motionless, and the mercury has varied from 82° in the day to 80° at +night. The household is afflicted with lassitude and loss of appetite. +Evening does not bring coolness, but myriads of flying, creeping, +jumping, running creatures, all with power to hurt, which replace the day +mosquitoes, villains with spotted legs, which bite and poison one without +the warning hum. The night mosquitoes are legion. There are no walks +except in the streets and the public gardens, for Niigata is built on a +sand spit, hot and bare. Neither can you get a view of it without +climbing to the top of a wooden look-out. + +Niigata is a Treaty Port without foreign trade, and almost without +foreign residents. Not a foreign ship visited the port either last year +or this. There are only two foreign firms, and these are German, and +only eighteen foreigners, of which number, except the missionaries, +nearly all are in Government employment. Its river, the Shinano, is the +largest in Japan, and it and its affluents bring down a prodigious volume +of water. But Japanese rivers are much choked with sand and shingle +washed down from the mountains. In all that I have seen, except those +which are physically limited by walls of hard rock, a river-bed is a +waste of sand, boulders, and shingle, through the middle of which, among +sand-banks and shallows, the river proper takes its devious course. In +the freshets, which occur to a greater or less extent every year, +enormous volumes of water pour over these wastes, carrying sand and +detritus down to the mouths, which are all obstructed by bars. Of these +rivers the Shinano, being the biggest, is the most refractory, and has +piled up a bar at its entrance through which there is only a passage +seven feet deep, which is perpetually shallowing. The minds of engineers +are much exercised upon the Shinano, and the Government is most anxious +to deepen the channel and give Western Japan what it has not—a harbour; +but the expense of the necessary operation is enormous, and in the +meantime a limited ocean traffic is carried on by junks and by a few +small Japanese steamers which call outside. {115a} There is a British +Vice-Consulate, but, except as a step, few would accept such a dreary +post or outpost. + +But Niigata is a handsome, prosperous city of 50,000 inhabitants, the +capital of the wealthy province of Echigo, with a population of one and a +half millions, and is the seat of the _Kenrei_, or provincial governor, +of the chief law courts, of fine schools, a hospital, and barracks. It +is curious to find in such an excluded town a school deserving the +designation of a college, as it includes intermediate, primary, and +normal schools, an English school with 150 pupils, organised by English +and American teachers, an engineering school, a geological museum, +splendidly equipped laboratories, and the newest and most approved +scientific and educational apparatus. The Government Buildings, which +are grouped near Mr. Fyson’s, are of painted white wood, and are imposing +from their size and their innumerable glass windows. There is a large +hospital {115b} arranged by a European doctor, with a medical school +attached, and it, the _Kenchô_, the _Saibanchô_, or Court House, the +schools, the barracks, and a large bank, which is rivalling them all, +have a go-ahead, Europeanised look, bold, staring, and tasteless. There +are large public gardens, very well laid out, and with finely gravelled +walks. There are 300 street lamps, which burn the mineral oil of the +district. + +Yet, because the riotous Shinano persistently bars it out from the sea, +its natural highway, the capital of one of the richest provinces of Japan +is “left out in the cold,” and the province itself, which yields not only +rice, silk, tea, hemp, _ninjin_, and indigo, in large quantities, but +gold, copper, coal, and petroleum, has to send most of its produce to +Yedo across ranges of mountains, on the backs of pack-horses, by roads +scarcely less infamous than the one by which I came. + +The Niigata of the Government, with its signs of progress in a western +direction, is quite unattractive-looking as compared with the genuine +Japanese Niigata, which is the neatest, cleanest, and most +comfortable-looking town I have yet seen, and altogether free from the +jostlement of a foreign settlement. It is renowned for the beautiful +tea-houses, which attract visitors from distant places, and for the +excellence of the theatres, and is the centre of the recreation and +pleasure of a large district. It is so beautifully clean that, as at +Nikkô, I should feel reluctant to walk upon its well-swept streets in +muddy boots. It would afford a good lesson to the Edinburgh authorities, +for every vagrant bit of straw, stick, or paper, is at once pounced upon +and removed, and no rubbish may stand for an instant in its streets +except in a covered box or bucket. It is correctly laid out in square +divisions, formed by five streets over a mile long, crossed by very +numerous short ones, and is intersected by canals, which are its real +roadways. I have not seen a pack-horse in the streets; everything comes +in by boat, and there are few houses in the city which cannot have their +goods delivered by canal very near to their doors. These water-ways are +busy all day, but in the early morning, when the boats come in loaded +with the vegetables, without which the people could not exist for a day, +the bustle is indescribable. The cucumber boats just now are the great +sight. The canals are usually in the middle of the streets, and have +fairly broad roadways on both sides. They are much below the street +level, and their nearly perpendicular banks are neatly faced with wood, +broken at intervals by flights of stairs. They are bordered by trees, +among which are many weeping willows; and, as the river water runs +through them, keeping them quite sweet, and they are crossed at short +intervals by light bridges, they form a very attractive feature of +Niigata. + + [Picture: Street and Canal] + +The houses have very steep roofs of shingle, weighted with stones, and, +as they are of very irregular heights, and all turn the steep gables of +the upper stories streetwards, the town has a picturesqueness very +unusual in Japan. The deep verandahs are connected all along the +streets, so as to form a sheltered promenade when the snow lies deep in +winter. With its canals with their avenues of trees, its fine public +gardens, and clean, picturesque streets, it is a really attractive town; +but its improvements are recent, and were only lately completed by Mr. +Masakata Kusumoto, now Governor of Tôkiyô. There is no appearance of +poverty in any part of the town, but if there be wealth, it is carefully +concealed. One marked feature of the city is the number of streets of +dwelling-houses with projecting windows of wooden _slats_, through which +the people can see without being seen, though at night, when the _andons_ +are lit, we saw, as we walked from Dr. Palm’s, that in most cases +families were sitting round the _hibachi_ in a _déshabillé_ of the +scantiest kind. + +The fronts are very narrow, and the houses extend backwards to an amazing +length, with gardens in which flowers, shrubs, and mosquitoes are grown, +and bridges are several times repeated, so as to give the effect of +fairyland as you look through from the street. The principal apartments +in all Japanese houses are at the back, looking out on these miniature +landscapes, for a landscape is skilfully dwarfed into a space often not +more than 30 feet square. A lake, a rock-work, a bridge, a stone +lantern, and a deformed pine, are indispensable; but whenever +circumstances and means admit of it, quaintnesses of all kinds are +introduced. Small pavilions, retreats for tea-making, reading, sleeping +in quiet and coolness, fishing under cover, and drinking _saké_; bronze +pagodas, cascades falling from the mouths of bronze dragons; rock caves, +with gold and silver fish darting in and out; lakes with rocky islands, +streams crossed by green bridges, just high enough to allow a rat or frog +to pass under; lawns, and slabs of stone for crossing them in wet +weather, grottoes, hills, valleys, groves of miniature palms, cycas, and +bamboo; and dwarfed trees of many kinds, of purplish and dull green hues, +are cut into startling likenesses of beasts and creeping things, or +stretch distorted arms over tiny lakes. + +I have walked about a great deal in Niigata, and when with Mrs. Fyson, +who is the only European lady here at present, and her little Ruth, a +pretty Saxon child of three years old, we have been followed by an +immense crowd, as the sight of this fair creature, with golden curls +falling over her shoulders, is most fascinating. Both men and women have +gentle, winning ways with infants, and Ruth, instead of being afraid of +the crowds, smiles upon them, bows in Japanese fashion, speaks to them in +Japanese, and seems a little disposed to leave her own people altogether. +It is most difficult to make her keep with us, and two or three times, on +missing her and looking back, we have seen her seated, native fashion, in +a ring in a crowd of several hundred people, receiving a homage and +admiration from which she was most unwillingly torn. The Japanese have a +perfect passion for children, but it is not good for European children to +be much with them, as they corrupt their morals, and teach them to tell +lies. + +The climate of Niigata and of most of this great province contrasts +unpleasantly with the region on the other side of the mountains, warmed +by the gulf-stream of the North Pacific, in which the autumn and winter, +with their still atmosphere, bracing temperature, and blue and sunny +skies, are the most delightful seasons of the year. Thirty-two days of +snow-fall occur on an average. The canals and rivers freeze, and even +the rapid Shinano sometimes bears a horse. In January and February the +snow lies three or four feet deep, a veil of clouds obscures the sky, +people inhabit their upper rooms to get any daylight, pack-horse traffic +is suspended, pedestrians go about with difficulty in rough snow-shoes, +and for nearly six months the coast is unsuitable for navigation, owing +to the prevalence of strong, cold, north-west winds. In this city people +in wadded clothes, with only their eyes exposed, creep about under the +verandahs. The population huddles round _hibachis_ and shivers, for the +mercury, which rises to 92° in summer, falls to 15° in winter. And all +this is in latitude 37° 55′—three degrees south of Naples! + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XVII + + +The Canal-side at Niigata—Awful Loneliness—Courtesy—Dr. Palm’s Tandem—A +Noisy _Matsuri_—A Jolting Journey—The Mountain Villages—Winter +Dismalness—An Out-of-the-world Hamlet—Crowded Dwellings—Riding a +Cow—“Drunk and Disorderly”—An Enforced Rest—Local Discouragements—Heavy +Loads—Absence of Beggary—Slow Travelling. + + ICHINONO, _July_ 12. + +TWO foreign ladies, two fair-haired foreign infants, a long-haired +foreign dog, and a foreign gentleman, who, without these accompaniments, +might have escaped notice, attracted a large but kindly crowd to the +canal side when I left Niigata. The natives bore away the children on +their shoulders, the Fysons walked to the extremity of the canal to bid +me good-bye, the _sampan_ shot out upon the broad, swirling flood of the +Shinano, and an awful sense of loneliness fell upon me. We crossed the +Shinano, poled up the narrow, embanked Shinkawa, had a desperate struggle +with the flooded Aganokawa, were much impeded by strings of nauseous +manure-boats on the narrow, discoloured Kajikawa, wondered at the +interminable melon and cucumber fields, and at the odd river life, and, +after hard poling for six hours, reached Kisaki, having accomplished +exactly ten miles. Then three _kurumas_ with trotting runners took us +twenty miles at the low rate of 4½ _sen_ per _ri_. In one place a board +closed the road, but, on representing to the chief man of the village +that the traveller was a foreigner, he courteously allowed me to pass, +the Express Agent having accompanied me thus far to see that I “got +through all right.” The road was tolerably populous throughout the day’s +journey, and the farming villages which extended much of the way—Tsuiji, +Kasayanagê, Mono, and Mari—were neat, and many of the farms had bamboo +fences to screen them from the road. It was, on the whole, a pleasant +country, and the people, though little clothed, did not look either poor +or very dirty. The soil was very light and sandy. There were, in fact, +“pine barrens,” sandy ridges with nothing on them but spindly Scotch firs +and fir scrub; but the sandy levels between them, being heavily manured +and cultivated like gardens, bore splendid crops of cucumbers trained +like peas, melons, vegetable marrow, _Arum esculentum_, sweet potatoes, +maize, tea, tiger-lilies, beans, and onions; and extensive orchards with +apples and pears trained laterally on trellis-work eight feet high, were +a novelty in the landscape. + +Though we were all day drawing nearer to mountains wooded to their +summits on the east, the amount of vegetation was not burdensome, the +rice swamps were few, and the air felt drier and less relaxing. As my +runners were trotting merrily over one of the pine barrens, I met Dr. +Palm returning from one of his medico-religious expeditions, with a +tandem of two naked coolies, who were going over the ground at a great +pace, and I wished that some of the most staid directors of the Edinburgh +Medical Missionary Society could have the shock of seeing him! I shall +not see a European again for some weeks. From Tsuiji, a very neat +village, where we changed _kurumas_, we were jolted along over a shingly +road to Nakajo, a considerable town just within treaty limits. The +Japanese doctors there, as in some other places, are Dr. Palm’s cordial +helpers, and five or six of them, whom he regards as possessing the rare +virtues of candour, earnestness, and single-mindedness, and who have +studied English medical works, have clubbed together to establish a +dispensary, and, under Dr. Palm’s instructions, are even carrying out the +antiseptic treatment successfully, after some ludicrous failures! + +We dashed through Nakajo as _kuruma_-runners always dash through towns +and villages, got out of it in a drizzle upon an avenue of firs, three or +four deep, which extends from Nakajo to Kurokawa, and for some miles +beyond were jolted over a damp valley on which tea and rice alternated, +crossed two branches of the shingly Kurokawa on precarious bridges, +rattled into the town of Kurokawa, much decorated with flags and +lanterns, where the people were all congregated at a shrine where there +was much drumming, and a few girls, much painted and bedizened, were +dancing or posturing on a raised and covered platform, in honour of the +god of the place, whose _matsuri_ or festival it was; and out again, to +be mercilessly jolted under the firs in the twilight to a solitary house +where the owner made some difficulty about receiving us, as his licence +did not begin till the next day, but eventually succumbed, and gave me +his one upstairs room, exactly five feet high, which hardly allowed of my +standing upright with my hat on. He then rendered it suffocating by +closing the _amado_, for the reason often given, that if he left them +open and the house was robbed, the police would not only blame him +severely, but would not take any trouble to recover his property. He had +no rice, so I indulged in a feast of delicious cucumbers. I never saw so +many eaten as in that district. Children gnaw them all day long, and +even babies on their mothers’ backs suck them with avidity. Just now +they are sold for a _sen_ a dozen. + +It is a mistake to arrive at a _yadoya_ after dark. Even if the best +rooms are not full it takes fully an hour to get my food and the room +ready, and meanwhile I cannot employ my time usefully because of the +mosquitoes. There was heavy rain all night, accompanied by the first +wind that I have heard since landing; and the fitful creaking of the +pines and the drumming from the shrine made me glad to get up at sunrise, +or rather at daylight, for there has not been a sunrise since I came, or +a sunset either. That day we travelled by Sekki to Kawaguchi in +_kurumas_, i.e. we were sometimes bumped over stones, sometimes deposited +on the edge of a quagmire, and asked to get out; and sometimes compelled +to walk for two or three miles at a time along the infamous bridle-track +above the river Arai, up which two men could hardly push and haul an +empty vehicle; and, as they often had to lift them bodily and carry them +for some distance, I was really glad when we reached the village of +Kawaguchi to find that they could go no farther, though, as we could only +get one horse, I had to walk the last stage in a torrent of rain, poorly +protected by my paper waterproof cloak. + +We are now in the midst of the great central chain of the Japanese +mountains, which extends almost without a break for 900 miles, and is +from 40 to 100 miles in width, broken up into interminable ranges +traversable only by steep passes from 1000 to 5000 feet in height, with +innumerable rivers, ravines, and valleys, the heights and ravines heavily +timbered, the rivers impetuous and liable to freshets, and the valleys +invariably terraced for rice. It is in the valleys that the villages are +found, and regions more isolated I have never seen, shut out by bad roads +from the rest of Japan. The houses are very poor, the summer costume of +the men consists of the _maro_ only, and that of the women of trousers +with an open shirt, and when we reached Kurosawa last night it had +dwindled to trousers only. There is little traffic, and very few horses +are kept, one, two, or three constituting the live stock of a large +village. The shops, such as they are, contain the barest necessaries of +life. Millet and buckwheat rather than rice, with the universal +_daikon_, are the staples of diet The climate is wet in summer and +bitterly cold in winter. Even now it is comfortless enough for the +people to come in wet, just to warm the tips of their fingers at the +_irori_, stifled the while with the stinging smoke, while the damp wind +flaps the torn paper of the windows about, and damp draughts sweep the +ashes over the _tatami_ until the house is hermetically sealed at night. +These people never know anything of what we regard as comfort, and in the +long winter, when the wretched bridle-tracks are blocked by snow and the +freezing wind blows strong, and the families huddle round the smoky fire +by the doleful glimmer of the _andon_, without work, books, or play, to +shiver through the long evenings in chilly dreariness, and herd together +for warmth at night like animals, their condition must be as miserable as +anything short of grinding poverty can make it. + +I saw things at their worst that night as I tramped into the hamlet of +Numa, down whose sloping street a swollen stream was running, which the +people were banking out of their houses. I was wet and tired, and the +woman at the one wretched _yadoya_ met me, saying, “I’m sorry it’s very +dirty and quite unfit for so honourable a guest;” and she was right, for +the one room was up a ladder, the windows were in tatters, there was no +charcoal for a _hibachi_, no eggs, and the rice was so dirty and so full +of a small black seed as to be unfit to eat. Worse than all, there was +no Transport Office, the hamlet did not possess a horse, and it was only +by sending to a farmer five miles off, and by much bargaining, that I got +on the next morning. In estimating the number of people in a given +number of houses in Japan, it is usual to multiply the houses by five, +but I had the curiosity to walk through Numa and get Ito to translate the +tallies which hang outside all Japanese houses with the names, number, +and sexes of their inmates, and in twenty-four houses there were 307 +people! In some there were four families—the grand-parents, the parents, +the eldest son with his wife and family, and a daughter or two with their +husbands and children. The eldest son, who inherits the house and land, +almost invariably brings his wife to his father’s house, where she often +becomes little better than a slave to her mother-in-law. By rigid custom +she literally forsakes her own kindred, and her “filial duty” is +transferred to her husband’s mother, who often takes a dislike to her, +and instigates her son to divorce her if she has no children. My hostess +had induced her son to divorce his wife, and she could give no better +reason for it than that she was lazy. + +The Numa people, she said, had never seen a foreigner, so, though the +rain still fell heavily, they were astir in the early morning. They +wanted to hear me speak, so I gave my orders to Ito in public. Yesterday +was a most toilsome day, mainly spent in stumbling up and sliding down +the great passes of Futai, Takanasu, and Yenoiki, all among +forest-covered mountains, deeply cleft by forest-choked ravines, with now +and then one of the snowy peaks of Aidzu breaking the monotony of the +ocean of green. The horses’ shoes were tied and untied every few +minutes, and we made just a mile an hour! At last we were deposited in a +most unpromising place in the hamlet of Tamagawa, and were told that a +rice merchant, after waiting for three days, had got every horse in the +country. At the end of two hours’ chaffering one baggage coolie was +produced, some of the things were put on the rice horses, and a steed +with a pack-saddle was produced for me in the shape of a plump and pretty +little cow, which carried me safely over the magnificent pass of Ori and +down to the town of Okimi, among rice-fields, where, in a drowning rain, +I was glad to get shelter with a number of coolies by a wood-fire till +another pack-cow was produced, and we walked on through the rice-fields +and up into the hills again to Kurosawa, where I had intended to remain; +but there was no inn, and the farm-house where they take in travellers, +besides being on the edge of a malarious pond, and being dark and full of +stinging smoke, was so awfully dirty and full of living creatures, that, +exhausted as I was, I was obliged to go on. But it was growing dark, +there was no Transport Office, and for the first time the people were +very slightly extortionate, and drove Ito nearly to his wits’ end. The +peasants do not like to be out after dark, for they are afraid of ghosts +and all sorts of devilments, and it was difficult to induce them to start +so late in the evening. + +There was not a house clean enough to rest in, so I sat on a stone and +thought about the people for over an hour. Children with scald-head, +_scabies_, and sore eyes swarmed. Every woman carried a baby on her +back, and every child who could stagger under one carried one too. Not +one woman wore anything but cotton trousers. One woman reeled about +“drunk and disorderly.” Ito sat on a stone hiding his face in his hands, +and when I asked him if he were ill, he replied in a most lamentable +voice, “I don’t know what I am to do, I’m so ashamed for you to see such +things!” The boy is only eighteen, and I pitied him. I asked him if +women were often drunk, and he said they were in Yokohama, but they +usually kept in their houses. He says that when their husbands give them +money to pay bills at the end of a month, they often spend it in _saké_, +and that they sometimes get _saké_ in shops and have it put down as rice +or tea. “The old, old story!” I looked at the dirt and barbarism, and +asked if this were the Japan of which I had read. Yet a woman in this +unseemly costume firmly refused to take the 2 or 3 _sen_ which it is +usual to leave at a place where you rest, because she said that I had had +water and not tea, and after I had forced it on her, she returned it to +Ito, and this redeeming incident sent me away much comforted. + +From Numa the distance here is only 1½ _ri_, but it is over the steep +pass of Honoki, which is ascended and descended by hundreds of rude stone +steps, not pleasant in the dark. On this pass I saw birches for the +first time; at its foot we entered Yamagata _ken_ by a good bridge, and +shortly reached this village, in which an unpromising-looking farm-house +is the only accommodation; but though all the rooms but two are taken up +with silk-worms, those two are very good and look upon a miniature lake +and rockery. The one objection to my room is that to get either in or +out of it I must pass through the other, which is occupied by five +tobacco merchants who are waiting for transport, and who while away the +time by strumming on that instrument of dismay, the _samisen_. No horses +or cows can be got for me, so I am spending the day quietly here, rather +glad to rest, for I am much exhausted. When I am suffering much from my +spine Ito always gets into a fright and thinks I am going to die, as he +tells me when I am better, but shows his anxiety by a short, surly +manner, which is most disagreeable. He thinks we shall never get through +the interior! Mr. Brunton’s excellent map fails in this region, so it is +only by fixing on the well-known city of Yamagata and devising routes to +it that we get on. Half the evening is spent in consulting Japanese +maps, if we can get them, and in questioning the house-master and +Transport Agent, and any chance travellers; but the people know nothing +beyond the distance of a few _ri_, and the agents seldom tell one +anything beyond the next stage. When I inquire about the “unbeaten +tracks” that I wish to take, the answers are, “It’s an awful road through +mountains,” or “There are many bad rivers to cross,” or “There are none +but farmers’ houses to stop at.” No encouragement is ever given, but we +get on, and shall get on, I doubt not, though the hardships are not what +I would desire in my present state of health. + +Very few horses are kept here. Cows and coolies carry much of the +merchandise, and women as well as men carry heavy loads. A baggage +coolie carries about 50 lbs., but here merchants carrying their own goods +from Yamagata actually carry from 90 to 140 lbs., and even more. It is +sickening to meet these poor fellows struggling over the mountain-passes +in evident distress. Last night five of them were resting on the summit +ridge of a pass gasping violently. Their eyes were starting out; all +their muscles, rendered painfully visible by their leanness, were +quivering; rills of blood from the bite of insects, which they cannot +drive away, were literally running all over their naked bodies, washed +away here and there by copious perspiration. Truly “in the sweat of +their brows” they were eating bread and earning an honest living for +their families! Suffering and hard-worked as they were, they were quite +independent. I have not seen a beggar or beggary in this strange +country. The women were carrying 70 lbs. These burden-bearers have +their backs covered by a thick pad of plaited straw. On this rests a +ladder, curved up at the lower end like the runners of a sleigh. On this +the load is carefully packed till it extends from below the man’s waist +to a considerable height above his head. It is covered with waterproof +paper, securely roped, and thatched with straw, and is supported by a +broad padded band just below the collar bones. Of course, as the man +walks nearly bent double, and the position is a very painful one, he +requires to stop and straighten himself frequently, and unless he meets +with a bank of convenient height, he rests the bottom of his burden on a +short, stout pole with an L-shaped top, carried for this purpose. The +carrying of enormous loads is quite a feature of this region, and so, I +am sorry to say, are red stinging ants and the small gadflies which +molest the coolies. + +Yesterday’s journey was 18 miles in twelve hours! Ichinono is a nice, +industrious hamlet, given up, like all others, to rearing silk-worms, and +the pure white and sulphur yellow cocoons are drying on mats in the sun +everywhere. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XVIII. + + +Comely Kine—Japanese Criticism on a Foreign Usage—A Pleasant Halt—Renewed +Courtesies—The Plain of Yonezawa—A Curious Mistake—The Mother’s +Memorial—Arrival at Komatsu—Stately Accommodation—A Vicious Horse—An +Asiatic Arcadia—A Fashionable Watering-place—A Belle—“Godowns.” + + KAMINOYAMA. + +A SEVERE day of mountain travelling brought us into another region. We +left Ichinono early on a fine morning, with three pack-cows, one of which +I rode [and their calves], very comely kine, with small noses, short +horns, straight spines, and deep bodies. I thought that I might get some +fresh milk, but the idea of anything but a calf milking a cow was so new +to the people that there was a universal laugh, and Ito told me that they +thought it “most disgusting,” and that the Japanese think it “most +disgusting” in foreigners to put anything “with such a strong smell and +taste” into their tea! All the cows had cotton cloths, printed with blue +dragons, suspended under their bodies to keep them from mud and insects, +and they wear straw shoes and cords through the cartilages of their +noses. The day being fine, a great deal of rice and _saké_ was on the +move, and we met hundreds of pack-cows, all of the same comely breed, in +strings of four. + +We crossed the Sakuratogé, from which the view is beautiful, got horses +at the mountain village of Shirakasawa, crossed more passes, and in the +afternoon reached the village of Tenoko. There, as usual, I sat under +the verandah of the Transport Office, and waited for the one horse which +was available. It was a large shop, but contained not a single article +of European make. In the one room a group of women and children sat +round the fire, and the agent sat as usual with a number of ledgers at a +table a foot high, on which his grandchild was lying on a cushion. Here +Ito dined on seven dishes of horrors, and they brought me _saké_, tea, +rice, and black beans. The last are very good. We had some talk about +the country, and the man asked me to write his name in English +characters, and to write my own in a book. Meanwhile a crowd assembled, +and the front row sat on the ground that the others might see over their +heads. They were dirty and pressed very close, and when the women of the +house saw that I felt the heat they gracefully produced fans and fanned +me for a whole hour. On asking the charge they refused to make any, and +would not receive anything. They had not seen a foreigner before, they +said, they would despise themselves for taking anything, they had my +“honourable name” in their book. Not only that, but they put up a parcel +of sweetmeats, and the man wrote his name on a fan and insisted on my +accepting it. I was grieved to have nothing to give them but some +English pins, but they had never seen such before, and soon circulated +them among the crowd. I told them truly that I should remember them as +long as I remember Japan, and went on, much touched by their kindness. + +The lofty pass of Utsu, which is ascended and descended by a number of +stone slabs, is the last of the passes of these choked-up ranges. From +its summit in the welcome sunlight I joyfully looked down upon the noble +plain of Yonezawa, about 30 miles long and from 10 to 18 broad, one of +the gardens of Japan, wooded and watered, covered with prosperous towns +and villages, surrounded by magnificent mountains not altogether +timbered, and bounded at its southern extremity by ranges white with snow +even in the middle of July. + +In the long street of the farming village of Matsuhara a man amazed me by +running in front of me and speaking to me, and on Ito coming up, he +assailed him vociferously, and it turned out that he took me for an Aino, +one of the subjugated aborigines of Yezo. I have before now been taken +for a Chinese! + +Throughout the province of Echigo I have occasionally seen a piece of +cotton cloth suspended by its four corners from four bamboo poles just +above a quiet stream. Behind it there is usually a long narrow tablet, +notched at the top, similar to those seen in cemeteries, with characters +upon it. Sometimes bouquets of flowers are placed in the hollow top of +each bamboo, and usually there are characters on the cloth itself. +Within it always lies a wooden dipper. In coming down from Tenoko I +passed one of these close to the road, and a Buddhist priest was at the +time pouring a dipper full of water into it, which strained slowly +through. As he was going our way we joined him, and he explained its +meaning. + + [Picture: The Flowing Invocation] + +According to him the tablet bears on it the _kaimiyô_, or posthumous name +of a woman. The flowers have the same significance as those which loving +hands place on the graves of kindred. If there are characters on the +cloth, they represent the well-known invocation of the Nichiren sect, +_Namu miô hô ren gé kiô_. The pouring of the water into the cloth, often +accompanied by telling the beads on a rosary, is a prayer. The whole is +called “The Flowing Invocation.” I have seldom seen anything more +plaintively affecting, for it denotes that a mother in the first joy of +maternity has passed away to suffer (according to popular belief) in the +Lake of Blood, one of the Buddhist hells, for a sin committed in a former +state of being, and it appeals to every passer-by to shorten the +penalties of a woman in anguish, for in that lake she must remain until +the cloth is so utterly worn out that the water falls through it at once. + +Where the mountains come down upon the plain of Yonezawa there are +several raised banks, and you can take one step from the hillside to a +dead level. The soil is dry and gravelly at the junction, ridges of +pines appeared, and the look of the houses suggested increased +cleanliness and comfort. A walk of six miles took us from Tenoko to +Komatsu, a beautifully situated town of 3000 people, with a large trade +in cotton goods, silk, and _saké_. + +As I entered Komatsu the first man whom I met turned back hastily, called +into the first house the words which mean “Quick, here’s a foreigner;” +the three carpenters who were at work there flung down their tools and, +without waiting to put on their _kimonos_, sped down the street calling +out the news, so that by the time I reached the _yadoya_ a large crowd +was pressing upon me. The front was mean and unpromising-looking, but, +on reaching the back by a stone bridge over a stream which ran through +the house, I found a room 40 feet long by 15 high, entirely open along +one side to a garden with a large fish-pond with goldfish, a pagoda, +dwarf trees, and all the usual miniature adornments. _Fusuma_ of +wrinkled blue paper splashed with gold turned this “gallery” into two +rooms; but there was no privacy, for the crowds climbed upon the roofs at +the back, and sat there patiently until night. + +These were _daimiyô’s_ rooms. The posts and ceilings were ebony and +gold, the mats very fine, the polished alcoves decorated with inlaid +writing-tables and sword-racks; spears nine feet long, with handles of +lacquer inlaid with Venus’ ear, hung in the verandah, the washing bowl +was fine inlaid black lacquer, and the rice-bowls and their covers were +gold lacquer. + +In this, as in many other _yadoyas_, there were _kakémonos_ with large +Chinese characters representing the names of the Prime Minister, +Provincial Governor, or distinguished General, who had honoured it by +halting there, and lines of poetry were hung up, as is usual, in the same +fashion. I have several times been asked to write something to be thus +displayed. I spent Sunday at Komatsu, but not restfully, owing to the +nocturnal croaking of the frogs in the pond. In it, as in most towns, +there were shops which sell nothing but white, frothy-looking cakes, +which are used for the goldfish which are so much prized, and three times +daily the women and children of the household came into the garden to +feed them. + +When I left Komatsu there were fully sixty people inside the house and +1500 outside—walls, verandahs, and even roofs being packed. From Nikkô +to Komatsu mares had been exclusively used, but there I encountered for +the first time the terrible Japanese pack-horse. Two horridly +fierce-looking creatures were at the door, with their heads tied down +till their necks were completely arched. When I mounted the crowd +followed, gathering as it went, frightening the horse with the clatter of +clogs and the sound of a multitude, till he broke his head-rope, and, the +frightened _mago_ letting him go, he proceeded down the street mainly on +his hind feet, squealing, and striking savagely with his fore feet, the +crowd scattering to the right and left, till, as it surged past the +police station, four policemen came out and arrested it; only to gather +again, however, for there was a longer street, down which my horse +proceeded in the same fashion, and, looking round, I saw Ito’s horse on +his hind legs and Ito on the ground. My beast jumped over all ditches, +attacked all foot-passengers with his teeth, and behaved so like a wild +animal that not all my previous acquaintance with the idiosyncrasies of +horses enabled me to cope with him. On reaching Akayu we found a horse +fair, and, as all the horses had their heads tightly tied down to posts, +they could only squeal and lash out with their hind feet, which so +provoked our animals that the baggage horse, by a series of jerks and +rearings, divested himself of Ito and most of the baggage, and, as I +dismounted from mine, he stood upright, and my foot catching I fell on +the ground, when he made several vicious dashes at me with his teeth and +fore feet, which were happily frustrated by the dexterity of some _mago_. +These beasts forcibly remind me of the words, “Whose mouth must be held +with bit and bridle, lest they turn and fall upon thee.” + +It was a lovely summer day, though very hot, and the snowy peaks of Aidzu +scarcely looked cool as they glittered in the sunlight. The plain of +Yonezawa, with the prosperous town of Yonezawa in the south, and the +frequented watering-place of Akayu in the north, is a perfect garden of +Eden, “tilled with a pencil instead of a plough,” growing in rich +profusion rice, cotton, maize, tobacco, hemp, indigo, beans, egg-plants, +walnuts, melons, cucumbers, persimmons, apricots, pomegranates; a smiling +and plenteous land, an Asiatic Arcadia, prosperous and independent, all +its bounteous acres belonging to those who cultivate them, who live under +their vines, figs, and pomegranates, free from oppression—a remarkable +spectacle under an Asiatic despotism. Yet still Daikoku is the chief +deity, and material good is the one object of desire. + +It is an enchanting region of beauty, industry, and comfort, mountain +girdled, and watered by the bright Matsuka. Everywhere there are +prosperous and beautiful farming villages, with large houses with carved +beams and ponderous tiled roofs, each standing in its own grounds, buried +among persimmons and pomegranates, with flower-gardens under trellised +vines, and privacy secured by high, closely-clipped screens of +pomegranate and cryptomeria. Besides the villages of Yoshida, Semoshima, +Kurokawa, Takayama, and Takataki, through or near which we passed, I +counted over fifty on the plain with their brown, sweeping barn roofs +looking out from the woodland. I cannot see any differences in the style +of cultivation. Yoshida is rich and prosperous-looking, Numa poor and +wretched-looking; but the scanty acres of Numa, rescued from the +mountain-sides, are as exquisitely trim and neat, as perfectly +cultivated, and yield as abundantly of the crops which suit the climate, +as the broad acres of the sunny plain of Yonezawa, and this is the case +everywhere. “The field of the sluggard” has no existence in Japan. + +We rode for four hours through these beautiful villages on a road four +feet wide, and then, to my surprise, after ferrying a river, emerged at +Tsukuno upon what appears on the map as a secondary road, but which is in +reality a main road 25 feet wide, well kept, trenched on both sides, and +with a line of telegraph poles along it. It was a new world at once. +The road for many miles was thronged with well-dressed foot-passengers, +_kurumas_, pack-horses, and waggons either with solid wheels, or wheels +with spokes but no tires. It is a capital carriage-road, but without +carriages. In such civilised circumstances it was curious to see two or +four brown skinned men pulling the carts, and quite often a man and his +wife—the man unclothed, and the woman unclothed to her waist—doing the +same. Also it struck me as incongruous to see telegraph wires above, and +below, men whose only clothing consisted of a sun-hat and fan; while +children with books and slates were returning from school, conning their +lessons. + +At Akayu, a town of hot sulphur springs, I hoped to sleep, but it was one +of the noisiest places I have seen. In the most crowded part, where four +streets meet, there are bathing sheds, which were full of people of both +sexes, splashing loudly, and the _yadoya_ close to it had about forty +rooms, in nearly all of which several rheumatic people were lying on the +mats, _samisens_ were twanging, and _kotos_ screeching, and the hubbub +was so unbearable that I came on here, ten miles farther, by a fine new +road, up an uninteresting strath of rice-fields and low hills, which +opens out upon a small plain surrounded by elevated gravelly hills, on +the slope of one of which Kaminoyama, a watering-place of over 3000 +people, is pleasantly situated. It is keeping festival; there are +lanterns and flags on every house, and crowds are thronging the temple +grounds, of which there are several on the hills above. It is a clean, +dry place, with beautiful _yadoyas_ on the heights, and pleasant houses +with gardens, and plenty of walks over the hills. The people say that it +is one of the driest places in Japan. If it were within reach of +foreigners, they would find it a wholesome health resort, with +picturesque excursions in many directions. + +This is one of the great routes of Japanese travel, and it is interesting +to see watering-places with their habits, amusements, and civilisation +quite complete, but borrowing nothing from Europe. The hot springs here +contain iron, and are strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen. I +tried the temperature of three, and found them 100°, 105°, and 107°. +They are supposed to be very valuable in rheumatism, and they attract +visitors from great distances. The police, who are my frequent +informants, tell me that there are nearly 600 people now staying here for +the benefit of the baths, of which six daily are usually taken. I think +that in rheumatism, as in some other maladies, the old-fashioned Japanese +doctors pay little attention to diet and habits, and much to drugs and +external applications. The benefit of these and other medicinal waters +would be much increased if vigorous friction replaced the dabbing with +soft towels. + + [Picture: The Belle of Kaminoyama] + +This is a large _yadoya_, very full of strangers, and the house-mistress, +a buxom and most prepossessing widow, has a truly exquisite hotel for +bathers higher up the hill. She has eleven children, two or three of +whom are tall, handsome, and graceful girls. One blushed deeply at my +evident admiration, but was not displeased, and took me up the hill to +see the temples, baths, and _yadoyas_ of this very attractive place. I +am much delighted with her grace and _savoir faire_. I asked the widow +how long she had kept the inn, and she proudly answered, “Three hundred +years,” not an uncommon instance of the heredity of occupations. + +My accommodation is unique—a _kura_, or godown, in a large conventional +garden, in which is a bath-house, which receives a hot spring at a +temperature of 105°, in which I luxuriate. Last night the mosquitoes +were awful. If the widow and her handsome girls had not fanned me +perseveringly for an hour, I should not have been able to write a line. +My new mosquito net succeeds admirably, and, when I am once within it, I +rather enjoy the disappointment of the hundreds of drumming blood-thirsty +wretches outside. + +The widow tells me that house-masters pay 2 _yen_ once for all for the +sign, and an annual tax of 2 _yen_ on a first-class _yadoya_, 1 _yen_ for +a second, and 50 cents for a third, with 5 _yen_ for the license to sell +_saké_. + +These “godowns” (from the Malay word _gadong_), or fire-proof +store-houses, are one of the most marked features of Japanese towns, both +because they are white where all else is grey, and because they are solid +where all else is perishable. + +I am lodged in the lower part, but the iron doors are open, and in their +place at night is a paper screen. A few things are kept in my room. Two +handsome shrines from which the unemotional faces of two Buddhas looked +out all night, a fine figure of the goddess Kwan-non, and a venerable one +of the god of longevity, suggested curious dreams. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XIX. + + +Prosperity—Convict Labour—A New Bridge—Yamagata—Intoxicating +Forgeries—The Government Buildings—Bad Manners—Snow Mountains—A Wretched +Town. + + KANAYAMA, _July_ 16. + +THREE days of travelling on the same excellent road have brought me +nearly 60 miles. Yamagata _ken_ impresses me as being singularly +prosperous, progressive, and go-ahead; the plain of Yamagata, which I +entered soon after leaving Kaminoyama, is populous and highly cultivated, +and the broad road, with its enormous traffic, looks wealthy and +civilised. It is being improved by convicts in dull red _kimonos_ +printed with Chinese characters, who correspond with our ticket-of-leave +men, as they are working for wages in the employment of contractors and +farmers, and are under no other restriction than that of always wearing +the prison dress. + +At the Sakamoki river I was delighted to come upon the only thoroughly +solid piece of modern Japanese work that I have met with—a remarkably +handsome stone bridge nearly finished—the first I have seen. I +introduced myself to the engineer, Okuno Chiuzo, a very gentlemanly, +agreeable Japanese, who showed me the plans, took a great deal of trouble +to explain them, and courteously gave me tea and sweetmeats. + +Yamagata, a thriving town of 21,000 people and the capital of the _ken_, +is well situated on a slight eminence, and this and the dominant position +of the _kenchô_ at the top of the main street give it an emphasis unusual +in Japanese towns. The outskirts of all the cities are very mean, and +the appearance of the lofty white buildings of the new Government Offices +above the low grey houses was much of a surprise. The streets of +Yamagata are broad and clean, and it has good shops, among which are long +rows selling nothing but ornamental iron kettles and ornamental +brasswork. So far in the interior I was annoyed to find several shops +almost exclusively for the sale of villainous forgeries of European +eatables and drinkables, specially the latter. The Japanese, from the +Mikado downwards, have acquired a love of foreign intoxicants, which +would be hurtful enough to them if the intoxicants were genuine, but is +far worse when they are compounds of vitriol, fusel oil, bad vinegar, and +I know not what. I saw two shops in Yamagata which sold champagne of the +best brands, Martel’s cognac, Bass’ ale, Medoc, St. Julian, and Scotch +whisky, at about one-fifth of their cost price—all poisonous compounds, +the sale of which ought to be interdicted. + +The Government Buildings, though in the usual confectionery style, are +improved by the addition of verandahs; and the _Kenchô_, _Saibanchô_, or +Court House, the Normal School with advanced schools attached, and the +police buildings, are all in keeping with the good road and obvious +prosperity. A large two-storied hospital, with a cupola, which will +accommodate 150 patients, and is to be a medical school, is nearly +finished. It is very well arranged and ventilated. I cannot say as much +for the present hospital, which I went over. At the Court House I saw +twenty officials doing nothing, and as many policemen, all in European +dress, to which they had added an imitation of European manners, the +total result being unmitigated vulgarity. They demanded my passport +before they would tell me the population of the _ken_ and city. Once or +twice I have found fault with Ito’s manners, and he has asked me twice +since if I think them like the manners of the policemen at Yamagata! + +North of Yamagata the plain widens, and fine longitudinal ranges capped +with snow mountains on the one side, and broken ranges with lateral spurs +on the other, enclose as cheerful and pleasant a region as one would wish +to see, with many pleasant villages on the lower slopes of the hills. +The mercury was only 70°, and the wind north, so it was an especially +pleasant journey, though I had to go three and a half _ri_ beyond Tendo, +a town of 5000 people, where I had intended to halt, because the only +inns at Tendo which were not _kashitsukeya_ were so occupied with +silk-worms that they could not receive me. + +The next day’s journey was still along the same fine road, through a +succession of farming villages and towns of 1500 and 2000 people, such as +Tochiida and Obanasawa, were frequent. From both these there was a +glorious view of Chôkaizan, a grand, snow-covered dome, said to be 8000 +feet high, which rises in an altogether unexpected manner from +comparatively level country, and, as the great snow-fields of Udonosan +are in sight at the same time, with most picturesque curtain ranges +below, it may be considered one of the grandest views of Japan. After +leaving Obanasawa the road passes along a valley watered by one of the +affluents of the Mogami, and, after crossing it by a fine wooden bridge, +ascends a pass from which the view is most magnificent. After a long +ascent through a region of light, peaty soil, wooded with pine, +cryptomeria, and scrub oak, a long descent and a fine avenue terminate in +Shinjô, a wretched town of over 5000 people, situated in a plain of +rice-fields. + +The day’s journey, of over twenty-three miles, was through villages of +farms without _yadoyas_, and in many cases without even tea-houses. The +style of building has quite changed. Wood has disappeared, and all the +houses are now built with heavy beams and walls of laths and brown mud +mixed with chopped straw, and very neat. Nearly all are great oblong +barns, turned endwise to the road, 50, 60, and even 100 feet long, with +the end nearest the road the dwelling-house. These farm-houses have no +paper windows, only _amado_, with a few panes of paper at the top. These +are drawn back in the daytime, and, in the better class of houses, +blinds, formed of reeds or split bamboo, are let down over the opening. +There are no ceilings, and in many cases an unmolested rat snake lives in +the rafters, who, when he is much gorged, occasionally falls down upon a +mosquito net. + +Again I write that Shinjô is a wretched place. It is a _daimiyô’s_ town, +and every _daimiyô’s_ town that I have seen has an air of decay, partly +owing to the fact that the castle is either pulled down, or has been +allowed to fall into decay. Shinjô has a large trade in rice, silk, and +hemp, and ought not to be as poor as it looks. The mosquitoes were in +thousands, and I had to go to bed, so as to be out of their reach, before +I had finished my wretched meal of sago and condensed milk. There was a +hot rain all night, my wretched room was dirty and stifling, and rats +gnawed my boots and ran away with my cucumbers. + +To-day the temperature is high and the sky murky. The good road has come +to an end, and the old hardships have begun again. After leaving Shinjô +this morning we crossed over a steep ridge into a singular basin of great +beauty, with a semicircle of pyramidal hills, rendered more striking by +being covered to their summits with pyramidal cryptomeria, and apparently +blocking all northward progress. At their feet lies Kanayama in a +romantic situation, and, though I arrived as early as noon, I am staying +for a day or two, for my room at the Transport Office is cheerful and +pleasant, the agent is most polite, a very rough region lies before me, +and Ito has secured a chicken for the first time since leaving Nikkô! + +I find it impossible in this damp climate, and in my present poor health, +to travel with any comfort for more than two or three days at a time, and +it is difficult to find pretty, quiet, and wholesome places for a halt of +two nights. Freedom from fleas and mosquitoes one can never hope for, +though the last vary in number, and I have found a way of “dodging” the +first by laying down a piece of oiled paper six feet square upon the mat, +dusting along its edges a band of Persian insect powder, and setting my +chair in the middle. I am then insulated, and, though myriads of fleas +jump on the paper, the powder stupefies them, and they are easily killed. +I have been obliged to rest here at any rate, because I have been stung +on my left hand both by a hornet and a gadfly, and it is badly inflamed. +In some places the hornets are in hundreds, and make the horses wild. I +am also suffering from inflammation produced by the bites of “horse +ants,” which attack one in walking. The Japanese suffer very much from +these, and a neglected bite often produces an intractable ulcer. Besides +these, there is a fly, as harmless in appearance as our house-fly, which +bites as badly as a mosquito. These are some of the drawbacks of +Japanese travelling in summer, but worse than these is the lack of such +food as one can eat when one finishes a hard day’s journey without +appetite, in an exhausting atmosphere. + +_July_ 18.—I have had so much pain and fever from stings and bites that +last night I was glad to consult a Japanese doctor from Shinjô. Ito, who +looks twice as big as usual when he has to do any “grand” interpreting, +and always puts on silk _hakama_ in honour of it, came in with a +middle-aged man dressed entirely in silk, who prostrated himself three +times on the ground, and then sat down on his heels. Ito in many words +explained my calamities, and Dr. Nosoki then asked to see my “honourable +hand,” which he examined carefully, and then my “honourable foot.” He +felt my pulse and looked at my eyes with a magnifying glass, and with +much sucking in of his breath—a sign of good breeding and +politeness—informed me that I had much fever, which I knew before; then +that I must rest, which I also knew; then he lighted his pipe and +contemplated me. Then he felt my pulse and looked at my eyes again, then +felt the swelling from the hornet bite, and said it was much inflamed, of +which I was painfully aware, and then clapped his hands three times. At +this signal a coolie appeared, carrying a handsome black lacquer chest +with the same crest in gold upon it as Dr. Nosoki wore in white on his +_haori_. This contained a medicine chest of fine gold lacquer, fitted up +with shelves, drawers, bottles, etc. He compounded a lotion first, with +which he bandaged my hand and arm rather skilfully, telling me to pour +the lotion over the bandage at intervals till the pain abated. The whole +was covered with oiled paper, which answers the purpose of oiled silk. +He then compounded a febrifuge, which, as it is purely vegetable, I have +not hesitated to take, and told me to drink it in hot water, and to avoid +_saké_ for a day or two! + +I asked him what his fee was, and, after many bows and much spluttering +and sucking in of his breath, he asked if I should think half a _yen_ too +much, and when I presented him with a _yen_, and told him with a good +deal of profound bowing on my part that I was exceedingly glad to obtain +his services, his gratitude quite abashed me by its immensity. + +Dr. Nosoki is one of the old-fashioned practitioners, whose medical +knowledge has been handed down from father to son, and who holds out, as +probably most of his patients do, against European methods and drugs. A +strong prejudice against surgical operations, specially amputations, +exists throughout Japan. With regard to the latter, people think that, +as they came into the world complete, so they are bound to go out of it, +and in many places a surgeon would hardly be able to buy at any price the +privilege of cutting off an arm. + +Except from books these older men know nothing of the mechanism of the +human body, as dissection is unknown to native science. Dr. Nosoki told +me that he relies mainly on the application of the _moxa_ and on +acupuncture in the treatment of acute diseases, and in chronic maladies +on friction, medicinal baths, certain animal and vegetable medicines, and +certain kinds of food. The use of leeches and blisters is unknown to +him, and he regards mineral drugs with obvious suspicion. He has heard +of chloroform, but has never seen it used, and considers that in +maternity it must necessarily be fatal either to mother or child. He +asked me (and I have twice before been asked the same question) whether +it is not by its use that we endeavour to keep down our redundant +population! He has great faith in _ginseng_, and in rhinoceros horn, and +in the powdered liver of some animal, which, from the description, I +understood to be a tiger—all specifics of the Chinese school of +medicines. Dr. Nosoki showed me a small box of “unicorn’s” horn, which +he said was worth more than its weight in gold! As my arm improved +coincidently with the application of his lotion, I am bound to give him +the credit of the cure. + +I invited him to dinner, and two tables were produced covered with +different dishes, of which he ate heartily, showing most singular +dexterity with his chopsticks in removing the flesh of small, bony fish. +It is proper to show appreciation of a repast by noisy gulpings, and much +gurgling and drawing in of the breath. Etiquette rigidly prescribes +these performances, which are most distressing to a European, and my +guest nearly upset my gravity by them. + +The host and the _kôchô_, or chief man of the village, paid me a formal +visit in the evening, and Ito, _en grande tenue_, exerted himself +immensely on the occasion. They were much surprised at my not smoking, +and supposed me to be under a vow! They asked me many questions about +our customs and Government, but frequently reverted to tobacco. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XX. + + + The Effect of a Chicken—Poor Fare—Slow Travelling—Objects of + Interest—_Kak’ké_—The Fatal Close—A Great Fire—Security of the + _Kuras_. + + SHINGOJI, _July_ 21. + +VERY early in the morning, after my long talk with the _Kôchô_ of +Kanayama, Ito wakened me by saying, “You’ll be able for a long day’s +journey to-day, as you had a chicken yesterday,” and under this chicken’s +marvellous influence we got away at 6.45, only to verify the proverb, +“The more haste the worse speed.” Unsolicited by me the _Kôchô_ sent +round the village to forbid the people from assembling, so I got away in +peace with a pack-horse and one runner. It was a terrible road, with two +severe mountain-passes to cross, and I not only had to walk nearly the +whole way, but to help the man with the _kuruma_ up some of the steepest +places. Halting at the exquisitely situated village of Nosoki, we got +one horse, and walked by a mountain road along the head-waters of the +Omono to Innai. I wish I could convey to you any idea of the beauty and +wildness of that mountain route, of the surprises on the way, of views, +of the violent deluges of rain which turned rivulets into torrents, and +of the hardships and difficulties of the day; the scanty fare of +sun-dried rice dough and sour yellow rasps, and the depth of the mire +through which we waded! We crossed the Shione and Sakatsu passes, and in +twelve hours accomplished fifteen miles! Everywhere we were told that we +should never get through the country by the way we are going. + +The women still wear trousers, but with a long garment tucked into them +instead of a short one, and the men wear a cotton combination of +breastplate and apron, either without anything else, or over their +_kimonos_. The descent to Innai under an avenue of cryptomeria, and the +village itself, shut in with the rushing Omono, are very beautiful. + +The _yadoya_ at Innai was a remarkably cheerful one, but my room was +entirely _fusuma_ and _shôji_, and people were peeping in the whole time. +It is not only a foreigner and his strange ways which attract attention +in these remote districts, but, in my case, my india-rubber bath, +air-pillow, and, above all, my white mosquito net. Their nets are all of +a heavy green canvas, and they admire mine so much, that I can give no +more acceptable present on leaving than a piece of it to twist in with +the hair. There were six engineers in the next room who are surveying +the passes which I had crossed, in order to see if they could be +tunnelled, in which case _kurumas_ might go all the way from Tôkiyô to +Kubota on the Sea of Japan, and, with a small additional outlay, carts +also. + +In the two villages of Upper and Lower Innai there has been an outbreak +of a malady much dreaded by the Japanese, called _kak’ké_, which, in the +last seven months, has carried off 100 persons out of a population of +about 1500, and the local doctors have been aided by two sent from the +Medical School at Kubota. I don’t know a European name for it; the +Japanese name signifies an affection of the legs. Its first symptoms are +a loss of strength in the legs, “looseness in the knees,” cramps in the +calves, swelling, and numbness. This, Dr. Anderson, who has studied +_kak’ké_ in more than 1100 cases in Tôkiyô, calls the sub-acute form. +The chronic is a slow, numbing, and wasting malady, which, if unchecked, +results in death from paralysis and exhaustion in from six months to +three years. The third, or acute form, Dr. Anderson describes thus. +After remarking that the grave symptoms set in quite unexpectedly, and go +on rapidly increasing, he says:—“The patient now can lie down no longer; +he sits up in bed and tosses restlessly from one position to another, +and, with wrinkled brow, staring and anxious eyes, dusky skin, blue, +parted lips, dilated nostrils, throbbing neck, and labouring chest, +presents a picture of the most terrible distress that the worst of +diseases can inflict. There is no intermission even for a moment, and +the physician, here almost powerless, can do little more than note the +failing pulse and falling temperature, and wait for the moment when the +brain, paralysed by the carbonised blood, shall become insensible, and +allow the dying man to pass his last moments in merciful +unconsciousness.” {145} + +The next morning, after riding nine miles through a quagmire, under grand +avenues of cryptomeria, and noticing with regret that the telegraph poles +ceased, we reached Yusowa, a town of 7000 people, in which, had it not +been for provoking delays, I should have slept instead of at Innai, and +found that a fire a few hours previously had destroyed seventy houses, +including the _yadoya_ at which I should have lodged. We had to wait two +hours for horses, as all were engaged in moving property and people. The +ground where the houses had stood was absolutely bare of everything but +fine black ash, among which the _kuras_ stood blackened, and, in some +instances, slightly cracked, but in all unharmed. Already skeletons of +new houses were rising. No life had been lost except that of a tipsy +man, but I should probably have lost everything but my money. + + + + +LETTER XX.—(_Continued_.) + + +Lunch in Public—A Grotesque Accident—Police Inquiries—Man or Woman?—A +Melancholy Stare—A Vicious Horse—An Ill-favoured Town—A Disappointment—A +_Torii_. + +YUSOWA is a specially objectionable-looking place. I took my lunch—a +wretched meal of a tasteless white curd made from beans, with some +condensed milk added to it—in a yard, and the people crowded in hundreds +to the gate, and those behind, being unable to see me, got ladders and +climbed on the adjacent roofs, where they remained till one of the roofs +gave way with a loud crash, and precipitated about fifty men, women, and +children into the room below, which fortunately was vacant. Nobody +screamed—a noteworthy fact—and the casualties were only a few bruises. +Four policemen then appeared and demanded my passport, as if I were +responsible for the accident, and failing, like all others, to read a +particular word upon it, they asked me what I was travelling for, and on +being told “to learn about the country,” they asked if I was making a +map! Having satisfied their curiosity they disappeared, and the crowd +surged up again in fuller force. The Transport Agent begged them to go +away, but they said they might never see such a sight again! One old +peasant said he would go away if he were told whether “the sight” were a +man or a woman, and, on the agent asking if that were any business of +his, he said he should like to tell at home what he had seen, which awoke +my sympathy at once, and I told Ito to tell them that a Japanese horse +galloping night and day without ceasing would take 5½ weeks to reach my +county—a statement which he is using lavishly as I go along. These are +such queer crowds, so silent and gaping, and they remain motionless for +hours, the wide-awake babies on the mothers’ backs and in the fathers’ +arms never crying. I should be glad to hear a hearty aggregate laugh, +even if I were its object. The great melancholy stare is depressing. + +The road for ten miles was thronged with country people going in to see +the fire. It was a good road and very pleasant country, with numerous +road-side shrines and figures of the goddess of mercy. I had a wicked +horse, thoroughly vicious. His head was doubly chained to the +saddle-girth, but he never met man, woman, or child, without laying back +his ears and running at them to bite them. I was so tired and in so much +spinal pain that I got off and walked several times, and it was most +difficult to get on again, for as soon as I put my hand on the saddle he +swung his hind legs round to kick me, and it required some agility to +avoid being hurt. Nor was this all. The evil beast made dashes with his +tethered head at flies, threatening to twist or demolish my foot at each, +flung his hind legs upwards, attempted to dislodge flies on his nose with +his hind hoof, executed capers which involved a total disappearance of +everything in front of the saddle, squealed, stumbled, kicked his old +shoes off, and resented the feeble attempts which the _mago_ made to +replace them, and finally walked in to Yokote and down its long and +dismal street mainly on his hind legs, shaking the rope out of his timid +leader’s hand, and shaking me into a sort of aching jelly! I used to +think that horses were made vicious either by being teased or by violence +in breaking; but this does not account for the malignity of the Japanese +horses, for the people are so much afraid of them that they treat them +with great respect: they are not beaten or kicked, are spoken to in +soothing tones, and, on the whole, live better than their masters. +Perhaps this is the secret of their villainy—“Jeshurun waxed fat and +kicked.” + +Yokote, a town of 10,000 people, in which the best _yadoyas_ are all +non-respectable, is an ill-favoured, ill-smelling, forlorn, dirty, damp, +miserable place, with a large trade in cottons. As I rode through on my +temporary biped the people rushed out from the baths to see me, men and +women alike without a particle of clothing. The house-master was very +polite, but I had a dark and dirty room, up a bamboo ladder, and it +swarmed with fleas and mosquitoes to an exasperating extent. On the way +I heard that a bullock was killed every Thursday in Yokote, and had +decided on having a broiled steak for supper and taking another with me, +but when I arrived it was all sold, there were no eggs, and I made a +miserable meal of rice and bean curd, feeling somewhat starved, as the +condensed milk I bought at Yamagata had to be thrown away. I was +somewhat wretched from fatigue and inflamed ant bites, but in the early +morning, hot and misty as all the mornings have been, I went to see a +Shintô temple, or _miya_, and, though I went alone, escaped a throng. + +The entrance into the temple court was, as usual, by a _torii_, which +consisted of two large posts 20 feet high, surmounted with cross beams, +the upper one of which projects beyond the posts and frequently curves +upwards at both ends. The whole, as is often the case, was painted a +dull red. This _torii_, or “birds’ rest,” is said to be so called +because the fowls, which were formerly offered but not sacrificed, were +accustomed to perch upon it. A straw rope, with straw tassels and strips +of paper hanging from it, the special emblem of Shintô, hung across the +gateway. In the paved court there were several handsome granite lanterns +on fine granite pedestals, such as are the nearly universal +accompaniments of both Shintô and Buddhist temples. + +After leaving Yakote we passed through very pretty country with mountain +views and occasional glimpses of the snowy dome of Chokaizan, crossed the +Omono (which has burst its banks and destroyed its bridges) by two +troublesome ferries, and arrived at Rokugo, a town of 5000 people, with +fine temples, exceptionally mean houses, and the most aggressive crowd by +which I have yet been asphyxiated. + +There, through the good offices of the police, I was enabled to attend a +Buddhist funeral of a merchant of some wealth. It interested me very +much from its solemnity and decorum, and Ito’s explanations of what went +before were remarkably distinctly given. I went in a Japanese woman’s +dress, borrowed at the tea-house, with a blue hood over my head, and thus +escaped all notice, but I found the restraint of the scanty “tied +forward” _kimono_ very tiresome. Ito gave me many injunctions as to what +I was to do and avoid, which I carried out faithfully, being nervously +anxious to avoid jarring on the sensibilities of those who had kindly +permitted a foreigner to be present. + + [Picture: Torii] + +The illness was a short one, and there had been no time either for +prayers or pilgrimages on the sick man’s behalf. When death occurs the +body is laid with its head to the north (a position that the living +Japanese scrupulously avoid), near a folding screen, between which and it +a new _zen_ is placed, on which are a saucer of oil with a lighted rush, +cakes of uncooked rice dough, and a saucer of incense sticks. The +priests directly after death choose the _kaimiyô_, or posthumous name, +write it on a tablet of white wood, and seat themselves by the corpse; +his _zen_, bowls, cups, etc., are filled with vegetable food and are +placed by his side, the chopsticks being put on the wrong, _i.e._ the +left, side of the _zen_. At the end of forty-eight hours the corpse is +arranged for the coffin by being washed with warm water, and the priest, +while saying certain prayers, shaves the head. In all cases, rich or +poor, the dress is of the usual make, but of pure white linen or cotton. + +At Omagori, a town near Rokugo, large earthenware jars are manufactured, +which are much used for interment by the wealthy; but in this case there +were two square boxes, the outer one being of finely planed wood of the +_Retinospora obtusa_. The poor use what is called the “quick-tub,” a +covered tub of pine hooped with bamboo. Women are dressed for burial in +the silk robe worn on the marriage day, _tabi_ are placed beside them or +on their feet, and their hair usually flows loosely behind them. The +wealthiest people fill the coffin with vermilion and the poorest use +chaff; but in this case I heard that only the mouth, nose, and ears were +filled with vermilion, and that the coffin was filled up with coarse +incense. The body is placed within the tub or box in the usual squatting +position. It is impossible to understand how a human body, many hours +after death, can be pressed into the limited space afforded by even the +outermost of the boxes. It has been said that the rigidity of a corpse +is overcome by the use of a powder called _dosia_, which is sold by the +priests; but this idea has been exploded, and the process remains +incomprehensible. + +Bannerets of small size and ornamental staves were outside the house +door. Two men in blue dresses, with pale blue over-garments resembling +wings received each person, two more presented a lacquered bowl of water +and a white silk _crêpe_ towel, and then we passed into a large room, +round which were arranged a number of very handsome folding screens, on +which lotuses, storks, and peonies were realistically painted on a dead +gold ground. Near the end of the room the coffin, under a canopy of +white silk, upon which there was a very beautiful arrangement of +artificial white lotuses, rested upon trestles, the face of the corpse +being turned towards the north. Six priests, very magnificently dressed, +sat on each side of the coffin, and two more knelt in front of a small +temporary altar. + +The widow, an extremely pretty woman, squatted near the deceased, below +the father and mother; and after her came the children, relatives, and +friends, who sat in rows, dressed in winged garments of blue and white. +The widow was painted white; her lips were reddened with vermilion; her +hair was elaborately dressed and ornamented with carved shell pins; she +wore a beautiful dress of sky-blue silk, with a _haori_ of fine white +_crêpe_ and a scarlet _crêpe_ girdle embroidered in gold, and looked like +a bride on her marriage day rather than a widow. Indeed, owing to the +beauty of the dresses and the amount of blue and white silk, the room had +a festal rather than a funereal look. When all the guests had arrived, +tea and sweetmeats were passed round; incense was burned profusely; +litanies were mumbled, and the bustle of moving to the grave began, +during which I secured a place near the gate of the temple grounds. + +The procession did not contain the father or mother of the deceased, but +I understood that the mourners who composed it were all relatives. The +oblong tablet with the “dead name” of the deceased was carried first by a +priest, then the lotus blossom by another priest, then ten priests +followed, two and two, chanting litanies from books, then came the coffin +on a platform borne by four men and covered with white drapery, then the +widow, and then the other relatives. The coffin was carried into the +temple and laid upon trestles, while incense was burned and prayers were +said, and was then carried to a shallow grave lined with cement, and +prayers were said by the priests until the earth was raised to the proper +level, when all dispersed, and the widow, in her gay attire, walked home +unattended. There were no hired mourners or any signs of grief, but +nothing could be more solemn, reverent, and decorous than the whole +service. [I have since seen many funerals, chiefly of the poor, and, +though shorn of much of the ceremony, and with only one officiating +priest, the decorum was always most remarkable.] The fees to the priests +are from 2 up to 40 or 50 _yen_. The graveyard, which surrounds the +temple, was extremely beautiful, and the cryptomeria specially fine. It +was very full of stone gravestones, and, like all Japanese cemeteries, +exquisitely kept. As soon as the grave was filled in, a life-size pink +lotus plant was placed upon it, and a lacquer tray, on which were lacquer +bowls containing tea or _saké_, beans, and sweetmeats. + +The temple at Rokugo was very beautiful, and, except that its ornaments +were superior in solidity and good taste, differed little from a Romish +church. The low altar, on which were lilies and lighted candles, was +draped in blue and silver, and on the high altar, draped in crimson and +cloth of gold, there was nothing but a closed shrine, an incense-burner, +and a vase of lotuses. + + + + +LETTER XX.—(_Concluded_.) + + +A Casual Invitation—A Ludicrous Incident—Politeness of a Policeman—A +Comfortless Sunday—An Outrageous Irruption—A Privileged Stare. + +AT a wayside tea-house, soon after leaving Rokugo in _kurumas_, I met the +same courteous and agreeable young doctor who was stationed at Innai +during the prevalence of _kak’ke_, and he invited me to visit the +hospital at Kubota, of which he is junior physician, and told Ito of a +restaurant at which “foreign food” can be obtained—a pleasant prospect, +of which he is always reminding me. + +Travelling along a very narrow road, I as usual first, we met a man +leading a prisoner by a rope, followed by a policeman. As soon as my +runner saw the latter he fell down on his face so suddenly in the shafts +as nearly to throw me out, at the same time trying to wriggle into a +garment which he had carried on the crossbar, while the young men who +were drawing the two _kurumas_ behind, crouching behind my vehicle, tried +to scuttle into their clothes. I never saw such a picture of abjectness +as my man presented. He trembled from head to foot, and illustrated that +queer phrase often heard in Scotch Presbyterian prayers, “Lay our hands +on our mouths and our mouths in the dust.” He literally grovelled in the +dust, and with every sentence that the policeman spoke raised his head a +little, to bow it yet more deeply than before. It was all because he had +no clothes on. I interceded for him as the day was very hot, and the +policeman said he would not arrest him, as he should otherwise have done, +because of the inconvenience that it would cause to a foreigner. He was +quite an elderly man, and never recovered his spirits, but, as soon as a +turn of the road took us out of the policeman’s sight, the two younger +men threw their clothes into the air and gambolled in the shafts, +shrieking with laughter! + +On reaching Shingoji, being too tired to go farther, I was dismayed to +find nothing but a low, dark, foul-smelling room, enclosed only by dirty +_shôji_, in which to spend Sunday. One side looked into a little +mildewed court, with a slimy growth of _Protococcus viridis_, and into +which the people of another house constantly came to stare. The other +side opened on the earthen passage into the street, where travellers wash +their feet, the third into the kitchen, and the fourth into the front +room. Even before dark it was alive with mosquitoes, and the fleas +hopped on the mats like sand-flies. There were no eggs, nothing but rice +and cucumbers. At five on Sunday morning I saw three faces pressed +against the outer lattice, and before evening the _shôji_ were riddled +with finger-holes, at each of which a dark eye appeared. There was a +still, fine rain all day, with the mercury at 82°, and the heat, +darkness, and smells were difficult to endure. In the afternoon a small +procession passed the house, consisting of a decorated palanquin, carried +and followed by priests, with capes and stoles over crimson chasubles and +white cassocks. This ark, they said, contained papers inscribed with the +names of people and the evils they feared, and the priests were carrying +the papers to throw them into the river. + +I went to bed early as a refuge from mosquitoes, with the _andon_, as +usual, dimly lighting the room, and shut my eyes. About nine I heard a +good deal of whispering and shuffling, which continued for some time, +and, on looking up, saw opposite to me about 40 men, women, and children +(Ito says 100), all staring at me, with the light upon their faces. They +had silently removed three of the _shôji_ next the passage! I called Ito +loudly, and clapped my hands, but they did not stir till he came, and +then they fled like a flock of sheep. I have patiently, and even +smilingly, borne all out-of-doors crowding and curiosity, but this kind +of intrusion is unbearable; and I sent Ito to the police station, much +against his will, to beg the police to keep the people out of the house, +as the house-master was unable to do so. This morning, as I was +finishing dressing, a policeman appeared in my room, ostensibly to +apologise for the behaviour of the people, but in reality to have a +privileged stare at me, and, above all, at my stretcher and mosquito net, +from which he hardly took his eyes. Ito says he could make a _yen_ a day +by showing them! The policeman said that the people had never seen a +foreigner. + + I. L. B. + + [Picture: Daikoku, the God of Wealth] + + + + +LETTER XXI. + + +The Necessity of Firmness—Perplexing Misrepresentations—Gliding with the +Stream—Suburban Residences—The Kubota Hospital—A Formal Reception—The +Normal School. + + KUBOTA, _July_ 23. + +I ARRIVED here on Monday afternoon by the river Omono, what would have +been two long days’ journey by land having been easily accomplished in +nine hours by water. This was an instance of forming a plan wisely, and +adhering to it resolutely! Firmness in travelling is nowhere more +necessary than in Japan. I decided some time ago, from Mr. Brunton’s +map, that the Omono must be navigable from Shingoji, and a week ago told +Ito to inquire about it, but at each place difficulties have been +started. There was too much water, there was too little; there were bad +rapids, there were shallows; it was too late in the year; all the boats +which had started lately were lying aground; but at one of the ferries I +saw in the distance a merchandise boat going down, and told Ito I should +go that way and no other. On arriving at Shingoji they said it was not +on the Omono at all, but on a stream with some very bad rapids, in which +boats are broken to pieces. Lastly, they said there was no boat, but on +my saying that I would send ten miles for one, a small, flat-bottomed +scow was produced by the Transport Agent, into which Ito, the luggage, +and myself accurately fitted. Ito sententiously observed, “Not one thing +has been told us on our journey which has turned out true!” This is not +an exaggeration. The usual crowd did not assemble round the door, but +preceded me to the river, where it covered the banks and clustered in the +trees. Four policemen escorted me down. The voyage of forty-two miles +was delightful. The rapids were a mere ripple, the current was strong, +one boatman almost slept upon his paddle, the other only woke to bale the +boat when it was half-full of water, the shores were silent and pretty, +and almost without population till we reached the large town of Araya, +which straggles along a high bank for a considerable distance, and after +nine peaceful hours we turned off from the main stream of the Omono just +at the outskirts of Kubota, and poled up a narrow, green river, fringed +by dilapidated backs of houses, boat-building yards, and rafts of timber +on one side, and dwelling-houses, gardens, and damp greenery on the +other. This stream is crossed by very numerous bridges. + +I got a cheerful upstairs room at a most friendly _yadoya_, and my three +days here have been fully occupied and very pleasant. “Foreign food”—a +good beef-steak, an excellent curry, cucumbers, and foreign salt and +mustard, were at once obtained, and I felt my “eyes lightened” after +partaking of them. + +Kubota is a very attractive and purely Japanese town of 36,000 people, +the capital of Akita _ken_. A fine mountain, called Taiheisan, rises +above its fertile valley, and the Omono falls into the Sea of Japan close +to it. It has a number of _kurumas_, but, owing to heavy sand and the +badness of the roads, they can only go three miles in any direction. It +is a town of activity and brisk trade, and manufactures a silk fabric in +stripes of blue and black, and yellow and black, much used for making +_hakama_ and _kimonos_, a species of white silk _crêpe_ with a raised +woof, which brings a high price in Tôkiyô shops, _fusuma_, and clogs. +Though it is a castle town, it is free from the usual “deadly-lively” +look, and has an air of prosperity and comfort. Though it has few +streets of shops, it covers a great extent of ground with streets and +lanes of pretty, isolated dwelling-houses, surrounded by trees, gardens, +and well-trimmed hedges, each garden entered by a substantial gateway. +The existence of something like a middle class with home privacy and home +life is suggested by these miles of comfortable “suburban residences.” +Foreign influence is hardly at all felt, there is not a single foreigner +in Government or any other employment, and even the hospital was +organised from the beginning by Japanese doctors. + +This fact made me greatly desire to see it, but, on going there at the +proper hour for visitors, I was met by the Director with courteous but +vexatious denial. No foreigner could see it, he said, without sending +his passport to the Governor and getting a written order, so I complied +with these preliminaries, and 8 a.m. of the next day was fixed for my +visit Ito, who is lazy about interpreting for the lower orders, but +exerts himself to the utmost on such an occasion as this, went with me, +handsomely clothed in silk, as befitted an “Interpreter,” and surpassed +all his former efforts. + +The Director and the staff of six physicians, all handsomely dressed in +silk, met me at the top of the stairs, and conducted me to the management +room, where six clerks were writing. Here there was a table, solemnly +covered with a white cloth, and four chairs, on which the Director, the +Chief Physician, Ito, and I sat, and pipes, tea, and sweetmeats, were +produced. After this, accompanied by fifty medical students, whose +intelligent looks promise well for their success, we went round the +hospital, which is a large two-storied building in semi-European style, +but with deep verandahs all round. The upper floor is used for +class-rooms, and the lower accommodates 100 patients, besides a number of +resident students. Ten is the largest number treated in any one room, +and severe cases are treated in separate rooms. Gangrene has prevailed, +and the Chief Physician, who is at this time remodelling the hospital, +has closed some of the wards in consequence. There is a Lock Hospital +under the same roof. About fifty important operations are annually +performed under chloroform, but the people of Akita _ken_ are very +conservative, and object to part with their limbs and to foreign drugs. +This conservatism diminishes the number of patients. + +The odour of carbolic acid pervaded the whole hospital, and there were +spray producers enough to satisfy Mr. Lister! At the request of Dr. K. I +saw the dressing of some very severe wounds carefully performed with +carbolised gauze, under spray of carbolic acid, the fingers of the +surgeon and the instruments used being all carefully bathed in the +disinfectant. Dr. K. said it was difficult to teach the students the +extreme carefulness with regard to minor details which is required in the +antiseptic treatment, which he regards as one of the greatest discoveries +of this century. I was very much impressed with the fortitude shown by +the surgical patients, who went through very severe pain without a wince +or a moan. Eye cases are unfortunately very numerous. Dr. K. attributes +their extreme prevalence to overcrowding, defective ventilation, poor +living, and bad light. + +After our round we returned to the management room to find a meal laid +out in English style—coffee in cups with handles and saucers, and plates +with spoons. After this pipes were again produced, and the Director and +medical staff escorted me to the entrance, where we all bowed profoundly. +I was delighted to see that Dr. Kayabashi, a man under thirty, and fresh +from Tôkiyô, and all the staff and students were in the national dress, +with the _hakama_ of rich silk. It is a beautiful dress, and assists +dignity as much as the ill-fitting European costume detracts from it. +This was a very interesting visit, in spite of the difficulty of +communication through an interpreter. + +The public buildings, with their fine gardens, and the broad road near +which they stand, with its stone-faced embankments, are very striking in +such a far-off _ken_. Among the finest of the buildings is the Normal +School, where I shortly afterwards presented myself, but I was not +admitted till I had shown my passport and explained my objects in +travelling. These preliminaries being settled, Mr. Tomatsu Aoki, the +Chief Director, and Mr. Shude Kane Nigishi, the principal teacher, both +looking more like monkeys than men in their European clothes, lionised +me. + +The first was most trying, for he persisted in attempting to speak +English, of which he knows about as much as I know of Japanese, but the +last, after some grotesque attempts, accepted Ito’s services. The school +is a commodious Europeanised building, three stories high, and from its +upper balcony the view of the city, with its gray roofs and abundant +greenery, and surrounding mountains and valleys, is very fine. The +equipments of the different class-rooms surprised me, especially the +laboratory of the chemical class-room, and the truly magnificent +illustrative apparatus in the natural science class-room. Ganot’s +“Physics” is the text book of that department. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XXII. + + +A Silk Factory—Employment for Women—A Police Escort—The Japanese Police +Force. + + KUBOTA, _July_ 23. + +MY next visit was to a factory of handloom silk-weavers, where 180 hands, +half of them women, are employed. These new industrial openings for +respectable employment for women and girls are very important, and tend +in the direction of a much-needed social reform. The striped silk +fabrics produced are entirely for home consumption. + +Afterwards I went into the principal street, and, after a long search +through the shops, bought some condensed milk with the “Eagle” brand and +the label all right, but, on opening it, found it to contain small +pellets of a brownish, dried curd, with an unpleasant taste! As I was +sitting in the shop, half stifled by the crowd, the people suddenly fell +back to a respectful distance, leaving me breathing space, and a message +came from the chief of police to say that he was very sorry for the +crowding, and had ordered two policemen to attend upon me for the +remainder of my visit. The black and yellow uniforms were most truly +welcome, and since then I have escaped all annoyance. On my return I +found the card of the chief of police, who had left a message with the +house-master apologising for the crowd by saying that foreigners very +rarely visited Kubota, and he thought that the people had never seen a +foreign woman. + +I went afterwards to the central police station to inquire about an +inland route to Aomori, and received much courtesy, but no information. +The police everywhere are very gentle to the people,—a few quiet words or +a wave of the hand are sufficient, when they do not resist them. They +belong to the _samurai_ class, and, doubtless, their naturally superior +position weighs with the _heimin_. Their faces and a certain _hauteur_ +of manner show the indelible class distinction. The entire police force +of Japan numbers 23,300 educated men in the prime of life, and if 30 per +cent of them do wear spectacles, it does not detract from their +usefulness. 5600 of them are stationed at Yedo, as from thence they can +be easily sent wherever they are wanted, 1004 at Kiyôto, and 815 at +Osaka, and the remaining 10,000 are spread over the country. The police +force costs something over £400,000 annually, and certainly is very +efficient in preserving good order. The pay of ordinary constables +ranges from 6 to 10 _yen_ a month. An enormous quantity of superfluous +writing is done by all officialdom in Japan, and one usually sees +policemen writing. What comes of it I don’t know. They are mostly +intelligent and gentlemanly-looking young men, and foreigners in the +interior are really much indebted to them. If I am at any time in +difficulties I apply to them, and, though they are disposed to be +somewhat _de haut en bas_, they are sure to help one, except about +routes, of which they always profess ignorance. + +On the whole, I like Kubota better than any other Japanese town, perhaps +because it is so completely Japanese and has no air of having seen better +days. I no longer care to meet Europeans—indeed I should go far out of +my way to avoid them. I have become quite used to Japanese life, and +think that I learn more about it in travelling in this solitary way than +I should otherwise. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XXIII. + + +“A Plague of Immoderate Rain”—A Confidential Servant—Ito’s Diary—Ito’s +Excellences—Ito’s Faults—Prophecy of the Future of Japan—Curious +Queries—Superfine English—Economical Travelling—The Japanese Pack-horse +again. + + KUBOTA, _July_ 24. + +I AM here still, not altogether because the town is fascinating, but +because the rain is so ceaseless as to be truly “a plague of immoderate +rain and waters.” Travellers keep coming in with stories of the +impassability of the roads and the carrying away of bridges. Ito amuses +me very much by his remarks. He thinks that my visit to the school and +hospital must have raised Japan in my estimation, and he is talking +rather big. He asked me if I noticed that all the students kept their +mouths shut like educated men and residents of Tôkiyô, and that all +country people keep theirs open. I have said little about him for some +time, but I daily feel more dependent on him, not only for all +information, but actually for getting on. At night he has my watch, +passport, and half my money, and I often wonder what would become of me +if he absconded before morning. He is not a good boy. He has no moral +sense, according to our notions; he dislikes foreigners; his manner is +often very disagreeable; and yet I doubt whether I could have obtained a +more valuable servant and interpreter. When we left Tôkiyô he spoke +fairly good English, but by practice and industrious study he now speaks +better than any official interpreter that I have seen, and his vocabulary +is daily increasing. He never uses a word inaccurately when he has once +got hold of its meaning, and his memory never fails. He keeps a diary +both in English and Japanese, and it shows much painstaking observation. +He reads it to me sometimes, and it is interesting to hear what a young +man who has travelled as much as he has regards as novel in this northern +region. He has made a hotel book and a transport book, in which all the +bills and receipts are written, and he daily transliterates the names of +all places into English letters, and puts down the distances and the sums +paid for transport and hotels on each bill. + +He inquires the number of houses in each place from the police or +Transport Agent, and the special trade of each town, and notes them down +for me. He takes great pains to be accurate, and occasionally remarks +about some piece of information that he is not quite certain about, “If +it’s not true, it’s not worth having.” He is never late, never dawdles, +never goes out in the evening except on errands for me, never touches +_saké_, is never disobedient, never requires to be told the same thing +twice, is always within hearing, has a good deal of tact as to what he +repeats, and all with an undisguised view to his own interest. He sends +most of his wages to his mother, who is a widow—“It’s the custom of the +country”—and seems to spend the remainder on sweetmeats, tobacco, and the +luxury of frequent shampooing. + +That he would tell a lie if it served his purpose, and would “squeeze” up +to the limits of extortion, if he could do it unobserved, I have not the +slightest doubt. He seems to have but little heart, or any idea of any +but vicious pleasures. He has no religion of any kind; he has been too +much with foreigners for that. His frankness is something startling. He +has no idea of reticence on any subject; but probably I learn more about +things as they really are from this very defect. In virtue in man or +woman, except in that of his former master, he has little, if any belief. +He thinks that Japan is right in availing herself of the discoveries made +by foreigners, that they have as much to learn from her, and that she +will outstrip them in the race, because she takes all that is worth +having, and rejects the incubus of Christianity. Patriotism is, I think, +his strongest feeling, and I never met with such a boastful display of +it, except in a Scotchman or an American. He despises the uneducated, as +he can read and write both the syllabaries. For foreign rank or position +he has not an atom of reverence or value, but a great deal of both for +Japanese officialdom. He despises the intellects of women, but flirts in +a town-bred fashion with the simple tea-house girls. + +He is anxious to speak the very best English, and to say that a word is +slangy or common interdicts its use. Sometimes, when the weather is fine +and things go smoothly, he is in an excellent and communicative humour, +and talks a good deal as we travel. A few days ago I remarked, “What a +beautiful day this is!” and soon after, note-book in hand, he said, “You +say ‘a beautiful day.’ Is that better English than ‘a devilish fine +day,’ which most foreigners say?” I replied that it was “common,” and +“beautiful” has been brought out frequently since. Again, “When you ask +a question you never say, ‘What the d—l is it?’ as other foreigners do. +Is it proper for men to say it and not for women?” I told him it was +proper for neither, it was a very “common” word, and I saw that he erased +it from his note-book. At first he always used _fellows_ for men, as, +“Will you have one or two _fellows_ for your _kuruma_?” “_fellows_ and +women.” At last he called the Chief Physician of the hospital here a +_fellow_, on which I told him that it was slightly slangy, and at least +“colloquial,” and for two days he has scrupulously spoken of man and men. +To-day he brought a boy with very sore eyes to see me, on which I +exclaimed, “Poor little fellow!” and this evening he said, “You called +that boy a fellow, I thought it was a bad word!” The habits of many of +the Yokohama foreigners have helped to obliterate any distinctions +between right and wrong, if he ever made any. If he wishes to tell me +that he has seen a very tipsy man, he always says he has seen “a fellow +as drunk as an Englishman.” At Nikkô I asked him how many legal wives a +man could have in Japan, and he replied, “Only one lawful one, but as +many others (_mekaké_) as he can support, just as Englishmen have.” He +never forgets a correction. Till I told him it was slangy he always +spoke of inebriated people as “tight,” and when I gave him the words +“tipsy,” “drunk,” “intoxicated,” he asked me which one would use in +writing good English, and since then he has always spoken of people as +“intoxicated.” + +He naturally likes large towns, and tries to deter me from taking the +“unbeaten tracks,” which I prefer—but when he finds me immovable, always +concludes his arguments with the same formula, “Well, of course you can +do as you like; it’s all the same to me.” I do not think he cheats me to +any extent. Board, lodging, and travelling expenses for us both are +about 6s. 6d. a day, and about 2s. 6d. when we are stationary, and this +includes all gratuities and extras. True, the board and lodging consist +of tea, rice, and eggs, a copper basin of water, an _andon_ and an empty +room, for, though there are plenty of chickens in all the villages, the +people won’t be bribed to sell them for killing, though they would gladly +part with them if they were to be kept to lay eggs. Ito amuses me nearly +every night with stories of his unsuccessful attempts to provide me with +animal food. + +The travelling is the nearest approach to “a ride on a rail” that I have +ever made. I have now ridden, or rather sat, upon seventy-six horses, +all horrible. They all stumble. The loins of some are higher than their +shoulders, so that one slips forwards, and the back-bones of all are +ridgy. Their hind feet grow into points which turn up, and their hind +legs all turn outwards, like those of a cat, from carrying heavy burdens +at an early age. The same thing gives them a roll in their gait, which +is increased by their awkward shoes. In summer they feed chiefly on +leaves, supplemented with mashes of bruised beans, and instead of straw +they sleep on beds of leaves. In their stalls their heads are tied +“where their tails should be,” and their fodder is placed not in a +manger, but in a swinging bucket. Those used in this part of Japan are +worth from 15 to 30 _yen_. I have not seen any overloading or +ill-treatment; they are neither kicked, nor beaten, nor threatened in +rough tones, and when they die they are decently buried, and have stones +placed over their graves. It might be well if the end of a worn-out +horse were somewhat accelerated, but this is mainly a Buddhist region, +and the aversion to taking animal life is very strong. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XXIV. + + +The Symbolism of Seaweed—Afternoon Visitors—An Infant Prodigy—A Feat in +Caligraphy—Child Worship—A Borrowed Dress—A _Trousseau_—House +Furniture—The Marriage Ceremony. + + KUBOTA, _July_ 25. + +THE weather at last gives a hope of improvement, and I think I shall +leave to-morrow. I had written this sentence when Ito came in to say +that the man in the next house would like to see my stretcher and +mosquito net, and had sent me a bag of cakes with the usual bit of +seaweed attached, to show that it was a present. The Japanese believe +themselves to be descended from a race of fishermen; they are proud of +it, and Yebis, the god of fishermen, is one of the most popular of the +household divinities. The piece of seaweed sent with a present to any +ordinary person, and the piece of dried fish-skin which accompanies a +present to the Mikado, record the origin of the race, and at the same +time typify the dignity of simple industry. + +Of course I consented to receive the visitor, and with the mercury at +84°, five men, two boys, and five women entered my small, low room, and +after bowing to the earth three times, sat down on the floor. They had +evidently come to spend the afternoon. Trays of tea and sweetmeats were +handed round, and a _labako-bon_ was brought in, and they all smoked, as +I had told Ito that all usual courtesies were to be punctiliously +performed. They expressed their gratification at seeing so “honourable” +a traveller. I expressed mine at seeing so much of their “honourable” +country. Then we all bowed profoundly. Then I laid Brunton’s map on the +floor and showed them my route, showed them the Asiatic Society’s +Transactions, and how we read from left to right, instead of from top to +bottom, showed them my knitting, which amazed them, and my Berlin work, +and then had nothing left. Then they began to entertain me, and I found +that the real object of their visit was to exhibit an “infant prodigy,” a +boy of four, with a head shaven all but a tuft on the top, a face of +preternatural thoughtfulness and gravity, and the self-possessed and +dignified demeanour of an elderly man. He was dressed in scarlet silk +_hakama_, and a dark, striped, blue silk _kimono_, and fanned himself +gracefully, looking at everything as intelligently and courteously as the +others. To talk child’s talk to him, or show him toys, or try to amuse +him, would have been an insult. The monster has taught himself to read +and write, and has composed poetry. His father says that he never plays, +and understands everything just like a grown person. The intention was +that I should ask him to write, and I did so. + +It was a solemn performance. A red blanket was laid in the middle of the +floor, with a lacquer writing-box upon it. The creature rubbed the ink +with water on the inkstone, unrolled four rolls of paper, five feet long, +and inscribed them with Chinese characters, nine inches long, of the most +complicated kind, with firm and graceful curves of his brush, and with +the ease and certainty of Giotto in turning his O. He sealed them with +his seal in vermilion, bowed three times, and the performance was ended. +People get him to write _kakemonos_ and signboards for them, and he had +earned 10 _yen_, or about £2, that day. His father is going to travel to +Kiyôto with him, to see if any one under fourteen can write as well. I +never saw such an exaggerated instance of child worship. Father, mother, +friends, and servants, treated him as if he were a prince. + +The house-master, who is a most polite man, procured me an invitation to +the marriage of his niece, and I have just returned from it. He has +three “wives” himself. One keeps a _yadoya_ in Kiyôto, another in +Morioka, and the third and youngest is with him here. From her limitless +stores of apparel she chose what she considered a suitable dress for +me—an under-dress of sage green silk _crêpe_, a _kimono_ of soft, green, +striped silk of a darker shade, with a fold of white _crêpe_, spangled +with gold at the neck, and a girdle of sage green corded silk, with the +family badge here and there upon it in gold. I went with the +house-master, Ito, to his disgust, not being invited, and his absence was +like the loss of one of my senses, as I could not get any explanations +till afterwards. + +The ceremony did not correspond with the rules laid down for marriages in +the books of etiquette that I have seen, but this is accounted for by the +fact that they were for persons of the _samurai_ class, while this bride +and bridegroom, though the children of well-to-do merchants, belong to +the _heimin_. + +In this case the _trousseau_ and furniture were conveyed to the +bridegroom’s house in the early morning, and I was allowed to go to see +them. There were several girdles of silk embroidered with gold, several +pieces of brocaded silk for _kimonos_, several pieces of silk _crêpe_, a +large number of made-up garments, a piece of white silk, six barrels of +wine or _saké_, and seven sorts of condiments. Jewellery is not worn by +women in Japan. + +The furniture consisted of two wooden pillows, finely lacquered, one of +them containing a drawer for ornamental hairpins, some cotton _futons_, +two very handsome silk ones, a few silk cushions, a lacquer workbox, a +spinning-wheel, a lacquer rice bucket and ladle, two ornamental iron +kettles, various kitchen utensils, three bronze _hibachi_, two +_tabako-bons_, some lacquer trays, and _zens_, china kettles, teapots, +and cups, some lacquer rice bowls, two copper basins, a few towels, some +bamboo switches, and an inlaid lacquer _étagère_. As the things are all +very handsome the parents must be well off. The _saké_ is sent in +accordance with rigid etiquette. + +The bridegroom is twenty-two, the bride seventeen, and very comely, so +far as I could see through the paint with which she was profusely +disfigured. Towards evening she was carried in a _norimon_, accompanied +by her parents and friends, to the bridegroom’s house, each member of the +procession carrying a Chinese lantern. When the house-master and I +arrived the wedding party was assembled in a large room, the parents and +friends of the bridegroom being seated on one side, and those of the +bride on the other. Two young girls, very beautifully dressed, brought +in the bride, a very pleasing-looking creature dressed entirely in white +silk, with a veil of white silk covering her from head to foot. The +bridegroom, who was already seated in the middle of the room near its +upper part, did not rise to receive her, and kept his eyes fixed on the +ground, and she sat opposite to him, but never looked up. A low table +was placed in front, on which there was a two-spouted kettle full of +_saké_, some _saké_ bottles, and some cups, and on another there were +some small figures representing a fir-tree, a plum-tree in blossom, and a +stork standing on a tortoise, the last representing length of days, and +the former the beauty of women and the strength of men. Shortly a _zen_, +loaded with eatables, was placed before each person, and the feast began, +accompanied by the noises which signify gastronomic gratification. + +After this, which was only a preliminary, the two girls who brought in +the bride handed round a tray with three cups containing _saké_, which +each person was expected to drain till he came to the god of luck at the +bottom. + +The bride and bridegroom then retired, but shortly reappeared in other +dresses of ceremony, but the bride still wore her white silk veil, which +one day will be her shroud. An old gold lacquer tray was produced, with +three _saké_ cups, which were filled by the two bridesmaids, and placed +before the parents-in-law and the bride. The father-in-law drank three +cups, and handed the cup to the bride, who, after drinking two cups, +received from her father-in-law a present in a box, drank the third cup, +and then returned the cup to the father-in-law, who again drank three +cups. Rice and fish were next brought in, after which the bridegroom’s +mother took the second cup, and filled and emptied it three times, after +which she passed it to the bride, who drank two cups, received a present +from her mother-in-law in a lacquer box, drank a third cup, and gave the +cup to the elder lady, who again drank three cups. Soup was then served, +and then the bride drank once from the third cup, and handed it to her +husband’s father, who drank three more cups, the bride took it again, and +drank two, and lastly the mother-in-law drank three more cups. Now, if +you possess the clear-sightedness which I laboured to preserve, you will +perceive that each of the three had inbibed nine cups of some generous +liquor! {168} + +After this the two bridesmaids raised the two-spouted kettle and +presented it to the lips of the married pair, who drank from it +alternately, till they had exhausted its contents. This concluding +ceremony is said to be emblematic of the tasting together of the joys and +sorrows of life. And so they became man and wife till death or divorce +parted them. + +This drinking of _saké_ or wine, according to prescribed usage, appeared +to constitute the “marriage service,” to which none but relations were +bidden. Immediately afterwards the wedding guests arrived, and the +evening was spent in feasting and _saké_ drinking; but the fare is +simple, and intoxication is happily out of place at a marriage feast. +Every detail is a matter of etiquette, and has been handed down for +centuries. Except for the interest of the ceremony, in that light it was +a very dull and tedious affair, conducted in melancholy silence, and the +young bride, with her whitened face and painted lips, looked and moved +like an automaton. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XXV. + + +A Holiday Scene—A _Matsuri_—Attractions of the Revel—_Matsuri_ Cars—Gods +and Demons—A Possible Harbour—A Village Forge—Prosperity of _Saké_ +Brewers—A “Great Sight.” + + TSUGURATA, _July_ 27. + +THREE miles of good road thronged with half the people of Kubota on foot +and in _kurumas_, red vans drawn by horses, pairs of policemen in +_kurumas_, hundreds of children being carried, hundreds more on foot, +little girls, formal and precocious looking, with hair dressed with +scarlet _crépe_ and flowers, hobbling toilsomely along on high clogs, +groups of men and women, never intermixing, stalls driving a “roaring +trade” in cakes and sweetmeats, women making _mochi_ as fast as the +buyers ate it, broad rice-fields rolling like a green sea on the right, +an ocean of liquid turquoise on the left, the grey roofs of Kubota +looking out from their green surroundings, Taiheisan in deepest indigo +blocking the view to the south, a glorious day, and a summer sun +streaming over all, made up the cheeriest and most festal scene that I +have seen in Japan; men, women, and children, vans and _kurumas_, +policemen and horsemen, all on their way to a mean-looking town, Minato, +the junk port of Kubota, which was keeping _matsuri_, or festival, in +honour of the birthday of the god Shimmai. Towering above the low grey +houses there were objects which at first looked like five enormous black +fingers, then like trees with their branches wrapped in black, and +then—comparisons ceased; they were a mystery. + +Dismissing the _kurumas_, which could go no farther, we dived into the +crowd, which was wedged along a mean street, nearly a mile long—a +miserable street of poor tea-houses and poor shop-fronts; but, in fact, +you could hardly see the street for the people. Paper lanterns were hung +close together along its whole length. There were rude scaffoldings +supporting matted and covered platforms, on which people were drinking +tea and _saké_ and enjoying the crowd below; monkey theatres and dog +theatres, two mangy sheep and a lean pig attracting wondering crowds, for +neither of these animals is known in this region of Japan; a booth in +which a woman was having her head cut off every half-hour for 2 _sen_ a +spectator; cars with roofs like temples, on which, with forty men at the +ropes, dancing children of the highest class were being borne in +procession; a theatre with an open front, on the boards of which two men +in antique dresses, with sleeves touching the ground, were performing +with tedious slowness a classic dance of tedious posturings, which +consisted mainly in dexterous movements of the aforesaid sleeves, and +occasional emphatic stampings, and utterances of the word _Nô_ in a +hoarse howl. It is needless to say that a foreign lady was not the least +of the attractions of the fair. The _cultus_ of children was in full +force, all sorts of masks, dolls, sugar figures, toys, and sweetmeats +were exposed for sale on mats on the ground, and found their way into the +hands and sleeves of the children, for no Japanese parent would ever +attend a _matsuri_ without making an offering to his child. + +The police told me that there were 22,000 strangers in Minato, yet for +32,000 holiday-makers a force of twenty-five policemen was sufficient. I +did not see one person under the influence of _saké_ up to 3 p.m., when I +left, nor a solitary instance of rude or improper behaviour, nor was I in +any way rudely crowded upon, for, even where the crowd was densest, the +people of their own accord formed a ring and left me breathing space. + +We went to the place where the throng was greatest, round the two great +_matsuri_ cars, whose colossal erections we had seen far off. These were +structures of heavy beams, thirty feet long, with eight huge, solid +wheels. Upon them there were several scaffoldings with projections, like +flat surfaces of cedar branches, and two special peaks of unequal height +at the top, the whole being nearly fifty feet from the ground. All these +projections were covered with black cotton cloth, from which branches of +pines protruded. In the middle three small wheels, one above another, +over which striped white cotton was rolling perpetually, represented a +waterfall; at the bottom another arrangement of white cotton represented +a river, and an arrangement of blue cotton, fitfully agitated by a pair +of bellows below, represented the sea. The whole is intended to +represent a mountain on which the Shintô gods slew some devils, but +anything more rude and barbarous could scarcely be seen. On the fronts +of each car, under a canopy, were thirty performers on thirty diabolical +instruments, which rent the air with a truly infernal discord, and +suggested devils rather than their conquerors. High up on the flat +projections there were groups of monstrous figures. On one a giant in +brass armour, much like the _Niô_ of temple gates, was killing a +revolting-looking demon. On another a _daimiyô’s_ daughter, in robes of +cloth of gold with satin sleeves richly flowered, was playing on the +_samisen_. On another a hunter, thrice the size of life, was killing a +wild horse equally magnified, whose hide was represented by the hairy +wrappings of the leaves of the _Chamærops excelsa_. On others +highly-coloured gods, and devils equally hideous, were grouped +miscellaneously. These two cars were being drawn up and down the street +at the rate of a mile in three hours by 200 men each, numbers of men with +levers assisting the heavy wheels out of the mud-holes. This _matsuri_, +which, like an English fair, feast, or revel, has lost its original +religious significance, goes on for three days and nights, and this was +its third and greatest day. + +We left on mild-tempered horses, quite unlike the fierce fellows of +Yamagata _ken_. Between Minato and Kado there is a very curious lagoon +on the left, about 17 miles long by 16 broad, connected with the sea by a +narrow channel, guarded by two high hills called Shinzan and Honzan. Two +Dutch engineers are now engaged in reporting on its capacities, and if +its outlet could be deepened without enormous cost it would give +north-western Japan the harbour it so greatly needs. Extensive +rice-fields and many villages lie along the road, which is an avenue of +deep sand and ancient pines much contorted and gnarled. Down the pine +avenue hundreds of people on horseback and on foot were trooping into +Minato from all the farming villages, glad in the glorious sunshine which +succeeded four days of rain. There were hundreds of horses, +wonderful-looking animals in bravery of scarlet cloth and lacquer and +fringed nets of leather, and many straw wisps and ropes, with Gothic +roofs for saddles, and dependent panniers on each side, carrying two +grave and stately-looking children in each, and sometimes a father or a +fifth child on the top of the pack-saddle. + +I was so far from well that I was obliged to sleep at the wretched +village of Abukawa, in a loft alive with fleas, where the rice was too +dirty to be eaten, and where the house-master’s wife, who sat for an hour +on my floor, was sorely afflicted with skin disease. The clay houses +have disappeared and the villages are now built of wood, but Abukawa is +an antiquated, ramshackle place, propped up with posts and slanting beams +projecting into the roadway for the entanglement of unwary passengers. + +The village smith was opposite, but he was not a man of ponderous +strength, nor were there those wondrous flights and scintillations of +sparks which were the joy of our childhood in the Tattenhall forge. A +fire of powdered charcoal on the floor, always being trimmed and +replenished by a lean and grimy satellite, a man still leaner and +grimier, clothed in goggles and a girdle, always sitting in front of it, +heating and hammering iron bars with his hands, with a clink which went +on late into the night, and blowing his bellows with his toes; bars and +pieces of rusty iron pinned on the smoky walls, and a group of idle men +watching his skilful manipulation, were the sights of the Abukawa smithy, +and kept me thralled in the balcony, though the whole clothesless +population stood for the whole evening in front of the house with a +silent, open-mouthed stare. + +Early in the morning the same melancholy crowd appeared in the dismal +drizzle, which turned into a tremendous torrent, which has lasted for +sixteen hours. Low hills, broad rice valleys in which people are +puddling the rice a second time to kill the weeds, bad roads, pretty +villages, much indigo, few passengers, were the features of the day’s +journey. At Morioka and several other villages in this region I noticed +that if you see one large, high, well-built house, standing in enclosed +grounds, with a look of wealth about it, it is always that of the _saké_ +brewer. A bush denotes the manufacture as well as the sale of _saké_, +and these are of all sorts, from the mangy bit of fir which has seen long +service to the vigorous truss of pine constantly renewed. It is curious +that this should formerly have been the sign of the sale of wine in +England. + +The wind and rain were something fearful all that afternoon. I could not +ride, so I tramped on foot for some miles under an avenue of pines, +through water a foot deep, and, with my paper waterproof soaked through, +reached Toyôka half drowned and very cold, to shiver over a _hibachi_ in +a clean loft, hung with my dripping clothes, which had to be put on wet +the next day. By 5 a.m. all Toyôka assembled, and while I took my +breakfast I was not only the “cynosure” of the eyes of all the people +outside, but of those of about forty more who were standing in the +_doma_, looking up the ladder. When asked to depart by the house-master, +they said, “It’s neither fair nor neighbourly in you to keep this great +sight to yourself, seeing that our lives may pass without again looking +on a foreign woman;” so they were allowed to remain! + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XXVI. + + +The Fatigues of Travelling—Torrents and Mud—Ito’s Surliness—The Blind +Shampooers—A Supposed Monkey Theatre—A Suspended Ferry—A Difficult +Transit—Perils on the Yonetsurugawa—A Boatman Drowned—Nocturnal +Disturbances—A Noisy Yadoya—Storm-bound Travellers—_Hai_! _Hai_!—More +Nocturnal Disturbances. + + ODATÉ, _July_ 29. + +I HAVE been suffering so much from my spine that I have been unable to +travel more than seven or eight miles daily for several days, and even +that with great difficulty. I try my own saddle, then a pack-saddle, +then walk through the mud; but I only get on because getting on is a +necessity, and as soon as I reach the night’s halting-place I am obliged +to lie down at once. Only strong people should travel in northern Japan. +The inevitable fatigue is much increased by the state of the weather, and +doubtless my impressions of the country are affected by it also, as a +hamlet in a quagmire in a gray mist or a soaking rain is a far less +delectable object than the same hamlet under bright sunshine. There has +not been such a season for thirty years. The rains have been tremendous. +I have lived in soaked clothes, in spite of my rain-cloak, and have slept +on a soaked stretcher in spite of all waterproof wrappings for several +days, and still the weather shows no signs of improvement, and the rivers +are so high on the northern road that I am storm-bound as well as +pain-bound here. Ito shows his sympathy for me by intense surliness, +though he did say very sensibly, “I’m very sorry for you, but it’s no use +saying so over and over again; as I can do nothing for you, you’d better +send for the blind man!” + +In Japanese towns and villages you hear every evening a man (or men) +making a low peculiar whistle as he walks along, and in large towns the +noise is quite a nuisance. It is made by blind men; but a blind beggar +is never seen throughout Japan, and the blind are an independent, +respected, and well-to-do class, carrying on the occupations of +shampooing, money-lending, and music. + + [Picture: Myself in a Straw Rain-Cloak] + +We have had a very severe journey from Toyôka. That day the rain was +ceaseless, and in the driving mists one could see little but low hills +looming on the horizon, pine barrens, scrub, and flooded rice-fields; +varied by villages standing along roads which were quagmires a foot deep, +and where the clothing was specially ragged and dirty. Hinokiyama, a +village of _samurai_, on a beautiful slope, was an exception, with its +fine detached houses, pretty gardens, deep-roofed gateways, grass and +stone-faced terraces, and look of refined, quiet comfort. Everywhere +there was a quantity of indigo, as is necessary, for nearly all the +clothing of the lower classes is blue. Near a large village we were +riding on a causeway through the rice-fields, Ito on the pack-horse in +front, when we met a number of children returning from school, who, on +getting near us, turned, ran away, and even jumped into the ditches, +screaming as they ran. The _mago_ ran after them, caught the hindmost +boy, and dragged him back—the boy scared and struggling, the man +laughing. The boy said that they thought that Ito was a monkey-player, +_i.e._ the keeper of a monkey theatre, I a big ape, and the poles of my +bed the scaffolding of the stage! + +Splashing through mire and water we found that the people of Tubiné +wished to detain us, saying that all the ferries were stopped in +consequence of the rise in the rivers; but I had been so often misled by +false reports that I took fresh horses and went on by a track along a +very pretty hillside, overlooking the Yonetsurugawa, a large and swollen +river, which nearer the sea had spread itself over the whole country. +Torrents of rain were still falling, and all out-of-doors industries were +suspended. Straw rain-cloaks hanging to dry dripped under all the eaves, +our paper cloaks were sodden, our dripping horses steamed, and thus we +slid down a steep descent into the hamlet of Kiriishi, thirty-one houses +clustered under persimmon trees under a wooded hillside, all standing in +a quagmire, and so abject and filthy that one could not ask for five +minutes’ shelter in any one of them. Sure enough, on the bank of the +river, which was fully 400 yards wide, and swirling like a mill-stream +with a suppressed roar, there was an official order prohibiting the +crossing of man or beast, and before I had time to think the _mago_ had +deposited the baggage on an islet in the mire and was over the crest of +the hill. I wished that the Government was a little less paternal. + +Just in the nick of time we discerned a punt drifting down the river on +the opposite side, where it brought up, and landed a man, and Ito and two +others yelled, howled, and waved so lustily as to attract its notice, and +to my joy an answering yell came across the roar and rush of the river. +The torrent was so strong that the boatmen had to pole up on that side +for half a mile, and in about three-quarters of an hour they reached our +side. They were returning to Kotsunagi—the very place I wished to +reach—but, though only 2½ miles off, the distance took nearly four hours +of the hardest work I ever saw done by men. Every moment I expected to +see them rupture blood-vessels or tendons. All their muscles quivered. +It is a mighty river, and was from eight to twelve feet deep, and +whirling down in muddy eddies; and often with their utmost efforts in +poling, when it seemed as if poles or backs must break, the boat hung +trembling and stationary for three or four minutes at a time. After the +slow and eventless tramp of the last few days this was an exciting +transit. Higher up there was a flooded wood, and, getting into this, the +men aided themselves considerably by hauling by the trees; but when we +got out of this, another river joined the Yonetsurugawa, which with added +strength rushed and roared more wildly. + +I had long been watching a large house-boat far above us on the other +side, which was being poled by desperate efforts by ten men. At that +point she must have been half a mile off, when the stream overpowered the +crew and in no time she swung round and came drifting wildly down and +across the river, broadside on to us. We could not stir against the +current, and had large trees on our immediate left, and for a moment it +was a question whether she would not smash us to atoms. Ito was livid +with fear; his white, appalled face struck me as ludicrous, for I had no +other thought than the imminent peril of the large boat with her freight +of helpless families, when, just as she was within two feet of us, she +struck a stem and glanced off. Then her crew grappled a headless trunk +and got their hawser round it, and eight of them, one behind the other, +hung on to it, when it suddenly snapped, seven fell backwards, and the +forward one went overboard to be no more seen. Some house that night was +desolate. Reeling downwards, the big mast and spar of the ungainly craft +caught in a tree, giving her such a check that they were able to make her +fast. It was a saddening incident. I asked Ito what he felt when we +seemed in peril, and he replied, “I thought I’d been good to my mother, +and honest, and I hoped I should go to a good place.” + +The fashion of boats varies much on different rivers. On this one there +are two sizes. Ours was a small one, flat-bottomed, 25 feet long by 2½ +broad, drawing 6 inches, very low in the water, and with sides slightly +curved inwards. The prow forms a gradual long curve from the body of the +boat, and is very high. + +The mists rolled away as dusk came on, and revealed a lovely country with +much picturesqueness of form, and near Kotsunagi the river disappears +into a narrow gorge with steep, sentinel hills, dark with pine and +cryptomeria. To cross the river we had to go fully a mile above the +point aimed at, and then a few minutes of express speed brought us to a +landing in a deep, tough quagmire in a dark wood, through which we groped +our lamentable way to the _yadoya_. A heavy mist came on, and the rain +returned in torrents; the _doma_ was ankle deep in black slush. The +_daidokoro_ was open to the roof, roof and rafters were black with smoke, +and a great fire of damp wood was smoking lustily. Round some live +embers in the _irori_ fifteen men, women, and children were lying, doing +nothing, by the dim light of an _andon_. It was picturesque decidedly, +and I was well disposed to be content when the production of some +handsome _fusuma_ created _daimiyô’s_ rooms out of the farthest part of +the dim and wandering space, opening upon a damp garden, into which the +rain splashed all night. + +The solitary spoil of the day’s journey was a glorious lily, which I +presented to the house-master, and in the morning it was blooming on the +_kami-dana_ in a small vase of priceless old Satsuma china. I was awoke +out of a sound sleep by Ito coming in with a rumour, brought by some +travellers, that the Prime Minister had been assassinated, and fifty +policemen killed! [This was probably a distorted version of the partial +mutiny of the Imperial Guard, which I learned on landing in Yezo.] Very +wild political rumours are in the air in these outlandish regions, and it +is not very wonderful that the peasantry lack confidence in the existing +order of things after the changes of the last ten years, and the recent +assassination of the Home Minister. I did not believe the rumour, for +fanaticism, even in its wildest moods, usually owes some allegiance to +common sense; but it was disturbing, as I have naturally come to feel a +deep interest in Japanese affairs. A few hours later Ito again presented +himself with a bleeding cut on his temple. In lighting his pipe—an +odious nocturnal practice of the Japanese—he had fallen over the edge of +the fire-pot. I always sleep in a Japanese _kimona_ to be ready for +emergencies, and soon bound up his head, and slept again, to be awoke +early by another deluge. + +We made an early start, but got over very little ground, owing to bad +roads and long delays. All day the rain came down in even torrents, the +tracks were nearly impassable, my horse fell five times, I suffered +severely from pain and exhaustion, and almost fell into despair about +ever reaching the sea. In these wild regions there are no _kago_ or +_norimons_ to be had, and a pack-horse is the only conveyance, and +yesterday, having abandoned my own saddle, I had the bad luck to get a +pack-saddle with specially angular and uncompromising peaks, with a +soaked and extremely unwashed _futon_ on the top, spars, tackle, ridges, +and furrows of the most exasperating description, and two nooses of rope +to hold on by as the animal slid down hill on his haunches, or let me +almost slide over his tail as he scrambled and plunged up hill. + +It was pretty country, even in the downpour, when white mists parted and +fir-crowned heights looked out for a moment, or we slid down into a deep +glen with mossy boulders, lichen-covered stumps, ferny carpet, and damp, +balsamy smell of pyramidal cryptomeria, and a tawny torrent dashing +through it in gusts of passion. Then there were low hills, much scrub, +immense rice-fields, and violent inundations. But it is not pleasant, +even in the prettiest country, to cling on to a pack-saddle with a +saturated quilt below you and the water slowly soaking down through your +wet clothes into your boots, knowing all the time that when you halt you +must sleep on a wet bed, and change into damp clothes, and put on the wet +ones again the next morning. The villages were poor, and most of the +houses were of boards rudely nailed together for ends, and for sides +straw rudely tied on; they had no windows, and smoke came out of every +crack. They were as unlike the houses which travellers see in southern +Japan as a “black hut” in Uist is like a cottage in a trim village in +Kent. These peasant proprietors have much to learn of the art of living. +At Tsuguriko, the next stage, where the Transport Office was so dirty +that I was obliged to sit in the street in the rain, they told us that we +could only get on a _ri_ farther, because the bridges were all carried +away and the fords were impassable; but I engaged horses, and, by dint of +British doggedness and the willingness of the _mago_, I got the horses +singly and without their loads in small punts across the swollen waters +of the Hayakuchi, the Yuwasé, and the Mochida, and finally forded three +branches of my old friend the Yonetsurugawa, with the foam of its +hurrying waters whitening the men’s shoulders and the horses’ packs, and +with a hundred Japanese looking on at the “folly” of the foreigner. + +I like to tell you of kind people everywhere, and the two _mago_ were +specially so, for, when they found that I was pushing on to Yezo for fear +of being laid up in the interior wilds, they did all they could to help +me; lifted me gently from the horse, made steps of their backs for me to +mount, and gathered for me handfuls of red berries, which I ate out of +politeness, though they tasted of some nauseous drug. They suggested +that I should stay at the picturesquely-situated old village of +Kawaguchi, but everything about it was mildewed and green with damp, and +the stench from the green and black ditches with which it abounded was so +overpowering, even in passing through, that I was obliged to ride on to +Odaté, a crowded, forlorn, half-tumbling-to-pieces town of 8000 people, +with bark roofs held down by stones. + +The _yadoyas_ are crowded with storm-staid travellers, and I had a weary +tramp from one to another, almost sinking from pain, pressed upon by an +immense crowd, and frequently bothered by a policeman, who followed me +from one place to the other, making wholly unrighteous demands for my +passport at that most inopportune time. After a long search I could get +nothing better than this room, with _fusuma_ of tissue paper, in the +centre of the din of the house, close to the _doma_ and _daidokoro_. +Fifty travellers, nearly all men, are here, mostly speaking at the top of +their voices, and in a provincial jargon which exasperates Ito. Cooking, +bathing, eating, and, worst of all, perpetual drawing water from a well +with a creaking hoisting apparatus, are going on from 4.30 in the morning +till 11.30 at night, and on both evenings noisy mirth, of alcoholic +inspiration, and dissonant performances by _geishas_ have added to the +din. + +In all places lately _Hai_, “yes,” has been pronounced _Hé_, _Chi_, _Na_, +_Né_, to Ito’s great contempt. It sounds like an expletive or +interjection rather than a response, and seems used often as a sign of +respect or attention only. Often it is loud and shrill, then guttural, +at times little more than a sigh. In these _yadoyas_ every sound is +audible, and I hear low rumbling of mingled voices, and above all the +sharp _Hai_, _Hai_ of the tea-house girls in full chorus from every +quarter of the house. The habit of saying it is so strong that a man +roused out of sleep jumps up with _Hai_, _Hai_, and often, when I speak +to Ito in English, a stupid Hebe sitting by answers _Hai_. + +I don’t want to convey a false impression of the noise here. It would be +at least three times as great were I in equally close proximity to a +large hotel kitchen in England, with fifty Britons only separated from me +by paper partitions. I had not been long in bed on Saturday night when I +was awoke by Ito bringing in an old hen which he said he could stew till +it was tender, and I fell asleep again with its dying squeak in my ears, +to be awoke a second time by two policemen wanting for some occult reason +to see my passport, and a third time by two men with lanterns scrambling +and fumbling about the room for the strings of a mosquito net, which they +wanted for another traveller. These are among the ludicrous incidents of +Japanese travelling. About five Ito woke me by saying he was quite sure +that the _moxa_ would be the thing to cure my spine, and, as we were +going to stay all day, he would go and fetch an operator; but I rejected +this as emphatically as the services of the blind man! Yesterday a man +came and pasted slips of paper over all the “peep holes” in the _shôji_, +and I have been very little annoyed, even though the _yadoya_ is so +crowded. + +The rain continues to come down in torrents, and rumours are hourly +arriving of disasters to roads and bridges on the northern route. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XXVII. + + +Good-tempered Intoxication—The Effect of Sunshine—A tedious +Altercation—Evening Occupations—Noisy Talk—Social Gathering—Unfair +Comparisons. + + SHIRASAWA, _July_ 29. + +EARLY this morning the rain-clouds rolled themselves up and disappeared, +and the bright blue sky looked as if it had been well washed. I had to +wait till noon before the rivers became fordable, and my day’s journey is +only seven miles, as it is not possible to go farther till more of the +water runs off. We had very limp, melancholy horses, and my _mago_ was +half-tipsy, and sang, talked, and jumped the whole way. _Saké_ is +frequently taken warm, and in that state produces a very noisy but +good-tempered intoxication. I have seen a good many intoxicated persons, +but never one in the least degree quarrelsome; and the effect very soon +passes off, leaving, however, an unpleasant nausea for two or three days +as a warning against excess. The abominable concoctions known under the +names of beer, wine, and brandy, produce a bad-tempered and prolonged +intoxication, and _delirium tremens_, rarely known as a result of _saké_ +drinking, is being introduced under their baleful influence. + +The sun shone gloriously and brightened the hill-girdled valley in which +Odaté stands into positive beauty, with the narrow river flinging its +bright waters over green and red shingle, lighting it up in glints among +the conical hills, some richly wooded with _coniferæ_, and others merely +covered with scrub, which were tumbled about in picturesque confusion. +When Japan gets the sunshine, its forest-covered hills and garden-like +valleys are turned into paradise. In a journey of 600 miles there has +hardly been a patch of country which would not have been beautiful in +sunlight. + +We crossed five severe fords with the water half-way up the horses’ +bodies, in one of which the strong current carried my _mago_ off his +feet, and the horse towed him ashore, singing and capering, his drunken +glee nothing abated by his cold bath. Everything is in a state of wreck. +Several river channels have been formed in places where there was only +one; there is not a trace of the road for a considerable distance, not a +bridge exists for ten miles, and a great tract of country is covered with +boulders, uprooted trees, and logs floated from the mountain sides. +Already, however, these industrious peasants are driving piles, carrying +soil for embankments in creels on horses’ backs, and making ropes of +stones to prevent a recurrence of the calamity. About here the female +peasants wear for field-work a dress which pleases me much by its +suitability—light blue trousers, with a loose sack over them, confined at +the waist by a girdle. + +On arriving here in much pain, and knowing that the road was not open any +farther, I was annoyed by a long and angry conversation between the +house-master and Ito, during which the horses were not unloaded, and the +upshot of it was that the man declined to give me shelter, saying that +the police had been round the week before giving notice that no foreigner +was to be received without first communicating with the nearest police +station, which, in this instance, is three hours off. I said that the +authorities of Akita _ken_ could not by any local regulations override +the Imperial edict under which passports are issued; but he said he +should be liable to a fine and the withdrawal of his license if he +violated the rule. No foreigner, he said, had ever lodged in Shirasawa, +and I have no doubt that he added that he hoped no foreigner would ever +seek lodgings again. My passport was copied and sent off by special +runner, as I should have deeply regretted bringing trouble on the poor +man by insisting on my rights, and in much trepidation he gave me a room +open on one side to the village, and on another to a pond, over which, as +if to court mosquitoes, it is partially built. I cannot think how the +Japanese can regard a hole full of dirty water as an ornamental appendage +to a house. + +My hotel expenses (including Ito’s) are less than 3s. a-day, and in +nearly every place there has been a cordial desire that I should be +comfortable, and, considering that I have often put up in small, rough +hamlets off the great routes even of Japanese travel, the accommodation, +_minus_ the fleas and the odours, has been surprisingly excellent, not to +be equalled, I should think, in equally remote regions in any country in +the world. + +This evening, here, as in thousands of other villages, the men came home +from their work, ate their food, took their smoke, enjoyed their +children, carried them about, watched their games, twisted straw ropes, +made straw sandals, split bamboo, wove straw rain-coats, and spent the +time universally in those little economical ingenuities and skilful +adaptations which our people (the worse for them) practise perhaps less +than any other. There was no assembling at the _saké_ shop. Poor though +the homes are, the men enjoy them; the children are an attraction at any +rate, and the brawling and disobedience which often turn our +working-class homes into bear-gardens are unknown here, where docility +and obedience are inculcated from the cradle as a matter of course. The +signs of religion become fewer as I travel north, and it appears that the +little faith which exists consists mainly in a belief in certain charms +and superstitions, which the priests industriously foster. + +A low voice is not regarded as “a most excellent thing,” in man at least, +among the lower classes in Japan. The people speak at the top of their +voices, and, though most words and syllables end in vowels, the general +effect of a conversation is like the discordant gabble of a farm-yard. +The next room to mine is full of storm-bound travellers, and they and the +house-master kept up what I thought was a most important argument for +four hours at the top of their voices. I supposed it must be on the new +and important ordinance granting local elective assemblies, of which I +heard at Odaté, but on inquiry found that it was possible to spend four +mortal hours in discussing whether the day’s journey from Odaté to +Noshiro could be made best by road or river. + +Japanese women have their own gatherings, where gossip and chit-chat, +marked by a truly Oriental indecorum of speech, are the staple of talk. +I think that in many things, specially in some which lie on the surface, +the Japanese are greatly our superiors, but that in many others they are +immeasurably behind us. In living altogether among this courteous, +industrious, and civilised people, one comes to forget that one is doing +them a gross injustice in comparing their manners and ways with those of +a people moulded by many centuries of Christianity. Would to God that we +were so Christianised that the comparison might always be favourable to +us, which it is not! + +_July_ 30.—In the room on the other side of mine were two men with severe +eye-disease, with shaven heads and long and curious rosaries, who beat +small drums as they walked, and were on pilgrimage to the shrine of Fudo +at Megura, near Yedo, a seated, flame-surrounded idol, with a naked sword +in one hand and a coil of rope in the other, who has the reputation of +giving sight to the blind. At five this morning they began their +devotions, which consisted in repeating with great rapidity, and in a +high monotonous key for two hours, the invocation of the Nichiren sect of +Buddhists, _Namu miyô hô ren ge Kiyô_, which certainly no Japanese +understands, and on the meaning of which even the best scholars are +divided; one having given me, “Glory to the salvation-bringing +Scriptures;” another, “Hail, precious law and gospel of the lotus +flower;” and a third, “Heaven and earth! The teachings of the wonderful +lotus flower sect.” _Namu amidu Butsu_ occurred at intervals, and two +drums were beaten the whole time! + +The rain, which began again at eleven last night, fell from five till +eight this morning, not in drops, but in streams, and in the middle of it +a heavy pall of blackness (said to be a total eclipse) enfolded all +things in a lurid gloom. Any detention is exasperating within one day of +my journey’s end, and I hear without equanimity that there are great +difficulties ahead, and that our getting through in three or even four +days is doubtful. I hope you will not be tired of the monotony of my +letters. Such as they are, they represent the scenes which a traveller +would see throughout much of northern Japan, and whatever interest they +have consists in the fact that they are a faithful representation, made +upon the spot, of what a foreigner sees and hears in travelling through a +large but unfrequented region. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XXVIII. + + +Torrents of Rain—An unpleasant Detention—Devastations produced by +Floods—The Yadate Pass—The Force of Water—Difficulties thicken—A +Primitive Yadoya—The Water rises. + + IKARIGASEKI, AOMORI KEN, _August_ 2. + +THE prophecies concerning difficulties are fulfilled. For six days and +five nights the rain has never ceased, except for a few hours at a time, +and for the last thirteen hours, as during the eclipse at Shirasawa, it +has been falling in such sheets as I have only seen for a few minutes at +a time on the equator. I have been here storm-staid for two days, with +damp bed, damp clothes, damp everything, and boots, bag, books, are all +green with mildew. And still the rain falls, and roads, bridges, +rice-fields, trees, and hillsides are being swept in a common ruin +towards the Tsugaru Strait, so tantalisingly near; and the simple people +are calling on the forgotten gods of the rivers and the hills, on the sun +and moon, and all the host of heaven, to save them from this “plague of +immoderate rain and waters.” For myself, to be able to lie down all day +is something, and as “the mind, when in a healthy state, reposes as +quietly before an insurmountable difficulty as before an ascertained +truth,” so, as I cannot get on, I have ceased to chafe, and am rather +inclined to magnify the advantages of the detention, a necessary process, +as you would think if you saw my surroundings! + +The day before yesterday, in spite of severe pain, was one of the most +interesting of my journey. As I learned something of the force of fire +in Hawaii, I am learning not a little of the force of water in Japan. We +left Shirasawa at noon, as it looked likely to clear, taking two horses +and three men. It is beautiful scenery—a wild valley, upon which a +number of lateral ridges descend, rendered strikingly picturesque by the +dark pyramidal cryptomeria, which are truly the glory of Japan. Five of +the fords were deep and rapid, and the entrance on them difficult, as the +sloping descents were all carried away, leaving steep banks, which had to +be levelled by the mattocks of the _mago_. Then the fords themselves +were gone; there were shallows where there had been depths, and depths +where there had been shallows; new channels were carved, and great beds +of shingle had been thrown up. Much wreckage lay about. The road and +its small bridges were all gone, trees torn up by the roots or snapped +short off by being struck by heavy logs were heaped together like +barricades, leaves and even bark being in many cases stripped completely +off; great logs floated down the river in such numbers and with such +force that we had to wait half an hour in one place to secure a safe +crossing; hollows were filled with liquid mud, boulders of great size +were piled into embankments, causing perilous alterations in the course +of the river; a fertile valley had been utterly destroyed, and the men +said they could hardly find their way. + +At the end of five miles it became impassable for horses, and, with two +of the _mago_ carrying the baggage, we set off, wading through water and +climbing along the side of a hill, up to our knees in soft wet soil. The +hillside and the road were both gone, and there were heavy landslips +along the whole valley. Happily there was not much of this exhausting +work, for, just as higher and darker ranges, densely wooded with +cryptomeria, began to close us in, we emerged upon a fine new road, broad +enough for a carriage, which, after crossing two ravines on fine bridges, +plunges into the depths of a magnificent forest, and then by a long +series of fine zigzags of easy gradients ascends the pass of Yadate, on +the top of which, in a deep sandstone cutting, is a handsome obelisk +marking the boundary between Akita and Aomori _ken_. This is a +marvellous road for Japan, it is so well graded and built up, and logs +for travellers’ rests are placed at convenient distances. Some very +heavy work in grading and blasting has been done upon it, but there are +only four miles of it, with wretched bridle tracks at each end. I left +the others behind, and strolled on alone over the top of the pass and +down the other side, where the road is blasted out of rock of a vivid +pink and green colour, looking brilliant under the trickle of water. I +admire this pass more than anything I have seen in Japan; I even long to +see it again, but under a bright blue sky. It reminds me much of the +finest part of the Brunig Pass, and something of some of the passes in +the Rocky Mountains, but the trees are far finer than in either. It was +lonely, stately, dark, solemn; its huge cryptomeria, straight as masts, +sent their tall spires far aloft in search of light; the ferns, which +love damp and shady places, were the only undergrowth; the trees flung +their balsamy, aromatic scent liberally upon the air, and, in the +unlighted depths of many a ravine and hollow, clear bright torrents leapt +and tumbled, drowning with their thundering bass the musical treble of +the lighter streams. Not a traveller disturbed the solitude with his +sandalled footfall; there was neither song of bird nor hum of insect. + +In the midst of this sublime scenery, and at the very top of the pass, +the rain, which had been light but steady during the whole day, began to +come down in streams and then in sheets. I have been so rained upon for +weeks that at first I took little notice of it, but very soon changes +occurred before my eyes which concentrated my attention upon it. The +rush of waters was heard everywhere, trees of great size slid down, +breaking others in their fall; rocks were rent and carried away trees in +their descent, the waters rose before our eyes; with a boom and roar as +of an earthquake a hillside burst, and half the hill, with a noble forest +of cryptomeria, was projected outwards, and the trees, with the land on +which they grew, went down heads foremost, diverting a river from its +course, and where the forest-covered hillside had been there was a great +scar, out of which a torrent burst at high pressure, which in half an +hour carved for itself a deep ravine, and carried into the valley below +an avalanche of stones and sand. Another hillside descended less +abruptly, and its noble groves found themselves at the bottom in a +perpendicular position, and will doubtless survive their transplantation. +Actually, before my eyes, this fine new road was torn away by hastily +improvised torrents, or blocked by landslips in several places, and a +little lower, in one moment, a hundred yards of it disappeared, and with +them a fine bridge, which was deposited aslant across the torrent lower +down. + +On the descent, when things began to look very bad, and the +mountain-sides had become cascades bringing trees, logs, and rocks down +with them, we were fortunate enough to meet with two pack-horses whose +leaders were ignorant of the impassability of the road to Odaté, and they +and my coolies exchanged loads. These were strong horses, and the _mago_ +were skilful and courageous. They said if we hurried we could just get +to the hamlet they had left, they thought; but while they spoke the road +and the bridge below were carried away. They insisted on lashing me to +the pack-saddle. The great stream, whose beauty I had formerly admired, +was now a thing of dread, and had to be forded four times without fords. +It crashed and thundered, drowning the feeble sound of human voices, the +torrents from the heavens hissed through the forest, trees and logs came +crashing down the hillsides, a thousand cascades added to the din, and in +the bewilderment produced by such an unusual concatenation of sights and +sounds we stumbled through the river, the men up to their shoulders, the +horses up to their backs. Again and again we crossed. The banks being +carried away, it was very hard to get either into or out of the water; +the horses had to scramble or jump up places as high as their shoulders, +all slippery and crumbling, and twice the men cut steps for them with +axes. The rush of the torrent at the last crossing taxed the strength of +both men and horses, and, as I was helpless from being tied on, I confess +that I shut my eyes! After getting through, we came upon the lands +belonging to this village—rice-fields with the dykes burst, and all the +beautiful ridge and furrow cultivation of the other crops carried away. +The waters were rising fast, the men said we must hurry; they unbound me, +so that I might ride more comfortably, spoke to the horses, and went on +at a run. My horse, which had nearly worn out his shoes in the fords, +stumbled at every step, the _mago_ gave me a noose of rope to clutch, the +rain fell in such torrents that I speculated on the chance of being +washed off my saddle, when suddenly I saw a shower of sparks; I felt +unutterable things; I was choked, bruised, stifled, and presently found +myself being hauled out of a ditch by three men, and realised that the +horse had tumbled down in going down a steepish hill, and that I had gone +over his head. To climb again on the soaked _futon_ was the work of a +moment, and, with men running and horses stumbling and splashing, we +crossed the Hirakawa by one fine bridge, and half a mile farther +re-crossed it on another, wishing as we did so that all Japanese bridges +were as substantial, for they were both 100 feet long, and had central +piers. + +We entered Ikarigaseki from the last bridge, a village of 800 people, on +a narrow ledge between an abrupt hill and the Hirakawa, a most forlorn +and tumble-down place, given up to felling timber and making shingles; +and timber in all its forms—logs, planks, faggots, and shingles—is heaped +and stalked about. It looks more like a lumberer’s encampment than a +permanent village, but it is beautifully situated, and unlike any of the +innumerable villages that I have ever seen. + +The street is long and narrow, with streams in stone channels on either +side; but these had overflowed, and men, women, and children were +constructing square dams to keep the water, which had already reached the +_doma_, from rising over the _tatami_. Hardly any house has paper +windows, and in the few which have, they are so black with smoke as to +look worse than none. The roofs are nearly flat, and are covered with +shingles held on by laths and weighted with large stones. Nearly all the +houses look like temporary sheds, and most are as black inside as a Barra +hut. The walls of many are nothing but rough boards tied to the uprights +by straw ropes. + +In the drowning torrent, sitting in puddles of water, and drenched to the +skin hours before, we reached this very primitive _yadoya_, the lower +part of which is occupied by the _daidokoro_, a party of storm-bound +students, horses, fowls, and dogs. My room is a wretched loft, reached +by a ladder, with such a quagmire at its foot that I have to descend into +it in Wellington boots. It was dismally grotesque at first. The torrent +on the unceiled roof prevented Ito from hearing what I said, the bed was +soaked, and the water, having got into my box, had dissolved the remains +of the condensed milk, and had reduced clothes, books, and paper into a +condition of universal stickiness. My kimono was less wet than anything +else, and, borrowing a sheet of oiled paper, I lay down in it, till +roused up in half an hour by Ito shrieking above the din on the roof that +the people thought that the bridge by which we had just entered would +give way; and, running to the river bank, we joined a large crowd, far +too intensely occupied by the coming disaster to take any notice of the +first foreign lady they had ever seen. + +The Hirakawa, which an hour before was merely a clear, rapid mountain +stream, about four feet deep, was then ten feet deep, they said, and +tearing along, thick and muddy, and with a fearful roar, + + “And each wave was crested with tawny foam, + Like the mane of a chestnut steed.” + +Immense logs of hewn timber, trees, roots, branches, and faggots, were +coming down in numbers. The abutment on this side was much undermined, +but, except that the central pier trembled whenever a log struck it, the +bridge itself stood firm—so firm, indeed, that two men, anxious to save +some property on the other side, crossed it after I arrived. Then logs +of planed timber of large size, and joints, and much wreckage, came +down—fully forty fine timbers, thirty feet long, for the fine bridge +above had given way. Most of the harvest of logs cut on the Yadate Pass +must have been lost, for over 300 were carried down in the short time in +which I watched the river. This is a very heavy loss to this village, +which lives by the timber trade. Efforts were made at a bank higher up +to catch them as they drifted by, but they only saved about one in +twenty. It was most exciting to see the grand way in which these timbers +came down; and the moment in which they were to strike or not to strike +the pier was one of intense suspense. After an hour of this two superb +logs, fully thirty feet long, came down close together, and, striking the +central pier nearly simultaneously, it shuddered horribly, the great +bridge parted in the middle, gave an awful groan like a living thing, +plunged into the torrent, and re-appeared in the foam below only as +disjointed timbers hurrying to the sea. Not a vestige remained. The +bridge below was carried away in the morning, so, till the river becomes +fordable, this little place is completely isolated. On thirty miles of +road, out of nineteen bridges only two remain, and the road itself is +almost wholly carried away! + + + + +LETTER XXVIII.—(_Continued_.) + + +Scanty Resources—Japanese Children—Children’s Games—A Sagacious Example—A +Kite Competition—Personal Privations. + + IKARIGASEKI. + +I HAVE well-nigh exhausted the resources of this place. They are to go +out three times a day to see how much the river has fallen; to talk with +the house-master and _Kôchô_; to watch the children’s games and the +making of shingles; to buy toys and sweetmeats and give them away; to +apply zinc lotion to a number of sore eyes three times daily, under which +treatment, during three days, there has been a wonderful amendment; to +watch the cooking, spinning, and other domestic processes in the +_daidokoro_; to see the horses, which are also actually in it, making +meals of green leaves of trees instead of hay; to see the lepers, who are +here for some waters which are supposed to arrest, if not to cure, their +terrible malady; to lie on my stretcher and sew, and read the papers of +the Asiatic Society, and to go over all possible routes to Aomori. The +people have become very friendly in consequence of the eye lotion, and +bring many diseases for my inspection, most of which would never have +arisen had cleanliness of clothing and person been attended to. The +absence of soap, the infrequency with which clothing is washed, and the +absence of linen next the skin, cause various cutaneous diseases, which +are aggravated by the bites and stings of insects. Scald-head affects +nearly half the children here. + +I am very fond of Japanese children. I have never yet heard a baby cry, +and I have never seen a child troublesome or disobedient. Filial piety +is the leading virtue in Japan, and unquestioning obedience is the habit +of centuries. The arts and threats by which English mothers cajole or +frighten children into unwilling obedience appear unknown. I admire the +way in which children are taught to be independent in their amusements. +Part of the home education is the learning of the rules of the different +games, which are absolute, and when there is a doubt, instead of a +quarrelsome suspension of the game, the fiat of a senior child decides +the matter. They play by themselves, and don’t bother adults at every +turn. I usually carry sweeties with me, and give them to the children, +but not one has ever received them without first obtaining permission +from the father or mother. When that is gained they smile and bow +profoundly, and hand the sweeties to those present before eating any +themselves. They are gentle creatures, but too formal and precocious. + +They have no special dress. This is so queer that I cannot repeat it too +often. At three they put on the _kimono_ and girdle, which are as +inconvenient to them as to their parents, and childish play in this garb +is grotesque. I have, however, never seen what we call child’s play—that +general abandonment to miscellaneous impulses, which consists in +struggling, slapping, rolling, jumping, kicking, shouting, laughing, and +quarrelling! Two fine boys are very clever in harnessing paper carts to +the backs of beetles with gummed traces, so that eight of them draw a +load of rice up an inclined plane. You can imagine what the fate of such +a load and team would be at home among a number of snatching hands. Here +a number of infants watch the performance with motionless interest, and +never need the adjuration, “Don’t touch.” In most of the houses there +are bamboo cages for “the shrill-voiced Katydid,” and the children amuse +themselves with feeding these vociferous grasshoppers. The channels of +swift water in the street turn a number of toy water-wheels, which set in +motion most ingenious mechanical toys, of which a model of the automatic +rice-husker is the commonest, and the boys spend much time in devising +and watching these, which are really very fascinating. It is the +holidays, but “holiday tasks” are given, and in the evenings you hear the +hum of lessons all along the street for about an hour. The school +examination is at the re-opening of the school after the holidays, +instead of at the end of the session—an arrangement which shows an honest +desire to discern the permanent gain made by the scholars. + +This afternoon has been fine and windy, and the boys have been flying +kites, made of tough paper on a bamboo frame, all of a rectangular shape, +some of them five feet square, and nearly all decorated with huge faces +of historical heroes. Some of them have a humming arrangement made of +whale-bone. There was a very interesting contest between two great +kites, and it brought out the whole population. The string of each kite, +for 30 feet or more below the frame, was covered with pounded glass, made +to adhere very closely by means of tenacious glue, and for two hours the +kite-fighters tried to get their kites into a proper position for sawing +the adversary’s string in two. At last one was successful, and the +severed kite became his property, upon which victor and vanquished +exchanged three low bows. Silently as the people watched and received +the destruction of their bridge, so silently they watched this exciting +contest. The boys also flew their kites while walking on stilts—a most +dexterous performance, in which few were able to take part—and then a +larger number gave a stilt race. The most striking out-of-door games are +played at fixed seasons of the year, and are not to be seen now. + +There are twelve children in this _yadoya_, and after dark they regularly +play at a game which Ito says “is played in the winter in every house in +Japan.” The children sit in a circle, and the adults look on eagerly, +child-worship being more common in Japan than in America, and, to my +thinking, the Japanese form is the best. + +From proverbial philosophy to personal privation is rather a descent, but +owing to the many detentions on the journey my small stock of foreign +food is exhausted, and I have been living here on rice, cucumbers, and +salt salmon—so salt that, after being boiled in two waters, it produces a +most distressing thirst. Even this has failed to-day, as communication +with the coast has been stopped for some time, and the village is +suffering under the calamity of its stock of salt-fish being completely +exhausted. There are no eggs, and rice and cucumbers are very like the +“light food” which the Israelites “loathed.” I had an omelette one day, +but it was much like musty leather. The Italian minister said to me in +Tôkiyô, “No question in Japan is so solemn as that of food,” and many +others echoed what I thought at the time a most unworthy sentiment. I +recognised its truth to-day when I opened my last resort, a box of +Brand’s meat lozenges, and found them a mass of mouldiness. One can only +dry clothes here by hanging them in the wood smoke, so I prefer to let +them mildew on the walls, and have bought a straw rain-coat, which is +more reliable than the paper waterproofs. I hear the hum of the children +at their lessons for the last time, for the waters are falling fast, and +we shall leave in the morning. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XXIX. + + +Hope deferred—Effects of the Flood—Activity of the Police—A Ramble in +Disguise—The _Tanabata_ Festival—Mr. Satow’s Reputation. + + KUROISHI, _August_ 5. + +AFTER all the waters did not fall as was expected, and I had to spend a +fourth day at Ikarigaseki. We left early on Saturday, as we had to +travel fifteen miles without halting. The sun shone on all the beautiful +country, and on all the wreck and devastation, as it often shines on the +dimpling ocean the day after a storm. We took four men, crossed two +severe fords where bridges had been carried away, and where I and the +baggage got very wet; saw great devastations and much loss of crops and +felled timber; passed under a cliff, which for 200 feet was composed of +fine columnar basalt in six-sided prisms, and quite suddenly emerged on a +great plain, on which green billows of rice were rolling sunlit before a +fresh north wind. This plain is liberally sprinkled with wooded villages +and surrounded by hills; one low range forming a curtain across the base +of Iwakisan, a great snow-streaked dome, which rises to the west of the +plain to a supposed height of 5000 feet. The water had risen in most of +the villages to a height of four feet, and had washed the lower part of +the mud walls away. The people were busy drying their _tatami_, +_futons_, and clothing, reconstructing their dykes and small bridges, and +fishing for the logs which were still coming down in large quantities. + +In one town two very shabby policemen rushed upon us, seized the bridle +of my horse, and kept me waiting for a long time in the middle of a +crowd, while they toilsomely _bored_ through the passport, turning it up +and down, and holding it up to the light, as though there were some +nefarious mystery about it. My horse stumbled so badly that I was +obliged to walk to save myself from another fall, and, just as my powers +were failing, we met a _kuruma_, which by good management, such as being +carried occasionally, brought me into Kuroishi, a neat town of 5500 +people, famous for the making of clogs and combs, where I have obtained a +very neat, airy, upstairs room, with a good view over the surrounding +country and of the doings of my neighbours in their back rooms and +gardens. Instead of getting on to Aomori I am spending three days and +two nights here, and, as the weather has improved and my room is +remarkably cheerful, the rest has been very pleasant. As I have said +before, it is difficult to get any information about anything even a few +miles off, and even at the Post Office they cannot give any intelligence +as to the date of the sailings of the mail steamer between Aomori, twenty +miles off, and Hakodaté. + +The police were not satisfied with seeing my passport, but must also see +me, and four of them paid me a polite but domiciliary visit the evening +of my arrival. That evening the sound of drumming was ceaseless, and +soon after I was in bed Ito announced that there was something really +worth seeing, so I went out in my _kimono_ and without my hat, and in +this disguise altogether escaped recognition as a foreigner. Kuroishi is +unlighted, and I was tumbling and stumbling along in overhaste when a +strong arm cleared the way, and the house-master appeared with a very +pretty lantern, hanging close to the ground from a cane held in the hand. +Thus came the phrase, “Thy word is a light unto my feet.” + +We soon reached a point for seeing the festival procession advance +towards us, and it was so beautiful and picturesque that it kept me out +for an hour. It passes through all the streets between 7 and 10 p.m. +each night during the first week in August, with an ark, or coffer, +containing slips of paper, on which (as I understand) wishes are written, +and each morning at seven this is carried to the river and the slips are +cast upon the stream. The procession consisted of three monster drums +nearly the height of a man’s body, covered with horsehide, and strapped +to the drummers, end upwards, and thirty small drums, all beaten +rub-a-dub-dub without ceasing. Each drum has the _tomoyé_ painted on its +ends. Then there were hundreds of paper lanterns carried on long poles +of various lengths round a central lantern, 20 feet high, itself an +oblong 6 feet long, with a front and wings, and all kinds of mythical and +mystical creatures painted in bright colours upon it—a transparency +rather than a lantern, in fact. Surrounding it were hundreds of +beautiful lanterns and transparencies of all sorts of fanciful +shapes—fans, fishes, birds, kites, drums; the hundreds of people and +children who followed all carried circular lanterns, and rows of lanterns +with the _tomoyé_ on one side and two Chinese characters on the other +hung from the eaves all along the line of the procession. I never saw +anything more completely like a fairy scene, the undulating waves of +lanterns as they swayed along, the soft lights and soft tints moving +aloft in the darkness, the lantern-bearers being in deep shadow. This +festival is called the _tanabata_, or _seiseki_ festival, but I am unable +to get any information about it. Ito says that he knows what it means, +but is unable to explain, and adds the phrase he always uses when in +difficulties, “Mr. Satow would be able to tell you all about it.” + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XXX. + + +A Lady’s Toilet—Hair-dressing—Paint and Cosmetics—Afternoon +Visitors—Christian Converts. + + KUROISHI, _August_ 5. + +THIS is a pleasant place, and my room has many advantages besides light +and cleanliness, as, for instance, that I overlook my neighbours and that +I have seen a lady at her toilet preparing for a wedding! A married girl +knelt in front of a black lacquer toilet-box with a spray of cherry +blossoms in gold sprawling over it, and lacquer uprights at the top, +which supported a polished metal mirror. Several drawers in the +toilet-box were open, and toilet requisites in small lacquer boxes were +lying on the floor. A female barber stood behind the lady, combing, +dividing, and tying her hair, which, like that of all Japanese women, was +glossy black, but neither fine nor long. The coiffure is an erection, a +complete work of art. Two divisions, three inches apart, were made along +the top of the head, and the lock of hair between these was combed, +stiffened with a bandoline made from the _Uvario Japonica_, raised two +inches from the forehead, turned back, tied, and pinned to the back hair. +The rest was combed from each side to the back, and then tied loosely +with twine made of paper. Several switches of false hair were then taken +out of a long lacquer box, and, with the aid of a quantity of bandoline +and a solid pad, the ordinary smooth chignon was produced, to which +several loops and bows of hair were added, interwoven with a little +dark-blue _crêpe_, spangled with gold. A single, thick, square-sided, +tortoiseshell pin was stuck through the whole as an ornament. + +The fashions of dressing the hair are fixed. They vary with the ages of +female children, and there is a slight difference between the _coiffure_ +of the married and unmarried. The two partings on the top of the head +and the chignon never vary. The amount of stiffening used is necessary, +as the head is never covered out of doors. This arrangement will last in +good order for a week or more—thanks to the wooden pillow. + + [Picture: A Lady’s Mirror] + +The barber’s work was only partially done when the hair was dressed, for +every vestige of recalcitrant eyebrow was removed, and every downy hair +which dared to display itself on the temples and neck was pulled out with +tweezers. This removal of all short hair has a tendency to make even the +natural hair look like a wig. Then the lady herself took a box of white +powder, and laid it on her face, ears, and neck, till her skin looked +like a mask. With a camel’s-hair brush she then applied some mixture to +her eyelids to make the bright eyes look brighter, the teeth were +blackened, or rather reblackened, with a feather brush dipped in a +solution of gall-nuts and iron-filings—a tiresome and disgusting process, +several times repeated, and then a patch of red was placed upon the lower +lip. I cannot say that the effect was pleasing, but the girl thought so, +for she turned her head so as to see the general effect in the mirror, +smiled, and was satisfied. The remainder of her toilet, which altogether +took over three hours, was performed in private, and when she reappeared +she looked as if a very unmeaning-looking wooden doll had been dressed up +with the exquisite good taste, harmony, and quietness which characterise +the dress of Japanese women. + +A most rigid social etiquette draws an impassable line of demarcation +between the costume of the virtuous woman in every rank and that of her +frail sister. The humiliating truth that many of our female fashions are +originated by those whose position we the most regret, and are then +carefully copied by all classes of women in our country, does not obtain +credence among Japanese women, to whom even the slightest approximation +in the style of hair-dressing, ornament, or fashion of garments would be +a shame. + +I was surprised to hear that three “Christian students” from Hirosaki +wished to see me—three remarkably intelligent-looking, handsomely-dressed +young men, who all spoke a little English. One of them had the brightest +and most intellectual face which I have seen in Japan. They are of the +_samurai_ class, as I should have known from the superior type of face +and manner. They said that they heard that an English lady was in the +house, and asked me if I were a Christian, but apparently were not +satisfied till, in answer to the question if I had a Bible, I was able to +produce one. + +Hirosaki is a castle town of some importance, 3½ _ri_ from here, and its +_ex-daimiyô_ supports a high-class school or college there, which has had +two Americans successively for its headmasters. These gentlemen must +have been very consistent in Christian living as well as energetic in +Christian teaching, for under their auspices thirty young men have +embraced Christianity. As all of these are well educated, and several +are nearly ready to pass as teachers into Government employment, their +acceptance of the “new way” may have an important bearing on the future +of this region. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XXXI. + + +A Travelling Curiosity—Rude Dwellings—Primitive Simplicity—The Public +Bath-house. + + KUROISHI. + +YESTERDAY was beautiful, and, dispensing for the first time with Ito’s +attendance, I took a _kuruma_ for the day, and had a very pleasant +excursion into a _cul de sac_ in the mountains. The one drawback was the +infamous road, which compelled me either to walk or be mercilessly +jolted. The runner was a nice, kind, merry creature, quite delighted, +Ito said, to have a chance of carrying so great a sight as a foreigner +into a district in which no foreigner has even been seen. In the +absolute security of Japanese travelling, which I have fully realised for +a long time, I look back upon my fears at Kasukabé with a feeling of +self-contempt. + +The scenery, which was extremely pretty, gained everything from sunlight +and colour—wonderful shades of cobalt and indigo, green blues and blue +greens, and flashes of white foam in unsuspected rifts. It looked a +simple, home-like region, a very pleasant land. + +We passed through several villages of farmers who live in very primitive +habitations, built of mud, looking as if the mud had been dabbed upon the +framework with the hands. The walls sloped slightly inwards, the thatch +was rude, the eaves were deep and covered all manner of lumber; there was +a smoke-hole in a few, but the majority smoked all over like brick-kilns; +they had no windows, and the walls and rafters were black and shiny. +Fowls and horses live on one side of the dark interior, and the people on +the other. The houses were alive with unclothed children, and as I +repassed in the evening unclothed men and women, nude to their waists, +were sitting outside their dwellings with the small fry, clothed only in +amulets, about them, several big yellow dogs forming part of each family +group, and the faces of dogs, children, and people were all placidly +contented! These farmers owned many good horses, and their crops were +splendid. Probably on _matsuri_ days all appear in fine clothes taken +from ample hoards. They cannot be so poor, as far as the necessaries of +life are concerned; they are only very “far back.” They know nothing +better, and are contented; but their houses are as bad as any that I have +ever seen, and the simplicity of Eden is combined with an amount of dirt +which makes me sceptical as to the performance of even weekly ablutions. + + [Picture: Akita Farm-House] + +Upper Nakano is very beautiful, and in the autumn, when its myriads of +star-leaved maples are scarlet and crimson, against a dark background of +cryptomeria, among which a great white waterfall gleams like a snow-drift +before it leaps into the black pool below, it must be well worth a long +journey. I have not seen anything which has pleased me more. There is a +fine flight of moss-grown stone steps down to the water, a pretty bridge, +two superb stone _torii_, some handsome stone lanterns, and then a grand +flight of steep stone steps up a hillside dark with cryptomeria leads to +a small Shintô shrine. Not far off there is a sacred tree, with the +token of love and revenge upon it. The whole place is entrancing. + +Lower Nakano, which I could only reach on foot, is only interesting as +possessing some very hot springs, which are valuable in cases of +rheumatism and sore eyes. It consists mainly of tea-houses and +_yadoyas_, and seemed rather gay. It is built round the edge of an +oblong depression, at the bottom of which the bath-houses stand, of which +there are four, only nominally separated, and with but two entrances, +which open directly upon the bathers. In the two end houses women and +children were bathing in large tanks, and in the centre ones women and +men were bathing together, but at opposite sides, with wooden ledges to +sit upon all round. I followed the _kuruma_-runner blindly to the baths, +and when once in I had to go out at the other side, being pressed upon by +people from behind; but the bathers were too polite to take any notice of +my most unwilling intrusion, and the _kuruma_-runner took me in without +the slightest sense of impropriety in so doing. I noticed that formal +politeness prevailed in the bath-house as elsewhere, and that dippers and +towels were handed from one to another with profound bows. The public +bath-house is said to be the place in which public opinion is formed, as +it is with us in clubs and public-houses, and that the presence of women +prevents any dangerous or seditious consequences; but the Government is +doing its best to prevent promiscuous bathing; and, though the reform may +travel slowly into these remote regions, it will doubtless arrive sooner +or later. The public bath-house is one of the features of Japan. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XXXII. + + +A Hard Day’s Journey—An Overturn—Nearing the Ocean—Joyful +Excitement—Universal Greyness—Inopportune Policemen—A Stormy Voyage—A +Wild Welcome—A Windy Landing—The Journey’s End. + + HAKODATÉ, YEZO, August, 1878. + +THE journey from Kuroishi to Aomori, though only 22½ miles, was a +tremendous one, owing to the state of the roads; for more rain had +fallen, and the passage of hundreds of pack-horses heavily loaded with +salt-fish had turned the tracks into quagmires. At the end of the first +stage the Transport Office declined to furnish a _kuruma_, owing to the +state of the roads; but, as I was not well enough to ride farther, I +bribed two men for a very moderate sum to take me to the coast; and by +accommodating each other we got on tolerably, though I had to walk up all +the hills and down many, to get out at every place where a little bridge +had been carried away, that the _kuruma_ might be lifted over the gap, +and often to walk for 200 yards at a time, because it sank up to its +axles in the quagmire. In spite of all precautions I was upset into a +muddy ditch, with the _kuruma_ on the top of me; but, as my air-pillow +fortunately fell between the wheel and me, I escaped with nothing worse +than having my clothes soaked with water and mud, which, as I had to keep +them on all night, might have given me cold, but did not. We met strings +of pack-horses the whole way, carrying salt-fish, which is taken +throughout the interior. + +The mountain-ridge, which runs throughout the Main Island, becomes +depressed in the province of Nambu, but rises again into grand, abrupt +hills at Aomori Bay. Between Kuroishi and Aomori, however, it is broken +up into low ranges, scantily wooded, mainly with pine, scrub oak, and the +dwarf bamboo. The _Sesamum ignosco_, of which the incense-sticks are +made, covers some hills to the exclusion of all else. Rice grows in the +valleys, but there is not much cultivation, and the country looks rough, +cold, and hyperborean. + +The farming hamlets grew worse and worse, with houses made roughly of +mud, with holes scratched in the side for light to get in, or for smoke +to get out, and the walls of some were only great pieces of bark and +bundles of straw tied to the posts with straw ropes. The roofs were +untidy, but this was often concealed by the profuse growth of the +water-melons which trailed over them. The people were very dirty, but +there was no appearance of special poverty, and a good deal of money must +be made on the horses and _mago_ required for the transit of fish from +Yezo, and for rice to it. + +At Namioka occurred the last of the very numerous ridges we have crossed +since leaving Nikkô at a point called Tsugarusaka, and from it looked +over a rugged country upon a dark-grey sea, nearly landlocked by +pine-clothed hills, of a rich purple indigo colour. The clouds were +drifting, the colour was intensifying, the air was fresh and cold, the +surrounding soil was peaty, the odours of pines were balsamic, it looked, +felt, and smelt like home; the grey sea was Aomori Bay, beyond was the +Tsugaru Strait,—my long land-journey was done. A traveller said a +steamer was sailing for Yezo at night, so, in a state of joyful +excitement, I engaged four men, and by dragging, pushing, and lifting, +they got me into Aomori, a town of grey houses, grey roofs, and grey +stones on roofs, built on a beach of grey sand, round a grey bay—a +miserable-looking place, though the capital of the _ken_. + +It has a great export trade in cattle and rice to Yezo, besides being the +outlet of an immense annual emigration from northern Japan to the Yezo +fishery, and imports from Hakodaté large quantities of fish, skins, and +foreign merchandise. It has some trade in a pretty but not valuable +“seaweed,” or variegated lacquer, called Aomori lacquer, but not actually +made there, its own speciality being a sweetmeat made of beans and sugar. +It has a deep and well-protected harbour, but no piers or conveniences +for trade. It has barracks and the usual Government buildings, but there +was no time to learn anything about it,—only a short half-hour for +getting my ticket at the _Mitsu Bishi_ office, where they demanded and +copied my passport; for snatching a morsel of fish at a restaurant where +“foreign food” was represented by a very dirty table-cloth; and for +running down to the grey beach, where I was carried into a large _sampan_ +crowded with Japanese steerage passengers. + +The wind was rising, a considerable surf was running, the spray was +flying over the boat, the steamer had her steam up, and was ringing and +whistling impatiently, there was a scud of rain, and I was standing +trying to keep my paper waterproof from being blown off, when three +inopportune policemen jumped into the boat and demanded my passport. For +a moment I wished them and the passport under the waves! The steamer is +a little old paddle-boat of about 70 tons, with no accommodation but a +single cabin on deck. She was as clean and trim as a yacht, and, like a +yacht, totally unfit for bad weather. Her captain, engineers, and crew +were all Japanese, and not a word of English was spoken. My clothes were +very wet, and the night was colder than the day had been, but the captain +kindly covered me up with several blankets on the floor, so I did not +suffer. We sailed early in the evening, with a brisk northerly breeze, +which chopped round to the south-east, and by eleven blew a gale; the sea +ran high, the steamer laboured and shipped several heavy seas, much water +entered the cabin, the captain came below every half-hour, tapped the +barometer, sipped some tea, offered me a lump of sugar, and made a face +and gesture indicative of bad weather, and we were buffeted about +mercilessly till 4 a.m., when heavy rain came on, and the gale fell +temporarily with it. The boat is not fit for a night passage, and always +lies in port when bad weather is expected; and as this was said to be the +severest gale which has swept the Tsugaru Strait since January, the +captain was uneasy about her, but being so, showed as much calmness as if +he had been a Briton! + +The gale rose again after sunrise, and when, after doing sixty miles in +fourteen hours, we reached the heads of Hakodaté Harbour, it was blowing +and pouring like a bad day in Argyllshire, the spin-drift was driving +over the bay, the Yezo mountains loomed darkly and loftily through rain +and mist, and wind and thunder, and “noises of the northern sea,” gave me +a wild welcome to these northern shores. A rocky head like Gibraltar, a +cold-blooded-looking grey town, straggling up a steep hillside, a few +_coniferæ_, a great many grey junks, a few steamers and vessels of +foreign rig at anchor, a number of _sampans_ riding the rough water +easily, seen in flashes between gusts of rain and spin-drift, were all I +saw, but somehow it all pleased me from its breezy, northern look. + +The steamer was not expected in the gale, so no one met me, and I went +ashore with fifty Japanese clustered on the top of a decked _sampan_ in +such a storm of wind and rain that it took us 1½ hours to go half a mile; +then I waited shelterless on the windy beach till the Customs’ Officers +were roused from their late slumbers, and then battled with the storm for +a mile up a steep hill. I was expected at the hospitable Consulate, but +did not know it, and came here to the Church Mission House, to which Mr. +and Mrs. Dening kindly invited me when I met them in Tôkiyô. I was unfit +to enter a civilised dwelling; my clothes, besides being soaked, were +coated and splashed with mud up to the top of my hat; my gloves and boots +were finished, my mud-splashed baggage was soaked with salt water; but I +feel a somewhat legitimate triumph at having conquered all obstacles, and +having accomplished more than I intended to accomplish when I left Yedo. + +How musical the clamour of the northern ocean is! How inspiriting the +shrieking and howling of the boisterous wind! Even the fierce pelting of +the rain is home-like, and the cold in which one shivers is stimulating! +You cannot imagine the delight of being in a room with a door that will +lock, to be in a bed instead of on a stretcher, of finding twenty-three +letters containing good news, and of being able to read them in warmth +and quietness under the roof of an English home! + + I. L. B. + + + +ITINERARY of ROUTE from NIIGATA to AOMORI. + + No. of Houses. _Ri_. _Chô_. +Kisaki 56 4 +Tsuiji 209 6 +Kurokawa 215 2 12 +Hanadati 20 2 +Kawaguchi 27 3 +Numa 24 1 18 +Tamagawa 40 3 +Okuni 210 2 11 +Kurosawa 17 1 18 +Ichinono 20 1 18 +Shirokasawa 42 1 21 +Tenoko 120 3 11 +Komatsu 513 2 13 +Akayu 350 4 +Kaminoyama 650 5 +Yamagata 21,000 souls 3 19 +Tendo 1,040 3 8 +Tateoka 307 3 21 +Tochiida 217 1 33 +Obanasawa 506 1 21 +Ashizawa 70 1 21 +Shinjô 1,060 4 6 +Kanayama 165 3 27 +Nosoki 37 3 9 +Innai 257 3 12 +Yusawa 1,506 3 35 +Yokote 2,070 4 27 +Rokugo 1,062 6 +Shingoji 209 1 28 +Kubota 36,587 souls 16 +Minato 2,108 1 28 +Abukawa 163 3 33 +Ichi Nichi Ichi 306 1 34 +Kado 151 2 9 +Hinikoyama 396 2 9 +Tsugurata 186 1 14 +Tubiné 153 1 18 +Kiriishi 31 1 14 +Kotsunagi 47 1 16 +Tsuguriko 136 3 5 +Odaté 1,673 4 23 +Shirasawa 71 2 19 +Ikarigaseki 175 4 18 +Kuroishi 1,176 6 19 +Daishaka 43 4 +Shinjo 51 2 21 +Aomori 1 24 + _Ri_ 153 9 + +About 368 miles. + +This is considerably under the actual distance, as on several of the +mountain routes the _ri_ is 56 _chô_, but in the lack of accurate +information the _ri_ has been taken at its ordinary standard of 36 _chô_ +throughout. + + + + +LETTER XXXIII. + + +Form and Colour—A Windy Capital—Eccentricities in House Roofs. + + HAKODATÉ, YEZO, August 13, 1878 + +AFTER a tremendous bluster for two days the weather has become +beautifully fine, and I find the climate here more invigorating than that +of the main island. It is Japan, but yet there is a difference somehow. +When the mists lift they reveal not mountains smothered in greenery, but +naked peaks, volcanoes only recently burnt out, with the red ash flaming +under the noonday sun, and passing through shades of pink into violet at +sundown. Strips of sand border the bay, ranges of hills, with here and +there a patch of pine or scrub, fade into the far-off blue, and the great +cloud shadows lie upon their scored sides in indigo and purple. Blue as +the Adriatic are the waters of the land-locked bay, and the snowy sails +of pale junks look whiter than snow against its intense azure. The +abruptness of the double peaks behind the town is softened by a belt of +cryptomeria, the sandy strip which connects the headland with the +mainland heightens the general resemblance of the contour of the ground +to Gibraltar; but while one dreams of the western world a _kuruma_ passes +one at a trot, temple drums are beaten in a manner which does not recall +“the roll of the British drum,” a Buddhist funeral passes down the +street, or a man-cart pulled and pushed by four yellow-skinned, +little-clothed mannikins, creaks by, with the monotonous grunt of _Ha +huida_. + +A single look at Hakodaté itself makes one feel that it is Japan all +over. The streets are very wide and clean, but the houses are mean and +low. The city looks as if it had just recovered from a conflagration. +The houses are nothing but tinder. The grand tile roofs of some other +cities are not to be seen. There is not an element of permanence in the +wide, and windy streets. It is an increasing and busy place; it lies for +two miles along the shore, and has climbed the hill till it can go no +higher; but still houses and people look poor. It has a skeleton aspect +too, which is partially due to the number of permanent “clothes-horses” +on the roofs. Stones, however, are its prominent feature. Looking down +upon it from above you see miles of grey boulders, and realise that every +roof in the windy capital is “hodden doun” by a weight of paving stones. +Nor is this all. Some of the flatter roofs are pebbled all over like a +courtyard, and others, such as the roof of this house, for instance, are +covered with sod and crops of grass, the two latter arrangements being +precautions against risks from sparks during fires. These paving stones +are certainly the cheapest possible mode of keeping the roofs on the +houses in such a windy region, but they look odd. + +None of the streets, except one high up the hill, with a row of fine +temples and temple grounds, call for any notice. Nearly every house is a +shop; most of the shops supply only the ordinary articles consumed by a +large and poor population; either real or imitated foreign goods abound +in Main Street, and the only novelties are the furs, skins, and horns, +which abound in shops devoted to their sale. I covet the great bear furs +and the deep cream-coloured furs of Aino dogs, which are cheap as well as +handsome. There are many second-hand, or, as they are called, “curio” +shops, and the cheap lacquer from Aomori is also tempting to a stranger. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XXXIV. + + +Ito’s Delinquency—“Missionary Manners”—A Predicted Failure. + + HAKODATÉ, YEZO. + +I AM enjoying Hakodaté so much that, though my tour is all planned and my +arrangements are made, I linger on from day to day. There has been an +unpleasant _éclaircissement_ about Ito. You will remember that I engaged +him without a character, and that he told both Lady Parkes and me that +after I had done so his former master, Mr. Maries, asked him to go back +to him, to which he had replied that he had “a contract with a lady.” +Mr. Maries is here, and I now find that he had a contract with Ito, by +which Ito bound himself to serve him as long as he required him, for $7 a +month, but that, hearing that I offered $12, he ran away from him and +entered my service with a lie! Mr. Maries has been put to the greatest +inconvenience by his defection, and has been hindered greatly in +completing his botanical collection, for Ito is very clever, and he had +not only trained him to dry plants successfully, but he could trust him +to go away for two or three days and collect seeds. I am very sorry +about it. He says that Ito was a bad boy when he came to him, but he +thinks that he cured him of some of his faults, and that he has served me +faithfully. I have seen Mr. Maries at the Consul’s, and have arranged +that, after my Yezo tour is over, Ito shall be returned to his rightful +master, who will take him to China and Formosa for a year and a half, and +who, I think, will look after his well-being in every way. Dr. and Mrs. +Hepburn, who are here, heard a bad account of the boy after I began my +travels and were uneasy about me, but, except for this original lie, I +have no fault to find with him, and his Shintô creed has not taught him +any better. When I paid him his wages this morning he asked me if I had +any fault to find, and I told him of my objection to his manners, which +he took in very good part and promised to amend them; “but,” he added, +“mine are just missionary manners!” + +Yesterday I dined at the Consulate, to meet Count Diesbach, of the French +Legation, Mr. Von Siebold, of the Austrian Legation, and Lieutenant +Kreitner, of the Austrian army, who start to-morrow on an exploring +expedition in the interior, intending to cross the sources of the rivers +which fall into the sea on the southern coast and measure the heights of +some of the mountains. They are “well found” in food and claret, but +take such a number of pack-ponies with them that I predict that they will +fail, and that I, who have reduced my luggage to 45 lbs., will succeed! + +I hope to start on my long-projected tour to-morrow; I have planned it +for myself with the confidence of an experienced traveller, and look +forward to it with great pleasure, as a visit to the aborigines is sure +to be full of novel and interesting experiences. Good-bye for a long +time. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XXXV. {216} + + +A Lovely Sunset—An Official Letter—A “Front Horse”—Japanese Courtesy—The +Steam Ferry—Coolies Abscond—A Team of Savages—A Drove of Horses—Floral +Beauties—An Unbeaten Track—A Ghostly Dwelling—Solitude and Eeriness. + + GINSAINOMA, YEZO, _August_ 17. + +I AM once again in the wilds! I am sitting outside an upper room built +out almost over a lonely lake, with wooded points purpling and still +shadows deepening in the sinking sun. A number of men are dragging down +the nearest hillside the carcass of a bear which they have just +despatched with spears. There is no village, and the busy clatter of the +_cicada_ and the rustle of the forest are the only sounds which float on +the still evening air. The sunset colours are pink and green; on the +tinted water lie the waxen cups of great water-lilies, and above the +wooded heights the pointed, craggy, and altogether naked summit of the +volcano of Komono-taki flushes red in the sunset. Not the least of the +charms of the evening is that I am absolutely alone, having ridden the +eighteen miles from Hakodaté without Ito or an attendant of any kind; +have unsaddled my own horse, and by means of much politeness and a +dexterous use of Japanese substantives have secured a good room and +supper of rice, eggs, and black beans for myself and a mash of beans for +my horse, which, as it belongs to the _Kaitakushi_, and has the dignity +of iron shoes, is entitled to special consideration! + +I am not yet off the “beaten track,” but my spirits are rising with the +fine weather, the drier atmosphere, and the freedom of Yezo. Yezo is to +the main island of Japan what Tipperary is to an Englishman, Barra to a +Scotchman, “away down in Texas” to a New Yorker—in the rough, little +known, and thinly-peopled; and people can locate all sorts of improbable +stories here without much fear of being found out, of which the Ainos and +the misdeeds of the ponies furnish the staple, and the queer doings of +men and dogs, and adventures with bears, wolves, and salmon, the +embroidery. Nobody comes here without meeting with something queer, and +one or two tumbles either with or from his horse. Very little is known +of the interior except that it is covered with forest matted together by +lianas, and with an undergrowth of scrub bamboo impenetrable except to +the axe, varied by swamps equally impassable, which give rise to hundreds +of rivers well stocked with fish. The glare of volcanoes is seen in +different parts of the island. The forests are the hunting-grounds of +the Ainos, who are complete savages in everything but their disposition, +which is said to be so gentle and harmless that I may go among them with +perfect safety. + +Kindly interest has been excited by the first foray made by a lady into +the country of the aborigines; and Mr. Eusden, the Consul, has worked +upon the powers that be with such good effect that the Governor has +granted me a _shomon_, a sort of official letter or certificate, giving +me a right to obtain horses and coolies everywhere at the Government rate +of 6 _sen_ a _ri_, with a prior claim to accommodation at the houses kept +up for officials on their circuits, and to help and assistance from +officials generally; and the Governor has further telegraphed to the +other side of Volcano Bay desiring the authorities to give me the use of +the Government _kuruma_ as long as I need it, and to detain the steamer +to suit my convenience! With this document, which enables me to dispense +with my passport, I shall find travelling very easy, and I am very +grateful to the Consul for procuring it for me. + +Here, where rice and tea have to be imported, there is a uniform charge +at the _yadoyas_ of 30 _sen_ a day, which includes three meals, whether +you eat them or not. Horses are abundant, but are small, and are not up +to heavy weights. They are entirely unshod, and, though their hoofs are +very shallow and grow into turned-up points and other singular shapes, +they go over rough ground with facility at a scrambling run of over four +miles an hour following a leader called a “front horse.” If you don’t +get a “front horse” and try to ride in front, you find that your horse +will not stir till he has another before him; and then you are perfectly +helpless, as he follows the movements of his leader without any reference +to your wishes. There are no _mago_; a man rides the “front horse” and +goes at whatever pace you please, or, if you get a “front horse,” you may +go without any one. Horses are cheap and abundant. They drive a number +of them down from the hills every morning into _corrals_ in the villages, +and keep them there till they are wanted. Because they are so cheap they +are very badly used. I have not seen one yet without a sore back, +produced by the harsh pack-saddle rubbing up and down the spine, as the +loaded animals are driven at a run. They are mostly very poor-looking. + +As there was some difficulty about getting a horse for me the Consul sent +one of the _Kaitakushi_ saddle-horses, a handsome, lazy animal, which I +rarely succeeded in stimulating into a heavy gallop. Leaving Ito to +follow with the baggage, I enjoyed my solitary ride and the possibility +of choosing my own pace very much, though the choice was only between a +slow walk and the lumbering gallop aforesaid. + +I met strings of horses loaded with deer hides, and overtook other +strings loaded with _saké_ and manufactured goods and in each case had a +fight with my sociably inclined animal. In two villages I was interested +to see that the small shops contained lucifer matches, cotton umbrellas, +boots, brushes, clocks, slates, and pencils, engravings in frames, +kerosene lamps, {218} and red and green blankets, all but the last, which +are unmistakable British “shoddy,” being Japanese imitations of foreign +manufactured goods, more or less cleverly executed. The road goes up +hill for fifteen miles, and, after passing Nanai, a trim Europeanised +village in the midst of fine crops, one of the places at which the +Government is making acclimatisation and other agricultural experiments, +it fairly enters the mountains, and from the top of a steep hill there is +a glorious view of Hakodaté Head, looking like an island in the deep blue +sea, and from the top of a higher hill, looking northward, a magnificent +view of the volcano with its bare, pink summit rising above three lovely +lakes densely wooded. These are the flushed scaurs and outbreaks of bare +rock for which I sighed amidst the smothering greenery of the main +island, and the silver gleam of the lakes takes away the blindness from +the face of nature. It was delicious to descend to the water’s edge in +the dewy silence amidst balsamic odours, to find not a clattering grey +village with its monotony, but a single, irregularly-built house, with +lovely surroundings. + +It is a most displeasing road for most of the way; sides with deep +corrugations, and in the middle a high causeway of earth, whose height is +being added to by hundreds of creels of earth brought on ponies’ backs. +It is supposed that carriages and waggons will use this causeway, but a +shying horse or a bad driver would overturn them. As it is at present +the road is only passable for pack-horses, owing to the number of broken +bridges. I passed strings of horses laden with _saké_ going into the +interior. The people of Yezo drink freely, and the poor Ainos +outrageously. On the road I dismounted to rest myself by walking up +hill, and, the saddle being loosely girthed, the gear behind it dragged +it round and under the body of the horse, and it was too heavy for me to +lift on his back again. When I had led him for some time two Japanese +with a string of pack-horses loaded with deer-hides met me, and not only +put the saddle on again, but held the stirrup while I remounted, and +bowed politely when I went away. Who could help liking such a courteous +and kindly people? + + * * * * * + + MORI, VOLCANO BAY, _Monday_. + +Even Ginsainoma was not Paradise after dark, and I was actually driven to +bed early by the number of mosquitoes. Ito is in an excellent humour on +this tour. Like me, he likes the freedom of the _Hokkaidô_. He is much +more polite and agreeable also, and very proud of the Governor’s +_shomon_, with which he swaggers into hotels and Transport Offices. I +never get on so well as when he arranges for me. Saturday was grey and +lifeless, and the ride of seven miles here along a sandy road through +monotonous forest and swamp, with the volcano on one side and low wooded +hills on the other, was wearisome and fatiguing. I saw five large snakes +all in a heap, and a number more twisting through the grass. There are +no villages, but several very poor tea-houses, and on the other side of +the road long sheds with troughs hollowed like canoes out of the trunks +of trees, containing horse food. Here nobody walks, and the men ride at +a quick run, sitting on the tops of their pack-saddles with their legs +crossed above their horses’ necks, and wearing large hats like +coal-scuttle bonnets. The horses are infested with ticks, hundreds upon +one animal sometimes, and occasionally they become so mad from the +irritation that they throw themselves suddenly on the ground, and roll +over load and rider. I saw this done twice. The ticks often transfer +themselves to the riders. + +Mori is a large, ramshackle village, near the southern point of Volcano +Bay—a wild, dreary-looking place on a sandy shore, with a number of +_jôrôyas_ and disreputable characters. Several of the yadoyas are not +respectable, but I rather like this one, and it has a very fine view of +the volcano, which forms one point of the bay. Mori has no anchorage, +though it has an unfinished pier 345 feet long. The steam ferry across +the mouth of the bay is here, and there is a very difficult bridle-track +running for nearly 100 miles round the bay besides, and a road into the +interior. But it is a forlorn, decayed place. Last night the inn was +very noisy, as some travellers in the next room to mine hired _geishas_, +who played, sang, and danced till two in the morning, and the whole party +imbibed _saké_ freely. In this comparatively northern latitude the +summer is already waning. The seeds of the blossoms which were in their +glory when I arrived are ripe, and here and there a tinge of yellow on a +hillside, or a scarlet spray of maple, heralds the glories and the +coolness of autumn. + + * * * * * + + YUBETS. YEZO. + +A loud yell of “steamer,” coupled with the information that “she could +not wait one minute,” broke in upon _gô_ and everything else, and in a +broiling sun we hurried down to the pier, and with a heap of Japanese, +who filled two _scows_, were put on board a steamer not bigger than a +large decked steam launch, where the natives were all packed into a +covered hole, and I was conducted with much ceremony to the forecastle, a +place at the bow 5 feet square, full of coils of rope, shut in, and left +to solitude and dignity, and the stare of eight eyes, which perseveringly +glowered through the windows! The steamer had been kept waiting for me +on the other side for two days, to the infinite disgust of two +foreigners, who wished to return to Hakodaté, and to mine. + +It was a splendid day, with foam crests on the wonderfully blue water, +and the red ashes of the volcano, which forms the south point of the bay, +glowed in the sunlight. This wretched steamer, whose boilers are so +often “sick” that she can never be relied upon, is the only means of +reaching the new capital without taking a most difficult and circuitous +route. To continue the pier and put a capable good steamer on the ferry +would be a useful expenditure of money. The breeze was strong and in our +favour, but even with this it took us six weary hours to steam +twenty-five miles, and it was eight at night before we reached the +beautiful and almost land-locked bay of Mororan, with steep, wooded +sides, and deep water close to the shore, deep enough for the foreign +ships of war which occasionally anchor there, much to the detriment of +the town. We got off in over-crowded _sampans_, and several people fell +into the water, much to their own amusement. The servants from the +different _yadoyas_ go down to the jetty to “tout” for guests with large +paper lanterns, and the effect of these, one above another, waving and +undulating, with their soft coloured light, was as bewitching as the +reflection of the stars in the motionless water. Mororan is a small town +very picturesquely situated on the steep shore of a most lovely bay, with +another height, richly wooded, above it, with shrines approached by +flights of stone stairs, and behind this hill there is the first Aino +village along this coast. + +The long, irregular street is slightly picturesque, but I was impressed +both with the unusual sight of loafers and with the dissolute look of the +place, arising from the number of _jôrôyas_, and from the number of +_yadoyas_ that are also haunts of the vicious. I could only get a very +small room in a very poor and dirty inn, but there were no mosquitoes, +and I got a good meal of fish. On sending to order horses I found that +everything was arranged for my journey. The Governor sent his card +early, to know if there were anything I should like to see or do, but, as +the morning was grey and threatening, I wished to push on, and at 9.30 I +was in the _kuruma_ at the inn door. I call it the _kuruma_ because it +is the only one, and is kept by the Government for the conveyance of +hospital patients. I sat there uncomfortably and patiently for half an +hour, my only amusement being the flirtations of Ito with a very pretty +girl. Loiterers assembled, but no one came to draw the vehicle, and by +degrees the dismal truth leaked out that the three coolies who had been +impressed for the occasion had all absconded, and that four policemen +were in search of them. I walked on in a dawdling way up the steep hill +which leads from the town, met Mr. Akboshi, a pleasant young Japanese +surveyor, who spoke English and stigmatised Mororan as “the worst place +in Yezo;” and, after fuming for two hours at the waste of time, was +overtaken by Ito with the horses, in a boiling rage. “They’re the worst +and wickedest coolies in all Japan,” he stammered; “two more ran away, +and now three are coming, and have got paid for four, and the first three +who ran away got paid, and the Express man’s so ashamed for a foreigner, +and the Governor’s in a furious rage.” + +Except for the loss of time it made no difference to me, but when the +_kuruma_ did come up the runners were three such ruffianly-looking men, +and were dressed so wildly in bark cloth, that, in sending Ito on twelve +miles to secure relays, I sent my money along with him. These men, +though there were three instead of two, never went out of a walk, and, as +if on purpose, took the vehicle over every stone and into every rut, and +kept up a savage chorus of “_haes-ha_, _haes-hora_” the whole time, as if +they were pulling stone-carts. There are really no runners out of +Hakodaté, and the men don’t know how to pull, and hate doing it. + +Mororan Bay is truly beautiful from the top of the ascent. The coast +scenery of Japan generally is the loveliest I have ever seen, except that +of a portion of windward Hawaii, and this yields in beauty to none. The +irregular grey town, with a grey temple on the height above, straggles +round the little bay on a steep, wooded terrace; hills, densely wooded, +and with a perfect entanglement of large-leaved trailers, descend +abruptly to the water’s edge; the festoons of the vines are mirrored in +the still waters; and above the dark forest, and beyond the gleaming sea, +rises the red, peaked top of the volcano. Then the road dips abruptly to +sandy swellings, rising into bold headlands here and there; and for the +first time I saw the surge of 5000 miles of unbroken ocean break upon the +shore. Glimpses of the Pacific, an uncultivated, swampy level quite +uninhabited, and distant hills mainly covered with forest, made up the +landscape till I reached Horobets, a mixed Japanese and Aino village +built upon the sand near the sea. + + [Picture: Aino Store-House at Horobets] + +In these mixed villages the Ainos are compelled to live at a respectful +distance from the Japanese, and frequently out-number them, as at +Horobets, where there are forty-seven Aino and only eighteen Japanese +houses. The Aino village looks larger than it really is, because nearly +every house has a _kura_, raised six feet from the ground by wooden +stilts. When I am better acquainted with the houses I shall describe +them; at present I will only say that they do not resemble the Japanese +houses so much as the Polynesian, as they are made of reeds very neatly +tied upon a wooden framework. They have small windows, and roofs of a +very great height, and steep pitch, with the thatch in a series of very +neat frills, and the ridge poles covered with reeds, and ornamented. The +coast Ainos are nearly all engaged in fishing, but at this season the men +hunt deer in the forests. On this coast there are several names +compounded with _bets_ or _pets_, the Aino for a river, such as Horobets, +Yubets, Mombets, etc. + + [Picture: Aino Lodges (from a Japanese Sketch)] + +I found that Ito had been engaged for a whole hour in a violent +altercation, which was caused by the Transport Agent refusing to supply +runners for the _kuruma_, saying that no one in Horobets would draw one, +but on my producing the _shomon_ I was at once started on my journey of +sixteen miles with three Japanese lads, Ito riding on to Shiraôi to get +my room ready. I think that the Transport Offices in Yezo are in +Government hands. In a few minutes three Ainos ran out of a house, took +the _kuruma_, and went the whole stage without stopping. They took a boy +and three saddled horses along with them to bring them back, and rode and +hauled alternately, two youths always attached to the shafts, and a man +pushing behind. They were very kind, and so courteous, after a new +fashion, that I quite forgot that I was alone among savages. The lads +were young and beardless, their lips were thick, and their mouths very +wide, and I thought that they approached more nearly to the Eskimo type +than to any other. They had masses of soft black hair falling on each +side of their faces. The adult man was not a pure Aino. His dark hair +was not very thick, and both it and his beard had an occasional auburn +gleam. I think I never saw a face more completely beautiful in features +and expression, with a lofty, sad, far-off, gentle, intellectual look, +rather that of Sir Noël Paton’s “Christ” than of a savage. His manner +was most graceful, and he spoke both Aino and Japanese in the low musical +tone which I find is a characteristic of Aino speech. These Ainos never +took off their clothes, but merely let them fall from one or both +shoulders when it was very warm. + +The road from Horobets to Shiraôi is very solitary, with not more than +four or five houses the whole way. It is broad and straight, except when +it ascends hills or turns inland to cross rivers, and is carried across a +broad swampy level, covered with tall wild flowers, which extends from +the high beach thrown up by the sea for two miles inland, where there is +a lofty wall of wooded rock, and beyond this the forest-covered mountains +of the interior. On the top of the raised beach there were Aino hamlets, +and occasionally a nearly overpowering stench came across the level from +the sheds and apparatus used for extracting fish-oil. I enjoyed the +afternoon thoroughly. It is so good to have got beyond the confines of +stereotyped civilisation and the trammels of Japanese travelling to the +solitude of nature and an atmosphere of freedom. It was grey, with a +hard, dark line of ocean horizon, and over the weedy level the grey road, +with grey telegraph-poles along it, stretched wearisomely like a grey +thread. The breeze came up from the sea, rustled the reeds, and waved +the tall plumes of the _Eulalia japonica_, and the thunder of the Pacific +surges boomed through the air with its grand, deep bass. Poetry and +music pervaded the solitude, and my spirit was rested. + +Going up and then down a steep, wooded hill, the road appeared to return +to its original state of brushwood, and the men stopped at the broken +edge of a declivity which led down to a shingle bank and a foam-crested +river of clear, blue-green water, strongly impregnated with sulphur from +some medicinal springs above, with a steep bank of tangle on the opposite +side. This beautiful stream was crossed by two round poles, a foot +apart, on which I attempted to walk with the help of an Aino hand; but +the poles were very unsteady, and I doubt whether any one, even with a +strong head, could walk on them in boots. Then the beautiful Aino signed +to me to come back and mount on his shoulders; but when he had got a few +feet out the poles swayed and trembled so much that he was obliged to +retrace his way cautiously, during which process I endured miseries from +dizziness and fear; after which he carried me through the rushing water, +which was up to his shoulders, and through a bit of swampy jungle, and up +a steep bank, to the great fatigue both of body and mind, hardly +mitigated by the enjoyment of the ludicrous in riding a savage through +these Yezo waters. They dexterously carried the _kuruma_ through, on the +shoulders of four, and showed extreme anxiety that neither it nor I +should get wet. After this we crossed two deep, still rivers in scows, +and far above the grey level and the grey sea the sun was setting in gold +and vermilion-streaked green behind a glorified mountain of great height, +at whose feet the forest-covered hills lay in purple gloom. At dark we +reached Shiraôi, a village of eleven Japanese houses, with a village of +fifty-one Aino houses, near the sea. There is a large _yadoya_ of the +old style there; but I found that Ito had chosen a very pretty new one, +with four stalls open to the road, in the centre one of which I found +him, with the welcome news that a steak of fresh salmon was broiling on +the coals; and, as the room was clean and sweet and I was very hungry, I +enjoyed my meal by the light of a rush in a saucer of fish-oil as much as +any part of the day. + + * * * * * + + SARUFUTO. + +The night was too cold for sleep, and at daybreak, hearing a great din, I +looked out, and saw a drove of fully a hundred horses all galloping down +the road, with two Ainos on horseback, and a number of big dogs after +them. Hundreds of horses run nearly wild on the hills, and the Ainos, +getting a large drove together, skilfully head them for the entrance into +the corral, in which a selection of them is made for the day’s needs, and +the remainder—that is, those with the deepest sores on their backs—are +turned loose. This dull rattle of shoeless feet is the first sound in +the morning in these Yezo villages. I sent Ito on early, and followed at +nine with three Ainos. The road is perfectly level for thirteen miles, +through gravel flats and swamps, very monotonous, but with a wild charm +of its own. There were swampy lakes, with wild ducks and small white +water-lilies, and the surrounding levels were covered with reedy grass, +flowers, and weeds. The early autumn has withered a great many of the +flowers; but enough remains to show how beautiful the now russet plains +must have been in the early summer. A dwarf rose, of a deep crimson +colour, with orange, medlar-shaped hips, as large as crabs, and corollas +three inches across, is one of the features of Yezo; and besides, there +is a large rose-red convolvulus, a blue campanula, with tiers of bells, a +blue monkshood, the _Aconitum Japonicum_, the flaunting _Calystegia +soldanella_, purple asters, grass of Parnassus, yellow lilies, and a +remarkable trailer, whose delicate leafage looked quite out of place +among its coarse surroundings, with a purplish-brown campanulate blossom, +only remarkable for a peculiar arrangement of the pistil, green stamens, +and a most offensive carrion-like odour, which is probably to attract to +it a very objectionable-looking fly, for purposes of fertilisation. + +We overtook four Aino women, young and comely, with bare feet, striding +firmly along; and after a good deal of laughing with the men, they took +hold of the _kuruma_, and the whole seven raced with it at full speed for +half a mile, shrieking with laughter. Soon after we came upon a little +tea-house, and the Ainos showed me a straw package, and pointed to their +open mouths, by which I understood that they wished to stop and eat. +Later we overtook four Japanese on horseback, and the Ainos raced with +them for a considerable distance, the result of these spurts being that I +reached Tomakomai at noon—a wide, dreary place, with houses roofed with +sod, bearing luxuriant crops of weeds. Near this place is the volcano of +Tarumai, a calm-looking, grey cone, whose skirts are draped by tens of +thousands of dead trees. So calm and grey had it looked for many a year +that people supposed it had passed into endless rest, when quite lately, +on a sultry day, it blew off its cap and covered the whole country for +many a mile with cinders and ashes, burning up the forest on its sides, +adding a new covering to the Tomakomai roofs, and depositing fine ash as +far as Cape Erimo, fifty miles off. + +At this place the road and telegraph wires turn inland to Satsuporo, and +a track for horses only turns to the north-east, and straggles round the +island for about seven hundred miles. From Mororan to Sarufuto there are +everywhere traces of new and old volcanic action—pumice, tufas, +conglomerates, and occasional beds of hard basalt, all covered with +recent pumice, which, from Shiraôi eastwards, conceals everything. At +Tomakomai we took horses, and, as I brought my own saddle, I have had the +nearest approach to real riding that I have enjoyed in Japan. The wife +of a Satsuporo doctor was there, who was travelling for two hundred miles +astride on a pack-saddle, with rope-loops for stirrups. She rode well, +and vaulted into my saddle with circus-like dexterity, and performed many +equestrian feats upon it, telling me that she should be quite happy if +she were possessed of it. + +I was happy when I left the “beaten track” to Satsuporo, and saw before +me, stretching for I know not how far, rolling, sandy _machirs_ like +those of the Outer Hebrides, desert-like and lonely, covered almost +altogether with dwarf roses and campanulas, a prairie land on which you +can make any tracks you please. Sending the others on, I followed them +at the Yezo _scramble_, and soon ventured on a long gallop, and revelled +in the music of the thud of shoeless feet over the elastic soil; but I +had not realised the peculiarities of Yezo steeds, and had forgotten to +ask whether mine was a “front horse,” and just as we were going at full +speed we came nearly up with the others, and my horse coming abruptly to +a full stop, I went six feet over his head among the rose-bushes. Ito +looking back saw me tightening the saddle-girths, and I never divulged +this escapade. + +After riding eight miles along this breezy belt, with the sea on one side +and forests on the other, we came upon Yubets, a place which has +fascinated me so much that I intend to return to it; but I must confess +that its fascinations depend rather upon what it has not than upon what +it has, and Ito says that it would kill him to spend even two days there. +It looks like the end of all things, as if loneliness and desolation +could go no farther. A sandy stretch on three sides, a river arrested in +its progress to the sea, and compelled to wander tediously in search of +an outlet by the height and mass of the beach thrown up by the Pacific, a +distant forest-belt rising into featureless, wooded ranges in shades of +indigo and grey, and a never-absent consciousness of a vast ocean just +out of sight, are the environments of two high look-outs, some sheds for +fish-oil purposes, four or five Japanese houses, four Aino huts on the +top of the beach across the river, and a grey barrack, consisting of a +polished passage eighty feet long, with small rooms on either side, at +one end a gravelled yard, with two quiet rooms opening upon it, and at +the other an immense _daidokoro_, with dark recesses and blackened +rafters—a haunted-looking abode. One would suppose that there had been a +special object in setting the houses down at weary distances from each +other. Few as they are, they are not all inhabited at this season, and +all that can be seen is grey sand, sparse grass, and a few savages +creeping about. + +Nothing that I have seen has made such an impression upon me as that +ghostly, ghastly fishing-station. In the long grey wall of the long grey +barrack there were many dismal windows, and when we hooted for admission +a stupid face appeared at one of them and disappeared. Then a grey +gateway opened, and we rode into a yard of grey gravel, with some silent +rooms opening upon it. The solitude of the thirty or forty rooms which +lie between it and the kitchen, and which are now filled with nets and +fishing-tackle, was something awful; and as the wind swept along the +polished passage, rattling the _fusuma_ and lifting the shingles on the +roof, and the rats careered from end to end, I went to the great black +_daidokoro_ in search of social life, and found a few embers and an +_andon_, and nothing else but the stupid-faced man deploring his fate, +and two orphan boys whose lot he makes more wretched than his own. In +the fishing-season this barrack accommodates from 200 to 300 men. + +I started to the sea-shore, crossing the dreary river, and found open +sheds much blackened, deserted huts of reeds, long sheds with a nearly +insufferable odour from caldrons in which oil had been extracted from +last year’s fish, two or three Aino huts, and two or three grand-looking +Ainos, clothed in skins, striding like ghosts over the sandbanks, a +number of wolfish dogs, some log canoes or “dug-outs,” the bones of a +wrecked junk, a quantity of bleached drift-wood, a beach of dark-grey +sand, and a tossing expanse of dark-grey ocean under a dull and windy +sky. On this part of the coast the Pacific spends its fury, and has +raised up at a short distance above high-water mark a sandy sweep of such +a height that when you descend its seaward slope you see nothing but the +sea and the sky, and a grey, curving shore, covered thick for many a +lonely mile with fantastic forms of whitened drift-wood, the shattered +wrecks of forest-trees, which are carried down by the innumerable rivers, +till, after tossing for weeks and months along with + + “—wrecks of ships, and drifting + spars uplifting + On the desolate, rainy seas: + Ever drifting, drifting, drifting, + On the shifting + Currents of the restless main;” + +the “toiling surges” cast them on Yubets beach, and + + “All have found repose again.” + +A grim repose! + +The deep boom of the surf was music, and the strange cries of sea-birds, +and the hoarse notes of the audacious black crows, were all harmonious, +for nature, when left to herself, never produces discords either in sound +or colour. + + + + +LETTER XXXV.—(_Continued_.) + + +The Harmonies of Nature—A Good Horse—A Single Discord—A Forest—Aino +Ferrymen—“_Les Puces_! _Les Puces_!”—Baffled Explorers—Ito’s Contempt +for Ainos—An Aino Introduction. + + SARUFUTO. + +NO! Nature has no discords. This morning, to the far horizon, +diamond-flashing blue water shimmered in perfect peace, outlined by a +line of surf which broke lazily on a beach scarcely less snowy than +itself. The deep, perfect blue of the sky was only broken by a few +radiant white clouds, whose shadows trailed slowly over the plain on +whose broad bosom a thousand corollas, in the glory of their brief but +passionate life, were drinking in the sunshine, wavy ranges slept in +depths of indigo, and higher hills beyond were painted in faint blue on +the dreamy sky. Even the few grey houses of Yubets were spiritualised +into harmony by a faint blue veil which was not a mist, and the loud +croak of the loquacious and impertinent crows had a cheeriness about it, +a hearty mockery, which I liked. + +Above all, I had a horse so good that he was always trying to run away, +and galloped so lightly over the flowery grass that I rode the seventeen +miles here with great enjoyment. Truly a good horse, good ground to +gallop on, and sunshine, make up the sum of enjoyable travelling. The +discord in the general harmony was produced by the sight of the Ainos, a +harmless people without the instinct of progress, descending to that vast +tomb of conquered and unknown races which has opened to receive so many +before them. A mounted policeman started with us from Yubets, and rode +the whole way here, keeping exactly to my pace, but never speaking a +word. We forded one broad, deep river, and crossed another, partly by +fording and partly in a scow, after which the track left the level, and, +after passing through reedy grass as high as the horse’s ears, went for +some miles up and down hill, through woods composed entirely of the +_Ailanthus glandulosus_, with leaves much riddled by the mountain +silk-worm, and a ferny undergrowth of the familiar _Pteris aquilina_. +The deep shade and glancing lights of this open copsewood were very +pleasant; and as the horse tripped gaily up and down the little hills, +and the sea murmur mingled with the rustle of the breeze, and a glint of +white surf sometimes flashed through the greenery, and dragonflies and +butterflies in suits of crimson and black velvet crossed the path +continually like “living flashes” of light, I was reminded somewhat, +though faintly, of windward Hawaii. We emerged upon an Aino hut and a +beautiful placid river, and two Ainos ferried the four people and horses +across in a scow, the third wading to guide the boat. They wore no +clothing, but only one was hairy. They were superb-looking men, gentle, +and extremely courteous, handing me in and out of the boat, and holding +the stirrup while I mounted, with much natural grace. On leaving they +extended their arms and waved their hands inwards twice, stroking their +grand beards afterwards, which is their usual salutation. A short +distance over shingle brought us to this Japanese village of sixty-three +houses, a colonisation settlement, mainly of _samurai_ from the province +of Sendai, who are raising very fine crops on the sandy soil. The +mountains, twelve miles in the interior, have a large Aino population, +and a few Ainos live near this village and are held in great contempt by +its inhabitants. My room is on the village street, and, as it is too +warm to close the _shôji_, the aborigines stand looking in at the lattice +hour after hour. + +A short time ago Mr. Von Siebold and Count Diesbach galloped up on their +return from Biratori, the Aino village to which I am going; and Count D., +throwing himself from his horse, rushed up to me with the exclamation, +_Les puces_! _les puces_! They have brought down with them the chief, +Benri, a superb but dissipated-looking savage. Mr. Von Siebold called on +me this evening, and I envied him his fresh, clean clothing as much as he +envied me my stretcher and mosquito-net. They have suffered terribly +from fleas, mosquitoes, and general discomfort, and are much exhausted; +but Mr. Von S. thinks that, in spite of all, a visit to the mountain +Ainos is worth a long journey. As I expected, they have completely +failed in their explorations, and have been deserted by Lieutenant +Kreitner. I asked Mr. Von S. to speak to Ito in Japanese about the +importance of being kind and courteous to the Ainos whose hospitality I +shall receive; and Ito is very indignant at this. “Treat Ainos +politely!” he says; “they’re just dogs, not men;” and since he has +regaled me with all the scandal concerning them which he has been able to +rake together in the village. + +We have to take not only food for both Ito and myself, but cooking +utensils. I have been introduced to Benri, the chief; and, though he +does not return for a day or two, he will send a message along with us +which will ensure me hospitality. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XXXVI. + + +Savage Life—A Forest Track—Cleanly Villages—A Hospitable Reception—The +Chief’s Mother—The Evening Meal—A Savage _Séance_—Libations to the +Gods—Nocturnal Silence—Aino Courtesy—The Chief’s Wife. + + AINO HUT, BIRATORI, _August_ 23. + + [Picture: Aino Houses] + +I AM in the lonely Aino land, and I think that the most interesting of my +travelling experiences has been the living for three days and two nights +in an Aino hut, and seeing and sharing the daily life of complete +savages, who go on with their ordinary occupations just as if I were not +among them. I found yesterday a most fatiguing and over-exciting day, as +everything was new and interesting, even the extracting from men who have +few if any ideas in common with me all I could extract concerning their +religion and customs, and that through an interpreter. I got up at six +this morning to write out my notes, and have been writing for five hours, +and there is shortly the prospect of another savage _séance_. The +distractions, as you can imagine, are many. At this moment a savage is +taking a cup of _saké_ by the fire in the centre of the floor. He +salutes me by extending his hands and waving them towards his face, and +then dips a rod in the _saké_, and makes six libations to the god—an +upright piece of wood with a fringe of shavings planted in the floor of +the room. Then he waves the cup several times towards himself, makes +other libations to the fire, and drinks. Ten other men and women are +sitting along each side of the fire-hole, the chief’s wife is cooking, +the men are apathetically contemplating the preparation of their food; +and the other women, who are never idle, are splitting the bark of which +they make their clothes. I occupy the guest seat—a raised platform at +one end of the fire, with the skin of a black bear thrown over it. + + [Picture: Ainos at Home. (From a Japanese Sketch)] + +I have reserved all I have to say about the Ainos till I had been +actually among them, and I hope you will have patience to read to the +end. Ito is very greedy and self-indulgent, and whimpered very much +about coming to Biratori at all,—one would have thought he was going to +the stake. He actually borrowed for himself a sleeping mat and _futons_, +and has brought a chicken, onions, potatoes, French beans, Japanese +sauce, tea, rice, a kettle, a stew-pan, and a rice-pan, while I contented +myself with a cold fowl and potatoes. + +We took three horses and a mounted Aino guide, and found a beaten track +the whole way. It turns into the forest at once on leaving Sarufuto, and +goes through forest the entire distance, with an abundance of reedy grass +higher than my hat on horseback along it, and, as it is only twelve +inches broad and much overgrown, the horses were constantly pushing +through leafage soaking from a night’s rain, and I was soon wet up to my +shoulders. The forest trees are almost solely the _Ailanthus +glandulosus_ and the _Zelkowa keaki_, often matted together with a +white-flowered trailer of the Hydrangea genus. The undergrowth is simply +hideous, consisting mainly of coarse reedy grass, monstrous docks, the +large-leaved _Polygonum cuspidatum_, several umbelliferous plants, and a +“ragweed” which, like most of its gawky fellows, grows from five to six +feet high. The forest is dark and very silent, threaded by this narrow +path, and by others as narrow, made by the hunters in search of game. +The “main road” sometimes plunges into deep bogs, at others is roughly +corduroyed by the roots of trees, and frequently hangs over the edge of +abrupt and much-worn declivities, in going up one of which the +baggage-horse rolled down a bank fully thirty feet high, and nearly all +the tea was lost. At another the guide’s pack-saddle lost its balance, +and man, horse, and saddle went over the slope, pots, pans, and packages +flying after them. At another time my horse sank up to his chest in a +very bad bog, and, as he was totally unable to extricate himself, I was +obliged to scramble upon his neck and jump to _terra firma_ over his +ears. + +There is something very gloomy in the solitude of this silent land, with +its beast-haunted forests, its great patches of pasture, the resort of +wild animals which haunt the lower regions in search of food when the +snow drives them down from the mountains, and its narrow track, +indicating the single file in which the savages of the interior walk with +their bare, noiseless feet. Reaching the Sarufutogawa, a river with a +treacherous bottom, in which Mr. Von Siebold and his horse came to grief, +I hailed an Aino boy, who took me up the stream in a “dug-out,” and after +that we passed through Biroka, Saruba, and Mina, all purely Aino +villages, situated among small patches of millet, tobacco, and pumpkins, +so choked with weeds that it was doubtful whether they were crops. I was +much surprised with the extreme neatness and cleanliness outside the +houses; “model villages” they are in these respects, with no litter lying +in sight anywhere, nothing indeed but dog troughs, hollowed out of logs, +like “dug-outs,” for the numerous yellow dogs, which are a feature of +Aino life. There are neither puddles nor heaps, but the houses, all trim +and in good repair, rise clean out of the sandy soil. + +Biratori, the largest of the Aino settlements in this region, is very +prettily situated among forests and mountains, on rising ground, with a +very sinuous river winding at its feet and a wooded height above. A +lonelier place could scarcely be found. As we passed among the houses +the yellow dogs barked, the women looked shy and smiled, and the men made +their graceful salutation. We stopped at the chief’s house, where, of +course, we were unexpected guests; but Shinondi, his nephew, and two +other men came out, saluted us, and with most hospitable intent helped +Ito to unload the horses. Indeed their eager hospitality created quite a +commotion, one running hither and the other thither in their anxiety to +welcome a stranger. It is a large house, the room being 35 by 25, and +the roof 20 feet high; but you enter by an ante-chamber, in which are +kept the millet-mill and other articles. There is a doorway in this, but +the inside is pretty dark, and Shinondi, taking my hand, raised the reed +curtain bound with hide, which concealed the entrance into the actual +house, and, leading me into it, retired a footstep, extended his arms, +waved his arms inwards three times, and then stroked his beard several +times, after which he indicated by a sweep of his hand and a beautiful +smile that the house and all it contained were mine. An aged woman, the +chief’s mother, who was splitting bark by the fire, waved her hands also. +She is the queen-regnant of the house. + + [Picture: Aino Millet-Mill and Pestle] + +Again taking my hand, Shinondi led me to the place of honour at the head +of the fire—a rude, movable platform six feet long by four broad, and a +foot high, on which he laid an ornamental mat, apologising for not having +at that moment a bearskin wherewith to cover it. The baggage was +speedily brought in by several willing pairs of hands; some reed mats +fifteen feet long were laid down upon the very coarse ones which covered +the whole floor, and when they saw Ito putting up my stretcher they hung +a fine mat along the rough wall to conceal it, and suspended another on +the beams of the roof for a canopy. The alacrity and instinctive +hospitality with which these men rushed about to make things comfortable +were very fascinating, though comfort is a word misapplied in an Aino +hut. The women only did what the men told them. + +They offered food at once, but I told them that I had brought my own, and +would only ask leave to cook it on their fire. I need not have brought +any cups, for they have many lacquer bowls, and Shinondi brought me on a +lacquer tray a bowl full of water from one of their four wells. They +said that Benri, the chief, would wish me to make his house my own for as +long as I cared to stay, and I must excuse them in all things in which +their ways were different from my own. Shinondi and four others in the +village speak tolerable Japanese, and this of course is the medium of +communication. Ito has exerted himself nobly as an interpreter, and has +entered into my wishes with a cordiality and intelligence which have been +perfectly invaluable; and, though he did growl at Mr. Von Siebold’s +injunctions regarding politeness, he has carried them out to my +satisfaction, and even admits that the mountain Ainos are better than he +expected; “but,” he added “they have learned their politeness from the +Japanese!” They have never seen a foreign woman, and only three foreign +men, but there is neither crowding nor staring as among the Japanese, +possibly in part from apathy and want of intelligence. For three days +they have kept up their graceful and kindly hospitality, going on with +their ordinary life and occupations, and, though I have lived among them +in this room by day and night, there has been nothing which in any way +could offend the most fastidious sense of delicacy. + +They said they would leave me to eat and rest, and all retired but the +chief’s mother, a weird, witch-like woman of eighty, with shocks of +yellow-white hair, and a stern suspiciousness in her wrinkled face. I +have come to feel as if she had the evil eye, as she sits there watching, +watching always, and for ever knotting the bark thread like one of the +Fates, keeping a jealous watch on her son’s two wives, and on other young +women who come in to weave—neither the dulness nor the repose of old age +about her; and her eyes gleam with a greedy light when she sees _saké_, +of which she drains a bowl without taking breath. She alone is +suspicious of strangers, and she thinks that my visit bodes no good to +her tribe. I see her eyes fixed upon me now, and they make me shudder. + +I had a good meal seated in my chair on the top of the guest-seat to +avoid the fleas, which are truly legion. At dusk Shinondi returned, and +soon people began to drop in, till eighteen were assembled, including the +sub-chief and several very grand-looking old men, with full, grey, wavy +beards. Age is held in much reverence, and it is etiquette for these old +men to do honour to a guest in the chief’s absence. As each entered he +saluted me several times, and after sitting down turned towards me and +saluted again, going through the same ceremony with every other person. +They said they had come “to bid me welcome.” They took their places in +rigid order at each side of the fireplace, which is six feet long, +Benri’s mother in the place of honour at the right, then Shinondi, then +the sub-chief, and on the other side the old men. Besides these, seven +women sat in a row in the background splitting bark. A large iron pan +hung over the fire from a blackened arrangement above, and Benri’s +principal wife cut wild roots, green beans, and seaweed, and shred dried +fish and venison among them, adding millet, water, and some +strong-smelling fish-oil, and set the whole on to stew for three hours, +stirring the “mess” now and then with a wooden spoon. + +Several of the older people smoke, and I handed round some mild tobacco, +which they received with waving hands. I told them that I came from a +land in the sea, very far away, where they saw the sun go down—so very +far away that a horse would have to gallop day and night for five weeks +to reach it—and that I had come a long journey to see them, and that I +wanted to ask them many questions, so that when I went home I might tell +my own people something about them. Shinondi and another man, who +understood Japanese, bowed, and (as on every occasion) translated what I +said into Aino for the venerable group opposite. Shinondi then said +“that he and Shinrichi, the other Japanese speaker, would tell me all +they knew, but they were but young men, and only knew what was told to +them. They would speak what they believed to be true, but the chief knew +more than they, and when he came back he might tell me differently, and +then I should think that they had spoken lies.” I said that no one who +looked into their faces could think that they ever told lies. They were +very much pleased, and waved their hands and stroked their beards +repeatedly. Before they told me anything they begged and prayed that I +would not inform the Japanese Government that they had told me of their +customs, or harm might come to them! + +For the next two hours, and for two more after supper, I asked them +questions concerning their religion and customs, and again yesterday for +a considerable time, and this morning, after Benri’s return, I went over +the same subjects with him, and have also employed a considerable time in +getting about 300 words from them, which I have spelt phonetically of +course, and intend to go over again when I visit the coast Ainos. {241} + +The process was slow, as both question and answer had to pass through +three languages. There was a very manifest desire to tell the truth, and +I think that their statements concerning their few and simple customs may +be relied upon. I shall give what they told me separately when I have +time to write out my notes in an orderly manner. I can only say that I +have seldom spent a more interesting evening. + +About nine the stew was ready, and the women ladled it into lacquer bowls +with wooden spoons. The men were served first, but all ate together. +Afterwards _saké_, their curse, was poured into lacquer bowls, and across +each bowl a finely-carved “saké-_stick_” was laid. These sticks are very +highly prized. The bowls were waved several times with an inward motion, +then each man took his stick and, dipping it into the _saké_, made six +libations to the fire and several to the “god”—a wooden post, with a +quantity of spiral white shavings falling from near the top. The Ainos +are not affected by _saké_ nearly so easily as the Japanese. They took +it cold, it is true, but each drank about three times as much as would +have made a Japanese foolish, and it had no effect upon them. After two +hours more talk one after another got up and went out, making profuse +salutations to me and to the others. My candles had been forgotten, and +our _séance_ was held by the fitful light of the big logs on the fire, +aided by a succession of chips of birch bark, with which a woman +replenished a cleft stick that was stuck into the fire-hole. I never saw +such a strangely picturesque sight as that group of magnificent savages +with the fitful firelight on their faces, and for adjuncts the flare of +the torch, the strong lights, the blackness of the recesses of the room +and of the roof, at one end of which the stars looked in, and the row of +savage women in the background—eastern savagery and western civilisation +met in this hut, savagery giving and civilisation receiving, the +yellow-skinned Ito the connecting-link between the two, and the +representative of a civilisation to which our own is but an “infant of +days.” + +I found it very exciting, and when all had left crept out into the +starlight. The lodges were all dark and silent, and the dogs, mild like +their masters, took no notice of me. The only sound was the rustle of a +light breeze through the surrounding forest. The verse came into my +mind, “It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of +these little ones should perish.” Surely these simple savages are +children, as children to be judged; may we not hope as children to be +saved through Him who came “not to judge the world, but to save the +world”? + +I crept back again and into my mosquito net, and suffered not from fleas +or mosquitoes, but from severe cold. Shinondi conversed with Ito for +some time in a low musical voice, having previously asked if it would +keep me from sleeping. No Japanese ever intermitted his ceaseless +chatter at any hour of the night for a similar reason. Later, the +chief’s principal wife, Noma, stuck a triply-cleft stick in the +fire-hole, put a potsherd with a wick and some fish-oil upon it, and by +the dim light of this rude lamp sewed until midnight at a garment of bark +cloth which she was ornamenting for her lord with strips of blue cloth, +and when I opened my eyes the next morning she was at the window sewing +by the earliest daylight. She is the most intelligent-looking of all the +women, but looks sad and almost stern, and speaks seldom. Although she +is the principal wife of the chief she is not happy, for she is +childless, and I thought that her sad look darkened into something evil +as the other wife caressed a fine baby boy. Benri seems to me something +of a brute, and the mother-in-law obviously holds the reins of government +pretty tight. After sewing till midnight she swept the mats with a bunch +of twigs, and then crept into her bed behind a hanging mat. For a moment +in the stillness I felt a feeling of panic, as if I were incurring a risk +by being alone among savages, but I conquered it, and, after watching the +fire till it went out, fell asleep till I was awoke by the severe cold of +the next day’s dawn. + + + + +LETTER XXXVI.—(_Continued_.) + + +A Supposed Act of Worship—Parental Tenderness—Morning Visits—Wretched +Cultivation—Honesty and Generosity—A “Dug-out”—Female Occupations—The +Ancient Fate—A New Arrival—A Perilous Prescription—The Shrine of +Yoshitsuné—The Chief’s Return. + +WHEN I crept from under my net much benumbed with cold, there were about +eleven people in the room, who all made their graceful salutation. It +did not seem as if they had ever heard of washing, for, when water was +asked for, Shinondi brought a little in a lacquer bowl, and held it while +I bathed my face and hands, supposing the performance to be an act of +worship! I was about to throw some cold tea out of the window by my bed +when he arrested me with an anxious face, and I saw, what I had not +observed before, that there was a god at that window—a stick with +festoons of shavings hanging from it, and beside it a dead bird. The +Ainos have two meals a day, and their breakfast was a repetition of the +previous night’s supper. We all ate together, and I gave the children +the remains of my rice, and it was most amusing to see little creatures +of three, four, and five years old, with no other clothing than a piece +of pewter hanging round their necks, first formally asking leave of the +parents before taking the rice, and then waving their hands. The +obedience of the children is instantaneous. Their parents are more +demonstrative in their affection than the Japanese are, caressing them a +good deal, and two of the men are devoted to children who are not their +own. These little ones are as grave and dignified as Japanese children, +and are very gentle. + +I went out soon after five, when the dew was glittering in the sunshine, +and the mountain hollow in which Biratori stands was looking its very +best, and the silence of the place, even though the people were all +astir, was as impressive as that of the night before. What a strange +life! knowing nothing, hoping nothing, fearing a little, the need for +clothes and food the one motive principle, _saké_ in abundance the one +good! How very few points of contact it is possible to have! I was just +thinking so when Shinondi met me, and took me to his house to see if I +could do anything for a child sorely afflicted with skin disease, and his +extreme tenderness for this very loathsome object made me feel that human +affections were the same among them as with us. He had carried it on his +back from a village, five miles distant, that morning, in the hope that +it might be cured. As soon as I entered he laid a fine mat on the floor, +and covered the guest-seat with a bearskin. After breakfast he took me +to the lodge of the sub-chief, the largest in the village, 45 feet +square, and into about twenty others all constructed in the same way, but +some of them were not more than 20 feet square. In all I was received +with the same courtesy, but a few of the people asked Shinondi not to +take me into their houses, as they did not want me to see how poor they +are. In every house there was the low shelf with more or fewer curios +upon it, but, besides these, none but the barest necessaries of life, +though the skins which they sell or barter every year would enable them +to surround themselves with comforts, were it not that their gains +represent to them _saké_, and nothing else. They are not nomads. On the +contrary, they cling tenaciously to the sites on which their fathers have +lived and died. But anything more deplorable than the attempts at +cultivation which surround their lodges could not be seen. The soil is +little better than white sand, on which without manure they attempt to +grow millet, which is to them in the place of rice, pumpkins, onions, and +tobacco; but the look of their plots is as if they had been cultivated +ten years ago, and some chance-sown grain and vegetables had come up +among the weeds. When nothing more will grow, they partially clear +another bit of forest, and exhaust that in its turn. + +In every house the same honour was paid to a guest. This seems a savage +virtue which is not strong enough to survive much contact with +civilisation. Before I entered one lodge the woman brought several of +the finer mats, and arranged them as a pathway for me to walk to the fire +upon. They will not accept anything for lodging, or for anything that +they give, so I was anxious to help them by buying some of their +handiwork, but found even this a difficult matter. They were very +anxious to give, but when I desired to buy they said they did not wish to +part with their things. I wanted what they had in actual use, such as a +tobacco-box and pipe-sheath, and knives with carved handles and +scabbards, and for three of these I offered 2½ dollars. They said they +did not care to sell them, but in the evening they came saying they were +not worth more than 1 dollar 10 cents, and they would sell them for that; +and I could not get them to take more. They said it was “not their +custom.” I bought a bow and three poisoned arrows, two reed-mats, with a +diamond pattern on them in reeds stained red, some knives with sheaths, +and a bark cloth dress. I tried to buy the _saké_-sticks with which they +make libations to their gods, but they said it was “not their custom” to +part with the _saké_-stick of any living man; however, this morning +Shinondi has brought me, as a very valuable present, the stick of a dead +man! This morning the man who sold the arrows brought two new ones, to +replace two which were imperfect. I found them, as Mr. Von Siebold had +done, punctiliously honest in all their transactions. They wear very +large earrings with hoops an inch and a half in diameter, a pair +constituting the dowry of an Aino bride; but they would not part with +these. + +A house was burned down two nights ago, and “custom” in such a case +requires that all the men should work at rebuilding it, so in their +absence I got two boys to take me in a “dug-out” as far as we could go up +the Sarufutogawa—a lovely river, which winds tortuously through the +forests and mountains in unspeakable loveliness. I had much of the +feeling of the ancient mariner— + + “We were the first + Who ever burst + Into that silent sea.” + +For certainly no European had ever previously floated on the dark and +forest-shrouded waters. I enjoyed those hours thoroughly, for the +silence was profound, and the faint blue of the autumn sky, and the soft +blue veil which “spiritualised” the distances, were so exquisitely like +the Indian summer. + + [Picture: Aino Store-House] + +The evening was spent like the previous one, but the hearts of the +savages were sad, for there was no more _saké_ in Biratori, so they could +not “drink to the god,” and the fire and the post with the shavings had +to go without libations. There was no more oil, so after the strangers +retired the hut was in complete darkness. + +Yesterday morning we all breakfasted soon after daylight, and the +able-bodied men went away to hunt. Hunting and fishing are their +occupations, and for “indoor recreation” they carve tobacco-boxes, +knife-sheaths, _saké_-sticks, and shuttles. It is quite unnecessary for +them to do anything; they are quite contented to sit by the fire, and +smoke occasionally, and eat and sleep, this apathy being varied by spasms +of activity when there is no more dried flesh in the _kuras_, and when +skins must be taken to Sarufuto to pay for _saké_. The women seem never +to have an idle moment. They rise early to sew, weave, and split bark, +for they not only clothe themselves and their husbands in this nearly +indestructible cloth, but weave it for barter, and the lower class of +Japanese are constantly to be seen wearing the product of Aino industry. +They do all the hard work, such as drawing water, chopping wood, grinding +millet, and cultivating the soil, after their fashion; but, to do the men +justice, I often see them trudging along carrying one and even two +children. The women take the exclusive charge of the _kuras_, which are +never entered by men. + +I was left for some hours alone with the women, of whom there were seven +in the hut, with a few children. On the one side of the fire the chief’s +mother sat like a Fate, for ever splitting and knotting bark, and +petrifying me by her cold, fateful eyes. Her thick, grey hair hangs in +shocks, the tattooing round her mouth has nearly faded, and no longer +disguises her really handsome features. She is dressed in a much +ornamented bark-cloth dress, and wears two silver beads tied round her +neck by a piece of blue cotton, in addition to very large earrings. She +has much sway in the house, sitting on the men’s side of the fire, +drinking plenty of _saké_, and occasionally chiding her grandson Shinondi +for telling me too much, saying that it will bring harm to her people. +Though her expression is so severe and forbidding, she is certainly very +handsome, and it is a European, not an Asiatic, beauty. + +The younger women were all at work; two were seated on the floor weaving +without a loom, and the others were making and mending the bark coats +which are worn by both sexes. Noma, the chief’s principal wife, sat +apart, seldom speaking. Two of the youngest women are very pretty—as +fair as ourselves, and their comeliness is of the rosy, peasant kind. It +turns out that two of them, though they would not divulge it before men, +speak Japanese, and they prattled to Ito with great vivacity and +merriment, the ancient Fate scowling at them the while from under her +shaggy eyebrows. I got a number of words from them, and they laughed +heartily at my erroneous pronunciation. They even asked me a number of +questions regarding their own sex among ourselves, but few of these would +bear repetition, and they answered a number of mine. As the merriment +increased the old woman looked increasingly angry and restless, and at +last rated them sharply, as I have heard since, telling them that if they +spoke another word she should tell their husbands that they had been +talking to strangers. After this not another word was spoken, and Noma, +who is an industrious housewife, boiled some millet into a mash for a +mid-day lunch. During the afternoon a very handsome young Aino, with a +washed, richly-coloured skin and fine clear eyes, came up from the coast, +where he had been working at the fishing. He saluted the old woman and +Benri’s wife on entering, and presented the former with a gourd of +_saké_, bringing a greedy light into her eyes as she took a long draught, +after which, saluting me, he threw himself down in the place of honour by +the fire, with the easy grace of a staghound, a savage all over. His +name is Pipichari, and he is the chief’s adopted son. He had cut his +foot badly with a root, and asked me to cure it, and I stipulated that it +should be bathed for some time in warm water before anything more was +done, after which I bandaged it with lint. He said “he did not like me +to touch his foot, it was not clean enough, my hands were too white,” +etc.; but when I had dressed it, and the pain was much relieved, he bowed +very low and then kissed my hand! He was the only one among them all who +showed the slightest curiosity regarding my things. He looked at my +scissors, touched my boots, and watched me, as I wrote, with the simple +curiosity of a child. He could speak a little Japanese, but he said he +was “too young to tell me anything, the older men would know.” He is a +“total abstainer” from _saké_, and he says that there are four such +besides himself among the large number of Ainos who are just now at the +fishing at Mombets, and that the others keep separate from them, because +they think that the gods will be angry with them for not drinking. + +Several “patients,” mostly children, were brought in during the +afternoon. Ito was much disgusted by my interest in these people, who, +he repeated, “are just dogs,” referring to their legendary origin, of +which they are not ashamed. His assertion that they have learned +politeness from the Japanese is simply baseless. Their politeness, +though of quite another and more manly stamp, is savage, not civilised. +The men came back at dark, the meal was prepared, and we sat round the +fire as before; but there was no _saké_, except in the possession of the +old woman; and again the hearts of the savages were sad. I could +multiply instances of their politeness. As we were talking, Pipichari, +who is a very “untutored” savage, dropped his coat from one shoulder, and +at once Shinondi signed to him to put it on again. Again, a woman was +sent to a distant village for some oil as soon as they heard that I +usually burned a light all night. Little acts of courtesy were +constantly being performed; but I really appreciated nothing more than +the quiet way in which they went on with the routine of their ordinary +lives. + +During the evening a man came to ask if I would go and see a woman who +could hardly breathe; and I found her very ill of bronchitis, accompanied +with much fever. She was lying in a coat of skins, tossing on the hard +boards of her bed, with a matting-covered roll under her head, and her +husband was trying to make her swallow some salt-fish. I took her dry, +hot hand—such a small hand, tattooed all over the back—and it gave me a +strange thrill. The room was full of people, and they all seemed very +sorry. A medical missionary would be of little use here; but a +medically-trained nurse, who would give medicines and proper food, with +proper nursing, would save many lives and much suffering. It is of no +use to tell these people to do anything which requires to be done more +than once: they are just like children. I gave her some chlorodyne, +which she swallowed with difficulty, and left another dose ready mixed, +to give her in a few hours; but about midnight they came to tell me that +she was worse; and on going I found her very cold and weak, and breathing +very hard, moving her head wearily from side to side. I thought she +could not live for many hours, and was much afraid that they would think +that I had killed her. I told them that I thought she would die; but +they urged me to do something more for her, and as a last hope I gave her +some brandy, with twenty-five drops of chlorodyne, and a few spoonfuls of +very strong beef-tea. She was unable, or more probably unwilling, to +make the effort to swallow it, and I poured it down her throat by the +wild glare of strips of birch bark. An hour later they came back to tell +me that she felt as if she were very drunk; but, going back to her house, +I found that she was sleeping quietly, and breathing more easily; and, +creeping back just at dawn, I found her still sleeping, and with her +pulse stronger and calmer. She is now decidedly better and quite +sensible, and her husband, the sub-chief, is much delighted. It seems so +sad that they have nothing fit for a sick person’s food; and though I +have made a bowl of beef-tea with the remains of my stock, it can only +last one day. + +I was so tired with these nocturnal expeditions and anxieties that on +lying down I fell asleep, and on waking found more than the usual +assemblage in the room, and the men were obviously agog about something. +They have a singular, and I hope an unreasonable, fear of the Japanese +Government. Mr. Von Siebold thinks that the officials threaten and knock +them about; and this is possible; but I really think that the +_Kaitaikushi_ Department means well by them, and, besides removing the +oppressive restrictions by which, as a conquered race, they were +fettered, treats them far more humanely and equitably than the U.S. +Government, for instance, treats the North American Indians. However, +they are ignorant; and one of the men, who had been most grateful because +I said I would get Dr. Hepburn to send some medicine for his child, came +this morning and begged me not to do so, as, he said, “the Japanese +Government would be angry.” After this they again prayed me not to tell +the Japanese Government that they had told me their customs and then they +began to talk earnestly together. + +The sub-chief then spoke, and said that I had been kind to their sick +people, and they would like to show me their temple, which had never been +seen by any foreigner; but they were very much afraid of doing so, and +they asked me many times “not to tell the Japanese Government that they +showed it to me, lest some great harm should happen to them.” The +sub-chief put on a sleeveless Japanese war-cloak to go up, and he, +Shinondi, Pipichari, and two others accompanied me. It was a beautiful +but very steep walk, or rather climb, to the top of an abrupt acclivity +beyond the village, on which the temple or shrine stands. It would be +impossible to get up were it not for the remains of a wooden staircase, +not of Aino construction. Forest and mountain surround Biratori, and the +only breaks in the dense greenery are glints of the shining waters of the +Sarufutogawa, and the tawny roofs of the Aino lodges. It is a lonely and +a silent land, fitter for the _hiding_ place than the _dwelling_ place of +men. + +When the splendid young savage, Pipichari, saw that I found it difficult +to get up, he took my hand and helped me up, as gently as an English +gentleman would have done; and when he saw that I had greater difficulty +in getting down, he all but insisted on my riding down on his back, and +certainly would have carried me had not Benri, the chief, who arrived +while we were at the shrine, made an end of it by taking my hand and +helping me down himself. Their instinct of helpfulness to a foreign +woman strikes me as so odd, because they never show any courtesy to their +own women, whom they treat (though to a less extent than is usual among +savages) as inferior beings. + +On the very edge of the cliff, at the top of the zigzag, stands a wooden +temple or shrine, such as one sees in any grove, or on any high place on +the main island, obviously of Japanese construction, but concerning which +Aino tradition is silent. No European had ever stood where I stood, and +there was a solemnity in the knowledge. The sub-chief drew back the +sliding doors, and all bowed with much reverence, It was a simple shrine +of unlacquered wood, with a broad shelf at the back, on which there was a +small shrine containing a figure of the historical hero Yoshitsuné, in a +suit of inlaid brass armour, some metal _gohei_, a pair of tarnished +brass candle-sticks, and a coloured Chinese picture representing a junk. +Here, then, I was introduced to the great god of the mountain Ainos. +There is something very pathetic in these people keeping alive the memory +of Yoshitsuné, not on account of his martial exploits, but simply because +their tradition tells them that he was kind to them. They pulled the +bell three times to attract his attention, bowed three times, and made +six libations of _saké_, without which ceremony he cannot be approached. +They asked me to worship their god, but when I declined on the ground +that I could only worship my own God, the Lord of Earth and Heaven, of +the dead and of the living, they were too courteous to press their +request. As to Ito, it did not signify to him whether or not he added +another god to his already crowded Pantheon, and he “worshipped,” i.e. +bowed down, most willingly before the great hero of his own, the +conquering race. + +While we were crowded there on the narrow ledge of the cliff, Benri, the +chief, arrived—a square-built, broad-shouldered, elderly man, strong as +an ox, and very handsome, but his expression is not pleasing, and his +eyes are bloodshot with drinking. The others saluted him very +respectfully, but I noticed then and since that his manner is very +arbitrary, and that a blow not infrequently follows a word. He had sent +a message to his people by Ito that they were not to answer any questions +till he returned, but Ito very tactfully neither gave it nor told me of +it, and he was displeased with the young men for having talked to me so +much. His mother had evidently “peached.” I like him less than any of +his tribe. He has some fine qualities, truthfulness among others, but he +has been contaminated by the four or five foreigners that he has seen, +and is a brute and a sot. The hearts of his people are no longer sad, +for there is _saké_ in every house to-night. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XXXVII. + + +Barrenness of Savage Life—Irreclaimable Savages—The Aino Physique—Female +Comeliness—Torture and Ornament—Child Life—Docility and Obedience. + + BIRATORI, YEZO, _August_ 24. + +I EXPECTED to have written out my notes on the Ainos in the comparative +quiet and comfort of Sarufuto, but the delay in Benri’s return, and the +non-arrival of the horses, have compelled me to accept Aino hospitality +for another night, which involves living on tea and potatoes, for my +stock of food is exhausted. In some respects I am glad to remain longer, +as it enables me to go over my stock of words, as well as my notes, with +the chief, who is intelligent and it is a pleasure to find that his +statements confirm those which have been made by the young men. The +glamour which at first disguises the inherent barrenness of savage life +has had time to pass away, and I see it in all its nakedness as a life +not much raised above the necessities of animal existence, timid, +monotonous, barren of good, dark, dull, “without hope, and without God in +the world;” though at its lowest and worst considerably higher and better +than that of many other aboriginal races, and—must I say it?—considerably +higher and better than that of thousands of the lapsed masses of our own +great cities who are baptized into Christ’s name, and are laid at last in +holy ground, inasmuch as the Ainos are truthful, and, on the whole, +chaste, hospitable, honest, reverent, and kind to the aged. Drinking, +their great vice, is not, as among us, in antagonism to their religion, +but is actually a part of it, and as such would be exceptionally +difficult to eradicate. + +The early darkness has once again come on, and once again the elders have +assembled round the fire in two long lines, with the younger men at the +ends, Pipichari, who yesterday sat in the place of honour and was helped +to food first as the newest arrival, taking his place as the youngest at +the end of the right-hand row. The birch-bark chips beam with fitful +glare, the evening _saké_ bowls are filled, the fire-god and the +garlanded god receive their libations, the ancient woman, still sitting +like a Fate, splits bark, and the younger women knot it, and the log-fire +lights up as magnificent a set of venerable heads as painter or sculptor +would desire to see,—heads, full of—what? They have no history, their +traditions are scarcely worthy the name, they claim descent from a dog, +their houses and persons swarm with vermin, they are sunk in the grossest +ignorance, they have no letters or any numbers above a thousand, they are +clothed in the bark of trees and the untanned skins of beasts, they +worship the bear, the sun, moon, fire, water, and I know not what, they +are uncivilisable and altogether irreclaimable savages, yet they are +attractive, and in some ways fascinating, and I hope I shall never forget +the music of their low, sweet voices, the soft light of their mild, brown +eyes, and the wonderful sweetness of their smile. + +After the yellow skins, the stiff horse hair, the feeble eyelids, the +elongated eyes, the sloping eyebrows, the flat noses, the sunken chests, +the Mongolian features, the puny physique, the shaky walk of the men, the +restricted totter of the women, and the general impression of degeneracy +conveyed by the appearance of the Japanese, the Ainos make a very +singular impression. All but two or three that I have seen are the most +ferocious-looking of savages, with a physique vigorous enough for +carrying out the most ferocious intentions, but as soon as they speak the +countenance brightens into a smile as gentle as that of a woman, +something which can never be forgotten. + +The men are about the middle height, broad-chested, broad-shouldered, +“thick set,” very strongly built, the arms and legs short, thick, and +muscular, the hands and feet large. The bodies, and specially the limbs, +of many are covered with short bristly hair. I have seen two boys whose +backs are covered with fur as fine and soft as that of a cat. The heads +and faces are very striking. The foreheads are very high, broad, and +prominent, and at first sight give one the impression [Picture: Ainos of +Yezo] of an unusual capacity for intellectual development; the ears are +small and set low; the noses are straight but short, and broad at the +nostrils; the mouths are wide but well formed; and the lips rarely show a +tendency to fulness. The neck is short, the cranium rounded, the +cheek-bones low, and the lower part of the face is small as compared with +the upper, the peculiarity called a “jowl” being unknown. The eyebrows +are full, and form a straight line nearly across the face. The eyes are +large, tolerably deeply set, and very beautiful, the colour a rich liquid +brown, the expression singularly soft, and the eyelashes long, silky, and +abundant. The skin has the Italian olive tint, but in most cases is +thin, and light enough to show the changes of colour in the cheek. The +teeth are small, regular, and very white; the incisors and “eye teeth” +are not disproportionately large, as is usually the case among the +Japanese; there is no tendency towards prognathism; and the fold of +integument which conceals the upper eyelids of the Japanese is never to +be met with. The features, expression, and aspect, are European rather +than Asiatic. + +The “ferocious savagery” of the appearance of the men is produced by a +profusion of thick, soft, black hair, divided in the middle, and falling +in heavy masses nearly to the shoulders. Out of doors it is kept from +falling over the face by a fillet round the brow. The beards are equally +profuse, quite magnificent, and generally wavy, and in the case of the +old men they give a truly patriarchal and venerable aspect, in spite of +the yellow tinge produced by smoke and want of cleanliness. The savage +look produced by the masses of hair and beard, and the thick eyebrows, is +mitigated by the softness in the dreamy brown eyes, and is altogether +obliterated by the exceeding sweetness of the smile, which belongs in +greater or less degree to all the rougher sex. + +I have measured the height of thirty of the adult men of this village, +and it ranges from 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 6½ inches. The +circumference of the heads averages 22.1 inches, and the arc, from ear to +ear, 13 inches. According to Mr. Davies, the average weight of the Aino +adult masculine brain, ascertained by measurement of Aino skulls, is +45.90 ounces avoirdupois, a brain weight said to exceed that of all the +races, Hindoo and Mussulman, on the Indian plains, and that of the +aboriginal races of India and Ceylon, and is only paralleled by that of +the races of the Himalayas, the Siamese, and the Chinese Burmese. Mr. +Davies says, further, that it exceeds the mean brain weight of Asiatic +races in general. Yet with all this the Ainos are a stupid people! + + [Picture: An Aino Patriarch] + +Passing travellers who have seen a few of the Aino women on the road to +Satsuporo speak of them as very ugly, but as making amends for their +ugliness by their industry and conjugal fidelity. Of the latter there is +no doubt, but I am not disposed to admit the former. The ugliness is +certainly due to art and dirt. The Aino women seldom exceed five feet +and half an inch in height, but they are beautifully formed, straight, +lithe, and well-developed, with small feet and hands, well-arched +insteps, rounded limbs, well-developed busts, and a firm, elastic gait. +Their heads and faces are small; but the hair, which falls in masses on +each side of the face like that of the men, is equally redundant. They +have superb teeth, and display them liberally in smiling. Their mouths +are somewhat wide, but well formed, and they have a ruddy comeliness +about them which is pleasing, in spite of the disfigurement of the band +which is tattooed both above and below the mouth, and which, by being +united at the corners, enlarges its apparent size and width. A girl at +Shiraôi, who, for some reason, has not been subjected to this process, is +the most beautiful creature in features, colouring, and natural grace of +form, that I have seen for a long time. Their complexions are lighter +than those of the men. There are not many here even as dark as our +European brunettes. A few unite the eyebrows by a streak of tattooing, +so as to produce a straight line. Like the men, they cut their hair +short for two or three inches above the nape of the neck, but instead of +using a fillet they take two locks from the front and tie them at the +back. + +They are universally tattooed, not only with the broad band above and +below the mouth, but with a band across the knuckles, succeeded by an +elaborate pattern on the back of the hand, and a series of bracelets +extending to the elbow. The process of disfigurement begins at the age +of five, when some of the sufferers are yet unweaned. I saw the +operation performed on a dear little bright girl this morning. A woman +took a large knife with a sharp edge, and rapidly cut several horizontal +lines on the upper lip, following closely the curve of the very pretty +mouth, and before the slight bleeding had ceased carefully rubbed in some +of the shiny soot which collects on the mat above the fire. In two or +three days the scarred lip will be washed with the decoction of the bark +of a tree to fix the pattern, and give it that blue look which makes many +people mistake it for a daub of paint. A child who had this second +process performed yesterday has her lip fearfully swollen and inflamed. +The latest victim held her hands clasped tightly together while the cuts +were inflicted, but never cried. The pattern on the lips is deepened and +widened every year up to the time of marriage, and the circles on the arm +are extended in a similar way. The men cannot give any reason for the +universality of this custom. It is an old custom, they say, and part of +their religion, and no woman could marry without it. Benri fancies that +the Japanese custom of blackening the teeth is equivalent to it; but he +is mistaken, as that ceremony usually succeeds marriage. They begin to +tattoo the arms when a girl is five or six, and work from the elbow +downwards. They expressed themselves as very much grieved and tormented +by the recent prohibition of tattooing. They say the gods will be angry, +and that the women can’t marry unless they are tattooed; and they +implored both Mr. Von Siebold and me to intercede with the Japanese +Government on their behalf in this respect. They are less apathetic on +this than on any subject, and repeat frequently, “It’s a part of our +religion.” + + [Picture: Tattooed Female Hand] + +The children are very pretty and attractive, and their faces give promise +of an intelligence which is lacking in those of the adults. They are +much loved, and are caressing as well as caressed. The infants of the +mountain Ainos have seeds of millet put into their mouths as soon as they +are born, and those of the coast Ainos a morsel of salt-fish; and +whatever be the hour of birth, “custom” requires that they shall not be +fed until a night has passed. They are not weaned until they are at +least three years old. Boys are preferred to girls, but both are highly +valued, and a childless wife may be divorced. + +Children do not receive names till they are four or five years old, and +then the father chooses a name by which his child is afterwards known. +Young children when they travel are either carried on their mothers’ +backs in a net, or in the back of the loose garment; but in both cases +the weight is mainly supported by a broad band which passes round the +woman’s forehead. When men carry them they hold them in their arms. The +hair of very young children is shaven, and from about five to fifteen the +boys wear either a large tonsure or tufts above the ears, while the girls +are allowed to grow hair all over their heads. + +Implicit and prompt obedience is required from infancy; and from a very +early age the children are utilised by being made to fetch and carry and +go on messages. I have seen children apparently not more than two years +old sent for wood; and even at this age they are so thoroughly trained in +the observances of etiquette that babies just able to walk never toddle +into or out of this house without formal salutations to each person +within it, the mother alone excepted. They don’t wear any clothing till +they are seven or eight years old, and are then dressed like their +elders. Their manners to their parents are very affectionate. Even +to-day, in the chief’s awe-inspiring presence, one dear little nude +creature, who had been sitting quietly for two hours staring into the +fire with her big brown eyes, rushed to meet her mother when she entered, +and threw her arms round her, to which the woman responded by a look of +true maternal tenderness and a kiss. These little creatures, in the +absolute unconsciousness of innocence, with their beautiful faces, +olive-tinted bodies,—all the darker, sad to say, from dirt,—their perfect +docility, and absence of prying curiosity, are very bewitching. They all +wear silver or pewter ornaments tied round their necks by a wisp of blue +cotton. + +Apparently the ordinary infantile maladies, such as whooping-cough and +measles, do not afflict the Ainos fatally; but the children suffer from a +cutaneous affection, which wears off as they reach the age of ten or +eleven years, as well as from severe toothache with their first teeth. + + + + +LETTER XXXVII.—(_Continued_.) + + +Aino Clothing—Holiday Dress—Domestic Architecture—Household Gods—Japanese +Curios—The Necessaries of Life—Clay Soup—Arrow Poison—Arrow-Traps—Female +Occupations—Bark Cloth—The Art of Weaving. + +AINO clothing, for savages, is exceptionally good. In the winter it +consists of one, two, or more coats of skins, with hoods of the same, to +which the men add rude moccasins when they go out hunting. In summer +they wear kimonos, or loose coats, made of cloth woven from the split +bark of a forest tree. This is a durable and beautiful fabric in various +shades of natural buff, and somewhat resembles what is known to fancy +workers as “Panama canvas.” Under this a skin or bark-cloth vest may or +may not be worn. The men wear these coats reaching a little below the +knees, folded over from right to left, and confined at the waist by a +narrow girdle of the same cloth, to which is attached a rude, +dagger-shaped knife, with a carved and engraved wooden handle and sheath. +Smoking is by no means a general practice; consequently the pipe and +tobacco-box are not, as with the Japanese, a part of ordinary male +attire. Tightly-fitting leggings, either of bark-cloth or skin, are worn +by both sexes, but neither shoes nor sandals. The coat worn by the women +reaches half-way between the knees and ankles, and is quite loose and +without a girdle. It is fastened the whole way up to the collar-bone; +and not only is the Aino woman completely covered, but she will not +change one garment for another except alone or in the dark. Lately a +Japanese woman at Sarufuto took an Aino woman into her house, and +insisted on her taking a bath, which she absolutely refused to do till +the bath-house had been made quite private by means of screens. On the +Japanese woman going back a little later to see what had become of her, +she found her sitting in the water in her clothes; and on being +remonstrated with, she said that the gods would be angry if they saw her +without clothes! + +Many of the garments for holiday occasions are exceedingly handsome, +being decorated with “geometrical” patterns, in which the “Greek fret” +takes part, in coarse blue cotton, braided most dexterously with scarlet +and white thread. Some of the handsomest take half a year to make. The +masculine dress is completed by an apron of oblong shape decorated in the +same elaborate manner. These handsome savages, with their powerful +physique, look remarkably well in their best clothes. I have not seen a +boy or girl above nine who is not thoroughly clothed. The “jewels” of +the women are large, hoop earrings of silver or pewter, with attachments +of a classical pattern, and silver neck ornaments, and a few have brass +bracelets soldered upon their arms. The women have a perfect passion for +every hue of red, and I have made friends with them by dividing among +them a large turkey-red silk handkerchief, strips of which are already +being utilised for the ornamenting of coats. + +The houses in the five villages up here are very good. So they are at +Horobets, but at Shiraôi, where the aborigines suffer from the close +proximity of several grog shops, they are inferior. They differ in many +ways from any that I have before seen, approaching most nearly to the +grass houses of the natives of Hawaii. Custom does not appear to permit +either of variety or innovations; in all the style is the same, and the +difference consists in the size and plenishings. The dwellings seem +ill-fitted for a rigorous climate, but the same thing may be said of +those of the Japanese. In their houses, as in their faces, the Ainos are +more European than their conquerors, as they possess doorways, windows, +central fireplaces, like those of the Highlanders of Scotland, and raised +sleeping-places. + +The usual appearance is that of a small house built on at the end of a +larger one. The small house is the vestibule or ante-room, and is +entered by a low doorway screened by a heavy mat of reeds. It contains +the large wooden mortar and pestle with two ends, used for pounding +millet, a wooden receptacle for millet, nets or hunting gear, and some +bundles of reeds for repairing roof or walls. This room never contains a +window. From it the large room is entered by a doorway, over which a +heavy reed-mat, bound with hide, invariably hangs. This room in Benri’s +case is 35 feet long by 25 feet broad, another is 45 feet square, the +smallest measures 20 feet by 15. On entering, one is much impressed by +the great height and steepness of the roof, altogether out of proportion +to the height of the walls. + +The frame of the house is of posts, 4 feet 10 inches high, placed 4 feet +apart, and sloping slightly inwards. The height of the walls is +apparently regulated by that of the reeds, of which only one length is +used, and which never exceed 4 feet 10 inches. The posts are scooped at +the top, and heavy poles, resting on the scoops, are laid along them to +form the top of the wall. The posts are again connected twice by +slighter poles tied on horizontally. The wall is double; the outer part +being formed of reeds tied very neatly to the framework in small, regular +bundles, the inner layer or wall being made of reeds attached singly. +From the top of the pole, which is secured to the top of the posts, the +framework of the roof rises to a height of twenty-two feet, made, like +the rest, of poles tied to a heavy and roughly-hewn ridge-beam. At one +end under the ridge-beam there is a large triangular aperture for the +exit of smoke. Two very stout, roughly-hewn beams cross the width of the +house, resting on the posts of the wall, and on props let into the floor, +and a number of poles are laid at the same height, by means of which a +secondary roof formed of mats can be at once extemporised, but this is +only used for guests. These poles answer the same purpose as shelves. +Very great care is bestowed upon the outside of the roof, which is a +marvel of neatness and prettiness, and has the appearance of a series of +frills being thatched in ridges. The ridge-pole is very thickly covered, +and the thatch both there and at the corners is elaborately laced with a +pattern in strong peeled twigs. The poles, which, for much of the room, +run from wall to wall, compel one to stoop, to avoid fracturing one’s +skull, and bringing down spears, bows and arrows, arrow-traps, and other +primitive property. The roof and rafters are black and shiny from wood +smoke. Immediately under them, at one end and one side, are small, +square windows, which are closed at night by wooden shutters, which +during the day-time hang by ropes. Nothing is a greater insult to an +Aino than to look in at his window. + +On the left of the doorway is invariably a fixed wooden platform, +eighteen inches high, and covered with a single mat, which is the +sleeping-place. The pillows are small stiff bolsters, covered with +ornamental matting. If the family be large there are several of these +sleeping platforms. A pole runs horizontally at a fitting distance above +the outside edge of each, over which mats are thrown to conceal the +sleepers from the rest of the room. The inside half of these mats is +plain, but the outside, which is seen from the room, has a diamond +pattern woven into it in dull reds and browns. The whole floor is +covered with a very coarse reed-mat, with interstices half an inch wide. +The fireplace, which is six feet long, is oblong. Above it, on a very +black and elaborate framework, hangs a very black and shiny mat, whose +superfluous soot forms the basis of the stain used in tattooing, and +whose apparent purpose is to prevent the smoke ascending, and to diffuse +it equally throughout the room. From this framework depends the great +cooking-pot, which plays a most important part in Aino economy. + +Household gods form an essential part of the furnishing of every house. +In this one, at the left of the entrance, there are ten white wands, with +shavings depending from the upper end, stuck in the wall; another +projects from the window which faces the sunrise, and the great god—a +white post, two feet high, with spirals of shavings depending from the +top—is always planted in the floor, near the wall, on the left side, +opposite the fire, between the platform bed of the householder and the +low, broad shelf placed invariably on the same side, and which is a +singular feature of all Aino houses, coast and mountain, down to the +poorest, containing, as it does, Japanese curios, many of them very +valuable objects of antique art, though much destroyed by damp and dust. +They are true curiosities in the dwellings of these northern aborigines, +and look almost solemn ranged against the wall. In this house there are +twenty-four lacquered urns, or tea-chests, or seats, each standing two +feet high on four small legs, shod with engraved or filigree brass. +Behind these are eight lacquered tubs, and a number of bowls and lacquer +trays, and above are spears with inlaid handles, and fine Kaga and Awata +bowls. The lacquer is good, and several of the urns have _daimiyô’s_ +crests in gold upon them. One urn and a large covered bowl are +beautifully inlaid with Venus’ ear. The great urns are to be seen in +every house, and in addition there are suits of inlaid armour, and swords +with inlaid hilts, engraved blades, and _répoussé_ scabbards, for which a +collector would give almost anything. No offers, however liberal, can +tempt them to sell any of these antique possessions. “They were +presents,” they say in their low, musical voices; “they were presents +from those who were kind to our fathers; no, we cannot sell them; they +were presents.” And so gold lacquer, and pearl inlaying, and gold +niello-work, and _daimiyô’s_ crests in gold, continue to gleam in the +smoky darkness of their huts. Some of these things were doubtless gifts +to their fathers when they went to pay tribute to the representative of +the Shôgun and the Prince of Matsumæ, soon after the conquest of Yezo. +Others were probably gifts from _samurai_, who took refuge here during +the rebellion, and some must have been obtained by barter. They are the +one possession which they will not barter for _saké_, and are only parted +with in payment of fines at the command of a chief, or as the dower of a +girl. + +[Picture: Aino Gods] + +Except in the poorest houses, where the people can only afford to lay +down a mat for a guest, they cover the coarse mat with fine ones on each +side of the fire. These mats and the bark-cloth are really their only +manufactures. They are made of fine reeds, with a pattern in dull reds +or browns, and are 14 feet long by 3 feet 6 inches wide. It takes a +woman eight days to make one of them. In every house there are one or +two movable platforms 6 feet by 4 and 14 inches high, which are placed at +the head of the fireplace, and on which guests sit and sleep on a +bearskin or a fine mat. In many houses there are broad seats a few +inches high, on which the elder men sit cross-legged, as their custom is, +not squatting Japanese fashion on the heels. A water-tub always rests on +a stand by the door, and the dried fish and venison or bear for daily use +hang from the rafters, as well as a few skins. Besides these things +there are a few absolute necessaries,—lacquer or wooden bowls for food +and _saké_, a chopping-board and rude chopping-knife, a cleft-stick for +burning strips of birch-bark, a triply-cleft stick for supporting the +potsherd in which, on rare occasions, they burn a wick with oil, the +component parts of their rude loom, the bark of which they make their +clothes, the reeds of which they make their mats,—and the inventory of +the essentials of their life is nearly complete. No iron enters into the +construction of their houses, its place being supplied by a remarkably +tenacious fibre. + + [Picture: Plan of an Aino House] + +I have before described the preparation of their food, which usually +consists of a stew “of abominable things.” They eat salt and fresh fish, +dried fish, seaweed, slugs, the various vegetables which grow in the +wilderness of tall weeds which surrounds their villages, wild roots and +berries, fresh and dried venison and bear; their carnival consisting of +fresh bear’s flesh and _saké_, seaweed, mushrooms, and anything they can +get, in fact, which is not poisonous, mixing everything up together. +They use a wooden spoon for stirring, and eat with chopsticks. They have +only two regular meals a day, but eat very heartily. In addition to the +eatables just mentioned they have a thick soup made from a putty-like +clay which is found in one or two of the valleys. This is boiled with +the bulb of a wild lily, and, after much of the clay has been allowed to +settle, the liquid, which is very thick, is poured off. In the north, a +valley where this earth is found is called Tsie-toi-nai, literally +“eat-earth-valley.” + +The men spend the autumn, winter, and spring in hunting deer and bears. +Part of their tribute or taxes is paid in skins, and they subsist on the +dried meat. Up to about this time the Ainos have obtained these beasts +by means of poisoned arrows, arrow-traps, and pitfalls, but the Japanese +Government has prohibited the use of poison and arrow-traps, and these +men say that hunting is becoming extremely difficult, as the wild animals +are driven back farther and farther into the mountains by the sound of +the guns. However, they add significantly, “the eyes of the Japanese +Government are not in every place!” + +Their bows are only three feet long, and are made of stout saplings with +the bark on, and there is no attempt to render them light or shapely at +the ends. The wood is singularly inelastic. The arrows (of which I have +obtained a number) are very peculiar, and are made in three pieces, the +point consisting of a sharpened piece of bone with an elongated cavity on +one side for the reception of the poison. This point or head is very +slightly fastened by a lashing of bark to a fusiform piece of bone about +four inches long, which is in its turn lashed to a shaft about fourteen +inches long, the other end of which is sometimes equipped with a triple +feather and sometimes is not. + +The poison is placed in the elongated cavity in the head in a very soft +state, and hardens afterwards. In some of the arrow-heads fully half a +teaspoonful of the paste is inserted. From the nature of the very slight +lashings which attach the arrow-head to the shaft, it constantly remains +fixed in the slight wound that it makes, while the shaft falls off. + +Pipichari has given me a small quantity of the poisonous paste, and has +also taken me to see the plant from the root of which it is made, the +_Aconitum Japonicum_, a monkshood, whose tall spikes of blue flowers are +brightening the brushwood in all directions. The root is pounded into a +pulp, mixed with a reddish earth like an iron ore pulverised, and again +with animal fat, before being placed in the arrow. It has been said that +the poison is prepared for use by being buried in the earth, but Benri +says that this is needless. They claim for it that a single wound kills +a bear in ten minutes, but that the flesh is not rendered unfit for +eating, though they take the precaution of cutting away a considerable +quantity of it round the wound. + + [Picture: Weaver’s Shuttle] + +Dr. Eldridge, formerly of Hakodaté, obtained a small quantity of the +poison, and, after trying some experiments with it, came to the +conclusion that it is less virulent than other poisons employed for a +like purpose, as by the natives of Java, the Bushmen, and certain tribes +of the Amazon and Orinoco. The Ainos say that if a man is accidentally +wounded by a poisoned arrow the only cure is immediate excision of the +part. + +I do not wonder that the Government has prohibited arrow-traps, for they +made locomotion unsafe, and it is still unsafe a little farther north, +where the hunters are more out of observation than here. The traps +consist of a large bow with a poisoned arrow, fixed in such a way that +when the bear walks over a cord which is attached to it he is +simultaneously transfixed. I have seen as many as fifty in one house. +The simple contrivance for inflicting this silent death is most +ingenious. + +The women are occupied all day, as I have before said. They look +cheerful, and even merry when they smile, and are not like the Japanese, +prematurely old, partly perhaps because their houses are well ventilated, +and the use of charcoal is unknown. I do not think that they undergo the +unmitigated drudgery which falls to the lot of most savage women, though +they work hard. The men do not like them to speak to strangers, however, +and say that their place is to work and rear children. They eat of the +same food, and at the same time as the men, laugh and talk before them, +and receive equal support and respect in old age. They sell mats and +bark-cloth in the piece, and made up, when they can, and their husbands +do not take their earnings from them. All Aino women understand the +making of bark-cloth. The men bring in the bark in strips, five feet +long, having removed the outer coating. This inner bark is easily +separated into several thin layers, which are split into very narrow +strips by the older women, very neatly knotted, and wound into balls +weighing about a pound each. No preparation of either the bark or the +thread is required to fit it for weaving, but I observe that some of the +women steep it in a decoction of a bark which produces a brown dye to +deepen the buff tint. + +The loom is so simple that I almost fear to represent it as complicated +by description. It consists of a stout hook fixed in the floor, to which +the threads of the far end of the web are secured, a cord fastening the +near end to the waist of the worker, who supplies, by dexterous rigidity, +the necessary tension; a frame like a comb resting on the ankles, through +which the threads pass, a hollow roll for keeping the upper and under +threads separate, a spatula-shaped shuttle of engraved wood, and a roller +on which the cloth is rolled as it is made. The length of the web is +fifteen feet, and the width of the cloth fifteen inches. It is woven +with great regularity, and the knots in the thread are carefully kept on +the under side. {271} It is a very slow and fatiguing process, and a +woman cannot do much more than a foot a day. The weaver sits on the +floor with the whole arrangement attached to her waist, and the loom, if +such it may be called, on her ankles. It takes long practice before she +can supply the necessary tension by spinal rigidity. As the work +proceeds she drags herself almost imperceptibly nearer the hook. In this +house and other large ones two or three women bring in their webs in the +morning, fix their hooks, and weave all day, while others, who have not +equal advantages, put their hooks in the ground and weave in the +sunshine. The web and loom can be bundled up in two minutes, and carried +away quite as easily as a knitted soft blanket. It is the simplest and +perhaps the most primitive form of hand-loom, and comb, shuttle, and +roll, are all easily fashioned with an ordinary knife. + + [Picture: A Hiogo Buddha] + + + + +LETTER XXXVII.—(_Continued_.) + + +A Simple Nature-Worship—Aino Gods—A Festival Song—Religious +Intoxication—Bear-Worship—The Annual Saturnalia—The Future State—Marriage +and Divorce—Musical Instruments—Etiquette—The Chieftainship—Death and +Burial—Old Age—Moral Qualities. + +THERE cannot be anything more vague and destitute of cohesion than Aino +religious notions. With the exception of the hill shrines of Japanese +construction dedicated to Yoshitsuné, they have no temples, and they have +neither priests, sacrifices, nor worship. Apparently through all +traditional time their _cultus_ has been the rudest and most primitive +form of nature-worship, the attaching of a vague sacredness to trees, +rivers, rocks, and mountains, and of vague notions of power for good or +evil to the sea, the forest, the fire, and the sun and moon. I cannot +make out that they possess a trace of the deification of ancestors, +though their rude nature worship may well have been the primitive form of +Japanese Shintô. The solitary exception to their adoration of animate +and inanimate nature appears to be the reverence paid to Yoshitsuné, to +whom they believe they are greatly indebted, and who, it is supposed by +some, will yet interfere on their behalf. {273} Their gods—that is, the +outward symbols of their religion, corresponding most likely with the +Shintô _gohei_—are wands and posts of peeled wood, whittled nearly to the +top, from which the pendent shavings fall down in white curls. These are +not only set up in their houses, sometimes to the number of twenty, but +on precipices, banks of rivers and streams, and mountain-passes, and such +wands are thrown into the rivers as the boatmen descend rapids and +dangerous places. Since my baggage horse fell over an acclivity on the +trail from Sarufuto, four such wands have been placed there. It is +nonsense to write of the religious ideas of a people who have none, and +of beliefs among people who are merely adult children. The traveller who +formulates an Aino creed must “evolve it from his inner consciousness.” +I have taken infinite trouble to learn from themselves what their +religious notions are, and Shinondi tells me that they have told me all +they know, and the whole sum is a few vague fears and hopes, and a +suspicion that there are things outside themselves more powerful than +themselves, whose good influences may be obtained, or whose evil +influences may be averted, by libations of _saké_. + +The word worship is in itself misleading. When I use it of these savages +it simply means libations of _saké_, waving bowls and waving hands, +without any spiritual act of deprecation or supplication. In such a +sense and such alone they worship the sun and moon (but not the stars), +the forest, and the sea. The wolf, the black snake, the owl, and several +other beasts and birds have the word _kamoi_, god, attached to them, as +the wolf is the “howling god,” the owl “the bird of the gods,” a black +snake the “raven god;” but none of these things are now “worshipped,” +wolf-worship having quite lately died out. Thunder, “the voice of the +gods,” inspires some fear. The sun, they say, is their best god, and the +fire their next best, obviously the divinities from whom their greatest +benefits are received. Some idea of gratitude pervades their rude +notions, as in the case of the “worship” paid to Yoshitsuné, and it +appears in one of the rude recitations chanted at the Saturnalia which in +several places conclude the hunting and fishing seasons:— + +“To the sea which nourishes us, to the forest which protects us, we +present our grateful thanks. You are two mothers that nourish the same +child; do not be angry if we leave one to go to the other. + +“The Ainos will always be the pride of the forest and of the sea.” + +The solitary act of sacrifice which they perform is the placing of a +worthless, dead bird, something like a sparrow, near one of their peeled +wands, where it is left till it reaches an advanced stage of +putrefaction. “To drink for the god” is the chief act of “worship,” and +thus drunkenness and religion are inseparably connected, as the more +_saké_ the Ainos drink the more devout they are, and the better pleased +are the gods. It does not appear that anything but _saké_ is of +sufficient value to please the gods. The libations to the fire and the +peeled post are never omitted, and are always accompanied by the inward +waving of the _saké_ bowls. + +The peculiarity which distinguishes this rude mythology is the “worship” +of the bear, the Yezo bear being one of the finest of his species; but it +is impossible to understand the feelings by which it is prompted, for +they worship it after their fashion, and set up its head in their +villages, yet they trap it, kill it, eat it, and sell its skin. There is +no doubt that this wild beast inspires more of the feeling which prompts +worship than the inanimate forces of nature, and the Ainos may be +distinguished as bear-worshippers, and their greatest religious festival +or Saturnalia as the Festival of the Bear. Gentle and peaceable as they +are, they have a great admiration for fierceness and courage; and the +bear, which is the strongest, fiercest, and most courageous animal known +to them, has probably in all ages inspired them with veneration. Some of +their rude chants are in praise of the bear, and their highest eulogy on +a man is to compare him to a bear. Thus Shinondi said of Benri, the +chief, “He is as strong as a bear,” and the old Fate praising Pipichari +called him “The young bear.” + +In all Aino villages, specially near the chief’s house, there are several +tall poles with the fleshless skull of a bear on the top of each, and in +most there is also a large cage, made grid-iron fashion, of stout +timbers, and raised two or three feet from the ground. At the present +time such cages contain young but well-grown bears, captured when quite +small in the early spring. After the capture the bear cub is introduced +into a dwelling-house, generally that of the chief, or sub-chief, where +it is suckled by a woman, and played with by the children, till it grows +too big and rough for domestic ways, and is placed in a strong cage, in +which it is fed and cared for, as I understand, till the autumn of the +following year, when, being strong and well-grown, the Festival of the +Bear is celebrated. The customs of this festival vary considerably, and +the manner of the bear’s death differs among the mountain and coast +Ainos, but everywhere there is a general gathering of the people, and it +is the occasion of a great feast, accompanied with much _saké_ and a +curious dance, in which men alone take part. + +Yells and shouts are used to excite the bear, and when he becomes much +agitated a chief shoots him with an arrow, inflicting a slight wound +which maddens him, on which the bars of the cage are raised, and he +springs forth, very furious. At this stage the Ainos run upon him with +various weapons, each one striving to inflict a wound, as it brings good +luck to draw his blood. As soon as he falls down exhausted, his head is +cut off, and the weapons with which he has been wounded are offered to +it, and he is asked to avenge himself upon them. Afterwards the carcass, +amidst a frenzied uproar, is distributed among the people, and amidst +feasting and riot the head, placed upon a pole, is worshipped, i.e. it +receives libations of _saké_, and the festival closes with general +intoxication. In some villages it is customary for the foster-mother of +the bear to utter piercing wails while he is delivered to his murderers, +and after he is slain to beat each one of them with a branch of a tree. +[Afterwards at Usu, on Volcano Bay, the old men told me that at their +festival they despatch the bear after a different manner. On letting it +loose from the cage two men seize it by the ears, and others +simultaneously place a long, stout pole across the nape of its neck, upon +which a number of Ainos mount, and after a prolonged struggle the neck is +broken. As the bear is seen to approach his end, they shout in chorus, +“We kill you, O bear! come back soon into an Aino.”] When a bear is +trapped or wounded by an arrow, the hunters go through an apologetic or +propitiatory ceremony. They appear to have certain rude ideas of +metempsychosis, as is evidenced by the Usu prayer to the bear and certain +rude traditions; but whether these are indigenous, or have arisen by +contact with Buddhism at a later period, it is impossible to say. + +They have no definite ideas concerning a future state, and the subject is +evidently not a pleasing one to them. Such notions as they have are few +and confused. Some think that the spirits of their friends go into +wolves and snakes; others, that they wander about the forests; and they +are much afraid of ghosts. A few think that they go to “a good or bad +place,” according to their deeds; but Shinondi said, and there was an +infinite pathos in his words, “How can we know? No one ever came back to +tell us!” On asking him what were bad deeds, he said, “Being bad to +parents, stealing, and telling lies.” The future, however, does not +occupy any place in their thoughts, and they can hardly be said to +believe in the immortality of the soul, though their fear of ghosts shows +that they recognise a distinction between body and spirit. + +Their social customs are very simple. Girls never marry before the age +of seventeen, or men before twenty-one. When a man wishes to marry he +thinks of some particular girl, and asks the chief if he may ask for her. +If leave is given, either through a “go-between” or personally, he asks +her father for her, and if he consents the bridegroom gives him a +present, usually a Japanese “curio.” This constitutes betrothal, and the +marriage, which immediately follows, is celebrated by carousals and the +drinking of much _saké_. The bride receives as her dowry her earrings +and a highly ornamented _kimono_. It is an essential that the husband +provides a house to which to take his wife. Each couple lives +separately, and even the eldest son does not take his bride to his +father’s house. Polygamy is only allowed in two cases. The chief may +have three wives; but each must have her separate house. Benri has two +wives; but it appears that he took the second because the first was +childless. [The Usu Ainos told me that among the tribes of Volcano Bay +polygamy is not practised, even by the chiefs.] It is also permitted in +the case of a childless wife; but there is no instance of it in Biratori, +and the men say that they prefer to have one wife, as two quarrel. + +Widows are allowed to marry again with the chief’s consent; but among +these mountain Ainos a woman must remain absolutely secluded within the +house of her late husband for a period varying from six to twelve months, +only going to the door at intervals to throw _saké_ to the right and +left. A man secludes himself similarly for thirty days. [So greatly do +the customs vary, that round Volcano Bay I found that the period of +seclusion for a widow is only thirty days, and for a man twenty-five; but +that after a father’s death the house in which he has lived is burned +down after the thirty days of seclusion, and the widow and her children +go to a friend’s house for three years, after which the house is rebuilt +on its former site.] + +If a man does not like his wife, by obtaining the chief’s consent he can +divorce her; but he must send her back to her parents with plenty of good +clothes; but divorce is impracticable where there are children, and is +rarely if ever practised. Conjugal fidelity is a virtue among Aino +women; but “custom” provides that, in case of unfaithfulness, the injured +husband may bestow his wife upon her paramour, if he be an unmarried man; +in which case the chief fixes the amount of damages which the paramour +must pay; and these are usually valuable Japanese curios. + +The old and blind people are entirely supported by their children, and +receive until their dying day filial reverence and obedience. + +If one man steals from another he must return what he has taken, and give +the injured man a present besides, the value of which is fixed by the +chief. + +Their mode of living you already know, as I have shared it, and am still +receiving their hospitality. “Custom” enjoins the exercise of +hospitality on every Aino. They receive all strangers as they received +me, giving them of their best, placing them in the most honourable place, +bestowing gifts upon them, and, when they depart, furnishing them with +cakes of boiled millet. + +They have few amusements, except certain feasts. Their dance, which they +have just given in my honour, is slow and mournful, and their songs are +chants or recitative. They have a musical instrument, something like a +guitar, with three, five, or six strings, which are made from sinews of +whales cast up on the shore. They have another, which is believed to be +peculiar to themselves, consisting of a thin piece of wood, about five +inches long and two and a half inches broad, with a pointed wooden +tongue, about two lines in breadth and sixteen in length, fixed in the +middle, and grooved on three sides. The wood is held before the mouth, +and the tongue is set in motion by the vibration of the breath in +singing. Its sound, though less penetrating, is as discordant as that of +a Jew’s harp, which it somewhat resembles. One of the men used it as an +accompaniment of a song; but they are unwilling to part with them, as +they say that it is very seldom that they can find a piece of wood which +will bear the fine splitting necessary for the tongue. + +They are a most courteous people among each other. The salutations are +frequent—on entering a house, on leaving it, on meeting on the road, on +receiving anything from the hand of another, and on receiving a kind or +complimentary speech. They do not make any acknowledgments of this kind +to the women, however. The common salutation consists in extending the +hands and waving them inwards, once or oftener, and stroking the beard; +the formal one in raising the hands with an inward curve to the level of +the head two or three times, lowering them, and rubbing them together; +the ceremony concluding with stroking the beard several times. The +latter and more formal mode of salutation is offered to the chief, and by +the young to the old men. The women have no “manners!” + +They have no “medicine men,” and, though they are aware of the existence +of healing herbs, they do not know their special virtues or the manner of +using them. Dried and pounded bear’s liver is their specific, and they +place much reliance on it in colic and other pains. They are a healthy +race. In this village of 300 souls, there are no chronically ailing +people; nothing but one case of bronchitis, and some cutaneous maladies +among children. Neither is there any case of deformity in this and five +other large villages which I have visited, except that of a girl, who has +one leg slightly shorter than the other. + +They ferment a kind of intoxicating liquor from the root of a tree, and +also from their own millet and Japanese rice, but Japanese _saké_ is the +one thing that they care about. They spend all their gains upon it, and +drink it in enormous quantities. It represents to them all the good of +which they know, or can conceive. Beastly intoxication is the highest +happiness to which these poor savages aspire, and the condition is +sanctified to them under the fiction of “drinking to the gods.” Men and +women alike indulge in this vice. A few, however, like Pipichari, +abstain from it totally, taking the bowl in their hands, making the +libations to the gods, and then passing it on. I asked Pipichari why he +did not take _saké_, and he replied with a truthful terseness, “Because +it makes men like dogs.” + +Except the chief, who has two horses, they have no domestic animals +except very large, yellow dogs, which are used in hunting, but are never +admitted within the houses. + +The habits of the people, though by no means destitute of decency and +propriety, are not cleanly. The women bathe their hands once a day, but +any other washing is unknown. They never wash their clothes, and wear +the same by day and night. I am afraid to speculate on the condition of +their wealth of coal-black hair. They may be said to be very dirty—as +dirty fully as masses of our people at home. Their houses swarm with +fleas, but they are not worse in this respect than the Japanese +_yadoyas_. The mountain villages have, however, the appearance of +extreme cleanliness, being devoid of litter, heaps, puddles, and +untidiness of all kinds, and there are no unpleasant odours inside or +outside the houses, as they are well ventilated and smoked, and the salt +fish and meat are kept in the godowns. The hair and beards of the old +men, instead of being snowy as they ought to be, are yellow from smoke +and dirt. + +They have no mode of computing time, and do not know their own ages. To +them the past is dead, yet, like other conquered and despised races, they +cling to the idea that in some far-off age they were a great nation. +They have no traditions of internecine strife, and the art of war seems +to have been lost long ago. I asked Benri about this matter, and he says +that formerly Ainos fought with spears and knives as well as with bows +and arrows, but that Yoshitsuné, their hero god, forbade war for ever, +and since then the two-edged spear, with a shaft nine feet long, has only +been used in hunting bears. + +The Japanese Government, of course, exercises the same authority over the +Ainos as over its other subjects, but probably it does not care to +interfere in domestic or tribal matters, and within this outside limit +despotic authority is vested in the chiefs. The Ainos live in village +communities, and each community has its own chief, who is its lord +paramount. It appears to me that this chieftainship is but an expansion +of the paternal relation, and that all the village families are ruled as +a unit. Benri, in whose house I am, is the chief of Biratori, and is +treated by all with very great deference of manner. The office is +nominally for life; but if a chief becomes blind, or too infirm to go +about, he appoints a successor. If he has a “smart” son, who he thinks +will command the respect of the people, he appoints him; but if not, he +chooses the most suitable man in the village. The people are called upon +to approve the choice, but their ratification is never refused. The +office is not hereditary anywhere. + +Benri appears to exercise the authority of a very strict father. His +manner to all the men is like that of a master to slaves, and they bow +when they speak to him. No one can marry without his approval. If any +one builds a house he chooses the site. He has absolute jurisdiction in +civil and criminal cases, unless (which is very rare) the latter should +be of sufficient magnitude to be reported to the Imperial officials. He +compels restitution of stolen property, and in all cases fixes the fines +which are to be paid by delinquents. He also fixes the hunting +arrangements and the festivals. The younger men were obviously much +afraid of incurring his anger in his absence. + +An eldest son does not appear to be, as among the Japanese, a privileged +person. He does not necessarily inherit the house and curios. The +latter are not divided, but go with the house to the son whom the father +regards as being the “smartest.” Formal adoption is practised. +Pipichari is an adopted son, and is likely to succeed to Benri’s property +to the exclusion of his own children. I cannot get at the word which is +translated “smartness,” but I understand it as meaning general capacity. +The chief, as I have mentioned before, is allowed three wives among the +mountain Ainos, otherwise authority seems to be his only privilege. + +The Ainos have a singular dread of snakes. Even their bravest fly from +them. One man says that it is because they know of no cure for their +bite; but there is something more than this, for they flee from snakes +which they know to be harmless. + +They have an equal dread of their dead. Death seems to them very +specially “the shadow fear’d of man.” When it comes, which it usually +does from bronchitis in old age, the corpse is dressed in its best +clothing, and laid upon a shelf for from one to three days. In the case +of a woman her ornaments are buried with her, and in that of a man his +knife and _saké_-stick, and, if he were a smoker, his smoking apparatus. +The corpse is sewn up with these things in a mat, and, being slung on +poles, is carried to a solitary grave, where it is laid in a recumbent +position. Nothing will induce an Aino to go near a grave. Even if a +valuable bird or animal falls near one, he will not go to pick it up. A +vague dread is for ever associated with the departed, and no dream of +Paradise ever lights for the Aino the “Stygian shades.” + +Benri is, for an Aino, intelligent. Two years ago Mr. Dening of Hakodaté +came up here and told him that there was but one God who made us all, to +which the shrewd old man replied, “If the God who made you made us, how +is it that you are so different—you so rich, we so poor?” On asking him +about the magnificent pieces of lacquer and inlaying which adorn his +curio shelf, he said that they were his father’s, grandfather’s, and +great-grandfather’s at least, and he thinks they were gifts from the +_daimiyô_ of Matsumae soon after the conquest of Yezo. He is a +grand-looking man, in spite of the havoc wrought by his intemperate +habits. There is plenty of room in the house, and this morning, when I +asked him to show me the use of the spear, he looked a truly magnificent +savage, stepping well back with the spear in rest, and then springing +forward for the attack, his arms and legs turning into iron, the big +muscles standing out in knots, his frame quivering with excitement, the +thick hair falling back in masses from his brow, and the fire of the +chase in his eye. I trembled for my boy, who was the object of the +imaginary onslaught, the passion of sport was so admirably acted. + +As I write, seven of the older men are sitting by the fire. Their grey +beards fall to their waists in rippled masses, and the slight baldness of +age not only gives them a singularly venerable appearance, but enhances +the beauty of their lofty brows. I took a rough sketch of one of the +handsomest, and, showing it to him, asked if he would have it, but +instead of being amused or pleased he showed symptoms of fear, and asked +me to burn it, saying it would bring him bad luck and he should die. +However, Ito pacified him, and he accepted it, after a Chinese character, +which is understood to mean good luck, had been written upon it; but all +the others begged me not to “make pictures” of them, except Pipichari, +who lies at my feet like a staghound. + +The profusion of black hair, and a curious intensity about their eyes, +coupled with the hairy limbs and singularly vigorous physique, give them +a formidably savage appearance; but the smile, full of “sweetness and +light,” in which both eyes and mouth bear part, and the low, musical +voice, softer and sweeter than anything I have previously heard, make me +at times forget that they are savages at all. The venerable look of +these old men harmonises with the singular dignity and courtesy of their +manners, but as I look at the grand heads, and reflect that the Ainos +have never shown any capacity, and are merely adult children, they seem +to suggest water on the brain rather than intellect. I am more and more +convinced that the expression of their faces is European. It is +truthful, straightforward, manly, but both it and the tone of voice are +strongly tinged with pathos. + +Before these elders Benri asked me, in a severe tone, if I had been +annoyed in any way during his absence. He feared, he said, that the +young men and the women would crowd about me rudely. I made a +complimentary speech in return, and all the ancient hands were waved, and +the venerable beards were stroked in acknowledgment. + +These Ainos, doubtless, stand high among uncivilised peoples. They are, +however, as completely irreclaimable as the wildest of nomad tribes, and +contact with civilisation, where it exists, only debases them. Several +young Ainos were sent to Tôkiyô, and educated and trained in various +ways, but as soon as they returned to Yezo they relapsed into savagery, +retaining nothing but a knowledge of Japanese. They are charming in many +ways, but make one sad, too, by their stupidity, apathy, and +hopelessness, and all the sadder that their numbers appear to be again +increasing; and as their physique is very fine, there does not appear to +be a prospect of the race dying out at present. + +They are certainly superior to many aborigines, as they have an approach +to domestic life. They have one word for _house_, and another for +_home_, and one word for husband approaches very nearly to house-band. +Truth is of value in their eyes, and this in itself raises them above +some peoples. Infanticide is unknown, and aged parents receive filial +reverence, kindness, and support, while in their social and domestic +relations there is much that is praiseworthy. + +I must conclude this letter abruptly, as the horses are waiting, and I +must cross the rivers, if possible, before the bursting of an impending +storm. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XXXVIII. + + +A Parting Gift—A Delicacy—Generosity—A Seaside Village—Pipichari’s +Advice—A Drunken Revel—Ito’s Prophecies—The _Kôchô’s_ Illness—Patent +Medicines. + + SARUFUTO, YEZO, _August_ 27. + +I LEFT the Ainos yesterday with real regret, though I must confess that +sleeping in one’s clothes and the lack of ablutions are very fatiguing. +Benri’s two wives spent the early morning in the laborious operation of +grinding millet into coarse flour, and before I departed, as their custom +is, they made a paste of it, rolled it with their unclean fingers into +well-shaped cakes, boiled them in the unwashed pot in which they make +their stew of “abominable things,” and presented them to me on a lacquer +tray. They were distressed that I did not eat their food, and a woman +went to a village at some distance and brought me some venison fat as a +delicacy. All those of whom I had seen much came to wish me good-bye, +and they brought so many presents (including a fine bearskin) that I +should have needed an additional horse to carry them had I accepted but +one-half. + +I rode twelve miles through the forest to Mombets, where I intended to +spend Sunday, but I had the worst horse I ever rode, and we took five +hours. The day was dull and sad, threatening a storm, and when we got +out of the forest, upon a sand-hill covered with oak scrub, we +encountered a most furious wind. Among the many views which I have seen, +that is one to be remembered. Below lay a bleached and bare sand-hill, +with a few grey houses huddled in its miserable shelter, and a heaped-up +shore of grey sand, on which a brown-grey sea was breaking with clash and +boom in long, white, ragged lines, with all beyond a confusion of surf, +surge, and mist, with driving brown clouds mingling sea and sky, and all +between showing only in glimpses amidst scuds of sand. + +At a house in the scrub a number of men were drinking _saké_ with much +uproar, and a superb-looking Aino came out, staggered a few yards, and +then fell backwards among the weeds, a picture of debasement. I forgot +to tell you that before I left Biratori, I inveighed to the assembled +Ainos against the practice and consequences of _saké_-drinking, and was +met with the reply, “We must drink to the gods, or we shall die;” but +Pipichari said, “You say that which is good; let us give _saké_ to the +gods, but not drink it,” for which bold speech he was severely rebuked by +Benri. + +Mombets is a stormily-situated and most wretched cluster of twenty-seven +decayed houses, some of them Aino, and some Japanese. The fish-oil and +seaweed fishing trades are in brisk operation there now for a short time, +and a number of Aino and Japanese strangers are employed. The boats +could not get out because of the surf, and there was a drunken debauch. +The whole place smelt of _saké_. Tipsy men were staggering about and +falling flat on their backs, to lie there like dogs till they were +sober,—Aino women were vainly endeavouring to drag their drunken lords +home, and men of both races were reduced to a beastly equality. I went +to the _yadoya_ where I intended to spend Sunday, but, besides being very +dirty and forlorn, it was the very centre of the _saké_ traffic, and in +its open space there were men in all stages of riotous and stupid +intoxication. It was a sad scene, yet one to be matched in a hundred +places in Scotland every Saturday afternoon. I am told by the _Kôchô_ +here that an Aino can drink four or five times as much as a Japanese +without being tipsy, so for each tipsy Aino there had been an outlay of +6s. or 7s., for _saké_ is 8d. a cup here! + +I had some tea and eggs in the _daidokoro_, and altered my plans +altogether on finding that if I proceeded farther round the east coast, +as I intended, I should run the risk of several days’ detention on the +banks of numerous “bad rivers” if rain came on, by which I should run the +risk of breaking my promise to deliver Ito to Mr. Maries by a given day. +I do not surrender this project, however, without an equivalent, for I +intend to add 100 miles to my journey, by taking an almost disused track +round Volcano Bay, and visiting the coast Ainos of a very primitive +region. Ito is very much opposed to this, thinking that he has made a +sufficient sacrifice of personal comfort at Biratori, and plies me with +stories, such as that there are “many bad rivers to cross,” that the +track is so worn as to be impassable, that there are no _yadoyas_, and +that at the Government offices we shall neither get rice nor eggs! An +old man who has turned back unable to get horses is made responsible for +these stories. The machinations are very amusing. Ito was much smitten +with the daughter of the house-master at Mororan, and left some things in +her keeping, and the desire to see her again is at the bottom of his +opposition to the other route. + +_Monday_.—The horse could not or would not carry me farther than Mombets, +so, sending the baggage on, I walked through the oak wood, and enjoyed +its silent solitude, in spite of the sad reflections upon the enslavement +of the Ainos to _saké_. I spent yesterday quietly in my old quarters, +with a fearful storm of wind and rain outside. Pipichari appeared at +noon, nominally to bring news of the sick woman, who is recovering, and +to have his nearly healed foot bandaged again, but really to bring me a +knife sheath which he has carved for me. He lay on the mat in the corner +of my room most of the afternoon, and I got a great many more words from +him. The house-master, who is the _Kôchô_ of Sarufuto, paid me a +courteous visit, and in the evening sent to say that he would be very +glad of some medicine, for he was “very ill and going to have fever.” He +had caught a bad cold and sore throat, had bad pains in his limbs, and +was bemoaning himself ruefully. To pacify his wife, who was very sorry +for him, I gave him some “Cockle’s Pills” and the trapper’s remedy of “a +pint of hot water with a pinch of cayenne pepper,” and left him moaning +and bundled up under a pile of _futons_, in a nearly hermetically sealed +room, with a _hibachi_ of charcoal vitiating the air. This morning when +I went and inquired after him in a properly concerned tone, his wife told +me very gleefully that he was quite well and had gone out, and had left +25 _sen_ for some more of the medicines that I had given him, so with +great gravity I put up some of Duncan and Flockhart’s most pungent +cayenne pepper, and showed her how much to use. She was not content, +however, without some of the “Cockles,” a single box of which has +performed six of those “miraculous cures” which rejoice the hearts and +fill the pockets of patent medicine makers! + + I. L. B. + + [Picture: The Rokkukado] + + + + +LETTER XXXIX. + + +A Welcome Gift—Recent Changes—Volcanic Phenomena—Interesting Tufa +Cones—Semi-strangulation—A Fall into a Bear-trap—The Shiraôi +Ainos—Horsebreaking and Cruelty. + + OLD MORORAN, VOLCANO BAY, YEZO, + _September_ 2. + +AFTER the storm of Sunday, Monday was a grey, still, tender day, and the +ranges of wooded hills were bathed in the richest indigo colouring. A +canter of seventeen miles among the damask roses on a very rough horse +only took me to Yubets, whose indescribable loneliness fascinated me into +spending a night there again, and encountering a wild clatter of wind and +rain; and another canter of seven miles the next morning took me to +Tomakomai, where I rejoined my _kuruma_, and after a long delay, three +trotting Ainos took me to Shiraôi, where the “clear shining after rain,” +and the mountains against a lemon-coloured sky, were extremely beautiful; +but the Pacific was as unrestful as a guilty thing, and its crash and +clamour and the severe cold fatigued me so much that I did not pursue my +journey the next day, and had the pleasure of a flying visit from Mr. Von +Siebold and Count Diesbach, who bestowed a chicken upon me. + +I like Shiraôi very much, and if I were stronger would certainly make it +a basis for exploring a part of the interior, in which there is much to +reward the explorer. Obviously the changes in this part of Yezo have +been comparatively recent, and the energy of the force which has produced +them is not yet extinct. The land has gained from the sea along the +whole of this part of the coast to the extent of two or three miles, the +old beach with its bays and headlands being a marked feature of the +landscape. This new formation appears to be a vast bed of pumice, +covered by a thin layer of vegetable mould, which cannot be more than +fifty years old. This pumice fell during the eruption of the volcano of +Tarumai, which is very near Shiraôi, and is also brought down in large +quantities from the interior hills and valleys by the numerous rivers, +besides being washed up by the sea. At the last eruption pumice fell +over this region of Yezo to a medium depth of 3 feet 6 inches. In nearly +all the rivers good sections of the formation may be seen in their +deeply-cleft banks, broad, light-coloured bands of pumice, with a few +inches of rich, black, vegetable soil above, and several feet of black +sea-sand below. During a freshet which occurred the first night I was at +Shiraôi, a single stream covered a piece of land with pumice to the depth +of nine inches, being the wash from the hills of the interior, in a +course of less than fifteen miles. + +Looking inland, the volcano of Tarumai, with a bare grey top and a +blasted forest on its sides, occupies the right of the picture. To the +left and inland are mountains within mountains, tumbled together in most +picturesque confusion, densely covered with forest and cleft by +magnificent ravines, here and there opening out into narrow valleys. The +whole of the interior is jungle penetrable for a few miles by shallow and +rapid rivers, and by nearly smothered trails made by the Ainos in search +of game. The general lie of the country made me very anxious to find out +whether a much-broken ridge lying among the mountains is or is not a +series of tufa cones of ancient date; and, applying for a good horse and +Aino guide on horseback, I left Ito to amuse himself, and spent much of a +most splendid day in investigations and in attempting to get round the +back of the volcano and up its inland side. There is a great deal to see +and learn there. Oh that I had strength! After hours of most tedious +and exhausting work I reached a point where there were several great +fissures emitting smoke and steam, with occasional subterranean +detonations. These were on the side of a small, flank crack which was +smoking heavily. There was light pumice everywhere, but nothing like +recent lava or scoriæ. One fissure was completely lined with exquisite, +acicular crystals of sulphur, which perished with a touch. Lower down +there were two hot springs with a deposit of sulphur round their margins, +and bubbles of gas, which, from its strong, garlicky smell, I suppose to +be sulphuretted hydrogen. Farther progress in that direction was +impossible without a force of pioneers. I put my arm down several deep +crevices which were at an altitude of only about 500 feet, and had to +withdraw it at once, owing to the great heat, in which some beautiful +specimens of tropical ferns were growing. At the same height I came to a +hot spring—hot enough to burst one of my thermometers, which was +graduated above the boiling point of Fahrenheit; and tying up an egg in a +pocket-handkerchief and holding it by a stick in the water, it was hard +boiled in 8½ minutes. The water evaporated without leaving a trace of +deposit on the handkerchief, and there was no crust round its margin. It +boiled and bubbled with great force. + +Three hours more of exhausting toil, which almost knocked up the horses, +brought us to the apparent ridge, and I was delighted to find that it +consisted of a lateral range of tufa cones, which I estimate as being +from 200 to 350, or even 400 feet high. They are densely covered with +trees of considerable age, and a rich deposit of mould; but their conical +form is still admirably defined. An hour of very severe work, and +energetic use of the knife on the part of the Aino, took me to the top of +one of these through a mass of entangled and gigantic vegetation, and I +was amply repaid by finding a deep, well-defined crateriform cavity of +great depth, with its sides richly clothed with vegetation, closely +resembling some of the old cones in the island of Kauai. This cone is +partially girdled by a stream, which in one place has cut through a bank +of both red and black volcanic ash. All the usual phenomena of volcanic +regions are probably to be met with north of Shiraôi, and I hope they +will at some future time be made the object of careful investigation. + +In spite of the desperate and almost overwhelming fatigue, I have enjoyed +few things more than that “exploring expedition.” If the Japanese have +no one to talk to they croon hideous discords to themselves, and it was a +relief to leave Ito behind and get away with an Aino, who was at once +silent, trustworthy, and faithful. Two bright rivers bubbling over beds +of red pebbles run down to Shiraôi out of the back country, and my +directions, which were translated to the Aino, were to follow up one of +these and go into the mountains in the direction of one I pointed out +till I said “Shiraôi.” It was one of those exquisite mornings which are +seen sometimes in the Scotch Highlands before rain, with intense +clearness and visibility, a blue atmosphere, a cloudless sky, blue +summits, heavy dew, and glorious sunshine, and under these circumstances +scenery beautiful in itself became entrancing. + +The trailers are so formidable that we had to stoop over our horses’ +necks at all times, and with pushing back branches and guarding my face +from slaps and scratches, my thick dogskin gloves were literally frayed +off, and some of the skin of my hands and face in addition, so that I +returned with both bleeding and swelled. It was on the return ride, +fortunately, that in stooping to escape one great liana the loop of +another grazed my nose, and, being unable to check my unbroken horse +instantaneously, the loop caught me by the throat, nearly strangled me, +and in less time than it takes to tell it I was drawn over the back of +the saddle, and found myself lying on the ground, jammed between a tree +and the hind leg of the horse, which was quietly feeding. The Aino, +whose face was very badly scratched, missing me, came back, said never a +word, helped me up, brought me some water in a leaf, brought my hat, and +we rode on again. I was little the worse for the fall, but on borrowing +a looking-glass I see not only scratches and abrasions all over my face, +but a livid mark round my throat as if I had been hung! The Aino left +portions of his bushy locks on many of the branches. You would have been +amused to see me in this forest, preceded by this hairy and +formidable-looking savage, who was dressed in a coat of skins with the +fur outside, seated on the top of a pack-saddle covered with a deer hide, +and with his hairy legs crossed over the horse’s neck—a fashion in which +the Ainos ride any horses over any ground with the utmost serenity. + +It was a wonderful region for beauty. I have not seen so beautiful a +view in Japan as from the river-bed from which I had the first near view +of the grand assemblage of tufa cones, covered with an ancient +vegetation, backed by high mountains of volcanic origin, on whose ragged +crests the red ash was blazing vermilion against the blue sky, with a +foreground of bright waters flashing through a primeval forest. The +banks of these streams were deeply excavated by the heavy rains, and +sometimes we had to jump three and even four feet out of the forest into +the river, and as much up again, fording the Shiraôi river only more than +twenty times, and often making a pathway of its treacherous bed and +rushing waters, because the forest was impassable from the great size of +the prostrate trees. The horses look at these jumps, hold back, try to +turn, and then, making up their minds, suddenly plunge down or up. When +the last vestige of a trail disappeared, I signed to the Aino to go on, +and our subsequent “exploration” was all done at the rate of about a mile +an hour. On the openings the grass grows stiff and strong to the height +of eight feet, with its soft reddish plumes waving in the breeze. The +Aino first forced his horse through it, but of course it closed again, so +that constantly when he was close in front I was only aware of his +proximity by the tinkling of his horse’s bells, for I saw nothing of him +or of my own horse except the horn of my saddle. We tumbled into holes +often, and as easily tumbled out of them; but once we both went down in +the most unexpected manner into what must have been an old bear-trap, +both going over our horses’ heads, the horses and ourselves struggling +together in a narrow space in a mist of grassy plumes, and, being unable +to communicate with my guide, the sense of the ridiculous situation was +so overpowering that, even in the midst of the mishap, I was exhausted +with laughter, though not a little bruised. It was very hard to get out +of that pitfall, and I hope I shall never get into one again. It is not +the first occasion on which I have been glad that the Yezo horses are +shoeless. It was through this long grass that we fought our way to the +tufa cones, with the red ragged crests against the blue sky. + +The scenery was magnificent, and after getting so far I longed to explore +the sources of the rivers, but besides the many difficulties the day was +far spent. I was also too weak for any energetic undertaking, yet I felt +an intuitive perception of the passion and fascination of exploring, and +understood how people could give up their lives to it. I turned away +from the tufa cones and the glory of the ragged crests very sadly, to +ride a tired horse through great difficulties; and the animal was so +thoroughly done up that I had to walk, or rather wade, for the last hour, +and it was nightfall when I returned, to find that Ito had packed up all +my things, had been waiting ever since noon to start for Horobets, was +very grumpy at having to unpack, and thoroughly disgusted when I told him +that I was so tired and bruised that I should have to remain the next day +to rest. He said indignantly, “I never thought that when you’d got the +_Kaitakushi kuruma_ you’d go off the road into those woods!” We had seen +some deer and many pheasants, and a successful hunter brought in a fine +stag, so that I had venison steak for supper, and was much comforted, +though Ito seasoned the meal with well-got-up stories of the +impracticability of the Volcano Bay route. + +Shiraôi consists of a large old _Honjin_, or _yadoya_, where the +_daimiyô_ and his train used to lodge in the old days, and about eleven +Japanese houses, most of which are _saké_ shops—a fact which supplies an +explanation of the squalor of the Aino village of fifty-two houses, which +is on the shore at a respectful distance. There is no cultivation, in +which it is like all the fishing villages on this part of the coast, but +fish-oil and fish-manure are made in immense quantities, and, though it +is not the season here, the place is pervaded by “an ancient and +fish-like smell.” + +The Aino houses are much smaller, poorer, and dirtier than those of +Biratori. I went into a number of them, and conversed with the people, +many of whom understand Japanese. Some of the houses looked like dens, +and, as it was raining, husband, wife, and five or six naked children, +all as dirty as they could be, with unkempt, elf-like locks, were huddled +round the fires. Still, bad as it looked and smelt, the fire was the +hearth, and the hearth was inviolate, and each smoked and dirt-stained +group was a family, and it was an advance upon the social life of, for +instance, Salt Lake City. The roofs are much flatter than those of the +mountain Ainos, and, as there are few store-houses, quantities of fish, +“green” skins, and venison, hang from the rafters, and the smell of these +and the stinging of the smoke were most trying. Few of the houses had +any guest-seats, but in the very poorest, when I asked shelter from the +rain, they put their best mat upon the ground, and insisted, much to my +distress, on my walking over it in muddy boots, saying, “It is Aino +custom.” Ever, in those squalid homes the broad shelf, with its rows of +Japanese curios, always has a place. I mentioned that it is customary +for a chief to appoint a successor when he becomes infirm, and I came +upon a case in point, through a mistaken direction, which took us to the +house of the former chief, with a great empty bear cage at its door. On +addressing him as the chief, he said, “I am old and blind, I cannot go +out, I am of no more good,” and directed us to the house of his +successor. Altogether it is obvious, from many evidences in this +village, that Japanese contiguity is hurtful, and that the Ainos have +reaped abundantly of the disadvantages without the advantages of contact +with Japanese civilisation. + +That night I saw a specimen of Japanese horse-breaking as practised in +Yezo. A Japanese brought into the village street a handsome, spirited +young horse, equipped with a Japanese _demi-pique_ saddle, and a most +cruel gag bit. The man wore very cruel spurs, and was armed with a bit +of stout board two feet long by six inches broad. The horse had not been +mounted before, and was frightened, but not the least vicious. He was +spurred into a gallop, and ridden at full speed up and down the street, +turned by main force, thrown on his haunches, goaded with the spurs, and +cowed by being mercilessly thrashed over the ears and eyes with the piece +of board till he was blinded with blood. Whenever he tried to stop from +exhaustion he was spurred, jerked, and flogged, till at last, covered +with sweat, foam, and blood, and with blood running from his mouth and +splashing the road, he reeled, staggered, and fell, the rider dexterously +disengaging himself. As soon as he was able to stand, he was allowed to +crawl into a shed, where he was kept without food till morning, when a +child could do anything with him. He was “broken,” effectually +spirit-broken, useless for the rest of his life. It was a brutal and +brutalising exhibition, as triumphs of brute force always are. + + + + +LETTER XXXIX.—(_Continued_.) + + +The Universal Language—The Yezo Corrals—A “Typhoon Rain”—Difficult +Tracks—An Unenviable Ride—Drying Clothes—A Woman’s Remorse. + +THIS morning I left early in the _kuruma_ with two kind and delightful +savages. The road being much broken by the rains I had to get out +frequently, and every time I got in again they put my air-pillow behind +me, and covered me up in a blanket; and when we got to a rough river, one +made a step of his back by which I mounted their horse, and gave me +nooses of rope to hold on by, and the other held my arm to keep me +steady, and they would not let me walk up or down any of the hills. What +a blessing it is that, amidst the confusion of tongues, the language of +kindness and courtesy is universally understood, and that a kindly smile +on a savage face is as intelligible as on that of one’s own countryman! +They had never drawn a _kuruma_, and were as pleased as children when I +showed them how to balance the shafts. They were not without the +capacity to originate ideas, for, when they were tired of the frolic of +pulling, they attached the _kuruma_ by ropes to the horse, which one of +them rode at a “scramble,” while the other merely ran in the shafts to +keep them level. This is an excellent plan. + +Horobets is a fishing station of antique and decayed aspect, with +eighteen Japanese and forty-seven Aino houses. The latter are much +larger than at Shiraôi, and their very steep roofs are beautifully +constructed. It was a miserable day, with fog concealing the mountains +and lying heavily on the sea, but as no one expected rain I sent the +_kuruma_ back to Mororan and secured horses. On principle I always go to +the _corral_ myself to choose animals, if possible, without sore backs, +but the choice is often between one with a mere raw and others which have +holes in their backs into which I could put my hand, or altogether +uncovered spines. The practice does no immediate good, but by showing +the Japanese that foreign opinion condemns these cruelties an amendment +may eventually be brought about. At Horobets, among twenty horses, there +was not one that I would take,—I should like to have had them all shot. +They are cheap and abundant, and are of no account. They drove a number +more down from the hills, and I chose the largest and finest horse I have +seen in Japan, with some spirit and action, but I soon found that he had +tender feet. We shortly left the high-road, and in torrents of rain +turned off on “unbeaten tracks,” which led us through a very bad swamp +and some much swollen and very rough rivers into the mountains, where we +followed a worn-out track for eight miles. It was literally “_foul_ +weather,” dark and still, with a brown mist, and rain falling in sheets. +I threw my paper waterproof away as useless, my clothes were of course +soaked, and it was with much difficulty that I kept my _shomon_ and paper +money from being reduced to pulp. Typhoons are not known so far north as +Yezo, but it was what they call a “typhoon rain” without the typhoon, and +in no time it turned the streams into torrents barely fordable, and tore +up such of a road as there is, which at its best is a mere water-channel. +Torrents, bringing tolerable-sized stones, tore down the track, and when +the horses had been struck two or three times by these, it was with +difficulty that they could be induced to face the rushing water. +Constantly in a pass, the water had gradually cut a track several feet +deep between steep banks, and the only possible walking place was a stony +gash not wide enough for the two feet of a horse alongside of each other, +down which water and stones were rushing from behind, with all manner of +trailers matted overhead, and between avoiding being strangled and +attempting to keep a tender-footed horse on his legs, the ride was a very +severe one. The poor animal fell five times from stepping on stones, and +in one of his falls twisted my left wrist badly. I thought of the many +people who envied me my tour in Japan, and wondered whether they would +envy me that ride! + +After this had gone on for four hours, the track, with a sudden dip over +a hillside, came down on Old Mororan, a village of thirty Aino and nine +Japanese houses, very unpromising-looking, although exquisitely situated +on the rim of a lovely cove. The Aino huts were small and poor, with an +unusual number of bear skulls on poles, and the village consisted mainly +of two long dilapidated buildings, in which a number of men were mending +nets. It looked a decaying place, of low, mean lives. But at a +“merchant’s” there was one delightful room with two translucent sides—one +opening on the village, the other looking to the sea down a short, steep +slope, on which is a quaint little garden, with dwarfed fir-trees in +pots, a few balsams, and a red cabbage grown with much pride as a +“foliage plant.” + +It is nearly midnight, but my bed and bedding are so wet that I am still +sitting up and drying them, patch by patch, with tedious slowness, on a +wooden frame placed over a charcoal brazier, which has given my room the +dryness and warmth which are needed when a person has been for many hours +in soaked clothing, and has nothing really dry to put on. Ito bought a +chicken for my supper, but when he was going to kill it an hour later its +owner in much grief returned the money, saying she had brought it up and +could not bear to see it killed. This is a wild, outlandish place, but +an intuition tells me that it is beautiful. The ocean at present is +thundering up the beach with the sullen force of a heavy ground-swell, +and the rain is still falling in torrents. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XL. + + +“More than Peace”—Geographical Difficulties—Usu-taki—Swimming the +Osharu—A Dream of Beauty—A Sunset Effect—A Nocturnal Alarm—The Coast +Ainos. + + LEBUNGÉ, VOLCANO BAY, YEZO, + _September_ 6. + + “Weary wave and dying blast + Sob and moan along the shore, + All is peace at last.” + +AND more than peace. It was a heavenly morning. The deep blue sky was +perfectly unclouded, a blue sea with diamond flash and a “many-twinkling +smile” rippled gently on the golden sands of the lovely little bay, and +opposite, forty miles away, the pink summit of the volcano of +Komono-taki, forming the south-western point of Volcano Bay, rose into a +softening veil of tender blue haze. There was a balmy breeziness in the +air, and tawny tints upon the hill, patches of gold in the woods, and a +scarlet spray here and there heralded the glories of the advancing +autumn. As the day began, so it closed. I should like to have detained +each hour as it passed. It was thorough enjoyment. I visited a good +many of the Mororan Ainos, saw their well-grown bear in its cage, and, +tearing myself away with difficulty at noon, crossed a steep hill and a +wood of scrub oak, and then followed a trail which runs on the amber +sands close to the sea, crosses several small streams, and passes the +lonely Aino village of Maripu, the ocean always on the left and wooded +ranges on the right, and in front an apparent bar to farther progress in +the volcano of Usu-taki, an imposing mountain, rising abruptly to a +height of nearly 3000 feet, I should think. + +In Yezo, as on the main island, one can learn very little about any +prospective route. Usually when one makes an inquiry a Japanese puts on +a stupid look, giggles, tucks his thumbs into his girdle, hitches up his +garments, and either professes perfect ignorance or gives one some vague +second-hand information, though it is quite possible that he may have +been over every foot of the ground himself more than once. Whether +suspicion of your motives in asking, or a fear of compromising himself by +answering, is at the bottom of this I don’t know, but it is most +exasperating to a traveller. In Hakodaté I failed to see Captain +Blakiston, who has walked round the whole Yezo sea-board, and all I was +able to learn regarding this route was that the coast was thinly peopled +by Ainos, that there were Government horses which could be got, and that +one could sleep where one got them; that rice and salt fish were the only +food; that there were many “bad rivers,” and that the road went over “bad +mountains;” that the only people who went that way were Government +officials twice a year, that one could not get on more than four miles a +day, that the roads over the passes were “all big stones,” etc. etc. So +this Usu-taki took me altogether by surprise, and for a time confounded +all my carefully-constructed notions of locality. I had been told that +the one volcano in the bay was Komono-taki, near Mori, and this I +believed to be eighty miles off, and there, confronting me, within a +distance of two miles, was this grand, splintered, vermilion-crested +thing, with a far nobler aspect than that of “_the_” volcano, with a +curtain range in front, deeply scored, and slashed with ravines and +abysses whose purple gloom was unlighted even by the noon-day sun. One +of the peaks was emitting black smoke from a deep crater, another steam +and white smoke from various rents and fissures in its side—vermilion +peaks, smoke, and steam all rising into a sky of brilliant blue, and the +atmosphere was so clear that I saw everything that was going on there +quite distinctly, especially when I attained an altitude exceeding that +of the curtain range. It was not for two days that I got a correct idea +of its geographical situation, but I was not long in finding out that it +was not Komono-taki! There is much volcanic activity about it. I saw a +glare from it last night thirty miles away. The Ainos said that it was +“a god,” but did not know its name, nor did the Japanese who were living +under its shadow. At some distance from it in the interior rises a great +dome-like mountain, Shiribetsan, and the whole view is grand. + +A little beyond Mombets flows the river Osharu, one of the largest of the +Yezo streams. It was much swollen by the previous day’s rain; and as the +ferry-boat was carried away we had to swim it, and the swim seemed very +long. Of course, we and the baggage got very wet. The coolness with +which the Aino guide took to the water without giving us any notice that +its broad, eddying flood was a swim, and not a ford, was very amusing. + +From the top of a steepish ascent beyond the Osharugawa there is a view +into what looks like a very lovely lake, with wooded promontories, and +little bays, and rocky capes in miniature, and little heights, on which +Aino houses, with tawny roofs, are clustered; and then the track dips +suddenly, and deposits one, not by a lake at all, but on Usu Bay, an +inlet of the Pacific, much broken up into coves, and with a very narrow +entrance, only obvious from a few points. Just as the track touches the +bay there is a road-post, with a prayer-wheel in it, and by the shore an +upright stone of very large size, inscribed with Sanskrit characters, +near to a stone staircase and a gateway in a massive stone-faced +embankment, which looked much out of keeping with the general wildness of +the place. On a rocky promontory in a wooded cove there is a large, +rambling house, greatly out of repair, inhabited by a Japanese man and +his son, who are placed there to look after Government interests, exiles +among 500 Ainos. From among the number of rat-haunted, rambling rooms +which had once been handsome, I chose one opening on a yard or garden +with some distorted yews in it, but found that the great gateway and the +_amado_ had no bolts, and that anything might be appropriated by any one +with dishonest intentions; but the house-master and his son, who have +lived for ten years among the Ainos, and speak their language, say that +nothing is ever taken, and that the Ainos are thoroughly honest and +harmless. Without this assurance I should have been distrustful of the +number of wide-mouthed youths who hung about, in the listlessness and +vacuity of savagery, if not of the bearded men who sat or stood about the +gateway with children in their arms. + +Usu is a dream of beauty and peace. There is not much difference between +the height of high and low water on this coast, and the lake-like +illusion would have been perfect had it not been that the rocks were +tinged with gold for a foot or so above the sea by a delicate species of +_fucus_. In the exquisite inlet where I spent the night, trees and +trailers drooped into the water and were mirrored in it, their green, +heavy shadows lying sharp against the sunset gold and pink of the rest of +the bay; log canoes, with planks laced upon their gunwales to heighten +them, were drawn upon a tiny beach of golden sand, and in the shadiest +cove, moored to a tree, an antique and much-carved junk was “floating +double.” Wooded, rocky knolls, with Aino huts, the vermilion peaks of +the volcano of Usu-taki redder than ever in the sinking sun, a few Ainos +mending their nets, a few more spreading edible seaweed out to dry, a +single canoe breaking the golden mirror of the cove by its noiseless +motion, a few Aino loungers, with their “mild-eyed, melancholy” faces and +quiet ways suiting the quiet evening scene, the unearthly sweetness of a +temple bell—this was all, and yet it was the loveliest picture I have +seen in Japan. + +In spite of Ito’s remonstrances and his protestations that an +exceptionally good supper would be spoiled, I left my rat-haunted room, +with its tarnished gilding and precarious _fusuma_, to get the last of +the pink and lemon-coloured glory, going up the staircase in the +stone-faced embankment, and up a broad, well-paved avenue, to a large +temple, within whose open door I sat for some time absolutely alone, and +in a wonderful stillness; for the sweet-toned bell which vainly chimes +for vespers amidst this bear-worshipping population had ceased. This +temple was the first symptom of Japanese religion that I remember to have +seen since leaving Hakodaté, and worshippers have long since ebbed away +from its shady and moss-grown courts. Yet it stands there to protest for +the teaching of the great Hindu; and generations of Aino heathen pass +away one after another; and still its bronze bell tolls, and its altar +lamps are lit, and incense burns for ever before Buddha. The characters +on the great bell of this temple are said to be the same lines which are +often graven on temple bells, and to possess the dignity of twenty-four +centuries: + + “All things are transient; + They being born must die, + And being born are dead; + And being dead are glad + To be at rest.” + +The temple is very handsome, the baldachino is superb, and the bronzes +and brasses on the altar are specially fine. A broad ray of sunlight +streamed in, crossed the matted floor, and fell full upon the figure of +Sakya-muni in his golden shrine; and just at that moment a shaven priest, +in silk-brocaded vestments of faded green, silently passed down the +stream of light, and lit the candles on the altar, and fresh incense +filled the temple with a drowsy fragrance. It was a most impressive +picture. His curiosity evidently shortened his devotions, and he came +and asked me where I had been and where I was going, to which, of course, +I replied in excellent Japanese, and then stuck fast. + +Along the paved avenue, besides the usual stone trough for holy water, +there are on one side the thousand-armed Kwan-non, a very fine relief, +and on the other a Buddha, throned on the eternal lotus blossom, with an +iron staff, much resembling a crozier, in his hand, and that eternal +apathy on his face which is the highest hope of those who hope at all. I +went through a wood, where there are some mournful groups of graves on +the hillside, and from the temple came the sweet sound of the great +bronze bell and the beat of the big drum, and then, more faintly, the +sound of the little bell and drum, with which the priest accompanies his +ceaseless repetition of a phrase in the dead tongue of a distant land. +There is an infinite pathos about the lonely temple in its splendour, the +absence of even possible worshippers, and the large population of Ainos, +sunk in yet deeper superstitions than those which go to make up popular +Buddhism. I sat on a rock by the bay till the last pink glow faded from +Usu-taki and the last lemon stain from the still water; and a beautiful +crescent, which hung over the wooded hill, had set, and the heavens +blazed with stars: + + “Ten thousand stars were in the sky, + Ten thousand in the sea, + And every wave with dimpled face, + That leapt upon the air, + Had caught a star in its embrace, + And held it trembling there.” + +The loneliness of Usu Bay is something wonderful—a house full of empty +rooms falling to decay, with only two men in it—one Japanese house among +500 savages, yet it was the only one in which I have slept in which they +bolted neither the _amado_ nor the gate. During the night the _amado_ +fell out of the worn-out grooves with a crash, knocking down the _shôji_, +which fell on me, and rousing Ito, who rushed into my room half-asleep, +with a vague vision of blood-thirsty Ainos in his mind. I then learned +what I have been very stupid not to have learned before, that in these +sliding wooden shutters there is a small door through which one person +can creep at a time called the _jishindo_, or “earthquake door,” because +it provides an exit during the alarm of an earthquake, in case of the +_amado_ sticking in their grooves, or their bolts going wrong. I believe +that such a door exists in all Japanese houses. + +The next morning was as beautiful as the previous evening, rose and gold +instead of gold and pink. Before the sun was well up I visited a number +of the Aino lodges, saw the bear, and the chief, who, like all the rest, +is a monogamist, and, after breakfast, at my request, some of the old men +came to give me such information as they had. These venerable elders sat +cross-legged in the verandah, the house-master’s son, who kindly acted as +interpreter, squatting, Japanese fashion, at the side, and about thirty +Ainos, mostly women, with infants, sitting behind. I spent about two +hours in going over the same ground as at Biratori, and also went over +the words, and got some more, including some synonyms. The _click_ of +the _ts_ before the _ch_ at the beginning of a word is strongly marked +among these Ainos. Some of their customs differ slightly from those of +their brethren of the interior, specially as to the period of seclusion +after a death, the non-allowance of polygamy to the chief, and the manner +of killing the bear at the annual festival. Their ideas of +metempsychosis are more definite, but this, I think, is to be accounted +for by the influence and proximity of Buddhism. They spoke of the bear +as their chief god, and next the sun and fire. They said that they no +longer worship the wolf, and that though they call the volcano and many +other things _kamoi_, or god, they do not worship them. I ascertained +beyond doubt that worship with them means simply making libations of +_saké_ and “drinking to the god,” and that it is unaccompanied by +petitions, or any vocal or mental act. + +These Ainos are as dark as the people of southern Spain, and very hairy. +Their expression is earnest and pathetic, and when they smiled, as they +did when I could not pronounce their words, their faces had a touching +sweetness which was quite beautiful, and European, not Asiatic. Their +own impression is that they are now increasing in numbers after +diminishing for many years. I left Usu sleeping in the loveliness of an +autumn noon with great regret. No place that I have seen has fascinated +me so much. + + [Picture: My Kuruma-Runner] + + + + +LETTER XL.—(_Continued_.) + + +The Sea-shore—A “Hairy Aino”—A Horse Fight—The Horses of Yezo—“Bad +Mountains”—A Slight Accident—Magnificent Scenery—A Bleached +Halting-Place—A Musty Room—Aino “Good-breeding.” + +A CHARGE of 3 _sen_ per _ri_ more for the horses for the next stage, +because there were such “bad mountains to cross,” prepared me for what +followed—many miles of the worst road for horses I ever saw. I should +not have complained if they had charged double the price. As an almost +certain consequence, it was one of the most picturesque routes I have +ever travelled. For some distance, however, it runs placidly along by +the sea-shore, on which big, blue, foam-crested rollers were disporting +themselves noisily, and passes through several Aino hamlets, and the Aino +village of Abuta, with sixty houses, rather a prosperous-looking place, +where the cultivation was considerably more careful, and the people +possessed a number of horses. Several of the houses were surrounded by +bears’ skulls grinning from between the forked tops of high poles, and +there was a well-grown bear ready for his doom and apotheosis. In nearly +all the houses a woman was weaving bark-cloth, with the hook which holds +the web fixed into the ground several feet outside the house. At a deep +river called the Nopkobets, which emerges from the mountains close to the +sea, we were ferried by an Aino completely covered with hair, which on +his shoulders was wavy like that of a retriever, and rendered clothing +quite needless either for covering or warmth. A wavy, black beard +rippled nearly to his waist over his furry chest, and, with his black +locks hanging in masses over his shoulders, he would have looked a +thorough savage had it not been for the exceeding sweetness of his smile +and eyes. The Volcano Bay Ainos are far more hairy than the mountain +Ainos, but even among them it is quite common to see men not more so than +vigorous Europeans, and I think that the hairiness of the race as a +distinctive feature has been much exaggerated, partly by the +smooth-skinned Japanese. + +The ferry scow was nearly upset by our four horses beginning to fight. +At first one bit the shoulders of another; then the one attacked uttered +short, sharp squeals, and returned the attack by striking with his fore +feet, and then there was a general mêlée of striking and biting, till +some ugly wounds were inflicted. I have watched fights of this kind on a +large scale every day in the _corral_. The miseries of the Yezo horses +are the great drawback of Yezo travelling. They are brutally used, and +are covered with awful wounds from being driven at a fast “scramble” with +the rude, ungirthed pack-saddle and its heavy load rolling about on their +backs, and they are beaten unmercifully over their eyes and ears with +heavy sticks. Ito has been barbarous to these gentle, little-prized +animals ever since we came to Yezo; he has vexed me more by this than by +anything else, especially as he never dared even to carry a switch on the +main island, either from fear of the horses or their owners. To-day he +was beating the baggage horse unmercifully, when I rode back and +interfered with some very strong language, saying, “You are a bully, and, +like all bullies, a coward.” Imagine my aggravation when, at our first +halt, he brought out his note-book, as usual, and quietly asked me the +meaning of the words “bully” and “coward.” It was perfectly impossible +to explain them, so I said a bully was the worst name I could call him, +and that a coward was the meanest thing a man could be. Then the +provoking boy said, “Is bully a worse name than devil?” “Yes, far +worse,” I said, on which he seemed rather crestfallen, and he has not +beaten his horse since, in my sight at least. + +The breaking-in process is simply breaking the spirit by an hour or two +of such atrocious cruelty as I saw at Shiraôi, at the end of which the +horse, covered with foam and blood, and bleeding from mouth and nose, +falls down exhausted. Being so ill used they have all kinds of tricks, +such as lying down in fords, throwing themselves down head foremost and +rolling over pack and rider, bucking, and resisting attempts to make them +go otherwise than in single file. Instead of bits they have bars of wood +on each side of the mouth, secured by a rope round the nose and chin. +When horses which have been broken with bits gallop they put up their +heads till the nose is level with the ears, and it is useless to try +either to guide or check them. They are always wanting to join the great +herds on the hillside or sea-shore, from which they are only driven down +as they are needed. In every Yezo village the first sound that one hears +at break of day is the gallop of forty or fifty horses, pursued by an +Aino, who has hunted them from the hills. A horse is worth from +twenty-eight shillings upwards. They are very sure-footed when their +feet are not sore, and cross a stream or chasm on a single rickety plank, +or walk on a narrow ledge above a river or gulch without fear. They are +barefooted, their hoofs are very hard, and I am glad to be rid of the +perpetual tying and untying and replacing of the straw shoes of the +well-cared-for horses of the main island. A man rides with them, and for +a man and three horses the charge is only sixpence for each 2½ miles. I +am now making Ito ride in front of me, to make sure that he does not beat +or otherwise misuse his beast. + +After crossing the Nopkobets, from which the fighting horses have led me +to make so long a digression, we went right up into the “bad mountains,” +and crossed the three tremendous passes of Lebungétogé. Except by saying +that this disused bridle-track is impassable, people have scarcely +exaggerated its difficulties. One horse broke down on the first pass, +and we were long delayed by sending the Aino back for another. Possibly +these extraordinary passes do not exceed 1500 feet in height, but the +track ascends them through a dense forest with most extraordinary +abruptness, to descend as abruptly, to rise again sometimes by a series +of nearly washed-away zigzags, at others by a straight, ladder-like +ascent deeply channelled, the bottom of the trough being filled with +rough stones, large and small, or with ledges of rock with an entangled +mass of branches and trailers overhead, which render it necessary to +stoop over the horse’s head while he is either fumbling, stumbling, or +tumbling among the stones in a gash a foot wide, or else is awkwardly +leaping up broken rock steps nearly the height of his chest, the whole +performance consisting of a series of scrambling jerks at the rate of a +mile an hour. + +In one of the worst places the Aino’s horse, which was just in front of +mine, in trying to scramble up a nearly breast-high and much-worn ledge, +fell backwards, nearly overturning my horse, the stretcher poles, which +formed part of his pack, striking me so hard above my ankle that for some +minutes afterwards I thought the bone was broken. The ankle was severely +cut and bruised, and bled a good deal, and I was knocked out of the +saddle. Ito’s horse fell three times, and eventually the four were roped +together. Such are some of the _divertissements_ of Yezo travel. + +Ah, but it was glorious! The views are most magnificent. This is really +Paradise. Everything is here—huge headlands magnificently timbered, +small, deep bays into which the great green waves roll majestically, +great, grey cliffs, too perpendicular for even the most adventurous +trailer to find root-hold, bold bluffs and outlying stacks cedar-crested, +glimpses of bright, blue ocean dimpling in the sunshine or tossing up +wreaths of foam among ferns and trailers, and inland ranges of mountains +forest-covered, with tremendous gorges between, forest filled, where +wolf, bear, and deer make their nearly inaccessible lairs, and outlying +battlements, and ridges of grey rock with hardly six feet of level on +their sinuous tops, and cedars in masses giving deep shadow, and sprays +of scarlet maple or festoons of a crimson vine lighting the gloom. The +inland view suggested infinity. There seemed no limit to the +forest-covered mountains and the unlighted ravines. The wealth of +vegetation was equal in luxuriance and entanglement to that of the +tropics, primeval vegetation, on which the lumberer’s axe has never rung. +Trees of immense height and girth, specially the beautiful _Salisburia +adiantifolia_, with its small fan-shaped leaves, all matted together by +riotous lianas, rise out of an impenetrable undergrowth of the dwarf, +dark-leaved bamboo, which, dwarf as it is, attains a height of seven +feet, and all is dark, solemn, soundless, the haunt of wild beasts, and +of butterflies and dragonflies of the most brilliant colours. There was +light without heat, leaves and streams sparkled, and there was nothing of +the half-smothered sensation which is often produced by the choking +greenery of the main island, for frequently, far below, the Pacific +flashed in all its sunlit beauty, and occasionally we came down +unexpectedly on a little cove with abrupt cedar-crested headlands and +stacks, and a heavy surf rolling in with the deep thunder music which +alone breaks the stillness of this silent land. + +There was one tremendous declivity where I got off to walk, but found it +too steep to descend on foot with comfort. You can imagine how steep it +was, when I tell you that the deep groove being too narrow for me to get +to the side of my horse, I dropped down upon him from behind, between his +tail and the saddle, and so scrambled on! + +The sun had set and the dew was falling heavily when the track dipped +over the brow of a headland, becoming a waterway so steep and rough that +I could not get down it on foot without the assistance of my hands, and +terminating on a lonely little bay of great beauty, walled in by +impracticable-looking headlands, which was the entrance to an equally +impracticable-looking, densely-wooded valley running up among +densely-wooded mountains. There was a margin of grey sand above the sea, +and on this the skeleton of an enormous whale was bleaching. Two or +three large “dug-outs,” with planks laced with stout fibre on their +gunwales, and some bleached drift-wood lay on the beach, the foreground +of a solitary, rambling, dilapidated grey house, bleached like all else, +where three Japanese men with an old Aino servant live to look after +“Government interests,” whatever these may be, and keep rooms and horses +for Government officials—a great boon to travellers who, like me, are +belated here. Only one person has passed Lebungé this year, except two +officials and a policeman. + +There was still a red glow on the water, and one horn of a young moon +appeared above the wooded headland; but the loneliness and isolation are +overpowering, and it is enough to produce madness to be shut in for ever +with the thunder of the everlasting surf, which compels one to raise +one’s voice in order to be heard. In the wood, half a mile from the sea, +there is an Aino village of thirty houses, and the appearance of a few of +the savages gliding noiselessly over the beach in the twilight added to +the ghastliness and loneliness of the scene. The horses were unloaded by +the time I arrived, and several courteous Ainos showed me to my room, +opening on a small courtyard with a heavy gate. The room was musty, and, +being rarely used, swarmed with spiders. A saucer of fish-oil and a wick +rendered darkness visible, and showed faintly the dark, pathetic faces of +a row of Ainos in the verandah, who retired noiselessly with their +graceful salutation when I bade them good-night. Food was hardly to be +expected, yet they gave me rice, potatoes, and black beans boiled in +equal parts of brine and syrup, which are very palatable. The cuts and +bruises of yesterday became so very painful with the cold of the early +morning that I have been obliged to remain here. + + I. L. B. + + [Picture: Temple Gateway at Isshinden] + + + + +LETTER XLI. + + +A Group of Fathers—The Lebungé Ainos—The _Salisburia adiantifolia_—A +Family Group—The Missing Link—Oshamambé—Disorderly Horses—The River +Yurapu—The Seaside—Aino Canoes—The Last Morning—Dodging Europeans. + + HAKODATÉ, _September_ 12. + +LEBUNGÉ is a most fascinating place in its awful isolation. The +house-master was a friendly man, and much attached to the Ainos. If +other officials entrusted with Aino concerns treat the Ainos as +fraternally as those of Usu and Lebungé, there is not much to lament. +This man also gave them a high character for honesty and harmlessness, +and asked if they might come and see me before I left; so twenty men, +mostly carrying very pretty children, came into the yard with the horses. +They had never seen a foreigner, but, either from apathy or politeness, +they neither stare nor press upon one as the Japanese do, and always make +a courteous recognition. The bear-skin housing of my saddle pleased them +very much, and my boots of unblacked leather, which they compare to the +deer-hide moccasins which they wear for winter hunting. Their voices +were the lowest and most musical that I have heard, incongruous sounds to +proceed from such hairy, powerful-looking men. Their love for their +children was most marked. They caressed them tenderly, and held them +aloft for notice, and when the house-master told them how much I admired +the brown, dark-eyed, winsome creatures, their faces lighted with +pleasure, and they saluted me over and over again. These, like other +Ainos, utter a short screeching sound when they are not pleased, and then +one recognises the savage. + +These Lebungé Ainos differ considerably from those of the eastern +villages, and I have again to notice the decided sound or _click_ of the +_ts_ at the beginning of many words. Their skins are as swarthy as those +of Bedaween, their foreheads comparatively low, their eyes far more +deeply set their stature lower, their hair yet more abundant, the look of +wistful melancholy more marked, and two, who were unclothed for hard work +in fashioning a canoe, were almost entirely covered with short, black +hair, specially thick on the shoulders and back, and so completely +concealing the skin as to reconcile one to the lack of clothing. I +noticed an enormous breadth of chest, and a great development of the +muscles of the arms and legs. All these Ainos shave their hair off for +two inches above their brows, only allowing it there to attain the length +of an inch. Among the well-clothed Ainos in the yard there was one +smooth-faced, smooth-skinned, concave-chested, spindle-limbed, yellow +Japanese, with no other clothing than the decorated bark-cloth apron +which the Ainos wear in addition to their coats and leggings. Escorted +by these gentle, friendly savages, I visited their lodges, which are very +small and poor, and in every way inferior to those of the mountain Ainos. +The women are short and thick-set, and most uncomely. + +From their village I started for the longest, and by reputation the +worst, stage of my journey, seventeen miles, the first ten of which are +over mountains. So solitary and disused is this track that on a four +days’ journey we have not met a human being. In the Lebungé valley, +which is densely forested, and abounds with fordable streams and +treacherous ground, I came upon a grand specimen of the _Salisburia +adiantifolia_, which, at a height of three feet from the ground, divides +into eight lofty stems, none of them less than 2 feet 5 inches in +diameter. This tree, which grows rapidly, is so well adapted to our +climate that I wonder it has not been introduced on a large scale, as it +may be seen by everybody in Kew Gardens. There is another tree with +orbicular leaves in pairs, which grows to an immense size. + +From this valley a worn-out, stony bridle-track ascends the western side +of Lebungétogé, climbing through a dense forest of trees and trailers to +a height of about 2000 feet, where, contented with its efforts, it +reposes, and, with only slight ups and downs, continues along the top of +a narrow ridge within the seaward mountains, between high walls of dense +bamboo, which, for much of that day’s journey, is the undergrowth alike +of mountain and valley, ragged peak, and rugged ravine. The scenery was +as magnificent as on the previous day. A guide was absolutely needed, as +the track ceased altogether in one place, and for some time the horses +had to blunder their way along a bright, rushing river, swirling rapidly +downwards, heavily bordered with bamboo, full of deep holes, and made +difficult by trees which have fallen across it. There Ito, whose horse +could not keep up with the others, was lost, or rather lost himself, +which led to a delay of two hours. I have never seen grander forest than +on that two days’ ride. + +At last the track, barely passable after its recovery, dips over a +precipitous bluff, and descends close to the sea, which has evidently +receded considerably. Thence it runs for six miles on a level, sandy +strip, covered near the sea with a dwarf bamboo about five inches high, +and farther inland with red roses and blue campanula. + +At the foot of the bluff there is a ruinous Japanese house, where an Aino +family has been placed to give shelter and rest to any who may be +crossing the pass. I opened my _bentô bako_ of red lacquer, and found +that it contained some cold, waxy potatoes, on which I dined, with the +addition of some tea, and then waited wearily for Ito, for whom the guide +went in search. The house and its inmates were a study. The ceiling was +gone, and all kinds of things, for which I could not imagine any possible +use, hung from the blackened rafters. Everything was broken and decayed, +and the dirt was appalling. A very ugly Aino woman, hardly human in her +ugliness, was splitting bark fibre. There were several _irori_, Japanese +fashion, and at one of them a grand-looking old man was seated +apathetically contemplating the boiling of a pot. Old, and sitting among +ruins, he represented the fate of a race which, living, has no history, +and perishing leaves no monument. By the other _irori_ sat, or rather +crouched, the “MISSING LINK.” I was startled when I first saw it. It +was—shall I say?—a man, and the mate, I cannot write the husband, of the +ugly woman. It was about fifty. The lofty Aino brow had been made still +loftier by shaving the head for three inches above it. The hair hung, +not in shocks, but in snaky wisps, mingling with a beard which was grey +and matted. The eyes were dark but vacant, and the face had no other +expression than that look of apathetic melancholy which one sometimes +sees on the faces of captive beasts. The arms and legs were unnaturally +long and thin, and the creature sat with the knees tucked into the +armpits. The limbs and body, with the exception of a patch on each side, +were thinly covered with fine black hair, more than an inch long, which +was slightly curly on the shoulders. It showed no other sign of +intelligence than that evidenced by boiling water for my tea. When Ito +arrived he looked at it with disgust, exclaiming, “The Ainos are just +dogs; they had a dog for their father,” in allusion to their own legend +of their origin. + +The level was pleasant after the mountains, and a canter took us +pleasantly to Oshamambé, where we struck the old road from Mori to +Satsuporo, and where I halted for a day to rest my spine, from which I +was suffering much. Oshamambé looks dismal even in the sunshine, decayed +and dissipated, with many people lounging about in it doing nothing, with +the dazed look which over-indulgence in _saké_ gives to the eyes. The +sun was scorching hot, and I was glad to find refuge from it in a crowded +and dilapidated _yadoya_, where there were no black beans, and the use of +eggs did not appear to be recognised. My room was only enclosed by +_shôji_, and there were scarcely five minutes of the day in which eyes +were not applied to the finger-holes with which they were liberally +riddled; and during the night one of them fell down, revealing six +Japanese sleeping in a row, each head on a wooden pillow. + +The grandeur of the route ceased with the mountain-passes, but in the +brilliant sunshine the ride from Oshamambé to Mori, which took me two +days, was as pretty and pleasant as it could be. At first we got on very +slowly, as besides my four horses there were four led ones going home, +which got up fights and entangled their ropes, and occasionally lay down +and rolled; and besides these there were three foals following their +mothers, and if they stayed behind the mares hung back neighing, and if +they frolicked ahead the mares wanted to look after them, and the whole +string showed a combined inclination to dispense with their riders and +join the many herds of horses which we passed. It was so tedious that, +after enduring it for some time I got Ito’s horse and mine into a scow at +a river of some size, and left the disorderly drove to follow at leisure. + +At Yurapu, where there is an Aino village of thirty houses, we saw the +last of the aborigines, and the interest of the journey ended. Strips of +hard sand below high-water mark, strips of red roses, ranges of wooded +mountains, rivers deep and shallow, a few villages of old grey houses +amidst grey sand and bleaching driftwood, and then came the river Yurapu, +a broad, deep stream, navigable in a canoe for fourteen miles. The +scenery there was truly beautiful in the late and splendid afternoon. +The long blue waves rolled on shore, each one crested with light as it +curled before it broke, and hurled its snowy drift for miles along the +coast with a deep booming music. The glorious inland view was composed +of six ranges of forest-covered mountains, broken, chasmed, caverned, and +dark with timber, and above them bald, grey peaks rose against a green +sky of singular purity. I longed to take a boat up the Yurapu, which +penetrates by many a gorge into their solemn recesses, but had not +strength to carry my wish. + +After this I exchanged the silence or low musical speech of Aino guides +for the harsh and ceaseless clatter of Japanese. At Yamakushinoi, a +small hamlet on the sea-shore, where I slept, there was a sweet, quiet +_yadoya_, delightfully situated, with a wooded cliff at the back, over +which a crescent hung out of a pure sky; and besides, there were the more +solid pleasures of fish, eggs, and black beans. Thus, instead of being +starved and finding wretched accommodation, the week I spent on Volcano +Bay has been the best fed, as it was certainly the most comfortable, week +of my travels in northern Japan. + +Another glorious day favoured my ride to Mori, but I was unfortunate in +my horse at each stage, and the Japanese guide was grumpy and +ill-natured—a most unusual thing. Otoshibé and a few other small +villages of grey houses, with “an ancient and fish-like smell,” lie along +the coast, busy enough doubtless in the season, but now looking deserted +and decayed, and houses are rather plentifully sprinkled along many parts +of the shore, with a wonderful profusion of vegetables and flowers about +them, raised from seeds liberally supplied by the _Kaitakushi_ Department +from its Nanai experimental farm and nurseries. For a considerable part +of the way to Mori there is no track at all, though there is a good deal +of travel. One makes one’s way fatiguingly along soft sea sand or coarse +shingle close to the sea, or absolutely in it, under cliffs of hardened +clay or yellow conglomerate, fording many small streams, several of which +have cut their way deeply through a stratum of black volcanic sand. I +have crossed about 100 rivers and streams on the Yezo coast, and all the +larger ones are marked by a most noticeable peculiarity, i.e. that on +nearing the sea they turn south, and run for some distance parallel with +it, before they succeed in finding an exit through the bank of sand and +shingle which forms the beach and blocks their progress. + +On the way I saw two Ainos land through the surf in a canoe, in which +they had paddled for nearly 100 miles. A river canoe is dug out of a +single log, and two men can fashion one in five days; but on examining +this one, which was twenty-five feet long, I found that it consisted of +two halves, laced together with very strong bark fibre for their whole +length, and with high sides also laced on. They consider that they are +stronger for rough sea and surf work when made in two parts. Their +bark-fibre rope is beautifully made, and they twist it of all sizes, from +twine up to a nine-inch hawser. + +Beautiful as the blue ocean was, I had too much of it, for the horses +were either walking in a lather of sea foam or were crowded between the +cliff and the sea, every larger wave breaking over my foot and +irreverently splashing my face; and the surges were so loud-tongued and +incessant, throwing themselves on the beach with a tremendous boom, and +drawing the shingle back with them with an equally tremendous rattle, so +impolite and noisy, bent only on showing their strength, reckless, rude, +self-willed, and inconsiderate! This purposeless display of force, and +this incessant waste of power, and the noisy self-assertion in both, +approach vulgarity! + +Towards evening we crossed the last of the bridgeless rivers, and put up +at Mori, which I left three weeks before, and I was very thankful to have +accomplished my object without disappointment, disaster, or any +considerable discomfort. Had I not promised to return Ito to his master +by a given day, I should like to spend the next six weeks in the Yezo +wilds, for the climate is good, the scenery beautiful, and the objects of +interest are many. + +Another splendid day favoured my ride from Mori to Togénoshita, where I +remained for the night, and I had exceptionally good horses for both +days, though the one which Ito rode, while going at a rapid “scramble,” +threw himself down three times and rolled over to rid himself from flies. +I had not admired the wood between Mori and Ginsainoma (the lakes) on the +sullen, grey day on which I saw it before, but this time there was an +abundance of light and shadow and solar glitter, and many a scarlet spray +and crimson trailer, and many a maple flaming in the valleys, gladdened +me with the music of colour. From the top of the pass beyond the lakes +there is a grand view of the volcano in all its nakedness, with its lava +beds and fields of pumice, with the lakes of Onuma, Konuma, and +Ginsainoma, lying in the forests at its feet, and from the top of another +hill there is a remarkable view of windy Hakodaté, with its headland +looking like Gibraltar. The slopes of this hill are covered with the +_Aconitum Japonicum_, of which the Ainos make their arrow poison. + +The _yadoya_ at Togénoshita was a very pleasant and friendly one, and +when Ito woke me yesterday morning, saying, “Are you sorry that it’s the +last morning? I am,” I felt we had one subject in common, for I was very +sorry to end my pleasant Yezo tour, and very sorry to part with the boy +who had made himself more useful and invaluable even than before. It was +most wearisome to have Hakodaté in sight for twelve miles, so near across +the bay, so far across the long, flat, stony strip which connects the +headland upon which it is built with the mainland. For about three miles +the road is rudely macadamised, and as soon as the bare-footed horses get +upon it they seem lame of all their legs; they hang back, stumbling, +dragging, edging to the side, and trying to run down every opening, so +that when we got into the interminable main street I sent Ito on to the +Consulate for my letters, and dismounted, hoping that as it was raining I +should not see any foreigners; but I was not so lucky, for first I met +Mr. Dening, and then, seeing the Consul and Dr. Hepburn coming down the +road, evidently dressed for dining in the flag-ship, and looking spruce +and clean, I dodged up an alley to avoid them; but they saw me, and did +not wonder that I wished to escape notice, for my old _betto’s_ hat, my +torn green paper waterproof, and my riding-skirt and boots, were not only +splashed but _caked_ with mud, and I had the general look of a person +“fresh from the wilds.” + + I. L. B. + + + +ITINERARY of TOUR in YEZO. + + +Hakodaté to + + No. of Houses. + Jap. Aino. _Ri_. _Chô_. +Ginsainoma 4 7 18 +Mori 105 4 +Mororan 57 11 +Horobets 18 47 5 1 +Shiraôi 11 51 6 32 +Tomakomai 38 5 21 +Yubets 7 3 3 5 +Sarufuto 63 7 5 +Biratori 53 5 +Mombets 27 5 1 + +From Horobets to + + Jap. Aino. _Ri_. _Chô_. +Old Mororan 9 30 4 28 +Usu 3 99 6 2 +Lebungé 1 27 5 22 +Oshamambé 56 38 6 34 +Yamakushinai 40 4 18 +Otoshibé 40 2 3 +Mori 105 3 29 +Togénoshita 55 6 7 +Hakodaté 37,000 souls 3 29 + +About 358 English miles. + + + + +LETTER XLII. + + +Pleasant Last Impressions—The Japanese Junk—Ito Disappears—My Letter of +Thanks. + + HAKODATÉ, YEZO, _September_ 14, 1878. + +THIS is my last day in Yezo, and the sun, shining brightly over the grey +and windy capital, is touching the pink peaks of Komono-taki with a +deeper red, and is brightening my last impressions, which, like my first, +are very pleasant. The bay is deep blue, flecked with violet shadows, +and about sixty junks are floating upon it at anchor. There are vessels +of foreign rig too, but the wan, pale junks lying motionless, or rolling +into the harbour under their great white sails, fascinate me as when I +first saw them in the Gulf of Yedo. They are antique-looking and +picturesque, but are fitter to give interest to a picture than to battle +with stormy seas. + +Most of the junks in the bay are about 120 tons burthen, 100 feet long, +with an extreme beam, far aft, of twenty-five feet. The bow is long, and +curves into a lofty stem, like that of a Roman galley, finished with a +beak head, to secure the forestay of the mast. This beak is furnished +with two large, goggle eyes. The mast is a ponderous spar, fifty feet +high, composed of pieces of pine, pegged, glued, and hooped together. A +heavy yard is hung amidships. The sail is an oblong of widths of strong, +white cotton artistically “_puckered_,” not sewn together, but laced +vertically, leaving a decorative lacing six inches wide between each two +widths. Instead of reefing in a strong wind, a width is unlaced, so as +to reduce the canvas vertically, not horizontally. Two blue spheres +commonly adorn the sail. The mast is placed well abaft, and to tack or +veer it is only necessary to reverse the sheet. When on a wind the long +bow and nose serve as a head-sail. The high, square, piled-up stern, +with its antique carving, and the sides with their lattice-work, are +wonderful, together with the extraordinary size and projection of the +rudder, and the length of the tiller. The anchors are of grapnel shape, +and the larger junks have from six to eight arranged on the fore-end, +giving one an idea of bad holding-ground along the coast. They really +are much like the shape of a Chinese “small-footed” woman’s shoe, and +look very unmanageable. They are of unpainted wood, and have a wintry, +ghastly look about them. {321} + +I have parted with Ito finally to-day, with great regret. He has served +me faithfully, and on most common topics I can get much more information +through him than from any foreigner. I miss him already, though he +insisted on packing for me as usual, and put all my things in order. His +cleverness is something surprising. He goes to a good, manly master, who +will help him to be good and set him a virtuous example, and that is a +satisfaction. Before he left he wrote a letter for me to the Governor of +Mororan, thanking him on my behalf for the use of the _kuruma_ and other +courtesies. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XLIII. + + +Pleasant Prospects—A Miserable Disappointment—Caught in a Typhoon—A Dense +Fog—Alarmist Rumours—A Welcome at Tôkiyô—The Last of the Mutineers. + + H. B. M.’s LEGATION, YEDO, _September_ 21. + +A PLACID sea, which after much disturbance had sighed itself to rest, and +a high, steady barometer promised a fifty hours’ passage to Yokohama, and +when Dr. and Mrs. Hepburn and I left Hakodaté, by moonlight, on the night +of the 14th, as the only passengers in the _Hiogo Maru_, Captain Moore, +her genial, pleasant master, congratulated us on the rapid and delightful +passage before us, and we separated at midnight with many projects for +pleasant intercourse and occupation. + +But a more miserable voyage I never made, and it was not until the +afternoon of the 17th that we crawled forth from our cabins to speak to +each other. On the second day out, great heat came on with suffocating +closeness, the mercury rose to 85°, and in lat. 38° 0′ N. and long. 141° +30′ E. we encountered a “typhoon,” otherwise a “cyclone,” otherwise a +“revolving hurricane,” which lasted for twenty-five hours, and +“jettisoned” the cargo. Captain Moor has given me a very interesting +diagram of it, showing the attempts which he made to avoid its vortex, +through which our course would have taken us, and to keep as much outside +it as possible. The typhoon was succeeded by a dense fog, so that our +fifty-hour passage became seventy-two hours, and we landed at Yokohama +near upon midnight of the 17th, to find traces of much disaster, the +whole low-lying country flooded, the railway between Yokohama and the +capital impassable, great anxiety about the rice crop, the air full of +alarmist rumours, and paper money, which was about par when I arrived in +May, at a discount of [Picture: Entrance to Shrine of Seventh Shôgun, +Shiba, Tôkiyô] 13 per cent! In the early part of this year (1880) it has +touched 42 per cent. + +Late in the afternoon the railroad was re-opened, and I came here with +Mr. Wilkinson, glad to settle down to a period of rest and ease under +this hospitable roof. The afternoon was bright and sunny, and Tôkiyô was +looking its best. The long lines of _yashikis_ looked handsome, the +castle moat was so full of the gigantic leaves of the lotus, that the +water was hardly visible, the grass embankments of the upper moat were a +brilliant green, the pines on their summits stood out boldly against the +clear sky, the hill on which the Legation stands looked dry and cheerful, +and, better than all, I had a most kindly welcome from those who have +made this house my home in a strange land. + +Tôkiyô is tranquil, that is, it is disturbed only by fears for the rice +crop, and by the fall in _satsu_. The military mutineers have been +tried, popular rumour says tortured, and fifty-two have been shot. The +summer has been the worst for some years, and now dark heat, moist heat, +and nearly ceasless rain prevail. People have been “rained up” in their +summer quarters. “Surely it will change soon,” people say, and they have +said the same thing for three months. + + I. L. B. + + + + +LETTER XLIV. + + +Fine Weather—Cremation in Japan—The Governor of Tôkiyô—An Awkward +Question—An Insignificant Building—Economy in Funeral Expenses—Simplicity +of the Cremation Process—The Last of Japan. + + H. B. M.’s LEGATION, YEDO, _December_ 18. + +I HAVE spent the last ten days here, in settled fine weather, such as +should have begun two months ago if the climate had behaved as it ought. +The time has flown by in excursions, shopping, select little +dinner-parties, farewell calls, and visits made with Mr. Chamberlain to +the famous groves and temples of Ikegami, where the Buddhist bishop and +priests entertained us in one of the guest-rooms, and to Enoshima and +Kamakura, “vulgar” resorts which nothing can vulgarise so long as Fujisan +towers above them. + +I will mention but one “sight,” which is so far out of the beaten track +that it was only after prolonged inquiry that its whereabouts was +ascertained. Among Buddhists, specially of the Monto sect, cremation was +largely practised till it was forbidden five years ago, as some suppose +in deference to European prejudices. Three years ago, however, the +prohibition was withdrawn, and in this short space of time the number of +bodies burned has reached nearly nine thousand annually. Sir H. Parkes +applied for permission for me to visit the Kirigaya ground, one of five, +and after a few delays it was granted by the Governor of Tôkiyô at Mr. +Mori’s request, so yesterday, attended by the Legation linguist, I +presented myself at the fine _yashiki_ of the Tôkiyô _Fu_, and quite +unexpectedly was admitted to an audience of the Governor. Mr. Kusamoto +is a well-bred gentleman, and his face expresses the energy and ability +which he has given proof of possessing. He wears his European clothes +becomingly, and in attitude, as well as manner, is easy and dignified. +After asking me a great deal about my northern tour and the Ainos, he +expressed a wish for candid criticism; but as this in the East must not +be taken literally, I merely ventured to say that the roads lag behind +the progress made in other directions, upon which he entered upon +explanations which doubtless apply to the past road-history of the +country. He spoke of cremation and its “necessity” in large cities, and +terminated the interview by requesting me to dismiss my interpreter and +_kuruma_, as he was going to send me to Meguro in his own carriage with +one of the Government interpreters, adding very courteously that it gave +him pleasure to show this attention to a guest of the British Minister, +“for whose character and important services to Japan he has a high +value.” + + [Picture: Fujisan, from a Village on the Tokaido] + +An hour’s drive, with an extra amount of yelling from the _bettos_, took +us to a suburb of little hills and valleys, where red camellias and +feathery bamboo against backgrounds of cryptomeria contrast with the grey +monotone of British winters, and, alighting at a farm road too rough for +a carriage, we passed through fields and hedgerows to an erection which +looks too insignificant for such solemn use. Don’t expect any ghastly +details. A longish building of “wattle and dab,” much like the northern +farmhouses, a high roof, and chimneys resembling those of the “oast +houses” in Kent, combine with the rural surroundings to suggest “farm +buildings” rather than the “funeral pyre,” and all that is horrible is +left to the imagination. + +The end nearest the road is a little temple, much crowded with images, +and small, red, earthenware urns and tongs for sale to the relatives of +deceased persons, and beyond this are four rooms with earthen floors and +mud walls; nothing noticeable about them except the height of the peaked +roof and the dark colour of the plaster. In the middle of the largest +are several pairs of granite supports at equal distances from each other, +and in the smallest there is a solitary pair. This was literally all +that was to be seen. In the large room several bodies are burned at one +time, and the charge is only one _yen_, about 3s. 8d., solitary cremation +costing five _yen_. Faggots are used, and 1s. worth ordinarily suffices +to reduce a human form to ashes. After the funeral service in the house +the body is brought to the cremation ground, and is left in charge of the +attendant, a melancholy, smoked-looking man, as well he may be. The +richer people sometimes pay priests to be present during the burning, but +this is not usual. There were five “quick-tubs” of pine hooped with +bamboo in the larger room, containing the remains of coolies, and a few +oblong pine chests in the small rooms containing those of middle-class +people. At 8 p.m. each “coffin” is placed on the stone trestles, the +faggots are lighted underneath, the fires are replenished during the +night, and by 6 a.m. that which was a human being is a small heap of +ashes, which is placed in an urn by the relatives and is honourably +interred. In some cases the priests accompany the relations on this last +mournful errand. Thirteen bodies were burned the night before my visit, +but there was not the slightest odour in or about the building, and the +interpreter told me that, owing to the height of the chimneys, the people +of the neighbourhood never experience the least annoyance, even while the +process is going on. The simplicity of the arrangement is very +remarkable, and there can be no reasonable doubt that it serves the +purpose of the innocuous and complete destruction of the corpse as well +as any complicated apparatus (if not better), while its cheapness places +it within the reach of the class which is most heavily burdened by +ordinary funeral expenses. {328} This morning the Governor sent his +secretary to present me with a translation of an interesting account of +the practice of cremation and its introduction into Japan. + +_S.S._ “_Volga_,” Christmas Eve, 1878.—The snowy dome of Fujisan +reddening in the sunrise rose above the violet woodlands of Mississippi +Bay as we steamed out of Yokohama Harbour on the 19th, and three days +later I saw the last of Japan—a rugged coast, lashed by a wintry sea. + + I. L. B. + + + + +INDEX. + + +ABUKAWA, 173; village forge, 173. + +Abuta, Aino village, 306. + +Adzuma bridge, 22. + +Agano river, 102. + +Aganokawa river, 120. + +A Hiogo Buddha, 272. + +Aidzu mountains, 103; plain, 106. + +Aino farmhouse, 204; storehouses, 223, 247; lodges, 224; chief, 233 _et +seq._; house, 234; millet-mill and pestle, 238; patriarch, 258; gods, +265; urns, 265, 266; house, plan of, 267. + +AINOS, the hairy, 225; superb-looking, 232; huts, life in, 234, 235; at +home, 235; model villages, 237; hospitality, 237, 278; politeness, 239, +250; witch-like woman, 239; reverence for age, 240; salutation, 240, 279; +truthfulness, 240; chief’s wife, 242, 243; children, 244, 260; tenderness +to a sick child, 245; occupations, 247, 248; women, 248, 258, 259; +Pipichari, 249, 287; sick woman, 250, 251; fear of Japanese Government, +251; shrine, 252; handsome chief, 253; qualities, 254; no history, 255; +physique, 255; of Yezo, 256; European resemblances, 257; savage look, +257; height, 257; tattooing, 259, 260; children, obedience of, 261; +clothing, 262; jewellery, 263; houses, 263–265; household gods, 265; +Japanese curios, 265, 266; mats, 268; food, 268; bows and arrows, 269; +arrow-traps, 269, 270; weaving, 271; no religion, 273; libations, 274; +recitation, 275; solitary act of sacrifice, 275; bear-worship, 275; +Festival of the Bear, 275, 277; ideas of a future state, 277; social +customs, 277, 278; marriage and divorce, 278; amusements, 279; musical +instruments, 279; manners, 279; health, 279, 280; intoxication, 280; +uncleanly habits, 280; office of chief, 281; eldest son, 281; dread of +snakes, 282; fear of death, 282; appearance of old men, 283; domestic +life, 284. + +Ainos, coast, 304, 305; Lebungé, 313. + +Akayu, 132; horse fair, 132; sulphur springs, 134; bathing sheds, 134; +_yadoya_, 134. + +Akita farm-house, 204. + +A kuruma, 35. + +A lady’s mirror, 201. + +A Lake Biwa tea-house, 20. + +_Amado_, or wooden shutters, 71. + +_Amainu_, or heavenly dogs, 27. + +_Andon_, the, or native lamp, 73. + +Aomori Bay, 207; town, 207; lacquer, 207. + +Arai river, 122. + +Arakai river, 96; mode of crossing, 96. + +Araya, 156. + +Archery galleries at Asakusa, 29. + +Architecture, temple, uniformity of, 21. + +Arrow-traps, 269, 270. + +Asakusa, temple of Kwan-non at, 21; sights of, 27; its novelties, 30. + +Asiatic Arcadia, an, 133. + +Attendant at tea-house, 64. + + * * * * * + +BAGGAGE coolies in distress, 126. + +Bandaisan, the double-peaked, 103. + +Bangé, 100; congress of schoolmasters, 100; stampede, 101. + +Barbarism and ignorance, 107. + +Barber, female, 200. + +Barbers’ shops, 77. + +Bargaining, 77. + +Bear, Festival of the, 275, 277. + +Beggary, absence of, 127. + +Benri, chief of the Ainos, 233, 240, 241, 281, 283. + +_Bettos_, or running-grooms, 8. + +Binzuru, the medicine god, 26, 27. + +Biratori, 234; situation of, 237. + +Blind men in Japan, 175, 176. + +Boats, 178. + +Bone, a, extracted, 104. + +Booths, various, 29, 30. + +Boys and girls, a procession of, 68. + +British doggedness, 180. + +Buddhist priests, 112. + +Burial, a splendid, 54, 55. + + * * * * * + +CALIGRAPHY, 70. + +Canoes, 317. + +_Chaya_ and _yadoya_, distinction between, 37. + +_Chayas_, or tea-houses, 36, 37. + +Cheating a policeman, 152, 153. + +Children, Japanese, docility of, 75. + +Children’s parties, 68; names, 68, 69; games, amusing, 69; dignity and +self-possession, 69; etiquette, 69. + +Chinamen in Yokohama, 15. + +Chlorodyne, cures effected by, 93, 94, 250, 251. + +Chôkaizan, snow mountain, 139, 148. + +Christian converts, 202. + +Cleanliness, want of, 94, 95. + +Climate of Niigata, 119. + +Clogs, 12. + +“Cockle’s Pills,” 287. + +_Coiffure_, 200. + +Coolies, baggage, 126, 127. + +Corrals, Yezo, 296. + +Country, a pretty, 180. + +Cow, riding a, 124. + +Cows, cotton cloths on, for protection, 128. + +Cremation, 325; building for the purpose, 327; mode of burning, 327. + + * * * * * + +DAIKOKU, the god of wealth, 104, 154. + +_Daimiyô_, or feudal princes, 13 _et seq._ + +Dainichido, gardens of, 54. + +Daiya river, the, 49, 51. + +Dinner, Japanese etiquette at, 142. + +Dirt and disease, 93–95. + +Distinction between costume of moral and immoral women, 202. + +Ditty, a dismal, 67. + +Doctors, Japanese, prejudice against surgical operations, 141, 142. + +Dogs, Japanese, 86; yellow, 237. + +_Doma_, the, 37. + +Dr. Palm and his tandem, 121. + +Dress, female, 83, 84. + + * * * * * + +EARTHQUAKE, shocks of, 59; effect on priests, 59. + +Eden, a garden of, 133. + +_Élégante_, a Japanese, 31. + +England unknown, 105. + +Entrance to shrine of Seventh Shôgun, Shiba, Tôkiyô, 323. + +Equipments, travelling, list of, 32, 33. + +Etiquette, Japanese, 69. + +Excess of males over females, 98. + +Excursion, solitary, a, 203. + +Expedition, an, entertaining account of, 328, _note_. + + * * * * * + +FAIR, perpetual, 23. + +Farm-houses, 203, 204. + +Female hand, tattooed, 260. + +Ferry, a Japanese, 96. + +Festival, the Tanabata, at Kuroishi, 198, 199; of the Bear, 275. + +Fleas, consensus of opinion as to, 18. + +Flowers, art of arranging, 70. + +Flowers of Yezo, 227. + +“Flowing Invocation,” the, 130, 131. + +“Food Question,” the, 19. + +Forgeries of European eatables and drinkables, 138. + +“Front-horse,” a, 218, 228. + +Funeral, a Shôgun’s, 54, 55; Buddhist, at Rokugo, 148; the coffin or box, +150; procession, 151. + +Fujihari, 85; dirt and squalor at, 86; primitive Japanese dog in, 86; +fleas, 86. + +Fujisan, first view of, 2; from a village on the Tôkaidô, 326. + +_Fusuma_, or sliding paper panels, 38, 45. + +Fyson, Mrs., and Ruth, 118, 119. + + * * * * * + +GAMES, children’s, 69, 195. + +Gardens, Japanese, 118. + +_Geishas_, or dancing-girls, 46. + +Ginsainoma, Yezo, 216. + +God-shelf, the, 72. + +Gods, Aino household, 265. + +Guide-books, Japanese, 71. + + * * * * * + +HACHIISHI, its doll street, 49; specialties of its shops, 49. + +_Hai_, “yes,” 181. + +Hair-dressing, 75, 76, 201. + +HAKODATÉ, external aspect, 212; peculiar roofs, 213; junks, 320, 321. + +Hakodaté harbour, 208. + +Hepburn, Dr., 16, 17. + +_Hibachi_, or brazier, 77. + +Hinokiyama village, 176. + +Hirakawa river, 191; destruction of bridge, 192. + +Hirosaki, 202. + +Home-life in Japan, 71. + +Home occupations, 185. + +Honoki, pass of, 125. + +Hornets, 140. + +Horobets village, 223, 296. + +Horse, a wicked, 147. + +Horse-ants, 140. + +Horse-breaking, Japanese, 295, 307. + +Horse-fights, 307. + +Horses, treatment of, 164; in Yezo, 218; drove of, 226, 227. + +Hotel expenses, 184. + +Hot springs, 89, 290. + +House, a pleasant, 51. + +Houses, scenes in the, 74; hermetically sealed, 95; numbers in, 124. + +Hozawa village, 106. + + * * * * * + +ICHIKAWA pass, 97; glorious view, 97; village, 97; waterfall, 97. + +Ichinono hamlet, 127. + +Idyll, a Japanese, 151. + +Ikari, 90; the people at, 91. + +Ikarigaseki, 191; detention at, 193–196; occupation, 193; kite-flying, +195; games, 195. + +Imaichi, 48. + +Inari, the god of rice-farmers, 93. + +Infant prodigy, an, 166. + +Iniwashiro lake, 99. + +Innai, 143; Upper and Lower, malady at, 144; description of, 144, 145. + +Insect pests at Niigata, 114. + +Invocation, the flowing, 129–131. + +Irimichi, 51; a “squeeze” at, 65; village of, 66; school at, 66, 67. + +_Irori_, the 38. + +Isshinden, temple gateway at, 311. + +_Itama_, the, 37. + +Ito, first impressions of, 17, 18, taking a “squeeze,” 65; personal +vanity, 78; ashamed, 86, 125; cleverness and intelligence, 87; a zealous +student, 87; intensely Japanese, 87; a Shintôist, 88; particularly +described, 161; excellent memory, 161; keeps a diary, 161; +characteristics, 162; prophecy, 162; patriotism, 162; an apt pupil, 163; +fairly honest, 164; surliness, 175; delinquency, 214; selfishness, 236; +smitten, 287; cruelty, 307; parting, 321. + +Itosawa, 93. + +Itoyasan precipices, 103. + +Iwakisan plain, 197; snow mountain, 197. + +Iyémitsu, temple of, at Nikkô, 58. + +Iyéyasu’s tomb at Nikkô, 58. + + * * * * * + +JAPAN, first view of, 1; Chinamen in, 15; tiling in, 60; home-life in, +71; excess of males over females in the empire of, 98; freedom from +insult and incivility in, 101; barbarism and ignorance in, 107; winter +evenings in, 123; divorce in, 124; absence of mendicancy in, 127; convict +labour in, 137; drawbacks of travelling in, 140; firmness in travelling +necessary in, 155; police force in, and cost of, 160; blind men in, 175, +176; effect of sunshine in, 183; evening occupations in, 185; rain in, +187; cremation in, 325–327. + +JAPANESE restaurant, portable, 4; paper-money, 7; man-cart, 9; railroad +and railway station, 10; railway cars, 11; in European dress, 11; clogs, +12; temple architecture, uniformity of, 21; temples, 21, 55, 58, 99, 151, +302, 303; lanterns, stone, 28; booths, 29, 30; temple grounds and archery +galleries, 29; _éléganté_, 31; passport, 33, 34; tattooing, 34; tea, 39; +threshing, varieties in, 44; inquisitiveness, 45; dancing-girls, 46; +idyll, 51; masonry, 58; wood-carving, 60; watering-place, 65; school, a +village, 66—punishments at, 67; children’s parties, 68; names, female, +68, 69; etiquette, 69; needle-work and garments, 69; circulating +libraries, 69, 70; games, children’s, 69, 195; children’s names, 69; +caligraphy, 70; guide-books, 71; recreations, 71; lamp, 73; shops, +articles sold in, 73, 74; parental love, 75; hair-dressing, 75, 76, 201; +children, docility of, 75; barbers’ shops, 77; bargaining, 77; money, +current, 79; female dress, 83, 84; dog, primitive, 86; rivers, change of +names of, 90; ferry, 96; policemen, 100—vigilance of, 197, 198; mountain +scenery, 103; gardens, 118; doctors, 121; dirt and barbarism, 123; +houses, tables outside of, 124—numbers in, 124; baggage coolies, 126, +127; cows, 128; criticism on a foreign usage, 128; pack-horse, 132; +doctors and rheumatism, 135, 136—their prejudice against surgical +operations, 141, 142; gentleman, agreeable, 137; convicts, 137; love of +foreign intoxicants, 138; doctor, 141;—his treatment and fee, 141; +etiquette at dinner, 142; men and women, costume of, 143; crowd, +curiosity of, 146; treatment of the dead, 149; silk factory, 159; horses, +treatment of, 164, 218; belief as to their descent, 165; visitors, 165; +infant prodigy, 166; marriage, 166, 167; trousseau, 167; furniture, 167; +marriage ceremony, 167, 169; holiday scene, 170; festivals, 171, 198, +199, 275; gods and demons, 172; village forge, 173; travelling, fatigues +of, of, 175—ludicrous incidents of, 182; boats, 178; kindness, 181; +conversation, effect of, 185; home occupations, 185; devotions, 186; +children, 193, 194; kite flying and games, 195; toilet, a lady’s, 200; +_coiffure_, 200; hair-dressing, 200, 201; female barber, 200; lady’s +mirror, 201; farm-houses, 203, 204; bath-houses, politeness in, 205, 218; +imitations of foreign manufactured British goods, 218; horse-breaking, +295, 307; road-post, 301; Paradise, 309; canoes, 317; junks, 320, 321. + +Jin-ri-ki-shas, 4, 5 (see _Kuruma_). + +_Jishindo_, or “earthquake door,” 304. + +Junks, 320. + +“John Chinaman,” 15, 16. + +Journey, an experimental, on horseback, 62. + +Juvenile belle and her costume, a, 68. + + * * * * * + +_Kaimiyô_, or posthumous name, 130, 149. + +Kaitakushi saddle-horse, 218. + +Kajikawa river, 120. + +_Kakemonos_, or wall-pictures, 46, 52. + +_Kak’ké_, a Japanese disease, 144, 145. + +_Kamidana_, the, or god-shelf, 72. + +Kaminoyama, 134; hot springs, 135; the belle of, 135; _yadoya_, 136; +_kura_, or godown, 136. + +Kanaya, 50; his house, 51, 52; floral decorations, 52; table equipments, +53. + +Kanayama, 140. + +Kasayanagê, farming village, 120. + +_Kashitsukeya_, disreputable houses, 46. + +Kasukabé, 39; the _yadoya_, 39; lack of privacy, 40; a night alarm, 41. + +Katakado hamlet, 102. + +Kawaguchi village, 122, 181. + +Kayashima, 93; discomfort, 93; a boy cured, 94; a diseased crowd, 94; +habits and food of the natives, 94; houses hermetically sealed, 95. + +_Kenrei_, or provincial governor, 115. + +_Kimono_, the, or gown for both sexes, 43 _et seq._ + +Kinugawa river, 84, 89; beauty of scenery on its banks, 89. + +Kiri Furi, the falls of, 54. + +Kiriishi hamlet, 177. + +Kisagoi, a poor place, 82. + +Kisaki, 120. + +Kite competition, 195. + +_Kôchô_, or chief man of the village, 143. + +Kohiaku, mountain farm of, 81. + +Komatsu, 131; spacious room and luxurious appointments, 131; frogs, 132; +runaway pack-horse, 132. + +Komoni-taki volcano, 216. + +Kotsunagi, 177. + +Kubota, 155; brisk trade, 156; suburban residences, 156; hospital, +157–158; public buildings, 158; Normal School, 158; silk factory, 159; +police escort, 159; afternoon visitors, 165; infant prodigy, 166; +Japanese wedding, 167–169. + +_Kura_, or fire-proof storehouse, 53. + +Kuroishi, 198; festival at, 198, 199. + +Kurokawa, 121; _matsuri_ at, 122. + +Kurosawa, poverty and dulness, 123; dirt and barbarism, 125. + +_Kuruma_, the, or jin-ri-ki-sha, 4, 5, 35 _et seq._ + +Kuruma pass, 103. + +_Kuruma_-runners, costume of, 34. + +Kurumatogé, 92; inn on the hill, 103; bone extracted, 104; hostess, 104; +the road from, infamous, 106; pass, 106. + +Kusamoto, Mr., 325, 326. + +KWAN-NON, temple of, at Asakusa, 21; perpetual fair, 23; the _Ni-ô_, 24; +votive offerings, 25; the high altar, 25; prayers and pellets, 26; +Binzuru, the medicine god, 26, 27; _Amainu_, or heavenly dogs, 27; stone +lanterns, 28; revolving shrine, 28; temple grounds and archery galleries, +29; booths, 29, 30. + + * * * * * + +LAGOON, curious, 172. + +Lake of Blood, the, 131. + +Lamp, Japanese, 73. + +Land Transport Company, or _Riku-un-kaisha_, 79. + +Lanterns, stone, 28. + +Lebungé, 310; its isolation, 312; Ainos; 312, 313. + +Lebungétogé passes, 308. + +Legation, the British, at Yedo, 13. + +Libraries, circulating, 69, 70. + +Ludicrous incident, a, 152. + + * * * * * + +_Mago_, the, or leader of a pack-horse, 62, 84. + +Maladies, repulsive, prevalence of, 76. + +Man-carts, two-wheeled, 8, 9. + +Mari, farming-village, 120. + +_Maro_, or loin-cloth, 46. + +Marriage, a Japanese, 166, 167; trousseau and furniture, 167; ceremony, +167, 169. + +Masonry, Japanese, 58. + +Matsuhara village, mistake at, 129. + +Matsuka river, 133. + +_Matsuri_ at Minato, 171; classic dance, 171; cars, 171. + +Medicine god, the, at Asakusa, 26, 27. + +Mihashi, or Sacred Bridge, 50. + +_Mikoshi_, or sacred car, 24. + +Millet-mill and pestle, 238. + +Minato, the junk port of Kubota, 170; _matsuri_ at, 170, 171; sobriety +and order, 171. + +Mirror, a lady’s, 201. + +“MISSING LINK,” the, 314. + +Miyojintaké, snow-fields and ravines, 103. + +Mogami river, 139. + +Mombets, 286; scenes at, 286. + +Money, 7; current, 79. + +Mono, farming village, 120. + +Moore, Captain, 322. + +Moral lesson, a, 36. + +Mori village, 317, 318, 220. + +Morioka village, 173. + +Mororan, 221; bay, 222. + +Mororan, Old, 297, 298. + +Mountain scenery, 103. + +Mud-flat or swamp of Yedo, 36. + +My _kuruma_-runner, 305. + +Myself in a straw rain-cloak, 176. + + * * * * * + +NAKAJO, Japanese doctors at, 121. + +Nakano, Lower, 205; bath-houses, 205. + +Nakano, Upper, 204, 205. + +Names, female, 68, 69. + +Namioka, 207. + +Nanai, Yezo, 218. + +Nantaizan mountains, 49. + +Needle-work, Japanese, 69. + +Night-alarm, a, 41. + +NIIGATA, landward side disappointing, 111; Church Mission House, 111, +112; itinerary of route from Nikkô to, 113; a Treaty Port, 114; insect +pests, 114; without foreign trade, 114; its river, 114, 115; population, +115; hospital and schools, 115; gardens, 116; beautiful tea-houses, 116; +cleanliness, 116; water-ways, 116; houses, 117, 118; climate, 119; to +Aomori, itinerary of route from, 210, 211. + +Nikkôsan mountains, the, 80. + +NIKKÔ, “sunny splendour,” 54; its beauties, 54; the Red Bridge, 55; the +Yomei Gate, 56; the mythical _Kirin_, 56; the _haiden_ or chapel, 57; the +Shôgun’s room, 57; the Abbot’s room, 57; the great staircase, 57; +Iyéyasu’s tomb, 58; temples of Iyémetsu, 58; gigantic _Ni-ô_, 58; Buddha, +59; the Tennô, 59; wood-carving, 60, 61; shops, 73, 74; houses, 75; to +Niigata, itinerary of route from, 113. + +_Ni-ô_, the, at Asakusa, 24. + +Nocturnal disturbance, a, 179. + +Nojiri village, 103, 104. + +Nopkobets river, 306. + +Nosoki, Dr., 141; lotion and febrifuge, 141; old-fashioned practitioner, +142; at dinner, 142. + +Nosoki village, 143. + +Nozawa town, 103. + +Numa hamlet, 123; crowded dwellings, 124. + + * * * * * + +OBANASAWA, 139. + +Odaté, 181; _yadoyas_, nocturnal disturbances at, 181, 182. + +Okawa stream, 90. + +Okimi, 124. + +Omagori, manufacture of earthenware jars for interment, 149, 150. + +Omono river, 143, 148, 155, 156. + +Ori pass, 124. + +Oshamambé, 315. + +Osharu river, 301. + +Ouchi hamlet, 96. + +Oyakê lake, 97. + + * * * * * + +PACK-COWS, 124, 128. + +Pack-horse, the Japanese, 62, 63; a vicious, 102. + +Pack-saddle, description of, 62, 63. + +Packet-boat, “running the rapids” of Tsugawa, 109, 110. + +Palm, Dr., his tandem, 121. + +Paper-money, 7. + +Parental love, 75. + +Parkes, Sir Harry and Lady, 8. + +Parting, a regretful, 50. + +Passport, travelling, 33; regulations of, 33, 34. + +Peasant costume, 43. + +Pellets and prayers, 26. + +Picture and guidebooks, Japanese, 71. + +Pipicharo, the Aino, 249, 250, 252, 287; a “total abstainer,” 249. + +Poison and arrow-traps, 269. + +Priests, Buddhist, fees to, 151. + +Prospect, a painful, 19. + + * * * * * + +QUERIES, curious, 163. + +“Quiver of poverty,” the, 92. + + * * * * * + +RAIN-CLOAK, straw, 176. + +Reception, a formal, 157. + +Reiheishi-kaido, an “In memoriam” avenue, 48. + +Restaurant, portable, 4. + +Rice, 36. + +Rivers, Japanese, change of names of, 90. + +Road-side tea-house, 38. + +Rokkukado, the, 288. + +Rokugo, 148; Buddhist funeral at, 148; temple at, 151. + + * * * * * + +SAIKAIYAMA, 106. + +Sakamoki river, 137; handsome bridge at, 137. + +Sakatsu pass, 143. + +_Saké_, the national drink, 71, 168, 169; effects of, 71, 183; libations +of, 274. + +Sakuratogé river, 128. + +_Salisburia adiantifolia_, 309, 313. + +_Samisen_, the national female instrument, 70. + +_Sampans_, or native boats, 3; mode of sculling, 4. + +Sanno pass, 96. + +Sarufuto, 231. + +Sarufutogawa river, 237, 246. + +Satow, Mr. Ernest, Japanese Secretary of Legation, 14; his reputation, +199. + +_Satsu_, or paper money, 7. + +Savage life at Biratori, 234–236. + +School, a village, 66; lessons and punishments, 67. + +Science, native, dissection unknown to, 142. + +Scramble, a Yezo, 228. + +Seaweed, symbolism of, 165. + +Seed shop, a, 78. + +Servant, engaging a, 16–18. + +Shinagawa or Shinbashi village, 12. + +Shinano river, 114, 115, 120. + +Shingoji, 153; rude intrusion, 153. + +Shinjô, 139; trade, 139; discomforts, 140. + +Shinkawa river, 120. + +Shione pass, 143. + +Shirakasawa, mountain village, 128; graceful act at, 129. + +Shiraôi village, 226, 289; volcanic phenomena, 290; hot spring, 291; +lianas, 292; beautiful scenery, 292, 293; bear-trap, 293; houses, 294. + +Shirawasa, 183; eclipse at, 186. + +Shiribetsan mountain, 301. + +Shoes, straw, a nuisance, 88. + +_Shôji_, or sliding screens, 40. + +Shopping, 77. + +Shops, Japanese, articles sold in, 73, 74. + +Shrine, revolving, 28. + +Shrines, beauty of, 60. + +Sight, a strange, 81. + +Silk factory, 159. + +Sir Harry’s messenger, 42. + +Skin-diseases, 76. + +Solitary ride, a, 216–219. + +Springs, hot, 89. + +“Squeeze,” a, 19, 65. + +Stone lanterns, 28. + +Storm, effects of a, 188. + +Straw rain-cloak, 176, 177. + +Straw shoes for horses, 88. + +Street, a clean, 49. + +Street and canal, 117. + +Sulphur spring at Yumoto, 65. + +Sumida river, 22. + +Summer and winter costume, 82. + + * * * * * + +TAIHEISAN mountain, 156. + +Tajima, 96. + +Takadayama mountain, 88. + +Takahara, 88, 89; hot springs, 89. + +Takata, 99; general aspect, 100; policemen at, 100. + +Tamagawa hamlet, 124. + +Tarumai volcano, 227, 228. + +_Tatami_, or house mats, 40. + +Tattooing, 34, 259, 260. + +Tea, Japanese, 39. + +_Teishi_, or landlord, 39. + +Temple architecture, uniformity of, 21. + +Tendo town, 138. + +Threshing, varieties in, 44. + +Tochigi, 45; the _yadoya_ and _shôji_, 45. + +Tochiida, 139. + +Togénoshita, 318. + +Toilet, a lady’s, 200; hair-dressing, 200, 201; paint and cosmetics, 201, +202; mirror, 201. + +TÔKIYÔ, 10; first impressions, 12; the British Legation, 13; Kwan-non +temple of Asakusa, 21; a perpetual fair, 23; archery galleries, 29; +western innovations, 30; tranquillity of, 324. + +_Tokonoma_, or floors of polished wood, 52. + +Tomakomai, 227. + +Toné, river, 43. + +_Torii_, a, 149. + +Toyôka village, 174. + +Transport, prices, 79; agent, 97. + +Travelling equipments, 32, 33; passports, 33, 34. + +Travelling, slow, 143. + +Tsugawa river, 106; _yadoya_, 107; town, 108; packet-boat, 109; “running +the rapids,” 109; fantastic scenery, 110; river-course, 110; river-life, +110. + +Tsuguriko, 180. + +Tsuiji, farming village, 120, 121. + +Tsukuno, 134. + +Tufa cones, 290. + +“Typhoon,” a, 322. + +“Typhoon rain,” a, 297. + + * * * * * + +UDONOSAN snow-fields, 139. + +Universal greyness, 207; language, the, 296. + +Unpleasant detention, an, 187. + +Usu, 302; temple, 302, 303; bay, 304; Aino lodges at, 304. + +Usu-taki volcano, 300. + +Utsu pass, view from, 129. + + * * * * * + +VEGETATION, tropical, 85. + +Village life, 47. + +Vineyards on the Tsugawa, 111. + +Volcano Bay, 220. + + * * * * * + +WAKAMATSU, 99. + +Watering-place, a native, 65. + +Waterproof cloak, a paper, 78. + +Water-shed, the, 93. + +Welcome, a wild, 208, 209. + +Wilkinson, Mr., 19. + +Winter dismalness, 123. + +Women, employment for, 159. + +Wood-carving at Nikkö, 60. + +Worship, a supposed act of, 244. + + * * * * * + +YADATE Pass, 188, 189; the force of water, 189; landslips, 189. + +_Yadoya_, or hotel, 37, 39, 45, 48, 63, 65, 85, 93, 100, 101, 103, 107, +122, 123, 131, 132, 134, 136, 144, 147, 156, 178, 179, 181, 191, 195, +217, 220, 226, 280, 294, 315, 316, 318; taxes on, 136. + +Yamagata _ken_, 125; prosperous, 137; plain, 137; convict labour at, 137; +town, 137; its streets, 137; forgeries of eatables and drinkables, 138; +public buildings, 138; vulgarity of policemen, 138. + +Yamakushinoi hamlet, 316. + +Yedo city, 10 (_see_ Tôkiyô); gulf of, 11; plain of, 11. + +YEZO, 216, 217; itinerary of tour in, 319. + +Yokohama, 3; _sampans_, 3; portable restaurant, 4; _kurumas_, or +jin-ri-ki-shas, 4; man-carts, 8; railway station and fares, 10, 11; +Chinamen, 15. + +Yokokawa, 92; filth and squalor, 92. + +Yokote, 147; discomfort, 148; Shintô temple, 148; _torii_, 148. + +Yomei Gate, the, 56. + +Yonetsurugawa river, 177; exciting transit, 177, 178. + +Yonezawa plain, 129, 131, 133. + +Yoshida, 133. + +Yoshitsuné, shrine of, 252, 253, 273, _note_. + +Yubets, 228, 289; a ghostly dwelling at, 229. + +Yuki, her industry, 69. + +Yumoto village, 65; bathing sheds at, 65. + +Yurapu, Aino village, 316; river, 316. + +Yusowa, 145; fire at, 145; lunch in public, 146; accident at, 146; +curiosity of crowd, 146. + + * * * * * + +_Zen_, or small table, 53. + + * * * * * + + PRINTED AT THE EDINBURGH PRESS, 9 AND 11 YOUNG STREET. + + + + +FOOTNOTES. + + +{2} This is an altogether exceptional aspect of Fujisan, under +exceptional atmospheric conditions. The mountain usually looks broader +and lower, and is often compared to an inverted fan. + +{5} I continue hereafter to use the Japanese word _kuruma_ instead of +the Chinese word _Jin-ri-ki-sha_. _Kuruma_, literally a wheel or +vehicle, is the word commonly used by the _Jin-ri-ki-sha_ men and other +Japanese for the “man-power-carriage,” and is certainly more euphonious. +From _kuruma_ naturally comes _kurumaya_ for the _kuruma_ runner. + +{14} Often in the later months of my residence in Japan, when I asked +educated Japanese questions concerning their history, religions, or +ancient customs, I was put off with the answer, “You should ask Mr. +Satow, he could tell you.” + +{19} After several months of travelling in some of the roughest parts of +the interior, I should advise a person in average health—and none other +should travel in Japan—not to encumber himself with tinned meats, soups, +claret, or any eatables or drinkables, except Liebig’s extract of meat. + +{27} I visited this temple alone many times afterwards, and each visit +deepened the interest of my first impressions. There is always enough of +change and novelty to prevent the interest from flagging, and the mild, +but profoundly superstitious, form of heathenism which prevails in Japan +is nowhere better represented. + +{32} The list of my equipments is given as a help to future travellers, +especially ladies, who desire to travel long distances in the interior of +Japan. One wicker basket is enough, as I afterwards found. + +{41} My fears, though quite natural for a lady alone, had really no +justification. I have since travelled 1200 miles in the interior, and in +Yezo, with perfect safety and freedom from alarm, and I believe that +there is no country in the world in which a lady can travel with such +absolute security from danger and rudeness as in Japan. + +{46} In my northern journey I was very frequently obliged to put up with +rough and dirty accommodation, because the better sort of houses were of +this class. If there are few sights which shock the traveller, there is +much even on the surface to indicate vices which degrade and enslave the +manhood of Japan. + +{79} I advise every traveller in the ruder regions of Japan to take a +similar stretcher and a good mosquito net. With these he may defy all +ordinary discomforts. + +{87} This can only be true of the behaviour of the lowest excursionists +from the Treaty Ports. + +{95} Many unpleasant details have necessarily been omitted. If the +reader requires any apology for those which are given here and elsewhere, +it must be found in my desire to give such a faithful picture of peasant +life, as I saw it in Northern Japan, as may be a contribution to the +general sum of knowledge of the country, and, at the same time, serve to +illustrate some of the difficulties which the Government has to encounter +in its endeavour to raise masses of people as deficient as these are in +some of the first requirements of civilisation. + +{98} The excess of males over females in the capital is 36,000, and in +the whole Empire nearly half a million. + +{115a} By one of these, not fitted up for passengers, I have sent one of +my baskets to Hakodaté, and by doing so have come upon one of the +vexatious restrictions by which foreigners are harassed. It would seem +natural to allow a foreigner to send his personal luggage from one Treaty +Port to another without going through a number of formalities which +render it nearly impossible, but it was only managed by Ito sending mine +in his own name to a Japanese at Hakodaté with whom he is slightly +acquainted. + +{115b} This hospital is large and well ventilated, but has not as yet +succeeded in attracting many in-patients; out-patients, specially +sufferers from ophthalmia, are very numerous. The Japanese chief +physician regards the great prevalence of the malady in this +neighbourhood as the result of damp, the reflection of the sun’s rays +from sand and snow, inadequate ventilation and charcoal fumes. + +{145} _Kak’ké_, by William Anderson, F.R.C.S. Transactions of English +Asiatic Society of Japan, January 1878. + +{168} I failed to learn what the liquor was which was drunk so freely, +but as no unseemly effects followed its use, I think it must either have +been light wine, or light _saké_. + +{216} I venture to present this journal letter, with a few omissions, +just as it was written, trusting that the interest which attaches to +aboriginal races and little-visited regions will carry my readers through +the minuteness and multiplicity of its details. + +{218} The use of kerosene in matted wooden houses is a new cause of +conflagrations. It is not possible to say how it originated, but just +before Christmas 1879 a fire broke out in Hakodaté, which in a few hours +destroyed 20 streets, 2500 houses, the British Consulate, several public +buildings, the new native Christian church, and the church Mission House, +leaving 11,000 people homeless. + +{241} I went over them with the Ainos of a remote village on Volcano +Bay, and found the differences in pronunciation very slight, except that +the definiteness of the sound which I have represented by Tsch was more +strongly marked. I afterwards went over them with Mr. Dening, and with +Mr. Von Siebold at Tôkiyô, who have made a larger collection of words +than I have, and it is satisfactory to find that we have represented the +words in the main by the same letters, with the single exception that +usually the sound represented by them by the letters _ch_ I have given as +_Tsch_, and I venture to think that is the most correct rendering. + +{271} I have not been able to obtain from any botanist the name of the +tree from the bark of which the thread is made, but suppose it to be a +species of _Tiliaceæ_. + +{273} Yoshitsuné is the most popular hero of Japanese history, and the +special favourite of boys. He was the brother of Yoritomo, who was +appointed by the Mikado in 1192 _Sei-i Tai Shôgun_ (barbarian-subjugating +great general) for his victories, and was the first of that series of +great Shôguns whom our European notions distorted into “Temporal +Emperors” of Japan. Yoshitsuné, to whom the real honour of these +victories belonged, became the object of the jealousy and hatred of his +brother, and was hunted from province to province, till, according to +popular belief, he committed _hara-kiri_, after killing his wife and +children, and his head, preserved in _saké_, was sent to his brother at +Kamakura. Scholars, however, are not agreed as to the manner, period, or +scene of his death. Many believe that he escaped to Yezo and lived among +the Ainos for many years, dying among them at the close of the twelfth +century. None believe this more firmly than the Ainos themselves, who +assert that he taught their fathers the arts of civilisation, with +letters and numbers, and gave them righteous laws, and he is worshipped +by many of them under a name which signifies Master of the Law. I have +been told by old men in Biratori, Usu, and Lebungé, that a later Japanese +conqueror carried away the books in which the arts were written, and that +since his time the arts themselves have been lost, and the Ainos have +fallen into their present condition! On asking why the Ainos do not make +vessels of iron and clay as well as knives and spears, the invariable +answer is, “The Japanese took away the books.” + +{321} The duty paid by junks is 4s. for each twenty-five tons, by +foreign ships of foreign shape and rig £2 for each 100 tons, and by +steamers £3 for each 100 tons. + +{328} The following very inaccurate but entertaining account of this +expedition was given by the _Yomi-uri-Shimbun_, a daily newspaper with +the largest, though not the most aristocratic, circulation in Tôkiyô, +being taken in by the servants and tradespeople. It is a literal +translation made by Mr. Chamberlain. “The person mentioned in our +yesterday’s issue as ‘an English subject of the name of Bird’ is a lady +from Scotland, a part of England. This lady spends her time in +travelling, leaving this year the two American continents for a passing +visit to the Sandwich Islands, and landing in Japan early in the month of +May. She has toured all over the country, and even made a five months’ +stay in the Hokkaidô, investigating the local customs and productions. +Her inspection yesterday of the cremation ground at Kirigaya is believed +to have been prompted by a knowledge of the advantages of this method of +disposing of the dead, and a desire to introduce the same into England(!) +On account of this lady’s being so learned as to have published a +quantity of books, His Excellency the Governor was pleased to see her +yesterday, and to show her great civility, sending her to Kirigaya in his +own carriage, a mark of attention which is said to have pleased the lady +much(!)” + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNBEATEN TRACKS IN JAPAN*** + + +******* This file should be named 2184-0.txt or 2184-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/8/2184 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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