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diff --git a/old/utrkj10.txt b/old/utrkj10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d223bf5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/utrkj10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11757 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, by Bird + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +Unbeaten Tracks in Japan + +by Isabella L. 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Second proofing by Kate Ruffell. + + + + + +UNBEATEN TRACKS IN JAPAN +AN ACCOUNT OF TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR +INCLUDING VISITS TO THE ABORIGINES OF YEZO AND +THE SHRINE OF NIKKO BY ISABELLA L. BIRD + + + + +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 Nikko 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 Nikko, have been dismissed in a few +sentences, but where their features have undergone marked changes +within a few years, as in the case of Tokiyo (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 Tokiyo 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. + + + +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. +{1} 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. + +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. + +The kuruma, or jin-ri-ki-sha, {2} 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 pounds 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. + + + +LETTER III + + + +Yedo and Tokiyo--The Yokohama Railroad--The Effect of Misfits--The +Plain of Yedo--Personal Peculiarities--First Impressions of Tokiyo- +-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 Tokiyo, or Eastern Capital, +is used, Kiyoto, the Mikado's former residence, having received the +name of Saikio, or Western Capital, though it has now no claim to +be regarded as a capital at all. Yedo belongs to the old regime +and the Shogunate, Tokiyo to the new regime 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 +Tokiyo. + +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 Tokiyo, 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 Kiyoto 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 Tokiyo, were waiting outside the station, and +an English brougham for me, with a running betto. The Legation +stands in Kojimachi 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 +Shogun, and on the left sundry yashikis, as the mansions of the +daimiyo 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 Tokiyo 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 {3}--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, archaeology, 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 qua 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 +Kiyoto, to Nikko," 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. +{4} + +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 +Tokiyo, 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. + + + +LETTER V + + + +Kwan-non Temple--Uniformity of Temple Architecture--A Kuruma +Expedition--A Perpetual Festival--The Ni-o--The Limbo of Vanity-- +Heathen Prayers--Binzuru--A Group of Devils--Archery Galleries--New +Japan--An Elegante. + +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 Tokiyo, which connects east Tokiyo, 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 +Tokiyo 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, Shintoist, 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-o, 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-o. + +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 Shinto, 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-o 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. {5} + +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 Shinto 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." + +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 crepe, 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 Kasukabe--Lack of Privacy--A Concourse of Noises--A Nocturnal +Alarm--A Vision of Policemen--A Budget from Yedo. + +KASUKABE, 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 Nikko, 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. {6} + +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 2.5 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 +1.5 inches between the hat and the head for the free circulation of +air. It only weighs 2.5 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 degrees, 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 Nikko, 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 Tokiyo 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." + +NIKKO, June 13.--This is one of the paradises of Japan! It is a +proverbial saying, "He who has not seen Nikko must not use the word +kek'ko" (splendid, delicious, beautiful); but of this more +hereafter. My attempt to write to you from Kasukabe 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 am. on Monday and reached Kasukabe 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. + +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 roadside 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. + +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 Kasukabe, a good-sized but miserable-looking town, +with its main street like one of the poorest streets in Tokiyo, 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 2.5 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 shoji, 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 shoji 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! {7} + +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 shoji, "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. + + + +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--Nikko--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 Kasukabe, +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 +degrees in the shade, but the heat was not oppressive. At noon we +reached the Tone, 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 +Tokiyo, 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 daimiyo. 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 Kasukabe 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 +Tokiyo. 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 +shoji, 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 shoji +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 shoji, 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 shoji 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. {8} + +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 Shinto 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 Nikko, 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 Nikko. 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 Nikko, 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 Shoguns 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 coniferae, 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 Nikko, took up their +abode in the Imperial Hombo. 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 Shoguns "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 Nikkosan 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 Shoguns, +the envoy of the Mikado, and to pilgrims twice a year. Both its +gates are locked. Grand and lonely Nikko 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, NIKKO, 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 shoji, 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. + +Kanaya leads the discords at the Shinto 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 Nikko--The Burial of Iyeyasu--The Approach to the +Great Shrines--The Yomei Gate--Gorgeous Decorations--Simplicity of +the Mausoleum--The Shrine of Iyemitsu--Religious Art of Japan and +India--An Earthquake--Beauties of Wood-carving. + +KANAYA'S, NIKKO, June 21. + +I have been at Nikko for nine days, and am therefore entitled to +use the word "Kek'ko!" + +Nikko 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 Kegon, +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 Shoguns. + +To a glorious resting-place on the hill-slope of Hotoke Iwa, sacred +since 767, when a Buddhist saint, called Shodo Shonin, visited it, +and declared the old Shinto deity of the mountain to be only a +manifestation of Buddha, Hidetada, the second Shogun of the +Tokugawa dynasty, conveyed the corpse of his father, Iyeyasu, in +1617. It was a splendid burial. An Imperial envoy, a priest of +the Mikado's family, court nobles from Kivoto, and hundreds of +daimiyos, 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 Iyeyasu was deified by a +decree of the Mikado under a name signifying "light of the east, +great incarnation of Buddha." The less important Shoguns 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 Iyeyasu 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 Shinto 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 daimiyo 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 Iyeyasu, the name of the giver, and a legend of +the offering--all the gifts of daimiyo--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-o 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 Somendaki 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 Shogun and +the other "for his Holiness the Abbot." Both, of course, are +empty. The roof of the hall is panelled and richly frescoed. The +Shogun'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 Iyeyasu 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 hepaticae. Within, wealth and art have created a +fairyland of gold and colour; without, Nature, at her stateliest, +has surrounded the great Shogun'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 Iyeyasu 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 Iyemitsu are close to those of Iyeyasu, 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 +Shinto mirror in the midst of the blaze of gold and colour. In the +grand entrance gate are gigantic Ni-o, 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 +Iyemitsu'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 Tenno, 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. Iyemitsu's +tomb is reached by flights of steps on the right of the chapel. It +is in the same style as Iyeyasu'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 Hotoke 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 Shinto 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, NIKKOZAN 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. + +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. + +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 degrees F.; but after +the water has travelled to the village, along an open wooden pipe, +it is only 84 degrees. 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, Nikko, 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 crepe 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 crepe 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 crepe, 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 +Shinto 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. +Sake, or rice beer, is always passed round before the visitors +leave, in little cups with the gods of luck at the bottom of them. +Sake, 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 Shinto temple, which +contains the memorial tablets to deceased relations. Each morning +a sprig of evergreen and a little rice and sake are placed before +it, and every evening a lighted lamp. + + + +LETTER X--(Continued) + + + +Darkness visible--Nikko 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, 2.5 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, 1.5 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 +Nikko. + +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, {9} 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 Tokiyo, 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 2.5 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, cho, and ken. Six feet make one ken, sixty ken one +cho, and thirty-six cho one ri, or nearly 2.5 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 Nikko! + +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 Nikko 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 Nikkosan 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 sake 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. + +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 cortege 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, 2.5 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 Shinto 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 +coniferae, 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 +sake, 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 deshabille 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. +{10} 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 Shintoist, which means nothing. +At Nikko 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, confervae, +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 daimiyo used to +halt here on his way to Tokiyo, so there are two rooms for +travellers, called daimiyos' rooms, fifteen feet high, handsomely +ceiled in dark wood, the shoji 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 daimiyo and the feudal regime, 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 Nikko, 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 degrees 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 shoji, 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 shoji 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. {11} + + + +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 daimiyo'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 daimiyo'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 Oyake, 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. {12} 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 shoji, 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 Bange, 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 degrees, 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. + +Bange 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 Miyojintake 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 Kurumatoge 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 +confervae, 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 Tokiyo and Kiyoto. + +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 Kurumatoge 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! Kurumatoge was the last of +seventeen mountain-passes, over 2000 feet high, which I have +crossed since leaving Nikko. 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 Nikko, 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 sake, 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. + + +ITINERARY OF ROUTE FROM NIKKO TO NIIGATA + +(Kinugawa Route.) + +From Tokiyo to + + No. of houses. Ri. Cho +Nikko 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 2O 2 21 +Itosawa 38 2 34 +Kayashima 57 1 4 +Tajima 25O 1 21 +Toyonari 120 2 12 +Atomi 34 1 +Ouchi 27 2 12 +Ichikawa 7 2 22 +Takata 42O 2 11 +Bange 910 3 4 +Katakado 50 1 20 +Nosawa 306 3 24 +Nojiri 110 1 27 +Kurumatoge 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 +degrees in the day to 80 degrees 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. {13} 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 {14} arranged by a European doctor, with a medical school +attached, and it, the Kencho, the Saibancho, 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 Nikko, 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. + +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 Tokiyo. 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 deshabille 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 sake; 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 degrees in summer, falls to 15 +degrees in winter. And all this is in latitude 37 degrees 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 4.5 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, +Kasayanage, 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 sake, and that +they sometimes get sake 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 1.5 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 sake +was on the move, and we met hundreds of pack-cows, all of the same +comely breed, in strings of four. + +We crossed the Sakuratoge, 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 sake, 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. + +According to him the tablet bears on it the kaimiyo, 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 mio ho ren ge kio. 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 sake. + +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 daimiyo'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 kakemonos 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 Nikko 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 degrees, 105 degrees, and 107 degrees. 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. + +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 degrees, 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 sake. + +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 kencho 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 Kencho, +Saibancho, 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 degrees, 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 Chokaizan, 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 Shinjo, 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 Shinjo is a wretched place. It is a daimiyo's +town, and every daimiyo'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. Shinjo 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 Shinjo 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 Nikko! + +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 +Shinjo. 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 sake 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 kocho, 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'ke--The Fatal Close--A Great Fire--Security of the +Kuras. + +SHINGOJI, July 21. + +Very early in the morning, after my long talk with the Kocho 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 Kocho 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 shoji, 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 Tokiyo 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'ke, +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'ke in more than +1100 cases in Tokiyo, 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." {15} + +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 5.5 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 Shinto +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 Shinto, 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 +Shinto 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. + +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 +kaimiyo, 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 crepe 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 crepe and a scarlet crepe +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 sake, 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 shoji, 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 shoji 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 degrees, 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 +shoji 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. + + + +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 crepe with a raised woof, which brings a high +price in Tokiyo 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 Tokiyo, 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 Kiyoto, +and 815 at Osaka, and the remaining 10,000 are spread over the +country. The police force costs something over 400,000 pounds +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 Tokiyo, 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 Tokiyo 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 sake, 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 Nikko I asked him how many legal wives +a man could have in Japan, and he replied, "Only one lawful one, +but as many others (mekake) 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 degrees, 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 pounds, that day. His father is +going to travel to Kiyoto 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 +Kiyoto, 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 crepe, a kimono of soft, green, striped silk of a darker +shade, with a fold of white crepe, 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 crepe, a large number of made-up garments, a piece of white +silk, six barrels of wine or sake, 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 +etagere. As the things are all very handsome the parents must be +well off. The sake 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 sake, some sake 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 sake, +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 sake 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! +{16} + +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 sake 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 sake 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 Sake 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 crepe 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 sake 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 No 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 sake +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 Shinto 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 +Nio of temple gates, was killing a revolting-looking demon. On +another a daimiyo'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 Chamaerops 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 sake brewer. A bush +denotes the manufacture as well as the sale of sake, 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 Toyoka 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 +Toyoka 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 + +ODATE, 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. + +We have had a very severe journey from Toyoka. 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 Tubine +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 2.5 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 2.5 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 daimiyo'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 Yuwase, 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 Odate, 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 dim + +In all places lately Hai, "yes," has been pronounced He, Chi, Na, +Ne, 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 shoji, 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. Sake 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 sake drinking, is being introduced under their baleful +influence. + +The sun shone gloriously and brightened the hill-girdled valley in +which Odate 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 +coniferae, 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 sake 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 stormbound +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 Odate, but +on inquiry found that it was possible to spend four mortal hours in +discussing whether the day's journey from Odate 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 miyo ho ren ge Kiyo, 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 Odate, 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 Kocho; 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 +Tokiyo, "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 Hakodate. + +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 tomoye 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 tomoye 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 crepe, 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. + +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, 3.5 ri from here, and +its ex-daimiyo 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 Kasukabe 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. + +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 hill-side dark with cryptomeria leads to a +small Shinto 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. + +HAKODATE, YEZO, August, 1878. + +The journey from Kuroishi to Aomori, though only 22.5 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 Nikko 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 Hakodate 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 Hakodate 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 coniferae, +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 1.5 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 Tokiyo. 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. Cho. + +Kisaki 56 4 +Tsuiji 209 6 +Kurokawa 215 2 12 +Hanadati 2O 2 +Kawaguchi 27 3 +Numa 24 1 18 +Tamagawa 40 3 +Okuni 210 2 11 +Kurosawa 17 1 18 +Ichinono 2O 1 18 +Shirokasawa 42 1 21 +Tenoko 120 3 11 +Komatsu 513 2 13 +Akayu 350 4 +Kaminoyama 650 5 +Yamagata 21,O00 souls 3 19 +Tendo 1,040 3 8 +Tateoka 307 3 21 +Tochiida 217 1 33 +Obanasawa 506 1 21 +Ashizawa 70 1 21 +Shinjo 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 +Carry forward 107 21 + + No. of Houses Ri. Cho. +Brought forward 107 21 +Abukawa 163 3 33 +Ichi Nichi Ichi 306 1 34 +Kado 151 2 9 +Hinikoyama 396 2 9 +Tsugurata 186 1 14 +Tubine 153 1 18 +Kiriishi 31 1 14 +Kotsunagi 47 1 16 +Tsuguriko 136 3 5 +Odate 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 cho, but in the lack of accurate +information the ri has been taken at its ordinary standard of 36 +cho throughout. + + + +LETTER XXXIII + + + +Form and Colour--A Windy Capital--Eccentricities in House Roofs. + +HAKODATE, 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 Hakodate 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. + +HAKODATE, YEZO. + +I am enjoying Hakodate 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 eclaircissement 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 Shinto 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 {17} + + + +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 Hakodate 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 sake 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, {18} 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 Hakodate 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 sake 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 Hokkaido. 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 joroyas 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 sake 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 go 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 Hakodate, 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 joroyas, +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 Hakodate, 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. + +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. + +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 Shiraoi 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 Noel 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 Shiraoi 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 Shiraoi, 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 horse-back, 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 Shiraoi +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 +shoji, 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 Seance-- +Libations to the Gods--Nocturnal Silence--Aino Courtesy--The +Chief's Wife. + +AINO HUT, BIRATORI, August 23. + +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 seance. The distractions, +as you can imagine, are many. At this moment a savage is taking a +cup of sake 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 sake, 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. + +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. + +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 sake, 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. {19} + +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 sake, their curse, was poured into lacquer +bowls, and across each bowl a finely-carved "sake-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 sake, 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 sake 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 seance 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 Yoshitsune--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, sake 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 sake, 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 2.5 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 sake- +sticks with which they make libations to their gods, but they said +it was "not their custom" to part with the sake-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. + +The evening was spent like the previous one, but the hearts of the +savages were sad, for there was no more sake 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, sake-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 +sake. 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 sake, 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 +sake, 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 sake, 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 +sake, 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 Yoshitsune, 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 Yoshitsune, 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 +sake, 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 sake 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 sake 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 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 6.5 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! + +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 Shiraoi, 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." + +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 Shiraoi, 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 daimiyo'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 repousse 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 daimiyo'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 Shogun and the Prince of Matsumae, 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 sake, and are only parted with in payment of fines +at the command of a chief, or as the dower of a girl. + +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 sake, 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. + +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 sake, 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. + +Dr. Eldridge, formerly of Hakodate, 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. {20} 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. + + + +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 Yoshitsune, 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 Shinto. +The solitary exception to their adoration of animate and inanimate +nature appears to be the reverence paid to Yoshitsune, to whom they +believe they are greatly indebted, and who, it is supposed by some, +will yet interfere on their behalf. {21} Their gods--that is, the +outward symbols of their religion, corresponding most likely with +the Shinto 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 sake. + +The word worship is in itself misleading. When I use it of these +savages it simply means libations of sake, 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 Yoshitsune, 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 sake the Ainos drink the more devout they +are, and the better pleased are the gods. It does not appear that +anything but sake 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 sake 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 sake 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 sake, 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 sake. 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 sake +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 sake +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 +sake, 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 Yoshitsune, 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 sake-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 +Hakodate 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 daimiyo 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 Tokiyo, 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 Kocho'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 sake 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 sake-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 sake 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 sake. 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 sake 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 Kocho 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 sake 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 sake. 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 Kocho 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. + + + +LETTER XXXIX + + + +A Welcome Gift--Recent Changes--Volcanic Phenomena--Interesting +Tufa Cones--Semi-strangulation--A Fall into a Bear-trap--The +Shiraoi 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 +Shiraoi, 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 Shiraoi 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 Shiraoi, 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 Shiraoi, 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 scoriae. 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 8.5 +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 Shiraoi, +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 +Shiraoi 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 +"Shiraoi." 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 Shiraoi 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. + +Shiraoi consists of a large old Honjin, or yadoya, where the +daimiyo and his train used to lodge in the old days, and about +eleven Japanese houses, most of which are sake 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 Shiraoi, 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. + +LEBUNGE, 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 Hakodate 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 +Hakodate, 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 shoji, 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 sake 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. + + + +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 melee 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 Shiraoi, 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 2.5 +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 Lebungetoge. +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 Lebunge 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. + + + +LETTER XLI + + + +A Group of Fathers--The Lebunge Ainos--The Salisburia adiantifolia- +-A Family Group--The Missing Link--Oshamambe--Disorderly Horses-- +The River Yurapu--The Seaside--Aino Canoes--The Last Morning-- +Dodging Europeans. + +HAKODATE, September 12. + +Lebunge 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 Lebunge, 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 Lebunge 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 Lebunge +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 Lebungetoge, 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 bento 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 Oshamambe, 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. Oshamambe 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 +sake 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 shoji, 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 Oshamambe 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. Otoshibe 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 Togenoshita, +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 Hakodate, 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 Togenoshita 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 +Hakodate 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. + +Hakodate to + + No. of Houses. + Jap. Aino. Ri. Cho. + +Ginsainoma 4 7 18 +Mori 105 4 +Mororan 57 11 +Horobets 18 47 5 1 +Shiraoi 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. Cho. +Old Mororan 9 30 4 28 +Usu 3 99 6 2 +Lebunge 1 27 5 22 +Oshamambe 56 38 6 34 +Yamakushinai 40 4 18 +Otoshibe 40 2 3 +Mori 105 3 29 +Togenoshita 55 6 7 +Hakodate 37,000 souls 3 29 + +About 358 English miles. + + + +LETTER XLII + + + +Pleasant Last Impressions--The Japanese Junk--Ito Disappears--My +Letter of Thanks. + +HAKODATE, 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. {22} + +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 Tokiyo--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 Hakodate, 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 degrees, and in +lat. 38 degrees 0' N. and long. 141 degrees 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 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 Tokiyo 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. + +Tokiyo 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 Tokiyo--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 Tokiyo at Mr. Mori's +request, so yesterday, attended by the Legation linguist, I +presented myself at the fine yashiki of the Tokiyo 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." + +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. {23} 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. + +SS. "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. + + + +Footnotes: + + +{1} 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. + +{2} 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. + +{3} 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." + +{4} 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. + +{5} 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. + +{6} 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. + +{7} 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. + +{8} 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. + +{9} 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. + +{10} This can only be true of the behaviour of the lowest +excursionists from the Treaty Ports. + +{11} 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. + +{12} The excess of males over females in the capital is 36,000, +and in the whole Empire nearly half a million. + +{13} By one of these, not fitted up for passengers, I have sent +one of my baskets to Hakodate, 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 +Hakodate with whom he is slightly acquainted. + +{14} 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. + +{15} Kak'ke, by William Anderson, F.R.C.S. Transactions of +English Asiatic Society of Japan, January 1878. + +{16} 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 sake. + +{17} 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. + +{18} 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 Hakodate, 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. + +{19} 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 Tokiyo, 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. + +{20} 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 Tiliaceae. + +{21} Yoshitsune 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 Shogun (barbarian- +subjugating great general) for his victories, and was the first of +that series of great Shoguns whom our European notions distorted +into "Temporal Emperors" of Japan. Yoshitsune, 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 sake, 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 Lebunge, 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." + +{22} The duty paid by junks is 4s. for each twenty-five tons, by +foreign ships of foreign shape and rig 2 pounds for each 100 tons, +and by steamers 3 pounds for each 100 tons. + +{23} 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 Tokiyo, 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 Hokkaido, 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 Etext of Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, by Bird + |