A Japanese Pack-Horse and Pack-Saddle—_Yadoya_ and Attendant—A Native
Watering-Place—The Sulphur Baths—A “Squeeze.”
YASHIMAYA, YUMOTO, NIKKÔZAN MOUNTAINS,
_June_ 22.
TO-DAY I have made an experimental journey on horseback, have done
fifteen miles in eight hours of continuous travelling, and have
encountered for the first time the Japanese pack-horse—an animal of which
many unpleasing stories are told, and which has hitherto been as mythical
to me as the _kirin_, or dragon. I have neither been kicked, bitten, nor
pitched off, however, for mares are used exclusively in this district,
gentle creatures about fourteen hands high, with weak hind-quarters, and
heads nearly concealed by shaggy manes and forelocks. They are led by a
rope round the nose, and go barefoot, except on stony ground, when the
_mago_, or man who leads them, ties straw sandals on their feet. The
pack-saddle is composed of two packs of straw eight inches thick, faced
with red, and connected before and behind by strong oak arches gaily
painted or lacquered. There is for a girth a rope loosely tied under the
body, and the security of the load depends on a crupper, usually a piece
of bamboo attached to the saddle by ropes strung with wooden counters,
and another rope round the neck, into which you put your foot as you
scramble over the high front upon the top of the erection. The load must
be carefully balanced or it comes to grief, and the _mago_ handles it all
over first, and, if an accurate division of weight is impossible, adds a
stone to one side or the other. Here, women who wear enormous rain hats
and gird their _kimonos_ over tight blue trousers, both load the horses
and lead them. I dropped upon my loaded horse from the top of a wall,
the ridges, bars, tags, and knotted rigging of the saddle being smoothed
over by a folded _futon_, or wadded cotton quilt, and I was then fourteen
inches above the animal’s back, with my feet hanging over his neck. You
must balance yourself carefully, or you bring the whole erection over;
but balancing soon becomes a matter of habit. If the horse does not
stumble, the pack-saddle is tolerable on level ground, but most severe on
the spine in going up hill, and so intolerable in going down that I was
relieved when I found that I had slid over the horse’s head into a
mud-hole; and you are quite helpless, as he does not understand a bridle,
if you have one, and blindly follows his leader, who trudges on six feet
in front of him.
[Picture: Japanese Pack-Horse]
The hard day’s journey ended in an exquisite _yadoya_, beautiful within
and without, and more fit for fairies than for travel-soiled mortals.
The _fusuma_ are light planed wood with a sweet scent, the matting nearly
white, the balconies polished pine. On entering, a smiling girl brought
me some plum-flower tea with a delicate almond flavour, a sweetmeat made
of beans and sugar, and a lacquer bowl of frozen snow. After making a
difficult meal from a fowl of much experience, I spent the evening out of
doors, as a Japanese watering-place is an interesting novelty.
[Picture: Attendant at Tea-House]
There is scarcely room between the lake and the mountains for the
picturesque village with its trim neat houses, one above another, built
of reddish cedar newly planed. The snow lies ten feet deep here in
winter, and on October 10 the people wrap their beautiful dwellings up in
coarse matting, not even leaving the roofs uncovered, and go to the low
country till May 10, leaving one man in charge, who is relieved once a
week. Were the houses mine I should be tempted to wrap them up on every
rainy day! I did quite the wrong thing in riding here. It is proper to
be carried up in a _kago_, or covered basket.
The village consists of two short streets, 8 feet wide composed entirely
of _yadoyas_ of various grades, with a picturesquely varied frontage of
deep eaves, graceful balconies, rows of Chinese lanterns, and open lower
fronts. The place is full of people, and the four bathing-sheds were
crowded. Some energetic invalids bathe twelve times a day! Every one
who was walking about carried a blue towel over his arm, and the rails of
the balconies were covered with blue towels hanging to dry. There can be
very little amusement. The mountains rise at once from the village, and
are so covered with jungle that one can only walk in the short streets or
along the track by which I came. There is one covered boat for
excursions on the lake, and a few _geishas_ were playing the _samisen_;
but, as gaming is illegal, and there is no place of public resort except
the bathing-sheds, people must spend nearly all their time in bathing,
sleeping, smoking, and eating. The great spring is beyond the village,
in a square tank in a mound. It bubbles up with much strength, giving
off fetid fumes. There are broad boards laid at intervals across it, and
people crippled with rheumatism go and lie for hours upon them for the
advantage of the sulphurous steam. The temperature of the spring is 130°
F.; but after the water has travelled to the village, along an open
wooden pipe, it is only 84°. Yumoto is over 4000 feet high, and very
cold.
IRIMICHI.—Before leaving Yumoto I saw the _modus operandi_ of a
“squeeze.” I asked for the bill, when, instead of giving it to me, the
host ran upstairs and asked Ito how much it should be, the two dividing
the overcharge. Your servant gets a “squeeze” on everything you buy, and
on your hotel expenses, and, as it is managed very adroitly, and you
cannot prevent it, it is best not to worry about it so long as it keeps
within reasonable limits.