which spans a swift stream about forty feet wide. This is a new bridge,
as the old one was carried away by a great flood nine years ago.
Originally built in 1638, it served to commemorate the legendary and
miraculous bridging of the stream by Shodo Shonin, a saint. He arrived
at the river one day while on a pilgrimage and called aloud for aid to
cross. On the opposite bank appeared a being of gigantic size, who
promised to help him, and at once flung across the stream two green and
blue dragons which formed a bridge. When the saint was safely over the
bridge, it vanished with the mysterious being. Shodo at once built a hut
on the banks of the stream. For fourteen years he dwelt there and
gathered many disciples. Then he established a monastery and a shrine at
Lake Chuzinji, about nine miles from Nikko. Nine hundred years later the
second shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty sent two officials to Nikko to
select a site for the mausoleum of his father. They chose a site near
Nikko, on a hill called Hotoke-iwa, and in the spring of 1617 the tomb
was completed and the coffin was deposited under it with appropriate
Buddhist ceremonies.
The road to the mausoleum winds around the river. The first object on
the way is a pillar erected in 1643 to ward off evil influences. It is
a cylindrical copper column forty-two feet high, supported by short
horizontal bars of the same material, resting on four short columns.
Small bells hung from lotus-shaped cups crown the summit of the column.
Just beyond this column is a massive granite torii, twenty-seven and
one-half feet high, the gift of the Daimiyo of Chikuzen. To the left is
a five-story pagoda, one hundred and four feet in height, which is
especially graceful. Inside a red wooden wall are arranged a series of
lacquered storehouses, a holy water cistern cut out of a solid block of
granite, a finely decorated building in which rest a collection of
Buddhist writings. A second court is reached by a flight of stairs. Here
are gifts presented by the kings of Luchu, Holland and Korea, these
three countries being regarded as vassal states of Japan. On the left is
the Temple of Yahushi, beautifully decorated in red and gold lacquer,
and just beyond is a fine gate, called Yomei-mon, decorated with
medallions of birds. Passing through this gate, one reaches a court
bordered by several small buildings, one of which contains the
palanquins that are carried in the annual procession on June 1st, when
the deified spirits of the first shogun, Hideyoshi (the great
conqueror), and Yoritomo occupy them. Seventy-five men carry each of
these palanquins.
The main shrines are reached through the Chinese gate. The three
chambers are magnificent specimens of the finest work in lacquer, gold
and metal. The tomb of Ieyasu, the first shogun, is reached by ascending
two hundred stone steps. The tomb is in the form of a small pagoda of
bronze of an unusually light color caused by the mixture of gold. The
body of the shogun is buried twenty feet deep in a bed of charcoal.
Beyond is the mausoleum of Iemitsu, the third shogun. The oratory and
chapel are richly decorated, but they do not compare with those of the
first shogun's tomb. Back of these tombs, among the huge cedar trees
that clothe the sides of the mountain, is a small red shrine where women
offer little pieces of wood that they may pass safely through the
dangers of childbirth. Near by is the tomb of Shodo, the saint, and
three of his disciples.
These mortuary temples and tombs are genuinely impressive. They bear
many signs of age and it is evident that they are held in great
veneration by the Japanese, who make pilgrimages at all seasons to offer
up prayers at these sacred shrines. More impressive than the tombs
themselves are the pilgrims. On the day that I visited this sacred
shrine several large bands of pilgrims were entertained. One party was
composed of over a hundred boys from one of the big government military
schools. These lads were in uniform and each carried an umbrella and a
lunch tied up in a handkerchief. The priests paid special attention to
these young pilgrims and described for their benefit the marvels of
carving and lacquer work. Services were held before the shrines and the
glorious conquest of the shoguns and of Hideyoshi (popularly known as
the Napoleon of Japan) were described in glowing words. The Russian
cannon captured at Port Arthur, which stands near the entrance to the
tombs, was not forgotten by these priests, who never fail to do their
part in stimulating the patriotism of the young pilgrims.
These boys were followed by an equal number of public school girls, all
dressed in dark red merino skirts and kimonos of various colors. Some
were without stockings and none wore any head covering, although each
girl carried her lunch and the inevitable umbrella.
After these children came several parties of mature pilgrims, some
finely dressed and bearing every evidence of wealth and position, while
others were clothed in poor garments and showed great deference to the
priests and guides. All revealed genuine veneration for the sacred
relics and all contributed according to their means to the various
shrines. Some idea of the revenue drawn by the priests from tourists and
pilgrims may be gained when it is said that admission is seventy sen (or
thirty-five cents in American money) for each person, with half-rates to
priests, teachers and school children, and to members of parties
numbering one hundred.
The shops at Nikko will be found well worth a visit, as this city is the
market for many kinds of furs that are scarce in America. Many fine
specimens of wood carving may also be seen in the shops. The main street
of the town runs from the Kanaya Hotel to the railroad depot, a distance
of a mile and one-half, and it is lined for nearly the whole distance
with small shops.
On his return to the railroad the tourist would do well to take a
jinrikisha ride of five miles down through the great avenue of old
cryptomeria trees to the little station of Imaichi. This is one of the
most beautiful rides in the world. The road is bordered on each side by
huge cedar trees which are from one hundred and fifty to two hundred
feet in height. In many cases the roots of these old trees have formed a
natural embankment and the road is thus forced below the level of the
surrounding rice fields. These trees were planted nearly three hundred
years ago and they are certainly in a remarkable state of preservation.
A few gaps there are, due to the vandalism of the country people, but
mile after mile is passed with only an occasional break in these
stately columns, crowned by the deep green masses of foliage. Another
cryptomeria avenue intersects this and runs for twenty-five miles across
the country. The two avenues were planted in order that they might be
used by the shogun's messengers when they bore important letters to him
during his summer residence in Nara.
IN KYOTO, THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF JAPAN
Next to Nikko, one of the most interesting cities in Japan is Kyoto, the
old capital under the shoguns, the seat of several fine palaces and many
beautiful temples, and the center of large manufacturing works of
satsuma and cloissone ware, damascene work and art work on silk and
velvet. Kyoto may be reached by a short ride from Kobe, but from Tokio
it is an all-day trip of twelve hours by express train. This ride, which
would be comfortable in well appointed cars, is made tedious by the
Japanese preference for cars with seats arranged along the side, like
the new American pay-as-you-enter street cars. For a short ride the side
seat may be endured, but for hours of travel (especially when one is a
tourist and wishes to see the scenery on both sides of the road) the
cars are extremely tiresome.
By selecting the express train and buying first-class tickets it was
hoped to avoid any crowd but, unfortunately, the day chosen saw many
other tourists on their way across Japan. The result was that the
first-class car was packed and many who had paid first-class fares were
forced to ride in the second-class cars. In my car one side was occupied
almost wholly by Japanese. Two were in American dress, one was an army
officer in uniform, another a clerk with many packages, and the
remaining two were an old couple, richly dressed. The Japanese, in
traveling first-class, generally brings a rug or fur, which he spreads
over the seat. On this he sits with his feet drawn up under him in the
national style. Smoking is not prohibited even in the first-class cars,
so that the American ladies in the cars had to endure the smell of
various kinds of Japanese tobacco, in addition to the heat, which was
rendered more disagreeable by the frequent closing of the windows as the
train dashed through many tunnels. The old couple carried lunch in
several hampers and they indulged in a very elaborate luncheon, helped
out by tea purchased in little pots from a dealer at a station. The army
officer bought one of the small wooden lunch boxes sold along all
Japanese railways, which contain boiled rice, fried fish and some boiled
sweet potatoes. This, with a pot of tea, made a good lunch. The Japanese
in European costume patronized the dining-car, where an excellent lunch
was served for one yen, or fifty cents in American money.
The scenery along the line of the railway varied. The road skirts the
coast for many miles, then cuts across several mountain ranges to
Nagoya, then along the shores of Owari bay (an arm of the ocean), thence
across the country to the lower end of Lake Biwa, near which Kyoto is
situated. In the old days this journey consumed twelve days, and the
road twice every year furnished a picturesque procession of the retinues
of great nobles or daimiyos traveling from Kyoto to Tokio to present
their respects to the shogun. The road was skirted by great cryptomeria,
and avenues of these fine trees may still be seen near Nikko.
Kyoto was a great city in medieval days, when it was the residence of
the Mikado. From 793 until 1868, when the court removed to Tokio, Kyoto
remained the capital. Its importance, however, began to decline with
the founding of Yedo, or Tokio, in 1590, and to-day many miles of its
former streets are devoted to the growing of rice. In this way several
of the finest temples, which were once in the heart of the old city, are
now relegated to the suburbs. Besides the Mikado's palace and Nijo
castle, which may be visited only by special permit, Kyoto boasts of an
unusual number of richly decorated temples, among which the most
noteworthy are the Shinto temple of Inari; the temple of the one
thousand images of Kwannon, the Deity of Mercy; the great Buddhist
temple of Nishi-Honguanji, celebrated for its art work in paintings and
decorated woods; the great bronze Buddha, fifty-eight feet high; the big
bell near by, nearly fourteen feet high, and the other in the Cheon-in
temple here--these being two of the four largest bells in all Japan. To
describe the treasures in art and decoration, in gold and lacquer, in
these palaces, would be tiresome. Unless one is a student of Japanese
art the visiting of temples soon becomes a great bore, for one temple or
one palace is a repetition of others already seen, with merely minor
differences in architecture and decoration, which appeal only to the
specialist.
Kyoto, however, is of great interest for its many art shops--since
applied art, as seen in satsuma and cloissone ware and in damascene,
have almost reached the level of pure art. A visit to one of the satsuma
factories is an interesting experience, as it shows how little the art
of Japan has been influenced by the foreigner. Here one sees the potter
at his wheel, precisely as in the days of the Bible. He does not avail
himself of electric power but whirls his wheel by hand and foot, exactly
as in the time of Christ. Passing from the pottery to the art rooms, one
finds a number of Japanese men and girls painting elaborate designs on
bowls and vases and other articles. These artists grind and mix their
own oil colors, which they proceed to lay on slowly upon the article
they are decorating. The patience of these artists is indescribable.
Infinite pains is taken with a single flower or tree or figure of man or
bird. One vase exhibited here is covered with butterflies which range
from natural size down to figures so small that they can be discerned
only under a magnifying glass. Yet, this vase, which represents such an
enormous outlay of labor and time, is sold at thirty dollars in American
money.
At the damascene works both men and women are also employed, although
the finest work is done by the men. The art consists in beating into
bronze small particles of gold leaf until they have become an actual
part of the baser metal. This gold is arranged in a great variety of
design and, after being beaten in, the article is subjected to powerful
heat, which oxidizes the metal and thus prevents any change due to the
weather. At this Kyoto factory were turned out the most artistic
jewelry, boxes, cigarette cases and a great variety of small articles,
many of which sold at absurdly low prices, considering the amount of
labor and time expended on them.
Kyoto will be found one of the best cities in Japan for the purchase of
the art work just described, as well as embroidery, silks and other
stuffs. In many of these shops the work is done on the premises and
hence the prices are cheaper than in any other city except Yokohama. It
is worth while to visit the shops that exhibit bronze work, silks,
velvets and carvings in ivory and wood, as well as curios of many kinds.
Most of these shopkeepers demand more than they expect to receive, but
in a few shops the goods are plainly marked and no reduction in price
can be secured. At Kyoto the tourist will find many traces of primitive
Japanese life, especially in the unfrequented streets and in the
suburbs. Here in the bed of the river, a portion of which was being
walled up for a canal, were employed a dozen women digging up gravel and
carrying it in baskets to carts near by. They had their skirts tied up
and they were working in mud and water which reached to their knees. It
was not a pleasant spectacle, but it excited no comment in this country,
where women labor in the rice fields by the side of men.
A short ride from Kyoto brings the visitor to Nara, the seat of the
oldest temples in Japan, and famous for the tame deer in the park. A
long avenue of stone lanterns leads to the principal temples, in an
ancient cedar grove. The main temple gives an impression of great age by
its heavy thatched roof.
Next looms up the gigantic wooden structure, which houses Daibutsa, the
great bronze image of Buddha. This statue, which dates back to the
eighth century, is fifty-three and one-quarter feet high; the face is
sixteen feet long and nine and one-quarter feet wide. The god is in a
sitting position, with the legs crossed. The head, which is darker than
the remainder of the image, replaced in the sixteenth century the
original head destroyed by fire. The expression of this Buddha is not
benignant, and the image is impressive only because of its size. It has
two images eighteen feet in height on either hand, but these seemed
dwarfed by the huge central figure.
The park at Nara is very interesting, because of the tame deer which
have no fear of the stranger in European dress, but will eat cakes from
his hand. One of the sources of revenue is to sell these cakes to the
tourist.
A visit was paid to an old temple at Horyuji, about eight miles from
Nara, which is famous as the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan. It
contains a valuable collection of ancient Japanese works of art. The
rickshaw ride to this place is of great interest, as the road passes
through a rich farming country and two small towns which seem to have
been little affected by European influence. In the fertile valley below
Nara rice is grown on an extensive scale, these paddy fields being
veritable swamps which can be crossed only by high paths running through
them, at distances of thirty or forty feet. Here also may be seen the
curious method of trellising orchards of pear trees with bamboo poles.
The trellis supports the upper branches and this prevents them from
breaking down under the weight of fruit, while it also makes easy the
picking of fruit. Agriculture at its best is seen in this fertile
Japanese valley. One peculiarity of this country, as of other parts of
rural Japan, is that one sees none of the scattered farmhouses which dot
every American farming section. Instead of building on his own land the
farmer lives in a village to which he returns at night after his day's
work.
KOBE, OSAKA, THE INLAND SEA AND NAGASAKI
Kobe is regarded as a base for the tourist who wishes to make short
excursions to Kyoto, Osaka and other cities. It was established as a
foreign settlement in 1868, and has grown so remarkably during the last
ten years that now it exceeds in imports and exports any other city in
Japan. Kobe is one of the most attractive cities in the empire, being
built on a pretty harbor, with the land rising like an amphitheater.
Scores of handsome residences are scattered over the foothills near the
sea. Those on the lower side of the streets that run parallel to the
harbor have gardens walled up on the rear, while the houses on the upper
side of the streets have massive retaining walls. These give opportunity
for many ornamental gateways.
Kobe has many large government schools, but the institutions which I
found of greatest interest were Kobe College for Women, conducted by
Miss Searle, and the Glory Kindergarten, under the management of Miss
Howe. Kobe College, which was founded over thirty years ago, is
maintained by the Women's Board of Missions of Chicago. It has two
hundred and twenty-five pupils, of whom all except about fifty are
lodged and boarded on the premises. I heard several of the classes
reciting in English. The primary class in English read simple sentences
from a blackboard and answered questions put by the teacher. A few
spoke good English, but the great majority failed to open their mouths,
and the result was the indistinct enunciation that is so trying to
understand. Another class was reading _Hamlet_, but the pupils made sad
work of Shakespeare's verse. The Japanese reading of English is always
monotonous, because their own language admits of no emphasis; so their
use of English is no more strange than our attempts at Japanese, in
which we employ emphasis that excites the ridicule of the Mikado's
subjects.
Not far from this college is the kintergarten, which Miss Howe has
carried on for twenty-four years. She takes little tots of three or four
years of age and trains them in Froebel's methods. So successful has she
been in her work among these children of the best Japanese families of
Kobe that she has a large waiting list. She has also trained many
Japanese girls in kintergarten work. All the children at this school
looked unusually bright, as they are drawn from the educated classes. It
sounded very strange to hear American and English lullabies being
chanted by these tots in the unfamiliar Japanese words.
Osaka, the chief manufacturing city of Japan, is only about
three-quarters of an hour's ride from Kobe. It spreads over nine miles
square and lies on both sides of the Yodogawa river. The most
interesting thing in Osaka is the castle built by Hideyoshi, the
Napoleon of Japan, in 1583. The strong wall was once surrounded by a
deep moat and an outer wall, which made it practically impregnable. What
will surprise anyone is the massive character of the inner walls which
remain. Here are blocks of solid granite, many of them measuring forty
feet in length by ten feet in height. It must have required a small army
of men to place these stones in position, but so well was this work
done (without the aid of any mortar) that the stones have remained in
place during all these years. From the summit of the upper wall a superb
view may be gained of the surrounding country.
From Kobe the tourist makes the trip through the Inland Sea by steamer.
Its length is about two hundred and forty miles and its greatest width
is forty miles. The trip through this sea, which in some places narrows
to a few hundred feet, is deeply interesting. The hills remind a
Californian strongly of the Marin hills opposite San Francisco, but here
they are terraced nearly to their summits and are green with rice and
other crops. Many of the hills are covered with a growth of small cedar
trees, and these trees lend rare beauty to the various points of land
that project into the sea. At two places in the sea the steamer seems as
though she would surely go on the rocks in the narrow channel, but the
pilot swings her almost within her own length and she turns again into a
wider arm of the sea. In these narrow channels the tide runs like a mill
race, and without a pilot (who knows every current) any vessel would be
in extreme danger. The steamer leaves Kobe about ten o'clock at night
and reaches Nagasaki, the most western of Japanese cities, about seven
o'clock the following morning.
Nagasaki in some ways reminds one of Kobe, but the hills are steeper and
the most striking feature of the town is the massive stone walls that
support the streets winding around the hills, and the elaborate paving
of many of these side-hill streets with great blocks of granite. The
rainfall is heavy at Nagasaki, so we find here a good system of gutters
to carry off the water. The harbor is pretty and on the opposite shore
are large engine works, three large docks and a big ship-building
plant, all belonging to the Mitsu Bishi Company. Here some five thousand
workmen are constantly employed.
[Illustration:
The Daibutsu or Great Bronze Buddha
at Hyogo, Near Kobe. The Impressive Figure is Forty-eight
Feet High and Eighty-five Feet Round the Waist. It is
Not so Fine as the Daibutsu at Kamakura But
Surpasses That at Nara]
One of the great industries of Nagasaki is the coaling of Japanese and
foreign steamships. A very fair kind of steam coal is sold here at three
dollars a ton, which is less by one dollar and one-half than a poorer
grade of coal can be bought for in Seattle; hence the steamer Minnesota
coaled here. The coaling of this huge ship proved to be one of the most
picturesque sights of her voyage. Early on the morning of her arrival
lighters containing about a railway carload of coal began to arrive.
These were arranged in regular rows on both sides of the ship. Then came
out in big sampans an army of Japanese numbering two thousand in all.
The leaders arranged ladders against the sides of the ship, and up these
swarmed this army of workers, three-quarters of whom were young girls
between fourteen and eighteen years old. They were dressed in all
colors, but most of them wore a native bonnet tied about the ears. They
formed in line on the stairs and then the coal was passed along from
hand to hand until it reached the bunkers. These baskets held a little
over a peck of coal, and the rapidity with which they moved along this
living line was startling.
Every few minutes the line was given a breathing space, but the work
went on with a deadly regularity that made the observer tired to watch
it. Occasionally one of the young girls would flag in her work and,
after she dropped a few basketfuls, she would be relieved and put at the
lighter work of throwing the empty baskets back into the lighters. Most
of these girls, however, remained ten hours at this laborious work, and
a few worked through from seven o'clock in the morning until nearly
midnight, when the last basket of coal was put on board. At work like
this no such force of Europeans would have shown the same self-control
and constant courtesy which these Japanese exhibited. Wranglings would
have been inevitable, and the strong workers would have shown little
regard for their weaker companions.
Another feature of this Japanese work was the elimination of any strain
or overexertion. If a girl failed to catch a basket as it whirled along
the line she dropped it instantly. Never did I see anyone reach over or
strain to do her work.
The rest for lunch occupied only about fifteen minutes, the begrimed
workers sitting down on the steps of the ladders and eating their simple
food with keen relish. At night when strong electric lights cast their
glare over these constantly moving lines of figures the effect was
almost grotesque, reminding one of Gustave Doré's terrible pictures of
the lost souls in torment, or of the scramble to escape when the deluge
came. The skill that comes of long practice marked the movements of all
these workers, and it was rare that any basket was dropped by an awkward
or tired coal-passer.