"2V* JHU E^X^JH^R., B-.MliH«lUtflM CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION ON CHINA AND THE CHINESE Cornell University Library DS 810.E96 Japan as I saw it. 3 1924 023 492 527 \ . JAPAN AS I SAW IT Through Birdland Byways with Pen and Camera. By Oliver G. Pike, F.Z.S., F.R.P.S. This is Mr. Pike's best book. It is an Edition dc Luxe at a popular price, and is a marvel of excellence and cheapness. IV 12 mounted collotype plates. tm~ 36 full-page art cuts in duo tone. W 216 pages of text (demy 8vo). IV Charming end papers in colour. W Handsome full gilt cloth binding. Wild Animals and the Camera. By W. P. Dando, F.Z.S. Mr. Dando needs no introduction ; his marvellous photographs of wild animal life are known all over the world. This book includes some of his best photo- graphs, with accurate and attractively written letter- . press. The volume is uniform with " Through Bird- land Byways." W 12 mounted collotype plates. iW 58 art plates in duo tone. W 180 pages of text (demy 8vo). IV Charming end papers in colour. I*" Handsome full gilt cloth binding. New York : Frederick A. Stokes Co. The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023492527 SALUTATION IN THE STREET (After a sketch by C. Nctto and P. Bender) JAPAN AS I SAW IT \ BY A. H. EXNER ILLUSTRATED WITH SPECIAL ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLLOTYPE, ENGRAVINGS AND PICTURES DRAWN BY VARIOUS SPECIAL ARTISTS NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES CO. PUBLISHERS CONTENTS. THE HISTORY OF NIPPON PAGE Introduction — Proper meaning of the name " Japan " — The origin of the Japanese — The creation of the world according to Japanese legend — The primordial gods Isanagi and Isanami — The founding of the Japanese empire — Jimmu Tenno, the first historical Emperor of Japan — Meaning of the title *' Mikado " — The Japanese Imperial House, the oldest dynasty of the world — The conquest of Korea by the Empress Jingu !••- Kogo — The entering of Chinese customs and of t*-~— Buddhism into Japan — Tfye be efinninp of the s ystem ati- *^JSs¥3&^s^i^&^Mks^a^JjassaJ^ people— Minamotono Yoritomo, the ancestor of the Shoguns — The period of the Sham-Shoguns or the Regency of the House of Hojo — The invasion of the Mongolians under Kublai-Khan — The three dictators — Nobunaga, Hide- yoshi, and Iyeyasu — The first Europeans in Japan — Adventures of the Portuguese Fernao Mendez Pinto — Arrival of the Jesuits, their activity, and their success — First persecution and expulsion of the missionaries under Hideyoshi — Arrival of the Dutch in Japan — The persecution of Christians and the limitation of foreign trade to Hirado and Nagasaki — The massacre of Shimabara — Iyeyasu's decree and the shutting off of Japan from the outer world — The Dutchmen at Deshima and the Chinese at Nagasaki — The Japanese caste system — The Mikado — The Kuge — The Daimios — The Samurais — The Heimin — The Eta — Perry — Thefirst _tre_aties o^ jcom merce and friendship CONTENTS. P*GE with Japan — The assassination of the Englishman Richardson, and its consequences — The overthrow of the Shogunat, and the re-establishment of the absolute monarchy of the Mikado — The new era — The rebellion of Satsuma — The Japanese Constitution — The age of the dynasty, and the succession to the throne — The Emperor Mutsu Hito — Mekake — The new civil code, and the abolition of foreign consular jurisdiction — The conflict with China in 1894-1895, and the march on Peking in 1900-1901 — The Treaty of Alliance between Great Britain and Japan — The Russo-Japanese war of 1904 — The Annexation of Korea in 1910 — The death of Emperor Mutsu Kito, and the accession the throne by Yoshi Kito Haru- no-Mija ........ 13 II NAGASAKI Picture of the harbour — Nagasaki as a coaling station — Industry and commerce of Nagasaki — The town, its situation, and its inhabitants — The European settle- ment — Deshima and Tojin Yashiki — The surroundings of Nagasaki, and the scenery of the country — The Japanese population — The male and female Japan — Jg^ajisse-^hildren — The headdress of Japanese girls and women — The old Japanese costume — Dress of to-day — Marriages — Divorces — Japanese wedding ceremonies — T^ej>osifenjgfJ3ie wcmeninjapan — The Japanese house and its furniture — Danger from fire, and system of fire-brigades — Eruptions of volcanoes, and frequent earthquakes — T^hehot bath — Japanese house-gardens — The production s o!* w awarf-plants — Japanese fondness for flowers. .... 82 III KOBE, HIOGO, AND OSAKA Kobe — The ShiatoJsHiEle at Ikuta — Empress Jingu Kogo, and the birth of the god of war Hachiman — The waterfall Nuno-biki no Taki — Hiogo — The river CONTENTS. PKGE Minato-Gawa— TJK«bflUt»ifc. a»4 Jhj?.. jDubhcJath- houses — The " Amma " — The " Moxa " treatment — Osaka — The castle — The traffic and commerce of Osaka— T^ L hi^rvL.aad^exf tom,ent of Tapanjalk i ndus try — T.hemulberr^jgjnner — Mythical origin of the silkworm— ^ffieioreign settlement, Government works, and the army and navy of Japan . . . 119 IV KIOTO Kioto, its situation, its history, and its temples — The temple Nishi Hon-gwan-ji and the Hon-gwan-ji sect — The temple San-jiu-san-gen-do — The temple Kiyomizu- dera and the god Jizo — The historical Mikado palace — At a Japanese theatre — The tobacco bon — Male and female actors — Shakespeare's " Othello " on the Japanese stage — Wrestlers — The Japanese tea-house 1 — Geishas and samisen players — The joros and the yoshiwaras — Japanese art — Textile fabrics — Japanese painting — The lacquer industry — Porcelain — Bronzes 138 V THE LAKE BIWA, THE FUJI-NO- YAMA, AND THE KATSURA-GAWA RAPIDS An excursion to the Lake Biwa — The holy bell of Mii-dera — The origin of the Lake Biwa, and of the volcano Fuji-no Yama — The Lake-Biwa canal — The monas- tery Ishi-yama-dera — Tapangssjpod — Sake — Through the falls and rapids of the Katsura-gawa — Japanese agriculture and its importance for the country — .y a !!. ,i r in fi l . a - T, ^. <1l 'iH ninf> thfi fiplds— The. c ultivation of rice and its importance for the welfare of the Japanese people — Other vegetable productions — The floral kingdom 173 VI YOKOHAMA ^ The history of Yokohama and its importance as a shipping place — Description of the town — The climate of the CONTENTS. PAGE country — The white population of Japan and their mode of living — Chinese cook and boy — The betto — The kuruyama and the jinrikisha — The packhorse — The kago — Kanagawa — Mythical origin of the tea plant — History, development, and importance of the Japanese tea-growing — The introduction of tobacco- smoking in Japan — Paper manufacturing — Chinese ideographs and the Japanese syllabaries — Phonetic system with Roman characters . . . . igo VII TOKIO Situation, inhabitants, and general description of the town — Nippon Bashi — The castle — The Sotoshiro — Kuras — Conflagrations and earthquakes — The Uyeno Park — The cherry-blossom and other flower-fetes — The Shogun temples at Shiba — The tomb of the Nichiren at Ikegami — The temple Sen-gaku-ji with the burial- ground of the Forty-seven Ronins — Hara-wo-kiri . 208 VIII SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM Shintoism — Buddhism — History of Buddha — The Dai- butsu of Kamakura — Enoshima — The 500 eggs of the goddess Benten — The new era of 1868 — Confucianism — Christian religion ...... 223 IX NIKKO AND ISE Nikko — The cryptomerias at Imaichi — The holy lacquer bridge Mi-hashi — The vision of the Buddhist saint Sho-do-sho-nin — The burial of Iyeyasu in 1617 — The temple-grounds and the tombs of Iyeyasu and Iyemitsu — Ise — Pilgrimages — The history of the holy mirror — The insignia of the Empire, the Imperial crests, and the titles of the Mikado .... 243 LIST OF COLLOTYPE PLATES, A SALUTATION IN THE STREET GATHERING SHELLS A DAUGHTER OF JAPAN . ON THE VERANDAH A FESTIVAL ON THE WATER WITH DANCE AND SONG . ADVERTISING A NEW ARTICLE . A BETTO IN THE KAGO NATIONAL FESTIVAL IN UYENO PARK THE TOMB OF THE NICHIREN . BRIDGE OF MAKAYESHI AT NIKKO Frontispiece FACING PAGE 4 8 80 112 128 l60 I76 192 200 2l6 220 240 LIST OF ENGRAVING ILLUSTRATIONS AFTER G. BIGOT. FACING PAGE BONZES (BUDDHIST PRIESTS) 'Z MOTHER AND CHILD UN ELEGANT . A LADY'S HAIRDRESSER . LIGHTING THE KITCHEN FIRE / JINRIKISHA COOLIE IN HIS STRAW-WATER PROOF SERVING TEA . THE POSTMAN ITINERANT MEDICINE-SELLER STREET SINGERS A BEAUTY CHANTEUSE . FISHING WITH THE ROD ASELLING FISH AT THE BARBER'S . A POOR MAN'S FUNERAL J 16 32 72 88 96 104 120 136 144 152^ 164 168 184 188 208 232 LIST OF DUO TONE ILLUSTRATIONS. FACINO PAGE JIMMU TENNO, THE FIRST HISTORICAL MIKADO 14 MINAMOTONO YORITOMO, THE ANCESTOR OF THE SHOGUNS 24 TREADING THE CROSS UNDERFOOT . . 56 TRAVELLING PROCESSION OF A JAPANESE NOBLEMAN ..... 60 CHILDREN AT PLAY AND AT WAR . . 84 AT THE TOILET ..... go DIFFERENT FASHIONS IN HAIRDRESS — I. . 92 DIFFERENT FASHIONS IN HAIRDRESS — II. . 94 MALE HEADGEAR OF THE TIME BEFORE 1868 — I. IOO MALE HEADGEAR OF THE TIME BEFORE 1868 — II. 102 SLEEPING 108 A BLIND MASSEUR 124 WOOL-WINDING I32 THE TIRED CAB-HORSE .... 146 IN THE THEATRE 150 WRESTLERS 156 12 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. A GROUP OF WRESTLERS . A DANCING LESSON . A WOOD-SAWYER IN THE MOUNTAINS. THE BIG BELL AT KIOTO . FUJI-NO YAMA .... IN THE KITCHEN .... GOING HOME WORKING THE WATERWHEEL . TATTOED BETTOS .... HAVING A LITTLE CHAT . SIGN BOARDS WHEN THE TREES ARE BLOSSOMING . TEMPLE-COURT AT SHIBA . A CHARACTERISTIC SHINTO TEMPLE-GATE A SHINTO PRIEST .... A BUDDHIST PRIEST. A PORTABLE TEMPLE THE DAIBUTSU OF KAMAKURA . THE TEMPLE AT NIKKO . PILGRIM'S MORNING PRAYER THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN-GODDESS AMA TERASU, AT ISE FACING PAGB 158 l62 170 174 178 180 182 186 y 196 204 212 218 220 226 228 228 230 234 246 250 254 Japan as I saw it. i THE HISTORY OF NIPPON From the oldest cultured empire, from " The bloomy Middle Kingdom," now entering on the path to European civilisation, a sea-voyage of scarcely forty hours takes us across to that not less interesting wonderland of " the Rising Sun," whose inhabitants during the last two centuries have systematically kept themselves shut off from all intercourse with other nations, and who in 1850 were still denying any foreign vessel the landing at their coasts. Soon afterwards — scarcely twenty years later — these same people underwent a pro- cess of transformation unparalleled in history, by throwing off with quick resolve their own characteristic culture and by endeavouring to introduce and to acquire by storm all achievements of European civilisation. 14 JAPAN AS I SAW IT __ Before setting our foot on this highly attractive land of wonders, and before making ourselves better acquainted with its inhabitants, it might be first advisable to review briefly the history of Japan. We then shall be able to admire with greater delight all the charms of these beautiful islands, and be the more fully alive to the pecu- liarities of this interesting nation. The name " Japan," as designation of that most eastern cluster of Asiatic islands, comprising four larger isles and a considerable number of smaller ones, is a mere European mutilation of the Chinese words " Dshi-pen-Kue " or " Dshi-pon," which mean " kingdom of the origin of the sun." This Chinese expression has been converted by the Japanese into " Nippon," the present official characterisation of their country. " Nippon " or " Nihon " corresponds at the same time with the Japanese words " Nitsu " = " sun," and " hon " = "origin," and thus refers to the old Japanese myth, according to which the Mikado, the ruler of Japan, descends in a straight line from the sun- goddess Ama-terasu. The Japanese consider themselves native dwel- lers of their soil, and most positively reject the supposition of a mutual origin with the Chinese. Nevertheless the present Japanese may safely be JIMMU TENNO, THE FIRST HISTORICAL MIKADO. (660-585 B.C.) (After an old Japanese print.) THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 15 considered a mixed race, descending from an autochthonous population and foreign immi- grants, which latter had settled down long before our chronology on the southern islands of the Japanese archipelagus, from whence they made their way up to the north, conquering as they went. The origin of the immigrants of prehistoric time is to-day difficult to ascer- tain. According to Chinese chronicles Tartar throngs are said to have immigrated about 1,200 years before our era into Korea and the neighbouring isles, and from the structure of the body of the Japanese we may well conclude their descent from these Tartar immigrants. By figure the present Japanese are smaller than the Koreans but taller than the dark bearded and Esquimeaux- like Amos, whose origin lies still in darkness, and whom we find numbering about 17,000 in Northern Japan. The history of Japan can be divided into a legendary period, belonging to mythology ; into antiquity, commencing with the first historical Mikado, by name Jimmu Tenno, the " Divine Warrior," who founded the Japanese Monarchy in the fifty-eighth year of the Japanese cycle, or 660 years before Christ ; also into the time of the Shoguns, which began about the year 11 86 with 16 JAPAN AS I SAW IT Minamotono Yoritomo ; and finally into the modern times, which only began in 1853, and which saw the restoration of the absolute monarchy of the Mikado, the enforcement of the opening up of the country, and which in 1869 led to the adoption of European civilisation for Japan. Japanese legend traces the birth of the Japanese dynasty, of the whole Japanese nation, and of the creation of the world in general, back to the god Isanagi and the goddess Isanami. At the prime origin of all things, when the world still represented a wild chaos, when land, sea, and clouds had not been separated yet from each other, the primordial gods sprang into existence. The very first of these arose from a gigantic reed-bud which quite by itself had shot up from the midst of the boundless confusion. Other gods followed, and thus three generations passed ere that existing dry liquid and aerial mixture got separated, while around the root of that gigantic reed-bud the earth spread out, and in its calyx the heaven expanded. The third primeval god was succeeded in turns by four couples of deities, of whom each single couple ruled the world for many hundred thousands of years. The last of them were the mighty prim- ordial god of the air, Isanagi, and the primordial goddess of the waves, Isanami. To them Japanese BONZES (BUDDHIST PRIESTS). (After a sketch by G. Bigot.) THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 17 mythology ascribes the creation of the world in its present form, the creation of mankind, and the pro- duction of all that is alive and astir on this earth. Once when promenading on the bridge of heaven, which, playing in its seven different colours hung suspended without support in mid-air, Isanagi thrust his costly spear (richly studded with precious stones and corals) into that still unsteady effer- vescing mass below, and forthwith firm ground accumulated around the lance's point, and the first island arose into existence. Down to this isle now our celestial couple descended, and as, thanks to the wisdom of the great Celestial Spirit, Isanagi was a male and Isanami a female being, the sight of a billing pair of wagtails awakened carnal desires in their bosom, feelings up till then unknown to the gods, and they resolved to unite in wedlock and henceforth live together on the earth as husband and wife. Consequently they must be looked upon as the original ancestors of the Japanese nation, and as the progenitors of the human race in general. But not only men, not mere sons and daughters of flesh and blood, were the offsprings of this divine couple ; in the beginning these wonderful deities were also destined to give birth to whole continents. In the first place that delightful fertile isle of Yamato was born, then followed the islands of B 18 JAPAN AS I SAW IT Shikoku and Kiushiu and sundry other islands more ; all the other ones then curdled by them- selves from out of the surge of the islands borne by Isanami, and in this manner also China and all other mainlands were brought into existence. Here- after Isanami gave birth to the god of the sea, the god of the rivers, the god of the mountains, and the god of the plants, and besides presented her husband with a daughter of such beaming beauty that the parents resolved to assign to this child the fields of heaven as her abode, and to give her the name Ama-terasu, that is, " light of the skies." Over the iridescent bridge of the clouds Isanagi led his daughter into the celestial regions, where the mighty Celestial Spirit appointed her Goddess of the Sun and made her illuminate the universe. The next child of Isanami's was a boy, not less beautiful than Ama-terasu but of a wilder temper. Him also Isanagi sent into the Celestial Palace and made him rule as God of the Moon, Tsukiyomi, at the side of Ama-terasu. But owing to his rough disposition, a quarrel soon arose between brother and sister. Ama-terasu separated from her brother and henceforth allowed him to illuminate the firmament only at those hours when she herself did not do so. After the birth of these two children the good THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 19 luck of the glorious parents came to an end. Isanami gave still birth to another child, but it was the God of Fire, and his birth caused the mother's death. Racked with pain and desperation over the heavy loss Isanagi drew his sword and with a few terrible strokes cut the body of the new-born fire-god into pieces. From his remnants arose forthwith three new deities, the gods of the storm, of thunder and of lightning. After many fruitless attempts to become re- united with his deceased consort in the nether world, Isanagi retired into the Celestial Fields, where he settled down in the magnificent palace of his daughter Ama-terasu, and supported her in her work of ruling the universe. The earth was now bereft of its parents ; thus it was not to be wondered at that henceforth discord of various kinds arose amongst the gods of the earth, that war broke out, blood was shed, and finally general disorder and confusion prevailed. In order to settle these quarrels and re-establish peace and order, Ama-terasu made up her mind to rule the world herself, and for that purpose appointed her grandson Ninigi her substitute. Ninigi, there- fore, resigned the " Eternal throne of Heaven " ; its sublime ports opened before him, and with mighty strides he divided the boundless seas of 20 JAPAN AS I SAW IT fogs and clouds and descended from the fields of heaven down to the earth. Across the many- coloured bridge of heaven he landed on Kirishima- yama, " the peak of clouds," on the Isle of Kiu- shiu, and there founded a new empire, subsequently great and mighty, the present Japan. His great grandson was Kan Yamato-iware-hiko-no Mikoto, with the posthumous name Jimmu Tenno, the first historical Emperor of Japan. With Jimmu Tenno (660-585 B.C.) begins properly speaking the historical time of Japan, the establish- ing of the Japanese monarchy with its hereditary sacred government of the Mikados. Up to that period the form of government seems to have been more after the manner of the patriarchs. The various families appeared to have lived together in hordes under the command of their parents, until by the influence of Chinese seafarers, who from time to time landed on the Japanese coast, the monarchical idea took root more and more amongst the population, and about 660 B.C. the first histori- cal Mikado, by name Jimmu Tenno, took the reins of government into his hands. Jimmu Tenno and all his successors are sup- posed to descend lineally from Ama-terasu, the Goddess of the Sun. This faith accounts for the more than human reverence which up to our THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 21 modern days has been shown to the rulers of Japan by their subjects. Jimmu Tenno did not assume the title of his prehistoric forefathers " Mikoto," this characterisation solely belonging to the godly and half-godly beings of the first reigning race of the gods, but as their descendant he accepted the hereditary title " Mikado " = " Sublime Porte," a diminutive of Mikoto. Of the two names Jimmu Tenno the former means " Spirit of War," the latter " King of Heaven," and the name Tenno is still to-day applied to the Emperor, who in all international State documents is addressed as " the Tenno of Japan's Majesty." The dynasty founded by Jimmu Tenno 660 b.c. is still in reign, and looking back on a line of sovereigns of not less than 122 Mikados and nine Empresses, and of a reign of two and a half millenniums, considers itself to-day the oldest dynasty on earth. This seeming wonder finds its explanation in the fact that, though the Mikado has only one legitimate wife, he is allowed twelve legal concubines, whose children in case of barren- ness on the part of the Empress are acknowledged legal heirs to the throne. From these women have descended in the course of time the 155 houses of the Kuge, which form the highest hereditary nobility of Japan. 22 JAPAN AS I SAW IT The history of Nippon counts fifty Mikados, whose exploits fill its first fourteen centuries, which we may call the antiquity of Japanese history. The most important event of that period is the conquest of the peninsula Korea on the neighbouring continent in the beginning of the third century by the Empress-widow Jingu- Kogo, who at that time was reigning for her then still unborn son, Emperor Ojin (see page 121). Three and a half centuries later Korea was lost again. Repeated exertions were made in later years to regain the peninsula, and in our days this task was successfully accomplished. The conquest of Korea by Jingu-Kogo was of extraordinary importance in the further development of Japan. As a consequence of this campaign Koreans in great numbers became transplanted into Japan, and in this way Korea formed the bridge over which the whole Chinese civilisation with its literature, its peculiar arts and industry, its state organisation of multiform etiquette, and chiefly its Buddhism, entered into Japan. A long-lasting fight ensued between the new cult of Buddhism and the native State religion, the Shintoism, until under the fiftieth Mikado, Kuwammu Tenno (782-807), the monk Kobo Daishi succeeded in bringing together a reconciliation of the two cults THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 23 by declaring the Shinto heroes to be incarnations of Buddha. In the ensuing millennium of the middle ages the influence of Chinese etiquette and of the Buddhist monk and monastery system led to a gradual but more and more intense locking up of the sacred person of the Mikado from his people. On the foundation of the dynasty its government was a feudal one, and the sundry princes in the various parts of the country lived in utter de- pendency on the Mikado. Gradually this position changed ; the high prestige and the formerly unlimited authority of the Mikado crumbled away more and more. He became a playball in the hands of the mighty provincial princes, who made him rule according to their private wishes, until in the end he sank down to the status of a mere puppet. Two families of high nobility, the houses of Taira and of the Minamoto, were in constant conflict with each other for the supremacy, and by turns succeeded in holding in their hands the de facto power and leadership. During the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, as long as the old noble house of the Fujiwara (who since Tenji Tenno, the thirty-eighth Mikado (662-670), had been the friends and advisers of the Mikado), held the power in their hands, and while the Taira 24 JAPAN AS I SAW IT gained military glory as valiant generals in the south-east, and the Minamoto more in the north- east of the Empire, both families were still on tolerable terms with each other, but when they began to push aside the Fujiwara and to usurp their power, then the rivalry and hostility of both houses kindled into wild fury, and there ensued such hard battles as kept the country in a state of constant alarm for five centuries. Sanguinary wars devastated the provinces, destroyed the industrious work of the peasants, and caused a general pauperisation of the population. The history of this family quarrel of centuries' duration is rich in deeds of the highest bravery, and of the most genuine courage and heroism, but at the same time it also shows us how those same heroes did not shrink from perpetrating the vilest deeds by resorting to treachery, fraud, and assassi- nation, if such only helped to destroy the dreaded opponent, or odious rival. To bring to an end those continual fights and quarrels, from which the whole empire was suffer- ing, in the year 1186 an offspring of the house of Minamoto, by name Minamotono Yoritomo, was appointed by the Mikado Crown-General or Shogun (" Sho " = chief, and " Gun " = army), and equipped with unrestricted authority. As it H .S 3 s rt « a 03 A s- « o g. H s o o y. o H O g < 7- THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 25 often happens in such cases, Yoritomo turned to his personal advantage the great power vested in him. At the head of the army thus placed under his command, he frequently made common cause with the princes, and constantly endeavoured to increase his own authority. His power at last had grown to such an extent that he dared success- fully to usurp for himself the exclusive right of decision in all the internal and international quarrels of the empire. He was the first vassal of the Mikado, but de facto the real master of the country. He and his successors succeeded in divesting the Mikado of almost all his worldly power, leaving him only the empty titles and dignities, with the honours pertaining to the highest rank in the State, his holiness, and such other rights and privileges which seemed to offer no danger to the Shogunat. When Yoritomo (who consequently must be looked upon as the ancestor of the Shoguns) had firmly established himself in his new created dignity as the worldly sovereign of Japan, he undertook to make this rank of Shogun hereditary for his descendants. He died at Kamakura in the year 1199. During the last ten years of his reign peace and order were restored in Japan, and under a good legislation the people were able to recover 26 JAPAN AS I SAW IT from the hardships of the past wars. This chiefly was Yoritomo's merit, and therefore he is ranked among the most prominent men in the Japanese history, though he had been guilty of many a cruelty, including the numerous murders of relatives and the like. As, since Yoritomo's time, the Shogun at Kamakura officiates over Japan as worldly sovereign, the highest and sacred sovereign, the holy Mikado, residing at Kioto, is henceforth no more allowed to occupy himself with ordinary government work. He is regarded as too holy to breathe the common air, or to touch the ground with his feet ; he is carried everywhere on the shoulders of men, and when granting an audience — a very rare occurrence — he is always seated hidden behind a curtain, for few mortals only are considered worthy to behold his holy person face to face. By virtue of his godly origin he is the supreme Lord of Japan, but the worldly power rests exclusively with the Shogun. While the Mikado, from the ludicrous exaltation accorded to his rank, was sinking down to the status of a mere puppet, and while the Shogun was becoming through the weight of dignity and the corruption of sensuousness a king in name only, the feudal princes, each with a band of THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 27 warriors at his command, not only learned to disregard the Mikado at Kioto and the Shogun at Kamakura, but to wage war against each other, capturing each other's men, and acquiring their land. The holy Mikado was now merely a pup- pet in the hands of the Shogun. The Shogunat was conferred upon minors whose elder relations had been put out of the way by assassination and similar means, and the exclusive power of the empire was assumed by the guardians of these children. This power for a long time was held by an old house of nobility named Hojo, who under the title of Shukke reigned over Japan. This long period of the sham Shoguns (1199-1334) is also called the regency of the House of Hojo. Some of the twelve successive Shukke, no doubt, have deserved well of their country by restoring peace and order, as well as in the way of adminis- tration, but on the whole they have left with the Japanese a memory still worse than that of the Taira, from whom they descended. Their first members, especially, showed a tyranny and a favouritism which threw into the shade even the Taira. Under the regency of the Hojo the invasion of the Mongolians took place. Even previous to 28 JAPAN AS I SAW IT this the Japanese had had occasional intercourse with the Chinese, and more frequently with the Koreans, and had fought frequent sanguinary battles with the latter, but so far the seat of war had always been on the Asiatic mainland. This time the islands of Japan were to be the battlefield. Kublai-Khan, a powerful Mongol prince, desirous of conquest, had succeeded in dethroning the Sung dynasty of China, and forcing the whole of China and adjacent Korea under his rule. Not satisfied yet with these successes, he strove in his last conquest for the subjugation of that insular empire seaward from Korea, and during the years 1267-1270 sent Korean envoys repeatedly to Kamakura to demand subjugation and tribute. Having remained without answer he sent in the year 1273 a fleet of 900 ships across the water, but heavy storms dispersed and destroyed most of them. Not discouraged by this failure he once more, in the year 1279, sen t envoys to Kamakura with a letter, in which he demanded the submission of the Japanese and their sending tribute and princes to do homage. The Japanese answer to this challenge was the decapitation of the Chinese envoys. Kublai-Khan now began mighty prepara- tions for war, and during the summer of the year 1281 a Mongol-Chinese and Korean navy, said to THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 29 carry 200,000 men, sailed for Japan. This time again violent storms destroyed the greater part of the fleet, and only some 30,000 men disembarked on Kiushiu, where in a sanguinary battle they were utterly defeated by the Japanese under the Hojo Tokimune. Only three of the enemy were left alive to announce to Kublai-Khan the sad catastrophe of his bold enterprise. A few years after these events the Shukke Tokimune died. Under his successors the energy, so far always shown by the House of Hojo in steering the helm of State, began to relax. Arbi- trary administration of the country on the part of insolent officials and favourites made the Shukke hated by the people, and when in the year 1334 in a war with another feudal prince the last of the Hojo had been killed, the time of the sham Shoguns came to a close. A line of more or less active and energetic, or more or less tyrannic and voluptuous Shoguns appear on the scene, and with short intermission civil war is again the order of the day. During the period 1573-1618 there appear three dictators following each other. These three dictators gain great military glory (the Samurai [men-at-arms] crowd in forces around them), they drive away the Shogun and make the sham Mikado (who still as heretofore is considered 30 JAPAN AS I SAW IT by the people their highest and holy sovereign), rule according to their own wish and will. These three dictators, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Iyeyasu, are held up as the most eminent figures in Japanese history, and they are the more interesting to us because it is under their reign that for the first time European merchants and missionaries make their appearance in Japan. About the year 1300 the famous Venetian, Marco Polo, came from China to Japan. It was not until the year 1542 that Europeans landed on these islands for the first time since that date. Fernao Mendez Pinto, a Portuguese adventurer, who had already sailed through all the seas opened by his countrymen, and had visited all the coun- tries conquered by them, was the pioneer. He it was who first reached the Japanese islands, and brought the earliest news of them tq Europe. The story of his experiences in Chinese waters, and the description of what he had seen and Witnessed in the new-discovered country, seemed to every one so strange and wonderful, that for a long time the truth of his narrative was doubted, and his name " Mendez " treated as equally significant with " Mendaz," that is " liar." After many a wild and risky adventure Mendez Pinto, together with two other mates, Diego THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 31 Zaimoto and Christobal Baralho, had gone on board a Chinese pirate junk from Cochin China to China, intending either to trade or pirate, according to circumstances. Owing to heavy storms and fights with pirates, Pinto's junk had got separated from the other ones and had been driven out of her course on the high seas. After a wretched round- about voyage of twenty-three days the boat came in sight of the isle of Tanegashima, in the south of Kiushiu, where they disembarked at a small place called Kura. The foreigners soon had the Japanese governor of the isle on board their ship, who received them in a friendly way, and thoroughly questioned them about their nation- ality, and showed a great interest in their narratives and their descriptions of their far-away homes. An old woman from the Liukiu islands, who happened to understand the language of the Chinese captain, acted as interpreter. The arms and the long beards of the strangers aroused the curiosity of the* Japanese much more than the goods which the foreigners had on board their ship ; but the greatest sensation was created by Zaimoto with his gun when he shot some ducks with it. The stupified lookers-on, who had never seen firearms before and knew nothing of their mode of working and effect, rushed away to the 32 JAPAN AS I SAW IT governor of the isle to tell him of the great wonder which they had witnessed. The governor, - Toki- taka, made the foreigners show him the gun and explain it to him, and then got so enraptured over it that he adopted Zaimoto as his son and over- whelmed the strangers with kindness and honours. Very soon the Japanese succeeded by copying the construction of the gun in manufacturing an equally good firearm, and likewise to produce the necessary powder for it. Pinto says with reference to this, " When after a stay of about six months, we left the island, there existed already more than 600 guns, and afterwards in the year 1556, when the Viceroy Alphonso de Noronho sent me to Japan, there was then every town of the empire amply provided with the new arm." The reports about the Japanese people, their riches, and of the great profits which Pinto and and his comrades gained on their goods, induced many other merchants to follow their example, and soon a small fleet of merchantmen, rigged out by Portuguese and Chinese, sailed from Ningpo for Japan, but most of these vessels got lost in a typhoon, and only few of the inmates, amongst them Pinto, escaped with their lives. This ill success of their first commercial undertaking did not discourage the Portuguese living on the coasts MOTHER AND CHILD. (After a sketch by G. Bigot.) THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 33 of China ; new attempts were made, and soon the Portuguese and Spaniards of East Asia had estab- lished regular commercial connections with Japan. There was about the beginning of the sixteenth century, apart from the greed after riches and the craving for conquest, a general proselytism in vogue at the Courts of Europe. When Portuguese merchants on their return home had circulated the first news about Japan, King John III. of Portugal hastened to send as first apostle of his colonies the Roman Catholic Francisco Xavier (a disciple of Loyola, the founder of the order of Jesu), together with two companions, first to India and from there on to Japan, where Xavier landed in 1549. The Jesuits, who got a friendly reception from the natives, soon displayed a great activity in the country. They founded hospitals, in which both converts and heathen were received and nursed with the same charity ; they especially directed their attention to the education of the young people, and tried to satisfy the natural predilec- tion of the Japanese for imposing ceremonies by the display of great pomp at their ritual festivals. In consequence, the sect of the Kirishitan (Chris- tians) soon made progress, the more so on account of the similarity between the ritual of Roman Catholicism and that of Buddhism. The Japanese c 34 JAPAN AS I SAW IT convert found in the new faith his rosary, his scent, the image- worship, the little bells and candles, the celibacy, the monasticism, and the favourite pompous processions, to which he was accustomed by his former rites. Not a long time had passed when the mission- aries succeeded also in winning over to the new doctrine mighty Daimios, and amongst them the prince of Omura. He was the first Christian prince of Japan, and a true friend to his Portuguese admirers, who gave him the name of Don Bar- tholomew, the Christian hero. He had all idols destroyed in his province, prohibited there the exercise of the old ceremonies, and tried by force to make his subjects adopt the new faith. He gave permission to the Portuguese merchants to settle down at Nagasaki on the isle of Kiushiu, which place at that time was only a small fishing- village, but by its excellent harbour well fitted to become an outlet for the trade with China and the East Indies. In the year 1568 he built a Christian church at Nagasaki and invited the missionaries to take up their headquarters there, where no other religion but their own should be tolerated. The princes of Bungo and Arima were also won over to the new doctrine, and thus it happened that in the year 1582, at the instigation of the Jesuits, THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 35 the three Christian princes sent special envoys to Rome, where Pope Gregorms XIII. received them with great ceremony, and under the display of all the ritual, pomp and splendour of the Roman Catholic Church. The freedom which the Christian missionaries in Japan enjoyed was not to be of long duration. The mighty feudal prince and dictator of that time, Ota Nobunaga, was a declared enemy of the Buddhist monasteries which had always given refuge to his adversaries, and aided them with their wealth ; he, therefore, had endeavoured to break the power of influence of the Buddhists, to oppress Buddhism and support from political reasons the Christian religion in its stead, though the spirit of Christianity was entirely foreign to him. This valuable support the Christians lost, when in the year 1582 Nobunaga died, and his favourite and military leader Hideyoshi (later on called Taiko Sama) took his place. In the begin- ning also Hideyoshi seemed to desire to keep up friendly relations with the missionaries, but this seeming favour lasted only as long as the time needed by Hideyoshi to establish securely his sovereignty over the country. As soon as he had succeeded in doing so, he changed his behaviour towards the Christians, tried to oppress them as 36 JAPAN AS I SAW IT much as possible, and finally, in the year 1587, published a decree of banishment, by which all missionaries were ordered to leave the country within twenty days. At the time of this decree there were according to the " Histoire de l'Eglise " about 300 Jesuits in Japan, and the number of converts amounted to between 200,000 and 300,000. Amongst these were many Japanese of prominent position, such as daimios, princes, generals, and other high digni- taries. But the influence of the enemies of the Christian faith was predominating at the Court, and in addition found strong support in the bound- less sensuality and vanity of Hideyoshi. He was vexed and irritated by the resistance which he had met with on the part of pure fair Christian girls of Arima (which province was famous for the beauty of its daughters), and from where now beautiful women were to be procured for the seraglio of the Shogun only with great difficulty. So he issued in 1587 his first decree of exile against the missionaries, but only a comparatively small number of priests obeyed the order ; the bulk of them, under the protection of the three princes, remained concealed in the country. This protection the Christians were soon to lose. Taiko-Sama, who in his vanity wanted to subdue all China and Korea to his THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 37 sovereignty, sent a big army to Korea, and after having conquered sundry Korean provinces left there as a garrison the three Christian princes and their Christian troops. The separation from their protectors, the re- newed persecution on the part of Taiko Sama, and his order to disarm all adherents of Christianity, caused great alarm amongst the Jesuits. But it was not only this hostility of the Shogun, and the jealousy of the Spanish merchants from Manila (to whom the trade monopoly usurped by the Portuguese was a thorn in their side) which threat- ened the Jesuits with destruction ; the behaviour of many missionaries themselves had roused public opinion against them. The cautious Jesuits had been followed by other more impetuous orders, by Dominican, Franciscan, and Austin friars. These unpolished friars, who were like fanatics in their attempts to convert everybody, gave many annoyances by their love of splendour, their arrogance, and their craving for gold. Even the native Christians complained of them. In the year 1596 a case of clerical arrogance occurred which the Japanese nearly regarded as an offence against the Sovereign. A bishop, in meeting on the road a high Japanese councillor of State, did not think it worth his while to leave his sedan 38 JAPAN AS I SAW IT chair, as Japanese custom prescribes, and in this manner committed the heaviest offence against Japanese etiquette. The complaint of the offended councillor reached also the ears of the Shogun and helped still more to irritate him against the insolent Christians. Such was the state of things when a Spanish sea-captain, in his ill-feeling against the Jesuitic- Portuguese influence, succeeded in rousing further the hatred of Taiko Sama against the Jesuits. When pointing out on a map the colonial posses- sions of Spain, extending all over the globe, he said in answer to Taiko Sama's question, " how such vast dominions had been conquered ? " " My sovereign, first of all, usually sends priests into the countries which he wants to conquer ; they have to convert the natives ; he then after- wards sends troops, and these with the assistance of the converted natives as a rule easily succeed in conquering the country." This information alarmed the Shogun to such a degree that he forth- with sent his men-at-arms into the monasteries, colleges, and schools of the missionaries and had everybody who was met there arrested. The foreigners amongst them became exiled, while twenty-four captured Japanese, who had their left ears cut off in the open market-place at Kioto, THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 39 were then transported to Nagasaki, and there finally suffered as the first Japanese martyrs the cruel death of the cross. By the command of the Shogun all members of clerical orders were now exiled from Japan ; but on this occasion again only comparatively few priests left the country ; many remained in Nagasaki and its environs under the pretext that the small vessel had not been able to take them all in, and there secretly continued to exercise their vocation. Taiko Sama was not allowed to harass them much longer ; his part came to an end ; his disso- lute life had ruined his health ; he died in Septem- ber, 1598, and under his successor the three Chris- tian princes with their Christian troops returned from Korea, and in consequence better protection and greater freedom was again secured for the missionaries. Owing to the discovery of the sea-route to the East Indies, beside the Portuguese and Spanish there appeared now also the Dutch on the scene, and on the nth of April of the year 1600 the first Dutch vessel anchored in the harbour of Bungo. Eleven years later they obtained the concession to call at any harbour in Japan and to trade in peace- ful manner with the natives. The like concession, 40 JAPAN AS I SAW IT two years afterwards, was also granted to the English. As the new Shogun did not share the exaspera- tion of his predecessor against the Christians, the courage of the missionaries had risen again ; the general of the Jesuits raised Japan to a special province, and the Pope appointed Pater Louis Cerquera first bishop of Japan. The prestiga of the missionaries increased more and more, and ultimately by their influence they succeeded in getting the Daimio Konishi to expel all Buddhists from his province of Higo, and to order that no other creed but the doctrine of the Jesuits should be taught there. But on the other hand the new Dutch arrivals looked with great discontent on the increasing influence of the Jesuits, and made strenuous efforts to undermine the repute of the Catholic missionaries with the Shogun and his councillors. By the expulsion of the Jesuits they would gain the exclusive privilege of the lucrative trade with Japan for themselves. Though the Dutchmen did not succeed in this effort during Konishi's time, the situation altered unfavourably to the Jesuits, for in a civil war this Christian prince lost his life. The victorious general Iyeyasu — later known by the title Gongen Sama, i.e. Incarna- tion of Buddha — invested a Buddhist with the THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 41 Christian province of Higo. He now acted in the reverse manner, and called back the Buddhists and expelled the Christians. The number of the latter is said to have amounted at the time to about 600,000. With the transition of the Shogunat through Iyeyasu into the family of the Tokugawa, a new epoch began in the history of Japan. For more than 250 years (1600-1868) the Tokugawa re- mained in undisputed possession of the highest power, and following civil wars, which for cen- turies had devastated the land, they secured for Japan an amazingly long period of peace. The early part of this epoch is the time when the feudal system received its most perfect formation, when the Christian religion became extirpated by all means of ruse and violence, and when the inter- course with foreigners was restricted to the mere exchange of goods with a few Chinamen and Dutch- men who were kept in confinement at Nagasaki. The persecution of the Christians was this time a very fierce one, and only a few missionaries under the disguise of Portuguese merchants re- mained in the country. All converted Japanese who refused to renounce the Christian faith were fastened to the cross, beheaded, or had to suffer death by fire. Also fourteen Jesuits, who had 42 JAPAN AS I SAW IT remained behind and were caught, lost their lives ; amongst them was Spinola, a well-known mis- sionary, who for twenty years had been preaching the gospel in Japan. They all died by fire. In connection with the persecution of the Chris- tians the siege and capture of the fortress of Osaka by Iyeyasu and his son Hidetada occurred in the year 1615. In this stronghold Hideyori, the son of the deceased Taiko Sama, had repeatedly received the Jesuit patres, until the castle had become the place of refuge to all malcontents and outlaws, who under circumstances might become dangerous to the houses of Tokugawa. Therefore Iyeyasu with a strong army took the field against them, and after a very sanguinary battle the castle was stormed, and the Christians deprived of their last hiding-place. According to Japanese reports, probably exaggerated, about 100,000 persons lost their lives in this struggle. When afterwards some of the exiled priests and friars had secretly returned to Japan, Hidetada in the year 1617 issued a decree, by which he pro- nounced death-sentence upon every foreign priest who should still be found in the country. At the same time Hidetada confined foreign trade within the districts of Hirado and Nagasaki, and in 1621 forbade the Japanese to leave their islands. THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 43 His son and successor, Iyemitsu (1623-1651), a sovereign possessed of not less zeal and energy than his grandfather Iyeyasu, held the reins in still iirmer hands ; he endeavoured to complete the ex- termination of Christianity in his empire, brought about a perfect seclusion of the country from all foreign influence, and carried into full effect the state of dependency created and so minutely drawn up by Iyeyasu. By this means he made all classes of society dependent on him as the first official of the Mikado and the mightiest commander in the empire. In the year 1624 a ll foreigners, with the exception of the Dutchmen and Chinese, were expelled from the country, and another decree was issued, in compliance with which all bigger ships had to be destroyed, and ship-building became limited to the construction of vessels of a certain moderate size only. In this way Iyemitsu prevented the Japanese from sailing on the high seas and coming into contact with foreign nations. New persecutions of the native Christians fol- lowed, even more horrible than before. Any Japanese, suspected of being a Christian, was asked to tread publicly the cross under foot. Thousands fled to Formosa, China, and the Philippines, while other thousands were crucified, beheaded, drowned, 44 JAPAN AS T SAW IT or buried alive. All tortures which barbarianism and hatred were able to devise were put into practice. They were not content with the ordinary mode of execution but threw the victims down from steep precipices, buried them alive, had them torn to pieces by oxen, made them perish on the stake or die by starvation in cages with meat and drink before their eyes. The reports of the Jesuits are full of details of these atrocities, and also of the heroism shown by most of the Christian victims. Griffis says in his description of them : " The annals of the first Church do not give us any examples of martyrdom and stoical firmness in the Colosseum or the Roman arenas, which have not found their parallel in the river-beds and on the places of execution in Japan." When these nefarious deeds had been going on for about two decades without any substantial resistance being shown on the part of the Chris- tians, open rebellion broke out at last amongst the people of the kingdom of Arima, where Roman Catholicism had still its greatest number of adherents. The rebels succeeded in taking the fortress of Arima on Shimabara, eastward of Nagasaki, but there they were besieged for three months by the Shogun, who finally took the for- tress by storm and slaughtered all survivors. The THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 45 massacre which followed the capture of Shima- bara defies every description. Thousands of the besieged were transported to the Papenberg ( = monks' rock), a small isle before the harbour of Nagasaki, and thrown down from the steep preci- pice into the sea, while the great majority found their graves at Arima. Japanese history calls this butchery " the massacre of Shimabara." Judging from the reports of Engelbert Kaempf er, the well-informed and thoroughly reliable German medical doctor, who in Dutch service arrived at Nagasaki in the year 1690, as well as from reports from other sources, we may take it as certain that the Dutchmen, in their hatred of the Catholic Christians, gave the Shogun active assistance with their cannons in this last battle against the native Christians. " Our resident Kokebecker," Kaemp- fer states, " went himself on board our ship to Shim- abara and during fourteen days fired 426 heavy cannon-shots at the besieged Christians." The notorious decree, by which the Portuguese became expelled from Japan, the Japanese for- bidden by capital punishment to leave their native country, and by which Japan in this way was shut off from the outer world and its progres- sions for two and a half centuries, reads as follows : " 1. No Japanese ship or boat nor any 46 JAPAN AS I SAW IT Japanese native is allowed to leave this country. Whoever ventures to act contrary to this order is to die, and ship, crew, and cargo shall be seized. "2. All Japanese returning from foreign countries are to suffer capital punishment. "3. He who discovers a Christian priest will receive a reward of 400-500 sheets of silver, and for each Christian in proportion. " 4. All persons spreading the Christian doctrine, or bearing this infamous name, shall be thrown into prison. "5. All Portuguese, with their mothers and wives, and all those belonging to them, shall be banished to Macao. " 6. Whoever brings a letter from abroad or after having been exiled does return is to die ; likewise all his family and all those who intercede on his behalf. "7. No nobleman and no soldier is allowed to buy anything from a Christian." Besides the Chinese there were now only the Dutchmen left trading in the islands, but they also, in the year 1641, had to give up their settle- ment at Hirado, and were confined to a small plot of land. The little island Deshima (De-shima = fore-isle), an artificial sea-embankment of scarcely THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 47 680 feet in length and 250 feet in width, close to Nagasaki, and united with it by a small connecting gate-bridge, was assigned to them as their residence, and for its use they had to pay a high annual lease to the Japanese Government. On this small island there lived like prisoners, in the service of the East Indian Company, sixteen to twenty Dutchmen, whose task it was to act as inter- mediaries in the trade with Japan. In the begin- ning they were only permitted to receive one ship annually, but later on they were allowed eight ships per annum. The ships on their arrival were at once occupied by the Japanese ; all arms had to be given up for the time of stay, and all the unloading and loading was effected under strict supervision on the part of the Japanese officials. A direct dealing with the natives was no longer permitted, the sale of their imports took place by mediation of Government officials, who as ap- praisers gave on certain days a valuation of the goods arrived with the Dutch vessels from Batavia. The treatment these Dutchmen received at the hands of the Japanese was very humiliating ; they were dealt with like pariahs, and watched over like thieves ; they, however, cared less for good treatment than for great profit, and therefore submitted to all the degradation inflicted 48 JAPAN AS I SAW IT ^_ on the part of the Japanese. Their governor, who held the title of a Dutch resident, went annually to Yedo like all other vassal princes, to walk on all-fours up to the Shogun to do homage, to hand over precious presents, and to renew the vow not to spread abroad the Christian religion. With reference to this Kaempfer writes as follows in his reminiscences : — " In this dependent condition we have to submit to many a humiliating retrenchment on the part of these haughty heathens. We are not allowed to celebrate our Sundays or feast-days, or to let them hear our church songs or prayers, or speak out the name of Christ ; no picture of the cross or any outside sign of Christianity is permitted. Besides which we have to submit to many exacting demands, which are always very irritating to a sensitive mind. The only reason which makes these Dutchmen stand all this outrage so patiently is their love for the gain of the precious marrow of the Japanese mountains." The profits which the East Indian Company annually drew from their intercourse with Japan, chiefly from their Japanese exports of silver, gold, copper, silk, camphor, china, and bronzes, were indeed very large. In spite of the very high THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 49 salaries which the company had to pay to their staff at Deshima, and the many additional heavy expenses (amongst which was the annual visit of their Resident to the Court at Yedo, with accom- panying presents which amounted to about £3,000), they did a brilliant stroke of business in Japan. According to F. F. Rein, the Dutch exported from Japan during the years 1609-1856 not less than 206,253 tons of copper, for £28,000,000 silver and for £15,500,000 gold. In the beginning they could ask their own prices for their imported European goods, but in 1672 this became altered as we have seen, referring to which Kaempfer says :— " Our golden fleece, which we annually fetched from Colchis, has changed into a common skin." Nevertheless, at this period the net profits on the imports, which originally amounted to 90 or 100 per cent., came still up to 40 or 50 per cent., and approximately as high were the profits which the Dutch made on the copper which they received in exchange for their goods. In a similar way to the Dutchmen, the Chinese later became restricted in their freedom of trade, and were sent to a settlement at the southern end of Nagasaki, but their movements were not watched over with the same strictness, neither were they asked to send a representation to the D 50 JAPAN AS I SAW IT Court at Yedo and offer presents, nor had they, like the Dutchmen, to sell their goods at prices fixed by the Japanese appraisers. Their transac- tions with Japan were, after all, only small, and according to Thunberg amounted in imports (chiefly consisting of silk cloth, raw silk, sugar, and medicines), to merely about £150,000 value per annum. Through his system of shutting off Japan from all foreign intercourse, Iyeyasu has made his country lose two and a-half centuries. It is true, he has guarded it during this time from civil wars, but he gave it order and peace without freedom, and sentenced the highly gifted Japanese to a dead standstill, and to a most rigorous caste system ; all this for the purpose of securing for himself the highest absolute power in the State and a dynasty for his family. He stripped his sovereign, the Mikado (who on the strength of his godly descent was the supreme Lord of Nippon) of all his power, and even reduced his annual income to a minimum of 10,000 koku rice (1 koku = 5 bushels) . The income of the smallest Daimio did not amount to less, while that of the mightier vassal princes to many times this sum ; for instance, the Prince of Kaga received 1,027,000 koku rice, the Prince of Satsuma 710,000, and the THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 51 Prince of Sendai 625,000 koku. " That I, the servant, have to dictate laws to my sovereign, fills my heart with terror, but he himself has given me strict order to do so " — with these words Iyeyasu tries to exculpate himself. More correctly he ought to have said, " With my sword I have forced him to sanction my laws ! " As for the rest, Iyeyasu accommodated himself to the popular belief of the divinity of the Mikado, did not curtail his right to bestow empty titles on the living and to deify the dead, and left to him numerous other honours and prerogatives which were in no way dangerous to Iyeyasu's position. The dogma of infallibility (nigi-mitama) was also applied to the Mikado, and it is from all such reasons as these that the Mikado formerly has so often been considered as the Clerical Sovereign or Pope of Japan, while the Shogun has been looked upon as the worldly ruler of the empire. Save his women and the highest ministers of State, never any other subject beheld the holy person of the Mikado. When giving an audience, which happened but very rarely and only to special favourites, he was sitting on a throne of matting and concealed behind curtains. Kaempfer says of him : — " Indeed, there is assigned to all parts of 52 JAPAN AS I SAW IT his body such a holiness that he never ventures either to cut his hair or his beard, or his nails, and in order to avoid these things growing too unbecoming and indecorous, they cut them under the cover of night ; when he dirties himself, they clean him at night-time when he is asleep, for, they say, what is taken from his body at this time is stolen, and such a theft cannot be derogatory to his dignity and holiness." It may be pointed out here that it was not Iyeyasu who created this state of affairs ; he had found it essentially like that ; but he made use of it and increased it to his own advantage. As we have seen before, this state of things had gradually developed, partly through following the Chinese model, but chiefly in consequence of the volup- tuous and enervating life at the Court. Iyeyasu having reduced the income of the Mikado to a minimum, now with even greater lack of consideration put into practice the maxim " title without means," against the Court aristo- cracy of the Kuge. In the veins of their 155 houses flows Mikado blood ; they therefore rank immediately after the Imperial family, and thus are in rank above the Shogun. Their first five houses, called the Gosecke, have alone the right THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 53 to give the Mikado his legitimate wife, while his twelve legal concubines (mekake) are selected from among the other Kuge houses. They are the hereditary holders of offices at Court in the imperial household, and have to take their abode in Kioto around the Mikado's palace. What they were to live on in future became now their greatest concern, for, in order to destroy their influence, Iyeyasu dispossessed them of all landed property, which in those days represented the only form of wealth, and to which henceforth only the military aristocracy of the Daimios was to be entitled; consequently they sank down into poverty or had to seek refuge in priesthood. Though Iyeyasu thus made them starve, his dynasty at a later time had to suffer severely for it ; for they were continually plotting its overthrow, and in our days succeeded in doing so. In rank immediately after the Kuge came the military nobility. Their head was the Shogun as Lord of the Daimios (dai = grand ; mijo = name), who had under its command the 400,000 households of the Samurais of five persons each ; the Samurais represented the seventeenth part of the population. Their duty was : Fidelity to their feudal- sovereign till death, never to waver on the battle- 54 JAPAN AS I SAW IT field, and if the honour or the family interest of their sovereign demanded so, the voluntary or commanded suicide (hara-kiri). In war time they had to take the field, in time of peace to be on guard in the castle or before the residence of their sovereign, to march in his retinue, and on festival occasions to increase the splendour and display of his power by their numerous attendants in gala garb. The idea of honour filled them with con- tempt for the earning of money. Like the old Romans they were only allowed to act in military and civil service and to engage in husbandry, but only the Samurais of Satsuma and Tosa availed themselves of the latter permission, and were in consequence believed to be in body the strongest and bravest. The privilege of the Samurais con- sisted in the right to bear two swords, one long and broad, to be handled with both hands ; the other of short size, with a blade of nine and a half inches in length. Hence the cry of cross-temper : " Nine and a half inches to you ! " consists in the com- mand to execute hara-kiri. Nearly a quarter of all the Samurais formed the guards or the army of the new Shogun. They consisted of Gokene ( = soldiers) and Hatamoto (= commanders). The income of a Hatamoto varied from 500 to 9,999 koku rice ; if it was raised THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 55 to 10,000 koku he was ranked a Daimio. Each daimiat was a little feudal-state of its own with soldiers and ministers. The Shogun had power over life and death of the 255 Daimios. At the head of these stood the Sanke (or Gosanke = highnesses), namely, the three sons of Iyeyasu. They had to nominate the Shogun from their midst, and were provided with one and a half million koku rice in all. In the same way as the Kuge in Kioto, the Daimios henceforth had to live in Yedo. Never were they permitted to enter Kioto, to bring any request about titles or the like direct before the Mikado, or to enter into marriage-ties with the Kuge. As a pledge of good conduct they had to leave their wives and children constantly at Yedo, and they themselves were only permitted to spend one-half of the year on their domains. To secure this their steps were constantly dogged by spies. The common people (Heimin) were divided into three classes : the peasants, among whom the big landowners were allowed to bear swords, the mechanics, and the merchants. Also these three classes were kept afar from each other by strong prohibition of intermarriage. Outside the society stood the Eta ( = impure) 56 JAPAN AS I SAW IT as curriers, workers in leather, and grave-diggers. Very likely they are the descendants of butchers from the time when the ruling Buddhism forbade the killing of beasts and the taking of animal food. They lived secluded in special quarters of the town, had their own organisation, and were partly even possessed of riches. To get married with persons outside their own class was not permitted to them ; higher born people never entered their houses, neither were they allowed to eat and drink in company with them. Such was the caste system, born by feudalism, minutely circumscribed in Iyeyasu's testament, and rigorously carried through by his sons or successors. This was the actual state of affairs in the empire, when in the first half of the nine- teenth century sundry vain attempts were made on the part of the foreigners to re-establish trade connections with Japan as formerly. Russians, Englishmen, and Americans had one after another sent trading vessels to Japan, but to all of them landing had been denied ; even the bringing home of shipwrecked Japanese, who had been cast adrift by the storm on the Siberian and American coasts, did not induce the Shogun to show a better attitude towards the foreigners. On the contrary, in the year 1843 he gave order to the Dutchmen at 1 § a 6! £ SB Eh « o ~ H O g 5 < K H THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 57 Deshima to make known to all the seafaring nations the following imperial decree : — " Shipwrecked Japanese dare not be brought back to their native country but on board of Dutch or Chinese vessels. Should such ship- wrecked natives be brought home in ships of other nationality, they will not be received. In consideration of the express order which forbids even the Japanese to explore the coasts of the islands of this empire, this pro- hibition is for still more valid reasons also put in force against all foreigners." This seclusion of Japan was felt most keenly by the Americans, for the commerce on the west coast of the United States was rapidly developing and was demanding connections with Asia across the Pacific. In San Francisco Commodore Perry had been propagating the opening up of the Japanese wonderland, on the coasts of which at various times American whalers had been cast shipwrecked. Responding to the strong call of public opinion Commodore Perry was sent in the year 1853 with four battleships to Japan to con- clude with that empire a treaty of commerce and -friendship. In July, 1853, he landed at Yoko- hama, sent his message to the Shogun, and recog- nising that his fleet was not imposing enough to 58 JAPAN AS I SAW IT secure success, he declared that he was to give the Japanese Government time for consideration, and would come back for the answer within a year's time. There was now great alarm and excitement in Yedo and Kioto. Iyeyasu, who two centuries ago had intentionally shut off Japan from the outer world and its progressions, had very pru- dently kept open a little backdoor in the Dutch settlement at Deshima. Through this channel, with the intention of strengthening the power of the Shogunat, he had regularly received his reports concerning all new military inventions in Europe. But only he and his two next successors, his son and grandson, were sovereigns possessed of zeal and energy, and had kept themselves regularly posted up in this way. After them came children and weaklings, whose guardians took little or no interest at all in European warfare and strategical science, and never asked for the Dutch reports. Therefore it follows that the armament of the Japanese on Commodore Perry's arrival still consisted of suits of armour, old matchlock guns, and primitive cannons. With the increasing indo- lence of the Shoguns, the Kuge, whose influence and privileges had been so greatly cut down by Iyeyasu, began again to raise their heads. They looked for and now found in the arrival of the THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 59 American fleet an opportunity of further under- mining the power of the Shogun. They hoped ultimately to break it down and to restore to the Mikado his original authority and power, hoping also in this way to regain for themselves their lost power and their old prestige. The Shogun had to decide with regard to the American request, and whatever decision was arrived at, they could turn it against him. If he intended to offer resistance, then they could justly blame him that through his fault Japan was not armed in conformity with the age, and that resistance would be madness ; were he to consent to the American demands, then they would preach, " Honour the Mikado and hate the foreigners." In February of the following year Perry arrived again before Yokohama ; this time with a fleet (consisting of eight ships, among which there were three steamers) such as the Japanese had never seen before. In the Bay of Yedo, Perry came to anchor, twelve miles nearer the capital than the last time. In vain the Japanese tried under various pretences and with all their arts of per- suasion to induce Perry to retire to the more distant Uraga. In a calm but decisive manner Perry insisted on his request to negotiate about the treaty at Kanagawa, while his fleet rode at 6o JAPAN AS I SAW IT anchor near by in the good harbour of Yoko- hama. It was in Kanagawa where the Americans showed the Japanese to their greatest delight and amazement the telegraph and railroad, an effective means for the promotion of the negotiations, which on the 30th March, 1854, led to the so-called treaty of Kanagawa, which opened the two ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to the American trade. Commodore Perry was the intellectual author of the expedition bearing his name, which he con- ducted with great ingenuity, and the results of which not only benefited Japan and the United States but also the entire civilised world. The self-reliance and dignity with which he declared that the Americans would never undergo such restrictions and humiliations as Dutchmen and Chinese had done, impressed the Japanese just as much as his friendly but firm bearing and his great display of power. On the news of the bloodless victory of the Americans the other nations soon followed exam- ple. In 1855 a Russian fleet appeared on the scene, and soon after English, French, Dutch, and Prussian ships arrived and concluded the like or similar treaties of commerce and friendship with Japan. The abundance of news, now pouring in from all THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 61 sides, soon created a lively commercial intercourse between the foreign States and Japan, and the rapid increase in commerce and the pressing demands on the part of the foreigners ultimately led the Shogun to grant to the foreign nations the right of permanent legations at Yedo, free circula- tion for five miles round the treaty-ports, consular jurisdiction, and religious and commercial freedom. The Daimios took advantage of these conces- sions to fan the flame of discontent and hatred against the Shogun. The Shinto priests incited the minds of the Samurais ; the hatred against the foreigners grew, and with it the power of the Mikado. Until a short time previously the Shogun had been possessed of all the means of power, having the soldiers on his side, while the Mikado held merely an empty title of authority ; now cir- cumstances had changed completely ; the Daimios and their soldiers took the part of the Mikado, who now beside the title held also the means of power and sovereignty in his possession. In sight of the growing power of the Daimios, who seemed to have the avowed intention of reinstating the Mikado in all his former rights, and then to expel the foreigners, it naturally was going ill with the true execution of the treaties. Often differences and conflicts occurred between natives and foreigners, 62 JAPAN AS I SAW IT when the long sword of the Samurai and the revolver of the Europeans came into use, as the Shogun had no more the power in case of need to protect them, and the Samurais denied that the treaties had any binding force, because the articles of agreement had only been signed by the Shogun but not by the Mikado. In the year 1861 the English and North American embassies were attacked under cover of night, set on fire, and some Englishmen killed. Soon after, in the year 1862, another murder occurred, historical by the name of " the Richardson case," which led to military pro- ceedings on the part of the foreign States. Three English merchants and a lady were out on horse- back on the surroundings of Yokohama, when they met the mighty feudal prince Shimadzu Saburo of Satsuma, who with great retinue was on his way to Yedo. Japanese etiquette demanded that, on the cry of the herald : " Shita-ni-iro " (down to the ground !), pedestrians had to throw themselves down, and the horsemen get off their horses. " May the Japanese do so," thought the English- men, " how does that concern us ? " and they rode past the sedan chair of the prince. But with the equal logic thought Daimios and Samurais : " In Japan one pays Japanese coin ; who asked you to come to Japan ? " and with their long THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 63 swords drawn they mercilessly charged the for- eigners. The Englishman Richardson was killed on the spot, while his companions escaped severely wounded. England demanded an indemnity of £100,000 and the delivery of the guilty prince. The first was consented to by the Shogun, the latter refused. Therefore in 1863 an English fleet of battleships sailed to Satsuma and destroyed its capital Kagoshima. In the meantime the Prince of Choshiu, by his own power, had constructed shore batteries on both sides of the narrow sea channel of Shimon- oseki between the big islands of Hondo and Kiushiu, which formed part of his dominions, and from there fired on each passing foreign ship. Thereupon the English ambassador, Sir Rutherford Alcock, did not rest until he had succeeded in uniting England, France, the Netherlands, and the United States in a combined action against the intractable Japanese. Under the command of the English Rear-Admiral Kuper and the French Rear- Admiral Jaurez the opening up of the Straits of Shimonoseki was forced, the fortifications of the Prince of Choshiu destroyed, and a contribution of three million dollars exacted from the country. Thus the Japanese were made aware of the superiority of Europe, while they, too, had made 64 JAPAN AS I SAW IT themselves respected. Miserably armed and badly- led, they had fought as boldly as heroes and had fallen beside their cannon. One could foresee what they would be able to perform when in possession of good arms and under able and strategical leadership. The two lessons which the Japanese had received at Kagoshima and Shimonoseki in a large measure helped to make them abandon the idea of the expul- sion of the foreigners and gradually altered the views of the Daimios in that respect. Though they now avoided any further attack against the foreigners, they did not relent in their endeavours to overthrow the Shogunat. Still more princes stood up against the Shogun Iyemochi, and when his army had been defeated in a battle with the haughty Prince of Choshiu, even the remaining Daimios who so far had remained true, deserted him. Soon after this defeat, Iyemochi died and was succeeded by Hitotsubashi (also called Keiki), the last of the Shoguns. For a time Hitotsubashi held the reins of government, but finally was obliged in all affairs of greater importance to apply for the consent of the Mikado. By the latter there now stood as his friends and protectors a number of the most influential Daimios such as THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 65 the Princes of Satsuma, Tosa, Choshiu, and Hizen; the Shogun, therefore, after having lost all his authority, ultimately felt obliged to comply with a request of the Daimio of Tosa, and to resign his office. On the 19th November, 1867, he handed in his resignation to the young Mikado Mutsu Hito, who was then only seventeen, and at the same time moved himself a revision of the form of government. Shogunat and Bakufu (curtain-reign) were now done away with, and all those who did not acquiesce in the new order were declared rebels, and arrested. At the same time the seven Kuge, who had been banished by Keiki, were called back, and installed as the Imperial Government and as trustees for the young Mikado. No place was left in the new organisation for the Shogun ; Keiki thereupon took up arms, but though the war in the beginning seemed to turn favourably to him, he was ultimately beaten and expelled from the country. Now that the absolute monarchy of the Mikado was re-established, a flood of innovations set in, such as the world's history had never witnessed before. With one big jump Japan tried to leap the deep crevice of a two centuries' seclusion. Mutsu Hito's first step, or rather the first act of his 66 JAPAN AS I SAW IT cabinet of trustees, was to sanction all treaties concluded with the Foreign Powers by the last four Shoguns. By the 7th February, 1868, the Mikado had in a most ceremonious manner handed over through an envoy extraordinary an imperial letter to all the foreign representatives at Hiogo, by which he informed the sovereigns of all the foreign nations and their subjects that in consequence of the Shogun's resignation the Mikado had taken the supreme power into his own hands, and that by his imperial order a special Foreign Office had been established for the despatch of all foreign affairs. The hatred against the foreigners, which had only been stirred for the purpose of undermining the position of the Shogun, had served its purpose, and was no longer needed. In its place came the cultivation of friendly relations with the foreign States and the copying of their manners and cus- toms ; this was done all the more fervently when the diplomatic mission which the Japanese had sent to England in 1865 to apply for a reduction of the war indemnity returned home, for they declared in ecstasy " not these foreigners but we ourselves are the barbarians ! " Japan now began earnestly to cultivate diplo- matic intercourse with Europe, and by 1869-70 she entered into a revision of all the commercial THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 67 treaties, when not only were the troublesome restrictions of the old treaties abolished, but the ports of Yokohama, Kobe (Hiogo), Niigata, Naga- saki and Hakodate were declared treaty ports and opened to foreign trade. The position of the Daimios, who up till then, as we have seen, had ruled almost arbitrarily over their dominions was now also to undergo an alteration. In the year 1869 the Central-Government at Tokio had asked them to continue for the next time as governors, and with their old staff of officials to carry on the administrations of their dominions. This could not go on permanently, and, therefore, in the following year all Daimios and their families were called to Tokio, and there forced to give back to the State their dominions, together with their income and prerogatives of government and juris- diction. There remained to them only a tenth of their former income, but as henceforth the maintenance of the Samurais and officials was discontinued, as were also the expensive presents and visits at Yedo, they made a good rather than a bad exchange. Though they lost all their former powers of government, they still retained their high social positions, for a new aristocracy with the former feudal princes as its basis became formed. It consists of five grades corresponding 68 JAPAN AS I SAW IT to the European titles of princes (not imperial), marquis, count, viscount, and baron. The old division of the country, which counted more than 600 smaller and larger feudal dominions, was abolished and the country divided into administra- tive districts (ken). The caste system was de- stroyed, and marriage allowed between all classes. But the most important innovation, and in a way the pledge of the stability of the new order, was the creation of a new regular army of 60,000 men drilled by European instructors, and chiefly taken from the peasantry and only in a small number from the class of the former warriors, the Samurais. Only the Samurais and the Bonzes came off badly by the new system. The former were likewise reduced to a tenth of their original incomes, but they made out that this was not sufficient for them to live on, and therefore soon discontent and the desire to return to the old state of affairs became perceptible amongst them. As regards the Bonzes, Buddhism, with its alienation from practical active work, and Its support of monasticism, lost all influence under the new organisation ; its wealth became confis- cated by the State and its priests dependent on public and private charity. In the place of Bud- dhism Shintoism and Christianity now were sup- THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 69 ported, to be followed a few years later in 1876 by general religious freedom. Innovations of all kinds and the ardent desire to introduce the civilisation of the West distinguished the government of Mutsu Hito. Already in 1870 Tokio became connected by telegraph with the port of Yokohama, which place was quickly rising in prosperity. By help of the English a railroad was built, lighthouses were constructed, naviga- tion and other schools opened, and in Osaka a mint established. Frenchmen assisted in the building of arsenals, wharves, and dockyards, and re-organ- ised the army, while Germans were called for as teachers of medicine and managers of mines. The Christian Sunday was introduced as a general day of rest for the population, the bearing of swords was forbidden, and the sacred and formerly invisible Mikado now showed himself face to face to hispeople. It was only natural that discontent in many quarters followed the great changes in the forms of government, the administration of the civil service, the army re-organisation, and the complete revolution in the customs of the people. In the years 1873-1876 disturbances broke out repeatedly, but were all quickly suppressed. Far worse was the rebellion of Satsuma in 1877, which the new Japan had to strain every nerve to settle, and 70 JAPAN AS~ I SAW IT which she did not subdue until after seven months' duration. The originator and leader of this rebellion was no minor, but General Saigo Kichino- suke, that Daimio who by his judicious advice and his great valour had chiefly assisted the Mikado to re-establish his worldly sovereignty, and for which he had received rich reward and the highest honours. He found, however, that he could not accustom himself to the new order of things for which he had been so largely respon- sible. By prestige he ranked immediately after the Mikado, and therefore at his call many thousands of malcontent Samurais flocked together under his colours. But the regular peasant soldiers of the Mikado defended themselves bravely against the rebellious Daimios and Samurais, and though the latter had assembled nearly 50,000 strong on the Isle of Kiushiu, they finally had to suffer entire defeat. Saigo fell with the last handful of men on the hill Shirayama, near Kago- shima, on the 24th September, 1877. When the rebellion was subdued allowances were made for the rebels. Of the 42,500 persons who had been accused of open rebellion, 39,632 were pardoned, and of the remaining number only twenty were sentenced to death. No fewer than 65,000 men of the military and police forces THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 71 combined had been put in the field by the Govern- ment in order to put down the rebellion ; of these 7,000 had been killed, 11,000 wounded. From a monetary point of view this rebellion had cost the Government the sum of 42,000,000 yen, at that time equivalent to about £8,400,000, and its financial after-effect was felt by the country for a very long time. England and France in their treaties with Japan had reserved for themselves the right to keep at Yokohama for the protection of their subjects a garrison of 300 soldiers each. Now, having convinced themselves of the strength of the native Government by the severe test of the Satsuma rebellion, both States withdrew their troops from Japan, which procedure was highly appreciated by the Japanese Government. Epoch-making for the further development of Japan was the year 1881, when the Emperor Mutsu Hito promised the proclamation of a constitution on representative principles for the year 1890. This occurrence was looked upon with wonder in Europe and the United States alike. To give such a long term for the proclama- tion of the constitution was very wise, for earnest preparations were necessary, and to this purpose Count Ito was sent to Europe. 72 JAPAN AS I SAW IT On the nth February, 1889 (the anniversary of the accession to the throne by Jimmu Tenno, the founder of the Japanese monarchy), the constitution was solemnly promulgated, and in November, 1890, Parliament met for the first time. The Japanese constitution is considered the work of Count Ito, who, of course, had had the benefit of a great number of native and foreign co- operators, amongst the latter chiefly Germans. The whole basis of the constitution is modern. The position of the Emperor has been fixed by seventeen articles. His authority remains a very great one. He is the head of the empire, combin- ing in himself the rights of sovereignty, and exercising the whole of the executive powers with the advice and assistance of the Cabinet Ministers, who are responsible to him and appointed by him. There is also a Privy Council who deliberate upon important matters of State when they have been consulted by the Emperor. The Emperor has the supreme command of the army and navy, and decides about their effective force ; he can declare war, make peace, and conclude' treaties ; he declares state of siege, confers titles and nobility, and grants amnesties. He exercises the legislative power with the consent of the Imperial Diet, and only in its absence or in case r ^ ■> UN ELEGANT. (After a sketch by G. Bigot.) THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 73 of public danger a departing from this condition is permissible ; but any such exception must be brought before Parliament on its re-opening. Every law requires the consent of the Imperial Diet. Regarding the rights of the people — not counting special exceptions— the house of a citizen dare not be entered or searched without his permission ; his letters enjoy — omitting a few legally-fixed exceptions — inviolability ; he enjoys a freedom of religious belief and practice which is secured by the constitution, so long as it is not prejudicial to peace and order. The Imperial Diet consists of two houses, the House of Peers and the House of Representatives. Both houses have the same rights — a few special cases excepted — and form a whole which repre- sents the public opinion of the country. Both houses take active part in the legislation, but do not execute any sovereignty ; they may respec- tively initiate projects of law, can make represen- tations to the Government as to laws or upon any other subject, and may present addresses to the Emperor. The members of the House of Representatives are elected by the people. Every Japanese of at least twenty-five years who is possessed of the 74 JAPAN AS I SAW IT civil rights, and pays a certain amount of govern- ment tax, is entitled to vote. The members of both houses receive an annual allowance as well as travelling expenses, and no one is allowed to decline these allowances. All deputies enjoy immunity. It is a widespread mistake to believe that Japan has ever been a monarchy or even a despotism from a regular point of view. The whole of Japanese history with its two and a half millenniums gives us, with comparatively brief intervals, a picture of incessant civil wars. A monarchical idea has only been represented sporadically and for short intervals by single prominent characters. As for the rest the country wasted away under the continual fights between smaller and bigger lords. It is true, upon the whole, there was always floating the imperial idea, but it was more a mere idea than a real sovereignty. The dynasty said to descend from heaven and being the representa- tive of deity feels proud of its being the oldest dynasty in the world, and of its looking back upon a reign of 2,500 years. But if we investigate its history more closely, it soon comes to light that it was exactly the succession to the throne which almost regularly has caused quarrel and conflict, and that there is very little of divine spirit to be THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 75 discovered in it. We learn besides that the phenomenal continuity of the dynasty not only rests on the basis of polygamy but that it has been brought forth in a very artificial way, especially by loans from the houses of Arisugawa and Fushimi (who only in a wider sense belong to the imperial family) and by other adoptions. By the Imperial House law of nth February, 1889, the succession to the throne has now been definitely fixed upon the male descendants. In case of failure of direct descendants the throne devolves upon the nearest prince and his descend- ants. The late Emperor Mutsu Hito was born at Kioto, 3rd November, 1852, succeeded his father, Komei Tenno, 13th February, 1867, and assumed sovereign power on the 25th January, 1868. He was married on 9th February, 1869, to Princess Haru Ko, born 28th May, 1850, daughter of Prince Ichicho Tadaka Daidsin, of the House of Fujiwara Ichicho. She has been childless, but the Emperor has had a number of children by various mekake ("morganatic wives"). According to Japanese law since ancient days the Tenno is allowed twelve morganatic wives besides the Empress. The latter takes part in appointing them, and they are chosen from amongst the nobility, live in the 76 JAPAN AS I SAW IT palace, and are attached to the Empress as " dame du palais, " or " dame d'honneur . ' ' Their children, as soon as acknowledged by the Emperor, are legitimate, and entitled to succession. According to an old custom the Empress used to have to spend every second night in the apartments of the Emperor, while during the other nights the mekakes had to watch with him. Their sequence was regulated in Kioto by the First Mistress of the Robes, the most influential lady at the Mikado's Court in former days, but as her political or otherwise inconvenient influence on the Emperor was feared, her post was not filled up again in 1868, and has since remained vacant. Emperor Mutsu Hito had assumed sovereign power at a very early age. His father, Komei Tenno, died suddenly at Kioto just at the time when the great reform, the general revolution of customs and manners, was beginning. He may be considered lucky in that he himself was not called upon to take an active part in this complete revolution in all traditions and customs, to which he had strictly and solemnly adhered through a lifetime. Only a young monarch like Emperor Mutsu Hito could change so completely with his country, and act the part of a modern constitutional sovereign with ease and assur- THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 77 ance. Emperor Mutsu Hito had passed his youth at a time when the Mikado still lived as a holy, invisible, godlike being at Kioto, adored and venerated, but never seen by his people. Family traditions and Court customs of the most conservative kind have been his constant sur- roundings, religious functions were his occupa- tions, and the taking in hand of the actual worldly government by the Tenno himself seemed in the eyes of old Japan a descending from the godlike sphere, from the aureola of Kioto down into the detestable ugly political stir and bustle of Yedo. No reasonable thinking person could expect the Emperor Mutsu Hito to have broken at once with all the old views and customs, which were dear to him by tradition and habit. His feelings must naturally have been averse to many an innovation, and he therefore often acted a passive part, and this not at his country's cost. His cautious influence has frequently prevented a precipitancy on the part of the too rash reformers. His great merit lies in the political discernment with which he ordered and underwent himself all the reforms which seemed absolutely necessary. Political necessity then forced him to walk on, step by step, on the road once chosen, and thus change the religious head of the nation, which the Mikado for 78 JAPAN AS I SAW IT the past centuries had been, into the constitutional monarch as we see him to-day. Under the reign of Emperor Mutsu Hito Japan has made unparalleled progress in civilisation, and in the adoption of western manners and customs. After he had given a constitution to his subjects, the next and most important task for the Govern- ment was to give the country a new system of justice, founded on modern jurisprudence. This great work was completed chiefly with the assist- ance of German lawyers. The new Civil Code came into operation in 1898, and soon after, in July, 1899, the revised treaties with the various foreign Powers were finally concluded and put into force. Consular jurisdiction was given up by the foreign Powers, and thus the blame of half-civilisa- tion taken off the nation. With equal rights and duties Japan now entered as a fully recognised burgess the circle of the western political system. At the same time the whole country was thrown open to foreign commerce. In 1900-1901 Japan, as one of the interested States, took part in the march of the allied European forces on Peking, and in the subsequent occupation of the Chinese capital. The valour, endurance, discipline, and efficiency of the Japanese con- tingent, as displayed on this occasion, were unani- THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 79 mously acknowledged by all the foreign nations. A couple of years before, in 1894-1895, during the course of their conflict with China, the Japanese had likewise given excellent proofs of their bravery, steadiness, and discipline, and their squadron had been handled with considerable skill and decisive effect. Japan gained a great triumph a few years later when, in 1902, the diplomacy of her statesmen succeeded in securing British co-operation in support of mutual interests in Far Eastern affairs. On 30th January, 1902, the Treaty Alliance between Great Britain and Japan was published. This alliance strengthened the Japanese Govern- ment in its relations with other foreign Powers, pro- moted its growing influence with China, and was, as we all have seen, of the greatest importance to Japan in her war with Russia in 1904, when it was the means of keeping other nations from interfering in the struggle between the two adversaries, and so prevented general warfare. We need not dwell here on the causes and issues of this great Russo-Japanese duel. The events are still in everybody's memory. With a fore- sight that overlooked nothing, and with an attentiveness that scrutinised everything, the Japanese Government had planned and executed 80 JAPAN AS I SAW IT a campaign which for sheer thoroughness has never been surpassed in history. By her peace conditions, Japan gained the recognition of her preponderating influence in Korea and the surrender of the Russian leases of the Liotung Peninsula, including Port Arthur and Dalny, and the Blonde and Elliot Islands, The years 1905-1910 were devoted to consolidat- ing these fruits of the war. By a new treaty with Korea a Japanese general was established in Seoul as permanent adviser to the Korean Government in all important questions. Thus the military department, the law courts, the finance, etc., were slowly but surely brought under Japanese influence, and by-and-bye passed over into the sole management of Japan, till finally a new treaty between Japan and Korea was signed and entered into law on its promulgation on the 29th August, 1910, by which Korea was formally annexed, and so now forms an integral part of the Japanese empire. After a reign of forty-four years, Emperor Mutsu Hito died at Tokio on 30th July, 1912. Measured by time, his life covers a period of sixty years ; measured by events, it stretches from the darkness of the Middle Ages to the enlightenment of the twentieth century. He is succeeded on V.-i ii ..IT. 'f-tx-j ^■.i7-:.:k. f&l tjhkv^sS A DAUGHTER OF JAPAN THE HISTORY OF NIPPON 81 the throne by his son, Yoshi Hito Haru-no-Mija, who was born on 31st August, 1879, and was married on 10th May, 1900, according to a thousand years' tradition, to a daughter of one of the five houses of the Gosecke, to Princess Sadako, a daughter of Prince Kujo Michi-taka. Emperor Yoshi Hito is the first Japanese Emperor who received a really Western education. At a very early age he was taken away from his mother and put under the care of Marquis Toka- maro Nakayama, the guardian of the Imperial Nurseries, whence at the age of seven he was sent to the Nobles' School at Tokio, where he was allowed to mix freely with the boys of his own age as far as this is possible within the limits of the etiquette attaching to the Crown Prince. The era of " Meiji " (of the Enlightenment), begun with Emperor Mutsu Hito, will, no doubt, further expand under the reign of his son, Emperor Yoshi Hito. I conclude this chapter by quoting the words of an old, time-honoured prayer of the Japanese for their monarch — " May continual happiness give you longevity, May eternal peace bless your people ! " II NAGASAKI After a somewhat stormy crossing from Shanghai I arrived at daybreak before Nagasaki. Wakened by the noise of the chain-cable, I cast a glance through the " bull's eye " of my cabin, and felt at once delighted with the beautiful scenery spread out before my eyes. It is an irregular mountainous country, and its hills are covered with exuberant vegetation. Under the rays of the morning sun, mountains, valleys, and hillsides were showing their most wonderful tints. Picturesque hills, planted up to their summits with slender evergreen nut- pines, varied with waving valleys of flower and fruit-bearing fields, which appeared interwoven with brooks like silver threads. Friendly little houses were looking out here and there from between the fir trees, bamboo, and sycamores, and the numerous bays of the isle were alive with fisher-boats and merchant vessels. The harbour of Nagasaki at the south-west coast NAGASAKI 83 of the Isle of Kiushiu lies so hidden that one only notices it when One is already in it and close to the town. Three English miles long and three and a half miles wide, it is so completely surrounded by land that it makes the impression of a big inland lake. To the left of the harbour's head we see rising nearly perpendicularly from the sea a small island about 200 feet high, covered up to its summit with magnificent trees and luxuriant shrubs; it is the isle Taka-boku, of doleful remembrance, called Papenberg by the Dutch, the scene of those massacres at the time of the Japanese persecution of the Christians under Iyemitsu (see page 45). Nagasaki, the " Long Cape " (nagai=long, and saki=cape) is chiefly from historical reasons of interest to the new arrival. About the middle of the sixteenth century the Prince of Omura allowed the Portuguese to found a factory at Nagasaki, which was at that time only a little fishing village, but, thanks to its excellent situation at the west end of Japan, was extremely well suited to become the starting-point for the trade with China and India. Owing to this situation in the extreme west and to its great distance from the capital of the empire, Nagasaki could remain for a long time the safe shelter for the Christian missionaries and 84 JAPAN AS I SAW IT the Dutch merchants against the persecution of their adversaries. Later on, when all priests had been expelled from the country, and the Christian faith had been suppressed with all the means of torture which hatred and barbarism could invent, Nagasaki for two centuries became the only one port in this mysterious wonderland where foreign ships were allowed to anchor, and from where we received the first reliable reports of the " Land of the Rising Sun," of its inhabitants, and of their manners and customs. As a coaling station Nagasaki is of special im- portance to foreign ships, and the export of coal from Japan and especially from the Isle of Kiushiu has become a very considerable one. No other product of the Japanese mining industry — copper perhaps excepted — is found in so many parts of the country, and to no other one has the Govern- ment bestowed such great attention. It was not before 1859 w ^ n tne reopening of the commer- cial intercourse with foreign countries that in Japan a strong demand for the black treasures of her mountains sprang up, which gave such a good start to her mining industry. Quantity and quality of the annual output of coal have since had a constant and strong increase. The rich coal-seams of Japan are undoubtedly of inestim- NAGA&KI 85 able value for the development of her industry and her national wealth. The, quality of the coal is, like all the East-Asian pit-coal, inferior to the English and Rhenish coal ; it is a tertiary coal, its youthful age being proved by the many den- drolites of leaves of foliage trees, which are regu- larly found on the slate accompanying the coal. Regarding the industrial products of Nagasaki, there is to be mentioned in the first place its tor- toise-shell work ; then the ordinary lacquer- work inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and its varnished pottery. Beside these articles and the consider- able quantity of coal there are also exported via. Nagasaki rice, tea, tobacco, camphor, and vegetable wax, as well as dried and salt fish, and eatable sea-weed. Nagasaki offers, in comparison to other Japanese ports, only little worth inspecting. The town is situated in a little valley, which it covers nearly completely and from where its narrow streets are climbing up the hillsides. The neat and capacious European quarter runs in broad streets along the harbour, while the Chinese as usual congregate more in the background. Tfye European who visits Nagasaki must not miss paying a visit to Deshima, the former factory of the Dutch (see page 46). To-day 86 JAPAN AS I SAW IT Deshima has lost its former character ; even the dwelling-houses and store-rooms of the Dutchmen have disappeared ; a conflagration has destroyed them, and so the Deshima of to-day reminds us by its appearance in no way of its former vocation. Tojin-yashiki, the old factory of the Chinese in the centre of the town, from where at the same period about a hundred pigtailed sons of the Asiatic mainland were doing a small import and export trade between China and Japan, has also disap- peared and made room for more modern buildings. The charm of Nagasaki lies in its unsurpassed environs, in its really beautiful situation on the blue bay, that is spreading out before the eye like a large and picturesque inland lake, affording a beautiful panorama. The streets run along the harbour in terraces, climb up on both sides to the hills and mountain ranges, which form here and there charming little valleys, and rise at the bay's end in the Campira mountain to a height of 1,500 feet. All round the vegetation is in full display. Persimmon, wax and camphor-trees, camellia and gardenia are here at home, together with ivy, thistle, willow, and fir-trees. Alongside the beech and oak we see the pinnated bamboo and the palm- tree, and all these representatives of the tropical and the temperate zone grow and bloom alike in NAGASAKI 87 beauty and abundance. All ideas of a geographical division of the flora over the earth seem to be lost here. It is chiefly this strange and peculiar mix- ture of products of the tropical and temperate zone which makes such a great impression on the foreigner, an impression which he will not easily forget and which leaves admiration and surprise in his mind. Wherever we glance, charming valleys and hills with their double-zoned vegeta- tion greet us ; picturesque villages are situated at the hillsides, and everywhere we meet the always cheerful Japanese people, merrily and smilingly enjoying the delightful scenery. During daytime the streets are thronged with tradespeople and buyers, and in the evenings they are swarming with joyous, harmless, cheerful people going out pleasure seeking. Everywhere we meet friendly, happy faces. The Japanese people are possessed of much higher civilisation than all the other Asiatic nations ; they are courageous, inventive, and highly gifted in intellect ; and at the same time cheerful, fond , of life, and extremely polite. This latter trait in their character has procured for them the name of " the politest people of the world." This politeness seems to be inborn ; you do not only find it with the better classes of society but through- 88 JAPAN AS I SAW IT out the population, down to the people of the poorest and lowest ranks. By their system of shutting themselves off from all intercourse with foreign nations the Japanese have not become ossified like the Chinese ; on the contrary they have remained fresh and susceptible, and it is principally this pronounced contrast in the be- haviour of the two yellow nations which strikes all the Europeans so much when coming from the " Celestial Empire " to pay a visit to the " Land of the Rising Sun." They find in Japan every- thing so totally different from what they saw in the other parts of Asia ; and much of what they see here demands their approbation and even admiration. The Japanese as a rule is not as conceited as the pigtailed son of Tshung-Kwock, who in his self-complacency is possessed of an extravagant notion of himself and his culture. The Japanese on the contrary approaches the foreigner, and with great zeal and discretion endeavours to appropriate everything foreign that seems to him worth making his own. Contrary to the Chinese he shows himself free from any prejudice in doing so. To acquire such a bright disposition their simple mode of living may be of some assistance to the Japanese ; they eat the most digestible dishes, rice, fish, and vegetable, rarely meat, and A LADIES' HAIRDRESSER. (After a sketch by G. Bigot.) NAGASAKI ' 89 take as beverage mostly drinks which cheer but don't intoxicate. Unlike their yellow brothers on the mainland they are less economic, but spend easily and with open-handedness what they may have earned oft-times by heavy work. They sel- dom save for the future, but rely on their children, who will have to take care of their aged parents. Two types are distinguishable amongst the Japanese. Those of the northern provinces show a nearer relationship with the Mongolian race ; dark skin, low forehead, prominent cheek-bones in a broad, flat face, straight-lying eyes, broad nose, and sturdy structure of limbs. In the south- ern districts we find a lighter complexion, a more slender figure, smaller face, and higher forehead, slightly curved nose, and receding cheek-bones. The female Japanese is of prettier appearance than the male, and one sees most graceful, attrac- tive figures amongst them. Neck, shoulders and bust are blamelessly modelled ; from below the strong, prettily shaped eyebrows shine forth dark, soulful eyes, shaded over by long silk eyelashes, and these charms are the more increased by a small, finely-cut mouth with rows of ivory white teeth. The hands are very small and neat, and even the women of the lower classes show a fine structure. As a defect in beauty we may perhaps mention the 9Q JAPAN AS I SAW IT smallness of figure, and their walk with the toes turned in. This walk is perhaps only the result of their wearing sandals and may get lost again in course of time, when they will be more used to wearing European shoes. If their beauty fades early — if Japanese mothers get old and ugly before their time — this is chiefly so because the Japanese children (though they begin at the age of six months to take some solid food) demand mother-milk often up to their fifth year. The Buddhist prohibition of taking animal food has prevented the development of stock-farming in Japan, and as milk nourishment is indispen- sable to young children, the poor mothers have to degrade themselves to a kind of human milk cows, to the permanent injury of their beauty ; at the same time this keeps alive the custom of the so- called " female favourite servants," a custom which has not quite died out yet. While in China the male children have a great precedence before the girls, in Japan both sexes enjoy equal love and care. It was always with great pleasure that I watched the neat Japanese children at their play. They seem to be better off than the European children of the same age. There is nothing in their rooms but matting, no table or chair from which they could fall down, AT THE TOILET. (After sketches by C. Netto and P. Bender. NAGASAKI 91 no stove to burn their fingers, nothing but soft matting. Therefore people are not afraid to leave their little ones quite by themselves at home, with nobody to look after them ; the parents may confidently attend to their work outside the house and need not be afraid of anything happening to their darlings in the meantime. Some travellers maintain that the native child- ren in China and Japan never weep. Though this assertion may not be taken literally, it is never- theless a fact that we very rarely see a Japanese child doleful and weeping. But this does not mean that the parents give way to their children or that the education is effeminate. On the con- trary the little creatures are quite in their earliest youth exposed to every inclemency of the weather. Similarly as in China the Japanese mother of the lower classes also carries her baby firmly tied in a cross-shawl on her back, and in this way unmo- lested attends to all her daily occupations. It is an every-day occurrence to see the peasant woman with a baby on her back do the heavy field-work, while the little one is all the time exposed to the burning sunbeams. Japanese children are scarcely ever seen to be disobedient and troublesome, and all these little ways of flattery, menacing, and punishing, by which European mothers often 92 JAPAN AS I SAW IT try to make their children reluctantly behave well, are entirely unknown in Japan. Since centuries ago children's love and children's obedience have been considered the first and highest virtue ; it is impressed on the mind as a matter of course from earliest youth, and has become his second nature. In the proverbs of the people it also often finds expression, as for instance, " A good son makes a happy father," " Even a crow repays the parents' kindness," and " the lamb drinks the milk kneel- ing," which implies that " even an animal is thankful to its parents and venerates them." We never meet in Japanese streets that wild boy- play with romping and shouting which we like to excuse with our children by saying, " Boys will be boys." A harmless, joyful playing of a number of smiling cheerful children before the houses greets us, Kissing and hand-shaking are as unknown caresses to the Japanese family as to the Chinese. Nevertheless Japan is justly called the paradise of children. Parents provide their children abun- dantly with playthings and arrange children- festivities for them ; they behave towards their children just as if they were children themselves, and enjoy with them their little plays, but they do not forget to pay good attention to their regular I. DIFFERENT FASHIONS IN HAIRDRESS. NAGASAKI 93 school attendance and home-lessons. The girls like to play with their dolls (Mikado-doll, etc.) just as ours do, while the favourite playthings of the boys are humming-tops, of which there exists an enormous variety, and hoops and kites. Kite- flying is also much enjoyed by grown-up people ; one often sees kites of the oddest shape, and at certain seasons even kite-fights, to which hundreds of lookers-on attend in harmless pleasure. In these cases the string which holds the kite is for about thirty feet below the frame pasted with pounded glass, and for hours the two kite-fighters endeavour to get their kites high up in the air and in such a position that they can cut the opponent's string and bring his kite down, which then becomes the property of the winner. On the seventh day after its birth the Japanese baby gets its name, which ceremony, according to the social position of the parents, is accompanied with more or less festivity. This name, as far as boys are concerned, is mostly a mere interim call- name, which his owner may drop in his fifteenth year, when he enters manhood and chooses himself a name for the rest of his life. I say purposely " for the rest of his life," for when he has departed this life he receives his third and last name, the posthumous name or kaimio. 94 JAPAN AS I SAW IT When the child has reached the age of thirty days its head will be shaved, and the mother will carry it, dressed in festive garb, into the temple, make an offering of a few coins and return thanks to the family god. When the fourth month is completed, a new epoch in the child's life begins, which also is celebrated. The baby-dress is put away and the child is henceforth dressed in the fashion of the grown-up people. Another festivity takes place on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, from which date the shaving of the head is partly discontinued ; only a few spots of the head will still become regularly shaved, while on all the other parts the child's hair may now grow freely. As soon as the little Japanese girl has reached the age of a few years her eyebrows are shaved ; later on, when she has grown into maidenhood, they are allowed to grow again, and then follows the time when the marriageable maid begins to bestow greater attention on her appearance, particularly as regards her dress and hair-dressing. After she has had her hot bath in the morning, she will first of all scrape her face properly with the razor to take away even the slightest down. Then the eyebrows are narrowed artistically by shaving out some single hair, thus to give them the shape of two sharp and thin well-drawn lines, and finally the H. DIFFERENT FASHIONS IN HAIRDRESS. NAGASAKI 95 face, neck and bust are rubbed with Oshiroi, a powder of plant-flour ^seed-flour of mirabilis jalappa) which the Japanese use instead of paint. A white complexion is the pride of a Japanese woman, and the more youthful and coquettish she is, the thicker she will lay on the white powder. Young girls also like to put red paint on their lips to give them an intense red colouring. Special care and attention is bestowed on the head-dress. The hair-dresser woman comes every third or fourth day, and in one or two hours' work and with the help of papier-mache rolls and the use of great quantities of pomade accomplishes the tight black and glossy piece of art. From the hair- dressing of a Japanese woman one may nearly always judge of her position in society and her personality. We also know age and sex of a child from the tuft of hair above the neck or from the ring of hair or the little curl over the forehead while all the other parts of its head are shaved clean. Young ladies like to build up their hair very high in front and to give it towards the back of the head the form of a butterfly ; they wind feathers and gold or silver wire through it and wear gold balls and other showy pins as ornaments. Very elegant young ladies prefer to dress the back- hair in form of half a fan. Married women wear 96 JAPAN AS I SAW IT their hair like a waterfall. Widows who intend to marry again plait their hair and wind it on the hind head around a large pin of tortoise-shell. But if they do not wish to give up their widowhood, then they cut the hind hair short and comb the front hair back without any partition. Though this large and artistic head-dress suits the pretty face of the Japanese girl very much, it nevertheless must be disapproved of from the standpoint of cleanliness as well as from a sanitary point of view. This artistic hair dressing not only costs much time, it also requires the assistance of a professional hairdresser, and therefore will only be renewed every third, fourth or eighth day. The oil masses used for stiffening the hair have with the dust meanwhile formed a real paste, which prevents the skin from its salutary exhalation. From this reason we need not be sorry that European head- dress now more and more replaces the original artistic Japanese hair-dressing. Also the wooden clog, the " getas," consisting of a wooden clog of the length of the foot mounted on two high cross-pieces, which give the Japanese girls their clumsy stumbling walk are getting more and more out of fashion and are replaced by the more comfortable European shoes, but a pity it is that also the original dress of the Japanese NAGASAKI 97 women falls a sacrifice to the innovation. It con- sists principally of a loose undergown of cotton or silk, coming down to the knees and worn as a kind of shirt, and of the so-called kimono, a long gown open in front, worn by both sexes, and of the same cut for the Japanese of all rank and all ages. It is held together above the hips with a belt of the same stuff. The women wear it down to their feet, and the belt consists of a broad " obi," a sash tied in a very large bow at the back. It needs no explanation that this dress is a far healthier one than the European costume. All forcing in of the body and the wearing of stays is unknown with it, and all limbs can move free and unconstrained. The abdomen is protected by the broad obi against colds, which are more frequent and dangerous in warmer climates than with us. Some say the old Japanese dress is not decent enough to be worn by ladies, and therefore does not harmonise with the modern development of culture in Japan. I cannot fully agree with this statement, and leave it to my fair lady readers to decide whether the light Japanese kimono, to which easily some more underclothing could be added, is more decent or the manifold European fashions, which very often try to excel in exhibiting the forms of their wearers and by artificial means often enlarge them fa? 9 8 JAPAN AS I SAW IT above their natural size. I will not dwell on the greater cheapness of the Japanese dress in com- parison to the cost of our ladies' toilets, but only mention that nearly every Japanese girl under- stands needlework and makes her dresses herself. Great secrets and much complicated work as with our ladies' dressmaking are not expected from the THE KIMONO. Japanese dressmaker. Her kimono, underwear, and sash, yes, even the long sleeves show always the same straight-lined hems, and are plainly sewn together in such a way that they can easily be un- done for washing. Ribbons, trimmings, ruches, frills, button-holes, and the like difficult work are not found on a Japanese dress, but all the good reasons for con- NAGASAKI 99 tinuing the wearing of the light, comfortable and hygienic old Japanese lady-dress do not count any more ; it was considered by the Prime Minister Count Ito a political question and another neces- sary step forward on the road of civilisation, and all other considerations therefore had to stand back. His mighty influence decided the question for the Court, though it created much ill-feeling amongst the population and helped considerably at the time to shatter the position of the Premier in the eyes of the people. The Court set the example by ordering in 1887 that all ladies appear- ing at Court have to wear European dress ; the Empress Haru Ko herself in an appeal to the women of Japan recommended the European style of dress, and consequently the new fashion has spread and is no more confined merely within the Court circles. At first all the elegant new toilets were ordered from Paris, which place the Japanese were accustomed to regard as leading in European fashion, but latterly very considerable orders for princely toilets have been given by the Japanese Court also to London and Berlin. As regards the old Japanese male suit, its cut only differs but little from that of the female dress. The kimono is worn shorter, it barely comes down to the man's heels, and travellers and work- ioo JAPAN AS I SAW IT men like to shorten it even more over the knees in order to walk or work more comfortably. To the full dress of the man belongs also the hakama, a kind of trousers, which are worn above the gown and are so large that they have the appearance of a woman's petticoat. The colour of the man's kimono is as a rule a plain and quiet one, and the women of all classes also now wear mostly plain neutral-tinted kimonos while they often prefer a brighter and many- coloured flowered silk stuff for the big sash on the back. In the place of the bright and luxurious obi of nearly half a yard breadth, the men use a belt, scarcely a hand in breadth, which they wind sundry times around the hips, and which they use to carry their pipe, tobacco-pouch, and fan in. The sleeves, nearly half a yard wide, are sewn partly together at the opening, and in this manner form a kind of pouch-like pocket, in which the Japanese can hide and carry about with them various light articles, while heavier things are carried in the breast fold formed by the kimono and the belt. The sleeve pockets they also use to carry a little pocket case containing a provision of " hana garni," small square pieces of soft paper, which in Japan fill the place of our pocket-handkerchiefs and are~thrown away after use. I. MALE HEADGEAR OF THE TIME BEFORE l868. NAGASAKI ioi Low people, as for instance workmen, sailors, peasants and porters, go mostly naked, only wearing a diminutive loin cloth. With peasants and boat- men one often meets the " mino," a waterproof - cloak made of two-feet-long stalks of rice-straw put together in thatch fashion. To-day nearly every Japanese who considers himself as belonging to the educated classes wears European dress, lets his hair grow, and renounces the custom of naming his children three times. The higher classes of society become from year to year more used to European manners and customs, but the common classes of the people do not get used so quickly to the new and unaccustomed foreign ways, and we have therefore still to dis- tinguish between the common folk, especially the peasantry, who chiefly have remained Japanese, and the upper classes, who are nearly completely Europeanised. That part of the population which is still busily engaged in the metamorphosis, as for instance subordinate officials, students, and all those who by their own impulse and understanding follow the reform, we find in all shades divided throughout the country, from the townsman completely clothed in European fashion and even knowing somewhat broken English but still squat- ting on his haunches on the matting of the floor, 102 JAPAN AS I SAW IT down to the school-boy and apprentice who as the only sign of his liberal ideas has boldly clapped on a hat. The European hat is already spread all over the country, and it seems to be the right thing at least to wear this symbol of western civilisation. The numerous variety of. ancient characteristic Japanese head-gear from the time before 1868 has for the greatest part disappeared from the scene and made room for the European hat-style. Court etiquette even necessitates the wearing of a silk hat on certain occasions, though it neither suits the small figure of the Japanese nor the climate of the country. While the officers of the army and navy, the various State officials, the police corps, etc., in their coloured uniforms or their white summer dress have a smart and neat appearance, many of the civilians in European dress have an indescrib- ably constrained shabby look about them. One sometimes feels inclined to think they are wearing a ready-made suit on hire, so little do they look at home in it. From a sanitary point of view the Japanese kimono is an ideal garment for house- wear in summer-time ; light, airy, and comfort- able, but in winter time when the native wood and paper houses offer little protection against the cold, European clothes are warmer. In discussing the Japanese family life, we have MALE HEADGEAR OF THE TIME BEFORE 1868. NAGASAKI 103 to consider, it is chiefly in this sphere that nowa- days a very important change is taking place, and one which is struggling to give the mistress of the house a more worthy and more dignified posi- tion than she had under the old regime. In the old Japanese time marriage was a mere private contract, about which neither Church nor State cared. Only since 1870 has a magisterial ratifica- tion been necessary ; an entry at the registrar's office is now demanded in order to make the mar- riage a legally binding one. The marriage is accomplished by a professional go-between, who opens the first negotiations between the bride- groom and the girl's parents, and arranges a meeting of both families at the theatre or in a tea-house, a " mi-ai " (miru =to see and a-u =suit, that is to say : to see whether they suit each other) . If the meeting is satisfactory, then he brings the presents of the bridegroom, and in this manner seals the engagement. As the expenses connected with a Japanese wedding are but small, a dowry and household fur- niture as understood by us not being necessary for the setting up of a household, people very easily resolve to marry, the more easily as in case of neces- sity a divorce can be effected with little difficulty. There are seven reasons which entitle the husband 104 JAPAN AS I SAW IT (who holds great power over his wife's person and property) to dissolve the marriage. These seven grounds, laid down by Confucius, and chosen by the Japanese as basis for their marriage law, are the following ones : — i. Disobedience to the parents-in-law. 2. Barrenness. 3. A loose tongue and dipsomania. 4. Jealousy and envy. 5. Loathsome and contagious illness. 6. Theft. 7. Talkativeness ; for, so says a Japanese proverb, " a tongue three inches long can kill a man six feet high." Since 1873 the woman has had the right of suing for a divorce, namely on the ground of ill- treatment, or if her husband is sentenced to dur- ance vile with loss of civil rights ; but society frowns at the woman who divorces her husband, and the law gives the children to the husband, whether he or the wife gets the divorce. Married life is the pronounced destiny of Japan- ese girls, and they are educated to the duties of it from their earliest youth. The wedding as a rule takes place when the bridegroom has reached his twentieth, the bride her sixteenth year. On the day fixed for the wedding ceremony the bridegroom JINRIKISHA COOLIE IN HIS STRAW-WATERPROOF. (After a sketch by G. Bigot.) NAGASAKI 105 sends his bride as many and precious presents as his means will allow him. The bride accepts these gifts with thanks, but makes at once a present of them to her parents as a proof of her thankfulness for the education which they have given her. The parents now on their part make presents to the daughter, which are suitable to her new position as mistress of a household. Thereupon all her then existing playthings will be ceremoniously burnt, and the bride and all her belongings brought in festive procession to the house of her future husband. Dressed in white silk and covered from top to toe by a white veil the bride leaves her sedan chair before the door of her new home, and is led by two bridesmaids into the festive room, where the bridegroom in company of his nearest friends and relatives is awaiting her. Without saying a word both sit down on the floor beside each other, while two little tables will be placed in front of them, the one holding two kettles, some bottles of sake, and sundry little cups ; the other one a natural or artificial dwarf fir tree, a blooming plum tree, and a small bronze figure representing a crane standing on a tortoise. These are the symbols of manly strength and female beauty, and of a long and happy life. A number of wed- ding candles illuminate the room. The ceremonies io6 JAPAN AS I SAW IT and the costly style of the marriage festival naturally vary in the different classes of society and according to their pecuniary circumstances. Sometimes when the drinking ceremonies begin, two married women hand in two sake bottles, of which the one is decorated with a paper male butterfly, and the other one with the like female butterfly. The latter one will then be put into a warming kettle, become besprinkled with sake, and be covered with the male butterfly, which is likewise besprinkled with sake from the same bot- tle. When this symbolic ceremony is over, the bridesmaids present sake in little cups, the bottom of which is decorated with a picture of the god of good luck ; each guest drinks three cups. When these drinking ceremonies are over, the joint meal of the young couple begins. To. this purpose the two bridesmaids hand them the aforementioned two kettles, which under repeated bowing will be mutually emptied by the young couple, who in this way indicate that henceforth pleasure and sorrow shall be enjoyed and borne by them mutually. These wedding ceremonies vary in the different parts of the country, but the drinking of sake always plays an important r61e with them. The chief ceremony as described takes place in the pre- sence of the nearest relations only. When it is over, NAGASAKI 107 the numerous invited guests arrive, and a merry feasting begins which may not end till late at night. With her wedding-day the Japanese girl leaves the association of her own family and enters into a kind of filial relationship to the parents of her husband. During the lifetime of her mother-in- law the latter remains the mistress of the house, and the young wife has to follow her instructions in every respect. In general the selection of the wife lies in the hands of the parents. When the daughter of a Japanese family has grown up, one gives her a husband, all the same whether she likes to get married or not. She will not be asked about it, and finds that quite a matter of course, for she knows that she owes obedience to her parents, and therefore has to do what she will be told. As a married woman she is in reality only the head- servant of her husband, whom she has to cheer up and keep in good humour, and whose affection she sometimes may have to share with other favourite servants. As a widow she is in duty bound to obey her sons, who on the other hand are ordered by the Japanese moral code to take care of their aged mother in the most affectionate and loving way. " In three ways a woman has to practise obedience," says the Onna Chuyo, a moral guide for 108 JAPAN AS I SAW IT Japanese women ; "as girl towards her parents, as wife towards her husband, and as widow towards her sons." While the freedom of the man is scarcely prejudiced by matrimony, the young wife has to renounce many things ; first of all she has to sacrifice to her husband her pretty appearance ; her pearl-white teeth have to become coloured black, and her elegantly shaped eyebrows will be shaved off. The higher classes have now given up these customs, but the low people who have not so quickly yet adopted the progressive culture of the West are still defacing their wives in this way up to the present day. To get a divorce, as already stated, is made very easy to the husband. Barrenness, disobedi- ence, irreverence towards the parents-in-law, and the like, may form a sufficient reason for the man to send the wife back to her parents, which is considered a great disgrace. As regards divorce the man is also in so far the favoured one, as adult- ery on his side is a permitted amusement, while on the part of the woman it is a ground for immediate divorce. In honour of the Japanese women it may, however, be stated that this offence is a very rare occurrence with them, though a Japanese proverb says : " Trust a woman only as long as your mother's eyes are upon her." ■z o NAGASAKI 109 The ladies of the higher classes are living very secluded lives and never go out by themselves. Even the women of the middle classes think it improper to leave the house by themselves during the absence of the husband, and therefore many women of the middle classes when going out take an elderly woman with them, thus to avoid any suspicion. The wife of the poorer man occupies by far more than the lady of the upper circles the place which we are accustomed to give to our wives. She has to do more heavy work, but appears to be by far more the companion than the servant of her husband. It will thus be gathered that the position of the Japanese woman is more that of an Oriental than a European one. The details given show that the Japanese wife was not allowed the position in her household which we give to our ladies as a mistress of the house and as a faithful companion to her husband. This has been truly recognised in Japanese progressive circles, and Japanese liberal papers have written : " We will give our women the position due to them. By a good education and training we will take care that our girls shall be able to fill in the right manner the post as com- panions of their husbands and as mothers of their children." With an energy characteristic of the no JAPAN AS I SAW IT progressive Japanese they have set about this task, and already the results have shown that their endeavours are bearing good fruit. In the present time marriages of Japanese with European ladies are no longer anything extra- ordinary, and I have been assured that most of these marriages have turned out happy ones. The European ladies find a friendly welcome in the Japanese society, and notwithstanding their blue eyes and fair hair, but thanks to their white com- plexion they are very soon celebrated beauties in the Japanese drawing-rooms. We may now pass on to an examination of the dwelling-places of the Japanese people. From an architectural point of view the streets of a Japanese town do not give an imposing sight. The houses are built in a very simple style, with an entire want of all bright colours and with a monotonous like- ness in size and structure. This monotony is the more noticed because all the temples as a rule are constructed on hills or little swellings of the ground outside the town. Japanese towns, therefore, are of a marvellous likeness between each other, and only in those places where in former times a Daimio had his residence does an old castle give variety to the uniform picture of the streets. All houses chiefly consist of a wooden frame-work, which will NAGASAKI in be shut during the night by wooden shutters and during day-time by paper-covered sliding-doors. On a system of pillars a comparatively fiat roof is built up, which in some parts of the country is covered with tiles, in other parts with wood- shingles or straw, and which overhangs a sur- rounding verandah. The building material is everywhere the same, wood and paper, and the wealth of the proprietor is only noticeable by the dimensions of the house, the selection of the kind of wood, and the arrangement of the interior ; that is to say, by the fineness and elegance of the matting. The floor of the house lies always two or three feet above the ground, and is covered with pretty, light yellow straw mats of several inches thickness, which may be called the only furniture of a Japanese room. What there is to be found besides of household utensils is scarcely worth mentioning. These mats as well as the sliding windows or sliding walls are all over the empire of the same dimensions, six feet long and three feet broad ; they are not fixtures to the house but furniture belonging to the tenant. By the number of the mats, and not by the number of the rooms the size of a Japanese house is calculated. The walls of each room consist of a number of sliding partitions of the aforesaid size, which on H2 JAPAN AS I SAW IT the floor and ceiling run in grooves, are covered with paper and often contain beautiful wall- pictures. These screens can easily get shoved aside or even lifted out, and in this manner the house may at your own will and at any time become divided into as many larger or smaller rooms as you please. Many a time I have had the opportunity of observing that in tea-houses, on the arrival of new guests, a number of such sliding screens were quickly shoved across the room, and in a few minutes the hall changed into various smaller partitions. Towards the street and the garden on fine summer days the whole wall is put away, and very often the whole house is then a mere open pillared hall, and everything that is going on within may be watched by the passers- by. Towards the evening the wooden shutters are put on again, in summer-time to keep the mosquitoes away, and in winter-time to keep the cold off. The furnishing of the establishment is so simple that anything simpler cannot well be imagined. Comfort and furniture are unknown in a Japanese house. On one side of the room there is a little alcove arranged, which is intended to contain the hanging scroll (tatsumono) or hanging picture (takemono), a flower- vase, the incense-burner, NAGASAKI 113 and the family shrine with the funeral tablets. These are generally the only ornaments of a Japanese house. A few cooking and sleeping Utensils, a small basin with charcoal as stove and for lighting the small Japanese pipes, a little curved piece of wood called " makura " as pillow, a couple of chop sticks, a little tea-pot with some small cups, and a tiny wine-bowl, which only holds about five thimblefuls of wine, form together with a few pieces of clothes the whole belongings which a Japanese of the lower classes needs to a contented life. To choose the furniture does not even cause much trouble to a wealthy Japanese, for tables, chairs, sofas, pier-glasses, bedsteads, etc., etc., do not exist for him. He spends his lifetime on the matted floor of the room. If he wants to sit down he kneels down, resting on the lower parts of the legs. In this position on the mat he also takes his meals, which are served on little tray- stands which only rise about ten inches above the floor. If he goes to sleep there is no other sleeping- accommodation than the mat and the little wooden block, the " makura," together with a couple of covers to be used in winter time. The " makura," over which as a rule a roll of soft paper or other stuff is bound, seems chiefly to be intended to prevent the artistically arranged head-dress of the H ii4 JAPAN AS I SAW IT Japanese woman from becoming spoilt during her sleep. On an average a Japanese house burns down once every seven years, which cannot occasion surprise considering the general system of wood and paper structures. With fatalistic feeling the Japanese, who in this way becomes homeless, wraps his few valuables into a bundle and seeks shelter with a friend of his, who will assist him to build up a new house. An interesting spectacle is afforded by the various fire-ladders, which here and there are put up vertically overtowering the houses, and bearing an alarm bell at their top. As a rule they are erected at street corners, and serve as watch-towers for the fire-brigade. A watchman overlooks the town from the ladder, and at the first sign of fire sounds the alarm bell attached to the topmost step of the ladder. The fire-brigade is a very old organisation of the country, and to our western eyes it offers a some- what comical sight when the firemen in the midst of their work of quenching the flames draw their fans from the belt and fan themselves. Each family, even the poorest, lives in a house by itself ; large buildings inhabited by several families are unknown in the country, and there- fore, the houses are seldom more than one storey NAGASAKI 115 high. It is not a long while since the size of a town was counted not by the number of its inhabitants but by the number of its houses. If you multiply this number by four, you get approximately the number of its souls. As in all other spheres, so also in the building trade European customs have in the last decades shown their influence, so that now beside the stone- built bungalows of the Europeans are found a considerable number of Japanese edifices, particu- larly State buildings, constructed in European style. Tokio, especially, is much interspersed with modern buildings, which serve as State offices or as mansions for princes and dignitaries. High stone constructions on the other hand must be avoided in Japan owing to frequent earthquakes, for her isles still count to-day eighteen active volcanoes, not to mention the great number of dormant ones, which also may not be trusted, as the eruption of the volcano Bandai-san in 1888 proved. Every better Japanese house has a special bath- room for hot baths, which is constructed after the system of the cabins in the public baths, of which a considerable number exist in every Japanese town (see page 124). The hot bath is prepared every morning, and according to the rank of the n6 JAPAN AS I SAW IT various members of the household taken first by the master of the house, then by his wife and the children, and afterwards by the servants. As they all use the same water, it would be highly improper to take a rub down in it and dirty the water with soap ; they only have a good stewing in it, and perform the other process outside the tub. If possible even the house of the man without means must have its little garden ; a wee garden, which in the tininess of its size, is meant less for promenading in than for looking at ; and indeed these miniature ornamental grounds, with their grotesquely shaped rockeries of sometimes only a few pounds in weight, their little lantern or nice little pagoda, their goldfish pond of a few square feet size, and their oddly shaped and cut dwarf firs, scarcely one foot high, are only meant for contemplation. To understand this and to be able fully to enjoy the charms of these miniature gardens, one must be a native Japanese, and must see with his eyes and take the same pleasure as he does in viewing the little stones and pebbles, the crippled trees, and so on. Stretched out on his matting, the eyes half closed, and giving full play to his reveries, the Japanese dreams to see in his little garden a vast domain of his own ; his imagina- tion changes the little pebbles into mighty rocks, NAGASAKI 117 the larger ones turn into long mountain ranges with rivers and lakes interspersed, the dwarf trees at the riverside take the form of great forest giants, and bold suspending bridges swing across the lake and abysses. In the production of dwarf-plants the Japanese gardeners perform marvellous things ; the eccen- tric artificiality of their gardening does not find its like in Europe. Our gardeners justly make it their task to assist nature, to further it ; quite otherwise the Japanese gardener ; he on the contrary endeavours to check and restrain nature ; he finds his glory in producing plants of prominent dwarfishness with grotesque enlargements of certain parts at the expense of the others ; for this purpose he already selects the smallest seeds of the smallest specimen ; later on bends and winds the stem in zigzag, takes away each stronger shoot and facili- tates the growth of side-branches, which he likewise twists and holds back. By frequent clipping and transplanting into pots of insufficient size he also tries to influence its vegetation, till finally the plant has accommodated itself to this constraint, and willingly remains in the prescribed limits, using all its vital energy for abundantly producing fruits and seed. The Japanese is a great lover of flowers. We n8 JAPAN AS I SAW IT find flowers and leaves in his tissues and embroi- deries, on his bronzes and on his pottery work. It is chiefly the individual beauty of the single plant in its natural combination with stem and leaves which he loves and admires. To unite many flowers to a bouquet is not to his taste, and therefore our bouquet binding is foreign to him. He decorates his room with the blooming branch of a peach-tree ; into a neat vase or a bamboo- holder he sticks a peony, an iris, or a single azalea, always minding that leaves and flowers remain together. To arrange the flowers tastefully is the task of the women of the house. In numerous hand-books its art is taught, and its study forms part of the female education. Ill KOBE, HIOGO, AND OSAKA Kobe, on the Isle of Nippon, the biggest island of the empire, has been open to foreign trade since 1868, up to which date all foreign business of this part was done at the adjacent Hiogo. Kobe . is a settlement of Europeans and therefore a new town ; situated in a splendid position and with a deep and safe harbour, it presents an attractive appearance. It is the emporium of the cotton trade, into which the raw cotton passes and from where the cotton yarns and tissues are exported. It mainly attends to the export of copper, sumach-tallow, and camphor, while in the export of tea, it is only surpassed by Yokohama. Along the shore extends the pretty and spaci- ous foreign settlement. Its harbour-street, the " Bund,"* as all quay-streets in the Far East are called, is provided with a well kept bank of turf * " Bund " is of Hindustan origin, and means " waterway." 120 JAPAN AS I SAW IT and a splendid carriage-way, and is protected against the billows of the stormy sea by mighty granite embankments. Here, facing the sea, are situated the imposing stone buildings of the English, German, and American Consulates, the large Hiogo Hotel, which offers excellent accom- modation to Europeans, and a number of fine mansions, surrounded by airy verandahs, and belonging to European merchants. In the back- ground extends the Japanese town with its streets of wood and paper-houses. Kobe, whose name means " door of the gods," and Hiogo, the " arsenal," are now incorporated in one, and may therefore be regarded as one town. Save for the peculiarities of the Japanese country and its people, which alone are interesting to us, the place itself does not offer much of particular attraction. Its environs are beautiful. A five minutes' walk from the European settlement lies the Shinto temple of Ikuta, almost hidden under the shade of old cryptomerias and camphor trees. It is consecrated to the deity Waka-hirume-no Mikoto, who may be called the Minerva of Japan, as to her the invention of the weaving-loom and the introduction of wearing apparel are ascribed. The foundation of the temple is set down to the Empress Jingu, who on her return from the vie- /&<<,<£. SERVING TEA. (After a sketch by G. Bigot.) KOBE, HIO GO, AND OSAKA ia i torious campaign against Korea (see page 22), erected it in honour of Waka-hirume, which god- dess she had chosen as her protectress in the Korean expedition, and to whose protection she ascribed her victories. The Empress Jingu Kogo has herself since been declared a goddess, and in various parts of the country temples have been dedicated to her. Jingu Kogo was the consort of the Emperor Tshuai, who ascended the throne in the year 191 a.d. She is described as a clever woman, eager to achieve noble exploits, and it was at her instigation that the military expedition against Korea was undertaken. The ancient legend of Japanese heroes tells us that Emperor Tshuai died before the preparations for the war-expedition had been completed, that Empress Jingu completed the armament of the fleet of battleships and that in the place of her deceased husband she herself took the chief command, and personally led the victorious campaign in Korea, during the whole duration of which she was dressed and armed like a man. Before leaving Japan she made a speech to her generals which ended with the words : " In the armour of my defunct husband I shall head the army, relying on the protection of the gods, on your valour, and on the courage of my 122 JAPAN AS I SAW IT soldiers. We are setting out to conquer a rich country ; to you be the glory if we are victorious ; to me the shame if we are defeated." Before sailing to Korea she had tried by rich offerings to predispose the gods in favour of the undertaking, and had asked their advice and assistance. This had been amply promised, and in addition she had been informed by the sublime goddess of the sun Ama-terasu that she was enceinte, and would give birth to a prince, who in later years would ascend the imperial throne of Japan. In order not to be hindered by the birth of this child in her triumphal march on hostile ground, Jingu Kogo ingeniously took care to postpone her confinement till after the war. To this end she put a stone, which the goddess had marked out for her, into her belt, and then strapped in her abdomen very tightly. In this way, by the help of the gods, she succeeded in delaying the birth of her child for fully three years. Her boy, subsequently Em- peror Ojin, did not see the light till after his mother's return from Korea to the Isle of Kiushiu, in which place to this day that wonderful, stone is carefully preserved. The reign of Emperor Ojin was peaceful and directed chiefly to the civilising development of his country. If after his death he was ranked KOBE, HIOGO, AND OSAKA 123 amongst the deities as god of war, with the post- humous name of Hachiman, this was less on account of his warlike feats than because he went to war even before he was born. From the temple at Ikuta a short jinrikisha drive takes us high up into the mountain-chain to the waterfall Nuno-biki no Taki, which is admired not so much for its two cascades as for its romantic rocks and charming scenery. Be- tween large pieces of rock, scattered about in wild profusion, the narrow path winds up to the moun- tain-range ; friendly tea-houses here and there erected crossways over the narrow path (so close that one has to walk right through them), invite the visitor to rest. While graceful girls present the tea and cakes, the rocky walls above convert the falling waters into spray. Further on, on the other side of the " Bund," as far as the eye reaches, the far expanding blue sea completes the panorama. Adjoining Kobe are the first houses of Hiogo. Hiogo is separated from Kobe by the River Minato-gawa, whose bed in the course of centuries has raised itself to such an extent that it is to-day overlooking the surrounding country. Very high embankments are therefore a necessity, and thereon pretty wide walks have been laid out, in whose 124 JAPAN AS I SAW IT shady avenues every night the pleasure-seekers may be seen merrily strolling about. Wonderful stories are associated with this powerful quay- structure, which was erected more than 700 years ago, to protect the town against inundation. I met in my hotel some friends from Hong Kong. They had taken a few weeks' holiday in Japan, had been busy making excursions through the beautiful country, and were now grumbling at the Japanese custom of over-hot baths, which had made their feet soft and unfit for the time for further excursions. The hot bath is a peculiarity of the Japanese, who are very fond of it. Repeat- edly during the day the people of Nippon used to enter their tubs, not in order to take a cool wash down but to enjoy a real good stewing. However hot the temperature of the air may be, the tem- perature of a Japanese bath is always the same, about no to 115 Fahrenheit, a temperature which makes a European, taking a Japanese bath for the first time, feel as if he were going to be boiled alive. By and by and with the necessary precautions Europeans also get used to them, and finally find them agreeable and refreshing. In nearly every large street of a Japanese town there is a public bath-house for the use of the poorer people. These public baths A BLIND MASSEDR. (After sketches by C. Netto and P. Bender.) KOBE, HIOGO, AND OSAKA 125 contain a row of cabins, each having in its floor a wooden tub of cubic-form. Vertically along the square bottom runs a copper heating pipe, which is shut off below by a grate fed with charcoal ; it soon brings the water up to that " cosy " tem- perature of 115 . In such a tank often six to eight persons, male and female, in the usual Japanese mode of sitting thigh on heel, are squat- ting down side by side in the most innocent and unconcerned manner, and enjoy their stewing bath with prattle and laughter. After it they usually take a rest on the seats of the verandah and get dry by the sun. For some time past, the Government has been striving to abolish the custom of these mixed baths, and though the reform can only be achieved slowly, the mutual public bath for both sexes which at present still counts among the characteristic features of Japan, will sooner or later entirely disappear, After the enjoyment of his bath the Japanese likes to have himself massaged, to which purpose he avails himself of the service of a blind man. The " Amma " or kneaders form a guild of blind people, to whom alone is reserved the privilege of performing the massage. You can often see them walking by themselves, and mostly at night 126 JAPAN AS I SAW IT time, through the streets of a Japanese town, feeling their way with a stick, and making their presence known by the shrill sound of a small whistle. They are seldom lacking customers, for kneading is a method much in favour with the Japanese and especially applied against indiges- tion complaints. On this occasion, I may also mention the " moxa " treatment, a peculiar and very popular remedy for rheumatism and other muscular aches. The setting fire to these little cones made of mugwort fibre (Artemisia vulgaris, var. lati folia) is such a general custom amongst the Japanese that one rarely finds a Japanese whose dark skin does not show sundry symmetrically arranged white marks, left by cauterizing. These little burning cones, set on the skin, slowly glimmer to ashes without causing any pain worth mention- ing, and leave only an insignificant mark. They are chiefly applied during the rainy season as a preventive against fever, and one often sees carriers and riksha-coolies during their rest at a tea-house set moxa along their shanks and calves as a pre- servative against weakness and fatigue. After an hour's ride by rail from Kobe is reached the rich commercial town of Osaka, situated on both sides of the River Yodogawa, which flows KOBE, HIOGO, AND OSAKA 127 below the town into the bay of Osaka. The name Osaka is an abbreviation of " O-ye no saka," that is : " mount of the great sea bay," by which is meant the mountain which bears on its top the strong old castle of Osaka. In the prehistoric history of Japan Osaka acted a part under the name of Naniwa as residence of the Tenno Nintoku. In the year 1583 Hideyoshi made it the seat of his power, for he thought that from this dominating position he could easily keep in check both the Daimios of the south and of the west. On the " mountain of the great sea bay," he built the strong castle Osaka, for which purpose many thousands of workmen had been called from all parts of the country. They completed this powerful structure within two years. Afterwards Hideyoshi fortified the citadel still more, and with that object in view had shortly before his death 17,000 houses pulled down to make room for the large outer wall. It is indeed an immense structure, this fortress with its cyclopic walls and its two surrounding deep and broad moats. Iyeyasu regarded this stronghold as the key of Kioto, the then capital of the empire, and by his orders it was to be given in charge only to the most trustworthy person. Even to-day as a ruin this once powerful 128 JAPAN AS I SAW IT building with its mighty freestone structure forms an imposing sight. At various periods (for the last time during the fall of the last Shogun), the fortress Osaka figured conspicuously in the history of Japan. In the centre of the courtyard of the second encircling wall the palace stood formerly, which is said to have been the most beautiful and luxurious building ever built in Japan. Tremen- dous sums had been spent by Hideyoshi for its interior decoration, for the carving of the ceiling and corridors, and for the inlaying and the painting of its sliding walls. The palace survived the capture of the fortress by Iyeyasu in the year 1615, and even in 1867 the members of the foreign lega- tions were frequently received in its walls by Keiki, the last of the Tokugawa Shoguns. Soon after, in the struggle between him and the Mikado party, the proud edifice met its destruction. Keiki had established himself in Osaka, but was not strong enough to hold either the castle or the town, and while he fled unrecognised on board an American ship, on the 2nd February, 1868, the castle broke out in flames. In a few hours this splendid building had become a smoking heap of ruins — the most precious building of Japanese artistic taste was destroyed for ever. We now find in its stead a modern, plain, barrack-like looking build- . JjS?!|!MR||'. ?'lW* F*L ,.^' FESTIVAL ON THE WATER lAlier a sketch by C. Nelto and ,P. Bender; KOBE, HIOGO, AND OSAKA 129 ing, containing military offices, and used only for practical purposes. The place affords a fine panorama from the corner towers of the castle ruins. At its base the town expands in the form of a mighty rectangle, divided by an immense number of cross-streets into many hundreds of square blocks of houses and traversed by numerous canals, that flow parallel to the streets. On account of these canals and of the many bridges Osaka is now also called and not unjustly the Venice of Japan. Across the low roofs of its houses and temples (which latter here and there overtop the former) is seen the bright azure of the bay, which spreads as far as the eyes can reach, and into which at the head of the harbour of Osaka, at Tempo-san, the waters of the Yodogawa flow. In the streets of the town great activity is dis- played. There is always a great traffic, a constant stir and animation, and especially in the vicinity of the Dotom Bori canal, in the theatre quarter of Osaka, the pleasure-seeking people throng by many thousands on Sunday, which day, though it does not concern the Japanese from a religious point of view, is a general holiday all over the em- pire and devoted entirely to recreation and amusement. All the numerous theatres, show- 1 I3Q JAPAN AS I SAW IT booths, and tea-houses are thronged with people. The adjoining Shin-sai Bashi-Suji, the main street of the amorous quarter, is just as livery, for here hundreds of young " ladies," richly dressed in bright colours, smile seductively from the estradas of their little houses. The chief business part of Osaka lies in the centre of the town. Here are the big merchant-houses, chiefly engaged in the home trade in rice, cotton, and silk on a large scale. Thanks to its favourable situation in the centre of the country, and as the natural part for the old capital and industrial town of Kioto, Osaka for centuries held the rank of the first commercial town of the empire. To-day it is still the principal centre for the disposing of the silk goods from Kioto and the other indus- trial inland places, and many of its old renowned houses in the silk trade employ in their offices and storehouses as many as eighty to one hundred employees. Japan's sericulture, whose products rank to-day in the first place amongst the articles of export, has become the most important of all the manifold industries of the empire. Although the export of raw silk from Japan naturally fluctuates with the crop of cocoons, the home consumption by the Japanese shows continual growth, and their KOBE, HIOGO, AND OSAKA 131 export of manufactured silk goods has increased every year. The export of raw silk and silk goods began in the year 1859, at a time when for ten years a disease causing great devastations was prevailing among the silkworms in Europe. The high prices which the Japanese therefore then obtained for their silk gave a great stimulus to the development of the breeding of silkworms. Silk-breeding was introduced into Japan from China, and is first heard of about the second half of the third century, when very likely Korean immi- grants attended to it. While under the reign of the sixteenth Mikado, Nintoku Tenno (311-399 a.d.) the first experiments in silk culture seem to have been made in Japan, the twenty-first Mikado Yuriaku Tenno (457-479) can claim the merit of having caused the planting of mulberry trees and the breeding of silkworms on a large scale ; but it was not before the second half of the sixth cen- tury that sericulture had become a national branch of industry, and it was left to modern days for it to reach its highest development. The largest number of silk nurseries are on the Isle of Hondo, where silk culture forms the most extensive and most important house industry. In most cases the silk-growers are at the same time engaged in husbandry, as the silkworm business 132 JAPAN AS I SAW IT only occupies their time for about eight weeks in the year, though it is the chief means of earning their livelihood. The nursing of the silkworms, and the fact that during their seven weeks' lifetime they are almost constantly feeding, requires the greatest attention on the part of the silk-breeders. May and June are such busy months for them that during that time it is often difficult in the silk districts to get coolies for your jinrikisha. The silkworms are kept with the leaves on shallow wicker trays about six feet long and three feet wide. When they have done with their leaves another wicker tray with fresh leaves is placed above the former and the worms creep through to the fresh food. After the sixth or seventh week the full-grown cater- pillars begin to make their cocoons, and then twigs (to which they can attach themselves) are placed in the baskets. Seventeen to eighteen days after the silkworm has begun spinning the cocoon, the moth will pierce through it, if the silk-grower does not turn the butterfly's cradle into its grave. To kill the chrysalis and thus prevent the moth from piercing the cocoon, the breeder puts the cocoons into a pan of hot water placed over a slow fire and kept at about I25°F. A cocoon of good quality, freed from the loose sleave-silk around it, consists HffiHB KOBE, HIOGO, AND OSAKA 133 of one single thread of 400 to 500 yards length. About ten pounds of such cocoons give one pound of silk. There exist all sorts of legends in regard to the origin of the silkworm. ''The most popular one is a Chinese myth which runs as follows : — The silkworm was originally a young lady who lived at the time of the reign of Emperor Kao- Hsin (about 2450 B.C.) in that part of China which is now known by the name of Szetshuwan. There was very little safety in the country in those days, and so it happened that one day the father of the young lady, when riding out, was carried off by robbers. His horse came back the next day, but nothing could be ascertained as to what had become of his rider. A whole year passed, and his young daughter, disconsolate over the loss of her beloved father, could not be induced any longer to take either food or drink. Finally, in the presence of various friends and neighbours, the mother made a vow that he who would bring back the lost husband should have the daughter as wife. The horse heard the vow, and prancing madly, broke the head-harness and ran away. Many young fellows from the neighbourhood went out in search of the girl's father, but all their searching was in vain. Not one of them found any trace of him. 134 JAPAN AS I SAW IT Some time had elapsed when one bright morning the horse returned, carrying on its back the long lost father. From that day the horse behaved very excitedly and was continually neighing, and when the master wondered over the cause of it, his wife told him the story of her vow. " Vows," replied the husband, " only hold good with men but not with animals ! besides, it has never been heard of that a horse got married to a girl." As a kind of recompense he now gave the horse a double quantity of food daily, but the horse would not eat, and began to prance and break out whenever it saw the young lady. As the horse did not cease from its strange behaviour, the father one day in a fit of temper took his bow and arrow and shot it dead. When he spread its skin in the courtyard to dry, the daughter happened to come across the yard ; in an instant the skin had enveloped the maiden and flown away with her through the air. Ten days later the skin was found on the top of a tree and the abducted girl had been transformed into a white caterpillar, the silkworm, which remained on a mulberry tree, feeding on its leaves and spinning silk cocoons. Of these the people afterwards learned to make their shawls and gowns. Sorrow and shame now filled the hearts of the parents, until one day they beheld a carriage of KOBE, HIOGO, AND OSAKA 135 clouds, drawn by the dead horse, coming down from the skies, with a goddess in it, accompanied by a number of richly dressed female attendants. " Oh, my beloved parents," one of these exclaimed, and they at once recognised their daughter. " Listen to what I have to say to you. As a reward for my filial love the goddess of the silk- worm has chosen me to be one of her attendants and has granted me immortality. Therefore do not worry any longer ! " After these words the Lcarriage of clouds with the goddess and her com- panions, soared up again and soon disappeared in the clouds. The foreign settlement of Osaka, situated at the river's mouth, contains only a few Europeans, mostly engineers who are interested in Government contracts, and missionaries. The foreign mer- chants who had originally settled here have now all withdrawn to Kobe. Osaka has more and more become a military place. The Japanese Govern- ment has spent enormous sums on the harbour works and turned the place into a powerful naval and military base. Engine works, shipbuilding yards, gun foundries, factories of fire-arms, etc. etc., have been erected here, and now the greater part of the articles required for the army and navy is manufactured by the Japanese themselves. 136 JAPAN AS I SAW IT In their military affairs the Japanese have followed various foreign types ; th^r^kndjLorces are organised nearly exclusively on the German model ; in the other military departments German and French types are prevailing. Since the restora- tion of the imperial authority and the consequent abolition of feudalism, the army of the empire has been organised on a uniform system on the basis of conscription. The service is severe, and is executed in conformity with German regulations. The Japanese " Tommies " are willing and skilful, and have shown their valour and discipline in the China- Japanese war of 1894-1895, in 1901 when a Japanese contingent took part in the march of the allied forces on Peking, and during the Russian- Japanese war of 1904. Their valour, their strong national spirit, their d isciplin e during battle and after it, their. endurane.e and efficiency are univer- sally recognised. JsUbfcB^vyJjrajshinfluracehas preponderated, both as regards the ships and the drill of the personnel. The first contingent of Japanese navy cadets sent to Europe had their professional training in the French navy. These young men, all belonging to the highest aristocratic circles of the country, have since become admirals and high naval officers, and one can easily understand that THE POSTMAN. (After a sketch by G. Bigot.) KOBE, HIOGO, AND OSAKA 137 under their regime a certain predilection for the French system prevailed. In later years Japanese navy committees have frequently visited other European shipbuilding yards, both in England and on the Continent, and some of their biggest and most powerful battleships have been built on the Clyde. The development of the Japanese navy is one of the most notable elements in the politics of the Far East. During the war with China the squadron was handled with considerable skill and with very decisive effect, and in the recent war with Russia the Japanese navy surprised the whole world with its wonderful equipment and efficiency. IV KIOTO Kioto, which affords one of the best pictures of genuine Japanese life, has been for over a thousand years the " Western Capital," the seat of the nominal Government of the Mikado, and is still to-day in size the third town of the empire ; it surpasses all the other Japanese towns in the regular style of its buildings and in the cleanness of its streets, and holds the first place in Japanese technical trade industry, especially as far as silk, metal, and ceramic industries are concerned. The history of Kioto begins in the year 793, when the then reigning Mikado, Kuwammu, transferred his residence from Nagaoka to Udamura, the present Kioto. At the little place Udamura he built a grand palace with twelve gates which up to the year 1868 has served all his successors as residence. He gave it the propitious name of " Heianjo," i.e. " Castle of Peace," but this name did not gain currency among the population, the KIOTO 139 people being accustomed either to use the Japanese expression " Miyako "or the Chinese word " Kiyo- to," both of which mean " Seat of the Sovereign." Therefore by popular abbreviation and common use the town was called " Mia " and goes by this name on all old maps. Later on the Chinese appel- lation " Kiyoto" or " Kioto " became more com- mon and finally was adopted as the official name of the town. As capital of the empire, as seat of learning and art, as chief commercial place for silk and earthenware, Kioto for many centuries has been the highly-praised centre of the empire. In modern days only it has been denied this leading position by Tokio and Osaka, and it now ranks third in place. Owing to the Mikado transferring his residence to Tokio in 1868, the prosperity of Kioto suffered severely, and the density of its population (at that time over 400,000) rapidly decreased. The town forms a mighty parallelogram of houses, its streets running in straight lines from north to south, and from east to west ; it lies at the bottom of a smooth sloping valley in the fertile plain of Yamashiro, through which two rivers flow, the Kamogawa and the Katsuragawa, and which unite at the southern end of the town. While open towards the south, town and plain are sur- I4Q JAPAN AS I SAW IT rounded on the three other sides by wooded hills and mountain-ranges, which rise to the west in the Atago-yama and to the north-east in the Hiye-zan to some 2,700 feet high. The densely- wooded and more or less cleft hills, the prominent grey or yellowish rocks, crowned on the summit by the Hiye-zan, which overtowers the mountain walls, give the landscape a variety at once charm- ing and attractive. On fair days, when the sun rises golden red in the firmament, or in the evening when it sinks with fiery lines into the ocean, the mountains vary in nameless innumerable tints, and the higher ranges on the other side of the Bay of Osaka gleam through a veil of delightful azure blue. I took my abode at the Yaami Hotel, which is run on European lines and can be well recom- mended to visitors ; it is magnificently situated on a little hill at the edge of the town and affords a splendid view of the whole place. From here all the principal sights of the town are within easy reach. All the places of amusement seem to be concentrated in this direction : some hun- dreds of tea-houses are here situated side by side in long rows, and various streets round an old Shinto temple are occupied by theatres, tea-houses, show booths, and stands for those who like to try _____ KIOTO 141 their skill at shooting and slinging. These streets are crowded till late at night with joyous, happy merry-makers. A constant coming and going, a puffing and shouting on the part of the sellers and show-owners, and all the hubbub which we are accustomed to find in European fairs are dis- played here. On my arrival at the hotel, I arranged with the proprietor's son, a modest and cheerful Japanese youth, to act as companion and guide during my stay at Kioto. He knew the locality thoroughly, and under his guidance I visited all the principal and most interesting sights of the place and its vicinity. Kioto is the town of temples, of which there are over 3,000 within its environs. The town itself contains about 100 kami halls and over 950 Buddha temples, amongst which are many of great renown. The most famous of these temples are situated in very old woods, often high up in the mountain ranges. One usually reaches them through an avenue of gigantic conifers and cam- phor-trees, where eatables, idols, and all kinds of little trinkets and knick-knacks are sold. Then the way leads through a row of isolated, antique looking gates, past sundry bronze and stone figures, representing sacred animals and plants, 142 JAPAN AS I SAW IT (usually of the tortoise, the crane, and the lotus- flower), till we arrive at a wide, open place, where between kiosks, temples, and tombs the ubiquitous tea-houses invite to rest and refreshment. A broad staircase of a hundred or more stone steps finally leads up to the main temple, where often considerable wealth is represented in the shape of mighty bronze lanterns, bronze images of the gods, gigantic incense burners, sacred vases, silver or golden lotus flowers, and the like. The great fortunes invested in land, which the temples and monasteries formerly called their own, have all been confiscated by the Government during the restoration, and in consequence of it many priests are now dependent for their livelihood on public contributions and on the alms given them by visitors to the temples. Of the vast number of temples at Kioto, I may here mention the large and famous temple, Nishi- Hon-gwan-ji, the main temple of the Hon-gwan-ji sect. This subdivision of the numerous Buddhist sects was founded in the year 1262 of our era by Shin-ran-Sho-nin, the descendant of an old, noble family. Its aims were, and still are, the reforma- tion of the Buddhist creed by the re-estabhshing of the moral force of Buddhism . Contrary to the doc- trines and prescriptions of the other Buddhist sects KIOTO 143 the adherents of the Hon-gwan-ji sect repudiate the principle of celibacy on the part of the priests, the fasting, the penitential exercises, and the pilgrimages ; they disavow the strength attributed to talismans and like charms, object to the reading of prayers in the Sanscrit, (a language not known even to the priests themselves), and they recom- mend social intercourse with their fellow-citizens, instead of a secluded life in the monastery. Thus they distinguish themselves before the other Buddhists by their freer ideas and greater intelli- gence. Their higher mental enlightenment is also noticeable in their appearance ; more intelli- gent features as well as hair and beard make them differ favourably from the more stupid- looking, bare-shaven bonzes of the other sects. Though this sect cannot be called the .largest, it is in intelligence, influence, and wealth, the first of all Buddhist sects in the empire. It shows great energy, and makes its disciples sturdy in the doctrines of Buddhism as well as in European science in order to enable them to fight not only against Shintoism and Christianity, but also against any errors in the Buddhist creed itself. The sect has numerous temples in the country, often standing in pairs, one beside the other, and in Kioto ranking amongst the sights of the place. 144 JAPAN AS I SAW IT The great temple Nishi Hon-gwan-ji, in which more than a hundred priests and students are engaged, may be called the main temple of the sect : their leaders are the chiefs of 10,000 temples in the empire, and administer their ecclesiastical affairs, finances, and patronage. When visiting the temple, one has, as usual, to leave footwear at the entrance, and in stockings or in velvet sandals kindly lent for the purpose, wander through the seemingly endless row of halls and rooms. A sacred stillness reigns here in the twilight, which latter is caused by the shade of the surrounding verandah. Like the dwelling- houses of the Japanese, their temples are also bare of furniture. All the ornament and splendour is confined to the walls and the ceiling. The walls of the various rooms consist, as is usual, of sliding screens, which are here covered with artistic embroidery, and painting of most mag- nificent colouring. Thus the walls of one room are covered with apricot trees, plum trees, and slender graceful bamboo in winter colour, while another room excels in a luxurious bamboo embroidery on gold ground. The screens of a third hall reveal a lifelike flock of wild geese ; another room exhibits magnificent chrysanthe- mum decoration to be followed by the peacock ITINERANT MEDICINE-SELLER. (After a sketch by G. Bigot.) KIOTO 145 hall, the room of the cherry-blossom, and so on. All the pictures painted by the various artists are rigidly true to nature, and are a proof of the gift of the sharp and accurate observation possessed by the Japanese artists. As a peculiarity of the old Japanese art of painting, it must be observed that not one of these pictures has been painted on a vertical wall ; they are all done on long rolls of paper, lying perfectly level on the floor before the artist ; only when finished are they vertically drawn up on the wall. Real wall-paintings, that is to say, pictures originally painted on vertical ground, are extremely rare in Japan. The temple San-jiu-san-gen-do with its 1,000 gilt statues of the famous goddess Kwannon, and the quaint old temple Kiyomizu-dera, whose platform is overhanging a ravine, is also worthy of mention. This latter temple belongs to another subsect of the Buddhists, and contains a great number of stone images of the god Jizo, the god of prolificacy. These small stone images of the god are arranged on shelves in long rows, and the woman who desires to become a mother selects one of the images to address her prayers and offerings to, or as my guide expressed it " woman when want child, woman come here, woman pray here, woman go home, woman get child." When K 146 J APAN AS I SAW IT her hopes have been realized she bestows her thanks by tying a bib around the neck of her particular Jizo. Judging from the great number of bibs, one must conclude that Jizo's practice is a very large one. The old historical Mikado palace is of special interest. With its numerous sidewings and ad- jacent palace grounds the old Mikado palace covers a spacious area in the north of the town, but it is only preserved in an incomplete form, as many of the outhouses, especially the palaces of the former court nobility, have been latterly pulled down. The adaptation of the palace rooms is similar to that of the state rooms in the Nishi Hon-gwan-ji above described. Crossing sundry spacious but desolate courtyards, the Shi-shin-den, an isolated building of 120 feet length and 63 feet width, is reached. In former days this was used by the Mikado as throne- room for the New Year's receptions and for other festive occasions, when he used to sit concealed behind a silken curtain of red, white, and black colour. " Shi " means purple, the true colour of the highest heaven, " shin " signifies the " mys- terious " which is hidden before the eye of the common people, and " den " is the translation of the word " hall." Eighteen steps lead down to THE TIRED CAB-HORSE. (After a sketch by C. Netto and P. Bender.) KIOTO 147 the courtyard, corresponding in number with the original eighteen classes of rank, in which the officials of the Mikado were divided. Those officials who were not even permitted to stand on the lowest step were called " Ji-ge " i.e. " down in the dust," while the other officials were called " Ten-jo-bito " i.e. " permitted to ascend to the hall." Another building, called Kashiko dokoro, contained formerly a copy of the holy mirror which had been presented to the ancestors of the Mikado by the Sun-goddess Ama-terasu, and of which the original is still carefully preserved in the temple of the Sun-goddess at Ise (seepage 258). When, according to the story, in the year 960 the palace was destroyed by fire, this mirror flew away from the burning castle and settled in the branches of a cherry tree in front of the Palace, where it afterwards was found by one of the female attendants of the Mikado. In another room in the palace is the Sei-rio-den, the " clear cool hall," called so on account of a rivulet that flows past its steps. One corner of the floor was formerly covered with cement instead of with matting, and here every morning fresh earth was spread out, thus to enable the Mikado to do homage to his ancestors from the earth, according to heavenly prescription, without his being obliged to go into 148 JAPAN AS I SAW IT the open air. The sliding screens between the various rooms are made of precious wood or opaque paper, and magnificently decorated by renowned artists. The Moshi no kuchi was the audience-hall where all persons who had to make some communica- tions to the Mikado were received by his women, who took the message and passed it on to the Mikado. Right in the centre of the buildings his bedroom was arranged with other rooms around it, in such a manner that nobody could ever come near him without passing these outer rooms and making his attendants aware of it. The time of the curtain reign is now over, and the Mikado is free to rule over a freer and more enlightened people. I reserved my evenings to the various places of amusement, in which Kioto is so rich. On the very night of my arrival I went with my young guide to one of the larger theatres of the place. The outside has a general likeness to the wooden shows and booths of our English fairs. Large coloured pictures, representing scenes from the play, were exhibited on the walls, while sundry criers and gong beaters were stationed at the entrance, making the usual din. Boots are left at the door in exchange for a ticket and fresh KIOTO 149 straw sandals, before one can enter the hall. All Japanese theatres seem like regular tinder boxes, and it is really a wonder that these halls do not more frequently catch fire. Opposite the entrance is the stage, in front of which, sunk about three feet below it, extends the pit, which may hold an audience of about 4,000 people, while along both sides run a lower and an upper gallery of boxes. Neither benches nor chairs are to be seen ; all visitors are sitting on their heels according to the fashion of the country. A chair was fetched for me as I happened to be the only European in the house, but I declined it with thanks, not wishing to overtower the whole audience in this manner, and to make myself a show in the show. I managed somehow to go down on my haunches and to try to look as comfortable as possible, though not exactly feeling so. We had taken a box, from which we had a very good view both of the stage and of the audience. The house was well filled ; there may have been about 2,500 people in the pit. The pit is divided into compartments, six feet square, which are numbered, and measure exactly two mats each. The single compartment is meant to hold four persons, but often six at a time crowd into one of them. Here and there a number of compartments are taken by a large party who 150 JAPAN AS I SAW IT have come to spend the day together and to make a picnic of it. Apparently they bring their luncheon baskets with them, for eating and drinking and merry-making soon begin. Between the various compartments, which are merely separated by partitions one foot high, runs a rail a few inches wide, along which the visitors walk going in and out and in getting to their places. Barelegged servants rush to and fro, bringing tea from the neighbouring tea-houses, and pro- viding the pit and the boxes with the unavoidable tobacco-bons. We soon had our kettle on the boil over a portable brazier and were provided with sundry delicacies from the tea-house. Smoking is universal in the audience. Wherever one goes in Japan, into the theatre or tea-houses, to visit a merchant, or to call on a State official, everywhere the tobacco-bon is brought out, while a friendly " ippuku " (" please have a smoke ") greets one. The tobacco-bon is a small lacquered wood box, which contains besides a bamboo ash holder a china vessel which holds a burning piece of charcoal under its white wood ashes. Just as in China, both sexes smoke, and use the small Chinese pipes with their miniature bowls, which have to be filled afresh after each whiff. The emptying of the ashes causes a constant tap-tap IN THE THEATRE. (After sketches by C. Netto and P. Bender.) KIOTO 151 of the pipes on the bamboo ash-holders, which noise accompanies the performance without inter- ruption all day long. Generally the performance lasts from eight to ten hours. The curtain is raised usually at about ten o'clock in the morning and descends for the last time between eight and twelve at night. Visi- tors consequently are provided with the necessary refreshments from the neighbouring tea-houses, and if they like to take a more substantial meal, retire there for some time during the intervals. The stages of Japanese theatres are generally very large and nearly square, and have in the mid- dle a turn-table nearly the full size of the stage, which enables one scene to be set behind, while the performance is going on in front of the audience. Leading from either side of the stage, at right angles and level with it, are two wooden plat- forms, the " hana-michi " or " flower ways," carried right through the pit to the front of the house. These flower ways enable the actors, when approaching the scene prior to acting their parts, to pass right in sight of the audience. This way, for instance, the Daimio may go to the battle- field, or the procession come slowly marching on, making a halt now and then, and in this manner give the audience an opportunity of studying the 152 JAPAN AS I SAW IT mimicry of the actors and of admiring at a close vicinity their costly embroidered costumes. At the side of the stage, in a kind of latticed cage somewhat raised above the ground, the orchestra or chorus is seated, composed of from four to eight samisen and koto players. Every now and then they accompany with short chords the words of the actors, or as chorus tell us the story of the play to the accompaniment of their instruments. We learn from them what the approaching hero on the flower way is thinking about, where he comes from and what plot he is planning. The music is sometimes very noisy, as likewise is the audience. There is never a quiet attentive listen- ing on their part to what is going on on the stage ; there is a continuous coming and going of theatre servants and tea-house messengers, there are orders given and executed, conversation is going on, children are laughing and playing, and above all there is the continuous and universal tap-tap of the pipes on the bamboo ash-holders, while from behind the scene one may hear a hammering and knocking which tells that they are preparing the decorations for the next scene on the other half of the turn-table. As on the Chinese .stage, so also in Japan, historical plays are chiefly given, and they are STREET SINGERS. (After a sketch by G. Bigot.) KIOTO 153 mostly full of manslaughter, murder, and harakiri. Great pains are taken to make the setting true as regards decorations and costumes, and very often can be seen beside the artificial scenery living trees and shrubs, real rocks, even real houses, bridges, and fences placed on the stage. In the matter of scenery the Japanese theatres will bear comparison with those of European countries. As actors, again in conformity with the Chinese customs, and with rare exceptions, men only are allowed. In former times wonien were even for- bidden by law to act on the stage, and for centuries it was illegal for men and women to act together. Now there is no legal hindrance any more, but prejudice and custom are almost as effective as the law, and though there exist now some companies composed exclusively of women, native companies composed of both sexes are still the exception. The female parts are taken by male actors, and as the latter have also for their other parts to use a manifold variety of historical hair-dresses, all their natural hair is shaved off. Hair, eyebrows and beard disappear, and the eyelashes are all that remain. Everything else is represented by wig or paint. In the rolling of eyes and contorting of features, a good Japanese actor can almost do the impossible. In order 154 JAPAN AS I SAW IT that the audience may not miss anything of this grand dumb show, and of the wonderful mimicry, which might easily happen with the imperfect illumination partly composed of daylight, partly of paper lanterns, some " kurombos " have been put on the stage. These kurombos (niggers) are little chaps dressed in black and wearing a black hood, which dress is supposed to render them invisible. They crawl, hop, or boldly walk about the stage, and by the help of a long staff hold a burning wax candle near the face of the actor, thus making the play of his facial muscles clearly visible to the audience. One must be accustomed to see these black imps at work, or they detract the attention entirely from the play. To the European eye they no doubt offer a sight im- mensely ludicrous and comical when they hop to and fro, now pointing with their light to the moving of an actor's foot or the turning of his hand, while some are repairing an actor's torn gown, or holding up a black cloth as a screen, behind which a " killed " character crawls away from the stage. While good actors and their theatrical perform- ances are much liked by the people, and the paterfamilias as a rule attends the play from beginning to end with the whole family, the upper classes do not allow their daughters to go to a KIOTO 155 theatre, as the plays performed are too blunt in the reproduction of the most intimate and Yoshiwara scenes, and therefore justly regarded as setting bad examples to morality and good manners. As remarked before, native companies composed of both sexes were virtually unknown in Old Japan. In this respect a new era has now been initiated by the Kawakami Company, who tried to emanci- pate themselves from this prejudice. To many this famous theatrical company will be known, for it was seen in Paris and London, when the well- known Japanese actor Kawakami produced plays in which he acted with his wife, the graceful Sada Yacco. Both undertook in March 1903 in the Meiji-za theatre at Tokio to bring Shakespeare on the Japanese stage, " Othello " Japanned and adapted from the English original by Emi Suiin, with Kawakami and Sada as chief actors. Suiin's " Othello " is the " Othello " of Shakespeare, but the scene is Formosa. The Moor is the Governor of Tai-Wan on Formosa, by name Muro ; the Doge is Prime Minister of Japan, by name Marquis Uye- mishi ; Desdemona is called Tomone ; Jago, Lieutenant Sya Gozo ; Cassio, Major Katsu Toshio ; Brabantio, Count Fura ; and Bianca is the Geisha Biaki. The roles of Desdemona and Othello were acted by Sada Yacco and Kawakami, and 156 JAPAN AS I SAW IT this casting first threatened to make the whole experiment a failure, for everybody in Japan knows that Sada, before she went to Paris, was a geisha, and the elite of the Japanese society expect that the actors who play before them on the stage shall from their earliest youth have been trained in all the secrecies of mimicry and theatrical scenery. Notwithstanding their great triumphs in Europe, Sada and Kawakami were in the eyes of the classics of the Japanese theatre mere adven- turers, and their successes in the Occident only proved the mental inferiority of the western people in this sphere, but the play had a grand success, and in spite of heavy attacks on the part of the Japanese critics, poet and actors held the field. This really wonderful success was chiefly attributed to Sada's playing, for she created a Japanese Desdemona of almost ideal perfection. This first appearance of Shakespeare on the Japanese stage must be looked upon as a first experiment to make the Japanese people acquainted with the great dramatic literature of the western countries. Japanese scholars know the master works of European literature, and since 1879 translations of English, French, German, and even Russian works have followed each other in quick succession, but to the great multitude WRESTLERS. (After a Japanese photograph.) KIOTO 157 they have remained entirely unknown. Emi Suiin thought that the time had now come when he could let Shakespeare speak to the Japanese people ; and to meet his audience he dressed the heroes of his drama in Japanese gowns. The critique states that the experiment was successful, and the Kawakami Company has since given the play also at Kioto and Osaka, and was received there with the same enthusiasm. Of course it must remain outside my province to say how much of the spirit of Shakespeare has really been saved in casting the drama into the new Japanese poetic mould. Next to theatre performances wrestling matches enjoy a great popularity in Japan. In this case the custom also of excluding the female members of the family from visiting the arena prevailed, not from reasons of decency but because women and girls were not considered worthy enough to attend such noble combats of men. When for the first time one visits a performance of Japanese wrestlers one is surprised to find in these Japanese prize- fighters men of quite a different shape compared to our athletes. While with us the exercises and the diet and the whole training of the wrestlers have in view the bringing of the muscularity to its highest development and to free the body from 158 JAPAN AS I SAW IT all unnecessary particles of fat, quite other princi- ples are followed in Japan. Though the Japanese wrestlers also lay great value on the development of muscular strength, their chief point is to lay by enormous masses of fat, to create heavy weights in order to enable them successfully to resist the attempts of the opponent to lif+ them from the ground. To this purpose, the wrestlers are fat- tened in the true sense of the word until heavy layers of fat have settled under their skin, and their eyes and nose have almost disappeared. The more monstrous masses of fat such a heavy-weight can boast, the more he is admired ; and the fact is that in most cases the heaviest wrestler scores the greatest number of victories. I have seen contests between local celebrities, where the weights of the champions varied between 280 and 300 lbs. The wrestlers used to travel through the country in troops of sometimes fifty, sixty, or more active members, giving their performances at the various places. The light arena is easily and quickly constructed, and always and everywhere are they sure of finding a numerous audience. Before the beginning of the contests the wrestlers march up to the arena, and show themselves to the audience in their gala-dress, a precious silken or velvet gold embroidered apron — often the present of a rich KIOTO 159 admirer. The umpire is armed with a peculiarly shaped heavy war fan, and he and the various judges also wear festive garments. The wrestlers are divided into two camps, and one of the judges calls out the names of the contestants. They take off their apron, and wearing only the diminu- tive loin cloth and belt, they enter the ring as their turn comes. As each champion enters, he makes an offering of salt to put the gods in a favourable mood, drinks a dipper of water, and then takes a position with his hands resting on his bent knees, and awaits his opponent, who takes up the same position opposite. When the umpire has seen that everything is right, and they have sunk on their haunches leaning forward on clenched fists, the signal to start is given and the round begins. Using all their strength and particularly by their weight, they try to make the adversary touch the ground or try to push or carry him out of the ring. He who touches the ground, and if it is only for a second, with any other part than the foot, or gets out of the ring has lost. Beating, kicking, and the like are forbidden, but to run against the adversary in order to lift him from the ground is permitted. When the victory has been a difficult one loud applause greets the winner, and often similarly as at Spanish bull-fights the winner is the 160 JAPAN AS I SAW IT recipient of presents thrown by the jubilant crowd. After a visit to the arena or theatre the Japanese like to go to the tea-houses. There is scarcely any other institution in the charming " Land of the Rising Sun " which leaves such an agreeable recol- lection on the mind of the visitor as these pretty neat tea-houses, which there take the place of our restaurants. There is an unusual charm connected with many of them. They are found of fashionable, elegant style as well as of moderate and quite common forms. An elderly married woman is generally the landlady and attends to the kitchen, while a number of young girls, aged ten to eighteen, serve the guests. Besides such usual refreshments as tea, sake, cakes, and fruit, more substantial meals are also served in the tea-houses, and many Japanese make it a custom to give their dinner parties there. On such occa- sions dancing and singing girls are never missing. They are not inmates of the tea-house, but are sent for and engaged for the time. They are small, dainty, nice-looking girls, especially the geishas or maikos (dancing girls), and vary in age from twelve to sixteen ; some of them are quite cele- brated in the district for their beauty and grace, and their taste in dress. When they get older A ---y m - * ■ »\ KIOTO v 161 they are employed merely as singing girls, and devote themselves to the play of the samisen, the Japanese musical instruments . Among these most in use are the koto, a kind of zither with a wooden sounding board, the kokiu, a kind of violin played with the bow ; two kind of drums, of which the one is generally worked under the left arm, the other one on the right knee ; and finally the biwa, a kind of mandoline played with the bone-ring. The instrumental music and the accompanying singing are devoid of harmony, as is most Japanese music. Numerous daughters of the lower and middle classes of the people go while very young as ser- vants into the tea-houses, or are taken as dancing girls to the dancing master, and in this way earn their livelihood and assist their parents. The actual sale of children is now forbidden by law, but they may be apprenticed for a term of ten years, and so the improvement in their position is more apparent than real. The little girls are trained from the age of six or eight by the dancing master, and make their first appearance in public when they are about twelve years old. They are taught dancing, singing, and playing the musical instruments, as well as reading and writing, etc. They receive their clothes and some knick-knack charms from the dancing master as an advance on i62 JAPAN AS I SAW IT account of earnings, to be worked off by and by, while the cost of their sustenance falls to the dancing master's charge. My Japanese guide had already announced our evening visit, and so we found on our arrival at the tea-house a number of geishas and four samisen- girls ready for our reception. Having changed our boots for straw sandals we followed the neat, cheerful maidens (who were, according to the fashion of the country, continually bowing to us) to an upper storey of the house, where by the shift- ing of some sliding screens soon a petit salon particulier was arranged for us. The garden side was left open and hung with huge paper lanterns, the coloured light of which played magically on the grotesque dwarf trees and little rockeries of the garden. We squatted down on the soft matting of the floor, while the girls placed tiny lacquer tables five inches high in front of us, covered with small cups and neat little lacquer saucers containing various appetising dishes. Opposite us one of the girls was kneeling on the floor, regarding it her duty to entertain us and to keep our cups filled with sake. The samisen girls were seated in a row at one side of the room, while the geishas came slowly filing up in front of us before a screen of blazing gilt embroidery as KIOTO 163 background, flanked by two mighty bronze can- delabra with burning wax candles. They look really quite sweet and charming, these graceful little girls, while they walk to and fro in their butterfly-coloured silk gowns, bowing gracefully, but their faces are thickly coated with white powder and their lips painted fiery red so that it is difficult to say if they are really pretty. The obi of each performer is of a different shade, and is tied at the back to a sash of an extraordinarily large size, and forms the most precious and prominent part of the dress. They look extremely pictur- esque. Beside the fan, the girl's equipment con- sists of a little bag of powder and musk, some hana-gami (paper handkerchiefs), and a little case with comb, powder puff, and mirror. The dark black hairdress glitters under the adornment of a diadem, which is formed of artificial flowers, butter- flies, and loosely hanging gold and silver threads. The dancing consists of slow, easy and graceful, pantomimic rhythmical movements of the arms and body in time with the music. Each dance has a certain meaning, but to the foreigner who does not understand the explanatory words of the accompanying song it is mostly very difficult to grasp its mystic significance. The geisha performs her dancing on the very small space of only a few 164 JAPAN AS I SAW IT square feet, and her principal endeavour is to execute all her movements, even the slightest and most insignificant ones, in a really accomplished, graceful manner, but her dancing is only from the waist up, while no attention is paid to the grace in moving the legs and feet, the latter generally remaining flat on the ground. Very pretty is their manoeuvring with the fan and their coquettish play with the richly embroidered long sleeves of their kimono. Japanese dancing is always modest, and the Japanese will sit quietly for hours on his mat, sip his tea, and watch every movement of the graceful dancer with obvious comfort and enjoy- ment. The money for the performance goes into the pocket of the dancing master, the girls are only allowed to accept for themselves a small gift of five or ten cents, the so-called flower money (hana), which they spend on artificial flowers and other ornaments of their hair-dress, and with which they gradually pay off their clothes debt with the dancing master. It is the custom not to hand the " hana " open to the geisha,but to roll it up first in coloured paper, the so-called gift- paper. When the dances are over, the geishas may be allowed to kneel down beside you for a little while, affably and intimately, but in no way "1 A BEAUTY. (After a sketch by G. Bigot.) KIOTO 165 forwardly and obtrusively, and partake of an offered cup of tea or sake ; then with innumerable bows, accompanied by the sibilant drawing in of the breath which is characteristic of the cere- monious salutation of the Japanese, and repeatedly thanking you for the flower-money, they will leave the house and return to their employer. Japanese dancing is very modest, and if we hear now and then a globe-trotter make an assertion to the contrary, we may be sure that he has made his respective studies in the low inns of the harbour places. Certain performances are merely got up by shameless, greedy speculators and not meant for a Japanese audience at all. Girls used for such performances are common girls who have scarcely any idea of real dancing. If I have declared Japanese dancing to be thoroughly modest, I do not mean by that remark to give the geishas a testimonial of unconditional chastity. They are as a rule of low descent, and according to the moral theory of their classes they will at any time be ready by order and with the consent of their parents to let themselves out for a contracted period to a native or a foreigner. The girl may be virtuous, but is so exposed to continual temptations, and, in consequence, frequently yields. The jeunesse dorJe seeks her company, 166 JAPAN AS I SAW IT and if she is clever and fortunate enough to catch a rich husband she has reached the summit of her hopes and ambitions. The geishas must not be confounded with the numerous inmates of the Yoshiwaras, the joros, whose large number and social position we have to excuse on account of the ancient Japanese moral customs. These joros were sold in tender age, or, as circumstances have changed somewhat now, are let out for a certain period by their parents to licensed houses. Formerly they were sold out- right to be brought up to their " profession," but the actual sale of children is now forbidden by law, and a system of mortgaging them instituted in its stead. The joro is no longer in law a slave, but as long as the loan to her father or husband for which she is the pledge is not paid off, she cannot leave her quarters. The young girls, ageing perhaps eight years or so, are handed over to the proprietor of a j oroya, who has them taught to play the samisen, sing, read and write letters, etc., in short to make them as presentable as possible for the men. The older girls instruct the younger ones, and the latter attend to the former as servants. Nearly every Japanese town has its special quarter, called Yoshiwara (pleasure fields), devoted to the service of the goddess Aphrodite, which with KIOTO 167 its many streets of fine houses and its brilliant show often forms one of the chief attractions and special sights of the place. Considering the benevolent view which the whole nation takes of Yoshiwaras and their inmates, it need not be wondered at that still to-day the way to the great- est sanctuary of the country, to the temple of the Sun-goddess Ama-terasu at Ise, leads through a Yoshiwara famous all over the empire. I also spent some time in visiting various fac- tories, workshops, and showrooms, for most exquis- ite articles can be obtained at Kioto, especially in bronze work, lacquer work, wood and ivory carv- ings, and textile fabrics. Kioto's magnificent brocades interwoven with gold threads, its richly ornamented damasks and crapes, its silk reps and velvets have been of great renown for centuries, and they have even improved on their previous excellence. What an attractive and fascinating impression the implied and industrial arts of Japan make compared to those of China ! The docile pupil has excelled her aged teacher, and enchants by her freshness and charming naturalism, while Chinese art leaves us cold, and only attracts by the skill of its workmanship. The Japanese technical trade enjoys great favour with us, and the Japan- ese people dare boast with satisfaction that their 168 JAPAN AS I SAW IT civilisation, as far as fine arts are concerned, has exercised a not unimportant influence on European industry. Though the Japanese painters have applied in their works neither chiaro oscuro nor cast shadow, and though they do not know the linear perspec- tive, competent western artistic experts do not hesitate to give full appreciation to the works of Japanese artists. Japanese painting does not show great creative ability, but rather infinite care in execution, the most minute exactness in detail, and correctness of form and colouring. It is of an extraordinary accuracy, precision, and delicacy, and clearly shows that the Japanese artist is possessed of a perceptivity of the highest order. Japanese art has within the last decades taken up our attention more and more, and has gained a growing influence on our taste, and especially on our polytechnic works. What we particularly and justly admire in the Japanese artistic pro- ductions is the freshness and devoutness with which the Japanese artist clings to nature. In the magnificent scenery of his country the Japan- ese seeks and finds the designs for his ornaments and the pictures with which he decorates his vases and bowls, his screens and tissues. The love with which he seizes all the beauties CHANTEUSE. (After a sketch by G. Bigot.) KIOTO 169 which hill and dale, wood and field, offer in such rich and manifold variety, proves his taste and perceptive faculty in studying nature. His wood carvings, as we find them in many Japanese temples, are really wonderful, and those in the temples at Shiba in Tokio incomparable. The wood and ivory carvers of Tokio turn out countless figures of animals and men, all executed with the greatest care to the minutest detail and excellence of finish. Of all the highly developed technical industries of Japan her lacquer industry doubtless ranks at first place. In it, the artistic taste and technical skill, coupled with the marvellous perseverance and ingenuity of the Japanese, gain full prevalence, and in no other branch of technical industry have they won precedence so undisputedly among all other nations. Japanese lacquer ware is not only distinguished by its beauty and elegance, but by its lightness and great hardness, and also by its brilliancy and extraordinary solidity. Apparently inde- structible, these qualities are preserved for decades, even for centuries, as is clearly proved by the numerous temples and lacquer bridges which for long periods have been exposed to the influence of all weathers, and which to-day, unviolated by 170 JAPAN AS I SAW IT the ravages of time, still delight us with their splendour and beauty. These great merits of Japanese lacquer are chiefly the result of some specially good qualities in the raw material and also of the great care by which it is applied. The lacquer er guild of Japan is divided into two classes. The lacquer workers, who do the ground-laying and the common varnishing, and the lacquer painters, whose task it is to decorate the grounded lacquerware, draw the pictures, and do the designs in gold and silver powder between the lacquer coatings, etc. The lacquer painters are really artists, who handle their little brush with great precision and skill, and who even when possessing unmistakably natural gifts have first to undergo a long apprenticeship (sometimes from eight to ten years) before they succeed in becoming masters in their profession and are able to produce faultless works of lacquer art. The material for the Japanese lacquer trade is obtained from the sap of the lacquer tree (rhus vernicifera, D.C.). Next to the lacquer industry the technical art of pottery and metal working deserves special reference. The earthenware trade (and particu- larly the porcelain industry) is very considerable in Kioto ; it has been located for nearly two and a half centuries in the quarter Kiyomidzu, where A WOODSAWYER IN THE MOUNTAINS. (After a sketch by C. Netto and P. Bender.) KIOTO 171 in some long streets each house contains its pottery shops and porcelain factory. The invention of porcelain is to the credit of the Chinese, who knew how to produce porcelain vessels more than 600 years ago. In Japan, porcelain making became known at the end of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth century. In the year 1598 the three Christian princes of Satsuma, Hizen, and Choshiu, when returning home from the Korean campaign, brought a great number of Korean potters and their families with them to Japan, and these Koreans, involuntarily transplanted to Nippon, became the founders of the Japanese ceramic art. To-day the descendants of those Korean families are still living in the Korean village of Nayeshirogawa, in the neighbourhood of Kago- shima in Satsuma, and are engaged in the pottery trade. Though they have adapted themselves to Japanese customs and costume, they have remained unmixed, and by their figure still show the Korean type. As in the ceramic trade, so also in the art of metal working the Japanese show great taste. In their copper and bronze works, in which for centuries past Chinese taste has been in the ascendancy, they show great excellence of work- 172 JAPAN AS I SAW IT manship and great artistic skill. In their cult the bronze acts a prominent part. I only mention in this respect the various Buddha figures, the numerous holy temple bells, and other idols, which arrest often by their excellent casting as well as by their colossal size. The bronze monuments on the graves of the Shoguns at Nikko and Shiba, the thousands of big bronze lanterns in the temples and monasteries as well as a multitude of smaller temple ornaments, impress one and prove that the bronze industry found its great development mainly in the service of the Buddha cult, to the requirements of which enormous quantities of bronze have been applied. THE LAKE BIWA, THE FUJI-NO YAMA, AND THE KATSURA-GAWA RAPIDS All who visit Kioto must not forget also to make an excursion to Lake Biwa. At first the road is along the Tokaido, the old main road of the empire, which looks at first like the main street of a populous town, so busy does it appear with its great traffic of pedestrians and merchandise ; soon the way leads uphill through picturesque moun- tain scenery, romantic glens and ravines, and shady woods, till the height of Otsu is attained near by the monastery of Mii-dera. Here in the forest is one of those sacred temple bells of con- siderable size and weight which are often found in the vicinity of Buddhist temples. It is not hung aloft in a belfry or a bell-tower, but quite low in the open field under a simple skeleton-frame. Instead of using a bell-clapper, which is never found with these gigantic Japanese bells, it is* 174 JAPAN AS I SAW IT sounded on the outside by mean of a swinging horizontal beam, which is suspended close to it, and when put in motion beats against a disk-like spot specially elevated for the purpose. The big bell of Mii-dera, whose harmonious sound is famed far and near, is said to have been erected by Hidesato, a celebrated hero of the tenth century, and is interwoven with the rich history and legend of this district. One story goes that Benkei, of the old Japanese myth, who was endowed with godlike strength, once carried this colossal bell (which at its rim measures five feet in diameter) quite unaided from Mii-dera to his monastery Hiesan, but there the bell turned silent, and only uttered the wailing cry, " Mii-dera." Frightened Benkei hurried back with the bell to Mii-dera, and replaced it whence he had taken it. Another legend tells us that originally the bell was polished bright like a mirror, and that every- body was delighted with its brightness and beauty. But one day a lady visited the temple, and instead of devoutly praying to the god, she went to the bell, viewed herself in it, and arranged her hair- dress before its reflecting surface. At this profane behaviour the bell got mightily angry and in an instant made the metal of its mirroring surface shrivel into millions of equally fine wrinkles. In THE BIG BELL AT KIOTO. THE LAKE BIWA 175 this way a repetition of such a blasphemous misuse of the holy temple bell was made impossible for ever. From the height of Otsu across the uniform black-roofed mass of houses of the little town of Otsu, lying at the foot of the mountain, there is a fine view of Lake Biwa. It shows numerous little bays with clusters of trees and bushes, with here and there beautiful clumps of the slender and graceful bamboo. Charmingly wooded moun- tains send their spurs down to the lake, lower hills spread to the right along the shore, while at the east a far extending mountain range begins, the fantastically notched barren stone masses of which fall in great pointed peaks nearly verti- cally down to the water. The Lake " Biwa " means " The four-stringed lute," and is called so on account of its likeness to this instrument. It has the form of an irregular quadrangle and almost the size of the Lake of Geneva. It owes its origin to volcanic eruptions. The following story about it is still current among the people : One night, in the year 376 after the foundation of the Japanese empire, the people of a large area in the north-east of the present Kioto were roused out of their sleep by a violent uproar which lasted the whole night, and which smote every breast 176 JAPAN AS I SAW IT with terror. When on the next morning the people left their houses they noticed to their utter amazement that all the hills and mountains in those parts had disappeared in an unaccountable manner, and that in their stead a wonderful large blue lake spread before their wondering eyes. On the same night of horrors, when all those moun- tain masses tumbled to pieces, at another part of the island, in an entirely flat plain, not far distant from the present Yokohama, a gigantic mountain rose up — a sky-towering mountain peak,, reaching up to the clouds, and overlooking all the other mountains in the country. It had risen quite suddenly from the plains ; the people were amazed at this wonder, and noticed with terror that the mount spat fire and stones which fell down all around its summit. How long this belching fire lasted nobody can say now, but in later years, on sundry occasions, it occurred again. For generations now it has been cold and quiet, but the mountain itself, the Fuji-no Yama, is considered sacred, and annually thousands of pious people go on pilgrimages to its summit to fetch good fortune from the holy peak and blessing for themselves and their beloved ones at home. " Matchless Fuji-no Yama, incomparable Fuji," THE LAKE BIWA 177 the world renowned landmark, and the loftiest and most sacred mountain of Japan, is 12,730 feet high. It has been one of the most active and most dangerous of fire mountains in the whole country, but it has been dormant now for two centuries. Its last eruption occurred on the 24th November 1707, and lasted till the 22nd January 1708. Heavy earthquakes shook the provinces of Suruga and Totomi, and they were accompanied by a thunder- like uproar, the rolling of which was heard at Tokio about sixty miles distant. The peak spat out enormous flames, burning hot sand, pieces of rock, and ashes, which were carried away to great distances. A rain of ashes, scoriaceous lava and lapilli fell as far distant as in the Provinces of Kadzura, Shimosa, and Awa, and the masses of ashes lay in the neighbourhood of Tokio several inches high. Fuji-no Yama, or Fuji-San, which latter name is preferred by the Japanese, stands alone and is an almost perfect cone with two hills on its vertex by the side of the crater. It is covered with snow for nearly ten months of the year, and during that time shows an irresistible beauty and grandeur, while in the barren and cold appearance during the summer months it loses much of its romance, M 178 JAPAN AS I SAW IT The Chinese equivalent to Fuji means " immor- tality," San or Yama signifies " mountain " ; Fuji-no Yama, or Fuji-San, therefore, means " mountain of immortality." The Biwa lake is now connected with the Kamagawa that flows through Kioto by a grand canal, which was opened for public traffic by Emperor Mutsu Hito personally in May 1890. This great water highway is only seven miles long, but on account of the unavoidable boring through a mighty mountain wall it is an imposing testimony to the ability of the Japanese engineers who have constructed it. It takes about an hour and a quarter to do the seven miles down the Lake Biwa-Canal from Otsu to Kioto, and double that time to get the boats back. There are three tunnels, of which the longest measures 8,528 feet ; it has to overcome a difference in levels of 135 feet. Through the third tunnel a basin is reached, from where the boats are taken down an incline on cradles by means of a wire rope cable. This canal not only serves the goods traffic, but helps to regulate the watercourses of the rivers which flow through Kioto and Osaka, and also serves for irrigation purposes. Se-tse, stretching along the water-side, is a suburb of Otsu, and contains the old renowned THE LAKE BIWA 179 monastery of Ishi-yama dera, which is well worthy of an inspection. At Se-tse, in an idyllic tea-house, one has to dine in the national way. An appetising meal is served on the usual lacquer-tables, about ten inches high, one girl keeping the bowls filled with rice from the rice tub, while two other girls attend to the various courses, which are served in little coloured lacquered bowls. Japanese food, with few exceptions, has nothing repellent to European taste ; it is cleanly and neatly served, and one becomes accustomed to it quicker and easier than is possible with the native food in China. The aversion to animal food on the part of the natives in former centuries may be explained by the very small number of animals living in the islands, the killing of which would have been against the natives' own interest. It was strength- ened by the Buddhist doctrine of the transmigra- tion of souls. Buddhist religion forbids the killing of any living creature, and the consequent eating of animal food. Horses, oxen, buffaloes, dogs, and cats were never eaten ; stags, hares, and boars as well as poultry very rarely ; tortoises and cranes were considered sacred, and the hawking of the latter reserved to the Imperial Court. The con- sumption of fresh beef is still to-day in Japan very 180 JAPAN AS I SAW IT small, but slowly increasing ; dairy farming is also slowly growing, though all attempts to acclimatise sheep have so far not been very successful. The imported animals soon perish from eating the sharp edged bamboo grass. While cattle for slaughter are very scarce in Japan, the coasts are Extremely rich in fish. The southern and northern Gulf Stream unite here and the scale-bearers of the Indian, Malayan, and Ochotzk sea meet, and in consequence fish is very cheap in the densely- populated coast-districts and available there for the poorer classes also. The rivers and freshwater lakes of the islands abound in fish, as the great fish-killer, the pike, is unknown in Japan. Owing to their extreme winters the Japanese could not ► well be pure vegetarians ; Buddhism had to make certain concessions to the islanders and declare that fish were unfit for the transmigration of ^ souls, and therefore admissible as food. " As men," so the Buddhists made out, " spend the greater part of their life on land, they are only transformed into land-animals." The Japanese Buddhists may therefore enjoy their fish-dinners with the reassuring conviction that they are not laying violent hands on some deceased ancestor. Besides, the killing of an animal, as forbidden by Buddha, does not in reality take place with fish, THE LAKE BIWA 181 for the fish in being boiled remains in its element, the water, and if it cannot stand hot temperature as well as cold, it is its own look-out. Beside fish various kinds of seaweeds are also much utilised in the Japanese kitchen, partly fresh for soups, partly dried, or pickled with vinegar and salt. They also form an important article of export, chiefly to China. Towards the interior of the larger islands, on account of the difficulties of transport and the costs of carrying, the con- sumption of products of the sea declines consider- ably. The peasants living in the interior of the country only allow themselves the luxury of a fish-dish once or twice a month. One has there- fore to distinguish between the mixed diet of the inhabitants of the coasts and the pure vegetarian food of the peasants in the interior of the country. Amongst the articles of food of vegetable origin rice takes the first place. With the poorer classes the cheaper millet, barley, and wheat form the principal diet, boiled, and often eaten with raw fish. Radishes, sometimes of an enormous size, are a favoured relish and are given salted or pickled with nearly every meal. Potatoes are rare, and legumes, which are so excellent by reason of their high percentage of albumen and of fat, are very little taken as a real dish, but used only for the 182 JAPAN AS I SAW IT preparing of a very palatable sauce, called shoya, which is also increasing in favour with us. The products of the kitchen garden are mostly almost tasteless, and fruits though abundant are for the most part of inferior quality. With bread and pastry the Japanese, like their western neighbours the Chinese, became acquainted through the Portuguese, but neither nation was able to accustom itself to it ; both preferred their old forms of food, the rice. The European who intends to go to the interior will be well advised to provide himself from the hotel with bread or an equivalent to it, if he does not wish to accommodate himself to the Japanese foods and be satisfied with rice and groats. Small sweet biscuits made up of rice are in great favour with the natives, and their consumption has grown in such a degree that the Government now draws a considerable revenue from the licences for prepar- ing these delicacies. As to beverages, besides tea, rice-beer or sake, the intoxicating drink of the Chinese and Japanese, plays the first part in the country. The ordinary sake is a light drink, but the strongly spiced double sake has an intoxicating effect. The sake, which is generally taken warm, seldom suits a European's taste, but the native is very fond GOING HOME. (After a sketch by C. Netto and P. Bender.) THE LAKE BIWA 183 of it, and won't miss it at any festive occasion ; at his temple festivals he makes offerings of it to the gods. The Government has for many years bestowed great attention upon the sake breweries and made the sake tax one of the most important items of revenue in its budget. Beside the Lake Biwa the Katsura-gawa rapids are well worth mentioning. The road from Kioto leads through fertile fields and pretty woods, dark ravines and romantic rocks. Swallow-tail butter- flies play around, and large, beautifully marked spiders hang in their cobwebs between the fir- trees and beeches, while iridescent green lizards timidly and hurriedly disappear in the grass on our approach. At Yamamoto, which is the highest point of the rapids, we embark on a flat-bottomed boat about forty feet long and thirty inches deep ; the total party includes in addition four coolies and their jinrikishas and a number of boatmen. For about an hour and a quarter the boat dances, shoots, and jumps through the rapids. With imposing velocity it rushes past or over the rocks. One must admire the great agility of the four boat- men, who always know just when to plant their long boat-hooks firmly against the rocks, thus giving the boat the right direction and preventing 184 JAPAN AS I SAW IT it from being dashed to pieces. Many a time the boat thunders over the rocks just beneath the water surface, and the bottom planks are heaving as if to burst, but immediately one or two of the boatmen jump on the imperilled spot and by their weight counterbalance the pressure from below of the water and rocks. There is no apparent danger in this rapids shooting, a mere interesting excite- ment through a most picturesque scenery. The mountain gorge which forms the river bed lies between high banks wooded with firs, beeches, and bamboo, through which every now and then some sunbeams find their way and dance on the roaring current, whose waters, according to strength and depth of current and distribution of light and shadow, soon play in dark blue and transparent green or in white foaming spray. Everywhere the country through which one passes shows a picture of fertility. On the fields peasants are occupied with the gathering of cotton and with the drying of tobacco leaves. Extensive tea-growing as well as many large rice fields show the industry of the people engaged in husbandry. Agriculture has been at all times of the greatest importance in Japan. During the long seclusion of the country the people themselves were con- FISHING WITH THE ROD. (After a sketch by G. Bigot.) THE LAKE BIWA 185 scious that their bodily existence was dependent upon the yield of their own soil and that a harvest deficiency could not be made good in any other way. In order to support a large population upon a limited area of cultivable land the most intense husbandry is practised. The country is very mountainous, and not more than one-sixth of its area is available for cultivation. Forty per cent, of the population are peasants, another quarter attend to husbandry as a subsidiary occupation, and about three-fifths of the total articles of export are of an agricultural nature. Most of the people engaged in husbandry are peasant proprietors, tenancy being rare, but the rural property is often very small, on an average seldom larger than two to three acres, the fields seldom larger than half an acre, sometimes even not bigger than ten feet square. Chiefly on account of the small size of the fields the Japanese peasant has never felt much the absence of cattle for field work, for even where they keep packhorses for the transport of goods, they do not use them in the fields, the space being too small. On the rice fields horses or cattle could not well be used because of the swampy state of the soil ; so the working of the fields has been done for thousands of years exclusively by hand and with the spade. There are only few horses and 186 JAPAN AS I SAW IT cattle in the country, and no sheep, goats, or pigs. In consequence the procuring and preparing of manure, which when there is permanent cultiva- tion cannot be omitted even with the best soils, has had to become quite a particular study. Under the circumstances the principal manure could only be human manure, and the collecting, transporting, and distributing of it at all times of the day is anything but pleasant to European nostrils. The mode of procuring the necessary manure for the Japanese peasant consists in the most careful preservation of all such manure from his own estab- lishment, and in the buying of additional quantities from towns. While with us a good part of the ingredients of stable manure sinks unused into the earth under the dung heap or is flooded away by the rain, the Japanese peasant preserves all excrements most carefully in big earthenware pots dug in the ground, ready for use when the time comes. Near the coast and in the neighbourhood of big towns there is abundance of manure, while in the interior of the country it is extremely scarce, and in its stead artificial irrigation has to be resorted to to perform to a great part the fertili- sation of the soil. Of incalculable value to Japanese agriculture is its system of artificial irrigation and drainage, THE LAKE BIWA 187 which has been in operation for almost two thous- and years. Though there is a very considerable rainfall in the country, artificial irrigation as a means of better fertilising the soil has been applied by Japanese husbandry since times immemorial. In all parts of the highlands, and of the hilly country in front of them, at the fountains and along the river-beds, water reservoirs have been constructed to gather the rain water during the rainy season. In that way not only an inundation of the lower plains during the rainy months is prevented, at least to a great part, but also the necessary water supply procured for the dry months. When in the hot summer months the rice fields need the supplying of water, one can see beside the manifold pump and well erections numerous " norias " in action. Sturdy-legged Japanese with the noria, the Persian water-wheel, on their back walk during the dry season from peasant to peasant, offering their services for a trifling day's pay. Quickly they build up their treadmill in the ditch which surrounds the field, and then, marching on the spot for hours, with the scoops of their water- wheel they lift the water from the lower ditch up to the higher field. Besides rice, wheat, and other cereals, the to- 188 JAPAN AS I SAW IT bacco plant, the tea-shrub, and the cotton plant are cultivated. Of other vegetable productions may be mentioned the camphor-tree, the paper mulberry, the vegetable-wax tree, and the lacquer tree. The principal timber trees are Cryptomeria japonica and Pinus massoniana ; the maple is merely for ornament ; chestnut, oak, beech, and elm are comparatively rare and little used. Fruits, as already mentioned, are abundant but for the most part of inferior quality. The floral kingdom is rich, beautiful, and varied, but most flowers, both wild and cultivated ones, are devoid of scent ; those mostly met with are camellias, rhododen- drons, peonies, chrysanthemums, wistarias, con- volvuli, the large, showy, wild hydrangeas, irises, arum-lilies, and the lotus flowers. The cultivation of flowers is generally left to the public gardens and the professional horticul- turists, and though the Japanese people to all appearance are enormously fond of flowers and like to decorate their rooms with cut flowers tastefully arranged in little vases, one scarcely finds a Japanese private house where flowers are grown, and where the grown-up members of the family and the children attend to their flower pots as is the general custom in nearly all European countries. Where there is a little house garden, SELLING FISH. (After a sketch by G. Bigot.) THE LAKE BIWA 189 which is often only the size of a few mats, it has no flower beds at all, but merely consists of a cartload of rocks, a shovelful of pebbles, a pail of water, an artificial little lantern and one or two dwarf pine trees (see page 116). It may satisfy the Japanese imagination but it can never be called a flower garden. Real flower gardens worthy that name do not exist in Japan. During the flower season the people visit the public parks and the nursery gardens of the professional horticulturists, where for a number of days on the payment of a small entrance fee several acres of flowers can be admired. In this manner you may visit a kind of chrysanthemum show, an iris show, an azalea show, and the like. VI YOKOHAMA Yokohama (in English " Cross-strand ") is to-day the most important harbour of Japan. It is the shipping port for the foreign commerce of the near capital Tokio, which can be reached in an hour's railway ride. Originally a large fishing place, Yokohama became of importance in 1859 when it was made a treaty port, displacing the opposite Kanagawa, and in consequence foreigners came to settle there. Kanagawa, situated on the Tokaido, the great main road of the empire, had proved to be too dangerous a place in those days when differences frequently arose between the Europeans and the Daimios, travelling with their armed Samurais to and from Tokio, when the sword of the Samurais and the revolver of the European often played an important rGle. A brisk trade soon began in the new treaty port, and the Japanese Government made great and successful endeavours to develop it further. Notwithstanding the very heavy expense a large YOKOHAMA 191 quay street of solid granite blocks was built, the so-called " Bund," enclosed by breakwaters, and provided with wharfs, custom-house, and a number of ample " godowns." The latter name is gen- erally used in Japan and on the Asiatic mainland for storehouses and is derived from ' the Malay word " gadong." Owing to these facilities and to its beautiful and spacious harbour Yokohama succeeded in comparatively few years in gaining an important position in the world's commerce. Its shipping trade is a very considerable one, and includes huge mail steamers from all parts, men- of-war of all seafaring nations, and amongst the merchant fleet not only the big packet-boats, but also many steam-boats and sailing vessels of various sizes and nationalities. The town of Yokohama really divides itself into three different parts. There is first of all the European quarter, the so-called " Settlement," with the foreign business-houses, the banks, insurance offices, clubs, the Consulate buildings, the godowns, principal hotels, etc. It runs from south-east to north-west for about one and a half miles facing the harbour, and has been built up again since the large J&re of 1866, on a scale much larger and finer than it was before. Just behind it lies the Chinese -quarter, with its numerous 192 JAPAN AS I SAW IT sailor-inns, and after it comes the Japanese town with its interesting curio-shops and the premises of its bronze, lacquerware, and porcelain dealers. On the land side a canal forms a belt round the European settlement, which excels by its pretty, spacious, and well-kept streets, and has in the magnificent " Bund " its principal ornament. Not all Europeans live in the town ; many of them have preferred merely to establish their offices there, and to build their bungalows on the Bluff. This is a small wooded mountain range in crescent form, projecting into the sea in the west of the town, and adjoining the settlement. It forms every evening the buen retiro of most of the Euro- peans of Yokohama, and indeed a more charming quarter for rest after the day's burden and heat than this luxuriant green seaside hill, with its canopy of leaves and its uninterrupted splendid view, can scarcely be imagined. Under evergreens, under palms or fir-trees, between banana trees and azaleas, bamboo and cactus plants, the Euro- peans have built their bungalows, pretty, airy villas one storey high, with large rooms, and wide and cool verandahs adapted to the climate. The latter, compared with the climate of the neigh- bouring Asiatic mainland, is for Europeans very agreeable and salubrious. The average tempera- A BETTO (After a sketch by G. Bi.;ot| YOKOHAMA 193 ture during the months April ti?l October amounts to 68° F. with a maximum of 90 to 95 towards the end of July and beginning of August. The coldest month is January, with 40° F. in monthly average and with 20 at the lowest. A well defined rainy season does not exist ; but usually parts of the months of July and August are subject to heavy rains, generally not lasting long, but consisting of frequent short and very intense showers. These are also the months for typhoons at sea and floods on land, and owing to the rain, the mists, and the heat, the months least to be recommended to foreigners for a visit to Japan, The heat during these months is felt the more, owing to the high percentage of water in the air, which prevents a quick evaporation of the moistness of the skin, and thus a cooling down of it. The degree of moisture in the air during the summer months is often 80% or even more, and therefore leather boots, kid gloves, and wearing apparel generally, are apt to get covered with mildew. Ladies are well advised, as a matter Of precaution, to have their winter toilets safely soldered in before the summer heat begins. In general Japan is a sunny land, and even the winter offers fine days for excursions and shooting trips. Numerous European residents of the Asiatic N 194 JAPAN AS I SAW IT mainland, especially from China, Hong Kong, and the Straits come hither on a visit for rest and recreation regularly every year. The foreign population of Japan is constantly changing, like that of China. Leaving quite apart the globe trotters, tourists, and commercial travellers, who come here only for a short visit, the stay of the real residents also is only a short one. In the consular service at certain periods the usual transfers take place, and as far as the great number of merchants is concerned, all of them, more or less, come out with the avowed intention of going home again after a certain period, that is to say, as soon as they think they have made money enough to do so. This is no longer so easy as it used to be, and many a business man will soon come to the conviction that in a big European harbour or commercial town he might be able to put aside just as much of his earnings as in Japan. A house and a household of his own is a matter of course for the better-class European resident. The more elegant pieces of furniture he buys by auction or purchases them offhand from a European who is leaving the country for good. All the better pieces of furniture, as for instance, sofas, couches, carpets, curtains, and dinner service, and many other articles of daily use are mostly YOKOHAMA 195 of European or American make, and all the plainer articles, as tables, chairs, and cupboards, may be got in quite good quality from Japanese makers. As regards attendance, numerous domestics are unavoidable everywhere in the Far East from the Straits up to Korea. There is first of all the " boy," one's own valet, then the cook, besides the " betto " or groom, who very often keeps a stable boy for his own assistance, the gardener, the gate keeper, the night watch, and finally one or sundry kuruyamas, who in one person act as a coachman and draught-animal for our own two-wheeled chair, the jinrikisha. Cook and boy are usually Chinese, the first nearly always so, and as foreigners who have come to this country for the sake of making money, they demand higher wages than the native servants. Both have to procure their own food, as the difference between the white man's diet makes this a matter of course. The betto or groom is generally a fellow of good strong physique, who has to attend to the horses, and whose task it is in addition, when his master is riding out, to run in front of him, and by shouting aloud keep the road clear. The bettos form a guild of their own, and elect their guild- master, whose orders they strictly obey. Before 196 JAPAN AS I SAW IT the new clothes law came into force, one could often see wonderfully tattooed fellows among the bettos. A beautiful tattooing was the pride of the betto. Sometimes his whole body with the exception of head, forearms, and the lower seg- ment of the legs, was covered with an artistic model of blue and red figures. But these bettos of the old school are becoming rarer now, since tattooing is considered no more in conformity with the civilisation of the country, and therefore forbidden by the Government. When the new law came into force, all tattooed people had to be registered, and any person now found with a new model on his body is at once prosecuted. The kuruyamas or jinrikisha coolies compete in speed and endurance with the Japanese horse, and it is nothing extraordinary with two strong kuruyamas to cover forty miles in a day on a good road. Their vehicle, the jinrikisha (man-strength cart), also called simply " kuruma " (cart), is a two-wheeled light cart, with a comfortable reclining chair, that holds one or two persons, rests on carriage springs over the axle, and is provided with a pair of shafts, between which the kuruyama takes his place. He takes the shafts into both his hands and then runs fast, drawing the two- wheeled seat with its passenger freight TATTOOED BETTOS. YOKOHAMA 197 after him. In this way you may have your drive in either single or double harness, in the latter case using a second coolie tandem-style in front of the man between the shafts. If they have to overcome a heavy ascent the coolie in front will leave his place and assist his colleague by pushing the jinrikisha uphill. Only at a very considerable ascent and great roughness of the road may you alight from your chair and walk by its side for a while. If you intend to get out at a less heavy part of the way, the kuruyama will consider it an offence against his honour and request you in the most polite and entreating manner to remain seated, as it would be an easy thing for him to get you up that hill. The horse has been used in Japan almost exclu- sively as a pack-animal, and only in a secondary way for riding purposes. As a draught-animal it was never made use of, and the few clumsy carts, which formerly existed in Kioto for the Mikado and the Kuge, have always been drawn by bullocks. Goods and pieces of luggage are still mostly carried by coolies balanced at the two ends of a bamboo pole, or on the back of pack-horses or pack-oxen. Both horses and oxen wear straw shoes or pads pulled over the whole hoof. Away 198 JAPAN AS I SAW IT from the railway, in the mountainous districts, the pack-horse is almost the universal means of transportation. Above the pack is placed the high wooden saddle, and sitting astride with the crosspieces in front and behind, the rider's heels just about touch the horse's mane. If the rider happens to be a woman, she also rides man- fashion. There is still another means of conveyance in use with the natives, the kago. This is a sort of palanquin suspended on a stout bamboo pole, which latter rests on the shoulders of two muscular coolies, who bear it through the hilly country. About ten minutes per jinrikisha from Yoko- hama lies its sister town Kanagawa. Its pleasure quarter, the Yoshiwara, which is constantly grow- ing with the increasing traffic of Yokohama, is a place of amusement much frequented by foreign travellers, and particularly by the many sailors from the vessels at anchor in the port . But its visit is often followed by less agreeable reminiscences. " Disease is oft the tax of pleasure," and " Beware of pretty women as of Cayenne pepper," are two Japanese proverbs which especially apply to the Yoshiwaras. The commercial traffic of Yokohama is very large, its chief articles of export being tea and YOKOHAMA 199 silk, and its imports woollen and cotton goods and metals. Tea has been known in Japan for over a thousand years ; it was brought over from China about the year 805 of our era, when it had been in cultiva- tion there for already several centuries. The story goes that about the year 500 a Buddhist patriarch came from Fuchia to China with the intention of converting the inhabitants. He led a model life, lived on the herbs of the fields and the berries of the wood, scourged his body and refused him- self all sleep, spending day and night in religious thoughts and prayers to Buddha. After having spent many years in this manner he became one night overwhelmed with exhaustion and fell asleep. When he woke and found that he had broken his vow, he felt very unhappy and resolved to do penance. To make the repetition of such an occurrence impossible for the future, he cut off both his eyelids and threw them away because they had been the tools for his offence. When he returned the following day to the spot where he had cast off his eyelids, he noticed to his great surprise that a wonderful change had taken place in the meantime ; each eyelid was transformed into a fresh green shrub, the kind of which was entirely unknown at that time. The devout 200 JAPAN AS I SAW IT penitent tasted the shrub's leaves and found that his soul and body received fresh strength from it, so that he was able to continue his religious medita- tions still more fervently than before. He told his disciples of the wonder that had occurred, and of the extraordinary power of the new plant. The news spread, and soon the use and the cultivation of the shrub — the tea-plant — became general all over the country. About the year 805 of our era, the bonze Denkio Daishi brought tea seed from China to Japan and started the first Japanese tea plantation in Uji, which to-day is still the best tea-district in the empire. But it seems that the new drink made its way but very slowly amongst the population, and for a long period remained a luxury which only the nobility and the rich bonzes could afford to procure for themselves. It was not until 400 years later when the bonze Yei-sei started a tea planta- tion with Chinese seed in the province of Chikuzen in Kiushiu that tea growing began to spread. Under the protection of the eighty-third Mikado, Tsuchi Tenno, its cultivation developed ; tea- growing gained ground more and more, and since the fourteenth century tea infusion may be regarded as the national drink of the Japanese. As an article of international commerce it began YOKOHAMA 201 in Japan only in 1854 ; since the opening up of the country through the Perry expedition its export has rapidly developed. The tea shrub is grown in large plantations which are frequently found at hillsides with sandy vege- table loam soil. Besides these large plantations one also finds here and there the borders of the roads and fields planted hedge-like with tea bohea, but such cultivations only yield an inferior quality, and cannot be considered rational tea- growing. The plucking takes place twice a year ; the first and main plucking towards the middle of May, lasting two to three weeks, and the second smaller harvesting about six weeks afterwards. About every fifteen to twenty years the plants are exhausted and must be renewed. The Japan- ese only produce green tea, as they have not suc- ceeded yet in preparing satisfactorily the black kind, which is preferred by many tea-drinkers in Europe. The green and the black tea come from the same plant ; the colouring is merely a matter of preparation, but it seems that the Japanese tea-leaves, from reasons so far unknown, do not stand well the process of fermentation necessary to prepare the black tea. They easily turn damp and flabby after it and lose their aroma. As only green tea is consumed in the United States, 202 JAPAN AS I SAW IT nearly the whole of the tea exported from Japan goes to the States, where Japan has to compete in the tea trade only with China. As regards home consumption, tea is at present the favourite national drink in Japan. The people take it with all meals and sip it frequently from little bowls and without any ingredients in the course of the day. Coffee on the other hand has met with no approval and forms neither an object of cultivation nor of importation. While tea, like so many other blessings, has come to Japan from China, together with Buddhism, we have in tobacco one of those products the pre- paration and use of which, like that of firearms and gunpowder, have been taught the Japanese by the Christian nations. We can take it for certain that tobacco was introduced by the " Nanban," the " Southern Barbarians," as the Portuguese were called, and that the smoking of this narcotic became more general in the country about the sixteenth century, and that the growing of tobacco began in the year 1605. As in China, where smoking was introduced from Luzon, it spread in Japan with incredible rapidity amongst all classes of the population and both sexes. In both coun- tries smoking has become a far more universal custom than with us. YOKOHAMA 203 The Japanese are remarkably good in making paper from the fibres of the paper mulberry tree (Broussonetia papyrifera) . Japanese paper is pos- sessed of great tenacity and of the quality of not becoming soft in water. It therefore can be used for manifold purposes. Beside the usual applica- tion as material for writing and printing purposes, it is also used as window panes, for sliding walls, screens, and innumerable such uses. When treated with varnish it gains the appearance of leather ; saturated with oil or persimmon-juice it is water- proof and is used as material for cloaks and the like. Stained with a mixture of size and alum it gives a fine wall paper, while fine stripes of gold and silver paper make exquisite tissues for wall- hangings, screens, and similar ornaments. Already in ancient times paper and brush were used by the Japanese for writing purposes. Like the Chinese they write with the brush and indian ink in vertical line s from the top downwards and fr om right, to l eft. Since the third century a.d. they have used the Chi nese, i de o graphs . and there- fore a Chinese and a Japanese are able to under- stand each other by writing, though they may not know each other's language. Chinese writing, as is well known, has no phonetic signs, but the meaning of every word is represented by a special 204 JAPAN AS I SAW IT picture, an ideograph, of which there exist some 25,000 built up from about 220 root pictures. This writing is just as primitive as the Chinese language, which has neither declension nor conju- gation. While our writing reproduces the sound of the word, the Chinese writing pa ints the ide a, in a similar way as was done by the old Egyptians. The system has not been altered for thousands of years, only the form of the ideographs has at different periods undergone modifications. This idea of the picture was in the original hieroglyphics far more apparent than in the modern forms. To make this quite clear I will give here a few Chinese ideographs in their original and in their modern forms : Ancient form : e G £* Modern form : B fl lli sun, moon, mountain Ancient form : * -H *» ft Modern form : 7k "A Mj A tree, dog, horse, man. The sun placed above the horizon represents the " morning " §> respectively H. U is o YOKOHAMA 205 A tree = jk- ; several trees t4 mean "forest " Sun and moon together 0©, respectively 8^ signify " light.'' A mouth P between a door j^ calls forth the idea of " asking a question." ^ This system of the written language was intro- duced from China into Japan, and the consequence was that the idea, represented by the picture, could be translated in two ways, either by the Chinese or the Japanese spoken word. Thus the Japanese have got and have still to-day for each ideograph two pronunciations, viz. : the Japanese meaning of it, and another expression which originally was the Chinese word for it, but owing to a different pronunciation sounds very different from the Chinese language. The written Chinese and Japanese languages are identical as far as ideographs are employed, but the spoken languages are different. The same rule of course applies to all our languages as far as ideographs are used, which is only done in a very limited way, viz., with the Arabic numerals. Our ideographs, o,- 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., will be under- stood by all, English, French, Germans,' and 206 JAPAN AS I SAW IT Italians alike, though each of these nations pro- nounces them differently. From early times the Japanese felt the need of a written language that was easily learnt ; so they invented the similarly fashioned but abbreviated kata-kana and hira-kana syllabaries of forty signs, but these never succeeded in dislodging the Chinese ideographs. Now when Japan has broken with her ancient feudal system and has chosen European systems and manners as models for imitation, her endeavours to replace the old wearisome method of writing and reading instruc- tion by the adoption of a more simple system naturally grow stronger. For this purpose in I jy&Jh e ~ club " Romaji Kai " (Society of the Roman Letters) was founded, which in the execution of its programme published a monthly paper in the Japanese language with Latin charac- ters. The point aimed at was to come to an understanding as to the uniform transcription of the Japanese sounds. This question was satis- factorily settled by deciding upon a phonetic sys- tem with the pronunciation of the educated classes at Tokio as basis. Its principal rule is to use tfce C pnsonantsj ccojdirig tn tV^ Fjlg 1 ^* 1 but the vowels according to the German pronunciation. The iatter because it is the universal pronunciation YOKOHAMA 207 in all other European languages. In England, through the pronouncing of the vowels a, e and i in a confused mixed-up manner contrary to their pronunciation by all other nations, there has been created for the English people a great and unneces- sary difficulty when studying foreign languages, and one which the Japanese did right in avoiding. VII TOKIO Yedo, the " water-gate," called Tokio since 1868, the " Eastern Capital," lies in the east of the Isle of Nippon on the Bay of Yedo, where the Sumida, the Kanda, and other small rivers flow into the sea, and can be reached from Yokohama in about an hour^ railway jjde. From its superficies the capital of the Japanese empire may be called the largest town in the world after London, for it covers an area of ten miles square, but the number of its inhabitants amounts only to about a million and a half. The situation of Tokio is of undisputed beauty. The broad valley in which it lies undulates towards the sea, which forms its boundary in the south. Rivers and broad canals traverse it, little swellings of the ground run parallel with the sea, and for miles around the eyes rest on wooden hills, charm- ing dales and ever-pretty evergreen vegetation. The Sumida-gawa, which flows through the AT THE BARBER'S. (After a sketch by G. Bigot.) TOKIO 209 town from north-west to south-west, divides Tokio into two unequal parts, an eastern part, the Honjo, which contains the districts of Honjo and Fuka- gawa, and a much larger western part, Yedo proper. The Honjo is traversed by a net of numerous canals, is quite flat, and may be looked upon as a kind of isle, as it is circumscribed by rivers and canals on three sides, while on its fourth (southern) side the Bay of Yedo forms its boundary line. The bay, an inlet of the northern Pacific, has nowhere a considerable depth ; its waters along- side the town grow shallower, so that at low tide Tokio cannot be approached from the sea even by boat. Like the Honjo, Yedo proper is also rich in water-currents, either natural or artificial ; some arise through its being the natural outlet of the various dales, others have been conducted hither from the Sumida-gawa. Yedo is connected with the Honjo by four large pile-bridges, of which the town has a great num- ber. One of these bridges is known by the name " Nippon Bashi " or " Bridge of Japan," and is considered geographically the central point of the Japanese islands. All geographical distances in the official documents of Japan are reckoned from there. A large number of roof-covered gondolas, 2io JAPAN AS I SAW IT a multitude of boats, loaded with products, cover the water-ways ; on the river-banks loading and discharging are ever going on, and in the neigh- bouring main streets pack-horses, jinrikishas, and porters scarcely ever leave even a small passage for the passer by. Tokio may be divided into three parts : the " Shiro " or " castle " forming the centre of the town, the " Sotoshiro " or " circuit of the castle," and the " Widzi " or " outer-districts and sub- urbs." The castle with its surroundings attracts the eye first of all, for with its extensive buildings and high walls it is undoubtedly the grandest structure of which Tokio can boast. The ancient palace of the Shoguns within the castle-grounds does not now exist, a conflagration reduced it to ashes, but the castle itself has remained almost the same as it was when built by Iyeyasu and Iyemitsu two and a half centuries ago. Its gigantic walls are most imposing, constructed of immense granite blocks, joined together without mortar, and rising at some parts to a height of a hundred feet. Twenty-seven gates made of huge trunks hewn with the axe and resting on a stone foundation form its entrance, and are here and there overtowered by two- storeyed buildings with high, curve-tiled roofs. TOKIO 211 In the angles of the wall there are kiosk-shaped towers, while broad and deep trenches circum- scribe the ramparts, whose total length measures eleven miles. The castle contains at present the seat of Government and the Civil Service. Here are situated the Foreign Office, the Home Office, the Ministries of War, of Justice, and of Public Instruction, all the Foreign Legations, various High-Schools, the Government Printing Office, the Agricultural and Commercial Department, the Infantry and Cavalry Barracks, and a large drill-ground. In its centre lies the Imperial Palace and the Imperial Gardens. The Yedo of the old Japan has disappeared — the capital of the Shoguns exists no more ; a new metropolis has taken its place, Tokio, a city of politics, progress, and modern activity. Only the trenches, the walls, and ramparts of the castle, the long rows of yashikis (former dwellings of the Daimios, now out of repair), with their long uniform out-houses, and the holy places at Shiba and Uyeno with the glori- ous splendour of their old gold-lacquer ornaments remind of the past. The Sotoshiro is the centre of Tokio's commer- cial world. Here one finds shop alongside shop, and from time to time one comes across a " kura," one of those fire-proof towers which the Japanese 212 JAPAN AS I SAW IT use as store-houses and as safe depositories for all valuable objects. Contrary to the general system of building their houses of wood and paper, these kuras, which are quite an ancient institution of the country, are constructed on the principle of our European fire-proof safes, a system which the Japanese were using a thousand years before it was invented by us. These kljras, which con- siderably overtop all other houses, are generally two storeyed, and built with double walls of bricks, the space between being filled with a mixture of charcoal-ashes and sand. The roof is made fire-proof in the same manner ; the corridors are overlaid with flagstones, and the small windows can be shut nearly hermetically with double massive iron shutters. Big merchants, wealthy people, hotels, etc., have a kura of their own, usually standing detached near by in the courtyard ; the ordinary citizen deposits his valuables in a public kura ; nobody keeps really precious articles in his own house overnight, because it so easily falls a prey to fire. It is by no means a rare occurrence for whole quarters of a Japanese town to be burnt down within a few hours, and only the smoke-stained kuras. to remain standing amid the smoking ruins. """Much life is displayed in the s treets of the SIGN-BOARDS. TOKIO 213 Sotoshiro. They are not very broad, but on account of the lowness of the houses appear so. From early morn till late at night the mass es crowd to gether here, shopping and gartering, go^i£mg_jiidJroUcking. There are tramcars running between certain parts of the town, but the only practical way of sight-seeing for a foreigner is to hire a jinrikisha for the day. Some streets have already adopted a somewhat European appearance, but the bulk of- them have remained genuinely Japanese. Tokio is a town of the greatest extent but devoid of grandeur. It lacks the coherence of a big town. It still forms the accumulation of more than a hundred villages, which in olden times grouped around the stronghold of the Shogun and finally became united. The town is to-day still interspersed with numerous parks and country houses, with meadows and fields ; and a few steps through a by-street lead from a crowded, busy thoroughfare into quiet streets of rural retirement, with houses surrounded by hedges and fences. Thus Tokio has in many parts of the town more the appearance of a suburb than of a metropolis. The character of its structures is real Japanese, only here and there and chiefly in the Shiro are large stone buildings perceptible, mostly Govern- 214 JAPAN AS I SAW IT ment edifices, which overtop considerably the other small houses. As for the rest we have the usual three types of Japanese buildings: the ordinary citizen and merchant's house of w_opd and paper, the fire-proof kura, and the temples amidst their gigantic old conifers or camphor trees. In some modern streets the houses are now built of bricks instead of mere wood and paper, and where one notices a cluster of buildings higher and finer than those in the other quarters of the town, it usually indicates the situation of the Yoshiwaras. In September 1868 the name Yedo was officially altered into Tokio, and in March 1869 the town was made definitely the seat of the Government. A great change in its appearance has since taken place. Numerous palaces of the former Daimios have been pulled down and have made room for new State offices ; the long front-halls of many other palaces have been transformed into work- shops and salerooms, and the pleasure-gardens and grounds have been made use of as kitchen- gardens and mulberry plantations. In addition to these changes the two-sword men, the charac- teristic representatives of ancient Japan, have disappeared from the scene, and the better classes of Japanese society are now wearing European TOKIO 215 clothes, while the European head-dress is common property of the whole male population. All these changes have deprived Tokio to a great extent of that picturesque appearance which was in former years of such great attraction to the foreigner. Before Yedo became the eastern capital of Japan in 1590, the place was little more than a rough fortress with a few villages scattered around it. The surroundings consisted of swampy lagoon-Jand, and were only drained and filled up in later years. When the Shogun Iyeyasu took possession of it the town grew rapidly, but its growth was repeatedly interrupted by conflagrations and earthquakes. In the year 1601 the whole town was consumed by flames. Fifty-six years later the great fire of Mei-reki raged, and destroyed 500 Daimio palaces, 770 Hata-moto residences, 350 temples, and 1,200 streets, and killed 107,046 persons. In the years 1668 and 1698 again big fires broke out, which reduced the greatest part of the town to ashes. The biggest fire of recent times occurred in 1845, when several hundreds of people lost their lives. Ten years later the town suffered from a terrible earthquake, when 14,000 houses and 16,000 kuras fell to pieces. The loss of life in this catastrophe approximated 100,000: Not 216 JAPA N AS I SAW IT unjustly says a Japanese proverb : — " Kaji-wa Yedo no hana da," " The fire is Yedo's flower." The chief dates in the history of Tokio refer to a succession of conflagrations, epidemics, floods, and earthquakes. The latter are the consequence of the volcanic nature of the country. All the islands of the Japanese empire are more or less volcanic, hot sulphate springs exist in large numbers, while volcanoes are no rarity : Japan counts at present eighteen active ones. The foreigner who visits Tokio must not omit also to see the Uyeno Park, originally the residence of the To-do family. It was taken over in the year 1625 by the Shogun Iyemitsu, who intended to erect here in the north-east of the new capital a row of Buddhist temples which were, by their luxury and splendour, to outshine all other temples that then existed. According to Japanese reports he seems to have succeeded in this endeavour, for the main temple, erected in Uyeno, is described as a triumph of Japanese architecture, and without an equal in the whole empire. Unfortunately the temple exists no more. During a battle, fought between the Imperial soldiers and the adherents of the Shogunat in 1868, the building caught fire, and was reduced to ashes. The splendid grounds of Uyeno are now in fL*-«fc «*J. .'V|... ■ 5k> v *. , >> M iSS' w *w f^Ste ■'- -- '% TOKIO 217 possession of the municipality of Tokio, and are used as a public garden. They contain the tombs of six of the Toku-gawa Shoguns. There also remain as mementoes of ancient Japan a bronze image of Buddha, a colossal stone lantern, and a pagoda. Modern Japan has erected here exhibition buildings, a zoological garden, and a public library, as well as a large museum, in which the Mikado's ancient bullock-cart, throne, and robes, and a model of the Shogun's state-barge are of particular interest. A ramble through the grounds of the magnificent Uyeno Park is alone very enjoyable ; its charms are further increased on fine summer nights by the splendid view of the Fuji-no Yama with its white or blue summit, which stands out majestically from the horizon in bold relief, and crowns the beautiful landscape. Its pretty form of a trun- cated pyramid has a fascinating charm when its lower part (whose deeply saturated blue causes a wonderful effect) is separated from the snow- covered summit by a bank of clouds that, catching the rays of the setting sun, lights up like molten fire. Uyeno Park displays its principal charms at the time of the flower fetes. According to the old chronology of the lunar year, which the Japanese had adopted from China, the New Year's day 218 JAPAN AS I SAW IT fell in the second half of February ; thus the first month of the year, Mutzuki, the " lovely month," commenced at a time when reawakened Nature offered the Japanese the earliest blossoms, and when on fine nights in the gardens and temple- groves the Japanese nightingale began to sing its sweet song. The first flower fdte in the year is the f£te of the plum-blossoms (Prunus musme). After the plum-blossom follows the cherry-blossom {Prunus pseudocerasus) in the beginning of April ; in May the flower of the fuji (Wistaria chinensis), and in July, when the summer heat is at its greatest power, the lotus-flower (Nelumbonucifera). Then follow the various kinds of autumn flowers, and finally towards the end of October the mani- fold varieties of the chrysanthemum. Among the numerous temples at Tokio the famous temples at Shiba deserve special mention. They are situated in a sombre cedar grove and contain the tombs of eight Shoguns of the Toku- gawa dynasty. Forming a large area of temple buildings, they are all constructed in the same style of architecture, and their general effect is that of richness and magnificence without the usual accompaniment of gaudiness. Through large gates with curious carvings of dragons and peacocks, and more or less suffering from the _ TOKIO 219 ravages of time, one enters the temple court, and passes long rows of big stone and bronze lanterns which line the approach to the temple. The temple building shows the usual Tera style, but surpasses most other Buddha temples by the perfection of its carvings and by the extravagant splendour of its gold and multi-coloured lacquer- work. A number of costly embroidered banners and bamboo blinds hang down from the walls to soften the overpowering brilliancy of the colouring. Beyond the hall are two estrades, covered with gold lacquery and magnificent metal- work, and containing some holy pictures of the Shoguns laid to rest therein. At each side, two of the four deva-kings keep watch, who protect the world against the attacks of demons, according to Buddhist mythology. The altar and the various commemorative tablets with their mag- nificent red-lacquer-work stand out in bold relief from the golden background. Notwithstanding the over-rich splendour one cannot but admire the wonderful harmony in the combination of colours, amongst which a gold, red, or brown shade always supplies the fundamental tone. Behind the temple the tomb is erected in the form of a soft swelling of the ground bearing a stone pillar in the centre, and 220 JAPAN AS I SAW IT fenced in by two richly ornamented concentric balustrades. Another beautiful temple-grove in the neigh- bourhood of Tokio is Ikegami, where the ashes of the famous Buddhist saint Nichiren are laid to rest, who in the thirteenth century founded the Nichiren sect in Japan. Our picture shows the mausoleum, and part of the beautiful cryptomeria wood which surrounds it. Not far from the Shogun temples at Shiba stands the temple Sen-gaku-ji, famous for its burial ground with the tombs of the Forty-seven Ronins — those valiant heroes, whose vassal fidelity and bravery are to-day still glorified by the Japanese people in their tales and theatrical plays — and the memory of whom still inspires them with enthusiasm and even move them to tears. The epic tale of the glorious Forty-seven is well known through Mitford's " Tales of Old Japan." It was here where their dead bodies were interred by the side of their master, after they had so successfully avenged his death, and in compliance with the law had themselves died the death of noblemen by hara-wo-kiri. As regards hara-wo-kiri or seppuku (by the Europeans generally called hara-kiri), about which many erroneous ideas exist in Europe, it was that h 3 i A M $ .*$» • « ,1 * -J t '■ffef ■«ta TOMB OF THE NICHIREN AT IKEGAMI (After a sketch by C. Netto and P. Bender; TOKIO 221 manner of self-destruction which the Samurais used to choose for their death if according to their opinion there was no alternative but to die. They either died in this manner voluntarily, or were sentenced to it by their superiors as punishment for offences which were not defamatory, and there- fore did not deprive them of the privileges of a Samurai. The custom of honourable self-destruc- tion came up in Japan more than 300 years ago with the reign of the military class. Originally the defeated or wounded warriors threw them- selves upon their swords to avoid captivity. It was no rare occurrence after a lost battle, especially when all the leaders had losi their lives, for all survivors voluntarily to die. Later on the volun- tary death became customary for offences against laws and customs, and under the Shogunat of the Toku-gawa family it became usual to proclaim hara-wo-kiri as a punishment for members of the warrior class. In such cases special formalities had to be observed, similar to those which are in force with us in duelling. There had to be present at the execution of a hara-wo-kiri sentence a second and a number of witnesses. The second was as a rule an intimate friend of the condemned person, and in any case a person well versed in military exercises. 222 JAPAN AS I SAW IT After certain solemn ceremonies the chief actor in this drama took his seat within a square parti- tion, specially arranged for the purpose, seized the short sword, which the second handed him on a lacquer tray, and bending slightly forward, thrust it with a firm hand deeply into his belly without moving a muscle. At the same moment the second, who had been standing a step behind him somewhat to the side, with a quick stroke of his sword cut off the head of the condemned friend, and then showed it to the witnesses for identifica- tion. Provided that the second acted his part with skill and ability, the death must have been instantaneous and scarcely painful. With the dawn of western civilisation the old custom of hara-wo-kiri has disappeared, and it is now only on very rare occasions that one still hears of a suicide having been committed by hara- wo-kiri. Modern poisons, the revolver, and the hempen rope have in Japan become the instru- ments now more used for that end. VIII SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM By the Japanese Constitution absolute freedom of religious belief and practice is secured to the people, so long as it is not prejudicial to peace and order. The religious confession of the population is not a uniform one ; there exist two independent forms of religion in the empire, Shintoism and Bud- dhism. There is no State religion and no State support ; the principal Shinto temples (miyas) are, however, maintained by State or local authori- ties. The original or national religion of the country is Shintoism, the " Way of the Gods " (Chinese : " shin " =god, " to " =way). Shinto- ism relies on the sacred book Kojiki, which relates the mythology as well as the later history of Japan, and is as highly thought of in the country as the Bible with us and the Koran in Mecca. Accord- ing to this mythological presentation the great celestial bodies and forces of nature have as 224 JAPAN AS I SAW IT personified gods ruled the universe before the creation of this world (see Chapter I). The most sublime of all deities was Ama-terasu, the sun-goddess, and from her in direct lineage descended Jimmu Tenno, the founder of the Japanese empire and progenitor of the Mikados, who after him up to the present day have through 121 families reigned over Japan. The Mikados are therefore supposed to be " sons of heaven," and it is owing to this belief that they were ven- erated not merely as sovereigns, but also as deities. On the strength of their godly power they were believed to possess the capacity of enrolling earthly creatures among the gods, of endowing them with lower or higher places in heaven, and eventually of promoting them to a higher rank of divinity. Under such circumstances it is not surprising that frequently valiant warriors, prominent scholars, and distinguished statesmen were raised to gods (kamis), and that also useful animals, mighty rocks and rivers became deified. Finally the number of these kamis increased to about eight millions, and nearly in every village we find a Shinto temple. Shintoism has kept to the present day its original character as a hero-cult. It cannot claim the SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM 225 name of a real religious belief, for it gives its adherents no dogma, no code of morals, and no doctrine about the next life. It is a worship of ancestors, heroes, and natural forces, teaches that each man's conscience is his best guide, and its whole doctrine may be summed up in the few words " Observe in dutiful obedience the laws of the holy Mikado ! " Obedience and loyalty to the Emperor is placed before all other duties, submis- sion to one's superiors follows next, and then obedience to the head of the family. The Shinto temples are as a rule of very plain appearance. Where the miya has remained free from Buddhist accessories it consists of a simple temple hall in the Buddhist style, but without any lacquer, colour, or metal ornament. As a charac- teristic mark, by which it differs from the Buddha temples, we may notice its tori-i, which guards the approach to the temple ground, a peculiar isolated gate in the shape of a double gallows of two uprights and crosspieces. Sometimes several of these tori-i are erected at a certain distance from each other, and like sign-posts lead us through the fields and the temple grove, often very extensive, to the sanctuary. As a sign of the deity every kami hall contains a " Gohei," a zigzag shaped piece of white paper 226 JAPAN AS I SAW IT attached to a small staff of wood ; and there is also a round metal mirror as a symbol of the Sun- goddess Ama-terasu, and a white transparent soapstone or clear crystal ball, called " tama," as symbol of a pure and stainless soul. The mirror, the crystal, and a sword form also the insignia of the empire, and their originals are kept in safe custody in the national sanctuary of the Japanese, in the Ama-terasu temple at Ise. For their history see Chapter IX. About the origin and the real meaning of the Gohei nothing certain is known, but the almost general belief is that the deity rests in it while the prayer is said. Images of the gods have never been made ; even the deified heroes are venerated without form, and the total absence of any pictorial representation is a peculiarity of the temples of pure Shintoism up to the present day. Though Shintoism has innumerable deities, it has no idols. As plain as the outside and the interior arrange- ments of the miyas are, so just as simple is the service. Considering the great number of divinities (about eight million), it will be understood that each single god cannot expect a long visit on the part of the believers ; he must be satisfied if they do homage to him and give him an offering of A CHARACTERISTIC SHINTO TEMPLE-GATE. The drawing above shows a GohtH, the holy mirror, and a holy straw-rope. (After a sketch by C. Netto and P. Bender.) SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM 227 a few coppers once every year, when in his local miya he has his particular reception day. If a Shintoist visits the temple, he first rings the great bell close to the door in order to rouse the god's attention, should he happen to be asleep ; he then performs the customary four hand-claps before the shrine, throws a small coin as an offer- ing into the temple-box, and murmurs his prayer, bowing repeatedly towards the interior of the building. A few minutes later he is gone. As simple as the " Way of the Gods " is for the visitors of the temple, just as simple are the duties of the Shinto priests. The white-robed kannushi has neither to preach nor to confess people ; neither has he to officiate at acts of baptism nor at wedding ceremonies ; he is invited only to funerals and then reads out a biography of the deceased. No precepts as to shaving the head, celibacy, fast- ing, penance, and the like, as is the rule with the Buddhist priests, exist for the kannushi. His duties consist in beating a big drum at sunrise, in making a morning and evening offering, and in performing the " norito," an occasional address to the kami of about two minutes' duration. When officiating at these functions he puts on a special white robe and a coloured paper head-gear in the shape of a bishop's mitre, while at all other times 228 JAPAN AS I SAW IT he in no way differs in appearance from a lay- man. Nearly every mountain in the country remark- able by its size or peculiar shape, and many a river, has its particular annual festival. These are spread all over the year, and when they are cele- brated a regular fair-life with all its hubbub and turmoil takes place around the respective local temples. Shops, tea-sheds, and show-booths are put up, and the pleasure-seeking crowd throngs the place from early dawn till late at night. On these occasions special dances (the so-called kagura dances) are often performed in the miya, consisting of rhythmical pantomimic swaying movements of the arms and body, executed by women and young girls, clad in special costumes and often wearing wooden masks, which for this purpose have been kept in the temple and been in use there for centuries. Orthodox adherents of Shintoism, who exclu- sively belong to a Shinto sect, are comparatively few in Japan. The common Japanese generally belongs to two creeds. Soon after his birth he is placed by his parents under the protection of a Shinto deity; during his lifetime he visits the temples, takes part in the festivals, and is guided by the superstitions of both Buddhism and Shinto- SHINTOISM A ND BUDDHISM 229 ism ; and when deceased he is generally buried according to the rites of one of the numerous Buddhist sects. Buddhism, travelling from India through China and Korea, arrived in Japan in the course of the sixth century a.d., and became rapidly the popular religion of the country. Shintoism as an extremely simple worship of nature and ancestors, did not give sufficient satisfaction to the spiritual needs of the Japanese. The new faith filled this blank in throwing light on the question of life after death and in giving the common people the hope of a brighter and happier life later, for Buddha has said : "He who laboured as a slave may be born anew as a prince." Buddhism, which in many respects has a great resemblance in outward forms to the Roman Catholic Church, impressed the people with its displays of ritualistic splendour, incense, wax candles, pompous ceremonious pro- cessions, and the like. In this manner it appealed not only to the eye but the imagination of the crowd, and as the new doctrine was tolerant enough to give the Japanese latitude enough to venerate beside Buddha their ancient Shinto deities also, and to visit their miyas, Buddhism soon won numerous adherents all over the country. 230 JAPAN AS I SAW IT The rude idolatry into which Buddhism of to-day has degenerated is not at all the original doctrine of the great reformer Buddha, whose history too, in the course of time, has become very richly interwoven with legends. The wonders which he is said to have done on his preaching tours are counted by legions. I will give here an epitome of the history of his birth and process of life, as it is narrated in the Japanese work, " Shaka Jitsu-roku." Nothing authentic as to the year of Buddha's (Shaka's)* birth can be ascertained. The Chinese and Japanese assert that he was born in the year 1027 B.C., while in Europe his birthday is generally considered to be the 7th of October of the year 623 B.C. His name was Shakjamuni Gautama, and he was the son of the King Suddhodana (Jo-bon) of Kapilavastu (Kapira-jo) in Ko-sala (now Behar in Bengal), a small state in India. The government of the King Suddhodana was distinguished by reason of its wisdom, benevolence, and justice, but as teachers of religion and morals were wanting in the country the people plunged into vice and frivolity. This deplorable state of affairs moved the god * The names in brackets are Japanese, those in the text the usual Sanskrit names. SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM 231 Prabhapala (Go-mei Dai-shi), who lived in the heaven Tushita (To-sotsu Ten), to become satur- ated with the desire to free mankind from its misery, and he cast his eyes over the earth in search of a suitable tool for the execution of his design. The virtuous king Suddhodana (Jo-bon) and his virtuous wife Maya (Maya-Bunin) seemed to him to be the most qualified persons. Therefore one night he descended, followed by a great train of gods, goddesses, and spirits, into the palace hall, where Maya was sleeping by the side of her hus- band. Music of the spheres suddenly filled the room. Maya opened her eyes and beheld in the midst of a purple cloud a golden Buddha seated in a golden pagoda. Then a white elephant with a red head appeared, with six enormous tusks, and carrying a white lotus-flower on his head. He knelt down before the pagoda, and the golden Buddha took his seat in the lotus flower. From the forehead of Buddha a radiant light issued forth, which illuminated the whole universe. Approach- ing her, Buddha said : " Listen, Maya, to what I have to say. It is my will to enter your body, and through you to make my entry into this earthly world to the welfare and salvation of mankind, at present so depraved with sins. I have resolved to adopt King Suddhodana as my father, and you, 232 JAPAN AS I SAW IT Queen Maya, as my mother, and thus to be made like unto man." At these words Maya was seized with fear, and humbly bowing she begged that this honour to become mother of a Buddha might not be allotted to her ; but Buddha reassured her, alighted from the lotus flower and disappeared into her body like a shadow. All his celestial companions now went down on their knees before Maya and honoured and praised her as the mother of Buddha. She then woke, and with her the King, who had also had a wonderful vision, quite in keeping with that of his spouse. They interpreted it in the way that heaven had listened to their ardent prayers of many years and had consented to grant them a son. When the time of the birth drew near, the King ordered a great fete to be given to all his people in the ancestral garden of the Lumbini (Ramvini) park. In the garden was a large pond, like a lake in size, with artificial rocks, and with grottoes of diamonds, crystals, and lapis-lazuli. The walks winding through the grounds were strewed with costly gambu gold, which is said to be dew fallen from the gambu tree of the mountain Meru (the traditional Indian paradise). Cranes stood at the riverside and tortoises crept over the rocks, giving a happy augury of a long life. Rare trees A POOR MAN'S FUNERAL. (After a sketch by G. Bigot.) SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM 233 and exotic shrubs in beautiful groups decorated the garden, and amongst them the wonder tree Asoka (Mu-yu-ju) could be seen, the " tree of painlessness," whose countless bright flowers exhaled a delightful scent. In the midst of this park stood a magnificent palace built of costly fragrant wood, and ornamented with rare and precious stones. Here it was that the banquet took place. When the feast was over, the king requested his wife to pluck for him a flower of the tree of painlessness. Maya rose, and approaching the wonder tree threw out her right hand towards its branches, when suddenly her gown opened and from her right side and without any pain there sprang a beautiful baby boy. At the same moment a white lotus flower, large like a cart- wheel, sprouted forth from the ground ; this clasped round the new-born babe, whose body shone in radiant brilliancy, like a cradle. The heavens opened and all the gods, goddesses, and spirits descended and did homage to the child. The latter alighted from the lotus flower and exclaimed with a voice like a lion's : " To me alone of all beings in heaven, above and below heaven, are due the highest honours ! " Seven days after Shakjamuni's birth the mother died. The child was therefore given for education 234 JAPAN AS I SAW IT into the care of his aunt Gautami (Kiodommi), while thirty-two of the most lovely women were appointed as his attendants. Eight of them had to carry the baby boy alternately in their arms, eight to wash him, eight to provide him with milk, and eight to entertain him. He developed rapidly ; in his third summer he showed the appearance of a boy of six years, and was in demeanour and wisdom equal to a grown-up man. When the prince had completed his sixteenth year he was officially nominated by his father heir to the throne and married with the charming princess Yasodhara (Yashudara) and two other young women. As a wedding present he received from the king three magnificent newly-built palaces, in which he was meant to reside alternately during the three seasons of the year, the summer, the winter, and the raining season. Through this marriage and by the efforts made on all sides to get him more interested in the pleasures and amusements of life, the king hoped to divert his son's thoughts from his ardent studies of books and to see him made a mighty worldly prince instead of a priest. And indeed up to his twentieth year the prince seemed to have given himself up to the enjoyments of worldliness ; but then one day he is said to have met, while THE DAIBUTSU OF KAMAKURA. SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM 235 walking out, first an old frail cripple, then a poor, miserable leper, then a corpse, and finally a priest ; this caused him to meditate on age, illness, death, and the life of renunciation. He withdrew more and more into solitude, reflecting on the means of how to free the world from all evil. Against the will of the king, who had him carefully watched, he one night secretly left his wives and castles, cut his hair off, changed his costly garments for a common yellow gown, and fled. He travelled far through the country, living on alms, and ultimately came to the famous Brahmas, the teachers of the ancient Indians, and listened to their doctrines. But all this did not yet satisfy him. With five devout disciples he retired into the solitude of the wilderness and passed there, with fasting and self-castigation, six years of his life. When according to his opinion he had reached the most perfect perception, he commenced his preaching tours, and soon by his word and example had gathered around him numerous adherents. Countless are the wonders which he is reported to have done. He died, according to European calculation, about the year 544 b.c. His dead body was burnt on the funeral pile, and those parts of his skeleton which with the defective mode of cremation in those days remained 236 JAPAN AS I SAW IT behind were preserved in a golden urn. In a later period these earthly remainders have been distributed, it is said, in 84,000 particles all over India. They are preserved to-day and venerated in the temples as relics, and magic power is attributed to them. The Buddhists believe in a requital after death. From the nether world the soul is sent either to a heaven or a hell, according to the deceased's conduct in his former life. After many thousands of years the purified soul passes from the hell which it entered first into the next one, and so on till finally it is born anew as man or animal. As man one has the chance, after having led a good life free from immoderate desires, to get into one of the seven heavens. Purified and ennobled the soul, after many thousands of years, enters the next higher heaven and so on till ultimately it turns into the great nonentity, where everything ceases. It enters the Nirvana, " the effacement, the complete being blown out like the light of a candle of which there is left no trace behind." There exists in the empire three very big statues of Buddha, one each at Kamakura, Nara, Kioto, and besides a vast number of smaller ones. The most interesting one is the famous old bronze statue at Kamakura, the Daibutsu of Kamakura, SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM 237 which, for Europeans, forms one of the most popular excursions from Yokohama. About four hours' journey south-west of Yokohama stands this mighty bronze work, which owes its construc- tion to the great Shogun Yoritomo. It was cast in the year a.d. 1252, by Ono Goroyemon. It represents Buddha seated, in the manifestation known as Amida, the head meditatingly bent forward, and is said to have the enormous weight of nine thousand hundredweights. Its height is forty-nine feet seven inches, with a circumference of ninety-seven feet ; the length of its face is eight feet seven inches. The span from ear to ear measures seventeen feet nine inches, and the circumference of the thumb accounts fully three feet. The eyes of the Daibutsu are said to con- sist of pure gold, and the round silver spot which adorns his forehead is of thirty pounds. The statue is formed of bronze plates, cast singly, but welded together, and finally carved out with the chisel. The gigantic bronze figure, with its quiet mildness of feature, is in artistic and technical execution a most wonderful piece of art, and an example of the high degree of development which the metal-founder's art in Japan had already reached at that early period. Erected in the open air in the wood, without any temple covering, 238 JAPAN AS I SAW IT it attracts the eye from a great distance. In ancient times a magnificent temple-roof on sixty- three massive pillars of precious wood covered it, but centuries of wars and conflagrations have altered it greatly, and two great tidal waves have swept away the temples, but Buddha himself withstood all and has now, unprotected by- any temple-roof, been exposed to wind and weather for over 400 years. Not far from Kamakura is Eno-shima, formerly a peninsula, now at high tide an island, a beautiful spot sacred to the goddess of beauty. This ever green island rises sheer from the sea nearly 200 feet, is connected with the mainland by a bridge, and thousands of camellias shine forth from the roof of leaves which cover the rock. The beautiful cliff with the dashing waves around it, and the splendid view of the famous Fuji- no Yama deserves well to be consecrated to Benten, the goddess of beauty, but its natural beauties are now much spoilt by the masses of shops, tea-sheds and show-booths which surround the temple-ground. Like so many other deities, the goddess Benten also arrived in Japan in the retinue of Buddha from his fatherland India. The legend goes that she was living in India by the name Bunsho, as wife of the rich and mighty SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM 239 Jimmiyoyu, and that one day instead of giving birth to a child, she laid five hundred eggs. She became much horrified, and was afraid that some bad demon had played her a trick, and that these eggs would only contain dragonlike beings, for which reason she quickly packed them into a case and had them exposed in the river Riyusu- gawa that flowed near by. Here soon after a poor fisherman found the floating case, drew it on land, and inspected its contents. Greatly delighted over the lucky find of such a great number of eggs (which he believed to be hens' eggs), he hastened to embed them carefully in the warm sand, and let them be hatched by the sun. How great was his surprise, when after some time, instead of the expected chjskens, five hundred pretty boys came out of the shells and jumped merrily about. The poor man began to cry bitterly, for this blessing was too much for him. In his poverty he had not the means to feed all the five hundred, and had to send them away as soon as this was possible, in order that they might obtain their food by begging alms from charitable people. The boys wandered from place to place, and finally, without knowing it, came to the palace of their parents. Here everybody was much astonished to see such a large number of stately 240 JAPAN AS I SAW IT boys, apparently all of the same age, and people began to inquire who they were, and where they came from ? One of the boys told the wondrous story of the finding of the eggs, and then Benten recognised her own sons, from whom she had separated herself through groundless fear, but who, thanks to the gracious providence of the gods, were now restored to her. When the world heard of this wonderful occurrence, the people recognised the divine character of the Benten, and venerated her as a goddess, The five hundred boys grew up to fine stately youths, and afterwards, when Benten went up to heaven, they all accom- panied her, and now form her celestial suite. At the arrival of the Jesuits about the middle of the sixteenth century, Buddhism was then widely spread all over Japan, and though the number of the Buddhists was far below that of the Shintoists, it was the Buddhist sect which in a later period proved to be the most numerous, most ardent, and most influential enemy of the Christians. Shintoism stood nearer to the spirit of the Christian doctrine, many of its adherents willingly accepted the new belief, and numerous converts were counted from their ranks. Not so with Buddhism, which had many outward forms similar to those of the Church of Rome, but very ; HP,Mgt »^V BRIDGE OF MAKAYESHI AT* NIKKO (After a sketch by C. Netto and P, Bender SHINTOISM AND BUDDHISM 241 little of the Christian Spirit. Buddhism regarded the new doctrine as a rival, and deadly enmity arose between the two cults, which ultimately, through the concerted action of various unfavour- able circumstances, led in the year 1624 to the complete expulsion of the Christians from Japan. The new epoch of 1868, and with it the revolu- tion of the existing order of things, was fatal to Buddhism. When the new Government had successfully achieved the reduction of the income of the Daimios and Samurais, it began with the same resoluteness to curtail the power and the influence of the Buddhist temples and monasteries. Their large fortunes of money and land were confiscated and their income reduced to per- quisites and charitable gifts on the part of their adherents. As regards Confucianism, known in Japan by the name Koshi, which was also introduced from China, it can never be regarded as a religion per se. The code of morals of Confucius is in reality only a collection of precepts and maxims, an ethic doctrine, which teaches the reciprocal duties of prince and subject, parent and child, superior and subordinate, and£ the negative doctrine of " what you would not that others should do unto you, do not you unto them ! " It has never 242 JAPAN AS I SAW IT gained a great influence in Japan, and is dying out. On the other hand, there is now a growing number of Christians in the country : Roman Catholics, adherents of the Greek Church, and Protestants. IX NIKKO AND ISE When visiting Japan, Nikko must on no account be missed. "Nikko, kek-ko ! " "Delightful Nikko ! " is a proverbial Japanese phrase, and indeed, thanks to its natural beauties, including pine woods, mountain lakes, waterfalls, and the splendour of its temples, Nikko-san, " the moun- tains of sunny splendour," may justly be termed the pearl of Japan. This highly interesting territory, covering only a few square miles, is situated not quite twenty miles northward from Tokio. Rising precipitously from its centre, some 8,000 feet high, on the north-east side of the Chiu-zen-ji lake, and covered with beautiful woods up to its summit, is the holy mountain Nan-tai-san. The splendid trees which line the road, extending ten miles from the banks of the Tone-gawa up to Imaichi, are of unparalleled beauty ; they form a unique dark 244 JAPAN AS I SAW IT avenue of gigantic trees, whose majestic trunks increase in size, the nearer one gets to Imaichi. A pious man is said to have planted them some two and a half centuries ago in honour of the Shoguns, who lie buried here. He was too poor to offer them a bronze lantern for their temples ; but really a more magnificent monument than this immense avenue of mighty cryptomerias to the memory of Iyeyasu he could not have erected, the like of which is not found elsewhere on this earth. Some of the trunks of the trees are from fifteen to twenty feet in circumference. The Daiya-gawa, a wild and foaming mountain brook, marks the boundary of the sanctuary. Two parallel bridges span the roaring floods, which rush downwards through the narrow gorge over the rocky bed. The plainer bridge is for every- day traffic, while the " holy lacquer bridge," which is reserved for the Emperor, is accessible only twice a year on days of great festivals for the processions of pilgrims. The bridge rests on each bank on a round monolith of great size, walled in by the rocks. In its wonderful red varnish with decorative gold work it offers a charming change to the eye under the dark, shady green of the surrounding grove of cryptomerias. Mi-hashi, the holy bridge, was constructed in NIKKO AND ISE 245 the year 1636, on the same spot where more than a thousand years ago the Buddhist saint Sho-do Sho-nin (the subsequent founder of the first temple at Nikko), is supposed to have had his wonderful visions. One day he saw four strangely-shaped clouds rising in the distance from the Nikko-san straight up to the sky. He took it as an invitation on the part of Buddha to ascend the distant mountain summit, and therefore, after severe penitential exercise, he set out on his way through the woods and rocky gorges for the marked des- tination. On reaching the spot from where the clouds had risen, he found his way intercepted by a broad and roaring mountain river, the crossing of which seemed utterly impossible for him. Despairingly he wandered up and down upon the river's bank, and ultimately went down on his knees and sent ardent prayers up to heaven. Then suddenly on the other side of the foaming water a godly being of strange form and gigantic size appeared. A bluish-black gown was floating around it and a chain of skulls was dangling from its neck. In its right hand it held two serpents, one green and the other blue. These the spectre threw across the water, when they at once stretched into a bridge, spanning from bank to bank " like a rainbow swimming in the mountains." Across 246 JAPAN AS I SAW IT it the saint walked and when setting foot on the other side, the god and the bridge vanished. Nikko, or more properly speaking, Hachi-ishi, (for the former name refers more to the neigh- bouring temple-grove), is but an insignificant village with only one long street, and chiefly consisting of places of accommodation for the many pilgrims who visit the holy places. Nikko received its chief renown as a place of pilgrimage through the burial of the earthly remains of the famous Shogun and national hero Iyeyasu and his grandson Iyemitsu, which took place in the seventeenth century. Iyeyasu himself had chosen this beautiful temple-grove for his burial-place, and his body was therefore laid to rest on the hillside Hotoke, which for nearly a thousand years had been considered holy ground, since the above- named Sho-do Sho-nin in the year 767 declared the old Shinto deity of this hill to be the only revelation of Buddha in Japan. It was a grand procession which in the year 1617 conducted the earthly remains of the great Shogun to his last resting-place. Relatives and delegates of the Mikado, hundreds of Daimios, and noblemen of all ranks, took part in the festival. A vast troupe of priests in rich attire were singing for three days a holy song ten thousand times, and Iyeyasu. THE TEMPLE AT NIKKO. NIKKO AND ISE 247 by a decree of the Mikado, was ranked amongst the gods with the posthumous title "Sho-ichi-i Tosho Dai-gongen," which means " Highness of the first Order, Light of the East, Great Incar- nation of Buddha." Under the abridged name Gongen-Sama he still lives to-day in the memory of the people. A broad street intersected here and there by steps leads from the two bridges past priests' dwellings, monuments and temples, through mag- nificent cryptomerian groves to the sanctuary. The square in front of the temple-:grounds is reached through a stately temple gate, over twenty-seven feet high and resting on beautiful granite columns of three and a half feet in diameter. A five storeyed pagoda, with its bright red lacquer effectively stands out from the dark background of the pine-wood. In long rows 118 precious bronze lanterns are arrayed in the square, offerings resting on solid stands of stone, and bearing by the side of the godly title of Iyeyasu the names of the respective donors. A flight of broad stone steps leads up to the Ni-o-mon, the " gate of the two gods," whose gilt lions and artistically carved tigers are scarcely noticed because of the rich array and beauty of the first temple court which overshadows all else. 248 JAPAN AS I SAW IT Involuntarily the Japanese saying crosses the mind, " Nikko minai uchi-wa kekko-to iuna," " he who has not seen Nikko, do not speak of beauty ! " and really one must have seen Nikko, must have felt the magic effect of this indescribably beautiful sight, to know what real beauty is. The view from the Ni-o gate conveys an abiding charm (both in harmonious colouring and shape) which it is impossible to describe. Pictures cannot give an appropriate idea of it, for they can only charm the eye, but cannot impress us at the same time with the profound silence, broken only by the murmuring of the holy fountain, the gentle whis- pering of the sacred, centuries-old grove, and the soft tone of the temple bell ringing in the distance. At the side of the temple-court, which is laid out with round dark-blue basalt pebbles, crossed by lines of flagstones, and surrounded by a wooden wall in bright red colour, stand three richly and harmoniously decorated buildings, containing vari- ous temple treasures, and crowned with heavy curved roofs of dark, gold-coloured tiles. A holy fountain under a pillared roof pours crystal-like water in a uniform column over a mighty block of granite, and offers holy water for the ablution of the pilgrims. Farther in the background stands NIKKO AND ISE 249 the library of holy rolls, containing a complete set of the Buddhist sacred books (kyomon). A broad flight of steps leads to a somewhat smaller court, where a bell-and-drum tower of grotesque shape, a chapel, and sundry huge bronze lanterns attract attention. Another stair- case leads to the second gate, the finely-carved Yo-mei-mon, which forms the entrance to the third court. The capitals of its imposing white columns show the heads of the Japanese Kirin, a mythic monster in the figure of our unicorn. Artistically carved dragon-heads run along the girdle, and two fighting white dragons decorate the centre-field ; the gate is covered with a richly ornamented curved-tiled roof, borne by gilt dragon- heads with dark-red necks. The third temple court shows on twenty-one wall-panes different groups of birds, flowers, and trees, artistically cut in stone ; it contains a stage for the Kagura-dances, a temple-hall with incense- altar, and a coach-house, where the holy carts are kept in which on days of high festival the god- incarnate spirits of the Shoguns are taken around in triumphal procession. Before entering the fourth court the shoes have to be removed ; one is only allowed to draw near the prayer-house in the entrance-hall of the 25Q JAPAN AS I SAW IT sanctuary in hose. Its interior surprises by its Shinto simplicity. The dark golden hall contains, except for a plain black lacquer table with a metal mirror, nothing else but an unpretentious gold gohei, the symbol of the deity. A few steps lead down from the oratory to the sanctuary, but visitors are not permitted to enter and see the apparently empty shrine ; neither native nor foreign visitors are permitted to enter the holy place. A long flight of 240 moss-clad stone steps through a silent cedar grove conducts in steep ascent to the summit of the hill, the burial-place of the great Shogun. In contrast to the bright splendour of the other courts with their golden gates and luxuriant temples, the place which encloses the earthly remains of Iyeyasu attracts by its imposing simplicity, by its mournful silence and melancholy grandeur, with which nature has surrounded this holy memorial to Japan's greatest hero. A massive bronze gate, guarded by a pair of bronze lions, forms the entrance to the place of rest over which the adjacent high cedar-trees throw a continual shade. The tomb stands on a plat- form surrounded by a stone balustrade. In the centre of the fence rises an urn of light-coloured bronze which contains the ashes of the Shogun, shaded over by a curved roof of the same material. PILGRIM S MORNING PRAYER. (After a sketch by C. Netto and P. Bender.) NIKKO AND ISE 251 In front of it on a stone altar stand the usual symbolic emblems of Buddhist religion, a great oblong bronze incense-burner, a huge bronze vase with imitations of leaves and flowers of the lotus, and a gigantic bronze crane standing on a tortoise and holding a candlestick and lotus-leaf in its beak. The temples of Iyemitsu are situated in the centre of the Iyeyasu grounds. His tomb is of darker bronze, but otherwise of the same general appearance as that of Iyeyasu and is quite close to the temples. The latter are less luxuriously decorated, but in many ways create a deeper impression, because they are still in the hands of the Buddhists, and are therefore equipped with numerous images of Buddhist gods and all the bright accessories of Buddhist ritual. If Nikko is the acme of beauty to the Japan- ese, Ise is to them the holiest of the holies, their national sanctuary. Amongst the numerous temples and places of pilgrimage of the empire the temples of the sun goddess Ama-terasu at Ise take the first rank. Ise is to the Shintoists of the same importance as Mekka to the Moslem, and the holy places of Jerusalem to the Greek and Roman Christians. At the present time and in spite of the prevailing irreligion, tens of thousands of pilgrims visit Ise annually. In former days 252 JAPAN AS I SAW IT no artisan or tradesman of Tokio thought it possible to earn his living, if he did not at least twice a year buy remission of his sins at Ise. The apprentices of the capital used regularly every springtime to leave their masters in order to make their way to Ise by begging, and to return provided with a holy scrip bearing the name of Ama-terasu. To-day the middle classes of Japan seem to have become even more indolent in regard to pilgrimages, but a long time will have to pass before the faithful peasants will feel comfortable without their holy scrip, the so-called O-harai, which bears the name of the high goddess, and which can only be bought in her temple at Ise. They believe that such a scrip contains between two layers of paper the scrapings of the sticks which the Ise priests used at their half-yearly festivals to clean the people from the sins which have been committed during the preceding six months. The possession of such a slip is believed to preserve from misfortune for another six months. At the end of that period the O-harai must be replaced by a new one. The temples of Ise are built and kept in the purest . Shinto style and therefore bare of any ornament. Smaller halls surround the old " pal- aces of the great gods," and around them lie the NIKKO AND ISE 253 abodes of the priests and priestesses, amongst whom the highest classes of the empire are repre- sented. For fully 2,000 years a maiden priestess of the imperial house has always presided there. The sanctuary at Ise consists of two temples, the Naiku and the Geku, of which the former is consecrated to the goddess of the sun Ama- terasu, and the latter to the " First begotten of the heaven gods," Kuni-toko-tachi-no Mikoto. At the end of every twenty-first year the temples are pulled down, and cut into little pieces, which, enveloped in little boxes during the first moon of every year, are sold by the priests of the temple as relics. The temples are then rebuilt on alternate sites. Where the previous buildings stood there are now tiny huts about three to four feet high, to protect the sanctums from pollution. The temples are constructed of timber upon ancient Japanese models and thatched with bark. In the Naiku the holy mirror is preserved, to which, according to Japanese mythology, the world thanks the re-appearance of the sun, after Ama-terasu, offended by the unseemly behaviour of her brother, had retired into the cave of heaven. No mortal eye is supposed ever to have seen the mirror. It is carefully preserved in a silk envelope within a trunk, as the most precious of all Shinto shrines . 254 JAPAN AS I SAW IT If the silk wrapper threatens to fall to pieces, which during the two and a half millenniums of its existence must have been the case sundry times, a new brocade envelope is put over it. The history of the mirror runs as follows : Sosanoo, the sullen god who afterwards was to rule the nether world, was, before going to the lower regions, staying for some time on a visit with his sister Ama-terasu in heaven. In consequence of his dissolute life and his many acts of folly, he soon fell out with his beautiful sister, and one day when in his folly he went so far as to catch the foal of the heaven, the darling of all the heavenly gods, to skin it, and throw its corpse into Ama- terasu's palace just at the time when she was undergoing the ceremony of fasting, Ama-terasu lost patience, and feeling deeply insulted withdrew into the cave of heaven, whose door she locked behind her. The whole universe was now covered with darkness ; there was no difference any more between day and night, neither in heaven nor on earth; and evil spirits commenced flying about. All the heavenly gods, of whom there existed already several hundred thousands, soon assembled at the banks of the great stream of heaven, the milky way, to take counsel how to appease the resentful goddess and make her reappear. They determined N1KK0 AND ISE 255 upon raising her curiosity and jealousy, and by astuteness to entice her out of her grotto. To that end the god Ishikoridome constructed a large metal mirror, round as a circle and of the size of the sun, which the gods hung up in the middle of a holy Sakaki-tree that was growing opposite the cave's mouth on the mountains of heaven. At its lower branches they hung up beautiful garments of the finest tissue and precious sparkling ornaments for the neck as offerings to Ama-terasu, while from out of the upper branches of the tree the precious stones of heaven were flashing and sparkling, brilliant jewels, which with their twinkling light as stars at night-time are also visible to the inhabitants of the earth. When these preparations were finished, the gods began to sing and to play. Keeping time with the music, the pretty but somewhat frivolous goddess Uzume, crowning herself with wreaths, and swing- ing a spear decorated with sungrass and hung with tinkling bells, began a merry dance. To remedy the utter darkness, mighty fires were lit, which when blazing up, made all the cocks crow, and believe the day was breaking. Louder and louder became the music of the gods, wilder and wilder the dance, higher and more frivolous the jumps of the gay Uzume, till the noisy hilarity and the 256 JAPAN AS I SAW IT laughter of the gods made the whole heaven shake. Ama-terasu, who had been listening all the time at a chink of the rocks, astonished and surprised at this unaccustomed festive noise, could with- stand her curiosity no longer, and opened the grotto's door a tiny way, to inquire what was going on. Uzume answered : " The gods are playing and singing, and I am dancing in honour of a new goddess who has arrived and outshines your beauty and darkens your fame ! " At the same time Amenokogane, the god of the golden morning sky, held before Ama-terasu the great round mirror disk, on whose polished surface now her own beaming beauty appeared. Highly amazed Ama-terasu opened the gate a little wider to have a better look at the new rival. At the same time the strong god Tajikarao, whcse equal in strength is neither found in heaven nor on earth, forced himself between the gate and the rocks, thus unhinging the mighty gate. He then caught the still resisting Ama-terasu by the arm, and drew her forth from the cave, and at once the whole universe was radiant again with light. Some other gods now spanned a magic straw rope across the cave's mouth, thus preventing Ama-terasu from ever retiring there again. In commemoration of this ever-memorable event NIKKO AND ISE 257 we can to-day still behold in the neighbourhood of Ise, at the Mioto-seki shore, a holy thick straw rope spanning two solitary rocks, that stand out from the sea. The mirror to which the world owes the re- appearance of the sun, forms together with a chain of mountain crystals and a great sword the insignia of the empire. When in later years Ama-terasu sent her grand- son Ninigi down to the earth to rule over it, she made him a present of the wonderful mirror and said, " Keep this mirror, my image, and your dynasty will last as long as heaven and earth exist ; guard it faithfully, and when you look at it, think you see me." She gave him besides precious crystal balls of purest lustre, which had grown on the mountain steps of heaven, and equipped him with the famous cloud-sword, which her brother Sosanoo once had found in the tail of a frightful dragon which he had killed in rescuing the beautiful Inada. This sword he had after- wards sent as an offering to his sister Ama-terasu. On account of the fiery clouds by which the dragon was surrounded, the sword was called Mura-Kumo, that is " cloud sword." These insignia of power were kept by the first Mikado Jimmu Tenno, and by the following eight Mikados in their throne- 258 JAPAN AS I SAW IT room, until Sujin Tenno, the tenth Mikado, had copies of them made, and sent the originals to Ise for preservation in the Temple of Ama-terasu. True copies are to be seen in a special chapel of the Mikado's palace at Tokio in the so-called Kashiko- dokoro, the " place of veneration." The design of the Japanese flag also refers to Ama-terasu, showing a red sun in the centre. The same may be said of the kiku, a crest which since ancient days has been in use with the Mikados, and to-day forms the State crest of Japan. KIKU-NO-HANA MON. It represents a sunflower (chrysanthemum) decoratively arranged, and appears on all public and official documents, and since 1868 as military cockade. There is also another crest of the Mikado, the Kiri, his family crest. It is formed by the leaves and flowers of the Kiri (paulownia imperialis) which are arranged as a trefoil. It is used on private and family NIKKO AND ISE 259 documents and ornamentally on private property of the Emperor. KIRI MON. Several of his titles likewise refer to his godly descent. Appellations mostly used in the olden days were — Ten-no = High King, or King of Heaven, and Ten-shi=Son of Heaven. To-day the title most in use with the people is Mikado = Sublime Porte, while in inter- national State documents he is addressed as " The Tenno of Japan's Majesty," and in the daily press he is spoken of as the " Emperor." Jarroli &■ Sons, Ltd, , Printers, The Empire Press, Norwich. 1