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diff --git a/old/8glm110.txt b/old/8glm110.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..229420e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/8glm110.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10348 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan, by Lafcadio Hearn +#6 in our series by Lafcadio Hearn + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan + First Series + +Author: Lafcadio Hearn + +Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8130] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 17, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GLIMPSES OF AN UNFAMILIAR JAPAN *** + + + + +Produced by John Orford + + + + + GLIMPSES OF UNFAMILIAR JAPAN + First Series + by LAFCADIO HEARN + + + (dedication) + + TO THE FRIENDS + WHOSE KINDNESS ALONE RENDERED POSSIBLE + MY SOJOURN IN THE ORIENT, + PAYMASTER MITCHELL McDONALD, U.S.N. + AND + BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN, ESQ. + Emeritus Professor of Philology and Japanese in the + Imperial University of Tokyo + I DEDICATE THESE VOLUMES + IN TOKEN OF + AFFECTION AND GRATITUDE + + + + CONTENTS + PREFACE + 1 MY FIRST DAY IN THE ORIENT + 2 THE WRITING OF KOBODAISHI + 3 JIZO + 4 A PILGRIMAGE TO ENOSHIMA + 5 AT THE MARKET OF THE DEAD + 6 BON-ODORI + 7 THE CHIEF CITY OF THE PROVINCE OF THE GODS + 8 KITZUKI: THE MOST ANCIENT SHRINE IN JAPAN + 9 IN THE CAVE OF THE CHILDREN'S GHOSTS + 10 AT MIONOSEKI + 11 NOTES ON KITZUKI + 12 AT HINOMISAKI + 13 SHINJU + 14 YAEGAKI-JINJA + 15 KITSUNE + + +PREFACE + +In the Introduction to his charming Tales of Old Japan, Mr. Mitford +wrote in 1871: + +'The books which have been written of late years about Japan have either +been compiled from official records, or have contained the sketchy +impressions of passing travellers. Of the inner life of the Japanese the +world at large knows but little: their religion, their superstitions, +their ways of thought, the hidden springs by which they move--all these +are as yet mysteries.' + +This invisible life referred to by Mr. Mitford is the Unfamiliar Japan +of which I have been able to obtain a few glimpses. The reader may, +perhaps, be disappointed by their rarity; for a residence of little more +than four years among the people--even by one who tries to adopt their +habits and customs--scarcely suffices to enable the foreigner to begin +to feel at home in this world of strangeness. None can feel more than +the author himself how little has been accomplished in these volumes, +and how much remains to do. + +The popular religious ideas--especially the ideas derived from Buddhism +-and the curious superstitions touched upon in these sketches are +little shared by the educated classes of New Japan. Except as regards +his characteristic indifference toward abstract ideas in general and +metaphysical speculation in particular, the Occidentalised Japanese of +to-day stands almost on the intellectual plane of the cultivated +Parisian or Bostonian. But he is inclined to treat with undue contempt +all conceptions of the supernatural; and toward the great religious +questions of the hour his attitude is one of perfect apathy. Rarely does +his university training in modern philosophy impel him to attempt any +independent study of relations, either sociological or psychological. +For him, superstitions are simply superstitions; their relation to the +emotional nature of the people interests him not at all. [1] And this +not only because he thoroughly understands that people, but because the +class to which he belongs is still unreasoningly, though quite +naturally, ashamed of its older beliefs. Most of us who now call +ourselves agnostics can recollect the feelings with which, in the period +of our fresh emancipation from a faith far more irrational than +Buddhism, we looked back upon the gloomy theology of our fathers. +Intellectual Japan has become agnostic within only a few decades; and +the suddenness of this mental revolution sufficiently explains the +principal, though not perhaps all the causes of the present attitude of +the superior class toward Buddhism. For the time being it certainly +borders upon intolerance; and while such is the feeling even to religion +as distinguished from superstition, the feeling toward superstition as +distinguished from religion must be something stronger still. + +But the rare charm of Japanese life, so different from that of all other +lands, is not to be found in its Europeanised circles. It is to be found +among the great common people, who represent in Japan, as in all +countries, the national virtues, and who still cling to their delightful +old customs, their picturesque dresses, their Buddhist images, their +household shrines, their beautiful and touching worship of ancestors. +This is the life of which a foreign observer can never weary, if +fortunate and sympathetic enough to enter into it--the life that forces +him sometimes to doubt whether the course of our boasted Western +progress is really in the direction of moral development. Each day, +while the years pass, there will be revealed to him some strange and +unsuspected beauty in it. Like other life, it has its darker side; yet +even this is brightness compared with the darker side of Western +existence. It has its foibles, its follies, its vices, its cruelties; +yet the more one sees of it, the more one marvels at its extraordinary +goodness, its miraculous patience, its never-failing courtesy, its +simplicity of heart, its intuitive charity. And to our own larger +Occidental comprehension, its commonest superstitions, however condemned +at Tokyo have rarest value as fragments of the unwritten literature of +its hopes, its fears, its experience with right and wrong--its +primitive efforts to find solutions for the riddle of the Unseen flow +much the lighter and kindlier superstitions of the people add to the +charm of Japanese life can, indeed, be understood only by one who has +long resided in the interior. A few of their beliefs are sinister--such +as that in demon-foxes, which public education is rapidly dissipating; +but a large number are comparable for beauty of fancy even to those +Greek myths in which our noblest poets of today still find inspiration; +while many others, which encourage kindness to the unfortunate and +kindness to animals, can never have produced any but the happiest moral +results. The amusing presumption of domestic animals, and the +comparative fearlessness of many wild creatures in the presence of man; +the white clouds of gulls that hover about each incoming steamer in +expectation of an alms of crumbs; the whirring of doves from temple- +eaves to pick up the rice scattered for them by pilgrims; the familiar +storks of ancient public gardens; the deer of holy shrines, awaiting +cakes and caresses; the fish which raise their heads from sacred lotus- +ponds when the stranger's shadow falls upon the water--these and a +hundred other pretty sights are due to fancies which, though called +superstitious, inculcate in simplest form the sublime truth of the Unity +of Life. And even when considering beliefs less attractive than these,- +superstitions of which the grotesqueness may provoke a smile--the +impartial observer would do well to bear in mind the words of Lecky: + +Many superstitions do undoubtedly answer to the Greek conception of +slavish "fear of the Gods," and have been productive of unspeakable +misery to mankind; but there are very many others of a different +tendency. Superstitions appeal to our hopes as well as our fears. They +often meet and gratify the inmost longings of the heart. They offer +certainties where reason can only afford possibilities or probabilities. +They supply conceptions on which the imagination loves to dwell. They +sometimes impart even a new sanction to moral truths. Creating wants +which they alone can satisfy, and fears which they alone can quell, they +often become essential elements of happiness; and their consoling +efficacy is most felt in the languid or troubled hours when it is most +needed. We owe more to our illusions than to our knowledge. The +imagination, which is altogether constructive, probably contributes more +to our happiness than the reason, which in the sphere of speculation is +mainly critical and destructive. The rude charm which, in the hour of +danger or distress, the savage clasps so confidently to his breast, the +sacred picture which is believed to shed a hallowing and protecting +influence over the poor man's cottage, can bestow a more real +consolation n the darkest hour of human suffering than can be afforded +by the grandest theories of philosophy. . . . No error can be more grave +than to imagine that when a critical spirit is abroad the pleasant +beliefs will all remain, and the painful ones alone will perish.' + +That the critical spirit of modernised Japan is now indirectly aiding +rather than opposing the efforts of foreign bigotry to destroy the +simple, happy beliefs of the people, and substitute those cruel +superstitions which the West has long intellectually outgrown--the +fancies of an unforgiving God and an everlasting hell--is surely to be +regretted. More than hundred and sixty years ago Kaempfer wrote of the +Japanese 'In the practice of virtue, in purity of life and outward +devotion they far outdo the Christians.' And except where native morals +have suffered by foreign contamination, as in the open ports, these +words are true of the Japanese to-day. My own conviction, and that of +many impartial and more experienced observers of Japanese life, is that +Japan has nothing whatever to gain by conversion to Christianity, either +morally or otherwise, but very much to lose. + +Of the twenty-seven sketches composing these volumes, four were +originally purchased by various newspaper syndicates and reappear in a +considerably altered form, and six were published in the Atlantic +Monthly (1891-3). The remainder forming the bulk of the work, are new. + +L.H. + +KUMAMOTO, KYUSHU, JAPAN. May, 1894. + + + +GLIMPSES OF UNFAMILIAR JAPAN by LAFCADIO HEARN + +Chapter One My First Day in the Orient + +'Do not fail to write down your first impressions as soon as possible,' +said a kind English professor [Basil Hall Chamberlain: PREPARATOR'S +NOTE] whom I had the pleasure of meeting soon after my arrival in Japan: +'they are evanescent, you know; they will never come to you again, once +they have faded out; and yet of all the strange sensations you may +receive in this country you will feel none so charming as these.' I am +trying now to reproduce them from the hasty notes of the time, and find +that they were even more fugitive than charming; something has +evaporated from all my recollections of them--something impossible to +recall. I neglected the friendly advice, in spite of all resolves to +obey it: I could not, in those first weeks, resign myself to remain +indoors and write, while there was yet so much to see and hear and feel +in the sun-steeped ways of the wonderful Japanese city. Still, even +could I revive all the lost sensations of those first experiences, I +doubt if I could express and fix them in words. The first charm of Japan +is intangible and volatile as a perfume. + +It began for me with my first kuruma-ride out of the European quarter of +Yokohama into the Japanese town; and so much as I can recall of it is +hereafter set down. + +º1 + +It is with the delicious surprise of the first journey through Japanese +streets--unable to make one's kuruma-runner understand anything but +gestures, frantic gestures to roll on anywhere, everywhere, since all is +unspeakably pleasurable and new--that one first receives the real +sensation of being in the Orient, in this Far East so much read of, so +long dreamed of, yet, as the eyes bear witness, heretofore all unknown. +There is a romance even in the first full consciousness of this rather +commonplace fact; but for me this consciousness is transfigured +inexpressibly by the divine beauty of the day. There is some charm +unutterable in the morning air, cool with the coolness of Japanese +spring and wind-waves from the snowy cone of Fuji; a charm perhaps due +rather to softest lucidity than to any positive tone--an atmospheric +limpidity extraordinary, with only a suggestion of blue in it, through +which the most distant objects appear focused with amazing sharpness. +The sun is only pleasantly warm; the jinricksha, or kuruma, is the most +cosy little vehicle imaginable; and the street-vistas, as seen above the +dancing white mushroom-shaped hat of my sandalled runner, have an +allurement of which I fancy that I could never weary. + +Elfish everything seems; for everything as well as everybody is small, +and queer, and mysterious: the little houses under their blue roofs, the +little shop-fronts hung with blue, and the smiling little people in +their blue costumes. The illusion is only broken by the occasional +passing of a tall foreigner, and by divers shop-signs bearing +announcements in absurd attempts at English. Nevertheless such discords +only serve to emphasise reality; they never materially lessen the +fascination of the funny little streets. + +'Tis at first a delightfully odd confusion only, as you look down one of +them, through an interminable flutter of flags and swaying of dark blue +drapery, all made beautiful and mysterious with Japanese or Chinese +lettering. For there are no immediately discernible laws of +construction or decoration: each building seems to have a fantastic +prettiness of its own; nothing is exactly like anything else, and all is +bewilderingly novel. But gradually, after an hour passed in the quarter, +the eye begins to recognise in a vague way some general plan in the +construction of these low, light, queerly-gabled wooden houses, mostly +unpainted, with their first stories all open to the street, and thin +strips of roofing sloping above each shop-front, like awnings, back to +the miniature balconies of paper-screened second stories. You begin to +understand the common plan of the tiny shops, with their matted floors +well raised above the street level, and the general perpendicular +arrangement of sign-lettering, whether undulating on drapery or +glimmering on gilded and lacquered signboards. You observe that the same +rich dark blue which dominates in popular costume rules also in shop +draperies, though there is a sprinkling of other tints--bright blue and +white and red (no greens or yellows). And then you note also that the +dresses of the labourers are lettered with the same wonderful lettering +as the shop draperies. No arabesques could produce such an effect. As +modified for decorative purposes these ideographs have a speaking +symmetry which no design without a meaning could possess. As they appear +on the back of a workman's frock--pure white on dark blue--and large +enough to be easily read at a great distance (indicating some guild or +company of which the wearer is a member or employee), they give to the +poor cheap garment a fictitious appearance of splendour. + +And finally, while you are still puzzling over the mystery of things, +there will come to you like a revelation the knowledge that most of the +amazing picturesqueness of these streets is simply due to the profusion +of Chinese and Japanese characters in white, black, blue, or gold, +decorating everything--even surfaces of doorposts and paper screens. +Perhaps, then, for one moment, you will imagine the effect of English +lettering substituted for those magical characters; and the mere idea +will give to whatever aesthetic sentiment you may possess a brutal +shock, and you will become, as I have become, an enemy of the Romaji- +Kwai--that society founded for the ugly utilitarian purpose of +introducing the use of English letters in writing Japanese. + +º2 + +An ideograph does not make upon the Japanese brain any impression +similar to that created in the Occidental brain by a letter or +combination of letters--dull, inanimate symbols of vocal sounds. To the +Japanese brain an ideograph is a vivid picture: it lives; it speaks; it +gesticulates. And the whole space of a Japanese street is full of such +living characters--figures that cry out to the eyes, words that smile +or grimace like faces. + +What such lettering is, compared with our own lifeless types, can be +understood only by those who have lived in the farther East. For even +the printed characters of Japanese or Chinese imported texts give no +suggestion of the possible beauty of the same characters as modified for +decorative inscriptions, for sculptural use, or for the commonest +advertising purposes. No rigid convention fetters the fancy of the +calligrapher or designer: each strives to make his characters more +beautiful than any others; and generations upon generations of artists +have been toiling from time immemorial with like emulation, so that +through centuries and centuries of tire-less effort and study, the +primitive hieroglyph or ideograph has been evolved into a thing of +beauty indescribable. It consists only of a certain number of brush- +strokes; but in each stroke there is an undiscoverable secret art of +grace, proportion, imperceptible curve, which actually makes it seem +alive, and bears witness that even during the lightning-moment of its +creation the artist felt with his brush for the ideal shape of the +stroke equally along its entire length, from head to tail. But the art +of the strokes is not all; the art of their combination is that which +produces the enchantment, often so as to astonish the Japanese +themselves. It is not surprising, indeed, considering the strangely +personal, animate, esoteric aspect of Japanese lettering, that there +should be wonderful legends of calligraphy relating how words written by +holy experts became incarnate, and descended from their tablets to hold. +converse with mankind. + +º3 + +My kurumaya calls himself 'Cha.' He has a white hat which looks like the +top of an enormous mushroom; a short blue wide-sleeved jacket; blue +drawers, close-fitting as 'tights,' and reaching to his ankles; and +light straw sandals bound upon his bare feet with cords of palmetto- +fibre. Doubtless he typifies all the patience, endurance, and insidious +coaxing powers of his class. He has already manifested his power to make +me give him more than the law allows; and I have been warned against him +in vain. For the first sensation of having a human being for a horse, +trotting between shafts, unwearyingly bobbing up and down before you for +hours, is alone enough to evoke a feeling of compassion. And when this +human being, thus trotting between shafts, with all his hopes, memories, +sentiments, and comprehensions, happens to have the gentlest smile, and +the power to return the least favour by an apparent display of infinite +gratitude, this compassion becomes sympathy, and provokes unreasoning +impulses to self-sacrifice. I think the sight of the profuse +perspiration has also something to do with the feeling, for it makes one +think of the cost of heart-beats and muscle-contractions, likewise of +chills, congestions, and pleurisy. Cha's clothing is drenched; and he +mops his face with a small sky-blue towel, with figures of bamboo-sprays +and sparrows in white upon it, which towel he carries wrapped about his +wrist as he runs. + +That, however, which attracts me in Cha--Cha considered not as a motive +power at all, but as a personality--I am rapidly learning to discern in +the multitudes of faces turned toward us as we roll through these +miniature streets. And perhaps the supremely pleasurable impression of +this morning is that produced by the singular gentleness of popular +scrutiny. Everybody looks at you curiously; but there is never anything +disagreeable, much less hostile in the gaze: most commonly it is +accompanied by a smile or half smile. And the ultimate consequence of +all these kindly curious looks and smiles is that the stranger finds +himself thinking of fairy-land. Hackneyed to the degree of provocation +this statement no doubt is: everybody describing the sensations of his +first Japanese day talks of the land as fairyland, and of its people as +fairy-folk. Yet there is a natural reason for this unanimity in choice +of terms to describe what is almost impossible to describe more +accurately at the first essay. To find one's self suddenly in a world +where everything is upon a smaller and daintier scale than with us--a +world of lesser and seemingly kindlier beings, all smiling at you as if +to wish you well--a world where all movement is slow and soft, and +voices are hushed--a world where land, life, and sky are unlike all +that one has known elsewhere--this is surely the realisation, for +imaginations nourished with English folklore, of the old dream of a +World of Elves. + +º4 + +The traveller who enters suddenly into a period of social change-- +especially change from a feudal past to a democratic present--is likely +to regret the decay of things beautiful and the ugliness of things new. +What of both I may yet discover in Japan I know not; but to-day, in +these exotic streets, the old and the new mingle so well that one seems +to set off the other. The line of tiny white telegraph poles carrying +the world's news to papers printed in a mixture of Chinese and Japanese +characters; an electric bell in some tea-house with an Oriental riddle +of text pasted beside the ivory button, a shop of American sewing- +machines next to the shop of a maker of Buddhist images; the +establishment of a photographer beside the establishment of a +manufacturer of straw sandals: all these present no striking +incongruities, for each sample of Occidental innovation is set into an +Oriental frame that seems adaptable to any picture. But on the first +day, at least, the Old alone is new for the stranger, and suffices to +absorb his attention. It then appears to him that everything Japanese is +delicate, exquisite, admirable--even a pair of common wooden chopsticks +in a paper bag with a little drawing upon it; even a package of +toothpicks of cherry-wood, bound with a paper wrapper wonderfully +lettered in three different colours; even the little sky-blue towel, +with designs of flying sparrows upon it, which the jinricksha man uses +to wipe his face. The bank bills, the commonest copper coins, are things +of beauty. Even the piece of plaited coloured string used by the +shopkeeper in tying up your last purchase is a pretty curiosity. +Curiosities and dainty objects bewilder you by their very multitude: on +either side of you, wherever you turn your eyes, are countless wonderful +things as yet incomprehensible. + +But it is perilous to look at them. Every time you dare to look, +something obliges you to buy it--unless, as may often happen, the +smiling vendor invites your inspection of so many varieties of one +article, each specially and all unspeakably desirable, that you flee +away out of mere terror at your own impulses. The shopkeeper never asks +you to buy; but his wares are enchanted, and if you once begin buying +you are lost. Cheapness means only a temptation to commit bankruptcy; +for the resources of irresistible artistic cheapness are inexhaustible. +The largest steamer that crosses the Pacific could not contain what you +wish to purchase. For, although you may not, perhaps, confess the fact +to yourself, what you really want to buy is not the contents of a shop; +you want the shop and the shopkeeper, and streets of shops with their +draperies and their inhabitants, the whole city and the bay and the +mountains begirdling it, and Fujiyama's white witchery overhanging it in +the speckless sky, all Japan, in very truth, with its magical trees and +luminous atmosphere, with all its cities and towns and temples, and +forty millions of the most lovable people in the universe. + +Now there comes to my mind something I once heard said by a practical +American on hearing of a great fire in Japan: 'Oh! those people can +afford fires; their houses are so cheaply built.' It is true that the +frail wooden houses of the common people can be cheaply and quickly +replaced; but that which was within them to make them beautiful cannot-- +and every fire is an art tragedy. For this is the land of infinite hand- +made variety; machinery has not yet been able to introduce sameness and +utilitarian ugliness in cheap production (except in response to foreign +demand for bad taste to suit vulgar markets), and each object made by +the artist or artisan differs still from all others, even of his own +making. And each time something beautiful perishes by fire, it is a +something representing an individual idea. + +Happily the art impulse itself, in this country of conflagrations, has a +vitality which survives each generation of artists, and defies the flame +that changes their labour to ashes or melts it to shapelessness. The +idea whose symbol has perished will reappear again in other creations-- +perhaps after the passing of a century--modified, indeed, yet +recognisably of kin to the thought of the past. And every artist is a +ghostly worker. Not by years of groping and sacrifice does he find his +highest expression; the sacrificial past is within 'him; his art is an +inheritance; his fingers are guided by the dead in the delineation of a +flying bird, of the vapours of mountains, of the colours of the morning +and the evening, of the shape of branches and the spring burst of +flowers: generations of skilled workmen have given him their cunning, +and revive in the wonder of his drawing. What was conscious effort in +the beginning became unconscious in later centuries--becomes almost +automatic in the living man,--becomes the art instinctive. Wherefore, +one coloured print by a Hokusai or Hiroshige, originally sold for less +than a cent, may have more real art in it than many a Western painting +valued at more than the worth of a whole Japanese street. + +º5 + +Here are Hokusai's own figures walking about in straw raincoats, and +immense mushroom-shaped hats of straw, and straw sandals--bare-limbed +peasants, deeply tanned by wind and sun; and patient-faced mothers with +smiling bald babies on their backs, toddling by upon their geta (high, +noisy, wooden clogs), and robed merchants squatting and smoking their +little brass pipes among the countless riddles of their shops. + +Then I notice how small and shapely the feet of the people are--whether +bare brown feet of peasants, or beautiful feet of children wearing tiny, +tiny geta, or feet of young girls in snowy tabi. The tabi, the white +digitated stocking, gives to a small light foot a mythological aspect-- +the white cleft grace of the foot of a fauness. Clad or bare, the +Japanese foot has the antique symmetry: it has not yet been distorted by +the infamous foot-gear which has deformed the feet of Occidentals. Of +every pair of Japanese wooden clogs, one makes in walking a slightly +different sound from the other, as kring to krang; so that the echo of +the walker's steps has an alternate rhythm of tones. On a pavement, such +as that of a railway station, the sound obtains immense sonority; and a +crowd will sometimes intentionally fall into step, with the drollest +conceivable result of drawling wooden noise. + +º6 + +'Tera e yuke!' + +I have been obliged to return to the European hotel--not because of the +noon-meal, as I really begrudge myself the time necessary to eat it, but +because I cannot make Cha understand that I want to visit a Buddhist +temple. Now Cha understands; my landlord has uttered the mystical words: +'Tera e yuke!' + +A few minutes of running along broad thoroughfares lined with gardens +and costly ugly European buildings; then passing the bridge of a canal +stocked with unpainted sharp-prowed craft of extraordinary construction, +we again plunge into narrow, low, bright pretty streets--into another +part of the Japanese city. And Cha runs at the top of his speed between +more rows of little ark-shaped houses, narrower above than below; +between other unfamiliar lines of little open shops. And always over the +shops little strips of blue-tiled roof slope back to the paper-screened +chamber of upper floors; and from all the facades hang draperies dark +blue, or white, or crimson--foot-breadths of texture covered with +beautiful Japanese lettering, white on blue, red on black, black on +white. But all this flies by swiftly as a dream. Once more we cross a +canal; we rush up a narrow street rising to meet a hill; and Cha, +halting suddenly before an immense flight of broad stone steps, sets the +shafts of his vehicle on the ground that I may dismount, and, pointing +to the steps, exclaims: 'Tera!' + +I dismount, and ascend them, and, reaching a broad terrace, find myself +face to face with a wonderful gate, topped by a tilted, peaked, many- +cornered Chinese roof. It is all strangely carven, this gate. Dragons +are inter-twined in a frieze above its open doors; and the panels of the +doors themselves are similarly sculptured; and there are gargoyles-- +grotesque lion heads--protruding from the eaves. And the whole is grey, +stone-coloured; to me, nevertheless, the carvings do not seem to have +the fixity of sculpture; all the snakeries and dragonries appear to +undulate with a swarming motion, elusively, in eddyings as of water. + +I turn a moment to look back through the glorious light. Sea and sky +mingle in the same beautiful pale clear blue. Below me the billowing of +bluish roofs reaches to the verge of the unruffled bay on the right, and +to the feet of the green wooded hills flanking the city on two sides. +Beyond that semicircle of green hills rises a lofty range of serrated +mountains, indigo silhouettes. And enormously high above the line of +them towers an apparition indescribably lovely--one solitary snowy +cone, so filmily exquisite, so spiritually white, that but for its +immemorially familiar outline, one would surely deem it a shape of +cloud. Invisible its base remains, being the same delicious tint as the +sky: only above the eternal snow-line its dreamy cone appears, seeming +to hang, the ghost of a peak, between the luminous land and the luminous +heaven--the sacred and matchless mountain, Fujiyama. + +And suddenly, a singular sensation comes upon me as I stand before this +weirdly sculptured portal--a sensation of dream and doubt. It seems to +me that the steps, and the dragon-swarming gate, and the blue sky +arching over the roofs of the town, and the ghostly beauty of Fuji, and +the shadow of myself there stretching upon the grey masonry, must all +vanish presently. Why such a feeling? Doubtless because the forms before +me--the curved roofs, the coiling dragons, the Chinese grotesqueries of +carving--do not really appear to me as things new, but as things +dreamed: the sight of them must have stirred to life forgotten memories +of picture-books. A moment, and the delusion vanishes; the romance of +reality returns, with freshened consciousness of all that which is truly +and deliciously new; the magical transparencies of distance, the +wondrous delicacy of the tones of the living picture, the enormous +height of the summer blue, and the white soft witchery of the Japanese +sun. + +º7 + +I pass on and climb more steps to a second gate with similar gargoyles +and swarming of dragons, and enter a court where graceful votive +lanterns of stone stand like monuments. On my right and left two great +grotesque stone lions are sitting--the lions of Buddha, male and +female. Beyond is a long low light building, with curved and gabled roof +of blue tiles, and three wooden steps before its entrance. Its sides are +simple wooden screens covered with thin white paper. This is the temple. + +On the steps I take off my shoes; a young man slides aside the screens +closing the entrance, and bows me a gracious welcome. And I go in, +feeling under my feet a softness of matting thick as bedding. An immense +square apartment is before me, full of an unfamiliar sweet smell--the +scent of Japanese incense; but after the full blaze of the sun, the +paper-filtered light here is dim as moonshine; for a minute or two I can +see nothing but gleams of gilding in a soft gloom. Then, my eyes +becoming accustomed to the obscurity, I perceive against the paper-paned +screens surrounding the sanctuary on three sides shapes of enormous +flowers cutting like silhouettes against the vague white light. I +approach and find them to be paper flowers--symbolic lotus-blossoms +beautifully coloured, with curling leaves gilded on the upper surface +and bright green beneath, At the dark end of the apartment, facing the +entrance, is the altar of Buddha, a rich and lofty altar, covered with +bronzes and gilded utensils clustered to right and left of a shrine like +a tiny gold temple. But I see no statue; only a mystery of unfamiliar +shapes of burnished metal, relieved against darkness, a darkness behind +the shrine and altar--whether recess or inner sanctuary I cannot +distinguish. + +The young attendant who ushered me into the temple now approaches, and, +to my great surprise, exclaims in excellent English, pointing to a +richly decorated gilded object between groups of candelabra on the +altar: + + 'That is the shrine of Buddha.' + 'And I would like to make an offering to Buddha,' I respond. + 'It is not necessary,' he says, with a polite smile. + +But I insist; and he places the little offering for me upon the altar. +Then he invites me to his own room, in a wing of the building--a large +luminous room, without furniture, beautifully matted. And we sit down +upon the floor and chat. He tells me he is a student in the temple. He +learned English in Tokyo and speaks it with a curious accent, but with +fine choice of words. Finally he asks me: + + 'Are you a Christian?' + And I answer truthfully: + 'No.' + 'Are you a Buddhist?' + 'Not exactly.' + 'Why do you make offerings if you do not believe in Buddha?' + 'I revere the beauty of his teaching, and the faith of those who + follow it.' + 'Are there Buddhists in England and America?' + 'There are, at least, a great many interested in Buddhist + philosophy.' + +And he takes from an alcove a little book, and gives it to me to +examine. It is an English copy of Olcott's Buddhist Catechism. + +'Why is there no image of Buddha in your temple?' I ask. +'There is a small one in the shrine upon the altar,' the student +answers; 'but the shrine is closed. And we have several large ones. But +the image of Buddha is not exposed here every day--only upon festal +days. And some images are exposed only once or twice a year. + +From my place, I can see, between the open paper screens, men and women +ascending the steps, to kneel and pray before the entrance of the +temple. They kneel with such naive reverence, so gracefully and so +naturally, that the kneeling of our Occidental devotees seems a clumsy +stumbling by comparison. Some only join their hands; others clap them +three times loudly and slowly; then they bow their heads, pray silently +for a moment, and rise and depart. The shortness of the prayers +impresses me as something novel and interesting. From time to time I +hear the clink and rattle of brazen coin cast into the great wooden +money-box at the entrance. + +I turn to the young student, and ask him: +'Why do they clap their hands three times before they pray?' + +He answers: +'Three times for the Sansai, the Three Powers: Heaven, Earth, Man.' + +'But do they clap their hands to call the Gods, as Japanese clap their +hands to summon their attendants?' + +'Oh, no!' he replied. 'The clapping of hands represents only the +awakening from the Dream of the Long Night.' [1] + +'What night? what dream?' + +He hesitates some moments before making answer: +'The Buddha said: All beings are only dreaming in this fleeting world +of unhappiness.' + +'Then the clapping of hands signifies that in prayer the soul awakens +from such dreaming?' + +'Yes.' + +'You understand what I mean by the word "soul"?' + +'Oh, yes! Buddhists believe the soul always was--always will be.' + +'Even in Nirvana?' + +'Yes.' + +While we are thus chatting the Chief Priest of the temple enters--a +very aged man-accompanied by two young priests, and I am presented to +them; and the three bow very low, showing me the glossy crowns of their +smoothly-shaven heads, before seating themselves in the fashion of gods +upon the floor. I observe they do not smile; these are the first +Japanese I have seen who do not smile: their faces are impassive as the +faces of images. But their long eyes observe me very closely, while the +student interprets their questions, and while I attempt to tell them +something about the translations of the Sutras in our Sacred Books of +the East, and about the labours of Beal and Burnouf and Feer and Davids +and Kern, and others. They listen without change of countenance, and +utter no word in response to the young student's translation of my +remarks. Tea, however, is brought in and set before me in a tiny cup, +placed in a little brazen saucer, shaped like a lotus-leaf; and I am +invited to partake of some little sugar-cakes (kwashi), stamped with a +figure which I recognise as the Swastika, the ancient Indian symbol of +the Wheel of the Law. + +As I rise to go, all rise with me; and at the steps the student asks for +my name and address. 'For,' he adds, 'you will not see me here again, as +I am going to leave the temple. But I will visit you.' + +'And your name?' I ask. + +'Call me Akira,' he answers. + +At the threshold I bow my good-bye; and they all bow very, very low,- +one blue-black head, three glossy heads like balls of ivory. And as I +go, only Akira smiles. + +º8 + +'Tera?' queries Cha, with his immense white hat in his hand, as I resume +my seat in the jinricksha at the foot of the steps. Which no doubt +means, do I want to see any more temples? Most certainly I do: I have +not yet seen Buddha. + +'Yes, tera, Cha.' + +And again begins the long panorama of mysterious shops and tilted eaves, +and fantastic riddles written over everything. I have no idea in what +direction Cha is running. I only know that the streets seem to become +always narrower as we go, and that some of the houses look like great +wickerwork pigeon-cages only, and that we pass over several bridges +before we halt again at the foot of another hill. There is a lofty +flight of steps here also, and before them a structure which I know is +both a gate and a symbol, imposing, yet in no manner resembling the +great Buddhist gateway seen before. Astonishingly simple all the lines +of it are: it has no carving, no colouring, no lettering upon it; yet it +has a weird solemnity, an enigmatic beauty. It is a torii. + +'Miya,' observes Cha. Not a tera this time, but a shrine of the gods of +the more ancient faith of the land--a miya. + +I am standing before a Shinto symbol; I see for the first time, out of a +picture at least, a torii. How describe a torii to those who have never +looked at one even in a photograph or engraving? Two lofty columns, like +gate-pillars, supporting horizontally two cross-beams, the lower and +lighter beam having its ends fitted into the columns a little distance +below their summits; the uppermost and larger beam supported upon the +tops of the columns, and projecting well beyond them to right and left. +That is a torii: the construction varying little in design, whether made +of stone, wood, or metal. But this description can give no correct idea +of the appearance of a torii, of its majestic aspect, of its mystical +suggestiveness as a gateway. The first time you see a noble one, you +will imagine, perhaps, that you see the colossal model of some beautiful +Chinese letter towering against the sky; for all the lines of the thing +have the grace of an animated ideograph,--have the bold angles and +curves of characters made with four sweeps of a master-brush. [2] + +Passing the torii I ascend a flight of perhaps one hundred stone steps, +and find at their summit a second torii, from whose lower cross-beam +hangs festooned the mystic shimenawa. It is in this case a hempen rope +of perhaps two inches in diameter through its greater length, but +tapering off at either end like a snake. Sometimes the shimenawa is made +of bronze, when the torii itself is of bronze; but according to +tradition it should be made of straw, and most commonly is. For it +represents the straw rope which the deity Futo-tama-no-mikoto stretched +behind the Sun-goddess, Ama-terasu-oho-mi-Kami, after Ame-no-ta-jikara- +wo-no-Kami, the Heavenly-hand-strength-god, had pulled her out, as is +told in that ancient myth of Shinto which Professor Chamberlain has +translated. [3] And the shimenawa, in its commoner and simpler form, +has pendent tufts of straw along its entire length, at regular +intervals, because originally made, tradition declares, of grass pulled +up by the roots which protruded from the twist of it. + +Advancing beyond this torii, I find myself in a sort of park or +pleasure-ground on the summit of the hill. There is a small temple on +the right; it is all closed up; and I have read so much about the +disappointing vacuity of Shinto temples that I do not regret the absence +of its guardian. And I see before me what is infinitely more +interesting,--a grove of cherry-trees covered with something +unutterably beautiful,--a dazzling mist of snowy blossoms clinging like +summer cloud-fleece about every branch and twig; and the ground beneath +them, and the path before me, is white with the soft, thick, odorous +snow of fallen petals. + +Beyond this loveliness are flower-plots surrounding tiny shrines; and +marvellous grotto-work, full of monsters--dragons and mythologic beings +chiselled in the rock; and miniature landscape work with tiny groves of +dwarf trees, and Lilliputian lakes, and microscopic brooks and bridges +and cascades. Here, also, are swings for children. And here are +belvederes, perched on the verge of the hill, wherefrom the whole fair +city, and the whole smooth bay speckled with fishing-sails no bigger +than pin-heads, and the far, faint, high promontories reaching into the +sea, are all visible in one delicious view--blue-pencilled in a beauty +of ghostly haze indescribable. + +Why should the trees be so lovely in Japan? With us, a plum or cherry +tree in flower is not an astonishing sight; but here it is a miracle of +beauty so bewildering that, however much you may have previously read +about it, the real spectacle strikes you dumb. You see no leaves--only +one great filmy mist of petals. Is it that the trees have been so long +domesticated and caressed by man in this land of the Gods, that they +have acquired souls, and strive to show their gratitude, like women +loved, by making themselves more beautiful for man's sake? Assuredly +they have mastered men's hearts by their loveliness, like beautiful +slaves. That is to say, Japanese hearts. Apparently there have been some +foreign tourists of the brutal class in this place, since it has been +deemed necessary to set up inscriptions in English announcing that 'IT +IS FORBIDDEN TO INJURE THE TREES.' + +º9 + +'Tera?' + +'Yes, Cha, tera.' + +But only for a brief while do I traverse Japanese streets. The houses +separate, become scattered along the feet of the hills: the city thins +away through little valleys, and vanishes at last behind. And we follow +a curving road overlooking the sea. Green hills slope steeply down to +the edge of the way on the right; on the left, far below, spreads a vast +stretch of dun sand and salty pools to a line of surf so distant that it +is discernible only as a moving white thread. The tide is out; and +thousands of cockle-gatherers are scattered over the sands, at such +distances that their stooping figures, dotting the glimmering sea-bed, +appear no larger than gnats. And some are coming along the road before +us, returning from their search with well-filled baskets--girls with +faces almost as rosy as the faces of English girls. + +As the jinricksha rattles on, the hills dominating the road grow higher. +All at once Cha halts again before the steepest and loftiest flight of +temple steps I have yet seen. + +I climb and climb and climb, halting perforce betimes, to ease the +violent aching of my quadriceps muscles; reach the top completely out of +breath; and find myself between two lions of stone; one showing his +fangs, the other with jaws closed. Before me stands the temple, at the +farther end of a small bare plateau surrounded on three sides by low +cliffs,-a small temple, looking very old and grey. From a rocky height +to the left of the building, a little cataract rumbles down into a pool, +ringed in by a palisade. The voice of the water drowns all other sounds. +A sharp wind is blowing from the ocean: the place is chill even in the +sun, and bleak, and desolate, as if no prayer had been uttered in it for +a hundred years. + +Cha taps and calls, while I take off my shoes upon the worn wooden steps +of the temple; and after a minute of waiting, we bear a muffled step +approaching and a hollow cough behind the paper screens. They slide +open; and an old white-robed priest appears, and motions me, with a low +bow, to enter. He has a kindly face; and his smile of welcome seems to +me one of the most exquisite I have ever been greeted 'with Then he +coughs again, so badly that I think if I ever come here another time, I +shall ask for him in vain. + +I go in, feeling that soft, spotless, cushioned matting beneath my feet +with which the floors of all Japanese buildings are covered. I pass the +indispensable bell and lacquered reading-desk; and before me I see other +screens only, stretching from floor to ceiling. The old man, still +coughing, slides back one of these upon the right, and waves me into the +dimness of an inner sanctuary, haunted by faint odours of incense. A +colossal bronze lamp, with snarling gilded dragons coiled about its +columnar stem, is the first object I discern; and, in passing it, my +shoulder sets ringing a festoon of little bells suspended from the +lotus-shaped summit of it. Then I reach the altar, gropingly, unable yet +to distinguish forms clearly. But the priest, sliding back screen after +screen, pours in light upon the gilded brasses and the inscriptions; and +I look for the image of the Deity or presiding Spirit between the altar- +groups of convoluted candelabra. And I see--only a mirror, a round, +pale disk of polished metal, and my own face therein, and behind this +mockery of me a phantom of the far sea. + +Only a mirror! Symbolising what? Illusion? or that the Universe exists +for us solely as the reflection of our own souls? or the old Chinese +teaching that we must seek the Buddha only in our own hearts? Perhaps +some day I shall be able to find out all these things. + +As I sit on the temple steps, putting on my shoes preparatory to going, +the kind old priest approaches me again, and, bowing, presents a bowl. I +hastily drop some coins in it, imagining it to be a Buddhist alms-bowl, +before discovering it to be full of hot water. But the old man's +beautiful courtesy saves me from feeling all the grossness of my +mistake. Without a word, and still preserving his kindly smile, he takes +the bowl away, and, returning presently with another bowl, empty, fills +it with hot water from a little kettle, and makes a sign to me to drink. + +Tea is most usually offered to visitors at temples; but this little +shrine is very, very poor; and I have a suspicion that the old priest +suffers betimes for want of what no fellow-creature should be permitted +to need. As I descend the windy steps to the roadway I see him still +looking after me, and I hear once more his hollow cough. + +Then the mockery of the mirror recurs to me. I am beginning to wonder +whether I shall ever be able to discover that which I seek--outside of +myself! That is, outside of my own imagination. + +º10 + +'Tera?' once more queries Cha. + +'Tera, no--it is getting late. Hotel, Cha.' + +But Cha, turning the corner of a narrow street, on our homeward route, +halts the jinricksha before a shrine or tiny temple scarcely larger than +the smallest of Japanese shops, yet more of a surprise to me than any of +the larger sacred edifices already visited. For, on either side of the +entrance, stand two monster-figures, nude, blood-red, demoniac, +fearfully muscled, with feet like lions, and hands brandishing gilded +thunderbolts, and eyes of delirious fury; the guardians of holy things, +the Ni-O, or "Two Kings." [4] And right between these crimson monsters +a young girl stands looking at us; her slight figure, in robe of silver +grey and girdle of iris-violet, relieved deliciously against the +twilight darkness of the interior. Her face, impassive and curiously +delicate, would charm wherever seen; but here, by strange contrast with +the frightful grotesqueries on either side of her, it produces an effect +unimaginable. Then I find myself wondering whether my feeling of +repulsion toward those twin monstrosities be altogether lust, seeing +that so charming a maiden deems them worthy of veneration. And they even +cease to seem ugly as I watch her standing there between them, dainty +and slender as some splendid moth, and always naively gazing at the +foreigner, utterly unconscious that they might have seemed to him both +unholy and uncomely. + +What are they? Artistically they are Buddhist transformations of Brahma +and of Indra. Enveloped by the absorbing, all-transforming magical +atmosphere of Buddhism, Indra can now wield his thunderbolts only in +defence of the faith which has dethroned him: he has become a keeper of +the temple gates; nay, has even become a servant of Bosatsu +(Bodhisattvas), for this is only a shrine of Kwannon, Goddess of Mercy, +not yet a Buddha. + +'Hotel, Cha, hotel!' I cry out again, for the way is long, and the sun +sinking,--sinking in the softest imaginable glow of topazine light. I +have not seen Shaka (so the Japanese have transformed the name Sakya- +Muni); I have not looked upon the face of the Buddha. Perhaps I may be +able to find his image to-morrow, somewhere in this wilderness of wooden +streets, or upon the summit of some yet unvisited hill. + +The sun is gone; the topaz-light is gone; and Cha stops to light his +lantern of paper; and we hurry on again, between two long lines of +painted paper lanterns suspended before the shops: so closely set, so +level those lines are, that they seem two interminable strings of pearls +of fire. And suddenly a sound--solemn, profound, mighty--peals to my +ears over the roofs of the town, the voice of the tsurigane, the great +temple-bell of Nogiyama. + +All too short the day seemed. Yet my eyes have been so long dazzled by +the great white light, and so confused by the sorcery of that +interminable maze of mysterious signs which made each street vista seem +a glimpse into some enormous grimoire, that they are now weary even of +the soft glowing of all these paper lanterns, likewise covered with +characters that look like texts from a Book of Magic. And I feel at last +the coming of that drowsiness which always follows enchantment. + +º11 + +'Amma-kamishimo-go-hyakmon!' + +A woman's voice ringing through the night, chanting in a tone of +singular sweetness words of which each syllable comes through my open +window like a wavelet of flute-sound. My Japanese servant, who speaks a +little English. has told me what they mean, those words: + +'Amma-kamishimo-go-hyakmon!' + +And always between these long, sweet calls I hear a plaintive whistle, +one long note first, then two short ones in another key. It is the +whistle of the amma, the poor blind woman who earns her living by +shampooing the sick or the weary, and whose whistle warns pedestrians +and drivers of vehicles to take heed for her sake, as she cannot see. +And she sings also that the weary and the sick may call her in. + +'Amma-kamishimo-go-hyakmon!' + +The saddest melody, but the sweetest voice. Her cry signifies that for +the sum of 'five hundred mon' she will come and rub your weary body +'above and below,' and make the weariness or the pain go away. Five +hundred mon are the equivalent of five sen (Japanese cents); there are +ten rin to a sen, and ten mon to one rin. The strange sweetness of the +voice is haunting,--makes me even wish to have some pains, that I might +pay five hundred mon to have them driven away. + +I lie down to sleep, and I dream. I see Chinese texts--multitudinous, +weird, mysterious--fleeing by me, all in one direction; ideographs +white and dark, upon signboards, upon paper screens, upon backs of +sandalled men. They seem to live, these ideographs, with conscious life; +they are moving their parts, moving with a movement as of insects, +monstrously, like phasmidae. I am rolling always through low, narrow, +luminous streets in a phantom jinricksha, whose wheels make no sound. +And always, always, I see the huge white mushroom-shaped hat of Cha +dancing up and down before me as he runs. + + + +Chapter Two The Writing of Kobodaishi + +º1 + +KOBODAISHI, most holy of Buddhist priests, and founder of the Shingon- +sho--which is the sect of Akira--first taught the men of Japan to +write the writing called Hiragana and the syllabary I-ro-ha; and +Kobodaishi was himself the most wonderful of all writers, and the most +skilful wizard among scribes. + +And in the book, Kobodaishi-ichi-dai-ki, it is related that when he was +in China, the name of a certain room in the palace of the Emperor having +become effaced by time, the Emperor sent for him and bade him write the +name anew. Thereupon Kobodaishi took a brush in his right hand, and a +brush in his left, and one brush between the toes of his left foot, and +another between the toes of his right, and one in his mouth also; and +with those five brushes, so holding them, he limned the characters upon +the wall. And the characters were beautiful beyond any that had ever +been seen in China--smooth-flowing as the ripples in the current of a +river. And Kobodaishi then took a brush, and with it from a distance +spattered drops of ink upon the wall; and the drops as they fell became +transformed and turned into beautiful characters. And the Emperor gave +to Kobodaishi the name Gohitsu Osho, signifying The Priest who writes +with Five Brushes. + +At another time, while the saint was dwelling in Takawasan, near to +Kyoto, the Emperor, being desirous that Kobodaishi should write the +tablet for the great temple called Kongo-jo-ji, gave the tablet to a +messenger and bade him carry it to Kobodaishi, that Kobodaishi might +letter it. But when the Emperor s messenger, bearing the tablet, came +near to the place where Kobodaishi dwelt, he found a river before him so +much swollen by rain that no man might cross it. In a little while, +however, Kobodaishi appeared upon the farther bank, and, hearing from +the messenger what the Emperor desired, called to him to hold up the +tablet. And the messenger did so; and Kobodaishi, from his place upon +the farther bank, made the movements of the letters with his brush; and +as fast as he made them they appeared upon the tablet which the +messenger was holding up. + +º2 + +Now in that time Kobodaishi was wont to meditate alone by the river- +side; and one day, while so meditating, he was aware of a boy standing +before him, gazing at him curiously. The garments of the boy were as the +garments worn by the needy; but his face was beautiful. And while +Kobodaishi wondered, the boy asked him: 'Are you Kobodaishi, whom men +call "Gohitsu-Osho"--the priest who writes with five brushes at once?' +And Kobodaishi answered: 'I am he.' Then said the boy: 'If you be he, +write, I pray you, upon the sky.' And Kobodaishi, rising, took his +brush, and made with it movements toward the sky as if writing; and +presently upon the face of the sky the letters appeared, most +beautifully wrought. Then the boy said: 'Now I shall try;' and he wrote +also upon the sky as Kobodaishi had done. And he said again to +Kobodaishi: 'I pray you, write for me--write upon the surface of the +river.' Then Kobodaishi wrote upon the water a poem in praise of the +water; and for a moment the characters remained, all beautiful, upon the +face of the stream, as if they had fallen upon it like leaves; but +presently they moved with the current and floated away. 'Now I will +try,' said the boy; and he wrote upon the water the Dragon-character-- +the character Ryu in the writing which is called Sosho, the 'Grass- +character;' and the character remained upon the flowing surface and +moved not. But Kobodaishi saw that the boy had not placed the ten, the +little dot belonging to the character, beside it. And he asked the boy: +'Why did you not put the ten?' 'Oh, I forgot!' answered the boy; 'please +put it there for me,' and Kobodaishi then made the dot. And lo! the +Dragon-character became a Dragon; and the Dragon moved terribly in the +waters; and the sky darkened with thunder-clouds, and blazed with +lightnings; and the Dragon ascended in a whirl of tempest to heaven. + +Then Kobodaishi asked the boy: 'Who are you?' And the boy made answer: +'I am he whom men worship on the mountain Gotai; I am the Lord of +Wisdom,--Monju Bosatsu!' And even as he spoke the boy became changed; +and his beauty became luminous like the beauty of gods; and his limbs +became radiant, shedding soft light about. And, smiling, he rose to +heaven and vanished beyond the clouds. + +º3 + +But Kobodaishi himself once forgot to put the ten beside the character O +on the tablet which he painted with the name of the Gate O-Te-mon of the +Emperor's palace. And the Emperor at Kyoto having asked him why he had +not put the ten beside the character, Kobodaishi answered: 'I forgot; +but I will put it on now.' Then the Emperor bade ladders be brought; for +the tablet was already in place, high above the gate. But Kobodaishi, +standing on the pavement before the gate, simply threw his brush at the +tablet; and the brush, so thrown, made the ten there most admirably, and +fell back into his hand. + +Kobodaishi also painted the tablet of the gate called Ko-kamon of the +Emperor's palace at Kyoto. Now there was a man, dwelling near that gate, +whose name was Kino Momoye; and he ridiculed the characters which +Kobodaishi had made, and pointed to one of them, saying: 'Why, it looks +like a swaggering wrestler!' But the same night Momoye dreamed that a +wrestler had come to his bedside and leaped upon him, and was beating +him with his fists. And, crying out with the pain of the blows, he +awoke, and saw the wrestler rise in air, and change into the written +character he had laughed at, and go back to the tablet over the gate. + +And there was another writer, famed greatly for his skill, named Onomo +Toku, who laughed at some characters on the tablet of the Gate Shukaku- +mon, written by Kobodaishi; and he said, pointing to the character Shu: +'Verily shu looks like the character "rice".' And that night he dreamed +that the character he had mocked at became a man; and that the man fell +upon him and beat him, and jumped up and down upon his face many times-- +even as a kometsuki, a rice-cleaner, leaps up and down to move the +hammers that beat the rice--saying the while: 'Lo! I am the messenger +of Kobodaishi!' And, waking, he found himself bruised and bleeding as +one that had been grievously trampled. + +And long after Kobodaishi's death it was found that the names written by +him on the two gates of the Emperor's palace Bi-fuku-mon, the Gate of +Beautiful Fortune; and Ko-ka-mon, the Gate of Excellent Greatness--were +well-nigh effaced by time. And the Emperor ordered a Dainagon [1], whose +name was Yukinari, to restore the tablets. But Yukinari was afraid to +perform the command of the Emperor, by reason of what had befallen other +men; and, fearing the divine anger of Kobodaishi, he made offerings, and +prayed for some token of permission. And the same night, in a dream, +Kobodaishi appeared to him, smiling gently, and said: 'Do the work even +as the Emperor desires, and have no fear.' So he restored the tablets in +the first month of the fourth year of Kwanko, as is recorded in the +book, Hon-cho-bun-sui. + +And all these things have been related to me by my friend Akira. + + +Chapter Three Jizo + +º1 + +I HAVE passed another day in wandering among the temples, both Shinto +and Buddhist. I have seen many curious things; but I have not yet seen +the face of the Buddha. + +Repeatedly, after long wearisome climbing of stone steps, and passing +under gates full of gargoyles--heads of elephants and heads of lions-- +and entering shoeless into scented twilight, into enchanted gardens of +golden lotus-flowers of paper, and there waiting for my eyes to become +habituated to the dimness, I have looked in vain for images. Only an +opulent glimmering confusion of things half-seen--vague altar- +splendours created by gilded bronzes twisted into riddles, by vessels of +indescribable shape, by enigmatic texts of gold, by mysterious +glittering pendent things--all framing in only a shrine with doors fast +closed. + +What has most impressed me is the seeming joyousness of popular faith. I +have seen nothing grim, austere, or self-repressive. I have not even +noted anything approaching the solemn. The bright temple courts and even +the temple steps are thronged with laughing children, playing curious +games; arid mothers, entering the sanctuary to pray, suffer their little +ones to creep about the matting and crow. The people take their religion +lightly and cheerfully: they drop their cash in the great alms-box, clap +their hands, murmur a very brief prayer, then turn to laugh and talk and +smoke their little pipes before the temple entrance. Into some shrines, +I have noticed the worshippers do not enter at all; they merely stand +before the doors and pray for a few seconds, and make their small +offerings. Blessed are they who do not too much fear the gods which they +have made! + +º2 + +Akira is bowing and smiling at the door. He slips off his sandals, +enters in his white digitated stockings, and, with another smile and +bow, sinks gently into the proffered chair. Akira is an interesting boy. +With his smooth beardless face and clear bronze skin and blue-black hair +trimmed into a shock that shadows his forehead to the eyes, he has +almost the appearance, in his long wide-sleeved robe and snowy +stockings, of a young Japanese girl. + +I clap my hands for tea, hotel tea, which he calls 'Chinese tea.' I +offer him a cigar, which he declines; but with my permission, he will +smoke his pipe. Thereupon he draws from his girdle a Japanese pipe-case +and tobacco-pouch combined; pulls out of the pipe-case a little brass +pipe with a bowl scarcely large enough to hold a pea; pulls out of the +pouch some tobacco so finely cut that it looks like hair, stuffs a tiny +pellet of this preparation in the pipe, and begins to smoke. He draws +the smoke into his lungs, and blows it out again through his nostrils. +Three little whiffs, at intervals of about half a minute, and the pipe, +emptied, is replaced in its case. + +Meanwhile I have related to Akira the story of my disappointments. + +'Oh, you can see him to-day,' responds Akira, 'if you will take a walk +with me to the Temple of Zotokuin. For this is the Busshoe, the festival +of the Birthday of Buddha. But he is very small, only a few inches high. +If you want to see a great Buddha, you must go to Kamakura. There is a +Buddha in that place, sitting upon a lotus; and he is fifty feet high.' + +So I go forth under the guidance of Akira. He says he may be able to +show me 'some curious things.' + +º3 + +There is a sound of happy voices from the temple, and the steps are +crowded with smiling mothers and laughing children. Entering, I find +women and babies pressing about a lacquered table in front of the +doorway. Upon it is a little tub-shaped vessel of sweet tea--amacha; +and standing in the tea is a tiny figure of Buddha, one hand pointing +upward and one downward. The women, having made the customary offering, +take up some of the tea with a wooden ladle of curious shape, and pour +it over the statue, and then, filling the ladle a second time, drink a +little, and give a sip to their babies. This is the ceremony of washing +the statue of Buddha. + +Near the lacquered stand on which the vessel of sweet tea rests is +another and lower stand supporting a temple bell shaped like a great +bowl. A priest approaches with a padded mallet in his hand and strikes +the bell. But the bell does not sound properly: he starts, looks into +it, and stoops to lift out of it a smiling Japanese baby. The mother, +laughing, runs to relieve him of his burden; and priest, mother, and +baby all look at us with a frankness of mirth in which we join. + +Akira leaves me a moment to speak with one of the temple attendants, and +presently returns with a curious lacquered box, about a foot in length, +and four inches wide on each of its four sides. There is only a small +hole in one end of it; no appearance of a lid of any sort. + +'Now,' says Akira, 'if you wish to pay two sen, we shall learn our +future lot according to the will of the gods.' + +I pay the two sen, and Akira shakes the box. Out comes a narrow slip of +bamboo, with Chinese characters written thereon. + +'Kitsu!' cries Akira. 'Good-fortune. The number is fifty-and-one.' + +Again he shakes the box; a second bamboo slip issues from the slit. + +'Dai kitsu! great good-fortune. The number is ninety-and-nine. + +Once more the box is shaken; once more the oracular bamboo protrudes. + +'Kyo!' laughs Akira. 'Evil will befall us. The number is sixty-and- +four.' + +He returns the box to a priest, and receives three mysterious papers, +numbered with numbers corresponding to the numbers of the bamboo slips. +These little bamboo slips, or divining-sticks, are called mikuji. + +This, as translated by Akira, is the substance of the text of the paper +numbered fifty-and-one: + +'He who draweth forth this mikuji, let him live according to the +heavenly law and worship Kwannon. If his trouble be a sickness, it shall +pass from him. If he have lost aught, it shall be found. If he have a +suit at law, he shall gain. If he love a woman, he shall surely win her +-though he should have to wait. And many happinesses will come to him.' + +The dai-kitsu paper reads almost similarly, with the sole differences +that, instead of Kwannon, the deities of wealth and prosperity-- +Daikoku, Bishamon, and Benten--are to be worshipped, and that the +fortunate man will not have to wait at all for the woman loved. But the +kyo paper reads thus: + +'He who draweth forth this mikuji, it will be well for him to obey the +heavenly law and to worship Kwannon the Merciful. If he have any +sickness, even much more sick he shall become. If he have lost aught, it +shall never be found. If he have a suit at law, he shall never gain it. +If he love a woman, let him have no more expectation of winning her. +Only by the most diligent piety can he hope to escape the most frightful +calamities. And there shall be no felicity in his portion.' + +'All the same, we are fortunate,' declares Akira. 'Twice out of three +times we have found luck. Now we will go to see another statue of +Buddha.' And he guides me, through many curious streets, to the +southern verge of the city. + +º4 + +Before us rises a hill, with a broad flight of stone steps sloping to +its summit, between foliage of cedars and maples. We climb; and I see +above me the Lions of Buddha waiting--the male yawning menace, the +female with mouth closed. Passing between them, we enter a large temple +court, at whose farther end rises another wooded eminence. + +And here is the temple, with roof of blue-painted copper tiles, and +tilted eaves and gargoyles and dragons, all weather-stained to one +neutral tone. The paper screens are open, but a melancholy rhythmic +chant from within tells us that the noonday service is being held: the +priests are chanting the syllables of Sanscrit texts transliterated into +Chinese--intoning the Sutra called the Sutra of the Lotus of the Good +Law. One of those who chant keeps time by tapping with a mallet, cotton- +wrapped, some grotesque object shaped like a dolphin's head, all +lacquered in scarlet and gold, which gives forth a dull, booming tone-- +a mokugyo. + +To the right of the temple is a little shrine, filling the air with +fragrance of incense-burning. I peer in through the blue smoke that +curls up from half a dozen tiny rods planted in a small brazier full of +ashes; and far back in the shadow I see a swarthy Buddha, tiara-coiffed, +with head bowed and hands joined, just as I see the Japanese praying, +erect in the sun, before the thresholds of temples. The figure is of +wood, rudely wrought and rudely coloured: still the placid face has +beauty of suggestion. + +Crossing the court to the left of the building, I find another flight of +steps before me, leading up a slope to something mysterious still +higher, among enormous trees. I ascend these steps also, reach the top, +guarded by two small symbolic lions, and suddenly find myself in cool +shadow, and startled by a spectacle totally unfamiliar. + +Dark--almost black--soil and the shadowing of trees immemorially old, +through whose vaulted foliage the sunlight leaks thinly down in rare +flecks; a crepuscular light, tender and solemn, revealing the weirdest +host of unfamiliar shapes--a vast congregation of grey, columnar, mossy +things, stony, monumental, sculptured with Chinese ideographs. And about +them, behind them, rising high above them, thickly set as rushes in a +marsh-verge, tall slender wooden tablets, like laths, covered with +similar fantastic lettering, pierce the green gloom by thousands, by +tens of thousands. + +And before I can note other details, I know that I am in a hakaba, a +cemetery--a very ancient Buddhist cemetery. + +These laths are called in the Japanese tongue sotoba. [1] All have +notches cut upon their edges on both sides near the top-five notches; +and all are painted with Chinese characters on both faces. One +inscription is always the phrase 'To promote Buddhahood,' painted +immediately below the dead man's name; the inscription upon the other +surface is always a sentence in Sanscrit whose meaning has been +forgotten even by those priests who perform the funeral rites. One such +lath is planted behind the tomb as soon as the monument (haka) is set +up; then another every seven days for forty-nine days, then one after +the lapse of a hundred days; then one at the end of a year; then one +after the passing of three years; and at successively longer periods +others are erected during one hundred years. + +And in almost every group I notice some quite new, or freshly planed +unpainted white wood, standing beside others grey or even black with +age; and there are many, still older from whose surface all the +characters have disappeared. Others are lying on the sombre clay. +Hundreds stand so loose in the soil that the least breeze jostles and +clatters them together. + +Not less unfamiliar in their forms, but far more interesting, are the +monuments of stone. One shape I know represents five of the Buddhist +elements: a cube supporting a sphere which upholds a pyramid on which +rests a shallow square cup with four crescent edges and tilted corners, +and in the cup a pyriform body poised with the point upwards. These +successively typify Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Ether, the five substances +wherefrom the body is shapen, and into which it is resolved by death; +the absence of any emblem for the Sixth element, Knowledge, touches more +than any imagery conceivable could do. And nevertheless, in the purpose +of the symbolism, this omission was never planned with the same idea +that it suggests to the Occidental mind. + +Very numerous also among the monuments are low, square, flat-topped +shafts, with a Japanese inscription in black or gold, or merely cut into +the stone itself. Then there are upright slabs of various shapes and +heights, mostly rounded at the top, usually bearing sculptures in +relief. Finally, there are many curiously angled stones, or natural +rocks, dressed on one side only, with designs etched upon the smoothed +surface. There would appear to be some meaning even in the irregularity +of the shape of these slabs; the rock always seems to have been broken +out of its bed at five angles, and the manner in which it remains +balanced perpendicularly upon its pedestal is a secret that the first +hasty examination fails to reveal. + +The pedestals themselves vary in construction; most have three orifices +in the projecting surface in front of the monument supported by them, +usually one large oval cavity, with two small round holes flanking it. +These smaller holes serve for the burning of incense-rods; the larger +cavity is filled with water. I do not know exactly why. Only my Japanese +companion tells me 'it is an ancient custom in Japan thus to pour out +water for the dead.' There are also bamboo cups on either side of the +monument in which to place flowers. + +Many of the sculptures represent Buddha in meditation, or in the +attitude of exhorting; a few represent him asleep, with the placid, +dreaming face of a child, a Japanese child; this means Nirvana. A common +design upon many tombs also seems to be two lotus-blossoms with stalks +intertwined. + +In one place I see a stone with an English name upon it, and above that +name a rudely chiselled cross. Verily the priests of Buddha have blessed +tolerance; for this is a Christian tomb! + +And all is chipped and mouldered and mossed; and the grey stones stand +closely in hosts of ranks, only one or two inches apart, ranks of +thousands upon thousands, always in the shadow of the great trees. +Overhead innumerable birds sweeten the air with their trilling; and far +below, down the steps behind us, I still hear the melancholy chant of +the priests, faintly, like a humming of bees. + +Akira leads the way in silence to where other steps descend into a +darker and older part of the cemetery; and at the head of the steps, to +the right, I see a group of colossal monuments, very tall, massive, +mossed by time, with characters cut more than two inches deep into the +grey rock of them. And behind them, in lieu of laths, are planted large +sotoba, twelve to fourteen feet high, and thick as the beams of a temple +roof. These are graves of priests. + +º5 + +Descending the shadowed steps, I find myself face to face with six +little statues about three feet high, standing in a row upon one long +pedestal. The first holds a Buddhist incense-box; the second, a lotus; +the third, a pilgrim's staff (tsue); the fourth is telling the beads of +a Buddhist rosary; the fifth stands in the attitude of prayer, with +hands joined; the sixth bears in one hand the shakujo or mendicant +priest's staff, having six rings attached to the top of it and in the +other hand the mystic jewel, Nio-i ho-jiu, by virtue whereof all desires +may be accomplished. But the faces of the Six are the same: each figure +differs from the other by the attitude only and emblematic attribute; +and all are smiling the like faint smile. About the neck of each figure +a white cotton bag is suspended; and all the bags are filled with +pebbles; and pebbles have been piled high also about the feet of the +statues, and upon their knees, and upon their shoulders; and even upon +their aureoles of stone, little pebbles are balanced. Archaic, +mysterious, but inexplicably touching, all these soft childish faces +are. + +Roku Jizo--'The Six Jizo'--these images are called in the speech of +the people; and such groups may be seen in many a Japanese cemetery. +They are representations of the most beautiful and tender figure in +Japanese popular faith, that charming divinity who cares for the souls +of little children, and consoles them in the place of unrest, and saves +them from the demons. 'But why are those little stones piled about the +statues?' I ask. + +Well, it is because some say the child-ghosts must build little towers +of stones for penance in the Sai-no-Kawara, which is the place to which +all children after death must go. And the Oni, who are demons, come to +throw down the little stone-piles as fast as the children build; and +these demons frighten the children, and torment them. But the little +souls run to Jizo, who hides them in his great sleeves, and comforts +them, and makes the demons go away. And every stone one lays upon the +knees or at the feet of Jizo, with a prayer from the heart, helps some +child-soul in the Sai-no-Kawara to perform its long penance. [2] + +'All little children,' says the young Buddhist student who tells all +this, with a smile as gentle as Jizo's own, 'must go to the Sai-no- +Kawara when they die. And there they play with Jizo. The Sai-no-Kawara +is beneath us, below the ground. [3] + +'And Jizo has long sleeves to his robe; and they pull him by the sleeves +in their play; and they pile up little stones before him to amuse +themselves. And those stones you see heaped about the statues are put +there by people for the sake of the little ones, most often by mothers +of dead children who pray to Jizo. But grown people do not go to the +Sai-no-Kawara when they die.' [4] + +And the young student, leaving the Roku-Jizo, leads the way to other +strange surprises, guiding me among the tombs, showing me the sculptured +divinities. + +Some of them are quaintly touching; all are interesting; a few are +positively beautiful. + +The greater number have nimbi. Many are represented kneeling, with hands +joined exactly like the figures of saints in old Christian art. Others, +holding lotus-flowers, appear to dream the dreams that are meditations. +One figure reposes on the coils of a great serpent. Another, coiffed +with something resembling a tiara, has six hands, one pair joined in +prayer, the rest, extended, holding out various objects; and this figure +stands upon a prostrate demon, crouching face downwards. Yet another +image, cut in low relief, has arms innumerable. The first pair of hands +are joined, with the palms together; while from behind the line of the +shoulders, as if shadowily emanating therefrom, multitudinous arms reach +out in all directions, vapoury, spiritual, holding forth all kinds of +objects as in answer to supplication, and symbolising, perhaps, the +omnipotence of love. This is but one of the many forms of Kwannon, the +goddess of mercy, the gentle divinity who refused the rest of Nirvana to +save the souls of men, and who is most frequently pictured as a +beautiful Japanese girl. But here she appears as Senjiu-Kwannon +(Kwannon-of-the-Thousand-Hands). Close by stands a great slab bearing +upon the upper portion of its chiselled surface an image in relief of +Buddha, meditating upon a lotus; and below are carven three weird little +figures, one with hands upon its eyes, one with hands upon its ears, one +with hands upon its mouth; these are Apes. 'What do they signify?' I +inquire. My friend answers vaguely, mimicking each gesture of the three +sculptured shapes:-'I see no bad thing; I hear no bad thing; I speak no +bad thing.' + +Gradually, by dint of reiterated explanations, I myself learn to +recognise some of the gods at sight. The figure seated upon a lotus, +holding a sword in its hand, and surrounded by bickering fire, is Fudo- +Sama--Buddha as the Unmoved, the Immutable: the Sword signifies +Intellect; the Fire, Power. Here is a meditating divinity, holding in +one hand a coil of ropes: the divinity is Buddha; those are the ropes +which bind the passions and desires. Here also is Buddha slumbering, +with the gentlest, softest Japanese face--a child face--and eyes +closed, and hand pillowing the cheek, in Nirvana. Here is a beautiful +virgin-figure, standing upon a lily: Kwannon-Sama, the Japanese Madonna. +Here is a solemn seated figure, holding in one hand a vase, and lifting +the other with the gesture of a teacher: Yakushi-Sama, Buddha the All- +Healer, Physician of Souls. + +Also, I see figures of animals. The Deer of Buddhist birth-stories +stands, all grace, in snowy stone, upon the summit of toro, or votive +lamps. On one tomb I see, superbly chiselled, the image of a fish, or +rather the Idea of a fish, made beautifully grotesque for sculptural +purposes, like the dolphin of Greek art. It crowns the top of a memorial +column; the broad open jaws, showing serrated teeth, rest on the summit +of the block bearing the dead man's name; the dorsal fin and elevated +tail are elaborated into decorative impossibilities. 'Mokugyo,' says +Akira. It is the same Buddhist emblem as that hollow wooden object, +lacquered scarlet-and-gold, on which the priests beat with a padded +mallet while chanting the Sutra. And, finally, in one place I perceive +a pair of sitting animals, of some mythological species, supple of +figure as greyhounds. 'Kitsune,' says Akira--'foxes.' So they are, now +that I look upon them with knowledge of their purpose; idealised foxes, +foxes spiritualised, impossibly graceful foxes. They are chiselled in +some grey stone. They have long, narrow, sinister, glittering eyes; they +seem to snarl; they are weird, very weird creatures, the servants of the +Rice-God, retainers of Inari-Sama, and properly belong, not to Buddhist +iconography, but the imagery of Shinto. + +No inscriptions upon these tombs corresponding to our epitaphs. Only +family names--the names of the dead and their relatives and a +sculptured crest, usually a flower. On the sotoba, only Sanscrit words. + +Farther on, I find other figures of Jizo, single reliefs, sculptured +upon tombs. But one of these is a work of art so charming that I feel a +pain at being obliged to pass it by. More sweet, assuredly, than any +imaged Christ, this dream in white stone of the playfellow of dead +children, like a beautiful young boy, with gracious eyelids half closed, +and face made heavenly by such a smile as only Buddhist art could have +imagined, the smile of infinite lovingness and supremest gentleness. +Indeed, so charming the ideal of Jizo is that in the speech of the +people a beautiful face is always likened to his--'Jizo-kao,' as the +face of Jizo. + +º6 + +And we come to the end of the cemetery, to the verge of the great grove. + +Beyond the trees, what caressing sun, what spiritual loveliness in the +tender day! A tropic sky always seemed to me to hang so low that one +could almost bathe one's fingers in its lukewarm liquid blue by reaching +upward from any dwelling-roof. But this sky, softer, fainter, arches so +vastly as to suggest the heaven of a larger planet. And the very clouds +are not clouds, but only dreams of clouds, so filmy they are; ghosts of +clouds, diaphanous spectres, illusions! + +All at once I become aware of a child standing before me, a very young +girl who looks up wonderingly at my face; so light her approach that the +joy of the birds and whispering of the leaves quite drowned the soft +sound of her feet. Her ragged garb is Japanese; but her gaze, her loose +fair hair, are not of Nippon only; the ghost of another race--perhaps +my own-watches me through her flower-blue eyes. A strange playground +surely is this for thee, my child; I wonder if all these shapes about +thee do not seem very weird, very strange, to that little soul of thine. +But no; 'tis only I who seem strange to thee; thou hast forgotten the +Other Birth, and thy father's world. + +Half-caste and poor and pretty, in this foreign port! Better thou wert +with the dead about thee, child! better than the splendour of this soft +blue light the unknown darkness for thee. There the gentle Jizo would +care for thee, and hide thee in his great sleeves, and keep all evil +from thee, and play shadowy play with thee; and this thy forsaken +mother, who now comes to ask an alms for thy sake, dumbly pointing to +thy strange beauty with her patient Japanese smile, would put little +stones upon the knees of the dear god that thou mightest find rest. + +º7 + +'Oh, Akira! you must tell me something more about Jizo, and the ghosts +of the children in the Sai-no-Kawara.' 'I cannot tell you much more,' +answers Akira, smiling at my interest in this charming divinity; 'but if +you will come with me now to Kuboyama, I will show you, in one of the +temples there, pictures of the Sai-no-Kawara and of Jizo, and the +Judgment of Souls.' + +So we take our way in two jinricksha to the Temple Rinko-ji, on +Kuboyama. We roll swiftly through a mile of many-coloured narrow +Japanese streets; then through a half-mile of pretty suburban ways, +lined with gardens, behind whose clipped hedges are homes light and +dainty as cages of wicker-work; and then, leaving our vehicles, we +ascend green hills on foot by winding paths, and traverse a region of +fields and farms. After a long walk in the hot sun we reach a village +almost wholly composed of shrines and temples. + +The outlying sacred place--three buildings in one enclosure of bamboo +fences--belongs to the Shingon sect. A small open shrine, to the left +of the entrance, first attracts us. It is a dead-house: a Japanese bier +is there. But almost opposite the doorway is an altar covered with +startling images. + +What immediately rivets the attention is a terrible figure, all +vermilion red, towering above many smaller images--a goblin shape with +immense cavernous eyes. His mouth is widely opened as if speaking in +wrath, and his brows frown terribly. A long red beard descends upon his +red breast. And on his head is a strangely shaped crown, a crown of +black and gold, having three singular lobes: the left lobe bearing an +image of the moon; the right, an image of the sun; the central lobe is +all black. But below it, upon the deep gold-rimmed black band, flames +the mystic character signifying KING. Also, from the same crown-band +protrude at descending angles, to left and right, two gilded sceptre- +shaped objects. In one hand the King holds an object similar of form, +but larger his shaku or regal wand. And Akira explains. + +This is Emma-O, Lord of Shadows, Judge of Souls, King of the Dead.' [5] +Of any man having a terrible countenance the Japanese are wont to say, +'His face is the face of Emma.' + +At his right hand white Jizo-Sama stands upon a many-petalled rosy +lotus. + +At his left is the image of an aged woman--weird Sodzu-Baba, she who +takes the garments of the dead away by the banks of the River of the +Three Roads, which flows through the phantom-world. Pale blue her robe +is; her hair and skin are white; her face is strangely wrinkled; her +small, keen eyes are hard. The statue is very old, and the paint is +scaling from it in places, so as to lend it a ghastly leprous aspect. + +There are also images of the Sea-goddess Benten and of Kwannon-Sama, +seated on summits of mountains forming the upper part of miniature +landscapes made of some unfamiliar composition, and beautifully +coloured; the whole being protected from careless fingering by strong +wire nettings stretched across the front of the little shrines +containing the panorama. Benten has eight arms: two of her hands are +joined in prayer; the others, extended above her, hold different objects +-a sword, a wheel, a bow, an arrow, a key, and a magical gem. Below +her, standing on the slopes of her mountain throne, are her ten robed +attendants, all in the attitude of prayer; still farther down appears +the body of a great white serpent, with its tail hanging from one +orifice in the rocks, and its head emerging from another. At the very +bottom of the hill lies a patient cow. Kwannon appears as Senjiu- +Kwannon, offering gifts to men with all the multitude of her arms of +mercy. + +But this is not what we came to see. The pictures of heaven and hell +await us in the Zen-Shu temple close by, whither we turn our steps. + +On the way my guide tells me this: + +'When one dies the body is washed and shaven, and attired in white, in +the garments of a pilgrim. And a wallet (sanyabukkero), like the wallet +of a Buddhist pilgrim, is hung about the neck of the dead; and in this +wallet are placed three rin. [6] And these coin are buried with the +dead. + +'For all who die must, except children, pay three rin at the Sanzu-no- +Kawa, "The River of the Three Roads." When souls have reached that +river, they find there the Old Woman of the Three Roads, Sodzu-Baba, +waiting for them: she lives on the banks of that river, with her +husband, Ten Datsu-Ba. And if the Old Woman is not paid the sum of three +rin, she takes away the clothes of the dead, and hangs them upon the +trees.' + +º8 + +The temple is small, neat, luminous with the sun pouring into its widely +opened shoji; and Akira must know the priests well, so affable their +greeting is. I make a little offering, and Akira explains the purpose of +our visit. Thereupon we are invited into a large bright apartment in a +wing of the building, overlooking a lovely garden. Little cushions are +placed on the floor for us to sit upon; and a smoking-box is brought in, +and a tiny lacquered table about eight inches high. And while one of the +priests opens a cupboard, or alcove with doors, to find the kakemono, +another brings us tea, and a plate of curious confectionery consisting +of various pretty objects made of a paste of sugar and rice flour. One +is a perfect model of a chrysanthemum blossom; another is a lotus; +others are simply large, thin, crimson lozenges bearing admirable +designs--flying birds, wading storks, fish, even miniature landscapes. +Akira picks out the chrysanthemum, and insists that I shall eat it; and +I begin to demolish the sugary blossom, petal by petal, feeling all the +while an acute remorse for spoiling so beautiful a thing. + +Meanwhile four kakemono have been brought forth, unrolled, and suspended +from pegs upon the wall; and we rise to examine them. + +They are very, very beautiful kakemono, miracles of drawing and of +colour-subdued colour, the colour of the best period of Japanese art; +and they are very large, fully five feet long and more than three broad, +mounted upon silk. + +And these are the legends of them: + +First kakemono: + +In the upper part of the painting is a scene from the Shaba, the world +of men which we are wont to call the Real--a cemetery with trees in +blossom, and mourners kneeling before tombs. All under the soft blue +light of Japanese day. + +Underneath is the world of ghosts. Down through the earth-crust souls +are descending. Here they are flitting all white through inky +darknesses; here farther on, through weird twilight, they are wading the +flood of the phantom River of the Three Roads, Sanzu-no-Kawa. And here +on the right is waiting for them Sodzu-Baba, the Old Woman of the Three +Roads, ghastly and grey, and tall as a nightmare. From some she is +taking their garments;--the trees about her are heavily hung with the +garments of others gone before. + +Farther down I see fleeing souls overtaken by demons--hideous blood-red +demons, with feet like lions, with faces half human, half bovine, the +physiognomy of minotaurs in fury. One is rending a soul asunder. Another +demon is forcing souls to reincarnate themselves in bodies of horses, of +dogs, of swine. And as they are thus reincarnated they flee away into +shadow. + +Second kakemono: + +Such a gloom as the diver sees in deep-sea water, a lurid twilight. In +the midst a throne, ebon-coloured, and upon it an awful figure seated-- +Emma Dai-O, Lord of Death and Judge of Souls, unpitying, tremendous. +Frightful guardian spirits hover about him--armed goblins. On the left, +in the foreground below the throne, stands the wondrous Mirror, +Tabarino-Kagami, reflecting the state of souls and all the happenings of +the world. A landscape now shadows its surface,--a landscape of cliffs +and sand and sea, with ships in the offing. Upon the sand a dead man is +lying, slain by a sword slash; the murderer is running away. Before this +mirror a terrified soul stands, in the grasp of a demon, who compels him +to look, and to recognise in the murderer's features his own face. To +the right of the throne, upon a tall-stemmed flat stand, such as +offerings to the gods are placed upon in the temples, a monstrous shape +appears, like a double-faced head freshly cut off, and set upright upon +the stump of the neck. The two faces are the Witnesses: the face of the +Woman (Mirume) sees all that goes on in the Shaba; the other face is the +face of a bearded man, the face of Kaguhana, who smells all odours, and +by them is aware of all that human beings do. Close to them, upon a +reading-stand, a great book is open, the record-book of deeds. And +between the Mirror and the Witnesses white shuddering souls await +judgment. + +Farther down I see the sufferings of souls already sentenced. One, in +lifetime a liar, is having his tongue torn out by a demon armed with +heated pincers. Other souls, flung by scores into fiery carts, are being +dragged away to torment. The carts are of iron, but resemble in form +certain hand-wagons which one sees every day being pulled and pushed +through the streets by bare-limbed Japanese labourers, chanting always +the same melancholy alternating chorus, Haidak! hei! haidah hei! But +these demon-wagoners--naked, blood-coloured, having the feet of lions +and the heads of bulls--move with their flaming wagons at a run, like +jinricksha-men. + +All the souls so far represented are souls of adults. + +Third kakemono: + +A furnace, with souls for fuel, blazing up into darkness. Demons stir +the fire with poles of iron. Down through the upper blackness other +souls are falling head downward into the flames. + +Below this scene opens a shadowy landscape--a faint-blue and faint-grey +world of hills and vales, through which a river serpentines--the Sai- +no-Kawara. Thronging the banks of the pale river are ghosts of little +children, trying to pile up stones. They are very, very pretty, the +child-souls, pretty as real Japanese children are (it is astonishing how +well is child-beauty felt and expressed by the artists of Japan). Each +child has one little short white dress. + +In the foreground a horrible devil with an iron club has just dashed +down and scattered a pile of stones built by one of the children. The +little ghost, seated by the ruin of its work, is crying, with both +pretty hands to its eyes. The devil appears to sneer. Other children +also are weeping near by. But, lo! Jizo comes, all light and sweetness, +with a glory moving behind him like a great full moon; and he holds out +his shakujo, his strong and holy staff, and the little ghosts catch it +and cling to it, and are drawn into the circle of his protection. And +other infants have caught his great sleeves, and one has been lifted to +the bosom of the god. + +Below this Sai-no-Kawara scene appears yet another shadow-world, a +wilderness of bamboos! Only white-robed shapes of women appear in it. +They are weeping; the fingers of all are bleeding. With finger-nails +plucked out must they continue through centuries to pick the sharp-edged +bamboo-grass. + +Fourth kakemono: + +Floating in glory, Dai-Nichi-Nyorai, Kwannon-Sama, Amida Buddha. Far +below them as hell from heaven surges a lake of blood, in which souls +float. The shores of this lake are precipices studded with sword-blades +thickly set as teeth in the jaws of a shark; and demons are driving +naked ghosts up the frightful slopes. But out of the crimson lake +something crystalline rises, like a beautiful, clear water-spout; the +stem of a flower,--a miraculous lotus, hearing up a soul to the feet of +a priest standing above the verge of the abyss. By virtue of his prayer +was shaped the lotus which thus lifted up and saved a sufferer. + +Alas! there are no other kakemonos. There were several others: they have +been lost! + +No: I am happily mistaken; the priest has found, in some mysterious +recess, one more kakemono, a very large one, which he unrolls and +suspends beside the others. A vision of beauty, indeed! but what has +this to do with faith or ghosts? In the foreground a garden by the +waters of the sea, of some vast blue lake,--a garden like that at +Kanagawa, full of exquisite miniature landscape-work: cascades, +grottoes, lily-ponds, carved bridges, and trees snowy with blossom, and +dainty pavilions out-jutting over the placid azure water. Long, bright, +soft bands of clouds swim athwart the background. Beyond and above them +rises a fairy magnificence of palatial structures, roof above roof, +through an aureate haze like summer vapour: creations aerial, blue, +light as dreams. And there are guests in these gardens, lovely beings, +Japanese maidens. But they wear aureoles, star-shining: they are +spirits! + +For this is Paradise, the Gokuraku; and all those divine shapes are +Bosatsu. And now, looking closer, I perceive beautiful weird things +which at first escaped my notice. + +They are gardening, these charming beings!--they are caressing the +lotus-buds, sprinkling their petals with something celestial, helping +them to blossom. And what lotus-buds with colours not of this world. +Some have burst open; and in their luminous hearts, in a radiance like +that of dawn, tiny naked infants are seated, each with a tiny halo. +These are Souls, new Buddhas, hotoke born into bliss. Some are very, +very small; others larger; all seem to be growing visibly, for their +lovely nurses are feeding them with something ambrosial. I see one which +has left its lotus-cradle, being conducted by a celestial Jizo toward +the higher splendours far away. + +Above, in the loftiest blue, are floating tennin, angels of the Buddhist +heaven, maidens with phoenix wings. One is playing with an ivory +plectrum upon some stringed instrument, just as a dancing-girl plays her +samisen; and others are sounding those curious Chinese flutes, composed +of seventeen tubes, which are used still in sacred concerts at the great +temples. + +Akira says this heaven is too much like earth. The gardens, he declares, +are like the gardens of temples, in spite of the celestial lotus- +flowers; and in the blue roofs of the celestial mansions he discovers +memories of the tea-houses of the city of Saikyo. [7] + +Well, what after all is the heaven of any faith but ideal reiteration +and prolongation of happy experiences remembered--the dream of dead +days resurrected for us, and made eternal? And if you think this +Japanese ideal too simple, too naive, if you say there are experiences +of the material life more worthy of portrayal in a picture of heaven +than any memory of days passed in Japanese gardens and temples and tea- +houses, it is perhaps because you do not know Japan, the soft, sweet +blue of its sky, the tender colour of its waters, the gentle splendour +of its sunny days, the exquisite charm of its interiors, where the least +object appeals to one's sense of beauty with the air of something not +made, but caressed, into existence. + +º9 + +'Now there is a wasan of Jizo,' says Akira, taking from a shelf in the +temple alcove some much-worn, blue-covered Japanese book. 'A wasan is +what you would call a hymn or psalm. This book is two hundred years old: +it is called Saino-Kawara-kuchi-zu-sami-no-den, which is, literally, +"The Legend of the Humming of the Sai-no-Kawara." And this is the +wasan'; and he reads me the hymn of Jizo--the legend of the murmur of +the little ghosts, the legend of the humming of the Sai-no-Kawara- +rhythmically, like a song: [8] + +'Not of this world is the story of sorrow. +The story of the Sai-no-Kawara, +At the roots of the Mountain of Shide; +Not of this world is the tale; yet 'tis most pitiful to hear. +For together in the Sai-no-Kawara are assembled +Children of tender age in multitude, +Infants but two or three years old, +Infants of four or five, infants of less than ten: + +In the Sai-no-Kawara are they gathered together. +And the voice of their longing for their parents, +The voice of their crying for their mothers and their fathers-- +"Chichi koishi! haha koishi!"-- +Is never as the voice of the crying of children in this world, +But a crying so pitiful to hear +That the sound of it would pierce through flesh and bone. +And sorrowful indeed the task which they perform-- +Gathering the stones of the bed of the river, +Therewith to heap the tower of prayers. +Saying prayers for the happiness of father, they heap the first tower; +Saying prayers for the happiness of mother, they heap the second tower; +Saying prayers for their brothers, their sisters, and all whom they +loved at home, they heap the third tower. +Such, by day, are their pitiful diversions. +But ever as the sun begins to sink below the horizon, +Then do the Oni, the demons of the hells, appear, +And say to them--"What is this that you do here? +"Lo! your parents still living in the Shaba-world +"Take no thought of pious offering or holy work +"They do nought but mourn for you from the morning unto the evening. +"Oh, how pitiful! alas! how unmerciful! +"Verily the cause of the pains that you suffer +"Is only the mourning, the lamentation of your parents." +And saying also, "Blame never us!" +The demons cast down the heaped-up towers, +They dash the stones down with their clubs of iron. +But lo! the teacher Jizo appears. +All gently he comes, and says to the weeping infants:-- +"Be not afraid, dears! be never fearful! +"Poor little souls, your lives were brief indeed! +"Too soon you were forced to make the weary journey to the Meido, +"The long journey to the region of the dead! +"Trust to me! I am your father and mother in the Meido, +"Father of all children in the region of the dead." +And he folds the skirt of his shining robe about them; +So graciously takes he pity on the infants. +To those who cannot walk he stretches forth his strong shakujo; +And he pets the little ones, caresses them, takes them to his loving bosom +So graciously he takes pity on the infants. + + Namu Amida Butsu! + + + +Chapter Four +A Pilgrimage to Enoshima + +º1 + +KAMAKURA. + +A long, straggling country village, between low wooded hills, with a +canal passing through it. Old Japanese cottages, dingy, neutral-tinted, +with roofs of thatch, very steeply sloping, above their wooden walls and +paper shoji. Green patches on all the roof-slopes, some sort of grass; +and on the very summits, on the ridges, luxurious growths of yaneshobu, +[1] the roof-plant, bearing pretty purple flowers. In the lukewarm air a +mingling of Japanese odours, smells of sake, smells of seaweed soup, +smells of daikon, the strong native radish; and dominating all, a sweet, +thick, heavy scent of incense,--incense from the shrines of gods. + +Akira has hired two jinricksha for our pilgrimage; a speckless azure sky +arches the world; and the land lies glorified in a joy of sunshine. And +yet a sense of melancholy, of desolation unspeakable, weighs upon me as +we roll along the bank of the tiny stream, between the mouldering lines +of wretched little homes with grass growing on their roofs. For this +mouldering hamlet represents all that remains of the million-peopled +streets of Yoritomo's capital, the mighty city of the Shogunate, the +ancient seat of feudal power, whither came the envoys of Kublai Khan +demanding tribute, to lose their heads for their temerity. And only some +of the unnumbered temples of the once magnificent city now remain, saved +from the conflagrations of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, +doubtless because built in high places, or because isolated from the +maze of burning streets by vast courts and groves. Here still dwell the +ancient gods in the great silence of their decaying temples, without +worshippers, without revenues, surrounded by desolations of rice-fields, +where the chanting of frogs replaces the sea-like murmur of the city +that was and is not. + +º2 + +The first great temple--En-gaku-ji--invites us to cross the canal by a +little bridge facing its outward gate--a roofed gate with fine Chinese +lines, but without carving. Passing it, we ascend a long, imposing +succession of broad steps, leading up through a magnificent grove to a +terrace, where we reach the second gate. This gate is a surprise; a +stupendous structure of two stories--with huge sweeping curves of roof +and enormous gables--antique, Chinese, magnificent. It is more than +four hundred years old, but seems scarcely affected by the wearing of +the centuries. The whole of the ponderous and complicated upper +structure is sustained upon an open-work of round, plain pillars and +cross-beams; the vast eaves are full of bird-nests; and the storm of +twittering from the roofs is like a rushing of water. Immense the work +is, and imposing in its aspect of settled power; but, in its way, it has +great severity: there are no carvings, no gargoyles, no dragons; and yet +the maze of projecting timbers below the eaves will both excite and +delude expectation, so strangely does it suggest the grotesqueries and +fantasticalities of another art. You look everywhere for the heads of +lions, elephants, dragons, and see only the four-angled ends of beams, +and feel rather astonished than disappointed. The majesty of the edifice +could not have been strengthened by any such carving. + +After the gate another long series of wide steps, and more trees, +millennial, thick-shadowing, and then the terrace of the temple itself, +with two beautiful stone lanterns (toro) at its entrance. The +architecture of the temple resembles that of the gate, although on a +lesser scale. Over the doors is a tablet with Chinese characters, +signifying, 'Great, Pure, Clear, Shining Treasure.' But a heavy +framework of wooden bars closes the sanctuary, and there is no one to +let us in. Peering between the bars I see, in a sort of twilight, first +a pavement of squares of marble, then an aisle of massive wooden pillars +upholding the dim lofty roof, and at the farther end, between the +pillars, Shaka, colossal, black-visaged, gold-robed, enthroned upon a +giant lotus fully forty feet in circumference. At his right hand some +white mysterious figure stands, holding an incense-box; at his left, +another white figure is praying with clasped hands. Both are of +superhuman stature. But it is too dark within the edifice to discern who +they may be--whether disciples of the Buddha, or divinities, or figures +of saints. + +Beyond this temple extends an immense grove of trees--ancient cedars +and pines--with splendid bamboos thickly planted between them, rising +perpendicularly as masts to mix their plumes with the foliage of the +giants: the effect is tropical, magnificent. Through this shadowing, a +flight of broad stone steps slant up gently to some yet older shrine. +And ascending them we reach another portal, smaller than the imposing +Chinese structure through which we already passed, but wonderful, weird, +full of dragons, dragons of a form which sculptors no longer carve, +which they have even forgotten how to make, winged dragons rising from a +storm-whirl of waters or thereinto descending. The dragon upon the panel +of the left gate has her mouth closed; the jaws of the dragon on the +panel of the right gate are open and menacing. Female and male they are, +like the lions of Buddha. And the whirls of the eddying water, and the +crests of the billowing, stand out from the panel in astonishing +boldness of relief, in loops and curlings of grey wood time-seasoned to +the hardness of stone. + +The little temple beyond contains no celebrated image, but a shari only, +or relic of Buddha, brought from India. And I cannot see it, having no +time to wait until the absent keeper of the shari can be found. + +º3 + +'Now we shall go to look at the big bell,' says Akira. + +We turn to the left as we descend along a path cut between hills faced +for the height of seven or eight feet with protection-walls made green +by moss; and reach a flight of extraordinarily dilapidated steps, with +grass springing between their every joint and break--steps so worn down +and displaced by countless feet that they have become ruins, painful and +even dangerous to mount. We reach the summit, however, without mishap, +and find ourselves before a little temple, on the steps of which an old +priest awaits us, with smiling bow of welcome. We return his salutation; +but ere entering the temple turn to look at the tsurigane on the right-- +the famous bell. + +Under a lofty open shed, with a tilted Chinese roof, the great bell is +hung. I should judge it to be fully nine feet high, and about five feet +in diameter, with lips about eight inches thick. The shape of it is not +like that of our bells, which broaden toward the lips; this has the same +diameter through all its height, and it is covered with Buddhist texts +cut into the smooth metal of it. It is rung by means of a heavy swinging +beam, suspended from the roof by chains, and moved like a battering-ram. +There are loops of palm-fibre rope attached to this beam to pull it by; +and when you pull hard enough, so as to give it a good swing, it strikes +a moulding like a lotus-flower on the side of the bell. This it must +have done many hundred times; for the square, flat end of it, though +showing the grain of a very dense wood, has been battered into a convex +disk with ragged protruding edges, like the surface of a long-used +printer's mallet. + +A priest makes a sign to me to ring the bell. I first touch the great +lips with my hand very lightly; and a musical murmur comes from them. +Then I set the beam swinging strongly; and a sound deep as thunder, rich +as the bass of a mighty organ--a sound enormous, extraordinary, yet +beautiful--rolls over the hills and away. Then swiftly follows another +and lesser and sweeter billowing of tone; then another; then an eddying +of waves of echoes. Only once was it struck, the astounding bell; yet it +continues to sob and moan for at least ten minutes! + +And the age of this bell is six hundred and fifty years. [2] + +In the little temple near by, the priest shows us a series of curious +paintings, representing the six hundredth anniversary of the casting of +the bell. (For this is a sacred bell, and the spirit of a god is +believed to dwell within it.) Otherwise the temple has little of +interest. There are some kakemono representing Iyeyasu and his +retainers; and on either side of the door, separating the inner from the +outward sanctuary, there are life-size images of Japanese warriors in +antique costume. On the altars of the inner shrine are small images, +grouped upon a miniature landscape-work of painted wood--the Jiugo- +Doji, or Fifteen Youths--the Sons of the Goddess Benten. There are +gohei before the shrine, and a mirror upon it; emblems of Shinto. The +sanctuary has changed hands in the great transfer of Buddhist temples to +the State religion. + +In nearly every celebrated temple little Japanese prints are sold, +containing the history of the shrine, and its miraculous legends. I find +several such things on sale at the door of the temple, and in one of +them, ornamented with a curious engraving of the bell, I discover, with +Akira's aid, the following traditions:- + +º4 + +In the twelfth year of Bummei, this bell rang itself. And one who +laughed on being told of the miracle, met with misfortune; and another, +who believed, thereafter prospered, and obtained all his desires. + +Now, in that time there died in the village of Tamanawa a sick man whose +name was Ono-no-Kimi; and Ono-no-Kimi descended to the region of the +dead, and went before the Judgment-Seat of Emma-O. And Emma, Judge of +Souls, said to him, 'You come too soon! The measure of life allotted you +in the Shaba-world has not yet been exhausted. Go back at once.' But +Ono-no-Kimi pleaded, saying, 'How may I go back, not knowing my way +through the darkness?' And Emma answered him, 'You can find your way +back by listening to the sound of the bell of En-gaku-ji, which is heard +in the Nan-en-budi world, going south.' And Ono-no-Kimi went south, and +heard the bell, and found his way through the darknesses, and revived in +the Shaba-world. + +Also in those days there appeared in many provinces a Buddhist priest of +giant stature, whom none remembered to have seen before, and whose name +no man knew, travelling through the land, and everywhere exhorting the +people to pray before the bell of En-gaku-ji. And it was at last +discovered that the giant pilgrim was the holy bell itself, transformed +by supernatural power into the form of a priest. And after these things +had happened, many prayed before the bell, and obtained their wishes. + +º5 + +'Oh! there is something still to see,' my guide exclaims as we reach the +great Chinese gate again; and he leads the way across the grounds by +another path to a little hill, previously hidden from view by trees. The +face of the hill, a mass of soft stone perhaps one hundred feet high, is +hollowed out into chambers, full of images. These look like burial- +caves; and the images seem funereal monuments. There are two stories of +chambers--three above, two below; and the former are connected with the +latter by a narrow interior stairway cut through the living rock. And +all around the dripping walls of these chambers on pedestals are grey +slabs, shaped exactly like the haka in Buddhist cemeteries, and +chiselled with figures of divinities in high relief. All have glory- +disks: some are na´ve and sincere like the work of our own mediaeval +image-makers. Several are not unfamiliar. I have seen before, in the +cemetery of Kuboyama, this kneeling woman with countless shadowy hands; +and this figure tiara-coiffed, slumbering with one knee raised, and +cheek pillowed upon the left hand--the placid and pathetic symbol of +the perpetual rest. Others, like Madonnas, hold lotus-flowers, and their +feet rest upon the coils of a serpent. I cannot see them all, for the +rock roof of one chamber has fallen in; and a sunbeam entering the ruin +reveals a host of inaccessible sculptures half buried in rubbish. + +But no!--this grotto-work is not for the dead; and these are not haka, +as I imagined, but only images of the Goddess of Mercy. These chambers +are chapels; and these sculptures are the En-gaku-ji-no-hyaku-Kwannon, +'the Hundred Kwannons of En-gaku-ji.' And I see in the upper chamber +above the stairs a granite tablet in a rock-niche, chiselled with an +inscription in Sanscrit transliterated into Chinese characters, +'Adoration to the great merciful Kwan-ze-on, who looketh down above the +sound of prayer.' [3] + +º6 + +Entering the grounds of the next temple, the Temple of Ken-cho-ji, +through the 'Gate of the Forest of Contemplative Words,' and the 'Gate +of the Great Mountain of Wealth,' one might almost fancy one's self +reentering, by some queer mistake, the grounds of En-gaku-ji. For the +third gate before us, and the imposing temple beyond it, constructed +upon the same models as those of the structures previously visited, were +also the work of the same architect. Passing this third gate--colossal, +severe, superb--we come to a fountain of bronze before the temple +doors, an immense and beautiful lotus-leaf of metal, forming a broad +shallow basin kept full to the brim by a jet in its midst. + +This temple also is paved with black and white square slabs, and we can +enter it with our shoes. Outside it is plain and solemn as that of En- +gaku-ji; but the interior offers a more extraordinary spectacle of faded +splendour. In lieu of the black Shaka throned against a background of +flamelets, is a colossal Jizo-Sama, with a nimbus of fire--a single +gilded circle large as a wagon-wheel, breaking into fire-tongues at +three points. He is seated upon an enormous lotus of tarnished gold-- +over the lofty edge of which the skirt of his robe trails down. Behind +him, standing on ascending tiers of golden steps, are glimmering hosts +of miniature figures of him, reflections, multiplications of him, ranged +there by ranks of hundreds--the Thousand Jizo. From the ceiling above +him droop the dingy splendours of a sort of dais-work, a streaming +circle of pendants like a fringe, shimmering faintly through the webbed +dust of centuries. And the ceiling itself must once have been a marvel; +all beamed in caissons, each caisson containing, upon a gold ground, the +painted figure of a flying bird. Formerly the eight great pillars +supporting the roof were also covered with gilding; but only a few +traces of it linger still upon their worm-pierced surfaces, and about +the bases of their capitals. And there are wonderful friezes above the +doors, from which all colour has long since faded away, marvellous grey +old carvings in relief; floating figures of tennin, or heavenly spirits +playing upon flutes and biwa. + +There is a chamber separated by a heavy wooden screen from the aisle on +the right; and the priest in charge of the building slides the screen +aside, and bids us enter. In this chamber is a drum elevated upon a +brazen stand,--the hugest I ever saw, fully eighteen feet in +circumference. Beside it hangs a big bell, covered with Buddhist texts. +I am sorry to learn that it is prohibited to sound the great drum. There +is nothing else to see except some dingy paper lanterns figured with the +svastika--the sacred Buddhist symbol called by the Japanese manji. + +º7 + +Akira tells me that in the book called Jizo-kyo-Kosui, this legend is +related of the great statue of Jizo in this same ancient temple of Ken- +cho-ji. + +Formerly there lived at Kamakura the wife of a Ronin [4] named Soga +Sadayoshi. She lived by feeding silkworms and gathering the silk. She +used often to visit the temple of Kencho-ji; and one very cold day that +she went there, she thought that the image of Jizo looked like one +suffering from cold; and she resolved to make a cap to keep the god's +head warm--such a cap as the people of the country wear in cold +weather. And she went home and made the cap and covered the god's head +with it, saying, 'Would I were rich enough to give thee a warm covering +for all thine august body; but, alas! I am poor, and even this which I +offer thee is unworthy of thy divine acceptance.' + +Now this woman very suddenly died in the fiftieth year of her age, in +the twelfth month of the fifth year of the period called Chisho. But her +body remained warm for three days, so that her relatives would not +suffer her to be taken to the burning-ground. And on the evening of the +third day she came to life again. + +Then she related that on the day of her death she had gone before the +judgment-seat of Emma, king and judge of the dead. And Emma, seeing her, +became wroth, and said to her: 'You have been a wicked woman, and have +scorned the teaching of the Buddha. All your life you have passed in +destroying the lives of silkworms by putting them into heated water. Now +you shall go to the Kwakkto-Jigoku, and there burn until your sins shall +be expiated.' Forthwith she was seized and dragged by demons to a great +pot filled with molten metal, and thrown into the pot, and she cried out +horribly. And suddenly Jizo-Sama descended into the molten metal beside +her, and the metal became like a flowing of oil and ceased to burn; and +Jizo put his arms about her and lifted her out. And he went with her +before King Emma, and asked that she should be pardoned for his sake, +forasmuch as she had become related to him by one act of goodness. So +she found pardon, and returned to the Shaba-world. + +'Akira,' I ask, 'it cannot then be lawful, according to Buddhism, for +any one to wear silk?' + +'Assuredly not,' replies Akira; 'and by the law of Buddha priests are +expressly forbidden to wear silk. Nevertheless.' he adds with that quiet +smile of his, in which I am beginning to discern suggestions of sarcasm, +'nearly all the priests wear silk.' + +º8 + +Akira also tells me this: + +It is related in the seventh volume of the book Kamakurashi that there +was formerly at Kamakura a temple called Emmei-ji, in which there was +enshrined a famous statue of Jizo, called Hadaka-Jizo, or Naked Jizo. +The statue was indeed naked, but clothes were put upon it; and it stood +upright with its feet upon a chessboard. Now, when pilgrims came to the +temple and paid a certain fee, the priest of the temple would remove the +clothes of the statue; and then all could see that, though the face was +the face of Jizo, the body was the body of a woman. + +Now this was the origin of the famous image of Hadaka-Jizo standing upon +the chessboard. On one occasion the great prince Taira-no-Tokyori was +playing chess with his wife in the presence of many guests. And he made +her agree, after they had played several games, that whosoever should +lose the next game would have to stand naked on the chessboard. And in +the next game they played his wife lost. And she prayed to Jizo to save +her from the shame of appearing naked. And Jizo came in answer to her +prayer and stood upon the chessboard, and disrobed himself, and changed +his body suddenly into the body of a woman. + +º9 + +As we travel on, the road curves and narrows between higher elevations, +and becomes more sombre. 'Oi! mat!' my Buddhist guide calls softly to +the runners; and our two vehicles halt in a band of sunshine, +descending, through an opening in the foliage of immense trees, over a +flight of ancient mossy steps. 'Here,' says my friend, 'is the temple of +the King of Death; it is called Emma-Do; and it is a temple of the Zen +sect--Zen-Oji. And it is more than seven hundred years old, and there +is a famous statue in it.' + +We ascend to a small, narrow court in which the edifice stands. At the +head of the steps, to the right, is a stone tablet, very old, with +characters cut at least an inch deep into the granite of it, Chinese +characters signifying, 'This is the Temple of Emma, King.' + +The temple resembles outwardly and inwardly the others we have visited, +and, like those of Shaka and of the colossal Jizo of Kamakura, has a +paved floor, so that we are not obliged to remove our shoes on entering. +Everything is worn, dim, vaguely grey; there is a pungent scent of +mouldiness; the paint has long ago peeled away from the naked wood of +the pillars. Throned to right and left against the high walls tower nine +grim figures--five on one side, four on the other--wearing strange +crowns with trumpet-shapen ornaments; figures hoary with centuries, and +so like to the icon of Emma, which I saw at Kuboyama, that I ask, 'Are +all these Emma?' 'Oh, no!' my guide answers; 'these are his attendants +only--the Jiu-O, the Ten Kings.' 'But there are only nine?' I query. +'Nine, and Emma completes the number. You have not yet seen Emma.' + +Where is he? I see at the farther end of the chamber an altar elevated +upon a platform approached by wooden steps; but there is no image, only +the usual altar furniture of gilded bronze and lacquer-ware. Behind the +altar I see only a curtain about six feet square--a curtain once dark +red, now almost without any definite hue--probably veiling some alcove. +A temple guardian approaches, and invites us to ascend the platform. I +remove my shoes before mounting upon the matted surface, and follow the +guardian behind the altar, in front of the curtain. He makes me a sign +to look, and lifts the veil with a long rod. And suddenly, out of the +blackness of some mysterious profundity masked by that sombre curtain, +there glowers upon me an apparition at the sight of which I +involuntarily start back--a monstrosity exceeding all anticipation--a +Face. [5] + +A Face tremendous, menacing, frightful, dull red, as with the redness of +heated iron cooling into grey. The first shock of the vision is no doubt +partly due to the somewhat theatrical manner in which the work is +suddenly revealed out of darkness by the lifting of the curtain. But as +the surprise passes I begin to recognise the immense energy of the +conception--to look for the secret of the grim artist. The wonder of +the I creation is not in the tiger frown, nor in the violence of the +terrific mouth, nor in the fury and ghastly colour of the head as a +whole: it is in the eyes--eyes of nightmare. + +º10 + +Now this weird old temple has its legend. + +Seven hundred years ago, 'tis said, there died the great image-maker, +the great busshi; Unke-Sosei. And Unke-Sosei signifies 'Unke who +returned from the dead.' For when he came before Emma, the Judge of +Souls, Emma said to him: 'Living, thou madest no image of me. Go back +unto earth and make one, now that thou hast looked upon me.' And Unke +found himself suddenly restored to the world of men; and they that had +known him before, astonished to see him alive again, called him Unke- +Sosei. And Unke-Sosei, bearing with him always the memory of the +countenance of Emma, wrought this image of him, which still inspires +fear in all who behold it; and he made also the images of the grim Jiu- +O, the Ten Kings obeying Emma, which sit throned about the temple. + +I want to buy a picture of Emma, and make my wish known to the temple +guardian. Oh, yes, I may buy a picture of Emma, but I must first see the +Oni. I follow the guardian Out of the temple, down the mossy steps, and +across the village highway into a little Japanese cottage, where I take +my seat upon the floor. The guardian disappears behind a screen, and +presently returns dragging with him the Oni--the image of a demon, +naked, blood-red, indescribably ugly. The Oni is about three feet high. +He stands in an attitude of menace, brandishing a club. He has a head +shaped something like the head of a bulldog, with brazen eyes; and his +feet are like the feet of a lion. Very gravely the guardian turns the +grotesquery round and round, that I may admire its every aspect; while a +na´ve crowd collects before the open door to look at the stranger and +the demon. + +Then the guardian finds me a rude woodcut of Emma, with a sacred +inscription printed upon it; and as soon as I have paid for it, he +proceeds to stamp the paper, with the seal of the temple. The seal he +keeps in a wonderful lacquered box, covered with many wrappings of soft +leather. These having been removed, I inspect the seal--an oblong, +vermilion-red polished stone, with the design cut in intaglio upon it. +He moistens the surface with red ink, presses it upon the corner of the +paper bearing the grim picture, and the authenticity of my strange +purchase is established for ever. + +º11 + +You do not see the Dai-Butsu as you enter the grounds of his long- +vanished temple, and proceed along a paved path across stretches of +lawn; great trees hide him. But very suddenly, at a turn, he comes into +full view and you start! No matter how many photographs of the colossus +you may have already seen, this first vision of the reality is an +astonishment. Then you imagine that you are already too near, though the +image is at least a hundred yards away. As for me, I retire at once +thirty or forty yards back, to get a better view. And the jinricksha man +runs after me, laughing and gesticulating, thinking that I imagine the +image alive and am afraid of it. + +But, even were that shape alive, none could be afraid of it. The +gentleness, the dreamy passionlessness of those features,--the immense +repose of the whole figure--are full of beauty and charm. And, contrary +to all expectation, the nearer you approach the giant Buddha, the +greater this charm becomes You look up into the solemnly beautiful face +-into the half-closed eyes that seem to watch you through their eyelids +of bronze as gently as those of a child; and you feel that the image +typifies all that is tender and calm in the Soul of the East. Yet you +feel also that only Japanese thought could have created it. Its beauty, +its dignity, its perfect repose, reflect the higher life of the race +that imagined it; and, though doubtless inspired by some Indian model, +as the treatment of the hair and various symbolic marks reveal, the art +is Japanese. + +So mighty and beautiful the work is, that you will not for some time +notice the magnificent lotus-plants of bronze, fully fifteen feet high, +planted before the figure, on either side of the great tripod in which +incense-rods are burning. + +Through an orifice in the right side of the enormous lotus-blossom on +which the Buddha is seated, you can enter into the statue. The interior +contains a little shrine of Kwannon, and a statue of the priest Yuten, +and a stone tablet bearing in Chinese characters the sacred formula, +Namu Amida Butsu. + +A ladder enables the pilgrim to ascend into the interior of the colossus +as high as the shoulders, in which are two little windows commanding a +wide prospect of the grounds; while a priest, who acts as guide, states +the age of the statue to be six hundred and thirty years, and asks for +some small contribution to aid in the erection of a new temple to +shelter it from the weather. + +For this Buddha once had a temple. A tidal wave following an earthquake +swept walls and roof away, but left the mighty Amida unmoved, still +meditating upon his lotus. + +º12 + +And we arrive before the far-famed Kamakura temple of Kwannon--Kwannon, +who yielded up her right to the Eternal Peace that she might save the +souls of men, and renounced Nirvana to suffer with humanity for other +myriad million ages--Kwannon, the Goddess of Pity and of Mercy. + +I climb three flights of steps leading to the temple, and a young girl, +seated at the threshold, rises to greet us. Then she disappears within +the temple to summon the guardian priest, a venerable man, white-robed, +who makes me a sign to enter. + +The temple is large as any that I have yet seen, and, like the others, +grey with the wearing of six hundred years. From the roof there hang +down votive offerings, inscriptions, and lanterns in multitude, painted +with various pleasing colours. Almost opposite to the entrance is a +singular statue, a seated figure, of human dimensions and most human +aspect, looking upon us with small weird eyes set in a wondrously +wrinkled face. This face was originally painted flesh-tint, and the +robes of the image pale blue; but now the whole is uniformly grey with +age and dust, and its colourlessness harmonises so well with the +senility of the figure that one is almost ready to believe one's self +gazing at a living mendicant pilgrim. It is Benzuru, the same personage +whose famous image at Asakusa has been made featureless by the wearing +touch of countless pilgrim-fingers. To left and right of the entrance +are the Ni-O, enormously muscled, furious of aspect; their crimson +bodies are speckled with a white scum of paper pellets spat at them by +worshippers. Above .the altar is a small but very pleasing image of +Kwannon, with her entire figure relieved against an oblong halo of gold, +imitating the flickering of flame. + +But this is not the image for which the temple is famed; there is +another to be seen upon certain conditions. The old priest presents me +with a petition, written in excellent and eloquent English, praying +visitors to contribute something to the maintenance of the temple and +its pontiff, and appealing to those of another faith to remember that +'any belief which can make men kindly and good is worthy of respect.' I +contribute my mite, and I ask to see the great Kwannon. + +Then the old priest lights a lantern, and leads the way, through a low +doorway on the left of the altar, into the interior of the temple, into +some very lofty darkness. I follow him cautiously awhile, discerning +nothing whatever but the flicker of the lantern; then we halt before +something which gleams. A moment, and my eyes, becoming more accustomed +to the darkness, begin to distinguish outlines; the gleaming object +defines itself gradually as a Foot, an immense golden Foot, and I +perceive the hem of a golden robe undulating over the instep. Now the +other foot appears; the figure is certainly standing. I can perceive +that we are in a narrow but also very lofty chamber, and that out of +some mysterious blackness overhead ropes are dangling down into the +circle of lantern-light illuminating the golden feet. The priest lights +two more lanterns, and suspends them upon hooks attached to a pair of +pendent ropes about a yard apart; then he pulls up both together slowly. +More of the golden robe is revealed as the lanterns ascend, swinging on +their way; then the outlines of two mighty knees; then the curving of +columnar thighs under chiselled drapery, and, as with the still waving +ascent of the lanterns the golden Vision towers ever higher through the +gloom, expectation intensifies. There is no sound but the sound of the +invisible pulleys overhead, which squeak like bats. Now above the golden +girdle, the suggestion of a bosom. Then the glowing of a golden hand +uplifted in benediction. Then another golden hand holding a lotus. And +at last a Face, golden, smiling with eternal youth and infinite +tenderness, the face of Kwannon. + +So revealed out of the consecrated darkness, this ideal of divine +feminity--creation of a forgotten art and time--is more than +impressive. I can scarcely call the emotion which it produces +admiration; it is rather reverence. But the lanterns, which paused +awhile at the level of the beautiful face, now ascend still higher, with +a fresh squeaking of pulleys. And lo! the tiara of the divinity appears +with strangest symbolism. It is a pyramid of heads, of faces-charming +faces of maidens, miniature faces of Kwannon herself. + +For this is the Kwannon of the Eleven Faces--Jiu-ichimen-Kwannon. + +º13 + +Most sacred this statue is held; and this is its legend. + +In the reign of Emperor Gensei, there lived in the province of Yamato a +Buddhist priest, Tokudo Shonin, who had been in a previous birth Hold +Bosatsu, but had been reborn among common men to save their souls. Now +at that time, in a valley in Yamato, Tokudo Shonin, walking by night, +saw a wonderful radiance; and going toward it found that it came from +the trunk of a great fallen tree, a kusunoki, or camphor-tree. A +delicious perfume came from the tree, and the shining of it was like the +shining of the moon. And by these signs Tokudo Shonin knew that the wood +was holy; and he bethought him that he should have the statue of Kwannon +carved from it. And he recited a sutra, and repeated the Nenbutsu, +praying for inspiration; and even while he prayed there came and stood +before him an aged man and an aged woman; and these said to him, 'We +know that your desire is to have the image of Kwannon-Sama carved from +this tree with the help of Heaven; continue therefore, to pray, and we +shall carve the statue.' + +And Tokudo Shonin did as they bade him; and he saw them easily split the +vast trunk into two equal parts, and begin to carve each of the parts +into an image. And he saw them so labour for three days; and on the +third day the work was done--and he saw the two marvellous statues of +Kwannon made perfect before him. And he said to the strangers: 'Tell me, +I pray you, by what names you are known.' Then the old man answered: 'I +am Kasuga Myojin.' And the woman answered: 'I am called Ten-sho-ko-dai- +jin; I am the Goddess of the Sun.' And as they spoke both became +transfigured and ascended to heaven and vanished from the sight of +Tokudo Shonin. [6] + +And the Emperor, hearing of these happenings, sent his representative to +Yamato to make offerings, and to have a temple built. Also the great +priest, Gyogi-Bosatsu, came and consecrated the images, and dedicated +the temple which by order of the Emperor was built. And one of the +statues he placed in the temple, enshrining it, and commanding it: 'Stay +thou here always to save all living creatures!' But the other statue he +cast into the sea, saying to it: 'Go thou whithersoever it is best, to +save all the living.' + +Now the statue floated to Kamakura. And there arriving by night it shed +a great radiance all about it as if there were sunshine upon the sea; +and the fishermen of Kamakura were awakened by the great light; and they +went out in boats, and found the statue floating and brought it to +shore. And the Emperor ordered that a temple should be built for it, the +temple called Shin-haseidera, on the mountain called Kaiko-San, at +Kamakura. + +º14 + +As we leave the temple of Kwannon behind us, there are no more dwellings +visible along the road; the green slopes to left and right become +steeper, and the shadows of the great trees deepen over us. But still, +at intervals, some flight of venerable mossy steps, a carven Buddhist +gateway, or a lofty torii, signals the presence of sanctuaries we have +no time to visit: countless crumbling shrines are all around us, dumb +witnesses to the antique splendour and vastness of the dead capital; and +everywhere, mingled with perfume of blossoms, hovers the sweet, resinous +smell of Japanese incense. Be-times we pass a scattered multitude of +sculptured stones, like segments of four-sided pillars--old haka, the +forgotten tombs of a long-abandoned cemetery; or the solitary image of +some Buddhist deity--a dreaming Amida or faintly smiling Kwannon. All +are ancient, time-discoloured, mutilated; a few have been weather-worn +into unrecognisability. I halt a moment to contemplate something +pathetic, a group of six images of the charming divinity who cares for +the ghosts of little children--the Roku-Jizo. Oh, how chipped and +scurfed and mossed they are! Five stand buried almost up to their +shoulders in a heaping of little stones, testifying to the prayers of +generations; and votive yodarekake, infant bibs of divers colours, have +been put about the necks of these for the love of children lost. But one +of the gentle god's images lies shattered and overthrown in its own +scattered pebble-pile-broken perhaps by some passing wagon. + +º15 + +The road slopes before us as we go, sinks down between cliffs steep as +the walls of a ca±on, and curves. Suddenly we emerge from the cliffs, +and reach the sea. It is blue like the unclouded sky--a soft dreamy +blue. + +And our path turns sharply to the right, and winds along cliff-summits +overlooking a broad beach of dun-coloured sand; and the sea wind blows +deliciously with a sweet saline scent, urging the lungs to fill +themselves to the very utmost; and far away before me, I perceive a +beautiful high green mass, an island foliage-covered, rising out of the +water about a quarter of a mile from the mainland--Enoshima, the holy +island, sacred to the goddess of the sea, the goddess of beauty. I can +already distinguish a tiny town, grey-sprinkling its steep slope. +Evidently it can be reached to-day on foot, for the tide is out, and has +left bare a long broad reach of sand, extending to it, from the opposite +village which we are approaching, like a causeway. + +At Katase, the little settlement facing the island, we must leave our +jinricksha and walk; the dunes between the village and the beach are too +deep to pull the vehicle over. Scores of other jinricksha are waiting +here in the little narrow street for pilgrims who have preceded me. But +to-day, I am told, I am the only European who visits the shrine of +Benten. + +Our two men lead the way over the dunes, and we soon descend upon damp +firm sand. + +As we near the island the architectural details of the little town +define delightfully through the faint sea-haze--curved bluish sweeps of +fantastic roofs, angles of airy balconies, high-peaked curious gables, +all above a fluttering of queerly shaped banners covered with mysterious +lettering. We pass the sand-flats; and the ever-open Portal of the Sea- +city, the City of the Dragon-goddess, is before us, a beautiful torii. +All of bronze it is, with shimenawa of bronze above it, and a brazen +tablet inscribed with characters declaring: 'This is the Palace of the +Goddess of Enoshima.' About the bases of the ponderous pillars are +strange designs in relievo, eddyings of waves with tortoises struggling +in the flow. This is really the gate of the city, facing the shrine of +Benten by the land approach; but it is only the third torii of the +imposing series through Katase: we did not see the others, having come +by way of the coast. + +And lo! we are in Enoshima. High before us slopes the single street, a +street of broad steps, a street shadowy, full of multi-coloured flags +and dank blue drapery dashed with white fantasticalities, which are +words, fluttered by the sea wind. It is lined with taverns and miniature +shops. At every one I must pause to look; and to dare to look at +anything in Japan is to want to buy it. So I buy, and buy, and buy! + +For verily 'tis the City of Mother-of-Pearl, this Enoshima. In every +shop, behind the' lettered draperies there are miracles of shell-work +for sale at absurdly small prices. The glazed cases laid flat upon the +matted platforms, the shelved cabinets set against the walls, are all +opalescent with nacreous things--extraordinary surprises, incredible +ingenuities; strings of mother-of-pearl fish, strings of mother-of-pearl +birds, all shimmering with rainbow colours. There are little kittens of +mother-of-pearl, and little foxes of mother-of-pearl, and little puppies +of mother-of-pearl, and girls' hair-combs, and cigarette-holders, and +pipes too beautiful to use. There are little tortoises, not larger than +a shilling, made of shells, that, when you touch them, however lightly, +begin to move head, legs, and tail, all at the same time, alternately +withdrawing or protruding their limbs so much like real tortoises as to +give one a shock of surprise. There are storks and birds, and beetles +and butterflies, and crabs and lobsters, made so cunningly of shells, +that only touch convinces you they are not alive. There are bees of +shell, poised on flowers of the same material--poised on wire in such a +way that they seem to buzz if moved only with the tip of a feather. +There is shell-work jewellery indescribable, things that Japanese girls +love, enchantments in mother-of-pearl, hair-pins carven in a hundred +forms, brooches, necklaces. And there are photographs of Enoshima. + +º16 + +This curious street ends at another torii, a wooden torii, with a +steeper flight of stone steps ascending to it. At the foot of the steps +are votive stone lamps and a little well, and a stone tank at which all +pilgrims wash their hands and rinse their mouths before approaching the +temples of the gods. And hanging beside the tank are bright blue towels, +with large white Chinese characters upon them. I ask Akira what these +characters signify: + +'Ho-Keng is the sound of the characters in the Chinese; but in Japanese +the same characters are pronounced Kenjitatetmatsuru, and signify that +those towels are mostly humbly offered to Benten. They are what you call +votive offerings. And there are many kinds of votive offerings made to +famous shrines. Some people give towels, some give pictures, some give +vases; some offer lanterns of paper, or bronze, or stone. It is common +to promise such offerings when making petitions to the gods; and it is +usual to promise a torii. The torii may be small or great according to +the wealth of him who gives it; the very rich pilgrim may offer to the +gods a torii of metal, such as that below, which is the Gate of +Enoshima.' + + +'Akira, do the Japanese always keep their vows to the gods?' + +Akira smiles a sweet smile, and answers: 'There was a man who promised +to build a torii of good metal if his prayers were granted. And he +obtained all that he desired. And then he built a torii with three +exceedingly small needles.' + +º17 + +Ascending the steps, we reach a terrace, overlooking all the city roofs. +There are Buddhist lions of stone and stone lanterns, mossed and +chipped, on either side the torii; and the background of the terrace is +the sacred hill, covered with foliage. To the left is a balustrade of +stone, old and green, surrounding a shallow pool covered with scum of +water-weed. And on the farther bank above it, out of the bushes, +protrudes a strangely shaped stone slab, poised on edge, and covered +with Chinese characters. It is a sacred stone, and is believed to have +the form of a great frog, gama; wherefore it is called Gama-ishi, the +Frog-stone. Here and there along the edge of the terrace are other +graven monuments, one of which is the offering of certain pilgrims who +visited the shrine of the sea-goddess one hundred times. On the right +other flights of steps lead to loftier terraces; and an old man, who +sits at the foot of them, making bird-cages of bamboo, offers himself as +guide. + +We follow him to the next terrace, where there is a school for the +children of Enoshima, and another sacred stone, huge and shapeless: +Fuku-ishi, the Stone of Good Fortune. In old times pilgrims who rubbed +their hands upon it believed they would thereby gain riches; and the +stone is polished and worn by the touch of innumerable palms. + +More steps and more green-mossed lions and lanterns, and another terrace +with a little temple in its midst, the first shrine of Benten. Before it +a few stunted palm-trees are growing. There is nothing in the shrine of +interest, only Shinto emblems. But there is another well beside it with +other votive towels, and there is another mysterious monument, a stone +shrine brought from China six hundred years ago. Perhaps it contained +some far-famed statue before this place of pilgrimage was given over to +the priests of Shinto. There is nothing in it now; the monolith slab +forming the back of it has been fractured by the falling of rocks from +the cliff above; and the inscription cut therein has been almost effaced +by some kind of scum. Akira reads 'Dai-Nippongoku-Enoshima-no-reiseki- +ken . . .'; the rest is undecipherable. He says there is a statue in the +neighbouring temple, but it is exhibited only once a year, on the +fifteenth day of the seventh month. + +Leaving the court by a rising path to the left, we proceed along the +verge of a cliff overlooking the sea. Perched upon this verge are pretty +tea-houses, all widely open to the sea wind, so that, looking through +them, over their matted floors and lacquered balconies one sees the +ocean as in a picture-frame, and the pale clear horizon specked with +snowy sails, and a faint blue-peaked shape also, like a phantom island, +the far vapoury silhouette of Oshima. Then we find another torii, and +other steps leading to a terrace almost black with shade of enormous +evergreen trees, and surrounded on the sea side by another stone +balustrade, velveted with moss. On the right more steps, another torii, +another terrace; and more mossed green lions and stone lamps; and a +monument inscribed with the record of the change whereby Enoshima passed +away from Buddhism to become Shino. Beyond, in the centre of another +plateau, the second shrine of Benten. + +But there is no Benten! Benten has been hidden away by Shinto hands. The +second shrine is void as the first. Nevertheless, in a building to the +left of the temple, strange relics are exhibited. Feudal armour; suits +of plate and chain-mail; helmets with visors which are demoniac masks of +iron; helmets crested with dragons of gold; two-handed swords worthy of +giants; and enormous arrows, more than five feet long, with shafts +nearly an inch in diameter. One has a crescent head about nine inches +from horn to horn, the interior edge of the crescent being sharp as a +knife. Such a missile would take off a man's head; and I can scarcely +believe Akira's assurance that such ponderous arrows were shot from a +bow by hand only. There is a specimen of the writing of Nichiren, the +great Buddhist priest--gold characters on a blue ground; and there is, +in a lacquered shrine, a gilded dragon said to have been made by that +still greater priest and writer and master-wizard, Kobodaishi. + +A path shaded by overarching trees leads from this plateau to the third +shrine. We pass a torii and beyond it come to a stone monument covered +with figures of monkeys chiselled in relief. What the signification of +this monument is, even our guide cannot explain. Then another torii. It +is of wood; but I am told it replaces one of metal, stolen in the night +by thieves. Wonderful thieves! that torii must have weighed at least a +ton! More stone lanterns; then an immense count, on the very summit of +the mountain, and there, in its midst, the third and chief temple of +Benten. And before the temple is a Lange vacant space surrounded by a +fence in such manner as to render the shrine totally inaccessible. +Vanity and vexation of spirit! + +There is, however, a little haiden, or place of prayer, with nothing in +it but a money-box and a bell, before the fence, and facing the temple +steps. Here the pilgrims make their offerings and pray. Only a small +raised platform covered with a Chinese roof supported upon four plain +posts, the back of the structure being closed by a lattice about breast +high. From this praying-station we can look into the temple of Beaten, +and see that Benten is not there. + +But I perceive that the ceiling is arranged in caissons; and in a +central caisson I discover a very curious painting-a foreshortened +Tortoise, gazing down at me. And while I am looking at it I hear Akira +and the guide laughing; and the latter exclaims, 'Benten-Sama!' + +A beautiful little damask snake is undulating up the lattice-work, +poking its head through betimes to look at us. It does not seem in the +least afraid, nor has it much reason to be, seeing that its kind are +deemed the servants and confidants of Benten. Sometimes the great +goddess herself assumes the serpent form; perhaps she has come to see +us. + +Near by is a singular stone, set on a pedestal in the court. It has the +form of the body of a tortoise, and markings like those of the +creature's shell; and it is held a sacred thing, and is called the +Tortoise-stone. But I fear exceedingly that in all this place we shall +find nothing save stones and serpents! + +º18 + +Now we are going to visit the Dragon cavern, not so called, Akira says, +because the Dragon of Benten ever dwelt therein, but because the shape +of the cavern is the shape of a dragon. The path descends toward the +opposite side of the island, and suddenly breaks into a flight of steps +cut out of the pale hard rock--exceedingly steep, and worn, and +slippery, and perilous--overlooking the sea. A vision of low pale +rocks, and surf bursting among them, and a toro or votive stone lamp in +the centre of them--all seen as in a bird's-eye view, over the verge of +an awful precipice. I see also deep, round holes in one of the rocks. +There used to be a tea-house below; and the wooden pillars supporting it +were fitted into those holes. I descend with caution; the Japanese +seldom slip in their straw sandals, but I can only proceed with the aid +of the guide. At almost every step I slip. Surely these steps could +never have been thus worn away by the straw sandals of pilgrims who came +to see only stones and serpents! + +At last we reach a plank gallery carried along the face of the cliff +above the rocks and pools, and following it round a projection of the +cliff enter the sacred cave. The light dims as we advance; and the sea- +waves, running after us into the gloom, make a stupefying roar, +multiplied by the extraordinary echo. Looking back, I see the mouth of +the cavern like a prodigious sharply angled rent in blackness, showing a +fragment of azure sky. + +We reach a shrine with no deity in it, pay a fee; and lamps being +lighted and given to each of us, we proceed to explore a series of +underground passages. So black they are that even with the light of +three lamps, I can at first see nothing. In a while, however, I can +distinguish stone figures in relief--chiselled on slabs like those I +saw in the Buddhist graveyard. These are placed at regular intervals +along the rock walls. The guide approaches his light to the face of each +one, and utters a name, 'Daikoku-Sama,' 'Fudo-Sama,' 'Kwannon-Sama.' +Sometimes in lieu of a statue there is an empty shrine only, with a +money-box before it; and these void shrines have names of Shinto gods, +'Daijingu,' 'Hachiman,' 'Inari-Sama.' All the statues are black, or seem +black in the yellow lamplight, and sparkle as if frosted. I feel as if I +were in some mortuary pit, some subterranean burial-place of dead gods. +Interminable the corridor appears; yet there is at last an end--an end +with a shrine in it--where the rocky ceiling descends so low that to +reach the shrine one must go down on hands and knees. And there is +nothing in the shrine. This is the Tail of the Dragon. + +We do not return to the light at once, but enter into other lateral +black corridors--the Wings of the Dragon. More sable effigies of +dispossessed gods; more empty shrines; more stone faces covered with +saltpetre; and more money-boxes, possible only to reach by stooping, +where more offerings should be made. And there is no Benten, either of +wood or stone. + +I am glad to return to the light. Here our guide strips naked, and +suddenly leaps head foremost into a black deep swirling current between +rocks. Five minutes later he reappears, and clambering out lays at my +feet a living, squirming sea-snail and an enormous shrimp. Then he +resumes his robe, and we re-ascend the mountain. + +º19 + +'And this,' the reader may say,--'this is all that you went forth to +see: a torii, some shells, a small damask snake, some stones?' + +It is true. And nevertheless I know that I am bewitched. There is a +charm indefinable about the place--that sort of charm which comes with +a little ghostly 'thrill never to be forgotten. + +Not of strange sights alone is this charm made, but of numberless subtle +sensations and ideas interwoven and inter-blended: the sweet sharp +scents of grove and sea; the blood-brightening, vivifying touch of the +free wind; the dumb appeal of ancient mystic mossy things; vague +reverence evoked by knowledge of treading soil called holy for a +thousand years; and a sense of sympathy, as a human duty, compelled by +the vision of steps of rock worn down into shapelessness by the pilgrim +feet of vanished generations. + +And other memories ineffaceable: the first sight of the sea-girt City of +Pearl through a fairy veil of haze; the windy approach to the lovely +island over the velvety soundless brown stretch of sand; the weird +majesty of the giant gate of bronze; the queer, high-sloping, fantastic, +quaintly gabled street, flinging down sharp shadows of aerial balconies; +the flutter of coloured draperies in the sea wind, and of flags with +their riddles of lettering; the pearly glimmering of the astonishing +shops. + +And impressions of the enormous day--the day of the Land of the Gods-- +a loftier day than ever our summers know; and the glory of the view from +those green sacred silent heights between sea and sun; and the +remembrance of the sky, a sky spiritual as holiness, a sky with clouds +ghost-pure and white as the light itself--seeming, indeed, not clouds +but dreams, or souls of Bodhisattvas about to melt for ever into some +blue Nirvana. + +And the romance of Benten, too,--the Deity of Beauty, the Divinity of +Love, the Goddess of Eloquence. Rightly is she likewise named Goddess of +the Sea. For is not the Sea most ancient and most excellent of Speakers +-the eternal Poet, chanter of that mystic hymn whose rhythm shakes the +world, whose mighty syllables no man may learn? + +º20 + +We return by another route. + +For a while the way winds through a long narrow winding valley between +wooded hills: the whole extent of bottom-land is occupied by rice-farms; +the air has a humid coolness, and one hears only the chanting of frogs, +like a clattering of countless castanets, as the jinricksha jolts over +the rugged elevated paths separating the flooded rice-fields. + +As we skirt the foot of a wooded hill upon the right, my Japanese +comrade signals to our runners to halt, and himself dismounting, points +to the blue peaked roof of a little temple high-perched on the green +slope. 'Is it really worth while to climb up there in the sun?' I ask. +'Oh, yes!' he answers: 'it is the temple of Kishibojin--Kishibojin, the +Mother of Demons!' + +We ascend a flight of broad stone steps, meet the Buddhist guardian +lions at the summit, and enter the little court in which the temple +stands. An elderly woman, with a child clinging to her robe, comes from +the adjoining building to open the screens for us; and taking off our +footgear we enter the temple. Without, the edifice looked old and dingy; +but within all is neat and pretty. The June sun, pouring through the +open shoji, illuminates an artistic confusion of brasses gracefully +shaped and multi-coloured things--images, lanterns, paintings, gilded +inscriptions, pendent scrolls. There are three altars. + +Above the central altar Amida Buddha sits enthroned on his mystic golden +lotus in the attitude of the Teacher. On the altar to the right gleams a +shrine of five miniature golden steps, where little images stand in +rows, tier above tier, some seated, some erect, male and female, attired +like goddesses or like daimyo: the Sanjiubanjin, or Thirty Guardians. +Below, on the faþade of the altar, is the figure of a hero slaying a +monster. On the altar to the left is the shrine of the Mother-of-Demons. + +Her story is a legend of horror. For some sin committed in a previous +birth, she was born a demon, devouring her own children. But being saved +by the teaching of Buddha, she became a divine being, especially loving +and protecting infants; and Japanese mothers pray to her for their +little ones, and wives pray to her for beautiful boys. + +The face of Kishibojin [7] is the face of a comely woman. But her eyes +are weird. In her right hand she bears a lotus-blossom; with her left +she supports in a fold of her robe, against her half-veiled breast, a +naked baby. At the foot of her shrine stands Jizo-Sama, leaning upon his +shakujo. But the altar and its images do not form the startling feature +of the temple-interior. What impresses the visitor in a totally novel +way are the votive offerings. High before the shrine, suspended from +strings stretched taut between tall poles of bamboo, are scores, no, +hundreds, of pretty, tiny dresses--Japanese baby-dresses of many +colours. Most are made of poor material, for these are the thank- +offerings of very poor simple women, poor country mothers, whose prayers +to Kishibojin for the blessing of children have been heard. + +And the sight of all those little dresses, each telling so naively its +story of joy and pain--those tiny kimono shaped and sewn by docile +patient fingers of humble mothers-touches irresistibly, like some +unexpected revelation of the universal mother-love. And the tenderness +of all the simple hearts that have testified thus to faith and +thankfulness seems to thrill all about me softly, like a caress of +summer wind. + +Outside the world appears to have suddenly grown beautiful; the light is +sweeter; it seems to me there is a new charm even in the azure of the +eternal day. + +º21 + +Then, having traversed the valley, we reach a main road so level and so +magnificently shaded by huge old trees that I could believe myself in an +English lane--a lane in Kent or Surrey, perhaps--but for some exotic +detail breaking the illusion at intervals; a torii, towering before +temple-steps descending to the highway, or a signboard lettered with +Chinese characters, or the wayside shrine of some unknown god. + +All at once I observe by the roadside some unfamiliar sculptures in +relief--a row of chiselled slabs protected by a little bamboo shed; and +I dismount to look at them, supposing them to be funereal monuments. +They are so old that the lines of their sculpturing are half +obliterated; their feet are covered with moss, and their visages are +half effaced. But I can discern that these are not haka, but six images +of one divinity; and my guide knows him--Koshin, the God of Roads. So +chipped and covered with scurf he is, that the upper portion of his form +has become indefinably vague; his attributes have been worn away. But +below his feet, on several slabs, chiselled cunningly, I can still +distinguish the figures of the Three Apes, his messengers. And some +pious soul has left before one image a humble votive offering--the +picture of a black cock and a white hen, painted upon a wooden shingle. +It must have been left here very long ago; the wood has become almost +black, and the painting has been damaged by weather and by the droppings +of birds. There are no stones piled at the feet of these images, as +before the images of Jizo; they seem like things forgotten, crusted over +by the neglect of generations--archaic gods who have lost their +worshippers. + +But my guide tells me, 'The Temple of Koshin is near, in the village of +Fujisawa.' Assuredly I must visit it. + +º22 + +The temple of Koshin is situated in the middle of the village, in a +court opening upon the main street. A very old wooden temple it is, +unpainted, dilapidated, grey with the greyness of all forgotten and +weather-beaten things. It is some time before the guardian of the temple +can be found, to open the doors. For this temple has doors in lieu of +shoji--old doors that moan sleepily at being turned upon their hinges. +And it is not necessary to remove one's shoes; the floor is matless, +covered with dust, and squeaks under the unaccustomed weight of entering +feet. All within is crumbling, mouldering, worn; the shrine has no +image, only Shinto emblems, some poor paper lanterns whose once bright +colours have vanished under a coating of dust, some vague inscriptions. +I see the circular frame of a metal mirror; but the mirror itself is +gone. Whither? The guardian says: 'No priest lives now in this temple; +and thieves might come in the night to steal the mirror; so we have +hidden it away.' I ask about the image of Koshin. He answers it is +exposed but once in every sixty-one years: so I cannot see it; but there +are other statues of the god in the temple court. + +I go to look at them: a row of images, much like those upon the public +highway, but better preserved. One figure of Koshin, however, is +different from the others I have seen--apparently made after some +Hindoo model, judging by the Indian coiffure, mitre-shaped and lofty. +The god has three eyes; one in the centre of his forehead, opening +perpendicularly instead of horizontally. He has six arms. With one hand +he supports a monkey; with another he grasps a serpent; and the other +hands hold out symbolic things--a wheel, a sword, a rosary, a sceptre. +And serpents are coiled about his wrists and about his ankles; and under +his feet is a monstrous head, the head of a demon, Amanjako, sometimes +called Utatesa ('Sadness'). Upon the pedestal below the Three Apes are +carven; and the face of an ape appears also upon the front of the god's +tiara. + +I see also tablets of stone, graven only with the god's name,--votive +offerings. And near by, in a tiny wooden shrine, is the figure of the +Earth-god, Ken-ro-ji-jin, grey, primeval, vaguely wrought, holding in +one hand a spear, in the other a vessel containing something +indistinguishable. + +º23 + +Perhaps to uninitiated eyes these many-headed, many-handed gods at first +may seem--as they seem always in the sight of Christian bigotry--only +monstrous. But when the knowledge of their meaning comes to one who +feels the divine in all religions, then they will be found to make +appeal to the higher aestheticism, to the sense of moral beauty, with a +force never to be divined by minds knowing nothing of the Orient and its +thought. To me the image of Kwannon of the Thousand Hands is not less +admirable than any other representation of human loveliness idealised +bearing her name--the Peerless, the Majestic, the Peace-Giving, or even +White Sui-Getsu, who sails the moonlit waters in her rosy boat made of a +single lotus-petal; and in the triple-headed Shaka I discern and revere +the mighty power of that Truth, whereby, as by a conjunction of suns, +the Three Worlds have been illuminated. + +But vain to seek to memorise the names and attributes of all the gods; +they seem, self-multiplying, to mock the seeker; Kwannon the Merciful is +revealed as the Hundred Kwannon; the Six Jizo become the Thousand. And +as they multiply before research, they vary and change: less multiform, +less complex, less elusive the moving of waters than the visions of this +Oriental faith. Into it, as into a fathomless sea, mythology after +mythology from India and China and the farther East has sunk and been +absorbed; and the stranger, peering into its deeps, finds himself, as in +the tale of Undine, contemplating a flood in whose every surge rises and +vanishes a Face--weird or beautiful or terrible--a most ancient shoreless +sea of forms incomprehensibly interchanging and intermingling, but +symbolising the protean magic of that infinite Unknown that shapes and +re-shapes for ever all cosmic being. + +º24 + +I wonder if I can buy a picture of Koshin. In most Japanese temples +little pictures of the tutelar deity are sold to pilgrims, cheap prints +on thin paper. But the temple guardian here tells me, with a gesture of +despair, that there are no pictures of Koshin for sale; there is only an +old kakemono on which the god is represented. If I would like to see it +he will go home and get it for me. I beg him to do me the favour; and he +hurries into the street. + +While awaiting his return, I continue to examine the queer old statues, +with a feeling of mingled melancholy and pleasure. To have studied and +loved an ancient faith only through the labours of palaeographers and +archaeologists, and as a something astronomically remote from one's own +existence, and then suddenly in after years to find the same faith a +part of one's human environment,--to feel that its mythology, though +senescent, is alive all around you--is almost to realise the dream of +the Romantics, to have the sensation of returning through twenty +centuries into the life of a happier world. For these quaint Gods of +Roads and Gods. of Earth are really living still, though so worn and +mossed and feebly worshipped. In this brief moment, at least, I am +really in the Elder World--perhaps just at that epoch of it when the +primal faith is growing a little old-fashioned, crumbling slowly before +the corrosive influence of a new philosophy; and I know myself a pagan +still, loving these simple old gods, these gods of a people's childhood. + +And they need some human love, these naive, innocent, ugly gods. The +beautiful divinities will live for ever by that sweetness of womanhood +idealised in the Buddhist art of them: eternal are Kwannon and Benten; +they need no help of man; they will compel reverence when the great +temples shall all have become voiceless and priestless as this shrine of +Koshin is. But these kind, queer, artless, mouldering gods, who have +given ease to so many troubled minds, who have gladdened so many simple +hearts, who have heard so many innocent prayers--how gladly would I +prolong their beneficent lives in spite of the so-called 'laws of +progress' and the irrefutable philosophy of evolution! + +The guardian returns, bringing with him a kakemono, very small, very +dusty, and so yellow-stained by time that it might be a thousand years +old. But I am disappointed as I unroll it; there is only a very common +print of the god within--all outline. And while I am looking at it, I +become for the first time conscious that a crowd has gathered about me, +-tanned kindly-faced labourers from the fields, and mothers with their +babies on their backs, and school children, and jinricksha men, all +wondering that a stranger should be thus interested in their gods. And +although the pressure about me is very, very gentle, like a pressure of +tepid water for gentleness, I feel a little embarrassed. I give back the +old kakemono to the guardian, make my offering to the god, and take my +leave of Koshin and his good servant. + +All the kind oblique eyes follow me as I go. And something like a +feeling of remorse seizes me at thus abruptly abandoning the void, +dusty, crumbling temple, with its mirrorless altar and its colourless +lanterns, and the decaying sculptures of its neglected court, and its +kindly guardian whom I see still watching my retreating steps, with the +yellow kakemono in his hand. The whistle of a locomotive warns me that I +shall just have time to catch the train. For Western civilisation has +invaded all this primitive peace, with its webs of steel, with its ways +of iron. This is not of thy roads, O Koshin!--the old gods are dying +along its ash-strewn verge! + + + + +Chapter Five At the Market of the Dead + +º1 + +IT is just past five o'clock in the afternoon. Through the open door of +my little study the rising breeze of evening is beginning to disturb the +papers on my desk, and the white fire of the Japanese sun is taking that +pale amber tone which tells that the heat of the day is over. There is +not a cloud in the blue--not even one of those beautiful white +filamentary things, like ghosts of silken floss, which usually swim in +this most ethereal of earthly skies even in the driest weather. + +A sudden shadow at the door. Akira, the young Buddhist student, stands +at the threshold slipping his white feet out of his sandal-thongs +preparatory to entering, and smiling like the god Jizo. + +'Ah! komban, Akira.' + +'To-night,' says Akira, seating himself upon the floor in the posture of +Buddha upon the Lotus, 'the Bon-ichi will be held. Perhaps you would +like to see it?' + +'Oh, Akira, all things in this country I should like to see. But tell +me, I pray you; unto what may the Bon-ichi be likened?' + +'The Bon-ichi,' answers Akira, 'is a market at which will be sold all +things required for the Festival of the Dead; and the Festival of the +Dead will begin to-morrow, when all the altars of the temples and all +the shrines in the homes of good Buddhists will be made beautiful.' + +'Then I want to see the Bon-ichi, Akira, and I should also like to see a +Buddhist shrine--a household shrine.' + +'Yes, will you come to my room?' asks Akira. 'It is not far--in the +Street of the Aged Men, beyond the Street of the Stony River, and near +to the Street Everlasting. There is a butsuma there--a household shrine +-and on the way I will tell you about the Bonku.' + +So, for the first time, I learn those things--which I am now about to +write. + + + +º2 + +From the 13th to the 15th day of July is held the Festival of the Dead-- +the Bommatsuri or Bonku--by some Europeans called the Feast of +Lanterns. But in many places there are two such festivals annually; for +those who still follow the ancient reckoning of time by moons hold that +the Bommatsuri should fall on the 13th, 14th, and 15th days of the +seventh month of the antique calendar, which corresponds to a later +period of the year. + +Early on the morning of the 13th, new mats of purest rice straw, woven +expressly for the festival, are spread upon all Buddhist altars and +within each butsuma or butsudan--the little shrine before which the +morning and evening prayers are offered up in every believing home. +Shrines and altars are likewise decorated with beautiful embellishments +of coloured paper, and with flowers and sprigs of certain hallowed +plants--always real lotus-flowers when obtainable, otherwise lotus- +flowers of paper, and fresh branches of shikimi (anise) and of misohagi +(lespedeza). Then a tiny lacquered table--a zen-such as Japanese meals +are usually served upon, is placed upon the altar, and the food +offerings are laid on it. But in the smaller shrines of Japanese homes +the offerings are more often simply laid upon the rice matting, wrapped +in fresh lotus-leaves. + +These offerings consist of the foods called somen, resembling our +vermicelli, gozen, which is boiled rice, dango, a sort of tiny dumpling, +eggplant, and fruits according to season--frequently uri and saikwa, +slices of melon and watermelon, and plums and peaches. Often sweet cakes +and dainties are added. Sometimes the offering is only O-sho-jin-gu +(honourable uncooked food); more usually it is O-rio-gu (honourable +boiled food); but it never includes, of course, fish, meats, or wine. +Clear water is given to the shadowy guest, and is sprinkled from time to +time upon the altar or within the shrine with a branch of misohagi; tea +is poured out every hour for the viewless visitors, and everything is +daintily served up in little plates and cups and bowls, as for living +guests, with hashi (chopsticks) laid beside the offering. So for three +days the dead are feasted. + +At sunset, pine torches, fixed in the ground before each home, are +kindled to guide the spirit-visitors. Sometimes, also, on the first +evening of the Bommatsuri, welcome-fires (mukaebi) are lighted along the +shore of the sea or lake or river by which the village or city is +situated--neither more nor less than one hundred and eight fires; this +number having some mystic signification in the philosophy of Buddhism. +And charming lanterns are suspended each night at the entrances of homes +-the Lanterns of the Festival of the Dead--lanterns of special forms +and colours, beautifully painted with suggestions of landscape and +shapes of flowers, and always decorated with a peculiar fringe of paper +streamers. + +Also, on the same night, those who have dead friends go to the +cemeteries and make offerings there, and pray, and burn incense, and +pour out water for the ghosts. Flowers are placed there in the bamboo +vases set beside each haka, and lanterns are lighted and hung up before +the tombs, but these lanterns have no designs upon them. + +At sunset on the evening of the 15th only the offerings called Segaki +are made in the temples. Then are fed the ghosts of the Circle of +Penance, called Gakido, the place of hungry spirits; and then also are +fed by the priests those ghosts having no other friends among the living +to care for them. Very, very small these offerings are--like the +offerings to the gods. + +º3 + +Now this, Akira tells me, is the origin of the Segaki, as the same is +related in the holy book Busetsuuran-bongyo: + +Dai-Mokenren, the great disciple of Buddha, obtained by merit the Six +Supernatural Powers. And by virtue of them it was given him to see the +soul of his mother in the Gakido--the world of spirits doomed to suffer +hunger in expiation of faults committed in a previous life. Mokenren saw +that his mother suffered much; he grieved exceedingly because of her +pain, and he filled a bowl with choicest food and sent it to her. He saw +her try to eat; but each time that she tried to lift the food to her +lips it would change into fire and burning embers, so that she could not +eat. Then Mokenren asked the Teacher what he could do to relieve his +mother from pain. And the Teacher made answer: 'On the fifteenth day of +the seventh month, feed the ghosts of the great priests of all +countries.' And Mokenren, having done so, saw that his mother was freed +from the state of gaki, and that she was dancing for joy. [1] This is +the origin also of the dances called Bono-dori, which are danced on the +third night of the Festival of the Dead throughout Japan. + +Upon the third and last night there is a weirdly beautiful ceremony, +more touching than that of the Segaki, stranger than the Bon-odori--the +ceremony of farewell. All that the living may do to please the dead has +been done; the time allotted by the powers of the unseen worlds unto the +ghostly visitants is well nigh past, and their friends must send them +all back again. + +Everything has been prepared for them. In each home small boats made of +barley straw closely woven have been freighted with supplies of choice +food, with tiny lanterns, and written messages of faith and love. Seldom +more than two feet in length are these boats; but the dead require +little room. And the frail craft are launched on canal, lake, sea, or +river--each with a miniature lantern glowing at the prow, and incense +burning at the stern. And if the night be fair, they voyage long. Down +all the creeks and rivers and canals the phantom fleets go glimmering to +the sea; and all the sea sparkles to the horizon with the lights of the +dead, and the sea wind is fragrant with incense. + +But alas! it is now forbidden in the great seaports to launch the +shoryobune, 'the boats of the blessed ghosts.' + +º4 + +It is so narrow, the Street of the Aged Men, that by stretching out +one's arms one can touch the figured sign-draperies before its tiny +shops on both sides at once. And these little ark-shaped houses really +seem toy-houses; that in which Akira lives is even smaller than the +rest, having no shop in it, and no miniature second story. It is all +closed up. Akira slides back the wooden amado which forms the door, and +then the paper-paned screens behind it; and the tiny structure, thus +opened, with its light unpainted woodwork and painted paper partitions, +looks something like a great bird-cage. But the rush matting of the +elevated floor is fresh, sweet-smelling, spotless; and as we take off +our footgear to mount upon it I see that all within is neat, curious, +and pretty. + +'The woman has gone out,' says Akira, setting the smoking-box (hibachi) +in the middle of the floor, and spreading beside it a little mat for me +to squat upon. + +'But what is this, Akira?' I ask, pointing to a thin board suspended by +a ribbon on the wall--a board so cut from the middle of a branch as to +leave the bark along its edges. There are two columns of mysterious +signs exquisitely painted upon it. + +'Oh, that is a calendar,' answers Akira. 'On the right side are the +names of the months having thirty-one days; on the left, the names of +those having less. Now here is a household shrine.' + +Occupying the alcove, which is an indispensable part of the structure of +Japanese guest-rooms, is a native cabinet painted with figures of flying +birds; and on this cabinet stands the butsuma. It is a small lacquered +and gilded shrine, with little doors modelled after those of a temple +gate--a shrine very quaint, very much dilapidated (one door has lost +its hinges), but still a dainty thing despite its crackled lacquer and +faded gilding. Akira opens it with a sort of compassionate smile; and I +look inside for the image. There is none; only a wooden tablet with a +band of white paper attached to it, bearing Japanese characters--the +name of a dead baby girl--and a vase of expiring flowers, a tiny print +of Kwannon, the Goddess of Mercy, and a cup filled with ashes of +incense. + +'Tomorrow,' Akira says, 'she will decorate this, and make the offerings +of food to the little one.' + +Hanging from the ceiling, on the opposite side of the room, and in front +of the shrine, is a wonderful, charming, funny, white-and-rosy mask-- +the face of a laughing, chubby girl with two mysterious spots upon her +forehead, the face of Otafuku. [2] It twirls round and round in the +soft air-current coming through the open shoji; and every time those +funny black eyes, half shut with laughter, look at me, I cannot help +smiling. And hanging still higher, I see little Shinto emblems of paper +(gohei), a miniature mitre-shaped cap in likeness of those worn in the +sacred dances, a pasteboard emblem of the magic gem (Nio-i hojiu) which +the gods bear in their hands, a small Japanese doll, and a little wind- +wheel which will spin around with the least puff of air, and other +indescribable toys, mostly symbolic, such as are sold on festal days in +the courts of the temples--the playthings of the dead child. + +'Komban!' exclaims a very gentle voice behind us. The mother is standing +there, smiling as if pleased at the stranger's interest in her butsuma-- +a middle-aged woman of the poorest class, not comely, but with a most +kindly face. We return her evening greeting; and while I sit down upon +the little mat laid before the hibachi, Akira whispers something to her, +with the result that a small kettle is at once set to boil over a very +small charcoal furnace. We are probably going to have some tea. + +As Akira takes his seat before me, on the other side of the hibachi, I +ask him: + +'What was the name I saw on the tablet?' + +'The name which you saw,' he answers, 'was not the real name. The real +name is written upon the other side. After death another name is given +by the priest. A dead boy is called Ryochi Doji; a dead girl, Mioyo +Donyo.' + +While we are speaking, the woman approaches the little shrine, opens it, +arranges the objects in it, lights the tiny lamp, and with joined hands +and bowed head begins to pray. Totally unembarrassed by our presence and +our chatter she seems, as one accustomed to do what is right and +beautiful heedless of human opinion; praying with that brave, true +frankness which belongs to the poor only of this world--those simple +souls who never have any secret to hide, either from each other or from +heaven, and of whom Ruskin nobly said, 'These are our holiest.' I do +not know what words her heart is murmuring: I hear only at moments that +soft sibilant sound, made by gently drawing the breath through the lips, +which among this kind people is a token of humblest desire to please. + +As I watch the tender little rite, I become aware of something dimly +astir in the mystery of my own life--vaguely, indefinably familiar, +like a memory ancestral, like the revival of a sensation forgotten two +thousand years. Blended in some strange way it seems to be with my faint +knowledge of an elder world, whose household gods were also the beloved +dead; and there is a weird sweetness in this place, like a shadowing of +Lares. + +Then, her brief prayer over, she turns to her miniature furnace again. +She talks and laughs with Akira; she prepares the tea, pours it out in +tiny cups and serves it to us, kneeling in that graceful attitude-- +picturesque, traditional--which for six hundred years has been the +attitude of the Japanese woman serving tea. Verily, no small part of the +life of the woman of Japan is spent thus in serving little cups of tea. +Even as a ghost, she appears in popular prints offering to somebody +spectral tea-cups of spectral tea. Of all Japanese ghost-pictures, I +know of none more pathetic than that in which the phantom of a woman +kneeling humbly offers to her haunted and remorseful murderer a little +cup of tea! + +'Now let us go to the Bon-ichi,' says Akira, rising; 'she must go there +herself soon, and it is already getting dark. Sayonara!' + +It is indeed almost dark as we leave the little house: stars are +pointing in the strip of sky above the street; but it is a beautiful +night for a walk, with a tepid breeze blowing at intervals, and sending +long flutterings through the miles of shop draperies. The market is in +the narrow street at the verge of the city, just below the hill where +the great Buddhist temple of Zoto-Kuin stands--in the Motomachi, only +ten squares away. + +º5 + +The curious narrow street is one long blaze of lights--lights of +lantern signs, lights of torches and lamps illuminating unfamiliar rows +of little stands and booths set out in the thoroughfare before all the +shop-fronts on each side; making two far-converging lines of multi- +coloured fire. Between these moves a dense throng, filling the night +with a clatter of geta that drowns even the tide-like murmuring of +voices and the cries of the merchant. But how gentle the movement!- +there is no jostling, no rudeness; everybody, even the weakest and +smallest, has a chance to see everything; and there are many things to +see. + +'Hasu-no-hana!--hasu-no-hana!' Here are the venders of lotus-flowers +for the tombs and the altars, of lotus leaves in which to wrap the food +of the beloved ghosts. The leaves, folded into bundles, are heaped upon +tiny tables; the lotus-flowers, buds and blossoms intermingled, are +fixed upright in immense bunches, supported by light frames of bamboo. + +'Ogara!--ogara-ya! White sheaves of long peeled rods. These are hemp- +sticks. The thinner ends can be broken up into hashi for the use of the +ghosts; the rest must be consumed in the mukaebi. Rightly all these +sticks should be made of pine; but pine is too scarce and dear for the +poor folk of this district, so the ogara are substituted. + +'Kawarake!--kawarake-ya!' The dishes of the ghosts: small red shallow +platters of unglazed earthenware; primeval pottery suku-makemasu!' Eh! +what is all this? A little booth shaped like a sentry-box, all made of +laths, covered with a red-and-white chess pattern of paper; and out of +this frail structure issues a shrilling keen as the sound of leaking +steam. 'Oh, that is only insects,' says Akira, laughing; 'nothing to do +with the Bonku.' Insects, yes!--in cages! The shrilling is made by +scores of huge green crickets, each prisoned in a tiny bamboo cage by +itself. 'They are fed with eggplant and melon rind,' continues Akira, +'and sold to children to play with.' And there are also beautiful little +cages full of fireflies--cages covered with brown mosquito-netting, +upon each of which some simple but very pretty design in bright colours +has been dashed by a Japanese brush. One cricket and cage, two cents. +Fifteen fireflies and cage, five cents. + +Here on a street corner squats a blue-robed boy behind a low wooden +table, selling wooden boxes about as big as match-boxes, with red paper +hinges. Beside the piles of these little boxes on the table are shallow +dishes filled with clear water, in which extraordinary thin flat shapes +are floating--shapes of flowers, trees, birds, boats, men, and women. +Open a box; it costs only two cents. Inside, wrapped in tissue paper, +are bundles of little pale sticks, like round match-sticks, with pink +ends. Drop one into the water, it instantly unrolls and expands into the +likeness of a lotus-flower. Another transforms itself into a fish. A +third becomes a boat. A fourth changes to an owl. A fifth becomes a tea- +plant, covered with leaves and blossoms. . . . So delicate are these +things that, once immersed, you cannot handle them without breaking +them. They are made of seaweed. + +'Tsukuri hana!--tsukuri-hana-wa-irimasenka?' The sellers of artificial +flowers, marvellous chrysanthemums and lotus-plants of paper, imitations +of bud and leaf and flower so cunningly wrought that the eye alone +cannot detect the beautiful trickery. It is only right that these should +cost much more than their living counterparts. + +º6 + +High above the thronging and the clamour and the myriad fires of the +merchants, the great Shingon temple at the end of the radiant street +towers upon its hill against the starry night, weirdly, like a dream-- +strangely illuminated by rows of paper lanterns hung all along its +curving eaves; and the flowing of the crowd bears me thither. Out of the +broad entrance, over a dark gliding mass which I know to be heads and +shoulders of crowding worshippers, beams a broad band of yellow light; +and before reaching the lion-guarded steps I hear the continuous +clanging of the temple gong, each clang the signal of an offering and a +prayer. Doubtless a cataract of cash is pouring into the great alms- +chest; for to-night is the Festival of Yakushi-Nyorai, the Physician of +Souls. Borne to the steps at last, I find myself able to halt a moment, +despite the pressure of the throng, before the stand of a lantern-seller +selling the most beautiful lanterns that I have ever seen. Each is a +gigantic lotus-flower of paper, so perfectly made in every detail as to +seem a great living blossom freshly plucked; the petals are crimson at +their bases, paling to white at their tips; the calyx is a faultless +mimicry of nature, and beneath it hangs a beautiful fringe of paper +cuttings, coloured with the colours of the flower, green below the +calyx, white in the middle, crimson at the ends. In the heart of the +blossom is set a microscopic oil-lamp of baked clay; and this being +lighted, all the flower becomes luminous, diaphanous--a lotus of white +and crimson fire. There is a slender gilded wooden hoop by which to hang +it up, and the price is four cents! How can people afford to make such +things for four cents, even in this country of astounding cheapness? + +Akira is trying to tell me something about the hyaku-hachino-mukaebi, +the Hundred and Eight Fires, to be lighted to-morrow evening, which bear +some figurative relation unto the Hundred and Eight Foolish Desires; but +I cannot hear him for the clatter of the geta and the komageta, the +wooden clogs and wooden sandals of the worshippers ascending to the +shrine of Yakushi-Nyorai. The light straw sandals of the poorer men, the +zori and the waraji, are silent; the great clatter is really made by the +delicate feet of women and girls, balancing themselves carefully upon +their noisy geta. And most of these little feet are clad with spotless +tabi, white as a white lotus. White feet of little blue-robed mothers +they mostly are--mothers climbing patiently and smilingly, with pretty +placid babies at their backs, up the hill to Buddha. + +And while through the tinted lantern light I wander on with the gentle +noisy people, up the great steps of stone, between other displays of +lotus-blossoms, between other high hedgerows of paper flowers, my +thought suddenly goes back to the little broken shrine in the poor +woman's room, with the humble playthings hanging before it, and the +laughing, twirling mask of Otafuku. I see the happy, funny little eyes, +oblique and silky-shadowed like Otafuku's own, which used to look at +those toys,--toys in which the fresh child-senses found a charm that I +can but faintly divine, a delight hereditary, ancestral. I see the +tender little creature being borne, as it was doubtless borne many +times, through just such a peaceful throng as this, in just such a +lukewarm, luminous night, peeping over the mother's shoulder, softly +clinging at her neck with tiny hands. + +Somewhere among this multitude she is--the mother. She will feel again +to-night the faint touch of little hands, yet will not turn her head to +look and laugh, as in other days. + + + +Chapter Six +Bon-odori + +º1 + +Over the mountains to Izumo, the land of the Kamiyo, [1] the land of the +Ancient Gods. A journey of four days by kuruma, with strong runners, +from the Pacific to the Sea of Japan; for we have taken the longest and +least frequented route. + +Through valleys most of this long route lies, valleys always open to +higher valleys, while the road ascends, valleys between mountains with +rice-fields ascending their slopes by successions of diked terraces +which look like enormous green flights of steps. Above them are +shadowing sombre forests of cedar and pine; and above these wooded +summits loom indigo shapes of farther hills overtopped by peaked +silhouettes of vapoury grey. The air is lukewarm and windless; and +distances are gauzed by delicate mists; and in this tenderest of blue +skies, this Japanese sky which always seems to me loftier than any other +sky which I ever saw, there are only, day after day, some few filmy, +spectral, diaphanous white wandering things: like ghosts of clouds, +riding on the wind. + +But sometimes, as the road ascends, the rice-.fields disappear a while: +fields of barley and of indigo, and of rye and of cotton, fringe the +route for a little space; and then it plunges into forest shadows. Above +all else, the forests of cedar sometimes bordering the way are +astonishments; never outside of the tropics did I see any growths +comparable for density and perpendicularity with these. Every trunk is +straight and bare as a pillar: the whole front presents the spectacle of +an immeasurable massing of pallid columns towering up into a cloud of +sombre foliage so dense that one can distinguish nothing overhead but +branchings lost in shadow. And the profundities beyond the rare gaps in +the palisade of blanched trunks are night-black, as in Dore's pictures +of fir woods. + +No more great towns; only thatched villages nestling in the folds of the +hills, each with its Buddhist temple, lifting a tilted roof of blue-grey +tiles above the congregation of thatched homesteads, and its miya, or +Shinto shrine, with a torii before it like a great ideograph shaped in +stone or wood. But Buddhism still dominates; every hilltop has its tera; +and the statues of Buddhas or of Bodhisattvas appear by the roadside, as +we travel on, with the regularity of milestones. Often a village tera is +so large that the cottages of the rustic folk about it seem like little +out-houses; and the traveller wonders how so costly an edifice of prayer +can be supported by a community so humble. And everywhere the signs of +the gentle faith appear: its ideographs and symbols are chiselled upon +the faces of the rocks; its icons smile upon you from every shadowy +recess by the way; even the very landscape betimes would seem to have +been moulded by the soul of it, where hills rise softly as a prayer. And +the summits of some are domed like the head of Shaka, and the dark bossy +frondage that clothes them might seem the clustering of his curls. + +But gradually, with the passing of the days, as we journey into the +loftier west, I see fewer and fewer tera. Such Buddhist temples as we +pass appear small and poor; and the wayside images become rarer and +rarer. But the symbols of Shinto are more numerous, and the structure of +its miya larger and loftier. And the torii are visible everywhere, and +tower higher, before the approaches to villages, before the entrances of +courts guarded by strangely grotesque lions and foxes of stone, and +before stairways of old mossed rock, upsloping, between dense growths of +ancient cedar and pine, to shrines that moulder in the twilight of holy +groves. + +At one little village I see, just beyond, the torii leading to a great +Shinto temple, a particularly odd small shrine, and feel impelled by +curiosity to examine it. Leaning against its closed doors are many short +gnarled sticks in a row, miniature clubs. Irreverently removing these, +and opening the little doors, Akira bids me look within. I see only a +mask--the mask of a goblin, a Tengu, grotesque beyond description, +with an enormous nose--so grotesque that I feel remorse for having +looked at it. + +The sticks are votive offerings. By dedicating one to the shrine, it is +believed that the Tengu may be induced to drive one's enemies away. +Goblin-shaped though they appear in all Japanese paintings and carvings +of them, the Tengu-Sama are divinities, lesser divinities, lords of the +art of fencing and the use of all weapons. + +And other changes gradually become manifest. Akira complains that he can +no longer understand the language of the people. We are traversing +regions of dialects. The houses are also architecturally different from +those of the country-folk of the north-east; their high thatched roofs +are curiously decorated with bundles of straw fastened to a pole of +bamboo parallel with the roof-ridge, and elevated about a foot above it. +The complexion of the peasantry is darker than in the north-east; and I +see no more of those charming rosy faces one observes among the women of +the Tokyo districts. And the peasants wear different hats, hats pointed +like the straw roofs of those little wayside temples curiously enough +called an (which means a straw hat). + +The weather is more than warm, rendering clothing oppressive; and as we +pass through the little villages along the road, I see much healthy +cleanly nudity: pretty naked children; brown men and boys with only a +soft narrow white cloth about their loins, asleep on the matted floors, +all the paper screens of the houses having been removed to admit the +breeze. The men seem to be lightly and supply built; but I see no +saliency of muscles; the lines of the figure are always smooth. Before +almost every dwelling, indigo, spread out upon little mats of rice +straw, may be seen drying in the sun. + +The country-folk gaze wonderingly at the foreigner. At various places +where we halt, old men approach to touch my clothes, apologising with +humble bows and winning smiles for their very natural curiosity, and +asking my interpreter all sorts of odd questions. Gentler and kindlier +faces I never beheld; and they reflect the souls behind them; never yet +have I heard a voice raised in anger, nor observed an unkindly act. + +And each day, as we travel, the country becomes more beautiful-- +beautiful with that fantasticality of landscape only to be found in +volcanic lands. But for the dark forests of cedar and pine, and this far +faint dreamy sky, and the soft whiteness of the light, there are moments +of our journey when I could fancy myself again in the West Indies, +ascending some winding way over the mornes of Dominica or of Martinique. +And, indeed, I find myself sometimes looking against the horizon glow +for shapes of palms and ceibas. But the brighter green of the valleys +and of the mountain-slopes beneath the woods is not the green of young +cane, but of rice-fields--thousands upon thousands of tiny rice-fields +no larger than cottage gardens, separated from each other by narrow +serpentine dikes. + +º2 + +In the very heart of a mountain range, while rolling along the verge of +a precipice above rice-fields, I catch sight of a little shrine in a +cavity of the cliff overhanging the way, and halt to examine it. The +sides and sloping roof of the shrine are formed by slabs of unhewn rock. +Within smiles a rudely chiselled image of Bato-Kwannon--Kwannon-with- +the-Horse's-Head--and before it bunches of wild flowers have been +placed, and an earthen incense-cup, and scattered offerings of dry rice. +Contrary to the idea suggested by the strange name, this form of Kwannon +is not horse-headed; but the head of a horse is sculptured upon the +tiara worn by the divinity. And the symbolism is fully explained by a +large wooden sotoba planted beside the shrine, and bearing, among other +inscriptions, the words, 'Bato Kwan-ze-on Bosatsu, giu ba bodai han ye.' +For Bato-Kwannon protects the horses and the cattle of the peasant; and +he prays her not only that his dumb servants may be preserved from +sickness, but also that their spirits may enter after death, into a +happier state of existence. Near the sotoba there has been erected a +wooden framework about four feet square, filled with little tablets of +pine set edge to edge so as to form one smooth surface; and on these are +written, in rows of hundreds, the names of all who subscribed for the +statue and its shrine. The number announced is ten thousand. But the +whole cost could not have exceeded ten Japanese dollars (yen); wherefore +I surmise that each subscriber gave not more than one rin--one tenth +of one sen, or cent. For the hyakusho are unspeakably poor. [2] + +In the midst of these mountain solitudes, the discovery of that little +shrine creates a delightful sense of security. Surely nothing save +goodness can be expected from a people gentle-hearted enough to pray for +the souls of their horses and cows. [3] + +As we proceed rapidly down a slope, my kurumaya swerves to one side with +a suddenness that gives me a violent start, for the road overlooks a +sheer depth of several hundred feet. It is merely to avoid hurting a +harmless snake making its way across the path. The snake is so little +afraid that on reaching the edge of the road it turns its head to look +after us. + + +º3 + +And now strange signs begin to appear in all these rice-fields: I see +everywhere, sticking up above the ripening grain, objects like white- +feathered arrows. Arrows of prayer! I take one up to examine it. The +shaft is a thin bamboo, split down for about one-third of its length; +into the slit a strip of strong white paper with ideographs upon it--an +ofuda, a Shinto charm--is inserted; and the separated ends of the cane +are then rejoined and tied together just above it. The whole, at a +little distance, has exactly the appearance of a long, light, well- +feathered arrow. That which I first examine bears the words, 'Yu-Asaki- +]inja-kozen-son-chu-an-zen' (From the God whose shrine is before the +Village of Peace). Another reads, 'Mihojinja-sho-gwan-jo-ju-go-kito- +shugo,' signifying that the Deity of the temple Miho-jinja granteth +fully every supplication made unto him. Everywhere, as we proceed, I see +the white arrows of prayer glimmering above the green level of the +grain; and always they become more numerous. Far as the eye can reach +the fields are sprinkled with them, so that they make upon the verdant +surface a white speckling as of flowers. + +Sometimes, also, around a little rice-field, I see a sort of magical +fence, formed by little bamboo rods supporting a long cord from which +long straws hang down, like a fringe, and paper cuttings, which are +symbols (gohei) are suspended at regular intervals. This is the +shimenawa, sacred emblem of Shinto. Within the consecrated space +inclosed by it no blight may enter--no scorching sun wither the young +shoots. And where the white arrows glimmer the locust shall not prevail, +nor shall hungry birds do evil. + +But now I look in vain for the Buddhas. No more great tera, no Shaka, no +Amida, no Dai-Nichi-Nyorai; even the Bosatsu have been left behind. +Kwannon and her holy kin have disappeared; Koshin, Lord of Roads, is +indeed yet with us; but he has changed his name and become a Shinto +deity: he is now Saruda-hiko-no-mikoto; and his presence is revealed +only by the statues of the Three Mystic Apes which are his servants- + +Mizaru, who sees no evil, covering his eyes with his hands, Kikazaru, +who hears no evil, covering his ears with his hands. Iwazaru, who speaks +no evil, covering his mouth with his hands. + +Yet no! one Bosatsu survives in this atmosphere of magical Shinto: still +by the roadside I see at long intervals the image of Jizo-Sama, the +charming playfellow of dead children. But Jizo also is a little changed; +even in his sextuple representation, [4] the Roku-Jizo, he appears not +standing, but seated upon his lotus-flower, and I see no stones piled up +before him, as in the eastern provinces. + +º4 + +At last, from the verge of an enormous ridge, the roadway suddenly +slopes down into a vista of high peaked roofs of thatch and green-mossed +eaves--into a village like a coloured print out of old Hiroshige's +picture-books, a village with all its tints and colours precisely like +the tints and colours of the landscape in which it lies. This is Kami- +Ichi, in the land of Hoki. + +We halt before a quiet, dingy little inn, whose host, a very aged man, +comes forth to salute me; while a silent, gentle crowd of villagers, +mostly children and women, gather about the kuruma to see the stranger, +to wonder at him, even to touch his clothes with timid smiling +curiosity. One glance at the face of the old innkeeper decides me to +accept his invitation. I must remain here until to-morrow: my runners +are too wearied to go farther to-night. + +Weather-worn as the little inn seemed without, it is delightful within. +Its polished stairway and balconies are speckless, reflecting like +mirror-surfaces the bare feet of the maid-servants; its luminous rooms +are fresh and sweet-smelling as when their soft mattings were first laid +down. The carven pillars of the alcove (toko) in my chamber, leaves and +flowers chiselled in some black rich wood, are wonders; and the kakemono +or scroll-picture hanging there is an idyll, Hotei, God of Happiness, +drifting in a bark down some shadowy stream into evening mysteries of +vapoury purple. Far as this hamlet is from all art-centres, there is no +object visible in the house which does not reveal the Japanese sense of +beauty in form. The old gold-flowered lacquer-ware, the astonishing box +in which sweetmeats (kwashi) are kept, the diaphanous porcelain wine- +cups dashed with a single tiny gold figure of a leaping shrimp, the tea- +cup holders which are curled lotus-leaves of bronze, even the iron +kettle with its figurings of dragons and clouds, and the brazen hibachi +whose handles are heads of Buddhist lions, delight the eye and surprise +the fancy. Indeed, wherever to-day in Japan one sees something totally +uninteresting in porcelain or metal, something commonplace and ugly, one +may be almost sure that detestable something has been shaped under +foreign influence. But here I am in ancient Japan; probably no European +eyes ever looked upon these things before. + +A window shaped like a heart peeps out upon the garden, a wonderful +little garden with a tiny pond and miniature bridges and dwarf trees, +like the landscape of a tea-cup; also some shapely stones of course, and +some graceful stone-lanterns, or toro, such as are placed in the courts +of temples. And beyond these, through the warm dusk, I see lights, +coloured lights, the lanterns of the Bonku, suspended before each home +to welcome the coming of beloved ghosts; for by the antique calendar, +according to which in this antique place the reckoning of time is still +made, this is the first night of the Festival of the Dead. + +As in all the other little country villages where I have been stopping, +I find the people here kind to me with a kindness and a courtesy +unimaginable, indescribable, unknown in any other country, and even in +Japan itself only in the interior. Their simple politeness is not an +art; their goodness is absolutely unconscious goodness; both come +straight from the heart. And before I have been two hours among these +people, their treatment of me, coupled with the sense of my utter +inability to repay such kindness, causes a wicked wish to come into my +mind. I wish these charming folk would do me some unexpected wrong, +something surprisingly evil, something atrociously unkind, so that I +should not be obliged to regret them, which I feel sure I must begin to +do as soon as I go away. + +While the aged landlord conducts me to the bath, where he insists upon +washing me himself as if I were a child, the wife prepares for us a +charming little repast of rice, eggs, vegetables, and sweetmeats. She is +painfully in doubt about her ability to please me, even after I have +eaten enough for two men, and apologises too much for not being able to +offer me more. + +There is no fish,' she says, 'for to-day is the first day of the Bonku, +the Festival of the Dead; being the thirteenth day of the month. On the +thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth of the month nobody may eat fish. +But on the morning of the sixteenth day, the fishermen go out to catch +fish; and everybody who has both parents living may eat of it. But if +one has lost one's father or mother then one must not eat fish, even +upon the sixteenth day.' + +While the good soul is thus explaining I become aware of a strange +remote sound from without, a sound I recognise through memory of +tropical dances, a measured clapping of hands. But this clapping is very +soft and at long intervals. And at still longer intervals there comes to +us a heavy muffled booming, the tap of a great drum, a temple drum. + +'Oh! we must go to see it,' cries Akira; 'it is the Bon-odori, the Dance +of the Festival of the Dead. And you will see the Bon-odori danced here +as it is never danced in cities--the Bon-odori of ancient days. For +customs have not changed here; but in the cities all is changed.' + +So I hasten out, wearing only, like the people about me, one of those +light wide-sleeved summer robes--yukata--which are furnished to male +guests at all Japanese hotels; but the air is so warm that even thus +lightly clad, I find myself slightly perspiring. And the night is divine +-still, clear, vaster than nights of Europe, with a big white moon +flinging down queer shadows of tilted eaves and horned gables and +delightful silhouettes of robed Japanese. A little boy, the grandson of +our host, leads the way with a crimson paper lantern; and the sonorous +echoing of geta, the koro-koro of wooden sandals, fills all the street, +for many are going whither we are going, to see the dance. + +A little while we proceed along the main street; then, traversing a +narrow passage between two houses, we find ourselves in a great open +space flooded by moonlight. This is the dancing-place; but the dance has +ceased for a time. Looking about me, I perceive that we are in the court +of an ancient Buddhist temple. The temple building itself remains +intact, a low long peaked silhouette against the starlight; but it is +void and dark and unhallowed now; it has been turned, they tell me, into +a schoolhouse. The priests are gone; the great bell is gone; the Buddhas +and the Bodhisattvas have vanished, all save one--a broken-handed Jizo +of stone, smiling with eyelids closed, under the moon. + +In the centre of the court is a framework of bamboo supporting a great +drum; and about it benches have been arranged, benches from the +schoolhouse, on which villagers are resting. There is a hum of voices, +voices of people speaking very low, as if expecting something solemn; +and cries of children betimes, and soft laughter of girls. And far +behind the court, beyond a low hedge of sombre evergreen shrubs, I see +soft white lights and a host of tall grey shapes throwing long shadows; +and I know that the lights are the white lanterns of the dead (those +hung in cemeteries only), and that the grey shapes are shapes of tombs. + +Suddenly a girl rises from her seat, and taps the huge drum once. It is +the signal for the Dance of Souls. + +º5 + +Out of the shadow of the temple a processional line of dancers files +into the moonlight and as suddenly halts--all young women or girls, +clad in their choicest attire; the tallest leads; her comrades follow in +order of stature; little maids of ten or twelve years compose the end of +the procession. Figures lightly poised as birds--figures that somehow +recall the dreams of shapes circling about certain antique vases; those +charming Japanese robes, close-clinging about the knees, might seem, but +for the great fantastic drooping sleeves, and the curious broad girdles +confining them, designed after the drawing of some Greek or Etruscan +artist. And, at another tap of the drum, there begins a performance +impossible to picture in words, something unimaginable, phantasmal--a +dance, an astonishment. + +All together glide the right foot forward one pace, without lifting the +sandal from the ground, and extend both hands to the right, with a +strange floating motion and a smiling, mysterious obeisance. Then the +right foot is drawn back, with a repetition of the waving of hands and +the mysterious bow. Then all advance the left foot and repeat the +previous movements, half-turning to the left. Then all take two gliding +paces forward, with a single simultaneous soft clap of the hands, and +the first performance is reiterated, alternately to right and left; all +the sandalled feet gliding together, all the supple hands waving +together, all the pliant bodies bowing and swaying together. And so +slowly, weirdly, the processional movement changes into a great round, +circling about the moonlit court and around the voiceless crowd of +spectators. [5] + +And always the white hands sinuously wave together, as if weaving +spells, alternately without and within the round, now with palms upward, +now with palms downward; and all the elfish sleeves hover duskily +together, with a shadowing as of wings; and all the feet poise together +with such a rhythm of complex motion, that, in watching it, one feels a +sensation of hypnotism--as while striving to watch a flowing and +shimmering of water. + +And this soporous allurement is intensified by a dead hush. No one +speaks, not even a spectator. And, in the long intervals between the +soft clapping of hands, one hears only the shrilling of the crickets in +the trees, and the shu-shu of sandals, lightly stirring the dust. Unto +what, I ask myself, may this be likened? Unto nothing; yet it suggests +some fancy of somnambulism--dreamers, who dream themselves flying, +dreaming upon their feet. + +And there comes to me the thought that I am looking at something +immemorially old, something belonging to the unrecorded beginnings of +this Oriental life, perhaps to the crepuscular Kamiyo itself, to the +magical Age of the Gods; a symbolism of motion whereof the meaning has +been forgotten for innumerable years. Yet more and more unreal the +spectacle appears, with its silent smilings, with its silent bowings, as +if obeisance to watchers invisible; and I find myself wondering whether, +were I to utter but a whisper, all would not vanish for ever save the +grey mouldering court and the desolate temple, and the broken statue of +Jizo, smiling always the same mysterious smile I see upon the faces of +the dancers. + +Under the wheeling moon, in the midst of the round, I feel as one within +the circle of a charm. And verily this is enchantment; I am bewitched, +bewitched by the ghostly weaving of hands, by the rhythmic gliding of +feet, above all by the flitting of the marvellous sleeves-- +apparitional, soundless, velvety as a flitting of great tropical bats. +No; nothing I ever dreamed of could be likened to this. And with the +consciousness of the ancient hakaba behind me, and the weird invitation +of its lanterns, and the ghostly beliefs of the hour and the place there +creeps upon me a nameless, tingling sense of being haunted. But no! +these gracious, silent, waving, weaving shapes are not of the Shadowy +Folk, for whose coming the white fires were kindled: a strain of song, +full of sweet, clear quavering, like the call of a bird, gushes from +some girlish mouth, and fifty soft voices join the chant: + +Sorota soroimashita odorikoga sorota, Soroikite, kita hare yukata. + +'Uniform to view [as ears of young rice ripening in the field] all clad +alike in summer festal robes, the company of dancers have assembled.' + +Again only the shrilling of the crickets, the shu-shu of feet, the +gentle clapping; and the wavering hovering measure proceeds in silence, +with mesmeric lentor--with a strange grace, which, by its very na´vetÚ, +seems old as the encircling hills. + +Those who sleep the sleep of centuries out there, under the grey stones +where the white lanterns are, and their fathers, and the fathers of +their fathers' fathers, and the unknown generations behind them, buried +in cemeteries of which the place has been forgotten for a thousand +years, doubtless looked upon a scene like this. Nay! the dust stirred by +those young feet was human life, and so smiled and so sang under this +self-same moon, 'with woven paces, and with waving hands.' + +Suddenly a deep male chant breaks the hush. Two giants have joined the +round, and now lead it, two superb young mountain peasants nearly nude, +towering head and shoulders above the whole of the assembly. Their +kimono are rolled about their waistilike girdles, leaving their bronzed +limbs and torsos naked to the warm air; they wear nothing else save +their immense straw hats, and white tabi, donned expressly for the +festival. Never before among these people saw I such men, such thews; +but their smiling beardless faces are comely and kindly as those of +Japanese boys. They seem brothers, so like in frame, in movement, in the +timbre of their voices, as they intone the same song: + +No demo yama demo ko wa umiokeyo, Sen ryo kura yori ko ga takara. + +'Whether brought forth upon the mountain or in the field, it matters +nothing: more than a treasure of one thousand ryo, a baby precious is.' + +And Jizo the lover of children's ghosts, smiles across the silence. + +Souls close to nature's Soul are these; artless and touching their +thought, like the worship of that Kishibojin to whom wives pray. And +after the silence, the sweet thin voices of the women answer: + +Oomu otoko ni sowa sanu oya Wa, Qyade gozaranu ko no kataki. + +The parents who will not allow their girl to be united with her lover; +they are not the parents, but the enemies of their child.' + +And song follows song; and the round ever becomes larger; and the hours +pass unfelt, unheard, while the moon wheels slowly down the blue steeps +of the night. + +A deep low boom rolls suddenly across the court, the rich tone of some +temple bell telling the twelfth hour. Instantly the witchcraft ends, +like the wonder of some dream broken by a sound; the chanting ceases; +the round dissolves in an outburst of happy laughter, and chatting, and +softly-vowelled callings of flower-names which are names of girls, and +farewell cries of 'Sayonara!' as dancers and spectators alike betake +themselves homeward, with a great koro-koro of getas. + +And I, moving with the throng, in the bewildered manner of one suddenly +roused from sleep, know myself ungrateful. These silvery-laughing folk +who now toddle along beside me upon their noisy little clogs, stepping +very fast to get a peep at my foreign face, these but a moment ago were +visions of archaic grace, illusions of necromancy, delightful phantoms; +and I feel a vague resentment against them for thus materialising into +simple country-girls. + +º6 + +Lying down to rest, I ask myself the reason of the singular emotion +inspired by that simple peasant-chorus. Utterly impossible to recall the +air, with its fantastic intervals and fractional tones--as well attempt +to fix in memory the purlings of a bird; but the indefinable charm of it +lingers with me still. + +Melodies of Europe awaken within us feelings we can utter, sensations +familiar as mother-speech, inherited from all the generations behind us. +But how explain the emotion evoked by a primitive chant totally unlike +anything in Western melody,--impossible even to write in those tones +which are the ideographs of our music-tongue? + +And the emotion itself--what is it? I know not; yet I feel it to be +something infinitely more old than I--something not of only one place +or time, but vibrant to all common joy or pain of being, under the +universal sun. Then I wonder if the secret does not lie in some untaught +spontaneous harmony of that chant with Nature's most ancient song, in +some unconscious kinship to the music of solitudes--all trillings of +summer life that blend to make the great sweet Cry of the Land. + + + +Chapter Seven The Chief City of the Province of the Gods + +º1 + +THE first of the noises of a Matsue day comes to the sleeper like the +throbbing of a slow, enormous pulse exactly under his ear. It is a +great, soft, dull buffet of sound--like a heartbeat in its regularity, +in its muffled depth, in the way it quakes up through one's pillow so as +to be felt rather than heard. It is simply the pounding of the ponderous +pestle of the kometsuki, the cleaner of rice--a sort of colossal wooden +mallet with a handle about fifteen feet long horizontally balanced on a +pivot. By treading with all his force on the end of the handle, the +naked kometsuki elevates the pestle, which is then allowed to fall back +by its own weight into the rice-tub. The measured muffled echoing of its +fall seems to me the most pathetic of all sounds of Japanese life; it is +the beating, indeed, of the Pulse of the Land. + +Then the boom of the great bell of Tokoji the Zenshu temple, shakes over +the town; then come melancholy echoes of drumming from the tiny little +temple of Jizo in the street Zaimokucho, near my house, signalling the +Buddhist hour of morning prayer. And finally the cries of the earliest +itinerant venders begin--'Daikoyai! kabuya-kabu!'--the sellers of +daikon and other strange vegetables. 'Moyaya-moya!'--the plaintive call +of the women who sell little thin slips of kindling-wood for the +lighting of charcoal fires. + +º2 + +Roused thus by these earliest sounds of the city's wakening life, I +slide open my little Japanese paper window to look out upon the morning +over a soft green cloud of spring foliage rising from the river-bounded +garden below. Before me, tremulously mirroring everything upon its +farther side, glimmers the broad glassy mouth of the Ohashigawa, opening +into the grand Shinji Lake, which spreads out broadly to the right in a +dim grey frame of peaks. Just opposite to me, across the stream, the +blue-pointed Japanese dwellings have their to [1] all closed; they are +still shut up like boxes, for it is not yet sunrise, although it is day. + +But oh, the charm of the vision--those first ghostly love-colours of a +morning steeped in mist soft as sleep itself resolved into a visible +exhalation! Long reaches of faintly-tinted vapour cloud the far lake +verge--long nebulous bands, such as you may have seen in old Japanese +picture-books, and must have deemed only artistic whimsicalities unless +you had previously looked upon the real phenomena. All the bases of the +mountains are veiled by them, and they stretch athwart the loftier peaks +at different heights like immeasurable lengths of gauze (this singular +appearance the Japanese term 'shelving'), [2] so that the lake appears +incomparably larger than it really is, and not an actual lake, but a +beautiful spectral sea of the same tint as the dawn-sky and mixing with +it, while peak-tips rise like islands from the brume, and visionary +strips of hill-ranges figure as league-long causeways stretching out of +sight--an exquisite chaos, ever-changing aspect as the delicate fogs +rise, slowly, very slowly. As the sun's yellow rim comes into sight, +fine thin lines of warmer tone--spectral violets and opalines-shoot +across the flood, treetops take tender fire, and the unpainted faþades +of high edifices across the water change their wood-colour to vapoury +gold through the delicious haze. + +Looking sunward, up the long Ohashigawa, beyond the many-pillared wooden +bridge, one high-pooped junk, just hoisting sail, seems to me the most +fantastically beautiful craft I ever saw--a dream of Orient seas, so +idealised by the vapour is it; the ghost of a junk, but a ghost that +catches the light as clouds do; a shape of gold mist, seemingly semi- +diaphanous, and suspended in pale blue light. + +º3 + +And now from the river-front touching my garden there rises to me a +sound of clapping of hand,--one, two, three, four claps,--but the +owner of the hands is screened from view by the shrubbery. At the same +time, however, I see men and women descending the stone steps of the +wharves on the opposite side of the Ohashigawa, all with little blue +towels tucked into their girdles. They wash their faces and hands and +rinse their mouths--the customary ablution preliminary to Shinto +prayer. Then they turn their faces to the sunrise and clap their hands +four times and pray. From the long high white bridge come other +clappings, like echoes, and others again from far light graceful craft, +curved like new moons--extraordinary boats, in which I see bare-limbed +fishermen standing with foreheads bowed to the golden East. Now the +clappings multiply--multiply at last into an almost continuous +volleying of sharp sounds. For all the population are saluting the +rising sun, O-Hi-San, the Lady of Fire--Ama-terasu-oho-mi-Kami, the +Lady of the Great Light. [3] 'Konnichi-Sama! Hail this day to thee, +divinest Day-Maker! Thanks unutterable unto thee, for this thy sweet +light, making beautiful the world!' So, doubt-less, the thought, if not +the utterance, of countless hearts. Some turn to the sun only, clapping +their hands; yet many turn also to the West, to holy Kitzuki, the +immemorial shrine and not a few turn their faces successively to all the +points of heaven, murmuring the names of a hundred gods; and others, +again, after having saluted the Lady of Fire, look toward high Ichibata, +toward the place of the great temple of Yakushi Nyorai, who giveth sight +to the blind--not clapping their hands as in Shinto worship, but only +rubbing the palms softly together after the Buddhist manner. But all-- +for in this most antique province of Japan all Buddhists are Shintoists +likewise--utter the archaic words of Shinto prayer: 'Harai tamai kiyome +tamai to Kami imi tami.' + +Prayer to the most ancient gods who reigned before the coming of the +Buddha, and who still reign here in their own Izumo-land,--in the Land +of Reed Plains, in the Place of the Issuing of Clouds; prayer to the +deities of primal chaos and primeval sea and of the beginnings of the +world--strange gods with long weird names, kindred of U-hiji-ni-no- +Kami, the First Mud-Lord, kindred of Su-hiji-ni-no-Kanii, the First +Sand-Lady; prayer to those who came after them--the gods of strength +and beauty, the world-fashioners, makers of the mountains and the isles, +ancestors of those sovereigns whose lineage still is named 'The Sun's +Succession'; prayer to the Three Thousand Gods 'residing within the +provinces,' and to the Eight Hundred Myriads who dwell in the azure +Takamano-hara--in the blue Plain of High Heaven. 'Nippon-koku-chu- +yaoyorozu-no-Kami-gami-sama!' + +º4 + +'Ho--ke-kyo!' + +My uguisu is awake at last, and utters his morning prayer. You do not +know what an uguisu is? An uguisu is a holy little bird that professes +Buddhism. All uguisu have professed Buddhism from time immemorial; all +uguisu preach alike to men the excellence of the divine Sutra. + +'Ho--ke-kyo!' + +In the Japanese tongue, Ho-ke-kyo; in Sanscrit, Saddharma Pundarika: 'The +Sutra of the Lotus of the Good Law,' the divine book of the Nichiren +sect. Very brief, indeed, is my little feathered Buddhist's confession +of faith--only the sacred name reiterated over and over again like a +litany, with liquid bursts of twittering between. + +'Ho--ke-kyo!' + +Only this one phrase, but how deliciously he utters it! With what slow +amorous ecstasy he dwells upon its golden syllables! It hath been +written: 'He who shall keep, read, teach, or write this Sutra shall +obtain eight hundred good qualities of the Eye. He shall see the whole +Triple Universe down to the great hell Aviki, and up to the extremity of +existence. He shall obtain twelve hundred good qualities of the Ear. He +shall hear all sounds in the Triple Universe,--sounds of gods, goblins, +demons, and beings not human.' + +'Ho--ke-kyo!' + +A single word only. But it is also written: 'He who shall joyfully +accept but a single word from this Sutra, incalculably greater shall be +his merit than the merit of one who should supply all beings in the four +hundred thousand Asankhyeyas of worlds with all the necessaries for +happiness.' + +'Ho--ke-kyo!' + +Always he makes a reverent little pause after uttering it and before +shrilling out his ecstatic warble--his bird-hymn of praise. First the +warble; then a pause of about five seconds; then a slow, sweet, solemn +utterance of the holy name in a tone as of meditative wonder; then +another pause; then another wild, rich, passionate warble. Could you see +him, you would marvel how so powerful and penetrating a soprano could +ripple from so minute a throat; for he is one of the very tiniest of all +feathered singers, yet his chant can be heard far across the broad +river, and children going to school pause daily on the bridge, a whole +cho away, to listen to his song. And uncomely withal: a neutral-tinted +mite, almost lost in his immense box-cage of hinoki wood, darkened with +paper screens over its little wire-grated windows, for he loves the +gloom. + +Delicate he is and exacting even to tyranny. All his diet must be +laboriously triturated and weighed in scales, and measured out to him at +precisely the same hour each day. It demands all possible care and +attention merely to keep him alive. He is precious, nevertheless. 'Far +and from the uttermost coasts is the price of him,' so rare he is. +Indeed, I could not have afforded to buy him. He was sent to me by one +of the sweetest ladies in Japan, daughter of the governor of Izumo, +who, thinking the foreign teacher might feel lonesome during a brief +illness, made him the exquisite gift of this dainty creature. + +º5 + +The clapping of hands has ceased; the toil of the day begins; +continually louder and louder the pattering of geta over the bridge. It +is a sound never to be forgotten, this pattering of geta over the Ohashi +-rapid, merry, musical, like the sound of an enormous dance; and a +dance it veritably is. The whole population is moving on tiptoe, and the +multitudinous twinkling of feet over the verge of the sunlit roadway is +an astonishment. All those feet are small, symmetrical--light as the +feet of figures painted on Greek vases--and the step is always taken +toes first; indeed, with geta it could be taken no other way, for the +heel touches neither the geta nor the ground, and the foot is tilted +forward by the wedge-shaped wooden sole. Merely to stand upon a pair of +geta is difficult for one unaccustomed to their use, yet you see +Japanese children running at full speed in geta with soles at least +three inches high, held to the foot only by a forestrap fastened between +the great toe and the other toes, and they never trip and the geta never +falls off. Still more curious is the spectacle of men walking in bokkuri +or takageta, a wooden sole with wooden supports at least five inches +high fitted underneath it so as to make the whole structure seem the +lacquered model of a wooden bench. But the wearers stride as freely as +if they had nothing upon their feet. + +Now children begin to appear, hurrying to school. The undulation of the +wide sleeves of their pretty speckled robes, as they run, looks +precisely like a fluttering of extraordinary butterflies. The junks +spread their great white or yellow wings, and the funnels of the little +steamers which have been slumbering all night by the wharves begin to +smoke. + +One of the tiny lake steamers lying at the opposite wharf has just +opened its steam-throat to utter the most unimaginable, piercing, +desperate, furious howl. When that cry is heard everybody laughs. The +other little steamboats utter only plaintive mooings, but unto this +particular vessel--newly built and launched by a rival company--there +has been given a voice expressive to the most amazing degree of reckless +hostility and savage defiance. The good people of Matsue, upon hearing +its voice for the first time, gave it forthwith a new and just name-- +Okami-Maru. 'Maru' signifies a steamship. 'Okami' signifies a wolf. + +º6 + +A very curious little object now comes slowly floating down the river, +and I do not think that you could possibly guess what it is. + +The Hotoke, or Buddhas, and the beneficent Kami are not the only +divinities worshipped by the Japanese of the poorer classes. The deities +of evil, or at least some of them, are duly propitiated upon certain +occasions, and requited by offerings whenever they graciously vouchsafe +to inflict a temporary ill instead of an irremediable misfortune. [4] +(After all, this is no more irrational than the thanksgiving prayer at +the close of the hurricane season in the West Indies, after the +destruction by storm of twenty-two thousand lives.) So men sometimes +pray to Ekibiogami, the God of Pestilence, and to Kaze-no-Kami, the God +of Wind and of Bad Colds, and to Hoso-no-Kami, the God of Smallpox, and +to divers evil genii. + +Now when a person is certainly going to get well of smallpox a feast is +given to the Hoso-no-Kami, much as a feast is given to the Fox-God when +a possessing fox has promised to allow himself to be cast out. Upon a +sando-wara, or small straw mat, such as is used to close the end of a +rice-bale, one or more kawarake, or small earthenware vessels, are +placed. These are filled with a preparation of rice and red beans, +called adzukimeshi, whereof both Inari-Sama and Hoso-no-Kami are +supposed to be very fond. Little bamboo wands with gohei (paper +cuttings) fastened to them are then planted either in the mat or in the +adzukimeshi, and the colour of these gohei must be red. (Be it observed +that the gohei of other Kami are always white.) This offering is then +either suspended to a tree, or set afloat in some running stream at a +considerable distance from the home of the convalescent. This is called +'seeing the God off.' + +º7 + +The long white bridge with its pillars of iron is recognisably modern. +It was, in fact, opened to the public only last spring with great +ceremony. According to some most ancient custom, when a new bridge has +been built the first persons to pass over it must be the happiest of the +community. So the authorities of Matsue sought for the happiest folk, +and selected two aged men who had both been married for more than half a +century, and who had had not less than twelve children, and had never +lost any of them. These good patriarchs first crossed the bridge, +accompanied by their venerable wives, and followed by their grown-up +children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, amidst a great clamour +of rejoicing, the showering of fireworks, and the firing of cannon. + +But the ancient bridge so recently replaced by this structure was much +more picturesque, curving across the flood and supported upon +multitudinous feet, like a long-legged centipede of the innocuous kind. +For three hundred years it had stood over the stream firmly and well, +and it had its particular tradition. + +When Horio Yoshiharu, the great general who became daimyo of Izumo in +the Keicho era, first undertook to put a bridge over the mouth of this +river, the builders laboured in vain; for there appeared to be no solid +bottom for the pillars of the bridge to rest upon. Millions of great +stones were cast into the river to no purpose, for the work constructed +by day was swept away or swallowed up by night. Nevertheless, at last +the bridge was built, but the pillars began to sink soon after it was +finished; then a flood carried half of it away and as often as it was +repaired so often it was wrecked. Then a human sacrifice was made to +appease the vexed spirits of the flood. A man was buried alive in the +river-bed below the place of the middle pillar, where the current is +most treacherous, and thereafter the bridge remained immovable for three +hundred years. + +This victim was one Gensuke, who had lived in the street Saikamachi; for +it had been determined that the first man who should cross the bridge +wearing hakama without a machi [5] should be put under the bridge; and +Gensuke sought to pass over not having a machi in his hakama, so they +sacrificed him Wherefore the midmost pillar of the bridge was for three +hundred years called by his name--Gensuke-bashira. It is averred that +upon moonless nights a ghostly fire flitted about that pillar--always +in the dead watch hour between two and three; and the colour of the +light was red, though I am assured that in Japan, as in other lands, the +fires of the dead are most often blue. + +º8 + +Now some say that Gensuke was not the name of a man, but the name of an +era, corrupted by local dialect into the semblance of a personal +appellation. Yet so profoundly is the legend believed, that when the new +bridge was being built thousands of country folk were afraid to come to +town; for a rumour arose that a new victim was needed, who was to be +chosen from among them, and that it had been determined to make the +choice from those who still wore their hair in queues after the ancient +manner. Wherefore hundreds of aged men cut off their queues. Then +another rumour was circulated to the effect that the police had been +secretly instructed to seize the one-thousandth person of those who +crossed the new bridge the first day, and to treat him after the manner +of Gensuke. And at the time of the great festival of the Rice-God, when +the city is usually thronged by farmers coming to worship at the many +shrines of Inari this year there came but few; and the loss to local +commerce was estimated at several thousand yen. + +The vapours have vanished, sharply revealing a beautiful little islet in +the lake, lying scarcely half a mile away--a low, narrow strip of land +with a Shinto shrine upon it, shadowed by giant pines; not pines like +ours, but huge, gnarled, shaggy, tortuous shapes, vast-reaching like +ancient oaks. Through a glass one can easily discern a torii, and before +it two symbolic lions of stone (Kara-shishi), one with its head broken +off, doubtless by its having been overturned and dashed about by heavy +waves during some great storm. This islet is sacred to Benten, the +Goddess of Eloquence and Beauty, wherefore it is called Benten-no-shima. +But it is more commonly called Yomega-shima, or 'The Island of the Young +Wife,' by reason of a legend. It is said that it arose in one night, +noiselessly as a dream, bearing up from the depths of the lake the body +of a drowned woman who had been very lovely, very pious, and very +unhappy. The people, deeming this a sign from heaven, consecrated the +islet to Benten, and thereon built a shrine unto her, planted trees +about it, set a torii before it, and made a rampart about it with great +curiously-shaped stones; and there they buried the drowned woman. + +Now the sky is blue down to the horizon, the air is a caress of spring. +I go forth to wander through the queer old city. + +º 10 + +I perceive that upon the sliding doors, or immediately above the +principal entrance of nearly every house, are pasted oblong white papers +bearing ideographic inscriptions; and overhanging every threshold I see +the sacred emblem of Shinto, the little rice-straw rope with its long +fringe of pendent stalks. The white papers at once interest me; for they +are ofuda, or holy texts and charms, of which I am a devout collector. +Nearly all are from temples in Matsue or its vicinity; and the Buddhist +ones indicate by the sacred words upon them to what particular shu or +sect, the family belong--for nearly every soul in this community +professes some form of Buddhism as well as the all-dominant and more +ancient faith of Shinto. And even one quite ignorant of Japanese +ideographs can nearly always distinguish at a glance the formula of the +great Nichiren sect from the peculiar appearance of the column of +characters composing it, all bristling with long sharp points and +banneret zigzags, like an army; the famous text Namu-myo-ho-ren-gekyo +inscribed of old upon the flag of the great captain Kato Kiyomasa, the +extirpator of Spanish Christianity, the glorious vir ter execrandus of +the Jesuits. Any pilgrim belonging to this sect has the right to call at +whatever door bears the above formula and ask for alms or food. + +But by far the greater number of the ofuda are Shinto Upon almost every +door there is one ofuda especially likely to attract the attention of a +stranger, because at the foot of the column of ideographs composing its +text there are two small figures of foxes, a black and a white fox, +facing each other in a sitting posture, each with a little bunch of +rice-straw in its mouth, instead of the more usual emblematic key. These +ofuda are from the great Inari temple of Oshiroyama, [6] within the +castle grounds, and are charms against fire. They represent, indeed, the +only form of assurance against fire yet known in Matsue, so far, at +least, as wooden dwellings are concerned. And although a single spark +and a high wind are sufficient in combination to obliterate a larger +city in one day, great fires are unknown in Matsue, and small ones are +of rare occurrence. + +The charm is peculiar to the city; and of the Inari in question this +tradition exists: + +When Naomasu, the grandson of Iyeyasu, first came to Matsue to rule the +province, there entered into his presence a beautiful boy, who said: 'I +came hither from the home of your august father in Echizen, to protect +you from all harm. But I have no dwelling-place, and am staying +therefore at the Buddhist temple of Fu-mon-in. Now if you will make for +me a dwelling within the castle grounds, I will protect from fire the +buildings there and the houses of the city, and your other residence +likewise which is in the capital. For I am Inari Shinyemon.' With these +words he vanished from sight. Therefore Naomasu dedicated to him the +great temple which still stands in the castle grounds, surrounded by one +thousand foxes of stone. + +º11 + +I now turn into a narrow little street, which, although so ancient that +its dwarfed two-story houses have the look of things grown up from the +ground, is called the Street of the New Timber. New the timber may have +been one hundred and fifty years ago; but the tints of the structures +would ravish an artist--the sombre ashen tones of the woodwork, the +furry browns of old thatch, ribbed and patched and edged with the warm +soft green of those velvety herbs and mosses which flourish upon +Japanesese roofs. + +However, the perspective of the street frames in a vision more +surprising than any details of its mouldering homes. Between very lofty +bamboo poles, higher than any of the dwellings, and planted on both +sides of the street in lines, extraordinary black nets are stretched, +like prodigious cobwebs against the sky, evoking sudden memories of +those monster spiders which figure in Japanese mythology and in the +picture-books of the old artists. But these are only fishing-nets of +silken thread; and this is the street of the fishermen. I take my way to +the great bridge. + +º12 + +A stupendous ghost! + +Looking eastward from the great bridge over those sharply beautiful +mountains, green and blue, which tooth the horizon, I see a glorious +spectre towering to the sky. Its base is effaced by far mists: out of +the air the thing would seem to have shaped itself--a phantom cone, +diaphanously grey below, vaporously white above, with a dream of +perpetual snow--the mighty mountain of Daisen. + +At the first approach of winter it will in one night become all blanched +from foot to crest; and then its snowy pyramid so much resembles that +Sacred Mountain, often compared by poets to a white inverted fan, half +opened, hanging in the sky, that it is called Izumo-Fuji, 'the Fuji of +Izumo.' But it is really in Hoki, not in Izumo, though it cannot be seen +from any part of Hoki to such advantage as from here. It is the one +sublime spectacle of this charming land; but it is visible only when the +air is very pure. Many are the marvellous legends related concerning it, +and somewhere upon its mysterious summit the Tengu are believed to +dwell. + +º 13 + +At the farther end of the bridge, close to the wharf where the little +steamboats are, is a very small Jizo temple (Jizo-do). Here are kept +many bronze drags; and whenever anyone has been drowned and the body not +recovered, these are borrowed from the little temple and the river is +dragged. If the body be thus found, a new drag must be presented to the +temple. + +From here, half a mile southward to the great Shinto temple of Tenjin, +deity of scholarship and calligraphy, broadly stretches Tenjinmachi, the +Street of the Rich Merchants, all draped on either side with dark blue +hangings, over which undulate with every windy palpitation from the lake +white wondrous ideographs, which are names and signs, while down the +wide way, in white perspective, diminishes a long line of telegraph +poles. + +Beyond the temple of Tenjin the city is again divided by a river, the +Shindotegawa, over which arches the bridge Tenjin-bashi. Again beyond +this other large quarters extend to the hills and curve along the lake +shore. But in the space between the two rivers is the richest and +busiest life of the city, and also the vast and curious quarter of the +temples. In this islanded district are likewise the theatres, and the +place where wrestling-matches are held, and most of the resorts of +pleasure. + +Parallel with Tenjinmachi runs the great street of the Buddhist temples, +or Teramachi, of which the eastern side is one unbroken succession of +temples--a solid front of court walls tile-capped, with imposing +gateways at regular intervals. Above this long stretch of tile-capped +wall rise the beautiful tilted massive lines of grey-blue temple roofs +against the sky. Here all the sects dwell side by side in harmony-- +Nichirenshu, Shingon-shu, Zen-shu, Tendai-shu, even that Shin-shu, +unpopular in Izumo because those who follow its teaching strictly must +not worship the Kami. Behind each temple court there is a cemetery, or +hakaba; and eastward beyond these are other temples, and beyond them yet +others--masses of Buddhist architecture mixed with shreds of gardens +and miniature homesteads, a huge labyrinth of mouldering courts and +fragments of streets. + +To-day, as usual, I find I can pass a few hours very profitably in +visiting the temples; in looking at the ancient images seated within the +cups of golden lotus-flowers under their aureoles of gold; in buying +curious mamori; in examining the sculptures of the cemeteries, where I +can nearly always find some dreaming Kwannon or smiling Jizo well worth +the visit. + +The great courts of Buddhist temples are places of rare interest for one +who loves to watch the life of the people; for these have been for +unremembered centuries the playing-places of the children. Generations +of happy infants have been amused in them. All the nurses, and little +girls who carry tiny brothers or sisters upon their backs, go thither +every morning that the sun shines; hundreds of children join them; and +they play at strange, funny games--'Onigokko,' or the game of Devil, +'Kage-Oni,' which signifies the Shadow and the Demon, and +'Mekusangokko,' which is a sort of 'blindman's buff.' + +Also, during the long summer evenings, these temples are wrestling- +grounds, free to all who love wrestling; and in many of them there is a +dohyo-ba, or wrestling-ring. Robust young labourers and sinewy artisans +come to these courts to test their strength after the day's tasks are +done, and here the fame of more than one now noted wrestler was first +made. When a youth has shown himself able to overmatch at wrestling all +others in his own district, he is challenged by champions of other +districts; and if he can overcome these also, he may hope eventually to +become a skilled and popular professional wrestler. + +It is also in the temple courts that the sacred dances are performed and +that public speeches are made. It is in the temple courts, too, that the +most curious toys are sold, on the occasion of the great holidays--toys +most of which have a religious signification. There are grand old trees, +and ponds full of tame fish, which put up their heads to beg for food +when your shadow falls upon the water. The holy lotus is cultivated +therein. + +'Though growing in the foulest slime, the flower remains pure and +undefiled. + +'And the soul of him who remains ever pure in the midst of temptation is +likened unto the lotus. + +'Therefore is the lotus carven or painted upon the furniture of temples; +therefore also does it appear in allthe representations of our Lord +Buddha. + +'In Paradise the blessed shall sit at ease enthroned upon the cups of +golden lotus-flowers.' [7] + +A bugle-call rings through the quaint street; and round the corner of +the last temple come marching a troop of handsome young riflemen, +uniformed somewhat like French light infantry, marching by fours so +perfectly that all the gaitered legs move as if belonging to a single +body, and every sword-bayonet catches the sun at exactly the same angle, +as the column wheels into view. These are the students of the Shihan- +Gakko, the College of Teachers, performing their daily military +exercises. Their professors give them lectures upon the microscopic +study of cellular tissues, upon the segregation of developing nerve +structure, upon spectrum analysis, upon the evolution of the colour +sense, and upon the cultivation of bacteria in glycerine infusions. And +they are none the less modest and knightly in manner for all their +modern knowledge, nor the less reverentially devoted to their dear old +fathers and mothers whose ideas were shaped in the era of feudalism. + +º14 + +Here come a band of pilgrims, with yellow straw overcoats, 'rain-coats' +(mino), and enormous yellow straw hats, mushroom-shaped, of which the +down-curving rim partly hides the face. All carry staffs, and wear their +robes well girded up so as to leave free the lower limbs, which are +inclosed in white cotton leggings of a peculiar and indescribable kind. +Precisely the same sort of costume was worn by the same class of +travellers many centuries ago; and just as you now see them trooping by +-whole families wandering together, the pilgrim child clinging to the +father's hands--so may you see them pass in quaint procession across +the faded pages of Japanese picture-books a hundred years old. + +At intervals they halt before some shop-front to look at the many +curious things which they greatly enjoy seeing, but which they have no +money to buy. + +I myself have become so accustomed to surprises, to interesting or +extraordinary sights, that when a day happens to pass during which +nothing remarkable has been heard or seen I feel vaguely discontented. +But such blank days are rare: they occur in my own case only when the +weather is too detestable to permit of going out-of-doors. For with ever +so little money one can always obtain the pleasure of looking at curious +things. And this has been one of the chief pleasures of the people in +Japan for centuries and centuries, for the nation has passed its +generations of lives in making or seeking such things. To divert one's +self seems, indeed, the main purpose of Japanese existence, beginning +with the opening of the baby's wondering eyes. The faces of the people +have an indescribable look of patient expectancy--the air of waiting +for something interesting to make its appearance. If it fail to appear, +they will travel to find it: they are astonishing pedestrians and +tireless pilgrims, and I think they make pilgrimages not more for the +sake of pleasing the gods than of pleasing themselves by the sight of +rare and pretty things. For every temple is a museum, and every hill and +valley throughout the land has its temple and its wonders. + +Even the poorest farmer, one so poor that he cannot afford to eat a +grain of his own rice, can afford to make a pilgrimage of a month's +duration; and during that season when the growing rice needs least +attention hundreds of thousands of the poorest go on pilgrimages. This +is possible, because from ancient times it has been the custom for +everybody to help pilgrims a little; and they can always find rest and +shelter at particular inns (kichinyado) which receive pilgrims only, and +where they are charged merely the cost of the wood used to cook their +food. + +But multitudes of the poor undertake pilgrimages requiring much more +than a month to perform, such as the pilgrimage to the thirty-three +great temples of Kwannon, or that to the eighty-eight temples of +Kobodaishi; and these, though years be needed to accomplish them, are as +nothing compared to the enormous Sengaji, the pilgrimage to the thousand +temples of the Nichiren sect. The time of a generation may pass ere this +can be made. One may begin it in early youth, and complete it only when +youth is long past. Yet there are several in Matsue, men and women, who +have made this tremendous pilgrimage, seeing all Japan, and supporting +themselves not merely by begging, but by some kinds of itinerant +peddling. + +The pilgrim who desires to perform this pilgrimage carries on his +shoulders a small box, shaped like a Buddhist shrine, in which he keeps +his spare clothes and food. He also carries a little brazen gong, which +he constantly sounds while passing through a city or village, at the +same time chanting the Namu-myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo; and he always bears with +him a little blank book, in which the priest of every temple visited +stamps the temple seal in red ink. The pilgrimage over, this book with +its one thousand seal impressions becomes an heirloom in the family of +the pilgrim. + +º15 + +I too must make divers pilgrimages, for all about the city, beyond the +waters or beyond the hills, lie holy places immemorially old. + +Kitzuki, founded by the ancient gods, who 'made stout the pillars upon +the nethermost rock bottom, and made high the cross-beams to the Plain +of High Heaven'--Kitzuki, the Holy of Holies, whose high-priest claims +descent from the Goddess of the Sun; and Ichibata, famed shrine of +Yakushi-Nyorai, who giveth sight to the blind--Ichibata-no-Yakushi, +whose lofty temple is approached by six hundred and forty steps of +stone; and Kiomidzu, shrine of Kwannon of the Eleven Faces, before whose +altar the sacred fire has burned without ceasing for a thousand years; +and Sada, where the Sacred Snake lies coiled for ever on the sambo of +the gods; and Oba, with its temples of Izanami and Izanagi, parents of +gods and men, the makers of the world; and Yaegaki, whither lovers go to +pray for unions with the beloved; and Kaka, Kaka-ura, Kaka-noKukedo San +-all these I hope to see. + +But of all places, Kaka-ura! Assuredly I must go to Kaka. Few pilgrims +go thither by sea, and boatmen are forbidden to go there if there be +even wind enough 'to move three hairs.' So that whosoever wishes to +visit Kaka must either wait for a period of dead calm--very rare upon +the coast of the Japanese Sea--or journey thereunto by land; and by +land the way is difficult and wearisome. But I must see Kaka. For at +Kaka, in a great cavern by the sea, there is a famous Jizo of stone; and +each night, it is said, the ghosts of little children climb to the high +cavern and pile up before the statue small heaps of pebbles; and every +morning, in the soft sand, there may be seen the fresh prints of tiny +naked feet, the feet of the infant ghosts. It is also said that in the +cavern there is a rock out of which comes a stream of milk, as from a +woman's breast; and the white stream flows for ever, and the phantom +children drink of it. Pilgrims bring with them gifts of small straw +sandals--the zori that children wear--and leave them before the +cavern, that the feet of the little ghosts may not be wounded by the +sharp rocks. And the pilgrim treads with caution, lest he should +overturn any of the many heaps of stones; for if this be done the +children cry. + +º16 + +The city proper is as level as a table, but is bounded on two sides by +low demilunes of charming hills shadowed with evergreen foliage and +crowned with temples or shrines. There are thirty-five thousand souls +dwelling in ten thousand houses forming thirty-three principal and many +smaller streets; and from each end of almost every street, beyond the +hills, the lake, or the eastern rice-fields, a mountain summit is always +visible--green, blue, or grey according to distance. One may ride, +walk, or go by boat to any quarter of the town; for it is not only +divided by two rivers, but is also intersected by numbers of canals +crossed by queer little bridges curved like a well-bent bow. +Architecturally (despite such constructions in European style as the +College of Teachers, the great public school, the Kencho, the new post- +office), it is much like other quaint Japanese towns; the structure of +its temples, taverns, shops, and private dwellings is the same as in +other cities of the western coast. But doubtless owing to the fact that +Matsue remained a feudal stronghold until a time within the memory of +thousands still living, those feudal distinctions of caste so sharply +drawn in ancient times are yet indicated with singular exactness by the +varying architecture of different districts. The city can be definitely +divided into three architectural quarters: the district of the merchants +and shop-keepers, forming the heart of the settlement, where all the +houses are two stories high; the district of the temples, including +nearly the whole south-eastern part of the town; and the district or +districts of the shizoku (formerly called samurai), comprising a vast +number of large, roomy, garden-girt, one-story dwellings. From these +elegant homes, in feudal days, could be summoned at a moment's notice +five thousand 'two-sworded men' with their armed retainers, making a +fighting total for the city alone of probably not less than thirteen +thousand warriors. More than one-third of all the city buildings were +then samurai homes; for Matsue was the military centre of the most +ancient province of Japan. At both ends of the town, which curves in a +crescent along the lake shore, were the two main settlements of samurai; +but just as some of the most important temples are situated outside of +the temple district, so were many of the finest homesteads of this +knightly caste situated in other quarters. They mustered most thickly, +however, about the castle, which stands to-day on the summit of its +citadel hill--the Oshiroyama--solid as when first built long centuries +ago, a vast and sinister shape, all iron-grey, rising against the sky +from a cyclopean foundation of stone. Fantastically grim the thing is, +and grotesquely complex in detail; looking somewhat like a huge pagoda, +of which the second, third, and fourth stories have been squeezed down +and telescoped into one another by their own weight. Crested at its +summit, like a feudal helmet, with two colossal fishes of bronze lifting +their curved bodies skyward from either angle of the roof, and bristling +with horned gables and gargoyled eaves and tilted puzzles of tiled +roofing at every story, the creation is a veritable architectural +dragon, made up of magnificent monstrosities--a dragon, moreover, full +of eyes set at all conceivable angles, above below, and on every side. +From under the black scowl of the loftiest eaves, looking east and +south, the whole city can be seen at a single glance, as in the vision +of a soaring hawk; and from the northern angle the view plunges down +three hundred feet to the castle road, where walking figures of men +appear no larger than flies. + +º17 + +The grim castle has its legend. + +It is related that, in accordance with some primitive and barbarous +custom, precisely like that of which so terrible a souvenir has been +preserved for us in the most pathetic of Servian ballads, 'The +Foundation of Skadra,' a maiden of Matsue was interred alive under the +walls of the castle at the time of its erection, as a sacrifice to some +forgotten gods. Her name has never been recorded; nothing concerning her +is remembered except that she was beautiful and very fond of dancing. + +Now after the castle had been built, it is said that a law had to be +passed forbidding that any girl should dance in the streets of Matsue. +For whenever any maiden danced the hill Oshiroyama would shudder, and +the great castle quiver from basement to summit. + +º18 + +One may still sometimes hear in the streets a very humorous song, which +every one in town formerly knew by heart, celebrating the Seven Wonders +of Matsue. For Matsue was formerly divided into seven quarters, in each +of which some extraordinary object or person was to be seen. It is now +divided into five religious districts, each containing a temple of the +State religion. People living within those districts are called ujiko, +and the temple the ujigami, or dwelling-place of the tutelary god. The +ujiko must support the ujigami. (Every village and town has at least one +ujigami.) + +There is probably not one of the multitudinous temples of Matsue which +has not some marvellous tradition attached to it; each of the districts +has many legends; and I think that each of the thirty-three streets has +its own special ghost story. Of these ghost stories I cite two +specimens: they are quite representative of one variety of Japanese +folk-lore. + +Near to the Fu-mon-in temple, which is in the north-eastern quarter, +there is a bridge called Adzuki-togi-bashi, or The Bridge of the Washing +of Peas. For it was said in other years that nightly a phantom woman sat +beneath that bridge washing phantom peas. There is an exquisite Japanese +iris-flower, of rainbow-violet colour, which flower is named kaki- +tsubata; and there is a song about that flower called kaki-tsubata-no- +uta. Now this song must never be sung near the Adzuki-togi-bashi, +because, for some strange reason which seems to have been forgotten, the +ghosts haunting that place become so angry upon hearing it that to sing +it there is to expose one's self to the most frightful calamities. There +was once a samurai who feared nothing, who one night went to that bridge +and loudly sang the song. No ghost appearing, he laughed and went home. +At the gate of his house he met a beautiful tall woman whom he had never +seen before, and who, bowing, presented him with a lacquered box-fumi- +bako--such as women keep their letters in. He bowed to her in his +knightly way; but she said, 'I am only the servant--this is my +mistress's gift,' and vanished out of his sight. Opening the box, he saw +the bleeding head of a young child. Entering his house, he found upon +the floor of the guest-room the dead body of his own infant son with the +head torn off. + +Of the cemetery Dai-Oji, which is in the street called Nakabaramachi, +this story is told- + +In Nakabaramachi there is an ameya, or little shop in which midzu-ame is +sold--the amber-tinted syrup, made of malt, which is given to children +when milk cannot be obtained for them. Every night at a late hour there +came to that shop a very pale woman, all in white, to buy one rin [8] +worth of midzu-ame. The ame-seller wondered that she was so thin and +pale, and often questioned her kindly; but she answered nothing. At last +one night he followed her, out of curiosity. She went to the cemetery; +and he became afraid and returned. + +The next night the woman came again, but bought no midzu-ame, and only +beckoned to the man to go with her. He followed her, with friends, into +the cemetery. She walked to a certain tomb, and there disappeared; and +they heard, under the ground, the crying of a child. Opening the tomb, +they saw within it the corpse of the woman who nightly visited the +ameya, with a living infant, laughing to see the lantern light, and +beside the infant a little cup of midzu-ame. For the mother had been +prematurely buried; the child was born in the tomb, and the ghost of the +mother had thus provided for it--love being stronger than death. + +º19 + +Over the Tenjin-bashi, or Bridge of Tenjin, and through small streets +and narrow of densely populated districts, and past many a tenantless +and mouldering feudal homestead, I make my way to the extreme south- +western end of the city, to watch the sunset from a little sobaya [9] +facing the lake. For to see the sun sink from this sobaya is one of the +delights of Matsue. + +There are no such sunsets in Japan as in the tropics: the light is +gentle as a light of dreams; there are no furies of colour; there are no +chromatic violences in nature in this Orient. All in sea or sky is tint +rather than colour, and tint vapour-toned. I think that the exquisite +taste of the race in the matter of colours and of tints, as exemplified +in the dyes of their wonderful textures, is largely attributable to the +sober and delicate beauty of nature's tones in this all-temperate world +where nothing is garish. + +Before me the fair vast lake sleeps, softly luminous, far-ringed with +chains of blue volcanic hills shaped like a sierra. On my right, at its +eastern end, the most ancient quarter of the city spreads its roofs of +blue-grey tile; the houses crowd thickly down to the shore, to dip their +wooden feet into the flood. With a glass I can see my own windows and +the far-spreading of the roofs beyond, and above all else the green +citadel with its grim castle, grotesquely peaked. The sun begins to set, +and exquisite astonishments of tinting appear in water and sky. + +Dead rich purples cloud broadly behind and above the indigo blackness of +the serrated hills--mist purples, fading upward smokily into faint +vermilions and dim gold, which again melt up through ghostliest greens +into the blue. The deeper waters of the lake, far away, take a tender +violet indescribable, and the silhouette of the pine-shadowed island +seems to float in that sea of soft sweet colour. But the shallower and +nearer is cut from the deeper water by the current as sharply as by a +line drawn, and all the surface on this side of that line is a +shimmering bronze--old rich ruddy gold-bronze. + +All the fainter colours change every five minutes,--wondrously change +and shift like tones and shades of fine shot-silks. + +º20 + +Often in the streets at night, especially on the nights of sacred +festivals (matsuri), one's attention will be attracted to some small +booth by the spectacle of an admiring and perfectly silent crowd +pressing before it. As soon as one can get a chance to look one finds +there is nothing to look at but a few vases containing sprays of +flowers, or perhaps some light gracious branches freshly cut from a +blossoming tree. It is simply a little flower-show, or, more correctly, +a free exhibition of master skill in the arrangement of flowers. For the +Japanese do not brutally chop off flower-heads to work them up into +meaningless masses of colour, as we barbarians do: they love nature too +well for that; they know how much the natural charm of the flower +depends upon its setting and mounting, its relation to leaf and stem, +and they select a single graceful branch or spray just as nature made +it. At first you will not, as a Western stranger, comprehend such an +exhibition at all: you are yet a savage in such matters compared with +the commonest coolies about you. But even while you are still wondering +at popular interest in this simple little show, the charm of it will +begin to grow upon you, will become a revelation to you; and, despite +your Occidental idea of self-superiority, you will feel humbled by the +discovery that all flower displays you have ever seen abroad were only +monstrosities in comparison with the natural beauty of those few simple +sprays. You will also observe how much the white or pale blue screen +behind the flowers enhances the effect by lamp or lantern light. For the +screen has been arranged with the special purpose of showing the +exquisiteness of plant shadows; and the sharp silhouettes of sprays and +blossoms cast thereon are beautiful beyond the imagining of any Western +decorative artist. + +º21 + +It is still the season of mists in this land whose most ancient name +signifies the Place of the Issuing of Clouds. With the passing of +twilight a faint ghostly brume rises over lake and landscape, spectrally +veiling surfaces, slowly obliterating distances. As I lean over the +parapet of the Tenjin-bashi, on my homeward way, to take one last look +eastward, I find that the mountains have already been effaced. Before me +there is only a shadowy flood far vanishing into vagueness without a +horizon--the phantom of a sea. And I become suddenly aware that little +white things are fluttering slowly down into it from the fingers of a +woman standing upon the bridge beside me, and murmuring something in a +low sweet voice. She is praying for her dead child. Each of those little +papers she is dropping into the current bears a tiny picture of Jizo and +perhaps a little inscription. For when a child dies the mother buys a +small woodcut (hanko) of Jizo, and with it prints the image of the +divinity upon one hundred little papers. And she sometimes also writes +upon the papers words signifying 'For the sake of . .'--inscribing +never the living, but the kaimyo or soul-name only, which the Buddhist +priest has given to the dead, and which is written also upon the little +commemorative tablet kept within the Buddhist household shrine, or +butsuma. Then, upon a fixed day (most commonly the forty-ninth day after +the burial), she goes to some place of running water and drops the +little papers therein one by one; repeating, as each slips through her +fingers, the holy invocation, 'Namu Jizo, Dai Bosatsu!' + +Doubtless this pious little woman, praying beside me in the dusk, is +very poor. Were she not, she would hire a boat and scatter her tiny +papers far away upon the bosom of the lake. (It is now only after dark +that this may be done; for the police-I know not why--have been +instructed to prevent the pretty rite, just as in the open ports they +have been instructed to prohibit the launching of the little straw boats +of the dead, the shoryobune.) + +But why should the papers be cast into running water? A good old Tendai +priest tells me that originally the rite was only for the souls of the +drowned. But now these gentle hearts believe that all waters flow +downward to the Shadow-world and through the Sai-no-Kawara, where Jizo +is. + +º 22 + +At home again, I slide open once more my little paper window, and look +out upon the night. I see the paper lanterns flitting over the bridge, +like a long shimmering of fireflies. I see the spectres of a hundred +lights trembling upon the black flood. I see the broad shoji of +dwellings beyond the river suffused with the soft yellow radiance of +invisible lamps; and upon those lighted spaces I can discern slender +moving shadows, silhouettes of graceful women. Devoutly do I pray that +glass may never become universally adopted in Japan--there would be no +more delicious shadows. + +I listen to the voices of the city awhile. I hear the great bell of +Tokoji rolling its soft Buddhist thunder across the dark, and the songs +of the night-walkers whose hearts have been made merry with wine, and +the long sonorous chanting of the night-peddlers. + +'U-mu-don-yai-soba-yai!' It is the seller of hot soba, Japanese +buckwheat, making his last round. + +'Umai handan, machibito endan, usemono ninso kaso kichikyo no urainai!' +The cry of the itinerant fortune-teller. + +'Ame-yu!' The musical cry of the seller of midzu-ame, the sweet amber +syrup which children love. + +'Amail' The shrilling call of the seller of amazake, sweet rice wine. + +'Kawachi-no-kuni-hiotan-yama-koi-no-tsuji-ura!' The peddler of love- +papers, of divining-papers, pretty tinted things with little shadowy +pictures upon them. When held near a fire or a lamp, words written upon +them with invisible ink begin to appear. These are always about +sweethearts, and sometimes tell one what he does not wish to know. The +fortunate ones who read them believe themselves still more fortunate; +the unlucky abandon all hope; the jealous become even more jealous than +they were before. + +From all over the city there rises into the night a sound like the +bubbling and booming of great frogs in a march--the echoing of the tiny +drums of the dancing-girls, of the charming geisha. Like the rolling of +a waterfall continually reverberates the multitudinous pattering of geta +upon the bridge. A new light rises in the east; the moon is wheeling up +from behind the peaks, very large and weird and wan through the white +vapours. Again I hear the sounds of the clapping of many hands. For the +wayfarers are paying obeisance to O-Tsuki-San: from the long bridge they +are saluting the coming of the White Moon-Lady.[10] + +I sleep, to dream of little children, in some mouldering mossy temple +court, playing at the game of Shadows and of Demons. + + + +Chapter Eight Kitzuki: The Most Ancient Shrine of Japan + + +SHINKOKU is the sacred name of Japan--Shinkoku, 'The Country of the +Gods'; and of all Shinkoku the most holy ground is the land of Izumo. +Hither from the blue Plain of High Heaven first came to dwell awhile the +Earth-makers, Izanagi and Izanami, the parents of gods and of men; +somewhere upon the border of this land was Izanami buried; and out of +this land into the black realm of the dead did Izanagi follow after her, +and seek in vain to bring her back again. And the tale of his descent +into that strange nether world, and of what there befell him, is it not +written in the Kojiki? [1] And of all legends primeval concerning the +Underworld this story is one of the weirdest--more weird than even the +Assyrian legend of the Descent of Ishtar. + +Even as Izumo is especially the province of the gods, and the place of +the childhood of the race by whom Izanagi and Izanami are yet worshiped, +so is Kitzuki of Izumo especially the city of the gods, and its +immemorial temple the earliest home of the ancient faith, the great +religion of Shinto. + +Now to visit Kitzuki has been my most earnest ambition since I learned +the legends of the Kojiki concerning it; and this ambition has been +stimulated by the discovery that very few Europeans have visited +Kitzuki, and that none have been admitted into the great temple itself. +Some, indeed, were not allowed even to approach the temple court. But I +trust that I shall be somewhat more fortunate; for I have a letter of +introduction from my dear friend Nishida Sentaro, who is also a personal +friend of the high pontiff of Kitzuki. I am thus assured that even +should I not be permitted to enter the temple--a privilege accorded to +but few among the Japanese themselves--I shall at least have the honour +of an interview with the Guji, or Spiritual Governor of Kitzuki, Senke +Takanori, whose princely family trace back their descent to the Goddess +of the Sun. [2] + +º1 + +I leave Matsue for Kitzuki early in the afternoon of a beautiful +September day; taking passage upon a tiny steamer in which everything, +from engines to awnings, is Lilliputian. In the cabin one must kneel. +Under the awnings one cannot possibly stand upright. But the miniature +craft is neat and pretty as a toy model, and moves with surprising +swiftness and steadiness. A handsome naked boy is busy serving the +passengers with cups of tea and with cakes, and setting little charcoal +furnaces before those who desire to smoke: for all of which a payment of +about three-quarters of a cent is expected. + +I escape from the awnings to climb upon the cabin roof for a view; and +the view is indescribably lovely. Over the lucent level of the lake we +are steaming toward a far-away heaping of beautiful shapes, coloured +with that strangely delicate blue which tints all distances in the +Japanese atmosphere--shapes of peaks and headlands looming up from the +lake verge against a porcelain-white horizon. They show no details, +whatever. Silhouettes only they are--masses of absolutely pure colour. +To left and right, framing in the Shinjiko, are superb green surgings of +wooded hills. Great Yakuno-San is the loftiest mountain before us, +north-west. South-east, behind us, the city has vanished; but proudly +towering beyond looms Daisen--enormous, ghostly blue and ghostly white, +lifting the cusps of its dead crater into the region of eternal snow. +Over all arches a sky of colour faint as a dream. + +There seems to be a sense of divine magic in the very atmosphere, +through all the luminous day, brooding over the vapoury land, over the +ghostly blue of the flood--a sense of Shinto. With my fancy full of the +legends of the Kojiki, the rhythmic chant of the engines comes to my +ears as the rhythm of a Shinto ritual mingled with the names of gods: + +Koto-shiro-nushi-no-Kami, Oho-kuni-nushi-no-Kami. + +º2 + +The great range on the right grows loftier as we steam on; and its +hills, always slowly advancing toward us, begin to reveal all the rich +details of their foliage. And lo! on the tip of one grand wood-clad peak +is visible against the pure sky the many-angled roof of a great Buddhist +temple. That is the temple of Ichibata, upon the mountain Ichibata-yama, +the temple of Yakushi-Nyorai, the Physician of Souls. But at Ichibata he +reveals himself more specially as the healer of bodies, the Buddha who +giveth sight unto the blind. It is believed that whosoever has an +affection of the eyes will be made well by praying earnestly at that +great shrine; and thither from many distant provinces do afflicted +thousands make pilgrimage, ascending the long weary mountain path and +the six hundred and forty steps of stone leading to the windy temple +court upon the summit, whence may be seen one of the loveliest +landscapes in Japan. There the pilgrims wash their eyes with the water +of the sacred spring, and kneel before the shrine and murmur the holy +formula of Ichibata: 'On-koro-koro-sendai-matoki-sowaka'--words of +which the meaning has long been forgotten, like that of many a Buddhist +invocation; Sanscrit words transliterated into Chinese, and thence into +Japanese, which are understood by learned priests alone, yet are known +by heart throughout the land, and uttered with the utmost fervour of +devotion. + +I descend from the cabin roof, and squat upon the deck, under the +awnings, to have a smoke with Akira. And I ask: + +'How many Buddhas are there, O Akira? Is the number of the Enlightened +known?' + +'Countless the Buddhas are,' makes answer Akira; 'yet there is truly but +one Buddha; the many are forms only. Each of us contains a future +Buddha. Alike we all are except in that we are more or less unconscious +of the truth. But the vulgar may not understand these things, and so +seek refuge in symbols and in forms.' + +'And the Kami,--the deities of Shinto?' + +'Of Shinto I know little. But there are eight hundred myriads of Kami in +the Plain of High Heaven--so says the Ancient Book. Of these, three +thousand one hundred and thirty and two dwell in the various provinces +of the land; being enshrined in two thousand eight hundred and sixty-one +temples. And the tenth month of our year is called the "No-God-month," +because in that month all the deities leave their temples to assemble in +the province of Izumo, at the great temple of Kitzuki; and for the same +reason that month is called in Izumo, and only in Izumo, the "God-is- +month." But educated persons sometimes call it the "God-present- +festival," using Chinese words. Then it is believed the serpents come +from the sea to the land, and coil upon the sambo, which is the table of +the gods, for the serpents announce the coming; and the Dragon-King +sends messengers to the temples of Izanagi and Izanami, the parents of +gods and men.' + +'O Akira, many millions of Kami there must be of whom I shall always +remain ignorant, for there is a limit to the power of memory; but tell +me something of the gods whose names are most seldom uttered, the +deities of strange places and of strange things, the most extraordinary +gods.' + +'You cannot learn much about them from me,' replies Akira. 'You will +have to ask others more learned than I. But there are gods with whom it +is not desirable to become acquainted. Such are the God of Poverty, and +the God of Hunger, and the God of Penuriousness, and the God of +Hindrances and Obstacles. These are of dark colour, like the clouds of +gloomy days, and their faces are like the faces of gaki.' [3] + +'With the God of Hindrances and Obstacles, O Akira I have had more than +a passing acquaintance. Tell me of the others.' + +'I know little about any of them,' answers Akira, 'excepting Bimbogami. +It is said there are two gods who always go together,--Fuku-no-Kami, +who is the God of Luck, and Bimbogami, who is the God of Poverty. The +first is white, and the second is black.' + +'Because the last,' I venture to interrupt, 'is only the shadow of the +first. Fuku-no-Kami is the Shadow-caster, and Bimbogami the Shadow; and +I have observed, in wandering about this world, that wherever the one +goeth, eternally followeth after him the other.' + +Akira refuses his assent to this interpretation, and resumes: + +'When Bimbogami once begins to follow anyone it is extremely difficult +to be free from him again. In the village of Umitsu, which is in the +province of Omi, and not far from Kyoto, there once lived a Buddhist +priest who during many years was grievously tormented by Bimbogami. He +tried oftentimes without avail to drive him away; then he strove to +deceive him by proclaiming aloud to all the people that he was going to +Kyoto. But instead of going to Kyoto he went to Tsuruga, in the province +of Echizen; and when he reached the inn at Tsuruga there came forth to +meet him a boy lean and wan like a gaki. The boy said to him, "I have +been waiting for you"--and the boy was Bimbogami. + +'There was another priest who for sixty years had tried in vain to get +rid of Bimbogami, and who resolved at last to go to a distant province. +On the night after he had formed this resolve he had a strange dream, in +which he saw a very much emaciated boy, naked and dirty, weaving sandals +of straw (waraji), such as pilgrims and runners wear; and he made so +many that the priest wondered, and asked him, "For what purpose are you +making so many sandals?" And the boy answered, "I am going to travel +with you. I am Bimbogami."' + +'Then is there no way, Akira, by which Bimbogami may be driven away?' + +'It is written,' replies Akira, 'in the book called Jizo-Kyo-Kosui that +the aged Enjobo, a priest dwelling in the province of Owari, was able to +get rid of Bimbogami by means of a charm. On the last day of the last +month of the year he and his disciples and other priests of the Shingon +sect took branches of peach-trees and recited a formula, and then, with +the branches, imitated the action of driving a person out of the temple, +after which they shut all the gates and recited other formulas. The same +night Enjobo dreamed of a skeleton priest in a broken temple weeping +alone, and the skeleton priest said to him, "After I had been with you +for so many years, how could you drive me away?" But always thereafter +until the day of his death, Enjobo lived in prosperity.' + +º3 + +For an hour and a half the ranges to left and right alternately recede +and approach. Beautiful blue shapes glide toward us, change to green, +and then, slowly drifting behind us, are all blue again. But the far +mountains immediately before us--immovable, unchanging--always remain +ghosts. Suddenly the little steamer turns straight into the land--a +land so low that it came into sight quite unexpectedly--and we puff up +a narrow stream between rice-fields to a queer, quaint, pretty village +on the canal bank--Shobara. Here I must hire jinricksha to take us to +Kitzuki. + +There is not time to see much of Shobara if I hope to reach Kitzuki +before bedtime, and I have only a flying vision of one long wide street +(so picturesque that I wish I could pass a day in it), as our kuruma +rush through the little town into the open country, into a vast plain +covered with rice-fields. The road itself is only a broad dike, barely +wide enough for two jinricksha to pass each other upon it. On each side +the superb plain is bounded by a mountain range shutting off the white +horizon. There is a vast silence, an immense sense of dreamy peace, and +a glorious soft vapoury light over everything, as we roll into the +country of Hyasugi to Kaminawoe. The jagged range on the left is Shusai- +yama, all sharply green, with the giant Daikoku-yama overtopping all; +and its peaks bear the names of gods. Much more remote, upon our right, +enormous, pansy-purple, tower the shapes of the Kita-yama, or northern +range; filing away in tremendous procession toward the sunset, fading +more and more as they stretch west, to vanish suddenly at last, after +the ghostliest conceivable manner, into the uttermost day. + +All this is beautiful; yet there is no change while hours pass. Always +the way winds on through miles of rice-fields, white-speckled with +paper-winged shafts which are arrows of prayer. Always the voice of +frogs--a sound as of infinite bubbling. Always the green range on the +left, the purple on the right, fading westward into a tall file of +tinted spectres which always melt into nothing at last, as if they were +made of air. The monotony of the scene is broken only by our occasional +passing through some pretty Japanese village, or by the appearance of a +curious statue or monument at an angle of the path, a roadside Jizo, or +the grave of a wrestler, such as may be seen on the bank of the Hiagawa, +a huge slab of granite sculptured with the words, 'Ikumo Matsu +kikusuki.' + +But after reaching Kandogori, and passing over a broad but shallow +river, a fresh detail appears in the landscape. Above the mountain chain +on our left looms a colossal blue silhouette, almost saddle-shaped, +recognisable by its outline as a once mighty volcano. It is now known by +various names, but it was called in ancient times Sa-hime-yama; and it +has its Shinto legend. + +It is said that in the beginning the God of Izumo, gazing over the land, +said, 'This new land of Izumo is a land of but small extent, so I will +make it a larger land by adding unto it.' Having so said, he looked +about him over to Korea, and there he saw land which was good for the +purpose. With a great rope he dragged therefrom four islands, and added +the land of them to Izumo. The first island was called Ya-o-yo-ne, and +it formed the land where Kitzuki now is. The second island was called +Sada-no-kuni, and is at this day the site of the holy temple where all +the gods do yearly hold their second assembly, after having first +gathered together at Kitzuki. The third island was called in its new +place Kurami-no-kuni, which now forms Shimane-gori. The fourth island +became that place where stands the temple of the great god at whose +shrine are delivered unto the faithful the charms which protect the +rice-fields. [4] + +Now in drawing these islands across the sea into their several places +the god looped his rope over the mighty mountain of Daisen and over the +mountain Sa-hime-yama; and they both bear the marks of that wondrous +rope even unto this day. As for the rope itself, part of it was changed +into the long island of ancient times [5] called Yomi-ga-hama, and a +part into the Long Beach of Sono. + +After we pass the Hori-kawa the road narrows and becomes rougher and +rougher, but always draws nearer to the Kitayama range. Toward sundown +we have come close enough to the great hills to discern the details of +their foliage. The path begins to rise; we ascend slowly through the +gathering dusk. At last there appears before us a great multitude of +twinkling lights. We have reached Kitzuki, the holy city. + +º4 + +Over a long bridge and under a tall torii we roll into upward-sloping +streets. Like Enoshima, Kitzuki has a torii for its city gate; but the +torii is not of bronze. Then a flying vision of open lamp-lighted shop- +fronts, and lines of luminous shoji under high-tilted eaves, and +Buddhist gateways guarded by lions of stone, and long, low, tile-coped +walls of temple courts overtopped by garden shrubbery, and Shinto +shrines prefaced by other tall torii; but no sign of the great temple +itself. It lies toward the rear of the city proper, at the foot of the +wooded mountains; and we are too tired and hungry to visit it now. So we +halt before a spacious and comfortable-seeming inn,--the best, indeed, +in Kitzuki--and rest ourselves and eat, and drink sake out of exquisite +little porcelain cups, the gift of some pretty singing-girl to the +hotel. Thereafter, as it has become much too late to visit the Guji, I +send to his residence by a messenger my letter of introduction, with an +humble request in Akira's handwriting, that I may be allowed to present +myself at the house before noon the next day. + +Then the landlord of the hotel, who seems to be a very kindly person, +comes to us with lighted paper lanterns, and invites us to accompany him +to the Oho-yashiro. + +Most of the houses have already closed their wooden sliding doors for +the night, so that the streets are dark, and the lanterns of our +landlord indispensable; for there is no moon, and the night is starless. +We walk along the main street for a distance of about six squares, and +then, making a tum, find ourselves before a superb bronze torii, the +gateway to the great temple avenue. + +º5 + +Effacing colours and obliterating distances, night always magnifies by +suggestion the aspect of large spaces and the effect of large objects. +Viewed by the vague light of paper lanterns, the approach to the great +shrine is an imposing surprise--such a surprise that I feel regret at +the mere thought of having to see it to-morrow by disenchanting day: a +superb avenue lined with colossal trees, and ranging away out of sight +under a succession of giant torii, from which are suspended enormous +shimenawa, well worthy the grasp of that Heavenly-Hand-Strength Deity +whose symbols they are. But, more than by the torii and their festooned +symbols, the dim majesty of the huge avenue is enhanced by the +prodigious trees--many perhaps thousands of years old--gnarled pines +whose shaggy summits are lost in darkness. Some of the mighty trunks are +surrounded with a rope of straw: these trees are sacred. The vast roots, +far-reaching in every direction, look in the lantern-light like a +writhing and crawling of dragons. + +The avenue is certainly not less than a quarter of a mile in length; it +crosses two bridges and passes between two sacred groves. All the broad +lands on either side of it belong to the temple. Formerly no foreigner +was permitted to pass beyond the middle torii The avenue terminates at a +lofty wall pierced by a gateway resembling the gateways of Buddhist +temple courts, but very massive. This is the entrance to the outer +court; the ponderous doors are still open, and many shadowy figures are +passing in or out. + +Within the court all is darkness, against which pale yellow lights are +gliding to and fro like a multitude of enormous fireflies--the lanterns +of pilgrims. I can distinguish only the looming of immense buildings to +left and right, constructed with colossal timbers. Our guide traverses a +very large court, passes into a second, and halts before an imposing +structure whose doors are still open. Above them, by the lantern glow, I +can see a marvellous frieze of dragons and water, carved in some rich +wood by the hand of a master. Within I can see the symbols of Shinto, in +a side shrine on the left; and directly before us the lanterns reveal a +surface of matted floor vaster than anything I had expected to find. +Therefrom I can divine the scale of the edifice which I suppose to be +the temple. But the landlord tells us this is not the temple, but only +the Haiden or Hall of Prayer, before which the people make their +orisons, By day, through the open doors, the temple can be seen But we +cannot see it to-night, and but few visitors are permitted to go in. +'The people do not enter even the court of the great shrine, for the +most part,' interprets Akira; 'they pray before it at a distance. +Listen!' + +All about me in the shadow I hear a sound like the plashing and dashing +of water--the clapping of many hands in Shinto prayer. + +'But this is nothing,' says the landlord; 'there are but few here now. +Wait until to-morrow, which is a festival day.' + +As we wend our way back along the great avenue, under the torii and the +giant trees, Akira interprets for me what our landlord tells him about +the sacred serpent. + +'The little serpent,' he says, 'is called by the people the august +Dragon-Serpent; for it is sent by the Dragon-King to announce the coming +of the gods. The sea darkens and rises and roars before the coming of +Ryu-ja-Sama. Ryu-ja. Sama we call it because it is the messenger of +Ryugu-jo, the palace of the dragons; but it is also called Hakuja, or +the 'White Serpent.' [6] + +'Does the little serpent come to the temple of its own accord?' + +'Oh, no. It is caught by the fishermen. And only one can be caught in a +year, because only one is sent; and whoever catches it and brings it +either to the Kitzuki-no-oho-yashiro, or to the temple Sadajinja, where +the gods hold their second assembly during the Kami-ari-zuki, receives +one hyo [7] of rice in recompense. It costs much labour and time to +catch a serpent; but whoever captures one is sure to become rich in +after time.' [8] + +'There are many deities enshrined at Kitzuki, are there not?' I ask. + +'Yes; but the great deity of Kitzuki is Oho-kuni-nushi-no-Kami, [9] +whom the people more commonly call Daikoku. Here also is worshipped his +son, whom many call Ebisu. These deities are usually pictured together: +Daikoku seated upon bales of rice, holding the Red Sun against his +breast with one hand, and in the other grasping the magical mallet of +which a single stroke gives wealth; and Ebisu bearing a fishing-rod, and +holding under his arm a great tai-fish. These gods are always +represented with smiling faces; and both have great ears, which are the +sign of wealth and fortune.' + +º6 + +A little wearied by the day's journeying, I get to bed early, and sleep +as dreamlessly as a plant until I am awakened about daylight by a heavy, +regular, bumping sound, shaking the wooden pillow on which my ear rests +-the sound of the katsu of the kometsuki beginning his eternal labour +of rice-cleaning. Then the pretty musume of the inn opens the chamber to +the fresh mountain air and the early sun, rolls back all the wooden +shutters into their casings behind the gallery, takes down the brown +mosquito net, brings a hibachi with freshly kindled charcoal for my +morning smoke, and trips away to get our breakfast. + +Early as it is when she returns, she brings word that a messenger has +already arrived from the Guji, Senke Takanori, high descendant of the +Goddess of the Sun. The messenger is a dignified young Shinto priest, +clad in the ordinary Japanese full costume, but wearing also a superb +pair of blue silken hakama, or Japanese ceremonial trousers, widening +picturesquely towards the feet. He accepts my invitation to a cup of +tea, and informs me that his august master is waiting for us at the +temple. + +This is delightful news, but we cannot go at once. Akira's attire is +pronounced by the messenger to be defective. Akira must don fresh white +tabi and put on hakama before going into the august presence: no one may +enter thereinto without hakama. Happily Akira is able to borrow a pair +of hakama from the landlord; and, after having arranged ourselves as +neatly as we can, we take our way to the temple, guided by the +messenger. + +º7 + +I am agreeably surprised to find, as we pass again under a magnificent +bronze torii which I admired the night before, that the approaches to +the temple lose very little of their imposing character when seen for +the first time by sunlight. The majesty of the trees remains +astonishing; the vista of the avenue is grand; and the vast spaces of +groves and grounds to right and left are even more impressive than I had +imagined. Multitudes of pilgrims are going and coming; but the whole +population of a province might move along such an avenue without +jostling. Before the gate of the first court a Shinto priest in full +sacerdotal costume waits to receive us: an elderly man, with a pleasant +kindly face. The messenger commits us to his charge, and vanishes +through the gateway, while the elderly priest, whose name is Sasa, leads +the way. + +Already I can hear a heavy sound, as of surf, within the temple court; +and as we advance the sound becomes sharper and recognisable--a +volleying of handclaps. And passing the great gate, I see thousands of +pilgrims before the Haiden, the same huge structure which I visited last +night. None enter there: all stand before the dragon-swarming doorway, +and cast their offerings into the money-chest placed before the +threshold; many making contribution of small coin, the very poorest +throwing only a handful of rice into the box. [10] Then they clap their +hands and bow their heads before the threshold, and reverently gaze +through the Hall of Prayer at the loftier edifice, the Holy of Holies, +beyond it. Each pilgrim remains but a little while, and claps his hands +but four times; yet so many are coming and going that the sound of the +clapping is like the sound of a cataract. + +Passing by the multitude of worshippers to the other side of the Haiden, +we find ourselves at the foot of a broad flight of iron-bound steps +leading to the great sanctuary--steps which I am told no European +before me was ever permitted to approach. On the lower steps the priests +of the temple, in full ceremonial costume, are waiting to receive us. +Tall men they are, robed in violet and purple silks shot through with +dragon-patterns in gold. Their lofty fantastic head-dresses, their +voluminous and beautiful costume, and the solemn immobility of their +hierophantic attitudes make them at first sight seem marvellous statues +only. Somehow or other there comes suddenly back to me the memory of a +strange French print I used to wonder at when a child, representing a +group of Assyrian astrologers. Only their eyes move as we approach. But +as I reach the steps all simultaneously salute me with a most gracious +bow, for I am the first foreign pilgrim to be honoured by the privilege +of an interview in the holy shrine itself with the princely hierophant, +their master, descendant of the Goddess of the Sun--he who is still +called by myriads of humble worshippers in the remoter districts of this +ancient province Ikigami, 'the living deity.' Then all become absolutely +statuesque again. + +I remove my shoes, and am about to ascend the steps, when the tall +priest who first received us before the outer gate indicates, by a +single significant gesture, that religion and ancient custom require me, +before ascending to the shrine of the god, to perform the ceremonial +ablution. I hold out my hands; the priest pours the pure water over them +thrice from a ladle-shaped vessel of bamboo with a long handle, and then +gives me a little blue towel to wipe them upon, a Votive towel with +mysterious white characters upon it. Then we all ascend; I feeling very +much like a clumsy barbarian in my ungraceful foreign garb. + +Pausing at the head of the steps, the priest inquires my rank in +society. For at Kitzuki hierarchy and hierarchical forms are maintained +with a rigidity as precise as in the period of the gods; and there are +special forms and regulations for the reception of visitors of every +social grade. I do not know what flattering statements Akira may have +made about me to the good priest; but the result is that I can rank only +as a common person--which veracious fact doubtless saves me from some +formalities which would have proved embarrassing, all ignorant as I +still am of that finer and more complex etiquette in which the Japanese +are the world's masters. + +º8 + +The priest leads the way into a vast and lofty apartment opening for its +entire length upon the broad gallery to which the stairway ascends. I +have barely time to notice, while following him, that the chamber +contains three immense shrines, forming alcoves on two sides of it. Of +these, two are veiled by white curtains reaching from ceiling to matting +-curtains decorated with perpendicular rows of black disks about four +inches in diameter, each disk having in its centre a golden blossom. But +from before the third shrine, in the farther angle of the chamber, the +curtains have been withdrawn; and these are of gold brocade, and the +shrine before which they hang is the chief shrine, that of Oho-kuni- +nushi-no-Kami. Within are visible only some of the ordinary emblems of +Shinto, and the exterior of that Holy of Holies into which none may +look. Before it a long low bench, covered with strange objects, has been +placed, with one end toward the gallery and one toward the alcove. At +the end of this bench, near the gallery, I see a majestic bearded +figure, strangely coifed and robed all in white, seated upon the matted +floor in hierophantic attitude. Our priestly guide motions us to take +our places in front of him and to bow down before him. For this is Senke +Takanori, the Guji of Kitzuki, to whom even in his own dwelling none may +speak save on bended knee, descendant of the Goddess of the Sun, and +still by multitudes revered in thought as a being superhuman. +Prostrating myself before him, according to the customary code of +Japanese politeness, I am saluted in return with that exquisite courtesy +which puts a stranger immediately at ease. The priest who acted as our +guide now sits down on the floor at the Guji's left hand; while the +other priests, who followed us to the entrance of the sanctuary only, +take their places upon the gallery without. + +º9 + +Senke Takanori is a youthful and powerful man. As he sits there before +me in his immobile hieratic pose, with his strange lofty head-dress, his +heavy curling beard, and his ample snowy sacerdotal robe broadly +spreading about him in statuesque undulations, he realises for me all +that I had imagined, from the suggestion of old Japanese pictures, about +the personal majesty of the ancient princes and heroes. The dignity +alone of the man would irresistibly compel respect; but with that +feeling of respect there also flashes through me at once the thought of +the profound reverence paid him by the population of the most ancient +province of Japan, the idea of the immense spiritual power in his hands, +the tradition of his divine descent, the sense of the immemorial +nobility of his race--and my respect deepens into a feeling closely +akin to awe. So motionless he is that he seems a sacred statue only-- +the temple image of one of his own deified ancestors. But the solemnity +of the first few moments is agreeably broken by his first words, uttered +in a low rich basso, while his dark, kindly eyes remain motionlessly +fixed upon my face. Then my interpreter translates his greeting--large +fine phrases of courtesy--to which I reply as I best know how, +expressing my gratitude for the exceptional favour accorded me. + +'You are, indeed,' he responds through Akira, 'the first European ever +permitted to enter into the Oho-yashiro. Other Europeans have visited +Kitzuki and a few have been allowed to enter the temple court; but you +only have been admitted into the dwelling of the god. In past years, +some strangers who desired to visit the temple out of common curiosity +only were not allowed to approach even the court; but the letter of Mr. +Nishida, explaining the object of your visit, has made it a pleasure for +us to receive you thus.' + +Again I express my thanks; and after a second exchange of courtesies the +conversation continues through the medium of Akira. + +'Is not this great temple of Kitzuki,' I inquire, 'older than the +temples of Ise?' + +'Older by far,' replies the Guji; 'so old, indeed, that we do not well +know the age of it. For it was first built by order of the Goddess of +the Sun, in the time when deities alone existed. Then it was exceedingly +magnificent; it was three hundred and twenty feet high. The beams and +the pillars were larger than any existing timber could furnish; and the +framework was bound together firmly with a rope made of taku [11] fibre, +one thousand fathoms long. + +'It was first rebuilt in the time of the Emperor Sui-nin. [12] The +temple so rebuilt by order of the Emperor Sui-nin was called the +Structure of the Iron Rings, because the pieces of the pillars, which +were composed of the wood of many great trees, had been bound fast +together with huge rings of iron. This temple was also splendid, but far +less splendid than the first, which had been built by the gods, for its +height was only one hundred and sixty feet. + +'A third time the temple was rebuilt, in the reign of the Empress Sai- +mei; but this third edifice was only eighty feet high. Since then the +structure of the temple has never varied; and the plan then followed has +been strictly preserved to the least detail in the construction of the +present temple. + +'The Oho-yashiro has been rebuilt twenty-eight times; and it has been +the custom to rebuild it every sixty-one years. But in the long period +of civil war it was not even repaired for more than a hundred years. In +the fourth year of Tai-ei, one Amako Tsune Hisa, becoming Lord of Izumo, +committed the great temple to the charge of a Buddhist priest, and even +built pagodas about it, to the outrage of the holy traditions. But when +the Amako family were succeeded by Moro Mototsugo, this latter purified +the temple, and restored the ancient festivals and ceremonies which +before had been neglected.' + +'In the period when the temple was built upon a larger scale,' I ask, +'were the timbers for its construction obtained from the forests of +Izumo?' + +The priest Sasa, who guided us into the shrine, makes answer: 'It is +recorded that on the fourth day of the seventh month of the third year +of Ten-in one hundred large trees came floating to the sea coast of +Kitzuki, and were stranded there by the tide. With these timbers the +temple was rebuilt in the third year of Ei-kyu; and that structure was +called the Building-of-the-Trees-which-came-floating. Also in the same +third year of Ten-in, a great tree-trunk, one hundred and fifty feet +long, was stranded on the seashore near a shrine called Ube-no-yashiro, +at Miyanoshita-mura, which is in Inaba. Some people wanted to cut the +tree; but they found a great serpent coiled around it, which looked so +terrible that they became frightened, and prayed to the deity of Ube- +noyashiro to protect them; and the deity revealed himself, and said: +"Whensoever the great temple in Izumo is to be rebuilt, one of the gods +of each province sends timber for the building of it, and this time it +is my turn. Build quickly, therefore, with that great tree which is +mine." And therewith the god disappeared. From these and from other +records we learn that the deities have always superintended or aided the +building of the great temple of Kitzuki.' + +'In what part of the Oho-yashiro,' I ask, 'do the august deities +assemble during the Kami-ari-zuki?' + +'On the east and west sides of the inner court,' replies the priest +Sasa, 'there are two long buildings called the Jiu-kusha. These contain +nineteen shrines, no one of which is dedicated to any particular god; +and we believe it is in the Jiu-ku-sha that the gods assemble.' + +'And how many pilgrims from other provinces visit the great shrine +yearly?' I inquire. + +'About two hundred and fifty thousand,' the Guji answers. 'But the +number increases or diminishes according to the condition of the +agricultural classes; the more prosperous the season, the larger the +number of pilgrims. It rarely falls below two hundred thousand.' + +º10 + +Many other curious things the Guji and his chief priest then related to +me; telling me the sacred name of each of the courts, and of the fences +and holy groves and the multitudinous shrines and their divinities; even +the names of the great pillars of the temple, which are nine in number, +the central pillar being called the august Heart-Pillar of the Middle. +All things within the temple grounds have sacred names, even the torii +and the bridges. + +The priest Sasa called my attention to the fact that the great shrine of +Oho-kuni-nushi-no-Kami faces west, though the great temple faces east, +like all Shinto temples. In the other two shrines of the same apartment, +both facing east, are the first divine Kokuzo of Izumo, his seventeenth +descendant, and the father of Nominosukune, wise prince and famous +wrestler. For in the reign of the Emperor Sui-nin one Kehaya of Taima +had boasted that no man alive was equal to himself in strength. +Nominosukune, by the emperor's command, wrestled with Kehaya, and threw +him down so mightily that Kehaya's ghost departed from him. This was the +beginning of wrestling in Japan; and wrestlers still pray unto +Nominosukune for power and skill. + +There are so many other shrines that I could not enumerate the names of +all their deities without wearying those readers unfamiliar with the +traditions and legends of Shinto. But nearly all those divinities who +appear in the legend of the Master of the Great Land are still believed +to dwell here with him, and here their shrines are: the beautiful one, +magically born from the jewel worn in the tresses of the Goddess of the +Sun, and called by men the Torrent-Mist Princess--and the daughter of +the Lord of the World of Shadows, she who loved the Master of the Great +Land, and followed him out of the place of ghosts to become his wife-- +and the deity called 'Wondrous-Eight-Spirits,' grandson of the 'Deity of +Water-Gates,' who first made a fire-drill and platters of red clay for +the august banquet of the god at Kitzuki--and many of the heavenly +kindred of these. + +º11 + +The priest Sasa also tells me this: + +When Naomasu, grandson of the great Iyeyasu, and first daimyo of that +mighty Matsudaira family who ruled Izumo for two hundred and fifty +years, came to this province, he paid a visit to the Temple of Kitzuki, +and demanded that the miya of the shrine within the shrine should be +opened that he might look upon the sacred objects--upon the shintai or +body of the deity. And this being an impious desire, both of the Kokuzo +[13] unitedly protested against it. But despite their remonstrances and +their pleadings, he persisted angrily in his demand, so that the priests +found themselves compelled to open the shrine. And the miya being +opened, Naomasu saw within it a great awabi [14] of nine holes--so +large that it concealed everything behind it. And when he drew still +nearer to look, suddenly the awabi changed itself into a huge serpent +more than fifty feet in length; [15]--and it massed its black coils +before the opening of the shrine, and hissed like the sound of raging +fire, and looked so terrible, that Naomasu and those with him fled away +-having been able to see naught else. And ever thereafter Naomasu +feared and reverenced the god. + +º12 + +The Guji then calls my attention to the quaint relics lying upon the +long low bench between us, which is covered with white silk: a metal +mirror, found in preparing the foundation of the temple when rebuilt +many hundred years ago; magatama jewels of onyx and jasper; a Chinese +flute made of jade; a few superb swords, the gifts of shoguns and +emperors; helmets of splendid antique workmanship; and a bundle of +enormous arrows with double-pointed heads of brass, fork-shaped and +keenly edged. + +After I have looked at these relics and learned something of their +history, the Guji rises and says to me, 'Now we will show you the +ancient fire-drill of Kitzuki, with which the sacred fire is kindled.' + +Descending the steps, we pass again before the Haiden, and enter a +spacious edifice on one side of the court, of nearly equal size with the +Hall of Prayer. Here I am agreeably surprised to find a long handsome +mahogany table at one end of the main apartment into which we are +ushered, and mahogany chairs placed all about it for the reception of +guests. I am motioned to one chair, my interpreter to another; and the +Guji and his priests take their seats also at the table. Then an +attendant sets before me a handsome bronze stand about three feet long, +on which rests an oblong something carefully wrapped in snow-white +cloths. The Guji removes the wrappings; and I behold the most primitive +form of fire-drill known to exist in the Orient. [16] It is simply a +very thick piece of solid white plank, about two and a half feet long, +with a line of holes drilled along its upper edge, so that the upper +part of each hole breaks through the sides of the plank. The sticks +which produce the fire, when fixed in the holes and rapidly rubbed +between the palms of the hands, are made of a lighter kind of white +wood; they are about two feet long, and as thick as a common lead +pencil. + +While I am yet examining this curious simple utensil, the invention of +which tradition ascribes to the gods, and modern science to the earliest +childhood of the human race, a priest places upon the table a light, +large wooden box, about three feet long, eighteen inches wide, and four +inches high at the sides, but higher in the middle, as the top is arched +like the shell of a tortoise. This object is made of the same hinoki +wood as the drill; and two long slender sticks are laid beside it. I at +first suppose it to be another fire-drill. But no human being could +guess what it really is. It is called the koto-ita, and is one of the +most primitive of musical instruments; the little sticks are used to +strike it. At a sign from the Guji two priests place the box upon the +floor, seat themselves on either side of it, and taking up the little +sticks begin to strike the lid with them, alternately and slowly, at the +same time uttering a most singular and monotonous chant. One intones +only the sounds, 'Ang! ang!' and the other responds, 'Ong! ong!' The +koto-ita gives out a sharp, dead, hollow sound as the sticks fall upon +it in time to each utterance of 'Ang! ang!' 'Ong! ong!' [17] + +º 13 + +These things I learn: + +Each year the temple receives a new fire-drill; but the fire-drill is +never made in Kitzuki, but in Kumano, where the traditional regulations +as to the manner of making it have been preserved from the time of the +gods. For the first Kokuzo of Izumo, on becoming pontiff, received the +fire-drill for the great temple from the hands of the deity who was the +younger brother of the Sun-Goddess, and is now enshrined at Kumano. And +from his time the fire-drills for the Oho-yashiro of Kitzuki have been +made only at Kumano. + +Until very recent times the ceremony of delivering the new fire-drill to +the Guji of Kitzuki always took place at the great temple of Oba, on the +occasion of the festival called Unohimatauri. This ancient festival, +which used to be held in the eleventh month, became obsolete after the +Revolution everywhere except at Oba in Izumo, where Izanami-no-Kami, the +mother of gods and men, is enshrined. + +Once a year, on this festival, the Kokuzo always went to Oba, taking +with him a gift of double rice-cakes. At Oba he was met by a personage +called the Kame-da-yu, who brought the fire-drill from Kumano and +delivered it to the priests at Oba. According to tradition, the Kame-da- +yu had to act a somewhat ludicrous role so that no Shinto priest ever +cared to perform the part, and a man was hired for it. The duty of the +Kame-da-yu was to find fault with the gift presented to the temple by +the Kokuzo; and in this district of Japan there is still a proverbial +saying about one who is prone to find fault without reason, 'He is like +the Kame-da-yu.' + +The Kame-da-yu would inspect the rice-cakes and begin to criticise them. +'They are much smaller this year,' he would observe, 'than they were +last year.' The priests would reply: 'Oh, you are honourably mistaken; +they are in truth very much larger.' 'The colour is not so white this +year as it was last year; and the rice-flour is not finely ground.' For +all these imaginary faults of the mochi the priests would offer +elaborate explanations or apologies. + +At the conclusion of the ceremony, the sakaki branches used in it were +eagerly bid for, and sold at high prices, being believed to possess +talismanic virtues. + +º 14 + +It nearly always happened that there was a great storm either on the day +the Kokuzo went to Oba, or upon the day he returned therefrom. The +journey had to be made during what is in Izumo the most stormy season +(December by the new calendar). But in popular belief these storms were +in some tremendous way connected with the divine personality of the +Kokuzo whose attributes would thus appear to present some curious +analogy with those of the Dragon-God. Be that as it may, the great +periodical storms of the season are still in this province called +Kokuzo-are [18]; it is still the custom in Izumo to say merrily to the +guest who arrives or departs in a time of tempest, 'Why, you are like +the Kokuzo!' + +º15 + +The Guji waves his hand, and from the farther end of the huge apartment +there comes a sudden burst of strange music--a sound of drums and +bamboo flutes; and turning to look, I see the musicians, three men, +seated upon the matting, and a young girl with them. At another sign +from the Guji the girl rises. She is barefooted and robed in snowy +white, a virgin priestess. But below the hem of the white robe I see the +gleam of hakama of crimson silk. She advances to a little table in the +middle of the apartment, upon which a queer instrument is lying, shaped +somewhat like a branch with twigs bent downward, from each of which +hangs a little bell. Taking this curious object in both hands, she +begins a sacred dance, unlike anything I ever saw before. Her every +movement is a poem, because she is very graceful; and yet her +performance could scarcely be called a dance, as we understand the word; +it is rather a light swift walk within a circle, during which she shakes +the instrument at regular intervals, making all the little bells ring. +Her face remains impassive as a beautiful mask, placid and sweet as the +face of a dreaming Kwannon; and her white feet are pure of line as the +feet of a marble nymph. Altogether, with her snowy raiment and white +flesh and passionless face, she seems rather a beautiful living statue +than a Japanese maiden. And all the while the weird flutes sob and +shrill, and the muttering of the drums is like an incantation. + +What I have seen is called the Dance of the Miko, the Divineress. + +º16 + +Then we visit the other edifices belonging to the temple: the +storehouse; the library; the hall of assembly, a massive structure two +stories high, where may be seen the portraits of the Thirty-Six Great +Poets, painted by Tosano Mitsu Oki more than a thousand years ago, and +still in an excellent state of preservation. Here we are also shown a +curious magazine, published monthly by the temple--a record of Shinto +news, and a medium for the discussion of questions relating to the +archaic texts. + +After we have seen all the curiosities of the temple, the Guji invites +us to his private residence near the temple to show us other treasures-- +letters of Yoritomo, of Hideyoshi, of Iyeyasu; documents in the +handwriting of the ancient emperors and the great shoguns, hundreds of +which precious manuscripts he keeps in a cedar chest. In case of fire +the immediate removal of this chest to a place of safety would be the +first duty of the servants of the household. + +Within his own house the Guji, attired in ordinary Japanese full dress +only, appears no less dignified as a private gentleman than he first +seemed as pontiff in his voluminous snowy robe. But no host could be +more kindly or more courteous or more generous. I am also much impressed +by the fine appearance of his suite of young priests, now dressed, like +himself, in the national costume; by the handsome, aquiline, +aristocratic faces, totally different from those of ordinary Japanese- +faces suggesting the soldier rather than the priest. One young man has a +superb pair of thick black moustaches, which is something rarely to be +seen in Japan. + +At parting our kind host presents me with the ofuda, or sacred charms +given to pilgrimsh--two pretty images of the chief deities of Kitzuki-- +and a number of documents relating to the history of the temple and of +its treasures. + +º17 + +Having taken our leave of the kind Guji and his suite, we are guided to +Inasa-no-hama, a little sea-bay at the rear of the town, by the priest +Sasa, and another kannushi. This priest Sasa is a skilled poet and a man +of deep learning in Shinto history and the archaic texts of the sacred +books. He relates to us many curious legends as we stroll along the +shore. + +This shore, now a popular bathing resort--bordered with airy little +inns and pretty tea-houses--is called Inasa because of a Shinto +tradition that here the god Oho-kuni-nushi-noKami, the Master-of-the- +Great-Land, was first asked to resign his dominion over the land of +Izumo in favour of Masa-ka-a-katsu-kachi-hayabi-ame-no-oshi-ho-mimi-no- +mikoto; the word Inasa signifying 'Will you consent or not?' [19] In +the thirty-second section of the first volume of the Kojiki the legend +is written: I cite a part thereof: + +'The two deities (Tori-bune-no-Kami and Take-mika-dzuchi-no-wo-no-Kami), +descending to the little shore of Inasa in the land of Izumo, drew their +swords ten handbreadths long, and stuck them upside down on the crest of +a wave, and seated themselves cross-legged upon the points of the +swords, and asked the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land, saying: "The +Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity and the High-Integrating-Deity have +charged us and sent us to ask, saying: 'We have deigned to charge our +august child with thy dominion, as the land which he should govern. So +how is thy heart?'" He replied, saying: "I am unable to say. My son Ya- +he-koto-shiro-nushi-no-Kami will be the one to tell you." . . . So they +asked the Deity again, saying: "Thy son Koto-shiro-nushi-no-Kami has now +spoken thus. Hast thou other sons who should speak?" He spoke again, +saying: "There is my other son, Take-mi-na-gata-no-Kami." . . . While he +was thus speaking the Deity Take-mi-na-gata-no-Kami came up [from the +sea], bearing on the tips of his fingers a rock which it would take a +thousand men to lift, and said, "I should like to have a trial of +strength."' + +Here, close to the beach, stands a little miya called Inasa-no-kami-no- +yashiro, or, the Temple of the God of Inasa; and therein Take-mika-dzu- +chi-no-Kami, who conquered in the trial of strength, is enshrined. And +near the shore the great rock which Take-mi-na-gata-no-Kami lifted upon +the tips of his fingers, may be seen rising from the water. And it is +called Chihiki-noiha. + +We invite the priests to dine with us at one of the little inns facing +the breezy sea; and there we talk about many things, but particularly +about Kitzuki and the Kokuzo. + +º18 + +Only a generation ago the religious power of the Kokuzo extended over +the whole of the province of the gods; he was in fact as well as in name +the Spiritual Governor of Izumo. His jurisdiction does not now extend +beyond the limits of Kitzuki, and his correct title is no longer Kokuzo, +but Guji. [20] Yet to the simple-hearted people of remoter districts he +is still a divine or semi-divine being, and is mentioned by his ancient +title, the inheritance of his race from the epoch of the gods. How +profound a reverence was paid to him in former ages can scarcely be +imagined by any who have not long lived among the country folk of Izumo. +Outside of Japan perhaps no human being, except the Dalai Lama of +Thibet, was so humbly venerated and so religiously beloved. Within Japan +itself only the Son of Heaven, the 'Tenshi-Sama,' standing as mediator +'between his people and the Sun,' received like homage; but the +worshipful reverence paid to the Mikado was paid to a dream rather than +to a person, to a name rather than to a reality, for the Tenshi-Sama was +ever invisible as a deity 'divinely retired,' and in popular belief no +man could look upon his face and live. [21] Invisibility and mystery +vastly enhanced the divine legend of the Mikado. But the Kokuzo, within +his own province, though visible to the multitude and often journeying +among the people, received almost equal devotion; so that his material +power, though rarely, if ever, exercised, was scarcely less than that of +the Daimyo of Izumo himself. It was indeed large enough to render him a +person with whom the shogunate would have deemed it wise policy to +remain upon good terms. An ancestor of the present Guji even defied the +great Taiko Hideyoshi, refusing to obey his command to furnish troops +with the haughty answer that he would receive no order from a man of +common birth. [22] This defiance cost the family the loss of a large +part of its estates by confiscation, but the real power of the Kokuzo +remained unchanged until the period of the new civilisation. + +Out of many hundreds of stories of a similar nature, two little +traditions may be cited as illustrations of the reverence in which the +Kokuzo was formerly held. + +It is related that there was a man who, believing himself to have become +rich by favour of the Daikoku of Kitzuki, desired to express his +gratitude by a gift of robes to the Kokuzo. + +The Kokuzo courteously declined the proffer; but the pious worshipper +persisted in his purpose, and ordered a tailor to make the robes. The +tailor, having made them, demanded a price that almost took his patron's +breath away. Being asked to give his reason for demanding such a price, +he made answer: Having made robes for the Kokuzo, I cannot hereafter +make garments for any other person. Therefore I must have money enough +to support me for the rest of my life.' + +The second story dates back to about one hundred and seventy years ago. + +Among the samurai of the Matsue clan in the time of Nobukori, fifth +daimyo of the Matsudaira family, there was one Sugihara Kitoji, who was +stationed in some military capacity at Kitzuki. He was a great favourite +with the Kokuzo, and used often to play at chess with him. During a +game, one evening, this officer suddenly became as one paralysed, unable +to move or speak. For a moment all was anxiety and confusion; but the +Kokuzo said: 'I know the cause. My friend was smoking, and although +smoking disagrees with me, I did not wish to spoil his pleasure by +telling him so. But the Kami, seeing that I felt ill, became angry with +him. Now I shall make him well.' Whereupon the Kokuzo uttered some +magical word, and the officer was immediately as well as before. + +º 19 + +Once more we are journeying through the silence of this holy land of +mists and of legends; wending our way between green leagues of ripening +rice white-sprinkled with arrows of prayer between the far processions +of blue and verdant peaks whose names are the names of gods. We have +left Kitzuki far behind. But as in a dream I still see the mighty +avenue, the long succession of torii with their colossal shimenawa, the +majestic face of the Guji, the kindly smile of the priest Sasa, and the +girl priestess in her snowy robes dancing her beautiful ghostly dance. +It seems to me that I can still hear the sound of the clapping of hands, +like the crashing of a torrent. I cannot suppress some slight exultation +at the thought that I have been allowed to see what no other foreigner +has been privileged to see--the interior of Japan's most ancient +shrine, and those sacred utensils and quaint rites of primitive worship +so well worthy the study of the anthropologist and the evolutionist. + +But to have seen Kitzuki as I saw it is also to have seen something much +more than a single wonderful temple. To see Kitzuki is to see the living +centre of Shinto, and to feel the life-pulse of the ancient faith, +throbbing as mightily in this nineteenth century as ever in that unknown +past whereof the Kojiki itself, though written in a tongue no longer +spoken, is but a modern record. [23] Buddhism, changing form or slowly +decaying through the centuries, might seem doomed to pass away at last +from this Japan to which it came only as an alien faith; but Shinto, +unchanging and vitally unchanged, still remains all dominant in the land +of its birth, and only seems to gain in power and dignity with time.[24] +Buddhism has a voluminous theology, a profound philosophy, a literature +vast as the sea. Shinto has no philosophy, no code of ethics, no +metaphysics; and yet, by its very immateriality, it can resist the +invasion of Occidental religious thought as no other Orient faith can. +Shinto extends a welcome to Western science, but remains the +irresistible opponent of Western religion; and the foreign zealots who +would strive against it are astounded to find the power that foils their +uttermost efforts indefinable as magnetism and invulnerable as air. +Indeed the best of our scholars have never been able to tell us what +Shinto is. To some it appears to be merely ancestor-worship, to others +ancestor-worship combined with nature-worship; to others, again, it +seems to be no religion at all; to the missionary of the more ignorant +class it is the worst form of heathenism. Doubtless the difficulty of +explaining Shinto has been due simply to the fact that the sinologists +have sought for the source of it in books: in the Kojiki and the +Nihongi, which are its histories; in the Norito, which are its prayers; +in the commentaries of Motowori and Hirata, who were its greatest +scholars. But the reality of Shinto lives not in books, nor in rites, +nor in commandments, but in the national heart, of which it is the +highest emotional religious expression, immortal and ever young. Far +underlying all the surface crop of quaint superstitions and artless +myths and fantastic magic there thrills a mighty spiritual force, the +whole soul of a race with all its impulses and powers and intuitions. He +who would know what Shinto is must learn to know that mysterious soul in +which the sense of beauty and the power of art and the fire of heroism +and magnetism of loyalty and the emotion of faith have become inherent, +immanent, unconscious, instinctive. + +Trusting to know something of that Oriental soul in whose joyous love of +nature and of life even the unlearned may discern a strange likeness to +the soul of the old Greek race, I trust also that I may presume some day +to speak of the great living power of that faith now called Shinto, but +more anciently Kami-no-michi, or 'The Way of the Gods.' + + + + +Chapter Nine +In the Cave of the Children's Ghosts + +º1 + +IT is forbidden to go to Kaka if there be wind enough 'to move three +hairs.' + +Now an absolutely windless day is rare on this wild western coast. Over +the Japanese Sea, from Korea, or China, or boreal Siberia, some west or +north-west breeze is nearly always blowing. So that I have had to wait +many long months for a good chance to visit Kaka. + +Taking the shortest route, one goes first to Mitsu-ura from Matsue, +either by kuruma or on foot. By kuruma this little journey occupies +nearly two hours and a half, though the distance is scarcely seven +miles, the road being one of the worst in all Izumo. You leave Matsue to +enter at once into a broad plain, level as a lake, all occupied by rice- +fields and walled in by wooded hills. The path, barely wide enough for a +single vehicle, traverses this green desolation, climbs the heights +beyond it, and descends again into another and a larger level of rice- +fields, surrounded also by hills. The path over the second line of hills +is much steeper; then a third rice-plain must be crossed and a third +chain of green altitudes, lofty enough to merit the name of mountains. +Of course one must make the ascent on foot: it is no small labour for a +kurumaya to pull even an empty kuruma up to the top; and how he manages +to do so without breaking the little vehicle is a mystery, for the path +is stony and rough as the bed of a torrent. A tiresome climb I find it; +but the landscape view from the summit is more than compensation. + +Then descending, there remains a fourth and last wide level of rice- +fields to traverse. The absolute flatness of the great plains between +the ranges, and the singular way in which these latter 'fence off' the +country into sections, are matters for surprise even in a land of +surprises like Japan. Beyond the fourth rice-valley there is a fourth +hill-chain, lower and richly wooded, on reaching the base of which the +traveller must finally abandon his kuruma, and proceed over the hills on +foot. Behind them lies the sea. But the very worst bit of the journey +now begins. The path makes an easy winding ascent between bamboo growths +and young pine and other vegetation for a shaded quarter of a mile, +passing before various little shrines and pretty homesteads surrounded +by high-hedged gardens. Then it suddenly breaks into steps, or rather +ruins of steps--partly hewn in the rock, partly built, everywhere +breached and worn which descend, all edgeless, in a manner amazingly +precipitous, to the village of Mitsu-ura. With straw sandals, which +never slip, the country folk can nimbly hurry up or down such a path; +but with foreign footgear one slips at nearly every step; and when you +reach the bottom at last, the wonder of how you managed to get there, +even with the assistance of your faithful kurumaya, keeps you for a +moment quite unconscious of the fact that you are already in Mitsu-ura. + +º2 + +Mitsu-ura stands with its back to the mountains, at the end of a small +deep bay hemmed in by very high cliffs. There is only one narrow strip +of beach at the foot of the heights; and the village owes its existence +to that fact, for beaches are rare on this part of the coast. Crowded +between the cliffs and the sea, the houses have a painfully compressed +aspect; and somehow the greater number give one the impression of things +created out of wrecks of junks. The little streets, or rather alleys, +are full of boats and skeletons of boats and boat timbers; and +everywhere, suspended from bamboo poles much taller than the houses, +immense bright brown fishing-nets are drying in the sun. The whole curve +of the beach is also lined with boats, lying side by side so that I +wonder how it will be possible to get to the water's edge without +climbing over them. There is no hotel; but I find hospitality in a +fisherman's dwelling, while my kurumaya goes somewhere to hire a boat +for Kaka-ura. + +In less than ten minutes there is a crowd of several hundred people +about the house, half-clad adults and perfectly naked boys. They +blockade the building; they obscure the light by filling up the doorways +and climbing into the windows to look at the foreigner. The aged +proprietor of the cottage protests in vain, says harsh things; the crowd +only thickens. Then all the sliding screens are closed. But in the paper +panes there are holes; and at all the lower holes the curious take +regular turns at peeping. At a higher hole I do some peeping myself. The +crowd is not prepossessing: it is squalid, dull-featured, remarkably +ugly. But it is gentle and silent; and there are one or two pretty faces +in it which seem extraordinary by reason of the general homeliness of +the rest. + +At last my kurumaya has succeeded in making arrangements for a boat; and +I effect a sortie to the beach, followed by the kurumaya and by all my +besiegers. Boats have been moved to make a passage for us, and we embark +without trouble of any sort. Our crew consists of two scullers--an old +man at the stem, wearing only a rokushaku about his loins, and an old +woman at the bow, fully robed and wearing an immense straw hat shaped +like a mushroom. Both of course stand to their work and it would be hard +to say which is the stronger or more skilful sculler. We passengers +squat Oriental fashion upon a mat in the centre of the boat, where a +hibachi, well stocked with glowing charcoal, invites us to smoke. + +º3 + +The day is clear blue to the end of the world, with a faint wind from +the east, barely enough to wrinkle the sea, certainly more than enough +to 'move three hairs.' Nevertheless the boatwoman and the boatman do not +seem anxious; and I begin to wonder whether the famous prohibition is +not a myth. So delightful the transparent water looks, that before we +have left the bay I have to yield to its temptation by plunging in and +swimming after the boat. When I climb back on board we are rounding the +promontory on the right; and the little vessel begins to rock. Even +under this thin wind the sea is moving in long swells. And as we pass +into the open, following the westward trend of the land, we find +ourselves gliding over an ink-black depth, in front of one of the very +grimmest coasts I ever saw. + +A tremendous line of dark iron-coloured cliffs, towering sheer from the +sea without a beach, and with never a speck of green below their +summits; and here and there along this terrible front, monstrous +beetlings, breaches, fissures, earthquake rendings, and topplings-down. +Enormous fractures show lines of strata pitched up skyward, or plunging +down into the ocean with the long fall of cubic miles of cliff. Before +fantastic gaps, prodigious masses of rock, of all nightmarish shapes, +rise from profundities unfathomed. And though the wind to-day seems +trying to hold its breath, white breakers are reaching far up the +cliffs, and dashing their foam into the faces of the splintered crags. +We are too far to hear the thunder of them; but their ominous sheet- +lightning fully explains to me the story of the three hairs. Along this +goblin coast on a wild day there would be no possible chance for the +strongest swimmer, or the stoutest boat; there is no place for the foot, +no hold for the hand, nothing but the sea raving against a precipice of +iron. Even to-day, under the feeblest breath imaginable, great swells +deluge us with spray as they splash past. And for two long hours this +jagged frowning coast towers by; and, as we toil on, rocks rise around +us like black teeth; and always, far away, the foam-bursts gleam at the +feet of the implacable cliffs. But there are no sounds save the lapping +and plashing of passing swells, and the monotonous creaking of the +sculls upon their pegs of wood. + +At last, at last, a bay--a beautiful large bay, with a demilune of soft +green hills about it, overtopped by far blue mountains--and in the very +farthest point of the bay a miniature village, in front of which many +junks are riding at anchor: Kaka-ura. + +But we do not go to Kaka-ura yet; the Kukedo are not there. We cross the +broad opening of the bay, journey along another half-mile of ghastly +sea-precipice, and finally make for a lofty promontory of naked Plutonic +rock. We pass by its menacing foot, slip along its side, and lo! at an +angle opens the arched mouth of a wonderful cavern, broad, lofty, and +full of light, with no floor but the sea. Beneath us, as we slip into +it, I can see rocks fully twenty feet down. The water is clear as air. +This is the Shin-Kukedo, called the New Cavern, though assuredly older +than human record by a hundred thousand years. + +º4 + +A more beautiful sea-cave could scarcely be imagined. The sea, +tunnelling the tall promontory through and through, has also, like a +great architect, ribbed and groined and polished its mighty work. The +arch of the entrance is certainly twenty feet above the deep water, and +fifteen wide; and trillions of wave tongues have licked the vault and +walls into wondrous smoothness. As we proceed, the rock-roof steadily +heightens and the way widens. Then we unexpectedly glide under a heavy +shower of fresh water, dripping from overhead. This spring is called the +o-chozubachi or mitarashi [1] of Shin-Kukedo-San.. From the high vault +at this point it is believed that a great stone will detach itself and +fall upon any evil-hearted person who should attempt to enter the cave. +I safely pass through the ordeal! + +Suddenly as we advance the boatwoman takes a stone from the bottom of +the boat, and with it begins to rap heavily on the bow; and the hollow +echoing is reiterated with thundering repercussions through all the +cave. And in another instant we pass into a great burst of light, coming +from the mouth of a magnificent and lofty archway on the left, opening +into the cavern at right angles. This explains the singular illumination +of the long vault, which at first seemed to come from beneath; for while +the opening was still invisible all the water appeared to be suffused +with light. Through this grand arch, between outlying rocks, a strip of +beautiful green undulating coast appears, over miles of azure water. We +glide on toward the third entrance to the Kukedo, opposite to that by +which we came in; and enter the dwelling-place of the Kami and the +Hotoke, for this grotto is sacred both to Shinto and to Buddhist faith. +Here the Kukedo reaches its greatest altitude and breadth. Its vault is +fully forty feet above the water, and its walls thirty feet apart. Far +up on the right, near the roof, is a projecting white rock, and above +the rock an orifice wherefrom a slow stream drips, seeming white as the +rock itself. + +This is the legendary Fountain of Jizo, the fountain of milk at which +the souls of dead children drink. Sometimes it flows more swiftly, +sometimes more slowly; but it never ceases by night or day. And mothers +suffering from want of milk come hither to pray that milk may be given +unto them; and their prayer is heard. And mothers having more milk than +their infants need come hither also, and pray to Jizo that so much as +they can give may be taken for the dead children; and their prayer is +heard, and their milk diminishes. + +At least thus the peasants of Izumo say. + +And the echoing of the swells leaping against the rocks without, the +rushing and rippling of the tide against the walls, the heavy rain of +percolating water, sounds of lapping and gurgling and plashing, and +sounds of mysterious origin coming from no visible where, make it +difficult for us to hear each other speak. The cavern seems full of +voices, as if a host of invisible beings were holding tumultuous +converse. + +Below us all the deeply lying rocks are naked to view as if seen through +glass. It seems to me that nothing could be more delightful than to swim +through this cave and let one's self drift with the sea-currents through +all its cool shadows. But as I am on the point of jumping in, all the +other occupants of the boat utter wild cries of protest. It is certain +death! men who jumped in here only six months ago were never heard of +again! this is sacred water, Kami-no-umi! And as if to conjure away my +temptation, the boatwoman again seizes her little stone and raps +fearfully upon the bow. On finding, however, that I am not sufficiently +deterred by these stories of sudden death and disappearance, she +suddenly screams into my ear the magical word, + +'SAME!' + +Sharks! I have no longer any desire whatever to swim through the many- +sounding halls of Shin-Kukedo-San. I have lived in the tropics! + +And we start forthwith for Kyu-Kukedo-San, the Ancient Cavern. + + + +º5 + +For the ghastly fancies about the Kami-no-umi, the word 'same' afforded +a satisfactory explanation. But why that long, loud, weird rapping on +the bow with a stone evidently kept on board for no other purpose? There +was an exaggerated earnestness about the action which gave me an uncanny +sensation--something like that which moves a man while walking at night +upon a lonesome road, full of queer shadows, to sing at the top of his +voice. The boatwoman at first declares that the rapping was made only +for the sake of the singular echo. But after some cautious further +questioning, I discover a much more sinister reason for the performance. +Moreover, I learn that all the seamen and seawomen of this coast do the +same thing when passing through perilous places, or places believed to +be haunted by the Ma. What are the Ma? + +Goblins! + +º6 + +From the caves of the Kami we retrace our course for about a quarter of +a mile; then make directly for an immense perpendicular wrinkle in the +long line of black cliffs. Immediately before it a huge dark rock towers +from the sea, whipped by the foam of breaking swells. Rounding it, we +glide behind it into still water and shadow, the shadow of a monstrous +cleft in the precipice of the coast. And suddenly, at an unsuspected +angle, the mouth of another cavern yawns before us; and in another +moment our boat touches its threshold of stone with a little shock that +sends a long sonorous echo, like the sound of a temple drum, booming +through all the abysmal place. A single glance tells me whither we have +come. Far within the dusk I see the face of a Jizo, smiling in pale +stone, and before him, and all about him, a weird congregation of grey +shapes without shape--a host of fantasticalities that strangely suggest +the wreck of a cemetery. From the sea the ribbed floor of the cavern +slopes high through deepening shadows hack to the black mouth of a +farther grotto; and all that slope is covered with hundreds and +thousands of forms like shattered haka. But as the eyes grow accustomed +to the gloaming it becomes manifest that these were never haka; they are +only little towers of stone and pebbles deftly piled up by long and +patient labour. + +'Shinda kodomo no shigoto,' my kurumaya murmurs with a compassionate +smile; 'all this is the work of the dead children.' + +And we disembark. By counsel, I take off my shoes and put on a pair of +zori, or straw sandals provided for me, as the rock is extremely +slippery. The others land barefoot. But how to proceed soon becomes a +puzzle: the countless stone-piles stand so close together that no space +for the foot seems to be left between them. + +'Mada michiga arimasu!' the boatwoman announces, leading the way. There +is a path. + +Following after her, we squeeze ourselves between the wall of the cavern +on the right and some large rocks, and discover a very, very narrow +passage left open between the stone-towers. But we are warned to be +careful for the sake of the little ghosts: if any of their work be +overturned, they will cry. So we move very cautiously and slowly across +the cave to a space bare of stone-heaps, where the rocky floor is +covered with a thin layer of sand, detritus of a crumbling ledge above +it. And in that sand I see light prints of little feet, children's feet, +tiny naked feet, only three or four inches long--the footprints of the +infant ghosts. + +Had we come earlier, the boatwoman says, we should have seen many more. +For 'tis at night, when the soil of the cavern is moist with dews and +drippings from the roof, that They leave Their footprints upon it; but +when the heat of the day comes, and the sand and the rocks dry up, the +prints of the little feet vanish away. + +There are only three footprints visible, but these are singularly +distinct. One points toward the wall of the cavern; the others toward +the sea. Here and there, upon ledges or projections of the rock, all +about the cavern, tiny straw sandals--children's zori--are lying: +offerings of pilgrims to the little ones, that their feet may not be +wounded by the stones. But all the ghostly footprints are prints of +naked feet. + +Then we advance, picking our way very, very carefully between the stone- +towers, toward the mouth of the inner grotto, and reach the statue of +Jizo before it. A seated Jizo carven in granite, holding in one hand the +mystic jewel by virtue of which all wishes may be fulfilled; in the +other his shakujo, or pilgrim's staff. Before him (strange condescension +of Shinto faith!) a little torii has been erected, and a pair of gohei! +Evidently this gentle divinity has no enemies; at the feet of the lover +of children's ghosts, both creeds unite in tender homage. + +I said feet. But this subterranean Jizo has only one foot. The carven +lotus on which he reposes has been fractured and broken: two great +petals are missing; and the right foot, which must have rested upon one +of them, has been knocked off at the ankle. This, I learn upon inquiry, +has been done by the waves. In times of great storm the billows rush +into the cavern like raging Oni, and sweep all the little stone towers +into shingle as they come, and dash the statues against the rocks. But +always during the first still night after the tempest the work is +reconstructed as before! + +Hotoke ga shimpai shite: naki-naki tsumi naoshi-masu.' They make +mourning, the hotoke; weeping, they pile up the stones again, they +rebuild their towers of prayer. + +All about the black mouth of the inner grotto the bone-coloured rock +bears some resemblance to a vast pair of yawning jaws. Downward from +this sinister portal the cavern-floor slopes into a deeper and darker +aperture. And within it, as one's eyes become accustomed to the gloom, a +still larger vision of stone towers is disclosed; and beyond them, in a +nook of the grotto, three other statues of Jizo smile, each one with a +torii before it. Here I have the misfortune to upset first one stone- +pile and then another, while trying to proceed. My kurumaya, almost +simultaneously, ruins a third. To atone therefore, we must build six new +towers, or double the number of those which we have cast down. And while +we are thus busied, the boatwoman tells of two fishermen who remained in +the cavern through all one night, and heard the humming of the viewless +gathering, and sounds of speech, like the speech of children murmuring +in multitude. + +Only at night do the shadowy children come to build their little stone- +heaps at the feet of Jizo; and it is said that every night the stones +are changed. When I ask why they do not work by day, when there is none +to see them, I am answered: 'O-Hi-San [2] might see them; the dead +exceedingly fear the Lady-Sun.' + +To the question, 'Why do they come from the sea?' I can get no +satisfactory answer. But doubtless in the quaint imagination of this +people, as also in that of many another, there lingers still the +primitive idea of some communication, mysterious and awful, between the +world of waters and the world of the dead. It is always over the sea, +after the Feast of Souls, that the spirits pass murmuring back to their +dim realm, in those elfish little ships of straw which are launched for +them upon the sixteenth day of the seventh moon. Even when these are +launched upon rivers, or when floating lanterns are set adrift upon +lakes or canals to light the ghosts upon their way, or when a mother +bereaved drops into some running stream one hundred little prints of +Jizo for the sake of her lost darling, the vague idea behind the pious +act is that all waters flow to the sea and the sea itself unto the +'Nether-distant Land.' + +Some time, somewhere, this day will come back to me at night, with its +visions and sounds: the dusky cavern, and its grey hosts of stone +climbing back into darkness, and the faint prints of little naked feet, +and the weirdly smiling images, and the broken syllables of the waters +inward-borne, multiplied by husky echoings, blending into one vast +ghostly whispering, like the humming of the Sai-no-Kawara. + +And over the black-blue bay we glide to the rocky beach of Kaka-ura. + +º8 + +As at Mitsu-ura, the water's edge is occupied by a serried line of +fishing-boats, each with its nose to the sea; and behind these are ranks +of others; and it is only just barely possible to squeeze one's way +between them over the beach to the drowsy, pretty, quaint little streets +behind them. Everybody seems to be asleep when we first land: the only +living creature visible is a cat, sitting on the stern of a boat; and +even that cat, according to Japanese beliefs, might not be a real cat, +but an o-bake or a nekomata--in short, a goblin-cat, for it has a long +tail. It is hard work to discover the solitary hotel: there are no +signs; and every house seems a private house, either a fisherman's or a +farmer's. But the little place is worth wandering about in. A kind of +yellow stucco is here employed to cover the exterior of walls; and this +light warm tint under the bright blue day gives to the miniature streets +a more than cheerful aspect. + +When we do finally discover the hotel, we have to wait quite a good +while before going in; for nothing is ready; everybody is asleep or +away, though all the screens and sliding-doors are open. Evidently there +are no thieves in Kaka-ura. The hotel is on a little hillock, and is +approached from the main street (the rest are only miniature alleys) by +two little flights of stone steps. Immediately across the way I see a +Zen temple and a Shinto temple, almost side by side. + +At last a pretty young woman, naked to the waist, with a bosom like a +Naiad, comes running down the street to the hotel at a surprising speed, +bowing low with a smile as she hurries by us into the house. This little +person is the waiting-maid of the inn, O-Kayo-San--name signifying +'Years of Bliss.' Presently she reappears at the threshold, fully robed +in a nice kimono, and gracefully invites us to enter, which we are only +too glad to do. The room is neat and spacious; Shinto kakemono from +Kitzuki are suspended in the toko and upon the walls; and in one corner +I see a very handsome Zen-but-sudan, or household shrine. (The form of +the shrine, as well as the objects of worship therein, vary according to +the sect of the worshippers.) Suddenly I become aware that it is growing +strangely dark; and looking about me, perceive that all the doors and +windows and other apertures of the inn are densely blocked up by a +silent, smiling crowd which has gathered to look at me. I could not have +believed there were so many people in Kaka-ura. + +In a Japanese house, during the hot season, everything is thrown open to +the breeze. All the shoji or sliding paper-screens, which serve for +windows; and all the opaque paper-screens (fusuma) used in other seasons +to separate apartments, are removed. There is nothing left between floor +and roof save the frame or skeleton of the building; the dwelling is +literally unwalled, and may be seen through in any direction. The +landlord, finding the crowd embarrassing, closes up the building in +front. The silent, smiling crowd goes to the rear. The rear is also +closed. Then the crowd masses to right and left of the house; and both +sides have to be closed, which makes it insufferably hot. And the crowd +make gentle protest. + +Wherefore our host, being displeased, rebukes the multitude with +argument and reason, yet without lifting his voice. (Never do these +people lift up their voices in anger.) And what he says I strive to +translate, with emphasis, as follows: + +'You-as-for! outrageousness doing--what marvellous is? +'Theatre is not! +'Juggler is not! +'Wrestler is not! +'What amusing is? +'Honourable-Guest this is! +'Now august-to-eat-time-is; to-look-at evil matter is. +Honourable-returning-time-in-to-look-at-as-for-is-good.' + +But outside, soft laughing voices continue to plead; pleading, +shrewdly enough, only with the feminine portion of the family: +the landlord's heart is less easily touched. And these, too, +have their arguments: +'Oba-San! +'O-Kayo-San! +'Shoji-to-open-condescend!--want to see! 'Though-we-look-at, +Thing-that-by-looking-at-is-worn-out-it-is-not! +'So that not-to-hinder looking-at is good. +'Hasten therefore to open!' + +As for myself, I would gladly protest against this sealing-up, for there +is nothing offensive nor even embarrassing in the gaze of these +innocent, gentle people; but as the landlord seems to be personally +annoyed, I do not like to interfere. The crowd, however, does not go +away: it continues to increase, waiting for my exit. And there is one +high window in the rear, of which the paper-panes contain some holes; +and I see shadows of little people climbing up to get to the holes. +Presently there is an eye at every hole. + +When I approach the window, the peepers drop noiselessly to the ground, +with little timid bursts of laughter, and run away. But they soon come +back again. A more charming crowd could hardly be imagined: nearly all +boys and girls, half-naked because of the heat, but fresh and clean as +flower-buds. Many of the faces are surprisingly pretty; there are but +very few which are not extremely pleasing. But where are the men, and +the old women? Truly, this population seems not of Kaka-ura, but rather +of the Sai-no-Kawara. The boys look like little Jizo. + +During dinner, I amuse myself by poking pears and little pieces of +radish through the holes in the shoji. At first there is much hesitation +and silvery laughter; but in a little while the silhouette of a tiny +hand reaches up cautiously, and a pear vanishes away. Then a second pear +is taken, without snatching, as softly as if a ghost had appropriated +it. Thereafter hesitation ceases, despite the effort of one elderly +woman to create a panic by crying out the word Mahotsukai, 'wizard.' By +the time the dinner is over and the shoji removed, we have all become +good friends. Then the crowd resumes its silent observation from the +four cardinal points. + +I never saw a more striking difference in the appearance of two village +populations than that between the youth of Mitsu-ura and of Kaka. Yet +the villages are but two hours' sailing distance apart. In remoter +Japan, as in certain islands of the West Indies, particular physical +types are developed apparently among communities but slightly isolated; +on one side of a mountain a population may be remarkably attractive, +while upon the other you may find a hamlet whose inhabitants are +decidedly unprepossessing. But nowhere in this country have I seen a +prettier jeunesse than that of Kaka-ura. + +'Returning-time-in-to-look-at-as-for-is-good.' As we descend to the bay, +the whole of Kaka-ura, including even the long-invisible ancients of the +village, accompanies us; making no sound except the pattering of geta. +Thus we are escorted to our boat. Into all the other craft drawn up on +the beach the younger folk clamber lightly, and seat themselves on the +prows and the gunwales to gaze at the marvellous Thing-that-by-looking- +at-worn-out-is-not. And all smile, but say nothing, even to each other: +somehow the experience gives me the sensation of being asleep; it is so +soft, so gentle, and so queer withal, just like things seen in dreams. +And as we glide away over the blue lucent water I look back to see the +people all waiting and gazing still from the great semicircle of boats; +all the slender brown child-limbs dangling from the prows; all the +velvety-black heads motionless in the sun; all the boy-faces smiling +Jizo-smiles; all the black soft eyes still watching, tirelessly +watching, the Thing-that-by-looking-at-worn-out-is-not. And as the +scene, too swiftly receding, diminishes to the width of a kakemono, I +vainly wish that I could buy this last vision of it, to place it in my +toko, and delight my soul betimes with gazing thereon. Yet another +moment, and we round a rocky point; and Kaka-ura vanishes from my sight +for ever. So all things pass away. + +Assuredly those impressions which longest haunt recollection are the +most transitory: we remember many more instants than minutes, more +minutes than hours; and who remembers an entire day? The sum of the +remembered happiness of a lifetime is the creation of seconds. 'What is +more fugitive than a smile? yet when does the memory of a vanished smile +expire? or the soft regret which that memory may evoke? + +Regret for a single individual smile is something common to normal human +nature; but regret for the smile of a population, for a smile considered +as an abstract quality, is certainly a rare sensation, and one to be +obtained, I fancy, only in this Orient land whose people smile for ever +like their own gods of stone. And this precious experience is already +mine; I am regretting the smile of Kaka. + +Simultaneously there comes the recollection of a strangely grim Buddhist +legend. Once the Buddha smiled; and by the wondrous radiance of that +smile were countless worlds illuminated. But there came a Voice, saying: +'It is not real! It cannot last!' And the light passed. + + + + +Chapter Ten +At Mionoseki + +Seki wa yoi toko, +Asahi wo ukete; +O-Yama arashiga +Soyo-soyoto! +(SONG OF MIONOSEKI.) + +[Seki is a goodly place, facing the morning sun. There, from the holy +mountains, the winds blow softly, softly--soyosoyoto.] + +º1 + +THE God of Mionoseki hates eggs, hen's eggs. Likewise he hates hens and +chickens, and abhors the Cock above all living creatures. And in +Mionoseki there are no cocks or hens or chickens or eggs. You could not +buy a hen's egg in that place even for twenty times its weight in gold. + +And no boat or junk or steamer could be hired to convey to Mionoseki so +much as the feather of a chicken, much less an egg. Indeed, it is even +held that if you have eaten eggs in the morning you must not dare to +visit Mionoseki until the following day. For the great deity of +Mionoseki is the patron of mariners and the ruler of storms; and woe +unto the vessel which bears unto his shrine even the odour of an egg. + +Once the tiny steamer which runs daily from Matsue to Mionoseki +encountered some unexpectedly terrible weather on her outward journey, +just after reaching the open sea. The crew insisted that something +displeasing to Koto-shiro-nushi-no-Kami must have been surreptitiously +brought on board. All the passengers were questioned in vain. Suddenly +the captain discerned upon the stem of a little brass pipe which one of +the men was smoking, smoking in the face of death, like a true Japanese, +the figure of a crowing cock! Needless to say, that pipe was thrown +overboard. Then the angry sea began to grow calm; and the little vessel +safely steamed into the holy port, and cast anchor before the great +torii of the shrine of the god! + +º2 + +Concerning the reason why the Cock is thus detested by the Great Deity +of Mionoseki, and banished from his domain, divers legends are told; but +the substance of all of them is about as follows: As we read in the +Kojiki, Koto-shiro-nushi-no-Kami, Son of the Great Deity of Kitsuki, was +wont to go to Cape Miho, [1] 'to pursue birds and catch fish.' And for +other reasons also he used to absent himself from home at night, but had +always to return before dawn. Now, in those days the Cock was his +trusted servant, charged with the duty of crowing lustily when it was +time for the god to return. But one morning the bird failed in its duty; +and the god, hurrying back in his boat, lost his oars, and had to paddle +with his hands; and his hands were bitten by the wicked fishes. + +Now the people of Yasugi, a pretty little town on the lagoon of Naka- +umi, through which we pass upon our way to Mionoseki, most devoutly +worship the same Koto-shiro-nushi-no-Kami; and nevertheless in Yasugi +there are multitudes of cocks and hens and chickens; and the eggs of +Yasugi cannot be excelled for size and quality. And the people of Yasugi +aver that one may better serve the deity by eating eggs than by doing as +the people of Mionoseki do; for whenever one eats a chicken or devours +an egg, one destroys an enemy of Koto-shiro-nushi-no-Kami. + +º3 + + +From Matsue to Mionoseki by steamer is a charming journey in fair +weather. After emerging from the beautiful lagoon of Naka-umi into the +open sea, the little packet follows the long coast of Izumo to the left. +Very lofty this coast is, all cliffs and hills rising from the sea, +mostly green to their summits, and many cultivated in terraces, so as to +look like green pyramids of steps. The bases of the cliffs are very +rocky; and the curious wrinklings and corrugations of the coast suggest +the work of ancient volcanic forces. Far away to the right, over blue +still leagues of sea, appears the long low shore of Hoki, faint as a +mirage, with its far beach like an endless white streak edging the blue +level, and beyond it vapoury lines of woods and cloudy hills, and over +everything, looming into the high sky, the magnificent ghostly shape of +Daisen, snow-streaked at its summit. + +So for perhaps an hour we steam on, between Hoki and Izumo; the rugged +and broken green coast on our left occasionally revealing some miniature +hamlet sheltered in a wrinkle between two hills; the phantom coast on +the right always unchanged. Then suddenly the little packet whistles, +heads for a grim promontory to port, glides by its rocky foot, and +enters one of the prettiest little bays imaginable, previously concealed +from view. A shell-shaped gap in the coast--a semicircular basin of +clear deep water, framed in by high corrugated green hills, all wood- +clad. Around the edge of the bay the quaintest of little Japanese +cities, Mionoseki. + +There is no beach, only a semicircle of stone wharves, and above these +the houses, and above these the beautiful green of the sacred hills, +with a temple roof or two showing an angle through the foliage. From the +rear of each house steps descend to deep water; and boats are moored at +all the back-doors. We moor in front of the great temple, the Miojinja. +Its great paved avenue slopes to the water's edge, where boats are also +moored at steps of stone; and looking up the broad approach, one sees a +grand stone torii, and colossal stone lanterns, and two magnificent +sculptured lions, karashishi, seated upon lofty pedestals, and looking +down upon the people from a height of fifteen feet or more. Beyond all +this the walls and gate of the outer temple court appear, and beyond +them, the roofs of the great haiden, and the pierced projecting cross- +beams of the loftier Go-Miojin, the holy shrine itself, relieved against +the green of the wooded hills. Picturesque junks are lying in ranks at +anchor; there are two deep-sea vessels likewise, of modern build, ships +from Osaka. And there is a most romantic little breakwater built of hewn +stone, with a stone lantern perched at the end of it; and there is a +pretty humped bridge connecting it with a tiny island on which I see a +shrine of Benten, the Goddess of Waters. + +I wonder if I shall be able to get any eggs! + +º4 + +Unto the pretty waiting maiden of the inn Shimaya I put this scandalous +question, with an innocent face but a remorseful heart: + +'Ano ne! tamago wa arimasenka?' + +With the smile of a Kwannon she makes reply:-'He! Ahiru-no tamago-ga +sukoshi gozarimasu.' + +Delicious surprise! + +There augustly exist eggs--of ducks! + +But there exist no ducks. For ducks could not find life worth living in +a city where there is only deep-sea water. And all the ducks' eggs come +from Sakai. + +º5 + +This pretty little hotel, whose upper chambers overlook the water, is +situated at one end, or nearly at one end, of the crescent of Mionoseki, +and the Miojinja almost at the other, so that one must walk through the +whole town to visit the temple, or else cross the harbour by boat. But +the whole town is well worth seeing. It is so tightly pressed between +the sea and the bases of the hills that there is only room for one real +street; and this is so narrow that a man could anywhere jump from the +second story of a house upon the water-side into the second story of the +opposite house upon the land-side. And it is as picturesque as it is +narrow, with its awnings and polished balconies and fluttering figured +draperies. From this main street several little ruelles slope to the +water's edge, where they terminate in steps; and in all these miniature +alleys long boats are lying, with their prows projecting over the edge +of the wharves, as if eager to plunge in. The temptation to take to the +water I find to be irresistible: before visiting the Miojinja I jump +from the rear of our hotel into twelve feet of limpid sea, and cool +myself by a swim across the harbour. + +On the way to Miojinja, I notice, in multitudes of little shops, +fascinating displays of baskets and utensils made of woven bamboo. Fine +bamboo-ware is indeed the meibutsu, the special product of Mionoseki; +and almost every visitor buys some nice little specimen to carry home +with him. + +The Miojinja is not in its architecture more remarkable than ordinary +Shinto temples in Izumo; nor are its interior decorations worth +describing in detail. Only the approach to it over the broad sloping +space of level pavement, under the granite torii, and between the great +lions and lamps of stone, is noble. Within the courts proper there is +not much to be seen except a magnificent tank of solid bronze, weighing +tons, which must have cost many thousands of yen. It is a votive +offering. Of more humble ex-votos, there is a queer collection in the +shamusho or business building on the right of the haiden: a series of +quaintly designed and quaintly coloured pictures, representing ships in +great storms, being guided or aided to port by the power of Koto-shiro- +nushi-no-Kami. These are gifts from ships. + +The ofuda are not so curious as those of other famous Izumo temples; but +they are most eagerly sought for. Those strips of white paper, bearing +the deity's name, and a few words of promise, which are sold for a few +rin, are tied to rods of bamboo, and planted in all the fields of the +country roundabout. The most curious things sold are tiny packages of +rice-seeds. It is alleged that whatever you desire will grow from these +rice-seeds, if you plant them uttering a prayer. If you desire bamboos, +cotton-plants, peas, lotus-plants, or watermelons, it matters not; only +plant the seed and believe, and the desired crop will arise. + +º6 + +Much more interesting to me than the ofuda of the Miojinja are the +yoraku, the pendent ex-votos in the Hojinji, a temple of the Zen sect +which stands on the summit of the beautiful hill above the great Shinto +shrine. Before an altar on which are ranged the images of the Thirty- +three Kwannons, the thirty-three forms of that Goddess of Mercy who +represents the ideal of all that is sweet and pure in the Japanese +maiden, a strange, brightly coloured mass of curious things may be seen, +suspended from the carven ceiling. There are hundreds of balls of +worsted and balls of cotton thread of all colours; there are skeins of +silk and patterns of silk weaving and of cotton weaving; there are +broidered purses in the shape of sparrows and other living creatures; +there are samples of bamboo plaiting and countless specimens of +needlework. All these are the votive offerings of school children, +little girls only, to the Maid-mother of all grace and sweetness and +pity. So soon as a baby girl learns something in the way of woman 's +work--sewing, or weaving, or knitting, or broidering, she brings her +first successful effort to the temple as an offering to the gentle +divinity, 'whose eyes are beautiful,' she 'who looketh down above the +sound of prayer.' Even the infants of the Japanese kindergarten bring +their first work here--pretty paper-cuttings, scissored out and plaited +into divers patterns by their own tiny flower-soft hands. + +º7 + +Very sleepy and quiet by day is Mionoseki: only at long intervals one +hears laughter of children, or the chant of oarsmen rowing the most +extraordinary boats I ever saw outside of the tropics; boats heavy as +barges, which require ten men to move them. These stand naked to the +work, wielding oars with cross-handles (imagine a letter T with the +lower end lengthened out into an oar-blade). And at every pull they push +their feet against the gunwales to give more force to the stroke; +intoning in every pause a strange refrain of which the soft melancholy +calls back to me certain old Spanish Creole melodies heard in West +Indian waters: + +A-ra-ho-no-san-no-sa, +Iya-ho-en-ya! + Ghi! + Ghi! + +The chant begins with a long high note, and descends by fractional tones +with almost every syllable, and faints away a last into an almost +indistinguishable hum. Then comes the stroke, 'Ghi!--ghi!' + +But at night Mionoseki is one of the noisiest and merriest little havens +of Western Japan. From one horn of its crescent to the other the fires +of the shokudai, which are the tall light of banquets, mirror themselves +in the water; and the whole air palpitates with sounds of revelry. +Everywhere one hears the booming of the tsudzumi, the little hand-drums +of the geisha, and sweet plaintive chants of girls, and tinkling of +samisen, and the measured clapping of hands in the dance, and the wild +cries and laughter of the players at ken. And all these are but echoes +of the diversions of sailors. Verily, the nature of sailors differs but +little the world over. Every good ship which visits Mionoseki leaves +there, so I am assured, from three hundred to five hundred yen for sake +and for dancing-girls. Much do these mariners pray the Great Deity who +hates eggs to make calm the waters and favourable the winds, so that +Mionoseki may be reached in good time without harm. But having come +hither over an unruffled sea with fair soft breezes all the way, small +indeed is the gift which they give to the temple of the god, and +marvellously large the sums which they pay unto geisha and keepers of +taverns. But the god is patient and longsuffering--except in the matter +of eggs. + + +However, these Japanese seamen are very gentle compared with our own +Jack Tars, and not without a certain refinement and politeness of their +own. I see them sitting naked to the waist at their banquets; for it is +very hot, but they use their chopsticks as daintily and pledge each +other in sake almost as graciously as men of a better class. Likewise +they seem to treat their girls very kindly. It is quite pleasant to +watch them feasting across the street. Perhaps their laughter is +somewhat more boisterous and their gesticulation a little more vehement +than those of the common citizens; but there is nothing resembling real +roughness--much less rudeness. All become motionless and silent as +statues--fifteen fine bronzes ranged along the wall of the zashiki, [2] +-when some pretty geisha begins one of those histrionic dances which, +to the Western stranger, seem at first mysterious as a performance of +witchcraft--but which really are charming translations of legend and +story into the language of living grace and the poetry of woman's smile. +And as the wine flows, the more urbane becomes the merriment--until +there falls upon all that pleasant sleepiness which sake brings, and the +guests, one by one, smilingly depart. Nothing could be happier or +gentler than their evening's joviality--yet sailors are considered in +Japan an especially rough class. What would be thought of our own roughs +in such a country? + +Well, I have been fourteen months in Izumo; and I have not yet heard +voices raised in anger, or witnessed a quarrel: never have I seen one +man strike another, or a woman bullied, or a child slapped. Indeed I +have never seen any real roughness anywhere that I have been in Japan, +except at the open ports, where the poorer classes seem, through contact +with Europeans, to lose their natural politeness, their native morals-- +even their capacity for simple happiness. + +º8 + +Last night I saw the seamen of Old Japan: to-day I shall see those of +New Japan. An apparition in the offing has filled all this little port +with excitement--an Imperial man-of-war. Everybody is going out to look +at her; and all the long boats that were lying in the alleys are already +hastening, full of curious folk, to the steel colossus. A cruiser of the +first class, with a crew of five hundred. + +I take passage in one of those astounding craft I mentioned before--a +sort of barge propelled by ten exceedingly strong naked men, wielding +enormous oars--or rather, sweeps--with cross-handles. But I do not go +alone: indeed I can scarcely find room to stand, so crowded the boat is +with passengers of all ages, especially women who are nervous about +going to sea in an ordinary sampan. And a dancing-girl jumps into the +crowd at the risk of her life, just as we push off--and burns her arm +against my cigar in the jump. I am very sorry for her; but she laughs +merrily at my solicitude. And the rowers begin their melancholy +somnolent song- + +A-ra-ho-no-san-no-sa, +Iya-ho-en-ya! + Ghi! + Ghi! + +It is a long pull to reach her--the beautiful monster, towering +motionless there in the summer sea, with scarce a curling of thin smoke +from the mighty lungs of her slumbering engines; and that somnolent song +of our boatmen must surely have some ancient magic in it; for by the +time we glide alongside I feel as if I were looking at a dream. Strange +as a vision of sleep, indeed, this spectacle: the host of quaint craft +hovering and trembling around that tremendous bulk; and all the long- +robed, wide-sleeved multitude of the antique port--men, women, children +-the grey and the young together--crawling up those mighty flanks in +one ceaseless stream, like a swarming of ants. And all this with a great +humming like the humming of a hive,--a sound made up of low laughter, +and chattering in undertones, and subdued murmurs of amazement. For the +colossus overawes them--this ship of the Tenshi-Sama, the Son of +Heaven; and they wonder like babies at the walls and the turrets of +steel, and the giant guns and the mighty chains, and the stern bearing +of the white-uniformed hundreds looking down upon the scene without a +smile, over the iron bulwarks. Japanese those also--yet changed by some +mysterious process into the semblance of strangers. Only the experienced +eye could readily decide the nationality of those stalwart marines: but +for the sight of the Imperial arms in gold, and the glimmering +ideographs upon the stern, one might well suppose one's self gazing at +some Spanish or Italian ship-of-war manned by brown Latin men. + +I cannot possibly get on board. The iron steps are occupied by an +endless chain of clinging bodies--blue-robed boys from school, and old +men with grey queues, and fearless young mothers holding fast to the +ropes with over-confident babies strapped to their backs, and peasants, +and fishers, and dancing-girls. They are now simply sticking there like +flies: somebody-has told them they must wait fifteen minutes. So they +wait with smiling patience, and behind them in the fleet of high-prowed +boats hundreds more wait and wonder. But they do not wait for fifteen +minutes! All hopes are suddenly shattered by a stentorian announcement +from the deck: 'Mo jikan ga naikara, miseru koto dekimasen!' The +monster is getting up steam--going away: nobody else will be allowed to +come on board. And from the patient swarm of clingers to the hand-ropes, +and the patient waiters in the fleet of boats, there goes up one +exceedingly plaintive and prolonged 'Aa!' of disappointment, followed by +artless reproaches in Izumo dialect: 'Gun-jin wa uso iwanuka to omoya!- +uso-tsuki dana!--aa! so dana!' ('War-people-as-for-lies-never-say-that- +we-thought!--Aa-aa-aa!') Apparently the gunjin are accustomed to such +scenes; for they do not even smile. + +But we linger near the cruiser to watch the hurried descent of the +sightseers into their boats, and the slow ponderous motion of the chain- +cables ascending, and the swarming of sailors down over the bows to +fasten and unfasten mysterious things. One, bending head-downwards, +drops his white cap; and there is a race of boats for the honour of +picking it up. A marine leaning over the bulwarks audibly observes to a +comrade: 'Aa! gwaikojn dana!--nani ski ni kite iru daro?'--The other +vainly suggests: 'Yasu-no-senkyoshi daro.' My Japanese costume does not +disguise the fact that I am an alien; but it saves me from the +imputation of being a missionary. I remain an enigma. Then there are +loud cries of 'Abunail'--if the cruiser were to move now there would be +swamping and crushing and drowning unspeakable. All the little boats +scatter and flee away. + +Our ten naked oarsmen once more bend to their cross-handled oars, and +recommence their ancient melancholy song. And as we glide back, there +comes to me the idea of the prodigious cost of that which we went forth +to see, the magnificent horror of steel and steam and all the multiple +enginery of death--paid for by those humble millions who toil for ever +knee-deep in the slime of rice-fields, yet can never afford to eat their +own rice! Far cheaper must be the food they live upon; and nevertheless, +merely to protect the little that they own, such nightmares must be +called into existence--monstrous creations of science mathematically +applied to the ends of destruction. + +How delightful Mionoseki now seems, drowsing far off there under its +blue tiles at the feet of the holy hills!--immemorial Mionoseki, with +its lamps and lions of stone, and its god who hates eggs!--pretty +fantastic Mionoseki, where all things, save the schools, are medieval +still: the high-pooped junks, and the long-nosed boats, and the +plaintive chants of oarsmen! + +A-ra-ho-no-san-no-sa, +Iya-ho-en-ya! + Ghi! + Ghi! + +And we touch the mossed and ancient wharves of stone again: over one +mile of lucent sea we have floated back a thousand years! I turn to look +at the place of that sinister vision--and lo!--there is nothing there! +Only the level blue of the flood under the hollow blue of the sky--and, +just beyond the promontory, one far, small white speck: the sail of a +junk. The horizon is naked. Gone!--but how soundlessly, how swiftly! +She makes nineteen knots. And, oh! Koto-shiro-nushi-no-Kami, there +probably existed eggs on board! + + + + +Chapter Eleven +Notes on Kitzuki + +º1 + +KITZUKI, July 20, 1891. + +AKIRA is no longer with me. He has gone to Kyoto, the holy Buddhist +city, to edit a Buddhist magazine; and I already feel without him like +one who has lost his way--despite his reiterated assurances that he +could never be of much service to me in Izumo, as he knew nothing about +Shinto. + +But for the time being I am to have plenty of company at Kitzuki, where +I am spending the first part of the summer holidays; for the little city +is full of students and teachers who know me. Kitzuki is not only the +holiest place in the San-indo; it is also the most fashionable bathing +resort. The beach at Inasa bay is one of the best in all Japan; the +beach hotels are spacious, airy, and comfortable; and the bathing +houses, with hot and cold freshwater baths in which to wash off the +brine after a swim, are simply faultless. And in fair weather, the +scenery is delightful, as you look out over the summer space of sea. +Closing the bay on the right, there reaches out from the hills +overshadowing the town a mighty, rugged, pine-clad spur--the Kitzuki +promontory. On the left a low long range of mountains serrate the +horizon beyond the shore-sweep, with one huge vapoury shape towering +blue into the blue sky behind them--the truncated silhouette of +Sanbeyama. Before you the Japanese Sea touches the sky. And there, upon +still clear nights, there appears a horizon of fire--the torches of +hosts of fishing-boats riding at anchor three and four miles away--so +numerous that their lights seem to the naked eye a band of unbroken +flame. + +The Guji has invited me and one of my friends to see a great harvest +dance at his residence on the evening of the festival of Tenjin. This +dance--Honen-odori--is peculiar to Izumo; and the opportunity to +witness it in this city is a rare one, as it is going to be performed +only by order of the Guji. + + +The robust pontiff himself loves the sea quite as much as anyone in +Kitzuki; yet he never enters a beach hotel, much less a public bathing +house. For his use alone a special bathing house has been built upon a +ledge of the cliff overhanging the little settlement of Inasa: it is +approached by a narrow pathway shadowed by pine-trees; and there is a +torii before it, and shimenawa. To this little house the Guji ascends +daily during the bathing season, accompanied by a single attendant, who +prepares his bathing dresses, and spreads the clean mats upon which he +rests after returning from the sea. The Guji always bathes robed. No one +but himself and his servant ever approaches the little house, which +commands a charming view of the bay: public reverence for the pontiff's +person has made even his resting-place holy ground. As for the country- +folk, they still worship him with hearts and bodies. They have ceased to +believe as they did in former times, that anyone upon whom the Kokuzo +fixes his eye at once becomes unable to speak or move; but when he +passes among them through the temple court they still prostrate +themselves along his way, as before the Ikigami. + +KITZUKI, July 23rd + +Always, through the memory of my first day at Kitzuki, there will pass +the beautiful white apparition of the Miko, with her perfect passionless +face, and strange, gracious, soundless tread, as of a ghost. + +Her name signifies 'the Pet,' or 'The Darling of the Gods,'-Mi-ko. + +The kind Guji, at my earnest request, procured me--or rather, had taken +for me--a photograph of the Miko, in the attitude of her dance, +upholding the mystic suzu, and wearing, over her crimson hakama, the +snowy priestess-robe descending to her feet. + +And the learned priest Sasa told me these things concerning the Pet of +the Gods, and the Miko-kagura--which is the name of her sacred dance. + +Contrary to the custom at the other great Shinto temples of Japan, such +as Ise, the office of miko at Kitzuki has always been hereditary. +Formerly there were in Kitzuki more than thirty families whose daughters +served the Oho-yashiro as miko: to-day there are but two, and the number +of virgin priestesses does not exceed six--the one whose portrait I +obtained being the chief. At Ise and elsewhere the daughter of any +Shinto priest may become a miko; but she cannot serve in that capacity +after becoming nubile; so that, except in Kitzuki, the miko of all the +greater temples are children from ten to twelve years of age. But at the +Kitzuki Oho-yashiro the maiden-priestesses are beautiful girls of +between sixteen and nineteen years of age; and sometimes a favourite +miko is allowed to continue to serve the gods even after having been +married. The sacred dance is not difficult to learn: the mother or +sister teaches it to the child destined to serve in the temple. The miko +lives at home, and visits the temple only upon festival days to perform +her duties. She is not placed under any severe discipline or +restrictions; she takes no special vows; she risks no dreadful penalties +for ceasing to remain a virgin. But her position being one of high +honour, and a source of revenue to her family, the ties which bind her +to duty are scarcely less cogent than those vows taken by the +priestesses of the antique Occident. + +Like the priestesses of Delphi, the miko was in ancient times also a +divineress--a living oracle, uttering the secrets of the future when +possessed by the god whom she served. At no temple does the miko now act +as sibyl, oracular priestess, or divineress. But there still exists a +class of divining-women, who claim to hold communication with the dead, +and to foretell the future, and who call themselves miko--practising +their profession secretly; for it has been prohibited by law. + +In the various great Shinto shrines of the Empire the Mikokagura is +differently danced. In Kitzuki, most ancient of all, the dance is the +most simple and the most primitive. Its purpose being to give pleasure +to the gods, religious conservatism has preserved its traditions and +steps unchanged since the period of the beginning of the faith. The +origin of this dance is to be found in the Kojiki legend of the dance of +Ame-nouzume-no-mikoto--she by whose mirth and song the Sun-goddess was +lured from the cavern into which she had retired, and brought back to +illuminate the world. And the suzu--the strange bronze instrument with +its cluster of bells which the miko uses in her dance--still preserves +the form of that bamboo-spray to which Ame-no-uzume-no-mikoto fastened +small bells with grass, ere beginning her mirthful song. + +º4 + +Behind the library in the rear of the great shrine, there stands a more +ancient structure which is still called the Miko-yashiki, or dwelling- +place of the miko. Here in former times all the maiden-priestesses were +obliged to live, under a somewhat stricter discipline than now. By day +they could go out where they pleased; but they were under obligation to +return at night to the yashiki before the gates of the court were +closed. For it was feared that the Pets of the Gods might so far forget +themselves as to condescend to become the darlings of adventurous +mortals. Nor was the fear at all unreasonable; for it was the duty of a +miko to be singularly innocent as well as beautiful. And one of the most +beautiful miko who belonged to the service of the Oho-yashiro did +actually so fall from grace--giving to the Japanese world a romance +which you can buy in cheap printed form at any large bookstore in Japan. + +Her name was O-Kuni, and she was the daughter of one Nakamura Mongoro of +Kitzuki, where her descendants still live at the present day. While +serving as dancer in the great temple she fell in love with a ronin +named Nagoya Sanza--a desperate, handsome vagabond, with no fortune in +the world but his sword. And she left the temple secretly, and fled away +with her lover toward Kyoto. All this must have happened not less than +three hundred years ago. + +On their way to Kyoto they met another ronin, whose real name I have not +been able to learn. For a moment only this 'wave-man' figures in the +story, and immediately vanishes into the eternal Night of death and all +forgotten things. It is simply recorded that he desired permission to +travel with them, that he became enamoured of the beautiful miko, and +excited the jealousy of her lover to such an extent that a desperate +duel was the result, in which Sanza slew his rival. + +Thereafter the fugitives pursued their way to Kyoto without other +interruption. Whether the fair O-Kuni had by this time found ample +reason to regret the step she had taken, we cannot know. But from the +story of her after-life it would seem that the face of the handsome +ronin who had perished through his passion for her became a haunting +memory. + +We next hear of her in a strange role at Kyoto. Her lover appears to +have been utterly destitute; for, in order to support him, we find her +giving exhibitions of the Miko-kagura in the Shijo-Kawara--which is the +name given to a portion of the dry bed of the river Kamagawa--doubtless +the same place in which the terrible executions by torture took place. +She must have been looked upon by the public of that day as an outcast. +But her extraordinary beauty seems to have attracted many spectators, +and to have proved more than successful as an exhibition. Sanza's purse +became well filled. Yet the dance of O-Kuni in the Shijo-Kawara was +nothing more than the same dance which the miko of Kitzuki dance to-day, +in their crimson hakama and snowy robes--a graceful gliding walk. + +The pair next appear in Tokyo--or, as it was then called, Yedo--as +actors. O-Kuni, indeed, is universally credited by tradition, with +having established the modern Japanese stage--the first profane drama. +Before her time only religious plays, of Buddhist authorship, seem to +have been known. Sanza himself became a popular and successful actor, +under his sweetheart's tuition. He had many famous pupils, among them +the great Saruwaka, who subsequently founded a theatre in Yedo; and the +theatre called after him Saruwakaza, in the street Saruwakacho, remains +even unto this day. But since the time of O-Kuni, women have been--at +least until very recently-excluded from the Japanese stage; their +parts, as among the old Greeks, being taken by men or boys so effeminate +in appearance and so skilful in acting that the keenest observer could +never detect their sex. + +Nagoya Sanza died many years before his companion. O-Kuni then returned +to her native place, to ancient Kitzuki, where she cut off her beautiful +hair, and became a Buddhist nun. She was learned for her century, and +especially skilful in that art of poetry called Renga; and this art she +continued to teach until her death. With the small fortune she had +earned as an actress she built in Kitzuki the little Buddhist temple +called Rengaji, in the very heart of the quaint town--so called because +there she taught the art of Renga. Now the reason she built the temple +was that she might therein always pray for the soul of the man whom the +sight of her beauty had ruined, and whose smile, perhaps, had stirred +something within her heart whereof Sanza never knew. Her family enjoyed +certain privileges for several centuries because she had founded the +whole art of the Japanese stage; and until so recently as the +Restoration the chief of the descendants of Nakamura Mongoro was always +entitled to a share in the profits of the Kitzuki theatre, and enjoyed +the title of Zamoto. The family is now, however, very poor. + +I went to see the little temple of Rengaji, and found that it had +disappeared. Until within a few years it used to stand at the foot of +the great flight of stone steps leading to the second Kwannondera, the +most imposing temple of Kwannon in Kitzuki. Nothing now remains of the +Rengaji but a broken statue of Jizo, before which the people still pray. +The former court of the little temple has been turned into a vegetable +garden, and the material of the ancient building utilised, irreverently +enough, for the construction of some petty cottages now occupying its +site. A peasant told me that the kakemono and other sacred objects had +been given to the neighbouring temple, where they might be seen. + +º5 + +Not far from the site of the Rengaji, in the grounds of the great hakaba +of the Kwannondera, there stands a most curious pine. The trunk of the +tree is supported, not on the ground, but upon four colossal roots which +lift it up at such an angle that it looks like a thing walking upon four +legs. Trees of singular shape are often considered to be the dwelling- +places of Kami; and the pine in question affords an example of this +belief. A fence has been built around it, and a small shrine placed +before it, prefaced by several small torii; and many poor people may be +seen, at almost any hour of the day, praying to the Kami of the place. +Before the little shrine I notice, besides the usual Kitzuki ex-voto of +seaweed, several little effigies of horses made of straw. Why these +offerings of horses of straw? It appears that the shrine is dedicated to +Koshin, the Lord of Roads; and those who are anxious about the health of +their horses pray to the Road-God to preserve their animals from +sickness and death, at the same time bringing these straw effigies in +token of their desire. But this role of veterinarian is not commonly +attributed to Koshin;--and it appears that something in the fantastic +form of the tree suggested the idea. + +º6 KITZUKI, July 24th + +Within the first court of the Oho-yashiro, and to the left of the chief +gate, stands a small timber structure, ashen-coloured with age, shaped +like a common miya or shrine. To the wooden gratings of its closed doors +are knotted many of those white papers upon which are usually written +vows or prayers to the gods. But on peering through the grating one sees +no Shinto symbols in the dimness within. It is a stable! And there, in +the central stall, is a superb horse--looking at you. Japanese +horseshoes of straw are suspended to the wall behind him. He does not +move. He is made of bronze! + +Upon inquiring of the learned priest Sasa the story of this horse, I was +told the following curious things: + +On the eleventh day of the seventh month, by the ancient calendar,[1] +falls the strange festival called Minige,or 'The Body escaping.' Upon +that day, 'tis said that the Great Deity of Kitzuki leaves his shrine to +pass through all the streets of the city, and along the seashore, after +which he enters into the house of the Kokuzo. Wherefore upon that day +the Kokuzo was always wont to leave his house; and at the present time, +though he does not actually abandon his home, he and his family retire +into certain apartments, so as to leave the larger part of the dwelling +free for the use of the god. This retreat of the Kokuzo is still called +the Minige. + +Now while the great Deity Oho-kuni-nushi-no-Kami is passing through the +streets, he is followed by the highest Shinto priest of the shrine-- +this kannushi having been formerly called Bekkwa. The word 'Bekkwa' +means 'special' or 'sacred fire'; and the chief kannushi was so called +because for a week before the festival he had been nourished only with +special food cooked with the sacred fire, so that he might be pure in +the presence of the God. And the office of Bekkwa was hereditary; and +the appellation at last became a family name. But he who performs the +rite to-day is no longer called Bekkwa. + +Now while performing his function, if the Bekkwa met anyone upon the +street, he ordered him to stand aside with the words: 'Dog, give way!' +And the common people believed, and still believe, that anybody thus +spoken to by the officiating kannushi would be changed into a dog. So on +that day of the Minige nobody used to go out into the streets after a +certain hour, and even now very few of the people of the little city +leave their homes during the festival.[2] + +After having followed the deity through all the city, the Bekkwa used to +perform, between two and three o'clock in the darkness of the morning, +some secret rite by the seaside. (I am told this rite is still annually +performed at the same hour.) But, except the Bekkwa himself, no man +might be present; and it was believed, and is still believed by the +common people, that were any man, by mischance, to see the rite he would +instantly fall dead, or become transformed into an animal. + +So sacred was the secret of that rite, that the Bekkwa could not even +utter it until after he was dead, to his successor in office. + +Therefore, when he died, the body was laid upon the matting of a certain +inner chamber of the temple, and the son was left alone with the corpse, +after all the doors had been carefully closed. Then, at a certain hour +of the night, the soul returned into the body of the dead priest, and he +lifted himself up, and whispered the awful secret into the ear of his +son--and fell back dead again. + +But what, you may ask, has all this to do with the Horse of Bronze? + +Only this: + +Upon the festival of the Minige, the Great Deity of Kitzuki rides +through the streets of his city upon the Horse of Bronze. + +º7 + +The Horse of Bronze, however, is far from being the only statue in Izumo +which is believed to run about occasionally at night: at least a score +of other artistic things are, or have been, credited with similar +ghastly inclinations. The great carven dragon which writhes above the +entrance of the Kitzuki haiden used, I am told, to crawl about the roofs +at night--until a carpenter was summoned to cut its wooden throat with +a chisel, after which it ceased its perambulations. You can see for +yourself the mark of the chisel on its throat! At the splendid Shinto +temple of Kasuga, in Matsue, there are two pretty life-size bronze deer, +-stag and doe--the heads of which seemed to me to have been separately +cast, and subsequently riveted very deftly to the bodies. Nevertheless I +have been assured by some good country-folk that each figure was +originally a single casting, but that it was afterwards found necessary +to cut off the heads of the deer to make them keep quiet at night. But +the most unpleasant customer of all this uncanny fraternity to have +encountered after dark was certainly the monster tortoise of Gesshoji +temple in Matsue, where the tombs of the Matsudairas are. This stone +colossus is almost seventeen feet in length and lifts its head six feet +from the ground. On its now broken back stands a prodigious cubic +monolith about nine feet high, bearing a half-obliterated inscription. +Fancy--as Izumo folks did--this mortuary incubus staggering abroad at +midnight, and its hideous attempts to swim in the neighbouring lotus- +pond! Well, the legend runs that its neck had to be broken in +consequence of this awful misbehaviour. But really the thing looks as if +it could only have been broken by an earthquake. + +º8 KITZUKI, July 25th. At the Oho-yashiro it is the annual festival of +the God of Scholarship, the God of Calligraphy--Tenjin. Here in +Kitzuki, the festival of the Divine Scribe, the Tenjin-Matsuri, is still +observed according to the beautiful old custom which is being forgotten +elsewhere. Long ranges of temporary booths have been erected within the +outer court of the temple; and in these are suspended hundreds of long +white tablets, bearing specimens of calligraphy. Every schoolboy in +Kitzuki has a sample of his best writing on exhibition. The texts are +written only in Chinese characters--not in hirakana or katakana-and +are mostly drawn from the works of Confucius or Mencius. + +To me this display of ideographs seems a marvellous thing of beauty-- +almost a miracle, indeed, since it is all the work of very, very young +boys. Rightly enough, the word 'to write' (kaku) in Japanese signifies +also to 'paint' in the best artistic sense. I once had an opportunity of +studying the result of an attempt to teach English children the art of +writing Japanese. These children were instructed by a Japanese writing- +master; they sat upon the same bench with Japanese pupils of their own +age, beginners likewise. But they could never learn like the Japanese +children. The ancestral tendencies within them rendered vain the efforts +of the instructor to teach them the secret of a shapely stroke with the +brush. It is not the Japanese boy alone who writes; the fingers of the +dead move his brush, guide his strokes. + +Beautiful, however, as this writing seems to me, it is far from winning +the commendation of my Japanese companion, himself a much experienced +teacher. 'The greater part of this work,' he declares, 'is very bad.' +While I am still bewildered by this sweeping criticism, he points out to +me one tablet inscribed with rather small characters, adding: 'Only that +is tolerably good.' + +'Why,' I venture to observe, 'that one would seem to have cost much less +trouble; the characters are so small.' + +'Oh, the size of the characters has nothing to do with the matter,' +interrupts the master, 'it is a question of form.' + +'Then I cannot understand. What you call very bad seems to me +exquisitely beautiful.' + +'Of course you cannot understand,' the critic replies; 'it would take +you many years of study to understand. And even then-, + +'And even then?' + +'Well, even then you could only partly understand.' + +Thereafter I hold my peace on the topic of calligraphy. + +º9 + +Vast as the courts of the Oho-yashiro are, the crowd within them is now +so dense that one must move very slowly, for the whole population of +Kitzuki and its environs has been attracted here by the matsuri. All are +making their way very gently toward a little shrine built upon an island +in the middle of an artificial lake and approached by a narrow causeway. +This little shrine, which I see now for the first time (Kitzuki temple +being far too large a place to be all seen and known in a single visit), +is the Shrine of Tenjin. As the sound of a waterfall is the sound of the +clapping of hands before it, and myriads of nin, and bushels of handfuls +of rice, are being dropped into the enormous wooden chest there placed +to receive the offerings. Fortunately this crowd, like all Japanese +crowds, is so sympathetically yielding that it is possible to traverse +it slowly in any direction, and thus to see all there is to be seen. +After contributing my mite to the coffer of Tenjin, I devote my +attention to the wonderful display of toys in the outer counts. + +At almost every temple festival in Japan there is a great sale of toys, +usually within the count itself--a miniature street of small booths +being temporarily erected for this charming commence. Every matsuri is a +children's holiday. No mother would think of attending a temple-festival +without buying her child a toy: even the poorest mother can afford it; +for the price of the toys sold in a temple court varies from one-fifth +of one sen [3] or Japanese cent, to three or four sen; toys worth so +much as five sen being rarely displayed at these little shops. But cheap +as they are, these frail playthings are full of beauty and +suggestiveness, and, to one who knows and loves Japan, infinitely more +interesting than the costliest inventions of a Parisian toy- +manufacturer. Many of them, however, would be utterly incomprehensible +to an English child. Suppose we peep at a few of them. + +Here is a little wooden mallet, with a loose tiny ball fitted into a +socket at the end of the handle. This is for the baby to suck. On either +end of the head of the mallet is painted the mystic tomoye--that +Chinese symbol, resembling two huge commas so united as to make a +perfect circle, which you may have seen on the title-page of Mr. +Lowell's beautiful Soul of the Far East. To you, however, this little +wooden mallet would seem in all probability just a little wooden mallet +and nothing more. But to the Japanese child it is full of suggestions. +It is the mallet of the Great Deity of Kitzuki, Ohokuni-nushi-no-Kami-- +vulgarly called Daikoku--the God of Wealth, who, by one stroke of his +hammer, gives fortune to his worshippers. + +Perhaps this tiny drum, of a form never seen in the Occident (tsudzumi), +or this larger drum with a mitsudomoye, or triple-comma symbol, painted +on each end, might seem to you without religious signification; but both +are models of drums used in the Shinto and the Buddhist temples. This +queer tiny table is a miniature sambo: it is upon such a table that +offerings are presented to the gods. This curious cap is a model of the +cap of a Shinto priest. Here is a toy miya, or Shinto shrine, four +inches high. This bunch of tiny tin bells attached to a wooden handle +might seem to you something corresponding to our Occidental tin rattles; +but it is a model of the sacred suzu used by the virgin priestess in her +dance before the gods. This face of a smiling chubby girl, with two +spots upon her forehead-a mask of baked clay--is the traditional image +of Ame-no-uzume-no-mikoto, commonly called Otafuku, whose merry +laughter lured the Goddess of the Sun out of the cavern of darkness. And +here is a little Shinto priest in full hieratic garb: when this little +string between his feet is pulled, he claps his hands as if in prayer. + +Hosts of other toys are here--mysterious to the uninitiated European, +but to the Japanese child full of delightful religious meaning. In these +faiths of the Far East there is little of sternness or grimness--the +Kami are but the spirits of the fathers of the people; the Buddhas and +the Bosatsu were men. Happily the missionaries have not succeeded as yet +in teaching the Japanese to make religion a dismal thing. These gods +smile for ever: if you find one who frowns, like Fudo, the frown seems +but half in earnest; it is only Emma, the Lord of Death, who somewhat +appals. Why religion should be considered too awful a subject for +children to amuse themselves decently with never occurs to the common +Japanese mind. So here we have images of the gods and saints for toys-- +Tenjin, the Deity of Beautiful Writing--and Uzume, the laughter-loving +-and Fukusuke, like a happy schoolboy--and the Seven Divinities of +Good Luck, in a group--and Fukurojin, the God of Longevity, with head +so elongated that only by the aid of a ladder can his barber shave the +top of it--and Hotei, with a belly round and huge as a balloon--and +Ebisu, the Deity of Markets and of fishermen, with a tai-fish under his +arm--and Daruma, ancient disciple of Buddha, whose legs were worn off +by uninterrupted meditation. + +Here likewise are many toys which a foreigner could scarcely guess the +meaning of, although they have no religious signification. Such is this +little badger, represented as drumming upon its own belly with both +forepaws. The badger is believed to be able to use its belly like a +drum, and is credited by popular superstition with various supernatural +powers. This toy illustrates a pretty fairy-tale about some hunter who +spared a badger's life and was rewarded by the creature with a wonderful +dinner and a musical performance. Here is a hare sitting on the end of +the handle of a wooden pestle which is set horizontally upon a pivot. By +pulling a little string, the pestle is made to rise and fall as if moved +by the hare. If you have been even a week in Japan you will recognise +the pestle as the pestle of a kometsuki, or rice-cleaner, who works it +by treading on the handle. But what is the hare? This hare is the Hare- +in-the-Moon, called Usagi-no-kometsuki: if you look up at the moon on a +clear night you can see him cleaning his rice. + +Now let us see what we can discover in the way of cheap ingenuities. + +Tombo, 'the Dragon-Fly.' Merely two bits of wood joined together in the +form of a T. The lower part is a little round stick, about as thick as a +match, but twice as long; the upper piece is flat, and streaked with +paint. Unless you are accustomed to look for secrets, you would scarcely +be able to notice that the flat piece is trimmed along two edges at a +particular angle. Twirl the lower piece rapidly between the palms of +both hands, and suddenly let it go. At once the strange toy rises +revolving in the air, and then sails away slowly to quite a distance, +performing extraordinary gyrations, and imitating exactly--to the eye +at least--the hovering motion of a dragon-fly. Those little streaks of +paint you noticed upon the top-piece now reveal their purpose; as the +tombo darts hither and thither, even the tints appear to be those of a +real dragon-fly; and even the sound of the flitting toy imitates the +dragon-fly's hum. The principle of this pretty invention is much like +that of the boomerang; and an expert can make his tombo, after flying +across a large room, return into his hand. All the tombo sold, however, +are not as good as this one; we have been lucky. Price, one-tenth of one +cent! + +Here is a toy which looks like a bow of bamboo strung with wire. The +wire, however, is twisted into a corkscrew spiral. On this spiral a pair +of tiny birds are suspended by a metal loop. When the bow is held +perpendicularly with the birds at the upper end of the string, they +descend whirling by their own weight, as if circling round one another; +and the twittering of two birds is imitated by the sharp grating of the +metal loop upon the spiral wire. One bird flies head upward, and the +other tail upward. As soon as they have reached the bottom, reverse the +bow, and they will recommence their wheeling flight. Price, two cents-- +because the wire is dear. + +O-Saru, the 'Honourable Monkey.' [4] A little cotton monkey, with a blue +head and scarlet body, hugging a bamboo rod. Under him is a bamboo +spring; and when you press it, he runs up to the top of the rod. Price, +one-eighth of one cent. + +O-Saru. Another Honourable Monkey. This one is somewhat more complex in +his movements, and costs a cent. He runs up a string, hand over hand, +when you pull his tail. + +Tori-Kago. A tiny gilded cage, with a bird in it, and plum flowers. +Press the edges of the bottom of the cage, and a minuscule wind- +instrument imitates the chirping of the bird. Price, one cent. + +Karuwazashi, the Acrobat. A very loose-jointed wooden boy clinging with +both hands to a string stretched between two bamboo sticks, which are +curiously rigged together in the shape of an open pair of scissors. +Press the ends of the sticks at the bottom; and the acrobat tosses his +legs over the string, seats himself upon it, and finally turns a +somersault. Price, one-sixth of one cent. + +Kobiki, the Sawyer. A figure of a Japanese workman, wearing only a +fundoshi about his loins, and standing on a plank, with a long saw in +his hands. If you pull a string below his feet, he will go to work in +good earnest, sawing the plank. Notice that he pulls the saw towards +him, like a true Japanese, instead of pushing it from him, as our own +carpenters do. Price, one-tenth of one cent. + +Chie-no-ita, the 'Intelligent Boards,' or better, perhaps, 'The Planks +of Intelligence.' A sort of chain composed of about a dozen flat square +pieces of white wood, linked together by ribbons. Hold the thing +perpendicularly by one end-piece; then turn the piece at right angles to +the chain; and immediately all the other pieces tumble over each other +in the most marvellous way without unlinking. Even an adult can amuse +himself for half an hour with this: it is a perfect trompe-l'oeil in +mechanical adjustment. Price, one cent. + +Kitsune-Tanuki. A funny flat paper mask with closed eyes. If you pull a +pasteboard slip behind it, it will open its eyes and put out a tongue of +surprising length. Price, one-sixth of one cent. + +Chin. A little white dog, with a collar round its neck. It is in the +attitude of barking. From a Buddhist point of view, I should think this +toy somewhat immoral. For when you slap the dog's head, it utters a +sharp yelp, as of pain. Price, one sen and five rin. Rather dear. + +Fuki-agari-koboshi, the Wrestler Invincible. This is still dearer; for +it is made of porcelain, and very nicely coloured The wrestler squats +upon his hams. Push him down in any direction, he always returns of his +own accord to an erect position. Price, two sen. + +Oroga-Heika-Kodomo, the Child Reverencing His Majesty the Emperor. A +Japanese schoolboy with an accordion in his hands, singing and playing +the national anthem, or Kimiga. There is a little wind-bellows at the +bottom of the toy; and when you operate it, the boy's arms move as if +playing the instrument, and a shrill small voice is heard. Price, one +cent and a half. + +Jishaku. This, like the preceding, is quite a modern toy. A small wooden +box containing a magnet and a tiny top made of a red wooden button with +a steel nail driven through it. Set the top spinning with a twirl of the +fingers; then hold the magnet over the nail, and the top will leap up to +the magnet and there continue to spin, suspended in air. Price, one +cent. + +It would require at least a week to examine them all. Here is a model +spinning-wheel, absolutely perfect, for one-fifth of one cent. Here are +little clay tortoises which swim about when you put them into water-- +one rin for two. Here is a box of toy-soldiers--samurai in full armour +--nine rin only. Here is a Kaze-Kuruma, or wind-wheel--a wooden whistle +with a paper wheel mounted before the orifice by which the breath is +expelled, so that the wheel turns furiously when the whistle is blown-- +three rin. Here is an Ogi, a sort of tiny quadruple fan sliding in a +sheath. When expanded it takes the shape of a beautiful flower--one +rin. . + +The most charming of all these things to me, however, is a tiny doll-- +O-Hina-San (Honourable Miss Hina)--or beppin ('beautiful woman'). The +body is a phantom, only--a flat stick covered with a paper kimono--but +the head is really a work of art. A pretty oval face with softly +shadowed oblique eyes--looking shyly downward--and a wonderful maiden +coiffure, in which the hair is arranged in bands and volutes and +ellipses and convolutions and foliole curlings most beautiful and +extraordinary. In some respects this toy is a costume model, for it +imitates exactly the real coiffure of Japanese maidens and brides. But +the expression of the face of the beppin is, I think, the great +attraction of the toy; there is a shy, plaintive sweetness about it +impossible to describe, but deliciously suggestive of a real Japanese +type of girl-beauty. Yet the whole thing is made out of a little +crumpled paper, coloured with a few dashes of the brush by an expert +hand. There are no two O-Hina-San exactly alike out of millions; and +when you have become familiar by long residence with Japanese types, any +such doll will recall to you some pretty face that you have seen. These +are for little girls. Price, five rin. + +º 10 + +Here let me tell you something you certainly never heard of before in +relation to Japanese dolls--not the tiny O-Hina-San I was just speaking +about, but the beautiful life-sized dolls representing children of two +or three years old; real toy-babes which, although far more cheaply and +simply constructed than our finer kinds of Western dolls, become, under +the handling of a Japanese girl, infinitely more interesting. Such dolls +are well dressed, and look so life-like--little slanting eyes, shaven +pates, smiles, and all!--that as seen from a short distance the best +eyes might be deceived by them. Therefore in those stock photographs of +Japanese life, of which so many thousands are sold in the open ports, +the conventional baby on the mother's back is most successfully +represented by a doll. Even the camera does not betray the substitution. +And if you see such a doll, though held quite close to you, being made +by a Japanese mother to reach out his hands, to move its little bare +feet, and to turn its head, you would be almost afraid to venture a +heavy wager that it was only a doll. Even after having closely examined +the thing, you would still, I fancy, feel a little nervous at being left +alone with it, so perfect the delusion of that expert handling. + +Now there is a belief that some dolls do actually become alive. + +Formerly the belief was less rare than it is now. Certain dolls were +spoken of with a reverence worthy of the Kami, and their owners were +envied folk. Such a doll was treated like a real son or daughter: it was +regularly served with food; it had a bed, and plenty of nice clothes, +and a name. If in the semblance of a girl, it was O-Toku-San; if in that +of a boy, Tokutaro-San. It was thought that the doll would become angry +and cry if neglected, and that any ill-treatment of it would bring ill- +fortune to the house. And, moreover, it was believed to possess +supernatural powers of a very high order. + +In the family of one Sengoku, a samurai of Matsue, there was a Tokutaro- +San which had a local reputation scarcely inferior to that of Kishibojin +--she to whom Japanese wives pray for offspring. And childless couples +used to borrow that doll, and keep it for a time--ministering unto it-- +and furnish it with new clothes before gratefully returning it to its +owners. And all who did so, I am assured, became parents, according to +their heart's desire. 'Sengoku's doll had a soul.' There is even a +legend that once, when the house caught fire, the TokutarO-San ran out +safely into the garden of its own accord! + +The idea about such a doll seems to be this: The new doll is only a +doll. But a doll which is preserved for a great many years in one +family, [5] and is loved and played with by generations of children, +gradually acquires a soul. I asked a charming Japanese girl: 'How can a +doll live?' + +'Why,' she answered, 'if you love it enough, it will live!' + +What is this but Renan's thought of a deity in process of evolution, +uttered by the heart of a child? + +º11 + +But even the most beloved dolls are worn out at last, or get broken in +the course of centuries. And when a doll must be considered quite dead, +its remains are still entitled to respect. Never is the corpse of a doll +irreverently thrown away. Neither is it burned or cast into pure running +water, as all sacred objects of the miya must be when they have ceased +to be serviceable. And it is not buried. You could not possibly imagine +what is done with it. + +It is dedicated to the God Kojin, [6]--a somewhat mysterious divinity, +half-Buddhist, half-Shinto. The ancient Buddhist images of Kojin +represented a deity with many arms;--the Shinto Kojin of Izumo has, I +believe, no artistic representation whatever. But in almost every +Shinto, and also in many Buddhist, temple grounds, is planted the tree +called enoki [7] which is sacred to him, and in which he is supposed by +the peasantry to dwell; for they pray before the enoki always to Kojin. +And there is usually a small shrine placed before the tree, and a little +torii also. Now you may often see laid upon such a shrine of Kojin, or +at the foot of his sacred tree, or in a hollow thereof--if there be any +hollow--pathetic remains of dolls. But a doll is seldom given to Kojin +during the lifetime of its possessor. When you see one thus exposed, you +may be almost certain that it was found among the effects of some poor +dead woman--the innocent memento of her girlhood, perhaps even also of +the girlhood of her mother and of her mother's mother. + +º12 + +And now we are to see the Honen-odori--which begins at eight o'clock. +There is no moon; and the night is pitch-black overhead: but there is +plenty of light in the broad court of the Guji's residence, for a +hundred lanterns have been kindled and hung out. I and my friend have +been provided with comfortable places in the great pavilion which opens +upon the court, and the pontiff has had prepared for us a delicious +little supper. + +Already thousands have assembled before the pavilion--young men of +Kitzuki and young peasants from the environs, and women and children in +multitude, and hundreds of young girls. The court is so thronged that it +is difficult to assume the possibility of any dance. Illuminated by the +lantern-light, the scene is more than picturesque: it is a carnivalesque +display of gala-costume. Of course the peasants come in their ancient +attire: some in rain-coats (mino), or overcoats of yellow straw; others +with blue towels tied round their heads; many with enormous mushroom +hats--all with their blue robes well tucked up. But the young townsmen +come in all guises and disguises. Many have dressed themselves in female +attire; some are all in white duck, like police; some have mantles on; +others wear shawls exactly as a Mexican wears his zarape; numbers of +young artisans appear almost as lightly clad as in working-hours, +barelegged to the hips, and barearmed to the shoulders. Among the girls +some wonderful dressing is to be seen--ruby-coloured robes, and rich +greys and browns and purples, confined with exquisite obi, or girdles of +figured satin; but the best taste is shown in the simple and very +graceful black and white costumes worn by some maidens of the better +classes--dresses especially made for dancing, and not to be worn at any +other time. A few shy damsels have completely masked themselves by tying +down over their cheeks the flexible brims of very broad straw hats. I +cannot attempt to talk about the delicious costumes of the children: as +well try to describe without paint the variegated loveliness of moths +and butterflies. + +In the centre of this multitude I see a huge rice-mortar turned upside +down; and presently a sandalled peasant leaps upon it lightly, and +stands there--with an open paper umbrella above his head. Nevertheless +it is not raining. That is the Ondo-tori, the leader of the dance, who +is celebrated through all Izumo as a singer. According to ancient +custom, the leader of the Honen-odori [8] always holds an open umbrella +above his head while he sings. + +Suddenly, at a signal from the Guji, who has just taken his place in the +pavilion, the voice of the Ondo-tori, intoning the song of thanksgiving, +rings out over all the murmuring of the multitude like a silver cornet. +A wondrous voice, and a wondrous song, full of trills and quaverings +indescribable, but full also of sweetness and true musical swing. And as +he sings, he turns slowly round upon his high pedestal, with the +umbrella always above his head; never halting in his rotation from right +to left, but pausing for a regular interval in his singing, at the close +of each two verses, when the people respond with a joyous outcry: 'Ya- +ha-to-nai!-ya-ha-to-nai!' Simultaneously, an astonishingly rapid +movement of segregation takes place in the crowd; two enormous rings of +dancers form, one within the other, the rest of the people pressing back +to make room for the odori. And then this great double-round, formed by +fully five hundred dancers, begins also to revolve from right to left-- +lightly, fantastically--all the tossing of arms and white twinkling of +feet keeping faultless time to the measured syllabification of the +chant. An immense wheel the dance is, with the Ondo-tori for its axis-- +always turning slowly upon his rice-mortar, under his open umbrella, as +he sings the song of harvest thanksgiving: + +[9] Ichi-wa--Izumo-no-Taisha-Sama-ye; +Ni-ni-wa--Niigata-no-Irokami-Sama-ye; +San-wa--Sanuki-no-Kompira-Sama-ye; +Shi-ni-wa--Shinano-no-Zenkoji-Sama-ye; +Itsutsu--Ichibata-O-Yakushi-Sama-ye; +Roku-niwa--Rokkakudo-no-O-Jizo-Sama-ye; +Nanatsu--Nana-ura-no-O-Ebisu-Sama-ye; +Yattsu--Yawata-no-Hachiman-Sama-ye; +Kokonotsu--Koya-no-O-teradera-ye; +To-niwa--Tokoro-no-Ujigami-Sama-ye. + +And the voices of all the dancers in unison roll out the chorus: + +Ya-ha-to-nai! +Ya-ha-to-nail + +Utterly different this whirling joyous Honen-odori from the Bon-odori +which I witnessed last year at Shimo-Ichi, and which seemed to me a very +dance of ghosts. But it is also much more difficult to describe. Each +dancer makes a half-wheel alternately to left and right, with a peculiar +bending of the knees and tossing up of the hands at the same time--as +in the act of lifting a weight above the head; but there are other +curious movements-jerky with the men, undulatory with the women--as +impossible to describe as water in motion. These are decidedly complex, +yet so regular that five hundred pairs of feet and hands mark the +measure of the song as truly as if they were under the control of a +single nervous system. + +It is strangely difficult to memorise the melody of a Japanese popular +song, or the movements of a Japanese dance; for the song and the dance +have been evolved through an aesthetic sense of rhythm in sound and in +motion as different from the corresponding Occidental sense as English +is different from Chinese. We have no ancestral sympathies with these +exotic rhythms, no inherited aptitudes for their instant comprehension, +no racial impulses whatever in harmony with them. But when they have +become familiar through study, after a long residence in the Orient, how +nervously fascinant the oscillation of the dance, and the singular swing +of the song! + +This dance, I know, began at eight o'clock; and the Ondo-tori, after +having sung without a falter in his voice for an extraordinary time, has +been relieved by a second. But the great round never breaks, never +slackens its whirl; it only enlarges as the night wears on. And the +second Ondo-tori is relieved by a third; yet I would like to watch that +dance for ever. + +'What time do you think it is?' my friend asks, looking at his watch. + +'Nearly eleven o'clock,' I make answer. + +'Eleven o'clock! It is exactly eight minutes to three o'clock. And our +host will have little time for sleep before the rising of the sun.' + + + + +Chapter Twelve At Hinomisaki + +KITZUKI, August 10, 1891. + +MY Japanese friends urge me to visit Hinomisaki, where no European has +ever been, and where there is a far-famed double temple dedicated to +Amaterasu-oho-mi-Kami, the Lady of Light, and to her divine brother +Take-haya-susa-no-wo-no-mikoto. Hinomisaki is a little village on the +Izumo coast about five miles from Kitzuki. It maybe reached by a +mountain path, but the way is extremely steep, rough, and fatiguing. By +boat, when the weather is fair, the trip is very agreeable. So, with a +friend, I start for Hinomisaki in a very cozy ryosen, skilfully sculled +by two young fishermen. + +Leaving the pretty bay of Inasa, we follow the coast to the right--a +very lofty and grim coast without a beach. Below us the clear water +gradually darkens to inky blackness, as the depth increases; but at +intervals pale jagged rocks rise up from this nether darkness to catch +the light fifty feet under the surface. We keep tolerably close to the +cliffs, which vary in height from three hundred to six hundred feet-- +their bases rising from the water all dull iron-grey, their sides and +summits green with young pines and dark grasses that toughen in sea- +wind. All the coast is abrupt, ravined, irregular--curiously breached +and fissured. Vast masses of it have toppled into the sea; and the black +ruins project from the deep in a hundred shapes of menace. Sometimes our +boat glides between a double line of these; or takes a zigzag course +through labyrinths of reef-channels. So swiftly and deftly is the little +craft impelled to right and left, that one could almost believe it sees +its own way and moves by its own intelligence. And again we pass by +extraordinary islets of prismatic rock whose sides, just below the +water-line, are heavily mossed with seaweed. The polygonal masses +composing these shapes are called by the fishermen 'tortoise-shell +stones.' There is a legend that once Oho-kuni-nushi-no-Kami, to try his +strength, came here, and, lifting up one of these masses of basalt, +flung it across the sea to the mountain of Sanbeyama. At the foot of +Sanbe the mighty rock thus thrown by the Great Deity of Kitzuki may +still be seen, it is alleged, even unto this day. + +More and more bare and rugged and ghastly the coast becomes as we +journey on, and the sunken ledges more numerous, and the protruding +rocks more dangerous, splinters of strata piercing the sea-surface from +a depth of thirty fathoms. Then suddenly our boat makes a dash for the +black cliff, and shoots into a tremendous cleft of it--an earthquake +fissure with sides lofty and perpendicular as the walls of a canon-and +lo! there is daylight ahead. This is a miniature strait, a short cut to +the bay. We glide through it in ten minutes, reach open water again, and +Hinomisaki is before us-a semicircle of houses clustering about a bay +curve, with an opening in their centre, prefaced by a torii. + +Of all bays I have ever seen, this is the most extraordinary. Imagine an +enormous sea-cliff torn out and broken down level with the sea, so as to +leave a great scoop-shaped hollow in the land, with one original +fragment of the ancient cliff still standing in the middle of the gap-- +a monstrous square tower of rock, bearing trees upon its summit. And a +thousand yards out from the shore rises another colossal rock, fully one +hundred feet high. This is known by the name of Fumishima or +Okyogashima; and the temple of the Sun-goddess, which we are now about +to see, formerly stood upon that islet. The same appalling forces which +formed the bay of Hinomisaki doubtless also detached the gigantic mass +of Fumishima from this iron coast. + +We land at the right end of the bay. Here also there is no beach; the +water is black-deep close to the shore, which slopes up rapidly. As we +mount the slope, an extraordinary spectacle is before us. Upon thousands +and thousands of bamboo frames--shaped somewhat like our clothes-horses +-are dangling countless pale yellowish things, the nature of which I +cannot discern at first glance. But a closer inspection reveals the +mystery. Millions of cuttlefish drying in the sun! I could never have +believed that so many cuttlefish existed in these waters. And there is +scarcely any variation in the dimensions of them: out of ten thousand +there is not the difference of half an inch in length. + +º2 + +The great torii which forms the sea-gate of Hinomisaki is of white +granite, and severely beautiful. Through it we pass up the main street +of the village--surprisingly wide for about a thousand yards, after +which it narrows into a common highway which slopes up a wooded hill and +disappears under the shadow of trees. On the right, as you enter the +street, is a long vision of grey wooden houses with awnings and +balconies--little shops, little two-story dwellings of fishermen--and +ranging away in front of these other hosts of bamboo frames from which +other millions of freshly caught cuttlefish are hanging. On the other +side of the street rises a cyclopean retaining wall, massive as the wall +of a daimyo's castle, and topped by a lofty wooden parapet pierced with +gates; and above it tower the roofs of majestic buildings, whose +architecture strongly resembles that of the structures of Kitzuki; and +behind all appears a beautiful green background of hills. This is the +Hinomisaki-jinja. But one must walk some considerable distance up the +road to reach the main entrance of the court, which is at the farther +end of the inclosure, and is approached by an imposing broad flight of +granite steps. + +The great court is a surprise. It is almost as deep as the outer court +of the Kitzuki-no-oho-yashiro, though not nearly so wide; and a paved +cloister forms two sides of it. From the court gate a broad paved walk +leads to the haiden and shamusho at the opposite end of the court-- +spacious and dignified structures above whose roofs appears the quaint +and massive gable of the main temple, with its fantastic cross-beams. +This temple, standing with its back to the sea, is the shrine of the +Goddess of the Sun. On the right side of the main court, as you enter, +another broad flight of steps leads up to a loftier court, where another +fine group of Shinto buildings stands--a haiden and a miya; but these +are much smaller, like miniatures of those below. Their woodwork also +appears to be quite new. The upper miya is the shrine of the god Susano- +o, [1]--brother of Amaterasu-oho-mi-Kami. + +º3 + +To me the great marvel of the Hinomisaki-jinja is that structures so +vast, and so costly to maintain, can exist in a mere fishing hamlet, in +an obscure nook of the most desolate coast of Japan. Assuredly the +contributions of peasant pilgrims alone could not suffice to pay the +salary of a single kannushi; for Hinomisaki, unlike Kitzuki, is not a +place possible to visit in all weathers. My friend confirms me in this +opinion; but I learn from him that the temples have three large sources +of revenue. They are partly supported by the Government; they receive +yearly large gifts of money from pious merchants; and the revenues from +lands attached to them also represent a considerable sum. Certainly a +great amount of money must have been very recently expended here; for +the smaller of the two miya seems to have just been wholly rebuilt; the +beautiful joinery is all white with freshness, and even the carpenters' +odorous chips have not yet been all removed. + +At the shamusho we make the acquaintance of the Guji of Hinomisaki, a +noble-looking man in the prime of life, with one of those fine aquiline +faces rarely to be met with except among the high aristocracy of Japan. +He wears a heavy black moustache, which gives him, in spite of his +priestly robes, the look of a retired army officer. We are kindly +permitted by him to visit the sacred shrines; and a kannushi is detailed +to conduct us through the buildings. + +Something resembling the severe simplicity of the Kitzuki-no-oho-yashiro +was what I expected to see. But this shrine of the Goddess of the Sun is +a spectacle of such splendour that for the first moment I almost doubt +whether I am really in a Shinto temple. In very truth there is nothing +of pure Shinto here. These shrines belong to the famous period of Ryobu- +Shinto, when the ancient faith, interpenetrated and allied with +Buddhism, adopted the ceremonial magnificence and the marvellous +decorative art of the alien creed. Since visiting the great Buddhist +shrines of the capital, I have seen no temple interior to be compared +with this. Daintily beautiful as a casket is the chamber of the shrine. +All its elaborated woodwork is lacquered in scarlet and gold; the altar- +piece is a delight of carving and colour; the ceiling swarms with dreams +of clouds and dragons. And yet the exquisite taste of the decorators-- +buried, doubtless, five hundred years ago--has so justly proportioned +the decoration to the needs of surface, so admirably blended the +colours, that there is no gaudiness, no glare, only an opulent repose. + +This shrine is surrounded by a light outer gallery which is not visible +from the lower court; and from this gallery one can study some +remarkable friezes occupying the spaces above the doorways and below the +eaves--friezes surrounding the walls of the miya. These, although +exposed for many centuries to the terrific weather of the western coast, +still remain masterpieces of quaint carving. There are apes and hares +peeping through wonderfully chiselled leaves, and doves and demons, and +dragons writhing in storms. And while looking up at these, my eye is +attracted by a peculiar velvety appearance of the woodwork forming the +immense projecting eaves of the roof. Under the tiling it is more than a +foot thick. By standing on tiptoe I can touch it; and I discover that it +is even more velvety to the touch than to the sight. Further examination +reveals the fact that this colossal roofing is not solid timber, only +the beams are solid. The enormous pieces they support are formed of +countless broad slices thin as the thinnest shingles, superimposed and +cemented together into one solid-seeming mass. I am told that this +composite woodwork is more enduring than any hewn timber could be. The +edges, where exposed to wind and sun, feel to the touch just like the +edges of the leaves of some huge thumb-worn volume; and their stained +velvety yellowish aspect so perfectly mocks the appearance of a book, +that while trying to separate them a little with my fingers, I find +myself involuntarily peering for a running-title and the number of a +folio! + +We then visit the smaller temple. The interior of the sacred chamber is +equally rich in lacquered decoration and gilding; and below the miya +itself there are strange paintings of weird foxes--foxes wandering in +the foreground of a mountain landscape. But here the colours have been +damaged somewhat by time; the paintings have a faded look. Without the +shrine are other wonderful carvings, doubtless executed by the same +chisel which created the friezes of the larger temple. + +I learn that only the shrine-chambers of both temples are very old; all +the rest has been more than once rebuilt. The entire structure of the +smaller temple and its haiden, with the exception of the shrine-room, +has just been rebuilt--in fact, the work is not yet quite done--so +that the emblem of the deity is not at present in the sanctuary. The +shrines proper are never repaired, but simply reinclosed in the new +buildings when reconstruction becomes a necessity. To repair them or +restore them to-day would be impossible: the art that created them is +dead. But so excellent their material and its lacquer envelope that they +have suffered little in the lapse of many centuries from the attacks of +time. + +One more surprise awaits me--the homestead of the high pontiff, who +most kindly invites us to dine with him; which hospitality is all the +more acceptable from the fact that there is no hotel in Hinomisaki, but +only a kichinyado [2] for pilgrims. The ancestral residence of the high +pontiffs of Hinomisaki occupies, with the beautiful gardens about it, a +space fully equal to that of the great temple courts themselves. Like +most of the old-fashioned homes of the nobility and of the samurai, it +is but one story high--an immense elevated cottage, one might call it. +But the apartments are lofty, spacious, and very handsome--and there is +a room of one hundred mats. [3] A very nice little repast, with +abundance of good wine, is served up to us-and I shall always remember +one curious dish, which I at first mistake for spinach. It is seaweed, +deliciously prepared--not the common edible seaweed, but a rare sort, +fine like moss. + +After bidding farewell to our generous host, we take an uphill stroll to +the farther end of the village. We leave the cuttlefish behind; but +before us the greater part of the road is covered with matting, upon +which indigo is drying in the sun. The village terminates abruptly at +the top of the hill, where there is another grand granite torii--a +structure so ponderous that it is almost as difficult to imagine how it +was ever brought up the hill as to understand the methods of the +builders of Stonehenge. From this torii the road descends to the pretty +little seaport of U-Ryo, on the other side of the cape; for Hinomisaki +is situated on one side of a great promontory, as its name implies--a +mountain-range projecting into the Japanese Sea. + +º4 + +The family of the Guji of Hinomisaki is one of the oldest of the Kwazoku +or noble families of Izumo; and the daughters are still addressed by the +antique title of Princess--O-Hime-San. The ancient official designation +of the pontiff himself was Kengyo, as that of the Kitzuki pontiff was +Kokuzo; and the families of the Hinomisaki and of the Kitzuki Guji are +closely related. + +There is one touching and terrible tradition in the long history of the +Kengyos of Hinomisaki, which throws a strange light upon the social +condition of this province in feudal days. + +Seven generations ago, a Matsudaira, Daimyo of Izumo, made with great +pomp his first official visit to the temples of Hinomisaki, and was +nobly entertained by the Kengyo--doubtless in the same chamber of a +hundred mats which we to-day were privileged to see. According to +custom, the young wife of the host waited upon the regal visitor, and +served him with dainties and with wine. She was singularly beautiful; +and her beauty, unfortunately, bewitched the Daimyo. With kingly +insolence he demanded that she should leave her husband and become his +concubine. Although astounded and terrified, she answered bravely, like +the true daughter of a samurai, that she was a loving wife and mother, +and that, sooner than desert her husband and her child, she would put an +end to her life with her own hand. The great Lord of Izumo sullenly +departed without further speech, leaving the little household plunged in +uttermost grief and anxiety; for it was too well known that the prince +would suffer no obstacle to remain in the way of his lust or his hate. + +The anxiety, indeed, proved to be well founded. Scarcely had the Daimyo +returned to his domains when he began to devise means for the ruin of +the Kengyo. Soon afterward, the latter was suddenly and forcibly +separated from his family, hastily tried for some imaginary offence, and +banished to the islands of Oki. Some say the ship on which he sailed +went down at sea with all on board. Others say that he was conveyed to +Oki, but only to die there of misery and cold. At all events, the old +Izumo records state that, in the year corresponding to A.D. 1661 'the +Kengyo Takatoshi died in the land of Oki.' + +On receiving news of the Kengyo's death, Matsudaira scarcely concealed +his exultation. The object of his passion was the daughter of his own +Karo, or minister, one of the noblest samurai of Matsue, by name Kamiya. +Kamiya was at once summoned before the Daimyo, who said to him: 'Thy +daughter's husband being dead, there exists no longer any reason that +she should not enter into my household. Do thou bring her hither.' The +Karo touched the floor with his forehead, and departed on his errand. + +Upon the following day he re-entered the prince's apartment, and, +performing the customary prostration, announced that his lord's commands +had been obeyed-that the victim had arrived. + +Smiling for pleasure, the Matsudaira ordered that she should be brought +at once into his presence. The Karo prostrated himself, retired and +presently returning, placed before his master a kubi-oke [4] upon which +lay the freshly-severed head of a beautiful woman--the head of the +young wife of the dead Kengyo--with the simple utterance: + +'This is my daughter.' + +Dead by her own brave will--but never dishonoured. + +Seven generations have been buried since the Matsudaira strove to +appease his remorse by the building of temples and the erection of +monuments to the memory of his victim. His own race died with him: those +who now bear the illustrious name of that long line of daimyos are not +of the same blood; and the grim ruin of his castle, devoured by +vegetation, is tenanted only by lizards and bats. But the Kamiya family +endures; no longer wealthy, as in feudal times, but still highly +honoured in their native city. And each high pontiff of Hinomisakei +chooses always his bride from among the daughters of that valiant race. + +NOTE.--The Kengyo of the above tradition was enshrined by Matsudaira in +the temple of Shiyekei-jinja, at Oyama, near Matsue. This miya was built +for an atonement; and the people still pray to the spirit of the Kengyo. +Near this temple formerly stood a very popular theatre, also erected by +the Daimyo in his earnest desire to appease the soul of his victim; for +he had heard that the Kengyo was very fond of theatrical performances. +The temple is still in excellent preservation; but the theatre has long +since disappeared; and its site is occupied by a farmer's vegetable +garden. + + + + +Chapter Thirteen Shinju + +º1 + +SOMETIMES they simply put their arms round each other, and lie down +together on the iron rails, just in front of an express train. (They +cannot do it in Izumo, however, because there are no railroads there +yet.) Sometimes they make a little banquet for themselves, write very +strange letters to parents and friends, mix something bitter with their +rice-wine, and go to sleep for ever. Sometimes they select a more +ancient and more honoured method: the lover first slays his beloved with +a single sword stroke, and then pierces his own throat. Sometimes with +the girl's long crape-silk under-girdle (koshi-obi) they bind themselves +fast together, face to face, and so embracing leap into some deep lake +or stream. Many are the modes by which they make their way to the Meido, +when tortured by that world-old sorrow about which Schopenhauer wrote so +marvellous a theory. + +Their own theory is much simpler. + +None love life more than the Japanese; none fear death less. Of a future +world they have no dread; they regret to leave this one only because it +seems to them a world of beauty and of happiness; but the mystery of the +future, so long oppressive to Western minds, causes them little concern. +As for the young lovers of whom I speak, they have a strange faith which +effaces mysteries for them. They turn to the darkness with infinite +trust. If they are too unhappy to endure existence, the fault is not +another's, nor yet the world's; it is their own; it is innen, the result +of errors in a previous life. If they can never hope to be united in +this world, it is only because in some former birth they broke their +promise to wed, or were otherwise cruel to each other. All this is not +heterodox. But they believe likewise that by dying together they will +find themselves at once united in another world, though Buddhism +proclaims that self-destruction is a deadly sin. Now this idea of +winning union through death is incalculably older than the faith of +Shaka; but it has somehow borrowed in modern time from Buddhism a +particular ecstatic colouring, a mystical glow. Hasu no hana no ue ni +oite matan. On the lotus-blossoms of paradise they shall rest together. +Buddhism teaches of transmigrations countless, prolonged through +millions of millions of years, before the soul can acquire the Infinite +Vision, the Infinite Memory, and melt into the bliss of Nehan, as a +white cloud melts into the summer 's blue. But these suffering ones +think never of Nehan; love's union, their supremest wish, may be +reached, they fancy, through the pang of a single death. The fancies of +all, indeed--as their poor letters show--are not the same. Some think +themselves about to enter Amida's paradise of light; some see in their +visional hope the saki-no-yo only, the future rebirth, when beloved +shall meet beloved again, in the all-joyous freshness of another youth; +while the idea of many, indeed of the majority, is vaguer far--only a +shadowy drifting together through vapoury silences, as in the faint +bliss of dreams. + +They always pray to be buried together. Often this prayer is refused by +the parents or the guardians, and the people deem this refusal a cruel +thing, for 'tis believed that those who die for love of each other will +find no rest, if denied the same tomb. But when the prayer is granted +the ceremony of burial is beautiful and touching. From the two homes the +two funeral processions issue to meet in the temple court, by light of +lanterns. There, after the recitation of the kyo and the accustomed +impressive ceremonies, the chief priest utters an address to the souls +of the dead. Compassionately he speaks of the error and the sin; of the +youth of the victims, brief and comely as the flowers that blossom and +fall in the first burst of spring. He speaks of the Illusion--Mayoi-- +which so wrought upon them; he recites the warning of the Teacher.. But +sometimes he will even predict the future reunion of the lovers in some +happier and higher life, re-echoing the popular heart-thought with a +simple eloquence that makes his hearers weep. Then the two processions +form into one, which takes its way to the cemetery where the grave has +already been prepared. The two coffins are lowered together, so that +their sides touch as they rest at the bottom of the excavation. Then the +yama-no-mono [1] folk remove the planks which separate the pair--making +the two coffins into one; above the reunited dead the earth is heaped; +and a haka, bearing in chiselled letters the story of their fate, and +perhaps a little poem, is placed above the mingling of their dust. + +º2 + +These suicides of lovers are termed 'joshi' or 'shinju'--(both words +being written with the same Chinese characters)-signifying 'heart- +death,' 'passion-death,' or 'love-death.' They most commonly occur, in +the case of women, among the joro [2] class; but occasionally also among +young girls of a more respectable class. There is a fatalistic belief +that if one shinju occurs among the inmates of a joroya, two more are +sure to follow. Doubtless the belief itself is the cause that cases of +shinju do commonly occur in series of three. + +The poor girls who voluntarily sell themselves to a life of shame for +the sake of their families in time of uttermost distress do not, in +Japan (except, perhaps, in those open ports where European vice and +brutality have become demoralising influences), ever reach that depth of +degradation to which their Western sisters descend. Many indeed retain, +through all the period of their terrible servitude, a refinement of +manner, a delicacy of sentiment, and a natural modesty that seem, under +such conditions, as extraordinary as they are touching. + +Only yesterday a case of shinju startled this quiet city. The servant of +a physician in the street called Nadamachi, entering the chamber of his +master's son a little after sunrise, found the young man lying dead with +a dead girl in his arms. The son had been disinherited. The girl was a +joro. Last night they were buried, but not together; for the father was +not less angered than grieved that such a thing should have been. + +Her name was Kane. She was remarkably pretty and very gentle; and from +all accounts it would seem that her master had treated her with a +kindness unusual in men of his infamous class. She had sold herself for +the sake of her mother and a child-sister. The father was dead, and they +had lost everything. She was then seventeen. She had been in the house +scarcely a year when she met the youth. They fell seriously in love with +each other at once. Nothing more terrible could have befallen them; for +they could never hope to become man and wife. The young man, though +still allowed the privileges of a son, had been disinherited in favour +of an adopted brother of steadier habits. The unhappy pair spent all +they had for the privilege of seeing each other: she sold even her +dresses to pay for it. Then for the last time they met by stealth, late +at night, in the physician's house, drank death, and laid down to sleep +for ever. + +I saw the funeral procession of the girl winding its way by the light of +paper lanterns--the wan dead glow that is like a shimmer of +phosphorescence--to the Street of the Temples, followed by a long train +of women, white-hooded, white-robed, white-girdled, passing all +soundlessly--a troop of ghosts. + +So through blackness to the Meido the white Shapes flit-the eternal +procession of Souls--in painted Buddhist dreams of the Underworld. + +º3 + +My friend who writes for the San-in Shimbun, which to-morrow will print +the whole sad story, tells me that compassionate folk have already +decked the new-made graves with flowers and with sprays of shikimi. [3] +Then drawing from a long native envelope a long, light, thin roll of +paper covered with beautiful Japanese writing, and unfolding it before +me, he adds:--'She left this letter to the keeper of the house in which +she lived: it has been given to us for publication. It is very prettily +written. But I cannot translate it well; for it is written in woman's +language. The language of letters written by women is not the same as +that of letters written by men. Women use particular words and +expressions. For instance, in men's language "I" is watakushi, or ware, +or yo, or boku, according to rank or circumstance, but in the language +of woman, it is warawa. And women's language is very soft and gentle; +and I do not think it is possible to translate such softness and +amiability of words into any other language. So I can only give you an +imperfect idea of the letter.' + +And he interprets, slowly, thus: + +'I leave this letter: + +'As you know, from last spring I began to love Tashiro-San; and he also +fell in love with me. And now, alas!--the influence of our relation in +some previous birth having come upon us-and the promise we made each +other in that former life to become wife and husband having been broken +-even to-day I must travel to the Meido. + +'You not only treated me very kindly, though you found me so stupid and +without influence, [4] but you likewise aided in many ways for my +worthless sake my mother and sister. And now, since I have not been able +to repay you even the one myriadth part of that kindness and pity in +which you enveloped me--pity great as the mountains and the sea [5]-- +it would not be without just reason that you should hate me as a great +criminal. + +'But though I doubt not this which I am about to do will seem a wicked +folly, I am forced to it by conditions and by my own heart. Wherefore I +still may pray you to pardon my past faults. And though I go to the +Meido, never shall I forget your mercy to me--great as the mountains +and the sea. From under the shadow of the grasses [6] I shall still try +to recompense you--to send back my gratitude to you and to your house. +Again, with all my heart I pray you: do not be angry with me. + +'Many more things I would like to write. But now my heart is not a +heart; and I must quickly go. And so I shall lay down my writing-brush. + +'It is written so clumsily, this. + +'Kane thrice prostrates herself before you. + +'From KANE. + +'To---SAMA.' + +'Well, it is a characteristic shinju letter,' my friend comments, after +a moment's silence, replacing the frail white paper in its envelope. 'So +I thought it would interest you. And now, although it is growing dark, I +am going to the cemetery to see what has been done at the grave. Would +you like to come with me?' + +We take our way over the long white bridge, up the shadowy Street of the +Temples, toward the ancient hakaba of Miokoji--and the darkness grows +as we walk. A thin moon hangs just above the roofs of the great temples. + +Suddenly a far voice, sonorous and sweet--a man's voice-breaks into +song under the starred night: a song full of strange charm and tones +like warblings--those Japanese tones of popular emotion which seem to +have been learned from the songs of birds. Some happy workman returning +home. So clear the thin frosty air that each syllable quivers to us; but +I cannot understand the words:- + +Saite yuke toya, ano ya wo saite; Yuke ba chikayoru nushi no soba. + +'What is that?' I ask my friend. + +He answers: 'A love-song. "Go forward, straight forward that way, to the +house that thou seest before thee;--the nearer thou goest thereto, the +nearer to her [7] shalt thou be."' + + + +Chapter Fourteen Yaegaki-jinja + +º1 + +UNTO Yaegaki-jinja, which is in the village of Sakusa in Iu, in the Land +of Izumo, all youths and maidens go who are in love, and who can make +the pilgrimage. For in the temple of Yaegaki at Sakusa, Take-haya-susa- +no-wo-no-mikoto and his wife Inada-hime and their son Sa-ku-sa-no-mikoto +are enshrined. And these are the Deities of Wedlock and of Love--and +they set the solitary in families--and by their doing are destinies +coupled even from the hour of birth. Wherefore one should suppose that +to make pilgrimage to their temple to pray about things long since +irrevocably settled were simple waste of time. But in what land did ever +religious practice and theology agree? Scholiasts and priests create or +promulgate doctrine and dogma; but the good people always insist upon +making the gods according to their own heart--and these are by far the +better class of gods. Moreover, the history of Susano-o the Impetuous +Male Deity, does not indicate that destiny had anything to do with his +particular case: he fell in love with the Wondrous Inada Princess at +first sight--as it is written in the Kojiki: + +'Then Take-haya-susa-no-wo-no-mikoto descended to a place called Tori- +kami at the headwaters of the River Hi in the land of Idzumo. At this +time a chopstick came floating down the stream. So Take-haya-susa-no-wo- +no-mikoto, thinking that there must be people at the headwaters of the +river, went up it in quest of them. And he came upon an old man and an +old woman who had a young girl between them, and were weeping. Then he +deigned to ask: "Who are ye?" So the old man replied, saying: "I am an +Earthly Deity, son of the Deity Oho-yama-tsu-mi-no-Kami. I am called by +the name of Ashi-nadzu-chi; my wife is called by the name of Te-nadzu- +chi; and my daughter is called by the name of Kushi-Inada-hime." Again +he asked: "What is the cause of your crying?" The old man answered, +saying: "I had originally eight young daughters. But the eight-forked +serpent of Koshi has come every year, and devoured one; and it is now +its time to come, wherefore we weep." Then he asked him: "What is its +form like?" The old man answered, saying: "Its eyes are like akaka- +gachi; it has one body with eight heads and eight tails. Moreover, upon +its body grow moss and sugi and hinoki trees. Its length extends over +eight valleys and eight hills; and if one look at its belly, it is all +constantly bloody and inflamed." Then Take-haya-susa-no-wo-no-mikoto +said to the old man: "If this be thy daughter, wilt thou offer her to +me?" He replied: "With reverence; but I know not thine august name." +Then he replied, saying: "I am elder brother to Ama-terasu-oho-mi-Kami. +So now I have descended from heaven." Then the Deities Ashi-nadzu-chi +and Te-nadzu-chi said: "If that be so, with reverence will we offer her +to thee." So Take-haya-susa-no-wo-no-mikoto, at once taking and changing +the young girl into a close-toothed comb, which he stuck into his august +hair-bunch, said to the Deities Ashi-nadzu-chi and Te-nadzu-chi: "Do you +distil some eightfold refined liquor. Also make a fence round about; in +that fence make eight gates; at each gate tie a platform; on each +platform put a liquor-vat; and into each vat pour the eightfold refined +liquor, and wait." So as they waited after having prepared everything in +accordance with his bidding, the eight-forked serpent came and put a +head into each vat and drank the liquor. Thereupon it was intoxicated, +and all the heads lay down and slept. Then Take-haya-susa-no-wo-nomikoto +drew the ten-grasp sabre that was augustly girded upon him, and cut the +serpent in pieces, so that the River Hi flowed on changed into a river +of blood. + +'Then Take-haya-susa-no-wo-no-mikoto sought in the Land of Idzumo where +he might build a palace. + +'When this great Deity built the palace, clouds rose up thence. Then he +made an august song: + +'Ya-kumo tatsu: +Idzumo ya-he-gaki; +Tsuma-gomi ni +Ya-he-gaki-tsukuru: +Sono ya-he-gaki wo!' [1] + +Now the temple of Yaegaki takes its name from the words of the august +song Ya-he-gaki, and therefore signifies The Temple of the Eightfold +Fence. And ancient commentators upon the sacred books have said that the +name of Idzumo (which is now Izumo), as signifying the Land of the +Issuing of Clouds, was also taken from that song of the god. [2] + +º2 + +Sakusa, the hamlet where the Yaegaki-jinja stands, is scarcely more than +one ri south from Matsue. But to go there one must follow tortuous paths +too rough and steep for a kuruma; and of three ways, the longest and +roughest happens to be the most interesting. It slopes up and down +through bamboo groves and primitive woods, and again serpentines through +fields of rice and barley, and plantations of indigo and of ginseng, +where the scenery is always beautiful or odd. And there are many famed +Shinto temples to be visited on the road, such as Take-uchi-jinja, +dedicated to the venerable minister of the Empress Jingo, Take-uchi, to +whom men now pray for health and for length of years; and Okusa-no-miya, +or Rokusho-jinja, of the five greatest shrines in Izumo; and Manaijinja, +sacred to Izanagi, the Mother of Gods, where strange pictures may be +obtained of the Parents of the World; and Obano-miya, where Izanami is +enshrined, also called Kamoshijinja, which means, 'The Soul of the God.' + +At the Temple of the Soul of the God, where the sacred fire-drill used +to be delivered each year with solemn rites to the great Kokuzo of +Kitzuki, there are curious things to be seen--a colossal grain of rice, +more than an inch long, preserved from that period of the Kamiyo when +the rice grew tall as the tallest tree and bore grains worthy of the +gods; and a cauldron of iron in which the peasants say that the first +Kokuzo came down from heaven; and a cyclopean toro formed of rocks so +huge that one cannot imagine how they were ever balanced upon each +other; and the Musical Stones of Oba, which chime like bells when +smitten. There is a tradition that these cannot be carried away beyond a +certain distance; for 'tis recorded that when a daimyo named Matsudaira +ordered one of them to be conveyed to his castle at Matsue, the stone +made itself so heavy that a thousand men could not move it farther than +the Ohashi bridge. So it was abandoned before the bridge; and it lies +there imbedded in the soil even unto this day. + +All about Oba you may see many sekirei or wagtails-birds sacred to +Izanami and Izanagi--for a legend says that from the sekirei the gods +first learned the art of love. And none, not even the most avaricious +farmer, ever hurts or terrifies these birds. So that they do not fear +the people of Oba, nor the scarecrows in the fields. + +The God of Scarecrows is Sukuna-biko-na-no-Kami. + +º3 + +The path to Sakusa, for the last mile of the journey, at least, is +extremely narrow, and has been paved by piety with large flat rocks laid +upon the soil at intervals of about a foot, like an interminable line of +stepping-stones. You cannot walk between them nor beside them, and you +soon tire of walking upon them; but they have the merit of indicating +the way, a matter of no small importance where fifty rice-field paths +branch off from your own at all bewildering angles. After having been +safely guided by these stepping-stones through all kinds of labyrinths +in rice valleys and bamboo groves, one feels grateful to the peasantry +for that clue-line of rocks. There are some quaint little shrines in the +groves along this path--shrines with curious carvings of dragons and of +lion-heads and flowing water--all wrought ages ago in good keyaki-wood, +[3] which has become the colour of stone. But the eyes of the dragons +and the lions have been stolen because they were made of fine crystal- +quartz, and there was none to guard them, and because neither the laws +nor the gods are quite so much feared now as they were before the period +of Meiji. + +Sakusa is a very small cluster of farmers' cottages before a temple at +the verge of a wood--the temple of Yaegaki. The stepping-stones of the +path vanish into the pavement of the court, just before its lofty +unpainted wooden torii Between the torii and the inner court, entered by +a Chinese gate, some grand old trees are growing, and there are queer +monuments to see. On either side of the great gateway is a shrine +compartment, inclosed by heavy wooden gratings on two sides; and in +these compartments are two grim figures in complete armour, with bows in +their hands and quivers of arrows upon their backs,-.-the Zuijin, or +ghostly retainers of the gods, and guardians of the gate. Before nearly +all the Shinto temples of Izumo, except Kitzuki, these Zuijin keep grim +watch. They are probably of Buddhist origin; but they have acquired a +Shinto history and Shinto names. [4] Originally, I am told, there was +but one Zuijin-Kami, whose name was Toyo-kushi-iwa-mato-no-mikoto. But +at a certain period both the god and his name were cut in two--perhaps +for decorative purposes. And now he who sits upon the left is called +Toyo-iwa-ma-to-no-mikoto; and his companion on the right, Kushi-iwa-ma- +to-no-mikoto. + +Before the gate, on the left side, there is a stone monument upon which +is graven, in Chinese characters, a poem in Hokku, or verse of seventeen +syllables, composed by Cho-un: + +Ko-ka-ra-shi-ya +Ka-mi-no-mi-yu-ki-no +Ya-ma-no-a-to. + +My companion translates the characters thus:--'Where high heap the dead +leaves, there is the holy place upon the hills, where dwell the gods.' +Near by are stone lanterns and stone lions, and another monument--a +great five-cornered slab set up and chiselled--bearing the names in +Chinese characters of the Ji-jin, or Earth-Gods--the Deities who +protect the soil: Uga-no-mitama-no-mikoto (whose name signifies the +August Spirit-of-Food), Ama-terasu-oho-mi-Kami, Ona-muji-no-Kami, Kaki- +yasu-hime-no-Kami, Sukuna-hiko-na-no-Kami (who is the Scarecrow God). +And the figure of a fox in stone sits before the Name of the August +Spirit-of-Food. + +The miya or Shinto temple itself is quite small--smaller than most of +the temples in the neighbourhood, and dingy, and begrimed with age. Yet, +next to Kitzuki, this is the most famous of Izumo shrines. The main +shrine, dedicated to Susano-o and Inada-hime and their son, whose name +is the name of the hamlet of Sakusa, is flanked by various lesser +shrines to left and right. In one of these smaller miya the spirit of +Ashi-nadzu-chi, father of Inada-hime, is supposed to dwell; and in +another that of Te-nadzu-chi, the mother of Inada-hime. There is also a +small shrine of the Goddess of the Sun. But these shrines have no +curious features. The main temple offers, on the other hand, some +displays of rarest interest. + +To the grey weather-worn gratings of the doors of the shrine hundreds +and hundreds of strips of soft white paper have been tied in knots: +there is nothing written upon them, although each represents a heart's +wish and a fervent prayer. No prayers, indeed, are so fervent as those +of love. Also there are suspended many little sections of bamboo, cut +just below joints so as to form water receptacles: these are tied +together in pairs with a small straw cord which also serves to hang them +up. They contain offerings of sea-water carried here from no small +distance. And mingling with the white confusion of knotted papers there +dangle from the gratings many tresses of girls' hair--love-sacrifices +[5]--and numerous offerings of seaweed, so filamentary and so sun- +blackened that at some little distance it would not be easy to +distinguish them from long shorn tresses. And all the woodwork of the +doors and the gratings, both beneath and between the offerings, is +covered with a speckling of characters graven or written, which are +names of pilgrims. + +And my companion reads aloud the well-remembered name of--AKIRA! + +If one dare judge the efficacy of prayer to these kind gods of Shinto +from the testimony of their worshippers, I should certainly say that +Akira has good reason to hope. Planted in the soil, all round the edge +of the foundations of the shrine, are multitudes of tiny paper flags of +curious shape (nobori), pasted upon splinters of bamboo. Each of these +little white things is a banner of victory, and a lover's witness of +gratitude. [6] You will find such little flags stuck into the ground +about nearly all the great Shinto temples of Izumo. At Kitzuki they +cannot even be counted--any more than the flakes of a snowstorm. + +And here is something else that you will find at most of the famous miya +in Izumo--a box of little bamboo sticks, fastened to a post before the +doors. If you were to count the sticks, you would find their number to +be exactly one thousand. They are counters for pilgrims who make a vow +to the gods to perform a sendo-mairi. To perform a sendo-mairi means to +visit the temple one thousand times. This, however, is so hard to do +that busy pious men make a sort of compromise with the gods, thus: they +walk from the shrine one foot beyond the gate, and back again to the +shrine, one thousand times--all in one day, keeping count with the +little splints of bamboo. + +There is one more famous thing to be seen before visiting the holy grove +behind the temple, and that is the Sacred Tama-tsubaki, or Precious- +Camellia of Yaegaki. It stands upon a little knoll, fortified by a +projection-wall, in a rice-field near the house of the priest; a fence +has been built around it, and votive lamps of stone placed before it. It +is of vast age, and has two heads and two feet; but the twin trunks grow +together at the middle. Its unique shape, and the good quality of +Iongevity it is believed to possess in common with all of its species, +cause itto be revered as a symbol of undying wedded love, and as +tenanted by the Kami who hearken to lovers' prayers--enmusubi-no-kami. + +There is, however, a strange superstition, about tsubaki-trees; and this +sacred tree of Yaegaki, in the opinion of some folk, is a rare exception +to the general ghastliness of its species. For tsubaki-trees are goblin +trees, they say, and walk about at night; and there was one in the +garden of a Matsue samurai which did this so much that it had to be cut +down. Then it writhed its arms and groaned, and blood spurted at every +stroke of the axe. + +º4 + +At the spacious residence of the kannushi some very curious ofuda and o- +mamori--the holy talismans and charms of Yaegaki--are sold, together +with pictures representing Take-haya-susa-no-wo-no-mikoto and his bride +Inada-hime surrounded by the 'manifold fence' of clouds. On the pictures +is also printed the august song whence the temple derives its name of +Yaegaki-jinja,--'Ya kumo tatsu Idzumo ya-he-gaki.' Of the o-mamori +there is quite a variety; but by far the most interesting is that +labelled: 'Izumo-Yaegaki-jinja-en-musubi-on-hina' (August wedlock-- +producing 'hina' of the temple of Yaegaki of Izumo). This oblong, folded +paper, with Chinese characters and the temple seal upon it, is purchased +only by those in love, and is believed to assure nothing more than the +desired union. Within the paper are two of the smallest conceivable +doll-figures (hina), representing a married couple in antique costume-- +the tiny wife folded to the breast of the tiny husband by one long- +sleeved arm. It is the duty of whoever purchases this mamori to return +it to the temple if he or she succeed in marrying the person beloved. As +already stated, the charm is not supposed to assure anything more than +the union: it cannot be accounted responsible for any consequences +thereof. He who desires perpetual love must purchase another mamori +labelled: 'Renri-tama-tsubaki-aikyo-goki-to-on-mamori' (August amulet of +august prayer-for-kindling-love of the jewel-precious tsubaki-tree-of- +Union). This charm should maintain at constant temperature the warmth of +affection; it contains only a leaf of the singular double-bodied +camelliatree beforementioned. There are also small amulets for exciting +love, and amulets for the expelling of diseases, but these have no +special characteristics worth dwelling upon. + +Then we take our way to the sacred grove--the Okuno-in, or Mystic +Shades of Yaegaki. + +º5 + +This ancient grove--so dense that when you first pass into its shadows +out of the sun all seems black--is composed of colossal cedars and +pines, mingled with bamboo, tsubaki (Camellia Japonica), and sakaki, the +sacred and mystic tree of Shinto. The dimness is chiefly made by the +huge bamboos. In nearly all sacred groves bamboos are thickly set +between the trees, and their feathery foliage, filling every lofty +opening between the heavier crests, entirely cuts off the sun. Even in a +bamboo grove where no other trees are, there is always a deep twilight. + +As the eyes become accustomed to this green gloaming, a pathway outlines +itself between the trees--a pathway wholly covered with moss, velvety, +soft, and beautifully verdant. In former years, when all pilgrims were +required to remove their footgear before entering the sacred grove, this +natural carpet was a boon to the weary. The next detail one observes is +that the trunks of many of the great trees have been covered with thick +rush matting to a height of seven or eight feet, and that holes have +been torn through some of the mats. All the giants of the grove are +sacred; and the matting was bound about them to prevent pilgrims from +stripping off their bark, which is believed to possess miraculous +virtues. But many, more zealous than honest, do not hesitate to tear +away the matting in order to get at the bark. And the third curious fact +which you notice is that the trunks of the great bamboos are covered +with ideographs--with the wishes of lovers and the names of girls. +There is nothing in the world of vegetation so nice to write a +sweetheart's name upon as the polished bark of a bamboo: each letter, +however lightly traced at first, enlarges and blackens with the growth +of the bark, and never fades away. + +The deeply mossed path slopes down to a little pond in the very heart of +the grove--a pond famous in the land of Izumo. Here there are many +imori, or water-newts, about five inches long, which have red bellies. +Here the shade is deepest, and the stems of the bamboos most thickly +tattooed with the names of girls. It is believed that the flesh of the +newts in the sacred pond of Yaegaki possesses aphrodisiac qualities; and +the body of the creature, reduced to ashes, by burning, was formerly +converted into love-powders. And there is a little Japanese song +referring to the practice: + +'Hore-gusuri koka niwa naika to imori ni toeba, yubi-wo marumete kore +bakari.' [7] + +The water is very clear; and there are many of these newts to be seen. +And it is the custom for lovers to make a little boat of paper, and put +into it one rin, and set it afloat and watch it. So soon as the paper +becomes wet through, and allows the water to enter it, the weight of the +copper coin soon sends it to the bottom, where, owing to the purity of +the water, it can be still seen distinctly as before. If the newts then +approach and touch it, the lovers believe their happiness assured by the +will of the gods; but if the newts do not come near it, the omen is +evil. One poor little paper boat, I observe, could not sink at all; it +simply floated to the inaccessible side of the pond, where the trees +rise like a solid wall of trunks from the water's edge, and there became +caught in some drooping branches. The lover who launched it must have +departed sorrowing at heart. + +Close to the pond, near the pathway, there are many camellia-bushes, of +which the tips of the branches have been tied together, by pairs, with +strips of white paper. These are shrubs of presage. The true lover must +be able to bend two branches together, and to keep them united by tying +a paper tightly about them--all with the fingers of one hand. To do +this well is good luck. Nothing is written upon the strips of paper. + +But there is enough writing upon the bamboos to occupy curiosity for +many an hour, in spite of the mosquitoes. Most of the names are yobi-na, +-that is to say, pretty names of women; but there are likewise names of +men--jitsumyo; [8] and, oddly enough, a girl's name and a man's are in +no instance written together. To judge by all this ideographic +testimony, lovers in Japan--or at least in Izumo--are even more +secretive than in our Occident. The enamoured youth never writes his own +jitsumyo and his sweetheart's yobi-na together; and the family name, or +myoji, he seldom ventures to inscribe. If he writes his jitsumyo, then +he contents himself with whispering the yobi-na of his sweetheart to the +gods and to the bamboos. If he cuts her yobi-na into the bark, then he +substitutes for his own name a mention of his existence and his age +only, as in this touching instance: + +Takata-Toki-to-en-musubi-negaimas. Jiu-hassai-no-otoko [9] + +This lover presumes to write his girl's whole name; but the example, so +far as I am able to discover, is unique. Other enamoured ones write only +the yobi-na of their bewitchers; and the honourable prefix, 'O,' and the +honourable suffix, 'San,' find no place in the familiarity of love. +There is no 'O-Haru-San,' 'O-Kin-San,' 'O-Take-San,' 'O-Kiku-San'; but +there are hosts of Haru, and Kin, and Take, and Kiku. Girls, of course, +never dream of writing their lovers' names. But there are many geimyo +here, 'artistic names,'--names of mischievous geisha who worship the +Golden Kitten, written by their saucy selves: Rakue and Asa and Wakai, +Aikichi and Kotabuki and Kohachi, Kohana and Tamakichi and Katsuko, and +Asakichi and Hanakichi and Katsukichi, and Chiyoe and Chiyotsuru. +'Fortunate-Pleasure,' 'Happy-Dawn,' and 'Youth' (such are their +appellations), 'Blest-Love' and 'Length-of-Days,' and 'Blossom-Child' +and 'Jewel-of-Fortune' and 'Child-of-Luck,' and 'Joyous-Sunrise' and +'Flower-of-Bliss' and 'Glorious Victory,' and 'Life-as-the-Stork's-for- +a-thousand-years.' Often shall he curse the day he was born who falls in +love with Happy-Dawn; thrice unlucky the wight bewitched by the Child- +of-Luck; woe unto him who hopes to cherish the Flower-of-Bliss; and more +than once shall he wish himself dead whose heart is snared by Life-as- +the-Stork's-for-a-thou sand-years. And I see that somebody who inscribes +his age as twenty and three has become enamoured of young Wakagusa, +whose name signifies the tender Grass of Spring. Now there is but one +possible misfortune for you, dear boy, worse than falling in love with +Wakagusa--and that is that she should happen to fall in love with you. +Because then you would, both of you, write some beautiful letters to +your friends, and drink death, and pass away in each other's arms, +murmuring your trust to rest together upon the same lotus-flower in +Paradise: 'Hasu no ha no ue ni oite matsu.' Nay! pray the Deities rather +to dissipate the bewitchment that is upon you: + +Te ni toru na, Yahari no ni oke Gengebana. [10] + +And here is a lover's inscription--in English! Who presumes to suppose +that the gods know English? Some student, no doubt, who for pure shyness +engraved his soul's secret in this foreign tongue of mine--never +dreaming that a foreign eye would look upon it. 'I wish You, Harul' Not +once, but four--no, five times!--each time omitting the preposition. +Praying--in this ancient grove--in this ancient Land of Izumo--unto +the most ancient gods in English! Verily, the shyest love presumes much +upon the forbearance of the gods. And great indeed must be, either the +patience of Take-haya-susano-wo-no-mikoto, or the rustiness of the ten- +grasp sabre that was augustly girded upon him. + + + + +Chapter Fifteen Kitsune + +º1 + +By every shady wayside and in every ancient grove, on almost every +hilltop and in the outskirts of every village, you may see, while +travelling through the Hondo country, some little Shinto shrine, before +which, or at either side of which, are images of seated foxes in stone. +Usually there is a pair of these, facing each other. But there may be a +dozen, or a score, or several hundred, in which case most of the images +are very small. And in more than one of the larger towns you may see in +the court of some great miya a countless host of stone foxes, of all +dimensions, from toy-figures but a few inches high to the colossi whose +pedestals tower above your head, all squatting around the temple in +tiered ranks of thousands. Such shrines and temples, everybody knows, +are dedicated to Inari the God of Rice. After having travelled much in +Japan, you will find that whenever you try to recall any country-place +you have visited, there will appear in some nook or corner of that +remembrance a pair of green-and-grey foxes of stone, with broken noses. +In my own memories of Japanese travel, these shapes have become de +rigueur, as picturesque detail. + +In the neighbourhood of the capital and in Tokyo itself-sometimes in +the cemeteries--very beautiful idealised figures of foxes may be seen, +elegant as greyhounds. They have long green or grey eyes of crystal +quartz or some other diaphanous substance; and they create a strong +impression as mythological conceptions. But throughout the interior, +fox-images are much less artistically fashioned. In Izumo, particularly, +such stone-carving has a decidedly primitive appearance. There is an +astonishing multiplicity and variety of fox-images in the Province of +the Gods--images comical, quaint, grotesque, or monstrous, but, for the +most part, very rudely chiselled. I cannot, however, declare them less +interesting on that account. The work of the Tokkaido sculptor copies +the conventional artistic notion of light grace and ghostliness. The +rustic foxes of Izumo have no grace: they are uncouth; but they betray +in countless queer ways the personal fancies of their makers. They are +of many moods--whimsical, apathetic, inquisitive, saturnine, jocose, +ironical; they watch and snooze and squint and wink and sneer; they wait +with lurking smiles; they listen with cocked ears most stealthily, +keeping their mouths open or closed. There is an amusing individuality +about them all, and an air of knowing mockery about most of them, even +those whose noses have been broken off. Moreover, these ancient country +foxes have certain natural beauties which their modem Tokyo kindred +cannot show. Time has bestowed upon them divers speckled coats of +beautiful soft colours while they have been sitting on their pedestals, +listening to the ebbing and flowing of the centuries and snickering +weirdly at mankind. Their backs are clad with finest green velvet of old +mosses; their limbs are spotted and their tails are tipped with the dead +gold or the dead silver of delicate fungi. And the places they most +haunt are the loveliest--high shadowy groves where the uguisu sings in +green twilight, above some voiceless shrine with its lamps and its lions +of stone so mossed as to seem things born of the soil--like mushrooms. + +I found it difficult to understand why, out of every thousand foxes, +nine hundred should have broken noses. The main street of the city of +Matsue might be paved from end to end with the tips of the noses of +mutilated Izumo foxes. A friend answered my expression of wonder in this +regard by the simple but suggestive word, 'Kodomo', which means, 'The +children' + +º2. + +Inari the name by which the Fox-God is generally known, signifies 'Load- +of-Rice.' But the antique name of the Deity is the August-Spirit-of- +Food: he is the Uka-no-mi-tama-no-mikoto of the Kojiki. [1] In much more +recent times only has he borne the name that indicates his connection +with the fox-cult, Miketsu-no-Kami, or the Three-Fox-God. Indeed, the +conception of the fox as a supernatural being does not seem to have been +introduced into Japan before the tenth or eleventh century; and although +a shrine of the deity, with statues of foxes, may be found in the court +of most of the large Shinto temples, it is worthy of note that in all +the vast domains of the oldest Shinto shrine in Japan--Kitzuki--you +cannot find the image of a fox. And it is only in modern art--the art +of Toyokuni and others--that Inari is represented as a bearded man +riding a white fox. [2] + +Inari is not worshipped as the God of Rice only; indeed, there are many +Inari just as in antique Greece there were many deities called Hermes, +Zeus, Athena, Poseidon--one in the knowledge of the learned, but +essentially different in the imagination of the common people. Inari has +been multiplied by reason of his different attributes. For instance, +Matsue has a Kamiya-San-no-Inari-San, who is the God of Coughs and Bad +Colds--afflictions extremely common and remarkably severe in the Land +of Izumo. He has a temple in the Kamachi at which he is worshipped under +the vulgar appellation of Kaze-no-Kami and the politer one of Kamiya- +San-no-Inari. And those who are cured of their coughs and colds after +having prayed to him, bring to his temple offerings of tofu. + +At Oba, likewise, there is a particular Inari, of great fame. Fastened +to the wall of his shrine is a large box full of small clay foxes. The +pilgrim who has a prayer to make puts one of these little foxes in his +sleeve and carries it home, He must keep it, and pay it all due honour, +until such time as his petition has been granted. Then he must take it +back to the temple, and restore it to the box, and, if he be able, make +some small gift to the shrine. + +Inari is often worshipped as a healer; and still more frequently as a +deity having power to give wealth. (Perhaps because all the wealth of +Old Japan was reckoned in koku of rice.) Therefore his foxes are +sometimes represented holding keys in their mouths. And from being the +deity who gives wealth, Inari has also become in some localities the +special divinity of the joro class. There is, for example, an Inari +temple worth visiting in the neighbourhood of the Yoshiwara at Yokohama. +It stands in the same court with a temple of Benten, and is more than +usually large for a shrine of Inari. You approach it through a +succession of torii one behind the other: they are of different heights, +diminishing in size as they are placed nearer to the temple, and planted +more and more closely in proportion to their smallness. Before each +torii sit a pair of weird foxes--one to the right and one to the left. +The first pair are large as greyhounds; the second two are much smaller; +and the sizes of the rest lessen as the dimensions of the torii lessen. +At the foot of the wooden steps of the temple there is a pair of very +graceful foxes of dark grey stone, wearing pieces of red cloth about +their necks. Upon the steps themselves are white wooden foxes--one at +each end of each step--each successive pair being smaller than the pair +below; and at the threshold of the doorway are two very little foxes, +not more than three inches high, sitting on sky-blue pedestals. These +have the tips of their tails gilded. Then, if you look into the temple +you will see on the left something like a long low table on which are +placed thousands of tiny fox-images, even smaller than those in the +doorway, having only plain white tails. There is no image of Inari; +indeed, I have never seen an image of Inari as yet in any Inari temple. +On the altar appear the usual emblems of Shinto; and before it, just +opposite the doorway, stands a sort of lantern, having glass sides and a +wooden bottom studded with nail-points on which to fix votive candles. +[3] + +And here, from time to time, if you will watch, you will probably see +more than one handsome girl, with brightly painted lips and the +beautiful antique attire that no maiden or wife may wear, come to the +foot of the steps, toss a coin into the money-box at the door, and call +out: 'O-rosoku!' which means 'an honourable candle.' Immediately, from +an inner chamber, some old man will enter the shrine-room with a lighted +candle, stick it upon a nail-point in the lantern, and then retire. Such +candle-offerings are always accompanied by secret prayers for good- +fortune. But this Inari is worshipped by many besides members of the +joro class. + +The pieces of coloured cloth about the necks of the foxes are also +votive offerings. + +º3 + +Fox-images in Izumo seem to be more numerous than in other provinces, +and they are symbols there, so far as the mass of the peasantry is +concerned, of something else besides the worship of the Rice-Deity. +Indeed, the old conception of the Deity of Rice-fields has been +overshadowed and almost effaced among the lowest classes by a weird cult +totally foreign to the spirit of pure Shinto--the Fox-cult. The worship +of the retainer has almost replaced the worship of the god. Originally +the Fox was sacred to Inari only as the Tortoise is still sacred to +Kompira; the Deer to the Great Deity of Kasuga; the Rat to Daikoku; the +Tai-fish to Ebisu; the White Serpent to Benten; or the Centipede to +Bishamon, God of Battles. But in the course of centuries the Fox usurped +divinity. And the stone images of him are not the only outward evidences +of his cult. At the rear of almost every Inari temple you will generally +find in the wall of the shrine building, one or two feet above the +ground, an aperture about eight inches in diameter and perfectly +circular. It is often made so as to be closed at will by a sliding +plank. This circular orifice is a Fox-hole, and if you find one open, +and look within, you will probably see offerings of tofu or other food +which foxes are supposed to be fond of. You will also, most likely, find +grains of rice scattered on some little projection of woodwork below or +near the hole, or placed on the edge of the hole itself; and you may see +some peasant clap his hands before the hole, utter some little prayer, +and swallow a grain or two of that rice in the belief that it will +either cure or prevent sickness. Now the fox for whom such a hole is +made is an invisible fox, a phantom fox--the fox respectfully referred +to by the peasant as O-Kitsune-San. If he ever suffers himself to become +visible, his colour is said to be snowy white. + +According to some, there are various kinds of ghostly foxes. According +to others, there are two sorts of foxes only, the Inari-fox (O-Kitsune- +San) and the wild fox (kitsune). Some people again class foxes into +Superior and Inferior Foxes, and allege the existence of four Superior +Sorts--Byakko, Kokko, Jenko, and Reiko--all of which possess +supernatural powers. Others again count only three kinds of foxes--the +Field-fox, the Man-fox, and the Inari-fox. But many confound the Field- +fox or wild fox with the Man-fox, and others identify the Inari-fox with +the Man-fox. One cannot possibly unravel the confusion of these beliefs, +especially among the peasantry. The beliefs vary, moreover, in different +districts. I have only been able, after a residence of fourteen months +in Izumo, where the superstition is especially strong, and marked by +certain unique features, to make the following very loose summary of +them: + +All foxes have supernatural power. There are good and bad foxes. The +Inari-fox is good, and the bad foxes are afraid of the Inari-fox. The +worst fox is the Ninko or Hito-kitsune (Man-fox): this is especially the +fox of demoniacal possession. It is no larger than a weasel, and +somewhat similar in shape, except for its tail, which is like the tail +of any other fox. It is rarely seen, keeping itself invisible, except to +those to whom it attaches itself. It likes to live in the houses of men, +and to be nourished by them, and to the homes where it is well cared for +it will bring prosperity. It will take care that the rice-fields shall +never want for water, nor the cooking-pot for rice. But if offended, it +will bring misfortune to the household, and ruin to the crops. The wild +fox (Nogitsune) is also bad. It also sometimes takes possession of +people; but it is especially a wizard, and prefers to deceive by +enchantment. It has the power of assuming any shape and of making itself +invisible; but the dog can always see it, so that it is extremely afraid +of the dog. Moreover, while assuming another shape, if its shadow fall +upon water, the water will only reflect the shadow of a fox. The +peasantry kill it; but he who kills a fox incurs the risk of being +bewitched by that fox's kindred, or even by the ki, or ghost of the fox. +Still if one eat the flesh of a fox, he cannot be enchanted afterwards. +The Nogitsune also enters houses. Most families having foxes in their +houses have only the small kind, or Ninko; but occasionally both kinds +will live together under the same roof. Some people say that if the +Nogitsune lives a hundred years it becomes all white, and then takes +rank as an Inari-fox. + +There are curious contradictions involved in these beliefs, and other +contradictions will be found in the following pages of this sketch. To +define the fox-superstition at all is difficult, not only on account of +the confusion of ideas on the subject among the believers themselves, +but also on account of the variety of elements out of which it has been +shapen. Its origin is Chinese [4]; but in Japan it became oddly blended +with the worship of a Shinto deity, and again modified and expanded by +the Buddhist concepts of thaumaturgy and magic. So far as the common +people are concerned, it is perhaps safe to say that they pay devotion +to foxes chiefly because they fear them. The peasant still worships what +he fears. + +º4 + +It is more than doubtful whether the popular notions about different +classes of foxes, and about the distinction between the fox of Inari and +the fox of possession, were ever much more clearly established than they +are now, except in the books of old literati. Indeed, there exists a +letter from Hideyoshi to the Fox-God which would seem to show that in +the time of the great Taiko the Inari-fox and the demon fox were +considered identical. This letter is still preserved at Nara, in the +Buddhist temple called Todaiji: + +KYOTO, the seventeenth day +of the Third Month. +TO INARI DAIMYOJIN:- + +My Lord--I have the honour to inform you that one of the foxes under +your jurisdiction has bewitched one of my servants, causing her and +others a great deal of trouble. I have to request that you will make +minute inquiries into the matter, and endeavour to find out the reason +of your subject misbehaving in this way, and let me know the result. + +If it turns out that the fox has no adequate reason to give for his +behaviour, you are to arrest and punish him at once. If you hesitate to +take action in this matter, I shall issue orders for the destruction of +every fox in the land. + +Any other particulars that you may wish to be informed of in reference +to what has occurred, you can learn from the high-priest YOSHIDA. + +Apologising for the imperfections of this letter, I have the honour to be +Your obedient servant, +Your obedient servant, +HIDEYOSHI TAIKO [5] + + +But there certainly were some distinctions established in localities, +owing to the worship of Inari by the military caste. With the samurai of +Izumo, the Rice-God, for obvious reasons, was a highly popular deity; +and you can still find in the garden of almost every old shizoku +residence in Matsue, a small shrine of Inari Daimyojin, with little +stone foxes seated before it. And in the imagination of the lower +classes, all samurai families possessed foxes. But the samurai foxes +inspired no fear. They were believed to be 'good foxes'; and the +superstition of the Ninko or Hito-kitsune does not seem to have +unpleasantly affected any samurai families of Matsue during the feudal +era. It is only since the military caste has been abolished, and its +name, simply as a body of gentry, changed to shizoku, [6] that some +families have become victims of the superstition through intermarriage +with the chonin or mercantile classes, among whom the belief has always +been strong. + +By the peasantry the Matsudaira daimyo of Izumo were supposed to be the +greatest fox-possessors. One of them was believed to use foxes as +messengers to Tokyo (be it observed that a fox can travel, according to +popular credence, from Yokohama to London in a few hours); and there is +some Matsue story about a fox having been caught in a trap [7] near +Tokyo, attached to whose neck was a letter written by the prince of +Izumo only the same morning. The great Inari temple of Inari in the +castle grounds--O-Shiroyama-no-InariSama--with its thousands upon +thousands of foxes of stone, is considered by the country people a +striking proof of the devotion of the Matsudaira, not to Inari, but to +foxes. + +At present, however, it is no longer possible to establish distinctions +of genera in this ghostly zoology, where each species grows into every +other. It is not even possible to disengage the ki or Soul of the Fox +and the August-Spirit-of-Food from the confusion in which both have +become hopelessly blended, under the name Inari by the vague conception +of their peasant-worshippers. The old Shinto mythology is indeed quite +explicit about the August-Spirit-of-Food, and quite silent upon the +subject of foxes. But the peasantry in Izumo, like the peasantry of +Catholic Europe, make mythology for themselves. If asked whether they +pray to Inari as to an evil or a good deity, they will tell you that +Inari is good, and that Inari-foxes are good. They will tell you of +white foxes and dark foxes--of foxes to be reverenced and foxes to be +killed--of the good fox which cries 'kon-kon,' and the evil fox which +cries 'kwai-kwai.' But the peasant possessed by the fox cries out: 'I am +Inari--Tamabushi-no-Inari!'--or some other Inari. + +º5 + +Goblin foxes are peculiarly dreaded in Izumo for three evil habits +attributed to them. The first is that of deceiving people by +enchantment, either for revenge or pure mischief. The second is that of +quartering themselves as retainers upon some family, and thereby making +that family a terror to its neighbours. The third and worst is that of +entering into people and taking diabolical possession of them and +tormenting them into madness. This affliction is called 'kitsune-tsuki.' + +The favourite shape assumed by the goblin fox for the purpose of +deluding mankind is that of a beautiful woman; much less frequently the +form of a young man is taken in order to deceive some one of the other +sex. Innumerable are the stories told or written about the wiles of fox- +women. And a dangerous woman of that class whose art is to enslave men, +and strip them of all they possess, is popularly named by a word of +deadly insult--kitsune. + +Many declare that the fox never really assumes human shape; but that he +only deceives people into the belief that he does so by a sort of +magnetic power, or by spreading about them a certain magical effluvium. + +The fox does not always appear in the guise of a woman for evil +purposes. There are several stories, and one really pretty play, about a +fox who took the shape of a beautiful woman, and married a man, and bore +him children--all out of gratitude for some favour received--the +happiness of the family being only disturbed by some odd carnivorous +propensities on the part of the offspring. Merely to achieve a +diabolical purpose, the form of a woman is not always the best disguise. +There are men quite insusceptible to feminine witchcraft. But the fox is +never at a loss for a disguise; he can assume more forms than Proteus. +Furthermore, he can make you see or hear or imagine whatever he wishes +you to see, hear, or imagine. He can make you see out of Time and Space; +he can recall the past and reveal the future. His power has not been +destroyed by the introduction of Western ideas; for did he not, only a +few years ago, cause phantom trains to run upon the Tokkaido railway, +thereby greatly confounding, and terrifying the engineers of the +company? But, like all goblins, he prefers to haunt solitary places. At +night he is fond of making queer ghostly lights, [8] in semblance of +lantern-fires, flit about dangerous places; and to protect yourself from +this trick of his, it is necessary to learn that by joining your hands +in a particular way, so as to leave a diamond-shaped aperture between +the crossed fingers, you can extinguish the witch-fire at any distance +simply by blowing through the aperture in the direction of the light and +uttering a certain Buddhist formula. + +But it is not only at night that the fox manifests his power for +mischief: at high noon he may tempt you to go where you are sure to get +killed, or frighten you into going by creating some apparition or making +you imagine that you feel an earthquake. Consequently the old-fashioned +peasant, on seeing anything extremely queer, is slew to credit the +testimony of his own eyes. The most interesting and valuable witness of +the stupendous eruption of Bandai-San in 1888--which blew the huge +volcano to pieces and devastated an area of twenty-seven square miles, +levelling forests, turning rivers from their courses, and burying +numbers of villages with all their inhabitants--was an old peasant who +had watched the whole cataclysm from a neighbouring peak as +unconcernedly as if he had been looking at a drama. He saw a black +column of ashes and steam rise to the height of twenty thousand feet and +spread out at its summit in the shape of an umbrella, blotting out the +sun. Then he felt a strange rain pouring upon him, hotter than the water +of a bath. Then all became black; and he felt the mountain beneath him +shaking to its roots, and heard a crash of thunders that seemed like the +sound of the breaking of a world. But he remained quite still until +everything was over. He had made up his mind not to be afraid--deeming +that all he saw and heard was delusion wrought by the witchcraft of a +fox. + +º6 + +Strange is the madness of those into whom demon foxes enter. Sometimes +they run naked shouting through the streets. Sometimes they lie down and +froth at the mouth, and yelp as a fox yelps. And on some part of the +body of the possessed a moving lump appears under the skin, which seems +to have a life of its own. Prick it with a needle, and it glides +instantly to another place. By no grasp can it be so tightly compressed +by a strong hand that it will not slip from under the fingers. Possessed +folk are also said to speak and write languages of which they were +totally ignorant prior to possession. They eat only what foxes are +believed to like--tofu, aburage, [9] azukimeshi, [10] etc.--and they +eat a great deal, alleging that not they, but the possessing foxes, are +hungry. + +It not infrequently happens that the victims of fox-possession are +cruelly treated by their relatives--being severely burned and beaten in +the hope that the fox may be thus driven away. Then the Hoin [11] or +Yamabushi is sent for--the exorciser. The exorciser argues with the +fox, who speaks through the mouth of the possessed. When the fox is +reduced to silence by religious argument upon the wickedness of +possessing people, he usually agrees to go away on condition of being +supplied with plenty of tofu or other food; and the food promised must +be brought immediately to that particular Inari temple of which the fox +declares himself a retainer. For the possessing fox, by whomsoever sent, +usually confesses himself the servant of a certain Inari though +sometimes even calling himself the god. + +As soon as the possessed has been freed from the possessor, he falls +down senseless, and remains for a long time prostrate. And it is said, +also, that he who has once been possessed by a fox will never again be +able to eat tofu, aburage, azukimeshi, or any of those things which +foxes like. + +º7 + +It is believed that the Man-fox (Hito-kitsune) cannot be seen. But if he +goes close to still water, his SHADOW can be seen in the water. Those +'having foxes' are therefore supposed to avoid the vicinity of rivers +and ponds. + +The invisible fox, as already stated, attaches himself to persons. Like +a Japanese servant, he belongs to the household. But if a daughter of +that household marry, the fox not only goes to that new family, +following the bride, but also colonises his kind in all those families +related by marriage or kinship with the husband's family. Now every fox +is supposed to have a family of seventy-five--neither more, nor less +than seventy-five--and all these must be fed. So that although such +foxes, like ghosts, eat very little individually, it is expensive to +have foxes. The fox-possessors (kitsune-mochi) must feed their foxes at +regular hours; and the foxes always eat first--all the seventy-live. As +soon as the family rice is cooked in the kama (a great iron cooking- +pot), the kitsune-mochi taps loudly on the side of the vessel, and +uncovers it. Then the foxes rise up through the floor. And although +their eating is soundless to human ear and invisible to human eye, the +rice slowly diminishes. Wherefore it is fearful for a poor man to have +foxes. + +But the cost of nourishing foxes is the least evil connected with the +keeping of them. Foxes have no fixed code of ethics, and have proved +themselves untrustworthy servants. They may initiate and long maintain +the prosperity of some family; but should some grave misfortune fall +upon that family in spite of the efforts of its seventy-five invisible +retainers, then these will suddenly flee away, taking all the valuables +of the household along with them. And all the fine gifts that foxes +bring to their masters are things which have been stolen from somebody +else. It is therefore extremely immoral to keep foxes. It is also +dangerous for the public peace, inasmuch as a fox, being a goblin, and +devoid of human susceptibilities, will not take certain precautions. He +may steal the next-door neighbour's purse by night and lay it at his own +master's threshold, so that if the next-door neighbour happens to get up +first and see it there is sure to be a row. + +Another evil habit of foxes is that of making public what they hear said +in private, and taking it upon themselves to create undesirable scandal. +For example, a fox attached to the family of Kobayashi-San hears his +master complain about his neighbour Nakayama-San, whom he secretly +dislikes. Therewith the zealous retainer runs to the house of Nakayama- +San, and enters into his body, and torments him grievously, saying: 'I +am the retainer of Kobayashi-San to whom you did such-and-such a wrong; +and until such time as he command me to depart, I shall continue to +torment you.' + +And last, but worst of all the risks of possessing foxes, is the danger +that they may become wroth with some member of the family. Certainly a +fox may be a good friend, and make rich the home in which he is +domiciled. But as he is not human, and as his motives and feelings are +not those of men, but of goblins, it is difficult to avoid incurring his +displeasure. At the most unexpected moment he may take offence without +any cause knowingly having been given, and there is no saying what the +consequences may be. For the fox possesses Instinctive Infinite Vision-- +and the Ten-Ni-Tsun, or All-Hearing Ear--and the Ta-Shin-Tsun, which is +the Knowledge of the Most Secret Thoughts of Others--and Shiyuku-Mei- +Tsun, which is the Knowledge of the Past--and Zhin-Kiyan-Tsun, which +means the Knowledge of the Universal Present--and also the Powers of +Transformation and of Transmutation. [12] So that even without including +his special powers of bewitchment, he is by nature a being almost +omnipotent for evil. + +º8 + +For all these reasons, and. doubtless many more, people believed to have +foxes are shunned. Intermarriage with a fox-possessing family is out of +the question; and many a beautiful and accomplished girl in Izumo cannot +secure a husband because of the popular belief that her family harbours +foxes. As a rule, Izumo girls do not like to marry out of their own +province; but the daughters of a kitsune-mochi must either marry into +the family of another kitsune-mochi, or find a husband far away from the +Province of the Gods. Rich fox-possessing families have not overmuch +difficulty in disposing of their daughters by one of the means above +indicated; but many a fine sweet girl of the poorer kitsune-mochi is +condemned by superstition to remain unwedded. It is not because there +are none to love her and desirous of marrying her--young men who have +passed through public schools and who do not believe in foxes. It is +because popular superstition cannot be yet safely defied in country +districts except by the wealthy. The consequences of such defiance would +have to be borne, not merely by the husband, but by his whole family, +and by all other families related thereunto. Which are consequences to +be thought about! + +Among men believed to have foxes there are some who know how to turn the +superstition to good account. The country-folk, as a general rule, are +afraid of giving offence to a kitsune-mochi, lest he should send some of +his invisible servants to take possession of them. Accordingly, certain +kitsune-mochi have obtained great ascendancy over the communities in +which they live. In the town of Yonago, for example, there is a certain +prosperous chonin whose will is almost law, and whose opinions are never +opposed. He is practically the ruler of the place, and in a fair way of +becoming a very wealthy man. All because he is thought to have foxes. + +Wrestlers, as a class, boast of their immunity from fox-possession, and +care neither for kitsune-mochi nor for their spectral friends. Very +strong men are believed to be proof against all such goblinry. Foxes are +said to be afraid of them, and instances are cited of a possessing fox +declaring: 'I wished to enter into your brother, but he was too strong +for me; so I have entered into you, as I am resolved to be revenged upon +some one of your family.' + +º9 + +Now the belief in foxes does not affect persons only: it affects +property. It affects the value of real estate in Izumo to the amount of +hundreds of thousands. + +The land of a family supposed to have foxes cannot be sold at a fair +price. People are afraid to buy it; for it is believed the foxes may +ruin the new proprietor. The difficulty of obtaining a purchaser is most +great in the case of land terraced for rice-fields, in the mountain +districts. The prime necessity of such agriculture is irrigation-- +irrigation by a hundred ingenious devices, always in the face of +difficulties. There are seasons when water becomes terribly scarce, and +when the peasants will even fight for water. It is feared that on lands +haunted by foxes, the foxes may turn the water away from one field into +another, or, for spite, make holes in the dikes and so destroy the crop. + +There are not wanting shrewd men to take advantage of this queer belief. +One gentleman of Matsue, a good agriculturist of the modern school, +speculated in the fox-terror fifteen years ago, and purchased a vast +tract of land in eastern Izumo which no one else would bid for. That +land has sextupled in value, besides yielding generously under his +system of cultivation; and by selling it now he could realise an immense +fortune. His success, and the fact of his having been an official of the +government, broke the spell: it is no longer believed that his farms are +fox-haunted. But success alone could not have freed the soil from the +curse of the superstition. The power of the farmer to banish the foxes +was due to his official character. With the peasantry, the word +'Government' is talismanic. + +Indeed, the richest and the most successful farmer of Izumo, worth more +than a hundred thousand yen--Wakuri-San of Chinomiya in Kandegori--is +almost universally believed by the peasantry to be a kitsune-mochi. They +tell curious stories about him. Some say that when a very poor man he +found in the woods one day a little white fox-cub, and took it home, and +petted it, and gave it plenty of tofu, azukimeshi, and aburage--three +sorts of food which foxes love--and that from that day prosperity came +to him. Others say that in his house there is a special zashiki, or +guest-room for foxes; and that there, once in each month, a great +banquet is given to hundreds of Hito-kitsune. But Chinomiya-no-Wakuri, +as they call him, canaffordto laugh at all these tales. He is a refined +man, highly respected in cultivated circles where superstition never +enters + +º 10 + +When a Ninko comes to your house at night and knocks, there is a +peculiar muffled sound about the knocking by which you can tell that the +visitor is a fox--if you have experienced ears. For a fox knocks at +doors with its tail. If you open, then you will see a man, or perhaps a +beautiful girl, who will talk to you only in fragments of words, but +nevertheless in such a way that you can perfectly well understand. A fox +cannot pronounce a whole word, but a part only--as 'Nish . . . Sa. . .' +for 'Nishida-San'; 'degoz . . .' for 'degozarimasu, or 'uch . . . de . .?' +for 'uchi desuka?' Then, if you are a friend of foxes, the visitor +will present you with a little gift of some sort, and at once vanish +away into the darkness. Whatever the gift may be, it will seem much +larger that night than in the morning. Only a part of a fox-gift is +real. + +A Matsue shizoku, going home one night by way of the street called +Horomachi, saw a fox running for its life pursued by dogs. He beat the +dogs off with his umbrella, thus giving the fox a chance to escape. On +the following evening he heard some one knock at his door, and on +opening the to saw a very pretty girl standing there, who said to him: +'Last night I should have died but for your august kindness. I know not +how to thank you enough: this is only a pitiable little present. And she +laid a small bundle at his feet and went away. He opened the bundle and +found two beautiful ducks and two pieces of silver money--those long, +heavy, leaf-shaped pieces of money--each worth ten or twelve dollars-- +such as are now eagerly sought for by collectors of antique things. +After a little while, one of the coins changed before his eyes into a +piece of grass; the other was always good. + +Sugitean-San, a physician of Matsue, was called one evening to attend a +case of confinement at a house some distance from the city, on the hill +called Shiragayama. He was guided by a servant carrying a paper lantern +painted with an aristocratic crest. [13] He entered into a magnificent +house, where he was received with superb samurai courtesy. The mother +was safely delivered of a fine boy. The family treated the physician to +an excellent dinner, entertained him elegantly, and sent him home, +loaded with presents and money. Next day he went, according to Japanese +etiquette, to return thanks to his hosts. He could not find the house: +there was, in fact, nothing on Shiragayama except forest. Returning +home, he examined again the gold which had been paid to him. All was +good except one piece, which had changed into grass. + +º11 + +Curious advantages have been taken of the superstitions relating to the +Fox-God. + +In Matsue, several years ago, there was a tofuya which enjoyed an +unusually large patronage. A tofuya is a shop where tofu is sold--a +curd prepared from beans, and much resembling good custard in +appearance. Of all eatable things, foxes are most fond of tofu and of +soba, which is a preparation of buckwheat. There is even a legend that a +fox, in the semblance of an elegantly attired man, once visited Nogi-no- +Kuriharaya, a popular sobaya on the lake shore, and ate much soba. But +after the guest was gone, the money he had paid changed into wooden +shavings. + +The proprietor of the tofuya had a different experience. A man in +wretched attire used to come to his shop every evening to buy a cho of +tofu, which he devoured on the spot with the haste of one long famished. +Every evening for weeks he came, and never spoke; but the landlord saw +one evening the tip of a bushy white tail protruding from beneath the +stranger's rags. The sight aroused strange surmises and weird hopes. +From that night he began to treat the mysterious visitor with obsequious +kindness. But another month passed before the latter spoke. Then what he +said was about as follows: + +'Though I seem to you a man, I am not a man; and I took upon myself +human form only for the purpose of visiting you. I come from Taka- +machi, where my temple is, at which you often visit. And being desirous +to reward your piety and goodness of heart, I have come to-night to save +you from a great danger. For by the power which I possess I know that +tomorrow this street will burn, and all the houses in it shall be +utterly destroyed except yours. To save it I am going to make a charm. +But in order that I may do this, you must open your go-down (kura) that +I may enter, and allow no one to watch me; for should living eye look +upon me there, the charm will not avail.' + +The shopkeeper, with fervent words of gratitude, opened his storehouse, +and reverently admitted the seeming Inari and gave orders that none of +his household or servants should keep watch. And these orders were so +well obeyed that all the stores within the storehouse, and all the +valuables of the family, were removed without hindrance during the +night. Next day the kura was found to be empty. And there was no fire. + +There is also a well-authenticated story about another wealthy +shopkeeper of Matsue who easily became the prey of another pretended +Inari This Inari told him that whatever sum of money he should leave at +a certain miya by night, he would find it doubled in the morning--as +the reward of his lifelong piety. The shopkeeper carried several small +sums to the miya, and found them doubled within twelve hours. Then he +deposited larger sums, which were similarly multiplied; he even risked +some hundreds of dollars, which were duplicated. Finally he took all his +money out of the bank and placed it one evening within the shrine of the +god--and never saw it again. + +º12 + +Vast is the literature of the subject of foxes--ghostly foxes. Some of +it is old as the eleventh century. In the ancient romances and the +modern cheap novel, in historical traditions and in popular fairy-tales, +foxes perform wonderful parts. There are very beautiful and very sad and +very terrible stories about foxes. There are legends of foxes discussed +by great scholars, and legends of foxes known to every child in Japan-- +such as the history of Tamamonomae, the beautiful favourite of the +Emperor Toba--Tamamonomae, whose name has passed into a proverb, and +who proved at last to be only a demon fox with Nine Tails and Fur of +Gold. But the most interesting part of fox-literature belongs to the +Japanese stage, where the popular beliefs are often most humorously +reflected--as in the following excerpts from the comedy of Hiza-Kuruge, +written by one Jippensha Ikku: + +[Kidahachi and Iyaji are travelling from Yedo to Osaka. When within a +short distance of Akasaka, Kidahachi hastens on in advance to secure +good accommodations at the best inn. Iyaji, travelling along leisurely, +stops a little while at a small wayside refreshment-house kept by an old +woman] + +OLD WOMAN.--Please take some tea, sir. IYAJI.--Thank you! How far is +it from here to the next town?--Akasaka? OLD WOMAN.--About one ri. But +if you have no companion, you had better remain here to-night, because +there is a bad fox on the way, who bewitches travellers. IYAJI.--I am +afraid of that sort of thing. But I must go on; for my companion has +gone on ahead of me, and will be waiting for me. + +[After having paid for his refreshments, lyaji proceeds on his way. The +night is very dark, and he feels quite nervous on account of what the +old woman has told him. After having walked a considerable distance, he +suddenly hears a fox yelping--kon-kon. Feeling still more afraid, he +shouts at the top of his voice:-] + +IYAJI.--Come near me, and I will kill you! + +[Meanwhile Kidahachi, who has also been frightened by the old woman's +stories, and has therefore determined to wait for lyaji, is saying to +himself in the dark: 'If I do not wait for him, we shall certainly be +deluded.' Suddenly he hears lyaji's voice, and cries out to him:-] + +KIDAHACHI.--O lyaji-San! +IYAJI.--What are you doing there? +KIDAHACHI.--I did intend to go on ahead; but I became afraid, and so +I concluded to stop here and wait for you. +IYAJI (who imagines that the fox has taken the shape of Kidahachi to +deceive him).--Do not think that you are going to dupe me? +KIDAHACHI.--That is a queer way to talk! I have some nice mochi [14] +here which I bought for you. +IYAJI.--Horse-dung cannot be eaten! [15] +KIDAHACHI.--Don't be suspicious!--I am really Kidahachi. +IYAJI (springing upon him furiously).--Yes! you took the form of +Kidahachi just to deceive me! +KIDAHACHI.--What do you mean?--What are you going to do to me? +IYAJI.--I am going to kill you! (Throws him down.) +KIDAHACHI.--Oh! you have hurt me very much--please leave me alone! +IYAJI.--If you are really hurt, then let me see you in your real shape! +(They struggle together.) +KIDAHACHI.--What are you doing?--putting your hand there? +IYAJI.--I am feeling for your tail. If you don't put out your tail at +once, I shall make you! (Takes his towel, and with it ties Kidahachi's +hands behind his back, and then drives him before him.) +KIDAHACHI.--Please untie me--please untie me first! + +[By this time they have almost reached Akasaka, and lyaji, seeing a dog, +calls the animal, and drags Kidahachi close to it; for a dog is believed +to be able to detect a fox through any disguise. But the dog takes no +notice of Kidahachi. lyaji therefore unties him, and apologises; and +they both laugh at their previous fears.] + +º 13 + +But there are some very pleasing forms of the Fox-God. + +For example, there stands in a very obscure street of Matsue--one of +those streets no stranger is likely to enter unless he loses his way--a +temple called Jigyoba-no-Inari, [16] and also Kodomo-no-Inari, or 'the +Children's Inari.' It is very small, but very famous; and it has been +recently presented with a pair of new stone foxes, very large, which +have gilded teeth and a peculiarly playful expression of countenance. +These sit one on each side of the gate: the Male grinning with open +jaws, the Female demure, with mouth closed. [17] In the court you will +find many ancient little foxes with noses, heads, or tails broken, two +great Karashishi before which straw sandals (waraji) have been suspended +as votive offerings by somebody with sore feet who has prayed to the +Karashishi-Sama that they will heal his affliction, and a shrine of +Kojin, occupied by the corpses of many children's dolls. [18] + +The grated doors of the shrine of Jigyoba-no-Inari, like those of the +shrine of Yaegaki, are white with the multitude of little papers tied to +them, which papers signify prayers. But the prayers are special and +curious. To right and to left of the doors, and also above them, odd +little votive pictures are pasted upon the walls, mostly representing +children in bath-tubs, or children getting their heads shaved. There are +also one or two representing children at play. Now the interpretation of +these signs and wonders is as follows: + +Doubtless you know that Japanese children, as well as Japanese adults, +must take a hot bath every day; also that it is the custom to shave the +heads of very small boys and girls. But in spite of hereditary patience +and strong ancestral tendency to follow ancient custom, young children +find both the razor and the hot bath difficult to endure, with their +delicate skins. For the Japanese hot bath is very hot (not less than 110 +degs F., as a general rule), and even the adult foreigner must learn +slowly to bear it, and to appreciate its hygienic value. Also, the +Japanese razor is a much less perfect instrument than ours, and is used +without any lather, and is apt to hurt a little unless used by the most +skilful hands. And finally, Japanese parents are not tyrannical with +their children: they pet and coax, very rarely compel or terrify. So +that it is quite a dilemma for them when the baby revolts against the +bath or mutinies against the razor. + +The parents of the child who refuses to be shaved or bathed have +recourse to Jigyoba-no-Inati. The god is besought to send one of his +retainers to amuse the child, and reconcile it to the new order of +things, and render it both docile and happy. Also if a child is naughty, +or falls sick, this Inari is appealed to. If the prayer be granted, some +small present is made to the temple--sometimes a votive picture, such +as those pasted by the door, representing the successful result of the +petition. To judge by the number of such pictures, and by the prosperity +of the temple, the Kodomo-no-Inani would seem to deserve his popularity. +Even during the few minutes I passed in his court I saw three young +mothers, with infants at their backs, come to the shrine and pray and +make offerings. I noticed that one of the children--remarkably pretty-- +had never been shaved at all. This was evidently a very obstinate case. + +While returning from my visit to the Jigyoba Inani, my Japanese servant, +who had guided me there, told me this story: + +The son of his next-door neighbour, a boy of seven, went out to play one +morning, and disappeared for two days. The parents were not at first +uneasy, supposing that the child had gone to the house of a relative, +where he was accustomed to pass a day or two from time to time. But on +the evening of the second day it was learned that the child had not been +at the house in question. Search was at once made; but neither search +nor inquiry availed. Late at night, however, a knock was heard at the +door of the boy's dwelling, and the mother, hurrying out, found her +truant fast asleep on the ground. She could not discover who had +knocked. The boy, upon being awakened, laughed, and said that on the +morning of his disappearance he had met a lad of about his own age, with +very pretty eyes, who had coaxed him away to the woods, where they had +played together all day and night and the next day at very curious funny +games. But at last he got sleepy, and his comrade took him home. He was +not hungry. The comrade promised 'to come to-morrow.' + +But the mysterious comrade never came; and no boy of the description +given lived in the neighbourhood. The inference was that the comrade was +a fox who wanted to have a little fun. The subject of the fun mourned +long in vain for his merry companion. + +º14 + +Some thirty years ago there lived in Matsue an ex-wrestler named +Tobikawa, who was a relentless enemy of foxes and used to hunt and kill +them. He was popularly believed to enjoy immunity from bewitchment +because of his immense strength; but there were some old folks who +predicted that he would not die a natural death. This prediction was +fulfilled: + +Tobikawa died in a very curious manner. He was excessively fond of +practical jokes. One day he disguised himself as a Tengu, or sacred +goblin, with wings and claws and long nose, and ascended a lofty tree in +a sacred grove near Rakusan, whither, after a little while, the innocent +peasants thronged to worship him with offerings. While diverting himself +with this spectacle, and trying to play his part by springing nimbly +from one branch to another, he missed his footing and broke his neck in +the fall. + +º15 + +But these strange beliefs are swiftly passing away. Year by year more +shrines of Inari crumble down, never to be rebuilt. Year by year the +statuaries make fewer images of foxes. Year by year fewer victims of +fox-possession are taken to the hospitals to be treated according to the +best scientific methods by Japanese physicians who speak German. The +cause is not to be found in the decadence of the old faiths: a +superstition outlives a religion. Much less is it to be sought for in +the efforts of proselytising missionaries from the West--most of whom +profess an earnest belief in devils. It is purely educational. The +omnipotent enemy of superstition is the public school, where the +teaching of modern science is unclogged by sectarianism or prejudice; +where the children of the poorest may learn the wisdom of the Occident; +where there is not a boy or a girl of fourteen ignorant of the great +names of Tyndall, of Darwin, of Huxley, of Herbert Spencer. The little +hands that break the Fox-god's nose in mischievous play can also write +essays upon the evolution of plants and about the geology of Izumo. +There is no place for ghostly foxes in the beautiful nature-world +revealed by new studies to the new generation The omnipotent exorciser +and reformer is the Kodomo. + + +NOTES + + +Note for preface + +1 In striking contrast to this indifference is the strong, rational, +far-seeing conservatism of Viscount Torio--a noble exception. + + + +Notes for Chapter One + +1 I do not think this explanation is correct; but it is interesting, +as the first which I obtained upon the subject. Properly speaking, +Buddhist worshippers should not clap their hands, but only rub them +softly together. Shinto worshippers always clap their hands four times. + +2 Various writers, following the opinion of the Japanologue Satow, +have stated that the torii was originally a bird-perch for fowls offered +up to the gods at Shinto shrines--'not as food, but to give warning of +daybreak.' The etymology of the word is said to be 'bird-rest' by some +authorities; but Aston, not less of an authority, derives it from words +which would give simply the meaning of a gateway. See Chamberlain's +Things Japanese, pp. 429, 430. + +3 Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain has held the extraordinary position +of Professor of Japanese in the Imperial University of Japan--no small +honour to English philology! + +4 These Ni-O, however, the first I saw in Japan, were very clumsy +figures. There are magnificent Ni-O to be seen in some of the great +temple gateways in Tokyo, Kyoto, and elsewhere. The grandest of all are +those in the Ni-O Mon, or 'Two Kings' Gate,' of the huge Todaiji temple +at Nara. They are eight hundred years old. It is impossible not to +admire the conception of stormy dignity and hurricane-force embodied in +those colossal figures. Prayers are addressed to the Ni-O, especially +by pilgrims. Most of their statues are disfigured by little pellets of +white paper, which people chew into a pulp and then spit at them. There +is a curious superstition that if the pellet sticks to the statue the +prayer is heard; if, on the other hand, it falls to the ground, the +prayer will not be answered. + + + +Note for Chapter Two + +1 Dainagon, the title of a high officer in the ancient Imperial Court. + + + +Notes for Chapter Three + +1 Derived from the Sanscrit stupa. + +2 'The real origin of the custom of piling stones before the images of +Jizo and other divinities is not now known to the people. The Custom is +founded upon a passage in the famous Sutra, "The Lotus of the Good Law." + +'Even the little hoys who, in playing, erected here and there heaps of +sand, with the intention of dedicating them as Stupas to the Ginas,- +they have all of them reached enlightenment.'--Saddharma Pundarika, c. +II. v. 81 (Kern's translation), 'Sacred Books of the East,' vol. xxi. + +3 The original Jizo has been identified by Orientalists with the +Sanscrit Kshitegarbha; as Professor Chamberlain observes, the +resemblance in sound between the names Jizo and Jesus 'is quite +fortuitous.' But in Japan Jizo has become totally transformed: he may +justly be called the most Japanese of all Japanese divinities. According +to the curious old Buddhist book, Sai no Kawara Kuchi zu sams no den, +the whole Sai-no-Kawara legend originated in Japan, and was first +written by the priest Kuya Shonin, in the sixth year of the period +called TenKei, in the reign of the Emperor Shuyaku, who died in the year +946. To Kuya was revealed, in the village of Sai-in, near Kyoto, during +a night passed by the dry bed of the neighbouring river, Sai-no-Kawa +(said to be the modern Serikawa), the condition of child-souls in the +Meido. (Such is the legend in the book; but Professor Chamberlain has +shown that the name Sai-no-Kawara, as now written, signifies 'The Dry +Bed of the River of Souls,' and modern Japanese faith places that river +in the Meido.) Whatever be the true history of the myth, it is certainly +Japanese; and the conception of Jizo as the lover and playfellow of dead +children belongs to Japan. There are many other popular forms of Jizo, +one of the most common being that Koyasu-Jizo to whom pregnant women +pray. There are but few roads in Japan upon which statues of Jizo may +not be seen; for he is also the patron of pilgrims. + +4 Except those who have never married. + +5 In Sanscrit, 'Yama-Raja.' But the Indian conception has been totally +transformed by Japanese Buddhism. + +6 Funeral customs, as well as the beliefs connected with them, vary +considerably in different parts of Japan. Those of the eastern provinces +differ from those of the western and southern. The old practice of +placing articles of value in the coffin--such as the metal mirror +formerly buried with a woman, or the sword buried with a man of the +Samurai caste--has become almost obsolete. But the custom of putting +money in the coffin still prevails: in Izumo the amount is always six +rin, and these are called Rokudo-kane, or 'The Money for the Six Roads.' + +7 Literally 'Western Capital,'--modern name of Kyoto, ancient +residence of the emperors. The name 'Tokyo,' on the other hand, +signifies 'Eastern Capital.' + +8 These first ten lines of the original will illustrate the measure +of the wasan: + +Kore wa konoyo no koto narazu, +Shide no yamaji no suso no naru, +Sai-no-Kawara no monogatari +Kiku ni tsuketemo aware nari +Futatsu-ya, mitsu-ya, yotsu, itsutsu, + +To nimo taranu midorigo ga +Sai-no-Kawara ni atsumari te, +Chichi koishi! haha koishi! +Koishi! koishi! to naku koe wa +Konoyo no koe towa ko to kawari.. + + + +Notes for Chapter Four + +1 Yane, 'roof'; shobu, 'sweet-flag' (Acorus calamus). + +2 At the time this paper was written, nearly three years ago, I had +not seen the mighty bells at Kyoto and at Nara. + +The largest bell in Japan is suspended in the grounds of the grand Jodo +temple of Chion-in, at Kyoto. Visitors are not allowed to sound it. It +was east in 1633. It weighs seventy-four tons, and requires, they say, +twenty-five men to ring it properly. Next in size ranks the hell of the +Daibutsu temple in Kyoto, which visitors are allowed to ring on payment +of a small sum. It was cast in 1615, and weighs sixty-three tons. The +wonderful bell of Todaiji at Nara, although ranking only third, is +perhaps the most interesting of all. It is thirteen feet six inches +high, and nine feet in diameter; and its inferiority to the Kyoto bells +is not in visible dimensions so much as in weight and thickness. It +weighs thirty-seven tons. It was cast in 733, and is therefore one +thousand one hundred and sixty years old. Visitors pay one cent to sound +it once. + +3 'In Sanscrit, Avalokitesvara. The Japanese Kwannon, or Kwanze-on, is +identical in origin with the Chinese virgin-goddess Kwanyin adopted by +Buddhism as an incarnation of the Indian Avalokitesvara. (See Eitel's +Handbook of Chinese Buddhism.) But the Japanese Kwan-non has lost all +Chinese characteristics,--has become artistically an idealisation of +all that is sweet and beautiful in the woman of Japan. + +4 Let the reader consult Mitford's admirable Tales of Old Japan for +the full meaning of the term 'Ronin. + +5 There is a delicious Japanese proverb, the full humour of which is +only to be appreciated by one familiar with the artistic representations +of the divinities referred to: Karutoki no Jizo-gao, Nasutoki no Emma- +gao. + + 'Borrowing-time, the face of Jizo; + Repaying-time, the face of Emma.' + +6 This old legend has peculiar interest as an example of the efforts +made by Buddhism to absorb the Shinto divinities, as it had already +absorbed those of India and of China. These efforts were, to a great +extent, successful prior to the disestablishment of Buddhism and the +revival of Shinto as the State religion. But in Izumo, and other parts +of western Japan, Shinto has always remained dominant, and has even +appropriated and amalgamated much belonging to Buddhism. + +7 In Sanscrit 'Hariti'--Karitei-Bo is the Japanese name for one form +of Kishibojin. + + + +Notes for Chapter Five + +1 It is related in the same book that Ananda having asked the Buddha how +came Mokenren's mother to suffer in the Gakido, the Teacher replied that +in a previous incarnation she had refused, through cupidity, to feed +certain visiting priests. + +2 A deity of good fortune + + + +Notes for Chapter Six + +1 The period in which only deities existed. + +2 Hyakusho, a peasant, husbandman. The two Chinese characters forming +the word signify respectively, 'a hundred' (hyaku), and 'family name' +(sei). One might be tempted to infer that the appellation is almost +equivalent to our phrase, 'their name is legion.' And a Japanese friend +assures me that the inference would not be far wrong. Anciently the +peasants had no family name; each was known by his personal appellation, +coupled with the name of his lord as possessor or ruler. Thus a hundred +peasants on one estate would all be known by the name of their master. + +3 This custom of praying for the souls of animals is by no means +general. But I have seen in the western provinces several burials of +domestic animals at which such prayers were said. After the earth was +filled in, some incense-rods were lighted above the grave in each +instance, and the prayers were repeated in a whisper. A friend in the +capital sends me the following curious information: 'At the Eko-in +temple in Tokyo prayers are offered up every morning for the souls of +certain animals whose ihai [mortuary tablets] are preserved in the +building. A fee of thirty sen will procure burial in the temple-ground +and a short service for any small domestic pet.' Doubtless similar +temples exist elsewhere. Certainly no one capable of affection for our +dumb friends and servants can mock these gentle customs. + +4 Why six Jizo instead of five or three or any other number, the reader +may ask. I myself asked the question many times before receiving any +satisfactory reply. Perhaps the following legend affords the most +satisfactory explanation: + +According to the Book Taijo-Hoshi-mingyo-nenbutsu-den, Jizo-Bosatsu was +a woman ten thousand ko (kalpas) before this era, and became filled with +desire to convert all living beings of the Six Worlds and the Four +Births. And by virtue of the Supernatural Powers she multiplied herself +and simultaneously appeared in all the Rokussho or Six States of +Sentient Existence at once, namely in the Jigoku, Gaki, Chikusho, Shura, +Ningen, Tenjo, and converted the dwellers thereof. (A friend insists +that in order to have done this Jizo must first have become a man.) + +Among the many names of Jizo, such as 'The Never Slumbering,' 'The +Dragon-Praiser,' 'The Shining King,' 'Diamond-of-Pity,' I find the +significant appellation of 'The Countless Bodied.' + +5 Since this sketch was written, I have seen the Bon-odori in many +different parts of Japan; but I have never witnessed exactly the same +kind of dance. Indeed, I would judge from my experiences in Izumo, in +Oki, in Tottori, in Hoki, in Bingo, and elsewhere, that the Bonodori is +not danced in the same way in any two provinces. Not only do the motions +and gestures vary according to locality, but also the airs of the songs +sung--and this even when the words are the same. In some places the +measure is slow and solemn; in others it is rapid and merry, and +characterised by a queer jerky swing, impossible to describe. But +everywhere both the motion and the melody are curious and pleasing +enough to fascinate the spectator for hours. Certainly these primitive +dances are of far greater interest than the performances of geisha. +Although Buddhism may have utilised them and influenced them, they are +beyond doubt incomparably older than Buddhism. + + + +Notes for Chapter Seven + +1 Thick solid sliding shutters of unpainted wood, which in Japanese +houses serve both as shutters and doors. + +2 Tanabiku. + +3 Ama-terasu-oho-mi-Kami literally signifies 'the Heaven-Shining Great- +August-Divinity.' (See Professor Chamberlain's translation of the +Kojiki.) + +4 'The gods who do harm are to be appeased, so that they may not punish +those who have offended them.' Such are the words of the great Shinto +teacher, Hirata, as translated by Mr. Satow in his article, ~ The +Revival of Pure .Shintau. + +5 Machi, a stiff piece of pasteboard or other material sewn into the +waist of the hakama at the back, so as to keep the folds of the garment +perpendicular and neat-looking. + +6 Kush-no-ki-Matsuhira-Inari-Daimyojin. + +7 From an English composition by one of my Japanese pupils. + +8 Rin, one tenth of one cent. A small round copper coin with a square +hole in the middle. + +9 An inn where soba is sold. + +10 According to the mythology of the Kojiki the Moon-Deity is a male +divinity. But the common people know nothing of the Kojiki, written in +an archaic Japanese which only the learned can read; and they address +the moon as O-Tsuki-San, or 'Lady Moon,' just as the old Greek idyllists +did. + + + +Notes for Chapter Eight + +1 The most ancient book extant in the archaic tongue of Japan. It is the +most sacred scripture of Shinto. It has been admirably translated, with +copious notes and commentaries, by Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain, of +Tokyo. + +2 The genealogy of the family is published in a curious little book +with which I was presented at Kitzuki. Senke Takanori is the eighty- +first Pontiff Governor (formerly called Kokuzo) of Kitzuki. His lineage +is traced back through sixty-five generations of Kokuzo and sixteen +generations of earthly deities to Ama-terasu and her brother Susanoo-no- +mikoto. + +3 In Sanscrit pretas. The gaki are the famished ghosts of that Circle +of Torment in hell whereof the penance is hunger; and the mouths of some +are 'smaller than the points of needles.' + +4 Mionoseki. + +5 Now solidly united with the mainland. Many extraordinary changes, of +rare interest to the physiographer and geologist, have actually taken +place along the coast of Izumo and in the neighbourhood of the great +lake. Even now, each year some change occurs. I have seen several very +strange ones. + +6 The Hakuja, or White Serpent, is also the servant of Benten, 01 Ben- +zai-ten, Goddess of Love, of Beauty, of Eloquence, and of the Sea. 'The +Hakuja has the face of an ancient man, with white eyebrows and wears +upon its head a crown.' Both goddess and serpent can be identified with +ancient Indian mythological beings, and Buddhism first introduced both +into Japan. Among the people, especially perhaps in Izumo, certain +divinities of Buddhism are often identified, or rather confused, with +certain Kami, in popular worship and parlance. + +Since this sketch was written, I have had opportunity of seeing a Ryu-ja +within a few hours after its capture. It was between two and three feet +long, and about one inch in diameter at its thickest girth The upper +part of the body was a very dark brown, and the belly yellowish white; +toward the tail there were some beautiful yellowish mottlings. The body +was not cylindrical, but curiously four-sided--like those elaborately +woven whip-lashes which have four edges. The tail was flat and +triangular, like that of certain fish. A Japanese teacher, Mr. Watanabe, +of the Normal School of Matsue, identified the little creature as a +hydrophid of the species called Pela-mis bicalor. It is so seldom seen, +however, that I think the foregoing superficial description of it may +not be without interest to some readers. + +7 Ippyo, one hyo 2 1/2 hyo make one koku = 5.13 bushels. The word hyo +means also the bag made to contain one hyo. + +8 Either at Kitzuki or at Sada it is possible sometimes to buy a +serpent. On many a 'household-god-shelf' in Matsue the little serpent +may be seen. I saw one that had become brittle and black with age, but +was excellently preserved by some process of which I did not learn the +nature. It had been admirably posed in a tiny wire cage, made to fit +exactly into a small shrine of white wood, and must have been, when +alive, about two feet four inches in length. A little lamp was lighted +daily before it, and some Shinto formula recited by the poor family to +whom it belonged. + +9 Translated by Professor Chamberlain the 'Deity Master-of-the-Great- +Land'-one of the most ancient divinities of Japan, but in popular +worship confounded with Daikoku, God of Wealth. His son, Koto-shiro- +nushi-no-Kami, is similarly confounded with Ebisu, or Yebisu, the patron +of honest labour. The origin of the Shinto custom of clapping the hands +in prayer is said by some Japanese writers to have been a sign given by +Koto-shiro-nushi-no-Kami. + +Both deities are represented by Japanese art in a variety of ways, Some +of the twin images of them sold at Kitzuki are extremely pretty as well +as curious. + +10 Very large donations are made to this temple by wealthy men. The +wooden tablets without the Haiden, on which are recorded the number of +gifts and the names of the donors, mention several recent presents of +1000 yen, or dollars; and donations of 500 yen are not uncommon. The +gift of a high civil official is rarely less than 50 yen. + +11 Taku is the Japanese name for the paper mulberry. + +12 See the curious legend in Professor Chamberlain's translation of the +Kojiki. + +13 From a remote period there have been two Kokuzo in theory, although +but one incumbent. Two branches of the same family claim ancestral right +to the office,--the rival houses of Senke and Kitajima. The government +has decided always in favour of the former; but the head of the Kitajima +family has usually been appointed Vice-Kokuzo. A Kitajima to-day holds +the lesser office. The term Kokuzo is not, correctly speaking, a +spiritual, but rather a temporal title. The Kokuzo has always been the +emperor's deputy to Kitzuki,--the person appointed to worship the deity +in the emperor's stead; but the real spiritual title of such a deputy is +that still borne by the present Guji,--'Mitsuye-Shiro.' + +14 Haliotis tuberculata, or 'sea-ear.' The curious shell is pierced with +a row of holes, which vary in number with the age and size of the animal +it shields. + +15 Literally, 'ten hiro,' or Japanese fathoms. + +16 The fire-drill used at the Shinto temples of Ise is far more +complicated in construction, and certainly represents a much more +advanced stage of mechanical knowledge than the Kitzuki fire-drill +indicates. + +17 During a subsequent visit to Kitzuki I learned that the koto-ita is +used only as a sort of primitive 'tuning' instrument: it gives the right +tone for the true chant which I did not hear during my first visit. The +true chant, an ancient Shinto hymn, is always preceded by the +performance above described. + +18 The tempest of the Kokuzo. + +19 That is, according to Motoori, the commentator. Or more briefly: 'No +or yes?' This is, according to Professor Chamberlain, a mere fanciful +etymology; but it is accepted by Shinto faith, and for that reason only +is here given. + +20 The title of Kokuzo indeed, still exists, but it is now merely +honorary, having no official duties connected with it. It is actually +borne by Baron Senke, the father of Senke Takanori, residing in the +capital. The active religious duties of the Mitsuye-shiro now devolve +upon the Guji. + +21 As late as 1890 I was told by a foreign resident, who had travelled +much in the interior of the country, that in certain districts many old +people may be met with who still believe that to see the face of the +emperor is 'to become a Buddha'; that is, to die. + +22 Hideyoshi, as is well known, was not of princely extraction + +23 The Kojiki dates back, as a Written work, only to A.D. 722. But its +legends and records are known to have existed in the form of oral +literature from a much more ancient time. + +24 In certain provinces of Japan Buddhism practically absorbed Shinto in +other centuries, but in Izumo Shinto absorbed Buddhism; and now that +Shinto is supported by the State there is a visible tendency to +eliminate from its cult certain elements of Buddhist origin. + + + +Notes for Chapter Nine + +1 Such are the names given to the water-vessels or cisterns at which +Shinto worshippers must wash their hands and rinse their mouths ere +praying to the Kami. A mitarashi or o-chozubachi is placed before every +Shinto temple. The pilgrim to Shin-Kukedo-San should perform this +ceremonial ablution at the little rock-spring above described, before +entering the sacred cave. Here even the gods of the cave are said to +wash after having passed through the seawater. + +2 August Fire-Lady'; or, 'the August Sun-Lady,' Amaterasu-oho-mi-Kami. + + + +Notes for Chapter Ten + +1 Mionoseki + +2 Zashiki, the best and largest room of a Japanese dwelling--the guest- +room of a private house, or the banquet-room of a public inn. + + + +Notes for Chapter Eleven + +1 Fourteenth of August. + +2 In the pretty little seaside hotel Inaba-ya, where I lived during my +stay in Kitzuki, the kind old hostess begged her guests with almost +tearful earnestness not to leave the house during the Minige. + +3 There are ten rin to one sen, and ten mon to one rin, on one hundred +to one sen. The majority of the cheap toys sold at the matsuri cost from +two to nine rin. The rin is a circular copper coin with a square hole in +the middle for stringing purposes. + +4 Why the monkey is so respectfully mentioned in polite speech, I do +not exactly know; but I think that the symbolical relation of the +monkey, both to Buddhism and to Shinto, may perhaps account for the use +of the prefix 'O' (honourable) before its name. + +5 As many fine dolls really are. The superior class of O-Hina-San, such +as figure in the beautiful displays of the O-Hina-no-Matsuri at rich +homes, are heirlooms. Dolls are not given to children to break; and +Japanese children seldom break them. I saw at a Doll's Festival in the +house of the Governor of Izumo, dolls one hundred years old-charming +figurines in ancient court costume. + +6 Not to be confounded with Koshin, the God of Roads. + +7 Celtis Wilidenowiana. Sometimes, but rarely, a pine or other tree is +substituted for the enoki. + +8 'Literally, 'The Dance of the Fruitful Year.' + +9 +First,--unto the Taisha-Sama of Izunio; +Second,--to Irokami-Sama of Niigata; +Third,--unto Kompira-Sama of Sanuki; +Fourth,--unto Zenkoji-Sama of Shinano; +Fifth,--to O-Yakushi-San of Ichibata; +Sixth,--to O-Jizo-Sama of Rokkakudo; +Seventh,--to O-Ebisu-Sama of Nana-ura; +Eighth,--unto Hachiman-Sama of Yawata; +Ninth,--unto everyholy shrine of Koya; +Tenth,--to the Ujigami-Sama of our village.' +Japanese readers will appreciate the ingenious manner in which the numeral +at the beginning of each phrase is repeated in the name of the sacred +place sung of. + + + +Notes for Chapter Twelve + +1 This deity is seldom called by his full name, which has been shortened +by common usage from Susano-o-no-mikoto. + +2 A kichinyado is an inn at which the traveller is charged only the +price of the wood used for fuel in cooking his rice. + +3 The thick fine straw mats, fitted upon the floor of every Japanese +room, are always six feet long by three feet broad. The largest room in +the ordinary middle-class house is a room of eight mats. A room of one +hundred mats is something worth seeing. + +4 The kubi-oke was a lacquered tray with a high rim and a high cover. +The name signifies 'head-box.' It was the ancient custom to place the +head of a decapitated person upon a kubi-oke before conveying the +ghastly trophy into the palace of the prince desirous of seeing it. + + + +Notes for Chapter Thirteen + +1 Yama-no-mono ('mountain-folk,'--so called from their settlement on +the hills above Tokoji),--a pariah-class whose special calling is the +washing of the dead and the making of graves. +2 Joro: a courtesan. +3 Illicium religiosum +4 Literally: 'without shadow' or 'shadowless.' +5 Umi-yama-no-on. +6 Kusaba-no-kage +7 Or 'him.' This is a free rendering. The word 'nushi' simply refers +to the owner of the house. + + + +Notes for Chapter Fourteen + +1 ''Eight clouds arise. The eightfold [or, manifold] fence of Idzumo +makes an eightfold [or, manifold] fence for the spouses to retire +within. Oh! that eightfold fence!' This is said to be the oldest song in +the Japanese language. It has been differently translated by the great +scholars and commentators. The above version and text are from Professor +B. H. Chamberlain's translation of the Kojiki (pp.60-64). + +2 Professor Chamberlain disputes this etymology for excellent reasons. +But in Izumo itself the etymology is still accepted, and will be +accepted, doubtless, until the results of foreign scholarship in the +study of the archaic texts is more generally known. + +3 Planeca Japonica. + +4 So absolutely has Shinto in Izumo monopolised the Karashishi, or +stone lions, of Buddhist origin, that it is rare in the province to find +a pair before any Buddhist temple. There is even a Shinto myth about +their introduction into Japan from India, by the Fox-God! + +5 Such offerings are called Gwan-hodoki. Gwan wo hodoki, 'to make a +vow.' + +6 A pilgrim whose prayer has been heard usually plants a single nobori +as a token. Sometimes you may see nobori of five colours (goshiki),-- +black, yellow, red, blue, and white--of which one hundred or one +thousand have been planted by one person. But this is done only in +pursuance of some very special vow. + +7 'On being asked if there were any other love charm, the Newt replied, +making a ring with two of his toes--"Only this." The sign signifies, +"Money."' + +8 There are no less than eleven principal kinds of Japanese names. The +jitsumyo, or 'true name,' corresponds to our Christian name. On this +intricate and interesting topic the reader should consult Professor B. +H. Chamberlain's excellent little book, Things Japanese, pp. 250-5. + +9 That I may be wedded to Takaki-Toki, I humbly pray.--A youth of +eighteen.' + +10 The gengebana (also called renge-so, and in Izumo miakobana) is an +herb planted only for fertilizing purposes. Its flowers are extremely +small, but so numerous that in their blossoming season miles of fields +are coloured by them a beautiful lilaceous blue. A gentleman who wished +to marry a joro despite the advice of his friends, was gently chided by +them with the above little verse, which, freely translated, signifies: +'Take it not into thy hand: the flowers of the gengebans are fair to +view only when left all together in the field.' + + + + +Notes for Chapter Fifteen + + +1 Toyo-uke-bime-no-Kami, or Uka-no-mi-tana ('who has also eight other +names), is a female divinity, according to the Kojiki and its +commentators. Moreover, the greatest of all Shinto scholars, Hirata, as +cited by Satow, says there is really no such god as Inari-San at all-- +that the very name is an error. But the common people have created the +God Inari: therefore he must be presumed to exist--if only for +folklorists; and I speak of him as a male deity because I see him so +represented in pictures and carvings. As to his mythological existence, +his great and wealthy temple at Kyoto is impressive testimony. + +2 The white fox is a favourite subject with Japanese artists. Some very +beautiful kakemono representing white foxes were on display at the Tokyo +exhibition of 1890. Phosphorescent foxes often appear in the old +coloured prints, now so rare and precious, made by artists whose names +have become world-famous. Occasionally foxes are represented wandering +about at night, with lambent tongues of dim fire--kitsune-bi--above +their heads. The end of the fox's tail, both in sculpture and drawing, +is ordinarily decorated with the symbolic jewel (tama) of old Buddhist +art. I have in my possession one kakemono representing a white fox with +a luminous jewel in its tail. I purchased it at the Matsue temple of +Inari--'O-Shiroyama-no-Inari-Sama.' The art of the kakemono is clumsy; +but the conception possesses curious interest. + +3 The Japanese candle has a large hollow paper wick. It is usually +placed upon an iron point which enters into the orifice of the wick at +the flat end. + +4 See Professor Chamberlain's Things Japanese, under the title +'Demoniacal Possession.' + +5 Translated by Walter Dening. + +6 The word shizoku is simply the Chinese for samurai. But the term now +means little more than 'gentleman' in England. + +7 The fox-messenger travels unseen. But if caught in a trap, or +injured, his magic fails him, and he becomes visible. + +8 The Will-o'-the-Wisp is called Kitsune-bi, or 'fox-fire.' + +9 'Aburage' is a name given to fried bean-curds or tofu. + +10 Azukimeshi is a preparation of red beans boiled with rice. + +11 The Hoin or Yamabushi was a Buddhist exorciser, usually a priest. +Strictly speaking, the Hoin was a Yamabushi of higher rank. The +Yamabushi used to practise divination as well as exorcism. They were +forbidden to exercise these professions by the present government; and +most of the little temples formerly occupied by them have disappeared or +fallen into ruin. But among the peasantry Buddhist exorcisers are still +called to attend cases of fox-possession, and while acting as exorcisers +are still spoken of as Yamabushi. + +12 A most curious paper on the subject of Ten-gan, or Infinite Vision-- +being the translation of a Buddhist sermon by the priest Sata Kaiseki-- +appeared in vol. vii. of the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of +Japan, from the pen of Mr. J. M. James. It contains an interesting +consideration of the supernatural powers of the Fox. + +13 All the portable lanterns used to light the way upon dark nights +bear a mon or crest of the owner. + +14 Cakes made of rice flour and often sweetened with sugar. + +15 It is believed that foxes amuse themselves by causing people to eat +horse-dung in the belief that they are eating mochi, or to enter a +cesspool in the belief they are taking a bath. + +16 'In Jigyobamachi, a name signifying 'earthwork-street.' It stands +upon land reclaimed from swamp. + +17 This seems to be the immemorial artistic law for the demeanour of +all symbolic guardians of holy places, such as the Karashishi, and the +Ascending and Descending Dragons carved upon panels, or pillars. At +Kumano temple even the Suijin, or warrior-guardians, who frown behind +the gratings of the chambers of the great gateway, are thus represented +-one with mouth open, the other with closed lips. + +On inquiring about the origin of this distinction between the two +symbolic figures, I was told by a young Buddhist scholar that the male +figure in such representations is supposed to be pronouncing the sound +'A,' and the figure with closed lips the sound of nasal 'N '- +corresponding to the Alpha and Omega of the Greek alphabet, and also +emblematic of the Beginning and the End. In the Lotos of the Good Law, +Buddha so reveals himself, as the cosmic Alpha and Omega, and the Father +of the World,--like Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita. + +18 There is one exception to the general custom of giving the dolls of +dead children, or the wrecks of dolls, to Kojin. Those images of the God +of Calligraphy and Scholarship which are always presented as gifts to +boys on the Boys' Festival are given, when broken, to Tenjin himself, +not to Kojin; at least such is the custom in Matsue. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan, by Lafcadio Hearn + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GLIMPSES OF AN UNFAMILIAR JAPAN *** + +This file should be named 8glm110.txt or 8glm110.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8glm111.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8glm110a.txt + +Produced by John Orford + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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