Chapter I: Preface

This book has only attempted to present some of the phases of the new Japan as they appeared to one who was both a tourist and a foreign resident in that country. No one person can see it all, nor comprehend it, as the jinrikisha speeds through city streets and over country roads, nor do any two people enjoy just the same experiences, see things in the same light, or draw the same conclusions as to this remarkable people. Japan is so inexhaustible and so full of surprises that to the last day of his stay the tourist and the resident alike are confronted by some novelty that is yet wholly common and usual in the life of the Japanese.

The scientists, scholars, and specialists, the poetic and the political writers, who have written so fully of Japan, have omitted many little things which leave the pleasantest impressions on lighter minds. Each decade presents a new Japan, as the wonderful empire approaches nearer to modern and European standards in living, and, in becoming one of the eight great civilized world-powers, Japan has put aside much of its mediæval and Oriental picturesqueness.

Bewildered by its novelty and strangeness, too many tourists come and go with little knowledge of the Japan of the Japanese, and, beholding only the modernized seaports and the capital, miss many unique and distinctly national sights and experiences that lie close at hand. The book will have attained its object if it helps the tourist to see better the Japan that is unchanging, and if it gives the stay-at-home reader a greater interest in those fascinating people and their lovely home.

Unfortunately, it is impossible, in acknowledging the kindness of the many Japanese friends and acquaintances, who secured me so much enjoyment and so many delightful experiences, to begin to give the long list of their names. Each foreign visitor must equally feel himself indebted to the whole race for being Japanese, and, therefore, the most interesting population in the world, and his obligation is to the whole people as much as to particular individuals.

Since the first edition of this book was published, the treaties have been revised, extra-territoriality and the passport system have been abolished, and a protective tariff adopted; the railway has been extended to Nikko, to Nara, from end to end, and twice across, the main island; foreign hotels have multiplied in seaports and mountain resorts; the guide-book has been modernized, made more companionable and interesting, and a vast literature has been added to the subject—Japan. The fall in the price of silver, the adoption of the gold standard, and the increasing army of tourists have more than doubled the cost of living and of all the products of art industry. Japan has twice sent victorious military expeditions to the mainland, and in the relief of the legations and the occupation of Peking has proved her soldiers first in valor, discipline, equipment, and in humanity to the conquered, and there was abundantly displayed that high passion of patriotism which the Japanese possess in greater degree than any other people.

Japan, six times revisited, is as full of charm and novelty as when I first went ashore from the wreck of the _Tokio_.

E. R. S.

WASHINGTON, D. C., _March, 1890_.
” ” _March, 1902_.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. THE NORTH PACIFIC AND YOKOHAMA 1

II. YOKOHAMA 10

III. YOKOHAMA—CONTINUED 20

IV. THE ENVIRONS OF YOKOHAMA 28

V. KAMAKURA AND ENOSHIMA 38

VI. TOKIO 43

VII. TOKIO—CONTINUED 53

VIII. TOKIO FLOWER FESTIVALS 65

IX. JAPANESE HOSPITALITIES 86

X. THE JAPANESE THEATRE 96

XI. THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 111

XII. TOKIO PALACES AND COURT 125

XIII. THE SUBURBS OF TOKIO 134

XIV. A TRIP TO NIKKO 140

XV. NIKKO 147

XVI. CHIUZENJI AND YUMOTO 162

XVII. THE ASCENT OF FUJIYAMA 175

XVIII. THE DESCENT OF FUJIYAMA 183

XIX. THE TOKAIDO—I 189

XX. THE TOKAIDO—II 197

XXI. NAGOYA 206

XXII. LAKE BIWA AND KIOTO 216

XXIII. KIOTO TEMPLES 226

XXIV. THE MONTO TEMPLES AND THE DAIMONJI 236

XXV. THE PALACES AND CASTLE 244

XXVI. KIOTO SILK INDUSTRY 255

XXVII. EMBROIDERIES AND CURIOS 267

XXVIII. POTTERIES AND PAPER WARES 277

XXIX. GOLDEN DAYS 285

XXX. SENKÉ AND THE MERCHANTS’ DINNER 296

XXXI. THROUGH UJI TO NARA 304

XXXII. NARA 320

XXXIII. OSAKA 331

XXXIV. KOBÉ AND ARIMA 340

XXXV. THE TEA TRADE 350

XXXVI. THE INLAND SEA AND NAGASAKI 358

XXXVII. IN THE END 368

INDEX 377

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

OLD COURT COSTUME _Frontispiece_

FUJIYAMA 5

JAPANESE CHILDREN 17

AT KAWAWA 30

THE SEMI’S CAGE 55

POETS BENEATH THE PLUM-TREES 67

A UYÉNO TEA-HOUSE 71

IRIS GARDENS AT HORI KIRI 75

AT KAMEIDO 79

IN DANGO-ZAKA STREET 82

TEA BLOSSOMS 83

CHOPSTICKS—FIGS. 1 AND 2 88

CHOPSTICKS—FIG. 3 89

THE NESANS AT THE HOISHIGAOKA 93

MATSUDA, THE MASTER OF CHA NO YU 94

DANJIRO, THE GREAT ACTOR 107

IN THE PALACE GARDENS 115

IN THE PALACE GARDENS 117

IN THE PALACE GARDENS 121

PLAN OF EMPEROR’S PRIVATE APARTMENTS 127

IMPERIAL SAKÉ-CUP 129

INTERIOR OF THE IYEMITSU TEMPLE 151

GATE-WAY OF THE IYEYASU TEMPLE 155

FARM LABORERS AND PACK-HORSE 163

PUBLIC BATH-HOUSE AT YUMOTO 171

THE SHOJO 213

THE GREAT PINE-TREE AT KARASAKI 219

THE TRUE-LOVER’S SHRINE AT KIOMIDZU 231

THE THRONE OF 1868 248

KABE HABUTAI 262

CHIRIMEN 263

EBISU CHIRIMEN 264

KINU CHIRIMEN 265

FUKUSA 270

MANJI 272

MITSU TOMOYÉ 273

IN NAMMIKAWA’S WORK-ROOM 288

PICKING TEA 305

IN THE KASUGA TEMPLE GROUNDS 317

PRIESTESSES AT NARA 324

FARM LABORERS 347

JINRIKISHA DAYS IN JAPAN