Chapter I: Preface

By many friends, both in this country and in the Far East, the question has often been asked me: “Why do you not write a book about Japan?” Whatever answer to this question _à propos_ of each particular occasion, may have been given, there have been two reasons which have made me decline the temptation hitherto. Of the innumerable books, having for their main subject, “The Land of the Rising Sun,” which have appeared during the last forty years, a small but sufficient number have described with a fair accuracy and reasonable sympathy, certain aspects of the country, its people, their past history, and recent development. To correct even, much more to counteract, the influence of the far greater number which, if the wish of the world of readers is to know the truth, might well never have been written, is a thankless and a hopeless task for any one author to essay.

A yet more intimate and personal consideration, however, has prevented me up to the present time from complying with these friendly requests. Many of the experiences, of special interest to myself, and perhaps most likely to be specially interesting and instructive to the public, have been so intimate and personal, that to disclose them frankly would have seemed like a breach of courtesy, if not of confidence. The highly favoured guest feels a sort of honourable reserve about speaking of the personality and household of his host. He does not go away after weeks spent at another’s table, to describe the dishes, the silver and other furnishings, and the food.

What I have told in this book of some of the many rare and notably happy, and, I hope, useful days, which have fallen to my good fortune at some time during my three visits to Japan, has not, I trust, transgressed the limits of friendly truth on the one hand, or of a friendly reserve on the other. And if the narrative should give to any of my countrymen a better comprehension of the best side of this ambitious, and on the whole admirable and lovable people, and a small share in the pleasure which the experiences narrated have given to the author, he will be much more than amply rewarded.

GEORGE TRUMBULL LADD.
NEW HAVEN, June, 1910.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I VISITING THE IMPERIAL DIET 1

II DOWN THE KATSURA-GAWA 25

III CLIMBING ASAMA-YAMA 46

IV THE SUMMER-SCHOOL AT HAKONÉ 74

V JAPANESE AUDIENCES 99

VI GARDENS AND GARDEN PARTIES 126

VII AT THE THEATRE 156

VIII THE NŌ, OR JAPANESE MIRACLE-PLAY 190

IX IKEGAMI AND JAPANESE BUDDHISM 217

X HIKONÉ AND ITS PATRIOT MARTYR 248

XI HIRO-MURA, THE HOUSE OF “A LIVING GOD” 281

XII COURT FUNCTIONS AND IMPERIAL AUDIENCES 314

ILLUSTRATIONS

Country Scenes and Country Customs _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

“The Picturesque Moat and Ancient Wall” 18

“The Charm of the Scenery Along the Banks” 32

“To Tend These Trees Became a Privilege” 38

“The Villages Have Never Been Rebuilt” 56

“For Centuries Lovers Have Met About the Old Well” 72

“Dark and Solemn and Stately Cryptomerias” 78

“_Ashi-no-Umi_, which is, being Interpreted, ‘The Sea of
Reeds’” 84

“Class and Teacher Always Had to be Photographed” 108

“The Bearing of the Boys and Girls is Serious, Respectful
and Affectionate” 118

“It is Nature Combed and Trimmed” 130

“Winding Paths Over Rude Moss-covered Stepping-Stones” 142

“The Worship of Nature in the Open Air” 152

“In One Corner of the Stage Sits the Chorus” 194

“Leading Actors in the Dramas of that Day” 208

“Leading Actors in the Dramas of that Day” 212

“The Chief Abbot Came in to Greet Us” 226

“Where Nichiren Spent His Last Days” 234

“Picturesquely Seated on a Wooded Hill” 250

“All Covered with Fresh-Fallen Snow” 276

“Peasants Were Going to and from Their Work” 294

“You can not Mock the Conviction of Millions” 302

“The Beautiful Grounds in Full Sight of the Bay” 308

“They Took Part in Out-Door Sports” 320