41 8 JAPAN. 



1 was told by a Japanese that once in a certain number of 

 years an assemblage of persons collects together and holds a 

 sort of festival, and clears the area of the character from over- 

 growth ; the ceremony thus exactly corresponding to the 

 " scouring of the white horse." On certain occasions the 

 character is illuminated with lanterns so as to show out on 

 the hill side at night. I have a Japanese coloured sketch of 

 it thus lighted up. 



The Japanese are extremely fond of gadding about, and of 

 sight-seeing, and especially of beautiful scenery. Near Kobe 

 is a very pretty waterfall. It is crowded, wherever a good 

 view is to be obtained, with tea-houses and resting-places for 

 picnic parties, and I never saw the place without plenty of 

 holiday-making visitors. When visiting such places the 

 Japanese express their delight, and describe the beauties of 

 the scene in short poems which they write out in the evenings 

 at their inns. A Japanese clerk of Mr. Dickins's, a Mr. Tanaka, 

 who accompanied us on our journey and was a very pleasant 

 companion, often wrote thus short poems about our day's 

 doings. 



One of the walks from Kobe is to the Moon Temple, which 

 is perched at the summit of a steep mountain ridge, clad with 

 beautiful woods. The climb to the temple is a severe one, up 

 many hundreds of steps. I was amused to see a Chinaman 

 and a Japanese toiling up together to the top, to consult the 

 Oracle about some matter of business. It seemed extraordinary 

 that a Chinaman, so sharp in business matters, should come 

 so weary a journey to take the opinion of the foreign gods. 

 Yet the two men were evidently equally anxious as to the 

 result of their inquiry. The Oracle was consulted by shaking 

 out a lot from a number of inscribed slips of wood packed in 

 a case. The men received the case of lots from an attendant 

 priest, and hastened off with it to one of the shrines. 



From Kobe, the large city Osaka is reached by rail. As 

 we left the railway station at Osaka, a crowd of pilgrims was 

 just entering it. The pilgrims were clad in white, and carried 

 long staves, and had bottle-gourds of water or saki slung round 

 their necks. They were returning from the holy shrines. A 

 passer-by begged a blessing of one of these pilgrims who was 

 lagging behind the rest. The suppliant crouched down in the 

 street, and the pilgrim blessed him, making passes over him 

 with his wand. This looked strange in front of a brand new 

 railway station. 



Pilgrimages are extremely popular in Japan. On the 

 journey along the Tokaido, the road was thronged with pilgrims, 

 going to the ancient shrine of Ise, the oldest temple in Japan 



