The Days of a Man 



Beautiful Back once more to the Inland Sea, we crossed the 

 Miyajima narrow straits of Shimonoseki, then proceeded east- 

 ward to the rocky "temple island/' "Miyajima" the 

 beautiful, 1 the delight of cultured Japan. Miyajima 

 town struggles up a steeply symmetrical hill crowned 

 with green pines, and fringed with bamboos rising 

 from matted ferns, the whole flanked below by a 

 white beach and a deep-green sea. The spacious 

 temple, built on pillars along the shore, seems at 

 high water to float on the surface. In front stands 

 the famous torii beloved of artists, its foundations 

 also covered save at dead low tide. For trifling sums 

 we bought wonderful colored pictures of the place, 

 delightful in their untruthfulness, an attempt - 

 rather characteristically Japanese to convert a 

 beautiful scene into a theatrical impossibility. 

 Hiroshima At Hiroshima, near by on the mainland, the fish 

 market detained us for some time, the kuruma man 

 carrying the purse and loyally looking out for our 

 interests after the fashion of his kind. The boys of 

 his class we could always trust, and of all Japanese 

 laborers I liked these swift racers best. But it is risky 

 to give more than one word at a time to a Japanese 

 servant who knows only a bit of English, for he takes 

 that and lets everything else go. Thus if you say, 

 "It is hot weather tonight," the chances are that he 

 will bring you a pitcher of hot water. And on the 

 other hand it behooves travelers to give some tolerant 

 attention to unfamiliar lingual deviations. For 

 Japanese boys are often wrongly accused of falsehood 

 because they say "iss" (yes) 2 on many occasions when 



1 The most admired of the famous "scenic trio" of Japan, each unique in its 

 way. The others are Matsushima in the north and Ama-no-Hashidate on the 

 western sea. 



2 In Japanese, Sayo, "yes," or "quite right." 



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