WHY NIFC-KO IS BEAUTIFUL 



By J. H. De Forest, Sendai, Japan 



JAP AX is confessedly the most beau- 

 tiful country in the world. Every- 

 where you go you have in sight 

 the two essentials of bewitching 

 scenery, mountains of every size and 

 shape indented by picturesque canyons 

 and lovely valleys, all based on water in 

 bays and inlets and ocean. It is a land 

 of perpetual beauty, conspicuously cen- 

 tral to which is the peerless Fuji, the only 

 mountain on the globe that rises 12,365 

 feet in one impressive unbroken curve 

 from the ocean. 



But hidden among all this scenic 

 grandeur the one great park of wooded 

 mountains around a crater lake that with 

 foreigners and natives alike takes the 

 prize is the Nik-ko region. Kek-ko is 

 the Japanese word for superlatively 

 splendid, so that all through Japan these 

 two words are inseparably mated — Nik-ko 

 and Kek-ko. Don't say Kek-ko until 

 you've seen Nik-ko. You have no suf- 

 ficient knowledge of the splendid until 

 you have visited this park of splendor. If 

 you try to analyze Nik-ko's splendor, one 

 captivating feature is the avenue of 

 mighty cryptomerias that for a dozen 

 miles forms a lofty Gothic archway lead- 

 ing up to the village 2,000 feet above the 

 ocean. Another important element is the 

 waterfalls and cascades that burst from 

 the sides of the wooded mountains or 

 tumble in amazing confusion over pre- 

 cipitous rocks into the dark, narrow val- 

 leys. Yet one more element is the ex- 

 ceptionally large crater lake, Chuzenji, 

 4,385 feet up in the clouds, surrounded 

 by the old crater walls, portions of which 

 are now gently sloping and covered with 

 dense forests, while on another section 

 rises the dead peak of the last volcano 

 that helps to make Nik-ko and its vicin- 

 ity so wonderfully beautiful — Nantai- 

 zan. 



But nature's work has been richly sup- 

 plemented by man's hand in beautifying 

 this paradise. There is the red bridge of 



one span (80 feet), which is reserved ex- 

 clusively for His Majesty the Emperor. 

 When General Grant visited Nik-ko as 

 the guest of the nation, this sacred bridge 

 was opened for him, but he modestly de- 

 clined to cross the Imperial bridge, 

 thereby winning the deep reverence and 

 affection of the people. Even the present 

 Crown Prince a few years ago refused to 

 cross the bridge, preferring to identify 

 himself with the people by taking the 

 common bridge just below. 



Beyond the bridge, amid tall crypto- 

 merias, is a historic Buddhist temple, 

 whose sweeping double roof is in perfect 

 harmony with its surroundings. You 

 cannot but gaze at it whenever it appears 

 in sight. A little farther on is the mau- 

 soleum of Ieyasu, the greatest statesman 

 of feudal Japan, under whose orders the 

 political Christianity of the Catholics was 

 stamped out in fearful slaughters of be- 

 lievers and the country closed against 

 foreign intercourse. High above the 

 mausoleums of Ieyasu and his grandson 

 Iemitsu, on a rocky formation, is Ieyasu's 

 massive bronze tomb. 



But apart from what man has done r 

 what makes this region so enchantingly 

 beautiful ? What is the secret of this 

 beauty ? This was the question that con- 

 tinuously challenged me as I spent a few 

 weeks in this environment. In general 

 it may be said that Japan's beauty is of a 

 different type from much of our Euro- 

 pean and American beauty. New Eng- 

 land, for example, with its shores, its 

 mountains, its innumerable lakes, all near 

 sea-level, is indeed beautiful, but its 

 rounded hills, its moraines, and lakelets 

 are all the work of immense glaciers. 

 Japan, however, is wholly the child of 

 volcanoes and earthquakes. Hence the 

 long curving slopes of many of the 

 mountains ; the abrupt and frightful con- 

 tortions of portions of the mountain 

 scenery ; the marvelously entrancing 

 crater lakes far up in the skies. Any one 



