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THK NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



A story is told of a farmer who terraced 

 his own little hillside in no less than 

 eleven tiers. At length he sat down to 

 survey the results, but to his dismay he 

 could see only ten terraces below him. 

 The eleventh was invisible ; he was sitting 

 on it ! 



THE EFFECT OF MOUNTAINS ON THE 

 JAPANESE 



It is, then, in the subjugation of the 

 soil that the Japanese people (the peas- 

 antry, old and young, number more than 

 25,000,000) develop so much of their un- 

 wearying patience, perseverance, and 

 cheerfulness. Moreover, it is among the 

 soldiers recruited from among the hill- 

 men that some of the finest campaigners 

 are found. 



During the Russo-Japanese War in 

 Manchuria it was found that in districts 

 where long marches over a route chiefly 

 leading along goat paths or across track- 

 less gullies and crags, each man having to 

 find his own way and rejoin his company 

 on the farther side, the native mountain- 

 eering habits of the lower ranks invari- 

 ably enabled them to select the most ac- 

 cessible line of country. 



From what I have already said, I hope 

 I have made it clear that there is an inti- 

 mate connection between the physical 

 features of Japan and the psychological 

 characteristics of the Japanese. A brief 

 notice of the mountains in particular will 

 help to illustrate their influence on the 

 inhabitants. 



Through each of the chief islands of 

 Japan there runs a solid backbone of 

 mountains, which, taken together, con- 

 stitute three great mountain systems. 



The first, or northern, of these is known 

 as the Russian, or Karafuto, system. 

 Karafuto is the Japanese name for Sak- 

 halin and means the "Wave-land," in 

 allusion to its mountainous character. 

 Passing through Karafuto, it traverses 

 Hokkaido (Yezo) and reappears in the 

 mainland, which it penetrates to its cen- 

 ter in the provinces of Koshu, Shinshu, 

 and Suruga. 



The second, or southern, is known as 

 the Chinese, or Kuenlun, system. This 

 originates in the Kuenlun Mountains of 

 the central Asian plateau and runs across 

 central China by way of the Peling range, 

 to reappear in the southern islands of 



Japan, Kyushu and Shikoku. This sys- 

 tem is then continued until it meets the 

 .northern, or Karafuto, system in the 

 broadest and central part of the main- 

 land. It is here that the profoundest val- 

 leys are cleft and the mountain summits 

 rise to their loftiest heights in the varied 

 and picturesque ranges known as the 

 "Japanese Alps." 



The conflict of these two systems has 

 resulted in terrific upheavals, and then, 

 like a mighty wedge driven in between 

 them, there runs a vast transverse fissure, 

 crossing the mainland of Japan at its 

 broadest span, from the Sea of Japan to 

 the Pacific Ocean. It is known as the 

 Fossa Magna, or the Fuji belt, and 

 throughout its entire length a line of 

 erupted volcanoes has burst forth, 

 stretching across the whole width of the 

 island and passing southward through 

 the beautiful hills of the famous Hakone 

 district into the Pacific Ocean in "The 

 Seven Islands of Idzu." 



As a result of the mingling of these 

 different ranges, we have that extraordi- 

 nary variety of form and structure which 

 gives to Japanese mountain landscape its 

 most romantic and characteristic charm. 



Mighty volcanoes, extinct, quiescent, 

 or active, alternate with great battlements 

 and spires of granite, or with sharp- 

 pointed, isolated monoliths of harder 

 rock. 



VISCOUNT BRYCE'S TRIBUTE TO JAPANESE 

 MOUNTAINS 



With this variety of outline we find 

 vivid examples of those other factors to 

 which the scenery owes so much — the 

 extreme variations of temperature, the 

 abundance of moisture, and the erosive 

 power of the mountain torrents ; and if to 

 these we add the effect of a clear sky and 

 brilliant sunshine during a considerable 

 portion of the year, particularly in spring 

 and autumn, we have the secret of that 

 extraordinary charm of landscape of 

 which Viscount Bryce recently wrote, 

 that "there is probably no other country 

 that exhibits such an endless variety of 

 natural beauty in the shapes of the moun- 

 tains and in the rich luxuriance of the 

 trees and flowers." 



There is no established evidence as to 

 traces of glacial action yet found in the 

 great Alpine ranges of central Japan. 



