156 
FROM HONG-KONG TO YOKOHAMA. 
Retracing her course through the Inland Sea, H.M.S. “Challenger” returned to Kobe 
on the 29th. In the first days of June the native quarter of that town was full of excitement, 
caused by the festivities and ceremonies in connection with the dedication of a new temple. 
There were processions in the streets, and a crowd of holiday-folk was all day long 
ascending and descending the road which led to the recently-erected sacred buildings. 
These occupied a terrace on the slope of the hill above Kobe, and commanded a magnificent 
view of the town and the bay. Following the crowd, we soon came in sight of the temple, 
which, in outward appearance, formed a remarkable contrast with the old-fashioned shrines, 
having evidently been designed under the influence of the new ideas—the offspring of the 
recent revolution. There were white-washed walls, two large columns gilded from top to 
bottom, and what seemed to be an imitation of a Gothic window filled with stained glass, 
red and blue. Surely such examples of Western art had never before been seen in a Japanese 
temple ! Judging, however, from the numerous happy and contented faces by which we were 
surrounded, the people seemed to be rather proud of their architectural achievement. We 
arrived just in time to witness some dances which formed part of the ceremonies of 
inauguration. We had previously noticed in the crowd a number of damsels gorgeously 
arrayed—scarlet petticoats, white dresses trimmed with scarlet and gold, a large black satin 
bow behind ; a blue and white hat as flat as a dish, tied with black ribbons round the chin, 
and adorned with large artificial flowers, red, white, and silver. Their faces were painted 
white, eyebrows black, lips red, and a red dash adorned the corner of each eye. These 
young girls assembled in a room adjoining the temple, and, all standing in a line, 
performed some very graceful dances, while several men, quaintly disguised, acted as maitres 
des cdrdmonies. The performers, to the number of some twenty or thirty, would advance 
and retreat together, and every movement was executed with the greatest unanimity and 
precision. The effect produced by the many-coloured dresses and ornaments of the performers 
was almost dazzling. After each dance they turned their faces to the. wall and their backs 
to the audience, which, composed of men, women, and children, sat on the floor, talking, 
laughing, smoking, and dividing their attention between the dancing-girls and the strangers 
in Euiopean gaib who were present. On the terrace below the temple a number of tea- 
shops had sprung up, where the good-tempered, social Japanese, always glad of a pretext for 
holiday-making, could be seen enjoying their cup of tea or sake. No one in the guise of a 
soldier or policeman was visible, and there was no trace of that coarseness and rudeness too 
often observed in popular gatherings in countries laying claim to a high standard of 
civilisation. 
Our pleasant sojourn at Kobe ended with a ball given at the residence of the British 
Consul, and attended by all the notabilities of the town. The stately esplanade—at a later 
date almost destroyed by the furious sea during a typhoon—that evening looked its very best 
under the bright rays of the full moon, the “Challenger” and the “Mosquito” adding 
brilliance to the scene by a display of lamps, rockets, and blue lights. 
left the Bay of Oosaka on the 2nd of June. The return voyage to Yokohama 
