In the course of conversation after the dejeuner the ministers offered to do all they could to make our stay in the country agreeable and instructive. Distinguished foreigners are always well received in Japan, and we are informed that a special committee is appointed to make arrangements for their reception. This has given offence in certain quarters, and shortly before our arrival a proclamation was issued by a secret society, which threatened, if no change were made, to kill one of the ministers and one of the foreigners who were entertained in this, in the opinion of the secret society, extravagant way. One of my Japanese friends promised me a copy of the proclamation, but did not keep his promise, probably because it was impossible for the uninitiated to get hold of the dangerous writing.

On the 13th September a grand dinner was arranged for us by the German Club, the photographer ANDERSEN being chairman. The hall was adorned in a festive manner with flags, and with representations of the Vega in various more or less dangerous positions among the ice, which had been got up for the occasion, the bill of fare had reference to the circumstances of our wintering, &c. A number of speeches were made, the feeling was cheerful and merry.

On the 15th September there was a grand entertainment in Tokio, given by the Tokio Geographical Society, the Asiatic Society of Japan, and the German Asiatic Society. It was held in the great hall in Koku-Dai-Gaku, a large stone building surrounded with beautiful trees, which were lighted up for the occasion by a number of variegated paper lanterns. Several Japanese ladies dressed in European style took part in the entertainment. I sat by the side of the chairman, Prince KITA-SHIRA-KAVA, a young member of the imperial house, who had served some time in the German army and speaks German very well. During the disturbances which were caused by the removal of the residence from Kioto to Yedo (Tokio), a group of insurgents had seized the prince, then a minor, who under the name of RINNOJINO-MIYA was chief priest in a temple, and endeavoured to set him up in opposition to the Emperor. The plan failed, and in consequence of the reconciliation at the end of the conflict, which distinguished in so honourable a way the many involved and bloody political struggles in Japan during recent years, this adventure was attended with no other insult for him than that the former chief priest was sent to a German military school. He was recalled sooner than was intended because he wished to marry a European, which was considered below the dignity of the family of the Mikado. After his return he was declared nearest heir to the throne, in case the Mikado should die without male heirs, and his name, KITA-SHIRA-KAVA-NO-MIYA, was changed a second time to YOHI HISHA. The former name was at the bottom of the speech he made for us at the dinner, and which he gave me, and the latter, with the addition, "Prince of Japan," was on his calling card. The dinner was quite European, with a large number of speeches, principally in European languages, but also in Japanese. Before every guest lay a map, of the form of a fan, with the course of the Vega marked upon it. As a memorial of the feast I received some days after a large medal in silver inlaid in gold, of which a drawing is given on pages 306, 307. We were conveyed back to the Tokio railway station in European equipages, in the same way as we had been brought to the dinner. During dinner musicians from the band of the imperial navy played European pieces of music with great skill, to the evident satisfaction of the Japanese.

On the forenoon of the 17th September we were presented at the court of the Mikado in Tokio by the Swedish-Dutch minister. We were fetched from the railway station by imperial equipages, consisting of simple but ornamental and convenient suflett carriages, each drawn by a pair of beautiful black horses of no great size. As is common in Japan, a running groom, clad in black, accompanied each carriage. The reception took place in the imperial palace, a very modest wooden building. The rooms we saw were furnished, almost poorly, in European fashion. We first assembled in an antechamber, the only remarkable ornament of which was a large piece of nephrite, which was a little carved and had a Chinese inscription on it. Here we were met by some of the ministers and the interpreter. After a short conversation, in the course of which the interpreter got a sight of the written speech, or more correctly the words of salutation, I was to speak, we were conducted into an inner apartment where the Emperor, clad in a uniform of European style and standing in front of a throne, received us. The only thing unusual at our reception was that we were requested at our departure not to turn our backs to the Emperor, and on entering and departing to make three bows, one at the door, another when we had come forward a little on the floor, and one at the place where we were to stand. After we had been presented the Emperor read a speech in Japanese, which was translated into French by the interpreter, and of which, before we left the place, a beautiful copy was given me, I then read my salutation, on which our minister, van Stoetwegen, said a few words, and got some words in reply. After leaving the imperial chamber, we were entertained in the anteroom with Japanese tea and cigars. The two princes who had taken part in the entertainment of the 15th came and talked a little with us, as did the minister of foreign affairs. The Emperor MUTSUHITO, in whose name reforms have been carried out in Japan to an extent to which history can scarcely show anything equal, was born the 3rd November, 1850. He is considered the 121st Mikado of the race of Jimmu Tenno, the members of which have reigned uninterruptedly in Japan for nearly two thousand years, with varying fates and with varying power—now as wise lawgivers and mighty warriors, now for long periods as weak and effeminate rulers, emperors only in seeming, to whom almost divine homage was paid, but who were carefully freed from the burden of government and from all actual power. In comparison with this race, whose first ancestor lived during the first century after the foundation of Rome, all the royal houses now reigning in Europe are children of yesterday. Its present representative does not look to be very strong. During the whole audience he stood so motionless that he might have been taken for a wax figure, if he had not himself read his speech. Prince Kita-Shira-Kava has the appearance of a young lieutenant of hussars. Most of the ministers have sharply marked features,[373] which remind one of the many furious storms they have survived, and the many personal dangers to which they have been exposed, partly in honourable conflict, partly through murderers' plots. For, unfortunately, a political murder is not yet considered in Japan an infamous crime, but the murderer openly acknowledges his deed and takes the consequences. Repeated murderous attempts have been made against the men of the new time. In order to protect themselves from these, ministers, when they go out, generally have their carriages surrounded by an armed guard on horseback.



On the 18th September several of the members of the Vega expedition were invited to a dejeuner a la fourchette by Admiral Kawamura, minister of marine. This entertainment had an interest for us because we were here for the first time received into a Japanese home. I sat at table by the side of Lady Kawamura. Even the children were present at the entertainment. Lady Kawamura was dressed in the Japanese fashion, tastefully but very plainly, if we except a heavy gold chain encircling the waist. In other respects the entertainment was arranged according to the European mode, with a succession of dishes and wines, both in abundance, according to the laws of gastronomy. When it was over our host offered us an airing in a carriage, during which I rode with the lady and one of the children, a little girl about ten years of age, who would have been very beautiful if she had not been disfigured, in the eyes of Europeans, by the thick white paint that was evenly spread over her whole face, and gave it a sickly appearance. Lady Kawamura herself was not painted, nor was she disfigured with blackened teeth. Most of the married women of Japan are accustomed after marriage to blacken their formerly dazzlingly white teeth, but it is to be hoped that this unpleasant custom will soon disappear, as the women of distinction have begun to abandon it. During this excursion we visited, among other places, the graves of the Tycoons, the imperial garden, and a very remarkable exhibition in the capital.

A number of the Tycoons, or, as they are more correctly called, Shoguns, are buried in Tokio. Their place of sepulture is one of the most remarkable memorials of Old Japan. The graves are in a temple which is divided into several courts, surrounded by walls and connected with each other by beautiful gates. The first of these courts is ornamented with more than two hundred stone lanterns, presented to the temple by the feudal princes of the country, the name of the giver and the date at which it was given being inscribed on each. Some of these peculiar memorials are only half-finished, perhaps an evidence of the sudden close of the power of the Shoguns and the feudal princes in Japan. In another of the temple courts are to be seen lanterns of bronze, partly gilt, presented by other feudal princes. A third court is occupied by a temple, a splendid memorial of the old Japanese architecture, and of the antique method of adorning their sanctuaries with wooden carvings, gilding, and varnishing. The temple abounds in old book-rolls, bells, drums, beautiful old lacquered articles, &c. The graves themselves lie within a separate enclosure.

The common Japanese gardens are not beautiful according to European taste. They are often so small that they might without inconvenience, with trees, grottos, and waterfalls, be accommodated in a small State's department in one of the crystal palaces of the international exhibitions. All, passages, rocks, trees, ponds, yea, even the fishes in the dams, are artificial or artificially changed. The trees are, by a special art which has been very highly developed in Japan, forced to assume the nature of dwarfs, and are besides so pruned that the whole plant has the appearance of a dry stem on which some green clumps have been hung up here and there. The form of the gold fish swimming in the ponds has also been changed, so that they have often two or four tail-fins each, and a number of growths not known in their natural state. On the walks thick layers of pebbles are placed to keep the feet from being dirtied, and at the doors of dwelling-houses there is nearly always a block of granite with a cauldron-like depression excavated in it, which is kept filled with clean water. Upon this stone cauldron is placed a simple but clean wooden scoop, with which one can take water out of the vessel to wash himself with.

The imperial garden in Tokio is distinguished from these miniature gardens by its greater extent, and by the trees, at least at most places, bearing fruit. There is here a veritable park, with uncommonly large, splendid, and luxuriantly-growing trees.



The public is generally excluded from the garden. At our visit we were entertained in one of the imperial summer-houses with Japanese tea, sweetmeats, and cigars.

Last of all we visited the Exhibition. It had been closed for some time back on account of cholera. We saw here a number of beautiful specimens of Japanese art, from the flint tools and pottery of the Stone Age to the silks, porcelain, and bronzes of the present. In no country is there at this day such a love for exhibitions as in Japan. There are small exhibitions in most of the large towns. Many were exceedingly instructive; in all there were to be seen beautiful lacquered wares, porcelain, swords, silk, cloths, &c. In one I saw a collection of the birds and fishes of Japan, in another I discovered some vegetable impressions, by means of which I became acquainted with the remarkable locality for fossil plants at Mogi, of which I shall give an account farther on.



On the evening of the 18th September I was invited by the Danish consul, Herr BAVIER, to a boat excursion up the river which debouches at Tokio. At its mouth it is very broad and deep, and it branches somewhat farther up into several streams which are navigable by the shallow boats of the Japanese. With the present limited development of roads and railways in Japan, this river and its tributaries form the most important channels of communication between the capital and the interior of the country. During our row we constantly met with boats laden with provisions on their way to, or with goods on their way from, the town. The pleasant impression of these and of the remarkable environs of the river is sometimes disturbed by a bad odour coming from a passing boat, and reminding us of the care with which the Japanese remove human excreta, the most important manure of their well-cultivated land. Along the banks of the river there are numerous restaurants and tea-houses. At long intervals we see a garden on the banks, which has belonged to some of the former Daimio palaces. The restaurants and tea-houses are generally intended only for the Japanese; and Europeans, although they pay many times more than the natives, are not admitted. The reason of this is to be found in our manners, which are coarse and uncultivated in the eyes of the natives. "The European walks with his dirty boots on the carpets, spits on the floor, is uncivil to the girls, &c." Thanks to the letters of introduction from natives acquainted with the restaurant-keepers, I have been admitted to their exclusive places, and it must be admitted that everything there was so clean, neat, and orderly, that even the best European restaurants cannot compare with them. When a visitor enters a Japanese restaurant which is intended exclusively for the Japanese, he must always take off his boots at the stair else he gets immediately into disfavour. He is received with bended knee by the host and all the attendants, male, but principally female, and then he is almost always surrounded by a number of young girls constantly laughing and chattering. These girls have commonly sold themselves to the restaurant-keeper for a certain time, during which they carry on a life which, according to European standards of morality, is not very commendable. When the time fixed in the agreement has passed, they return to their homes and marry, without having sunk in any way in the estimation of their relatives. But those are unfortunate who, in any of the towns that are not yet opened to foreigners, carry on a love intrigue with a European. They are then openly pointed out, even in the newspapers, as immoral, and their respectability is helplessly gone. Formerly they were even in such cases severely punished.



All women of the lower classes, and even most of the higher, wear the Japanese dress. The more distinguished ladies are often exceedingly beautiful, they have in particular beautiful necks. Unfortunately they are often disfigured by paint, for which the ladies here appear to have a strong liking. The dress of the younger women, even among the poor, is carefully attended to; it is not showy but tasteful, and nearly the same for all classes. Their manners are very attractive and agreeable. The women of the upper classes already begin to take part in the social life of the Europeans, and all European gentlemen and ladies with whom I have conversed on this point agree in stating that there is no difficulty in the way of a Japanese woman leaving the narrow circle to which she was formerly confined, and entering with pleasure and womanly dignity into European society. She appears to be born "a lady."

On the 20th and 21st September the Governor of Yokohama had arranged an excursion for me, Dr. Stuxberg, and Lieut. Nordquist, to the sacred island or peninsula Enoshima, situated at a short distance from the town. We first travelled some English miles along the excellent road Tokaido, one of the few highways in Japan passable in carriages. Then we travelled in jinrikishas to the famous image of Buddha (Daibutsu) at Kamakura[374], and visited the Shinto chief priest living in the neighbourhood and his temple.

The priest was fond of antiquities, and had a collection, not very large indeed, but composed almost entirely of rarities. Among other things he showed us sabres of great value, a head ornament consisting of a single piece of nephrite which he valued at 500 yen,[373] a number of old bronzes, mirrors, &c. We were received as usual with Japanese tea and sweetmeats. The priest himself took us round his temple. No images were to be seen here, but the walls were richly carved and ornamented with a number of drawings and gildings. The innermost wall of the temple was fenced by heavy doors provided with secure locks and bolts, within which "the divine spirit dwelt," or within which "there was nothing else," as the priest phrased it on another occasion.

Enoshima is a little rocky peninsula, which is connected with the mainland by a low, sandy neck of land. Occasionally this neck of land has been broken through or overflowed, and the peninsula has then been converted into an island. It is considered sacred, and is studded with Shinto temples. On the side of the peninsula next the mainland there is a little village, consisting of inns, tea-houses, and shops for pilgrims' and tourists' articles, among which are beautiful shells, and the fine siliceous skeleton of a sponge, Hyalonema mirabilis, Gray. Here I lived for the first time in a Japanese inn of the sort to which Europeans in ordinary circumstances are not admitted. I was accompanied by two officials from the governor's court at Yokohama, and it was on their assurance that I did not belong to the common sort of uncultivated and arrogant foreigners that the host made no difficulty in receiving us.

After we had at our entrance saluted the people of the inn and passed some time in the exchange of civilities, there came a girl, and, in a kneeling posture, offered the foreigners Japanese tea, which is always handed round in very small cups only half full. Then we took off our shoes and went into the guest-chamber. Such chambers in the Japanese inns are commonly large and dazzlingly clean. Furniture is completely wanting but the floor is covered with mats of plaited straw. The walls are ornamented with songs suitable for the place, or mottoes, and with Japanese paintings. The rooms are separated from each other by thin movable panels, which slide in grooves, which can be removed or replaced at will. One may, therefore, as once happened to me, lay himself down to sleep in a very large room, and, if he sleeps sound, awake in the morning in a very small one. The room generally looks out on a Japanese garden-inclosure, or if it is in the upper story, on a small balcony. Immediately outside there is always a vessel filled with water and a scoop. Generally on one side of the room there is a wall-press, in which the bed-clothes are kept. Those, the only household articles in the room, consist of a thick mat, which is spread on the floor, a round cushion for the head, or instead of it a wooden support, stuffed on the upper side, for the neck during sleep, and a thick stuffed night-shirt which serves at covering.



As soon as one comes in the female attendants distribute four-cornered cushions for sitting on, which are placed on the floor round a wooden box, on one corner of which stands a little brazier, on the other a high clay vessel of uniform breadth, with water in the bottom, which serves as a spittoon and tobacco-ash cup. At the same time tea is brought in anew, in the small cups previously described, with saucers, not of porcelain, but of metal. Pipes are lighted, and a lively conversation commences. Along with the tea sweetmeats are brought in, of which, however, some cannot be relished by Europeans. The brazier forms the most important household article of the Japanese. Braziers are very variable in size and shape, but are often made in an exceedingly beautiful and tasteful way, of cast-iron or bronze, with gilding and raised figures. Often enough, however, they consist only of a clay crock. The Japanese are very skilful in keeping up fire in them without the least trace of fumes being perceptible in the room. The fuel consists of some well-burned pieces of charcoal, which lie imbedded in white straw-ashes, with which the fire-pan is nearly filled to the brim. When some glowing coals are laid in such ashes they retain their heat for hours, until they are completely consumed. In every well-furnished house there are a number of braziers of different sizes, and there are often four-cornered hatches in the floor, which conceal a stone foundation intended as a base for the large brazier, over which the food is cooked.

At meal-times all the dishes are brought in at the same time on small lacquered tables, about half a foot high, and with a surface of four square feet. The dishes are placed in lacquered cups, less frequently in porcelain cups, and carried to the mouth with chop-sticks, without the help of knife, fork, or spoon. For fear of the fish-oils, which are used instead of butter, I never dared to test completely the productions of the Japanese art of cookery; but Dr. Almquist and Lieut. Nordquist, who were more unprejudiced, said they could put up with them very well. The following menu gives an idea of what a Japanese inn of the better class has to offer:—

Vegetable soup. Boiled rice, sometimes with minced fowl. Boiled fish or raw fish with horse-radish. Vegetables with fish-sauce. Tea.

Soy is used to the fish. The rice is brought in hot in a wooden vessel with a lid, and is distributed in abundance, but the other dishes in extremely small portions. After meals, especially in the evening, the Japanese often drink warm saki, or rice-brandy, out of peculiar porcelain bottles and small cups set apart for that purpose alone.

During the meal one is commonly surrounded by a numerous personnel of female attendants, squatted down on the floor, who keep up with the guest, if he understands their language, a lively conversation, interrupted by salvoes of hearty laughter. The girls remain while the man undresses in the evening, and permit themselves to make remarks on the difference of the physique, of the Europeans and Japanese, which are not only, in our way of thinking, unsuitable for young girls, but even impertinent towards the guest. The male attendants are seldom seen, at least in the inner apartments. In the morning one washes himself in the yard or on the balcony, and if he wishes to avoid getting into disfavour, the guest will be careful not to spill anything or spit on the mat.

The Japanese tobacco-pipe now in use resembles that of the Chukches, is very small, and is smoked out in a couple of whiffs. A Japanese smokes without stopping a score of pipes in succession. Tobacco-smoking is now very general among high and low of both sexes. It was introduced at the close of the sixteenth century, it is uncertain whether from Corea or from the Portuguese possessions in Asia, and spread with great rapidity. As among us, it here too at first gave occasion to stringent prohibitions, and a lively exchange of writings for and against. In a work by the learned Japanologist, Mr. E.M. SATOW ("The Introduction of Tobacco into Japan," Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol vi. part i. p. 68), the following statements among others are made on this subject:—

"In 1609 there were in the capital two clubs whose main delight was to contrive quarrels with peaceful citizens. Upwards of fifty of the members of these clubs were suddenly arrested and thrown into prison; but justice was satisfied when four or five of the leaders were executed, the rest were pardoned. As these societies were originally smoking clubs, the tobacco-plant came by the bad behaviour of their members into disrepute, and its use was prohibited. At that time tobacco was smoked in long pipes, which were stuck in the belt like a sword, or carried after the smoker by an attendant. In 1612 a proclamation was published in which tobacco-smoking and all trade in tobacco were prohibited, under penalty of forfeiture of estate. The prohibition was repeated several times, with as little success as in Europe."



Mr. Satow further gives the following peculiar extracts from a Japanese work, which enumerates the advantages and disadvantages that are connected with tobacco-smoking:—

"A—ADVANTAGES.

"1. It dispels the vapours and increases the energies."

"2. It is good to produce at the beginning of a feast."

"3. It is a companion in solitude."

"4. It affords an excuse for resting now and then from work, as if in order to take breath."

"5. It is a storehouse of reflection, and gives time for the fumes of wrath to dispense."

"B—DISADVANTAGES

"1. There is a natural tendency to hit people over the head with one's pipe in a fit of anger."[376]

"2. The pipe comes sometimes to be used for arranging the burning charcoal in the brazier."

"3. An inveterate smoker has been known to walk about among the dishes with his pipe in his mouth."

"4. People knock the ashes out of their pipes while still alight and forget to extinguish the fire."

"5. Hence clothing and mats are frequently scorched by burning tobacco ash."

"6. Smokers spit indiscriminately in braziers, foot-warmers, and kitchen fires."

"7. Also in the crevices between the floor-mats."

"8. They rap the pipe violently on the edge of the brazier."

"9. They forget to have the ash-pot emptied till it is full to overflowing."

"10. They use the ash-pot as nose-paper (i.e. they blow their nose into the ash-pot)".

As during our stay at Enoshima as the governor's guests we were constantly attended by two officials from his court, I considered it my duty to show myself worthy of the honour by a liberal distribution of drink-money. This is not given to the attendants, but is handed, wrapped up in paper, and accompanied by some choice courteous expressions, to the host himself. He on his part makes a polite speech with apologies that all had not been so well arranged as his honoured guest had a right to expect. He accompanies the traveller on his departure a shorter or longer distance in proportion to the amount of drink-money and the way in which his guest has behaved.



It is a specially praiseworthy custom among the Japanese to allow the trees in the neighbourhood of the temples to stand untouched. Nearly every temple, even the most inconsiderable, is therefore surrounded by a little grove, formed of the most splendid pines, particularly Cryptomeria and Ginko, which often wholly conceal the small, decayed, and ill-kept wooden hut which is dedicated to some of the deities of Buddha or Shinto.

On the 23rd September the Europeans and Japanese of Yokohama gave a dinner and ball for us in the hall of the English club. It was beautifully lighted and decorated. Among other things there were to be seen on a wall portraits of Berzelius and Thunberg, surrounded by garlands of greenery. The latter has a high reputation in Japan. His work on the flora of the country has lately been published in a Japanese edition with a wood-cut portrait, by no means bad, of the famous Swedish naturalist,[377] engraved in Japan; and a monument to his and Kaempfer's memory is to be found at Nagasaki, erected there at the instance of von Siebold.[378] The chairman of the feast was Dr. GEERTZ, a Dutchman, who had lived a long time in the country and published several valuable works on its natural productions.



On the 26th September I started for Tokio, in order thence to undertake a journey proposed and arranged by the Danish consul, Herr Bavier, to Asamayama, a yet active volcano in the interior of the country. In consequence of an unexpected death among the European consuls at Yokohama, Herr Bavier, however, could not join us until the day after that which had been fixed for our departure. The 27th accordingly was passed in Tokio among other things, in seeing the beautiful collections of antiquities made by the attache of the Austrian legation, Herr H. VON SIEBOLD, son of the famous naturalist of the same name. Japan has also, like most other lands, had its Stone Age, from which remains are found at several places in the country, both on Yezo and on the more southerly islands. Implements from this period are now collected assiduously both by natives and Europeans, and have been described by H. von Siebold in a work accompanied by photographic illustrations. In general the implements of the Japanese stone folk have a resemblance to the stone tools still in use among the Eskimo, and even in this fruitful land the primitive race, as the bone remains in the kitchen-middens show, lived at first mainly by hunting and fishing.

[Footnote 372: The Dutch had permission in former times to send some vessels annually to Nagasaki. By Perry's treaty, signed on the 31st March, 1854, Shimoda and Hakodate were opened to the Americans. Finally, by new treaties with the United States and various European powers, the harbours Kanagava (Yokohama), Nagasaki, Hakodate, Niigata, Hiogo, and Osaka, were assigned for commerce with foreigners. ]

[Footnote 373: At first it strikes a European as if all the Japanese had about the same appearance, but when one has got accustomed to the colour of the skin and the traits of the race, the features of the Japanese appear as various in form and expression as those of Europeans. ]

[Footnote 374: At the close of the twelfth century this now inconsiderable town was the residence of Joritomo, the founder of the Shogun power, and the arranger of the Japanese feudal system. ]

[Footnote 375: Five yen are about equal to 1 pound sterling. ]

[Footnote 376: The Japanese pipes are now so small that no serious results from this disadvantage are to be dreaded. In former times the pipes used were long and probably heavy. The Dyaks of Borneo still use pipes so heavy that they may be used as weapons. ]

[Footnote 377: The work bears the title Tai-sei-hon-zo-mei-so (short list of European plant-names), by Ito-Keske, 1829, 3 vols. ]

[Footnote 378: Carl Peter Thunberg, born at Joenkoeping in 1743, famed for his travels in South Africa, Japan, &c., and for a number of important scientific works, finally Professor at Upsala, died in 1828. Engelbert Kaempfer, born in Westphalia in 1651, was secretary of the embassy that started from Sweden to Persia in 1683. Kaempfer, however, did not return with the embassy, but continued his travels in the southern and eastern parts of Asia, among them, even to Japan, which he visited in 1690-92, he died in 1716. Kaempfer's and Thunberg's works, together with the great work of von Siebold, who erected the monument to them, form the most important sources of the knowledge of the Japan that once was. ]



CHAPTER XVII.

Excursion to Asamayama—The Nakasendo road—Takasaki— Difficulty of obtaining quarters for the night—The Baths at Ikaho—Massage in Japan—Swedish matches—Travelling in Kago—Savavatari—Criminals—Kusatsu—The Hot Springs and their healing power—Rest at Rokuriga-hara—The summit of Asamayama—The descent—Journey over Usui-toge— Japanese actors—Pictures of Japanese folk-life— Return to Yokohama.

On the 28th September, early in the morning, accompanied by Lieut. Hovgaard, Herr Bavier, an interpreter, and a Japanese cook skilled in European cookery, I started on a journey to Asamayama. At first we travelled in two very rattling and inconvenient carriages, drawn each by a pair of horses, to the town Takasaki, situated on the great road "Nakasendo," which passes through the interior of the country and connects Tokio and Kioto. This road is considered something grand by the Japanese. In Sweden it would be called an indifferently kept district road. On this road jinrikishas are met in thousands, and a great many horses, oxen, and men, bearing heavy burdens, but with the exception of the posting carriages, by which, for some years back, a regular communication between Tokio and Takasaki has been kept up, not a single wheeled vehicle drawn by horses or oxen, and though the road passes through an unbroken series of populous villages, surrounded by well cultivated rice fields and small gardens, there is not a single workhorse or work-ox to be seen. For all the ground in Japan is cultivated by the hand, and there are few cattle.

Most of the roads in the country consist of foot-paths, so narrow that two laden horses can pass each other only with difficulty. Goods are therefore carried, where there is no canal or river, for the most part by men. The plains are extraordinarily well cultivated, and we must specially admire the industry with which water-courses have been cut and the uneven slopes changed into level terraces.

The post-horses on Nakasendo were so poor and wretched that in Sweden one would have been liable to punishment for cruelty to animals for using them. They went, however, at a pretty good speed. There were places for changing horses at regular distances of fifteen to twenty kilometres. The driver besides halted often on the way at some dwelling-house to take a couple of scoopfuls of water out of the water-vessel standing before it and throw them into the horses' mouths and between their hind-legs. The opportunity was always taken advantage of by the girls of the house to come out and offer the travellers a small cup of Japanese tea, an act of courtesy that was repaid with some friendly words and a copper coin.

When we visited any of the peasants' gardens by the wayside we were always received with extreme friendliness, either on a special dais in the common room looking to the road, or in an inner room whose floor was covered with a mat of dazzling whiteness, and on whose walls hung pictures, with songs and mottoes. The brazier was brought forward, tea and sweetmeats were handed round, all with lively conversation and frequent bows. The difference between the palace of the rich (if we may distinguish with the name any building in Japan) and the dwelling of the less well-to-do is much smaller here than in Europe. We did not see any beggars in our journey into the interior of the country.[379] Nor did the distraction of class appear to be so sharp as might be expected in a land where the evils of rank had been so great as in Old Japan. We several times saw in the inns by the roadside, people of condition who were travelling in jinrikishas eat their rice and drink their saki together with the coolies who were drawing their vehicles.

To judge by the crowds of children who swarmed everywhere along the roads the people must be very prolific. A girl of eight or ten years of age was seldom to be seen without another young one bound on her back. This burden did not appear to trouble the sister or attendant very much. Without giving herself any concern about the child or thinking of its existence, she took part actively in games, ran errands, &c.

Even in the interior of the country foreigners are received with great friendliness. The lower classes in Japan have also reason for this, for whatever influence the latest political changes may have had on the old kuge, daimio, and samurai families of Japan, the position of the cultivator of the soil is now much more secure than before, when he was harmed by hundreds of small tyrants. His dress is the same as before, with the exception, however, that a great proportion of the male population, even far into the interior, have laid aside the old troublesome way of collecting the hair in a knot over a close shaven spot on the crown of the head. Instead, they wear their thick raven-black hair cut short in the European style. How distinctive of the new period this change is may be seen from the eagerness with which the Japanese authorities questioned GOLOVIN about the religious and political revolutions which they assumed to have been connected with the change in the European mode of wearing the hair during the commencement of the nineteenth century, for the Russian ambassador LAXMAN, who was highly esteemed by the Japanese, had worn a pig-tail and powdered hair, while Golovin and his companions had their hair unpowdered and cut short.[380] When it is warm the workmen wear only a small, generally light-blue, girdle round the waist and between the legs. Otherwise they are naked. They are thus seen to be in many cases strongly tattooed over the greater part of the body. I have not seen the women working naked. They perhaps do so at the warmest season of the year. At least they do not refrain from undressing completely while bathing right in the midst of a crowd of men known and unknown, a state of things which at first, in consequence of the power of prejudice, shocks the European, but to which even the former prude gets accustomed sooner than one would suppose. We even frequently see European ladies drawn in a jinrikisha by a youth completely naked with the exception of the blue girdle. Many, especially of the younger men, have besides so well-formed a body, that the sculptor who could accurately reproduce it in marble would at once attain a reputation co-extensive with the globe.

Takasaki is the residence of a governor, with a population of about 20,000; but, like most of the towns of Japan, it differs little from many of the villages we passed through. We arrived late in the evening, and there had our first and last experience of an inconvenience of which Europeans often complain in travelling in Japan, and to which they have themselves given occasion by the offensive way in which they not unfrequently behave. We knocked at the door of one inn after another without being received. At one place "the house was full," at another "the rooms were under repair," at a third "the inn people were out," &c. At last we had to apply to the police. When we had shown them our passport, we succeeded with their help in getting a night's lodging with an elderly host, who received us with a countenance which clearly indicated that he would rather have hewn us in pieces with one of the two swords he had formerly as samurai been entitled to wear, than received us under his roof. After our entrance he still turned to the police official with the cry of lamentation: "Must I then actually receive these barbarians?" But we had our revenge in a noble way. We took off our boots before we entered the room, were so profuse with talk, civilities, and bows, and on the whole behaved in such a courteous fashion, that our previously distracted host not only bade us welcome back, but also gave us a letter of introduction to the innkeepers at an inn where we were to stay next, declaring that if we showed this letter we need not fear any such disagreeable adventure as that just described.

Most of the houses in the Japanese towns are built of pretty thin, carefully joined timbers. But besides these there are to be seen here and there small houses with very thick walls, windows provided with heavy iron gratings, and doors that could be fastened with large locks and bolts. These houses are fire-resisting, and are used as storehouses for valuables and household articles when there is danger of fire. Fires are so common in Japan that it is supposed that a tenth part of every town is burned down yearly. The fireman corps is numerous, well ordered from old times, its members bold and daring. During our stay overnight at Takasaki we were lodged in such a fireproof house, in very large clean apartments with the floor partly covered with carpets after the European pattern. The walls were very thick and of brick, the interior fittings and stairs on the other hand of wood.

I have just mentioned that we were compelled to resort to the police in order to obtain quarters for the night. Policemen are numerous in Japan, both in town and country. For the most part they are taken from the former samurai class. They are clothed in the European style, and walk, with a long stick in a certain position under the arm, quietly and calmly on the streets and roads, without, except in cases of necessity, making any show of their authority. Commonly they are, or appear to be, young, and all have a gentlemanlike appearance. In a word, they appear to be equal to the best European police of the present day, and stand immeasurably above the guardian of the peace, or rather the raiser of dispeace, as he appeared some decades ago on the European continent. During the latest revolt the police were employed by the Government as infantry, and elicited general admiration by the fire, the gallantry, and the contempt of death with which they went into action with their old favourite weapon, the Japanese sword.

A passport is still required for travelling in the interior of the country, but this is easily obtained at the request of the consul if health or the wish to prosecute researches be given as the reason, it being possible perhaps to include common love of travelling under the latter head. Commercial travelling is not yet permitted in the interior, nor is the right of settling for the purpose of carrying on business granted to Europeans. The foreign ambassadors have often entered into negotiations in order to bring about a change on this point, but hitherto without success, because the Government, as a condition for the complete opening of the country, require the abrogation of the unreasonable "extraterritorial" arrangement which is in force, and by which the foreigner is not subject to the common laws and courts of Japan, but to the laws of his own country, administered by consular courts. An alteration in this point may however be brought about in a short time, as Japan will soon be sufficiently powerful to be able to abrogate all the injurious paragraphs in her treaties with the civilised countries of Europe. Now, besides, the ambassadors of the foreign powers, who in former times all acted together, have divided into two parties, of which one—Russia and America—wishes, or at least feigns to wish, gradually to free Japan from all tutelage and to place it on an equality with other civilised countries, the other again—England, Germany, Holland, and France—wishes still to retain the guardianship, which was established by violence, and confirmed by treaty several years ago.

Shortly before our arrival a quarrel took place between Japan and the European powers about, as the Japanese themselves said, a breach of international law, which caused much irritation in the country. A German vessel coming from Nagasaki, where the cholera was raging, on the advice of the German minister broke the quarantine prescribed by the Government, and without further precautions discharged her cargo in the harbour of Yokohama. That the cholera in this town was thereby made worse is indeed not only unproved but also undoubtedly incorrect, though many Japanese in their irritation positively affirmed that this was the case, but the words that were uttered by Japan's feted guest, ex-President General GRANT,[381] that the Japanese Government had the right without more ado to sink the vessel, have left a memory in the minds both of the Government and of the people, which may in the future lead them to a perhaps unwise but fully justified exertion of their strength were such a deed to be repeated.

The first impression of the Japanese, both men and women, is exceedingly pleasant, but many Europeans who have lived a considerable time in the country say that this impression is not maintained, a circumstance which in my belief depends more on the Europeans themselves than on the Japanese. For the European merchants are said not to find it so easy to cut gold here with a case-knife as before, and the ambassadors of the Great Powers find it day by day more difficult to maintain their old commanding standpoint towards a government which knows that a great future is before the country, if inconsiderate ambition or unlooked-for misfortune do not unexpectedly hinder its development. Another reproach, that the Japanese can imitate what another has done, but is unable himself to invent anything new, appears on the other hand to be justified in the meantime. But it is unreasonable to demand that a nation should not only in a few decades pass through a development for which centuries have been required in Europe, but also immediately reach the summit of the knowledge of our time so as to be at the same time creative. But it would be wonderful, if the natural science, literature, and art of the nineteenth century, transplanted among a gifted people, with a culture so peculiar and so pervasive, and with an art-sense so developed as those of Japan, did not in time produce new, splendid, and unexpected fruit. The same irresistible necessity which now drives the Japanese to learn all that the European and the American know, will, when he has reached that goal, spur him on to go further up the Nile river of research.

A short distance beyond Takasaki the road to the volcano to which we were on our way, was no longer along Nakasendo, and we could therefore no longer continue our journey in carriages drawn by horses, but were compelled to content ourselves with jinrikishas. In these, on the 29th of September, we traversed in five and a half hours the very hilly road to Ikaho, noted for its baths, situated at a height of 700 metres above the sea. The landscape here assumes a quite different stamp. The road which before ran over an unbroken plain, thickly peopled, and cultivated like a garden, now begins to pass between steep uncultivated hills, overgrown with tall, uncut, withered grass, separated by valleys in which run purling rivulets, nearly concealed by exceedingly luxuriant bushy thickets. Ikaho is celebrated for the warm, or more correctly hot, springs which well up from the volcanic hills which surround the little town, which is beautifully situated on a slope. As at the baths of Europe, invalids seek here a remedy for their ailments, and the town therefore consists almost exclusively of hotels, baths, and shops for the visitors. The baths are situated, partly in large open wooden sheds, where men and women bathe together without distinction, partly in private houses. In every bath there is a basin one metre in depth, to which a constant stream of water is conducted from some of the hot springs. The spring water has of course cooled very much before it is used, but is still so hot notwithstanding that I could only with difficulty remain in it a couple of seconds.

In the streets of the town we often met blind persons who walked about very safely without any attendant, only feeling their way with a long bamboo. They blew a short pipe now and then to warn passers-by of their presence. I thought at first that these unfortunates were trying to regain the sight of the eye at the hot springs, but on inquiring whether the water was beneficial in that respect, I was informed that they were not there as seekers after health, but as "massageurs" (shampooers). Massage has been in use in Japan for several centuries back, and therefore persons are often to be met with in the streets offering their services as massageurs, crying in the streets in about the same way as the fruit-sellers in Russia.

The inn where we lodged for the night, consisted as usual of a number of very clean rooms covered with mats, without furniture, but ornamented with songs and mottoes on the walls. One would live here exceedingly well, if like the Japanese he could manage to live wholly on the floor and conform carefully to the indispensable rules, an observance which besides is necessary, because otherwise the inmate is exposed to a very unfriendly reception not only from his host but also from the attendants. An inconvenience in travelling in Japan is the difficulty a European has in accustoming himself to the dietary of the Japanese. Bread they do not use, nor meat, but their food consists mainly of rice and fish, with fowls, fruit, mushrooms, sweetmeats, Japanese tea, &c., in addition. Fish is generally eaten raw, and in that case is said to differ little in taste from our pickled salmon. The food is not unfrequently cooked with fish oils of anything but an agreeable taste. If a traveller wishes to avoid this dietary, he must have his own cook with him on the journey. In this capacity there attended us a Japanese, whose name was Senkiti-San, but who was commonly called by his companions Kok-San (Mr. Cook). He had learned European (French) cooking at Yokohama, and during the journey devoted himself with so great zeal to his calling, that even in the deserts at the foot of Asamayama he gave himself no rest until he could offer us a dinner of five dishes, consisting of chicken soup, fowl omelette, fowl-beefsteak, fowl fricasse, and omelette aux confitures, all thus consisting only of fowls and hens' eggs, cooked in different ways.

For some years back lucifer matches have been an article of necessity in Japan, and it was pleasing to us Swedes to observe that the Swedish matches have here a distinct preference over those of other countries. In nearly every little shop, even in the interior of the country, are to be seen the well-known boxes with the inscription "Saekerhets taendstickor utan svafvel och fosfor." But if we examine the boxes more carefully, we find upon many of them, along with the magic sentence unintelligible to the Japanese, an inscription indicating that they have been made by some Japanese manufacturer. On other boxes this is completely wanting, but the falsification is shown by an unfortunate error in the inscription. It thus appears that the Swedish matches are not only introduced into Japan on a large scale, but are also counterfeited, being made with the Swedish inscription on the box and with a cover resembling that used at home. The imitation, however, is not nearly so good as the original, and my Japanese servant bade me therefore, when I purchased a box of matches, observe carefully that I got one of the right (Swedish) sort.

Photography also has spread so rapidly in the country that at many places in small towns and villages in the interior Japanese photographers are to be met with who put out of their hands by no means bad work. The Japanese appear to have a great liking for having their by no means remarkable dwellings photographed. On several occasions, when we left a place we received from our host as a parting gift a photograph of his house or inn. Perhaps this was done with the same view as that which induces his European brother-in-trade to advertise at great expense.



Between Ikaho and Savavatari, our next resting-place, the road was so bad that the jinrikisha could no longer be used, we accordingly had to use the kago, a Japanese sedan-chair made of bamboo, of the appearance of which the accompanying wood-cut gives an idea. It is exceedingly inconvenient for Europeans, because they cannot like the Japanese sit with their legs crosswise under them, and in course of time it becomes tiresome to let them dangle without other support by the side of the kago. Even for the bearers this sedan chair strikes me as being of inconvenient construction, which is shown among other things by their halting an instant every two hundred, or in going up a hill, every hundred paces, in order to shift the shoulder under the bamboo pole. We went up-hill and down-hill with considerable speed however, so that we traversed the road between Ikaho and Savavatari, 6 ri or 23.6 kilometres in length, in ten hours. The road, which was exceedingly beautiful, ran along flowery banks of rivulets, overgrown with luxuriant bamboo thickets, and many different kinds of broad-leaved trees. Only round the old temples, mostly small and inconsiderable, were to be seen ancient tall Cryptomeria and Ginko trees. The burying places were commonly situated, not as at home, in the neighbourhood of the larger temples, but near the villages. They were not inclosed, but marked out by stone monuments from a third of a metre to half a metre in height, on one side of which an image of Buddha was sometimes sculptured. The recent graves were often adorned with flowers, and at some of them small foot-high Shinto shrines had been made of wooden pins.

Savavatari, like Ikaho, is built on the slope of a hill. The streets between the houses are almost all stairs or steep ascents. Here too there well up from the volcanic rocks acidulous springs, at which invalids seek to regain health. The watering-place, however, is of less repute than Ikaho or Kusatsu.

While we walked about the village in the evening we saw at one place a crowd of people. This was occasioned by a competition going on there. Two young men, who wore no other clothes than a narrow girdle going round the waist and between the legs, wrestled within a circle two or three metres across drawn on a sandy area. He was considered the victor who threw the other to the ground or forced him beyond the circle. A special judge decided in doubtful cases. The beginning of the contest was most peculiar, the combatants kneeling in the middle of the circle and sharply eying each other in order to make the attack at a signal given by the judge, when a single push might at once make an end of the contest. In this competition there took part about a dozen young men, all well grown, who in their turn stepped with some encouraging cries or gestures into the circle in order to test their powers. The spectators consisted of old men and women, and boys and girls of all ages. Most of them were clean and well-dressed, and had a very attractive appearance.



Here it was the youth of the village themselves that took part in the contest. But there are also in Japan persons who carry on these games as their occupation, and exhibit themselves for money. They are in general very fat, as appears from the accompanying drawing, which represents the beginning of the contest, when both the combatants are still watching to get a good hold.



Next day, the 1st October, we continued our journey to Kusatsu. The road was uphill for a distance of 550 metres, downhill for nearly as far, then up again, and ran often without any protecting fence past deep abysses, or over high bridges of the most dangerous construction. It was, therefore, impossible for any wheeled vehicle to traverse it, so that we had to use in some cases kagos, in others riding-horses. Unfortunately the Japanese high saddle does not suit the European, and if the traveller prefers a riding-horse to a kago, he must, if he does not carry a saddle with him, determine to ride on an unsaddled horse, which, with the wretched steeds that are only available here, soon becomes so unpleasant that he at last prefers to let his legs hang benumbed from the kago. A peculiarity in Japan is that the rider seldom himself guides his horse. It is commonly led by a halter by a groom running alongside the rider. These grooms are very light-footed and enduring, so that even at a rapid pace they are not left behind. Running footmen also attend the carriages of people of distinction in the towns and the mail-coaches on Nakasendo. When there is a crowd before the carriage they jump down and drive away the people by a dreadful shouting. From the mail-coach they also blow the post-horn, not just to the advantage of the ear-drums of the travellers.



The scenery by the roadside was exceedingly beautiful. Now it consisted of wild valleys, filled with luxuriant vegetation which completely concealed the crystal-clear streams purling in the bottoms; now of level grassy plains or hill-slopes, thickly studded with solitary trees, chiefly chestnuts and oaks. The inhabitants were fully occupied with the chestnut harvest. Before every hut mats were spread out, on which chestnuts lay drying in thick layers. Grain and cotton were being dried in the same small way, as it appeared to us Europeans. On the plains there stood besides in the neighbourhood of the cabins large mortars, by which the grain was reduced to groats. On the hills these tramp-stamps are partly replaced by small mills of an exceedingly simple construction, introduced by the Dutch.

We passed the 2nd October at Kusatsu, the Aix-la-Chapelle of Japan, famed like that place for its hot sulphurous springs. Innumerable invalids here seek an alleviation of their pains. The town lives upon them, and accordingly consists mainly of baths, inns, and shops for the visitors.

The inns are of the sort common in Japan, spacious, airy clean, without furniture, but with good braziers, miniature tea-services, clean matting, screens ornamented with poetical mottoes, which even when translated were almost unintelligible to us, friendly hosts, and numerous female attendants. If the traveller brings his own cook with him, as we did, he can live very comfortably, as I have before stated, at such an inn.



The hot springs which have conferred on Kusatsu its importance rise at the foot of a pretty high hill of volcanic origin. The rocks in the surrounding country consist exclusively of lava and volcanic tuffs, and a short distance from the town there is an extinct volcano in whose crater there are layers of sulphur.[382] In the immediate neighbourhood of the place where the main spring rises there is a thick solidified lava stream, surrounded by tuffs, which near the surface is cleft into a number of large vesicular blocks. From this point the hot water is conducted in long open wooden channels to the bath-house of the town, and to several evaporating pools, some by the wayside, others in the town, intended for collecting the solid constituents of the water, which are then sold in the country as medicine. The great evaporation from these pools, from the open channels and the hot baths, wraps the town almost constantly in a cloud of watery vapour, while a very strong odour of sulphuretted hydrogen reminds us that this is one of the constituents of the healing waters.

The road between the wells and the town appears to form the principal promenade of the place. Along this are to be seen innumerable small monuments, from a half to a whole metre in height, consisting of pieces of lava heaped upon each other. These miniature memorials form by their littleness a peculiar contrast to the bauta stones and jettekast of our Swedish forefathers, and are one of the many instances of the people's fondness for the little and the neat, which are often to be met in Japan. They are said to be erected by visitors as thank-offerings to some of the deities of Buddha or Shinto.

I received from a Japanese physician the following information regarding the wells at Kusatsu and their healing power. In and near the town there are twenty-two wells, with water of about the same quality, but of different uses in the healing of various diseases. In the hottest well the water where it rises has a temperature of 162 deg. F (= 72.2 deg. C.). The largest number of the sick who seek health at the baths, suffer from syphilis. This disease is now cured according to the European method, with mercury, iodide of potassium, and baths. The cure requires a hundred days, from seventy to eighty per cent. of the patients are cured completely, though purple spots remain on the skin. The disease does not break out anew. A large number of leprous patients also visit the baths. The leprosy is of various kinds; that with sores is alleviated by the baths, and is cured possibly in two years; that without sores but with the skin insensible is incurable, but is also checked by frequent bathing. All true lepers come from the coast provinces. A similar disease is produced also among the hills by the eating of tainted fish and fowl. This disease consists in the skin becoming insensible, the nerves inactive, and the patient, who otherwise feels well, finding it impossible to walk. It is also cured completely in very severe cases, by baths, ammonia applied inwardly, castor-oil, Peruvian bark, &c. A third type of this ailment is the bone-disease, kak'ke', which is exceedingly common in Japan, and is believed to be caused by unvarying food and want of exercise. It is very obstinate, but is often cured in two or three years with chloride of iron, albumen, change of diet from the common Japanese to the European, with red wine, milk, bread, vegetables, &c. This disease begins with a swelling in the legs, then the skin becomes insensible, first on the legs, next on the stomach, the face, and the wrists. Then the swelling falls, fever comes on, and death takes place. There are besides, certain wells for curing rheumatism, for which from two to three years are required; for eye-diseases and for headache, the latter playing an important part among the illnesses that are cured at Kusatsu. It principally attacks women between twenty and thirty years of age. One of the Kusatsu wells acts very beneficially in this case. Its water is conducted to a special bathing-shed open to the street, intended exclusively for the men and women who suffer from this disease.

Many of the baths at Kusatsu are taken so hot that special precautions must be adopted before one steps down into the water. These consist in winding cotton cloths round those parts of the body which are most sensitive, and in causing the body to perspire strongly before the bath is taken, which is done by the bathers with cries and shouts and with certain movements stirring the water in the basin with large heavy boards. They then all step down into the bath and up again simultaneously at a sign given by the physician sitting at the back of the bathing shed. Without this arrangement it would perhaps be difficult to get the patients to go into the bath, for agreeable it could not be, to judge from the grave faces of the bathers and the fire-red colour of their bodies when they come out.

The baths are under open sheds. Men and women all bathe in common, and in presence of both male and female spectators. They make their remarks without reserve on the diseases of the patients, even if they are of that sort about which one would not speak willingly even to his physician. Often the bath-basin is not fenced off in any way, except that it is protected from rain and sunshine by a roof resting on four posts. In such cases the bathers dress and undress in the street.



In consequence of the situation of Kusatsu at a height of 1050 metres above the sea, the winter there is very cold and windy. The town is then abandoned not only by the visitors to the baths, but also by most of the other inhabitants. Already, at the time of our visit, the number of bathers remaining was only inconsiderable. Even these were preparing to depart. During the second night that we passed at Kusatsu, our night's rest was disturbed by a loud noise from the next room. It was a visitor who was to leave the place the following morning, and who now celebrated his recovery with saki (rice-brandy) and string music.

The environs of Kusatsu are nearly uncultivated, though the vegetation is exceedingly luxuriant. It consists partly of bamboo thickets, partly of a high rich grass, above which rise solitary pines, mixed with a few oaks or chestnuts.

On the 3rd October we continued our journey to the foot of Asamayama. The road was very bad, so that even the kago bearers had difficulty in getting along. It first ran across two valleys more than 300 feet deep, occupied with close, luxuriant, bushy thickets. We then came to an elevated plain of great extent covered with unmown grass, studded with beautiful oaks and chestnuts. The plain was not turned to any account, though thousands of the industrious population could find an abundant living there by tending cattle. Farther up the oaks and chestnuts were mixed with a few birches, resembling those at home, and we came next to complete deserts, where the ground consisted of lava blocks and lava gravel, scarcely covered by any grass, and yielding nourishment only to solitary pines. This continued to the place—Rokuriga-hara—where we were to pass the night, and from which the next day we were to ascend the summit of Asamayama.

Rokuriga-hara is situated at a height of 1270 metres above the sea. There was no inn here, nor any place inhabited all the year round, but only a large open shed. This was divided into two by a passage in the middle. We settled on one side of this, making our bed as well as we could on the raised floor, and protecting ourselves from the night air with coverings which our thoughtful host at Kusatsu had lent us. On the other side of the passage our kago bearers and guide passed the night crowding round a log fire made on a stone foundation in the middle of the floor. The kago bearers were protected from the very perceptible night cold only by thin cotton blouses. In order to warm them I ordered an abundant distribution of saki, a piece of generosity that did not cost very much, but which clearly won me the undivided admiration of all the coolies. They passed the greater part of the night without sleep, with song and jest, with their saki bottles and tobacco pipes. We slept well and warmly after partaking of an abundant supper of fowl and eggs, cooked in different ways by Kok-San with his usual talent and his usual variety of dishes.

We had been informed that at this place we would hear a constant noise from the neighbouring volcano, and that hurtful gases (probably carbonic acid) sometimes accumulated in such quantities in the neighbouring woods that men and horses would be suffocated if they spent the night there. We listened in vain for the noise, and did not observe any trace of such gases. All was as peaceful as if the glowing hearth in the interior of the earth was hundreds of miles away. But we did not require the evidence of the column of smoke which was seen to use from the mountain top, which formed the goal of our visit, or of the inhabitants who survived the latest eruption, to come to the conclusion that we were in the neighbourhood of an enormous, still active volcano. Everywhere round our resting-place lay heaps of small pieces of lava which had been thrown out of the volcano (so-called lapilli), and which had not yet had time to weather sufficiently to serve as an under-stratum for any vegetation, and a little from the hut there was a solidified lava stream of great depth.

Next day, the 4th October, we ascended the summit of the mountain. At first we travelled in kago over a valley filled with pretty close wood, then the journey was continued on foot up the steep volcanic cone, covered with small lava blocks and lapilli. The way was staked out with small heaps of stones raised at a distance of about 100 metres apart. Near the crater we found at one of these cairns a little Shinto shrine, built of sticks. Its sides were only half a metre in length. Our guide performed his devotions here. One of them had already at a stone cairn situated farther down with great seriousness made some conjurations with reference to my promise to make an extra distribution of red wine, if we got good weather at the top.

As on Vesuvius, we can also on Asamayama distinguish a large exterior crater, originating from some old eruption, but now almost completely filled up by a new volcanic cone, at whose top the present crater opens. This crater has a circumference of about two kilometres, the old crater, or what the old geologists called the elevation-crater, has been much larger. The volcano is still active. For it constantly throws out "smoke," consisting of watery vapour, sulphurous acid, and probably also carbonic acid. Occasionally a perceptible smell of sulphuretted hydrogen is observed. It is possible without difficulty to crawl to the edge of the crater and glance down into its interior. It is very deep. The walls are perpendicular, and at the bottom of the abyss there are to be seen several clefts from which vapours arise. In the same way "smoke" forces its way at some places at the edge of the crater through small imperceptible cracks in the mountain. Both on the border of the crater, on its sides and its bottom there is to be seen a yellow efflorescence, which at the places which I got at to examine it consisted of sulphur. The edge of the crater is solid rock, a little-weathered augiteandesite differing very much in its nature at different places. The same or similar rocks also project at several places at the old border of the crater, but the whole surface of the volcanic cone besides consists of small loose pieces of lava, without any trace of vegetation. Only at one place the brim of the old crater is covered with an open pine wood. The volcano has also small side craters, from which gases escape. The same coarse fantasy, which still prevails in the form of the hell-dogma among several of the world's most cultured peoples, has placed the home of those of the followers of Buddha who are doomed to eternal punishment in the glowing hearths in the interior of the mountain, to which these crater-openings lead; and that the heresies of the well-meaning Bishop Lindblom have not become generally prevalent in Japan is shown among other things by this, that many of these openings are said to be entrances to the "children's hell." Neither at the main crater nor at any of the side craters can any true lava streams be seen. Evidently the only things thrown out from them have been gases, volcanic ashes, and lapilli. On the other hand, extensive eruptions of lava have taken place at several points on the side of the mountain, though these places are now covered with volcanic ashes.

After having eaten our breakfast in a cleft so close to the smoking crater that the empty bottles could be thrown directly into the bottomless deeps, we commenced our return journey. At first we took the same way as during the ascent, but afterwards held off to the right, down a much steeper and more difficult path than we had traversed before. The mountain side had here a slope of nearly forty-five degrees, and consisted of a quite loose volcanic sand, not bound together by any vegetable carpet. It would therefore have been scarcely possible to ascend to the summit of the mountain this way, but we went rapidly downwards, often at a dizzy speed, but without other inconvenience than that one now and then fell flat and rolled head-foremost down the steep slopes, and that our shoes were completely torn to tatters by the angular lava gravel. Above the mountaintop the sky was clear of clouds, but between it and the surface of the earth there spread out a thick layer of cloud which seen from above resembled a boundless storm-tossed sea, full of foaming breakers. The extensive view we would otherwise have had of the neighbouring mountain ridges from the top of Asamayama was thus concealed. Only here and there an opening was formed in the cloud, resembling a sun-spot, through which we got a glimpse of the underlying landscape. When we came to the foot of the mountain we long followed a ridge, covered with greenery, formed of an immense stream of lava, which had issued from an opening in the mountain side now refilled. This had probably taken place during the tremendous eruption of 1783, when not only enormous lava-streams destroyed forests and villages at the foot of the mountain, but the whole of the neighbouring region between Oiwake and Usui-toge, previously fertile, was changed by an ash-rain into an extensive waste. Across this large plain, infertile and little cultivated, situated at a height of 980 metres above the sea, we went without a guide to the village Oiwake, where we lodged for the night at an inn by the side of the road Nakasendo, one of the cleanest and best kept of the many well-kept inns I saw during our journey in the interior of the country.

Hence I sent a messenger on foot to Takasaki to order a carriage to Tokio. A former samurai undertook for a payment of three yen, (about 12s) to carry the message. Oiwake is indeed situated on the great road Nakasendo, but it can here only with difficulty be traversed by carriages, because between this village and Takasaki it is necessary to go over the pass Usui-toge, where the road, though lowered considerably of late, rises to a height of 1200 metres. We therefore here used jinrikishas, a mode of conveyance very agreeable to tourists, which, though introduced only recently, has already spread to all parts of the country.



Every one with an open eye for the beauties of nature and interest in the life and manners of a foreign people, must find a journey in jinrikisha over Usui-toge pleasant in a high degree. The landscape here is extraordinarily beautiful, perhaps unmatched in the whole world. The road has been made here with great difficulty between wild, black, rocky masses, along deep clefts, whose sides are often covered with the most luxuriant vegetation. No fence protects the jinrikisha in its rapid progress down the mountains from the bottomless abysses by the wayside. A man must therefore not be weak in the nerves if he is to derive pleasure from the journey. He must rely on the coolie's keen eye and sure foot. On all sides one is surrounded by a confused mass of lofty shattered mountain tops, and deep down in the valleys mountain streams rush along, whose crystal-clear water is collected here and there into small lakes confined between heights covered with greenery. Now the traveller passes a dizzy abyss by a bridge of the most defective construction, now he sees a stream of water rushing down from an enormous height by the wayside. Thousands of foot-passengers, crowds of pilgrims, long rows of coolies, oxen and horses bearing heavy burdens meet the traveller, who during frequent rests at the foot of the steep slopes has an opportunity of studying the variegated life of the people. He is always surrounded by cheerful and friendly faces, and the pleasant impression is never disturbed by the expressions of coarseness in speech and behaviour which so often meet us in Europe.

It is not until the traveller has passed the mountain ridge and descended to a height of only 300 metres above the sea that the road becomes passable for a carriage. While we exchanged, not without regret, our clean, elegant jinrikishas for two inferior vehicles drawn by horses, I saw two men wandering from shop to shop, standing some moments at each place, ringing a bell and passing on when they were not attended to. On my inquiry as to what sort of people they were, I was informed that they were wandering players. For me of course they did not ring in vain. For a payment of fifty cents they were ready immediately to show in the street itself a specimen of their art. One of them put on a well-made mask, representing the head of a monster, with a movable jaw and terrible teeth. To the mask was fastened a cloak, in which the player wrapt himself during the representation. He then with great skill and supple tasteful gestures, which would have honoured a European danseuse, represented the monster now creeping forward fawningly, now rushing along to devour its prey. A numerous crowd of children collected around us. The small folks followed the representation with great glee, and gave life to the play, or rather formed its proper background, by the feigned tenor with which they fled when the monster approached with open mouth and rolling eyes, and the eagerness with which they again followed and mocked it when its back was turned.



In few countries are dramatic representations of all kinds so much thought of as in Japan. Playhouses are found even in small towns. The play is much frequented, and though the representations last the whole day, they are followed by the spectators with the liveliest interest. There are playbills as at home, and numerous writings on subjects relating to the theatre. Among the Japanese books which I bought, there was for instance a thick one, with innumerable woodcuts, devoted to showing how the first Japanese artists conceived the principal scenes in their roles, two volumes of playbills bound up together, &c.

The Japanese pieces indeed strike a European as childish and monstrous, but one must admire many praiseworthy traits in the play itself, for instance the naturalness with which the players often declaim monologues lasting for a quarter or half an hour. The extravagances which here shock us are perhaps on the whole not more absurd than the scenes of the opera of to-day, or the buskins, masks, and peculiar dresses, which the Greeks considered indispensable in the exhibition of then great dramatic masterpieces. When the Japanese have been able to appropriate what is good in European culture, the dramatic art ought to have a grand future before it among them, if the development now going on is carried out cautiously so that the peculiarities of the people are not too much effaced. For, in many departments, and not least in that of art, there is much to be found here which when properly developed will form a new and important addition to the culture of the West, of which we are so proud.

The large Japanese theatres, besides, often resemble the European ones in their interior arrangement. The partition between the stage and the space occupied by the spectators is the same as among us. Between the acts the former is concealed by a curtain. The stage is besides provided with painted scenes representing houses, woods, hills, &c., supported on wheels, so that a complete change of scene can be effected in a few moments. The music has the same place between the stage and the spectators as at home. The latter, as at home, are distributed partly in a gently rising amphitheatre, partly in several tiers of boxes rising one above another, the lowest tier being considered the principal one. The Japanese do not sit in the same way as we do. Neither the amphitheatre nor the boxes accordingly are provided with chairs or benches, but are divided into square compartments one or two feet deep, each intended for about four persons. They sit on cushions, squatting cross-legged in the common Japanese fashion. The compartments are divided by broad cross beams, which form the passages by which the spectators get to their places. During the play we saw attendants running about with tea, saki, tobacco pipes, and small braziers. For every one smokes during the acts, and places himself in his crib as comfortably as possible. The piece is followed with great attention, favourite actors and favourite passages being saluted with lively applause. Even women and children visit the theatre, and I have seen the former give their children suck without the least discomposure among thousands of spectators. Besides the plays intended for the public, there are given also a number of other dramatic representations, as society plays, peculiar family plays intended for the homes of the old feudal princes, spectacles got up for the Mikado, and some which have a half religious significance, &c.

On the evening of the 5th October we came to Takasaki, prepared to start immediately for Tokio. But though the messenger we sent had duly executed his commission, horses could not be procured before midnight. We passed the evening with our former host, who at our first visit received us so unwillingly, but now with great friendliness. We would easily have reconciled ourselves to the delay, for a Japanese small town such as Takasaki has much worth seeing to offer a European, but a great part of the time was wasted in fruitless attempts to get the horse-hirer to let us have the horses a few hours earlier. In spending time in long conversations mixed with civilities and bows the Japanese are masters. Of this bad habit, which still often makes the European desperate, it will not perhaps be long necessary to complain, for everything indicates that the Japanese too will soon be carried along at the endlessly roaring speed of the Steam Age.

When we had at last got horses we continued our journey, first in a carriage to Tokio, then by rail to Yokohama, arriving there on the afternoon of the 6th October. From this journey I shall only relate an incident which may form a little picture throwing light on life in Japan.

While we halted for a short time in the morning of the 6th October at a large inn by the roadside, we saw half a dozen young girls finishing their toilets in the inn-yard. In passing we may say, that a Japanese peasant girl, like girls in general, may be pretty or the reverse, but that she generally is, what cannot always be said of the peasant girls at home, cleanly and of attractive manners. They washed themselves at the stream of water in the inn-yard, smoothed their artistically dressed hair, which, however, had been but little disturbed by the cushions on which they had slept, and brushed their dazzlingly white teeth. Soap is not used for washing, but a cotton bag filled with bran. The teeth were brushed with a wooden pin, one end of which was changed by beating into a brush-like collection of wooden cords. The tooth-powder consisted of finely powdered shells and corals, and was kept in small, neat wooden boxes, which, along with tooth-brushes and small square bundles of a very strong and cheap paper, all clearly intended for the use of the peasants, were sold for a trifle in most of the innumerable shops along the road. For such stupid regulations as in former times in Europe rendered traffic in the country difficult, and often obliged the countryman to betake himself to the nearest town to buy some horse-shoes or a roll of wire, appear not to be found in Japan, on which account most of the peasants living on a country road seek a subsidiary way of making a living by trafficking in small articles in request among the country people.