Vol. IV.

Outing.

AUGUST, 1884. No. 5.

There is noc i t y i n t h ew o r l d t h a toffers greaterfaci l i t ies to’cyclists thanTokio. Bar-ring the botherof the manybridges , a l-most always

approached by a slight incline, there is notthe least difficulty in navigating either bi-cycle or tricycle along its streets. The streetsare hard, level, piked roads, the bed beingmade of good-sized gravel-stones, wellrolled down. It is a city of magnificentdistances. The government offices spreadover a large district right in the heart ofthe city, where used to be the quartersof the Tycoon and his retainers, andthese buildings serve to separate the differ-ent quarters of the city. In and out, allthrough the capital, winds the serpentinecanal, with its head in the heart of the of-ficial section of the city and its tail touchingthe Sumida river. There are but fewhorses; consequently the roads are littleworn. There are no sidewalks; but pe-destrians are always on the lookout for the“Hai! Hai!” of the jinrikisha puller,and the ’cyclist runs little chance of top-pling any one over. There are somesplendid hills for coasting, particularly inand about the public park of Uyéno. One

the paradise of ’cyclists. There is onlyone obstacle in the way. This will involvejust a little explanation. Until within afew years the only conveyances were in theshape of palankeens, norimons, kagos, andthe like, where you sat all doubled up,with your feet curled under you until theywere so numb and stiff that you felt likethe god Daruma,—the saint who prayedso long and so frequently that he wore hislegs clean off. A Yankee, seeing theneed, fashioned a sort of big baby-coach,with shafts in front, and hired a man topull him. (The palankeen had been“toted” about, suspended from men’sshoulders.) The Japs took hold of theidea at once, and improved upon it, andsoon jinrikishas sprang up like mush-rooms, particularly about Tokio and Yo-kohama. The idea has been taken overinto China from Japan, and has even goneas far as the land of the Laos, in northernSiam. The jinrikisha (literally, man-pulling carriage) weighs about as muchas an ordinary tricycle, possibly a fewpounds more. The seat is so placed thatthe centre of gravity, when the vehiclehas an occupant, is back of the axle; whenthe carriage gets a good start the pullerhas little else to do than to keep trottingahead of it. The jinriki—as we call itin Japan, for short—is first in the field;it is so easy to get and so cheap to buy orhire, that either bicycles or tricycles havelittle show, on economical considerations.

would not be far out of the way to call it You can purchase a first-rate jinriki,

324TRICYCLING TRIPS IN TOKIO.

splendidly lacquered, for twenty-five dol- a hand” is a literal translation of thelars; or you can hire a man and jinrik- Japanese “Tewo tsukete kudasai.”isha for from seven to eight dollars a The first point to which the foreignermonth, and he finds himself in every- directs his attention in Tokio is Asakusathing to boot—even the grease for his Temple. I made many trips in this direc-wheels! And yet I am foolish enough to tion. It was a good hour’s ride from my

home in the Foreignthink that ’cyclingmay become popularin Japan. The mar-ket is supplied withEnglish-made ’cy-cles; yet these are toodear. But wait alittle. till the Tans

Conce s s ion . Thenarrow road woundin and out amongthe houses, openedin all their fronts tothe streets so thatwe could see allthat was going onwithin. We werealways stared afterw i th long-drawnN a r u h o d o s ( I n -deed!). Often didwe see all of thehousehold-stuff tum-bled in front of thehouse, for i t washouse-cleaning time;or again, a group ofchildren would dashto one side of thestreet from theirplay, with a half-fr ightened cry aswe swept rapidlyb y . J i n r i k i-menkindly pulled aside

get hold of the thing,and they will soonturn out ’cycles thatw i l l c o s t l i t t l eenough. Then therewill be a rage forthem. Even nowthere are a fewdozen bicycles andtricycles owned byforeigners and bynatives, that aretrundl ing aboutTokio. The jinriki-m e n m a k e g o o dtime, say six miles anhour for ten hours;but the ’cycles canea s i l y bea t the i rrecord.

an aristocrat.

It was in the spring of 1882 that, after a to let us pass.long illness, and with the hope of improve-

Our jitensha (the Jap-

ment in health by the exercise, I securedanese name for bicycles and tricycles,

from a neighbor a sociable tricycle.literally the self-propelling carriage) at-

I de- tracted attention very generally. Finally,termined to visit, first of all, each of the we pulled into the midst of the jin-temples of Tokio, that I might become bet- rikishas gathered before the entranceter acquainted with the actual religious to the temple grounds. Passing throughcondition of the people, and that I mightpractise speaking Japanese with the people

the posts that prevented vehicles fromentering, we stood upon a flagged foot-

whom I might meet, as I was trying to way, lined on either side with boothsget a grip on the language. At the same for the sale of candies and toys. Beforetime I secured abundant opportunities for us rose the great red gate-way, and over totalking to the people about the business the right towered the pagoda. A littlewhich brought me to Japan, and whichtook me to Tokio. I heartily enjoyed these

later in the day and the walk is so crowded

trips among the temples of Tokio.that one can hardly elbow his way along.

I The keepers of the booths do a thrivingnever had the least unpleasantness withany Japanese. They never touched my

business in roasted beans (in lieu of pea-

machine, and never annoyed me in anynuts), rice-cakes, and kompira,—the many-pointed little lumps of sugar and rice-flour.

way. They asked heaps of questions, butI took delight in answering them, and they

In the toy-shops are toys of every imagi-

were never more pleased than when direct-nable shape and form, mainly native, yetmany imported from America and from

ing my road. If I met with an accident France. It seems a comical mixture, that(and I never could make the rubber tires of religion and sweets; and I do notstay on this tricycle) they were alwaysready to lend a hand to help. “Please lend

know how to explain it, except that theJaps wish to offer inducements to get their

32 5

children to church. Passing through thegate-way and between the red giant-gods,—sort of Gog and Magog guardians of thetemple,—we come to more toy-booths, andamong them the stable of the sacredwhite pony. The pious devotees feed thepony—like Cap’n Jinks of the ballad—on corn and beans, minus the corn. Besidethe living pony stands a hobby-horse, whotakes the place of the dead associate of theQueun of Heaven’s sacred horse. Climb-ing the steep, copper-covered steps of thetemple proper, one passes the old hag who,

without the least fear of offending them.In and about the temples are the wax-works, photograph galleries, monkey-shows, and, dear knows what all.

A little on one side is an ingenious con-trivance that would interest wheelmen. Itis the Rin-zo. This is a building abouttwenty-five feet square each way, contain-ing an invention of a priest who livedabout twelve hundred years ago. TheBuddhist sacred books number in all near-ly seven thousand volumes,—rather toogreat a number for any single individual

the rival of the bicycle.

for a small coin, pushes a pinch of incensein the burner before her.the altar.

Beyond her risesIn a little shrine, now closed,

sits the idol of the Queen of Heaven,Kwanon-sama. Before the altar is a wire-screen, put there to catch the prayers ofthe Buddhist worshippers; for they pur-chase from the priests a written prayer,make a “spit-ball” of it, and toss it tow-ards the altar. If it sticks, the prayer willbe heard; if it falls, the prayer fails. Fora “tip” the priests will guide you behindthe altars; you can handle the gods, openthe sacred books, and do pretty much asyou wish in your search for information,

to read through. So Fu Dai Shi inventeda whirling bookcase; in this are storedall the sacred books. It is arranged toturn on an axis resting in the roof and onthe floor. Three times turning this isequivalent to once reading through all ofthe sacred books. Not far off is a Rim-bo,or prayer-wheel. If one thinks there isany merit in this sort of prayer, hemight fasten a bundle of prayers, like acyclometer, to his wheel, and he wouldsoon have quite a stock of merit scored up.From Asakusa we pedal over to Uyéno.This is now a public park. In 1625 theTycoon (or Shogun) Iyemitsu, began

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the approach to the temple of asakusa.

to erect a set of Buddhist temples inUyéno that should surpass all others inbeauty and splendor. The high-priest wasalways a son of the Mikado then reigning,and the central temple was the chiefestsacred spot in all Japan. This magnifi-cent temple was destroyed in 1868, whenthe Mikado’s troops hemmed in the Sho-gun’s supporters here. The main roadpasses from a broad avenue over a triplebridge, called the Sammai Bashi, famed inJapanese history as the spot where Sakurathrust his petition into the palankeen ofIyemitsu, on one occasion (see Mitford’s“Tales of Old Japan,” page 202, 1-vol.ed.). The broad road leads up a hill easilypedalled, by the little temple of the Thou-sand-handed Queen of Heaven. Down tothe left, below you, lies a lotus-lake, withits temple dedicated to Benten-Sama,—one of the seven household gods, thepatron goddess of the family and of thesea. Benten is the Queen of the Sea, andsnakes and dragons are her servants. Bythe way, these seven household gods are, inreality, the most popular divinities in allJapan. Their pictures are painted onfans, they are carved in stag’s-horn fornitsukis (a kind of button), they are sketched

on calendars, and their likenesses arepasted on the walls of houses. Almostevery household has upon its god-shelf atleast a couple of the seven gods of good-luck.

A little further on we pass a branchof the foreigners’ Tokio hotel,—the Seiyo-ken,—and pause before an ugly bronzeimage of Buddha (Gautama Sakya, or, asthe Japanese call him, Shaka). It is notto be compared with the beautiful idol ofDaibutsu, at Kamakura. When we firstvisited Uyéno, in 1876, this Buddha wassheltered in a tumble-down-temple; but,in 1882, on this second visit, the templehad been removed and the image reno-vated, without marring his beauty. Theimage is about twenty-two feet high, andwas cast in 1660. Beyond this we per-ceive several temples built in honor ofthe shades of deceased Shoguns. Theseare beautiful structures, but are unused forpolitical reasons. By tipping a priest, weare admitted through a side-door, and,slipping off our shoes, as we must alwaysdo in entering Japanese houses, hotels, ortemples, we are shown most beautiful workin lacquer and bronze, decorating walls,ceiling, and floor. Little by little thewhole structure is going to decay, like the

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327

religious system to which it belongs. Thepriest, acting as our guide, goes throughall the forms of worship, tinkling his bell,clanking his bauble, telling his beads, andrepeating a Sanskrit prayer. Scatteredthrough the park are other temples, allmore or less decorated with elaborate carv-ings, gaudy paintings, beautifully lacqueredsurfaces, and, above all, delicately exe-cuted metal-work in copper and bronze.Most beautiful of all, to our taste, is thepanelling of the ceiling.

On showing a ticket we are admitted tothe Goverment Museum of the antiquities,arts, and manufactures of Japan, and tothe Educational Museum. Then for aspin among the gigantic cryptotmeria andamong the cherry-trees,—whole ave-nues of them, covered with a profusionof delicate blossoms. Both in Uyéno andlining the road running by the river Sumi-

incessant. Going to view the plum-blos-soms in January, and to look at the cherry-blossoms in April, not merely to scan, butto sit by the hour and gaze upon them, andwrite poetic phrases about the blossomsand tie them to the trees; to see thewistaria and peonies in May, the iris inJune, the lotus-flowers in July, the chrysan-themums and maples in November, and tosee Mount Fuji all the year round; thisis the fashion among the Japanese of Tokio.If there is a people in the world that findsgreater enjoyment in the outer world I haveyet to bear of it. They excel in depictingscenes from nature, particularly birds andflowers, while they are miserable architects,and very poorly represent the forms of manor beast. Their houses are open to the airon every side, except in the crowdedcities; their temples are placed in the mostlovely nooks; their miniature gardens with

dwarfed trees, tiny streams andbridges. are most beautiful exhi-bitions of their affection for na-ture. The healthful effect ofsuch tendencies is plainly seen inthe healthy physical, mental andspiritual condition of the Jap-

pagoda and belfry of asakusa.

da, in the district of Mukojima, these cherry-trees are planted, solely for the sake ofthe blossoms. The Japanese care exceed-ingly for nature and nature’s beauty; theyare an out-door people. Pilgrimages andpicnics are always in order, and outings are

anese.From Uyéno we speed away to

the Mikado’s Gardens in Fukiagedistrict. We cannot take the’cycle in, but must leave it at

the entrance. Here the Japanese style oflandscape-gardening can be seen in all itsperfection. Just after passing across themoat, and through the great wall, we strollalong between groves of the graceful bam-boo. Mounds, lakes, arbors, dwarfed trees,

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328

beautiful flowers, oddly-shaped roots, andqueerly-formed stones are scattered everyhere and there. Both the people and theirprinces are lovers of nature, as is evident ata glance. Tea-houses are scattered throughthe garden for the rest and refreshment ofwearied travellers.

canary-birds. On the top of Asuka-Yamais a grove of cherry-trees, and the littlevillage of Oji lies snugly in a dell at ourfeet. The beauty is marred somewhat by

Do my readers know what a deliciouslyrefreshing drink is a cup of Japanese tea,prepared as the Japs prepare it’? Take atiny teapot, and warm it, put in a pinch oftea for each cup ,—the cups must be small,—pour on water that has just stopped boil-ing. Let the tea steep, say five minutes,then pour it out, and drink it without milkor sugar.

While we are rambling back and forthin the upper section of the city we willtake a run over to the village of Oji, andto the hill Asuka-Yama, from which wecan see three different ranges of moun-tains stretching away before us. Alongthe road are the delicate maples, whoseleaves in autumn will be tinted with deepcrimson. Beyond the tea-gardens, where

the green tips to the branches shew the ap-proach of the tea-picking season, the gather-ing of the first crop, the roadway is linedwith florists’ cottages and gardens, withthe dwellings of dealers in goldfish and

the paper-mills, with foreign machinery,which the government has established orthe manufacture of paper, partly from thepaper-mulberry (Broussonetià papyri-fe-ræ), and partly from rag-stock and straw.

One very pleasant trip is to the templeof Kameido, on the other side of the Sumi-dagawa. A short run through a suburbandistrict, in the midst of paddy-fields, bringsus to the temple of “The Perfectly Freeand Heaven-filling Heavenly Divinity,”—asthe god’s name, Temman Daijizai Tenjin,may be translated.

This is a Shinto temple, not a Buddhist.The hero who is here deified lived about athousand years ago,—centennials are no-where in Japanese history, not fictitiously,but in fact; he was a great scholar, and apatron of learning. In 1646, so the legendruns, a descendant of this hero, and a priest,brought to the Kameido an image of thehero-god, carved of the wood of the plum-tree, which had flown through the airfrom his home in Kioto to the distantprovince where he had been living in exile.The temple enclosure is lavishly laid out.The wistaria is trailed over trellises. Apond in the shape of the Chinese characterfor heart has been formed and stocked withcarp and tortoises, which are fed by thevisitors with hollow cakes. In front of thetemple is a tree grown from a slip of theplum-tree which had flown through thesky, and beyond it a white stone cow, animage of the one on which the hero-godused to ride.

Beyond the Kameido is the Mume-Yashiki, or plum-garden, where five hun-dred and more old gnarled plum-treescouch and wind about like so manydragons. A short distance farther, andone enters upon the famed cherry-tree roadof Mukojima, where for more than a milethese beautifully-blossoming trees spreadtheir branches over the avenue. You cancross the river here in small ferry-boats.poled across, or you can turn and recrossone of the bridges lower down.

In and about Tokio there are a multi-tude of places which one could profitablyvisit. Very many shrines and smalltemples having interesting legends asso-ciated with them, or containing some ob-ject of rare beauty,—an image, a wall-picture, or the like.Gardens with the race-course, where His

The Experimental

a trip to the moon.

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^

329

buddha in uyéno.

Imperial Japanese Majesty goes with greatregularity to witness the spring and failraces of the Japanese ponies and Chinese“griffins.” Mine was the only ’cycle thathad visited the grounds and track, I believe.The celebrated Nihon-bashi, whence allthe distances in the empire used to be cal-culated, and the great Fish Market ofJapan; the Kwankoba, or Bazaar, whereonly the products of Japanese manufactureare on sale, and where you may wanderwithout recrossing or retracing your trackfor hours together; the In Setsu Kioku, orgovernment printing, photographing, andbook-making department; the other gov-ernment buildings, the Tokio University,the Normal Schools, the Arsenals, and soon, one may pedal about to see. Thedomestic establishments, where lacquer-ware, pottery, bronzes, screens, fans, um-brellas, and the thousand-and-one otherpretty objects which form the stock of thecurios and bric-a-brac stores of ourAmerican cities, are everywhere. Severalyears’ experience does not begin to exhaustthe wondrous novelties of Japanese life thatthrust themselves on the notice of thebusiest foreigner in Japan.

But there are two or three spots in andabout the neighborhood that are of fargreater interest to the general reader thanany of those just mentioned, and which Ihave purposely left until the last. One ofthese is the scene of the famed romance ofthe Loyal Ronins, which one may read inEnglish in either Dickens’ or Greey’stranslation, or, in briefer form, in Mitford’s

“Tales of Old Japan.” Then there isalso the famed temple of the founder ofone of the greatest sects of Buddhism; andlast, and best of all, Shiba’s magnificentpark and temples.

Leaving Tsukiji, the foreign concession,early in the morning, with a light lunchpacked in the “M.I.P.” bag, my manand I pedal over to the Tokaido. Wepass the railroad depot just as the firsttrain up from Yokohama comes in. Then,crossing the newly-laid horse-car tracks, weenter the strange little thoroughfare ofShimme-mayé, commonly known amongforeigners in Tokio as “Petticoat Lane.”for what reason you can guess. They havejust dumped a fresh load of gravel on theTokaido here; this is the reason for ourturning aside. Before we reach the dis-trict of Shinagawa, where the Japaneseline of steamers,—the Mitsu-Bishi, or“Three Diamonds,”—take in their sup-plies ere putting forth on their trips up anddown the coast and across to Shanghai,China, we turn from the Tokaido up a nar-row lane to the temple of Sengakuji, whereare the tombs of the forty-seven Ronins.

The famous story runs thus: In 1701 ayoung noble named Asano was receivinglessons in court ceremonies from an oldgentleman named Kodzuké, preparatory toentertaining the envoy from the Mikado inKioto to the Tycoon in Tokio. Kodzukéwas unnecessarily rude to Asano, andAsano sought to stab his insulter withhis short sword. He failed, and was con-demned to disembowel himself (hara-

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330

feet long, having iron teeth andgolden scales. A delicate at-tention, truly! The templesand pagoda are unusually largestructures, and in good repair.The construction is that usualin Buddhist temples in Japan.An old graveyard lies about the

kiri) for using his weaponwithin the court precinct, andhis property was confiscatedand his retainers were forcedto become wanderers, or ronin,i.e., “masterless-men.” Aftermore than a year of sufferingand dissimulation, the leagueof loyal ronin found their op-portunity, and killed Kodzuké,cutting off his head. The headwas washed in a well (by theside of which still stands, as Iremember, a sign with thelegend, “The well where thehead was washed”), and wasthen laid on their master’sgrave. They then committedhara-kiri, and were buried sideby side in a lot adjoining thegrave of their master. Thestory is one of the favorite onesin the story-tellers’ books, anda constant stream of visitorsbears testimony of the livelyinterest of the Japanese in theold romance.

temple, and the tombstoneshave Sanskrit characters carved

Striking the Tokaido again,Kosan and I wend our wayslowly towards the railroadstation of Omori, and then a

upon them. The view fromthe hill-top over toward theBay of Yedo, and on theother side to the mountains,ending in the famed MountFuji, is grand. Ferns in abun-dant variety and wild flowersgrow in abundance. I foundhere the only Jack-in-the-Pulpit(Arum) I ever saw in Japan,and the five-fingered maiden-hair fern, which I also saw onthe Hakoné mountains, justabove Yumoto. Here also Ifound a species of trailing-fern,bearing a slight resemblance tothe Hartford trailing-fern. Bya roundabout way we returnedto Tokio, having the pleasure,at times, of carrying the tricycleover certain very rough hills

mile and a half away to the temple of Hom- and narrow paths.monji, sacred to Saint Nichiren, who died In the year 1393 the Buddhist monas-here in 1282. He was a most violent sec-tarian, and drew upon himself the wrath of

tery of the Zojoji was founded, and in 1596

it was removed to Shiba. The Tokugawaother priests and of the authorities; he Shoguns took this sect of Buddhism underwas condemned to be beheaded, but was their protection, and multiplied and beauti-saved by a miracle. fied their temples atAt the tea-houses at Shiba. There are atthe foot of the hill present quite a num-we rest awhile, andtake our luncheon. A

ber of temples groupedtogether at Shiba,

little shrine dedicatedto Daikoku, one of

each being devoted toone or the other of the

the Seven Gods ofGood Luck, standsnear the entrance-gate. Climbing someflights of steep stepswe are soon in agrove of cryptome-rias, where stands ashrine of the Fox god.Here, as I find thestory, with a strikingillustration in a lifeof Saint Nichiren, the

dead Shoguns, whosebodies rest beneathoddly shaped tombsin the rear of the tem-ples. On New Year’sday, 1874, the mostmagnificent, the maintemple, was destroyedby fire. It is nowbeing rebuilt. I haverambled all throughthe new bui lding,both in 1876 and in

“handsome is that handsome does.”

famous priest met a beautiful woman; and 1882, and have had abundant oppor-upon his giving her a draught of watershe became a gigantic snake, some twenty

tunities for examining the modes of con-struct ion in vogue in erect ing such

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331

structures. Two kinds of wood are inuse,—the keyaki, or elm, a hard, tough

Around the inner court are rows of bronzelanterns.

wood, and the beautiful hinoki, a speciesOn application to a priest we

of fragrant pine. The massive curvedare admitted to a passage-way leading into

roof is covered with tiles; gigantic grif-the priests’ quarters, and thence into thetemple proper. One now finds himself

fins, weird fabulous creatures, lie about,ready to be put into place. The tem-

“in the midst of a blaze of gold coloring,

ple will take several years more inand elaborate arabesques, which quite daz-

the finishing. The temples at Uyénozle the eye with their brilliant beauty.”

and those at Nikko, a hundred milesThe building is shaped like a T, the front

to the north of Tokio, share with theof the temple being the cross-piece and theshrine being at the end of the straight

the mikado’s bamboo grove.

temples of Shiba the honor of beingthe chief marvels of Japanese artistic skill.Some of the Shoguns are buried at each ofthese three places. The outer giganticgate-way, which is being repaired as wevisit Shiba, has been standing just as itwas built since 1623. We go up a littlelane, enter a side gate, pass through acourt having a pavement of pebbles, andsurrounded by rows of stone lanterns.The gate-way leading into the next court isa beautiful structure, but is surpassed bythat leading into the temple enclosure.

piece. In the room running across thefront, in the days of the Shogun, sat thewealthy princes; just before them the Ty-coon’s family, while only the chief priestcould enter the shrine. To-day the for-eigner, whom the Shogun hated, mayplant his stockinged feet even in the inner-most shrine.

The structure is small, but of wondrousbeauty in its finish; gold lacquer is usedlavishly; the ceilings are finished likethose at Uyéno, only more elaborately.Carvings on the gateways and within

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3 3 2

the temple are astonishing well done. spot; one could almost envy the priestsHeavy bronze gates, with ornamen-tations cast upon them,

who live in the midst of such gloriousadmit one to the creations.

tombs, some of bronze, others of stone.But, for purposes of worship,

It is impossible to findit is, after all, but an idol’s temple.

words with which toexpress one’s admi-ration. I havebeen dozensof timesto these

Amongthe multi-

tude of ob-jects to be seenin Tok io oneis often at a loss

to make a selection,and, after all, this isbut one city. In Yoko-

hama, in Kioto, in many ofthe interior cities, are sights

temple. just as curious, and just as

temples, and never ceased to be affected bysplendid. The mountains and

their beauty. In the solitude of the greatvalleys, the hot springs, and solfataras,and the myriad beauties of the Land of the

trees, away from the busy crowds. rest Rising Sun are still before the foreigncomes speedily to the weary in such a traveller.

Frank S. Dobbins.

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