{"collection":"folklore-oral-tradition","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_56254/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_56254","id":"gutenberg_56254","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56254","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Art","Category: Nature/Gardening/Animals","Category: Travel Writing","Flowers -- Japan","Gardens -- Japan","Plants -- Folklore"],"text":"_BY THE SAME ARTIST_\n\n THE ITALIAN LAKES\n\n PAINTED BY ELLA DU CANE\n\n DESCRIBED BY RICHARD BAGOT\n\n Square demy 8vo, bound in cloth\n gilt top\n\n Price 20s. net\n\n (By Post, 20s. 6d.)\n\n _Containing 69 full-page Illustrations\n in Colour_\n\n \u201cSuch pictures interpret the romantic\n appeal of the scenery in a manner which\n is next to impossible to any mere pen other\n than that of Ruskin. But the book, we\n make haste to add, is fascinating all the\n way through, for Mr. Bagot has quick\n eyes for the picturesque, and writes with\n admirable restraint in the romantic mood.\u201d--_Standard._\n\n \u201cMr. Bagot\u2019s descriptions will give the\n reader who has never seen this lovely part\n of Europe a just and vivid idea of its\n beauties, while Miss Du Cane\u2019s work does\n the same for him by means of another and\n a beautiful medium. Her pictures are\n charming, and the reproduction would\n seem to be perfect.\u201d--_The World._\n\n A. & C. BLACK\n\n 4 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.\n\n\n\n\n THE FLOWERS AND GARDENS\n OF JAPAN\n\n\n\n\n AGENTS\n\n\n AMERICA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY\n 64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK\n\n AUSTRALASIA THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS\n 205 FLINDERS LANE, MELBOURNE\n\n CANADA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.\n ST. MARTIN\u2019S HOUSE, 70 BOND STREET, TORONTO\n\n INDIA MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD.\n MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY\n 309 BOW BAZAAR STREET, CALCUTTA\n\n [Illustration: WISTARIA, KYOMIDZU]\n\n\n\n\n THE FLOWERS\n\n AND\n\n GARDENS OF JAPAN\n\n\n PAINTED BY\n\n ELLA DU CANE\n\n\n DESCRIBED BY\n\n FLORENCE DU CANE\n\n [Illustration: colophon]\n\n PUBLISHED BY\n ADAM & CHARLES\n BLACK\n\n SOHO SQUARE\n LONDON W.\n MCMVIII\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nAn apology is due to the reader for adding this volume to the long\nlist of books already written on Japan; but, being a lover of flowers\nmyself, I found there was no book giving a short account of the flora\nof the country which is so often called the Land of Flowers. Hence my\nexcuse for offering these pages, either to those who may be intending\nto visit, or to those who may wish to recall the memories of a sojourn\nin the Land of the Rising Sun.\n\nThe book does not pretend to furnish a complete list of all the flowers\nto be found in the country, but rather to give a description of those\nwhich are most remarkable for their beauty and profusion, and which are\nmost closely associated with Japan. The pages on landscape gardening\nhave been condensed, partly owing to want of space, and also because\nI felt that those who take a real and thorough interest in the subject\nhave Mr. Conder\u2019s admirable volumes on \u201cLandscape Gardening in Japan\u201d\nto help them in the study of the most complicated form of gardening in\nthe world. Being debarred, through lack of sufficient knowledge of the\nlanguage, from availing myself of original works in Japanese, I have\ndrawn much information from Mr. Conder\u2019s works, and from those of other\nforeigners; but I wish gratefully to acknowledge the help I received\nfrom Mr. Y. Noguchi, who provided me with the flower legends and fairy\ntales, which are household words in every Japanese home.\n\nFLORENCE DU CANE.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nCHAP. PAGE\n\n 1. LANDSCAPE GARDENING 1\n\n 2. STONES--GARDEN ORNAMENTS AND FENCES 19\n\n 3. LANDSCAPE GARDENS 38\n\n 4. NURSERY GARDENS--DWARF TREES AND HACHI-NIWA 55\n\n 5. TEMPLE GARDENS 72\n\n 6. SUMMER FLOWERS 87\n\n 7. PLUM BLOSSOM 104\n\n 8. PEACH BLOSSOM 119\n\n 9. CHERRY BLOSSOM 127\n\n10. WISTARIA AND P\u00c6ONY 146\n\n11. AZALEAS 161\n\n12. THE IRIS 169\n\n13. THE MORNING GLORY 181\n\n14. THE LOTUS 186\n\n15. THE CHRYSANTHEMUM 197\n\n16. THE MAPLE LEAVES 214\n\n17. THE BAMBOO 223\n\n18. THE PINE-TREE 236\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n FACING PAGE\n\n1. Wistaria, Kyomidzu _Frontispiece_\n\n2. Wistaria in a Kyoto Garden 4\n\n3. The Storks 12\n\n4. Azaleas in a Kyoto Garden 22\n\n5. Azaleas, Kyoto 28\n\n6. Tiger Lilies 34\n\n7. An Old Garden 40\n\n8. Satake Garden, Tokyo 42\n\n9. A Tokyo Garden 46\n\n10. A Landscape Garden 52\n\n11. The Old Wistaria 60\n\n12. At Kitano Tenjin 72\n\n13. The Drooping Cherry 74\n\n14. A Shrine at Kyomidzu 78\n\n15. White Cherry at Kitano 80\n\n16. Cherry Blossom, Chion-in Temple 84\n\n17. The Kobai Plum Blossom 92\n\n18. _Lilium Auratum_ 96\n\n19. Lilies on the Rocks, Atami 98\n\n20. An Hydrangea Bush 100\n\n21. Viewing the Plum Blossoms 104\n\n22. The Gate of the Plum Garden 106\n\n23. The Time of the Plum Blossoms 110\n\n24. Plum Blossom and Lanterns 116\n\n25. Peach Blossom 120\n\n26. The Pagoda, Kyomidzu 126\n\n27. A Buddhist Shrine 130\n\n28. The Feast of the Cherry Blossoms 132\n\n29. The Pink Cherry 138\n\n30. Cherry-tree at Kyomidzu 142\n\n31. Wistaria, Kameido 148\n\n32. Wistaria, Nagaoka 152\n\n33. A P\u00e6ony Garden 154\n\n34. Wistaria, Kabata 158\n\n35. Azaleas 162\n\n36. Azaleas, Nagaoka 164\n\n37. Azaleas, Awata 166\n\n38. An Iris Garden 172\n\n39. Irises 178\n\n40. Lotus at Kodaiji 186\n\n41. Lotus at Kyomidzu 188\n\n42. Lotus Flowers 194\n\n43. Chrysanthemums, Kyoto 198\n\n44. A Chrysanthemum Garden 204\n\n45. Chrysanthemums 208\n\n46. The Scarlet Maple 214\n\n47. Viewing the Maples 218\n\n48. Irises, Horikiri 230\n\n49. Pine-tree at Matsushima 238\n\n50. Azalea and Pine-tree 244\n\n\n\n\nFLOWERS & GARDENS OF JAPAN\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nLANDSCAPE GARDENING\n\n\nIt is safe to assert that no other country has such a distinctive form\nof landscape gardening as Japan. In English, French, Italian, and Dutch\ngardens, however original in their way, there are certain things they\nseem all to possess in common: terraces, which originally belonged\nto Italian gardens, were soon introduced into France; clipped trees,\nwhich were a distinctive feature of Dutch gardens, were copied by the\nEnglish; the fashion of decorating gardens with flights of stone steps,\nbalustrades, fountains, and statues at one time spread from Italy\nthroughout Europe; and possibly the over-decoration of gardens led to\na change in taste in England and a return to a more natural style. The\ngardens of China and Japan have remained unique; the Eastern style of\ngardening has never spread to any other country, nor is it ever likely\nto; for, just as no Western artist will ever paint in the same manner\nas an Oriental artist because his whole artistic sense is different, so\nno Western gardener could ever hope to construct a garden representing\na portion of the natural scenery of Japan--which is the aim and object\nof every good Japanese landscape garden, however small--because,\nhowever long he might study the original scene, he would never arrive\nat the Japanese conception of it, or realise what it conveyed to the\nmind of a Japanese. Their art of gardening was originally borrowed from\nthe Chinese, who appear to have been the first to construct miniature\nmountains, and to bring water from a distance to feed miniature\nwater-falls and mountain torrents. They even went so far as, in one\nenclosure, to represent separate scenes for different seasons of the\nyear, and different hours of the day, but to the Japanese belongs the\nhonour of having perfected the art of landscape gardening.\n\nIt is not my intention to weary the reader with technical information\non the subject, which he will find admirably explained in Mr. Conder\u2019s\nvolume on _Landscape Gardening in Japan_, but an outline of some of the\ntheories and rules which guide the Japanese gardener will help us to\nappreciate his work and give an additional interest to the hours spent\nin these refreshing retreats from the outer world.\n\nThe designer of a good landscape garden has to be guided by many\nthings. A scene must be chosen suited to the size of the ground and\nthe house, and its natural surroundings; and the Japanese garden being\nabove all a spot for secluded leisure and meditation, the temperament,\nsentiment, and even the occupation of the owner are brought into\nconsideration. Their conception of the expression of nature is governed\nin its execution by endless \u00e6sthetic rules; considerations of scale,\nproportion, unity, and balance, in fact all that tends to artistic\nharmony, must be considered, so as to preserve the perfect balance of\nthe picture, and any neglect would destroy that feeling of repose which\nis so essential in the landscape garden. When we realise that the art\nhas occupied the minds of poets, sages, and philosophers, it is not\nto be wondered at that something more than the simple representation\nof natural views has entered into the spirit of their schemes, which\nattain to poetical conceptions; and a garden may be designed to suggest\ndefinite ideas and associations, in fact the whole art is enshrouded\nby quaint \u00e6sthetic principles, and it is difficult for the Western mind\nto unravel the endless laws and theories by which it is governed.\n\nIn gardens which cover a larger area the scheme must necessarily be\nvery different from that required for the making of a tiny garden,\nonly some few yards square, but the materials used will be the same;\nonly the stone bridges and garden ornaments will all be in proportion\nto the size of the garden, for the rule of proportion is perhaps the\nmost important of all. I visited a garden which was being enlarged\nby the addition of a hill and the suggestion of mountain forests, to\ngive the impression of unknown limits. The owner explained that as he\nhad enlarged his house it was therefore necessary at the same time to\nenlarge his garden. A landscape garden may be of any size, from the\nminiature scenes, representing pigmy groves, and mossy precipices, with\nlilliputian torrents of white sand, compressed into the area of a china\ndish, to the vast gardens with their broad sheets of water and majestic\ntrees which surrounded the Daimyo castles of old or the Imperial\npalaces of to-day; but the sense of true proportion must be rigidly\nadhered to. Large rocks and boulders are out of\n\n[Illustration: WISTARIA IN A KYOTO GARDEN]\n\nplace in a small garden, and small stones in a large garden would be\nequally unsuitable. The teachers of the craft have been most careful to\npreserve the purity of style. Over-decoration is condemned as vulgar\nostentation, and faulty designs have even been regarded as unlucky, in\norder to avoid degeneration in the art.\n\nIn some of the most extensive gardens it is not uncommon to represent\nseveral favourite views, and yet the composition will be so contrived\nthat all the separate scenes work into one harmonious whole. In the\nimmediate foreground of a nobleman\u2019s house there will be an elaborately\nfinished garden full of detail and carefully composed, the stones\nemployed will be the choicest, the water-basin of quaint and beautiful\ndesign. Stone lanterns in keeping with the scene will be found,\nminiature pagodas possibly, and a few slabs of some precious stone to\nform the bridges. Farther away from the house the scheme should be less\nfinished. Surrounding the simple room set apart for the tea ceremony\nthe law forbids the garden to be finished in style, it must be rather\nrough and sketchy, and then if some natural wild scene is represented,\na broad effect must be retained; a simple clump of pines or\ncryptomerias near a little garden shrine will represent some favourite\ntemple, or a small grove of maples and cherry-trees by the side of a\nstream of running water will suggest the scenery of Arashiyama or some\nother romantic and poetical spot.\n\nTo our Western ideas it seems impossible that a garden without flowers\ncould be a thing of beauty, or give any pleasure to its owner. Yet,\nstrange as it may appear, flowers for their own sakes do not enter\ninto the scheme of Japanese gardening, and if any blossoms are to be\nfound, it is probably, so to speak, by accident, because the particular\nshrub or plant which may happen to be in flower was the one best\nsuited by its growth for the position it occupies in the garden. For\ninstance, azaleas are often seen covering the banks with gorgeous\nmasses of colour, but they are only allowed, either on account of their\npicturesque growth and the fact that they are included in the natural\nvegetation of the scene produced, or else because the bushes can be\ncut into regulation shapes, which, as often as not, is done when the\nflowers are just opening. Though the Japanese are great lovers of\nflowers, their taste is so governed by rules, that they are extremely\nfastidious in their choice of the blossoms they consider worthy of\nadmiration. The rose and the lily are rejected as unworthy, their\ncharms are too obvious: their favourites are the iris, p\u00e6ony, wistaria,\nlotus, morning glory, and chrysanthemum; and even among these the iris,\nwistaria, and possibly the lotus, are the only ones which seem ever\nto be allowed to belong in any way to the real design of the garden.\nFlowering trees take more part, and the plum, peach, cherry, magnolia,\nand camellia are all permitted; and the numerous fancy varieties of\nthe maple, whose leaves enrich the autumn landscape with their scarlet\nglory, are as much prized as any of the blossoming shrubs. It is rather\nto the storm-bent old pine-trees and other evergreen trees and shrubs,\nto the mossy lichen-covered stones, to the clever manipulation of the\nwater to represent a miniature mountain cascade or a flowing river, and\nto broad stretches of velvety moss that the true Japanese garden owes\nits beauty.\n\nMr. Conder tells us that the earliest style of gardening in the\ncountry was called the _Imperial Audience Hall Style_, because, not\nunnaturally, it was round the palaces and houses of the great nobles\nthat the idea was first adopted of arranging the ground to suggest a\nreal landscape. The designs appear to have been primitive, but they\nusually contained a large irregular lake, with at least one island\nreached by a bridge of picturesque form. Later--from the middle of\nthe twelfth to the beginning of the fourteenth century--the art of\ngardening was much practised and encouraged by the Buddhist priests.\nThey even went so far as to ascribe imaginary religious and moral\nattributes to the grouping of the stones, a custom which has more\nor less survived to this day and is described elsewhere. In those\ndays a lake came to be regarded as a necessary feature, and poetical\nnames were given to the little islets, just as the pine-clad islands\nof Matsu-shima have each their poetical name. Cascades also received\nnames according to their character, such as the \u201cThread Fall,\u201d the\n\u201cSpouting Fall,\u201d or the \u201cSide Fall.\u201d In the making of a garden\nthen, as to-day, the first work was the excavation of the lake, the\ndesigning and forming of the islands, the placing in position of a\nfew of the most important stones, and finally the arrangement of the\nwaterfall or stream which was to feed the lake, and the outlet had\nalso to be carefully considered. After this period came the fashion\nof representing lakes and rivers by means of hollowed-out beds and\ncourses, merely strewn with sand, pebbles, and boulders, a practice\nfollowed also to this day where water is not available. Shallow water\nor dried-up river-beds are suggested in this way, and therefore the\nstyle received the name of _Dried-up Water Scenery_. Artificial hills\nwere used, stones and winding pathways were introduced, and large rocks\nhelped to suggest natural scenery.\n\nIt was in the fifteenth century that the art of gardening received\nthe greatest encouragement and attention at the hands of the Ashikaya\nRegents, who also encouraged the other arts of flower arrangement--tea\nceremony and poetry. The Professors of _Cha no yu_ (tea ceremony)\nbecame the principal designers of gardens, and they naturally turned\ntheir attention to the ground which surrounded the rooms set apart\nfor this ceremonial tea-drinking; and to the famous Soami, who was a\nProfessor of Tea-ceremonial and the Floral Art, they owe the practice\nof clipping trees and shrubs into fantastic shapes. Though the Japanese\nnever attained to the unnatural eccentricities of the Dutch in their\nmanner of using clipped trees, yet in many old and modern gardens a\npine-tree may be seen clipped and trained in the shape of a junk, and\na juniper may be trained to form a light bridge to fling across a\ntiny stream; but as a rule the gardener contents himself by training\nand clipping his pine-tree to mould it into the shape of an abnormal\nstorm-bent specimen of great age. To that period belonged Kobori\nEnshiu, the designer of so many celebrated gardens, and to him we owe\nthe garden of the Katsura Rikui, a detached Palace near Kyoto, which,\nthough fallen into decay, retains much of its former beauty, especially\nwhen the scarlet azalea bushes, which now escape the clipping they\nno doubt were subjected to in old days, light up the scene, their\nlichen-clad stems bending under the weight of their blossoms and\nenhancing the beauty of the moss-grown lanterns and stones. The garden\nwhich surrounded the temple of Kodaiji, a portion only of the grounds\nof the old palace of Awata, the Konchi-in garden of the Nanzenji\nTemple, and many other specimens of his work remain in Kyoto alone.\nHe is reported to have said that his ideal garden should express \u201cthe\nsweet solitude of a landscape clouded by moonlight, with a half gloom\nbetween the trees.\u201d Rikiu, another great tea professor and designer\nof landscape gardens, said the best conception of his fancy would be\nthat of the \u201clonely precincts of a secluded mountain shrine, with\nthe red leaves of autumn scattered around.\u201d However different their\nideal, they all agreed that the tea garden was to be somewhat wild in\ncharacter, suggesting repose and solitude. Then came the more modern\nstyle of gardening: from 1789 to 1830 was a period when large palaces\nwere built and surrounded by magnificent gardens, fit residences for\nthe great Tokugawa feudal lords. For these gardens great sums were\nexpended on collecting stones from all parts of the country, and often\na garden would be left unfinished until the exact stone suited to\nexpress the required religious or poetical feeling, or else specially\nrequired to complete a miniature natural scene, had been procured. The\nextravagance in this craving for rare stones, which cost vast sums to\ntransport immense distances, reached such a pitch, that at last, in the\nTempo period (1830-1844), an edict was issued limiting the sum which\nmight be paid for a single specimen. Stone and granite lanterns of\ninfinite variety in size and shape were introduced with their poetical\nnames, each having a special position assigned to it by the unbending\nlaws which surround this art, for the arrangement of not only every\ntree and stone, but almost every blade of grass and drop of water.\nI feel my readers will begin to think that there must be a lack of\nvariety in these landscape gardens, but I can safely say that never\ndid I see--and I saw a great many--any two gardens, large or small,\nwhich bore any resemblance to each other; the materials are the same,\nbut the design is never the same.\n\nGarden water-basins, miniature pagodas, stone bridges, also of\ninfinite variety, and other garden ornaments, such as rustic arbours,\nfanciful constructions of bamboo, reeds, or plaited rushes, primitive,\nfragile-looking structures, but none the less costly, were made use\nof, and a few rare birds, such as storks and cranes, were allowed to\nwander and adorn the scene with their stately grace. Here and there the\ncrooked branches of stunted pine-trees of great age overhung the lake\nor stream, transplanted probably with infinite care; but no trouble and\nno expense was too great to make these gardens fitting settings for the\ncastles and palaces of those great lords. Alas, how few remain to-day\nin anything like their former splendour; the hand of the Goth has\nswept away most of the ancient glories of Yedo, and on the spot where\nthese princely dwellings and gardens stood, to-day some great factory\nchimneys rise and belch forth columns of smoke, which will surely bring\ndeath and destruction to the pines and cherry-trees\n\n[Illustration: THE STORKS]\n\nof Uyeno or the avenues of Mukojima, which are still the pride of Tokyo.\n\nTokyo may still retain the remains of some of her princely gardens, but\nI fear she has lost her love of gardening; the town is too large, too\ncrowded; the rich who could afford to make new gardens, even if the old\nones are swept away, prefer to live in foreign houses of impossible\narchitectural design; the public gardens are no longer laid out in\ntrue Japanese style, but suggestive rather of foreign gardens of the\nworst form and taste, so if you would see the making of a new garden\nit is to Kyoto you must wend your way. Here the love of landscape\ngardening seems still alive, and though the gardens may not surround\nthe palaces of the Daimyos, yet these humbler gardens which as often\nas not surround the house of a rich Osaka tradesman are none the less\nbeautiful for that reason; and I was glad to think that riches had not,\nas is too often the case, brought with it a love for foreign life and\nstamped out the true Japanese, and that here at least are left many who\nare content to spend their hours of leisure in the contemplation and in\nthe repose of a true landscape garden.\n\nIn the course of an evening walk on the outskirts of Kyoto I came\nupon a half-built house. Through the newly planted cryptomeria hedge\ncould be seen glimpses of stone lanterns, rocks, and a few trees\nkept in place by bamboo props, while in the road outside lay stones\nof all colours, shapes, and sizes. Garden coolies were passing in\nand out, carrying baskets of earth slung on bamboo poles, so it was\nevident that a garden was being made. My curiosity was aroused, so\nI ventured within the enclosure, and, in the most polite language I\ncould command, asked permission of the owner to watch the interesting\nwork. A Japanese is always gratified by the genuine interest of a\nforeigner in anything connected with his home, and will usually point\nout the special features of the object of interest in eloquent and\npoetical phrases, confusing enough to the foreigner, whose command of\nthe Japanese language cannot as a rule rise to such heights. On this\noccasion, however, any explanation was unnecessary, the scene in itself\nwas sufficient to call forth my admiration and surprise. The piece\nof ground occupied by the garden did not comprise more than half an\nacre, and was merely the plot usually attached to any suburban villa\nin England. Not withstanding the limited space, a perfect landscape\nwas growing out of the chaos of waste ground which had been chosen as\nthe site of the house. A miniature lake of irregular shape had been dug\nout; an island consisting of just one bold rock, to be christened no\ndoubt in due time with some fanciful name, had been placed in position;\nand there were the \u201cGuardian Stone,\u201d always the most important stone\nin the near distance, and its associates the \u201cStone of Worship\u201d--also\nsometimes called the \u201cStone of Contemplation,\u201d as from this stone the\nbest general view of the garden is obtained--and the \u201cStone of the Two\nDeities.\u201d The presence of these three stones being essential in the\ncomposition of every garden, they are probably the first to be placed.\nA few trees of venerable appearance had already been planted in the\northodox places; and already one spreading pine-tree stretched across\nthe future lake, supported on an elaborate framework of bamboo, to\ngive it exactly the right shape and direction; near to it, and resting\non a slab of rock at the very edge of the water, was a stone lantern\nof the \u201cSnow Scene\u201d shape; the two forming the principal features of\nthe garden, upon which the eye rested involuntarily. Another stone\nlantern stood in the shadow of a tall and twisted pine, half buried\nin low-growing shrubs, bedded in moss of a golden-brown colour. On\none side was a bank thickly planted with azaleas, groups of maples,\nor camellias, and at the far end of the garden some tall evergreen\ntrees cleverly disguised the boundary line of the hedge and gave the\nimpression that the garden had no ending, save in the wooded hills that\nshut in the surrounding valley. A cutting in the bank and a wonderfully\nnatural arrangement of \u201cCascade Stones\u201d showed where the water would\neventually rush in from the stream outside, which had its source in\nLake Biwa. A path of beaten earth with stepping-stones embedded in it\nwound round the little lake and through the grove at the side; a simple\nbridge of mere slabs of stone crossed the water to where the pathway\nended in the inevitable tea-room. Many more lanterns, pagodas, and\nother garden ornaments lay on the ground waiting for their allotted\nplace, while a whole nursery of trees carefully laid in loose earth\nshowed that much more planting was needed to complete the garden, which\nwould some day be the pride and delight of the owner\u2019s heart.\n\nThe whole country is often searched for a tree of exactly the\nright size and shape required for a particular position, and while\nwatching the work of making this new garden I was much struck by the\nextraordinary skill the Japanese display in the transplanting of trees\nof almost any size and age. The season chosen for their removal is\nthe spring, when the sap is rising, and the dampness of the climate\nand the rich soil no doubt help considerably towards their success in\nmoving these old trees; unlike England, spring is their best season\nfor planting, as the trees will have all the benefit of the summer\nrains and run no risk of drought or cold winds. The roots are trenched\nround, to our idea, perilously near the tree; as much earth is retained\nas possible and bound round with matting. Five or six coolies with a\nlength of rope, a few poles, and not a little ingenuity, will move the\nlargest tree in a very short time. There is no machinery or fuss of any\nkind, merely a hand-barrow, on which the tree rests on its journey.\nVery little preparation is made in the place where the tree is to be\nplanted; no trenching of the ground, or preparing of vast holes to\nbe filled with prepared soil, only a hole just large enough for the\nball of earth surrounding the roots is considered sufficient. The tree\nis then put in place, upright or leaning, according to the effect\nrequired, the soil tightly rammed round the roots, the necessary\npruning and propping carefully attended to; the ground artistically\nplanted with moss and made to look as if it had never been disturbed\nfor centuries, and the thing is done. I remember seeing a piece of\nground which was being prepared for building, on which were a few\nplum-trees of considerable size and age; these were being carefully\nremoved, doubtless to give a venerable appearance to some new garden,\nor to be planted in a nursery garden until they should be wanted\nelsewhere,--surely a better fate than would have awaited them in our\ncountry under similar circumstances, where the devastating axe of the\nbuilder\u2019s labourer would certainly have cleared the ground in a few\nminutes of what he would have regarded as useless rubbish.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nSTONES--GARDEN ORNAMENTS AND FENCES\n\n\nStones and rocks are such important features in all Japanese gardens\nthat when choosing the material for the making of a landscape garden,\nhowever large or however small, the selection of the stones would\nappear to be the primary consideration. Their size must be in perfect\nproportion with the house and grounds which they are to transform into\na natural landscape, and they will give the scale for all the other\nmaterials used--the lanterns, bridges, and water-basins, and even the\ntrees and fences. Their number may vary from five important stones to\nas many as 138, each with its especial sense and function. I think\nthe correct position and placing of the stones is the part of the art\nwhich it would be most difficult for a foreigner to accomplish: the\nmere names and special functions of the stones would require years\nof careful study. To the eye of a Japanese one stone wrongly placed\nwould upset all the balance and repose of the picture. Large rocks and\nboulders seem to be essential for the success of a large garden, and\nare used to suggest mountains, hills, and the rocks of the natural\nscene; any very fantastic and artificial-looking rocks are avoided,\nfor fear they should give an appearance of unreality to the landscape.\nThe fancy of giving sex to certain stones, and in temple grounds of\nassigning holy attributes and even of giving them the names of Buddhist\ndeities, dates from very early days, and this custom of applying a\nreligious meaning to the most important rocks survives to this day.\nMr. Conder tells us that \u201cformerly it was said that the principal\nboulders of a garden should represent the _Kuji_, or Nine Spirits of\nthe Buddhist pantheon, five being of _standing_ and four of _recumbent_\nform; and it was supposed that misfortune was averted by observing\nthis classification.\u201d Stones of good shape, colour, and proportion are\ntreasured as carefully as any jewel, and in the gardens of the rich\nare brought together from all parts of the empire. The granite for\nslabs, steps, and lanterns may come from the neighbourhood of Osaka,\nBingo, and other places. Large blocks which have an irregular surface\nare usually limestones, and the action of water has produced those\nmuch-coveted shapes. Blue and white limestone and a kind of jasper\nrock of a reddish colour are prized for certain positions, slabs of a\ndark green colour seemed to come from the vicinity of Lake Biwa, and\nvolcanic rock and honeycombed sea-rocks are valuable for water scenes.\nIt would only weary the reader if I were to attempt to describe the\nendless combinations of stones as laid down by the unbending laws, or\nto give all the names applied to the various sets of stones known as\nHill Stones, Lake and River Stones, Cascade Stones, Island Stones,\nValley Stones, Water-basin Stones, Tea-garden Stones, and, finally,\nStepping-Stones. Often did I regret that my knowledge of the art was\nnot sufficient to enable me to recognise all these various stones. How\nintensely it would add to one\u2019s appreciation of these perfect specimens\nof artificial scenery if one could at once among the _Hill Stones_\npoint out the \u201cMountain Summit Stone\u201d and the poetical \u201cPropitious\nCloud Stone,\u201d or the \u201cMist-enveloped Stone\u201d; or among the _River and\nLake Stones_ find the \u201cSentinel Stone,\u201d which, as its name suggests,\nshould be placed in the position of a look-out man near the edge of\nthe water; or the \u201cWave-receiving Stone\u201d hidden in the current of\nthe stream. So often the water scenery of the garden is intended to\nrepresent sea-views, the favourite being a portion of the scenery of\nMatsushima with its countless islets, that many of these Lake Stones\nhave names suggestive of the sea; such as the \u201cSea-gull Resting Stone,\u201d\nsituated on a stony beach, or the \u201cWild Wave Stone,\u201d placed so as to\nmeet the current of the water.\n\nNext come the _Cascade Stones_, which do not seem quite so numerous,\nand among them one at least forms so important a feature in every\ngarden that it is easy to distinguish--the \u201cGuardian Stone,\u201d which\nshould form the main part of the rocky cliff over which the water\nfalls; it is also sometimes called the \u201cCascade-supporting Stone.\u201d\n\u201cThe Stone of Fudo,\u201d named after a Buddhist god, and its eight small\nattendants, the \u201cChildren Stones,\u201d are among the more important\nfeatures of the cascade or waterfall.\n\nThe _Island Stones_ are perhaps more interesting still, as they are\nsuch important features in the landscape. The \u201cElysian Isle,\u201d the\n\u201cMaster\u2019s Isle,\u201d and the \u201cGuest\u2019s Isle\u201d are the most favourite trio of\nislands, and are formed of combinations of stones. That of the \u201cElysian\nIsle,\u201d whose origin comes from China, is a combination of four stones\nsuggesting\n\n[Illustration: AZALEAS IN A KYOTO GARDEN]\n\nthe different members of a tortoise\u2019s body, and a pine-tree of\ncarefully trained form should grow, as it were, out of the back of the\nanimal. The \u201cMaster\u2019s Isle\u201d has three principal stones--the \u201cStone\nof Easy Rest,\u201d which speaks for itself; the \u201cStone of Amusement,\u201d\nsuggesting the best spot for fishing; and finally the \u201cSeat Stone.\u201d The\n\u201cGuest\u2019s Isle\u201d has five important stones--the \u201cGuest-honouring Stone\u201d;\nthe \u201cInterviewing Stone\u201d; \u201cShoe-removing Stone,\u201d on which the clogs or\nsandals are changed; the \u201cWater-fowl Stone\u201d; and again the \u201cSea-gull\nResting Stone.\u201d\n\nAmong the _Valley Stones_ many have a religious suggestion; but under\nthis head we find the important \u201cStone of Worship,\u201d a broad flat stone\nupon which one has to assume an attitude of veneration; it should be in\nfront of the garden, at the point from which the best view is obtained.\nThe _Water-basin Stones_ are not those which form the basin itself, but\nmay merely serve as a base for the actual water receptacle, and either\nact as an embellishment, or perform certain functions in connection\nwith the basin. The _Tea-garden Stones_ have the \u201cKettle Stone,\u201d the\n\u201cCandlestick Stone,\u201d and many others suggestive of the tea-drinking\nceremonies--merely fanciful in their names, as these ceremonies\ninvariably take place in a room, and therefore the stones are never\nused to fulfil their supposed functions.\n\nFinally we come to the _Stepping-Stones_, and the art of the Japanese\nin placing these stones cannot fail to strike any one who has any\ninterest in the making of an ordinary rock garden. Their presence in\nall gardens in Japan is essential, as the use of turf being almost,\nif not entirely, unknown for paths and open spaces, it is replaced by\nfirmly beaten earth, or, for larger spaces, by fine sand carefully\nraked into patterns; as footmarks, and more especially the marks of\nwooden clogs, would destroy the symmetry of these patterns, and in\ndamp weather cut up the beaten earth, the use of stones for crossing\nthe spaces or taking a walk round the garden is an absolute necessity.\nThe alternative name for these stones is _Flying Stones_ or _Scattered\nIslands_, which at once suggests how gracefully and artistically they\nare placed. Nothing, as a rule, could be less artistic than the way\nstepping-stones are placed in English gardens; they seem at once to\nbring to my mind visions of people trying to keep a steady gait, a feat\nwhich it is positively difficult to accomplish where the stones are\nlaid in an almost straight row. In commenting on this fact Mr. Conder\nsays:--\n\n It is not, therefore, surprising to find that the Japanese\n gardener follows carefully devised rules for the distribution of\n \u201cStepping-Stones.\u201d He uses certain special stones and combinations,\n having definite shapes and approximate dimensions assigned to\n them, and he connects these with secondary blocks, the whole\n being arranged with a studied irregularity, both for comfort in\n walking and artistic grace. This is attained by the employment of\n ragged slabs of slate, schist, or flint, flat water-worn rocks\n or boulders, and hewn slabs or discs of granite or some other\n hard stone. The natural boulders are placed in zigzags of fours\n and threes, or sometimes in threes and twos, artificially hewn\n slabs, discs, or strips intervening. Though uniformity of tread\n is carefully calculated, the different sizes of the stones cause\n the intervals to vary considerably, and any apparent regularity\n is avoided. The distance between \u201cStepping-Stones\u201d should not,\n however, be less than four inches, to allow of the intermediate\n spaces being kept clean. The smaller stones are of sufficient size\n for the foot to rest firmly upon, and should not, as a general\n rule, be higher than two inches from the soil. In ancient times it\n is said that \u201cStepping-Stones\u201d for the Emperor\u2019s gardens were made\n six inches high, those for a Daimyo four inches, those for ordinary\n Samurai nearly three inches, and for common folk an inch and a\n half in height. The larger stones are intended as a rest for both\n feet, and two of them should never be used consecutively. In some\n cases several continuous pathways formed of \u201cStepping-Stones\u201d may\n be seen. When such walks branch off in two directions a larger and\n higher stone, called the \u201cStep-dividing Stone,\u201d will be placed at\n the point of divergence.\n\nThe stones leading to the house end usually in a high slab of granite\nwhich forms the step on to the verandah. It is no exaggeration to say\nthat the Stepping-Stones of a well-planned garden, besides being of\nstrict utility, are a great ornament to the garden.\n\nProbably the garden ornaments which will first attract the eye of\nthe visitor are the stone lanterns, which are to be found in almost\nevery garden, however humble. These lanterns appear to be of purely\nJapanese origin; no record of them is to be found in the history of\nChinese gardens, though the introduction of miniature stone pagodas\nas garden ornaments came to Japan from China through the medium of\nKorea, for which reason they are still called \u201cKorean Towers.\u201d The\nuse of stone lanterns as a decoration for gardens seems to date from\nthe days when the Professors of Tea-ceremonial turned their attention\nto landscape gardening. The custom of presenting votive offerings\nof lanterns in bronze or stone, large or small, plain or decorated,\ndates from early days, and no Buddhist temple or shrine is complete\nwithout its moss-grown lanterns adorning the courts and grounds. The\ncorrect placing of stone lanterns in the landscape garden is almost as\ncomplex as the placing of stones. They should be used in combination\nwith rocks, shrubs and trees, and water-basins. They have no use\nexcept as ornaments, as seldom, if ever, did I see one with a light\nin its fire-box except in temple grounds. They appeared to be almost\nmore valued for their age than their form, as new ones can be easily\nprocured of any desired shape; but however ingenious the devices may\nbe for imparting a look of age to new specimens, it is time, and time\nalone, which will bring that thick green canopy of velvet moss on their\nroof, and the granite will only become toned down to the coveted mellow\nhue by long exposure to the weather.\n\nRoughly speaking, garden lanterns are divided into two classes, the\n_Standard_ and the _Legged_ class, though many others of fanciful\ndesign may sometimes be seen. The origin of the Standard class was\nknown as the \u201cKasuga\u201d shape, after a Shinto god to whom the well-known\nNara temple is dedicated. Thousands of these Kasuga lanterns adorn\nthe temple grounds, and the exact form is that of \u201ca high cylindrical\nstandard, with a small amulet in the centre, erected on a base and\nplinth of hexagonal plan, and supporting an hexagonal head crowned\nwith a stone roof of double curve, having corner scrolls. The top\nis surmounted with a ball drawn to a point above. The head of the\nlantern, which is technically called the fire-box, is hollowed out,\ntwo of its faces having a square opening large enough to admit an\noil lamp; and the remaining four sides being carved respectively\nwith representations of a stag, a doe, the sun, and the moon.\u201d These\nlanterns may vary in size, from six to as much as eighteen feet, and in\nthis colossal size make a most imposing decoration for a large garden.\nThere are several other designs which closely resemble the true Kasuga\nshape. Many others there are which still belong to the Standard class:\nsome with the standards shortened and the heads elongated; others with\nflat saucer-shaped caps or wide mushroom-shaped roofs--in fact, an\ninfinite variety; and even in humble gardens rude specimens are seen\nbuilt of natural mossy stones chosen to resemble as closely as possible\nthe regulation form, and the fire-box made of wood. Another form of the\nStandard shape is suggestive of glorified lamp-posts; these lanterns\nare mostly used in the approach to gardens or near the tea-rooms. Some\nof them are very quaint and quite rustic in appearance, being always\nmade of wood. The square wooden lantern on a tall post is covered by\neither a wooden or thatched roof with\n\n[Illustration: AZALEAS, KYOTO]\n\nwide-projecting eaves. One of these is called the _Who goes there?_\nshape, and derives its original name from the fact that the dim light\nseen through its paper doors is only sufficient to enable a person to\nvaguely distinguish an approaching form; and the _Thatched Hut_ shape\nis in the form of a little thatched cottage.\n\nThe class known as _Legged_ lanterns have the alternative name of\n_Snow Scene_ lanterns, as the very wide umbrella-shaped roof or cap,\nby which they are invariably covered, makes a broad surface for snow\nto rest upon. To the eye of a Japanese the effect of snow is almost\nmore beautiful than any of their floral displays, and a snow-clad\nscene gives them infinite pleasure. The position of these lanterns in\nthe garden should be partly overshadowed by the crooked branch of a\nspreading pine-tree, and certainly after a fall of snow the effect is\none of great beauty.\n\nOrnamental bronze or iron lanterns are hung by a chain from the eaves\nof the verandah of either the principal house or tea-room, and, like\nthe water-basin, are often very beautiful in design. Bronze _Standard_\nlanterns are never seen in landscape gardens, only as votive offerings\nto temples; but occasionally an iron lantern with no standard, only\nresting on low feet, may be placed on a flat stone near the water\u2019s\nedge, or nestling in the shadow of a group of evergreen shrubs. Near\nthe larger Kasuga-shaped lanterns a stepping-stone (or even two, if\nthe lantern be unusually large) should be placed higher than the\nsurrounding ones; these are called _Lamp-lighting Stones_, as by their\naid the fire-box can be conveniently reached for lighting the lamp.\n\nA garden water-basin may be either ornamental in form, or merely a\nvery plain hollowed-out stone with a strictly utilitarian aspect. Its\nposition in the garden is invariably the same, within easy reach of the\nverandah, so that the water can be reached by the wooden ladle which\nis left by the side of the basin; and usually an ornamental fence of\nbamboo or rush-work separates it from that part of the house in its\nimmediate neighbourhood. For a small residence, and where the basin is\nfor practical use, the distance from the edge of the verandah should\nnot be more than eighteen inches, and the height three to four feet;\nbut as the law of proportion applies to the water-basin just as it\napplies to the rest of the composition, the ornamental basin in front\nof a large house will have to be three or four feet away, and its\nheight seven or eight feet from the ground. In this case, in spite of\nthe stepping-stones, the basin becomes merely an ornament, as it is\nout of reach for practical purposes, and even has to be protected by a\nseparate decorative roof to keep off the rain.\n\nEach shape of basin has its own name, but perhaps one of the most\npopular forms is that of a natural rock of some unusual shape, hollowed\nat the top and covered with a delicate little wooden construction,\nlike a tiny shed or temple, to keep the water cool and unpolluted.\nThe _Running-water Basins_, as their name suggests, receive a stream\nof clear water by means of a little bamboo aqueduct, and in that case\narrangement has to be made for the overflow of the water.\n\nAs water is so essential in the composition of all landscape gardens,\nit is not surprising to find that the various styles of bridges which\nare employed to cross the lake or miniature torrents, and connect\nthe tiny islands with the shore, are so graceful in design, and yet\nso simple, that they must certainly be classed as ornaments to the\ngarden. The more elaborate bridges of stone or wood are only seen in\nlarge gardens. The semicircular arched bridge, of which the best-known\nexample is in the grounds of the Kameido temple in Tokyo, where it\nforms a most picturesque object in connection with the wistaria-clad\ntrellises, is of Chinese origin, and is supposed to suggest a full\nmoon, as the reflection in the water below completes the circle. It was\nnot these elaborate bridges that I admired most, but rather the simpler\nforms made out of a single slab of granite slightly carved, spanning\na narrow channel, or, more imposing still, two large parallel blocks,\noverlapping in the middle of the stream, supported by a rock or by a\nwooden support.\n\nVery attractive, too, are the little bridges made of bundles of faggots\nlaid on a wooden framework, covered with beaten earth, the edges formed\nof turf, bound with split bamboo, to prevent the soil from crumbling\naway. There is an infinite variety of these little fantastic bridges,\nand the cleverness displayed in the placing of them was a never-failing\nsource of admiration to me. The common idea of a bridge being a means\nof crossing water in the shortest and most direct manner is by no\nmeans the Japanese conception of a bridge. Their fondness for water,\nand their love of lingering while crossing it, in order to feed and\ngaze at the goldfish, or merely to enjoy the scene, has no doubt been\nresponsible for the position of many of their bridges: one slab will\nconnect the shore with a little rocky islet, and then, instead of\ncontinuing in the most direct route to the opposite shore, as often as\nnot the next slab will branch away in an entirely different direction,\nprobably with the object of revealing a different view of the garden,\nor merely in order to prolong the pleasure of crossing the lake or\nstream.\n\nIn most gardens, unless they are very diminutive in size, there is\nat least one Arbour or _Resting Shed_. It may consist merely of a\nthick rustic post supporting a thatched roof in the shape of a huge\numbrella, with a few movable seats, or its proportions may assume\nthose of a miniature house carefully finished in every detail. When\nthey are of such an elaborate form they partake more of the nature of\nthe Tea-ceremony room, with raised matted floors, plastered walls,\nand _shoji_ on at least two sides of the room. The open structures in\nvarious shapes, with rustic thatched roofs, some fixed seats with a low\nrailing or balustrade to lean against, are of more common form; and if\nthe _Resting House_ is by the side of the lake, a projecting verandah\nrailed round is very popular, affording a comfortable resting-place\nfrom which to gaze at the scene.\n\nDecorative garden wells are picturesque objects, with their diminutive\nroofs to protect the cord and pulley from the rain. As often as\nnot they are purely for ornament, but even in this case the cord,\npulley, and bracket should all look as antique as possible. A few\nstepping-stones should lead to it, and a stone lantern should be at\nhand with a suitable group of trees or shrubs.\n\nFinally we come to garden fences and gateways, which again are\nbewildering in their infinite variety and style. The Imperial\ngardens, and even less imposing domains, are not enclosed by fences,\nbut by solid walls of clay and mud, plastered over, carrying a roof\nof ornamental tiles. Even fences made of natural wood all carry a\nprojecting roof to afford protection from the rain, which adds very\nmuch to their picturesque effect. The humblest garden must have two\nentrances, which therefore necessitates two gateways--the principal\nentrance, by which the guests enter, and the back entrance, called\n_The Sweeping Opening_ from its practical use as a means of egress for\nthe rubbish of the garden. This gate will be made of wood or bamboo,\nquite simple in style; but the _Entrance Gate_ is a far more important\nfeature of the domain, and must be in character with the garden it\nleads to. The actual garden doors are of\n\n[Illustration: TIGER LILIES]\n\nnatural wood, their panels decorated with either carving or\nlattice-work, and set in a wooden frame which may vary considerably in\nstyle. Roofed gateways are very common, and the practice of hanging\na wooden tablet between the lintels, with an inscription either\ndescribing the style of the garden or merely conveying a pretty\nsentiment in keeping with its character, is often seen. The fashion\nof planting a pine-tree of twisted and crooked shape just inside the\ngateway so that its leaning branches may be seen above the fence, is\nnot only for artistic effect, but, the pine being an emblem of good\nluck, it is supposed to bring long life and happiness to the owner of\nthe garden.\n\nMr. Conder tells us that over a hundred drawings exist of ornamental\n_Screen Fences_, called by the Japanese _Sleeve Fences_. They may\nbe used to screen off some portion of the garden, but are mainly\nornamental, and are usually placed near the water-basin and a stone\nlantern. Without illustrations it is hopeless to attempt to describe\ntheir fanciful shapes, each again with a poetical name. The materials\nused in their construction consist chiefly of bamboo tubes of various\nsizes, rushes and reeds tied with dyed fibre, or even the tendrils of\ncreepers or wistaria. In some of the simpler forms the patterns are\nonly made by the placing of the bamboo joints; but others are much more\nelaborate, and have panels of lattice-work formed of tied rushes or\nreeds, or openings of different shapes like windows. Mr. Conder gives a\ndetailed description of an immense number of these fantastic screens,\nand one at least I must quote as an example.\n\n The _Moon-entering Screen Fence_ is about seven feet high and three\n feet wide, having in the centre a circular hole, from which it\n receives its name. The vertical border on one side is broken off at\n the edge of the orifice, so that the circle is not complete, and\n this gives it the form of a three-quarter moon. Above the hole the\n bundles of reeds are arranged vertically, like bars, and below in a\n diagonal lattice-work, tied with hemp cords.\n\nThrough the openings in these fences a branch of pine, or some creeper,\nis often brought through and trained with excellent effect.\n\nI feel I have said enough about the materials used for the construction\nof a landscape garden, to convey to the mind of the reader something\nof the difficulties which surround the correct combination of these\nmaterials, and sufficient to make any one realise that the making of a\nJapanese garden is a true art, which it is not surprising that it is\nimpossible for a foreigner to imitate, hence the lamentable failure\nof the so-called \u201cJapanese gardens\u201d which it has been the fashion of\nlate years to try and make in England frequently by persons who have\nnever even seen one of the gardens of Japan. The owner of probably\nthe best of these English \u201cJapanese gardens\u201d was showing his garden,\nwhich was the apple of his eye, to a Japanese, who with instinctive\npoliteness was full of admiration, but had failed to recognise the fact\nthat it was meant to be a true landscape garden of his own country, and\ntherefore exclaimed, \u201cIt is very beautiful; we have nothing at all like\nit in Japan!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nLANDSCAPE GARDENS\n\n\nHaving made some attempt to elucidate the mysterious and wonderful\nconstruction of Japanese gardens, I feel the reader will expect\nto learn something of their effect as a whole when completed.\nUnfortunately many of the finest specimens of landscape gardens, the\nold Daimyos\u2019 gardens in Tokyo, have been swept away to make room for\nforeign houses, factories, and breweries, and no trace of them remains;\nold drawings or photographs alone tell of their departed glories.\nProbably the largest of these gardens which still remains entire is\nthe Koraku-en, or Arsenal Garden, as it is more commonly called. It is\nnow empty and deserted, and seems only filled with sadness, its groves\nrecalling days gone by, when succeeding Daimyos entertained their\nfriends in regal pomp, and the sound of revelry broke the silence of\nthe woods; to-day only the incessant sound of metal hammering metal\nbreaks the silence of the glades, and the sound of explosions from the\nArsenal near by might well rouse the dead. The garden covers a large\nextent of ground, and is an example of a scheme in which many separate\nscenes were skilfully worked together to form a perfect whole. Its fame\ndates from early in the seventeenth century, when the Daimyo of Mito,\nwho was a great patron of landscape gardening, laid out the grounds.\nThe fact that they are remarkable for many Chinese characteristics is\nnot surprising, when we learn that the Shogun Iyemitsu took an interest\nin the work, and lent the aid of a great Chinese artist called Shunseu,\nwho completed the scheme. A semicircular stone bridge of Chinese\ndesign, called a _Full-moon Bridge_, spans a stretch of water in which,\nin the scorching heat of August mornings, the great buds of white\nlotus flowers will crack and slowly open, their giant leaves almost\nhiding the bridge; this important feature of the garden is called Seiko\nKutsumi, after a famous lotus lake in China. The island in the lake is\nthe Elysian Isle of Chinese fame, and formerly was connected with the\nshore by a long wooden bridge, which has long since disappeared; but\nthe path wanders on, past the rocky shore, skirting the headland and\nhigh wooded promontory, through the dense gloom of a forest, and by the\ntime I had made a complete tour of this garden I felt as though I had\npaid a flying visit to half Japan.\n\nThere was an avenue of cherry-trees to recall the avenues of Koganei;\nthe river Tatsuda in miniature, its banks clothed with maples and other\nreddening trees, to give colour to the garden in autumn, when the\nsetting sun will seem to light the torch and set all the trees ablaze;\nthere also is the Oi-gawa or Rapid River with its wide pebble-strewn\nbed, down which a rapid-flowing stream is brought; then we are\ntransported to scenes in China; and beyond, again, the wanderer is\nreminded of the scenery of Yatsuhashi, where one of the eight bridges\ncrosses in zigzag fashion a marshy swamp which in the month of June\nis a mass of irises, great gorgeous blossoms of every conceivable\nshade of lilac and purple, completely hiding their foliage; then this\nlittle valley becomes a stream of colour and recalls the more extensive\nglories of Hori-kiri.\n\nPerhaps most ingenious of all is that part of the garden where the cone\nof Fuji-yama appears, snow-capped in May, as it is densely planted\nwith\n\n[Illustration: AN OLD GARDEN]\n\nwhite azaleas. Many other scenes there were--tiny shrines built in\nimitation of great temples, cascades and waterfalls named after other\ncelebrated falls, rare rocks, moss-grown lanterns, bridges of all\ndesigns; in fact, the garden seemed a perfect treasure-house, and I\nfelt glad that this one garden has escaped the hand of the destroyer\nand is left entire, a masterpiece of conception and execution.\n\nOf another Tokyo garden--which unfortunately has not been left\nuntouched, as it is shorn of half its former glories, a glaring\nred-brick brewery covering half the area of the beautiful grounds\nformerly known as Satake-no-niwa--only a portion remains, though a\nvery lovely portion, and as it seems complete in itself it is still\nworth a visit. Unlike the Koraku-en, the Satake Garden was a rather\nartificial example of hill gardening, more open, with no dense groves,\nbut essentially a hill and water garden. The large lake remains, and,\nlike most of the gardens in the Honjo district of Tokyo, its waters are\nsalt and tidal, being connected with the neighbouring river Sumida.\nThus at high and low tide the shores of the lake present a very\ndifferent aspect; pebbly bays can only be crossed by stepping-stones\nat high tide, and even some of the stone lanterns by the water\u2019s edge\nhave their standards half submerged. The hills are closely planted with\nevergreen bushes and shrubs, and most of the year the garden is all\ngrey and green; the island is reached by a grey stone bridge formed\nof two slabs of granite of giant proportions, the grey lanterns stand\namong shrubs, cut into rounded form, and the mossy rocks and boulders\nhave still more neutral tones; so it is only in spring when Nature\nasserts herself, and no gardener can prevent the young leaves of the\nmaples being a variety of vivid colouring, and the grey rounded azalea\nbushes become perfect balls of scarlet, rosy-pink and white blossoms,\nthat the garden has any colour in it. But to the mind of the Japanese\nall sense of repose and quiet charm would be gone if the eye were\nalways worried by a distracting mass of colour; so even if flowers were\ngrown in these more extensive gardens they had a special part of the\ngrounds set apart for their culture. In one corner of the lake a piece\nof swampy ground was thickly planted with irises and water-plants, and\na wistaria trellis overhung the lake, otherwise no flowers entered\ninto the scheme; but it was a perfect specimen of the typical Japanese\narrangement of garden hills planted with rounded bushes and adorned\nwith lanterns.\n\n[Illustration: SATAKE GARDEN, TOKYO]\n\nA magnificent example of a modern landscape garden is that belonging\nto Baron Iwasaki, made some forty years ago. The venerable pine-trees\nsupported by stout props overhanging the lake are suggestive of\ncountless ages; but in this garden old trees of gnarled and twisted\ngrowth, rare rocks, and immense boulders were collected from all parts\nof the empire, regardless of expense, and brought together to ensure\nthe success of the scheme. The grounds cover many acres, the one blot\nin the landscape being the large red-brick foreign house; but luckily\nthe most lovely part of the garden is laid out in front of the perfect\nspecimen of a Japanese gentleman\u2019s house, where the verandah of the\ncool matted rooms looks over a scene of indescribable beauty. The large\nlake is cleverly divided, and the portion of the garden in front of\nthe foreign house is left behind; groves of evergreen trees screen\nthe house--the one jarring note; and here the lake becomes the lagoon\nof Matsu-shima, tiny pine-clad islets rise from the water, and in the\ndistance rises the cone of Fuji from an undulating plain of close-mown\nturf and groups of dwarfed pines. Here again flowers have no official\nexistence; azaleas there are in profusion, but they are only introduced\nas shrubs; so the garden is not a flower garden, but a true landscape\ngarden--the reproduction in miniature of natural scenery. The lanterns\nand bridges near the foreign house are of immense size, carrying out\nthe law of proportion; the rocks and boulders are large to correspond,\nand the whole effect is one of great breadth; only near the tea-house\nand the main Japanese house does the garden become more finished in\nstyle and on a smaller scale. The balcony overhangs the rocky edge of\nthe tidal lake; each rock has its history and its especial place; but\nthe laws which have governed the making of such a garden are laws drawn\nup by great artists,--there is no false note, even the grouping of\nthe reeds and irises by the water\u2019s edge has been planned by a master\nhand, so the picture remains graven on one\u2019s memory as that of an ideal\npleasaunce for leisure and repose.\n\nIn Kyoto there still remain the gardens of the Gold and Silver\nPavilions--gardens of much older date, the splendour of their pavilions\ndimmed by age, more especially in the case of Kinkakuji, the Golden\nPavilion. Mr. Conder says, \u201cLong neglect has converted what was\nonce an elaborate artificial landscape into a wild natural scene of\ngreat beauty.\u201d The little pine-clad islets remain, but they are now\nisland wildernesses; the trees have partially resumed their normal\nshapes; great leaning pines overhang the shores of the _Mirror Ocean_,\nrepresenting the Sea of Japan, and its three islands suggesting the\nEmpire of the Mikado. It was in the fourteenth century that this quiet\nspot became the so-called retreat of the scheming Yoshimitsu, who,\npretending to have resigned the Shogunate in favour of his son, here\nlived in the garb of a monk, but in reality directing the affairs of\nState. The two-storied Pavilion itself, seen reflected in the _Mirror\nOcean_, is possibly more picturesque in decay than it was in the days\nof its splendour; the gilding from which it takes its name has been\npartially restored; it is backed by the wooded hill fancifully called\nthe _Silken Canopy_ or _Silk Hat Mountain_, from the fact that the\nex-Mikado Uda ordered it to be covered with white silk on a scorching\nsummer\u2019s day, in order that his eyes might enjoy the sensation of\ngazing on a cool, snow-covered scene. To this day the garden of\nKinkakuji under a light canopy of snow is one of the favourite sights\nof the people of Kyoto. In days gone by there were smaller arbours in\nwhich the Shogun, wearied with his walk among the groves of the _Silk\nHat Mountain_, would rest, and compare the scene which the garden was\nintended to represent, to the real Sea of Japan, whence the name of one\nof the arbours, _The House of the Sound of the Seashore_.\n\nTo the north-east of Kyoto, nestling among the woods that clothe the\nlower hills of Hiei-san, lie the grounds of Ginkakuji or the Silver\nPavilion. In imitation of his predecessor Yoshimitsu, the Shogun\nYoshimasa after his abdication retired from the affairs of the world,\nbuilt himself a country house with grounds of vast extent, even with\ndespotic impatience sweeping away a temple because it interfered\nwith his plans,--though we are told he was filled with remorse, and\nafterwards restored it at great expense. The two-storied Pavilion was\npartly copied from its rival, the Golden Pavilion, though it never\nseems to have attained to the same splendour; but here the ex-Shogun\nand his boon companions, the philosopher Soami and Shuko the Nara\npriest, held their \u00e6sthetic revels. They may be said to have laid down\nthe laws which raised the tea-ceremonial to the rank of a fine art. Mr.\nFarrar, in writing of it, says:--\n\n It has its prescribed ritual of appalling rigidity, this\n tea-ceremony, invented and elaborated by a pious monk to\n\n[Illustration: A TOKYO GARDEN]\n\n distract a young and giddy Shogun from his debaucheries. It was\n taken up as a political weapon by the House of Tokugawa, and\n crystallised into its present adamantine form, becoming a social\n engine of the most powerful nature in its power of bringing all\n the nobles together. Here, then, is one of its temples where\n the rites were celebrated in their due ordinance, with their\n prescribed compliments, obeisances, and admiring exclamations\n over the prescribed flower, arranged in the prescribed spot, and\n indicated by the host in the prescribed words, to be followed by\n the invariable litany of conversation and courtesy over the cup of\n tea to be made, handed, accepted, and drunk all with remarks and\n gestures and smiles of ancestral rubric.\n\nOutside any tea-house built in accordance with these prescribed\nregulations one sees \u201ca row of stepping-stones, finishing beneath a\nlittle _\u0153il-de-b\u0153uf_ in the wall above, by which the visitors had to\nenter, ignoring the thoroughly practical door. They approached, making\nthe due bows upon each stone, and at last their host was to fish them\nin through the window.\u201d\n\nAnother ceremony inaugurated within these precincts was the ceremonial\nof \u201cincense sniffing,\u201d to our minds merely an innocent, childish game,\nthe winner being the person possessing the keenest sense of smell, as\nthe pastime consisted of five or more different kinds of incense being\nburnt, sniffed, given poetical names, then mixed up and sniffed again,\nand the man who guesses best the names of the various kinds, is the\nwinner. The boxes which contained the incense, the burners in which it\nwas burnt, were all works of art, and the same grave etiquette which\ngoverned the tea-ceremonial governed these incense-sniffing parties,\nin which poets, writers, priests, philosophers, Daimyos, Shoguns, the\ngreatest and most learned in the land, took part. We can only gaze\nwith wonder and perplexity--not hoping to understand--at a \u201cnation\u2019s\nintellect going off on such devious tracks as this incense-sniffing\nand the still more intricate tea-ceremonies, and on bouquets arranged\nphilosophically, and gardens representing the cardinal virtues. Such\nstrict rules, such grave faces, such endless terminologies, so much ado\nabout nothing!\u201d (Professor Chamberlain\u2019s _Things Japanese_.)\n\nTo return to the garden proper, laid out with great elaboration by\nSoami. Although it is now much neglected, the trees are not kept\ntrimmed according to the rigid laws, their stems are lichen-clad, and\nNature has tried to reassert herself over art, yet the beauty of the\nspot is great. The lake, of ingenious form, backed on the north side\nby the thickly pine-clad hills and to the west by the regulation\ngrove of maples, is an admirable example of the arrangement of garden\nstones, its shores being rich in rare and precious rocks, each with its\ncharacteristic name. One of the principal stones lying in the lake is\nthe stone of _Ecstatic Contemplation_; the little bridge which divides\nthe lake is the _Bridge of the Pillar of the Immortals_; the water\nof the cascade which fills the lake, being of exceptional purity, is\ncalled the _Moon-washing Fountain_. In the foreground of many of these\nolder gardens was an open space covered with white sand, carefully\nraked into ornamental patterns, and here is a large mound of the sand\nsuggestive of a mammoth sugar-loaf with a flattened top, called the\n_Silver Sand Platform_, the smaller one of the same shape being the\n_Mound facing the Moon_; on these sat Yoshimasa and his favourites,\nindulging in another favourite pastime of moon-gazing, to our prosaic\nminds merely another elaborately conceived method of killing time.\nI know no garden in Japan which seemed to take one back so far into\nthe world of the Old Japan as this little garden of Ginkakuji, and\nno more peaceful spot to sit and enjoy the reddening maple leaves on\na bright evening in late autumn, when there is a touch of sadness in\nthe air, in keeping with the departed glories of the Pavilion and the\nfast-fading beauties of the trees.\n\nMany of the smaller and most interesting gardens in Japan are those\nattached to tea-houses or small suburban houses, showing, as they\ndo, the ingenuity and resource of the landscape gardener in making a\nperfect garden of any size, from ten acres to half an acre, or only\na few square yards. Among tea-house gardens, that attached to the\nRaku-raku-tei at Hikone can hardly be counted, as it was formerly\nthe garden of a great Daimyo and is one of the finest gardens in the\ncountry. The numerous little summer-houses built out on piles in the\nlake have been erected for the entertainment of the guests of the\ntea-house, a gathering place for the most _\u00e9lite_, but otherwise the\ngarden remains unchanged; the paths which wind round the lake, across\nthe bridges, past the _Stone of Worship_, from where the beauties of\nthe garden may be enjoyed to best advantage, are the same paths which\nthe feet of successive Daimyos trod in the feudal days of old.\n\nIt is rather to the Hira-niwa, or Flat Gardens, that I allude, made in\nthe small enclosures at the back of private houses or tea-houses in\ntowns, or even in the actual courts, no space being apparently too\nsmall for the construction of one of these little fresh-looking and\nartistic gardens. How superior to the dusty, neglected back garden\nor court of a European house, too often only a piece of waste ground\nwhere the rubbish of the house accumulates, the space being condemned\nas too small for a garden. I can recall visions of many a tiny court\nno more than twenty feet square, within whose limits were compressed\na liliputian pond, fed with clear water by the overflow of the\nwater-basin; a dwarf pine, the soul of every Japanese garden, which in\nconjunction with a few small evergreen shrubs sheltered a moss-grown\nlantern. Some small rocks and a few foliage or water plants in a tuft\nby the water\u2019s edge, were the sole materials used for the making of\nthis court-garden. Stepping-stones, let into the beaten earth, led from\nthe step of the verandah to the edge of the pond, ending in one stone\nlarger than the rest, suggesting the _Stone of Worship_, or the _Stone\nof Amusement_, in case there should be any goldfish in the pond. As\nthese little courts are kept profusely watered, being sprinkled out of\na wooden ladle several times a day in the hottest days of summer, the\neffect is always damp and cool, the mossy stones are always fresh and\ngreen, however fierce the heat may be. The variety in the actual form\nof these gardens seemed infinite; in some the pond was omitted, and\nthe suggestion of water and dampness came from the rustic garden well\nor the ornamental water-basin, behind which always stands a portion\nof screen-fencing of elaborate design. When the area is not quite\nso limited, bridges will be introduced to cross the pond, possibly\nconsisting only of a single stone slab supported on a natural piece\nof rock, or a granite bridge slightly curved in form, or perhaps only\nthe suggestion of a bridge, formed of a branch of juniper or some\nflat close-growing evergreen trained in a curve across the water.\nAccording to the size of the ground, so these gardens will increase in\nelaboration of their design, and many an enclosure at the back of a\nmerchant\u2019s house in Kyoto or Osaka has been transformed into a perfect\nspecimen of Hira-niwa.\n\nOne I recall which always gave me as much pleasure as the most\nextensive landscape garden in the country. The lake was of the\nprescribed form known as the _Running Water shape_, fed by a\nfast-flowing stream which came in at the far end of the garden over the\nregulation Cascade Stones; a garden arbour of elaborate form overlooked\nthe lake, in which stood the \u201cElysian Isle\u201d with its pine-tree\n\n[Illustration: A LANDSCAPE GARDEN]\n\ngrowing out of the rock, and a few azalea bushes filling the\ninterstices of the stone, forming a most attractive feature of the\ngarden; banks there were planted with more azaleas; pines, kept dwarfed\nto about two feet in height, grew out of cushions of thick moss;\nbridges crossed and re-crossed the stream; stepping-stones, discs, and\nlabel stones guided our feet as we wandered about at leisure. There\nwere the two garden entrances, and even the back entrance, or _Sweeping\nOpening_, was a thing of beauty. Every detail of this garden had\nbeen first carefully thought out, and then as carefully carried into\nexecution.\n\nThe landscape gardener in Japan is no gardener in the sense that we\nregard a gardener in the West--a cultivator of flowers: he is a garden\nartist; he leaves none of his effects to chance; so carefully are his\nplans made that before the first sod of the new garden has been turned,\nhe knows exactly how the garden will look when completed. He will see\nin his mind\u2019s eye the appointed place for every tree, every stone,\nwhich is to be used in its composition. I could not help thinking that\nif more thought were given to the planning of our English gardens\nthere might be something more complete and satisfying to the eye than\nthe meaningless gardens--often laid out by the owner of the house,\nwho by the wildest stretch of imagination could not be called a garden\nartist--which too often surround our English homes. Our gardens are\nmade beautiful in summer by the wealth and profusion of their flowers;\nbut when the winter comes and the beds are shorn of their summer\nglories, the deficiencies of the plan of the garden are laid bare, and\nmight well give us food for thought through the long winter months.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nNURSERY GARDENS--DWARF TREES AND HACHI-NIWA\n\n\nA nursery garden in Japan may be called a revelation in the art\nof pruning. A singular idea exists in the minds of many people,\nthat all the trees in Japan are like the dwarf specimens they have\noccasionally seen in England on a nurseryman\u2019s stand at a flower-show,\nand frequently they display surprise, not unmixed with incredulity,\nwhen assured that such is not the case. I would recommend those\nunbelievers to take a walk in the cryptomeria avenues at Nikko, among\nthe camphor groves of Atami, or to wander through the pine-woods which\nclothe the hillsides above Kyoto, when they would see for themselves\nthe magnificence of the trees, untouched by the pruning knife of the\ngardener. The Japanese bestow as much time and care on the trees in\ntheir gardens as the Western gardener would give to his choicest\nflowers. The gardener\u2019s ideal tree is not the ordinary tree of the\nforest, but the abnormal specimen which age and weather have twisted\nand bent into quaint and unusual shapes. Here, in the nursery garden,\nwe shall find specimen trees; old trees it is true, but trees giving\nproof that art has had to improve upon nature, as scarcely a single\ntree in the whole collection--waiting, possibly, to transform the new\ngarden of a _nouveau riche_ into an ancestral home--will have been\nallowed to follow its own inclination of growth and shape.\n\nThe pine-tree is generally chosen as the subject for the operating\nknife, and is cut and trained into all manner of shapes; an umbrella\nmade of a single tree of _Pinus densiflora_ trained on a framework\nof light bamboo, or a junk of perfect form, the reward of years of\npatience, will be waiting until it is required to be the chief feature\nin a landscape garden. The curiously twisted appearance characteristic\nof a Japanese pine-tree, in gardens and temple grounds, is achieved by\na clever system of pruning, and gives the trees a stunted and venerable\nappearance, which they would otherwise not attain for years. The\nleading shoot of each branch and most of the side ones are removed,\ngiving the branch a new direction, sometimes at right angles to the\nprevious year\u2019s growth. This operation is repeated every year, and the\nbranches thinned out, so that every line of the stems can be followed.\nAnother favourite and very effective way of training a pine, is to\ncarry a long branch out over a stream or pond, and by skilful training\nand cutting to give it the direction that, after a few years\u2019 growth,\nwill have become natural to it, and the whole strength of the tree will\nseem concentrated in that one branch. These trees should be placed\nby the water\u2019s edge or on the slope of a hill, and are often planted\nleaning at all manner of angles. The gardener is never sparing in his\nuse of stout bamboo props, which to our Western ideas would appear\nunsightly.\n\nIt is not in these trees, interesting as they always are, that the\nadmiration of the visitor to a Japanese nursery garden will be centred;\nfor how few foreigners remain long enough in the country, or take\nsufficient interest in their temporary home, to construct a new garden\nround it; yet how easy it seems to accomplish, when old gnarled trees\nare ready grown. It would appear as though a few hours\u2019 planning and\nplotting, a few stones and trees, a few days\u2019 work for a few coolies,\nare all that is required, and the thing would be done; but remember\nsuccess depends upon the plan, one false touch would set the whole\nconception ajar, so woe betide the foreigner if he were to attempt to\ninterfere with the making of his garden; left to himself a Japanese is\nnever guilty of that one false touch.\n\nArranged in rows on wooden platforms will be the object of our visit to\nthe nursery garden--the dwarf trees--whose fame has spread throughout\nthe world, and who seem to share with the cherry blossom the floral\nfame of Japan. When first I visited the country I went prepared to\nbe disappointed with the dwarf trees; I had seen inferior specimens\nshipped to Europe no doubt because of their inferiority, pining away\na lingering life in a climate unsuited to them, deprived of all care\nand attention; for an idea prevailed in England when they were first\nimported, that these tiny trees, the result of years of patient\ntraining, required no water, and either no fresh air or else were\nequally indifferent to the fiery rays of the summer suns or the icy\nblasts of the winter winds. A visit to a garden in their native country\nwill soon reveal that such is not the case. The trees are not coddled,\nit is true, but the proper allowance of water, especially in their\ngrowing season, is most important, and they are impatient of a draught;\nthough many seem to stand the full rays of the sun, the best specimens\nhad generally some light canvas or bamboo blinds, arranged so that\nthey could be drawn over the stands during the hottest hours of the\nscorching summer days. I have heard these trees described as tortured\ntrees; to me, good specimens never gave that impression, their charm\ntook possession of me, and a grand old pine or juniper whose gnarled\nand twisted trunk suggested a giant of the forest, and yet was under\nthree feet in height, standing in a soft-coloured porcelain bowl, gave\nme infinite pleasure. I could see no fault in them, they are completely\nsatisfying and give a strange feeling of repose.\n\nTheir variety is infinite, from six inches in height to as many feet;\npines, junipers, thujas, maples, larch, willows, and, among the\nflowering trees, pink and white plum, single and double cherries, tiny\npeach-trees, smothered by their blossoms, pyrus trained in fantastic\nshapes, all will be there in bewildering choice of beauty. I have heard\nof a single treasure, a weeping willow, only six inches in height, the\nreward of years of patience, for which the price of 7000 yen (\u00a3700)\nwas paid; probably to our eyes it would have had no more value than\na humble \u201cdwarf\u201d which, in consequence of some slight imperfection,\nwould not fetch more than _sevenpence_. In a perfect specimen not only\neach branch, but each twig and each leaf, must conform absolutely in\ndirection and proportion to the same unbending laws which govern this\nart, as well as its sister arts of landscape gardening and flower\narrangement--laws which a writer says were \u201cthe iron rules laid down by\nthe canons of taste in the days when Iyeyasu Tokugawa paralysed into an\nadamantine immobility the whole artistic and intellectual life of the\ncountry.\u201d So in every garden there will be failures as perfect works\nof art, but beautiful in our eyes, which fail to see any difference\nbetween the perfect specimen with its boughs bent down by the weight\nof the laws which have trained it and priced it at some hundred yen,\nor the \u201cfailure\u201d by its side, beautiful and wonderful, with all its\nimperfections an exquisite and dainty thing, priced at as many pence.\n\nPerhaps one of the best opportunities for buying these imperfect trees,\nwhich are still admired and readily bought by the Japanese themselves,\nthough not to be treasured as works of art, is at\n\n[Illustration: THE OLD WISTARIA]\n\nthe sales which take place at night in the streets of Kyoto on certain\ndays of the month. The plants are arranged on stalls down each side\nof a narrow street, and the intending purchaser has to fight his way\nthrough a dense crowd to choose his plants. No lover of dwarf trees\nshould miss attending one of these sales, and perhaps the uncertainty\nas to whether the plant is in good health, or the bowl containing it\nis broken, adds to the excitement of bargaining with the stall-holder;\nevery Japanese loves a bargain, and the transaction is eagerly watched\nby the crowd, and the \u201cforeign devil\u201d will gain their admiration if he\ncan hold his own against the rapacity of the salesman. As the plants\nvary in price, from a few sen to two or three yen, one can afford to\ncarry off a sufficient number to ensure having some, at least, that\nwill be a reward for one\u2019s patience. On the 1st of April the best\nnight-market of the year is held. The stalls will be covered with\ntempting little flowering trees, their buds almost bursting and full of\npromise of lovely blossoms to come--sturdy little peach-trees, their\nbranches thickly covered with soft velvet buds just tinged with pink;\ndrooping cherries wreathed with red-brown buds; slender pyrus trained\ninto wonderful twisted shapes; little groves of maple-trees, their\nscarlet or bronze leaves just unfurling, or miniature forests of larch,\nshading mossy ravines with rivers of white sand; ancient pine-trees\nspreading their branches over rocky precipices rising from a bed of\npebbles; sweet-scented daphnes, golden-flowered forsythias, and early\nazaleas in porcelain dishes, which are round or oval, square, shallow\nor deep, and of every shade, from white, through soft greys and blues\nto a deep green. Every plant is a picture in itself, and the difficulty\nlies in deciding, not which to buy, but which one can bring oneself to\nleave behind.\n\nSiebold, who visited Japan and wrote the _Flora Japonica_ upwards of\nsixty years ago, thus describes the dwarf trees:--\n\n The Japanese have an incredible fondness for dwarf trees, and with\n reference to this the cultivation of the Ume, or Plum, is one of\n the most general and lucrative employments of the country. Such\n plants are increased by in-arching, and by this means specimens are\n obtained which have the peculiar habit of the Weeping Willow. A\n nurseryman offered me for sale in 1826 a plant in flower which was\n scarcely three inches high; this _chef d\u2019\u0153uvre_ of gardening was\n grown in a little lacquered box of three tiers, similar to those\n filled with drugs which the Japanese carry in their belts; in the\n upper tier was this Ume, in the second row a little Spruce Fir, and\n at the lowest a Bamboo scarcely an inch and a half high.\n\nThe Japanese still love their dwarf trees as much as they did in the\ndays of Siebold, and the trade in them has received additional impetus\nof late years, as great numbers are exported annually to Europe and the\nUnited States, where I fear they are not treasured as works of art, but\nare only regarded as curiosities.\n\nAt different seasons of the year the nursery gardens will be gay with\nthe display of some especial flower. Early in May the gaudy-coloured\ncurtains and paper lanterns at the gates will announce, in the bold\nblack lettering which is one of the chief ornaments of the country,\nthat a special exhibition of azaleas is being held. It is scarcely\nconceivable that any plants can bear so many blossoms as do these\nstiff and prim little azalea-trees; the individual blooms are small,\nbut their serried ranks form one dense even mass, flat as a table, for\nno straggling branches are allowed in these perfectly grown plants.\nEvery shade is there, an incredible blaze of colour, all the plants\nthe same shape, all practically the same size, and all in the same\nshaped pots; the only variety being in the delicate hue of the faience\npots or the vivid colouring of the blossoms. The pots are arranged in\nrows or stages under the blue and white checked roofing, which seems\npeculiarly to belong to flower exhibitions; the effect cannot be said\nto be artistic, but there is something very attractive about the little\ntrees, which are visited by the same crowd of sight-seers, who seem to\nspend their days in \u201cflower-viewing\u201d and quiet feasting on the matted\nbenches, the latter being inseparable from these flower resorts.\n\nOther flower exhibitions will follow in their turn--great flaunting\np\u00e6onies, brought with loving care from the gardens near Osaka; and then\nthe last and most treasured flower of all, the chrysanthemum. Again the\nlittle matted or chess-board roof will be brought into requisition, and\nan unceasing throng of visitors will discuss the merits of the last\nnew variety, or of a plant more perfectly grown than its neighbour.\nHere, too, I saw plants of single chrysanthemums, like great soft pink\ndaisies, grown in tall narrow porcelain pots, grey-blue in colour;\nleft untrained and unsupported the main stem fell over the side of the\npot, and the whole plant hung down with natural grace; the effect was\ncharming, and I could not help thinking might easily be accomplished in\nany garden.\n\nAt the end of the year may also be seen the dishes being prepared\nwith a combination of plum, bamboo, and pine which will be found on\nthe _tokonoma_ of almost every house throughout the empire at the New\nYear, bringing good luck and long life to the inmates. Sometimes the\ncombination will be merely a flower arrangement, but usually it is of\na more lasting nature, and a little plum-tree covered with soft pink\nbuds, a tiny gnarled old pine, and a small plant of bamboo, will be\nfirmly planted in the dish, a rock and a few stones may be added for\neffect, and the ground mossed over to suggest great age. Occasionally a\nclump of some everlasting flower, such as _Adonis amurensis_, is used\ninstead of the plum.\n\nIt is probably in the nursery garden that the traveller will first\nsee one of the toy gardens called _Hachi-niwa_--dish gardens--where\na perfect landscape and a well-known scene is accurately represented\nwithin the limited area of a shallow china dish, varying in size\nfrom six inches in length to two feet. Here we have another art, for\nthe making of _Hachi-niwa_ is almost as much trammelled by rules and\nconventions as its fellow-arts of flower arrangement and landscape\ngardening, and the same unbending law of proportion is the first\nconsideration. Just as the landscape gardener chooses the scene which\nhis garden is to represent, in proportion to the size of the ground\nwhich the future garden is intended to cover, so the maker of a\n_Hachi-niwa_ must choose his scene in proportion to the size of his\ndish; or, as his choice of dishes may be infinite, varying from a few\ninches upwards, and being in shape round or oval, long and narrow,\nwith square or rounded ends; so having decided on his landscape, he\nmay then choose his dish. As I had been much attracted by these little\nminiature gardens, each in itself a perfect picture, I determined to\nlearn something of the manner of their construction and to try and\ngrasp a few of the principles of the art. I had heard of a gardener\nin Kyoto who was a great master in the art, a disciple and pupil of\none of the Tokyo professors, who might tell me what I wished to learn.\nOn my first visit to his house he looked incredulous at the idea of a\nforeigner wishing to study the art of _Hachi-niwa_. Thinking I could\nonly wish to purchase a ready-made garden to carry off as a curiosity,\nhe appeared decidedly reserved, and reluctant to impart any information\non the subject of their composition. A friend who accompanied me, and\nwas more eloquent in his language than I was, assured him that I was in\nearnest--not merely a passer-by, but one who had already spent many\nmonths in his country; then his interest awoke, and he asked me to\nreturn the next day, when he would have all the materials prepared and\nI could choose my own subject.\n\nMany a happy hour did I spend making these little gardens and learning\nsomething of their history. A certain paraphernalia is necessary for\nthe construction of these miniature landscapes, and the requisite\nmaterials include a supply of moss of every variety--close cushions\nof moss to form the mountains, flat spreading moss to clothe the\nrocks, white lichened moss to carpet the ground beneath the venerable\npine-trees, which in themselves are especially grown and dwarfed,\ntill at the age of four or five years they will only have attained\nthe imposing height of as many inches; leaning and bent pines for\nthe scenery of Matsushima or the garden of Kinkakuji, groves of tiny\nmaples for Arashiyama, and pigmy trees of all descriptions. Finally,\nthere are microscopic toys to give life to the scene--perfect little\ntemples and shrines, in exact imitation of the originals, modelled\nout of the composition that is used for pottery, baked first in their\nnatural colour, then coloured when necessary and baked again; coolies,\npedlars, pilgrims in endless variety, less than an inch in height;\nbridges, lanterns, _torii_, boats, junks, rafts, mills, thatch-roofed\ncottages--everything, in fact, that is necessary in the making of a\nlandscape, down to breakwaters for the rivers, made like tiny bamboo\ncages filled with stones, such as exist at every turn of rivers like\nthe Fuji-kawa. The necessary implements consisted of chop-sticks, the\nuse of which is an art in itself, a trowel suggesting a doll\u2019s mason\u2019s\ntrowel, a tiny flat-iron for smoothing the surface of the sand, besides\ndiminutive scoops for holding only a few grains of sand, a pair of\nenlarged forceps for placing the moss, little fairy brooms about two\ninches long to sweep away sand which may have got out of place, and a\nsieve of like dimensions to sift white powder for a snow scene, and,\nfinally, a fine water sprayer to keep the moss damp and fresh.\n\nWhen the selection of the dish has been made--the regulation kind being\nof white or mottled blue china, in size twelve inches by eight, or\neighteen inches by twelve, about one inch deep--and the scene decided\nupon, damp sifted earth will form the mountains and the foundations\nin which the rocks are embedded; the hills are carefully carved and\nmoulded into perfect shape; crevasses, down which a torrent of white\nsand will flow, to represent a river, or a mountain road running\nbetween a gorge of terrific rocks, are marked out. Then will come the\nfirm planting of the stones, toy temples, houses, or bridges; the\nposition of the trees is carefully weighed and considered; and last of\nall comes the sand--sand of a deep grey colour for deep water, lighter\nin colour for the shallows, yellowish sand for the ground or roads,\nsnow-white granite chips for water racing down from the mossy mountains\nor dashing against the cliffs, coarser shingle for the beach in sea\nscenes; and the correct use of all these sands is a history in itself,\nas all the different coloured varieties come from the different rivers\nof Japan, and to use the wrong sand to represent water or earth would\nbe an unforgivable crime in the eye of the master.\n\nTo show that great men have turned their attention to these little\ntoy gardens, no less an artist than the celebrated Hiroshige, whose\ncolour-prints of the fifty-three stages of the journey on the old\nTokaido road, along which the Shoguns, in days gone by, travelled\nwith all the pomp and state due to their rank, from Kyoto to Yedo,\nare well known and prized by all lovers of these prints, evidently\nconsidered these scenes so suited for the making of toy gardens, that\nhe designed a special book in which the fifty-three views appear as\n_Hachi-niwa_. The book is now, unfortunately, scarce and difficult\nto obtain, but I had the delight of seeing the whole set of views in\nreal life, each in its little dish. My teacher told me that the first\nExhibition of _Hachi-niwa_ ever held in Kyoto would take place at the\nKyoto Club, where the various competitors would exhibit different\nviews, and a prize would be awarded, from votes by ballot, to the best\nin the collection. Needless to say, as soon as the doors, or rather the\nsliding _shoji_, of the club were thrown open to the public, I hastened\nto study these perfect little works of art. Round three white-matted\nrooms they stood, each dish on a low black wood stand a few inches\nhigh, raised on a dais only another few inches from the ground, so\nthat to view them properly it was necessary to kneel in adoration\nbefore them. I was asked to vote for the three I liked best, and never\ndid I have a greater difficulty in deciding. At first a view of Kodzu\nattracted my attention, with its pine-clad cliffs, deep-indented coast\nline, stony beach with a moored junk, and stretching away in the\ndistance an expanse of pale blue sea, in the offing being a fleet of\nfishing-boats with sails not more than half an inch in size bellying in\nthe breeze. This seemed to me perfection; every ripple on the water\nwas marked in the sand, the crests of the waves white, the shadows a\ndeep blue, and the reflection of the junk in perfect outline--a marvel\nof neatness and ingenuity. But to the Japanese this did not appeal;\nthey condemned it for its very perfection; any one, they said, could\nmake such a scene who had sufficient patience and neat fingers; whereas\nthe view of Kanaya appealed to them as having something grand and\nyet simple in its conception. A river of white sand threaded its way\nthrough the mossy plain, and in the distance stood the little mountain\nvillage nestling at the foot of a range of mountains carved in stone.\nThis was awarded the prize, and, I was glad to think, had been made\nby my teacher. Such an exhibition I had expected would be principally\nvisited by women and children, as I had heard that the making of\n_Hachi-niwa_ was a favourite occupation for the ladies of Tokyo, but\nhere in Kyoto they found interest in the eyes of \u201cgrave and reverend\nseigneurs\u201d who gathered in groups about the rooms. I saw all the\nmembers of the club, politicians, writers, poets, the greatest in the\nland, engrossed in discussing the merits or demerits of toy gardens,\nand I could not help thinking that here was a country indeed where\n\u201csmall things amuse great minds.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTEMPLE GARDENS\n\n\nOf all the gardens in Japan, and surely in no other country are there\nso many different forms of gardening, the temple garden, or often\nthe garden surrounding some mouldering Buddhist monastery, remains a\npeaceful, secluded spot, recalling the Old Japan and days gone by.\nUnluckily many of them are fast falling into decay, like the buildings\nthey surround; but perhaps it is better so, as they would surely\nsuffer at the hands of the restorer, just as many of the temples have\nsuffered; and though little may remain of the original gardens, the\nstones, beautified possibly by time, are still the same; the trees\nmay have grown old and gnarled, but the form of the garden remains\nunchanged.\n\nIt has been said that every good garden should be a \u201cmodulation from\npure nature to pure art,\u201d and no one seems to have understood the\nsaying better\n\n[Illustration: AT KITANO TENJIN]\n\nthan the makers of these old temple gardens: they are always a setting\nfor the building they surround, adding to its grandeur, never dwarfing\nit; the placing of every stone, the curve of every walk, the shape of\nthe pond, all seem to have been duly weighed and considered, and the\nresult is an harmonious whole.\n\nThe grand Nikko temples, the shrines in Uyeno or Shiba, have been left\nin their natural surroundings; the tall grey masts of the cryptomerias\nstand like sentries to guard their precious treasure, the avenues\nbroken only by long vistas of enormous steps or the uprights of a\ncolossal granite _torii_. Nothing could be more imposing, and the\neffect of the bronze green of the cryptomerias against the splendid\ncolour of the temple gives the crowning touch to a picture which in\nitself alone is worth travelling many thousand miles to see.\n\nAt Uyeno the cherry-trees reign all supreme, they do their full\nwork; the mixing of other shrubs or trees would be unnecessary and\nmeaningless; this is the simplest and yet the grandest form of\ngardening; a few large bronze lanterns and grey stones help to show off\nthe delicate pink of the blossoms when they are in their glory, and\nyet seem to be part of the temple itself, as no temple or shrine is\ncomplete without some of these beautiful votive offerings.\n\nAt Nara, again, the cryptomeria forms the principal setting; in spring,\nmany of the trees are wreathed with wistaria, the royal _fuji_, but\nthis only helps to enhance their colour, and is suggestive of a grey\nmisty vapour rather than a real flower, as often one sees no trace of\nthe stem of the wistaria, and one wonders how the mass of mauve flowers\nhas managed to appear suddenly at the very top of one of those giants\nof the forest.\n\nIt is not around these large and world-renowned temples that one finds\na garden, in the sense that we Europeans regard a garden, but rather in\nsome peaceful spot which seems to have been overlooked by the hustle\nand bustle of the large town in which it may be situated. I am thinking\nnow of one such garden in Kyoto; the evening bell seems to call you\nto come within its sanctuary, and once there one would surely never\nleave until the final closing of its great outer wooden door sends the\nloiterer away. It has an irresistible charm this tiny garden, hardly\nmore than a toy compared to the scale of our English gardens, and\nit was no surprise to me to learn that it was planned to suggest in\nminiature the\n\n[Illustration: THE DROOPING CHERRY]\n\nfabulous Garden of Paradise. One enters its outer precincts through one\nof those solid wooden gateways which seem so fitting to guard their\ncharge, wood guarding wood, for remember all temples are made of wood\nin Japan; though many different kinds may be used, and the rarer and\nmore beautifully veined pieces are brought together and collected from\nfar and wide, still it is all wood, and for that reason the buildings\nseem to be especially in keeping with a garden.\n\nOn either side of the gateway stand two old pine-trees, carefully\ntrained and thinned at the proper season; but the most beautiful\nguardian is just within the gate, a grand old weeping cherry-tree, in\nApril its boughs bent down by the weight of its blossoms, while its\nglory lasts for a week or two, casting a pinky light on all around.\nEven now you are only being prepared for the beauty to come, as you\nmust knock on yet another little wooden door and ask permission of the\nacolyte to enter; he will offer to tell you the history of the garden\nin his peculiar sing-song note, suggesting a recitative, and utterly\nincomprehensible, unless you have thoroughly mastered his language.\nSeeing a foreigner he will probably reconcile himself to letting you\nwander at your will, and enjoy the beauties of this little haven of\nrest. We are told that the buildings were formerly magnificent, but\nhave suffered from fire at the hands of the _ronins_, and in later days\nfrom accidental fires. What remains of the original building seems\ncomplete in itself, and one feels one would not have it otherwise.\nThe garden was designed by the celebrated Kobori Enshu, and, like\nall his work, is much regarded and valued by the Japanese. The plan,\nroughly speaking, appears to be two ponds, a wooden bridge, and three\ntiny islands; but to the understanding one, they are the Crane and\nTortoise ponds, the two small islands on the south being regarded as\na crane, while the northern one is a tortoise. The wooden bridge is\na Bridge of Heaven, and contains the _Kwangetsudai_, or Moon-gazing\nPlatform, brought from the Momoyama Palace at Fushimi, where Hideyoshi\nis said to have used it for that purpose. All this is of deep interest\nto the Japanese; but to our eyes the charm of the garden lies in the\nfact that it is a little old-world garden full of repose, suggesting\nthe Old Japan, and spots where foreign feet have seldom trod. I have\nknown this garden at all seasons of the year. In February, when biting\nsnow-showers remind one that winter is not yet over, the moss-and\nlichen-clad stones, the trim, clean-cut azalea and sweet box bushes,\nand the carpet of velvety moss in broad patches where the turf has not\nyet recovered from the winter frosts, are its only adornments. The pink\nbuds of the one plum-tree it contains are fast swelling, and show you\nthat spring\u2019s fairy raiment is being prepared by Nature; the buds of\nthe large bush of flame-coloured _Azalea mollis_--possibly the pride of\nthe garden--also help to give promise of future glories.\n\nKodaiji was once famous for its cherry-trees, but now few remain, and\nwe must content ourselves with its other treasures, which seem to bloom\nin one never-ending succession throughout the year. July is the only\nmonth in which I have never seen this garden, but I feel certain that\neven then there is no blank, something would spring up to be the pride\nof the garden. In March her one plum-tree reigns supreme, in April the\ncherry blossom; in May the Crane pond is fringed with purple irises,\nand the gorgeous azalea casts its reflection also; in June the later\n_Azalea indica_ ... flower as best they can, but how many of their buds\nfall victims to the gardener\u2019s shears. In July the lotus leaves in both\nthe ponds are already getting taller every hour, and in the early\nhours of some morning late in July the first lotus bud will open with\na crack and gradually unfurl its beautiful pink or white blossom. All\nthrough August fresh buds will appear, and indeed well into September,\nwhen at last the leaves will begin to curl and shrivel, and one can\nonly wonder how they stood the scorching heat of the sun all through\nthose long weeks.\n\nBy the beginning of October the leaves of the maples will be turning,\ngradually growing more and more fiery in colour as the month dies out,\ntill in November they are in all their gaudy splendour, and Kodaiji\nis noted for its _momiji_. The priest, too, who evidently loves his\ngarden, has by now moved with tender care his chrysanthemum plants,\nwhose pots have been kept from the sun\u2019s fiercest rays, and never\nallowed to cry out for water, and placed them in one of those curiously\nfragile little structures which seem to exist only for the protection\nof chrysanthemums, with a roof more suggestive of a chess-board than\nanything else, and arranged them in front of his dwelling-room, so that\nhe can sit and gaze at them, just as in old days Hideyoshi sat on the\nneighbouring platform to gaze at the moon. Do not imagine\n\n[Illustration: A SHRINE AT KYOMIDZU]\n\nthat when the last maple falls, or the last _kiku_ flower is cut,\nthe year is over in this favoured little spot, for in December the\n_Camellia Sasanqua_ holds its own against frost and even snow; its\nlovely rose-coloured flowers, which with their yellow stamens, are more\nsuggestive of the blooms of Penzance briar roses than of camellias, are\nin sharp contrast with the deep glossy foliage, and seem more fitted\nfor a spring flower than one for the dying year.\n\nIt is not always easy for the foreigner to obtain permission to visit\nsome of these secluded and hallowed spots. I can recall a long rough\nricksha drive in the environs of Kyoto, through somewhat uninteresting\ncountry, consisting of endless miles of rice-fields--Hiezan, it is\ntrue, forming a beautiful background; but though I was armed with\ncredentials which I was assured would gain me admission to a veritable\nholy of holies, a garden so old that no one knew its origin, my\nenthusiasm was beginning to wane when we arrived within some large\nrambling temple grounds. We asked to see the garden, and were bowed\ninto a not very interesting and rather uncared-for court, but I\nfelt this could not be the spot I had come so far to see; besides,\nadmission had been too readily granted; it would require patience and\nperseverance to find this inner sanctuary. After many explanations and\nmany times being assured there was no other garden, we were eventually\ndirected to the priest\u2019s private dwelling, and then I knew my chance\nhad come, as an especially holy man was the owner of the precious\nlittle garden. I was greeted with a look of horror and incredulity:\n\u201cWas it possible that the foreigner had even penetrated within these\nmouldering monastery grounds?\u201d The permission was granted, and I\nentered the spotlessly clean white-matted rooms, which all looked on\nthe garden. First a little forecourt, and beyond, the sacred spot. At\nthe first glance what did it consist of? A few stone lanterns, almost\ndiminutive in size, to be in keeping with the rest of the garden; some\nso buried in velvety moss that their shape seemed almost altered by the\nthickness of their green canopy; a few curiously shaped and fantastic\nstones, also with their covering of grey lichen and moss; some old\ngnarled and twisted shrubs, and two or three little toy stone bridges.\nNot a single flower to break the severity of the outline. The garden\nlay in a pine wood, and at first I thought, \u201cHow curious that a spot so\nevidently well cared for should be carpeted thickly\n\n[Illustration: WHITE CHERRY AT KITANO]\n\nwith pine needles!\u201d Never had I seen stone bridges placed where there\nwas no water to cross; the only water in the garden appearing to be a\ntiny little ceaseless trickle in the beautifully shaped water-basin,\nwhich stands at the entrance to nearly all Japanese gardens, however\nsmall; but presently I noticed that the pine needles only covered the\nactual ground, not one was lying on the little rising mound or lodging\nin any bush, and then I realised the cleverness, the ingenuity of the\nidea--the pine needles represented the water; each spine seemed to\nbe in its place under the little bridge; they came perfectly smooth\nand always following each the same way like flowing water. Presently\nsome projecting point or little island in this fancy lake would break\ntheir regularity, and they would be turned and twisted to represent\nthe current of the water. It took one\u2019s breath away. \u201cWho ever had\nthe patience to arrange this carpet?\u201d It seemed almost as if it might\nbe the work of some one undergoing a penance, being condemned to keep\nthese pine needles in perfect order; one puff of wind might mean\nhours of work to their guardian. I felt that my perseverance had been\nwell repaid, as during all my wanderings in Japan I never came across\nanother example of that style of gardening, nor was I ever able to\nobtain the real history of this garden.\n\nThe gardens round the smaller temples seem generally to be in the\nspecial care of some old priest. Many of them unfortunately are fast\nfalling into decay, and are often neglected; but many are evidently\nthe pride and joy of their owner, who usually seems much gratified by\nthe admiration they evoke. Often only a very small piece is kept in\nanything like trim and formal order, and then one wanders up the hill\nand finds a different scene--nature running riot, helped by a minute\nmountain stream, as an unceasing supply of moisture seems almost\nmore necessary to the vegetation of Japan than to that of any other\ncountry; but still the path winds on, and the wanderer is impelled to\nsee where it will lead him to. The end is always the same, some silent\ngraveyard--perhaps only a score or so of memorials of the dead, or\nperhaps hundreds, or even it would seem almost thousands, of these\nghostly moss-blackened monuments, jostling each other, so crowded are\nthey, hardly any two alike in size or shape, leaning all of them,\nsuggesting endless earthquakes, but mostly with a section of bamboo in\nfront of them to hold a branch of evergreen or flower, showing that\nsome one still remembers the departed one, and loving hands light the\nhumble incense bowl.\n\nPerhaps one of the most elaborate gardens I ever saw was that of\nSampo-in, on the way to Otsu. Here one feels as if the work of man\nhad almost distorted nature, if such a thing were possible, and yet\nthe picture would be poor indeed were it not for its splendid setting\nof forest trees. Again a giant weeping cherry stands like a guardian\nwithin the gate, and then you pass on; and never have I seen trees so\nfantastically twisted into the most impossible angles and shapes. The\nkeynote of the garden seems to be the lilliputian mountain torrent,\nfor does not that give a _raison d\u2019\u00eatre_ for the stone or turf\nbridges which are flung across it to connect the mossy banks with the\ndiminutive islands, on one of which stands a celebrated pine, twisted,\nand torn, and cut, so that it has lost all trace of what nature\nintended it to be, but surely not lost all charm. In this garden also\nthere are no flowers, only little trespassers. I noticed numbers of\nlittle wild flowers nestling in the shadow of the bridges or between\nthe mossy rocks, seeming to pray to be left undisturbed by the ruthless\nweeder. The pride of this especial garden was its maples. When I saw\nit, they had not yet lost the red glow in which their leaves unfurl\nin spring; but in November they would doubtless be better still, and\nthe garden illuminated by a blaze of colour. On leaving, it seemed\nimpossible to avoid marring the patterns traced in the silver sand,\npatterns of a thousand years ago.\n\nRound some of the larger and more imposing temples and monasteries the\nground is less a garden than a pleasaunce, for the little miniature\ngardens I have described would be no fitting framework, for instance,\nfor that noble building the Chion-in in Kyoto, whose grounds include\nsome sixty acres on the wooded slope of those hills which form an\nunrivalled background to the fairest city of Japan. So large an extent\ncould not possibly be broken up and formed into a garden such as I have\nalready described; the effect would be grotesque and all sense of true\nproportion lost. How imposing is the great gate standing in its setting\nof pines, in spring softened by the cherry blossom which shows here and\nthere between them. A long dizzy flight of stone steps leads up to the\nmain building of the temple. Here the ground has been levelled, the\nwork of many thousand hands, it being no petty task to level a plateau\nlarge enough for the main building of this mighty edifice, some\n\n[Illustration: CHERRY BLOSSOM, CHION-IN TEMPLE]\n\n146 feet long and 114 feet wide. Hardly less imposing is the assembly\nhall or room of a thousand mats, surrounded by a wooden corridor so\nconstructed that in walking round it there is produced a sound which\nis thought to resemble the singing of the _uguisu_, the Japanese\nnightingale, and there is yet another grand hall, the Dai Hojo. How\ngrandly and simply the grounds of this temple are adorned. The large\nsquare in front of the main building has for its chief adornment two\nstone lanterns of colossal size, and the celebrated bronze water-basin\nin the form of a lotus leaf, from whose lip runs a ceaseless stream\nof clear water brought from the hill above. A few specially beautiful\ncherry-trees and some grand old pines, leaning most of them, but all\nthe more beautiful for that reason, surround this square, and form\na fitting setting to that massive pile. Yet another flight of steps\nleads to the bell-tower--also a fitting guardian, as more than once\nthe thundering of this mighty bell has summoned all who revered their\nbeloved Chion-in to come and protect it from an imminent danger of fire.\n\nThe Japanese are great respecters of legends, which may make a tree or\nstone sacred for all time. The Melon Rock, _Kwasho Seki_, has been\nso called from the story that a melon plant sprouted out from beneath\nthe rock and grew so rapidly that in a single night it had covered the\nwhole rock, blossomed, and borne fruit. Many hundred sight-seers trail\nduring their weary tramp to gaze with awe at this plain grey stone\ninscribed with the characters of _Gozu Tenno_ or Bull-head Emperor, and\nwe in our turn cannot fail to gaze with respect at their simple faith.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nSUMMER FLOWERS\n\n\nMay is essentially the flower month in Japan, and a ramble through the\ncountry cannot fail to be a never-ending joy and surprise to the flower\nlover. It was nearly the middle of the flower month when, wearied of\nthe works of man, the glories and splendour of the endless round of\ntemples, museums, theatres, _no_ dances, and the usual sights which\nall new-comers to the country must be introduced to, I started for\nMatsushima, the land of the pine-clad islands. I had not expected to\nfind flowers there, but rather change of scene and peace. I felt that\nfor a time I must be \u201cfar from the madding crowd.\u201d\n\nIt is a fairy scene which greets the eye in the early dawn after a long\nand dusty journey, and I had to look and look again to make sure that\nthese tiny phantom islands were real and solid, not merely shadows\non the water, or even a moored junk, which presently would pass on\nand vanish from the scene. As the sun rose higher the islands stood\nout clear in the yellow morning light, then one realised why they are\ncalled collectively Matsushima--Pine Islands,--for, however tiny it may\nbe, each isle has to support its burden of twisted, bent, and leaning\ntrees. How the seed has ever found the crannies and cracks between the\nrocks in which to ripen, and eventually develop into those fantastic\ntrees, was a never-ending source of marvel and admiration to me. Think\nof the cruel winter snows, and storms blowing in from the Pacific, that\nthese trees have had to withstand from their earliest infancy; small\nwonder that some appear to have more spreading roots than branches.\nMany an idle day was spent exploring this little host of islands, some\nwith their rosy carpet of azalea, perhaps not more than a few inches\nhigh, creeping along close to the ground as if seeking protection from\nthe fierce winter gales. None the less beautiful for being dwarfed,\nit seemed rather as though this fiery pink azalea had taken the place\nof ground ivy, and what a beautiful _rempla\u00e7ant_! On other islands\nthe wild wistaria had flung its long vine-like branches from tree to\ntree, and suggested the lianes of a tropical forest; one scrambled\nknee-deep in many of the hardier ferns to attain the summit of Ogidani,\nin order to gaze across the whole lagoon and out to Kinkwosan; shrubs\nof bird-cherry were in all their glory; and many others unknown to me\nhelped, in this month of flowers, to make them not only pine-clad but\nflower-clad islands. It was with genuine regret that I left behind\nthis enchanted land, and with the cries of \u201c_Sayonara_\u201d and \u201cPlease\ncome again\u201d ringing in my ears I turned my back on the Toyo Hotel and\nits hospitable owner; but time was slipping by, and though it would\nhave been easy to dream away months here, I feared I might become a\nmere loafer, so, after watching the sun set one evening late in May, I\nreturned once more to the railway, and the commonplace.\n\nThe train took me back to Itsunomiya through wilder country than I\nhad ever seen on any other railway line in Japan. Bandai San stood\nglowering and threatening in the distance, and we sped past pine-clad\nridges and mountain streams, down to the lower land where glowing\nrose-coloured azalea seemed to grow as hazel or hornbeam undergrowth in\nEngland. One flashed past broad stretches of colour, growing fewer and\nsmaller where the ruthless hand of the cultivator had no doubt found\nout that the fertile soil would grow other things more profitable, but\nhow far less beautiful, than wild crimson _satsuki_. I was bound for\nNikko on an \u201cazalea pilgrimage,\u201d for surely every traveller should not\nfail to see the Nikko azaleas in all their glory, and later in the year\nthe maples, which vie with the cryptomerias for the palm of beauty.\nThe glorious avenue of cryptomerias which lined the old road to Nikko\nhas suffered from the hands of time and man; but long stretches of the\nsplendid old trees still remain, and form a fitting approach to the\nlittle mountain village, celebrated throughout the length and breadth\nof the world for its mortuary shrines, whose final peacefulness and\nsimplicity seem so striking after the ornate splendour and gorgeous\ncolouring of the outer gates and temples.\n\nBut it was azaleas, not temples, that I had come to see this time at\nNikko, and surely no one could be disappointed. Climbing up the hill,\nevery shade from delicate pink to clear red, pale transparent yellow,\nand even rosy purple, seems to have run riot in a veritable feast of\ncolour. Little shrines nestle by the path, perhaps sheltering a small\nstone image of Jizo the Helper, the travellers\u2019 and the children\u2019s\nGod; so we ask his kindly aid, and add our contribution to that of\nhundreds of other travellers, and pause to gaze by his side at the\nlandscape--across the valley where the river threads its way, now a\nharmless-looking stream, but in autumn to be swollen into a dangerous\nroaring torrent, sweeping along, leaving death and destruction in its\nwake. The azaleas here are not the _satsuki_ of Matsushima, but the\nAzalea Beni Renge, leafless as yet, as the flowers seem so thick upon\ntheir stems they leave no room for leaves. Their honeysuckle scent\nfilled the air, and hither and thither darted huge black butterflies,\nlooking strangely like humming-birds, only pausing for a second to suck\na drop of honey, and then on again to another, perhaps more freshly\nopened flower. I noticed these same black butterflies always haunt red\nor deep pink flowers. Is it vanity on their part--are they stopping to\nthink how admirably the colour contrasts with their own glossy black\nwings? Then I remembered that the first time I ever saw a humming-bird\nit was darting from one crimson hibiscus flower to another. Was that\nalso vanity? Or have crimson flowers sweeter or more delicately\nflavoured honey than the rest?\n\nAs the mountain road winds higher and higher above Nikko, on its way\nto Chuzenji, we left behind this variety of azalea, and came upon\nanother quite unknown to me. At first I thought the mountain-sides\nwere covered with peach-trees, whose blossoms lingered on in the\nhigher or bleaker regions, but it was not so, all was azalea; some\nso tall that their bare stems stretched high among the other trees,\nbefore they got enough light and air to wreathe their branches with\nthe peach-coloured blossoms. On these, lichen seemed to take the place\nof leaves; the effect is indescribable to one who has not seen it: the\nsoft greenish-grey tufts clothe the stems, which might without their\nfurry covering look lean and bare; but all this beauty suggests weeks\nof autumn rain and damp heat, more healthy for plant life than for man.\nOften the path would be strewn with freshly fallen blossoms, and there\noverhead one could see the pink flowers against the sky. The banks and\nmoorland were full of tender shoots and buds of shrubs and flowers,\nwhich in July will be an endless source of surprise and delight to the\nwild-flower hunter.\n\nLeaving Nikko behind in all its gay clothing, I bent my steps towards\nthe Watanase valley, one of Japan\u2019s most beautiful valleys. The early\nsummer\n\n[Illustration: THE KOBAI PLUM BLOSSOM]\n\n[Illustration: THE KOBAI PLUM BLOSSOM]\n\nis indeed a harmony in greens; the maples had hardly lost their spring\ncolouring when I started in the early dawn from Ashio to follow the\ncourse of the river which dashes down some hundred feet or more below\nthe road with a thundering roar, and certainly the valley well deserves\nits celebrity. The Paulonia trees were then in all their beauty, and\nside by side with great masses of their purple flowers the wild _fuji_\nwreathed the trees with its delicate mauve blossoms, until at last I\nfelt that the valley ought to be called the \u201cpurple valley.\u201d A few\ntree p\u00e6onies were shedding their last petals in a tiny garden where we\nstopped to rest and sip the inevitable little cup of pale green tea,\nreminding one that summer had come and spring was gone, not to come\nagain until the scorching summer months, the autumn storms, and winter\nsnows had come and gone.\n\nIn early summer the higher moorlands afford a happy hunting-ground for\nthe flower collector. Purple iris and white rue seem to fight their way\namong the moorland grasses, here and there a Turk\u2019s-cap lily raises\nits scarlet head proudly, the purple bells of the Platycodon are just\nopening, and the wild white and pink campanula is already fading. The\ncolumbine, not the glorified hybrid Aquilegia of our English gardens,\nbut the humble pale-coloured wild columbine with its long spurs and\ndelicate fern-like foliage; yellow valerian, mauve and white funkias,\npink spir\u00e6as, Solomon\u2019s seal, endless varieties of orchises, and in\nfavoured districts the pale pink _Cypredium macranthum_ are among the\nsummer wild flowers, scattered over the plain or nestling on the banks\nof the mountain streams. The flowering shrubs seemed endless; think\nhow many shrubs introduced into Europe of late years are \u201cjaponica\u201d!\nall these find their homes in one district or another. Besides all the\nvarieties of plum, cherry, and peach, in spring the andromeda bushes\nare laden with their white bell-flowers, suggestive of a waxy lily\nof the valley, to be followed by their young leaves as bright as any\nflowers; every variety of crabs, white deutzias, spir\u00e6as, weigelias,\nthe wild white syringa, which also seemed to differ from our garden\nvariety, save only in its delicious odour; and a form of _Rhincospernum\njasminoides_ which I had not seen before, whose heavy scent filled the\nair at sundown. All these I can recall having come across during my\nsummer rambles, and doubtless there are many more.\n\nIn the later summer months I wandered along the beautiful coast of the\nprovince of Izu, which again seemed to be a home of flowers. The tall\nspikes of _Bocconia cordata_ reared their heads proudly wherever they\nhad escaped the hand of the destroyer; apparently the plant is regarded\nby the country people as either poisonous or unlucky, as often a\nsplendid clump of it, its height showing how thoroughly it appreciates\nthe deep rich soil, will be here to-day and gone to-morrow, cut off and\ntrampled down with evident intention. This coast seemed to be the home\nof the hydrangea and also of many different varieties of lilies. In\nMay, on the lower ground of Hiezan, and especially in the neighbourhood\nof Lake Biwa, the pale pink _Lilium Krameri_ may be found in tufts\nnestling under the shadow of some sheltering shrub, and scattered\nthroughout the district the various forms of _Lilium umbellatum_, but\nthe province of Izu seems to have soil more suited to the late summer\nlilies. By the middle of July the big buds of the _Lilium auratum_\nwill be fighting their way among the rank growth along the roadside,\nand in a few days the air will be filled with their scent. Often I was\nattracted by their fragrance, perhaps all the more remarkable in a land\nwhich, alas! is not famed for sweet smells, and then far above one\u2019s\nhead, hanging defiantly out of reach, could be seen a single splendid\nbloom of this king among lilies. They seem to love the shelter and\ndampness of the wood, where the falling leaves each autumn make a fresh\ncovering for their bulbs. Once I tried to see how deep in the earth the\nbulbs were buried, but I did not succeed in getting down low enough,\nand could only tell, from the mark on the stem of the lily which had\nbeen pulled, that about eight to ten inches seemed to be the usual\ndepth of the bulb. Often the stems seemed to bear only one splendid\nbloom, but I was told that was only because the bulbs were young, and\neven in their wild state from six to eight perfect blooms on one head\nwere not uncommon. There appeared to be every variety of _auratum_, and\nI noticed that the broad-leaved _platyphyllum_ seemed even more sturdy\nthan the rest, the foliage a deeper green, and the individual blossoms\nmore perfect, the markings more distinct, and their scent, if such a\nthing were possible, even stronger and more overpowering than the more\nslender-growing _Auratum virginale_.\n\nThen there were the _Rubro Vittatum_ with their band of pink down each\npetal, but never in a purely wild state did I see it so deep in colour\nand truly defined as in the cultivated form which\n\n[Illustration: _LILIUM AURATUM_]\n\nis exported under that name. It was in the cottage gardens that I saw\nthe finest lilies, and many a giant bearing from twenty to thirty\nunblemished blooms, at the top of a stem some six or seven feet high,\nclad with equally unblemished foliage, was brought to me, as it soon\nbecame known that the \u201cforeigner\u201d staying at Atami had come especially\nto see their _yuri no hana_. Not that the Japanese seem ever especially\nto admire them, and they are not included among their \u201cseven beautiful\nflowers of late summer.\u201d Mr. Parsons gives an example of this fact:--\n\n I was walking one day at Yoshida with a Japanese artist, a\n remarkable man, who was engaged in making a series of steel\n engravings, half landscape, half map, of the country round Fuji,\n and called his attention to a splendid clump of belladonna lilies\n growing near an old grey tomb; but he would not have them at all,\n said they were foolish flowers, and the only reason he gave me\n for not liking them was because they came up without any leaves.\n When we got back to our tea-house he took my pen and paper and\n showed me what were the seven beautiful flowers of late summer: the\n convolvulus, the name of which in Japanese is \u201casago,\u201d meaning the\n same as our \u201cmorning glory\u201d; wild chrysanthemum; yellow valerian;\n the lespedeza, a kind of bush clover; _Platycodon grandiflorum_ and\n purple blue campanula; _Eulalia japonica_, the tall grass which\n covers so many of the hills; and _shion_, a rather insignificant\n aster. I noticed that some versions of the seven flowers differed\n from his; a large flowered mallow is often substituted for the\n last he named. There are doubtless different schools which hold\n strong views on the subject, but on the \u201cmorning glory\u201d and some\n others they are evidently agreed.\n\nThe tiger lilies were in bloom in the village gardens, but never in any\ngreat number--a clump here and there, for they are seldom allowed to\nbloom, it is for their bulbs they are cultivated; this is their \u201cedible\nlily,\u201d and young bulbs of _Lilium tigrinum_ are among their most prized\nvegetables. I had noticed a square bed of these lilies suggestive of an\nasparagus bed, in a priest\u2019s garden in Kyoto in May, and thought what a\nwealth of colour they would provide later in the year; but next time I\nsaw the garden, early in June it may have been, the lilies had all been\nexecuted--just their heads cut off,--and when I expressed amazement and\nregret I was told that this was always done to strengthen the bulb.\nThe variety did not seem to be as fine as those grown under the name\nof _Tigrinum Fortunii_ in England, and yet more robust and with larger\nheads than our common tiger lily; probably the different soil and\ndamper climate would account for this.\n\nThe apricot-coloured _Lilium Batemanni_ seemed to know how to protect\ntheir bulbs from the hand\n\n[Illustration: LILIES ON THE ROCKS, ATAMI]\n\nof the collector, for jutting out between the rocks, hanging perhaps\na hundred feet above the sea, these lilies grow, tantalising to those\nwho want to pick them, for these rocks are not easy to climb; but how\nbeautiful they are, their clear colour standing out against the grey\ncliffs and the restless deep blue sea below.\n\nThe cultivation of lilies for exporting seems to have developed into\nquite an important industry in Japan of late years; the district round\nKamakura and right away to Yumoto appeared to be the best soil for\ntheir culture. I never saw any _Lilium longiflorum_ in their wild\nstate, but thousands, I should think millions, of bulbs of this lily\nare exported annually, in all its different forms. For indoor growing\nthe variety known as _Harrisii_ seems still to be the favourite; though\n_giganteum_ is a stronger form, and certainly is to be preferred for\nthe open ground. _Multiflorum_ is for the impatient grower, as it\nflowers some three weeks earlier, though it is a more slender kind; and\nthere are many others. Even in Japan the dreaded disease among _Lilium\nauratum_ seemed to be not unknown; apparently cultivation brings it in\nits train, as in fields and gardens I noticed occasionally the fatal\nyellow leaves, which means death to the bulb; and the other form of\ndisease known as \u201cclubbing\u201d may occur, even when the lilies are growing\nin their natural state--the two stems grown into one, and the monster\nhead so closely packed with blossoms that none can develop to their\nfull size or beauty; on one head alone I counted over a hundred blooms,\nbut the effect was only that of a poor deformity.\n\nVery beautiful were the large bushes of hydrangea, their branches\nweighed down by their burdens of immense heads of bright blue flowers.\nIn some parts of England where there is iron in the soil, hydrangeas in\nthe open ground are blue, but what a poor washed-out blue compared to\nthe intensely deep colour of this Japanese variety, _Ajisia Aiyaku_,\nmeaning the blue hydrangea. Their great balls of blossom change from a\npale yellow green to bright blue, brighter almost than the sky above,\nand as they fade, they turn to rosy purple, and back again to a dull\ngreen, clinging with ungraceful tenacity to life, as though loth\nor afraid to die, preferring to rot on their stem rather than drop\nuntimely--unlike the blossoms of spring, ever ready to depart life at\nthe call of nature. A more graceful form is _Hortensis Shirogaku_, with\nits more loosely formed heads,\n\n[Illustration: AN HYDRANGEA BUSH]\n\nnever forming a densely packed mass, each individual blossom showing,\nwith the outer petals of a much paler colour in contrast with the deep\nblue centres. They are moisture-loving plants, as they seem to flourish\nbest on the very brink of the miniature mountain torrents. The garden\nat Atami known as the Bai-en, celebrated for its early plum blossoms,\nwas gay with great bushes of these shrubs in July; they clothed the\nbanks of the roaring stream, till, as their heads grew heavier, the\nlower branches were swept by the water.\n\nIn the early days of August the hedges and banks in the low country\nwere beginning to look parched and dusty, waiting for the autumn rains,\nwhich never fail, and will bring new life and freshness to all the\nherbage, but not new flowers--the season of wild flowers is nearly\ngone; though the autumn will bring us the true \u201clily of the field,\u201d the\nscarlet _Nerine japonica_--a lily of the field, as it is only growing\nalong the edges of the rice patches on neglected banks or nestling\namong the grey stone tombs of some forgotten graveyard, that you will\never see these lilies. Never in any garden however ill kept, never in\nany house, and never used as any form of decoration did I see this\nlily; for are they not the \u201cdeath flower,\u201d the flower of ill omen,\nor sometimes the \u201cequinox flower,\u201d also suggestive of a season full\nof death and decay. _Nerine_ or _Lycoris japonica_, or the spider\nlily--its name seems difficult to determine--made the land gay in the\nfading year, gorgeous splashes of colour against the ripening rice, its\nfringed heads rising leafless from the soil, sometimes in scattered\ntufts, and sometimes great banks closely covered with their flaunting\nheads. I felt Japan must indeed be rich in flower treasures for such a\none to be overlooked and uncared for. Perhaps in the South of England\nit might find a home--a resting-place where it would be treasured,\nnot destroyed; at the foot of a grey stone wall a few tufts of this\nbrilliant lily would be a \u201cthing of beauty,\u201d though not \u201ca joy for\never.\u201d\n\nBy November the flower year is over; the last chrysanthemum pots are\nbeing hurried under their temporary shelters, away from the danger of\nthe early frost, which any night may turn the country into a blaze\nof scarlet and gold. Not only the maples will help the year to die\nin splendour, for so many other trees have as great a variety of\ncolour, though perhaps not quite so brilliant, and the dark leaves\nof the tulip-trees will presently turn to a sheet of gold, the larch\nwill be shedding its pale yellow spines, while the Japanese oak,\n_Shira Kashi_, with its ruddy colour will help to relieve the solemn\neverlasting green of the pines and cryptomerias which clothe the hills.\nThe ripened rice is being quickly stored, and only the grasses and\nfoliage of herbaceous plants are left to give a note of colour to the\nfields and higher moorland; the tall _Eulalia japonica_, waving in the\nwind, clothes the golden hills, but will soon be beaten down by the\nwinter snows. So in a blaze of glory the year ends in this Land of\nFlowers.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nPLUM BLOSSOM\n\n\nIn Japan the flower year begins earlier than in Europe, and while the\nsnow is still lying deep on the ground in the northern provinces, in\nwarm and sheltered districts the _Ume_ or plum blossom will clothe\nthe trees with flowers as white as the snow. But in the country round\nKyoto or Tokyo it is not until the end of February or the first days\nof March that the pale pink buds of the plum blossoms will be opening,\nand there will come a whisper through the air that in a few days the\nbeloved _ume-no-hana_ will be in all its glory. The plum is one of the\nfavourite, perhaps _the_ favourite tree of the Japanese, so in early\nMarch, when the sunny days will remind us that spring is coming, though\nthe cruel frosts and snow showers at night will warn us that winter is\nnot yet gone, every passer-by seems to be talking of _ume_, discussing\n\n[Illustration: VIEWING THE PLUM BLOSSOMS]\n\nprobably where the earliest blossoms are to be found, and when the\nfirst flower-viewing excursion of the year is to take place.\n\nThe Japanese are essentially a flower-loving people; in no other\ncountry would you find whole families, old and young, rich and poor,\ntramping for miles in the hot sun or through the drenching rain to\nindulge in their favourite pastime of flower-viewing. Showing how\nuniversal is this custom of special flower-viewing excursions, there is\neven a phrase in the Japanese language, _hana miru_, meaning to view\nflowers.\n\nThe earliest plum blossom, known as the _no-ume_, is a somewhat\nuninteresting little white flower, not unlike the wild sloe in our\nEnglish hedgerows, and I was beginning to think the celebrated plum\nblossom of Japan was an overrated flower, when gradually its full\nbeauty dawned upon me. The deep pink buds of the later varieties\nopened into pale blush coloured blossoms, and the crimson buds of the\n_kobai_--the most cherished of all--burst into a cloud of brilliant\npink flowers; others there were, pale lemon coloured or large pure\nwhite, in great variety. The plum-tree is especially valued for its\nage, and a venerable tree, its stems covered with grey lichen, though\nits flowers may be poor in quality, will be more prized than a young\ntree with the most brilliant coloured blossoms.\n\nTsukigase, in the province of Shima, a little village famous for the\nbeauty of its plum-trees, is one of the first places to be visited by\nthat large proportion of the inhabitants of Kyoto who seem to spend\nmost or all their days during the spring months in a never-ending\nround of sight-seeing and flower-viewing. In the month of March the\nvillage is made gay for the reception of these holiday-makers, and\nundaunted by the bitter winds and vicious scuds of snow which mingle\nwith the falling petals of the _ume_, they will spend long hours in\nquiet admiration of the mass of blossom which appears to fill the whole\nvalley with a pink and white haze; for over two miles the trees clothe\nthe banks of the river Kizu. Countless tea-stalls are prepared for\nthe guests, light bamboo structures adorned with a few printed linen\ncurtains in soft harmonious colouring, and innumerable paper lanterns\nsuffice for the preparation of a flower feast. Each night, or at the\napproach of rain, the little maids will carefully pack away the matted\nbenches and these frail decorations under the thatched roof, to be\nbrought forth on the\n\n[Illustration: THE GATE OF THE PLUM GARDENS]\n\nmorrow or when the storm has cleared. The Japanese regard the flower\nof the plum with a peculiar reverence, and their feeling for it\nalways seems to be touched with some mysterious sense of sorrow,\nwhich perhaps accounted for the fact that these plum-blossom feasts\nnever seemed to attain to the same merry boisterous revels held at\nthe time of the cherry blossom. The people were more quiet and sober\nin their demeanour; at first I thought their spirits were frozen\nby the cold, but even the endless drinking of tea and tiny cups of\n_sak\u00e9_ did not seem to thaw them, and often whole parties, wrapped in\ntheir outer winter kimonos, would sit in silent contemplation of the\nblossoms, warming their hands over that Japanese apology for a fire--an\n_hibachi_--consisting merely of a pot of charcoal.\n\nIn old days the plum blossom was their ideal of purity, an ideal which\nsome attempted to emulate in their lives. The same feelings prevail\nin China, if we may judge from the poets. This, to be sure, is not\nsurprising, inasmuch as Japan took her literature, like most other\nthings, from the Chinese. The early poems of both countries are much\nalike, and among them both are many _ume_ poems, as the Japanese call\nthem, extolling the beauty and charm of the plum blossom, which ranks\nas the poet\u2019s own flower. Mr. Kango Uchimura has written an ode to it\nin prose, which contains the following passage:----\n\n While Spring was still cold I knew that it was at hand by your\n flowering. You are not Spring, but the prophet of Spring. The\n cherry blossom is Spring, the iris and the wistaria; but, as each\n of these has its own season, the gods sent you to keep green our\n hope of Spring.\n\n I do not say I love you, rather I fear you; you are too dignified;\n you blossom alone on the branches with no green leaves to bear\n you company. I do not call you beautiful; your scent is too keen,\n your petals too stiff. No one will ever sing or dance beneath your\n boughs. You are the prophet Jeremiah; you are John the Baptist.\n Standing before you I feel as though in the presence of a solemn\n master. Yet by your appearance I know that Winter has passed, and\n that the delightful Spring is at hand. The herald of Spring, you\n denounce the tyranny of Winter. Your face is stern, but your heart\n is soft. It is easy to misunderstand you, for, though the daughter\n of Spring, you wear the garb of a man the man ordained to break the\n power of cruel Winter.\n\nTwo famous men in olden days were particularly associated with the\nflowers of the plum. One of these was Kajiwara Genda Kagesuge, a great\nwarrior of the twelfth century, who always went into battle carrying\nin his quiver fresh branches of the blossom, to which, so says the\nlegend, he was indebted for his splendid courage. The other was\nSugawara No Michizane, the minister of the Emperor Ude. The Kwampaku\nTokihira, wishing to be quit of the sage\u2019s wisdom, sent him into a sort\nof honourable exile in the island of Kyushu, where he died in 903.\nAfter his death came a great reaction in his favour. He was canonised\nunder the name of Tenjin, or the Heavenly god, and to this day he is\nvenerated by all men of letters as their patron saint; in every school\nthe twenty-fifth day of each month is kept as a holiday, and every year\non the twenty-fifth of June a great festival is held in his honour.\nHis life is dramatised in the popular play _Sugawara Tenjin Ki_, and\nall over the land shrines dedicated to his memory rise from groves of\nplum-trees.\n\nOne of the most famous and beautiful of these is the temple of Kitano\nTenjin at Kyoto, which has provided subjects for several of the\nillustrations in this volume. In the inner court of the temple near\nthe splendid two-storied gateway of the Sun, Moon, and Stars stands\na large tree of the bright pink blossom, and it would be difficult\nto find a more beautiful setting for the tree than the background of\ngrey wooden buildings, of which the decorations have been toned by the\nhand of time into soft mellow hues. In the outer grounds the trees\nhave a background of giant cryptomerias, with long avenues of stone\nlanterns--votive offerings of every conceivable shape and size--small\nshrines, and two great granite _torii_, the plain yet majestic gateways\nwhich guard the entrance to all Shinto temples. When the trees are\nin all their glory the flower-viewing parties wander through the\ngrounds in silent admiration, down to the little ravine outside the\ntemple grounds, where the snow-white blossom fills the little valley\nand clouds of petals fall into the brook below, to be carried away\ndown the stream like drifts of foam. Here may be seen a poet of the\nold school rapt in thought composing an ode to the blossom and the\nnightingale. It is a pretty fancy much honoured in Japan, the plum\nblossom, the poet, and the nightingale making, they say, the world of\nbeauty complete. For no Japanese ever thinks of the plum blossom apart\nfrom the nightingale--which, it should be observed, is not the bird of\nKeats\u2019s poem, singing of summer in full-throated ease, but a little\nlight-winged creature whose favourite haunt is among the flowering\nbranches of this tree.\n\nIn Japanese legends the plum blossom and the nightingale are\ninseparable companions, and represent\n\n[Illustration: THE TIME OF THE PLUM BLOSSOMS]\n\nthe two spirits of the awakening spring when the mists of winter first\nbegin to roll away. There is a story, for instance, of the daughter\nof the poet Kino Tsurayuki, who lived in the days of the Emperor\nMurakami, in the tenth century. From time immemorial a single plum-tree\nhad always stood before the south pavilion of the Imperial Palace at\nNara, and when at some period of this Emperor\u2019s reign the tree died,\nmessengers were despatched in hot haste to find one worthy to replace\nit. One was found in the garden of the poet aforesaid, a fine tree with\ncrimson blossoms belonging to his daughter, who was most reluctant to\npart with her favourite. However, there was, of course, no help for\nit, and the tree was sent off to the palace grounds with some verses\nfastened to it, which run thus in Mr. Brinkley\u2019s translation----\n\n Claimed for our sovereign\u2019s use,\n Blossoms I\u2019ve loved so long,\n Can I in duty fail?\n But for the nightingale,\n Seeking her home of song,\n How shall I find excuse?\n\nThe Emperor, struck with the graceful sentiment of the verses, made\ninquiries as to the writer, and finding that she was the daughter of\nhis favourite poet, ordered the tree to be returned to her.\n\nThroughout Japan there is scarcely a district to be found without\norchards and groves or temple grounds where the flower-seeker can go\nto greet spring and the _ume_, but the people of Tokyo are singularly\nfortunate in their plum orchards. One of the most famous and beautiful\nis at Sugita, a charming little village nestling by the bluest of\nwaters, near Yokohama, where a thousand trees have stood for upwards of\na century, displaying their blossom every spring to admiring eyes from\nall the country round. Here there are six special kinds of the tree,\nand their fancy names mark the different characters of the flowers, the\nJapanese being very clever at finding characteristic names for flowers\nand trees. The Gwario Bai, or Recumbent Dragon Tree, is the most famous\nof these, being indeed the most notable thing in the outskirts of\nTokyo. Some fifty years ago there grew a wonderful tree of vast age and\nstrange shape, its branches having ploughed up the ground and thrown\nout new roots in no fewer than fourteen places, thus naturally covering\nan extensive area. The name of Gwario Bai was given to the tree by old\nPrince Rekko, who planted the groves in Tokiwa Park in 1837, a piece\nof forethought highly appreciated by many visitors to this day. The\nShogun (or Generalissimo) of that day also paid a visit to the spot,\nand made the tree _Goyobaku_ or the Tree of Honourable Service, in\nreturn for which gracious act of condescension the fruit was presented\nto him every year. All these honours, however, could not save it from a\nnatural death when its time came; in its place now flourish a number of\nmuch less interesting trees, which nevertheless bear the same name, and\napparently the same reputation, as their predecessor the Dragon of the\nprime.\n\nNot far from the Gwario Bai is the orchard of Kinegawa, which can\nboast an honoured name too, for here the poets come, and you may\nsee perhaps a hundred slips of paper, containing _uta_ or _hokku_\n(seventeen-syllabled) poems, fluttering from the branches. Perhaps\nhere, too, we may find a family party, the mother with the youngest\nchild tightly strapped on her back, its tiny shaven head hardly\nshowing above the wadded quilt which is wrapped closely round it; a\nlittle mite of a very few summers, tottering unsteadily on its clogs,\nclasping a branch of the natural tree adorned with paper blossoms,\nfrom which floats a streamer with some strange device, or any of the\ncountless toys which go towards the making of a holiday; and only a\nfew years older a little solemn-faced maiden, whose black beady eyes\nwill glisten with wonder when she is told that she is called _Ume san_\nafter the snow-white blossom at which she has been gazing with awe and\nadmiration. Ume is a common name among Japanese women; they connect it\nwith the ideas of virtue and sweetness, and they are taught to keep\nthe name unspotted during life and to leave it fair after death, even\nas the scent of the plum blossom smells sweet in the darkness. The\nfollowing verses are from Piggot\u2019s _Garden of Japan_:--\n\n Home friends change and change,\n Years pass quickly by;\n Scent of our ancient plum-tree,\n Thou dost never die.\n\n Home friends are forgotten;\n Plum-trees blossom fair,\n Petals falling to the breeze\n Leave their fragrance there.\n\n Cettria\u2019s fancy, too,\n Finds his cup of flowers,\n Seeks his peaceful hiding-place,\n In the plum\u2019s sweet bowers.[1]\n\n Though the snow-flakes hide\n And thy blossoms kill,\n He will sing, and I shall find\n Fragrant incense still.\n\n[1] Cettria, the nightingale.\n\nGinsekai is yet another orchard in the neighbourhood of Tokyo, its name\nsignifying Silver World, and on a moonlit night in spring you would say\nthat never was a place more aptly named, if you saw the forest of white\nblossoms rising out of the snow-clad landscape. There are some pretty\nverses on the sight, which run thus in English:--\n\n How shall I find my _ume_ tree?\n The moon and the snow are white as she.\n By the fragrance blown on the evening air\n Shalt thou find her there.\n\nIt is true that the white varieties of plum blossom have nearly all\na most delicious and delicate scent, but the red varieties are quite\ndevoid of any fragrance. The plum is known as one of the Four Floral\nGentlemen, the others being the pine, the bamboo, and the orchid. It\nhas flourished in China from time immemorial, where it is known as\nthe Head of the Hundred Flowers, because it is the first to bloom,\nand it was probably imported from that country through the medium of\nKorea into Japan. Even that learned botanist the late Dr. Keisuke Ito\ncould not say where the plum-tree first flowered in Japan, nor can any\none say with certainty whether _ume_ is a Chinese or a Japanese word.\nKakimoto no Hitomaro, who lived about the end of the seventh century,\nwas probably the first to celebrate the plum blossom in his verse;\nand it may be said to have taken rank as a national flower when the\nEmperor Kwamaru (782-806) planted it before his palace when he moved\nhis capital from Nara to Kyoto.\n\nIn those days the word _flower_ meant the flower of the plum, just\nas the word _mountain_ meant Hiei san, but it was dethroned from its\npride of place when the Emperor Murakami planted the cherry-tree in its\nstead, and though the plum still stands first with the men of mind,\nthe cherry-tree has ever since been the popular favourite. That the\nlatter is most beautiful cannot be disputed; but for purity of outline,\nfragrance, and that touch of sadness, which the Japanese profess to\nfind in it, the bloom of the plum is still unrivalled.\n\nThere are upwards of three hundred and fifty specimens of the plum,\nwhite, pale and bright pink, or even red in colour, single or double in\nform. Of these the more important are: _Yatsu buse ume_, which derives\nits name from bearing eight fruits, the blossoms having from two to\neight stamens, the word signifying eight tassels; only two or three of\nthese, however, ripen fully, and they are unfit for eating. The _Bungo\nume_ grows in the Bungo\n\n[Illustration: PLUM BLOSSOM AND LANTERNS]\n\nprovince of the island of Kyushu; its fruit is large and can be eaten\nuncooked, though the Japanese prefer it pickled or candied. The fruit\nof the _Ko ume_, celebrated for the beauty of its bright pink blossom,\nis no bigger than the tip of one\u2019s thumb, but has a delicious flavour.\n_Toko no ume_ is a late fruit, clinging to the branch even when fully\nripe, whence its name _Toko_, meaning eternal. The flowers of _Suisen\nume_ have six petals, round or long in shape. _Hava ume_, or the early\nplum, blooms at the winter solstice.\n\nIn no other country does the culture of plants go hand in hand with\nart as it does in Japan; not only in the case of their dwarf trees,\nmarvels of horticultural art, but even the trees which are necessary\nfor the scenery of their landscape gardens have to conform to the rules\nwhich govern the entire art of the country. I remember being shown with\ngreat pride by the owner of a tiny garden his one solitary plum-tree,\nthe pride of his garden in those cold March days. It stood leaning\nover a miniature rocky precipice, down which tumbled a diminutive\ncascade; old and venerable it looked, having endured ruthless pruning,\nand only a few large single blossoms clothed its branches. I expressed\nsurprise and some regret that it did not bear more blossoms, and\nthen it was explained to me that many of the buds had been removed,\nas otherwise the thick cloud of flowers would have hidden the outline\nof the branches; this was a flight of \u00e6stheticism to which I could\nnot rise, and I felt I should have preferred to see the tree bearing\nits full burden of blossom. This practice of disbudding is also\noccasionally carried out with old specimens of dwarf plum-trees when\nit is considered that a wealth of blossom would hide the growth of the\nlittle tree, which by careful training has after years of patience\nrewarded the owner by conforming to the desired shape laid down by the\ncanons of art. These little trees are in great demand at the close of\nthe year, for hardly a house in the land is without a tiny tree of\n_ume_, to bring luck at the opening of another year; so during November\nand December, when their pale-pink buds are fast swelling, they are\ntended with the greatest care, brought into the sun during the day,\nplentifully watered at sundown, and sheltered from all cold winds.\nThus they flower sometimes as early as New Year\u2019s Day, to the intense\npride and joy of their owners. The hearts of the plum-trees, say the\nJapanese, are a thousand years old, and yet young as the hopes of\nJapan.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nPEACH BLOSSOM\n\n\nThe peach blossom has never attained the fame in Japanese art, or among\ntheir poets, that its classical predecessor the plum, or its successor\nthe cherry of patriotic fame, has been honoured with; but it is none\nthe less beautiful for that reason, and its blossoms excel those of the\nplum in size, richness, and colouring. Towards the end of March the\nfirst flowers of the peach-trees will be opening, although long before\nthis time, branches closely covered with the bright-pink buds will\nhave been among the flowers offered for arrangement on the _tokonoma_,\nas in the warmth of the house (though surely there seems to be very\nlittle warmth in a Japanese house all through the long cold March days)\nthe buds will quickly open and last in beauty for many days. These\nwill be branches of the early bright pink variety, but it is not until\nthe beginning of April that the large flowered pure white, double and\nsemi-double flowers of every shade of pink, and even a deep crimson of\na remarkably beautiful tone, will be in their full glory, and it is\nhard to understand why this splendid blossom should be comparatively\nneglected and relegated to secondary rank by the artist as a decorative\nmotive and material.\n\nThe less severely artistic, who find enjoyment at any spot where\nblossom and colour are to be seen, will visit Momoyama (Peach\nMountain) in crowds during the first week in April, and the narrow\nstreets leading up to the hill will be gay with visitors, and among\nthe orchards the little temporary tea sheds will be set out for their\ncomfort and refreshment. So yet another \u201cFeast of blossom\u201d will be\ncelebrated. The trees may perhaps lack some of the grace of the old\ngnarled plum-trees, and they do not appear to have such a long life, as\nnever did I hear of any very celebrated old specimen trees, but rather\ngroves or orchards of younger trees, which no doubt, in order to make\nthem bloom freely, receive drastic treatment at the hand of the pruner.\nVery lovely are these groves of peach-trees, and surely they must have\nfound favour in the ancient days, as on Momoyama stood\n\n[Illustration: PEACH BLOSSOM]\n\nHideyoshi\u2019s palace, the grandest ever built in Japan, whose spoils in\nthe shape of gold screens and _fusuma_ adorn half the temples in Kyoto.\n\nThe peach orchards of _Soka-no-momoyama_ at Senju are a favourite\nresort of the Tokyo holiday-makers, who make annual pilgrimages to do\nhonour to the peach blossoms, and parties sit feasting on the matted\nbenches; here and there perhaps a group discussing the politics of the\ncapital, or a solitary poet composing a _hokku_ on the peach blossom,\nor a family party; and there the little boys and girls, decked out in\ntheir brightest-coloured kimonos and obis in honour of the holiday,\nwill be listening with rapt attention to the fairy-story of Momo Taro,\nwho jumped out of a large peach-stone. To the older children it is an\nold story, for every Japanese child has listened at bedtime to the\ntale of Momo Taro told by its mother, but for the little ones this may\nbe their first year of \u201cpeach-viewing\u201d and understanding, and their\neyebrows will rise in amazement when they hear the history. \u201cOnce upon\na time,\u201d the story says, \u201cthere was an old man and an old woman; the\nold man went up the mountain to collect dried brushwood, and the old\nwoman went to the river to wash clothes,\u201d and there one of the older\nboys will interrupt, I am sure, saying, \u201cA big peach came down the\nriver; and Momo Taro jumped out of the stone when the old woman brought\nit home and cut it open, didn\u2019t he?\u201d So there is not a child in Japan\nwho does not know the history of Momo Taro, the children\u2019s hero, who\nmade an expedition into the Oniga Shima (Devil\u2019s Island) followed by\nhis dog and monkey servitors. It would be no surprise to them to see\neven a fat little boy like themselves spring out of the end of the\nfruit, so the Japanese boys adore the peach; and the little girls share\ntheir affection for it, as it is always associated in their mind with\ntheir own especial festival.\n\nDuring the season of the early peach blossoms (on 3rd March) the\nGirls\u2019 Festival (_J\u014dmi-no-sekku_) is celebrated throughout Japan;\nit is also called the Feast of Dolls (Hina Matsuri), and the Peach\nFestival, for no Girls\u2019 Festival is complete without some branches\nof peach blossom in the vase on the _tokonoma_. This day is eagerly\nlooked forward to by every little girl in Japan, from the highest to\nthe lowest in the land, for every house possesses its little store\nof dolls, only to be brought out and exhibited with due pomp and\nceremony on this one day in the year. In the houses of the rich, the\nDairi Hina--tiny models of people and their belongings--the dolls\nwill be dressed in gorgeous silk, and their accessories mostly made\nof priceless lacquer. The whole ancient Japanese Court in miniature\nthere may be: these will all be displayed on the _tokonoma_ of the\nguest chamber, possibly on a piece of brocade as gorgeous as the\npeach blossom in colour. And there you will see an emperor and an\nempress and a set of Court musicians; before them the most elaborate\ndinner sets in ancient form; beside them there will be the _Sho kudai_\n(lamp-stand with paper shade) with pictures of peach blossom on it.\nThe little daughters of the house will surely look to our eyes only\nlike larger dolls, with their delicate coloured silk crepe kimonos and\nstiff brocade obis standing out like great butterflies on their backs,\ntheir hair carefully dressed according to their age, the older ones\nwith just a little powder on their tiny inscrutable faces, acting as\nhostesses with all the solemn grace of their mother, offering to the\nguests tiny cups of tea and little fairy cakes shaped and coloured\nlike peach petals. This girls\u2019 day is one of the prettiest sights in\nJapan, and yet there is no record how far back the festival originated,\nthough it is believed to date from a thousand years ago. In the days of\nthe Tokugawa feudal r\u00e9gime--days of perfect peace and prosperity--it\nbecame a very expensive festival, and great sums were expended on these\ntoy Dairi Hina, so it is not surprising that they were handed down as\nheirlooms in families only to be displayed once a year, or sometimes\na bride, scarcely more than a child herself, would take her set of\nfavourite dolls with her to her husband\u2019s house, so that her little\ndaughter might perhaps some day also use them to celebrate the Girls\u2019\nor Peach Festival. So in Japan the peach is truly the children\u2019s tree.\n\n_Momo_, meaning a hundred, is considered \u201cemblematic of longevity and\nperfection,\u201d which probably is the origin of the story of Seibo the\nfairy who governed the western realm of China. She gave some peaches\nto the Emperor Butei, and told him that that variety of peach only\nbore fruit once in three thousand years, and he would live eternally\nfrom the fruit\u2019s heavenly influence. If we could only get such peaches\nto-day? Perhaps it might do as well to eat a common peach from the\nmarket and dream, if possible, of the beauty of eternal life and be\nhappy.\n\nIn Chinese art the peach blossom seems to rank higher than it does in\nJapan, and a very favourite subject with Chinese artists is an ox in\na peach orchard. The finest pot-grown peach-trees I ever saw were in\nChina, their gnarled stems looking truly a thousand years old, their\nbranches trained and bent or merely drooping like a willow, covered\nwith the clear pink blossoms. The trunks of these fine old trees\nmay have been three or four feet high; but in Japan it is possible\nto procure a little plant for perhaps 25 sen (about sixpence) whose\nbranches are so tightly packed with blossoms it is impossible to see\na trace of even the bark between them--a perfect little tree in a\ndelicate green or mottled blue porcelain pot. I could not help thinking\nwhat pleasure such trees would give in England, but apparently it\nis only the Japanese who know the real secret of growing them, the\nexact shoots to leave and which to cut away, to ensure this wealth of\nblossom. I felt in England my little peach-tree would only flower here\nand there, and its beauty would be lost.\n\nThere is a popular saying in Japan, _Momo kuri san nen, kaki\nhachinen_, meaning \u201cthree years for peach and chestnut, eight years\nfor persimmon.\u201d The peach-tree is of rapid growth; this fact is proved\nby there being a variety called _Issai momo_, because it blooms the\nfirst year of its growth, and bears fruit the second. There is _Futairo\nmomo_, the two-coloured peach, whose blossoms are mingled red and\nwhite in colour, single and double in petals; there is _Hiku momo_, or\nchrysanthemum peach, as its blossoms are the shape of a chrysanthemum\nflower, in clusters of twelve or thirteen; the camellia peach and\nmany others with fancy names from their supposed resemblance to their\ngod-father. The native peaches do not bear good fruit, and the better\nvarieties have been introduced from America, but up to now with only\nmoderate success. There are no good eating peaches in Japan; this may\nbe the fault of the climate, possibly the hot damp summer does not\nsuit them, or the cultivation may be at fault; but when their blossoms\nprovide such a feast of colour and beauty it seems altogether too\nunromantic and too material to worry over the texture and flavour of\nthe fruit.\n\n[Illustration: THE PAGODA, KYOMIDZU]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nCHERRY BLOSSOM\n\n\nJapan is often called \u201cThe Land of the Cherry Blossom,\u201d and it is true\nthat for centuries their _Sakura-no-hana_ has been the favourite flower\nof the Japanese. The refinement and grace of its beauty appeals to them\nso intensely, that the month of April, the time of the cherry blossom,\nmight almost be regarded as a national holiday throughout the country;\nand can one wonder that a whole nation should forget for a time their\nwork and domestic worries in the innocent enjoyment of sitting under\nthe flower-laden trees?\n\nIn contrast to the simple growth of the plum-tree, the blossom of the\ncherry covers the whole tree in rich profusion, the branches bending\nunder the weight of its luxuriance, scattering a rosy shower of petals\nas they sway in the spring breezes. Lafcadio Hearn, in his _Glimpses of\nUnfamiliar Japan_, says: \u201cWhen, in spring, the trees flower, it is as\nthough fleecy masses of clouds, faintly tinged by sunset, had floated\ndown from the sky, to fold themselves about the branches.... The reader\nwho has never seen a cherry-tree blossoming in Japan cannot possibly\nimagine the delight of the spectacle. There are no green leaves; these\ncome later; there is only a glorious burst of blossoms, veiling every\nbough and twig in their delicate mist; and the soil beneath each tree\nis covered deep out of sight by fallen petals, as by a drift of snow.\u201d\n\nUnlike many of the favourite flowers of Japan, which are only grown in\ncertain districts, and might bloom altogether unobserved if one did\nnot make a special search for them, the cherry is so lavishly planted\nthroughout the Empire that it would be impossible to find any part of\nthe country without some display of the blossom.\n\nThe full beauty of the cherry is short-lived, and, almost before one\nhas realised the transformation of the whole landscape, brought about\nby this wonderful flower, with the help of the glorious April sunshine,\na heavy rain-shower or sudden squall will scatter the petals like\nsnow before the wind, and nothing will remain but the young brown\nleaves and the carpet of fallen petals beneath the trees. We are told\nof Fujiwara-no-Narinori, of the twelfth century, who prayed to the\ngod Tai-zanfukun for the prolongation of the glory of his beloved\ncherry blossom. Fujiwara had planted over a hundred of the trees in\nhis garden, and had, on that account, been named Sakura Machi by the\npeople. It is said that the gods answered his prayer, and allowed the\ntrees to remain in flower for twenty-one days.\n\nAnother legend tells of Minamoto-no-Yoshiyo the warrior, who was\ndespatched to fight with Abe-no-Sadato of Oshu. While on his way to\nthe enemy\u2019s camp, he passed through groves of falling cherry blossoms,\nand was struck with lamentation over the changing of nature. His poem\nremains to this day, and after his death a monument was erected to his\nmemory, on the spot where his inspiration seized him.\n\nIt is difficult to decide in which surroundings the cherry blossom\nshows to best advantage. In the groves or orchards devoted entirely\nto the _sakura_, where the flower-laden trees will surround one on\nall sides, there will be cherry blossom, and nothing but cherry\nblossom almost as far as the eye can reach. From every tree will\nhang rosy-red lanterns, or a poetical name and inscription will\nflutter in the breeze, while crowds of visitors wander through the\ngrounds; children clapping their chubby hands in sheer enjoyment of\nthe blossoms, tumbling, in their haste to find fresh treasures, over\ntheir gay-coloured kimonos, which, with their gorgeous obi, have been\nput on to-day for the first time in the honour of spring, and the\n_sakura_. Perhaps you might prefer to see the trees in a setting of\nred-brown maples and deep-green pines, in a wilder and more natural\nstate, where one of the many fast-flowing rivers will hurry along\nbeneath the overhanging boughs, carrying away great drifts of fallen\npetals; or, again, by the sea-shore, where a few great trees, high\nup on the cliffs, away from all danger of salt sprays, will make a\nglorious foreground for the rugged coast-line and the wide stretch of\nsea beyond. But surely there is no more beautiful setting for the trees\nthan the old temple buildings, with their wooden structures toned by\ncountless ages. A great weeping cherry-tree will stand as a sentinel\nat the gateway, or a little tree laden with rosy blossoms will guard a\ntiny shrine.\n\nAll through the bright spring days, thousands of sight-seers will climb\nthe stone steps of the temple of Kyomizu--or Good Water--in Kyoto, and\n\n[Illustration: A BUDDHIST SHRINE]\n\n[Illustration: A BUDDHIST SHRINE]\n\nwander through the buildings to the woods beyond. From the terrace\nthey gaze down upon the grove of cherry and maple trees in the valley\nbelow, and then away over the grey roofs of Kyoto and the plain beyond,\nto Osaka, hidden in the morning mists, or to Arashiyama, whose groves\nwill assuredly be visited in due time by these untiring holiday-makers.\nAt every turn a new beauty wipes out the remembrance of the last, and\nfills our soul with sadness, that nature will not stand still for\nawhile and give us leisure to enjoy what we know will be here to-day\nand gone to-morrow. Already the early single flowers are fading and\nfalling; every gentle breath of wind sends a fresh shower of the thin\ntransparent petals to the ground. To-morrow the heavy clusters of the\ndouble pink blossoms will have lost their freshness, and will be hiding\ntheir glories under the brown leaves that seem to unfurl and grow while\nwe look at them. Last, and perhaps best of all, will come the double\nwhite blossom, whose buds are now hanging in pink clusters, and whose\nbeauty will linger until the close of the \u201ccherry month.\u201d\n\nMaruyama Park in Kyoto has a great display of cherry blossom; an\nenormous drooping cherry of great age, which has taken its name of\n_Gion sakura_ from the Gion temple adjoining, stands in the middle of\nthe park, and thousands of people come to gaze at it every year when it\nis in flower. Towards the end of March, the park, which has been bleak\nand deserted all the winter, becomes a scene of bustle and activity.\nTemporary tea-houses are put up on every available space, hung with\ninnumerable lanterns, and gaily-coloured curtains, most of these being\npainted with some representation of the cherry blossom. With the\nunerring taste of the Japanese all the colouring is in harmony with the\nblossoms, no false note will clash or take away from the beauty of the\nsurroundings. By the 1st of April all is in readiness for the visitors,\nwho from that day onwards will not fail to arrive in a never-ending\nstream during the whole month. Even if there come days when the rain\ndescends in pitiless torrents, it does not seem to damp their ardour;\ntheir clogs may be an inch or so higher; their kimonos will be girt\ntighter about their knees, to keep them from the mud; each one will\ncarry a huge paper umbrella, black and red, deep blue or purple, or,\ncommonest of all, the natural yellowish colour of the oiled paper, with\nthe owner\u2019s name or the sign of the inn to which it may belong in large\nKatahana characters. Or should it be a late season\n\n[Illustration: THE FEAST OF THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS]\n\nand the cherry not be in flower so early, it makes no difference, still\nthe people come, it is the time when it _ought_ to be in flower, and\nsuch is the imagination in the minds of these curious people, that\nthey will gaze for hours at a tree with scarcely more than a tinge of\ncolour in the buds with as much pleasure as if the tree were in all the\nglory of its full flower. On a holiday afternoon, when the weather is\nfine, every seat in the tea-houses is taken up by the pleasure parties,\nwhile in the open spaces the people spread mats brought with them for\nthe purpose, and sit unfolding those neat little boxes and packets\nwhich contain their mysterious and wonderful food so unpalatable to\nour foreign ideas. Even the cakes and sugar-plums that accompany the\ncups of tea, unceasingly supplied by the tired little _ne sans_ of the\ntea-houses, are in the shape of cherries impaled on wooden skewers,\nand eaten with relish by young and old alike. In no other country but\nJapan, where humanity is so closely associated with nature, and where\nthe people mingle harmoniously with the background of flowers and\ntrees, could one find such a scene--the entire population of a great\ncity given up to the whole-hearted enjoyment of nature.\n\nAt nightfall the lanterns are lighted, and flaring torches round the\ngiant tree cast their lurid light upon the heavily laden branches,\nwhich might well belong to some forest tree bending under the weight\nof freshly fallen snow. Those who cannot leave their work during the\nday, come forth at night to swell the throng. The sounds of music and\nfeasting, the beating of tom-toms, and the ceaseless dragging of ten\nthousand clogs mingle with the cries of the toy-seller whose stock of\nthose wonderful paper butterflies, and of the miniature lanterns with\nthe candles ready lit, has to be constantly replenished to supply his\nendless customers. Thousands of country people, wearied with their\nround of sight-seeing, spend the night on the grass, only to start\nagain at daybreak on a fresh pilgrimage of innocent pleasure.\n\nThe Emperor Kameyama in the twelfth century planted a number of\ncherry-trees from Yoshino at Arashiyama, a picturesque gorge where the\nriver Katsura, celebrated for the beauty of its rapids, running through\na narrow valley, becomes a wide and shallow river and is renamed\nthe _Oi gawa_. Here it is said this Emperor built a pavilion, and,\nduring the cherry month, the Court held high revel for many years. The\npavilion has long since disappeared, perhaps swept away by one of the\nnumerous floods which devastate these valleys; but the cherry-trees\nremain, and here, instead of the stately Court of ancient days, the\nmodern Kyoto sight-seers hold their revels, for Arashiyama may be said\nto rank first among their favourite spring resorts. They gather in\nthe tea-houses and flower-booths on the banks of the river, and spend\ntheir flower-viewing days by the running water and the clouds of white\nblossom, exclaiming possibly in the words of their poet, \u201cNot second to\nYoshino is Arashiyama, where the white spray of the torrent sprinkles\nthe cherry blossom.\u201d Barge after barge, roofed over, with matted\nfloor and decorated with innumerable lanterns to suggest a miniature\ntea-house, will take its load of visitors across the river, or they\nwill spend some hours drifting idly down the stream, eating their\nmidday meal or playing some childish game. Occasionally a flower-laden\nboat, which has successfully accomplished the passage of the rapids,\nwill come into sight, and the sound of samisens, the saddest of all\nmusic, comes floating through the air.\n\nThe habit of drinking _sak\u00e9_ while viewing the cherry blossom appears\nto have originated in the days of the Emperor Richiu, in the fifth\ncentury. While feasting with his courtiers in a pleasure-boat on a\nlake in one of the royal parks, some petals fell into his wine-cup, and\ndrew the attention of the monarch to the hitherto despised blossom,\nand he exclaimed, \u201cWithout wine, who can properly enjoy the sight of\nthe cherry blossoms?\u201d--a sentiment which appears to have survived to\nthis day. It was not, however, until the eighth century that the cherry\nblossom rose to the distinction of a national flower. The Emperor\nShomu, while hunting on Mount Mikasa, in the province of Yamato, was\nso struck by the beauty of the blossoms, that he sent some branches,\naccompanied by some verses of his own writing, to his consort Komio\nKogo. Afterwards, in order to satisfy the curiosity of the Court\nladies, who had never seen this wonderful flower, he commanded a number\nof the trees to be planted round the Palace of Nara, whence arose the\ncustom of planting them near all the royal palaces in the country.\n\nThe province of Yamato is especially celebrated for its cherry groves,\nand justly so, as the little mountain village of Yoshino has given\nthe name to the most famous of all the varieties, and has even been\ncalled the headquarters of the cherry blossom; and so profuse is the\nmass of blossom that the poets have compared it to mist or snow upon\nthe hills. The little street of the village winds away up the spur of\nthe hill, past many temples and shrines, until it becomes nothing but\nthe rough stony path which ascends Mount Omine. Although the village\nstands high above the sea, its own especial kind of cherry is rather an\nearly one; the blossoms are large and single, pale pink in colour; but\nits beauty is fleeting, and the visitor must go early in the \u201ccherry\nmonth\u201d to Yoshino, or he will be greeted by great showers of the\nfalling petals being swirled away on the wind to join the light fleecy\nclouds on Mount Omine, or down to the mists which hang in the valley\nbelow, and nothing will be left but the remains of departed glories.\nDuring the few days, early in April, when the blossom is at its best,\nthousands of pilgrims visit the little village and occupy every\navailable lodging; but the traveller who is not discouraged by the\ndiscomfort of primitive Japanese inns, or by the long tedious journey\nover the mountains from Nara, will find ample reward in the beauty of\nhis surroundings. Mr. Parsons, in his _Notes on Japan_, thus described\nYoshino:--\n\n Everything in Yoshino is redolent of the cherry: the pink and white\n cakes brought in with the tea are in the shape of its blossoms,\n and a conventional form of it is painted on every lantern and\n printed on every scrap of paper in the place. The shops sell\n preserved cherry flowers for making tea, and visitors to the\n tea-houses and temples are given maps of the district--or, rather,\n broad sheets roughly printed in colours, not exactly a map or a\n picture--on which every cherry grove is depicted in pink. And all\n this is simply enthusiasm for its beauty and associations; for\n the trees bear no fruit worthy of the name.... I was reminded\n constantly of a sentence a friend had written in one of my books,\n \u201cTake pains to encourage the beautiful, for the useful encourages\n itself.\u201d It is difficult for an outsider to determine how much of\n this is genuine enthusiasm and how much is custom or traditional\n \u00e6stheticism, but it really matters little. That the popular idea\n of a holiday should be to wander about in the open air, visiting\n historic places, and gazing at the finest landscapes and the\n flowers in their due season, indicates a high level of true\n civilisation, and the custom, if it be only custom, proves the\n refinement of the people who originated it.\n\nTokyo and its neighbourhood can lay claim to some of the most beautiful\nspots for viewing the cherry blossoms. The banks of the river Sumida at\nMukojima are lined for miles with an avenue of ancient trees bending\nalmost to the water\u2019s edge with the weight of their double blossoms.\nThis is the favourite resort of the Tokyo holiday-makers, and crowds\nof pedestrians, carrying their gourds of wine, inaugurate a veritable\n_Bureiko_ (carnival) and fill the booths and the houses which are\n\n[Illustration: THE PINK CHERRY]\n\ntemporarily erected along the banks of the river. Those citizens who\ncan afford the greater luxury of a barge or roofed pleasure-boat spend\nthe evening more peacefully in floating upon the calm surface of the\nriver, gazing at the blossoming trees, cheered by the singing of the\ngeishas and the playing of the samisens. So great is the attraction\nof cherry blossoms seen by the light of the pale moon, that they have\neven been given the special name of Yozakura or night cherry flowers.\nTo the foreigner wishing to enjoy the prospect of the cherry blossoms\nin peace, such boisterous feasting will seem out of harmony with the\nnatural quiet beauty of the spot, and he will do well to turn his steps\nand to spend a few hours in undisturbed enjoyment of the more dignified\nsetting of Uyeno Park, where the giant trees of single and drooping\nblossom stand out in splendid contrast to the pines and cryptomerias\nsurrounding the tombs of the Shoguns. Ralph Adams Cram thus describes\nthe scene:--\n\n Here the cherry trees are huge and immemorial, gnarled and rugged,\n but clutching sunrise clouds caught by the covetous hands of black\n branches, and held dancing and fluttering against the misty blue of\n the sky. Here and there a weeping cherry holds down its prize of\n pink vapour, until it almost brushes the heads of those who pass;\n here and there the background of bronze cryptomeria is flecked\n with puffs of pink, as though now and then the captive clouds had\n burst from the holding of crabbed branches only to be caught in\n their escape toward the upper air and prisoned by the tenacious\n fingers of the cedar.\n\n At the end of the road the path blurs in odorous mist, and in a\n moment we are enveloped in the rosy clouds. As far as the eye can\n reach stretches the low-hung canopy of the thin petals; the trunks\n of the trees are small and gray, and one forgets them, or never\n thinks to associate them with the mist of pale vapour overhead,\n hung in the soft air, impalpable, evanescent, a gauzy cloud, lifted\n at dawn and poised breathless close over the earth.\n\n A little wind ripples above, and the air trembles with a snow\n of pink petals swerving and sliding down to the carpet of thin\n fallen blossoms, while darting children in scarlet and saffron and\n lavender crow and chatter, catching at the rosy flakes with brown\n fingers.\n\n The light here is pale and pearly as it filters through the sky of\n opal blossoms, and it transmutes the small dusky people into the\n semblance of butterflies and birds, now gathering into glimmering\n swarms of flickering colour, now darting off with shrieks of\n delight over the carpet of fallen petals. Here a slim girl with\n ivory skin has thrown off her ivory kimono, and clothed only in\n a clinging gown of vermilion crepe opening low on her bosom,\n barefooted, a great dancing butterfly of purple rice paper clinging\n to her black hair, is swaying rhythmically in an ecstatic dance,\n pausing now and then to flutter away like a red bird up the shadowy\n slope, until her flaming gown gleams among stone lanterns half lost\n in the gloom of great trees. Here a ring of shrieking children,\n wrinkled old women, and half-naked coolies are circling hand in\n hand in some absurd little game; and here, there, and everywhere\n whole families are clustered on red blankets, eating endless rice\n and drinking illimitable _sak\u00e9_, while the tinkle of the samisen\n is in the air, and strange cool voices sing wistful songs in a\n haunting minor key. It is a kaleidoscope of flickering colour, a\n transformation scene of pearl and amber, opal and vermilion.\n\nKoganai, a day\u2019s excursion from Tokyo, is another attractive spot in\nthe cherry blossom season--an avenue of double cherry-trees stretching\nfor two and a half miles along the river Tama. As the name suggests,\n_tama_ meaning pearl, the water is clear, and the stream provides the\npeople of Tokyo with their drinking water, which is brought to the city\nby means of an aqueduct. It is said that some ten thousand trees were\noriginally brought from Yoshino, by command of the Shogun Yoshimune,\nand planted along the banks of the aqueduct, with the pretty idea\nthat the purity of the blossoms would keep off impurities from the\nwater-supply. Of this vast number of trees, even if they ever really\nexisted, only a few hundreds remain to-day, but sufficient to keep\nup their old reputation and attract enough visitors for yet another\nmerry and boisterous flower carnival; in fact, throughout the land,\nwherever there are cherry-trees, during the month of their glory there\nwill be feasting. The blossom seems to act as a magnet to draw the\npeople together, and often by the wayside I have seen just one solitary\ntree, in all the fulness of its beauty, made sufficient excuse for\na miniature feast. Just a few lanterns will be hung in the tree, a\nfew matted benches will be spread out, and an old _Kami san_ will be\nwaiting to greet any passing traveller with her cries of _Irasshai--o\nkake nasai_--Welcome--please sit down,--and the offer of the inevitable\ntea, tobacco-box, and _hibachi_.\n\nThe Emperor Saga, as early as the ninth century, inaugurated the\nImperial garden parties to view the cherry blossom, which still take\nplace annually at the old summer palace of the Shoguns, Shiba Rikyu.\nThe gatherings were attended by the writers and poets of the day, who\ncomposed odes on the blossoms. Although robbed of many picturesque\nfeatures by the lamentable custom of wearing foreign dress at Court,\nthese functions are still of great interest to the foreigner, as\naffording him the only available opportunity of visiting any of the\nImperial gardens of the capital.\n\nIn spite of the fact that the beauties of Tokyo are fast\ndisappearing--her moats bordered by splendid pines are almost things of\nthe past; broad streets with tramways, brick and stone houses, are\n\n[Illustration: CHERRY-TREE AT KYOMIDZU]\n\nfast replacing the narrow streets and little wooden houses of old\nYedo; the _Yashiki_ or Daimios\u2019 houses and gardens are gone, replaced\nby foreign houses,--Tokyo still retains her cherry-trees. No modern\nreformer has ever dared to sweep away her avenues of _sakura_, for to\nthe Japanese the cherry is something more than an ordinary flower; it\nis difficult, if not impossible, for our Western minds to enter into\ntheir conception of it. To them the soul of the _sakura_, or cherry\nblossom, is the soul of Bushido (Chivalry), and the heart of Bushido is\nthe heart of Japan. One of their songs says--\n\n Hana wa sakura yo,\n Hito wa bushi.\n (Among flowers the cherry,\n Among men the samurai.)\n\nThe precepts of Chivalry were started first as the glory of the\n_\u00e9lite_, but grew in time to be the aspiration of the whole nation, and\nthey found their ideal in the _sakura_. The phrase, _Chitte koso sakura\nnari_, meaning \u201cIt\u2019s a cherry blossom, it falls when it must,\u201d was\ntaught in the old feudal days--how to die from loyalty as the cherry\nblossom,--the ethic of Death was the highest. So to this day their\nethics remain the same, and Tokyo retains her cherry-trees, which in\nspring transform the town into a garden of blossom. The poet Bashio\nsang in his _hokku_ poem--\n\n Hana wo kumo\n Kane wa Uyeno ka\n Asakusa ka.\n (A cloud of flowers!\n Is it the bell from Uyeno\n Or from Asakusa?)\n\nIt is true that wherever the clouds of blossom are low they will shut\nout the prospect in Tokyo, and one is unable to tell whether the bell\nwhich sounds from far away is that of Asakusa or Uyeno.\n\nThe number of different kinds of cherry-trees seems unlimited; Japanese\nauthorities quote one hundred distinct varieties. The first, and almost\nthe most beautiful, to flower, is the _Ito sakura_ or drooping cherry,\nwith pendent branches like a weeping willow, and so-called from _ito_,\nmeaning thread. These trees attain to a great size and make magnificent\nspecimens. Almost at the same time bloom the _Higan Sakura_--equinox\ncherries--with white single flowers or pale pink. Such are most of the\ntrees at Uyeno, of majestic size, planted, it is said, by one of the\nTokugawa Regents in imitation of the hills at Yoshino, though Asakusa\nyama, a hill in the suburbs of Tokyo, is more often spoken of as the\n_new_ Yoshino. The _Ukon sakura_ is very lovely, with its clusters\nof pale greenish-yellow double blossoms, but is rather scarce, and a\nvariety known as _Yaye hotoye_ has single and double blossoms on one\ntree,--_yaye_ meaning single and _hotoye_ double. The Yoshino cherry I\nhave already described; _Hi sakura_ has double blossoms, deep crimson\nin bud, and bright pink when open. There seems to be a never-ending\nlist of these lovely trees, in bewildering variety--early and late\nkinds, single, semi-double and double, large and small, from pure\nwhite through every shade of blush pink to light crimson, and the one\nbeautiful pale yellow blossom, its outer petals just flushed with pink,\nsuggesting the colouring of a tea-rose rather than a cherry blossom.\nThe double varieties of course bear no fruit, but even the single\n\u201cequinox cherries\u201d bear none, so the Japanese are satisfied with their\nsplendid blossom and do not worry about the poor insipid little fruit,\nwhich is all a cherry represents to them; but they will salt the leaves\nand drink cherry-flavoured tea under the pink canopy of flowers during\nthe time of the cherry blossoms, when, in the gladness of spring, all\nthe world is making merry.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nWISTARIA AND P\u00c6ONY\n\n\nThe last petals of the cherry blossoms have only just fallen, and\nNature hastens to provide a new treasure for the flower kingdom, and\nthe first blooms of the wistaria _Fuji no hana_ will be opening at\nthe base of the quickly growing racemes. Not the far-famed _Wistaria\nmultijuga_, whose immense long sprays of delicate mauve flowers are\nso associated throughout the world with the name of Japan, but the\nearly-flowering wistaria, _Brachy botris_, with its tufts of white\nblossoms completely covering the closely pruned branches before any\ntrace of a leaf appears. It would seem as if this modest white wistaria\nhad been allowed by nature to bloom so early, for fear she should be\noverlooked and not appreciated when her more showy successor flings\nher purple mantle over the land. The Royal Fuji, fancifully called\n_Niki-so_, meaning \u201cplant of the two seasons,\u201d because, appearing\nbetween the third and fourth months (old calendar), it belongs both to\nspring and summer, has rightly attained her high rank among the floral\nkingdom of Japan, for in no other country can be seen a restaurant set\nout for the entertainment of perhaps a hundred guests, who will all\nfeast wrapped in the purple haze of a roof of wistaria blossoms, all\nfrom a single vine.\n\nPerhaps the most popular haunt of the pleasure-seeker in the month\nof May is the celebrated Kameido Temple in Tokyo. Words fail me to\ndescribe the beauty of the scene: it is a real feast of _fuji_;\nthe, long purple trails cover the large trellises, the wide rustic\ngalleries, and connect the little matted restaurants, where hosts\nof people throughout the day sit feasting under the purple roof and\nfeeding the gold fish in the lake. The matted benches are set out on\na thick mauve carpet of fallen blossoms, and the little maids seem to\nhave a never-ending task in sweeping away great heaps of the freshly\nfallen flowers, as though fearing that their guests will be smothered\nby them. No one seems to know so wisely as the Japanese in what\nsurroundings to plant their flowers, so as to show them to their best\nadvantage. Wistaria seems always to be grown near water, so that the\ntrellis which is to bear its flower burden can be built out over the\nwater. So it is at Kameido; and as I sat surrounded, almost smothered,\nby the blossoms, inhaling their delicious scent and listening to the\ndroning of the bees, I could gaze across the water at the reflection\nof a never-ending vista of mauve blossoms reaching on one side to the\ncelebrated round wooden bridge, the delight of children, who seemed\nto cross it in one ceaseless stream, and on the other to the fine old\ntemple, where a few ancient pine-trees are placed just where they will\nbest harmonise with the long purple blossoms. The late sweet-scented\nwhite variety will prolong the _fuji_ season by a few days; their glory\nis but short-lived, a few days and then their colour begins to fade,\nthe leaves appear among the blossoms, and their beauty is gone. I felt\nif I wanted to see wistaria again that year I must fly to the northern\nprovinces, where the bean-scented blossoms will soon be clothing the\nforest trees. I turned away sadly, not forgetting the Japanese theory\nthat the wistaria loves _sak\u00e9_. So strong is their belief, that I was\ntold that if you set a jar of the wine under the plant, its spray will\ngrow longer from its desire to reach the jar; so I ordered my\n\n[Illustration: WISTARIA, KAMEIDO]\n\nlittle cup of _sak\u00e9_, sipped it, and then emptied the cup on the roots,\naccording to their custom, hoping that I too might help to contribute\nto its great size and beauty.\n\nVery lovely is the scene at Kashukabe, where another famous wistaria\ngrows. The vine is said to be some five hundred years old, its pendent\nclusters over 50 inches long and growing over trellises covering a\nspace of 4000 feet. Noda in the province of Settsu is also celebrated\nfor its wistaria, and a special variety has been named after the place.\nThe cultivation of _Wistaria multijuga_, with its racemes from two to\nthree feet in length, and the individual flowers having a lip of darker\npurple, seems to belong more especially to the eastern provinces. And\nit must not be imagined that _all_ wistaria in Japan has these immense\nlong sprays. In the whole neighbourhood of Kyoto I know of only two\nfine specimens of _multijuga_, and all the wild variety seems to be\n_Wistaria chinensis_, with its tufts of shorter racemes.\n\nTowards the end of the first week in May I made a pilgrimage to see\nthe wistaria blossoms in Kasuga Park at Nara, and I shall never forget\nthe enjoyment of that day, the blessed relief of being able to find a\nquiet spot away from the gazing crowd, in which to ramble or sit and\nenjoy the scene. The vines have clambered to the top of many of the\ntallest pines and cryptomerias, and their blossoms hang in wreaths;\nin the distance the effect was suggestive of smoke rising among the\ntrees. Many of the lower trees seemed to have been completely taken\npossession of by the trespasser, and the dead branches transformed into\nbig bouquets of pale mauve. How far more beautiful were these natural\nsupports than the somewhat unsightly bamboo poles which usually form\nthe trellis for the vines. Little glades, down which winds a tiny clear\nstream, divide the ground, and the banks were covered with these old\ntrees, completely smothered by the weight of blossom. Often the vine\nseemed not content with covering a single tree, but had thrown out long\nbranches beyond, which, fallen to the ground, had rooted and then risen\nagain to find a fresh prey, thus forming a double arch wreathed with\npurple tassels. This park is one of the few places in Japan where there\nis real turf, closely cropped by the herd of deer, and in the open\nspaces broad stretches of brilliant-coloured _Azalea sinensis_ added to\nthe enchantment of the scene and formed a perfect foreground.\n\nTo the Japanese mind the _fuji_ is essentially feminine, and they\nfind in the wistaria their ideal of woman,--the Japanese woman--whose\ncharm of temperament and whose beauty has been so praised. It is a\npretty idea, and it is not difficult to understand their ideal of woman\nwhen one observes how the wistaria clings to the undaunted pine, and\nhow gently she falls down, easily moved by a breath of wind and yet\nfirmly holding her own place. The wistaria is regarded as the emblem\nof gentleness and obedience, and these are the keynotes of a Japanese\nwoman\u2019s character.\n\nThe young tender leaves of wistaria are sometimes eaten, and also used\nin the place of tea; and the flowers themselves are used for food in\nsome parts of China. The seeds baked in the fire have very much the\nsame flavour as that of a chestnut. The bark is used for ropes and\nsandals; and its branches are used, it is said, as cables, and also for\nbridge-making, as it is supposed that there is nothing more durable\nthan a wistaria bridge. Japanese antiquarians will tell you that in\nolden times, before carpenters\u2019 tools had been invented, the dwellings\nof the people in Japan were constructed of young trees with the bark\nleft on, fastened together with ropes made of the tough shoots of\nwistaria, and thatched with the grass called _kava_. _Fuji_ appears to\nbe a real Japanese flower, though in the Western countries it is called\nwistaria, in honour of Caspar Wistar, an American physician.\n\nOne of the most celebrated classical _No_ dances of Japan has wistaria\nas its theme. The little square boxes in front of the stage, with\nits long gallery or bridge (along which the _No_ actors make their\nentrances and exits), are filled by the audience, apparently patiently\nwaiting in quiet, somewhat sleepy expectancy. The long piercing sound\nof flutes mingled with the curiously sad rhythm of _Tsuzumi_ drums\nhas ceased; and the high distinct declamation of the libretto begins.\nThe priest, who is a necessary part of any _No_ dance, is the first\nto appear on the stage; he is supposed to reach Taka no Ura in the\nprovince of Ecchu, a place famous for wistaria, and here he meets a\ncountry girl who in a short time will reappear as the spirit of the\nwistaria; she entreats him to pray for her, so that through the virtue\nof his prayer her flower spirit may enter into Nirvana or Paradise;\ndoubtless the spirit of the last flower of spring is not able to\nrelease herself from the world to attain Buddhistic perfection, so she\nhates to say her quick\n\n[Illustration: WISTARIA, NAGAOKA]\n\nfarewell to spring. Presently the flower spirit, arrayed in gorgeous\npurple brocade, dances her last spring dance, and then, after receiving\nthe priest\u2019s repeated prayer, she will disappear with joy. So ends the\n_No_ play, so full of emblematical meaning to the minds of the Japanese.\n\nThe wistaria and p\u00e6ony seem to be closely associated, as not only do\nthey flower at the same time and many gardens seem devoted to their\ncombined culture, but just as in Japanese literature the wistaria is\nan emblem of womanhood, so in Chinese literature the p\u00e6ony is compared\nto a beautiful woman. The p\u00e6ony seems to be a plant of Chinese origin,\nand though it can hardly be classed as one of the most popular flowers\nof Japan, it plays an important part in the art of the country. The\ntree p\u00e6ony is a delicate plant and requires scrupulous care and nursing\nin order that its blooms should attain their full size and colour. It\nis regarded as essentially the rich man\u2019s flower, and therefore it is\noften called the \u201cflower of prosperity\u201d; another fancy name by which\nit is known is the \u201cplant of twenty days,\u201d because it will preserve\nits freshness and beauty for that time. The celebrated garden at\nHonjo in Tokyo combines the cultivation of _botan_ (tree p\u00e6ony) with\nthat of wistaria. A fine old vine of _multijuga_ overhangs the pond;\nbut one of the especial features of the garden is the cultivation of\nwistarias in pots and tubs--some grand old plants, flowering as though\nthey would flower themselves to death. Others there were of all sizes\nand shapes; some bent and leaning, some bearing veritable canopies of\nblossoms; some pure white, some the pale mauve _sinensis_, and others\nthe deeper-coloured _multijuga_.\n\nMy first visit to \u201cview the p\u00e6onies\u201d was rather a disappointment to\nme, as, in order to protect the blooms from heavy rain or wind storms,\nthe plants are all placed under the cover of temporary matting sheds.\nThey seemed mostly to be grown in pots, and the effect of these rows\nof plants, each with its large and heavy blossoms supported by bamboo\nstakes, was somewhat stiff and prim. A few stray plants there were,\nwhich, possibly for some slight defect in the shape or colour of the\nblooms, had not been included in the show collection; and to the\nuninitiated these gave most pleasure, left standing in the open, their\ncolour blending harmoniously with that of the wistaria blossoms. The\np\u00e6ony gardens seemed no haunt for the holiday-maker, but rather for the\nserious-minded gardener, who, truly interested in their culture, would\nspend\n\n[Illustration: A P\u00c6ONY GARDEN]\n\nhours in quiet contemplation of the plants, discussing the merits of\nthe different varieties with some fellow-enthusiast. There were some\nhundred different kinds of the tree p\u00e6ony. The most prized ones were\nall either pure white blossoms, or those whose colour ranged from pale\npink to red,--quite rightly, however rare they may be, the purple-hued\nand yellow are less valued. Many a private garden belonging to the\nrich has its p\u00e6ony show, and the plants are mostly brought from the\nneighbourhood of Nara, which is celebrated for its p\u00e6ony gardens. And\nthe gardens at Kabata are also famous for their blooms; where too may\nbe seen the combination of the _fuji_ flowers covering long trellises\nand the little standard trees growing along the margin of the stream,\ntheir pendent trails reflected in the water, softening as it were the\ngorgeous splendour of the flaunting p\u00e6ony blossoms.\n\nThere is no more gorgeous floral sight than the p\u00e6ony with its\ntremendous curling petals; but a Japanese artist told me that its\nfulness in splendour made those with a better poetical fancy and more\nquiet taste dislike it and think the beauty of the p\u00e6ony to be even\nvulgar. Japan is nothing if she be not light and airy, and therefore\nthe Japanese consider flowers with more delicate grace to be more\nartistic; so the p\u00e6ony has little chance to become their favourite\nflower, its beauty is too heavy. It has found, however, some admirers\namong the poets of Western Japan. In comparison to the people of the\neastern provinces the inhabitants of Osaka and Kyoto are said to be\nmore showy in their taste, their art is heavier, so the p\u00e6ony is called\nthe Western Flower of Japan. If you compare China and Japan, the\nformer\u2019s taste in art is more decorative and heavier, and remember what\na favourite the p\u00e6ony is as a decoration for their priceless porcelain.\nThe variety of p\u00e6ony known as _P\u00e6onia sinensis_, the true Chinese\np\u00e6ony, does not seem to be much regarded in Japan, and little attention\nseems to be given to its cultivation.\n\nThe _botan_ calls to mind the p\u00e6ony lantern, and the p\u00e6ony lantern or\n_botan toro_ is suggestive of the Buddhist festival of _Bon_ (from July\n13-16), when the great gates of Hades will open wide, and those dead\nsouls who are still wandering about, being unable to enter Nirvana,\nwill come back again to receive their relatives\u2019 prayers, by whose\nvirtue they may get their final rest. So this festival is universally\ncalled the Soul Festival: in literature it is closely connected with\nghosts. The theatres will all play \u201cghost plays,\u201d as, of course, the\nstory of the p\u00e6ony lantern is a ghost story.\n\nA beautiful girl called O Tsuyu was the daughter of a certain samurai\nIjima San, who lived apart from her father with her faithful maid O\nYone. She happened to love Shinzaburo Ogihara, a young samurai, and\ndied of love, and her maid followed her. Ogihara did not know of their\ndeath. He observed one summer evening that two young women--who were O\nTsuyu and O Yone--passed before the gate of his house, carrying p\u00e6ony\nlanterns in their hands, and he welcomed them. During the following\nseven nights O Tsuyu called on him at night with her usual p\u00e6ony\nlantern in hand; and then Shinzaburo was told by his friend that she\nwas not a living person, but a ghost. He appealed to some holy priest\nto protect him from the ghost. The priest gave him some charm to hang\nat his door; and when the charm one night was taken away, Ogihara was\nfound dead the next morning.\n\nThere is a rather charming ghost story of the p\u00e6ony which is of Chinese\norigin; the story is called the Ko Gyoku or Incense Jewel. Kaseikyu\nof Rozan, of fairy beauty, is famous for its p\u00e6onies. In Kaseikyu\nthere lived a young scholar called Kosei. He was looking out of his\nwindow one day, and to his amazement he observed a beautiful young lady\ndressed in white who stood among the p\u00e6onies; he saw her so often that\nhe fell in love with her, and wrote a love-song dedicated to her fair\nsoul. Then she appeared as in a dream to him one day and said, \u201cMy name\nis Ko Gyoku; I was brought here from the city of Heiko, and my life is\nnot without sadness.\u201d They promised to love each other, they continued\nto meet every day, till one day Ko Gyoku told him sadly that she had\nto go away; and the next morning, strange to say, Kosei observed that\nthe p\u00e6onies in the garden had disappeared. Was she not the spirit of\none of the p\u00e6onies? He passed day and night in sad dreams and with many\ntears, thinking over his unhappy fate in love. To his surprise Ko Gyoku\nappeared after a long time, and they held each other\u2019s hands, but the\nman found the lady\u2019s hand cold. Ko Gyoku said, \u201cYesterday I was the\nliving spirit of the flower, but to-day I am merely the ghost. My body\nis cold, the flower is dead.\u201d However, she was to his eyes as beautiful\nas before. She continued, \u201cIf you will be kind enough to give a cupful\nof water to the roots of\n\n[Illustration: WISTARIA, KABATA]\n\nthe old p\u00e6onies every day, you will receive a reward in due course of\ntime,\u201d and disappeared. Kosei found the next morning that new sprouts\nwere beginning to come out from the old roots.\n\nThe p\u00e6ony was introduced into Japan from China in the eighth century,\nbut failed to gain universal popularity, on account of the difficulty\nof cultivating it successfully; but the Rich Man\u2019s Flower came to\nbe regarded as the king of flowers, and therefore the lion and the\npeacock, the kings of the animal world, are its companions in art. They\nare always painted together in the decoration of a temple or palace\nwall, and when lions dance on the Japanese stage they always have a\ngorgeous background of p\u00e6onies. There may be more of myth than truth in\nthe pretty story of Ichinenko, a kind of p\u00e6ony, whose flowers turned\ncrimson when Yo Ki Hi (the beloved mistress of the Emperor Genso,\nfamous in Chinese history in connection with the p\u00e6ony) accidentally\ntouched the petals of the flower with her rouged finger-tips, when she\nappeared in the garden after finishing her morning toilette.\n\nSo strong is the feeling among Japanese poets that the flower is\nlacking in any poetical grace, that the _Hokku_[2] poet Hyoroku\nremarks in his Essay on a Hundred Flowers, \u201cThe p\u00e6ony is like the\nmistress glorified in one\u2019s love, who acts as she pleases without any\nconsideration for another\u2019s feeling. It has such an attitude, as if it\nspit out a rainbow into the blue sky.\u201d The poet Bushon, who has written\nmore lines on the p\u00e6ony than any other poet, says--\n\n Niji wo haite\n Hirakanto suru\n Botan hana.\n\n (Spitting forth a rainbow\n Is about to bloom\n The p\u00e6ony flower.)\n\n[2] _Hokku_ is a poem of seventeen syllables.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nAZALEAS\n\n\nEarly in May the brilliant-coloured azaleas seem determined, by\nthe splendour of their hues, to try and outshine their graceful,\ntender-coloured predecessors the plum, peach, and cherry. Surely no\nother plants ever equalled their display of colours--every shade--pure\nwhite, cream, salmon, pink, scarlet, orange, and purple; but even all\nthis feast of colour will not make up for the delicate colour of the\nblossoming trees. There are so many different varieties of azalea, so\nmany different ways of planting them, and even such a variety in their\nnatural growth, that it is hard to say in which surroundings they\nappealed to me most.\n\nThe most celebrated place for \u201cviewing azalea blossoms\u201d--_Satsuki no\nhana_--in all Japan is in the district of Shinjuku, a suburb of Tokyo,\nwhere the show gardens, known as the florists\u2019 gardens of Okubo-mura,\npresent a wealth of colour which I feel powerless to describe. These\ngardens, or rather azalea plantations, as no other plants are grown,\nare of very ancient date, and were frequented by the Tokugawa Regents,\nwith whom they were as popular as they are with the sight-seer of\nto-day. A few sen will suffice to obtain permission to enter a\nnever-ending succession of these little gardens, and so dazzled was\nI by their splendour that I do not remember that any one seemed more\nbeautiful than another. Imagine these great bushes of immense size and\ngreat age simply smothered by their blossoms. Not a leaf was to be\nseen. My eyes ached at last, and I longed for the repose of a stretch\nof green. In and out among great banks of the scarlet and crimson\n_Kaba-renge_, the variety which flowers before the leaves appear,--on\npast beds of _Azalea indica_ with its large double and semi-double\nblooms of every shade, the paths will lead us, as if through a maze;\nand surely this mass of colour helps to bewilder one. I was assured one\nvenerable old bush, the thickness of whose stem testified to its great\nage, bore each year eight thousand blooms; so closely packed did the\nblossoms appear to be, that it would have been no surprise to me had I\nbeen told they numbered eight million instead of\n\n[Illustration: AZALEAS]\n\nthousands. The whole district was thronged with holiday-makers visiting\nthe little gardens in one never-ending stream. But one thing differed\nhere from all the other floral feasts I had ever seen in Japan:\nthere were few, if any, little tea-houses set up in the gardens for\nthe entertainment of the guests, who generally sit sipping tea, or\nsome more potent beverage, and gaze upon the especial flower they\nhave perhaps tramped many weary miles to see. Here there was no\ntea-drinking, they all retreated to the neighbouring restaurants; and\nwhy? The reason was not far to seek: no human eyes could sit and gaze\nat that mass of colour for more than a few consecutive moments; one\nwould leave the garden blinded. The whole air was sweet with their\ndelicious scent; the bees were busy collecting honey, especially from\nthe hearts of the _sinensis_ blooms, which seemed the sweetest-smelling\nvariety. No visitor to Japan should miss spending a few hours at Okubo,\nfor surely in no other place in the whole world can such a wealth\nof colour be seen. The soil near Tokyo must be especially suited to\nazaleas, as there are many other gardens and parks which in this flower\nmonth will be gay with their blossoms.\n\nI have mentioned Okubo first, because it is the most celebrated place\nfor azaleas, here every variety and colour are collected in one dense\nmass; but there were many other places where the blossoms gave me more\ntrue pleasure, and where I spent many hours enjoying the scene.\n\nAt Nagaoka, in the neighbourhood of Kyoto, many a day have I spent, and\nI know of no place where one can sit more comfortably and peacefully\nlost in admiration and contemplation. Nagaoka has a large sheet of\nwater, apparently artificial, but beautified by the great bushes of\nscarlet azalea along the shore, and the great splashes of colour in the\nwater cast by their reflection. Here they are all one variety, with\ntrue fiery scarlet blossoms, and as I sat in one of the little thatched\nhouses built out on piles in the water, great bushes were crowding\nround me; it seemed as though they had even cast their rosy hue upon\nthe houses, as are not all their walls pink, as if they too reflected\nthe colour of the blossoms?\n\nI felt I should like to sleep among the azaleas and see them in the\nearly dawn, and watch the mist clear off the water when the sun\u2019s first\nrays would light up their dazzling splendour. But that could not be.\nNagaoka, after all, is only a restaurant, though each party of guests\nis entertained in a\n\n[Illustration: AZALEAS, NAGAOKA]\n\nseparate little house. They are frail structures these little houses,\nwith only their paper _shoji_ to protect one from the chilliness of\nthe night, and remember, summer is not yet here; all through the month\nof May there will be a freshness in the air to remind you that spring\nis not yet gone. So to Kyoto we must return; but there was plenty of\nconsolation to be found there.\n\nThe gardens of the old Awata Palace were a blaze of colour, the azaleas\nlighting up this beautiful old landscape garden, which at other seasons\nof the year is apt to look grey and cold and uncared for. The garden\nhere is like two separate gardens; the first part, complete in itself,\nis the work of the great Kobori Enshu, and the second part, where the\nazaleas are the glory of the garden, is the work of Soami. Standing\nbetween the two is a grand old lantern, whose history is listened to\nwith rapt attention by the little knots of sight-seers who are led by\nthe old priest round the garden and up through the bank of azaleas to\nlook over the great town below, with Hiesan rising in the distance.\n\nMany a little temple garden is quite transformed when the azalea bushes\nare in flower, their little miniature mountain sides are gay with the\nblossoms; though often the better the gardens are cared for, the\nfewer the blossoms, as, in order to keep the bushes in their regular\nand prescribed shapes, the flowers have to be sacrificed. The little\ngarden of Chishaku-in I can recall, as having the brilliant-coloured\nbushes in pleasing contrast to the subdued tones of the clipped box\nand juniper-trees, and the greyness of the lichen-covered lanterns and\nmossy stones. No doubt there were many such little gardens and also\nprivate gardens, but the flower month is too short, and one can only\nvisit the most favoured places or where chance happens to lead one\u2019s\nsteps.\n\nFor those who prefer to enjoy the azaleas in their wilder state,\nthere are many places where they can wander undisturbed and inhale\ntheir scent which comes wafted on the breeze. I am thinking now of\nKasuga Park at Nara, where great stretches of _Azalea sinensis_ form a\nbrilliant foreground for the wistaria-laden trees. Nature seems to have\narranged a veritable picture, almost too beautiful to be real. These\ngorgeous blossoms shade from delicate yellows and pale pink, through to\nthe brightest orange and flame colour, growing as the woodland scrub.\nThey are not more than a few feet in height, possibly their growth has\nbeen stunted by the deer; but they form in places a real carpet or\nclothe the\n\n[Illustration: AZALEAS, AWATA]\n\nbanks of the little streams, their colour vying with the splendour of\nthe great temple beyond.\n\nI had heard so much of the beauty of the cherry blossom and wistaria\nand the glory of the maples, and their fame is amply justified; but\nno one had told me of the beauty of the azaleas, and never had I\nrealised how essentially they belong to Japan. Throughout the length\nand breadth of the land they seem to grow, and there appeared to be few\nplaces where one variety or another had not found a home. Their pale\npurple blossoms were hanging from the cliffs among the white-flowered\nandromeda bushes late in April, when I paid a flying visit to Miyajima,\nand a few days later I found them again on the banks of the canal on my\nway from Otsu. In the country round Hikone the more brilliant-coloured\nforms had found a home, and under the old pine-trees, broken here and\nthere by a rocky projection, or even a few grey tombstones of some\nlong-forgotten graveyard, the banks were covered with an undergrowth\nof azaleas. Farther north the railway leading to Aomori will wind its\nway through country which at all seasons of the year is beautiful, but\nhow far more beautiful when the salmon-pink low-growing azalea forms an\nundergrowth to the pine woods; wherever the trees have been thinned\nthe rocky ravines are all lighted up with their colour. The azaleas at\nNikko and Chuzenji have been described elsewhere, and I feel as if all\nthe country during those short weeks will \u201calways be seen in my mind\nthrough a rosy hue of azalea blossoms.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nTHE IRIS\n\n\nIf I were to be asked which of all the show gardens in Japan--a garden\ndevoted to the cultivation of one especial flower--gave me most\npleasure to visit, I should unhesitatingly answer Hori-kiri, the garden\nof _hana shobu_ or _Iris Kaempferi_, in the neighbourhood of Tokyo.\nThroughout the month of June this garden remains a feast of subdued\ncolour; for the iris is no gaudy, flaunting flower, but a delicate\nblossom shading from pure white, through every shade of mauve and lilac\nto rosy purple, and so deep a blue as to be almost black. In the first\ndays of June the paths winding through the rice fields from the banks\nof the river Sumida will be crowded with sight-seers whose steps are\nall bent in one direction and with the same intent--to pay their annual\nvisit to Hori-kiri; and throughout the month this never-ending stream\ncontinues from early dawn until the setting of the sun or the rising\nof the moon. Flower-sellers there will be too, one perhaps with only a\nmodest bunch of half-opened buds in a wooden tub shaded from the sun by\na large umbrella, not the unpicturesque object recalled to our English\nminds by the word umbrella, but one made of pale yellow paper, large\nand flat, with bamboo ribs, the owner\u2019s name inscribed in bold, black\nChinese characters--or farther on a little stall decked with lanterns,\nand a gay-coloured curtain with some device suggestive of the iris;\ntiny toys, little fairy baskets of split bamboo with just one iris\nblossom, or fans painted with a giant bloom covering the whole fan, and\nother dainty trifles, to carry home to the little ones left at home or\nas a souvenir of this iris-land.\n\nThe garden of Hori-kiri must be of very ancient date, as the fine old\npine-trees, dwarfed and gnarled maple and juniper bushes, are not the\ngrowth of this generation, or even the last. The garden is said to\ndate from some three centuries, and to be handed down from father to\nson, always in the same family. Nothing could be more perfectly laid\nout for the proper display of its especial flower, the shaping of\nthe beds, the placing of the bridges, and even the colouring of the\nlittle summer-houses in which to entertain their host of guests--all\nhas been thought out by this artistic family; and last, but by no means\nleast, the clothing of the little maids who wait on them with untiring\nzeal--their kimonos and obis all harmonising in colour.\n\nI have lingered too long on the surroundings of the flowers, and the\nreader will want to know more of this wonderful flower which deserves\nso much attention--it does indeed deserve the attention, for surely\nby the middle of the \u201cdew month\u201d it is hard to imagine anything more\nbeautiful than the scene which meets the eye. Some seventy varieties\nof this king of irises are grown, many raised from seed and jealously\ntreasured by the owner of the garden. There are early and late\nvarieties, three weeks almost between their time of flowering, but by\nthe second week in June the second blooms of the early varieties will\nhave opened and the first blooms of the later ones, so the effect is\nas if all were flowering together; every shoot of the plants seems to\nbloom; there are no gaps in their serried ranks. The mere variety is\namazing. Some are pure white, only veined with a faint tinge of green;\nsome have a margin of lilac; some are shaded; some mottled; but surely\nthe most beautiful of all is just a great single bloom of one shade, be\nit white, lilac, or blue. Many people prefer the duplex flowers with\nan inner row of small petals, but to me this form seemed to have lost\nsome of the natural beauty and grace of the true iris. I tried to learn\nsomething of their cultivation, hoping it might be of help to those\nwho grow those poor specimens known in England as _Iris Kaempferi_. It\nis not the plants themselves, or the varieties, which are at fault,\nfor many thousands of roots leave the Hori-kiri garden every year to\nbe scattered throughout the world,--it would seem to be the soil and\nclimate which they resent and stubbornly refuse to adopt; for a few\nyears they linger and even bravely flower, and then they begin to pine\nand droop like some poor home-sick mortal pining for his native land.\n\nAugust appears to be the especial month for dividing the roots or\nreplanting them, so that month had better be chosen as the beginning\nof the iris year. The yellowing foliage is ruthlessly cut to half its\nnatural height and the plants divided, for no clump is ever allowed to\ngrow so large and old that it is hollow in the centre; the outer shoots\nappear to be the strongest, and have most promise of bloom for the\nfollowing year. The beds are\n\n[Illustration: AN IRIS GARDEN]\n\nsunk a foot or so below the paths; and the rich soil is like a\nquagmire, not with standing water, but like swampy ground. In November\nthe plants are all cut down, in preparation for the first dressing\nof manure in December. The liquid sewage is liberally applied, once\ntowards the end of the year, and then again after an interval of a\nfew weeks, the final dressing being given in January. By February the\ngrowth has started, and once the young leaves appear there can be no\nmore manuring, or the foliage would suffer. From now until the time\nof flowering, the regulation of the irrigation seems to be the chief\nmatter to ensure success in their cultivation. Each variety has its own\nespecial name, generally with some poetical meaning, but difficult for\nthe European ear to grasp, and I noticed that, no doubt for the sake of\nthe foreign market, all the rows were numbered as well as named.\n\nDo not imagine that this is the only iris garden of Japan. There are\nmany others, though I always think that Hori-kiri ranks first, not\nonly for the beauty of the garden, but the actual flowers seem larger\nand better grown than anywhere else. Only a few minutes\u2019 drive from\nHori-kiri will take you to Yoshino-en, celebrated for its wistaria as\nwell as its irises. The ground is larger than Hori-kiri and the irises\nare well grown, but as the garden is not devoted entirely to their\nculture the effect is not so pleasing. The whole district almost seemed\ndevoted to the culture of _shobu_--many, many fields of them I passed;\nbut as they are grown entirely for the sake of cutting the blooms for\nmarket, there is never any mass of colour to be seen.\n\nThe gardens at Kabata, belonging to the Yokohama Nursery Company, are\nperhaps the most extensive iris gardens in Japan; I felt almost dazzled\nand bewildered by the very size of the grounds--acres of irises--a\nbeautiful sight; but I never derived the same pleasure from it as from\nthe smaller garden. The iris is one of the few flowers which seems to\nbe allowed to enter into the precincts of a true Japanese landscape\ngarden: in many a private garden a stream will be diverted to feed\nan iris bed, placed where a piece of swampy ground would be most in\nkeeping with the rest of the miniature landscape; or even the margin\nof a tiny lake will be utilised for just a few plants of _shobu_. I\nremember seeing an old priest tending his little colony of irises,\nwhich no doubt were chosen with great deliberation from a large\ncollection for some especial beauty. How often have I seen an old man\nand woman considering on which particular favourite their few sen shall\nbe expended, and then departing, the happy possessor of a new treasure\nto add to their little store. My friend the priest\u2019s collection all\ngrew in pots; they did not look as though they would attain their full\nheight and beauty; but as if to reward the loving care bestowed on them\nthey all showed promise of flower; and no doubt in due time they will\nhave been arranged so as to give the best effect and greatest pleasure\nto their grower.\n\nI asked a Japanese who, with his little gentle wife, was sitting in\nquiet contemplation and evident enjoyment of the scene, to tell me\nsomething of the flower as it appeals to the Japanese, and he said: \u201cWe\nlive here in the choicest floral kingdom; and to our mind the flowers\nare beautiful, and we do not ask why or how, the sight of their beauty\nis far more real to us than any meaning which they may suggest. You\nwill find no other nation like Japan, which loves Nature so truly in\nher varied forms and holds communion with all her aspects; we love the\niris as a flower, but as nothing else. I cannot make my mind associate\nit with any meaning of zeal or chivalry, nor do I think of it as any\nmessenger; it appeals to me only as a little quiet beauty of the water\nside, making friends with the sadness of the rainy season. In our\npoems the iris is almost inseparable from water; one of our celebrated\npoetesses has written the following seventeen-syllable poem--\n\n Midzu ga kaki,\n Midzu ga kashikeri\n kakitsubata.\n\n (Water was the painter,\n Water again was the eraser\n Of the beautiful fleur-de-lis.)\n\n\u201cIt is the universal custom throughout Japan to celebrate the fifth\nday of May by hanging bunches of _shobu_ beneath the eaves of our\nhouses, and to put them into the hot water of the public baths, as it\nis perfectly delicious for the bathers to inhale their odour. We also\ndrink _sak\u00e9_ in which they have been steeped, on the same day. I felt\nproud to hear that the fleur-de-lis, as I believe you call the iris,\nis the national flower of France, as I like to think that it has found\na home in the West, and when I was told that the flower which was put\nabove Solomon\u2019s greatest glory was not the lily of our country, but\nthat of the iris family, I felt glad and agreed with it.\u201d\n\nThe delicate _Iris Tectorum_ would be an immense addition to our\nEnglish flower gardens, if only our summers were hot enough to bake\ntheir roots sufficiently to make them flower. I succeeded in making\nthem grow; they threw up their shoots each year, but never one single\nflower, until at last, disgusted, I condemned them, like so many other\ntreasures brought from foreign climes, as unsuited to our cold grey\nskies. Late in May these irises will be in full bloom and forming a\npurple spur on the top of the thatched straw roofs of the farmhouses;\nthey are generally planted in this way (hence their name), and\ntransform the roof ridge of many a peasant\u2019s dwelling into the aspect\nof a flower garden. Many different reasons are ascribed to their being\nplanted in this manner; some say the irises are planted to avert the\nevil spirits, and there is a superstition that they are efficacious\nin the prevention of disease. There is also a legend that during one\nof the famines that devastated the land in olden days an order went\nforth that all cultivated land was to be given up to the growing of\nrice, but that the women of Japan, determined to save their iris roots,\nfrom which their powder (so essential to the toilette of every young\nJapanese lady) is made, planted them on the roofs of their houses. I\ngive the tale with all due reserve, as I was never able to verify it,\nnor do I even know for certain that their precious _shiroi_ is made\nfrom iris roots.\n\n Other people no less positively affirm the growth to be accidental.\n Others, again, assert that the object is to strengthen the thatch.\n We incline to this latter view; bulbs do not fly through the air,\n neither is it likely that bulbs should be contained in the sods\n put on the top of _all_ the houses in a village. We have noticed,\n furthermore, that in the absence of such sods, brackets of strong\n shingling are employed, so that it is safe to assume that the two\n are intended to serve the same purpose. (Chamberlain\u2019s _Things\n Japanese_.)\n\nNo matter the reason for their being so planted--be it for protection,\nbe it for the sake of vanity or merely for safety--the effect is none\nthe less charming, and later in the year these little roof gardens are\nsometimes gay with _Hemerocallis aurantiaca_ or a stray tuft of scarlet\nNerine.\n\nThe true _Iris japonica_ or _chinensis_ is a shade-loving plant, with\nmany lavender-coloured flowers on a branching stem, each outer petal\nmarked with purple lines, and in the centre of the flower a deep orange\nhorn. Like so many delicately marked flowers, it has a very short life,\neach individual bloom appearing to last only from one\n\n[Illustration: IRISES]\n\nsunrise to the next, but the stems bear so many blooms that other buds\nquickly open and fill the gap of yesterday\u2019s blossom.\n\n_Iris gracilipes_ seems the commonest and most free-flowering of\nall the irises. In May its graceful purple flowers and vivid green\ngrass-like foliage seemed to fringe each pond, and the only fault I had\nto find with this form of iris was the short duration of its flowering\nseason; the plants bloom so freely they appeared to flower themselves\nto death, and after one short week their slender heads would hide\nthemselves until the resurrection of the next \u201cflower month.\u201d.\n\nI learnt that the _Iris l\u00e6vigata_, which appears to be synonymous\nwith K\u00e4mpfer\u2019s iris, is much used as a decoration for ceremonies and\ncongratulatory occasions, but on account of its purple colour it is\nnot desirable for weddings, though permissible for betrothals. It is\nmuch honoured in the art of flower arrangement, and ranks high among\nthe flowers used for the vase on the _tokonoma_; and the leaves are\nas much prized as the flowers, lending themselves to the bending and\ntwisting required to attain the regulation curves. As a rule it is\nnot permissible to use the leaves alone of a plant which may bear a\nflower, or the flowerless branches of a shrub which may bear blossoms\nor berries; but _Iris japonica_ seems an exception to this rule, and\nthe leaves alone may be used before the flowers appear. The first of\nthe ten artistic virtues attributed to certain special combinations is\nheaded in Mr. Conder\u2019s list by _Simplicity_--expressed by rushes and\nirises in a two-storey bamboo vase. The beautiful arrangement known as\n_Rikkwa_ (double stump arrangement) consists of a combination of pine,\niris, and bamboo grass.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nTHE MORNING GLORY\n\n\n\u201c_Asagao_ blooms and fades so quickly, only to prepare for the morrow\u2019s\nglory,\u201d such is the theme of one of the oldest songs on the _asagao_\nor morning glory, written by the Chinese priest at the temple of Obaku\nnear Uji, who is said to have been the first person to introduce the\nflower to Japan.\n\nIt was but a primitive weed when it first came from China; it is only\nin the land of its adoption that it has evolved its thousand varying\nforms and developed into the floral wonder of to-day. It was still a\nsemi-barbarous beauty, and had not advanced to its present plane, when\n_Kaga no Chiyo_ wrote her well-known morning glory poem, better known\nto us from Sir Edwin Arnold\u2019s version--\n\n The Morning Glory,\n Her leaves and bells have bound\n My bucket handle round;\n\n I could not break the bands\n Of those soft hands.\n The bucket and the well to her I left;\n \u201cLend me some water, for I come bereft.\u201d\n\nFor centuries the _asagao_ in Japan remained the same trifling little\nChinese flower, only the wild morning glory of the bamboo fences in the\nback gardens; but even then the bright poetesses of the Kyoto Court\nadmired it, and the Nara poets sang its praises. As they delighted\nto write of the fleeting condition of our human lives, they found a\ncongenial subject in the morning glory, for it is true that no flower\nhas a briefer life and beauty, and the buds of yesterday are flowers\nto-day, but only for a few short hours, and then nothing will be left\nbut ruin and decay; though how quickly fresh buds will appear and fresh\nflowers open to be the morrow\u2019s \u201cmorning glory.\u201d\n\nIt was not until the eighteenth century that the _asagao_ became\nfashionable among the Daimyos and _hatamoto_, who worked wonders in\nits cultivation in the rival _Yashiki_ or noblemen\u2019s gardens at Yedo.\nTheir blossoms developed in size, depth, and variety of colour, until\nsuddenly at the close of the eighteenth century a spell of cold weather\nduring their season of flowering, dwarfed the blossoms and ruined\nall the seeds in Yedo. So the _asagao_ culture was dropped until the\n_Tempo_ period (1830). Then a revival of interest culminated in the mad\ncraze at the time of Commodore Parry\u2019s visit, when princes, priests and\npotentates, nobles, _hatamoto_, and gardeners all vied with each other\nin the culture of this flower. Fancy prices were put on plants and\nseeds, as much as fourteen or eighteen yen (2s.) being given for one\nseed of some new favourite. Naritaya of Yedo and Tonomura of Osaka were\nrival gardeners, and the latter sent his precious flowers to the Yedo\nshow by means of relays of coolies, to compete with those grown at Yedo.\n\nThe restoration and complete change of social conditions were\nunfavourable to the culture of the morning glory, as it again went out\nof fashion and only languished, until its recent revival about fifteen\nyears ago, when an _asagao_ club was formed and many prominent persons\nbecame members.\n\nTo-day the craze has spread among all classes, and there is hardly\na house--more especially in Tokyo, but almost throughout the\ncountry--where there are not a few pots of this favourite flower, it\nbeing within the reach of the poorest in the land; for a few sen the\nseeds may be procured to raise the plants which are so often grown\nupon the house-top.\n\nIriya (an attractive name meaning \u201cWithin the Valley\u201d), beyond Uyeno\nPark, is the most famous place in Japan for the morning glory; here\nthousands of carefully trained plants of every shade and variety of\ncolour, fancy flowers less than half an inch in size, in clusters, and\nshaped like a butterfly orchid, and other strange varieties may be\nseen; some trained in pots over light bamboo frameworks representing\nrustic structures and other quaintly designed frames. The gardens are\nvisited by hundreds of visitors in the early morning, for it is at\nfour o\u2019clock in the morning of a scorching July or August day that the\nplants will look their best: the buds will just be opening, the faded\nflowers of yesterday will have fallen, and all will be fresh and make\nyou forget the heat of the day that is dawning. One of the _asagao_\nexperts remarked to me--\n\n We don\u2019t call him an _asagao_ man, however large his garden be,\n however good the other preparations; the rarest _asagao_, one\n which makes our mouths water, as we say, comes frequently from the\n hands of a _Hachiko_ or _Kumako_, and is often raised upon the\n roofs in Nihonbashi or Kyobashi, where the ground is too dear for\n any garden, where we say \u201cone handful of ground means one handful\n of gold.\u201d And there\u2019s almost no expense in _asagao_ cultivation.\n What\u2019s needed for it is only a little time to spare--the little\n time which you can spare from the resting hours or nap-time in the\n midsummer days. And any common sort of pot which you can buy for\n two or three sen will do just as well. And since it is the glory\n of early morning you have not to prepare anything, even when you\n invite your friends; a cup of tea will be sufficient. We hear quite\n often of cases of chrysanthemum parties which were the cause of\n poverty; but the _asagao_ is not such a vulgar thing at all. And,\n on the other hand, it will make you forget the summer heat. It\n is the nature of the flower to love the intense heat; in the hot\n weather you have them more beautiful. The _asagao_ man is simply\n glad to have the hottest days: \u201cSurely to-morrow morning\u2019s display\n will be a splendour,\u201d he will say. He will not lose his time in\n taking a nap, but busy himself arranging the flower vines; and his\n brain will not suffer from the heat if he wear a large hat--on the\n contrary it will feel better. I have seen many cases of _asagao_\n cultivation curing brain illness. And it represents the true spirit\n of Japanese democracy; it is such an aristocratic flower, like the\n chrysanthemum. A peer and a heimin will equally enjoy it: at the\n Himpivokwai (_asagao_ show) people of every station have equal\n freedom and enjoyment.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nTHE LOTUS\n\n\nThe \u201ctime of the lotus\u201d is suggestive of the damp hot August days when\nfrom earliest dawn the cicadas will be singing, if their discordant\nnoise can be described as song, and the croaking of the frogs day and\nnight, makes one wonder at last whether frogs _never_ grow hoarse, or\ncicadas _never_ tire of singing. From the last weeks in July till the\nfirst weeks of September the lotus will be blooming bravely, undaunted\nby the sun\u2019s fierce rays; and the first breath of autumn, which brings\nnew life and energy to a human being after the heat of the summer, will\nmean death to the lotus. Truly it is a beautiful flower this flower of\nBuddha, as from its close association with the Buddhist religion it\nseems essentially to belong to Buddha. The colossal figures known as\nthe Dai butsu at Kamakura and Nara sit in immovable calm as\n\n[Illustration: LOTUS AT KODAIJI]\n\nthough drawing inspiration from the bronze lotus before them; the\nsilence of their souls is the silence of the flowers, and the\nshape of the open blooms in the sunlight is the symbol of Buddha\u2019s\nenlightenment. Every little idol of Buddha, be it in the family shrine\nor grand and stately temple, sits upon a lotus throne; the temples are\nall decorated with carved lotus or the freshly cut flowers in their\nseason; gold and silver paper lotus are carried at funerals; tombstones\nare often set upon a stone base in the form of a lotus flower, and\nlotus beds are planted near shrines. The mighty feudal lord Iyeyasu\nsleeps in the silence of Nikko\u2019s cryptomerias, hearing only once in\na while the long sad cry of a great bell, and before him as his only\ncompanions are the eternally same bronze lotus flowers. So not only is\nthe lotus the especial flower of Buddha, but it is also regarded as the\nflower of death, and for that reason it is disliked as a decoration for\nany occasion of rejoicing.\n\nThere is no more beautiful sight than a lotus bed at the dawn of a\nhot August day. Stately and yet tender is the beauty of the lotus\nblossom, the great buds opening with a noise which is indescribable\nto one who has not heard it; and how quickly the delicate pink or\nwhite petals unfurl, as though hastening to make the most of their\nshort life, for before the overpowering heat of the August noonday\nthe flower closes, to open once more on the morrow and then die a\ngraceful death; the petals dropping one by one, but still retaining\nall the freshness of their colour, and then nothing will be left but\nthe great seed pod, very beautiful in itself, but not as beautiful as\nthe great bluish-green leaves studded with dewdrops, which seem to\nreflect every passing cloud. For the beauty of the lotus lies not only\nin its flowers; you will begin to see the beauty of the plant even\nwhen the tender young leaves peep out shyly upon the surface of a pond\nin early June; their colour is dark brown, and the Japanese call them\n_zeniba_ from their resemblance to the shape of copper money. Then\nday by day the leaves will spread and float out as a spirit upon the\nwater, gradually the stalks grow and they will get higher and higher,\ntheir broad curling surfaces losing the bronze colour and turning to\nevery shade of soft green and deep emerald; and so through all the\nscorching summer days they remain fresh and cool to look upon, until in\nOctober they begin to flag, but they will be beautiful even in death.\nThe stalks then seem too weak to carry their burden any longer, and\nsuddenly, even as one\n\n[Illustration: LOTUS AT KYOMIDZU]\n\nwatches them, the stem bends near the top, and the great curling leaf\nwill give one last shiver in the breeze, topple, and turn over and hang\nwith head bent as if in penitence.\n\nThough the beauty of each individual flower may be short-lived, each\nmorning will bring fresh buds, which in a few hours open into fresh\nflowers, bringing new beauty to the lotus bed; so its glory lasts for\nsix long weeks.\n\nFor the true lover of the lotus there can be scarcely any night, for\nsoon after midnight he must rise and start for the lotus pond to see\ntheir real beauty and hear the opening of the buds with the sudden\ntouch of dawn; so in old days the Japanese used to visit the famous\nShinobazu pond in Uyeno Park, where the little temple dedicated to the\ngoddess Benten stands on a small peninsula, as though to protect the\nlake from desecration, though if that were her mission she has surely\nfailed. Four years before, I too, in the early morning, had visited\nthe Shinobazu pond, and filled with awe and admiration had spent many\nhours watching the rosy petals open, and the great glaucous leaves\ntoss hither and thither with every breath of wind, and the iridescent\ndragon-flies darting through the air; until driven away at last by\nthe overwhelming heat, I had to seek shelter from the sun. Again last\nAugust I felt I must see the lotus at Uyeno in all their glory; but\nI feel ashamed, for the traditions of Japan, to say what greeted me.\nGreat staring Exhibition buildings in the worst possible taste have\nbeen built all along the shores of this historical lake. But the worst\npart is still to come: overshadowing the little shrine and into the\nvery heart of one of the great stretches of lotus leaves dashed a\nwater-chute. It took my breath away. I stood spell-bound, and then\nturned away with horror and asked myself, as many other people, alas!\nare asking: \u201cAre the Japanese losing all their artistic feelings?\u201d\n\nHappily there are still many quiet spots where lotus grow, away from\nthe desecrating hand of the \u201cnew Japan,\u201d and there we can sit and enjoy\nthis \u201cemblem of purity,\u201d its clean fresh flowers and leaves rising\nunsullied from the stagnant mud; and this is one reason for associating\nit with a religious life, or comparing it to the virtuous soul of a\nwoman who lives in suspicious surroundings.\n\nA favourite Buddhist precept says: \u201cIf thou be born in the poor man\u2019s\nhovel, but hast wisdom, then art thou like the lotus flower growing out\nof the mud!\u201d\n\nWherever undisturbed pools and channels of muddy water exist, the lotus\nis to be found: the old moats surrounding the remains of a grand old\nDaimyo\u2019s castle, the muddy temple or monastery ponds, and even the\nditches beside the railway, will all be rendered gay in the summer,\nwhen the great pink and white lotus are in bloom. Their history is a\nvery old one, for their beauty is sung in the old Buddhist _sutra_,\nand one passage describing the golden glory of Paradise tells of \u201ca\npond where the lotus flowers large as a carriage-wheel grow; the green\nflowers shine in green light, the yellow flowers in yellow light, red\nflowers in red light, and the white flowers are supreme in beauty and\nodour.\u201d\n\nIt may be true that the leaves are as large and round as a\ncarriage-wheel--of a Japanese carriage, a _kuruma_; and certainly I\nshould be afraid to state rashly how large and high the foliage of the\nwhite variety may grow. The white _Nelumbium speciosum_, for all the\nso-called lotus of Japan are really this species of water-lily, has\na powerful and sweet perfume; but the pink ones, which are far more\nbeautiful, have but little scent. I think the leaves and their stems,\nas well as the flower, must have their own peculiar odour; for often I\nnoticed near lotus beds, where no blossoms were to be seen, a strong\nand rather sickly perfume came floating in the air in whiffs which will\nalways be associated in my mind with lotus, as I cannot compare their\nscent to that of any other flower.\n\nThere are other varieties, one a deep crimson colour and one called\n\u201cgold-thread lotus,\u201d but these are seldom seen. The Indian lotus has a\nlarger double flower, deep pink in colour, which never closes day or\nnight, and the blooms last in beauty for five or six days. In India,\nthe source and centre of Buddhism, the lotus has been chosen as a\nnational flower, and Burmah also is famed for its lotus; so wherever\nBuddhism makes its presence felt, there you will find the lotus. Sir\nMonier Williams says that \u201cits constant use as an emblem seems to\nresult from the wheel-like form of the flower--the petals taking the\nplace of spokes, and thus typifying the doctrine of perpetual cycles of\nexistence.\u201d\n\nThe lotus is a favourite subject with the Japanese artist in\nconjunction with the mandarin duck and other water-fowl, and so\nfaithfully do the Japanese represent their flowers that each vein\nin the leaves seems to be depicted if not exaggerated. Mr. Parsons\nadmirably describes the lotus, and also this form of exaggeration and\nmannerism in their art--\n\n Take for example the spots on the lotus stems; if you look very\n closely you can see that there are spots, but certainly it could\n not strike every artist as a marked feature of the plant, for they\n are not visible three yards away. But some master noticed them\n many years ago and spotted his stems, and now they all spot them,\n the spots getting bigger and bigger; and so it will be until some\n original genius arises who will not be content with other people\u2019s\n eyes, but will dare to look for himself, and he may perhaps,\n without abandoning Japanese methods, get nearer to nature, and\n start a renaissance in Japanese art.\n\nHe also remarks--\n\n The lotus is one of the most difficult plants which it has ever\n been my lot to try to paint: the flowers are at their best only in\n the early morning, and each blossom, after it has opened, closes\n again before noon of the first day; on the second day its petals\n drop. The leaves are so large and so full of modelling that it\n is impossible to generalise them as a mass, each one has to be\n carefully studied, and every breath of wind disturbs their delicate\n balance and completely alters their forms. Besides this, their\n glaucous surface, like that of a cabbage leaf, reflects every\n passing phase of the sky, and is constantly changing in colour as\n clouds pass over.\n\nSuch is an artist\u2019s true appreciation.\n\nNo honour seems too great for this flower of Buddha, and we are told\nthat you will be permitted, if you are fortunate enough to be among\nthose who are admitted into Nirvana, or Paradise, to sit upon the lotus\nthrone, leaving behind the dirt and dust of the world. In the days of\nold Japan, when the religious influence was stronger, and far more\nromantic than it is to-day, to sit together upon the lotus throne in\nParadise was the customary dream of two lovers who wished to commit\nsuicide.\n\nAnother honour for the lotus is that the Japanese dedicate their\nwonderful and awe-inspiring mountain Fuji-san to it, and call it Fugo\nHo, meaning Lotus Peak. Thousands of their poets have sung praises of\nthis lotus peak, but to our minds the words of Mrs. M\u2018Neill Fenollosa\nwill be easier to understand: \u201cNow far beyond the grayness, to the\nwest, the cone of Fuji flashes into splendour. It, too, is pink; its\nshape is the shape of a lotus bud, and the long fissures that plough\nthe mountain-side are now but the delicate gold veining of a petal.\nSlowly it seems to open. It is the chalice of a new day, and the pledge\nof consecration.\u201d It would seem as though the opening of the lotus\nflower is the signal of the awakening of summer dawn and the opening of\na new day.\n\nIn Chinese literature there is a legend of Teiko\n\n[Illustration: LOTUS FLOWERS]\n\nwho gathered his guests together on a midsummer day and put wine in the\nlotus leaves and let his guests drink it from the stems of the leaves.\nA truly romantic feast.\n\nIn Japan the leaves are used for dishes at the Soul\u2019s Festival in July;\nthe dead spirits who return to this world from Hades are supposed to\neat the offerings from the leaf dishes. The Japanese have a delicacy\ncalled _hasu meshi_--_hasu_ meaning lotus, _meshi_, rice--consisting of\nthe young and tender lotus leaves chopped fine and cooked with rice.\nThey also eat the little fruit of the lotus, no larger than a pebble,\nwhich, contrary to most fruit, can be eaten raw when it is unripe, but\ngets so terribly hard as it ripens that it has to be cooked. The dried\nleaves seem to be valued as a drug, and also the vegetable-sellers wrap\ntheir vegetables in them. All this is too unromantic to be associated\nwith the lotus, and I was better pleased to hear of the Japanese phrase\n_ben po_, meaning lotus step, which they associate with the light step\nof a beautiful woman. A pretty story of old China is told of the Lord\nTokonko of the province Sei, who was extravagant in the extreme. He\nhad as his mistress a lovely girl called Han hi. One day he made lotus\npetals of real gold and scattered them in his garden; then he called\nout to his mistress to let her step on them, and he was very happy to\nsee his fair lady and his gold flowers equally well matched in beauty.\nTruly Han hi\u2019s \u201clotus step\u201d must have been a wonder.\n\nIn saying farewell to the time of the lotus I feel I cannot do better\nthan quote Mrs. Fenollosa\u2019s charming poem--\n\n For years, long years ago, on lake and river,\n The lotus bloomed, with petals curl on curl\n Close folded; and to full perfection never\n Had opened wide those lattices of pearl.\n\n Like fair white maids with finger-tips a-meeting,\n Like wordless song unwed to music\u2019s art,\n They pierced the stream each morn in pallid greeting;\n Then shrank in silence, for they had no heart.\n\n Above them, nightly, stars would lean, and hover\n With gifts of whisper-rays, and kisses long;\n But all in vain, till one transcendent lover\n Slid down from heaven among the startled throng.\n\n At morn the flowers stood still like pale nuns hushing;\n But one among them throbbed her sweetness far,\n Like arms outspread the full-veined petals flushing,\n For in her trembling heart there lay a star.\n\n And since that hour the sky rains lovers ever;\n All day they rock within that soft embrace.\n At night the petals close; the stars up-quiver,\n And sighing, seek their old accustomed place.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nTHE CHRYSANTHEMUM\n\n\n\u201cSee a _kiri_ leaf fallen on the ground and know that autumn is with\nus\u201d is a common saying in Japan. The leaves of the _kiri_ (pawlonia)\ntree are so responsive to the spirit of autumn, which advances steadily\ntill we see no garden flowers, no wild flowers, and have no longer the\nsong of the insects, and one cannot fail to be impressed with some\ntouch of sorrow; but the Japanese take sheer delight in the sadness of\nautumn, for soon the white frosts will be thick upon the ground and\nwill turn the leaves of the maples on the mountain-side into a blaze\nof scarlet and gold, and then the _kiku_ or chrysanthemum flowers will\nopen.\n\nThe chrysanthemum has often been called the national flower of Japan,\na rank more properly belonging to the cherry blossom; the mistake\narises from the fact that the sixteen-petalled chrysanthemum is the\nImperial emblem. The Japanese give a poetical reason for the choice\nof this especial flower as the Emperor\u2019s crest: as in olden days the\nchrysanthemum used to be called _Kukuri hana_ or \u201cBinding Flower,\u201d\nbecause as the blossoms tie or gather themselves together at the top,\nso the Mikado binds himself round the hearts and souls of his people;\nand it is a coincidence that the present Emperor\u2019s birthday falls in\nthe _kiku_ month (November). For a thousand years the chrysanthemum\nwas admired as a retired beauty by the garden fence and under a simple\nmode of culture; but it became the flower of the rich to a great extent\nunder the _Tokugawa_ feudal r\u00e9gime, and of late years the culture of\n_kiku_ or chrysanthemum is the greatest luxury. It would probably\nsurprise one to know how much Count Okuma and Count Sakai, the two best\nknown chrysanthemum raisers in Japan, spend annually upon their plants;\nand many other people have found the reason of their poverty in _kiku_\nculture. Though one cannot but admire any advance in horticulture,\ncarried to such an extent it seems to me merely a degeneration, and\nthis \u201cretired nobleman of flowers\u201d (the Japanese call their _kiku_ one\nof the _sikunshi_ or four\n\n[Illustration: CHRYSANTHEMUMS, KYOTO]\n\nfloral gentlemen, the other floral gentlemen being the plum, bamboo,\nand _ran_ or orchid) will grow quite as well, and attain as great\nperfection, in some little humble dwelling which has only a miniature\ngarden, provided the necessary time and care, not money, is given to\nthe plants.\n\nThe chrysanthemum has always been much honoured by the Imperial Court,\nand even in the ninth century garden parties were held in the Palace\ngardens to do honour to the blossoms, even as in the present day a\nyearly chrysanthemum party is held in the Imperial grounds. In ancient\ndays the guests sat drinking wine and composing odes to the blossoms,\nand the courtiers adorned their hair with _kiku_ flowers, at these\npastoral feasts. To-day these modern displays of chrysanthemum plants\npartake of our own conventional flower shows, the plants being arranged\nsomewhat formally in long open rustic sheds; but the variety of colour,\nevery imaginable shade being produced, and the profusion of form, also\nthe immense size of some of the plants, one alone a few years ago\nbearing 1272 blooms, make a brilliant scene, different from any other\nflower show in the world; for where else would the plants have such\na setting as in these beautiful Asakasa grounds, where the gorgeous\ncolour of the maples rivals that of the chrysanthemums.\n\nFrom an artistic point of view there is nothing to admire in the great\nchrysanthemum show which opens yearly at Dangozaka in Tokyo, and one\ncannot but agree with the poet Hoichi Shonin, who says--\n\n What an inferior heart of man!\n Lo! a waxwork chrysanthemum show!\n\nHowever, one must admit the cleverness and some sort of art in these\nshow pieces; and one cannot fail to be interested if only by watching\nthe expectant faces of the thousands or tens of thousands of people who\nvisit these different little shows. How the children\u2019s faces beam when\nthey approach the place and see the thousands of flags and lanterns,\ngaily coloured curtains and stalls decorated with souvenirs in every\nconceivable form, of the day among the _kiku_ flowers. The people are\nso enthusiastic over these puppet shows, which may be a scene from an\nold play, an act from history, or, most interesting of all, the newest\noccurrences of the day, all represented in chrysanthemums! In order to\nmake the figures pot plants are used, not cut flowers, but splendid\nplants in full bloom, genuine plants, the roots of which are skilfully\nhidden or disguised. The colours of the flowers will be combined to\nrepresent the dresses, and indeed it is very interesting to see the\nfigures being prepared in October when the plants are in bud, for\neach separate bud will be tied to the skeleton frame so that when the\nblossoms are open they form a compact mass of colour; and it is also\nvery striking to notice the harmony of the colours, and then the bold\nlines made by a contrast of colour.\n\nA year or two ago there was nothing more popular than war scenes of the\nRussian and Japanese campaign. One scene which has remained green in\nthe memory of many a Japanese was the representation of the blocking of\nthe harbour at Port Arthur, with Captain Hiroze, that valiant officer,\nand his fellow _keshitai_ (determined to die) as the characters. It\nwas composed of two thousand chrysanthemum roots; upon a sea of the\nroyal flowers, dark coloured at the heart and rising to sprays of snow\nwhite, to form the crests of the waves and tossing billows, rode the\nboat manned by the heroes. The second scene was a tribute to the enemy:\nit represented the stalwart white-bearded Russian Admiral Makaroff,\nwho, standing on the bridge, sword in hand, went down with his\nship--a veritable storm of white flowers, dashed with red, and here\nand there a few sailors groping blindly. There was yet another show\nwhich represented the night after the great battle of Lia Yang, when\nthe spirits of the dead soldiers appeared, all flower-clad, with white\nswords in their hands, with which to salute the sleeping fighters.\nEvery year the showmen find some new subject in order to keep up the\npeople\u2019s interest. Besides these dramatic shows, there are splendid\nspecimen plants; and what I always admired about the large plants in\nJapan was the perfect foliage, the rather dwarfed growth, and the way\nin which all the blossoms on the plant open together. There is a plant\ncalled \u201cGood Luck \u201c bearing a thousand flowers, all from a single root,\nwhich is a great favourite, and certainly it is nothing short of a\nhorticultural wonder. Their fancy names seemed very poetical, and I\ncannot refrain from quoting a few, with their translation, in the words\nof a Japanese--\n\n\u201cLook at the \u2018Princesses of the Blood\u2019 in a long stately row, tall\nand graceful, their proud flowers resplendent and white as the driven\nsnow; or here is _Ake-no-sora_, \u2018the Sky at Dawn,\u2019 with a pale pink\nflower the colour of cherry blossoms; or _Asa hi no nami_, \u2018Waves in\nthe Morning Sun,\u2019 because it has a pale reddish blossom; also _Yu hi\nkage_, \u2018Shadows of the Evening Sun,\u2019 with dull red blooms; and finally\nthe pure white \u2018Companions of the Moon,\u2019 _Tsuki-no-tomo_.\u201d There\nappeared to be over 150 of these poetical flowers.\n\nBut do not imagine that it is only in the gardens of the rich or\narranged as waxwork puppet shows that you will find chrysanthemums, for\nsurely, if that were the case, little pleasure would be derived from\ntheir beloved _kiku_. It has been said of the Japanese, \u201cIt is not the\nplant he loves, but the effect that the plant enables him to attain.\u201d\nThis may be true of plants in relation to the landscape garden, where\neverything must be according to the rubric or laws of gardening, but\nsurely it is not true of chrysanthemum plants. Many an enthusiast\nhave I known to whom his _kiku_ was his most valued and cherished\npossession, and daily were the \u201cPlants of the Four Seasons\u201d (a fancy\nname for chrysanthemums on account of their period of growth extending\nthrough all the seasons) tended with loving hands. We are told of a\ngreat man in the days of the Min dynasty who, tired of struggling with\nthe world and life, gave up his rank and retired to some forgotten\nspot, entirely in order to enjoy the sight of the chrysanthemum in his\ngarden and a jug of wine; and the greatest delight of his life was\nto see the flowers bedewed in the morning light, and to exchange his\npoet\u2019s faith and love with this \u201cnobleman of flowers.\u201d Perhaps in these\ndays when the curse of modern civilisation is spreading throughout\nthe land we shall not see many such enthusiasts as Yen Mei; but there\nare still many chrysanthemum lovers, many to whom the first week in\nNovember is the best week of the year. Just as the Japanese admire the\nflower for its noble bearing, so did I admire the bearing of their\nowners; however humble the dwelling, however small the collection, the\nproud possessor seemed always to be one of \u201cNature\u2019s noblemen\u201d; never\ndid I encounter such warm and true hospitality combined with dignity\nand grace as during the _kiku_ month from my chrysanthemum hosts. One\nscene especially seems to have remained graven into my memory, in that\nland of surprises.\n\nA friend offered to take me to see some especially fine chrysanthemums;\ntheir owner, he said, was celebrated for their culture; and he led me\nthrough the whole length and breadth of the fish market, I imagined\nonly in order to make a short cut to our destination, but no! we\nstopped in front of a large fish-stall, and at the magic word _kiku_\n\n[Illustration: A CHRYSANTHEMUM GARDEN]\n\nthe owner\u2019s face beamed with delight, for surely here was a\nfellow-enthusiast, even though she is a \u201cforeigner,\u201d come to admire his\nbeloved flowers. He signed to me to thread my way past the somewhat\nunappetising-looking fish, and, as though at the touch of a fairy wand,\nthe scene changed. A paper shutter slid back and the beauty revealed\nbeyond surpassed anything that mortal could imagine--little corners\nand flashes of loveliness in all directions. At the very entrance\nwere grouped a few splendid plants, each bloom perfection itself, and\nthen with cries of \u201cIrasshai irasshai\u201d (Welcome, welcome) and the\nregulation greeting of \u201cPlease come in, my house is yours\u201d from every\nside, I entered, crossing the cool matting, past a tiny court filled\nwith the treasured plants and adorned with a hanging iron lantern\nwhich filled my soul with envy, through the spotless rooms with the\nalcove and the regulation _kakemono_ and the _tokonoma_ on which stood\na flower arrangement of _Baka sakura_ (\u201cFool Cherry,\u201d because it has\ncome into flower at the wrong season), to the court beyond, where\nstood the famous collection. The whole scene diffused a feeling of\nperfect contentment as I sat upon the regulation _fukusa_ in the place\nof honour, the place corresponding to the \u201cStone of Contemplation\u201d\nof every Japanese garden, the one spot from which the whole effect is\nseen to best advantage. The plants were grouped in front of the family\nshrine, and to protect them from the autumn storms a light roofing\nof paper and bamboo had been erected; the little garden contained a\nfew stepping-stones, a bronze water basin, a few lanterns, and to\nscreen off any possible view of anything suggestive of fish was a\ndelicate bamboo screen-fence. The blossoms seemed to represent every\ncolour, shape, and size that it was possible for a chrysanthemum to\nassume, all perfectly grown plants. Some varieties were quite new to\nme--tall, slender-growing stems crowned with little fluffy blossoms not\nsuggesting the usual form of a chrysanthemum; another, which when fully\ndeveloped would form a complete pyramid of closely packed petals of a\ndark crimson hue, was awarded the place of honour, as there were only\ntwo other plants of the same kind in all Japan. I noticed some plants\nbearing a label which differed from any others, and then I was told\nthat each year a special messenger is sent by the Emperor to choose\na few plants from this humble fishmonger\u2019s garden to be added to the\nImperial collection. The labelled plants formed this year\u2019s offering\nto his Mikado, and small wonder they were the pride of the house; and\nI too was impressed by the feeling that in the floral kingdom, as in a\nHigher Kingdom, all men are equal, as the _kiku_ flowers had grown as\nwell, if not better, in this lowly dwelling as in the Emperor\u2019s vast\ndomains.\n\nI cannot recall any incident during all my stay in Japan which gave\nme more pleasure than my visit to this humble home, and as I left,\nladen with little _kiku_ cakes and with the prescribed compliments,\nobeisances, and sincere admiring exclamations over the flowers, I had\nevery intention of availing myself of the repeated invitations to\n\u201cPlease come again.\u201d The plants one day were in their full glory, the\ngreat heads of perfect blossom had only just attained perfection, when\nI was told that this was to be their last day of life, on the morrow\nevery plant would be cut down. I exclaimed in horror at this apparent\nslaughter of the innocents in their prime of life, but it was explained\nto me that the sacrifice was necessary in order to secure the cuttings\nfor the next year\u2019s plants. I could not help thinking that if I had\nnursed the cherished plants all through the year, shading them from the\nintense heat of summer on the house-top, never allowing them to know\nthe want of water, I could not have spared the blossoms in their prime\neven for the sake of the next year\u2019s growth.\n\nMany another peaceful little garden I can recall where I was welcomed\nwith all the grace and hospitality suggestive of Old Japan, and to\nthis day apparently inseparable from the lovers of chrysanthemums.\nTwo neighbours vied with each other in _kiku_ culture, their houses\nonly separated by a few yards. In one, an old man, whose bearing and\nmanners suggested the Daimyo of olden days, sat as if he too, tired of\nthe world, had retired with the sole companionship of his plants. Very\nlovely was his tiny garden, with the plants just grouped in front of\nthe two rooms which constituted his entire house, and there he sat in\nquiet contemplation, or bowing low to meet some new-comer who had come\nto admire his flowers, and all seemed welcome, strangers and friends\nalike, as long as they loved the blossoms. Here might be seen the great\nsun-like _Nihon Ichi_(\u201cFirst in Japan\u201d), white and yellow; and there is\n_Haruna Kasumi_, like its name, suggesting spring haze, or _Natsu gumo_\n(\u201cSummer Clouds\u201d); but with all this infinite variety I noticed that,\nlike in China, where by \u201cthe yellow flower\u201d is meant the chrysanthemum\nof that country, so here in Japan, the yellow blossoms\n\n[Illustration: CHRYSANTHEMUMS]\n\nseemed the most prized, though the pure white is a close rival for\npopularity, their blooms thick with the morning dew reminding us of the\nfairy who lived only by sipping the dews upon the _kiku_ flowers. How\nbeautiful, too, are these white blossoms in death when the frost has\nmade their petals turn slowly to a crimson colour.\n\nAcross the road I found another little sanctuary, another home for\nthe flowers. Here a tiny tea-room was the point of vantage, and from\nthere I gazed, sipping tea from the daintiest of tiny cups. What an\nideal place to sit and meditate and wonder over the goodness of things!\nBelow was the rocky bed of a stream, but it was a dry river-bed, only\nwhite pebbles represented the stream, and on the banks were grouped the\nplants, forming a sheet of colour--great gorgeous blossoms, not of such\nmammoth and unnatural proportions as our show blooms, but every kind\nwere here, single, loose, or double; stiff, flopping, or erect; borne\nin a veritable harvest.\n\nYet another humble dwelling I remember where the plants were grouped\nwith consummate art. In every garden there should be a keynote in the\nscheme, and here the keynote was the view of Hieisan: framed between\nthe blossoms, which grew in a great foaming mass, rose the great\nmountain, as though it were the guardian of the garden. The plants had\nbrilliantly rewarded a loyal devotion, and as I turned away I realised\nthe manner in which Japanese love their flowers.\n\nAs I sat admiring their gardens, my friends told me many fairy stories\nand legends connected with the _kiku_. Perhaps one of the prettiest is\ncalled \u201cThe Chrysanthemum Promise.\u201d Samon Hase, a scholar and samurai,\noffered a night\u2019s lodging to a gentleman from the western country, and\nhis guest suddenly fell ill. Samon promised the sick man to give him\nevery help: \u201cBe easy in your thought. Above all, be not discouraged!\u201d\nThe sick man was Soemon Akana, who had been with a friend on a mission\nwhich failed, and his friend was killed, and he was on his way home\nwhen he fell ill. Samon and Soemon quickly became friends, and finally\nthey promised to be as brothers to each other. The latter stayed\nuntil he grew well; and then he said he must go back to his native\nprovince of Izume, but promised that he would return again and stay\nwith Samon for the rest of his days. He said firmly that the day of the\nchrysanthemum feast (ninth of September in the old calendar) would be\nthe day of his return.\n\nSeptember came, and on the ninth Samon rose early to make preparations\nfor his returning brother. The sun began slowly to set, but Soemon did\nnot come. Samon thought he would retire to bed, but as he looked out\nonce more into the night he noticed that the moon was hiding behind the\nhill, and he saw a curious black shadow coming towards him with the\nwind. It was Soemon Akana.\n\nSamon made his brother sit by the chrysanthemum vase in the place\nof honour, and Akana said, \u201cI have no word to express my thanks for\nyour kindness. But pray listen, and do not doubt me: I am not a\nliving person but only a shadow\u201d; and he told how he had been put in\nprison, but finding no other means of escape he killed himself. \u201cAs\nI was told,\u201d he said, \u201cthat a spirit could travel a thousand miles a\nday, so I killed myself, and rode on the wind to see you on this day\nof my chrysanthemum promise.\u201d I felt if this legend were taught in\nthe schools of to-day a moral might be pointed with advantage on the\nsubject of keeping appointments and promises, which is not a strong\npoint with the modern Japanese.\n\nThere is another pretty story of two brothers who had always lived\ntogether in the north of Japan. The time came for them to separate,\nand when the younger one was about to start on his journey south,\nthey wept bitterly, and said that each would keep the half of a\nchrysanthemum plant in memory of the other, and thereby recall the\nhappy days they had spent together. The brothers afterwards planted\nthe halves in two gardens, one in the north, the other in the south;\nbut the blossoms, it is said, kept the original shape of the half of a\nchrysanthemum for ever.\n\nThe chrysanthemum is so associated with the story of O Kiku, the little\nmaid of Himeji, in the province of Banshu, that I feel I cannot do\nbetter than tell it in the words of Lafcadio Hearn--\n\n Himeji contains the ruins of a great castle of thirty turrets; and\n a daimyo used to dwell therein, whose revenue was one hundred and\n fifty-six thousand koku of rice. Now, in the house of one of that\n daimyo\u2019s chief retainers was a maid-servant of good family, whose\n name was O Kiku; and the Kiku signifies a chrysanthemum flower.\n Many precious things were entrusted to her charge, and among\n other things ten costly dishes of gold. One of these was suddenly\n missed and could not be found; and the girl, being responsible\n therefor, and knowing not otherwise how to prove her innocence,\n drowned herself in a well. But ever thereafter her ghost, returning\n nightly, could be heard counting the dishes slowly, with sobs:\n _Ichi-mai_, _Ni-mai_, _San-mai_, _Yo-mai_, _Go-mai_, _Roku-mai_,\n _Shichi-mai_, _Hachi-mai_, _Ku-mai_.\n\n Then there would be heard a despairing cry and a loud burst\n of weeping, and again the girl\u2019s voice counting the dishes\n plaintively: \u201cOne, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.\u201d\n\n Her spirit passed into the body of a strange little insect, whose\n head faintly resembled that of a ghost with long dishevelled hair;\n and it is called _O kiku-mushi_, or the \u201cfly of O Kiku\u201d; and it is\n found, they say, nowhere save in Himeji. A famous play was written\n about O Kiku, which is still acted in all the popular theatres,\n entitled _Banshu-O-Kiku-no-Sara-Ya-shiki_, or \u201cThe Manor of the\n Dish of O Kiku of Banshu.\u201d\n\nBut there are people who say that Banshu is Bancho, an ancient quarter\nof Tokyo (Yedo). The people of Himeji claim, however, that part of\ntheir city now called Go-Ken-Yashiki is the site of the ancient manor\nof the story. And it is deemed unlucky to cultivate chrysanthemums in\nGo-Ken-Yashiki.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nTHE MAPLE LEAVES\n\n\nThe Japanese quite rightly give the name of _Ko haru_ or Little Spring\nto the Indian summer, Keats\u2019s season of mists and mellow fruitfulness;\nfor indeed those beautiful weeks in November are incomparable, the\nheavy damp heat of the summer has lifted, the sky is clear and blue,\nthe atmosphere is light, and the freshness of spring seems to have\nreturned to revive the dying year. They say, \u201cHere is the right end,\nsince we had a right start.\u201d These fortunate people who rejoice in\nthe beauty of spring beginning with the plum blossoms born out of\nthe frost, now have the autumn with the _momiji_ or maple leaves to\ncomplete the floral season, and the red leaves will be the beauty of\nthe maturing year. Autumn weaves her red and gold brocade and spreads\nit on mountain and tree, the whole country being alight with the\nscarlet\n\n[Illustration: THE SCARLET MAPLE]\n\nand gold of the _momiji_; for not only the maples are called _momiji_,\nbut any tree whose leaves turn red in their last moment of life.\n\nThroughout the land there are favourite places where the holiday-maker\nholds his maple-viewing feast. The trees at Nikko are probably the\nfirst to turn, and by the middle of October this little mountain\nvillage will be visited by a throng of sight-seers, all bent on viewing\nthe red leaves; and here truly not only the maples, but every tree\nseems to wear its mantle of autumn brocade, making a splendid contrast\nto the bronze green of the cryptomerias. The first touch of frost will\nhave made the trees blush, so the Japanese say--it being a favourite\nexpression of theirs, when a blush of modesty spreads over a girl\u2019s\ncheeks, to say that \u201cshe scatters red leaves on her face,\u201d--and then\nwill come the first light fall of snow or a rude wind storm and scatter\nall the silent beauty of the valley. If you would continue your maple\nfeast, you must go farther south, say to Oji near Tokyo, where you will\nfind a whole glen filled with nothing but maples. No other _momiji_\nwill dispute their fiery splendour; and there, in a little rustic\ntea-shed, you can sit and gaze at the gorgeous scene below, and wonder\nwhether it is more beautiful to see the leaves like lace-work against\nthe sky, or to look down on the great spreading branches shading the\nstream below. Here and there will be a tree that does not deserve the\nname of _momiji_, for it has no red leaves. Possibly it is a descendant\nof the celebrated maple-tree of the Shomeiji temple at Mutsuura, which\nturned a glorious colour when summer had scarcely waned, in order to\nearn the praise of the poet Chunagon Tamesuke, who went to seek the\nbeauties of the early maple. The tree being fully satisfied with the\nadmiration of the poet, remained green for ever after; for did not the\npoet say--\n\n \u201cHow did this one tree thus get coloured?\n This one garden maple-tree\n Showing Autumn before the mountain trees!\u201d\n\nIt is always said that the poetical spirit of Tamesuke moved the\nresponsive heart of the maple-tree.\n\nKyoto, the old capital, with its history of centuries, is celebrated\nfor the numerous places renowned for maple-viewing. All through the\nearly part of November there is feasting, combined possibly with\nmushroom-gathering, a favourite pastime connected with the viewing\nof the _momiji_. Near by there is Tsuten Bridge, where the sound\nof revelry will greet you as you approach, and there will be the\ninevitable little tea-stalls, decorated with curtains printed with\na few flaunting maple leaves, lanterns ornamented with the same red\nleaves, and branches of the trees adorned with red and yellow paper\nleaves; bearing a streamer with the name of the place, or possibly a\ndiminutive paper lantern, to carry away as a souvenir of the day\u2019s\nfeasting. If you want a wider field and more extensive view, remember\nTakao is waiting in all its glory to greet you; there a great stream of\ncolour winds away down the valley following the course of the little\nmountain torrent. You must rise early for maple-viewing, to see the\ntrees while the sun is on them; when the sun goes it seems as though he\ntakes half the beauty of the _momiji_ away with him, only to return it\non the morrow, it is true, if the clear bright days will last through\nthe short season of the _momiji_. Any night a cruel frost may come, and\nnext day the ground will be covered with a scarlet carpet, reminding\none of the story of that great lover of maple leaves, the Emperor\nTakakura-no-In. He planted the maple-trees at Kita-no-Jin, and called\nthe spot Momiji Yama or Maple-leaf Hill. His great delight was to see\nthe red leaves which carpet the ground with autumn glory. One morning\nhis unpoetical gardeners swept away the fallen leaves, and the officers\nof the Imperial household were awestruck, as they were sure the Emperor\nwould visit the hill to see the red leaves which might have been cast\ndown by the night wind. He went to the hill, and the officers appealed\nto him to have pity on the gardeners\u2019 ignorance. \u201cIt reminds me,\u201d said\nthe Emperor, \u201cof the famous verse by Ri Tai Haku which runs--\n\n We will warm the wine under the maple-trees;\n We will burn up the maple leaves.\u201d\n\nSuch is the song of autumn: \u201chow lovely the gardeners\u2019 hearts in\ngathering the leaves to warm their hearts and wine.\u201d So not only was\nthe stupidity of the gardeners excused, but happily their action was\napproved. Had the gardeners such poetical hearts? I doubt it; rather,\nhow forgiving was the heart of the Emperor.\n\nArashi Yama must not be omitted from the maple-viewing feast. Here\nthe beauties of Nature summon us twice a year--in spring to visit the\ncherry blossoms, in autumn to view the _momiji_. At the latter season\nthe trees are dressed in red, and the water will be red too, so thickly\nis it carpeted with the fallen leaves. If one takes a\n\n[Illustration: VIEWING THE MAPLES]\n\nboat to cross the water one feels ashamed to see the rent it makes in\nthe \u201cautumn brocade,\u201d for the boat will cut a track right through the\nthin carpet of leaves, of which the poet says--\n\n The hurdle that the wind has built\n Over the mountain river,\n Is nothing but the maple leaves\n Not run down the stream.\n\nAt Mino there are nothing but maples as far as the eye can reach, on\nand on down the glen, an incredible blaze of colour. But it was not in\nthese great masses, though no one can deny their gorgeous splendour,\nthat the maple gave me most pleasure; it was rather in some quiet\ngarden away from the sound of feasting that a few trees of the choicer\nand therefore even more brilliant coloured varieties afforded me most\nenjoyment. I am thinking now of a warm November day when I had been\nbidden to take part in a tea ceremony, with all its quaint ceremonial\nand code of rules. Sitting in the little simple open tea-room--for does\nnot the law forbid any elaborate decoration in the room set apart for\ntea ceremonies, and must not the room always be open on one, if not two\nsides?--while trying to conform to the rigid etiquette of this pretty\nceremony of drinking tea in a preternaturally slow manner, when it was\nno longer my turn to admire in regulation words one of the articles\nused in the tea-making, my eye wandered to the scene outside, where,\nhanging over a miniature cascade, adding effect to the tiny rushing\ntorrent, stood the maple-trees, surely the brightest I had ever seen.\nMaple-trees are most necessary for the Japanese landscape garden,\nespecially when, as is usually the case, the style of the garden is\nto reproduce natural scenery. The Japanese have a saying that autumn\ncomes from the west, therefore the maple-tree, the true representative\nof autumn, should be planted on a hill towards the west, so that it\nwill welcome autumn promptly, and also in order that the reddening\nleaves may receive additional splendour from the setting sun. Here,\nin the glow of the western sun, it seemed incredible that the little\ntrees were only clad in leaves, not in flowers, for their colour was as\nbright as, if not brighter than, the brilliant azaleas which had been\nthe pride of the garden in the flower month of May.\n\nThe nursery gardens are gay with splendid specimens of the much-prized\ndwarf maple-trees, and every lover of these little trees will have a\nfew plants of _momiji_ in his collection. Some there may be which had,\nas it were, been born with scarlet leaves--in spring the leaves having\nopened a fiery red, their colour waning as the year wanes; others which\nhad only green leaves in the spring will, like true _momiji_, have got\nmore and more fiery in colour until the shadow of death comes over\nthem. Innumerable varieties there appeared to be, distinguished by the\nshape of their leaves and the tone of their colour.\n\nThe changing life of the maple, Miss Scidmore tells us, has been made\nuse of by \u201cthe Japanese coquette, who sends her lover a leaf or branch\nof maple to signify that, like it, her love has changed.\u201d If you call a\nJapanese baby and it opens its tiny hand, they call it \u201ca hand of maple\nleaf.\u201d\n\nThroughout November the whole land is redolent of _momiji_; not only\nwill the red leaves on the trees greet you at every turn, but you will\nbe offered tea out of little cups painted with just one red leaf, the\ncakes represent maple leaves, the Geishas will all have soft cr\u00eape\nkimonos decked with a pattern of the flaunting leaves, or their stiff\nsilk obis will represent Nature\u2019s \u201cautumn brocade.\u201d In the theatres\nthe romantic play called _Momiji gari_, or Maple-leaf Viewing, is\nplayed, the stage being gorgeously decorated with maple-trees.\nPossibly because it is the last flower-viewing feast of the year,\nthe _momiji_-viewing is almost the most popular, and when the last\nleaf falls the feasters will have to rest until the plum blossoms are\nopening, as Nature even in this land of flowers must take her winter\u2019s\nrest.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nTHE BAMBOO\n\n\nWhat would the Japanese do without the bamboo? Indeed so extensive is\nthe part played by the bamboo, not only in the beautifying of the land,\nbut in her domestic economy, that the question is rather, what does it\n_not_ do? The number of species of bamboo in Japan at present is stated\nto be fifty, not including numerous other varieties and sports; among\nthem thirty-nine are indigenous, and the others have been imported\nat various times from Korea, China, or the Lu-chu Islands. From time\nimmemorial the Japanese have not regarded the bamboo as a tree--it\nforms a category apart, and they speak of \u201ctrees and bamboos\u201d; they say\nit belongs to the grasses, and is just a giant grass and nothing more.\nIt is indeed a beautiful and wonderful grass with a rate of growth\nwhich cannot be compared to that of any other member of the vegetable\nkingdom; some species are said to show a growth of several feet in\nthe course of four-and-twenty hours, reminding one of one of the many\nghastly forms of Chinese tortures, when a man is pegged to the ground\non the top of a sprouting bamboo, whose shoots are so strong that they\nwill grow right through the man\u2019s body in the course of a single night.\n\nMost people persist in regarding the bamboo as a tender tropical plant\nunable to stand our bitter Northern winters; but there must be many\nhardy species, as often they may be seen bending under the weight of\nsnow, even in the northern provinces of Japan, where the snow-fall is\nmeasured not in inches but in feet. Many varieties there are which\nno doubt would not flourish, varieties associated in one\u2019s mind with\nthe gardens of Trinidad or the well-known Perediniya gardens in\nCeylon, but these tropical species should not be confounded with the\nhardy forms which find their home in Japan and China. In the _Bamboo\nGarden_, the author has viewed the bamboo chiefly from the standpoint\nof acclimatisation in England, especially in the damper western and\nsouthern counties, for dampness seems essential to the life of a\nbamboo; in fact, so greedy is it of moisture that in many countries\nwhere the rainfall in summer is small the bamboo is condemned, as\nit sucks the life from surrounding plants. One of the commonest and\nmost beautiful species, the _moso dake_ or feathery bamboo, was an\nimport from China; it is so named from its golden stem and overhanging\nplume-like fronds appearing like a group of feathers; and it is used\nto a great extent as one of the features of a Japanese garden. Other\nimported species are the _hochiku_ tree or square bamboo, and the _samo\nchiku_, whose stems when young are of a bright red hue. These bamboos\nwere imported for industrial uses or for the adornment of rich men\u2019s\ngardens; and besides these there is a long list of other native and\nforeign varieties.\n\nTo the bamboo the Japanese owe much, for it would seem to be the cause\nof much of their clever constructive work; properly handled it will do\nmost things, but it is necessary to understand its proper treatment and\npeculiar qualities. How puzzled an English carpenter would be if he\nwere asked to construct one of those delicate, dainty little tea-rooms\nentirely of bamboo! which it is possible to do.\n\nThe larger species will provide a combination of lightness and\nstrength, which makes them an admirable framework for houses, and an\nintermediate size will make ornamental doors or panelling, the varying\nheight of the joints forming a natural pattern; while the ornamental\nfloor of the verandah can be made of bamboo. The water-pipes will\nbe of bamboo, as they neither rust like iron nor get hot like wood;\nand the carpenter will tell you that bamboo nails serve better for\ncertain purposes than metal ones, being non-conductors of heat and\nnon-corrosible. The thick poles seem remarkably strong, and are always\nused for carrying heavy weights and for punt poles. The national flag\nof the Rising Sun is sure to be flying from a bamboo. A complete list\nof its uses would appear to be never-ending, but it is amusing to think\nhow many things in daily use in Japan are made of this \u201cgrass.\u201d The\nsmaller kinds make fans and baskets, penholders and tobacco-pipe stems,\numbrellas and coolies\u2019 hats, ladles and delicate whisks for stirring\nthe \u201chonourable tea\u201d at a tea ceremony, chopsticks for everyday use,\nand bird-cages, fishing-rods and walking-sticks, flutes and trumpets,\nevery description of toy, and ornaments of innumerable kinds. Sandals\nand the soles of clogs are made from the dried sheath of the culm of\nthe young bamboo, and it also serves for wrapping up such things as\nrice sandwiches, meat and cake, or anything which is liable to stain\nits receptacle. Fish-baskets made of split bamboo have a clean, cool\nlining of _sasa_ or bamboo grass, a variety which grows on hills or\nby the wayside; in spring its leaves are of the brightest green, but\nbecome edged with white as the year wanes, producing the effect of a\nvariegated form. Other kinds, split and twisted, make strong hawsers,\nand are even used in rural districts in the construction of bridges;\nand yet another kind is boiled and flattened out into trays which are\nmuch prized. The young shoots are boiled and eaten, and taste rather\nlike flavourless asparagus. So there is no end to the uses of the\nbamboo. As mentioned elsewhere, it is one of the \u201cfour gentlemen of the\nfloral kingdom,\u201d being associated with the pine, orchid, and plum. Its\nnever-fading colour causes it to be compared to the virtue of man or\nthe chastity of woman. O Take, meaning honourable bamboo, is one of the\npopular names for a Japanese girl; and their writers and poets use it\nfrequently as a _nom de plume_.\n\nOne of the first stories of Japanese literature, in the tenth century,\nwas called _Taketori Monogatari_. Taketori, meaning bamboo gatherer,\nis the story of an old man who made his living by making bamboo ware.\nOne day he saw in the woods a bamboo with a shining stem; he split it\nopen, and discovered in one of the joints a beautiful little maiden\nonly three inches in height. He took this wonderful little bamboo\nmaiden home and adopted her as his daughter, giving her the name of\nKagujakime or the \u201cShining Lady.\u201d She grew up to womanhood, and her\nmarvellous beauty attracted many admirers. She assigned a quest to each\nof them, under the promise that she would marry the suitor who should\nsucceed in accomplishing the task allotted to him. One lover was told\nto fetch Buddha\u2019s begging bowl of stone from India; another, to bring\nher a branch of the tree with roots of silver, stem of gold, and fruit\nof jewels, which grew in the fabulous island paradise of Mount Horai;\nfrom the third she required a garment made of the fur of the fire-rat,\nsupposed to be non-inflammable; a fourth was to get the shining jewel\nof many hues from the dragon\u2019s head; and the fifth a swallow\u2019s cowry\nshell. It is no wonder that they all failed. This bamboo maiden was\nthen wooed by the Emperor, but equally in vain, though they remained on\nfriendly terms and kept up an exchange of sentimental _uta_ poems. She\nwas eventually taken up to heaven in a flying chariot, brought by her\nrelations in the moon; for it seems she had been banished to earth for\nan offence which she had committed. Thus this wonderful \u201cShining Lady,\u201d\nfrom the joint of a bamboo, only three inches high--disappears.\n\nAnother bamboo fairy-story dear to the hearts of all Japanese children\nis that of the Tongue-cut Sparrow. Sparrows and bamboos have been the\nclosest friends from an unknown age, and we hear the song \u201cThe sparrows\nsing on the bamboos so sweetly.\u201d The bamboo and sparrows combined form\nthe crest of the great lord of Sendai. Any Japanese child will tell you\nhow the poor little sparrow was driven out of his bamboo cage after\nlosing his little tongue, because he had eaten starch for washing\nclothes belonging to a mean old woman. When her husband returned home\nfrom the mountain and learned the fate of his pet bird, he said, \u201cHe\nmeant nothing bad in eating your starch. When you could so easily have\nforgiven him, how could you be so cruel as to cut off his tongue and\ndrive him away? If I had been here he should never have been punished\nso severely: this heartless deed was done because I was away. Alas! how\ncan I help shedding tears?\u201d He started out the next morning to find his\nlost pet, singing--\n\n \u201cTongue-cut sparrow,\n Where are you?\n Where is your lodging,\n Where are you?\n Tongue-cut sparrow,\n Chu, Chu, Chu.\u201d\n\nThe sparrow soon recognised the voice of his master, and jumped out\nof his house, exclaiming, \u201cPray enter my humble home!\u201d The house was\nmade, of course, of bamboo bush, as sparrows\u2019 houses always are, and\nthe pillars and roofs were also of bamboo. The sparrow said, \u201cYou have\ncome a long way to see me. How can I thank you enough! I cannot help\nshedding tears of joy.\u201d The story goes on to tell of all the strange\nthings the sparrow did, which turned to fortune for the old man.\nHowever, when his wife came singing the same song, her greediness made\nher bring a heavy basket instead of a light one, as her husband had\ndone. So when she opened the cover she found not gold and treasures as\nher husband had done, but a monster with three eyes, a giant toad, a\nviper, and other terrible reptiles.\n\nAnother simple Chinese story is from the so-called \u201cFour-and-Twenty\nParagons of Filial Piety.\u201d There was a man whose filial piety was so\nwonderful that his true heart moved even Heaven\n\n[Illustration: IRISES, HORIKIRI]\n\nand Earth. His old mother wished to eat the tender bamboo shoots one\ncold winter day when it was absurd to try and get them. This man\nstarted towards a bush of bamboo to look into it, and there, to his\ngreat surprise, he found plenty of the new shoots. It is said that\nhis great filial piety moved the hearts of the bamboo bushes and they\nanswered his true devotion voluntarily. Filial piety is the virtue _par\nexcellence_ of the Eastern world; such a story is very popular with\nthe Japanese people, and is read to their children to encourage their\ndevotion towards their old parents.\n\nLike its associate the pine, the bamboo plays an important part in\nthe art of flower arrangement, though there again we are told by Mr.\nConder that strictly speaking it is regarded as neither a tree nor a\nplant. Possibly the most important of all its uses in the art lies in\nthe fact that so many of the vessels made for holding the flowers are\nmade of bamboo, some merely plain sections, others of the most fanciful\ndescription. Some of the baskets of Chinese origin were made of split\nbamboo, and were so much prized in Japan that high prices were given\nfor antique specimens. So complicated an art does this one of floral\narrangement appear to be, that it would require many years to learn\nthe correct choice of the vessels into which certain flowers should\nbe arranged, which flowers are suitable as offerings for ceremonial\noccasions, the correct combination of flowers and trees or shrubs, and\nthe shape in which they are to be arranged. The list of bamboo vessels\nalone, with their fanciful names, would require months to master, and\nno doubt in each separate one only certain flowers are permissible.\nThe original use of bamboo flower-vases seems to date from the days\nof Yoshimasa, and, like so many other things, started by being merely\nsimple sections of a thick bamboo cut so that the bottom was closed\nby a natural division, and the cylinders were a foot or so high. Then\ncame the invention of innumerable fancy forms: portions of the sides\nwere notched out, side apertures were introduced, and sometimes four or\nfive compositions were arranged in one vase. The names chiefly refer to\nsome fancied resemblance in the general shape--so we read of the Lion\u2019s\nMouth shape, the Travelling-Pillow shape, Chinese Gateway, Shark\u2019s\nMouth, Wild Geese\u2019s Gateway, Lantern shape, Five Storey shape, Crane\u2019s\nNeck shape, and Monkey shape; in fact a list of many pages in length\nmight be given of all the varieties, but from the above will be seen\nthe extreme fancifulness of the supposed resemblance. Then, again, do\nnot imagine that the much-prized baskets are just a basket and nothing\nmore. They also assume fanciful names and shapes, such as the Raincoat\nbasket, so called because the frayed top hanging over the edge is\nsuggestive of the collar of a Japanese farmer\u2019s straw raincoat; Cicada\nand Butterfly baskets, from their resemblance to the insect; and the\nHood-shaped basket, suggesting the shape of the hoods worn by Japanese\nwomen in cold weather.\n\nThen we come to perhaps the prettiest of all, the boat-shaped\nvessels, which are suspended by a cord or chain. The simplest of\nthese are bamboo tubes splayed off at the ends, hollowed out, and\nhung horizontally. These, one would have thought, were probably their\noriginal form as conceived by Yoshimasa whilst observing children\nsailing toy boats filled with flowers; but the more elaborate bronze\nvases in exact imitation of ships and junks came first, and the simpler\nones are of later origin. Some attribute the first use of boat vases to\nthe fact that the celebrated philosopher Soami, to please his patron\nYoshimasa, took a bronze vessel of accidental resemblance to a boat,\nand by his arrangement of the flowers suggested the idea of a sailing\nvessel. The regent was so pleased with this novel flower arrangement\nthat Soami devoted his attention to drawing up certain rules with\nregard to boat arrangements.\n\nBamboo rafts formed of bamboos of different lengths tied together to\nhang horizontally, either supporting a basket of flowers, or with one\nof the tubes hollowed so as to hold the stems of the branches, show yet\nanother way in which the bamboo is used. Such a raft laden with cherry\nblossoms is arranged to suggest the mountain scenery of Arashiyama and\nthe flower-laden craft in the season of cherry blossoms. The correct\nuse of the branches of bamboo as a decoration would appear to be no\nless complicated than the choice of the vessels. A portion of the round\nstem or tube is selected and only a few leaf-clad twigs are permitted\nto remain, and, according to the occasion for which the arrangement is\nbeing made, the tube must be splayed or cut horizontally. For instance,\nfor wedding feasts the cut must be concealed by leaves, as the sight of\nit would be considered unlucky and suggestive of severed friendship.\nRegulations also exist as to the number of twigs or leaves which are\nto be left on the stems,--three or five as a rule; and yet further\nrules as to the number of leaves to be left on these same twigs. Three\ncombinations are approved, known as the Fish tail, Goldfish tail, and\nFlying Geese shape, which consists of three sloping leaves suggestive\nof the outline of a wild goose in flight. Probably the best known\ncombination is that of the pine, bamboo, and plum, as it is specially\nemployed at the New Year, when almost every house in Japan will have\nsuch a combination arranged on the _tokonoma_. Enough has been said\nto show the bewildering number of laws and regulations that surround\nthis especial art, and it is not to be wondered at that Mr. Conder\nis probably the only foreigner who has ever mastered the subject, as\nindeed it requires years of study before a flower arrangement completed\nby the hand of one who is not a Japanese could hope to pass muster\nbefore the critical eye of the professor.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\nTHE PINE-TREE\n\n\nThe pine-trees--_Matsu-no-ki_--of Japan are so closely and inseparably\nassociated with the country, in the beauty of the landscape, the\nnational customs and the national art, that it seems impossible when\ndescribing the floral year to omit the pine-trees, surely the grandest\nand noblest decoration of the land. They seem to welcome you to Japan,\nfor as your ship glides up the Inland Sea the pine-trees will greet\nyou on every side, the mountains will be clad with their eternal\ngreen, every island will have some venerable trees twisted and bent by\nstorms and age. To the Japanese the pine is the king of trees, full of\npoetical suggestion and perfectly incomparable; and certainly it would\nbe impossible to imagine Japan without her pine-trees. The impressive\ngrandeur of every Shinto temple, every Buddhist shrine, is deepened\nby the grey-green trees standing in their silent gardens; they seem\na necessity to such august places. Think of the pines at Uyeno or at\nShiba; their merit is as great as the cherry-trees in the parks; to\nthem and the cryptomeria belongs the task of guarding all the temples\nof the land. Every Tokugawa feudal castle had a moat bordered with\npine-trees--how many have now been swept away and nothing left but a\nmeaningless waste! The Imperial palace is chiefly shaded by the trees,\ntheir heavy foliage suggesting the depth of the forest. To-day every\ncommon house and garden has its guardian pine-tree at the gate.\n\nThe Japanese are very fond of visiting special _meisho_ or \u201cfamous\nplaces,\u201d and how many of these places have been made famous by the\nbeauty of their pine-trees, for where is the spot of natural beauty in\nall the country which has no pines? The three most \u201cfamous places\u201d owe\ntheir beauty to water and the pines, nothing else. The great _hokku_\npoet Basho found himself quite unable to sing his \u201cseventeen syllables\u201d\nat Matsushima, the land of the pine-clad islands; he was a wandering\npoet who left a line or two wherever he went, but here he considered\nhis silence was the greatest song of praise for the place, which he\nsaid was the best in Japan. He wrote in his diary: \u201cOne isle stands\npointing up to the sky; another bows crawling over the waves; one\nparts at the left, another joins again at the right. The green beauty\nof the pine-trees is superb; the branches and leaves are bent quite\nnaturally by the wind and tide.\u201d Indeed I do not wonder that he found\nhimself unable to describe this land of fairy isles within the limits\nof seventeen syllables, for given unlimited space and an unlimited\nnumber of syllables it is hard to convey any idea of the beauty of the\nscene. Eight and its compounds are favourite round numbers with the\nJapanese, so they assured me that there were 808 in all of these tiny\nislands; and surely no one would dispute it. Each great winter storm\nsweeping in from the Pacific makes one or more of these toy islands\ncrumble and disappear; but the sea makes rapid inroads and hollows out\nfresh archways or fresh tunnels, so very quickly a promontory breaks\noff and forms a new island, to be given a new fancy name, thus keeping\nup the traditional number. In every available nook stands one of the\nstorm-bent trees which have given name and fame to the locality, whose\npraises have been sung by\n\n[Illustration: PINE-TREE AT MATSUSHIMA]\n\nthousands of poets and how many _kakemono_; screens and _fusuma_ have\nbeen adorned with the conventional views of Matsu-shima; Oshima,\ndecorated with its shrines and lanterns, and connected with the\nmainland by a slender bridge, half hidden by the leaning trees,\nis perhaps the most favourite theme for the artist and poet. The\npines of Matsu-shima appeared to be all the variety known as _Pinus\ndensiflora_--possibly the most beautiful of all, with its red stems and\ndeep-green foliage.\n\nI read of them described as in the \u201cform of crouching dragons,\nred-scaled and rough, with fins of living green.\u201d Another of the three\n\u201cfamous places\u201d of the Empire is associated purely with pine and water;\nfor to the eye of the unpoetical foreigner Ama-no-Hashi-date, a spot\nwhere thousands of Japanese congregate annually, is nothing but a long\nnarrow sandy peninsula with an avenue of leaning pine-trees on either\nside. Its poetical name, meaning the Bridge or Ladder of Heaven, was\ngiven to the spot in allusion to _Ama-no-uki-hashi_ or Floating Bridge\nof Heaven, whereon Izanagi and Iganami stood when they stirred up the\nbrine of the primeval chaos with their jewelled spear, the drops from\nwhich consolidated into the first island of the Japanese archipelago.\nThough the name of the locality is not derived from its association\nwith the pine, there are many points from whence the prospect is most\nadmired, such as Ippon Matsu (One Pine-tree) which have been called\nafter the trees; and under the branches of this solitary tree the poet\nmay sit and meditate and compose his ode to the lovely scene. The long\nnarrow spit, the tranquil water, and a few moored junks is another\nfavourite scene for the Japanese artist.\n\nTo the European the last of the three great sights will appeal more\nsurely, for no one could fail to be lost in admiration of Miyajima\nor Itsukushima, the holy island of the Inland Sea. It well deserves\nits rank among the famous places. The Japanese are said to admire it\nmost under snow. I have never seen it under those conditions; but I\ncan imagine no more beautiful scene than meets the eye in the early\nmorning of a scorching August day, when the sampan floats across to\nthis pine-clad island, the light haze just clearing from the woods,\nthe great temple looking as if it were floating on the water, and the\nnoblest, simplest gateway ever devised, the great wooden _torii_,\nstanding, as it were, knee-deep in the sea. The giant leaning pines\nshade the never-ending line of lanterns along the shore, their gnarled\nroots and trunks almost lapped by the waves; and here and there a\ntwisted tree will seem to be hanging in mid-air, so slender does its\nroot-hold look upon the cliff. The same eternal pines guard the little\nshrines all up the hill, and gather round the temple at the summit,\nfrom whence the prospect is the fairest man can see. Across the sea,\nas calm as a lagoon, so calm that it is hard to realise its surface is\never ruffled by winter storms, will rise other pine-clad islands, but\nsurely none so fair as this.\n\nThe beauties of Lake Biwa, \u201ca shell of mist and light,\u201d are sung\nuniversally. Constant reference is made in Japanese poetry to the eight\nviews, known as the celebrated \u201cEight Beauties of Omi\u201d: the autumn\nmoon seen from Ishiyama; the waning moon on Hiragama; the sunset at\nSeta; the evening bell of Miidera; the boats sailing back from Gabase;\nthe bright sky with a breeze at Awazu; rain by night at Karasaki; and\nthe wild geese alighted at Katata. If you examine these places, you\nwill find that the pine-tree makes a background for most of them; and\nthe rain by night would have no meaning if the pine-tree of Karasaki\nwere not there. Probably this is the largest and most curious pine in\nthe world; its great branches sweep outwards and downwards till they\nalmost touch the ground, and, owing to the tree\u2019s great age, have to be\nsupported by wooden props and stone cushions. A poet writes of the old\nKarasaki tree--\n\n There is a pine, a fount of age,\n Root cramped the land and sea between;\n Of mighty limbs, that curve and rage\n In eddying knots, and gusts of green.\n\n Its ancient trunk is lichen writ\n With autographs of centuries;\n The years, like sparrows, perch on it,\n And twitter plaintive memories.\n\nAs usual convention enters largely into this Japanese choice of\nespecially lovely scenes, and probably were a foreigner asked to choose\n\u201cEight Beauties of Omi\u201d he would name eight entirely different scenes.\nCertainly for one, I should choose the view from the top of the Castle\nof Hikone when the rice is still young and green, and the bloom of\nthe honey-scented rape plant spreads broad stretches of yellow on the\nplains, forming a brilliant foreground to the lake beyond.\n\nNext to Lake Biwa, although more properly speaking it is a lagoon, Lake\nHamana is their largest lake, and here again the pine does so much in\nbeautifying the whole scenery. Hamamatsu, meaning the Pines of the\nBeach, is an historical place for pine-trees, and just beyond it lies\nthe entrance to the lagoon; from the bridge can be seen on one side the\nbreakers of the Pacific, and on the other the deeply indented shore\nline, clad with pine-trees, stretches away as far as the eye can see,\nwhile the mountains rise range upon range above the clear still water\nand form a picture dear to the heart of the poet.\n\nIf I were to tell you of all the places in Japan famous for their\npine-trees, it would be one never-ending list, the pine is everywhere.\nIf you travel along the sandy shore at Maiko or at Suma, across to the\nnorthern coast at Tsuruga, or at Maizuru, where the wonderful trees\nare of great antiquity, or back again to the coast near Kamakura, with\nthe pine-clad island of Enoshima rising from the sea like a high green\nmass, through all the district of Hakone, or up north at Nikko, you\nwill find the pine-trees,--no scenery can be parted from them; and if\nyou are the happy possessor of a Japanese garden, the pine-tree will\ngreet you at the gate.\n\nNot only have the beauties of the pine been sung by poets for a\nthousand years, but they are also considered emblems of constancy,\nendurance, health, and longevity. The famous pines of Takasago are\nwell known as the theme of the _No_ play in which the spirits of the\npine-trees will appear as human shapes to celebrate the age of gold\nand happy life. The trees, with the colour of eternity and with their\nunexhausted life, are regarded as emblems of joy. It is the custom\nto sing a passage from this Takasago play at wedding ceremonies. The\nspirits of the two ancient pine-trees, personified as an old man and an\nold woman engaged in a never-ending task of raking up pine needles, are\nthe subject, typifying longevity. The following is a passage from the\nplay:--\n\n The dawn is near, and the hoar frost falls on the pine-tree twigs;\n but its dark green leaves suffer no change. Morning and evening\n beneath its shade the leaves are swept away, yet they never fail.\n True it is that these pine-trees shed not all their leaves,\n their verdure remains fresh for ages long; even among evergreen\n trees--the emblem of unchangeableness--exalted is their fame to the\n end of time--the fame of the two pine-trees that have grown old\n together.\n\nTheir true poets seem never to tire of the pine, and it seems\nespecially to appeal to the essentially poetical mind of the whole\nnation. In order to show me how it can be made the theme of poems and\nsongs in conjunction with so many different subjects, a poet said to\nme, \u201cIt is simply wonderful to know what a good harmony the pine-tree\n\n[Illustration: AZALEA AND PINE-TREE]\n\nkeeps with other natural subjects; it harmonises with the misty spring\nmoon, as well as with the summer moon. A well-known poem has been\nwritten on the pine-tree of the rainy season; and many poets sing of it\ntogether with the autumnal moon, and also it harmonises perfectly with\nthe winter moon. You will find hundreds of poems written on the pines\nunder snow; and the rain makes a beautiful combination with it also. It\nharmonises with mists, winds, and thunder lights; and you will see many\npictures of the pine-tree and the rising sun. There is no better sight\nthan to see it with the waves of the sea; and it goes well together\nwith birds, with storks, pigeons, and with turtles or monkeys. The\ncuckoo will remind you of the pine-tree, and it makes a good subject\nwith fire-flies and cicad\u00e6.\u201d It is said that the pine is a brother of\nthe plum and bamboo, and they make their appearance together in various\nforms on occasions of congratulation; and in conjunction with the crane\nand tortoise it is used in decoration to express the sentiment of happy\nold age.\n\nThe pine plays so large a part in the art of flower arrangement, so\nadmirably described by Mr. Conder, that I cannot do better than quote\nsome passages from the _Floral Art of Japan_ in reference to the pine.\n\n _Flowers used at Moon-viewing_\n\n Moon-viewing is at all times a favourite pastime of the Japanese,\n but the great moon festival of the year is on the fifteenth day\n of the eighth month. The more important dwellings have a special\n chamber from which the sight of the moonlit landscape can be\n enjoyed. The floral arrangement occupies the recess of the chamber,\n and has of course no real connection with the outside prospect;\n but in the flower composition itself the moonlit landscape is\n expressed. A branch of a pine-tree is used, and between the\n _principal_ and _secondary_ lines of the composition a special\n branch is introduced, fancifully called the _moon-shadow-branch_; a\n hollow gap is also formed between the foliage, bounded by a special\n branch called the _dividing-branch_. In the composition the idea is\n to suggest both the opening through which the moon can be partially\n observed and the dark branch which appears to cross its surface. To\n fully appreciate the analogy one must be familiar with the scenery\n of Japan, and have seen, on a clear night, the irregular pine-trees\n standing out against the moonlit heavens.\n\nWe are told that the principal kinds of pine are the _Pinus\nThunbergia_, known by the Japanese as the black or male pine; _Pinus\ndensiflora_, called the red or female pine; and _Pinus parviflora_.\nThere appear to be many different ways of arranging the pine branches,\nbut in all cases they are left as much as possible in their natural\nstate; a favourite treatment is that of a broad stump cut off\nhorizontally, with a thick twisted branch springing from its base.\n_Pinus parviflora_, on account of the straightness and delicacy of\nits leaves, is often arranged in a simple vertical style, using the\nsprays; but for compositions with other species of the tree, thick\ngnarled branches are preferred. Mr. Conder also tells us of a pretty\nand poetical arrangement in connection with wedding ceremonies--\n\n At wedding feasts a double arrangement in a pair of similar\n standing vases is employed. For this purpose a branch of the _male_\n pine is placed in one vessel, and a branch of the _female_ pine in\n the other. The general form of each design would be similar, but\n the branch of the _female_ pine facing the opposite vase should\n stretch a little beneath the corresponding branch of the _male_\n pine. These together are called the \u201cDestiny-uniting\u201d branches, and\n the complete design is said to typify eternal union.\n\nIn another passage he tells us how faithfully they reproduce the effect\nof the forest as--\n\n Occasionally in suspended arrangements of pine, long stiff threads\n are hung from the branches, in conventional imitation of the\n parasitic grasses which attach themselves to this tree; and in\n disposing such threads, their balance into groups of three, five,\n or seven irregular lengths is carefully attended to.\n\nAnother very favourite form of fancy arrangement is called the \u201cFuji\npine,\u201d as in such a composition a branch is bent to resemble the\noutline of Mount Fuji, and is combined with other branches and foliage\nin such a manner as to give the profile of the bare conical peak, and\nsuggest at the same time the wooded country at its base.\n\nYet another form of pine decoration is the _Kadomatsu_ or pair of gate\npines, which are the most important decorations in front of every house\nat the New Year; the first seven days of the year are called _Matsu no\nuchi_ or \u201cWithin the Pines.\u201d The origin of these _Kadomatsu_ dates as\nfar back as eight hundred and fifty years. One of the old _Kadomatsu_\npoets says--\n\n Kadomatsu no, itonami tatsuru sono hodoni\n Haru akegatatano yoya narinuran.\n\n (While busy decorating the pines at the gate,\n The dawn of the New Year speedily comes.)\n\nThe pines in front of the gates are placed in pairs--the rougher and\nmore prickly one, called _Thunbergi_ or male pine, on the left, which\nis the side of honour in Japan; the softer and more graceful one, _P.\ndensiflora_ or the female pine, on the right. The custom of adding\nbamboo is of more recent origin; and the other decorations include a\nrope, especially named _shimenawa_, with strips of white paper, a\ncray fish, ferns, a large orange called dai dai, a leaf or two of an\nevergreen tree, dried persimmons, dried chestnuts, etc. Each one of\nthese articles has its own peculiar origin, and is a symbol of good\nluck for the year and for life. The poet Ikku Zenzi writes--\n\n At every door the pine-trees stand,\n One mile-post more to the spirit land;\n And as there\u2019s gladness, so there\u2019s sadness.\n\nAnd indeed, whatever the pine-trees at the gate may mean, it is for\nourselves to choose whether we be happy or sad.\n\n\nTHE END\n\n\n_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_.","title":"The flowers and gardens of Japan","tradition":"folklore-oral-tradition","translated_text":null,"word_count":53493}