The Artist Who
Painted It Painted Nothing But Cherry Blossoms, And Fell In The
Rebellion.
On a shelf in the other alcove is a very valuable
cabinet with sliding doors, on which peonies are painted on a gold
ground.
A single spray of rose azalea in a pure white vase hanging
on one of the polished posts, and a single iris in another, are the
only decorations. The mats are very fine and white, but the only
furniture is a folding screen with some suggestions of landscape in
Indian ink. I almost wish that the rooms were a little less
exquisite, for I am in constant dread of spilling the ink,
indenting the mats, or tearing the paper windows. Downstairs there
is a room equally beautiful, and a large space where all the
domestic avocations are carried on. There is a kura, or fire-proof
storehouse, with a tiled roof, on the right of the house.
Kanaya leads the discords at the Shinto shrines; but his duties are
few, and he is chiefly occupied in perpetually embellishing his
house and garden. His mother, a venerable old lady, and his
sister, the sweetest and most graceful Japanese woman but one that
I have seen, live with him. She moves about the house like a
floating fairy, and her voice has music in its tones. A half-
witted servant-man and the sister's boy and girl complete the
family. Kanaya is the chief man in the village, and is very
intelligent and apparently well educated. He has divorced his
wife, and his sister has practically divorced her husband. Of
late, to help his income, he has let these charming rooms to
foreigners who have brought letters to him, and he is very anxious
to meet their views, while his good taste leads him to avoid
Europeanising his beautiful home.
Supper came up on a zen, or small table six inches high, of old
gold lacquer, with the rice in a gold lacquer bowl, and the teapot
and cup were fine Kaga porcelain. For my two rooms, with rice and
tea, I pay 2s. a day. Ito forages for me, and can occasionally get
chickens at 10d. each, and a dish of trout for 6d., and eggs are
always to be had for 1d. each. It is extremely interesting to live
in a private house and to see the externalities, at least, of
domestic life in a Japanese middle-class home. I. L. B.
LETTER VIII
The Beauties of Nikko - The Burial of Iyeyasu - The Approach to the
Great Shrines - The Yomei Gate - Gorgeous Decorations - Simplicity of
the Mausoleum - The Shrine of Iyemitsu - Religious Art of Japan and
India - An Earthquake - Beauties of Wood-carving.
KANAYA'S, NIKKO, June 21.
I have been at Nikko for nine days, and am therefore entitled to
use the word "Kek'ko!"
Nikko means "sunny splendour," and its beauties are celebrated in
poetry and art all over Japan. Mountains for a great part of the
year clothed or patched with snow, piled in great ranges round
Nantaizan, their monarch, worshipped as a god; forests of
magnificent timber; ravines and passes scarcely explored; dark
green lakes sleeping in endless serenity; the deep abyss of Kegon,
into which the waters of Chiuzenjii plunge from a height of 250
feet; the bright beauty of the falls of Kiri Furi, the loveliness
of the gardens of Dainichido; the sombre grandeur of the passes
through which the Daiyagawa forces its way from the upper regions;
a gorgeousness of azaleas and magnolias; and a luxuriousness of
vegetation perhaps unequalled in Japan, are only a few of the
attractions which surround the shrines of the two greatest Shoguns.
To a glorious resting-place on the hill-slope of Hotoke Iwa, sacred
since 767, when a Buddhist saint, called Shodo Shonin, visited it,
and declared the old Shinto deity of the mountain to be only a
manifestation of Buddha, Hidetada, the second Shogun of the
Tokugawa dynasty, conveyed the corpse of his father, Iyeyasu, in
1617. It was a splendid burial. An Imperial envoy, a priest of
the Mikado's family, court nobles from Kivoto, and hundreds of
daimiyos, captains, and nobles of inferior rank, took part in the
ceremony. An army of priests in rich robes during three days
intoned a sacred classic 10,000 times, and Iyeyasu was deified by a
decree of the Mikado under a name signifying "light of the east,
great incarnation of Buddha." The less important Shoguns of the
line of Tokugawa are buried in Uyeno and Shiba, in Yedo. Since the
restoration, and what may be called the disestablishment of
Buddhism, the shrine of Iyeyasu has been shorn of all its glories
of ritual and its magnificent Buddhist paraphernalia; the 200
priests who gave it splendour are scattered, and six Shinto priests
alternately attend upon it as much for the purpose of selling
tickets of admission as for any priestly duties.
All roads, bridges, and avenues here lead to these shrines, but the
grand approach is by the Red Bridge, and up a broad road with steps
at intervals and stone-faced embankments at each side, on the top
of which are belts of cryptomeria. At the summit of this ascent is
a fine granite torii, 27 feet 6 inches high, with columns 3 feet 6
inches in diameter, offered by the daimiyo of Chikuzen in 1618 from
his own quarries. After this come 118 magnificent bronze lanterns
on massive stone pedestals, each of which is inscribed with the
posthumous title of Iyeyasu, the name of the giver, and a legend of
the offering - all the gifts of daimiyo - a holy water cistern made
of a solid block of granite, and covered by a roof resting on
twenty square granite pillars, and a bronze bell, lantern, and
candelabra of marvellous workmanship, offered by the kings of Corea
and Liukiu. On the left is a five-storied pagoda, 104 feet high,
richly carved in wood and as richly gilded and painted. The signs
of the zodiac run round the lower story.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 19 of 112
Words from 18537 to 19545
of 115002
