THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1651, 21 October 1903, Page 13

THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN

(By Florence Balgarnie). No. V. “See Nikko and die,” or as a popular Japanese proverb puts it, “Do not use the word ‘magnificent/ until yo ; u have Been Nikko.” Nikko means “sunny splendour,” although rainy weather is its prevailing characteristic, but mud and drizzle are forgotten, amidst the beauty of its surroundings. It lies 2,000 feet above the sea. embosomed in hills clad with evergreen trees to their summit. At tire upper end of the village there comes a sudden dip into a ravine through which the Daiza-gawa foauns and dashes. Formerly this stream was spanned by the sacred lied Bridge, but this, together with the one used for ordinary mortals, was washed away in the tremendous floods of last year. Crossing by a temporary briuge, one begins the ascent through a paved grove of eiyptomerias, and passim? a road which runs between a group of mimic temple buildings to tho right, and the summer residence of the young Imperial princesses and a publio park on the left one reaches the granite torii .—a form of gateway —which is the sure index of approach to a Shinto temple. And now, by a series of broad stone steps, one rises from terrace to terrace, while each moment one! is charmed by objects of ever-increasing beauty and splendour. The eve is simply dazzled by this Acropolis of Japan. Nikko lias been a sacred place to Shintoists from the earliest days, and to Buddhists ever since the eighth century, when a wise old Buddhist missionary from China visited it. and instead of declaring the Wind God an imposter, qjuieitly annexed him as a “manifestation of Buddha.” Hence we find here, as throughout Japan, a ‘‘union of tlie churches,” and the usual thing is to practice the rites of til© one religion during life and be buried with the rites of the other. But tho group of magnificent buildings to be seen at the present day all centre round the tomb of the first great Shogun (the Emperor’s rival) Iye-Yasu, who extirpated Christianity from Japan, and was buried by his son on the top of tho hill above Nikko in the year 1017. Tho crest of this family is a trefoil, and it is to be seen on almost every beautiful building in Tokio, as in Nikko. The Toku-gawa seem to have been in art as well as in statecraft the MEDICIS OF JAPAN. Pagodas and holy water cisterns, bronze and stone lanterns, temples and shrine for the sacred dance all cluster several hundred feet below the ultimate goal, the tomb of the founder of the family, which stands high in tho mountains amidst the giant cry p tom on as. 411 that is best in Japanese and Chinese art, form, and colour have been focussed in these buildings, and no i>oor words of mine can convey .a com prop ensive idea of the marvellous beauty and great intricacy ox workmanship of the groups (all carved in wood) of trees, birds, beasts, fishes, flowers, fruit, as well as of children at play, and Obi dose and Corean sages. The lower panels of ...e outer cloister wall are carved entirely •with storks, ducks, geeso and other waterfowl in flight, standing oil the banks of streams and lakes, or swimming and diving in the water. The harmony of rich colour, added to the exquisite beauty of form., one must see to comprehend. The only thing in the Western world I can in the least degree compare to it is, strangely enough, to be seen in Wales. Let any New Zealander bent on a Home trip visit tho recently-renovated Norman castle of the late Marquis of Bute, and he wall see coloured carvings on walls and ceilings not unworthy of Nikko. On one white lacquered pillar of the chief gateway the pattern is upside-down, lest the perfection of the structure should excite the envy of the gods 1 It is called “Tho Evil-averting Pillar.” But glorious although these wonderful structures are, gleaming in purple and gold against the over-arching green, it is the human beings wandering to and fro who chie)3y interest me. W© tourists seem quite out of place as we toss our pence to the priestess of the sacred dance, or go through a mock service, as I observed some Horn© people doing.

THE DECAY OF BUDDHISM. So low ia the church, fallen that the priests perform for mere heretics for the sum of twopence. The congregation were choking with iifl-ooudeaked laughter, and it pained me as I recalled the scene cf a few moments before. A lady leading a little girl by the hand and followed by a train of attendants had arrived at the principal temple. On seeing her the green-robed priests sprang with great alaority to their feet, and while some took up position by the sacred drum others threw open the door of the Holy of Holies, closed to all but to members of the Imperial Family. The lady and the child entered, and with great reverence went through a ceremony not unlike our communion service % and on bended knee received cakes and cups of saki. Then the priests administered

the same sacrament to the attendants, who, with faces touching the floor, were waiting in the outer temple. I noticed one of the women revently folding up the little earthenware cup in a handkerchief to take home with her. The majority of the visitors are, however, apparently poor people, who are doing the round of the sacred mountains n pilgrimage, much as I have seen Roman, Greek, and Armenian Christians do in their sacred places. But the glory of the priesthood lias departed, and nowadays the sightseer brings the largest revenues into the temp I o coffers. Materialism is professed by these Japanese, who wish to be' considered up-to-date and in touch, as they fancy, with European culture. Darwin and Haeckel, and principally Nietsche, are tiro writers who chiefly influence educated men, although, as I hop© to show later, missionary effort is making slow but sure headway amongst the yomig

Just below the temple enclosure,' along the banks of the river, flanked by the sacred mountain of Nankai-san. a long _ line of many hundred Buddhas stood for centuries m atttitudes of serene contemplation. The popular story was that no one could count thorn. But now the river bank has crumbled away before the force of the persistent stream, and instead of by hundreds the images may be counted by tens. Let us hope that in the long run this scene will bo typical of the influence of Christianity upon Buddhist religion. In Nikko the tourist hails from many lands, and in my little Japanese-Eu.ro-pean hotel wo have, within a- week, had American, Chinese, German, French and British. TI-IE TRUE GEISHA GIRL. O ‘n pleasure bent, they invariably call for the chief pleasure-makers, the Geisha singing and dancing girls. There are 30,009 of these girts in the capital, and they are to be met with in every hotel and tea-house in Japan. I have been fortunate enough not to see them in tourist fashion, but in real Japanese style on an open-air stage set up m the midst of the quaintest garden attached to the principal Japanese inn of tho place. Of course, all the movable walls of the inn were drawn back, and much as in Chaucerian days in the Old Land the guests viewed the performances. In the garden itself tii© villagers were standing in a dense crowd. Arriving late, I was taken by special favour round by the open-air green room to a point of vantage, whore. I could see both before and behind the scenes. It was very curious to watch the Sphinx-like faces of the young girls relax when the curtain was down. Tho.se who only saw them before tli© scenes lost half tho fun. The decorum of the dance its dissimilarity to the boisterous ballet of the West, the long flowing robes and pantomimic posturing have already been too often described. I saw a peony, a cherry, a fan,and a scarf dance. But within twenty minutes the whole tiling grew monotonous, and I shall never forget the horror of the music, as the playing on the samisen, interspersed with ohrieks and unearthly noises, is called. Miss “Chrysanthemum,” Miss “Singing Leaf,” Miss “First Happy,” and Miss “Singing Pin© Tree,” and the rest of the little ladles possess a oertain quaint fascination. ’ But decorous in every way as the performance was, I think I understand the young German who in my hearing, in reply to the inquiry of the waiters as to bow he liked tho Geishas, exclaimed, with Teutonic force: “I hate them.” Much the same feelings possessed me when the other night we travellers were kept awake by the shrill voice of a Geisha who had been sent for by a Chinese tourist to amuse him by turning night into day. Missionaries have often been accused .of narrowness because they spoke with disfavour of tho Geisha girl. But let English-speaking tourists ' stay a few nights at a real Japanese inn. -where walls have ears, or mors strictly, where paper screens take the place of walls, and they will be compelled to admit that these young women are not under the careful chaperonage travellers are usually made to believe.