JAPANESE VISTAS

Otago Witness, Issue 1795, 17 April 1886, Page 26

JAPANESE VISTAS

A Singular Superstition — Infant Purga-

touy — A Vicarious Offering. — Scenes on the Summit of Japan's Sacred Volcano — Tub Two Sheols.

My last letter left me on the top of Fuji, over 12,600 feet above the level of the not distant sea. The waist of Fuji, the peerless mountain, was embraced by a sea of clouds, unbroken, save by a few distant peaks that came in view as we made the circuit of the cone. At one place steam was escaping, and a few inches below the surface the heat was unbearable to the hand. lv one place on the north side of the mountain we saw snow, while the air was quite cool. The rarity of the atmosphere made the least exertion wearisome, as we found in climbing some small elevations near the crater. As we went around the crater we mot a man who had fixed the path and asked for contributions in payment. He received all he expected when we gave him a joint contribution of two cents, and was very thankful. We met another man who intended to fix the road and solicited contributions accordingly. If he ever belongs to a church with a rotten meeting-house, ho will not huild till evpry cent is in hand. Ho got all he deserved when we gave him nothing.

JAPANESE SUPERSTITIONS,

The next sight was pathetic. Over a half acre of level ground were a number of monuments, built of stones piled on one another as children make block houses. They aro built in memory of and for the sake of children who have died. It is the teaching of Buddhism that when a child dies it is put to piling stones on the bank of a river, and is driven to work by an old hag. But in this world stones may be piled up and thus take labour from the poor child and with that belief, fathers climb this moun-' tain and pile up these stones to save their children from labour and from t.he whip of the surly old woman. There are idols throughout Japan, ill a sitting posture, whose laps are filled with stenes in accordance with the same belief. We thought it was an off ei ing made to the god, and he, biiing blind, when they gave him a stone for bread, woukl not know the difference, but such sights have a tenderer interest for in now. We next drank from the spring of very cold water on the summit of the mountain, it, however, being in a little hollow. Near this the Shinto priests stamp the canes used by the pilgrims, an advantage to the priests in the way of revenue, and to the pilgrim as a proof that he has been to the top of the Sacred Mountain. A man came out from their huts, and kneeling down on the edge of the crater, near a small shinto gate, began to pray. We were very near him at first, and his prayer was scarcely audible, but as we moved away Tais voice rose with his fervour, and for fifteen minutes he prayed without ceasing. He was probably a priest, aud was repeating an ancient prayer by rote, without understanding the words.

If the ascent of Fuji is slow and toilsome the descent is rapid and exhilarating. We were nine hours in the actual climb, but we spurned that distance in two hours and a-half on the down grade. A dignified walk is impossible, the mountain is too steep for that. As one rushes down the mountain, on a different road from the one he came, the sand fills his shoes or follows fast after. The Japanese say that the sand thus brought down by the feet of the pilgrim reascends at night. We did not go back to see.

CHRISTIAN SEIiVICES IN A PAGAN LAND,

Not far from the toot of Fuji is the summer home of Rev. Jas. H. Rallogh, one of the pioneer missionaries of Japan. He had given us a cordial invitation to stay at his house during the Lord's day, and it was truly delightful to be in a Christian home and to hear the sweet songs of Zion. There were three services the next day in the little chapel which had just been completed, and two illustrations which I heard I would like to write for the benefit of those preachers whose voracity for illustrations is only e^ialed by their veracity in tolling them. Last spring there was a very destructive flood in the neighbourhood of Osoka. The water rising suddenly ten or fifteen feet, inundated entire

villages and destroyed many lives. For safety persons climbed into trees, and upon the roots ot houses. Kind-hearted men went out in boats to rescue these unfortunate sufferers. Many were rescued, bub they came to some who refused to enter the boats. Again and again they were entreated, but they laughed and chattered and acted like as many monkeys. And whyi 1 Those men had lost all they had; their ricefields were covered with two or three feefc ot sand ; their household goods all gone, probably some relatives drowned, aud they had been without food for two or three days. They were insane. So God has sent a life-boat to this ruined world for suffering men. Some gladly accept, others make light of it. Not now do they think that they are crazy, but they will come to themselves when it shall be too late. So much from Mr Loomis. Now we will hear Mr Ballogh. Two Japanese were out together when they came to some very large strawberries such as grow on the sides of Fuji. One of them began eating them, and wished his companion to try them. " No," said he, " they are smakeberries." " Why the foreigners eat them." "Yes, they are foreigners' food, but they are not fib for Japanese." And he would not eat them. The other man had seen how much the foreigners relished them, had tried them and found them good. So with the Gospel. Men think it is not for them and that it is unpleasant, but when brought to taste and see that the Lor-3 is gracious, they are anigous that others shall enjoy the same joy. (The onljr charge for using the above is that the user shall send me the bost illustration he has, which he supposes will be adapted to the Japanese mind.)

SACRED KELICS.

In Hakone I remained a few days enjoying a welcome rest. Tne summer palace of the Emperor is being built, the materials being carried up the mountain, eight miles, on men's backs. There are some relics in the temple near there, the most famous being Iryeyasu's sword, a huge two-handled blade, and the sword with which two brothers avenged their father's death at the base of Fuji in 1193. There is also a porcelain flute made in imitation of a section of bamboo, and a huge bit belonging to a horse of warlike fame. THE TWO SHEOLS. Amidst the wild scenery of those mountains, the boiling springs are worthy of notice. The Emperor, on his visit in" 1877, re-named them tho Valley of the Little and the Valley of the Great Boiling, but the older and expressive names still hold sway, and they are known as Big and Little Hell. The Valley of Little Hell is easier surveyed. One can stand at the verge of the spring and see the water bubbling and foaming with intense heat. Some five or six places show by the column of steam where the boiling water issues from the ground. The hot water is carried by pipes into the house below for use in the bath-room.

On my trip I stopped at Miya-no-Shala for dinner in an elegant hotel owned and managed by a Japauese. His wife is a Christian and he is favourably disposed. I first asked for a bath and two or three girls guided me to the bathroom. The water was too hot for anyone but a Japanese, so after a minute or two of preparation I was called to go to a place that was cooler. Yet I could hardly endure the heat. There are about twenty little bath-rooms, and the hot water from tho boiling springs pours ia continuously. The dinner was in foreign style, as this place is a favourite summer resort from Yokohama.

In the afternoon I visited what the natives call Big Hell. A cloud of steam rests over it .ill the time, while the noise is that of a great boiling. Owing to the crumbly nature of tho ground several persons, both Japanese and foreigners, have lost their lives there. The water tastes of sulphur, and leaves a deposit wherever it flows. Pipes stretch for a loug distance carrying the water to hotels and bath-rooms. Under these bubbling springs the fire of a weakened volcano burns. Of all the mountain soenery I ever saw, that around Miya-no-Shita is the loveliest. The mingling trees and vines, half hiding the numerous waterfalls, give, with every turn of the road, a varied and beautiful scene. If I had hail my drawing instruments (not bought yet) with me, and had known how to draw, I might have taken some pretty pictures.

From Hakone I went to Atami on the sea coast, a distance of fourteen miles. I promised myself a grand view from the summit of the range along which the entire distance extends. But, itlas, the clouds were with us on that elevation and in cold, driving clouds I walked with the guide for three hours. When we descended iuto the valley, where the sun was shining brightly and looking back it hardly seemed possible that the mountain top could be so cold and stormy. At Atami there is a geyser near the hotel where I stopped, which sends a stream of hot water ten to fifteen feet high.

From this place I took a steamer to Tolrio, and then by sampan, or small boat, reached the land, then by railroad came to Yokohama. In getting to the boat at Atami I wondered how I would get through the waves, but a stout Japanese settled the question by taking me on his back, just as the Japanese always carry babies, and landing me safely on the vessel, so that on this trip I rode by jinrihi, coach, kago, packhorse, steamboat, sampan, and railroad, to say nothing of all I walked and was carried. — G. T. S., in the San Francisco Bvlletin.