An Incident of Fuji-Yama

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9, 4 March 1905, Page 50

An Incident of Fuji-Yama

By

Jason Trench

The Japanese always have had a Monroe Doctrine, though it has not been called by that name. The. dillicullies with which Commodore Perry had to cope, in securing the first commercial treaty between the United States and Japan, may be cited in proof of this statement: and later instances of the exclusive spirit of the Japanese might be mentioned. notwithstanding their adoption of many features of Western civilisation. The peasantry of Japan have not been influenced materially us yet by these innovations, and (he following true episode, which the Japanese press, in consideration of the sen-itive feelings of -the parties concerned, forebore to publish at the time, illustrates that the peasant class of that Empire possess a serious feeling in regard to their environ men t. By way of explanation it may lie said that, though much beloved, and made a good deal of in native art and literature by the Japanese, Fiiji-yania really is not the sacred mountain of Japan, as ko many careless writers have alleged; at least, it is not sacred in the Shinto seiu’e that Kamiyama in Ise, and another mountain on I lie west coast are. Usually oil the ninth day out from Honolulu, a while, cone-shaped cloud is seen on the horizon, thirty leagues or more away, 'rhe traveller, however, soon learns from the Captain or some other person who knows that it is not a cloud, but Fuji. The first thing in Ihe morning that every .Japanese within a hundred miles of this mountain docs is to turn his eyes toward it—not in worship, for as I have said, it is not deemed holy, but as to a weathersignal. If he can see the white snowrap — always there except in July and August—be may be sure of fair weather for the day. Having no foot-hills, its almost perfect slope rising twelve thousand feet above the sea-level, Fuji is renowned justly as the most Symmetrical, if not the most beautiful, mountain on the globe. Tt is volcanic, but its last eruption occurred as long ago as 1707. On Ihr west side of the mountain, some leu years ago, tourists noted that the inhabitants of several small villages thereabouts were well supplied with ice. At that time no artificial ire was manufactured in Japan, and as no st o rage - houses for the winter crop were to be Keen th-c tourist wondered whene in the name of mystery the ice used and sold by the peasants came from. After many futile inquiries, for the natives would not answer them, they finally bribed a jinrikisha man, who promised to take them to a natural ice deposit.

Early the next morning they started, ostensibly on a hunting trip, and after climbing some distance up the side of the mountain they entered the mouth of a large cave running far inter the depths. Here, in. a large chamber, the ice was found. Water continually dripped from the roof, but immediately froze into massive blocks of transparent ice where it fell. The peasants had been getting ice from this cave for centuries, mind you, and had kept the source of supply a profound secret. Little is known about the cave, even now. During the hot months ice 3 is a necessity in Japan. On every street, every block, little ice kori are seen, some of them on wheels, in which ice. cracked and in solid chunks, is sold, also shaved ice in glasses flavoured with lemon juice or syrup. At every railw<iy station blocks of ice are sold. I ourists and rich natives carry chests in which to keep ice, wine and food when they travel by rail. The ice usually is brought in ships from the extreme north about Tokaido—the best, grade of it, being cut on a moat of spring-water surrounding an old Japanese castle. Brought south in the winter, it is stored in rice straw. It costs about three cents a pound. People commonly put ice in buckets down in their wells, to retard its melting Even in summer the butchers have no refrigerators—hence the poor quality of meats beloved of foreigners. Thousands of pilgrims climb the famouslSFuji-yama every summer; but it i- not a difficult feat, even for bicyclists, as the black cinders and loose lava keep their headlong speed in check. In April, 190.1, the Tokio Gun Club gave wliat was intended to be a large hunt on the wooded slopes of Fujiyama. Tickets sold for one to five dollars each. Hundreds of peasants wore engaged as beaters and guides. •Foreigners with the latest guns b-f their ■respective countries, Japanese with ■their own home-made firearms, and many of I be poorer classes with their primitive bows and arrows, flocked in large crowds to the scene the day before the hunt. Everyone was confident of a large kill--of sport worthy of St. Hiiberl. himself, as deer, wild boar, bears and other smaller animals abound in the tangled forest fastnesses of the anou ntain. That night the chief men of several villages met at a tea-house, to talk over the next day’s hunt. One aged peasant, after many bows, made the following speech: ‘’Honourable friends: I should not dare ask such honourable gentlemen to listen to the weak words of one so humble as myself, had I not lived at the 'base of this beautiful mountain

tor eighty-seven years; had I not been fed by such of its delicious game as has fallen to my bow. To-morrow foreigners and Japanese from all parts of our land will try to take away from us dwellers here one of our chief means of subsistence, and many of us, for a few cents, have promised to help in depriving. maybe for years to come, all our families land neighbours of the wild food of nature that we love so well. “Now, good friends, conscious of my own unworthiness, I humbly submit this proposition: Our young men are to be paid for their services, as 1 understand it, before the hunt; in fact, I know some already have received their pay. Therefore, since they are employed to drive the game, why should they not drive it away from the hunters instead of into their hands? 1 move that they be so instructed by their fathers, uncles 'and the older heads here gathered.” With these words the old man sat down, his colleagues nodding their heads in solemn approval. The following night saw the hunters returning from the chase. They were all tired and hungry; and nearly all were disappointed, for what they had bagged was only two deer and three wild boar. Small results, indeed, for the mighty efforts of such an army of highly trained sportsmen! But, you see. the old man’s advice had biten followed strenuously. The members of the Tokio Gun Club are teased yet over the monstrous farce. For centuries it has been a saying in the "Land of the Rising Suu” that whenever a pair of storks build their nest on the slopes of Fuji, Japan will have unwonted prosperity for seven years thereafter. Last summer a Japanese peasant while climbing the mountain found a stork’s nest, and the event was telegraphed all over the country and caused much rejoicing. It seems that the wise storks have a sort of hereditary dread that Fuji may prove a treacherous abode. However that may be. storks seldom are discovered there, and when they are it is considered a most propitious omen.