Part 60 (1/2)
There was no inn here, nor any place inhabited all the year round, but only a large open shed. This was divided into two by a pa.s.sage in the middle. We settled on one side of this, making our bed as well as we could on the raised floor, and protecting ourselves from the night air with coverings which our thoughtful host at Kusatsu had lent us. On the other side of the pa.s.sage our _kago_ bearers and guide pa.s.sed the night crowding round a log fire made on a stone foundation in the middle of the floor. The _kago_ bearers were protected from the very perceptible night cold only by thin cotton blouses. In order to warm them I ordered an abundant distribution of _saki_, a piece of generosity that did not cost very much, but which clearly won me the undivided admiration of all the coolies. They pa.s.sed the greater part of the night without sleep, with song and jest, with their _saki_ bottles and tobacco pipes. We slept well and warmly after partaking of an abundant supper of fowl and eggs, cooked in different ways by Kok-San with his usual talent and his usual variety of dishes.
We had been informed that at this place we would hear a constant noise from the neighbouring volcano, and that hurtful gases (probably carbonic acid) sometimes acc.u.mulated in such quant.i.ties in the neighbouring woods that men and horses would be suffocated if they spent the night there. We listened in vain for the noise, and did not observe any trace of such gases. All was as peaceful as if the glowing hearth in the interior of the earth was hundreds of miles away. But we did not require the evidence of the column of smoke which was seen to use from the mountain top, which formed the goal of our visit, or of the inhabitants who survived the latest eruption, to come to the conclusion that we were in the neighbourhood of an enormous, still active volcano. Everywhere round our resting-place lay heaps of small pieces of lava which had been thrown out of the volcano (so-called lapilli), and which had not yet had time to weather sufficiently to serve as an under-stratum for any vegetation, and a little from the hut there was a solidified lava stream of great depth.
Next day, the 4th October, we ascended the summit of the mountain.
At first we travelled in _kago_ over a valley filled with pretty close wood, then the journey was continued on foot up the steep volcanic cone, covered with small lava blocks and lapilli. The way was staked out with small heaps of stones raised at a distance of about 100 metres apart. Near the crater we found at one of these cairns a little s.h.i.+nto shrine, built of sticks. Its sides were only half a metre in length. Our guide performed his devotions here. One of them had already at a stone cairn situated farther down with great seriousness made some conjurations with reference to my promise to make an extra distribution of red wine, if we got good weather at the top.
As on Vesuvius, we can also on Asamayama distinguish a large exterior crater, originating from some old eruption, but now almost completely filled up by a new volcanic cone, at whose top the present crater opens. This crater has a circ.u.mference of about two kilometres, the old crater, or what the old geologists called the elevation-crater, has been much larger. The volcano is still active.
For it constantly throws out ”smoke,” consisting of watery vapour, sulphurous acid, and probably also carbonic acid. Occasionally a perceptible smell of sulphuretted hydrogen is observed. It is possible without difficulty to crawl to the edge of the crater and glance down into its interior. It is very deep. The walls are perpendicular, and at the bottom of the abyss there are to be seen several clefts from which vapours arise. In the same way ”smoke”
forces its way at some places at the edge of the crater through small imperceptible cracks in the mountain. Both on the border of the crater, on its sides and its bottom there is to be seen a yellow efflorescence, which at the places which I got at to examine it consisted of sulphur. The edge of the crater is solid rock, a little-weathered augiteandesite differing very much in its nature at different places. The same or similar rocks also project at several places at the old border of the crater, but the whole surface of the volcanic cone besides consists of small loose pieces of lava, without any trace of vegetation. Only at one place the brim of the old crater is covered with an open pine wood. The volcano has also small side craters, from which gases escape. The same coa.r.s.e fantasy, which still prevails in the form of the h.e.l.l-dogma among several of the world's most cultured peoples, has placed the home of those of the followers of Buddha who are doomed to eternal punishment in the glowing hearths in the interior of the mountain, to which these crater-openings lead; and that the heresies of the well-meaning Bishop Lindblom have not become generally prevalent in j.a.pan is shown among other things by this, that many of these openings are said to be entrances to the ”children's h.e.l.l.” Neither at the main crater nor at any of the side craters can any true lava streams be seen. Evidently the only things thrown out from them have been gases, volcanic ashes, and lapilli. On the other hand, extensive eruptions of lava have taken place at several points on the side of the mountain, though these places are now covered with volcanic ashes.
After having eaten our breakfast in a cleft so close to the smoking crater that the empty bottles could be thrown directly into the bottomless deeps, we commenced our return journey. At first we took the same way as during the ascent, but afterwards held off to the right, down a much steeper and more difficult path than we had traversed before. The mountain side had here a slope of nearly forty-five degrees, and consisted of a quite loose volcanic sand, not bound together by any vegetable carpet. It would therefore have been scarcely possible to ascend to the summit of the mountain this way, but we went rapidly downwards, often at a dizzy speed, but without other inconvenience than that one now and then fell flat and rolled head-foremost down the steep slopes, and that our shoes were completely torn to tatters by the angular lava gravel. Above the mountaintop the sky was clear of clouds, but between it and the surface of the earth there spread out a thick layer of cloud which seen from above resembled a boundless storm-tossed sea, full of foaming breakers. The extensive view we would otherwise have had of the neighbouring mountain ridges from the top of Asamayama was thus concealed. Only here and there an opening was formed in the cloud, resembling a sun-spot, through which we got a glimpse of the underlying landscape. When we came to the foot of the mountain we long followed a ridge, covered with greenery, formed of an immense stream of lava, which had issued from an opening in the mountain side now refilled. This had probably taken place during the tremendous eruption of 1783, when not only enormous lava-streams destroyed forests and villages at the foot of the mountain, but the whole of the neighbouring region between Oiwake and Usui-toge, previously fertile, was changed by an ash-rain into an extensive waste. Across this large plain, infertile and little cultivated, situated at a height of 980 metres above the sea, we went without a guide to the village Oiwake, where we lodged for the night at an inn by the side of the road Nakasendo, one of the cleanest and best kept of the many well-kept inns I saw during our journey in the interior of the country.
Hence I sent a messenger on foot to Takasaki to order a carriage to Tokio. A former _samurai_ undertook for a payment of three _yen_, (about 12_s_) to carry the message. Oiwake is indeed situated on the great road Nakasendo, but it can here only with difficulty be traversed by carriages, because between this village and Takasaki it is necessary to go over the pa.s.s Usui-toge, where the road, though lowered considerably of late, rises to a height of 1200 metres. We therefore here used _jinrikishas_, a mode of conveyance very agreeable to tourists, which, though introduced only recently, has already spread to all parts of the country.
[Ill.u.s.tration: j.a.pANESE LANDSCAPE. ]
Every one with an open eye for the beauties of nature and interest in the life and manners of a foreign people, must find a journey in _jinrikisha_ over Usui-toge pleasant in a high degree. The landscape here is extraordinarily beautiful, perhaps unmatched in the whole world. The road has been made here with great difficulty between wild, black, rocky ma.s.ses, along deep clefts, whose sides are often covered with the most luxuriant vegetation. No fence protects the _jinrikisha_ in its rapid progress down the mountains from the bottomless abysses by the wayside. A man must therefore not be weak in the nerves if he is to derive pleasure from the journey. He must rely on the coolie's keen eye and sure foot. On all sides one is surrounded by a confused ma.s.s of lofty shattered mountain tops, and deep down in the valleys mountain streams rush along, whose crystal-clear water is collected here and there into small lakes confined between heights covered with greenery. Now the traveller pa.s.ses a dizzy abyss by a bridge of the most defective construction, now he sees a stream of water rus.h.i.+ng down from an enormous height by the wayside. Thousands of foot-pa.s.sengers, crowds of pilgrims, long rows of coolies, oxen and horses bearing heavy burdens meet the traveller, who during frequent rests at the foot of the steep slopes has an opportunity of studying the variegated life of the people. He is always surrounded by cheerful and friendly faces, and the pleasant impression is never disturbed by the expressions of coa.r.s.eness in speech and behaviour which so often meet us in Europe.
It is not until the traveller has pa.s.sed the mountain ridge and descended to a height of only 300 metres above the sea that the road becomes pa.s.sable for a carriage. While we exchanged, not without regret, our clean, elegant _jinrikishas_ for two inferior vehicles drawn by horses, I saw two men wandering from shop to shop, standing some moments at each place, ringing a bell and pa.s.sing on when they were not attended to. On my inquiry as to what sort of people they were, I was informed that they were wandering players. For me of course they did not ring in vain. For a payment of fifty cents they were ready immediately to show in the street itself a specimen of their art. One of them put on a well-made mask, representing the head of a monster, with a movable jaw and terrible teeth. To the mask was fastened a cloak, in which the player wrapt himself during the representation. He then with great skill and supple tasteful gestures, which would have honoured a European _danseuse_, represented the monster now creeping forward fawningly, now rus.h.i.+ng along to devour its prey. A numerous crowd of children collected around us. The small folks followed the representation with great glee, and gave life to the play, or rather formed its proper background, by the feigned tenor with which they fled when the monster approached with open mouth and rolling eyes, and the eagerness with which they again followed and mocked it when its back was turned.
[Ill.u.s.tration: BURDEN BEARERS ON A j.a.pANESE ROAD. j.a.panese drawing. ]
In few countries are dramatic representations of all kinds so much thought of as in j.a.pan. Playhouses are found even in small towns.
The play is much frequented, and though the representations last the whole day, they are followed by the spectators with the liveliest interest. There are playbills as at home, and numerous writings on subjects relating to the theatre. Among the j.a.panese books which I bought, there was for instance a thick one, with innumerable woodcuts, devoted to showing how the first j.a.panese artists conceived the princ.i.p.al scenes in their _roles_, two volumes of playbills bound up together, &c.
The j.a.panese pieces indeed strike a European as childish and monstrous, but one must admire many praiseworthy traits in the play itself, for instance the naturalness with which the players often declaim monologues lasting for a quarter or half an hour. The extravagances which here shock us are perhaps on the whole not more absurd than the scenes of the opera of to-day, or the buskins, masks, and peculiar dresses, which the Greeks considered indispensable in the exhibition of then great dramatic masterpieces.
When the j.a.panese have been able to appropriate what is good in European culture, the dramatic art ought to have a grand future before it among them, if the development now going on is carried out cautiously so that the peculiarities of the people are not too much effaced. For, in many departments, and not least in that of art, there is much to be found here which when properly developed will form a new and important addition to the culture of the West, of which we are so proud.
The large j.a.panese theatres, besides, often resemble the European ones in their interior arrangement. The part.i.tion between the stage and the s.p.a.ce occupied by the spectators is the same as among us.
Between the acts the former is concealed by a curtain. The stage is besides provided with painted scenes representing houses, woods, hills, &c., supported on wheels, so that a complete change of scene can be effected in a few moments. The music has the same place between the stage and the spectators as at home. The latter, as at home, are distributed partly in a gently rising amphitheatre, partly in several tiers of boxes rising one above another, the lowest tier being considered the princ.i.p.al one. The j.a.panese do not sit in the same way as we do. Neither the amphitheatre nor the boxes accordingly are provided with chairs or benches, but are divided into square compartments one or two feet deep, each intended for about four persons. They sit on cus.h.i.+ons, squatting cross-legged in the common j.a.panese fas.h.i.+on. The compartments are divided by broad cross beams, which form the pa.s.sages by which the spectators get to their places. During the play we saw attendants running about with tea, _saki_, tobacco pipes, and small braziers. For every one smokes during the acts, and places himself in his crib as comfortably as possible. The piece is followed with great attention, favourite actors and favourite pa.s.sages being saluted with lively applause.
Even women and children visit the theatre, and I have seen the former give their children suck without the least discomposure among thousands of spectators. Besides the plays intended for the public, there are given also a number of other dramatic representations, as society plays, peculiar family plays intended for the homes of the old feudal princes, spectacles got up for the Mikado, and some which have a half religious significance, &c.
On the evening of the 5th October we came to Takasaki, prepared to start immediately for Tokio. But though the messenger we sent had duly executed his commission, horses could not be procured before midnight. We pa.s.sed the evening with our former host, who at our first visit received us so unwillingly, but now with great friendliness. We would easily have reconciled ourselves to the delay, for a j.a.panese small town such as Takasaki has much worth seeing to offer a European, but a great part of the time was wasted in fruitless attempts to get the horse-hirer to let us have the horses a few hours earlier. In spending time in long conversations mixed with civilities and bows the j.a.panese are masters. Of this bad habit, which still often makes the European desperate, it will not perhaps be long necessary to complain, for everything indicates that the j.a.panese too will soon be carried along at the endlessly roaring speed of the Steam Age.
When we had at last got horses we continued our journey, first in a carriage to Tokio, then by rail to Yokohama, arriving there on the afternoon of the 6th October. From this journey I shall only relate an incident which may form a little picture throwing light on life in j.a.pan.
While we halted for a short time in the morning of the 6th October at a large inn by the roadside, we saw half a dozen young girls finis.h.i.+ng their toilets in the inn-yard. In pa.s.sing we may say, that a j.a.panese peasant girl, like girls in general, may be pretty or the reverse, but that she generally is, what cannot always be said of the peasant girls at home, cleanly and of attractive manners. They washed themselves at the stream of water in the inn-yard, smoothed their artistically dressed hair, which, however, had been but little disturbed by the cus.h.i.+ons on which they had slept, and brushed their dazzlingly white teeth. Soap is not used for was.h.i.+ng, but a cotton bag filled with bran. The teeth were brushed with a wooden pin, one end of which was changed by beating into a brush-like collection of wooden cords. The tooth-powder consisted of finely powdered sh.e.l.ls and corals, and was kept in small, neat wooden boxes, which, along with tooth-brushes and small square bundles of a very strong and cheap paper, all clearly intended for the use of the peasants, were sold for a trifle in most of the innumerable shops along the road.
For such stupid regulations as in former times in Europe rendered traffic in the country difficult, and often obliged the countryman to betake himself to the nearest town to buy some horse-shoes or a roll of wire, appear not to be found in j.a.pan, on which account most of the peasants living on a country road seek a subsidiary way of making a living by trafficking in small articles in request among the country people.
Incidents of the sort referred to we had seen so many times before that on this occasion it would not have attracted any further attention on our part, if we had not thereby been reminded that we must look after our own exterior, before we could make our entrance into the capital of j.a.pan. We therefore took from the carriage our basket with linen, shaving implements, and towels, settled down around the stream of water at which the girls stood, and immediately began to wash and shave ourselves. There was now general excitement.
The girls ceased to go on with their own toilet, and crowded round us in a ring in order to see how Europeans behave in such cases, and to give us the a.s.sistance that might be required. Some ran laughing and bustling about, one on the top of another, in order immediately to procure us what we wanted, one held the mirror, another the shaving-brush, a third the soap, &c. Round them gathered other elder women, whose blackened teeth indicated that they were married. A little farther off stood men of all ages. Chance had here quite unexpectedly shown us a picture from folk-life of the most agreeable kind. This pleasant temper continued while we immediately after, in the presence of all, ate our breakfast in the porch of the ground-floor, surrounded by our former ministering spirits, now kneeling around us, continually bowing the head to the ground, laughing and chattering. The same fun went on when a little after I bought some living fresh-water fishes and put them in spirit, yet with the difference that the girls now, with some cries, to show their fear of handling the living animals--though fish-cleaning was one of their ordinary occupations--handed over to the men the trouble of taking the fishes and putting them into the spirit-jars.
For a worm placed in spirit they feigned the greatest terror, notwithstanding its covering of spirit and gla.s.s, and ran shrieking away when any one suddenly brought the jar with the worm near their faces. It ought to be noted to the honour of the j.a.panese, that although we were by no means surrounded by any select circle, there was not heard during the whole time a single offensive word among the closely-packed spectators, a fact which gives us an idea of the excellent tone of society which prevails here, even among the lowest of the population, and which shows that the j.a.panese, although they have much to learn from the Europeans, ought not to imitate them in all. In j.a.pan there is much that is good, old, and national to take note of, perhaps more than the j.a.panese at present have any idea of, and undoubtedly more than many of the European residents will allow.
[Footnote 379: On the contrary, we saw a number of beggars on the country roads in the neighbourhood of Yokohama. ]