Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
IN KASUGA PARK, NARA--AN OLD CRYPTOMERIA]
NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1896
IN KASUGA PARK, NARA--AN OLD CRYPTOMERIA _Frontispiece_
EARLY PLUM BLOSSOMS, OKAMOTO, NEAR KŌBE 7
CHERRY-TREE AND LANTERNS, NI-GWATSU-DŌ, NARA 15
SARA-HIKI-SAKA, NEAR YOSHINO--LATER CHERRIES 21
CHERRY AND LATE PLUM, TEMA-CHO, NEAR NARA 23
A BUDDHIST TEMPLE AT YOSHINO--DOUBLE-FLOWERED CHERRY AND MAGNOLIA 27
CROSSING THE FERRY AT MUDA, ON THE YOSHINO-GAWA 30
MI KOMORI JINJA, A SHINTO TEMPLE NEAR YOSHINO 31
A PLANTATION COVERED WITH MATTING NEAR UJI 47
POND IN THE GARDEN OF RAKU-RAKU-TEI, HIKONE 49
THE CASTLE AT NAGOYA, FIELD OF IRIS IN THE FOREGROUND 52
HIKONE AND LAKE BIWA, FROM THE HILLS BEHIND TENNENJI 64
WHITE AZALEA BUSH, RAKU-RAKU-TEI, HIKONE 69
AURATUM LILIES AND BOCCONIA ON THE HILLS NEAR NIKKO 82
A FIELD OF LILIES, OFUNA, NEAR KAMAKURA 83
SEVEN BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS OF LATE SUMMER 85
HYDRANGEA BUSH, TOTSUKA, NEAR YOKOHAMA 87
THE LAST TEA LEAVES--COTTAGE NEAR YOKOHAMA 105
LOTUS-PATCH AMONG THE RICE-FIELDS, KAWASAKI, TŌKYŌ 109
A CLOUDY EVENING, FROM THE SANDS OF TAGO-NO-URA 123
FUJI FROM THE ABEKAWA, AND THE TOKAIDO BRIDGE 124
ON THE NORTHERN SLOPE OF FUJI--GRASS-CUTTERS RETURNING 126
THE SECOND SHELTER IN THE GOTAMBA PATH 128
THE GREAT PALM AT RYUGEJI, FUJI IN THE DISTANCE 135
FUJI OVER THE RICE-FIELDS OF SUZUKAWA 146
LAKE SUWA AND THE NAKASENDO MOUNTAINS, FROM KAMI-NO-SUWA 159
A LITTLE SHINTO SHRINE, NEAR THE NAKASENDO 166
THE VILLAGE STREET, ATAMI--VRIES ISLAND IN THE DISTANCE 175
A RUSTIC BRIDGE AT DOGASHIMA, NEAR MIYA-NO-SHITA 183
AVENUES OF TORII IN FRONT OF AN INARI TEMPLE, NEAR SHIMIZU 185
THE EDGE OF THE TOKAIDO, NEAR HAMAMATSU 195
ON THE SHORE NEAR MAIKO, THE STRAIT OF AKASHI TO THE RIGHT 199
LAKE BIWA WITH FLOODED RICE-FIELDS, NEAR MAIBARA 209
ONE OF THE “YAMA” AT THE NAGAHAMA MATSURI 213
MINIATURE PAGODA IN THE TEMPLE GARDEN, SEIGWANJI 217
THE ARSENAL GARDEN, KOISHIKAWA, TŌKYŌ 223
[Illustration: CHERRY-BLOSSOM BADGE, YOSHINO]
We had left Hong-Kong enveloped in its usual spring fog, and for five long, weary days had steamed across the China Sea in regular monsoon weather, gray and wet and miserable, but during the fifth some rocky islands, outlying sentinels of the three thousand which compose the Mikado’s realm, and occasional square-sailed, high-sterned boats, showed that we were near Japan, the Far East, the Land of Flowers and of the Rising Sun, the country which for years it had been my dream to see and paint; and by six o’clock in the evening, on the 9th of March, we were at anchor in Nagasaki Bay. The aspect of that port on a wet day was not inviting, nor were the little grimy girls, who in a chattering, laughing line carried their baskets of coal on board; so, difficult as it was to decline the hospitable invitations of the English residents, I decided to go on with the ship to Kōbe. Early in the morning of the 11th we passed through the Strait of Shimonoseki--the sun shining brightly on the snowy hills and on the crowd of fishing-boats which had been sheltering there from the bad weather--and entered the Inland Sea. After so many days of monotonous gray ocean it was delightful to steam along in sight of land, and wind about among the islets and rocks, so near to many of them that we could see the little villages, the mists of white plum blossoms, the rows of beans and barley growing wherever a level patch could be made on the steep slopes, the people at work in their