The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-09-03

I
having scarcely room TO turn around
and were fenced of from ti,e common
h,rd al .iHpanese by straw mat ,us
pei.,i,-,i :,rii. the ceiling.
| hiyotO j. one of the mo,t Interesting
places to visit i'll Japan. 1t was former
ly the seat of Government. and the cen
tr.. Of education and religion. Ii Is about
thirty three miles from Osaka. y rail
road Is being constructed there from
Osaka it will probably be- completed
next year. The city is regularly laid out,
but the houses are small and low. shall
only speak of few points of interest
After the railroad is completed, it is
hoped that II concession will be given for
the RESIDENCE of Foreigners This place
Ia been and i a very desirable point TO
establish n mission station, and all mis-
siOus ia Japan have looked To kiyotO
with longing eyes. If ii concession is
given, after the completion Of the rail
road, missionaries can then 90 there
But as yet it Is forbidden ground Yet
through Mr.. Neesima, the New England
educated and Christanized Japanese, il
now appears very probable that our mis-
sion will be permitted TO locate our
training school and college there.
There is a national fair held IN Kiyoto
every year, Gor the last five years.. The
fair is open for one hundred days, and
during this time foreigners can visit that
pl:t - by obtaining a pass from their re-
speciivr Consuls We spent II half dag
at the fair. 1t Is II success, but to me
not very interesting. The most interest
ing feature to me was the Improvement
the Japanese are making ia the manufac-
ture OF cloth and the royal furniture of
some Of the former sOvereigns Though
10 any one visiting Japan, this exhibition
would be the most interesting thing he
could visit.
The city is regularly laid out and has
IA population of some $50, 0G0. The
houses are small and low. The most
Interesting f. ature connected with XII
yoto is her temples There are over l.
600 temples i'll the place Some of them
are very large, and some of chem are
very Old-3OO and 400 years old
built Of wood. These temples are always
thronged with pilgrims; the older the
temple the greater the number of pill
grims who throng it, say their prayers,
and give their gifts Of Il few cash (tenths
of Il cent?.
Ii was reported, II few years ago, that
these temples were deserted and neglect
ed; that the power of BOOdlIisln and
ShintooiSm WAS broken and decaying.
Though these false religions have lost |
some Of their former luster and influence |
over the people, yet it cannot DE said of |
them that their power is broken, or that |
they are decaying. Nor are the temples |
deserted: this was the immature remark |
of one not yet acquainted with japanese
customs. The temples themselves look
deserted enough, and so they do when
newly finished, but yet they are thronged |
with pilgrims from all over the Empire
And il is enough to stir ones soul within |
him to use his tongue tif lac has onPJ 10 |
see the blind, ignorant drvotecS say |
their prayers and give their gifts.
There are 81, :i;i3. ido!s in kiyoto, $50
besides many slnatler ones not
counted, and 50, 000 and upwards in the
Empire. TO write up all the items of
interest in and around KiyOto would re-
quire n small volume. Iwouli only add
that they have a good hospital, and IA
toler;,bly good nucleus for museum,
with ii competent man at the head Of
each.
Leaving Mrs. Taylor aud the children
in care o; a brother missionary, con
timued my tUnr on north. | took with
me a Bible helper, a YaGng man, MEM
ber of the Kobe Church. We distributed
tracts, aud ne preached almost every
evening. From i.iyuto went 20 otsu,
eight lnisvs ,ipliA, Il city of IS, ,0O0. This
place il on the sonth shore of Lake Biwa,
the largest body of fresh water i'll Japan.
IL is about sixty miles long, and from
twenty to thirty miles wide. | here
talked up the probabilities Of eStabiish-
ing IA hospital, AMI sae obtaining OF per
mi.S.on 10 1--we there, as | did in all the
larger places 1 visited. The steam-
boats on the lake We're ell laying by for
hrnce We Were under the
necessity of taking iinrikislii TO the next
point, Hikoni, forty miles up the lake.
We made the Journey in one day Hi
koni Is a place of some thirty or thirty
five thousand. We spent the Sabbath
here. Had ~ Interested audience. The
people ,physieiars, and some of the ofii-
cialsJ are very drsirous Of having n hos
pital established, and / do not think il
would ha difficult to get in here through
medical influence. From here we went
on up to the head OF the lake, ant. Grom
there across the ,Ionntaius To fsuluga,
ON tha northwest coast, nearly one hun
dred miles north from KiyOtO. The
country in some places is beautiful; tho
in places the country seeu;s hat half re-
claimed fro-i tae lake The farmers
work in mud and water up to the knees,
almost, and their life seems "A harder life
of toll than of any Of this class have
yet seen. Tine mulberry tree is cultiva-
ted in this region quite extensively. For
mikes you travel through groves Of the
and silk culture Is extensively
carried Gn. There are some beautiful |
valleys al the head OF the lake. Most of |
the commerce from the northwest coast |
comes over the mountains from Tsuruga,
and is carried over the mountains prin-
cipally on the backs of men; women do |
n good part of this hard work. These |
coolies are the lowest class have seen
any place in Japan, and the work they
do is enough TO drag the lie out of any
class. ThinS OF women tOiling up the
mountain, day after day, with great |
loads tied on their backs; beasts of bur-
den they are, doing work that is hard
enough to break down the hardest mule,
and you may conceive that their condi-
ton is miserable. al the commerce
that comes oyer the mountains here in