, 1885-01-17
A HEATHEN FETEs
Some Interesting Glimpses Of tina
Great Japanese Capital
one OF the Periodical 0utbursfs of
Heafhenfsm.-A Hundred Thou
sand Lanterns svayfng In IA
Hreeze-A storm.


-
more than ever at the time OF some great
festival. With modern japanese generally
a religious o~bcervnnce becomes q pretext for
q holiday. Indeed, 80 numerous hAve their
frolics become that many japanese have no
idea what certain Of them are for. A few
days ago, on the occasion OF one Of these
holidays, I asked a very Intelligent Japanese
what it c-ommemoratsd, and he replied; Il do
not know, but I think 1t refers to lsomething
connected with the founding of the govern
mentp To the masses these days usually
mean a good time; to the carpenters. paper
hangers and shop-keepers a brisk trade; to
the proprietors Of tea-houses and brothels a
perfect rush OF custom, and to the priests the
skdlful garnering Of many thousands OF
homely coppers that drop ceaselessly into the
Golfers OF an almost bankrupt and per-
functory priesthood
One Of these festivals, called in the native
tongue matsuri, is held at Kanda, In the city
Of Toxic. The great show was to begin on
Sunday, and continue three days, but by
Saturday night tho population hid increased
by 5000. The people, men, women and
children, came by rail, by carriages, by jim
ricisha, and on foot to the scene Of festivities.
Every available spot was crowded, and the
immense throng swayed to and fro, jostling
each other in their effort to reach the center
Of attraction. One must come to these
Oriental lands to find a crowd. Numbers
never seem to interfere with pleasure. The
ten thousands may swell to the twenties, and
from this to tho hfties, without ~inconveni-
ence. This Is due h the peculiar arrange
ment Of tho cities, where there are no side
walks, and all the street is thus used for
pleasure purposes. 1t Is also due to the pc
culiar construction Of the houses, the whole
front and partitions being movable. It is
owing also to the simple food and culinary
arrangement which make the feeding of
10000 people an easy task.
Fro m Asakusa to Knnda and thence 10 the
castle, a distance Of ten miles, stretched dem
porary balconies just under the caves of the
heavy-roofed houses, that all within might
sec the countless host without. A
hundred thousand lanterns swayed In the
breeze from the caves Of houses, swung
across streets supported by the slim bamboo.
over nrched entrances with dancing waves
of light, Rlimmsred in the tree-tops, and
glinted from some pleasure garden where the
sound Of voice and flute with the monotonous
hnm-hum Of the samisen, the Japanese gut
tar, foated out on the evening air. It was
not a gorgeous scene, but the lanterns cast
such a weird, fantastic light over all that but
for the surging crowd we might fancy the
ghosts Of the departed 0rientals were abroad
in very fact 1t was a beautiful scene. The
plash Of some miniature cataract as 1t tumbled
over the rocks beneath fantastic pines
mingled with the minor thud of the old tenn
pie drum, and gave us renewed visions Of
Arabian Nights.
On Sunday the time was spent in paying
penance and purchasing paper prayers at
the temple, whore the priests were doing a
thrifty business. The practice is for the
priests to sell a strip of paper with some
oh ~ otara rurtffas. ~ a. .,1 fhnra 49, L,.--
up before the god, while the suppliant sinner
is quailng sake d g. Japanese wine or beerl
at some stan q little further on. Arrange
mene had been made to far eclipse any pre-
vious effort this year, though nobody seems
to know why. Forty gorgeous cars had
been made to enter the grand procession.
These had platforms about ten feet high,
upon which was fastened one of the patron
gods There was Dali Koku, the god OF
wealth. he is very portly and stands on
two bags Of rice, the symbol OF wealth In
this country. There Is Hotel, the god OF
happiness. He Is even fntter and 1ollier than
Dai Koku. He drinks too much, but he Il
the friend OF the children, making them tops,
kites and all sorts of toys. There is the god
Of fire, which resembles the Harpies Of Vir-
gil, and there are many others, besides
deided ancestors and others of less renownL
There are seven patron gods in all, six Of
them being men. Benton, the patron of the
family and the sea, is a woman.
Mixed up with these notions Of Deity are
snakes, dragons with a thousand heads, an
inflnity OF claws and tail, animals the like OF
which are not in heaven above or earth be
meath. The cars are decked out with gold
and silver paper and bright ornaments Of tin
foil and gilt Everything in human form L
out Of proportion, the eyes being sometimes
=. Ia--.L ~ 49,
more than SIX feet high. The people yearn
not for the rules Of art but for effect, and
they get it Bright and early these forty
cars, drawn by their sleek oxen, were ready
to start amid o bedlam Of noise OF drums,
horns, flutes, tom-toms, ~triangles, cymbalz,
and everything else under the sun that could
give one the notion of a pandemonium,
Everything as to marching was In beautiful
disorder. There was no commander, and
none but a demon with a legion of impf
could lave commanded. The plan here is
for n procession to start and tho vast throne
moves along with 1t like the steady flow of a
glacier.
These proud picnickers were destined to
disappointment, for, loi a storm arose. tbs
breeze freshened to a gale, and the gale
strengthened to a tempest, and the tempest
ended In a typhoonI Those Respondent cars
were in an hours time only bedraggled ruins,
and in thirty minutes more they were cap
sized in the panic-stricken crowd. To add
to the dire calamity, the temporary balconies
erected for the occasion were wrenched from
their places, while everything movable
doors, fences, roof-tiles-went flying through
the air. Booths and stalls erected for the
display of wares were tumbled TO the middle
of the street, while a flood of rain poured
over everything. After the storm had
passed over the city It was found that up
wards Of 1000 houses had been completely,
and many more partially, wrecked The ex-
penses for this festival amounted to over
10000, which had been mostly pledged by
shopkeepers and hucksters, and the affair
not meeting expenses much distress ensueS.
Then, too, the lower clnsses always indulge
in finer clothes at such times, and it is re-
ported in the native papers that some of the
poor wrotches pledged their wives and chill
dren In payment OF the debts thus incurred,