Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-11
JAPAN'S TEA HOUSES AND TEA GARDENS.
Country Inns and Town Hotek-Lovey Places to Rest-Sum-
mer Houses Filled With Flowers and Fairies.

MlyanOshlta, which had good enough ac-
commodation for an English prince.
Yaami's, where the Duke and Duchess Of
Connaught spent fortnight, stands at the
head of the native hotels of Japan. 1t 10
situated on the hill of Maruyama, overlook
ing tine great city of Kyoto, the stronghold
OF the Mikados, and for 700 years the capital
of Japan.
All around are huge groves of trees, and
Just outside it, separated only by wall, is
the great and important Chionin Temple,
the parent house of the Jodo sect of Bud
dhists, and the possessor of the mighty bell,
18 feet high and 70 tons in weight, which
every time it is rung.
On the European Plan.
The hotel itself has most delightful gar
dens, with little scarlet shrine to 'Inari,"
the "rice goddess" and fish ponds, and
waterfalls, and clear running brook and
tangles of scarlet azaleas and camellias al
most hiding the winding stairways OF mossy
stone which lead up to the quaint beetIing
gateway. just outside the Dukes rooms
there was another little garden, or court
yard, built in on all sides, and containing
fantastic rock work. azaleas that were per-
feet snowballs of blossoms, tall purple irises
and an exquisite bronze fountain,
while tall bronze storks stood about in
various postures. This tea house, or hotel,
which was three or four stories high, had
capital European rooms with doors and
walls, and commanded magnificent views.
The furniture was all right for us-old CAM
paigners-but it must have been a change to
the Duke and Duchess to have to share one
basin in a little wooden washstand that
could be ratified up for 90 cents, with tin
slop pail watching them, and, at the outside,
a cane chair apiece; however, the beds were
clean and comfortable, and there was plenty
of variety of food, and the proprietor spoke
excellent English and sold the Duke whisky
which could be bought down in the town for
As cents bottle Charging him, L suppose,
a couple of dollars). But though it is iunny
to look back to, Yaami's is really very
good hotel for people to 60 to, the rooms are
so clean and airy and command such
lovely view, and the food was so plentiful
and the proprietor so obliging and our bed
room boy was familiar with the Chinese
classics and explained the allusions allegor-
ized in every curIo that we had bought.
Something in Everything.
Japan is a tissue of allegory The simplest
decoration on the humblest article of do
mestic use emblemizss something. Every
gaudy picture that comes to America mud
die OF red and blue and bad drawing, is an
.. episode in the life of some famous person.
age. Kyoto is the most interesting city in
Japan, and Yaami's the finest of the native
hotels, but one gets, perhaps, more fun out
of the Fujiva at Miyanoshita. The wait
resses and the baths would be quite enough
of themselves-what baths they werel-
made of wood about six feet long by three
feet wide, by two feet deep, sunk in the
floor, and filled with steaming water con-
Yeyed through two or three miles OF bamboo
piping, from the bowels of the slumbering
volcano above, Ojigoku. which. being in
terpreted, means big He'll" The Duke Of
Connaught told me that he never enjoyed
bath So much in his life as at Miyanoshita.
One stripped off ones clothing and. wrapped
up in q crepe kimono, ornamented with
Japan blue palm trees and storks,
was conducted to ones bath BY one
of the rayisning little musumes, scar
letkirtled and gaudily hair-pinned,
who waited at the hotel. To a shy man it
was little embarrassing, but, In japanese
ethics, bathing is the merest trihe. Funny
little damsels these musumes were, with
cheeks as plump and as rosy as ripe red
plums, and white teeth and silver laughter.
They had all sorts of engaging little tricks,
but there never was a shadow of immortality
in the house. MIR. Yamaguchi, the proprIe-
tor, was a martinez in such matters. The
Fujiva itself was low wooden building,
only one degree removed from a Japanese
style hut, that is the part reserved for Eu-
ropeans, but it leads to a charming Japan
etc part, with Shoji and Chigaidana and
Tokonoma (the guest chamber recesses),
surrounded with blossoning cherry trees,
growing out of the face of the raVine on q
spur of which it stood, commanding glori-
Gus view OF the gorge, with its dark mount
ain river and cluster OF waterfalls. In one
of the rooms there was ceiling of frwood,
as gray as chinchilla, q color which it has
gained by being stored away for 500 years.
This Mr.. Ysmaguehi assured me was not
uncommon.
Prettiest Mountain in the World.
At the Fujiva the table was almost az
good as the club hotel at Yokohama, pro-
verbal through the far East for its cooking,
and Miyanoshita is delightful place,
perched up in the hills almost under the
shadow of Fujiyama, which is $4,000 feet
high and the most beautifully shaped
mountain in the world. If one climbs over
Oiigoku, the "Big He'll" with boiling
quicksands for the unwary, one has the
sacred mountain standing right up before
one, and the blue Hakone Lake at ones
feet, and the whole gorge of Miyanoshits Is
superlatively lovely with its blossoming
cherries and camellias and azaleas and
irises. Mivanoshita will always bring q
tinee of regret to us, TOR it was from Mi
yanoshita, on Good Friday morning of 1890,
that, as we stood round laughing and chat
ting, the Canadian Missionary Large went
to meet his death so heroically at Azabu
that night at the hands of the japanese
assassins, whom, unarmed as he was, he at
tackled in defense of his wife and child,
though they were armed with the deadly
Japanese swords.
The other mournful event was the death,
soon after our return, OF the little daughter
of Mr.. Mollison, whose childish beauty,
like Millais' "Cherry Ripe" had made her
the theme of wonder there. She lived just
long enough to be chosen, 1or her beauty, to
present the flowers to the English royal
party on their landing in Japan.
Much quainter and more japanese than
either of these hotels was the Musashiya 2r
Nara, a genuine japanese tea house, but
wofully inferior in comforts for the creature.
A genuine japanese tea house is lacking
in the two prime essentials of civilized life.
Bed and bread are unknown factors, and 50
are milk and doors and tables and chairs
and beer.
One has to take of ones boots before one
can go in. Rice does duty tor bread and
sake, or the wishy-washy Japanese tea,
without sugar or milk, Tor drink. Meat is
never procurable, and only occasionally
fish, chickens and eggs all together; though
one can generally obtain one or the other. a
How Hotels Are Closed.
What an uncom iortsble night we spent at
Nara, half way from Kyotol 1t had come on
to pous and We had to have our 'riksha
hoods and tarpaulins drawn, so that we
could see nothing of the road, and when we
got to our motel at nightfall we discovered
hot ho1 Ioft he