Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1895-10-24

4 Mixture Of japanese and European
MaenIsIesnos.
There are Thirty palaces belonging
to the imperial family In various
parts of the country. but the present
Emperor has never occupied more
than three or four of them. and some
OF them he has never seen. There il
stock farm at Nikko belonging to
the Mikado. and tourists are always
amused at q large. oddly painted
sign which advertises milk from his
cows for sale. The Emperor seldom
leaves the new palaces at Tokyo,
which are more modern and comfort
able than my OF the others and were
only completed in 1883. They con-
sist of q labyrinth of one-story
buildings all connected by covered
passages and surrounding beautiful
courts. Their architecture is of the
ancient japanese style, with high
roofs at sharp angles and heavy gray
tiles, and the interior OF most OF
them is finished in the native fashion,
with partitions of sliding screens and
floor mating, which tho inmates use
for beds, chairs and tables, as it hap
pens to be necessary. But several OF
the rooms have French furniture OF
ornate and expensive workmanship,
much OF it being rosewood hand
somely carved and inlaid. The
apartments occupied by both the
Emperor and Empress are furnished
in that way. Both prefer to sleep in
a modern bed and sit In a chair be-
fore table, with knives and forks
and china when they take their
meals, but the Emperor is under
stood to wear the native dress, ex-
cept on occasions Of ceremony, and
when the Empress retires to the
privacy of her apartments she
throws of her close-fitting waist and
corsets and puts on the more COM
Portable kimino.
Built upon uneven ground and sep
arated by long covered corridors that
may be cut away in case of fire,
one is continually going up and down
stairs and through dark passages
when he visits the palace, and it
seems strange to see steam heat and
electric lights in apartments that
are separated by gilded screens and
lighted by paper windows.
The state diningroom is very Fren-
chy. The walls are covered with oil
paintings, the several mantels with
gilt clocks and the sideboards with
china and crystal that resemble what
you see in the Chicago shops. The
ballroom has costly inlaid floor,
and is decorated in white ard gold.
The throneroom, which is used only
on occasions Of the greatest cere-
mony, has an inlaid floor, handsome
chandeliers, of European manufac-
ture, window hangings Of exquisite
Japanese brocade and paneled CELL
ing ornamented with the imperial
crest. The throne is a large arm
chair handsomely carved and gilded,
standing upon platform that is COW
cred with a red rug and under a
canopy of red plush with gold fringe
and tassels.
The Emperor has n suite Of private
apartments consisting Of libraries,
studies, smoking and dressing rooms.
which are finished in the Japanese
style with implanted woodwork, pa
per windows and sliding screens. but
the floors are covered with moquette
carpets and the furniture was all i'm
ported from France. He also has a
fireplace, the only one in the palace,
in which pine wood is burned, but
his sleeping room is the same un-
ventilated, unlighted and unattrac-
tive closet that his ancestors used
1t stands in the center of group of
rooms which are always occupied at
night by his body guard, so that the
imperial person cannot be approach
ed from any direction without an
alarm being given. There are nine
square apartments, and the En-
peror's French bed is erected in
the central one. The guards of
the other rooms are specially
selected for their bravery and
fidelity, and are descendants Of those
who performed similar duty for
previous sovereigns.
All the formal banquets, breakfasts
and lunches given at the palace are
served in foreign style, except a
breakfast which the Emperor gives
on his birthday to the members OF the
imperial family-his uncles and his
cousins and his aunts. Then chop
sticks and lacquer bowls are used for
the native food, and sake, the native
drink. is served in little cups, as
small and thin as an egg-shell. The
Empress often gives "a ceremonial tea,
the famous rite OF Cha-no-yu, to her
favorites among the ladies of the
court, more for purpose Of perpetu-
ating an ancient custom than for So
,ol So