Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1897-10-01
A PICTURESQUE JAPANESE ISLAND.
An Ideal Place Where Death Has Never
Come and Where Poesy Dwells.

An Ideal Place Where Death Has Never
Come and Where Poesy Dwells.
Miyajima is an island midway in the
inland sea, lying so far within the bend
of the Aki shore that il cannot be seen
from the route of the large ocean steam
ers that pass through those enchanted
waters. To reach ii most appropriately
one must take ole Of the tiny coasting
steamers from Osaka, and, touching at
a dozen quaint little ports on the match
less voyage, at last see the mountainous
green island, with temple roofs showing
here and there through all the dense 70.
liage of the heights, and, standing far
out IN the water, a heroic tori, fit gate
way To that ideal place where death hag
never come, whore religion and land
scape lovelincss, legend and poesy, still
dwell, whore the simple villagers. the
gentle old Shinto priests and the tame
deer, protected by the gods and loved by
the people, maintain an atmosphere
foreign to the busy new Japan of rail.
roads, parllamcnts, imported military
tactics II modern wal vessels. Or one
may take the railway from Kobe TO Hi
roshlma and then a jinrik'sha for IL
miles along its bay and be ferried across
a narrow strait TO this isle of the blest,
which will impress the more with it's
Arcadian features when one comes to it
from all the bugling, parade and din
Of mimic war that o @ on in the shadow
Of Hiroshima's picturesque castle keep
and at its port of Ujina. chief naval
station of the empire, and, during that
victory year Of 1894, port of departure
of transport ships To Korea and China.
Then II can accept the legend tnat
MiyajiIna grew from one of the con
gcalod drops that fell from I~zanami's
jewelcd spear, and that Itsukushlma
and her two sisters, daughters of the
god of The sea, aptly chose il for their
f%avcrs; that their temple rose from and
1oajcd in from the sea, and that the
great water tori grew with the tides as
naturally as any coral reef.
Tncre j. "a small village at the foot Of
i green bank, hut that is off by its COM
mOnplace, profane self, and the temple
i cmbayed IN an amphitheater of the
nils. with a shore and water foreground
al its own. On the shore line at the
edge OF the village Il noble tori Of Oshi-
ma granite, each pillar and crossbeam a
single stone, marks the entrance TO So
cred ground, and this road. following
the curve of the shore, i lined for "a
quarter of a mile TO the temple with
tall stone lanterns, the same alignment
Of vOuve lights Continuing for half a
mile along shore az the other side Of the
great shrine.
The water tori is the unique and
great feature Of AIiyajima's shrine, and
D grows very familiar with it from
its representations by Japanese artists III
every line. The colossus j. formed OF
great beams, each heyled from the single
trunk Of a camphOr tree and strength.
encd at the base by crossbeams joining
low parallel columns, which give il bal
auCc and solidity and most impressive
effect. These beams are covered below
the water line with such q heavy growth
of larnaclos and marine plants that the
torn seems very reasonably a part OF
the sea gods kingdom and creating.
This skeleton gate in the sea Is SO deli
cate and tairylikc in "a first distant view
that n Is not prepared tor its great
size and the impressive sense of its pro
portions WHOM enc floats in between its
great cauphorvood piers. t~ massive
and solid as masonry. ScuIliug through
This notable gateway and ACROSS tine wa
tcr court of approach al high tide, one
may visit cvery part of the temple and
puuttrtio toTnp f.rfhp-t lubvriufh. Dase-