Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-05

Shot stage IeaVe1ohl9 Kodak at home when
he visits Japan ohe viii always regret do
ing so. Thousands at instantaneous ex-
posures have been successfully taken in
Japan, well devefopedsand printed by jap
anese photographers and marvelously col
ored-all for price less than that charged
for simple developing in the United States
A diversion for the spectators is now
produced by a crowd of men dressed In
white cotton, who rush rapidly I'D the
street dragging "a tree after them and
who scatter its leaves, etwigs and branches
In watching theE fonms disappear I'D the
bread avenue one is impressed with the
magnificent fraRe work surrounding the
street scene, especially with the fine trees
through which glimpses are caught of a
mortuary chapelslor aytemple or pagoda or
curiously shaped monument, or a stone
stairway leading to some great building.
And upon every wall and bank cluster Of
japanese find a perch, developing fine color
effects through combination of the red
yellow and blue of the kimonos with gray
and moss-green walls and the background
of foliage.
Genial Jnpanese Crowds.
The short, brown men, women and chill.
dren who surge to and fro in front of the
pavilion are as interesting as their cos
tunes and as their scenic surroundings. A
Japanese crowd, polite, smiling, consider
ate, clean as to the body from daily hot
baths, whatever the condition of the cloth
Ing lacks the ill odors and rowdyism of
other crowds and surrounds ITSELF COM
paratively speaking, with an atmosphere
of sweetness, courtesy and urbanity. When,
in April, thousands upon thousands of the
people of Toxic throng in boats, in jim
rikishas on foot to view the pink clouds
of cherry blossoms that line for miles the
avenue Of Mukojma on the river bank in
the suburbs, there is every excuse for dis
order that an uproariously jolly crowd of
eXcursionists can find. There is sake drink
ing and there is much unavoidable crowd
ing and jostling Occasionally the women
and children and curious foreigners who
are enjoying the scene press closer to the
refreshment booths that skirt the avenue,
in order to permit some hilarious picnickers
with painted faces and grotesque costumes
to cut wider swathe through the crowd
than is permitted to those who are not
thoroughly exhilarated with the spirit of
the occasion and with the Japanese intoxi-
cant, but there is only the faintest reflec
ton of the belligerent Tudeness and the ON
nipresent drunk and disorderly'' nuisance
that characterize the occidental and many
oriental crowds.
When Thousands gather in some service
before the shrine blazing with gold and
lacquer in the Higashi Hongwanji at XII
otto, the largest temple in the empire the
same courteous consideration for others
is shown While shaven priests in rich vest
ments burn incense, equally shaver widow
ers announcing by their hairless heads
their determination not to marry again, and
other bald, old men, squat with the crowd
on the temple floor side by side, with the
ancient women who wear "horn- hiders' to
conceal the evidences of Satan which old
Japan attributes to the sex, and add their
individual contributions to the sea of heads
which spreads, wave on wave, in every
direction The small coins which the faith
full throw on the temple floor to be gath
cred up after the service by the priests
land bushels are thus collected after every
important service) are tossed indiscrimi-
pately and unhesitatingly into the crowd,
attention whatsoever
the worshipers to the impact Of the coins.
A bald head hit unintentionally may vince,
but that is ALL The. coin drops unheeded
to the floor. A similar habit of contribu-
ton in our rude and barbarous western
land would make the bald heads shining
marks and targets for the youthful and
!rreverent, and the bald heads themselves,
lacking oriental patience and fortitude,
yea though deacons of the strctest sect,
would arise from their devotions in un-
godly passion to eject with violence the
p risht and left in every section Of the
globe, but Japanese cheating is so per-
vaded with politeness and consideration.
kissing intakes of the breath, that the
coarser swindlng of other lands shocks by
&C ntrast Whether in business or pleasure,
whether cheating or picnickng, whether
viewed individually or collectively. the Jap
anese as rule is a kindly. genial being
with whom it is pleasure to come into
contact.
While we have been studying the crowd
the procession has been forming.
iss Tomb and Shrine of Icynsu.
Farthest up the mountain side. where the
trees are greenest and the little mountain
streams gurgle sweetest. and save for ma
lures sounds the profoundest hush per-
vades the scene, lies the tomb of Ieyasu. of
light-colored bronze, grandly impressive in
it's perfect simplicity.
From the stone table in front of the
tomb, holding bronze stork candlestick
and incense burner and vase containing
artificial lotus flowers, the tomb's only
accessory embellishments, the devotee de-
scends by a long stone and moss-grown
stairway to the shrine of 1eyasu. to which
most of the other structures. scattered low
err in successive terraces on the hillside. are
subsidiary, serving either as approaches or
for other uses in connection with the wor-
ship of Ieyasu as a god. In striking con-