The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-13
COMING SIGHT At ST. LOUIS.
The Famous Castle OF NaeoSa is BeinS
Repro.luccsi on the Exposition Grounds.

John Barrett, who has just taken the oath
| of Office MS Minister to the Argentine kepup-
lie and vino some time ago returned from
! Asia. where he had been working in con-
| uection with the St. Louis Exposition, SAID
| in Washington on Wednesday evening thaI
japan had secured rs much 81 ace in the Dig
fair as Great Britain Germany or France
will occupv. She has appropriated u ,Ooo'-
Geo for the expenses of her participation
in tho show and is now erecting on the
Exposition grounds beautiful building IN
imitation of the Nagoya Castle,
Az Americans who have ever seen the
Nagoya Castle will be very glad TO he
that it is to be reproduced in fac-simile IN
ST. Louis. It will certainly he one OF the
most interesting and conspicuous among
the Government buildings erected there.
Nagoya is busy manufacturing city
southwest OF Toxic. 1t has large textile
manufactures, and some Of its mills have
been built exactly OH American models ana
are filed with our cotton machinery.
The town is not very attractive, for 1t ID
built on a plain and has too many pre-
tentious modern buildings to be repre-
sentative of the Old Japan which most
tourists 20 to see. But it has one great
glory and that is its medieval castle, the
finest of all the ancient castles now ieft
standing in Japan.
1t was built by the Japanese General who
conquered Corea for his country. 1t has
long been owned by the Government, and
TO foreign visitor is permitted to enter it
to-day unless he takes the trouble to obtain
beforehand a special pass from his legat ion-
The castle was built to endure for many
ages and it il one of the most wonderful and
impressive structures in Japan. Its walls
ard timbers are even more massive imam
those of Yeddo Castle. the home OF en-
perors.
The great st one keep, or prison. on top Of
which the castle was reared, is itself higher
than the roofs of many of the surrounding
buildings Above this mass of masonry rise
the five stories of the castle, diminishing IN
size one above the other, each story gabied
and battlemented and the whole covered
with dazzling white plaster Of immense
thickness. The exterior appearance OF the
building may he produced with the great est
fidelity in the staff of which the Exposition
buildings are being constructed
The windows are very numerous, but they
are little more than loop-holes through
which the defenders OF he castle might
fight the enemy. In all the civil wars IN
japan Nagoya was never even beseiged,
and the Japanese say that this immunity
was due to the castle, for it was certain that
a garrison provided with plenty Of rice
might have held out as long as their pro-
visions lasted, under the ancient methods
OF warfare. No other building in Japan
makes such an impression Of wonderful
strength and massiveness as the castle
of Nagoya.
1t is to be hoped that the japanese Coy
eminent will permit the two golden dol
phins which adorn the gables of the tower
to be brought to America and placed in their
proper position on the structure now being
reproduced at St Louis. One of these
ancient metal dolphins has somewhat
romantic history.
1t was lent to the Vienna Exposition in
1873 where it was regarded as most in
teresting curio That fall. when the dolphin
was on its way home again, the ship that
carried it was wrecked near shore. and
months elapsed before it was raised. 1t was
found that the lacquer and many other
exhibits from Japan We're in excellent con-
dition. in spite of their long immersion.
The dolphin was among them, and it finally
reached its old perch on the tower, to tho
great satisfaction of the good people OF
NapOya