The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-04-10
,jAPAN'S VICTORIES OF
PEACE At WORLDS FAIR
While Mikado Strikes at Russian
Bear Empire Prepares for
Commercial Conquest.
ISLAND SPENDS MILLION

Special 10 the Indianapolis Journal.
ST. LOUIS. April 9.-In the midst OF war
little Japan is spending 100000 at the St
Louis exposition.
Although the smallest world power is
fighting the largest world power, the little
Kingdom of the Pacific is leading all ma
tons In her display at the worlds fair.
She has asked for more space than any
two foreign governments combined and
secured an allotment nearly equal TO her
demand. Her exhibits are outspread in
nearly every one of the great palaces.
While her great installation booths are
rnarveIously rich with inlaid natural woods
and gold and lacquer. the most spectacular
of her representation Is found along the
terraced hillsides covered by the buildings
and gardens of the imperial government
and on the pike. where her quaint life is
enacted BY hundreds OF Japanese living
types.
Some OF the rarest memories of the ex
position will rise out OF the fragile land
scape Of these government gardens hung
with their shimmering lakelets and Ia
goons. seventy feet above the great bouie-
wards of the fair. The hillsides dropping
precipitously from old Buddhist temples
are. 70 the eye. dense masses or viva
green's and the scarlet flame or japanese
pastoral scene.
Tiny Cascades leap from rocky basin to
messy pool down the slope Rustic summer
houses hang along the terraces. Far above
them the steeply-curved bamboo roofs rise
amid forest or pine trees. The far East
err architecture CLEANS in the sunshine
with their Furnished basreliefs. A noble
gateway sheathed in hand work brazen
plates CLEANS like the mellow gold OF Kings
You may sip your tea from the waxen
hands of Japanese girls, who minister TO
the American men seated in dainty, easy
chairs on broad verandas shaded by soft
colOred canopieS while the Japanese Impe-
rial Band is playing in the gardens be-
meath.
II the imperial government has surpassed
all of its efforts at foreign expeditions, the
most interesting drama of the life and
manners of the Japanese has been repro
duced at great expense and with aston
ishing fidelity. on the Pike. that polyglot
thoroughfare OF all nations which stretches
for one mile through the exposition.
Guarding the approach of Japan" is
wonderful reproduction of the gateway to
the temple OF Nekko. built three centuries
ago by Iemitsu, one of the rulers of Japan,
as portal to the mortuary chapel OF
Ieyasin, his grandfather. The temple is one
of the most famous types of Japanese ar
chitecture at Nekko, the Mecca of art in
the island kingdom. hence the proverbs
Until you have seen Nekko, you may not
say Kekko, beautifully 1t was decorated
with gold and lacquer and the exquisite
hand carvings are the work Of the most
famous artists of the period. 1t could not
be duplicated now in the same materials
for millions of dollars.
Passing through the great gateway the
visitor is attracted by the most remark
able work of Japanese art at the EXPOSE
ton. This is the original gateway of the
cd Buddhist Temple of Mo Mon. which
has been imported from Japan by the gov
eminent and afterward secured by the pro-
mOter of the display on the Pike. Mo Mon
is valued 100000 and is overlaid by the
original decorations of gold lacquer, inlad
with silver and embellished with wonder
ful hand carvings. The temple was built
by the Japanese noble Sataki Jiobunoka-
you. 1t was decorated by a celebrated
artist, Kno Tomnou. The gateway is, in
reality, a temple forty-two feet high by
forty feet wide and eighty feet deep. 1t
contains two stories and not a nail was
used I'm its construction. The building is
covered with beautiful colors. Besides be-
Ing an exhibit itself. the structure contains
hundreds of Buddhistic figures and idols
executed in wood carving. Many of them
are from 500 to 1000 years old. Japanese
rites of their religion in the dim interior.
Bits of the imperial garden at Toxic fur
nish the chromatic setting for the old
temple.
Tea houses are on the lagooons and
lakes, where forty genuine geisha girls
will dance and play the shamisen. In a
lustrate ancient combats in armor with
long Japanese swords and spears. Strange
cranes ana SlOTkS WdOe IN the waterways,
from the banks of which grow many va
rieties of gorgeous Japanese flowers, ferns
and MOSES. japanese roosters with tails
ten To twenty-five feet long. seen on
tiny islets in the lake. Rustic bridges of
the frum and other native types make the
islands accessible from the shores. The
sompan. strange water craft, carry visitors
about the lagoon In a busy street scene,
fanked by native stores. open for their
entire front and piled with odd wares.
The life of a Japanese city Is illustrated.
Japanese weaving girls, ten and twelve
years old, weave rugs, street acrobats
perform on high poles in the open air as
they do in the Mikado kingdom. A man
who carves images from single beans of
rice and Japanese fortune tellers who
weave their spells with metallic instru-
ments instead of cards and frances and
the jinrickasha, drawn by native, carries
the visitor through the crowded thorough
fare.
In its color, the murmur of it's strange
tongue and the music of it's throbbing in
struments, this scene of Japan will be
one OF the enduring memories Of the ex-
position.