The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-04-30


~ AILING. in springtime, across the
Inland sea, of whose beauties so
- much has been told and sung and
written, our eyes. though never weary of
the loveliness about us, rest at last upon
q sight more majestic and beautiful than
our imagination can ever picture.
We have come upon landscape and
seascape more picturesque and wonderful
than we have yet beheld.
Lofty mountains rise in dignity before
US. with snow-capped peaks, and slopng
sides of greenest verdure, and around
their base the sweep of many rivers.
lnnumerable little harbors nestle amid
bold and rocky peninsular, or spread into
many peaceful laggoons, surrounded by
waving rice fields, where the mystic muir
murs of the sapphire sea softly rise and
fall and over and beyond the forest clad
hillsides are cleaning in colors Of GRIM
son, and purple and gold, for the wild
Azalea is in full bloom.
AS we round the harbor, we breathe in
strong, deep breaths the balmy, langor-
Gus air, and
1.-THE traveller owns the grateful sense
And pausing, takes with forehead bare,
The benediction of the Gods"
This is the land of Nippon. The land
of the rising sun-the peerless Japan. No
country in the world has had her beauties
so often extoled in prose AMI in verse.
No country is so rich in legends, tradi
tons and ancient customs. The writer
has said of it:
Magical indeed the charm of this land,
If Ia Ito, b1, tod
so lovely the spectral delicacy of'its col
ors. lovely the forms of it's hills
blending with the forms of its clouds-so
lovely above all. those strong trailings
and landings of mists which make its
attitude appear to hang in air A land
where sky and earth so strangely inter
mingle that what in reality may not be
distinguished from what is Illusion. that
all seems mirage about to vanish"
The empire of Japan is composed of four
large islands which constitute the main
land; Houshu, snikoku. Kyushu and
Yezo. Next in size comes Formosa
which was ceded by China to Japan a
late as 1895. Before Japan gained For
mosa, the first four named isles were in
area and population about equal to the
British Isles. There are also hundreds of
smaller islets scattered among them and
along their coasts. Here nature has
scattered her gifts with lavish hand.
There is a legend which gives the origin
of these isles as crystals that once
dropped from the point of the Creators
spear. Gazing upon their marvellous
beauty. and artistic formations, as they
lie in a graceful circle in the Northern
Pacific surrounded by a halo of crystal
line atmosphere, through which the sun
shines In dazzling radiance upon her
snow-clad mountains; we would like to
sccept this ancient legend truth. but.
H. hold &C. a
islands were formed entirely by volcanic
eruption and upheavals from the bottom
of the sea. Tidal waves have several
times wrought them disaster and the an
clients believed a great angry fish was
the cause of these disturbances. Happily
these of later years have grown fewer
and at longer intervals, and the ocean
very slowly, but surely, is receding from
the shores of Japan, leaving the island
higher and. of course. gaining in area.
And strange to say, although Japan is
the most volcanic region In the world.
these eruptions are growing less fire.
quent in number and violence. The side
which faces the Asiatic continent is said
to be entirely exempt.
The islands are spanned by lofty noun
tain ranges, the crown of all being the
sacred mountain Fujiyama, whose snow
capped cone rises 1900 feet above the
level of the sea. 1t is a dormant volcano,
Its name meaning Mount OF the COOS
Travellers approaching Kiusu at night
on ocean steamers are lighted safely by
n natural light house, a volcano on a lit
tie islet near by.
To the north is the sacred mountain
of Nantaizen.i to which yearly Pilgrim
ages are made to pray at the rising of the
sun in the temple on the summit.
AS one traverses the country roads
throughout Japan, one is struck with the
luxuriousness of the foliage about him.
He cannot fail to note the picturesque
ness of the scenery. Monkeys swing from
the feathery bamboo, as It losses its
bright red. berries in the wind. The night
engale calls from the swaying pine
stretching away near the shore, the lotus
pods glitter in the sunlight, Haunting
their blossoms Of pink and gold in their
leafy green boats. A pink crane flies up
from the grassy marshes. All is still
ness and peace in the valley. Far away
comes the distant tones of monastery
bells Beauty is everywhere. Further up
among the mountains the dazzling light
of snow clad peaks, blending into the
varied tints of green and Due Of the
wooded hills, noisy waterfalls cas-
cades and caves and rushing rivers