Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-01-03
A Weekly Letter From the Orient
FURNISHED BY THE RECORDER sSPaC-
IAL CORRESPONDENT, Who Is
MAKING A TOUR OF THE EAST
ERN COUNTRIES.
Especial to Recorder.l

tSpecIdl 10 neCoTuer.I
: Mike, Japan, Aug. 81 -Fror
, Yokohama to Nikko it is 1903 mile
J by rail, and |, made the trip yestei
day 10 see the festival of ley asu
. which occurs here once a year, ant
which | was told should be seen a
any sacrifice. Nikko is known a.
the City of Temples, and is full OF
interest. But the most interesting
part of it was the trip by rail
through a fertile section of Japan
This is land OF small things. Not
an inch of ground runs to waste,
and not weed is to be seen on
any of the patches which, by cour
t-sy, call farms. Those farms
are of all sizes, from a patch TWEEN.
ty feet square to an acre or more
in extent, and instead of fences
between they are separated BY
li!ches in which the lotus is grown
, for food. Ntt,only are the farms
small but also the people, animals.
houses, gardens, carriages and all
articles used in daily fe are ride :
ulouslY small. Grape vines rest
on horizontal frames and even pear
trees are trained on trelisses.
! Mike lies in lovely valley
1900 feet above the ocean Oh the
Nikko-san mountains, and il the
sight Of the gorgeous temples in
the land. This spot attained its
greatest sanctitY in 1917, when it
became the resting place of leyasu,
who was deifed by the Mikado as
Light Of the East, Great incarna-
ton of Buddha." When he, died
he was buried here and given the
most gorgeous japanese burial. A
vast number of priests in gorgeous
robes, the Imperial envoy, the liy
lug Shotgun, and a long train OF
noblemen with crossword retainers
followed the -cc;;: Z. =; II the dead
warrior up the long and beautiful
avenue to the mousoleum on the
!, nelly hillside, where they were
deposited with all the impressive
ness of Buddhist ritual.
At the summit is the temple to
which | gained access through the
courtesy of officials, and provided
with qneer scraps of paper as pass
ports. A five-storied pagoda rises
gracefully, tier on tier, with lessen
ing stories to the height Of 104
feet. The caves of the lower story
are decorated with painted carvings
of the twelve signs of the zodiac;
rat. OK. tiger, hare, dragon, serpent,
horse, goat, ape, cock, dog and pig.
We walked on through rows of lam
terms to the entrance of the ground
and passed through the "Gate of
Two Kings" which still retains it
name although the original figures
Of the kings have been replaced by
images of hideous monsters, sup
posed to have power through their
ugliness to frighten away demons.
In the court yard stand three large
buildings with handsome tiled
roofs. Under the caves Of the
largest are painted carvings Of ele-
plants represented with hind legs
turned the wrong wav. Arranged
about the court are 118 magnifi.
cent bronze lanterns with massive
stone bases, which are lighted on
Festive oneassiOns
The stable in which the sacred
white pony is kept for use OF the
,ods is decorated with lfe-like
arvings of monkeys, covering
heir eyes, ears and mouths with
heir hands. Stone slabs with the
blind monkey" the deaf monk
y" and the dumb monkey" are !
o be noticed by the roadside in the
ural districts throughout Japan,
he idea being that this unique l
rinity neither sees, hears nor
peaks evil. A pretty feature IN {
he court Of the temple is the con- '
tant tmkling of the wind bells !
ung over all the doorways. These
ellis serve to keep demons away. I
n the center of the court is the /.
acred enclosure or Holy Of Holes, t
hich is entered by the Karamon b
ate. 1t is. a magnificent struc- T
re Of precious woods, imported Il
.om China, deliberately inlaid with L
irds and flowers in relief, each !,
ushed with greatest attention to ID
etail. The interior Of the ante
,om was most wonderfully deco.
| 81