The Oskaloosa herald., 1908-07-30

1
letter to Iowa friends written by Col
Alfred c. Sharpe, of the 22nd Infant
ry, who is touring Japan. Col Sharpe
is well known in Oskaloosa, having
lived here number of years at one
| time:
MY Impressions of this fairy, flow
| cry, heather land Arrived at Naga-
saki on May 19 and from that point
we worked our way slowly along, stop
| ping at points of interest until we have
reached Yokohama. We expect to go
on to Nikko, the most famous region
of the empire, and also to visit the
| great Diabutsu at Kamakura, then
sailing for home (Manila).
Reading about the country and ac-
tualiy visiting it give one quite differ
ent views and conclusions. We find
the methods and conveniences OF
travel quite as comfortable as in the
United States or Europe. In fact, in
some respects they are in advance OF
us in the west. For instance, they
charge you for just what you get and
not lot of fancy margins, though
of course some of the shops and hotels
are on the lookout for tourists, and
the 'rickshaw man will often take all
he can get.
| Il have, of course, been deeply In
terested in the temples and shrines;
the architecture of which and cere-
monial of the ritual are quite in ad
vance of anything one sees among
western nations. While | am not a
connoisseur. took some pains to read
up on Japanese art and architecture
so that | was in a measure prepared
for some of its fine qualities and beau.
| ties. The pagodas are very ornate
and symmetrical and the cornices and
friezes, as well as the marvellous wood
carvings surpass anything elsewhere
on earth. Some of the carvings in
the Nigo palace (Shogun's palace) at
Kioto are wonderful. The walls of the
palaces and many of the temples are
hung with Tor furnished with rare
old KakemOuOs by celebrated masters
the delicate tints of blue and yellow
and pink or strawberry being exquis-
| itely blended and harmonized. Some
of them are said to be very old, and
not few of the temples date back
oyer a thousand years. Buddhism and
| Shintoism, as you know, tiourished
side by side, as peacefully as our Meth
odists and Catholics or Presbyterians.
| In fact, Buddhism being very toler-
ant and Shinto being merely Japan
csc (or insular) philosophy, they are
content to tolerate each other, but
both seem to oe more or less uneasy
! and apprehensiye of the western cult
known as Christianity.
! Seventeen Bows.
4 "First Impressions are always sub.
ject to revision, but so far as / have
| progressed | am very favorably i'm
! pressed with the Japanese as compar-
ed with the people from western Eu
rope or America. They are, perhaps,
the most extremely polite people in
the world. They bow and bow until
one thinks that is about all they have
| to do. One lady who came into the
railway car where we were to meet
| an acquaintance (the wife of an ad-
miraD and we counted seventeen
| bows made, not all consecutively, but
at intervals, after an additional remark
| (perhaps an inquiry for the health of
| the father or mother or children, etc)
The. Spanish are greatly disposed to
go through this roll call every time
they meet, but they are several lengths
| behind { he Japanese. Our western
brusqueness must be very strange to
them.
| In land where architecture and
art Especially the expression of bird
| life and nature) have reached such a
| high elimination one is surprised to
| find such an absence of music. There
| is band here at this hotel composed
entirely of Japanese. They play at
| dinner, and | asked the leader if there
was much attention paid to music in
| Japan. He said there was music
school in Toxic Ga city of over a mil
| lion inhabitants) but none here in Yo-
kohama with its 30J,000), nor any
| where else in the empire.
| "At Manila last March, when the
Japanese fleet was there, we gave the
officers a reception at the army and
navy club, They in turn invited the
senior officers of ours to a reception
on their flagship, the Metsushima,
which afterwards was blown up and
sunk off Formosa. One of the fea-
| lures of their entertainment was an eX-
J hibition of jiu jitsu, and another was
| war song by thirty-two cadets, or
| middies, as we call them. 1t sounded
| very much like the intoning one hears
by the priests in the Buddhist temples.
All Are Religious.
1 "As you doubtless know, the Jap
anese are the most religious people in
the world. They have temples innum-
cradle, both Shinto and buddhist
and the worshippers are going and
/ coming in continuous columns, pray.
ing at each shrine, first ringing the
4 gong to attract the gods attention,
| and then at intervals clapping the
hands to further hold 1t. Seeing this
handclapping one is disposed to Won
/ der If the religious ardor of the Meth