The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-25


 efface this memorial of a more barbarous age.
 | The Kyoto university, one of the two l imperial institutions of that grade is we'll equipped, ably officered, and largely at tended; but does not stand as high in public estimation as the University of Tokio The Doshisha, or Christian uni- versity. founded by the late Joseph Nee shima with the help of American friends who put into it more than $1,00o,00O, was and is the foremost Christian school in the country. Had it not been for the faithlessness of the trustees, who sought to divert 1t from it's original purposes, 1t might have become, in due time, a verita- 1 ble fountain of intellectual and moral light for this great people. As it is, however, it received a blow at the hands l of it's own guardians from which it car never hope 10 fully recover.
 Kyoto has long and justly boasted of its 1 artistic wares. Tn fine silks, porcelans, oloisonne and danascened gold, 1t stands with the first. Not myself an artist in any sense of the word, and certainly not l a collector, I still found much pleasure l in going, under competent guidance, into the little shops, often surprisingly little where men with trained eyes and hands are still content to strive for perfection in even the smallest details. In Japan the capitalists have not yet been able to 'corner'' the artistic spirit. May 1t al- ways be so. When 1t becomes otherwise | one of the chiefest glories of the country will have vanished.
 | Osaka Is only two hours away from | Kyoto. The intervening country is dense- ly populated. and cultivated wherever it Is possible. down to the square inch. But there are many reminders of natural dis asters. At various places the river fioods,, bringing down vast quantities of silt from the mountains, have covered the fertile soil to great depth. It is a tribute to the incredible industry and courage of the people that they have reclaimed literally l thousands of their tiny farms-three | acres is big one-by carrying off these destroying deposits in baskets and piing them in great mounds. Who else but they would attempt such an enterprise. and who else, having attempted it, would be persistent enough to carry it through | to the end But labor is cheap in Japan, and muscle Is tough and will is stubborn. Osaka itself, as I have written above, is the second city in Japan, having a popu- lation of nearly or quite 100000. As a manufacturing and commercial city, 1t is easily the first, greatly surpassing Tokio, which Is more emersed in politics than in business. With good reason. it is called the Venice of Japan Innumerable can als, spanned by more than a thousand bridges and covered with all sorts of boats beyond count, run in every direction. No sign of active and busy life Is lacking. The streets are packed with human creatures. Go where you will you cannot escape a crowd. It was my fortune to see street bazaar. For blocks and blocks petty merchants, sitting on the curbstones or even in the open streets, displayed their wares to the thousands of custom CTS who use such occasions for making needed purchases. It was curious sight, and more curious as the night came on than in the day. I also witnessed on one long and narrow alley the compulsory house-cleaning which Is required twice year by the government as a prophylactic
 against the bubonic plague and other dis eases. Every stick of furniture in every
 house is brought out and piled in great heaps. thousands of them. in the streets. Then the houses are thoroughly cleaned. Trash piles. meantime, are burning in ev- cry direction How a general confagraa ton Is avoided no mortal can tell. And Indeed such catastrophes are all too com l mon, the dry wooded structures burning Ike finder Only last year more than 2o.o0O homes were completely wiped out | The children. the children. What multi tudes there of them. After visiting such centers as Osaka one does not won | der that the population has leaped from 90, 900 to 50,0O0,000 In a single genera tion. The little folks are everywhere, quick, self-confident, dull of fun It is better than show to witness the crowds of them playing even in the thorough fares, lots of them with babies strapped securely to their backs by busy mothers who thus early put them to useful ser vice. At first glance it seems certain that many of the babies will be killed. as their heads are often thrown far back in the most uncomfortable manner. That they get world of jolting is certain. But if | a few die the most survive. There Is no race suicide in Japan-not a bit of it.
 For once I shall cut out the temples and other such things and frankly admit | that came to Osaka chiefly to visit the Methodist churches, and then to have a close look at Hideyhis castle. There are | hundreds of these grim old edifices still standing in Japan, reminders of the days when feudalism was supreme. Some of them are going to ruin, but some are kept in good state of repair. In nearly every instance they occupy very commanding sites, and bear the abundant testimony to the military sagacity of their former | owners. But no one that I saw can be gin to compare with Hideyeshis Set on lofty hill, with double meats and walls 30 feet high, and enclosing not less than 2J to 30 acres 1t is certainly q grand | piece or WOrkIndnSnlp. The meats are l lined throughout on the sides and the bot tom with solid granite, and the walls are built of the same material. The separate stones are often of immense dimensions | l measured one that is 40 feet long, 15 | feet broad and about five thick. great many others were of size to match it. How they were ever dragged to the top of the hill. and then lifted into place with out the help of modern machinery. is a problem beyond me. Inside of ithe wall stood the palace, the grandest of which Japan ever boasted. It was almost to- tally consumed by fire in the conflict be- tween the Mikado and the Shogun in 1888 A large part of the space Is now occupied by the reservoir of the city water works and there are also barracks for the sol diers.
 | This letter, which has already grown too bong, may well conclude with some reference to the Japanese masonary in | general. As workers in stone they have no superiors. Old Thomas Carlyle, who never tired of praising the honesty of his own fathers stone work, would have been forced to recognize that the Japanese were fully his equals Without particle of cement or mortar of any kind, they are able to put up walls, bridges railroad l embankments and other such construc- | tions by simply inclinglng the stones a, such angles as to make it almost inn possible to get knife blade between | them. Why it is that with such an mex haustible supply of the finest stone and such amazing skill in the use of 1t they should never have employed 1t in their public buildings is another mystery. As a matter of fact, there is scarcely civ -<<1 ala l.