The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1910-08-05

Wine whsa ons has selected 90 !;
strange flask . suit him, he buys
little gourd fdr . cup. beautifully Ia
quered and adorned with gold mi
colors. e. y
One reason why We wished to visit
Kiyomizu.Der was IT. connection
with Ainu history. IN its precinct,
stands the figure Of Bishamon, thu
god who In the ninth century gave thu
japanese leader Tamura Marc
notable victory over my poor bearded
aboriginal friends. A great picture
votive- offering given It commemora
ton Of the victory, hangs In the TEN
pie and represents the feats Of valo,
achieved by the imperial forces. I,
the same votive hall there are quain,
pictures representing the coming o.
the early Dutch vessels to the shore,
Of Japan.
One Of the most characteristic fea
lures Of Japan are the. picnic psttiel
OF school children with their teachers
which are met with az all times and
everywhere. They go out t6 see bloom
Ing flowers and redeemed mapl.
leaves; they go to parks and mu
seums: they go to shrines and TEN
pies and the scenes Of national inter
est, famous in their history. W.
rarely go to any place Of note with
out encountering them. So here, /,
was no surprise to find schools Of
children tramping up the great stair
way to the main temple, visiting tn,
votive hall and the temples in the real
and looking out over the ancient CAPT
tai and through the lovely gorge CLAD
In naples, which two weeks henc,
will be flame of glory.
The lesser shrines are often quit.
as interesting as the main temple
Thus, behind Kiyomizu-De is a little
shelter with its hundred stone figure,
of Jizo. Queer things they are, th.
object of popular love and devotion
On the base Of many of them stant
little heaps Of pebbles which have
been piled up by kindly visitors. Il
seems that children after death arr
often robbed of their clothing by fe
male demon who sets them to worl
at piling up stones on the bank of the
death river. The task is endless, but
the little ones are helped by all who
choose to place pebbles at the feet o.
Jizo. Here, too, is a statue of Bin
zuru, worn smooth by the hands o:
poor sufferers. never tire of watch
ing these figures; whether Of wood O,
stone or bronze, makes no difference
their features and outlines are al
ways worn smooth by repeated rub
bling. You need not wait long to SET
some poor old woman tottering along
who stops and with a word of prayer
upon her lips rubs her hand over the
head of the loved figure and ther
upon her own aching brow; a mother
brings her little one and strokes the
part Of the old god which correspond.
to the ailing member of the child, ani
then rubs the baby for healing; OF
some helpless person, knotted witt
rheumatism or crippled, is brought b,
kindly hands to rub the figure ant
get relief from suffering.
From the platform of the great tenn
pie, projecting far over the precipitous
bank and supported on it's stately
crutches, the faithful 1t is said may
precipitate themselves unframed. II
these days of doubt and unbelief the
experiment is seldom tried, but no,
many years ago one bold devotee
made the attempt. It is said that ht
was not successful; no doubt hi.
faith was shallow. We did not throw
ourselves from the platform, but tool
the more prosaic means of climbing
down the back stairway, coming al
last into the little gorge famous fol
its maple trees. It was a scene of lif.
and action. Everywhere little plat
forms of bamboo were being erected
or repaired. A few days from now
and all of them will be occupied BY
groups and parties of picnickers Out
will be unoccupied, and it is worth
while to come here to see the joyous
autumn foliage. Not an available spot
to inspect the famous beauty of the
scene.
But meantime we must not forget
the Jidat Matsuri. It was really
fine procession. The streets approach
ing the Tai-Kyoku Den were crowded
with people who desired to see the
pageant as 1t approached its destina
ton. The procession consisted of si1
sections representing definite periods
of time from the date Of the city's
founding to the disappearance of the
Tokugawa shogunate. Each section
was gotten up with careful reference
to historic accuracy; marvellous cos
tunes, things almost inconceivable IN
these present days were here to be
seen. First came the civil officers Of
the Euryaku era on their way to the
imperial court. This era extending
from 1872 to 806 comedies with the
founding of the city. The second sec
ton represented military officers Of
the same era going to the front. The