New Britain herald., 1921-06-24

Tho following letter has been re- |ved by the secretary of Centennial lxe In this city from Charles B. Shop. a former local man, who is |velinE in Japan. The letter is rely descriptive and of interest to bple of this city. The letter fol- ys:
 Fairmount Hotel. No. 16 Bluff. Yokohama. Japan. April End. 1921. biennial Lodge. No. 11s.
 Now Britain. Conn.
 am in receipt of your esteemed pr of December 17th. 1920. with losed receipt for my dues. for oh I think you.
 has been my intention for some past to tell you about a trip I ie last summer to the top of Iyama. the sacred mountain. and ortunity I have had to begin it.
 Description of Fuiiyama.
 ijiyama means Futi Mountain. 1t is called Mount Full. and San. The san" Is an honorary of address. as MT. Fuji. For in- ce. I am called Bishop San by the .ncse. which means MT. Bishop. )ijiyama Is an extinct volcano: last eruption occurred in HOT; it imply n huge cinder pile. 12.3s7 high: it is a true truncated cone E out of a plain. the sides slopinG n angle of about forty-five de- p. but is sleeper near the top, re tho lava crops out of the hnic ashes and cinders. Thero hve starting points for the ascent. some of them. if not all of them, ke into ono trail as the top ia oached.
 start of Trip. artlng from Subashiri- -Guchi are eight rest houses. or sta on the way to tho top. the dis between them decreasing as tho approached. The first one or hre Japanese houses with wooden hes around them for the use of ravlcers. but near the top they merely huts. built against the Of the mountain. The roofs of huts are heavily weighted with ks of lava to keep the wind travellers. but near the top they lar from being water tight. huts are not very comfortable mericans. but they serve the neso very we'll. However. foreign iers make tho best of 1t when hd to use them. but it is a case blowing them off. and they ery glad indeed to reach one of
 The eighth station is very the top, and between this n and the top there is a shrine ia used as rest house by
 It is customary to make a lon to the shrines. so great of the travellers omit this rest lace. Ire is saying to the effect that wise man that climbs to the | Full once, but he is a fool who | to climb up there twice. so | fool as l have been up Mount | twice. I might add that the | bart increases as the square of umber of times that a person |
 to the top Of Fuji. I know | ban who has climbed to the top mes and he never had a pleas
 n clear day on any of his trips. |
 Started in August. first ascent was in late August | and my wife and daughter and |
 only were able to reach the |
 station. which the Japanese Hachi- Ban." which means the
 house. We left Yokohama | ld station at 9:15 a. m. and we n there at 10:30 p. m. the same | It is fifty-two miles from the | anna station to Gotemba- -Guehi. | we leave the train. Hero we short rest while waiting for an obile to take us to Subashiri-
 a town about eight miles dis rom Gotemba. also we each scd a kongo-zue. or wooden o aid us in our ascent up the pin These staffs are four feet nches long. and they are octa- in shape except for about
 inches where the hand grasps which place they are round. h station on the way up 1t is ary to have the name and r of the station branded on the que. the charge for which is D. or five conts. At all the p from one to eight inclusive
 Tor is of burnt wood or black.
 the top it is red. which is tho that the top was actually II. or course. on this trip we
 Q get tho rcd mark or label.
 e also induced to buy straw
 to tie on tho soles of our
 which we were informed werc
 savers as they would prevent