The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1921-09-22
AT JAPAN SHRINES
Beautiful Scenery of Nikko and the
Fiowery Great Yeddo In the Cap
ital Well Repay Visitor
for the Excursion.

MANY feet are now treading their
way to the shrines in the temple cities
of Japan" says the third of a series
of bulletins from the National Ge-
ographic society on the places which
will be visited by members Of con-
gress on their trip to the Orient.
Eager Americans will stroll along
the shady streets Of Nikko to the
tombs of the shoguns and drink in TIE
indescribable beautiful scenery, their
| lips all the while murmuring the Jap
anese word kekko (beautifuD, which
the japanese say one never learns to
pronounce until he has seen the city
Of Nikko. In Tokyo, called the Flow
cry Great Yeddo, the capital of the
empire, they will see the imperial pal
ace and TIE remains Of the former
glory of the shoguns, family of mil
itary governors who were the virtual
rulers of Japan for several centuries,
and in Kyoto they will probably get
n confused, hazy idea of one or two
of the 500 Buddhist temples and so
Shinto shrines.
Perhaps, too, In the temples Of
Tokyo a bit of American pocket mon
ey will 90 10 priest for printing a
pretty prayer on a slip of paper, which
the visitor, In true pilgrim fashion,
Will press to his forehead and TO his
breast and then fasten to the tenn
pie wall I'm order that IT may be a per-
petual petition. But then when there
are 10000 deities to whom devout Jap
anese write, q few American pleas will
scarcely clog the celestial postal serv-
ice.
There will be many native pilgrims
on the way to the shrnes. During
the summer months, when the crops
have been taken care Of, the village
folk, though they have the temples
of their own patron deity and the fox
god, feel that they must send out a
pilgrim or two to the sacred noun
tains and holy places of Japan to
worship in behalf of those who can
not go, and so they provide a fund for
his expenses. Nor does Tie emissary
travel in state. Life for him loses
most of its perplexities. He is
equipped with n cheap white cotton
shirt that can be easily washed. tight
fitting trousers and loose white cot
ton Jacket which he tucks In with n
girdle. He wears an enormous broad,
stiff straw hat, and on his back he
carries a piece Of mating which |
serves him as an umbrella by day and |
as n bed at night.
ain Nikko, though he does not come |
especially to visit the tombs Of the |
shoguns, he 1oafs and invites his soul |
within the shadow of the two great |
mausolea Of the founder Of the line |
and his grandson, TIE merciless enc
my of Christianity which stand on the
side of the mountain. Up, up, up, he |
climbs through courtyard and garden,
past one splendor after another, until |
he reaches the beautiful temple and |
the actual burial place Of line of
rulers who usurped the sovereignty Of
the empire and keld 1t for almost three
centuries, making the few years COW
ering the glory of Napoleon and Crom-
well insignificant indeed. When the
pilgrim reaches the top Of the noun
tain he prays. Then he smokes a pipe
or two and lesurely takes up his jour-
ney to the next shrine.
"In August the pilgrim rolls off his
mat and the visitor from foreign lands
climbs out Of bed at TIE crack Of dawn
to hear the lotus flower bloom, for the
buds burst with a pleasing character
istic sound.
"If Nikko is the most beautiful city
in Japan, Kyoto can be called the most
Here the feminine visitor
finds herself bewidered by the most
exquisitely wrought Of all the exquis-
tie pottery, clolsonne, bronzes, fans
and velvets. After she has bought
more than she can comfortably get
Eome with, she probably will want to
see bit Of the mlkados palace which
covers over % acres Of ground and is
by a great wall with SIX
gates, or journey out to see the larg-
est lake In japan, Lake Blwa, and the
200 year.old pine tree which stands