Evening star., 1923-09-09

seemed combined to make my stay in
that beautiful country, where nature
and art are SO well nigh uniquely
blended, both pleasant and agreeable.
There was only one drawback, name
ly, the earthquakes. One can accus-
tom ones self to many disadvantages.
but / have yet to find any foreigner
who has ever been able to accustom
himself or to become reconciled to the
earthquakes of Japan. They grow on
you and get on the strongest nerves
in the most extraordinary manner.
and are so frequent that 1t is neces-
sary to wire down all brio brac to
shelves, in order to prevent it being
hurled to the ground by the shakes.
These are always preceded by an un-
natural and sudden silence, lasting for
about half an hour, and then, all of
sudden. every dog in the entire city
begins to howl; the chickens and birds.
moved by fright, Ali the air with
their cries; in fact. the entire animal
creation, especially the horses, seem
terror stricken. All at once the earth
begins to sway in manner that has
the effect of seasickness on newcom-
erS AS d rule the movement Is lat
eral. But in the case of the earth
quake of the past week, the move
ment seems to have been vertical,
when, as in the first nalf of the nine
teenth century, great assures in the
surface of the ground opened up in
Toxic, swallowing up not only houses.
but entire streets, and destroying
more than half of the then existing
population. While the lateral move
ments of the earth have. heretofore,
left the new buildings of the sky
scraper sort, at Toxic and in the
various big cities. unHa rmed. none of
them seems to have withstood the YER
tical motion of the shakes of the
earth, and, according to the dis
patches. most of them. indeed all Of
the modern buildings of several stO-
ries. have been destroyed. j have al
ways feared this. ever since i learned
of the new architectural developments
in Japan.
Yet there are many hundreds. nay,
even thousands, of great temples and
even lofty pagodas which have sur
vived intact the most terrible seis-
matte disturbances of a thousand
years past. That Is because they are
built entirely of wood, interlocked, rs
in the case of what we are accustom-
ed to describe as Chinese puzzles"
These huge structures do not rest on
any foundations according to the west
ern plan. Even to dig down to rock
bed would be useless. since 1t Is the
rock bed that is SO unstable Instead
of foundations there are a number Of
pretty large and solid stone pillars.
extending about three feet above the
surface of the ground, slightly con-
cave at the top to the depth Of about
a couple of inches. Upon these pillars
rest loosely the rounded ends OF the
huge wooden key beams Of the Chi
nese puzzle" like structure of the tenn
pie or pagoda or palace. Let an
earthquake come, be it lateral or YER
fical, and the entire edif1ce rocks to-
gether as one piece. the rounded ends
Of the key beams moving easily and
loosely In the shallow. basfniike cav
tiles Of the posts, and no harm is done.
1t may be possible in the reconstruc-
tfon of Toxic and Of Yokohama by the
various associations of American ar
chitects who have already offered their
services. to adapt this Chinese puH-
xle" method of holding the building
together, with the key beams moving
loosely and In sympathy in the de-
pressfons of the granite posts, to the
metal methods of construction. using
steel in lieu of wood. But rs long as
any attempt Is made to erect modern
buildings on arm foundations they
will share tho fate Of the skyscrapers
Of. Toxic that have been destroyed.
for tho reason that nowhere In vol
cAnE japan does even bedrock offer
any sQlid foundation. \