Evening star., 1929-06-28

1nuyama-JuSt anOther japanese city
| of which none of us had ever heard
until we received our schedule of
events" for the days in and around
| Negoya. And yet city Of 10000 peo-
| pie with an industry of some note,
ceramics, and one of the best scenic at
fractions in Japan, the River Kiso break
ing through a mountain ridge and
forming one of the most stirring specta-
cles in this attractive island. The Ktso
| is called the Rhine of Japan. Ger
| tainly at this point it strongly suggests
that famous German river, with its
| fantastic rocks and its castles and
shrines perched high up on the hills.
But let us get to Kiso and Inuyama
| in proper sequence. Our day began
| in Negoya, with visit to the venerable
| and celebrated castle in that city. Spe-
cial permission had to be obtained for
| our call there, and 1t was easily OBJ
| tanned, so we were told, in evidence Of
the interest which the imperial house
| hold is taking in our expedition. Last
| Monday we had testimony to this
| interest in the permission granted for
| us to enter the imperial fish preserves
| above Nikko and for such of us as de-
sired to fish In the imperial trout
| stream. So the visit to Negoya Castle
| seemed to come as a matter of course.
Photography Is Barred.
But there was nothing perfunctory
about our admission. Our Negoya
| friends, acting as our escort, warned us
outside of the gates that we must leave
| all cameras in motor cars, as photog-
raphy was strictly barred. So, having
| thus deposited our Photographic ap-
| paratus outside, we entered the side
| door-the main gate is never opened
save to admit the Emporer himsef-and
| halted at the guardhouse just within.
There was a lot of talk, in Japanese, OF
course, between our escorts and the
guards, who were exceedingly business
like, and after much palaver we were
| asked to line up against the stone wall
across from the guardhouSe, for all the
world as if we had been condemned to
death at the hands of firing squad
But it proved to be much less painful
than that. We were merely being
counted Later very good reason for
counting us appeared.
Thus enumerated, we were given our
instructions, by means Of printed slip,
reading as follows: IT. Those who are
permitted to visit the Imperial Palaces
must show the admission card to the
guard at the gate of the palace. II.
Visitors are strictly prohibited from
photographing or sketching in the
palace. III. Visitors are requested to
write their names and titles in the book
provided for that purpose. Nv. Visitors
must follow the directions of the palace
guide. v. Visitors are requested TO
leave hats or caps, overcoats, boots or
shoes at the entrance of the palace, this
article not being observed at the tower
in the Nagoya Castle. VI. Smoking is
strictly prohibited except in the waiting
room"
Thus warned. we were marched down
the great castle yard, where three wom-
en- were on their knees picking out in
visible grass from the graveled walk, 30
or more feet in width. To the left
loomed the enormous stone wall. Above
reached the quaint corner towers and
far above appeared the central tower,
with its famous golden dolphins, that
cost some 100000 yen when made.
These great ornaments, which are
eight feet in height-the male dolphin
is said to be two inches higher than
the female-have been covered with
wire screens to keep the birds away, so
that they cannot be distinguished at a
distance.
Rooms Bare of Furniture.
We wrote our names at a lodge near
the actual castle entrance and then We
went in and removed our shoes and
put on slippers and followed the guide
through the wonderful rooms. They
are absolutely bare of furniture, as are
all japanese rooms, but they contain
painted panels of the rarest art. These
paintings represent animalS-in the first
rooms chiefly tigers and other beasts
of prey-and then scenes Of pastoral
life and court life and other activities.
There is a decided Chinese influence in
this art, which is Of the greatest rarity
and beauty.
These paintings were made about 800
years ago, when the castle was built.
They are, with the exception of very
few instances of scaling, just as fresh
today as when they were laid on by the
brush of the artist. They are all
painted on wood, and form the panels
of the walls, sometimes the sliding sec
tions which form the partitions be-
tween the rooms. We were informed
by our guide that the imperial house
hold is now considering the preparation
of a series of faithful reproductions OF
/ these exquisite paintings, which will
thus be made available to the world for
admiration.
Room after room was shown to us,
| the guide explaining the purposes OF
| the various apartments and carerully
calling our attention to the singing
! boards" in one of the rooms, by teeter-
| ing on which one can produce sounds
supposed to be the notes of birds. This
| guide knew some English and gave US
a fairly ineligible account of the castle.
To our misfortune, however, he did not
accompany us in our visit to the great
| tower, after we had returned to the
entrance and found and put on our
shoes, but turned us over to another
guide, who spoke no English whatever.
Climb 1SO-Step Stairway.
But we needed no English to under
stand the necessity of climbing the
tower, with its 180 steps. 1t was simply
a case of slogging along, mostly In the
| dark, feeling our way by the OCCASION
ally missing hand railing. All Of us,
| stout and lean alike, made the ascent
! to the topmost landing, Immediately
beneath the resting place of the golden
| dolphinS. There we found chairs for
resting, and guide board with direc-
| ton lines and the names of all the
| places Of note to be observed from this
height. Unfortunately everything OIL
the board was in Japanese. But we