Japanese Life, Love, and Legend ... From 'Le Japon pittoresque' of M. D. by W. Conn

Front matter

POPULAR NOVELS— /V.V<> 6s. each. David BrOOme : Artist. By Mrs. Robert. O'Reilly. With Illustrations by F. Barnard. That Villain, Romeo ! By J. Fitzgerald Molloy. As in a Looking Glass. By F. C. Philips. With a Frontispiece by Gurdon Browne. Coward and Coquette. By the Author of " The Parish of Hilby," etc. Viva. By Mrs. FoRRE^fp^f "Author of "My Lord and My Lady," etc. (* • Less than Kin. "ByjrE^'l-vtrt-oN. The Prettiest Woman in Warsaw. By Mabel Collins. Lil Lorimer. By Theo Gift. The Flower of Doom. By Miss Betham-Edwards. Pretty Miss Neville. By the Author of " Proper Pride." Proper Pride. By the Author of " Pretty Miss Neville." Great Porter Square : A Mystery. By B. L. Farjeon. The House of White Shadows. By B. L. Farjeo.w WARD AND DOWNEY, Publishers, London. A Visit to the Empire of the "Rising Sun."

From "Le Japon Pittoresque" of Maurice Dubard BY WILLIAM CONN. LONDON : WARD AND DOWNEY, 12, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C. 1886. [All rights reserved.] CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Voyage From Lorient To Yokohama

Departure from Lorient — The Madonna of Larmor — Saigon — Disagreeable Surprise — Expedition to Tonquin — Agreeable Surprise — Shanghai — Yokohama. When we slipped our moorings from Lorient and put to sea, bound for Cochin-China, we had no idea of a visit to the delightful country of Japan, and naturally, still less of a visit that turned out to be so memorable for its romantic incidents, which, as the reader will perceive when he has followed them to their dhioument, could not have been anticipated had we been ever so familiar with Japanese life and character. On parting from our native shores, the weather was anything but propitious ; for unbroken cloud darkened land and water and the roadstead was hidden in mist, and as we passed close under the headland of La Peirriere, where our friends were E gathered — mothers, sisters, and others who had become perhaps, still more interesting — we could only dimly see the group waving with their kerchiefs a final adieu.

We soon steamed out of sight, with heavy hearts and, indeed, some tearful eyes. Then we turned the little islet of St. Michel, ran past the hamlet of Kernevel on the right, and coming in view of the village of Larmor, that spot so highly venerated by all true Bretons on account of its Madonna, we prepared to salute with three guns the tutelary saint, in obedience to a duty observed from time immemorial, the lady being then bound to watch over the safety of the ship and her crew till the voyage was completed — a devotion in which every true seaman has implicit faith so soon as he hears the booming of the cannon. The charming village where I had passed so many happy days when sunbeams flooded its dazzling white beach, and where I had often lounged on fete days, watching the lusty lads and buxom lassies frolicking in their holiday garb, how sad was its aspect to-day in cloud, in lifelessness, and on parting !

Our voyage, now begun on the open sea, presented nothing worthy of remark. Life on board a ship of war is too strictly in accordance with the regulations of the service to admit of notable incidents, and there were none to record. We put in at Algiers, then at Port Said, Aden, Point-de-Galles, and Singapore, not as tourists do, but as officers bound to execute orders within a prescribed time. FROM LORIENT TO YOKOHAMA. 3 At the beginning of autumn we arrived at Saigon, where we had to revictual, and here we were most disagreeably surprised to find that we were ex pected for an expedition into Upper Cochin-China. I do not desire to revive sad souvenirs, and shall therefore say nothing of the tragic story of ten months' duration, an expedition in which our ranks were cruelly thinned by the enemy's balls and the fiery climate.

Then an order suddenly came to proceed to Japan, and the sailors soon forgot their sufferings in their unbounded joy; for we were going to see that interesting country so extolled by all voyagers. And in truth, when once seen, it is a land never to be forgotten. But we were obliged to go first to the coast of China and show our flag there. We passed some time at Shanghai, where the French colony warmly welcomed our officers, and we joined in some exhi larating sport on the banks of the Imperial Canal, seeling all the pleasure of meeting our own country men at three thousand leagues from home, and, after wonderful feats of sporting, we again put to sea in the middle of November. Our destination was Yokohama ; and we made on passing a short call at Nagasaki, saluted the Martyr's Rock, and paid a flying visit to the porcelain shops, where we were struck with admiration on beholding the colossal specimens of ceramic art, the productions of this province.

But our atten tion was too much diverted by the bright eyes and pretty faces of the fair dealers to appreciate then at its just value a work of art. B But then it was quite natural that Art should yield to Nature. Indeed, this " Land of the Rising Sun " seems to attract one like a beautiful maiden. The visitor feels himself drawn irresistibly towards its smiling and varied landscapes. Everything conduces to the attraction. The language even, so harmonious and sonorous, is music compared with the nasal Chinese, especially when warbled by the lips of bright, lively maidens. A young officer shared my enthusiasm. Find ing the language not difficult to learn, we quickly resolved to master it, and at once began studying together with the assiduity with which we had always worked together, and were soon gratified to find that we were making sensible progress ; still, with a view to being more assured of the fact, we tested our highly-esteemed acquisition in compli ments to the young ladies, who received them with shouts of laughter, replying in their silvery voices : " Oki ni arignato, idjin-san." * The experiment was amusing, but not con clusive.

We traversed the inland sea — a real lake bordered with smiling villages along its banks — passed before Shimonostfki, which recalled to my mind the grievous incidents of the conflict of 1867, so fatal to us Europeans, stayed a few hours at the delightful little port of K6b<_, and, at last, came to anchor in the roadstead of Yokohama. * " Many thanks, foreign gentlemen."

Chapter II. Yokohama

Situation and Aspect of Yokohama — Visit to Yedo— Meeting an Old Comrade — The Ruins of the Tykoon's Palace — Varied Attractions of Yedo. THE name itself of Yokohama calls up in my mind associations that dwell for ever in the memory. To the stranger there is nothing very remarkable in this city : there is neither in its history nor in its present aspect anything that would mark it out for special attention. It was merely a fine village formerly on the Gulf of Yedo, not far from the highway of the Tokaido, which divides Nippon into North and South. But Europeans have availed themselves of its position — advantageous from a geographical and topogra phical point of view — to make it the centre of their political intercourse and commercial operations, and have accordingly raised here a city without much regularity, but, in being thus favoured by its situation and the nature of the surrounding country, one at least fanciful and attractive.

The view from its capacious roadstead, con stantly filled with the busy shipping of Europe, embraces a fine panorama, within which, a little beyond the port, rise over the city the charming villas of the Tobe hill ; and whilst in the distance Fousi-yama rears its snow-capped head above the clouds, representing in this grand picture the proud and ancient Nippon, a long column of coal smoke, an emblem of modern importations, wings its way from the steam boilers towards the renovated capital of civilised Japan. I hardly knew what was the kind of loadstone drawing my heart so powerfully towards these enchanting shores; it was throbbing with impatience, but, as is invariably the case, when we have long cherished in our imagination a longed for object, the moment of realisation comes with a disillusion : All things that are, Are with more spirit chased than enjoyed.* But then it rained, and the gray sky cast a sullen gloom over the roadstead and the city.

Under these inauspicious circumstances, a countryman of ours, an old resident of Japan, came to look for us and rescued us in time from our disheartening mood. Well knowing that a sojourn of many months here would admit of my gratifying my curiosity at my leisure, I did not, in the manner of modern "globe-trotters," boil with impatience "to do " the ' * Merchant of Venice. YOKOHAMA. 7 whole in the shortest space of time possible, who, like the heroes of Jules Verne, would, if they could, compass the globe Swifter than the wandering moon.* . I therefore traced out for myself a well-con sidered plan ; but without actually making an itinerary, I intended visiting at first Yedo, then, probably urged by a humour to wander a little, I thought I should like to make an excursion into the interior and as far as the international treaty would permit a foreigner; to see Nikko, the country of magnificent trees, venerable from age, and of ancient forests, possessing all the attraction of the mysterious unknown ; then Fousi-yama, one of the highest mountains of the world, with its vast imposing crater.

Finally, I wished to see Yokosta and its arsenal, Kamakura and its Dai bouts' — the colossal statue of Buddha in bronze — all these enchanting spots so often pictured in my imagination, reserving Yokohama for the final visit. But what is the use, after all, of making plans ? I have seen most of the places I had proposed to visit and others besides, but I saw them all later, and at a moment and under circumstances I was far from anticipating on my arrival. As soon as I had my liberty, I set out for Yedo, the ancient city of the Tykoon,f the * Midsummer Night's Dream. f The military emperor who had usurped the power, and from which he was driven by the Mikado in 1868, the Mikado being the hereditary emperor of Japan, " Son of the Sun." immense metropolis wherein was recently dis played all the pompous luxury of the usurpers, and where every year all the nobility of the " Empire of the Rising Sun " used to come in grand state to render homage to the first subject of the realm, whilst its legitimate sovereign, the heir to all the glory of Japanese chivalry, the Mikado, was obliged to hide his diminished head in the shade of his own sacred palace at Kioto.

Yedo, since raised to the capital of the empire, the residence of his majesty the Mikado, where through the influence of Europe he has been re instated after many centuries of exiled sovereigns, is the centre of every reform and every novel insti tution introduced into the country by foreigners and duly patronised by the new Government. And here France is worthily represented by a military mission composed of chosen officers, charged with the creation of an army, the in struction of the troops, and military organisation. The Japanese, happily prepared by their national education, which is quite in a chivalrous spirit, have most readily adapted themselves to the numerous modifications so suddenly introduced into the profession of arms. The results hitherto obtained are surprising, and it is not without pride that we see these brave little soldiers manœuvring in a manner that reflects credit on their instructors.

One of my comrades, one of the oldest members of this mission, hospitably placed at my disposal in the most cordial manner his house and his good offices. We visited in company the curiosities of YOKOHAMA. 9 this immense Japanese city, its temples, its yas-^i (dwelling-houses), its gardens, its gay shops of trinkets and fancy articles, its promenades, its theatres, its innumerable petty tea-houses and pleasure resorts, which might be likened to aviaries of warbling and prattling birds, and of which we have nothing in France that could give the least idea. All these novelties well occupied us for a whole week. Fearing to become wearisome to my obliging companion by examining now everything minutely, I wished to take a bird's-eye view at first and return afterwards, to study alone and at my leisure, as profitably as I could, what this admirable country presented to my view.

We therefore paid a flying visit to the Shiro, a triple enclosure of granite, in the centre of which stood the Palace of the Tykoon, which was burnt in one of those terrible conflagra tions that consume entire cities in a few hours, the most fearful scourge of Japan ; then the Shiba, the tomb of the Shoguns* — those heroes who have tyrannised over the country for centuries with an iron hand ; then the temple of Asaksa, celebrated for the miracles of its gods, its myriads of pigeons, and the' archery-grounds surrounding ; and at last the W6no gardens, where still lie exposed the blackened, charred remains, cribbled with ball and grape-shot, of what was once the first sanctuary of the empire, and where the long usurpation of the Tykoons, those modern maires du palais, was as * The word Shogun signifies general-in-chief ; this was the appellation of the Tykoons before they usurped the power. completely demolished in the sanguinary drama of 1868.

This spot still presents to the eye a sinister aspect, and the imagination easily conjures up a picture of dire significance. The final bloody assault seems to have ended only yesterday, and as one glances around, he fancies he still sees, on the fallen stones and mutilated trunks of fine old trees, fearful evidence in gory stains of the for midable last struggle of the doughty dai'mios, in which the ancient Japanese chivalry was annihi lated ; and yet within a few steps, there may be said to be a continuous fete. If the Government of the Mikado, immersed in the confusion of State affairs, has not yet effaced everywhere the traces of the convulsion, the Japanese, of all nations the most light-hearted, have not long worn their mourning, and the day after the calamity, began to raise elegant little habitations by the hundred on the ground recently encumbered by the fallen warriors, where now attractive mous'-m/* are con stantly entertaining loungers with tiny cups of tea and the notes of their chamicen,-\ whilst these, pro bably for want of a more serious occupation, are sipping the beverage and contemplating the coquetry of the serving damsels. * Mous'-me signifies a young girl. t A three-stringed guitar.

Chapter III. Yokohama

The Benten — The Courteousness of the Japanese Dealers — Marcel — An Indulgent Father — An Amiable Family — Interesting Acquaintances. BEFORE continuing uninterruptedly my excursions and my studies, I was obliged to return to Yoko hama, to take orders from my commanding officer, and settle some matters of the service. I learnt, on arriving, that my presence would be required for more than a week, and I availed myself of this in opportune interval to begin visiting the various curiosity shops in my leisure moments, which, on account of the great number of foreigners here, are plentiful, and the best-furnished of Japan. Two fine parallel streets — the one called Benten dori,* the other Hontcho-dori — are entirely occupied by dealers. It is here where are seen in such profusion the inexhaustible varieties of nicknacks that cost so much, and which are, in due course, * Dori signifies street. seen displayed with so much pride in good houses in France among certain collections.

The Japanese generally, and particularly the Japanese dealers, are so affable that one may come and go as often as he pleases in order to examine, bargain, handle, and disturb the curiosities displayed, without ever buying anything or thereby putting them in an ill humour. They will receive you always, whatever amount of unprofitable trouble you may give, with the same politeness and the same smile ; they will offer you quite as graciously the miniature cup of tea, a custom scru pulously observed by every respectable tradesman, whether he is the richer or not for your visit. When you have made your bargain with the dealer — a proceeding often long and difficult — he becomes your friend. You may then enter his house at any hour of the day and make yourself quite at home ; he will offer you his tobacco, and pour out for you his tea ; he will talk with you about your business, your family, your country, the news of the day, and politics ; but he will rarely con descend to the obtrusive manner of a European shopkeeper to praise his goods and press them on you.

His stock is exposed for sale ; you may ex amine it, buy what you like, and make the price if you think proper to do so ; but he will hardly ever say anything to induce you to open your purse. He is often quite an artist, and sometimes a philosopher. With this encouragement, the promenade of the Benten is quite attractive, and, so far as I was con- YOKOHAMA. 13 cerned, I took constant delight in lounging through this immense museum of a kind full of novelty for me, where, while satisfying my curiosity, I could make such important progress in my knowledge of the spoken language. As often as the regulations of the service permitted, my fellow-student in the lan guage joined me in exploring the shops. He was the most agreeable companion one could desire. Young in years and spirits, well-informed, open hearted, and refined, a true son of the soil of wild Brittany, there was in him something of the melan choly of his misty and poetic land.

His name was Marcel. A mutual sympathy had spontaneously united us ; then the friendship, the growth of daily intercourse and duties in common, had become so cordial, that the sailors soon designated us among themselves as " the Japanese brothers." One day we haggled a long time over a little box of gold lacquer. This object was exquisite ; it strongly tempted my friend, who wished to send it to his sister ; but necessity compelled him to weigh his generosity against the official instal ments of his pay, and the dealer being resolute in not abating anything, we were obliged to leave without striking a bargain. We returned, however, in the evening ; for a disappointed buyer, like a disappointed lover, often returns to the proximity of the attraction, as if a glimpse alone at the idol afforded some comforting compensation.

A young girl, childlike in appearance, whom he had not noticed in the morning, was putting in order the articles displaced by the curious, as one usually does before closing the shop. On entering, after the usual salutation : "Well now?" exclaimed Marcel to the old dealer, with a look of inquiry. The latter understanding the question, " It is impossible, sir," he replied ; " the box you wish for is very fine, and I would rather keep it than dispose of it at a low price. Take this one ; it is bigger, richer, and, at the same time, not so dear." The object offered in exchange was certainly very brilliant, but in execrably bad taste. " I would not take it at any price," said Marcel disdainfully. " I want to make a present to my sister. I have already decided that it should be the box chosen this morning, and not any other."

The young girl, during this altercation, had suspended her occupation to listen to what was going on. " The sister of the idjin-san* is a grand lady," she was heard to say, as if speaking to somebody invisible to Marcel and myself. The sound of this infantine voice made my friend turn round just as he was going to open his purse to avoid any more haggling. "A grand lady? No, my bonny lass, but a darling little girl about your age, and almost as pretty as you are." Surprised by this compliment, the first perhaps she had received, the young mous'-me regarded * The foreigner. YOKOHAMA. 15 Marcel with astonishment, almost with a frightened look; then taking the bone of contention in her hand, she drew near her father. Then might be heard a very animated conversation in suppressed voices between the two actors in this private scene — the daughter, with the discontented and rebellious tone of a spoilt child, seemed to be remonstrating with the father, who, with a slight shrug of the shoulders, manifested his disapproval.

The young lady pouted and waited. " O-Hana ! " he exclaimed, in a tone of reproach. The young maiden was already before us with bright colour mantling in her cheek. " There it is," she said to my friend, holding out to him the coveted object, " take it ! " " How much, my dear young lady ? " " I know nothing about it ; but the price you have proposed to my father is quite fair — I am sure of that." Marcel looked first at the girl, and then at the object, felt embarrassed, and hesitated. " Take it now," she insisted decisively. " It is for your sister." The old man, noticing our astonishment, reassured us : " The bargain is made now, have no scruples about it. O-Hana would have it so in her own way. She is my daughter, the child of my old age ; it is she who orders, and I obey." When we desired to express our thanks to the amiable young lady, she had suddenly disappeared.

Instead of continuing his promenade with me as in the preceding evening, instead of wandering hour after hour among the motley crowd, so merry and jocular and babbling, animating the streets under a constellation of paper lanterns that give so picturesque an aspect to Japanese cities at night, Marcel separated from me without ex planation. At midnight, when I came on board, I found the port-light of his cabin still lighted. From all appearances, sleep seemed to have been very slow in coming to weigh down my friend's eyelids, and when this was accomplished his senses were by no means " steeped in forgetfulness," for fantastic dreams danced in his head with delightful confusion till morning. In the indistinct interval between dreams and contemplation, he clearly saw an admirable youthful head, the delicate, smooth profile of a young girl, whose image, on rising, haunted his imagination, and this he quite naturally associated with the recent impression of the pretty little dealer.

A few lines in writing which, on getting up, I found upon my table, enlightened me on the interesting situation. " I am ashore, come and join me," was the end of this hastily-written note. "Join him ! But where on earth was I to find him? Howthoughtlesslysimple! Why didn't he give himself the trouble to inform me ? He knew well enough where he was going, without the incon venience of hesitating, no doubt. Every one was expected to know ; a lover thinks it superfluous to explain what is to him so obvious." I anticipated the hour at which people are astir YOKOHAMA. 17 generally on the promenade of the Benten. I entered in passing a few shops, inquiring for the little Japanese brother : no one had seen him, I was certain of that. Then I proceeded without delay to the quarters of the old dealer.

On approaching the shop, sure enough, he was in its vicinity. " I have been waiting here for you," he said. We were within a few paces of the shop. O-Hana, coquettishly dressed out, was showing with childlike grace to the wondering eyes of a few recently-arrived foreigners, the treasures of her glass cases. As soon as she saw us, she called out to the dealer : " Father, these are the foreigners that were here yesterday." Then with a gracious smile she turned to salute us : " Konnitchi-wa idjin-san " (good morning to the foreign gentlemen). . The old man, occupied apparently in making up his accounts of the preceding evening, raised his head, looked at us under his large spectacles, gave us a slight bow with a peevish air, and re sumed his work without saying a word. Marcel stood embarrassed with a feeling of being intrusive, and under the impression that, though he had a friend in Mademoiselle O-Hana, he had, at the same time, in the master of the house an irrecon cilable enemy.

O-Hana, pensive and absent, hardly replied to the questions of the customers ; a nervous and c JAPANESE LIFE, LOVE, AND LEGEND. abrupt movement in the demeanour of the young girl indicated a growing ill-humour ; she glanced anxiously with her black eyes at the placid countenance of the dealer and then at my friend with an expression of slight melancholy. Then, as if irri tated at her father's silence, the maiden suddenly came up and, taking us by the hand, led us to the old man. " Gomen nasaimashi" (pray excuse me), she said. " Seat yourselves here and wait a moment." Then calling her mother : " Okka-san, Okka-san (mother, mother), bring the tea." During this attention, the amateurs of bibelots, offended, no doubt, at being so unceremoniously abandoned, had taken their departure. " Sayo-nara " (au revoir), said merrily the young girl.

" They are English. There is nothing in my father's shop good enough for them." The indulgent mother had quickly appeared to her daughter's summons. Holding in one hand the tea-pot, a doll's tea-pot in fact, and such as is used by the Japanese, she presented us with the other, bowing very low, a tiny cup resting on a delicate tray of plaited rice-straw. The Japanese houses, perfect jewels of cabinet work, are delightfully clean ; the walls are hung with pretty paper, stretched on frames of white wood ; the floor is covered with soft, fresh-looking mats, at least three inches thick, called tatami, whereon no one would ever venture to put a muddy boot. In the shops frequented by foreigners, the YOKOHAMA. 19 tatami are replaced by planks, scrupulously clean, after having been washed and scrubbed every morning.

There is, however, a reserved space in the apartment, raised about a foot above the level of the floor, where the tatami are symmetrically arranged together, covering about three or four square yards. It is here, around the tchibatchi, a kind of brasero, where pipes are lighted and water continuously kept hot for tea-making, that the members of the family seat themselves with their neigh bours and friends till the close of the day. It is here where O-Hana had led us by the hand, giving us thus to understand that she wished to consider us as friends of the family. We cordially thanked Okka-san, sipped the fragrant beverage she had offered us, compliment ing her at the same time on the pleasing ways of her charming little daughter, and I declared to the head of the family that, after having visited all the shops in the Benten, there was not one that I liked so well as his.

Every one seemed to be highly pleased, and yet a look of distrust still lingered, I fancied, in the dealer's countenance. " Show us all your fine things," I exclaimed. " I will begin buying a lot of bibelots at once, and you can fix the price yourself, without fearing I shall offer anything less." This declaration quite brightened the merce nary old man's face, and he began setting about showing us his treasures. O-Hana, kneeling before the tchibatchi, with c her hands spread over the burning fuel covered with a layer of cinder, watched all our movements with a dreamy, preoccupied air. The father, mounted on a stool, was handing to me various objects I pointed out to him, which, on examining, I laid down on the tatami, by the side of the young girl. I noticed that she scrutinised some of them very attentively and put them aside.

As soon as I had made a preliminary selection, I saw that it would be necessary to reject at least the half, unless I would empty my purse at one stroke ; then, whilst her father was occupied at the other end of the shop, O-Hana took some of them up and pointed out to me the defects that had escaped my notice, and then withdrew them from the lot I had at first chosen. " Korewa mina ikoura ? " (how much the lot ?) I demanded of the proprietor. He raised leisurely his enormous spectacles to his nose, surveyed this portion of his artistic treasures which he was going to part with, and ex claimed : " Tak' san ! " (there are a great many of them). Then taking the calculating instrument, the soroban, which every Japanese uses, he began going through a course of the most grotesque panto mime ; he first held up the instrument, passed his fingers through his gray hair, sighed deeply again and again, looked at his daughter with an air of resignation, and then growled out some price in a YOKOHAMA. 21 tone that rendered it unintelligible, but which seemed to signify he was prepared to march to the gallows.

" Iorochii!" joyfully screamed out the maiden, clapping her hands with childish delight. "Very well, it is settled : San djou go mai, ni bou isshiou* thirty-five rio, two bou and a quarter." I thought we were going to have another scene similar to that of the preceding evening. I was going to speak, when the shopkeeper, with a serious face, interrupted. " Listen," he said. " O-Hana may say what she likes, but I shall not bate a tempo." \ I then understood that he had named the very lowest price, and that the daughter had simply taken the father at his word. After this time, Marcel and I hardly ever bought anything of consequence elsewhere. When O-Hana's father could not supply us with what we wanted, the good man procured it from his fellow-dealers, and disposed of it to us at cost price. We became henceforth friends of the house.