In Beautiful Japan; A Story of Bamboo Lands (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1904 Excerpt: ... Yumoto, where we hired kurumas and two men each to carry us to Miyanoshita, a resort in the mountains well known by reputation for its scenery of peculiar richness and variety, its natural warm baths, and the charming excursions in the vi cinity. We passed through picturesque hamlets embedded in foliage, and wound up among the gently swelling hills with their tiny waterfalls and crystal rivulets trickling down the sides. Nature has been very lavish in these wilds, and it was the loveliest short ride I enjoyed in Japan. We took up our quarters at the Fujita Hotel--an excellent one in foreign style. The walks were exhilarating, and though we had kagos with us--as the paths in many places are rough and precipitous--we seldom rode, and the coolies had a sinecure. Day after day of glorious sunshine we spent in that dreamy, delicious air, wandering through valleys watered by mountain streams, forcing our way through tangled thickets and beds of matted fern, visiting temples and shrines without number, stopping in quaint little villages to rest and to sip tea, and climbing heights for views of Fujiyama and other lofty peaks. The sweet air was fragrant with the spicy odors of the pine-trees; azaleas, scrub-bamboo, dense clumps of ferns and flowers in profusion surrounded us, and vines tangled the branches overhead. The evenings on the veranda were not less delightful. We left there reluctantly, sending our baggage on by packhorse, while we rambled over the hills to Hakone, five miles distant. The weather was lovely; the varied vegetation was glorious in autumn gold and copper; and although we lingered to gather fronds of fern, scarlet lilies, and relics of departing summer, our destination was reached in less than three hours. Hakone, at the head of a lake of the s...