Untitled

TOPOGRAPHY OF NIP-PON. 431
woods, paintings, and lacquer-ware of Koya-san date from the flourishing epoch of
Japanese art, and such is the magnificence of the sacred groves planted round the
temples, that one of the most majestic species of conifers in Japan has received the
name of Koya.
A stream in the
vicinity of Koya-san is crossed by a remarkable bridge, the
planks in the floor of which number thirty-seven, and are marked with the names
of the thirty-seven Buddhas of the Kongo-kai. It is popularly supposed that no one
who is unacceptable to Kobo Daishi, the patron of the spot, can pass over this bridge.
When Hideyoshi made a pilgrimage to the place, after having risen to supreme power,
he is said to have gone stealthily by night as far as the bridge, which he crossed, and
Fig. 201. NAOOTA AND DELTA OF THE KISO-OAVA.
Scale 1 : 860,000.
Canal
- . 12 MUes.
then turned back again. He thus satisfied himself that the slaughter he had been
compelled to make of his enemies, in order to obtain the protectorate and restore
peace to the nation, was approved by Kobo Daishi, and that he might now safely
venture to pay his formal visit in full state, accompanied by all the nobles of the
Empire, without fear of being put to shame in their presence.
The basin of the Yodo-gava, which comprises Lake Biva, fringed with its
"
eighteen hundred villages," and where are situated the cities of Kioto, Kara, and
Ohosaka, is pre-eminently the historic land of Japan. On the very shores of the
lake itself stands the populous city of Ilikonc, the ancient residence of the daimio who
was entitled to the regency during the minority of the Shogun. East of this
place, which became famous during
the intestine troubles towards the end of