Anna Louise Tittman Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Anna Tittman
over the country and especially about the temple grounds four feet hi*.
They are listed when special celebrations occur. " There, that ' s the
Goddess of Wind. God of Thunder and God of Wind. [refer$ to illustration]
"In the shinto temples there were seen the God of Money, mddess of Beauty
and the muntain god. There were also the whtte elephant&. The God of
Money with biliLs of a11 denomhations sticking about all over him. The
momtaln god was depjcted in the act of killing a &agon. Guarding the
images at the devills gate were the God of Thunder and the God of Wind.
In, one of the Buddhist temples there were six boxes made pf inlarid Mother
of Pearl. These stood on stools of the sam material. 7$e boxes cantained
the Buddhist bibles. There were brass banners used in the June 5 procession.
The famous candlesticks were here which wish one long lip."
k.
I had a chain that I bo@t there, a little silver chain, very fine, and
it had a th2e on the end of it, another little silver t le and a silver
turtle on top of that. he meant long life, the llttle o on top of the
other one meant long life and the other one meant longer So the little
tw%les must ' ve helped UE to a long life. "In the' museum )there were many
interesting thin@. Tnere was a painting and a reproductlion of the June
5th procession. Very elaborate. There were also swords,; knives and armor
of mmtrous dimnsions. There was a sleeping robe mde &n the shape of a
kimono and heavily padded, as large as a bed comfmter. py far the best
exhibit were two groups of Japanese images mde to repreqnt images at prayer.
Even the veins showed..lYlt,the fbreheads of the images. T"rpir skin coloring
were exactly correct. " They l E artists all right.
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"On the gr~unds smomding the temple, there were very beautiful trees.
The little red Japanese Maple standing out vividly
deep green.
The Japanese gardens were beautiful. There is a flower which
blooms in pmfusion called the bmtt. One sees
and azaleas.
We just missed the cherry blossom season and have
wisteria season.
After lunch we all went shopping until 4:00 p.m. Then the entire pay
dmve thmw the cryptomria grove in autos. Tnese treq were magnificent,
very tall and very dark green. Our driver called qur attention to one
group of seven enomus trees growing out of one th. We stopped at a
little farm house to see mthods of farming. Japan may te propssiwe in
som matters, but certainly is not in f&g. The rice was being broken
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mmthe stalk by corrJ3ing it by hand with a f~rklike arr~gernent no mre
than ten inches long. The grain f s tranrped on to loosen the chaff d then
the chaff is fanned out by the crudest mthods. The Japwese raise'some
wheat, barley, but the flelds are not more than an acre q~ two in size.
There are everywhere extensive paddyfields where rice is growing." mere's
the instrument that combs the rice. [refers to illustrat@on]
Q. Looks a bit like a pit chfark, doesnl t it, with more ptwn; on it?
A. Yes, it does. "The paddyfields. are ternaced and are filled with water.
The fmrs work constantly In this water up to their knws. I saw them
transplanting the rice from a very wet section to one a Jittle higher. I
saw them broadcast sawing grain in a paddyfield of water. "' Just throwing
them on top of the water. It was kind of fumy. Fach padyfield has a
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