HLI Chronicle 1907 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY CHRONICLE. 103
mention here that the ruler of the land is now
always spoken of as the Emperor, not the
Mikado. This is to mark the fact that he is
now the temporal as well as the spiritual head
of his nation. From the palace we w:mt on
to Kitano Tenjin, a temple standing in a large
garden at the extreme north-west end of the
town. The garden is very pretty, but the
temple hila nothing very interesting about it.
There were some good bronze figures of cows
and other animals on each side of the paths,
and a very fine bronze horse on the left of the
entrance. Another short run in the :rickshas
brought us to the Kinkakinji gardens, in
which i(a temple well worth seeing; it has a
suite of apartments once occupied by Shogun
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who resigned his 'crown
to his son, shaved his head and became a
monk, spending his last days in retirement
here. He also built a gilded pavilion on the
edge of the artificial lake, but the gilding had
become so ruined that it was being restored
when we saw it, and, being surrounded by
scaffolding, was not then a thing of beauty.
This garden lies quite outside the town, at the
foot of the hills, and is beautifully laid out in
the Japanese style. Tradition has it that one
hot summer the kingly monk, who must have
been a bit of a sybarite, had one of those hills
overlooking the pavilion clothed in white silk
to represent snow, and so cooled his imagination.
In consequence, it is still called "Silk
Hat Mountain." This Shogun was the originator
of the elaborate" tea ceremonies" which
are still performed on certain occasions.
From here a good long run brought us to the
Nijo Palace and Castle on the extreme west
side of the town. It is a fine, square, fortified
place surrounding the palace, which was one
of the finest sights in Kyoto. The rooms are
resplendent with gilded decorations on walls
and ceilings. There are many beautiful paintings
by some of Japan's best artists, and the
carvings in gilt or painted wood are marvellous.
The carving goes right through the panels
over the doorways, yet each side shows a
-different subject. It is a place to spend a
whole morning in; but we were already so
late that we had to hurry our visit, and did
not reach our hotel till after two p.m. In
the afte~noon we spent a short time in 'the
quaint old town buying a few oddities, and
then joined Mr. Nomura at his own emporium,
where we saw far better!things than at the
shops he had taken us ~to the previolis days.
We spent more than an hour admiring his
works of.art, which consisted chiefly of brocades
and embroidered silk, or art-velvet screens
and pictures. We spent about £10 there in all,
and one could easily get rid of £100 or more
without making much impression on his stock
of lovely things. He then invited us to eat
a Japanese dinner with him at one of the
restaurants in the town. This repast was one
of our quaintest experiences during our visit
to Japan. We took off our shoes on entering,
sat on cushions on the ground, and ate off a
lacquered table ~standing about fifteen inches
high. About six or seven little dishes were
brought in in succession; nothing :was removed,
the idea being that the guest should
take away with him all that is not eaten, to
consume it on some future occasion! Consequently
our small table was soon covered
with plates of all sizes and shapes. Unfortunately,
I did not at once write down the
dishes that were presented to us, and I cannot
now remember them, but they were chiefly
fish and thick vegetable soups. One consisted
of slices of raw fish cut as thin as bacon, with
which was served some horse radish paste and
a very good soy in a little lacquered bowl.
Our host instructed me how to eat it. The
slice of fish was first dipped in the soy, some
paste placed on it, and it was then rolled into
a rissole, dipped again in the soy, and put into
the mouth whole. All this had to be done
with chop-sticks, and I found myself very
clumsy at using them; but it was one of the
dishes I appreciated most of all. Our beverages
included tea, hot sake, and Japanese beer,
which'was very good. The Japanese have had
German brewers to teach them, but now there
is a large manufacture of light beers, of the
Pilsener type, in the country, made entirely
by Japanese, and very good it is. We only
picked at the different dishes, afraid of the
consequences of some of them, and on our
return to the hotel we were glad of some supper
before going to bed.
S. BERKOVITCH & SONS,
IMPORTERS AND BONDERS OF
FINEST TURKISH TOBACCO
AND 'CIGARBTTB IIIAIU1FACTURBBS,
39 GLASSHOUSE STREET, REGENT STREErl,
~ uONDON, w. ~
Supply Omcers' Mess Depot Scottish Rifle.
and H.L.I.
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