東京から千葉・佐倉（成田）・成東を経て銚子へ

12. From Tokyo via Chiba, Sakura (Narita), and Naruto to Choshi.

Sobu Lines of the Imperial Government Railways.

To Sakura Jct., where a branch line diverges to (5 M.) Narita, is 32 M. Several trains daily in 1¼ hrs.—To Choshi, 73 M. in 4 hrs. For fares consult the Railway Time Table.

Tokyo, see p. 122. To (22 M.) Chiba, the rly. follows the contour of the N. end of Tokyo Bay through Shimosa Province and a region calling for no particular mention. The villagers along the coast obtain their livelihood by fishing and supplying the Tokyo markets. Chiba, the capital of Chiba-ken, with 33,400 inhabs., has nothing to interest foreign travelers. Hence to (32 M.) Sakura Jct., the trend of the line is N.E. To reach Narita one must change here to the Narita Rly. Co.'s line. For a continuation of the journey to Choshi, see p. 240.

Narita, a small town (pop. 6000) with many inns which cater to pilgrims, contains a locally celebrated temple called the Shinsho-ji (belonging to the Shingon sect of Buddhists) dedicated to Fudo (p. ccvi), and said to date from 1704. Its full name is Narita-Shingo Shinsho-ji, or ‘The Divinely Protected Temple of Recent Victory on Mt. Narita,’ and the image of Fudo (ascribed to Kobo-Daishi) is said to possess such miraculous powers that thousands of credulous pilgrims foregather here each year (in April and May) to make their obeisances before it. Other popular festivals fall on the 28th of each month and attract many folks from the countryside.

The temple stands on the side of a hill about ½ M. (tram-cars, 6 sen) at the left of the station, facing an interesting street lined with many picturesque shops dedicated to the sale of yokan (a sweetmeat made of brown beans and larded with chestnuts); to honey-like mizuame and to many marine products, conspicuous among them big shells painted on the inner side with fishes, turtles, sailors, temples, and what-not. According to the priestly fabrication Fudo's image was brought from China by its author and

enshrined in a temple on Takao-san, near Kyoto. Here it acquired such renown for its wonderful powers that the Mikado, who was then at war with rebellious subjects in Shimosa, commanded it to be taken to the seat of the disturbance. There, by its intervention, the rebels suffered disastrous defeat (in A.D. 940), and at the termination of the civil war it was ordered back to Kyoto. But when the bonze Kwancho essayed to return it, it straightway showed its preference for Narita by suddenly becoming so heavy that no man or men could budge it. Appearing in a dream to the Mikado, Fudo declared his intention of sticking to Narita for the purpose of blessing and civilizing the region. Thereupon His Majesty granted a fund for the erection of a suitable temple, and this is said to have stood on the site of the present one. The great gate was added in 1831, and the next year saw the erection of the auxiliary buildings. The treasury of the temple is said to contain a sword (never shown) presented by the Emperor Shujaku (931–46) to Fudo in recognition of his services. Tradition has it that this weapon was forged for the regalia of the Emperor Mommu (697–707) by the celebrated Amakuni, first of the native swordsmiths, whence its name, Amakuni-no-hoken; one touch of it is believed to cure insanity and to relieve persons possessed of the fox demon.

Viewed from the tall inns across the street the temple and its adjuncts are very picturesque; a highly ornamented copper-sheathed lantern with gilt enrichments stands in the corner of the yard near the street, behind an inclosing wall formed of hundreds of stone slabs, 7 by 15 in., impressed with ideographic names of the contributors to the fane. Similar slabs compose the minor walls in the compound, which is crowded with stone lanterns, shishi, tablets, pyramids of water-buckets for use in case of fire, cylindrical iron tubs, and what-not. The conspicuous adornment of the huge gateway with its resplendent copper-bronze roof is the recurrent gilded Wheel of the Law—the customary crest on temples dedicated to Fudo. Behind it, on higher terraces, stand the main temples, the Hondo and Komyo-do. The newer temple at the left has for its chief idol a sculptured and seated figure of the great apostle Kobo-Daishi (p. cxxvi), surrounded by some good wood-carvings, some life-size paintings of former abbots, and some inharmonious war-relics. Beyond the corner of the big wall (tamagaki), which extends to the right of the steps leading up to the gateway, is a sacred well, inclosed, where pilgrims perform the ceremony of bathing in cold water—a penance to them, as they customarily use hot water. The ugly beacon at the right of the gate, with its many names, dates from 1894. The nondescript structure where male devotees are seen fasting is the Otoko Danjiki-do. Diagonally across the yard is the Onna Danjiki-do, reserved for women fasters, who appear to enjoy the notoriety.

Formerly the period of abstention from all food was 3 weeks; 6 days now constitute the test of devotion. Many of the hungry pilgrims try to pass as much of this time as they can in sleep. According to tradition the (16th cent.) saint Doyo passed 100 days in fervent prayer for religious light. Finally one of the gods appeared to him and thrust a sharp sword down his throat. The blood flowed freely, but after the operation, which miraculously left no wound, the mental powers of the saint were found to be vastly increased. His robes, dyed with the blood spilt, are said to be enshrined in the temple reliquary, and pictures illustrating the occurrence hang on the walls.

Sixteen stone steps lead up to the massive gateway of sculptured keyaki, whose huge supporting beams and rafters, sheathed in richly embossed metal, carry coarse but well-executed wood-carvings badly defaced by the pigeons which nest therein. The big swinging bronze lanterns are very decorative. The scowling Nio in their respective loggias are erroneously attributed to Kobo-Daishi, and are practically covered by the spit-ball prayers launched at them by the credulous. The two huge figures behind them, in cages overlooking the inner yard, are (left) Bishamonten, and Tamonten, companions to the Deva Kings. The white marble bridge above the pretty pond with turtles and goldfishes is one of the few of this material the traveler will see in Japan. In the inclosure here are many upright tablets and a huge monument in the form of a bronze sword held upright by the figurines at the base and symbolizing the Doyo tradition referred to above. A picturesque shrinelet stands at the top of a flight of small steps at the left, and with the host of symbols scattered about it, and the two huge bronze and gilded Dogs of Fo which guard the steps to the upper terrace, imparts a singular aspect to the place.

At the top of the (33) steps which lead up to the terrace stands the Hondo, of unpainted keyaki and surrounded by a wide porch around which pilgrims plod monotonously in the operation called O-hyaku-do fumu, or ‘a hundred-times trot around.’ Whosoever makes the circuit this number of times, counting his rosary and marking time with the white strings held in his hand, travels about 3 M. and acquires enough merit to have his sins washed away. The approach to this porch, through the atrium crowded with tablets, lanterns, and all the metal accompaniments and enrichments of a prosperous Buddhist tera, is almost as picturesque as the view in retrospect, over the roof of the gateway and the terraces below. As is the custom with ecclesiastical establishments which depend upon alms rather than upon state aid, the contribution-box (saisen-bako) is a capacious structure 6 ft. wide, 4 ft. deep, and 18 ft. long, metal-studded, with cross-bars and a deep slot running the length of it. Another one, about half the size, stands at the left and echoes loudly when the small coins of the pilgrims are cast into it.

Above the large one are some noteworthy sculptured panels, now badly faded, showing the conventional Buddhist phoenixes, dragons, birds, waves, and the like, all in polychromatic colors and protected by wire netting. The squirming gold dragon on a black panel in the ceiling is worth looking at, as well as the flying tennin on smaller side panels—the work of Kano Yasunobu (18th cent.). To this artist of the celebrated Kano school is also ascribed the large painting of the Sixteen Rakan, behind the main altar. The red seated figure of carved wood at the left, with parts of his body rubbed away, is the

contrite Binzuru (p. ccviii). One must remove one's shoes to obtain a closer look at the interior and the main shrine (no fees), on the central altar of which, looking very black and ominous, is a huge seated Fudo, flanked by his disciples Seitaka-Doji and Kongara-Doji. A huge brass baldachin pends above, and many brass fitments stand below. The coffered ceiling is a dirty black streaked with the stains of the incense which has burned here for upward of 200 yrs. The big temple drum at the left can be heard all over the neighborhood; the collection of gold and silver coins in a frame at the corner allotted to the bonzes are of the Tokugawa era.

Perhaps the most interesting objects about the building are the excellent wood-carvings on the doors, back and sides; all are protected by wire screens, and though the facial expressions of the human figures lack character and grace, the intricacy of the carving and the multiplicity of the subjects command respect. The small groups on the square panels of the doors, each about 2 by 2½ ft., illustrate acts in the lives of certain of the Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety (mentioned in the Chinese Repository, vol. vi) and are ascribed to Shimamura Shumbyo. The long panels (4 by 9 ft.) on the sides and back of the temple portray events in the lives of the Five Hundred Rakan, and are attributed to Matsumoto Ryosan. The leering, bulbous, sodden faces (no two of which are alike) of these ‘perfected Buddhist saints’ are the reverse of holy, and are singularly out of harmony with their reputed deeds. The large carved animals on the architrave above the panels are fabulous and mediocre, and are without counterparts in any civilized zoo.

Perched among the rocks on the slope of the hill behind the temple are a number of small shrines; one, high up on the right, contains a figure of En-no Shokaku, a be-whiskered individual pictured with a pilgrim's staff in his right hand; he was a Buddhist hermit who dwelt in solitude on Mt. Katsuragi for 30 yrs. (during the 7th cent.), and whose specialty was to climb the highest mts. of the country and consecrate them to Shaka. One of the early mikados, wearying of this ceaseless agility, accused the bonze of sorcery, and exiled him (in 699) to one of the Izu Islands, but relented and pardoned him some years after.—The 36 bronze figures dispersed about the rockery symbolize the 36 terrestrial manifestations of Kwannon.

The 3-storied, intricately carved, polychromatic Pagoda at the right of the Hondo is a sad simulacrum of a sometime gorgeous structure. On a par with it in point of decoration is the near-by Revolving Library—time-stained, vermiculated, and tottering to its fall. Straight across from the pagoda, at the right, is an Ex-voto Hall with a curious medley of gifts; among them an English bronze cannon incised with the Crown,

the monogram G.R.IV., the date 1824, and a metal ribbon with Honi Soit qui Mal y Pense—a fine old relic of gallant King George IV. In an iron cage is a rope, 3 in. in diameter and 100 ft. long, made of hair from women's heads, and employed to haul the beams used in the construction of the temple. The buildings seen across the valley at the far right are the Narita Library, the Public School, etc.

From this terrace 52 granite steps lead up to the final one on which stands the Komyo-do, or Hall of Resplendent Light, a weather-beaten structure showing signs of former magnificence. Its location is superb, high above the town, on a clean-swept space girdled by a fringe of splendid trees through which beguiling views are obtainable. The central figure, which seems out of place in the tawdry, incense-stained interior, is Dainichi-Nyorai, one of the Buddhist trinity personifying purity and wisdom. Immediately behind the building, in an artificial cave constructed of ideographic slabs, behind a dim light which shows only as a yellow gleam in the murky darkness, is a shrine dedicated to him. Many small shops, tea-houses, peep-shows, and the like share the hilltop with the temple, at the left of which is an open Ex-voto Hall containing a number of pictures of no worth.—The vista across the temple roofs as we descend to the street is very pretty. The situation is just such a one as the nature-loving Buddhists like to select for their shrines—at once symbolic of the lofty retreat whence the hermit Buddha looked out with dreamy, contemplative gaze over the world below, as well as appealing to the sentiment of all who love to view life from the high places.

The traveler who elects to return to Tokyo may do so over the line traversed on the outward journey, or proceed direct (over the Narita Rly. Co.'s line) from Narita to (28 M.) Abiko (fare, ¥1.29, 1st cl.) and join the North-Eastern Line described in Rte. 17, p. 305. From Narita the rly. continues N.E. through a nondescript country to 37 M. Sawara.

Tokyo-Choshi Rte. continued from p. 236. From Sakura Jct. the rly. runs E. over a level country to 45 M. Naruto, then turns abruptly to the left and runs N.E. via 56 M. Yokaichiba, to 73 M. Choshi (Inn: Daishin, ¥2 and upward), a seashore town at the mouth of the Tone River; a sort of Japanese Cape Cod. The people engage either in catering to the wants of the picnickers who come hither from Tokyo, or devote their time to catching sardines (iwashi), which assemble here in such numbers as to imply that they like the process of being boiled for their oil and later used as a fertilizer. The great cauldrons in which they are reduced are not fragrant, and foreigners with a refined sense of smell take but little pleasure in the neighborhood. The near-by coast is pretty, but less so than the lovely Matsushima, farther N. Broad lagoons stretch away N.W., and the natives delight to ride over them on the poky little river steamboats which ply hence to several of the ports.

2. From Tokyo via Chiba, Soga (Kisarazu) and Oami to Katsuura (Kominato). Sobu and Boso Lines of the Imperial Government Railways.

To Kisarazu (45 M.) several trains daily in 1¼ hrs. To Katsuura (77 M.) in about 3 hrs. For fares consult the Railway Time Table. The line traverses the provinces of Shimosa and Kazusa, penetrating the picturesque Boshu Peninsula, a favorite tramping-ground for Tokyo people.

From Tokyo to Chiba Jct. is described in the foregoing route. Thence the rly. runs along the E. shore of Tokyo Bay to (3 M.) Soga Jct., where the line for Kisarazu turns to the right to follow the contour of the bay, while the main line continues across a fairly level country to (14 M.) Oami Jct. mentioned hereinafter.

From Soga to Kisarazu is 20 M., and throughout the run one gets alluring glimpses of the bay and of the scores of junks and smaller craft bound to or from Tokyo. The waters hereabout teem with a great variety of fish, and fishing is the chief industry of the villagers along the shore. Kisarazu (Inn: Torikai, ¥2), a poor town with but little of interest, is liked by the Japanese for the succulent eels caught and cooked there. Foreign residents of the metropolis often make the place (steamers daily from Tokyo) the point of departure for walking trips to the interior of the peninsula, which is charming in springtime, with many flowers and delightful sea views. An extension of the rly. is in process of construction to (15 M.) Kururi, thence over the hills to (10 M.) Odaki, and on to (5 M.) Katsuura, the present terminus of the line described below. The mt. visible at the S. of the proposed line is Kano-san (1250 ft.), astride the border of Kazusa and Awa (Chinese name, Boshu) Provinces.

At Oami Jct. the Togane line runs in a N.E. direction to (8 M.) Naruto, a junction on the line to Choshi. Our line here turns to the right and runs southward until it strikes the sea at (26 M. from Chiba Jct.) Ichinomiya, a nondescript fishing-village. 55 M. Katsuura (Inn: Kozen, ¥2), a busy little fishing-town, is usually the point of departure for the near-by (4 M. to the S.) Kominato village, known to Buddhists throughout Japan as the birthplace (or the place of exile) of the bonze Nichiren. He is said to have married here and to have become a fisherman. Later he prohibited the catching of fish, and as the prohibition is still observed, the finny tribes haunt the adjacent waters undisturbed in such numbers that the environing coast is called Tai-no-ura, or Sea Bream Coast. A temple, the Tanjo-ji (‘Nativity Temple,’ said to have been established in 1286), stands to his memory and is an object of veneration by the adherents of the Hokke sect. The present edifice, erected in 1846 on the site of an earlier structure, contains some mediocre carvings and a number of relics of the militant saint—whose ashes are deposited in the Minobu Temple (Rte. 25).