Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan
Lafcadio Hearn
Paperback
(Book Jungle, Feb. 18, 2008)
Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1895. Excerpt: ... A PILGRIMAGE TO ENOSHTMA. I. Kamakuba. A long, straggling country village, between low wooded hills, with a canal passing through it. Old Japanese cottages, dingy, neutral-tinted, with roofs of thatch, very steeply sloping, above their wooden walls and paper shoji. Green patches on all the roof-slopes, some sort of grass; and on the very summits, on the ridges, luxurious growths of yaneshobu,1 the roof-plant, bearing pretty purple flowers. In the lukewarm air a mingling of Japanese odors, smells of sake", smells of seaweed soup, smells of daikon, the strong native radish; and dominating all, a sweet, thick, heavy scent of incense, -- incense from the shrines of gods. Akira has hired two jinrikisha for our pilgrimage; a speckless azure sky arches the world; and the land lies glorified in a joy of sunshine. A