Other editions of book Samurai Trails: A Chronicle of Wanderings on the Japanese High Road

This volume is from 1918. Summary from the book's Foreword: FROM THE ALHAMBRA TO KYOTO: IT was spring and it was Spain. Sunset brought the white-haired custodian of the Court of the Lions to the balcony overhanging my foun- tain. His blue coat bespoke officialdom but his Andalusian lisp veiled this suggestion of com- pulsion. His wishes for my evening's happiness, nevertheless, were to be interpreted as a request for my going. The Alhambra had to be locked up for the night. Despite the setting, I was dreaming nothing of the Alhambra, not even of Lindaroxa. I was thinking of a friend of irresponsible imagination but of otherwise responsibility. I was wondering where he could be. On the previous summer we had walked the highroads of England and I had found him a most satisfying disputatious com- panion of enquiring mind. We had talked some- what of a similar wandering in Japan, a vagabond- age free from cicerones and away from the show places, but although we had treated this variety of imagining with due respect, we had never an idea of transmuting it into action. The Alhambra had to be locked up for the night. The custodian bowed low, and I bowed low, in unhurried obligation to dignity, and I walked away to my inn. There I found a cable- gram from America. It read: " Can meet you Kyoto June two months' walk- ing." It was signed by the other dreamer of the Two- Sworded Trails. I cabled back, " yes." The message gone, I awoke to the reality of time and space. All Eu- rope, Siberia, Manchuria, and Korea spread out their distances on the map and were lying between me and the keeping of my promise. It was in the darkness of midnight and it was raining when I stepped off the express to the Kyoto platform. For a month the world had been revolving giddily under railway carriage succeeding railway carriage until it seemed that the changing peoples outside the car windows could be taking on their ceaseless variety only through some illusion within my own eyes. I stood for a while in the shelter of the over- hanging, dripping roof of the Kyoto station awaiting some providential development, but prob- ably the local god of wayfarers did not judge my plight worry of special interposition. Finally I found a drenched youth in a stupor of sleep be- tween the shafts of his 'ricksha. His dreams were evidently depressing, for he awoke with appre- ciation for the escape. We bent over his paper lantern and at last coaxed a spurt of flame from a box of unspeakable matches. (The government decrees that matches must be given away and not sold by the tobacconists. Japan's spirit of the art of giving should not be judged by this item. The generosity is in the acceptance of the matches.) I climbed into the 'ricksha and stowed myself away under the hood, naming the inn which had been appointed by cablegram for the meeting place. Yes, the clerk answered my question, a guest with the name of Owre had arrived that day at noon and had sat up for me until midnight. He had left word that I should be taken to his room. Thus I was led through dark halls until we came to the door. We pushed it open and called into the darkness. Back came a welcome somewhat sleepy. The clerk struck a match and I dis- covered my vagabond companion crawling out from under the mosquito netting of his four- poster. Between us we had covered twenty thou- sand miles for that handshake. " It's the moment to be highly dramatic," he said with an eloquent flourish of his pajam'd arm, and he sent the clerk for a bottle of native beer. It came, warm and of infinite foam, but we managed to find a few drops of liquid at the bottom with which to drink a toast. The toast was to "The Road."

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.

Excerpt from Samurai Trails: A Chronicle of Wanderings on the Japanese High RoadThe Alhambra had to be locked up for the night. The custodian bowed low, and I bowed low, in unhurried obligation to dignity, and I walked away to my inn. There I found a cable gram from America. It read.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

About the Book From the 4th century to the 9th century, Japan's many kingdoms and tribes were unified under a centralized government, nominally controlled by an Emperor. In 794, a new capital was established at Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). Thus began the Heian period, which lasted until 1185. During subsequent centuries the power of the Emperor declined, passing to military clans and their armies of samurai warriors. The Tokugawa shogunate, governing from Edo (modern Tokyo), presided over a prosperous and peaceful era known as the Edo period (1600–1868). A strict class system was imposed on Japanese society which had almost no contact with the outside world. American Commodore Perry's Expedition in 1853–54 ended Japan's seclusion, contributing to the fall of the shogunate and returning power to the Emperor in 1868. The Meiji period transformed Japan into a great power. However, during the 1920s and 30s the military overcame civilian leaders, and with the invasion of Manchuria in 1931, embarked on a course that led to a destructive war with the United States and British Empire, that saw atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Also in this Book Japan (or, Nippon) is an island country in East Asia that lies near the eastern coast of the Asian mainland. Japan stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and China in the southwest. Often called the "Land of the Rising Sun", Japan is a stratovolcanic archipelago consisting of some 6,852 islands, the four largest of which are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku. Japan has 20 World Heritage Sites, which include Himeji Castle, historic Ancient Kyoto and Nara, and many opular tourist attractions such as Tokyo and Hiroshima, Mount Fuji, the Niseko ski resort in Hokkaido, and Okinawa. And in this Book Books about "civilization" deal with complex societies characterized by urban development, social stratification, cultural elites, systems of communication like writing, and a perception of domination over the natural environment. Other socio-politico-economic characteristics of civilization include: centralization, domestication of animals, specialization of labour, culturally imbued ideologies, grand architecture, taxes, and dependence on farming.About us Leopold Classic Library has the goal of making available to readers the classic books that have been out of print for decades. While these books may have occasional imperfections, we consider that only hand checking of every page ensures readable content without poor picture quality, blurred or missing text etc. That's why we: republish only hand checked books; that are high quality; enabling readers to see classic books in original formats; that are unlikely to have missing or blurred pages. You can search "Leopold Classic Library" in categories of your interest to find other books in our extensive collection. Happy reading!

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Excerpt from Samurai Trails: A Chronicle of Wanderings on the Japanese High RoadThe Alhambra had to be locked up for the night. The custodian bowed low, and I bowed low, in unhurried obligation to dignity, and I walked away to my inn. There I found a cable gram from America. It read.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.