In Beautiful Japan: A Story of Bamboo Lands |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
ancient avenue bamboo beautiful bells birds blossoms boats bronze Buddha Buddhist building carvings castle century ceremony charming Chion-in cloisonné colors coolies courtyard covered crowded cryptomerias daikon daimyōs dance decorated dress Emperor European fans feet festival fish flowers foreign Fujiyama garden gate girls gold gorgeous grand grounds groves harakiri height huge hundred Iemitsu Ieyasu images interior island Japan Japanese kakemonos kimona Kiyomizu-dera Kōbe kurumas kurumayas Kwannon Kyōtō lacquer lake Lake Biwa lanterns lovely magnificent mats Mikado miles mountain native night Nikkō ornaments Ōsaka Ōtsu pagoda painted palace pines priests reached rice rich ride River road rode rōnins roofs sacred samisen scene scenery Shinto Shōgun shops shrine shrubs sight silk steep stone stream streets summit tea-houses temple Tōkyō tomb torii train trees Ueno Park walked walls wood wooden Yokohama
Popular passages
Page 363 - They to their grassy couch, these to their nests, Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale; She all night long her amorous descant sung; Silence was pleased: now glowed the firmament With living sapphires; Hesperus that led The starry host rode brightest, till the moon, Rising in clouded majesty, at length Apparent queen unveiled her peerless light, And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.
Page 341 - Japan, published in 1872, he directed that "henceforth Education shall be so diffused that there may not be a village with an ignorant family, nor a family with an ignorant member.
Page 174 - Suinin (BC 2 of the popular chronology), his brother died. All his attendants were buried alive round the tumulus in a standing position. For many days they died not, but day and night wept and cried. The Mikado, hearing the sound of their weeping, was sad and sorry in his heart, and commanded all his ministers to devise some plan by which this custom, ancient though it was, should be discontinued for the future. Accordingly when the Mikado...
Page 59 - Yes, said Erasmus, but the egg I laid was a hen, and Luther hatched a game-cock. No wise man will lightly change the old for the new. The misfortune is that the world waits too long over the incubation, and the new creature often changes its nature in struggling to get born. Oxford stayed thus too long incubating. Light had come into the world, and the dawn was spreading. To other...
Page 164 - Asano, Lord of Ako, while at Yedo in attendance on the Shogun, was entrusted with the carrying out of one of the greatest state ceremonies of those times, nothing less than the reception and entertainment of an envoy from the Mikado. Now Asano was not so well versed in such matters as in the duties of a warrior.
Page 235 - He must have his eyes everywhere and his hands following his eyes. Specially must he watch for the moment when any of his flock is gorged, — a fact generally made known by the bird itself, which then swims about in a foolish, helpless way, with its head and swollen neck erect. Thereupon the master, shortening in on that bird, lifts it aboard, forces its bill open with his left hand, which still holds the rest of the lines, squeezes out the fish with his right, and starts the creature off on a fresh...
Page 48 - O stranger, whosoever thou art, and whatsoever be thy creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary remember that thou treadest upon ground hallowed by the worship of ages. This is the temple of Buddha and the gate of the Eternal, and should therefore be entered with reverence.
Page 237 - ... taken out of the water, the master can tell by its weight whether it has secured enough supper while engaged in the hunt ; failing which, he makes the deficiency good by feeding it with the inferior fish of the catch. At length all are ranged in their due order, facing outwards, on the gunwale of each boat. And the sight of that array of great ungainly sea-birds — shaking themselves, flapping their wings, gawing, making their toilets, clearing their throats, looking about them with a stare...
Page 237 - No. 2 — the rumpus that forthwith arises in that family is a sight to see and a sound to hear. " But all this while we have been drifting down, with the boats about us, to the lower end of the course, and are again abreast of Gifu, where the whole squadron is beached. As each cormorant is now taken out of the water, the master can tell by its weight whether it has secured enough supper while engaged in the hunt ; failing which, he makes the deficiency good by feeding it with the inferior fish of...
Page 234 - There are, to begin with, four men in each of the seven boats, one of whom, at the stern, has no duty but that of managing his craft. In the bow stands the master, distinguished by the peculiar hat of his rank, and handling no fewer than twelve trained birds with the surpassing skill and coolness that have earned for the sportsmen of Gifu their unrivalled pre-eminence. Amidships is another fisher, of the second grade, wrho handles four birds only.