ABSTRACT
One of the most charming bits of Miss Scidmore's "Jinrikisha Days" tells how their party rode over the Tokaido just before the railroad was built, making a sort of farewell trip, before the old character of the road should be quite taken away. The Tokaido provinces have an air of abundance and prosperity that recalls the rich meadows of Holland and the Belgian coast. The peasants of the Tokaido, too, were the delight of Hokusai and his fellow artists of the Ukiyo-ye, or school of the passing world. One charming little side-trip on the Tokaido can be made with very little trouble or fatigue, and is more than worth the effort. The fact was that the Japanese landlord had almost absolute power to exact rents from his tenants, and the only redress was for the peasants to assemble in a body and present themselves at their lord's gate, setting forth their necessities and entreating relief.
