ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the devoted to a general view and a more particular description of Japanese localities. The size of a Japanese town was formerly never measured by the number of its inhabitants, but always by its length and breadth and the number of its houses. In the north-eastern quarter of the town, removed from traffic and noise, stands the former residence of the Mikados. It is the classic ground of Japanese history, and with its numerous ancient temples, the original seat of Japanese scholarship and the starting point of civilization. The park-like garden, laid out with the well-known taste of Japanese landscape gardening, is very much neglected, as was remarked by Baron Hiibner, to whom we must refer for a fuller account. The wood-carvings, paintings, gilding and lacquering of the pillars and doors are reckoned among the most beautiful productions of Japanese artistic industry. Its streets are mostly narrow, and offer nothing particularly striking in comparison with Japanese towns.