CHAPTER VI
AT KAMAKURA
Nan found her sister waiting for her; the others had gone to theirrooms. "Well," exclaimed Mary Lee, "you did take your time. What becameof you? We never once caught a glimpse of you after we reached thegrounds."
"We went to see the flowers the first thing, and that occupied sometime. Where were you?"
"Oh, we started off in exactly the opposite direction, so no wonder wemissed one another. What did you think of it, Nan?"
"It was most interesting."
"I thought the crowds were quite as fascinating as the show. Did youever see so many little children and so many poor little youngsterswith babies on their backs? They seemed perfectly content and happy,both babies and their carriers, but it was funny to see the babies'heads bob around with no one to mind in the least. The little girlsnever appear to be aware that the babies are there; they go skippingor bobbing or playing while the babies are like great big bundles andnothing more."
Nan told her experience with one little girl and baby, Mary Leelistening attentively. "Well, you did make more of your opportunitiesthan we did," she admitted regretfully.
"I think it was partly because I had so good a companion," returnedNan. "I thought at first that I should like Mr. Montell better than Mr.Harding, but I have changed my mind."
"Mr. Montell is much better looking."
"Yes, and an interesting talker, but once you know Mr. Harding youfind that there is really more to him. You know what a dear child Nellalways was, so sympathetic and genuine; I fancy her brother is much thesame."
Mary Lee laughed. "Take care, Nan. You are such an enthusiastic olddear that you will be investing the young man with all sorts ofbeautiful characteristics he doesn't possess, once you get your vividimagination into real good working order."
Nan smiled. "Oh, I am perfectly sound and whole so far, though onenever can tell where lightning will strike. You may fall a victimyourself."
Mary Lee looked grave and then she said in a low tone, "You knowit would be impossible, Nan. You must leave me out of all suchconjectures. There was never any one but Phil and there never will be."
Nan gave her sister a compassionate hug, and realized that Mary Lee'sdevotion to the young cousin who had died was not a mere matter ofmonths, but that it was a thing of years if not of a lifetime. Shechanged the subject. "Did you see Aunt Helen when you all came in? Didshe say what we were to do to-morrow?"
"Both she and Mrs. Craig were up," Mary Lee told her, "and they havearranged for a trip to Kamakura, they told me."
"Where that huge statue of Buddha is, the one that is called the DaiButsu? I am glad we are going there. How many are going? All of us?"
"Yes, and Mr. Montell; he has promised to take his camera, so we canhave some pictures to send home."
Nan was thoughtful for a moment. "I don't believe Mr. Harding can go,for he said something about being on duty to-morrow morning. We shallhave to leave him behind."
"And you will be sorry?"
"I certainly shall. One man doesn't go around when there are threegirls."
Mary Lee laughed, and the two settled themselves for the night.
The party that started for Kamakura the next morning did not consisthowever of five women and one man, for Colonel Craig joined them andproved to be a most acceptable addition, a fine soldierly, courteousman who was a mine of information. The journey, to what was once acity of a million souls, was made by train, but was continued by_jinrikisha_ to the great image which was the special object to bevisited.
"Isn't it a queer little train?" said Eleanor as she seated herself.
"It reminds me of those in Italy," returned Nan; "they always seemedsuch harmless well-meaning little things that wouldn't hurt you forthe world. Do see that picturesque little village, Eleanor. Isn'tit just like the pictures with the straw-thatched houses? Those arerice-fields, of course, there where the people are wading. Such ahorrid sloppy way of getting a crop. I should think they would hate it,but I suppose the 'honorable rice' is too precious a product for themto consider the manner of its growing or harvesting; the main thing isto get it any old way."
"Aren't those wonderful groves of trees?" returned Eleanor, observingon her part. "There are mountains, Nan, beautiful purple mountains, butit is rather sombre scenery, don't you think?"
Here Mr. Montell came over to speak to them. "You mustn't expect to seea glorious city," he told them, "for it has suffered from terriblefires and from a great tidal wave which destroyed most of the manytemples. There are still some left, nevertheless, and these we shallsee."
In spite of this warning it was a surprise to the girls to beholda queer little village wandering between hills and showing a canalworming its way through it. The houses were very old, straw-thatchedand gray, with strange grasses, and even flowers, growing on theirancient roofs.
Nan caught her breath. "How desolate!" she gasped. "Could one everimagine this was once a busy, restless city with magnificent buildings,temples and wonders of all kinds?"
"Some of the wonders still remain, as you will see," said Colonel Craigas he helped her into a _jinrikisha_. "When you have seen the Dai Butsuyou will acknowledge that even a Japanese fishing village retains someof its ancient glory."
They bobbed along behind the huge spreading hats of the runners andpresently entered a long avenue of trees to go through a temple gatewayand a long courtyard.
Suddenly the runners stopped, and the visitors, looking up, sawthe huge statue before them. One after another alighted from the_jinrikishas_ and gathered around Mr. Montell and Colonel Craig.
"Isn't he enormous?" cried Mary Lee looking up at the colossal figureseated in a lotus flower.
"He is nearly fifty feet high," said the colonel.
"And he isn't in a temple, but just in plain out-of-doors," remarkedEleanor.
"There was a temple once," her uncle told her. "You can see some of thebases of its sixty-three pillars if you look for them. The great tidalwave destroyed it, and the surrounding buildings, away back in thefifteenth century. So far as we know the statue was cast about 1252. Itis made of bronze. The eyes are four feet long and the distance acrossthe lap from one knee to the other is thirty-five feet, so now you canget some idea of his bigness."
They all stood in silence looking up at the renowned figure with areal reverence. Nan slipped her hand into her Aunt Helen's. "I lovehis gentle smile," she whispered. "How placid he looks after all thegreat convulsions of nature, the ravages of time and all the desolatingthings that have happened around him."
Her aunt responded with a little pressure of the hand. "He is alesson, dear, to all of us. Did the colonel read you the inscriptionat the gateway? I have written it down." She read from her note-book:"O stranger, whosoever thou art, and whatsoever be thy creed, whenthou enterest this sanctuary remember that thou treadest upon groundhallowed by the worship of ages. This is the temple of Buddha and thegate of the Eternal, and should therefore be entered with reverence."
"Could any one feel anything else but reverence?" returned Nan. "Andnot only reverence but a real awe and certainly a great admiration."
"Shall we go inside?" asked Mr. Montell who had been busy with hiscamera and who now came up. "You know there is a small opening in theside of the big lotus-blossom on which Buddha is sitting. There is ashrine to Kwannon inside and if you care to climb up a ladder you cango as far as the shoulders and have a peep at the grounds."
Nan shook her head. "No, let those who are not impressed as I amdescend to such things; I don't want to remember that I climbed to hisshoulders; I only want to remember his kind smile and his half-shuteyes. It is the most wonderful thing I have seen in Japan exceptFujiyama."
"Harding ought to be here," laughed Mr. Montell. "He feels just as youdo about the Dai Butsu."
Allowing the others to penetrate to the interior of the statue,Nan seated herself at some distance and gave herself up to acontemplation of Buddha. She was rather glad to be alone for she was animpress
ionable young person and a dreamer of dreams. For some time shesat lost in her thoughts, and carried back, back how many centuries.All sorts of strange fancies possessed her, and at last she couldscarce have told where she was.
Presently some one descending from a _jinrikisha_ caught sight of hersitting there, chin in hand, her eyes fixed on the statue. He madehis way rapidly to her side, stood for a moment watching the raptexpression of her face, then very softly he spoke, "Miss Nan."
She looked up with a start. "Why, Mr. Harding," she said, "I thoughtyou couldn't come."
"I found that I could get off after all," he replied coming over andseating himself by her side. "Where are the others and what are youdoing here all alone?"
"The others are feeling and touching and prying, as if it were notenough to look and become absorbed into the soul of Buddha."
"Oh, you have the fever," cried her companion. "I knew you would getit and that is why I so wanted to be here to-day. I knew how impressedyou would be with the wonder of it. Doesn't it express all the peaceand the calm you ever dreamed of as existing in Nirvana? Shall you everforget it?"
"Never, never. I cannot tell you what heights I have climbed while Ihave been sitting here, nor what dreams I have dreamed, nor where mysoul has wandered."
"I saw all that in your face as I came up and I hated to disturb yourdreams, yet I wanted to share them. Whenever I have felt homesick anddiscouraged I have come here and never have I failed to find comfort."
Nan turned to smile and to nod understandingly. Then for a moment thetwo sat looking at one another. Nan saw a pair of hazel eyes; a ratherlean face, smooth shaven; a mouth not small but well-shaped; a ratherlarge nose; a forehead, broad and low, above which was a crop of brownhair of uncertain shade. Not good looking in the least was this brotherof her old college mate, but it was a face which could show tenderness,courage and unselfishness and she decided that she liked it very much.
On his part the young man saw a girl with eager, long-lashed gray eyes,a sweet mouth, a clear, colorless complexion and masses of dark hair;not so pretty as her sister Mary Lee, but with a more expressive faceand to his mind a more attractive one.
Nan's gaze was the first to falter. She arose rather hastily. "Ibelieve they are looking for me. Shall we go up there and join them? Ibelieve they are buying photographs."
They walked slowly up the paved path, the sunshine and the waving treesabout them. Once or twice they stopped while Mr. Harding pointed outsome remnant of bygone splendor, a pile of stones, a distant _tori-i_,but at last they reached the others.
"We are going to have lunch before we go to the temple of Kwannon,"Mrs. Craig told them after greeting her nephew whose coming was asurprise to every one. "There is a little inn back there. We can takeour _jinrikishas_ back to it."
"Oh, dear, must we eat?" sighed Nan. "I don't feel as if I could lose amoment in this wonderful place. Is it far to the temple of Kwannon andcouldn't one walk?"
"Oh, yes, one could walk easily enough, but it seems to me that onecould do it better after partaking of a meal," replied Mrs. Craig. SoNan, all unwillingly, followed the rest and in a short time they foundthemselves on the verandah of the Kaihin-in, the small hotel to whichthey had come for their meal. They could see a small strip of blue seabetween pine woods and sand-dunes, but the famed island of Enoshimawas not in sight, though the colonel told them it could be seen froma point a little further on. "We must go there some day," he said,"for it is well worth a visit, and is often included in this trip toKamakura, but I realize that you are not the kind of rushing Americanswho wish to see everything sketchily rather than a few thoroughly, so Ithink we would better save Enoshima for another day."
"I certainly second that motion," spoke up Nan. "I couldn't come heretoo often; it perfectly fascinates me."
A queer little meal was served them,--rice, eggs, dried fish, strangesweetmeats, the tender young shoots of the bamboo, and various otherthings untouched by the guests because undistinguishable. Then forthagain they fared to the hill behind the great Dai Butsu where theyshould find the temple of the great goddess of mercy and pity, she towhom all Japanese mothers pray, for she is the children's protector,they believe.
Before ascending the steps before the temple, the group stood tolook off at the blue sea and the plain of Kamakura below them. "Tounderstand Kamakura you must know something of its history," said thecolonel, "but we mustn't take time for that to-day, though I advise youto read up when you get back. Japan is so full of history, folk-loreand religious traditions that one can understand only a little of hergreat sights until he has made a study of certain great personages andcertain events."
An old priest in white robes appeared at the entrance, as they came up,and invited them to enter the dim interior, but the great goddess wasnot to be seen at once. It required a golden means to bring visitorsthis privilege, though the party lingered to look upon the thingsat once before them, strange votive offerings, images, lanterns,inscriptions. Leading the way through a low doorway, the priest usheredthem into a dark and lofty place where at first nothing was visible butthe glimmering light of his lantern.
"Are you able to distinguish anything?" whispered Mr. Harding to Nan.
"Not yet," she answered. "How mysterious it is. Will you tell me whatwe are expected to see?"
"Wouldn't you rather the mystery would unfold itself?"
"Yes, I believe I would. Now I see something that looks like a greatgolden foot. Another foot. I see some ropes hanging. What are they for?"
The answer came when the priest hung a couple of lanterns to the ropesand as these were slowly drawn up, the outlines of a figure weredisclosed. Further and further swung the lanterns while expectationincreased.
"I can see the hand," said one.
"Another hand holding a flower," said another.
"The face! the face! there it is," cried Nan, as a smiling visage atlast shone out of the dimness.
"There is more yet," Mr. Harding told her. The "more" proved to be thecrown of maiden's faces in pyramidal shape which surmounted the statue.The strangely shining figure in the midst of darkness was very eerieand effective, and they all came away much impressed.
"There are many legends concerning the Kwannon," the colonel told them."She is supposed to have given up her right to heavenly peace that allmankind should be saved by her prayers. She never refuses a petitionexcept when it is twice made in her name of Hito Koto Kwannon, as itis not the proper thing to address her twice by this title. Under herorders the god Jizo Sama looks after the ghosts of little children.She loves animals and some of the peasants take their cattle to certainshrines to receive her benediction. She represents all that is womanlyand loving, and is really one of the very choicest of all the deities."
"I am getting bewildered with all these deities and sub-deities,"declared Eleanor. "They don't seem very beautiful, only very large anduncouth."
"That is because you have no imagination, my dear," said her brother."When you have read all the wonderful legends of this land, you may bemore interested."
"Oh, dear, I never did care for mythology," returned she. "I would muchrather see shops than shrines, and real people than images."
"Philistine of Philistines, isn't she, Miss Nan?"
"Well, I am sure I couldn't spend hours over dead religions and oldworn-out traditions as you do," retorted Eleanor. "You should see Nealwhen he gets hold of a book of Japanese folk-lore; he is fairly daffy."
Neal and Nan looked at one another and smiled. Each knew that Eleanorwas a dear girl but was by no means a creature of sentiment. As if bycommon consent these two fell behind the others.
"Let us find the sea," said Mr. Harding, and following a rugged pathwhich led to the shore, passing down old stone steps, or under ancientgateways, between rocky walls, they finally came to the sea which layblue and smiling before them. Wonderful color, mysterious light bathedearth, water, and sky, touching the soft green of a small island nearby, shimmering upon the silver and sapphire of the w
ater and turningthe sands to mellow gold.
"How wonderfully beautiful," said Nan after she had silently gazed uponthe fairy-like scene. "Is it the island Enoshima?"
"Yes, it is Enoshima, the tortoise, the Sacred Isle," her companiontold her.
"How does one get to it? It almost seems as if we might be spiritedthere, or as if we could suddenly develop wings which would carry us."
"There is a perfectly simple way of going at low tide, for there is alittle causeway over which one can pass safely. The tide is up now, butwe will come when it isn't."
"And that means there is another beautiful thing to do. It looks to meas if we could make Tokyo our headquarters for months to come and yetnot exhaust all the fascinating things within an hour's distance ofit."
"That is quite true, but when the hot weather comes you will be glad togo up into the mountains somewhere."
"I think that is what Aunt Helen is planning to do. I think we mustturn back now for the others are going."
They left the shining sands, where many little children were pickingup the beautiful shells which lay in great numbers about them, andfollowed the rest of the party to the spot where the _jinrikishas_ werewaiting, but they walked so slowly that they were the last to arrive.
"It is much too beautiful to leave," explained Nan. "Couldn't we comeand stay a little while at either Kamakura or Enoshima, Aunt Helen?There must be somewhere we could be comfortable."
"We shall see," her aunt replied. "We might stay a night or two,perhaps, but we will determine later."
So, leaving the children on the sands, and the goddess in her temple,they were borne swiftly through the desolate and forsaken streets ofthe once great city that they might take their train back to town.
CHAPTER VIIA FEAST OF BLOSSOMS]