As the route became more and more hilly I realised how accurate is that representation of hills in Japanese art which seems odd before one has been in Japan:  the landscape stands out as if seen in a flash of lightning.

Three things by the way were arresting:  the number of shrines, mostly dedicated to the fox god; the rice suspended round the farm buildings or drying on racks; and the masses of evening primroses, called in Japan “moon-seeing flowers.”

A feature of every village was one or more barred wooden sheds containing fire-extinguishing apparatus, often provided and worked by the young men’s association.  Sometimes a piece of ground was described to me as “the training ground of the fire defenders.”  The night patrols of the village were young fellows chosen in turn by the constable from the fire-prevention parties, made up by the youths of the village.  There stood up in every village a high perpendicular ladder with a bell or wooden clapper at the top to give the alarm.  The emblem of the fire brigade, a pole with white paper streamers attached, was sometimes distinguished by a yellow paper streamer awarded by the prefecture.

On a sweltering July day it was difficult to realise that the villages we passed through, now half hidden in foliage, might be under 7 ft. of snow in winter.  In travelling in this hillier region one has an extra kurumaya, who pushes behind or acts as brakeman.

At the “place of the seven peaks” we found a stone dedicated to the worship of the stars which form the Plough.  Again and again I noticed shrines which had before them two tall trees, one larger than the other, called “man and wife.”  It was explained to me that “there cannot be a more sacred place than where husband and wife stand together.”  A small tract of cryptomeria on the lower slopes of a hill belonged to the school.  The children had planted it in honour of the marriage of the Emperor when he was Crown Prince.

Often the burial-grounds, the stones of which are seldom more than about 2 ft. high by 6 ins. wide, are on narrow strips of roadside waste. (The coffin is commonly square, and the body is placed in it in the kneeling position so often assumed in life.) Here, as elsewhere, there seemed to be rice fields in every spot where rice fields could possibly be made.

On approaching a village the traveller is flattered by receiving the bows of small girls and boys who range themselves in threes and fours to perform their act of courtesy.  I was told that the children are taught at school to bow to foreigners.  I remember that in the remoter villages of Holland the stranger also received the bows of young people.

On the house of the headman of one village were displayed charms for protection from fire, theft and epidemic.  We spoke of weather signs, and he quoted a proverb, “Never rely on the glory of the morning or on the smile of your mother-in-law.”