Glimpses of an Unfamiliar Japan, vol 2 | Page 7

it was
intended to be seen, does not appear to the eye in miniature at all. From
a certain angle of the guest-room looking out upon it, the appearance is
that of a real lake shore with a real island beyond it, a stone's throw
away. So cunning the art of the ancient gardener who contrived all this,
and who has been sleeping for a hundred years under the cedars of
Gesshoji, that the illusion can be detected only from the zashiki by the
presence of an ishidoro or stone lamp, upon the island. The size of the
ishidoro betrays the false perspective, and I do not think it was placed
there when the garden was made.
Here and there at the edge of the pond, and almost level with the water,
are placed large flat stones, on which one may either stand or squat, to
watch the lacustrine population or to tend the water-plants. There are
beautiful water-lilies, whose bright green leaf-disks float oilily upon the
surface (Nuphar Japonica), and many lotus plants of two kinds, those
which bear pink and those which bear pure white flowers. There are iris
plants growing along the bank, whose blossoms are prismatic violet,
and there are various ornamental grasses and ferns and mosses. But the
pond is essentially a lotus pond; the lotus plants make its greatest
charm. It is a delight to watch every phase of their marvellous growth,

from the first unrolling of the leaf to the fall of the last flower. On rainy
days, especially, the lotus plants are worth observing. Their great cup-
shaped leaves, swaying high above the pond, catch the rain and hold it
a while; but always after the water in the leaf reaches a certain level the
stem bends, and empties the leaf with a loud plash, and then straightens
again. Rain-water upon a lotus-leaf is a favourite subject with Japanese
metal-workers, and metalwork only can reproduce the effect, for the
motion and colour of water moving upon the green oleaginous surface
are exactly those of quicksilver.
º8
The third garden, which is very large, extends beyond the inclosure
containing the lotus pond to the foot of the wooded hills which form
the northern and north-eastern boundary of this old samurai quarter.
Formerly all this broad level space was occupied by a bamboo grove;
but it is now little more than a waste of grasses and wild flowers. In the
north-east corner there is a magnificent well, from which ice-cold water
is brought into the house through a most ingenious little aqueduct of
bamboo pipes; and in the north-western end, veiled by tall weeds, there
stands a very small stone shrine of Inari with two proportionately small
stone foxes sitting before it. Shrine and images are chipped and broken,
and thickly patched with dark green moss. But on the east side of the
house one little square of soil belonging to this large division of the
garden is still cultivated. It is devoted entirely to chrysanthemum plants,
which are shielded from heavy rain and strong sun by slanting frames
of light wood fashioned, like shoji with panes of white paper, and
supported like awnings upon thin posts of bamboo. I can venture to add
nothing to what has already been written about these marvellous
products of Japanese floriculture considered in themselves; but there is
a little story relating to chrysanthemums which I may presume to tell.
There is one place in Japan where it is thought unlucky to cultivate
chrysanthemums, for reasons which shall presently appear; and that
place is in the pretty little city of Himeji, in the province of Harima.
Himeji contains the ruins of a great castle of thirty turrets; and a
daimyo used to dwell therein whose revenue was one hundred and
fifty-six thousand koku of rice. Now, in the house of one of that
daimyo's chief retainers there was a maid-servant, of good family,
whose name was O- Kiku; and the name 'Kiku' signifies a

chrysanthemum flower. Many precious things were intrusted to her
charge, and among others ten costly dishes of gold. One of these was
suddenly missed, and could not be found; and the girl, being
responsible therefor, and knowing not how otherwise to prove her
innocence, drowned herself in a well. But ever thereafter her ghost,
returning nightly, could be heard counting the dishes slowly, with sobs:
Ichi-mai, Yo-mai, Shichi-mai, Ni-mai, Go-mai, Hachi-mai, San-mai,
Roku-mai, Ku-mai--
Then would be heard a despairing cry and a loud burst of weeping; and
again the girl's voice counting the dishes plaintively: 'One--two--
three--four--five--six--seven--eight--nine--'
Her spirit passed into the body of a strange little insect, whose head
faintly resembles that of a ghost with long dishevelled hair; and it is
called O-Kiku-mushi, or 'the fly of O-Kiku'; and it is found, they