Noto, An Unexplored Corner of Japan | Page 9

minute the peaks came nearer,
frowning at us from their crumbling volcanic crags. At last they closed
in completely, standing round about in threatening pinnacles, and
barring the way in front. At this, the train, contrary to the usual practice
of trains in such seemingly impassable places, timidly drew up.
In truth, the railway comes to an end at the foot of the Usui toge (toge,
meaning "pass"), after having wandered up, with more zeal than
discretion, into a holeless pocket. Such untimely end was far from the
original intention; for the line was meant for a through line along the
Nakasendo from Tokyo to Kioto, and great things were expected of it.
But the engineering difficulties at this point, and still more at the Wada
toge, a little farther on, proving too great, the project was abandoned,
and the through line built along the Tokaido instead. The idea, however,
had got too much headway to be stayed. So it simply jumped the Usui
toge, rolled down the Shinano valley, climbed another divide, and came
out, at last, on the sea of Japan.
The hiatus caused by the Usui pass is got over by a horse railroad!
Somehow, the mere idea seemed comic. A horse railroad in the heart of
Japan over a pass a mile high! To have suddenly come upon the entire

Comedie Francaise giving performances in a teahouse at the top could
hardly have been more surprising. The humor of the thing was not a
whit lessened by its looks.
To begin with, the cars were fairly natural. This was a masterly stroke
in caricature, since it furnished the necessary foil to all that followed.
They were not, to my eye, of any known species, but, with the
exception of being evidently used to hard lines, they looked enough
like trams to pass as such. Inside sat, in all seriousness, a wonderful
cageful of Japanese. To say that they were not to the horse-car born
conveys but a feeble notion of their unnaturalness. They were propped,
rather than seated, bolt upright, with a decorum which would have done
more than credit to a funeral. They did not smile; they did not even stir,
except to screw their heads round to stare at me. They were dummies
pure and simple, and may pass for the second item in the properties.
The real personnel began with the horses. These were very
sorry-looking animals, but tough enough admirably to pull through the
performance. Managing them with some difficulty stood the driver on
the front platform, arrayed in a bottle-green livery, with a stiff military
cap which gave him the combined look of a German officer and of a
musician from a street band. His energy was spent in making about
three times as much work for himself as was needed. On the tail of the
car rode the guard, also notably appareled, whose importance outdid
even his uniform. He had the advantage of the driver in the matter of a
second-class fish-horn, upon which he tooted vigorously whenever he
thought of it; and he was not a forgetful man.
Comedie Francaise, indeed! Why, here it all was in Japanese farce!
From the passivity of the passengers to the pantomime of the driver and
guard, it could hardly have been done better; and the actors all kept
their countenances, too, in such a surprising manner. A captious critic
might have suggested that they looked a thought too much at the
audience; but, on the whole, I think that rather added to the effect. At
all events, they were excellently good, especially the guard, whose
consequential airs could not have been happier if they had been studied
for years.
There was no end of red tape about the company. Though the cars were
some time in starting, so that I got well ahead of them, they could not
admit me on the road, when my baggage kuruma turned out to be too

slow, because I had not bought a ticket at the office. So I was obliged
to continue to tramp afoot, solacing myself with short cuts, by which I
gained on them, to my satisfaction, and by which I gained still more on
my own baggage, to my disgust, in that I ceased to be near enough to
hasten it.
I had to wait for the latter at the parting of the ways; for the tram had a
brand-new serpentine track laid out for it, while the old trail at this
point struck up to the right, coming out eventually at a shrine that
crowned the summit of the pass. Horse-railroads not being as new to
me as to the Japanese, I piously chose the narrow way leading to the
temple, to the lingering regret of the baggage trundlers, who turned
sorry eyes