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residence of a daimio, whose castle is now in a dilapidated condition. From here the road follows the right bank of the Chikumagawa down to Yasiro. The Chikumagawa is the same river as the Shinanogawa, which flows at Niigata into the Japan Sea. I believe the name is changed between the villages of Hakura and Miabara, where it enters the provinces of Echigo; but I cannot say this for a certainty; in the course of this paper some further data about the river will be given.
Generally speaking, the road between Komoru and Tanaka is in a bad condition, rugged and narrow, and in some parts with steep inclines and sharp curves; from Tanaka Oyeda can be reached by jinrikisha. Oyeda is the largest place which I had until now passed; it has an important trade, particularly in silk, both raw and manufactured. Numerous shops with European provisions are to be found in this ex-daimio’s seat, and an European modelled garrison patrols the streets of the beautifully situated town.
The general features of the Chikumagawa valley between Komoru and Yasiro are a picturesque scenery, the valley alternately widening and narrowing, while the broad river-bed in the depth is covered with white boulders, over which the blue water rapidly flows and forms numerous falls; the mountains on both sides covered with flowers and trees. (Every now and then a dirty village without a single comfortable looking house). At a little distance from the left bank rises the Bosha-yama, a haunted mountain, with which the following “romantic” story, as my interpreter styled it, is connected. “In former times during a war between two princes, the nurse of the infant son of one of them took refuge in the mountains with the child and kept it concealed there from the rapacity of the conquerer. At length both nurse and child died, and now-a-days during the night, the nurse’s voice may at times be heard among the mountains, calling for the lost child!”
If all Japanese “romantic” stories were as romantic as
