[1]Fuji San, or Fuji no Yama, the highest mountain in the Japanese archipelago, is in the province of Suruga, sixty miles west of Tokio. Its crest is covered with snow most of the year. Twenty thousand pilgrims visit it annually. Its name may mean Not Two (such), or Peerless.
[2]Arima was one of the daimios or landed nobleman, nearly three hundred in number, out of whom has been formed the new nobility of Japan, a certain number of which are in the Upper House of the Imperial Diet.
[3]Wild-dogs: ownerless dogs have now been exterminated, and every dog in Japan is owned, licensed, taxed, or else liable to go the way of the old wolfish-looking curs. The pet spaniel-like dogs are called chin.
[4]Yoshi-san. Yoshi means good, excellent, and san is like our "Mr.," but is applied to any one from big man to baby. The girls are named after flowers, stars, or other pretty or useful objects.
[6]The Queen and the Prince: See the story of "The Jewels of the Ebbing and the Flowing Tide" in the book of "Japanese Fairy Tales" in this series.
[7] Ojin, son of Jingu Kogo, was, much later, deified as the god of war, Hachiman. See "The Religions of Japan," p. 204.
[8] The bronze fishes, called shachi-hoko, are huge metal figures, like dolphins, from four to twelve feet high, which were set on the pinnacles of the old castle towers in the days of feudalism. That from Nagoya, exhibited at the Vienna Exposition, had scales of solid gold.
[9]First of January: The old Chinese or lunar calendar ended in Japan, and the solar or Gregorian calendar began, January 1, 1872, when European dress was adopted by the official class.
[10]The seven Gods of Wealth: Concerning the origin of these popular deities, see "The Religions of Japan," p. 218.
[11] The jin-riki-sha, man-power-carriage, invented in Japan in 1871, is now used all over the East.
[12]Beautiful handwriting was considered one of the most admirable of accomplishments in old Japan.
[13] A Echigo: the province on the west coast, now famous for its petroleum wells.
[14] A story much like that of "The Parsley Queen" is told in the province of Echizen.
[15] Yamato is the old classic centre of ancient life and history.
[16]Prince Shotoku Taishi, a great patron of Buddhism, who, though a layman, is canonized (see "The Religions of Japan," p. 180).
[17]An independent gentleman, a ronin or "wave man," one who had left the service of his feudal lord and was independent,—sometimes a gentleman and a scholar, oftener a ruffian or vagabond.
[18] Buddhism, on account of the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, forbids the taking of life.
[19] There are very few storks in Japan, but white heron are quite common.
[20] From the paper read before The Asiatic Society of Japan.
