In spite of the rain, which was very welcome, as the local water supply question was arriving at an acute stage, a number of short trips were made to places of interest in the vicinity, among which was one to O Suwa-jinsha, a Shinto shrine known to foreigners as the “Bronze Horse Temple.”
O Suwa, The Shrine
After the passing of 22 years since a former visit, it was expected that many changes would be noticeable, but little if any were observed. No alteration was expected in what might be termed the “permanent” features of the shrine; the large bronze “torii”- one of the largest and most massive in Japan - still reared its impressive architrave at the foot of the many flights of stone steps leading up to the shrine. It was possibly a deeper shade of “vend antique,” but otherwise unchanged. One significant feature however, is to be recorded - the airy abandon with which the Pilgrim addressed himself to the ascent of the many stone steps; “petered out” much sooner than on the occasion of his last visit to O Suwa Sama and the passage of the years was instanced by the more sedate and deliberate manner in which the remaining three-quarters of the flights were negotiated, not to speak of the grampus-like condition in which he arrived at the top. O tempore! O mores!
After a visit to the shrine, a turn to the left brings one to the Public Park close by, a natural forest of giant cryptomeria and cherry trees, which latter are one of the sights of Nagasaki and the local of innumerable family picnics when loaded with blossom. The hardy Yama Matsu (mountain pine) abounds everywhere and it is astonishing to note how little subsoil appears to be necessary to support this luxuriant vegetation, as is seen in cases where a landslip discloses how little lies between the surface and the disintegrating volcanic rock.
From a clearing to the right, in which is found the inevitable tea-house, an exquisite view of the harbour, the approach from seaward, with the many houses, hills, valleys and ravines of which the town consists is gathered. This tea-house seems to have been entirely rebuilt since the Pilgrim's previous visit. Gone also are the charming and vivacious nesans O Tsuru, O Hana and O Ume San, the responsive “hai!” to the clapping of the Pilgrim's hands and the fulfillment of his request for a long, cold drink given by Hebes of a younger generation. just as comely, vivacious and ready to chat with the wandering “Horrander San,” as their protypes of a score of years ago.
"The Long Flight of Stone Steps"
“Horrander San,” it maybe stated, is a corruption of Hollander San, a term of derision once applied to all foreigners, who were supposed to hail from that “neutral” kingdom, of which the accredited representatives in Cathay display such a charming tendresse for the Hungario-Austro-Boche. Nagasaki is about the most conservative and Japanese of the original treaty ports of all of which it was the first opened to foreign commerce. The trade was entirely in the hands of the Dutch, who, under many and humiliating restrictions, were confined, almost as prisoners, to their factories at Dejima, once a small islet in the harbour but nowadays, in consequence of a completed scheme of reclamation, a portion of the town proper.
Twenty years ago it was not an uncommon experience in the suburbs for the foreigner, taking his walks abroad, to be followed by a band of children, with cries of “Horrander San, Horrander San.” This, however, is one of those incidents which nowadays are not mentioned; education and the efforts of the now defunct “Welcome Society,” (whose dissolution in 1914 after 21 years of usefulness is greatly to be deplored) probably having done much towards the elimination of anti-foreign sentiment.
With many regrets and promises to return soon - the Pilgrim bid farewell to O Suwa San and descend to the waiting ricksha, and so back to that dinner which the inward monitor said was somewhat overdue.
The return road taken is extremely picturesque; it borders a small river - now in the dry season in places merely a trickle, - whose banks and part of its bed are overgrown with a wealth of foliage and creeping plants. Large, overshot water wheels also betoken the presence of a number of rice mills.
With a chuckle, the blandishments of Mr. Nakamura, as per signboard, are resisted and this somewhat startling invitation to all and sundry arouses considerable speculation. Either the gentleman is an advertising genuis, or, despite the multiplicity of educational establishments which abound in this land, the schoolmaster is still very much abroad. The invitation reads:
Nakamura Tailor & Company
Come in and have a fit
Big Torii of Suwa Shrine at Nagasaki
The Bronze Horse of O-Suwa
O Suwa Koen (park)
O Suwa Koen
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