Sea of Japan

“ The blanched road winds along a coast of low cliffs—the coast of the Japanese Sea. Always on the left, over a narrow strip of stony land, or a heaping of dunes, its vast expanse appears, blue-wrinkling to that pale horizon beyond which Korea lies, under the same white sun. Sometimes, through sudden gaps in the cliff's verge, there flashes to us the running of the surf. ”

“ Now the only islands spoken of by the early Chinese historians in terms suggesting Japan, are described as the abode of genii, the land of immortals possessing the elixir of life, a corpse-reviving drug, golden peaches weighing a pound each, timber of immense strength yet so buoyant that no superimposed weight would sink it, rare trees, a mountain plant that could be plaited into mats and cushions, mulberries an inch long, and an environment of black sea, where the waves, not driven by any wind, rose to a height of a thousand feet. ”

“ The most striking geographical feature of Japan is the Inland Sea, which is one of the beauties of the world. It is a long, irregularly shaped arm of the sea, with tides and rapid currents, of variable width and no great depth, studded with innumerable thickly wooded islands. It is the water area which separates Hondo from Shikoku and Kiushiu, and is often spoken of as the Japanese Mediterranean. ”

“ Japan along its western shore, Korea along its southern and eastern, and Russia along the eastern coast of its maritime province, are washed by the Sea of Japan. The communications between the sea and the Pacific Ocean are practically two only. One is on the north-east, namely, Tsugaru Strait; the other is on the south, namely, the channel between the extremity of the Korean peninsula and the Japanese island of the nine provinces. Tsugaru Strait is entirely under Japan’s control. It is between her main island and her island of Yezo, and in case of need she can close it with mines. ”

“ Below, long trains of pack-horses loaded with charcoal were continually traversing the plain; the fishing villages were busy with their seines; the town showed like a narrow strip of houses, and our ships and the three hundred junks in the harbor, went but a little way to fill up the great water space around. Ours were no doubt the first Anglo-Saxon feet, that ever trod this height. We found a look-out house up there, where the movement of every ship passing through the straits of Sangar into the sea of Japan is noted. ”

“ One that we saw contained a conventionalized Fuji in evergreen needles, like a flat print, overhung with cotton wool to imitate clouds. Sometimes miniature landscapes are formed in a box, for anything tiny delights the Japanese, and they spend whole days arranging such things. The Inland Sea is often represented in blue and white sand, with real earth for the shores and the islands, while small pine branches are introduced to look like twisted trees. ”

“ From Kobe westward the route lies through the famous Inland Sea of Japan, known to the Japanese as the Suwo Nada. The Inland Sea is more like a lake than an arm of the ocean; and there have been travellers who could not readily believe that it was connected with the ocean, and that its waters were salt instead of fresh. ”

“ Many people have carelessly looked upon Japan as such, hence the misconception. Japan abounds in history and traditions of the sea from the dawn of her history. Our fleets often made distant expeditions, and fought battles far out of our own waters. The ships were, no doubt, rude and primitive compared with the modern ones. From the model of a warship made about three hundred years ago, which I have seen in a temple not far from Tokio, I think that our ships of those days were not much inferior to those of the West of a corresponding time. ”

“ Of this naval power Arthur Diosy, in the “New Far East,” said: “Japan possesses all the elements of sea-power: swift, powerful ships, adapted to the work they are intended for, numerous good harbors, excellent coal in abundance, capital facilities for the repair of her vessels, and the necessary plant, constantly augmented and improved, for building new ones. Her naval organization is wise and efficient, her administrative services are thorough and honest; her naval officers are gallant, dashing, and scientifically trained, and the armament they control is of the latest and best pattern. ”

“ MYTHS OF JAPAN THE JELLYFISH AND THE MONKEY ADAPTED BY YEI THEODORA OZAKI
Long, long ago, in old Japan, the Kingdom of the Sea was governed by a wonderful King. He was called Rin Jin, or the Dragon King of the Sea. His power was immense, for he was the ruler of all sea creatures both great and small, and in his keeping were the Jewels of the Ebb and Flow of the Tide. The Jewel of the Ebbing Tide when thrown into the ocean caused the sea to recede from the land, and the Jewel of the Flowing Tide made the waves to rise mountains high and to flow in upon the shore like a tidal wave. ”

“ Nature has separated Japan from the countries in which we now are, by such an extent of land and sea, that, before the present age, there were very few persons who had any knowledge of it; and even now there are those who find it difficult to believe the accounts of it which we give. ”

“ The journey from the little coast town in the Inland Sea where the envoys, garbed as doctors of medicine, were put ashore by a boat from the British warship Barrosa in which they had come south from Yokohama was not more than sixteen Japanese leagues (forty English miles) in length, but the track lay across mountains, and the only means of conveyance were kago of the type used in the hills, mere baskets slung from poles borne on the shoulders of two men, who walked at about four miles an hour. ”

“ A more complete metamorphosis of a nation’s policy could scarcely be conceived. In 1541 we find the Japanese celebrated, or notorious, throughout the whole of the Far East for exploits abroad; we find them known as the ‘kings of the sea’; we find them welcoming foreigners with cordiality and opposing no obstacles to foreign commerce or even to the propagandism of foreign creeds; we find them so quick to recognize the benefits of foreign trade and so apt to pursue them that, in the space of a few years, they establish commercial relations with no less than twenty over-sea markets ”

“ The Japanese rarely eat any flesh but that of game, which they hunt. The fish market, very extensive and extremely neat and clean, affords a great variety of fish, sea and river, fresh and salt; and there were large tubs containing live fish. Adjoining the inns are places where they let and sell horses, and these places are so numerous, that the traveller, who, according to custom, changes his horse every league, is only embarrassed where to choose. ”

“ Fisheries.—From ancient times the Japanese have been great fishermen. The seas that encircle their many-coasted islands teem with fish and aquatic products, which have always constituted an essential article of diet. Early in the 18th century, the Tokugawa administration, in pursuance of a policy of isolation, interdicted the construction of ocean-going ships, and the people’s enterprise in the matter of deep-sea fishing suffered a severe check. ”

“ Owing to the narrowness of the country, most Japanese streams are rather torrents than rivers. The rivers best worth mentioning are the Kitakami, the Abukuma, the Tone, the Tenryū, and the Kiso, flowing into the Pacific Ocean, the Shinano-gawa flowing into the Sea of Japan, and the Ishikari in Yezo. Most of the smaller streams have no general name, but change their name every few miles on passing from village to village. ”

“ In our voyage by sea it is not much less, all the sailors and watermen taken in. In the last part, over the great island Nippon, from Ōsaka to Yedo, it is considerably greater, and consists of no less than an hundred and fifty people, and this, by reason of the presents and other goods which came from Nagasaki, as far as Ōsaka by sea, but must now be taken out and carried by land to Yedo, by horses and men. ”

“ A JAPANESE STORY
(O Lovely One-O thou Flower! With Thy beautiful face, with Thy beautiful eyes, pour light upon the world! Adoration to Kwannon.)
In Japan in the days of the remote Ancestors, near the little village of Shiobara, the river ran through rocks of a very strange blue colour, and the bed of the river was also composed of these rocks, so that the clear water ran blue as turquoise gems to the sea.
The great forests murmured beside it, and through their swaying boughs was breathed the song of Eternity. Those who listen may hear if their ears are open. ”

“ We then make the island Awaji, and steering between this island and the main land of the province Izumi, we put into the harbor of Ōsaka, and so end that part of our journey to court which must be made by sea. All these coasts are very much frequented, not only by the princes and lords of the empire, with their retinues, travelling to and from court, but likewise by the merchants of the country, going from one province to another to buy and sell, so that one may chance on some days to see upwards of a hundred ships under sail. The coasts hereabouts are rocky and mountainous ”

“ Japan, thanks to her railways and Inland Sea, can now in a few days concentrate her whole army where no hostile vessel dare pursue it, in the island of Kiu-Siu, 125 miles from the coast of Korea, barely 500 miles from the mouth of the Yang-tsze-Kiang, a distance equalling that between Marseilles and Algiers, and 625 miles from the Bay of Pe-chi-li, and 166940 miles from the entrance to the Pei-ho, the river which flows to Peking. ”

“ When all the homeward-bound ships are joined, they proceed on their voyage and after they have gotten to the main sea, to a pretty considerable distance from the harbor, the Japanese ship-guard, which never quitted them from their first arrival till then, leave them and return home. If the wind proves contrary to the ship’s going out, a good number of Japanese rowing boats, fastened to a rope, tow them out by force one after another. For the emperor’s orders must be executed in spite of wind and weather, should even afterwards all the ships run the hazard of being wrecked. ”

“ The sea has, indeed, ever been Japan’s friend; to this day it supports a large number of the population, and, in a sense, it may be said to keep the whole nation alive, as the fish that teem in Japanese waters supply a considerable part of the people’s food. Every marine product available as nutriment is utilised, even seaweed of various kinds being largely used as food. ”

“ The merchant-ships which venture out at sea, though not very far from the coasts, and serve for the transport of men and goods from one island or province to another, deserve a more accurate description. They are commonly eighty-four feet long and twenty-four broad, built for sailing as well as rowing. They run tapering from the middle towards the stern, and both ends of the keel stand out of the water considerably. The body of the ship is not built bulging, as our European ones ”

“ The Empire of Japan consists of numerous islands in the Oriental Sea, along the coast of the Asian continent. I think the recorded existence of the nation extends over something more than two thousand five hundred years, during which time its intercourse with foreign nations has been exceedingly limited. In the seventeenth century intercourse began with the Portuguese, Spanish, and some other European nations, but the decline of these led to its decay. ”

“ Japan is an extremely mountainous country, and although the plains and valleys, especially in the east and south, are admirably cultivated, and the rice-fields occasionally cover hills that slope so close to the sea as not to allow of the existence of even a small fringe of cultivable land, the mountain ranges in the interior are still covered with forests, and even the northern part of the great island, where the land is excellent, is quite uncultivated. ”

“ Along the indented coasts of the islands, and on the shores of the Inland Sea, innumerable little villages will be found, whose inhabitants depend entirely for their subsistence upon the fisheries, but notwithstanding their importance, Japan may be described as an essentially agricultural country. ”

“ Inasmuch as Japan is an insular country, with a long line of sea-coast, it is natural that fishing should be one of the principal occupations of the people, and that fish, seaweed, and other marine products should be common diet. ”

“ If now one will examine a map of the Pacific ocean upon which the currents are marked, he will see that the great Japan current flows in a northeasterly direction along the Asiatic coast, until it divides, one branch continuing through Behring sea and strait into the Arctic, whilst the other and larger portion takes a great sweep to the east, until it strikes the American continent, when it turns southward, and flows parallel to the coast. ”

“ Now that most of the restrictions surrounding foreigners in Japan have been removed, and that enlightened people—the Englishmen of the Pacific in enterprise and progress—have taken their proper place among the nations of the earth, visits to Japan are commonly made by even ordinary tourists making the circuit of the globe, and we shall have to touch there again in another “voyage round the world” shortly to follow. The English sailors of the Royal Navy often have an opportunity of visiting the charming islands which constitute Japan. ”

“ I find that during the first half of the nineteenth century the average was one junk in forty-two months cast away on the coasts of America.
Now let us turn to another effect of this strange law that disabled Japanese shipping. Northward of Japan are the Kuril Islands in a region of almost perpetual fog, bad storms and bitter cold, ice pack, strong currents and tide rips, combed by the fanged reefs, with plenty of earthquakes and eruptions to allay any sense of monotony. The large and hairy natives are called the Ainu, who live by fishing, and used to catch sea otter and fur seal. ”