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Show 6 picturesque costumes ply their many crafts, making th journey one o intense interest a every turn. In no part of Japan isthe scene so geousl colourful, for he ippon of hundreds of years ago, without a trace o the Occident with its drab, unromantic influence. As we travelled along and children, dogs, goats and horses; every conceivable kind of crud wheeled vehicle laden with huge logs, bales of mulberry and mitsumat bark, vegetables, and every description of the merchandise of the community. In every village along the route work was going on in front of th small wooden shops -men making paper umbrellas, women and childre husking rice inpnmm»: hand mills, workmen, almost naked, mouldin grey clay roo sants stripping barks for the papermakers, carpenter mzh their od(n, shdpt:dk s building cabinets from soft, white wood, th aroma of which scented the air. Workers were cverywhere doing their dail tasks in the exhilarating mountain air seemingly unconscious of the splendi scenery around them, and of their own delightful quaintness and charm Only affer a sojourn in the remote and unspoiled parts of Japan can th ccidental visitor truly appreciate the outdoor scenes of Japanese life depicted by such wood-block artists as Kitao Shigemasa, Utagawa Toyokuni Kitagawa Ummaro, Hiroshige and Hokusai. Everywhere one looks th old print reveals itself in life, with all the distorte St o uring of quaint costumes and buildings; peasants in thei aterrice fields, the craftsmen at their v: ‘ious unusual tasks alon the lanes and in the doorways -everywhere pictures, everywhere workers Iherc is no place for idleness on the lovely island of Shikoku most interesting, but hazardous, journey, from the southernmos part nr Kchi to the north coast was completed by nightfall. In Kawanoy we met Mr. Hisamatsu of the Kamafu mill and after an inspection of thi nd other mills of the village, we went on to the small island port o Takamatsu; a pleasant crossing of the Inland Sea brought us to Okayama Al rights reserved |