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Show The Dreams of My Heart 211 She asked me about my interview with Dr. Koya, and I told her of his population studies, too. Yesterday, our guide gave us a brief history of Japan. In 1600 the Shogun Tokugawa began a feudal system with rigid controls. The Japanese were taught isolationism and, to keep the population down, practiced birth control. With the begin ning of the western influence, the old rigidity was lacking, so the Japanese have outgrown their country! Well, I am thankful for that great experience with Margaret Sanger: thankful to Harold for the contact, encour agement, and planning, thankful to Planned Parenthood for the authority." Still aglow with the excitement of the meeting with the great crusader, Madelyn and Harold went from Kamakura to Hakone, a mountain resort about forty miles southwest of Yokohama that afforded a wonderful view of Mt. Fuji. Madelyn, who loved beautiful mountains, was captivated by Fuji. Overcome with feeling, she penned the following as she left Hakone en route to Atami: We are leaving Hakone, and the Great Sacred Fuji. It stands serene and high above all else. The other mountains rise, but are lost beneath its majesty. True, they obscure it sometimes, when one is close to them. But Fuji never loses its essential strength. It is there, cool-headed and serene. Only once, perhaps in centuries, its inner agony boils forth." Madelyn continued to be fascinated by the giant Buddhas. She visited one in Nara that was 52 feet and 500 high weighed huge pillar with a hole the size of Buddha's nostril that the children climbed through for good luck. The Buddha's eyes, Madelyn wrote, were always partially closed. Lotus plants were on either side of the statue, which showed Buddha's hands in a preacher's summons. Madelyn was much impressed with the Japanese. She wrote: tons. Part of the statue included a So many Japanese people are trying so desperately to learn |
