However  poor,  however  hard-worked  he  may  be,
he  never  fails  to  take  his  mousmees  and  his  children
to  the  fairs  at  the  various  temples.  The  Chi-on-in
Temple  is  very  large  and  splendid,  and  contains  one
of  the  world's  largest  and  finest  bells,  seventy-four
tons  in  weight,  which  is  nearly  three  hundred  years
old.  It  is  hung  Japanese  fashion,  just  raised  from
the  ground  in  a  low,  open  bell-tower.  It  contains,
of  course,  no  bell  clapper.  Japanese  bells  do  not
have  clappers.  It  is  rung  by  slinging  a  beam
against  it,  like  an  ancient  Roman  battering  ram.
38T


QUEER  THINGS  ABOUT  JAPAN

It  is  very  sweet  and  mellow  in  tone.  The  \dbra-
tions  it  causes  are  extraordinary.  One  can  feel  the
shaking  in  the  air  a  furlong  away.  One  can  under-
stand a  huge  cannon  causing  vibrations,  because  of
the  enormous  rush  of  imprisoned  gas  when  the
projectile  leaves  the  gun ;  but  it  is  not  so  easy  to
understand  the  mere  striking  of  a  hollow  bronze
causing  such  tremors  in  the  air.
Kyoto  is  delightful  even  when,  as  in  our  time,  it
rains  every  day.  It  is  so  full  of  unspoiled  Japanese
life,  has  such  fascinating  shops,  not  only  the  potters
and  silk- weavers,  whose  fame  has  reached  Europe,
and  the  great  dealers  in  curios,  but  the  small  dealers
who  sell  anything  second-hand.  I  loved  them  better
than  anything  in  Japan.  I  found  Kyoto  the  best
place  for  collecting  old-fashioned  picture-books,  in-
cluding illustrated  manuscripts.
Kyoto  is  as  good  as  Glasgow  for  excursions.
