oden clogs, pattering along, was something extraordinary.
Giving up our tickets, and following the stream, we found ourselves
surrounded by a still more animated scene, outside the station. We
were just deliberating what to do next, when a smart little Japanese,
with a mail-bag over his shoulder, stepped forward and said something
about Sir Harry Parkes. He then popped us all into several double and
treble-manned _jinrikishas_, and started off himself ahead at a
tremendous pace, shouting and clearing the way for us.

Tokio is a genuinely Japanese town. Not a single foreigner resides
within its limits, with the exception of the foreign Ministers. There
is no hotel nor any place of the kind to stay at; so that, unless you
have friends at any of the Legations, you must return to Yokohama the
same day, which makes a visit rather a fatiguing affair.[16]

[Footnote 16: I have since heard that there are two hotels at Tokio,
such as they are.]

Our first halting-place was at the Temple of Shiba, not far from the
station, where most of the Tycoons have been buried. It is a large
enclosure, many acres in extent, in the centre of the city, with walls
overgrown with creepers, and shadowed by evergreen trees, amid whose
branches rooks caw, ravens croak, and pigeons coo, as undisturbedly as
if in the midst of the deepest woodland solitude. I had no idea there
was anything so beautiful in Japanese architecture as this temple. The
primary idea in the architecture of Japan is evidently that of a tent
among trees. The lines of the high, overhanging, richly decorated
roofs, with pointed gable ends, are not straight, but delicately
curved, like the suspended cloth of a tent. In the same way, the
pillars have neither capital nor base, but seem to run through the
building perpendicularly, without beginning or end. The principal
temple was burnt down a few years ago; but there are many smaller ones
remaining, built in exactly the same style, and all the tombs are
perfect. Some people say the bodies are enclosed in coffins, filled
with vermilion, but I need hardly say we had no opportunity of
ascertaining the correctness of this statement. We entered several of
the temples, which are perfect marvels of carving, gilding, painting,
and lacquer work. Their style of decoration may be somewhat barbaric;
but what a study they would form for an artist! Outside, where no
colour is used, the overhanging roofs and the walls are carved with a
depth an