The
night was cold, and _hibatchis_ and lamps alike failed to warm the
thinly walled and paper-screened room.
Sir Harry Parkes came and spent the evening with us, and taught us
more about Japan in two or three hours than we could have learned by
much study of many books. The fact is, that in this fast-changing
country guide-books get out of date in two or three years. Besides
which, Sir Harry has been one of the chief actors in many of the most
prominent events we have recently been reading about. To hear him
describe graphically the wars of 1868, and the Christian persecutions
in 1870, with the causes that led to the revolution, and the effect it
has had on the country, was indeed interesting. Still more so was his
account of his journey hither to force the newly emerged Mikado and
his Ministers to sign the treaty, which had already received the
assent (of course valueless) of the deposed Tycoon.
_Wednesday, February 7th_.--A misty but much warmer morning succeeded
a wet night. At 8.30 Sir Harry Parkes and two other gentlemen arrived,
and we all started at once in jinrikishas to see what could be seen in
the limited time at our disposal. We went first to the temple of Gion
Chiosiu, described elaborately in books by other travellers. It is
specially interesting to Europeans, as it was the temple assigned to
the foreign envoys when they paid their first visit to the Mikado in
1868.
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