Kakemono : Japanese sketches by A. Herbage Edwards
"Kakemono : Japanese sketches" by A. Herbage Edwards is a collection of travel sketches and cultural essays written in the early 20th century. The work surveys Japan’s religious life, art, landscape, and customs through lyrical description, on-the-ground observation, and folklore retellings. It moves from temples and shrines to street fairs and sacred mountains, balancing reverence with occasional critique. A recurring thread is the encounter with Buddhist and Shintō belief—culminating in a pilgrimage
toward Mount Fuji. The opening of the book moves through a series of vivid scenes: a contemplative portrait of the Great Buddha; the austere sanctity of the Ise shrines; the sumptuous artistry of Nikkō’s mausoleum; and the bustling, commercialized devotion at Asakusa’s Kannon. It contrasts the serene altar-garden of Rinzaki with a compassionate episode at Ikkegami, where villagers honor foreign sailors, then tells the legend of a missionary child who damages a Jizō statue. The narrative lingers over Shiba’s ornate tomb-temples and the restrained dignity of the Hongwanji, counters it with a sharp sketch of Nichiren worship’s noisy zeal, and offers a universalist moment in a Shintō rite above the sea. Further scenes depict fox-god superstition at Inari, a communal fire-walking ceremony in Tokyo, and a meditation on the “smiling” Buddhas of Nikkō. It then turns to Mount Fuji: a poetic prologue on its presence and a grounded travel account—tram and horse to Subashiri, mist-bound ascent past tea-house stations and lava beds, purchase of pilgrim staves, and a first night’s halt at the second station. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Richard Illner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Reading Level
Reading ease score: 74.4 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read.
