ike a plumber's overall only tighter in the legs. The women
are certainly strong. One day I saw a woman carrying uphill on her
back two wooden doors about 6 ft. by 5 ft. 6 ins. An old woman I met
on the road volunteered her view that women were "stronger" than men.
She was very much concerned to know how foreigners could live without
eating rice. She said--and this is characteristically Japanese--that
she envied me being able to travel all over the world.

[Illustration: OFF TO THE UPLAND FIELDS]

The Buddhist temple is built wholly of wood and the roof is thatched.
Whenever there was an earthquake the timbers seemed to crackle rather
than creak. The temple is relatively new and seems to have been built
with materials given by the villagers and by means of a gift of 1,000
yen. The workmanship was local and a good deal of it was faulty. This
may have been due to lack of experience, but it is more likely that
the cause was limited funds. The plan and proportions of the building
are excellent and the carving is first-rate. The right of
"presentation to the living" is in the hands of the village. The
priest and his family live in a large house on one side of the temple.
On the other side is a small Shinto shrine to which the priest seems
to give such attention as is necessary. The temple is Shingon. There
is a sermon once a year only, or "when some famous man comes." The
actual temple in which the priest, who showed me a fine collection of
robes, conducts his services is between forty and fifty mats in area.
Behind it is the room in which the _ihai_ or tablets of the dead are
arranged. This part of the building is covered on the outside with
plaster in the manner of a _kura_ (godown) so as to be fire-proof. On
either side of the actual temple are rooms very much as in a spacious
private house. There are two of eighteen and fifteen mats, two of
twelve and ten mats and two small ones. There is also a wide covered
_engawa_ (verandah) in front and at the sides. A small kitchen and
what the auctioneers call the usual offices complete the building.

Right round the temple there is a nice garden which keeps the priest's
man, a picturesque, sweet-tempered, guileless old fellow, occupied
much of his time. The priest conducted a service twice a day, at 5:30
in the morning and at 7:30 in the evening. When he fell ill and had to
be carried in a litter to the nearest town for an operation, we missed
his beautiful chanting and expert s