miles farther,
whence, to Miya, one has to traverse narrower paths through a flat
section of rice-fields, dikes, canals, and sloughs.

A ri beyond Okabe and the pass of Utsunoya necessitates a mile or two of
trundling. Here occurs a tunnel some six hundred feet in length and
twelve wide; a glimmer of sunshine or daylight is cast into the tunnel by
a system of simple reflectors at either entrance. These are merely glass
mirrors, set at an angle to reflect the rays of light into the tunnel.

Descending this little pass the Tokaido traverses a level rice-field
plain, crosses the Abe-kawa, and approaches the sea-coast at Shidzuoka, a
city of thirty thousand inhabitants. The view of Fuji, now but a short
distance ahead, is extremely beautiful; the smooth road sweeps around the
gravelly beach, almost licked by the waves. The breakers approach and
recede, keeping time to the inimitable music of the surf; vessels are
dotting the blue expanse; villages and tea-houses are seen resting along
the crescent-sweep of the shore for many a mile ahead, where Fuji slopes
so gracefully down from its majestic snow-crowned summit to the sea.

It is indeed a glorious ride around the crescent bay, through the
sea-shore villages of Okitsu, Yui, Kambara, and Iwabuchi to Yoshiwara, a
little town on the footstool of the big, gracefully sweeping cone. The
stretch of shore hereabout is celebrated in Japanese poetry as
Taga-no-ura, from the peculiarly beautiful view of Fuji obtained from it.

This remarkable mountain is the highest in Japan, and is probably the
finest specimen of a conical mountain in existence. Native legends
surround it with a halo of romance. Its origin is reputed to be
simultaneous with the formation of Biwa Lake, near Kioto, both mountain
and lake being formed in a single night--one rising from the plain
twelve thousand eight hundred feet, the other sinking till its bed
reached the level of the sea.

The summit of Fuji is a place of pilgrimage for Japanese ascetics who are
desirous of attaining "perfect peace" by imitating Shitta-Tai-shi, the
Japanese Buddha, who climbed to the summit of a mountain in search of
nirvana (calm). Orthodox Japs believe that the grains of sand brought
down on the sandals of the pilgrims ascend to the summit again of their
own accord during the night.

Tradition is furthermore responsible for the belief that snow disappears
entirely from the mountain for a few hours on the fifteenth day of the
s