Directory_and_Chronicle_1883 — Page 463

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large pond, cascades, &c., and is most carefully kept. This fine garden well repays. inspection, and admission can readily be obtained by visitors.

Between the Castle and the outer walls, a large area was until recently occupied. by the numerous palaces of the Daimios, but nearly all these feudal erections have now given place to smart brick or stone buildings, used as Public Offices, Barracks, Government Schools, &c., so that at the present time hardly any of the Daimios" palaces remain to illustrate what old Yedo was like in the time of the Shogunate. They were, however, large plain long buildings of a single high storey, ordinarily whitewashed, and without any pretensions to architecture.

The remaining portion of the city outside the walls is very densely inhabited, and may be called the commercial district of Tokio. It has a circumference of 24 miles and covers an area of about 29 square miles. The most important part of the business quarter is on the east of the Castle, and is traversed by a main street running from the north to the south-west under different names. A considerable length of this thoroughfare, which is called Guinza, is lined with newly built brick buildings in the European style; the road is wide and well paved, and planted with trees on either side. As it is in close contiguity to the railway station, it is always very animated and thronged with vehicles and foot passengers.

The north end of the main street leads to the new public park or garden named Uyeno, which was formerly occupied by the magnificent Temple founded and main- tained by the Shoguns, and which was destroyed by fire during the revolution in July, 1868. In these grounds the Industrial Exhibition of 1877 was erected, when the gardens were at great expense converted into a public pleasure resort by the Government. The second exhibition was held on the same site, in March last, under the superintendence o' a prince of the Imperial family. It is intended to hold one of these exhibitions every four years. It was in the Uyeno Garden that the Mikado and General Grant were entertained by the citizens of Tokio in the summer of 1879 on a scale of magnificence unprecedented in the annals of the city.

Among the places much resorted to by visitors is the ancient temple of Quannon, at Asakusa, not far from Uyeno, one of the most beautiful, most venerated, and most frequented temples in Japan. The temple is elevated about 20 feet from the ground. A grand flight of steps gives access to the interior. There is a chief altar at the extreme end of the temple, with side chapels at its right and left, containing a great number of wooden images, which with the "glory" round their heads, resemble the images of Catholic saints. The interior of the temple is not very large, and is not so conspicuous for cleanliness as most of the public buildings in Japan. At the right of the temple there is a fine old Pagoda, and near it two colossal stone statues. A new park was also opened close to the temple, about the same time as that of Uyeno Thus, with Shiba in the South West, where are to be seen some of the splendid shrines: of the Shoguns, there are three large public gardens within the city. The buildings. which are called the Temple of Confucius were formerly the University of Tokio, but this has been superseded since the Restoration by the Tokio Dai-gaku-kō (Tokio University), and other schools in which Foreign instructors are employed. There were altogether 1,275 temples in Tokio in 1880, some of which are fine edifices.

The districts of Honjo and Fukagawa form the quiet portion of the capital. This quarter is connected with Tokio proper by five great bridges, some of which are constructed of stone and some of wood. They are called, commencing on the north, Adsuma Bashi, Umaya Bashi, Riogoku Bashi, Ohashi, and Yeitai Bashi respectively. The quay on the banks of the Sumida forms a spacious and handsome street, and may be especially recommended to a traveller who has only a few days to spend in Tokio. In passing along the quay, he will see across the stream several fine temples. and great buildings which stand on the western bank of the Great River, and he may get at the same time a very good idea of the animated river-life of the Sumida, whose waters are always covered with junks and boats of all descriptions.

A great part of the remaining area forming the district North of the Castle is covered by paddy fields, in the midst of which rise picturesquely situated houses. There are also extensive pleasure gardens, such as Aska-yama, and neat little