. The playground of the Far East . uvenile population of Kurokawa, to whom the sightof the white skin of a European was a noveltyhitherto unknown. A further attraction was provided by the arrivalof two performing monkeys, one seated on the backof a mongrel dog and the other on that of his youngmaster. The latter combination happened to beimmediately succeeded by a curious-eyed little villagerwith a tiny but hairy and agile baby on his back, andthe resultant resemblance between the two couplesproved as complete as it was astonishing. From Kurokawa a delightful trudge through the 110 EXPLORATION
. The playground of the Far East . uvenile population of Kurokawa, to whom the sightof the white skin of a European was a noveltyhitherto unknown. A further attraction was provided by the arrivalof two performing monkeys, one seated on the backof a mongrel dog and the other on that of his youngmaster. The latter combination happened to beimmediately succeeded by a curious-eyed little villagerwith a tiny but hairy and agile baby on his back, andthe resultant resemblance between the two couplesproved as complete as it was astonishing. From Kurokawa a delightful trudge through the 110 EXPLORATION IN SOUTHERN ALPS OF JAPAN charming valley of the Mibugawa took us in threehours past the thriving little town of Takato intothat of the parent stream of the famous Tenryu,whose course we followed awhile until we turnedoff across the low foot-hills where Shiwojiri we rejoined the railway, and by way ofMatsumoto and Shinonoi regained our starting-pointand the friendly amenities of Karuisawa, the SanMoritz of modern Ho-wo-zan. [Tojacep. 111. CHAPTER VII EXPLORATION IN THE SOUTHERN ALPS OF JAPAN (III.) A Virgin Peak—The Conquest of Ho-wo-zan. Professor Chamberlain has remarked of Kobo-Daishi^—most famous of all Japanese Buddhists(and mountaineers)—that, had his life lasted 600years instead of 60, he could hardly have gravenall the images, scaled all the mountain peaks . .and performed all the other feats with which he ispopularly credited. An old chronicle describes some of the riskyexperiences with which he met on some of hismountain expeditions, but adds the warning thatthese are feats which the weak-minded and theirresolute should not seek to emulate. It is possiblethat in this caution there lurks some recollection ofthe great mans adventures on the one peak whichtradition tells us he failed to conquer—Ho-wo-zan,the miniature Aiguille du Geant of the SouthernJapanese Alps. It may also be conjectured that itwas the story of this one failure that inspire
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