3-053-512 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sketches in Japan: Morning, 1873. 'Japan presents great facilities for travelling. There are no inns, in our sense of the word, but their place is amply supplied by what are called "tea-houses,"...a noise like that of thunder sounded within a few yards of me...It was merely one of the girls of the house opening the outer panels, and shoving them along in a groove to a press at the corner made to keep them during the day. The whole house being made of wood, and paper stretched on frames as tight as drums, the simple operation of moving these outer panels produces a sound as if Jove himself were launching his bolts. I was amused at the contrast of the terrible noise and the simplicity of the cause which produced it. I had expected to see something terrible, and instead I saw the picturesque costume of the girl, who was merely beginning her day's work. Outside was the quaint garden, with its strangely-cut miniature trees, rocks, and lakes; and the bright morning came as a contrast to the darkness in which I had been only a minute or so before'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.