OBSERVANCES AND PASTIMES
the flashing of fireworks and the twanging of samisens. But though owing to the much greater size of the Sumida River and the configuration of the streets, these water picnics are less en évidence in Tōkyō than in Ōsaka, they are in reality more affected. The citizen's ideal of summer pleasure is to hire a yanebune,[1] engage two or three geisha, and travel lazily up-stream, with scull or sail, debarking at one of the many famous restaurants that line both banks of the river, whence he drifts home, after dinner, along the path of the moonbeams, merry, musical, and, perhaps, love-sick. These delights culminate at a fête called the "river opening" (kawa-biraki), which takes place nominally on "moon-night" in August. Those for whom the fête is organised contribute nothing to the preparations. All that part of the affair is undertaken by the river-side restaurants and boat-house keepers, who, for the sake of the throng of customers that the celebration brings, put up a considerable sum to purchase fireworks. It is an excellent speculation. The river in the vicinity of the Ryogoku bridge, the central point of Bohemian Tōkyō, is usually thronged with boats from bank to bank, and every water-side chamber has its party of guests, who pay ample prices for scanty accommodation. It is easy to conceive what a feature the geisha constitutes on these occasions,—a girl with all the daintiest graces of person and costume, all the gentle
- ↑ See Appendix, note 33.
97
