ancient lich-gates of England. One dear old weather-beaten gate of the sort at Kyoto transported me to Essex so instantly that I half expected the rickshaw coolie to address me in that flat county’s drawl.
A fir tree is the proper adornment of any style of gate, but is happiest, I think, near this last-named kind, with its silvery posts and thatched top. An example of this may be seen in Mr. Tyndale’s picture, facing page 244.
There is much sentiment attached to gateways. At the New Year, if it has no Pine tree by its side, or even if it has, the door is adorned with Pine branches, signifying ‘long life.’ Then there are gourds for ‘plenty,’ and paper gohei for ‘luck,’ or religion, or spirituality.[1]
The Plum tree is also a very popular tree to plant beside the gate, and that, of course, also signifies spiritual beauty. But peace and plenty must ever be at your gates, in sentiment if not in reality, at the beginning of each new year.
Arbours, or summer-houses, are almost as necessary to gardens—at least, to the big ones—as is the view itself. Even in small grounds a little shield from the sun and rain—strictly to scale, of course—will be found. The rain falls in Japan, as it does in other places,
- ↑ When a girl is married, a fire is lit at the gate of her old home to announce her ‘death’ to that household.
