174
NOTES OF A JOURNEY IN HITACHI
AND SHIMOSA.
BY
C. W. LAWRENCE, Esq., H. B. M. Legation.
Read before the Asiatic Society of Japan, on the
13th May, 1874.
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Tsukubasan lies North of Yedo, about 60 miles distant. Its two peaks are clearly seen from many places in the city. It is the highest mountain in Hitachi, if mountain it can be called. Its height is not much over 3,000 feet, but there not being any other mountains near it looks higher than it really is. The road to it is by the Mitokaidô which joins the Ôshiukaidô about half way down the long street of Senji. A shorter way of getting into the Mitokaidô than by way of Senji is to cross the Sumidagawa by the Adzuma bridge close to Asakusa, and then go through Mukôjma which brings one into the Mitokaidô, one ri from Niijiku, the first stage on the Mitokaidô and 2 ri from Senji. Niijiku is on the banks of the Itakagawa, and close to the river is a very good inn, the Fujiya. The next stage is Matsuido, the road perfectly flat the whole way. Before arriving at Matsuido the road crosses the Nishitonegawa or Ichigawa. Matsuido consists of a long street by the side of the river, and is a prosperous looking place, as indeed are all the villages on this road. A little way beyond Matsuido, on the left, is the temple of Mamanji which formerly possessed a revenue of 70,000 koku given to it by the Shôguns on account of a celebrated priest, Takuwan, having been brought up here. The
