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This road is known as the Hama-kaido or coast-highway in distinction from the Naka-kaido or inland post-road; both of which start from Yedo and running northwards, converge again at Sendai, one hundred ri from the Nipon Bashi or great bridge of Yedo. It partakes of the character of the To-kaido—so familiar to residents and tourists in Japan, and so often described—the general principle being a roadway from twenty to forty feet in width, lined by pine trees closely planted on either side, forming an avenue. Occasional intervals occur where trees are wanting, which may be accounted for in some parts by the moisture of the subsoil being unfavourable to the growth of coniferæ, in others by want of superintendence. These intervals are in some places filled with willows and alders. A thousand scenes of the most picturesque groups of pines, rising in straight or inclined turtle-backed stems, and branching out above in all sorts of variations of curves and twists, roofed with a dense mass of the brightest dark green foliage, might be selected, and be a study for an artist’s lifetime. The Japanese have not failed in their artistic works, to secure this feature so familiar to their own eyes, and have stamped the pine tree, one might say, as one of their natural emblems. It is to be hoped that the unsparing and barbarous hand of an impoverished government will not be laid on the pine trees skirting the old highways of the country, and that this great feature in the scenery of Japan will not be civilised off the face of the earth. As a protection against the rays of the sun, and some mitigation of the piercing blasts of winter winds, they are of utility. Besides, they thrive best on the driest soil, and in distinction from other trees do not seem to add to the dampness of the ground; so that there is no reason why the very best road should not exist between rows of these trees. After the almost bloodless revolution which changed Japan from a feudal to a monarchical government, it should be the study of those in power to retain at least some of the time honoured features of a state which has passed away.
From Taira the road takes a northerly direction, but
