rain moderated at noon, and I left Fujihara on foot, wearing my
American "mountain dress" and Wellington boots,--the only costume
in which ladies can enjoy pedestrian or pack-horse travelling in
this country,--with a light straw mat--the waterproof of the
region--hanging over my shoulders, and so we plodded on with two
baggage horses through the ankle-deep mud, till the rain cleared
off, the mountains looked through the mist, the augmented Kinugawa
thundered below, and enjoyment became possible, even in my half-fed
condition. Eventually I mounted a pack-saddle, and we crossed a
spur of Takadayama at a height of 2100 feet on a well-devised
series of zigzags, eight of which in one place could be seen one
below another. The forest there is not so dense as usual, and the
lower mountain slopes are sprinkled with noble Spanish chestnuts.
The descent was steep and slippery, the horse had tender feet, and,
after stumbling badly, eventually came down, and I went over his
head, to the great distress of the kindly female mago. The straw
shoes tied with wisps round the pasterns are a great nuisance. The
"shoe strings" are always coming untied, and the shoes only wear
about two ri on soft ground, and less than one on hard. They keep
the feet so soft and spongy that the horses can't walk without them
at all, and as soon as they get thin your horse begins to stumble,
the mago gets uneasy, and presently you stop; four shoes, which are
hanging from the saddle, are soaked in water and are tied on with
much coaxing, raising the animal fully an inch above the ground.
Anything more temporary and clumsy could not be devised. The
bridle paths are strewn with them, and the children collect them in
heaps to decay for manure. They cost 3 or 4 sen the set, and in
every village men spend their leisure time in making them.

At the next stage, called Takahara, we got one horse for the