3-053-533 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sketches in China and Japan: the Cave of Moshima, Japan, 1873. Engraved from a sketch by '...our Special Artist, Mr. Simpson...He visited...the Cave of Moshima. This is an island about five or six miles to the west of Dai Bootz. There is a narrow neck of sand, which is dry at low water, and you can then walk or ride to the island. The name means the "Island in the Bay." The cave seems to be a place of pilgrimage. You enter the village at the end of the neck of sand by a tori-é, or gate, which is peculiar to temples in Japan, and you pass several of them on the path over the island to the cave. The cave is a great fissure in the rock, with a slight, slippery path on the side to enter by. The sea runs up the cave for some twenty or thirty yards, and sends its waves splashing on the narrow way, so that those entering have to look out if they wish to keep their feet dry. About thirty yards farther on there is a small temple of wood, richly gilt; this is dedicated to the goddess of the cave. Behind the temple the cave is very low and narrow, but the pilgrims can penetrate about a hundred yards beyond. The views from Moshima, looking towards Odawarra and the volcanic mountain of Fusiyama, are very fine'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.