Yukio Mishima on Arashiyama
“When we reached Arashiyama, we walked towards the Togetsu Bridge…
One could see the Hozu River from the path. We were exactly by the dam north of the Togetsu Bridge. The Ranzan hills on the opposite bank were heavy with gloomy green, but at just that point a vivid white streak of foam stretched across the river and the air was full of the water’s roar.
We walked along the river until we reached the Kameyama Park at the end of the road. There was a good number of boats on the river…
At the gate we turned back and looked once more at the Hozu River and the green foliage of Arashiyama.” (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, p. 116-118)
I’m having a most fabulous time reading this book that features images I encountered just last year even though the book is set in the late 1940s.
If you click on the above image to make it larger you will be able to read a sign that says ボートのりば on the right which means something like “boat launch” or “boat boarding area.” You can also see a couple of different style empty boats on the opposite shore. I’ll show you some pictures of people in the boats that we encountered further up the river in a future blog entry.
