Station #18: Ejiri (now Shimizu) is close to Tago Bay, famous for its salt flats and the pine grove of Miho (Miho no Matsubara). In Tokugawa Japan (1600 - 1868), people moved by land, freight moved by water. Ejiri was a major port and the home of the shogunal fleet. On the right we see the pine grove, the setting for the The Legend of the Feathered Robe. It is a well-known and well-loved story even today in Japan. A fisherman of Miho near Ejiri found a gorgeous feathered robe on the beach one morning. An angel had been bathing nearby and had left it hanging in a tree. She asked the fisherman to return it to her. He refused to return the robe until the angel danced for him. The angel could not return to heaven without her feathered robe so she danced her most beautiful dance. It entranced the fisherman and as promised, he returned the robe.

Image Copyright: Minneapolis Institute of Art