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Beppu, in Nishi-no-shima, one of the smallest of the group, was Go-Daigo's place of exile. By employing the services of a fishing-boat, Prince Morinaga succeeded in conveying to his Majesty some intelligence of the efforts that were being made in the Imperial cause. This was early in 1333, and when the news spread among the guards at Beppu, they began to talk of the duties of loyalty.

Nishinoshima possesses at Beppu a shrine in memory of the exiled Emperor Go-Daigo, and on the summit of Takuhizan that shrine of Gongen-Sama, from the place of which a wonderful view of the whole archipelago is said to be obtainable on cloudless days.

One morning I had hired a boat to take me to Beppu, and was on the point of leaving the hotel for the day, when the old landlady, touching my arm, exclaimed: 'Wait a little while; it is not good to cross a funeral. I looked round the corner, and saw the procession coming along the shore. It was a Shinto funeral a child's funeral.

But the people of Beppu do not suffer for lack of proper nourishment, as their robust appearance bears witness: there are plenty of vegetables, all raised in tiny gardens which the women and children till during the absence of the boats; and there is abundance of fish. There is no Buddhist temple, but there is an ujigami.

And it is alleged that whoever eats with chopsticks made from the wood of that tree will never have the toothache, and will live to become exceedingly old. The shrine dedicated to the spirit of the Emperor Go-Daigo is in Nishinoshima, at Beppu, a picturesque fishing village composed of one long street of thatched cottages fringing a bay at the foot of a demilune of hills.

Nevertheless, it became necessary to make the attempt at once or refrain altogether. On the 8th of April, 1333, the guards at Beppu were given a quantity of sake on the plea that the accouchement of a Court lady was imminent.