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Note.—The ri has 36 chô.

Practically the ri may be taken to be 4 kilometres, and this calculation will prove rather under the true distance, because the estimation of distances is very inaccurate in these countries, and when a Japanese peasant says 2 ri a journey of 9 kilometres may be counted upon.

On the other hand the printed itineraries, which are found in all the districts, make a ri longer than it in reality is whenever a river has to be passed in ferry boats. It is well to be warned of this fact, which is explained by the time lost through the passage in the ferry.

The itinerary of the return journey from Nikkô to Tôkei is well known; I give it hereafter for information, with the addition of only one detail which may interest the tourist, viz: that if you have undertaken a journey at a season when the rivers are swollen in consequence of rains or melted snow, it is easy to return to Yedo in an agreeable way and without much fatigue. For this purpose you stop at the large village of Koga, on an important tributary of the Tonegawa, and here you can hire boats that carry you in ten or twelve hours to Yedo and even to Nipponbashi, thanks to the magnificent canal which unites the Tonegawa with the Ô-kawa not far from the sea.