ナイヤガラの瀑布

About this photo

The brink of the falls sweeps to the right in a widening arc, and from it the water drops in many separate strands. On the right, white spray rises high into the sky. Beyond the brink lies a stretch of water streaked with white, and past that, a row of dark shapes and bright, floating clouds.

At the upper left, in front of the water beyond the brink, a thin railing stretches sideways. Because the water behind it is bright, each post of the railing can be picked out one by one in silhouette, even in the dark.

The book's accompanying text begins "ナイヤガラの瀑布は" (Niagara Falls is…) and says the falls are split in two: the American side and the Canadian side. It gives the height of the Canadian side as 158 shaku (an old Japanese unit of length). It adds that as you keep looking up and down at them, you start to wonder whether the water is pouring out from the very middle of the line of the falls.

Glossary