マメ知識 mame-chishiki 'bean-knowledge' - The very kid-friendly museum contained many small placards in front of larger exhibits with tasty tidbits of information labelled 'bean (of) knowledge'. Almost all the kanji had furigana to show how they are pronounced, so that kids who had not yet mastered all their elementary or middle school kanji (as I haven't) could still read them. 'Bean' mame (written 豆 in kanji, マメ in katakana) also means 'small' in compounds like 豆本 mamehon 'miniature book', 豆鉄砲 mameteppou 'pea shooter', or even 豆台風 mametaifuu 'baby typhoon'. The mamechishiki in the photo below tells how the Kamome (Seagull) limited express from Hakata (Fukuoka) would change directions by veering off the main track at Umekoji Station (where the museum is now located) to go north to the top of a delta-shaped track, then back down the far side of the triangle into Kyoto Station so that the locomotive would be facing Hakata for the return trip.
上り下り nobori-kudari 'ascending-descending' in early Meiji - The railway museum also displayed blackboard tables (in kanji) of fares and departure times from the early Meiji era (from the 1880s), when the train system was just beginning, and the national capital was moving from Kyoto to Tokyo. Nowadays, all trains moving toward Tokyo are 'ascending' (上り nobori) while those moving away from Tokyo are 'descending' (下り kudari). Before the Meiji era, travelers and goods 'ascended' to Kyoto and 'descended' to Edo. But the timetable below from Kyoto Station shows different usage, perhaps reflecting the route of the earliest heavy freight traffic in the Kansai area, which ran by rail from Osaka to Otsu on Lake Biwa, then by boat north across the lake to Nagahama, then by rail to Tsuruga on the Japan Sea coast. Trains departing south from Kyoto are listed as ascending, and those to the north of Kyoto are listed as descending, perhaps because people and goods bound for Tokyo would first aim to reach a port on the Tokaido side of Honshu.
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