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AN ACCOUNT OF TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR INCLUDING VISITS TO THE ABORIGINES OF YEZO AND THE SHRINE OF NIKKÔ BY ISABELLA L. BIRD AUTHOR OF ‘SIX MONTHS IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS’ ‘A LADY’S LIFE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS’ ETC. ETC. * * * * * WITH ILLUSTRATIONS * * * * * LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 1911 * * * * * FIRST EDITION, January 1905 Reprinted, June 1907 SECOND EDITION (1/-) October 1911 * * * * * To the Memory OF LADY PARKES, WHOSE KINDNESS AND FRIENDSHIP ARE AMONG MY MOST TREASURED REMEMBRANCES OF JAPAN, THIS VOLUME IS GRATEFULLY AND REVERENTLY DEDICATED. PREFACE HAVING been recommended to leave home, in April 1878, in order to recruit my health by means which had proved serviceable before, I decided to visit Japan, attracted less by the reputed excellence of its climate than by the certainty that it possessed, in an especial degree, those sources of novel and sustained interest which conduce so essentially to the enjoyment and restoration of a solitary health-seeker. The climate disappointed me, but, though I found the country a study rather than a rapture, its interest exceeded my largest expectations. This is not a “Book on Japan,” but a narrative of travels in Japan, and an attempt to contribute something to the sum of knowledge of the present condition of the country, and it was not till I had travelled for some months in the interior of the main island and in Yezo that I decided that my materials were novel enough to render the contribution worth making. From Nikkô northwards my route was altogether off the beaten track, and had never been traversed in its entirety by any European. I lived among the Japanese, and saw their mode of living, in regions unaffected by European contact. As a lady travelling alone, and the first European lady who had been seen in several districts through which my route lay, my experiences differed more or less widely from those of preceding travellers; and I am able to offer a fuller account of the aborigines of Yezo, obtained by actual acquaintance with them, than has hitherto been given. These are my chief reasons for offering this volume to the public. It was with some reluctance that I decided that it should consist mainly of letters written on the spot to my sister and a circle of personal friends, for this form of publication involves the sacrifice of artistic arrangement and literary treatment, and necessitates a certain amount of egotism; but, on the other hand, it places the reader in the position of the traveller, and makes him share the vicissitudes of travel, discomfort, difficulty, and tedium, as well as novelty and enjoyment. The “beaten tracks,” with the exception of Nikkô, have been dismissed in a few sentences, but where their features have undergone marked changes within a few years, as in the case of Tôkiyô (Yedo), they have been sketched more or less slightly. Many important subjects are necessarily passed over. In Northern Japan, in the absence of all other sources of information, I had to learn everything from the people themselves, through an interpreter, and every fact had to be disinterred by careful labour from amidst a mass of rubbish. The Ainos supplied the information which is given concerning their customs, habits, and religion; but I had an opportunity of comparing my notes with some taken about the same time by Mr. Heinrich Von Siebold of the Austrian Legation, and of finding a most satisfactory agreement on all points. Some of the Letters give a less pleasing picture of the condition of the peasantry than the one popularly presented, and it is possible that some readers may wish that it had been less realistically painted; but as the scenes are strictly representative, and I neither made them nor went in search of them, I offer them in the interests of truth, for they illustrate the nature of a large portion of the material with which the Japanese Government has to work in building up the New Civilisation. Accuracy has been my first aim, but the sources of error are many, and it is from those who have studied Japan the most carefully, and are the best acquainted with its difficulties, that I shall receive the most kindly allowance if, in spite of carefulness, I have fallen into mistakes. The Transactions of the English and German Asiatic Societies of Japan, and papers on special Japanese subjects, including “A Budget of Japanese Notes,” in the Japan Mail and Tôkiyô Times, gave me valuable help; and I gratefully acknowledge the assistance afforded me in many ways by Sir Harry S. Parkes, K.C.B., and Mr. Satow of H.B.M.’s Legation, Principal Dyer, Mr. Chamberlain of the Imperial Naval College, Mr. F. V. Dickins, and others, whose kindly interest in my work often encouraged me when I was disheartened by my lack of skill; but, in justice to these and other kind friends, I am anxious to claim and accept the fullest measure of personal responsibility for the opinions expressed, which, whether right or wrong, are wholly my own. The illustrations, with the exception of three, which are by a Japanese artist, have been engraved from sketches of my own or Japanese photographs. I am painfully conscious of the defects of this volume, but I venture to present it to the public in the hope that, in spite of its demerits, it may be accepted as an honest attempt to describe things as I saw them in Japan, on land journeys of more than 1400 miles. Since the letters passed through the press, the beloved and only sister to whom, in the first instance, they were written, to whose able and careful criticism they owe much, and whose loving interest was the inspiration alike of my travels and of my narratives of them, has passed away. ISABELLA L. BIRD. CONTENTS. LETTER I. First View of Japan—A Vision of Fujisan—Japanese Pages 1–7 Sampans—“Pullman Cars”—Undignified Locomotion—Paper Money—The Drawbacks of Japanese Travelling LETTER II. Sir Harry Parkes—An “Ambassador’s Carriage”—Cart 8–9 Coolies LETTER III. Yedo and Tôkiyô—The Yokohama Railroad—The Effect of 10–14 Misfits—The Plain of Yedo—Personal Peculiarities—First Impressions of Tôkiyô—H. B. M.’s Legation—An English Home LETTER IV. “John Chinaman”—Engaging a Servant—First Impressions 15–20 of Ito—A Solemn Contract—The Food Question LETTER V. Kwan-non Temple—Uniformity of Temple Architecture—A 21–31 Kuruma Expedition—A Perpetual Festival—The Ni-ô—The Limbo of Vanity—Heathen Prayers—Binzuru—A Group of Devils—Archery Galleries—New Japan—An Élégante LETTER VI. Fears—Travelling Equipments—Passports—Coolie Costume—A 32–42 Yedo Diorama—Rice—Fields—Tea-Houses—A Traveller’s Reception—The Inn at Kasukabé—Lack of Privacy—A Concourse of Noises—A Nocturnal Alarm—A Vision of Policemen—A Budget from Yedo LETTER VI.—(Continued.) A Coolie falls ill—Peasant Costume—Varieties in 43–50 Threshing—The Tochigi Yadoya—Farming Villages—A Beautiful Region—An In Memoriam Avenue—A Doll’s Street—Nikkô—The Journey’s End—Coolie Kindliness LETTER VII. A Japanese Idyll—Musical Stillness—My Rooms—Floral 51–53 Decorations—Kanaya and his Household—Table Equipments LETTER VIII The Beauties of Nikkô—The Burial of Iyéyasn—The 54–61 Approach to the Great Shrines—The Yomei Gate—Gorgeous Decorations—Simplicity of the Mausoleum—The Shrine of Iyémitsu—Religious Art of Japan and India—An Earthquake—Beauties of Wood-carving LETTER IX. A Japanese Pack-Horse and Pack-Saddle—Yadoya and 62–65 Attendant—A Native Watering-Place—The Sulphur Baths—A “Squeeze” LETTER X. Peaceful Monotony—A Japanese School—A Dismal 66–72 Ditty—Punishment—A Children’s Party—A Juvenile Belle—Female Names—A Juvenile Drama—Needlework—Caligraphy—Arranging Flowers—Kanaya—Daily Routine—An Evening’s Entertainment—Planning Routes—The God-shelf LETTER X.—(Continued.) Darkness visible—Nikkô Shops—Girls and Matrons—Night 73–76 and Sleep—Parental Love—Childish Docility—Hair-dressing—Skin Diseases LETTER X.—(Completed.) Shops and Shopping—The Barber’s Shop—A Paper 77–79 Waterproof—Ito’s Vanity—Preparations for the Journey—Transport and Prices—Money and Measurements LETTER XI. Comfort disappears—Fine Scenery—An Alarm—A 80–91 Farm-house—An unusual Costume—Bridling a Horse—Female Dress and Ugliness—Babies—My Mago—Beauties of the Kinugawa—Fujihara—My Servant—Horse-shoes—An absurd Mistake LETTER XII. A Fantastic Jumble—The “Quiver” of Poverty—The 92–95 Water-shed—From Bad to Worse—The Rice Planter’s Holiday—A Diseased Crowd—Amateur Doctoring—Want of Cleanliness—Rapid Eating—Premature Old Age LETTER XII.—(Concluded.) A Japanese Ferry—A Corrugated Road—The Pass of 96–98 Sanno—Various Vegetation—An Unattractive Undergrowth—Preponderance of Men LETTER XIII. The Plain of Wakamatsu—Light Costume—The Takata 99–105 Crowd—A Congress of Schoolmasters—Timidity of a Crowd—Bad Roads—Vicious Horses—Mountain Scenery—A Picturesque Inn—Swallowing a Fish-bone—Poverty and Suicide—An Inn-kitchen—England Unknown!—My Breakfast Disappears LETTER XIV. An Infamous Road—Monotonous Greenery—Abysmal Dirt—Low 106–108 Lives—The Tsugawa Yadoya—Politeness—A Shipping Port—A “Barbarian Devil” LETTER XV. A Hurry—The Tsugawa Packet-boat—Running the 109–112 Rapids—Fantastic Scenery—The River-life—Vineyards—Drying Barley—Summer Silence—The Outskirts of Niigata—The Church Mission House LETTER XVI. Abominable Weather—Insect Pests—Absence of Foreign 114–119 Trade—A Refractory River—Progress—The Japanese City—Water Highways—Niigata Gardens—Ruth Fyson—The Winter Climate—A Population in Wadding LETTER XVII. The Canal-side at Niigata—Awful 120–127 Loneliness—Courtesy—Dr. Palm’s Tandem—A Noisy Matsuri—A Jolting Journey—The Mountain Villages—Winter Dismalness—An Out-of-the-world Hamlet—Crowded Dwellings—Riding a Cow—“Drunk and Disorderly”—An Enforced Rest—Local Discouragements—Heavy Loads—Absence of Beggary—Slow Travelling LETTER XVIII. Comely Kine—Japanese Criticism on a Foreign Usage—A 128–136 Pleasant Halt—Renewed Courtesies—The Plain of Yonezawa—A Curious Mistake—The Mother’s Memorial—Arrival at Komatsu—Stately Accommodation—A Vicious Horse—An Asiatic Arcadia—A Fashionable Watering-place—A Belle—“Godowns” LETTER XIX. Prosperity—Convict Labour—A New 137–142 Bridge—Yamagata—Intoxicating Forgeries—The Government Buildings—Bad Manners—Snow Mountains—A Wretched Town LETTER XX. The Effect of a Chicken—Poor Fare—Slow 143–145 Travelling—Objects of Interest—Kak’ké—The Fatal Close—A Great Fire—Security of the Kuras LETTER XX.—(Continued.) Lunch in Public—A Grotesque Accident—Police 146–151 Inquiries—Man or Woman?—A Melancholy Stare—A Vicious Horse—An Ill-favoured Town—A Disappointment—A Torii LETTER XX.—(Concluded.) A
